Episode 29

In the first half, Eden Academy gossip claims that a phantom pâtissier occasionally serves a dessert so remarkable that students who taste it go on to join the Imperial Scholars. With class placements soon to be decided partly by upcoming quizzes, Anya and Becky overhear that a limited batch of these macarons, credited to a former royal chef, is on sale in Dining Hall 2. They sprint over, only to collide with Damian's group chasing the same prize, and both parties watch George Glooman claim the final set. Reminded of an old debt, George surrenders four of his five macarons, and the children settle ownership with a round of Old Maid. Anya, who has never touched playing cards, cruises to victory by reading minds, then panics when Damian idly wonders whether telepathy explains her win. She forces a rematch and deliberately keeps the losing card, but her transparent face traps her; seeing her well up with tears, Damian quietly draws the Old Maid himself and takes the loss. The pastry does nothing for Anya's scores. Her quiz results come back as poor as ever, though Loid privately notes that spelling mistakes alone sank an otherwise surprising Classical Language paper.

The second half follows Franky, freshly smitten with a cafe waitress named Kacey, as he searches for her runaway cat Kopi. Loid wants photographs for a side mission but flatly refuses the cat job, and Franky mentions that the contact who handled such intel was eliminated by Garden, a shadowy Ostanian assassin outfit most people dismiss as legend. Yor, met by chance during her lunch break, proves a far more willing helper. Franky's catnip gadget summons a swarm of strays, and when Kopi bolts toward traffic, Yor rips a piece off his exo-skeleton power suit and hurls it to cut the animal off, then scoops him up. The reunion sours instantly: Kacey already has a boyfriend, and Franky walks away vowing tearfully to live for his work. Back at city hall, a suited colleague tells Yor she has a call. The voice on the line addresses her as Thorn Princess and announces a new client.

Anya wins the coveted Pierre Pommier macaron through telepathy, then throws a second round of Old Maid to bury Damian's suspicions, and Damian secretly loses on purpose when he sees her cry. The legendary pastry fails to improve her quiz results. Franky's contact is revealed to have been killed by Garden, the episode's first real mention of the organization's reach. Yor sacrifices a decade of Franky's engineering work to capture Kopi, and Franky's romance collapses on delivery. The closing scene hands the Thorn Princess a fresh assignment, setting the Cruise Adventure Arc in motion.

The episode adapts Chapter 42 in its first part and Chapter 43 in its second, bridging the Imperial Scholars Mixer Arc and the Cruise Adventure Arc. The silhouetted Garden lineup shown during Franky's warning contains five more figures than the manga panel. Anime-only touches include a hallway safety gag during the dash to the dining hall, a face-off shot with macarons circling both kid factions, and a glimpse of downed men illustrating Garden's rumored work. The English dub marks Megan Shipman's return as Anya's voice following maternity leave.