KATANAGATARI 3

“Kyotoryu─Mokuren!”17

“ROBOSLAY─TEMPEST”

“Kyotoryu─Oto!”18

“ROBOSLAY─SANDSTORM”

“Kyotoryu─Noichigo!”19

“ROBOSLAY─TYPHOON”

…

…

…

Yes.

After making some adjustments to the rules─they were finally square.

There was nothing they could do to make them squarer─since while Skytron had no handicaps, Shichika had an enormous one, having been forbidden to strike the robot on the head or torso under any circumstances.

If it seemed a strike might land outside of the appendages, he must do everything within his power to abort.

As long as they continued this way for a while, no matter how much Shichika anticipated its form, one of the robot’s moves would get past him.

In which case, it was almost like a slow-paced suicide─as square as it may seem, Shichika was basically being tortured to death.

Even so, this was no blind spot in the scheme Togame had in mind─she had a vivid picture of how things would unfold.

But for them to make it there─

It was essential that Shichika Yasuri’s stamina held out.

Perhaps Nanami Yasuri could have seen that far, but not Togame the Schemer─they were entering treacherous terrain.

Unlike Nanami Yasuri.

Togame was unable to see everything or see beyond things.

All she could do was believe in Shichika Yasuri and keep her eyes on him20─

■　■

Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, looked back on life.

To a time before he embarked on the Sword Hunt.

To when his father─Mutsue Yasuri, was still among the living.

Before he had taken on the title Seventh Master.

Back when all he did was train, day in day out, a sword on a desert island─

“Remember, Shichika.”

Trained by the Sixth Master of the Kyotoryu─Mutsue Yasuri.

“I am─a katana.”

He was always saying that.

“Just as you─are a katana.”

Shichika, who looked up to21 his father─listened quietly.

For nineteen years.

He had heard Mutsue say these words.

“If a sword cannot kill, it has no point─consider that the fundamental truth.22 Everything else is trivial. Take my word for it─as a sword, you’re only good as long as you stay sharp.”

Now he understood.

What his father had meant was─Don’t feel.

It meant─Don’t think.

Don’t think─and don’t feel.

A katana has nothing like a will to speak of.

Perhaps Mutsue was unable to train Shichika to his satisfaction─leaving this world before he had a chance to convey fully what it was to be the Kyotoryu.

All the same, to say the least─Shichika was the Kyotoryu.

He was a katana.

But when Shichika came to blows with Skytron…

Bito the Sundial, eighth of the Twelve Possessed.

The mechanical doll who had no will─

It all made sense to him─Hey, this was me until a little while ago.

No agenda.

No resolve.

Relinquishing nothing─it knew no law or justice,23 no ambition or scorn.24

Like Shichika Yasuri on that portion of the Sword Hunt when he did what he was told to do─rounding up the swords without entertaining doubt.

A lack of hesitation so profound it jarred Togame, although she was the one calling the shots.

What he truly lacked was not hesitation─but will.

As goes without saying, swords have no need for will.

Swords may choose their owner, but they do not choose who to kill.

At first─Shichika saw nothing strange in that.

What could be strange─however.

This state of being came with strengths and weaknesses alike.

If I was only a katana─there’s no way that I would’ve beaten sis last month.

Right?

Dad and I may both be swords─but we’re entirely different people.

“ROBOSLAY─WIND FANG”25

Skytron attacked.

No will or aim─simply following the commands built into it centuries ago.

Evading26 the attack─Shichika realized.

Wow.

This was me─I used to be like this.

Does that mean─what on earth have I done?

Komori Maniwa. Ginkaku Uneri. Meisai Tsuruga. Hakuhei Sabi.

All four of them fought me when I was like this.

It must have been no fun at all to fight me when I was acting like a robot─but hold on.

When Skytron first sensed Shichika, it voiced the words “HUMAN DETECTED”─

Ah.

When I see you all I see is another sword.

But you’d call me human?

“Kyotoryu─Kyoka Suigetsu!”

Shichika unleashed the fastest of the Fatal Orchids, though not full force─and when Skytron blocked this too, he jumped away, toward safety.

He was short on breath already─practically hyperventilating.27

Drenched in sweat.

Of course he was. He had been fighting Skytron now for almost fifteen minutes straight─back and forth,28 jumping from one move to the next without a break.

Endlessly energetic as Shichika may be, it’s not like he never felt fatigue.

Skytron, on the other hand, neither breathed heavily nor sweat.

Obviously.

Skytron never breathed at all, and had no sweat glands anywhere on its body.

Humans and robots.

Different beasts.

And yet.

Resting now was─out of the question.

He had his orders from Togame─Keep going back and forth with Skytron for as long as physically possible, is how she put it.

A month or two before, he would have done what he was told unthinkingly.

Followed orders, like a sword.

Whereby everything that transpired, all responsibility, would fall on Togame.

But things were different now.

Now Shichika operated as an individual─he trusted Togame, and followed orders consciously.

The same way that Togame believes in me─I believe in Togame.

Even if I break in two─I’ll assume full responsibility!

“Hm?”

Full of conviction and resolve, Shichika charged straight for Skytron─but then he noticed something strange about the ground around it.

Skytron had dropped all four of its swords.

The four swords─that it held in its four arms.

Tossing them like trash into the field of trash.

“…? What are you up to?” Shichika asked Skytron.

Knowing full well it was pointless, since Skytron only looked human, and not even convincingly─pointless indeed, it registered no reaction to his voice.

Though for a second there, he thought it had.

Skytron looked like it was bowing29─but not in answer to what Shichika had asked.

Although she did effectively answer his question.

Now that it had dropped the swords and freed its hands, Skytron pressed them to the earth─and raised its lower body into a handstand.

Using its arms for legs, changing its stature.

Its head and eyes were quite low to the ground, but it stared up at Shichika.

No─those eyes saw nothing.

“BITO SUNDIAL”

Skytron.

Voice like cold steel.

“ROBOSLAY─PAIN RAIN”30

Suddenly─its four legs began to spin.

Not 180 degrees─but 360, 720, 1440 degrees─around and around and around it went.

Slow at first─but gradually faster─taking on speed─whirling.

“…nkk!”

Naturally, Shichika leapt back.

Forced to do so by the fierce wind pressure generated by the revolutions─that tells you just how fast Skytron’s four legs were spinning.

Next─Skytron, standing on its four hands, bent its elbows─

And then shot up.

High into air, as if it had a powerful spring hidden inside its body─and hovered.

Harlequin Butterfly, the move his sister Nanami Yasuri had acquired from Chocho Maniwa, late of the Twelve Bosses, reportedly involved making the body weightless─but this didn’t go that far. No way this robot could do ninpo, too.

What was Skytron up to─but flying of its own accord.

Creating lift by spinning its four legs at furious speed─staying so high off the ground that Shichika would not have even grazed it with his fingertips if he leapt with all his might.

Floating─like a bamboo dragonfly.31

Bito the Sundial’s secret move─Pain Rain.

There was no spring. What it had been hiding─was its wings.

Using its legs as rotators,32 Skytron gained air supremacy33 over the battlefield. Just as with Rakka Rozeki, one of the Fatal Orchids of the Kyotoryu, attacks like this from overhead are brutally effective─

This would explain it casting off the four swords.

Those spinning wings could serve as blades and slice a foe in two.

Skytron had pulled out all the stops.34

As commanded centuries before.

To put a full stop on this run-on sentence35 of a battle─

“Hey! Hey! You serious?” asked Shichika, face pale.

Looking up into the sky─up toward the floating mechanical doll.

Then turned toward Togame and spoke.

“Just like you said! I can’t believe it does this too,” Shichika confessed. “I never thought─that it could actually fly.”

“I’ve got good eyes. Besides, machines are simple. Unlike people─”

But the very moment that she uttered this with feeling─something strange happened to Skytron, floating overhead.

No, not just strange─extraordinary.36

Without warning, all four of its legs stopped spinning. Not gradually coming to a halt the way they took on speed─but all at once, as though an instant had been captured pictorially.

Since Skytron had been floating on the lift that it created with its spinning legs, it promptly fell down from the sky─without flailing, writhing, or wailing.

Falling like a brick.

“Cripes. That took forever,” Togame said.

Checking the display on the clock inside her head.

“Finally─out of fuel.”

■　■

Skytron─the robot that never felt fatigue.

But fatigue is one thing, and exhaustion37 is another─all tricks and gadgetry aside, Bito the Sundial, a.k.a. Skytron, was a robot, and that meant that it depended on a power source.

A robot that continued to protect Lake Fuyo across hundreds of years.

What kind of power source was this?

Togame had been pondering this question since before she set off on the Sword Hunt─since she first heard that a strange mechanical doll wandered the badlands of Lake Fuyo, the Level One Disaster Area.

Pondered in vain.

There was no way it was winding itself up─if this thing had the power to cut down any human being that crossed its path, it had to have a serious source of power, but Togame hadn’t the foggiest idea what it might be.

However, since Skytron was one of the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki─one hypothesis38 did come to mind.

She gleaned a hint the month before, when observing the Shikizaki blade wielded by Nanami Yasuri, Akuto the Eel. It was able to revitalize and replenish its owner because it had been charged with lightning─so.

What if Skytron, too, had some way of harnessing a natural form of energy?

Specifically─that’s right, the sun.

Prowling the badlands of Lake Fuyo─Skytron would often pause. As a result, it had taken extra time to ascertain the method to the madness of its orbit.

Shichika had said these pauses made it look like Skytron was─

Basking in the sun.

Could Skytron be converting sunlight into energy?

If so, the scheme could be absurdly simple─fight on a cloudy day.

One option was to provoke Skytron after the sun went down, but since Shichika was human, and unlike Skytron needed proper visibility to fight, a nighttime battle would be rough on him. As a concession, Togame settled for cloudy skies. It was a compromise, but it would do.

While they were waiting for a day like this, when it might rain any second, Togame schooled39 Shichika on the mechanics of Skytron, pointing to the pictures that she drew.

Before long─the day came they were waiting for.

Today.

Under these circumstances, they could expect that Skytron would be unable to recharge─even if it could, it would never be enough. If they ran Skytron ragged─it would eventually run out of fuel.

Which is why Togame had told Shichika to assault Skytron relentlessly.

To never give Skytron a chance to rest.

Togame had surmised that it would use its legs for rotators quite early in her prognostications, leading her to conclude that getting it to fly would be best.

If they got it to fly─it would expend itself all the more quickly.

And soon run out of fuel.

Shichika might run out of stamina before Skytron burned through all its fuel, so the fight was a contest of endurance─but now.

Skytron was theirs.

Another of the Twelve Possessed was theirs. Without a scratch.

The Mutant Blade, unscathed.

“Hey…now that it’s stopped fighting…”

Hugging the stalled body of Skytron─Shichika peered into its face.

“She’s actually pretty cute. I guess this must be Kiki Shikizaki’s type─”

When Skytron ran out of steam and fell from such great heights, Shichika followed through on his responsibilities and caught her─things had been a little dicey, but now the sword was safe in his embrace. And incredibly light. You never would have known from her appearance─but this made a world of sense, since Skytron had been made to fly. The robot must have been designed to be as light as possible.

Or perhaps.

Over the centuries─her parts had thinned from wear and tear.

“So if we left her in the sun, she’d start hacking away again?”

“I believe so. In any case, it isn’t broken. In ROBOSLAY terms, I guess you might call this one LULL.”40

Once she was certain that the battle was over, Togame came closer to examine Skytron’s features and answered Shichika’s question.

“This would be a good time to remove its starting system41…although I’m not sure where to find it. In the meantime, let’s take off its arms and legs, just to be safe.”

“Its arms and legs? I kinda feel bad.”

“You dummy. Don’t project emotions on42 a robot. It may have a human face, but this thing is one of the Twelve Possessed, Bito the Sundial.”

Though giving Shichika a few choice words, Togame betrayed her embarrassment, fiddling with the white hair cropped around her shoulders.

“But who am I to say not to project your feelings on a sword.”

“Huh?”

“Plum flowers open on the easterly breeze─but when I’m gone, forget me not.”

Brushing her hand on Skytron’s cheek, Togame recited a tanka43 from the Collection of Gleanings.44

“Bereft of its maker, alone without a master, left to protect Lake Fuyo over the centuries. I think this thing deserves a word of gratitude.”

With that.

Togame closed Skytron’s artificial eyes.

“Bravo,45 Sundial.”

1 行儀の正しい GYŌGI NO TADASHII having good manners; obeying proper etiquette

2 鷺草 SAGIGUSA “The White Egret Flower” a fringed orchid, often read SAGISŌ

3 袈裟懸けに KESAGAKE NI “like the robe of a priest” diagonally down from the shoulder

4 石榴 菖蒲 ZAKURO AYAME “The Pomegranate” “The Siberian Iris”

5 がっぷりよつ GAPPURI YOTSU in sumo, both wrestlers gripping each other’s mawashi with both hands

6 舌を巻く SHITA WO MAKU roll one’s tongue to marvel (no wordplay here in the original)

7 怒濤の DOTŌ NO like angry waves

8 外装 GAISŌ “outside adornments”

9 身体が覚えちゃてる KARADA GA OBOECHATTERU “the body remembers”

10 人形殺法 NINGYŌ SAPPŌ “Doll(’s) Killing Method”

11 春一番 HARU ICHIBAN the first strong wind in springtime

12 突風 TOPPŪ “thrusting wind” sharp gust

13 槍のような YARI NO YŌ NA spear-like

14 分析 BUNSEKI analyze

15 格闘者 KAKUTŌSHA (melee, if not unarmed) combatant, a scrapper

16 命令 MEIREI orders

17 木蓮 MOKUREN “The Magnolia”

18 桜桃 ŌTŌ “The Cherry”

19 野苺 NOICHIGO “The Wild Strawberry”

20 見守る MIMAMORU watch over

21 尊敬 SONKEI respect

22 第一に DAI’ICHINI as number one

23 正義 定義 SEIGI TEIGI righteousness (legal) definitions order reversed in main text

24 野心 復讐心 YASHIN FUKUSHŪSHIN (often sinister) goals desire for revenge

25 鎌鼬 KAMA ITACHI “sickle weasel” a flesh wound caused by contact with an atmospheric vacuum, such as that created by a whirlwind, thus named for its resemblance to the bite of a vermin

26 捌きながら SABAKI NAGARA fielding, handling

27 過呼吸 KAKOKYŪ “excess breathing”

28 攻防 KŌBŌ offense and defense

29 お辞儀 OJIGI leaning forward to show respect or say hello

30 微風刀風 BIFŪ TŌFŪ “subtle breeze, sword breeze”

31 竹蜻蛉 TAKE TONBO flying toys that zip up when spun from the hands

32 回転翼 KAITEN YOKU “spinning wings” rotor blades

33 制空権 SEIKŪKEN “sky control authority” also anachronistic in original

34 最後の手段に出た SAIGO NO SHUDAN NI DETA turned to last resort

35 膠着状態に終止符 KŌCHAKU JŌTAI NI SHŪSHIFU period to the stalemate

36 異変 異常 IHEN IJŌ “different & weird” anomaly; “different from usual” abnormality

37 消耗はする SHŌMŌ WA SURU does expend 消耗戦 SHŌMŌSEN war of attrition

38 仮説 KASETSU “provisional theory”

39 理解させた RIKAI SASETA made him understand

40 凪 NAGI calm air and skies incorporates parts from 風 KAZE wind 止む YAMU cease

41 起動装置 KIDŌ SŌCHI “raise-move apparatus” another deliberate anachronism

42 感情移入 KANJŌ INYŪ “transfuse feelings” identify with

43 短歌 TANKA “short song” thirty-one (5-7-5-7-7) syllable poem evoking a tableau

44 拾遺和歌集 SHŪI WAKASHŪ third imperial poetry anthology of the Heian period

45 敵ながらあっぱれ TEKI NAGARA APPARE “albeit an enemy, admirable”