Chapter 15

The year 2095 AD, mid July.

The week after the first semester's finals were over for the National Magic University affiliated First High, the students devoted all their energy towards preparing for the Nine Schools Competition during the summer. However, he — Tatsuya Shiba that is, was completely out of tune with such school spirit. This was partially due to the fact that his logical nature overrode his emotions. That being said, the primary reason for his being at school today was because the faculty had summoned him for a meeting in regards to his exam scores.

"Tatsuya."

"Leo... Why is everyone here?"

Having finally escaped from the Faculty Room, Tatsuya found his classmates Saijou Leonhart, Chiba Erika, and Shibata Mizuki waiting for him outside.

Tatsuya's little sister Miyuki was part of the Student Council, which was currently in the middle of preparations for the Nine Schools Competition in the School Council Room, so she wasn't there.

As if to replace Miyuki, Miyuki's classmates Mitsui Honoka and Kitayama Shizuku were there with worried expressions.

The Faculty Room was located on the teacher's floor, which was separate from where the students usually attended classes.

However, that did not mean students did not pass by.

Regardless of whether the passersby were of the same grade or even upperclassmen, everyone snuck glances over at the five people surrounding Tatsuya.

Which was only natural. They stood out. A lot.

This was not a distinction reserved for today's situation, this was always the case.

Tatsuya had been appointed to the Public Morals Committee even as a

Course 2 student and, through his numerous accomplishments during recruitment week, had proved that his selection was no fluke, ultimately resulting in his fame spreading across campus. While his single-handed annihilation of the terrorist organization had not been publicized, his outstanding success during recruitment week was enough to garner quite a lot of attention from his classmates and even female upperclassmen.

Erika was a publicly acknowledged beauty.

Owing to her constant proximity to Miyuki and Erika, Mizuki's appearance seemed to pale slightly in comparison. That being said, her elegant and refined beauty was rated quite highly among male upperclassmen.

Despite being constantly ridiculed by Erika (or maybe "constantly bickering" would be better), Leo's Germanic features and superb athletic abilities identified him as "someone worth noting" among the female population (the "pure Japanese style" that Leo refers to would be black-haired and black-eyed).

As for Honoka and Shizuku, they were two superb students even among the 1st Year Course 1 students. Their appearance would easily qualify within the boundaries of cuteness (Strictly in terms of appearance, Tatsuya would be the most mundane).

Whether they wanted to or not, a group that transcended the Course 1 and 2 boundary and socialized together naturally drew extra attention.

Even so, possibly because this cohort's 1st Year Representative, Student Council member and far famed beauty Miyuki wasn't here, there were actually significantly fewer onlookers than usual.

However, the people who paid these glances no heed whatsoever were unexpectedly close by.

For example, this man right here.

"It should be us asking what you're up to, right? Why did you get called to the Faculty Room?"

Hearing Leo's question, Tatsuya immediately understood.

It appeared that his friend was concerned on his behalf. For a moment, Tatsuya contemplated fabricating a reason to divert them, but he changed his mind upon reflecting that they deserved his honesty.

"The teachers interrogated me about the technical skills portion of the exam."

Hearing this, Leo squinted his eyes in displeasure.

"...Interrogate sounds a tad suspicious. So what did they ask about?"

"Long story short, they wanted to know if I was tanking the test." Erika was the first to express her outrage at Tatsuya's answer.

"What the heck? Tatsuya-kun doesn't benefit in the slightest for doing that. Only a moron would ask that."

Erika's observation was not wrong, so Tatsuya could only smile back wryly. It was another story altogether if someone cheated to get a higher score, but there was no point in intentionally getting a lower score. This suspicion was just as ridiculous as Erika surmised.

"However, I can understand why the teachers think this way."

"Why?"

Shizuku's soft words bewildered Mizuki. "Tatsuya-kun's scores are just that astounding."

Tatsuya did not preen at Honoka's answer, but being overly humble might elicit a negative reaction as well. Unable to decide between the two, Tatsuya could only smile wryly again.

For First High — the final exams for magic high schools included magic theory examinations based on recall and technical skills examinations.

On the other hand, language arts, math, science, sociology and other mundane topics were graded based on daily homework. This was an institution that focused on high quality training for Magicians, so from the school's perspective, having the students focus too much on subjects outside of magic was redundant (Tatsuya and company make the distinction between Magicians and Magic Artificers only because their training naturally branches out in two directions. Normally, society will lump Magic Artificers into the same category as Magicians, but will not use "Magic Artificers" to refer to Magic Researchers who cannot use magic).

In terms of magic theory, the mandatory classes covered the foundations of magic learning and magic theory on the test; two additional topics were picked from the electives magic geometry, magic languages, magic botany, and magic architecture; as well as one selected from either magic history and magic systems theory, for a total of five topics.

Magic technical skills were measured through application ability (the speed of magic design), magic tolerance (the scale of the Magic Sequence), interference ability (strength of rewriting Eidos) as well as the combined Magic Power given from the culmination of all three, thus resulting in four scores.

Students with superlative scores would have their names and ranking publicly announced on the campus website.

The 1st Year students' results had already been announced.

Those who had earned the highest combined scores between magic theory and technical skills were completely as expected.

First Place: Shiba Miyuki.

Second Place: Mitsui Honoka.

Third Place: Kitayama Shizuku only a few points behind.

The first three were all names from Class A, and it wasn't until Fourth place that a male student named "Tomitsuka" from Class B appeared. Beyond that, familiar names included Morisaki at Ninth Place. The first twenty spots were all Course 1 students.

A glance at the Technical Skills portion would yield the same result. While the placements swapped around a little, the first twenty places were still occupied by Course 1 students.

Strictly speaking, First Place was Miyuki, Second Place was Shizuku, Third Place was Morisaki, Fourth was Honoka. Combined score notwithstanding, Class A dominated the Technical Skills portion to the extent that it caused their teachers considerable headache (Class distribution was supposed to be split evenly through A to D, so this sort of academic showing obviously revealed that Class A grasped the materials for the first semester much better than the other three).

However, if based solely on the Magic Theory portion, an entirely different and astounding picture revealed itself. First Place: Class E Shiba Tatsuya.

Second Place: Class A Shiba Miyuki.

Third Place: Class E Yoshida Mikihiko.

Honoka was fourth, Shizuku at tenth, Mizuki at seventeenth, Erika in twentieth, while Leo and Morisaki fell out of the rankings.

When separating Course 1 and 2 students, the difference in technical skills played a heavy role. However, the general consensus was that students that scored poorly on technical skills would also have a hard time grasping the theory as well. Because of all the complex concepts, it was very hard to understand the theory without perceiving it firsthand.

Even so, two of the top three were Course 2 students.

That alone was an unprecedented situation, yet Tatsuya's accomplishment was even more amazing. His average from the theory portion — not the total — was easily a dozen points higher than the second place score, leaving him in sole and undisputed possession of First Place.

"Even if theory and technical skills are two different things, there should be a limit."

"But I don't believe Tatsuya-kun would tank his score."

After Shizuku objectively expressed her opinion, Mizuki countered back in a displeased tone.

"Of course Shizuku knows that."

"But the teachers aren't like us, since we know what kind of person Tatsuya-kun is."

Honoka and Erika both started to smooth things over.

"Yeah, they only know us from the other side of the terminal screen..."

Just as Leo said, this was a major deficiency in modern education. Even if modern teachers personally came to the lecture hall like teachers from the previous century, it still wouldn't guarantee that they could fully understand their students.

To address this problem, the school had created opinion boxes to replace last century's office hours system.

"...How about asking Haruka-chan?"

Counselors handled the situations where students were unsatisfied with the school or other on-campus incidents. Discounting whether the label "Haruka-chan" was appropriate, the suggestion itself bore merit, but Tatsuya sharply shook his head.

"I talked with Ono-sensei yesterday. In truth, she informed me about all the major questions they would ask today."

"Such an unreliable teacher."

"Don't be that way. New counselors don't possess much in terms of authority anyways."

It was Tatsuya's turn to smile gently and comfort the irritated Erika. "...Tatsuya-kun must've been even harsher than me, right?"

As Erika guessed, Tatsuya's words were considerably more confrontational.

"Whoa?"

Erika's precise retort caused Leo to elicit a strange noise. "...What is it?"

Erika squinted as she asked.

"This woman is actually capable of saying something serious." Leo widened his eyes as he softly muttered to himself. "Silence!"

Erika smacked him with a rolled up notepad.

As a matter of fact, even in an age where digital information was so common, notepads were still prevalent. Especially for magic-based schools, during the teaching of magic languages, the very motion of "writing" was in itself an important act. Since teachers primarily used pictures and diagrams in magic geometry, using a notepad to record the drawings was vastly easier compared to using a terminal, so magic high school students were more likely to carry notepads than students from normal schools. That being said, the exact reason why Erika carried around a notepad despite not being in class remained a mystery.

"Ow..."

Leo was unable to dodge the incoming blow from the notepad and crouched down, holding his head in pain. It wasn't like he was just sitting there taking the hits without trying to resist, but currently, Erika's smiting speed was much greater than Leo's evasion speed, so (?)in this situation, whenever he unilaterally decided to butt in, he would be unilaterally smote.

"...You violence addict, my head isn't a drum!"

Leo lodged a serious protest, which was casually ignored by Erika.

Probably due to the fact that this scene had endlessly repeated itself over the last three months, Mizuki only let out a helpless smile and left them to it, rather than panicking like she had in the beginning.

Also, she used this to redirect the tangent back to the original topic, avoiding any possible escalation of the conflict.

"Tatsuya-kun, did you solve the teachers' misunderstanding?"

"Well, yes, on some level."

"On some level?"

At Mizuki's concise question, Tatsuya supplied further details with an unwilling expression on his face.

"The teachers understand that I wasn't intentionally getting them wrong, but they still advised me to transfer."

"Transfer?"

"Why? Why would they do that?"

Mizuki and Honoka both shouted out with their faces completely pale, while the other three wore similar expressions.

"Among the Nine Schools, Fourth High is renowned for their specialty in Magic Research, so the teachers suggested I transfer there. I declined, of course."

Two people let out sighs of relief, while two others looked furious. The former two were Mizuki and Honoka, the latter Leo and Erika.

The last member of this conversation wore an unreadable poker face.

"...So if someone doesn't excel in technical skills, then they should join a school that doesn't emphasize technical skills at all, isn't that completely self-contradictory for a school? I can understand if someone's grades were bad and they couldn't keep up in class, but that's obviously not the case with Tatsuya."

"Probably because he's an eyesore. Maybe Tatsuya-kun knows more about magic than the teachers themselves."

"Relax, you two."

If left alone, Leo and Erika would only feed off each other's fury, so Tatsuya stepped in to extinguish them.

"It's just as Leo said, barely passing is still passing, so there's nothing that would necessitate a transfer. It's possible that the teachers only had my best interests at heart. Regardless, even if that was the case, these best interests possess no empathy, and are solely in place to protect themselves."

Tatsuya's soft tone did nothing to cover his acidic assessment, causing the originally furious pair to shrink away. This was precisely the cooling effect that Tatsuya aimed for, and while the method may be called vile, but alas, the result was not the most ideal.

"At the end of the day, I think that teachers shouldn't be mistaken in the first place."

Just as everyone was hesitant towards what to say next, Shizuku spoke up in a singular manner that was neither supportive nor critical. From the way her comment relaxed the tension caused by Tatsuya's mocking words, the overall effect would probably be categorized as supportive.

"Fourth High doesn't scoff at technical skills, but when compared to the combat-centric magic that would be expressed in the Nine Schools Competition, they are more interested in further intricate techniques, the more complex and procedures the better."

"Is that so? Shizuku-chan, you know quite a lot about this."

"That's because my cousin studies at Fourth High."

Hearing Shizuku's answer to Mizuki, Honoka and the other four people said "So that's how it is" as they nodded. Given that this came from a student attending Fourth High, this should be a reliable source of information.

As everyone professed agreement to these words, they also sprouted considerable mistrust towards the teacher that summoned Tatsuya.

However, this group of individuals wouldn't focus their attentions on a stranger (the teacher) who wasn't with them at the time.

"Speaking of which, it's almost time for the Nine Schools Competition, right?"

Leo probably recalled what Shizuku was saying earlier, to which Tatsuya nodded at his inquiry.

"Miyuki is already complaining. There are a lot of things to account for, including vehicles, tools, and uniforms."

"Isn't Miyuki-chan also participating in the competition? That sounds tough."

Mizuki wasn't being overly polite, but she was honestly concerned on Miyuki's behalf.

"However, Miyuki should be able to cruise during the newcomers' competition, so the preparation work should be more intensive."

Erika replied in a manner that half supported and half refuted the earlier sentiment.

"Don't be overconfident. The scion of the Ichijou Family started attending Third High this year."

Shizuku's objection was a little off the mark. The official and newcomers competitions in the Nine Schools Competition were separated by gender, so there was no way Miyuki would go against the young master from the Ichijou Family.

That being said, no one intentionally retorted at this.

"Is that so..."

"You say Ichijou, as in Ichijou from the Ten Master Clans?"

From their heartfelt expressions of surprise, this appeared to be the first time Erika and Leo found out that someone in their year was descended from the Ten Master Clans. Mizuki didn't seem too astounded, maybe she knew something about the "scion of the Ichijou

Family".

"That might be a tough opponent. That being said, Shizuku you sure know a lot."

"Shizuku is a die hard fan of 'Monolith Code', so she watches the Nine Schools Competition every year, right?"

Honoka, who knew Shizuku as well as she knew herself, answered Erika's question.

"...Hm, yeah."

Hearing Honoka answer for her, the normally expressionless Shizuku nodded in slight embarrassment. Honoka owed Tatsuya a favor, so it wasn't surprising for her to be interested in Tatsuya. However, Shizuku was different; she only knew Tatsuya because her best friend Honoka was interested in him, as well as the fact that he was Miyuki's older brother. Initially, Shizuku had only commented from the periphery, but gradually she had lowered her guard and started expressing herself openly.

"Now that you mention it, besides the All-Japanese and the International University Intramural, 'Monolith Code' can only be seen at the Nine Schools Competition."

Standing diagonally across from the embarrassed Shizuku, Tatsuya nodded upon hearing Honoka's answer, wearing an expression that signified that he understood that sentiment.

Nine Schools Competition was an inter-school competition between high schools affiliated with magic universities. In other words, it was an internal competition that happened to be open for public viewing.

That was because the Nine Schools Competition was one of the few stages that provided magic competition as entertainment.

Every year, a total of 1200 students entered their first year at the nine magic high schools.

In comparison, there were anywhere between 1200 and 1500 young men and women of age 15 every year who developed enough magic talent to be accepted.

In other words, for the youths that manifested magic talent, if they aimed to become Magicians or Magic Artificers, almost every single one of them would enter one of the nine magic high schools.

So the magic competitions at the high school level, besides kenjutsu, martial arts, and a few others, were completely monopolized by the nine magic high schools.

In order to allow the general public to better understand and become invested in magic competitions, as well as to further society's acknowledgement of magic, the Nine Schools Competition had become one of the few major events to propagate these ideas.

"Our toughest opponent this year is going to be Third High, right?"

"Probably."

Knowing this to be Shizuku's area of expertise, Erika specifically asked for her opinion. In response, Shizuku simply nodded happily.

"And this year you're not in the audience, but one of the contestants, right?"

Shizuku was Second Place in technical skills for their year; so even if the official roster hadn't been publicized yet, Shizuku was like Miyuki in that they were guaranteed to be selected.

"Yeah..."

Hearing Mizuki's question, Shizuku quietly nodded in response, her face illuminated with motivation.

◊ ◊ ◊

After finals were over, Tatsuya spent almost every afternoon in the HQ of the Public Morals Committee.

Immediately after summer vacation, the election for the new Student Council President would be held.

After a new President was elected, a new Public Morals Committee would be selected, along with its new corresponding Chief based on the new elections.

According to tradition... More like according to bad habits, there had never been a smooth transfer between Chiefs of the Committee. More often than not, the unorganized activities record and current members were tossed to the incoming Chief to handle.

That being said, when Mari took over as Chief during her first year, there was no problem with the transfer the following year. However, the 2nd Year students in her Public Morals Committee had insufficient experience, so Mari wished to minimize the confusion during the transfer of power between Chiefs.

—Regarding all the documents necessary for the transfer, Mari tossed that responsibility to Tatsuya.

"I'm starting to think I'm a goody two-shoes..."

"A goody two-shoes that's bad to the core? I think this dual nature of yours is quite interesting."

"......"

This comment was overly pertinent, rendering Tatsuya unable to reply.

"However, this time I'm very grateful for your good side, since without your help, we would only be repeating past disasters."

Mari comforted him in this way probably because she felt a little guilty seeing Tatsuya silently plugging away at his work.

Yet, Tatsuya did not possess split personalities, nor was he merely helping to organize the material. He was the only one organizing the materials.

These words achieved no comforting effect whatsoever. "Even so, you've started preparing for the transfer very early?"

Tatsuya asked a piercing question without stopping his hands from their work.

The documents he was preparing would be completed in a week.

If no further input of additional details was needed, this would create a two month buffer zone.

Also, there was no guarantee that major events or incidents would not occur during this time period.

This wasn't the type of material that should be created as soon as possible.

"Once we start preparing for the Nine Schools Competition, we won't have the time to compile this. There's a mountain of things to do, from verifying the roster, training, adjusting equipment, gathering and analyzing data, to devising strategies."

All these things had nothing to do with Tatsuya.

"...When is the Nine Schools Competition going to be held?"

That being said, cutting off the conversation here would be awkward, so Tatsuya focused all his attention back onto data organization as he asked this.

"Ten days, from August 3rd to the 12th."

"That's quite a long time."

"Hm? You've never seen it?"

"Yes, since I've always been busy with errands during summer vacations."

Tatsuya's answer thoroughly confounded Mari.

"But according to Mayumi, your little sister goes to see it every year, to the point that she even remembers what events we competed in..."

Tatsuya almost burst out laughing.

"No, it's not like we're attached at the hip 365 days a year...

Occasionally we move separately as well."

"Eh? ...No, that's true. It's just that whenever we see the two of you, it's like you're always with each other."

"Speaking of which, we're usually on our own at school."

After Tatsuya objectively pointed this out, even if Mari's expression revealed her incomprehension, she nevertheless still accepted it.

"If that's the case, no wonder you were completely lost when I started talking about the preparations for the Nine Schools Competition."

"Yes, to be honest, I don't even know what competitions are being held. I only know about 'Monolith Code' and 'Mirage Bat'."

While it was true that he was multitasking between making conversation and creating the data files, this only served as a refresher for Tatsuya. And for Mari, who was currently idle — or more like the one who didn't want to do anything — this was a good way to pass the time, so Tatsuya was more talkative than usual.

"That's because those two are the most famous..."

Mari tilted her head, as if she didn't know where to start. She held her fist before her mouth, as if she were about to cough (but didn't actually make the coughing sound).

"The contests in the Nine Schools Competition focus on the events in athletic magic contests that require more Magic Power."

"This I know."

Tatsuya replied without stopping his fingers from working.

"In the past, they would change the events every competition, but recent years have seen the same contests every year.

There are six contests: 'Monolith Code', 'Mirage Bat', 'Icicle Destruction', 'Speed Shooting', 'Crowd Ball', and 'Battle Board'.

Kenjutsu, Chinese magic martial arts and other combat related contests, as well as athletic competitions like gymnastics and basketball are held at a different event."

"Doesn't 'Crowd Ball' and 'Battle Board' rely heavily on physical abilities?"

"Yes. Magicians are only human, so there's no reason to undervalue physical capabilities. Even in 1 on 1 duels between Magicians, there are cases where the individual with the superior physical abilities has emerged victorious. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate on this point."

"That's true."

Tatsuya knew this very well, so his agreement with Mari's words was truly heartfelt.

"Of the six contests, only 'Monolith Code' is a team event, the other five are solo acts."

"Isn't 'Crowd Ball' a two man show?"

"This is where the Nine Schools Competition gets evil. In order to emphasize the importance of Magic Power, this contest has a solo performance rule. I have a booklet that summarizes the rules, want to take a look?"

"Sure, I'll take a look later."

Tatsuya stopped typing and accepted a small booklet from Mari. "Huh, a hard copy. How strange."

"Anything related to the Nine Schools Competition wouldn't be surprising. Virtual terminals would hurt the Magic Power's conceptual foundation. On the other hand, besides Magicians, there are very few people that actually use substantial terminal devices, and the number of Magicians using virtual terminals has also increased."

"I see, so that's why the Nine Schools Competition uses hard copies instead of terminal devices."

"Eh? So Tatsuya-kun prefers the usage of virtual terminals?" She probably heard the critical elements in Tatsuya's undertone.

With Mari's normally brash manner and her amusing tendency to be "poor at organizing", it was easy to forget that she was a very perceptive individual.

Tatsuya took this under consideration and selected his words — without stopping his typing motions — more prudently.

"There is some basis that virtual terminals negatively impact Magicians that have not reached maturity. Especially for students under twenty that are still developing their power, I think they should avoid using virtual models. But for adult Magicians whose Magic Power has been fully developed, I don't feel that there's any reason to stop them from using virtual models."

"...That's another way to look at it. Forcing adults to abandon the efficiency gained from virtual models simply because it poses harm to children seems a little overkill."

There was a brief lull in the conversation. Tatsuya was busy reviewing the information he inputted on the screen, so he had no way of discerning Mari's current expression, but he guessed that she would be considering his earlier comment.

No matter how ridiculously she usually acted, there was no way for her to disguise her inner sense of righteousness.

For some reason, that fact caused Tatsuya to smile a bit.

"...We've drifted off topic."

Mari seemed to have arrived at some conclusion of her own before she turned the conversation back to the Nine Schools Competition without any forewarning.

"The competition is separated into the Official and Newcomer Divisions, each requiring 10 men and women, for a grand total of 40. Only 1st Year students may participate in the Newcomer Division while the Official Division has no restrictions. That being said, each contestant may perform only in two contests, so no 1st Year student has ever competed in the Official Division. Even if it wasn't in the rules, there's no way for 1st Year students to stand up against the firepower of a 2nd or 3rd Year student.

Until last year, the Newcomers Division was not separated by gender, but from this year onward, both the Official and Newcomers Division will be. Also until last year, no 1st Year female student had to compete in multiple contests, but that may be unavoidable this year."

Mari's words were out of concern for Miyuki, which was obvious without naming her aloud.

Continuously participating in magic competitions was extremely taxing on the female body. Even though Miyuki had undergone training beyond that of a normal person, her physical stature was by nature more feeble. It would probably be best that he provided as much aid as he could, Tatsuya thought.

"Of the six contests, four are not gender specific. 'Monolith Code' is men only and 'Mirage Bat' is women only... Since 'Monolith Code' is the only event where live combat is guaranteed, it's not surprising that the event is men only."

Mari might have been saying this, but her facial expression clearly didn't agree.

According to the information Tatsuya gathered from the Public Moral Committee, Mari's magic specialized in anti-personnel combat, so she must have resented being excluded from this particular event.

"The maximum number of participants per contest is three from each school, with men and women calculated separately. So including the Official and Newcomers Division, 5 men and women have to select two of the five events while the other five can participate only in one.

As for deciding who competes in which events, that is based on whether skilled contestants should only focus on emerging victorious in one event, or maximizing profit by applying for two events; and then there is considering where the opposing aces will go, and who they will go up against... Since this is a team-based competition, all of these details are very important."

"Of course."

"Besides the contestants, the Nine Schools Competition allows each school to bring four people as tactical advisers, but not every school takes advantage of this option. Our school always brings the maximum amount of personnel each year, but schools such as Third High opt to waive the tactical support when competing, relying solely on their contestants to decide their tactics."

"Yet, ironically, they are our toughest opponent."

"We've only lost to them twice, once three years ago and the other time seven years ago. The Nine Arts Competition switched to a summer format ten years ago. Since then, there have been 9 competitions. Our school was the champion 5 times, Third High twice, and Second High and Ninth High have each won once."

"I believe this year's goal is for a three-peat?"

"That's right. For us 3rd Year students, securing the championship is the true victory."

Currently, the 3rd Year students at First High were known collectively as "the strongest era".

Saegusa Mayumi, Juumonji Katsuto, Watanabe Mari.

Two of them were directly connected to the Ten Master Clans, while the third possessed similar talent.

Just the fact that all three of them were in the same year at the same school was an amazing coincidence. In addition, the campus also boasted several students that were qualified for Rank A in high school (they were unable to obtain their licenses due to limited experience, but their raw ability alone was sufficient for their ranking based on international standards).

Even before the official roster for the Nine Schools Competition had been announced, First High was already seen as the favorite to repeat as champions.

Even if the underground gamblers were using the Nine Schools Competition as a setting, no one was taking odds for First High — that's how overwhelmingly powerful their group was.

"I hear that if everything goes according to plan, our school's victory is a foregone conclusion?"

"Probably. There are no concerns on the contestants' end. Even taking the Newcomers Division into consideration, as long as there's no major mishap, we should win off the points from the Official Division. If there were any real concerns, I'd say it would be engineers."

"Engineers? You mean people responsible for CAD maintenance?"

"Exactly, except the official term from the Nine Schools Competition is Technicians. The CADs used at the Nine Schools Competition must be universally adaptable, so only models that fit the criteria are allowed. On the other hand, there are only restrictions on the hardware itself, there are no restrictions on software. How well individual CADs can be synchronized to the appropriate contestant and whether the maintenance can bring out the contestant's maximum potential are absolutely decisive in determining victory."

How fast an Activation Sequence initializes was entirely reliant on the CAD's hardware, but the efficiency of Magic Sequences was heavily influenced by the design of the CAD's software. Given that a single second could spell the difference between victory and defeat in athletic competitions, a properly devised software program was of vital importance.

By no means did this imply that the more intricate the design was or the more processes that were used, the better the software becomes. Software that surpassed the processing power would cause more harm than good by obstructing the hardware itself.

Given that there was a glass ceiling for hardware, the selection and allocation of software became even more important.

Tatsuya believed that, under these conditions, the competition results could change dramatically based on the engineers' skills.

"Right now, there's a dearth of talented engineers in 3rd Year when compared to qualified contestants. Mayumi and Juumonji are capable of maintaining their own CADs so they won't have problems during the competition, but..."

"..."

In other words, Mari did not excel in this category.

Tatsuya accurately read the inference behind Mari's vague words but, precisely because he understood, he chose to say nothing.

He allowed his attention to drift away from Mari's small talk and focus back onto the data files.

◊ ◊ ◊

Improvements in central control of public transit had led to the complete overhaul of the trolley system, with trolley cars becoming the primary source of public transportation within the city proper. The cars on the tracks were completely controlled by a central operating room in order to ensure safety, ease of access, and the ability to combat the high volume demanded.

On the other hand, the advancement of the public transportation system had not proceeded as planned. The program for connecting all the highways had already been inputted into the system, but most of the normal roads and expressways within city limits were still controlled by the city and had not reached a national level.

In comparison, the AI for driver assistance had improved dramatically.

As long as they hadn't been illegally modified, modern cars were incapable of causing accidents even if they tried (Katsuto's car was able to directly impact Blanche's HQ because that was a military model).

Vehicles exported to other nations also possessed the same AI system, allowing smaller countries to also benefit from this system even though they didn't have the capability to develop it themselves, which in turn lowered the frequency of accidents even further. From an international standpoint, individual control systems trumped central control systems.

Despite this, there was still a price to pay. New drivers — or to put it bluntly, bad drivers — wouldn't run the risk of causing accidents, but it was easier for them to cause traffic jams. Even if consecutive crashes could be avoided, there was no avoiding situations where everyone slammed on the brakes, so this result was only natural.

To prevent this — at least on the outside — even if there wasn't a pressing need for safety, driver's licenses were still mandatory.

Next to his new electric bike, Tatsuya was waiting for his little sister to arrive.

Tatsuya had purchased this bike after obtaining his license in early April. Though the purchase was strictly for practical purposes rather than joy rides, the bike had still accrued considerable mileage. Even so, Tatsuya regularly maintained the bike every day, so even after two months, the bike was still in mint condition.

"Onii-sama, sorry for the wait."

Upon hearing the voice, Tatsuya shifted his gaze over as the headlights illuminated his sister's slim body.

Miyuki's long hair was done up in a bun while she wore a biker's suit in the same fashion as Tatsuya's own. The custom fit suit hugged her curves, hinting at the fullness of her womanly charms.

As Tatsuya put the helmet on Miyuki's head, Miyuki smoothly lifted her chin. His little sister's seemingly natural motion caused Tatsuya to wryly grin, but he still buckled on the chin strap for her.

Miyuki shrank her neck as if ticklish, to which Tatsuya responded with a smile as he put on his own helmet before climbing aboard.

He took out his goggles, then motioned Miyuki to hold on tight.

Tatsuya verified that Miyuki was holding on to his waist and that she was pressed against his back before adjusting his goggles and raising the output of the continuous motion device (equivalent to the gas pedal of motor vehicles).

The electric bike that the siblings rode sped away beneath the night sky.

◊ ◊ ◊

Their destination was Yakumo's temple.

However, the one training tonight was Miyuki and not Tatsuya.

Miyuki had already been selected as a participant in the Nine Schools Competition, so additional preparation was necessary.

The events in the Nine Schools Competition heavily emphasized the need for magic talent, but at the same time did not wholly ignore physical characteristics. In the "Battle Board" event, contestants with faster reflexes and a better sense of balance held the advantage, while the "Crowd Ball" event required a good balance between tactics and stamina.

For Miyuki, who excelled in Speed and Freezing Magics, "Icicle Destruction" was almost specifically designed to show off her talents. Forget the Newcomers Division, she could probably cruise to victory even in the Official Division.

However, with the individual contests split by gender causing the number of events to increase, Miyuki was also going to participate in the "Mirage Bat" event, where she would have to "use a bat to split open the balls of light floating in the air".

Miyuki also received martial training from Yakumo alongside Tatsuya, so her frail frame belied her superb physical status. Even so, given that there weren't many opportunities lately for her to exercise, this training served as a precaution for the main event.

Tatsuya turned off the engine near the entrance before pushing the vehicle into the temple. After leaving the vehicle in the temple garage, the two of them went to greet Yakumo.

At this hour, Yakumo should be doing night training with his disciples.

Just as they expected, as they approached the darkened dojo, they could detect various concealed presences, as well as the occasional footstep that couldn't be completely muffled and the sounds of bodies hitting the floor.

Tatsuya slowly pried open the ancient doors to avoid distracting the disciples from training.

Even though the door opened without a sound, a kunai still came flying towards them. Tatsuya used the blade-proof and bullet-proof jacket to deflect it before pulling out a lead ball concealed in his biker suit and firing back.

However, Tatsuya's "marble" (a type of concealed weapon that is hurtled using finger force alone, from the same system as "point ball") didn't seem like it hit the target.

"Tatsuya, it looks like your marbles haven't improved much. Don't think magic is enough to cut it, you need to practice your projectile weapons as well. However, you made the correct decision in deflecting the kunai rather than catching it."

There was no detectable presence, only the voice.

Tatsuya didn't aim right in front of him where the voice came from, but instead fired a second marble towards the rightmost wall.

"Oh ho?"

Accompanying this surprised shout, a force rippled outwards from the spot Tatsuya aimed at.

Tatsuya quickly put an arm around Miyuki and sprang backwards.

A split second later, a pitch black sword wave slashed down vertically from the ceiling above, barely missing Tatsuya's back by a hair as he covered his little sister.

Tatsuya quickly stepped forward with one foot.

A bokken painted completely black was rendered completely still with Tatsuya firmly stamping on it.

Yakumo abandoned the idea of striking a second time as he let go of his immobile weapon.

"...Sensei, you have such an interesting way of greeting people."

"...I should be the one saying that. Wasn't your marble filled with killing intent?"

Master and disciple faced one another in the darkness, before simultaneously breaking out into evil laughter.

Tucked inside Tatsuya's bosom, Miyuki was blushing furiously. Thankfully, that was difficult to discern in the surrounding darkness

—at least that was what Miyuki thought, but Tatsuya had already noticed due to being in contact with her stiff body, while Yakumo had detected this through her erratic breathing.

◊◊ ◊

Somewhere within the temple illuminated by torches in the four corners, in a place usually reserved for homa ceremonies (this temple should be under Hisanyama's jurisdiction, but Tatsuya and Miyuki have never seen Yakumo chant sutras or pray to Buddha), the area was faintly lit by blue light, with orbs glowing with a dim red light softly dancing in the sky.

Because this was a temple, any ignorant passerby may mistake this scene for the presence of spirits, but fortunately there was no one else around.

A slender, long shadow passed through the blue light, and one orb of light vanished into nothing.

Two orbs, three orbs, the difference in color started to increase.

That mesmerizing figure was chasing the floating orbs at an energetic and unexpected pace, then swiftly bisecting them with the short rod in her hand.

After splitting thirty orbs, Tatsuya signaled Miyuki to take a break.

Inside, the interior only contained a square barrier drawn with quicklime that measured about 11 meters on the side — the raw power necessary to only draw four white lines to form a barrier was nothing short of astounding — Tatsuya brought a large tea cup towards where Yakumo was standing as he brought down the seals.

Normally, Miyuki was the one responsible for bringing tea to the panting Yakumo, but Tatsuya took over that duty today.

That was because tonight Miyuki was in a similar state while standing on the other side of the white line.

"Sensei, thank you. Not just for lending the location, but also for training my little sister as well."

After handing the tea to Yakumo, Tatsuya bowed deeply in gratitude, to which Yakumo nodded generously.

"There's a colossal difference between attacking illusions and striking actual targets. Miyuki is also one of my cute students, so there's no way I would decline to help."

There was probably too much emphasis on the word "cute", but Tatsuya decided to let it slide until after the Nine Schools Competition.

Illusion magic was one area where "ninjitsu" excelled, to the point that the speed, accuracy, and movements of the illusions surpassed those created by modern magics. Modern magic had the advantage in terms of speed of activation and variety of spells available, but within specialized parameters, there were many areas that could not compare with Ancient Magic.

Tatsuya only had access to a few magics, so he was unable to use Yakumo's illusion "Will O'wisp" to replace projectors.

"Miyuki, should we stop here?"

Tatsuya asked as he handed a drink to his sister who was still panting, but Miyuki shook her head and took a sip to wet her throat.

"If sensei is okay, I want to continue."

"I don't mind, though shouldn't Tatsuya also give 'Will O'wisp' a try?"

"No, I... will pass."

Tatsuya could approximately guess the reason behind Yakumo's smirk.

Tatsuya briefly entertained the idea of spoiling Yakumo's fun, but refrained after taking into account that Miyuki's training took precedence.

"Is that so, eh, oh well."

Yakumo revealed a truly regretful expression, but that wasn't enough to hide his mischievous smirk.

Seeing this, Tatsuya was certain that declining the earlier offer was the right choice.

Yakumo transformed his evil smirk into a kind and approachable smile as he turned back to face Miyuki.

"Then let's begin."

"Yes, sensei."

Miyuki bowed to signal that she was prepared to continue. Tatsuya had long since recovered their respective tea cups.

Just as Miyuki stood in the middle of the square anchored by bonfires and Yakumo was about to start casting illusions...

"Who's there?"

Another person's presence entered the scene. The one who called out was Tatsuya.

No, the order was actually reversed.

To supplement the training, Tatsuya linked his sensory ability to the information dimension, allowing him to quickly catch wind of a foreign element being introduced into the area. The moment Tatsuya challenged the silent patch of darkness, another person's presence abruptly materialized.

"Ah, Haruka."

Yakumo greeted the presence in an unconcerned manner. Tatsuya and Miyuki were both familiar with this name.

The figure that walked into the flickering light possessed a much more mature aura than Miyuki.

She was the counselor from the Magic University affiliated First High

— Ono Haruka.

Likely due to the fact that she was wearing the same dark bodysuit that Miyuki was wearing, it seemed that the curves of her chest and waist were more accentuated than usual.

As Miyuki followed the direction of Tatsuya's gaze, a trace of concern flashed across her features. However, before she could nudge her brother with her elbow, she noticed the cold, steely gaze in her brother's eyes and swiftly regained her composure.

The reason why Tatsuya was carefully scrutinizing Haruka's body was to ascertain Haruka's physical capabilities.

"Tatsuya, no need to be so wary, Haruka is also one of my students."

"But you weren't nearly as kind during my training as compared to Shiba-kun."

Haruka's voice was slightly mocking, which jarred against her dangerous appearance that could easily be swallowed in the darkness.

"That being said, I know that sensei is another story, but to think that I was discovered by Shiba-kun, has my technique regressed so much?"

"Haruka, lying to yourself isn't a good habit. If you lie too often, you will lose track of your own thoughts as well."

"Shiba-kun said the same thing to me."

"Oh, looks like I said something unnecessary. Anyways, let's set this aside for now. Haruka's cloaking was almost perfect, so there's no need to stress about that. If you really think that your skills have regressed, that is."

Haruka revealed a model perfunctory smile and accepted Yakumo's hinted gaze.

She shouldn't be able to get off that easily, nor should she have planned to do so in the first place.

Seeing Yakumo's smirking expression, this was probably how the two of them normally interacted.

"Tatsuya didn't detect your presence normally. He has a pair of special 'eyes' that are different from ours, so if you want to fool him, you need to disguise your presence rather than try to hide it."

"I see...

I'll take that under advisement."

"It's your turn to answer my question."

The two of them were acting out a master and disciple discussion using Tatsuya as the subject. Unable to harness his irritation, Tatsuya intentionally broke in with a displeased tone.

"Hm... It is unfair to give only Haruka information. You don't mind, right, Haruka?"

Yakumo intentionally let out a "Hm..." sound to create an opening, but given his current attitude, it was obvious that he was calculating when Tatsuya would interrupt them. In response to Yakumo turning the conversation towards her, Haruka immediately shrugged her shoulders and replied:

"Even if I said no, you guys would probably discuss this when I'm not here, right?"

Essentially, Haruka had already given up on hiding.

"Since the person in question has given her consent, then I'll go ahead...

Haruka is an investigator for Public Safety."

Yakumo's explanation was very simple, as just this alone would be sufficient. Even so, Tatsuya hoped that Yakumo would take it a step further.

"Hm? You don't look very surprised." However, Yakumo posed a question of his own.

It appeared that he was expecting the Shiba siblings to be astonished.

Not just Tatsuya, but even Miyuki accepted Haruka's real identity without batting an eyelid, which surprised Yakumo considerably, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that it disappointed Yakumo considerably.

"I have my own information network, so I know that Ono-sensei isn't military. Ruling that out, the only possibilities were Public Safety (Police Department of Public Safety), Internal Affairs (Cabinet Agency of Data Supervision), or foreign spy."

Tatsuya's answer caused Yakumo to furrow his brows.

"Rather than saying information network, it's more like 'he' provided you with that information. Is that okay?... Given his position, he may be dishonorably discharged for leaking confidential information to a high school student."

That being said, Yakumo's perfectly calm expression clearly showed that he wasn't overly concerned.

"In terms of position, sensei is roughly the same... So, Ono-sensei is

Public Safety's undercover agent in the guise of a counselor to investigate the anti-government activities centered around Blanche within the First High campus, did I get that right so far?"

"No."

Tatsuya asked this to verify his hypothesis regarding Haruka. But Haruka responded with the definite negative.

"It's true that I'm Public Safety's undercover agent, but I didn't disguise myself as a counselor. In chronological order, my current superior approached me while I was thinking about becoming a counselor, and I became a special investigator for Public Safety after I arrived at First High. Two years ago, I spent one year under Yakumo- sensei, so Tatsuya-kun is actually my senior."

"Even though you only studied for one year, your cloaking ability is quite proficient."

"That is my magic specialty, even if I can't use any other magic. This is also the reason why my superior rates me highly."

"...I see, you're a BS (Born Specialized) Magician?"

"I dislike that term."

Haruka pouted and turned her head like a young school girl throwing a tantrum, causing Tatsuya to break into a smile.

BS Magicians, also known as BS ability users, could also be called innate ability users or innate magic specialists. This was because they excelled at a particular ability, but because of this extreme specialization, they were unable to use magic techniques like other Magicians of the same level.

As could be seen from the malicious label "the 101 tricks of BS users", BS Magicians occupied a lower social stratum than normal Magicians, but their unique ability was practically impossible for other people to imitate. Even if someone could accomplish this, they were unable to replicate the same level of quality BS users were capable of. If properly matched with their specialty, they often outperformed the generic "omnipotent" Magicians.

"Rather than being a jack of all trades, I'd rather be a master of one. However, that's a matter of Haruka-sensei's perspective."

As soon as Tatsuya said this, he realized that the student and counselor positions had been reversed. However, given that this was off campus and they certainly weren't in class at this hour, this shouldn't have been a problem.

Probably noticing the same thing, Haruka stopped her tantrum, but she was still unhappy with the situation.

"Shiba-kun, this was a special circumstance, but my identity as a secret investigator remains highly classified, so please don't tell anyone else."

Tatsuya's immediate reaction was that there was little meaning in doing so.

If she was only an undercover agent for Public Safety, the Ten Master Clans would know anyways.

Erika, whose family had close ties with the police, likely knew already.

Likewise, Tatsuya had long since caught on to the fact that Haruka was an agent of some kind, he just hadn't been certain which organization she was affiliated with.

It was entirely possible that Haruka was the only one who believed her identity was a secret, but Tatsuya didn't verbalize this.

He merely replied to the request in this fashion:

"I understand, I'll keep it under wraps. Though it might be presumptious to ask for this in return, but if something similar to what occurred in April is on the horizon, could you let me know the details ahead of time?"

"...That's fine. Let's go with that mutually beneficial relationship."

The two of them shook hands, each nursing their own agenda.

◊ ◊ ◊

It went without saying that besides magic, magic high schools still fielded a full curriculum.

This included physical education, which involved using competition to light the flames of youthful ardor to ridiculous levels, a scene that had yet to change.

Today's class activity was football.

The encyclopedia's entry was as follows: This is a sport derived from soccer, with similar rules, that is played on a field surrounded by a large box with numerous tiny holes in it. The only notable differences are that players wear a head protector, and head and hand contact are prohibited (Also, the competition format where players "compete in a transparent box" was one of the defining characteristics of post-2080 AD athletics.)

Occasionally, this contest was also held with magic involved, but generally magic was ruled out, and today was no exception.

Football was played with a lightweight, highly resilient ball that bounced off the walls and ceiling. The ball rebounded left and right at high speeds, much like a ping pong ball, as players chased after it in order to make the shot against the opposing goal. It was a sport that demanded both incredible agility and considerable strength. In addition, the highly stimulating exercise was a popular sport for "entertainment".

The female students from 1st Year Classes E and F were currently taking a break and, completely ignoring their own curriculum, were busy cheering on the male students.

"Move, move, get outta my way!"

Leo was charging towards the ball that no one was covering.

The ball used in football was highly dynamic, so it was extremely difficult to dribble with it, hence that action was rarely seen. Generally, the five players on a team used the walls or ceiling to make passes, so the energy expended by recovering the ball often decided victory or defeat.

"Tatsuya!"

Crossing the entire field, Leo passed the ball to Tatsuya in midfield with the force of a shot.

If he tried to trap the ball with his chest or abdomen he might be knocked to the floor, so Tatsuya kicked the ball directly upwards, allowing the ball to lose some its force from the rebound on the ceiling before trapping it neatly beneath his foot.

After receiving this pass with machine-like efficiency, Tatsuya sent the ball careening off the wall, using the rebound to pass the ball.

Along the axis of the rebound stood another slim youth. Rather than calling him slender, he may have been more accurately described as well-built. Currently, he fearlessly received Tatsuya's high-speed pass in one motion.

And immediately shot on the enemy goal.

The electric chime signaled the goal, accompanied by the cheers of the watching female students.

"That guy isn't bad."

Leo bluntly praised the youth as he stood next to Tatsuya.

"Yes, accurate prediction of the flight path, and his appearance belies his agility."

Tatsuya was faintly surprised by the boy's physical abilities, which surpassed his expectations. They had been in the same class for 3 months, so today wasn't the first time they were in physical education together. Tatsuya previously believed that he had an accurate grasp of the boy's abilities on some level, and his earlier pass was adjusted accordingly, but this person — Yoshida Mikihiko's actions showed that he was more than meets the eye.

There were only a mere 25 students in class, so it was natural that everyone knew each other's names.

Also, Tatsuya knew more than just a name.

Yoshida Mikihiko came from a prestigious family renowned for Ancient Magic — he was a direct descendant of the Yoshida Family.

The Yoshida Family possessed a Non-Systematic Ancient Magic called "Spirit Magic", and it was rumored that they passed on their traditional methods of training as well. Given that it was a traditional method of practice, arduous labor was probably at the center of it. If so, members of that family would naturally possess highly capable physical specifications.

The cause of Tatsuya's surprise was that Mikihiko's appearance gave no hint of this whatsoever.

Specialists that excelled in concealing their power always pop up in the most unexpected places...

With that in mind, Tatsuya sent the incoming pass spiraling towards the enemy goal.

With Tatsuya and company dominating the floor, their team easily cruised to a crushing victory.

Tatsuya returned to the observation area and sat down with Leo near Yoshida Mikihiko.

"Nicely done."

By the time Tatsuya spoke up, his breathing had become perfectly even.

"You guys as well."

Just like Tatsuya, Yoshida Mikihiko's breathing wasn't ragged.

Tatsuya hadn't formed social links with every classmate, likely because his personality was the type that usually ignored others. This caused a portion of his peers to see him as a cold individual. So only about half of 1st Year Class E was willing to converse with him. However, Mikihiko was even more extreme in his aloofness and, including himself, Tatsuya had never seen him speak with any of their mutual peers. On enrollment day, he was the first one to leave the classroom by himself. Even Leo, who moved in social circles much broader than Tatsuya did, only nodded to Mikihiko in passing until now.

"Yoshida, you're pretty good. Don't take this the wrong way, but I was quite surprised."

Mikihiko's performance seemed to have reminded Leo of something, so he asked Tatsuya — Tatsuya extended the greeting first, but it was Leo who had suggested it — to sit near Mikihiko.

Leo's welcoming tone might cause some people to think he was being overly familiar.

"Mikihiko."

That being said, it seemed that Mikihiko warmed to Leo's direct attitude.

"I don't like it when people refer to me by my family name, so just call me by name."

Before, he never replied in such a friendly manner. "Okay, then call me Leo."

Even if the number of those full class activities from the previous generation had decreased, it was still strange to have this sort of conversation 3 months into the school year.

Mikihiko's school life was just like that, caused by the towering wall he erected between himself and the rest of the class.

Maybe this was only brought on by the exhilaration following strenuous exercise, causing him to be in a more generous mood, but this most definitely was an excellent opportunity.

"May I call you Mikihiko too? You can of course refer to me as Tatsuya."

"Okay, Tatsuya."

Mikihiko replied in a comfortable tone, but his expression was slightly embarrassed.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you a long time ago."

Impressions are a curious thing. Sometimes first impressions are impermutable regardless of what you do, but other times a single sentence is sufficient to dramatically change an impression you held until this moment.

In Tatsuya's mind, Mikihiko's impression turned from "anti-social" to "shy".

"What a coincidence, that makes two of us."

They entered the school as Course 2 students — replacements, but were still able to secure the top and third scores in their entire year. Even if the school emphasized technical skills, it was impossible for the two of them not to take interest in the other.

"...Somehow, I feel excluded."

The thing was, first ignoring the fact that Mikihiko didn't know them very well, Leo didn't think Tatsuya was interested in this classmate solely on the strength of his scores. Rather, Leo noticed that there was something odd between the two of them, thus leading to the feeling of exclusion.

However, Mikihiko's next sentence swiftly dispelled that notion. "Leo, you worry too much, I wanted to talk to you too."

The reason was not because of any real conversation, but because Mikihiko was at heart a kind person, as could be seen from his comforting words.

"No matter how you slice it, anyone with the patience to deal with Erika is a rare find indeed."

It was Mikihiko's turn to emotionally express himself. "...That's a little hard to swallow."

Leo's face grew longer the more he heard Mikihiko talk about Erika like they were a couple, which caused both Tatsuya and Mikihiko to burst out laughing. However, Tatsuya had a few reservations about Mikihiko's comment as he recalled the reason why Mikihiko drew his attention in the first place.

"So Mikihiko, you knew Erika a while back?"

There was no ulterior motive behind this question. So when Tatsuya saw Mikihiko's "Uh oh!" expression, he quickly changed the subject.

"Kind of, I guess we're childhood friends?"

"Erika, why the question mark at the end?"

Given that the person in question was present, Tatsuya's concerns quickly faded.

"We met when we were ten, so technically we're not childhood friends. To top it off, not only has he been avoiding me in class, we haven't seen each other outside of campus for the last six months."

Erika's answer to Mizuki's question suddenly thrust her into the middle of Tatsuya and company's conversation.

"Hey, Tatsuya-kun, what do you think?"

Afterwards, Erika suddenly sought Tatsuya's opinion in her normal as- she-pleases manner.

"This should count as childhood friends, right?"

On some level, given the way Tatsuya responded with no hesitation whatsoever, the same charge could be leveled at him.

Yet, the reason why Leo and Mikihiko were unable to utter a single word wasn't because they were struck speechless by Erika barging in without any consideration to others. Their widened eyes clearly testified to this point.

In 2095 AD, fashion and proper decorum demanded that any trace of exposed flesh be covered in public. Since school was considered a public environment, even if it was in summer, women were still obligated to wear jackets and a colorless, impenetrable pair of tights or leggings beneath their dresses.

That being said, these rules didn't apply to athletic uniforms, so athletic clubs suffered no penalty or criticism for revealing their hands or legs with their uniform, and physical education classes were also not bound by this rule. For example, Tatsuya and the other male students were currently wearing shorts that did not extend to their knees while Mizuki was wearing a fairly long pair of rhythm pants, which was the standard uniform for physical education.

On the other hand, Erika was...

Both of her legs were completely uncovered.

From the thighs down, everything was revealed to the sweltering summer air. Her pants had no length to speak of whatsoever. Finally, the T-shirt she wore barely extended over the pants, giving the impression she was wearing only her underwear.

Her tight thighs showed no signs of coarse muscle, its reddish tint caused by the sun only served to embellish and accentuate its original white caliber.

"Erika, why are you dressed like that!"

Mikihiko finally reclaimed his wits as his voice spiked, though the unavoidable blush on his face had nothing to do with the UV rays the sun was giving off. There were plenty of opportunities to see a pair of legs outside of school, so it wasn't like Mikihiko was a complete prude, but the "coquettish" air that Erika's legs were giving off was enough to cause almost any of her male peers to lose their composure.

"What, this is the traditional women's athletic uniform."

It was obvious with a single glance what state Mikihiko's mind was currently in, except Erika never mentioned it at all as she tilted her head sideways and replied back with a surprised expression on her face. It certainly didn't look like she was dressed like that solely to tease her childhood friend.

"That's traditional?"

That being said, the man of the hour thought this was all to tease him, as could be seen from Mikihiko's face that colored even more in fury.

"Is that so? I thought this was some unique design for the rhythm pants."

Tatsuya interjected to change the pace and to prevent Erika from unintentionally pouring more fuel on the fire.

"This isn't a pair of rhythm pants."

Saying this only changed the victim from Mikihiko to Tatsuya, but one glance at Tatsuya's stoic face was sufficient to tell that he far surpassed Mikihiko in composure and patience. No, it might be more appropriate to say that Tatsuya wasn't sensitive enough to fall for Erika's provocations.

"But, these aren't tennis briefs either, right?"

"Even I'm not interested in wearing just the briefs and not the skirt. These are called bloomers."

"Bloomers? Sounds like brooms, did they used to wear that while cleaning?"

"Don't be stupid! Didn't I just say these are athletic uniforms for women!"

It was difficult to tell if Tatsuya was intentionally playing ignorant, which put Erika in an awkward position. "Speaking of bloomers, are those it?" Leo finally came around.

"During the Age of Immorality, when female high school students received allowances from middle aged men to..."

...However, regardless of whether it was Leo or Erika, this was undoubtedly a bad time for him to recover. "Idiot, shut up!"

Beet red, Erika exploded in outrage. At the same time, she raised one foot and furiously kicked Leo in the shin.

Leo bent over and grabbed his shin in pain, while Erika pranced around holding one foot.

This verbal and physical exchange looked to have ended in mutual defeat (?).

Compared to the earlier — Tatsuya and company — contest, this one went back and forth.

Both sides repeatedly claimed the lead from the other.

The two teams were of equal strength, but were restricted to the caliber of high school students.

There were very few female students watching, since they had their own lessons and could only ditch for so long. On top of that, physical education classes differed from magic technical skills class in that most physical education classes had instructors available (the difference in raw number of teachers available between magic classes and normal classes could be seen here).

"I can't believe you. Is your brain stuffed with that type of nonsense?" Now, only Erika and Mizuki were present to watch the boys' contest. "Shut up, that's what the books say."

At Erika's scornful look, Leo realized that his position was rather bleak, so he replied rather flippantly and never dared to look her in the eye.

Not striking someone while they're down was one of Erika's merits.

"I have no idea what books you're reading... Speaking of which,

Miki was looking at me in the same way. Is this really that arousing?" Maybe she was just easily distracted.

"Erika...

I think you'd be better off wearing rhythm pants too."

Given Mizuki's reluctant tone, she probably belonged to the "I think but can't say" category.

"That's true...

It's not as flexible as I imagined, and a little too tight too."

At that, two male students quickly turned around, but thankfully (?) Erika didn't notice.

"Hm~. When I dug this up in the cabinet, I thought that no one had worn this and the measurements were perfect, but I think I'll go with Mizuki's suggestion and change back to rhythm pants."

"Yeah, I think that's for the best."

This wasn't exactly what Mizuki was aiming for, but she nodded in emphasis regardless.

"Hm?"

Mizuki was half a beat late on the uptake, but from a certain perspective that suited her personality perfectly.

"By the way, Erika, who is 'Miki'?"

With his head still turned, Mikihiko's shoulders grew tense, but Erika didn't notice as she leisurely pointed at his back (Even if she did notice, would she have opted for a different action? This remains a profound mystery).

"Because he's Mikihiko, hence Miki."

Mikihiko spun around almost at the same time Erika uttered those words.

"What do you mean 'hence'?"

It looked like Mikihiko was unable to ignore this "nickname". "Why do you ask? Miki is short for Mikihiko."

"I've said this countless times! Don't call me such a feminine name!"

Unfortunately, Erika seemed inured to such scolding given the way it bounced off her.

"Eh? So you prefer Hiko-kun?"

Erika's face adopted a "Why didn't you say so earlier?" look as she rounded on Mikihiko.

"Why is this happening! Don't unilaterally decide to shorten other people's names!"

"So you want me to call you Mikihiko? Eh~...

Mikihiko Mikihiko

Mikihiko Mikihiko...

That's too big a mouthful, I don't want to call you that."

Mikihiko wasn't the only one who thought this was ridiculous. "Don't you feel embarrassed by it?"

"What do you mean embarrassed?" Erika suddenly bent at the waist. "Mikihiko..."

Erika brought her face directly in front of the sitting Mikihiko and softly murmured his name with a melodious voice.

His fury forcibly overwritten by other emotions, Mikihiko was struck speechless.

"...Who is that?"

Not just the person in question, even Leo was wavering. Quite the impressive destructive power.

"Well? Isn't it embarrassing?"

Erika's hair seemed to grow at an accelerated rate; she had entered school with her hair cropped short, but after three short months it had already grown to shoulder length. She tucked her hair behind one ear and revealed a delighted smile.

No matter how obstinate Mikihiko was, even he wasn't able to quell his wavering heart.

"In...

In that case..."

"Ah, stuttering..."

Mizuki softly whispered. Her personality was probably the more merciless one.

Fortunately, Mikihiko didn't have the excess mental capacity to hear Mizuki's words.

"Just call me by my family name!"

"Eh? I thought Miki hated other people calling him by that?" That comment had been made too rashly.

Mikihiko's face tightened.

His red, panicked face and attitude were the same as before.

In addition, there was a deep sense of shame tucked beneath the anger.

However, Tatsuya felt that Mikihiko currently hid dark emotions that bordered on hatred.

"Erika, isn't it time for you to go?"

At the risk of being a busybody, Tatsuya interposed on this conversation and directed Erika's attention onto himself. Tatsuya discreetly pointed behind him where the coach (the physical education teacher) was glaring over at them.

"Sh*t! Tatsuya-kun, see you around!"

"Eh? Erika, wait for me!"

Erika hurriedly took off, with Mizuki quickly following.

Tatsuya waved at their retreating backs with a wry smile on his face. After an awkward period of silence...

"Sorry for dragging you in."

Mikihiko spoke in a soft tone with his head bowed. He appeared to have deep rooted issues with his family and, while he consciously knew that they existed, there were still momentary lapses in his self control.

"Maybe my interference wasn't needed."

Tatsuya's words weren't merely for comfort, but were spoken from the heart. From what had just transpired, this obviously wasn't the first time this had occurred, and Erika's actions may have been to intentionally provoke Mikihiko. Allowing buried frustration and inner emotions to vent may be the best possible way to prevent emotional scars.

"No, that's hardly the case, especially since we're still in class."

However, the reason Mikihiko spoke of was exactly the reason why Tatsuya interfered. Any course of action had a proper time and place, especially since Tatsuya didn't want to become mired in Mikihiko...

Or maybe Erika and Mikihiko's ongoing issue. "That being said, Tatsuya is certainly a calm one."

Mikihiko abruptly changed the topic, possibly because he shrewdly detected Tatsuya's "not interested in getting entangled" mood.

"What brought this up?"

Given the conversation up until this point, Tatsuya understood that Mikihiko might portray a certain attitude in class, but he was actually very sensitive to others' moods and emotions. It was just that this change was too abrupt, to the point that any sense of logic was lost.

"What do you mean what..."

Mikihiko hadn't properly formulated his thoughts before speaking up, so he wasn't able to properly convey his meaning.

"Well... I mean, you saw what Erika was wearing, yet you didn't bat an eyelid."

Even so, his example was still too vague, or quite a stretch.

"...I was somewhat surprised at her dress, but surely it wasn't exposed enough to qualify for that much of a reaction? I thought that it was certainly more conservative than a swimsuit or rhythm gear."

Tatsuya's real thoughts were more along the lines of "what the hell is this guy talking about", but considering today was the first time they were formally introduced to Mikihiko, and due to the confrontational nature of those words, Tatsuya elected to respond in a more neutral fashion. Anyone who overheard this conversation would certainly think that Tatsuya was going on a tangent.

"You don't care because it was less provocative than swimsuits or rhythm gear? Somehow that just strikes me in the wrong way."

From a youthful perspective, Leo's critique was right on the mark. Even though Mikihiko raised the question in the first place, even Leo was offering his own abrasive opinion.

"...Tatsuya, you've wilted too much. You no longer possess the hallmark of youth."

Possibly because they both suffered Erika's teasing (?), the two of them mutually selected Tatsuya to be their next target.

"Tatsuya isn't wilted, the bar is set too high for him. With such a beautiful little sister, the majority of normal girls wouldn't be able to attract his attention."

"Hm... You're probably right, given that this is Miyuki-san we're talking about? When I saw her for the first time during the enrollment ceremony, I wasn't just staring dumbly, I was honestly shocked. I can't believe someone so beautiful actually exists in the world."

"Ho? Tatsuya, he's got an eye on your cute little sister. As her brother, what do you have to say?"

Leo wore a mischievous smile as he interrogated Tatsuya, but the person who answered wasn't the currently beset Tatsuya, but Mikihiko, who had just been betrayed (?) by his comrade.

"Don't be like that, you're reading too much into it. I was just talking about it and I have no plans to take the next step, since just thinking about it makes me shake in my boots. If I was looking for a girlfriend, I'd hope I could find a more relaxing and easy-going partner."

Mikihiko's words led to Leo nodding deeply in agreement — nodding so deeply that his actions looked intentionally exaggerated.

"You're right. Not only that, a hardcore bro-con is hard enough, but to get past the invincible sis-con older brother...

The bar is just too high."

"Leo...

It looks like we need to have another in-depth conversation."

"Uh, no. That would be too terrifying. I don't want to put my life on the line for something like this."

Tatsuya's heavy gaze caused Leo to quiver in an overblown fashion.

Anyone could tell that Leo was acting, but a portion of the shaking seemed to be genuine, a point that aroused great interest from Mikihiko as he gazed at the two of them.

Leo was taller than Tatsuya by a margin. His limbs were also thicker and stronger.

From his performance during their team competition, their agility should be roughly equal.

Tatsuya was rumored to have studied under a famous ninjitsu sensei, but was he really that capable in a fight?

Enough to overcome his deficit in Magic Power?

Mikihiko wasn't aware why he drew Tatsuya's interest, but he knew from the get go why he was interested in Tatsuya.

Mikihiko was interested in the reason behind Tatsuya's prowess. He was a newly enrolled Course 2 student that could go toe to toe against Course 1 students and triumph. Mikihiko wanted to know how Tatsuya obtained such power.

For Mikihiko, he earnestly wanted to find a way for him to bridge the gap in Magic Power.

A replacement for the "power" he lost a year ago.

Up until one year ago, Mikihiko was held to be a prodigy, the star of tomorrow that the Yoshida family rested their hopes and dreams on.

Within the various magics of the Yoshida family that had been passed down, one of the core techniques lay in "Summoning Magic", a skill that Mikihiko possessed enough talent in to eclipse even his older brother who had inherited the family mantle.

From early adolescence until that accident, Mikihiko had always seen himself as one of the strong, and was thus unable to accept his fall from grace.

He knew he was being overly anxious, and he also realized he was withdrawing himself. That feeling of being powerless was sapping away his energy, forcing himself deeper and deeper into the corner.

This past year, he had been relentlessly pursuing knowledge of the arcane.

He had also been practicing martial arts that he had hitherto been lukewarm towards.

Even so, he was still unable to fill that sense of loss.

So once he learned that Tatsuya was also a student with inferior technical skills and imperfect magic ability, yet was still able to overcome upperclassmen that boasted greater Magic Power, there was no way Mikihiko could not be drawn towards Tatsuya.

A close combat technique capable of overcoming a deficiency in Magic Power?

Mikihiko wanted to let Tatsuya and Leo compete against one another so he could see with his own eyes.

Subconsciously, he also wanted to challenge Tatsuya at one point. "Mikihiko?"

"Ah?"

That was probably the reason.

Hearing his name suddenly called, Mikihiko fell into a combat crouch. Seeing his reaction, both Tatsuya and Leo forced a smile.

"Please, is there a need for such a murderous reaction?"

"What is it? I was going to say you've suddenly gone quiet, then you fall into that stance?"

"Ah, no...

I'm sorry, it was nothing."

Mikihiko could only apologize shamefacedly. He originally wasn't adept at social interaction.

The rare friendly atmosphere turned tense and, even though Tatsuya and Leo both tried to lighten the mood, the original cheer never returned even when class ended.