Far
out in space, a fleet of ships is in pursuit of a powerful and dangerous
warrior, Z. His powers are clearly formidable - in the blink of an eye
he crushes one ship into a wreckage. The other craft open fire on him,
but he catches one of the bolts of energy and produces five Light Hawk
Wings which channel the other beams into a single point. He raises his
hand and produces a gravity wave that sweeps across the fleet and destroys
every last ship.
Some time later,
Z reports back D3 and Lady Tokimi. Word has reached them of Dr. Clay's
recent failure to capture Washu. D3 is surprised to witness Tenchi summoning
the Light Hawk Wings (as he did to escape from Dr. Clay's ship in episode
12), and moreover to be so powerful when he can generate only three
of them. Lady Tokimi clearly knows more about Tenchi than she is willing
to admit. Tokimi sends Z to investigate, but warns him that he must
not lay a finger on Tenchi.
It is a rainy day
in Okayama, and life at the Masaki home goes on as normal. Azaka and
Kamidake are now so entrenched in their roles as gateposts that moss
and weeds are growing all over them! Ryoko wakes up in her usual sleeping
spot atop the rafters and Sasami, who is busy preparing breakfast, asks
her to go and wake Mihoshi. Ryoko finds Mihoshi asleep at her desk,
an open e-mail waiting to be sent. After Ryoko wakes her with a stout
kick to the head, Mihoshi sends her message (which gets rolled up like
a scroll and carried through a tiny subspace portal by a robotic doll)
and after almost falling asleep again, gets dragged downstairs for breakfast.
Mihoshi's room now empty, Z appears. He has caught Mihoshi's message
doll, and he substitutes the scroll it carries for one of his own before
sending it on its way.
At breakfast, Ryoko
wonders where Tenchi is. Ayeka reminds her that Tenchi was going to
visit his father (who has since moved into a new apartment), and won't
be back until lunch time.
While walking to
the apartment, Tenchi passes his old school, still being rebuilt after
the gas explosion that destroyed it in episode 1.
He meets Kamikura and Ikega, two of his old classmates. Word has got
around that Tenchi is living with a bunch of "foreign beauties",
and quite naturally his classmates are exceedingly jealous! Tenchi tries
to explain that his cohabitants are all relatives of his, but this is
met with nothing but disbelief and outrage!
Walking
on, Tenchi passes the site where his house used to stand (until Ryoko
relocated it next to the family shrine in episode
2 after their explosive meeting with Ayeka). He remembers the chain
of events that followed; the hatching of Ryo-ohki (episode
3); the visit to the hot springs where he met Mihoshi (episode
4); meeting Washu (episode 6) and ending up
as a guinea pig for her "experiments" (episode
7); Mihoshi levelling the house by crashing her shuttle into it
(episode 7). Tenchi reminds himself that although
he has been through a lot, he has survived nonetheless, and he wonders
what might be coming next. Staring at the empty lot, he remembers his
childhood, living there happily with his parents. He also recalls the
day of his mother Kiyone's funeral. In his grief he, a mere four-year-old
at the time, ran from the ceremony to Ryoko's cave. His worried family
set out to find him, and eventually Rea (a friend of the family) found
him lying at the cave entrance, the snow around his sleeping form mysteriously
melted.
Arriving
at the apartment, Tenchi is greeted at the door by his father's new
fiancée, Rea. Nobuyuki is busy with his work, so he invites Tenchi
inside to wait until he is finished. As Rea serves him tea, she discusses
the
events that followed the destruction of the school, the disappearance
of the Masaki family home and collapse of the Seto bridge. Apparently,
the press connected the three events and it was all she could do
keep
Tenchi's name out of the affair.
Soon, Nobuyuki finishes
his work and drives Tenchi back home. Rea has given him some of her
cooking to take with him. Tenchi remembers how Rea used to cook for
the family and look after Tenchi while he was younger. Tenchi wishes
he could remember how his mother's cooking tasted, but Nobuyuki tells
him that since Kiyone taught Rea to cook, he has in effect always eaten
food the way his mother would have cooked it. Tenchi goes on to ask
his father how Kiyone died, a subject it seems he has rarely spoken
about. Nobuyuki, however, is reluctant to discuss it, and tells Tenchi
he must wait a little longer before he is ready to hear.
Later that day,
Tenchi is working in the fields when Sasami comes to tell him that lunch
is ready. As usual, Ryo-ohki accompanies her, but when Sasami turns
away for a moment the cabbit wanders off and is nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, Nobuyuki
and Katsuhito are at the family grave site. Nobuyuki tells Katsuhito
that Tenchi has been asking about Kiyone's death. Katsuhito assures
him that come the following evening, they will be able to reveal the
truth to Tenchi. Nobuyuki is worried that he will be shocked, but Katsuhito
believes otherwise...
Sasami
has returned to the house with news that Ryo-ohki has gone missing.
She, Ayeka and Washu beg Ryoko to go and find her, to which she reluctantly
agrees. Ryoko soon locates the stray cabbit, lost and bawling in the
woods surrounding the shrine. Ryoko is a little surprised to see how
happy Ryo-ohki is to see her - she had thought Ryo-ohki no longer cared
about her. Ryoko accesses Ryo-ohki's memory to find out how far she
wandered, and this allows Ryo-ohki to lead the way back home.
Meanwhile, Tenchi
returns, having been searching for Ryo-ohki. Everyone is worried for
Ryo-ohki's safety, but Washu assures them that since she is a computer
unit first and foremost, there is nothing to worry about (but still
thinks Sasami is sweet to worry about her so). Soon Ryoko returns with
Ryo-ohki in her arms. Sasami offers to take her for a bath, but Ryoko
says she wants to bathe her this time.
After their bath,
Ryo-ohki and Ryoko join the family at the dinner table. As Ryoko feeds
carrots to Ryo-ohki, Tenchi and the girls notice how Ryoko is suddenly
acting like a mother towards the cabbit. After dinner, as Ryoko plays
with Ryo-ohki, Sasami starts to feel left out. Ryoko even offers to
let Ryo-ohki sleep with her, and although Sasami protests, Washu asks
her to let Ryoko have her way for one night at least.
The next day, Nobuyuki
helps put together the new computer he bought for them. He muses that
Earth technology must seem rather primitive to a group of girls used
to space travel, but Washu is fascinated nonetheless. In fact, the others
are a little worried that it might launch Washu into another protracted
lecture about the progress of technology.
Just then, the doorbell
rings, and Ryoko goes downstairs to answer it. She goes to open the
door, but suddenly remembers the last time she answered the door and
got her face and hair pulled about by Misaki (see episode
13). Refusing to open the door until she is convinced she is in
no danger of a repeat performance, Ryoko delays so long that Sasami
comes to check on her. When Sasami opens the door, Ryoko gets a bigger
shock than if it actually were Misaki...
Upstairs,
the PC monitor springs into life and Ryoko pops out. She is in a
state
of shock and almost at a loss for words. Tenchi goes downstairs to
discover, standing in the entrance hall, the reason for Ryoko's
distress — a woman
who appears to be his mother.
