Shiinamachi Senpai Volume 3 Episode 2 Part B 5
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Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist
【Episode 2 Part B: Real and Fake, Part 5】
At the same time as I opened the door, Kuhoh jumped out to the stairs beyond them.
「The coast is clear. No signs of the enemy movement on the stairs and the floor below.」
She reported after a while so we slowly left the room one after the other. It might be too vigilant of us, but if we won’t do at least this much then I feel like anxiety would crush us all. And since I’m leading the way, ensuring everyone’s safety is my responsibility.
Once we joined Kuhoh on the landing in front of the door to senpai’s room both of us stood at the top of the stairs and looked down. The air around us was so still and silent that it was almost painful on my ears.
「I can’t hear any noise from the outside.」
Yes, even though through the windows we could see that the storm was raging like crazy, no sound of it could be heard at all. The snow is supposed to have noise-absorbing properties, but even that much snow should not be able to completely muffle the sound of the raging wind. Now is see why Shiki called it 「an Isolated Space」 earlier. No matter how you looked at it, everything about our current situation is screaming 「abnormal」.
「So there really is a snowstorm there even though it’s midsummer here in the tower, huh?」
Fujisato asked as she stared at the scenery outside through the window, and Aika nodded in affirmation to her question.
「It is exactly as you see it. With so much snow outside it isn’t hard to believe that this is an artificial space that someone created.」
「Yeah, under normal circumstances so much snow would never pile up in here.」
Since our town is located in the south of the Kanto region, even the harshest of winters are relatively bearable in here because the amount of snow that falls from the end of November/early December to the end of February is so miniscule that it never posed a problem for the local residents. If this blizzard here really is restricted only to the vicinity of the school’s campus then it’s all fine, but if it spread outside to the town itself then it might result in the total paralysis of the entire area.
「I still don’t understand why would anyone create something like that just to prevent us from leaving the tower.」
「I wonder about that too, and I think it was not made with the intention of preventing us from leaving per se. If that was indeed the case, bother, the we wouldn’t have been able to open the door earlier. If the enemy truly wanted to confine us in here, the using a technique that would freeze the door solid so that they couldn’t be opened at all would be a much wiser choice.」
「So you’re suggesting that there is some other reason why he chose to go for something like this?」
I said while pointing my finger at the window.
「If so, then what would that other reason be?」
No matter how hard I thought about it, I just couldn’t understand why would he go for something like that when he clearly had the power to seal us in the clock tower without any hope of escaping, so I was curiously awaiting Fujisato’s response.
「Maybe that is his 「Imaginary Landscape」? Presumably, our enemy is the 「Legendary Knight」, right? So there is a possibility that the scenery we see outside is the reflection of his heart. Sealing people or places in 「Isolated Space」 might sound easy on paper, but in reality it’s very hard to pull off for even the most skilled of 「Gurus」. But there is a way to make that process less difficult, and that is by shaping the created space into something that is the most familiar to the caster.」
「So that raging blizzard… is supposed to be something like that?」
I wonder if the place I always end up in after I die is also one of those 「Imaginary Landscapes」? Also, what kind of person you’d have to be to have something so desolate as something that’s the closest to your heart?
「So, here we are.」
In the meantime we have arrived at the clock tower’s front door, before our first obstacle. When we were here last time it took me, Shiki and Aika to open the cast iron door, so who knows if all of us will be enough to open them now that the amount of snow blocking them has only increased. It is a little worrisome if I am to be honest, but we won’t know it until we actually try it. Especially now that Kuhoh and Fujisato are here with us. Kuhoh is a trained assassin just like myself, so even despite her small apparition she should be as strong as I am, and as for Fujisato, I am sure that she could open those door by herself if she wanted to thanks to her {Heroic Gift Perseus}, a Gift in form of a ring on her finger which drastically improves her physical abilities to such a degree that she could (and she did, in fact) send me flying into a wall with a mere flick of her fingers and break my arm just by taking a hold of it.
「Kaguya, for safety reasons, you might want to step back while we’ll open the door, all right?」
Shiki tells that to senpai as we approach the door and place our hands on it.
「If you helped us open them, this might be interpreted as you welcoming the outside world in here, so I take it you understand why we can’t risk something like that happening, right?」
「It’s okay, I understand.」
Senpai left the hallway and sat by the desk in the Preparation Room. She should be okay from there even when we open the door and the freezing gusts of wind come rushing in.
「All right everyone, let’s push this thing up! I will take the upper part and Kuhoh the lower part. Aika and Fujisato, please take the left and right. I’ll leave the doorknob to you, Shiki.」
「「「「Okay!」」」」
As soon as I touched the door I could feel the hot coldness of the iron on my fingertips. It would seem that it is affected only by the weather outside. I was worried if we’ll be able to open them at all, but I threw such thought out of my head by shaking it vigorously. Even if this turns out to be a trap, we have no other choice but to go through with it, just as we all decided earlier.
But what if we’re being steered to do so, just like a certain someone planned? Such concerns were still floating at the back of my head. Fujisato proposing this whole idea? Kuhoh agreeing to go through with it? Shiki telling me that she doesn’t wish to see me die?
No, those are only 「what if’s」. Everything’s going to be all right. This is no time for hesitation!
「This thing is pretty heavy, so you have to push with everything you’ve got, everyone!」
I tried to squash my anxiety by encouraging others as they place their hand on the door. We can only go forward from here. Never back. I take one last quick glance at senpai’s face.
「Be careful, Jiro-kun.」
「I will, senpai.」
Senpai placed her hands in front of her chest in a praying gesture.
「Okay, everyone , let’s do it to it! On my mark! One… two…」
Everyone gradually starts pushing on the door as Shiki grabs a hold of the doorknob.
「… THREE!」
As soon as I shouted that, all of us pushed on the door with every ounce of strength that was in our arms.
They opened almost instantaneously, filling our field of vision with a myriad of small, cold fragments of silver and white.
「Jiro-kun, everyone!」
Just as Shiinamachi-senpai screamed while reaching out towards us, everything around us has been enveloped by a blinding whiteness.
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