Volume 4, Chapter 9

It was the fifth day of the Nine Schools Competition and the second morning of the Newcomers Division.

Tatsuya arrived in front of the arena that was busy preparing for the Newcomers Division’s Icicle Destruction.

Several large cranes were unloading 1 meter x 1 meter x 2 meter icicles from large battlefield vehicles specially modified for this purpose. Seeing this would naturally cause people to believe that the days where super robot anime became reality were not too far off.

"......If we could completely ignore energy efficiency, that is."

"Onii-sama? What are you talking about?"

As if to reject this outrageous line of thinking, Tatsuya involuntarily started muttering to himself.

"No, it's nothing."

She did not pursue this vague answer. "Let's go quickly."

"Yes."

Originally, this was only a stopping point along their route to the competition location.

Tatsuya urged Miyuki onward towards the resting area located on the top floor of the Arrow Tower.

? ? ?

There was still 30 minutes until the start of the first round in the morning.

When Tatsuya entered the arena, there was still plenty of spare time. "Good morning!"

......Still, the players for the first round were already there.

"Good morning......

Sorry for making you wait so long."

"Oh please, I was the one who came too early."

The player for the first round of Icicle Destruction, Akechi Eimi, smiled as she shook her head and swept a lock of her ruby red hair back from her face.

"Good morning, Eimi. How early did you get up?"

"Good morning, Miyuki. For some reason, I woke up before the alarm went off. It's like I haven't recovered from yesterday's excitement."

Her other name was Emilia Goldie. Her full name was Akechi Emilia Goldie Eimi. Eimi was a quarter British stock. Her nickname "Emmy", rather than originating from her Japanese name "Eimi", probably came from her British name "Emilia".

A Magician's ability was heavily influenced by genetics.

Due to the connection between magic and national power, each country jealously guarded its magic bloodlines and either officially or unofficially forbade international marriages between Magicians. (This country that superficially allowed freedom of marriage belonged in the "unofficial" category.)

Yet, in the generation of Tatsuya's grandparents, allied countries actively encouraged international marriages between Magicians. The goal was to "cross"

"excellent stock" to "develop" superior Magicians.

The ensuing result was that over half of the current students at magic high schools boasted bloodlines from Western Europe or India.

Leo was one of them, and the female student known as Akechi Eimi was another.

As could be inferred from her words, she also appeared in yesterday's Speed Shooting competition. This was the second day in a row she was working alongside Tatsuya. Besides Miyuki and the two others, Eimi was the first one on the Women's Team to jell with Tatsuya. For Tatsuya, she was also the most relaxed young lady on the team.

After the two of them exchanged greetings, they delved into girl talk as Tatsuya smoothly removed the CAD from the case he was carrying, performed a cursory examination, and handed it to Eimi.

This was a clumsy looking, shotgun-shaped Specialized CAD that measured 50 cm in length and completely dwarfed a young lady's hand.

The weapon looked quite heavy, but because recoil wasn't an issue, the weight was significantly lower than a normal firearm thanks to its lightweight materials. Yet Eimi's movements were like something straight out of a Western flick as she swung the gun around and took aim out the window.

"......Eimi, you're not British, but American, aren't you?"

"How many times do I have to say this, no. Now even Miyuki is saying this too? My grandmother's family was knighted by the Tudors themselves."

Contrary to the content of her words, her tone remained unperturbed.

She maintained her current posture and started to supply the CAD with psions. Somewhere along the way, the safety was removed. Just like Morisaki's Quick Draw, this was an entirely different type of pristine CAD drawing.

"How is it?"

"Hm...... Now I know how Shizuku feels."

Everyone in the 1st Year Women's Team knew about the fact that the Ojou-sama from the wealthy Kitayama Family wanted to "reserve" Tatsuya.

"Are there any problems?"

"Yep, it's perfect!"

Eimi relaxed her posture and smiled in delight.

Apart from her ruby hair and moss green pupils, her outward appearance was thoroughly Japanese. Even among her peers, she was the one who had the most childish impression. Rather than calling her earlier smile "delightful", a more innocent "teehee" was probably closer to the mark.

"I have no idea what you're talking about......"

Eimi tilted her head at Tatsuya's muttering, but her smile didn't fade in the slightest. One of the chief reasons was likely because she had no idea what he was talking about.

"At least let me run a few calibrations. Can you put on the ear set?"

"Eh? Why?"

"Eimi...... In truth, you didn't get up early, but didn't sleep at all, right?"

At being asked this sudden question, Eimi's smile grew a tad forced. "......How could you tell?"

Seeing Eimi's widened eyes, Tatsuya silently nodded and, in response, took the CAD from her hands and restarted the calibration process.

"......You're sharper than my parents."

Eimi obediently put on the headphones used for measurement while nagging with an "I can't believe you" and placing her hands on the measuring pads.

Seeing the numbers scrolling down the screen, Tatsuya's expression darkened.

With Tatsuya's minute facial changes, Eimi's body also started to curl up. This scene didn't escape Miyuki's eyes.

"Well, Onii-sama?"

There was no reprimand hidden in her words, but when Tatsuya heard her words, he raised his head in realization and smiled as he rubbed the space between his brows with two fingers.

"Unless Eimi also forgoes Sound Sleep?"

"Also? You mean Shiba-kun does that too?"

Eimi's reaction prompted Tatsuya's expression to soften somewhat as he nodded.

"Wow, I discovered a comrade. How should I put this, doesn't that give you an uncomfortable feeling? Especially those weird sound waves."

"There's no actual health risk...... But I do agree that it is quite uncomfortable. I do make an exception for sleepless nights though. Especially if I have a competition the next day."

"OK~."

Eimi's response was perfect for a child that had just been scolded by a parent. Tatsuya could only smile wryly at this.

"Then, I'll raise the feedback loop a little higher...... This might be a little irritating, so bear with it for a little bit. Certainly you wouldn't want to be accused of 'losing the contest owing to lack of sleep', right?"

"I'll bear with it, please! If that really happened, they'll never let me live this down."

There was nothing worthy of note in her tone. Eimi blushed as she pressed her hands against several interesting points on her pants. Tatsuya paused and was frozen for a solid second.

"I really didn't want to bring this up, but, Miyuki......

What do you people do in your rooms?"

"N, nothing, Onii-sama, Miyuki hasn't done anything shameful!"

"Oh, really~? Miyuki's room is a complete safe house."

"Eimi! Do not speak of such strange nonsense in front of Onii-sama!"

An awkward silence covered the resting area. To break this stalemate, an abrupt change in the conversation was inevitable. He wasn't entirely sure who this excuse was directed to, Tatsuya thought to himself.

"......Fortunately, the first round is in the early morning so you can take a nap before the second round begins. Sorry, Miyuki, but could I trouble you to prepare the 'Sleeping Dock' for immediate use?"

"I understand. I will be right back."

After Miyuki departed to setup the sensory inhibitory dock (soundproof, shockproof, light-shielded, sealed single bed), Tatsuya started CAD calibration.

? ? ?

Although the first round got a little tense at one point, victory was finally achieved with three icicles still left in allied territory.

Speaking of which, the ending result was that Eimi was currently deep in dream land without any opportunity to complain that "It's too dark~" or "It's too cramped~".

This was the fifth event, which was the second event for the female students from First High. They were currently in the resting area before the match began.

(I seem to recall saying something very similar recently.) Tatsuya thought of this, but was still forced to say it aloud.

"Shizuku...... Are you really wearing that uniform during the competition?"

"Yeah?"

When Shizuku replied with an "Is something wrong?" expression on her face, Tatsuya really wanted to cover his head and was completely at a loss.

Icicle Destruction involved the players standing on four meter tall platforms and defending the 12 icicles in their own territory that measured 12 square meters while simultaneously knocking down or destroying all their opponent's 12 icicles.

The players were strictly using long range magic, so there was no need to move their physical bodies.

In other words, the player's wardrobe played no role in this event. (Besides the uniforms that hinder the grip on their CADs.)

The only criterion for wardrobe was that it "must be decent".

And the ensuing result was that — while unintentional — at some point Women's Icicle Destruction became a fashion show.

In addition, when Kanon appeared for the Official Division on the second and third days, she was wearing a fairly normal sports uniform. She wore tights, a mini jacket, an adequate shirt, as well as long socks and tennis shoes.

On the other hand, Eimi was dressed like a jockey, complete with a white collared shirt, red riding jacket on the upper body, tight women's pants and black riding boots below, along with a black duck-billed hat.

Still, those still fell within normal boundaries and didn't qualify as anything particularly gaudy.

Then, there was Shizuku

......

"Uh, Shizuku......"

"Yes?"

"Wouldn't the tamoto......

Get in the way?"

Yes.

No need to flog the dead horse, but that was a "tamoto" from a kimono.

"There's no problem. The sleeves are short enough, and I also have the obi."

Speaking of which, Shizuku deftly tied the obi in front of Tatsuya.

Such a fluid motion clearly showed that she had plentiful experience in a kimono.

Yet—

(If you needed to use the obi to keep the tamoto in check, wouldn't you be better off forgoing the kimono in the first place?)

Tatsuya thought of this, but managed to hold his retort in.

There wasn't much time before the next round, so Tatsuya quickly gave up on persuading her otherwise — after all, this was the "official garb" for boosting one's spirits. In that case, he'll just have to turn a blind eye.

Shizuku chose — correction, the CAD that Tatsuya chose for her was a Generalized CAD.

This implied that the event demanded a careful energy allocation that possessed a balanced strategy.

It wasn't like Tatsuya could keep pulling rabbits out of a hat. To be precise, Tatsuya himself had no interest in creating devious tactics.

For him, it was all about providing the players with the most appropriate tools and the strategy that could bring about their maximum potential, and nothing more. In light of this, if direct assault was the most effective strategy, he would ruthlessly adopt that as his course of action.

Just like this match.

The moment Shizuku appeared on the platform, the audience raised a clamor likely due to her outfit.

However, the person in question was steady even if a light breeze had grazed her face as she lifted her left arm before her chest, the tamoto held firmly in place by the obi.

Shizuku's CAD was just like the one she normally used, with the command console facing the inside of her arm.

In the recent age, most female Magicians used CADs with command consoles facing towards the outside. Despite the height of fashion, Shizuku still preferred to use the feminine inward facing console, which befitted her status as an Ojou-sama. Still, given her usual taciturn and emotionless nature as well as the occasional merciless snarking, this honestly gave people an incompatible feeling.

If voiced aloud in front of aforementioned young lady, this would undoubtedly end with a beating. Tatsuya adjusted the focal point on the monitoring device and set these thoughts aside.

In the following time period,

Shizuku's mission was to focus entirely on this match. Tatsuya's mission was to gather his attention entirely on her.

? ? ?

"Miyuki......

Aren't you going where Tatsuya-kun is?"

Honoka piped up from beside her. At this time, Miyuki was sitting in a different section of the stands reserved for players and auxiliaries that was not part of the normal audience stands and was patiently waiting for the match to begin.

Just as she did during Eimi's match in the first round, the moment Tatsuya entered the monitoring room, Miyuki split apart from him.

It was perfectly natural for players from the same school to cheer on their teammates from the monitoring room, but—

"Icicle Destruction is a solo performance. Sooner or later, Shizuku and I will meet on the field, so wouldn't it be unfair for me to sneak a peek at her trump card?"

In terms of trump cards, there were certainly opportunities during practice to see them. Even First High wasn't extravagant enough to prepare several large scale practice facilities for the Nine Schools Competition.

So, what Miyuki was actually referring to was something else.

They were fated to be opponents. Miyuki didn't want to see Tatsuya, who was serving as their mutual technician, worry needlessly about such trivialities. This was probably Miyuki's real concern.

At the same time, she didn't want Shizuku to be distracted by her presence.

Honoka and Shizuku were close friends and rivals since elementary school. Until middle school, Honoka saw Shizuku as her strongest opponent and conversely, Shizuku also saw Honoka as her most formidable opponent.

In their cohort and circle of friends, no one could match them in terms of magical talent.

Upon entering high school and receiving official magic training, both Honoka and Shizuku yearned to meet someone other than each other who could push them to their limits. Yet, somewhere in the depths of their hearts, a stubborn belief that could not be eradicated told them that they would never meet someone who mirrored their talents.

In the same school, in the same tutoring class, there were no children from the Ten Master Clans, but several children from the "Numbers System". Still, none of them was worthy of being a new rival.

However, upon entering the high school entrance examination, their "conceit" was thoroughly annihilated.

By this divinely crafted young lady sitting next to her.

Based on their grades on the standardized magic tests, Honoka was fourth place behind Miyuki, Shizuku, and Morisaki. In Honoka's opinion, even if Shizuku didn't count, she didn't feel that she was any weaker than Morisaki.

The first subject in the high school standardized exam was a simple technique involving ten processes. (Only someone of Honoka's caliber would be able to call "ten processes" as simple.)

There was no real stress from the technique and Morisaki only seized the advantage because of his superior speed. If this was a more complex technique with additional processes, Honoka was adamant that she would have outperformed him.

Yet Miyuki was an "exception".

She possessed the overwhelming ability and strength that made jealousy itself ludicrous.

Even if someone claimed she was from the Ten Master Clans, Honoka would undoubtedly hold that to be true.

But that was only natural.

—That was what Honoka thought when she first beheld Miyuki's magic in the entrance examination area.

Honoka was completely unaware how close she was to the truth, proving beyond doubt how utterly Miyuki's magic astounded and overwhelmed her.

This impression followed her for the next four months in school and, rather than being diluted, only intensified even more.

Honoka felt that even the solitary Shizuku would not be able to calmly manipulate her magic normally if Miyuki stood before her.

When she learned that Miyuki was being switched to Mirage Bat for the Official Division, and thus avoided meeting her on the field, Honoka let out a huge sigh of relief.

As she thought back to the time of the entrance exam, Honoka was naturally reminded of the first time she saw "him".

In reality, Honoka's first encounter with Tatsuya was not the incident that occurred shortly after the day of enrollment. It was not the time when Erika and company were arrayed against them, with Honoka casting magics against school rules that would have landed her in a world of trouble with the Public Morals Committee Chief had Tatsuya not intervened. Honoka had encountered Tatsuya long before this incident.

Coincidentally on the day of the entrance examination, not just Miyuki, but Tatsuya was also in the same testing group as Honoka.

This pair of siblings was not outwardly similar.

Honoka didn't possess the excess mental finesse to remember everyone's names.

The reason Tatsuya left a lasting impression on Honoka wasn't because he was Miyuki's older brother.

His technical scores were only so-so.

Regardless of speed, strength, scale, every subject was thoroughly mundane and unappealing, to the point that they could be labeled as below average.

However, his magic was so beautiful it was breathtaking!

Honoka was incapable of analyzing Magic Sequences like Tatsuya.

Neither was she like Mizuki in her sensitivity towards psions and pushions.

When compared to normal Magicians, Honoka, who specialized in light wave oscillation magic, was only acutely sensitive towards the magical side effects that created light wave background noise.

An overabundance of interference or remnants of Magic Sequences would all form into surplus psion surges and oscillate in the empty air. When photons interact with these responses, the ensuing result is light wave noise.

But this cacophony was wholly undetectable in his magic.

In other words, there were no excess materials in his Magic Sequence. His Magic Power was expanded to its limit and entirely devoted towards phenomenon rewriting, making for a magic that was calculated down to the last detail.

Honoka thought that it was a work of pure art.

Hitherto, she had never seen such a beautiful piece of magic.

Afterwards, even though she bore witness to Miyuki's dominating magic, she still couldn't forget that magic.

That's why Honoka felt deeply betrayed when she saw the lack of the eight petal flower on Tatsuya's breast during the student orientation.

This was the reason why Honoka nursed an overly antagonistic attitude towards Tatsuya's group that day.

—Why are you on that side (Course 2)!? —Why aren't you on this one (Course 1)!? Honoka's eyes were blurred by this illogical fury.

True, in terms of speed, strength and scale, every category clearly set him far from the standards (of a Course 1 student).

Yet, the fact that "he" who could weave such wondrous magic had to be satisfied with being a mere "substitute (Weed)", Honoka felt that this was utterly unforgivable.

"......Honoka, what's wrong?'

Shocked, Honoka turned to her side to find Miyuki watching her in confusion.

She must have noticed that Honoka had fallen into an odd state of silence in the middle of their conversation.

"S-Sorry, it's nothing."

Even she would suspect herself if something of that sort had happened. When she considered her actions as well as her misdirected "anger displacement" and the reason why she consciously noticed "him", Honoka blushed to the roots of her hair and drooped her head.

? ? ?

"It's finally Kitayama's match."

"Looks like she's carrying a Generalized CAD."

Two ladies from the Women's Team brass were hunched shoulder to shoulder in front of a screen at the pavilion. Suzune, who was overloaded with work from the unending stream of results, sighed as she beheld this sight.

Yet, the two of them blatantly ignored this obvious sign of displeasure. "I wonder what trick he's got up his sleeve this time."

"Hard to say. Maybe he's intentionally playing mind games with us and will launch a full frontal assault precisely because we're thinking that way."

Mayumi and Mari were congregated in front of the widescreen monitor just like two young children sharing their favorite television show.

Suzune had long since given up. Sighing once more, she accepted the inevitability of working alone.

Neither Mayumi nor Mari batted an eyelid at Shizuku's choice of wardrobe.

For three time Nine Schools Competition veterans like them, this didn't qualify as anything outlandish.

In fact, they may be thinking "Huh, there are actually less of them this year!"

Also owing to this reason, Shizuku was someone who came to watch the Nine Schools Competition every year, so she wasn't embarrassed by her dress either.

"Ho, we're starting."

The two of them edged closer to the screen.

? ? ?

The lights next to the flanks of the arena flashed red.

The lights advanced to yellow, and the moment when the lights turned green—

Shizuku's ring started dancing along the command console. Toward her own 12 icicles.

She set all of them as targets and fired the Magic Sequence.

Immediately afterward, her opponent's magic came rushing towards Shizuku's field.

This was a popular tactic involving Move-Type Magic to blitzkrieg the opponent's field.

Except Shizuku's icicles stood rock solid against her opponent's magic and didn't shift at all.

? ? ?

"Ho, Data Fortification."

Every HQ was equipped with a widescreen monitor that could analyze the magic being used as well as the type of magic used and its strength. Much like a heat display, the various displays were expressed through various shades of color.

Using this function, it was a simple matter to determine the offensive and defensive positions.

Data Fortification.

Eidos was a record of the current status of an information body. Through this information body, parts of the information or even the entire whole could be replicated and projected back into the target to protect the Eidos from being altered any further. This was known as Data Fortification within the Counter Magic field. The copied portions from Data Fortification possess the ability to prevent magic from affecting the target.

Shizuku used Data Fortification to emphasize the target's location "right there". As the screen plainly displayed, her opponent's Move- Type Magic was nullified by Shizuku's magic.

"Quite the direct confrontation."

"Wasn't this precisely how Mari predicted?"

Suzune, who overheard the conversation, couldn't help but think: "Not really, I hardly think that this strategy was created solely to play with your heads......" Of course, this thought couldn't be passed to the mesmerized observers.

"Still, I think that for Magicians with high interference strength like Kitayama-san, rather than using Data Fortification, she should use wide area interference as a 'frontal assault'."

"Based on yesterday's results, Kitayama also has high magic capacity that is hard to find. She shouldn't feel any stress from copying the Eidos. Also, for Interference-Type Magic, Data Fortification is more efficient compared to wide area interference."

On the screen, her opponent once again tried to use Move-Type Magic to attack, but was nullified just as before.

Simultaneously, just as the attacking magic faded away— Three of the icicles in the opponent's field shattered.

"......What just happened right now? Mayumi, did you catch that?"

Mari asked in confusion, but Mayumi turned around without any confidence in her expression.

"I can only guess based on the data from the screen......"

Obviously, observing the analysis was vastly different from feeling the magic from the front lines.

"I think, that may have been the application of 'Resonance'."

The monitor was unable to keep up with the effects of indirect magic on the target, so the only way to narrow down what magic was used was through the surrounding environment.

"She shifted the irregular frequency from the Oscillation Magic into her opponent's field and locked the frequency just as it started to resonate with the icicles and raised the output at the same time, thus creating resonance. I think that's how it was."

"So that's how she did it...... To avoid Counter Magic, she didn't directly attack the icicles using magic attacks, but used the ground as a medium. While they both used the ground as a medium, when compared to Kanon's 'Mine Genesis' that relied purely on physical power, this is a much higher level technique. Sometimes I really can't tell who the upperclassman is."

"Precisely because finding the resonance point takes some time, she used Data Fortification to buy time. She looks very adept with manipulating the oscillation frequency."

"Indeed."

Mayumi and Mari were both thinking about the Non-Systematic Magic Tatsuya used to crush Hattori. It also utilized precisely manipulated psion surges to create overlapping oscillations.

What was being displayed on the monitor wasn't just Shizuku's artistic ability, but the hand of Tatsuya working from behind the scenes. On that point, neither of them disagreed.

? ? ?

(As expected of Shizuku, she's doing admirably......

)

Tatsuya quietly nodded as he surveyed the players from the opposite side of the screen.

Four icicles had already fallen in the opposing field. All 12 icicles were still standing in the allied field.

The biological displays on the screen revealed only minor exhaustion, so there was no impact on the ability to maintain magic invocation.

There was no trace of any symptoms that could exhaust a player like the ones Eimi displayed. And regardless of whether it was "Data Fortification" or "Resonance", her performance was just as expected. Nay, her performance surpassed what she could do in training.

Half of Mayumi and Mari's hypothesis was spot on, but the other half was incorrect. Shizuku's mother was the one who specialized in "Resonance". Before teaming up with Tatsuya, Shizuku was already well versed in that technique (by a high school student's standards).

By using magic that raised the oscillation frequency at irregular levels and directly projecting that on the target while synchronizing the frequencies, this destroyed the target using precise oscillation frequencies at the exact moment when resistance was the weakest. Originally, "Resonance" was this type of two-stage process. When applying oscillation-type magic onto the target object, a Magician can feel out the resonance point based on the Eidos' resistance to the interfering Magic Sequence; if using regular intervals, then an alternate method would have to be used to identify the target's resonance.

This was not reliant on monitoring devices, but done while compiling Activation Sequences into Magic Sequences. That was the part that Tatsuya was responsible for.

This technique was created by adding a new process into the "Resonance" magic that Shizuku was familiar with. Yet, Shizuku was able to wield this at will. Obviously, this level of skill was not obtained by just training in school, but honed through long hours of practice outside of class.

As another icicle collapsed in the enemy's field, one of the allied icicles collapsed as well.

However, this was only her opponent's "last gasp". Tatsuya could tell with a glance.

The opposing player threw everything she had into that last attack. She most likely knew the writing on the wall, but desperately wanted to avoid being defeated without knocking down a single icicle.

Tatsuya watched Shizuku's back with his own eyes and not through the monitor.

The psions she was releasing were not ruffled in the slightest.

No sense of wavering, no hint of pride. At the same time that she vigorously defended her own territory, she retaliated against-->>

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