Vol 1 Chapter 11 (1/2)
Gakuen Kino Chapter 1: Kino’s Refreshi+ng Arrival! ~Here Comes Kino
It was
No ht sun had already cliround
A single structure stood boldly in the midst of a viridian forest In the centre was a cylindrical building, sandwiched in between a pair of rectangular buildings that rather resembled bland apartments
In one of these buildings was a certain room You couldn't say it was particularly spacious, but it contained all the basic necessities, like a desk, dresser, and a bed It was al was very standard--in fact, it was a school dormitory
On the desk were a few notebooks and textbooks, as well as the kind of stationery that ateased by his class in front of the dresser And by that, I don't mean the actual sailor uniforms worn by muscled navy officers It was just a suirls
The owner of said unifor on the bed
A frugal mattress lay on the wooden frame in the corner
The girl was asleep, her head turned away She was covered with a thin blanket that was plastered with cutesy firearos like ”Heckler & Koch”, ”Colt”, and ”Smith & Wesson” It was not the kind of blanket most people would knohere to acquire The lavender pyjas of quotes like, ”Open fire!”, ”Deploy the uns”, and ”Contact the artillery corps!” They were the kind of pyjamas that even those well-versed in the field would not knohere to acquire
She was perhaps in her mid-teens Her short black hair currently stood up on ends like a bird's nest Eyes closed, irl slureen curtains
”Hey! Howto sleep? Wakeupwakeupwakeup! Wake up!”
Soh the rooirl's voice Nor was it the precise alar of a phone It was the voice of a young boy
”Wake up! Wake up!”
Who in the world could this voice belong to? There was no one else in this room
”Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”
The voice began shouting orders, even louder than before
”Ahhhh… I can't eat anymore… but I wanna eat… but it's all about resolve… yeah, I have a separate stomach for all that…”
The girl ht back to sleep
”I don't believe this…” Complained the voice And…
”Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!”
It began to i alar, the girl frowned in annoyance
”Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!”
The girl sleepily reached out for the digital alar from the alarm clock It had been set at exactly the tiirl mercilessly pounded her fist into the clock Its plastic frame rattled from the shock
The girl retracted her hand and fell back into sleep She breathed out peacefully
”Heeeeey! Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep! …This is getting tiring… Beep beep! BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEP!!!”
The desperate voice once again rang out throughout the room
”Hmmm?”
The girl sat up, eyes still half-closed She reached back for her alarm clock to check the time
8:25
That was the time displayed on the screen It was a very real number
It took the girl 3 seconds to process all of this Her eyes opened wide The words tumbled out of her mouth
”Ah… I-I-I…” She took a breath
”I'm late!” She screamed
The movements that folloere almost too fast to follow She pulled off the blankets and ran into the bathroohtspeed and complained to the empty room
”Why didn't you wake me up?!”
The voice, whose hard work had been rewarded, (understandably) replied angrily
”That's just what I've been doing all !”
”Argh… You know I can never wake up if all you do is yell You should have beaten me awake!
”As if that's even possible” The voice replied
”Ohhhh, why does this have to happen every day? In my next life, I hope I'll be the kind of person who can wake up easily even at the crack of dawn” The girlclothes off, putting clothes on, getting into the sailor unifor down her messy hair The few rebellious strands were--
”Haaaaah!”
pushed doith spirit
She grabbed her light beige bag and her keys The moment she was about to dash out the door, however, the voice spoke up again
”Hey! Don't leave ain!”
”Oh, sorry!”
The girl hurried back and grabbed a sn, reen leather and yellow metallic decorations Because she didn't have a cell phone, there was a key (that wasn't her roo from the strap
”Thanks”
Extraordinarily enough, the dise from this phone strap the whole time
The girl moved over to the door and reached out for her western belt It was by the door so she wouldn't forget She put it around her waist and secured the buckle There were several green pouches hanging froh there was a brown leather holster holding a revolver Naturally, it was just a ainst any firearirls did not carry around such things, s like this would slon the pace of the story, so please don't worry about it too much
The girl opened the door with incredible force and ran out of her roo locked echoed down the hallway, as well as the voices of the two people(?) running down the hallway
”I'm definitely late, Hermes! It's all your fault!”
”Why is it my fault? You're the one who slept in, Kino!”
And so the high school student ”Kino” and her an their day
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A single student ran furiously uphill towards the school gate under the clear summer skies and the shower of flower petals
It was the very sailor-clad girl that had very recently run out of the deserted doruard cheerily commented to her, ”Haha, you're always late for class every day even though you're running at mach speed Good luck!”
The girl's nah school in this institution This acadeh school divisions, and was co-ed About half the students lived in the dorms, and the other half commuted by school bus
”I just ht make it this time!”
Cruelly enough, the moment the holster-and-pouch-clad Kino shouted these words, the school bell began to toll There were still hundreds of reen hill It was quite a steep clireat source of complaint for the students who had to travel to and from the dormitory cafeterias for lunch every day
”I guess I'ain…”
”Late as usual, huh? You reap what you sow”
The dejected Kino and the cell phone strap Herhed in unison
Kino trudged towards the school , her holster, and her pouches, and even her scarf and uniform suddenly felt very heavy
”Kino? Aren't you going to run?”
”Nah, I'ht as ait for first period to finish…”
”No motivation, huh? I don't care about school, but I hope you'll be a bit more enthusiastic for the 'Battles'” Said Hermes It was really out of nowhere Kino continued to toil up the hill and asked,
”'Battles', huh? Is all that really true?”
Herry over that
”You don't believecell phone strap? If this wasn't true, you'd be just so to herself”
”I guess… but what do you expectthat I have to 'become a warrior of justice and battle the demons who have taken up residence in the school'?” Kino asked wearily, wiping the sweat on her broith a handkerchief
”Don't worry, Kino Right now, your original battle prowess and memories have been sealed away to allow you to have a norer arrives, you can transforht the evil armies that plot to take over the universe! After all, you're the hero chosen by the Goddess herself!” Said Her like this was the kind of thing that could get an adult's head checked out
Kino looked up at the blue skies over the green hill and muttered,
”I just don't think I have that kind of power”
”You'll knohen the time comes”
”I don't really want that time to come I just want to live a normal school life”
”Even thought you're always late for school?”
”Shush”
Eventually they reached the point where the school building and the gates were visible The iron gates were shut tightly Of course, there was a side door for pedestrian use
Kino frowned
”Ack… This isn't good”
Four students stood there They wore sailor and white standing-collar (summer uniforms) uniforms They all wore armbands that read ”Student Council Special Duty Teaetic Student Council that everyone wants to join”, ”The Team That Makes Delinquents Wet Their Pants Club”'s Special Duty Teaulation Division They didn't check every day, but it seeate
”Why today… of all days…?” Asked Kino, who got to class on time yesterday
The Counciltheir prey Kino slowly approached the gates and asked Hermes,
”Oh right! Could I just transforet rid of those four…?”
Her-cellphone strap' thing it seems like he actually had some sense
”Hey you! We need to see your student ID!” Ordered a sharp-eyed second-year girl
”…”
Kino, who had given up on getting rid of the Council, dejectedly took out her ID fro A snake-faced third-year boy snatched it and compared Kino to her picture
Kino glared at the student, a stark contrast to the priraph
The boy was about to say so, but stopped hily
”Kino, High school division, first year, class ___ Tell us How many times were you late this term?”
The teachers recorded student tardiness rates and not the Council, so Kino's lateness record really has nothing to do with these guys In other words, they're just being douchebags If a student answered, they would retort with, ”That's quite a lot, isn't it?” or ”are you lying to us?” If a student didn't answer, they would just bully the ”So many times that you can't even keep track, huh?”
”I'm not quite sure… But It's definitely less than 200,004,500 tiainst-1 pressure intensified
”We'll be checking your belongings for contraband!” The sharp-eyed girl and another feain, but she couldn't do anything about it since saht to search student belongings
The two students dug through Kino's bag
”Doesn't look like there's anything in here”
Although it was only right that they praise Kino for following the rules, they returned the bag with oddly disappointed expressions on their faces
”Can I go in now?” Kino asked She was about to go in when she heard no answer, but another council member stopped her
”Wait!”
It was another second-year boy He pointed to Kino's waist
”That's been bothering me for a while now”
Herht to himself, 'Yeah, it's definitely a little weird to carry around a un'
”Aren't those pouches against uniforulations?”
'Huh? those pouches?!' Herht
Kino glared and replied rebelliously
”Um… I've never heard of a rule like that before What's it to you?”
This really pissed off the Council members They surrounded Kino and approached sloith the intent of finding soht hands reached for the pouches on Kino's waist Kino braced herself defiantly
”Hey, what do you think you're doing?”
If these students didn't have Student Council Armbands, this could practically count as a crime scene Scary, huh? Don't try this at home, kids Looks like power really does corrupt
Suddenly,
”Stop it”
A clear voice rang out at the school entrance The four Council members flinched at once and looked in the direction of the voice Kino followed their gaze out of offhand curiosity
A breeze
He was a tidy-looking youngblack hair danced in the wind His pristine white uniforle katana strapped to the belt
He walked over quietly, gaze unwavering The sound of his every step rang out clearly Thesun shone off the katana A dove flew past him In slow motion, at that
”A-ah-shi+zu-” One of the girls sta, called out his name
”shi+zu-senpai…”
His nah school division As a side note, there is a rumour that he'd been held back about 5 years and is actually over 20 years old Of course, this is only a rumour
With his handsoance, top-of-the-class academics, and athletic skills, shi+zu was the most famous student in the entire school, bar none
A princely figure that monopolized all fe and his gentlerace in all necessary interactions (in-class science labs, for example) only served to increase his popularity and his fantastic aweso, but anyway, he's a really extraordinary guy
He didn't join any clubs, and was always on his own A lot of people though he was a lonely sort of guy who didn't even have male friends, let alone female ones, but they stayed mum on that topic in fear for how their social lives could be ruined if they said anything like that shi+zu was that kind of a guy
His trademark was the katana at his side Nicknames include ”The Katana noblehter Man”, and ”Prettyboy Sauys)”
shi+zu approached the five students silently with charisance The male students took a step back as if faced with a predator, and the female students stood rooted to the spot as if in a trance
shi+zu stopped and looked directly at Kino He wasdown at her, but there was nothing overpowering about his gaze
”…”
”…”
Both Kino and shi+zu were silent The stared at each other for about 3 seconds Veins started popping on the Student Council girls' foreheads
shi+zu looked forward again He adjusted the katana with his left hand and began walking The Student Council ot out of his way
Paying no attention to the hypnotized gazes of adoration and the antagonistic glares of defeat and envy, shi+zu passed by thenified, and headed for the school
Only once he had passed out of sight did the Student Councilinto the newly paved road, one would wonder where all of their previous aggression had gone Kino ran towards the school building without a care
”That was close I've heard about that guy, but it's all about the looks, huh? Not that I think he's a bad guy or anything”
Heruy--”
”Yeah, hiravely She and Hermes said in unison,
”Isn't he late?”
”He's late”
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Let's move back a bit in time
”I am the Goddess of this planet” Said the self-proclaiuess it'd be more accurate for her to call herself a self-proclaimed Goddess
She was beautiful Dressed head-to-toe in glaht shi+ning from behind her, she did sort of rese feet were also quite Goddess-like Not only that, the entire space consisted of nothing but blue ground and yellow skies The kind of mystical, Goddess-made space that could not exist in real life
Standing in front of the Goddess were two humans and a motorrad
One of the humans was Kino She wore a black jacket and a brown overcoat, a hat that covered the ears, and a pair of goggles Around her waist was a thick belt Holstered at her right was the Legendary Persuader ”Big Cannon ~ shi+ning Iron Demon Destroyer” Of course, in appearance it was no different froinal ”Cannon”
The other person was shi+zu He wore a green sweater that was layered at the shoulders and elbows At his side was a cheap katana, one of the , as a replacement for his beloved sword that was broken into five pieces during his battle against Riku, who turned out to have been a spy of the Galactic Overlord
The motorrad was Hermes He had shi+fted from spaceshi+p e He stood on his centre stand
The two people and the motorrad had left their home planet and travelled to the depths of outer space in order to defeat the Galactic Overlord (Please refer to ”Kino's Journey - The Beautiful World-” Volumes 20~134: 'The space Arc - Chapter of Travels', 'Stock Market Arc - Trap', 'Stock Market Arc - Revenge', and 'The space Arc Part 2 - Into the Sea of Stars')
The Goddess slowly spread her arms
”I have sorave-- are you listening to me?”
The two people and thetheh they had no interest
”Hey!” The Goddess shouted with a hint of indignation Kino and shi+zu looked up at her, annoyed
”I'm afraid we've only stopped by this planet to rest and stock up on supplies There's nothing we can do for you, as we'll be leaving soon”
The Goddess was shocked She cast down her eyes
”You are the true heroes destined to fight against the Galactic Overlord's schehout the universe! How could you turn me down like this? This small planet is under constant assault from the Overlord's minions--”
The two people and theto the Goddess from around ”…true heroes destined…” They had instead moved on from their discussion about supplies to a heated debate, with Kino arguing that they should stock up onthat fish was a better choice
”--our last hope Because I lack power… all I can do is watch frorieve for them That's why I have chosen you for your prowess in battle and--”
Kino used the Goddess's speech as background uinal taste even after defrosting, and that there was a wider range of ed Kino's points, but argued that fish was rich in DHA, a substance not found inAlzheimer's Hermes quipped that he didn't care what they stocked up on, as long as they didn't exceed the maximum load like last time
”Hey!”
The Goddess was furious
”I adnore a Goddess like this?!”
There was a flash of light and a loud rulanced at the Goddess, as if tired of having to listen to her And that was it They soon agreed to follow shi+zu's suggestion of a 2:3 ratio of meat and fish
”To think… I'd be treated like this… you're horrible!” The Goddess sniffled Four seconds later, she was all-out crying like a lost child Kino and shi+zu looked at her, annoyed Her her eyes out”
Kino said nothing shi+zu chimed in instead
”Don't you '?”
”Yeah, that's right! You're definitely a s you used to be a prince--ow!”
Kino, having given Herood kick, took the handles and folded the stand She turned her back on the weeping Goddess without a care
”Mackerel and Cod would be best, I think” Said shi+zu, following Kino
All of a sudden, the two stopped instantly They neither blinked nor breathed, as if they were frozen to the spot
”H a Goddess” Said the Goddess, wiping her tears with a handkerchief She ra belief in Gods, the shortco to see her parents again Talking into thin air like that really made her look pompous
”I will have you help us, whether you like it or not The Overlord's minions have infiltrated the schools set up by the hu o undercover as students and defend against these ilantly I will alter your characterizations so as to avoid suspicion and change your memories in order to avoid mental dissonance”
”Got it But what about me?”
”Aaaack!”
The question was posed by Her hand at the h you couldn't tell just by looking)
”H-how? I stopped your time!”
”I guess motorrads are immune” Hermes replied nonchalantly Maybe that really hurt the Goddess's pride She glared at Hermes
”Well, I don't need you anymore! I'll turn you into scrap metal!”
”Scrap doesn't sound too good” Hermes said matter-of-factly ”I'd prefer to be a strap instead”
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