With Christmas fast approaching, Keiichi works himself to exhaustion to buy Belldandy a ring before she has to return to heaven per her recall notice. Unbeknownst to them, Urd and Skuld plan to stop Belldandy's recall with unauthorized magic, but will there be enough time to keep her and Keiichi together?
Full Recap
Skuld has placed a protective shield in the room that Belldandy has isolated herself in. Keiichi explains to her and Urd that Belldandy had received a "recall notice" from the Lord, but neither he nor Belldandy seems to know why. Urd tries calling the Lord herself for an explanation, but the house phone is unable to connect to heaven.
Before he goes to bed, Keiichi talks to Belldandy through the wall and tells her that he's sorry for the harsh words he said earlier and that he'll wait as long as it takes for her to come back to him. In the morning, he rides out with Belldandy watching him on the roof of the temple.
Nearby, Urd convinces Skuld to help her keep Belldandy on Earth, otherwise, she'll be depressed without Keiichi. Urd's plan is seemingly simple: bugs are being attracted to the energy inside the cherry tree they found earlier, and these bugs are causing an imbalance in the system force that caused Belldandy to be issued a recall notice; so, if they neutralize the tree's energy, the bugs will stop appearing, the Belldandy can stay on Earth. Skuld asks how they can neutralize the energy, and Urd suggests using the Ultimate Magic Circle, despite it being a serious breach of protocol to do so without permission.
In between working multiple part-time jobs, Keiichi visits a jewelry store to find a ring to buy for Belldandy. While browsing, a specific ring on display for ¥58,000 catches his attention and makes him experience a vision, convincing him that is the one he must buy. At home, Urd and Skuld look over the calculations for the Ultimate Magic Circle when Belldandy suddenly comes and asks what they're doing. They hide what they're doing from Belldandy, but when she leaves, Skuld starts crying because she accidentally pressed the power button for the computer instead of the monitor and erased all of their unsaved work.
Belldandy receives a call from Keiichi, who tells her that he'll be late coming home. He continues working as a Domino's Pizza deliveryman and road construction with Otaki and Tamiya, but he passes out the moment he arrives home. With Belldandy unable to greet him, Urd picks up Keiichi and puts him to bed with an incense aroma. While asleep, he recalls a moment when he told Skuld that it's almost like he's known Belldandy since they were children, and proceeds to have a brief glimpse of an old memory of his. When he wakes up he has a slight headache, and a picture in Belldandy's room breaks, making her realize that Keiichi is starting to regain his "memories". Before he leaves for work again, Keiichi writes a letter for Belldandy, promising to give her a ring.
Keiichi continues working by handing out pamphlets in downtown Nekomi. Meanwhile, Urd and Skuld finish the calculations for the Ultimate Magic Circle and go outside to prepare it. Inside, Belldandy begins erasing physical memories of her and Keiichi, a painful experience that makes her cry. The next morning on Christmas Day, with only twenty minutes left until she returns to heaven, she finishes the sweater she'd been knitting the past few days and leaves it wrapped in Keiichi's room as a gift to remember her by. In the city, Keiichi hurriedly purchases the ring he was looking at earlier and races home on his motorcycle.
Belldandy has run out of time at 10 AM. She dons her Goddess garb and goes outside, only to discover Urd and Skuld making the finishing touches on the Ultimate Magic Circle. Then, Keiichi toward them with the ring he bought for her, but the magic force taking her back to heaven creates a strong barrier the Keiichi can't break through while Belldandy starts rising into the air. He says he remembered and now that it's time for him to fulfill his promise. Skuld finishes the Ultimate Magic Circle at the last moment and Urd activates it with a chant, causing a huge explosion of magic.
Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld wake up in the aftermath, but they find Keiichi unconscious on the ground. He's still breathing, but Urd notes that Keiichi's psyche is "buried in its own depths" and he won't be considered alive for long. Belldandy, above Skuld's concern for her safety, goes into Keiich's mind. Both she and Keiichi narrate the events of the past.
As a boy, Keiichi notices a red beam of light in the sky and investigates the sources. He comes across a young Belldandy, who is surprised he can see him but assumes it's because he's a friend of nature. The two of them proceed to spend a week of fun and play together, wherein one evening, Keiichi makes a promise with Belldandy to meet up the next morning so he can give her a ring that they saw at a summer festival. As Belldandy explains, making such a promise without acquiring qualifications as a goddess was a serious violation of the rules, and as punishment, she had to erase Keiichi's memories of her. Keiichi voluntarily asks Belldandy to erase his memory, promising to remember her if they were to meet again. Belldandy couldn't make another promise, but she prayed that she would meet Keiichi again after receiving her qualification and fulfilling her promise to him.
Keiichi wakes up, and a message from the Lord appears on the ground nearby. Urd reads it and says that because "that which has been sealed away has been eliminated", Belldandy's recall notice has been invalidated. Unfortunately, the message continues to read that Urd's license is suspended for 30 days for unauthorized use of the Ultimate Magic Circle, and Skuld's status is changed to "surface world trainee" until she fixes the bug leakage.
Keiichi picks up the ring he bought off the ground and puts it on Belldandy's right ring finger. He's glad that he is finally able to fulfill his promise, though he immediately realizes he has no idea what promise he is talking about. Belldandy tells him not to worry about it, and to celebrate Christmas, she gives him a kiss on the cheek.
Comparison to the manga
- While being an original story, the plot about Keiichi working hard to buy a ring from Belldandy is taken from chapter 16, where Keiichi wanted to buy Belldandy a ring to celebrate their one year anniversary of living together.
- In the manga, the first ring Keiichi tries to buy is ¥150,000 and he settles for buying a cheaper one at ¥120,000, both of which are much more expensive than the ¥58,000 ring Keiichi buys in the OVA.
- Keiichi's first job is to wash windows on a skyscraper. In the OVA, he gets worried about the height and makes sure not to look down. In the manga, Keiichi accidentally comes across a room of women undressing and almost falls off the scaffolding he's sitting on.
- The lady working at the jewelry store Keiichi purchases the ring from is voiced by Junko Asami, the same person who voiced Sayoko.