Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon-Volume 8B, Chapter 47: Friends from Back Home

Is this Lady Juana?

Don’t worry

This isn’t anything weird

Point Allocation (Persuasiveness)

Is Tres España willing to hire Musashi as a mercenary force?

Gin realized how careless she had been as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

Tachibana Wife: “I may have said too little.”

Vice President: “Um, yes. I’m not sure they know what you meant.”

That was a problem.

Gin also noticed Asama frantically pointing to the top of her sign frame.

A number was rapidly growing there.

That was the divine transmission fee.

…Tres España is far away.

Leave it to the age of consumption to use increasing costs to show her how far she had come from home.

But the fee was still going up, so she hurriedly opened her mouth.

She needed to explain to Juana what she meant.

Vice President: “Oh, but don’t openly state our plans, Tachibana Gin.”

Gin had just about mentioned their Honnouji intervention, so she quickly swapped that out for something less direct.

“Lady Juana, we intend to harass P.A. Oda as a matter of national policy.”

“Harassment as national policy!?”

Juana wasn’t sure what that meant.

…Wait a second.

“Excuse me, Tachibana Gin? What exactly do you mean by harassment?”

“I cannot say because the Vice President is stopping me. Oh, and by the Vice President I mean my superior here, not you. You remember her, don’t you? The sword breaker girl.”

“Oh, her.”

Gold Mar: “Her who?”

Art-Ga: “Probably Utamaru over here.”

Vice President: “Come to think of it, I probably didn’t leave a good impression during that encounter, did I?”

Asama: “It’s a bit of a pain, but should I have Juana-san join in as a one-way guest participant? She wouldn’t be able to see what we say.”

Flat Vassal: “You mean we could dogpile her in the divine chat and she wouldn’t even know?”

Meanwhile, Gin continued speaking. She knew what she had to say.

Tachibana Wife: “The Vice President will not allow me to provide any details regarding the harassment, but I will say we are putting together a detailed plan for it.”

Juana: [A detailed plan for harassment!?]

Tachibana Wife: “Yes. The Vice President says we will do it even if they try to stop us, so I believe nothing will dissuade her at this point. I recommend giving up and accepting it as inevitable. And on that note, will you please hire Musashi as a mercenary force?”

Silver Wolf: “Um, how is she supposed to say yes after all that?”

Oops. Maybe I came on too strong.

“Grin, try backing off a little,” said Muneshige. “Leave it at the level of vague hints.”

“Judge. I understand completely, Master Muneshige.”

Gin followed Muneshige’s advice.

Tachibana Wife: “Do not blame me for what happens if you refuse. …But what other option do we have if you will not even answer the question?”

Juana: [W-wait, Gin!]

Gin nodded.

Tachibana Wife: “Master Muneshige’s advice worked like a charm.”

Masazumi tried to figure out how she could get out of this without holding her head in her hands.

Naruze wrote a word on her Magie Figur and held it up: “Treat?”

…Did you miss the “h” in threat there?

Regardless, leaving this in the official records seemed like a bad idea. Christina was staring at her with pursed lips. I know, I know. I know this is bad.

She said what had to be said.

Vice President: “Tachibana Gin, can you ask her if this is even a possibility for Tres España?”

That was all they needed to know. It really was. Gin was probably trying to ask that, but she had just phrased it poorly. Presently, Gin nodded and turned to look at Masazumi.

Tachibana Wife: “But I can’t ask directly?”

Vice President: “Yeahhh. They have their own issues to worry about, so hints would be best.”

“Understood,” said Gin.

Tachibana Wife: “I will indirectly ask her if Tres España is in a position where they can accept Musashi as a mercenary force.”

Juana wasn’t quite sure why she was sweating so much in front of the cadena firma that had gone silent.

…W-we might be in trouble.

Gin had always had a tendency toward acting on her own discretion - and on her own unique understanding of things - but she had always made the right decisions.

But that was only while she was in Tres España.

Now that she was with Musashi, she would be “one of them”. What if she had combined that Musashi-ness with her own discretion and her own unique understanding?

“I see Gin’s as unstoppable as ever.”

Shut up, Flores. You’re only worrying me more.

But Gin did have someone to stop her: Muneshige. His direct divine transmission line had to still exist. Assuming the Asama Shrine had replaced his Catholic baptism number with a Shinto number.

It could cause an international incident if word got out she had called him like this, so she tried calling him with her number unlisted.

…Oh, it got through!

Asama: “Huh? There’s an anonymous divine transmission trying to reach Mune-san in about the most suspicious way I can think of.”

Horizey: “He has been busy updating his site lately, so we shouldn’t interrupt him.”

Asama: “I’m not so sure about that, but I wouldn’t want anything interfering with Gin-san and Juana-san’s discussion, so I’ll just disconnect it.”

…He disconnected!?

Juana’s hands froze in front of her cadena firma.

“What’s wrong, Lady Juana?”

“Oh, um, I was trying to contact Tachibana Muneshige, but my divine transmission actually got rejected.”

She had a unique way of sending divine transmissions.

Tres España’s finances were in a bad state, so they had to cut back on divine transmissions costs wherever possible. First, she would distribute the data across the entire European divine transmission infrastructure and make multiple insertions. That reduced the speed and quality, but it also created something like a large wave of data that could not be rejected on the receiving end once it was all gathered back together.

Never before had anyone successfully avoided it.

…This was Musashi’s doing!

Even the European infrastructure had the Shinto network at its foundation. Also, the data would have to gather back together just before reaching independent aerial territory like the Musashi, so they would be able to detect it in advance.

The multiple waves were meaningless when they could detect and fix the very first one. They could eliminate all of them as easily as a normal transmission. So…

Tachibana Wife: “Lady Juana.”

…Here it comes!

Juana cautiously acted as a scout. In other words, she made a preemptive strike.

She had to make sure she could handle even the craziest thing Gin might say here.

“W-we are trying to cut costs at the moment, so we can’t offer you much!”

Tachibana Wife: “Is the Chancellor doing well?”

“Eh?” Juana tilted her head because this felt like a sudden topic change. She made sure not to hit her earrings as she reached for the brim of her tilted straw hat to straighten it out.

“Testament. He is doing very well.”

Flores glared at her, but she ignored it. And Gin continued.

Tachibana Wife: “Is that machismo?”

“Huh?”

Juana had no idea what that was supposed to mean, so she directly asked.

“Machismo? What do you mean by that? I honestly don’t know, Tachibana Gin.”

Tachibana Wife: “Judge.”

Gin did not hesitate to reply.

Tachibana Wife: “We can leave it at that.”

Before Juana could ask what that meant, the cadena firma closed. Gin had ended the transmission.

“Eh? Wait, Tachibana Gin!”

“Lady Juana, you’re going way too easy on her.”

Flores held out what remained of the raw corn she had bought at the market.

Juana accepted it.

“I’m so confused!”

She took a bite from the side and found it was pleasantly sweet.

Tachibana Wife: “That settles it. The Chancellor and Lady Juana are still on good terms, so it should be possible for Tres España to hire Musashi.”

Worshipper: “Wait, uh, what kind of logic is that?”

Still Got It: “I understand! I understand perfectly! Creating peace between a couple is the first step toward creating peace within a nation!”

Horizey: “How very right you are. So with Toori-sama and my relationship going so swimmingly and Asama-sama and Mitotsudaira-sama on base to make it a grand slam, we have taken three steps toward triple the peace.”

Scarred: “Y-yes. And trouble between Master Tenzou and me would mean trouble for England, so the logic works in reverse as well!”

Flat Vassal: “Why do I get the sinking feeling that marital troubles are going to tear the world apart?”

Gin now addressed the Representative Committee Head.

Tachibana Wife: “This has proven that it is possible for us to use the European powers to intervene without antagonizing Kyou. It might be difficult to pull off and we might find some better methods if we search, but these are the options we already know we have.”

So…

Tachibana Wife: “As the Vice Chancellor’s aide’s attendant, I believe we need not use our last resort.”

That was her main point.

It was admittedly a stretch, but she had to get it out there. Because…

…The Representative Committee Head and Vice President are not actually who I am presenting these options to.

Demonstrating they had options opened up a certain negotiation tactic.

This was all for…

Nagaya-Stable: “That about sums it up. So what do you think, Swedish Chancellor?”

The Representative Committee Head took a breath.

Nagaya-Stable: “What will you do now?”

So that is their plan, realized Christina.

“Testament.”

This entire debate had been laying the groundwork for building a relationship with her.

…This is all about how they will work with me.

She was the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide who managed Kyou.

If she took action, Musashi would have a connection to Akechi and Kyou.

But she was also the Swedish Chancellor.

“Your discussion here has shown that you can still intervene in Honnouji without me.”

Which meant…

“Are you saying that Musashi does not need Sweden?”

Christina knew this discussion had been meant to give her freedom and to ensure Musashi was not restricted by Sweden.

…That was the smart choice on their part.

According to the Testament, she was a moderate in regards to the Thirty Years’ War.

However, guiding Musashi to Honnouji and allowing them to take part were not the actions of a moderate.

But if Musashi were to establish their own connection to Kyou here…

“Sweden would be able to cut all ties with Musashi.”

That was a good thing, but it told her something else too.

That something was the entire reason they had held the discussion in front of her even though it was eliminating her own value in providing them a link to Kyou.

“You have presented me with quite the tricky problem.”

She knew what Musashi was telling her.

…It’s simple really. Yes.

“I provide a much easier path to Kyou, so you aren’t going to let me escape that easily, are you?”

“Hey, you really need to do something about that ice before long!”

In the shade of an overhang on the poolside, Oriotri called over to them while searching the divine network for Ariake restaurants.

Masazumi raised her hand to reply.

“Don’t worry. We’re almost done over here!”

“And how are you going to end this?” asked Christina.

It was a simple question, but she clearly did not expect an easy answer.

Masazumi responded by crossing her arms and brushing a hand through her sweaty bangs.

“Well-”

The instant she opened her mouth, the idiot stuck an explosive between his legs on the other side of the pool.

“Sexy dynamiiiiiiiiites!”

“Ignore him. And why use the plural with just one?”

“Yes, let’s just ignore him.”

“Hey! Hey! What gives!? You’re missing some comedy gold over here!”

They ignored him.

Masazumi groaned in thought, opened a sign frame, and spoke to Christina.

“I have a simple suggestion for you, Swedish Chancellor Christina and Lady Nagaoka.”

“What is it?”

“Well.” Masazumi spoke slowly. “You don’t have to do a thing.”

Christina frowned at the Musashi Vice President’s suggestion.

“If I don’t need to do anything, why did you rescue me? And why did you have this discussion here?”

The Musashi Vice President crossed her arms and groaned in thought.

“I would personally like to use you to give us a simpler route to Honnouji. That was honestly one of the primary things on my mind during Nördlingen.”

“Then…”

“But I’m not the one who decides where the Musashi goes.”

She looked across the pool.

There, the Musashi Chancellor was facing them with two explosives at his crotch now.

“Sexy dynamiiiiiiiiiiites!”

“That’s more accurate now, but still ignore him. It’s a recycled joke.”

“Yes, let’s ignore him.”

“Hey! Hey! No fair ignoring it after you set it up for me! Don’t you have any feedback this time!?”

“Swedish Chancellor, did you find that funny?”

“Not at all.”

“Hey, idiot, she says your joke sucked.”

“Sh-she’s lying! My cute bunny heart can sense the amusement hidden deep inside her!”

Masazumi had Tsukinowa write her next line on a sign frame.

“Hey, idiot. I can sense what’s hidden deep inside her and she thinks you’re annoying.”

“You have been shot down, Toori-sama.”

“H-Horizon, you’ll support me, won’t you!?”

Musashi’s princess walked over to the pool and faced away from them.

“Akhhh, peh! Did you say something, Toori-sama? How far back in this conversation must we go?”

“Y-you’re getting way too good at that!”

Musashi’s princess gave them a double thumbs up.

…That was fast.

Christina was having trouble keeping up, but then the Musashi Vice President sighed and continued their conversation.

“He gives us direction…and that exists outside my ideas of what’s most efficient.”

She knew what the Musashi Vice President was going to say.

“We will always save those who are being forced to die or who have been left with no other option.”

“I understand that. But…”

“No, you don’t understand.” The Musashi Vice President cut her off. “Unfortunately, that idiot has made this decision for us. Of course, the unfortunate part is the idiot, not the policy itself. So there are times when we have to follow that policy against our best interests.”

Yoshiaki stopped walking when she saw the divine transmission from the Musashi.

She was north of the Satomi village, at the forest entrance past the destroyed northern gate.

The forest’s European scent told her the Reine des Garous was in that forest, participating in the meeting. Yoshiaki had just been wondering if she should join too, but…

“No, I needn’t bother.”

She closed the sign frame receiving the Musashi Vice President’s words.

“I they have not forgotten that and can explain it to others then they do not need my help. Instead, I can take a look around and see if any Mogami products would bring value to Kantou or Toukai.”

After turning away from the forest, she took a breath.

“Are you worried as well, Masaki Tokishige?”

A figure gasped while inspecting the gods of war extracted from the forest. The Satomi gods of war - both Integrity and Filial Piety - that had carried Musashi’s heavy god of war had landed in the northern square here.

They were both badly damaged, but repairs appeared to be underway.

“Filial Piety was sliced in two, so could you use one of its arms for your god of war?”

“It’s not that simple. Besides, I use a different weapon.”

“Are you new to politics?”

“What’s this all of a sudden? …I’m generally bad with politics. I mean, you have to take responsibility for everything.”

“And you don’t in battle?”

“I consider injuries and damage as a sharing of responsibility.”

Yoshiaki smiled at that comment from the girl climbing across the god of war and marking the damaged locations with sign frames.

“That explains why you lost.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Yoshiyasu is very good at what she does.”

“I’m well aware of that. Meanwhile, I’m just a fighter who’s never really left home. And,” said Tokishige, “that’s why I don’t want to be responsible for anyone else.”

“My apologies. You seem to know your place very well.”

The fox held her fan over her mouth and approached the god of war. Tokishige turned toward her and the other workers looked up, but she only gave quick nods in greeting.

Yoshiaki saw Date’s heavily-equipped gods of war as the standard. Those ones had thick frames and large power systems for long-term battles in a frigid environment, so the Satomi ones designed for aerial combat looked very thin to her.

“Anyway.” She slapped a god of war with her fan. “Can you get these fixed during summer break? Oh, some parts fell out.”

“Don’t hit it!”

“Oh, dear. They break that easily?”

“That one’s mine.”

“Ha. That attitude won’t do at all. You will be serving as Vice President and Vice Chancellor now, won’t you?” Yoshiaki twirled the fan in her hand and put it away at her hip. “Then you need to complain about damage to other people’s possessions as well. Consider this your very first politics lesson.”

“Are you saying you saved me because that is Musashi’s policy?” Christina chose her words carefully. “Does that mean you were not motivated by self-interest when you responded to Tadaoki-sama’s request?”

“It means our policy told us to save you,” said the Musashi Vice President. “Whether or not we also had self-interested reasons is a separate matter.”

“Hey, Seijun!” the nudist shouted across the pool. “Tell her about how Nagabuto fought the Sviet Rus shield chick, thinking he could beat her, but it went badly for him and he cried and begged us to help with his dick all black!”

“Black!?”

Wait, no. That isn’t the part I should be reacting to. Yes.

“Tadaoki-sama cried?”

She wanted to hear more about that. Very badly so. But he shouted back across the pool.

“She doesn’t need to know about all that!”

“Huhhh? If you don’t like it, then come on over here and stop me! If you can catch me, that is!”

Christina wasn’t sure what all was happening here, but Tadaoki clenched his fist and resisted some kind of urge. Did he know responding would only encourage the nudist?

Then Tadaoki sighed and kept his eyes off of her and on the other side of the pool.

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“Huh?”

“I said I didn’t have a choice.”

That isn’t the point, she thought, but he was gradually slumping down where he sat next to her.

“I asked around for advice and I got passed around to the Protestants, Hexagone Française, and finally Musashi. They were the only option I had left.”

“Well, the other nations had their own issues to deal with,” said the Musashi Vice President with a sigh. And, “But we had demonstrated our policy at Mikawa. And since we have less of a connection to the other nations, we’re more free to act on that policy. So my point is…” The corners of her mouth lifted a little. “Nagaoka, you didn’t have to cry.”

“That was over losing the battle! It hurt like hell! I didn’t cry because I thought you wouldn’t help me!”

This was all news to Christina.

This was the real value of being so close to him. There was so much about his time on the Musashi she still didn’t know.

“Anyway, the downside to our policy is that we have to accept jobs like this as well. We still had to approach Nagaoka and help him even if he did screw up and cry.”

“Then,” said Christina.

If Musashi’s policy had saved her life…

“Why aren’t you going to ‘use’ me?”

“Let me ask this instead.” The Musashi Vice President stared straight at her. “Do you think you’re the keyman for the Honnouji intervention?”

“Seijun! She’s a woman, so wouldn’t she be the keygirl or keylady!? Yay! Seijun-kun needs to study up on her Eeeeengliiiiiiish!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Aoi-kun!” added Ohiroshiki. “Old hags like her should all be called keygran- no, I will be kind and use keyperson as a compromise!”

“Swedish Chancellor, you can ignore all of them.”

“I see,” said Christina while giving this some thought.

…Is she saying I do not have the greatest authority for a Honnouji intervention?

That was unexpected, but not enough to call it a surprise. She did not even find it doubtful.

It actually made a lot of sense given the Musashi Vice President’s attitude during this meeting. Why had she been thinking up different plans without placing any priority on Christina?

“I had thought I was a last resort you wanted to avoid using.” Christina spoke this aloud to observe the girl’s response. “But Musashi has another method before reaching that last resort, don’t you?”

Her question did not receive an answer.

But that silence spoke volumes. Because…

“That method must be something you are hesitant to speak aloud.

“That method must be something that requires sacrifice.

“That method must give you a more certain and powerful chance to intervene at Honnouji.”

But…

“You thought up those other methods because you did not intend on using that method, didn’t you?”

Again, no answer.

…That confirms it.

This was something they did not dare say out loud.

But that created a new question. What was this method for a Honnouji intervention that was even better than using her? Also…

…This is strange.

Christina found another question within herself.

And if she was right about this…

“Did I create this method?”

“What makes you think that?”

The Musashi Vice President asked her own question, so Christina answered immediately.

“Earlier, I presented Kyou to you as an enemy other than P.A. Oda. That was new information and a new point of view for you, so it seems odd to me that you would have come up with an even better method than me before you knew Kyou was your enemy.”

“Maybe you and Kyou just aren’t as important as you think.”

“Even then,” Christina smiled a little. “This method must be something that works even with my information about Kyou. Which would mean…

Which would mean…

“It has some connection to Kyou.”

Asama: “Did you lead her to that conclusion?”

Masazumi denied Asama’s suggestion. She also suspected Asama knew the answer herself.

Vice President: “Don’t worry about it. She’ll reach the answer on her own soon enough. That’s the kind of person she is. So if we throw in some hints, she’ll pick up on the fact that we mean no harm even if we are holding back on some information.”

Art-Ga: “If you’re counting on her to read that accurately, you must think highly of her information processing skills.”

Flat Vassal: “Is that what this is about?”

“Judge,” replied Naruze.

Art-Ga: “Expectations, distrust, misunderstandings, knowledge gaps, generation gaps, and plenty of other things can lead to biases in how people interpret the exact same information. So people who want to misuse information will understand that information perfectly but distort it through their own personal biases and insist that their interpretation is the only correct one and that everyone else must use it as well.”

That was more or less it.

Vice President: “When you work with data enough, you learn that you don’t need to include your interpretations in that data. After all, you just want the data itself. If your data says a nation collapsed, that’s all it is: a nation collapsed. But the reasons behind things are another story altogether. Whatever the reasons might be, they have always been interpreted by the level and sort of knowledge held by the person coming up with them. And when people start to believe that something must be true if it ‘makes sense’, they end up distorting the base facts and end up unable to read anything accurately. As this continues, people start to focus more on the reasons than the facts and they start to misread things themselves.”

I used to do the same thing with the state of the Far East, thought Masazumi. But…

Vice President: “She knows how to gather information and accept it as no more than that. In that sense, we fully trust the Swedish Chancellor.”

Masazumi watched Christina place a hand on her chin in thought.

She would be using some kind of process to work through a vast amount of information in her head.

Since she didn’t open a sign frame, she must not have checked on information that way in order to highlight it for herself.

By not creating a path of initial impressions, she avoided reaching a conclusion ahead of time.

…Does that mean she creates multiple connections between her information and doesn’t narrow it down until reaching her final conclusion?

When she had one piece of information, she would list up the information she could link to that and continued expanding from each of those in turn.

Once that expansion arrived at an answer, she was done.

That process was simple enough to describe, but any one piece of information could have countless connections.

It was like traveling an unfamiliar land without a map and with no definite destination in mind.

But she must have been doing this all along.

Lady Nagaoka had effectively been under house arrest. The Swedish Chancellor had been made a hostage by M.H.R.R., but she had transformed the outside world from something she could only imagine into something she could “explore” using only information.

So…

“Well, Swedish Chancellor? Have you created your world?”

“Can I ask one thing first?”

“Ask away.”

“If you do this, Musashi will likely end up in a position far above the other nations. And this will be something you can do for subsequent events, not just for Honnouji,” said Christina. “So why don’t you do it?” ƒ𝘳𝗲𝑒𝒘𝐞𝚋𝚗𝐨v𝘦l.𝒄o𝐦

Adele tilted her head at Christina’s question.

…Does Musashi really have something that incredibly useful?

She turned to ask Suzu about it, but Suzu must have predicted the question and was shaking her head.

And when Adele thought about it…

Flat Vassal: “It must be you, Suzu-san! You’re Musashi’s ultimate bangs weapon! I mean, the Musashi couldn’t even function without you anymore! With you on our side, the P.A. Oda forces at Kyou don’t stand a chance!”

Bell: “Th-that isn’t…true. A-and what about…you, A-Adele?”

“Oh?” Adele started assessing herself. With the answer still unknown, there was still a possibility it was her. So…

Flat Vassal: “C-could I be our ultimate weapon!?”

Wise Sister: “Heh heh. Then I must be our penultimate weapon!”

Horizey: “Mary-sama and Naomasa-sama’s destructive power is hard to determine since their weapons are so similar.”

Gold Mar: “What is this, a game of twenty questions?”

Flat Vassal: “It isn’t! It isn’t at all! Because we got it in one: I’m our ultimate weapon!”

Seriously though, she knew full well it wasn’t her.

But in that case…

Flat Vassal: “What is this amazing thing Christina-san is talking about?”

The idiot started doing squats at an impressive rate on the other side of the pool and the ninja, half-dragon, and laborer soon joined him. They must have been self-conscious too.

But the answer arrived without warning.

Christina straightened up and fixed the shirt she wore over her swimsuit before speaking.

“This isn’t your ultimate weapon, but it is a more powerful method than me.” She threw her words out there into the summer sun. “The former crown prince. If you have Prince Azuma step forward as Musashi’s representative, you can enter Kyou with ease.”

Azuma.

Masazumi nodded at this reference to the former crown prince.

But she also crossed her arms and looked upwards.

She sat below the newly-constructed break area, so she only saw the wooden eaves when she looked up. But she looked to the sky all the same.

“Judge. We do have Azuma and I agree we would could invade Kyou using him. But,” she said. “This is only my personal opinion, but I think that should be our actual last resort.”

Masazumi faced forward again, well aware she was breathing a self-deprecating sigh.

The Swedish Chancellor was staring at her.

The look on her face made it clear she wondered what Masazumi was getting at here.

…She probably sees this as hypocritical.

So Masazumi made something very clear.

“To be clear, Azuma’s situation is a little different. He was originally the emperor’s child, but he’s left that life and now he’s no more than one of our students. And I expect he will stay that way.”

This was different from a name inheritor using their status for political purposes.

“Azuma is here so he doesn’t have to do that.”

So…

“It is our duty to use the law to protect his idea of happiness as much as possible. That is a nation’s duty to all of its people.”

“But aren’t you being a little naïve?”

She knew she was, but she let the Swedish Chancellor explain anyway.

“How can a nation survive if it goes to war rather than make use of a single citizen’s status? The nation gives all of its people a place to live, so doesn’t it take priority over any one citizen in an emergency? Every nation must make that choice.”

“That’s the thing.” Masazumi nodded to show she understood Christina’s point, but there was something else she had to say here. “But from Mikawa to Nördlingen, we’ve made it very clear how much we value even a single individual’s life.”

“Then…” The Swedish Chancellor briefly glanced over at Nagaoka. “I am one of the individuals you have saved, but there is more to that story.” She sighed and raised her eyebrows. “Musashi has also been saved by the lives of individuals and even watched as it happened. How do you account for that contradiction?”

“Judge.” Masazumi scratched her head and groaned. “Yeahhh, I don’t really have a good answer for that one.”

Uqui: “Masazumi! That’s the kind of answer I would expect from Toori!”

10ZO: “Judge! I feel like an idiot for being so moved by what you were saying!”

Nagaya-Stable: “Hey! Quit saying things that make me sweat!”

Vice President: “Shouldn’t you people be used to this by now? Isn’t this the Musashi way?”

Almost Everyone: “That’s not an excuse!”