The day after the banquet the Nine Schools Competition began without further incident. The curtains were drawn for the next ten days, where men and women each competed in 5 events for the Official Division as well as the 5 events for men and women in the Newcomers Division for a total of 20 events.
The 1st day's events were the preliminaries and elimination rounds for "Speed Shooting" and the preliminaries for "Battle Board". The difference in schedules reflected the time needed for each event.
Arthur drag by Emilia headed towards the Speed Shooting stands to watch Mayumi's event with Tatsuya and company.
"Honestly I just want to lay on my bed..." Arthur his sleepy head on Emilia's shoulder and make some single students around him feel quite awful
"You can't behave like that Arthur, it was Mayumi-senpai match we need to cheer for her" Emilia pinch Arthur's hand a little to wake him up but she didn't protest when Arthur rest his head on her shoulder
"Cheering for her? They're enough isn't it, right?" Arthur and the other is sit in quite a high place because the stands were built like a series of rising stairs, with the higher levels in the back.
This is an event involving shooting targets at high speed, so the spectators in the front rows have to possess the same eyesight as the contestants.
Even so, the spectators still crowded forward, because—
"Because there are an amazing amount of stupid boys." Erika disdainfully declared in a way that wasn't altogether joking.
"Looks like there are more than teenager boys mixed in," Tatsuya replied in a sarcastic tone.
"Well, that's because Mayumi-senpai very charismatic in her outfit right?" Emilia tilt her head and ask Arthur
"Well..."
Mayumi wore a pair of mufflers over her luminous locks of hair, a pair of transparent goggles, an elastic pair of uniform pants, and an upturned tunic that could be easily mistaken for a mini-suit. Paired with a rifle-shaped CAD that was mandatory for all Speed Shooting events, this created the perfect combination of cuteness and heroism as if she was the female lead in an upcoming movie.
"I still prefer you rather than her" Arthur close his eyes before giving an answer, no one who knows he closes his eyes to burn the image Mayumi in his brain so he can't forget it or because he really thinks Emilia is better than Mayumi
"Really... what are you talking about..." Emilia pinch Arthur's hand a little harder but anyone who paying attention to her can see if her face slightly red
With Mayumi's ability this round is without any suspense, Mayumi shot down every "individual" target without missing a beat. The five minute contest was over in the blink of an eye and she scores a perfect hundred point.
***
In the Battle Board arena, Four people lined up along the passage, with Mari standing in the middle.
The other contestants were kneeling on one knee or both to prepare to charge, only Mari stood straight. This scene primarily reflected the difference in balance between the participants, but from another perspective, Her Majesty the Queen was lording over the other participants.
"Whoa, that woman is just as arrogant as usual..."
Hearing Arthur's whisper, Tatsuya felt that he was displaying his enmity "as usual". In the Public Moral Committee HQ Mari and Arthur always bickering nearly every day and what makes them like that sometimes is just a very unreasonable thing and Tatsuya have a doubt if they're doing something like that to wasting time so they didn't need to doing some work in Public Moral Committee HQ
"You can't say that as arrogant but said it as confident in her ability," Emilia thinks the way Mari and Arthur behave like a brother and sister
"Arthur, I think I need to tell Mari-nee what you said previously" Erika grinning at Arthur wit a shining eyes
"Oh, the weather today is quite hot, Erika do you want some ice cream? My treat!"
"Thank you, Arthur! Eating ice cream when the day is very hot can make people forget some problems, right~?"
"Of course that's right!"
The Battle Board competition is beginning and When the race started, the contestant from Fourth High detonated the water behind them.
She probably intended to create waves to disrupt the other players while riding the waves for further propulsion, Mari who had successfully charged in the beginning, so she wasn't affected by the chaos caused by the contestant from Fourth High and was now completely in the lead.
Mari's surfboard was sliding over the water's surface, the board clung to the water's surface and deftly rounded a sharp corner. Her stability was so complete it was like her feet were glued to the board.
Mari was gliding up the waterways against the current and after Mari reached the peak, she leaped down the waterfall.
The moment Mari splashed down, an obvious tidal wave splashed outwards. The tidal wave generated by Mari not only propelled her forward but also nearly upset the player in second place who was behind her. Before the first lap was even finished, Mari's victory was all but certain.
The first day's round of Speed Shooting went as everyone predicted, with Mayumi earning a crushing victory in the Women's Division and the Men's Division also securing First Place.
Although the victory for the Men's Division was not assured. Speed Shooting secured First Place as predicted, but the Battle Board preliminaries turned out to be a hard-fought contest.
The competition on the second day is not as smooth as the first day because the Men's Crowd ball event didn't perform as expected so Suzune and others First High staff member need to recalculating the odds right now.
Of course, it has nothing to do with Arthur who is taking a bath in his room, and for his roommate, Tatsuya, he is currently unpacking a parcel and gazed at the contents within.
There was a "sword" inside the box, the item Tatsuya removed from the box had the outward appearance of a long sword with an upgraded handguard. The entire length measured 70 cm and 50 cm without the handguard that was how it was shaped.
"Oh, that's the chopping board you design previously?" Arthur who finished change to a new uniform asking jokingly, of course, he knows what it was but Arthur didn't know if this thing will be useful later?
"It's still quite crude and just make it on a whim so I didn't know if it can useful or not" Tatsuya measured the distance to the wall to gauge whether he should take a test swing when someone knocked on the door. The perfect timing caused Tatsuya to chuckle wryly as he placed the prototype on the table before he opened the door.
"Onii-sama, is this a good time?"
The leader and the one who spoke up first was his little sister, Miyuki. Tatsuya pushed the door open and beckoned everyone inside. Emilia,
who was following Miyuki, came close enough that the two of them were almost touching. Next Erika, Honoka, Shizuku, Mizuki, and Leo came in, with Mikihiko bring up the rear.
"Arthur, can you help me as usual?"
Arthur pulls a chair next to the window and lets Emilia sit on it before he standing behind Emilia and help her to braided her hair, usually, it was Puck job, but after coming to this world Puck lost connection with the outside world and can't materialize himself and just can communicate with Emilia, so he decides to hibernate, that's why this job is falling into Arthur.
Seeing such a scene Erika wants to tease them but the thing inside the box aroused her interest.
"Tatsuya-Kun, is that... a blade replica? Except it looks more like a sword."
"Negative."
"Then an iron whip?"
"Also negative... I don't think the samurai of this country would use weapons like iron whips."
"That's is chopping board" Arthur chimed from the side but still use his hand to braided Emilia's hair "That's a chopping board, Erika. There is an intersection in the middle of that thing so you can detach it and get small chopping board when you didn't need to use it all"
"Oh! That's... a lie right?! There is no way for Tatsuya to make a chopping board!"
Arthur and Erika's banter make everyone laughing and Miyuki know if they're just joking around and not degrading her brother's work, of course, if it was changed to another person she wouldn't think positive like now.
"Hmm, but if I look at it... it seems like...Houki?"
"Correct, to be precise, this is a Weaponized Integrated CAD, commonly known as weaponized calculation devices. The CAD is specifically attuned to use one type of magic only that can also double as a close combat weapon that uses the aforementioned magic."
"Wow..."
Seeing interactions between her friends Emilia smile and laugh a little, seeing her happy expression Arthur can't help himself to wrap her with his hands and hug her from behind
"You seems very happy"
"I feel very happy... I very happy because I have friends like them... and because you're here" Emilia rest her head on Arthur's arms and close her eyes with smiling face
"If you like being here-"
"No, Arthur. I need to finish what I start, I need to fulfill my responsibility, although I like this world I can't abandon my dream, that's why... can you stand by my side and help me to make my dreams come true?"
"I'm glad to be with you, Emilia"
for anyone who knows about my work, I think you can understand how exhausting it was for me this last few months, I hope I can make a new chapter when I have spare time. Thanks for reading my book.
Stay safe and healthy