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Clash of Hexennacht:Volume2 Chapter 12

2016-05-16T00:23:41Z

68.109.61.103: /* Chapter 12: But I Move Away */

==Chapter 12: But I Move Away==
[[Image:Hexennacht_v02_291.png|thumb]]
''Because I only move somewhat away

''I can’t say goodbye

''Because I’ve always been alone

''I can’t say goodbye

Horinouchi felt cold.

…''Where am I?

With that question in her heart, her eyes sensed darkness.

She had blacked out. The annihilation scythe of Mary’s Magino Device had cut into space. That cut had trapped her and blown her away.

Akerindou had altered its path to avoid the scythe blade, but the movement had been much like an instantaneous spatial leap and it had apparently put a great amount of stress on her health management divine protections. She was conscious, but…

“Kh…”

She got up.

There was a floor there. She was on top of Akerindou’s radome, which was her usual spot, but…

“Ah.”

Something was wrong with her inner ear because she lost her balance and collapsed to the side.

''This isn’t good,'' she thought, but there were no warnings of an enemy attack or ether readings. Then she saw something beyond Akerindou’s floor and the emergency enhancement spell circle for her health management divine protections.

It was the night sky. She saw the moon there. She saw the Black Witch’s home.

But something was wrong with the sky around it. It was definitely night, but the darkness was oddly thick. And…

“Nn…”

She got up as if crawling and saw something down below.

“White?”

She thought it was the clouds. She thought a sea of clouds was flowing swiftly below Akerindou like a white fog.

But she was wrong.

One of the spell circles around her told her the answer. It gave the temperature.

…''Negative thirty-two!?

''That can’t be,'' she thought. It was the end of summer and positive thirty-two would make sense, so why was it negative? Besides, wasn’t the negative thirties when you could start hammering nails with a banana?

“Why am I bringing up that banana?”

On her shoulder, the Suzaku responded by spitting loudly away from her, so was it really a bird?

But she more or less understood. The health management had seemed delayed because it had been dealing with the surrounding temperature first.

Her health was quickly returning. She shook her head and the scenery came into focus. She could now tell what those white clouds below Akerindou were.

“A great blizzard covering the surface!?”

“Milady!”

Someone shouted from a spell circle. It was Koutarou.

“We know where you are! You are at southern latitude 90! You are above the South Pole!”

…''She really got them there!

Hunter clicked her tongue and brushed up her bangs.

“She was stretching out her annihilation scythe during the whole battle!”

The Rank 2 had likely sent out an annihilation in the early stages of the battle and let it continue flying without swinging it back. She must have sent it out and accelerated it while it was as thin as a hair.

Then when the other two had gotten close and summoned their Magino Frames, she had swung the annihilation.

It had torn into space itself, sent her and Kagami far to the north, and sent Horinouchi far to the south.

Part of Hunter had trouble believing that was possible, but she could fire her own shells that far. To intercept the Black Witch’s descent from the moon, one needed as long a range as possible and anyone in the single digit Ranks would have a way of doing that.

The Rank 2’s annihilation had just shown a hint of that. No matter where the Black Witch descended to the earth, that annihilation could reach her.

“Just how much power does she have?”

Hunter was honestly disturbed by that. After all…

“If she could ignore the attenuation of the scythe, she could split the earth in two.”

She had sent Horinouchi and Kagami to opposite poles, so her annihilation had stretched to a half-circumference of the earth, which was even longer than the diameter.

…''That’s pretty great!

If Hunter was still Rank 3, how would she have taken on this opponent?

Would she fire from afar or charge in close? One point of consideration was the Rank 2’s lack of backup such as American U.A.H.F. or the Horinouchi Group. That meant Hunter would have had an advantage by knowing her location, but…

“In that case, she might set up a net of annihilation over the earth.”

She started wondering how many scythes the Rank 2 had, but…

“Hunter! We spotted a red bird!”

She checked the spell circle by her hand and indeed saw a vermilion bird in the air above the wide area of terrain called the South Pole. Based on the display information, it was footage from the geostationary satellite over the South Pole.

That was Horinouchi, but…

“Have you still not spotted the North Pole ones!?”

“All three geostationary satellites over the North Pole were lost! We’re moving in the nearby ones!”

The Rank 2 had really gotten them. The way those two could easily detect satellites in orbit was a real problem.

But in that case, Mary’s intent was obvious.

“She’s pretty blatantly trying to split up Kagami and Horinouchi!”

Based on Hunter’s own experience, those two’s strength came from the buddy system. Horinouchi was entirely focused on long-range attack power and Kagami handled the close- and mid-range attack and defense, so they shared the roles quite well.

…''They’re like an energetic hound and hunter.

That made Hunter think of her own family name, but even if the Hedgehog played both those roles, it had lost to those two in battle.

Those two might just be the strongest.

But to put it another way, they were not the strongest on their own.

And Kagami was most likely fighting Mary after being captured by her.

…''What do we do!?

The two partners had been sent to opposite ends of the planet.

Their fastest method of travel would be the swing-by system, but that still took over forty minutes to move halfway around the planet. The North Pole battle would likely be over by then and Mary would have had plenty of time to recover.

Besides, American U.A.H.F. could not directly support those two.

“Dammit!”

But then…

“Representative Hunter! We have managed to observe the North Pole from a shallow position! As for the two witches…”

After a pause to check, the report immediately continued.

“They’re already fighting! …The atmosphere over the North Pole has split!”

In the ceiling-less dome of clouds at the bottom of the bright night, Kagami began fighting a girl bearing the colors of the grim reaper.

She could imagine how they had gotten here and why Horinouchi was not with them.

…''Was it that spatial leap using the annihilation!?

It technically used great speed, but it was nearly a means of teleportation.

Unlike Hunter’s swing-by system, it could take her wherever she wanted, but since the starting point and ending point were bound together, she probably could not stop partway through.

…''But it can cover half of the earth’s circumference!?

They were currently flying in circles with the front of their Devices pointed at each other

Kagami was firing her secondary cannons, but the shots did not reach.

Mary’s Device was a close-range type. It was a scythe, but that meant it had decent reach. It could reach farther than Kagami’s great sword.

But the current age focused on cannon-fire, so did that difference in reach even matter?

That was likely why the Holy Knight-style and Executioner-style had vanished.

The girl going by the name Mary would not have known that.

When she had entered this world and taken on her witch’s form, the world had given her the traits that suited her.

Namely, the executioner.

Who was that execution for?

“…Kh.”

Kagami fired, but the shots did not reach.

The outdated executioner had a long reach and almost no actual armor. With the cloak wrapped around her, she could not move around with much speed.

But this world had given her those traits.

It had given those traits to the girl with the annihilation spell.

The reach that outdid a sword could now extend almost endlessly and she could erase any attacks instead of using armor. And instead of moving around normally, she could tear into space itself and send herself flying.

This world had given her an appropriate form.

Kagami continued firing, but the shots did not reach.

Kagami alone was worn down. So…

“I suppose I should be thorough.”

She made up her mind and thought, ''What is wrong with that?

“The bond between teacher and student should not be broken. No matter what the student might think, the teacher can have her own thoughts. Plus, you have not actually gone against our mutual understanding.”

In other words…

“You have not taken the Black Witch’s side, have you?”

Mary put up her defenses when she heard her “teacher’s” voice for the first time in so long.

That was exactly right. She was trying to defeat her teacher, but that did not mean she was on the Black Witch’s side. In fact…

“I prepared this confrontation because I do not think you are fit to stand on the battlefront against the Black Witch.”

“I see. …And you feel differently about Horinouchi?”

“Yes.” Mary nodded. “Once I defeat you, I will call off this Ranker battle. …I have decided Horinouchi’s power as the Rank 3 will be useful on Hexennacht, but she will not oppose me on her own. That is my purpose here. To eliminate you from Hexennacht. …After all, if we place our hopes in you, a hole is bound to open. You will run away, betray us, and transform our hope into despair. I cannot allow someone like that on the battlefront.”

And…

“I am the only one that knows that, so I am the only one that can stop you. Only I have the justification needed to do so.”

She stopped speaking there.

She only needed to raise her hand and increase the range of her secondary cannons.

“I have already built up my willpower.”

She tore at the world.

“Words are only needed to defeat or to build one’s willpower. So…”

She moved forward. She advanced to defeat the opponent she needed to defeat.

“Hit her with your anger, Ira.”

“That’s why she did this…?”

Horinouchi gasped at the words from the North Pole battle that were sent from American U.A.H.F. to Hunter, from Hunter to Koutarou, and from Koutarou to her.

…''This Ranker battle was meant to eliminate Kagami?

Mary had a reason.

Kagami had betrayed her and not opposed the destruction of her world.

As a result, she did not trust Kagami concerning the coming Hexennacht. She was afraid Kagami would flee at a critical moment and leave a hole in the front line.

To her, eliminating Kagami would eliminate a portion of their fighting force while also eliminating that fear.

To everyone else, Kagami was a great addition to their fighting force. Even the headmaster accepted that.

It would likely be concluded that eliminating Kagami was unrealistic.

And that was likely why Mary had decided to deal with her fear as a personal grudge. Because she had a proper reason to eliminate Kagami.

So, but, even so…

“You can’t do that.”

Perhaps Horinouchi was naïve, perhaps she needed to be more heartless when it came to a battle with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, and perhaps she was being blinded by the presence of such an intense partner. But…

“You can’t do that.”

She spoke the words that came to mind.

“What value is there in a world where personal grudges can influence destiny?”

In the setting sun, the witch who had been involved in the creation of this world had shed tears over the death of a single person.

If this world was a collection of such things…

“It can accept a personal grudge with nothing more than a single tear.”

''Yes,'' she thought. ''Let’s do something about this.

So…

“Koutarou!”

She raised her voice. The spell circle footage from the North Pole showed the battle had already begun. Something white covered the sky like a dome. Was it clouds, or…

…''The annihilation?

It did not matter. What she had to do was hope.

“I need to hurry back to Kagami! I need to decide how to do that, so send me all the data you have!”

The maids celebrated, but Koutarou simply nodded.

“Everyone, work quickly to grasp the situation. Use every spell, sense, and piece of knowledge you have to guide Lady Mitsuru toward a way to reach Lady Kagami.”

“What about you, Head Butler? Are you not going to do anything?”

“No,” he replied. “My job is the very last one. …And that means I have to wait for all of you, so hurry!”

As soon as he spoke, the maid relaying the transmissions from America turned his way.

“The audio and video footage from Lady Kagami has been cut off! The Rank 2’s annihilation has surrounded the battlefield like a barrier!”

Kagami had the following thought about Mary’s plan:

…''Not only is she keeping me from escaping, but she can bring these walls together to finish this if she needs to.

Annihilation scythes were racing around and creating the walls of a dome about sixty kilometers across.

She was repeatedly firing and managing the annihilation. That cut Kagami off from the outside, and…

“…Toh!”

As Kagami fired her secondary cannons and had Dikaiosyne quickly sink down, the scythes creating the surrounding walls were pulled back to Mary’s Device. That power was invisible, but its strength and range could be seen with the perception spell used through Dikaio.

The blades were thirty kilometers long and five kilometers wide.

They curved around as both scythes and whips.

Plus, only three of the Magino Device’s nine scythes were used to create the walls. The remaining six were continuing to fire toward Kagami.

Kagami relied on the perception spell to launch her five hundred meter Device around.

She could not rely on her armor.

As for speed, her opponent could evade with spatial movements that looked like instantaneous slides. And when there was an opening, that same movement would tug at Kagami’s Device.

“————”

She would sense the danger from Dikaio’s trembling and she would quickly slide left and away from her opponent. Then a white wind would fly vertically through the space between them.

Mary was trying to pull her in and trap her.

This was dangerous, but Kagami still had a means of attack. So…

“Here goes!”

Mary read her opponent’s tactic.

She knew Kagami was powerful and could use seemingly unfair methods, but in this world people faced each other with the giant weapons known as Magino Devices and the battle would be determined by the damage to those Devices.

That meant Kagami would need to destroy Mary with her main cannon.

The rest was simple.

Mary just had to avoid facing her head-on. That was all.

When Kagami charged in, Mary would charge past her on the left or the right. And as soon as they were lined up alongside each other, she tore at the space along the inner edge to…

…''Turn!

Macabre, the servant on her shoulder, spun around. ''How cute.'' Then Mary’s vision turned around, the scenery rapidly changed, and she was parallel to Kagami’s starboard side.

She fired. She pulled her in.

Kagami’s Device shook violently as it was pulled and tugged in. Its size caused an explosion of mist in the air around it. With a great sound, the drift ice on the ocean’s surface split apart.

Still, the blue and white Magino Device filled its thrusters with light and worked to pull away from Mary. It raised its tip, let the air hit it, and ascended as if riding that air.

But Mary’s cannon-fire reached her.

Two long scars raced along the great sword’s starboard armor.

Mary would not let her escape. She too began to ascend.

“I will not let you escape!”

Two magic wands fought inside the severing walls of white mist.

Kagami worked to reach the position needed to fire her main cannon and Mary pursued her to target her side. Kagami’s secondary cannons filled with noticeable light, but fragments were constantly scattering from her Device.

As if she were caught on a fishing line, Kagami ascended and descended to somehow break free. For a more flexible use of the acceleration system, Dikaiosyne partially changed form. As Mary pursued, her Device’s overall silhouette seemed squeezed in tight as it worked to eliminate air resistance.

The two Devices raced through the white dome, but Mary had the upper hand when it came to movement.

She did not have to fear the battlefield’s outer walls, so a few times, the grim reaper intentionally guided the holy knight ahead of her and then continued turning further and further out and to the left to corner her opponent.

The holy knight accelerated to escape, but…

“Kh…”

The greater her speed, the more difficult it was to turn.

While being pursued form the left, which was the inside of the turn, she could only move up or down to escape.

Meanwhile, Mary’s Magino Device took the best position. She focused her annihilation on Kagami’s secondary cannons while having herself sucked in through the gaps that created. She combined defense and propulsion into a single action.

“I have your left side, Brigadier General!”

Mary decided to not even warn her.

So she attacked. Of her nine great scythes, she continued using three to produce the barrier and used the remaining three on the right to secure Kagami.

She captured the great sword on the side.

The great sword fell into the gaps between the annihilation used against its secondary cannons.

The blue and white Magino Device briefly hopped as if drowning and then its speed matched Mary’s.

They were completely side-by-side now. All that remained was to finish this. Mary combined her three remaining scythes into a triple scythe.

“Pierce her, Ira.”

She sent it straight down at the great sword that was captured on the side.

''It hit,'' thought Mary. The invisible blade had slammed down like a giant staple, so the great sword would be unable to resist any longer.

Then sparks of ether light scattered, but…

“She dodged it!?”

Kagami’s great sword had moved forward.

She wondered how, but the answer was right before her eyes.

The acceleration system on the back of Kagami’s Magino Device was fully opened. No, that alone would not have been enough to escape. That left…

“The main cannon!”

The recoilless system used to fire the main cannon had been pointed backwards.

…''It can’t be…

The great sword had been running in a half-transformed state this whole time. What if that had not been just to increase its mobility? What if the power pathways had been connecting to reconstruct something?

…''Yes, she would go that far, wouldn’t she!?

All of that had given Kagami massive instantaneous acceleration from firing the main cannon.

That would have been enough power to escape.

''But,'' thought Mary. ''She’s already right next to the outer wall and one wrong move could get the Device itself sliced into.

“I can’t believe her!”

Sparks of ether light had just scattered from the great sword’s starboard side and they were near the outer wall of annihilation. That would suggest that wall had sliced into her, but…

“The annihilation does not create ether light sparks!”

Then what had Kagami done?

“You used your power to repair the damage my attacks had done, didn’t you!?”

Mary had to capture her quickly.

The only way was with her great scythe.

Three were creating the outer walls, three more were locked onto the secondary cannons, and the final three had been combined into a triple main cannon, but she released those three and sent them forward to capture Kagami instead.

…''They made it through!

The annihilation pierced through the approximately two kilometers of space between them.

That was the perfect range to pull her in. The holy knight’s great sword lost speed as it was pulled toward the executioner’s scythe.

The rest was simple. She had already caught up to her opponent and she did not need to hold her in place any longer. She only had to swing the scythe, and…

“Pierce her, Ira!”

As soon as she shouted that, the slowed sword fired again.

But not at Mary.

…''Ahead!?

And it was a blank shot that did not fire a shell.

Mary understood what Kagami had done, but her imagination could not keep up.

Kagami had turned vertically with respect to Mary.

She used the motion of her Device being tugged back while moving forward and the recoil of the cannon blast to rotate the five hundred meter Device backwards. The great sword rotated toward Mary like a blow swung from overhead.

“Kh…!”

In the instant of the rapid turn, the sword’s muzzle pointed Mary’s way.

A great noise soon followed.

The church bell-like ringing was the sound of Kagami’s sword firing its main cannon a second time.

This time it was not a blank.

An actual shell was fired for a direct hit.

The blast of power launched Dikaiosyne away.

It had not lost its forward speed.

The recoil of the cannon blast caused the Device to half rotate once more. This returned it to its original orientation, so the great sword raced along the outer wall. Mary’s Magino Device followed, but…

“So it was a direct hit!”

Due to the initial blank shot, the acceleration system had not been at full power.

…''But it should have been effective against such a delicate little Magino Device!

When Kagami looked back, she saw it.

The nine scythes had ruptured in midair.

After the obvious roar of a hit…

“————”

A shockwave spread from the Magino Device in every direction.

The air was split, the clouds burst, and the drift ice bounced up.

It had been destroyed. Utterly destroyed.

“Kh…!”

Kagami had smashed her enemy, but she still put up her guard. She fired her main cannon toward the scattering Magino Device once more.

She fired again on the scattering ether light. But Dikaiosyne’s cannon used physical shells. It was powerful when it hit, but it was weak against fragments like this. The shockwave spreading from its ballistic path caused the ether light to scatter even further, but…

“So it was not enough…!”

“No, it wasn’t!”

That voice was followed by a certain noise.

It was the sound of chains. A chorus of metal chains rang out as if they were racing every which way through the sky.

A moment later, the all-encompassing annihilation walls vanished, bringing into view the bright night sky of what bordered on a white night. Rather than black, the night sky was a dark blue with scarlet at the bottom. The broken field of white down below only continued to spread.

And the wind blew. The ether forming the annihilation walls became a racing wind.

It all gathered at a single point: the point of the sky where the executioner’s Magino Device had been hit and destroyed.

A grim reaper floated there. And below her feet…

“Magino Device…re-summon!”

She consumed the annihilation walls as fuel and colors of black and red instantly appeared.

The ether light had scattered and re-summoned Mary’s Magino Device.

The fact that the barrier over the Arctic Ocean had vanished was both good and bad news for Hunter and the others.

It was good news because they could see Kagami and Mary’s status now.

It was bad news because…

…''The Rank 2 fed on the barrier to re-summon her Magino Device!?

Hunter had seen that girl suddenly summon her Magino Device. If she could do that, then it was hardly surprising she could instantly repair her Device after damage from Kagami’s main cannon. But…

…''That’s really bad right now!

According to their data, Kagami’s Device was damaged. Her opponent making a full recovery only made things worse.

''But what can we do?'' wondered Hunter.

“Dammit!”

Her group could not move and Horinouchi was above the South Pole.

Just as she thought there was nothing they could do…

“Lady Hunter!”

A rectangular spell circle appeared as a window inside her communications spell circle. It displayed the troublesome glasses guy from the Horinouchi family. A maid with an eye patch stood behind him.

“I have a personal request. Is that okay!?”

“What is it? Just tell me.”

“Very well.” He nodded. “Please have the 7th Fleet’s lunar surveillance FA-18 take off immediately. Send it toward the South Pole, and…”

The 7th Fleet was one of the fleets that America used to defend the Pacific Ocean.

They were asking to scramble one of its fighters.

“Wait, wait! You’re calling that a personal request!?”

Hunter added a “but”.

“You said immediately, right!?”

“Isn’t that what scramble means?”

The next line clinched it.

“Lady Mitsuru has found a solution.”

“Well done, Horinouchi!”

Inside the command center, Koutarou had just swung up his clenched fist to shout something, but he slowly lowered it instead.

Among the maids behind him, the Head Maid commented while giving orders by spell circle.

“Such a shame she stole your line, Head Butler.”

“Th-that’s fine! Her friend’s praise matters more than mine!”

“Very true.” The Head Maid did not bother looking his way. “And if you know how little you matter, please hurry up and finish your work.”

Hunter slapped her cheeks between her hands.

…''Okay.

This would work. This would definitely work.

Kagami was not going to give up. Her mentality was completely insane, after all. And Horinouchi would not give up either.

“Yeah, that’s right. And that means…”

“Hold it.”

A transmission cut in. It did not display a face, but she knew who it was.

“The second in command!”

“Pipe down, Hunter. ..You, pretty boy. That’s Green Cat behind you, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.” The eyepatch maid replied with a naval salute. “Long time no see, Blue Bloom. My right eye has ‘seen’ this. There is no doubting it.”

“Hah. My eye can still see too. …Then we have no time. None at all. Isn’t that right? Are you prepared to hand over some information, Green Cat?”

“Yes, sir!”

“That’s fine then,” replied the second in command. “A witch’s eye can fly through the sky, but an FA-18 can’t keep up with our eyes.”

“What?” asked Hunter with a tilt of the head.

She could tell they had to hurry, but…

“A witch can’t head out to interfere with a Ranker battle and we don’t have any F-23s with us, right?”

“That just means we have to send this out.”

“Eh?”

She looked around and saw a giant form riding up the deck elevator.

With a rumbling, a dark-looking craft covered in angles and flat surfaces came into view.

…''That looks a lot like an F-23.

“It’s a YF-22. That’s the prototype that lost to the 23. …But this thing has an arresting hook built into the rear. Of course, it’s meant for emergency use on land and not on a ship, but that’s why I had this prototype erased from the account books for emergencies. This is the world’s only YF-22 made entirely for use on ships. Our technician team likes playing with it, but it has plenty of speed. Its cruising speed is twice that of the 18. Send out a supply plane from a base in Australia and we can make up for all the chatting here and then some.”

The second in command added a “look”.

“You can’t place many divine protections on this thing’s wings. If it’s going to carry someone’s vision, that someone needs to have some skill of their own, Green Cat. We can’t have an FA-18 bring in our lunch like we did back at the Spratly Islands. You’re working with an F-23, right? We’ll link with Atsugi, so move your eye over as soon as you can!”

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume2_Chapter_11|Chapter 11]]
| Return to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume2_Chapter_13|Chapter 13]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Clash of Hexennacht:Volume2 Chapter 11

2016-05-10T22:33:45Z

68.109.61.103: /* Chapter 11: Rushing Thoughts */

==Chapter 11: Rushing Thoughts==
[[Image:Hexennacht_v02_269.png|thumb]]
''Only those you have caught up to

''Are in front of you

The battle shifted to the mountain range.

Mary had been the one to move out ahead and choose the location. Horinouchi pursued her while muting the Suzaku as it gave a war cry of acceleration on her shoulder.

“She’s surprisingly fast.”

“She was the candidate chosen to be the next generation ace for the magic system of an entire world. After the training she underwent in the Spell Division, I do not see how she could be inferior to us. But…”

“But?”

“She holds her arms forward like this when she flies because I taught her it was the polite thing to do.”

“You aren’t even doing that right now!!”

As soon as she said it, she wondered if that was the response Kagami wanted, but…

…''Ah.

A warning suddenly appeared on her spell circle. The Suzaku was hopping around and creating spell circles in several different directions.

“The scythe is firing on us!”

Kagami saw Horinouchi immediately begin a counterattack.

Even Mary’s scythe was a spell that used ether. Due to the annihilation element, the attacks were invisible, but they could still be picked up using ether detection. But…

…''That is quite a high level of annihilation!

Both the ether creating it and the remnants left after it was fired caused annihilation.

Thus this was a job for their spells and servants, not their own senses. As ether beings, servants could visually perceive ether information.

The Suzaku was moonwalking and performing swaybacks on Horinouchi’s shoulder to visually represent the path of the annihilation, so what is it really a bird? Regardless, Dikaio was trembling on Kagami’s shoulder as it detected the lines of annihilation.

That detection was Horinouchi’s spell.

Shinto was a system of purification and barrier spells, so it made clear distinctions between outsiders and insiders. That was normally limited to one’s field of vision, but she had put together a servant version of a spell for detecting “outsider” spells.

Such a spell would normally pick up all the spirits in the air and on the surface, so the spell was performing some level of selection. But…

“I am surprised even I can use your spell, Horinouchi.”

“Major systems like Shinto sell and distribute spells for the general public, you know? Those sometimes use local gods and my family has been the main creator of those spells during the recovery. Currently, the Spell Division and other places are systemizing the various branches of daily necessity spells.”

“Does that mean you would be able to use my spells?”

“Yes, I just have to present your spell as an ‘offering’.”

“I see.”

Kagami sent her a few.”

“Wh-what is this all of a sudden!?”

“Defense spells. I am worried about your thin armor.”

“Y-you know…”

They moved apart to avoid the annihilation and then they moved back together to avoid the next wave of annihilation.

“You can send me spells if you want, but I still have to worry about my Phlogiston Heart’s heat. I can’t just use them back to back. Overusing spells will only reduce their power. With your craft power, you can’t just use a bunch of spells at once, right? It’s the same.”

“We really did make an annoying world here.”

The Suzaku gave a muted screech from Horinouchi’s shoulder. The spell circle made it clear what had happened, but…

“The annihilation is growing in power!”

Horinouchi realized the triple beams of scythe-fire had raced by and were scraping back through the sky.

…''It’s huge!

The tip she had avoided was not thick at all, but it was over thirty meters tall. And after racing about four kilometers behind her, it scraped back through the sky.

“Kh…!”

It moved back quickly. It was far faster than her own flight speed, but that may have been because it was a wave of annihilation.

It was just like how waves accelerated right at the shore.

But even if she avoided that, the leftover remnants of annihilation did not vanish. Touching them would cause damage, so they were like a trap. And…

“…!”

After the Suzaku’s warning, the triple shot fired a total of twelve beams.

And as more were added…

“The sky!”

As the sky passed twilight and approached the bluish black of night, it seemed to be “filled”.

A moment later, several dozen scythes reached her as rapid-fire shots.

The vast sky above the Chichibu Mountains in central Kantou was sliced apart vertically and horizontally.

Horinouchi focused on evasion.

She was not watching to see what would happen. One wrong move and she would run into this annihilation trap, but circling too far around would give Mary free time.

Moving in close was the best option for both offense and defense here. So…

“Suzaku!”

She unmuted the Suzaku to help it get excited.

“Yessssssssss!”

When she looked over in shock, the Suzaku averted its gaze and began chirping like a bird.

…''W-well, I might have misheard.

“Horinouchi, that thing might very well be a parrot or a red myna.”

“It is the Suzaku! The Suzaku!”

Also…

“You evade too!”

Their evasion was based on spells.

The Suzaku and Dikaio could see a lot with their ether-detecting eyes, so they would look around and fire something into the safely empty space they saw.

“Horinouchi, these are guiding torii, aren’t they!?”

They were indeed torii. Kagami’s were blue and Horinouchi’s were red. Three of them were placed at fifty meter intervals. Three more stages of three torii showed the directions beyond that, so their routes were drawn in the sky using a total of twelve each of the red and blue torii.

They followed them.

To surpass the invisible obstacles and avoid the erasing slash that pursued them, the blue and red witches passed through the torii in the sky. Sometimes they raced forward, sometimes they hopped upwards, and sometimes they spun around, dropped down, split to the left and right, or…

“…!”

Crossed paths.

Occasionally, the torii behind them would be sliced apart and shattered, but the shrine maiden and holy knight did not care. The torii displayed ahead of them would construct their route and keep them going.

However, the grim reaper up ahead did not allow them to safely avoid her attacks. Since the torii were appearing, she began firing her annihilation at those gates of passage themselves.

But they did not care.

The two witches accelerated and, if the torii was destroyed, they could actually see the slice. That allowed them to read the path of the annihilation spell, so they actually chose to fly in toward it.

“…!”

The shrine maiden’s armor was worn down and lines like claw marks ran down the holy knight’s sword.

But the two of them continued forward.

“Horinouchi!” shouted the holy knight. “The torii are too close! Put more space between them!”

The fifty meter distance was passed in about a second when they were flying at 80 kph, but the blue witch had a different idea.

“Set it to 120 meters, Horinouchi! Do you think you can keep up?”

The blue and red accelerated.

The black also accelerated, but there was only so much she could do while flying backwards.

So the grim reaper removed some of her weaponry. She slid the triple scythe blades open to reveal more of their internals than before.

And…

“…!”

Reddish purple ether light scattered from the internal structure as she sliced through the sky as much as possible.

A unit of four F-23s from Atsugi was tracking the three of them along with the surveillance satellite even higher in the sky. They saw it happen from about the same height as the battle.

“Hey…”

Western Kantou’s Chichibu Mountains covered central Kantou from the northwest to the southeast.

As they monitored the battle, they could see the mountain range continuing into the distance, but…

“A bombing!?”

From left to right, from north to south, the countless mountain peaks burst.

And that was not all. The mountainsides and mountain ridges wavered for a moment before finally being annihilated and blasting up in an explosion of dust.

The maps on their HUDs all showed the color red fill the mountain range from north to south.

It was already thirty kilometers long. The exchange of destruction spread from there and the leading edge flew through the night sky.

“That was close!” shouted Horinouchi while using almost all of her power on acceleration and control. “But…I see her!”

She was there, across the night sky. The black grim reaper was visible beyond the torii that now had seven stages.

The torii had 120 meters between them now.

And while they accelerated like that, their opponent had increased the range of her cutting.

The sky had been invisibly split and the earth had been rent apart.

They were still at an altitude of five kilometers, yet it had still reached the surface.

…''Just how big of a scythe is this!?

No, Horinouchi’s own arrows could reach that level. The problem was how much ether that this annihilation spell had to use up and how wide its effective range was.

This attack was not cannon-fire. It was an ultra-wide area attack spell.

Their opponent’s ability to secure and pool ether clearly surpassed their own. It was possible Horinouchi, Kagami, and Hunter together could not match this girl.

She was still using her Normal Frame, yet her attack range and power likely exceeded the average Magino Frame.

But…

“Kechooooooooooh!”

Horinouchi accelerated with the Suzaku in top form.

A moment later, the air was sliced apart and the erasing power pursued her. She surpassed it all, dodged it, and continued forward. And…

“Horinouchi! The arc is larger at a distance. I will head in closer, so you…”

“Understood!”

They could see their opponent, so that left…

“Here goes!”

Mary realized a path to her had been made.

It was a path of blue torii.

She had messed up.

The red torii had briefly moved ahead and she had reacted to that.

She had three scythes in her Normal Frame and she had fired one of those at the red torii.

As soon it shattered, the blue torii appeared on the right.

It was too fast, it was a feint, and it was bait, so she waited.

Then another blue torii appeared on her left.

This was a feint too, but since they blocked her view, she fired her scythes such that they hit both.

A moment later, a torii appeared somewhere.

It appeared between the two shattered blue torii.

It overlapped the previous two and she would have been able to respond if she had displayed their destinations.

Her opponent had shifted from the left or right to the center. That small feint created hesitation.

Should she fire or not?

She briefly hesitated in that instant, but she fired in the end.

Immediately afterwards, she saw something.

There was a blue torii behind the fragments of the red torii she had destroyed earlier.

…''Is that…?

That was the real one.

The blue torii in the center was a feint. She had been made to destroy the red torii first and tricked into thinking the blue ones were the true threat. And now…

“Are they both going to pass through the overlapped torii!?”

The blue torii had been placed just behind the red one.

The two witches accelerated from there and flew in toward her.

Mary saw Kagami forcibly slip below her annihilation spell scythe.

“Kh!”

She finally arrived right up next to Mary.

Her acceleration was perfect. She swung her great sword as if slamming her entire body forward and Mary blocked it with her triple scythe.

The impact added to Mary’s backwards acceleration, and…

“Does this mean things are different from yesterday!?”

“Are you the same as you were in those sparring matches, Reese?”

Kagami swung up her great sword and spoke while Mary controlled her speed, used their relative speed to throw a kick at her opponent, and used the recoil to accelerate.

“I learned how to be rude after arriving here!”

The annihilation scythe returned toward the target of her kick, but her opponent opened up her raised blade.

Kagami fired a blank.

She jumped directly overhead.

Just as Mary thought her opponent had dodged, the annihilation reached the spot the girl had just vacated.

Except it did not.

Just before the annihilation arrived, light shot in directly ahead of it.

The shrine maiden had fired an arrow.

Even the slightest mistake would have sent a swift shot into her partner, but…

…''She didn’t even hesitate to fire, did she!?

There was only one explanation as for how she could do that. Mary gulped and swept her scythe so it would hit the flying arrow and the overhead opponent.

The girl overhead immediately reacted.

She swung her body in midair and flew toward Mary as if slaloming. She swung her body to swing her great sword.

“I will not let you escape, Mary!”

Kagami wanted a clash with Mary.

It was a swordfight, but it was at extreme high speed. Rather than competing with footwork, they would fill their midair bodies with acceleration to slam their blades into their opponent.

They both tried to take the most advantageous position, turned back to defend, and yet continued accelerating northward.

To set the stage for victory, Kagami’s blade struck in an attempt to destroy her opponent’s stance and Mary tried to hit her with the annihilation spell.

She began an extreme close-range exchange with that scythe of annihilation.

Needless to say, she also fired when there was a gap in the swordfight.

She instantly sent the blast into the sky behind her.

The annihilation scythe tore into the armor on her arms and knees, but she had no intention of ceasing her charge and barrage.

…''Please.

Kagami thought.

…''Please tell me.

''Please tell me everything about that lost world.

“Kagami!”

Horinouchi’s voice rang out.

“You’re pushing her back!”

''She moves from attack to attack so quickly,'' gasped Mary.

Mary had the greater power and the greater ability, but her opponent was better when it came to technique such as chaining attacks together.

“Kh…”

No matter how many lethal attacks she sent out, her opponent would avoid them and approach for a further clash.

When she moved back and launched an attack from there, her opponent would dodge it truly by a hair’s breadth and…

“The other one!”

The shrine maiden fired on her. Mary’s high speed flight kept the shrine maiden from circling around to her blind spot, but it was still dangerous when she was focused on her main opponent.

…''Incredible.

That thought came to mind, but she did not feel like erasing it.

Yes, this opponent was incredible.

Even in Mary’s home, this girl had gathered comrades, helped them work together, and led them to many a victory over the “god’s” army.

But even so…

“Why…?”

As their blades crossed and ether light scattered, she sent out her annihilation and continued her swift backwards movement.

“If you can do all this, why did you flee from our world!?”

Horinouchi heard the two ahead of her exchanging words as they deflected each other’s attacks and continued evading and moving.

…''Mary?

At the leading edge of the solid noises, sprays of ether light, splitting of air and earth, and trailing tremors, Mary asked a question.

“Do you remember!? We all trusted you and thought you would save us!”

That was a world Horinouchi did not know.

It was most likely a created world that had existed separate of this one and then vanished.

And this world Mary spoke of…

…''It was created by Kagami’s sister, wasn’t it?

In that case, the answer was obvious.

“Yes, I remember.”

Mary sent a kick toward Kagami’s words.

It was blocked by the great sword and a great rumbling rang out as the grim reaper leaped through the sky.

“You remember!?”

Then…

“Then why!? Why did you flee!?”

“Telling you will change nothing!”

''That’s true,'' thought Horinouchi.

Even if Kagami had a reason, Mary would never accept it.

What if Kagami had been “right”?

Mary probably had not thought that far.

The fact that Kagami had fled was everything to her now and she based all her decisions on it.

“Then!” said Mary. “I will surpass you and leave everything of the past in the past!”

“Yes,” replied Kagami as she sent her great sword toward Mary’s shoulder. “That is the spirit!!”

A moment later, Mary held her scythe up to defend. The blade struck it and sparks flew.

…''Here it comes!

Horinouchi shouted along with the two out ahead.

“Summon Magino Frame!”

Koutarou watched the footage from the surface sent by the shrines and temples affiliated with the Horinouchi family and the footage from the air and from orbit sent by American U.A.H.F.

The maid in charge of ether detection raised her voice.

“I’m picking up massive ether readings from all three! Their Magino Frames are coming!!”

They could not hear it, but a few of the maids muttered it to themselves.

“Clang, clang, clalang…”

That was the sound of Horinouchi’s Magino Device as it was summoned.

It was the ringing of a large shrine bell. Kagami’s was the ringing of a large church bell.

Mary’s summoning sounded like a clattering chain.

Those sounds would be filling the sky at the moment, and…

“The Magino Frames are in place!!”

The three great forms had appeared in the night sky, but there was something odd about it.

“H-huh?” said the maid checking the monitor and helping report on the situation. “That’s strange.”

The maid in charge of ether detection frantically stood up from her seat and said something else.

“They aren’t there?”

Yes. Even Koutarou doubted his own eyes at this sudden turn of events.

The spell circle acting as the command center’s giant monitor displayed data from American U.A.H.F. and the Horinouchi Group, but the close-up view of the night sky did not show the three Magino Frames.

The sky was empty, which meant…

“Lady Mitsuru is missing!?”

Hunter understood the general idea, but it seemed too insane to have actually happened.

…''The three Magino Devices vanished?

Several spell circles were appearing and disappearing around her on the deck. They were all observing and scanning the sky of western Kantou and they were all confirming that Kagami and the others were not there.

But Hunter thought something else had happened, so she raised her hand.

“Mainland group, use the surveillance satellites to search them out.”

And…

“Don’t use the ones moving in orbit. Focus on the ones in geostationary orbit!”

She could explain why right here and now.

She knew what had happened.

“The Rank 2 changed the battlefield! This was the movement spell that uses the pull of her annihilation spell. They’re probably in two different places! Kagami and the Rank 2 will be in one and Horinouchi will be in the other!”

“Found them, Hunter!”

The second-in-command witch shouted from within the ship with the bridge in the background.

“Where!?”

The answer was an extremely simple one.

“The opposite poles! They’re in the airspace above the North and South Poles!!”

Meaning…

“The Rank 2 tore into space and sent them halfway around the globe!”

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| Back to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume2_Chapter_10|Chapter 10]]
| Return to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume2_Chapter_12|Chapter 12]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Kimitoasamade 2A Preface

2016-05-10T10:41:46Z

68.109.61.103: /* Inside Story */

==Inside Story==

Kimi Finds an Opening

Kimi ran. Her step was light. There were plenty of transportation routes from Musashino to Okutama early in the morning, so it was an easy trip and she hurried with her baggage in hand.

“A – Sa – Ma – Shriiiiiine!”

She reached a giant atrium in Okutama.

The normal way to the Asama Shrine was to take the stairs down by the bow and arrive from the front, but things were different for Kimi. Especially this time. So…

“Mitotsudaira’s mine!”

She grabbed and picked up the silver wolf from the side as the girl tried to enter through the front stairway. Kimi then spun around and adjusted her balance while running. She placed her axis of power on her toe tips and leaped forward.

“Time for Mach speed! Mach speed!”

“Where do you think you’re going!?”

“The Asama Shrine of course. Are you okay?”

“Y-you just passed it! We can’t get in from the back because of the waterfall and river.”

“Is that so?”

Kimi jumped from the starboard edge of the Asama Shrine’s atrium to the aft edge behind the shrine. She jumped to the stairs in the center of cliff-like layers sticking out from the wall.

Mitotsudaira nearly fell from her left arm, so she used her hips for a midair spin to adjust her center of gravity. And as she lifted Mitotsudaira up…

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. Heh heh. This way’s faster.”

The jump provided enough distance. While falling one level down, they moved diagonally from the left of the Asama Shrine to the rear. They landed on the passageway one level belowground at the aft end of the atrium. But…

“And a step.”

She did not land on the floor. The railing of the terrace-like passageway was more than enough for her feet. Her right toes landed on the atrium side of the railing and she ducked down to view the back of the Asama Shrine below. So…

“There.”

She made a single flip as she fell and landed in the back of the Asama Shrine. It was a small space beyond the roof meant to protect against peepers and rain. The Asama Shrine’s spring was there and Asama was just leaving it.

Kimi twisted around and jumped between Asama, who was just about to enter the changing room, and the roof. And…

“Found – an – opening!”

She stripped Asama’s towel off the girl’s back with her lips. Then she licked those lips.

There was a scream and two loud splashes.

==Title Page==
[[Image:Horizon_Kimi2A_001.png|thumb]]
''Heh heh

''The next thing you know, you can see the future

''What you see right in front of you isn’t darkness, it’s the path ahead and your target

''We’re following a noisy path

Kimitoasamade

Chapter 9: Those who Look Back from Above and Below – P5

Chapter 10: Girl Soaking in the Tub – P45

Chapter 11: Girl Being Peeped On in a First Place – P63

Chapter 12: Measurer of Rank – P107

Chapter 13: Curfew Girls on an Outing – P129

Chapter 14: Position-Taker atop a Rectangle – P145

Chapter 15: Intruder on the Hunting Ground – P183

II

A

Kawakami Minoru

Illustrations: Satoyasu (TENKY)

Design: Watanabe Kouichi (2725 Inc)

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 2A Illustrations|Illustrations]]
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 2A Character Introduction|Character Introduction]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 45

2016-05-05T01:08:43Z

68.109.61.103: /* Chapter 45: Spectator of a Breathtaking View */

==Chapter 45: Spectator of a Breathtaking View==
[[Image:Horizon4B_0329.jpg|thumb]]
''It is something you can never see

''It is a reflection of your heart

''When leaving a place of realization

'''Point Allocation (Gaze)

Narimasa saw Fuwa approaching him.

She was looking out at the hulk falling toward a frost-covered forest a few kilometers away.

“Huh? …Shibata isn’t with you? I caught a glimpse of him from the other side.”

“Oh, he said that big thing crashing would send all the animals running from the forest, so he went out to hunt.”

“He always feeds the officers first, doesn’t he? …Oh, but with Lady Oichi here, we might get more than just salted meat, so maybe this will be good.”

“Anyway, why are you here? You look like you’re about to trip with every step.”

“I’m not going to trip,” said Fuwa as she arrived at his side, crouched down, took a breath, and paused before saying more. “It was a rush, but we’ve got a connection. Matsu put in a lot of work, so make sure to thank Maeda.”

“You did what you could too, right? Don’t give Toshi and Matsu all the credit. It’s not like you have that much credit to call your own.”

“Ahh, you’re really good at thoughtlessly hurting people’s feelings, you know that?”

Fuwa lowered her crouching hips onto the snow and Narimasa frowned.

“Hey.”

“Oh, I’m fine, I’m fine. Unlike yesterday, I’m wearing waterproof tights.”

“Your ass’ll still get cold.”

“Girls’ tights are insulated. P.A. Oda does work in the desert too.”

“I see.”

Narimasa looked toward Sviet Rus and heard something move toward him in the snow at his feet.

“Sassa, are you worried about the people from Musashi?”

“Is anyone in P.A. Oda not?”

“I’m not.” Fuwa wrapped her arms around her knees. “I wonder what will happen once this invasion into Sviet Rus is over.”

“I wouldn’t know. Go ask Toshi or Hashiba.”

“You do too know.” Fuwa pointed her glasses to the north while still holding her knees. “The Testament descriptions say Akechi rebels against our master while we’re invading Sviet Rus. But Shibata’s forces can’t return to avenge our master and get taken out by Hashiba. And…”

Did you know this?

“One theory in the Testament descriptions says I die before that. From illness.”

“You got the lowest scores of any of the officers in this year’s athletic test, but you got ‘excellent’ on everything but vision on the health examination. There’s no way you’re dying of illness.”

“That would normally be something to worry about. Oh, but you were that curious about my scores?”

“No, Old Man Akechi was really envious of your blood pressure and everyone else with awful scores got jealous when they saw your data. That’s when I saw it.”

“…Was it that fun to look at it all?”

“Takigawa and Tanba got really depressed and started pinching at their stomach when they saw your waist measurement, but I guess some people probably enjoyed it.”

“So that’s why they started touching me a lot and asking me what I eat back at the start of spring. But I’ve never really worried about it too much.”

“That’s the worst part. You’re the indoor type, yet it doesn’t negatively impact you in the slightest. Takenaka asked Hashiba if they could clone your organs and donate them toward the advancement of medical science.”

“Hmm. I don’t really get it, but I am thankful my parents gave me such a good body,” said Fuwa. “But historically, I’m supposed to be sickly.”

“Yeah, supposed to be.”

“So if I do ‘die’, I think I’ll retire.”

“Ah? You won’t be coming with us? You could inherit another name or stick with us as a normal student.”

“Do you want me to?”

“Having you around is a huge help. It means I don’t have to manage my finances.”

“Hmm,” thought Fuwa when he responded so readily. She added a second “hmm” before responding. “If anything, you should probably use more of your money.”

“I don’t really care about fashion and I’m never at home.”

“No, not that. I mean use it on other people. Like your subordinates or the residents of your territory.”

“I thought I was…”

He scratched his head and Fuwa smiled bitterly.

“I more or less know you want to do that kind of thing and that’s why Maeda and I arrange for it, but you should use more money on publicly supporting your people instead of ‘watching over them from the shadows’.”

“That sounds like a pain, so you do it.”

“Nn…”

“You’re better at that kind of thing than me, right? So take care of it.”

He said it with a sigh and then he took a breath.

He looked to Honjou Shigenaga’s fleet leaving toward Sviet Rus.

“Well, either way, it’s almost time for war. This one should be pretty exciting in a number of ways, so I need to give it my all. Fuwa, you get ready too, okay?”

“Shaja. But that battle looked like something of a diversion, don’t you think?”

“A diversion?”

“Yeah.”

Fuwa nodded and opened an ''insha kotob''. She looked west where a black form hung in the distant sky.

It was Novgorod.

Narimasa followed Fuwa’s gaze and saw the floating city that had led them here.

But Fuwa suddenly moved her head to swing her gaze from Novgorod to up overhead.

He did the same and saw a ship arriving. It was the ship that had been flying along with Marfa. The hulk had fallen into the forest and could not turn back, but the other ship that had picked her and the others up was slowly turning back toward Novgorod while showing itself to them.

Fuwa spoke while listening to the sound of the wind overhead.

“A single diplomatic ship entered Novgorod while we were monitoring the mayoress’s battle. And that ship arrived on a course from the M.H.R.R. Protestants. …Sakuma was tracking it, but he had to keep his distance after a warning from Tomoe Gozen.”

“What nation would be sending a diplomatic ship to Novgorod now?”

“Holland,” said Fuwa calmly. “I’m sensing something strange going on behind the scenes. If this is the guest Marfa mentioned, then she must have known this would happen.”

“Did she also predict Musashi would interfere with the three nations? I don’t get this,” honestly admitted Narimasa. “Musashi is rumored to be starting a special student general assembly and their Vice Chancellor was attacked, so they’re effectively in a state of insurrection. And yet they keep intervening in the most pain-in-the-ass ways.”

“You couldn’t find the Vice Chancellor?”

That question came from an elevated location. Sign frames created an artificial sky inside the Ariake and that sky’s sunset was coloring the bridge to the main entrance of Musashi Ariadust Academy.

Ookubo stood there with a red stole draped over her summer uniform and she was speaking into the sign frame next to her, but it was only text that answered her.

While looking at her own sign frame to the right, Kanou supplemented the words from the unspeaking responder.

“Milady, I have confirmed that the Vice Chancellor was seen returning to the Ariake from Mito. She then received treatment at the Asama Shrine’s medical facility, but we do not know where she went after that. After double checking, I have confirmed that the Vice Chancellor was seen returning to the Ariake from Mito. She then-…”

“Kanou-kun, you don’t have to get stuck in a loop.”

“My apologies.”

Kanou bowed and Ookubo nodded back before crossing her arms.

“This isn’t good. We messed up with the Secretary, but we have to do things right with the Vice Chancellor.”

“Judge. I have determined our reputation is on the line. I will instruct them to continue the search.”

“That’s right,” agreed Ookubo.

She faced forward.

From the bridge, she could see the entire Musashi contained in the dock’s internal land port. People and gods of war were working all over the ship and the long and wide blocks that had been empty recently were rapidly filling in.

“For now…”

She then spoke to no one in particular.

“Hey. Am I doing the wrong thing here?”

“I have determined you are not as long as you are capable of asking yourself that. Of course, that does not apply to those who only make a show of asking themselves and unquestioningly believe they are right in their heart.”

“True enough.” Ookubo smiled bitterly and shut her eyes. “But I still want to give voice to my concerns.”

Namely…

“What happened when the Musashi was on its way to England.”

Until recently, where she had been back then had been visible from here.

“The engine division… The gravitational acceleration wing on Murayama’s port side.”

When the ship had accelerated using gravitational cruising, the Representative Committee had been running around. To preserve the safety of the wide blocks, they had been placing atmospheric fixation spell charms on the houses and buildings and adjusting the valves for the ether pathways. Those jobs were technically under the jurisdiction of the Living Committee, but the Representative Committee was in charge of the wide blocks containing student dorms and the houses of alumni and parents.

Once the spell was atmospherically protecting a wide block, no one could get inside, so she had needed to travel along the outer walls. She had used the wide and long blocks of the exterior transport district to reach the neighboring line of wide blocks, but…

“Did you know?”

''I can’t keep that hint of excitement from my voice,'' thought Ookubo as she spoke to Kanou.

“When the outer hull opens up for gravitational cruising, a huge row of torii-style accelerator blocks comes into view. And when they glow, all the water surrounding the ship is swept away.”

Ookubo spread her arms a little.

“It’s all surrounded by mist in an instant. It’s a breathtaking view.”

“You love the Musashi, don’t you?”

Kanou’s words briefly froze Ookubo’s movements and expression.

…''That’s right.

There was no point in hiding it and she was not even sure if there was enough there to hide, but she decided to be a little stubborn regardless.

“It’s not the Musashi I love. …As much of a pain as it is, I just love all of those scenes where you can see the Far East’s history on the move. I especially love the ones I run into and realize that only I’ve noticed the turning point there.”

At that time, she had inappropriately realized that only she was gasping and viewing that breathtaking view. But…

“If it wasn’t for that shellfire, that is…”

Perhaps it had been punishment. No, the conflict with Tres España had been official and the shellfire that damaged the Musashi had been deemed part of that official conflict. But the Musashi had still been broken, and…

“There were a lot of injuries.”

Her position as a double inherited name holder had not helped in the slightest.

…''It was entirely meaningless.

The officers and the transport ship sent out to counterattack had left the Musashi and they had lived apart for a while afterwards.

That may have been why she had thought something for what was likely the first time.

…''There are some things not even an inherited name holder or anyone else can fight.

There was a type of power that forced helplessness onto people and rendered all resistance futile.

“It isn’t violence, political power, or public opinion. …You can simply call it the history left behind which encompasses all of that.”

It swallowed up all else and set everything in motion.

It included the circumstances, the flow of time, the preparations, and the movement of the people.

There were times when it all complexly intertwined and left one unable to do anything but accept the violence, political power, and public opinion they should have been able to resist.

''In that case,'' thought Ookubo. ''It isn’t the violence, the political power, or the public opinion that’s so frightening.

It was losing the chance to resist all that. That was difficult to sum up in a single word, but…

…''Perhaps I should call it “destiny”.

Ookubo spoke her next thought aloud.

“I suppose that unopposable destiny accumulates to form what we call history.”

“Milady.”

“Yes?”

“Judge.” Kanou nodded and spoke calmly. “I define history as something people create and assisting people is the greatest task of an automaton. Saying that history is created by inevitable destiny and not people’s wills would affect my raison d’etre as an automaton.”

“Kanou-kun.”

Ookubo turned toward her and swung her left hand upwards.

The sheathed sword she had grabbed at some point whipped up the wind, flipping up Kanou’s skirt. Kanou quickly pushed the skirt back down with her left hand, but she still frowned.

“…Milady?”

Her tone was asking for the meaning of that and Ookubo reacted with a gentle movement.

She sighed.

“Well? Could you resist that?”

“No.”

Kanou was correct. She shook her head and corrected her posture.

“I could not resist it. I could only reduce the damage it caused as much as possible.”

“I’m the same. That was all I could do when that shell hit.”

Ookubo said something she had said to Kanou many times before.

“People can ‘cause’ things on their own, but they cannot know what will ‘happen’ to them ahead of time and they cannot act in advance to stop it from happening. And when what happens to them is caused by many factors and not just an individual’s will, the level of impossibility only rises.”

Hey.

“Is that why the world in motion is such a breathtaking view?”

Ookubo looked down at the expanse of colors before her. Kanou instantly stepped forward and flipped up Ookubo’s skirt.

“Eh?”

Ookubo was speechless, so Kanou nodded and spoke.

“I have determined that is a breathtaking view, milady.”

“…Kanou-kun.”

Kanou swiftly jumped back and Ookubo took a half step after her and whipped up the wind again. Kanou landed while holding her side skirt in place.

“Not bad, milady!”

Without replying, Ookubo tried to flip up Kanou’s skirt to make absolutely sure she won, but instead she had her own flipped up, putting her one point behind.

It was silly, but she could lose herself in it as long as she knew that. So she and Kanou used the full bridge to take positions against each other.

She spun around, rushed in, and pushed at the outer edge of her opponent’s knee so the knee would collapse.

“————”

But when her opponent lowered her hips and moved back, she started to circle behind her to get the automaton to pursue her. She thought she had the perfect shot and whipped up the wind, but the automaton easily avoided it. But…

…''Honestly.

That maid automaton was excellent at inventing ways to get her to take a break.

Ookubo was the politician type, but that was why moving her body made for a nice change of pace. As a result, she had learned martial arts and how to use a sword. Those abilities had come in handy when gaining her double inherited name.

But besides that, moving her body was fun and she upped her speed with nothing on her mind besides capturing Kanou.

But suddenly…

“Is this how it works!?”

Both Ookubo and Kanou had the sides and backs of their skirts flipped up at once.

It had happened without warning, but…

…''Eh?

There was a reason for Ookubo’s confusion. She and Kanou were facing each other. To flip up both their skirts, someone would have needed to instantly circle behind both her and Kanou. And do it fast enough that they did not notice.

She only knew one person here who could do that.

“Oriotorai-sensei!?”

Kanou was cautious of the swordswoman in a track suit.

Oriotorai was a teacher sent here by the Teachers League, so she was obligated to remain impartial in student affairs. Especially when it came to conflicts. But…

…''She teaches Class 3-Plum which includes both the Student Council and the Chancellor’s Officers.

Most teachers used the first year to teach the basics and the second year to begin with practice and applications of that, but Kanou had determined that Class 3-Plum’s skill and knowledge of combat went beyond that of those who had already completed their third year.

…''And I have determined that their political and debating skills have grown quite a bit thanks to the students like Honda Masazumi.

In other words, the teacher who had trained their enemy stood before them.

That was why Kanou stood between Oriotorai and Ookubo. Holding her hands together in front of her waist would be the standard pose, but she let them dangle at her sides this time.

She then gave a quick bow without taking her eyes off the woman and asked a question.

“Do you have business with Lady Ookubo, Oriotorai-sensei?”

“Sort of.” Oriotorai put a hand on her chin and faced Kanou. “About the special student general assembly. I gave it the stamp of approval and Principal Sakai gave his permission, so it’s all ready to go. Last time, Principal Sakai said he’d ‘take care of it’, but this time it’s going to be completely official.”

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t mind at all as a teacher, but it is a pain as their homeroom teacher.”

“A pain?”

Oriotorai’s eyes and eyebrows bent in a smile and she beckoned her over.

Kanou looked back and made eye contact with Ookubo before facing Oriotorai again.

“…Do you need something?”

Oriotorai moved her face in close and pointed down.

Kanou was confused, but the woman’s expression changed to a glare.

“They haven’t been going to class at all lately, but they’re goofing off down below in the diplomatic ship’s pool. What am I supposed to do about this? Could I maybe fire a shell down at them? I really want to tell them to quit goofing off and start studying.”

“Judging from the situation, are you furious?”

“Maybe two steps away from it. I haven’t even been to the beach yet this year…”

“In the interest of self-preservation, I will nod and say that is truly unfortunate, but since it is currently afterschool, isn’t it up to the students to decide what to do?”

“So I can’t do it, huh?” sighed Oriotorai.

Then someone spoke from behind Kanou. It was Ookubo.

“You seem awfully calm, sensei. Do you trust our upperclassmen?”

“Eh? I certainly don’t trust them to behave in class or do their schoolwork, but I trust them in everything that matters. A poor student is made by a poor teacher. I’ve taught them, so of course I trust them. What about you? I know your homeroom teacher, Torii-sensei, just smiles and doesn’t get involved.”

Oriotorai smiled a little and Kanou recalled something. Ookubo’s father was a man of few words, but he had said something when he had heard about Ookubo’s decision to hold this special student general assembly.

…''“Create the future.”

What had he meant? It was conceptually unclear. After all, the ability to create the future on their own contradicted the unavoidable destiny that Ookubo feared.

That may have been why Kanou asked a question without thinking.

“Oriotorai-sensei, do you think people can create the future? Or do you think human resistance is shattered by an unavoidable dest-. …That sounds a lot like something the Secretary would say. I am very sorry. What I mean is-…”

“Hey, Kanou? Ookubo?”

Oriotorai straightened up again and gave them a small smile.

“I don’t really know about that. Humans are so small, after all. But there is one thing even I can tell you.”

“Which is?”

“Judge.” Oriotorai nodded. “Have you ever stood on the world stage to set the world in motion?”

Kanou sensed Ookubo tensing up behind her.

That may have been enough for Oriotorai.

“Good.” She put her hands on her hips. “Looks like you aren’t just trying to believe in some selfish little world you created in your imagination.”

She had one more thing to say.

“Then you’re probably going to be a lot of trouble for my kids.”

==Study==
[[Image:Horizon4B_0348.jpg|thumb]]
Blue Thunder

Toori: Sis! Sis! Can you tell me the layout of the Blue Thunder where mom works!?

Kimi: Heh heh heh. BL brother, you’ve been visiting there every day recently, but you’ve been dropping too many spoons to actually look around, haven’t you? Still, seeing it from above is pretty rare, so let’s go for it!

1: Entrance

2: Counter

3: Kitchen

4: Back Entrance

Kimi: That’s about it. You can think of the right as toward the bow and up as toward port. The counter is to the right of the entrance and the kitchen is in the back. That at the bottom is probably a two-person table for couples.

Toori: That’s pretty normal. But with the counter closed like that, what happens if someone tries to shoplift?

Kimi: I doubt shoplifting in a closed space like the Musashi is going to end well. That said, the bread is generally sold from the window side of the counter or from a bucket on the counter, so it would be hard for it to happen in the first place.

Toori: And our mom’s a real samurai. She’ll have a ton of stuff set up, so I guess no one would be stupid enough to try it.

Kimi: Heh heh. You’re pretty worried about the family, aren’t you?

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 44|Chapter 44]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 46|Chapter 46]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Kimitoasamade 1B Chapter 8

2016-05-03T03:04:12Z

68.109.61.103: /* Chapter 8: Singer Atop the Box */

==Chapter 8: Singer Atop the Box==
[[File:Horizon_Kimi1B_145.jpg|thumb]]

''Who wants to say

''That is exactly why

''Instead of saying

''You leave me no choice

'''Point Allocation (Us)

There were several methods of traveling from Takao, third starboard ship, to Oume, which was on the other side of Okutama.

The standard was to use the land route across the towing belts between Takao, Okutama, and Oume. This could be done on foot, by carriage, or by relatively cheap but inferior vendors who offered the spell-based “Racing Piggyback Ride” or the physical-based “Prostration Palanquin”, but…

“The most direct way is on top of a container on the towing belt ring.”

That comment came from Margot Naito, the Schwarz Hexen who sat on a wooden container being transported to the rear of Musashi with her broom still between her legs.

She opened a Magie Figur on top of that wooden box that measured twenty meters long and five meters wide and tall.

The screen was not transparent and did not display anything on the reverse side. The visible angles on the left and right were also narrowed. After making sure that no one else could see, she checked what had just been sent to her.

“An Edel Brocken tester, hm?”

''This isn’t good,'' she thought. She had a simple reason for that.

…''I can’t seem to get motivated.

“Tonight we need our second Gagaku Festival rehearsal on Asakusa to make up for last night’s pathetic rehearsal, but…”

They had three songs to sing, but they had run out of time after just the first one the day before. That was due to the short rehearsal time, but they were similarly only planning to sing the second song today. Her second Magie Figur contained the lyrics for the second song and stick figures showing the choreography.

…''The first one is easy to sing and pretty catchy, so we need to add more depth with the second one.

The song’s title was Streiken Schreck. Instead of referring to a worker’s strike, it referred to a striking cannon. It was a Technohexen song. They had made their own version of the old requiems that spoke of resistance.

From the Middle Ages to the present day, the Technohexen had resisted persecution and that continued in some areas even now, but they had their own songs of resistance that were meant to inspire and connect them together.

Even Technohexen who lived in peace needed to fight to save, shelter, and preserve the peace of their fellow Technohexen. Having a song of resistance at times like that meant a lot to their trust in each other.

This song was not something to make very public. After they performed it at their second year Gagaku Festival to confirm their presence in Musashi as Technohexen before becoming the main force of the students as third years, they had thought about hiding the song, but…

“Hmm.”

Naito thought about their rehearsal and replayed the lyrics in her head, but she could not get into the mood. She started with Naruze’s part.

“She who shows no resistance. A child who turns her back and falls to earth.”

She tried emphasizing “resistance”, but she still was not feeling it.

“Abandon the holy and outlast the gallows. Without a sound, look ahead to the future.”

''Should that be “look ahead to” or “view”?'' she wondered, but she still was not feeling it.

Then she reached her part.

“The racing flame, the quaking iron, the gouging steel, the piercing spine of wind.”

''Is it coming?

“I understand. This is my home. Even as we turn our backs, we are white and black.”

''No, it just isn’t working,'' she thought while taking a breath.

As she muttered the lyrics to herself, she reverse-crossed herself as was customary for Technohexen songs.

“Nema. I accept that everything was in reverse.”

She placed a hand on the brim of her hat and pulled it down before continuing.

“Herrlich.”

She took another breath.

…''Hmm. I just can’t get motivated.

What was this about becoming an Edel Brocken tester?

That meant taking part in Edel Brocken’s development of new equipment. It meant to become the next generation and remain active until someone even greater came along. And until that happened, they could use all the latest equipment they wanted. They would have to go through the right channels, but they would have backups for all the expendable goods and they would have proper insurance.

It was the ultimate luxury for a Technohexen if they did not wish for a peaceful life.

But…

“If I try to become a tester, I have to challenge Wild Kamelie…”

That was when she heard a loud noise in the low sky created by the stealth barrier. Something was pressing on the wind, creating what sounded like the rumbling of distant thunder or a large drum.

“Is that…?”

She looked up into Shinagawa’s sky.

Several torii-style sign frames appeared inside the stealth barrier from the bow of the ship to its stern.

The sign frames were resetting the stealth barrier because it had been nearly shaken apart by something passing through it at high speed.

And that something was…

“Wild Kamelie…”

Two Magino Figur that measured speed appeared in Shinagawa’s sky at a distance of precisely four half-miles.

What speed could they reach in the four half-miles, or approximately four hundred meters, between the two? Technohexen called that acceleration race the Null Vier. The race was popular because it was short and thus easy to take part in even if you still had some afternoon work left.

The eternal champion of that race had just shot through the sky as the opening practice flight.

That was Wild Kamelie.

The result that had shaken the stealth barrier was visible even from Naito’s position.

“2.80 seconds on the 0-400…”

The final speed was also given in miles, but Naito read the one that said 912 kph since she found it easier to understand.

The woman had reached the upper limits of subsonic speeds in just under three seconds. That was partially due to the specs of her ''schale besen'', but it also required an excellent acceleration control spell.

Needless to say, one’s acceleration did not rise at an even rate. The limits of one’s output and one’s balance was greatly influenced by the size, structure, and materials of their ''schale besen''. But since that woman had achieved a result like that, there was no point in belittling it.

Naito knew for a fact that Wild Kamelie was better than her.

…''Could she reach the speed of sound if she had twice as much distance to work with?

Breaking the sound barrier in a little over five seconds was more acceleration than the fourth generation aerial gods of war that were becoming the main forces of the modern nations.

That would make her a threat to the Testament Union and the Tsirhc-focused European nations.

“That’s probably why we limit ourselves to the 0-400 and only compete when we aren’t being monitored.”

Naito looked to the skies around the Musashi.

The woman behind that result was circling around the Musashi to slow down. Her orange jacket was proof she had been part of a Technohexen unit deployed to fight against Sviet Rus. The color was meant to resemble the sunset when Russia looked back toward M.H.R.R. and it was meant to bring fear to Sviet Rus as the power to bring “twilight”.

Naito did not know what had brought Wild Kamelie to Musashi.

There were a variety of theories about that: she was rejected by a man despite being the head of the Technohexen unit, she fired on the house of a politician who asked for the impossible, she had trouble keeping the weight off while eating pirozhki every day, etc. Naruze had her own new theory.

“They found out she actually has a penis and chest hair. She’s got that kind of face.”

That one had started to spread recently and, long story short, Wild Kamelie had taken a liking to them.

Take now for instance:

“Hey there, Zwei Fräulein. Riding a container to preserve ''auspuff''?”

Wild Kamelie called out to her while passing by the rear of Okutama in the distance.

Naito nodded toward her superior Technohexen in the distant sky.

“I messed up a bit planning deliveries the other day.”

“What did you do?”

“There’s a limited edition and a normal edition and I chose to deliver the normal edition, figuring it would be lighter, but it turns out the limited edition just has a super rare card with it while the normal edition has a one-tenth chance of randomly including a replica of the general’s head. …Oh, and this isn’t a porn game; it’s the fourth entry in the FPS series Modern War Fair.”

“What? Was it heavy or something?”

“No, the severed head replica fell down while I was delivering it and caused a huge commotion in Tama’s shopping district.”

“Oh, so you were the reason the alarm was ringing in the next wide block over when I was eating.”

“Judge, judge,” she nodded.

“You should really modify that broom or get a new one.”

“No, no. I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Someone gave it to me.”

Wild Kamelie briefly paused before replying.

“Then I guess there’s no helping it.”

Not asking too much about others was the rule for Technohexen. There was no point in trying to determine the identity of those at the Sabbat, so it was merely crass.

Technohexen were separated from the modern world. That was why they delivered packages and then left.

But…

“Schwarz Fräulein, who do you have left?”

“Marine, I think.”

For the time being…

“If we shoot down Marine in a mock battle, we’ll be the tentative champions.”

“Marine will be fired up about getting back at you for Almirante, so be careful.”

“You’re rooting for us?”

“Judge,” said Wild Kamelie as she circled toward Takao. “Marine is from Tres España, but you’re from M.H.R.R., making you the pure Technohexen. I’m the same. …I wouldn’t be true to myself if I didn’t root for you. And…”

“And?”

Yeah.

“This might be rude, but I do know about the Weiss Hexen village and Schwarz Hexen village in the mountains of southern M.H.R.R. And I know they both had their own anti-Technohexen unit.”

“I don’t think you really need to know about that.”

“Are you mad?”

“No. Now isn’t the time to decide if I am or not.”

“When is it the time?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“I see.” There was a bitter smile in her voice. “You’re pretty scary, Margot Naito. …That Weiss Fräulein with her biting aura is quite something herself, but both of you have a troublesome atmosphere that keeps anyone from approaching you too carelessly.”

“Are you trying to get me to let my guard down?”

“Are you trying to provoke me?”

“What if I said I wanted the position of tester?”

She went ahead and said it, but…

“Wait your turn.”

Naito knew what that immediate response meant.

It was exactly what she had expected, so…

“But I’m really not that motivated.”

“Don’t expect me to give you any.”

“Then maybe I should ask Ga-chan for some.”

“…”

“What is it?”

“Judge,” said Wild Kamelie as she grew more distant. “Are you planning to challenge me just because you got psyched up with your friend?”

“Only if that gives me the motivation. Also…”

“Also?”

“I wouldn’t be challenging you.”

“Are you saying I’ll lose to Marine?”

“No, no.” Naito looked straight up into the sky. “Our next challenger is Marine, but that’s not what I meant. If I do get some motivation from Ga-chan, I’ll only be after the position of tester to make sure that motivation doesn’t go to waste.”

“So you wouldn’t even be focused on me?”

“I already know who’s going in the center of my frame. I’ll let you in behind it or outside it, though.”

“You know what’s going to happen if you don’t get motivated after saying that, don’t you?”

“The reason I’m not feeling any motivation is that I think a peaceful life might be nice.”

Naito stood up.

The container she was riding was reaching the peak of its circular motion. At this highest point, she could cover quite a bit of distance just gliding, so she hooked the cart carrying the packages on her broom and started to take a step off of the container.

…''Eh?

But a great noise filled the stealth space.

Someone had produced great acceleration in the sky above Shinagawa.

“…?”

She heard a few cheers from there.

She then checked the time and speed for the 0-400.

“2.89 seconds?”

The final speed was above 980 kph. The acceleration had risen rapidly at the end and that had produced a result rivalling Wild Kamelie’s.

…''That was Marine.

She was the final subordinate of Almirante, current manager of the individual delivery business, during his Tres España days. She was a winged descended angel just like Naito.

However, she did not use a broom to fly like the others did. The metal wings attached to her back and waist formed the basis of…

“An aerial mobile shell…”

“Tres España made those for landing and ship-to-ship battles what with the Armada battle coming up. To make sure any mistakes during testing weren’t disastrous, they were primarily tested by winged nonhumans with narrow shoulders. The project eventually came to a standstill and Marine came here with one of the abandoned prototypes.”

Naito nodded at Wild Kamelie’s explanation.

…''Everyone with their own unique issues ends up gathering here…

That was why they joined together and that was why they came into conflict. And…

“…Huh?”

Several screams were approaching from Takao to starboard.

''What is that?'' she wondered as two girls in their academy uniform ran from near Mt. Takao to the boarding zone for the towing belt ring.

It was Asama and Mitotsudaira. And the reason behind the screams was chasing the girls.

“Heh heh heh! C’mon! Stop running away, Mitotsudaira, Asama! With this many divine protection sticks, the boys will never even get close!! In fact, I’ve set these so any boy who approaches a girl covered by the smoke will be castrated!”

Kimi held bundles of divine protection sticks up like torches and ran after the other girls with smoke rising from both hands. Everyone in the vicinity cried out and fled, but Kimi suddenly stopped and looked both ways.

“You there! You’ve got the look of a guy who wants to be castrated!!”

“Eeeeeek!!”

After putting some distance between them, Asama fired an arrow at Kimi who was trying to castrate random passersby.

But…

“Kimi-chan’s pretty great at dodging, so I doubt that’ll hit.”

That was exactly what happened, so the Takao loading zone only grew more chaotic. Then Naito vocalized a thought that came to her.

Because this place was a gathering of people with their own unique issues…

“This is normal for here.”

So…

“If this is normal, then this is fine. But when I look at it like that, I really can’t seem to work up any motivation.”

The container moving up the towing belt ring had railings on the top because those transport containers were also used to view the Musashi.

Asama and Mitotsudaira fell to all fours and gasped for breath atop one.

But the idiot sister was not even out of breath as she spun around behind them while holding a new charm stick like a smoke bomb.

“Heh heh heh. The temple said the castration would be good advertisement but they didn’t want me to force it on anyone, so they gave me a charm stick for exorcising the impurities that affect beauty. Buddhism can be pretty great sometimes! C’mon, Asama! C’mon, Mitotsudaira! Let’s get nice and clean with this smoke! It’s on me today!!”

''Curse this crazy girl,'' thought Asama while thinking back on everything she and her brother had done in the past. But…

…''Huh? She hasn’t been all that bad today.

“T-Tomo, you’ve started looking at this in a weirdly positive light, haven’t you!? I can tell from the look on your face!”

“Well, this did give the Buddhist temple some advertisement.”

She saw Kimi spinning around with the smoking charm stick while Uzy opened a sign frame. It immediately booted up a spell named…

“Turning Point?”

“Judge. No one else can hear us up here in the sky. So…”

Kimi used a gentle spin to send her hair dancing through the air and looked Asama in the eye as her gaze passed by.

“If you’re asking us to form a band, you’ve made at least one song, haven’t you? Sing it here, Asama. That might change our minds.”

…''Ehhhhh!?

That crazy person’s ideas were always far too sudden. In fact…

“B-but my song isn’t finished!”

She got up onto her knees and waved her hands back and forth. Then Mitotsudaira tilted her head.

“If it isn’t finished, does that mean you’re writing one?”

“Eh?”

Asama froze.

…''Oh, no!

“I-I don’t have a song!”

“Then do you have the lyrics?”

Asama was unsure what to say. Her substitutions as a shrine maiden prevented her from lying, but she was allowed to remain silent or divert their attention if it was to preserve her privacy or keep others out of harm’s way. But even if writing a song was a private issue…

…''I kind of have to share that if we’re forming a band…

She decided there was no point in risking a violation of her substitutions.

“I’ve been thinking…a bit…about some lyrics.”

She meant the night before.

On the way home from Suzu’s bathhouse, she had thought to herself in her heated head. She had thought not about herself, but about herself and her surroundings. She knew there was a lot she did not see or understand and she had created lyrics out of ''everything beyond herself'' that she could think of at the time.

She had not created even a single line of lyrics yet. She only had some keywords.

But…

…''Yes, that’s right.

That was what it meant to write a song. She did not know how others did it, but for her, those were the words she wanted to make into a song. She wanted to send them outside. She wanted to ask them.

Would she blush when she said them? Or could she do it without any fear?

She did not know, but she had one thing to say now.

“I do have some words I want to make into a song.”

“I see,” said Kimi.

Asama felt like her heart was being pulled upwards. She felt like Kimi had understood her feelings.

“U-um, it’s about-…!”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell us now.”

“But, uh…”

“Wait, wait.”

When Asama nearly argued back, Kimi held out the smoking charm stick to stop her. Asama was confused by that and by how the girl shrugged.

…''Why won’t she let me tell them?

She wanted to sing those words and they would eventually be made public, so what was wrong with hearing them here and making a decision on them? But…

“Can a shrine maiden really present incomplete lyrics? She can’t, can she?”

“Oh…”

And…

“Listen. When people present an incomplete work, they might feel that was enough of an accomplishment and stop there or they might not get the feedback they were hoping for and change what they were trying to do. If you’ve written plenty of songs, you can probably still finish it like that and changing the lyrics based on your changing feelings can work. But…”

But…

“What you’re making now can only be made once.”

Asama knew what she meant.

“My ‘very first’ lyrics…”

“Judge. You need to treat this with care. …Asama, I will protect what matters to you even if I have to protect it from you.”

Asama nodded a little at that.

“Right…”

She had been leaning forward, but now she leaned back and lowered her butt into a sitting position on the container.

She had relaxed. And now that she thought about it…

…''That was a close one.

''I really can get too focused on this kind of thing.

It was not often that she was so intent on revealing something about herself, so…

“Do you understand?”

“Yes…”

She did.

“In the very, very end, I try to force myself through.”

“I think my foolish brother and I are the only ones who can stop you there. Then again…” Kimi smiled bitterly as she turned to the side. “You need to reach that position too, Lady Knight. It’s your job to prevent people from getting carried away, isn’t it?”

“Y-you say that, but…”

Mitotsudaira looked over at Asama’s relaxed sitting position.

When Asama gave her a puzzled look, the girl’s golden eyes arched a little.

“I quite like that side of Tomo.”

“I-I’m more interested in what you think of me as a shrine maiden.”

“But I know very well that there’s more to you than just being a shrine maiden.”

So…

“I’m going to do what I can to interact with that side of you. Just like that idiot girl and boy do. It might be a difficult position, but I still want to do it.”

“Why does this make me feel really useless…?”

“That isn’t what this is about,” said Kimi. “You’re just a beginner at putting yourself out there. You’re very skilled at dealing with others, but you’re very poor at dealing with yourself. Being honest with yourself is a wonderful thing!”

“What happens if I’m honest with myself?”

The idiot girl spun the smoking charm stick around in her fingers and struck a “c’mon” pose.

“Now!!”

“Now…?”

“Ah! What’s that look for!? Heh heh heh. But you’ll be one of us before long! So, Mitotsudaira, you sing in her place!”

“What!? Why me!?”

“I heard all about it from my foolish brother. You sang a song for a knight league party or something, didn’t you? You must have a knight’s marching song. As the Extra Special Duty Officer for the Chancellor’s Officers, you have some kind of song prepared, right?”

“W-well…”

“That settles it! Mitotsudaira will be singing a song for us.”

“Ehh?”

Mitotsudaira was still confused, but Kimi pulled a microphone from her cleavage and tossed it to her. The Turning Point acoustic spell was already playing a few rhythms.

“It’s making sure the sound doesn’t scatter. Just start singing and it will play matching chords.”

“B-but…”

Asama had a thought as she watched Mitotsudaira grip the microphone in both hands.

…''She has her own song.

She had expected as much, but it felt somehow meaningful now that she knew for sure. Even a classmate who was not like Kimi had a song.

Of course, Mitotsudaira only had it as a part of being a knight, but…

…''How much does that really matter for the peaceful Far East and Musashi?

Mitotsudaira had likely decided to write her own song to create an opportunity for herself, just like Asama had.

She had wanted to put the contents of her heart to words. So…

“Mito.”

Asama faced Mitotsudaira while seated.

Mitotsudaira groaned and stepped back, but Asama did not care.

“This will be the first time you’re revealing your song, won’t it?”

“Eh? …Well, yes.”

“Then,” said Asama. “If you’re fine with us being the first to hear it, then please sing it.”

Mitotsudaira had a thought.

…''Someone wants to hear it.

Did she have anyone she wanted to hear her song?

She briefly thought of her promise with her king, but…

…''This song is different.

“Tomo, you two can hear it first.”

After all…

“The song inside me is about my insufficiency as a knight. Letting my king hear it would be the same as exposing my inexperience to him.”

“Heh heh. In other words, it’s a song about preparing yourself? That’s perfect for us now. What’s the title?”

“Hurrah for Late-Blooming.”

Asama gasped in surprise, so Mitotsudaira shrugged at the change in her expression.

“Didn’t I tell you? This isn’t a song I can let my king hear. I plan to give it an Hexagone Française title once I make the true version.”

Mitotsudaira tried timing the tempo with her hands. It seemed a little fast, but…

…''This is about right.

Kimi responded by tapping Turning Point’s sign frame with her toes.

Its tempo matched hers, and…

“Ah…”

Kimi released her voice.

She closed her eyes and gathered the note in her throat. It was the same way Asama produced her voice during Shinto rituals.

However, this was not a single sound. It started low and gradually grew higher. The reverberation continued at length, twisted back as if echoing, and finally bent.

“Oh, I’ll take that one.

On Mitotsudaira’s instruction, Uzy spun in midair.

The Mouse waved her fan and lifted up the instant of vocalization Kimi had just made. She recorded the sound that Mitotsudaira thought was appropriate for the first key.

Kimi looked to the sign frame that Uzy held up and smiled.

“I can make most of it from this. Okay, Mitotsudaira, sing for us until the container reaches the top. This will be a test and you can do it for real next time.”

“Judge.”

Mitotsudaira looked to Asama who was looking her way with her eyes fully open.

…''Oh, dear.

Mitotsudaira felt a small smile deep in her chest.

…''Is she that interested in someone else’s song?

“Don’t expect too much. This is a song of preparation, after all.”

“Right, right.”

Asama nodded, but she maintained her firm seated position.

A drum played. It was a Western style one.

The tempo was a little different from the four-on-the-floor one that Kimi always used. There were more other noises in this one, but…

…''It’s an ensemble version.

The sounds overlapped and joined together. After counting to three, Mitotsudaira felt the timing was right.

She held up the microphone, opened her mouth, and closed her eyes.

…''Oh, am I showing off?

With that thought, she began singing.

“Hurrah for late-blooming. Hurrah for constant change.”

The wolf’s voice slipped into Asama’s ears.

“Far, far ahead with nothing to guide the way.”

Asama sensed something.

“I pretended to trust in myself.”

She sensed that this was different from the usual Mitotsudaira.

“A mistaken hurrah for late-blooming.”

Was she usually this self-restrained?

“Far, far ahead where I can’t bear to look.”

Asama sensed something else as well.

“I knew there was nothing there.”

She sensed that this was the same as the usual Mitotsudaira.

“A cowardly hurrah for late-blooming.”

This was her old self.

“Hurrah for late-blooming. Hurrah for constant change.”

It was the part of her that could not forget what had once happened.

“Not enough is new.”

Mitotsudaira had said this was about her insufficiency.

“I make my embrace by crawling.”

She had said it was not yet suitable for her king.

“I act tough by saying that is only natural.”

But she acted tough and added in a howling “lu lu”.

“Hurrah for late-blooming. Hurrah for constant change.”

She repeated herself and faced ahead.

“Everything from the past is so kind.”

''Oh,'' thought Asama in silent admiration.

“What is holding me back crumbles away.”

Mitotsudaira was from Hexagone Française.

“I feel so much lighter in the moonlight.”

She was proud of that while also standing on Musashi’s side.

“Hurrah for late-blooming. Hurrah for constant change.”

She swore to eventually overcome her past self.

“The new things are so miserable.”

But the silver wolf knew she had a long way to go.

“I weep and then stand back up.”

That was exactly what she had done.

“Hurrah for late-blooming. Everything changes.”

She had once suddenly returned to them and then cried as if howling.

“I believe in it all and act tough.”

And now she acted as if nothing had happened.

“Even if I wish to immerse myself in the past.”

She had a single piece of evidence.

“Hurrah for late-blooming. I slip from the yoke.”

That evidence told her that nothing like the past would happen again.

“Without howling, I now race through the wind.”

And so she had chosen to continue forward.

That was the end of her lyrics.

…''You could tell I wasn’t sure if I should sing in my usual tone of voice or not. I need to work on that.

She repeated part of the latter half as a refrain as if trying to convince herself of something. And…

“————”

She finished.

When singing it on her own, she was at home and playing a string instrument, so there were no drums. Kimi’s Turning Point supplied that and she could tell how much having the bass notes helped.

…''If she can make sheet music out of this, I should probably get a copy.

As she thought that, the accompaniment ended, as did the song.

“Now, then.”

She took a breath and faced forward.

Asama was there.

What had that girl thought? It had likely sounded strange to someone so familiar with Gagaku, but…

“Tomo…”

She trailed off. She had wanted to ask the girl what she thought, but her lips formed different words.

“U-um, Tomo?”

She asked a question.

“Why are you crying?”

“Wha-…?”

Asama was confused by Mitotsudaira’s question.

The words “I can’t be crying” and the thought “I guess it’s fine if I am since I’m with friends” mixed together inside her.

“…”

She brought a hand to her cheek and did indeed find tears there.

What did this mean? She was a Shinto shrine maiden who had a close relationship with words and controlled herself with words, so how had someone else’s song shaken her in such a mysterious way?

''Oh, I get it.

''That song must have shown me something of her.

What had once been, what was there now, and what would likely be there one day had all reached Asama in words that were noticeably Mitotsudaira’s.

“That’s right.”

There had been no lies in it.

Something had happened to Mitotsudaira in the past. Asama knew the beginning, had seen the middle, and did not know much about the end.

But she could make a good guess what had happened in the end.

Those words had created who Mitotsudaira was now and they had allowed her to say goodbye to her former self and become something new while still accepting who she had been before.

That was a song about not giving up despite knowing how difficult it is to make herself into something different.

The powerful self-restraint and self-admonition was likely because it had to do with how wild she had once been. So…

…''Will the contents of this song eventually change?

Mitotsudaira had said it was a song of preparation.

She had said she would use a different song when with her king. In that case…

“I hope you can make your song something else one day.”

Asama wiped away her tears as she said that.

“I…”

Mitotsudaira’s eyes widened in obvious surprise.

That was a song of preparation. It was her song at the moment, but it would no longer suit her at some point. It would become a song of nice memories. So Asama had something else to say.

“I know you can do it.”

She sent her words to the girl.

Silence followed.

Mitotsudaira held the microphone in both hands and stared at her, but then…

“…?”

The Cerberus on her head tilted its three heads and its weight pushed her head forward.

“…”

Fingers quickly wiped at the corners of the eyes behind the long bangs, but when the silver wolf raised her head again, she was smiling.

“Of course I can. A knight cannot spend her entire life preparing herself.”

“Heh heh. Why are you two crying together?”

Behind Mitotsudaira, Kimi spun the charm stick in her fingers as it began to lose its smoke.

But…

“I was not crying,” said Mitotsudaira. “That smoke you’re waving around stung my eyes is all. I am a half-werewolf, so I am sensitive to that kind of smell.”

“Oh? Well, we can go with that if you want.” Kimi put her hands on her hips. “But Mitotsudaira. …That song is your song, but it’s also a song of preparation, isn’t it?”

“Judge. I use it to fill my heart when I advance as a knight.”

Mitotsudaira’s plain statement led Kimi to slowly glance over at Asama. Asama knew what Kimi wanted to say, but she let her say it.

“This wolf knight certainly is full of something, isn’t she?”

“Wh-what do you mean by that?”

When Mitotsudaira blushed and protested, Asama could only nod.

But she also understood why Kimi had had Mitotsudaira sing.

…''The lyrics and intent of Mito’s song are pretty obvious to us.

If someone ignorant of her past heard that, it would probably sound like the song of a knight who was hard on herself and filled with tragic bravery and self-admonition.

But it was different to them.

Asama thought on the fact that the song would send a different message to different people.

…''Oh, I get it.

''It’s okay if that happens,'' she realized as calm filled her.

She had been confused about something after speaking with Torii and the others the night before. How could that girl expose herself and her feelings with no one to communicate those feelings to?

But how people interpreted one’s feelings differed from person to person.

Asama only needed try to convey her thoughts in her own way.

If that stimulated something in the listener’s feelings or memories, then it was a good song.

“That’s right.”

“Heh heh. Why do you look so enlightened all of a sudden?”

“Well, I do feel pretty enlightened about something…”

The task of writing a song felt like less of a burden now, but she also felt like she understood the depth of meaning and breadth of mind behind it.

There were no rules about how much of herself to expose, how much of herself to hide, how much to let people know, and how much to keep away from people. The level of one’s “self” in the lyrics differed from writer to writer and from song to song.

Inside jokes were okay to use. It was okay to make it so others could understand them or notice them, but it was also okay to keep them hidden.

Love songs were the same.

She often heard songs from Musashi or other nations. With most of the love songs she had heard, how much had she actually thought about the writer of the song?

Of course, if a writer was producing lyrics for a singer, the lyrics would have no direct link to the singer. But in that case, how would the singer present the lyrics given to them?

…''In that case, the singer’s feelings will create another layer on top of the writer’s feelings.

If they lined up well, it could create deeper meaning. If not, it could lessen the meaning.

…''Then, um, wait a second. That would mean…

The appearance and quantity of lyrics on the lyrics cards or on the sign frame when singing karaoke with everyone was not what mattered.

There was also a “feelings” aspect to it all.

So how could one strengthen the “feelings” contained inside their lyrics?

Would the song’s writer sing it or would they leave it with a different singer?

How did one place their “feelings” in the song they were singing?

Did the song match them?

Did their voice match the song?

And how much would the listener be able to understand?

“—————”

Asama felt faint when she imagined the incredible variation allowed by different intensities and arrangements of expression.

…''Honestly!

In Gagaku, she was always singing songs for her god.

She was confident that she could sing nice and loud and she thought she was decent at playing an instrument, but…

…''Everything I’ve done has been made to play before my god…

Depending on the song, she sometimes included her emotions to help convey the meaning to her god.

But she did not know how the lyrics she used had been created. She had simply seen the instructions to “sing this part happily” and thought back on her experiences to summon up the emotion of happiness and sing accordingly.

“Wow.”

A shudder ran through her body.

She had performed Gagaku for so long, but was it possible she had never truly performed a song before?

If so…

…''Wow.

“Heh heh. Why are you hanging your head in shock?”

“Well, um…”

She thought for a bit.

Her singing was quite good as a Shinto ritual and did an excellent job of taking command of the scene. But…

“I might be good when I have a set form laid out for me…but that’s useless as a free singer, isn’t it?”

“Oh? I would say skill at a set form gives you an incredible advantage.”

“That’s right,” added Mitotsudaira. “That means you know how to vocalize a song and it means you have all the basic knowledge. …In my case, there are hardly any Western music teachers in Musashi, so I had to take lessons from a high school teacher to reach this level.”

“That’s pretty amazing really. And in that case, just how abnormal is Kimi?”

“Uzume gives me everything I need,” said the abnormal girl. “And my foolish brother is about at my level. He performs song offerings with me.”

Asama could tell she and Mitotsudaira had stopped moving.

…''Kh.

“Toori-kun has an entertainer god contract with our Sakuya, not with Ootsubaki, so he shouldn’t have the same advantages as you, Kimi.”

“Then maybe that means he has even more skill than me. Heh heh. Not bad for a foolish brother. I need to challenge him next time we do karaoke together. But…”

Kimi patted Mitotsudaira on the back as the girl stood in dumbfounded shock just like Asama.

“C’mon, c’mon.”

Kimi could not hide the crescent moon smile beyond Mitotsudaira’s shoulder.

“Being a knight must be tough. …You’ll be in trouble if you sing in front of your king and you turn out to be worse at it than him, won’t you? Heh heh heh.”

“Without those last three words, I could have just ignored that provocation in about two seconds!!”

Mitotsudaira bared her teeth and turned back toward Kimi, but then she reached back, grabbed Asama’s hand, and gave her a sharp look.

“Tomo!”

“Oh, y-yes?”

“Let’s continue our date!”

''Why?'' she wondered, but the silver wolf answered before she could ask.

“You need to work harder to make sure that idiot girl and I will…join your band! At the very least, I can’t sing in front of my king until I can sing better than this crazy person!”

Kimi opened her mouth where Mitotsudaira could not see and silently mouthed some words.

“Such an indirect girl!”

Asama could clearly make out the exclamation point, but that may have been thanks to Kimi’s skill as an entertainer. That skill was surprisingly high.

But at the same time, Mitotsudaira’s gaze grew harsher.

“How about it!?”

“S-sure…”

''When will she ever be able to reach Kimi’s level?'' she wondered, but…

…''It’s a goal at least.

She nodded toward Mitotsudaira.

“I’ll do my best to make this date a success.”

While holding Asama’s hand, Mitotsudaira opened a sign frame and checked back over their date plan.

Kimi could tell her own expression was relaxing as she watched from behind.

…''Such slow girls.

She was one of those girls, but the others were far less aware of it.

When she found herself hesitant to act, she would immediately take action. That was her motto.

But when the other two realized the same thing about themselves, they would start by finding a compromise. They would wonder if it was okay for them to do it and seek out a reason beyond the simple fact that they wanted to do it.

They lost their chance to strike while the iron was hot.

By the time they caught on, they were buried in reasons and could not dig themselves out when they grew tired of it all.

That method was not nimble enough.

…''But maybe I don’t need to worry.

As she watched Mitotsudaira and Asama checking over the date plan, she could tell Asama had not lost her motivation despite learning how hard writing a song was and she could tell Mitotsudaira was fired up as well.

Most likely, Mitotsudaira had also sensed the will behind Asama’s reaction.

The song she had sung was definitely that knight’s present self. And while placing her feelings in a song, she had kept them hidden.

Kimi was not about to ask why that was.

Mitotsudaira would have sensed that her feelings had reached Asama. The feelings inside her song had entirely gotten through to the other girl.

“…”

Kimi was glad Mitotsudaira had not looked back for a while.

She was glad Asama was not looking her way.

After all, what had her expression been when the silver wolf had finished her song?

…''Foolish brother.

''You might not know it, but we’re preparing for something different from ten years ago.

“I’m looking forward to what that will make me feel and how I will accept it.”

She whispered that under her breath, but then…

“…? Naito?”

“Hi. It looked like you were busy, so I was watching from above.”

The Schwarz Hexen flew down toward them.

“Ah,” said Asama and the others as they made room.

Kimi watched as Naito flew down with her golden wings whipping up the wind.

The cart hanging from the Technohexen’s broom was full of packages. If she was on her way to deliver those…

“Heh heh. Shouldn’t you hurry? Or do you need something? This impurity exorcising incense is still active.”

When Naito landed while still on her broom, Kimi grabbed her hat and waved the incense charm stick around saying “How about it?” over and over. For just an instant, the Technohexen’s divine protection spell reacted, but…

“Is that okay?”

“Eh? Oh, judge. It doesn’t seem to mix well with Classic Signs, but since it’s Buddhist, it should fall under the pagan spell category and provide me with about 80% of its effects. So it’s fine.”

Kimi smiled bitterly as Naito lifted her feathers to let the incense pass through her wings.

“So did something happen? Heh heh. If you need some advice, I might be willing to listen.”

“Judge. We’re doing another Gagaku Festival rehearsal at the Asakusa cargo plaza, right? Well, we were just so lame at last night’s rehearsal.”

“In your styling?”

“No, no.” Naito shook her hand. “In our choreography.”

“Kimi, you’re an expert at that, so if you go…”

Mitotsudaira trailed off as she realized something.

“Oh, Tomo, we have a shift working for your shrine tonight, don’t we?”

“Yes, so we’ll be heading there regardless. …And personally, I kind of want to hear Naito and Naruze sing.”

“Judge, judge. It would be great if you and Mito-tsan were watching as an audience.”

It made Kimi kind of happy how seriously Asama repeated “as an audience”. But…

“But what is this about, Naito? I wouldn’t think Naruze would care about people watching her.”

“Well…” Naito lowered her eyebrows in a way that was unusual for her. “We have our reasons. Lately, I’ve wanted to avoid doing anything that lets people look down on us.”

“Did you do something to the third years?” asked Mitotsudaira.

That meant a lot more coming from a former trailblazer in that field, so Naito quickly waved her hands back and forth.

“No, not the third years. Someone even higher. Y’know, from the delivery business.”

“Oh, you mean the people in the Geheimnis Shabbat? You’re pretty high up in the ranks, aren’t you?”

“That’s pretty much it.”

She must have had a major match coming up.

…''I see.

Everyone was acting on their various thoughts.

“I can’t just sit around either.”

As Kimi said that, she heard a song in the distance.

It was a song she had heard in the mornings and afternoons more often lately. It was an automaton singing the Song of Passage.

“Are there feelings behind this too?”

“Heh heh. Asama, even automatons have souls.”

“Automatons?”

Mitotsudaira, Asama, and Naito must not have known about P-01s because they did not connect the comment to the song.

“We used to play with Horizon a lot using this song, didn’t we?”

Everyone’s expression changed at that, but Kimi no longer felt any fear. The time to sit around had ended the night before. So…

[[File:Horizon_Kimi1B_188.jpg|thumb]]

“C’mon, Asama. Let’s continue our date.”

Asama’s expression changed again when she heard that.

“Yes, that’s fine. …We need to continue from Oume to Murayama!”

Musashi’s shrine maiden grabbed Mitotsudaira’s arm and pulled it close.

“I’ll make sure this is a success!”

Make sure you take good care of that.

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| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 1B Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 1B Afterword|Afterword]]
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