Horizon:Volume 9A Chapter 1

Chapter 1: At Gion, Raised in Kanda

Edo is- gah!

Point Allocation (Oh…)

●

Juana had already prepared a location for the meeting.

The current time was 7:30 PM and they were outside, but they were inside a jinmaku.

Tres España excelled at field battles, so she setting up a meeting inside a jinmaku was normal for her.

“I have also prepared food for our meeting. A Kyou restaurant had evacuated to the same inn as us, so I asked them to cook us some Kyou food.”

“Oh, really?” said the Musashi group as they entered the jinmaku.

The 1st and 5th Special Duty Officers took the lead, followed by their Chancellor and Vicereine. Next were the Vice President and Vice Chancellor. The rest filed in after that, but…

…Oh?

Gin and Muneshige were not among them. Were they sitting this one out due to their past with Tres España?

They always were unnecessarily strict, she thought.

“Huh, even Captain Fusae sent a message expressing her disappointment in Gin’s absence,” said Flores, who was acting as Juana’s bodyguard.

“Everyone is more worried about them than I thought.”

“If you ask me, you worry about so much yourself you fail to notice the worrying we do.”

Juana had a feeling that was probably accurate. But Flores smiled bitterly and…

“Don’t take it too seriously. Even I find myself expecting certain things from you at this point.”

“You do?”

“Testament. Like the way you’re writing up a list of souvenirs for the Chancellor when we still have a whole week before we head back. Although that one was even more than I expected.”

“W-wait, you meant that kind of thing!?”

But she did need to correct one thing.

“Those souvenirs are for the children at the hospital. It’s just that the Chancellor will have an easier time speaking with them when he visits if he too has tasted the treats I am giving them.”

“Oh, is that why?” said Flores as a voice reached them from up ahead.

It was the Musashi group. Their princess raised a hand in greeting. Once she had Juana’s attention, she nodded and…

“We are honored by- geh!”

“Horizon! Horizon! You can let someone else handle the polite greetings if you aren’t accustomed to them!” said their 5th Special Duty Officer.

“Hey, Seijun. Say something or I will,” said their Chancellor.

“Fine,” said their Vice President, stepping out in front.

She looked Juana in the eye and opened her mouth.

“We are grateful for the meeting and meal you have prepared for us. You say this is Kyou food? By that do you mean Kyou-gurt? Just kidding.”

●

Uqui: “Wait, Narumi.”

Unturning : “I didn’t say anything this time. I did think it, though.”

Vice President: “C’mon, people. Laugh. You don’t have to hold back just cause Tres España is here. Remember, this is our last chance for levity before the serious meeting begins.”

Almost Everyone: “You can’t force us to laugh!”

●

Juana raised her guard when she noticed the Musashi group exchanging glances and conversing on their sign frames. She had known this meeting would be a difficult one, but…

“Excuse me, but you will be unable to enjoy the food if you raise your guard. Please, take a seat.”

“Oh, don’t mind if I do.” Their Vice Chancellor raised her right hand and looked to the rest of her group. “If this is Kyou food, will we be using Kyou manners?”

“Eh? I’m not sure what-”

Kyou manners?

Tres España was a large nation largely made of the pure-blooded and noble long-lived who had moved there.

They didn’t have an immediately apparent connection to Kyou, but some of their pure-blooded long-lived came from the Minamoto clan, which was descended from the Fujiwara clan. It wasn’t exactly the same, but their table manners took after the Kyou ones. So…

…I see.

This Musashi group had their foundation in Mikawa and the eastern nations. They would be unfamiliar with Kyou manners, so why would they suggest using them here?

…They are following our customs to make us feel welcome as guests.

They were welcoming Tres España in as superiors. So…

“Testament. I understand. We can use Kyou manners here.”

That established Kyou manners as one rule to follow in this meeting. That would make it easier for them to reach a consensus despite the difficult circumstances. So she nodded and…

“In other words, this meeting will run on Kyou rules.”

●

Vice President: “Now, then.”

Naito saw Masazumi’s words. She knew what Masazumi wanted to say. While pulling back her chair, Naito caught Naruze’s eye.

…What do you think?

Someone responded to Masazumi.

10ZO: “We must secure this location.”

They were on the Musashi. Specifically, on Tama’s port. They were inside the Musashi’s defense field and Shinto power passed from below the floor on up into the sky.

But there were ways of ignoring or breaking through such things.

…That’s why the guards and the Chancellor’s Officers are necessary.

Defense fell under the jurisdiction of the 1st Special Duty Officer, who also handled intelligence. But the 3rd onwards traditionally assisted the Vice Chancellor and the 1st and 2nd Special Duty Officers.

Plus, Naito and Naruze’s parents had worked in that field, so they knew a thing or two about it. So…

Art-Ga: “I’ve activated a surveillance spell. If we combine that with Suzu’s audio and thermal sensing, we should be fine even without Asama setting up a field here. …Asama? Can you use your prosthetic eye? With its ether detection, fixed point observation should be sufficient. No need for full-on field observation.”

Asama: “I agree. I will be keeping an eye on things with Konoha, but I would appreciate assistance from your optical spell. This is an international meeting, so we don’t want to look too cautious.”

Naito’s first reaction to Asama’s response was, “Oh, she’s actually letting us handle it.”

Asama did have a powerful visual spell she used for targeting.

During the Shirasagi Castle battle shortly before they traveled to Sanada, she had used Branch and Leaf Connection, a large targeting spell that provided full-area support for the Musashi. She could also use substitutions, so she could probably use a miniature or concentrated version of that.

But she didn’t do that here.

She didn’t even hint at having anything like it.

…She’s stopped doing everything on her own.

Did that mean she was letting other people handle what they could?

She had never moved to the front line, but she used to provide a lot of support from behind. This interaction showed Naito just how much Asama had changed. And at the same time…

…Wow. That’s kind of a pain.

After all, this would mean more work for Naito and Naruze. Well, the Chancellor’s Officers technically aren’t supposed to have ordinary citizens do our work for us, but she’s with the Asama Shrine. That’s different, right?

At any rate, she knew now was the time to do their job.

Besides, Asama had a lot of other things to do now.

“Asama-chi, what are you gonna do later?”

“Well, I do have to arrange the compressed sleep spells and other things. But…”

Naito knew what came after that “but”.

Art-Ga: “You have to organize things at the Main Blue Thunder, don’t you? Isn’t that in a district being partially split up?”

Circle Be: “So Asama-chi is finally living with Toori-kun.”

Still Got It: “Oh, talking about a new home!? Building yourself a love nest!?”

Asama: “S-see, this is why I trailed off!”

So…should Ture-yan really be hearing this? But then someone raised her hand.

“What is it, Horizon?”

“Speaking of necessary preparations after heading home,” said Horizon, hand on chin. “This is the night before the final showdown, so I believe it is required for the protagonist to ‘dock’ with the heroine, raising a death flag in the process.”

Tres España’s Vice President spat out her water.

●

Asama realized everyone’s attention was on her for some reason.

So she held her palms out toward them in three different directions before placing her hands on Horizon’s shoulders.

“E-excuse me a moment, Horizon.”

“What do you need, Asama-sama?”

“I don’t think that is something you should do because you feel obligated to.”

“This is not about obligation,” said Horizon. “It is just that,” she continued, “this could be our last chance.”

●

I suppose that’s true, thought Asama. Behind her, the Technohexen and ninja were speaking.

“Oh, that’s actually…kind of sweet?”

“No, no, no, it really isn’t!”

…Hm, I’m not sure if it is or not.

But she saw Horizon look to the others. After glancing at each in turn, she sighed and…

“To put it simply, I am anxious. After arriving on the Musashi and learning my identity, my awful father and Mikawa were blown away in a big explosion. That experience has given me a strong aversion to losing anything, but everything that has happened since has given me another way of thinking too.”

That was…

“If you want to avoid losing things, then you must also respect the act of living your life to its fullest. I also hope that we can do both and help others do both.”

“You mean…?” prompted Asama.

“I want to live my life too,” said Horizon.

Asama heard Suzu release a held breath.

Asama did the same. And Horizon continued, even if this wasn’t the best place for it.

“It may end. It may not. But either way, I want to do as much living as I can so I will have no regrets when it does inevitably end. Then again, maybe I should give up now since being with this boy is like failing at the starting gate. Then again, if I analyze the probabilities…oh, no. Even then, it giving up now appears to be the best option.”

“A-are you trying to kill me with sadness!?”

“Calm down,” said Asama while everyone tried to stop him.

Then Horizon placed her hands on his shoulders.

“I want to enjoy my life as much as possible. I want a life packed so full of fun that I can look back on any moment and reminisce about the stupid fun we had back then.”

I see, thought Asama. The odd heat filling her body had to be secondhand embarrassment.

And she saw him nod. The corners of his lips rose and he spoke to Horizon.

“I know exactly what you mean, Horizon. We’ve got a lot in common, don’t we?”

“…Huh?”

“Don’t act so confused by thaaaaat!”

“But, Toori-sama. If we are too alike, there would be no point in getting to know each other better.” Horizon sighed. “But anyway, I believe it is important to move on to that stage at this point. It will help rid me of my anxiety and it will increase our bond of trust when it matters.”

Furthermore…

“If I have invested enough in building the relationship that it would just be a pain to start over from scratch with someone else, it might actually make me more motivated.”

“Th-that’s an awfully negative way to reach a positive conclusion!”

“Wait a second, Toori-kun.”

Asama had a sudden thought and interrupted.

She had long sensed something in these interaction of theirs.

“Toori-kun, you need to stop enjoying the banter and actually give Horizon an answer.”

●

Oh, thought Naruze, throwing out the storyboard she had just drawn.

…Now I get it.

Asama’s line had helped her realize a mistake she had been making.

“That’s right,” she said to agree with Asama. “Horizon is always the initiator with them.”

●

Mitotsudaira heard the excitement rapidly grow in the others.

“You really know what you are doing, Asama-sama. You are not known as the original Caretaker Queen for nothing.”

“D-don’t just make up these titles for me! Hey, and I don’t want all of you applauding me for that!”

…That’s Asama for you.

Mitotsudaira understood Asama’s point of view here.

Horizon made all sorts of excuses and she could seem like a pain if you only focused on those conversations, but…

…She never does reject my king.

“Yes, that’s true. Horizon will push him away with her scornful comments, glare coldly at him, attack him with her arms, and kick him in the crotch…but she never does reject him.”

“Hey, Nate? I feel like you’re defining rejection way too narrowly.”

“But she is always by your side, isn’t she?” said Mary.

Mitotsudaira had to agree with that. Because…

“As are we.”

In their “battle formation”, Horizon was by his side, Mitotsudaira was in front of him, and Asama was behind him. Those positions represented how they supported him. Maybe that was why Horizon sighed and spoke.

“Well, I had mostly resigned myself to this, so I might as well let it happen.”

“C-could you please not phrase it like that, Horizon?” Mitotsudaira knew what she had to say. “My king, you should have more confidence when it comes to Horizon.”

Her king had carried great remorse over losing Horizon. That was now a thing of the past, but…

“You are satisfied just having her back with you.”

Horizon was fairly indifferent in that sense too. But sometimes her emotions would kick in.

…Like this anxiety.

It was unusual for Horizon to talk about it like she had here.

So what did she need now?

“My king, you need to tell Horizon what you can do for her.”

What could he do? He looked to Horizon and scratched his head as he spoke.

“Horizon. The thing is,” he started. “There’s a lot I could teach you, like how to cook and common sense.”

“Toori-kun, try to stay on topic.”

Asama was being unusually strict. But he continued after raising his palms toward Asama.

“Are you feeling anxious, Horizon?”

“Something is bound to be lost in a major battle. This anxiety is sure to be a constant thing on our path of world domination, but this battle is particularly large. I am uncertain what to do.”

“Then I’ve got something to tell you,” said the king. “You won’t lose anything.”

Because…

“I, Aoi Toori, am with you. I always will be. Nothing’s gonna change that. I promise you.”

“Thank you.”

Horizon readily accepted his promise and turned toward the table.

“Now, how about we eat before the meeting?”

●

…Wow.

Astonishment filled Asama as that conversation came to an end.

Sakuya was a god of childbirth, among other things, but none of it felt real when two people she knew so well were speaking so frankly about these things.

Especially with those two. She was reluctant to call herself a specialist, but she wanted to support them however she could as the Asama Shrine.

Gold Mar: “Are you going to make an audio recording of it?”

Asama: “Of course not. If anything, I want to soundproof everything so no sounds can get out.”

Flat Vassal: “But then how do you respond if something goes wrong in there?”

Asama: “Oh, come on. How would things go wro-”

…I can think of several ways actually!!

Was that a testament to their strong personalities?

While she drank some water to give herself time to figure out how to respond, Kimi spoke up.

Wise Sister: “You two can have your turn later on.”

Silver Wolf: “Huh? Our turn for what?”

Wise Sister: “We’re short on time, so only Horizon will be able to ‘live her life to the fullest’ before Honnouji, right? So you two will have to wait until later. You can relieve your post-battle exhaustion with him! I hope you’re ready.”

Asama and Mitotsudaira both spat out their water.

●

Asama-san and the 5th Special Duty Officer should really just give up already, thought Adele. They were doing a good job of looking after the person they cared for, but they kept pushing off their own issues until later.

But they wouldn’t have moved into the Main Blue Thunder if they weren’t expecting this. This realization was somewhat surprising but also somewhat unsurprising for Adele, but those two couldn’t deny things were headed in that direction now.

They were past causing trouble or keeping a lid on it all.

Even now, Horizon placed a hand on the idiot’s shoulder and slapped it a few times before…

“Toori-sama, they might think they are helping relieve your post-battle exhaustion, but do be careful. I fear those two might suck you dry, leaving behind only a dried husk.”

“You really are daring when it comes to these comments, aren’t you?”

“As long as I remain by your side, I will never be flustered by or reject you for what you do there. In fact, I would like to observe so I can make comments like ‘Ho ho? So that is how those two do it’.”

“Um, wait, Horizon. Maybe we can wait until we’re more experienced before trying that?” said Asama, freezing in place as soon as she realized what she had just said.

After a bit, she mimed moving a piece of luggage from right to left.

“That aside, how about we start eating?”

“Don’t expect us to let that one slide!”

After everyone’s unified retort, Asama began a dance of desperation on Kimi’s invitation.

Someone raised her hand to put an end to all the nonsense. It was the Vice President. She glared at all the others before speaking.

“Hey, the food will be here soon. You can keep your sign frames open, but the out loud portion of that conversation ends now.”

Sure enough, Adele sensed someone at the jinmaku’s entrance.

The food was being carried in.

●

Juana noted that everyone had taken their seats. Although the only people at the head of the table were her, Flores, and two or three bodyguards.

Vice Chancellor Takakane, Fusae, and the others were waiting outside to guard the jinmaku and to gather information on Kyou. They would occasionally send messages via cadena firma, but things seemed peaceful outside for now.

…But will the Musashi group let us have any peace?

They had been squabbling about something before taking their seats. She was oddly impressed that they made sure to cause a scene even when they acknowledged they were short on time.

But they were much more silent now.

They had to eat and hold a meeting.

There was much to discuss. Even looking at just the present situation, Tres España was part of Hashiba’s Catholic forces, but they had two options here: support Musashi in some form, or work with P.A. Oda to perform a pincer attack.

…Even if Hashiba is Catholic, working with them is only a means of keeping them from invading us.

Looking even further into the future, this meeting was crucial. This meeting was a privilege only Tres España had and they had been lucky to receive it right before the Honnouji Incident, a major turning point of the age.

She wanted to keep it simple since they were short on time, but Musashi had Honnouji to prepare for.

Surely they would want to end the meeting quickly to give them as much time as possible for rest and resupplying.

That meant Juana could use time as a card in her negotiating deck.

So she considered her plan here.

• Stall for time until Musashi has no choice but to accept our demands.

• It would be safest to keep a healthy distance between Musashi and us.

• Do not carelessly decide whether or not we will support Musashi or how we would do so.

The most important factor would be time. If Musashi did not get any rest, they would be entering Honnouji without any sleep. So the longer the meeting lasted, the more eager they would be to end it quickly. Which meant…

…We have an overwhelming advantage here.

Juana spoke while well aware of that fact.

“Let the meal begin. We will start a with some seasonal hors d'oeuvres as an appetizer.”

●

Gold Mar: “What are hors d'oeuvres?”

Art-Ga: “Oh, sorry. I’m drawing up a storyboard, so I can only think of sexual meanings for that.”

Horizey: “Mitotsudaira-samaaaaa!”

Silver Wolf: “K-Kyou cuisine generally only serves seasonal dishes. And hors d'oeuvres are small, bite-sized appetizers, so there will generally be a few of them served at once.”

●

Adele heard Juana begin speaking.

Juana gestured toward the covered trays in front of her.

“Please enjoy these three seasonal hors d'oeuvres. One from the field, one from the river, and one from the mountain.”

Tres España’s cooking team removed the covers in time with Juana’s introductions.

They were all curry.

●

Masazumi heard everyone inhale at once. And a moment later…

“Hass-”

Vice President: “Wait, everyone! Do not speak that name!”

Me: “Don’t ask the impossible, Seijun. Are you okay?”

I’m more okay than you at least, she thought, but she had the upcoming meeting to consider. She didn’t want to waste more time with another pointless commotion.

So she chose to defend Tres España here.

Vice President: “Calm down, everyone! It could be that all of the hors d'oeuvres ended up being very curry-ish by sheer coincidence. Do not make a scene!”

Scarred: “My! You mean those only looks like curry and are a completely different dish!?”

Vice President: “W-well, I guess you could say that… My guess is they look like curry and taste like curry, but aren’t curry.”

Almost Everyone: “Then what are they!?”

How should I know? A few of them were already glaring at her.

They were telling her to handle this. And she didn’t have much choice. She was Vice President and she had suggested the idea, so she would have to be the one to try it.

So she steeled herself, and…

“Now, then.”

She picked up her chopsticks and pulled one of the hors d'oeuvres trays toward her.

“Wait, Masazumi-dono.” Crossunite raised a hand and turned to the Tres España Vice President. “I apologize for interrupting, but we are the guests here. It seems wrong to begin eating before our Tres Españan hosts at the head of the table. …So please, get us started.”

●

Juana gasped.

…Why is it all curry!?

The hors d'oeuvres were meant to be tofu prepared in three different ways.

But what she saw in front of her was unmistakably curry.

This was supposed to be Kyou food, but it was Indian food. She wondered if there was some connection between Houjou and Kyou, but both the Kamakura Houjou and the Later Houjou had very little connection to Kyou. So…

…Why!?

This wasn’t a question she could figure out on her own. But…

“Me?”

Musashi’s 1st Special Duty Officer had just suggested that she try the curry first.

He was correct that she had invited the Musashi group here as guests. It would seem poor manners if they began eating first.

“Very well.”

She gave a quick nod and reached for the tray. She brought her chopsticks to a small bowl of curry, grabbed a potato, and carried it to her mouth.

…M-maybe it only looks like curry but is actually a tofu dish!

It was curry.

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