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Evergreen Holy Night: The episode starts off with Keiichi having a dream about giving Belldandy a ring. As a pair of wings appear on her back she apologizes to him returns to Heaven... Keiichi wakes up screaming and a worried Belldandy is by his side. When she asks what's wrong he replies that it's nothing. Looking worried, Belldandy leaves to fetch Keiichi a glass of water. Next morning. During the night snow has covered the temple and its surroundings, and Skuld and Urd do not neglect the chance to have a fight. Skuld has made a small snowball-firing mecha while Urd uses her magic to create a huge macho snowman. As with most things, Belldandy is happy about the snow. However, to their surprise they discover that only the temple and its surroundings are covered by snow! Keiichi and Skuld look suspiciously at Urd and ask her if she's responsible for the snow. Urd denies any responsibility and Skuld runs off to make a mecha to clear away the snow. Keiichi climbs up on the temple's roof to shovel away the snow in order to relieve the roof of the extra weight. Belldandy stands below and tells him to be careful. However, something furry in the snow makes Keiichi lose his balance and he falls off the roof. Belldandy uses her powers to save him from getting hurt. Keiichi thanks her, but Urd and Skuld are immediately there to scold him for being so careless. He replies that it wasn't his fault - there was "something strange in the snow." This causes the gang to look around for the thing that caused Keiichi to fall off the roof, and Skuld sees one of those 8-legged bunny bugs hopping merrily around in the snow. With awe-inspiring skill she "debugs" the problem with her hammer. The snow disappears - it seems the snow was just a result of a bug in the Yggdrasil system! Inside, the gang are seated around the table, when all sorts of weird things start to happen. First Keiichi's coffee begins to boil in the cup, then the table disappears beneath Urd's hands. And suddenly Keiichi seems to work as a gigantic magnet, as all sorts of cutlery and KNIVES home in on him! Skuld puts on a pair of debugging glasses and discovers a "bug portal". She produces a heavily modified rice-cooker and sucks several bugs into it. The phone rings and Belldandy answers it. Surprised, she hears the voice of Kami-sama in the other end. He tells her that she's being called back and that she has three days to fix things before her time is up. Belldandy sadly explains things to Keiichi and apologizes. He then asks if she can come back after she's done whatever it is Kami-sama wants her to do. Belldandy says yes, but seems unsure. At school, people are wondering whether Belldandy broke up with Keiichi since he's alone in class. Keiichi himself is not used to not having her by his side, and asks to borrow her eraser, only to remember she's not there. Sayoko comes late to class and sits down next to Keiichi, trying to "get" him as usual. Meanwhile, Belldandy goes to school in order to give Keiichi some tea. They see each other in one of the corridors, but when Keiichi runs towards Belldandy one of the windows explodes, showering him with splinters. She runs towards him, but slows down for each footstep until she stops up completely. Sayoko reaches Keiichi first and asks if he's okay, before proceeding to complain about the quality of the building. In the meantime, Belldandy has vanished. Later, when Keiichi is in the dining hall, Belldandy tries to walk over to him but one of the vending machines near her explodes and she runs off. Megumi eats lunch with her brother and inquires about Belldandy. Keiichi tells her that Belldandy will have to go back to her own country, and Megumi points out that a distant love-relationship will not work out... She then suggests he should spend three months' allowance on a present to Belldandy; a ring. Keiichi asks Tamiya-sempai for a job and Hasegawa asks why he needs the money. He gets a bit angry, but calms down and asks Hasegawa to deliver a message to Belldandy for him. The message tells Belldandy to go home by herself since Keiichi can't take her home. Belldandy is in the ladies' room and prepares to go home through the mirror when suddenly Sayoko comes in. Caught with her hand on the mirror, Belldandy pretends to be cleaning it with the sleeve of her jacket. Sayoko tells her that "If you don't come back for him, I'll take him away." She is upset that she won't have a chance to compete with her anymore if Belldandy is going away. When Belldandy comes home, Keiichi, Urd and Skuld stand by the now naked cherry tree and looks up in the air. Skuld tells her sister that it's the tree that's drawing the bugs into the world and Belldandy panics. She has some kind of traumatic experience linked to this tree, but it's not clear exactly what that experience is. She cries and apologizes. Keiichi walks towards her and tries to make her explain what's going on - "how can I help if all you do is apologize?" For each step he takes, parts of the temple is torn off. Belldandy finally runs away, into the temple.... For The Love Of A Goddess: Belldandy is being called back to heaven in 3 days at 10 am on Christmas day. She is horrified of the withered cherry tree. Keiichi is depressed that Belldandy is being recalled. He goes to Belldandy's room but Skuld stops him from entering, telling him that he should realize the consequence of being in close proximity to Belldandy. Urd joins in and tells Keiichi to hold back. Keiichi goes back to the study but finally decides that he needs to talk to Belldandy. He goes back to her room, standing outside the sliding door, and Belldandy wants to let him in. He tells Belldany not to open the door and not to come closer. He apologizes for earlier asking Belldandy to answer the mystery surrounding the cherry tree. He then leaves for the part-time jobs that his sempei has found for him. Belldandy sheds a few tears. Keiichi works a lot of odd jobs to buy Belldandy a gift for Christmas. He sees a really pretty ring in a jewelry shop and remembers the time when he did not have money after the race to buy Belldandy a ring she liked. Despite the price tag of ¥58000 he resolves to get it for Belldandy. Meanwhile, Belldandy is working hard on knitting a sweater for Keiichi as a parting gift. Skuld is happy that Belldandy is returning to heaven, but Urd talks Skuld into working out something that will stop the cherry tree from releasing more bugs and also breaks the abnormal bond between Belldandy and Keiichi that causes more bugs to appear when they get close. She said that it was for the good of Belldandy. Skuld works away in front of a computer sustained by lots of ice cream. Belldandy walks in, and they scramble to turn of computer off. Neither Urd nor Skuld wants Belldandy to know what they are up to. Skuld tries to shut off the monitor. When Belldandy leaves, Skuld cries and tells Urd that she accidentally shut the computer off instead and that she lost all the work she had done. Work...work..work...by everybody, two days pass. Belldandy marks the day of departure on a calender. Keiichi gets really tired and calls home to tell Belldandy not to wait for him for dinner. Belldandy is sad after hanging up the phone. She stays up waiting for Keiichi to come home. She is not herself, even not hearing the whistling tea kettle when she boils water. Keiichi comes home really late and falls asleep at the entrance hallwall. Urd uses her magic to put him to bed and lights up some incense so he will have a good rest. Keiichi dreams about all the good times he had with Belldandy, but he keeps remembering the times he does not keep a promise to Belldandy, especially not having money. Next morning, he leaves early and leaves Belldandy a note asking her to be sure to wait for him before she goes back to heaven. Skuld has found a way to deal with the bug problem so Urd and Skuld start working in the courtyard. Skuld starts drawing some elaborate figure on the ground, and Urd cites some incantation that spreads a bunch of pebbles in a circle. Belldandy starts erasing evidence of her in the house. She wipes out letter, pictures, toys, etc. She looks at a photograph holder which has pictures of her and Keiichi at the beach, them and the rest of the gang after the cycle race, etc. The memory brings her to tears, but she erases her image anyways. The sweater is done, and she wraps it up and puts it on Keiichi's desk, asking Kami-sama just this one thing that she can leave for Keiichi. That done, with only minutes before scheduled time, she changes back into the clothes she wore when first appearing in front of Keiichi. There is a long transformation sequence. She walks out to the courtyard and recognizes what Urd and Skuld were doing. She tells them not to do it for her sake because Kami-sama would punish them. Keiichi is running out of time. He rushes to the store, buys the ring, and makes it home just as the gate to heaven opens up. He runs to the courtyard just as Belldandy is being lifted off the ground. He struggles to reach for Belldandy, telling her that even though she is not able to keep her promise of staying with him, he remembers his promise to get her a ring. The force field generated by the shaft of light makes it impossible for him to reach Belldandy, and he gets blown back. Yet he tries again. Belldandy is telling him to stop trying to reach her for his safety. The diagram drawn by Skuld is finished, and Urd activates the spell. Blinding flash...explosion.... Urd is lying on the ground. She recovers her senses and rises. Skuld is knocked silly and is uttering "ice cream... ice cream....". Belldandy gets up and rushes to Keiichi, who is unconscious on the ground. Urd slaps Skuld a few times trying to wake her up. Keiichi appears dead, and Belldandy cries in anguish. Skuld asks Urd whether Keiichi is dead, and Urd says no, but Keiichi's fading fast and needs help to bring his consciousness back. She asks Belldandy to "go in" and bring Keiichi around. Belldandy touches her forehead to Keiichi's and starts a journey down memory lane. In the following Keiichi's voice is still the grown-up Keiichi's as he remembers the past and converses with Belldandy. When Keiichi is little, one day he sees a shaft of light coming down on a nearby hill. He runs to the hill to the old 'otera' and into the light, feeling it to be warm and soft. Little Bell-chan is there, standing underneath a tree. She comes to visit earth. She asks Keiichi to be her friend, and they spend the next week playing together. Bell-chan likes some pretty rings at a toy-for-sale cart, but little Keiichi does not enough money to buy them for her. He asks Bell-chan to promise to meet him the next day, and they promise by hooking their little pinkies. Little Bell-chan does not know at that time that being a Goddess, she is not old enough to make such a promise, and Kami-sama gets really mad at her. She is to erase Keiichi's memory of her visit or be put to death. Little Keiichi is disappointed that Bell-chan does not show up at the meeting spot and runs to where they first meet. He finds Bell-chan crying at the tree. Bell-chan tells him that she needs to erase his memory, and little Keiichi tells her to go ahead. Bell-chan generates a ball of light and touches it to Keiichi's forehead, erasing his memory, but promises herself that one day she will return and thus keeps her promise even though Keiichi would not remember the promise. As the flash-back sequence ends, we see Belldandy's image fading away while Belldandy sadly tells Keiichi that she has kept her promise and has returned to his side, but she will need to erase the memory of her from his mind again.... Keiichi opens his eyes and sees Belldandy. He asks about the her being recalled, and Belldandy replies that she needs to ask Kami-sama about what to do next. A lightning bolt strikes next to them, bringing a plaque with Kami-sama's message. Urd goes to read it: "The leak of bugs to the human world is stopped, and 1st level, 2nd category goddess Belldandy can stay on earth". Belldandy throws her arms around Keiichi, crying in joy. Urd sees that there is more message.... "2nd level 2nd category goddess Urd uses a spell without permission and is punished to stay on earth another 30 days" .... "Skuld's training is to continue on earth, and she may not return to Heaven until she has taken care of all the bugs that have leaked out". Keiichi gives Belldandy the ring.... At night, Urd's magic creates Christmas lights on the cherry tree..... |
