Chartreuse Light

"Chartreuse Light" (萌黄の灯, Moegi no Akari) is the fifth episode of the Kyoukai no Kanata anime series, released on October 30, 2013. The episode was storyboarded and directed by Naoko Yamada, with animation direction by Nao Naito.

After the Hollow Shadow incident, the distant Mirai slowly becomes closer to Akihito and the Nase siblings. With her duties as Spirit World Warrior revoked for one month due to what happened with the Hollow Shadow, Mirai is forced to join Mitsuki on a part-time job in Ayaka's photo studio. Here, Mirai discovers Mitsuki's wish of seeing the lights of a local festival and joins her for the first time in the festivities.

Synopsis
After the Hollow Shadow incident, Akihito, Mirai, Hiroomi and Mitsuki return to school like always, but this time, Akihito is now joined by Hiroomi in the clubroom while he tries to persuade Mirai to join the Literary Club. Mirai was reluctant at first, but the sight of a gardening encyclopedia quickly causes Mirai to say yes to Akihito's request. Meanwhile, the sight Mitsuki saw during the fight with the Hollow Shadow still haunts her at school.

Mirai soon performs her first duty as member of the Literary Club — reviewing past stories for a compilation, a task long overdue — and Akihito and Hiroomi spend their time pointing out which of Mirai's traits suit their fetishes. As the shenanigans of the two slowly makes Mirai unpleasant, Mitsuki shows up, once again scolding the two boys for being perverts. Soon, Mirai introduces herself to Mitsuki, which she accepts rather warmly.

Later during the day, Akihito, Mitsuki and Hiroomi take Mirai to the Nase Residence, where they saw Miroku Fujima from the Spirit World Warrior Society. It turns out that they are there to give Izumi Nase the Spirit World Warrior identification card of Mirai to be confiscated for a month after her actions during the Hollow Shadow. Mirai is devastated to realize that she is unable to pay the rent for the upcoming month, and even Akihito is not safe from Izumi's reprimanding words regarding his involvement in the Hollow Shadow incident.

With Akihito's request, Mirai is taken by Mitsuki to a nearby restaurant, where they discuss about taking up a part-time job to cover for her inability to hunt youmu. There, Mitsuki introduces Mirai to Yakiimo, the youmu she has as a pet of sorts. Mitsuki then talk about several things with Mirai, including Mirai's insecurities, Akihito injuring Hiroomi in the past and the Nase family putting Akihito under surveillance.

Suddenly, Mirai and Akihito notice the presence of a youmu-possessed person who passed by outside the restaurant. Due to the quick actions of the two Spirit World Warriors and Mitsuki's powerful Cage, they was able to defeat the youmu before it could hurt someone. Mitsuki commends Mirai for attacking without hesitation. Shizuku Ninomiya also appears after seeing Mitsuki's summoned cage, and Mirai gives her the youmu stone, revealed by Shizuku to be worth at least 50,000 yen, since she is unable to appraise them herself.

Shizuku decides to treat Mitsuki and Mirai to a nearby restaurant. As an overjoyed Mirai looks at the abundance of meat on the table, she notices a sign that Shizuku reveals is for the upcoming September Lantern Festival, which she grudgingly states is "for couples only". It seems that the topic of the Lantern Festival worsened the mood of both Shizuku and Mitsuki. Mitsuki, for a moment, remembers not being able to join the Lantern Festival because of her duties as a Spirit World Warrior.

The next day, Akihito goes absent at school, while Mitsuki takes Mirai to Ayaka Shindou's photo studio. It turns out that part of Mirai's part-time job would be posing for Ayaka dressed in a maid's outfit, thanks to Akihito's willingness to pay for it. Mirai feels embarrassed to pose for them, until Ai reveals that she has been doing nude pictures for Ayaka's private collection. Mirai can only feel belittled by Ai's surprisingly unnoticeable bust size.

Later that afternoon, after Ai dresses up for the Lantern Festival, Ayaka talks with Mitsuki and Mirai about Akihito, who actually skipped classes for the day because of what happened to him during the Hollow Shadow incident. Ayaka recalls that Akihito also reacted the same way after he attacked Hiroomi while under the influence of his youmu self.

Soon, Ayaka and Ai head out to the Lantern Festival, with Shizuku going her separate way after managing to get a date for the event. Meanwhile, Mitsuki and Mirai decide to stay in the photo studio. In a short conversation, she tells Mirai that missing out on the Lantern Festival was her own decision.

Mitsuki closes shop in Ayaka and Ai's absence. The kimono-clad girls passing by reminded Mitsuki of her childhood memories of lighting lanterns. Upon heading back, Mirai's eagerness to join in the festivities eventually persuades Mitsuki to dress up and head to the Lantern Festival as well.



As Mitsuki and Mirai admire the lanterns dotting the road, Akihito and Hiroomi show up just in time for the fireworks display. And it seems that the festivities has finally gotten into Mitsuki, who shocks Hiroomi by asking him to buy candy apples for her.

Characters
List of characters in order of appearance:

Characters in italic are only seen briefly and have yet to make a proper appearance.

Trivia

 * There are a lot of chartreuse things in this episode, including the tea in the Literary Club Room, Akihito's vest, the cover of the gardening encyclopedia, the juice Mirai drank with Mitsuki and the lantern on Ayaka's photo studio. However, the episode is in fact named after the color of the lanterns in the September Lantern Festival. Later in the episode, it is revealed that the chartreuse color of the lights is Mitsuki's perception of nearby lights.

Unanswered Questions

 * Is Mitsuki looking at light in a chartreuse hue? Why?