Planetes Phase 15: In Her Case

Hachi, Tanabe, Fee, Yuri, Myers and Lavie are in for their yearly medical checkup. Tanabe wonders where Edel is, and Lavie explains that she’s not with them because she’s only a contract worker, rather than a regular employee. Tanabe says that she thought it was strange since Edel is always on time, and the others chime in regarding how reliable Edel is. They note, however, that she does seem pretty humorless. Just then the nurse shows up to check them in, and to their surprise the nurse is none other than Edel. Edel explains that she works at the hospital twice a month, but becomes annoyed when Tanabe asks further questions. At an OSA briefing, Gigalt describes a trio that has come to Seven for some sort of illegal deal. One of the officers wonders why’d they’d come all the way to Seven, but Hakim explains that, as Seven is under INTO law, if they are caught their punishment will be less severe. As Gigalt finishes up the briefing, he collapses in pain. The next day, Edel inquires as to Tanabe’s whereabouts only to be told that Tanabe is taking a personal day. Edel explains that Tanabe’s EVA license renewal is due today, but she hasn’t turned it in yet. Just then she gets an e-mail which causes her to ask for the afternoon off. Meanwhile, Tanabe and Hachi are at a cafe on their first date, which is going rather awkwardly. After a long uncomfortable silence, Tanabe asks him how long he’s had feelings for her. Hachi chokes on his drink and tries to turn the tables, asking her how long she’s had feelings for him. She admits that she thinks she fell for him after the first time they went into space together. Now forced to answer the question, Hachi fumbles for an answer but is interrupted by Cheng-Shin, who just happened to be passing by. Hachi fumbles for an excuse as Hakim and another OSA officer, undercover and across the promenade, are trying to locate the three criminals. They have two of them in their sights, but are waiting for the third to show up before revealing themselves. Hachi apologizes to Cheng-Shin for stealing his girl. Cheng-Shin quickly recovers and decides to be mature about all this–noting that it’s not like he had any real claim on her anyway. Tanabe and Hachi’s awkward date continues with them running into a couple of Tanabe’s other friends, who identify Hachi as the subject of many of Tanabe’s angry rants before Tanabe grabs Hachi and escapes. Hachi wonders why they keep running into people they know and Tanabe notes that the promenade is the only place on Seven to go to have fun. As they try and figure where they can go that can afford them a bit of privacy, Lucie notices them and supplies them with their answer. She takes them to Hotel Spica, explaining that renting a room for a few hours to eat or watch a movie is just about the only way for a couple on Seven to get a little privacy. Hachi and Tanabe are a bit flustered about going to a hotel, but decide to try it anyway. 

Tanabe fawns over the hotel room, eventually managing to trip and knocks Hachi onto the bed in the process. After a short uncomfortable silence, Hachi makes the best of an awkward situation by going in for a kiss, only to have Tanabe jump up screaming. Fortunately for Hachi, this is only because she just noticed that someone is hiding behind the bed. Hachi calls the guy out, threatening to call the cops. The man, who’s name is Sasha, explains that there’s no reason to call the cops, as he’s got a very good reason for being back there. He goes into a long story about how he was once in love. He and the girl were so much in love that he proposed to her after only two weeks and went to ask her parents for approval. They turned him down, saying that he was just too foreign. He kept at it, but eventually they sent his girlfriend into space to keep her out of his reaches. After five years, he’s finally made it to where she is and is planning to meet her in this very hotel room, as he accidentally told her he was in room 35 rather than 25. Elsewhere, Edel is in an elevator, carrying a note which says ‘room 35.’ She seems to be experiencing a rather violent memory from her past. Sasha, whose story has completely taken Tanabe in at this point, continues talking about years of saving money so he could get back to his lost love. At that moment, the elevator in the hall stops, and Sasha hides behind a curtain, explaining that he’s a little afraid of seeing her again. Tanabe gets the door and is shocked to find Edel on the other side. Meanwhile, back on the promenade, Claire sits at a table, somewhat depressed. Just then the two men at a nearby table notice OSA agents and pull guns. One of them points his weapon at Claire, but is knocked down by Hakim. A short battle ensues, and the two men are taken into custody. Hakim asks Claire if she’s okay, noting that they seem to keep running into each other. Hakim asks one of his underlings if they managed to nab Sasha at the hotel, but is informed that no one was in room 25. Back in room 35, Tanabe seems extremely pleased with the situation, telling Edel that Sasha’s been working for five years just to see her. Edel asks Sasha if he’s still using that old con. Sasha asks her to be a bit nicer, seeing as how they’ve been apart for five years. Edel responds that it’s only been four years and eight months–she’s been counting the days until they will have been apart five years, because then she can get a divorce without his consent. Sasha asks Edel to come back to him, but Edel starts getting angry, relating a marriage of prostitution and beatings, and then she pulls out a wire anchor launcher–a device normally used to fire ropes into spaceship hulls, but which can work pretty well as a murder weapon in a pinch. Trying to talk himself out of a rather unwieldy chest piercing, Sasha tells her that for them–people without family or educations–that was the only way they could survive. Not backing down, Edel angrily tells him that she’s got a job and is even working part time jobs in her spare time to make money for school. Edel’s finger moves toward the trigger, but Tanabe puts herself between Edel and Sasha. Edel tells her that Sasha isn’t worth saving, but Tanabe tells her that Sasha isn’t the one she’s trying to save. Tanabe tells Edel that and she’s not going to let her throw it all away just because of Sasha. Noticing that this can no longer go well for him, Sasha pushes Tanabe into Edel and takes the weapon, but is promptly tackled by Hachi. Hachi manages to get the weapon back, but Sasha bolts for the door, where he’s caught by Hakim and arrested. As Sasha is dragged away, a shaken Tanabe grips Hachi’s hand as Edel explains that she wasn’t going to shoot him, she just wanted to scare him into making sure that she never saw him again. Tearing up, Edel says she’ll never go back to that place, or to him. As Hakim exits the hotel, he is informed that Gigalt has stabilized after a night in the hospital. The next day, Tanabe shows up for work early and notices that Edel is already there. Tanabe attempts to bring up what happened the day before, but Edel tells her that her EVA license renewal was due yesterday. Tanabe starts going through her desk looking for it, but Edel tells her that she’s already filled it out and submitted it for her. Tanabe formally thanks her, and Edel tells her that she can just call her ‘Edel’ from now on.