That Important Radiance...

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 apologies for his behavior, saying he's upset because people have been dismissing his master's glassware as imitations and fakes, even though 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.