Chapter 16

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For high schools attached to magic universities, the Nine Schools Competition held in summer and the Thesis Competition held in fall were major events. The extravagance of the Nine Schools Competition largely overshadowed the Thesis Competition, making it the single greatest event on the calendar.

The Nine Schools Competition was an intramural contest based on athletic magic competitions (Besides magic competitions, there were riddle events, table top games, timed maze challenges, and even treasure hunts). First High also had clubs for every occasion, but since competition was fiercest around the Nine Schools Competition itself, participants were not only selected from clubs, but anyone deemed capable of winning was selected as a participant.

Thanks to this, preparations for the Nine Schools Competition passed from the Clubs Management Group to the Student Council.

"Even so, it's not like we can ignore the official participants from the clubs. Just deciding who goes on the final roster is going to be a major headache..."

Even Mayumi, who usually mesmerized everyone with her radiant smile, seemed to wilt a little today.

The fingers that held the chopsticks in her bento seemed boneless as well.

Recently, Miyuki was also very busy, but the President not only had to handle executive tasks, but other tiresome tasks that were not present given her usually sunny mood.

"Thankfully due to Juumonji's powerful assistance in this matter, we finally have a roster nailed down."

Today's lunch and show was Mayumi endlessly complaining about this and that, but it looked like the curtains were finally coming down.

Tatsuya's stomach wasn't weak enough to be upset by such trivialities, but always eating lunch with this as the background music would have an adverse effect on the nerves, so Tatsuya heaved a small sigh of relief when Mayumi stopped grouching.

"However, the engineer problem far outweighs the participant problem..."

...Or not.

"We still don't have the right headcount?"

Mayumi powerlessly nodded at Mari's inquiry.

"The majority of our students aim to be Magicians, so talented personnel generally gravitate towards technical skills... Our 3rd Year students are particularly worrisome, with our numbers in the Magic Artificer department reaching dangerous lows. In 2nd Year we have capable people such as A-chan and Isori-kun, but our numbers are still insufficient..."

"Isori, eh... That guy specializes in geometry, so he's stronger in theory rather than maintenance, right?"

"We're long past the point of caring about these things."

It was extremely rare to see both Mayumi and Mari sigh, which said a lot about how serious things were — although using this to evaluate how serious the situation was would be slightly wrong.

"Even if Juumonji and I help out, there's a limit to how much we can do..."

"Aren't the two of you our primary participants as well? If you're too busy worrying about other people's CADs and allow that to affect your own events, that's not something we can joke around with."

"...If Mari could maintain her own CAD, that would lessen the burden a lot."

"...Yeah, we're in trouble."

Maybe due to exhaustion or some other reason, Mari avoided Mayumi's earnest gaze and looked elsewhere.

The atmosphere in the Student Council Room was borderline hazardous to psychological well being.

In order to return to the classroom — that is, evacuate the premises, Tatsuya signaled Miyuki with a look, then sought a proper opening.

"Rin-chan, can you help as an engineer?"

Even with the chaos surrounding the preparations for the Nine School Competition, Suzune still hung around in the Student Council Room during lunch and was someone Mayumi never failed to invite.

"That's impossible. My skills would only hamper Nakajou and the others."

But was coldly rebuffed each time.

With the apologies to the currently depressed Mayumi, but this was the perfect opportunity to beat a retreat.

Tatsuya glanced meaningfully at Miyuki, then rose— "Then... How about we ask Shiba-kun?"

—Just as Tatsuya rose, his escape plan was ruthlessly derailed by Azusa's unexpected attack.

"Hoh?"

Mayumi, who originally had her head slumped on the table, abruptly lifted her head and let out an unintelligible sound.

Azusa, who up until this moment had been venting her irritation at the large flatscreen terminal in front of her — probably deep in the middle of homework — softly sighed as she hit the power button on her terminal and raised her head.

"I heard that Miyuki-chan's CAD is maintained by Shiba-kun. I've seen it before, and its specs rival those of a first-class corporate technician."

Mayumi jumped out of her chair.

Her face was suffused with vitality, as if that earlier dejected scene never happened.

"Blind spot...

!"

The gaze Mayumi directed towards Tatsuya was like a hawk eyeing its new found prey.

That alone was sufficient for Tatsuya to give up halfway.

"You're right...

I can't believe I didn't think of that, how careless."

Now that Mari had joined the fray, he was up a creek without a paddle.

"Speaking of which, he also handled the reserve CADs the Committee owns... But since he's the only one using them, I never thought about it."

Resistance was futile. Tatsuya was about 90% ready to give up at this point, but surrendering without a fight was against his principles, so

Tatsuya attempted a tiny — most likely fruitless — resistance.

"Earlier I heard the Chief talk about the importance of CAD technicians, but there's no precedent for a 1st Year technician, is there?"

"Everything has to start somewhere."

"Traditions are made to be overturned."

Mayumi and Mari immediately returned fire at a furious rate.

"The two of you may be 'progressive thinkers', but won't the other participants balk at this? I'm a 1st Year Course 2 student, this would leave a negative impression on many people."

This was a little self-depreciating coming from him, but that didn't mean it wasn't true.

"For CAD maintenance, mutual trust between Magician and Artificer is extremely important. A CAD's maximum performance is dictated by the level of the user's mental state. Using a person like me to maintain CADs would lead to severe participant backlash, so I don't think I'm a good candidate..."

Tatsuya's logic also had its own merits, causing Mayumi and Mari to exchange a glance.

However, regardless of what Tatsuya said, the two of them had already seen through his facade.

In order to deliver the final blow to the lazy (?) underclassman that didn't want to take the hot potato and force him to join, the two of them were visually confirming the order of attack (verbal persuasion).

At this time, they received some unexpected reinforcements.

"I was hoping that Onii-sama could work with my CAD while I'm participating in the Nine Schools Competition...

Is that okay?"

Tatsuya froze at Miyuki's completely unexpected betrayal (?).

In a Shakespearean drama, Tatsuya's mood would undoubtedly mirror that of Caesar as he was assassinated: "Et tu, Miyuki (Brutus)...

!"

"Exactly! Having a trustworthy and competent technician nearby is absolutely integral for participants to rely on. Well said, Miyuki- chan!"

Mayumi immediately followed up on the attack.

"Yes, if Onii-sama joined the Technician Team, not only I, but Mitsui- san and Kitayama-san could set our minds at ease."

This is the first time that Tatsuya learned those two were entering the Newcomers Division as participants, but he considered them to be the expected candidates.

—This was also him trying to escape from reality. Obviously, the battle had been decided.

The preparation meeting held after school in the Club Management Center would decide whether Tatsuya officially joins the roster.

There might be a tiny ray of hope, but Tatsuya had long since given up.

The moment Miyuki assented, Tatsuya had nowhere to run. Under the assumption that his confirmation was in serious jeopardy, he actually had to work hard towards ensuring he was nominated and accepted — these were all within his calculations.

No matter what, the situation was utterly depressing.

At times like these, people tended to retreat into areas they excel in.

Even if he had an outside chance to be nominated, he still took the time to reflect on what he could do, what areas he excelled at, and re- examined his own sense of worth to properly restore his internal balance as a means of self compensation.

Possibly due to the build up of considerable stress, it was rare for Tatsuya to fall into this sort of self compensatory trap.

Two-thirds of the lunch period had already passed. Miyuki was engrossed in dealing with the piles of documents and homework, while Tatsuya, who was currently idle while waiting for Miyuki, removed the silver CAD from the shoulder holster and started examining the modules in the cartridge, the buttons for switching Activation Sequences, and other movable parts.

"Ah, you brought the Silver Horn today as well."

Until now, Azusa was completely focused on her homework, but her sharp eyes caught Tatsuya's movement as she inched forward.

Tatsuya slowly shifted his gaze, not towards Mayumi or Mari, but Suzune.

Suzune accurately interpreted Tatsuya's silent inquiry as she adeptly used her brows and the shrugging of her shoulders to express a helpless emotion. In other words, the current Azusa had completely lost interest in her homework.

"Yes, I purchased a new holster, so I would like to get used to it as soon as possible."

Is this what they meant by "being furious after receiving three in the morning, then happy when receiving four in the evening"? Tatsuya was mentally considering this somewhat objective but also very rude train of thought as he shifted his gaze back onto Azusa and responded in a gentle manner (To supplement, Tatsuya was thinking of what it meant to play fast and loose).

Azusa's eyes shone brilliantly as she approached him. It seemed that she was not only interested in the CAD itself, but the supplementary equipment as well.

"Eh, is it okay if I took a look?"

Truthfully speaking, Azusa generally avoided — more like was terrified of Tatsuya. Precisely because of this impression, Tatsuya wanted to smile wryly. However, given the way Azusa was bouncing around like a small animal and unable to calm down, he probably shouldn't treat her too poorly.

This may be a form of popularity — Tatsuya thought as he removed the jacket he wore even in the heat of summer — with built-in cooling systems, of course — and took off the shoulder holster before handing it to Azusa.

"Wow~ It's an original model for the Silver series.

Such an amazing trim would draw incredible lines when drawing and firing.

Something that didn't just cater to high technical skills but also a design that also took the user's skill into account.

Ah, I worship your genius, Silver-sama..."

After she received the holster, Azusa was happy enough to almost rub her face against it.

Tatsuya was barely able to maintain his poker face.

After Azusa meticulously went over every centimeter of the holster — or maybe finally satisfied herself— she returned it to Tatsuya with a pleased smile on her face.

"Shiba-kun is also a fan of the Silver series? If based only on price and specs, the Maximilian Speed Shooter, Russ Type-F, or even Sagittarius series developed by FLT (Four Leaves Technology) are better deals, but the individual customization of the Silver series is so good that no one cares about the price!"

Tatsuya recalled that Mari once described Azusa as a "Device-taku".

At the time, he was considerate enough to consider this an exaggeration, but after witnessing her behavior today, he reflected that such a nickname was probably inevitable.

From Tatsuya's perspective, if the contrast between price and performance — efficiency, in other words, was too low, then satisfaction would also drop. Even if that was the case, true performance may differ from official documentation. Simply put, qualitative performance that could not be converted into numerical format was also very important. If one could be "satisfied" without making this sort of analysis, Tatsuya considered that to be nothing more than brand loyalty.

That being said, that was a matter of personal values, so if she said she was satisfied, he had no reason to rain on her parade.

"No, I actually have a few connections, so I can buy Silver Series at a discount thanks to my work as a beta tester."

The moment Tatsuya said this, Miyuki's shoulders visibly shook a little as she faced the other way towards the terminal, but no one noticed.

"Eh~! Really?"

The word "envy" was stamped all over Azusa's face.

This time, even Tatsuya's expression revealed a little spasm.

"...Next time I test the new model, would you like me to get you one as well?"

"Eh? Really?

Like, really, really? Thanks!"

There was no way for him to fit in a response.

After Tatsuya was finally able to nod in assent, Azusa grabbed his empty left hand with both of her own and shook it up and down.

"...A-chan, relax a little bit."

Mayumi couldn't watch any longer, temporarily stopping her work on the pile of documents to speak to Azusa.

Azusa suddenly stopped.

Filled with trepidation, she looked at her hands.

Her hands were tightly wound around Tatsuya's hand. Azusa felt this not only with her sense of touch, but confirmed it visually as well.

She slowly raised her head towards Tatsuya, then quickly dodged Tatsuya's expressionless gaze and looked back at her hands.

Azusa let go and jumped back as if her hands had grasped fire.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry...

!"

"Flushed face" wasn't sufficient to describe Azusa's current state, since her face was red to the root of her ears. She repeatedly bowed towards Tatsuya in apology.

Tatsuya was starting to get really worried that Azusa would keep bowing until she was dizzy, and glanced towards Mayumi for help.

"...A-chan, you can stop now. Tatsuya-kun is a little overwhelmed right now."

Mayumi was probably thinking along the same lines as Tatsuya, so she didn't add to the mayhem (not without cause) and focused on comforting Azusa.

Azusa took a deep breath as she was instructed and finally managed to settle down.

Mayumi let out a helpless sigh before turning back to her work.

Azusa turned an embarrassed smile towards Tatsuya and quickly turned solemn.

"Then, Shiba-kun wouldn't happen to know Taurus Silver in person?" She asked in this manner.

—It went without saying that she was doing so to cover her embarrassment.

Unfortunately, this question was a very difficult one to answer for Tatsuya.

"...No, I'm not entirely certain."

Electric clamors rang out from near the wall.

The workstation that Miyuki was using activated the alarm by accident.

Everyone hits a typo every once in a while, but it was extremely rare for Miyuki to erroneously activate the alarm.

Both Mayumi and Suzune wore an "Eh?" expression while looking at Miyuki who was facing the wall, but Miyuki soldiered onward as if nothing had happened, so the two of them didn't ask any further and returned to their respective piles.

"...Miyuki-chan actually made a mistake, how strange."

"Occasionally, yes."

In comparison, Tatsuya's response was overly level, but Azusa didn't notice as she returned to the original — the recent conversation.

"No matter how much he hides himself, the people in the same lab should know something, right? Unless, he invented everything by himself?"

"...No, I'm certain that would be impossible."

"I think so too. Oh yeah, Shiba-kun, can't you use your 'connections' at the lab to get some more information?"

"...No, the connections I spoke of aren't in that category... Also,

FLT keeps most of their corporate secrets under wrap, so I think it's highly unlikely to get anything out of the lab technicians."

"Oh~ that's true..."

"...I'm sure senpai already knows, but using Informational

Manipulative Outersystematic-type magic to uncover secrets is a felony."

"Ah? Nah...

No way, why would I think... about that kind of thing..."

Tatsuya looked at Azusa with his eyes half closed, causing Azusa's already petite body to shrink even further.

"...

It's okay, as long as senpai is clear on that point, I just wanted to remind you."

"Don't... don't worry about it, of course I know about something like that, Ah, ha ha ha..."

Seeing that Azusa wasn't making a metaphor and actually breaking out into a cold sweat, Tatsuya took his foot off the gas.

"Speaking of which, why is Nakajou-senpai so interested in Taurus Silver's real identity?"

The CAD Azusa used wasn't FLT's brand either. Even though she obviously wasn't a Silver Series user, why did she care so much about the identity of the developer?

For Tatsuya, this was a perfectly natural question. "Ah?"

From Azusa's expression, she was completely dumbfounded that Tatsuya even asked this question.

"Of course I care, Tatsuya-kun, I mean, do you not? This is Taurus Silver.

The first person in the world to develop the 'Loop Cast System', raising the speed of Activation Sequences for Specialized CADs by twenty percent, he also reduced the variability of wireless models from 3 percent to less than 1 percent. Taurus Silver is just that amazing.

Also, rather than guarding his secrets for personal profit, he openly publicizes his findings for the betterment of the magical community as a whole, which makes Taurus Silver even more incredible.

He is called the genius engineer that advanced CAD software technology by ten years within one short year, so I think that no one who aims to be a Magic Artificer would be uninterested in him."

This overbearing pressure that was almost synonymous to scolding forced Tatsuya to shrink back. He was completely caught off guard by how much the world had built up "Taurus Silver".

"Excuse my ignorance. As a user, I'm not dissatisfied with the Silver series, I just wasn't aware that it had such glowing reviews..."

"Ah...

That makes sense, Shiba-kun is a tester, so for you, Silver series isn't all that rare...

Hence why you have a different outlook than I do."

Azusa didn't completely understand, but allowed herself to be convinced.

"Hey, hey, Shiba-kun, let me ask you, what do you think Taurus Silver is like?"

A purely inquisitive gaze.

Wanting to change the subject, Tatsuya replied back trying to stall for time.

"Well... I wonder how shocking would it be if he turned out to be a

Japanese teenager like us."

Once again, electric clamors rang out from near the wall.

Miyuki continued to sit in a posture with her back completely straight as she toiled away.

—But she didn't allow anyone to see her current expression. "Speaking of which, A-chan."

"Yes, President, what is it?"

In the end, Mayumi finally extended a helping hand towards Tatsuya, who was almost unable to handle Azusa. This might be a little biased, but this was the first time Tatsuya felt like Mayumi was someone dependable. At any rate, Mayumi's stance was that she wanted Azusa to hurry back to her work on the Student Council.

"Weren't you supposed to finish your homework before the end of lunch?"

However, even if this was lending a hand to Tatsuya, this was undoubtedly the knell of doom for Azusa... That description might be a hyperbole, but Azusa's expression was just so. The very fact that she was engrossed in talking about Taurus Silver was likely a way for her to escape from reality.

"President~"

From the way Azusa tearfully implored Mayumi for help, she was likely doomed.

"Don't make such an embarrassing sound."

Mayumi smiled wryly and turned her gaze from the completed inventory invoice towards Azusa.

"I can help a little bit, so what's your assignment?"

Mari directed a "You're pampering her too much" gaze towards Mayumi, who promptly ignored it — more like pretended not to see it as she smiled towards Azusa.

"I'm sorry...

It's a report on the 'Three Great Puzzles of Weight

Systemic Magic'..."

At this, Suzune, Mari, and Tatsuya immediately turned their gazes on the glum Azusa.

"...W-what?"

Like a deer in the headlights, Azusa shrank into a ball in terror. Her tearful eyes and terrified movements gave the impression that everyone was bullying her, at which Tatsuya turned his eyes away, with Suzune mirroring his thoughts and actions.

Only Mari still stared at Azusa. "Ho ho..."

Mari watched Azusa with deep interest, though she was more focused on the flat screen terminal in Azusa's hands.

"I was wondering what was puzzling the annual top 5 honor student

Nakajou and it turned out to be this."

"Isn't this the topic they ask every year?"

After Mari spoke, Mayumi continued with an uncomprehending expression.

"A-chan, what's this year's prompt?"

Because the prompts were routine, there were already enough prompts that the school was incapable of creating new ideas. This wasn't just homework, it was also one of the primary essay topics for magic university entrance exams. A cursory search would reveal a bountiful harvest of model answers to this prompt.

"The subject of the homework involves how to solve the bottlenecks of the 'Three Great Puzzles'. The first two I get, but I am unable to explain the reason why Generalized Flying-Type Magic hasn't been successfully developed..."

Hearing this, Suzune nodded with an "I understand" expression on her face.

"In other words, Azusa-kun is unable to accept the currently proposed concepts."

"Exactly!"

With Suzune able to express her inner thoughts for her, Azusa nodded vigorously.

"The foundation for magic that can defy gravity and allow the physical body to float into the air has already been laid down by the Four Great Systemic and the Eight Major Types of Modern Magic and has already entered the practical phase."

"Yes, though injury caused by free fall remains one of the major dangers for Magicians."

Azusa shifted her gaze to Mayumi, who supported her argument.

"Magicians adept in Speed and Weight Magics are already capable of leaping dozens of yards at a time, and the world record is held by a Magician who leapt over 100 yards in one try. The record for landing is even greater, with some Magicians able to drop 2000 meters successfully without any equipment."

"If that's the case, why is Flying-Type Magic...

Free movement in the sky still elusive...

Right?"

"To be precise, Generalized Flying-Type Magic that anyone can use remains elusive. There are a handful of Ancient Magic users that can freely fly through the sky."

Suzune added a few details to Mayumi's explanation.

Hearing this, Azusa shook her head, though this was probably an involuntary action.

"That type of magic approaches the unique abilities of BS Magicians. Since it can't be shared, it can't really be called a technique.

Theoretically, you can use Speed and Weight Systemic Magic to nullify the effect of gravity and soar into the sky. In reality, long jump and floating magic have already been developed, so why can't we fly..."

"Wouldn't higher level reference tomes contain the answer to this question?"

Mayumi visually interrogated Azusa as to why she couldn't accept the answer chronicled in the books.

"Magic Sequences must include an end point, as the effect of overwriting reality is sustained until the ending conditions are met. While a target object is under the effect of magic, if you want to cause a different type of magic to manifest on the target, you need to use magic that has superior phenomena interference ability.

When using Flying-Type Magic, every time you adjust speed or height, you aren't just overwriting the original magic with a new one, you also need a stronger phenomena interference ability. A single Magician is only able to separate the phenomena rewriting ability into ten segments, so he or she can only adjust the flying status ten times before hitting their limit.

...This is the publicly acknowledged hurdle to why there's no practical solution to Flying-Type Magic, right?"

Mayumi didn't ruminate very long before nodding her assent to Azusa's long-winded explanation.

"What, A-chan, you've done your research. You've organized all your arguments, so what's the problem?"

"According to this line of thinking, the problem lies in the fact that new magic needs to constantly overwrite the currently active magic, correct? If that's the case, I think that it would be easier to cancel the current magic than activate the new magic."

By now, Azusa had completely shaken off the earlier tearful expression, and was now plunging ahead at a feverish pace. Suzune calmly asked Azusa the next question:

"The theory is sound, but from a practical standpoint how would you cancel the active magic?"

"Why don't you insert a condition for ending the magic during the design of the Magic Sequence? In other words, by preemptively entering a small Magic Sequence into the active Magic Sequence, this can be turned into the ending condition for the magic."

Azusa was immersed in her theory while, conversely, Suzune was calmly stating her counter argument.

"Unfortunately, Magic Sequences are unable to affect other Magic Sequences. Magic Sequences can only be used to affect the Information Body, even if two types of magic are both trying to influence the same Information Body, only the one with the stronger interference strength would actually manifest, as Magic Sequences don't possess a strong versus weak relationship.

Counter magic that can dissolve Magic Sequences do exist, but that's high level magic that directly influences the Information Body. This would be okay at the experimental level, currently there no Magicians who can freely wield practical levels of Counter Magic."

"Is that so..."

By the time students reached the second semester of their second year, Foundations of Magic class would progress to Applications of Magic. This class started with concepts surrounding "Counter Magic" — magic that nullifies opposing magic — which was what Suzune was explaining right now. Normally, this was something that was taught during the first semester of 3rd Year, which was why Azusa wasn't familiar with the subject. That being said, to hear the term "Counter Magic" and not be hopelessly lost, Azusa's knowledge was broad indeed.

"However, this is still a worthwhile theory."

Azusa's emotions bounced between zealous and gloomy. Suzune smiled at her in a gentle and comforting manner.

"To cancel magic the moment its effects manifest, I believe this is the correct approach."

"That's true. Because of the need to rewrite the activated magic, the necessary interference strength becomes a vicious cycle."

Following Suzune, Mayumi also supported Azusa's theory.

"No one has proposed this until this point, but if a new magic can be activated the moment the currently active magic is stopped from affecting the phenomenon, then there shouldn't be a need for stronger interference strength... Given that the target is flying in the air, the delay between magics must be reduced to zero, so if a Specialized CAD was used, then in theory the next magic should be activated before the target starts dropping..."

Mayumi seemed to be muttering to herself, then abruptly made an "Eh?" sound as she turned her head.

"But if it's just removing the effects of magic, shouldn't someone have attempted this long ago? In the end, this is like working with 'Zone Interference' after the fact."

At Mayumi's question, Suzune pulled up the search function on the public workstation located in the Student Council Room.

"Give me a second... Last year, England attempted a massive experiment based on the same conceptual design the President spoke of. They wanted to use 'Post-Event Zone Interference' to create a practical Flying-Type Magic."

Suzune swiftly located the news articles on magic that contained the information she wanted.

"Then, the result was?"

The inquiring voice was a little high pitched — likely caused by the excitement bubbling out of her, which proved that Mayumi was still a high school student beyond all doubt.

"Complete failure. According to the report, in comparison to the normal situation where magic is repeatedly used, this method only served to increase the demand for interference strength at a geometric rate."

"...

Is that so..."

At Suzune's report that so betrayed (?) her hopes, Mayumi drooped in disappointment.

"Did they cite a reason?"

"No, the article wasn't that detailed. President, why do you think it happened?"

When asked by Suzune, Mayumi pointed her index finger at her chin and let out a "Hm!" sound as she considered this.

"The previous magic should've stopped functioning by then...

Tatsuya-kun, what do you think?"

The reason Mayumi had asked Tatsuya was to buy time for her to organize her thoughts.

She didn't actually expect him to answer.

"The English experiment provided by Ichihara-senpai has a basic conceptual error."

Thus, Tatsuya's decisive answer completely caught Mayumi offguard. "...Where is the error?"

Astounded, Mayumi was barely able to ask her question. Neither boastful nor proud, Tatsuya calmly began his explanation.

"Magic Sequences that have not fulfilled their ending requirements will naturally fade with time, but will remain with the target Information Body. When a new magic nullifies the previous magic's effects, the previous magic looks to be canceled, but in reality is merely being overwritten."

Mayumi, Suzune, Azusa, and even Mari were now staring at Tatsuya outright, but Tatsuya remained unmoved by the pressure of their gaze. He remained expressionless and his tone did not change in the slightest.

"Let's assume the previous magic is called Magic Sequence A, while

Magic Sequence B is used to nullify the other one.

With the activation of Magic Sequence B, Magic Sequence A loses its phenomenon effect ability. However, even if Magic Sequence A loses its effect, it still remains with the target's Information Body.

Both Magic Sequences A and B are still acting on the target's Information Body, it's just that only the effects of Magic Sequence B are visible. Just as Ichihara-senpai said, Magic Sequences can only affect the Information Body and are unable to affect one another. This is true even in Zone Interference. Unless the original Magic Sequence is itself nullified, using Counter Magic would yield the same result."

"...So the English experiment used unnecessary magic that was not part of Flying-Type Magic?"

Tatsuya nodded his assent to Mayumi's question, then continued his explanation.

"In other words, every time you make adjustments in flight, you would rewrite the Magic Sequence again. In order to maintain flight, the extra rewrites would pile on, so of course you would rapidly hit the upper limit for phenomenon interference ability. The English scholar who designed this experiment must have been mistaken on the nature of Counter Magic."

The portable terminal that Tatsuya wore in his breast pocket chose this moment to start vibrating, signaling the first warning bell for the end of the lunch period.

"Miyuki, let's return to class."

"Yes, Onii-sama."

Miyuki, whose back was to them the entire time, rose immediately upon being called.

Her voice, expression and movements were just as gentle and graceful as usual.

Hence Mayumi, Suzune, Mari, and Azusa hadn't noticed. Couldn't have noticed.

When Miyuki had been seated before the workstation, her back was ramrod straight with pride, and her fingers fairly danced across the keyboard in pleasure.

◊ ◊ ◊

The preparation meeting for the Nine Schools Competition held in the Club Management Headquarters was suffused with a nervous aura from the onset.

Students with outstanding performance in the events would receive extra credit for their classes. Just for being one of the official participants, students would receive no homework, extra days off and guaranteed straight A's.

Not only did this apply to participants, but to the students selected as engineers as well.

Thanks to the school putting such a high emphasis on the Nine Schools Competition, the students selected as the representatives for the Nine Schools Competition received such incredible rewards. Thus, it was unsurprising that the competition was particularly fierce for the last few slots on the official roster during this meeting.

—If Tatsuya had been merely a bystander, he would probably have viewed the mixed feelings of the surrounding students in a compassionate light. However, he was there as a candidate with a giant target on his back, so he could only depressingly keep himself from sighing aloud while praying for this circus to end quickly.

It was not that he was wholly uninterested in the Nine Schools Competition.

The desire to measure one's personal skills against other Magicians (saplings) of similar age was markedly different from the hunger he experienced while staying in his father's lab and the subsequent desire to bring about practical upgrades to CADs, but Tatsuya still had that much left in him.

Tatsuya was "constructed" to have less emotion than the average person, but he was still at that headstrong age, so no matter what value his peers assigned him, he wasn't shriveled enough to completely not care.

However, at the same time he had to deal with the pride, jealousy, vanity, disgust, and other related emotions in this meeting. That was what truly filled him with melancholy.

Separate from his thoughts — of course — the seats in the conference room were gradually filled. When the last seat was occupied, Mayumi stood before the chairman's podium.

"Then, let's start the selection meeting for the Nine Schools Competition roster."

The meeting for upperclassmen, club leaders for the various participating clubs, Student Council members (Miyuki remained on station in the Student Council Room) and the Club Management Group members who received the internal notification that they were possible candidates for participant or engineer slots officially began.

Tatsuya sat with the various candidates in the visitors section to the side,

Any organization that exceeded a certain size would naturally contain bigots that swiftly identified Tatsuya as an outsider.

As expected, not long after the meeting began, someone asked what a 1st Year Course 2 student was doing here.

That certainly did not imply that no one looked upon Tatsuya kindly. There were actually a surprising number of favorable opinions.

The upperclassmen differed from the 1st Year students in that they knew Tatsuya was a special Course 2 student in addition to being a formidable asset to the Public Morals Committee.

Despite this, there were still more opposing than supporting, often in the form of negative emotions rather than objective logic, which caused the meeting to deadlock and waste more valuable time.

"In summation..."

Suddenly, a solemn voice dominated the conference room.

The voice was not particularly loud, yet all the squabbles quickly died away as everyone focused on the speaker.

Juumonji Katsuto, who had hitherto remained silent, cast his gaze across the room before starting to speak:

"In my opinion, the problem lies in that everyone is unfamiliar with what level of skill Shiba possesses. If so, the most efficient solution is to submit that to a live test."

The spacious room was dead silent.

This would bring about a simple and effective result that no one would bemoan, but because of the risk involved, no one had dared to propose this course of action.

"...That's not a bad suggestion, but how do we go about it in a practical manner?"

"Simply having him perform a maintenance right now would suffice."

Mari broke the silence with her question, to which Katsuto provided a simple answer.

"Allow me to be the guinea pig."

The CADs currently on the market must be intricately synchronized with their respective user after maintenance.

Even if ten Magicians used the same model, there were ten different methods to adjust their CADs.

The Activation Sequences provided by the CAD would be directly absorbed into the Magician's subconscious domain.

In other words, a Magician's mental state was completely defenseless against their own CAD.

Recent CAD models were equipped with a function that improved Activation Sequence processing, but at the same time made it easier for them to affect the user's mental status.

If there was a problem during maintenance, not only would magic efficiency decrease, other side effects would include discomfort, headaches, dizziness, vomiting, or even major harm such as hallucinations or mental scarring. Thus, the higher the CAD's capability, the more skilled the maintenance needed to be.

For Magicians, voluntarily yielding their CAD to be maintained by an Artificer whose strength was unknown posed a substantial risk.

Even if it was Katsuto's own suggestion, his willingness to offer himself as a test subject showed considerable courage.

"No, I was the one who recommended him, so I should take that role."

Mayumi immediately requested to take responsibility likely out of a sense of duty, but from another perspective, this likely implied that she didn't wholly trust Tatsuya, which was something that Tatsuya easily read between the lines to his discomfort.

"Wait, please let me do it."

That being said, the fact that Kirihara was willing to pinch hit caused Tatsuya considerable shock — the mettle displayed by this man was certainly comforting.

The school's CAD maintenance facility open to faculty and students was located in the Technical Skills Building.

However, this time they weren't using the preset maintenance devices in the Practical Skills Building, but bringing the mobile maintenance devices used in the Nine Schools Competition to the conference room to conduct their test.

The CAD in question was also one that qualified under the regulations of the Nine Schools Competition.

Seeing as how the pre-competition preparations proceeded so smoothly both in materials and procedure, the continuously delayed selection process was a particularly glaring issue.

Tatsuya sat before the maintenance device with Kirihara on the other side — but the two of them couldn't see one another. The members of the Student Council and various clubs leaders crowded around Kirihara.

The first step involved activating the school device, a process where many malicious gazes were focused on Tatsuya's hand movements; but Tatsuya was long accustomed to working with much more complex devices than the school device, so this was a procedure he could have completed flawlessly in his sleep. He adeptly completed the preparations and adopted a poker face to ward off the abhorring gazes.

"My task involves copying Kirihara-senpai's CAD schematics onto the competition-use CAD, making any necessary adjustments without changing the Activation Sequence, am I correct?" Tatsuya once again verified the test's contents. "Yes, sorry for bothering you."

Tatsuya on seeing Mayumi nodding shook his head slightly. Not nodding, shaking.

"...

What is it?"

"I wouldn't advise directly copying the schematics onto a different model CAD...

But there's nothing for it, so let's put safety as the first priority."

"?"

Mayumi wasn't the only one dumbfounded. "Copying CAD schematics" was a simple task that occurs when users changed machines, so many people were also wondering why Tatsuya viewed this as a problem.

However, the Technician Team centered around Azusa knew exactly why Tatsuya asked this question. The team members either nodded slightly in agreement or smirked as they prepared to enjoy Tatsuya's performance.

Tatsuya didn't say anything else and plunged into the maintenance. First, he connected Kirihara's CAD to the maintenance device.

The schematics replication process was semi-automatic, so there was no way to gauge the difference in skill here.

However, Tatsuya didn't just dump the schematics replica directly into the calculation device of the competition-use CAD, but stored it into the processing area of the maintenance device, a move that caused quite a few people to raise their eyebrows.

Next he measured Kirihara's personal psion oscillation nature.

Following Tatsuya's instructions, Kirihara put the headset on his head, then placed both hands on the examination board.

This was also normal procedure; if this was an automatic maintenance device, the steps required were to connect the CAD then read the psion waves and the process would automatically complete itself.

Generally, students that used the school devices for personal maintenance would adopt that precise procedure.

On the other hand, not relying on automatic maintenance and manually making minute adjustments to the CAD's OS showed an engineer's true strength.

"Thank you senpai, you can take it off now."

Tatsuya indicated that the measurements were concluded and Kirihara removed the headset.

Ordinarily, the next step involved connecting the CAD that needed to be modified, then making any adjustments beyond the automatic recommendations. This required a preset CAD to be prepared in advance, then copying all the data onto the destination CAD.

Just about everyone in the audience thought that Tatsuya messed up the procedure.

As if to prove this point, Tatsuya stared at the monitor without moving a muscle.

However, he didn't give off the air of someone who was hopelessly lost because of a misstep.

His gaze was focused to a terrifying degree without giving a hint of that unsteady feeling.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Azusa poked her head around Tatsuya's body to glance at the monitor.

"Uh?"

Her voice let out an awkward sound that was wholly incompatible with her youthful image.

Tatsuya was completely unaffected by this interruption.

Mayumi and Mari didn't dare to ask what was going on, so they both came to Azusa's side to look at the monitor — and were barely able to contain their gasps.

The monitor didn't display the expected measurement results and graphs, but was filled with character strings scrolling across at high velocity.

The two of them were only able to pick out a few numbers here and there, but their eyes were wholly unable to keep up with the scrolling pace.

The numbers abruptly came to a stop.

Roughly a few dozen seconds had elapsed, which was less than 5 minutes since Tatsuya started staring at the screen.

After the character strings stopped scrolling, Tatsuya immediately plugged in the competition-use calculation device and swiftly started hitting the keyboard.

Many windows started opening and closing.

Only Azusa noticed that one of the opened windows was the original document with the recorded measurement results, while another window was the original document that contained the replicated CAD schematics on the maintenance device.

Very few people recognized how insanely advanced the procedure unfolding before their eyes truly was, since the majority of the audience was held spellbound at the unheard of speed at which Tatsuya was hitting the keyboard. Even so, Azusa believed that the truly astounding part was the technique Tatsuya displayed when he was directly reading the nature of the psion oscillations from the original document.

With that method, the engineer could perfectly allocate the resources within the parameters of the calculation device to best suit the measurement results reflected in the maintenance device. This was a completely manual process wholly independent of the automatic processes provided by the system.

Before Azusa's gaze, the settings temporarily stored in the work area were steadily being rewritten in a flash.

The original document still remained on the main screen, but Azusa was barely able to detect the modified settings.

This definitely fell within the boundaries of safety. He was really adhering to "safety is the first priority" condition.

This way, it would lower the user's risk from relying on automatic maintenance, and provide Activation Sequences that exceeded automatic maintenance in efficiency.

There was absolutely no need for a practical test.

This 1st Year student's skill far surpassed anyone in the Technician Team.

Azusa made up her mind right there that she was going to drag Tatsuya onto the team no matter what, objections be damned.

Under the condition "without changing the Activation Sequence" the maintenance quickly came to an end.

He was so fast that the audience wasn't thoroughly entertained. The next part was the actual live test.

Unnoticed by others, Kirihara's expression was slightly nervous and tense, but fell within the expected boundaries.

In reality, there was no incident, nor was there anything that could even be remotely called an accident.

The CAD Tatsuya modified was "completely the same" as Kirihara's beloved CAD.

"Kirihara, how do you feel?"

"No problem at all, it's just like I'm using my own CAD, there's no incompatible feeling at all."

Kirihara immediately answered Katsuto's question.

Everyone was perfectly clear that this was not an inflated evaluation based on friendship. Given Kirihara and Tatsuya's past history — Kirihara was forcibly subdued by Tatsuya during the kenjutsu club's performance during recruitment week in April — people who knew the particulars were aware that there's no way Kirihara would protect Tatsuya. However, even excluding this "misunderstanding", everyone who saw the way the magic invocated knew that the CAD was functioning perfectly smoothly.

That being said, "able to smoothly invoke magic" was a fairly low criterion and it was hard to see any further results.

"...Looks like he has the fundamentals down, but this isn't enough to qualify him to be one of the school representatives."

"Time spent was pretty average, nothing special."

"He didn't follow proper procedure, but there may be some reason behind that..."

Unsurprisingly, the 2nd Year participants were the first to react negatively to this seemingly normal result.

The backlash wasn't solely from Tatsuya's unprecedented nomination, but also since he was specifically picked by the President, everyone subconsciously expected him to floor them all with some outstanding technique, so naturally higher expectations led to greater disappointment.

"I fully support bringing Shiba-kun onto the team!"

Abandoning her usual cowed expression, Azusa furiously countered.

"What he just displayed before our eyes was a technique that far surpasses our wildest dreams as high school students. Just the very fact that he doesn't need to use automatic maintenance and is able to do this entirely manually is already a feat that I cannot accomplish."

"...Even if his technique was amazing, but what's the point if it's such a mundane result...?"

"It only looks mundane, but the contents are completely different! To be able to completely abide within the safety parameters at no loss of efficiency is an incredible accomplishment!"

"Nakajou, relax a little bit... Rather than staying confined within the safety parameters, wouldn't it be better to take a few chances to raise the efficiency rate?"

"That's... because they suddenly want to test..."

Debate wasn't one of her strong suits, so her vigor quickly diminished.

Just as Azusa was floundering, a male student raised his hand to be recognized, which swiftly brought everyone's attention onto him.

"Kirihara's personal model boasts superior performance to the competition-use models, but even with this difference, the user was still unable to detect any difference, so I believe this technique deserves high praise."

"Eh? ...Hattori-kun?"

Out of the blue, the one who came to the rescue was Hattori.

"President, I also support Shiba joining the Technician Team."

"Hanzou-kun?"

Mayumi was entirely unable to mask her startled expression.

Even faced with the somewhat negative reaction on part of his beloved

(?)President and excluding his personal thoughts, Hattori continued fearlessly (on the outside) and graciously extolled his opinion.

"The Nine Schools Competition is an event that affects the very reputation of our school, so we should send the best and strongest candidates, without placing too much emphasis on who they are. The engineer's job is to support the participants so that they can focus exclusively on the events themselves. Just as Nakajou said, for Kirihara to say 'there's no incompatible feeling', I must admit that is a job done admirably well. With our current desperate lack of engineers, this isn't the time to bemoan that 'he's a 1st Year student' or 'this is unprecedented'."

Hattori's words were saturated with verbal barbs, but he strenuously defended his heart-felt position.

However, the very fact that Hattori threw in on Tatsuya's side was a large enough blow to rock the meeting.

"I also think that Hattori's opinion bears merit.

The talent Shiba put on display is more than enough to qualify him as one of the school representatives.

I also support Shiba joining the Technician Team."

With the opposition stunned into silence and Katsuto's public declaration of support, Tatsuya's nomination was certain.