From last time, while the girls of Himawari Circus celebrated their successful performance, Mizuka found Maria collapsed down the stairways. Meanwhile, Rin does something suspicious as Mizuka and Ouka find out.
It’s clear that Mizuka became shocked when she found Maria unconscious down the stairways. Now that she is being hospitalized, Rin is acting suspiciously as she is at the station trying to get a deal with all the paperwork. More on that later, as the girls visited Maria. Funny how Aoi and Akane took half a melon and Isuzu ratted them out. I find Aoi’s and Akane’s reasoning for why they ate half is because Maria is small and there is no way she can finish the whole thing. It’s funny how Isuzu caught them red-handed, after which Akane tells her to shut up and Rin tells them to be quiet before apologizing. Even after the girls came to visit, Rin knows the girls don’t know the truth and seems worried that the same thing can happen to Maria again.
After they visited Maria, they cleaned up the bus as Mizuka and Ouka had a hunch. Mizuka feels they should train more instead of cleaning. Funny how Shizuku is not panicking as she goes off to find Svietlana instead. While Maria and Ouka were doing a running session, they saw Rin talking to someone on a payphone. Mizuka and Ouka followed her as a sports car came up and Rin was talking to the person.
It’s funny how Mizuka and Ouka thought Rin might do a tryst. Then they find out the person in the car is Nanami. Seems very suspicious, given how she tries to sabotage the Himawari Circus. Rin ended up leaving the packet in an office. When Mizuka and Ouka saw it, it was just business documents, and wonders why Rin was trying to hide it. That is when Ouka reveals the Sumeragi Group is buying up all the circuses and putting them under their control. I only wonder if Rin is trying to betray Maria and sell it to the person who is trying to sabotage her. After all, Nanami is probably still upset over Ouka not ditching the Himawari circus for Sumeragi and becoming her partner.
The next day, as Rin fed Maria melon, Maria and Ouka came to ask something about Rin. Funny how they ask Rin to leave as Mizuka makes it obvious, leaving Ouka and Shizuku with surprised looks. Maria finally comes clean with Rin, trying to get into contact with Sumeragi and why they seem to sabotage Himawari. Maria knew about it, thinking Rin was trying to go out on a date with someone, but she knew about it from the Blue Rose appearing in a nearby spot. Rin is trying to get Maria to retire because of her declining health.
We learn more about Maria’s health issues and why she has a child-like appearance despite being close to 30 years old. It’s because of an accident that damaged the pituitary gland, which controls hormones, when she was 9 years old. Mizuka’s father, believe it or not, rescued her as she recovered from amnesia. She eventually helped behind the scenes with the circus until she left 5 years later. This can explain why Maria has connections with Black Lotus, as she worked with them for about 5 years.
When she left, she saw that Mizuka’s father had a baby. Funny how Mitcher thinks Maria would make a better ringmaster than Mizuka’s father. With that, Maria eventually returned to Japan and, after turning 18, created her own circus troupe. It’s when she found out that Lotus Circus disbanded, so she stepped up to keep the dream alive.
So why does Rin want Maria to retire and give up on her dream? She feels Maria is focusing on her dream so much that it might end up killing her. Also, we find out that Maria is Nanami’s older sister? That is the surprising part, as it seems as if she is sabotaging Maria’s efforts. Then again, it makes sense why else Maria can afford to start a circus and also an elephant. Also, their appearance looks familiar, and why Nanami seems to follow her around and even watch her older sister’s performance.
That said, Shizuku obviously doesn’t seem to like this move, given that Sumeragi kicked her out of the group. Even the other members seem a bit worried about the future. Of course, Mizuka takes things into her own hands so Nanami won’t end up taking over the troupe. Maria’s dream is not just her own anymore, as all the members are working with her to make it possible. Basically, Mizuka uses her family’s name to convince the Circus Collection Association to allow them to compete. Believe it or not, it worked, probably thanks to Mitcher pulling some strings. Funny how Mizuka acts so proud as Ouka thanks her. Funny how Mizuka sticks her tongue out at Mitcher as she tries to run away.
Either way, Maria turned down the deal, for now, after her members threatened to all quit and do their own thing. Nanami seems angry because her attempt to get her older sister to retire failed again. She seems angry at Mizuka the most. Of course, instead of Maria running the show, she has Mizuka to be the ringleader to keep the dream alive. It’s like going full circle as Mizuka’s father wants to pass on his own dream as a performer that can one day lead a future circus. I guess that day has finally come, but I wonder if Mizuka can pull it off. Well, she has Ouka, so she’ll probably be fine.
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