Entry 44: The queen of the moon

Rin :: Ugh — agh, my head hurts…what’s going on, why I am I on the ground?

I run over to Rin and pull her up. Her body seems feverish. I don’t have any means of checking her vitals like Sakura does, but I can tell that she’ll be all right.

Rin :: Huh, Hakunon…? …why am I…I remember making a contract with a red Lancer…huh…who was that red Lancer…I remember her face, but I can’t recall anything else…Hakunon, what happened to me? What is this place? What’s going on?

It looks like Rin’s forgotten about Lancer. I think she’d be mad at me later if I tried to hide it, I so tell her frankly everything that’s happened. I make sure to tell her about how she declared herself queen and the “Money is Power System” in particular.

Rin :: Er…hey, wait! Wait, wait, wait —! What is this? Then all of that wasn’t a dream!? I really did all that crazy stuff!?

Caster :: It was indeed ♥ Just sit there and take it, Rin! Don't worry, they say gossip only lasts 75 days!

[She’s uh, kind of sobbing at this point? Hard to render.]

Rin ::Aaa.....aaaaaaaaa. Shame... Eternal shame... Why did I.... waaaah.....

Rin holds her head in her hands and bemoans her actions. Seeing he like that makes me want to write off all her previous crimes. Anyway, the battle is over now. If Rin can just let us out of her heart now, we can go back to the school building and this whole thing will be settled.

“Well, you’re back to your true self now, so it’s fine,” I tell her with a smile.

Rin :: Everything settled…oh, right! This isn’t the time to be moping around like this! If we don’t do something about her quickly, we’ll all be trapped in here forever…no, even worse than that! Leo’s out there to, right!? I need to hurry and talk to him…oh, but how are we supposed to get out of this place!? Maybe, maybe you need to hit me? All right, Hakunon, hit me! If you hit me hard enough to knock me out, I should wake up!

Unknown speaker :: What are you in such a rush for? You have infinite time, after all. Why don’t you calm down, oh queen of the moon? No matter how much you struggle, you won’t be in time for everything.

What is this voice…!? We should be the only ones in here. So how on earth —

Rin :: — it’s her. The culprit who pulled all the Masters to the far side of the moon, who captured me and put me in the Labyrinth — You’re here too, don’t you remember it? During the Holy Grail War, when that black stuff attacked, didn’t you hear that voice we just heard then?

…! That’s right. The voice I heard on the roof as it was swallowed by black noise. That voice just now was the same…!

Unknown speaker :: Yes, correct. I’m the culprit who tricked all of you. I’m the ruler of half of the Moon Cell — the far side of the moon — the real queen of the moon. Nice to meet you, my pitiful little lambs. And welcome to my dazzling Sakura Labyrinth!

Rin :: Ugh…! Hakunon, forget about hitting me!  If she go outside she’ll catch us again! We should just examine the situation here —

Unknown speaker :: Examine the situation? Aren’t you the one who was in such a hurry, Rin? Well, I don’t really care about you anymore, Rin — but there’s someone there I haven’t met before, so I have to give my special, first time service! Please wait a moment, I’m coming over there right now. Well, actually —

[Scenery change! We’re back in the Labyrinth now.]

Unknown speaker :: I can’t give my senpai a chance to escape, you see.

— A girl draped in a black cape. A visage any Master would recognize, a face I in particular know very well. The AI who had until just now been investigating the Labyrinth along with us. Her name is —

Unnamed girl :: Hello. Nice to meet you, Hakuno-senpai. You can’t backtrack anymore, so prepared to be shredded, okay?

…the girl smiles with that face identical to hers. Yes — this girl is Sakura. The air she puts on, and the expression on her face promise wickedness, but she is without a doubt Sakura Matou. But, is she really Sakura…?

Unnamed girl :: …what? Am I Sakura, you ask…? Don’t mock me, we are complete different, head-to-toe! How could I be a weak-willed runt like her?! I am an existence that is and is not Sakura. But I’m not a managerial AI anymore. My name is BB. I leave the nicknames to your imagination. Bébé, Baby, whatever you like. ♥

Caster :: So that isn't some kind of transformation after all. And - this ominous sense. Far from a management AI, that spiritron composition is more like the Moon Cell itself. I don't like this situation, Master.

The strangeness of the situation has put Caster on guard too. This Sakura…this girl who calls herself BB is the culprit who captured countless Masters, eroded the school with noise, and made Rin go through all of that…!

BB :: But, senpai? Why are you trying to leave, when I went through all that trouble to save you? You could have just stayed there with that pampered good-girl living your schmoopy carefree romantic comedy life. …heehee. Yet you still left, which means, you still haven’t gotten enough punishment, have you, se-n-pa-i?

…! My spine freezes instantly. What is this strange oppressive feeling in the air. It’s nothing like the tension of confronting a powerful enemy. It’s — it’s not a metaphor, it’s fear of being crushed by the air itself…!

[Static.]

Leo :: Hello, hello. Can you hear me, Hakuno? Our monitors suddenly went black, did something there —

Rin :: Ah! Leo, hurry and make a transfer! I’ll back you up, so, quickly! This layer is a normal arena now, so you should be able to transfer!

Leo :: Is that Miss Tohsaka? — Sakura, bring Hakuno and Miss Tohsaka back in immediately. Explanations later, speed is our top priority, hurry!

Sakura :: Y-yes! Turning all of the student council’s resources to forced escape!

BB :: Oh, are you leaving so soon? I don’t think such a hastily made transfer program will be able to break through the Labyrinth’s walls, but…Your judgment is right on the mark. ♥ Don’t oppose an enemy you can’t defeat. Yellow means danger, pushing further flags you for death. How about you learn from this and stay holed up in the school building from now on? As long as you don’t take a step out of your safety zone, you’ll get your happy ending. It’s true, you know. After all, the best ending is when there is no end! Don’t you love it when a serial gets extended?

BB…the girl in black keeps giggling. She has the same face as Sakura. We don’t know who she is, but should we really run away here? If BB is really the culprit, shouldn’t we capture her somehow —

Rin :: We can’t fight her in our worn out state. Get it!? She’s a monster who devoured most of the 128 Servants! She disassembled Servants, absorbed their memory capacity, and made herself into an untouchable giga-structure!

Wha — what…? She…ate 128 Servants…? Then the tragedy during the preliminaries really happened and…this girl did it — !?

BB :: That’s right. My processing power is enough to rewrite the SE.RA.PH. I can control the rules of the world. So — fufu. You look rather pitiful like that senpai, so I’ll give you a hand. That transfer program won’t be able to take you through the walls of the Sakura Labyrinth, so…there, done! ♥

BB makes a gesture like blowing a soap bubble. She purses her lips and blows. At the same time, the air around us becomes lighter, and then —

[Everything goes dark and there’s a roaring sound.]

BB :: You understand now? I’m BB. The new ruler of the moon, who swallowed the Moon Cell. There’s no way to save yourselves. But if you really want to do something about me…Indeed. You can just try working together with the people inside the school building, and see what happens, okay? See, aiming of that 0.000001% chance of victory is really the true pleasure of gaming. ♥ I mean, mathematically it’s not equivalent to zero, so. Ufufu…

BB and the Labyrinth vanish into the distance. My mind goes black because of the forced transfer. And in it I can hear a voice. The voice of my enemy, who said she can change the rules of the world. A girl’s voice, beautiful and full of hate.

BB :: Well then, shall we start the game? You are all the prisoners of the merciless queen of the night. I will slowly, surely, bring and end to each and every one of you. I’m look forward to it, senpai. Survive until the end for me, okay —?

[And now, for the very first time, this plays:]

 [The song is called "Sakura Meikyuu", or "Sakura Laybrinth", for those wishing to find it elsewhere. It's really good.]


Modified from the translation at https://tsukinoura.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/entry-44-the-queen-of-the-moon/. Please support the original translator.