Horizon:GT3 Chapter11

Chapter 11: Expectation and Waiting

With an “oh”

And an “oof”

The world expands.

Point Allocation (Squish)

●

To be honest, I was worried, recalled Mary.

Even if Musashi was her ally and even with Tenzou there with her, it was a strange land.

…What is going to happen to me?

So many unknowns stood before her, but none of them were harming her.

On the other hand, she would now be responsible for everything that happened to her.

She could tell just how reliant she had been on the history recreation before. It had been convenient to be able to blame the history recreation for everything that happened to her.

So something had scared her now that she was on the Musashi.

…I have nothing left for anyone to care about me.

This was a strange land and she couldn’t build up her own character.

So while speaking with so many people from day one had been a challenge, she had feared her alone time even more.

She had appreciated having someone in the hall even during the day when Tenzou was at work and couldn’t be with her.

That evening, the Musashi Vice President and Vice Chancellor had arrived and had a serious talk with her.

Then Tenzou had arrived and they had talked. They had shared stories about what had happened that day, which had taken enough time for visiting hours to end. But…

“Master Tenzou.”

She wasn’t sure if she should reveal what was worrying her so.

…Being alone worries me.

She knew she could just tell him, but part of her feared that would shatter the expectations he had for her. Another part of her felt childish for worrying about that.

So she ended up holding her tongue on that matter.

Visiting hours ended, Tenzou left, and they waved goodbye through the window.

“Hold on. That’s news to me…I’m muttering to myself as I pass by.”

Lady Naruze sure goes on a lot of deliveries, doesn’t she?

At any rate, Mary definitely felt the loneliness building as she took a bath and climbed into bed. And just as she was telling herself she shouldn’t be feeling this childish opposition to Tenzou not being with her at all times…

“Mary-dono.”

She heard a voice from the window.

She hurriedly looked over and saw no one there, but she did hear a voice.

An ether tremor told her this was a ninja technique, but…

“When you are freed in three days’ time, I was hoping I could show you around.”

So you can look forward to that.

“Can you see the lights of the Musashi night? You will be able to see the city in the light of day tomorrow.”

On his advice, she took a look at Musashi’s night. The repairs and cleanup after the Armada Battle had begun here and there, so the place was anything but sleeping. It looked so much different from the land of England she was accustomed to. But…

“This is where you will live now and this place will protect you. You are free to live whatever life you want now.”

“But…”

“You want to know if what you see here aligns with the reason I took you with me? I hope to hear tomorrow what it is you expect from this place.”

So…

“Just remember that you aren’t alone. You are a resident of Musashi now. Everything you can see now is a home that has already accepted you…I guess?”

○

“Cooling! Cooling spell stat!”

Adele felt the heat rising fast. Next to her, the Date Vice Chancellor spoke while lying flat on her futon.

“Incredible. That’s the 1st Special Duty Officer for you.”

“But why couldn’t he stick the landing confidently?”

Ouch, that’s some tough scoring, thought Adele, but Mary herself was holding her hands to her overheating cheeks and smiling just a little. The glowing flowers blossoming all around her meant that memory was accurate to her feelings back then, even if the specifics had been embellished.

Asama lightly slapped her cheeks, lifted the collar of her sleepwear to let air in, and stuck a hand in below the chest to wipe up the sweat. Was that a sign of the trouble that came with that size? But the Reine des Garous tilted her flushed face and…

“So how did you respond?”

Mary smiled in response and Adele watched on, knowing they were essentially watching a ticking time bomb. And at the center of the group that knew that, Mary blushed with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

“I said, ‘Then when we meet tomorrow, I want to know what you expect of me.’ I had a lot of nerve back then, didn’t I?”

The unexpectedly powerful attack left the group collapsed back in a radiating circle around Mary.

●

Mary had been hit hard.

She hadn’t been able to calm herself at all after hearing what Tenzou had to say.

She had expected for the heat to cool, the loneliness to creep in, and to be keenly aware that the person who had saved her wasn’t with her, but that short conversation had overturned all of that.

She looked out at the nighttime scene visible from her room on the third floor of the embassy.

“All of this is now a home where I am free to live without reserve or blame.”

This was the place. Here she could live the life she wanted without anyone harming her.

She didn’t have to let the heat cool, she didn’t have to feel lonely, and she could be with someone at any time.

She had forgotten that.

She was not a stranger here. All the people who knew her and had saved her were here and she would be living among them now.

“Phew.”

The breath that left her was already filled with heat.

Her coolness and loneliness seemed to have been overwritten by heat and friendliness.

…It’s so simple!

He wasn’t with her right now. But he was in this city. And she was in the city too.

If she called to him, he would hear her and come to her. And once she was released from the embassy, they would begin living together. Musashi as a whole would be her home.

She could go anywhere in the city, she wouldn’t need to hide her identity, and she wouldn’t have to worry about status or inherited name.

This place and its people had accepted her, scars and all, and they wouldn’t leave her.

“That must be why Master Tenzou returned to his room.”

He hadn’t “left” her. They were still together in spirit – only their coordinates differed.

The walls and windows of the embassy stood between them, but she was free to wish for what she wanted beyond that glass.

She had a feeling that the Musashi itself was a single big room. Perhaps she was letting her excitement influence her thoughts, but she felt like she was safely in the bed of that large “room” while Tenzou and the others were on the floor, the table, or the bookcase.

She opened the window.

The wind carried a burnt smell. The fires across the Musashi had already been extinguished, but they had begun burning the unsalvageable wreckage.

The battle was over and the recovery had begun.

The scarred city before her would eventually be changed into its proper new form.

This shape of the city was something she could only see now, on her first night here.

So she leaned out the window and looked around. The windows of the Tama embassy’s visitor rooms were directed toward the center of the Musashi. That may have been meant to give visitors a view of the changing city at night.

“Or maybe the wall on the outer edge means there isn’t much of a view in that direction.”

Mary silently thanked the person stomping past in a god of war.

She wanted to say something as she took a look around at the 8 ships, but she wasn’t sure what she should say.

“Good evening” seemed wrong, but so did “nice to meet you”. So the best she could come up with was…

“Thank you.”

Perhaps she needed to say that to everyone here eventually. But…

…Oh, Master Tenzou was right.

What would she do tomorrow?

She was suddenly impatient for the day she would be released from the embassy.

“That was mean, Master Tenzou.”

He had filled her with such intense expectation when she still couldn’t leave the building.

This was a problem. She could tell she wouldn’t be able to get to sleep. She still tried lying in bed, but it accomplished nothing.

What would she do tomorrow? No, what did she want to do from now on? What did she want to do once she was released? What did she want to do once they were living together? She had seen a shopping district that sold clothing, bread, and more among the buildings visible from the window. Knowing that it wouldn’t be that much longer before she was out shopping there filled her chest with heat.

“Oh, really…”

She wished she could share some of this impatience with him, but how could she do that?

○

Scarred: And that is how I spent my first night on- um, why have you all fallen down? It doesn’t look like you fell asleep, but, um- oh, oh, you’re applauding while lying down? Thank you! Thank you very much! I intend to continue making progress with Master Tenzou in the future!”

Tachibana Wife: “I admit defeat… Utter defeat…”

Asama: “Gin-san! Gin-san! I thought this might happen, so Suzu-san and I whipped up some ginger soda to wake you up!”

Gold Mar: “Oh, we could use some of that. Ga-chan is dying over here.”

○

Masazumi got up after taking an unusual sort of damage.

“So we know now that both Tres España and England had nothing to do with the Buke Shohatto and that Crossunite dropped a bombshell on Mary.”

“Hmm.” Naito tilted her head. “But wait? Ma-yan told us about England, Gin-chan told us about Tres España, and Ture-yan told us about Hexagone Française and K.P.A. Italia, but it sounds like none of them were involved.”

“Judge. That means we need to consider the involvement of another nation or some other group or organization, doesn’t it?”

Masazumi didn’t know who, but some force out there had been working against Musashi.

…Not knowing isn’t fun.

Mary nodded as if she had read Masazumi’s mind.

“On the third day, the discussion at the shrine dragged on so long that I ended up getting permission from the embassy to spend the night there on the same day as my release. And the next morning, there was a review…and did that lead into a conclusion of matters with Lady Ishin Suden?”

“It did. Even after exchanging and double-checking so much information, we still didn’t know what nation was behind it all. So the next morning, we prepared for the meeting with Ishin Suden and spent the evening preparing for how we would deal with the Buke Shohatto.”

“Oh, don’t forget that we never did find the Margaret Pole and Elisabeth of Valois that Mary-san had mentioned.”

Masazumi remembered that. And it was then that everything had been decided. The unknowns had remained unknown, but…

“Then how about we continue from there? And we can see if it guides us to all the answers.”

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