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DRT1.4.7: Me and the School and I (The First Half), section 7
Find previous chapters at the Navigation Index.
Danganronpa Togami Volume 1: Multiple Counts of Attempted World Domination
Chapter 4: Me and the School and I (The First Half)
7
A satellite had fallen somewhere in the world. Or so it seemed to me, but I didn't have the time to actually check.
The white dot on the navigation screen was in an obviously strange location: the Vltava river that extended through Prague to the north and south. The dot that represented Byakuya-sama had come to a stop... somewhere in the middle of it.
What was that supposed to mean? Why would he be in the river?
"Ohhh, come onnnn!" Hiroyuki-san exclaimed, irritated, from the driver's seat.
Though we'd finally made it back to Prague, it had turned into Riot Central. The warning signs had already been in place ever since the instant the World Domination Proclamation first went out, but now, the voices of the protestors had finally spread out to cover the entire city. The beautiful, quaint capital was now swarmed with countless flags and countless vocal demands, groups of people blocking off major roadways.
"We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in!!"
The point is, the citizens of Prague had gone ballistic. A resounding "NO" to world domination gushed up out of every crack in the time-worn stone pavement of the City of a Hundred Spires.
"We're not gonna be able to cut through the heart of the city. Let's take a detour." Hiroyuki-san took the Mercedes down an alleyway, averting the wave of protests.
"What's wrong with your navigation system?" I pointed at the stationary white dot. "Is Byakuya-sama all right? Hey..."
"Don't you worry your pretty little head over it." Hiroyuki-san tapped the panel and zoomed in on the map. In the spot that I had thought must surely have been the middle of the river, it showed a small island.
"What's this?"
"Dětský Island. I guess the literal translation would be something like 'Children's Island'. That's where the Bossy-Boy is. My sister's probably there, too."
The Mercedes pulled up into the Jewish quarter, but rather than go on a field trip to the awe-inspiring synagogues, we left the flood of road signs and stone pavement behind, heading down to the road running alongside the Vltava river. But the area around the bridge was jam-packed with people and cars, and there was nothing we could do. Judging by the navigation system, there wasn't any way we could get to the island unless we went to the far side of the river.
Hiroyuki-san clicked his tongue and said, "Let's lighten the mood a little," sticking a CD into the car's slot. A chorus of voices sang as it played.
This old familiar river, Vltava, the Moldau
My heart lies within the pure water flowing down
This captivating river, Vltava, the Moldau
The blue water's surface still affects me even now
The sun shines down and fills it up, gently it streams
A song is always playing in its rippling
And down by the rocks there's a splash spraying up and swirling around
(Lyrics: Saburou Iwakawa)[1]
The Vltava river that I'd first learned about in music class had about fifteen bridges, according to my research using Borges. But before I could even report that information, Hiroyuki-san had already started zooming down the riverside road.
But even the Mánes Bridge built by the pioneers of Czech Cubism, and the historic Charles Bridge, and the kinda disturbingly named Legion Bridge were all backed up and blocking passage. Never destroyed by war or calamity, deliberately complex to avoid enemy infiltration, and loudly proclaimed as a World Heritage Site on top of all that, the streets of Prague were doomed to generate traffic jams at the first sign of panic.
"Good grief. They should take some tips from My Homeland and check out the highways on Japanese bridges." Hiroyuki-san sounded the car horn, but that did absolutely nothing. It just got more congested the more we crept forward, and by the time we were about halfway there, traffic had come to a standstill, with nothing to be done about it.
I turned towards the Vltava. Even with my naked eye I could see the island we thought Byakuya-sama was on—one of the small islands that looked like just a sandbar. With Borges, though, I could measure the distance between us. If I went in a straight line, it would be 312 meters.
We just needed to get a little further. He was right there!
"M'lady?"
"Y-Yes?"
"No matter how much hope Hope's Peak ends up accumulating, all they're doing is churning out teams of freakshows by the dozen. But you-know-what is different."
"..."
"That isn't just a skill or a technique. It's the ability to influence the rules of this world. You and your young master experienced it before, in the past. You experienced the Secret to the Togami Family's Prosperity. Isn't that right?"
"..."
"I'm Hiroyuki Ketouin. I'm just a trickster who doesn't have anything to do with Hope's Peak or the Togami Conglomerate. I'm never going to be the main character. I'm never going to be a star. But you, m'lady, are different."
"What I am is Byakuya-sama's property."
"Do you think that makes a difference? The main character in The Little Prince isn't the prince. You're the Super High School Level Secretary, so of course you're a capable storyteller, and a capable writer, too. It's amazing, when you get right down to it."
"You wouldn't be trying to cheer me up, would you?"
"Would I? Or are those just my parting words?"
The moment Hiroyuki-san smiled at me, the Mercedes shot forward at high speed.
Wait, what? But—weren't we cut off when we tried to use the road...?
"I can flyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Hiroyuki-san shouted, and my confusion was answered.
He's planning on jumping into the Vltava!
The Mercedes couldn't accelerate much with how blocked off the road was, so, of course, it fell before it even flew ten meters. You really couldn't call it flying at all. Birdman contest: failed. We were still about 300 meters away from the Children's Island.
"I'm leaving my sister to you!" Hiroyuki-san fiddled with the navigation, and the sunroof above us opened up all the way. As soon as I thought I felt a vibration in my behind, I was... shot out of the car along with the back seat I had been sitting in.
There I went, the human rocket. The relentless assault of g-force was trying to shatter my hipbone. I had been thrown up with such tremendous power that the wind filled my mouth and left me unable to breathe. My buttcheeks were being crushed by my pelvis.
Above me was the sky. Below was the Vltava. I could only assume the Mercedes had sunk into the river, since it was nowhere to be seen. I didn't think Hiroyuki-san would die here, but if this was how he left center stage, then he really was an awful trolling trickster.
The seat I was riding in finally gained some stability and began to complete the parabola of its trajectory. I could see the island. I caught a glimpse of residential roofs and cars. The ground was heading towards me, too.
Uhhh, something I can use as a parachute... is... nothing that I have!
I leapt out of my seat, positioning both knees and one arm to pretend I could make a three-point landing.
However.
Don't try that one at home. That move is only for trained professionals. With nothing that would realistically be able to absorb the inertia, it ended in a violent tumble across the ground. "It" being my battered and bruised muscles.
I stifled my wheezing, forcibly moving my body... and found something surprising.
A gymnasium.
A massive, old-fashioned school building. A wooden building next to it housed the dorms. There was even a church, albeit a small one. It seemed I had fallen onto a school campus.
Suddenly, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
"Byakuya-sama?"
There laid despair.
Translator's Notes
[1] Saburou Iwakawa - he wrote the Japanese lyrics set to the music, but the original composition is Vltava from Má vlast (My Homeland, as is referenced later). But you can listen to a chorus sing the Japanese lyrics here.
Stay tuned for 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 4: Me and the School and I (The First Half)
7
A satellite had fallen somewhere in the world. Or so it seemed to me, but I didn't have the time to actually check.
The white dot on the navigation screen was in an obviously strange location: the Vltava river that extended through Prague to the north and south. The dot that represented Byakuya-sama had come to a stop... somewhere in the middle of it.
What was that supposed to mean? Why would he be in the river?
"Ohhh, come onnnn!" Hiroyuki-san exclaimed, irritated, from the driver's seat.
Though we'd finally made it back to Prague, it had turned into Riot Central. The warning signs had already been in place ever since the instant the World Domination Proclamation first went out, but now, the voices of the protestors had finally spread out to cover the entire city. The beautiful, quaint capital was now swarmed with countless flags and countless vocal demands, groups of people blocking off major roadways.
"We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in! We will not give in!!"
The point is, the citizens of Prague had gone ballistic. A resounding "NO" to world domination gushed up out of every crack in the time-worn stone pavement of the City of a Hundred Spires.
"We're not gonna be able to cut through the heart of the city. Let's take a detour." Hiroyuki-san took the Mercedes down an alleyway, averting the wave of protests.
"What's wrong with your navigation system?" I pointed at the stationary white dot. "Is Byakuya-sama all right? Hey..."
"Don't you worry your pretty little head over it." Hiroyuki-san tapped the panel and zoomed in on the map. In the spot that I had thought must surely have been the middle of the river, it showed a small island.
"What's this?"
"Dětský Island. I guess the literal translation would be something like 'Children's Island'. That's where the Bossy-Boy is. My sister's probably there, too."
The Mercedes pulled up into the Jewish quarter, but rather than go on a field trip to the awe-inspiring synagogues, we left the flood of road signs and stone pavement behind, heading down to the road running alongside the Vltava river. But the area around the bridge was jam-packed with people and cars, and there was nothing we could do. Judging by the navigation system, there wasn't any way we could get to the island unless we went to the far side of the river.
Hiroyuki-san clicked his tongue and said, "Let's lighten the mood a little," sticking a CD into the car's slot. A chorus of voices sang as it played.
This old familiar river, Vltava, the Moldau
My heart lies within the pure water flowing down
This captivating river, Vltava, the Moldau
The blue water's surface still affects me even now
The sun shines down and fills it up, gently it streams
A song is always playing in its rippling
And down by the rocks there's a splash spraying up and swirling around
(Lyrics: Saburou Iwakawa)[1]
The Vltava river that I'd first learned about in music class had about fifteen bridges, according to my research using Borges. But before I could even report that information, Hiroyuki-san had already started zooming down the riverside road.
But even the Mánes Bridge built by the pioneers of Czech Cubism, and the historic Charles Bridge, and the kinda disturbingly named Legion Bridge were all backed up and blocking passage. Never destroyed by war or calamity, deliberately complex to avoid enemy infiltration, and loudly proclaimed as a World Heritage Site on top of all that, the streets of Prague were doomed to generate traffic jams at the first sign of panic.
"Good grief. They should take some tips from My Homeland and check out the highways on Japanese bridges." Hiroyuki-san sounded the car horn, but that did absolutely nothing. It just got more congested the more we crept forward, and by the time we were about halfway there, traffic had come to a standstill, with nothing to be done about it.
I turned towards the Vltava. Even with my naked eye I could see the island we thought Byakuya-sama was on—one of the small islands that looked like just a sandbar. With Borges, though, I could measure the distance between us. If I went in a straight line, it would be 312 meters.
We just needed to get a little further. He was right there!
"M'lady?"
"Y-Yes?"
"No matter how much hope Hope's Peak ends up accumulating, all they're doing is churning out teams of freakshows by the dozen. But you-know-what is different."
"..."
"That isn't just a skill or a technique. It's the ability to influence the rules of this world. You and your young master experienced it before, in the past. You experienced the Secret to the Togami Family's Prosperity. Isn't that right?"
"..."
"I'm Hiroyuki Ketouin. I'm just a trickster who doesn't have anything to do with Hope's Peak or the Togami Conglomerate. I'm never going to be the main character. I'm never going to be a star. But you, m'lady, are different."
"What I am is Byakuya-sama's property."
"Do you think that makes a difference? The main character in The Little Prince isn't the prince. You're the Super High School Level Secretary, so of course you're a capable storyteller, and a capable writer, too. It's amazing, when you get right down to it."
"You wouldn't be trying to cheer me up, would you?"
"Would I? Or are those just my parting words?"
The moment Hiroyuki-san smiled at me, the Mercedes shot forward at high speed.
Wait, what? But—weren't we cut off when we tried to use the road...?
"I can flyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Hiroyuki-san shouted, and my confusion was answered.
He's planning on jumping into the Vltava!
The Mercedes couldn't accelerate much with how blocked off the road was, so, of course, it fell before it even flew ten meters. You really couldn't call it flying at all. Birdman contest: failed. We were still about 300 meters away from the Children's Island.
"I'm leaving my sister to you!" Hiroyuki-san fiddled with the navigation, and the sunroof above us opened up all the way. As soon as I thought I felt a vibration in my behind, I was... shot out of the car along with the back seat I had been sitting in.
There I went, the human rocket. The relentless assault of g-force was trying to shatter my hipbone. I had been thrown up with such tremendous power that the wind filled my mouth and left me unable to breathe. My buttcheeks were being crushed by my pelvis.
Above me was the sky. Below was the Vltava. I could only assume the Mercedes had sunk into the river, since it was nowhere to be seen. I didn't think Hiroyuki-san would die here, but if this was how he left center stage, then he really was an awful trolling trickster.
The seat I was riding in finally gained some stability and began to complete the parabola of its trajectory. I could see the island. I caught a glimpse of residential roofs and cars. The ground was heading towards me, too.
Uhhh, something I can use as a parachute... is... nothing that I have!
I leapt out of my seat, positioning both knees and one arm to pretend I could make a three-point landing.
However.
Don't try that one at home. That move is only for trained professionals. With nothing that would realistically be able to absorb the inertia, it ended in a violent tumble across the ground. "It" being my battered and bruised muscles.
I stifled my wheezing, forcibly moving my body... and found something surprising.
A gymnasium.
A massive, old-fashioned school building. A wooden building next to it housed the dorms. There was even a church, albeit a small one. It seemed I had fallen onto a school campus.
Suddenly, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
"Byakuya-sama?"
There laid despair.
Translator's Notes
[1] Saburou Iwakawa - he wrote the Japanese lyrics set to the music, but the original composition is Vltava from Má vlast (My Homeland, as is referenced later). But you can listen to a chorus sing the Japanese lyrics here.
Stay tuned for the next update next Sunday (PST)!
Feel free to comment, keeping these rules in mind!
Blue Ink's Talent
(Anonymous) 2016-08-29 11:37 am (UTC)(link)Given her role, I find what Hiroyuki says to be more accurate to what she's good at, but I'm curious as to whether he actually says something different or if the translation's decided to take a different route in terms of... well, translation. I'm a fan of both characters involved thus far, so shedding a little light on either in even the vaguest of ways is always nice.
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(Anonymous) 2016-08-31 08:06 am (UTC)(link)