Horizon:GT2 Chapter3
Chapter 3: Starvation and Excitement[edit]
Choose one of the following situations:
1: Friendly Visit
2: Divine Visit
3: Annoying Visit
Point Allocation (Here I Aaaaaaaam!)
●
An automaton had appeared on Tama.
It was a sunny day, but a single oddity was found in the center of the park near the center of Tama. In the woods containing an artificial stream, a 10m crater formed with electricity crackling all around.
It was not very deep. Something had produced enough downwards pressure to compress the ship structure.
Faint residual electricity scattered as the figure kneeling in the center stood up and gave double fist pumps.
“Horizon is baaaaaaaaack!!!”
○
Asama: “Okay, that’s taking it too far. …Kimi! Kimi! Stop holding your sides and laughing!”
Horizey: “I do not actually remember what happened, so I thought I should give a dramatized imagining of what must have happened.”
Art-Ga: “I say we let this stand.”
Flat Vassal: “If the Vicereine continues to be herself, future historians will probably write a very similar representation of her arrival on the Musashi.”
Scarred: “My, then how would they dramatize the way Master Tenzou and I met?”
Gold Mar: “They’ll probably have you throw a sonic slap that knocks Tenzou out and gives him a concussion.”
Scarred: “W-we can’t let that happen! I must tell my sister to ensure the future historians take an accurate view of history!”
○
Fairy Queen: “Hey, Jonson! My sister just sent a divine mail saying ‘do not distort the truth’, which I can only assume was meant for you! So don’t distort the truth! Got that!?”
Drug Poet: “Lady, I feel like that message is missing several pieces of important context!”
O-Malley: “I’d say it’s missing all of the context.”
○
Scarred: “Judge, now the truth of our meeting should be relayed to future generations.”
Vice President: “I get the feeling that’s going to lead to an international incident, but I’m past caring at this point.”
Silver Wolf: “You really should care about that. Then again, it’s the 1st Special Duty Officer and Mary… Anyway, Horizon? I’m not sure that’s the best way to present your appearance.”
Flat Vassal: “Hm, I thought it was pretty cool myself.”
Horizey: “I am delighted you agree with me, Adele-sama! I will ensure that future historians revere you as a poor girl who was raised by dogs and ate thrown-out leftovers every day, so that’s something to look forward to!”
Flat Vassal: “Someone help! Does anyone here have an in with the future historians!?”
Silver Wolf: “Wait, Adele. If you play your cards right, you could have the events of your life dramatized to the point you get a TV drama in the future. Like the Taiga drama about me mentioned in my Testament footnote.”
Tachibana Wife: “What would the title be if she did get one?”
Horizey: “The simplest would be something like Shield Girl or A Shield Broken.”
Flat Vassal: “Th-that first one makes me sound like a super throwaway character! And the second one sounds really ominous!”
Vice President: “Anyway, Horizon, I heard you were first found in the middle of Tama’s city. On a rainy day. Shouldn’t you at least make those adjustments?”
●
An automaton had appeared on Tama.
It was a rainy day, but a single oddity was found in the center of the shopping district at the center of Tama. Next to an artificial stream, a 10m crater formed with electricity crackling all around it.
It was not very deep. Something had produced enough downwards pressure to compress the ship structure.
Faint residual electricity scattered as the figure kneeling in the center stood up and gave double fist pumps.
“Horizon is borrrrrrrrn!!!”
○
Silver Wolf: “Horizon! Horizon! So it’s raining now!?”
Flat Vassal: “That’s your only comment!? Are you sure we can keep it like this!?”
Unturning: “Doesn’t it strain credibility to say that happened in the middle of the city?”
Asama: “Actually, if it happened in the city, I think most people would assume it was an entertainer god worshiper doing something ridiculous in order to gather attention, so they would do their best to ignore it.”
Flat Vassal: “You can’t let her get away with this, Asama-san! If you give her this, imagine what she’ll try to do next!”
Horizey: “The manager told me she found me standing in front of the Blue Thunder in the rain and I collapsed as soon as she spoke to me. Thus, I started my Musashi life starving and being lured in by food.”
Wise Sister: “But, Horizon? Didn’t you have a job at the Blue Thunder already lined up by your third day aboard?”
●
“Horizon is employyyyyyyyed!”
Three days had passed since she was found.
She opened the Blue Thunder’s door and struck a pose, but the manager turned around with her hands on her hips.
“Your name is P-01s, not Horizon.”
“My mistake!”
She shut the door and opened it again.
“P-01s is employyyyyyyyed!”
“Oh, you’re here on time. So my quick examination only revealed that you start shadow boxing when you don’t trust someone, but have you decided what you want to do?”
“Judge! If you will give me three meals and a naptime, I would like to work here.”
“Um, Horizon? Why are you being so strong willed? Try to stick to your personality back then.”
“Manager! I am hearing Asama-sama’s voice out of thin air!”
“You shouldn’t know Tomo-chan yet, but whatever.”
After giving the manager a double thumbs up to show her understanding, P-01s put on a Blue Thunder apron as instructed.
“How do I look?”
“Judge, judge. Kimi used to use that one, but it’s a good fit for you. We can go buy you some clothes later. Just an inner suit is kind of plain. …Oh, and can you splash some water outside? Do you know how that’s done? Fill a bucket from the outside tap and splash it around with the water scoop.”
“Based on that description, wouldn’t it be faster to let the water splash out directly from the tap?”
“That wouldn’t be as elegant. Now if you understand, get to it.”
“Judge!” replied P-01s, heading outside to splash water as her first job.
Once she stepped outside…
“Manager! Masazumi-sama is collapsed outside!”
“You shouldn’t know Masazumi-san yet, but whatever.”
○
Silver Wolf: “Kimi! Kimi! You can call her Horizon when you write it, but try to tell the story more accurately!”
Asama: “And doesn’t this mean Masazumi nearly starved to death on her first day?”
Vice President: “I was not starving!!”
Unturning: “So what were you doing then?”
Vice President: “Well, let’s see. I made my way to Tama, thinking I would head back to Mikawa for a bit…but I was so hungry I collapsed in front of the Blue Thunder.”
Girls: “How is that not starving!?”
Vice President: “I was only hungry! It’s not the same!”
Asama: “You don’t need to fight this, Masazumi. Our recent return to nature has some of us seeking out terrain effects, so we’ve seen the appearance of a Waterfall Girl and Wetlands Girl, so what’s wrong with being Starvation Girl? Not that that’s a kind of terrain.”
Silver Wolf: “Tomo? Are you just saying whatever comes to mind while you chop up those herbs we found?”
Art-Ga: “And at the time, Honda Masazumi said…”
Vice President: “Hey, don’t make up records about me!”
●
Masazumi had faced a series of disappointments.
When she arrived at her father’s house with her luggage, her father said he was holding a meeting inside and more or less turned her away at the front door. She hadn’t managed any kind of father-daughter reunion outside of handing over her mother’s old possessions. She wasn’t allowed in the mansion because he said she would interfere with his meeting, so she had decided to return to Mikawa, check through the house, and lock up for the last time. She could meet with her father and discuss her future and such after receiving her official change of residence approval that evening.
But when she had mentioned her immigration processing had been done by the Asama Shrine Representative…
“You mean the Asama Shrine’s shrine maiden!? Wait, Masazumi! You were much too careless!”
All the members of her father’s meeting had gathered in the entrance and formed a scrum to discuss the matter. Then a fat man had asked permission before holding some kind of sign frame up to her.
“I don’t detect anything on her person.”
“Good, but we can’t be too careful. Check her luggage too.”
The group had gone back inside the house, but Masazumi hadn’t understood what any of it was about.
“Um, dad?”
“Masazumi, we are in a meeting. And we are preparing for your arrival. Your authorization will not go through until this evening, correct? There is much I wish to discuss with you, but can’t it wait until then?”
“Well, um, mom’s things were…in that luggage.”
She watched her father’s reaction.
“I am sorry you had to go through that,” he said.
She wasn’t sure if he was addressing her or her mother with that.
She had honestly expected no reaction at all, so this was a surprise. That may have been why she was unsure what to make of what he said.
“–––––”
She ended up saying nothing.
She would have felt bad if she had responded as if he were addressing her and it turned out it was meant for her mother.
But when he continued, he was definitely speaking to her.
“I have prepared to have her grave built here.”
So her mother’s grave would be on the Musashi, not in Mikawa.
He then took a look around to make sure no one else was nearby.
“You too will be involved in politics in some fashion, so you should take this for self-defense. If you say you are carrying it for me, no one will question it. You can think of it that way yourself if you like.”
He handed her a hard 30cm object wrapped in cloth. She wasn’t sure what it was at first, but…
“Is this a knife?”
“How you use it is up to you.”
That was the end of it. He did not bring up her mother again, so she didn’t either.
And Masazumi herself…
…There’s nothing I can do. I should wait until my approval comes through and return here to talk some more.
Both of them had made the same decision despite the questions they both had.
○
Vice President: “Oops, I talked too much. I couldn’t say all of this if it wasn’t so late at night in a foreign nation, but at the time, I assumed my dad would tell me if he knew anything about my mom. I mean, he never called me and he ignored everything when she was taken by the Princess Disappearances, but then he made it sound so final with the grave.”
Wise Sister: “Heh heh. So what do you think now?”
Vice President: “Whether I understand him or not, I can’t just get rid of him. Since we live together, I need to establish some form of relationship with him. …What I saw back then was my father’s priorities. And it turned out I’m mixed in at around the same level as Mikawa and Musashi. That’s all it was.”
Silver Wolf: “Where are your mother’s things now?”
Vice President: “Buried in her grave, but I inherited the dishes and cookware. My father must still have the things she shared with him. Because they weren’t among the items we buried.”
Asama: “So this record is your way of hiding your embarrassment.”
Tonbokiri: “Masazumi is so mature…”
Vice President: “Hey, what are those weird smiles for!? It’s creeping me out, so stop it!”
●
A lot happened on Hori- P-01s’s first day on the job.
She quickly learned what working in a café was like.
“Manager, I did not expect to be stripping down Masazumi-sama after collecting her from outside. Is this a new recipe?”
“No, it’s just that I thought she was a boy at first, but then noticed she appeared to be a girl. She must have her reasons.”
The manager opened some kind of glowing frame and checked something.
“Oh, I see. From down there. Oh, from Masanobu-san’s place.”
P-01s attempted to open a glowing frame by mimicking the manager, but no frame appeared for her.
She waved her hand a second and third time, but still nothing.
…How strange.
“Oh, your contract only allows passive sign frames. I’ll put in a request for you to actively open them under my name, so wait a second. Okay?”
After redressing Masazumi who was lying on the table, the manager opened a new sign frame.
“Hi, Tomo-chan? I have a question for you. No, no. Not the total amount of damages my idiot has caused today. It’s about a new arrival.”
During some more back-and-forth, the person on the table stirred.
She was waking up.
When P-01s saw that, she grabbed at the manager’s clothes and shouted.
“The starved corpse is moviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!”
○
Vice President: “Wait! I did not starve! Really, I didn’t! How long are you going to drag that out!?”
Bell: “U-until she…doesn’t think…it’s funny anymore?”
Vice President: “Nooooooo! Now it’s never going away!”
Wise Sister: “Anyway, what’s wrong with all of you! You’re letting Horizon steal the show here. Shape up!”
Asama: “You’re right. If we’re going to make these records, we need to do it right.”
Silver Wolf: “Tomo! Tomo! I think you’re taking this in the wrong direction!”
Unturning: “Why do you all love confusing the ends with the means so much?”
●
At any rate, the disappointments continued for Masazumi.
Not only was she mistaken for a starved corpse after collapsing, but she had her clothing removed to confirm her gender. However…
“Thank you very much for rescuing me.”
She had enough manners to know she had to thank them. But the manager…
“Oh, don’t worry about it. You gave me the weird experience of realizing how often people collapse on the roadside on Musashi these days. And I already confirmed your identity. You’re Honda-san’s daughter, aren’t you? Masazumi-san.”
“Um, could you not tell my father about this?”
The manager smiled bitterly and waved a hand dismissively.
“I don’t see why he would need to know. Anyway, I don’t like to see a girl going hungry. You do know that the Musashi uses the same currency as the surface, right?”
“Yes, it’s just that I don’t have any money on me. I was planning to ask my father for some money, but I didn’t have the chance.”
“And then you collapsed on your way back to Mikawa?”
The manager placed a hand on her chin and smiled bitterly, but she must have managed to imagine the general situation.
“Whatever,” she finally said. “P-01s.”
Someone emerged from the back of the café.
…An automaton.
Back at Mikawa, she would see them a lot as she approached the city. A lot of those were name inheritors since everyone else had been ordered to leave. In her time out in the city on the Musashi, she had also seen a few of the Musashi automatons. But this one…
“Does she belong to the café?”
“No, she’s a stray.”
Masazumi wasn’t sure what “a stray” meant in this context, but she guessed it meant that automaton didn’t belong to a public agency or anything like that. It was true automatons were recognized as a species, but…
…Is she completely free? If so, that’s highly unusual.
This automaton called P-01s placed a glass in front of Masazumi.
It was empty. But P-01s expressionlessly gestured toward it.
“Masazumi-sama, have some water.”
○
Gold Mar: “Are we doing this now?”
Horizey: “Oh, we haven’t even begun!”
Asama: “Um, Masazumi, stop roping Horizon into your story and get to the point.”
Vice President: “Unfortunately, this is really what happened!”
●
Masazumi stared at the glass in front of her. The glass container had nothing inside it. But…
“This is…water?”
“Yes, water. Now, drink it down all at once. And make sure to say ‘ahh, how refreshing’ afterwards.”
Masazumi wondered if this was some kind of test.
But whatever the case, she did want some water. So she picked up the glass, readied it, and…
“Very well, then.”
She “drank” it. How many swallows would be realistic for this much water? Five? But since she was so hungry, maybe three would be enough. After that many gulps, she set the glass down.
“Ahh, how refreshing.”
The manager looked to P-01s and pointed at Masazumi.
“She really said it, P-01s.”
“Heh. I win this round, manager.”
“You had a bet running on this!?”
“Calm down,” said the manager while P-01s took a basket from a shelf lined with breads.
It was used for serving bread to the customers. She politely carried it over in both hands and set it down on the table.
The basket was empty. But the automaton expressionlessly gestured at it.
“Have some water.”
“Don’t you mean bread!?”
“Sorry, this one’s on me. I still haven’t taught her what to say when serving bread.”
The manager took the automaton toward the door that presumably led to the kitchen. Masazumi heard some whispering back and forth. P-01s occasionally said “how careless of me!” and lightly struck her own head, but Masazumi wasn’t sure if that was a sign of a highly advanced automaton or what.
“If you ask me, it’s not a sign of being advanced. Oh, and this is just a Scwharz Hexen talking to herself while she walks by outside the café. Don’t mind me.”
“This is a Weiss Hexen also talking to herself while taking a walk nearby. That water gag sticks around for a long while. At least as far as the Gagaku Festival.”
Talk about unwanted information. But the manager soon brought P-01s back and the automaton bowed.
“I must apologize, Masazumi-sama. Allow me to do that again.”
She carried out a glass full of water on a tray.
She bowed and gestured toward the glass.
“Have some bread.”
○
Asama: “Horizon was really working hard her first day on the job.”
Gold Mar: “Yes, she certainly put a lot of effort into it.”
Vice President: “Just because this is being recorded as text doesn’t mean you can get away with those flat tones!”
Horizey: “Because I used Masazumi-sama to train, I was working like a pro by the time evening arrived. Thinking back, I never got around to splashing water outside, but let’s not worry about that.”
Art-Ga: “I feel like we’re digging up pieces of history no one needed to know.”
Unturning: “Anyway, how did this develop into a major incident? So far, I feel like we can officially call it all peaceful.”
Silver Wolf: “Oh, the incident had actually already begun by that point.”
Asama: “So let’s focus on that next! Let’s take a closer look at the Musashi at the time!”
●
“A murder case? In Mikawa? And they want us to investigate? Why us, dad?”
This is getting weird fast, thought Asama as she shut down her immigration management system. After confirming there was no one left in the waiting room, she tilted her head toward the divine transmission sign frame.
“Um, dad? Are you telling us to head down to Mikawa?”
“Yes, actually. This is a fairly troublesome case for Mikawa. The Mikawa guards can’t handle it, but having someone else do it would cause different problems.”
She more or less knew what her father meant.
“Another nation is involved in the Mikawa incident, isn’t it?”
On another sign frame, she saw Mitotsudaira – still waiting in the other room – raise her hand stand up. The door behind Asama opened and the wolf emerged. Mitotsudaira took up a position where she was out of view of the sign frame Asama was using to speak with her father.
“Is it Tres España? They’re escorting the Musashi and something unusual must be happening since I heard an inquisition ship arrived at the landport this morning.”
“You’re a sharp girl. Mikawa is neutral land, but Tres España is forcibly intervening in this murder case by offering to assist using their equipment and spells. That makes it hard for Mikawa to act, so they asked for us to investigate as a third party.”
“I see,” said Asama in further understanding. So they would be acting on Mikawa’s behalf. “But if the Musashi sent our guards, the Chancellor’s Officers, one of the committees, or anyone like that, it would hurt Tres España’s pride and lead to trouble with them. But if we act as a Shinto representative, Tres España won’t be able to do much.”
“Exactly. We will be examining the crime scene. Tomo, can you take along a useful shrine maiden and check things out? I doubt it will be a pleasant sight, though.”
There could be a body there. Since her work involved exorcisms and funerals, it was always possible she would see or deal with those. In this case, Mitotsudaira would make a good helper since she could also function as a knight or a member of the Chancellor’s Officers if necessary. So…
“Understood. The crime scene is in Mikawa, correct? Do you have details on the case?”
“Yes,” said her father on the divine transmission. “An abandoned inn burned down. They thought it was either arson or a mysterious phenomenon, but then they discovered two corpses inside.”
“But…?”
Asama thought they must have been caught in the fire. Mitotsudaira also tilted her head, but Asama’s father ignored their unspoken question and kept going.
“They both had their throats slit from the front, so homicide seems most likely.”
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