WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Wonder Egg Priority Episode 6, “Punch Drunk Day”, now streaming of Funimation.
The first five episodes of Wonder Egg Priority constantly hinted at Mr. Sawaki being a villain. These hints, however, come from a biased source -- they're solely from Ai’s perspective, and Ai seems to dislike him for some reason or another. Episode 6 poses another possible explanation for why Mr. Sawaki is such a complicated topic for Ai, adding even more confusion to the nature of their relationship.
This episode introduces a new breed of foes called “Haters,” which look like the green versions of the Seeno Evils. These monsters are more powerful beings that can be as deadly as a boss monster. They are created due to the Seeno Evils' jealousy for the girls, so as the girls enter more dream worlds, more Haters will spawn. The name change implies the creatures are changing from signifying passive bystanders to active participants, a change that will echo Ai's action at the end of the episode.
Ai's big mission this week is to protect a girl named Yae Yoshida. Yae claims she can see ghosts and grudges, but everyone around her thought she was crazy and had her sent to a mental institution. Seeing something that no one else believes is the theme of this dream, and scenes of Ai fighting the invisible monster are intercut with flashbacks to various scenes involving Mr. Sawaki. The implication is there may be something about him that only Ai can see.
After Ai gets ahold of the egg girl's prayer beads that allowed her to finally see the monster and defeat it, Ai also seems to get a moment of clarity about Mr. Sawaki. Unlike the other items from the dreams, the prayer beads follow Ai back to the real world. This could be a key item to help Ai finally figure out the truth about Mr. Sawaki.
Ai's emotional struggle in this episode stems from the fact that her mother decides to date Mr. Sawaki and wants her blessing, Ai is unhappy about this but begrudgingly agrees. Rika thinks that Mr. Sawaki might be using A's mother to trying to get close to Ai in a creepy way. Momoe does not appreciate this suspicion being cast on her uncle. Neiru, the calmest member of the group, poses an alternative explanation for Ai’s hostility towards Mr. Sawaki: she believes that Ai has a crush on Mr. Sawaki, that this is why she is angry about her mother dating him.
Ai vehemently denies that she has any feelings for Mr. Sawaki, but her reactions may be due to confusion rather than disgust. Since she is still unclear about the circumstances of Koito’s death and has acted hostile towards Mr. Sawaki because of this, it is hard to get over her own doubts. Even if she had affection for Mr. Sawaki before Koito’s death, she was aware of Koito’s feelings for him, so it would be more difficult for her to admit that she likes him now that Koito is dead.
The end of Episode 6 presents one of the biggest fake-outs in Wonder Egg Priority so far. Ai suddenly gets up from her bath, takes the prayer beads and dashes to school. She sees Mr. Sawaki and runs to grab his arm. The scene is presented very much like a love confession, but instead, Ai announces to Mr. Sawaki that she will be returning to school.
There are two major possible explanations for Ai’s decision: either she has reached a new stage of emotional maturity and is ready to handle facing her fears about school, or she's on a mission to dig up more information on the suspicious-seeming teacher.
