Entry 48: Back to our scheduled meeting

Leo :: Everyone’s all right. It seems that was just a vision jack. External access has ceased. BB can’t normally interfere here…or so I’d like to believe.

Rin :: Yes, you’re right in this case Leo. For unknown reasons, BB can’t enter this school building. She can listen in on just and jack our vision like just now, but that’s all. Which is why she set traps in the Labyrinth.

Sakura :: I think BB can’t interfere well here because it retains the structure of the near side. And I manage it currently.

Leo :: Good news following bad news. Unpleasant as its intent was, we’ve learned new information from the BB Channel. Well then, I will declare once more the student council’s objectives. Our goal is to escape from the far side of the moon. We will repel BB, who stands in our way. With Miss Tohsaka as our new vice-president we should be able to provide more solid back up. I hope we will all be more unified than ever.

I nod, “of course,” to Leo’s declaration. …but not everyone in the council room nods. Rin, me…and Julius, who nods reservedly, are the only three.

Shinji :: No thanks. I just came to see what was up, I told you I’m not joining the student council. People who have Servants should do the dangerous stuff. I won’t do anything!

Jinako :: I agree with Shinji. BB said she wouldn’t do anything to us if we stay in the school, y’know.

Leo :: Ah, that’s too bad. If you change your mind, you can come knock on the door any time. …Now. What about you, Kiara? You previously said you wouldn’t join the council, but the situation has changed. Are you still unable to cooperate with us, now that the threat of BB has been made clear?

Kiara :: My plans have not changed. If my techniques can be of help to you I’m happy to cooperate, but to align our motives…

Sakura :: Miss Kiara…even though you did so much to help us in acquiring Miss Rin’s SGs…we were only able to expose Miss Rin’s embarrassing secrets because you were there.

Rin :: Th-that was your doing!?

Leo :: Is that so. Then let me ask a question. Kiara. Did you, by any chance, already know about BB?

Leo asks a strange question. BB just recently revealed herself as the culprit after we defeated Rin. We had no awareness of her here in the school building, so there’s no way Kiara would be able to know about her —

Kiara :: — Yes. I met BB before the rest of you did. It was when I was imprisoned by the black noise on the near side. The reason I don’t have the same goals as the rest of you is because I’ve made a pact with BB. She would spare my life as long as I did not oppose her…on those terms I was confined to this school.

Julius :: — !

…Kiara was already captured by BB…? Back during the preliminaries, back when I abandoned her, she fell into BB’s hands — ? …which reminds me, Kiara said that she had compassion for whoever it was that shut us in here. So that’s what she meant…But how did Leo figure that out?

Leo :: Because she said she had no will to leave. Kiara knew something, and had already decided it was impossible — that was the implication. Kiara was being observed by BB, so she couldn’t say anything that would suggest BB’s existence. But still she wanted to let us know, so she phrased things in this way on purpose.

Kiara :: Oh, you make too much of it. I’m not that clever.

Rin :: A pact with BB…a contract in other words. What were the terms? Something like a collar that detonates if you disobey her?

Julius :: …what a gruesome imagination. Make it a device that stops her heart or something.

Kiara :: No, there are no physical restraints. It is simply that if I ever antagonize BB, our peace treaty will be scrapped. …so. If it comes down to it, I will have my last resort.

Rin :: …same as Leo. So, will you be staying as a spectator like Shinji until then?

Kiara :: Yes. However, the only stipulation of the pact is that I not stand against BB. Helping all of you to escape does not fall under that restriction.

Rin :: I suppose that’s true from the wording, but…Would that be fine for an AI, Sakura?

Sakura :: Yes. Cooperating with all of us is not in opposition with the protocol “you may not oppose BB.” If BB had declared that it was forbidden to attempt escape, that would be another matter, but she encourages those who can escape to try to do so, so…

Kiara :: Indeed. As long as I do not associate myself closely with the student council, to BB I am nothing more than a person who happens to be in the school building. Therefore I beg your forgiveness. If you demand it, I will devote all my abilities, poor though they be, to assisting you.

[I couldn’t make it work in English, but she refers to herself as “Sesshouin” in that last declaration.]

Kiara bows and leaves the room. We can’t really stop her when she puts things like that. She’s not the same as Shinji and Jinako, who refuse because the can’t stomach it, it’s not their problem, etc. For now we’re happy just to have her on our side.

Rin :: …sorry, but can I go get some rest now? I’m at my physical and mental limit right now. Sakura. Could I get a key to a suitable empty classroom?

Sakura :: An empty classroom? If you want to rest, there are beds in the infirmary…

Rin :: That’s not it, I need to be alone! I need to go to a classroom to let out my stress and bury the wounds on my heart! No one come near me for a while okay! Especially Hakunon! If you come after me I’ll hit you with a beam attack, beams I tell you!

[Is Rin a Saber now?]

Rin leaves the council room in a huff. …right…I forgot what with the BB Channel and everything, but I exposed a lot of Rin’s secrets. For any normal person that would be so humiliating they wouldn’t be able to go out in public…but in spite of that Rin came and participated in this meeting.

Leo :: Miss Tohsaka has a firm and strong constitution. We should leave her be and let her heal on her own. Now, Sakura, a question…or rather, I’d like your opinion on something. Do you think BB uses Sentinels because she’s the same type of AI as you are?

Sakura :: …Yes. No matter how much she augments her memory, even if she is able to hack the system, she’s a managerial AI. She has no combat functions. All BB can do is alter the system, and create Sentinels…I think.

Julius :: So she can’t fight for herself — I see. That’s why she utilizes pawns…Sentinels.

Leo :: Very good to know. I was hoping to hear that. Now, Hakuno, why don’t you take a short break. You must be tired, you should rest. After that, as general affairs officer — oh?

[Phone ringing]

Julius :: It’s a message from outside. It’s…Gatou? Leo, turn on the transmission.

Gatou :: President Leo — ! President, Beautiful in your slight resemblance to my lovely God, Leo — !

Leo :: Brother, turn off the transmission. We’ve done quite enough talking, let’s all go eat.

Julius :: …I understand the feeling, but wait. This transmission is coming from the Labyrinth. It’s not a trivial matter.

Gatou :: Ow, ouch, ouch! Those glasses, those cold glasses deny the whole being of an unpopular man, destroying 40-somethings! It’s hard to understand, is that it? Well them, to be specific, I’m being pursued by a dangerous cutthroat! I beg you, as if you were a god, please come save your lost believer post-haste! God save me!

…his words are nonsensical, but Gatou has conveyed his desperation if nothing else. If the source of the transmission is the Sakura Labyrinth, could Gatou be…!?

Jinako :: You an idiot old man!? Why’d you go into the Labyrinth by yourself!?

Gatou :: Uuooooh, it’s red! Very red! A fluttering red girl and a fluttering girl with glasses attacked me! On the seventh day they will come to sterilize all dissipate men! What fin-de-siecle, oh truly, quo vadis garbage! That sort of thing they said, but I’ve shaken them off, so, where am I? Where are the stairs back? Huh? Have I been trapped? Uuoooooh! Mass! Recruiting! Life guards!

Leo :: …My deepest apologies, Hakuno. I must ask you to go into the Labyrinth once more before your break. We must ascertain Mr. Gatou’s safety.

Jinako :: Nothing else for it. I just got tired of this item-farming, so I’ll monitor with you.

…things have gotten serious…even if Gatou doesn’t seem like he’d actually die if someone killed him, the Sakura Labyrinth is no place for joking around. I haven’t had time to catch my breath, but I have to go help him.

Unchanged from the original at https://tsukinoura.wordpress.com/2013/07/28/entry-48-back-to-our-scheduled-meeting/. Please support the original translator.