Shinrai ‘Trust’ Part One - A Mini-Novel about the Sixth Platoon
Notes: FINALLY! I started translating this months ago, but lost interest. I’m currently on a super DanSen high so I HAD to finally finish it.
This was different from a magazine translation - this was a novel translation, so it involved being more creative with words to make it read like a novel. I REALLY hope I did a good job. Vanessa’s battle in the forest against the Arabista forces was particularly difficult to understand and translate, so it’s probably full of mistakes. But the conversation and communication between the Sixth Platoon members - I spend ages searching for the right words. I LOVE this platoon so much.
This is part one - part two focuses on Kageto slowly growing to trust Muraku and the birth of the Violet Devil.
If even one DanSen fan reads this I will be satisfied but I guess I translated it mostly for myself. And as practice for the Inazuma GO novel I will eventually translate...
Shinrai ‘Trust’ Part One
In the corner of the classroom, a girl reclined back in her seat, legs resting on top of her desk, as she stared at the screen of her CCM (Control and Communication Manipulator) - bored.
From her appearance one would assume she was born in Southern Asia, as she stood out conspicuously even amongst her classmates. Her dark indigo hair was gathered into a thick plait, and only her light colored pupils expressed her hidden resolution.
Her name was Vanessa Gala, a class 1 second year student of Kamui Daimon Comprehensive Academy. She was feared as the Brown Mustang by certain students.
However, she also had another nickname: ‘Captain Killer’.
Rossius Sixth Platoon - Vanessa’s platoon. Their war record was not bad by any means.
However, for some reason one by one every newly appointed captain came and then left. One captain became lost, another expressed a wish to be transferred to a different platoon out of his own free will.
Within the classroom, students were scattered around in small groups, but kept their distance from Vanessa’s seat. This wasn’t surprising. The sixth platoon’s newest captain, who had been appointed not even two weeks ago, had become LOST during yesterday’s War Time.
“Another one bites the dust.”
“Just how many people have there been?”
“Those guys are nothing but trouble…”
Vanessa heard them whisper in hushed voices. Even though she’d planned to pay no attention to their conversation, it was still unpleasant to her ears. Still, it wasn’t as if she particularly cared.
“Vanessa.”
The boy sitting in the seat beside her addressed her. He was a member of the same sixth platoon, Mikhail Rourke.
“I thought you had more guts than that.”
She knew what Mikhail was going to say. Take it easy. But she couldn’t do that. In War Time the danger of being LOST and expelled went hand in hand with combat. She couldn’t care less if a captain got himself LOST due to his own inability to give decent commands. Smiling wryly at Vanessa’s words, Mikhail answered her.
“Please don’t bully the new captains so much. Do you understand?”
Mikhail sounded just like a mother scolding her child. Vanessa turned her gaze towards him.
“Oh, please. You didn’t like that captain either, did you?”
“That’s not true at all. I believe he was trying his utmost.”
At Mikhail’s words, Vanessa huffed and once again dropped her gaze to her CCM. As she did, this time the boy sitting on her other side, their mechanic Kiba Kageto, opened his mouth.
“Vanessa thinks captains are nothing but a nuisance, and she’s too stubborn to change her opinion.” He teased her with a weak smile.
“You got it! There’s no way I’m following orders from a useless captain.”
Mikhail and Kageto looked at each other. Mikhail continued to smile wanly. Kageto sighed in disappointed.
“What if-”
Mikhail once again engaged Vanessa in conversation.
“-you were the next captain?”
This time Vanessa laughed at Mikhail’s words.
“No way! If that was the case, I’d have been given the order a long time ago!”
“I wonder what kind of guy is gonna come next?”
Kageto mumbled.
“Who knows? I’m praying it’s gonna be a decent guy with a lot of battle experience more than anything.” Vanessa replied, looking up from her CCM.
At that the classroom door opened. The homeroom teacher for the Class 1 second years entered the room, followed by a boy. Vanessa turned her sharp gaze towards this boy. She did this every time a newly assigned captain came, in order to determine his character and evaluate whether or not he was worth following orders from. Up until now, all of the captains had been startled by her intense gaze and usually faltered. This time Vanessa intended to do the same thing. However, this boy didn’t react at all and just kept walking.
“Well, it looks like this guy’s either stupid or just stubborn.”
While she was thinking this, she crossed her legs and folded her hands under her chin, waiting for the homeroom teacher to speak.
“Well then, everyone, I’d like to introduce your new classmate, Houjou Muraku-kun.”
At the middle-aged homeroom teacher’s introduction, Muraku lightly bowed his head.
“He will become the new captain for the sixth platoon. Vanessa, Mikhail, Kageto. Please support Houjou-kun.”
“Sensei.”
At that Vanessa raised her hand.
“Please tell us his past war record.”
The homeroom teacher was silent for a moment, before stroking his chin and beginning to talk.
“He has no past war record, since he’s only just transferred here.”
Vanessa looked shocked.
“What?!”
At this, Mikhail also stood up.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand. Why is a guy with no war record all of a sudden becoming our captain?”
“You’re leaving our fate to him? Aren’t you at least able to transfer in a guy from another class?”
“That’s right! I don’t want to do maintenance for a guy like that.”
Vanessa and Kageto continued Mikhail’s protest.
“This was Krosky-sensei’s judgement.” At this, the homeroom teacher sighed before continuing to speak. “The sixth platoon has no sense of order at the moment. Don’t you three have any self-awareness?”
This shut all of them up completely.
“Anyway, he will become your captain. You will communicate willingly with him.” At this the homeroom teacher turned back to Muraku.
“Your seat is over there.”
“Understood.”
Without saying anything else, Muraku passed through the desks over to a free seat and sat down.
---
The students were gathered in Rossius’ control room. Vanessa was still bristling with irritation as she listened to Krosky speak.
‘We have received information that Arabista plan to invade the Far East domain of Rossius’ territory. Platoons 6, 12 and 88 will defend against their attack.’
‘Yes, sir.’ The three platoon Captains answered in response. Naturally one of them was Muraku.
Why did this guy have to become our captain…? The briefing continued, regardless of Vanessa’s feelings, until it became time for War Time to start. Just as they left the control room, Vanessa called Muraku to a halt.
‘Hey!’
When he turned around, Vanessa let Muraku know exactly how she felt towards him.
‘I refuse to accept you as our Captain.’
‘...’
‘Well, don’t you have anything to say?’
‘Well then, what should I do in order for you to accept me as your Captain?’
‘There’s nothing you can do!’
‘So what are you going to do during War Time? Ignore all of my orders and fight on your own terms?’
‘Obviously!’
‘Very well. But no matter how long you keep this up, you’re not going to improve yourself at all.’
That annoyed her. Those were fighting words.
‘...I’ll show you.’
‘What was that?’
‘During today’s War Time I’m going to eliminate Arabista all by myself! All you need to do is shut up and watch!’
After her declaration, Vanessa began to run towards the Control Pod room. Mikhail and Kageto rushed after her. Giving their retreating figures a cursory glance, Muraku too began to slowly walk after them.
---
‘All systems go. 180 seconds to War Time. All players please enter battle position.’
Following the system announcer, Vanessa set her partner Gunther into the LBX Shooter.
‘Who would follow orders from a guy like that…’ Grumbling to herself, she opened the communication window. ‘Vanessa Gala, Gunther check.’
‘I heard that.’ Mikhail appeared on the monitor. ‘What you’re saying is correct. All we can do is see what he has to offer.’
At this, Kageto entered the chat.
‘In any case, he is our Captain now. We have to cooperate with him.’
‘I guess.’
‘Mikhail, Kageto, once we reach the designated battleground, let me go ahead with the Riding Armor. You guys be Muraku’s opponent.’
‘Wait, you’re not seriously going to…?’
‘What did I say? I’m going to annihilate the enemy. In the meantime, you guys stop Muraku from entering the battlefield.’ At this point Muraku entered the chat.
‘Houjou Muraku, Gunther check.’ As soon as he spoke, Vanessa felt a surge of anger. Why did this creep have to use the same LBX as her?
‘Muraku, I won’t call you Captain.’
‘...I never asked you to.’
‘Well, whatever. I’ll show you what I can do.’
‘...I’m looking forward to it.’
The way he answered without any change in his expression infuriated Vanessa. She immediately closed the chat.
---
Whilst looking at the monitor that had just been shut off, Muraku - as if nothing had just happened - called Kageto over the chat.
‘Kiba Kageto.’
Since he’d been called, Kageto had no choice but to answer him.
‘Yes?’
‘Do we have a spare set of sabres?’
‘Huh?’ Kageto replied without thinking.
‘I’m asking you if we have a spare set of sabres?’
‘Yeah, sure we do. In the craft carrier.’
‘Understood.’ With a one-word response, Muraku prepared for landing.
---
The Rossius Union’s enormous territory spread from the West to the East. The East division was under the 6th Platoon’s jurisdiction, moving to the place where Rossius bordered Jenock and Arabista. According to Commander Krosky’s information, the enemies were planning an invasion from the sky by the Arabista borders. The platoons had to scout the area before the enemy craft carriers arrived. That’s where Vanessa was headed.
‘Kageto!’
‘Affirmative.’
The bottom of the craft carrier opened and Vanessa’s Gunther aboard a Riding Saucer descended. The Control Room noticed this immediately and contacted them.
‘6th Platoon, what are you doing?’
‘...’
Vanessa ignored this.
‘Respond, 6th Platoon!’ At this Muraku cut into the chat.
‘Control Room, this is the 6th Platoon. We’re sending out one unit in order to scout the enemy’s movements.’
‘!’
Vanessa was taken back. This Captain, just what on earth was he playing at? Her head became clouded with suspicion.
‘This is the Control Room, affirmative. Report back on Arabista’s movement.’
‘6th Platoon, affirmative. Vanessa, send us your report as soon as you can.’
‘...Tch!’ Without replying to Muraku’s order, Vanessa piloted her Riding Saucer towards the country’s border.
---
As she neared the border’s coastline, Vanessa cautiously observed her surroundings. She didn’t see anything that could be an enemy. That went for both the airspace and above ground was also clear. There didn’t seem to be anything to be concerned about.
‘What’s going on? Did our secret intelligence get false information again?’
Recently, the Rossius Union’s secret intelligence were getting quite a lot of false information, and every time they did Rossius platoons were sent dashing about all over the place. It seemed like this time once again false info had been received. Bearing this in mind, Vanessa had just placed her hand on the gear stick.
A beam of light broke through the water’s surface. A second later, it hit her Riding Saucer.
‘What the-?’
Before she had time to question what was going on, her Riding Saucer had already began to crumble. Taking a look out over the coastline, one by one Arabista LBX units - Jirant - were coming from the water’s surface to land.
‘They weren’t coming from the air at all!’
Rounding on Vanessa’s routed LBX, the enemy units began to fire. Vanessa hurriedly instructed her Gunther to dismount from the Riding Saucer, and the minute she did it exploded from the impact of the guns. As soon as she landed, she lost her balance, teetering across the earth. And that was when she dropped her hand rifle.
‘Shit!’ Vanessa made her LBX dash behind the shadow of a rock near the coastline.
(Shit, I can’t do a thing to attack them without a weapon! … I’m in big trouble.)
Gritting her teeth, she desperately tried to think of a plan when the communication window opened again.
‘Vanessa, what’s your situation?’ It was Kageto.
‘I messed up. Arabista didn’t come from the air, they came from the water. My Riding Saucer’s out of action and I’ve lost my weapon.’
‘What did you just say?’
‘I’m hiding right now, but I don’t know when they’re going to find me.’
At this, Mikhail also entered the chat.
‘How many enemy units are there?’
Vanessa check the monitor to see how many enemies were caught on the radar.
‘Nine. All Jirant. I can’t confirm what kind of weapons they’re using, but there is a sniper.’
‘Can you get out of there?’
‘I think if I move they’ll catch me.’
‘Understood. We should get there soon too. Until then, try to wait it out and respond to any communication.’
When the chat ended, Vanessa looked out over to the enemy units milling around in front of her eyes. She had no weapon and she was at a serious disadvantage in numbers. Going into battle in these circumstances would be like dashing into the hornet’s nest, the best possible outcome getting a Break Over. The worst possible outcome was getting LOST.
(Is my battle really gonna end here…?)
As much as she wanted to stick it to Muraku, dashing out onto the battlefield by herself was probably just reckless. The thought crossed her mind that it was possible Muraku tolerated Vanessa’s defiance because he knew something like this would happen. That way if Vanessa became LOST, Muraku might peacefully settle into the 6th Platoon.
Faced with a dangerous situation, Vanessa found herself unable to think anything but negative thoughts.
(This is bad, now of all times I’ve gotta stay calm and move.)
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then let it back out. When she opened her eyes once again, she focused on the enemy LBX.
The Arabista Captain’s LBX started to move. Almost as if he were the head of special forces or something, he began making his way up the mountain. He knew Vanessa’s unit was still alive, and he was looking for it. An army of Jirant, the Captain’s unit in the middle of the pack, was heading her way.
‘At this rate I’m done for…’
Vanessa made up her mind and dashed out from under the shadow of the rock. She turned towards a forest she could see a lit bit farther ahead and made her Gunther run for it. At this sudden movement, the Jirant instantly began to shoot. Vanessa began to sweat.
‘Shit, I don’t want to lose here!’
She yelled, making her Gunther dash left and right as he ran. Suddenly its left leg was hit by one of the enemy’s bullets, and Gunther flipped head over heels. But the hit wasn’t fatal and it managed to dash into the forest and the bullets only collided with the forest of trees.
‘That was close…’
When she took a deep breath and looked over her surroundings, she could see the Captain of the Jirant and the others heading towards her.
‘...Alright.’
Vanessa thought for a moment, then grabbed hold of a branch that lay in front of her.
The Jirant pack entered the forest while carefully surveying their surroundings. With 6 units defending the front of the pack, the units proceed into the forest. 3 units made up the rear defense. If an enemy ambushed them, the 6 units in front would defend. This was their formation for entering a territory like a forest.
They continued along the dirt road, careful not to slip in the mud. Vanessa’s Gunther, covered in mud, aimed her stick at one of the enemy Jirant and threw it at its gun, which slipped out of its hand at the impact. Straight away, Gunther tackled the Jirant and punched it - once, twice, three times - resulting in a Break Over.
Noticing something was wrong, the rest of the enemy LBX took aim in her direction and began to fire. Vanessa picked up the fallen Jirant’s gun and made her way out of that area, followed by a shower of bullets.
‘Taking out just 1 unit really doesn’t make much difference…’
She had her LBX slip into a low pit, careful not to show her face as the enemy approached and began to shoot blindly until she was out of bullets, then threw away the gun. She took a deep breath as she lay in hiding. The sound of approaching LBX echoed all around her. When she confirmed it on the radar, she saw another unit heading towards her. She was weaponless. Preparing herself for the worst, Vanessa
Gazed at the monitor. She couldn’t confirm her location on the radar.
Suddenly she found herself face to face with an enemy unit. She thought she’d let her judgement slip, but the enemy unit must have been tailing her. It aimed its gun at her unit’s chest.
‘I never saw you coming…!’
Resigning herself to her fate, she shut her eyes.
Suddenly, a white shadow descended from the sky. Clutching a sabre in both hands, the unit began its massacre of the Jirant pack.
‘Good job hanging in there.’
(Muraku…!)
She felt something like anger rise inside her. There was nothing worse than the very person she wanted to show up be the one to save her. However, Muraku wasn’t concerned with how she felt, and immediately dashed into the pack of enemy units. Wielding a sword in both hands, one by one he began to take down each enemy. He would take an attack from the enemy units with the sword in his right hand, and with the sword in his left hand he would penetrate them. When one enemy was defeated he quickly turned to the next.
(He’s so fast…)
There were no flaws in his movement - it was beautiful. He deftly dodged an oncoming attack from both sides, causing both units to crash into each other. It was like he could predict the enemy’s attack.
‘Vanessa, are you okay?’
When she heard his voice and turned around, she found Mikhail’s Glerior in a ready to battle position, his gun aimed to fire.
‘Respond!’
‘Oh, I’m fine.’ Vanessa responded, relieved, all the while watching Muraku’s battle. Muraku’s unit swiftly sliced the final enemy in two, an action followed by a large explosion. In no time at all, he’d taken down 8 enemy units without a single word.
‘He’s crazy good…’
‘Yeah…’
Mikhail was also momentarily stunned by Muraku’s battle.
‘So this is… our new Captain?’ As Vanessa continued to watch Muraku’s battle, her heart swelled with pride.
---
When War Time ended, Vanessa made her way over to Muraku’s Control Pod. Without saying a word, Muraku climbed out of the pod and stood in front of Vanessa.
‘...What?’
‘...I guess I can accept you as our Captain.’ As embarrassing as it was, she had to admit it. Even it hadn’t been for him, she would have probably been LOST today. That was a fact.
‘Is that so.’ Saying no more than this, Muraku turned and began to walk away from the control pods.
‘What the hell is his problem?’ Kageto said bitterly.
‘...Vanessa…’ Mikhail looked anxious. However, Vanessa looked completely refreshed.
‘Doesn’t matter. He’s our Captain after all.’ When Vanessa said this with a smile, the two boys exchanged baffled glances.
‘That guy is the new Captain for the 6th Platoon.’ Seemingly saying this to reassure herself rather than anyone else, Vanessa turned to watch their new Captain walk away.