Can You Feel It?! I Can't Ignore It! An Ominous
Premonition of Catastrophe
Episode twelve begins
in Tokyo where a giant centipede is crawling through the night - darkened city
until it reaches a skyscraper where it then climbs to the top and sheds its
skin, leaving the shell hanging around the building.
The next morning, the TAC are at the site and they are all
baffled as to what it could mean, Momiji included, who cannot sense any
Aragami activity from it.
The story switches gears at this point and we see Momiji
dressed for gym, walking with her friends and talking. She is being
watched by Kusanagi, who laughs softly as she demonstrates her proclivity for
klutziness by knocking herself out with a soccer ball. Momiji sits
up and begins to laugh at herself and when she does, Kusanagi is strongly
reminded of Kaede, whom he begins to remember.
Suddenly disturbed, Kusanagi leaves Momiji's school and we
see him sitting on the steel girders or a half constructed building, watching
the sun set. He is remembering Kaede, but his musings are interrupted
when he senses something. Jumping down to the ground, he puts his hand
down and feels something moving underground.
Tracking it, he comes across Murakumo and he confronts
him. They do battle and Murakumo tells him that he is beginning to think
that the Princess Kushinada thinks too highly of Kusanagi. During the
fight Kusanagi suffers some serious damage. and Momiji, who is still at
school with her friends, senses that something is wrong, but at this point,
she isn't truly certain what it is.
Later that night, Kusanagi staggers to Momiji's house,
bleeding heavily and leans against the tree outside her window, looking up at
her and smiling before he passes out. Momiji is sitting, studying for
her math test when she senses Kusanagi and knows that something has
happened. She goes outside and starts calling his name, and finds him
lying on the ground.
While Kusanagi is unconscious he begins to dream of
Kaede. He calls to her and begins to express a desire, but before the
thought is complete, he awakens and sits up, staring into Momiji's face.
Momiji starts shooting questions at him, which he just ignores, lost in his
own thoughts. He dresses, goes to the window and leaves, while Momiji
just helplessly watches him.
He is going after Murakumo again, but his mind is on what
Murakumo said to him and he begins to wonder if Kaede is still alive.
The night skies over Tokyo begin to blacken with thick clouds as the last
centipede skin is hung around a skyscraper to combine with two others to form
a perfect triangle and a beam of light is formed, revealing the hidden realm
of the Aragami.
Kusanagi confronts Murakumo once again and they begin to do
battle, but this time, the giant centipede is involved and Momiji, who sees
them on tv, rushes to Kusanagi's side. Her arrival distracts the
centipede which then tries to attack her and she is knocked unconscious.
Kusanagi saves her from the centipede and deposits her
safely upon the ground, and Murakumo speaks, his words once again making
reference to another Kushinada. When Kusanagi asks him about it,
Murakumo's cryptic reply is that the Kushinada that Kusanagi once knew is gone
forever.
Murakumo then demands to know why Kusanagi continues to
fight him. Kusanagi doesn't answer, but instead looks down at Momiji and
begins to think about her. Then he laughs and turns to tell Murakumo
that his reasons are none of Murakumo's business.
Murakumo leaves and Kusanagi kills the giant
centipede. The episode ends with Momiji awakening in her own bedroom
with Kusanagi waiting for her outside. When asked, he confirms that he
brought her home and then says, "Didn't I say that I would always protect
you." and thinks to himself, 'It's true I always will protect
you'.