Episodes

After resolving the missing children incident, Aoi comes back to Moonflower and finds a collapsed Ginji in his fox-cub form. While looking after him, she recalls the white-masked ayakashi who saved her when she was a child.

Aoi realizes that she has found a place she can belong to in Tenjin-ya. Then, Orio-ya's air ship suddenly shows up with a long-haired ayakashi on board, who's wearing a white mask that reminds her of the ayakashi in her childhood memory.

Ougan-douji immediately leaves to go to the North West. Aoi is greeted with hostility by Orio-ya's staff and is imprisoned by Ranmaru. Aoi is given a meal by a young boy named Taichi, a Night Sparrow. She finds that Chibi has stowed away in her pocket and he manages to free her by bribing Nobunaga with food in exchange for the key. Ranmaru catches her and reveals he hates humans because he knew her grandfather, Shiro. He reminds Ginji he has to help organise an important firework event. Hideyoshi, a monkey like Ayakashi, tries to return Aoi to her cell but before he can Hatori's father, Matsuba the Tengu Elder appears and, seeing Aoi being mistreated, loses his temper with the staff and flies into a rage, only being calmed when Aoi offers to cook his breakfast. Ranmaru forbids Aoi from using the main kitchen so Ginji takes her to a disused outbuilding with a small kitchen instead. Hatori also helps by bringing equipment he pilfered from the main kitchen. Aoi manages to make Matsuba an excellent seafood breakfast so Ranmaru reluctantly decides she can continue cooking in the outbuilding, but first orders her to thoroughly clean it. Aoi is bullied by Orio-ya's Young Mistress, Nene, who injures Aoi's ankle by tripping her. Aoi refuses to try and return to Tenjin-ya without Ginji. Ranmaru orders Aoi to cook for Matsuba every day until the firework event and steals the crystal hairpin Odanna gave her, threatening to throw it in the ocean if she tries to escape. (Source: Wikipedia)

At Ginji's suggestion, Aoi now cooks breakfast for Matsuba, who is staying at Orio-ya, and is given permission to use the kitchen in the old building. In the meantime, the light comes on at Moonflower while Aoi and Ginji are gone.

At the tsuru-douji's request, Aoi decides to entertain Yodoko, a spoiled daughter of a rich family who wants to eat an interesting food, by serving monjayaki. Though Yodoko first appears puzzled, she becomes intrigued when the food is cooked before her.

After hearing the explosion from Orio-ya, Aoi rushes back only to find an angered Matsuba and a beat-up Hatori. Matsuba's anger was triggered by Hatori directly asking him for some of the tengu’s secret liquor, one of the items needed for the ceremony.

After Aoi helped the tengu father and son reconcile, Raiju, a noble from the capital, becomes interested in Aoi. Meanwhile, Aoi follows Nobunaga to the back of the pine grove only to find a large silver beast collapsed in front of a crumbling shrine.

Odanna explains he can survive the miasma of the Dragon Palace because his power is different from Ginji and Ranmaru's. As they enter the Dragon Palace Aoi sinks into the sand and lands in a throne room next to Princess Iso. She shows Aoi a vision of the Southern Land 1000 years ago before the disasters. Iso recalls raising Ginji and Ranmaru to one day protect the Southern Land together. She also reveals she is dead, her body somewhere inside the Dragon Palace with the miasma trapped inside it, while Aoi has been talking to the memory imprint she left behind. She tells Aoi she must be the one to cook ocean treasure food and asks her to care for Ginji and Ranmaru before sending her back. As Aoi awakens she discovers the Mermaid Scale embedded in a wall and also finds she is wearing Princess Iso's bracelet. Aoi is attacked by an Ogre infected with the miasma. Odanna destroys the ogre, causing Aoi to cry when she sees Odanna injured. They almost kiss but Odanna kisses her forehead instead. Aoi becomes convinced the ceremony will only succeed if Ginji and Ranmaru reconcile. Odanna promises that Tenjin-ya will support the ceremony, albeit in secret. Aoi makes a new deal with Ranmaru, she will work at Orio-ya as long as Ginji does, but only if she is allowed to prepare the ocean treasure. Ranmaru agrees after hearing how she retrieved the Mermaid Scale. Aoi and Ginji decide the ocean treasure food will be made of ingredients from the Hidden and the human realms. (Source: Wikipedia)

O-Ryo, the former young hostess at Tenjin-ya, comes by Orio-ya as an inn guest. The Orio-ya employees become alarmed at the rival inn employee's arrival. Nene, Orio-ya's young hostess, seems to be especially bothered by O-Ryo's visit.

While Aoi is contemplating the dishes for the ceremony, Raiju, a noble from Youto, suddenly appears before her. Although she runs around trying to get away from him, he follows her around suspiciously and directs his malicious intent towards her.

After drinking the tengu's secret liquor, Aoi suddenly collapses. When she wakes up, she realizes that not only did she lose her voice, but she also lost her sense of taste, and so it was decided that she wouldn't cook the dishes made of ocean treasure.

It turned out that one of the Hourai's gem branches had been kept inside the enclosed space in an ink brush painting belonging to Nuinoin and his wife. With Byakuya's help, Aoi enters the world of the ink brush painting with Ginji, Ranmaru, and Chibi.

After coming back from the world of the ink brush painting, Aoi decides to cook the dishes made of ocean treasure for the second time. On the day of the fireworks event, when Orio-ya is swarming with guests, Tenjin-ya's air ships arrive as well.

The kagura hall is lit up and the ceremony has started. Lured by the smell of cucumber, Chibi goes inside the screen. After hearing his scream, Aoi pulls up the screen only to find out that the umi-bouzu has the same feelings that she had in the past.