Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

Volume 5A, Afterword

That was Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon 5-A.

The clash between Hashiba and Musashi is beginning and the other nations are beginning to move and deciding on a stance, so the entire world is growing connected and exciting.

I touched on it in the story, but even if a “nation” is a vague thing, you can think of it as having a “personality” created by the climate, culture, civilization, history, and type of people who live there.

Well, I guess I’m saying you can make anthropomorphized versions of nations and the world moves when those anthropomorphized Nation Girls and Nation Boys fistfight, bargain, join shoulders, and apply joint locks on each other.

But in that case, what happens to the characters within the anthropomorphized nations? I suppose they can’t do things how they want and get caught in the flow of the world, but then they find they like how Nation Boy is doing things and get an upper cut in.

I think the discussions about nations began at around this time because the people were trying to grasp at “something” that they should have been moving but was actually moving them. Or maybe they were intentionally trying to create it and control it. Oh, I’m getting pretty serious this time. This’ll be on the test.

Now for the chat.

“Got any painful stories from your school days?”

“When we were having a graded match in judo class, the opponents were decided by your seat number. I ended up against a complete literary type and I had been preparing since the night before. So as soon as the match began, I went in for a quick win.”

“I hope this isn’t a clichéd story where he ends up beating you up.”

“No, I stepped on the artificial tatami mat, got my foot caught, heard an awful sound, and broke my ankle. As I writhed around in pain, the literary guy expressionlessly raised his right hand and actually said, ‘I have no regrets for the life I've lived.’ ”

“Yeah, there was a really pathetic Kenshirou at his feet too.”

Is it just me or do I reference Fist of the North Star an awful lot?

The background music this time was Saitou Kazuyoshi’s Doko e Ikou. I listened to it for the atmosphere a lot when writing the Sanada group.

Anyway, this time the question was, “Who was trying to hide the most?”

Part B will be out the month after next. The Ten Spears are showing up and things are looking troublesome for Musashi, but please wait a while longer.

May 2012. A nice and rainy morning.

-Kawakami Minoru