Volume 18 - CH 8(2/5)
"Now that I think about it, we didn't really talk about Lina to Shizuku much."
Lina had moved to First High under the guise of a student exchange program, and that exchange partner had been, of course, Shizuku. Since they hadn't even met while moving to each other's countries, Shizuku basically knew nothing of Lina.
"I heard that she was a blond-haired beauty.
"That's true. Golden hair and blue azure eyes, such bright colors. She was really cute."
"More than Miyuki?"
"Eh? No way."
Honoka had instinctively answered, so she was stealing glances at Miyuki who was smiling with a troubled face.
"Umm, maybe their types were different? I mean, Miyuki is in the "beautiful" category."
Seeing Miyuki becoming more and more perplexed, Shizuku actively nodded to Honoka's words. As expected of best friends, this pattern in their behavior suited them well.
"However, if I had to put Lina in a category, it'd be "lovely". Her face was like that of an expensive doll's, but at the same time she was.. friendly, easy to talk to.. cheerful, bright, and definitely lively."
"I think those words are basically the same."
"Ugh.. A-anyway, she gave off what you'd call an American vibe."
"That is rather rude to Americans in general.."
"Overall I guess she would be a good match for Miyuki!" Honoka dodged Shizuku's heated argument,
"Her Magical power was also amazing. She was a good match for Miyuki in that aspect as well!"
Such was her conclusion.
"Equal to Miyuki? That's impressive."
Shizuku was genuinely interested about that part, so that sentence of hers wasn't meant to tease.
"Considering she had been sent, in a sense, as a representative of the USNA, it was to be expected."
Hearing Tatsuya, Leo and Erika couldn't help but put on a grin. Both of them, however, firmly understood that Lina's identity was to be kept a secret. They wouldn't do something as stupid as mouthing off in a place where someone might hear them.
Not knowing about Lina's identity, Shizuku tilted her head in wonder at seeing Erika and the others' smiling faces.
"Putting aside her Magical prowess, she was quite an entertaining person. Shizuku would've certainly liked her too. ——She was pretty vulnerable to heated arguments."
Before the conversation could shift in an unwanted direction, Tatsuya gave a casual remark.
"Tatsuya-san. I'm not the high-king of tsukkomi."
"Onii-sama.. I think this is rather rude to both Shizuku and Lina."
Receiving successive objections from Shizuku and Miyuki, Tatsuya apologized with a "My bad" while smiling.
"Still, to think Ichijou-kun would come to First High, I never imagined this even in my dreams. Was a clear reason given for his transfer?"
Thinking that the subject of Lina had run its course, Mikihiko asked the three people from Class-A about something that had been on his mind since this morning. ——The reason he used an overly polite tone was because, of course, those three students included Miyuki.
"He's not transferring, though."
"Due to matters concerning his family, he's going to stay in Tokyo for a while. It looks like he is going to follow Third High's theory course online using our terminals. That's why he's not wearing First High's uniform, but the uniform from Third High."
"By family business, does that mean the Ichijou Family?"
Hearing Honoka's explanation, Mikihiko turned a frowning gaze towards Tatsuya.
"With the recent events in mind, he might be here for something relevant to the terrorist attacks.. Tatsuya, do you know something?"
Receiving a direct question, Tatsuya did not lie nor did he use his right to stay silent.
"Do you know about the recent declaration made by the Magic Community?"
"Umm, you mean the one about searching for the terrorist mastermind?"
"Ichijou came to Tokyo for that reason. And while I'm at it, I'm going to add that Saegusa-senpai, Juumonji-senpai and myself will join the search."
This was, in part, to show the World that the Ten Master Clans wouldn't sit by and forgive acts of terrorism. It was one of the things declared to the media by the Magic Community. Since Tatsuya understood that much, there was no real reason to keep it a secret.
"I see.. say, Tatsuya."
"What is it?"
"Umm, can I help?"
Mikihiko's reaction, however, was fairly unexpected for Tatsuya.
It was more of a retaliation for the terrorist act against the Ten Master Clans —— They weren't exactly looking for Gu Jie. Moreover, homicide, casualties and the like, these were normally jobs for the police. Even if they were the Ten Master Clans, there is such a thing as overstepping their authority.
The Ten Master Clans were cooperating with the police to change the current opinion on Magicians. If they borrowed the help of someone outside of the Ten Master Clans, it wouldn't have nearly the same impact.
"I'd rather have you take care of the anti-Magician group's actions."
Tatsuya oriented Mikihiko's concern in another direction. It wasn't just for the sake of changing the subject or anything, it was a problem that needed attention as well.
"The anti-Magician group?"
"Weren't you the one who talked about students being observed and also being victims of abusive language?"
"Ah, yeah. You're talking about that."
It was Monday, during the second week of this term, he was talking about the content of a report made by the disciplinary committee.
"..It was a brief conversation, but you remembered it well, huh?"
"I was actually just thinking that you may have forgotten about it."
Hearing those unexpected harsh words from Tatsuya, Mikihiko blinked several times.
"This happened before the terrorist attacks. Right now, the public opinion of Magicians is in a critical situation, and to begin with, Humanists don't exactly think highly of us. So coupled with the recent happenings, there is a possibility that direct violence might be employed against the students."
Tatsuya's way of concluding matters was to strengthen Mikihiko's sense of the incoming crisis. When Tatsuya thought that Mikihiko was quietly pondering, he had in fact taken out his terminal to check some data.
"There is no report of assault yet.. Still, it's true that the number of harassment cases happening outside of the school has clearly increased.."
The data Mikihiko was currently poring over was a damage report that the disciplinary committee had gathered.
"I'm sorry, Tatsuya. Looks like I really screwed up. Until now, I was only paying attention to the school's interior."
Even though Mikihiko was blaming himself, one couldn't help but sympathize with him. Ever since the terrorist's (Gu Jie) declaration on Wednesday of last week, the students were fairly agitated, anxious even. Quarrels would erupt within the school grounds at the drop of a hat. Despite the fact that those were rare occurrences, there were cases where it even developed into scuffles between students. As a member of the disciplinary committee, Mikihiko's priority was, of course, the troubles that happened within the school.
"Would you mind sharing this data with the Student Council? Until last week we had been counting the number of incidents, so I'd like to compare with yours."
Despite saying that, since the voices of concern came from the students themselves, he had to report to the staff room at the very least. What Tatsuya meant was that he wanted to write a report on the consultations made to the disciplinary committee rather than the Student Council.
"Understood. I will do my best so that Tatsuya can concentrate on his duty."
"He's counting on you, disciplinary committee chairman!"
Erika cheered on a Mikihiko who was nodding with motivation. Even though her tone had been half-joking, Mikihiko understood that she was genuinely encouraging him.
? ? ?
After the class ended, Tatsuya decided to visit Class 2-A's room. "Onii-sama, did you come to get me?"
Miyuki, who perceived his approach, went out to meet Tatsuya in the hallway. For Tatsuya, who should've been going towards the student council's room, it was unusual for him to come and get Miyuki.
"Yeah. I also have a few things to talk about with Ichijou." However, Tatsuya's answer disappointed Miyuki slightly. "Ichijou-san? Understood. I will call him."
Still, she didn't show her disappointment. Miyuki showed a smile and went back to her classroom.
Her smile gave Tatsuya a sense of discomfort.
It wasn't the first time this had happened. He saw that smile a few times already this year, it was a different smile from before. This sensation reminded Tatsuya of the Yotsuba Family's ‘New Year's Meeting'.
That event caused an undesirable change in Miyuki. Tatsuya's intuition told him not to ignore this matter as it might cause unwanted trouble.
However, he wasn't allowed to ponder on the issue right now. "Shiba-san, thank you very much.. Shiba, what do you want?" Right now, he had to give priority to Masaki.
"Ichijou, are you aware that Juumonji-senpai is planning a meeting to talk about our mission?"
Tatsuya didn't need to explain in detail what this mission was about. As members of the Ten Master Clans, both of them knew that they had been ordered to search for the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks.
"No, this is the first I have heard of it but.."
However, since Masaki had just come to Tokyo, he did not know about it.
"Well, even if I say a meeting, it will be more like an exchange of currently known information between Juumonji-senpai, Saegusa-senpai and myself. You should come along as well."
"I see.."
Masaki pondered over Tatsuya's invitation. It didn't take him that long to come up with an answer, just less than 10 seconds.
"If it's alright with you, allow me to participate."
Masaki fully understood that for this kind of investigation, communication and sharing information was important. What he was worried about was that if he, as a student of Third High, were to join a meeting composed exclusively of First High students, the mood might be awkward. Though after realizing it wasn't the time to have such petty thoughts, he immediately came to a conclusion.
"I see. Today's meeting will be at 1800 Hours. I will send you the map, so please take out your terminal."
"A-alright."
With a slight feeling of surprise, Masaki took out his own personal digital assistant from his pocket. With this conversation flow, he had expected a "Then, let's go together" due to him being a Third High student. To be honest, Masaki wasn't thrilled with the prospect of walking together with his rival in love, so if he had been asked to follow him around, the offer would've been declined. He sort of lost his momentum at this anticlimactic result, since Tatsuya proposed a totally different course of action.
Masaki was also remembered that this wasn't Third High, and a slight feeling of loneliness invaded him.
"Did you receive all the data?"
Masaki's change of expression didn't escape Tatsuya's eyes. However, Tatsuya had no interest in what Masaki thought or felt. He asked in a business-like manner if he had received all the information needed.
"..No problem."
"Then, see you there at 1800 Hours."
After Masaki had nodded to his parting words, Tatsuya turned his attention to Miyuki.
"Miyuki, let's go?"
Even though Tatsuya was exempt from student council activities due to the search mission he was given, he thought that since he had come all the way to the classroom of Class-A, he could accompany Miyuki there.
"Yes."
After Miyuki nodded to Tatsuya with a smile on her face, she turned to Masaki to say goodbye.
"Then, Ichijou-san, we will be going."
"Do your best for the student council activities." Masaki answered so with a meek face.
After seeing Masaki off, Tatsuya and Miyuki headed towards the Student Council room.
Even though Tatsuya had his back turned, he could feel his gaze. There was no ignoring Masaki's subdued acrimony this time.
? ? ?
At precisely 1800 Hours, Tatsuya went into the restaurant that Katsuto was waiting in. He left at 1900 Hours.
There was no progress to be reported today by any of them, either. They had shared information about the affair in Kamakura during the day. Of course, they only shared information they could freely talk about. That was why tonight's meeting ended after an explanation of the current investigation led by Masaki. Therefore, it was over in a time that was neither too short nor too long.
Afterwards, Katsuto, Mayumi and Masaki ate dinner together, but Tatsuya declined and went home. Of course he had also been invited, but they didn't insist after he had refused. Katsuto and Mayumi seemed to have considered Tatsuya and Masaki's antagonism due to Miyuki.
In the train that was bringing him back home, Tatsuya thought about Miyuki. She had forced a smile for a long period of time when he had come to get her after school at her classroom.
It was not like today was the first time he had noticed this. After they came back from the Yotsuba meeting of the New Year, it happened quite a few times, and it caused Tatsuya to feel anxious every time. However, since it looked like Miyuki didn't want Tatsuya to notice, he hadn't asked her about it until now.
However, after seeing her today, he couldn't stop thinking that way anymore. It was pretty easy to understand that she was forcing herself. Before solving the worry he had been having, Tatsuya thought it was necessary to talk to her.
While he went from his cabin to the commuter that would take him home, Tatsuya thought about how he should bring up the subject into their discussion.
Bluntly asking would be a bad move. Forcibly making Miyuki talk might hurt her as he wasn't aware of the nature nor the gravity of her worry. Leading her to it with other questions might be the same as forcing her in the end. It's not like she was a prisoner whose information needed to be extracted, and the purpose wasn't to learn about her worry.
Tatsuya stood before his own house, not having decided anything. Stepping forward, his hand that was extending towards the door knob was slightly slower than usual.
"Welcome home, Onii-sama. ——Did something happen? Are you feeling ill!?"
Usually, he would have already opened the door, but seeing him being slower than usual, Miyuki's face was drained of color.
"No, I was just thinking about something. I'm back, Miyuki."
‘What are you doing, worrying Miyuki that way..' thought Tatsuya.
It wasn't like he had his momentum taken away, but he still hadn't confronted Miyuki about it even as they finished dinner. It was already getting quite late.
After finishing his meal, Tatsuya declined a tea-time offer and went to take a bath. Feeling refreshed, he decided to try to talk to Miyuki once more.
When Tatsuya came back to the living room, he was met by a Miyuki who had put on a knee-length classic one-piece dress with frills. She had already removed the white apron that she had on a while ago.
"Onii-sama, I will make coffee immediately, please wait for a moment."
Even faster than Tatsuya could open his mouth, Miyuki quickly said so and left her seat.
Could it be that she is avoiding him? Tatsuya quickly denied this possibility.
He doesn't think that she is avoiding him.
Miyuki had seen through what he wanted to ask her, and didn't like it. That is what Tatsuya thought.
However, it was undeniable that the fact that this caused Tatsuya anxiety was something Miyuki was conscious about. As opposed to Tatsuya who only knew about a vague restlessness of hers, Miyuki perfectly understood the reason for his.
What on Earth could Miyuki be worried about..
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
While Tatsuya was still throwing conjectures around, Miyuki entered the living room with a coffee tray. He was pulled out of his deep thinking by Miyuki, and he instinctively raised his face and looked at his watch.
Putting the coffee cups and the saucers on the table, Miyuki anxiously peered into Tatsuya's face.
"Umm, Onii-sama.. Are you really feeling alright? Are you sure that you aren't tired? You seemed fairly distracted tonight."
Tatsuya wanted to click his tongue for his blunder. He had made Miyuki worry once more. This wasn't the time to be lost in thought, he said to himself.
"Miyuki, won't you sit for a moment?"
"Yes..?"
However, this was his chance. In this situation, although he thought it was slightly unfair, Miyuki wouldn't be able to run away or change the subject.
"What I'm worrying about Miyuki, is you."
If this had been last year, that sentence would've brought Miyuki immense joy.
However, as she was now, her eyes swam all over the place trying to avoid Tatsuya's gaze.
"What are you so worried about?"
Miyuki refused to look at him directly. Still, not stopping at that, Tatsuya went all in.
"I don't.. such a thing."
Miyuki's answer had absolutely no persuasive power whatsoever. Understanding this fact herself, she wasn't only looking away, but was averting her whole face.
"Miyuki. Won't you tell me?"
Miyuki looked at him from the side, blinking restlessly. Her eyes were still not focused on anything. For her, keeping a secret from Tatsuya was probably impossible.
If Tatsuya had looked at her for 10 more seconds, Miyuki probably would have given in and shared her worries. However fate is whimsical, and this time, it was on her side. ——One could see it as bad luck that she was deprived of her chance to alleviate her concerns.
Miyuki stood up panicking when the sound of the video phone rang out. Even though there was a wireless console under the table, Miyuki jumped with vigor and went towards the panel on the wall.
Miyuki raised a voice of surprise when she saw the displayed name of the one calling.
"Onii-sama, it's a call from Oba-sama!"
"Put her on."
As he answered, Tatsuya had already moved in front of the screen's camera.
Miyuki pressed the answer button of the panel.
On the video phone's screen, Maya's face appeared.
"Good evening, Tatsuya-san. I was worried you may have been in the middle of something."
Although it wasn't easy to understand what she meant since they were facing each other, Maya's gaze was turned towards the table where the coffee cups were.
"No, it's alright. Oba-ue, what business brings you here today?"
For someone like Tatsuya, such an answer lacked composure. However, Maya did not comment on it.
"Last Saturday, Gu Jie managed to run away. Since we understood how, I thought I would let you know."
Hearing this, Tatsuya thought "Is this something that the Head of the Yotsuba Family should say?". However, this thought was premature.
"It seems like our communications have been intercepted."
"..Strong codes are supposed to protect the communications between members of the Yotsuba Family."
"We use a code changing every hour like the national defense but apparently this measure has been defeated."
As Maya said, the encryption key used by the members of the Yotsuba changed every hour.
That was why Tatsuya went to the Magic Association every month to meet an envoy who would hand over codes for the following 60 days (The extra amount being there as a reserve). Even the encoding machine that Ayako gave to Balance contained 43,200 codes, and to prevent an eventual theft of the codes from the machine, security of the highest order had been included.
To think that all of those security measures have been for naught was hard to believe.
"Then, should I think of this very call as one that might be intercepted as well?"
However, no matter how hard a thing it was to believe, Tatsuya didn't really have any reason to doubt it, thus, he accepted it as the truth.
"Indeed. That is why the next time we find a clue, we will transmit it to you by letter."
"Understood."
Even if she said that she would send a letter, there was no way she'd entrust it to the regular mail services, thought Tatsuya.
And one more thing. Since she contacted them tonight, it means that a new clue had been found today, Tatsuya understood that she planned on transmitting this information tomorrow.
"That is all I wanted to say about this matter.. Oh that's right, Tatsuya- san. Did things go well with Juumonji-dono and the Saegusa Family's daughter? The Ichijou Family's son also joined from what I heard."
"If you're talking about the meeting, everything went well."
What is this about suddenly, thought Tatsuya, but he answered without giving much of a thought.
"Is that so? Please do your best. However, getting along too well is a no- go."
Tatsuya looked at Maya with a quizzical expression.
Was his expression that strange? A smile appeared on Maya's face.
"My, my, didn't you notice? It wasn't Juumonji-dono who made the Saegusa Family's daughter participate, but the Saegusa Family itself. Using the meetings as a pretext to make you and her have something like a date."
What are you saying in front of Miyuki. A vivid panic awoke in his heart, however, it wasn't shown on his face.
"So they had such an intention. I will be careful."
Showing his displeasure with a frown, he returned such an answer.
"Yes, do so. Then I bid you farewell. I wish you a good night as well, Miyuki-san."
"Thank you very much."
"Have a good night, Oba-sama."
The call ended. In front of the now pitch-black screen, Tatsuya turned towards Miyuki.
As he expected, Miyuki was pretty angry. However, it didn't show on her face.
A strong malaise invaded Tatsuya. And yet, he felt like he knew the cause.
Tatsuya didn't feel any joy at being envied. He never wanted Miyuki to sulk or blame him, not even once. At the same time, he never thought of Miyuki being jealous as a bother or troublesome, either.
Tatsuya thought that there was no reason for Miyuki to restrain herself in any way. However, this could also be seen as his younger sister growing up, or even a proof of her growth; that was one way of looking at it.
There were also people who say that a woman's envy represents the depths of her love.
Still, one cannot say that envy is a virtue. While his intuition told him that this change in Miyuki was undesirable, his common sense judged that it might be a suitable change for a lady.
You can be open about your jealousy like before, was something that Tatsuya couldn't tell her.
? ? ?
The next day, February 12th, it had started to snow.
Due to the thick clouds that were covering the sky, it was still dark outside despite the fact that it should have been sunrise soon.
Coming down from Yakumo's temple, Tatsuya was running down the street at a speed nearing 60 kilometers per hour.
With his speed and the current weather, it was pretty difficult to identify the people he was passing by. Even so, anybody would've been able to recognize that woman, especially Tatsuya.
She had quite a peculiar appearance.
To be precise, Tatsuya couldn't have recognized her face. Her casquette (cap) that dropped to her eyes, large sunglasses, and muffler that covered her face all kept her face hidden.
Even though he was running on a downhill slope, Tatsuya managed to stop two steps in front of her.
"Good morning, Yoshimi-san."
Yoshimi made a quick bow in response to Tatsuya's greeting.
She took a portrait envelope out of her coat and presented it to Tatsuya.
Maya's messenger was Yoshimi. "I have accepted it."
Tatsuya said so after receiving the letter, and upon hearing this, Yoshimi's face moved up and down ever so slightly. Tatsuya wasn't even sure if she was actually looking at him behind her sunglasses.
Failing to perceive her expression, Tatsuya looked at Yoshimi's face once more. And, he felt that it was really unnatural. Trying to hide her face in plain view, if he had been the one observing, no doubt he'd have thought her to be suspicious.
Since it was roughly in the middle of winter, it wasn't that strange to have a muffler up to her nose.
The casquette might also be acceptable in the world of fashion, The combination of those two wasn't anything out of the ordinary. No doubt, the problem came from——
"Yoshimi-san, I think that this appearance has the opposite effect, it makes you stand out quite a bit. Shouldn't you remove the sunglasses?"
Despite knowing that it was uninvited interference, Tatsuya offered some advice.
Twice, Yoshimi shook her head left and right.
After coming back home and taking a shower, Tatsuya decided to open the letter he received from Yoshimi before having lunch.
"..Onii-sama, the preparations for the meal are complete."
Miyuki came from the dining hall to call Tatsuya. She immediately realized what the letter he had in his hand was about.
"Is this what Oba-sama talked about yesterday..?"
"Indeed."
Tatsuya nodded while standing up, he then handed the letter he had just finished reading to Miyuki.
Miyuki took the letter with a bit of hesitation, and opened her eyes wide as she read what it contained. The look on her face was filled with surprise.
This letter suggested that there was a possibility that Gu Jie's escape was made possible due to the cooperation of soldiers of the Defense Forces.
"It seems like no organization is unrelated to shady things. The Defense Forces are no exception. Though, I'd like to think that only a part of it is rotten."
Tatsuya took the letter from Miyuki's hands and put it back into the envelope he held.
"That being said, we shouldn't dwell on our past mistakes, especially when our target is willing to harm us to gets what they want. We have no reason to show restraint."
"Onii-sama.."
Miyuki looked up at Tatsuya's face with an anxious expression.
Tatsuya smiled while lightly patting his sister's head then headed towards the dining room.
? ? ?
Class 2-A's lesson at 1 o'clock was practice. Today's subject was ‘The definition of Magic's ending conditions'.
There was no Magic that lasted forever. There was a limit to the effective time of every Magic. But at the same time, with Magic that didn't have clear time limits, there was no way to precisely understand how long the effects would last.
It is impossible for a Magic Sequence to interfere with another. Unless we're talking about unusual Magic like Spell Dismantling (Gram Demolition) and Spell Dissolution (Gram Dispersion), interrupting the casting of a spell is impossible. Only overwriting the phenomenon alteration with more power is possible.
Thus, for a Magic to overwrite another, an interference strength greater than that of the Magic you want to overwrite is required. That stays true even if your objective was to "return an event modified by Magic to its original state". In the case of a Magic with uncertain ending conditions, the load on the Magician would increase even further. That is why the definition of ending conditions for Magic is an extremely important factor in a Magician's ability evaluation.
Generally, there were two ways of defining such a thing. One was to include the magic's effective time (start to finish) directly into the Magic Sequence. This method had been put to great use in Taurus Silver's flying devices.
Another was to define the conditions of the Magic's success. Until the objective of event modification is achieved, the activation continues. Hence, it is a method to put an end to the effectiveness of the Magic Sequence itself. This method tends to be used a lot in practice.
Today's class was about practicing Magic spells with variable durations of effectiveness. The training method used was for a student to change the color of a plastic ball from white to red, then to green, then to blue, and 10 sets of 3 color changes were to be performed in 30 seconds. Although the time and frequency could vary, the average of 1 second per color remained.
If the change was done too late, then the time limit would be exceeded. On the other hand, if it was executed too soon, the interference strength required to overwrite the previous Magic Sequence would increase. If this mistake was to be repeated multiple times then performing the Magic would progressively become harder, putting a lot of stress on the student.
Today was merely a practice session, not an evaluation, so the students had to group up and alt-->>