Horizon:Volume 1 Chapter 07

Chapter 07: Philosophers Atop the Stairs

If there is a person who should be able to speak.

Speak of a person who should speak.

Speak together of the person who should speak.

Point Allocation (Dissertation)

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"Alright, with that, we will be having the special Student Council and Chancellor's Board meeting."

A boy's voice was brought to life at a high position. Atop a wooden bridge under the sky, which had slightly past noon.

On the frontal bridge of Ariadust Academy in Musashi's Center Trailing Ship - Inner Tama, atop the stairs which descended towards the front door, figures clad in uniforms were numerous.

The companions, Toori being at the center, were Kimi and Tenzou as well as Shirojiro and Heidi. The boy who had let forth the voice from just now, Neshinbara, while tapping on the Torii-design keyboard which was displaying in the air-

"The meeting topic of today is: 'Let's make Aoi-kun's confession succeed! meeting." This is brought to you with the sponsorship of me, Neshinbara, the secretary--Everyone, you can just slam him however you like you know? Then, Aoi-kun, it's all yours."

"Mmm, if we suddenly just think about the ratings, it'd be more interesting if I get rejected, right?"

"Is that what the person himself says from the beginning!?"

'Aah?' Toori glanced around at everybody-

"The hell is this, all of you!? Can't I be rejected!? I get it. That's th-the repression of results-oriented behaviour isn't it!? Faced with that kind of society who doesn't acknowledge a guy who's down on his luck, I want to firmly object! Is that alright?--Don't think that anybody can get married, alright!? You too! And you too!!"

Everybody held down Toori, who had started pointing at people returning home as a result of his rampage, and stopped him. Sanyou, who had been pointed at approximately the fifth time had run away while crying, but everyone was unable to follow-up until that point.

Anyways, Toori, who had been made to sit, took a breath and looked at Tenzou, sitting next to him, who was wearing a ninja cap. And-

"Hey, Tenzou, fundamentally, how does somebody confess? In terms of number, you're pretty used to it right?"

"Ri-right now, I have been rejected a lot, you know!? It is that way, you know!?"

"It's fine, just try saying it."

"Mmm', Tenzou folded his arms and nodded. Afterward, he raised his right index finger-

"Suddenly confessing being completely honest is the admirable road. No matter who it is, they have the thing called preparation of the heart; Toori-dono, in the morning, if a girl you do not know is standing in front of your house and you are told 'I love you,'--wouldn't that be amazing! --You do not need it! Preparation of the heart, you do not need it!"

"Yes. However, if that girl was Tenzou, I'd be pretty disgusted. After you stand in front of my house for the sake of confessing to me, nervously hoping, I'd run away before your sanity level drops. Without a doubt."

"You're horrible!!"

"--Hey, this is the opinion of the secretary. The two of you, take this seriously!"

At the voice of Neshinbara, continuing to tap at the keyboard, taking down the meeting log, the two folded their arms.

After a while, once again, Tenzou raised his right index finger-

"...This is one, how would a 'letter operation' be?"

Tenzou took out a pen and notepad from his chest.

'What?' at the destination of everyone's gazes, Tenzou passed the pen and notepad to Toori's hands.

"Would that be alright? When confessing, a person will always get flustered. For example, you thought you were saying 'I love you,' but you panic and, 'I love your man!' explodes out, or if you seriously stutter and 'I w-wuvee you!' bursts out, or if you force yourself to do it cheerfully 'Watashiii loooveess kimiiiii yoou knowwww---!?';you will say one of those kinds of fail honest confessions."

"You really have a lot of experience. You're reassuring, but be a little tolerant, since you're a ninja."

"Lectured! In this kind of timing, I was lectured!"

"Don't worry about it, Tenzou, or rather, what does this notepad and pen have to do with your happy failure stories?"

'Ah', Tenzou cracked his finger.

"It is simple-Write down what you want to tell her in advance, and in place of a confession put that into a letter and hand it to her."

"Mmm', Tenzou nodded.

"If you do so, it has absolutely no relationship with getting flustered, and if you are embarrassed, it is fine if you return home just like that. Furthermore, if it ends without the other person responding immediately, even a response by letter is good, so it is thoroughly caring--"

"Hey, hey, are the failure stories of getting rejected by that method going to start now? It's a good atmosphere right now!"

"I-I am sorry! The atmosphere has become awkward!"

However, Toori looked at the memopad, and he said 'But, y'know' to Tenzou. "Y'know', he introduced further-

"In short, write how I fell in love with the other person on this?"

"Well, officially a piece of paper, but it should be fine to summarize what you think up here."

"Mmmmm...Don't really want to do it. Y'know why? This kind of, workings of the emotions of love or hate, it can't really be put into words well, can it?"

Responding to those words was not Tenzou. It was Kimi, curling her body up against the railing of the bridge. While her hair fluttered int he wind, she looked at Toori-

"Fufufu, idiot brother, there's no good way to put emotions, things like love or hate, into words? What a cute line. If that's so, as a test, try to write down what you dislike about the eroge-ninja."

"No Sis, things like what I dislike about my friend, there's no way I could put that into words well, can I?"

● As for what I think about how he is as a human, hiding his face all the time, I can't put it into words very well.

● I wonder whether using 'gozaru' as a sentence ending is meant to be a gag, but I can't put it into words very well.

● I really wish he'd do something about the fact that sometimes a smell like the smell of a dog comes from his clothes, but I can't put it into words very well.

"Like I thought, it's something that I can't really put into words, the bad areas of my friend."

"Yo-you just wrote it down without any trouble! You did! And in bullet points!"

"Hmm? That's weird. I can't write anything about your good areas though. ファー..."

"The hell is 'ファー...'! This guy is the worst!!"

Tenzou grabbed Toori's collar and shook him, but Toori continued smirking. As if in his place, Kimi peeled her body from the railing and stood behind Toori-

"Fufufu, idiot brother, putting that aside, haven't we been able to practice at a good stepping stone? If that's so, try writing down the good areas of the she who is inside your heart."

"Eeh? Again, Sis is asking me to do a really difficult thing. Tenzou's hateful areas are direct, as in already apparent, so I can do it easily, but she is--that's right, it's the heart, you know!? The heart! Do you think that the workings of my pure soul can be easily put into words well!?"

● That her face rather fits my tastes is something that I can't put into words very well.

● That I can peek at the part inside her apron, what looks like panties, from the fringe when she squats is something I can't put into words very well.

● That the lines at the area from her waist till her butt are amazing is something that I can't put into words very well.

"Mmm, like I thought, my pure soul is something that I can't put into words very well."

"--Th-this is really specific! Yet it is practical!"

"Don't be so noisy, Tenzou. If I were to seriously get specific, it wouldn't end with just this...!"

"Wait, waitwait...those bullet points, for Toori, an important thing is missing."

The person who formed those words was a massive figure seated two steps down, the half-dragon Ulquiaga.

Bending his arms, which were also frontal wings, he rubbed his chin with the small hand within the wing-

"As far as I can see...there is a mystery to Toori's affection."

"Eh? There's something missing from Toori-kun's practical affections?"

At Heidi, who asked that, 'Yeah', Ulquiaga nodded. And, he-

"--Why has this citizen of the boob camp not mentioned anything about boobs directed to the other person?"

At Ulquiaga's words, everyone drew a breath of surprise and looked at Toori.

In the surroundings, even the students going home from school slightly stopped the movements of their bodies in response to the words just now.

"Have I, by any chance become the authority of that path?"

While speaking, Toori nodded with a serious face. And when he slowly sucked in a breath, his expression stilled and he began to run his pen down the paper-

"I have done it. In short--If I do not try to/Fondle those breasts which she holds/I won't understand."

"Don't just read the first line of a poem indifferently!!"

At everyone's tsukkomi, Toori frowned. 'Hey you guys, you know,' he folded his arms.

"What should I do for the word about the seasons?"

"Fufufu, idiot brother, just now, I just shuddered from the beauty in your simplicity. However-"

Kimi sat next to Toori. And, she rested her chin on her folded knees-

"However, what's the reason for you not bringing up the boob topic at the teenagers' discussion place of your confessee's charm."

"Sis, right now I'm just like the song of yearning for boobs which I wrote. I haven't fondled them so I don't know."

"Fufufu, in short--when it comes to boobs, you can't really judge them? How honest!"

'Aah', the little brother who answered raised the hand which was holding his sisters'-

"Even if I look like this, I'm serious! I won't just say anything I want!"

"...That this brother and sister's heads are weird might not matter, but this act of calling out boobs repeatedly these few minutes is unmistakeably going over the yearly usage limit."

"Fufufu, loser ninja, please shut up. However, idiot brother, even if it's just like your song, isn't it something that you can understand from looking at it roughly? The appearance of someone like Asama's is roughly the same."

The instant Kimi spoke, a window on the third floor of the school building behind them opened. It was the window of a classroom that was being used for the activities of the tea ceremony club.

"Hey! Don't just do body trivia of people as you feel like it! Things like it's around the same, or the appearance is around the same!"

"That's right! Asama's aren't like they appear! Within the sphere a little--"

"Uwa, saying that like a sommelier is the worst--! Wai-don't move from there!! My bow! MY BOW!!"

"Hey, hey, has the tea ceremony club recently started archery?"

Faced with Toori, who had taken out a writing implement and had began to write '100 points' on the top part of the ninja cap on Tenzou, who was sitting next to him, his sister tilted her neck.

"Anyways idiot brother, let's keep the serious talking till that point and continue with the thing about you--As the goods and bads of the boobs of the confessee cannot be judged by visual information, if after you started going out if you understand that 'this wouldn't have done' from a sommelier point of view, what are you going to do? You have to test once, don't you?"

"Test? Test what?"

"--Plead to an owner of boobs close to the one of the confessee, and it's definite that she'd let you fondle them, isn't it?"

Simultaneous with Kimi's words, atop the bridge and even the schoolyard below it, people evacuated from within a thirty-meter radius. Girls from the start; boys also hid their chest and briskly walked away penguin-like.

Atop the bridge which had become silent, Toori looked at her sister-

"Sis, you're amazing! You're smart but aren't you an idiot!?"

"Fufu, idiot brother, the things that a genius thinks about cannot be understood by anyone but the genius herself. Loneliness is wonderful! Then, what kind of feeling do your confessee's give? Which of the three selections from HARD/NORMAL/EASY, or is it HELL!?"

"Mmm, it's rather advanced, so I can't say it simply, but--fairly HARD, I think."

"You are saying it unreasonably simply, you know!"

"Fufu, fairly hard, huh.　In other words, that it's thin..."

Kimi looked around the area. Focusing on the few people on the stairs-

"I see, Adele or Suzu or Sanyou-sensei maybe?"

"Sis! Sis! Having a teacher also included in your list of names, do you have no differentiation!?"

"Fufufu, idiot brother, your sister is not a person who chooses the measures. I don't choose the goal either, though. For now, just think about the groping! Only fondlいる! But well, other than that, it's that or this..."

"--? What are you doing sitting here?"

As if interrupting Kimi's words, a voice sounded from the school building.

Turning around, from the entrance of the school building, two figures were coming. The first was a stooped-

"President Sakai..."

At everyone's voice, calling out, Sakai raised his hand with a 'Yo'. And the other person, walking besides Sakai, was a girl shouldering an enormous leather bag on her left and right shoulders. A girl who had at the top of her rather tall body a large, silver fringe and sharp, golden eyes. And, the name of she, who was shaking the large bundles of the hair at her back, rolled into circles-

Kimi called.

"Mitotsudaira. Are you descending to Mikawa with President Sakai?"

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Translator's notes and references

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