The Away Mission Test: Part 20

Short Summary
''When Teruya's prodding ends in a dispute with Mizukami, their teammates attempt to intervene. Yuba expresses frustration for what came out of his lackluster performance in the battle sims. At lights-out with Osamu, Oki wonders if Mizukami is soloing the simulation.''

Long Summary
Teruya and Kon have doubts about their considerable lead, especially since their special assignment scores couldn’t have been that much better. Kashio notices their net-gain on Day 2 and juxtaposes it with everyone else’s net-loss, wondering if the problem is actually with the other squads. Teruya proposes asking around — but Mizukami dismisses this, citing its haughty nature. Teruya attempts to calm her mounting suspicions. She amiably offers her captain support, to which he disregards her use of an idiom. Teruya defends this with another proverb; Mizukami sees her as arrogant. He rebukes Teruya once again, before being pulled aside by Kon.

Arafune returns from his shower. Kon warns Mizukami about keeping up his secret, but the latter maintains his stance on squad tactics. On the other hand, Arafune believes in his captain’s strategy: should there be trust issues, he and Kon can take over.

Meanwhile, Teruya realizes she, too, dislikes those who use proverbs in place of opinions. Kashio ponders whether proverbs on Earth should even be applied when journeying to the Neighborhood — interpreting Mizukami ‘s words to reflect on. Teruya doubts this; Mizukami denies it. Kashio gives the former words of encouragement, to which she thanks him. Kon and Mizukami are grateful for their empathy.

Over in Squad 5, Yuba has stayed up to practice the battle sims. Koarai reassures him that he did well on the special assignment, that the sims take time getting used to; but Yuba is more distraught that his incompetency led to him being sidelined. Despite the late hours, Koarai decides to practice with him.

At lights out, Oki expresses relief at their performance on Day 2 — praising Suwa’s leadership on top of Katori’s better spirits, to which Osamu doubts the latter. Osamu brings up the heightened significance of the battle sims going forward, before Oki resumes their prior conversation: “Do you think that… Mizukami is running the battle sims all by himself?”

Translation Errors and Discrepancies
In the Viz version, draw/loss results remain switched. Example: Suwa's squad is meant to have 7 losses and 1 draw, not 7 draws and 1 loss.

Characters in Order of Appearance
Characters in italics are only seen briefly and have yet to make a proper appearance.
 * Fumika Teruya
 * Yuka Kon
 * Satoshi Mizukami
 * Yutaka Kashio
 * Tetsuji Arafune
 * Takuma Yuba (Present then Flashback)
 * Noboru Koarai
 * Tatsuya Kuruma (Flashback)
 * Kōji Oki (Present then Flashback)
 * Kai Minamisawa (Flashback)
 * Hisato Sasamori (Flashback)
 * Yōko Katori (Mentioned by Kōji Oki)
 * Kōtarō Suwa (Flashback)

Triggers in Order of Appearance
None appear over the course of this chapter.