Episode 39

Thunder rolls over Eden Academy as Madam Donna Schlag stalks the grounds, dropping a smoking student with one of her infamous Tonitrus Bolts, demerits handed out for the slightest infraction. Fresh from hospitalization and rumored to have expelled over a hundred students single-handedly, the woman students call Old Lady Tonitrus heads for the first-years despite Henry Henderson's diplomatic misgivings. Bill Watkins arrives too late with his warning; Schlag corners Cecile Hall for a surprise bag inspection, visibly relishing every bolt she pins on children caught with snacks or playing cards, and caps it with the cautionary tale of "Mr. Pee Pants," an honor student whose missing handkerchief spiraled into expulsion and an antigovernment arrest.

Damian realizes with dawning horror that his own handkerchief is at the dorm. Anya initially savors his panic, but his thought that even one bolt would bar him from ever facing his father again threatens the foundation of Plan B, so she slips him her handkerchief, imagining Donovan Desmond's gratitude. Damian talks his way past the "A" monogram by claiming it stands for his own initial. Anya then discovers she never packed a spare, and Schlag pins a second Tonitrus on her. When a guilt-stricken Damian moves to confess, Anya overhears the inspector's plan to double their punishment for the deception and shuts him down. He leaves the ordeal vowing to repay her, which Anya counts as progress even at the cost of a demerit. At home, the sight of the bolt on his daughter's chest drops Loid to the floor in a dead faint.

Unconscious, he dreams of Luwen in eastern Westalis, where a boy who will one day be called Twilight plays war with three friends nicknamed Major, General, and Corporal, always winning through wits and theatrics as their "Advisor." His stern father slaps him for vowing to kill the "monsters" across the border, insisting the era of war is over, and the boy, unrepentant, lies about needing money for a schoolbook to buy a toy soldier set instead. Guilt gnaws at him; he abandons the new gear mid-game, helps prepare the town fair, and asks the croquette seller about work so he can repay his father, even planning an apology. He never gets the chance. Sirens announce that Ostanian forces have crossed the frontier, a shell obliterates the boys' hideout, and a second blast tears through the town square, striking the boy unconscious amid the smoke.

Donna Schlag, Old Lady Tonitrus, returns to Eden Academy and subjects Anya's class to a punitive bag inspection. Anya sacrifices her handkerchief to spare Damian a Tonitrus Bolt that would have cut him off from his father and doomed Plan B, taking her own second bolt in the process, and Damian swears to repay the debt. Loid faints at the news, triggering the arc's central flashback. The dream sequence establishes his childhood in Luwen, his clash with a pacifist father, his guilt over a lie, and the Ostanian surprise attack that shatters his hometown.

Part A adapts Chapter 61 and part B covers Chapter 62.1 plus the opening pages of Chapter 62.2. The adaptation adds and reshuffles numerous small beats, including Damian returning the handkerchief, extra Luwen scenery, and a rearranged croquette-lady joke. From this season Connie's hair is blonde, though it was brown in the colored manga and the first two seasons. Loid's apartment doorplate is legible here and reads "Gaishutsu Chu," romanized Japanese for being away from home.