Horizon:Volume 1 Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Commandos in Town

Everyday passes by.

Time passes by.

Destiny passes by.

What does not pass.

Point Allocation (Human Relationships)

●

Sakai's judgements connected within an instant.

Just from the flow of wind behind him, he understood that the girl from just now had come.

No hesitation in his movements, he turned and confirmed.

...Her style is that of a Close-combat martial artistStrike Forcer!? It's major, but this is--

There was a vague memory. Ten years ago, he indeed had met this girl.

Honda Tadakatsu's daughter. The girl whom Masazumi had said was her acquaintance.

What was her name? I don't remember, but-

...She's had sharp movements ever since before! She always carries a spear...!

I don't understand what's happening, but having suddenly twisted around to my back, is she attacking or protecting me?

And now, the movements he felt against his skin was the oscillation of air which the girl, twisting her body, had caused.

The oscillation was large, the initial speed slow.

'Then it's an attack,' Sakai judged. If she was stretching her arms for the sake of protection, then the oscillation would be small, and the initial speed fast. However, because the wind that is raised during an attack is caused by the wielder carrying his own volume, and is for the sake of swinging through completely, at first it's slow, but the movement is large.

Now, it's the latter.

'How will she come?' it was not Sakai's thoughts which formed that question, but his instinct.

I remember this girl's weapon. When she was standing behind Tadakatsu, I was looking at it.

It was not that I became aware of it and was looking at it. The experience of the battles I had cut my way through as a former corner of the Matsudaira Four Heavenly Kings was sunk into a deeper position than awareness. That weapon is of the Shirasu Industries brand. The wooden handle, having been applied with a black matte finish, was a colour contrary to the name of Shirasu, and is sold as something with a durable structure.

The hilt was straight, and because of its length, it looked as if it compensated for the instability which stemmed from its lightness.

...If so.

In that the long hilt is aimed towards easy handling of the blade, it holds a single problem.

A katana is a weapon which slices by touching the opponent and retracting as if shaving a piece off. However that denotes the reality in which the wielder has to cut by pulling the blade, which has touched its victim, towards their own chest.

As such, the blade of a katana cannot cut at any distance but a distance where it is able to be retracted. Because of the judgement of strength in the slicing, it is possible to slice deeply, but the distance which can be cut is the distance it can be retracted.

And if it's a katana which has a long hilt, when it's pulled towards one's front, the hilt will touch one's body.

The distance which can be retracted is short.

In that case, what will the wielder do to make a long cut?

...They will drop their body and swing the blade far!

Dropping their entire body, they will extend their blade far to the front, and pull with their entire body.

If that is done, they will be able to gain the twist of their body as a distance in which to retract the blade.

Now, the wind I feel behind my back is large.

A wind for the sake of stepping her entire body in with all her strength.

The target is my right abdomen. A horizontal slice from my back.

'She's good,' Sakai's instinct acknowledged his opponent.

If she aimed for my upper body, the thick muscle and bone of my shoulder and chest would interrupt her. If it's below the stomach, things will end with just the severing or snapping of the wrist, but she can split the thin flesh of the side-abdomen which is stretched with the pressure of the stomach.

Furthermore, if it's a horizontal flash, then she can pull the blade horizontally.

If she does so, then the she will automatically pull the blade with just a turning movement of her body, and the retracted pommel won't touch her chest or stomach. If she chains with a twisting motion inwards, she doesn't even need to steady her footing.

It's a horrible sword technique in terms of regulation. It's not something that is learned on the practice ground. This is a sword technique from true battle.

What should I do to avoid it?

Faster than he thought, Sakai moved.

●

Sakai moved in a way which could not be called an evasion.

In response to the whirling blow behind him, he-

"This.'

Lightly, took one step back.

"--!"

The slice which came after the step-in, naturally leaped in.

If it's a weapon which slices, by leaping in from this direction, I'm able to make the distance in which to retract zero. Even if the opponent stepped backwards, it should become a distance shorter than the original one where she was able to pull.

The question was, am I able to step back faster than the slice from the horizontal flash.

Therefore, I twisted my body. Not directly to the rear, but towards my left as well as to the rear.

I went.

And furthermore-

"And then-"

Sakai half-drew the tanto he was concealing at the back of his waist.

The draw method was a right backhand, a movement where I pull my shoulder up along with my arm. Because of this, I'm able to protect my right waist with the tanto's blade, and I can protect my right chest with my slanted arm. And even further, I protect the right part of my neck with my raised shoulder.

By doing this, I respond to the opponent's slice, take a good position, and defend.

Having played his best card, Sakai suddenly twisted his body, having leaped towards his posterior-left, to the right.

The opponent who swung the blade should be there.

She was there.

Black hair was visible.

And now, I touch her body, and from the next instant onwards, the initiative is in my hands.

Originally, this would be the time to insert a blow, make her obedient, and show her the difference in form, but now I am the Student President of an Academy. I can't really do anything horrible to a young girl. Approximately, groping breasts is allowed.

And, the opponent's blade tried to hit my blade.

However-

"...h!?"

Sakai saw. That the girl behind him suddenly moved to his anterior-right.

...This is--

The place the girl was standing was directly in front of my right shoulder. She was showing me her back. She seemed to have dropped her hip.

I don't know what's happening.

I don't know, but that there was an instantaneous movement is a fact.

And I know the reason for her having moved to the right and front of me.

..So that her own blade wouldn't clash with mine, huh!?

Blades are made of metal. Even if it's polymerized such that it has durability, even if it's tempered, if it hits something hard, it will bend or even crack. If one is a master, one can sever metal with a blade without Ability or blessings, but that was not something easy to do for even Sakai while he was still in service.

As such, the girl avoided the clashing of blades.

Evading, bursting forward, she controlled her body, twisted for the sake of her slice, by dropping her hip.

The katana, readied to the left as if shouldered, matched with the movement of her standing up, and leaped upwards-

"----"

It came.

Swinging a blade upwards from a bent position, and biting into my neck from the bottom right with that movement. An irregular cut.

Sakai's right arm, the hand which held the tanto, was suppressed by her back.

...She's good.

Reading my movements, she always aims for a fatal blow. That she's not afraid of contacting the opponent is the result of her training.

Sakai tried to evade before the blade leaped up to meat him-

"No."

The tip of his right foot was stepped upon by her deeply retracted left heel.

I withdrew my toes. But, it was too slow. On the contrary, my attention was taken by the act of withdrawing my toes.

I cannot dodge. And before my eyes, the girl showed the initial movements of swinging the blade.

This is bad. But when I looked at the two former colleagues in front of me-

...Those bastards, what are they clenching their fists and watching the battle for...!

If I could attach voices to them, I could not come up with anything but, "Go--!", on their faces.

While thinking 'I'll lay them flat afterward,' Sakai moved.

Now, he cannot draw his tanto. Therefore, Sakai made an instantaneous decision. An instinctive movement. That was-

"Slap."

Sakai released his tanto, stuck that hand between the girl's back and shouldered blade, and touched her left butt.

He held her left buttcheek with his hand, which had become free. And-

"--!?"

From the girl's mouth, a scream which held a tint of surprise existed.

●

"Yes, as such, have you just about gathered it all? The ingredients for the food for the celebration tomorrow?"

At Asama's words, dressed in miko garments, the three figures following her nodded.

The location was the commercial street on the starboard section of the surface segment of the Second Starboard Ship - Tama.　Having the benefit of being a ship aimed towards sightseers, it was an attractive place. Within the people who were walking back and forth, there were those who had come up from Mikawa, and the students of K.P.A. Italia and Tres Espana who had come from the southern continental port.

While one of the four who were standing in the midst of that, Naomasa, was spinning and fiddling around with the large wrench used for ship-interior maintenance with her prosthetic arm, she looked the other three, Adele, Suzu and Asama.

"Number of people notwithstanding, didn't we buy too much in one go?"

What Naomasa's words indicated was the mountain of paper bags that everyone was holding. Let alone the arms of the four, they were even hanging at their elbows, and were even suspended on the hard points of their waist.

"I-If Ga-Gacchan and Gocchan...came, it would have been nice, but-"

While Suzu, comparatively slight and light, shook the object-oriented hanging sensors at the side of her waste-, she adjusted her hold on the burden she was clutching, and spoke. That done, Asama-

"Knight and Naruze, those two, are doing some transportation work. I think that they are flying around between the ships right now, but earlier, when Toori was blown away by Mito, we should have asked them in advance."

At Asama's words, the girl with glasses, Adele, sighed with a 'Haaah,'-

"Well, thanks for your work too, Asama-san. Being in miko garments, the work of the Asama Shrine is pretty busy now, isn't it?"

"Yes. At the end of spring, there's a lot of contract-related work, and I'm really busy with counter operations...Even with Ability, everyone seems to want overpowered ones, so the amount of our monthly orders are getting huge."

"Doesn't everyone think that they can get overpowered ones if they go to your shrine?"

Naomasa spun the wrench, and while ｆlipping it over her shoulder from her side, she spoke.

"Didn't you go for the archery club's human target practice at the culture festival last year and completely take out even the club members who were seriously running away from the archery range? And then, you took all the prizes and gave them to the orphanage. Even the orphans thought that the presents were something which were acquired in exchange for sacrifices, right? The lives of people are lighter than that of prizes, huh."

"Masa, I mean, something like shooting people that don't even include Acceleration-types is easier than shooting ducks, so I couldn't have helped it, could I? Screaming and trying to come running outside would have really troubled the people outside, so I just blew them away."

"...Please understand the word 'disturbance'."

'Hmm?' in response to Asama, who tilted her head, Naomasa gave the wrench on her shoulder a glance.

"Anyways, coming with us like this, you'll be coming to the 'ghost hunting' today, right? I've also gotten a night shift off from the chief, Taizou-jii-san, but--"

Naomasa indicated towards Asakusa with her chin. The cargo ships which were Asakusa and Shinagawa lowered the sails from their masts, their entire heights above 100 meters, and were opening up the derricks which used the left and right arms of the masts. Pulling the ropes going through the pulley on the tip of the arms, the suspended derricks utilized the labor-use Gods of War, Aerial-races, and workers for the sake of pulling the ropes and managing the movements of the upper segment.

"Well, there's that, but if I'm going to help with Jizurisuzaku, I'm going to head off right now."

As she was speaking, she used a pull of the rope, and the God of War was suspended above the derrick, descending towards her. Adele, who saw that, twisted her eyes into bow-shapes-

"Occasionally, let's use it as a gondola or play with it as swings. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"Just by the way, that's work research too. Anyways--somehow the sky's become really noisy, hasn't it."

The sky. Between Asakusa and Shinagawa, between every ship, trailing behind streams of white mist, there were numerous figures which had started to soar the sky.They were Aerial-races and Technohexen. While taking trajectories which seemed to intertwine at high speed, each of them traversed between the ships, but-

"The supervision of Tres Espana's Gods of War has ended, so the delivery workers have started to race and have mock battles. Naruze said that there're a lot of people who were aces from every country, but couldn't compromise with their churches, so they fled here; because of that, the exchange of technique and knowledge is world-class."

"Ah, Naruze and Knight were also flying around just now, you know? At a speed which would be invisible if not for 'Konoha'...According to what they were saying, their two-man unit is of the strongest class."

"Well, those two are also doing their work and things like that right now, and they're going to gather at the Academy at night. Really, around me, there's nobody that's good."

"...Masa, please look in a mirror and say the last line again."

At Asama's words, Adele laughed softly. She placed the paper bags and packages on her raised knee and adjusted her grasp-

"But well, there's also Mikawa's fireworks, but as expected, everyone's going to the Chancellor, huh...I'm also going to join battle with a mock-use support-lance with a Anti-ghost Ability, though."

"I-I'm al-also going."

Suzu also spoke, and nodded. Asama, who was looking at everyone with her two-coloured eyes, lowered the corners of her eyebrows, and laughed.

"What is this, everyone's interested in Toori-kun, aren't they?"

"That's true. The entire world is noisy with Oda and the Logismoi Oplo and the End of Days, but well, within that, whether an idiot's confession will make it through or not is really, not the Song of Passage, but--"

Naomasa, shouldering the wrench behind her neck, looked up at the mid-afternoon sky and spoke.

"It's scary, huh....That idiot has really gotten motivated."

And Naomasa, lowering her gaze, looked at Asama and opened her mouth. The words which exited were-

"You, along with Kimi, have been with him longer than all of us, haven't you."

●

After Asama, who had been questioned by Naomasa, had thought for a little while, she nodded. Looking at everyone-

"Well, even if you say 'longer', there's the relationship between our parents, and the memories from when we were young are rather vague."

"But, only you have being together with him before elementary schooling. Everyone else was after elementary school. So everyone, well, knows what kind of person Toori is, but--"

"Ma-Masazumi-san is di-diffe-rent. And al-also, A-Azuma-san."

Asama nodded in response to Suzu's words.

"That's because Masazumi transferred here last year...Even today, she didn't come to the Academy and set off towards Mikawa with the School President--different from us, she seems to treat the Academy as just a waypoint of her life."

And also-

"Azuma-kun also entered after middle school, so I don't think that he completely understands Toori-kun."

'But,' Asama tilted her head. Looking at Naomasa-

"Why do you ask?"

At the question, Naomasa smiled wryly.

"--We, who are here, just like Toori, know about Horizon."

At those words, Asama fell silent along with everybody. 'What should I say, and how should I say it', they all thought.

Even Naomasa, who had spoken, shut her mouth lightly, but after a while, she-

"Shall we continue walking?"

Naomasa indicated the road with her chin. That too was while she was lightly playing around with her wrench like it was a pendulum.

However, while passing people by, the road she was walking was-

"Um, th-the end of this path is-"

She knows. The reason Suzu is shaking her head is-

"Ahh, the snack shop that Toori always comes to in the morning is here, huh. But don't worry, at this time, the person whom Suzu fears has gone out--She's doing her afternoon grave visit. You should know."

At Naomasa's line, Asama felt surprise in her heart. Stepping one step as if following Naomasa, who had started walking-

"I'm a little surprised. That Masa would be interested in her."

"--There's no difference between me and you, who know of her grave visiting. When I take a break in the outer shell's emergency level after my morning or afternoon work, it mostly becomes audible, you know. That song."

"By that song..."

'You know about that, right?' Masa, who had already gone to the front of everyone, starting walking-

"The Song of Passage. The song that we sang when we played together with Horizon. Outlining formations on the road with rocks, everyone would pass under each other's arms...whoever was left in the middle of the formation when we finished singing was the loser."

"Horizon had this strange part of her which would be concerned about all of us, and occasionally, there were times when she would lose because of herself. She thought that nobody found out, but everyone knew..."

After a while, Asama, who had spoken, noticed that everyone, who was walking, was looking at her-

And now, Asama understood the intent of Naomasa's words just now. The reason she was asked about the length of her companionship was-

...They're telling me to talk about old memories of Horizon, aren't they.

Horizon.

What was left in her memories was a black-haired, blue-eyed girl. The lines of her body were slender, but even if she thinks back upon it now, there were times when Asama had thought that she was a girl with a strong heart - a heart too gentle. However, that too-

"Her birth was as a really troubled person...Toori-kun, by her side, was gradually becoming an idiot. With just that, her birth would be extremely severe. Well, I knew about that--"

A breath.

"-only after she died."

Asama saw that everyone dipped their heads at those words. But Asama was the only one not to bow her own head-

"I wonder what Toori-kun thinks. Is the confession this time the beginning of his atonement, is it a continuation, or could it be a change in his state of mind...I really wonder what he thinks."

"At the least...isn't the fact that he's going to fondle some boobs certain?"

"Y-Yes, I wouldn't say such severe, realistic words at such a serious time."

However, even while saying that to Adele, Asama could not stop her own shoulder's from sagging. There was a trace of pitifulness within the herself who thought: It really was like that; it really was, wasn't it. But, Adele continued her words-

"Now that you say that Asama-san, just not the Chancellor was making some references, but have you been fondled by the Chancellor before? To the limit of my knowledge, I feel like that kind of thing never happened, but..."

This can of worms was a good one. Asama panicked, and while shaking her head-

"No, um, I..."

"Ah? You don't remember, do you Adele? When Asamacchi first wore a bra, a 'That's cheating! Dirty! A breast cover!?' burst out from Toori, and he started doing it slowly from behind."

"Uwaaaa--! What are you saying, Masa--!"

'Hahahahaha', Naomasa laughed five times, and patted my shoulder with the palm of her hand.

"It's fine, just laugh--right? Adele, she seriously started to cry, and Toori was scolded by Teach, but afterward, Toori said: 'Alright, then fondle my breasts and things will add up to zero!!' in response to her, grabbed her hand, who was crying, and made her fondle his own bosom, saying 'Is that nice!? IS THIS GOOD!?', and was scolded by Teach a second time."

"...Ahh, my morning practice did drag on and I came late that day, but hmm, wasn't Asama-san, having been Chancellor fondled, crying out of happiness...?"

"I-I'm sorry, wh-what kind of character did I have inside Adele's head!?"

'Isn't it fine?' Naomasa said.

"--It might be that from tomorrow onwards, this kind of topic might be hard to bring up after all."

●

"Isn't that right?"

With her double-coloured eyes, Asama looked at the friend with an artificial arm who had asked a question.

When she did that, Naomasa, walking, also glanced her way.

"Well, Kimi also knows about that."

She kept silent and listened. With that, Naomasa looked forward-

"That idiot Kimi is continuing to be like an idiot, and seriously acts like an idiot, but she's an idiot who's really caring, isn't she. People that care about other people too much are the true idiots, though. If tomorrow, Toori confesses and it goes well, the person that will take the most pain will be herself after all--And despite that, that idiot isn't among us, who are talking here."

"That's--"

Asama remembered. About the time earlier, when everyone had split up atop the stairs. Asama, who had left the Tea Club and ran to them, couldn't do anything but confirm the plans for the night. Even after that, Kimi-

"...Stayed sitting atop the stairs, didn't she?"

"Yeah, when we split up earlier, when we left each other, Toori said that he'd try and go to 'Remorse Way' after all--You know, right?"

"About?"

"That idiot Toori hasn't walked 'Remorse Way' for ten years since that happened."

'You do know it, don't you?' Naomasa continued her words.

"It seems like it was this morning. At the time which we were informed yesterday that our gathering would be outside, I pretty much know what he was doing during our morning exercise. And when we sprinted and leaped outwards from the Academy, straight ahead, on the right side of the two roads to take, the starboard and port, is 'Remorse Way'. And--"

"Last time, during the lesson at the end of the second year, he ran through the dango shop on the port of Asakusa...Looking in terms of progression, this time would be the starboard."

Asama answered, and Adele looked towards Okutama. Narrowing her eyes, hidden deep beneath her glasses-

"Then, um, the reason that Kimi-san continued to sit on the stairs was--"

"Because she was watching over whether or not her idiotic brother would be able to pass 'Remorse Way' as an idiotic sister."

'She's an idiotic woman,' Naomasa said whilst taking a step forward.

"Being there, we're also idiots. Everyone who's here, no, everyone who's part of our class shouldn't have raised our heads up to her. In any case--"

In any case.

"The person who couldn't make Toori cross to the other side was that idiot woman."

At those words, everyone held their breath even while walking. With an attitude which indicated that they no longer cared about the busyness or noise of the commercial street around them, the silence continued for a while, but-

"That's right."

Finally, Asama found her words.

"And everything--was because of Horizon, I think."

"Hori...zon..."

Suzu opened her mouth while dipping her head. While softly ringing the metal cylinders, the hanging object-oriented sensors at her waist-

"Sh-She was a...gentle person."

Suzu spoke with a soft voice. And besides that, 'You know', she bridged to her next line. And-

"D-Did you know? When Toori-kun...called me, at first, 'Heeeyy', or 'You know,' he would definitely say. And, h-he would reach his hand out to me and...when he touched me, u-um, hi-his hands would do...do this."

At the tip of everybody's gaze, Asama included, Suzu's hand touched the area around the waist of her uniform, in a manner as if brushing past it.

That was a moment which looked as if she was wiping her hands. However, it was something which included the noise of rustling clothes.

"Th-This is a signal--I-I'm...bl-blind, so if my name is su-suddenly called, and I'm touched...I-I'll ge-get shocked, and cause trouble, s-so, before that, they'd make another voice or noise."

"Yeah, we also copied them. During elementary school, when we noticed that the idiot was doing that, I thought that idiot earns points in the small things, but..."

'No,' Suzu shook her head, slightly rushed.

"Horizon...started that."

She sucked in a breath.

"Even when Horizon di-died, Toori-kun...di-didn't forget. "

'I see,' Naomasa said. 'I'm sorry,' as well.

Asama could do nothing but hold a smile.

...Perhaps--

It could be that Suzu-san loves him, so she thought.

At that moment. From in front of them, a voice came.

"Huh? In the end, you guys also went shopping here?"

This voice is-, turning their faces towards it, on the walkway directly in front of them, several male students were walking.

As expected, clutching bags, Neshinbara, Ulquiaga, Shirojiro and Heidi.

"What is this, you guys? How much are you looking forward to the festival tomorrow?"

"Ah, we're buying the share for tonight. But--it looks like we overlapped in terms of the food."

At Neshinbara's wry smile, everyone also smiled dryly. With the expression of the corners of her eyes drooping, Heidi-

"But...is there anywhere else but here? If it's Okutama, then we'll disturb Toori-kun and Kimi-san after all, and this shop isn't at Murayama."

Heidi looked at the row of shops on the starboard-side, at the walkway across the street.

Everyone followed suit, and the the destination of their sight, there was a single snack shop. A shop with a bakery as its side-business, at this time, it was on standby. Whilst the woman who was the shopkeeper did the cleaning of the storefront, she was making conversation with the owners of the adjacent stores.

Asama noticed that Suzu had turned to her back. Therefore, surreptitiously, with a small voice-

"Suzu-san, from last year onward, you haven't come here, have you?"

"Yes...Wh-when I passed by, i-it was scary."

'I see,' after Asama, who nodded, lightly touched the binder skirt at her waist, she took Suzu's shoulder.

At that moment. The female shopkeeper of the snack shop turned to face them. When she noticed them, she showed a smile-

"What could this be? From the mornin', there've been a lot of customers from the Academy, huh. It's still out of openin' hours, y'know?"

"Ah, I'm sorry."

Answering was Heidi. Heidi touched her cheek with her hand, and after bowing shallowly-

"Um...tomorrow, we might be making a racket..."

"Ya want to have a party? If that's so, I guess I'll have P-01s work hard?"

'Haha,' Asama listened to the words which Heidi told the shopkeeper, who was laughing, in response to the her.

"A party...that's right. Yes. I believe it'll be alright."

A breath.

"Because, everyone is praying that this will be a fun party."

●

"It'd be nice if it was fun tomorrow. Don't you think so? Gacchan?"

A resounding voice was brought to life in the opened pathway.

Walking the pathway, where the blue sky, beginning to tint with the colour of afternoon, was visible was one with six golden-wings. It was Margot Knight in her uniform. While opening up her speedometer-type Figur of Magi by her head, the place she was traveling was the long direct pathway where people and goods went back and forth. It was a transport horizontal-passage on the starboard of Murayama, where ships and winged-figures came and went.

In the center-segment of Musashi, the starboard transport horizontal-passage which opened up in the starboard wall through a hatch was a delivery opening which sent the goods received from the continental port on the opposite side of the ship during Musashi's stop to Musashino and Okutama.

At this time, the passage would be bustling with deliverers come on behalf of each business or personal things-

"Gacchan, by 'upwards', you're doing an ascending race in a gravitated space, right? Will you be coming out afterward?"

"That's right, once I finish one job, let's go again. Should we earn from Almirante or Marine? We've finally gotten recommended to EDEL Brocken as aerial-equipment testers by that lady from Wildkamelie, so I want to do some customization of Weissfräulein. Same for your Schwarzfräulein right?"

'Yeah,' nodding at Naruze's voice, audible from the Figur of Magi, Knight re-raised the work permit carried by her right arm. Sticking a broom into the cart laden with numerous small packages, she hurried towards the bow.

While moving through the voices and movements of the crowd, each time she sent her voice through, in response to the Figur of Magi, its needle waving-

"Just wait a little bit, okay? Somehow today, the coming and going of goods is kinda strange, and everyone is packed together. Nai-chan feels a little troubled. Just like Shiro said, it's all goods that are coming onboard."

"That's fine, if there's a lot coming from Mikawa then I should also move."

From the other side of the Figur of Magi, a voice sounded from Naruze's line. With her kouhai's voice-

"--The senpai are going out to the sky! We'll be cheering for you!　We bet our club fees on you!"

"Ah, that's right, this is also for the Manga Research's new work, 'Kobo-san'...but, how much more goods do you need to transport?"

"The only thing that's urgent is one, I think? All the rest should be fine at night, I think. But well, it's not good to hurry too much either, right? Before, the KKK delivery section stuffed the Manga Research goods into K.P.A. Italia's guest ship after all."

"Yeah, three thousand books our club's homo-section made for events. The King was a skillful-seme, wasn't he?"

"Please refrain from putting real characters into your stories, Gacchan. I mean, I think that the King is a clumsy-seme."

"I wasn't the one who drew it, you know. Well, I didn't think that the King, who was sent here, planned to voice an objection to Hexagone Francaise, but instead objected to Lord Ita. The invention of printing techniques as a result of History Recreation is cruel."

'Well,' Naruze's voice was audible from the handheld.

"I'll finish up quickly, take my third victory today, and prepare for tonight. It'd be shameful if a Weisshexen and Schwarzhexen made a night's activities stink of the mood when returning from work."

'That's right,' Knight stopped in her tracks. Because they were bringing a 10-meter class large-scale wooden box from the transportation ship into the ship interior, the security officers of the transport horizontal-passage had given the traffic signals for pedestrians to stop for a while.

Knight, who lined up in the queue of people who had stopped, sighed and looked at Okutama and Musashino, visible beyond the windshield of Ability.

The special characteristics of Musashino was the ship-type bow and the Ability Controller which blanketed the sky of the stern like a roof. And as for Okutama, it had floors of residential districts and natural districts, layered upon it like stairs. Musashi Ariadust Academy was located on the highest level of those stairs, and the stair which went towards the starboard-side Remorse Way from in front of the Academy was clearly visible even from here.

It was a distance where one could make out the figures of those atop the stairs, where individuals could be determined.

However, Knight looked at a single small figure sitting at the Academy stairs.

"Gacchan...Can you see Kimi-chan?"

"Jud.--I can see her clearly from Musashino. Because, Kimi isn't moving."

"Which is to say, the Chancellor hasn't moved from the front of Remorse Way either, has he?"

"Yeah...Is there anything you'd like to say regarding those two?"

'Yeah,' Knight reached into the cart of small packages and grabbed hold of one of them.

"One urgent piece of luggage is addressed to the Student Council, you know? The delivery label is printed with 'Climax! Virgin Queen Elizabeth First Edition,' so the one who asked for this is the Chancellor, huh."

"Please choose whether you want to be serious or make a tsukkomi about it, Knight. Rather, didn't he say that the eroge this morning the last one?"

"This's camouflaged as an educational package from Izumo Communication'sDivine Transmission's educational program, 'Working Grandpa,' but it failed because of the delivery label. This should be the continuation of 'Alternating Henry the 8th!'"

"Like I said, please don't make your comment include difficult references."

'That so?' Knight, who tilted her head, looked beside her, looked at a figure there who, just like her, was waiting on the traffic-

"Ah, it's Seijun."

●

At the sudden voice, Masazumi's body shook.

She turned back, and at the tip of her gaze, the six golden-winged Knight was there. Masazumi looked at her pushcart-

"...Your part-time job?"

"No, this is Nai-chan's real job. What're you doing?"

"Ah, I'm returning from Mikawa. And well, I was thinking of going towards the school, towards Remorse Way."

"Jud., I see, at this time the ship exterior is pretty crowded, huh."

"? Knight? Has Masazumi come? If she has, tell her about tonight and that item--"

'Night?' At the voice which leaked from the Figur of Magi, Masazumi tilted her neck. In response, Knight nodded-

"Gacchan, I'll go there right now, so wait--Then, um, Seijun, the Chancellor said he was going to have a 'Ghost Hunt' at the school tonight. The stairs at 8:00 PM. Are you coming?"

Being asked, Masazumi felt a slight relief. They invited me, huh? However-

"Ah, no, before, when we were outside, I was told by President Sakai, but..."

"You can't?"

In response to the question, Masazumi averted her gaze unintentionally. And-

"If everyone from the Student Council is there, then...It'd be a bad example."

She, who muttered, "I'm sorry," thought: I'm a letdown, aren't I. But, if speaking by common understanding-

"I'll be at Murayama, so if I tried to go to Okutama at night, I'd have to pass the police-box during its night shift. If I did that, I'd be troubling my father as well."

"Masazumi's father is a big member of the Provisional Parliament, right?"

"Well...That's right."

She was a bit lost about how to answer, when suddenly Knight raised the package in her hand, along with a smile.

"Then, I'll give you this. It's an item addressed to the Student Council."

'Huh?' Accepting it even while asking, Masazumi looked at the delivery label of the package in her hand-

"Why's this addressed to the Student Council..."

"Could you just put that aside and bring it there for me? I mean, the Chancellor is close to Remorse Way right now after all...I think you should go meet him, you know?"

"Why? Why should I meet him?"

At Masazumi's question, Knight attached the portable vault she had taken from the cart to the latch behind her waist, and answered with a smile.

"Mm--It has something to do with the topic tomorrow. What's popular is important to a young girl, after all."

Right after she said it, Knight brought the cart right up to the wall, and removing her broom, she covered the cart. She locked it, and faster than she turned around, behind me, a breeze blew threw the air where the wind passed through.

...Eh?

Turning around, men and women, each of them wearing the old flight uniforms of every country, were flying through the air with brooms, flying instruments, or with their own wings, stopped.

Several of them looked this way, in Knight's direction-

"Come up here, 'Zwei Fräuleins!' We won't lose this time! We'll show you the power of the old generation!"

●

Knight brushed the Wisdom OreOrei Metallo at the tip of her broom, and turned around while carrying out her start-up operations.

She faced her delivery rivals, who were in the air, beyond the startled Masazumi-

"Won't you wait a bit? Ascending in gravitated space is Nai-chan and Gacchan's weakness, so I'd like to do it."

"Overcoming your weakness, what spirit! You're worthy of our training!"

"'Almirante', you're already a geezer, so back down. When it comes to a two-man unit, us, the former aces of Hexagon Francaise have barely above a 60% chance of victory against you two, who aren't Technohexen."

"Yeah? I'll seriously drag out the anti-God of War combat manual from when I was in active duty and do some combat maneuvers--The fact that I was a small fry like you three years ago was because I'd been taught by troublesome brats."

'Ahaha,' Knight laughed, and ran. Masaszumi, who stood on the pathway-

"...What...is all of this?"

"Ah, the race and mock battle that everyone from the delivery businesses is doing. We start when the observers are gone, so it's called 'Geheimnis Sabbat'. We do technical research and training, and we also make some money on the side by displaying it and betting on it."

"I haven't seen it from up close, but..."

"You should come with everyone this time, you know? Strange snacks are going to be there, and we're going to pull an all-nighter at Tsukiichi."

'Right?' She called out, and everyone in the air nodded. Now, the clothes and equipment of those who had gathered was all from the aerial-squadrons of every country. There were many people of the same grade or younger, but I had heard that the reason that it was mainly irregular races and witches who were older was because they were people who had evaded the oppression brought on by the hunting of heretics and gathered at Musashi.

In each country, there's no time limit on the graduation from the Academy, but in the Far East, it's been decided that graduation from the Academy comes at 18. Therefore, ever since they've come to Musashi, they couldn't be in service. However-

"Come now, aces of the current duty! The old aces have come to learn! Show us the skills that brought 'Wildkamelie' low and led you to become testers for 'EDEL Brocken'!"

"Ahaha, if Gacchan isn't here I can't match you guys, though--If she's here, we're invincible."

Leaving everyone, who said, "Go on, Go on!", in front of her, Knight waved to Masazumi-

"Then, please give the item to the Chancellor, alright?"

'Ah, yes.' Turning her back to Masazumi, who said those words, Knight launched her body into the air.

The empty sky.　In response to the wind which naturally caught in her wings and the sensation of suspension where there's no longer any support for her legs, Knight stuck the speedometer-type Figur of Magi into her palm.

"Model Summon : Product Name "Beginning of a Sleeping Face" : Confirm"

Technomagi is an Ability which ARIA-calculates the expended Fluid with the most elementary unit ATELL. However, the created Ability is saved as a Focal Instrument, and if it's necessary, that calculation can be summoned immediately, with no need for an ARIA. What was being carried out was that-

"'Beginning of a Sleeping Face' : Quintet Activation : ----Confirm"

At the same time. Three speedometers appeared at the brush-part of the broom. Two appeared at the tip. 'Oooh,' "Almirante," who spoke-

"You really aren't making any Abilities other than that! What umpteenth Model is that?"

"Spontaneous creation is full of wastage, so I'm just saving the most appropriate one as a pattern. Everyone's copying me, so the division of the pattern folder is troublesome...Anyways, I'll do this without 'Schwarzfräulein', so let's race one round, alright? On the way there I'll meet up with Gacchan, and we'll do the second week, which is upwards, right?"

'Oooh,' As if taking in their voices, a shockwave of air burst out from the brush-part of the broom.

In the next instant, Knight's body and vision rose up into the sky above Musashi.

The sky.

Below her, on the top of Musashi, bathing in the rays of the afternoon sun, there lay the expanses of towns and natural parks.

It's so big　As she thought that, heat waves and the wind chasing her from below was visible to her gaze.

Everyone is chasing. Each one is adapting to my form, and learning.　For me, who has no place where I belong as a witch and was brought along by the flow of life to Musashi, they're an existence I'm thankful for. At the beginning, we had clashes, but as we kept going, I was recognized, I learned, and now we're equal.

And furthermore-

...The Chancellor and Kimi-chan...

In front of the Academy on Okutama, there were two figures she knew in front of "Remorse Way", but confirming that the two stayed unmoving, while Knight brought the tip of her broom to face the northern skies-

One round. Even if I do that, those two won't move, right? She thought.

Translator's notes and references

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