Angel Beats! – Track Zero - Chapter 2

#2: Navy Blue

As I raced to catch up with Yurippe, I saw a group of teachers in front of her.

"Principal's office"

Rushing into the crowd of teachers, Yurippe forced herself through.

"Hey, didn't you hear the announcement?  Students need to go back to class!"

A teacher grabbed her by her arm.

"Oh... was there really that announcement... !!"

Pow!  Suddenly, the teacher took a blow from Yurippe's iron elbow and could only double over.

Isn't this far too lawless?

One by one, the teachers who tried to hold down Yurippe were knocked away and scattered.

Now, she was at the door.

"I'm going to bust in."

"But you haven't thought this through!?"

Without hesitation, she threw the doors open and charged inside.

Until now, all I could do was summon my courage and continue.  Bracing myself, I followed her in.

A male student stood in the principal's office, he had a grandfatherly man in a suit who looked to be the principal in a headlock.

He held a gun in his hand.

Apparently it was for the principal's resistance [tl note1].  Furthermore, the barrel was now pointed at Yurippe.

"I said it before, if you come closer, I'll fire.  Are you guys stupid or something ...?"

"Oh my~~"

"Look, this is trouble."

She was like a beautiful moth drawn to a flame.

But in this world, moths can't burn to death from the fire.

Yurippe spoke without a hint of nervousness: "I know what you want to say.  Yes, just as you're thinking, I don't even need to spell it out.  Come, let's team up."

"Your lines sure are unexpected."

"Team up? What a joke.  In this world, how can I trust anything but myself?"

"Believe me, I can become a powerful ally."

"Hah... interesting.  Then, strip for me."

"Ffff, ha!?"

I looked at Yurippe.

"I say, you'd better not let me down. Drop those third-rate soap opera side character lines already.  You've just performed a world-changing feat.  This is really amazing.  You should do yourself a favor and not demean yourself with such words."

As expected of Yurippe.  Anybody would wring their hands after hearing this.

"I can't understand a word you're saying.  If you want me to trust you, just take off all your clothes.  This is all I'm going to say."

The receiving side is strong too!!!

However, the Yurippe I know would never stop spitting out ego-destroying phrases, until thoroughly overwhelming the other side.

"This guy will strip as my substitute."

"Why me, hey!!"

No choice for me but to butt in.

"Any complaints?"

"Yes, many! On what basis do I have to strip in such a situation?"

"Why did you think I let you be my partner?"

"Well, certainly not for stripping!"

"Why you... have to push such a small thing back for me to do?  Haven't you got any honor as a man?"

"I'm not making you do it! It would be OK if neither of us stripped!"

"But he said that he won't trust us unless we strip."

"Not "us", he was talking to you."

"I don't want to strip though."

"Thinking of a plan is your job."

"Me again? What kind of a character are you? When will you come in handy?  I'm about to fire you"

Bang!

...... a gunshot.

A brand new tiny hole appeared on the wall next to us.

"Not good.... Now's not the time for idle chatter...."

"What do you mean idle chatter, do you take us for morons?  I'm currently taking responsibility for you."

"No no, now's not the time to discuss this...."

"If you don't get out now, the next one will go in your heads!"

The man's sharp voice.

"Jeez, a trick question now~"

Yurippe apparently finally remembered her original point.

She addressed the man again.

"Uh, what did you just say? If I strip you'll trust me? Then can we do this in private? I don't want this guy to see me."

"I'm not listening to your bullshit anymore, get the fuck out!"

"Oh really. Well, negotiations have broken down despite all the concessions I made.  All right then, kill him, Hinata."

"Hey, me!? What can I do in this situation!"

"My word, what are you doing standing around here!? Shut up and tackle him!"

To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what happened next.

Yes, I don't know.  First, the door suddenly opened.

Next, the gun rang out several times.  Embarrassingly, I shut my eyes out of fear.

Din-dan-din-dan, the sound of bullet casings hitting the floor.

But the gun was still firing.

Puu-chii, a dangerous sound of something being pierced.

It was instantly silent.

Opening my eyes, the man lay on the ground.

The student council president stood over him.

Some kind of giant blade stuck out of the man's belly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The man fired towards the student council president's body again.

Fresh blood poured from his wound.

However, the blade continued to pin the man's body firmly....

Until the man lost all his strength, she continued to hold that pose.

When the gun quieted down, the teachers rushed in.  Yurippe and I watched vacantly as the principal was rescued and the man was carried out.....

We hadn't done a thing.

For dinner I decided to have curry rice.

Spoonful by spoonful, I put it in my mouth.

Yurippe ordered udon as she had yesterday, but she hadn't touched her chopsticks at all.

When I finished the curry rice, for lack of anything better to do, I started: "Sure was a tiring day... though for me, it beats being knocked off the roof twice by a lot."

I thought I'd hear her angry retort, but Yurippe just wordlessly started to eat her udon.

...... This is not right.

Was not recruiting that guy a similarly rough blow to her?

We stared at each other's empty plates and bowls.

"Cheer up a bit, that guy's not dead, there'll be another chance to recruit him, right?"

".... Cut the crap."

Finally, I heard her speak.

"You couldn't be thinking that I'm still worrying about that guy?"

"Eh? It wasn't because you weren't able to get him to join (your harem)?"

"You're an idiot...."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you see the student council president's movements?"

"I saw."

"And you thought nothing of it?"

"Um... I was a little surprised, I didn't think she was capable of doing that kind of thing."

"Geez..."

"What?"

"If there wasn't a table between us, I would surely beat you flying or kick you to death."

She had apparently now returned to her normal self.

"Well then, as you like, go right ahead."

I stood up and stuck out my head.

She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and stabbed upwards!

I very narrowly dodged.

"What are you trying to do!"

"Poke out your eyes."

"I'll go blind!"

"It'd get better after three days anyways."

"And I wouldn't be able to see anything for that time, how could I help you then?"

"Even if you can see, all you do is complain, so it makes no difference either way."

"My life would be really difficult! If I suddenly went blind, my roommate would be really surprised!"

"I really look forward to seeing his reaction."

"You really are a..."

I sat down roughly, but hearing her usual nasty words somewhat relieved me.

"Back on topic, what was wrong with what the student council president did?"

"Didn't you think it was abnormal?"

"Weren't that guy's actions just as abnormal?"

"I'm talking about something way beyond that, what kind of a toy was that deadly weapon?  Have you ever seen anything like that in your entire life?"

"That kind of a big blade?  Yeah, just where did she pull that out from?"

"Pull it out?  Nothing like that happened."

"Why?"

"You don't even have such basic observation skills?  Looks like even if you were blind you wouldn't miss anything.  Want me to poke out your eyes?"

"C'mon... OK, stop teasing me and just say it."

".... that large blade, she wasn't holding it in her hand."

"What do you mean?"

"It grew out of her arm."

"How's that possible!?"

"It just is."

It grew...?

What kind of thing is that, how could it grow out of someone's body?

"Do you understand? Compared to that guy, the student council president is way more abnormal!"

"If what you say is true, then that is really strange...."

Looks like Yurippe wasn't feeling down from failing to add that guy into her ranks, but rather was continuously thinking about this anomaly of the student council president.

"Then, you want to recruit the student council president?"

"That's not possible, because she just might be God."

"Is that really a possibility...."

"Listen up, this may be the afterlife, but other than not dying when we're killed, nothing seems to be different from when we were alive.  Aside from not being able to run 100 meters in five seconds, one also can't defy gravity and fly after jumping off a roof - you should be quite aware of these facts."

"That was you kicking me off the roof....."

"Anyways, the student council president's blade is definitely not right.  Growing a blade out of your arm is a completely supernatural phenomenon.  Nobody in this world possesses that kind of strength."

"So you're saying that only she has a special existence...."

"If this is really the truth, then that guy's actions at least succeeded in forcing her to reveal herself."

"Is that so... then, the student council president, you couldn't be thinking of ....."

"Yeah.  If she really is God, I will kill her.  Though, there still isn't solid evidence."

"So.... how can we confirm this?"

"Exactly, I'll give you one day to think about this."

"Huh? You want me to think of a plan?!?"

"Don't make me repeat myself again and again, Hinata, is there anything else you are able to do?"

"B-But aren't I always by your side?"

"What? You couldn't have fallen for me?"

"No, that's not it."

"Ahh, you actually can tell a lie with such a straight face....."

"I just didn't want your life here to be so lonely, I was worried for you."

"That kind of concern is unnecessary, I don't care if I'm alone."

"Just take my following you as my own initiative."

"That's no good, since we're together, let me think of you as a necessity, not as a burden."

Hm, that makes sense....

I shrugged my shoulders and sighed as I thought.

"OK, fine.  I'll spend tonight cooking up a plan to whether she's god."

I had no choice but to respond this way.

"That's how it should be, I like straightforward people,"

Yurippe said as she picked up her plate and stood up.  And so we parted.

I lay on my bed thinking quietly.

"What's up? Is there something bothering you?"

"Ahh!"

A sudden sound by my side made me jump up.  Ooyama had climbed up the ladder, and was looking at my face.

"Why do you ask so suddenly?"

"I heard you sighing up there, I was a bit worried about you."

I had not noticed myself making sounds at all, man, I guess I really was completely absorbed in my thinking about the problem of how to make God reveal herself.

"If you don't mind, talk it over with me."

Ooyama said this with a relaxed expression, like he would never have a care in the world.

"If when I came back, my eyes were poked out by chopsticks, what would you think?"

"Huh? That would be really scary."

"I think so too."

"What's going on !? Who's going to poke out your eyes!?"

"Nothing, it's just an unfunny joke."

"This is no joke!? Using chopsticks to poke out a person's eyes or whatever, that person is really dangerous!? Are you friends with such a dangerous person!?"

"Someday I'll introduce you."

"No way, no way!! Honestly, if you have that kind of friend, no wonder you're upset.  It's best to break off relations with that person immediately."

"I've already decided to stay with that person forever."

"I can hardly believe you've survived to this day!!  Everyday you'd have to be constantly on edge.... Though, in this room, please be at ease.  I would never poke out your eyes."

"Sure, you're a pretty cool guy."

"You really flatter me!! I'm just a normal person, a completely normal person."

You guys are too normal.

Though joking around was fun (I've already learned by heart this method of passing the time)

However, after lights out, I kept on thinking.

Kept on sighing and groaning.

Because Ooyama that bastard suddenly stuck his face out, I gave him a punch to chase him off.

A peaceful contemplation.

Finally, at the moment my brain was about to explode, I finally thought of a plan so simple it had me dumbstruck.

"So say it."

The next morning, on the roof top.  With the wind in her hair, Yurippe faced me with her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, it's a truly feasible and ... great plan!"

"Don't ham it up, hurry up and tell me."

Ooh, Yurippe's impatient! This is a perfect role reversal.

"Haha, I stayed up all night coming up with this ... there's no way I'd tell you so easi..."

Bam!

".... My plan is, take the principal hostage and barricade ourselves in his office."

"Oh, so you're saying reenact yesterday's events?"

"Right, that guy was by himself, so he was a goner after he got stabbed.  But there's two of us, we can team up and fight, and furthermore, at the moment she unleashes that supernatural phenomenon, we can grab her and interrogate her.  Her strategy of saying "I don't know" to everything definitely won't work this time."

"This is the first time I've felt that you're like a partner of mine."

Yurippe was extremely happy.

"That's quite an honor."

"How will we get weapons?"

"Steal the gun from yesterday."

"That gun is probably out of ammo."

"It'll be enough to threaten with."

"You rascal, you're so clever I'm actually a little unsettled, and a bit afraid of you.  OK, shall we disband then?"

"Can't give me two words of honest praise, can you....."

The gun was stored in a safe in the teacher's lounge.

Yurippe and I snuck into the lounge at night, spent two days finding the key, and then quickly stole the gun.

Tomorrow we'd carry out the plan.

I lay in bed, staring at the gun in my hand.

This was of course my first time holding a real gun.

"AHHHHHHH, Hinata, what's that!?"

That pigheaded Ooyama had caught me.

"Gee, could you please say hi or something before you climb up here?"

He was so frightened by the gun that he hadn't heard a word I said.

"This is for... if my eyes get poked out by chopsticks, this is how I'll strike back."

"That joke isn't funny either!!!"

"No worries, the other party gets dry humor."

"Your friend sure is tolerant!! To be honest, with all the poking out of eyes with chopsticks and returning fire with a gun, you two must have a really messed up friendship!?"

"Wanna join us?"

"No way, no way, no way!  Please excuse me!  Sorry, but if you talk to me outside, please let me ignore you!"

Things just got interesting.

What will happen tomorrow? Will it really happen? I became excited and was not able to fall asleep the entire night.

The hour of the battle had arrived.

Yurippe held the gun, I held a metal bat, and we stood outside the door of the principal's office.

It was class time, and not even a shadow was to be seen in the hallway.

"Afraid?"

"It's too late now anyways."

"If that's the case, be a man and lift up your head."

"Do I look that frightened?"

Hey hey, an evil smile appeared on Yurippe's face.

"Then, let's go"

"OK"

Bam!  I kicked open the door.

"Go go go!"

Following behind Yurippe, I rushed inside.

Yurippe rapidly circled behind the principal, put him in a headlock and placed the gun at his temple.

"Ah!! Not again!"

"That's right, again!  Sorry.  Would you mind using the internal line to tell the other staff the situation?"

"What're your demands this time?"

"Bring God out."

"God? How mysterious."

"OK, gramps, go right ahead."

I made a threatening move with my metal bat.

".... Understood."

The principal's reaction was reluctant.

After a while, noises came from the hallway.

"Hurry and bring out God, or else the principal's a goner!"

I stood by the door and yelled.

From outside, the sounds of what nonsense, that guy's crazy, etc.

This kind of response wasn't strange to me.

However, if you ask me, what's crazy is this world.

"What's your real objective here.....",

the annoyed principal muttered.

"To force God out into the open."

"Are you for real? This is too unfathomable.... Why am I always meeting this kind of ....."

"Always?  This isn't just the second time?",

Yurippe stared and asked.

"Right...."

"Then how many times has this happened?"

"I can't remember......"

"Then other than us, and the guy two days ago, other people have done this sort of thing before....."

"Well yes.... so, it's not strange.... ah, here she comes...."

I turned my head, and the student council president had appeared out of the blue right behind me.

I dodged a blast of cold wind from my back, and instinctively lifted up my bat.

Clang!

The bat was knocked from my hands.

A flickering and faintly glowing blade was pointing at me.

That blade was sticking out from the sleeves of the student council president .

What is that thing....

"Stop!  Can't you see that we've got the principal hostage? If you hurt my partner, I'll kill him."

"Then, I'll start with you."

"......"

She still didn't stop.

"What is this power of yours? You're different from the normal students -- who the hell are you!?"

Yurippe's tactic of questioning had no effect, and the student council president wordlessly stepped closer and closer.

"I'm going to fire!?"

Yurippe's face bore no hint of anxiety, but that gun had no bullets.

I also had no idea what to do.

Should I continue to strike at the student council president with my bat?

But.... the enemy was just a girl....

However if I don't do this, Yurippe will be in danger....

In order to avoid repeating the fate of the male student, we had to cooperate.  This was the strategy I had come up with.

..... well, after all nobody in this world could die,

"Stop right there----!!"

With all my strength, I rushed over and brought down my bat.

But, I didn't feel the strike connect.

"Failure!?"

I definitely aimed directly ahead, exactly where she should have been standing.

Bang, there was a sound of something hitting the floor.

".... eh?"

Something rolled past my feet.

It was the bat.

I trembled with fear as I looked at the bat I was gripping tightly, all that remained was half of a bat with a smooth horizontal cut across it.

"What the hell is your power!? Answer me!!"

Yurippe's nervous voice.

The student council president was facing her and continued to approach.

"Damn."

I threw away the bat and rushed her from behind.  I hoped to grab both of her arms,

However, I was knocked into the wall.

Incredibly, she had simply stepped back and I had gone flying.

With intense pain all over my body, I was unable to gather my strength, and I lay on the floor.

"Hinata!"

"However, I grabbed her leg."

"Giving it your all, huh."

The student council president's voice.

"Of course I am."

"If possible, I would like to avoid injuring people."

Idle talk even at a time like this.

"Wasn't it easy for you to stab him yesterday? [tl note2]"

"I don't wish for people to murder each other."

"Aren't you a person too?"

At the critical moment, I butted in.

"The unreasonable people in this world who have focused on the principal because they think the principal is the highest position.  However, they are wrong, in this world, the principal is of little consequence.  As this error has continued to propagate, I must correct it."

She kicked her leg a little.

Just a bit.

Just a bit, but I had been grabbing her leg, and I went rolling away across the floor.

"All right, understood, I'll now release the innocent principal."

Yurippe put the gun down from the principal's head and loosened her hold on him.

I didn't have the strength to lift my head to watch her.

"The misunderstanding has been cleared, is everything OK now?"

"Hand over the gun, that's the original culprit."

"Ah, OK.  I don't need this thing anymore.  I'll give it to you, but can you stop pointing that dangerous looking blade at me?"

The student council president wordlessly nodded her head, and then barely moving, the blade on her arm vanished.

This sure was some scene.

Yurippe wore a relaxed expression and walked forward.

The student council president reached out her hand for the gun.

Suddenly, diagonally from her hand, Yurippe aimed the gun at the student council president's forehead.

"How did you get your power? You have three seconds to answer, or else I'll fire.  Three, two...."

"..... Hand Sonic"

At once, I saw the blade once again appear from her arm.

Yurippe!

I reflexively jumped from the ground and blocked her.

Puu-sii!

The blade pierced the side of my torso.

"Hinata!?"

"Ahhh... I said it before, in a time of danger, I'll be your .... shield.... protect you....."

My consciousness got fuzzy....

The last words I heard were.....

"This body of mine won't die."

Is that so... this set up, I forgot again.... [original tl note 1]

A white ceiling.

How many times have I woken up here again?

When I was alive I was healthy enough to never be in a place like this....

How unfortunate.

The wound in my ribs was already healed, in this world not only was it impossible to die, but wounds healed especially quickly.

Even if various parts of my insides still throbbed dully.

Yurippe was next to me sitting normally in a chair, looking down at me.

"You've worked hard, Hinata."

"Are you OK, Yurippe?"

"I'm fine----"

"I'm also not in any great pain."

"Who cares about you, I'm thinking about the gun, that gun."

"Gun? What happened to the gun?"

"It broke, by that girl."

"That kind of thing can be broken too?"

"Using that hand sonic whatever, it split after one strike."

Hand sonic...

The student council president's last words, as she said it, the blade appeared.

"Is that the name of that blade?"

"It's like the name of a weapon from anime, maybe she's an otaku?"

"Did anything happen after the gun broke?"

"Nothing happened at all, that girl and I carried you over here."

"Really....."

"Can you get up now?"

"Uh. It still kind of hurts."

"I'm hungry now, let's go to the cafeteria."

A late dinner.

I bought curry rice from the vending machine; I guess it was a weird time, as there were only a few students here and there.

The cafeteria was two-story building with an open center, through the ceiling you could see the stars; tonight the night sky was colored sky blue, perhaps due to a shining, bright moon.

"You really like curry, huh?"

"Don't you always order udon?"

"I get a different kind every day, tonight is steak udon."

"Really, then I guess I'll add some nattou.  Nattou curry."

I pressed the button for nattou.

"Eeh? Are you serious? Are you going to eat such a strange thing in front of me?  Ugh, I get sick just thinking about it.  OK, let's disband.  Bye."

She immediately prepared to leave.

"I'll eat them separately, OK?"

"So, having survived this battle, what have we learned?",

I asked, as our meals were placed face-to-face.

"This was your battle plan, but you want me to give a summary?"

"Well, my conclusion is that the student council president is a monster, but besides that."

"You sure are an idiot.  Geez, could you not open up the nattou here and eat it when you go back?"

The nattou was still in its box, and hadn't been opened yet.

"What's the matter, does it scare you?"

"The smell of that stuff is like unwashed boy's gym socks, basically."

"..... could you not say that sort of thing to someone who's about to eat nattou?"

"I only said it because you asked."

"Then it's my lack of manners.  More seriously, are you implying that the student council president is not a monster?"

"She is more like an equivalent of God, that's all I can say."

"Sorry, I don't know what you mean by an equivalent."

"Ahh, here is an idiot.... Who are you?"

"It's your partner.  Then is she God?  Or is she not?"

"Equivalent to God means that she has the same status, or perhaps is second only to God.  I don't recognize you, what are you doing sitting across from me?"

"I'm your partner.  Then, what is that power of hers?  That thing called Hand Sonic."

"My conjecture is that it's a power bestowed on her by God.  That girl is a response mechanism to the principal being taken hostage and other such emergency situations, in other words, her existence is to protect the order of this world.  Do you understand?  Random passer-by A."

"I'm your partner, do you understand yet?  So you're saying that that girl is like an angel."

"Angel?"

"She's a servant of God, right? That makes her an angel."

"Oh, really... angel, huh? That's a clever way of putting it.  That's an interesting thought, I accept it.  Strange person A."

"I'm your partner.  So what should we prepare to do next?"

"Given that an angel is protecting the order of this world, then we should destroy that order."

"Is that so?"

"That's how it is."

"How do we do this?"

"Who are you?" [original tl note 2]

"I'm your partner!"

As she was about to reply, Yurippe suddenly stopped talking and began to relish slurping up her noodles.

In other words, once again, my job was to think of a suitable plan for this situation.

"You got back kind of late tonight, did something happen?",

Ooyama worriedly walked over and asked me as I returned.

What a cute villager A.

"My stomach was pierced by someone's blade."

"Hey hey----!! It'd be best for you to break off relations with that friend of yours!!"

"No no, it was a different person."

"And you somehow survived!! Your surroundings are much too dangerous, Hinata!"

"The lifestyle of getting stabbed is interesting though."

"No way no way no way no way!  That's simply the taste of the thrill seeking drug!" [tl note 3]

"Here's a gift I received for surviving, please enjoy it before it expires."

"Wow! It's my favorite, nattou!  Thanks!"

"Whoa, flag triggered, are you going to give me an item?"

"Eh, item? What's that?"

"When a villager receives an item it likes, often in these situations, it will give up a key item crucial for further progress past a previously insurmountable obstacle."

"What are you talking about?"

"The afterlife stage of the game."

"Huh? This world is a game?"

...... Upon hearing these words, I stiffened up.

"How are we supposed to leave this world?"

"Uh, please wait a second....."

"Hm? Ah, no worries, you can go bathe first, have you been waiting long?"

"No way no way no way no way, I want to say something to you....."

"What, your face is all blushed?"

"Ooyama, you... know what's going on in this world?"

"No, I don't understand anything, only that this is the afterlife."

"Ahhh!  You're not villager A!?"

"Villager? Again with the gamer talk?"

"You.... are a human....?"

"Of course, like you, as you see, but just already dead."

No way.....

Yurippe.... the new ally is much closer than you thought, in fact, right before my eyes.....

-END of Navy Blue

Notes, mainly stuff I'm not confident about:

tl note 1) 似乎是以校长为人知负隅顽抗 not too sure here?

tl note 2) The text says yesterday 昨天你不是轻易就此下去了吗？but it must be referring to two days ago, right?

tl note 3) 那简直是一味追求剧烈效果的虎狼之药啊 I have no idea if I did this right

The original TL left in some weird story at the beginning of the file which I didn't bother to translate.

original tl note 1)  Isn't it sad Hinata, if you were the main character, you'd immediately be UP again

original tl note 2)  Puuu....

random stuff:

Special thanks to perapera-kun and CC-CEDICT for all the vocabulary I didn't know.

The Chinese text has all sorts of "typos" (same pronunciation, but wrong written character).  For example, Yurippe is sometimes (correctly) Little Lily: 小百合, and sometimes "Little white and" 小白和, another example: 一群教室 (a crowd of classrooms) instead of 一群教师 (a crowd of teachers)

同伴 = "partner", following the previous translator though sometimes I translated it to "ally" idk lol

男人 = "the man" or "that guy" referring to the male student who took the principal hostage in the beginning.  Both sound kind of weird in English.

吐槽= "butt in" = a reference to tsukkomi, I think

学生会长 "student council president" is how Tenshi is referred to mostly, until she gets called 天使 which I've translated as "angel" for now, I hope you can see why.

And I hope you don't mind that I used "udon" or "nattou"  instead of some lame English translation of these foods.

解散 = "disband" following the previous translator.  Sometimes I used "split up" or something.

计划 = plan = keikaku