Saber Marionette J

Love Unending, Hearts Distant (1x20)

Air date: Feb 18, 1997

When Lime fled in horror at Tiegel's death, she encountered Soemon Obiichi, Otaru's swordmaster. At his query, Lime poured forth her confusion about hearts - they make her and her "sisters" happy, but they also cause so much pain...! What's the point of having a heart at all? Soemon offers to help her out of this misery, and by the time Otaru finds Lime, her heart - her otome kairo - is gone. Lime is stiff and unresponsive and her pupils have closed completely, but she's still alive. Otaru takes her home and puts her to bed. A crowd gathers in Otaru's house that before long is scouring Japones town for Lime's missing "heart", and Otaru joins them despite objections that he should stay with Lime. Soemon tries to console Otaru, saying that Lime is Lime, missing hardware or not. Otaru goes home and finds Lime waiting in the genkan (place to change shoes), up and around but still almost totally unresponsive to any stimulus. She is capable of responding to commands, but her movements are so stiff and uncoordinated as to be without effect. However, the old Lime, though not in evidence at the moment, is not gone completely... Meanwhile, Faust receives a report from a loyal minion in the field, Rubens, that an otome kairo has been captured from one of the Japones Marionettes. Rubens signs off and removes his disguise - it is in fact none other than Soemon himself, who took Lime's otome kairo as a loyal secret agent of Geltland - in his mind, he is Soemon Obiichi of Geltland no longer. His defection was triggered by, of all things, a Marionette. Her name is Koyuki, and though she is no more animated or human than Lime is now, Soemon felt from the moment he first saw her that they were destined to spend their lives together. This intimacy with what remains, sentio-epistemiology aside, a machine earned him nothing but hatred from the Japones citizenry. Ultimately, he was kicked out of the country in disgrace. He wandered through the desert to Geltland, where he was found by Fa