2. Muto Saori
Around the same time that the two from the Seventh Division were discussing their distance from Keita, the members of the Third Division faction, centered around Muto Saori who had entered as the top student, were also discussing Keita.
“That man was able to go to the battlefield solely because he had no backing! The Second Division faction took him in and promoted him to prevent us from standing on the battlefield!”
(Is that really the case?)
“Tatsumi’s opinion is correct. In fact, by having him on the battlefield, the Second Division has gained the excuse of ‘We’ve already accepted a student, so we can’t accommodate other students’ training.'”
(That might be true, but…)
As Kasahara Tatsumi, who entered in fifth place, raises his voice in appeal, Obata Kenjiro, who entered in ninth place, nods in agreement.
By the way, the reason Obata Kenjiro, who is in ninth place, acts more important than Kasahara, who is in fifth place, is solely due to the difference in status between their respective families.
While the Kasahara family is a distinguished family that has produced staff officers and brigade commanders within the Third Division faction, the Obata family is even more prestigious. Specifically, they are members of the Muroguchi family, which produced Muroguchi Renji, the former commander of the Third Division. To be precise, the Obata family welcomed the second son of the Muroguchi family as a son-in-law, and Kenjiro is the second son of that union.
In other words, Kenjiro is the grandson of Muroguchi Renji, who was the leader of the Third Division faction.
Currently, the Muroguchi family is without a head due to the deaths of Renji, who was the head of the family, his eldest son Nobumasa, and Yuji, the second son who had married into the Obata family, during last year’s Imphal operation.
Although Takanobu, the son of Nobumasa and Renji’s eldest grandson, is still alive, he is one year older than Kenjiro.
In other words, he is still a student and has not achieved the military accomplishments necessary to lead a military faction.
Moreover, not only within the military but also in society at large, there is a strong aversion to the Muroguchi name, making it extremely difficult for him to be deployed to a proper battlefield and achieve results recognized by those around him within the next few years.
Due to these circumstances, the expectations placed on Kenjiro by the Muroguchi faction have grown significantly.
Kenjiro understands the expectations from those around him and their content, and he has a strong desire to achieve military accomplishments before his cousin Takanobu.
Therefore, Kenjiro had grand ambitions to first lie low for two years, or perhaps one year, at this military academy, then go on an expedition in the form of practical training, achieve military accomplishments there, and succeed the main family to revive the Muroguchi house.
Due to these circumstances, Kasahara Tatsumi has been ordered by his family to support Obata Kenjiro. In other words, they are in a master-servant relationship.
By the way, Saori’s family, the Muto family, is a heavyweight in the Third Division faction that even the Muroguchi family cannot ignore, with her father, the previous generation, serving as the Chief of Staff of the Third Division.
That being said, they also lost their lord and many personnel on the expedition, so they don’t have the leisure to concern themselves with other matters.
Therefore, they are not interested in the current underground succession dispute between Kenjiro and Takanobu, and are primarily focused on restoring their own family’s military reputation.
So unlike the Kasahara family, the Muto family has not ordered Saori to support Kenjiro.
Rather, they have instructed her to keep her distance.
For Saori, who was raised as a pure lady, both Tatsumi and Kenjiro were people she wanted to keep at a distance, so this instruction was exactly what she wanted…
(It seems that both Tatsumi-san and Kenjiro-san think I’m on their side.)
Saori wanted to sigh, but (There’s no point in causing waves here) she decided to just silently listen to their conversation.
Setting aside the intentions of the Muto family and Saori.
As someone who considers himself the rightful successor to the Third Division faction, Kenjiro naturally had some thoughts about losing to Kasahara Tatsumi and Muto Saori in the entrance rankings. However, he had convinced himself with the logic that [I am destined to use them as a general among military officers. So it’s inevitable to be behind in tests that prioritize compatibility with magic crystals.]
Furthermore, he had been venting his frustrations by mocking the fact that a commoner boy – who not only had better grades than them but also played the victim by saying he lost his parents due to the Third Division’s defeat, and didn’t even come to greet them, showing such an insolent attitude – was assigned a grotesque machine manufactured by a company he had never heard of.
It was in this state of discontent that he received the information that Keita had gone to the battlefield ahead of them, and had achieved significant results there.
At first, Kenjiro doubted the veracity of this information, but when he learned it was true, he openly expressed his displeasure. Or rather, it would be fair to say he became enraged.
This meeting was arranged by Kasahara, who saw Kenjiro’s reaction and thought [This is not good], to calm Kenjiro down and discuss how he should achieve his own accomplishments.
And….
Emboldened by the fact that Saori, from a prominent family and the top entrant, didn’t deny his opinion, and that Kenjiro, the main line, acknowledged it, Tatsumi spoke wisely:
“That’s right. And while there’s no doubt that the main factor allowing that man to go to the battlefield is related to factions, there were other excuses actually prepared.”
“…The testing of a new model, right?”
“You’re absolutely right. Without that, no matter how much the Second Division tried to intervene, they couldn’t have put a civilian child on the battlefield, disregarding us!”
“Indeed. If it’s a test for the only machine of its kind in this academy, no, in all of Japan, they might grant permission as an exception. Especially if the pilot testing it is an expendable brat.”
“Yes, yes. That’s correct. Looking at the alleged achievements of that man, it’s clear that machine should have been assigned to us!”
“Hmm. But they couldn’t give us something that hadn’t even been test-driven, meaning its safety was uncertain. That’s why that brat got to use it first. That’s all there is to it.”
“Exactly. The achievements that brat made are something anyone could do with that machine!”
Their discussion wasn’t based on recognizing facts as Kazunari and Junji did, but rather speaking purely on emotion. However, at least these two believed they were having a sincere conversation.
(I don’t think that’s right, you know?)
Saori, who had been listening silently, held skeptical thoughts about the opinions of these two.
First of all, even Saori, who was an excellent pilot herself, wasn’t confident she could operate the hybrid type that Keita had reportedly piloted. Just being able to move that thing showed Keita’s competence—or perhaps his rarity.
Moreover, the feelings Saori harbored for Keita were close to those of Kazunari, who led the Seventh Division faction.
In fact, she thought he was a much more capable person than herself—who had been made the top student for the sake of the faction’s reputation—or even that young master from somewhere who only managed to rank ninth despite being given numerous advantages.
(Besides, you know. Given the current poor state of the Third Division, shouldn’t we be making allies rather than enemies?)
Not only was this her personal opinion, but as a member of the Third Division faction, she also believed that they should refrain from picking fights with other divisions, given that they would need help from other factions to rebuild their division.
Moreover, Keita was a civilian without any backing. Although the Second Division seemed to be trying to bring him into their fold, wasn’t that a problem that could be solved by arranging a political marriage or something similar to make him one of their own?
It would be fine to marry someone from their faction to him, or to take his sister as a bride. Since he had distinguished himself in battle, they should be trying to bring him in, so why were they deliberately trying to antagonize him?
(If they’ve decided to lie low, I wish they’d endure for a year or two. Is this what they call male pride? I don’t understand.)
“According to information, they’re going to assemble Unit 2 at the request of the Second Division.”
“Then let’s recover it for ourselves. It won’t be difficult to requisition it from an unknown company like Mogami Heavy Industries. There will be others who dislike the Second Division monopolizing the new model.”
“That’s a brilliant idea!”
(No, how is it? If we do that, we’ll completely make enemies of Mogami Heavy Industries and the Second Division. We should keep our distance from them. For now, shall we contact Kawakami? Fujita will probably make the same move. So they’ll have at least two people on their side. …We need to make allies quickly. Ah, if only they were more capable people… No, there’s no use saying that now. Sigh. How troublesome.)
While watching the two in front of her plotting with cold eyes, Saori, drawing on the instincts honed by her upbringing as a young lady, contemplated the power struggles that were likely to occur behind the scenes.
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“Well then, shall we start by becoming friends with her?”
Muto Saori, having decided to close the distance with Keita, determined that the necessary person for this was Isotani Shoko, who had enrolled as the fourth-ranked student.
Saori had several reasons for choosing her.
First, the faction to which her family belonged was the Sixth Division faction.
The relationship between the Sixth Division, responsible for the Kinki region, and the Third Division faction, which originally had the role of backing up Kanto and Kinki in times of emergency, was not bad—though not particularly good either—so Saori judged that there was a low possibility of their respective families becoming enemies.
Next was her personality. While basically aware of her own excellence, she wasn’t the type to be arrogant about it. Rather, she was the type who never neglected her efforts to aim higher.
Of course, it might also be that one couldn’t get cocky when there were three students with better grades than oneself at the time of enrollment, but there are people in this world who can somehow delude themselves into thinking they’re the most excellent despite only managing to enroll in ninth place even after being given numerous advantages.
Compared to that, isn’t it natural to want to be friends with a girl who continues to make efforts while viewing oneself as a rival?
Even Saori, who was accustomed to putting on a friendly facade due to her training as a young lady from a martial family, wanted to choose her associates if possible. In particular, she didn’t want to associate with people who would cause her mental fatigue just by interacting with them.
Lastly, there was her attitude towards Keita.
While everyone, including Saori, was uncertain how to measure their distance from the anomaly that was Kawakami Keita, she alone had approached him directly. Well, from some perspectives it might have looked like she was picking fights, but judging from how Keita himself had gently accepted it, one could infer that they had a relatively good relationship.
“If I suddenly say ‘Let’s be friends,’ I’ll only make her wary.”
It’s certainly not a lie that she was interested from the beginning, but from Keita’s perspective, she would probably look like “someone who suddenly tried to get close after he got promoted.”
(Actually, while that’s partly true, that evaluation is a bit, you know…)
Saori, being both a young lady and a member of a martial family, has high pride. Even though her personality allows her to tolerate some discomfort, Saori is not mature enough to tolerate being thought of as a shallow person by a peer of the opposite sex.
Of course, Isotani is not a fool either. If Saori, with whom she had no particular connection until now, suddenly approached her, she would try to discern her intentions, and would quickly realize that Saori was seeking contact with Keita.
“Or rather, I’d be in trouble if she didn’t realize it.”
If Isotani could read the intention behind Saori’s actions, how would she move?
Would she try to gain favor with the Muto family, a heavyweight in the Third Division faction? Or would she try to conceal it?
Normally, one would choose the former. After all, Saori and Keita are classmates.
Of course, it might be awkward at first.
But it’s not that difficult to become relatively close if you’re in the same class for three years.
Thinking that way, from Isotani’s perspective, the result would be the same whether she intervened or not.
And if that’s the case, it would be more beneficial to intervene early and earn the gratitude of the Muto family. That’s what one would normally judge.
No matter how straightforward her personality might be, Isotani is also here at this military academy representing the young members of her faction. It’s inconceivable that she would forget about the interests of her faction.
“There might be instructions from the head of the Isotani family to monopolize the information for a while, but we’ll deal with that when it comes. For now, let’s try to make contact. There’s no shortage of topics to discuss, after all.”
To an outsider, Saori might appear to be a sheltered young lady who knows nothing of the worldly affairs, given her birth and appearance. In fact, even Kasahara Tatsumi and Obata Kenjiro, who belong to the same faction, treat her that way.
However, her inner nature is completely the opposite. Trained by her father, who was the Chief of the General Staff, Saori’s essence is that of a cold-blooded strategist who is aware of her own appearance and doesn’t hesitate to use even herself as a pawn when necessary.
“Fufu. It’s quite enjoyable when you don’t know how things will unfold, isn’t it?”
Saori smiled elegantly while seriously considering “How to become closer friends with Isotani Shoko?” and “How to approach Keita once that succeeds?”, her brilliant mind working at full capacity.
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