This episode answers some of the questions I had which, namely what was the nature of Kohana’s issue which was the reason she was being asked to leave Hoshigei. The answer is that her Light of Arte has changed because she’s devoting herself too much to her art. If she continues to put too much of herself into her art, she will become mentally unstable and “destroy herself.”

After the principal and Todo-sensei leave, Kohana is understandably a little shellshocked. She stammers that it must be a mistake, and Juri and the guys take pity vlcsnap-00016on her by agreeing. Kohana leaves, saying she’ll return to her dorm alone, but she never makes it there. Instead she gets distracted by the magical Scala Artista and heads there, where she imagines her mother running away from her up the stairs.

Meanwhile back at the auditorium, Kohana’s friends band together to try to find a cure for Kohana’s condition. Even Teika’s older brothers join in, but the research available is very limited and the group has a hard time finding the information they need. Clues start trickling in, but not before Kohana escalates the situation.

The principal had warned Kohana not to practice her art anymore, or else she risked becoming unstable. However Kohana talks herself into believing that only one attempt at her ikebana will be ok, but then one attempt turns into two, then into four, and by the time Kohana realizes that she can’t get her sparkles to change back it’s too late. Black thorny vines snakes out from her body and twist themselves up the Scala Artista, weighing them down to the point where they collapse down around Kohana.

By this point, Juri had alerted the others that Kohana was missing from their dorm room, and Juri was looking for Kohana with Teika when they heard the stairs crash down. After they find Kohana unconscious, she’s taken to the hospital .

Todo-sensei says that Kohana will remain unconscious until the reason for why she closed off her heart is resolved.

We see that the snowy landscape we saw Kohana walking through at the very beginning of the episode is inside her head. This time around she meets her mother, who says that Kohana is not her child. Next she sees Teika, who calls her a failure and says he wants nothing to do with her. After he disappears, Juri and the other members of the event committee appear in Kohana’s mind one after another and say negative things about her, things they’d have no reason to say in real life.

Kohana tries to leave the winter wasteland, but large black gates prevent her from accessing the Hoshigei grounds. Kohana continues to mentally beat herself up, vlcsnap-00019and it seems like she feels like if she can’t use her magical arts then no one will like her or want to be around her. She falls to the ground where she gives up and tries to avoid thinking about the whole situation, which only causes more black thorny vines to twist around her.

In the real world, Kohana’s body has become very cold and her snowflake sparkles are visible to everyone. At this rate, Kohana will die without regaining
consciousness because her body will just give out. The committee group is dejected, but it’s Teika who gives the standard motivational speech about not giving up and how they should all try their best to help Kohana before it’s too late.

My thoughts: If I have one complaint about this series, it’s that it’s a little predictable. I love shows which throw an unexpected plot twist into the mix – Qualidea Code, for example, did this beautifully. While I did not see Kohana’s illness coming, I can guess how the show will end, and that makes me a little… bitter? Disappointed? Yes I think that’s the word.

So going into the last episode I have no real concern for Kohana, nor am I worried about whether there will be a happy ending or not. I know she’ll be ok. It looks like all the guys will try to enter her subconscious to help bring her out of her self-doubts, but I’m guessing Teika will be the knight in shining armor. Maybe we’ll even get a kiss?

Stay tuned for the final episode next week!