[DreadBringer]

Heated drama between men.

Hanto's journey to find information Michiru ultimately leads him back into the main cast, as he discovers another Michiru—who is male and the brother of the current week victim, Haruka Inoue. It's clear from the show's format that Michiru will be kidnapped by the current MOTW, Granute Ripper, whom the Hapipare team is also pursuing. Hanto employs his typical journalism skills, while Rakia's very presence exposes Ripper (likely other Granutes too) due to his notoriety.

Even though Rakia now cares for humans, it doesn’t necessarily mean he is as empathetic as Shoma or Sachika yet. He can still come off as a dick, believing that people like Hanto don't deserve kindness. I wonder how Rakia would deal with unlikable or "deserving" victim of the weeks, similar to those in OOO, such as stuck-up snobs (like Yamano), frauds (like Tsukuba), or abusers (like Rei). For Gavv example, probably someone like Sujimoto.

Initially, I feel that the tension between Hanto and Rakia seems to be easing as they discuss the current case and consider better solutions, with Hanto even attempting to save Rakia. Unfortunately, they find themselves in a bind due to Ripper's attack, causing their tension to flare up again. The scene where they block each other’s way at the Hapipare's door reminds me of Shinji and Ren in the final episode of Ryuki.

It's good that Sachika, despite being reasonably annoyed, doesn't become mean-spirited regarding the tension between Hanto and Rakia, unlike Hanto, who often makes mean remarks towards Rakia, or some other female leads Sachika's sometimes compared with, like Akiko. If Granute strength can't break their bind, obviously Sachika wouldn't. However, Sachika forgot to tell the two to go outside before attempting to bomb their bind. Here, she holds Hanto in high regard again, calling out Rakia for treating Hanto poorly and insisting that Hanto is nice.

I agree with Rakia in pointing out that Hanto is stupid for being unable to differentiate between Bitter Gavv and the real Shoma, but it's not Hanto's fault for being manipulated by Suga or for not knowing the full extent of Suga's lab. No way Hanto could have been aware of Suga's true nature before it was openly revealed, and Rakia only learned about the lab recently, too. Hanto's excuse is so bad, though, about claiming that he punched Shoma because he hid his secret.

Even after Sachika just mentioned that Hanto and Rakia are stuck together, Shoma abandons his plan to pursue them to focus on a civilian's screams for being attacked. This also introduces Bocca's familiars, which challenge Gavv. As usual, it's Gavv's Poppingummy form the familiar is fighting against currently, so we don't yet know about his stronger forms, especially since Gurucan managed to defeat 2 of Lango's familiars simultaneously.

Lizel behaves similarly to Shoma when she marvels at Earth and humanity, immediately following Shoma's enjoyment of caramel. She now engages in her true villainy in the human world by abducting a shop owner who asked her to pay and abusing her status. Lango remains calm about Jeebh taking over his position, addressing him as Vice President. Jeebh states that Glotta didn’t do anything wrong to him, indicating a difference between how she treats her and Lango, for now.