Horizon:Volume 1 Chapter 02

Chapter 02: The Classroom's Wrecking Crew

Class is not over until the bell rings.

But what if the classroom has fallen into ruins,

Will the lecture still be resuming?

Point Allocation (Classroom)

Musashi Ariadust Academy's classrooms were made of wood. This particular classroom was a small room, however it did not give the impression of being cramped as the number of students per class barely reached 20. In the back row, a few vacant seats were evident.

White clouds filled the screen beyond the glass paneled windows.

A short female teacher with a World History textbook on one hand stood in front of the blackboard. Her name was Mitsuki Sanyou, as was written on the tag attached to her body.

"In the past, humans had made a descent from heaven to this land, a place called Far East. However, the environmental conditions outside this land proved to be uninhabitable, thus people are unable to migrate outwards. The solution that the old people had thought up is, they created an alternate space similar to a parallel world, by copying the Far East itself, therefore doubling the lands available for settlement. People started residing both in real world and parallel world. But people wondered if they will be able to ascend back to heaven one day. With this, the people had proposed an idea. If they walked the same road that people in the past had treaded before, in other words, by recreating their history, they will be able to return to heaven one day. Because of this notion that they created...

Sanyou paused, resting the chalk she has in hand on the blackboard, and continued,

"...the Testament. An archive of written histories that happened in the previous world.

●

Sanyou tapped the blackboard. She circled and then underlined the word Testament for emphasis.

"The people in that time thought they could go back to the heaven by creating the same history, that's why they created seven sets of Old Testament and New Testament, which holds the history record of B.C. and A.D period respectively."

It's like a strategy guide for the present world, Sanyou added.

"Having said that, if people know what will happen in the future, there will be some people who will take advantage of it so in order to avoid this problem, people had decided to place a limit on the amount of history they will read until the next 100 years. Another thing, they cannot place the duty of displaying the history update to a human, as that human will be liable in exploiting it. However, they resolved this issue by using the Leyline that governs everything as an intermediary and they successfully linked fate with Testament.

Sanyou turned to face her students. She knit her brows. In contrast, everyone eyed her with questioning gazes.

...Shoot. As I thought, all this "fate" talk was hard to comprehend, after all? Maybe it was too early to discuss this abstract topic.

She got tensed inside. Then she reviewed in her mind the lesson outline that she prepared for this lecture. After taking a breath,

"Do you know what fate is? Let's see... Abe-kun, what is the first thing to come in mind when you hear the word fate?"

She asked one of her student. Then the male student responded bashfully...

"---Marriage?"

Is that sarcasm against me, the person who just got dumped by a guy who left me for another woman.

For a moment, Sanyou's surroundings dropped to absolute zero. The male student broke into laughter. Even surrounding students started calling him "Marriage Man". That will be his nickname for the rest of his school days, she bet.

Sanyou collected herself, letting loose a bitter smile as she noticed the classroom became lively. Then she resumed the lecture.

"Okay... In other words, when he associated fate with marriage, he meant that marriage is..."

'Unavoidable' is what she's going to say.

"Un.. Un... Unavoid... But it's avoiding me, GODDAMMIT!! Shit! Did I choose a wrong image to conduct myself!?"

"Sensei! Please don't sink into self-loathing because of reality!"

Shut up you all! Anyone can get married while still young. That's right. I'm still 24. Yes, still young. It's within the range of "still young", right? I haven't yet spent half of 50 years of human life.

For the meantime, Sanyou regained herself, and continued,

"Anyway, to sum it up. Fate means something that is inevitable."

For some reason, the students nodded with sympathetic gazes in Sanyou's words, but Sanyou convinced herself that it was just a mere illusion.

"It is known that fate actually exists. This has been proven already back in the era of Gods. Fate basically has variability. The existence of fate is the very reason that there is a beginning and an end to everything. Together with space and time, it is accessible in the world's Leyline which governs all creation."

So...

"The incessant flow of fate as long as this world exists and the Testament. The people in the past had managed to link the two together. And then, adjusting with the current time, it will show the history of human until century ahead."

Sanyou resumed writing on the blackboard.

"This testament, as it repeats history, was allotted the same position as the major religious scriptures that existed in the previous world. Except, all of those positions were now lost because people who had resided in heaven knew that different Gods actually existed. That's why today, people worshiped not the Gods, but instead..."

She wrote this on the board:

• The recreation of history through Testament, is what people believed in.

"And this has lead to our present state. Present religious groups and organizations are suffixed with 教譜 <Kyoufu> , or sometimes 教譜教団 <Kyoufu Kyoudan>, while its followers are called 奏者 <Sousha>. So Shinto for example, here in Far East, it is called Shinto Kyoufu. A Shinto shrine is called Shinto Kyoufu Kyoudan, and people who can use this power are called Shinto Sousha."

Furthermore,

"As far as religions outside the Far East goes, their names are spelled backwards to what they are known before. The reason behind that is, not only it creates a dichotomy between the same religion of the past and the present, but to those people who had moved to the parallel world, it serves as a blessing for them to 'be able to one day leave this closed-off space'. The inverting of names signifies retrogression.

Tsirhc, who worships the Testament, its offshoot Murasai, and anti-Testament faction , all after leaving the Harmonic Divine States, in order to avoid the chaos of reformation, left their names inverted. In present, the main religions are:

• Pro-Testament. Tsirhc branches :
  • Scion : Primarily Demons <Mazoku>. Old Testament partisans. Usually vagabonds.
  • Catholic : Mainly K.P.A Italia, Tres España, and Hexagon Francoise. Worships saints.
  • Protestant : M.H.R.R. Testament partisans. Nondescript people but they are good at business.
  • Orthodoxia : Soviet Russia. Also interpreted as Russian Catholic.
  • Anglican Church : Mainly British. Divorce is legal. Officially a protestant but inclines towards Catholic.

• Pro-Testament Offshoot :
  • Murasai : Mainly Middle-East. Requires everyday to go to church or fasting.

• Anti-Testaments
  • Dunhi : India. The way of life and death. Curry.
  • Outa : China. Littered with sages. Ramen.
  • Shintoism: Many Gods. Worshippers are unexpectedly arbitrary.
  • Buddhism: Far Easterner's version of Dunhi. Packed with many spells.

"Well, if you're living in Musashi, you're pretty much a Shinto. But outside of that, unless they are your acquaintances, you are free to shoot them down. Or something like that."

And then.

"People started following what histories were written in the Testament. Passing away of country leaders or citizens as recorded in history were treated as retirement. Most wars were carried on with mutual agreement between belligerents, although with a safety net. At first, they were kinda sloppy in history reproduction like that, but they got serious starting the Year 0."

Let's see, Sanyou checked the pace of student's note-taking. She looked at one, to the next one, and then to the next.

...Am I going too fast?

She checked herself to see if she was blocking the blackboard from everyone's vision. After a bit of pause, she walked across the room to give everyone enough time to write down notes. When Sanyou reached the back of the room, she thought to herself,

...Am I doing alright?

as she slightly held her head.

●

It's very complicated.

If she, a teacher, finds the lesson difficult, what's more to her students?

Last year, Sanyou made a blunder. According to the second year's curriculum, World History starts from Rome while Far East history starts from Nara period. However, they had spent too much time discussing about the former and Heian period, so she was forced to rush covering the rest of the materials.

...I couldn't help it. Those chapters were very interesting. Especially when we got to the foundation of Roman Empire, that famous line Julius Caesar spoke to Brutus during his assassination, "You again, Brutus?, was very memorable. The said two received a 'retirement' afterwards and were 'secured'.

Her lessons went very in-depth when they got to that part and so ended up wasting a lot of time.

...But they have future career consultation in third year, so it'll be bad if that happens again.

In three years of her teaching, she had taught first and second year students already. But this will be her first time teaching a third year.

Will it be alright? My student's future will be effected if I mess up here.

"............"

She looked at her students taking notes. Looking at them from this way, she can easily identify their distinctions. Far Easterners and Asians are usually black-haired. There are quite a few exceptions but usually it is black.

However, that quality barely filled half of the classroom. Looking around the room, other hair types that are present are blonde, brunette, red-haired, and even white-haired. Lastly, there are some people that has no hair... or rather, were innately born like that.

The majority of half-dragon and arch-demon races have scaled skin and cannot grow hair. The same goes for Slime or sprite races.

Conversely, beast-type races are furry instead. Some of them have three colors of fur, some are short or long tailed. Anyway, different type is in abundance.

As she watched her students, she realized that in the past, her teacher must have been watched her the same way she is looking at her students right now.

...But I feel like my teacher at that time were more capable than I am right now.

Sanyou let out a sigh. As she approached the locker, she heard a voice coming from the next classroom. It is a voice of another teacher having a lecture.

...3rd year, Class Plum. It's Makiko-senpai's class.

In the faculty room, Sanyou and Makiko Oriotorai's seats are next to each other. To Sanyou who just got hired two years ago, Oriotoria's existence was a big help. There are many times that she helped Sanyou in predicaments, although her solutions cannot be expressed as smart.

The voice that Sanyou hears from beyond the wall said,

"Long story short, right now, the capital is being ruled by the P.A. ODA."

Not really. To be precise, Akechi of P.A. ODA approved the country to run in self-autonomy.

...Makiko-senpai, please take your lecture seriously!

That was Far East history she's teaching, right?, Sanyou guessed.

Musashi Ariadust's teachers were limited. As such, the advising teachers are mandated to teach all the subjects that they can teach in class.

Oriotorai's lecture were always noisy. However, Sanyou secretly envies how she gets along well with her students.

...What's her secret? Like, right now, I wonder how she is doing her lecture?

Last time was a bungee-jump lesson. But right now, what Sanyou hears is...

"Strip! Strip! Strip!!"

...What kind of lecture are you doing!? Really, it bugs me!

●

Oriotorai's lecture basically has a high-risk-high-return, penalty kind of system. This is how it works:

1. She lectures.

2. Ask a question.

3a. If the student is unable to answer correctly, they will not be penalized in grade but will receive punishment instead.

3b. If they answered correctly, they will receive a grade in proportion to the punishment they submitted.

Regarding the punishment, they will submit their preferred way of punishment during every first day of the month.

Although you have freedom with your choices, you can't really lower your guard because the content will be reviewed by gathering everyone in class minus the submitter, and make changes accordingly if needed. Sometimes if the punishment submitted was lenient, those people who have gathered will make it ten times harder just for their entertainment, so having a connection beforehand is vital.

If you decided to write a harder punishment, you will get higher grades if you answered Oriotorai's question.

Lastly, there is a special system in Oriotorai's lecture called, "Presentation". About this,

"Okay everyone. In Far East history lesson today we'll cover the Unification War and the sequence of events leading to the Provisional Ruling of Divine States. "

Oriotorai sat in a chair next to the podium.

"Let's see... Suzu. Explain as much of the topic as you can for presentation."

"E-Eh!? Ah, y-yes! A-About Unification War, right?"

A girl with eyes hidden by fringe, named Suzu Mukai, nervously stood up. With a red face, she spoke,

"A-A long time ago, the world was divided into two, the Divine States and the Harmonic Divine States. D-Divine States is the original land, whi, while Harmonic Divine States is the copy of the former. T-The latter was repro...duced by controlling the power of L-Leyline to exist in a separate plane than the former. F-Far Easterners inhabited the Divine States while people from another countries re-resided in the Harmonic States. And they lived in harmony... I think. A-Am I doing fine?"

"You're all good. To summarize it, that's how people solved the problem of scarcity of land, as both Divine States (original world), and Harmonic Divine States (the other world) tried to reproduce history through Testament."

Everyone nodded, except for one.

"O-i Bell-san. Rest assured! If you blunder, I'll take her punch in your stead. I'll be fine! At least, I don't think I will die until I get to the first branching route."

"You! Quit saying lines that reeks of 'impending-death flag' and listen to my lecture once in a while. And what are you doing perusing a game manual in place of textbook, and to top it all, even filling in a survey!?"

Toori shouted "Hahh!?" in response.

"Sheesh, I just want this membership bonus disk they're giving for free. Can you leave me alone, Teach?"

"Aha... yeah. Actually as much as I want to do that, I can't... this is my business."

"You're blunt, Teach! Business? You said business!? Then I'll be frank as well... adults are unfair!!"

Toori stood in a chair, pointing both fingers to Oriotorai.

"It's about money right!? I can see through your scheme. You plan to extort money from school by doing lecture, am I right!?"

But isn't that what a teacher does in her job?, everyone whispered, but Toori appears not listening. He continued at inspecting the game manual as he raise it up against the sun.

"Damn. It won't give me any hint at all. This game is absurd! No matter what I do, I couldn't score that class pres character! What's more, they won't let you change the name of the protagonist in the middle of the game! I was planning to go through a yandere/death-ending first, that's why I put in Tenzo's name."

"W-Why use my name!? You know that I only have a thing for busty blondies!!"

"Don't worry Tenzo! I'll use Ulquiaga in the next playthrough. Then we'll gun for that guy character!"

"Preposterous! You know that I only have a thing for older sister characters!!"

From left to right: Neshinbara Toussaint, Heidi Ogezavara, Shirojiro Bertoni

Shirojiro, the Student Council's treasurer, raised his head towards the three idiot's commotion. He looked at them disapprovingly, and said,

"Pipe down, you three. I'm in the middle of work here. Although there were imports coming from Mikawa but for some reason, we don't export anything there. The competition for stock security nowadays is severe. And Heidi, what's that look?"

"Hmm... Shiro-kun, we're in the middle of class as well."

Everyone!, Neshinbara shouted in reproach, but Toori, as usual, wasn't listening.

Even Suzu couldn't help chuckling. Her tiny shoulders trembled, and after a while,

"C-Can I continue?"

After Suzu checked everyone, she resumed,

"N-Nanbokucho War was the start of everything."

●

Everyone glanced at their textbooks.

Nanbokucho War is also known as the War between North and South Courts.

"Back in the days of Divine States, which is the old name of Far East, there were two deputies representing the emperors. They fought and declared war towards each other."

In the Divine States, the legitimate emperor uses three sacred instruments to control the environmental elements, thereby, controlling the world's Leyline in the process.

However, the emperor refused to take part in politics, as he and his family were living Gods, isolated from everything. The governing of Divine States were appointed to the two deputies instead.

That's why reproducing the historiographical description of deputies in the Testament, was the job of the deputy approved by the Imperial Palace.

"T-The war ended after the North and South signed an armistice agreeing with each other to alternately take turns in administration. However, according to the history written in the Testament, t-the North broke this treaty, deliberately not relinquishing power to the South, and announced dictatorship in 1412... I think. And then the South started a rebellion."

Suzu spoke the next words clearly.

"In 1443, the South stormed the Imperial Palace and usurped the sacred instruments from the emperor. In turn, u-until it was retrieved back in 1457, they lost control of the Leyline. The Harmonic Divine States in another space, which has its stability supported by the Leyline, collapsed. T-They were forced to retreat here, in the Divine States."

"...And then, what happened?"

"M-More than half of Harmonic Divine States was destroyed. The remnants of it, got merged to the Divine States and overwrote most of it. Those invisible pillars interspersed in the land are actually caused by that."

And then,

"The denizens of the Harmonic Divine States that fled to here, demanded Divine States for responsibility of their action, as well as providing them a refuge. The Divine States refused, war raged across the land, and ultimately, the Divine States surrendered to the consolidated army of Harmonic Divine State countries. This event is known as the Unification War."

However, the countries around the world couldn't amalgamate completely with the Divine States. Why? The answer is simply because it was not written in the Testament.

So in order to circumvent Divine State's military and political suppression, every country established a highest system called Academy, a place for civil-military training, as they took over the land. Their pretext for that is "A peace and stability through bestowment of knowledge".

"A large part of the Divine States is under the Provisional Rule by the respective country's academy, as well as the Testament Union. The designation of different country's academy in the Far East are..."

"Can you explain it?"

"Ah, y-yes."

World Map

Suzu recited the following lines as she counts with her fingers.

Shimazu + Africa Union: Rules Kyushu territory. A land of plant-type race being. Possesses large manpower.

Oouchi and Ootomo + Tres España: Rules Shimonoseki territory. Reigned by Phillip II. A country with great debt as the king invested in developing New Continent.

Mouri + Hexagon Francoise: Chuugoku territory - An updown duo of Louis XIV and Terumoto Mouri.

Hashiba + M.H.R.R (Holy Empire of Rome): Rules Kinki territorry. Current emperor under house arrest. Catholics and Protestants are in disarray.

Oda + P.A. ODA: Rules Kinki ~ Tokai territory. Ottoman Empire. Half-seceded from the Testament Union since 8 years ago, during the succession of Nobunaga Oda.

Houjou + Indian Union (United States of India): Rules Tokai ~ Kanto territorry. The Houjou clan, with automaton based civilization, does behind-the-scene work in the union.

Uesugi + Soviet Russia: Rules Hokuriku territorry. Raitei-san, the Sakra, does a good job in ruling the land by fear.

Aki + K.P.A Italia: Setouchi - Alliances of cities centralized by the Pope of Tsirhc Catholic.

Takeda + Qing: Rules Kanto. A large country centralized by the moving city-nation of long-living races. (!)

N/A + England: Currently inhabiting the Floating Island. Ruled by the Fairy Queen Elizabeth. Residents are a mix of beast and fairy races.

Matsudaira + Far East: Rules Tokai to Kanto region. The representative of Far East. Formed an official alliance with P.A. ODA 10 years ago.

Suzu paused for a bit,

"Also, b-because of the history reproduction, the Tes-Testament Union couldn't designate control of the savage lands."

Siberia - Touhoku Region - Arctic land sparsely inhabited by irregular races. (!)

New Continent - Hokkaido Region - Mostly uncharted lands, but recently, an incipience of potential power is seen there.

Savage Land - Shikoku Region - Mostly barren land due to the fusing of the remains of Harmonic Divine State. Primarily inhabited by silicon based races.

Suzu took a break in speaking. Oriotorai nodded, and asked,

"Why is there no designation for the British?"

"A-Ah, I think that's because... In Harmonic Divine States, England is located in Tsushima. Originally, Tsushima was too small for them to accommodate, so they solved the land problem by surfacing the seabed. During the hour of the collapse, they only moved the whole island here by swapping the Leyline. They didn't lose their land so in turn, they didn't take part in the Provisional Ruling. U-Umm... they took a neutral position instead, acting as a mediator for both Far East and other countries."

"Right. Because of that they are receiving various technologies like floating of their island, from IZUMO."

Jud, replied Suzu, who was still standing.

"Good job, Suzu. You were far better than me doing the lecture. Maybe I should count on you again next time."

Suzu sighed a breath of relief and sank back to her seat.

Toori suddenly stood up, and said,

"Teach! You're one dirty swine!!"

●

"Eh!?", everyone looked towards Toori, whose both index fingers pointed at Oriotorai.

"Just because you are incompetent, sucking up to Bell-san like that and exploiting her just to save your ass is dirty! Really, adults are so unfair. But don't count on me, okay!? Don't call me for presentation!"

"...Uh, Toori. You've been continuously jabbering nonsense like that and about your confession plan ever since this morning. Do you really want to die that much?"

"Huh!? Why would I die? Oh wait, don't tell me you're planning on murdering me if I confess to another girl!? What genre of jealousy is that!? Do you want me that much, Teach!?"

"Ahahaha. Yes, I want you dead right now."

"I-Is that a thing to say to your student!? Teach, you're cool!"

Toori clapped his hands, glanced at everyone and announced.

"Everyone! Let's have a party tonight in celebration of my confession eve. The place will be--- "

Shirojiro butted in without taking his eyes away from the monitor.

"Anywhere that costs money is a no-no. I'll hang your neck in Musashi's stern if the expenses exceed our budget."

"A-All right! The place will be here then! Should we do another test of courage like last year!? I know it's out of season."

"...Umm, Toori-kun. I don't think that's a good idea."

Asama interrupted. She summoned Hanami, and displayed a torii-shaped signframe.

"There has been an increased occurrence of supernatural phenomenon lately. If we do something like that, a real ghost might appear."

"Let's go exorcise it then!"

Ha? Asama tilted her head.

"Most of us have that skill, you know. If a spooky one appears, we'll just have exorcise it, simple as that. Teach, it'll be okay to stay at school tonight with that purpose in mind right? This is gonna be part of student council activity as well."

"Hmm... Actually, I was gonna do that."

"Is that so?"

Asama asked, with hetero-chromatic eyes open wide. Oriotorai shrugged her shoulders and,

"Seven mysteries are very popular myths in every school, right? The faculties were suspecting it might be the cause of the recent spiritual activities."

"You should have asked our shrine if that was the case."

"But doing that will cost money, right? Plus it's not confirmed yet whether it is really the cause or not. I was thinking of doing an investigation first, that is why I already signed up for night duty today."

"It's settled! We'll have some ghost-busting tonight!"

"Ah, right. I'll give you the permission. In return, please do the night rounds, and the swapping of all the classroom's sign-plates and talismans in my place, okay? Ah, and if you come across a Shinto altar, don't forget the worships as well. Sensei will have some errands to do while you do that. I have to do an offering to Gods, so this Miki that I bought with my own money needs to be disposed." (T/L: through her stomach)

"You are really the worst!"

Shouted everyone. Oriotorio ignored it with a handwave.

"You all do your best tonight. Spirits do really exist. In fact, there might actually be a Mitama guarding our academy. The reason why we have Shinto altars and putting talismans here and there is because of their existence. They are in there, even if we can't see them. Respecting that kind of "no body" existence, is actually one value taught in Shinto. Anyway, in case one pops out and it's not a bad one, just act normally. Got that?"

After saying that, Oriotorai crossed her arms, and with chin, she pointed at Toori.

"Now that's settled. Toori, it's punishment time."

●

Everyone became silent at Oriotorai's unexpected declaration.

Why? everyone is asking Oriotorai that with their gaze.

Oriotorai scratched her head,

"Back in Suzu's presentation, the North court actually declared dictatorship in 1413, not 1412. It was a slight mistake."

Ah, Suzu gasped. However, Oriotorai shook her hands.

"Don't worry, with that impressive presentation, you've more than vindicated yourself. Besides, you don't get punished for messing up in presentation, remember? ...BUT! We have an idiot here who said we could bean him if you blundered."

Oriotorai picked up the notebook on the podium. Stopping at a certain page after flipping through it,

"...Toori's submitted punishment this month is... stripping."

"Wha!? Did I write something soft-core like that again? I should've written a very hard-core or even better, adamant-core ones for starters."

Everyone is staring at Toori, who's standing up and shouting, and after a while, Toori said,

"It's showtime!"

●

"Strip! Strip!"

Sanyou heard those voices from beyond the wall. After a few seconds of silence, she heard the students beyond shout, "WOW!!"

......Eh? That would mean, they really stripped!? W-Would that be alright!? This is not an h-game right!?

"WOW!!"

...another layer!?

"WOW!!"

.......Eh!? H-Hold on a bit!

Sanyou looked at her student's uniform. Musashi Ariadust's uniform for male student is comprised of coat, shirt, pants and lastly undergarment; a total of 4 clothes. There have been three shouts already.

"WOW!?!?"

......What was that fourth one!? It's way different than the last!

The moment she formed that doubt in her mind, she suddenly heard a blast. The wall in her left and the locker was blown away, together with the full-naked man, forming a big 大-shaped hole in the wall.

●

"!!"

The students that were taking notes evinced different reactions. The guys were half startled while the girls flinched.

The naked man, after making full three orbits, was sent flying into the back row where, fortunately or not, the students seating there had already made their retreat. The naked man clashed with the arm chair, made a rebound, and collided to the remaining seats.

The sound of destruction and landings of blown seats after tail-spinning, reverberated.

What remained, were broken piles of wooden seat and the sound of silence.

Few seconds passed, still silence. The girls took a peek at the naked man that was sprawled down in the pile of seat. At first, the girls saw the fainted man's body were drawn back, but soon, after noticing it, the girls covered their face with both hands and screamed.

"Kyaahh!! Sensei!! O-Our hentai Chancellor's... IT'S spinning!"

Sanyou, still taken aback upon witnessing the unexpected event, thought after hearing the student's yelp,

...Yeah, that is what I saw as well. Now, it's oscillating up and down.

"S-Sensei! Please do something!!"

Eh!?, Sanyou couldn't help but troubled.

...Eeh!? B-But what am I supposed to do in this situation...?

Sanyou's whole body broke into sweat. In the three years period of her teaching, and even during the time of her internship, she had never learned anything that could help her deal with a fainted naked man that came flying through a blown wall.

But looking around, the hopeful eyes of her students are all looking at her, as if like a child looking at reliable parents in times of trouble.

Bathed with expectant gazes from every direction, and as the volume of the perspiration in her back increase, Sanyou thought,

...I've been relied many times before by my students, but this situation right now is probably the toughest one I have to face!

(I am in charge of this classroom, so I have to do it!), as Sanyou tried to convince herself, she approached the swooned naked man slowly. Between the debris of broken wooden seats, she saw the exposed butt of the naked man.

The butt displayed no movement.

...For the meantime, let's check if he's still alive or not.

She moved closer, squatted in front of the man, and after inhaling some air,

"H-Hey. Are you al..."

"WHOOAAAAAAHHH!! That took me by surprise. That bitch! I didn't expect her to get serious. Would you normally kick your own student!?"

The naked man sprang up to his feet. ...Facing this way.

Since Sanyou is squatting down, she ended up face to face with the man's crotch. She reflexively let out shriek.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

'Oh?', said the naked man, as if he just noticed something.

"Hey, hey. If it isn't Sanyou-sensei. What's the problem? Why are you screaming? Did you see something scary? Come on, tell me. I'll handle it."

"HYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!"

At the same time of Sanyou's second shriek, the naked man was blown away by a strike of a sheathed longsword coming from behind.

●

Toori recovered immediately from the blow he got. He's looking at Oriotorai hugging Sanyou in attempt of calming her down. Oriotorai said to the crying Sanyou,

"Everything's all right now, Mitsuki. Calm down."

"She's right, Sanyou-sensei. Everything is fine now. Look!"

A student pointed at something. At the end of its pointed direction is the crotch area of the man. But the thing that's supposed to be shown in there isn't there. Instead, it was replaced by a green window screen.

"See? This is Amaterasu-type optical camouflage spell, called 'God Mosaic' in English. We have an ample stock right now. The Chancellor can do as many stripping pranks he wish, we'll all counter that."

"Ah, no. M-More importantly..."

Sanyou was staring at the area around Toori's left shoulder.

"Is your shoulder alright?"

"Eh? Ah, you mean this?"

The thick line on Toori's shoulder has a length that circled around Toori's armpit. This 5-centimeter wide scar, is a vestige of laceration.

Toori showed the scar to Sanyou.

"I got it a long time ago, so long ago that I don't remember anymore of it. The scar only looked big because it grew together with my body."

Sanyou finally managed a nod after taking a few seconds of catching on.

And then, from the holed wall appeared a person. It's Heidee.

Heidee cursory glanced around, confirming the total damage of the classroom as she counted with her fingers. Then said,

"Sensei. Azuma-kun has arrived. I just saw him walking in the school ground."

"...Heidee, did you calculate the total repair cost just now?"

"Eh?"

Heidee flashed a smile.

"Bertoni company actually owns Sunday Carpentry. If you try to pay the repair expense using school funds, it'll be disastrous later. Shall I handle the preparation instead?"

"Yes, please."

"Teach, Azuma just returned?"

"You heard that right, but for the meantime, could you wear something and think up of a good way to repair this wall?"

Repair huh, Toori mumbled. He approached the locker and noticed a roll of Japanese paper inside. He took it out.

"Repair, huh"

Toori mumbled once more. He hoisted the roll of Japanese paper before Sanyou and Oriotorai.

"For now, let's cover the hole with this. What do you think, Teach?"

"Good idea", approved Oriotorai.

Toori placed one hand to the end of the rolled paper, pulled it, until his both arms are spread. Next, he stepped across the extended paper and stood astride it. Then he pressed it firmly against his crotch and butt by pulling both ends of the paper upward.

"Now, time for some fixing..."

"Hold on, hold on! Did you leave a strange imprint just now!? "

"Huh!? What is it, Teach? Leave me alone for now, okay? I'm kinda depressed."

"Umm... Sensei. Azuma-kun will be arriving in the classroom soon."

Ah, Oriatorai raised her head. She released Sanyou, and with doubtful eyes, looked at Toori.

"We'll be reuniting with Azuma today after a long period time. Make sure you don't try anything funny, got that?"

"I get it. I get it. Azuma is the son of the emperor, after all. There's no way I'll do anything weird to him."

Answered Toori, smiling. Then a voice came from class Plum's classroom.

"Sensei! Azuma's here! Together with the king!!"

Hearing that, Oriotorai lightly tapped the grip of the broadsword in her shoulder.

"I'll go greet Azuma and the king. After that, make sure you come back here. Until then, do something to keep that wall from being exposed."

As Oriotorai checked the clock in the classroom and found out the time is approaching noon, she said,

"At this rate, Masazumi will be absent for the whole day. Well, it couldn't be helped. She was sent to Mikawa as a representative of our student council, together with President Sakai, the head of our Academy. I guess I'll put her excused today. I wonder what she's doing right now."

●

Study - Musashi's Administrative Division

Toori: "Sis! Sis! Teach us about... uhh, what was it called? Mu..mu.. kurano... ko..koumasakufuhhn! Ah, that last part sounds erotic!"

Kimi: "Fufufu, thank you for cracking a semi-incomprehensible joke, silly brother. You mean Musashi's Administrative Division <武蔵の行政区分>?"

Toori: "...What sis? Getting down to topic already? I thought you would play along with me for a bit longer. You're quite the killjoy."

Kimi: "Silence. I'm gonna start the explanation now, so sit there like a good boy and listen."

Musashi's Internal Politics Division

• Academy (Chancellor's Board, Student Council and Student Committee)
  • Decentralization of powers into Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches.

• Provisional Council (Assembly of Academy's influential alumni)
  • Bureaucrats that assists Academy in making and executing decision.

• King of Musashi (Yoshinao)
  • Has the management rights for Musashi, as well as the authority for vetoing Academy's decision.

Kimi: "Academy is regarded as the center of the nation, so naturally, Student Committee are the appointed bureaucrats. However, because of the restriction placed upon Far Easterners ---that students has to graduate at the age of 18, unlike other nations---, they are more like an assembly of people similar to Provisional Council with no proposal rights. Lastly, Musashi King is an exclusive position for Musashi. Position that bears the right of vetoing doesn't exist in other countries."

Toori: "What happens if there is one?"

Kimi: "In other words, there will be someone who can act as a 'stopper' for someone who makes a crazy decision. The kings from other countries aren't nuts like you, that's why they don't need one."

Toori: "...Hey, hey. Sometimes you're amazing, you know sis."

Translator's notes and references

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