Submarine: Nirai-kanai - 10

[verdantgrove]

 

Location: Ryokan for use by ES Idols, Ryuseitai’s room

Shinobu: Let me see… So we’ve been sharing information with AKATSUKI in the hopes of potentially forming an alliance.

Initially it was left in my hands, but this time it seemed more convenient for Morisawa-dono to carry it out, and so he took my place.

Chiaki: Mhm! I’ve been popping up in various places throughout Okinawa, gathering information, and communicating it to the right people—like Ninjaman!

Shinobu: Ninjaman! So cool…☆ 

Midori: Really doesn’t feel that way to me…

But hmm… So that means it was all an unfortunate misunderstanding…?

Kanzaki-senpai heard some suspicious news and believed it, but the only thing he did was something weird… But why did he have such a strange reaction to it anyway?

If I heard the same news, I’d be like, “Enshrined as a god? What the heck are you talking about?”  or something like that—

Kanata: i think you would. but souma couldn’t Ignore News like that.

if i went back to being a God, that child would have a Problem to confront.

Tetora: What do you mean by “problem”?

I’m sorry I don’t get it! Kanzaki-senpai, he’s a member? Believer? Of your religion? Well, that’s what I heard, but…?

i think “Believer” is the Wrong Word. that child is from a Powerful Family, and he has a special Role to play.

that role is, when i—when God loses control, he must Bury1 that away.

Shinobu: Bury? Do you mean to bury information away from the eyes of the media?

Kanata: no. i mean, that he must “Kill” that god.

Midori: K-kill…?!

Kanata: so. souma, thinking that i had returned to Godhood, likely grew Uneasy. since i’ve become a Human now, that child—

he has not been able to fulfill his Duty of tearing god to pieces and killing him. because that child is meant to kill God, not a Human.

if he had a chance to Kill me, i think the last one would have been during the battle of the sea god.

that child, he missed the perfect Timing.

he let things gradually come to an end without fulfilling his Duty.

if i were to return to being God again, that child might have to carry out his Duty someday.

because he was born solely to kill God if the worst were to happen.

and if i went back to being God, that Day might someday come—

that was what he thought, and it made him scared, so he acted Recklessly.

to check if what he heard was true, he swam a long, long Way, to where I was. 

he is a foolish kid, really. like a small Child waking up from a nightmare

but still. i was happy. if souma didn’t hold any sort of Affection for me, he would not have been so Shaken.

he would have probably carried out his duty, indifferently, like a Robot—without Feeling a single thing.

he would have gutted me like a Fish.

but. that child holds me Dearly in his heart; it is because he loves me that he caused such chaos.

he was so scared of even the tiniest Possibility that it could happen that he could not contain himself.

when i think of how souma was Feeling then, aah—

i can’t help but think that he’s really, sooo cuuute…♪ 

Tetora: Hmm. I can’t really understand half of what you said, ‘cause it’s always hard for me to listen when you say things in long sentences, but…

To make a long story short, all the drama that happened earlier was just some kind of unfortunate accident, right? You said that Kanzaki-senpai just went a little out of control ‘cause he heard some unreliable news.

Kanata: yes. the news that i was being enshrined as a God has no Truth to it at all.

it’s just that i heard something that caught my attention from the people of the local Religious Denomination—

i thought i should have a proper Conversation with them, so i made you all stay Home, and i just went to meet with the people in the Religious Group.

Midori: You’re doing it again, you’re keeping us out of the loop—

n-no, that’s not it. that place is Sacred, so normally it’s an area for “Authorized Personnel Only.”

i just received Special permission and was allowed to go in. there was something i wanted to see, but they said it was only in the depths of that Tabooed Land, so—

Shinobu: By the way, “tabooed land” is a place where the general public isn’t allowed entry, to put it roughly.

Surprisingly, there are many places like that all throughout the country—and in many cases, they are sacred religious grounds or something of the sort.

Midori: You know a lot about this, huh, Shinobu-kun…?

Shinobu: Hehe. My Mayoi-dono is quite well-versed in occult tales like those, so it is only natural that I’ll obtain some knowledge when we exchange a dialogue.

Tetora: So even the things that pervy-looking guy talks about are suspicious, huh…?

Shinobu: “Pervy-looking guy”?! M-Mayoi-dono is a good person, okay~? Whenever I am feeling disheartened, he makes me laugh by wriggling around and breathing heavily, or something!

Tetora: That’s what I’m talking about, though?

Chiaki: Hmm. It sounds like misunderstandings and miscommunications have been happening one after another all because of misinformation, and that’s led to some strange things happening.

I feel like it’d just end up as a funny story if that were all there was to it, but I feel a little uneasy. Why was there something that caused a misunderstanding in the message Sengoku sent me in the first place?

Shinobu: I-I just wrote something like, “It looks like Shinkai-dono is meeting with some people from a religious party to talk,” did I not?

It was sudden, and I did not know what it meant, so I figured that Morisawa-dono might have some idea because he has known Shinkai-dono for a long time… I thought I would just try and ask him.

Huh? But now that I’m looking at my phone, it does say something about Shinkai-dono being enshrined as a God?

Wow, did I send something like this…?

Chiaki: Hmm. Maybe Sengoku could have just remembered wrong and sent a strange message by mistake—I’d hope that’s the case.

If not, then this is a pretty concerning situation.

Midori: What do you mean…?

Chiaki: The intent behind it is unclear, but there is a chance this message was overwritten by someone interfering from the outside—on this smartphone provided by ES for our exclusive use.

Only ES could possibly do such a thing—they supervise both the provided smartphones as well as HoldHands.

Plus, the contents of the rewritten message were exactly the kind of thing that would lead Kanzaki-kun to go off the deep end.

In other words. It’s possible that someone in the upper ranks of ES who knows us well and can even intervene in the contents of HoldHands messages attacked us due to harboring ill will.

Kanata: attacked us…?

Chiaki: Mhm. I feel like I’m overthinking it, declaring it as an attack when it’s such a vague alteration that they might not have known what it would lead to, but…

It could just be a simple prank, but if it is an attack, that would be beyond terrible.

We’re ES Idols. If ES were to hold ill will towards us and bare their fangs, I’d say that would be the absolute worst possible development—enough to upturn heaven and earth alike.

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TL Notes:

1: The word Kanata uses here is “kakusu.” In the way he intended it, it is an archaic verb meaning “to behead.” However, Shinobu interprets it as the modern day verb “kakusu,” meaning “to hide or conceal."