Never ever antagonize Akira unless
1. You have a death wish in which to be pawed to death by the tyrannic and beautiful Akira.
2. You are “my my” Alicia.
3. You are a paying customer of Himeya.
Nuff said, onto the episode summary!
The episode starts with Ai being scolded by her parents for taking too long and always late for appointments. It was the start of another day and Akari, Alice and Aika had a combined physical training with Akira. The schedule was that they were supposed to observe how Akira was going to pick up the customers she was going to have for this morning and observe how to pick up the customer at their spot in a graceful manner.
As they sailed off, they had found their customers for the day and it was a couple. It seemed that the lady (now known as wife) was a big fangirl of Akira and her gondola and the gentleman with the travel book always with him (now known as Man). As they got onto the boat, their first destination was the Fenice theatre. Fenice meant Pheonix in Italian (i think?) and it was their honeymoon. The wife had decided to come to Aria for their honeymoon and was clearly charmed by Akira when she took a rose off one of the flower boats and simply gave it to the wife. She also happily placed a rose right on the lips of the Man, making him blush a little with the attention.
Akira then introduced more about the Fenice theatre and asked if the couple wanted to watch opera there. The wife was concerned about the price of the opera show but Akira assured them that there are gallery seats that were much cheaper. The wife of course agreed and the three girls commented that Akira’s service was very through.
Akira then asked about how the couple actually met. The wife said that they had met during one of the tram rides in Man-home and it was then that the man often let his seat to people. At that point, the wife said that she found that the man was very nice, because he always did that. The man simply hid behind his book. For the whole journey, the man had held the book on his hands and did not observe the surroundings. Akira then took the book away, asking the man to observe Aqua through his own eyes. The man, however, asked Akira to mind her own business and in the process dropped the book into the water. Akira picked up the book using her oar and left it to dry, leaving the man book-less for now.
Akira decided to make a slight detour from the trip in order to reach the Statue of Maria. Even though the statue was not on the list of travel sites, she said that the town had so many attractions that some of them were left alone without anyone knowing about them. That was probably the beauty of Neo-Venezia, because there was always something waiting beautifully.
As the journey came to a close at Marco Polo Square, the wife requested that Akira sent them around for the afternoon. However, as there were practical lessons for the three girls in the afternoon, Akira had to decline. The wife then mentioned that they could join the training as customers and followed them around. Akira was reluctant to accept it until the man said that there was “nothing hard about being an undine”. You just have to know how to oar and smile politely. Akira was clearly annoyed but she kept her smile and agreed to them joining the trip.
They went for training then and Akari was asked to oar first. It was clear that the customers realized the change in attitude of Akira, who had turned back to her strict and violent self. The wife had mentioned that Akira was rather scary. Akira immediately flared up at that time, as Akari was travelling too slowly due to her nervousness. Akari further earned Akira’s irk when she started talking to Woody who was passing by to send a large package when they were supposed to be with the customer.
It was then Aika’s turn to oar and she was doing a pretty good job, introducing and getting the facts right on the travel destinations that she was moving with. She got proud when Akari started praising her for the good work until Akira came in with her usual strict tone. Aika always had a tendency to move too fast without noticing and there was in fact a speed limit imposed on Gondola.
It was now Alice’s turn to sail. She was sailing on a rather narrow waterway and another Gondola was travelling around the same waterpath in the opposite direction. The other boat announced its presence in the waterway and Alice did as well, albeit in a soft voice. It was going to be very close as the wife remarked that they were going to meet head on but Alice’s superior oar skills meant that they went through easily. Akira mentioned that Alice’s skills were impressive but she was way too soft. Another gondola came and she was asked to shout much louder quite a few times. I must say, Alice trying to scream for her announcing was rather cute.
Alicia came with a cake during a short break and offered tea to the couple. The man seemed to be charmed by “my my” Alicia. With that, they went on to their last training session. As the evening was coming, the last training session was to find the destination and get there. This was hard as the high tide was coming and the amount of bridges that the Gondola could not go through was more than doubled. It proved to be true as the three girls were unable to find their way out. Akari had tried to find some locals in which to ask for the path but to no avail as there were no people around. The man had tried a few times to help the girls but Akira told him in no uncertain terms not to.
Alice then noticed a very light current coming through a building door at the side. As they opened the door, they found a rather dark passage as they entered. Aika was the navigator, pushing away the obstacles and Akari was the undine for this tight dark passage. As they reached the end of the passage, it was assumingly a dead end until Alice found a key as she unlocked the door.
As they opened the door, they had finally found their way out of the place to the destination, much to everyone’s relief. They then had Margaita pizza for dinner and Akari was surprised how come they were not scolded for the bad actions. Akira simply said that there was no need to scold them because they already reflected over it and it was time to enjoy the food.
As Akira went over to order food at the counter, Aika noted that Akira might be strict but she always compensated for her moments of anger by such means like being nice to you after the whole issue. Akira was fierce and scolds when required, but it was a clear sign that she really cared. You would not scold a certain person if you did not care enough and it was simply an irreplacable gift from an irreplacable person.
Do you have a person that is your senior or your sibling that is always looking over you? Sometimes, it might seem that they were being nosy and overbearing. However, do remember that the thing is that they do care and they do love you. So understand that feeling and try to work from there. Viewing things from a positive standpoint is already half the battle won in many situations. That is what i learn from this episode at least.