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DRT1.3.12: Threeway Battle, section 12
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Danganronpa Togami Volume 1: Multiple Counts of Attempted World Domination
Chapter 3: Threeway Battle
12
Masks were an indispensable item during the Czech carnival season. They covered your head, but not your muscles.
Oogami-san, also known as the Masked Muscle in her gaudy mask, closed the distance between herself and the Boss Dekotora with only a slight step.
"I shall give you three seconds."
She swung her fists down at the same time as Princess Sonia and Souda-san leapt out of the robot. The driver's seat, adorned with the trappings of a body kit, crumpled up like it was made of paper.
I could hear the sound of jet engines whirring from behind the wasted Boss Dekotora. The Uragan was shooting its air pressure at Oogami-san. And yet—
"Destruction!"
With a passionate shout, it disappeared. The two weapons were rendered useless.
This—this, right here—was the true power of the Super High School Level Martial Artist.
"Togami, I have heard the situation from Enoshima." Oogami-san looked up towards the steeples. "You are acting overly distant, are you not? Why is it that you did not inform me of the truth?"
"Hmhmhm. Well, isn't that something?" Byakuya-sama clapped his hands in approval. "You don't have to worry about anything except functioning as an instrument of violence. Now, be a good instrument of violence and eliminate all the other violence with yours. Look sharp; the next one is coming."
Daaa na nanaaa, dah daaaaaah. Daaana nanaaa, dah daaaaaah.
The famous guitar riff from Lenny Kravitz's exemplary "Are You Gonna Go My Way" resounded.
What now?
"Me now!"
A silhouette had appeared atop the Uragan, giving a splendid guitar performance... Taeko-chan?
As if she had reanimated it, the Uragan shot the ground, kicking up another whirlwind of dust and dirt. Cloaked within it, Taeko-chan attacked Oogami-san. Oogami-san only stopped the guitar from crashing down on her skull at the last minute.
"Rrraaaaaahhhhhhh!"
"Nnnnnnnggggghhh!"
"I've narrowed down the phase noise Jimmy Page used on his Les Paul!"
"Musical instruments should be used for musical performances!" Oogami-san brushed away the guitar entirely, but Taeko-chan shifted back to her normal posture in midair, landing as if nothing had happened.
"That girl's with the Hasegawa Research Institute," Hiroyuki-san revealed, dropping a bombshell like it was nothing. "Apparently she's a watchdog sent to keep an eye on us."
So that would make it—
1) Hope's Peak Academy (Princess Sonia and Souda-san).
2) Hasegawa Research Institute (the two people in lab coats and Taeko-chan).
3) Team Byakuya-sama (the Ketouin conglomerate, Oogami-san, and us).
Making it a threeway battle.
Oogami-san and Taeko-chan were already clashing. Oogami-san seemed to have the upper hand in terms of skill, but the backup support of the Uragan was proving a hindrance, so she couldn't deal a finishing blow. Meanwhile, as far as I could tell, the Boss Dekotora had lost its control system. Princess Sonia was crossing her arms with a pout, while Souda-san was holding a barf bag.
"Hiyahiyahiyahiyahiyah!"
"So long as I am as calm and clear as the still water, I am able to see how to stop your assault."
"Kh, so the guitar attacks won't make it through... Or-at-least-that's-what-I-want-you-to-think Kiiiiick!"
Oogami-san calmly caught the kick that Taeko-chan sent her way. "That was crafty, young lady."
"Young ladies are always crafty. You didn't know? You should spend less time building your muscles and more time enjoying the springtime of your youth."
"My muscles and my youth are one and the same."
"Your poor youth." Taeko-chan shook her leg free, recommencing her strikes with the guitar. "What the springtime of youth is really all about is going around and breaking the windows of your school at night, and starting up a band out of nowhere for your school festival and stuff!"
"Are you forcing this springtime of youth upon me?"
"Nah, go ahead and keep training your muscles without a whiff of romance!"
"How disrespectful. ...I, too, walk the path of romance!" Oogami-san's rebuff drove directly into Taeko-chan's side.
This time, unsurprisingly, Taeko-chan wasn't able to right herself as she was being blown away, and she bounced off of the ground like a rubber ball. But the Uragan let loose another blast of pressure to prevent Oogami-san from pursuing her.
Taeko-chan took that opportunity to get to her feet, spitting blood. "I can't believe you can actually exchange blows with a torera like me..."[1]
"Exchange blows? You overestimate yourself. You are wholly losing to me."
"Not on my watch. If I go ahead and agree with you on that, then that's what it's going to be. Don't you think the strength you get from denial is worth it?"
"Why is it that you are so particular about aiming each blow?"
"'Cuz a one-shot kill is cool, right? I don't care about winning just based on having slightly more points."
"You cannot possibly think such an option is available to you against me."
"You can't possibly think I haven't noticed that?"
"...Nnn?" Oogami-san's eyes widened, though the rest of her stayed still.
"Sure, the motion of my attacks is too exaggerated, but I've got a reason for that. It's not my job to beat you; my job is to stop you in your tracks."
"What do you mean?"
"I attack. You dodge. The Uragan hollows out the ground. While it does, I feint an attack, and scatter landmines. The Uragan covers everything in dust again... Whoops, you better not move too carelessly! There's getting to be a very high concentration of landmines in this area!" Taeko-chan picked up the hem of her skirt, and several land mines fell out and rolled to the ground, spilling out almost like a feminine secret.
"Well done."
"Now I've prevented you from moving! I'm not trying to underestimate your jumping ability, but I'm gonna guess it's not good enough to break out of here without taking a single step."
"And what of yourself?"
"'Scuse me?"
"You are also unable to move, correct? It appears that that vehicle is capable of removing the landmines, but once they are removed, I shall pursue you."
"No need for you to worry about that."
Behind Taeko-chan... a balloon inflated. Was she floating in the air like the characters you saw in picture books? It turned out that the two in the lab coats riding the Uragan, too, had begun floating, balloons inflating behind them.
"It's everyone's favorite Fulton recovery system!" Taeko-chan shouted.[2] "We can get back out of here without having to take a single step through this minefield!"
A shadow appeared.
When I looked up, I saw a low-flying transport creeping towards the ground.
Shhpeeew.
Shhpeeew.
I thought I heard the sound of air being released, and as it turned out, a balloon had shot onto Byakuya-sama and also inflated, and he started floating too.
"Byakuya-sama!" I stretched out my hand, but there wasn't any way I was going to be able to reach the steeple on the opposite side of the building. Byakuya-sama rose up into the air in the blink of an eye, like a toy balloon that a child had carelessly let slip from their hand. "Byakuya-sama!"
No. No. Nooooo. I don't want to be separated from anyone anymoooore!
"Don't make that face." Even though he was floating high up in the sky, Byakuya-sama wore a leisurely expression, arms and legs crossed. Like he was telling me that I didn't have to worry about him. Like he was cheering me on, saying that this hell shouldn't be enough to get me to back down. "Now, Blue Ink, why don't you try and tell me what your mission is?"
"...It's, 'Thou must prioritize the writing of the biography at all times.'"
"Then observe. Observe this scene, this situation, this adversity. Then write. Write, write, write."
"Nee-san! Oh geez oh gosh oh boy oh man. Nee-saaaaan!"
Yuika-san appeared high up in the sky, too. Now that I thought about it, there had been two noises when the balloons were fired, but obviously I hadn't had time to worry about the other one.
"Can you still hear my voice?"
"Y-Yes."
"This is an order. Listen well. Protect me, when all the world has turned against me."
The transport collected all of the balloons, and flew away. And then, the Church of Bones finally collapsed, swallowing me up into the flames and rubble along with Hiroyuki-san.
Translator's Notes
[1] torera - the less-common female version of torero, the Spanish word for a bullfighter. Technically, in the original Japanese text, the gender-neutral kanji for bullfighter was given with the reading of "torero", but I took the liberty of assuming that this was the author's mistake/a quirk of loan words and not a conscious choice, and wasn't intended to imply anything about Taeko's gender or proficiency in Spanish, and so I tweaked it accordingly.
[2] Fulton recovery system - a real life method of getting surface units off of the ground using balloons.
Stay tuned for the start of a new chapter on the next update next Sunday (PST)!
Feel free to comment, keeping these rules in mind!
Danganronpa Togami Volume 1: Multiple Counts of Attempted World Domination
Chapter 3: Threeway Battle
12
Masks were an indispensable item during the Czech carnival season. They covered your head, but not your muscles.
Oogami-san, also known as the Masked Muscle in her gaudy mask, closed the distance between herself and the Boss Dekotora with only a slight step.
"I shall give you three seconds."
She swung her fists down at the same time as Princess Sonia and Souda-san leapt out of the robot. The driver's seat, adorned with the trappings of a body kit, crumpled up like it was made of paper.
I could hear the sound of jet engines whirring from behind the wasted Boss Dekotora. The Uragan was shooting its air pressure at Oogami-san. And yet—
"Destruction!"
With a passionate shout, it disappeared. The two weapons were rendered useless.
This—this, right here—was the true power of the Super High School Level Martial Artist.
"Togami, I have heard the situation from Enoshima." Oogami-san looked up towards the steeples. "You are acting overly distant, are you not? Why is it that you did not inform me of the truth?"
"Hmhmhm. Well, isn't that something?" Byakuya-sama clapped his hands in approval. "You don't have to worry about anything except functioning as an instrument of violence. Now, be a good instrument of violence and eliminate all the other violence with yours. Look sharp; the next one is coming."
Daaa na nanaaa, dah daaaaaah. Daaana nanaaa, dah daaaaaah.
The famous guitar riff from Lenny Kravitz's exemplary "Are You Gonna Go My Way" resounded.
What now?
"Me now!"
A silhouette had appeared atop the Uragan, giving a splendid guitar performance... Taeko-chan?
As if she had reanimated it, the Uragan shot the ground, kicking up another whirlwind of dust and dirt. Cloaked within it, Taeko-chan attacked Oogami-san. Oogami-san only stopped the guitar from crashing down on her skull at the last minute.
"Rrraaaaaahhhhhhh!"
"Nnnnnnnggggghhh!"
"I've narrowed down the phase noise Jimmy Page used on his Les Paul!"
"Musical instruments should be used for musical performances!" Oogami-san brushed away the guitar entirely, but Taeko-chan shifted back to her normal posture in midair, landing as if nothing had happened.
"That girl's with the Hasegawa Research Institute," Hiroyuki-san revealed, dropping a bombshell like it was nothing. "Apparently she's a watchdog sent to keep an eye on us."
So that would make it—
1) Hope's Peak Academy (Princess Sonia and Souda-san).
2) Hasegawa Research Institute (the two people in lab coats and Taeko-chan).
3) Team Byakuya-sama (the Ketouin conglomerate, Oogami-san, and us).
Making it a threeway battle.
Oogami-san and Taeko-chan were already clashing. Oogami-san seemed to have the upper hand in terms of skill, but the backup support of the Uragan was proving a hindrance, so she couldn't deal a finishing blow. Meanwhile, as far as I could tell, the Boss Dekotora had lost its control system. Princess Sonia was crossing her arms with a pout, while Souda-san was holding a barf bag.
"Hiyahiyahiyahiyahiyah!"
"So long as I am as calm and clear as the still water, I am able to see how to stop your assault."
"Kh, so the guitar attacks won't make it through... Or-at-least-that's-what-I-want-you-to-think Kiiiiick!"
Oogami-san calmly caught the kick that Taeko-chan sent her way. "That was crafty, young lady."
"Young ladies are always crafty. You didn't know? You should spend less time building your muscles and more time enjoying the springtime of your youth."
"My muscles and my youth are one and the same."
"Your poor youth." Taeko-chan shook her leg free, recommencing her strikes with the guitar. "What the springtime of youth is really all about is going around and breaking the windows of your school at night, and starting up a band out of nowhere for your school festival and stuff!"
"Are you forcing this springtime of youth upon me?"
"Nah, go ahead and keep training your muscles without a whiff of romance!"
"How disrespectful. ...I, too, walk the path of romance!" Oogami-san's rebuff drove directly into Taeko-chan's side.
This time, unsurprisingly, Taeko-chan wasn't able to right herself as she was being blown away, and she bounced off of the ground like a rubber ball. But the Uragan let loose another blast of pressure to prevent Oogami-san from pursuing her.
Taeko-chan took that opportunity to get to her feet, spitting blood. "I can't believe you can actually exchange blows with a torera like me..."[1]
"Exchange blows? You overestimate yourself. You are wholly losing to me."
"Not on my watch. If I go ahead and agree with you on that, then that's what it's going to be. Don't you think the strength you get from denial is worth it?"
"Why is it that you are so particular about aiming each blow?"
"'Cuz a one-shot kill is cool, right? I don't care about winning just based on having slightly more points."
"You cannot possibly think such an option is available to you against me."
"You can't possibly think I haven't noticed that?"
"...Nnn?" Oogami-san's eyes widened, though the rest of her stayed still.
"Sure, the motion of my attacks is too exaggerated, but I've got a reason for that. It's not my job to beat you; my job is to stop you in your tracks."
"What do you mean?"
"I attack. You dodge. The Uragan hollows out the ground. While it does, I feint an attack, and scatter landmines. The Uragan covers everything in dust again... Whoops, you better not move too carelessly! There's getting to be a very high concentration of landmines in this area!" Taeko-chan picked up the hem of her skirt, and several land mines fell out and rolled to the ground, spilling out almost like a feminine secret.
"Well done."
"Now I've prevented you from moving! I'm not trying to underestimate your jumping ability, but I'm gonna guess it's not good enough to break out of here without taking a single step."
"And what of yourself?"
"'Scuse me?"
"You are also unable to move, correct? It appears that that vehicle is capable of removing the landmines, but once they are removed, I shall pursue you."
"No need for you to worry about that."
Behind Taeko-chan... a balloon inflated. Was she floating in the air like the characters you saw in picture books? It turned out that the two in the lab coats riding the Uragan, too, had begun floating, balloons inflating behind them.
"It's everyone's favorite Fulton recovery system!" Taeko-chan shouted.[2] "We can get back out of here without having to take a single step through this minefield!"
A shadow appeared.
When I looked up, I saw a low-flying transport creeping towards the ground.
Shhpeeew.
Shhpeeew.
I thought I heard the sound of air being released, and as it turned out, a balloon had shot onto Byakuya-sama and also inflated, and he started floating too.
"Byakuya-sama!" I stretched out my hand, but there wasn't any way I was going to be able to reach the steeple on the opposite side of the building. Byakuya-sama rose up into the air in the blink of an eye, like a toy balloon that a child had carelessly let slip from their hand. "Byakuya-sama!"
No. No. Nooooo. I don't want to be separated from anyone anymoooore!
"Don't make that face." Even though he was floating high up in the sky, Byakuya-sama wore a leisurely expression, arms and legs crossed. Like he was telling me that I didn't have to worry about him. Like he was cheering me on, saying that this hell shouldn't be enough to get me to back down. "Now, Blue Ink, why don't you try and tell me what your mission is?"
"...It's, 'Thou must prioritize the writing of the biography at all times.'"
"Then observe. Observe this scene, this situation, this adversity. Then write. Write, write, write."
"Nee-san! Oh geez oh gosh oh boy oh man. Nee-saaaaan!"
Yuika-san appeared high up in the sky, too. Now that I thought about it, there had been two noises when the balloons were fired, but obviously I hadn't had time to worry about the other one.
"Can you still hear my voice?"
"Y-Yes."
"This is an order. Listen well. Protect me, when all the world has turned against me."
The transport collected all of the balloons, and flew away. And then, the Church of Bones finally collapsed, swallowing me up into the flames and rubble along with Hiroyuki-san.
Translator's Notes
[1] torera - the less-common female version of torero, the Spanish word for a bullfighter. Technically, in the original Japanese text, the gender-neutral kanji for bullfighter was given with the reading of "torero", but I took the liberty of assuming that this was the author's mistake/a quirk of loan words and not a conscious choice, and wasn't intended to imply anything about Taeko's gender or proficiency in Spanish, and so I tweaked it accordingly.
[2] Fulton recovery system - a real life method of getting surface units off of the ground using balloons.
Stay tuned for the start of a new chapter on the next update next Sunday (PST)!
Feel free to comment, keeping these rules in mind!