Entry 20: The Tsukumihara student council is off to a rough start

[>] About my amnesia
> About where we are

The memories I’ve lost. I ask why I’ve become an amnesiac.

Julius :: …That’s not just you. Leo and all the other Masters in the school have the same thing.

Leo :: Right. All of us have lost our memories of what happened during the Holy Grail War. All we remember is information on our own Servants, and the people we met during the battle. In my case, for example, I am certain that I had yet to lose, but I can’t clearly remember how many times I fought. I’m still curious about you, Hakuno, but I’ve forgotten what caused this interest.

Gawain :: …embarrassing though it is to admit, it’s the same for me. Perhaps it is also the case for your Servant. I remember what happened with my Master Leo, but everything else is unclear.

Sakura :: …Yes. All of the Masters’ memories and spirits have been returned to the status they held as of the first round of the battle, immediately following their exit from the preliminaries. And because Miss Kishinami remained in her comatose state for so long on top of that…

…So my memory loss is more severe than Leo and the others’. Is that why I can’t remember how I entered the Holy Grail War, or my own personal history as a wizard…? It should be a simple answer, but that fact makes a chill run down my spine. I’m less afraid, knowing that I’m not the only one missing memories, but still, it’s terribly discomforting to not be able to recall who I was.

Julius :: ……

Leo :: Brother? Is there something you want to say to Hakuno?

Julius :: N, no, nothing in particular. I just recalled something. Something like, that she was always like this, no matter what dilemma she faced…it seems to be something from long ago.

Leo :: In any case, there should be some relationship between our loss of memory, and this old school building we’ve found ourselves in. If we analyze this unnatural situation we’re in, perhaps we will find the reason for our unnatural memory loss.

[And loop back.]

[>] About where we are

Where are we? Is this unfamiliar school building also part of the SE.RA.PH?

Leo :: It is the SE.RA.PH, but not the area we were in before. This is the far side of the moon…outside the Holy Grail War. The SE.RA.PH is a virtual reality the Moon Cell constructed in order to hold the Holy Grail War. But this place is out of the sight of the Moon Cell, a blind spot in the law, if you will. Gawain, the illustration.

Gawain :: As you wish, Leo.

Leo :: On this theory, I’ve laid out this wakuteka diagram.

[Once again, a word I cannot for the life of me come up with an English equivalent for. Screw you Leo. This time it’s Japanese netspeak, often written wktk, indicating great excitement/anticipation, if I understand correctly.]

Julius :: …Leo. “Wakuteka” is slang that refers to an emotional state, it is not a term for a diagram…

Leo :: It is a wakuteka diagram, Brother. You’re the one who was all worked up about how that gothic style was cooler than a proportional style, right?

Julius :: …my goal was for you to be more easily understood. I prefer to wear something particularly stylish at a briefing.

[Here we see a pretty but uninformative diagram, and Julius’s fashion choices.]

Leo :: I see. Though I said so, the team you lead had nothing but “fourteen,” then? [I have no idea what he’s talking about. “Fourteen” is in English. Screw you Leo.] Anyway, back to the topic at hand. As seen in the diagram, we are currently on the far side of the moon. The Holy Grail War takes place on the near side of the moon. In other words –

We fell from the near side to the far side. Or, no. We were thrown to the far side by that unidentified black noise.

Leo :: It’s natural to think that. Sakura, your explanation.

Sakura :: Y-yes! Um, well, this is the far side of the Moon Cell…it’s supposed to be an information storage space, sealed off by the Moon Cell as Not For Use. The Moon Cell is a memory bank that converts light into an immaterial memory storage medium, but this is a higher dimension where that light is jumbled up. This is the “exterior of the world,” where the source for malignant information and imaginary numbers comes into being. If the Moon Cell Core is a cell where the light of heavenly fire is imprisoned, this is the Garden of the Fallen, built from imaginary numbers. Intelligent life forms are not allowed here, it is an absolutely forbidden area. We high level AI cannot enter the far side.

Leo :: Well, we’re all already here, so it’s not that absolute or forbidden.

Leo laughs cheerfully. Next to him, Gawain and Julius look much more sombre. But, neither of them ventures to make any complaint, just watching Leo’s sudden change of mood. It’s just speculation, but…maybe, when he left his own personal position behind, Leo really wanted to live a school life like that one.

Leo :: Anyway, that’s the dangerous location we’ve found ourselves in.

Sakura :: The situation is the same for us NPCs. We were swallowed during the main selection along with the Masters, and those of us who survived are here in the school.

…the far side of the moon…this is the first time I’ve heard of such a place, but it’s true that the Holy Grail War was a journey from the moon’s outer layer to its core. The moon is round, so it’s not strange to think that there’s some other stage lying past the core. I guess the problem is whether we can get out of here or not.

Leo :: Indeed. This old school building seems safe, but we have no assurance that it will remain safe. Furthermore, outside the school lies that dark sea. The moment that touches us, we will be destroyed. You should understand the situation now. So. Now for my question. The far side of the moon. Lost memories. The mysterious old school. A world without exit. We who are left behind. What should we do, in this situation?

> Escape from here, and return to the Holy Grail War…?
[>] If there’s no exit, what if we stay inside…?

Leo :: Oh, excuse me, I was in the middle of talking about something. Gawain, what was our plan for today?

Gawain :: “Today” is not quite correct, Leo. In this school there is no meaning to days and dates. No matter how many hours, or thousands of hours, pass, we cannot get past “this day.” Therefore, we should make our schedule more using some more exact unit of time than days.

[My question is, if it’s always the same time of day, is it always the time when Gawain is invincible, y/n? (Numeral of the Saint is an obnoxious skill.)]

Leo :: Of course, I forgot. We are, in some sense, locked in a single looping day. Ah…now then, Hakuno. The question is looping as well, but what do you think we need to do?

[>] Escape from here, and return to the Holy Grail War…?
> If there’s no exit, what if we stay inside…?

[After confirming that choosing the second option again does in fact loop the conversation around again, I choose the first option.]

…I understand. No matter what my situation is, we need to go back to the Grail War. Nothing has returned to me yet. Not my memory of who I am, not how I entered the war, not why I wished for the Grail…everything’s still a blank.

Julius :: …indeed. Though we are enemies in the Holy Grail War, under present circumstances we’ll have to cooperate. That’s the kind of woman you are.

Sakura :: Yes. That’s the most worthwhile goal. I'm sure Caster would be happy to hear that, too.

Leo :: An better answer than I hoped for.  Now we can form a united front. Until we return to the Holy Grail War – no, until we escape from the far side of the moon, we are brothers in arms. Now, once again — in the name of Leo B. Harway, I pronounce the establishment of the Tsukumihara student council!

[There are like six shots of him throwing out his hand in front of him from different angles while he says that, it’s fantastic.]

It was a proclamation loaded with the force of a powerful will. I’m not sure about our team name, but it gives me such hope I feel like we’ll be able to ride past any difficulties with a commanding officer like this.

Leo :: But, there’s one problem we need to deal with first. If we can’t clear this hurdle, we won’t even be able to create an escape plan. It’s hard to admit it, but…we don’t have enough people.

……huh?

Leo :: I’m the president, my brother is my secretary, Gawain is my manservant…and you’re in charge of general affairs, but we have no one else! I cannot call this the student council of my dreams. There’s simply no way! A student council ought to be merry, overflowing with the feeling of youth, full of all kinds of antics!

Julius :: ……

[I think Julius is deeply regretting the way his little brother has been raised right about now.]

Gawain :: Precisely, my lord. No matter what type they are, it always good for flowers to bloom.

[On the other hand, Gawain trying to help his Master have fun is way less obnoxious than Gawain trying to help his Master win a Grail War.]

Leo :: So, I need you to find more student council members. Even if we remain few, we will require a vice president and a general secretary. There should be some other Masters in this school in the same situation we are, so please go and scout out capable-looking persons thoroughly.

And then he was done talking. My first order from Leo is to go gather people. It looks like I need to go find Masters around the school and persuade them to come here, so we can launch the student council. …uhh…I wonder if Leo’s really doing all right here…

Unchanged from original translation: https://tsukinoura.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/entry-20-the-tsukumihara-student-council-is-off-to-a-rough-start/. Please support the original translator.