Strolling President Aria and Akari – So fun!
This episode started with the meeting of Alice, Akari and Aika on a light traveling on their gondolas. A wind messenger (sylph) called Woody came over with his air vehicle, nearly knocking over Aika on the process of saying hi. They then took a rest on a dock, thinking about how such messages seem to be passing on their most treasured feelings toward someone.
Back at Aria, Alicia informed Akari that they would be eating pasta for dinner and asked her to run an errant. Alicia asked Akari to go buy some things in the bakery for tomorrow’s breakfast. President Aria joined Akari to go there, as she carried him in a basket. As they walked around, Aria suddenly jumped off the basket and started to walk toward a dark alley. Not knowing what Aria was thinking about, Akari followed Aria quietly as they meandered around dark alleyways before reaching a backyard.
There, a little girl was hiding behind a tree and she had a letter in her hands. Coming out from her partially hidden position, she came over and asked Akari to deliever the letter for her. A side issue, she had a neko bell on her neck. Was that an attempt for neko-ness in a character? I do not remember the anime giving any form of fanservice, so I would have to wait and see. The little girl then continued to press Akari before Akari agreed as they made a pinky finger promise. The little girl then went off a backalley and disappeared.
Akari arrived back to Aria company and she started to look up on the address provided by the girl. As the address was blurred and unclear, she was unable to figure out the exact address. The next day, the postman came by and told Akari that the letter was an old data card, one that was seldom used these days. She asked the postman then to help to see if he could find out anything about the letter. She then wondered why the little girl had such an old device with her.
Akari was boating as usual for training after the postman came over. Aria then noticed and started to make a bit of noise as he pointed out a narrow waterway to Akari. Aria had signalled to Akari about it and she started to navigate around that waterway, eventually reaching a place that she did not remember seeing before. The little girl was there once again and asked her whether Akari had sent the letter.
Akari said that she had not but has asked the postman for help. The girl simply smiled when Akari assured her that she would send it and said that the feelings of the letter was really able to overcome time and space. Akari reached back to the Aria company and was ambushed by Alicia with some nice ice cream sticks. Alicia saw that Akari was a little disturbed and asked her, realising that it was the delivery of a letter. that had confused her. Alicia simply told her to work hard at it.
The postman came back to the Aria company in the evening and said that the address was Kak Tal base, an old area where they excavated water. It was probably no one living there but the postman did get a rough gauge on where the address was. Woody-san, with his sylph came over to deliver some goods for Aria company, including some food for Aria and a foot massager. She then thought of a great idea, which was to get Woody to send her to the base.
The next day, Akari got ready to go over to Kak Tal base, with Alice and Aika coming over to send her off. They travelled around the sky, as they thought about how the sky was like the sea, and there they were, like fishes happily swimming in this beautiful sea. They then picked up the speed and reached a small island for rest. They then started to talk and Akari said that Woody’s job as a messenger was very beautiful, as they were able to deliver treasured feelings through the messages they sent. However, Woody said that undines in their gondolas also have a role: to create such treasured feelings.
They continued to travel and finally hit the Kak Tal base. There was nothing there but Akari saw some strange structures in one of the plains. They were gravestones and it seemed that there were people living there at a point of time. Woody the remarked that he remembered seeing something in the water. As Woody beamed his light to the sea, he found that the base was already sunken below the water.
Alicia and Aria then came over on a rider as well, as she told that the Kak Tal base was sunk because they had exavacated more water than they expected. The letter was also a letter of the past and she had brought a card reader to “deliver” the message to the dead tombstone called Allen Honda. That person was the supposed recipent of the letter.
The card was actually a video. There was a woman in the video, talking to perhaps her husband that was working in Kak Tal Base (not sure if she’s working there, or her husband is) but they have not met ever since they got married. She talked about the tough times but she said it was all worth it because in the future, every child will benefit from their attempts.
Akari was touched by the message and in tears, she mouthed out that she had “delivered the letter”.
A really simple story that brought out the raw feelings of people. A message is just that, text. However, the feelings of those words were conveyed beautifully. It is not of the words that matter, but the strong feelings that were prominent from the writing. To deliver that form of hope and feeling was a really precious thing. I will never see sending a letter in the same light anymore after this.