Horizon:GT3 Chapter1

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Chapter 1: Correction and Strategy[edit]

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Correct your thoughts

To change your world

Point Allocation (Flower Quantity)

For around three days after the end of the Armada Battle, Mary wasn’t allowed to leave the English embassy on Tama. Several processes had to be completed first, so it was unavoidable, but…

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But I’m not letting it get me down.

Something had happened the first day to cheer her up, so she had been in a good mood ever since.

Her spirits were high and she would find ether flower scattering from her hair whenever she let her guard down. The embassy workers would tease her for it, but she didn’t mind. In fact, it delighted her that they noticed how she was feeling.

And right now, she was probably in her best mood yet even though it was still morning. Earlier that morning, Tenzou had sent her a divine mail telling her Masazumi would be stopping by that evening to remove the restriction on leaving the embassy and more.

That meant she would officially be able to live as a Musashi resident starting that night.

Freedom!

No, she was already plenty free compared to life in England. She simply couldn’t go outside. Still, she wanted to go out and say hello to so many people.

She wanted to become a part of Musashi.

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“Now that’s a dangerous thing to want…comments a Schwarz Hexen who happened to be passing by on a delivery.”

Thank you for that as you fly by the window, Lady Naito.

Anyway, it was still morning. And even if she would be freed that evening, she still didn’t have a place to live and she wasn’t ready to begin classes.

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But I heard Master Tenzou is searching for a home for us.

Wherever they ended up, they would be living together. She had heard the housing situation on the Musashi was more strict than in other nations. They had limited land and the districting was strictly managed both on the surface and below. But…

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“A 3 square meter room will be a challenge.”

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Silver Wolf: “They’re not that small, Mary! Set your sights a little higher!”

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Scarred: “U-um, back in England, I lived in a 5 square meter room as a history recreation of my imprisonment and house arrest, so I’m used to living in small spaces.”

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Gold Mar: “Now I see why Tenzou hasn’t had any trouble with her there…”

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Art-Ga: “Have you no shame?”

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10ZO: “A-about what!?”

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Vice President: “Crossunite, Mary’s family won’t be happy if you don’t treat her to nice things every once in a while.”

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Horizey: “Tenzou-sama, do you like cramped spaces? Like an insect?”

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10ZO: “Where did these accusations even come from!?”

Anyway, it was amusing how she could guess what kind of room Tenzou would be looking for.

Asama had provided her with a Far Eastern sign frame. It was a locked-down version that only acted as an information retrieval device, but she could at least run a search of government processes, Shinto services, and residences.

When she ran a search, she found that most of the Musashi’s rooms were either 6 or 10 square meters. That was true both below ground and on the surface and they were almost all leased. After making a note of the listed rent amounts, she searched the government office’s help wanted list for a way to earn enough money to lease out one of those places.

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“It looks like 100 mon a day is the average Far Eastern wage.”

The mon was the Far East’s internal currency. The yen was the Far East’s international currency and 100 mon was equivalent to 10 thousand yen.

The yen conversion was enough for her to more or less grasp the amount. That just left determining how much time she could work by subtracting out her time taking classes at the academy, eating dinner, completing daily tasks, and sleeping.

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This is probably an overly idealistic number, so I can probably only work 70% of that time.

She made an educated guess there because her days on England’s 3rd and 4th levels had been full of labor. So most likely, she would have 2 hours a day to work. If she didn’t include the weekends, that was around 40 hours a month.

With an average of 10 thousand yen for each full day of work, which meant 8 hours…

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“50 thousand yen a month.”

With an estimate sum, she looked back at the rents from before.

The 6 square meter rooms on the first below ground level of Tama had an average monthly rent of 60 thousand. For the 10 square meter rooms, that went up to 90 thousand.

That was already over budget.

Of course, she wouldn’t be paying it all on her own. She would be cohabiting with Tenzou…

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“Oh, my! Cohabitation! My, my!”

Yes. They weren’t just roommates – they were cohabiting. It sounded even more serious when she phrased it as “living with” him, but she had decided not to take everything so seriously when she left England. But she was only now realizing that this would be a first for her.

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“M-my!”

She couldn’t catch all the flowers spilling from her.

Her excitement couldn’t grow much further, so she decided to stop thinking about this for the time being.

Asama worked with Adele, Naito, and some others to collect the ether flowers scattering from Mary and tossed them back so they rained down on Mary herself.

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“I can see why Tenzou-kun ended up so famous on the divine net.”

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I’m so glad Mary came to the Musashi.

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“Tomo! Tomo! I think you just said the quiet part loud!”

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“Eh, it basically meant the same thing.”

But as Asama recorded what Mary had said, she looked up and asked a question.

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“So, Mary, for you it began on the third day after the Armada Battle?”

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“Judge. I believe that is when the incident itself began.

“Incident?” asked Mitotsudaira’s mother with a tilt of the head, but she would find out soon enough since it began on the third day.

Still, Asama felt like Mary’s decision there was being too cautious. After all…

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“Mary? You put in the record that ‘something happened the first day to cheer you up’, so didn’t it start there?”

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“No.” Mary shook her head, sending more flowers spilling out. And as Asama wondered what this negative could mean, “I was in this sort of mood that first night and the next day I watched the victory party from the balcony and through the sign frame broadcast, but, well, I really was in this kind of mood the whole time. So, um…”

Mary got the words out.

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“I feel like we would be here all night long just getting through that night.”

Everyone collapsed onto their backs as if they had taken an uppercut to the jaw, except Asama who barely managed to restrain herself. Well, her and Horizon, who had cleverly propped herself up from behind with her arms.

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Vice President: “O-okay, if we’re saying the incident started on the third day, then I guess I’m up next.”

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Unturning: “You keep calling it an incident, but I’ve been on the Musashi for a while now and I don’t remember hearing about anything happening during that period. So what did happen?”

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Tachibana Wife: “Judge. This was indirectly related to us, but once it was over, it was primarily about Lady Mary through and through, Date Vice Chancellor.”

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Vice President: “Judge. It really did all come back to Mary once it was over. But there is a lot about it I still don’t understand, so I would like to have everyone record their part so we can figure it out.”

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Asama: “Now that Mary has gotten us started, you can take your turn, Masazumi.”

It was the third day after the end of the Armada Battle. It was mid-afternoon, so just about time to take a break.

In a track suit, Masazumi got some fresh air and stretched in a “finally” sort of way.

She was up above the ocean and in the air. In other words, out on the Musashi’s deck like usual.

The sun was shining on the Musashino’s bow, but the Musashi’s great form was slicing through some lower clouds, sending them scattering in its wake. It was the kind of sunny day common on the boundary between late spring and early summer, just before the rainy season.

In preparation to dock at IZUMO, everyone on the Musashi was gathering and piling up broken objects and materials and then arranging to have them incinerated or crushed if possible.

The three days since the battle had been enough to complete most of the cleanup work, so the shift into repairs was beginning.

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The past few days have been exhausting…

It had been nonstop work since the end of the battle and holding a victory party had only made it worse.

So much had happened that it all blended together in her memory.

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“I can barely remember what day it is anymore.”

The Armada Battle happening at night probably hadn’t helped there.

That night they had stayed up late having an exciting naval battle, individual battles, doing a flip, having the Logismoi Oplo miss, and watching Mary and Crossunite holding a warship-cutting ceremony as their first act as a couple, but when they left the combat zone the next morning, the Musashi had needed to recover from the damage, destruction, and small fires.

The extent of the damage hadn’t been clear, so the first day had mostly been checking on the people and infrastructure. They had also reapplied all the Musashi’s divine protections.

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Fortunately, Naito, Naruze, and the rest of the delivery workers had graciously photographed or sketched the Musashi from the sky above. Their memos and the scans they had run from the ground had given a decent picture of the damage. Of course, this information hadn’t been free, but Naito and Naruze had acted as an intermediary to bring down the price and the Treasurer pair had said “We will use that data too, so we will pay for half!”. To make a long story short, Masazumi had gotten Ookubo to work out all the details.

The damage estimate that had come just after noon on the first day had been fairly widespread.

Not counting the stakes driven in by the mechanical phoenixes, the direct damage from the battle had primarily been to 1st port and starboard ships, the port and starboard sides of each ship, and to Tama. Conversely, the accumulation of ruined and damaged materials had been focused on the stern of each ship.

According to Naomasa…

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“The initial fire ships hit the 1st port and starboard ships and the bows. The wheel formation by the fishing boats damaged the sides of the ships and Tama was boarded by their sports teams. The rest of the damage should be more or less evenly distributed among the ships.”

And…

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“During the Musashi’s flip, the damaged and ruined materials probably gathered at the stern and then fell off under the effects of the surface gravitational control. That’s why so much is left at the stern, but around half probably fell into the ocean.”

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“Maybe it will turn into a fish reef… If it’s buoyant, maybe it’ll wash ashore on the continental mainland? But, Naomasa, it sounds to me like the quickest way to get all that wreckage off the Musashi would be to…”

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“Judge. We could have the Musashi fly upside down and then weaken the surface gravitational control.”

Knowing Naomasa, she really would do it, so Masazumi had to nix the idea.

With the extent of the damage known, they had spent yesterday approving repair workers from IZUMO requesting to come aboard. But security was important, so according to the Musashino bridge…

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“Asama-sama, the Musashino bridge will now enter surface reconstruction mode with a focus on redirecting power to the surface. We ask that the Asama Shrine work with Masazumi-sama to relax the boarding check for workers coming from IZUMO. Over.”

Asama was the expert, so Masazumi had asked her how far they should relax those checks. And while opening a sign frame with practiced ease, Asama explained.

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“Anyone boarding will be registered with our shrine and my dad said to set it so they receive immediate divine punishment if they attempt any kind of crime. After that, we only need to manage what areas they are allowed in and supply them with a place to sleep. …That is why the repairs will be done section by section. When each section is complete, we can change their approved area to the next one as they make their way around the Musashi.”

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“Hey, that sounds convenient. Could you adapt that system to hire mercenaries for use on the ship?”

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“Um,” interrupted Mitotsudaira. “Your Student Council needs to manage their approved areas and mark the work as complete, so while that might keep us safe, it would be a lot of extra work for you.”

Those concerns were well founded. The increased personnel helped get the work done faster, but it meant a lot more management work. Long story short, Ookubo ended up with a lot more on her plate.

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CAN: “Milady! Milady! I hate to wake you at this hour, but the Vice President just sent a cryptic apology message that just says ‘sorry about that one time’ in all lower case!”

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Nagaya-Stable: “One time!? One time!? What about all the other times!? Dammit. and which time does she mean!? Kanou-kun, do you have any ideas!?”

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CAN: “Milady! How about we rebel if we can think of 10 different times!? What do you say!?”

On the first day, Mary and the Tachibana Couple’s boarding process was started. On the second day, the ruined materials were burned and that was used as a purifying bonfire for the victory party.

And today, on the third day, the partying was over and everyone was focused on their work. With the purifying incineration begun, the ship was looking cleaner and people had calmed down a lot.

Are we doing enough? wondered Masazumi just before a divine message arrived from “Musashi”.

This message wasn’t scheduled, so she had to ask something before even opening it.

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“Hey! What did you all do this time!?”

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“Why don’t you ask yourself that first!?” suggested Ohiroshiki.

She did so and couldn’t find any fault in her own actions aside from not visiting her mother’s grave as much as she should.

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“No, I’ve been a model citizen. It must have been the rest of you.”

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“Well, aren’t you confident!? That aside, Takarazuka Honda-kun, shouldn’t you read that message? It’s from the Musashino bridge, isn’t it?”

Oh, right, she realized, asking Tsukinowa to open it.

What could it be? she wondered as she took a look and a noise left her throat.

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“Oh?”

At first, she couldn’t seem to understand what the message said.

*Correction by Silver Wolf-sama.

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“Ohhhhhhhhwahh!?”

Mitotsudaira heard Masazumi make a weird exclamation.

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“H-hey! I didn’t sound like that!”

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“Oh, yes you did. I thought you were practicing for some new bit.”

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“Right? The workers walking by turned your way and made a ‘cuckoo’ gesture next to their head, so I nodded back.”

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“They can think what they want, but don’t confirm it for them!”

They were obviously going to ignore Masazumi’s protest, so it was time to ask a question.

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“What did the Musashino bridge say, Masazumi? Is there a problem with the recovery work?”

After Mitotsudaira asked that in her track suit, Masazumi responded while petting her anteater Mouse.

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“ ‘Musashi’ just contacted me to say that…we’ve been blocked from docking at IZUMO. Indefinitely.”

Meaning…

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“The Musashi is stuck in this area. And we don’t know for how long.”

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Huh? Blocked from docking?

Mitotsudaira was filled with confusion. And at the same time…

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“Huhh!?” shouted her king. He stood up in front of some stacks of papers and magazines left here to be disposed of. “Did I hear that right, Seijun!? IZUMO is kindly giving me a little more time to sort through all the porn here!?”

Horizon sent a low-flying punch into the king’s side. Her form is impeccable.

After he collapsed to the deck, Horizon picked him up by the collar.

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“Toori-sama, you should return them to their original order even if you decide you do not want them.”

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“What!? Really!? That’s your complaint here!?”

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“On that note, the Asama Shrine will be going around doing a purifying incineration of all these papers and magazines, okay?”

After explaining that, Asama went “oh”, looked to Mitotsudaira, and tilted her head.

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“We never explained the recording rules did we?”

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“Why are you interrupting the recording for that!?”

Asama slapped her head in the darkness.

One of the people here didn’t know the rules. That person was Mitotsudaira’s mother. Since this was her first time doing this, she would need an explanation.

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“Um, Mito’s mom?”

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“Yes?”

Facing her directly like this made one thing very obvious.

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She’s huge…

This makes it so obvious how small my own chest is. Wait, no. Well, yes, but that’s not the point.

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“Tomo! Tomo! Why are you staring so thoughtfully at my mother’s chest!?”

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“Oh, um, I was just pondering the concept of relativity. …Anyway, Mito’s mom, this is a time for us teenagers to discuss a past incident, but we’re also using that to create a record of a confusing incident that none of us fully understands.”

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“My, so if we trade our stories and compile them all, we can search out where my daughter and her king were smooching in secret?”

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“Motherrr!”

Asama just about said “yes, we can”, but Mitototsudaira intercepted the response before she could.

Anyway, the rules were simple.

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“I will record and edit everyone’s stories, so you can tell it orally. Sections that begin with a ‘○’ are where we tease each other, examine things, and trade thoughts in the present. Sections that begin with a ‘●’ are records from the time of the incident. Anyone who played a role should dig up their old memories and tell us the story.”

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“If I have something to add or some teasing to do, should I do it when the timing feels right?”

“Yes,” confirmed Asama. She noticed how the Loup-Garou woman’s eyes glowed a beautiful gold in the dim lighting. She also noticed that Mary had a faint veil of ether light, so that may have been a spirit trait.

Suzu arrived with some snacks. She had prepared some emergency crackers with sliced boiled eggs and ham on top.

Asama took a breath and caught Mitotsudaira’s eye.

It was time for her to resume the record.

Mitotsudaira had a question for Masazumi.

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“What do you mean Musashi is blocked from docking at IZUMO?”

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“This doesn’t say. Even a day’s delay will mean a lot of our preparations go to waste, so I hope they give us permission soon.”

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Circle Be: “Hey, Masazumi! I’m hearing rumors that we don’t have permission to dock at IZUMO! Is that true!? If this goes past a week after the Armada, we’ll be suing you for our lost profits!”

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Vice President: “Sure. By the way, if I get sued in my position as Vice President, the Treasurer has to make the payment, so enjoy.”

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Circle Be: “Damn you corrupt politicians!”

Look who’s talking, thought Mitotsudaira, but that was just who Heidi was. And it sounded like Musashi’s commerce and industry guild was already aware of the situation and would be working to determine how much of a problem it was.

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And if an understanding and some countermeasures are underway within Musashi…

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“We should find out what’s happening outside.”

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“ ‘Musashi’ only sent this notice. Do you know what that means?”

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“Judge.” Mitotsudaira nodded. “It means this wasn’t IZUMO’s decision. If it was, IZUMO would be able to provide a reason for their decision.”

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“Then IZUMO is probably currently in negotiations with the responsible party and maybe making some adjustments. We’ll just have to wait until that’s complete.” Masazumi turned to look at Mitotsudaira. “So who do you think IZUMO is dealing with?”

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“I would prefer not to think about it, but there is one obvious candidate.”

What nation was found below where IZUMO floated?

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“Hexagone Française. My motherland.”

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“Now, a question for you, mother. Do you have anything to add?”

Mitotsudaira’s mother nodded at her daughter’s question.

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“You want to know what was happening within Hexagone Française at the time?”

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“Judge. I am curious what you were doing as their Vice Chancellor then.”

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“Well, if you insist,” replied the mother. She scanned her eyes across the others before continuing. “This feels sudden, but I can provide that record. Including some state secrets.”

The Reine des Garous was very important. Extremely and supremely important. How important, you ask? Important enough to instantly subdue everything within a 20km radius.

As the one who had become synonymous with terror by conquering all of Europe’s dark and uninviting places, women and children trembled in helpless fear before her and the men would try to fight back but would still be devoured in the end.

That same Reine des Garous had been ordered to make an appearance.

The request came from Hexagone Française’s liaison committee. After the Musashi docked at IZUMO, Hexagone Française warriors would move to take the ship, so she was to travel to IZUMO in order to make her debut as Vice Chancellor there.

So she had sent back her reply:

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“No, thanks. I’m not in the mood.”

The liaison committee head had shouted over the divine transmission, sounding flustered by the unexpected refusal.

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“Eh!? But the Chancellor and President are both participating in this! They’ve both given their assent already!”

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“I don’t see what they have to do with me.”

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“Would you do it if one of them told you to!?”

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“Can you relay a message to them?”

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“What message?”

She was currently dashing through the woods. She twirled with a light step, whipping up the wind and shaking the tree branches as she juggled her beloved in her arms to adjust how she was holding him.

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“Ask them what part of ‘mating season isn’t over yet’ they don’t understand.”

Our numbers are dwindling, so we can’t slack off about these things.

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“This is the one time of the year where I can do whatever I want! Let’s mating season!”

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“Motherrrrr!”

She thought she heard her daughter’s cry of protest from the far distant Musashi, but she had to be imagining it.

I’m such a maman girl to be so worried about the daughter I haven’t seen in years.

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“You can’t just add ‘girl’ to ‘maman’!? That’s an oxymoron.”

My imagination is getting out of hand. Besides, anyone can be a girl if you call them one. It’s one of those all-powerful words.

This is a touchy subject. That must be why this imaginary protester is so worked up.

Anyway, she had to get back home so the two of them could get down to some lets-lets-ing. But…

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“To reward myself for handling that so well, we should go in the shade of that tree and enjoy a quick ‘synonymous with terror’ session.”

A nearby resident would later tell the story of hearing a boy screaming repeatedly and at length in the forest that day, which only served to spread the word of how terrifying the Reine des Garous is. To be continued.

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“Motherrrrrrrr!!”

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“What did I do this time? Oh, I get it. You want a thorough play-by-play of what we did, don’t you?”

What am I supposed to do about this mother of mine? But Mitotsudaira also heard some whispering behind her.

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“Leave it to Mito’s mom to require censorship for her very first record.”

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“And Ture-yan has a surprisingly youthful writing style.”

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“It also sounds like Hexagone Française is more reliant on her than I thought.”

Their high opinion of her mother made this more complicated than it needed to be.

But then Masazumi raised her hand.

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“So if I interpreted that correctly, your instructions were based on the assumption that the Musashi would be docking?”

“Oh?” said the mother, turning to look at Masazumi.

Masazumi stared right back at the wolfish look of a predator assessing possible prey.

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“I had thought IZUMO’s refusal had been a request made by Hexagone Française. But now we learn you were told to support the attempt to capture the docked Musashi. And that your Chancellor and President had agreed to that plan. That means Hexagone Française was not who was negotiating with IZUMO over the Musashi’s docking.”

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“That’s how I see it too,” said Asama.

When the Musashi docked, she was in charge of managing the divine protections and local gods. Looking back at these records from the time must have led her to a further realization.

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“To be honest, I didn’t understand why the incident back then happened the way it did and it felt like we were helpless to stop it. But once we start looking at what the other nations were doing, we’ll probably find things weren’t quite as they seemed.”

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“Um,” someone interrupted. It was Mary, her eyebrows lowered. “And did this start with me?”

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“Like we said, it all leads back to you.”

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“My, my. Are you actually using your brains this late at night?” asked the mother, glancing over at Mitotsudaira.

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Eh?

Meanwhile, the mother gave a snort and looked to Masazumi and Asama.

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“You two are the smart ones, aren’t you?”

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Is she trying to provoke them!? She is, isn’t she!?

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“Well, this certainly isn’t good.”

Masazumi looked to the others on the deck.

They were on Musashino’s bow deck.

They had wanted to meet in front of the academy, but the academy windows were broken and the schoolyard had become a dumping ground for damaged materials. The bow deck had been cleaned up early, so “Musashi” had directed them there as if to keep a nuisance away from where the actual work was happening.

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This is an inconvenient location when you want to respond quickly.

She wanted to investigate the reason behind IZUMO’s refusal.

Asking the representative committee to investigate was probably the correct course of action for that. But…

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“Listen up, everyone. I have several jobs to complete today. And for the past few days, the committees have been busy with the repair work and all the work I tried to pass off to Ookubo was sent back with a ‘she’s out today’ message. So my plan is to head to the academy to learn why IZUMO is keeping us away while I ask everyone in Class Plum to complete my other jobs for me.”

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“Oh, judge,” said Balfette while she and the Aoi Sister raised a hand. “I finished the repairs on the Okutama underground dorms I had been working on and all I have left is some dog-walking, so I’m free to do some work.”

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“Heh heh. I finished my purification work going around dancing at the shrines across the ships, so I am free too.”

That’s an unusual pair, noted Masazumi. Meanwhile, Asama raised her hand too.

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“If Mary-san and the Tachibana Couple’s boarding and release are part of that work, I can complete both of them for you. Once I complete the official process, they’re free to go, right?”

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“Judge. It’s been three days, so if no new problems crop up, you can release them.”

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“Then,” said Balfette, raising her hand again. “I can go to the Tres España pair. Is that alright with you, Kimi-san?”

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“Oh? Adele, you don’t want Mary?”

It was Asama who answered the Aoi Sister’s question.

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“The Tachibana Couple were Far Eastern name inheritors, so the process to switch them to Shinto sign frames should go smoothly. But Mary was not under England’s provisional rule, so she probably isn’t familiar with Shinto sign frames or Shinto’s fuzzy rules.”

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“Heh heh. I take it she will be receiving a very thorough lecture from our resident Shinto nerd of a shrine maiden! Answers to all the questions you didn’t ask! She will come to fear the phrase, ‘Oh, one more thing’! Now, say it with me!”

Asama raised her right hand to attack and the idiot sister picked Balfette up and made a hasty exit, but where was she even going?

That aside, Asama turned toward Mitotsudaira.

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“Okay, Mito. I’ll be going to the English embassy, so you come as my bodyguard.”

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“Eh!? M-me!?”

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“Yes, you. Lately, Horizon has been at the Blue Thunder baking tons of delivery bread with Toori-kun’s mom and Toori-kun has been getting into so much trouble the guards told me they’re sick of going through the whole process each and every time and asked if they can just detain him at the crime scene next time.”

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“Wait, wasn’t Horizon here just a bit ago, kicking the idiot in the crotch?”

Everyone looked to Horizon who faded away into an afterimage before vanishing altogether.

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Horizey: “Heh. What are all of you looking at? I am at the Blue Thunder.”

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“She certainly has her own style, doesn’t she? Anyway, how would they detain the idiot at the crime scene?”

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“They would chain him to the nearest torii-style information terminal and then it would be up to me to go free him some time later.”

The way Asama couldn’t look them in the eye as she explained suggested this had already happened at least once.

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“Okay,” said Masazumi. “Looks like starting on day three is going to work. IZUMO’s docking refusal was when the incident began to affect things in a noticeable way, so let’s just continue from here.”

Asama, Mitotsudaira, and some others nodded, but the Reine des Garous, Naomasa, Naito, and some others tilted their heads.

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They still don’t know what this is all about, so I can’t really blame them.

That may have been why Naito raised her hand to ask a question.

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“So the problem continued to spread from that notice you received?”

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“Judge. That’s right. Thinking back, the answer was already right there in front of us, but let’s continue our examination. And this might get tricky later on because we may need to go back to the first day after the Armada Battle at some point.”

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“Eh? You mean we’ll rewind time by three days?”

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“Judge,” replied Masazumi. “If we think of the third day as ‘the present’, then there should be something worth ‘going back’ to the first day to look at. But for now let’s continue with the third day. We’re currently at the mid-afternoon and I’m on my way to the academy to get some details on the docking refusal. Balfette and the Aoi Sister are going to Tama’s Tres Españan embassy to visit the Tachibana Couple. Asama and Mitotsudaira are on their way to Tama’s English embassy to visit Mary. Both groups are visiting to approve their release.

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“Okay,” she said again. They had established a starting point anyone could understand. “Everything leads back to Mary in that incident. So let’s see what happens next.”