| # | Title[22] | Original airdate[23] |
| 1 | "That Encounter at the Carnival ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Kānibaru no Deai wa ..." (Japanese: その カーニバルの出逢いは...) | 2 April 2006 (2006-04-02) |
|---|
When Ai visits Akari for Neo-Venezia's Carnevale, she helps out at Aria Company. Before the festival starts, she sees President Aria leave by himself, and Akari tells her he'll be gone for the duration. On the first day of celebrations, Akari and Ai meet Casanova, the mysterious masked master of ceremonies of the Carnevale named after the historical figure. Later, on Ai's last day on Aqua, while talking with Aika and Alice they spot one of Casanova's attendants. They chase after him but Akari and Ai get separated from the others. Eventually they confront Casanova, who invites them to join his cheering procession for a while. When he eventually stops them from following any further, he gives them each a jasmine flower before revealing that President Aria is one of his attendants, and that he is Cait Sith, the legendary king of Aqua's cats. When Aika and Alice finally find Akari and Ai, they claim that Casanova is a fairy. |
| 2 | "Looking For That Treasure ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Takaramono o Sagashite ..." (Japanese: その 宝物をさがして...) | 9 April 2006 (2006-04-09) |
|---|
During rowing practice on the first warm day of early spring, Aika, Akari, and Alice find a box in the base of a statue. Inside it is a note that sends them on a treasure hunt through the streets of Neo-Venezia. One clue leads them to Caffè Florian on Piazza San Marco that's the Venetian cafe (transported to Aqua) where cafe latte was supposedly invented, where Akari chats with a customer who calls himself an expert at enjoying the Piazza. After the shadow from the Campanile has moved far enough the three can find their next clue, he prays they discover a wonderful treasure. Their final clue leads them to a beautiful hillside view of Neo-Venezia, described as a "treasure in your heart". When they return the clues, so others can find this treasure for themselves, they notice marks indicating they are not the first to do so. Back at the Piazza, Alicia introduces the man as the cafe's owner, and he greets Akari as an "Expert in Happiness." In response to Akari's e-mail about the day, Ai calls Neo-Venezia a big treasure chest. |
| 3 | "The Night of the Meteor Shower ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Ryūseigun no Yoru ni ..." (Japanese: その 流星群の夜に...) | 16 April 2006 (2006-04-16) |
|---|
When Akari learns there will be a meteor shower that night, she, Aika, and Alice make plans to watch it. As they do so, they meet Al, a gnome (an underground regulator of Aqua's gravity) on a shopping trip to the planet's surface, who invites them to lunch. In return a blushing Aika invites him to join them that night. That evening, Alice bows out, leaving just Aika, Al, and Akari. Because Piazza San Marco is too crowded and bright, they search through the narrow streets for a better view. For courage through the darker passages, Akari repeats her chant from Casanova's procession. Eventually, Aika takes them onto the roof of a Himeya Company office building, with an unobstructed panorama of the night-time city and the meteors. When Akari searches the rooftops for another vantage, Aika realizes she's alone with Al and gets flustered, and blames him as a gravity regulator for attracting all the meteors that burn up in the atmosphere. As they walk home, Al reminds Aika that some meteors don't burn up but survive to reach the surface. |
| 4 | "That Neo-Venezia-Colored Heart ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Neo Venetsia-iro no Kokoro wa ..." (Japanese: その ネオ·ヴェネツィア色の心は...) | 23 April 2006 (2006-04-23) |
|---|
|
Mr. Mailman borrows Akari and her gondola for a day so he can complete his rounds while his gondola is repaired. In the morning, they collect mail from canal-side postboxes, then after lunch deliver the mail—and along the way help a boy deliver in person a letter to his former teacher at her wedding, apologizing for behaving badly to her because he was upset over her leaving. At the end of the day, Mr. Mailman explains that Neo-Venezians prefer the inconvenience of mail because a letter, being not as quickly written as e-mail, can carry the sender's heart, and so can become a treasure, and furthermore it can be a link between the past and present. Akari says that letters are like Neo-Venezia, in that you can touch the creators' hearts through them, and Mr. Mailman tells her that she has been painted with "the color of Neo-Venezia". The next morning, Akari is moved when she receives his hand-written thank-you note. |
| 5 | "The Wonder of That Rainy Day... / The Discoveries on That Spring Day ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Ame no Hi no Suteki wa ... / Sono Haru ni Mitsuketa Mono wa ..." (Japanese: その 雨の日の素敵は... / その 春にみつけたものは...) | 30 April 2006 (2006-04-30) |
|---|
In the first half of a two-part episode, Alicia takes Akari to an island to visit a reproduction of a Japanese Inari shrine. When Akari buys some inari sushi, the saleswoman warns that if she meets any fox spirits, not to go with them. After getting separated from Alicia during a sunshower, Akari meets a wedding procession of fox spirits, and one holds out his hand to her. Frightened, she gives him her inari sushi, and they leave her. In the second half, Alicia takes Akari on a picnic to look for spring at a special place she knows on another island. After walking through a forest, they follow an old railway, but at a fork in the line they chose the wrong way. Just as they are about to turn back, they find an abandoned rail-car beneath a large blooming cherry tree. While they admire it, Alicia tells a story about the importance of making mistakes in serendipity. |
| 6 | "The Smile Reflected in that Mirror ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Kagami ni Utsuru Egao wa ..." (Japanese: その 鏡にうつる笑顔は...) | 7 May 2006 (2006-05-07) |
|---|
|
When Alice leaves Orange Planet, Athena notices she doesn't stay with the other Pairs but goes off alone. After practice Akari and Aika visit Alice and Athena's dorm room, and when it becomes late without their noticing, Athena invites them to stay the night. That evening, Alice notices that Athena is more clumsy than usual and accuses her of being happy, and Athena says it's because Alice seems to be having fun with her friends. Alice receives an invitation to a party with other Pairs, but turns it down despite Akari's urging because she thinks they're jealous of her talent as a younger undine. Athena tells her that people are like mirrors, and that they reflect her fear of being rejected, which she sees as envy. After watching Maa go to great effort to climb onto a bed to bite President Aria's belly, Alice resolves to try to smile more and attend the party. |
| 7 | "To The Kingdom of Cats ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Nekotachi no Ōkoku e ..." (Japanese: その 猫たちの王国へ...) | 14 May 2006 (2006-05-14) |
|---|
During practice, Akari, Alice, and Aika see President Aria traveling in his own boat, and follow him to a channel that's usually gated off before stopping because Alice has to leave for school. That evening, Akari tells Alicia she had a feeling they shouldn't have followed him further. Alicia mentions the Manhome legend of a kingdom of the cats, which humans can't enter, which reminds Akari of how Cait Sith stopped her and Ai during the Carnevale. The next day, while Alice practices with two Pairs she met at the Orange Planet party, Akari and Aika see President Aria again and follow him, and this time continue past the gate. They end up in a labyrinth of flooded buildings that has them traveling in circles while being watched by cats. When Akari apologizes for trying to enter their domain, President Aria appears and shows them the way out. As they leave, Akari looks back and sees the building filled with cats, including Cait Sith, who bows to her. |
| 8 | "The Day of Festa Del Bòcolo ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Bokkoro no Hi ni ..." (Japanese: その ボッコロの日に...) | 21 May 2006 (2006-05-21) |
|---|
As Akari wades through the streets during Neo-Venezia's annual flooding, she realizes it's Festa del Bòcolo, the day women receive a single red rose from admirers. She meets Akatsuki, who is buying as many roses as he can for Alicia, because just one won't express his "infinite" love, and needs Akari's help carrying them. When they run into Aika, she also has a rose for Alicia and runs ahead to give hers first. When a saleswoman tells Akari the origin of Bòcolo in a tragic Manhome legend about a knight and his lady, Akari comments that the knight's love lives on in roses. Aika fails to find Alicia but meets Al, who gives her an uncut red gemstone called "Eye of the Rose", which he says will look good on her when polished. Akatsuki and Akari finally meet Alicia, but he is too nervous to present Alicia his roses before she assumes he had given them to Akari, and leaves them alone together. As Akatsuki flounders after Alicia, he spills the roses, and Akari describes them as his feelings spreading out across the water, saying they will reach Alicia as they drift on the current. For helping him, Akatsuki gives Akari her first Bòcolo rose. |
| 9 | "Those Honest Stars ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Sugao no Hoshitachi wa ..." (Japanese: その 素顔の星たちは...) | 28 May 2006 (2006-05-28) |
|---|
When Akari gives a city tour as an undine under Alicia's supervision, her clients discover a flower garden she hadn't known about. After the tour, the three trainees search for more secret wonders of Neo-Venezia, during which Aika and Alice compete to show a wonder the other doesn't know. During that night's planned maintenance blackout, because Akari is afraid of the dark, Alicia sets out candles at Aria Company, turning it into "another world", and offers to sleep in Akari's room. When Akari despairs about how little she knows and of ever reaching Alicia's level as an undine, Alicia tells a story of her own ignorance of the city when she was a Single, and a flashback shows Akino comforting her with advice on how to find hidden wonders in things held closely. When they retire for the night, they discover the unsuspected beauty of starlight through the skylights in Akari's room, showing that a place can show different beauties at different times. Alicia says she is glad there she will always have new wonders to discover, and Akari agrees. |
| 10 | "That Heartwarming Town And Its People ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Atataka na Machi to Hitobito to ..." (Japanese: その あたたかな街と人々と...) | 4 June 2006 (2006-06-04) |
|---|
During practice, Aika and Alice watch Akari exchange friendly greetings with several people. Alice comments that Akari seems to know more Neo-Venezians than they do, although they are locals and Akari is an immigrant, which she finds "mysterious". Aika and Alice decide to secretly watch Akari as she runs errands to find out how she makes friends so easily. The follow her onto the vaporetto ferry and watch her chat with fellow passengers, conversing easily although they just met. Because they are hiding, the two miss Akari's stop but see her disembark with a mysterious man. After they backtrack on another vaporetto, they follow President Aria's voice to find he and Akari enjoying the man's street puppet performance, which Aika and Alice both remember watching as children. Alice concludes that Akari's mysterious ability comes from her taking joy in nearly everything and being naturally nice to everyone. |
| 11 | "That Precious Sparkle ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Taisetsu na Kagayaki ni ..." (Japanese: その 大切な輝きに...) | 16 June 2006 (2006-06-16) |
|---|
Akatsuki's older brother gives Akari her first commission, hiring her to transport some glassware by gondola. At the glassmaker's workshop, she overhears a tourist disparaging Neo-Venezian glassware as an inferior copy of Venetian glass—just as Neo-Venezia is an imitation Venice. The apprentice glassmaker supervising the cargo rudely refuses to let Akari help carry it. As Akari rows she tells him the glass is beautiful and admires how it sparkles in many colors. The apprentice complains that some people judge purely on the basis of tradition, which for glassmakers was broken between the sinking of Venice and the building of Neo-Venezia. He apologises for his behavior, saying he's upset because people have been dismissing his master's glassware as imitations and fakes, although his master works so hard. Akari tells him she doesn't believe anything is fake, and while Neo-Venezia may look like Venice, the process of building it was different, as are the people who live in it, which makes it a living city to be cherished for itself. When they deliver the cargo, Akatsuki's brother accuses the apprentice of becoming Akari's fan, and so a rival of Akatsuki. |
| 12 | "Chasing That Mirage ... / The Light From That Nightshine Chime ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Nigemizu o Otte ... / Sono Yakōrin no Hikari wa ..." (Japanese: その 逃げ水を追って... / その 夜光鈴の光は...) | 18 June 2006 (2006-06-18) |
|---|
In the first half of a two-part episode, on a summer day hot enough to see mirages on the ocean, Akari goes shopping in the afternoon. Through the heatwaves, she sees the street suddenly empty of people and thinks she has wandered into a dream. She follows President Aria into a cool cafe where only iced milk is served, because it's a refuge for the city's cats where humans usually cannot go. When Akari leaves, she sees Cait Sith tip his hat to her, and then the cafe turns into a boarded-up building and the people return. In the second half, Akari buys a nightshine windchime, a summer specialty of Aqua with a noctilucent clapper. For the month its glow lasts, she takes it everywhere with her, and at night holds tea parties with President Aria in her gondola, using it as their light. When it begins flickering out, Alicia and Akari follow Neo-Venezian custom and row out into bay to let the clapper drop into the water when it dies. When Akari's does so, it leaves behind a rare tear-shaped crystal, and Akari begins crying. |
| 13 | "Those Really Self-Imposed Rules ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Dekkai Jibun Rūru o ..." (Japanese: その でっかい自分ルールを...) | 25 June 2006 (2006-06-25) |
|---|
Alice tells Aika and Akari that she's having bad luck that day because she failed yesterday's personal challenge, which Akari calls childish and cute. The next day she sets the challenge of walking home from school stepping only on shadows, and she almost makes it before failing. Athena happens to see this from her gondola and sings a song that distracts Alice. The following day, Alice attempts the same challenge, and this time meets Athena on the way. When Athena catches Alice from tripping over Maa, Alice makes a new rule banning assistance from others, saying "this is my battle", and starts over. In crossing the last stretch outside Orange Planet, Alice misses a jump but Athena suddenly provides her with a shadow. When asked why, Athena says she's an ally of Alice, like an ally character in a video game. Alice makes another rule that Athena is allowed to help, and walks the rest of the way in her shadow. Akari describes the song that Athena sings as making one "light-hearted," and Alice realizes Athena had sung it the previous day to cheer her up and that Athena has been her ally all along. |
| 14 | "That Newest Memory ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Ichiban Atarashii Omoide ni ..." (Japanese: その いちばん新しい想い出に...) | 2 July 2006 (2006-07-02) |
|---|
|
When Akari asks Alicia why Aria Company doesn't have a distinctive palina, or pole for hitching boats, Alicia doesn't know and suggests that Akari design one. Looking for inspiration, Akari searches the company archives and finds sketches for a palina design. Grandma Akino visits while in the city on business and tells her the sketch was made by one of her first employees, and was never executed because the company colors hadn't been decided. Akari comes up with a design in blue (for the sea and sky) and white, based on the old design and current company uniforms, and paints it herself. As they admire the new palina, Alicia says that one day, after she retires, Akari as a Prima will one day look at it with a junior employee of her own—at which time the palina will represent Akari as she is now. Akari replies that, no, Alicia is also part of the palina, and the original designer is as well. Ai writes that this means reading an old e-mail of theirs would let someone meet the two of them as they were at that time. |
| 15 | "In the Center of That Large Circle ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Hiroi Wakka no Naka de ..." (Japanese: その 広い輪っかの中で...) | 9 July 2006 (2006-07-09) |
|---|
|
As Akari eats lunch alone on a hot midsummer day, she is joined by Akira, then Akatsuki, and then Al. As Akatsuki bickers with Akira, Al claims he was always hotheaded like that, and tells a story about Akatsuki, Woody, and himself when they all were boys, shown in a flashback: one time in a playground, they don't let two new kids play with them, but when one jumps off a swing further than Akatsuki can, he challenges that kid to a slide race, during which Akatsuki crashes and concedes defeat. Back in the present, Alicia (who overhears the story) says it brings back memories, and reveals the two kids were Akira and herself. Akari says that it's nice, the way the lives of the other four circle around and meet again, inside the large circle that is Aqua, and that she feels left out because she's been in Neo-Venezia for only a short time. Akira reassures Akari that she's already inside their circle of friends, at the center. As the episode ends, Athena is shown rowing by, then several other characters meet in a series of chance encounters. |
| 16 | "Parting With That Gondola ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Gondora to no Wakare wa ..." (Japanese: その ゴンドラとの別れは...) | 16 July 2006 (2006-07-16) |
|---|
During a routine inspection, Akari and Alicia are told that Akari's gondola is too worn-out for tourist service and should be sold as a freight hauler. When Akari asks to keep it just for training, she's told that the gondola would be happier if it were used daily instead of infrequently. At Alicia's suggestion, Akari takes the gondola on a "Goodbye, Gondola-san tour" of places where she has special memories it was involved in, shown in a series of flashbacks, including taking Akatsuki as her first paying customer and meeting Alice, ending with her retracing the route of her test for promotion to Single from before the series began. While descending a canal lock on her return, she falls asleep and dreams the spirit of the gondola appears and says it was fate that brought them together. As she returns to Aria Company, she is reminded of the first time she rowed the gondola. |
| 17 | "After That Rainy Night ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Ame Furu Yoru ga Akereba ..." (Japanese: その 雨降る夜が明ければ...) | 23 July 2006 (2006-07-23) |
|---|
|
Continuing the previous episode, that evening, Alicia and Akari eat a picnic dinner on the worn-out training gondola. Alicia tells Akari this was also her first gondola at Aria Company, and a flashback shows her as a Pair colliding with a bridge during her first lesson with Grandma Akino. Another series of flashbacks shows Alicia and Akari as Pairs each learning how to clean the gondola. Aika, Akira, Alice, and Athena join them for a "Thank You, Gondola-san party". Akari's photo of the three trainees with the gondola reminds Athena of a similar one of the three mentors, and a flashback shows it being taken on Alicia's promotion to Prima, when she had to give the black training gondola up for a Prima's white gondola. After the party, Akari stays in the gondola late into the night even after it starts to rain, and when she falls asleep, the spirit of the gondola puts an umbrella over her. A few days later, as Akari rows her replacement gondola back to Aria Company, she is startled when she passes her old one carrying a full load. Ai tells Akari that she'll have many new experiences with her new gondola. |
| 18 | "That New Me ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Atarashii Jibun ni ..." (Japanese: その 新しい自分に...) | 20 July 2006 (2006-07-20) |
|---|
Aika arrives at a barbecue party with a beautiful new hairstyle, and when Alicia praises it, she is greatly pleased as it represents, she tells Akari, a "new me". A little later her hair catches fire from a grill, and after Akira puts it out Aika runs away to cry. At home at Himeya Company, as Akari and Alice help trim away her damaged hair, Aika says she'd been growing it as long as Alicia's hair in order to become more like Alicia, but now it's impossible. Akira overhears this and says yes, it's impossible for her to become an undine like Alicia. Aika tries to run away again, but Akira stops her and explains that it's impossible to impersonate someone else, and she should simply aim to become the best undine in Neo-Venezia by being herself. The next day, Aika cuts her hair very short to express her confident new self. |
| 19 | "That Crybaby ... / That Young Girl's Heart ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Nakimushi-san ttara ... / Sono Otomegokoro tteba ..." (Japanese: その 泣き虫さんったら... / その 乙女心ってば...) | 6 August 2006 (2006-08-06) |
|---|
In the first half of a two-part episode, a week after cutting her hair, Aika catches a cold. While laid up in her room, she worries whether Akari and Alice will slack off practicing without her. On the third day, bored and restless, she sneaks out of Himeya Company to get some pudding. She buys some cute hairpins at a market stall and eats some gelato, but when she sees Akari and Alice at practice, she runs back to her room. When Akari and Alice a visit a short time later to bring her pudding, they find her crying because the world was going on without her, and they reassure her that she still has a place with them. In the second half, two days later, Aika returns to practice but spends the day distracted by the urge to show off her new haircut and hairpins to Al, although the thought of doing so embarrasses her without understanding why. With Akari and Alice's encouragement, she visits Al, who likes the change. |
| 20 | "That Shadowless Invitation ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Kage no Nai Maneku Mono wa ..." (Japanese: その 影のない招くものは...) | 13 August 2006 (2006-08-13) |
|---|
During a summer heatwave, Akari sees a lady in a black dress and veil near Piazza San Marco. While waiting for Alice, Aika tells Akari a Manhome ghost story about an executed Venetian woman who spirited away gondoliers who rowed her to the cemetery of Isola di San Michele, where she was refused burial, with the conclusion that she has been seen in Neo-Venezia. That evening, the lady in black politely asks Akari for a ride to Neo-Venezia's recreation of San Michele, and Akari agrees to take her as a friend. As they cross the bay, they are watched by dozens of cats from the rooftops. When they arrive, the lady drags Akari into the cemetery, saying she wants to keep her "friend" with her forever. Her veil blows off, revealing an empty dress, and in a gust of wind Cait Sith appears behind her. The dress runs away, and Cait Sith embraces Akari, who then she wakes up at Aria Company holding a rose petal from the cemetery. The next day, Alice explains that the ghost story is not from Manhome but was invented on Aqua—which makes the black lady even more scary. |
| 21 | "That Night of the Galaxy Express ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru ni ..." (Japanese: その 銀河鉄道の夜に...) | 20 August 2006 (2006-08-20) |
|---|
A distant train wakes Akari at 2:00 AM, although Neo-Venezia's railway has shut down for the night. The next morning, she suggests to Aika and Alice that it's the train from Night on the Galactic Railroad. President Aria sees Akari rereading the novel, and that night brings her a ticket sealed with Cait Sith's giant paw-print. The next day she tells Aika and Alice she has a feeling it would be better if she didn't meet Cait Sith again, but Alicia later encourages her to take this chance to get close to "Aqua's spirit". Late that night, President Aria takes her to the tracks, which were not present during the day, and when a train arrives, several cats start to board. Before Akari can follow, she notices a kitten has lost its ticket and gives it hers. She recognizes the disguised conductor as Cait Sith and thanks him for saving her in the cemetery, and they embrace. She asks why he watches over her and in response, he stamps her forehead like a ticket. As the train departs, Cait Sith takes off his conductor's cap to her, and in the morning the stamp is still on her forehead. |
| 22 | "That Mysterious World ... / That Guardian of Aqua ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Parareru Wārudo de ... / Sono Akua o Mamoru Mono yo ..." (Japanese: その パラレルワールドで... / その アクアを守るものよ...) | 27 August 2006 (2006-08-27) |
|---|
In the first half of a two-part episode, after Akari suggests that between the stairs might be a gate to a parallel world, President Aria squeezes through and finds himself in world where the other characters are of the opposite sex. When he realizes what has happened, he begins crying and runs back to Aria Company to try to return home through the stairs. The male Alicia finds him there and tries tossing him in the air to cheer him up, then the female Woody takes him up in her air-cycle, but drops him. When President Aria comes to, he is back home. In the second half, Arata tells Alicia and Akari a story, seen in a flashback, about his younger brother as a boy, when he pretended to be an artificial human who was the "protector of Aqua". When his brother teases him by pretending to have been replaced by an evil alien, Akatsuki runs away in fear, and is calmed by his mother bringing him his superhero cape and identifying him as artificial. In the present, when Akatsuki finds out what his brother has done, he goes into shock. |
| 23 | "That Sea, Love, and Heart ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Umi to Koi to Omoi to ..." (Japanese: その 海と恋と想いと...) | 3 September 2006 (2006-09-03) |
|---|
Near the end of summer, Alicia (assisted by Akari) gives a tour to an older couple celebrating their wedding anniversary. The husband turns down his wife's suggestion of visiting Piazza San Marco after lunch and orders her to meet him at the harbor later in the afternoon. Later, Akari, Aika, and Alice meet him having an argument with a man who won't rent him the bucintoro boat for the " Marriage of the Sea" ceremony (performed in Neo-Venezia by the mayor instead of the Doge of Venice), which his wife has long wished to see. Akari offers to help the couple, using her gondola as a substitute, and the three trainees decorate it to the best of their abilities. Aika finds a volunteer band to play the music, and as they start the ceremony, Alicia, Akira, and Athena's customers ask to watch. Because the husband forgets to bring the ring, they use one bought by the wife that afternoon. During the ceremony, the wife calls their recreation clumsy but thanks her husband for the gesture, and when the ceremony is over she asks him to love her forever. |
| 24 | "Those Undines of Tomorrow ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Ashita no Undīne ni ..." (Japanese: その 明日のウンディーネに...) | 10 September 2006 (2006-09-10) |
|---|
|
On a rainy day, Akari and Alice visit Aika's room for a group study instead of gondola practice. When Akira greets them, they are watched by two of Akira's colleagues, and Aika takes this as a one more sign her improving skills are being noticed within the company. The trainees study for a while, but when they start dreaming about what titles they will take as Primas, Akira gives them paperwork to sort. When Aika returns the completed paperwork, she eavesdrops on the same colleagues and learns they aren't talking about her but badmouthing Akira, saying she's stuck-up because she's one of the Three Great Water Fairies. She returns to her room, upset, and tells Akari and Alice. Akira overhears her and tells them that backbiting is inevitable in the competitive world of undines, and must be accepted as another part of the job. When Aika complains that it's frustrating, Akira says that for some reason, people always remember the one bad thing that happens amid all the good, and you need to take neither for granted. She opens the window shutters and reveals that it has stopped raining. The trainees conclude they must grow stronger to become Primas. |
| 25 | "The Fruits of That Encounter ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Deai no Kesshō wa ..." (Japanese: その 出逢いの結晶は...) | 17 September 2006 (2006-09-17) |
|---|
A week before Festa del Redentore, marking the start of autumn, Akari worries because she hasn't received any e-mail from Ai for a while. Akira, Alicia, and Athena give the trainees the assignment of hosting a Redentore houseboat, including all of the planning and decorating, as a way of practicing their entertainment skills. Alice quickly designs invitations, which makes Akari and Aika more enthusiastic about the task. Akari invites Ai, despite not hearing whether she will visit Aqua for Redentore as once planned. The three work hard through the week, and the night of the festival, all the guests arrive but Ai, who still hasn't responded. Just as the boat is pulling away, Ai arrives at the dock, saying she hadn't replied because she wanted to surprise Akari. Their dinner is a success, and after the table is cleared away, the conversation lapses into a silence that Akari calls peaceful, shortly before the midnight fireworks. In the end, the guests toast their hosts in thanks for bringing them together. |
| 26 | "That White, Kind City ..."
Transliteration: "Sono Masshiro na Yuki no Naka de..." (Japanese: その 真っ白な雪の中で...) | 24 September 2006 (2006-09-24) |
|---|
On the first snowy day of winter, Akari asks Aika and Alice during a break in practice what, as children, they wanted to be like when they grew up, but they come to no conclusions. Later, as Alicia and Akari go for a walk through the snow-bound city, Akari asks Alicia what she wanted to be like when she grew up. Alicia stops to think, then begins rolling a snowball. With the help of several passers-by in succession, it grows to be almost as large as they are tall, and their helpers thank them for the fun. They end up in a dead-end square, where the residents start a second snowball, then a third to make a complete snowman, which they all decorate together. As they walk home, Alicia finally answers Akari's question by saying that when she was a child, she noticed that when you start rolling a snowball, someone always helps, leaving everyone satisfied and happy—and decided that she wanted to be an adult who helps people be satisfied and happy in other ways. Back home, when Alicia asks what Akari wanted to be, she says a fairy, and Alicia replies she will be one soon. |
