The Asterisk War, Vol. 8: Idol Showdown
Page 1
Copyright
THE ASTERISK WAR, Vol. 8
YUU MIYAZAKI
Translation by Haydn Trowell
Cover art by okiura
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
© Yuu Miyazaki 2015
First published in Japan in 2015 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION.
English translation rights reserved by Yen Press, LLC under the license from KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY, INC. Tokyo.
English translation © 2018 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Miyazaki, Yuu, author. | Tanaka, Melissa, translator. |
Trowell, Haydn, translator.
Title: The asterisk war / Yuu Miyazaki ; translation by Melissa Tanaka.
Other titles: Gakusen toshi asterisk. English
Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2016– | v. 6–8 translation by Haydn Trowell | Audience: Ages 13 & up.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016023755 | ISBN 9780316315272 (v. 1 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398589 (v. 2 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398602 (v. 3 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398626 (v. 4 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398657 (v. 5 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398671 (v. 6 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398695 (v. 7 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398718 (v. 8 : paperback)
Subjects: CYAC: Science fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Science Fiction / Adventure.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.M635 As 2016 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016023755
ISBNs: 978-0-316-39871-8 (paperback)
978-0-316-39872-5 (ebook)
E3-20181105-JV-NF-ORI
Table of Contents
Cover
Insert
Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Training
Chapter 2: The Gryps
Chapter 3: Eccentric Girls
Chapter 4: The Preliminaries
Chapter 5: Dilapidated Ruins
Chapter 6: The Lyre-Poros
Chapter 7: A Busy Night
Chapter 8: Battle of the Idols
Epilogue
Afterword
Yen Newsletter
CHAPTER 1
TRAINING
Not long after the end of the school fair, the winds of summer began to sweep over Asterisk.
The sky was high and brilliantly clear; the branches of the lush, green trees rustled in the breeze, and the sun blazed brighter with each passing day.
Unfortunately, Ayato and company didn’t have the luxury of stopping to appreciate the joys of the season; instead, they were spending every free moment locked away in their training room practicing for the upcoming tournament.
“Yabuki said something about the stages undergoing renovation for the Gryps,” Ayato stated as he began his stretches, recalling what Eishirou had told him the other day.
“Ah, right. I did hear somewhere that they’re improving the main stage and the three other large stages—or something like that,” Julis replied, seemingly uninterested in the topic. “That’s why the official ranking matches have been moved to the medium stages. Never mind how much of a nuisance that causes us.”
Official ranking matches were held once a month within each of Asterisk’s six schools, but there were also several stages throughout the city where the public could watch such events. They were among Asterisk’s main draws for tourists during the large swaths of the year when there were no Festa events. With few exceptions—namely Jie Long—matches among Page Ones were customarily held on the town’s largest stages.
In fact, both Ayato and Julis had turned down matches on the main stage in the Sirius Dome just last month. Julis’s specialty was ranged combat, so she no doubt wanted as wide a space as possible to be able to fight at her strongest.
“But didn’t you completely overpower Kannari the last time you fought her?” Ayato asked.
Julis had once said that she wasn’t well-matched against Seidoukan Academy’s seventh-ranked fighter, the user of the school-owned Orga Lux Longshanks. Nonetheless, in her official ranking match last month, Julis had managed to face down an opponent even stronger than she at ranged combat, snatching victory without encountering any serious difficulties.
The fact that she had managed to get her hands on one of the school’s newly developed weapons, a Rect Lux, certainly helped in that regard, but the most important factor was undoubtedly her own significant growth over the past year. She had showed steady improvement in all respects: from her physical endurance and strength, to her volume of prana, to the variety of techniques at her disposal, to the honing of the exact timing of when to use those techniques—all thanks to the cumulative effects of her daily training regimen.
“Oh? You’re one to talk, seeing how well yours went,” Julis bantered, the corners of her mouth rising up.
There was no denying that ever since Ayato had defeated Kirin and taken the number-one ranking he had faced more challengers in official ranking matches than any of Seidoukan’s other students. The fact that people kept on coming undoubtedly had something to do with the special nature of the title.
“Well, it isn’t all that uncommon for them to renovate the stages like this. It’s nothing to worry about.”
“…Actually,” began Saya, who was standing off to the side, inspecting one of her many handgun-shaped Luxes, “it’s quite extensive this time. They’re installing a new protection mechanism developed by Allekant.”
“A new protection mechanism…?” Kirin, the Senbakiri lying at her feet as she stretched her body, cocked her head as if this was the first she’d heard of it.
“It sounds like they’re using a new protective gel for shock absorption, developed by Allekant’s Sonnet faction.”
“Oh? You’re well-informed, huh?” Julis made an impressed noise.
Saya, still inspecting her handgun from every possible angle, gave a blunt answer: “Camilla Pareto told me.”
“Oh… Wait, what?!”
She had spoken so casually that they had almost just nodded along without even processing the words. Camilla Pareto, however, was the head of Allekant Académie’s Ferrovius faction and the genius who had created the autonomous puppets Ardy and Rimcy they had fought during the Phoenix.
She and Saya were supposed to be diametric opposites.
It wasn’t just Ayato who was taken by surprise.
“Since when have you been h
aving these chats?” Julis demanded.
“Did you make up with her?” Kirin looked at her blankly.
“It isn’t like that,” Saya answered. “I still need to settle my score with her. That hasn’t changed. But…it’s not like there are any ill feelings between us.” She deactivated her Lux, letting out a brief sigh. “I’ve been thinking about my Luxes for a while now. Of course, I don’t want to criticize my father’s weapons—he built them specifically for me, after all—but they probably aren’t suited to team battles.”
Saya’s Luxes certainly had immense firepower, but it was hard to say that they were particularly precise. She was by no means a poor shot, but even with that, the chance that in the middle of a heated contest one of her teammates might get caught in the line of fire wasn’t small.
There would be ten people, friend and foe alike, on the stage during each Gryps match. For those in the rear, whose job it was to support the vanguard, it was an undeniable fact that accuracy was required.
“Which is why I intend to prepare some new weapons better suited to team combat.”
“I see. That certainly explains your visits to the Society for the Study of Meteoric Engineering.” Claudia, who until that point had been listening to the conversation in silence, clapped her hands together in understanding.
“Ah, so that’s where you’ve been?” Ayato asked.
The Society for the Study of Meteoric Engineering was one of Seidoukan’s largest student clubs. According to Eishirou, they were better even than the academy’s own Matériel Department when it came to making adjustments to Luxes. That said, Ayato was in no way dissatisfied with the Matériel Department’s work on the Ser Veresta.
While the Matériel Department tended to tailor Luxes to their users’ abilities, the Society for the Study of Meteoric Engineering excelled in certain kinds of modifications but were less experienced with others.
“…I needed a workshop, so I decided to join the club.”
“You’ve joined a club?” This was the first time Ayato had ever heard of Saya doing such a thing.
Like Julis, Saya wasn’t proactive when it came to building relationships with other people.
“And Camilla Pareto showed up, so I decided to have a little talk with her.”
Camilla was in charge of the development of the new Luxes being worked on jointly by Allekant and Seidoukan—the Rect Luxes. Their development had already been completed, but as they were still collecting data on their usage, the two schools had decided to maintain their relationship for the time being.
Moreover, a special committee had been created at Seidoukan consisting of members from the Matériel Department and the Society for the Study of Meteoric Engineering, so it wasn’t altogether strange that Camilla would make an appearance. That she and Saya could engage in cordial conversation was no doubt proof enough that there was no lingering animosity between them.
“Hmm… So you’re working on a new weapon?”
“Not from scratch. That would be technologically impossible, and I don’t have the time. So I thought I’d customize my current weapons. I still don’t know if they’ll be ready in time for the tournament, though.”
“That’s impressive enough as it is,” Ayato stated.
It looked like Saya had also been putting a lot of thought into the team competition. She had been prompted to do so in order to keep up with Julis’s mastery of her Rect Lux and the remarkable growth of Kirin’s swordsmanship, but it was by no means a bad development.
Saya puffed out her chest at the compliment. “Hmm… You should praise me more often.”
Ayato, flashing her an amused smile, gently placed a hand on her head.
“So there you are, you little brats!”
Standing by the entrance was their homeroom teacher, Kyouko Yatsuzaki. As usual, she was holding her nail bat over her shoulder, carrying herself with a needlessly aggressive posture.
“Ah, Ms. Yatsuzaki… What is it?” Ayato wondered aloud.
“Huh? You’re asking me? You’re the ones who called me out here!” she bellowed, letting her nail bat swing down onto the floor.
At that moment, Claudia stepped forward. “Actually, I may have forgotten to mention it, but I thought it would be a good idea to start doing some combat practice… So I asked Ms. Yatsuzaki to be our opponent.”
“Huh…?”
Julis glowered. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner, Claudia?”
“I’m terribly sorry. I’ll try to be more careful next time.” Claudia bowed her head in apology, but her words rang hollow.
“Uh…,” Ayato began, trying to mend the situation. “By combat practice, do you mean actually fighting together as a team? Not coordination practice?”
“Indeed. Our individual coordination with one another is no longer a problem, if I do say so myself. But without trying our hand at real combat, we can’t know how well we’ll be able to work together against actual opponents, nor how we’ll fare at improvising and adapting.”
They were all taken by surprise at this announcement, but none raised their voice in complaint.
It was a persuasive argument. After all, Claudia was the only one there who had any experience competing in the Gryps.
“It’s difficult to find opponents for team matches, even just for mock battles,” she went on. “No one wants to show their hand before the main event, so only an extremely confident team would even consider a practice match. Of course, there are always simulation matches, but as you all know…”
Claudia paused there with an ambiguous smile.
There was no need for her to finish that thought. The training room was equipped with a three-dimensional simulator, but given its limitations, it was in no way comparable to real combat experience.
In short, such experience wasn’t easy to acquire.
“That’s where Ms. Yatsuzaki comes in.”
Kyouko let out an exaggerated sigh. “It’s a pain in the ass, but this is part of my job. Even putting that aside, though, I kind of owe her one,” she added, glancing at Claudia. “So I’ll keep you company for as long as you can keep up.”
“We’re very grateful,” Julis began, glancing around dubiously. “But where’s your team?”
“Ha! You don’t need to worry about that! I’ve got everything I need right here.” As Kyouko swung her nail bat around in a loop, several of the nails began to emit a wan blue light.
“…!” Julis, the sole Strega among them, swallowed in realization.
A huge amount of mana suddenly burst out of the bat, swirling around and picking up speed as it materialized into four spinning vortexes. These slowly morphed like clay into vaguely human figures.
The dolls were completely smooth, their faces lacking eyes, noses, and mouths. They were navy blue in color, like the depths of the sea, each having the same stature and build as Kyouko, though lacking either clothes or weapons.
“Is that…the same kind of thing as Gustave Malraux’s magical beasts?” Julis asked.
“They look to me more like those shadow figures summoned by that person who kidnapped Flora…,” Kirin murmured.
In either case, there was no mistaking that they were the result of Kyouko’s Strega abilities.
However:
“…I thought your abilities were particularly effective against other ability users, Ms. Yatsuzaki?”
Saya’s question had been on the tip of Ayato’s tongue.
Rumor had it that Kyouko’s abilities gave her an overwhelming advantage against Stregas and Dantes. The dolls that stood in front of the students didn’t appear to have that sort of advantage.
“Capturing her opponents’ powers and making them her own… That’s Ms. Yatsuzaki’s ability. But this is the first time I’ve seen it in person,” Julis muttered guardedly.
“You mean, stealing an opponent’s abilities…?” Ayato whispered back.
“Something like that. I think her opponents can still use them, though.”
If that was tru
e, Julis, a Strega herself, would be vulnerable to it. It made sense that she would be on alert.
“These dolls have my old teammates’ abilities. I can make copies of people, along with all their combat abilities. Physically, though, they’re only copies of me this time.”
“Teammates? You mean the people you won the Gryps with?”
The team that Kyouko had led as a student was legendary, being the only time in all of Asterisk’s history that the Le Wolfe Black Institute had won at the Gryps. Ayato didn’t know any of the details, but he had heard somewhere that all five members had been Stregas.
“Seeing is believing. You’ll understand well enough once we get started.” Ignoring Ayato’s question, Kyouko took four Luxes from the holder at her waist and threw them to her faceless dolls. “Let me show you the power of Le Wolfe’s former number two, the Witch of Nails!”
As the automated voice announced the beginning of the practice match, Ayato stepped forward to lead the vanguard.
It was a formation oriented to offense, with the vanguard composed of Ayato, Kirin, and the team leader, Claudia. Saya formed the rearguard while Julis was their support, responsible for monitoring the situation and assisting as the opportunity arose.
Kyouko’s team, by contrast, had one doll armed with an assault rifle and another armed with two handguns as the rearguard; a doll armed with a longsword and another with dual short-swords as the vanguard; and Kyouko herself, armed with her usual nail bat, as the team leader. The two vanguards held themselves at the ready while Kyouko stood behind them as the team’s support. Two on the front line, two on the back, and one on support—that was generally considered the most balanced formation for a team.
Team matches ended with the destruction of the team leader’s school crest, the team leader losing consciousness, or the team leader announcing their surrender—or considered from another angle, as long as the team leader remained standing, the match would continue.
“Haah!” Ayato held the Ser Veresta over his head, the doll carrying a longsword set in his sights, when—
The doll stepped back, and bullets of light sprayed in his direction. Seemed he’d fallen for a simple diversion.