In The Middle Of That Vast Circle...

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. Akari 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.