Episode 7: Mothership, Go-con and Cloudy Sky Bath

In the heat of the summer Sunday, NieA is building a UFO on the roof. Suddenly the music on her portable radio starts breaking up and then to transmit the strange tone she first heard briefly several weeks ago. It lasts longer this time, and puts her in a semi-trance. She turns to face the mothership, a blank expression on her face. Then, as quickly as the strange situation started, it ends, leaving NieA to wonder if it was just her imagination.

Meanwhile, at Karuchie�s, Mayuko has reported early for work because the restaurant�s business suddenly picked up in a spectacular fashion. While she and the other two staff members are catching their breath, Chiaki arrives. Chie sets her and Mayuko up with iced coffees on the house and Chiaki brings up a rather embarrassing subject (for Mayuko) at least: boys. After a blushing Mayuko disavows Genzo as her boyfriend, Chiaki explains that she is organizing a group date between a girls at the cram school and some college boys (a �go-con�) and would like Mayuko to be part of it. She explains that the boys will be picking up the tab. Mayuko attempts to excuse herself, stating that she isn�t very good at such events. Between Chie�s comments about how Mayuko is always poor and that there can�t be any harm in getting a free meal from some rich college students, and Chiaki�s eager, hard-sell of the event, Mayuko finds herself reluctantly agreeing. The group date will take place on Tuesday.

Shuhei decides to close the restaurant early, and he and Chie end up as the first customers of the day at the bathhouse. Mayuko tells Kotomi about the go-con, and the older woman picks up on her apparent hesitation about taking part in the event. She does what she can to encourage Mayuko to go, stating that it�s important for her to have a social life and to spend time with people her own age. She encourages her to just relax and to use this opportunity to release some stress. The quiet moment is interrupted when NieA leaps from the roof and demands to know what go-con is and whether or not it�s delicious.

That evening, after NieA has gained an understanding of what a go-con is, she tries her best to help the increasingly discouraged and insecure Mayuko�the other girl has been looking at her meager wardrobe and discovered that she doesn�t have anything she feels she can wear. NieA shares some clothes and a joke book that she considers to be treasures, but Mayuko finds them ridiculous and the end result is that she grows more frustrated. NieA retreats to the roof to work on building her latest UFO.

The following day, at cram school, Chiaki has Mayuko meet the other girls who will be going on the group date. Like Chiaki, they all appear far more trendy in their clothing style and the rumpled, slightly frumpy Mayuko stands in sharp contrast to them. Her discomfort grows as some of the girls express surprise that she is going to the event, stating that she always seems so busy. Chiaki defends Mayuko to them and later as she and Mayuko are leaving school together reassures her that she is wanted on the date, stating that the other girls want to get to know her better.

That night, the idea of the date continues to weigh heavily on Mayuko. While NieA is on the roof, trying to find out if the sound she heard was real or her imagination, Mayuko tries on some of her clothes again. She is growing evermore nervous, particularly since she, on top of everything else, needs to have her hair styled, something she definitely can�t afford.

Eventually, at the last minute on Tuesday, Mayuko calls Chiaki and cancels. She then spends the day wandering Enohana, feeling depressed. Finally, the reality of her impoverished situation is really starting to have an impact on her� no longer is she just concerned with where the next meal is going to come from but it�s starting to make her feel truly isolated from friends and keeping her from doing things that she thinks she might enjoy.

That evening, Kotomi is reviewing receipts for the bathhouse with growing concern and a similarly growing selection of empty beer cans in front of her. The outlook for the bathhouse is growing grimmer as more and more red ink is appearing on the balance sheet. She is startled to see Mayuko and asks why she didn�t go out. When Mayuko explains that she didn�t have decent clothes and felt she needed a haircut, Kotomi admonishes her by saying that she should have been clear with Chiaki about her intentions to go or not from the outset. She also repeats what she said earlier, that the go-con was just for fun and that Mayuko should have treated it as such.

Mayuko continues to mope through her work after the bathhouse closes. When NieA arrives home and tries to initiate their standard squabbles over food and other living arrangements, Mayuko doesn�t respond. NieA notices that her roommate seems down and asks what�s wrong, but Mayuko simply wants to go to bed. She lays down on the floor and wraps herself in her blanket, trying to disregard the alien.

But NieA has concerns of her own. She tries to talk to Mayuko about the strange experiences she�s been having on the roof, first asking if Mayuko has been hearing voices there and then explaining that she has heard them and that she is wondering if the mothership might be trying to communicate with her. When NieA starts getting instant and pushy about wanting to discuss this mystery with Mayuko, the other girl loses her temper and is genuinely cruel to NieA by snapping at that an antenna-less Under Seven could never hear the mothership even if it was making broadcasts. She realizes what she is doing and stops herself, horrified at her behavior.

However, the abuse bounces off NieA, who tries to start their typical argument by claiming Mayuko has �hurt an alien�s delicate pride��but Mayuko merely turns her back again, wraps herself in her blanket and closes her eyes. NieA finally seems to be slightly hurt by this behavior and retreats to the roof where she continues to contemplate the mothership. Mayuko, meanwhile, continues to moll over her life and how unsure of herself she is.