Episode 4

The Misaki Stairs, Part 2 (ミサキ階段　其の二) is the fourth episode of the Toilet-bound Hanako-kun anime.

Synopsis
As ordered by the mystery of "Misaki Stairs," Nene's group began looking for Misaki's body. After collecting the parts piece by piece, what waiting for Nene and company at the top of the stairs was...!?

Funimation Description
Nene, Hanako, and Kou have reached the top of the Misaki Stairs, where a mysterious and bewitching woman awaits them. Will Nene get her friend back, or will she vanish along with her?

Plot
The two of them enter through the doors as it slams shut behind. Nene follows after Kou after contemplating for a brief moment, watching the closed doors behind them. But before she could take another step, she sees something floating in the water: a disembodied head with bedraggled hair. She steps back anxiously, but the head ultimately falls off the rushing waterfall, heeding no sound of its landing. Nene stares at the bottomless pit until Kou's voice-directed her attention to a silhouette hidden in the dark. They realize that this figure was an agglomeration of the parts they found put together, with jutting joints and irregularities as it sat in a wheelchair. The two of them stare at it in disbelief, as Nene shudders behind Hanako-kun. He blames Kou for having to find the wrong leg, before Kou refuted saying he told them to grab anything until Nene listlessly marvels at their creation's perfection against everything else. Hanako-kun briefly becomes distraught at Nene's liking for the figure's chest. Suddenly, footsteps sounded on the water, belonging to a young woman with hues of red and white for her clothing, and slightly-curly green hair. They recognized the voice belonging to the phone calls', as the woman greets them.

The three become mesmerized by the woman's beauty, as Nene questioned if this was Misaki-san. The woman who claimed to be 'Misaki' notices the figure behind them, rushing over to look at the humanoid. Kou and Nene hesitantly make excuses for its odd appearance, but is surprised to find Misaki's liking of it. She takes Nene's hands into her own, shaking it in gratitude while explaining she didn't have any idea of what a human body looked like. She marvels it, saying this is unlike any human body she has ever seen, before blowing a spell to stir it awake. The figure's limbs start acting erratically, making guttural noises, before ultimately failing to move. Much to her displease, she denounces it as another failure. Nene nervously asks if there were any other kids around here, before 'Misaki' directs their attention to the mound of lifeless mannequins, who had the same seals placed on their faces. This sends Nene into a shock, seeing Aoi's lifeless body in the form of a dark gray mannequin. She rushes over with tears in her eyes, as Hanako-kun calls her from behind. She attempts to wake her up, before Aoi's head slips off the neck and into the water. 'Misaki' sighs with exasperation, grimness lacing her tone as she follows her new rumor. Suddenly, her giant scissors are aimed around Nene's neck, but was blocked by Kou's arm. Kou asks Nene if she was alright, before realizing one of his arms was turned into a plush material. Hanako-kun defends the both of them with his knife, noting that her scissors can turn humans into dolls when cut.

Kou recalls Hanako's previous transformation when they first fought, but Hanako-kun states that he can't use hakujoudai's power in her territory without her permission. The possibility of that is by removing her yorishiro, but it wasn't here after all. 'Misaki' suddenly appears behind Kou, taking a swing with her scissors as he dodges it. Hanako-kun playfully leaves the offense to Kou, before he silently approaches Nene, who is still holding Aoi's head. He calmly tells her to stand up as Nene sobs in dejection, before telling her that anything here is neither born nor dead. He encourages her that people who don't know when to give up are unstoppable, lending her his hand. Nene proclaims that she will do anything once after getting his hand, before Hanako-kun's expression morphs into an intimidating way.

The next thing she knew was being tied with rope by Hanako-kun. He notes that the yorishiro wasn't found here, so it must be at the very bottom. Smiling gleefully, he pushes her off the edge, still holding the rope as Nene startingly falls downward. Nene lets out a scream while continuing downward, causing Kou to worry until 'Misaki' takes another swing. But before she could make another offense, Hanako-kun causes her to lose one of her scissors as she jumps back. Kou asks what he did to Nene, to which Hanako-kun said he took precautions to ensure her safety, thinkingly. Hanako-kun tells Kou to brace themselves, as 'Misaki' proclaims she is more than happy to shred both of them.

In the next scene, Nene groggily wakes up to find herself in front of a torii gate. Several Mokke surrounds her, noting she was still alive before retreating. Nene recalls Hanako-kun pushing her off the edge, as parts of her cheek and hand are covered in fading scales. She deduces that after Hanako-kun pushed her, she fell into the water, turning her into a fish, and came out to land on the dirt pathway.

She later surveys her surroundings, noting how bright it was in contrast to the previous scenery when they arrived at the Misaki Stairs. There is a quaint bench with sunlight filtering through the forest, making Nene questioned if this was actually the deepest part of the Boundary. But before Nene could search for the yorishiro, she accidentally knocks over a table, spilling several papers from a secret journal. Regardless of the warning, she reads the journal, seeing several sentences with spelling errors corrected (scarred = scared/fuun = fun). In the teacher's comments, there is a compliment signed by Misaki. Nene wonders if this was the Misaki they had met prior, before continuing. The sentences are then narrated by a young girl, who recalls Misaki cutting their hair and 'hating' them. Humorously so that cut was corrected to graciously trimmed and I hate Misaki to Thank you, Sensei. Nene chuckles a bit after seeing that Misaki fixed the sentences for the young girl.

Nene then notices an old black-and-white photograph peeping from underneath the pages, showing a teacher and his students taking a group picture. The caption next to it read that the young girl took a 'photo' with Misaki and the other kids. Nene then realizes that Misaki was the one in the photo, and not the Misaki they met above. Flipping to the next page, the young girl recounts Misaki giving her a pair of haircutting scissors, making her boast that the gift was only for her, as her handwriting improved. She says she will treasure them in the wayside shrine after confessing she loves Misaki. She later entails that Misaki had been teaching her reading, writing, and abacus, to which she was using her time to learn rather than scare people. In a small comment, she wishes that he would hurry up.

Nene perks up, believing this was a romance between a girl crushing on her teacher. It reminds her of her time in kindergarten, but she decides to read more of the journal in excitement. But after flipping a couple more pages, she sees that Misaki didn't come today. The girl then writes that she was making dolls while watching the road. The same phrase keeps repeating page after page, until the young girl writes that she heard a rumor of a teacher falling off the stairs. The teacher had died from the accident, making the girl wonder what die meant. Nene slowly begins to flip blank pages, until the girl says that Misaki may never come back here again.

The last sentence of the journal says she has decided to make Misaki instead, as 'Misaki' approaches down the steps. Nene inquires if she wrote this journal, to which 'Misaki' affirms it before saying she wants to collect Misaki's body. Nene proclaims that she had been using Aoi and the others to build Misaki's body, until the dolls surround her feet once again. Nene bluffs by saying that Misaki wouldn't be happy to see what she was doing, angering 'Misaki' to the point of pushing her against a tree. She threatens to cut Nene with her scissors after saying she would do anything to get scolded by Misaki again, before one of Hanako's hakujoudai repels the scissors.

Hanako-kun enters the scene, covered in innumerable scratches, before stumbling back in exhaustion. Nene rushes over to him as No.2 mocks about how easily beatable he was. Hanako-kun remarks that he was already dead before whispering to Nene about finding No.2's yorishiro. He directs her to peel off the talisman, before Misaki again aims her scissors at the two of them. Hanako-kun intervenes, tying her with rope to prevent her from moving. No.2 angrily summons more dolls to stop Nene from climbing up the stairs, to which Nene proclaims that everything No.2 was doing was just for herself. She steps on one of the dolls, propelling her to jump over all of them, surprising both Hanako and No.2. She rushes over to open the shrine house, seeing a pair of old scissors covered with a black and white seal. The Boundary begins to break in the process, and as Misaki attempts to attack her again, Nene finally removes the seal. Her scissor is easily broken in two pieces as Hanako takes away her position as School Mystery; ending it with a knife to her chest. The background splinters into shards, causing Nene to wake up in No. 2's memory. She stands up to see Misaki and a young girl seated on a pedestal, after he had finished cutting her hair. The young girl asks what was the occasion when he handed her a pair of new scissors, when Misaki replied that he will be taking a school picture with his students. All of his students greet him at the shrine, but they are frightened by the rumors of a girl's ghost haunting the area. Misaki then denies the rumors, and as they wait for their picture to be taken, Misaki encourages the young girl to take the picture with them after pulling her out from an inari fox statue. As the scene fades away, it shows a colored picture with a younger version of No.2 now in it.

Nene wakes up while lying on the school's hallway after Hanako calls on her. Nene inquires where Kou was, to which Hanako produces a plush doll of Kou. She then asks if him and the others will return back, and Hanako-kun says that he will take care of it with the assistance of the true form of No.2: a small white fox possessing some accessories from her human form. When Hanako-kun asks her to apologize, she blatantly refuses before being threatened to be made into kitsune udon. She then answers Nene's question that everybody will return back to normal by the next morning. Nene then notices that No.2 began sulking in the corner, before retrieving the old class photo for her. Still, she doesn't forgive her for what had happened, but still felt sorry for breaking the item she cherished. She apologizes, moving to pet No.2's ear until she gets bitten harshly. No.2 dashes off with the photo, angrily berating her that she doesn't want to become friends. She leaves after saying her name was Yako and that the next time they call her Fox-san, she will bite their hand off.

Nene begins to think if kitsune udon was a good idea while rubbing her hand. Tiredly, she leans against the school wall, surprising Hanako-kun. She states she feels exhausted after everything they had been through, albeit already relieved too. Hanako-kun then tells her to stay like that, before placing a kiss on her cheek as a reward. In response, Nene blushes profusely after being shocked by his unpredictableness. A black origami crane momentarily leaves her shirt pocket, returning to Natsuhiko. Natsuhiko then calls on a young girl, before getting mercilessly smacked with a book. The girl scolds him for not being quiet until the black crane lands on her hand, morphing into a kokujoudai. She later states that she is glad about the results.

Near the end of the episode, Kou begins to question if they had forgotten about him when left in his doll form.

Characters

 * Yashiro Nene
 * Hanako
 * Minamoto Kou
 * Yako
 * Akane Aoi
 * Mokke
 * Hyuuga Natsuhiko
 * Nanamine Sakura
 * Misaki