Volume 14 - CH 3(3/4)
“Amazing! It’s like the Holy Grail.”
Minoru revealed an exclamation, better yet, an impression of amazement. However, he wasn’t only appreciating Miyuki’s magic. He was walking apart from the side of Miyuki and Minami to an opposite direction where he heard a scream of an assailant who was shot by Tatsuya.
But before anything else, Minami tried to stop Minoru’s reckless independent action. She thought something like courteously telling him to do it as Tatsuya, who at any rate quickly moved to the enemy’s side instead of walking slowly to the front as he was doing it.
Except that, Miyuki prevented her from trying to stop Minoru. She held Minami’s arm who was going to raise her voice, and with an unexpectedly gentle rejecting gesture with her head signaled Minami that it was unnecessary.
Minami knew the reason immediately.
There seemed to be two types of enemy magicians. Ancient magicians not concerned with sticking to the tradition who adopted the concept of an armed built‐in modern magic CAD that fires a physical weapon called “Flechette” bullet. And ancient magicians fixated to the traditional type who set up attacks with SB Magic enslaving Independent Information Bodies using Consciousness‐Induced Outer Systematic Mental Interference Magic.
Tatsuya countered the former type of magician and Minoru headed towards the side of a latter one who was hiding. The enemy didn't understand Minoru's aim and also was in a confused state, but immediately after, they concentrated intense attacks on him. Maybe they noticed the hateful lineage of the Kudous, so whatever it was, Miyuki and Minami were completely forgot from the picture.
However, all enemy’s magic was unsuccessful. Wind, fire and sound magic went through Minoru and dispersed without exception leaving no damage at all. Also magic that could cause direct injury or inner wounds all failed due to absence of target.
“Is it an illusion? I can’t believe it..”
Minami’s mutter was by no means exaggerated. A magician doesn’t have to be Tatsuya to be able to perceive psions like physical light and sound. The body of Minoru which got reflected into Minami's field of vision had the same psion pattern just as the real body which was walking next to her until now.
In other words, the person was certainly there, if recognized by a magical sense.
“Parade. The technique of the Kudou Family that incorporates elements of Ninjutsu.”
With her comment, a shiver beyond praise dwelled in Miyuki’s voice.
“Even so, this is amazing.. This precision is better than Lina’s.”
“When you say Lina, you mean USNA Stars High Commander, Angie Sirius?”
“Yes. That Angie Sirius. Angelina Kudou Shields. We call her Lina. She’s a gentle and lenient child a bit inappropriate for military personnel, but her magic capacity didn’t shame the name of a Stars High
Commander. However, Minoru‐kun is technically superior to her, at least with respect to Parade. I have to say that the Kudou Family is home of such powerful descendants.”
How would Minoru feel once he heard Miyuki’s last remark? Maybe he’d feel praised with “honor”, or he’d be embarrassed and say “I’m still far from it”, or he’d express modesty and say “Powerful descendants, that's really out of the question”. Or rather he’d be shocked that he was being watched. Anyway, he volunteered to be the guide with pure courtesy, so he wouldn’t do anything against Miyuki or the others.
Fortunately, Minoru didn't hear Miyuki’s last remark. His consciousness was 100% focused on enemy neutralization.
An activation sequence started on Minoru's right hand and it was absorbed in a moment. Due to the use of a perfect thought‐operated type CAD, no buttons were pressed, which shouldn’t give any surprise once that is known. There should be a special mention of the activation sequence reading speed, which even if it’s estimated conservatively, it should be comparable to the speed of First High School former student council president Saegusa Mayumi.
However, it was still early to be surprised.
Without leaving an interval to be shocked about the activation sequence processing speed, Minoru released his magic.
With one step of his, the ground started emitting light. This was the Dispersion Systematic Magic "Spark". A fundamental technique that forces out electrons from a substance and causes an electric discharge phenomenon. The magic target is usually the air molecules within a narrow range from the substance. Although ionization of this nature is a relatively common phenomenon, it requires a very high interference power because the magic affects the substance structure altering it. Also, ordinary magicians have low density of ionization, that is, the best they can produce is a small number of molecules within a certain volume of gas in a very limited range from the substance.
This is an activation against ground surface limits just about within sight.
So, this “Spark” has an electrical discharge range broader than the combination magic "Slithering Thunders" that the former Club Management Group Chief Hattori Hanzou is strong at. Moreover, as for the degree of difficulty, “Spark” is a better technique, despite Hattori’s magic, that applies conditions like using a frictional static electricity discharge.
(Above Hattori‐senpai and comparable to Saegusa‐senpai!?)
As Miyuki watched the scene, she forgot to cast support magic.
Tatsuya looked with admiration at how Minoru’s magic neutralized half of the magicians that surrounded them forming a supposedly, but accurately depicted semicircular shape.
In the same way, Miyuki was impressed as well, about how Minoru made ‘Spark’, which requires strong phenomenon interference power to act on many target objects. But, Tatsuya was really paying attention that the purpose for this wide area ‘spark’ wasn’t only for preparation to bring the enemy into the open.
When ordinary magicians, ‐no, when first class magicians lack interference force, they use magic that would fail for activation as a sacrificial stone. In that sense, Tatsuya soon proved before his eyes that Minoru was sort of an owner of magic power that compensated his extravagant tactics.
To stop the electric current from crawling up their footing, the enemy's magicians used defense techniques. In modern magic, special conditions for the activation method need to be prepared in advance when using a CAD to invoke magic for a detected attack in order for the magic to have the timing to not miss. Most probably, the SB magic uses a disposable artificial spirit causing a phenomenon modification to cancel out the "caster’s detected magic phenomenon". Tatsuya guessed this ancient rite magic was called "Oniyarai‐jutsu”. (Chant to chase evil spirits away.)
In this case, the opponent’s magic real nature wasn’t important.
Magic was activated automatically, namely, “Invisibility”, which was magic instantly released with the purpose of unintentionally, hide the enemy’s whereabouts. It was clearly for Tatsuya, to know the place where the enemy was hiding even without the use of Elemental Sight. However, neither Miyuki nor Minami knew, and of course not even Minoru who forced this situation.
Minoru’s Activation Sequence in his left hand expanded and his arm absorbed it. He had mostly mastered the perfect thought‐operated type CAD. It's a good thing for developers, but when considering that only two months have passed since the new product was first sold, in this sense, Minoru’s ability can’t helped but to be terrifying.
An electric current flowed where Minoru pointed at. It didn’t form either a luminous phenomenon or any sound of dielectrical breakdown, but Tatsuya who used his exceptional talent of information body recognition "watched” it. Minoru’s magic produced the same effect as creating an outside interference on an electric current from his body and then poured it inside the enemy magician.
The sound of a human breaking down arrived to Tatsuya’s ears. This was the result of an enemy magician being attacked by Minoru receiving an electric shock and losing body freedom.
The body of a magician is protected from the magic of others with an information reinforcement defensive wall that unfolds unconsciously. This does not change even for Ancient Magic magicians. In this case, Minoru broke through the defensive wall easily and directly triggered magic into the enemy.
Even with the magic Rupture, which Ichijou Masaki was good at, it was difficult to break through an information reinforcement defensive wall in an instant. Tatsuya didn't witness the scene himself, but knew about it because of a detailed battle report about the Yokohama incident.
Minoru’s forte is Dispersion Systematic Magic with Electricity Interference, that is, electronic exercise and distribution. As the circumstances show, this magic is Minoru’s specialty, so it can't be established that Minoru's interference power exceeds Masaki’s. On the other hand, Minoru has managed to fuse the Ancient Magic and Modern Magic in a technique called “Parade”, and that’s why his ability can be said to equal Masaki’s Modern Magic.
People fell in succession wherever Minoru pointed his vision straight on.
As for the enemy attacks, they couldn’t catch any substance from Minoru.
Did the enemy finally realize the difference in ability that should have called the difference in the status quo? The only thing that could be seen was the shape of the shadow of one magician that hid.
He didn’t surrender, because he still held his magic charms. He showed his stance so expressly, so he didn’t escape. It was a posture to unveil a desperate attack, or better yet, to go for the sink or swim.
Of course, Minoru’s eyes faced that man.
It can be unfair to call it neglect. Minoru just was not granted more chances to fight, because his talent was the very top‐notch, except he wasn't endowed but with an ailing body.
The enemy that held the charms was defeated by Minoru’s magic
At the same time almost simultaneously, a small shadow rushed besides bushes closer to Miyuki rather than Minoru.
It was not a magician. It was a much agile four‐legged beast and considerably smaller than a human.
“A Kanko!?” (Kanko is a creature that resembles a fox spirit familiar.)
Whether Minoru’s voice called for Miyuki’s attention or reflexively expressed surprise, if it was a warning, Miyuki was beyond help. Right then, the small beast was to bounce upon Miyuki with clear malicious intent.
Miyuki watched the beast that was going to attack her without blinking her eyes.
“Miyuki‐sama!”
Minami was the one that moved in that moment.
With the object shield that Minami set up, she sensed and started to reflex that something had slipped through it rather than broken it.
Then, in order for Miyuki’s body to be covered, Minami served herself as a shield for her Master.
That said, Miyuki is taller than Minami. For Minami to cover Miyuki, it has to be in the form of “jump and push down”.
It’d be unthinkable that Miyuki could have a fragment of expectation that Minami would come forth with this behavior, so she turned her back over at her wits end.
"Miyuki!"
Tatsuya cried out with an indeed impatient voice. But soon after, he regained composure.
Minami rushed to look back at what was underlying Miyuki to grasp an unexpected view of something really frozen.
What was displayed upon Minami’s eyes, and not being a metaphor but real, was the iced up body of a long small animal knocked down.
“It huuuurts.. Minami‐chan, quickly move back, please.”
Minami stood up in a hurry upon hearing that voice. Miyuki’s voice didn't have anger at all, but Minami’s heart was just before a panic attack.
“As expected of Miyuki. Splendid reaction you had there.”
Tatsuya approached and held out his hand to Miyuki.
Miyuki happily grasped her elder brother's hand, and got up with a move that hardly made her feel any weight.
“I'm Onii‐sama's little sister after all. I must be able to do this much.”
Neither Tatsuya nor Miyuki seemed to catch sight of Minami who almost fainted with strain.
Meanwhile, Minoru neutralized all remaining enemies.
Tatsuya left the side of Miyuki and Minami for a moment to search the pockets of the enemy they defeated. However, Tatsuya didn’t find any clues to his identity by looking at his belongings. The search didn’t depend on reason so much, so he wasn’t disappointed. He just returned to the two girls with a nonchalant look.
Minami and Miyuki kept exchanging lines such as "I’m sorry, I’m sorry" vs. "It's ok, I don't worry about it." and " I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,......" vs. "It's really ok, I won't worry about it anymore". Tatsuya judged that it was necessary a little more time until Minami could calm down and paid more attention to Minoru who walked to this place. Tatsuya was going to thank him for his assistance, but the one who talked first was Minoru.
“It is amazing, Tatsuya‐san. To think that you have completed the enemy cleanup in this short time."
Tatsuya had a hard time trying to suppress a bitter smile.
“No, Weren’t you the one who was amazing? My part was only to be available for surprise attacks, but you brought to the front all enemies that hid and had them under control.”
“If I say that, I would be doing a foul play. Would you happen to know about ‘Parade’?”
“Yes. But, that person there must be wondering: Why do I know of the existence of ‘Parade’ and know about it”.
“It’s confidential.”
Minoru answered so promptly and with an expressive smile that no bit of malice could be felt. Maybe this was already known, but Tatsuya thought he had a face like an angel and also a good personality.
Tatsuya thought that it wasn’t certain that he seemed to be prone to criticism and words like “You don’t say” from strangers, but then, he decided to change the subject before falling into the humility of the loop complimenting each other.
“By the way, how long does it take from here to the Traditionalists’ base? We haven’t spent too much time in battle, but now that an ambush was set here, the enemy can expect us to know their hiding place. But even if we go now, I don’t think we will find any clues left."
“Yes. In addition, we can't leave them here unattended.”
“Onii‐sama, isn’t it better for us to depart soon? We still have plenty of room to catch the train but being seen in this place at this hour, for too long won’t do any good for us.”
Miyuki called for Tatsuya’s attention even if the reason wasn’t being jealous that Tatsuya and Minoru were interacting on good terms.
“Yes, that’s correct. We’re done here today, right?”
“Oh, well, here I am... Ahem, I know that I should mind my own business but, around what time is your return ticket?”
“It’s for 10:30 p.m. We still have 3 hours.”
Because Tatsuya intended to take more time for searching, he took the return tickets on a reasonably later time. ‐By the way, the system called ticket always changes form but still survives in this era.
“So, what would you say if we go to an Onsen (hot spring)?”
“Onsen..?”
Miyuki listened to the conversation of Minoru and Tatsuya on the side and after, she frowned her eyebrows suspiciously. Minami intended to do this in secret, but almost completely exposed to her companions, she opened her sweater neck to confirm her body odor.
This of course has an obvious meaning. The women were impatient and thinking that Minoru stepped on a landmine with their emotions.
“No, no, no, you two gracious ladies haven’t been touched by any impurity or uncleanness”.
Miyuki pierced a look of “the moon in the water” into Minoru.
Minoru’s whole body became stiff. The dignified fight of minutes ago now seemed to be just pretense.
Tatsuya probably perceived himself to have to pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire and only sighed in his mind.
“Minoru, that’s suicide.”
Tatsuya gave first a decisive blow for Minoru to behave more conscious of not extending damage.
“Miyuki, Minami too, please calm down. Minoru just suggested that if we bath in the Onsen we should heal our battle fatigue, that’s all.”
Beside them, Minoru was speechless of the way that Tatsuya persuaded the younger sisters with a strong tone.
“I think it’s not a bad story. What will you do?”
“...If Onii‐sama says so..”
Although not having a face of being completely convinced, Miyuki nodded, while, on the other hand, a dangling light of expectation was reflected in the eyes of those who would be charmed by her in the Onsen.
Maybe Minami was embarrassed sitting next to Miyuki, because she held the sweater by the neck with her right hand.
Minoru guided the party to an Onsen location that was on a well‐established hotel not far from the
Heijōkyō ruins. It can be said that, he was guiding instead of escorting, as Tatsuya soundly insisted Minoru to be on that position, so in case of a surprise attack the party could flee leaving Minoru fighting alone. Surprisingly, Minoru’s personality was of those that can be compelled.
If Minoru hadn’t gone with them, Tatsuya would have been in the position of getting dragged into a family bath with Miyuki. It’s not that he didn’t want it, but it was inconceivable to be with the two girls alone in such a place.
In fact, Tatsuya wanted to talk a bit more to Minoru.
Then, without entering the hot spring in the hotel, Tatsuya and Minoru stayed in the guest room facing each other across the tatami‐room table.
“So Tatsuya‐san, what do you need to know about the “Kanko”?
“I’m surprised. You have a splendid insight.”
Tatsuya praised Minoru quite earnestly, so Minoru took it as a compliment.
“No, I just blurted out some word from memory of a subject that I don’t know much about and that seemed to attract your interest.”
Tatsuya just praised the absence of perceptiveness and chose not voicing it again. He also decided to delve into the main subject.
“What kind of existence is this ‘Kanko’? It's impossible not having seen or heard about a creature that holds seamless substance and that appears in the shape of a fox. Also, not an ordinary being is able to slip through Minami's guardian barrier.
For just a brief moment, hesitation was reflected on Minoru’s eyes
“Do you already know about the ‘parasites’, right?”
“Yes. You know about them, too?”
“Yes. Briefly, this ‘Kanko’ is a familiar created with the same principle as the ‘parasites’”
“The same principle..? Is it embedded in the independent information body of the beast?”
“Yes. Just after a creature is killed, they extract the information body and create an artificial spirit. This new young congener beast.. ‐better said ‘Familiar’, is created with the magical ability of the parent embedded. This ancient magic rite surprisingly seems to be popular technology.”
“So then, this ‘Kanko’ is surely some kind of created ‘Familiar’?”
“Yes. But, is that really what you wanted to hear?”
Minoru seemed to emit an air of malice. He really didn’t appear to be participating in the harboring of the parasites. He gave the impression of being cautious and of only expecting to receive questioning from Tatsuya on the method for breeding parasites. Maybe it was misunderstood that there was an increase of parasites, and with that, more humans offered as sacrifices. Anyhow, with this, tension could reveal the explicit aspect of something increasingly superhuman.
However, this wasn’t Tatsuya’s impression. Because he was accustomed to the superhuman good looks, he really didn’t feel any particular pressure.
"No, this is enough for now."
All the suspicious hints on Minoru’s face disappeared after being caught by surprise with Tatsuya’s response. He was ‘pushed’ to give out an innocent voice after this.
“S‐s.. Sorry about that.”
A somehow distorted laughter attack struck Minoru and he couldn’t stop it. That was the kind of fellow he happened to be.
“You know what, Tatsuya‐san, what can I say, you really are a profound person. I understand now why Grandfather has taken interest in you.”
“No. I’m just an ordinary person.”
Minoru’s laughter continued, with the idea of directing an objection to Tatsuya who as a human being had a dazzling mind.
Right after being guided to their room, Miyuki and Minami decided to go to the Onsen, particularly the big communal bath. There wasn’t any request from Miyuki for Tatsuya to accompany them. On the other hand, since Miyuki was just too inquisitive, there wasn’t any specific need to hide the ‘talk’ about the ‘Kanko’
In the end, it seemed like a correct choice to make this decision. Also, the Onsen unexpectedly provided comfortable and pleasant feelings for the bath.
The communal bath was quite crowded in its own way. As usual in this date, there wasn’t anyone exposed naked in public. There was a partition to separate the booth to wash the body and the plunge bathtub with the hot water. This was a long‐established rather quiet hotel, and despite a considerable number of adults were there, it can be said that the exposure for the people in the bath was controlled, ‐in fact, censored.
Still, Miyuki caught everybody's eye.
There wasn’t any mixed bathing in this place, explicitly only bathing for people of the same sex. Additionally, women present this time were mostly adult and some elderly too. Nevertheless, when Miyuki appeared beside the bathtub, all eyes of the visitors turned simultaneously onto her, putting some quietness in the room as if time stopped at all.
Then, as soon as her white foot was quietly immersed in the hot water, a deep sigh leaked out of nowhere and afterwards time begun to advance again.
Next, Miyuki started to slowly submerge and the hot water gently quivered her bathrobe against her body. It wasn’t just one or two that felt that a celestial maiden with the robe of an angel had just descended.
Miyuki felt very comfortable and exhaled a captivating sigh. But instead of an exhaling, it sounded as an inhaling.
Suddenly, a rough wave hit the surface of the hot water. There were two women that looked like twenty year olds who slightly startled in commotion and immediately got out of the bathroom. This didn’t purposefully mean that the two women provoked one or two people to leave, but without noticing, Miyuki and Minami were left alone in the spring.
“What on earth would have happened, everyone?”
After Miyuki’s words, Minami secretly exhaled a sigh next to her dazzling companion.
Minami understood very well the feelings of the women who left. Likewise, regarding real feelings, Minami also didn't want to take a bath with Miyuki. It was only after she joined the bath that she casually noticed. As if stimulating the inferiority complex of a woman, even her identity was so shaken that she wanted to run away the scene.
This might be no longer relevant.. but Minami has even become attached to such off the mark concern.
“Well, this is perfect. This way we can easily be more relaxed.”
Minami regrettably agreed with this opinion. When Miyuki attracts attention, Minami who is beside her necessarily needs to fit into the picture. Minami is not used to being gazed at unlike Miyuki. She certainly is a beautiful girl, but she does not have the extremely good looks seizing all eyes of the same sex as well as the opposite one. Actually, the fact that just the two of them became alone in the bath somewhat relieved Minami.
“Yes. This is really nice..”
Following that, Miyuki sighed.
Minami’s body trembled with fear instead of surprise.
“Ara? What happened Minami‐chan? Are you cold...? Is it possible that the water has become chillier?”
Minami wasn’t cold at all. On the contrary, she was kind of burning.
“I better immerse a bit more. The thing is that my body does not much abide by this kind of temperature and it was already heated enough.”
It was a misunderstanding. Actually, Minami wanted to leave the hot water immediately. However, she couldn’t oppose Miyuki's wishes just like that. So, understanding Miyuki’s hint and feeling the pressure, Minami immersed her body in the water.
Miyuki smiled looking satisfied seeing a diligent Minami who immersed in the hot water. But Minami's consciousness shook with dizziness. No matter who one is, if a hot bath is too long, one will be affected with hot water fatigue.
Tatsuya left the hotel, alongside Miyuki who looked absolutely refreshed and Minami who for some reason had an exhausted face. Actually, the fare they applied had dinner included, but it was late and they didn’t have enough time for it.
Later, in front of the station, Minoru saw with sorrow eyes the parting of Tatsuya and the two girls, who were about to leave in a limousine.
“Today was really fun.”
As usual, what Minoru said was not put into courteous words.
“No. We’re the ones grateful for your help.”
Tatsuya replied on behalf of the three.
Minoru turned towards Tatsuya with eyes like a puppy this time. That was an expression that would make a woman of marriage age lose sanity.
“Can we meet again later?”
“I’d say that the mission is not over yet, soon we’ll meet and that time we’ll be under your care again.”
“I’d be glad to! Please let me know of anything I can assist. If it is something within my capability, I'll be glad in lending you a hand...
“Thank you. So, we’ll be seeing you later."
“Yes. Until the time we see each other again.”
Tatsuya and the girls parted from Minoru while exchanging a farewell with the promise of meeting again.
? ? ?
As the three returned to Tokyo, they dined out before returning home. Tatsuya went to his room and entered on his personal terminal instead of his home terminal. He immediately noticed a message on the answering machine. The sender of the message was Fujibayashi.
Even though he thought that there were many opportunities to contact her recently, he decided this time was proper to call her on her private number.
“Ah, Tatsuya‐kun? Welcome back.”
It was a strange feeling to be called “Welcome back” on a call. Even today, when the addressee was on the other side of the video.
“I apologize for calling this late. Is Fujibayashi‐san still at the Kudou’s residence?”
This question was quite relevant, since Fujibayashi was present when Tatsuya was meeting Kudou Retsu.
“Yeah, you’re quite perceptive.”
“I’m just guessing.”
“Ara, Is that so? Since it is Tatsuya‐kun, I thought you'd surely hack some local connection to obtain information.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have the ‘information gathering’ skill set that Fujibayashi‐san has. Besides, I have a question about the message I just received. What was ‘that’ of today specifically?”
‘That’. Even though Tatsuya didn’t express his awareness with any weird meaning, Fujibayashi laughed without emitting any sound.
“Right. About 'that'...”
She used the same word, before following up with the details.
“It’s about the ‘bunch’ that attacked Tatsuya’s group this evening.”
Fujibayashi easily expressed the word that Tatsuya made ambiguous.
Tatsuya didn't raise any complaint about what was mentioned. On the other hand, Fujibayashi didn't worry about any eavesdropping, as the safety of the connection was guaranteed.
“Do you know their identity?”
“Yes, though I think it was quite evident.”
“Magicians from the ancient faction of the Traditionalists”.
“Well, you already knew”.
Fujibayashi replied with an apathetic voice to Tatsuya’s correct answer.
“Still, I'm sure this is not the end, right?”
Tatsuya asked confidently Fujibayashi. However, if that's all there to it, she wouldn't go so far as to ask Tatsuya to return her call.
“You’re right. It’s no doubt that the ‘bunch’ that attacked you guys was an execution unit from the Traditionalists and also they involved a monk that was exiled from the continent.”
With this comment, Fujibayashi made a somewhat disagreeable face.
“For the development of the Parasite Dolls, the Kudou involved the presence of this monk who also was protected by them. I knew this monk rushed back to the Traditionalists hideout, but it’s surprising to have found him in this place this time.”
Isn't that to be expected?”
“Well, that's right..”
Following Tatsuya’s comment, Fujibayashi nodded w-->>