Episode 12: NieA Under Seven Bath (Latter Half)

NieA has now been missing for a week, and Mayuko is starting to fear that NieA will never return. She is particularly starting to miss NieA�s cheerful greetings in the morning.

After delivering newspapers in the rain, Mayuko comes home to clearing weather and the news that Kotomi has called in a contractor to fix the hole in the roof. The contractor tells the girl that it will take about a week to fix and that he is impressed with the temporary repairs that were done by Yoshioka and NieA. He further comments on the unusual disaster that created the hole--but instead of talking about UFOs, he laughs about the escaped elephant that went bezerk in the room.

After Mayuko has changed for school, she talks to Kotomi about the roof and the contractor.

Having the work done is making her feel a little guilty, but Kotomi assures her that everything is fine because not only did the roof need to be fixed before the weather turns cold�summer is coming to an end, after all�but that it also needed to be repaired before the potential buyer of the bathhouse came by to look at the property.

As Mayuko leaves for school, it strikes her that the repair of the hole will remove the last sign of NieA�s presence at the bathhouse. This thought, along with the realization that this unusual summer is indeed coming to an end reverberate through her head for the entire day.

That day, Mayuko finally goes to the Alien Registration Office to ask for help in finding NieA. They, however, cannot offer help as they do not even acknowledge the existence of aliens who are lower than �Under Five� in the caste system, nor those who are higher than �Plus Five.� After Mayuko reacts angrily to his statement that there�s no point in her searching for someone who �no longer exists,� he recants slightly in his harsh attitude and asks her to encourage NieA to re-register as an Under Five alien so she can be incorporated properly into the system. However, this doesn�t help with Mayuko�s current concern for her missing friend, so she leaves the office, more disgusted with the system than anything else. (This exchange sheds some light on why Karna dislikes NieA so much and why she kept insisting that the alien meetings needed to be devoted to discussing how aliens can better themselves; the was undoubtedly referring to the process of registering as members of higher castes acknowledged by the Alien Registration Office.)

Later that day, Mayuko is back at home and reading an old text book about the aliens that dates from Kotomi�s college days. (It was unearthed when they cleared out the storage room back in Episode Six.) A small package from her mother arrives. The enclosed letter explains that Mayuko�s mother hasn�t been able to find any of the notebooks containing the stories Mayuko wrote as a child, but she found some old photos that she has sent along instead. They turn out to be from the time when Mayuko�s family owned the bathhouse and she lived here. Among them is a photo that explains the strange marks Chiaki pointed to on the support beam in the hall outside Mayuko�s room; they were carved there by her father as Mayuko grew, measuring her progress. Mayuko know understands that everyone currently living and working at the bathhouse has roots deeper here than she previously imagined and she is overwhelmed with sadness over the fact that it might soon be closing. Kotomi hugs her while she silently cries.

That evening, as a storm brews in the sky above Enohana, Mayuko goes to take her evening bath. To her astonishment, she finds NieA soaking here already, humming to herself and behaving as if she had never pulled her vanishing act. Mayuko is torn between joy over NieA�s return and frustration over the alien�s obliviousness to the concern she caused. While she soaks in the hot water along side NieA, Mayuko considers saying all the things she promised herself she was going to say if NieA ever came back, but then decides it isn�t necessary. Moments later, NieA is begging for free food, Mayuko calls her a freeloader, and their usual now-clearly good natured fighting has resumed. It feels right again, so both girls seem content.

The storm begins to rage over the town while Mayuko and NieA are eating (and fighting over who gets to eat the small piece of mackerel that Mayuko could afford). The wind is so severe it is causing the entire building to creak and tremble. Then, the makeshift, temporary repairs to the roof start coming undone. The two girls rush up to there and attempt to keep the tarp from shielding their belongings from being torn away by the wind, while construction equipment and pieces of scaffolding are blasted away around them. As they struggle with the tarp, NieA takes the opportunity to extract promises from Mayuko to let her eat her last can of sardines in exchange for �all the manual labor.�

No sooner has this deal been concluded before NieA abandons her side of the tarp, rising to her feet and standing transfixed as she stares toward the mother-ship on the horizon. An unnatural quiet settles over the two and the massive bulk of the alien spaceship dissolves into a cloud of lights that rise into the sky. Mayuko has a memory flash of watching fireflies with her father, and NieA smiles contentedly and says, �Sayonara� see you later.�

The violent storm ends as suddenly as it began� and the mother-ship has vanished in mere seconds.

Mayuko later writes in her journal that something seemed different after the mother-ship vanished, but she couldn�t quite put her finger on it as everything also felt unchanged. But regardless of the mother-ship�s presence or absence, summer ends and the leaves start turning colors.