Steel Maiden

While Honoka goes over the specification registry and finds that there are a lot of absent but necessary components, Akiha barging in with a "How dare you debase and subjugate me!" kick to the casing before storming away after reading the aristocratic AI the riot act gives way to Kazane hosting an emergency meeting with the Shishido Trustees regarding the X-QT bounty hunter Aleida wiping out Takane's team and the Nervalists capturing Sakura with the volition of wielding the child genius for their own ends. Her anger at Leopard gone, Akiha sets to her daily school life and appears to be much happier. Honoka approaches Akiha with an entreaty to reconsider her repudiation that suggests that she has no independent human volition as she relays Akiha's inquiry of why Leopard chose her. Sakura introducing herself in earnest through a payload she sent to the Shishido family gives way to Itsuki delivering a "To the colony, or else!" gunpoint nudge that places them before Bougainvillea and Mintao who are charged Itsuki's apprehension. The deus ex machina comes when Leopard manifests himself and Honoka enters the fight to assist Itsuki. After Akiha has Starsylph embarrass Bougainvillea and Mintao before sending the two ninja flying, Leopard and Akiha's mutual interdependence on each other and Itsuki being a trustworthy ally are both confirmed quod erat demonstrandum.