Episode 13: Time Flows By In Enohana Bath

The episode opens with Geronimo Hondo, an alien not seen since the curry fight in Episode Three, crying into his beef bowl at an open-air food stand operated by Chada. Geronimo�s worst fears have come to pass: The media discovered that his status in the alien caste system was faked�that he was really an �under� alien who had cheated his way up the system�s ladder. While his acting career remains somewhat intact, he has lost his star status and has been reduced to playing costumed characters on children�s and comedy shows.

While Geronimo wallows in his self-pity, a disguised NieA sits down next to him and expresses sympathy for his plight. She joins him in criticizing the unfairness of the alien castes system, agreeing that the �Under� and �Over� caste systems are only illusions that people limit their lives by. She congratulates him on waking up from this illusion to know his real self. NieA�s statements seem far more deeply philosophical in their outlook than anything she�s expressed up to this point; perhaps NieA�s mysterious experiences with the mother-ship have changed her in ways that aren�t even obvious to her? Whatever the explanation, NieA fills Geronimo with the desire to rebel against the system and reclaim the stardom he worked to obtain. In the end, however, NieA proves to still be just NieA when she leaves Hondo stuck with the bill for her take-away meal.

Later, as autumn gets fully underway, things seem back to normal at the Enohana Bathhouse. Mayuko is impoverished, so she and NieA are reduced to having soup for breakfast and inhaling vapors from an empty autumn miso powder mix packet. NieA is distressed that she isn�t getting to enjoy traditional autumn cuisine and she makes her unhappiness heard loudly as she chases Mayuko to toward the bus-stop on her way to school. Luckily for Mayuko, the usual band of obnoxious alien children distract NieA and make her chase after them instead of pursue her in search of more food.

At school, Mayuko continues to work toward preparing for her college entrance exams. Chiaki has been depressed since the mother-ship vanished. She feels like she has lost her reason for existing�but at least this sense of emptiness gives her fodder for her new �sadness diary� web page!

Still, Chiaki feels a bit down about the mother-ship�s disappearance. Even more, she is distressed that such a major change hasn�t seemed to have any impact on how people are leading their lives; everyone is just carrying on as if nothing had happened. She asks Mayuko if NieA is still making UFOs, and Mayuko reveals that she has forbidden NieA from making any recently; the noice of all her hammering was making it too hard for Mayuko to study. Chiaki still asks to come to go back with Mayuok and visit NieA, whether she is making UFOs or not.

Meanwhile, Chada has started a new business: he is collecting scrap and old magazines and offering curry in return. NieA, feeling like [[ITALIC]] her [[ITALIC]] trade is being stepped upon, sabotages his latest venture by stealing a key part of his mobile junk collection/curry distribution site.

When Mayuko and Chiaki return to Enohana early that evening, they meet Chie and Shuhei as they are about to go in to take their baths. Chie says that they saw NieA around noon, running with a large bowl that smelled of curry with an �Indian costume-player� in hot pursuit.

As the two girls wait for NieA to resurface, Mayuko and Chiaki first go up to Mayuko�s room and then climb onto the bathhouse�s roof. Chiaki waxes nostalgic about the day she first visited�NieA�s exploding UFO being the definite high point for her�and later she and Mayuko discuss how the bathhouse may soon be changing hands again. Mayuko states that she and the rest of the staff have decided to enjoy what time they have left there instead of worrying about the future. Mayuko feels as if that has given everyone a charge and made them work harder and happier.

Chiaki, to Mayuko�s embarrassment, says that she thinks Mayuko is a strong person. Mayuko then tells Chiaki that she doesn�t think she is because of how depressed she was for a while and how scared she was when NieA had disappeared and when she first seemed like the bathhouse was going to vanish. The two girls sit quietly and gaze toward the now-empty horizon while Mayuko becomes lost in thought, thinking about her time at the bathhouse and the great mystery that she has come to realize NieA represents; lately, even with the departure of the mother-ship, she has noticed NieA go into strange trances while muttering to herself. What is locked in NieA�s mind? Will anyone every know? Mayuko has also come to the conclusion that she will continue to work as hard as she can, but that she won�t force herself to work at other people�s paces nor allow herself to be ground down by society again.

The sun begins to set and Chiaki has to head home. As they leave, they come upon a cheerful Kotomi�the bathhouse has turned a meager profit this month so maybe she won�t have to sell after all! She brings the girls down a bit, however, when she ribs them about their upcoming college entrance exams and ultimately states that if they don�t pass this year, there�s always next year. And she makes it clear that Mayuko is welcome to stay at the bathhouse for as long as it takes.

Then Genzo arrives, carrying the biggest burden of rice yet. When he initially fails to qualify his gift with �my father told me to give you this,� the knowing looks from Chiaki and Kotomi make him blush and fidget. The gentle �thank you� from Mayuko doesn�t make him feel any less awkward.

Thankfully for Genzo�s sake, a strange sound is heard from outside. When they run outside to see what is happening, they find themselves in a small wind-storm. Looking up, they see one of NieA�s home-made UFOs hovering above the bathhouse, Chada�s massive bowl serving as its cockpit canopy. She gleeful announces that the UFO she�s been building is secret is now fully operational and offers Chiaki a ride. Then, to everyone�s amazement, NieA uses a tractor beam to lift Chiaki to the UFO.

The bizarre craft soars into the sky, but then it sputters, as something goes wrong with the hamster and hamster wheel that were serving as the craft�s power source. After a hard landing on the newly repaired roof, the UFO explodes and �reventilates� Mayuko�s room.

As the series draws to a close, everything is truly all right at the Enohana Bathhouse.