Horizon:Volume 9A Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Up Close Explorers[edit]
What matters
Is being honest
And finding honesty
Point Allocation (Extremely Difficult)
●
Oh, now’s my chance, thought Toori.
…It’s now or never.
“Hey, Horizon? I-”
He stood up.
At that precise moment, something shoved forward on his butt. It felt like a pair of hands.
He didn’t even need to think about it. He knew it was the arms. But he still lost his balance and ended up placing his own arms around Horizon.
“Oh, dear. And here I thought we were having a nice discussion, but I see you haven’t changed at all.”
Horizon had removed her arms, so her sleepwear had slipped down while he held her.
●
Ohh, silently gasped Toori. They were so close their knees bumped together. And…
…They’re bare!
Finally! Then again, I feel like I’ve only just arrived at the foot of the mountain. I’m still a long way from the peak. So calm down, me. But if the scenery is nice at the foot, you’ll still snap a picture of those mountains, right!? Uh, I mean that mountain.
“Toori-sama, why are you zooming in so far?”
“Well, you know. They already have a dedicated section in my mental photo gallery from occasionally peeping on you at the bathhouse or catching a glimpse when you aren’t wearing as much. Oh, but I’m not as bad as Tenzou.”
●
10ZO: “I-is he incapable of doing anything without insulting other people!?”
Silver Wolf: “Y-you boys are listening in too!?”
Novice: “Yes. I thought it was wrong and tried to erase the sign frame, but I ended up increasing the volume instead. Asama-kun, how do I fix that?”
Asama: “You voided the warranty by messing with it, so you’re on your own.”
●
Not that Tenzou matters right now, thought Toori.
What mattered was right there in front of him. Yes, those boobs. Those glorious boobs.
But when he tried to say something, Horizon held a hand out to stop him.
“Toori-sama. Why are you hanging your head? Are you alright?”
“No, wait! Wait! Your first close-up boob staring is something you only get to do once in your life! I need to burn this image into my retinas, so…”
She slapped him from both sides at once.
“Owwww! What was that!? A slap designed to keep the impact from leaving my head!?”
“You are zooming in too far. And what is so great about chests? Boys have them too.”
“Huh!? A girl’s chest is nothing like a boy’s! They’re bigger and they, y’know, are pulled down by gravity! Well, some aren’t.”
She both-sides slapped him again and he found her glaring at him afterwards.
“Toori-sama, do not insult Adele-sama like that.”
“Huh!? So does Nate not count!?”
“Judge.” Horizon nodded. “Mitotsudaira-sama has her sniffing fetish, so she can get along just fine without boobs.”
●
Silver Wolf: “I-in my defense, they have gotten a little bigger recently!”
Flat Vassal: “Since I was named during such an important event, should I assume I’m quickly becoming so famous I can influence world events!?”
Asama: “Kimi, when you roll with laughter in the tub, all the water spills out.”
●
Toori watched as Horizon stripped off her sleepwear. She did it like it was nothing at all.
…Oh.
She was naked now. He had seen her in a swimsuit before, but there was nothing to cover her this time. She’s on the skinnier side, isn’t she? he noticed, but she had meat where it mattered. Maybe that was just how it worked with automaton bodies.
She’s beautiful, he thought before she spoke up.
“Now, Toori-sama, this part here best demonstrates what a freak my horrible father was when he designed me.”
“Nooooooooooooooooooooo! Don’t ruin my dreams!”
“In a way, isn’t everyone’s body designed by their parents? My father just happened to be a bit more thorough. I believe that may be the same reason Mitotsudaira-sama takes after her father.”
●
Silver Wolf: “T-twice in a row!? I get targeted twice in a row!? No, this just shows how deeply my king and Horizon support me, so it’s a good thing really!”
Flat Vassal: “Dang! Why does this feel like a defeat!? It feels like…how should I explain it!? Like the opposing team committed a foul and I missed the penalty kick!”
Asama: “I feel like they’ve been implicitly talking about me too…”
Wise Sister: “Heh heh. Their discussion does assume the existence of girls who do have such things.”
●
“Anyway.”
“Hey, could you not sit cross-legged in the nude? Isn’t there a sexier way you could sit?” asked Toori.
Horizon tilted her head.
“Why must I act sexy for you?”
“Um, from a strictly logical perspective, we can’t exactly do the deed if I can’t get my physical hardness up.”
“Very true.” Horizon dropped her fist into her other palm. And, “Then I grant you permission to massage my boobs after you appreciate them visually.”
“I still need permission for that at this point?”
“It would be a crime if you massaged them without permission. Although Asama-sama would likely just let you do it even if you didn’t ask.”
●
Wise Sister: “And there’s your mention! Not so implicit now, huh!? I bet it would go something like this: ‘Ahn, o-oh, Toori-kun, you’re just incorrigible.’ ”
Gold Mar: “Wow, I even heard that in Asama-chi’s voice. Great job, Kimi-chan.”
Asama: “I-I would not say that! I wouldn’t!”
Art-Ga: “You would just let him do it without even saying that much. Don’t worry. I got it right.”
Bell: “G-got it right…how?”
●
Yeah, Asama probably would do that, thought Toori. But…
“This is about you, okay?”
He started by “visually appreciating” them. Then he reached out his hands and got a slap for his trouble.
“Owww! What did I do wrong this time!?”
“One clap, two bows, one clap. It is important to show respect for the boobs you are about to enjoy.”
She had a point, so he followed her instructions. Then he touched them.
…Oh.
“What do you think, Toori-sama?”
“I feel a combination of soft firmness and a great elegance that seems to pull in any finger that touches them. I can tell people will tell tales of these boobs as the first in a new generation of boobs. The color and the fineness of the skin go without saying, but they also boast a density that can only be described as sublime.”
“I asked what you thought, not for a poem about them, idiot.”
And…
“Sorry, but how long is this going to take?”
“C-couldn’t you be a little more cooperative here? Just a bit?”
“What do you suggest?”
“Hmm,” he groaned in thought. “Then could you moan while I massage them?”
“Very well.”
Since she agreed, he began massaging them. And…
“Ahn, ahn, ahn.”
“Not in that wooden voice! And not with that blank expressioooooooon!”
“You cannot expect me to pour my feelings into it my very first time. You play too many porn games.”
“B-but could you at least try? A little?”
“Very well.”
Since she agreed, he resumed massaging them. And…
“Hiyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”
“Not like you’re an overacting martial artiiiiiiiiiiist!”
“Fine then,” said Horizon, beckoning him over. “Come here.”
“Hm?”
He leaned toward her and she planted her lips on his. Before he could even express his surprise, she pulled away again.
“Mm.”
And she kissed him again. A bit deeper this time. Then she pulled away again.
“I believe these things ordinarily start with kissing,” she said.
“Do you like kissing?”
“Do you know the purpose of kissing, Toori-sama?”
“No. What is it?”
She nodded before answering.
“Covering the respiratory organs prevents breathing, which automatically increases body temperature. I get cold easily, so this is necessary before we get to the sexual part. Unless, of course, you want me to do some sprinting or standing martial arts techniques before we get started.”
“I should’ve known it was something like that!”
●
Unturning: “It is true having the timing of your breathing interrupted when you are nervous can create an opening in your defenses.”
Flat Vassal: “I really don’t think this is about that.”
Gold Mar: “Is it true, Asama-chi?”
Asama: “Mito! You’re the licking expert, so you should know what happens when your respiratory organs are covered up!”
Art-Ga: “No, she makes up for it by breathing through her nose with all the sniffing she does.”
Silver Wolf: “Could you stop making things up about me!?”
●
Toori considered what Horizon had said. I don’t want her getting cold.
“You could pull your sleepwear up over your shoulders. Oh, but I’d prefer you don’t close it in front.”
“I do need to stay warm. Perhaps we should ask Naomasa-sama to install a heating system below the tatami mats.”
Horizon opened a sign frame and operated the air conditioning.
“I did not expect to be turning on the heat at the end of summer.”
“It’s better than getting chilled or sprinting, right?”
The room temperature soon rose. The air conditioning was designed for a tatami mat room, so Toori felt warmth seeping up from below the floor. Asama’s spells are great, he thought. But these things work differently in different places, so I need to keep learning.
“Covering your respiratory organs, huh?”
He kissed her. After taking a breath, he did it again.
…So could you call this a form of suffocation?
He wondered that while he and Horizon scooted closer and closer so they didn’t have to extend their necks so far to peck at each other’s lips. And eventually, he noticed something.
“Hey, why are you princess holding me?”
“Ho ho? Would you like to try it the other way around?”
He tried it. And…
“Wow, you’re heavy! I’ve always wondered what you eat to end up like this! And why are you stretched out straight as a board while I try to princess carry you?”
“As an automaton, I am stuffed full of mechanical parts. And the straight posture is a habit of mine. It is good posture.”
He put her down. He felt pathetic not being able to lift his wife.
“Are you lighter when you remove your arms?”
“I could also remove my head.”
“Hm. Maybe we should skip that kinkier stuff our first time?”
“If you insist,” said Horizon, removing her arms. And when he tried again…
“I-I can actually manage this…I think?”
“Then we can do it this way.”
The arms were “looking” up at him, but he would just have to get used to that. He wished they would stop miming resting a head in their hands, though. He really wished they would stop that “C’mon, get on with it!” gesture. Were they that impatient? But…
“Ha.”
He let out a breath and realized they had set a pretty decent mood here.
“Hey, Horizon.”
“I know you enjoy massaging my boobs, but could you not turn the tips like dials?”
“Don’t call them diallllllllllllls!! What are you, a safe!?”
●
Wise Sister: “Like this!? Do you turn the dials like this!? Now, let’s see which part of you opens up! What valuables are you hiding in your body safe!?”
Asama: “Kimi! Don’t stick your hands under my swimsuit! They’re slippery!”
Silver Wolf: “I-I see you smiling over at me, Kimi! Don’t you dare get any ideas!”
Gold Mar: “The visual and the hitbox are pretty different there, so attacking them can be a bit of a challenge for beginners.”
Art-Ga: “They are not making this storyboard an easy one…”
●
“Anyway,” sighed Toori. The way Horizon was acting as they pressed their foreheads together and grabbed at each other’s shoulders seemed like her usual self, but her hair was a mess and her breathing was noticeably heated.
…This isn’t what she really thinks.
He trusted her enough to know that. In fact, Horizon was always like this with what she did and said. She was like an animal in a way. Maybe she couldn’t bring herself to be honest and maybe she just found it to be a pain – no, it was probably both at once – but she only ever expressed her love through actions like this.
She was never like this with anyone else and she never left his side.
He could only guess, but he had a feeling she was only honest when she was in control and he wasn’t responding.
Like when she had kissed him. She was honest when she caught him by surprise. But now that he was ready and responding, she returned to normal.
His response brought things back to “the usual”, so she did the same.
That was just how it was. But she rarely got to express her love to this extent, so she had to be enjoying herself.
That just left the issue of who would be in control, but…
…We’re wrestling on the futon right now.
However, they weren’t using pinning techniques.
“What do you call this? You know, the start of a wrestling match, where they grab each other’s hands and yell.”
“It is known as a hand-to-hand lock up..”
“Ehh!? You’re gonna lock me up and use your hands on me!? That’s hot!”
Horizon took a bridge pose and threw Toori in a cross-arm front suplex.
●
Horizon took action while the idiot landed face first and bounced.
She quickly circled around to the idiot’s side where he lay on his back. She first held an open hand to the base of his throat to pin him down. Meanwhile, she sat straddling his legs to keep his legs from struggling.
She sat down.
“And now I have mounted you.”
“Wait, we’re doing this with you on top!?”
“Did you have a question?”
“Y-yes, I just asked one! Didn’t you hear that question with a big question mark at the end!?”
“I only wanted to say that. Do not take it so seriously.”
Horizon pulled a rubber glove from the storage space behind her.
“Now, we can begin.”
“Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! I don’t think that’s how this works!”
“Oh? And how would you know when you have never done it before? Sigh, you can’t assume everything in your porn games is realistic.”
“Are you trying to make an enemy of everyone who uses those games to study up on sex?”
“Now, if you don’t mind.”
“Ahn, not so rough.”
She quickly stripped the wriggling idiot by opening his sleepwear to the sides. The way he covered his face with his hands was disturbing, but he was likely just having some fun.
But then she noticed something.
“No fair!”
“Eh?”
The idiot followed her gaze down to his crotch, where he saw…
“The god mosaic!”
●
“Huh?” Toori tilted his head.
The god mosaic was for his jokes, so had been using it constantly of late.
“Asama supplies it, so she would have rights over it, wouldn’t she?”
So he opened a sign frame and checked the mosaic stats page. He could view the data, but…
“Oh, that’s right. I use cheap ones because I leave it active all the time. And I order them in bulk.”
“Are you saying it will not disappear until its timer has run out? When did this one activate?”
He checked the sign frame. It said…
“This is a 2-hour version and it activated…about an hour ago?”
She dropped her fist straight down into his gut. It made a pretty nice sound.
“Ugh! Wh-why would you do that, Horizon!?”
“That is my line. Why wouldn’t you deactivate it before this?”
“I must’ve, uh, gotten careless? I had to strip as a punishment for losing that video game, remember?”
She readied her fist again, so he held a hand up to stop her. He could tell she was serious about this and she was correct here. So…
“I guess I’ll have to ask Asama for a favor. She has rights over it, so she might be able to forcibly cancel it early.”
“Will you use the emergency call?”
“No, I wouldn’t call this an emergency. Can you stop by the bath real quick?”
“That would only get me chilly again. …But I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”
Horizon sighed and glared down at him.
“I will prove to you that I am a capable girl.”
●
Mitotsudaira and Asama threw soap and brushes at Kimi while she wasted a Summit Dance spell to dodge out of the way in the bathtub.
“Kh! I can’t hit her!”
“Heh heh heh. If you don’t like it, you could try aiming better.”
“Tomo! Could you hit her with your bow?”
“I’m the Asama Shrine’s representative and Kimi’s Ootsubaki is subordinate to Asama, so I would be able to ignore the effects of her spell and hit her without issue.”
“Wait! Wait! I was only joking!”
Then again, that probably is about the only way to hit her, thought Mitotsudaira. And…
“Oh?”
A knock came at the bath door.
Mitotsudaira thought she sensed Horizon’s presence outside the door.
“U-um.”
“Mito! Hide this!”
Asama shoved the sign frame into Mitostudaira’s hair before reaching for the door and opening it. Outside, they saw…
“The arms?”
What could this mean? The three girls watched curiously as the arms held out a tray of glasses and a pitcher they had brought with them.
“Oh, did you bring water to keep us hydrated? We have been in here a while.”
The arms nodded. After Asama took the tray from them, they began gesturing. The right arm stuck its forearm up and they drew out a box around that, made a “crumpling up a piece of paper” motion, and then gave a V for victory.
“Do you mean the god mosaic?” asked Asama.
How did you understand that? wondered Mitotsudaira, but that had actually been her guess too. After a moment…
“Ohhh, I think I know the problem. Toori doesn’t have the right to forcibly cancel an active one, does he? Since he uses it for his performances outside, he never needed to adjust the time limit.”
“But, Tomo? You can change it, can’t you?”
“I can.” Asama nodded, opened a sign frame, and made a few adjustments. “This should forcibly cancel it with a click of a button. Give this to him, okay?”
She handed the sign frame to the arms, who both bowed before turning around.
“Oh.”
They must have tripped on the mat at the bath’s exit because they fell over and dropped the sign frame on the floor.
The sign frame audibly shattered and the arms panicked.
…Oh, dear.
Both arms drooped sadly.
Mitotsudaira couldn’t help but feel sorry for them when she saw the flustered way they tried to figure out what to do.
“Hey, Tomo?”
“Eh? Oh, right. Don’t worry. I can create as many copies as you need. Here, have several.”
Mitotsudaira wasn’t sure how having multiple copies would help, but the arms excitedly returned. Then Kimi poked her head in from behind.
“So you won’t drop them this time.”
She grabbed two ribbons from the clothes basket and used them to tie a sign frame to the wrist of each arm.
The decorated arms bowed toward the girls before leaving. The girls waved goodbye before shutting the door.
“That would have been a moving scene if it weren’t about the god mosaic,” said Asama.
“I think there were several other fundamental issues,” said Mitotsudaira.
“Heh heh. But now Horizon can remove my foolish brother’s mosaic! You two need to learn that process yourselves! Asama, you should set up a script to produce those management sign frames on demand!”
“No, that sounds like a pain. It would be easier to leave a few with Horizon and Mito each week. Doing it on demand like this makes me feel like I’m handing out a permission slip for…well, you know.”
“Heh heh. It’ll be interesting to see how many each of you use in a week.”
Hearing that, Mitotsudaira looked to Asama and the shrine maiden glared up at the ceiling.
“Heidi gave me this to harass me, didn’t she?”
●
Each arm held up the sign frame it had brought and then they combined them into a single frame.
“Oh,” said Toori when he saw it. “Now I can get rid of it. Horizon, we can do it!”
“Heh. My arms are so skilled. Which means I must be even more skilled.”
“Sure, sure,” he said. He started to cancel his god mosaic but stopped just before he did.
“Wait, why do you want to see it so much? Are you curious what it’s like? You are, aren’t you? …What’s that look for!?”
“Can you please just do it already?”
No need to be embarrassed about it, he thought. So as the next step in the process, he canceled the mosaic. The sign frame shattered and the god mosaic dispersed as no more than light.
“There, that did it.”
“Toori-sama.”
“Yes?” he asked with a tilt of the head and she glared at him.
“If you feel like getting carried away, we can always return to the wrestling.”
“Wh-what did I say this time!?”
“Calm down,” said Horizon. They were still seated facing each other and she looked down at his lower half. “Hm, now that I have a better look, it does look a lot like a piece of meat ready to be cooked up. Enough to feed 5, perhaps?”
“A-are you trying to make it shrink!? Why else would you say that!?”
“Not at all. I am merely relieved.” Horizon breathed a sigh of relief. “After we made Nagabuto-sama sky blue, I was afraid removing your god mosaic would reveal you had covered it in white face powder and lipstick and dressed it up in a bride’s white kimono.”
“Even I’m not that bad. You’d have to be a national treasure level pervert to do that.”
“But I suppose it looks fine enough without makeup. If that is what it is meant to look like, I can live with that.”
“Say what you want, but I’d be pretty disturbed if I found you were wearing mascara down there.”
“Don’t be silly.” Horizon waved her hand dismissively. “But perhaps we should have Asama-sama purify it first.”
●
Art-Ga: “Okay, this I have to hear. I just have to.”
Gold Mar: “ ‘I must purify that for you’ really is the go-to scenario for shrine maiden porn.”
Asama: “Qu-quiet, all of you! Focus on the transmission!”
10ZO: “Didn’t you specifically ask us not to listen to that?”
●
Now, then, thought Toori.
“How about we get started?”
“Yes, we are short on time.”
That was really just an excuse. He started by kissing her on the lips and then kissing her body.
He was beginning to see why people loved kissing so much. Then he pecked at her chest, kissed her navel, and continued on down.
“Um, was it two bows, two claps, and one bow?”
She kicked him. He just barely stopped himself before he rolled on out into the hallway and he prepared to dash back when he made a critical mistake.
“Hm? Why did you just collapse, Toori-sama?”
“Well, when it swung below me like a pendulum, the tip kinda rubbed across the tatami mat like striking a match.”
●
Laborer: “Yeah, that’s gonna hurt!”
10ZO: “Why is he only capable of explaining himself so well when it’s about something like this?”
Flat Vassal: “How much worse is that than scraping your finger?”
Novice: “It’s probably more like rubbing a skinned knee on a tatami mat.”
Tachibana Wife: “Excuse me, but what is going on tonight?”
●
Toori managed to recover after a few grunting breaths and he knew exactly what to say to Horizon.
“About what I said before that kick, it is sometimes referred to as the bodhisattva Kannon, so bowing in prayer seems appropriate to me.”
“I do not have a bodhisattva on my crotch. Have you lost your mind?”
“Don’t judge before you’ve given it a good look.”
He and Horizon viewed it together. And eventually…
“There is a surprising similarity,” said Horizon. “Although that interpretation requires some abstract thinking.”
“Hmm. This is my first time seeing one in person, so maybe I placed undue importance on it.”
“You can see plenty of them uncensored along the European routes, after all.”
“Yeah, but this is yours and that makes a difference. …And not because your awful dad designed it, or whatever!”
“Anyway, you may continue.”
The two of them bowed in prayer together before kissing. Then he gave that place a kiss too.
“Do you like doing that?” asked Horizon.
“I huv hit.”
She kicked him away for talking while kissing it.
After he flipped over onto his back, she swiftly circled around to his other side.
…Uh, oh!
Given how much time had passed, it was about time to begin the mounting.
“You’re on, Horizon!”
“Heh. It would seem you are aware that whoever ends up on top will set the mood for the rest of the night, Toori-sama.”
“Yeah, if I win and get on top, it’ll play out like a porn game crossed with a sweet and loving talk show!”
“And if I win and secure the top position, I will continue the event while checking on and critiquing everything you do.”
He had to resist the part of him that found that tempting. He would do this how he had originally envisioned it. So…
“Hah!”
He sprang up to a crawling position to keep her from rolling him over again.
Horizon was especially dangerous tonight now that she had apparently learned some throwing techniques.
But if he kept low, she couldn’t throw him. So if he could crawl up to her and corner her…
…I’ll win a tactical victory!
But just as he reached that conclusion…
“I see an opening.”
Horizon slid underneath him.
Before he could even question it, she had grabbed his spread arms by the wrists and her bent knee was pressed against his stomach from below.
“Tomoe nage.”
●
Unturning: “Wait.”
Asama: “This is just their way of flirting.”
Wise Sister: “That it is. They really have always been like this.”
Art-Ga: “Adele, Naomasa, can you demonstrate that move for me? It’s hard to draw.”
●
Toori attempted to resist while he was flipped around.
He had to win this. Because…
…I need to make sure Horizon really wants to do this.
They had discussed it a lot, but she was such a hard girl to figure out. So if he was in control, set the right mood, and did it the right way, would she let him know how she really felt?
…Hard to say.
Part of him felt that would only be pushing his own way of doing things onto her.
But if she didn’t want to do it, he doubted things would have even gotten this far. So…
“I’m not down yet, Horizon!”
The tomoe nage left him on the futon with his arms over his head, but Horizon was holding his wrists.
She was in the same pose.
So if he grabbed her wrists back and forcibly flip himself over, they would both be on their bellies. If he then got up, bringing them into the hand-to-hand lock up pose and tackled her from the shoulder…
…I can push her over!
He felt even he could manage that much, so he grabbed Horizon’s wrists and tried it. And…
“Toori-sama.”
He heard her voice.
“I find this to be silly, but I also find it to be fun. I can’t help but enjoy this strange relationship of ours and I want to bring it to the next level.”
●
Oh, thought Toori. Then I don’t need to do that.
…I don’t need to push my way onto her.
Just as he thought that..
“Toori-sama.” Horizon got up with her back to him. But…
“Are you ready!?”
“Judge,” he replied, clapping his hands once before spreading his arms. “Come at me, Horizon!”
“Judge,” she said before leaping.
She performed a backflip into a body press. She flew through a perfect arc to land a….
“Somersault press!”
●
Horizon was really into it. She already knew how much Toori cared for her, but this mashup told her all over again.
So she had to respond with her greatest moves. Also…
…He told me to come at him.
Yes. He had said the same thing while reliving his remorse at Mikawa.
…He told me to come to him.
He had done it again here. So she leaped at him. And…
“Oh?”
Perhaps she was a little too into it.
She had given her flip a little too much juice. It was still within the margin of error, but she was going to land butt first. Meaning…
“This is actually a somersault senton.”
It landed.
●
Scarred: “Did that sign frame just produce a very loud noise?”
Gold Mar: “A body press spreads the damage across the full surface of the body, but a senton is more like a butt slam and focuses the damage more.”
Silver Wolf: “I-is my king alright!? Kimi, why are you rolling around in laughter!?”
Art-Ga: “Wait. But given their positions…wait.”
●
Horizon saw the idiot extending his arms toward the ceiling as if to catch her.
Meanwhile, she was seated in his lap.
She had apparently made a perfect flip and nailed the landing better than she had ever managed practicing with Naomasa.
“Toori-sama,” she called.
When he didn’t respond, she slapped his belly.
“Eh!? Oh, ohhh! Horizon! You really came at me!”
“Judge, I did indeed. But this means that I am-”
She was going to say “the one on top”, but then she noticed something.
“Hm?”
She felt like something was stopping her hips from below. Then the idiot below her noticed it.
“Oh?”
There was no mistaking it.
It had gone in.
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