Horizon:GT2 Chapter19
Chapter 19: Festival and Dream[edit]
Is the present a correction of the past?
Is the future a correction of the present?
Point Allocation (A Night in the Graveyard)
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Vice President: “After that, I was shown around the festival and some things unrelated to the incident happened, so that about sums up what happened. But why were we so out of sync with each other throughout the entire thing!?”
Unturning: “There are a few things you never resolved. Like what happened with the murder?”
Asama: “Someone…I wouldn’t go so far as to say they lied, but they omitted some key points regarding that. So allow me to add that in.”
●
*Addition by Asama.
While Asama guided Masazumi to a safe place in the festival, she received a divine transmission from Toori.
“What is it, Toori-kun? There’s someone I would like to introduce you to if you have time.”
“Y-you’re trying to lead me to the guards, aren’t you!? I’m not falling for that one again!”
Note to self: that one won’t work anymore, thought Asama, but the guards had been upping their game lately. If only they wouldn’t automatically contact her as the one to pick him up. But…
“So what did you want, Toori-kun?”
“Well, I was talking with sis and when I told her about these friends I made – or some people I helped out at least – she fainted.”
“There is a medical tent set up, so call them. They will go pick her up.”
I think I know what must have happened, thought Asama.
○
Wise Sister: “La la la! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you!!”
Scarred: “What does all this mean?”
Asama: “I can’t say for certain, but the Arima Harunobu and Okamoto Daihachi who met us and Masazumi back then were most likely ghosts.”
Vice President: “Yeah, I had a feeling. Especially when going back over it all tonight.”
Smoking Girl: “Care to explain?”
●
While the festival was finally falling into a lull, Asama received a message from her father.
“Honda-san, the restriction on transfer of residence requests has been officially lifted. You can return to your home tonight.”
“That’s a huge relief,” said Masazumi. “Anyway, I know I should really be introducing myself again, but I want to go back over what we know about this incident.”
A Tres España student who was walking nearby noticed them and raised her hand.
“Excuse me. Our 3rd Special Duty Officer asked that we explain some things if we found someone who would listen.”
“This is the most blatant intrusion on a flashback yet…”
“But,” said the girl as she opened a sign frame. “To explain what I know, first the Nossa Senhora da Graça Incident happened, right? During that, Tres España lost track of Arima and Okamoto and Hinoe said they too did not know where those two had gone. Lady Rodrigo had a history recreation taking her along the eastern route to the New World, so she was ordered to visit Mikawa on the way.”
“I see,” said Mitotsudaira, crossing her arms. “That must be when Arima and Okamoto left to seek out Masazumi and have her renew the ban on foreign religions so they could free the Hinoe Domain and give the Far East as a whole an advantage. But after reaching Mikawa, their pursuers caught up.”
“Yes, which would make those two the ones who killed themselves in the inn. Do you remember what Neshinbara said about how the Okamoto Daihachi Incident ends? Okamoto Daihachi is executed by burning and Arima Harunobu is ordered to kill himself. But as Adele pointed out, suicide is forbidden for Catholics.”
“Oh,” said Naito, pressing her lips together and shrugging. “So killing each other in the burning inn was meant as a history recreation of their executions.”
“Now I see why my king called them idiots. But,” sighed Mitotsudaira. “Because the circumstances of their death were such an obvious sign, someone might realize the truth, which could lead to the ban. Which is why Tres España and Mikawa tried to stop our investigation.”
The others expressed their understanding and Naito said more while inspecting her broom in preparation for maintenance.
“Thinking back, Tres España’s freezing of the change of residence requests was probably partially meant to keep Seijun in Mikawa. If they could get their hands on her, they could place her under the watchful eye of their inquisitor.”
“Oh, now that you meant it, that probably was part of it.”
“Judge,” said Naito with a nod and a small smile. “But those two showed great tenacity to slip past that surveillance and reach the Musashi.”
“But how did they get to the Musashi? And why did they appear separately?” asked Adele.
Everyone exchanged a glance, but Masazumi alone said “oh”.
“The knives.”
●
Mitotsudaira saw Asama nod and say, “probably so.” Asama waved her hand like a blade.
“It’s common for regrets to reside in objects like that. And in their case, they had to gather the resolve to kill each other, so that emotion probably entered the knives they were holding.” Asama sighed. “And based on what Kimi said, I think Toori-kun met the two of them when he was carrying the knives. They probably told him some of what was going on.”
“My king… For some reason people do find it easy to confide in him.”
It was kind of amusing how everyone nodded in understanding except Masazumi who tilted her head.
But she tilted her head further before speaking.
“Then why did Arima’s arrive first and Okamoto’s later?”
○
Tonbokiri: “That was probably my father. On the day of the murder, he left with Kazuno-dono and then left again the following morning.”
Flat Vassal: “So the first time he ran to the burned-down inn and managed to retrieve just one of the knives? Could he have received it from Arima-san or Okamoto-san while they were still just barely alive?”
Tachibana Wife: “Perhaps Arima Harunobu’s regrets, or a message she left behind, said to deliver the knife to the Vice President. But when it was sent to Musashi-”
Vice President: “Wait.”
Silver Wolf: “What is it, Masazumi?”
Vice President: “I was wondering why something meant for me would go to Musashi, but I had already submitted my change of residence request to Mikawa and Musashi. Lord Tadakatsu would have had access to that right away, so he probably thought the knife would at least reach my father.”
Asama: “Thanks to the exile policy, Mikawa’s citizen management wasn’t the best and the odds of missing you were probably pretty high with both the Musashi and Tres España there.”
●
Adele heard Masazumi say “I see” and Adele explained her own thoughts.
“I guess you would call that tenacity. They worked together, made enemies of their own people, hid all the information, and in the end even overturned their own methods to make sure they achieved the bare minimum of results.”
“I was completely outdone,” said Masazumi. Her shoulders slumped in a sigh. “I’m the biggest loser here. From beginning to end, I was in the palm of someone’s hand.”
“Not necessarily, Masazumi. It all ended with those two – and everyone else – smiling.”
Adele had smiled plenty too. She had never landed such a solid shield attack before. So…
“Welcome to the Musashi. Sorry to put you to work on your first day.”
●
From there, Masazumi watched the continuation of the festival. Everyone hit each other, laughed with and forgave each other, acknowledged each other’s views, and slapped each other’s shoulders, but now it was apparently time for dancing.
She didn’t know how to dance, so she just walked around the festival, guided by the Asama Shrine Representative, the Mito Lord, and the others.
They said “Kimi and Toori-kun aren’t here. But I just heard them singing a minute ago”, but Masazumi had met enough people for one day.
They decided to leave the festival at around 9, so all she ended up doing was watch.
They met with Rodrigo’s group at a festival stand run by the Tres España embassy. The Hinoe group bowed toward Masazumi and returned to Mikawa. Masazumi made sure to bow to the Musashi group.
“Will I see you all at the start of the new school term?”
“The festival still has two more days to go, you know?”
She wasn’t sure if her father would let her attend the festival, but she decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go if she had the chance.
After parting with the others, she arrived at…
“Why am I at the graveyard when my mother’s things aren’t even buried here yet?”
She was high up on Okutama’s bow. She had come here because the first day of the festival meant everywhere on the Musashi was so bright and noisy.
She was also in high spirits. She wanted to let the breeze wash over her until her head had cooled and she had calmed down.
“Yes.”
This had all been a wonderful dream. She had once tried to earn an inherited name and failed. But now…
“Does this count as a second failure?”
Saying that out loud caused her body to rapidly cool. She only now realized she had worked up a sweat. And…
“Oh.”
Her knees shook and she couldn’t stay on her feet.
○
Horizey: “Were you on drugs, Masazumi-sama!?”
Wise Sister: “Heh heh. No! Her brain’s endorphins had stopped dorphing and its dopamine had stopped doping, so she burned out! And it was three outs, meaning a change of sides!”
Vice President: “Is that supposed to be a joke or are you just rambling!?”
●
Only now did it hit Masazumi how risky that had been.
She had engaged in an international negotiation. With an inquisitor accompanied by a group of warriors, no less.
And her discussion with Arima prior to that had been with a nation’s Student Council President.
If things had gone wrong, it could have overturned the state of the Far East and the responsibility would have been hers. But…
…Was I even aware of that?
No. She had been so focused on securing the advantage she saw that she hadn’t noticed how unsteady the footing was up ahead.
And when she looked back on the negotiation…
…Arima was hoping for a compromise from the beginning and set things up so I would have the advantage.
And with Rodrigo, Tres España had already considered most everything she proposed.
She did think she had given those two a chance for change, but even then…
“That was only because I had always wanted to cause change in a major nation.”
Because Masazumi was so inexperienced, Rodrigo would pretend none of this happened. Which meant…
“––––––”
Masazumi trembled and sensed something uncertain about the view before her.
She was only here because of her actions and the other side’s thoughtfulness.
…But what if this had been a negotiation between politicians who were willing to be enemies?
They would have faced each other as enemies at the unimaginably large scope of nations. With that in mind…
“Damn.”
That was what her father and the other politicians did.
Some students her age did it too. In fact, some younger than her did.
She had only taken a peek in through entrance to try it out and here she was trembling.
“Damn.”
○
Wise Sister: “What’s with her? Does visiting the graveyard activate her depression switch?”
Flat Vassal: “Wouldn’t it be weirder if visiting the graveyard activated your manic switch?”
Scarred: “Asama-sama always seems extra energetic at the shrine.”
Asama: “A shrine is not a graveyard. Even if there sometimes are graves there due to the Shinto-Buddhist syncretism.”
Horizey: “Then was Masazumi-sama’s switch activated by the magnetic field?”
Vice President: “Hallucinated voices, divine messages, and magnetic fields. The past sure is a wild place!”
Art-Ga: “Anyway, you lose confidence pretty quick, don’t you?”
Vice President: “That time, I kind of crashed after the high of my first negotiation. To be honest, I was afraid to debate anyone for a while afterwards. I became overly cautious and the things my dad said seemed awfully convincing.”
Horizey: “And this continued until your pantsing?”
Vice President: “I wouldn’t go that far…”
●
Maybe I won’t be so conceited anymore, thought Masazumi. Part of her had long been confident she could become a name inheritor, but now she wasn’t so sure. However…
“I can get a fresh start from here.”
She was alone and, once she descended from the graveyard, she would find the world the same as it was before the dream.
All of the words she had so desperately strung together, the resolve Arima and Okamoto had shown, and everything else…
…Are a thing of the past now.
It was all history now. So…
“She told me to have a good day.”
This was Musashi. Your past didn’t matter here. She had heard it was a destination for exiles and outcasts. But if they could all laugh like she had seen earlier, could she end up that way some day? Could she accomplish that herself, without being propped up by other people?
“Mom. I screwed up.”
Long ago, she had been furious and, for some reason, told her mother that and cried. Her mother had rubbed her head and asked her a question.
“What do you want for dinner tonight?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Then let’s go somewhere.”
They had gone shopping and taken a walk. After they returned home, she had finally said she wanted mackerel sushi, which meant heading out again. Is eat all we ever did? she wondered, but that was something they could never do again.
But the next morning, her mother had told her to have a good day the same as always.
She no longer had someone to cook for her and to walk with her.
But she would still say it. She would continue saying it to support herself in the present. Her mother was gone. Only her belongings would be buried in this graveyard. But Masazumi still stood up and…
“I will, mom.”
She realized she was crying. She wiped the tears away, leaving a saltiness on the back of her hand.
But that was fine. She wouldn’t remember her past failures for a while. She was no longer the person she was back then.
She had learned something important. She still didn’t know what she wanted to do, but she was ready to find out. And she would spend the next year figuring out where she stood with her father. But…
“He’s still keeping me at arm’s length.”
She sighed before wiping away more tears and looking up.
That brought something into view: Musashi’s nightscape.
●
Her speechlessness made her painfully aware of how naïve she was.
Every part of the Musashi was lit up for the festival night. She realized something when she looked to the illuminated cities.
…Musashi’s cities are packed in so close together.
As big as the ship was, space was limited. Most of the longhouses only contained small rooms.
They were miniscule compared to her house in Mikawa. So many people only had a single room to live in.
But she knew the people who lived in them were all smiling. She had seen that earlier.
She realized something else as well.
She had thought the house on Musashino was small. She had wondered how such a small garden could show power.
But she hadn’t understood what kind of place Musashi was.
That house really was small. But how much effort had it taken to secure even that small house on the Musashi? Musashi did have woods in its nature districts, but none of the houses had trees and very few had gardens. Also…
“Dad did it all on his own, without mom.”
That wasn’t all.
Here. This burial plot. A spot overlooking all of Musashi had to be valuable.
It even had a tree nearby to provide shade during the summer. And…
“She can watch over Musashi from here…”
Her father had never once called her mother or her to the Musashi. But…
“Damn.”
She couldn’t call her mother here either.
The Musashi her father governed on the Provisional Council was currently enjoying a festival. Everyone was outside laughing and singing.
“Damn!”
What had she been doing?
Dreaming. The same dream she had been trapped in for so long. But her dream of influencing the world as a name inheritor was over now.
“So I’ll return here from time to time. To remember the past.”
It was time to go. There was no one here. It was a place for dreams. So…
“Oh, Masazumi-sama! Enjoying some late-night athletics in the graveyard!?”
P-01s was there for some reason.
●
“Um, wait. You didn’t start visiting here until later. We don’t meet here until next year.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Masazumi-sama! You should know that I, Hori- P-01s, don’t care about such trivialities.”
She’s right. I do know that, thought Masazumi, but thinking back, this was the first person she had met on the Musashi if you excluded the Asama Shrine Representative’s group. But when she thought back on the people she had met today…
“You know what, P-01s?”
“What, Masazumi-sama?”
“You’re a perfect fit for Musashi.”
P-01s gave her a horribly offended look, so she must not have accepted that fact yet.
○
Horizey: “As you can see, I showed up at the last second to save us all from Masazumi-sama’s depressing ending. No one likes to end it on a downer.”
Wise Sister: “Heh heh. Right you are, Horizon! We need to destroy the assumption that being depressing makes you cool!”
Vice President: “You do realize this is going to be used as an official record of the incident, don’t you?”
Asama: “The scary part is how my god says all this is fine as long as it’s entertaining.”
<Damn straight: By, god>
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