Title card pops right away, and this chapter is called Nothing Ventured...
We then pick up from last time as you and Kyoichi have been trapped by the partitions coming down in the ship. Kyoichi gets back up from his tackling of you and asks if you're okay, so you tell him you're fine and then be concerned about the fact you two are trapped now. Kyoichi is dismayed when he figures that out too, and he attempts to make the partition open up by shooting his chalk bullets at it. This of course fails to do anything. Flamier calls to you from the other side and asks you to step back, then attempts to blow it up from her end.
Akashi coughs from the smoke let off by Flamier's bomb, then notices that some of his hair got singed. Shouen is surprised that no damage has been done to the door despite that, and Flamier says that you guys will have to get around it somehow at this point. Huckle is alarmed and points out that the party has descended a fair way into the ship by now, so blowing a hole in the wall might breach the hull. Hisaki says if that happens, the ship will sink when water starts filling it. Shouen considers using his calligraphy skills to weaken the partition temporarily, but when Hisaki asks if it works on a specific point, he says he doesn't know. Worst case is that it affects everything, and Ryekie says would be dangerous.
As the rest of the party continues discussing how to save you guys, mobs come by and find them. Kyoichi calls to the gang and tells everyone to go on ahead without you guys. The important thing is that not everyone gets captured by the mafia villains, and they can think up of a way to get you two out later. Akashi apologizes to you two and promises to come free you later. Hisaki suggests they break through before more reinforcements show up as the mobs present have started shooting. Soon after, the party's voices and the sounds of gunshot fade into the distance.
You comment on the party getting split like this, and Kyoichi yells you to cover your mouth when he realizes something is in the trap you're both in. He pulls you down after picking up on some sort of hissing sound, then fires a chalk bullet at one end of the room near the ceiling. This plugs up some sort of gas machine and stops it from filling the place you two are in with whatever.
You ask about the machine Kyoichi just stopped, so Kyoichi says things would have been bad if he hadn't noticed it, whether it was sleep gas or poison gas. He sighs about how diabolical the contraption is before plopping his ass down next to you, then apologizes for getting caught with you when he was trying to help you. You turn down the apology since he's not at fault. He came back because you stopped moving after all. Kyoichi asks why you did so to begin with, so you show him the letter he dropped.
Kyoichi thanks you but is surprised at the envelope since he doesn't remember seeing it before. Nothing is written on the outside, so he decides to open it up and finds a letter. He quickly reads it in silence, and once he's done he gives a wry smile as he comments that his Parallel Weapon manifested this thing along with it. He figures that the fact that it came with him meant that it's weighing on his mind, and you ask him about what was written in it.
Kyoichi says you can read it as he hands it over. The contents of the letter is a straightforward confession of love towards Kyoichi, written in the scrawly handwriting of a child. You ask Kyoichi about this being a child's love letter, so he confirms it with a nod as he scratches the back of his head. He elaborates that he saw it written in the thought window of one of his students, so while it's formatted into a physical letter now, the contents are about the same.
Flashback kicks in to Kyoichi coming into his classroom and getting ready to start when he's surprised to see an umbrella drawn on it with his and a student's name written underneath it. The other kids start teasing the kid whose name is on the board for this, and said kid starts to cry. Kyoichi reprimands the students for making fun of another's feelings, but they just turn their attention to him instead and start suggesting he likes said kid and prompt him to say what he thinks of them.
Kyoichi isn't able to articulate an answer, so the other students start hollering about Kyoichi rejecting the kid and pick on them some more. One of the girl students scolds the boys for being insensitive and calls them idiots, but the boys refuse to believe they've done anything wrong. They try to throw in her face that she got a math question wrong, but she says so did they, and the argument goes nowhere. Kyoichi firmly attempts to stop the fuss, though he's depressed that the first child everyone was hassling continues crying silently.
Kyoichi narrates for a moment that he couldn't answer that child's confession and wasn't sure what to say to them. Class passed by without him bringing it up again, and all the students were sent back home. Then Kyoichi starts talking to you about how he's been worried trying to figure out how to talk to this particular student. It's why he thinks the letter materialized for him in his pocket. You comment on how cruel kids can be and how much of a pickle he's in.
Kyoichi insists that his class generally gets along in normal circumstances and that he's proud of them. The incident has taken away their sense of restraint though. He tells you that he's decided to never lie to a child, though he admits he's terrible at lying to begin with. Any time he's tried to conceal something it never worked out. You either nod along like you've figured it was like that already, or you flat out say it was a failure. A has Kyoichi taken aback at how quick you were to agree as he asks if you're Akashi. B instead has him flinch but admit that's true.
Anyways, Kyoichi says that while he's bad at lying, he's also the type to voice his thoughts honestly. It's caused him tons of problems like people hitting him and begrudging him, but he still wishes for honest communication with his kouhai and students. He wants them to be able to talk to him, and he wants to be able to accept anything they may have to say to him. He figured he had to be honest himself due to those thoughts, but his smile betrays a more vulnerable side of him as he admits to be lost on how to respond to the kid without lying. He'd prefer to accept their feelings directly if possible though.
This conversation reminds you of the time you ran into Akashi and he was freaking out at the possibility that you lost your memories again, and you tell Kyoichi that the kid probably wanted him to give them an answer at all. Kyoichi is confused at this, so you ask him what he thought of the kid's feelings. He's surprised at that question, but he says he's glad to be loved and respected like that. He doesn't feel confident that a kid should think of him like that though. They're young, and there's the chance that this is just a phase on their end. He wants to accept, but he feels he can't. Kyoichi thinks for a bit and wonders if it's okay to respond with how he feels if the other side wants an answer. He's reluctant to do so since this has gotten him hit before, so he does believe in a need to watch his words. But if the child wants an answer out of him, he worries that there's only one way to respond and that response isn't one he's okay with giving.
You ask Kyoichi if he's ever confessed his love for anyone himself, and he's surprised by the question but admits that he has. He was shot down, he ugly cried, and thinking about it depresses him. But as Kyoichi talks about that he has a realization that he wanted an answer back then himself. He'd have been happy if his confession was accepted, but if he were flat out told no, he could at least give up on his feelings.
You tell Kyoichi that answer is probably the answer he should give to that child. Kyoichi looks shocked as he scratches the back of his head, and eventually he laughs and comments that his student left him with some pretty hard homework. He thanks you for talking with him about this, and he says he feels he's gotten an idea as to how to respond now. He folds up the letter neatly and pockets it, at which point you guys coincidentally start hearing some knocking coming from the floor. Kyoichi notices and asks about it. The knocking moves away for a bit, and then the floor blows up to your shock. Flamier pops out of the hole a moment later like a whack a mole, glad that she broke through at a nice point.
You call out to Flamier and take note that her transformation came apart. Kyoichi says he figured it was her and asks about her transformation as well. Flamier explains that when she crawled into a duct, she stopped being observed by anyone so the transformation destabilized and fell apart, so she's glad she made it in time with the gunpowder she had in her pockets. Kyoichi is baffled at this and asks what she normally carries around on her person. You say that's dangerous and express amazement she got through security to come to Earth. Either way, Flamier says she saw the duct on the way forward so she came back to rescue you guys. Everyone else is waiting a floor below. Since the villains are busy it's not safe to stay there, and Flamier urges you guys to come with her.
Flamier's warning is cut off as one of the partitions is risen and several mobs pour through. They suspected that you guys wouldn't be down yet, so now they're here to change that. Kyoichi grits his teeth at this and says to Flamier that they should take care of the mobs, which she agrees with. She asks you to transform her, and you comply. Once she's suited up again, she informs you two that there's a large passage way underneath, which is probably close to where you guys need to go. Kyoichi says you guys should finish this bit up and head over, and the episode battle begins. More happens after that.
After the battle we tune in at the point where Flamier and Kyoichi have taken down the mobs, and Kyoichi suggests leaving now. He asks Flamier to lead you guys to the rest of the party, so she agrees and says you'll be going through the duct she came through. She also says to be careful since it'll be cramped. One of the mobs is conscious enough to recognize Flamier's name and radios to the rest of the villains that Astridam's daughter is with the heroes to her surprise. Kyoichi urges her to get going before reinforcements show up, and she agrees though still concerned.
Eventually the three of you reach a wide passageway, twice as wide as every other hallway you guys have passed up to this point where the rest of the party is waiting. Ryekie is glad to see you guys are okay, and you call out to everyone and are relieved to regroup. Akashi was also concerned about you of course, and he asks if Kyoichi did anything to you while you guys were trapped. Kyoichi is shocked at this question and asks what Akashi thinks of him. You either assure Akashi that nothing happened, ask him to have a little more faith in Kyoichi, or claim that Kyoichi did all sorts of things. In A, Akashi relaxes for a bit. Kyoichi insists he's way more of a gentleman than Akashi thinks, but Akashi says this isn't convincing since he's feeling him up while claiming so. In B, Akashi apologizes and reluctantly agrees, but then the same thing in A happens. In C, Akashi tells Kyoichi that they are going to talk later, but Kyoichi freaks out at his expression and insists on his innocence. He also begs you to not run your mouth because Akashi will believe you.
Anyways, Hisaki notes that you guys don't seem to be hurt and is relieved since he was dreading what happened to you guys after getting separated. Kyoichi apologizes for the worry and asks where the villains are since this place doesn't have any of them in sight. Shouen says that they were fighting off some mobs that were around as could be expected until just a second ago. Huckle adds that the villains sent out some sort of mass communication and stopped moving, then dispersed for some reason. Flamier stays quiet as she thinks on that.
Hisaki suggests that the villains are coming up with some other strategy to stop you guys, and Shouen picks up where he trails off on to suggest that the villains are ready to move on with their plot. Huckle says that either way they won't be letting you guys leave that easily, then asks if everyone will keep going since this will likely lead to a confrontation. You say you will since it's too late to back out.
Huckle says that was a silly question to be asking, then asks everyone to get ready since this will be the hardest battle of the night. Akashi psyches himself up for a frontal assault, and Shouen says you guys should be determined to fight for the return of peaceful days. Kyoichi agrees and says you guys should stop the villains before they ruin Valentines. Hisaki thanks you all for coming with him and asks that you fight along with him. Ryekie laughs and says you guys are already a team, so you should all go together to solve the case and save the world.
Flamier is still quietly concerned about the mobs talking about her from earlier, and Hisaki asks her if something is wrong. Flamier is surprised out of her preoccupation and says it's nothing, hoping it's just her imagination. She talks to herself and wonders if her father is involved with things given the mafia knowing who she is and having her father's company's nameplate. She resolves herself to ask the villains about it, and the party ventures forth.
At the end of the large hallway, you are shocked to find a launchpad there with a rocket set up. Hisaki recognizes it as an old model one-way rocket, so the villains are planning to use it to launch a satellite. The entire party is too caught up by this revelation to notice the villains surrounding you guys until it's too late, and Akashi says this was an ambush. One of the mobs step forward and nods in a respectful way, but his eyes clearly hold hostility. Purple Mafia mob comments that he never expected the CEO's daughter to come interfere with their plans herself as he calls Flamier by her full name, their greatest enemy, and the root of all evil. The episode ends with Flamier reacting in confusion to that.
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