This episode centres on two main families: Airi and Gutoku, and Johannes, Kasumi and Asuha. As the episode begins, Airi and Gutoku are watching the battle from their headquarters, and Airi’s talking like she’s not going to be around for much longer. She muses that her species has changed bodies so many times that they no longer what their original form looks like anymore.
Airi comments that she initially thought of the kids as just tools, but she grew to love them the more she worked with them. It sounds like both Airi and Gutoku are unhappy with this war, and might be taking steps to stop it once and for all.
Meanwhile over by the Saitama Administration, more Unknown ships are pouring in through the dimensional hole. Johannes’ ship sets up the Guaranteed-to-Kill-Unknown cannon (yes that’s its real name) and prepares to launch a counterattack, while Ichiya and the others retreat inside the ship at Johannes’ urging. 
The attack goes off and Johannes’ army is able to wipe out vast numbers of Unknown, and it looks like the good guys stand a chance at winning. But then the remaining Unknown focus on Johannes’ ship and one manages to partially break through it shield, setting off an attack which severely injures Johannes. After the attack the Unknown retreat and remain stationary; Johannes’ subordinates are not sure how to proceed.
Johannes still insists that Kasumi and Asuha don’t need to fight, and right before she passes out she urges her Vice Commander to carry out their plan. She falls unconscious afterwards and is taken to the hospital, where Asuha and Kasumi muse about their new relationship with their mother. Asuha in particular has gone from being apprehensive towards the new parental figure in her life to tentatively looking forward to sharing a mother-daughter relationship. Asuha and Kasumi then leave their mother to rest, with Kasumi casually telling his mother that he’ll be borrowing her army.
Outside the battle is still raging on. Aoi pines for Airi and Gutoku, while Hotaru and Maihime sit down on the top deck to have a chat about important things in their lives that they want to protect. It seems both girls also want to protect Airi and Gutoku, even though they’re the Unknown who took them away from their birth families.
Kasumi and Asuha touch base with the ship’s Vice Commander to share Kasumi’s idea with him. He doesn’t want Kasumi or Asuha to have to fight, but they literally hold him at gunpoint and force him to go along with their plan. Kasumi’s idea is for their team to split up – Johannes’ ship will attack from the front, while Kasumi, Asuha and the others will travel along the river and attack the Unknown from the rear.
Kasumi also tries to talk Ichiya and Canaria into joining them. Ichiya is initially reluctant, but Kasumi is eventually able to convince him. Kasumi also teases Ichiya by finally saying out in the open that he loves Canaria, much to Ichiya’s embarrassment.
So Canaria and Ichiya rendezvous with Kasumi and the others, and together the six of them travel along the water on a boat towards the Unknown’s tower which is generating the dimensional gate. They also need to rescue the children who are still in cold sleep. As the boat zips along the water, Ichiya and Canaria have a private chat and Canaria says for the first time that she loves Ichiya. He doesn’t reply directly, but from his teasing we know that he hears her and is secretly very happy about her revelation.
Kasumi’s group heads into the tower with Aoi trailing in the rear, and it’s clear she’s having trouble wrapping her head around the idea of killing Airi and Gutoku. Once inside the tower Hotaru and Maihime split away from the group to rescue the sleeping children, while Ichiya and the others confront Gutoku.
However Gutoku has a revelation of his own: he is human, not an Unknown. He’s a human who fell in love with an Unknown in human form, and has been helping them with their plans to kidnap Japan’s children and brainwash them into fighting their parents. Presumably this is because he loves Airi and wants to be with her. However it sounds like Airi is thinking of sacrificing herself in order to close the dimensional gate…
Inside the massive cold sleep chamber, Maihime and Hotaru see just how many hundreds (if not thousands) of children are left to rescue. Suddenly a massive Unknown descends from the ceiling and hovers in front of them. Is this Airi’s true form??
My thoughts: We’re getting so close to the end! I was definitely surprised by Gutoku’s bombshell that he is human and always has been. Is his love for Airi really so strong that he would turn against his own species and help kidnap their children? Help kill his fellow humans when they attempted to rescue their children?
I think this episode did an awesome job at looking different families and their love for each other, and how far parents will go in order to protect their children. I’m still the most curious about what’s going on with Airi, and whether she will really sacrifice her life in order to protect “her children” by closing the dimensional gate.
Ughhh Gutoku’s face in the second gallery screencap makes my heart hurt. ;~;