Horizon:Volume 1 Chapter 10

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Chapter 10: Commandos in Town

Horizon1A 257.jpg

Everyday passes by.

Time passes by.

Destiny passes by.

What does not pass.

Point Allocation (Human Relationships)

Sakai's judgement connected within an instant.

He understood that the girl from just now had come just from the flow of wind behind him.

No hesitation in his movements, he turned and confirmed.

...Her style is of a Close-combat martial artistStrike Forcer!? It's major, but this is--

There was a vague memory. Ten years ago, he indeed had met this girl.

Honda Tadakatsu's daughter. The girl whom Masazumi had said was her acquaintance.

What was her name? I don't remember, but-

...She's had sharp movements ever since before! She always carries a spear...!

I don't understand what's happening, but having suddenly twisted around to my back, is she attacking or protecting me?

And now, the movements he felt against his skin was the oscillation of air which the girl, twisting her body, had caused.

The oscillation was large, the initial speed slow.

'Then it's an attack,' Sakai judged. If she was stretching her arms for the sake of protection, then the oscillation would be small, and the initial speed fast. However, because the wind that is raised during an attack is caused by the wielder carrying his own volume, and is for the sake of swinging through completely, at first it's slow, but the movement is large.

Now, it's the latter.

'How will she come?' it was not Sakai's thoughts which formed that question, but his instinct.

I remember this girl's weapon. When she was standing behind Tadakatsu, I was looking at it.

It was not that I became aware of it and was looking at it. The experience of the battles I had cut my way through as a former corner of the Matsudaira Four Heavenly Kings was sunk into a deeper position than awareness. That weapon is of the Shirasu Industries brand. The wooden handle, having been applied with a black matte finish, was a colour contrary to the name of Shirasu[1K 1], and is sold as something with a durable structure.

The hilt is straight, and because of its length, it looked as if it compensated for the instability which stemmed from its lightness.

...If so.

In that the long hilt is aimed towards easy handling of the blade, it holds a single problem.

A katana is a weapon which slices by touching the opponent and retracting as if shaving a piece off. However that denotes the reality where the wielder has to cut by pulling the blade, which has touched its victim, towards his own chest.

As such, the blade of a katana cannot cut at any distance but a distance where it is able to be retracted. Because of the judgement of strength in the slicing, it is possible to slice deeply, but the distance which can be cut is the distance it can be retracted.

And if it's a katana which has a long hilt, when it's pulled towards one's front, the hilt will touch one's body.

The distance which can be retracted is short.

In that case, what will the wielder do to make a long cut?

...They will drop their body and swing the blade far!

Dropping their entire body, they will extend her blade far to the front, and pull with their entire body.

If that is done, they will be able to gain the twist of their body as a distance in which to retract the blade.

Now, the wind I feel behind my back is large.

A wind for the sake of stepping her entire body in with all her strength.

The target is my right abdomen. A horizontal slice from my back.

'She's good,' Sakai's instinct acknowledged his opponent.

If she aimed for my upper body, the thick muscle and bone of my shoulder and chest will interrupt her. If it's below the stomach, things will end with just the severing or snapping of the wrist, but she can split the thin flesh of the side-abdomen which is stretched with the pressure of the stomach.

Furthermore, if it's a horizontal flash, then she can pull the blade horizontally.

If she does so, then the she will automatically pull the blade with just a turning movement of her body, and the retracted pommel won't touch her chest or stomach. If she chains with a twisting motion inwards, she doesn't even need to steady her footing.

It's a horrible sword technique in terms of regulation. It's not something that is learned on the practice ground. This is a sword technique from true battle.

What should I do to avoid it?

Faster than he thought, Sakai moved.

Sakai moved in a way which could not be called an evasion.

In response to the whirling blow behind him, he-

"This.'

Lightly, he took one step back.

"--!"

The slice which came after the step-in, naturally leaped in.

If it's a weapon which slices, by leaping in from this direction, I'm able to make the distance in which to retract zero. Even if the opponent stepped backwards, it should become a distance shorter than the original one where she was able to pull.

The question was, am I able to step back faster than the slice from the horizontal flash.

Therefore, I twisted my body. Not directly to the rear, but towards my left as well as to the rear.

I went.

And furthermore-

"And then-"

Sakai half-drew the tanto he was concealing at the back of his waist.

The draw method was a right backhand, a movement where I pull my shoulder up along with my arm. Because of this, I'm able to protect my right waist with the tanto's blade, and I can protect his right chest with my slanted arm. And even further, I protect the right part of my neck with my raised shoulder.

By doing that, I respond to the opponent's slice, take a good position, and defend.

Having played his best card, Sakai suddenly twisted his body, having leaped towards his posterior-left, to the right.

The opponent who swung the blade should be there.

She was there.

Black hair was visible.

And now, I touch her body, and from the next instant onwards, the initiative is in my hands.

Originally, this would be the time to insert a blow, make her obedient, and show her the difference in form, but now I am the Student President of an Academy. I can't really do anything horrible to a young girl. Approximately, groping breasts is allowed.

And, the opponent's blade tried to hit my blade.

However-

"...h!?"

Sakai saw. That the girl behind him suddenly moved to his anterior-right.

...This is--

The place the girl was standing was directly in front of my right shoulder. She was showing me her back. She seemed to have dropped her hip.

I don't know what's happening.

I don't know, but that there was an instantaneous movement is a fact.

And I know the reason for her having moved to the right and front of me.

..So that her own blade wouldn't clash with mine, huh!?

Blades are made of metal. Even if it's polymerized such that it has durability, even if it's tempered, if it hits something hard, it will bend or even crack. If one is a master, one can sever metal with a blade without Ability or blessings, but that was not something easy to do for even Sakai while he was still in service.

As such, the girl avoided the clashing of blades.

Evading, bursting forward, she controlled her body, twisted for the sake of her slice, by dropping her hip.

The katana, readied to the left as if shouldered, matched with the movement of her standing up and leaped upwards-

"----"

It came.

Swinging a blade upwards from a bent position, and biting into my neck from the bottom right with that movement. An irregular cut.

Sakai's right arm, the hand which held the tanto, was suppressed by her back.

...She's good.

Reading my movements, she always aims for a fatal blow. That she's not afraid of contacting the opponent is the results of her training.

Sakai tried to evade before the blade leaped up to meat him-

"No."

The tip of his right foot was stepped upon by her deeply retracted left heel.

I withdrew my toes. But, it was too slow. On the contrary, my attention was taken by the act of withdrawing my toes.

I cannot dodge. And before my eyes, the girl showed the intial movements of swinging the blade.

This is bad. But when I looked at the two former colleagues in front of me-

...Those bastards, what are they clenching their fists and watching the battle for...!

If I could attach voices to them, I could not come up with anything but, "Go--!", on their faces.

While thinking 'I'll lay them flat afterward,' Sakai moved.

Now, I cannot draw my tanto. Therefore, Sakai made an instantaneous decision. An instinctive movement. That was-

"Slap."

Sakai released his tanto, stuck that hand between the girl's back and shouldered blade, and touched her left butt.

He held her left buttcheek with his hand, which had become free. And-

"--!?"

From the girls mouth, a scream which held a tint of surprise existed.

Translator's notes and references

  1. Shirasu contains the character 白, which means white.