Dawn Envelopes the Sky

The Sky Embraced by Dawn (夜明けを抱く空, Yoake wo Idaku Sora) is the second episode of the Black★Rock Shooter anime. It aired on February 10, 2012.

The title of this episode is based on one of the lines within the of the Black★Rock Shooter song.

Plot
Mato's mother ties up Mato's yukata in preparation for the festival. After trying to avoid having a fight with her younger brother, Mato looks in the mirror in front of her. She resolves to herself that although she's afraid of being hated by Kagari, she won't be hurt and she wants to be friends with Yomi.

Meanwhile in the other world, the mysterious girl is being chased by the spider monster, pursuing her to fall into a ravine, but before she can shoot it with her gun, she is quickly tied up by chains and drawn up by a horned girl with glasses.

Back in the human world, Mato arrives at the festival and is approached by a bunch of girls who are surprised to see her there; however, they back away when she tells them she is coming with Yomi. Mato looks at the colors around her and contemplates, but Yomi does not show up at the festival. Hours later, she ends up getting only three replies to her text messages, all saying the same thing: "I'm sorry." Mato walks home sadly, deciding that what Saya had told her was a lie, because she feels like it hurts.

At Yomi's house, Kagari laughs as she watches on television a dog getting consumed by ants while Yomi crochets another bracelet. Yomi asks Kagari why she can't send another message, and Kagari says that she just let her. She then tries to force-feed Yomi another macaroon, but Yomi refuses. She says that she wanted to go to the festival, but Kagari says that Yomi can't go because she herself is unable to go. Kagari commands Yomi to undress, picks up a needle, and says that she will carve the pain out of Yomi's heart.

In the other world, Dead Master plays around with Black★Rock Shooter tied in her chains, while a voice saying "help me" rings in the background. Black★Rock Shooter takes the chains and reverses them, causing Dead Master to lie on the ground; a heart-shaped scar is visible on her chest. Black★Rock Shooter sees the distress in Dead Master's face and tries to approach her, but ants that come from all directions pick up the girl, taking her elsewhere while Black★Rock Shooter chases after her to no avail.

Mato wakes up the next morning with the words "help me" on her lips. At school, Mato sees Yomi in the locker room and notices the heart-shaped scar on her chest. Yomi tells her not to look and asks her why she's not mad at her for not showing up at the festival. Mato retorts that if Yomi wants her to be mad, she will be mad, and in Mato's outrage, she says that she truly lives up to her name of "no hawks"; she had hoped that Yomi would be like the "little birds playing", a small bird, taking her to different worlds, but instead she doesn't go anywhere despite having the potential to, and with that Mato runs off.

Mato goes to Saya's "Dawn Consultation" room, where she meets Yuu, skipping class. Mato talks about the heart she saw in her dream actually being on Yomi's chest, and Yuu muses about it being strange; Saya says that dreams of close friends are connected in some way, and they sometimes express what can't be said in words. Mato wonders about using dreams, and Saya tells her that Yomi might actually want to tell her something.

At home, Yomi, touches the bird wallpaper on her phone and cries, when the doorbell rings. She sees Mato outside, clutching her phone with the bird charm. A little relieved, she goes outside her room, but sees Kagari in her wheelchair at the top of the stairs. Kagari says that she was there all day, waiting for her to go home. She gets up from her wheelchair and says that she will fall from the stairs, and that they'll never forgive Yomi if she falls and dies, and she'll die too. Hearing Yomi scream as Kagari falls, Mato bangs on Yomi's door, only to find Yomi's mother behind her. At the hospital, it turns out that Kagari only twisted her wrist. Mato offers to go home with Yomi, but Yomi's mother tells her that Yomi has to stay with Kagari, because she insists on staying at the hospital despite it only being a wrist injury.

Yomi's mother explains that Kagari loved Yomi since they were little. When they were in a car about to go abroad for a few years because of Yomi's father's job, Kagari ran after their car, only to be hit by another car. However, there is something peculiar; the doctors cannot find anything physically wrong with Kagari's legs, meaning the problem is actually within Kagari's heart.

Without Yomi, Kagari has rendered herself completely unable to do anything.

Meanwhile, Kagari insists to Yomi that her hand is now not working and Yomi must do everything for her now. Mato protests that Yomi shouldn't be forced to do anything and Yomi's mother agrees, but says that it must be so because Kagari is so pitiful. Mato responds that Yomi is pitiful as well, and runs over to get into Kagari's room, calling for Yomi. Kagari starts to seethe at Mato's presence. Yomi begs Mato to go home, but Mato says that she will only go home with Yomi. Kagari throws a tantrum at Mato from the other side of the door, saying that Yomi is hers "even though she did this to her". Suddenly noticing something, Kagari asks why Yomi is smiling, but Yomi turns out not to have been aware that she is smiling.

While Yomi questions this, in the other world, Black★Rock Shooter pursues Dead Master and finds herself in a strange house. She breaks open a doll that she finds in there and sees Dead Master chained up while Kagari's "go away" chant plays in the background. As she reaches for the girl, they are interrupted by Chariot, riding the spider robot and firing macaroons at her. As Chariot touched Dead Master's limp, chained body, Kagari pulls Yomi forward, asking if she's happy because Mato called her "Yomi". She screams, pushing Yomi aside and throwing insults at Mato and Yomi. Yomi pleads as Black★Rock Shooter continues to avoid the macaroons. Black★Rock Shooter takes out a large gun on her arm and shoots at the macaroons, and when the spider robot releases a large torrent of macaroons, Black★Rock Shooter transforms her gun into a large machine gun-like appendage and shoots them all, ultimately destroying the spider robot. While the debris is scattering, they continue to fight, while Dead Master opens her eyes, looks up, and finds herself chained to a large floating heart-shaped piece of stone. Yomi says that it's her fault about what happened to Kagari, but she still wants to be Mato's friend, calling Mato by her first name. Mato responds that Yomi should not pity Kagari, because the only reason Kagari is pitiful is because Yomi makes it so, and thus she is essentially ridiculing her. Kagari yells at her not to talk about this, but Yomi, understanding, walks up to Kagari. In the other world, the heart-shaped stone quivers, Dead Master starts to pull on them, and the bugs surrounding her fall onto Chariot, who notices. Black★Rock Shooter exploits the distraction to hit her, destroying her legs using Chariot's own shield.

Yomi says that it was easier for herself to simply pity Kagari, and she was doing what was easiest for her to just give into Kagari's demands. Yomi pleads with Kagari to leave this place, that she should come out of her house and come to school, and get out of the wheelchair. Yomi says that she won't let Kagari be lonely, and that she won't be lonely since Yomi won't be going away and she can become friends with her and Mato. Kagari says that she can't do that, but Yomi says that she must, or else nothing will change.

Dead Master starts to pulls the chains, and the heart-shaped stone holding them up falls apart. The chains recede into the sky, causing the sky to fall apart. The area starts to crumble while the Dead Master and Black★Rock Shooter stare at Chariot, while Kagari's voice says that going outside is scary and she can't come out.

Suddenly, a giant blade stops the flow of the falling apart world, apparently stopping time, and a hand comes off of the blade. A girl in red appears in front of Chariot, and with her blades she creates a fissure in the ground, causing Dead Master to fall into the fissure. She turns and smiles at the two. Black★Rock Shooter stares at her, then take her blade and turns around, only to find Black★Gold Saw gone; Chariot takes the opportunity and rushes at her with a blade, a stabbing sound is heard, their faces are seen, and Chariot's head falls to the ground, with Black★Rock Shooter holding her blade up and her left eye shining with a blue flame.

With Chariot's defeat, the world begins to assemble itself back again. Back in the human world, Kagari screams "No!" and suddenly, Yomi's voice is heard asking Kagari what is wrong. Mato becomes concerned at what's going on inside, and Yomi opens the door, a tear falling down her cheek. Kagari, sitting on the bed, looks at Mato and smiles.

Characters

 * By order of appearance
 * Mato Kuroi
 * Mato's Mother
 * Hiro Kuroi
 * Black★Rock Shooter
 * Dead Master
 * Kagari Izuriha
 * Yomi Takanashi
 * Saya Irino
 * Yuu Koutari
 * Yomi's Mother
 * Chariot
 * Black★Gold Saw

Trivia

 * When Chariot was beheaded by Black★Rock Shooter, no blood gushed out. However, when Black★Rock Shooter cuts her left arm, she bled.

Gallery

 * ''Full Article: The Sky Embraced by Dawn/Gallery