Blood+ – 09

Summary:
Riku and Kai meet a girl named Mui who lost a leg to an exploded bomb. While Kai plays baseball with the kids nearby, Riku gets acquainted with her. Meanwhile, Saya reports to David about what happened with the Phantom. Lewis then brings him and Julia photos of past victims from the school, all of whom have black hair and an Oriental complexion, just like Saya. Riku and Kai go back to Mui’s orphanage-type home with the other kids and stay for the night. They learn that a certain pharmaceutical company is supporting the home, and that Mui is even getting medicine regularly from a man in a suit. In the middle of the night, Riku hears a sound and follows it outside with Mui. It seems that Van Argeno and his surveillance van are responsible for the noise, and Riku catches his eye for being able to hear it.
The next day, Riku finds Mui playing a long piano piece. The two are about to go out to play when Mui learns that something happened to her father. Riku is later told that Mui was going to a music conservatory in France courtesy of the pharmaceutical company, but it seems that she’s abandoned the idea because of her family. Riku finds Mui on the streets looking at a metal detector, which she wants to buy. Riku buys it for her, and gives her the money in his pocket before sending her off in a taxi towards her home. In the end though, Kai and Riku chase after her after Riku learns that the metal detector is used to find land mines. Luckily, they find her safe and sound in her village. The two stay for the night, but Riku and Mui once again hears the sound. When they go outside to investigate, they’re kidnapped by a group of men led by the man from the pharmaceutical company. Back in Japan, the reporter Akihiro is preparing to leave for Vietnam. Before he leaves, he sees a photo taken by his father from a fateful night during the Vietnam War: one of a Chiropteran.

My expectations for this episode were fairly low, given that I prefer the Saya-centric episodes over anything else. The episode ends up being a bit better than I anticipated, but not by much. And most of that I attribute to the great musical score that’s in this episode. Mui and Riku are cute together, but I doubt she’s going to be around for long. The medicine she’s being given probably has something to do with how she can hear the same noises as Riku (and maybe with D67 too). The pharmaceutical company promising to take her to France is also probably a ruse so that they can take and experiment with her. But she and Riku end up in their hands anyway.
I don’t think the kidnappers took Kai with them, so he’s probably got the double duty of finding both his sister and little brother now. I wonder how far off we are from seeing them join the stories together, since we have so many factions working on their own. Next week seems to be (fortunately) another Saya episode.