It's the 3rd day of the 12th month of the year N15. Rana wakes up to an admonishing alarm bell shaped like Laila Hemawati. She realizes that she fell asleep, then notices a letter from Ran along with some mango milk. In the letter, Ran admits that he was reluctant to go precisely because it was Asha. Rana always told Ran to follow Asha's example, and he was sick of it. Rana smiles and thinks that it was for Ran's benefit.
When Rana was 19 (university student) and Ran was 29 (appearance: 14, academy student), Rana found it amazing that Asha was accepted into Eloth University at age 13. She described her as being cooler than Ran, who only had brute strength. Later, when she was 22 (associate professor) and Ran was 32 (university student), she pointed out that Asha was graduating at the age of 16, unlike Ran the middle-aged man. Finally, when she was 26 (full professor) and Ran was 36 (still a university student), she got a photo of Asha and swooned over how amazing Asha was, making Ran mad when she wanted to show him the photo. Finally, in a distorted scene, Ran describes how Rana told him that the "intelligent and dignified and beautiful" Asha had "charitably" accepted to help him. She then tells him to pack up and get out. In this scene, Asha makes fun of his face. In reality, neither of them said anything of the sort.
Rana is a bit embarrassed by Ran's distorted vision of the events, and decides to apologize for stressing him out too much. However, in the next part of the letter, Ran explains that he realized that Rana is in love with Asha, so he'll go with "him" to see if he's worthy of her. Shocked and horrified, Rana realizes that Ran thinks that Asha is a guy.
Asha's group prepares to enter the water channel. Ran is worried because Leez isn't wearing much. Leez reassures him that the clothes are long-sleeved, and although she gets hot easily, she's fine with the cold. She adds that the clothes are special to her, as they were a present by the one she loves the most in the world. Ran deduces that Leez has a boyfriend, and when he sees Leez running up to Asha, he deduces that Asha is said boyfriend. He's worried about Asha's tastes. He then sees Yuta, the next party member. Appalled, he asks Asha why she's bringing along two children. He deduces that Asha likes gigantic boobs and is suspiciously dragging around two kids.
Within the channel, Asha forms a boat with hoti brahma to sail through the water channel. Ran is worried, however, since objects made with hoti brahma eventually disappear. Asha informs him that obviously, he should get them to the next area before that happens. From Asha's looks, Ran deduces that Asha is a scary guy who'd kill heaps of people and blame it on involuntary manslaughter by magical accident. Ran starts to say that it seems too dangerous to proceed, but Leez says she looks forward to swimming in the pleasant-looking water. Ran decides he can't manage the two kids and wants to head back, but Asha assumes out loud that he's scared, lousy, and incompetent, forcing him to proceed.
Using hoti varuna, Ran makes the boat sail ahead. Asha explains that although she can use the spell as well, triple magicians have a higher daily usage, and Quarters have vigor to spare. Ran suddenly stops the boat, since the area is different from how it was when he was younger. Asha confirms that the geography has changed. Normally, the paths only start changing from Area 51 onwards. She decides to proceed anyway, which Ran thinks is crazy, while Leez looks forward to swimming. Asha expresses more disappointment in Ran, then casts hoti surya. She then starts drawing a map for Ran.
Leez notes that she's never seen that spell. Ran is surprised by her lack of knowledge, since he thought she was a magic academy student. He explains that hoti surya allows one to see everything in the surrounding area for a very brief time, including things that are hidden. But it disappears so fast that it's hard to remember, so it is normally only useful to triple light magicians, with a high daily usage, or people with a photographic memory. Leez deduces that Asha was able to locate her multiple times thanks to this spell,[1][2] and when she couldn't, either her daily usage ran out, or she was outside the limits of the spell.[3] Asha finishes the map, and asks Ran if he can read it. Ran is annoyed by her pessimism, but then realizes that the map is extremely complicated. He picks a random direction, only to be informed by Asha that it's the other way.
Spoilers and Trivia
- From Currygom's blog entry for this episode:
- (Leez): Sorry for being late again... I keep having trouble finishing chapters (arcs). I want to stop being late, but the next chapter has lots of hard-to-draw parts, too...
- A 4-Leez set: 1. 50% beauty, 2. 100% beauty, 3. 200% beauty, 4. Cheating.
- These are close-ups of our main character, who will disappear for a while... She has appeared far more often than any other character because she was either the focus character, or alongside other characters when they were the focus. But I will miss Leez and co. (Asha, Yuta, Ran), who are my favorites.
- A 4-Ran set: 1. Calm, 2. Surprised, 3. Fearful, 4. Wanna go home.
- Ran's legs (in his current outfit) have not appeared so far... They are hidden behind his clothes, along with his pants.
- Rana's alarm clock is shaped like Laila Hemawati, whom we first saw in Brilith's flashback about her exam.[4] Despite Laila's questionable fashion sense, Laila really is a beauty.[5]
- Ran thinks that even Leez has a boyfriend to buy her clothes. Ironically, later on, he'll be the one buying her lots of clothes.[6]
- Asha laments about the fact that she has to drag along two children. The first refers to Leez, but the second doesn't necessarily refer to Yuta.
- This is the second time that there is a joke about involuntary manslaughter by magical accident.[7] As it turns out later, this isn't a joke.[8]
- All events in the next 20 episodes of the chapter "The Night It Rained Fire" happened the night before Leez's group entered the water channel.
- Ran thinks he can't manage the two kids, either. He has no idea how right he is.
- This is the last episode of the chapter (arc), "Rival." The title could refer to:
- the rivalry encouraged between Ran and Rana
- the rivalry between Yuta and Mr. Kasak, who challenges Yuta to grow up and try to beat him up
- the rivalry between Ran and Asha.
 Ran has it all wrong  Ran thinks it's too dangerous  Ran can't use this spell  Ran tries to decipher Asha's map |
References
- ↑ Kubera, Season 1 Episode 10: The Queen and the Bum (5)
- ↑ Kubera, Season 1 Episode 27: The Golden Knight (1)
- ↑ Kubera, Season 1 Episode 35: The Golden Knight (9)
- ↑ Kubera, Season 1 Episode 21: AAA Magician (1)
- ↑ Kubera, Season 2 Episode 94: Taboo (6)
- ↑ Kubera, Season 2 Episode 27: Reflection (1)
- ↑ Kubera, Season 1 Episode 46: Half (半) - 4
- ↑ Kubera, Season 2 Episode 7: Blood (2)