Episode 6: Alien & Rival Bathhouse Bath

At the height of summer in the Enohana Bathhouse, Mayuko and NieA are suffering in the heat. While NieA’s record player is providing a diversion, it’s not cooling them down. NieA suggests that they ask Kotomi to provide them with an airconditioner. Mayuko is hesitant—how can they make such a demand after they blew the roof off the room?—but NieA convinces her they should ask.

When the two girls go downstairs to talk to Kotomi, NieA not only asks for an air conditioner but also a shaved ice maker; she then claims it was Mayuko who wanted the devices. Kotomi takes NieA’s antics in good humor, agreeing that the heat must be making it hard for Mayuko to concentrate on her studies but denying the request for an air conditioner and a shaved ice maker. Instead, she has the girls clear out a storage room with the hope is that a breeze will blow through it and cool Mayuko’s room.

While Mayuko working on clearing out the room, and NieA is working at avoiding being roped into helping, Yoshioka arrives carrying a flier announcing the grand opening of the “Space King Bath” in the Enohana Crater that very day. Now the staff of the Enohana Bathhouse will have to fight with a competitor for their already small costumer base.

Kotomi declares an emergency management meeting on the spot and vows that this rival will be crushed, completely, utterly, and without mercy. Mayuko tries to inject a bit of common sense into the meeting by saying that perhaps they need to learn a little bit about their competition, but Kotomi responds that it’s a great idea to find the weakness of your enemy. Clearly, the rival bathhouse must be investigated from within, but how to do it? The staff of the Enohana Bathhouse will certainly be recognized.

Just then, NieA returns with an armful of computer components scavenged from the junkyard. Chiaki is with her, having come to Enohana in pursuit of a rumor that a mysterious new bathhouse is opening, a bathhouse that makes you feel like you are blasting into outer space. When she hears of Kotomi’s plan to infiltrate the new bathhouse, she immediately volunteers to help. She then starts doing a live update of her website, describing the exciting mission she is about to embark upon. With the women’s bath covered, Yoshioka and Kotomi decide that Mayuko will call Genzo and ask him to go check out the men’s bath. Kotomi then instructs NieA and Mayuko to investigate the immediate area round the bathhouse.

Once the “mission team” has been assembled—Genzo was more than happy to help Mayuko even with this strange problem—they venture to the Crater. Chiaki grows increasingly eager and excited; she is going into the Enohana Crater as a spy to investigate a great mystery from space. By the time they reach the fog-bound, garishly painted and tacky-neon-sign adorned Space King Bath, Chiaki is so wound up that she is literally bouncing around, despite Mayuko’s repeated urgings that she behave normally.

Chiaki and Genzo enter the place, and Mayuko and NieA set to work examining the outside. NieA smells something strange, and Mayuko follows her out back, where the two find a pile oddly shaped leaves that are drying on a tarp. When Mayuko grabs takes a leaf for research purposes, NieA starts to mercilessly (and quite loudly) taunt her roommate for being a thief. Mayuko grows angry, but before the argument can gain steam, the back door of the rival bathhouse opens and a silhouetted figure demands to know what they are doing.

The girls quickly recognize the figure as Chada. He extends a traditional Indian greeting to the girls (followed up with a non-traditional and completely inappropriate comment to Mayuko) and repeats his question about what they are doing at the back of the bathhouse. NieA blurts out that they are spying on their rivals. Mayuko desperately tries to silence her, stanting that she shouldn’t be so direct with an employee. Chada, however, proudly responds that he is not an employee but is the owner and operator of the establishment. He points to the apron he is wearing which is emblazoned with the words “Space King.”

Meanwhile, inside the Space King Bath, Genzo is greeted by the cheerful George and Bobby. The décor is unlike any he has seen in a bathhouse before and the proceeds with growing suspicion and caution. Chiaki however has already disrobed and is charges heedlessly into the fragrant billowing steam of the bath, her laptop primed for note-taking.

Outback, Mayuko and NieA continue their conversation with Chada. He explains that with the ongoing recession the convenience store isn’t enough for him to survive on, so he has diversified. Mayuko asks who is taking care of the convenience store, and Chada reveals that it is currently closed and shows that he really doesn’t know what “diversification” truly means. Mayuko tries to explain that he shouldn’t open a bathhouse in Enohana as there already is one, but Chada claims that his is completely different than any other bathhouse. He reveals that the fragrant atmosphere within will put people into trances and keep them coming back for more. He is completely convinced his bathhouse will become the top business in Enohana. Niea in the meantime makes the startling discovery that the Space King building is made from paper-mache.

Chada refuses to reveal the trade secrets of his bathhouse, but he invites the girls to take a bath since they came all this way. When they refuse, he extends a good will gesture by declaring them his “butt-buddies” and mooning them. Mayuko grabs NieA and runs.

Back at the Enohana bathhouse, Yoshioka and Kotomi are stumped by the samples Mayuko has brought back. They seem to be useless either as fuel or as additives to water, Then Chiaki and Genzo staggger in, acting very strange. Kotomi grabs a botony reference book and after much searching finds the exact plant from which the leaves were taken. She and Yoshioka are both amazed by what they find; they leaves were from a plant of “a certain illegal variety” and the steam at Chada’s bathhouse was more mind-altering smoke than water vapors.

A quick call to the police results in the Space King Bath being shut down the next day. Although Chada is initially arrested, he is released as the authorities believe his claim that he didn’t know that he was doing anything illegal. Chiaki and Genzo recover fully from the effect of the drugs

That evening, Mayuko and Kotomi sit on the bathhouse’s roof and talk about life. Mayuko tells Kotomi how much she admires all the hard work she puts in. Kotomi says it’s nothing—that when she is at the bathhouse, she feels like everything is going fine. Mayuko decides she feels the same way.