Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 06 – A League of Their Own

Two weeks since he became a teacher and the Rotsgard store finding success despite the Ogres running it, Makoto has to fend off incessant political marriage proposals from students, suggesting his status at the academy has risen.

But more importantly, Tomoe and Mio are back, and with significant screen time! In fact, most of this episode is evenly split between them, and something happens I did not expect: they meet the heroes before Makoto! First up is Tomoki meeting Tomoe.

It does not go well for our silver-haired power-drunk young friend. In fact, Tomoki shows his whole ass this week to be nothing but a pathetic twerp who has tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants.

Tomoe doesn’t waste too much breath on him, and what breath she uses is able to dispel his Magic Eye effect on Lime (she herself is immune). When Mora reveals she’s a dragon tamer, Tomoe demonstrates the gap in their power by destroying her staff.

Tomoki wants Tomoe’s katana, then Tomoe herself, but the answer to both is no, and he doesn’t have the power to make her. In fact, she uses illusion magic to cast him, Lily, and Mora back into the forest with the warning that he won’t last long as Gritonia’s Hero if he tries to pull this shit again.

I’ve come to loathe Tomoki, so seeing him cut down a size or two was deeply gratifying, and there was no one better to do it than Tomoe. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like Tomoki will give up on her.

On to Mio, who is trying to discern kelp from seaweed on the beach when a giant wolf shoves her into the surf, soaking her kimono. She prepares to kill the beast with a flick of her fan, but a girl leaps out to help the wolf dodge: it’s Hibiki! Mio is impressed by her contrition and decides not to kill her or Horn.

More importantly to Mio is the fact that this hyuman knows her sea grass, which means she probably has some cooking pointers for her. What neither of them realize is that they once met before when Mio was the Spider Disaster, the first battle Hibiki fought that she couldn’t win.

Just as Tomoki is no match for Tomoe, Hibiki is no match for Mio. She and Tomoe are in a different league, power-wise. But while Tomoe’s encounter with Tomoki was thoroughly unpleasant, Mio and Hibiki have a much more positive, cordial, and productive encounter.

A giant mantis monster maims Hibiki’s tank and she’s forced to ask Mio for help, only for her and her party-mates to watch dumbstruck as Mio beheads the boss with one flick of the fan. When it tears her precious kimono in a last-ditch attack, she unleashes a devastating explosion.

Mio puts Hibiki and her party to sleep, and when they wake up, they’re in their intended destination of Tsige. A note from Mio brings Hibiki to the Kuzunoha store in Tsige where she and Mio come to an understanding. Beren will forge the equipment they’ll need to survive the wastelands, while Hibiki will teach Mio how to cook.

Woody notes that Hibiki has concealed her identity as hero and descended into despair ever since the loss of Navarre, who was clearly more than a friend or a sister to her. Her meeting and befriending another strong woman in Mio is an opportunity to cheer up, heal, and move forward.

Six episodes in and Tomoe and Mio, my two favorite characters in the show, have finally been integrated into the season arc. Hopefully Mio and Hibiki’s friendship endures, and the next time Tomoki messes with Tomoe will be his last! But first thing’s first: when Makoto returns to the Demiplane to check in, something is very off. What could it be?

The Apothecary Diaries – 15 – In the (Sea)Weeds

Our mysterious monacled official, Lakan, is a good listener. He’s napping on a balcony when he overhears that the warehouse fire case wasn’t actually solved by Lihaku, but an intellectual servant girl under Master Jinshi’s employ. He also learns she was a Verdigris courtesan Jinshi bought out. Now Maomao is on his radar, and that makes me … uneasy.

“MYYYY PRRRRRECIOUSSSS…”

Gaoshun already has a new case lined up for “Xiaomao” that’s right up her twisted alley: a case of food poisoning involving raw pufferfish. When he gives her the broad strokes of the case, she first asks if it’s really okay to be divulging this stuff to her. Gaoshun trusts her to be discreet, but Jinshi sneaks up on her (causing her first Gollumface of the series, an unsettling masterpiece) wanting to be involved in some way.

Gaoshun has his subordinate Basen, escort Maomao to inspect the kitchen of the poisoning victim. I imagine Basen is the official investigator, while Maomao is simply tagging along in an unofficial capacity. She senses Basen has a bad impression of her, but her inner monologue reaction to this is “oh well.” In the kitchen she finds something odd: a supply of seaweed that is fresher than it should be for this region.

Their visit is rudely interrupted by the younger brother of the victim, whose desire for them to wrap up ASAP pretty much puts a “culprit” target on his back. But the proof is in the evidence: the seaweed sample Maomao procures is from the south, and needs to be soaked in limewater to wash out the poison. She attempts to test another sample soaked in regular water, but Jinshi makes her vomit it up immediately.

😊😊😊

After Maomao gives her presentation, Gaoshun sends officers back to the victim’s house, where the brother confesses to providing the seaweed that poisoned his older brother. His motive was pure jealousy and bitterness over being in a less favorable position in the family, so he sought to get his brother out of the picture.

While Maomao is disappointed she didn’t get to eat any poison, she twirls about like a giddy schoolgirl over her weird insect mushrooms. When she bumps into Jinshi and greets him with an adorable blushing face and sweet tone, the man short-circuits so bad he repeatedly smacks his forehead on the nearest wood pillar.

Jinshi is in a heightened state of stress due to the fact Lakan has been camping out in his office. Jinshi describes him as “forty-plus, high-ranking military officer, and weirdo”, and Maomao thinks she’s seen this guy before. He’s a strategist, and his interests are “shogi, go, and rumors.” He’s basically the Imperial Chinese equivalent of the Dos Equis Guy.

He may also be a bad guy; we’ll see. For one thing, I didn’t like his tone when he mentioned wanting to force himself on the smart and aloof courtesan he took a liking to a while back. We only get the image of her from the mouth down, but her Maomao-like green hair set off red flags in my head.

Lakan says he did something to make her “less exquisite” and thus lower her buyout value. Could that “something” have been knocking her up? Was Maomao the child of Lakan and that bright, unusual courtesan? Mind you, this is just blind speculation.

Whoever Lakan is (or isn’t) to Maomao, he wants to borrow her for a case involving the palace metalworker who recently passed away without naming an heir among his three apprentice children. His will may offer a hint about the secret technique none of them knew. Maybe Maomao can learn what it is.