Horizon:GT2 Chapter13

Chapter 13: Swords and Dance

Do you know what

Has had nothing to do with power or history

In the past and now?

Point Allocation (Lovely)

●

“Whew, I’m glad I didn’t take this lightly. That was too close.”

Naito looked down at her chest instead of at the scattering light.

“I was pretty worried when my defense Magie Figur broke earlier. But I did make sure to include an anti-inquisitor spell. Any Technohexen will know the standard ones.”

“If you mean the commercial opposition spells, Tres España has already decoded them. You must have done something more than that,” insisted Rodrigo.

“True,” Naito had to admit. But Rodrigo stared at her, and…

“How did you destroy the confession spell!?”

“This isn’t really repeatable, so be careful, everyone.”

Naito clapped her hands in empty air to call up something.

“A black magic Magie Figur?”

Rodrigo’s voice was full of confusion. Naito could understand why. Adele also tilted her head.

“Is that different from the usual ones?”

“It sure is. Because…”

Naito moved her fingers to tap the screen. An authorization screen appeared and she waved her fingers again to open a compressed image as well.

“This uses image recognition. In other words…it uses a password.”

“Impossible.”

Naito understood why Rodrigo felt that way. The Sword of Confession was designed to destroy and slash passwords. Rodrigo had to believe no password was resistant to it.

But she dropped the compressed image into the Magie Figur. When that was authorized, the decompressed image appeared on the screen.

“Did you really think you could break through our white and black wings in the sky?”

A hand-drawn drawing was displayed. It displayed wings spread in a white and black sky. It was a little grainy, but it had been designed so you would see more and more lines no matter how high a resolution it was displayed at.

“Ga-chan drew this when we decided to work as a team. It took her a whole month and now it’s our shared authorization image. She made sure no one can copy it – that way we can also use it as a stamp for our delivery work. And stamps have to be white and black. Do you really think a mass-produced confession spell can handle this?”

●

Adele heard Naito take a breath.

“Sorry, but all my personal data and all the data related to my life on the Musashi has been converted over to this shared authorization system. You may have taken control of my personal data, but that doesn’t give you as much as you thought.”

The confessions spell still must have been more powerful than Naito expected. She closed the Magie Figur as if putting it away in her pocket.

“You can brag about that being the latest version of the spell, or whatever, but back when confession spells were first being developed and hadn’t been mass-produced yet, whoever created the sword spell must have poured all their heart and skill into creating something that could destroy any data password. Ga-chan is still learning, so I doubt she could have stopped that. But the instant I saw yours, I noticed how sloppily drawn it was.”

So…

“I knew Ga-chan would win. That’s all there is to it.”

Adele noticed something about Naito’s tone as she finished her explanation.

…Oh, she’s in a bad mood.

○

Art-Ga: “What!? Margot’s in a bad mood!? C’mon, Margot, look this way! You were really cool out there, Margot.”

Gold Mar: “Ga-chan, Ga-chan. Don’t do that with your drawings. How about you look at me in real life?”

Scarred: “You draw so incredibly fast.”

Asama: “Yes, which has caused countless tragedies in the past. And will in the future too, I’m sure.”

●

Mitotsudaira saw Rodrigo’s shoulders relax.

She gave a quick bow toward Margot.

“My apologies.”

It seemed like she was apologizing to Margot and that would have made sense here, but Mitotsudaira doubted that was it.

Inquisitors had a long history. But she had underestimated her opponent and lost to a Technohexen using a spell that was an inferior copy of its predecessors. The apology was probably directed at the past inquisitors and their history. And…

“I name this Technohexen a pagan. I will send you a Catholic tract later.”

Margot did not look happy about that, but Rodrigo had already turned toward Mitotsudaira.

Mitotsudaira knew what the inquisitor was going to do. She still had two swords directed her way and she was down to only one defense spell. So…

“Let us settle this, Mito Lord.”

“Ohh, Mito-tsan!”

Margot started to activate a spell, but a ton of Catholic sign frames appeared in front of her.

Mitotsudaira was used to seeing that kind of thing happen with Asama, but this was still an unnerving amount.

“I have sent you a three-month course on why you should convert to Catholicism. Please stay still.”

“U-um, Margot!? Are you alright!?”

“Hm, sorry, Mito-tsan. These are set up to send themselves to my home. If I don’t make sure to untick that box on each and every one before I do anything, Ga-chan will be affected too.”

Then I guess she doesn’t have much choice! thought Mitotsudaira, but that didn’t help her situation.

The swords were still coming.

…Uh-

Before she could think the “oh”, her defense spell shattered and the two swords rushed toward her.

○

Art-Ga: “For reference, what was your most valued data back then, Mitotsudaira?”

Flat Vassal: “Was it your attendance record of going to class with your king or other events where you spent time with him?”

Silver Wolf: “I-I couldn’t do that. A lot of that is public data, so it doesn’t count.”

Still Got It: “That’s right. The data she would most cherish would be the records of the time he spent going out to eat with her or the gifts he gave her.”

Silver Wolf: “––––––”

Horizey: “Has Mitotsudaira-sama lost again!? She has! That’s two in a row! One more and it’s game over!”

Vice President: “I can’t help but notice you were causing a minor international incident in Mikawa…”

Silver Wolf: “I-in our defense, she started it!”

●

Mitotsudaira knew she was at a disadvantage in this fight.

For one, she had two swords directed at her because…

…She thinks I work for the Asama Shrine!

That was technically true, but she only worked as a shrine maiden part time. This frustrated her so much she decided to work harder at earning at least a midlevel shrine maiden rank. But…

“Extra Special Duty Officer!”

Adele rushed in. She reached out her hands to grab the two swords.

“–––––––”

Mitotsudaira took a quick backstep away from those spread fingers.

“Ah,” said Adele as her hands found only air.

“Wh-why did you move out of the way!?”

“For one, you’re Catholic, so it wouldn’t do any good. But also, I didn’t like the way you were approaching me with grabby hands.”

“I-I wouldn’t do anything Toori-san would do!”

“What are you two talking about?” asked Rodrigo who they had nearly forgotten about.

“Judge!” replied Adele. “The Extra Special Duty Officer always lets Toori-san grope her chest, but for some reason she felt the need to dodge out of the way when it was me!”

“That is not an accurate description of events!” protested Mitotsudaira.

But she noticed Rodrigo was blushing. She even took a step back, but…

“H-how indecent! Censored! You must be censored! I will end this immediately!”

She pointed with both hands and the swords rushed in.

…I’m done for!

Mitotsudaira backed away too. She wondered if trying to physically escape was the best option left for her.

But then she heard Asama’s voice from behind.

“Mito! Left, left, front, back-right!”

●

Adele thought Asama had gone insane.

But that was hardly new.

So did that make this normal? Yes, that was what I thought back then. And still do now…

“Oops. I accidentally mentioned what I think about the rest of you.”

“The rest of us!?”

She thought she heard the rest of them, but that was probably a hallucination due to the stress of the situation.

At any rate, she saw the Extra Special Duty Officer moving. She made a quick movement without any hesitation.

But Adele thought that movement was risky. Because…

…Moving creates noise that lets the swords get closer!

The Extra Special Duty Officer no longer had any defenses. So had she decided a physical defense was her best bet? She’s chosen a physical life!

But the wolf did not move to escape the field.

“Eh?”

Adele saw something unusual.

The swords were approaching the Extra Special Duty Officer, but…

…They’ve slowed!?

They should have gotten closer due to the noise, but they were falling behind instead. And…

“Asama-san!”

She saw the same thing happening with Asama. Every time her footwork carried her body, she ended up further away from her four swords.

Adele had no idea what was going on, but she could make a guess.

“They’ve gone insane!”

○

Asama: “Surely you could come up with a different way of putting that, Adele.”

Flat Vassal: “E-everyone thinks about things in their own way!”

Horizey: “Then what caused the swords to – as I would put it – go batshit insane?”

Silver Wolf: “Did you have to find an even worse phrasing!?”

●

Mitotsudaira heard Asama’s voice.

“Right, right, left, right…back-left, spin, and back-right!”

She obeyed the instructions given in the shrine maiden’s piercing but quiet voice. And…

…Oh?

The instructions were numerous but continuous.

The footwork and the swaying of her body flowed together, so it wasn’t difficult to keep moving. And…

“The confession spells…”

They were falling behind. They had been right up to her chest before, but now there was a gap. All because of…

“Right, right, back-left. Right hand out front. Spin to the right.”

These instructions. These weren’t just any movements.

…There is no noise in them, is there!?

Who had come up with this on such short notice? I had to be…

“Kimi!”

●

Kimi was playing at the Asama Shrine.

Playing with her brother. She was dressed as a shrine maiden and her brother was in his school uniform.

“Hey! Hey, sis! We came here because Asama asked for some help while she’s in Mikawa, so should we really be messing around?”

“Just do it. And put some effort into it. You are the best at following my movements, so no holding back, okay?”

She made a dance-like twist of her body that evaded her brother’s hands.

She exhaled as she made her next step. She inhaled while letting her brother see the thing she held in her cleavage using the pressure provided by the parts on the sides of her breasts.

“Heh heh. This ticket lets you run a shop at the festival. I was given this for how well I did at last year’s festival. Do you want it?”

“Eh? For real!? That depends on the location. Could I see the stage from close up?”

“Of course. I still haven’t decided if I am going to perform or not, but if you manage to snag this, you had better decide what kind of shop you want to run on the final day. And if that happens, I might just choose to perform on the stage.”

She made a quick turn on the gravel to dodge away from her brother’s hands.

“But first, you had better grab this instead of just talking about it. …So make a real effort, okay? I will give you quite a show to motivate you, foolish brother.”

●

Asama used her own style of movements to follow the instructions sent over by Kimi.

Meanwhile, she focused on the Catholic confession spells. She needed to put together some kind of countermeasure, but it had honestly taken her a long time to figure out what kind of spell it was.

…I thought it was a virus spell at first, but it’s really an ultra-low-speed data-seeking projectile.

That wasn’t at all what it looked like. She knew information warfare was all about hiding what you were really doing, but this had still given her some trouble.

But even after figuring it out, this was a formidable foe.

For one, she did not know how the confession spell pursued the data.

She could make a guess, though.

…It probably detects the data from its ether, makes some general guesses what kind of data it is, and targets the center of the data.

So just like a heat-seeking projectile, it targeted the center of the largest or most powerful data.

So it wasn’t quite accurate to say the spell flew straight toward them.

It targeted them in the moment that powerful data like a password was displayed and it would pursue any large quantity of dummy data that was displayed. It would continue its pursuit as long as there was data there and then slice through it all, including the password. So…

…I need dummy data.

She could create false data, send it out, and direct the spell along that path.

But there was a problem there.

If there wasn’t as much dummy data as the data she wanted to protect, it wouldn’t function as a decoy.

And dummy data was meaningless if it was too simple. The enemy spell was a program and it would learn from any enemy it had defeated once.

So Asama knew what she needed.

“A large quantity of data made up of endless adlibbing.”

She could have found a way of doing this herself. For example, she could read Shinto prayers endlessly to buy time.

But Mitotsudaira was in trouble. So…

“Kimi.”

She had a direct divine transmission link to her father at the Asama Shrine. And Kimi was there in her place.

Kimi was a crazy girl who knew a lot about music and offered dances to her god. A dance worthy of being a divine offering couldn’t be too repetitive if it was going to satisfy the god.

So Asama just needed Kimi to provide some choreography. And…

“Mito!”

Asama moved right, right, left, and forward.

“Left, left, right, back.”

Mitotsudaira approached her. And from there…

…I can do this!

●

Kimi dodged her brother’s hands.

But her brother paused to think afterwards. Why did he do that? Because his feet slipped on the gravel and he fell on his side.

Kimi’s dance steps took her around to his side while he caught his breath but also smiled.

“Sis.”

He held his hands up as if saying, “Help me up. I can’t get up on my own.”

“Silly boy.”

She had wanted him to go all out, but he had held too little in reserve.

“A real man never lets himself get too worn out to keep up with his partner.”

She took his hands and swung him around, lifting him up in the process.

She straightened up and pushed him from the front to place his toes on the ground.

She continued the spin, making a full rotation at the center of the shrine grounds.

Plum season had ended and cherry blossom season had arrived, so the cherry trees were in full bloom at the Asama Shrine. But…

“Sis.”

While they swung around hand in hand, he smiled and spoke with sweat on his brow.

“Thanks.”

“Do this right, okay?” she told him.

She saw him nod as they twirled and he tilted his head toward her.

He grabbed the ticket between his lips and yanked it from her cleavage.

Before she could even smile at the sensation, he straightened up and smiled with it between his lips.

“You smell great, sis,” he said.

○

Horizey: “Kimi-sama! Kimi-sama! Please go easy on us with these flashbacks!”

Flat Vassal: “So what do you smell like?”

Wise Sister: “Heh heh heh. If you’re curious, come on over! Just dive between these spread arms and bury your face in my chest and you should learn that I used a lavender scent when bathing earlier! Lavish lavender!”

Scarred: “So were you already familiar with her dance steps?”

Silver Wolf: “When Kimi teaches people how to dance, she generally gives those rough instructions and simply goes ‘ta-ta-tan’ to describe the rhythm. She taught us a lot during the music festival and after we formed a band.”

Tachibana Wife: “So was the amount of data in her dance enough to prevent the confession spell from approaching?”

Asama: “Kimi’s dances are simple enough for even me to follow along, but somehow her god loves them and they have a ton of data.”

Horizey: ‘Simple is best! Which means food is best when unseasoned – not even with salt! And with that in mind, would you like to try this raw mushroom, Asama-sama!?”

Asama: “Um, that’s an ingredient, not a completed dish, so, um…”

●

Asama approached Mitotsudaira.

Based on the instructions coming from Kimi, she made a twirl that put even more distance between her and the confession spells, but…

…How does Kimi know where Mito is?

She had only told Kimi that Mitotsudaira was “in front of me”, but Kimi seemed to have a really accurate grasp of the girl’s location. Also…

“Our dances interact!” said Mitotsudaira half in surprise as she made her dance move.

They were within arm’s reach now. Asama had orally conveyed the instructions before, but now she could do it via sign frame. She directly linked their divine transmissions and…

“Here goes!”

The actions weren’t quite enough to call a dance, but there was no wasted movement in Kimi’s instructions.

The two girls worked up a sweat and felt out of breath, but they didn’t let that stop them.

Asama saw Rodrigo swinging her hand forward outside the field.

She was telling the confession spells to move in closer.

All six blades did as asked. Asama took another step while she and Mitotsudaira faced each other.

“Here they come!” shouted the wolf as she judged the timing.

Asama made her counterattack against the six blades.

The were performing Kimi’s data-dense dance and the confession swords were following those movements. Just as the swords arrived in front of her and Mitotsudaira…

“Mito!”

Asama took Mitotsudaira’s hands, surrounding the blades with their arms.

●

Ohh,” gasped Naito in a simple exclamation of astonishment.

…Maybe Ga-chan and I could use that.

She had just seen a Shinto counterattack to the Catholic confession spell.

It took the form of a circle. Asama and Mitotsudaira had spread their arms while spinning and then held hands to form a circle. They continued spinning in a circle like that. They got up on their toes and spun like a top.

They balanced with each other and spun without moving closer to or farther from each other.

The six swords were between their arms. The swords continued to approach the pair, but…

“That won’t work.”

The circular motion had trapped the swords. Naito heard Rodrigo gasp behind her.

Naito knew why Rodrigo was so bothered.

“A circle is eternal. It is the ultimate form of all things. That belief has existed since ancient times even in Europe and, unfortunately for you, we still haven’t managed to fully break down the curve of a circle.”

“Eh? Really?” asked Adele. “I thought a circle was made up of 360 degrees.”

“Judge. That is true, but if you zoom in on one of those degrees, the edges become straight lines. So you can treat that as a curve and break it down into fractions of a degree, but even then…”

Naito showed Adele a simple diagram. She zoomed in, broke it down again, and zoomed in again.

…You end up with the same thing again.

“At this point, we’re getting into the realm of concepts and definitions, but this process will continue endlessly. So a perfect circle has infinite data in every single direction. Meaning…”

Meaning…

“This is circle dance was created by someone on Kimi-chan’s level. A data-seeking spell caught in there can never escape.”

That was exactly what she saw happening. The two shrine maidens stopped spinning and released their hands, but…

“The swords have taken on the circular path, so each one pursues the circle data of the blade in front of it.”

So…

“Those confession spells are useless now!”

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