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Episode 9 -	No Need for Memories!
	Tsuioku muyō!
First aired -	28th May 1995

The Masaki household awakes one morning to find a deep snowfall covering the ground. As Sasami and Ryo-Ohki have fun playing in the snow, Tenchi watches, remembering how he used to enjoy the snow as a child. Outside, in the centre of the lake, a shimmering beam of light is cast from below the chilly surface into the grey skies above. The lake begins to freeze.

Meanwhile, Ryoko is not enjoying the cold weather, and is sitting at the kotatsu*, shivering and looking miserable. Nobuyuki is cooking breakfast, and asks Tenchi to go to the shrine and ask Katsuhito to join them.

When Tenchi arrives at the shrine, he is surprised to find his grandfather still in bed. However, when he tries to wake him, he finds that he has pulled the old "pillows under the bedclothes" trick, and is waiting in a closet to ambush Tenchi! After cornering Tenchi with a skilful manoeuvre, he reminds his grandson that, despite the snow, he still wants to see him for his usual sword practice.

After breakfast, Tenchi sets out for his sword practice. Nobuyuki too has duties to fulfil; he has to go to the office and finish some architectural drawings. It seems that Sasami is the only one who can enjoy the snow today, and she busies herself turning Azaka and Kamidake into giant mobile snowmen.

Later, Ayeka comes across Tenchi and Katsuhito practising swordplay in the forest. She notices how similar their fighting style is to that used on Jurai. Taking a break from his practice, Tenchi sits with Ayeka under a tree, drinking hot tea from a thermos she brought. Ayeka asks Tenchi why he needs to practise sword fighting, and he has to admit that he has never really thought about it; he has simply been doing it since his childhood. They are interrupted when Sasami meets them. She has noticed the beam of light coming from the lake, and suspects that it could be from Ryu-Oh. They arrive a short while later at the lake, and find that a small seedling has sprouted; Ayeka's ship's life tree, Ryu-Oh, is regenerating itself.

That evening, the family sit indoors watching the snow and drinking sake (rice wine). Ryoko and Ayeka's appetite for alcohol means that, between them, Katsuhito and Nobuyuki, they have finished the whole bottle, so they send Tenchi out to buy some more. When he finally arrives back, the long walk in the freezing weather has done him no good, and he passes out. Since everyone else is asleep from having drunk too much sake, Sasami is the only one who can help him. She asks Azaka and Kamidake what to do, and they suggest giving him some sap from the Ryu-Oh seedling, which is used on Jurai to cure illness. Sasami prays in front of the seedling, and it responds to her by producing a droplet of its precious sap.

In Tenchi's dreams, he remembers the last snowy day when he was a young boy. He recalls the day that his father came to him as he played in the snow to tell him of the death of his mother.

Tenchi awakes with a start to find Sasami fast asleep at his bedside where she watched over him. After thanking Sasami for looking after him, Tenchi rushes to the shrine where Nobuyuki and Katsuhito are waiting. They are praying at the grave of Tenchi's mother, in memory of the day she died.

Azaka and Kamidake, having witnessed Tenchi's fast recovery, ponder over the effectiveness of Juraian life-tree sap on non-Juraian life-forms. They conclude that since Tenchi is perfectly healthy again, it must work on Earthlings too.

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Episode 10 - No Need for an Arch Rival! >>

* kotatsu - a low table with an electric or charcoal heater underneath and a heavy drape (kotatsugake / kotatsubuton) around the edge to keep the warmth in. They are often used in Japanese households in cold weather to keep the feet and legs warm.

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