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Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4B Chapter 13

2018-07-31T22:19:05Z

162.158.134.121: Some words apparently left out. Tried fixing that.

==Chapter 13: Hopers in Connected Rooms==
[[Image:Horizon_Kimi4B_211.jpg|thumb]]
''Every single time

''It makes me think

''I should do that next time

'''Point Allocation (Alone)

Night had fallen.

The residual heat of the Spring School Festival remained mainly around Okutama.

The festival would end the following day and they had the Gagaku Festival after that, but this was the last night they could spend at the festival in the name of preparations or whatever else.

They spent the night in the academy, in underground clubrooms, in hallways, or just on the schoolyard. The astronomy club and constellation inspection club saw today as their time to shine. They looked up at the sky blocked by the stealth barrier and began a planetarium presentation using sign frames and spells.

A light concert was underway by the music clubs and other volunteers.

“It’s so lively…”

All that noise reached someone inside their home.

The house with a courtyard was on the surface of Murayama, the 2nd port ship, and the person inside was Masazumi.

That was Masazumi’s home on Murayama.

…''It looks like my dad won’t be coming back today, so I have to look after the place.

With that thought, she sat up in her bed.

Her father owned the house and her room bordered the courtyard.

She wore an inner suit shirt and underwear. Since spring had passed, she wore the shirt with the sleeves removed. She had expected Musashi to be cold compared to Mikawa, but it was not.

…''If anything, the underground heat warms you from below.

The boiler circulation was partially responsible, but it was mostly the heat produced by people living their lives. Asama and Naomasa had said management of underground ventilation and water quality was crucial for Musashi.

And right now, she heard the heated sounds that normally came from underground.

For today alone, the people were out on the surface even at night. It was still 9 and the curfew had yet to arrive, but no one showed any sign of heading home.

Masazumi listened to the festival sounds and guitar-playing reaching her from outside.

“————”

She stretched up to try and see them from her window.

Of course, the fence hiding the courtyard meant she could not see to the streets while up on her knees in bed.

But that disappointment reminded her of the past.

“Something like this happened at Mikawa too.”

She smiled bitterly while reminiscing about festival times at Mikawa. Her parents used to take her to festivals all the time, but she had eventually stopped going.

…''I ignored them by claiming I was studying.

She had not liked the yukata she had to wear to the festivals.

It had felt wrong wearing one for a girl, but it had felt too soon to wear one for a boy. She had been too self-conscious about what people would say when they saw her wearing either one, so she had ultimately chosen not to go.

But she had definitely been interested in the festive atmosphere.

“…Yeah.”

The stealth barrier looked like a cloudy sky.

The areas illuminating that white sky from below were where people were gathered. That was just like at Mikawa. The only difference was…

…''It looks like I could go without wearing a yukata.

The area where she had lived in Mikawa had had a lot of people, but it had had a very local feel to it. Life as a local was more important than life as a student, so no one had worn school uniforms to festivals.

Musashi was different. Some wore a yukata to dress up, but around half wore their uniforms. Since there was a weight tax, it could be difficult to own extra clothing like a yukata.

That meant she could visit the festival without having to worry. But…

“I’m supposed to be looking after the house.”

The problem now was her father’s strict supervision.

“Dad probably doesn’t like these festivals even if he thinks they’re a necessary part of life.”

In the festival, some people wore a yukata or dress, but others wore a costume.

Most were modeled after spirits or gods said to reside in festivals, but there were those who role-played as characters from commerce guild products and shows.

Two cypress sandwich boards bearing life-size images of characters from Military God – Noisy Girl, which had started airing that spring, walked around the festival using the tights-wearing legs extending from the bottom.

“Koni-tan! Koni-tan! There are so many character costumes on the second day this year! It’s so exciting!”

“It really is, Nobu-tan! And I can’t get enough of walking around eating candy apples, frappes, and other things that bring me back to my childhood!”

“Nhhhh! I just spotted a group of yukata girls! Now to zoom over while imagining they are Masazumi! Zoom, my legs!”

“Nobu-tan! Nobu-tan! These cypress sandwich boards really are heavy, so how can you move so smoothly!?”

What had her father thought when he brought her to those festival so long ago?

Masazumi thought about that while opening a political theory book.

She had to study. She had to bide her time. But at the same time…

“————”

…''Ahh.

''Maybe I really am the kind of person who likes going to festivals,'' she thought.

“No, wait a second.”

She had begun a new life here, so maybe she just wanted to try out a lifestyle to match. Especially since she was living like she was still back at Mikawa.

…''This is my first year here, so there’s so much I still don’t know.

Far too often she had thought things would work just like at Mikawa only to be proven wrong. Especially when it came to interacting with other people.

She did not know Musashi’s ways, so she would act based on Mikawa’s ways, find herself out of sync with the others, and come to a stop.

…''But…

This had to be a little different.

Her father was strict and a Provisional Councilor, so she could not head out into the city at night without permission.

And she was still only a hopeful politician, so she needed to study.

If she was going to head out and have fun, it had to be after she had done what she needed to do.

So even if it was lively and bright out there…

“It isn’t separated from me.”

She opened the window.

Even in Mikawa, she had opened the window when listening to the festival sounds and studying. Bugs would fly in and mosquitos would buzz around her, but that just meant she existed in the same space as the festivities.

This was the same.

She was not avoiding the festival. She was studying within the festive atmosphere.

But there was a difference from before. In Mikawa, she had been alone and her mother would occasionally receive festival foods from the neighbors and serve them as a meal or snack. But…

“Come to think of it…”

Masazumi got down from the bed and walked to the kitchen.

She had the trifles the idiot had given her.

Her pace picked up as she decided to eat one.

The kitchen was at the end of the hallway leading from the main building that contained her and her father’s bedrooms, the bath, and the guest room and to the secondary building that contained the entranceway and dining room. When her father and the others held a meeting in the dining room, she would make late night snacks for them there, but…

…''It isn’t often we store handmade snacks in the icebox like this.

There were three sealed glasses on the refrigerated shelves of the icebox in the small kitchen.

She pulled out the closest one and found the ingredients had already started to mix together within the glass.

The night before, the cereal and cream had formed distinct layers, but no longer. The red jam had flowed through the cereal and the cream was trying to stop it.

Saying it was “ripening” was not quite right, but it did seem like it was closer to being “ready”.

In the dimly-lit kitchen, she heard the distant festival sounds and the occasional fireworks.

The people outside would be buying food at the stands or shops and enjoying themselves in their own ways. Meanwhile…

…''I’m here…

She got up and pulled a long spoon from the sink.

She stepped out onto the walkway and looked outside. She saw the festival-lit night sky beyond the courtyard. The sound and the sky connected her and the spring festival. And in her hand…

“That’s right.”

She had brought back a product from the café her class was running.

She and the festival were connected.

“That’s right.”

She repeated the words and scooped the first bite into her mouth while still looking outside.

…''Nn.

Sourness suddenly permeated her mouth.

“————————”

The distinct fruity sourness was enough to wake her up.

It was strawberry.

When she bit into the white fruit flesh, the sourness arrived with the sweetness of jam.

She had guessed the cereal would be soft after the jam had soaked into it.

But while the jam would normally flow across her tongue, it now stayed in place thanks to the weight and uneven solidness of the cereal.

So the sourness was quite strong and the savoriness of the cereal soon followed.

…''Wow…

She preferred Far Eastern food, and plain food at that. So when she ate something with a lot of cream or butter, she enjoyed it, but it also felt heavy. Things with a lot of sugar were the same.

But this fruity sourness really got to her.

She thought back to the first one she had eaten the night before. This flavor had lingered and overpowered even the cream and adzuki beans lower down. This second one was sure to do the same.

“Dammit…”

Had the idiot made these because he predicted this would happen?

These were trifles, makeshift sweets created by layering the ingredients leftover after making something else.

But this felt tailor-made for affecting her.

…''I kind of hate that.

''Maybe I should cook mom’s stew and bring it with me tomorrow. No, that would be pointless.

''But anyway,'' she thought.

“This sure is a festival.”

Even if she was at home and studying, she was still on the ship named Musashi, looking up at the same sky and enjoying the same atmosphere.

Her position was different, but she was still on the aerial city ship that was throwing a festival.

It may have been the same at Mikawa. This might have only been her feeling more comfortable with the idea of festivals now that she had reached the second year of high school and experienced the difference between Mikawa and Musashi.

Either way, she really felt like she was participating in the festival now.

…''It’s said festivals were used to welcome in new residents in addition to celebrating and praying.

The newcomer would greet the local god and become one of that god’s people. That was its purpose. If so…

“Maybe I should ask dad if I can go to the Gagaku Festival tomorrow.”

''I should probably study enough for tomorrow too,'' she thought before thinking about some others preparing for tomorrow.

''I wonder what Asama’s group is doing on this festival night.

“Okay, now that we’re all purified and refreshed, we need to get straight to sleep for an early morning tomorrow! Straight to sleep! C’mon, Asama and Mitotsudaira! Dive into my chest!!”

In the center of Asama’s room, the idiot sister arranged the futons in a Y-shape and beckoned them over, so Mitotsudaira quietly glared back at her. The Cerberus on her head barked and she replied.

“It is true we have to show up for registration early tomorrow morning, but it’s only 10.”

“Heh heh. Silly girl. We’ll be joining Asama for her morning purification tomorrow. You know what that means, don’t you?”

Mitotsudaira thought about Asama’s mornings.

…''She goes to the spring at 4:30 in the morning, doesn’t she?

Curious, she asked about it.

“Tomo, when do you usually go to sleep?”

“Um, between 12 and 1.”

That unexpectedly inexact answer pointed to a certain fact.

“How is that enough sleep? Plus, you’ve been staying up even later with us sleeping over, haven’t you? Let’s get to sleep.”

“No, no.” Asama smiled bitterly and waved her hands side to side. “It isn’t the same as a compressed sleep spell, but the purification spring will purify away your weariness and whatnot. So I’ve been sticking to that margin lately and it works. If it gets to be a problem, I purify myself in the evening as well.”

“But…”

“If you’re worried about that, then you should come get in the futons, right? Come here, you two. We can fall asleep while telling old stories.”

Mitotsudaira doubted those old stories would be pleasant, but if they did as Kimi suggested…

“We’ll be talking for quite a while before actually going to sleep, won’t we?”

“Fine, then.” Asama sighed, got up, and rolled up her yukata’s sleeves. “I’ll prepare some food and drink we can consume just before bed.”

“Oh, I’ll help too,” offered Mitotsudaira. “It will be warm milk and something made with soybean flour like usual, right?”

“Yes, I think we have some brown sugar syrup, so I was thinking of making soybean flour balls. We can also eat them tomorrow morning.”

“Heh heh. Why not a nightcap and some summer sausage?”

With that, Kimi stood up as well. Her yukata was messed up, but she incredibly made it look like it was supposed to be simply draped over her like that.

Asama opened the sliding door to the hallway, turned around, and glared at Kimi.

“The kitchen will be cramped with three people.”

“Don’t worry.” Kimi placed a hand on her cheek and smiled. “I’ll be the taste tester.”

''I should have known,'' thought Mitotsudaira. She was half surprised and half aware that this cycle of roles had long since settled into place.

Their relationship was much like her relationship with her king. Even if they could get the job done with one of them missing, something would seem missing.

There was just one thing she could say:

“This all had a frantic beginning, but I’m glad we will make it to tomorrow with all of us here.”

“Heh heh. Not so fast. The upcoming nightcap could leave us all hungover tomorrow.”

“It will not,” insisted Asama. “I will only serve low-proof drinks.”

''Is that the issue?'' But…

“Naito and Naruze are the same and I bet our upperclassmen are as well. …We’re all completing our final practices and spending the rest of our night in a mixture of nerves and expectation.”

Asama nodded at Mitotsudaira’s words.

They had completed their final practice before going to bed. Including Asama’s song, they were just barely reaching 20 minutes.

Each band was given 20 minutes, but their songs had to lead into the mysterious phenomenon purification. That meant they essentially did not have a time limit. They would begin the purification after completing their final song, but…

…''Will we still be judged for the quality of our songs…?

Kimi had told her to make an encore song and she had done so, but still.

“Hmm,” she groaned while stepping out into the hallway and feeling a chill at her feet.

The Asama Shrine had a barrier around it, but external sounds were allowed in and that included the distant sounds of the festival. It was past lights-out for every ship, but everyone had to be enjoying themselves.

The festive atmosphere must have been influencing the ether because the ether pathway status sign frame said it was circulating well. If that continued through the Gagaku Festival, she expected good results.

…''Well, whatever the case, it’s tomorrow.

Her life was headed in a pretty bold direction here.

And she wondered something while sensing the presences and body heats of Mitotsudaira and Kimi following behind her.

''When and how am I supposed to thank them?'' And…

“Yes, Mito, I wonder what the others are doing.”

It began with a light sound.

It was a scraping of metal.

It came from one corner of an atrium park on Tama.

Scattered trees lined the grass below the night sky. The park’s lights just barely reached that area.

Unlike the surface area, the underground park closed its gates at 10 PM. They could not close anyone inside, so the park was devoid of people trying to enjoy the festival.

But two figures moved there.

One was a girl with a metal spear in one hand.

The other was a girl with rifles hanging from her right shoulder.

They were Watanabe Moritsuna and Suzuki Magoichi.

Magoichi used one of her rifles like a sword to strike Moritsuna’s lightly raised spear.

The spear and gun slowly changed positions as if they were exchanging a greeting. The scraping of metal moved toward the tips of the weapons.

Watanabe opened her mouth.

“I was relieved you showed up.”

“I do understand what it is you are thinking.” Magoichi remained expressionless as she slowly raised her rifle. “But if you’re going to stop someone, shouldn’t it be Mototada instead of me?”

“We have the Gagaku Festival to do.”

“I see,” replied Magoichi.

The contact point of spear and gun reached the tip. The strain of scraping metal somewhat left the tips.

At the same time, a firework went off in the sky above the surface area.

It was not a large one. It was a general-use firework sold in stores. But the ball of light illuminated those two and the trees from high in the sky and the bursting sound reverberated through the atrium.

“In that case.”

They both moved.

Magoichi kept her distance.

Her rifles, Yatagarasu, were divine weapons, but their power was not easily used in this setting.

The sky was restricted on the left and right.

Even if she sent Yatagarasu into the sky, they would be obstructed by the atrium walls and they could not get the angle of fire needed.

This was purely a ground battle.

But there was a reason she had come here after being summoned.

…''I understand.

The people of the desert prided themselves in never allowing a target of vengeance to escape and spending an entire lifetime hunting them down. Some even forbade themselves from returning to their clan until they had accomplished it.

To this inheritor of the name Watanabe Moritsuna, Magoichi was an enemy.

Of course, she was not her ''current enemy'' She was tomorrow’s enemy and the enemy after that.

Magoichi would harm something precious to her in the future, but Watanabe was attempting to stop her now.

So Magoichi would not run away from this confrontation in the present.

If one was made a target of vengeance, it was shameful to make excuses or run away.

She needed her weapons to resist. The Yatagarasu rifles were divine weapons.

She could instruct them to fire homing bullets, acceleration bullets, and scatter bullets. And all three could be fired at once.

“I cannot have them fly in such a narrow space…so it must be a ground battle. Let’s go, Yatagarasu.”

She spun around one in each hand and moved her body to spin the other around her shoulder. The guns in her arms swapped places in something like a dance.

“You might be spending the night in your nest, but glare into the darkness all the same, Yatagarasu.”

She fired.

Magoichi fell back. She fired as she fell back.

Keeping your distance was the proper choice for a gunner. She was trained in techniques for fighting at close range, but it was safest to finish off the enemy from outside their range.

This was the enemy’s home field. It was an away battlefield for her. However…

…''There are no traps set up.

She had been summoned here, but she had not simply obeyed that. Before the curfew, she had hidden on a higher passageway and watched for any movement down below.

But there had been nothing.

With the festival and so many people, it would have been impossible to set something up before the curfew.

There had been no sign of someone’s pawns trying anything during or after the festival. The park had remained tranquil.

And once the promised time arrived, Watanabe Moritsuna had jumped down from an even higher level.

That had shown that there were no traps, but also…

…''Avoiding the intermediary passageways and gates prevented anyone from seeing her.

This was a personal duel.

So Magoichi had sought battle.

She was the enemy, but she honestly liked the way Watanabe pursued this battle.

She fell back while sending out bullets.

They had been on the park’s port side before. A small stream flowed down the center of the park and there were clusters of trees to port and starboard. Magoichi wanted to reach the center where she would have a clearer line of fire. However…

“—————”

She looked up with just her eyes to see the sky past the three stories of the atrium.

The pale light of the night was reflected off the stealth barrier to reach the bottom of the atrium.

That light was enough to predict Yatagarasu’s shots.

So she wanted to hurry into the shadows to starboard.

From there, she would be the one with a good view of Watanabe Moritsuna. But…

“I will not hold back until that happens.”

Magoichi fired on Watanabe Moritsuna who was crouching low and accelerating.

Watanabe moved forward while Magoichi fired and fell back.

Even in the darkness, she could see the movement of the enemy’s rifles.

She was the 1st Special Duty Officer. She had good night vision and she had developed techniques for use against opponents armed with guns. She clearly saw the enemy bullets flying toward her. However…

…''Oh?

The Yatagarasu rifles were large even for rifles. Since they were divine weapons, she had expected them to fire spell bullets.

“Physical bullets…!”

Was that because spell bullets and ether bullets could not be hidden in the darkness?

But they used spell launch systems. That introduced the possibility of trajectory changes at the moment of firing.

…''So it isn’t that different from an ether bullet.

A shot flew toward her face as she thought that. It was a straight shot. It gave off no killer intent, like its path just so happened to pass through where her head was.

Watanabe could tell it was meant to move her.

This attack could hit.

But if it did not, the next bullet would be fired into the end point of her evasion.

And even if she dodged that, a third one would be there to hit her. This was announcing a series of shots that left no option but to be hit. And it began with the initial shot toward her face.

The enemy was serious, but Watanabe did not mind.

“Now.”

She moved in the span of a breath.

She heard a sound from dead ahead as she dodged.

It was the two shots Magoichi had already fired after predicting Watanabe’s evasion. And…

“———————”

The sixth and ninth shots followed as the triple gunshots continued.

''I need to finish her off,'' thought Magoichi while continuing to fire.

Her enemy was a ninja. That meant mobility. She instinctually sensed she would be at a disadvantage in a lengthy battle.

So she had to finish that enemy off quickly.

Magoichi attempted to target her enemy in units of three shots.

The first shot would attempt to hold the enemy in place. And if that did not hit her…

…''I fire two shots to cut off their evasion…

When firing an anticipatory attack like that, an opponent would generally take one of two actions: defend or evade.

Defense might seem like the smarter move, but the force of the hit would hold your body in place. Unless you could create a wall, that would only work against you in a duel.

But evasion was difficult too.

People could only move along the horizontal or vertical axis.

And vertical evasion was generally unthinkable. Jump up and you would be defenseless while airborne. Crouch down and your center of gravity would drop too low to make your next move.

So people would generally evade to the left or right.

They would lower their hips when they did so, so if the initial shot was targeted at their face, the next two shots should be fired to the left and right of their waist.

Then, if they dodged to the left or right, they would be shot in the chest and blown away.

That was what Magoichi had done here.

“…!”

Except it did not work out.

According to the Testament, Watanabe Moritsuna was one of the greatest spear-users in Matsudaira’s employ. Her skill came from her light armor and metal spear, but…

…''Below!?

She had chosen to evade downwards.

The second and third shots had been fired on the assumption she would dodge to the left or right, so they flew by above her crouched body.

But evading downwards would lower her center of gravity, which would weigh down her movements. If Magoichi targeted her right away, she could hit that lowered body.

Except she could not.

A moment later, Watanabe had moved elsewhere.

Her center of gravity was not lowered. And she had moved with a burst of speed.

…''Is this…?

This was one of a ninja’s seemingly-impossible movements. And Magoichi knew what those were called in the Far East.

“A ninja technique!?”

Watanabe silently agreed with that assessment.

Some ninja techniques used divine spells, but hers had their foundation in pure martial arts.

She was quite particular about that. Otherwise, she would be in trouble if she ran out of divine spell charms while on a ninja infiltration mission.

So she used martial arts.

This was the same.

She knew exactly what her enemy was doing as a gunner. The series of three guiding shots was a surefire method for a skilled gunner.

It used the path of the bullets as feints and deterrents, just like you would with a spear or sword.

This opponent was a natural enemy for a close-range spear-user like Watanabe.

But she could stand up to her using ninja techniques. As the one bullet flew straight toward her face…

“—————!”

She sank down.

She angled her face down and leaned her upper body forward.

But that was all. She kept her lower body standing and unlowered.

That left her waist bent forward and her body leaning forward, but her hips and below were unchanged. Her center of gravity had not lowered. In fact, bending forward had raised her hips in the starting position for forward acceleration.

She had prepared for the perfect dash while looking like she had sunk down.

From the enemy’s perspective, it would look like she had bent over and crouched down.

When targeting her face, the enemy would have to look at her face. So when her face lowered like this, it would undoubtedly be seen as her choosing to evade downwards.

But she had not.

Her hips and below were standing. She had only leaned her upper body toward the enemy.

Her only option was to make an immediate dash forward.

So she did so.

“Here I go…!”

To hide the trick of her stance control, she lowered her hips on the second step of acceleration, transforming it into a crouching charge. And after that, she launched herself to the left and right.

…''To jump into the edge of her vision…!

That was not all.

Watanabe tilted her body to the side.

She rotated her forward-leaning stance so her left shoulder pointed skyward and her right shoulder pointed to the ground.

“…!”

She raced across the ground as if running up a staircase and while swapping out the heavens and earth on her left and right.

Magoichi saw more than one Watanabe.

…''What is this…!?

She had immediately seen through the trick of that forward-leaning evasion.

So after the first shot toward the face, she had decided to send her next attack low instead of to the sides. However…

“She’s turning side to side at extremely low altitude…!?”

Watanabe was not running on the ground. She was tilting her body on its side and running up the ground.

It was a lot like angling your body to run up a flight of stairs. That said, her movement would begin to shift about 45 degrees off of Magoichi, but each time…

“…!”

Watanabe would lightly swing her hips and shift to the left or right.

In that moment alone, Magoichi could clearly see her.

…''Kh…!!

The side to side movement was so fast it looked like there were several of her.

And that was not all. When Magoichi predicted that left and right movement and fired a bullet…

“I’m over here.”

Watanabe would twist her waist and dash straight forward while leaning forward.

That brought her much closer, and…

…''What will it be!?

It was the spear.

Something seemed off about the metal spear Watanabe had been holding in her right hand the whole time.

There was no trick to it. It was simply a metal spear. But it was always a part of her tactics and she kept it with her throughout all the many turns.

Why was she working so hard to keep that close-range weapon with her?

Just then, Magoichi’s location worked to her advantage.

She had finally found something at her feet that would help her recover.

…''I can use this.

With that thought, she fired.

Watanabe heard Magoichi fire twice.

The first was aimed at her face. The second fired diagonally down at her lowered face.

She could not allow them to hit.

So she tilted her body to the left and jumped.

It was not intuition that led her to choose left. There were three Yatagarasu rifles, but the two that had just fired were (from Watanabe’s perspective) the center and left ones in that order.

Those rifles either had a set attack range or turf because the one on the right had not once fired to her left.

So Watanabe went left.

That was exactly the center of the atrium park.

A small stream flowed from bow to stern in the center of the park and Magoichi had just jumped across it.

However, she was a little off balance and leaning. Was that because she had jumped backwards across the stream? She fired on Watanabe’s left and right, but it was not an effective deterrent.

In her pursuit, Watanabe ran left along the bank of the river and prepared to cross.

“—————!?”

But an attack arrived from the right.

The shot from the right was like a surprise attack.

…''The Yatagarasu on the right fired outside its attack range…!?

No. It was not a bullet.

Something was sent her way just as she tried to jump over the stream on the left.

“Water…!?”

It was the stream’s water.

Such a strong splash was not normal. It blasted up higher than she was tall.

…''It was that second shot, wasn’t it!?

The first shot had targeted her face.

But the second one had looked like it was targeting her leaning body while actually targeting the stream.

The streams flowing through Musashi’s atrium parks were not natural. The ones in the surface nature districts were one thing, but in an underground area, the inner edges were made from inner walls for maintenance purposes.

Magoichi had fired one those.

Of course, these were solid crust blocks. A diagonal shot would not break through, but the force of the hit had blasted the water up.

And that blocked Watanabe’s vision.

“…”

Watanabe leaped to the left to circle around the clear barrier. She crossed to the opposite bank.

And she rolled her body to land right foot first. Then she spun her body around.

…''Where is the enemy?

She saw the answer while spinning around.

Magoichi stood in the starboard shadows with her chest and below masked by darkness.

She must have used this instant to put that much distance between them. And instead of falling back even further…

“You’re mine!”

She fired a shot aimed at Watanabe’s clear form in the instant of landing.

The attack came from dead ahead.

Watanabe did not stop herself as she spun to face the enemy. She could take a defensive stance or dodge, but she chose neither. After all…

…''I have to end this here!

After landing on her right foot, she made a quick half-rotation on that leg and planted her left foot on the ground.

And she saw the attack the enemy had fired to defeat her. A bullet was flying along the straight line connecting her and Magoichi.

There was a way to ''strike back.

There were about 8 meters between her and her enemy. Right now, she had an attack method which would cross that gap. But…

“——————”

Watanabe sensed something. She obediently accepted the warning from her intuition as 1st Special Duty Officer.

…''Something isn’t right.

Magoichi had used the wall of water to recover her position and she was now firing a direct attack as Watanabe landed.

That was the proper tactic for her.

''But,'' thought Watanabe. '' If the first shot is toward me, where will the other two shots go?

“Wait…”

Magoichi was currently in the shadows. So…

“The other two shots are also…”

Watanabe sensed two presences in that instant.

The first was in the shadows of the starboard trees and the other was beyond the wall of water.

All three targeted her from different directions.

Magoichi sensed a chance at victory, but she did not reach for it.

She must not rush things.

She had to remain calm and control the paths of the Yatagarasu she had sent out.

Yatagarasu.

Those three rifles could fly through the air using the recoil of firing.

She could fire at whatever timing she liked right now, but the immediate sky was too narrow. She could send them straight up, but that was meaningless as it would only vertically change the angle of fire.

So she had copied the enemy.

When jumping across the stream, she had faked losing her balance to tilt her body.

If sending them vertically was meaningless, she had to tilt herself to the side and send them horizontally.

She sent two Yatagarasu to the left or right to circle around the enemy.

She sent them beyond the shadows of the starboard trees and the wall of water.

Of course, sending the Yatagarasu horizontally was dangerous. With little initial speed, they would fall to the ground if she did not have them return quickly and sending them around the enemy left her defenseless. That was why Magoichi immediately fired on Watanabe Moritsuna and…

…''Return, Yatagarasu!

The bullets were guaranteed to pierce her opponent.

The three rifles fired more than one bullet each.

“…Reach her!”

A total of 9 shots used varying heights to create a cage. She would be hit no matter where she tried to run.

But Magoichi saw something while she controlled the return of the Yatagarasu.

Watanabe Moritsuna was moving ahead of the bullets. She moved the spear in her hand.

“Ehhh…!!”

She slammed the metal spear straight down into the center of the atrium park at her feet.

…''What is that?

That spear had been bothering Magoichi for a while. And it was driven into the ground at almost the exact same time as the bullets were reaching Watanabe Moritsuna.

Just as Magoichi thought she had hit, the atrium park exploded.

Magoichi saw the instant it happened.

It was the spear.

Watanabe Moritsuna’s metal spear was the source of the explosion.

Of course, a metal spear did not have a warhead or anything of the sort. But if there was a technique or spell there…

…''It’s a twisting.

Watanabe Moritsuna’s rapid side to side movement had not been done with simple turns. She had swung her body and repeatedly built up a spin.

And when spinning, she had always performed a certain action.

Instead of rotating her spear with her, she had continually built up that rotating motion.

It was most likely a spell.

As a ninja, Watanabe primarily used martial arts, so this would be her sole spell attack. A ninja’s focus was on covert action and escape, but this spell would be used as a surprise attack against an enemy.

She built up her mobility in the metal spear and then released it as…

“A wide-range corkscrew-style pile bunker system!”

Watanabe smashed the air.

The blast was surrounded by a spiraling air current. But before her spear tip pierced the ground, the extended air current struck the air and the crust block itself.

The force reflected by the artificial ground spread a powerful pressure around which swept away the Yatagarasu bullets.

“…!”

The blast expanded from a radius of 3 meters to around a dozen meters.

Some of the recoil hit Watanabe. The spell was meant to be used horizontally to smash something 30 meters away, but she had fired it at her feet. Even with a buffering spell…

…''It hits you pretty hard!

If she had launched this attack forward, she might have been able to defeat Magoichi, but then she would have been hit by the bullets coming from the other two directions.

She could not afford to be shot and mutual defeat was not an option. Because…

“The Gagaku Festival is tomorrow.”

She was participating as part of Torii’s band.

Mutual defeat would not allow for that, so she made up her mind.

The explosion and twisting pressure were compressed at the bottom of the atrium before blasting skyward. In that instant, the crust block collapsed and the atrium’s inner walls shattered from the blast. Meanwhile…

“Here I go.”

Watanabe accelerated toward Magoichi.

Magoichi fell back.

She did so while pushed by the blast and kicking off of the collapsing footing.

The shattered inner walls fell from above and the ground fell away in a mosaic pattern of hills and depressions, but…

…''Here she comes…!

Watanabe Moritsuna ran up all the destruction to reach Magoichi.

She was coming.

Her blonde hair bounced, bent at a horizontal right angle, and vanished.

A moment later, she could be seen in a different position while twisting.

“————————”

She disappeared and appeared again.

Unlike her previous charge, she did not move side to side very often.

Nor was she launching an attack to smash the air.

This was pure acceleration meant to finish Magoichi off with the spear.

But Magoichi only had use of the Yatagarasu on her back.

She had the other two fire as if crowing so they rose into the air and pursued her. But the explosive blast and falling rubble were in the way. At this rate, Watanabe Moritsuna’s spear would reach her before she was in range of the two rifles.

Magoichi could hear rubble.

The ground rose up below her feet, adding to her backwards momentum. But…

…''Kh…!

She was being pursued as a target of vengeance.

She was a name inheritor who had supported Honganji and made a name for herself in battles there, but she was being cornered by a Musashi name inheritor.

Who was it that had said the Far East had no fighting force – that they were toothless and incompetent?

At the very least, their officers and name inheritors were not. And…

…''Mototada.

''Is what you wanted from me found beyond this hidden power? If so…

“People are guided by a bird that flies even higher in the sky.”

But that was not here and now.

It was further ahead. It would come later.

In order to grasp what was there, Magoichi reached a hand back while watching Watanabe Moritsuna’s approach.

She grabbed a single rifle: Yatagarasu.

She pulled it out, raised it, and directly faced her enemy.

“Whatever form it might take…give us a crow of guidance toward the future, Yatagarasu!”

She fired.

Watanabe made an attack. She used a spear, but it was a stabbing motion that pulled inward.

She moved her entire body as if launching her shoulder and arm.

She crouched down near Magoichi and used the sharp turning motion to launch her spear on the right.

She could no longer use the pressurized attack from a spell, but the spear bent and gathered force like a spring.

Instead of using a straight line, it pursued Magoichi who was falling back to the right from Watanabe’s perspective.

She did not think it would hit.

She hoped it would hit. Perhaps that was just the kind of person she was.

Magoichi was attempting to draw a Yatagarasu from over her right shoulder, but it was too slow. Watanabe’s spear would reach her first.

So Watanabe extended her entire body. She launched the spear so it would arrive even a moment sooner.

A moment later, she heard a sound.

It was a gunshot.

Magoichi had allowed the Yatagarasu to fire while she drew it from over her shoulder.

Of course, it was not going to hit Watanabe when fired from such an uncertain stance and with no time to aim.

But Watanabe saw the bullet had indeed hit its mark.

The physical bullet had hit…

“…Her horn!?”

…Magoichi herself.

The left horn, which extended down on the right from Watanabe’s perspective, had been hit from the outside edge.

The bullet would have had adjustments made, but her small body was still thrown to the right by her head and the horn was broken halfway down.

…''She’s moved…!

She had moved away.

And Watanabe realized her own attack had not arrived.

Next, she heard three sounds.

Two of them were gunshots from the Yatagarasu pursuing from the air behind her.

“———————”

And the last was of the atrium park’s floor collapsing, the walls crumbling, and the debris burying the both of them.

Tenzou received word of Tama’s atrium park’s collapse at the same time as the alarm sounded on the ship.

His home was on Tama’s second underground floor. The 10 square meter space had a tall loft and about 3 square meters were his personal space. It was a small area, but there was plenty of storage thanks to the space above the ceiling and hanging shelves.

His plans for this night had been to install the various amateur-made games he had bought at the festival, but…

“Hm…Watanabe-sama was?”

The divine transmission to the 1st Special Duty Unit had come as a divine mail from Vice President Tadayo.

Tenzou stopped to think instead of inserting the charm bundle of installation data into the reader.

…''Watanabe-sama was checking on a suspicious fire near the fireworks prepared in the starboard atrium park?

Apparently, the Student Council had been secretly preparing hundreds of fireworks to be launched from Tama’s atrium park at the end of the festival the following day.

But there were still people in the city tonight and Tenzou could hear fireworks being launched in the surface area.

If the embers of those fireworks had lit a suspicious fire and that fire dropped into the fireworks prepared below…

“Did Watanabe-sama notice and rush there, but didn’t arrive in time?”

The divine mail only said not to worry about Watanabe. Tadayo was an old friend of hers, so she could be trusted on that. However…

…''I never heard anything about those fireworks.

“Father, did you know there were fireworks prepared in the starboard atrium park?”

He pulled up the curtain for the loft and looked down to see his father sprawled out on the ground.

He must have been experimenting with something trippy because a green liquid dripped from the corner of his smiling mouth.

''Mom is really going to let him have it when she gets back,'' thought Tenzou.

“Umm.”

He decided to hurry out of the house and pretend he had not seen it. Just to be safe, he hid the installation charms and package below his futon and stuck the manual in his pocket.

Then he left the front entrance while only stepping on the lower tatami mats once.

“I wonder what this is about.”

When he opened the door, he found a lot of people moving through the underground wide block.

They were all either on their way up to look on from the surface or exchanging information to see if there had been any secondary damages.

“Now, then.”

Tenzou realized something once he accessed the 1st Special Duty Unit’s divine transmission network.

Watanabe had sent him a divine mail.

“What is this?”

He looked around to make sure no one was focused on him. Only then did he read through the message sent to him.

“Tsuna, why do you do things like this? It turned out okay since I dove into the destruction and saved you, but you would’ve been in trouble if I’d failed. You should discuss these things with me.”

“But you’d have stopped me if I told you about it. And I don’t want that.”

Watanabe’s voice came from an elevated location: the roof of an apartment in the residential district of Tama’s surface area.

Its height and the nearby chimneys prevented anyone from seeing her from below.

She sat across from Tadayo, who sat cross-legged on the flat roof.

“Besides, Suzuki might be free right now, but she’s not from here. The 1st Special Duty Officer fighting an unauthorized duel will lead to diplomatic issues. Why don’t you think about these things? …If you want to stop what Torii is trying to do, then attack Torii or me. Or…”

Tadayo moved her face toward Watanabe and pointed at the other girl’s face.

“Just don’t participate in the Gagaku Festival tomorrow.”

“You can find someone to play the keyboard instead of me. And we’ve already recorded our performance, so you could use the recording as the offering.”

“Do you have to get so selfish when I’m going soft on you because you’re injured? It’s such a pain.”

“So you know how soft you’re being, huh?”

A smile joined the dried blood on Watanabe’s face. But…

“Ah.”

Her left arm tensed and shook.

Tadayo’s gaze turned toward the large tear in the outer edge of the upper arm.

The blood had been stopped with a charm pasted on top, but Watanabe’s movement had altered the charm’s position and tugged at the wound within.

Tadayo pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped away the tears in Watanabe’s eyes. She also used that dampness to wipe the blood off of her face.

“This is the last year I can clean up your messes like this, so you need to pull yourself together. Do you want to cause trouble for Oosuga?”

“Suga-kun says he doesn’t mind.”

“Does he, does he?”

Tadayo smiled bitterly and looked to the right.

There was a collapsed valley there.

The atrium park had been there.

Since it was a part of Musashi, even the atrium space had the same blocked structure as the wide blocks. So during an internal collapse, it would be purged from the adjacent blocks, but…

“That just makes the collapse all the more impressive. I can kind of see why Oosuga is no match for you.”

“Suga-kun’s techniques are stronger than my one-shot spell.”

“The problem with you is you let your emotions dictate when you use your techniques. But…”

Tadayo looked at Watanabe again.

She was stained with dust and blood and she was injured. The worst parts were her left shoulder and…

“Your right thigh.”

“I hesitated a bit when I had to choose between an arm or a leg.” Watanabe smiled with the ends of her eyebrows lowered. “I figured I couldn’t play the keyboard if it was my arm…but I guess the leg is a problem too. And I couldn’t fully get my left shoulder out of the way either.”

“Don’t cry, Tsuna.”

“I’m not crying. Because I was prepared for whatever might happen.”

Tears spilled from her eyes as if to prove her protest wrong.

She tried to wipe off her face, but Tadayo reached out instead.

She handed Watanabe her handkerchief and Watanabe wiped off her face with it. Tadayo glared at her afterwards.

“You have blood on your lips.”

“I’d wipe the lipstick off with it.”

“You didn’t bring any with you?”

“Only a mirror.”

“Oh well then,” sighed Tadayo because she was the same.

But when she looked down, she found the alarm was gradually fading into the distance. Jurisdiction had been transferred from the guards to the Public Morals Committee’s firefighting officer and the Lifestyle Committee’s construction officer was checking on the damage.

“As the Student Council Vice President, I need to get down there before long.”

“I’ll stay here. …Oh, and what happened to Suzuki-san?”

“I sent her flying with my spear, so she should be entirely unharmed beyond what you did to her, Tsuna.”

Watanabe frowned.

“…I’m useless.”

“No, this was our fault too. Really, I’d like to blame the world as a whole.”

Because…

“Torii has an idea and once she and Suzuki start something, it counts as a history recreation and we aren’t allowed to stop it. If we do try, the Testament Union won’t be happy with us. So I was thinking of making it as good of a show as Torii wanted. But…”

“But?”

“You refused to give up.”

“What good is that when I’m too injured to join the actual performance?” asked Watanabe. “So I will keep trying things on my own.”

“If I’d heard that this morning, I would have tried to stop you, but now I think I’ll let you.” Tadayo stood up. “I don’t know if this will fit together well enough for us all to have an easy time of it, but let’s have a parting of ways here, Tsuna. I honestly haven’t fully accepted it myself, but I have my own position to think of. …Although there is an idiot who gives no thought to such things.”

“Tadayo-san.”

“Yes?” asked Tadayo.

“Thanks for saving me. I’m relieved to see you haven’t changed.”

“It’s who I am.”

With that, Tadayo smiled a little and jumped down from the roof. Toward the site of the collapse.

“You there! The firefighting officer and construction officer arguing over the priority of removing rubble and surveying. I know the festival is noisy, but we’ve had enough fighting already. …I’m from the Student Council, so I will take command here!”

Kimi viewed a divine transmission from her brother while lying on her side and holding a body pillow in the left arm below her.

The other two were asleep, but she was still awake. And the faintly-glowing sign frame displayed a report of the collapse on Tama.

The Asama Shrine had immediately been informed of the fireworks accident at a Tama atrium park. Asama had made some adjustments to Tama’s ether pathways and divine protections and her father had gone to the Provisional Council Building to learn about the situation and report on their response, but…

…''The damage didn’t trigger a chain reaction, so it should be settled quickly.

As long as the surrounding areas were sealed off and infrastructure was rerouted, the site of the collapse would be no more than a pile of rubble. Gods of war and transport ships with a pallet attached to the bottom would be used to remove all that, so the divine chat showed a short complaint from Naomasa and the usual acknowledgement from Noriki.

Kimi’s brother was watching the transport ships in the sky above and the flow of people who had grown sick of the commotion.

'''Wise Sister:''' “Foolish brother? Where are you now?”

'''Me:''' “Eh? On top of Musashino’s bridge. The viewing platform has been fully opened up, so all the guys were going to gather here. But Tenzou, Noriki, and Persona-kun went to deal with all this. I called Seijun too, but I got a refusal saying that was all ‘my father this’ and ‘my curfew that’.”

''Does my brother think Masazumi is a boy?

…''Well, he’ll figure it out eventually.

At the very least, they had to make sure it was Masazumi herself who told him. That wasn’t something you should learn from someone else.

…''Some people don’t like it when people discuss their secrets behind their back or when other people suddenly start treating them differently.

Kimi loved that kind of thing, but she could guess Masazumi was different. So…

'''Me:''' “What about you, sis?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “What? Do you want to sleep next to me?”

'''Me:''' “When your room is empty, I really end up spinning my wheels a lot.”

Her lips loosened, but it soon grew into a bitter smile.

'''Wise Sister:''' “What do you mean ‘spinning your wheels’? Is your engine running? What gear are you in?”

'''Me:''' “Well, I keep expecting a reaction from you when I’m playing a porn game, posing on my side of the partition, or getting up early. And then I realize ‘Oh, yeah. She’s not here.’ ”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Oh, honestly. …Then come here.”

'''Me:''' “I can’t do that.”

Because…

'''Me:''' “You’re preparing some great songs for the Gagaku Festival, right? …I can’t let myself hear those in advance. Even if I want to hear them so bad.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. What if I said I’d let you hear them as a shared secret?”

'''Me:''' “It’s not much of a secret if you’re singing them at the Gagaku Festival, right?”

That was a good response. So…

'''Wise Sister:''' “Would you come if we weren’t going to sing them at the Gagaku Festival or we just weren’t preparing anything?”

'''Me:''' “Yeah, then I’d cook some snacks and bring them over. You’re going to ignore lights-out until you all fall asleep, aren’t you?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. You would have to make most of the snacks for me.”

Kimi smiled a little while thinking about the celebratory party after the Gagaku Festival.

…''We’ll probably spend the night here just like that.

Including the preparatory period, she had spent the entire School Festival and Gagaku Festival away from her brother.

It had been a long time since either of them had been apart for so long. They would speak late at night like this, not because she was homesick, but because they were both siblingsick.

…''But it’s not like we can’t function without each other.

It was not about distance.

Their connection was clear even while just exchanging words.

It was fun sending these quick messages back and forth to confirm their sibling relationship.

It was not an addiction where it was painful not to do it. It was something they enjoyed doing that added a nice spice to their lives.

The “spinning wheels” her brother had mentioned would be the same.

They were the perfect partners for preserving, confirming, and establishing their way of doing things. And they had spent enough time together to feel like the other was another form of themselves.

It really was not about distance.

For the past few days, they had felt the relief of looking up at the same sky even though they were separated.

But…

“——————”

She felt like the two sleeping next to her had become aware of that relief before she had.

…''That’s right.

Over the past few days, she had managed to put her sibling relationship to words and she could think of various future paths and interpretations of it, but those two described it with different words.

For Asama, it was a “hopeless person”.

For Mitotsudaira, it was “my king”.

They had used those phrases countless times, but if they were to lose Kimi’s brother, they would likely realize they were “spinning their wheels” over that “hopeless person” and “my king”.

Kimi and her brother had deepened their sibling relationship to the point that they had subconsciously realized they would spin their wheels without the other, but those two had already consciously realized it.

'''Wise Sister:''' “I’m so very thankful.”

'''Me:''' “Can I ask about what?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “For Asama and Mitotsudaira.”

“Yeah,” agreed her brother, but he did not say anything more.

…''You understand too, don’t you?

Since she understood, he had to as well. It was not even worth asking.

But from here on, it was the girls’ territory. They had spent so much time together over the past few days, so they had created a space with no room for her brother. So…

'''Wise Sister:''' “Foolish Brother? Will you hold my hand when I go to sleep the day after tomorrow?”

'''Me:''' “Ohh…can we do that in your bed? Mine is littered with boxes from the games I split with Tenzou.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Fine, then. But if no one’s using it, won’t my bed get hard?”

'''Me:''' “Then I’ll air it out tomorrow and the day after that. On both sides.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. You could always sleep in it yourself.”

'''Me:''' “Oh, like warming the sandals inside your clothes. Then tomorrow and the day after that, I’ll sleep in it and air it out. On both sides.”

''Do you like both sides that much?

While continuing this silly conversation with her brother, Kimi looked to the two girls sleeping to her left.

First, Kimi looked at Mitotsudaira who was immediately to her left.

Asama had suggested they sleep in Kimitoasamade-order for good luck, but that caused some trouble since Mitotsudaira’s hair had nowhere to go.

She had placed the 5 rolls of hair on top of each other the best she could, reducing it to 2.5 rolls, and she lay on top of those. There was some concern of them tangling together, but her grooming divine protection would make them easy to separate.

…''But that knight must be taking this seriously if she’s willing to go this far.

Mitotsudaira knew this was the final day of preparations for the Gagaku Festival.

That may have been why she was holding the Cerberus to her chest.

She had let it sleep on her head or hair at first, but she had started holding it as she slept for the last few days.

She would not say it, but she had to be worried about the Cerberus disappearing during the mysterious phenomenon purification.

She must have grown quite attached to it.

…''I wonder if she’ll cry…

''But you’re doing a good job as her “parent”.

“There will be good things too. …I prefer for things to be fun, so that’s what I believe.”

After smiling toward Mitotsudaira, Kimi slowly looked past her.

On the far right of the sleeping area, Asama slept on her back.

Her arms were spread out and her chest defenseless in a way that showed she had fallen asleep without meaning to.

Hanami had floated over her head earlier. Asama had asked her to continue monitoring the Tama ether pathways, but she must have finished that because she was gone now.

Asama herself had apparently wanted to stay awake even after leaving that job with Hanami. Over and over, she had said they needed to prepare for tomorrow, but she had not lasted. The past few days must have worn her out. The nightcap she had brought with her was still sitting next to her pillow.

…''She didn’t actually drink it, but it’s the perfect image of a drunk.

Kimi laughed bitterly and got up.

She leaned over Mitotsudaira and reached toward Asama.

She fixed the slightly-disturbed chest of Asama’s clothing and pulled the blanket back up.

“Her boobs really retain their shape even when she lies on her back.”

She felt an urge to grope them, but that could trigger an aggressive defense spell, which would never end well. She had to resist. She could wake up early and do it tomorrow morning. And she wanted to do a test later to see how much her own chest kept its shape while lying on her back.

“But I should measure them real quick.”

Kimi snatched a ruler from the desk and placed it between Asama’s breasts to measure them. She also stuck it between Mitotsudaira’s to measure her chest while she lay on her side. This really made Kimi want to write a report on their stratified society.

At any rate, she had taken the measurements. After making sure the blanket had not shifted out of place again, she returned to her spot.

She had a feeling she knew why Asama had tried so hard not to fall asleep.

Once Kimi had fallen asleep, Asama had planned to thank her.

This was the final day of preparation for the Gagaku Festival. Directly thanking each other felt too formal and distant, but she still wanted to do it.

So she must have wanted to do it after the other two had fallen asleep.

That would explain the unsure look she had occasionally had during the day.

They had known each other a long time, so when they were hesitant to say something, it was either incredibly important or incredibly unimportant.

Which was it for Asama this time?

“Heh heh. Too bad, but I won’t let you say it.”

If she was going to say it, it had to be after they were successful.

Kimi was willing to listen after Asama had sung the encore song she had prepared for the Gagaku Festival. Because…

“This involves me. It’s meaningless if you thank me before it’s over.”

They needed to enjoy this. No matter what happened during the Gagaku Festival and the mysterious phenomenon purification and no matter the result…

“We need to see it through to the end…and enjoy it.”

With that, Kimi returned to her futon.

And she wondered if Mitotsudaira wanted to thank her the way Asama did.

Was she thankful for being given this opportunity? And…

“What about me?”

'''Me:''' “Eh? What’s that, sis?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Nothing. Except…”

Kimi spoke to her brother.

'''Wise Sister:''' “Hidden feelings are best sought after and realized. …Don’t you think?”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4B Chapter 12|Chapter 12]]
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4B Chapter 14|Chapter 14]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4B Chapter 10

2018-07-21T21:40:04Z

162.158.134.121: Two words fixed.

==Chapter 10: Defenseless Girl in a Place of Skin Contact==
[[Image:Horizon_Kimi4B_097.jpg|thumb]]
''Why am I tripping

''So much today!?

'''Point Allocation (Below Your Feet)

Naruze was working on the furnace at Dangerous Waters’s women’s bath.

At the bottom of the drained tub, she was checking the heating element that was visible with the wooden frame removed.

…''That said, messing with the boiler would be a pain, so I won’t do that.

Machines were Naomasa’s specialty and she was currently in the boiler room around back.

'''Smoking Girl:''' “It uses standard heat sterilization by boiling the water with spells and Musashi’s internal-combustion boiler. Suzu’s Bath focuses more on the spells, but that might be because Asama’s place is there on Okutama.”

'''Asama:''' “Yes. Okutama has the academy and a lot of student housing, so the internal-combustion boiler’s output is sent there. That doesn’t leave enough boiler power for a bathhouse’s water, which could be dangerous, so Okutama’s bathhouses primarily use spells.”

'''Bell:''' “Will it be…okay?”

“Yes, I can see the spell conduction rate from above, so it’ll be fine.”

Naruze spoke directly to Suzu who was scrubbing the tub floor nearby.

The girl wore a bathhouse swimsuit and a yukata and she was down on her knees for the work. She would touch the tiles with her fingers before using the brush, so she was likely sensing the filth there.

This floor was fairly difficult.

The floor was the big difference between Dangerous Waters and Suzu’s Bath.

Here at Dangerous Waters, the floor was tiled.

At Suzu’s Bath, the floor used wooden block tiles.

Dangerous Waters drained well and felt more luxurious. That was partially because important people lived on Musashino instead of just students, but…

…''It has more to do with the previous owner’s tastes…or rather, their view of what a bath should be like.

Dangerous Waters had originally been owned by a representative of the Musashino Bathhouse Guild, but Suzu’s parents had taken over once that person retired.

Suzu’s Bath had been bought with the income from that and their pre-existing savings. It had gone out of business before, but they had remodeled and reopened it.

That difference meant Suzu’s Bath had the cheaper construction.

But because it had been remodeled, Suzu’s Bath had the newer equipment.

The floor was a good example.

Dangerous Waters’s tiles were luxurious, but the tile block pieces were half the size of a tatami mat and difficult to remove. After all, they were heavy.

And the flowing water meant the filth would gather in the gaps between tiles.

But because the large tile blocks were difficult to remove, you had to focus on the gaps and wash the filth away with cleaner. You had to do that for all the gaps and then rinse it with water once the cleaner got the filth off.

At Suzu’s Bath, the longish wooden floor blocks could be leaned up against the wall, allowing you to clean the entire structure. And if that was too much work, you could let them float in the tub overnight while the white algae creatures dealt with it.

Being able to go to that effort in keeping the bath clean was a way of showing your power as a representative of the Bathhouse Guild. And since Suzu’s parents had been given the bathhouse afterwards, that representative must have recognized their skill.

And sure enough, they had acquired Suzu’s Bath just a few years later.

…''It’s incredible.

“Wh-what is it…Ga-chan?”

“Eh? …Oh, I was just noticing how many incredible things you can find all around you.”

Suzu herself was pretty incredible too.

The way she was scrubbing the floor was not quite crawling, but it was similar to a push-up.

She gradually moved forward as she scrubbed. If she had been doing that daily since elementary school…

…''I can see why she’s so skinny and has such perfect form.

Naruze also realized something else about Suzu.

“Her balance.”

“…Eh?”

Suzu looked back as if to ask what she meant, but just then…

“Oh, Suzu-san. I’ll do that part!”

Adele walked up in a yukata and lined up alongside Suzu.

She got down on her knees and tried to scrub the corner of the floor.

“Eh?”

Like a clockwork toy, she dynamically rolled sideways.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!!”

Naruze watched as Adele sat up and quickly fixed the bottom of her yukata. She then straightened up on the bubbly floor.

“This is slippery!”

“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Naruze’s thoughts turned toward “balance” once more.

Suzu’s Bath, which stayed open longer and was primarily used by students, used easily-cleaned wooden floors and those were not very slippery. But Dangerous Waters used tile floors which became quite slippery with the cleaner on them.

Even water alone was enough to make you slip and fall here.

It was incredible how Suzu kept her knees together on that floor.

That would be a combination of her excellent senses and the balance supported by them. If she maintained her form, there was little noise in her senses and she rarely misread things. Which meant…

…''How much does that synergy boost her senses?

Naruze did not really understand, but she had a feeling that ability would come in handy one day. But at the same time…

“This is so wonderfully slippery! …Two rotations!!”

“Stop skating and scrub the floor, Kimi!”

Asama’s group seemed to be enjoying themselves while cleaning the center of the floor.

After performing a turn near the wall, Kimi flipped the bottom of her longish yukata around and raised her right leg like a tail. In that scorpion pose, she reached a hand over her shoulder and took what she had grabbed with her right foot.

“Heh heh. Silly Asama, look at this!”

The idiot sister slowly slid over to Asama and Mitotsudaira and showed Asama what she had stepped on.

“A banana peel!”

“You’re getting the floor dirty!!”

“I can’t help it since I was running the cosplay teahouse without any food. You left me all alone when you rushed off to the theatre ship! Or what? Are you going to give me something to eat? Asama, are you letting me eat your boobs!? Or Mitotsudaira, are you letting me eat your, um, uhh…give me a second…your hair? …No, that wouldn’t work. That much fiber would make tomorrow morning a real challenge…”

“What are you even talking about!?”

“Now, now.” The lunatic grabbed another banana peel from her other foot. “I knew you two couldn’t come back, so I swiped two extra bananas from the kitchen before coming here. …See, I placed one between my boobs like this, wrapped my fingers around the other, and ate them by carefully applying pressure with my lips… Do you know what I felt like while doing that!?”

“Like a monkey.”

“Silly Asama! Why are all of your thoughts so un-lewd!? I was eating bananas! So of course I felt like a neurotic monkey!”

''What in the world is she talking about? Is “a neurotic monkey” supposed to sound like “an erotic monkey”?

But Naruze saw motion to her side.

The golden wings working on the tub next to her were gesturing her way.

It was Margot. Naruze turned that way and saw a small Magie Figur hidden in her hand.

“Asama-chi,” it said.

“Eh?”

Naruze turned around and quickly saw what that meant.

Asama was scrubbing the floor while scolding Kimi. She likely did the exact same thing when scrubbing the shrine’s floor. She was down on her knees in a familiar pose for the work.

[[Image:Horizon_Kimi4B_105.jpg|thumb]]

But this tile floor was different from the shrine’s floors.

While scrubbing and moving along the slippery floor, she had spread her knees to avoid slipping, so the bottom of her yukata had ridden up and gathered at her waist.

“Oh, honestly.”

Asama scolded Kimi and continued scrubbing the floor like that, so Adele blushed when she looked her way.

“Asama-san.”

“Yes?”

“…You are far too defenseless.”

Naruze had to agree. Of course, in Asama’s case, her overly helpful nature and defenselessness would really only show themselves when she was around familiar people like this.

She normally seemed much more businesslike and Naruze had thought that was her natural state, but…

“Does it mean you trust us if you can be this defenseless around us?”

“Eh? Wh-what do you mean…?”

Naruze had no intention of answering that, but she did make a quick sketch for reference.

But Mitotsudaira…

“Tomo…hey, your yukata!”

She had apparently noticed.

''Too late. I’ve finished my sketch, so do as you wish.

Mitotsudaira grabbed the butt end of Asama’s yukata and she spoke to the shrine maiden with a sigh.

“You really shouldn’t be showing that off to everyone.”

When she pulled down, her Loup-Garou claws must have caught on it because the bottom of the yukata suddenly tore.

The downwards tug pulled Asama’s butt down on to the cold floor.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!?”

A very loud scream echoed off the walls.

“Kyaaaah! Tenzou-kun touched my butt!”

A fairly loud scream echoed off the walls.

The wood-floored room had a kitchen behind a counter.

“Aoi-kun, I’m glad you’re using the extra ingredients to serve us now that we’ve cleaned up the classroom, but you don’t have to take the girls’ place.”

“What’s the matter, Neshinbara!? You don’t like girls!?”

A nudist wearing a blonde playgirl outfit smiled while carrying two trays loaded with food.

He spoke to Tenzou whose upper body was collapsed on the table.

“C’mon, cheer up, Tenzou. You have training tomorrow, don’t you?”

“…”

Tenzou did not reply. Neshinbara responded for him from the window seat. He and Masazumi were checking through the photos of visitors and cosplay that they had taken during the day. They sorted them into different folders depending on who to send them to.

“Crossunite-kun must not have met any busty blondes today.”

“…You all really like that stuff, don’t you?”

“You don’t, Seijun?” asked the idiot.

“No, I don’t.”

Masazumi did not sound at all interested, but he still approached her.

“Then you can have this.”

“What is it?”

“…You’ve never had pizza before?”

“This has cream on it.”

“Sometimes pizza does.”

“Does it?”

Masazumi removed a glove and took a slice with red jam on it.

She bit off just the tip.

“…Wow, this is sweet!”

Masazumi saw the idiot smile her way after beginning to serve the others.

“For a job well done,” he said.

“All I did was help carry some things around.”

When she indirectly accepted what he was saying, the crossdressing nudist held up a different plate.

“Would you prefer this fruit one?”

“This is enough. …Oh, but do you have anything more dinner-y?”

“Hm, I’ll figure something out. Tee hee.”

''Don’t shake your butt at the end like that.

At any rate, Neshinbara picked up the slice of pizza he had been given. The dessert pizza had seemingly random things piled on top and each slice appeared to be different.

Neshinbara’s had a lot of caramel sauce.

Shirojiro’s had a lot of fruit. And…

“Tenzou, everyone was kind enough to leave behind the ‘busty blonde’ slice which has two custard puddings on top, so eat up.”

Everyone had obviously avoided that one because of the calories, but this was apparently one way of being nice.

At any rate, Tenzou slowly sat up in his seat and clenched his fists with his head still hanging.

“Toori-dono. Will I…will I ever meet someone I could call my destiny?”

“Pff!” said a voice over divine transmission. “Oh, sorry, Tenzou. I shouldn’t have laughed. To apologize, I’ll draw a doujinshi with you and a busty blonde. It’s fine as long as she’s female, right?”

“Wait, what does that mean!? I’ll accept it as long as she’s human or humanoid! And why is the divine transmission connected!?”

“Asama-kun prepared a real-time connection between all of us and the classroom so everyone could keep tabs on things in here. It was a time-limited thing, but the contract must not have ended yet.”

A glance at the clock showed it was just before 5.

…''Asama and the others are cleaning Mukai’s bathhouse and then discussing the Gagaku Festival, right?

Naruze sounded excited, but that probably had more to do with the approaching Gagaku Festival than reaching Rank 1.

…''That must be nice.

Masazumi had only just resumed thinking about becoming a politician, but some of her classmates had already started down the path to their futures.

Of course, she no longer felt like they were ''leaving her behind''.

Now she was only wondering if she could do the same thing.

That was why she was jealous.

But Naito and Naruze’s success had been the result of a duel that relied on considerable effort and skill. It would be disrespectful to envy them when she was not doing anything herself.

Asama had not relied on her family connection. She had passed the rank exams fair and square and she kept up with her daily training and life.

And Mukai helped manage the family business on a daily basis.

“——————”

Realizing she had a long way to go may have been a sign that Masazumi was not putting enough pressure on herself.

…''I can’t just expect my dad to help out…

In the A/V room below the Provisional Council Building, everyone was watching recordings of the new spring shows and exchanging their opinions. However, one man held a divine transmission sign frame to his ear.

“Huhhhhhh!? What did you say, Ina!? We all know you became an elementary school principal because you like kids younger than 13! So can’t you give Masazumi a raise for her part-time teaching job!? What!? You don’t want to because she’s 16!? That rounds down to 12!”

“Nobu-tan! Nobu-tan! Calm down!”

“Shut it, Koni-tan! …What was that, Ina!? You can manage it if she teaches the first period in the morning!? And how much would you be paying from your own pocket!? …650 yen!?”

The man glanced around the room and saw 6 of the 7 people there shake their head.

One of them, a chubby merchant, quickly produced a sum on a sign frame abacus. When the man saw that…

“Seven hundred and thirty yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen! …Surely you can pay that much. What!? You can’t!? You can’t!!? Is your name Can’t-sensei!? Fine, then! I’ll just have you fired and make Masazumi a part-time principal in your place! I swear I’ll do it! Got it!? That’s what I’ll do! …Heh, you should have just said that in the first place. That is acceptable.”

“Huh? Masazumi? I just received a divine transmission for you. The Musashino Elementary School wants you to know they’re giving you a raise for your part-time teaching job.”

“Ah,” said Masazumi when the divine transmission from Asama arrived. “I just started the other day, but they did say I picked things up quickly. And here I thought that kind of job just doesn’t pay well. …Ha ha ha. Leave it to a grade school to teach you about grades. Pay grades, that is.”

Masazumi watched as the idiot fell over, trays and all.

“What, did you think it was that funny?”

“That was a little forced, Seijun…!”

''I’m not sure what he means, but he must have liked it.'' At any rate…

“I wonder if I have my dad’s name to thank for this. …It’s possible they forced this through, so I need to do a job worth the pay. Besides, I can’t even buy books the way things are.”

“Books? How about actually eating something once in a while? You’re so skinny.”

“There’s no point in trying to bulk up now.”

“That is true,” said Crossunite as he straightened up. “Masazumi-dono, based on my estimation of your activity level, eating too much would not lead to muscle mass. …Do you ever do any training?”

“No, not really.”

Her middle school years had been spent on more intellectual pursuits. And once she was on the Musashi, the surface area was nearly flat and not all that spacious, so she had not felt any real reason to exercise. So…

“Being able to live my everyday life is enough for me. Although I am interested in taking walks just for a change of pace.”

“But you always end up collapsing from hunger, don’t you?”

She had to confirm what the idiot said.

“Breakfast is the real problem. When I’m looking for somewhere to eat in the mornings, I end up feeling dizzy. I avoid eating anything at night, so I must use up all my energy the evening before.”

“Fine then.” The idiot sighed. “I doubt anything we say will change how you live your life, but if you’re gonna collapse, do it near the Blue Thunder.”

“Judge. They’ve helped me a few times already. Although I don’t like depending on their kindness too much.”

“If they’re willing to help, there’s nothing wrong with accepting that kindness, so don’t worry.”

She just about agreed with that, but she stopped herself.

She understood what the idiot was trying to say, but this was about her and the Blue Thunder. She could not follow his viewpoint and let herself be defenselessly swallowed up. But when she thought about it again…

“I’m always causing so much trouble for people…”

“Who are you comparing yourself to there, Seijun?”

The idiot asked that while walking back to the kitchen.

…''Who?

When she thought about that, she ended up comparing herself to Asama, Mitotsudaira, Naito, Naruze, Adele, the other girls, and the boys.

“Everyone else is doing just fine on their own.”

The idiot might seem like he could not do anything, but even he could cook like this.

She understood that this dessert pizza was not something he made on a whim. It was a test for tomorrow.

…''Because the ovens we can bring into the classroom aren’t very powerful and are really only meant for keeping things warm.

If they tried to make a pizza normally, it would end up underdone. So he would instead make a dessert pizza that was fine with undercooked dough.

Over the past month, she had learned all too well that he was no good at academics, but…

“Even you have your talents.”

“No, I don’t. Everything I have is second-hand from my mom.”

“But you still think for yourself in how you use that.”

She said that while taking a bite of pizza, but she received a response from an unexpected place.

“That is an interesting thing to say. …Doing just fine ''on their own,'' you say?”

It was Bertoni.

Masazumi looked to the classmate who was occupying an entire table by stacking up coins and bills.

He took a sip of what smelled like tea from an insulated bamboo bottle.

“For example, my business requires customers. Even when I can supply the products and distribution myself, customers are still a necessary part of business.”

“Is this the abstract idea that people cannot live alone?”

“No, it is not. For example,” repeated Bertoni. “All the ninja things Tenzou does can be traced back to his father. Both the spells and techniques.”

And…

“Ohiroshiki can run his own restaurant because of his parents’ company.”

“What’s your point?”

Was listing your examples first how merchants constructed arguments? So…

“I’m more interested in your thesis than your introduction.”

Bertoni sighed when he heard that.

“It will be less persuasive, but fine.” He pulled a single coin towards himself and stood it up with his fingers. “Techniques, family reputation, assets, and everything else are inherited from your predecessors and history and they are made useful by making customers seek them out. Nothing can be done without that unbroken line of inheritance.”

“…That’s all abstract.”

“Then,” said Bertoni while giving her an expressionless look. “What are you trying to do ''on your own''?”

“Well…”

“You are trying to receive no help and you seek nothing from anyone. If you ask me, that is much more abstract. So let me say this.” The merchant asked a question. “If I asked you for an example of ''that'', could you give me even a single one?”

“An example?” she asked back.

…''What am I trying to do as myself and no one else? What am I trying to do ''on my own''?

“Well…”

…''Oh, I get it.

This had to be the merchants’ tactic with Heidi as the opening act.

They had already asked her a few questions as tests.

And now this merchant was searching for her “value as a product”.

In other words, that question was a test to see how she would answer as a politician.

Something she alone could do without relying on anyone.

It had to be a one-and-only desire and answer that would normally seem entirely abstract.

…''Let’s see…

One thing did come to mind. It was a desire that assumed you were all alone. It was a hope that could not rely on anything and that ''no one wanted'', but it was something that a politician could create.

That answer filled her mind.

…''To rebel against the world.

Masazumi thought about it.

If asked how serious she was, she could only say she was answering the question she was asked.

But it was indeed an answer to Bertoni’s question.

The Far East was under provisional rule, so they could…

…''Rebel against the world.

The provisional rule had continued for 160 years. No one would want this.

Even if she did advocate that goal, she doubted anyone would follow her.

''So,'' she thought. ''This answer clearly won’t help anyone and no one wants it.

Still, it was the perfect answer for Bertoni’s question.

So she opened her mouth.

“I have no intention of answering in the form of an example.”

She had to say it. There was only one answer.

Tenzou listened to Masazumi’s response. She straightened up as she spoke.

“I hope to be a politician. …I will stand with the people and speak for the nation formed by those people. So,” she continued. “No matter my personal opinions, I will not do anything the nation does not wish for. Or to put it another way, if the nation does wish for it…”

If it does…

“I will act even if I have no help and no one wants it.”

…''Well said.

That was Tenzou’s assessment of Masazumi.

By replacing the will of the people with national policy, she gave the nation a personality. That was the most recent form of political science. That was the root of the parliamentary governments that had rejected the authority of kings but also shut out the influence of the people.

The choice Masazumi was trying to make was a political act guided not by her personal opinions but by the nation’s personality.

…''Doing things “on your own” is the ultimate form of acting on personal opinion.

She would have failed if she had answered Shirojiro’s request for an example as a government politician.

So she had instead stated what she must do as a politician.

“If the nation wishes for it, hm?”

If the nation wished for it, she would choose to do things “on her own”. That was her idea of a politician.

That did not mean she would simply accept the people’s demands. She would consider the best form for what the nation needed and select that.

In some cases, that would place a burden on the people.

In some cases, she would choose something opposed to the will of the people in order to preserve the “nation” that protected the people.

Those were the cases she referred to when she said she would ''have no help'' and that ''no one would want it''.

And what she said did not reject what Shirojiro was saying.

To move a nation as a politician required inheriting many things.

She was saying those lonely choices were an option even after inheriting things. Or as Shirojiro put it…

“So in some cases, your politics could make an enemy of anything and everything.”

“Again, it’s all abstract,” said Masazumi. “With the Far East under provisional rule, I doubt I will ever be in a situation that requires that kind of choice. …But if the nation wishes for it…no, if I cannot save the nation without doing it, then I will.”

“A good answer,” said Shirojiro with a nod. He placed the raised coin on top of another like he was building a tower. “You need not remember this, but I will give you one free piece of advice. Listen, let’s say you do become a politician and are prepared to make an enemy of anything and everything.”

Everyone listened to him.

“At least one person will undoubtedly support you.”

Masazumi smile bitterly at Bertoni’s words.

“Still abstract. …Are you talking about that pattern in human psychology where you can always find a dissenter in a group?”

“You need not remember this. It is fairly unimportant.”

He moved his left arm as if to cover the tower of coins he had built. And…

…''Oh?

All of a sudden, all the money on the desk was gone, both coin and paper.

It was a spell. A white fox Mouse had appeared by his neck and it had opened a money-gathering sign frame. That meant the money had been stored in an alternate-dimensional safe.

Bertoni and Heidi were always at work as merchants.

…''They’re the real deal.

And just as she thought that…

“Here you go, Seijun. I made it so you can bring it home with you.”

The idiot left the kitchen with a large, open bento box in his left hand and both a cloth wrapper and the lid in his right hand. Four glasses were lined up inside the bento box and when she looked inside from above…

“Is this jam?”

“They’re trifles.”

She knew what those were.

That English dessert was made by layering leftover ingredients in a container.

“You went to the trouble of making these?”

“Well, we had extra ingredients and I could more or less guess how much that would be.”

The idiot held up one of the glasses so she could see.

“From the top, they have jam, cereal, thick cream, more cereal, more jam, and then adzuki beans at the bottom. The jam at the bottom is pretty far down, so when you reach the halfway point, mix it all up before eating the rest, okay? …Your house has an ice room, right? Put these in the refrigerated area and they’ll last long enough for you to eat one a day.”

She grew curious when he put the lid on the bento box, but that may have been her childish side’s interest in hidden things.

But the idiot skillfully wrapped the cloth around it.

“Here, take it with you.”

“…Right. Okay.”

She took it. She had no reason to refuse. But there was one thing she had to say.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it. …The containers are Mitotsudaira’s and the bento box is Asama’s, so make sure you return them later.”

“Will do.”

But, well…

“You all can do pretty much anything, can’t you?”

“N-no, I can’t find a busty blonde girlfriend!” protested Tenzou.

''Don’t be so quick to say that.

…''Well, I don’t know if they expect anything from me, but they probably are rooting for me.

Masazumi nodded while thinking about the weight in her hand and Bertoni’s earlier words.

“I guess I’ll head home and study.”

“Ohh, you sure are studious, Seijun.”

“That’s about all I have going for me. Besides…” She raised the wrapped box to eye level. “Someone who isn’t studious and has no one rooting for them can never become a politician.”

She glanced at the wall clock and saw it was past 5.

The classroom’s divine transmission contract would have ended. The transmissions from Asama and the others had disappeared.

…''They must be busy in their own ways.

“I’ll be heading home. …Until tomorrow, everyone.”

“Sure,” said the crossdresser as Masazumi stepped out into the hall.

It was chilly.

Once she entered the hallway, Masazumi realized it was evening.

A faint scarlet light passed through the stealth barrier to fill the sky.

There was no one else in the gently scarlet-dyed hallway.

The stillness and chilliness she found there told her just how much heat and energy had permeated the classroom.

And she found her thoughts rapidly returning to their normal shape.

Once she returned home today, her job would to be to carry her father’s messages to other politicians and government offices. After that, she would study and read, but…

…''Right now, all I’ve done is decide what I want to do. I haven’t actually done anything yet.

This was a time of preparations.

She would study how to be a politician and receive real-time lessons in what the world and Musashi were doing.

She doubted she would have a good grasp of the state of the world and Musashi unless she continued doing this for at least a year. A lot of events would occur during a year.

“In that case, I still have 11 months to go.”

''Don’t rush this,'' she told herself while gripping the weight in her hand.

…''Even if I make a lonely decision, at least one person will support me, hm?

That was not something worth remembering.

She knew it was just a play on words or a jinx.

But she could not help but think about it. Some of her classmates were already working in their fields and it was possible all of them were prepared to make their own lonely choices after inheriting so much. In that case…

“I may not be alone.”

She had just gotten a late start and needed a lot of preparation.

Of course, those who had gotten started ahead of her would continue to achieve results.

The Gagaku Festival was one of those.

“——————”

Masazumi gripped the weight in her hand as she thought.

…''Is it disrespectful to see my future self when I look at the others who have already gotten started?

“Would it still count as studious if I went to see the Gagaku Festival?”

She decided to think up an excuse. An excuse that would convince her father.

“Okay, the tub is full again, so how about we take the first bath!?”

Adele dumped a bucket-full of bathwater over her head, turned toward the others, and made a light hop into the center of the tub. Waves and spray soon followed.

“Oh, Adele, you shouldn’t make waves,” said Naito while she sat down in the tub with her wings submerged vertically into the water.

Naruze did the same and nodded.

“That’s right. It’s filled pretty much to the top at first, so whatever overflows is lost.”

“Eh!? Oh, s-sorry. I’ll pay for what overflowed!”

Adele stood up from the center of the tub.

The waves from her jump did reach Suzu who sat on the edge, but…

“D-don’t worry. It won’t…go over the edge.”

“Oh, I get it.” Naito sighed. “You don’t displace enough water. Because of your volume…”

“Wh-what was that ‘because of your volume’ at the end supposed to mean!?”

Naito shook her head.

“Adele, you forget the ‘…’ at the very end.”

“Y-you’re right! And that only expresses more astonishment!”

Just as Adele stood up, Naito prepared herself for the water level to lower and alter her balance.

Changes in water level would shake her submerged wings, so she had to make sure her position was not changed.

…''Oh?

But it did not happen.

The water level should have lowered, but it instead rose. And it actually surpassed its expected height and overflowed into the washing area.

“Ohh?”

Naito turned around and spotted the cause of the overflowing.

That cause was the person by the tub’s entrance: Asama was soaking in the water there.

…''Yeah, that size will do it…

Her overall size. Not just her breasts.

But Asama, who was unaware of Naito’s thoughts, sighed.

And Kimi entered the tub behind her.

The bathwater overflowed once more.

Naito watched as Kimi swam halfway across the tub toward her. Asama stretched out her body to relax with her back against the tub’s inner wall.

“Nn… Huh? Why are you looking at me? Did you need some divine transmission help?”

“No, um, I was just thinking about physics.”

“Huh?”

While Asama tilted her head, Naomasa finished washing herself off and entered from Naito’s side of the tub.

She first sat on the edge and soaked her legs, so Naito and Adele both viewed her silhouette.

“Boobs float, right? So that means…”

“Wait a minute,” said Adele while turning back toward Naito. “Are you saying the boobs of the well-endowed will have more of an impact than me jumping in?”

Naomasa’s amount of water overflowed as if to answer the girl’s question.

“Nh,” groaned Adele when she saw it. “How many people’s worth was that!? It must be a quadratic equation! Oh, but if you include the boobs-like ‘w’ in addition to ‘x’ and ‘y’, it would be a cubic equation! Drat!”

“Wouldn’t you use ‘z’ instead of ‘w’? And, Adele, it isn’t just their boobs displacing the water. Doesn’t the rest of their body have more volume?”

“Ho ho? You mean their butts? So that’s part of it too!?”

“Ohh, I see you’re digging in your heels, Adele. But if anything, I guess it would be the whole volume that is made up of those individual parts.”

“I see. In that case…”

Adele looked past Asama’s head.

Someone was preparing to enter the bath there: Mitotsudaira.

Adele nodded and spoke while watching her.

“Now, a question. How much will it overflow with that slender body?”

Naito thought, ''I feel like this is turning into a combination of philosophy and math.

Wasn’t this something from Greek mathematics?

…''A long time ago, Archimedes was asked to find out how much of an impurity there were in a royal crown that had been made, so he came up with a method that involved submerging it in water.

The method was to submerge the original weight of pure gold and the impurity-filled crown in separate containers of water and compare how much water overflowed. Due to the relationship between volume and relative weight, the difference in overflowed water would tell you the amount of the impurity.

According to the Testament, Archimedes had come up with the idea in the bath and he had been so excited that he ran naked through the streets shouting “Eureka!”, which created a lot of chaos.

For the history recreation, the people in charge had discussed the matter:

“We can’t exactly have him running around in the nude.”

“And it would be even worse if he does it while chasing around women and children shouting ‘Eureka!’ ”

“Then let’s give him some clothes.”

Since they did not want him getting cold after leaving the bath, they had allowed him to wear a coat.

In the end, Archimedes had become the world’s first trench coat nudist who opened the front and chased around the women and children shouting “Eureka!” That had created a lot of chaos, so what went wrong there was a common discussion topic in ethics classes.

If you looked in a textbook now, Archimedes was clearly a pervert holding his coat open, but…

…''Modern math and philosophy were built on the foundation provided by people like that.

And little had changed since.

This problem had two types of people: the well-endowed with large frames vs. the slender athletic ones.

“I think I get it,” Naito said to Adele. “On the one hand you have the busty ones whose boobs will shrink a bit from the water pressure, but on the other hand you have the slender ones who are dense enough to resist the water pressure. Now, who will displace more water? …The answer is pretty obvious.”

“D-don’t make up your mind so soon, Naito-san! The Extra Special Duty Officer is our shining star of hope!”

“Well, I’m more like Asama-chi, so aren’t I your enemy?”

“Ehh!? You were tricking me all this time!?”

''About what?'' she wondered, but Adele was probably having brain problems after flying through the air and rolling around so much lately. It would be best not to ask questions.

But Mitotsudaira looked up when she noticed the two girls watching her enter the bath. She started by stepping into the bath on Asama’s side.

“Wh-why are you staring at me like that, Margot and Adele?”

“Oh, um…I think your volume is a little different, Mito-tsan, so don’t worry about it.”

“What is that supposed to mean!?”

With that, Mitotsudaira slowly lowered halfway into the tub.

Just then, Asama spoke up while measuring the water level with her hand.

“What…?” She frowned. “The water level just went down.”

…''Huh?

Naito questioned what Asama had said.

“Eh?” said everyone else at the same time.

Naito knew why everyone, including Mitotsudaira, exchanged a glance.

Naomasa frowned and explained.

“A volume entered the water, but the amount of water receded instead of rising?”

There was a clear gap between the top of the bathwater and the bottom of Asama’s raised hand.

Next to Naito, Naruze raised her pen vertically and measured the difference from a distance.

“That’s more than 5mm. …What does it mean? Is Mitotsudaira so flat that the water went inside her chest?”

“Ga-chan, if that was how it worked, the water should have vanished as soon as Adele jumped in.”

“What!? What!? Why are you talking about me again!?”

“Now, now,” said Asama while waving the hand she had used to measure the water level. “Um, Mito? There isn’t anything weird about your body, is there?”

“Just out of curiosity, what do you think my body is doing here?”

“Heh heh,” said Kimi. “I just remembered those toys that grow to 30 times their size when you soak them in water.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember those.” Asama nodded with a straight face. “Toori-kun once brought a roach-shaped one to my place and subsequently lost it. The next morning, it had grown giant inside the hand-washing station and caused a panic among the visitors. He came with his mom to apologize and she hit him with a super-high dropkick.”

''To-chan is always up to something, isn’t he?

“Right, right.” Kimi nodded while sitting down in the center of the tub. “I remember that. He bought it at a festival stand.”

She then turned toward Mitotsudaira.

“But, Mitotsudaira? Do your boobs grow when you soak them in water or something?”

“No. They. Do. Not!”

“Then,” continued Naito while tilting her head toward Mitotsudaira. “What made the water level drop, Mito-tsan?”

“Eh? Um, that’s right…”

“Heh heh. Mitotsudaira, try sinking further into the water.”

Kimi laughed quietly as she slapped the tub.

“If Adele’s theory was correct, the water level should fall.”

Mitotsudaira responded to Kimi by sighing and sinking down to her shoulders.

She could not rid herself of the feeling that she was being used as a spectacle, but that could be an honor at times.

She really did exist, so they had to be mistaken that the water level had dropped when she entered the bath.

So now that she was sinking further down…

…''The water level has to rise.

It felt ticklish to have everyone’s eyes on her. Some parts of her body were lacking, but she was still fairly confident in it. So she felt no fear.

“Please watch this.”

She sat down.

Before her butt even reached the bottom, the bathwater suddenly overflowed from the tub.

“…Huh?”

Mitotsudaira saw the bathwater overflowing from the three sides of the tub that did not border the wall.

“Ohh,” said Naito and Naruze as their wings were lifted up by the force of the water.

Asama’s hand was also moved up as she measured the water level with it.

“…Eh?”

The overflowing stopped, but Mitotsudaira had yet to fully sit down in the tub.

''What does this mean?'' she wondered with a tilt of her head.

Then she heard Naomasa’s voice.

“Oh… Hey, Mito? Could you stand up real quick? That will solve the mystery.”

“Eh? Oh, judge. I can do that.”

''If that will solve it,'' thought Mitotsudaira as she stood up from the water.

Then something happened.

The water level quickly lowered.

“…Huh?”

Asama heard Mitotsudaira’s surprise.

She understood why the girl was so surprised. There was a nearly 1cm gap below the hand she had held out to measure the water level. However…

…''What does this mean?

''Could it be?'' she wondered just as Kimi gave a deep nod and spoke.

“I know what this is.”

“You do, Kimi!?”

“Judge. …Mitotsudaira has massive but hidden boobs, so her spiritual ‘mold’ as a Loup-Garou gives her the volume of the boobs she should have. …But she is still flat in reality, so it is all for naught.”

“Please don’t invent weird things about my species. Even if we are created from the ‘mold’ of people’s fears, our hopes can’t actually change that mold. If we could do that, we would be the strongest species out there.”

“Eh?” Suzu tilted her head. She was sweating from the steam while sitting on the edge of the bath. “But isn’t fear…things people…think? S-so if someone wished for…Mitotsudaira-san’s chest…wouldn’t it…grow?”

“…Eh?”

Mitotsudaira thought about what Suzu had said.

“Heh heh. In other words! Get someone to massage your boobs and they’ll grow!”

“W-wait just a second! How did you reach that conclusion!?”

“Oh, dear.” Kimi narrowed her eyes toward Asama. “Doesn’t it sound plausible? As the romance of Loup-Garous?”

“My, my. Honey, why are you half in tears again? This is just the way it is. I had my body grow to be a perfect match for you. …Yes, Loup-Garous are spiritual beings, so we can change how we grow to a certain extent. And since there is a circulation between us on a daily, hourly, and minutely basis, you could say my body is growing the way you want it. …Yes, and I want to prey on you as much as possible, so if anything, maybe it’s less my body adapting to your desires and more my body adapting to my desires now that I know your desires. …Oh, dear. What’s wrong? Why are you arching your back like that? You can’t escape into the bottom of the bed, you know? Hee hee. I’ll be taking plenty more, okay?”

…''That does sound plausible!

Mitotsudaira’s mother’s ridiculous proportions made a lot of sense if you thought of them as the result of a synergy between both her parents’ desires.

But as she listened to the others, she recalled that her mother had apparently always been like that.

…''So is the original body type what really matters?

The more she thought about it, the darker the future looked, so she decided to stop.

The next thing she knew, everyone was giving her curious looks, but she really wished they would stop. She cleared her throat, raised her eyebrows a bit, and spoke.

“Um, a-anyway, can we change subjects now!?”

“Calm down,” said Naomasa. “I think I know what this is. …Suzu, how many divine protections does this water have compared to the other bathhouse?”

“Eh? Um, compared to…Suzu’s Bath?”

It was Asama who responded.

“This is Musashino, so it’s closer to the European style than anything. Due to that, the Asama Shrine only supplies divine protections for sterilization, disinfection, and heating. If you want a bath with more effects, you need to have a natural one prepared at Suzu-san’s place.”

“That settles it. Kimi, can you give Mitotsudaira’s hair a squeeze?”

“Hm? Like this?”

Kimi circled behind Mitotsudaira and squeezed a roll of hair like she was embracing it.

A bunch of bathwater immediately burst from the hair.

“…Huh!?”

Asama said something while brushing up bangs wet with the scattered bathwater.

“A sponge?”

“Exactly.”

Naomasa smiled bitterly and Kimi squeezed the other rolls of hair. Even more bathwater flowed from Mitotsudaira’s hair and splashed into the tub.

Naomasa smiled a little at the sound.

“Mito’s hair has a grooming divine protection, but it’s surprisingly incompatible with Shinto divine protections. It’s to the point that Asama makes a nonhuman adjustment to the Asama Shrine’s spring for her. But the water here is closer to natural. So…”

“The water rapidly soaked into my hair, didn’t it?”

“Your species gives your hair a natural divine protection for weight reduction, so you probably didn’t feel the weight. So when you first entered the water, it soaked into your hair and the water level lowered, but when you submerged your body, all the water in your hair pushed the water level back up. And when you stood up just now…”

“The hair that had stayed dry the first time had soaked up the water while I was sitting down.”

''I see,'' thought Asama, while running her fingers through her own hair to see how much water it had soaked up.

…''My fingers run through it just fine, so I must be imagining any effect I thought I had seen.

She searched on a sign frame and saw that she did have beauty divine protections for her hair and skin. That meant she would not harm her hair by soaking it in the bathwater. But another thought occurred to her and she looked over.

“Naito and Naruze, are you two okay?”

“Oh, they do feel a little heavy,” said Naito.

“But they’re buoyant, so it isn’t much different from Suzu’s Bath if we don’t try to move them,” said Naruze. “But we did come here a few times during elementary and middle school. …We just got used to using Suzu’s Bath once it opened.”

Those two lived on Okutama. So did Asama. The others also tended to use Suzu’s Bath since it was conveniently located when heading home from the academy. However…

“Mito, you came here a few times in the past too, didn’t you?”

“I did, didn’t I? I don’t think my hair soaked up so much water back then.”

“Your ‘mold’ has changed.”

The Cerberus on Mitotsudaira’s head barked in response to Kimi’s voice.

And Kimi responded by continuing her explanation.

“In the past, rejection was a big part of your personality, so you could keep out even bathwater with weak divine protections. But now you’ve softened enough that you can only keep out bathwater with strong divine protections.”

“Doesn’t that mean I’ve regressed?”

“Heh heh. It’s the same as falling in love. Those feelings are important.”

Kimi hummed cheerfully and opened a few sign frames in the bath.

She activated Turning Point.

“Kimi, is that…?”

“Judge. You could call it a boob-growth prayer for Mitotsudaira. …C’mon, Mitotsudaira, sing the song you didn’t at the Asama Shrine before. We’re practicing here today, so get us started with that.”

''That sounds nice,'' thought Naito as she extended her main wings back along the bottom of the tub. The water resistance was bad for the wings, but it was fine if she created the currents herself. She was submerging the wings like a knife through the water rather than parting the water.

“I want to hear you sing this time, Mito-tsan.”

“Same here,” said Naruze who stopped drawing a storyboard long enough to wipe sweat from her brow. “I want to see what you can do. We’ve mostly shown you our hand. And doing this will allow us to plan a performance that isn’t too similar to yours.”

“That is a good idea.”

Mitotsudaira took a microphone sign frame from Kimi.

When she looked up, there was none of the hesitation or dejection seen on her face the other day.

She had a song ready.

And she nodded to confirm that fact. She faced the two of them, and…

“To be honest, I think it was very helpful to hear your song. At its core, yours was a Technohexen Song with its roots in Eastern Europe. And it was a song about your lives on Musashi as Technohexen. But my song is a knight’s song that also had its roots in Europe. And it is a song about my life on Musashi as a knight. …Knights and Technohexen are from the same time period, so there is a good chance that some elements will be similar.”

“Yes. We plan to keep the Technohexen elements limited to our fashion, but if we’re going to be similar to anyone, it would be you. …So let us hear it.”

“…If you insist.”

They watched as Mitotsudaira prepared to sing with the Cerberus still on her head.

Mitotsudaira heard an “oh” from Naomasa and applause from the others.

She was finally able to receive that applause. She had been unable to do that at the Asama Shrine the other day because she had not decided on the talking portion yet.

But she was glad she had heard Kimi’s Dance of Joyful Awakening there.

…''That let me know how much of the words inside me I could let out.

Needing to follow Kimi’s lead felt somewhat shameful as a knight, but she was still unaccustomed to being part of a band.

''Now that I have finished it up and remade it, will I be able to stand alongside her?'' she wondered.

“Heh heh. What’s that grin about?”

“There’s nothing wrong with grinning. I’m just tuning my mood a bit.”

Being teased did not really bother her right now. Even that simple exchange could never have happened a few years ago.

''So,'' she thought. ''I may not be able to forget about that time, but I do need to set my own standards now.

And at the same time…

…''It is true I haven’t begun anything new.

She had shut out who she had been and made it a thing of the past. It felt like a striking difference to her, but what did her king think?

Nothing with him seemed to have changed since that time and he was making moves on another girl.

Kimi had said she was his knight and she should relax because of that relationship, but…

“—————”

''I’m trapped by these thoughts,'' she felt.

She could not let these thoughts trap her.

Thoughts were meant to decide on a course of action and urge her to take that action, not to trap her.

Was she right to wait for her king?

She did not know the answer to that question and that was why she had to think about what to do.

The song she had prepared here contained her thoughts on a possible answer to that. In other words…

“This is a fairly formal song. It is a song of a triumphant return.”

Mitotsudaira heard some impressed voices.

Naito nodded once and gave her a thumbs up.

“Mito-tsan, if it’s a knight’s song, then it’s gotta be that, right?”

Hearing that put her at ease.

It meant her “color” had gotten through to everyone.

And Naruze said, “A song of triumph. That sounds good. Or at the very least, it doesn’t sound bad.”

“Did you have to twist that around?”

“I’ve always been like that. This is as straight as I get.”

Mitotsudaira could only smile when the girl said that with a smile and raised eyebrows.

Then Adele sat next to Suzu on the side of the bath. She spread her hands in front of her.

“Should we clap to the beat?”

“This really isn’t that kind of song. Also, there’s a part I still can’t decide about.”

“Can’t decide? So it isn’t just that you haven’t gotten around to it?”

“Judge.” Mitotsudaira nodded. “I can’t decide what to do about the end of the talking portion. …I tried making a talking portion to keep the Gagaku Festival exciting, but I can’t decide on the very last part.”

It was a song of a triumphant return. So…

“I think I should praise my king in the end.”

Hearing that, Kimi placed a hand over her mouth and laughed a little.

She then twisted around to avoid the others’ gazes.

…''Curse her…!

Mitotsudaira knew exactly why Kimi had laughed.

She had shown Kimi the lyrics and the talking portion she had made.

But she was singing it here, so there was no need to hold back. She would be singing it at the Gagaku festival too, so…

“Ah.” Mitotsudaira had an idea. “I’ll keep the music playing at the talking portions and you can tell me what you think.”

“Heh heh. Too many corrections and your individuality will fade away, so be careful.”

''That’s true,'' thought Mitotsudaira.

She thought about starting the song, but…

…''Umm.

She had to say something first. It was something she had thought before.

“I am going to sing a triumphant return song. After Naito and Naruze’s victory, I let Kimi see the lyrics, so she did influence it somewhat.”

She looked away from Kimi as she continued.

“So I’m thankful. …Just a little.”

Everyone gave her a “what is that about?” look, but it was not something that could be explained in words.

These lyrics included a few of the reservations inside her. And its title was…

“Howling Below the Moon. …Here I go.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4B Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4B Chapter 11|Chapter 11]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 6C Chapter 60

2018-07-18T22:22:06Z

162.158.134.121: These words did not seem like they were repeated on purpose.

==Chapter 60: Duelers at the Hot Spring==
[[Image:Horizon6-C532.jpg|thumb]]
''Hmm?

'''Point Allocation (Somewhat Mad…!)

Ookubo looked up to the ceiling in the bathhouse changing room.

…''I have no idea what’s going on anymore…

Exchanging divine mail addresses with Kani had been confusing enough, but it had only gotten worse from there.

She had yet to tell Kani or Yoshiyasu what had happened ''here'' with Seki. The automatons had cleaned up afterwards and she had recovered the short sword stabbed into the floor and everything else.

She had sent her bloody stole to be washed and the wound below her collarbone was sealed with a charm. She felt some slight heat there, but it was hidden by the towel she wore in place of her stole.

Yoshiyasu and Kani seemed to have gotten to know each other. Kani still seemed to keep some distance from Ookubo, but Ookubo appreciated that. It allowed her to keep doing things her own way. ''The upperclassmen have no trouble keeping me from doing that, which is such a pain…

But the biggest source of confusion was occurring right in front of her.

There was a ping pong table and a blackboard for writing the score. She tapped each of them once and spoke.

“And with that, the Reine de Garous and Mogami Chancellor will begin their ping pong duel.”

''And with that? What am I saying?'' she thought.

But this was the duel those two had decided on.

“Let’s go over the rules. Are you both familiar with ping pong?”

“Testament. I am.”

As for Mogami Yoshiaki…

“Yes, my Ushuu is a hot spring town. This game is a popular form of entertainment during the winter.”

That was good to hear.

“Judge.” Ookubo nodded and opened a sign frame. “As a special rule, whoever scores 5 points first will be the winner. You can score points when you change who serves. Miss a serve and it changes immediately. …Does that sound good?”

“Testament. This entire battle is approaching the end, so a lengthy duel that slows everything down would be a bad idea.”

“True,” agreed Yoshiyasu from behind Yoshiaki. She sat in a chair with her arms crossed. “We still have the Kantou Liberation afterwards. Delaying progress in blocks of 30 minutes would be a problem. …Of course, that ignores the possible benefit to Mouri or Mogami.”

“Heh heh. Don’t worry about that,” said the Reine des Garous. “I also want to end this duel as quickly as possible and get back. The bath washed off some of his scent.”

Ookubo was not sure what that meant, but she had a feeling her upperclassmen would understand.

“Anyway,” said Ookubo while using both hands to point at the Reine des Garous and Mogami Chancellor. “Just to be clear, this is cutting it pretty close as far as the Testament is concerned.”

There was a note mentioning that this sport was later developed from tennis. And there were records from the Age of the Gods saying it was a hot spring sport. But tennis itself was still not fully historically established, so…

“This kind of sport is generally enjoyed while hidden indoors, isn’t it?”

“Well, you can’t exactly play it outside…”

The wind would affect the balls too much since they were so light.

That was another reason that ping pong was a form of indoor entertainment at the places that offered it. It still could not be officially advertised, so you had to go to the entertainment facilities and ask if you could play some “you-know-what”.

…''It’s a banned service…

“Heh heh. But we must submit the duel method to the Siege of Odawara headquarters, right? So I made sure to talk around the specific method. …Anyone with good intuition should know what it is we’re doing.”

“Hey, Mitotsudaira, can you explain this description the Reine des Garous sent about her duel with Mogami Yoshiaki?”

“Huh? What does it say? Let me see.”

*'''Duel Method: We will face each other in a closed room, grab and vigorously move a stick with rubber on the end, and send balls bouncing back and forth until one of us wins.

“Heh heh. Balls! Bouncing back and forth! O-oh, dear. Get too into it and you’ll lose! C’mon, Mitotsudaira! Asama! We can reproduce what I’m imagining using these bamboo poles! Grab them and vigorously move them around! Now, foolish brother! Horizon! Let’s go!”

“Kimi, what are you shouting about now!? And where are you three going with those bamboo poles!?”

Male and female students could be heard screaming on the other side of the festival stands. Those three were apparently chasing the guests around with those processed bamboo poles. ''This will undoubtedly hurt the Student Council’s approval rating,'' she thought, but there was no helping that.

Mitotsudaira sighed and returned to her senses.

“What is my mother doing!?”

Her mother was vigorously moving around a stick with rubber on the end.

For those warmup exercises, she swung a penhold racket that you pinched between your fingers.

…''It sure is light.

Swishing sounds came from her and the Mogami Chancellor and Musashi’s glasses-wearing Representative Council Head looked to each of them in turn.

“Which one of you will serve first?”

“The Reine des Garous can do that,” said the Mogami Chancellor.

The Reine des Garous nodded.

“Then I shall.”

She caught the ball the Musashi Representative Council Head threw to her and then she tossed it straight up.

“Here I go…!”

Kani watched the attack.

This was her first time seeing the Reine des Garous up close.

Since she was from P.A. Oda, she had of course heard of the partial destruction of IZUMO.

This woman had destroyed a portion of the floating island and then jumped down from it unharmed.

She looked like a kind lady. She really did. But…

“——————”

She launched an attack in an instant. The strike looked like a bullet as it struck the falling ball. It made a high-speed bounce and popped up in front of Mogami Yoshiaki.

…''Yoshiaki-sama…!

Yoshiaki did not move. But her hair shook and the ball hit the wall behind her.

“…!?”

It embedded itself there. That phenomenon was the result of an impossibly rapid spin. The rotation speed more than the solidness of the ball had created enough mass to tear into the wall.

And the Representative Council Head raised her left arm and blew a whistle.

“1 point for Mogami!”

The point had gone to Yoshiaki.

“Eh?” said the Reine des Garous, so the Representative Council Head pointed at her and shouted.

“Don’t use your Silver Cross!”

Ookubo thought:

…''I had a feeling something like this would happen!

“Hit the ball with your racket! What moron uses a divine weapon here!?”

But the target of her question, the Reine des Garous, hid the Silver Cross behind her back and placed her left index finger on her mouth.

“Hmm?”

She tilted her entire body as if to say she did not know what Ookubo was talking about.

“P-playing dumb isn’t going to help!”

“But, um, that’s not allowed?”

“Wait, didn’t you say you were familiar with ping pong?”

“I am familiar with it.”

Ookubo noticed something about how she said that.

…''Ah.

“How familiar?”

“Testament. I have seen people play it before. Yes.” She kept a straight face. “But am I really not allowed to use my Silver Cross?”

Ookubo had a feeling she should explain all the rules.

On the other side of the table, the Musashi Representative Council Head used a sign frame to explain the rules.

Yoshiaki sighed in her heart as she watched.

…''I can see why she is known as the Reine des Garous…

''This could be trouble,'' she thought.

It had been a surprise attack, but even though she had seen the Silver Cross appear, she had been unable to see the other woman swinging it.

This went beyond moving quickly. Moving way too fast was the standard for her.

Her standard speed was different from other people. So what would happen when she further increased her speed?

…''I have heard the Mito Lord did manage a win against her…

Did that just mean the daughter was a monster too?

But Yoshiaki was not to be trifled with when it came to being monstrous. She was a nine-tailed fox, a great monster fox.

“Hm.”

The Reine des Garous was currently learning the rules from the Representative Council Head.

That included how to swing the racket, how to serve, and how it all fit together. Since Kani was saying “ohh” while listening in, that Representative Council Head’s explanation must have been quite good.

But looking at the Reine des Garous listening to those words was enough to tell what tactics she would use.

“A quick attack…”

The racket she had chosen was a pen type. The grip had a rectangular cross section and it was held like a pen.

It could be manipulated with the fingers, so it was easy to control when making a forehand strike. On the other hand, it was a little difficult to catch the ball with a backhand strike.

Beginners were better off first leaning to attack and defend with forehand hits, so the pen type was a decent selection since it was easy to hold.

And based on the Silver Cross, this woman would focus on offense. She would move forward.

It was hard to put much force behind a hit with the pen style, but that was a trivial problem for the Reine des Garous’s strength. In a head-on rally, Yoshiaki had a very real possibility of being overpowered.

“Now…”

Yoshiaki spun the racket in her hand and grabbed it again.

Her racket’s grip was the shake style with a circular cross section. It was held from the side.

Controlling it was much like waving a fan. Precise finger movements were almost entirely unusable, but since it could be moved with the wrist, it was easy to use during backhand hits.

It allowed for more force behind hits, so it was a good choice when up against such an overpowering opponent.

''I can use this to take control of the table,'' thought Yoshiaki. And just then…

“That’s about it,” concluded Ookubo. “What should I do about the score?”

“Let’s count that last one, so give the Mogami Chancellor one point,” said the Reine des Garous. “Even if I had failed to learn the rules, asking for a ‘redo’ in an international duel would be shameful.”

“Ho ho? So you still intend to do this?” asked Yoshiaki.

“Of course. Let me be clear: I will not hold back.”

Yoshiaki already knew that, so she spoke up after making sure the Musashi Representative Council Head had moved away from her.

“Now, can you show me what you can do when not holding back?”

It was Yoshiaki’s serve, so she retained the advantage.

Mitotsudaira listened to Masazumi who turned back toward her.

“Hey, Mitotsudaira. The Reine des Garous had the rules wrong, so they’re continuing now that she’s learned them.”

“Wh-what is my mother doing!?”

“Judge. According to Ookubo, she fixed her grip.”

“On the balls! She fixed her grip on the balls!”

While the idiot shouted that, Asama opened a sign frame, perhaps to set up an additional purification.

But Masazumi’s eyebrows rose when she checked the sign frame.

“Oh? I don’t really get it, but they’ve started in a first-to-5 match.”

“Is my mother doing something horrific!?”

“No.” Masazumi shook her head. “Mogami Yoshiaki already has 2 points.”

…''She’s so strong!

Yoshiyasu watched Yoshiaki moving in front of her.

Yoshiaki’s tactic was to use cut shots.

She would catch the approaching ball from a somewhat lowered position and send it back.

Befitting of the name, a cut shot gave the racket a chopping motion directed forward and down. Yoshiaki used that motion to cut back the Reine des Garous’s balls.

She had likely decided that a direct hit to those balls would lead to mistakes given the incredible speed given to them by the Reine des Garous.

Yoshiaki dueled the Reine des Garous using those defensive cut shots.

It made noise.

It was a solid but sharp sound.

Immediately, the white ball returned to the Reine des Garous’s field and bounced.

Yoshiaki’s return shots were not simple things. When picking up her opponent’s balls, she would alter their speed and direct them left, right, up, or down before sending them back. That prevented the Reine des Garous from moving forward to hit them.

“—————”

The Reine des Garous had to move forward, back, left, or right more and more often.

This was a tough situation for a beginner.

…''For a beginner, it’s easier to hit back a ball that has a certain amount of speed to it.

Ping pong was a sport that limited the space between the players using the length of the table. So when the velocity reached a certain level, the speed of the ball’s back-and-forth movement and the speed of the arm hitting it back would synchronize.

Once that allowed your body to establish a set rhythm, your hesitation when hitting the ball would fade away.

A beginner only had to focus on getting their racket into that rhythm, so it was very helpful.

However, Yoshiaki would not allow that.

If the Reine des Garous used her strength to give the ball lots of speed, she would step back a bit and make a cut with some space in between.

They were using a lightweight ball, so that space caused some slight speed loss.

Yoshiaki used that to return the ball with altered timing.

…''It’s incredible.

Even if it was meant to force the Reine des Garous to move around, Yoshiaki was moving around a lot too.

There could not be much difference in how much they were each moving.

The fox continued moving and constantly swayed her body side to side.

''But,'' thought Yoshiyasu. ''The wolf is abnormal too.

Ookubo had been watching the Reine des Garous for a while now.

Based on her close-up observations, the woman had yet to get in an effective shot.

But her movements were changing while Ookubo watched.

…''How good are her senses?

The Reine des Garous was definitely learning how to return Yoshiaki’s balls.

At first, she had always tried to move forward to finish things quickly with a smash.

But Yoshiaki rejected that idea with her actions.

She focused on cut shots that forced the Reine des Garous into a rally.

The Reine des Garous was still unfamiliar with how to use the racket, so she was moved around by the returned balls.

“——————”

Ookubo held the scoring blackboard. Yoshiaki’s second point had come from the Reine des Garous messing up a return. From what Ookubo had seen, the ball had gone up, she had tried to return it with an overhand swing, and she had given it some unwanted spin.

The reverse-spinning ball had lost all its speed and fallen onto her own side of the table.

The Reine des Garous had stuck out her tongue a bit, and…

“Oh, dear. That didn’t work at all. In that case…”

After that, she had started what she was doing now.

…''What is happening?

The Reine des Garous would catch the ball and return it, but the way she returned it was odd.

From what Ookubo could see, she was being moved all over the place by Yoshiaki’s control of the ball.

But she was returning the ball. And the ball was always light and floating when she did so.

She was not making cut shots.

Cut shots used a diagonal hit to apply a reverse spin to eliminate speed. The Reine des Garous was instead sending the surface of her racket straight into the ball’s trajectory.

Her shots used the center of the forehand side to push the ball more than hit it.

But that still returned it.

Also…

“Ah…”

Ookubo realized there was a pattern to the Reine des Garous’s return method.

Kani noticed something odd while watching from diagonally behind the Reine des Garous.

…''2-2-3? No, that was 2-3-3!

There was a pattern to the way the wolf swayed her body.

When receiving Yoshiaki’s shots, she would do 2 forehand shots on the right, 3 backhand shots on the left, and then 3 forehand shots on the right.

And for the next iteration, she would do 2 backhand shots on the left, 3 forehand shots on the right, and then 3 backhand shots on the left.

No matter what kind of balls came her way, she would forcibly return them with those motions.

…''I know what this is!

Kani was a Strike Forcer, so she understood. This was training.

When learning a martial art, you would learn the fundamentals and then begin applying them.

One example of that was attack stance training. You trained to ensure you could attack from unfamiliar footing or in a disadvantageous stance.

That was what the Reine des Garous was doing now.

She had lost her second point because of a missed shot made with a large movement.

At that point, she had realized moving based on what “felt right” would not cut it in this battle.

So she had changed her movements. Instead of using a forehand or backhand shot depending on the situation, she had forced herself to keep up a rotation between left and right.

And she always hit the ball with the center of the racket to learn how it felt.

That queen had accepted her inexperience and she was now training herself in mid-battle.

But during the interminable rally, her movements were clearly growing more certain.

And the sound of the cut shots grew louder as if in response.

Yoshiaki had raised the speed of her return shots.

Just then, the Reine des Garous altered her stance. She stretched her back and turned her left side forward.

“————!”

She hit a high-speed shot.

Yoshiaki realized her mistake.

The children around them probably had not noticed, but the Reine des Garous was clearly applying pressure on her.

…''Are you taking a step?

Yoshiaki had noticed the forehand and backhand rotation. She understood it was a way of learning the relationship between the racket and the shots and to familiarize her body with the motions.

This was the kind of opponent who would take it that far.

But she started to detect a light reverberation when the other woman returned the ball.

It was the reverberation of a foot hitting the floor.

When they moved with only the table between them, they could just barely feel the impact of their opponent’s feet on the floor.

The Reine des Garous was gradually starting to take a step when she returned the ball.

It made no noise. They were barefoot after taking a bath. But the tremor definitely reached Yoshiaki.

And you would take a strong step when hitting the ball if you wanted power.

…''Her motions are something like a cut right now, but she’s returning to the stance for a quick attack!

The Reine des Garous’s center of gravity was gradually shifting forward. She had to have reached the point that she could move freely if she ended the forehand-backhand rotation.

“I would expect no less…!”

Was this tremor of a step a form of training?

Or was it a warning that she was about to go in for the kill?

Yoshiaki decided to hit a tempting ball to find out.

So she took action. She made a cut shot that sent the ball straight down the center of the Reine des Garou’s side.

“…!”

The other woman used the opposite motion of a cut: she swung the racket forward and up from the bottom right.

The force of the strike was a topspin drive. The shot was an attempt to move forward and it had far more speed than the previous cuts.

…''How about this!?

Just as she thought that, Yoshiaki realized the white line had already passed her by on the left.

“…!?”

By the time she wondered what had happened, sucked in a breath, and tensed her body, it was too late.

She only knew that the Reine des Garous was taking a deep breath in front of her. And…

“Testament. ''I more or less get it now.''”

The woman puffed her chest out and smiled while toying with her racket by spinning it in her fingers.

She had returned it. And at a speed too fast to see.

Yoshiyasu did not understand what had happened until the ball bounced off the counter and rolled back toward her feet.

…''She returned it?

All she had seen was the shot Yoshiaki made after a short-step duck.

She had also seen the Reine des Garous start to counterattack with something like a right hook.

It was true she had failed to see the swing of the Reine des Garous’s arm. But…

“1 point for the Reine des Garous.”

Ookubo’s words revealed the truth.

Yoshiyasu saw some smoke rising from the table diagonally left from Yoshiaki.

White smoke was also rising from the ball rolling at her feet.

It was unclear if that was from Yoshiaki’s topspin or the Reine des Garous’s return.

''But,'' thought Yoshiyasu. ''That monster has rapidly improved in a very short period of time.

And the Reine des Garous caught the spare ball Ookubo tossed to her and spoke.

“That’s 1 point for me. …If you continue to simply observe or feel this out, I will catch up.”

Yoshiyasu heard the Reine des Garous casually say “now, then”.

And she tossed the ball up.

“————”

She made a normal serve. It was a cute serve with a gentle hit that made it clear she was a beginner.

…''That makes sense.

After all, the Reine des Garous had not had a chance to practice serving.

She had been given plenty of opportunities to train her returns and attacks against Yoshiaki earlier.

On the other hand, this was only her second time serving. But Yoshiyasu still found it impressive since she was able to have it bounce on her side and the enemy’s side of the table.

Meanwhile, Yoshiaki moved one foot back in preparation for a cut shot.

“————!”

But it was not a cut shot. She made a full-strength strike against the serve. She hit the ball up from below for a topspin attack.

…''That’s the same as the previous attack!

She had to be searching out how the Reine des Garous had returned it last time.

But the Reine des Garous made a definite move.

It was different from the previous one. She tilted her body toward the white line flying toward her.

…''Can she move freely now!?

She twisted her hips as she stepped forward.

It was a no-spin knuckle shot hit with the center of the racket.

Yoshiaki’s spin must have been effective. It hung there for a moment, but…

“—————”

The shot arrived before Yoshiaki could move her arm back.

It was fast.

But Yoshiyasu saw Yoshiaki put up a definite resistance.

She bent just her upper body back to buy time for moving her wrist.

But it was not quite enough for a cut shot, so she added a further motion.

“…Kh!”

By lowering her knees, she simulated lowering her arm.

…''Well done!

It was the same as angling your body to increase and control your reach and trajectory when stepping in for an attack.

And a solid sound ultimately did ring out.

The heavily spinning ball took a low, spilling trajectory toward the Reine des Garous’s left side.

The low trajectory made it hard to intercept. Instead of moving forward and getting it above your field, it was best to step back and use the greater space to deal with it.

But the Reine des Garous returned it. With a backhand penhold shot.

Since she was still not used to this, the ball was fairly light. And Yoshiaki responded.

“—————”

She returned her stance to normal and hit the trajectory with a quick cut.

That too sent it toward the Reine des Garous’s left side.

Forcing the wolf to make backhand shots had to be Yoshiaki’s strategy.

…''Because she’s using the penhold grip.

When pinching that pen-like grip between your fingers, it was a little difficult to make backhand hits. That was why Yoshiaki concentrated her fire there.

The Reine des Garous was forced into a defensive battle since her left side was being targeted, so all she could do was fall back to the left to make it easier to deal with. So once she moved to the far right side from Yoshiaki’s perspective…

…''Hit it!

Yoshiaki sent her entire body forward.

She made an attack on the opposite side of the enemy’s field: the far left side.

Kani saw Yoshiaki ''move'' the Reine des Garous.

A moment later, Kani saw something unbelievable.

The Reine des Garous vanished in an instant and reappeared just as instantly.

And from Kani’s perspective, she had moved from the left to the right side of the field.

…''What was that!?

She could guess it was an explosion of instantaneous strength, but the Reine des Garous was so tall and…

…''Umm, her boobs! She has huge boobs!

For someone like that, instantaneous acceleration was completely ridiculous.

But she had done it. She had launched herself to her usual spot, swung her body forward, and…

“…There.”

She hit the ball with an almost cheerful voice.

A solid sound rang out.

''Now it’s really started,'' thought Yoshiyasu.

What happened next would determine whether she could follow what was happening.

But Yoshiaki had moved forward and the Reine des Garous had launched a counterattack from the left.

She hit it to the right of Yoshiaki. That was within the fox’s reach.

But she could not move back her forward-swinging body so quickly.

Or so Yoshiyasu thought.

But Yoshiaki’s stance was different.

When making the right forehand shot, she had stepped forward with her left leg.

She had used that left leg to swing her right leg up and to the left.

That left roundhouse kick took a path that avoided kicking the table and rapidly spun her entire body.

She had not stopped her body’s forward momentum and then pulled it back.

She had instead used that forward momentum to spin to the left. And after making a full rotation…

…''She’s ready to swing her right arm again!

She hit the ball.

It was a forceful attack, but it sent the ball upwards.

As the curve bent back down, it flew toward the right side of the field, where the Reine des Garous no longer was.

And just after it flew there, Yoshiyasu saw something: the Reine des Garous’s instantaneous acceleration.

Her hair shook, but there were no footsteps. The wolf moved back to her previous position as if pressing her bouncing breasts back against her body.

But this position required a backhand shot.

A hit from there would have less force behind it.

Meanwhile, Yoshiaki had moved forward. She swept her body a bit to the left and readied her racket for a forehand shot.

She was prepared to use all her strength to send the coming bullet back to the Reine des Garous’s left side.

A moment later, Yoshiyasu saw something.

The color white had arrived in front of her eyes.

“…Huh?”

It was the Reine des Garous’s attack. And it had rapidly moved right past Yoshiaki.

It reached Yoshiyasu before Yoshiaki could move forward.

Yoshiyasu did not understand what had happened.

The Reine des Garous should have needed a backhand shot.

And yet this attack had the speed of a forehand one.

…''How?

Yoshiyasu looked forward and saw the Reine des Garous breathing a sigh.

“Phew… That was a close one.”

It looked like her arms were crossed below her chest.

No, that was not it.

…''That’s…

Yoshiyasu understood.

The Reine des Garous had placed her left arm alongside the right arm launching the backhand shot.

The right-handed return would have had a poor initial velocity because it was backhanded, so she had pushed it forward with her left hand for more initial acceleration.

That made it an indirect reverse-arm forehand shot. The slightest distortion from pushing on the arm would have altered the ball’s trajectory, but that had not happened.

“Is that because she always hits with the very center?”

That familiar sense would not allow any distortions. But if she could pull this off in such a short time…

…''What in the world is she!?

Just as Yoshiyasu wondered that, Ookubo made an announcement.

“2 points for the Reine des Garous.”

Ookubo rewrote the Reine des Garous’s score.

Meanwhile, the ball rolled along the floor after bouncing off the counter-side wall.

And Ookubo heard a deep breath.

Yoshiaki’s shoulders rose and fell as she replaced the contents of her lungs.

Ookubo understood why the woman had failed to hit the ball back.

…''She had moved forward, so not even spinning around could move her back again.

Yoshiaki had chosen the wrong tactic.

She made her opponent use backhand shots to push her to one side of the field.

Then she had hit to the opposite side.

Their mobility was restricted by the size of the standard field. Within those restrictions, hitting to the opposite side was the most effective method.

After all, you were hitting the ball outside of their reach.

Even if your opponent did return the ball, it would normally be a rushed action. In that case, you only had to powerfully return that hastily-fired bullet to the opposite side yet again.

Yoshiaki had done that twice. And the second one had forced her opponent into a backhand shot.

But it had not worked.

Yoshiaki had the upper hand in technique and experience.

But the Reine des Garous had the upper hand in reaction speed and power. Since she existed outside the category of human, she was not bound by the standard assumptions of sports.

''Now, what will she do?'' wondered Ookubo.

Just then, she noticed the Reine des Garous raise her right hand.

“What is it?”

“Can I swap out my racket real quick?”

“Judge.”

Ookubo thought about it for a moment, but she nodded.

The Reine des Garous had chosen her racket before she knew the rules.

…''This means she’s about to get serious.

So Ookubo allowed it. She gestured toward the racket holder an automaton had prepared.

“Just this once. Keep that in mind when you choose.”

“Testament. …Then I will go with this one.”

The Reine des Garous pulled a racket from the holder.

It had a pen-style grip.

But there was one difference from the previous one. It was something not allowed in official matches.

“Both sides have the same rubber material?”

Both sides were covered with black rubber. But they were uniformly thin.

There had to be just the one layer of material attached. The Reine des Garous spun it around in her hand and smiled.

“The previous one had bumps on the rubber, which allows for a variety of changes, right? But with my finger control, I can probably manage those changes all on my own.”

''Wait just a second,'' thought Ookubo.

“Have you ever given a ball spin?”

“I’ve seen it several times. I just have to do the opposite of what I do when I return them, right?”

Technically speaking, that was correct. But could she really just do that right away? No…

“This racket has the same material on both sides, so it should be much easier.”

“Normally…you have thicker rubber on the back.”

If she was fine with the thinner material, just how aggressive a play style was she planning?

But she simply took the ball Ookubo tossed to her.

[[Image:Horizon6-C562.jpg|thumb]]

“Now, let’s try it out.”

She began her serve.

It was a casual thing. A serve was an important thing in a first-to-5 match, but her actions carried none of that weight.

She lifted the ball high and when it arrived just below her chest…

“—————”

She launched a high-speed slice of a cut shot.

Kani thought it was a strange image. She watched the Reine des Garous serve from diagonally behind her. The solid sound of the serve created an image in midair.

The white ball floated there without moving.

…''Huh…!?

She understood the concept. She understood very well what was happening. The phenomenon was as follows:

“The spin from her serve was so strong the ball isn’t flying or falling!?”

The ball hit by the Reine des Garous’s slicing motion floated motionlessly in the air. It was actually spinning rapidly, but it was so intense that its position did not change.

“Is this the gyro effect?” asked the Representative Committee Head.

“Is that what you call it…!?”

While the Reine des Garous watched with a frown, the white bullet slowly descended.

It was going to land on the Reine des Garous’s field.

“Um, if this bounces to the other side, it counts as a serve, right?” she asked.

“Well, I guess it’ll have to…”

The Representative Committee Head sounded oddly negligent in her response, so was this really okay?

Meanwhile, the white bullet continued its descent and fell into onto the Reine des Garous’s field.

“Ah.”

The ball tore into the wooden table.

A loud sound rang out for an instant and small splinters of the table flew into the air. And everyone watched as the white ball embedded itself halfway into the table.

“Wow! It stopped!”

Kani shouted without thinking and the Representative Committee Head raised her voice.

“3 points for the Mogami Chancellor! And can we get a new table in here!?”

For some reason, the automatons hung their heads as they left the counter and set up the new table.

“Mitotsudaira. Your mother has sent a divine transmission via Ookubo.”

“Huh? What did she say now?”

“Well.” Masazumi showed her the sign frame and read it in a deadpan voice. “ '''‘Nate, I initially had rubber covered in bumps on the end of the stick.’''' ”

'''Mar-Ga:''' “Like this?”

The Weiss Hexen made a sketch, but Mitotsudaira ignored her.

Masazumi took a breath and continued.

“ '''‘But, Nate, I swapped it out for a thinner one that glistens black.’''' ”

'''Mar-Ga:''' “That would be like this.”

The Weiss Hexen made a sketch, but Mitotsudaira ignored her.

“ '''‘Nate? I’m going to do my best using both the front and back, okay?’''' ”

“Seriously, though! What is my mother doing!?”

Yoshiyasu saw the battle moving back and forth.

The Reine des Garous had fully shifted to using quick attacks while Yoshiaki focused on using cut shots.

The wolf attacked and the fox defended.

But the Reine des Garous made a mistake.

When making a counterattack on one of Yoshiaki’s hits, the trajectory collapsed.

“…!?”

Yoshiaki had disguised a knuckle shot as a cut shot.

She had used the trajectory of a cut shot, but she had moved her arm and entire body forward in the instant she hit the ball.

It was only an instant.

The speed at which she pushed the racket forward had to surpass its downward-swinging speed only when the hit made contact.

The technique was only possible with the speed and flexibility of a fox.

The Reine des Garous had been too slow to notice, so the ball she hit fell down without hitting her opponent’s field.

“4 points for the Mogami Chancellor.”

“My, my… I fell for your feint, didn’t I?”

“…I assume you’re saying you won’t fall for it again.”

Yoshiaki laughed in her throat and that was exactly what happened.

The Reine des Garous began primarily using drive shots.

If Yoshiaki’s shot type was hard to read, she only had to use her great strength to apply a drive spin to reset it.

The forceful push and high-speed drive created a bouncing ball.

“There.”

The shot hit on the front edge of Yoshiaki’s field and bounced up toward her chest.

Yoshiaki responded with a backhand swing, but…

“And there.”

She failed to respond in time when the next shot targeted her left side.

She pulled her racket back and the white line hit it and produced a solid sound. The bullet bounced straight up.

“3 points for the Reine des Garous.”

The wolf had taken another step closer.

The Reine des Garous’s serve began another high-speed rally.

Ookubo had a thought as she watched from close up.

…''Am I seeing something incredibly valuable here?

''Or am I just seeing a ridiculous game of nonhuman ping pong?

The two were difficult to tell apart.

And just as she wondered how to report on this, the result suddenly arrived. The Reine des Garous entirely missed the ball.

Ookubo saw the Reine des Garous stop moving.

The white line passed her by on the right and flew behind her. And…

“…Ah.”

The woman said that and Ookubo started to raise her left hand.

This meant the Mogami Chancellor had 5 points.

It was a first-to-5 match, so it was over.

…''The end happened awfully quickly.

Ookubo sensed some disappointment in that thought while she opened her mouth.

“The Mogami Chancellor-…”

She started to say the woman had won the match.

But someone stopped her.

“Sorry. But that counts as the Reine des Garous’s point.”

Yoshiaki was the one speaking. And she was breathing heavily.

“Yoshiyasu. Can you come here a moment?”

Yoshiyasu nodded at Yoshiaki’s words.

“Judge. I more or less understand.”

“Understand what?” asked Ookubo.

Yoshiyasu raised her right hand with the palm out.

The gesture meant “wait”. And when she arrived next to Yoshiaki…

…''She sure is exhausted…

This was the first time she had seen Yoshiaki so out of breath her shoulders were rising and falling. It was also her first time seeing the fox’s hair so disheveled. It had been hard to tell while looking at her from behind.

“…She’s really done a number on you, Yoshiaki.”

“I cannot deny it.”

Yoshiaki could still laugh in her throat. That “ko ko” felt calming to Yoshiyasu, so she held out her hand.

“I will look after them.”

“Testament. Then let’s start with this.”

With that line, Yoshiaki pulled something from her sides.

They were fans. The two fans doubled as guns and they were also used to control the Yamagata Castle.

That was not all.

“This too, Yoshiyasu.”

She then pulled a long object from her side. It was…

“The proof of my control of Mogami: Onikiri.”

Yoshiaki took a breath and passed Onikiri to Yoshiyasu.

Then she turned toward the Reine des Garous and nodded.

“Sorry about that. …I was carrying so much stuff that, when I moved, a trickery phase space rose to the surface. Since I scored that point using it, I must give you a point back for the initial Silver Cross point.”

“Heh heh. Then my initial mistake was useful after all. But…I was curious to see the extent of my relationships based on what happened if you cut me with Onikiri.”

The Reine des Garous smiled bitterly, looked to Yoshiaki’s tails, and said more.

“You are a very honest person, aren’t you?”

“Everyone who falls for a fox’s tricks thinks the same thing.”

“But it’s the truth. …It’s 4-4. An even score between two honest people.”

“Is that so?” asked Yoshiaki with a bitter smile.

…''This wolf must be honest with anyone she takes a liking to.

Yoshiaki nodded at her own thought and placed a hand on her chest.

“Listen. …Tricks are the natural response to anyone who would harm Mogami. But this is not the time for that, is it?”

She turned to face Yoshiyasu and gestured her chin toward the fans and Onikiri the girl held.

“You understand what it means for me to leave those with you, even if just for a moment?”

“Judge. I am to watch to the end with these. And you…” Yoshiyasu raised her eyebrows. “You’ve lightened your load.”

Yoshiaki spent a few seconds thinking about what that meant, and…

“Acting like an adult now, are we?”

She laughed.

…''Honestly.

Laugh was all she could do.

…''Children are so quick to act like adults.

And at some point the act would be indistinguishable from the real thing.

A parent watched their child’s growth one stage at a time. But they would eventually reach a much higher position.

She only had to look up at the shape and peak of the mountain this child and the other children were climbing.

“Good, good.”

She rubbed Yoshiyasu’s head and the girl’s eyebrows bent. But Yoshiaki realized she was putting on a strong front to show that she was a parent.

It was true she had lightened her load. So she took a light step forward and assumed her playing stance again.

Both sides had 4 points.

“It is your serve,” she said.

“Testament. You seem to have regained your spirit.”

“Testament. I confirmed I will have no regrets. And foxes are known for our nimbleness.” Yoshiaki narrowed her eyes. “It’s time you learned not even a wolf stands a chance if they underestimate the threat.”

It was the Reine des Garous’s serve.

This was the final stage of the first-to-5 match. They faced each other with a solid foundation of 4 points each.

“Now.”

The Reine des Garous tossed the white line upwards while still facing straight ahead.

And as it fell…

“Let’s get going!”

The racket hopped up from below and launched the white force.

The match had begun.

A solid sound summoned the wind.

White lines similar to gunfire passed back and forth between the two attackers.

The Reine des Garous moved forward every single time and Yoshiaki stayed back while occasionally moving forward.

The wolf was powerful. More and more of her white slashes flew in to crush the fox’s resistance.

Each time, the fox twisted her body, pulled it back, and…

“—————!”

She spun around to adjust her position. And when there was even the slightest opening…

“Ko…!”

With a short roar, she would snap at the wolf’s side.

The solid sounds arrived afterwards as both worked to establish their tactics. But…

“Like this, right?”

The wolf moved against the white attack attempting to stab at her side.

She whipped up the wind and spun just like the fox had.

This was not a careless action. Her footsteps rang out for the first time.

But with the loud sounds of her feet, her attack’s rotation speed grew.

The wolf was gaining more definite methods of attack and she was starting to overwhelm the fox.

“Kh…!”

The wolf combined her instantaneous acceleration with her rotation. The fox’s scattered attacks tried to lure her in, but she began to return them all with her own counterattacks.

More and more wind raced forth and the fox was driven to the center of her field.

She was forced to fall back, as if being hunted by a pack, but…

“Here.”

The wolf suddenly smiled and all strength vanished from the bullet she launched.

It was a sudden deceleration.

This was more than just a brief slowdown. The shot nearly stopped.

The impact sounded like a normal ping pong hit and the white line took the form of a ball traveling at a leisurely pace.

It was like tossing bait to the fox who had moved so far back from the field.

“Yoshiaki! Don’t fall for it!”

The dog shouted a warning, but the fox still moved forward.

If the fox did not take the bait tossed in front of the wolf pack, she would lose.

So she stepped forward and gathered all her strength.

“—————!”

She made a slicing attack.

''This is dangerous,'' thought Yoshiyasu.

It was the wolf’s trap. While pursuing as a pack, the wolf had thrown out some bait to keep the fox from getting too close.

She intended to attack once the fox took the bait.

Of course, the fox was not helpless. She was sure to launch an attack on the wolf just as she took the bait.

But this was the wolf’s trap. Everything that happened there would be part of the wolf’s plan.

Yoshiyasu could tell the wolf had everything ready.

She took a low stance in preparation to finish off the fox here.

A moment later, the fox took the bait.

A solid sound rang out and the wolf made her initial movement.

But Yoshiyasu saw something there.

…''Huh?

No, she did ''not'' see something there. Something that should have been between the fox and wolf.

The white line had vanished from the battlefield.

“…!?”

It was the fox’s trickery.

Ookubo had no idea what had happened.

She saw nothing there.

The white color was no longer where it had been before.

At first she thought Yoshiaki had ''taken'' the bait more literally than expected. But…

…''No, that isn’t it!

It was the fox’s trickery. She had responded to the wolf’s trap with a trick.

That was how a fox did things. So…

…''Where did it go!?

She knew where it had to be headed. And even if she did not see it, someone else had: the Reine des Garous.

“——————“

And that woman had disappeared.

Her volume had vanished from its position overlooking the battlefield.

She was gone.

''No,'' thought Ookubo. ''That isn’t it either.

The fox had used a trick and the wolf had responded. So she had to be…

“Up above, right!?”

Kani saw the Reine des Garous’s decision and movement.

Up at the ceiling, the woman had made a half rotation that put her feet up and her head down.

She was pursuing the white line that had flown high into the air.

That was the attack Yoshiaki had launched.

When she hit the white line up, it had accelerated from the bounce and instantly arrived far above the battlefield.

This vertical movement had come without warning when everyone was focused on the horizontal movement from before.

Anyone following along with their eyes would not have been able to keep up.

That was true for Kani.

But someone had kept up with this trick: the Reine des Garous.

She had seen through the trick before her eyes. And that was not thanks to smell or sound.

…''It was the second point she lost, right!?

Back then, Yoshiaki had hit the ball high and the Reine des Garous had failed to return it.

If Yoshiaki was going to earn a point here, she would use the same trajectory. And the Reine des Garous had realized the fox would hit it even higher.

Her movement had been close to a gamble, but it had paid off.

She fixed the bottom of her yukata in midair and raised her racket. She used the ceiling as a floor and…

“—————!”

She launched an attack toward the fox on the battlefield below.

A high-speed attack was hit with a powerful drive.

Now that it was hit, the ball did not float up and only flew forward.

But the bullet did not fly toward Yoshiaki.

It flew to her left. It was an accurate shot to force her into a backhand return.

She turned in that direction, but she was not going to make it.

“…Yoshiaki!” Yoshiyasu’s voice rang out. “Win this!”

''That is easier said than done,'' thought Yoshiaki with a bitter smile in her heart.

She was heavily exhausted. Her opponent most likely had the upper hand in speed and power.

She could not win in this state.

She had experience and technique, but her opponent had the power and reflexes to respond to that.

Also, her opponent was a beginner and had been learning the ropes, but…

…''With that just now, she must have reached my level.

That meant the gap between them would only continue to shrink.

Yoshiaki could not win with strength.

But she was a nine-tailed fox, a great monster fox. There was one thing she definitely had over the wolf.

“Ether usage.”

It happened in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, Ookubo saw Yoshiaki multiply in number.

…''Copies!?

This was not a martial arts technique. They were real copies using ether.

There were 9 of them and nothing to distinguish them from the original. They were all very real.

“Take this…!”

When the white line flew in, one of the slashing motions held the racket.

And a solid sound rang out.

Yoshiaki had returned the Reine des Garous’s attack.

And she had launched it straight toward the wolf as she fell from the ceiling.

Yoshiaki put away her copies and took another breath.

She took a defensive stance and watched for the Reine des Garous’s response with a certain thought in her heart.

…''It all comes down to this!

The Reine des Garous had not allowed her to reproduce the previous lost point. She had grown during this short battle.

So it was coming.

She would use the attack she had used to earn her first point.

This would undoubtedly be that slash that not even Yoshiaki had been able to see.

“————!”

It came.

The Reine des Garous adjusted her position with her ankles and made a forehand attack.

And Yoshiaki saw the initial leaning back of the upper body that would lead to that invisible shot.

It would be a high-speed slash.

…''She hits it with her racket on its side!?

The Reine des Garous launched her sword strike.

The object she held was honestly difficult to wield as an offensive weapon.

Because the “surface” was so large, it created air resistance and thus wind pressure when she swung it.

And the rubber on the surface was useful when defending, but it absorbed the force when attacking.

So she held it on its side.

The pen-style racket was shaped more rectangularly than the shake-style ones.

So the panel sticking out from the handle was almost a rectangle.

Its side was a lot like a straight sword.

So she could perform a slash with that.

But she was a beginner and it was difficult to control the wind pressure that hit the blade.

So she held it pen-style and controlled it with her fingers.

With a shake-style grip, your wrist would hold it firmly in place, but the pen-style did not.

A light wrist was necessary for instantaneous acceleration.

She met all the conditions now. So…

“…There!”

The burst of acceleration traveled from her hips to her chest, shoulder, elbow, and wrist in turn.

The Reine des Garous launched a diagonal slash of an attack.

Ookubo had not seen the Reine des Garous’s attack.

No, this battle had long since surpassed what a literal arts type could keep up with.

She felt an odd trust in the two battle participants. She was confident that they would both return the bullet.

So she had not been looking at the Reine des Garous. She had been watching Yoshiaki’s response.

Yoshiaki was trying to perform a counterattack on the high-speed shot.

But her stance was different. This was not a cut shot like before.

The fox held her racket horizontally.

…''She’s going to hit it with the side, isn’t she!?

''I see,'' thought Ookubo as she finally figured out the Reine des Garous’s invisible slash.

And she knew Yoshiaki intended to make an even greater attack.

After all, the fox made another movement.

She brought her left hand to the right one already holding the racket.

“She’s using both hands!!”

Yoshiaki performed a slice from the middle right.

When swinging the racket so quickly, the blade tended to catch the wind and veer off course.

The wolf could probably suppress that with her strength, but Yoshiaki was a fox. So she placed both hands on it, and…

“Ko…!”

With a laugh-like cry, she swung her blade.

But she included one trick. Instead of just hitting it back, she used a drive.

The shake-style racket had a nearly circular blade.

She used that arc for a long drive.

The method was simple. Any warrior from the Far East could do it.

She only had to do it like it was a sword.

Far Eastern swords were not used to cut the enemy as you hit them. You hit the enemy with the blade and then pulled back to slice them.

That was the purpose of their curved shape and the item she now held was similarly shaped.

The rest was the same.

The curve may have been short, but she used it to its fullest for her slash. She slowly reversed both her wrists. It was not an instantaneous thing, but the solid cutting edge reached the white line.

…''Go…!

And it was released.

Yoshiaki bet on this move while keeping her arms in the follow-through motion.

This was the first time in the match she had launched the bullet with a drive like that.

It was a side drive from the side of the racket.

It was not a topspin from above or reverse spin from below like before.

The bullet she launched onto the battlefield was a drive that raced to the right.

It was targeted at the Reine des Garous’s left side at the very back.

That was exactly where it went.

The sound of a real impact shook the battlefield.

Immediately, the bouncing bullet flew with nearly vertical cornering.

But the wolf took action. Not with a side step and not with a spin.

She had turned herself in the opposite direction after her previous forehand hit.

And she hit from behind her back on her right.

It was a complete backhand attack, but her wrist was in place.

She twisted her hips slightly and unleashed her monstrous acceleration.

It traveled through her back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, and…

…''Is she using her fingers too!?

That movement was only possible with the penhold grip. And once it was all complete…

“————!”

The sleeve of Reine des Garous’s yukata tore from the force of the instantaneous acceleration.

The whipped-up wind scattered the cloth and increased the speed of her arm. Yoshiaki prepared herself to respond, but…

…''Will I make it in time!?

Just then, she heard a bursting sound.

The Reine des Garous had swung her blade with a burst of acceleration behind her back and it had torn into the white line.

Ookubo saw the end of the match.

It exploded before her eyes.

When the Reine des Garous’s strike tore into the white line…

“Ah…”

It burst.

It failed to endure the repeated high-speed slashes and scattered like a flower.

“Oh, dear.” The Reine des Garous smiled while the shredded pieces of her clothing scattered around her. “I’m still not used to this. …I forgot to hold back and lost myself in the moment, just like old times.”

Ookubo breathed in as she heard those words and saw the scattered white.

“According to the rules, if the round cannot continue, then whoever caused that loses a point.”

Thus…

“5 points for the Mogami Chancellor. …And those 5 points mean the Mogami Chancellor is the winner!!”

Yoshiaki could not move as she listened to Ookubo.

She maintained her stance and focused on the emptiness before her eyes.

…''It’s over?

She knew why this had happened.

But her body and mind were still in combat mode and trying to follow the white line she could no longer see.

Her body was also threatening to move on reflex. So…

“Hey.”

A voice from the side brought her back to her senses.

Three things entered her field of vision: two large fans and Onikiri.

When Yoshiyasu held them out to her, she was finally able to turn her gaze in that direction.

“Hand over what you’re holding there. I’ll play a normal match against Ookubo as a palate cleanser. You take these things. Because…yeah,” said Yoshiyasu. “That’s what a fox should be holding.”

“…Acting like an adult now, are we?”

Yoshiaki straightened up while feeling her sweat pour out.

Her feet supported her body which was unsteady more from sudden relaxation than exhaustion.

And she looked to the Reine des Garous.

That woman had sweat on her brow and she stuck her tongue out a little when their eyes met.

The Loup-Garou queen slowly approached a few steps and pinched the bottom of her yukata.

“I’m so sweaty it’s growing see-through. I really wish I could show my husband.” She held out her right hand. “Until we meet again. …I will remember the proper etiquette next time.”

“Yes, I am one of the few who can take you on.”

Yoshiaki smiled bitterly and shook that hand. And when she did…

…''Oh.

Something warm yet cool flowed from that palm.

The Reine des Garous may have been using the unique Loup-Garou synchronization ability to transfer stamina. In that case…

…''I can’t believe this.

''Now there is a fellowship between us,'' thought Yoshiaki with a bitter smile.

So she said, “You should visit Ushuu next time. …The fox will show the wolf around.”

“Hey, Mitotsudaira. Did you see the duel is over?”

Mitotsudaira nodded at Masazumi’s question. She took a sip of tea to hydrate herself while taking a break.

“Judge. It seems my mother lost. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but that’s the Mogami Chancellor for you.”

“Yes, and the Reine des Garous sent another message.” Masazumi looked at the sign frame the anteater opened and read it in a deadpan voice. “ '''‘Nate? I learned a lot here. When you put thick rubber on the end of the stick, the stimulation is a little weak, but the balls last much longer. Use thin rubber and they don’t last very long at all. Use the hard part and you’ll have an explosion on your hands… Well, I did my best, but we couldn’t get past three times. Remember all this, okay?’''' ”

“What in the world was my mother doing!?”

Horizon brought over a bamboo pole with a straight face, but Mitotsudaira gestured her toward Asama and made a quick retreat.

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