Horizon:Volume 9A Chapter 26

Chapter 26: The World’s Related Ones

No one

No one

No one

Can cover up their own existence

Point Allocation (No Time For Editing!)

●

“It’s happening.”

Inside Lake Biwa Azuchi’s stealth field, Magoichi viewed the situation outside on an informational insha kotob along with Kuki and the others.

“Honnouji’s stealth barrier is opening!”

●

From Genbu’s shoulder, Sakuma saw the light rising into the sky to the southeast.

“Oh, oh, oh…”

She thought she had something to say, but no words came.

But seeing that light jutting straight up into the night sky made her feel so alone.

…I can’t believe this.

It occurred to her that her group had caused that.

Everyone in P.A. Oda had played some role in making that light happen.

But…

“Hey, Hachisuka, where are you going?”

Genbu had started walking. Toward the elevator leading into the ship. Even though shellfire continued to sound nearby and that pure vertical line stood tall in the sky.

“What’s this, what’s this, Hachisuka? Preparing to fight? Hey, Shiba-chaaaaan! Hachisuka’s on her way, so be on your guard!”

“No,” said Genbu, holding Sakuma’s legs in place with a hand. “I’m taking our POW to a cell.”

“Eh!? Wait, wait, wait! You’re supposed to treat POWs with care! And aren’t you at all interested in what’s going on out there!? Didn’t you see that badass light in the sky!?”

●

Inside the Azuchi, Nabeshima, who had been tasked with cleaning Kiyomasa’s room, called in the Four Heavenly Kings of Ryuuzouji, who were cleaning the hallway, and they all looked out the private room’s window.

The Azuchi was still shaking from the artillery fire, but the east-facing window also gave a partial view to the south.

“Take a look at that!”

“That’s a little bit past Lake Biwa Azuchi!”

“No, it’s a big bit past it!”

“No, it’s a huge bit past it, you fool!”

“No, it’s a tiny bit past it.”

“I’d say it’s a medium bit past it.”

“We’ve found our enemy this time: you!!”

If they got into a fistfight, they would mess up the room and Kiyomasa would find out Nabeshima had let them in the room, so she really hoped they would stop.

But…

Nabe3: “Asano! Are you seeing this!?”

Asano: “Seeing whaaat?”

Oh, right. She never cares what’s going on outside!

●

Ikeda was extracting automaton programs from one of the informational toriis salvaged from Mikawa Bay that had originally been installed inside New Nagoya Castle.

First order of business is getting her to boot, he thought.

“Hmm.”

He had put in a lot of work today, so he considered treating himself to some off time editing that boobs video. Does that make me weird?

But he still had some work to do before then. And…

Nabe3: “Hey, Ikeda. Take a look to the north.”

IT: “Huh? Why? …Ahhh!? What the heck is that!? Honnouji!?”

Nabe3: “Ah ha ha ha ha. You’re actually shocked! Lame!”

…Don’t you know this is important! Not that I’m going to say that out loud!

●

Tomoe Gozen frowned at the information coming in from a high-speed scout ship she had sent up in east M.H.R.R. territory.

She and the rest were on the roof of the academy they considered their “front line”. She stood on the edge of the stone fortress so she could enjoy the view with some ghost-friendly alcohol.

“I thought it would never happen, but there it is.”

A single line of light rose high into the eastern sky.

She could tell it had come from the general direction of Honnouji. Honnouji had hidden its interior with a stealth barrier, so that must have been opened.

However, something bothered her.

Lady AM: “Ivan, what do you make of this?”

Kagekatsu-kun: “Heh. It looks like no more than ether light to me, just very powerful. Simply put, this is an ether exchange 120 times more powerful than what we saw in the sky above Novgorod.”

Gozen had predicted this was far more powerful, but one thing caught her attention.

Lady AM: “Exchange?”

“Testament,” replied Ivan the Terrible. After a pause, Marfa took over for him.

Mayoress: “It’s either an ether field or a conductive wire using gravitational control. Aerial ship thrusters will eject the force in one direction to push themselves forward, but when you need to float, come to a stop, or anything else requiring a balance, it’s best to include a portion that ‘pulls’ instead of having it all go in one direction.”

“Which means,” said Marfa.

Mayoress: “They’ve created a balanced fortress. But for what? What is Honnouji really?”

That was Gozen’s question.

She could only smile bitterly, but she could respond.

Lady AM: “Could they be launching Honnouji into the sky with the full moons?”

“Would that accomplish anything, Tomoe Gozen?”

“How should I know? That’s for them to decide.”

Behind her, Guericke nodded in response.

“True. It is I who decides if my experiments are worthwhile or not.”

“Is this an experiment, Guericke?”

“Testament. I do not know, as I am not an expert here. But…”

But…

“It does not appear to be a simple ritual. Because we can see it from here. On the ground, the ether light must be producing pulsing waves.”

“So a ley line reactor?”

“Testament,” said Guericke. “This appears different from Mikawa, but based on the materials they have transported there, they likely have 8 reactors. And in the center, a platform on which to output something.”

How could they best describe this? The scientist mayor had his opinion.

“They are clearly interfering with the ley lines. Whether that is a means or an end, it is likely necessary for their Genesis Project.”

“I see.” Gozen nodded. “But I wonder.”

“Wonder what?”

“Where are the ley lines?”

Guericke tilted his head at her question.

“They…are everywhere. But the main ones are found in the ground or along currents. Focusing only on the planet, they are generally thought to be underground.”

“That is a scientist’s generalized answer.”

But she still wondered. When she watched that line rising into the sky…

“I wish I had visited the Imperial Palace at least once.”

“Tomoe Gozen, is now really the time to grow wistful for your youth?”

“I’m still young, dammit!”

She scolded him, but she did wish she had let her youth guide her back in those days.

She was curious about the Genesis Project, but also about the truth presented by Akechi.

“They gave destiny a personality, did they?”

Now…

“What was that poor teacher trying to tell us? I think I’ll try asking an acquaintance who I know is probably hiding somewhere crazy.”

●

On the Musashi, they were judging when to deactivate their stealth field.

This was being led by Ookubo seated at the top of the academy stairs.

If she was being honest, she wanted to bring down the stealth and enter Honnouji right away. Something troublesome and conspicuous was underway out there. And yet…

“They’re on the move, so what are our people doing!?”

They were asleep. Or to be more accurate…

…They’re only now waking up!

Their officers were starting to wake up.

But even with the compressed sleep, most of them hadn’t gotten enough sleep.

Vice President: “Yeah, sorry. Can we delay our part for a bit? Or just the preparations? We’ll make sure we’re ready to leave in time at the Asama Shrine, but give us a bit more time right now. Just a bit, okay?”

Nagaya-Stable: “This is one of the most important moments in history!”

Asama: “Yes, but it turns out Horizon ate too much last night, so she’s been holed up in the bathroom for a while now.”

Horizey: “How rude! I just thought I would clear out my system after a good night’s sleep, but it turns out I ate bit too much last night. And I was in here busy scolding myself, so I do not need the rest of you getting after me as well.”

How were they even supposed to respond to that? But…

Flat Vassal: “Also, Suzu-san seems a bit out of it. I don’t think she got enough sleep. That could affect the Musashi’s flight, so isn’t there anything we can do?”

Well, with her we can make an exception, Ookubo found herself thinking. Apparently she was getting used to that class’s internal caste system.

And it wouldn’t accomplish anything to get her blood pressure up here. According to the data Kanou brought her…

“So Honnouji has opened. They must be preparing for the midnight starting time.”

The internal structure had been kept a secret.

If they could get a general idea of the layout from external observations, they would have an easier time attacking. Scouting that out needed to take priority for now. But…

“I don’t see any external observations here.”

“The ether disturbance is too powerful, so combining all the spell observation data gives us this.”

She checked the sign frame Kanou passed her and saw an indistinct diagram drawn there.

It looked like two or three similarly-shaped outdoor theaters overlapping each other, but…

“Are those some kind of stage? And why are they overlapping?”

“A mysterious phenomenon is affecting the data, so any long-range observations will have a mirage or duplication effect applied. Combining direct visual observations after the Musashi approaches seems like the best course of action to me, but we could also send someone ahead to investigate.”

That probably is best, thought Ookubo. But if she was going to arrange that…

“Huh?”

“What is it, milady?”

“If this makes it easier to attack, then the preparations will be easier too…which means I’m giving them the time they wanted to get more sleep, aren’t I?”

“Milady! This will provide direct results too! So we can wake them up while also proving our worth here!”

“Even if we do wake them up, they’ll just go back to sleep the instant our backs our turned.”

“Milady! You are taking their side here! Please return to your senses!”

What an awful thing to say. But…

“How should we arrange that investigation? Have we sent any spies?”

“Judge. The 1st Special Duty Unit sent out multiple teams. The plan is for them to take spell recordings from multiple directions to work out the internal structure.”

“I see.” Ookubo nodded. “Then we can leave that to them. …Now, I guess we should wake those officers. Whatever happens after that is their responsibility. We just have to fulfill our own responsibilities.”

“Milady! That is a great way of putting it!”

This did feel a bit like avoiding the problem, but was it weak-willed to think this was the only option?

●

Musashi’s 1st Special Duty Unit had already infiltrated the area around Honnouji.

That said, they were not actually inside Honnouji itself. Honnouji was located on a hill on the eastern outskirts of Kyou and its land covered a 4km mountain range.

“There’s a wall, they have a barrier up, and the interior is already filled with ether light.”

A ninja unit familiar with spells had been sent on this particular mission. They were split into 5 teams of 3, disguised as merchants and medicine sellers.

Each team realized they would be detected by the security spells if they approached, so they instead made observations from five different directions.

They were positioned around the earthen wall acting as a physical barrier around Honnouji. The local people and merchants likely used the road that had been built around the wall.

Thanks to the trouble in Kyou, there were carts carrying relief supplies and people rushing to other lands even in the middle of the night.

The Musashi groups were most surprised by…

“Are they preparing some kind of festival in the village downhill from the wall?”

The villagers must have seen the Honnouji Incident as an event to celebrate.

To avoid suspicion, the Musashi teams had visited the village’s shrine and registered as visitors. Under fake names, of course.

During their visit, the shrine had indeed been setting up paper lanterns and such to prepare for a festival.

“Overall, they seem to be treating the Honnouji Incident as a festival. Gives me the impression this will set the Genesis Project in motion.”

“The people we passed earlier made it sound like what happened in Kyou was more important than anything here in Honnouji.”

“Does that mean P.A. Oda has the local people’s support and is well liked by them?”

That should have been obvious, but it was easy to overlook. P.A. Oda was a large nation, after all. And they had achieved victory after victory, so they would have the people’s support.

“They also have a lot of famous warriors.”

“And P.A. Oda games, manga, and plays use their real names without having to worrying about the rights.”

“To be fair, Musashi uses the real names for Matsudaira people and fake names for the rest. That’s always such a letdown. Like in baseball games when they shorten the names to fit and you wonder who the hell ‘Shimazuta’ is before you realize it’s short for Shimazu Takahisa.”

“You can always tell which company made the game by whether they abbreviate Chosokabe to Choso or Chokabe. And when they use Tate for Date, it makes them seem so much weaker.”

“Right?” they all agreed while looking up at the ether light wall rising into the sky.

“Will all those rights issues be gone once we’ve conquered the world? That’ll be kind of sad in its own way. Seeing ‘Morimoto’ and having to figure out it’s supposed to be Mouri Motonari is half the fun.”

“At least we won’t have to stay up all night using an editor to rewrite the data to the real names anymore.”

“But I will miss the excitement when editing ‘May-sama’ to ‘Mary’. Not to mention our captain’s unilateral anger about it.”

The three boys exchanged a three-way handshake and then slapped each other on the chest.

“Okay, let’s get to work.”

Their job was simple. Each team had to take spell measurements at precisely the same time.

The measurements were meant to reveal Honnouji’s structure behind the vast barrier, so they would take two measurements: one from the bottom of the hill and one from as close to the top of the hill as they could get. That would let them estimate the underground structure within the hill.

Instead of directly sensing anything, the spell worked by sending a program into the barrier’s ether as a recording device. The barrier existed to keep outsiders away, so once they decoded the barrier’s spell structure, they could set up their spell to strengthen it as a divine protection rather than forcibly try to break through.

However, the ether they used to strengthen the barrier would include a “circulation” and a “recording” spell that would travel across the barrier.

Then the recording spell would circulate through the interior of the barrier, gathering data.

It would take time, but the gathered data would return to the teams in the end.

The trick was that the teams that released the spell and the teams that collected them didn’t have to be the same. Of course, the recording spell wouldn’t necessarily capture everything while it traveled along. Their experiments told them they would have most of what they needed if the five teams each spent 10 minutes on it.

They had just finished collecting the spells at the base of the hill and were on their way to gather data at the top of the hill, but…

“This ain’t good. It looks like they have regular patrols.”

“I guess they would be more on guard now that they have a giant ether pillar gathering everyone’s attention.”

“Hey, they’re coming!”

A group of two in P.A. Oda armored track suits approached wielding flag-bearing spears.

The Musashi team had three people. They were disguised as merchants and tried to act as natural as possible as they stuck to the right side of the hill road, but…

“They look extra cautious to me.”

So the trio began chatting. Staying silent was like asking the guards to speak to them. No one ever wanted to interrupt a conversation.

Instead of walking abreast, they stayed more casually clustered together.

“Hey, how’s the combat in that game you bought the other day?”

“Well, Hattori Hanzou’s antiair attack has him throw dumbbells, but it has such a slow startup. …How about you? Weren’t you playing it in the arcade before?”

“No? I don’t really play fighting games.”

The other two drove their fists into his sides from an angle the guards couldn’t see. And they whispered to each other.

“Get a clue, moron!”

“Stick to the story while the guards are here!”

“B-but my substitution for today’s divine protections was to not lie.”

“Well, that’s that then.”

The other two were convinced. They watched as the guards approached.

“Okay, you give us a topic to go with.”

“F-fine.”

The one sucked in a breath and put on a show of just chatting with this friends.

“I’m not usually one for anthropomorphized characters, but Righty and Lefty from the sign frame game Super Irresponsible Princess are pretty cute for arms, aren’t they?”

●

In case of emergency, P.A. Oda’s guards were required to patrol in groups of two. That way if they found enemy spies and those spies fought back, one could defend while the other escaped to provide a report. So these two were laughing and discussing that policy.

“Ha ha ha. If something happens, I’ll stop the enemy, so you escape to the guard station back there, okay?”

“Don’t be silly. You have your family to think about, so you get to the station. Ha ha ha.”

While they laughed, they were both thinking “It all comes down to who’s faster. So it’s a test of our spell skills.” But…

“Hey.”

A trio giving off strong “idiot” vibes was approaching from up ahead.

A quick spell scan showed they had registered as visitors at the local shrine.

That meant they were outsiders, but the village at the bottom of the hill was preparing a festival today. That would mean plenty of merchants on the move, so these three could be safely ignored. But as they got closer…

“What is wrong with you!? You…you just don’t get it, do you!?”

“That’s right! Anthropomorphizing them ruined it! They’re great the way they are! The less said about their body the better, but I do think the recent warrior characters have been pretty good!”

“Eh? Really? I prefer the anthropomorphized versions!”

They passed by.

The merchants appeared to lightly strike each other in the side for some reason. After a few more steps, the two guards suddenly spoke up without looking back at the trio.

“Y’know, I hate to bring it up, but…I prefer to leave things as they are. It’s better than cheap anthropomorphism.”

“Yeah…you have to start by loving the real thing.”

If anything happens, I need to make sure he gets away safely, they both decided as they continued their patrol.

●

“That was too close!”

“Yeah, but our conversational skills were so good they didn’t suspect a thing!”

“Three cheers for Musashi’s culture!”

The three of them hurried to secure one of the spells. The sign frames were fully transparent. They couldn’t produce any light and they couldn’t do anything that made it look like they were opening sign frames. Thus, the recording spell collection was done automatically. They faced the earthen wall, and…

“I realized when we did this down below, but this process could really use a signal to say it worked.”

“Yeah, the recording spell itself is split apart within the barrier and any one of us can collect them.”

“We need to wait here for ten minutes. Just be patient.”

Other trios would be doing this same thing at 5 other locations. But…

“Everything’s been shaking for a bit now. Is it some kind of spatial tremor?”

“Coming from a ley line tremor, yeah. What could they be doing in there?”

“And what even is the Genesis Project?”

They tilted their heads in thought, but then one snapped his fingers.

“I know! I bet the final boss will explain it all once our Chancellor and his class go there!”

“Yeah, I can see that happening. They’ll listen to this really long speech and then, once the battle’s over, they’ll be like ‘we don’t have time to escape!’, but isn’t that their own fault for wasting so much time listening to the final boss’s speech? I always think the heroes should’ve just ignored the speech and started fighting. Our people do that a lot, actually.”

“But I could see the final boss giving the long speech after nearly defeating our people. Like those times when you want to grab the screen and shout ‘why don’t you just kill them already!?’ ”

“Yeah,” agreed the others. “That probably is what’ll happen.” But…

“Our Vicereine – or the Arm Master as I like to call her – would probably just obliterate her opponent in that situation.”

“That would be pretty unsatisfying, but I guess it would solve everything.”

“The world is saved! From what, we never found out! …Yeah, that’d be a new one.”

“I see what you mean,” agreed the others. And…

“Oh, just three minutes left.”

Just as one of them said that, a different pair of guards arrived from the left. This one was a boy and a girl.

“Lucky bastard!” the trio whispered on reflex, but this was definitely a threat.

“Oh, no! The 1st Special Duty manual says with boy-girl pairs, the boy tends to be extra aggressive so he can show off in front of the girl!”

“Oh, god. They look so happy talking together. Damn, I’ll get him for this!”

“B-b-b-but what do we do!? Three losers staring at a wall in the middle of the night is the kind of thing that has the local elementary school telling the students to walk home in groups the following day!”

“Calm down,” said the one who was technically the group leader. He checked how quickly the guards were approaching. “Okay, we need to use the Nonchalant Watering ninja technique!”

“Eh? We’re really doing that? What happened to your pride?”

“I’m not familiar with that one.”

“Judge.” The group leader nodded. “Students invented this one during the era before the Age of the Gods. It’s a sort of barrier spell that makes sure people will pass you without comment at night. You have a drink with you, right? It was on the supply list.”

“Yeah, I do, but what do I do with it?”

The leader held the bamboo water bottle at his crotch and begin pouring out its contents while humming.

“Go like that and it’ll make things so awkward that couple runs off! It’s the ultimate psychological barrier spell for these circumstances!”

“What did happen to your pride!? But hold on!”

One of them held up his water bottle.

“I brought iced coffee because I like it and it helps keep me awake.”

“It’ll just look like the color is darker than average! It’ll be fine!”

“Wait,” said the third one. He held something up for the other two to see. “Sorry, but I brought tomato juice.”

“Who brings tomato juice on a mission!?”

“Well, I didn’t really think I’d need it and it was close to expiring, y’know?”

Meanwhile, the guards approached.

“D-dammit, we’re out of time! Hurry!”

●

P.A. Oda’s two guards had been discussing the TV drama Visit From an Assassin. It had already ended, but a special episode aired during summer break had been set in the girl’s hometown.

“Really? I loved the scene where the local administrator was assassinated while making it look like a cave-in. It was so dynamic!”

But after that comment, the girl suddenly fell silent. The boy thought he had said something wrong, but…

“Tch.”

Tonight was the night of an important event, but there were three guys doing their business on the wall over there.

He figured he only needed to shine his flashlight spell their way to express his displeasure and then walk on past.

The girl with him kept on walking without trying to hide behind him, so he respected that decision.

“Sigh, do they have to do that on our land?”

The closest of the boys spoke while applying some vertical shaking.

“Oh! Ohh! Sorry, man! We’ve got to help set up the festival down below, but we drank a little too much! We’ll clean this up and get going!”

“You don’t have to clean it.”

“Really!? Thanks a ton! And thanks for keeping us all safe!”

“Yeah, yeah,” said the male guard, tapping the female one on the back.

They resumed walking and he made sure to speak loud enough for those three to hear.

“Damn drunks.”

He shined his flashlight spell on the first and then the second.

Something black was rapidly spraying out.

●

“Eeeeeek! What is that!?”

“H-hey! You! Are you alright!? Are you sick!?”

“N-no, don’t worry about it! This is normal! Perfectly normal! I quite like it, actually!”

“But that’s not a normal amount!”

“Again, don’t worry about it! This is just the right amount to keep me awake! Leave me alone!”

●

The male guard chose to prioritize his partner who had swallowed another shriek.

So he chose to make a quick exit. But one thing did bother him.

…Does a drink to keep you awake really change the flow rate and color that much?

But even if there was a trick to it, he couldn’t imagine why you would bother. And there would be another patrol along before too long, so he decided to let them handle this.

“W-we need to continue our patrol.”

He swept his flashlight spell on past the second one.

The third one was spilling something red straight down.

●

“Eeeeeek! Something’s wrong with him!”

“H-hey! You! Are you alright!? You’re bleeding!”

“N-no, don’t worry about it! I had no other choice! None at all!”

“But that’s a lot of blood! And it’s oddly thick? Are you sure you’re alright!?”

“It’s known for having a lot of iron! And it’s partially fermented!”

●

After finishing their business, the trio fixed their clothing and waved to the guards.

“Sorry if we alarmed you. Anyway, we’re in a hurry!”

“Y-yeah, to the hospital I hope! Or should we call someone for you!?”

“No, don’t bother! You’re a great guy!”

The trio hurried away, distancing themselves from those two. Their bashful-looking jog eventually transformed into the rapid sprinting of the 1st Special Duty Unit until they had escaped into the woods below the hill.

“1st Special Duty Unit Special Recon Team 2 here! Mission complete!”

While they gave their report and raced between the trees, one of them spoke up.

“I’m glad I didn’t bring green melon soda or milk as a joke.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m so glad I didn’t bring corn soup as a midnight snack.”

“You shouldn’t have brought coffee or tomato juice either! But we completed our mission regardless!”

“Let’s get out of here,” they all said, picking up speed. Their rendezvous point was a good distance away, but they had received reports saying the other four teams were on their way there too.

Their mission had been a success.

●

Asama received word from Musashino’s bridge that they wanted to borrow the Asama Shrine’s spell processing ability.

She was currently on Remorse Way. They had chosen to meet up at the Asama Shrine since the purged areas had turned it into a launch point, but he and Horizon had said they wanted to view the memorial on Remorse Way first.

The others were eating a light meal at Suzu’s bathhouse. She had a feeling they would end up gathering at the surface area above the Asama Shrine, but…

“Now I learn the bridge wants to use our spell processing.”

The divine mail from “Musashino” was short and concise. It essentially said that…

…They want to process the Honnouji analysis spells as soon as possible.

The data gathered by the spells could be processed by the automata, but recording spells could be tricky. The processing work would go by quicker if they were first purified to flatten them out. But most of the Musashi’s shrines had been purged by this point, so distributed processing wasn’t an option. Hence the request to do an unplanned level of processing at the Asama Shrine, but this would affect the ether purge management already being done at the Asama Shrine. That meant they needed permission first, but…

…Dad’s so busy he can’t go around granting permission like this.

Her father intended to do everything he could to help the Musashi before purging the Asama Shrine. She knew he was making various temporary contracts to ensure the Asama divine protections, or replacements for them, would remain in effect even with the Asama Shrine off the ship.

At any rate, the battle would be starting soon. The Azuchi and Hashiba had to be in a similar situation.

We’re going through a lot of the same things, thought Asama as she had Hanami run a scan of the shrine before she sent approval to “Musashino”. Then she faced straight ahead.

Horizon’s memorial was located to the side of Remorse Way.

It was night, but the streetlights illuminated a fair amount of the woods to the side. After their supplementary exam during summer break, the tree branches and such had been cut back a lot to clean things up. That lightened the ship in preparation for later battles, but it also allowed the bluish-white streetlights to reach the few meters to the memorial.

“It’s been a while since we came here.”

She watched Horizon and him seated on either side of the memorial. Kimi and Mitotsudaira were further back.

“We never did manage to do anything about this during summer break, did we?” said Mitotsudaira.

“When I saw it during the exam, I realized it wasn’t necessary anymore and considered setting it up in the Main Blue Thunder for decoration,” said Horizon.

“So much happened during the break there just wasn’t time to think about it,” he said.

“Heh heh. But what about now? Isn’t this a good opportunity, Asama?” said Kimi.

“I suppose it is,” agreed Asama.

Everything today made this a good turning point, but also…

“Most of the surface has been purged and this area is only still here because it’s the path leading to the academy. It would be a lot easier to remove now since it wouldn’t influence much else.”

●

Horizon tapped on the top of the memorial a few times.

“Such a strange idea.”

This was something she had thought today and countless times in the past.

“Why do people think a carved piece of stone can represent, for example, my death or my presence? It’s so one sided and it means nothing for people who didn’t know me. All it does is create some temporary local sentimentality.”

“That’s cause people forget things if they don’t keep notes,” he said.

“Then why not just keep a note?”

“Y’know, that’s a pretty good point.”

“My king! My king! That is not the point of contention here!”

Suddenly, Asama sat down next to Horizon.

“Horizon.”

Horizon looked over and found Asama smiling.

“No one wanted to think about you being gone and we didn’t want to understand it either.”

“Then…”

“By placing this memorial here, we could act like it was here in your place.”

“Are you saying it acted as my substitute even though it is nothing like me?”

“Yes.” Asama nodded. “In a Shinto sense, if you really had been dead, paying our respects here would have allowed it to act as a door to your soul. And none of us could bear the pain when you were just suddenly gone. So when it got to be too much for us, we would come here and feel like we had spent time with you, even though we knew it wasn’t really you.”

“What about the fact that my mind is not in this rock?”

“It’s an issue of how the living people feel. The deceased could respond in kind by becoming a local spirit or god, but in general, they never meet with the living again.”

“In that case.” Horizon slapped the top of the memorial. “What is this really? Self-deception? Self-satisfaction? I am unsure how to describe it, but it is something the living decide for themselves and accept without any input from the deceased, only to let it weather away with time. And the deceased may have never wanted any of it.”

“Horizon?” Asama looked Horizon in the eye. “It is said the afterlife had already been established in the era before the Age of the Gods and that it existed in multiple forms. So whether you are Shinto or not, you might be divided by religion on the other side, but you can come and go if necessary and you can even return to this side using the reincarnation rule. But…”

But…

“This side and that side are two different places.”

“Are you saying it is acceptable for the people left on this side to use their misunderstandings and selfish ideas to put words in the deceased’s mouth? When the deceased have no way of responding or correcting them?”

Hearing that, Mitotsudaira raised her right hand with her head lowered.

“Um, the source of my inherited name had a lot of apocryphal stories told about him, like his pilgrimage across the Far East and his Echigoya disguise. And I feel like I’ll just be adding to that without any input from him…”

“Heh heh. So in later years, the Vice-Shogun will be associated with dogs and having a penchant for sniffing things!” said Kimi.

“I-I just knew you were going to say something like that!”

“Oh, and I guess I’ll be doing that for Matsudaira Motonobu.”

The idiot’s comment put an “oh” look on the other three’s faces.

“My king, did you receive that inherited name from Horizon!?”

●

Oh, whoops. I hadn’t told them yet, thought Toori.

“Sorry, we discussed that earlier.”

“Heh heh. Not a problem. After all, Asama hasn’t processed the request yet, has she?”

“That’s true. If you don’t register it with the shrine, it can count among us, but it won’t be official. So, um.” Asama looked to Toori and Horizon. “For Horizon, it was only a provisional inherited name, so this shouldn’t have any real effect on her shrine contract. As for Toori-kun, Matsudaira Motonobu was already an Asama follower, so this should give you access to a lot of additional divine protections. But in general, everything should continue as normal. Except for one other thing…”

“You mean that Akechi guy’s name?”

“Yes, approval for that did come through from the Testament Union before it did from P.A. Oda.”

“Huh? Isn’t the Testament Union under Hashiba’s control?” asked Mitotsudaira.

“Which means this was probably Hashiba’s idea. Because if Toori-kun inherits Akechi Mitsuhide’s name, she can slay him at the Battle of Yamazaki.”

“Then,” said Horizon, looking to Toori. “You must be careful, Toori-sama.”

“Yes…and the Asama Shrine will support you in every way possible if anything does happen.”

“Heh heh. You said that back at Mikawa too. So what all does this full support package include? Lewd services?”

“Don’t tease me, Kimi. Anyway, Toori-kun, you don’t have to worry. You will be fine no matter what happens.”

“Asama.” He looked her way. “This isn’t placing a burden on you, is it?”

“Eh?” Her eyebrows shot up.

Across from her, Horizon nodded.

“There is no good reason to look after this idiot so carefully. Yes.”

“No, this isn’t a burden at all. It doesn’t feel that way at all anymore.”

“Anymore?”

“Eh? Oh, well, I have Mito and Horizon’s help now. So we can just play it by ear.”

“I see.” Horizon nodded. And, “Asama-sama, about my earlier question…”

●

Kimi considered Horizon’s question: She must not know what to do about the memorial.

After all, she was here, but it was a memorial to her death and to Kimi’s brother’s remorse. Ten years had passed and it still hadn’t been removed.

Kimi knew what Horizon wanted to say.

“I do not want this remorse or this memorial.”

…No, that’s too tame for her.

“I want this memorial gone, so dump it into the sky.”

That was more like it.

No one wanted to trouble others with something they didn’t want in the first place. But Horizon had realized how she really felt about Kimi’s brother, which pleased Kimi.

Asama had to understand this too. So she had laid out the path, but she had done her best to keep Kimi’s brother from noticing. Because if he figured it out, it would be his turn to be reluctant. And he would feel like he was taking advantage of Horizon’s situation, meaning they were no longer on equal footing.

…They’re so difficult.

But that pleased Kimi.

They were so considerate of each other, they accepted each other, and the loop continued. But the best part was how there was always someone who was willing to help shoulder the burden without feeling like it was a burden at all. In this case, that was Asama’s role.

“Horizon. It is true the deceased may not want this. Maybe we are putting words in their mouth.”

“Judge. Do the thoughts of the deceased not matter?”

“Effectively no,” insisted Asama. “But how about this, Horizon? When is it you feel you have become someone’s friend?”

“When…I have spoken with them, seen how they act, and feel confident that we are in fact friends.”

“Right. That is how relationships are established. Sometimes you know it right away and the relationship subtly changes with time. Other times you don’t even notice at first and you gradually realize it over time.”

And…

“The living have no way of knowing what the dead think. So there will be plenty of misunderstandings and assumptions regarding them.”

“Then…?”

“Yes,” said Asama. “But as time passes, people go ‘huh, maybe it wasn’t that way after all’ or ‘maybe it was more like that’ as they gradually settle down and can take a more detached view. They can’t speak with each other anymore and they can only see each other in their imaginations. The memories may fade with time and they may even take a different path in life.”

But…

“Everyone does eventually respect the dead but they also become less attached, reaching a point where they can remember the dead at any time. By that point, the living are no longer intruding on the dead, but they still remember them.

“How does that sound to you, Horizon?”

While Kimi watched on, Horizon looked up into the sky for a bit.

Eventually, Horizon mimed moving a piece of luggage from right to left. It looked like a “setting that aside” gesture, but…

“…”

A bit later, she mimed picking the luggage back up and paused in thought. A few seconds later, she looked to Asama with the imaginary luggage in hand.

“Gah.”

“Horizon! Horizon! You were trying to say something nice, weren’t you!?”

“N-never mind me, Mitotsudaira-sama. I bit my tongue so hard I believe I know what my next meal will taste like.”

“But,” said Kimi. “Horizon? What do you want people to do when you die?”

“Well…”

Horizon breathed a deep sigh.

“I hope I can be of some use to someone after I die. But even if that is not possible, I wouldn’t want to be a burden to anyone but I would want them to remember me from time to time. And when they do, I would want them to smile, not to cry. That is how I would know I had lived a good life.”

“Silly girl,” said Kimi. “If you have already all that figured out, then stop worrying about the world after you die and start figuring out how you can blossom in the present. You know what the present is, don’t you? As long as you remain alive, the present lasts forever.”

●

“That’s right,” said Asama. “And if you follow Kimi’s advice, I know everyone will eventually be able to smile even after you are gone.”

Horizon quietly nodded.

…This was interesting.

I might just have this talk with my children if I ever have any, thought Asama. After all…

…I feel like I had a similar talk once.

With her mother.

It was truly strange.

She always tried to be teaching other people, but she felt like she was still the one doing the learning. She felt like she had now confirmed the usefulness of everything she had learned, including from her mother.

Then she heard his voice.

“Asama.”

His fingers wiped the tear from the corner of her eye.

“Your mom was a great person.”

“She was.”

Nodding made her cry with a smile. She heard a quiet laugh of released tension from Mitotsudaira.

And Horizon nodded too.

“I see.” Horizon looked Asama in the eye as she spoke. “If they allow you to smile like that…then perhaps tears are not all bad.”

●

“Now,” said Horizon after confirming that Asama’s tears had stopped. “We do not have much time, but we should decide what to do about this memorial.”

Mitotsudaira thought that kind of heavy lifting should be her job, so she raised her hand.

“Shall I carry it somewhere? But we don’t really have time to take it back home right now.”

“Home! She called it home!”

Shut up, Kimi.

But Asama spoke while putting away the handkerchief she used to dry her tears.

“We can leave it at the shrine. For the time being anyway.”

“The shrine! She didn’t call it home!”

I would tell you to shut up, Kimi, but Asama kind of deserved that one.

Meanwhile, Horizon placed a hand on her chin and tilted her head.

“Couldn’t Mitotsudaira-sama take a running start and throw it off the ship?”

“Um, it might hit Oume if I did that.”

“Eh? You…can actually throw it that far?”

Why is that a surprise? she wondered, but maybe that was a bit much. And it was probably a bad idea anyway. Because…

“The Musashi is in stealth mode and it would probably cause a scene if the memorial suddenly fell from the sky.”

“A stone of ill omen crashes into a home! Its name: Horizon! What an excellent mysterious phenomenon!” said Horizon.

“The point is that would be bad!” insisted Mitotsudaira.

“Judge. Then how about we leave it on the edge of a transport zone and have a god of war throw it as a weapon the next time we engage the Azuchi in battle?”

“Um, do you want to throw it away that badly?”

“What else am I supposed to do with it, Mitotsudaira-sama? I can hardly use it as a business card, can I? Oh, I suppose I could place it in front of the Blue Thunder and have it purified by all the customers seeing it and going, ‘pft, can you believe this rock actually made some idiot sad?’ ”

“Th-that attack was completely unprovoked!” protested the king.

“Calm down,” intervened Mitotsudaira. “We could carve off the writing and use it as a weight or a decoration. Natural stones are rare on the Musashi. So…”

She placed her hands on the memorial, planning to see if she could pick it up.

“Now, then!”

●

Horizon looked at the memorial. Mitotsudaira had her hands on it.

“–––––––”

But something odd happened.

The stone did not move.

“Ah,” gasped Mitotsudaira, tilting her head and relaxing her strength. But the stone showed no sign of moving or moving back. The wolf must have found this odd because she placed her hands on it again.

“This thing is pretty heavy. I hope you don’t mind if I actually try this time.”

She took a breath and went for it all at once. But…

“…!”’

The memorial would not budge. Instead, the block below Mitotsudaira and the memorial began to audibly strain. The noise was coming from the artificial crust located below the ground.

Eventually, warning sign frames popped up all around them, so Asama frantically waved her hands.

“Wait! Wait, Mito! Stop! The artificial crust is going to break!”

“Eh? Um, then what is with this memorial? It’s extremely heavy.”

How bizarre, thought Horizon. What did this mean?

“Perhaps my buried remains are pulling it back down from below?”

“That’s a terrifying thought, but nothing was ever buried below it.”

“Again I must question what the point of it even is.”

“Don’t look at me like thaaaaaaaaat!” shouted Toori.

But Asama raised her right hand. She opened a sign frame and nodded toward Horizon before speaking.

“Um, I have an idea, so I’m going to ask my dad.”

●

Asama: “Dad, I know you’re busy, but do you have a moment?”

Asama Dad: “Hm!? What is it, Tomo!? Need a spell because Toori-kun is too exhausted to get it up again!?”

Asama: “…I will hang up, you know?”

Asama Dad: “Oh, you’re right! I included that spell in the package I sent over before, didn’t I? You did give that package to Toori-kun, I hope? But don’t look inside. These things need to stay between us guys. Anyway, did you need something?”

Asama: “Um, yes. You know Horizon’s memorial? She says she wants to throw it out, so how do we remove it?”

Asama Dad: “We worked so hard setting that thing up and now you want to throw it out!?”

Asama: “Horizon says she doesn’t want it around.”

Asama Dad: “Oh, no arguing with that. Let’s see, if I’m remembering right, you can’t just pick it up.”

Asama: “Right. Mito tried just now, but the ground below was about to break.”

Asama Dad: “Yeah, make sure you stop her before it does break. You see, it’s screwed in.”

Asama: “Screwed in?”

Asama Dad: “Yeah, it’d be pretty horrific if one of the Musashi’s wild maneuvers caused it to come loose and fly into another part of the ship, right? So we screwed it in.”

Asama: “You screwed it in?”

●

Mitotsudaira followed Asama’s depressed sounding advice and rotated the memorial instead of lifting.

“Oh! It’s rising!”

“It’s spinning! The memorial is spinning!”

“Let me see. Heh heh heh. It turns surprisingly smoothly.”

Everyone grabbed on and helped rotate it. After it rose about 10cm, it started to wobble. The screw must have come out of the base. Mitotsudaira tried lifting it again.

“It’s surprisingly light. And look.”

A single thick screw stuck out of the bottom. A closer look showed the thick screw was attached to the bottom of the memorial with four smaller screws. According to Asama…

“”When large or heavy non-natural objects are placed outdoors, they are either managed by whoever is in charge of that area or they are required to be fixed in place. This is the latter option. That usually means surrounding it with a cage or attaching supports, though.”

“It isn’t as light as pumice, but it is still quite light,” said Mitotsudaira. “You could not use it as a weight. If anything, maybe we could break off pieces to rub our heels in the bath?”

“Y’know, that thing made me feel a lot of remorse and stuff!” said the king. “It meant a lot to me!”

“Heh heh,” laughed Kimi. “An object’s value can shift in the blink of an eye. That probably says something about human nature.”

“But what should we do with it?” asked Mitotsudaira. “It’s too light to cause any damage if we throw it at enemy warships.”

“True…”

“Hey, Horizon!? Why are you looking at me like that!? If you’re going to hit me with it, at least be gentle!”

Mitotsudaira was relieved to see her king was in such high spirits.

…Oh?

A sign frame suddenly appeared by her face. She checked to see what it was.

Bell: “E-everyone’s ready…so we’re going…to the Asama Shrine now! Where are you?”

Horizey: “Gah!”

Asama: “Horizon! Horizon! You were trying to thank Suzu-san, weren’t you!?”

This was getting sad. But if everyone was ready, then it was time to get moving.

…It is about time for us to reach Honnouji.

Vice President: “The report Ookubo put together gives us a general layout of Honnouji. Now the question is how we break in. Well, that and…”

Masazumi paused to choose her words.

Vice President: “It sounds like the Battle of Shizugatake being fought in Hokuriku is approaching the end of its initial phase. Kasuya Takenori’s unit is trying to break through the Shibata Team’s formation.”

“Kasuya?” parroted Mitotsudaira.

She recalled clashing with her on the bridge across Edo Bay during the Kantou Liberation.

“Mito, Kasuya is the one who was sniffing around before your mom was vaporized.”

“Wrong, Asama!” said Kimi. “She was the one sniffing around before Mitotsudaira’s mom shot her werewolf stuff everywhere!”

Mitotsudaira wondered what these people thought her mother was, but she knew asking would be a bad idea. That aside, she had fought the Shibata Team at Magdeburg and Novgorod. Shibata in particular she had attacked with the 1st Special Duty Officer and taken off his arm. If that was Kasuya’s opponent…

“She probably will break through.”

Kasuya seemed like someone with the strength and willpower needed to accomplish that.

●

Kasuya was engaged in combat.

Her team was at the entrance to the Shibata Team’s formation.

They were in the clearing ahead of the fortress line of ships and they were in the process of smashing through the enemy’s defensive lines.

She had broken through the first and Kousaka and Inada were working to break through the second while leading the rest.

They hit.

A loud crash rang out, the force of the clash seemed to swell out, and it all exploded a moment later.

“Ohh!”

The beasts had won.

Metallic sounds scattered and the blood of her people flew, but her side had the advantage.

The enemy’s second line was swept up and broken like a wave. And…

“Here I go!”

Kasuya charged into the opening her people had created in the center of the enemy’s second line.

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