The World I Once Dreamt Of Closes

The World I Dreamed of One Day Closes Up (いつか夢見た世界が閉じる, Itsuka Yume Mita Sekai ga Tojiru) is the fourth episode of the Black★Rock Shooter anime. It aired on February 24, 2012 (Japanese) and April 2, 2012 (English).

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

Characters

 * By order of appearance
 * Strength
 * Chariot (corpse)
 * Black★Gold Saw
 * Kagari Izuriha
 * Yomi Takanashi
 * Mato Kuroi
 * Yuu Koutari
 * Arata Kohata
 * Saya Irino
 * Black★Gold Saw
 * Dead Master
 * Black★Rock Shooter
 * Takuu

Plot
In the other world, Strength is walks across a colorless grey plain dragging the dead body of Chariot. Until she comes to a cliff, where the eye of Black★Gold Saw appears. Strength then throws Chariot's body and head into the bottom of the abyss.

In the real world, recovering after collapsing due to Chariot's decapitation, Kagari goes to school. She initially seems strange, hiding behind Yomi and introducing her using only her name. However, the class starts to murmur that she is very cute, and she peeks at them, teasing them and telling to shut up; she quickly becomes popular in the class with her passive-aggressive attitude. Mato and Yomi discuss Kagari's condition while in the bathroom, where Yomi notes that Kagari was the one who suggested going to school. Mato says that she believes Yomi's feelings reached Kagari, and Yomi smiles. However, Yuu intervenes, saying that Arata has returned to school. Mato quickly takes her leave, with a depressed Yomi staying back. Yomi says that it feels like she's always watching their backs.

Arata is back at school looking and feeling fine, and Mato and Yuu are happy for her. Arata tells them that they will have to practice during lunchtime, since because she can't play in the preliminaries, Mato will have to push them through for her. Yuu tries to talk to her, but Arata just walks by. Kagari tells Yomi that she's going to join the cooking club, where they will make sweets. Yomi is shocked, thinking that Kagari'll be alone, but other girls come around her and tell her she won't be alone and take Kagari away. Yomi goes to see Saya Irino, telling her that she and Kagari had been close friends and Yomi had promised to never let Kagari be alone. Saya tells her to "relax a bit", and gives her coffee in a mug with a bird on it. She says that nobody would have a hard time just because Yomi's not around (indirectly implying that nobody needs Yomi anymore). However, Saya suddenly snaps to a different attitude, apologizing and telling her not to worry about it. Yuu then appears; seeing her, Yomi leaves. Seeing that Yomi left her coffee behind, Saya seems to realize something.

Later, Mato tells Yomi that she has to stay behind after school and cannot walk home with her. Hearing this, Yomi asks if Yuu is also staying back. Mato tells Yomi that they are in the same club. Yomi acts as if she is fine, but green lightning flashes in her eyes and a green-tinted world full of chains is shown.

The chains form a vortex, which Dead Master lowers herself into. Black★Gold Saw observers the chaos with a smile, then disappears into the green liquid covering part of the area.

Later that night, Kagari and Yomi are playing Monopoly; as Kagari pressures Yomi to sell her Baltic Avenue, Yomi becomes enraged, saying that at this rate, she could simply die - but then she calms herself before she finishes the sentence and says to a shocked Kagari that she is just tired, selling her Baltic Avenue.

The next morning, Mato goes to meet Yomi to walk to school with her, trying to do the trick with the bread in her mouth (which quickly falls apart); however, she meets Kagari instead. Kagari only smiles to herself and asks Mato to walk to school with her. When they are in the classroom, Yomi arrives late, distressed that Kagari already left by the time she got to the meeting point. Kagari apologizes, but Yomi begins to become angry; Kagari's new friends drive Yomi away from Kagari, believing that Yomi is bothering her. After basketball practice, Mato is suddenly handed a towel by Kagari. Kagari says that she used to be completely lost without Yomi, and that she wants to repay Yomi for looking after her for so long. She asks Mato what she should do for Yomi, since she's not accustomed to doing things for other people. In the art room, Yomi is shown with the painting of Mato she made earlier; however, she has made it darker and the Mato in the picture is crying red blood or tears. The other students comment on how gloomy the painting is now, and start to call it creepy. Yomi reflects on Saya's words, thinking that no one needs her anymore. Saya continues to drink her coffee while smiling.

Dead Master continues to lower herself into the vortex of chains. Yomi is heard saying that even if she disappeared, the world wouldn't change.

When Yomi goes to get Kagari from the cooking club, Kagari's new friends tell her Kagari has left and accuse her of trying to hog Kagari, saying that Yomi didn't complain to Kagari, rather she was mad that someone else took care of Kagari. In another part of the school, Mato tells Kagari that she should give Yomi something that she made herself. Yomi says that taking care of Kagari was hard on her, but she is glad that Kagari is mixing with others. When Kagari and Mato find Yomi, however, she ignores them and quickly leaves. Kagari tries to go to Yomi's house to give her the sweets she made, but Yomi refuses to see her. Kagari ask her mom to give her a present (one of the muffins her cooking class she made). Yomi shuts herself in her room the next day, and texts Mato to tell her not to worry and not to check on her. At basketball practice, Yuu notices that Mato is worried and says she would also like to be Yomi's friend, asking for her address.

Arata meets Takuu, the boy she had a crush on. He apologizes, saying that he's being made fun of as well. He says that he was really happy when she confessed and he also likes her - but she suddenly says that she has no idea what he's talking about and apologizes. She says she has her club to return to and walks back, and Takuu tries to apologize, saying he knows she must be angry and he'll change and fix things, but she maintains that she has no clue what he's talking about - and that she doesn't even remember who he is. She then goes back, leaving him alone in the rain.

Yomi remains shut in. Kagari tries to visit, but Yomi continues to send her away. She thinks that, even though she told her not to worry, Mato will still worry about her. She receives a text and believes it to be from Mato, but it turns out to be from Yuu. Although Yuu expresses concern for Yomi, merely knowing that Mato has another friend makes Yomi become hysterical and she beats her phone with a pillow until it hits the floor. Realizing that Kagari is still waiting, Yomi hurries to see her, believing that Kagari would miss her if she disappeared.

Saya arrives at her home, throwing away her umbrella and looking for café au lait. She looks through her selection of mugs, which is similar to the one at school; all of them seem to have a particular symbol on it.

Kagari gives Yomi chocolate chip cookies and tells her that she wants to thank her because she feels like if she doesn't thank her, Yomi will be unable to let her go. This startles Yomi.

Back at the other world, Black Rock Shooter runs through the green world, heading for the mass of chains. Lightning pulses down the chains and the entire mass is pulsating and glowing green.

Kagari says that although Yomi says she's happy she's making friends, she believes it was just an act and she doesn't want Yomi to act strong if she's not. However, although she used to think everything would be over if Yomi was gone, she says that she seems to have forgotten actually needing Yomi all that much. Yomi reacts violently to Kagari's rejection and she backs away from her, as Kagari says that she thinks Yomi did a lot for her, and that at one point, she might have loved her, but she doesn't understand it. She asks Yomi to forget about what happened up until now, and to let her go.

Back at home, Saya has finish making more coffee and pulls it out of the microwave, saying, "success".

At that moment, Yomi screams and the chain mass explodes, knocking Black Rock Shooter away. She manages to land on a chain and ride it to the center. An enormous palace rises from the ground; from it, Dead Master emerges, carrying her Death Scythe. She is accompanied by several knight-like creatures and her two skulls. Black Rock Shooter materializes her Rock Cannon and prepares to fire; however one of the skulls hits her and knocks her into a wall. They both ready their weapons.

Trivia

 * Strength makes her first appearance walking through the desert, in a similar manner as her introduction in the OVA.
 * Chariot has no expression when she was beheaded by Black★Rock Shooter. However, when Strength throws her off the cliff, she had a scared expression on her face.
 * This is the first episode to feature the first lyrics in the opening theme.  They are also audible in episode six, and both episodes have the camera focus on "Strength" before the opening credits.
 * The coffee mug that Saya uses at the end of this episode is Yomi's; the one with the small bird.