A Crush on Gen

A Crush on Gen (限と恋のアタック, Gen to Koi no Atakku) is the 24th episode of the Kekkaishi anime adapted by Sunrise.

Summary
The episode begins with Yurina Kanda and her friend Aoi Shinagawa walking home from cram school at night. Yurina comments that she envies Aoi's decisiveness, where Yurina is always hesitating to make choices. Suddenly, they see a mysterious figure agilely leaping from rooftop to rooftop. As the person passes in front of the moon, the girls recognize him as Gen Shishio. Gen spots them and quickly moves on, but Aoi seems fascinated with him.

Meanwhile, Yoshimori and Madarao are facing off against the Inoushi Boar Bull, a huge bull Ayakashi with several large horns protruding from its armor. Madarao isn't concerned at first, commenting that the bull will simply charge blindly. However, the bull easily breaks free from Yoshimori's Kekkai and begins chasing them both. Gen appears, landing on the bull's back and slicing it apart with a swipe of his enlarged claws. As usual, Yoshimori is furious that Gen stole his prey, and yells that Gen will never get girls if he keeps stealing. Predictably, Gen doesn't seem to care. Gen wakes up the next morning and heads for school, stopping to buy a sandwich. Along the way, he spots an abandoned, sad, looking puppy in a box in an alley. In an unusual act of kindness, Gen shares his sandwich with the puppy, unaware that Aoi is watching him from the other end of the alley.

At Karasumori Academy, Aoi is trying to convince Yurina how great a guy Gen is, but having been spooked by him in the past, Yurina is convinced he's dangerous and tries to warn Aoi away from Gen, but it doesn't work. Ayano and Kyoko join the conversation, and to Yurina's horror, they're just as interested in Aoi's pursuit of Gen. Aoi firmly believes that Gen is a descendant of ninjas past, on a quest to protect the city. Yoshimori is still angry at Gen in class, to the point where he completely ignores Yurina's attempts to talk to him and storms off. In Gen's class, he appears bored while Aoi draws a picture of him in her sketchbook. After class, Yurina discovers that Ayano and Kyoko are planning an ambush on Gen on Aoi's behalf, because according to Hiromu Tabata, Gen is very popular with the girls, and even has a fan club in the high school division. They try to include Yurina, but she refuses, so Kyoko volunteers to approach Gen.

Yoshimori is taking his usual rooftop nap and oversleeps, school already being over by the time he wakes up. Yurina shows up and explains her concerns for Aoi. Yoshimori is just outraged that anyone is interested in Gen, and validates all of Yurina's fears by describing Gen as a violent maniac. Then he realizes he has no idea who Aoi is, despite the fact that she and Yurina went to elementary school with him. Kyoko goes ahead with the plan to corner Gen and tell him about Aoi's crush, but he doesn't care at all. Unfortunately, this only makes Ayano more determined to get through to him. Yurina visits Aoi at home, finding that Aoi decided to keep the puppy that Gen fed. Aoi is only further convinced of Gen's good heart from what she saw, and even starts to convince Yurina that he's a good guy. As Yoshimori prepares for work that night, he still can't believe that a girl could like Gen. Gen gets a call from Masamori, and tells him about the bounty on the heads of the Kekkaishi. Masamori asks to be kept informed.

Youkyokusai, an Ayakashi armed with magic tricks, appears and traps Gen with glue. He doesn't appear dangerous at first, but that is only to distract from his most dangerous technique: a wind dragon capable of slicing through Kekkai. Tokine and Yoshimori retreat to discuss strategy, deciding that Yoshimori will distract Youkyokusai while Tokine frees Gen. Once that is done, Tokine reveals the final parts of her plan: because the Ayakashi is not good with direct combat, it will certainly retreat behind a smokescreen when faced with Gen. When that happens, they well entrap it on four sides with Kekkai, then force it upward with a fifth, right in the path of Gen's attack. Youkyokusai nearly escapes, but Gen strikes him down, anyway.

Back at school, Yoshimori sees Aoi present Gen with her sketchbook, full of drawings of him. Gen walks off without a word. Instead of being upset, Aoi simply theorizes that a ninja doesn't have time for love. She decides to name her new puppy after Gen. On the school's rooftop, Gen and Yoshimori gaze at the sky. Yoshimori asks why Gen isn't nice to Aoi, but Gen replies that if anyone knew his secret, they would hate him.