Episode 8: Melancholy & Cast-Off Summer Bath

Picking up the morning after the events of Episode Seven, Mayuko wakes up still feeling depressed. NieA, who has slept on the roof, rolls over and ends up falling to the ground. The two girls pass each other as Mayuko is leaving to do her paper route. NieA tries to be friendly (in that odd, self-absorbed NieA-kind-of-way) but Mayuko is still too embarrassed over her behavior last night to confront NieA face-to-face. As Mayuko disappears out of sight and NieA prepares to go back to bed, up pops Chada with an invitation for NieA to attend the regular Alien Meeting. As usual, he bribes her with the promise of free food.

Meanwhile, Mayuko is delivering papers and sinking deeper into her depression. When she crashes her bike on a dirt road, she doesn�t just pop back up like she usually does but instead lays there and sobs. When she does eventually pick herself back up, she dejectedly walks instead of riding.

Later, back at the bathhouse, NieA finds that Mayuko has left for school without preparing breakfast for her. The young alien is getting herself riled up to go after Mayuko but after a brief conversation with Yoshioka who tells her how busy Mayuko is, she decides to just take advantage of Chada�s free bento.

Mayuko makes her way to school in a daze of depression, replaying her conversation with Kotomi and her verbal assault on NieA in her head. She only grows evermore miserable. Her funk continues when she reviews the scores from the latest mock college entrance exam and sees that she placed seventh overall. It gets so bad that after school she can�t even concentrate on studying but instead just sits on the bench outside the building and stares at the sunlight being filtered through the shade trees.

While she is sitting here, a group of Chiaki�s more trendy friends walk up and congratulate her on placing so high in the mock exam. Mayuko notices that Chiaki isn�t with them and when she asks where she is they explain that she didn�t want to see the test scores and then go onto teasing Mayuko by claiming Chiaki was angry that she canceled out on the group date at the last minute. They recant when they see that Mayuko is taking the ribbing seriously.

As she is heading home to Enohana, Mayuko decides she needs to set things right between herself and NieA. She spends her remaining money to buy food for a comparatively �splendid banquet� for her and NieA to share, an act that lifts her spirits somewhat. But when she gets home, she learns from Yoshioka that NieA is attending an Alien Meeting. While Mayuko is bathing alone in the quiet of the deserted women�s bath, her depression starts reasserting itself.

Meanwhile, the Alien Meeting is going as expected. The same four people are there on time�George, Bobby, Oldie, and Karna�and Chada has a new array of curry dishes he wants them to taste-test. Karna once again tries to assert that the meeting is not for taste-tests but for discussing ways to advance the social status of aliens, but Chada and the rest are even more blatant in their ignoring her gripes than they were at the last meeting. When NieA arrives with the cheerful announcement that she is here for the free food, the two females resume their argument; Karna is still angry that NieA sneaks free food at China Miller�s, while NieA grows angry that Karna doesn�t seem to want to admit that �all aliens are brothers.� Before their fight gets out of hand, Chada manages to convince even Karna to sit peacefully and have some of his latest curry creation.

At the bathhouse, Mayuko has prepared dinner for herself and NieA, even arranging it nicely on dishes to make the meager fair as feast-like as possible. She waits patiently for NieA to return, but as the hour grows later, her patience wears thin and her depression grows heavier.

Back at the Alien Meeting, the five attendees are so stuffed with curry they can barely move. Chada, his taste-tests over, declares the meeting adjourned, but Karna angrily states that he can�t end the meeting before the real subject has been discussed. NieA jumps in with a real subject of her own�the strange voice she�s been hearing on the roof of the Enohana Bathhouse. She describes it as a like a voice and a song �gently reverberating inside her head� and wonders if the mother-ship might be trying to communicate. She is surprised to learn that none of the others have heard the sound. Karna reminds NieA that the mother-ship has been disabled for a very long time and that even if it was sending out a signal, a useless Under Seven with no antenna like NieA certainly wouldn�t hear anything if an elite alien like Karna isn�t. Karna accuses NieA of lying, NieA insults Karna over her quirky reception problem, and soon a food fight between the two erupts again.

NieA finally returns to the bathhouse, covered in curry. She brags about her fun and how full her stomach is, but when she sees the two plates on the table she is elated and ready to eat again. But Mayuko has changed her mind and forbids NieA from having any. NieA once again offers to help Mayuko, but this just angers her more. Mayuko states that she envies NieA�s empty head and easy-going lifestyle. With a sly smile, NieA suggests that Mayuko become an Under Seven alien if she thinks it�s that easy. Growing furious, Mayuko states that if she were to ever become like NieA, her life would end. NieA once again gives up trying to help Mayuko and retreats to sleep on the roof.

While NieA discusses Mayuko with Wakabe the Cat, commenting that �poverty makes a person mean,� Mayuko finds her appetite is gone and starts dispairing over how everything is suddenly going so wrong.