I can't help but put this here, some /a/ 4channer did such a great synopsis of the episode, called Why ep6 is Awesome:
"It opens with Eila flying around doing her special dodge and kill everything trick, all the while smiling and singing as if she hasn't a care in the world - because, thanks to her magical foresight ability, she's essentially invincible against these easy targets. Exposition follows the battle to explain her badassery, in which she brags about her foresight and reveals her derision towards shields. Unfortunately, during the briefing, she's told flat out in front of the entire team that she isn't good enough to protect Sanya specifically because she relies too much on her foresight for defense. The decision is made that Yoshika is better suited for the role, which she clearly is based on previous battle experiences, and while Eila hates it she accepts the order and instead opts to deal with Yoshika in her typical jerkish prankster fashion and seeks out Perrine for help plotting against her - even going so far as saying "your enemy's enemy is you friend, right?" to her in the sauna.
Perrine, however, is substantially more mature now, and it really shows in this episode. Instead of helping Eila harass Yoshika in some trivial vengeance fueled scheme, she decides to try to get Eila to develop a stronger sheild so that she can convince Mio to let her take Yoshika's place in the mission. Perrine really just wants them all to be happy, even if she'd never say it outright, so she arranges a dangerous training session in which she asks her best friend from the squad to fire live rounds at her to cajole Eila into raising a protective shield (poor Lynne, probably being the only one Perrine could feel she can trust here, being asked to put her at such a risk after all the time they spent together in Gallia...). Yet Eila doesn't take the training seriously. She knows that she can dodge any shot Lynne takes and Perrine is in no real risk at all since she'll just use her own shield - which is exactly what happens - so she treats it like a game and refuses to use a shield. It's not until after the fight with Sanya that she even considers replacing Yoshika on the mission, at this point she felt they were just wasting each others time.
In all likelihood, the mission would have gone as planned is it weren't for Sanya. Everyone, including her and Eila, knew that Yoshika was the strongest shield on the team, but she insisted that Eila should be the one to protect her. The fact is Eila could use a shield all along but knew Yoshika could do it better, so trying to take her spot was a frivolous gesture and would only cost Eila her pride. It would have been humiliating to use a shield in practice since she already said it was below her, so she was resigned to let Yoshika carry out her role. She hated it, but at least Sanya was safe. That's all that mattered to her. But that wasn't enough for Sanya - to her it looked like Eila had given up on protecting her, since it seemed like Eila was only worried about upholding her untouchable reputation. She didn't care that Yoshika was more capable as a shield because in her eyes the role was more than the shield. The insults they threw at each other hit the nail on the head: Eila was an idiot for not seeing the role as more than a shield, and Sanya was too stubborn to let it simply be that.
It took an impossible pillow to the face for Eila to understand the depth Sanya was thinking at. She saw it coming before she opened her eyes - she just didn't believe it. It completely stunned her. Were it thrown by anyone else she could have dodged it, but she was petrified by how deeply she had to have hurt Sanya for her to do that. By then it was too late to reconcile. She had lost Sanya. She was crushed. During the final briefing and preparing in the hangar they didn't approach each other, and Sanya didn't so much as look at Eila, so why should she think there was any hope left? That is until 20,000 meters into the sky when Sanya glanced down at her, and she saw the look in her eyes. In that moment she was given the choice - let her go completely and forever, or risk it all - and she went for it. She didn't care about her reputation anymore, nor the orders, nor her own safety since her magic would run out before she could make it back. Right there she completely surrendered herself to Sanya, and in turn Sanya accepted her." |