Horizon:Volume 1 Chapter 03

Chapter 03: Innocents at the Table

Spend much thought over indecision.

Afterward, over whether to stay silent or to continue to speak.

However, where is the answer?

Point Allocation （Resolution）

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There was a space where the light of the end of the morning gently entered.

A place where two thick tables of wood were installed. It was a snack shop with a kitchen far inside.

The entrance of the store; a wooden signboard with the symbol of Blue Thunder engraved upon it was there.

On the entrance, the sign which announced that they were still preparing was lowered, but inside the store, two figures existed.

One was the figure of the female shopkeeper, baking the bread needed from noon onwards in the kitchen in the depths of the store.

The other one was a figure of a student, who returned one of the chairs placed upon the eating hall's tables to the floor, and was taking her meal.

The student was wearing a male uniform.

Under the fairly long black hair, fairly sharp eyes were fixated upon the table, and by moving her hands, she took her breakfast.

Atop the table, the meal the student was putting into her mouth was only a few pieces of baked bread and water.

"Masazumi-san, I think it would be better if ya worked a part-time job with good pay and ate properly. Just doin' scholarly things won't let ya gain any experience right? If a girl dressed as a man collapses, you won't have any fans y'know?"

The student, Masazumi, who had been spoken to tore up her bread, and answered with a fairly high voice.

"People that have noticed that I'm a girl are just people like father's acquaintances...even at the Academy, just the teacher and my classmates, you know. You didn't notice until I collapsed from the heat and you took care of me."

"Nah, I've been thinkin' that it was a little strange since a while ago...So, I stripped ya together with P-01s."

"...That's a memory I don't want to remember."

While saying that, Masazumi thought. Because that had happened, on the contrary, I come here without any worries.

Just, I want to avoid anything else regarding gender. Therefore, Masazumi-

"It's true that to get my tuition fees and living expenses, other jobs would be better, but--"

"Ya parents're making a fuss?"

To the question which was hard to answer, Masazumi did not give an answer. Thinking 'What do I do?', she just inserted the bread into her mouth, chewing thoroughly. Drinking the water in the glass, she let loose a breath. With that, a wry laugh echoed from beyond-

"I'm sorry, that was rude of me.--Is it student council work now? Ya don't have a break, right?"

At those words, Masazumi smiled a smile where she lowered here eyebrows. Along with the thanks, 'I'm being worried about, aren't I?'--

"As the student council vice-president, I will now be sending Sakai-president's trip to Mikawa, up until the checkpoint. Well, even if I say that...before meeting up with the president, I was thinking that I would go visit my mother's grave."

"Haha, even if ya go to the Academy now, ya won't make it in time for the classes. But...could I ask about the reason for a young child to go visit a grave at this time?"

"I too, my mother who became a victim of Phenomena too hold Mikawa as our birthplace, so...I thought that I should visit before we descend."

"...A victim of Phenomena? Could it be the influence of the End of Days that everybody's been talkin' about recently?"

'Jud.', Masazumi nodded. Trying to rembember the incident of that time from as much of a spectator viewpoint as possible--

"--Well, the truth is I don't know whether or not it's a Phenomena. The magistrate in charge said it was a mysterious disappearance. Just, she was suddenly gone, and at the place she should have disappeared from, a large symbol was written with blood--"

Masazumi drew a circle with her fingers, and she showed a line piercing its center.

"This kind of design was left behind. The investigation said that it seemed to be a type within mysterious disappearances which was called "Noble Disappearances". But, robbers tricking people with that and disappearances are also numerous. Well...there was a lot going on in Mikawa, and it's becoming a place where Phenomena occur readily. Because of that, even if I say grave, I'm just offering the things my mother left behind. Things like decorations and notebooks."

'That so,' a voice which included a slightly relieved tone was audible.

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