Part 48: Mission 13 - Prologue

Nearly no money was made from last mission and, seeing how we also got no new items, we’ll be jumping straight into the next mission.




In the two weeks since the Wärter began operations, none of your major foes have done much of note.
Kazuma relates his father's fears of a major enemy operation in the works to the ship's log.
He's had about all he can stand of Noin and Mao riding his ass, and opted instead for a part-time job.
He stoutly maintains that he's not running away, but instead entering a new phase of training to be a true Trailer... and to contribute to paying off the family debts.



Meanwhile, gloom reigns over your crew at Akito's ramen store.
Surprisingly, it's not due to the ramen itself, which has improved by leaps and bounds in the past two weeks due to Akito simplifying the flavoring.
The deep sighs stem from the fact that both Boss and Kouji are short on funds and, therefore are unable to pay for food – leaving them starving.
A new addition to the store staff distracts the conversation, though.



Kazuma proves to be an industrious delivery boy, while Mihiro is contributing on the onion-peeling front.
He tells his impoverished comrades to get their butts in gear and work: the Trailer maxim states "Money is lonely, so find it some friends."



Sousuke is surprised to hear that the Photon Power Lab folks aren't receiving an allowance (they're volunteers, after all), but he actually has money problems of his own.
It seems that the mass-production Bonta-kuns are being returned in droves, and Sousuke can't figure out why such a versatile, camouflaged weapons platform would be unsatisfactory. Could it be because it... stands out like a sore thumb? Nah.



Ruri then emerges from behind the scenes, collecting her part-time pay before heading off for some maintenance on Omoikane(That’s the Nadesico’s main computer).
She's been a model waitress, and helped lighten the mood at the store despite her tender years.
Neither Kouji nor Kazuma are adept at coming up with a nickname for the waiflike computer genius, and Akito finds himself wondering what precisely Ruri did before the Nadesico came along.



She's never talked about it, and Sousuke wonders if she trained as some kind of soldier like he did.
In any case, all the customers Ruri attracted seem to have bailed, so Kouji forthrightly offers to wash dishes as payment.



However, a woman enters the restaurant: It's a lady named Aqua, with a job for our people that she'll be happy to explain at her office tomorrow.



The blond bombshell tells you all to invite your friends, and then gets locked in a staring match with Akito, whom she reminds of someone.



Meanwhile, Ruri is having trouble diagnosing some kind of problem that's afflicting Omoikane.
If it's out of commission, the Nadesico is as good as shot down already, which simply won't do for Nergal's flagship.
Ruri's called in reinforcements in the form of Entouji and Freeman, but they won't be here until tomorrow(and Minato hopes Entouji bathes first).



The mystery employer turns out to be the Crimson Group, and Kazuma actually accepted the job without even asking the details.
He made sure to include the Go-Lion team, whose "teamwork" Kazuma thinks will be necessary (or perhaps, Mihiro suspects, he just likes the auspicious spelling of the name "Kogane"(Kogane = Gold)).



Akito, who is also in on it, is worried that Aqua seemingly knew just where to find your people, though Duo (who's in it to kill some time) tells him he's thinking too hard.
Kurz is also in on this job, which he thinks is a bit of an "affair" for Akito given he's got Captain Misumaru waiting for him back at the ramen store - he's sure that Akito is, like Kurz himself, interested in their beautiful employer.
Akito stoutly denies this, but takes a while to clearly state precisely why he was staring at Aqua.



It seems she looks exactly like the eponymous guest character in Geki Ganger episode 33, "Saintly Aquamarine's Smile", who even now dominates the character polls thanks to her pure bearing and tragic backstory.
Akito in fact gets quite worked up about "his" Aquamarine, and it's becoming all too clear why he came to this job without telling Yurika.



When Mihiro asks, Akito explains that in the relevant episode, the mysterious beauty Aquamarine saves the Geki Ganger pilot Tenkuu Ken, causing him to fall in love with her(TENKUUUKENNN! CHOUDENJI BAAAAAAAAAAALL!).



She turns out to be one of the commanders of the evil Kyoakku aliens - a cliche that apparently went over Akito's head.
Eventually refuses to fight Ken and self-destructs to protect him, her ashes scattered across the atmosphere (Suzuishi is cringing at the story but Seidou tells him to shush as to not upset Akito).



Before Akito can further rhapsodize this oh-so-tragic chain of events, Kazuma concludes that this character is the diametric opposite of Yurika.
In any case, Aqua comes and greets the crew, especially Akito... and now Duo is sure that this fascinating job is worth it.
She explains that she wants help debugging a video game.
Sousuke is aware of the Crimson Group's military products, but is surprised to hear that they're entering the video gaming market.



The company motto "From handguns to missiles" isn't precisely reassuring, and Aqua's ongoing special treatment of Akito is even less so - is the payout for all this even going to be equal?
Aqua assures everyone, even those who have never video gamed before, that the debugging method she has planned is something uniquely suited to their talents.
Aqua is paying a good ten times what Akito's boss is and that's more than good enough for our team; she specifically tells Akito to do his best for her.


Eeerrgh…I don’t really care much for this mission as it’s pretty much “filler”.
It’s also rather big so I might go back to the 2-part format, mind.




I’ll just leave this here in memory of Voltes V.

See you all next time!