The Motor Club discover the parts of an prototype World War II aircraft and plan to get it flying for Nekomi Tech's next campus festival.
Summary
Keiichi reads a magazine about the Shinden, an experimental fighter aircraft developed by the Japanese navy near the end of World War II that was equipped with an unusual rear-propeller propulsion system. Intended to shoot down American bombers, the Shinden never saw combat because Japan surrendered shortly after its first test flights, and the only known surviving prototype is in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Reading about the Shinden reminds Keiichi of his time flying in his grandfather's plane, but he's taken out of his daydreaming by Tamiya, who's getting the Motor Club to work hard preparing to advertise the club at Nekomi Tech's campus festival in ten days.
Belldandy and Urd show up in color-matching outfits, but one of the Auto Club members suddenly announces that Aoshima had betrayed them! As it turns out, he created his own motor club, the "Four Wheels Club", whose main selling point is having even more cute girls than the Motor Club, as well as hot cars. This club is Aoshima's latest attempt to seize Belldandy for himself.
Tamiya tells everyone that they must defeat the Four Wheels Club by using their brains to compensate for having no money, but Aoshima has someone operating an excavator to destroy their clubhouse while they're away. The next day, they panic at the sight of the ruins and begin searching for salvage. Belldandy uses magic to search for buried treasure, and the Motor Club unearths what they discover to be the propeller for a Shinden! Keiichi recalls that Nekomi Tech was built on the site of an old naval air base, and Belldandy speaks with the plane's spirit, learning that this is Shinden II—the second Shinden prototype—and was buried in the ground before it could fulfill its destiny. The plane begs Belldandy to let it fly, and Belldandy tells everyone that they must give Shinden a chance. Tamiya is encouraged by the prospect of having a fully working plane since it's the one thing Aoshima's club can't get.
Belldandy informs everyone that the remaining parts of the Shinden are located nearby, and the Motor Club leaves huge holes all around the campus digging them up. They eventually find all the parts except for the landing gear and instrumentation. Tamiya and Otaki tell Keiichi to let them worry about that, but more importantly, they have to train him to fly, so they make him bungee jump off the roof of the campus building because they think astronauts do it. Belldandy speaks with the Shinden again, who is worried that the Motor Club doesn't know what it's doing, but Belldandy insists that they can be trusted. Aoshima watches the Motor Club work from afar and believes that they're lunatics, but at least their crash will liven up the festival.
The next day, the Motor Club charges ¥200 for people to see the Shinden fly. To Keiichi's surprise, the aircraft actually works despite Tamiya and Otaki "guessing" about a couple of missing parts, and Aoshima reluctantly admits that Keiichi is brave despite being a moron.
Keiichi is wearing aviator clothing for the occasion, but he is worried about flying since he only ever flew a plane ten years ago and has never taken off. However, Belldandy tells him that if he lets the Shinden have a chance to fly, it will help him out. Keiichi pats Belldandy on the shoulders and climbs into the cockpit, whose instrument panel he discovers to be a bunch of motorcycle and truck gauges that Tamiya and Otaki bolted on. The plane begins moving down the runway, but Keiichi doesn't know how to raise the plane. He hears Shinden's spirit telling him to raise the propeller pitch. Doing so, the plane lifts off the ground, and the crowd below cheers as the Shinden finally achieves its dream to fly.
Unfortunately, the plane doesn't want to let Keiichi land, and he panics as he only has five minutes' worth of fuel remaining.