Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasareta node, Henkyou de Slow Life suru Koto ni Shimashita – 09

「穏やかな日々」 (Odayaka na Hibi)
“Days of Peace and Ease”

This week’s episode might interfere with my plan to release a series of Stone Ocean posts in threes, but it delivers with a plot line that sounds more promising than what we went through for the last couple episodes. With Ruti reuniting with her brother, her newfound interest in hard drugs will prove to be a harrowing, difficult obstacle that pits her against the Gideon she thought she knew.

HOLDING HANDS, REACHING OUT

The name of the episode is luckily not too far off given that Red and Rit are able to enjoy some temporary peace. It’s also the first time in a while where Red actually got to do his job. It’s amazing because I was so used to seeing him act like a private investigator that I forgot that this show is actually about a guy selling herbal remedies. And not herbs that you have to make sure can’t be abused, but ones that can be used for practical things like warming up as the climate gets colder.

Or in Red and Rit’s case, making out on a snowy winter night. The cute bonding from Red and Rit amplifies tenfold during this episode as we’re given a ton of adorable couple moments as the two hold hands and snuggle close inside of his jacket for warmth. The straightforward kiss they have in the snow is refreshing and cute considering that they no longer have to hold back around each other.

DOPEMAN, DOPEMAN

On the other end of the spectrum, we aren’t out of the neck of the woods just yet for the silly drug war plotline. In fact, things are heating up further as Ruti ends up sold on the idea of using and abusing hard drugs, going so far as to travel to a prison in Zoltan to free a man who can supply her with more.

But now that Ruti is getting involved with the storyline, maybe that might just be what it needs to go through some improvement rather than lean so hard on an unusual Mouse Trap version of a coup. There’s a small added tragedy to the situation given that Ruti is so focused on the jailbreak that she doesn’t realize Red is right in town and deliberately ignored him to rescue the drug dealer until the very end.

Additionally, Red’s opposition to the Devil’s Blessing drug will heavily come at odds with Ruti wanting to depend on it to avoid the impulses that come from her Hero’s Blessing. She already went far enough to break a fugitive out of jail for the horrific plan he had in mind for Al. Compared to the whole coup plotline, it’s way more interesting to see how Ruti’s strategy to go against her blessing to reunite with Gideon will backfire given how far she’s gone even without her blessing.