The episode opens with Iku and Komaki fleeing from the Media Enhancement Committee. They’ve just gone to rare book store to pick up a valuable copy of “The Book of Prophecy” aka Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. As they run away Komaki is shot in the leg. Iku yells at the MEC troops, saying that they aren’t allowed to fire a shot in a residential neighborhood. Komaki and Iku take refuge in a train yard.
Dojo and Tezuka head out to rescue them. Shibasaki is enjoying having her room to herself, but she notices the trucks heading out. Tezuka seems to pause briefly to talk on his cell phone. While Iku and Komaki are waiting to be picked up, Komaki comments that Iku reminds him of Dojo when he was younger. Flashback time!
Komaki and Dojo are defending a hall filled with fairy tales and picture books. A pitched battle between the Library Corps and the MEC lasts until dawn. An idiot MEC officer shoots near a little boy who is trying to enter the hall, and Dojo runs out to yell at the MEC, just the way Iku did. He then challenges them to a fistfight and gets throughly beaten up. Genda encouraged everyone to join the melee. Afterwards, Dojo is rewarded by being made group leader in an attempt to use responsibility to curb his recklessness.
The MEC troops have staked out the train yard where Iku and Komaki are hiding. Dojo and Tezuka observe from above, and then proceed to stake out optimal positions.
Iku and Komaki realize that the MEC are going to find them soon so they venture out from their hiding place after stashing the book. The MEC capture them and continue to search for the book. It’s morning and the first train starts to move. A MEC officer realizes that the book has to be hidden on the train, Iku tries and fails to distract him by demanding to go to the bathroom. The Library Corps start staging an ambush, but the MEC leader calls the mission off. They’ve been ordered to stop by the Judiciary Committee because someone reported the shot fired earlier.
Dojo is annoyed that Komaki got shot. He walks up to an MEC officer, and Iku thinks Dojo is going to throw a punch. Instead Dojo warns the MEC dude to be prepared for a vigorous protest for their violition of the no shooting zone agreement. Komaki comments that Iku can learn a lot from Dojo.
Dojo wonders if Tezuka was the one who reported the MEC shooting incident to the Judiciary Committee. Iku returns to her room and sees the debris from Shibasaki’s horror movie watching and junk food eating spree. She’s disappointed that Shibasaki was having fun while she was facing a life and death situation. When she plugs in her cell phone, Iku realizes that Shibasaki stayed up all night leaving messages for her.
Farenheight 451 is safe in the library.
This episode had everything I enjoy about this series; a little bit of action, cute book references, and nice little bits of character interaction.
