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Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4A Chapter 5

2018-09-19T03:04:46Z

162.158.186.57:

==Chapter 5: Warner on the Horizontalt==
[[Image:Horizon_Kimi4A_169.jpg|thumb]]
''The next thing you know

''You are not a challenger

''You are something else

'''Point Allocation (Counterattack)

Asama realized that her decision had been a carefree one but also a very serious one.

She realized this while up in the sky.

She was riding Naruze’s feather broom to the Blue Thunder and she was trying to find a comfortable position for her butt.

…''Wow.

For Asama Shrine work, she would sometimes ride transport ships and ceremony ships. She was used to high places and speeds, but…

“…Oh.”

They were flying.

But this flight did not slide through the sky. It cruised like a ship.

They flew by continually accelerating to constantly push themselves forward. The Technohexen broom could of course float and that gave it some stability, but the way it seemed to constantly push at them and swing them around reminded Asama of something.

“This is a lot like running, isn’t it?”

“Eh!? What!? I can’t hear you!”

The wind and their speed kept her voice from reaching the girl in front of her.

As they passed the night stealth barrier, Naruze turned back to speak, but instead of sending her voice toward Asama, it was more like she placed it in the air where it was swept back to Asama’s ears.

“There isn’t a rear seat, so sit on the broom cowling and grab onto either side! Do you have the cowling between your legs!?”

“I’m fine!”

Naruze’s eyebrows rose at Asama’s response.

Thanks to all her training with Shinto prayers, Asama’s voice had apparently reached her. Naruze showed a smile on her lips.

“In that case.”

And with that, they ''flew''.

…''Wah.

They were in the sky. And quite high up at that.

In no time, they left the Asama Shrine behind. Asama was used to seeing Okutama’s surface from transport ships and such, but now it grew more distant from a diagonal perspective.

…''Oh, we’re already near the bow.

Her senses could not keep up with their speed. It felt like they were already at Tama by the time she saw them leaving Okutama. So she looked forward.

“————”

Naruze had opened several Magie Figurs.

Since they had taken an unscheduled flight into the sky, she was quickly checking what course to take. Based on the symbols and route displayed there, she seemed to have chosen a route that cut across Okutama’s bow from left to right and flew diagonally right toward Tama.

Those two likely discussed this kind of thing while doing their job.

…''Although she only ever seems to talk about her doujins at the academy.

But she checked their route and selected a course with the technique of a pro.

She was doing as good a job as any adult.

That was when Asama realized she was somewhat tense.

The rapid ascent had probably surprised her. She could feel the tenseness in her knees as well as in the hands holding onto the edge of the ''schale besen''.

But she doubted that was necessary.

A delivery pro was taking her to the Blue Thunder.

So she shook her head and fixed her disheveled hair. She tightened the grip of her hands and leaned forward.

In front of her, Naruze’s wings had closed to reduce air resistance.

The voluminous plumage gave off the scent of the shampoo those two used.

It was morning glory.

That flower bloomed in the early morning, so did it hold special meaning in the delivery business that got to work early?

Asama did not know.

She felt like everyone tried to find meaning in everything.

So she faced forward through the wings and then looked to the side.

As the scenery slowly flowed by below them, it turned to the right such that Musashino’s bridge and stern were visible to the left.

…''Ohh.

Large ships were restricted from flying near Musashino’s bridge to avoid doing damage to it. So it was rare to see that bridge-shaped ship’s bridge from this close.

They were probably about 100 meters above the deck.

And their view slowly but surely turned in front of that giant structure.

“Ah.”

The broom was tilting in the opposite direction. It was banking to the left to change course and fly along Tama’s port side.

The rear of the broom seemed to slide a bit and wind hit its belly.

“…”

Twice, they skidded rightward through the sky.

But Asama was holding onto the cowling. She had reflexively lifted up her hips, so her butt did not hit the cowling and bounce. Also…

…''Ah.

She saw Naruze’s wings. The main wings were extended straight back as if to hold Asama on either side.

Was that supposed to help Asama stay balanced? Or was it used to control the broom?

Asama did not know that either.

However…

“————”

She thought she heard someone calling to her from the right.

She looked that way and saw Naito and Mitotsudaira.

Mitotsudaira had strapped herself on using luggage belts.

They were crossed in front of her like seatbelts, so they formed an X fairly high up on her. Seeing that, Naruze wrote something on a Magie Figur and passed it back to Asama.

“Tortoise shell?”

Asama chose not to respond, but this was going to end up in a doujin either way.

Naito’s broom flew up alongside Naruze’s.

“————”

But her voice could not reach them.

Of course, that meant nothing to Naruze whose wings clearly nodded.

…''Here we go.

Their broom and Naito’s broom crossed paths as they flew in a gentle curve toward Tama.

They descended toward their destination in perfect harmony.

The aerial ship of Musashi always had work to do, even at night.

With maintenance, construction, transport, guard, and government work, there were always people working a wide variety of jobs in the streets at night.

So along the main roads, the shops stayed open even as the curfew approached.

There was one that stayed open all night long. That illuminated wooden space was located on Tama.

It was the bakery/café known as the Blue Thunder.

There were a few customers inside.

There were no families or groups of friends at this time. Everyone was stopping by to refuel on the way to work, so the counter in the back filled up first.

Among them, someone stood in front of the register counter for bread sales.

It was Tenzou.

Watanabe had given him a mission.

…''I must report to Watanabe-sama if Naito-dono and Naruze-dono show up here at night.

Of course, he could not stake out the place forever. So…

“Excuse me. I am from the 1st Special Duty Unit of the Chancellor’s Officers.”

Tenzou produced a sign frame for the automaton at the counter while making sure the others could not see.

It displayed his identification. It provided the emblem of the 1st Special Duty Unit, his name, his ID number, and a stamp confirming that he was on an approved mission.

He wanted to make sure no one else saw this to ensure no one mistakenly thought the store was involved in some kind of crime. But…

…''This automaton…

Thanks to the 1st Special Duty Unit’s information network, he knew this was an unidentified automaton. And that the Blue Thunder’s manager had claimed to be her guardian to ensure her safety.

''But,'' thought Tenzou. ''Toori-dono has started coming here to see this automaton.

Yet Tenzou was fairly certain that boy had not come here even once since that incident 9 years before.

…''Should I just chalk this up to people changing with time?

That said…

“…Who are you?”

Tenzou only had one thought when the automaton asked that out of the blue.

…''Sh-she really is a lot like her…

He was hesitant to say who that “her” was.

Their class had set up a mental dividing line between the events of 9 years ago and now, so there was no point in bringing it up again here.

But the automaton asked a question.

“If you will not answer me, then I will have to guess. Is that okay with you?”

“…Huh? Guess?”

He just about asked what that meant.

But the automaton slowly raised her right index finger, pointed at him, and gave him a sharp look.

“…Yamamoto.”

That was wrong.

It was not even close, so Tenzou fell silent. Then the automaton nodded twice.

“…What do you need, Yamamoto-sama?”

“Eh!? You took that as a yes!?”

“Then I shall introduce you to our new product.”

The automaton expressionlessly moved her right arm around toward the bread shelf behind her.

The movement must have exceeded the limits of the shoulder joint because a metallic scraping came from the shoulder and the arm came off.

The arm was covered with black plastic and she had swung it with plenty of force, so it crashed into the floor.

Tenzou heard the undeniable sound of something heavy hitting the wooden floor.

…''Eh?

He had difficulty reacting because it was all so sudden, but…

“A-are you okay!?”

He leaned forward to look behind the counter.

Just then, something like a giant spider leaped from behind the counter and at his face. He had no time to dodge, so it latched onto his face.

“Nwohhhhh!?”

He quickly grabbed it, pulled it off, and slammed it down onto the counter.

“Oh, that is my arm. I am still having issues with control, so it moves around on its own when it comes off.”

A right arm used its hand to crawl every which way along the counter. The connector on the end produced a hissing sound like a snake and P-01s looked over at Tenzou.

“Now, Yamamoto-sama, allow me to introduce our new product.”

“…Eh!? You’re still doing that!?”

“Of course we are. The Blue Thunder is a leftov-…a bakery and café.”

“Y-you almost said something devastating, didn’t you!?”

“Now, now,” said the automaton while the right hand began checking the edge of the counter as if licking it. It may have been looking for a spot to jump down.

But P-01s did not seem to care.

“The thing is, we have a new product today.”

“I’m, uh, not really…”

He meant to say he was not interested.

But P-01s tilted her head and looked up at him.

“Do you not want the new product?”

“How about, um, I try it some other time?”

Why was he trying so hard to be polite? But the automaton nodded in understanding. She then pulled a paper bag from below the counter.

“So you do not want to try it right away. Then I will wrap your leftov-…your newly-released product so you can try it tomorrow. …That will be 500 yen.”

Naruze put her ''schale besen'' away in its phase space and opened the Blue Thunder’s door.

She heard the door’s bell ring and she sensed Asama, Margot, and Mitotsudaira behind her.

“Is our order ready!?”

As soon as she stepped inside, she saw Tenzou hanging his head while paying 500 yen to P-01s.

She shut the door.

“Oops,” said Asama as her chest bumped into Naruze from behind. “Wh-what is it, Naruze?”

“That is some nice reference material pressing into my wings, but Tenzou is in there being a loser.”

“Ga-chan, the start of that sentence doesn’t lead into the end, but you say Tenzou’s being a loser?”

“Judge. He’s definitely being a loser. I could tell right away.”

“Oh.” Mitotsudaira nodded. “You mean P-01s. There’s no helping that. Tenzou can never defeat that type.”

Naruze wondered if anyone could defeat her, but she still had a lot of her life left to live. She guessed that she might run across the truly unexpected at some point. And…

“I had a feeling going in there would get us caught up in it.”

“You are correct there, Naruze. We should wait a bit.”

“In that case,” said Margot as she put her broom away in its phase space and opened a Magie Figur. She was probably sending Naomasa the output readings from the flight here.

Naruze did the same while Asama took care of some shrine management work.

“Me too then…”

Mitotsudaira opened a sign frame to manage her corporation.

…''Are we all like this?

Everyone had some kind of foundation for themselves.

For Naito and Naruze, rising in the delivery business rankings would only give them a short career that did not make much money. Compared to that…

…''One of them is Musashi’s Shinto representative and the other is first in line to ruling the Far East…

Naruze was not jealous of those positions. She knew how much work went into them.

And while she could go for a flight to blow off some steam if something happened, people with more important positions did not have that luxury.

“Oh, is that why they blast things with arrows and eat tons of meat?”

“Wh-what kind of realization is that!?”

“It’s about your circumstances. …So do you think we can go in yet?”

Naruze glanced at the others.

The three of them looked up from their work to return the glance.

Their eye contact told her to open the door, so she placed her hand on it and pushed it open.

Straight ahead, the ninja and the automaton had two glasses and a bottle on the counter.

Margot grabbed the doorknob from behind Naruze and shut the door.

Finally, Margot spoke without turning back toward the others.

“Yes. That was a good decision.”

“It was, Margot. A very good decision.”

“Wh-what was that just now?” asked Mitotsudaira.

“Water.”

“Water!?”

“Yeah, water.”

Margot was wise to not elaborate.

But Asama tilted her head and spoke.

“We can’t get in like this…”

“And it’s been a while since we got here, so why haven’t any of the customers inside come out?” asked Mitotsudaira.

“Either they’re afraid moving will get them targeted too, or they came to the Blue Thunder because they enjoy watching this.”

“I see.” Asama opened a sign frame to check the time. “Oh, the evening 8:30 bell is about to ring.”

The morning 8:30 bell meant the start of the work day while this one indicated the start of the night hours.

It came in advance to the final bell at 10:00 and it informed everyone it was time to head back home. It had apparently started out as the sound of a cannon being fired, but the academy bell was used on the Musashi.

And once the 8:30 bell rang, night guards made up of the Chancellor Officers and volunteers began patrolling the city.

While it came shortly before time to sleep, that bell produced a lot of movement.

Before the city went to sleep, people moved through the roads. Naruze quite liked that atmosphere. Eisen closed for the day between 6 and 9, so she would often descend to the city or travel between dinner and the bathhouse while listening to this bell.

She often stayed up all night, so this bell told her the night was beginning.

But today, she would be flying up above those patrolling guards on her modified ''schale besen''.

…''Am I being overly self-conscious if I’m afraid I’ll stand out?

Regardless, she had to complete her business as quickly as possible.

She reached for the doorknob and pushed the door open.

“It’s probably fine by now. …Let’s go!”

The ninja and the automaton were facing each other with a row of empty plates on the counter.

Naruze wordlessly and quietly closed the door.

She had tried to avoid being noticed, but she had a feeling the automaton had started to turn in her direction.

She heard Mitotsudaira’s voice behind her.

“N-Naruze? Did something happen?”

“Judge. …She’s started something new.”

“Eh? Something new? What does that mean?”

“…Asama, if you’re that interested, then stop by here tomorrow. But do it alone.”

“I see,” said Asama just before they heard the automaton’s voice from beyond the door.

“I know you are there, Nargat-sama, Narooze-sama.”

“…I think she’s gotten our names so wrong they’re actually almost right again, Ga-chan.”

“Shh. Don’t react.”

Then they heard another voice from beyond the door.

“Oh, Naruze-dono, Naito-dono.”

…''Why are you calling us!?

'''Mal-Ga:''' “I’m going to draw a sequel now!”

'''10ZO:''' “Is that a combined threat and confession to a crime!?”

But Asama and Mitotsudaira stepped back from behind her.

“Why are you keeping your distance?”

Naruze grabbed Margot’s shoulders and turned around.

And something happened just as they took a step toward the road where Asama and Mitotsudaira were.

“…Eh?”

She sensed something cold to the left.

It was like the night air had come to stop and become a cold mass.

It was the advance warning of something breaking the sound barrier and flying their way.

In this case…

…''A cannon blast!?

That should not have been possible.

And yet it flew down the road and scored a direct hit.

Inside the Blue Thunder, it was sound that washed over Tenzou.

Next to the counter was a two-person table by a window that bordered the road. That glass shattered and the front door hopped up vertically.

The road-side wall clearly strained diagonally, but it was not actually destroyed. The movement was from it snapping back into shape after the straining was over. He heard the roof’s slates falling thanks to the building’s shaking and a few pieces of firewood fell from the storage shelves below the ceiling.

And the explosive blast outside gathered up the glass shards.

“Excuse me!!”

Tenzou clapped his hands and stomped his right heel on the floor in front of the counter.

Immediately, a row of floorboards rose up to form a wall.

This was one use for the ninja technique known as Tatami Flipping.

The wall defended against what tried to get in through the entrance, so glass shards and window frame fragments struck the underside of the floorboards.

…''Did I block it all!?

Just as he wondered that, a small light bounced up overhead.

It was a shard of glass.

It was the size of a knife and it had ricocheted off the raised floorboards. It flew up to the tall ceiling and passed by over his head.

“Oh, no…”

As the wind died down, Tenzou quickly turned around just in time to see someone there.

It was the Blue Thunder’s manager.

The middle-aged woman wore a blue apron and the glass shard was flying toward her.

“Ohh, ohh.”

She lightly caught it between her right index and middle fingers. She then served a customer the bacon steak on the plate in her left hand and she looked to Tenzou.

“Tenzou-kun, can you fix the floor? If not, I’m sending the 1st Special Duty Unit a bill.”

“Ah! Not to worry! I can indeed fix it!”

…''I can’t do anything careless in front of her.

As he thought that, the manager smiled at him.

“I guess the bill for the window will have to go to Almirante. As for what’s happening out front…”

Yes.

What had happened?

An alarm and a fire bell belatedly started to ring and a sign frame appeared next to Tenzou’s face.

It was from Watanabe and it instructed him to provide a report on the situation. However…

…''Out front…

“Yeah,” said the manager. She faced the front of the shop despite the raised floorboards blocking the view. “Tomo-chan really doesn’t hold back…”

“A-Asama-dono did this!?”

'''Asama:''' “I heard that! And no, I didn’t!”

''She had to correct me?

What did this mean?

The automaton named P-01s tilted her head.

“At least things are lively around here.”

Mitotsudaira saw something within the ringing alarms.

Something had flown in from the right. That meant from the bow since they had been facing the Blue Thunder.

When she looked back in that direction, she saw a valley of pale light created from a row of defense barriers in front of all the stores along the road.

It was likely an artillery shell that had flown in from the faint darkness beyond that.

Naito commented from behind her.

“That was a physical currency shell that’s banned these days. I think it was a re-pressed 1230s mark.”

“I’m not sure what that means, but it must have been made of silver,” said Asama who stood to their right.

…''When did she get there?

Mitotsudaira had sensed a moving presence just before the attack hit.

A moment later, Asama had been facing the bow with her right hand held straight forward.

As a result, the ground was badly torn up in front of her.

That was the side effect of blocking the flying object with a defense barrier.

The destructive power had been sent skyward and a deep scar had been left in the ground.

Asama’s defenses were of course powerful.

Nothing at all had happened to the ground at her feet or at the feet of her companions.

But the damage directly below her outstretched hand stretched back to either side in an upside-down V-shape.

It was like they stood at the sandbank in the middle of a river of destruction.

Which meant…

…''It wasn’t on the level of a quasi-anti-ship cannon, but it at least rivals an anti-god of war cannon?

“Uh, I guess I should ask: Tomo, are you okay?”

“Umm, why do you ‘guess’ you should ask? …But, yes. It was a silver shell, and silver is well suited for purification. It seems to have been made to detonate when it hit by transferring its momentum into destructive power, so I purified that cleanly off to the left and right.”

But…

“I was in a hurry and I wish I could have stopped it with a proper barrier. I protected everyone, but there was some damage to the surrounding stores.”

The contents of her calm analysis were frightening.

After all…

“…That means we were indiscriminately fired on, doesn’t it?”

“No, this wasn’t indiscriminate,” replied Naito.

She used her wings to step toward the bow. She passed by Asama on the left and hopped over the damage to the ground.

Similarly, Naruze passed by Asama on the right and advanced.

And Naruze asked a question of the darkness toward the bow.

“With the alarm and fire bell ringing, we’re going to hear guard sirens before long. …Musashi is a refuge for Technohexen, so is there any reason to make the life of a Technohexen here more difficult?”

She then spoke a name.

“Wild Kamelie.”

Naito raised her eyebrows somewhat and felt a cold sweat in her heart.

…''She’s making her attack now?

This was a clear choice on the woman’s part.

They had been naïve to assume the battle would come tomorrow since that was the day to apply for the tester rights.

They had planned to challenge her to the battle in the early morning when the skies were not crowded. That was the polite thing to do for challengers like them and they had assumed Wild Kamelie would not want to disturb Musashi’s sky.

But she had different plans.

She had given them time to gain their ''schale besen''s, but she had challenged them before they had finished fine-tuning them.

Without that fine-tuning done, their brooms were unstable. They did not have the right power balance or even appropriate center of gravity adjustments.

Their old brooms would have been easier to ride and more comforting.

…''But they wouldn’t give us enough speed.

The ones they had now would give them speed, but they were essentially masses of unpredictable thrust.

They had carried Asama and Mitotsudaira on a low-speed flight which was relatively safe. But in the high-mobility of combat, an improperly-adjusted acceleration system could send the broom flying uncontrollably.

Wild Kamelie had made her attack now because she knew that.

“But we can’t say she’s playing dirty.”

This was a battle. One on which they had bet a turning point in their lives.

They could always retry or crawl back up after defeat, but winning would open up their future.

The battle had begun from the moment they had strengthened their brooms to catch up with their opponent.

Upgrading their equipment was the same as working to overcome their opponent’s combat techniques.

So…

“Defeating our upgraded equipment is the same as defeating us with combat techniques.”

Official battles did have rules, but…

…''If you need those to protect you, you aren’t really the top of the rankings, are you?

Wild Kamelie had fallen victim to several “accidents” and been targeted in corporate conflicts.

If those had defeated her, she could not just say the rules did not apply to them.

To be ranked #1 meant to overcome any and all challenges.

“So that initial greeting was meant as a kindness.”

Naito had to agree with Naruze there.

“Let’s do this.”

They would fine-tune their brooms as much as possible while in flight.

Then they would do as much as possible in the fight.

“Judge, let’s go, Margot.”

They saw a light on the distant bow.

It was an acceleration light to send someone up into the sky where the sirens and alarms rang.

It struck the Musashi’s floor.

“…That was fast!”

A line of light rose into the dimly-lit night sky with an orange tail trailing behind it.

Wild Kamelie was telling them to fly after her.

Asama saw the two Technohexen turn back toward her.

No, not just toward her. Toward “everyone”, which included Mitotsudaira.

By now, the others would be arriving from the Asama Shrine on foot. And as a representative of that “everyone”, Asama spoke.

“Don’t worry.” She clapped her hands so the sound reverberated through the air. “May any hardships experienced in the sky be purified.”

Naruze and Naito’s expressions changed at that. Naruze’s eyebrows rose in a small smile.

“You’re not going to pray for our victory?”

“Shinto is about purification. All Shinto can do is purify away any excess burden on you so that you can draw out your true strength.”

So…

“Achieving victory is up to the two of you, Naito and Naruze.”

“Asama-chi,” said Naito with her teeth showing through the corners of her mouth. “We’ll be back with that victory.”

With that, wind exploded before Asama’s eyes.

The two of them spread their wings, held their brooms like spears, and launched themselves into the sky.

The black and white Technohexen pursued the camellia flower.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4A Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4A Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4A Chapter 3

2018-09-16T01:49:47Z

162.158.186.57: /* Chapter 3: Gift Giver in the Shrine Bar */

==Chapter 3: Gift Giver in the Shrine Bar==
[[Image:Horizon_Kimi4A_085.jpg|thumb]]
''That is less of a breather

''And more of an earnestness for a different matter

'''Point Allocation (Refocus Your Feelings)

The Musashi's sky was transitioning from evening to night.

At this time, there was a greater contrast between the whiteness of the stealth barrier wall and the darkness outside it. And someone noted a certain fact while looking up into that sky.

"There are an awful lot of delivery workers out today."

That comment came from Sakai as he descended the stairs in front of the academy.

He was followed by "Okutama". She was using a "Tama"-style frame instead of a "Musashino"-style frame and she used her gravitational control to sweep the stairs behind her with a broom.

"I have determined that is due to the coming festival, Sakai-sama. People are likely making their final preparations. Over."

"Everyone has so much work to do, don't they?"

Sakai then turned his skyward gaze toward the bow.

A line of aerial buoys floated above Asakusa. They were normally used to inform foreign ships of the Musashi’s route, but these had a different purpose.

"The delivery workers' Null Vier. Are they setting it up for anyone to try? ...Tamako, have they ever done that before?"

"According to 'Asakusa', the head of the delivery business decided to make it as exciting as possible since their rankings have changed so much this year. Over."

"Almirante-san, hm?" Sakai opened the ''inro'' hanging from his neck and dropped the ''kiseru'' parts into his hand. He quickly assembled them. "The Technohexen in our academy's 2nd year who are named after Naitou and Naruse are ranked 3rd, aren't they?"

"They moved up to 2nd the other night. Over."

"Did they? Then they might just make it to 1st next time."

"...Sakai-sama." "Okutama" glared at his back. "Why are you such a sore loser? Over."

Just as she said that, a silver line dropped from the sky. It instantly pierced her apron and stabbed into the stairs.

"...!? Over."

She tried to back away, but the back of the blade held the cloth in place. She was unable to move and Sakai looked back curiously.

He spoke when he saw the sword still vibrating as it stood from the stairs.

" 'Musashi'-san, will you not be visiting today?"

A sign frame opened in response.

It opened from the sword's pommel and displayed an image of "Musashi". She turned to face "Okutama", made sure that other automaton had been held back, and then faced Sakai once more.

"Musashi" bowed.

"My apologies, Sakai-sama. Even if overthrowing one's lord is common in this age, my management skills were clearly lacking if the captain of just one ship felt she had 'defeated' you in any way. ...You may slay her with the sword before you if you like. The choice is yours. Over."

" 'Musashi-san', you know very well I would never choose to do that."

Sakai crouched down to be on eye level with the sign frame and "Musashi" did not respond for several seconds. Eventually, she lightly brushed back her hair.

"I have determined you are someone who would strike someone down if necessary. Over."

"I just hope I haven't gotten rusty." He smiled bitterly. " 'Musashi'-san, the scabbard."

"Judge. Over."

When he heard her response, Sakai stood up and raised his left hand.

A moment later, a red-lacquered scabbard fell into that hand.

Once he heard it slap into his hand, he moved his fingers to spin it around. He then pulled out the sword piercing the automaton's skirt.

"And it's sheathed. ...Tamako."

"J-judge."

He tossed the sheathed sword to "Okutama". And without even checking to see if she had caught it, he picked up the sign frame displaying "Musashi".

"Use that to be my bodyguard."

"Sakai-sama, you are being too easy on her. Over."

"No, no. I'm going to have her watch my black disk of Future Destructor Jiraida."

Hearing that, "Okutama" hung her head a bit and "Musashi" went through the motions of a sigh.

"Sakai-sama, the festival begins tomorrow. I have determined we will be very busy, so please do not waste her time. Over."

"It sounds like it's going to be quite the festival."

"What makes you say that? Over."

"Well, earlier, Torii's group sent in their decision for the band order during the Gagaku Festival."

Sakai turned away from "Okutama" and descended the stairs.

"Which band do you think got the last performance?"

"Sakai-sama, when you ask for information I have yet to receive, I can only tell you that I do not know. Over."

"I see," said Sakai.

He glanced over at "Musashi" who followed him in the sign frame and then looked up into the stealth barrier sky that had some faint scarlet in it now. He finally gestured toward the bow with his chin.

"Well, I want to eat dinner on the bow deck, so take care of that, 'Musashi'-san. We can go over some things then."

Asama operated a sign frame while looking up into the evening sky covered by the Musashi's stealth barrier.

She was creating a barrier to surround the Asama Shrine.

That barrier prevented others from entering or leaving and it kept sounds and images from getting out.

"Okay." She took a breath and clapped her hands. "We will now submit the 1647 Term 1 Post-Exams Party held by the girls of Class 2-Plum!"

Mats were laid out across the shrine's grounds and the girls of Class Plum were seated on them. They all raised their sake cups and their voices as one.

"Submit!"

They all took a breath and began placing bags of snacks and bento boxes on the mats. Meanwhile, Naomasa set down a wooden container of fried rice and walked to the main shrine with her sake cup in hand.

Hanami was floating above a bench placed in front of the main shrine.

A sign frame appeared behind Hanami:

"Direct Connection: Sakuya: Connected"

Naomasa placed her sake cup on the bench below Hanami.

"Take care of it." She clapped her hands and spoke to Hanami. "I might be at the wrong place for this, but make it a prayer for safety."

"Clap."

Hanami clapped her hands and some ether light rose from the sake cup.

At the same time, the words "Received: Intermediary: Ame-no-Ma: Confirmed" appeared on the sign frame behind her.

Sakuya acted as an intermediary for her prayer to the technician's god Ame-no-Ma.

Naomasa saw a sign frame appear next to her in response. It was...

...''A formless spell charm.

The charm was made of ether instead of paper. Since it was not physically attached when used, the engine division could use that kind without interfering with any moving parts. That made them more valuable, but...

"Asama-chi, just how valuable is this sake?"

"I don't know... I made it myself, so I've never run an official calculation. But if it worked as a substitution, I must have gotten better at it."

"Is that how it works?" asked Masazumi.

Naomasa knew very little about that transfer student, but...

...''Is she going to be someone important when she grows up?

Naomasa did not know if the two of them would have any kind of lasting connection, and she was not the type to go out of her way to build one. But she did think it would be mutually beneficial if they had some things in common.

"This is Asama-chi's ''kamizake''."

Masazumi looked down at her cup, so Asama clarified.

"It has been purified, but if it still bothers you, you can use it as an offering like Masa did."

"No, um." Masazumi tilted her head. "Kami Sake? Is that a special Shinto drink?"

Hearing that, Naomasa put her false hand on her chin.

...''Ahh.

This would be a pain to explain, so she looked to Asama who smiled bitterly.

"Simply put, saliva is used as a catalyst for the fermentation of the rice. So in this case, ''kamizake'' means chewed sake. It's possible to continue using the same seeds, but the older they get, the more you have to purify, so we remake them every year."

"Oh." Masazumi narrowed her eyes toward the cup in her hands. "My mom would put chewed herbs in when making sake, but I never knew why until now. ...I just always assumed it was some kind of custom or etiquette."

"Nobu-tan! Nobu-tan! Are you hogging all of the sake made from your wife's sake seeds again!?"

"Of course I am, you fool! This is my wife's ''kamizake'' that has been aging in my hidden sake cellar! It is truly priceless! And nothing is more expensive than that which is free!"

"Th-then, Nobu-tan! What happened to your plan of extracting saliva from Masazumi-kun's leftover food and producing ''kamizake'' from that!?"

"Heh heh heh. Have a sip of this sake here, Koni-tan."

"...Mh. It's so good! Is this Masazumi-kun's ''kamizake''!?"

"No, it is mine, you fool! Oh, but Masazumi is my daughter, so you could say it is nearly Masazumi's. Oh? Koni-tan? Why the glum look, hmmmmmmmmm?"

"C-curse you. You tricked me into an indirect kiss with you, didn't you!?"

"My mom didn't drink, so I assume she sent it to my dad."

Suzu sensed Masazumi somewhat curling her back while turning away from the others.

...''Is she...laughing?

It was the joyous laughter of someone who had run across something nostalgic. It just happened to include tears as well, so Masazumi felt the need to turn the other way.

And...

"Sorry. The air here sure is damp."

"Oh, it's fine. ...Because I can use that for a doujinshi."

"Wait! What are you planning!?"

"I mean..." Naruze nodded, juggled her pen between hands, and sometimes raised her left shoulder to check on it. "''Kamizake'' is given to the person you like and waiting until later to tell them what it is, right? Well, that or feeding it to them mouth-to-mouth."

Asama waved her hand to say that was not what it was for, but was it really not?

"Asama-san...do you not...think about...that kind of thing?"

"N-no, I don't. Because this is holy sake. Yes."

Hearing that, Kimi took a drink from her cup.

She puffed out her cheeks, swished the sake around, and then swallowed it.

"Phew..." She relaxed her sitting position and held a hand to her cheek. "Asama just roughly violated my mouth... She pumped it full of her hot stuff and rubbed it all around..."

"You made that joke before, didn't you!? Didn't you!?"

"But, Tomo, this ''kamizake'' really neutralizes the scent of my mouth," said Mitotsudaira. "If possible, I'd like to drink some when we have yakiniku."

"That's right, Asama-chi! Let's sell it! People sometimes try to order some in secret, you know!?"

That sounded incredible, but Suzu suspected it was not actually a good thing.

Besides, this topic always had the same conclusion.

Asama waved her hands back and forth.

"It's for friends. Only for friends. I haven't even given any to my dad since elementary school. It's for girls only."

"Oh? I've wondered before: what does your father think of all this?"

"He has my mom's sake seeds, so he's fine."

"Ohh..." said Suzu and all the other impressed girls.

...''Asama-san's dad...must have really gotten along...with her mom...

Suzu had heard a bit about Asama's mom from her own parents. She had married into the Asama Shrine that supported Musashi, so of course she had gathered attention.

Her memories of Asama's mom began with the woman who had given them snacks when they visited Asama at the shrine.

She had been a pretty person.

Suzu recalled the shockingly pretty presence she had sensed when meeting her and she had tensed up when the woman had touched her. It had naturally been him who had spoken upon noticing her unease.

"Oh, if you're going to touch Bell-san, you need to make a noise like this to give her some warning."

The woman had laughed lightly.

...''And she said, "Like this, then?"

When she had taken her hand, Suzu had sensed something strange.

She had felt cleaner.

Since her parents ran a bathhouse, she was confident in how clean she kept herself. That had been around the time she had realized the daughter of bathhouse owners could not look worn-out and filthy.

But this had been different.

It had been a permeating purification that moved beyond the surface.

Something like a wave had passed from her hand to her back.

...''Yes.

And the woman had said, "Someone takes very good care of you, don't they?"

Suzu had found that embarrassing.

She had understood what it was that had left her body.

The people who lived at the shrine were said to purify impurities.

She had thought she was keeping clean, but she had been wrong. There had been something deeper inside.

So when she had gotten home, she had asked her parents something.

"If I want to...purify the inside...of my body too...what do I need...to do?"

That was how she had started helping out at the bathhouse her parents ran.

It had always made her happy when she visited the Asama Shrine and Asama's mom had complimented her. It had also made her happy when she realized the woman was surprisingly careless and would laugh like normal.

It had made her sad when she had died.

...''But Asama-san...is still here...

She was the same.

When Suzu took a drink of the sake she had been given, she could sense it.

The impurities within her were purified starting from her mouth and left her through her back and feet.

She could not drink it all at once.

She could only take one small sip at a time.

It made her soul tremble.

...''Kimi-chan is...incredible...

It was amazing that the girl could drink it in such an exaggerated fashion. That likely meant she had no impurities within her.

Asama also drank it like normal, although that might not mean as much when she was the one who had made it. She would occasionally lose control of herself, but Shinto generally accepted male-female relationships and encouraged baby-making.

"...Nn."

Suzu thought to herself while taking another sip.

...''Asama-san is...so pretty.

She was approaching the same prettiness her mom had had.

Suzu suspected she would one day surpass even that.

...''I need to...do my best too.

Suzu was the same age.

She felt a desire to grow in some way like Asama had. So...

"..."

Suzu took a large gulp of the sake to test herself.

...''Wow.

This was apparently not how she was meant to grow.

People were not meant to push themselves too hard.

She trembled and felt like the core of her body was leaving her from throat to hips.

She felt a little woozy.

Adele approached from the side and supported her from behind with an arm.

"Whoa, Suzu-san! ...Oh?"

"Eh? A-Adele...?"

"Well, um..."

While supporting her, Adele moved her arm up and down Suzu's body a bit. And...

"Oh, uh, well, I guess we'll have a clear answer during next year's class trip."

"A-about what?"

Adele paused for a second, but then she smiled.

"Not to worry! I'll do my best too!"

Was she referring to the mobile shell repairs she was obsessed with lately?

If so, Suzu needed to support her. So...

"R-right. Good...luck."

...''Umm, mobile shells are...a type of armor...right?

But the latest trend was lightweight, high-speed models, so she had heard the armor was very thin and flat.

So she knew what she had to say:

"Flat and...hard is...best, isn't it?"

"...Eh!?"

For some reason, both Adele and Mitotsudaira spoke up.

Mitotsudaira turned toward Asama.

"Is it!?"

"H-how would I know!? ...Masa!"

"Are you sure you're all talking about the same thing?"

Suzu thought it was cool how simply Naomasa excluded herself from these discussions. Meanwhile, Kimi crossed her arms and raised her empty cup toward Asama.

"Another. ...And you were saying you hadn't let your dad drink this since elementary school, right? Was that on your mom's orders?"

"Hmm, I guess you could say that. She said I should stop since I would be a grownup soon."

"A grownup...!"

Adele held her hands in front of her chest and pantomimed some curves, so that may have been what that was about.

But Masazumi asked a question while taking a drink from her cup.

"You said you aren't going to sell it, but what would happen if someone tried to?"

Asama thought about that.

"Good question..."

The security settings were mostly unchanged from when her mother was in charge. So...

"If someone without my authorization tries to drink it, the sake will teleport such that it flows up their urethra, a rule violation alarm will sound across the entirety of Musashi, a Sakuya Surefire Red-Hot Rod will be shoved up their butt, and the sake will turn to no more than water."

"...Wouldn't that last part be enough?"

Masazumi had a point. But...

"That was constructed from generation to generation, so it's added up. Removing them would mean getting our ancestral spirits involved and they see it as 'protecting their descendants'... Oh, but my mom and I didn't add anything."

"...Asama-chi. Could we use that for assassinations? It would work great!"

Lately, Heidi seemed to be becoming something other than a merchant.

But anyway...

"You can take it home with you if you want. But be careful because it would be something of a disaster if someone else tried to drink it. Using it while cooking would be the most dangerous thing."

"What if you're cooking just for yourself?" asked Naomasa.

"Then it should be fine. And the black algae creatures break down filth instead of drinking it, so they shouldn't be affected if any washes down the drain. Any rats that drink it won't be so lucky, though."

"This is pretty much a chemical weapon, isn't it?" said Naomasa.

"Then you can just drink it here like you always have."

"That's right." Naruze took a sip. "We have a party and some sake. So if the drinking is mandatory, you know what comes next, don't you?"

Someone spoke up in response to that.

It was Kimi and she stood up.

"Can someone sing a song? I'll dance to it."

She whirled around and designated a singer.

"Mitotsudaira. ...C'mon."

"Eh? M-me!?"

Mitotsudaira was of course surprised, but Asama also found this to be unexpected.

"Mito, you've already finished a song?"

"The conditions were the same as with you, Tomo. I wrote the lyrics and then Kimi gave it a rough melody."

That response came with a sidelong glance that placed pressure on Asama as well. She was supposed to write two songs. She had already given some of it to Kimi, but...

...''Oh, right. There's only 3 days left, isn't there?

She could not say that Mitotsudaira had finished her song quickly. It was Asama herself who was slow.

The astonishment arrived after a short delay and she began sweating in her heart. And then...

"Heh heh."

''Here it comes,'' she thought. Kimi had gotten a refill for her sake cup and she now placed her elbows on Asama's shoulders. She then wrapped her arms around Asama and narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, noooo."

Asama glared back as Kimi laughed smugly.

...''Honestly...

"What do you mean 'oh, no'?"

"You don't know?" Kimi lowered her eyebrows in a smile and then sucked in a breath. "Silly girl! Listen! Why do you think I had fun making you say dirty words while you two were studying for the exams!?"

"Don't ask me."

"Heh heh. Because I was spending night after night preparing for the Gagaku Festival and writing your songs instead of studying! Surprised!?"

"Very." Asama's expression remained flat. "Yes...surprised that anyone would be dumb enough to goof off during our study sleepovers when we can't participate in the Gagaku Festival if our exam papers are covered in red marks."

"Eh!? What? You're going to attack me over that!?"

"I would rather not, but yes."

"In other words, you just can't keep your hands off of me, can you!?"

''Why would it mean that?'' she wondered, but since Naruze passed her chopsticks to her left hand and raised her pen in her right, that must have been how it sounded. Meanwhile, the idiot spoke loud enough for her voice to reverberate through the shrine grounds.

"N-no! Asama is going to attack me inside this Shinto stealth field! Now say it! Say, 'Look, it's all red because of all the fun we had night after night... I would really rather not, but today I need to lecture you and Toori-kun.' "

"Toori-kun has nothing to do with this."

"Eh? But after you and Mitotsudaira would go to sleep, I would chat with him via divine transmission while I worked on the songs and he worked on his porn games. He completed a loup-garou knight one while I made Mitotsudaira's song."

"What have you been doing!?"

Asama completely understood the knight's protest, but...

"Don't tell me he was completing a shrine maiden one while you worked on my song."

"Oh, what are you talking about, silly girl? While completing one? Of course not."

"Are you sure?"

"Judge. ...I mostly finished it while the game was installing. My foolish brother said it took so long because it had a lot of images."

"Th-that's even worse! Couldn't you have at least done it while he was playing it!?"

"Tomo! Tomo! You're losing sight of your own argument here!"

Mitotsudaira was right.

But that idiot aside, the exams had been their greatest concern and they were complete. Warning Kimi about her idiocy here would accomplish nothing.

...''Fine, then.

"Yes. ...The exams are complete, so let's refocus ourselves."

"Heh heh. That's right! Now that the exams are complete, we need to refocus ourselves! Right!?"

Why did her own idea sound so infuriating when that idiot spread her arms and restated it? However...

"Otherwise you can never erase the fact that you drew the Sailboat! Right!?"

Asama's face went entirely pale and she looked up.

She had questions like "when did she see that?" and "she's bluffing, right!?", but...

"Heh heh heh. Acrobatic~"

The idiot sister bent over and did a handstand.

She apparently did not intend to respond no matter what Asama said. Asama tried to hide her blushing face, but then she felt sweat on her neck and back.

...''I-it's kind of dark out, so hopefully no one will notice!

And then...

"Asama...-san...?"

Suzu spoke to her.

She had likely detected the blush based on its heat.

"Are you...okay?"

...''Oh, no!

Suzu's considerate nature would be a threat here.

"I-I'm perfectly fine. Just a little drunk is all. Y-yes!"

"Isn't it highly unusual for you to get drunk?"

That may have been true, but it would be dangerous to admit to it.

So she ignored the eyes on her, and...

"Umm, how much of your song have you finished, Mito?"

She was less curious than she was in desperate need of a new topic. Also...

"We'd like to hear it too," said Naito.

"That's right," agreed Naruze.

That was important since Asama, Mitotsudaira, and Kimi had already heard their new song.

But Mitotsudaira sighed and shrugged.

"To be honest, there's one part I haven't figured out yet."

"Eh? ...But you've sent the lyrics to Kimi to write the music, haven't you?"

Kimi was the one to answer that.

She nodded first.

"You mean what you're going to say during the intro and interlude, right?"

"...Say?"

"Judge," replied Kimi. "Knight songs always have an 'introductory statement' or MC portion in addition to the lyrics, don't they?"

"Now that you mention it..."

The knight songs that Mitotsudaira sang at karaoke had a few unique features.

Due to the time period they came from, they all demanded a male vocal range, they included a roar of praise for their king or nation, and...

...''They have a story.

Before the song began, they would state what kind of story the song would tell. And in the middle, the developing contents of the lyrics would be explained.

"It's a lot like a stage play," said Mitotsudaira. "With just the music and lyrics, you could be singing about any battle or triumphant return. It is the statements in the beginning and middle that reveal the background to the song."

"Why are the lyrics made to be so generic?" asked Naomasa.

"There is a simple reason for that: kings change and orders of knight are disbanded or reestablished due to fluctuating numbers. If those things were specified in the lyrics themselves, you would have to remake the entire song. Also..."

Also...

"This is not limited to knight songs. The bards who spread gossip and folksongs do not create new songs about each new area they travel to. ...They take a generic song and add the appropriate 'story' portion for that nation or region. It's all part of a performance to make it sound like a cohesive whole. ...It's not quite a tradition, but old songs tend to work that way. That is why the story portion is important when writing a song in that style."

"And you haven't come up with yours yet?"

“Judge. I know what I want to sing and convey, but I haven’t decided how exactly I will do that. Without the story, it is my own knight song. With it, it is a story that includes me. I am not good at improvising.”

“Heh heh. If you could improvise, you could add an adlibbed story to a romantic tune in the medieval bard’s special attack; the Love Song.”

“Again with this!?” said Mitotsudaira while baring her fangs toward Kimi.

But Asama understood why Mitotsudaira could not sing here.

“You want to include that story part when you first publicly perform the song, don’t you?”

Mitotsudaira heard Naomasa say “I see” and everyone else voiced their own understanding.

She had been asked to sing a song to help liven up the party.

But if they understood why she could not do that…

…''It means they’re expecting something from me and don’t think I’m going to half-ass this.

The Cerberus on her head gave three simultaneous cries in response to everyone’s understanding. The Cerberus must have picked up on her feelings and seemed to be telling her to calm down. Everyone smiled a bit at that.

But she also saw Uzy twirling around above Kimi’s head. The Mouse held an acoustic spell sign frame. It was a spell circle bearing the word “microphone”.

Kimi grabbed the sign frame and stuck it in her cleavage.

“Now, Mitotsudaira, put it in your mouth!”

“What are you talking about!?”

The idiot sister responded to her shout by kissing and licking it. Then she looked back at Mitotsudaira.

“It was actually a strawberry milk flavored ''chitose-ame''…! Well!? Surprised!?”

“…Um, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Silly girl! I was doing the bit where the servant warms her master’s cough drop with her body heat so it will melt more quickly! Asama! Since Mitotsudaira won’t lick it, you come here! Let’s press our boobs together to the double cough drop! You really missed out, Mitotsudaira… This has a divine protection on it that makes your boobs grow if you lick it.”

Adele stood up fast enough to flip over the table in front of her, but Naomasa grabbed her waist with her prosthetic arm and had her sit back down.

Beyond them, Asama was making an “ignore her” gesture and Mitotsudaira had to agree.

So she took a breath and spoke.

“If something like that does exist, could you just leave it there for me so we can skip the licking part? I can pick it up before I head home.”

“Eh!? You actually believed me!?”

Mitotsudaira raised her fist, but the idiot and Uzy escaped with long strides.

However, she left behind the sign frame.

And another dozen or so sign frames appeared behind Mitotsudaira.

This was Turning Point, the spell that Kimi used, and it was already in standby mode.

“…Who is going to use this?”

“Eh?”

Kimi sounded confused.

She swayed back and forth as she walked back over Mitotsudaira’s way.

“Me, of course. We need a song and dance here and my plan fell through, so it’s my responsibility to provide a replacement.”

“You’ve already completed your song for the Gagaku Festival?”

“Of course I have.” Kimi agreed as readily as breathing and gave a smiling wink. “So I’ll be performing a new song here. It’s titled Dance of Joyful Awakening.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4A Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 4A Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Kimitoasamade 3B Chapter 9

2018-09-02T02:19:35Z

162.158.186.57: /* Chapter 9: Player at the Shrine */

==Chapter 9: Player at the Shrine==
[[Image:Horizon_Kimi3B_109.jpg|thumb]]
''O-oh, c’mon

''Quit doing that

'''Point Allocation (You love it, don’t you?)

A rectangular section of sky was visible.

That stealth barrier sky was generally white, but it was dyed a pale red as evening fell.

A shrine with a two-level roof was located below that sky. Gravel and a torii sat in front of that. This was…

“The Asama Shrine… It’s been a while since it felt so far away.”

“Heh heh. Isn’t that because you’ve never been carrying all that when visiting before?”

Two people exchanged words there. One was Kimi and the other was Mitotsudaira who sat on the stairs to the main shrine building. She looked in the direction Kimi pointed, and…

“Well, yes, I did think it was an awful lot.”

There was a pile of musical instruments on the side of the stairs. A double digit number of them were stacked up in their cases.

“It looks like we’re preparing for a huge orchestra. We need to put them in order once Asama gets back.”

Mitotsudaira could only lower her shoulders at that.

…''Maybe I got too worked up.

The Cerberus on her head barked, but she was not sure if the creature was agreeing with her or critiquing her.

However…

“This was necessary, wasn’t it?”

These instruments were for them and for Naito and Naruze. Also…

“We couldn’t make any noise in the storeroom… Since we have to check on them here, we brought back three promising-looking ones each, so of course it ended up being such a ridiculous amount.”

“We should have put them in the storeroom below the Asama Shrine.”

“We would still have to carry them up to test them. And even if we did that, it would have to be after we selected them. Also, above and below makes little difference after coming so far.”

“You really do take things seriously, Mitotsudaira.”

“I suppose it’s just my personality…”

With that, Mitotsudaira looked back to the pile of instruments.

She had chosen a few string instruments and plucked keyboards, Kimi had chosen some drums and guitars, Asama had gone for ''biwa''s, and Naito and Naruze had focused on guitars.

They had all carried their own first candidate themselves, but Mitotsudaira had carried the rest. Of course, she had not carried them on her back. She had strung them from a support scaffolding pillar she had found in the storeroom.

Kimi had said she looked like a peddler, but her wares were far too rare. She was glad the Spring School Festival preparations had been underway on her way from the long block lift to here.

…''I would have stood out too much otherwise.

She had been able to blend in with Persona-kun, who had been carrying around a pole strung with a lot of buckets containing goldfish, and Noriki, who had been carrying lumber.

Even if they were only musical instruments, their average weight was nearly 10kg when the case was included. With a total of around fifteen of them, it was a lot of work even for a Loup-Garou like Mitotsudaira.

She had strength, but it used up a lot of stamina when she had to use it constantly instead of in quick bursts.

But it would have been a lot better without the final stretch up the Asama Shrine’s steps.

The problem was the Asama Shrine’s structure, forcing them to descend from the surface to four stories belowground and then climb a story’s worth of stairs back up to it.

After the four flights of stairs down put you at ease, the one flight back up supplied a finishing blow.

“That was rough…”

“The stairs?”

“Judge. Just when you think you’ve arrived, those stairs get you. It’s honestly absurd that the Asama Shrine doesn’t have an elevator to reach it from below.”

“You say that, but this shrine was built by licensed shrine carpenters who carried all the materials up themselves. The gods must really like making people go to extra effort in their territory.”

Kimi then added a “but”.

She took a long stride with a light step and placed her hand on Mitotsudaira’s right shoulder.

“Did it leave a bruise? If so, you should get it looked at.”

“By Tomo when we bathe in the spring?”

“Heh heh. …You could get my foolish brother to do it, too.”

“I-I have no idea what you mean!”

Mitotsudaira just about imagined the scene on reflex, but she caught herself. And as an excuse for cutting off her thoughts…

“Besides, my king can’t use any healing spells.”

That had to be true. If not, the incident with him being beaten to a nudist bloody pulp in middle school would not have happened.

Of course, it was possible he had learned some afterwards, but she had at least heard nothing of the sort from Kimi or Asama.

“So…”

Just as she tried to say this had nothing to do with him…

“Expecting actual healing isn’t the only reason to let someone see your injury or exhaustion, you know?”

“Eh?”

“Silly girl.” The busty girl stared down at her face from above. “If you let him see, my foolish brother will at least say something like ‘you’ve been working hard, haven’t you?’ ”

Her impression of his voice was so good it made Mitotsudaira’s heart pound.

Mitotsudaira groaned, the Cerberus barked, and the idiot sister used that opening to speak.

“Listen. When you show him, you can’t be showing it off. You have to act natural and say it doesn’t really bother you.”

“B-but if I do that…”

She wanted to somehow change the subject, so she tried to end the current one.

“If I act natural and say it doesn’t bother me, won’t he just accept that and not worry about it?”

“Oh?” Kimi smiled bitterly. And, “He would notice the truth. …Don’t you think?”

Mitotsudaira thought, ''That’s not a fair question.

When pressed to choose one answer or the other, she would have to choose one.

“…You’re right.”

“See?” Kimi bent down a little. “Let’s say my foolish brother asks you what kind of bruise it is.”

It was a ridiculous thought. If he asked her that…

“I would tell him not to worry about it. Obviously.”

“Then he would ask if it was from that battle.”

''He would,'' realized Mitotsudaira.

…''He wouldn’t think it was from carrying instruments…

If she had been injured recently, anyone would assume it was from the mysterious phenomena purification battles against the Non-God Sword and Hidden Dragon. But…

“I wouldn’t want him worrying about me, so I would honestly tell him it was from carrying instruments.”

“Would you? Then would you have him reward you for it?”

“N-no. This is to prepare for something we want to do. I don’t need any kind of reward.”

“Really?” Kimi smiled. “What songs’ll you be playing? How’ll you be singing? How’re you preparing the stage? How much have you practiced? What’s your song like, Nate? And…”

She mimicked his voice for all of it. And to finish it off…

“I can’t wait to see it.”

“——————”

That made Mitotsudaira imagine it.

…''Ahh.

The heat rising from her neck into her cheeks came from the person in her imagination. She had no idea what would happen if he said that for real. And…

“Oh, Mitotsudaira. You just want to sit at his feet, rub your cheek against him, and tell him to look forward to it even more, don’t you? You wish he would give you an order like ‘fetch’, but since he won’t, you’re just so happy he’s thinking about you. And that teasing is about to make you pee yourself!”

“You didn’t have to take this in that direction!!”

That calmed her down a bit.

But what ''would'' happen?

“Will my king come to the Gagaku Festival?”

“Do you really think he wouldn’t?”

“But,” said Mitotsudaira. “You said he’s trying to win over another girl.”

“Oh, dear. Silly girl.”

“But…”

How would she react if he came to the Gagaku Festival with that girl?

Would she feel like something else had come between the two of them?

She felt despicable.

She chastised herself for feeling so shocked that other people did not do exactly what she wanted them to. But…

“That would mean we only play supporting roles.”

“Let me say it again: Silly girl.”

“Wh-what makes me so silly?”

“I’m saying,” said Kimi, “that you already have a decent position…or rather, role.”

“…Huh?”

Kimi raised a finger toward her and first pointed at herself.

“I am his sister. And you are…”

“His knight.”

“So you do understand.” Kimi spoke through her thinly smiling lips. “You are the only one that can take the leading role as his knight. In everyday life and both on and off duty, you just have to stay with your king as his knight. Even if I or a lover are there too, you have nothing to fear. There is no replacement for a king’s knight.”

So…

“If you’re worried about your relationship with your king while singing, then you only need to sing as his knight.”

“————”

Mitotsudaira was left dumbfounded when she realized what Kimi meant, but the other girl was not done yet.

“Yes, and a knight can of course use combination techniques to confirm the trust between herself and her king. Once you’re finished singing as a cute puppy knight, you can beg him to praise you, accept his reward in your mouth, lick and swallow as much as you want, and then get on top to-…”

“Again, don’t take this in that direction!”

“Well, anyway, a knight does have the right to do that kind of thing.”

The frightening part was how Kimi made it sound like she was scolding her.

But if Mitotsudaira ignored the part where Kimi went too far, she understood what the girl was trying to say.

“You’re saying to keep my eyes on our relationship, aren’t you?”

“Judge. The rest is up to my foolish brother, but there is a part that is up to both of you.”

“Why?”

“Because what a king is capable of is created by those around them. …The more you act as his knight, the more he will be protected, the surer his footing will be, and the deeper he will treat you as his knight.”

Also…

“Even if my foolish brother sets someone aside, he will not forget what truly matters to them. If you have your position with him, then it means that position lets you remain by his side. Trust in that fact.”

She just about nodded in understanding, but she stopped herself.

If she did that here, Kimi was liable to take this in an odd direction again. So she shut her eyes, raised her nose, and…

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Oh?” Kimi moved away and smiled a little. “But it was something incredibly important for the future I’m imagining.”

“Huh?”

This time, Mitotsudaira really did have no idea what Kimi was talking about.

…''The future?

''What are you bringing up all of a sudden?

But the idiot sister apparently had no intention of saying any more. She simply moved away from Mitotsudaira and stood on the gravel. She then removed her side skirts, tail skirt, and the stomach of her inner suit.

“I need to go take care of my usual training.”

“Is it something for a substitution?”

“Judge. I could use my role in the mysterious phenomena purification as a substitution, but I can’t hold back since I need this for my dancing.”

With that, she naturally spread her legs atop the gravel.

She rolled her heels across the gravel, but since the gravel was not shoved aside, it must have been some kind of martial art.

…''She takes these things to such ridiculous levels…

Mitotsudaira could not emulate that level of balance. After spreading her legs a full 180 degrees, Kimi leaned her body forward.

“Oh?”

But then she raised her head.

She looked starboard where the Asama home was.

Mitotsudaira also looked over and saw someone leaving the building while still wearing a shrine maiden outfit.

“Tomo… Did you finish reporting to your father?”

“Oh, yes.”

Asama nodded toward Mitotsudaira while switching her sign frame from document and report mode to everyday duties mode. “I reported on what just happened along with the other material I had put together. Reporting it all to IZUMO Kitsuki is my dad’s job.”

With that, she looked to the other two.

Mitotsudaira and Kimi had already changed back into their uniforms and Mitotsudaira looked a little tired. Asama had known it would be tough carrying the instruments here and she had come up with another way, but Mitotsudaira had insisted she carry them.

''Is she still dragging around what happened in the past?'' wondered Asama. But…

…''She should have gotten over that already.

A lot had happened and it had led to Mitotsudaira returning to normal, but…

…''She might have picked up a habit of forcing herself to do things.

In that case, that was who she was now.

If that was what she wanted to do, letting her would be easiest for her. Asama felt no desire to fix her or force her, so if she was to be worried about anything…

“Is your shoulder all right? Do you have a bruise?”

“Eh!? N-no, I’m perfectly fine! Y-yes, just fine!”

“Could you sound any less convincing…?”

Meanwhile, Kimi twisted her body atop the gravel and smiled.

“She’s fine. Right, Mitotsudaira?”

“Kimi, is this your doing…?”

“Ha ha. Silly girl. It’s not about me. It’s about Mitotsudaira and her future.”

Kimi twisted toward Asama and then leaned her body forward. She placed her breasts on the gravel and squished them below her body.

“An injury leads to a reward. That’s just how knights work, isn’t it?”

“I have no idea what you mean…” Asama opened a sign frame. “It’s six, so I’ll be closing the barrier. Is that okay?”

“Heh heh. Why wouldn’t it be? Mitotsudaira and I have the same divine protection pass as my foolish brother, don’t we?”

“Well, yes, you do.”

…''They really act like this is their second home, don’t they?

With an exasperated sigh, Asama lightly clapped her hands.

Instantly, a wind-like temperature difference raced toward her from between her hands.

Instead of a chill, it was like having a cold blade lightly carve into her body. It was a form of purification, and…

…''That was the sign for the security barrier.

The clap that set up the barrier reverberated out as she spoke.

“Okay, that generally makes sure no one can get in or out. Now no one on the outside can see us.”

Asama saw Mitotsudaira’s shoulders relax.

The Asama Shrine’s stealth barrier was a projected one, so everyone on the outside could see a standard image of the shrine, but they could not see or hear what was really on the inside. It was like surrounding the shrine with a curtain bearing a drawing of the shrine.

It also allowed those on the inside to see out and it used several divine protections for defense and surveillance.

Mitotsudaira probably felt the same comfort as closing the door to her room.

Meanwhile, Asama still wore her shrine maiden outfit from the battle and she began managing the barrier from the center of the shrine grounds.

…''This should be enough.

A shrine was supposed to be a safe place anyone could escape to at any time and it was a noncombat holy ground due to being in the presence of a god. You might receive some kind of punishment, but everyone was generally welcome. Or that was how it was supposed to work.

“But we do a lot of management for the Musashi…”

“I do always think that sounds like a lot of work,” said Kimi while she straightened up and twisted herself even tighter for her training.

She used a towel to stretch her arms.

“Isn’t there always more work to be done?”

“There is. So most of the work we receive during the day is dealt with in the shrine at night. And a lot of it is related to managing the Musashi as a whole and not just the Shinto contracts, so it requires a lot of data processing.”

Hanami had appeared next to her face and was already starting on that work.

Uzy was poking out from Kimi’s cleavage and she was clearly interested in Hanami. Those two were a lot like sisters, but Uzy probably wanted to play.

However…

“You can’t, Uzy. Your job is to dance and play, but Hanami is doing some other work right now, so you can’t get in her way.”

“Too bad.”

After saying that, Uzy’s eyes stopped on something else.

Mitotsudaira was lining up the instruments on rush mats in front of the shrine, but Uzy’s focus was on the Cerberus on her head.

…''Umm.

Asama looked back and forth between Uzy and the top of Mitotsudaira’s head.

“…?”

The three-headed wolf seemed to notice Uzy looking at her.

“!”

The Cerberus barked and Uzy quickly hid behind Kimi’s head.

…''Oh, dear.

''Is she afraid?'' wondered Asama, but Kimi smiled bitterly.

“My, oh, my. You sure scare easy.”

“I think you could learn a thing or two from her, Kimi.”

Kimi smiled bitterly as Uzy stood on her head like a dog.

Kimi was taller than Mitotsudaira, so…

“Heh hehn.”

Uzy seemed to feel more comfortable now. And the Cerberus’s barking sounded a bit like she wanted to play. And that may have been why,

“Go on and play.”

Mitotsudaira lowered the Cerberus to the ground.

Seeing that, Asama looked to Kimi, wondering how Uzy would respond.

But Uzy shook her head. She looked down at the Cerberus just once, but she frantically shook her head again.

“Work.”

Kimi exploded with laughter.

“She’s being considerate to Hanami.”

“Looks that way.”

In her own way, Uzy had seen that Hanami was taking her work seriously and had decided she should not start playing without her. But then she could not grant the Cerberus’s desire to play. So…

“Hanami, let Uzy handle your heat reduction. …And Mito, hand the Cerberus over here.”

“Oh, yes. What are you going to do?”

“Heh heh. Just a small dance. You help, too.”

“Eh?”

In front of Mitotsudaira, Kimi placed Uzy on top of the Cerberus.

The rest was simple. Uzy’s dance was synchronized with Hanami’s heat reduction setting.

“Okay, Uzy, start dancing. And the Cerberus, um…”

“C’mon, over here, over here.”

Kimi took a light step and let the towel she held flutter just above the gravel.

“…!”

With Uzy on her back, the Cerberus dashed toward the towel.

“Oh, she’s surprisingly fast.”

“In fact, I think this is the first time I’ve seen her run a long distance…”

Mitotsudaira’s tone was an amusing mixture of dumbfounded and somewhat disappointed.

“Tomo, why are you smiling?”

“No reason. But the Cerberus knows you’re her owner. And…”

After chasing after it for a bit, the Cerberus finally managed to bite at Kimi’s towel. The three-headed wolf swung the cloth around for a bit, but finally ran back over to Mitotsudaira with it.

Uzy was swung around in a 180 degree turn on top of the beast.

“Oh, oh, oh.”

She forced her body into a spin and danced. And that became a substitution between Mice.

“Hanami?”

“It’s reducing.”

The ether light floating around Hanami changed from a heated yellow to a bluish-white. Things were calming down. Meanwhile, the Cerberus handed the towel to Mitotsudaira.

“U-umm?”

…''Mito really isn’t used to this kind of thing…

''She probably can’t do it,'' thought Asama as she tried speaking to Mitotsudaira.

“Mito, think back to when you were little and play with them like that.”

“Eh?” said Mitotsudaira. “When I was little!?”

“Hee hee. Honey? Look, I was cleaning and I came across this picture from when Nate was little. Look at this. When I would sing, she would try to dance but ended up just wiggling her butt around. And we didn’t have an inner suit that fit her right back then, so she was only wearing the hard point parts with a towel wrapped around her. She liked playing with the towel and would swing it around, but I think she was trying to copy how I danced.”

“Yes, I still did so much for her back then.”

“Hee hee. Oh, that girl. She preferred being wrapped in a towel to a diaper, so she really was a little wolf.”

Asama realized Mitotsudaira had become entirely useless.

She must have pressed some unpleasant switch from the girl’s past.

The silver wolf hung her head with her mouth spread horizontally while blankly immersing herself in something even darker than the evening. Seeing that, Asama wanted to say something helpful.

…''U-umm.

“Mito? C-c’mon, if you don’t play with the towel, the Cerberus and Uzy can’t-…”

“!”

A bark from the Cerberus seemed to revive her master from her melancholy about the past.

She gasped, but…

“P-play with the towel!?”

“Eh? …That’s what you’re focusing on?”

Mitotsudaira responded to that with an “ah”.

She quickly waved her hands back and forth.

“N-no, um, when you say ‘play with’ it, what exactly do you mean?”

Kimi smiled and mimed placing a towel between her legs and rubbing it back and forth on her crotch, but the crazy person did not matter. ''You don’t have to mime slapping it over your shoulder too. And I guess it’s a testament to her skill as an entertainer that I can imagine the scene so vividly.

However, the Cerberus moved.

But not for the towel; for Mitotsudaira’s hair.

“Eh?”

The Cerberus was always on top, so the bottom of the five large rolls must have been a rare sight.

The three-headed wolf chased her master’s hair and tried to jump up at it.

“Ah.”

Mitotsudaira lightly spun around to keep the hair out of reach.

But the Cerberus made a dash with Uzy dancing on her back.

Mitotsudaira twisted around some more as she was chased and followed.

“Toh.”

She spun and spun.

“Like this?”

She hopped a bit. Then the Cerberus kicked off the gravel in a jump. And of course…

…''She can’t reach her.

But that was why this counted as “playing”.

“Heh heh. You’ve created a nice flow there.” Kimi nodded at Mitotsudaira and lightly grabbed her own hair so the other girl could see. “Your hair probably looks like a tail.”

“Yes, it probably does.”

“A three-headed wolf pursuing five tails. …That certainly is a strange sight.”

But Asama knew what she needed to say now that the wolf and Cerberus had gotten the hang of this game.

“With a dog or any animal with a strong desire to serve its master, when they’re fulfilling a task given to them by their master, don’t they see it as a game?”

“That’s right.” Kimi twisted around on the gravel as she responded. “When they are successful, their master will give them food and praise them. That master-servant relationship is what they want. So you mustn’t misunderstand: we might see it as a simple game, but they see it as a confirmation of that relationship, so, Mitotsudaira, you can’t just continue escaping. You have to reward her properly afterwards.”

“Th-this isn’t easy…!”

Due to their difference in size, Mitotsudaira could easily escape if she wanted to.

But that would simply prove to the Cerberus that she was no match for her master.

…''That isn’t a master-servant relationship.

Mitotsudaira understood what that meant, so she spoke to the others.

“That would be a submissive relationship, wouldn’t it?”

“But if you go easy on her, it will mean you are looking down on Troiko. You will turn that three-headed wolf into a pet that doesn’t realize she’s being toyed with.”

“Then I just have to change the type of challenge.”

Mitotsudaira jogged forward a bit, looked back, and made a turn to get the Cerberus to chase after her. Then she suddenly let the towel she held dance in front of the Cerberus’s face.

“!”

The Cerberus naturally bit at it, but Mitotsudaira pulled it back.

…''Oh, dear.

Mitotsudaira threw the towel so the Cerberus could see. She then pointed at the towel and gave the Cerberus a command.

“Vas-y…!”

“!!”

Asama saw the Cerberus dash toward the towel.

The wolf ran in a dancing way and worked to follow after her target.

With Uzy dancing on top of her, the three-headed wolf chased the towel while her feet sounded quietly on the gravel. And just as the towel fell…

“Ohh.”

She bit at it and turned around.

She did not bark. She simply let Uzy pull the towel back up and returned to Mitotsudaira.

Her master spread her arms to welcome her.

“U-umm? How am I supposed to reward her…?”

“Heh heh. Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself? Are you going to reward her after every little game? You should play with her more and wait until she’s starting to wonder when the reward is coming.”

“That’s right,” agreed Asama as she operated a sign frame. She accessed the Asama Shrine’s divine transmission store and paid for something herself. “Mito, to celebrate your new relationship, I bought some Mouse snacks and sent them to your hard point parts. You can pull them out from the hip ones.”

“Judge,” said Mitotsudaira with a nod as she took the towel from the Cerberus. The three-headed wolf continued wagging her tail without sitting down, so she seemed to want to play some more. So when Mitotsudaira threw the towel again…

“…!”

The Cerberus dashed away again with Uzy riding her.

Asama was aware of the smile that scene put on her lips, but she also had a thought.

…''What is that Cerberus really?

Its appearance had likely used a Greek mythology “mold” from the Kojima Peninsula as well as the ether within the Musashi. But in that case…

…''I wouldn’t think she would get along with Mito so well…

“Molds” of a mythological being tended to prefer that land itself. They were originally from that land and they had become a guardian deity for it.

But since this one was playing with Mitotsudaira like this…

“She clearly views Mito as her master.”

“Yes, she does. Even when I try to play with her, she always focuses on Mitotsudaira in the end. And since she seems to belong to Mitotsudaira…”

Kimi faced Mitotsudaira with a pale look.

“Is she your secret child…!?”

“You saw her appear!!”

That was true. But in that case…

“Kimi might not be all that wrong about this Cerberus.” Asama put her theory to words. “She may have used Mito’s emotions or something else for a portion of her ‘mold’.”

…''Used my emotions or something else for a portion of her “mold”?

Mitotsudaira tilted her head at that.

“What does that mean?”

“Heh heh heh. You don’t get it!? The ‘mold’ of your boobs leaked out and became Troiko! Ahhn, but it’s too bad! She worked so hard to get out, but she’s so small! You only had tiny boobs, so Troiko ended up tiny too! It’s all your fault!!”

''Now you’re just being ridiculous.

Anyway, Asama waved her hands back and forth to say that was not the case. That was hardly surprising, but it was still a relief to hear it from Musashi’s Shinto representative.

So Mitotsudaira ignored the idiot sister and asked Asama a question.

“Tomo, what does this mean?”

“Well, Mito, that Cerberus appeared when you were operating the extractor. I think it helped that we were near the Kojima Peninsula, but you too provide a wolf ‘mold’. So I suspect the two effects combined and created her.”

“…But what exactly is my ‘mold’?”

Kimi slid her hands straight up and down in front of her own chest, but Mitotsudaira pretended not to see it. Trying to figure out what she meant was a bad idea.

Asama seemed to reach the same conclusion because she faced to the side so she could not see Kimi.

“Umm.”

While Asama thought, Kimi gently slid over. Asama responded by turning further around.

“To put it simply…”

“Tomo! Tomo! You have your back turned!”

The towel returned to her, so she swept it around a few times and then threw it.

Asama then turned all the way around. The idiot sister must have been satisfied because she resumed stretching next to her.

And Asama looked back and forth between Mitotsudaira and the running Cerberus.

“Mito, are you letting some stress build up?”

“Huh!?”

Kimi made a move where she seemed to tightly hold her own chest, but Mitotsudaira ignored her.

However, Asama wrinkled her brow as if she did not entirely understand it herself.

“We were extracting stagnations there. So, Mito, if you were worrying about something or had lost confidence about something, that could have become a ‘mold’.”

“Is that how it works?”

''If so,'' thought Mitotsudaira as she crouched down toward the creature approaching with towel in mouth.

She took the towel, but the Cerberus wanted to play some more. So she tied a knot in the towel and threw it higher but a little farther than before.

…''That Cerberus…

“Is she mine?”

“That I’m not entirely sure about. But even if so, it means the Cerberus simply used a ‘mold’ inside you; she is not a piece of you that came off. So there’s no reason to despair.”

“My chest! You think this is about my chest, don’t you!?”

“But,” suddenly said Kimi. “You know what this means, don’t you? If it was enough to create a ‘mold’, it must be something quite substantial inside you.”

“Huh?”

…''Something substantial inside me…?

She had no idea what that was.

But the Cerberus barked while waiting below the towel falling from the sky.

“If this was something inside me coming to the surface, why did it happen?”

“Heh heh. This certainly would be an annoying method of finding yourself.” Kimi smiled bitterly while bending forward and pressing her knee against her chest. “It would have to happen when you started looking at the things inside yourself. Just as Asama said earlier, wouldn’t that be when you were losing confidence in yourself?”

“Has that ever happened to you, Kimi?”

“Not anymore.”

She said that so readily.

…''That’s about what I expected.

They had known each other long enough for her to think that.

But Kimi had more to say.

“And this is a good thing. What you were trying to look at came out so you could see it. Doesn’t this seem nice when you look at it like that? What was subconsciously bringing you stress and killing your confidence has come out to say, ‘That isn’t true and don’t you forget it.’ ”

“Hmm…”

She understood what Kimi was saying. But that was only a way of imaging it. It might be true, but it might not.

Although if she did not know the answer at the moment…

“Then it would make me feel better to think about it that way.”

“Exactly. And if that is the case, Troiko is sure to eventually tell you just what she is. …Look, here she comes with the towel.”

Mitotsudaira looked over to see the Cerberus running over with Uzy on her back. Her small body raised the towel in her mouth and she looked ready to play some more.

…''If she is my “mold”, she should be quite strong.

She tried holding her hand out.

She was not asking the Cerberus to “shake”, but the creature did look at her outstretched hand.

“?”

The Cerberus stepped her front half up onto the hand.

…''Kh!

''Am I soft for finding this so irresistibly cute?'' But the strength was nothing out of the ordinary. It was the same as when the Cerberus was on her head. So even if the creature had been copied over from her…

“It would have to be a portion of my heart…”

''But what?'' she wondered even though the Cerberus could not answer. So she prepared to throw the towel for the three-headed beast that still wanted to play. And…

“Oh?”

A sign frame appeared. It was shaped like a crop mark frame Magie Figur.

“I just finished a job and I’m headed your way, but are things closed up top?”

It was Naruze. “Up top” likely referred to the sky above the Asama Shrine.

Asama nodded and looked up to the sky.

“It’s Naito and Naruze, right? I’ll give both of you authorization, so come on in.”

“Judge,” replied the voice while Asama accessed the shrine’s settings. She used the “The Usual” list from the citizen register to give authorization for those two. And…

“There…that should do it.”

She turned around to see the instruments piled up next to the stairs into the main shrine building.

Their next task was to check over those instruments.

She then looked to Mitotsudaira, who was throwing the towel, and Kimi, who was still stretching.

…''They live so freely…

She seriously thought that as she opened her mouth.

“Okay, let’s get to preparing for the Gagaku Festival.”

“Margot, the Asama Shrine is opened up top, but what will you do? You said you still have something to deliver for the Student Council, didn’t you? Should I deliver the things from the Blue Thunder?”

Naruze glided gently through the Musashi’s sky below the stealth barrier.

She spoke into a communication Magie Figur connected to Margot.

“I finished my last delivery and I’m flying by on the right of Tama’s free flight lane.”

“Ohh, then could you stop by the Blue Thunder in a bit? I’m still at Okutama, but the port side is congested and I’m stuck. Maybe I should have gone in from below…”

“You’re carrying too much with you for that, aren’t you? …So what are we going to do?”

When Naruze asked that, Margot pointed her Magie Figur toward her hands. The hand-drawn lines moved inside the crop mark frame and pointed to the delivery hanging from the broom.

They were posters. A dozen or so of them were rolled up into tubes.

…''Wait, it can’t be…

“Are those using my drawing?”

“Yes, they are. They’re posters for the Gagaku Festival. I had them give me one extra so we can hang it up at home.”

“Thanks. …So, Margot, are you on the way to the shops and homes where they’ll be displayed?”

“Yup. I thought it would be fine since it would help advertise Eisen. …I’ll be stopping by the Blue Thunder too, but what about you, Ga-chan?”

“How about we meet at the Blue Thunder and head to the Asama Shrine together?”

Something was bothering her, so she tried asking. And…

“Well…”

Margot hesitated and that settled it.

Naruze understood most of it.

It was about the Edel Brocken tester exam, Marine, and the Gagaku Festival.

They had decided to take part in all three, but there was something they still did not know.

There was one question they still did not have an answer to:

…''Can we actually do it?

''I bet we can,'' thought Naruze.

She felt like their daily training and countermeasures would allow them to succeed at the tester exam, the battle with Marine, and the Gagaku Festival.

But Margot was different.

She did not think they could do it.

If she could not reach that conclusion, then she could only spend her time worrying over it.

And even if Margot thought they could ''probably'' do it, she was not confident enough to go beyond that.

Margot was the type to make up her mind immediately, but that speed did not just come from doing it all instantly. She was constantly thinking about all sorts of things and she simply did not let it show.

Because she was constantly thinking about a wide variety of things, she could make an immediate decision when a problem presented itself.

She was that type of careful but immediate decision-maker.

However, this kind of situation was a poor match for her.

After all…

“We have no time and we have our current skill, but we’re presented with all sorts of possibilities.”

Naruze kind of felt like she had forcefully invited Margot to take part in the Edel Brocken tester exam.

And the battle with Marine came from that.

Their performance in the Gagaku Festival was much the same.

The Gagaku Festival was especially troublesome.

The tester exam and the battle with Marine were challenges to move higher, so even if they lost, they would have their result. Even if they lost, they could say they fought and lost.

So the result would be theirs and theirs alone.

But everyone was taking part in the Gagaku Festival, so its result was more than just their own.

Their result would be shared with the others.

…''And if we do poorly, I don’t want the others comforting us, sympathizing with us, and acting like it’s adorable that we were so bad.

For a Technohexen, having people act like they understood was the most painful thing of all.

Of course, it was a bit of a mystery whether or not their classmates really understood them, but…

“Margot, if we screw up, what do you think our classmates will do?”

“They’ll start a public debate about why we failed and settle on some pretty selfish conclusions like the poor sales of your doujinshis were weighing on your mind or we were distracted because the nudist came to cheer us on while wearing clothes.”

She would kind of appreciate that, but she also wanted to avoid it since it would probably damage their lives.

However…

“The fact that it’s a lot of work even though we’re trying to not take it too seriously really gives us two different ways to look at the end result.”

Naruze said that while setting aside that she had invited Margot into all this.

For the tester exam, Marine had made an appearance before Wild Kamelie. For the Gagaku Festival, they had tried to just have fun with it, but they had realized how poorly prepared they were during rehearsal.

And with the Gagaku Festival in particular…

…''Asama, Kimi, and Mitotsudaira are performing, too.

They were a novice band, but that alone would give them some popularity and Kimi worshiped an entertainer god.

They had the upper hand when compared to a lower-middle level band like Naruze and Margot.

They were not really in competition, but…

“We can’t afford to lose.”

“Eh?”

“I’m talking about a few different things, but I think Marine comes first.”

A light laugh escaped her mouth.

Naruze did not let go of her smile as she traveled gently through the sky. There was only one thing she had to say:

“Margot, it isn’t often you’re so worried about things.”

“Ohh, sorry… Ah, but it isn’t your fault, Ga-chan, and I don’t think you did anything wrong. Okay?”

“It was your responsibility for agreeing and you aren’t thinking about the possibility of failure because you’re thinking about how we can do this properly, right? But there are just too many problems. …Marine, for example, I think will come for us as soon as the festival starts.”

“Probably, yeah.”

Margot sounded like she was about to say “so you understand”. That deepened Naruze’s smile and then Margot said more.

“We were pretty worked up last night after eating that chicken, weren’t we?”

“We really were.” Naruze nodded. “Can you see Asakusa?”

The Null Vier was being held in the sky to the port of Asakusa.

This time, neither Wild Kamelie nor Marine were taking part. The familiar bunch was drinking alcohol, working to improve their records, and testing out their new brooms or thrusters.

Naruze watched them as she spoke.

“I really like that atmosphere.”

But…

“I want to experience something different right now.”

“You sure are greedy, Ga-chan.”

“I’ve been given the opportunity. But…”

But…

“Whether or not we can do it is a different matter. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah.”

Naruze felt like she had hit on what Margot was thinking about.

So she decided to stop there. She honestly wanted to delve further into her partner’s worries and she thought she was in position to do that, but…

…''Margot simply hasn’t made up her mind.

''Margot is an immediate decision-maker,'' thought Naruze again.

And she added, ''Her immediate decisions are based on ''whether or not she can do it.

Margot was not the type to compromise.

Even if it was with Naruze, she would decide against it if she thought she would fail. No matter how much she thought she might be able to do, if it might not be possible, she would decide against it.

That was the kind of person she was.

And she had agreed to Naruze’s invitation. Which meant…

…''We have enough time and skill.

''But,'' thought Naruze.

…''Margot hasn’t completely made up her own mind.

She needed a slight starting point to get her going. And once that piece was added to the puzzle…

“We’ll be unbeatable.”

She heard a sonic boom arrive from Asakusa.

Someone had likely set a record. She heard cheers, the stealth barrier around Asakusa shook, and warning sign frames blossomed.

“Margot, I’m headed to the Blue Thunder ahead of you. Some of the orders must be hot food, so I’ll deliver those first.”

Because if I don’t…

“They’ll get cold.”

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| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 3B Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
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