It’s Phantom episode 9 and Reiji and Ein are on the run, but Inferno isn’t far behind.

Ein finally wakes up in the car, but demands that Reiji let her out so that she may rejoin Scythe Master. Reiji tries to tell her that Scythe Master betrayed Inferno and abandoned her, but she still insists. However, Reiji is finally able to make Ein relent by telling her that Inferno will be careful when going after Scythe Master since he has the “fear of Phantom” and Ein could easily be caught before even reaching him anyway.

Ein then asks Reiji to tell her about his memories of Japan, and afterward tells him that he should go back, since he at least has a place to go back to and his passport which proves that he is who he is. However, Reiji rips his passport up just to show Ein that he’s still who he is even without it.

That night, they stay over at a hotel, and after Reiji comes back from a convenience store, he finds Ein pointing a gun at her own head. However, she can’t fire and Reiji takes the gun from her. She then tells him that she has nothing to live for, since before all she lived for was following Scythe Master’s orders. But Reiji tells her that they did what they did to live, not die, and decides to give Ein a new name: Eren.

The next day, Reiji decides it’s time to find some cash and a new car. However, Eren notices someone watching her and runs off into an alley, where she shoots the man and meets back up with Scythe Master. Meanwhile, Lizzie and Claudia catch Reiji as he’s trying to hot wire a care. Lizzie interrogates Reiji, but naturally he isn’t able to tell them anything about Scythe Master. Then Claudia tells him that the only way to prove his innocence and save Ein now is to kill Scythe Master.

And the plot gets deeper. I didn’t necessarily expect Scythe Master to show up so soon again, but that definitely throws a wrench into Reiji’s plans (as does him getting caught, obviously). However, that probably means Scythe Master is going to bite the dust sooner rather than later too.  One also has to wonder how Reiji will get out of being caught too.  Obviously he’s going on a mission to kill Scythe Master, but will they keep an eye on him to make sure he returns?  I’m sure that if he runs away again they’ll just chase after him again.  Eventually he’s going to have to beat Lizzie I think.

My guess is that Ein is going to become loyal to Scythe Master again since that’s what she was looking for anyway to give herself purpose, so with Reiji being tasked to kill Scythe Master, that sets us up for a real Ein vs. Reiji match up. However, as Reiji has already shown himself to be Ein’s equal even when she’s healthy, he may very well have the upper hand in skill against Ein. However, he may be more hesitant to harm Ein than Ein would be to harm him.

I also wonder if we’ll learn the real truth behind what’s going on in the next episode too. I’m about 95% sure this whole thing was a set up by Claudia, and that she’ll eventually double-cross the gang that she’s currently working with to accomplish her plot, but we may hear from Scythe Master directly what’s going on.