Star Driver Ep. 16: Takuto’s Emblem

Mizuno returns home and her aunt asks her if she knows her mother has come back. Mizuno says she was aware of it last night and they didn’t let her in. Her aunt says she’ll be here for a few more days and gives her her address. Mizuno doesn’t take it so she puts it on a nearby table. Her aunt asks where Marino is as she hasn’t shown up since yesterday. Mizuno thinks to the previous night and says she thinks she said something mean to her. Her aunt asks if she’ll be alright if Marino never comes back. Mizuno wonders what she is talking about. That night she sits alone in her room, wondering when Marino will come back. She remembers that since she’s not a shrine maiden, Marino can leave whenever she wants. She goes to visit Keito in her laboratory. Keito comments on how alien this school feels like on a Sunday when nobody is around. Mizuno asks her how she knows she’s a Shrine Maiden. She feels weak and passes out. At his home, Sugata and Takuto sit in the hot tub. Sugata says that while he was trying to save Wako, he also has had an interest in the power obtained by apprivoising. He thinks back to talking with Reiji, talking about his libido and saying he doesn’t desire to kill the Galactic Pretty Boy. Sugata asks Takuto his thoughts, since he hasn’t really expressed an interest in the power. Takuto flashes back to being with a pair of his friends, Natsuo and Hana, and Natsuo talks about the chance he has. Wako angrily yells at them from outside for taking so long and they invite her to come in with them. She suddenly senses something strange. Mizuno wakes up in the Glittering Crux headquarters, in a chair and surrounded by Glittering Crux members. Keito dismisses Mizuno’s claim that she simply tricked her and says she’ll help her get off this island. Mizuno is held by several men while Keito pulls down the top of her shirt, showing the emblem on her chest. She talks about Mizuno being able to resist being transported to Zero-Time despite bearing it and says that is rare even among Glittering Crux. She thinks even the Southern Shrine Maiden doesn’t have this ability. She wonders if she has been imposing that duty on the alter-ego she created. Mizuno is confused and Keito says it’s the pseudo-family she created when she was young. Mizuno recalls her aunt telling her she was an only child. When young, crying and only wanting to think of happy things Marino appeared. Mizuno appears within the Cybody Menma appearing in the symbol in the sky. A Cybody that looks somewhat like Tauburn, the Reshbal, appears below and draws a sword. Suddenly time stops and the emblem glows on Takuto’s chest. Takuto appears in Zero-Time and watches as the Cybody slashes at Mizuno, shattering her seal. Wako and Sugata watch the symbol in the sky change shape with a second seal nullified.

Takuto rushes towards Mizuno as she floats down to the ground. Reiji announces to his colleagues that he has shattered the Western Shrine Maiden’s seal and they can now enter third phase. He also proclaims that today they will destroy the Tauburn. Reiji apprivoises with the Reshbal and asks Takuto if he thought he was the only Galactic Pretty Boy. Takuto tells Mizuno to stay back and an orb appears around her. Takuto apprivoises with the Tauburn, which appears and he becomes the Galactic Pretty Boy. The Tauburn pulls out its star swords and launches an attack with them, but Reiji defends against them and launches a counter-attack. He then lunges at the Tauburn and grabs it in the face, tossing it aside. The Tauburn launches its Tau Galaxy Beam but the Reshbal dodges it. The Reshbal knocks the Tauburn to the ground and Reiji asks if his is all he has. Reiji’s sword increases its glow and Reiji says now that he’s in third phase his weapon can sap the power of emblems of those with weak libidos. The star swords disappear from the Tauburn’s hands, as does the emblem from Takuto’s chest. Takuto finds that he can’t move because of this light. Suddenly the emblem appears again in Takuto’s chest and he grabs Reiji’s sword as he attacks him. The Tauburn gets up again, its star swords restored. The Tauburn transforms and glows with a powerful red light. Mizuno finds herself seeing Takuto with his friends Natsuo and Hana, who have created some sort of flying device. Takuto is hesitant to do anything but Natsuo is confident, and wants to hear the voice of the world. Natsuo pilots his device off the hill and it glides above the water, amazing Takuto. However, the wings of the device break soon after. Natsuo returns to the shore and says he’s okay, with a smile. Takuto and Hana comment on how he always has a smile. Later after Natsuo has died, Takuto asks Hana if she knows about Natsuo’s illness. Takuto heads out and is able to fly with Natsuo’s device and says he can hear the voice of the world as well before the device crashes into the forest below. Despite being hurt and stuck up in a tree, Takuto laughs, a wound that looks like his emblem appearing on his chest. His grandfather tells him how he taught him to avoid unnecessary adventures. Takuto says the doctors told Natsuo he had less than a year to live, but he still behaved in dazzling fashion and he wondered if he could behave that way as well. His grandfather says he was wounded in the same manner of his emblem and he will give the family emblem to him. He asks Takuto if he wants to meet the father who abandoned him. Mizuno realizes he is the same as her. Takuto says yes and that he will go to the island, saying he also has a strong feeling that he should go there. His grandfather calls him a dazzling Galactic Pretty Boy. Back in the present Takuto proclaims he can hear the voice of the world and that Reiji doesn’t understand. He throws one of his star swords at the Reshbal and slices through it with the other as it is stunned. The Reshbal explodes and time returns to normal. Takuto is on a bus with Mizuno and asks her if she is alright, since Wako mentioned she was worried. Mizuno says he talks to her like a big brother but it’s different with Wako. He’s still the Takuto she imagined him to be. The bus drops them off at the port and she gets off, saying she’s glad she met him. Takuto says he’ll see her tomorrow. Mizuno gets on the ferry and it heads off. She comments on how her mother has left the island but she is about to leave the island and go after her so she can say goodbye face to face. Her phone goes off with a message from Marino who says that illusions that don’t fade away are already reality. Mizuno admits she’s going to see her mother, and says she didn’t think she’d be able to see her again unless she said goodbye to her in person. She starts crying, saying she wants to see her and Marino reveals she’s right behind her, saying she is helpless without her.