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DRT1.1.9: Byakuya-sama is God, section 9
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Danganronpa Togami Volume 1: Multiple Counts of Attempted World Domination
Chapter 1: Byakuya-sama is God
9
The car swerved widely several times, as Hiroyuki-san couldn't steer very well while drenched in beer. And then: a figure appeared in front of the rampaging Mercedes! Out of control, the car drove straight into it.
Crash. Crash. It crashed... not at all, even though I kept waiting for it to. As if the car was a maiden being gently embraced, or an egg dropped onto a fluffy futon, there was no real crash at all. Why?
"I recommend you keep your eyes on the road. If you had continued that way for just a short while longer... your car would have become scrap metal."
The figure had stopped the car. One-handed. That was no normal person standing beyond the windshield. It was something beyond our comprehension, if it could stop a car so easily.
The brown limbs extending out from under her sailor fuku were perfectly muscled. Her long white hair fluttered through her sheer force of spirit, and her eyes were as sharp as an apex predator's. Height, 192cm. Bust, 130cm. The strongest Homo sapiens. The Super High School Level Martial Artist. Sakura Oogami.
"Uhaha~ Seriously?! I'm flooring it and we're not budging!" Hiroyuki-san wiped the beer off his face. "I thought this was a mystery, but it was sci-fi after all! Or that's what I'd usually say here, but I dunno if I really should. Is this world too weird? Is this breaking the fourth wall too much? Is she in the right series?"
"You and your third-rate conglomerate are the ones in the wrong series."
"You think? Well, I'm just gonna put my hands up and accept a world where people can stop a car with their bare hands."
"As you should. Get back to bed, amateur." Byakuya-sama rolled down his window in the back seat, calling out to his classmate. "Oogami, why are you in Prague?"
"I exist everywhere, and nowhere at once."
"I never thought I'd hear a solution to the measurement problem from you of all people."
"It is shukuchi," Oogami-san said, casually throwing out an even more outlandish explanation than the measurement problem.
BORGES=SEARCHRESULT
#22109004
CLASS\WIZARDRY; MARTIAL ARTS
TITLE "SHUKUCHI"
房有神術 能縮地脈 千里存在目前宛然 (神仙傳)[1]
Shukuchi, or "shortened earth", is a martial arts technique that allows the user to close the distance between themselves and their opponent instantaneously, historically described as "shortening ley lines, such that a thousand li (appx. 500km) ahead looks as if it is right before one's eyes".
So basically, Oogami-san ignores distance as she moves. Which also means she blasts a hole through timetable tricks. She should apologize to Kyoutarou Nishimura-sensei.[2]
"I did not ask how you came to Prague. I am asking why you came." Apparently, Byakuya-sama didn't care about shukuchi.
"Togami, was the World Domination Proclamation true?"
"So what if it was?"
"Then I shall capture you here and now."
"It's good to set your goalposts high, but you'll find that one impossible to reach. Oogami, step back before you get hurt. You've already been in my way ever since you were given a last name that was too similar to mine."
"If my words have no effect, then I shall have to resort to force."
"Hmph. You've never had any other weapons but force to begin with. Have your muscles finally taken over your brain, too? You're destroying your body with that protein."
"...The question has been on my mind for quite a long time, but is there perhaps some reason behind your offensive language?"
"Consider it a trade secret. Now, Oogami, here is my final question. Who directed you here?"
"A foolish question. My heart lies with Hope's Peak Academy."
Hope's Peak Academy.
It's often said graduating from here will guarantee you success in your future life, and so it's a symbol of hope. All the "first-class talents" of all fields are gathered in this academy of talent.
We were all enrolled in that extraordinary school.
"Now, then, I shall stop you with force, as you have requested." Oogami-san began to rotate her tree-trunk-like arms.
"The Tenchi Jouge stance?" Byakuya-sama reclined in his chair, as if advertising the time he had to spare. "A fatal stance said to have been developed by Masutatsu Oyama.[3] I suppose it's appropriate enough to use in a fight against me."
"Um, Byakuya-sama..."
"Do not panic without my permission. If you're truly Blue Ink, then start your observation immediately."
"You don't think we're about to die?"
"Oogami's goal is nothing more than capturing me. She's going to leave openings that we can take advantage of. You, from the third-rate conglomerate."
"...Hm? Oh. Ohhh, sorry. I dozed off." Hiroyuki-san raised his head. "Is your superpower battle over?"
"We're right at the climax now."
"I shouldn't have asked."
"I will award you with a job. You're going to break this deadlock."
"You're giving me a reward?"
"Are you just going to let me be captured?"
"Yare yare. So you're just milking me for all I've got." But, contrary to his annoyance, Hiroyuki-san quickly changed gears and pressed down on the gas pedal.
"Laughable." Oogami-san stopped the car again. But this time, perhaps because she had been in a stance, she used both hands.
"It doesn't matter what stance it is if she can't even put it into action. Sis!"
"Click." Then... the girl whose existence I had completely forgotten about... Yuika-san, in the passenger's seat, pressed a button next to the car navigation system that had a skull on it. How retro.
I heard the sound of a machine activating from behind me. A silver pipe that I couldn't describe as anything but a jet engine appeared from out of the back of the car.
"Dun-da-da-daaahhh! Don't you ever talk shit about German cars! There were a whole lot of Benz-manufactured weapons thanks to the Nazis. Cars, and aircraft too, of course."
Did they really make jet engines?
As if dispelling my doubts, the wail of something like a high-frequency engine rang out. Unable to withstand the extra energy, the body of the car rattled and shook, and I could hear a creaking noise. So much for a Mercedes being known for its sturdiness.
"Aaaall righty then. So, wanna try stopping a jet engine with your bare hands? Miss Super High School Level."
The Mercedes took off... no, it shot off.
But.
"Do you think this much horsepower is a match for me?!"
Everyone in the school knew that Oogami's nickname was The Ogre. Just as the name implied, her arms were as powerful as those of an ogre from a fairytale, and her muscles were freakishly prominent. How should I say this? Oogami-san was fighting against a jet engine, and winning. She was starting to push the car backwards.
"Sis. Second wave."
"Click." Yuika-san pushed the skull button again, and a second engine appeared.
"Dun-da-da-daaahhh! If pushing buttons doesn't work, then just push more buttons! BOOM-OFFFFF!"[4]
As soon as Hiroyuki-san pressed down on the gas pedal again—the world in front of the windshield became white. The road, the sky, the landscape, Oogami-san, everything had its contours stripped away by the tremendous speed, moving faster than the eye could see.
I'd forgotten to buckle my seatbelt, so I was thrown around the car, bumping into things left and right. But, thinking about how Byakuya-sama and I were both fugitives now, I was happy.
Translator's Notes
[1] Shenxian zhuan - This quote from Biographies of Divine Transcendents is given in the text in the original Chinese. But the text within the quotation marks in the following paragraph is a rough translation. A li is an archaic unit of measurement; as it says, 1000 li is roughly 500km, or over 300 miles.
[2] Kyoutarou Nishimura-sensei - a Japanese mystery author who writes a lot of novels with a heavy travel element. You can read an article about travel mysteries here, but the important part is that many Japanese travel mysteries use the transportation timetables as evidence. A "timetable trick" refers to that.
[3] Tenchi Jouge / Masutatsu Oyama - Masutatsu Oyama is a famous karate master. I can't actually easily find a reference that he did develop this stance, but it shows up in popular media frequently enough, so here's a visual. It uses the kanji for Heaven and Earth, Up and Down.
[4] boom-off - Hiroyuki uses the word 出発/departure, which is usually read "shuppatsu", but he said "deppatsu" instead, using an alternate reading of the first character. This is apparently an Ibaraki regionalism, so although I translated it as something that is like-"blast-off"-but-not-quite, I wanted to note that it's not necessarily "incorrect".
Stay tuned for the next update next Sunday (PST)!
Read the rules before commenting! They're different from the DRK rules!!
Danganronpa Togami Volume 1: Multiple Counts of Attempted World Domination
Chapter 1: Byakuya-sama is God
9
The car swerved widely several times, as Hiroyuki-san couldn't steer very well while drenched in beer. And then: a figure appeared in front of the rampaging Mercedes! Out of control, the car drove straight into it.
Crash. Crash. It crashed... not at all, even though I kept waiting for it to. As if the car was a maiden being gently embraced, or an egg dropped onto a fluffy futon, there was no real crash at all. Why?
"I recommend you keep your eyes on the road. If you had continued that way for just a short while longer... your car would have become scrap metal."
The figure had stopped the car. One-handed. That was no normal person standing beyond the windshield. It was something beyond our comprehension, if it could stop a car so easily.
The brown limbs extending out from under her sailor fuku were perfectly muscled. Her long white hair fluttered through her sheer force of spirit, and her eyes were as sharp as an apex predator's. Height, 192cm. Bust, 130cm. The strongest Homo sapiens. The Super High School Level Martial Artist. Sakura Oogami.
"Uhaha~ Seriously?! I'm flooring it and we're not budging!" Hiroyuki-san wiped the beer off his face. "I thought this was a mystery, but it was sci-fi after all! Or that's what I'd usually say here, but I dunno if I really should. Is this world too weird? Is this breaking the fourth wall too much? Is she in the right series?"
"You and your third-rate conglomerate are the ones in the wrong series."
"You think? Well, I'm just gonna put my hands up and accept a world where people can stop a car with their bare hands."
"As you should. Get back to bed, amateur." Byakuya-sama rolled down his window in the back seat, calling out to his classmate. "Oogami, why are you in Prague?"
"I exist everywhere, and nowhere at once."
"I never thought I'd hear a solution to the measurement problem from you of all people."
"It is shukuchi," Oogami-san said, casually throwing out an even more outlandish explanation than the measurement problem.
BORGES=SEARCHRESULT
#22109004
CLASS\WIZARDRY; MARTIAL ARTS
TITLE "SHUKUCHI"
房有神術 能縮地脈 千里存在目前宛然 (神仙傳)[1]
Shukuchi, or "shortened earth", is a martial arts technique that allows the user to close the distance between themselves and their opponent instantaneously, historically described as "shortening ley lines, such that a thousand li (appx. 500km) ahead looks as if it is right before one's eyes".
So basically, Oogami-san ignores distance as she moves. Which also means she blasts a hole through timetable tricks. She should apologize to Kyoutarou Nishimura-sensei.[2]
"I did not ask how you came to Prague. I am asking why you came." Apparently, Byakuya-sama didn't care about shukuchi.
"Togami, was the World Domination Proclamation true?"
"So what if it was?"
"Then I shall capture you here and now."
"It's good to set your goalposts high, but you'll find that one impossible to reach. Oogami, step back before you get hurt. You've already been in my way ever since you were given a last name that was too similar to mine."
"If my words have no effect, then I shall have to resort to force."
"Hmph. You've never had any other weapons but force to begin with. Have your muscles finally taken over your brain, too? You're destroying your body with that protein."
"...The question has been on my mind for quite a long time, but is there perhaps some reason behind your offensive language?"
"Consider it a trade secret. Now, Oogami, here is my final question. Who directed you here?"
"A foolish question. My heart lies with Hope's Peak Academy."
Hope's Peak Academy.
It's often said graduating from here will guarantee you success in your future life, and so it's a symbol of hope. All the "first-class talents" of all fields are gathered in this academy of talent.
We were all enrolled in that extraordinary school.
"Now, then, I shall stop you with force, as you have requested." Oogami-san began to rotate her tree-trunk-like arms.
"The Tenchi Jouge stance?" Byakuya-sama reclined in his chair, as if advertising the time he had to spare. "A fatal stance said to have been developed by Masutatsu Oyama.[3] I suppose it's appropriate enough to use in a fight against me."
"Um, Byakuya-sama..."
"Do not panic without my permission. If you're truly Blue Ink, then start your observation immediately."
"You don't think we're about to die?"
"Oogami's goal is nothing more than capturing me. She's going to leave openings that we can take advantage of. You, from the third-rate conglomerate."
"...Hm? Oh. Ohhh, sorry. I dozed off." Hiroyuki-san raised his head. "Is your superpower battle over?"
"We're right at the climax now."
"I shouldn't have asked."
"I will award you with a job. You're going to break this deadlock."
"You're giving me a reward?"
"Are you just going to let me be captured?"
"Yare yare. So you're just milking me for all I've got." But, contrary to his annoyance, Hiroyuki-san quickly changed gears and pressed down on the gas pedal.
"Laughable." Oogami-san stopped the car again. But this time, perhaps because she had been in a stance, she used both hands.
"It doesn't matter what stance it is if she can't even put it into action. Sis!"
"Click." Then... the girl whose existence I had completely forgotten about... Yuika-san, in the passenger's seat, pressed a button next to the car navigation system that had a skull on it. How retro.
I heard the sound of a machine activating from behind me. A silver pipe that I couldn't describe as anything but a jet engine appeared from out of the back of the car.
"Dun-da-da-daaahhh! Don't you ever talk shit about German cars! There were a whole lot of Benz-manufactured weapons thanks to the Nazis. Cars, and aircraft too, of course."
Did they really make jet engines?
As if dispelling my doubts, the wail of something like a high-frequency engine rang out. Unable to withstand the extra energy, the body of the car rattled and shook, and I could hear a creaking noise. So much for a Mercedes being known for its sturdiness.
"Aaaall righty then. So, wanna try stopping a jet engine with your bare hands? Miss Super High School Level."
The Mercedes took off... no, it shot off.
But.
"Do you think this much horsepower is a match for me?!"
Everyone in the school knew that Oogami's nickname was The Ogre. Just as the name implied, her arms were as powerful as those of an ogre from a fairytale, and her muscles were freakishly prominent. How should I say this? Oogami-san was fighting against a jet engine, and winning. She was starting to push the car backwards.
"Sis. Second wave."
"Click." Yuika-san pushed the skull button again, and a second engine appeared.
"Dun-da-da-daaahhh! If pushing buttons doesn't work, then just push more buttons! BOOM-OFFFFF!"[4]
As soon as Hiroyuki-san pressed down on the gas pedal again—the world in front of the windshield became white. The road, the sky, the landscape, Oogami-san, everything had its contours stripped away by the tremendous speed, moving faster than the eye could see.
I'd forgotten to buckle my seatbelt, so I was thrown around the car, bumping into things left and right. But, thinking about how Byakuya-sama and I were both fugitives now, I was happy.
Translator's Notes
[1] Shenxian zhuan - This quote from Biographies of Divine Transcendents is given in the text in the original Chinese. But the text within the quotation marks in the following paragraph is a rough translation. A li is an archaic unit of measurement; as it says, 1000 li is roughly 500km, or over 300 miles.
[2] Kyoutarou Nishimura-sensei - a Japanese mystery author who writes a lot of novels with a heavy travel element. You can read an article about travel mysteries here, but the important part is that many Japanese travel mysteries use the transportation timetables as evidence. A "timetable trick" refers to that.
[3] Tenchi Jouge / Masutatsu Oyama - Masutatsu Oyama is a famous karate master. I can't actually easily find a reference that he did develop this stance, but it shows up in popular media frequently enough, so here's a visual. It uses the kanji for Heaven and Earth, Up and Down.
[4] boom-off - Hiroyuki uses the word 出発/departure, which is usually read "shuppatsu", but he said "deppatsu" instead, using an alternate reading of the first character. This is apparently an Ibaraki regionalism, so although I translated it as something that is like-"blast-off"-but-not-quite, I wanted to note that it's not necessarily "incorrect".
Stay tuned for the next update next Sunday (PST)!
Read the rules before commenting! They're different from the DRK rules!!