Horizon:Volume 1 Chapter 02

Chapter 02: The Wrecking Crew in the Classroom

Class continues until the bell rings.

But if the bell is broken.

What then of class.

Point Allocation (Classroom)

There was a classroom made of wood.

The scenery seen from the classroom's windows was filled with a white sky. This classroom was on the aerial ship of Musashi. In other words, a classroom of the Musashi Ariadust Academy.

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 twenty. In the back row, a few vacant seats were evident.

A short female teacher stood in front of the blackboard. A nametag with 'Sanyou' written upon it was attached to her. With a world history textbook on one hand, she was talking.

"...In the past, humans descended to the earth from the heavens to this land, the Far East. However, the environmental conditions outside this land proved to be inhospitable, so humanity was unable to leave the Far East. Because of this, humanity copied the Far East to a different space, doubling the amount of land and from that point they started to live in Real World and the Harmonic World. But humanity 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 would be able to return to heaven one day. The thing they made for this purpose was..."

Sanyou paused, touching the blackboard with the chalk she has in her hand, and then continued.

"...the Testament. A history book that have recorded every aspect of the Former Earth Age's history."

●

Sanyou tapped the blackboard. She circled the word Testament twice for emphasis.

"The people in that time thought they could go back to the heaven by recreating the same history, that's why they made the seven sets of Old Testaments and New Testaments, which recorded the history of the B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D (Anno Domini) periods respectively."

Sanyou wrote the words: 'walkthrough to history'. When she did, she spoke.

"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, humanity rendered the information of the Testament unreadable except the events of the coming hundred years. Yet, they could not leave the renewal of the display of information to people, as said people will be liable to exploit it. However, they solved this by using the leylines, as they govern all things, as intermediaries to successfully bind the Testament with fate."

Sanyou turned to face the class. Their faces, lined up in a row before her, were frowning.

Faced with this, Sanyou bathed in their confused stares.

...This is bad. As I thought, all this "fate" talk was hard to comprehend, after all? Maybe it was too early to discuss such abstract topics. I guess I shouldn’t mention the excerpt?

She 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 students. Then the male student responded bashfully...

"...Marriage?"

Is that sarcasm against me, who just got dumped by a guy a few days before?

For a moment, Sanyou's surroundings dropped to absolute zero. However, laughs spilled out from around the boy. Even surrounding students started calling him "Marriage Man". That will be his nickname for the rest of his school days, she bet.

"Hey, Marriage Man!"

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, Goddamnit!, God failed when he made a character like me!"

"S-Sanyou-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 to Sanyou, 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 Age of Gods. We also know that it is fundamentally changeable. The existence of fate is the very reason that there is a beginning and an end to everything. Together with space and time, we can access it through the leylines that rule all creation."

So...

"As the fate will continue to flow as long as this world exists, the people in the past linked it with the Testament, so matching with the flow of fate, the Testament shows us the history of the coming century."

Sanyou resumed writing on the blackboard.

"In history recreation, the Testament was given the same position as the major religious scriptures that existed in the Former Earth Age. However, because different gods truly existed in the age when humanity ascended, all churches lost their status. Therefore in history recreation, people do not really worship God, but instead..."

She wrote this on the board:

• They believe in the Testament's history recreation itself.

"...This is how things have turned out. In religions like Shinto where multiple gods are necessary, they responded to the new knowledge by shifting the gods' domains to the gods in the ascended period.

Because of the fact that gods exist and the belief in the Testament, religious organizations and groups are known as Doctrine Scores or Churches and their believers are called musicians... In the Far East, Shinto is more accurately described as the Shinto Church, and shrines are Shinto Church religious communities. Consequently, people who are able to use its power are Shinto musicians."

Furthermore,

"As far as religions outside the Far East goes, most of them have their names spelled backwards to what their counterparts were known during the Former Earth Age. The reason behind that is, not only in the dichotomy with their counterparts in the Former Earth Age, but the origin stems from the people who had moved to the altered space known as the 'Harmonic World'. Those who had moved to the parallel world read the name backwards because they took the meaning of its inverse as a blessing, that they would one day be able to leave this different world, like they had in the past. The inverting of names signified retrogression.

The Testament-worshipping Tsirch denomination, the offshot Murasai domination and the anti-Testament factions kept the backwards reading even after leaving the Harmonic Divine States to avoid the confusion that would result from a change. The current principal churches are..."

• Pro-Testament. Tsirhc branches :
  • Sion : Primarily demons. They favour the Old Testament. Nomadic race.
  • Catholic : Mainly K.P.A Italia, Tres España, and Hexagone Française. Worships saints.
  • Protestant : M.H.R.R. Favours the entire Testament. Subdued but very good at commerce.
  • Orthodoxia : Sviet Russia. Favours holy paintings. Russian interpretation of Catholicism.
  • Anglican Church : Mainly England. Divorce is legal. Officially a protestant but inclines towards Catholic.

• Pro-Testament Offshoot :
  • Murasai : Mainly the Middle-East. Five prayers every day and a month of fasting.

• Anti-Testaments
  • Dunhi : India. The cycle of life and death. Curry.
  • Oat : China. Full of sages. Ramen.
  • Shintoism: The 800,000 gods of the Far East. Unexpectedly spontaneous.
  • Buddhism: Far East's version of the path of Samsara. Packed with many spells.

"Well, if you're living in Musashi, you're pretty much a Shintoist. If someone isn't, people mostly don't care as long as they're not involved."

Sanyou continued her talk.

"Humanity started to recreate the history of the Former Earth Age as it was written in the Testament. The passing away of country leaders or their citizens as recorded in history were treated as retirements. Most wars were carried on with mutual agreement between belligerents, although with a safety net. So in the beginning, things were compressed in this manner, but they got serious starting at 0 AD."

Let's see, Sanyou checked the pace of students copying down the notes on the blackboard. She looked at one, to the next one, and then to the next, she passed her gaze across the entire class.

...Am I going too fast?

She confirmed that the place she was standing, on top of the teaching platform, was not blocking anyone’s view. 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,

...Is the order of the curriculum I'm teaching alright?

She was a bit perplexed.

●

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 the Heian period, so she was forced rush through the last half of the course.

...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 assassination of key figures leads to their protection through 'retirement', and I explained that concept very thoroughly.

...But third years have their future career consultations, so it'll be bad if that happens again.

In three years of her teaching, she had taught first years and second years already. But this was her first time teaching the third year.

Will it be alright? The future of my students will be affected if I mess up here.

"..."

The class was currently copying down the notes on the board, and the air was filled with tension.

She looked at her students taking notes. Looking at them from this way, she can easily identify their distinctions.

Far Easterners and Asians were usually black-haired. There are quite a few exceptions and some people who had dyed their hair but usually it is black.

However, this group of students 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 devil races have scaled skin and cannot grow hair. The same goes for the Slimes or sprite races. Conversely, half-beasts races have hair all over their bodies, in tortoise-shell patterns or stripes, long and short. The varieties are rich.

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 was 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 the 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, Oriotorai was an existence with which she had enough of an age gap that she could safely refer to their relationship as one between a senior and a junior. There were many times that she helped Sanyou out in predicaments, Oriotorai often let her observe classes and she was irregularly reliable when it came to Sanyou’s weak areas.

The voice she could hear now belonged to Oriotorai.

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

No, that’s not really true Oriotorai-senpai. The Akechi family of P.A. ODA has acknowledged their own autocracy.

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

She's teaching them the Far East's history, right? Sanyou guessed.

Sanyou hit the nail right on the head. Musashi Ariadust Academy's teachers were limited. As such, all the lessons were taught by the classroom teachers.

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

...What's her secret? Like, right now, ...I wonder what kind of lesson they’re having right now.

The previous day was a lesson were the losers had to bungee-jump. But what I could hear now was Oriotorai and the girls' voices.

"Strip! Strip! Strip!!"

...Seriously, what kind of lesson are they having!?

●

Oriotorai's lecture basically has a high-risk-high-return, penalty kind of system. Her way of teaching was simple.

1. She teachs.

2. She asks a question to someone, who is required to respond.

3a. If the student is unable to answer correctly, his grades will be not penalized but he will receive punishment instead. Nicknamed 'execution'.

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. As such, favours and connections are important to have beforehand. Sometimes if the punishment submitted was lenient, those people who have gathered will make it ten times harder just for their entertainment, so none of them could let their guard down.

If you decided to write a harder punishment, then your grades would go up every time you could answer.

Also, a special characteristic in Oriotorai's lessons was the so called 'presentation'.

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

Oriotorai sat in a chair beside the teacher's desk.

"Let's see... Suzu. It’s fine if you just talk about what you know, please give your presentation."

"E-Eh!? ...Miss, ah, y-yes! A-About the Harmonic Unification War, right?"

Continuing to face downward, the girl, Suzu, stood up, her movements panicked. She was blushing.

"A-According to w-what I know...um, a long time ago, the world was divided into two, the Divine States in the Real World and the Harmonic Divine States, in the Altered Space. T-The latter was repro...duced by controlling the power of the l-leylines 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. They got along p-pretty well, I think, um, is that fine?

"You're all good. To summarize it, that's how people solved the problem of scarcity of land, while thinking of a countermeasure to the harsh environment outside the safe Divine States and recreating the Testament descriptions in the real world and the other world."

Everyone nodded when Oriotorai finshed talking. Some voices even were saying, 'you did great!'

Sitting in the window seat of the row of seats all the way to the back, Toori was opening the guide to the game he had bought with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Bell-san. Rest assured! If you blunder, I'll take her punch in your stead. I'll be fine! At least, I’m not gonna die today till I get to the first branch of this eroge, at the very least!"

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

Hearing Oriotorai’s words, Toori raised his voice.

"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 job."

"You're blunt, Teach! Job? You said job!? I’ll say this really clearly then... adults're dirty!"

Toori stood in his chair, pointing Oriotora with his two index fingers.

"Is money everything!? Teach, you’re just getting money from the school by teaching classes, aren't you!?"

"I’m pretty sure that that’s what being a teacher’s about" everyone whispered, but Toori didn't appear to be listening. He continued inspecting the game manual as he rose it up against the sun.

"Damn. It's not giving me any hints at all, this game is absurd! No matter what I do, I can't score that class president character! What's more, I can’t change the name of the protagonist in the middle of the game! I was planning to go through the death-ending in my first playthrough, that's why I put in Tenzou's name."

"W-Why use my name, Toori-dono!? You know that I'm the one in charge of busty blondies!!"

"It's fine, don’t worry about it, Tenzou! I'll use Urquiaga's name in the next playthrough. Then we'll go for that male character!"

"Preposterous! You know that we decided that I am in charge of older sister characters!!"

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

"Pipe down, you three. I'm in the middle of work here. For some reason, during this docking, we haven’t been exporting anything to Mikawa compared to the goods that are coming in. The struggle to reserve warehouses is fierce. Save it for later... Heidi, what's that look?"

"Hmm... you know, Shiro-kun, we're in the middle of class too."

"You guys need to shut up...", Neshinbara muttered in reproach, but Toori, as usual, wasn't listening.

Her eyes still hidden, Suzu spoke, a small smile on her face. After her shoulders stopped their slight tremble, she took a breath.Her tiny shoulders trembled, and after a while,

"Um, i-it’s fine, then?"

Suzu waited for everyone to settle down before speaking.

"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 the 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 the Divine States were appointed to the two deputies instead.

That's why reproducing the historiographical description of the 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 had 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 the Harmonic Divine States were destroyed. The remnants of it merged with 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 the Divine States take responsibility for their actions, 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 the Divine State's military and political suppression, every country established a preeminent 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 each 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 beings. 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 the 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 territory. 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 territory. The Houjou clan, with an automaton based civilization, does behind-the-scene work in the union.

Uesugi + Soviet Russia: Rules Hokuriku territory. 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 the 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 the Far East and other countries."

"Right. Because of that they are receiving various technologies like the floatation 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 activities 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, 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 the Gods, so this Miki that I bought with my own money needs to be disposed." (T/L: through her stomach)

"You really are 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 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 seats 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 feel 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 to calm 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 Principal Sakai, the head of our Academy. I guess I'll put her as 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 going to 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 decisions.

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

Kimi: "Academy is regarded as the center of the nation, so naturally, Student Committees 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 the Provisional Council with no proposal rights. Lastly, Musashi's King is an exclusive position for Musashi. It's a position that bears the right of vetoing that 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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