Back to episode list

Episode 23 -	Here, There and Everywhere
	natsu honbon / acchi kocchi de / kyū tenkai
	[Summer performance, here and there, a quick development]
First aired -	2nd September 1997

Ryoko, Hotsuma and their gang of bandits are at it again, hitting everywhere from banks to jewellers, bars to designer clothes shops in the pursuit of booty. However, despite her vast wealth, Ryoko is unhappy, and she goes out for a walk to clear her mind.

On Earth, the phenomena caused by Yugi's approach is causing confusion over the city. Sakuya is still confused and depressed about her missing memories, and Tenchi is very concerned about her.

In Okayama, Ayeka is setting more traps to keep Yugi away from the Masaki home. Sasami is still in disbelief that her friend could be the same Yugi that was exiled from Jurai 3,500 years ago. Washu has finished her research on the crystal bracelets, and is amazed by its potential. She moves onto analysing Sakuya, and sends a spy robot out to examine her and send back data.

On the icy planet where Ryoko and Hotsuma's hideout is located, Ryoko is taking a walk through the snow. She builds herself a monster-size snowman, and thinks how much more fun it would be if everyone were here to enjoy it with her. When she returns to the hideout, she hears Hotsuma talking to someone while she is walking along a corridor. She goes to investigate, and finds Hotsuma addressing Yugi via a communicator. He is telling her that he finds Ryoko selfish, insolent and tiresome. Ryoko is angry with him, but not surprised by his behaviour. When she leaves, Yugi orders Hotsuma to eliminate her. As Yugi ends her call to Hotsuma, she decides to dispense with Sakuya herself, and sends Tsugaru to deal with the others.

At the pirates' hideout, Ryoko makes her mind up; seeing the photos of herself and Tenchi on their date (see episode 10), she finally decides to return to Earth, and boards Hotsuma's ship. However, Hotsuma is watching, and detonates a bomb on the ship.

Mihoshi and Kiyone are headed back to Earth. However, Mihoshi has a problem; she has lost her crystal bracelet aboard the ship, and is tearing her quarters apart trying to find it. As Mihoshi searches, Kiyone contemplates that, in a way, they are bonded to Earth by the gems, and their return there is going to be like coming home.

In her palace, Yugi finishes disposing of Sakuya by crushing the crystal shard that represents her, and her very existence is erased. In Tokyo, Tenchi is carrying out his duties at the shrine, and still worrying about Sakuya when Amagasaki and Tsuchida pay him a visit to invite him to the pool. They tease him about how much work he has to do, saying he'll never get a girlfriend when he has no free time. He reminds them about Sakuya, but they say they have never heard of her. He realises that something must be very wrong, and runs to find her. He bursts into his apartment to find her gone. He finds her name in the yearbook, and relaxes a little, but when he puts the book away, her name disappears off the page, and even her image disappears from the photo on Tenchi's desk.

Back in Okayama, Washu's spy probe has brought back data on Sakuya. She analyses an image of the two of them eating together, and finds that when she runs the image through an organic fluctuation filter, Sakuya disappears from the picture altogether. Further tests prove Washu right; Sakuya is nothing more than a phantom, a shadow created by Yugi!

Meanwhile, at the base, Hotsuma surveys the wreckage of the ship, thinking Ryoko has been killed in the blast. However, Ryoko is alive and well, and she rushes Hotsuma, knocking him out of the base and onto the windswept surface of the planet. Ryoko tells him that after she got on the ship, she went back to collect her photographs of Tenchi, thus saving her life. Hotsuma launches into an attack on her, and as he does so, the jewel around Ryoko's wrist begins to glow. Tenchi must be in trouble! On Mihoshi and Kiyone's ship, too, their jewels glow, as do Tenchi's, Washu's, Sasami's and Ayeka's on Earth. In the lake by the Masaki shrine, a glowing circle appears as Yugi draws near. Mihoshi and Kiyone fly their shuttle at full speed back to Earth, but as they enter the planet's atmosphere, they are attacked by Tsugaru.

In Tokyo, Tenchi runs to Sakuya's apartment, but finds it empty...

<< Episode 22 - Sakuya's Secret

Episode 24 - Yugi's Shadow >>

Back to episode list