Horizon:Volume 1 Chapter 06

Chapter 06: Fated Ones Beyond the Door

What should we call that suddenness

We hope for while still fearful of

Point Allocation (Romantist)

•

A bell rang.

With a predetermined melody, the sound of the bell let one know when the school’s noon break arrived. That was the ring that began Musashi’s noon.

That sound not only reached the outdoor areas of Musashi, it was also transmitted in the ships’ internal broadcast; so the people indoors were also informed.

Within one of the ships’ interiors, in an underground residential area where rooms were lined up on the walls, in a three-meter-wide corridor a single boy was walking.

The boy carried a travel bag with the name “Azuma” written on it.

“…The room farthest in, huh? Even though I finished my moving quickly, I really spent a really long time with the paperwork.”

On the wall of the corridor he was looking at, there was a sign that said “Okutama: Horizontal Passage 1-15 - Musashi Ariadust Academy Student Dormitory”.

It was a joint residential horizontal passage placed under Musashi Ariadust Academy.

In the corridors there were many people even though it was lunch break. This was because the people who were going to work after noon were there.

With the people returning to their own rooms and the ones leaving them, the everyday sound of exchanging voices that he had not heard for a long time was audible.

A certain male student was walking together with his friends while counting up numbers on his fingers.

“…About my part-time work schedule, I think I’ll add an additional hour. After next year it’ll become my full-time job, so from now on I think I’ll get the clothes for outside work; but it won’t be be enough with the citizens’ weight limit above two kilos…”

Beyond this conversation, a female student pressed a company cell-phone type divine transmitter to her ear.

“…Yeah, it is a part-time job at Suwa Shrine’s contract stand, so let’s bring back some eggs for our rationing on our way ba… Eh? It’s a family ticket, so we can’t do an individual refund. If that’s the case…yeah, the horizontal passage at Okutama 1-7, you coming?”

She formed a smile. The boys walking nearby were comparing their personal armaments pulled from their waists with each other’s.

“…As I thought, it is a straight sword. I think that it’s good that the grip is from the imperial ‘Eisenritter’ brand. But you know, impacts with mobile shells are a given; so won’t it be bit heavy if you install an attachment?”

They exchanged opinions.

There were similarities in the types of topics; but among all of them, the names of some celebrities would occasionally be mentioned during these conversations.

Oriotorai and Tenzou when it was an equipment-related topic, the Shintoists Asama and Shirojiro’s names popping up in a talk about spells, or Naruze, Naito and Urquiaga in discussions about Europe.

…I’ve returned.

Last month, I was summoned by the Testament Union from my second-year summer break and I finished the restoration of my authority as well the sealing of my own powers.

Without meeting up with anyone of my same age, all I heard were things that I needed to understand. Compared to that…

…This is somehow pretty peculiar.

In fact, I felt that this atmosphere was really pleasant; so I thought that I had gotten used to this place. But if I too were to talk now, I think I would definitely be considered a pretty peculiar person.

Thanks to the fact that he was summoned by the Testament Union, he knew a lot of things about other topics too. Azuma even knew that K.P.A. Italia’s Pope-Chancellor and Tres España’s Special Duties were coming to Mikawa, besides information regarding many people.

When he left the Academy, Heidi talked to him about this.

“If you’re going to sell information about the Testament Union, let it be some special stuff please…”

Tonight I’m probably going to do that; I have been invited by Toori and the rest.

…Ghost hunting at night, huh.

•

Ghost hunting.

They’ve thought of something weird, Azuma thought.

Regarding what Toori said…

“That Apocalypse thing seems to be mainstream; I wondered if there weren’t any phenomena, but when I tried looking it turned out that in our Academy there was a rumor from a long time ago that ghosts would come out! Don’t you want to search a little!?”

Wasn’t that kind of ghost story pretty much a given in Academies everywhere?

…Because of the disturbances in the ley lines, I wonder if that kind of small phenomenon is more likely to occur.

Just gathering at the Academy at night is an event that, even if just a bit, piques one’s interests.

Last year we did something similar to this. There were some monsters coming out in a clubroom in Okutama’s seventh underground floor; it was taken as an excuse to look around at night with everyone, so I joined in. If I state the outcome first…

…A huge disaster.

Toori had wrapped his entire body up to his face in gold tights, playing the role of the ghost. Getting seriously freaked out by the weird dance he did there, Asama had screamed and started rapidly firing her bow, marking the beginning of the disaster.

…I wonder what it’s going to be like this year.

And I had taken interest in was what Toori had spoken of, what made this ghost hunt an “eve”, that “tomorrow’s confession”. Who it was to seemed to be a secret, but it probably won’t turn out well. The feeling that everyone in the class was really nervous about it can only mean that all of them had great expectations about it.

…What will tomorrow be like?

Well, it’ll probably be something fun. Walking while smiling wryly, Azuma passed the decorative plants and the baggage left by the residents, eventually reaching the inner tip of the horizontal passage.

There was a room. A room which held the room number of his goal.

What was on the front was a six-tatami room with a sliding door. In a student dormitory where four-tatami rooms were pretty common, a six-tatami solitary room was precious. He did think about whether this had any relation to his lineage, but he decided to rethink it; there were rooms left over, right?

Azuma inserted the key into the sliding door’s keyhole.

In that interval, there was something he noticed. The room that Azuma was to be using from now on had a sliding door, but…

…Not a paper sliding door, but a western-style sliding door made of boards? Was the previous user a European?

Because Musashi’s interior was fundamentally Far East style, its sliding doors were of paper; and in the case that one wanted a western-style one, it was normal to replace it with a hinged wooden door. However, right now before his eyes was an eclectic object: a sliding door made out of boards.

…That’s a strange modification. Well, it’s fine; people messing with rooms is not that rare.

In his class, it was known that Naito and Naruze modified the western rooms that they had owned.

Once, Azuma had been tasked by Oriotorai with the distribution of some topic printouts; and at that time he had seen their room. It had the structure of a workshop where half the four-tatami floor, re-coated with resin, was a closet and the other half were desks and work tables with pots and kettles. In the center were some decorations like laces and stuffed animals, and the wall bed at the side was just one meant to be shared by two people. As expected, the courage to ask the meaning of that never showed up.

Anyway, the agreement between everyone was that because there was no difference in floor level in a western room, modification was easy.

…If it’s me, what would I do?

Thinking, Azuma turned the lock and opened the sliding door.

There was a room; and because it was inside the ship, there were no windows.

Six-tatami rooms have a passage one tatami wide in the middle, and on the left and right walls beds and extensions with adjustable heights that could be used as large desks existed on upper and lower levels. Therefore, in terms of structure it was a four-person room; but in order to prevent stuffiness it was usually used as a three-person room, so one of the extensions could be used freely.

However, in the room which Azuma had entered two of the extensions on the left side had been removed.

In their place was a wooden table; and furthermore…

“…Eh?”

He questioned his own gaze while looking at the front. Besides the table, there was a girl.

•

…Eh?

Azuma let his neck fall forwards.

A girl with flaxen-colored hair was seated in a large chair facing the desk.

She was in the middle of working. With a pen, she was writing words on the notes placed on the desk.

However, as she was concentrating on the notes she did not notice me.

…Uum.

Inside the room seen by his confused gaze, nothing was stuck onto the wooden walls but a calendar. As if it were a substitute, on the lower wall bed a large futon was spread out. Below the large shelf which was the top plank of the desk, there was a clothesline made of string.

Hanging on it, shirts, skirts, and things that looked like underwear were also visible.

When Azuma had confirmed everything up to that point, she suddenly looked his way. Stopping the pen with which she was writing her notes, and while she was in the middle of taking a breath, she had shifted her gaze by slightly turning her neck and stopped when she saw him.

Blue eyes; the instant he saw those, Azuma retreated.

“Ah! I-I’m sorry! It seems like I’ve mistaken my room…!”

Moving backwards, he panicked and returned to the corridor. While doing so, the sound of his travel bag hitting the sliding door was heard.

“I’m sorry!”

Saying that, he placed his hand on the sliding door and shut it. But right before it finished closing, Azuma certainly saw it. Beyond the closing sliding door, the girl with flaxen-colored hair had opened her eyes wide and was looking at him.

And Azuma noticed something else. That was…

…That large chair.

A wheelchair.

“——”

Now he understood why he needed to close the sliding door with great force and the reason why it was a western-style sliding door.

In a state where one is riding a wheelchair, opening doors sure is inconvenient.

However, with a sliding door all one has to do is slide it to the side. You can open it doing the same from the outside or the inside, and the wheelchair won’t hit the door. So if that’s the case…

…That was a room modified for the sake of that person.

Azuma raised his face and looked at the name plate case above the sliding door. The name plate displaying the name of the resident had a paper with a handwritten name written on it inserted inside.

“Miriam Poqou…”

He muttered and nodded. Azuma looked at the residential guide in his hand, but the number of his designated room was not mistaken. If that was the case, saying to the girl inside that he had gotten the room wrong was not a valid excuse.

…Who should I consult about this?

Azuma sighed and spun on his heels. First he had to go to the horizontal passage management room which handled the management of the residence.

•

The sunlight was below the sky which started to change from noon towards afternoon.

Musashi descended at the mountain surface on Mikawa’s north side, towards the valley on which “Kakamigahara - Matsudaira Family” was written in greenery.

To the southwest of Musashi’s own special continental port which Musashi entered as if sinking into, the flat ground which had been leveled from the mountains expanded outwards in continuity to the flat ground-type common-use continental port where Aerial Ships from other countries landed.

To the south of the special continental port which Musashi entered, and to the east of the common-use continental port, there was a large city with its surroundings full of countryside settlements and fields.

It was Mikawa, the owner of Musashi; and which while being the representative of the Far East had opposed the Testament Union by forming a formal alliance with the Oda family who had absorbed the Ottomans, the enemies of Europe. This was the territory of the Matsudaira family.

And Musashi, sinking its body towards the place of its own settlement, activated the warning sirens of all of its eight ships at the same time.

It was the clamor that made it known that Musashi had stopped.

Study: Mikawa Surroundings Outline Map

Toori: “Sis! Sis! We’ve arrived at Mikawa, so teach me about the area!”

Kimi: “Guess there’s no helping it…first of all, the outline of the surroundings is something like this.”

■ Mikawa Surroundings Summary Map

[From most northwards to most southwards.]

● Musashi-use continental port

● Eastern mountain range

● Western mountain range

● Western mountain corridor

● Eastern mountain corridor

● Central mountain range

● Mikawa

● Western hall

● New Nagoya Castle

● Mikawa outskirts

● Common use continental port

The Sea

※The western mountain corridor is very rugged; nothing but centaurs can move across it.

(This is so that Gods of War and large armies from Musashi cannot invade the common-use continental port used by other countries.)

Toori: “Alllrigghtt! Then, while munching a miso pork cutlet kishimen and chicken-flavored tempura, let’s go ‘Oohhhhh, ahhhhhhh’ and have uiro as finisher!”

Kimi: “…Nobody cares about you, so please go crawl in front of Nagoya’s people.”

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