01x16 - Io Taurus Gets To Work

[bunniefuu]

Hurry! Hurry!

Every morning, we take the road to school
from our dorm and through the town.

They call the sight the Flock of
Starlings. The town's famous for it.

Sorry, I'll see you at school.

Io?

Excuse me!

May I help you carry that?

Oh, you wouldn't mind?

Not a bit.

I want to be helpful to others.

I appreciate it.

- This is so heavy.

- Io's an angel!

Taurus Magic: Gugalanna!

Huh?! Io?!

Hey, Io! What are you doing?!

Oh, Professor Claude.

Good morning.

I thought I'd help this old lady out.

You're holding her like King Kong!

Don't worry. I'm holding her gently.

That's not the issue here!

Io's a really good girl,
but she's also really ditzy.

I see...

You had good intentions in trying
to help an old lady with a cane.

However...

- Your Giant Magic makes you exceptionally
large, even compared to other Tauruses,

- AVERAGE PERSON

- AVERAGE GIANT MAGIC SIZE

- which is both a talent and a curse.

You see why that would cause a panic
if you use it in the middle of town, yes?

A panic...

I'm sorry. I just want to be
helpful, but it never works out.

Do you want to try volunteering?

Volunteering?

You'd be serving the academy,
helping with cleaning

and taking care of younger
students and such.

Normally, it's used as punishment
for students who break the rules.

I'd love to!

Y-Yeah?

Well, then, let's have you work with him.

Castor.

Yeah?

You'll be participating.

Huh? Why should I?

You got in a fight again, didn't you?
We got complaints from other students.

I just scared off a kid
who was ogling Pollux.

You took it too far.

Let's do this, Castor!

No way.

Why, though?

Volunteering is just virtue signaling.

You're still being virtuous,
even if it's just signaling.

Shut it!

Maybe putting these polar opposites
together isn't such a good idea.

All right, Io, Castor, Spica,

you three will be cleaning the
middle school's Building Two.

We'll be using this place
for classes starting next year,

so put your backs into it.

It's pretty gross.

I guess it's been neglected for a while.

Uh... Professor, may I ask something?

What is it?

Why am I here with them?!

Because I can't trust
these two on their own!

Please! I'll give you pudding!

Nothing in my character
profile says I like pudding!

I know! I'm sorry! Please!

Sure, fine.

Really?

Io's doing it to be helpful, right?

I should learn from her.
I'll give it a try.

Spica!

Yeah! The three of us
can do this together!

Thanks, Spica.

I'll give you two puddings.

Five, please.

Three.

But I had forgotten...

Castor, you have to work.

Sheesh!

This spot's all done.

Okay, let's start mopping.

Okay.

Here I go!

What is this intensity?

It's almost like...

an out-of-control charging bull!

Io, stop!

That's right.

I'd forgotten that Io has absurd strength.

How did this happen?!

I'm sorry.

I've never been good at self-restraint.

I always end up using way
more strength than I mean to.

Taurus Magic makes the
user's body stronger.

But once in a while, there are students
who can't control their own strength,

and it gets out of control.

Io...

Go back to your dorms for today.

We'll continue tomorrow.

Okay.

Don't be so down, Io.

All you did was wreck a wall.
It's not a big deal.

I'm so useless.

Castor!

So why do you want to help other people?

There's someone I look up to.

I want to become like them.

Huh? Who? Your crush?

Professor Deneb, the nurse.

She's always helping the
students. She's like an angel.

Professor Deneb's Taurus Magic

lets her strengthen not just her
own body, but other people's, too.

I could do so much for people
if I could do that.

I'm sure you can do it.

Nah.

Professor Deneb teaches
the Zodiac Mastery class.

She teaches us healing magic,

but it's too hard for me because I'm
not good at controlling my own power.

I don't have any confidence
that I could do that.

- Maybe not now, but keep
working at it, and someday...

- It's not happening.

Castor!

It's irresponsible to baselessly
encourage someone.

She doesn't have to give up
before she's even tried!

Can you take responsibility
when she fails?

Calm down, you two!

Why is he being so abrasive?

I understand what Castor's trying to say,

and I appreciate your
encouragement, Spica.

I just wish you wouldn't fight.

Io...

H-Hey...

You're the ones cleaning
Building Two, right?

Are you from the middle school?
What's wrong?

Please...

Help us save Comet.

Comet?

Our dog.

We picked up a stray.

We couldn't keep him in our dorms,
so we were keeping him in Building Two,

but he heard a loud noise
and ran off scared.

It's my fault!

We were looking for him and found this.

His name tag was in front of the
big mirror in the storage room.

The big mirror?

They took him!

The ghosts of the mirror world!

Gh-Ghosts?!

Rumors say that if you stand
in front of it at sunset,

a girl's arm grabs you and
drags you into the mirror.

That must be what happened to Comet.

We won't be able to keep him
if we go to the professors.

So please, help us.

Professor Claude said taking care of the
younger students was part of volunteering.

Let's do this!

Let's find Comet!

Does she mean...

we're going into the mirror, too?!

The mirror belonged to
a girl living in a mansion.

But the girl died in a fire.

The mirror survived the fire and
changed hands several times,

but sometimes a girl would show up in it,
or its owners would go missing.

All sorts of weird things happened.

Even now, stored away in Diana,

the girl is waiting for an opportunity
to drag us into the mirror.

Calm down, Io! It's just a rumor!

So then, this is that big mirror?

Magicians afraid of ghosts?
That's hilarious.

Stop it!

I can't help that it's scary!

It won't open.

That's weird. It was just open before.

It says something on top.

You're right.

I wonder what it says.

Let's see...

"Present your likeness,

and you shall be invited into
the depths of the magic mirror."

I think.

It opened!

How do you go in?

Spica, is it safe to get close?

Spica!

You guys!

You two stay here!

Call for a professor if
we aren't back in an hour!

Got it?

They really went inside the mirror...

Io.

Io!

Io, are you all right?

A-Are we inside the mirror?

It's like an infinite mirror hallway.

I guess we should keep going.

How far does it go?

It probably goes on infinitely.

Look, there's a door.

You're right. There's one here, too.

That's odd...

All the other furnishings are the same,

but only the doors are different kinds.

Maybe we should go inside one.

B-But what if there's a ghost?

We're going to have to find the ghost
if we want to find the dog.

That's true, but...

What's wrong?

S-S-Something was just there!

Begone.

C-Castor, did you say something?

Huh? I didn't say anything.

But I just heard a deep
voice say something.

Thick legs.

It said I have thick legs!

You're awful, Castor.

I never said that!

You're trying to scare us, aren't you?

I-I'm not!

The ghost is going to get us!

Spica, what's wrong?

Was it the ghost?

What do we do, Castor?

O Lord, deliver us from evil.

- O Lord, deliver us from evil.

- Huh? What is that? A cross?

- O Lord, deliver us from evil.

Are you scared?

What? I'm just stretching.

I was getting ready to
ream the ghost.

It's all dark!

Castor, use your magic to make light!

I-I know!

Gemini Magic!

Gh-Ghost!

That's a ghost, right?!

That's a ghost! Right?!

S-S-Stay calm, Spi-Spi.

Now you're giving me a nickname?!

M-Maybe she's just a lost girl.

And look carefully. A puppy!

You're right!

A-Are you alone?

May we have a look at the doggy?

We're looking for a dog named Comet.

Get lost.

Get lost!

We'll k*ll you!

wh*re!

Giant girl!

Leave this world, you pigs!

Io, this is bad! Let's retreat!

How is she a "girl"?!

Pigs! Pigs!

Find somewhere to escape!

Damn it, does this door not have a lock?!

I've never seen a room like this.

Shh.

Her footsteps vanished.

It's safe.

She isn't chasing us,
and the lights are back on.

That was scary.

But how are we going to get Comet back?

Blast her with magic.

Does magic work on ghosts?

Magic...

Do you think...

Spica!

She vanished!

Did the ghost take her?

Oh, no!

This is terrible.

It's my fault.

It's because I said we should
try to help them by ourselves.

Now's not the time!

Spica...

Wipe your tears and get up.

That look doesn't suit you.

Castor...

Is crying going to bring
Spica and Comet back?

I-It won't.

You want to be helpful, don't you?

Yeah.

Then quit moping!

Right.

I'll do my best!

Our first priority is to find Spica.

There's a good chance she's
been locked away in a room.

Then should we open every door?

That's probably our only option.

Where'd that come from?!

It's a poltergeist!

Get in!

sh*t, this is bad.

We can't even fight back
if we can't see it.

Spica doesn't seem to be in here.
We have to go to the next room!

It might be hard to search all the rooms
for Spica under these conditions.

I'm going.

We have to hurry.

We don't know what she's going through.

Hold on!

We don't know where it'll hit us from!

What's that noise?

Castor! Are you okay?!

Shut up.

It's just a scrape.

You're bleeding!

Never mind that!

We need to find Spica!

But how are we going to deal with this?

She's a ghost. We can't
see her or even touch her.

We're going to get wiped out!

Brother!

Pollux!

Sorry for butting in. It seemed
like you were in a pinch.

Check the chandelier chain.

It looks like it was melted apart.

Like it was burnt by a beam.

Doesn't that seem pretty
artificial for a ghost?

Think of it that way,
and the fact that it's invisible

along with all the other odd phenomeona...

They're all things we know well.

Of course!

Hey, Io! I figured it out!

She panicked and revealed herself.

She's vanishing again, though.

She's just pretending to be invisible,

using Gemini Magic to manipulate light.

She's not a ghost.

She's a magician, just like us.

A magician?

Yeah.

Which means she has a physical form.

In that case...

I'll take it from here.

Taurus Magic: Heightened Hearing!

Even if she's invisible, if she has
a physical form, she'll emit sound.

I need to listen for her footsteps...
Her breathing... No, even more!

I need to hear with even more precision!

So I can hear even her heartbeat!

There!

Taurus Magic: Gugalanna!

You hurt Spica and Castor...

but you won't get away with it!

What is this strength?!

She's like a raging bull!

I guess you don't even need to see them.

I need to remember not to anger Io.

Who's this dude?!

He's no girl!

I guess he was bending light to
make himself look like a girl.

So a magician dude was pretending
to be a ghost girl?!

Hey! I need you to tell me where Spica is!

He's totally knocked out.

Oh, no! But we need to save her!

Io, look over there.

Flower petals?

They keep going.

Spica might have left a trail of
them when she was abducted.

Let's go!

They stop in front of this door.

Okay, let's go in.

Spica!

Thank goodness!

Comet's here, too!

What's up with this room?

Middle school uniforms with photos...

Has he been stealing these?

You damn brats!

Get out of my sanctuary!

I collected these treasures myself!

I pretended to be a ghost so
no one would come near me!

I can't believe I've been
busted by these kids!

He's a total pervert!

Hey, mister...

I'm gonna take you to the police.

Tell us how to get back to our world.

Why the hell would I tell
some handsome boy?!

Die! Die a hundred times!

Tell us where the exit is, Mister Pervert!

Find the same door as in the storage
room! You can get out from there!

Looks like he's completely traumatized.

Guys!

Wh-Who are you?

Comet!

Thank you for saving Comet!

Did you take down the ghost?

She took him down.

It wasn't just me, though.

We can play with Comet
again thanks to you.

Thanks so much.

Um...

Was I actually helpful?

Io looks so happy.

Did you just smile?!

Wha? I didn't smile.

No, you definitely smiled.

Of course you're happy, Brother.

You were thinking about how she's like
us in that we can't control our magic.

Our body swap magic has been messing
us up, so you know how she feels.

Shut up! It's not like that!

Wh-What?!

Did I say something wrong?

And that settled that.

As it turns out, he was a
guard at the middle school.

We ended up getting an award from
the school for what happened.

I think I've come to love
myself a little more

now that I've managed to
help people with my magic.

As for the mirror, it turns out that

it was a magic tool that copied
whatever it reflected.

The rumors about people being dragged in

were just a story that
the pervert made up.

The ghost girl was just an urban legend.

But there's just one thing
that still bothers me.

The pervert insists that Comet
went into the mirror by himself.

Is there any way Comet could
have opened the door on his own?

I can't let Aria best me in magic!

I'm a genius. There's no
point in even trying, Spica.

I won't know until I try!

Let's settle it during finals, then!

- You're on!

- EPISODE 17: FINALS

- Next episode: "Finals."