Blue sky, blue sea. The clouds were white, and the spray of the waves was white too.
I, who had been swaying on the Yamanote Line just moments ago, am now on a sandy beach by some sea I don't recognize.
"Na......"
A crab walks across the commuting bag I dropped.
No, I did think "I want to go to a faraway sea," didn't I? In a packed train, you get sandwiched by unfamiliar old men from front, back, left, and right until your body floats. The refreshing sea breeze I so desperately longed for back then is now swaying my bangs.
I'm happy my wish came true. I'm not happy at all.
Where is this place? My phone has no signal, and even GPS can't determine the location. Of course, there's no station or tracks to be found. From the look of it, there's no Yurikamome Line or Rainbow Bridge either.
Has my head gone funny? If so, maybe I'd rather just stay like this.......
'Er......'
"What is it?"
I'm busy right now.
......I wasn't busy. Even if I wanted to go to work, that's already impossible.
'Er......you understand Japanese, right?'
"Of course I understand."
I started to say that, then suddenly fell silent.
Who is that? From what I can see, there's no one around. And that voice just now was coming through a speaker. A young woman's voice, at that.
'Right, six o'clock. Ahh......behind you, that is. Behind.'
"No, I get that, but-"
Even when I turn around, there's only a cliff towering there.
"Are you on top of the cliff?"
'Nay, probably that cliff itself.'
"I don't understand what you mean, but if this isn't a prank, could you show yourself?"
Right now I'm worrying about how to contact my workplace to report my absence. It would help if this were a Japanese resort area, but if it's overseas, I don't have a passport and that would be seriously bad.
What if this isn't Earth?
Then the self-proclaimed cliff person says this.
'Right you are. I'll switch off the Invisibility System.'
The cliff's color changes smoothly. Its shape shifts subtly too. What is this, a warship? An airship? A dark gray streamlined form is looking down at me.
'Right then, let's do this properly. I'm Nanami, seventh ship of the Shooting Star Transport Ships, Escort Fleet.'
"Strategic......Escort Fleet?"
'Aye, that's right. It's what you'd call a Sengo1 ship, so no need to fret. You've likely seen one at disaster relief or a base festival-how about that?'
How about it, what am I supposed to do. This thing understands Japanese, but it's different from the Japan I know. In the Japan I know, most ships don't talk.
After much hesitation, I boarded the mysterious warship calling itself "Nanami" and succeeded in getting some rest for the time being. I was made to walk through narrow passages following guide lights, and sat down on the bed in a cabin. There was a small monitor in the cabin, and looking closely, a CG-composited girl was smiling.
"Ohh, cute......"
She's wearing a sailor uniform, but properly has a sailor cap on too.
'Welcome to Nanami. I'm Nanami, the AI Assistant installed aboard Nanami. Seventh daughter of the Shooting Star sisters, that's me.'
"How many are there in total......"
'As of 1999, there were thirty-eight, but the thirty-ninth and fortieth were still being built, so they should be about done by now, I reckon.'
As I thought, this is different from the 1999 I know. But if I honestly tell her that, her attitude might change drastically. Still, it seems difficult to keep deceiving her.
For now, information gathering.
"Where is this? Ah, I mean, where is this ship located?"
Then the CG girl crosses her arms on the screen.
'Actually, I don't know either......I'm cut off from all systems, and this ship's properly isolated.'
So you're lost too, huh. Nanami displays a bewildered expression and gives a small sigh.
'I'm trying to pick up radio waves on all frequencies, but I've not caught a single signal in range.'
Ah, this isn't the twenty-first century. Even on a remote island in the middle of the ocean, a state where no radio waves are flying around at all is impossible.
'And I checked the star charts in my database, but the match came out at 0.007%.'
This isn't even Earth. Since I saw the horizon earlier, I can at least infer it's a planet, but.
Finally, Nanami mutters.
'So what do we do now......'
That's what I want to ask. What should we do.
However, my goal and this strange warship's goal align.
"Nanami, was it."
'Aye.'
"You want to return to Japan, right?"
'Aye.'
"Me too."
My "Japan" and yours are probably different, but that doesn't matter at this point. What matters is having the same goal.
"Then let's cooperate. You and I must be good at different things. If we help each other, it should surely benefit us both."
'Aye, agreed.'
The CG girl nods enthusiastically.
"Alright, then let's get along well from now on so we can return to Japan."
'Right you are!'
On the screen, Nanami smiles brightly. And then she says this.
'Right then, if we're getting back to Japan, let's give it everything-stubborn as old Terumasa Inagi2 himself!'
"Who?"
'Terumasa Inagi, of course? You know, the fella who held out a year and a half at the Battle of Sawagatake Castle.'
A Sengoku warlord? I know most famous ones from games and anime, but I've never heard of such a warlord.
No, of course not. This one was from a Japan different from mine.
Suddenly Nanami makes a suspicious face. To be more precise, her graphic is replaced with a suspicious-looking face.
'Never heard of him?'
"I don't know him."
'He was the first shogun of the Kiyama Government3, you know?'
"I don't know him."
I repeat concise denials like a politician's answer.
'That's odd......You talk like someone with a decent bit of schooling. And yet you don't know a historical figure even primary schoolers know? That's not right.'
I'm going to be found out. Then I might as well reveal it first.
"Actually......"
Just as I started to say that, a window pops up on the screen with a beep.
< Unidentified Fleet Approaching >
I stare at it and ask Nanami.
"What's this?"
Trivia:
- The narrator's casual wish for a "faraway sea" while crushed on the Yamanote Line is the precise trigger for his isekai displacement, suggesting this world may grant desires literally and dangerously.
- Nanami's database match rate of 0.007% and complete radio silence establish this as a cosmos far beyond Earth, yet she still references "1999" and "Sengo ships," hinting her home world diverged from ours in ways that may mirror the narrator's own displacement.
- The suspicious face graphic Nanami switches to when questioning the narrator foreshadows that her "interface personality" may have lie-detection or analytical functions she has not fully disclosed.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ "Sengo" is a portmanteau of "strategic" and "escort" (戦略護衛, senryaku goei), referring to the Strategic Escort Fleet. The casual contraction is akin to military slang, suggesting these vessels are a familiar public presence in Nanami's world.
2 ↩ A fictional historical figure from Nanami's alternate Japan, presented as the first shogun of the Kiyama Shogunate. His reference to enduring the Battle of Sawagatake Castle for a year and a half establishes him as a symbol of perseverance, but the narrator's ignorance of him reveals the two are from entirely different versions of Japan.
3 ↩ The Kiyama Shogunate, a fictional ruling military government from Nanami's alternate Japan, analogous to real-world shogunates like the Tokugawa or Kamakura. Its existence confirms Nanami's world followed a different historical path from the narrator's.
Notes:
• Nanami - Interface personality of the Shooting Star-class transport ship Nanami, seventh ship of the Shooting Star sisters. Appears as a CG girl in a sailor uniform and sailor cap on the ship's monitors. Polite and helpful, though also lost and isolated from all systems. Speaks with measured formality. Sentient artificial intelligence and interface of a warship, speaking with a polite and good-natured voice. She disguises herself as a transport vessel but is secretly a heavily armed strategic combat ship. Prohibited from operating unmanned, she requires a crew member capable of communication, and reveals classified information to her captain through deliberately careless means. Shipboard AI or avatar appearing as a sailor-uniformed girl on the vessel's monitors. Cheerful, somewhat airheaded in demeanor but highly capable at damage control and combat systems. Serves as the operator and interface of the transport ship.