Horizon:Volume 10A Chapter 16

Chapter 16: A Different Person at the Reunion

I will not try to be her

I am not her

I will not simply try to be her

I cannot simply be her

Point Allocation (Think)

●

During its gentle circuit around the Mikawa bay, the Musashi suddenly made a breaking turn, taking a westward course and then fleeing at full speed. Someone watched this all from far to the east.

Integrity: “Yoshiyasu! Why are you turning tail and running!?”

Righteousness: “Oh, Tokishige! What are you still doing up!?”

Damn her, thought Tokishige. She had flown her god of war Integrity up to an altitude of approximately two kilometers above the Satomi Academy where she was monitoring the western sky.

She had known the Honnouji Incident was happening thanks to a message from Ookubo rather than Yoshiyasu.

That was a major incident for the world – and for history – and Satomi Chancellor and Student Council President Yoshiyasu had known she would be seeing it up close, even if she wasn’t participating, but…

…Why didn’t you contact me!?

At this point, Tokishige could only imagine Satomi’s representative forcing Musashi’s Representative Committee Head to do her work for her. She was bringing nothing but shame to Satomi.

…And it sounds like that Representative Council Head is still working at this hour!

●

“Ahhhhh! Why are we accelerating back to Europe all of a sudden!? I still have to distribute data regarding this incident to the relevant nations, but I can just send it all at once, can’t I!? Can’t I, Kanou-kun!?”

“Milady! Milady! Since you can’t stand this work anymore, I would like to suggest rebelling, but then your approval rating among the other nations would drop after the rebellion, so you need to do this work now for the sake of your eventual rebellion! Do you understand me, milady!? The rebellion must wait!”

“I don’t entirely understand, but it sounds logical enough!”

●

Righteousness: “So what the hell are you doing?”

Integrity: “What the hell are you doing!? First you travel all the way to Mikawa and now you’re turning around!?”

Yeah, thought Yoshiyasu within Righteousness. She was currently waiting atop Oume’s bridge, which acted as the inner corner, as she kept a watchful eye on the pursuing Azuchi, but…

Righteousness: “Things aren’t looking good.”

Integrity: “Huh? How so?”

“Well,” said Yoshiyasu.

Below, a transport ship was caught on Oume’s port stern.

It was not one of Musashi’s. It bore the M.H.R.R. emblem and…

Righteousness: “The Kani Saizou we fought in Kantou has boarded the Musashi.”

●

“Oume” felt a bit defeated.

On Masazumi’s signal, the Musashi had activated its starboard gravitational thrusters. When they had rapidly turned the ship using them, Kani’s transport ship had accelerated.

Ordinarily, smaller nearby ships would stop when a large ship was maneuvering. The large ship had right of way in the airspace and the rules said to stay out of its turn radius.

But the transport ship had rushed in.

Most likely, it had been trying to reach the stern of Okutama. Instead of a hostile act, this had been based on Hashiba Secretary Takenaka’s instructions that had also been sent as a request to the Musashi.

But the gust of wind created by the Musashi’s movement had struck the transport ship, tilting it. “Oume” had been rotating her stern in that area, so she knew very well that the transport ship had then rolled over.

“Musashi” must have known it too because she had personally sent a command.

Musashi: “ ‘Oume’, secure that transport ship. Over.”

Oume: “Are you sure? That means accepting the condition for the Battle of Yamazaki that the Hashiba forces mentioned. Over.”

Musashi: “Judge. If it is allowed to capsize, they will use that to negotiate. Suzu-sama is monitoring it and we are taking photos from Okutama, so we can prove this was their error. I will suggest to Masazumi-sama that she refuses to accept this as a condition for the history recreation by saying we only recovered the ship in the name of ‘rescuing a capsizing ship’. Over.”

So it was a rescue mission.

This exchange happened in their high-speed shared memory during the Musashi’s turn, so “Oume” caught the transport ship with a towing belt and pulled it in. By then, the Vice President’s instructions had already sent out the guards and the Liaison Committee to welcome Kani and the crew as people rescued from an accident.

Meanwhile, the Musashi was accelerating.

Westward. They were retracing the path of the Iga Crossing to reach Europe, but…

…My catching that ship did slow the Musashi a little.

It wasn’t a mistake, but this was where the delay had happened.

As she tried to come up with some way of making up for it, a large shape approached from behind. Her inner corner position allowed her to sense it quite well.

Oume: “The Azuchi is approaching! Also…”

Above, many ether readings were approaching as if sliding powerfully along the sky.

They must have been launched before the Azuchi accelerated, but…

Oume: “Several shells detected! Recommend activating defense barriers on all ships! Over!”

●

With the artillery bombardment begun, Kiyomasa moved out onto the ram armor which was even further forward than the shield at the tip of the bow.

The shockwaves from the guns was really bad on the deck. There were blocks and shelters to provide safe zones, but she couldn’t do her job there.

Her job was to protect the Azuchi with Caledfwlch.

This position allowed her to do so. The shield on the Azuchi’s bow formed the top of the ram sticking out from below the bow.

At the top of that prow, a covered circle of deck acted as a lookout post. That five meter space was now her post.

She had to protect the ship.

Because, in addition to its main cannon, the Musashi had several attacks capable of breaking through warship-class defenses and causing serious damage: the English Princess’s Ex. Collbrande, the Asama Shrine Representative’s anti-ship fire, etc.

…Aren’t their individual attacks a little too powerful?

Of course, our people and my Caledfwlch are fairly powerful too.

Her primary role was to counter those powerful attacks and the ram deck at the bow of the first central ship was the best place to achieve that.

She could still use Caledfwlch once more. How to use it had been left at her discretion, but she couldn’t waste it.

Plus, she was still exhausted. And her mobile shell’s autonomous armor was using repair parts.

In that case…

“I should focus on stopping any of their attacks.”

She took a breath and noticed the light of a soundproofing spell that automatically activated in response to the boom of artillery fire.

A spell lernen figur for a buffering spell that canceled sound and other vibrations appeared on her too, reminding her that this was a different battlefield from Shizugatake.

…So this is the Battle of Yamazaki.

She thought about what it meant to suppress Musashi and then sighed.

“We might just achieve our primary goal tonight.”

●

Kiyomasa thought, I hope this night ends quickly.

The Azuchi was firing on and pursuing the Musashi, but she hoped that just one of those shells would cause critical damage to the Musashi and that would end the battle.

But as much as she didn’t want to hurt them, this opponent wasn’t weak enough, and the Ten Spears weren’t strong enough, to take that arrogant stance.

This would be a hard-fought battle.

“Fukushima-sama…”

Tonight, a lot would be revealed and the bonds placed on them would be removed. And it was all because Nobunaga ascended to the moon with Destiny.

They weren’t safe yet. Takenaka said that would take until the moon had descended in the west, but…

“I hope we can finish the fighting before then.”

She opened a lernen figur to see how the others, who had withdrawn into the ship, were doing. Were they also wondering if this would be their final battle?

And…

AnG: “Wow! Nari Nari’s even smaller than before! Hashibanari!?”

Kimee: “That abbreviation sounds like some kind of stationery, so come up with something else, Angie.”

The Boy: “By the way, I know you all were down below eating your combat rations while pointing up at me and laughing when I was negotiating up top! I saw you!”

Oh, they’re having fun, thought Kiyomasa, making her think she had chosen the wrong post.

●

Only now was Angie really feeling the loss of “Hashiba”.

She was inside the ship, in the fore hall, where crew were rushing around or gathering amid the booming of artillery fire.

There, they had been welcomed by Mitsunari who now had Hashiba’s body, but…

…Wow.

Hirano and Kasuya were fixing Mitsunari’s clothing. The damaged parts had been repaired in the central maintenance bay and she had been given a change of clothes, but it must have been rare for the Azuchi’s maintenance team to work on Hashiba. As she fixed it, Hirano said the clothing was being worn “like a guy dressed her”.

Mitsunari was receiving a lot of attention.

Of course she is, thought Angie. The Ten Spears already received a fair amount of attention on the Azuchi, so of course people were going to take notice when their boss Hashiba appeared, especially when she was actually Mitsunari on the inside.

AnG: “Want to see Hashiba, Shouroku?”

6: “No need. I can see her whenever.”

…That girl is a bold one!

But Angie didn’t have that kind of boldness, so she ended up thinking about these things.

It had long been planned for Mitsunari to do this and Angie had never thought too hard about it, but now she could really tell that someone different was in that familiar form.

That it was originally Nobunaga in there and there was no “true Hashiba” just made it more confusing, but the point was their movements and expressions were fairly different. The movements were less human and a bit too precise, as were the angles. Her expressions felt more like “bringing something into focus” and barely showed any emotion at all.

Since Mitsunari was a program data entity, she probably just hadn’t fully distributed herself to the entire communication network inside the Hashiba body, but…

…She really is different.

Angie truly felt that way.

“And we used to take her outside, grab a bite to eat, and sometimes even go shopping with her.”

But that Hashiba was gone.

Thinking about how that Hashiba had flown away into the western sky darkened Angie’s mood a little, but she wasn’t sure why. There was a vague but irritating feeling inside her, but if she had to sum it up…

“I don’t like things I can’t help.”

“It’s best to remember that she wanted it that way, Angie. I’m not her and she isn’t me. It hurts because you can’t accept that basic fact.”

“What about you, Kime-chan?”

“It hurts.”

Angie laughed at that. She would have had to suppress this feeling if Yoshiaki had said otherwise, but it hadn’t come to that.

“Then we must all feel the same way.”

“That’s why we make excuses, Wakisaka-san.”

“I wasn’t asking you, Giri, but whatever. I’ll listen. So out with it. Well?”

Undaunted, Katagiri crossed his arms and nodded a few times while he spoke.

“I lost a loved one too, right? I made all sorts of excuses when it happened.”

“Okay, that’s enough. You can all go home now, everyone!”

“I-it’s important to set the stage! Rushing everything is one of the worst parts of society!”

“But,” said Hirano as she fixed Mitsunari’s collar. “Making an excuse, no matter how forced it is, does help you get by. And if it still gets too painful, you can make another excuse to keep yourself going a little longer. And as you repeat that process, you begin to think you have plenty of reason to accept it. Because if you don’t, you generally end up taking a lot of time or keeping your distance.”

“That’s how it was for us too. …Katagiri, you compartmentalized the one in your head and the one you actually met, right?”

“Yes, because in our case there was a real physical separation.”

So…

“When we end up doing that in our lives now, it hits me double: once for reminding me of those times and twice for making me realize these things are still happening.”

“Huh. That’s a good way of putting it, Giri.”

“Eh!? I-it is!?”

Um, yes, it was. It took some help from Yasu and Takeko, but you got your point across.

“But why didn’t you just say that up front?”

“Like I said, setting the stage is important!”

Meanwhile, Yoshiaki elbowed Angie from the side. She looked over to see…

“Oh, Sakon.”

Sakon had arrived to return the secondary cannon to its original position.

●

Kasuya knew Sakon from their time together at the Aki training camp.

She had been cognizant at the time that Sakon was not part of the Ten Spears. They could fight alongside each other, but that came from Sakon’s personality, her easygoing nature, and…

…She works for Mitsunari.

The interesting part was how master and subordinate were so considerate of each other. Mitsunari was always worried about Sakon’s physical condition, mood, and the outcome of her work. Sakon was always concerned that Mitsunari might need something when she was around.

Part of this came from Sakon’s regeneration ability. She could be seen as “immortal”, so when she saw a data entity like Mitsunari using up ether fuel to make an appearance…

…Mitsunari’s form must seem so fleeting to her.

But that had changed a bit here.

Through Hashiba.

Sakon knew that Mitsunari now had Hashiba’s body, but how would she react when she actually saw it? Just like Wakisaka earlier, one’s reaction could be very different than they imaged.

The Ten Spears had realized they could no longer see “Hashiba” anymore and dressing her up like this was a part of accepting her as a “new Hashiba”. So…

“Sakon.”

Kasuya called out, but Hirano turned her way before Sakon did.

“Kasuya.”

When Hirano called her name and nodded, Kasuya had no choice but to withdraw. Shrine maidens were experts on human relationships. Hashiba hesitated a moment, but she chose not to worry and left everything with Sakon, who was crouching to fit below the ceiling.

●

“Oh,” said Sakon.

…What is this?

Hashiba stood before her. Except that was Mitsunari now.

She approached, crouched, got down on her knees, sat on her heels, and took a closer look, but…

“Um…Mitsunari…-sama?”

“Oh, yes, that is correct. You can tell?”

“Well,” she hesitated. How was she supposed to put this? It wasn’t a lot, but she did feel some – how to put it? – negative emotions here. But she didn’t want to lie to Mitsunari.

“I can’t tell at all. What is going on?”

“I thought as much… I’m not sure how to deal with it myself.”

Really? thought Sakon, feeling a little better.

“Can you not go back to how you looked before?”

“Sorry, but I need to focus on my mental image of this body in order to move it. Mixing in that previous mental image would leave more room for error…”

“Then I can never see the old Mitsunari-sama again?”

“Once I learn to control this body better, you will be able to see that me on the divine net and such.”

…Hmm.

As Sakon thought about that, Hirano spoke up.

“Mitsunari, Sakon sees the previous you as you. Seeing that you on the divine net isn’t the same. She wants you to stay the way you were.”

“Yes, it’s true. Sorry. I know it’s childish.

“But,” she immediately added. “This isn’t the Mitsunari-sama who called out to me.”

Ahh, I don’t like this one bit, she thought. What didn’t she like? That Mitsunari had changed of course, but also that P.A. Oda considered this the “right” thing. But most of all, she didn’t like herself for disliking it.

Mitsunari was a data entity created for this purpose. So this was her proper form. But this wasn’t the Mitsunari who had come to her.

Probably, she was feeling lonely.

As if Mitsunari had left her and returned to her old home.

But that was being weirdly possessive, it wouldn’t help the others, and it was troubling Mitsunari who wanted to be nice to her.

“I don’t like this.”

Next thing she knew, she was crying. She really had thought she was prepared for this, but she had been deluding herself. Yet another thing she didn’t like.

●

AnG: “Giri? This is the ordinary reaction. …You’re not supposed to get all smug about not crying. Got that?”

Llaf: “Oh, Katigiri-kun was crying alone in the bath that one time. So I got him to tell me all about it and then made a man out of him.”

Kiyo-Massive: “Katagiri-kun, we need to have a chat about this later.”

The Boy: “Why does this keep getting worse for me!?”

●

…Ugh, I’m so pathetic.

Sakon wanted to stop crying. Because her tears were troubling Mitsunari.

She wanted me so she would have less trouble to deal with, so I can’t be troubling her myself.

But still she didn’t like it. More than the loneliness, she didn’t like that she just had to give up. But…

Onitakemaru: “Kohime…pick up Ishida Mitsunari.”

“Huh?”

Pick her up? But she isn’t a bag. What do you mean? she wondered.

“Ishida. Remember Nördlingen?”

Sakon looked forward with an “eh?” and, in her tear-blurred vision, saw Mitsunari gasp.

When Mitsunari then tensed her sides a bit and held her hands out toward her, Sakon caught on.

After the Battle of Nördlingen, she had lifted up Mitsunari. To show her off to the others.

But what good was doing that now? So…

“Um, Onitakemaru-san? And Mitsunari-sama too…?”

“If you won’t do it, I will.”

Her arms began moving on their own. Using the mobile shell’s power assistance. This normally required her to start the motion first, but he was probably “assisting” some minute movements of her body.

…Like what he did when we fought Niwa-sama at the Battle of Shizugatake!?

Her extended arms reached Mitsunari, but she quickly stopped herself. Tears fell from her eyes and her vision cleared up some, so she regained control quickly.

“Wait! I can’t do that.”

She stopped. But her arms were already preparing to lift Mitsunari.

So she looked to Mitsunari and…

“Can I?”

“Testament. Go ahead.”

Go ahead and do what? Her reluctance showed on her face as she slipped her hands under Mitsunari’s arms and lifted her.

●

…Oh?

That was Sakon’s first thought upon trying to lift her.

She’s heavier than she looks?

Well, she was an automaton. But rather than being highly dense, it was more like the weight was distributed to different important points.

Sakon could lift her, but she could sense the mind inside. She had to be careful. The weight distribution differed from that of a human, so she was afraid Mitsunari would break if she dropped her. Besides, even a small mistake on her part could cause a lot of damage. So she was careful.

“Wow.”

Mitsunari seemed so precious. In truth, she couldn’t lift Mitsunari over her head. The ceiling was in the way. Even Sakon had to crouch here and she was currently sitting. So she lifted Mitsunari nearly to the ceiling.

“Kohime. Whatever form Mitsunari might take…you are the only one she will let do this.”

And…

“She is the only superior you can show off like this. That has been the case since our first battle. Do you understand?”

Sakon looked up.

Mitsunari looked her in the eye and spoke.

“Sakon-sama. I have been experiencing many new things since gaining this body.”

But…

“But only after being lifted did I realize what ability I most wanted: to be able to touch you.”

That’s it.

That’s what? I don’t really know.

“––––––”

But she did smile.

“Really?”

Mitsunari might look different, but their relationship had begun with a search for their own abilities and she hadn’t forgotten that. And if they could now touch each other for the first time…

“Then we can start again from the beginning?”

●

That’s right, thought Onitakemaru.

…Honestly.

Starting over applied to him too.

He had once separated his daughter from someone she cared for. He had felt it was necessary based on the surrounding events and after weighing the different sacrifices against each other.

So what?

Right now, he had seen a girl about to give up on something she cared deeply about, but he had stopped her and gotten her to reach out instead.

He hadn’t forced her to believe that giving up was the smart choice.

Should he see this as a sign of how much he had changed? Or had everyone been like that back in his time? Was he atoning for his past, was he just a hypocrite, or…

…Or what?

Whatever the case, the result would make itself known in time. So…

“If that is what you wish to do, then do it, Kohime. We have the strength necessary for that.”

Honestly, he thought again, looking to Kohime’s face.

“It’s like I said at Nördlingen: You can cry when you need to, but laugh whenever you can. It’s much easier for me that way.”

●

…Would you call this a super-quick reconciliation?

Yoshiaki turned her gaze toward a certain individual.

“Hm? What do thou want, Yoshiaki-dono?”

“Just that this would have lasted a normal amount of time with you two.”

Fukushima tilted her head, but that was fine. At any rate, it seemed like they had settled on a stance here, but…

“I wonder what Kani is doing over there.”

●

Everyone was immediately informed of Kani’s arrival on Okutama.

The foreign transport ship added a ship’s worth of extra weight to the Musashi as it was trying to accelerate away. But before they could figure out how to deal with Kani, they arranged to have the transport ship dock with Okutama, the second central ship, since that preserved the Musashi’s balance and prevented the ship from being used as a political shield.

The crew were sent through immigration, the appropriate procedures were followed, and they were given especially strict explanations of the divine punishments for illegal acts carried out aboard the Musashi, but Futayo was sent there as well.

Her job was to confirm that the Kani who had been sent to Musashi as a “temp” really was her.

To carry out these instructions from Representative Committee Head Ookubo, Futayo ran to the original location of the Asama Shrine while looking up at the sky where defense barriers were blocking artillery blasts.

The transport ship they had used to return from Honnouji was docked there too. Two more identical model transport ships for moving people around the ships were also there.

…So is this being used as Okutama’s transport ship pool?

With that in mind, Futayo hurried to the temporary immigration office.

…They say Kani-dono is here?

Ookubo said she was here with Masazumi’s approval, but Futayo had a question.

“Who is Kani-dono?”

Masazumi had said she had fought her. But who is this Kani?

She knew the name meant “crab”, but she hadn’t eaten many of those. Thinking back, the Musashi had received food supplies when they were at Novgorod, so she should have visited a seafood restaurant then. But at the time, I was too focused on the bear meat and venison.

“Oh! Futayo!”

I was so lost in thought I ran right past it.

Oops, she thought, backtracking and finding a sign frame at the fore entrance to the Asama Shrine. The large sign frame displayed Asama with the sky from the bow deck behind her.

“I am handling the immigration process from out here. I just finished the standard part and the interview, so you can take a look at her.”

I should have known Asama-sama would work fast. And I bet she chose some really nasty and thorough divine punishments for them.

That didn’t leave any arrangements for Futayo as Vice Chancellor. It’s been nice not having to think about much of anything or to arrange things ever since I decided to to come to Musashi. I doubt my father or Kazuno-sama thought Musashi had so much automation.

All she had to do was take a look at his person called Kani. What kind of person is she? she wondered as someone ascended the stairs with a futon on her back.

Younger, an M.H.R.R. uniform, and a futon. The futon was curious. And it had a floral pattern. Does the pattern on the futon even matter when you are sleeping in it? You can’t see it when you’re asleep and your room will be dark anyway. Now, my own blanket has a blue triple stripe pattern, but that is supposed to represent the “three” in Mikawa’s name.

…Oops. I got distracted by the futon.

But once the girl was standing in front of her, she remembered. I know her. Yes. She is…

“How about it, Futayo?”

“Judge! I know her!”

“…Um, can you say who she is?”

“Judge! I know her!!?”

She wanted to remember as much as anyone.

…But I just can’t.

There was a reason why she couldn’t remember.

…They said she is Kani, but Kani isn’t right.

She saw it differently. It was something like Kani, but different. In other words…

“Seafood…”

“Eh!?”

The (supposed) Kani in front of her tilted her head. She started to say something, so Futayo quickly held out her right hand with the fingers spread.

“No hints!”

“Testament! I don’t know what this is, but you don’t want any hints, right!?”

“Yes, I don’t know the answer, so I don’t want any hints!”

“Testament! You won’t accept any hints, so you don’t know the answer, right!?”

…Finally, someone who understands!

And her pursuit of this unexpected response led her to the answer. Yes, an old memory returned to her. She had fought this girl in Kantou. She had used her name back then, but it wasn’t Kani. It was…

“Uni!”

●

Righteousness: “Have you thought about who is going to correct her?”

Tachibana Wife: “Why are you all looking at me!? I-I will not correct her!”

Flat Vassal: “Gin-san, I was the ballast at the time and I know the correct answer is Shrimp.”

10ZO: “Gin-dono, Uni is a lot closer to Kani than Shrimp, so shouldn’t it be easier this way?”

Tachibana Wife: “Why are you addressing me!?”

●

Kani initially questioned the name.

…Uni!?

She knew that was one of those spiky sea urchin things, but she had never eaten one.

…Because my family runs a greengrocer!

But she didn’t understand why she was being called Uni. She did know this was Musashi’s Vice Chancellor and the person who Fukushima saw as superior to herself. So she knew what this had to be.

“Testament! So my Urban Name for this mission will be Uni then!?”

“Judge! Now, Uni-dono! You will be on our side and fighting against the other side this time! If you get it wrong, an Asama Shrine curse will cause sea urchins to come from your butt!”

…For real!?

In M.H.R.R., she had heard occasional rumors about the terrors of the Asama Shrine, but those were usually about their representative’s artillery strikes. Apparently they also dealt in unimaginable curses.

“Testament! I’ll do my best to not get it wrong!”

●

Art-Ga: “Can you make sea urchins come out?”

Gold Mar: “The spikiness is probably what makes it such an effective curse.”

Wise Sister: “Heh heh. You do seafood too? The Asama Shrine is brimming with diversity!”

Asama: “Um, can we focus on Futayo’s meeting?”

●

…I ate sea urchins a few times when we went north.

Suzu had opened Branch and Leaf Connection across the Musashi in response to the Azuchi’s artillery fire.

They used defense barriers as their primary defense and limited their secondary cannon return fire to only the cannons visible on the front of the Azuchi.

The Azuchi was trying to force them to open defense barriers to reduce the ship’s available power and speed.

Suzu thought defense barriers were primarily used for defense.

That seemed obvious, but that meant they were to be used during defense time.

When the Musashi was using its gravitational cruising, that was not defense time. That was moving time.

They needed to focus all the Musashi’s power on movement, so what happened when they were also defending?

They needed some extra power for the defenses.

The problem there was in the Musashi’s ether conduits.

No matter how much ether fuel you had stored, the output was limited by the width of the conduits.

Of course, most of the conduits could alter their supply quantity. Asama, the automata, or someone with engine room privileges needed to make that change, but even then the possible supply quantity had a maximum.

If the supply quantity was insufficient, either the movement or the defense had to be reduced to send power to the other.

But they couldn’t afford to be hit by an attack, so they were forced to reduce their movement to power their defenses.

They were doing that now.

…Then there’s the fuel consumption issue.

Before, during the Battle of Mikatagahara, the Musashi had used its gravitational cruising to travel all the way from Magdeburg to Kantou. Their fuel system had only just barely achieved it.

Currently, the Musashi had traveled from Kyou to Mikawa in much the same way and was now heading back.

Their starting point had been closer than Magdeburg, but the distance to Mikawa had been nearly the same as half of what they had traveled during Mikatagahara.

Suzu’s feel for the ship told her the fuel would be approaching its limit after they returned to the Seto Inland Sea.

That may have been different for the older Musashi, but the modifications had added more equipment, which meant greater fuel consumption.

“But I’m good…at this.”

It was the same as managing the fuel at the bathhouse. The more customers, the more firewood needed to increase the amount of hot bathwater, but the furnace was only so big and you had to consider the pacing. Her father generally handled that, but reporting on the number of customers and checking the water temperature was her job.

So she understood it.

And she had some reliable allies when it came to fuel consumption. There were the automata, but also…

Me: “Hey, Bell-san? I’m on Okutama’s bow if you need me.”

Bell: “Judge. I think…I’ll be asking you…soon.”

There was Toori. His ether supply spell used Musashi’s fuel and it could send that fuel to any part of the Musashi. So if she needed power in precise locations, his spell was the answer. And…

Vice President: “Mukai. I want to get moving soon. Are you ready?”

She was. She had used a variety of tricks to build up a decent pool of fuel, she had Toori, and she had the others. So…

Bell: “Yes! You can…begin!”

It was time to fight back against the pursuing Azuchi.

●

“Azuchi” noticed the Musashi’s initial motion.

She knew from past experience that the Musashi had a quirk that she lacked.

…It always initially swings in the opposite direction of its intended course!

Was that because its acting captain was human? An automaton would consider that motion to be unnecessary in achieving the intended action, but their acting captain always did it.

She could not determine if it was some kind of jinx or if it was a sign of hesitation before committing to the action, but the Musashi was currently swinging its bow to the right.

That initial motion meant the Musashi would be moving left next.

To pursue, the Azuchi would need to steer to port.

Their current course took them back along the Iga Crossing route. It was nearly a straight line, so turning the ship here would definitely take them off that route. They had probably made a show of flying straight before making this course change.

But “Azuchi” had detected this initial motion.

…You will not get away!

As she steered to port to pursue, she saw something out ahead.

The Musashi was unchanged.

“Huh!?”

Instead of turning back to the left, the Musashi’s bow remained turned to the right.

The entire ship turned, pushing the wind out of the way.

●

Impossible! thought “Azuchi” reviewing her statistics. This action differed from all of the Musashi’s previous actions she had seen herself or received data on from other ships.

Her opponent was human. They weren’t supposed to suddenly change their idiosyncrasies without being given any kind of hint first. So…

…Have they put their automata in charge of steering!?

That would explain it.

Out ahead, the Musashi was slowly showing its starboard side. As things were, the Azuchi was on a collision course, but…

Kuro-Take: “Ram theeeeeeem!”

Azuchi: “While that does still count as a win, I am reluctant to agree when you say it with so little hesitation, Takenaka-sama! Nevertheless, shaja!!”

The Azuchi would ram the Musashi.

It didn’t matter where the Musashi steered itself, if they were rammed and broken.

The Azuchi accelerated straight ahead, prepared for impact, and leaned a bit forward for the ramming maneuver.

“Here we go! Shaja!”

●

Suzu gasped lightly.

Because she hadn’t expected the Azuchi to fly straight toward them.

…Eh? What? Why?

The Musashi had shown its side. She had expected the Azuchi to fire on them.

…Actually, why does the Azuchi…seem so eager to ram us?

It would be a big deal if their ship broke. She really wished they would treat their possessions with greater care.

But in a way, she appreciated this. Because this had only been preparation for their next move, but…

“They didn’t realize…what we’re doing!”

“Judge! I am not sure why they are ramming us, but I have determined it is fortunate they are! Over!”

Suzu nodded in agreement with the automata, reached toward the Musashi model, and gave her instruction.

“Spin.”

●

“Musashino” saw the Musashi complete its initial motion in Suzu’s models.

After turning their bows to the right, the eight ships were drawing out a rightward-curving arc.

The tip of the arc was Murayama.

So the Musashi as a whole turned counterclockwise on the central axis formed by the line from Murayama to Musashino.

The initial acceleration to the right was counteracted by a reversal of the thrusters for some front breaking, shifting the overall weight forward.

Then the bow ends directed their thrusters to the right while the aft ends directed their thrusters to the left and used their full acceleration.

The ship spun.

But it simply wasn’t possible for such a massive ship to perform a spin turn while traveling at high speed. The air resistance was powerful and its momentum would stop partway through. But…

…The initial motion was forced and the reversal was even more forced, but this does produce a certain effect.

The back-and-forth movement of the giant ship created a massive air pocket around the Musashi.

“This will work, Suzu-sama. The air currents you drew around the Musashi have been colored. Over.”

Light undulated around the Musashi model.

The air current wave produced by the initial motion collided with the new wave produced by the reversal and then the ship accelerated further to break through them.

Then the buffering spells had to hold the air pocket in place.

“The air resistance around the Musashi has been greatly reduced! We are spinning!”

They spun.

Spun and continued on. As the 8 ships’ rapid rotation continued unabated, “Musashino” saw Suzu wave her right hand once.

“Masazumi! Toori-kun!”

●

Narumi heard Urquiaga grunt.

It wasn’t often the half-dragon lost his balance. While her Unturning Centipede remained firm, it had kept its position using load reaction rather than the legs’ balancers.

…What is this?

A sign frame informed her of a large-scale earthquake. More than that…

“Only on the Musashi could the shaking continue endlessly in a single direction.”

This meant the Musashi had performed a horizontal turn while keeping its course the same.

It performed a midair spin turn.

She had seen this before in Kantou, but that had been a transport ship and it had made use of the lift effect from the surface and the collision of a following ship.

As far as Narumi knew, this was the first time the Musashi as a whole had done it and Urquiaga’s reaction told her it likely was a first.

The initial swing in the opposite direction had been for the reversal to create a vacuum air pocket around the Musashi. The ship’s slant had been calculated to ensure they didn’t lose altitude, but most of it had probably been based on the acting captain’s experience-based intuition.

Since she couldn’t see, that girl was highly aware of her body’s state, so she sensed the ship’s movements through her own movements.

Instead of using her eyes or receiving help from a divine protection or spell, she used the information reaching her body itself to tell her how she should move in response to her surroundings.

She made no mistakes and she was fast.

Narumi did wish the girl would train her body more, but that was probably Narumi’s “warrior brain” that valued expanding the breadth of your physical abilities. Her experience flying the ship like this were expanding the breadth of other abilities. So…

“When the Vice President tells her to end the pursuit here, she can do that too.”

Narumi saw the answer.

During the spin turn, or air turn, each ships’ towing belts were adjusting their lengths.

She knew what that meant. The Musashi was preparing to do something during its turn.

“Kanesada!”

It was going to fire its main cannon.

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