Episode 17

**"The Goddesses' Madness"** (女神たちの狂騒, *Megami-tachi no Kyousou*) is the seventeenth episode of the *Toji no Miko* anime series, released on May 4, 2018. The episode was written by Tatsuya Takahashi, with storyboards and direction by Akinori Fudesaka and animation direction by Hiroshi Kosuga, Yuika Kojima and Son Min-ju.

Kanami Etou and Hiyori Juujou join Akane Origami onboard a ship in the Pacific Ocean. This voyage took place in order to rendezvous with Yukari Origami, who is currently hiding within a submarine. Former Elite Guards Maki Shidou and Suzuka Konohana were also present. There, all parties involved are informed of a surprising development.

## Synopsis

After the fight with Tagitsuhime, Maki returned with Kanami and Hiyori to Suzuka's hospital room, where Suzuka criticized Maki about her recent solitary actions. Sana and Akane explained that Suzuka had been cooperating with the Special Sword Administration Bureau to develop a way to fully extract noro from a person's bloodstream. Akane showed optimism that the progress made in their research would help free Maki and Suzuka from the noro in their bodies, and assured that the battles fought by Maki, Suzuka and the departed Yume Tsubakuro would not be put to waste. The mention of Yume's name saddened everyone in the room, but Suzuka lifted Maki's spirits, hoping that saving Yomi would allow the four Elite Guards to be reunited. For the meantime, Sana ordered them to accompany Akane to visit the second Deputy Director of the Special Sword Administration Bureau, none other than Yukari Origami.

At Ayanokouji Martial Arts School, an enraged Yukina Takatsu confronted the school's president Yuzuki Souraku about the sluggish progress of the "candidate selection progress". Yuzuki stressed that the so-called Imperial Guards must protect the princess at the cost of their own lives, and had been assessing their morale for the task. Yukina dismissed her argument by pointing out that the mere presence of aradama in their bodies will give them an unwavering will like Yomi and Yume, but this compelled Yuzuki to assert her role as president of Ayanokouji over Yukina. Yukina left, but without warning Yuzuki that there is no turning back.

That night, aboard a Japan Coast Guard vessel, Hiyori and Kanami had a private talk about their sentiments on the current situation; Hiyori had been uncertain about what action to take after finding out that Yukari Origami is no longer the Great Aradama she vowed to kill, while Kanami was simply glad to have another opportunity to fight Yukari. Meanwhile, Maki and Suzuka talked about Yukari's reemergence. In hindsight, Maki started regretting taking in noro under Yukari's orders, but she did it in hopes that she could gain power to keep fighting, and she was recently on a mission to kill Tagitsuhime, even if she would be destroyed in the process. Suzuka was surprised that the First Seat of the Elite Guard was cowardly, foolish and reckless, and wondered whether students of Heijou Institute have a tendency to be impulsive. Shortly after, Maki decided to ask about Suzuka's motivation to receive noro. Suzuka revealed that she doesn't want to lose to her competitor, something that Maki seemed too dense to read between the lines about.

Yuzuki performed the final interview for the imperial guard screening process, and Ayumu Uchizato explained her motivations to join the imperial guard. According to her, the deployment to Kamakura and meeting a certain powerful Toji had made her realize her powerlessness and she wanted to gain power that the normal curriculum might not provide for her. After the interview, as Ayumu left, Yuzuki rejected her application.

Eventually, the Japan Coast Guard vessel reached Mokusa's submarine, where a fully recovered Yukari Origami was waiting for them. Rui Onda assured them that Yukari is no longer an Aradama, but for some reason, her physical age had remained at 17 years. Yukari then endured Kanami and Hiyori's blunt questions to explain what happened to her—in order to elude its enemies, Tagitsuhime split into three and cast aside Yukari, leaving no trace of Aradama in her body.

Rui and Yukari brought Kanami, Hiyori, Maki, Suzuka and Akane to meet the third of the three goddesses, Ichikishimahime, which immediately gave off a defeatist impression compared to Takirihime. After Ichikishima reminded them to not let her be absorbed by Takirihime, Rui proceeded to explain about spectrumification, the process of neural development that noro undergoes as it becomes an Aradama. Ichikishimahime then accused humans, because of their greed that initiated the separation of noro from tamahagane, caused the evolution of Aradama into beings that attack humans.

Yukari soon moved the topic to Tagitsuhime splitting into three. According to Ichikishimahime, Tagitsuhime developed an intelligence so high that it eventually confronted a logical contradiction. As a result, "Tagitsuhime" split into three: Tagitsuhime spawned from the feelings of anger and resentment by Aradama to humans; Takirihime was born from the wish to rule over and guide humanity; and Ichikishimahime was currently in search of her purpose of existence—"Are we Aradama really necessary in this world?". Eventually, Ichikishimahime found her purpose, and that was to find a way to evolve humanity by combining humans with Aradama. During the moment of Tagitsuhime's defeat, it retreated into the netherworld, where the three finally settled on separating from each other and competing over the superior of the three entities. Yukari warned them that this fight between the three would cause another calamity in comparison to the Great Disaster of Sagami Bay, so she focused on ensuring that neither of the three goddesses would meet each other. Maki was still at odds about helping the goddess that advocates the melding of humans and Aradama, but Yukari pointed out that the situation is more complicated than it seems, as the presidents of Ayanokouji and Renpu were also involved.

Upon leaving Ichikishimahime's containment room, Akane discussed with the others about the three goddesses. Akane deemed Ichikishimahime as the most dangerous, but deemed it possible to negotiate with her and Takirihime after defeating Tagitsuhime. Then, Yukari invited Hiyori and Kanami to a private talk. Here, she personally apologized for the actions she had done thus far, as well as for being unable to save their mothers. Then, she explained that due to the phenomenon both Minato Etou and Kagari Juujou experienced while trying to seal Tagitsuhime, they became rare beings that were able to exist in the netherworld and the human world at the same time; this eventually extended to their okatana Chidori and Kogarasumaru, which Kanami and Hiyori were currently wielding.

Meanwhile, after the tense nighttime interview, Ayumu joined her schoolmates as they rush to the school cafeteria. Yuzuki then looked on with shock as Yomi Satsuki confronted the unarmed students and attacked them. As the four Ayanokouji students were brought close to death by the attack, Yomi warned Yuzuki that they will die unless "proper treatment" was given.

The next morning, as Kanami and Hiyori returned from their meeting with Yukari, Kanami started wondering about the link between Chidori and Kogarasumaru, before finding herself sidetracked by realizing that she forgot to challenge Yukari to a rematch. Then, at Ayanokouji, Yuzuki watched with regret as Yukina presented the first batch of Imperial Guards that would exist to defend Tagitsuhime at all costs. Among them was Ayumu Uchizato, whose life was saved by the noro that also made her a slave that follows Yukina's orders.

## Characters

* Maki Shidou
* Suzuka Konohana
* Sana Maniwa
* Akane Origami
* Kanami Etou
* Hiyori Juujou
* Yukina Takatsu
* Yuzuki Souraku
* Yomi Satsuki
* Ayumu Uchizato
* Yukari Origami
* Rui Onda
* Miya Tanabe

### New Characters

* Ichikishimahime (イチキシマヒメ) - CV: Eri Kitamura

## Trailers

未放送予告動画とじよこ！第17話「女神たちの狂騒」（おもてVer.）"Omote" version