I feel like there’s a missing piece to the premise with Champignon Witch. And because it’s so meticulous in the way it measures out the plot – and because this is Tachibana Higuchi – I can only assume this is intentional. What’s in this for the Black Witches? I mean, seriously – they’re getting shit on pretty heavily here. They literally clean up the world’s messes, yet they’re treated as pariahs. Much worse, they’re persecuted and even executed for their trouble. I see no evidence of material reward headed their way. We know why Luna does it, but there’s no obvious sign of altruism among the others we’ve met (except debatably Dorothy – that’s the Cat Witch’s name, as it turns out).

So what gives? Luna’s raison d’être was spelled out in clear – and heartbreaking – terms this week. But truthfully we already knew. She’s incredibly kind and overflowing with empathy. We saw that council of black witches, and while there were certainly a variety of personalities there, no one else came off that way. Quite frankly in their position I would probably tell the world to go eff itself and live in a forest with talking cows and sheep in a giant mushroom. Or whatever the equivalent for a fire or mouse or insect magician is. I don’t get it, but I suspect there is an explanation out there – we just haven’t heard it yet.

But Luna is Luna. So when the bookstore owner (who to be fair has been kind to Luna) sends effectively an SOS about how bad things have gotten in town, she can’t resist trying to help. And “bad” is an understatement, because an End of All Things has apparently shown up in the land. Claude chalks this decision up to her ego (the way the chorus always chimes in “emotional abuse” when the crow is really cooking is hilarious), given that she never got a letter from a human before. And Luna’s reaction betrays that Claude isn’t totally off the mark (and Lize finds this adorable). But let’s be honest – if “too nice for their own good” ever applied to anybody, it applies to Luna.

Luna takes Lize and (of course) Minos with her. And naturally, this trip goes badly almost from the beginning. Even the villagers are more obnoxious towards her than usual, what with ominous rumors filtering out into the inaka. Lize tries to help out using his white magic, but his efforts bear very little fruit. And it’s worse when they get to town – much worse. Refugees from the path of the End of All Things are telling cautionary tales and preaching repent or die. The accusations fly towards Luna, then the stones. Lize is desperate to protect her but is helpless to do so. In fact she protects him, along with Minos, sheltering them under her hat as she draws the mob away.

Champignon no Majo breaks my heart pretty much every week, so this is just business as usual. Lize’s frustration is brutal – especially as he can’t quite understand why he feels it so profoundly. And then Minos chimes in with the story of the time he asked Luna why she kept helping humans despite being horribly treated by them. That whole “I’m not alone” thing – damn, that was rough. Luna is such a beautiful soul, and it would take so little to make her happy. Yet even that much is denied her. She’s at least been given Lize and Claude and Minos and the rest, and if she just sat tight and ignored the outside world, she might be happy enough. But her conscience won’t even allow her that small privilege.

It seems almost too cruel, even for Champignon Witch, to bring Henri back into the picture. Some time has passed, clearly – Luna isn’t older but Henri has obviously aged (and we later learn he has a wife and child). He shouldn’t remember her, so his actions when his superior in the witch hunts arrests Luna are down strictly to his own kindness. I mean, thank goodness he’s there I suppose – but for Luna to see him like this is hard to take. What’s worse, the feelings between them are so powerful that they seem to be overcoming the memory block. And that doesn’t seem like it’d be a good thing for anybody involved.

Luna’s tears melt the magical vines which bind her – but there’s still the matter of Lize and Minos. Eventually they emerge from under the hat, and Lize takes off after Luna. But someone in the crowd who’s been tainted by the End’s magic explodes (I mean, that seems to be what happened) and he’s in the crossfire. That’s when a new figure enters the picture (after a brief cameo in the cold open) – the Wind Magician (Ura Kazuki). As you recall he was absent from the council meeting, the Fire Mage insisting that Wind had given him his proxy vote. He saves Lize but in the process sprays the poison all around – and what’s worse, recognizes what Lize is.

The Wind Magician is still very much an X factor here. He wasn’t at that meeting – does he even know what was decided (presumably he does, but we can’t be sure)? Is he on good terms with Luna or, given his association with the Fire Witch, might he be hostile towards her? What’s worse, Lize sees Henri and Luna sharing what can only be described as an intense personal moment, and that’s not going to be good for Lize’s frame of mind. It’s easy to see things spiraling off in a dark direction from here – though perhaps “darker” would be a better choice of words.