Episode 3 is Kanna and Maria's episode. At the beginning we see Setsuna (one of the bad guys in the Hive of Darkness) telling Tenkai that he has a plan to beat the Kagekidan, a plan involving Maria...
Back in the Imperial Theater, Maria is behaving rather oddly and everybody is concerned... Meanwhile Kanna makes her dramatic entrance during another stage accident (they sure do have lots of those don't they? ^_^;).
There are two battles in this episode, with the first one more like a mock battle (so don't spend too much time on it). Either Oogami or Sakura will be injured in this battle, depending on Oogami's decision...
After the battle, Maria becomes more moody (all thanks to Setsuna) and will run off to fight the bad guys alone. Needless to say, she's no match for the bad guys and so it's again up to the Hanagumi to save the day.
Here's a list of LIPS that occur in this episode (approximately in order of appearance). Both the Japanese choices and the translations are shown, plus the effect of the response on the confidence index of Hanagumi members (+ means increase by one, - means decrease by one, @ means no change)
In the lobby of the Imperial Theater, Yuri announces that the showing of "Cinderella" is over. Oogami is happy that the day's work is over and is about to take a walk when he met an absent-minded-looking Maria. Oogami says "Oi, Maria!" but she doesn't hear him, so Oogami says it louder and surprises Maria...
At this point Oogami is in free-roam mode and can go to the following places (order may differ, though it's better to go to the stage last):
Oogami goes to the stage, and the free roam mode ends...
Thus the Kagekidan is off to battle in Tsukiji. For battle strategy, please refer to battle strategy section below.
At this point Oogami will fall asleep after drinking the medicine concocted by Kohran. In the middle of the night, Oogami hears someone come into the room and put her hand over his forehead to check his temperature. He's still only half-conscious so he doesn't know who that is... The next morning Sakura visits Oogami and has a long talk with him (mainly about how great he is for saving the child etc etc ^_^). After Sakura left, Oogami falls asleep again (Kohran's medicine again ^_^). Later he hears the same footsteps he heard the night before, and awakes to find a surprised Maria...
Oogami is free to roam about. Can visit the following places: (seems what happens at some places depends on whether it was Oogami or Sakura who was injured during battle)
After the incidence, Oogami is back in his room, when Kanna knocks urgently on his door telling him that Maria has taken her koubu and ran out to fight Setsuna herself. In the war room, Ayame finally reveals Maria's painful past in Russia... Then it's time for the second battle, after which you'll most probably end up with an overly-grateful Maria who would rise to the top in love index and gets everybody else jealous. Good Luck! ^_^
There are two battles in this episode:
This is sort of like a mock battle, because it doesn't end with the defeat of the enemy. So unless you want to practice your battle skills, try not to waste too much time fighting the goons in this battle. To conclude this battle quickly, choose the path in the lower right, bypassing the concentration of enemy goons as much as you can (unless you want to fight them badly, perhaps so that you can use the "protect" mode to enhance the confidence level of certain Hanagumi member, which isn't a bad idea). As soon as any member of your team crosses the bridge and reaches the location where Setsuna's mecha is (upper right), the battle will basically be over (i.e. you don't have to kill all the enemies in this battle). The main point of this battle is Oogami's decision whether to save the child or not...
This is the main battle of the game, where your team has to rescue Maria. The object of part 1 of the battle is to reach ASAP Maria's koubu unit on the top right corner of the battle ground. Again, don't waste time trying to eliminate all enemy units, simply find the fastest route to Maria's unit. I found that the upper route seems fastest. Don't be scared by the six enemy units in a group, simply use Sakura's sure-kill attack to kill 3 of them at once, and then do away with the rest. No need to conserve sure-kill attacks in this part of the battle.
Once any member of your team arrives at a spot adjacent to Maria's unit, you'll find that Maria's not inside but has left her locket on the ground. Setsuna will then announce that he has taken Maria hostage and that Oogami has to come alone in a boat if he wants to save her. Thus Oogami boards the boat and is brought to Setsuna. While Setsuna is having fun torturing Oogami, the Shougeimaru arrives with the other Hanagumi koubu units. Setsuna is surprised that they can find Oogami but it turns out every Hanagumi member has a tracking device on their uniforms (duh ^_^) Maria and Oogami get on their koubu units and thus begins part 2 of the battle:
The aim of this part of the battle is to destroy Setsuna's mecha unit. The tricky part is that Setsuna's unit moves around a lot, so you need to corner him first. I find it best to either trap his unit on one of the bridges or on the side-rail. Don't send all your team members across the bridge, leave at least one or two koubu units behind on the other side of the bridge so that they can block Setsuna's way in case he wants to cross over.
One thing you'll notice is that Maria's confidence index increases by one after each move, regardless of what you do ^_^ This is out of her gratitude for Oogami and others to come and save her. So don't forget to use combine attack with Maria (seems it's also possible to use combine attack with Kanna, donno whether you can use it with both though). Once Setsuna's unit is cornered, it should be rather easy to finish him off. But be sure to watch for Setsuna's special attack. Try not to attack him if his special attack points are about to max out. Wait till all your team members are there, and then finish him off within one move so he has no chance to use his sure-kill attack.