Horizon:Volume 9A Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Philosopher from the Homeland

Being honest with yourself

Is what really matters, isn’t it!?

Point Allocation (You can’t tell that to them of all people!)

●

Asama decided to start by talking.

“Um,” she began. “Horizon? Have you finished installing the Logismoi Oplo?”

Her sign frame had received a report saying as much. It looked like Horizon’s OS had rewritten itself again, which had changed some of the settings, but Asama could fix that on her end.

But from what she could see, externally installing the eight Logismoi Oplo had caused the central Phtonos to activate. However…

“Is anything different now, Horizon?”

Horizon flattened her eyebrows and tilted her head.

“Anything…like what?”

…I’m not really sure.

Asama looked around and the others gave her noncommittal gestures. She understood what Naomasa meant by pointing first to her prosthetic arm and then her head, but she wasn’t sure what Kimi could possibly mean by holding Uzy between her breasts.

Asama: “Adele, the Logismoi Oplo will not make your boobs grow.”

Flat Vassal: “How did you get that from me pointing at my sign frame!?”

Me: “Hey, if pointing at your sign frame made your boobs grow, you’d do it, wouldn’t you?”

Flat Vassal: “W-well, yes, I would! I totally would! Is that a problem!?”

It wasn’t a problem, but it did seem wrong.

Anyway, no one really knew what to say. So Asama tilted her head back and…

“So, um, Horizon? How are things? Do you feel any new functions, or does the world look different to you now?”

“No, no. I am not experiencing anything like a boy after losing his virginity. Although if you want to hear any annoying nonsense of that nature, I would suggest speaking to Toori-sama in a few hours.”

The Tres España Vice President spat out the water she was drinking, but Asama decided to ignore that.

At any rate, Asama arrived at a conclusion from speaking with Horizon and viewing the data on her sign frame.

“I get the feeling we’re missing some condition or another.”

“Could it be that Phtonos hasn’t entered overdrive yet?” suggested Mitotsudaira.

“Um, how would we do that?”

Kimi responded while puckering her lips against the empty air.

“Smooooochy, smooch, smooch! You can kiss my foolish brother in front of Horizon to put her in envy burst mode! C’mon, try it out right here! This is your job!”

“Um, Horizon, would you feel jealous if I did that?”

“To be honest, I would only think, ‘they’re really going at it, huh?’ ” Horizon frowned and tilted her head. “Besides, when you two are in your own little world, you aren’t even thinking about his relationship with me, so demanding a place there would be meaningless.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of wanting something all to yourself?” asked Toori.

“Oh, did you want this curry?”

10ZO: “So is Toori-dono on the same level as curry in her mind?”

Me: “Huh!? You jealous!? Don’t act like you could be anywhere near as good as curry!”

Silver Wolf: “Um, my king? We all know how petty you can be, so please calm down.”

Horizon resumed speaking in an “anyway” kind of way.

“While gaining a relationship would be a happy thing, I have another job I must complete: I must acquire and secure the necessities to continue living. That requires work and acquiring the knowledge needed to fit into society. …With that in mind, I have very little time left over for a relationship. Demanding to have him entirely to myself feels like nothing more than lashing out because I cannot be with him at all times.”

Eventually, everyone exchanged a glance.

“…”

They applauded. Horizon raised her hands to accept their applause, but then Naruze raised her hand.

“Do you never feel lonely sleeping alone at night?”

“No, because I am in the habit of reading in bed.”

“I know what you mean,” said Masazumi. She crossed her arms and nodded deeply. “You end up falling asleep while reading, don’t you?”

Uqui: “Does that mean Toori ranks below a book?”

Me: “Yeah, that’s right! I’m equal to curry and less than a book! My new goal starting today is to become a book about curry! Then I’ll be equal to both of them!”

Asama: “Um, Toori-kun? We all know how nonsensical you can be, so please calm down.”

“That said,” said Horizon. “The times I do feel lonely lead to great sorrow. So if Toori-sama will prioritize me at those times, it means I rank #1 in his mind and I will no longer feel sorrow. But at other times, when I am fine being alone, Toori-sama is free to be with the others. But if I already had that #1 spot but felt the need to further restrict him beyond the scope of our relationship, that would be a sign of an obsession produced by jealousy.”

Horizon playfully struck her own head.

“My lifestyle precludes jealousy! This is a new discovery, Asama-sama!”

Naito raised her hand.

“Hey, this is a little awkward, but does this mean your dad chose the wrong person?”

“Great point, Naito-sama! That would mean the destruction of the world was manmade! Now that is a rare one! What do you say, Neshinbara-sama!? In your super imaginary fantasy novel, could the world be destroyed from a careless mistake or a failure to study?”

“I seem to recall a group that recently made the mid boss go ‘eh?’ because they didn’t do their assignment,” said Tenzou.

“Well, excuse me! Fine, blame me if you must! But I will rise from the ashes of your verbal onslaught and fly high as a reborn phoenix!” said Neshinbara.

“If you’re only reborn and fail to grow, won’t you just repeat the same mistake and fall back to the earth?”

“Naruze, do you have to be so harsh with me?”

“Does that mean you don’t have an argument against her point!?”

But this did tell Asama one thing.

“Horizon is – and always has been – extremely independent.”

●

Maybe it was Horizon’s status or position, but Asama had thought of the girl as extremely levelheaded. She didn’t know how much of that was carried over by the inheritance of Horizon’s soul, but her personality did seem exactly the same.

But for now…

“We just don’t know how the Logismoi Oplo are supposed to influence the Apocalypse.”

Lord Motonobu had said they could, so there had to be something to it.

…Most likely, that activates when certain conditions are met.

“Maybe we need to activate all the Logismoi Oplo at once?” asked Naomasa. “But…”

Horizon raised her right hand.

“Naomasa-sama, I do not have enough hands to carry the Muneshige Cannon and all the others at the same time.”

“I thought you’d say that. Asama-chi, what’s Phtonos’s activation state?”

Asama checked the sign frame and saw all the Logismoi Oplo links had been established.

“Looking at the ether pathways, one of them is at the center or on a higher level with the other eight below it.”

She had shown the others an abstract diagram of the pathways before. By opening the OS options on Horizon’s sign frame, she could check the additional fields for physical functions.

“They are triggered by emotions, so to be blunt, I think they activate when Horizon is under extreme stress.”

“But Horizon seems fairly happy and problem free right now.”

“Right?” agreed Asama before turning to Horizon. “Horizon? You don’t have to think about sad things to force yourself to feel sorrow or anything like that, okay?”

“But…”

“You don’t want to feel sad and we don’t want to make you feel that way either. That has been the core of our policy since Mikawa.”

“You got that right,” he said. “And we discussed this in England, remember? That not being sad means to be happy.”

His comment led Horizon to place a hand on her chin and lower her head with a serious look on her face.

“…?”

“D-don’t tell me you forget!? You’re gonna kill me with sorrow!”

“Didn’t we discuss after England that we would figure something out if that did happen and that it was okay to feel that way?”

So…

“Is it even possible for a being as perfect as me to feel stress?”

Everyone – including the Tres España group – fell silent. Eventually, Horizon raised her hand.

“That aside, if stress is the key, I think I can activate it in a crisis, which in a way means my safety is assured.”

“Futayo, this would assume we can keep Horizon safe enough activate the Logismoi Oplo’s power while in a dangerous situation. Can you ensure that?”

“Judge. My job is to fight on the front line and eliminate any threat, so I will do whatever I can based on the strategy proposed by the glasses boy.”

That meant Horizon’s safety was assured in a situation like that.

…Could there be another condition?

“To bring back up a timely topic, could it be triggered by docking?”

Horizon’s sudden suggestion made the Tres España Vice President spit out her water again.

●

Novice: “Oh, that could be! Unleashing your true power through lewd acts is a common plot point!”

Art-Ga: “The things you write never go past kissing. If they went all the way, would they awaken further each time, like a multistage rocket?”

Gold Mar: “If it worked like that, they would have people awakening to new power left and right in the brothels and red light districts. Then maybe the government would support those places as official ‘awakening spots’.”

Flat Vassal: “Um, didn’t Mary-san kind of explode with power after the 1st Special Duty Officer grabbed her boobs?”

Scarred: “Eh? Well, I did decide to be more honest with myself. …Oh. Oh, my. Thank you for the applause! Thank you so much! I intend to continue to support Master Tenzou as best I can!”

Laborer: “Ha ha ha. Yeah, honesty is the best policy! It feels nice to just be yourself!”

Unturning: “But didn’t the Chancellor kiss her after acquiring the Logismoi Oplo? Did she awaken then?”

Horizey: “I did not. What of it?”

Art-Ga: “If it’s because he’s a terrible kisser, I’ll have to rewrite this storyboard…”

Wise Sister: “No, it couldn’t be that, Naruze. If my foolish brother was a terrible kisser, he wouldn’t have blown Asama’s lid off and awakened her, and Mitotsudaira’s licking and sniffing wouldn’t have escalated so far.”

Asama: “How did I end up in the line of fire here!?”

Horizey: “Well, I may have brought it up, but it sounds like that is not the explanation.”

Silver Wolf: “Shouldn’t you have realized that sooner than this, Horizon?”

●

Juana saw the Musashi Vice President raise her right hand toward her. What could this be? she wondered.

“Do you have any thoughts on the condition for activating the true power – or whatever – of Horizon’s Logismoi Oplo?”

I don’t know why you think I would, thought Juana, but Flores looked up.

“Tres España and the rest of the Testament Union nations would really prefer it if that true power doesn’t exist, but maybe suggesting that is kind of mean.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“it could be a bluff, like with our magic ball.” Flores pulled a metal ball seemingly out of nowhere and tossed it up with a snap of her wrist to play with it. “You see, the magic ball’s actual abilities are enough of a threat to our opponents, but the most important thing is to announce that it’s a ‘magic ball’ to inspire caution and fear in them.”

“Are you suggesting…the Logismoi Oplo are only weapons and they can’t directly influence the Apocalypse?”

“You mean my awful father had his daughter seek out a scam product!? Asama-sama, can I still return them for a full refund based on your late-night shopping show rules!?”

“Unfortunately, you can only return products 2 weeks after purchase, so that would only work for Stithos Porneia and Akedia Katathlipse.”

“Don’t you dare return Porneiaaaaa! I need iiiiiit!” begged their Chancellor.

You don’t have to act so desperate, thought Juana. But…

…Does this mean the Papa Schola has sided with Musashi?

If he was the one to toss Stithos Porneia onto the battlefield, Juana had a number of thoughts on the matter.

Did he have some reason for not confirming his survival and instead letting speculation rule? An actual appearance would have been sensational, but it would have also acted as a political tool. Confirmation would mean a lot more than speculation within the upheaval of the Honnouji Incident.

After all, Olimpia currently served as the leader of the Tsirhc religion, but she was connected to M.H.R.R. and to Hashiba.

Meanwhile, there were quite a few anti-Hashiba Tsirhc nations. For those nations, confirmation of the Papa Schola’s survival would be reassuring but also an annoyance because it would require meeting up with and supporting him. And they would have to decide if they were going to form a “Previous Papa Schola Faction”.

But as mere speculation, his presence had a number of uses in negotiations.

…It is very useful information for us, due to our close connections to K.P.A. Italia.

That very same Papa Schola had given his Logismoi Oplo to Musashi. Juana hadn’t actually “given” hers to them, but in effect, all of the Logismoi Oplo were gathered here.

But if Flores’s speculation was correct…

“Could the Logismoi Oplo’s ability to influence the Apocalypse only mean that whatever nation possesses them can compete with the other nations militarily and gather them all toward a single solution to the Apocalypse?”

“Would they really be all that useful, though?”

●

“Master Muneshige! Master Muneshige! You don’t have to start working on your site because you ‘hadn’t updated it at all during summer break’! You really don’t need to upload a video of it hitting at Nördlingen, nor do you need to add a comment explaining what happened!”

●

“Anyway, if that is the case, then the Logismoi Oplo are nothing more than lecture weapons, which makes them far less interesting.”

Mitotsudaira nearly agreed with Horizon there. But…

…Wait.

Something about this bothered her.

“I think the Logismoi Oplo can be used to solve the Apocalypse somehow.”

“Why is that, Mitotsudaira?”

“Because.” She scanned her eyes across the others. Yes, most of the Musashi people here should know about this. “When Horizon impulsively fired Maska Orge, Hashiba deflected the blast with something a lot like Aspida Phylargia.”

That wasn’t all. The same thing had happened during the Battle of Mikatagahara.

“When we traveled north to Kantou and Horizon impulsively fired the Muneshige Cannon on the Azuchi, Hashiba negated the blast somehow or another. You remember that, don’t you?”

●

Horizey: “I appear to have a habit of impulsively firing them.”

Me: “You really do just fire them without warning. And you fire them even when you don’t have any fuel. Keep that in mind, okay?”

Asama: “Lately, I’ve started to think that’s part of what makes Horizon who she is.”

Silver Wolf: “It does give her a certain edge.”

Flat Vassal: “But if Hashiba can respond to those attacks, does it mean they have similar weapons?”

●

Masazumi concluded they probably did. After all, the Genesis Project had been Lord Motonobu’s idea.

“Our Logismoi Oplo were released to the nations to use as they liked, but does this mean they had another set they kept to use for the Genesis Project?”

“That would make sense.”

“But the Logismoi Oplo are supposed to be Horizon’s emotions, so what ingredients were Hashiba’s set made from?”

Someone muttered “ingredients?”, but it seemed like as good a term as any.

“Did they turn someone else into an automaton?” asked Naito.

“That would mean my awful father was even more awful than we thought, which would be a problem.”

“Also,” said Futayo, tilting her head. She kept her head at that angle as she continued. “Hashiba cannot participate in the Honnouji Incident because they are not included in the Testament’s list of participants.”

“By that logic, we couldn’t be there either,” pointed out Mary.

After an instantaneous pause, Crossunite nodded.

“It is possible someone could intrude out of a sense of duty, like I did in England.”

“To be fair, what you did in England was like a rematch for the earlier duels,” said Masazumi.

“Anyway,” said Horizon. “Whatever the case, we will learn how they plan to carry out the Genesis Project tonight. If they do have their own set of Logismoi Oplo, we should see how they use them. That should let us cheat- I mean, give us more reference data to figure out how to use my Logismoi Oplo.”

“But what are we going to do?” asked Urquiaga. “Let’s say we see their Genesis Project at Honnouji. Let’s say it violates our primary policy, but it can save the world from the Apocalypse. …What do we do then? What do we do if it is possible to save the world by denying the supremacy of elder sisters? It would be tempting to just let them do it.”

“I’m just going to ignore that part about elder sisters, but we would have to start by hearing them out,” said Masazumi.

That was important.

“Rejecting their plan is meaningless before we know what that plan is and what it really means. Hey, idiot, quit fidgeting. Sit still.”

“B-but you’re contradicting yourself!”

“Toori-kun, you don’t need try to be funny just because you’re bored.”

“But,” said Neshinbara. “Something isn’t right.”

“In your head?”

“What happened to hearing people out!?”

“It’s called extrapolating based on past data.”

“Judge. She is correct, Neshinbara-sama,” said Horizon. “People build up a reputation as they live their life and they are often judged based on it. Now, I have lived a modest and polite life, so I have a positive reputation and am even known for my ecofriendly practices. Hm, I stumble over my words this time. I must be getting used to this.”

“You mean it wasn’t a bit when you did it before?”

“Judge. And because I am ecofriendly, I care a lot about respecting the environment. So when I am in an environment that judges jokes harshly, I will respect that by being ruthless against bad jokes.”

Didn’t she always do that? But…

“So what isn’t right, if not your head, Neshinbara?”

“Judge. Think about it. The Genesis Project is supposed to be a major effort to save the world from the Apocalypse, right? So why haven’t they revealed the details of their plan even on the day they’re going to enact it? It seems suspicious to me. I bet they’re hiding some evil act that will completely overturn the current world. Why else would they avoid talking about it!?”

“Like what?”

“Well,” said Naruze. “If they’re anything like a certain doujin author I could mention, maybe they’re procrastinating on coming up with an idea until the last second before submitting their story for publishing.”

“Yeah, that’s a bad habit of Bara-yan’s. He’s always real cagey about what his story is about until he gets his manuscript thrown together right before the deadline.”

“B-but I get it done in time and that’s what matters!”

“Really?” asked Masazumi and Ohiroshiki waved his hand side to side.

“One time, he bragged about this great story he was writing, but it bombed and he lost all motivation and never continued the series.”

“Of course I didn’t! The passion inside me was gone!”

“Why did you ever think you could get involved in politics as the Secretary? Better planning would solve most of your problems.”

“Takarazuka Honda-kun, don’t you fail to budget out your book buying and end up collapsing from hunger!?”

“From initial report to collection, Masazumi-sama’s hunger collapses can be seen as a public work the Blue Thunder assists in, so she is able to collapse without worrying what will happen to her.”

“Um, then should we think of Asama-san going to the guard station to collect the Chancellor as another public work?” asked Adele.

“But, you know, what else can I do?” said Asama.

“ ‘Ahn! Oh, Toori-kun, you are incorrigible. Now watch me wiggle all bashfully!’ …What’s that smile for, Asama? It’s terrifying!” said Kimi.

Asama didn’t even bother trying to deny that level of teasing at this point, so it felt like she was getting used to it.

But anyway…

“I really don’t want to believe P.A. Oda is acting without a plan. And if it isn’t that…”

Neshinbara continued for Masazumi.

“I know! They must be doing live human sacrifices! Or bringing misfortune to a great number of people! Their methods are so inhumane that they can’t let anyone know about them in advance! Yes, like replacing half of humanity!”

Masazumi looked around, seeking the opinions of the observers.

“Do you think it could be that?”

“If they did have something set up to erase half of humanity, wouldn’t they need to distribute it?” said Naito. “And that work would gobble up tax money.”

“No, Naito-kun! They could use the ley lines or spells somehow!” insisted Neshinbara.

“If they did, we would notice something,” said Asama. “And there are defenses set up on the infrastructure that passes between nations, so it wouldn’t be easy to distribute anything across the entire Far East.”

“Asama-kun! You’re looking at this too realistically!”

“Because it’s happening in reality!!”

After that united retort from everyone, Masazumi held a hand out to stop them. And after a moment of thought…

“Assuming it is something on a smaller scale, are there spells for live sacrifices?”

“Hm.” Asama tilted her head. “Didn’t Tsirhc have that thing where someone had to offer up his own child to prove his faith was real?”

“Yes,” confirmed the Tres España Vice President . “In the Old Testament. But god chickened out partway through and tried to get out of it by going, ‘Wait, you thought I was serious!? It was only a test! I was just kidding!’ Abraham’s internal response then has been classified as the first time humanity got pissed at god. Some versions of the text even say he glared at god and clenched his fist so hard it shook.”

“Monotheistic gods end up looking so lame at times like that since there’s no other gods around to stop them,” said Naito.

“Oh.” Asama raised her hand. “The whole monotheistic god thing is really only an unspoken agreement the gods have allowed to exist in certain religions. That’s how both Tsirhc and Mlasi can both say their god is the one and only god. When they have to interact, they get around it by saying each other’s god is a being from another dimension.”

“From another dimension?”

“From another dimension?”

“Yes,” continued Asama. “And Shinto has such an ‘anything goes’ attitude that when trouble like that crops up on the Musashi, we basically say, ‘what’s wrong with there being two or three monotheistic gods at the same time? If you don’t like it, you can always leave.’ ”

The Tres España Vice President held her slumping head, but Shinto was just really lax about all those things.

Asama: “Well, Shinto exists as a religion to eliminate conflict by pacifying malevolent spirits and providing everyone with a local god.”

But based on all of this, they could reach a certain conclusion.

“Sacrificing people seems unlikely, don’t you think?”

“Well, there are only so many spells you could use to turn a person into an offering. But through other means, there are ways of doing it. Like changing their form first,” said Naruze while drawing up a storyboard. “After all,” she added. “Mary there was basically being sacrificed, right?”

That was a good point.

…They were returning a relative of the Fairy Queen to the ley lines to strengthen her land of origin: England.

You could think of that as turning Mary into a local god.

“But if that is it, who would they be sacrificing?”

“Nobunaga?” suggested Naito.

Everyone tilted their head and Mary raised her hand.

“Is Lord Nobunaga executed? Or is it suicide?”

“That isn’t actually known, but I would guess suicide,” said Naito.

“That would be a bit of a pain, but it does give Musashi a reason to intervene,” said the Tres España Vice President. “During a history recreation held between two parties, if someone is being pressured to commit suicide for one side or the other, you can send a request to Testament Union to have it stopped. Not to mention that you have made a point of stopping such things yourselves.”

Everyone nodded with comments of “yeah, I guess so”. But…

“What if they’re being forced into it?”

“Isn’t that exactly what you have insisted you will not allow to happen? I would ask you to show as little restraint as you did during the Armada battle.”

She had a point. But…

“Oh, I just had an idea,” said the idiot, opening the next dish brought in and confirming it too was curry. “Let’s say the Honnouji Incident is part of the Genesis Project. And let’s say Nobunaga is being sacrificed as part of it.”

He asked his question.

“Wouldn’t they be kind of stuck if we didn’t go to Honnouji and the ‘incident’ never happens?”

●

“Hey, Kime-chan,” said Wakisaka in the night sky, Lake Biwa reflecting the twin full moons below them.

The two of them were leading the way to guide their returning comrades to the Lake Biwa Azuchi. The wind washed over the late summer lake surface as they flew.

“Musashi is up above Kyou right now, but what if they don’t come here?”

“Then we’d be stuck. But I’m sure they have more sense than that.”

“I didn’t realize we had left so much room for things to go horribly wrong…”

Meanwhile, Wakisaka’s Magie Figur sensor detected something large.

…Ohh, here they are.

The group that had gone to Aki was arriving from the south. As the large transport ship approached, she looked up on the deck to see Kasuya, Hirano, and…the really tall one had to be Sakon.

“They’re all so big.”

But she didn’t mean their height for all of them.

●

“That said, if we didn’t go, they would probably choose someone to replace us.”

Mitotsudaira agreed with Masazumi there.

“My king was given Akechi Mitsuhide’s name, but with an on-site decision like that, P.A. Oda probably wants to protest it. So I honestly wouldn’t blame them if they did choose another name inheritor from within their own ranks.”

“If it comes to that, Tres España will likely support your Chancellor’s position, along with Hexagone Française, England, and the Protestants,” said the Tres España Vice President.

Mitotsudaira appreciated that.

…But that also means I need to be there to protect my king.

As her king’s knight…

“It’s possible my king will end up in a duel against Nobunaga, isn’t it?” she muttered to herself.

Narumi raised her hand then.

“Yes?”

“To get back on topic, you mentioned the possibility of Nobunaga being sacrificed, right? But I think they probably have another reason for keeping information on tonight close to their chest.”

“Oh.”

Now that she mentioned it.

“Do you see what I mean? We don’t know how Nobunaga’s death will happen, but it is straight from the Testament. Any current student should know that. Everyone understands this, but everyone also says they have no information on the Genesis Project.”

Mitotsudaira saw where this was going.

“Are you saying to look at this in reverse? That the Honnouji Incident itself is the Genesis Project and thus we already know what it entails?”

●

That seems somewhat contradictory, thought Mitotsudaira.

…It’s a chicken or the egg kind of situation.

She liked both and both seemed like a delicious option to her, but that wasn’t the point.

Masazumi tilted her head and spoke.

“Is the Honnouji Incident part of the Genesis Project or is the Genesis Project part of the Honnouji Incident?”

“At this point, it seems hard to separate the two.” Narumi took a breath. “But I could be wrong about this. Not even this explains why they won’t reveal the details of their project. It wouldn’t be hard to say the Genesis Project is the Honnouji Incident itself.”

“Yes, the question isn’t what they will be doing at Honnouji. What they haven’t told us is how the two things are connected.”

“Could that be because…of us? I mean…we don’t like…sacrifices.”

Mitotsudaira got Suzu’s point.

If P.A. Oda revealed they were sacrificing someone, Musashi would move to stop them. That was their national policy and it was one of Musashi’s guidelines. But…

“Musashi only decided on that policy after Mikawa and only made it official at England.”

“If Mukai is right, it would mean P.A. Oda was about ready to reveal their plan but our policy made them rethink that idea because they feared we would butt in or even oppose them.”

“Oh, yeah. It really would have made an impact if they announced it after Lord Motonobu got everyone worked up at Mikawa.”

“So you’re saying they decided against it because Lord Motonobu’s daughter chose the opposite policy?”

It sounded plausible, but was that really what happened?

…We did reveal that policy at Mikawa, but it wasn’t accepted until England.

“Hmm…that doesn’t seem…quite right,” said Suzu herself, sounding like she had made a mistake.

Mitotsudaira exchanged a glance with Asama, Adele, and the others above Suzu’s head.

Silver Wolf: “Now don’t drag Suzu into our cannibalism just because she was wrong.”

Flat Vassal: “For one thing, her idea was a reasonable one.”

That was when someone began with a “but”. It was Neshinbara.

“But if things did play out as Mukai-kun suggested, it would mean P.A. Oda was already cautious of us back then. If so…”

“Judge,” said Urquiaga. Then wouldn’t they have made their announcement after defeating us at the Battle of Mikatagahara? They had proven their superiority to us in battle at that point.”

He was right. But what did that mean?

“Did they have some other reason to keep their information secret?” asked Mitotsudaira.

“Hmm.” Adele tilted her head and crossed her arms. “Is talking about it dangerous for some reason?”

That sounded familiar to Mitotsudaira.

…Wait.

She looked up to see Asama and Mary looking her way. Masazumi had frozen in place too.

“Could it be?” said Masazumi in a “you’re kidding, right?” tone. “Would they be taken by the Double Border Crest if they talk about it?”

●

“Masazumi.”

Urquiaga’s quiet voice was the only sound among them. Narumi listened as he continued.

“Congratulations on finally telling a funny joke.”

“Judge. Congrats,” said Narumi. “The Double Border Crest needs a certain condition to appear, doesn’t it? It only appears to those who attended that mystery academy 30 years ago.”

“It appeared behind us too, so being a blood relative seems to count as well,” said the Asama Shrine Representative. “But are we suggesting a possible connection between the Double Border Crest and Lord Nobunaga?”

“Didn’t Akechi Mitsuhide say he was the final student there?”

“Nobunaga could still have an indirect connection, Narumi.”

“But,” said Narumi. “If that is the key, then I don’t see why Nobunaga has to be the star tonight. We have several people with an indirect connection right here. Why would they go to the trouble of using the Honnouji Incident for the Genesis Project and use Nobunaga in that role?”

“Neshinbara.” The Vice President addressed the Secretary. “Have you made any progress on the code?”

“We can read most of it, so I’m attempting to guess or brute force the rest of it.”

“What code?” asked the Tres España Vice President.

Musashi’s Vice President nodded, looked to the others, and nodded again.

“We received a coded memo in Hexagone Française, which we have since left in Sweden Chancellor Christina’s care. We can read most of it now, but there is still a part we can’t crack. The Song of Passage was the key to the code.”

The Vice President called up their current version of the decoded text and passed it to the Tres España side of the table.

Risototooukowareta

Nagayoshinozugaigatadashii

Zukiiinofukiwoiwaoniosame

Nazuowarikotamanizugaiwoosameyo

Futarinoseijiyohaizuko

The Tres España Vice President quickly read through it.

“This appears to be another code.”

“We agree. We do have a guess at what it could mean. Would you like it?”

“Testament. If you don’t mind, we have people who analyze texts.”

“Judge,” said the Vice President, sending over another sign frame. The Tres España Vice President ran a few checks using a spell. And then…

“We will inform you if we learn anything.”

Art-Ga: “Does this mean a member of our Student Council is entirely useless now?”

Laborer: “You must mean Neshinbara!”

Novice: “Not so fast, Noriki-kun! I will admit I enjoyed how everyone was treating me, but that kind of direct attack will still damage my reputation!”

Gold Mar: “But only your reputation? It doesn’t bother you mentally?”

We had someone like that in Date, didn’t we? thought Narumi as she sent an external divine transmission.

Unturning: “Didn’t we have someone in Date who was mentally indestructible?”

Katakura-kun: “Have you ever looked in a mirror!? Even once!?”

She remembered who it was, so she ended the transmission. And to get back on topic…

“There is a lot we won’t know unless we visit Honnouji, isn’t there?”

“Judge,” said the Vice President, scooting forward in her seat. “We have several things to check while we are there: what the Genesis Project is, whether or not Nobunaga’s death is a part of it, and what Hashiba’s Logismoi Oplo are.”

“You do understand we’re talking about a battle here, don’t you?”

“Judge. A localized battle to take down a fortress. This will be our first attack on a castle since Novgorod.”

“Then.” The Tres España Vice President nodded. “That concludes our meeting. …Go and win that battle, Musashi. The time has come for us to discuss what will become of the world after all this is over.”

●

The meal and meeting had ended more quickly than Gin had expected.

She watched from the roof of Tama’s bridge as everyone left the jinmaku. Then the jinmaku was dismantled. Only Juana and Flores were still inside.

“–––––”

She knew they couldn’t see her, but she still bowed toward them.

Takakane, Fusae, and the others had to be in the landed warship.

“Gin. You aren’t going to greet them?”

“I just did.”

“I see,” said Muneshige before bowing in their direction too.

Gin saw the others’ conversation on the divine network. They had figured out what they needed to do now, what they needed to do in the future, and what was expected of them.

The people who had once expected much from Gin and Muneshige now expected much from the group Gin and Muneshige now called home.

…I’m glad.

This made her feel like they hadn’t lost their touch, but she also thought she might be imagining that. What they did at Honnouji and afterwards would matter a lot, but…

“What was that curry festival about?”

●

83: “I went to help out in the kitchen, we hit it off great, and we ended up showing off our signature dishes, so they ended up seeing if they could make their own curry.”

Scarred: “The dashi in the hassun curry was a wonderful touch.”

Novice: “That one was different from the others?”

Four Eyes: “You have the undiscerning palate of a child.”

Novice: “D-don’t act like you would’ve noticed!”

Art-Ga: “I was expecting a more exciting explanation, but that’s honestly pretty boring.”

Vice President: “Boring is what we want with Honnouji coming up! Okay, everyone! We’ve eaten, so go take a bath and use your compressed sleep charms! The Honnouji Incident begins at midnight tonight. We have less than 4 hours to go! Don’t expect to get any rest once that starts!”

Silver Wolf: “Masazumi! Masazumi! Doesn’t a major revolution like this deserve to be discussed with more gravity!?”

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