Team Nowhere is left divided as they scramble to find their way into Megalonia by stopping Mikio’s inauguration as the final contender. I’m excited to see what the last few episodes will contain if we’re only a couple weeks before the finale where we’ll inevitably get our rematch between Joe and Yuri while Mikio and either one of the two other Megalonia candidates will stand in his way.
Joe is despondent on what to do from here as backing out of the fight has given Mikio his seat on Megalonia’s four-man arrangement. With the official announcement of his inclusion being one night away, Nanbu is called back to Fujimaki’s restaurant where he at least salvages his and Sacchio’s life by declaring that they have not yet given up on their Megalonia venture. Fujimaki is deadly serious on what he will have Nanbu pay for if he fails but he is satisfied with the answer that the latter provides and decides to lend a hand. As Nanbu explains that Mikio was able to intimidate them with knowledge of Joe’s fake ID, Fujimaki reveals that someone showed up recently and asked around about Joe, but Fujimaki is confident that Mikio only used an accurate assumption instead of having any concrete evidence to provide if anybody asked. Fujimaki brings in his men to find someone who could help their situation on knowing why Mikio would try and fake them out like this. A former engineer of Shirato Corps is brought in and he spills the beans about the advanced Gear project that Mikio spear-headed. The project had a lot of defects however and the head of Shirato decided to work on a new project, and the two separate designs competed against one another. This culminated in Yuri’s Integrated Gear being officially prioritized. Nanbu then recalls his information broker’s words about how Shirato Yukiko was personally against her brother from entering Megalonia. When asked further about Mikio’s AI enhanced gear, Nanbu finds out the true reason as to why Mikio faked them out.
Back at home, Sacchio informs Joe about Nanbu’s findings at how Mikio’s Gear analyzes the movement patterns of other gears, not other fighters. This meant that Joe would be beyond the AI’s assistance for Mikio but Joe disagrees that Mikio feared him and recalls his eyes and expression that viewed Joe as nothing but dirt. Nanbu takes this information to Shirato HQ to Yukiko herself where he tries to appeal for a rematch between Joe and Mikio. Yukiko is uninterested and skeptical to believe anything Nanbu has to say if he can’t bother to explain why he and Joe forfeited the match in the first place. Yukiko prepares to leave and Nanbu comes clean with their story and admits that while she doesn’t need to trust him, she should trust Joe’s skills instead. Yukiko still leaves and Nanbu is left trapped in the meeting room while the induction ceremony begins. Sacchio and his crew gather around the TV as they watch the televised event occur and the former is worried about Nanbu not responding to any calls. Nanbu is able to get a call through his limited signal but Sacchio mentions that Joe is nowhere to be found.
As the ceremony proceeds and Yukikio walks over to Mikio to hand him his literal ticket into Megalonia but Joe rides on through the red carpet on his bike and interrupts the hand-off. Mikio tells him off but Yukikio at the very least agrees that Megalonia’s last position is for a true fighter and not someone who ended up winning by default. Yukiko splits the ticket in half and hands one over to Joe and Mikio and announces a rematch for the last spot for Megalonia. While Joe sees this as righting a wrong, Mikio flat out admits that he won’t bother hiding his intentions to ruin his sister’s business with his own hands.
Lair of the Idle 