On a Godless Planet:Volume3B Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Sansan[edit]
–The eternal sky is sunny.
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TJ slowly turned toward the idiot. He was hopping in place for some reason and she placed a hand on his shoulder.
“I made that at the last second here, so there are no older ones.”
“Ehh!? Really!? But it’s so well made! Especially the way the heroine’s boobs bulge out from the tape wrapped around them! I can tell someone with similar taste made it! And it’s so great the way they squish against the floor when she trips in page 8 or the way they change shape every time she crosses her arms!”
“Senpai…”
“It’s called giving the reader what he wants!”
Maybe I went too far with that, though.
But the idiot sounded disappointed when he spoke again.
“Then can I have your new book?”
●
“Eh!?”
Souko panicked. Because this wasn’t supposed to be happening anymore.
But the pilgrim silhouettes and salesmen silhouettes were still here, so the story continued in this area at least. And if the human read the manga that told her story while here…
“A-are you sure? It would be dangerous.”
What am I saying? Wasn’t this what I wanted? Yes, and Touto-senpai isn’t saying anything.
…Touto-senpai is respecting the human’s decision!
Then this would settle it. Maybe you could call it a come-from-behind win.
A lot had happened and Souko had said some serious things to Touto-senpai, but the human had chosen to read her story in the end.
…Then why not accept this!?
She considered handing it to him. But since Touto-senpai was here, she made sure to ask first.
“Are you sure? You do know what will happen, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I know. And it’s fine.”
Because…
“This is unfinished, isn’t it?”
●
TJ gasped.
“Unfinished!?”
“Yeah. I mean, the first half I read last night was 16 pages with 12 of those being the actual manga. And the story was about the protagonist showing up and a bunch of her friends rushing in to help, right? Then this second half was 28 pages if you don’t count the cover. But, well, with the support of her friends, it seems to me it would’ve been enough for the protagonist to rush to where the heroine(?) is. But…”
But you know what?
“During the meeting of the gods, it occurred to me that it’s your friends that matter most.”
●
“There’s a lot she wants to say and some of it contradicts other parts. I know what that’s like since, when I’m facing Senpai, I want her to jiggle vertically but I also want her to jiggle horizontally. Senpai can carry that contradiction and make me think either one would be great. And even when she isn’t moving, she just has the perfect shape and- hey, hear me out! Okay, silhouettes, sit over there! And listen up because this is the best part! It’s about Senpai, after all!”
●
“Good! I have no idea what he’s talking about, so we know the human’s his normal self!”
“Wow, Senpai-chan. I didn’t realize you’re so incredible.”
“Th-that’s just the form my worshiper’s faith takes!”
●
“And,” said Sumeragi.
“When you seek an answer and find a contradiction, you need to have a diverse group show off what they can do. And then you a boss battle where they can all join forces. And then when the heroine(?) turns out to be the secret final boss, then can find a way to get through to her…and all that’s not happening in 28 pages. So it’s unfinished. It ends with a ‘to be continued’.”
“W-wait just a second! How can you be so sure!?”
“Because you didn’t let TJ see it, did you? And that’s cause, if you had, she’d’ve told you to tighten up the story, right?”
“I…!”
“If you knew how it would end, you could’ve at least finished the story! But TJ didn’t say anything about that. So that settles it! This story is unfinished and it has an ‘our battle has only just begun’ ending! Right, Manga Girl! No, Manko!”
●
“Responding to that nickname is as good as admitting defeat.”
“It’s too much like my nickname.”
“I-it’s just barely acceptable?”
“It’s nowhere near acceptable. No question mark necessary.”
●
Souko heard the human preface a statement with “listen”.
“I bet I know why you chose to leave the story unfinished.”
Because…
“You didn’t want it to end, did you? If you end it…then ‘now’ will end.”
“Now?”
She kind of understood what he meant, but not quite.
No, she didn’t want to understand.
But she had heard him. Heard him mention the “now” she so feared.
“Now means now! Where you’re a club member! TJ’s the club head! And you all make books to sell at Comiket! That’s your ‘now’!”
A breath.
“You didn’t want that to end, did you!? Because once it ends, you’ll be the club head and TJ will retire!”
After all…
“That’d be sad! You don’t want that! No one would!!”
“B-but,” asked Souko. “That’s…wrong, isn’t it?”
●
“Izumi. Give her the answer,” said Kido while in line with Douhai-san to buy a catalog. “It is that answer that keeps us alive.”
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“Wrong?”
The human tilted his head. And a moment later…
“Like hell it’s wrong! You want to keep doing things this way!? Then keep on doing it! If you want it to stay unfinished so there’s a next time, then go with that! If you don’t want to feel sad and lonely, then why should you end it!?”
“But!”
Souko forced out her wavering voice.
“What if it seems like I have to end it!?”
“Hey! Take a look around you!”
The human spread his arms.
Makuhari Messe was full of so many silhouettes and something like a giant black dragon was visible through the shutters.
The gods who had brought Touto-senpai here were likely present too. So…
“Who here wants to end your ‘now’!? Everyone in line here wants your ‘now’! Does anyone gathered her want to be sad and lonely!? But if you’re still worried, we’re here to tell you you don’t have to end it! If that’s what you want, then we, at least, will support you! Manko!”
Don’t call me that!!
●
Souko was about to say that wasn’t possible.
To say she couldn’t do that.
To say she couldn’t be so immature and irresponsible in front of Touto-senpai. As a creator god, she was supposed to hold a management role.
But…
“––––––”
The tears fell before she could get any words out.
●
She couldn’t stop herself. She was going to say it. Say what she hadn’t been able to say even when told to speak her mind. Say what she had been thinking since the very beginning.
“Touto-senpai…”
The words spilled out.
“I want to draw all sorts of things with you and the others!”
So…
“Please remain the club head! I couldn’t bear it any other way!!”
●
…Well, I’ve been beaten.
Where had she gone wrong? What was her mistake?
She more or less knew, so she spoke with a hand on Souko’s shoulder.
“Souko-san, I’m not going to apologize.”
Apologizing would mean Souko hadn’t had to go to all this effort.
Souko had worked hard.
Maybe this wouldn’t get through to her, but…
“Souko-san…you need to make sure you finish in time for winter.”
Souko nodded with tears in her eyes. The action caused the tears to fall.
“Okay!!”
Her words rang bright.
“I’ll work at it! I won’t give up!”
●
Souko released a breath and raised her head.
Then she realized something. She was now surrounded by color.
“Eh?”
The pilgrim silhouettes had become a group wearing summer clothing and the salesmen had become the club members she knew so well. A murmur rose from the crowd with the occasional cheer here and there.
“What is this?”
Just then, an announcement played in the transformed event hall.
“The Comiket Junbikai would like to announce that it is now noon!”
Then they saw a glowing screen appear overhead and sigh before speaking.
<Yes, I did you a big favor. Cleaning up after this one would be a pain, so I went ahead and reverted the entire divine world to 8/19. I would like to say you can just deal with the inconsistencies this will cause…but I will do it right. Since I am a clever AI.>
●
It was August 19 again.
TJ clapped her hands and spoke to the gathered club members who all looked puzzled.
“Sup. It’s time for C38 round two. Our goal is to sell every copy of Souko-san’s book, so let’s get to it!”
“Th-thank you!”
The first buyer was already standing in front of Souko’s spot at the table.
“Okay! Give me a copy of your new book!”
“Um, okay, that’ll be 500 yen! Thank you!”
She handed it to him. This had already lost its power as a “story”.
This was the endless “in between” leading to the next story.
And…
“Hey, TJ. We’re here. Raidou-senpai’s group says they’ll be by later.”
“I’d appreciate it if they got here before our stamina runs out.”
This was turning into a big deal.
“Oh, Sumeragi-kun! Is that the line for the manga club!?”
“You bet! They should be reforming the line now, so hurry up and grab your spot!”
“We need to hurry,” said the upperclassman god and, um…
“Is that full-body tights woman Human-senpai’s, um, mom?”
The human turned back toward Souko and gave a defiant snort.
“Jealous!?”
Is it bad that I kind of am?
●
The lively festival ended at 4 PM.
The plans for the next day and the farewell announcement played within Makuhari Messe and then it was time to leave.
TJ worked on a delayed departure with Souko and the other club members while Beisu worked with Seito and the other guard gods to clean up the entire site and ensure everyone left.
Sumeragi joined Senpai and the others to step out into the still setting sun and walk toward the train station.
“Ahh! It’d been bugging me I didn’t get to do that, so I’m so glad I had the chance!”
“That’s great, Sumeragi-kun. And I’m delighted to learn this kind of festival still exists.”
“Did you find anything good?”
“Well…I didn’t expect to find a sightseeing report on climbing my family’s mountain. Oh, and there was a book on alcoholic drinks, so I bought that. I thought Kuwajiri-san would like it. Also, I didn’t expect them to sell netsuke…”
“Sounds like you bought a lot…”
“I get the feeling she’s indiscriminate when it comes to niche things.”
“The thunder god also bought a fair amount. When he was with the guard god and the human.”
“Yeah. They were selling computer games. The 68 ones seemed valuable.”
“They had those there too!?”
<Yes. There have long been groups that actually make games or that make doujinshi about games. In 1986’s C31, this was part of a new genre called “Maikon” which was short for “micro computer”. In C36, this became “Computer”. And here at C38, more than 70 circles released around 150 titles in the genre.>
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“150 titles? There were that many?”
<Games for 8bit machines like the 88SR are still the most common, but games for 16bit machines like the 98 and 68K are beginning to become more common at this point. And this isn’t limited to Comiket. General Products’ 10th Wonder Festival will be held this summer at the Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center on August 14 and 15, but that event is primarily used for the display and sale of garage kits and computer software.
<And,> continued Balancer.
<I know computer magazines gather the information to an extent, but an event known as Pasoket was held in different parts of Japan nearly weekly to facilitate the development of those amateur computer games. In Tokyo, the Pasoket Summer Festival will be held in the Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center on August 12.>
“Um, so there are events for computer games scheduled for the 12th, 14th, 15th, 18th, and 19th”?
“Japan sure does love its festivals.”
“No, this is only a subset of Japan.”
“In Tokyo, Pasoket 13 is being held at the Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center on September 13, so you can go there to get the titles you ‘missed’ at Summer Comiket.”
<This is the beginning of what will be known as indie games. Some of the circles and developers involved in these events will go on to be leaders of Japan’s game culture, so the events must not be forgotten as the budding of a new culture.>
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I see, I thought.
“There’s so much I don’t know. And the manga club is only two doors down in the club building.”
“It’s probably the same for them! And come to think of it, that meeting of the gods was a lot like Comiket for the gods.”
“I don’t think there’s any slag-terring at Comiket, but in the sense that it teaches you a lot, maybe you’re right.”
“We really should start interacting with them more. I think we should make a place for them in the terraforming of the outside world.”
“A market of the gods, hm?”
“If it’s God Market, would it be called Gomiket?”[1]
“That ‘mi’ doesn’t belong.”
“But,” said Sumeragi-kun.
“With a place like that, the gods without authorities for combat and guarding could join us too.”
“Seeing this kind of sales event does make me want to try something like that. Besides, we Norse gods tend to work indoors during the winter, so we like making stuff.”
“In addition to that, we are the game club, so we could make something to sell at the next Comiket.”
“Shinsei would love that.”
“I would like to try something more constructive than just playing around.”
“So would I,” I agreed.
Then I realized something else.
“We’ve found a way to approach this era.”
●
I knew I was late in realizing this. But…
“This human era, culture, and civilization are all completely different from our time, so I felt something like a guest or a traveler.”
I looked back to see the massive structure that had been our objective and that had contained the event we had participated in.
“If we can participate in the things of this era and accept the changes, what really separates the gods from the humans?”
“Senpai! Explaining how you’re different from me would take three days and three nights so I’ll omit it, but even if I don’t really know how to answer that question…”
Sumeragi-kun tried to explain.
“In that we can question things, work at things, Yamanashi things when necessary, and then participate in things and enjoy it all, I don’t think there is anything that separates us!”
“Yes. I don’t think we can get rid of the Yamanashi-ing because it adds a necessary spice to it all, but we can enjoy all of it the same as each other.”
Yes, I thought with a firm nod. Sumeragi-kun struck a pose and turned to look at the jiggling of my chest, but I didn’t question it since level up Revelation Boards popped up. And Shifu-san…
“Senpai-chan? Why not ask Balancer to bring us back to before summer break?”
<Overwriting things again would be a challenge…>
“No,” I said with a shake of my head.
“We already have some ideas for the base construction and other things, but we also still have some of the break left. And once the break is over, we can go to school and see everything there.”
Before, it had only felt like those outside our group were simply “gathering” there, but that would probably change now. Now that we had been through the meeting of the gods and Comiket…
“I think we’ll be a lot closer than before!”
“And in that meeting, I couldn’t help but notice we have way too many secret authorities.”
“Oh, sorry. That technically applies to mine too, doesn’t it?”
“So what genre is this going to be, I wonder.”
Sumeragi-kun was quick to answer Raidou-san.
“A psychic school! Giving it that B-movie feel is crucial! Oh, and the B there stands for ‘big’ and ‘boobs’!”
It would, wouldn’t it? I thought.
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“Now then,” said Kido, turning back to face the others.
Izumi and Douhai-san getting along so well was wonderful. Kido knew Izumi was supporting Douhai-san and Douhai-san was supporting Izumi in return. That greatly pleased her as his mother. And on top of that…
“Shall we return by train? I do still have Oktobasilia Drakon out, so we could also ride that back along the Tama River.”
“Wow, so like a gigantic tank? That sounds fun.”
“But,” said Shifu-san.
“Wouldn’t that cause a ton of traffic congestion?”
Kido had to agree.
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- ↑ Gomi is Japanese for trash.