Chapter 22

The second day of the Nine Schools Competition.

Wearing the jacket of the technician team, Tatsuya stood near First High's pavilion in the competition area.

Since the colors ceremony, this was the second time he wore this jacket (only participants were present for the opening ceremony).

Including the suit he wore for the meet and greet, and this jacket, he was unable to dispel that uncomfortable feeling.

Still, Tatsuya knew that this was mandatory, so he had to get accustomed to this.

"What is it? In a bad mood?"

"No, it's nothing. Why would you think so, President?"

Tatsuya solemnly replied to Mayumi's question, but was inwardly flustered.

Tatsuya believed that his poker face was flawless, but was he really so easy to read?

"Hm~ I wonder why?"

"Hold on, you shouldn't be asking such a vague question either..."

Tatsuya felt powerless, but only mentally.

Looks like the reason wasn't because he was telegraphing his feelings or that his breathing patterns gave him away.

However, Mayumi being able to pinpoint Tatsuya's thoughts without any warning was far more terrifying and almost threatening.

"Ignoring that for the moment, is there anything you need, President?"

Tatsuya set aside this matter for now — not like he could do anything even if he was concerned — and inquired why Mayumi sought him out before the contest began.

"Just checking on your status...

Did you memorize all the data?"

The decision to appoint Tatsuya as the assistant technician for the Women's "Crowd Ball" was made on the spot last night, so in order for Tatsuya to adequately adjust the players' CADs, he had to hurriedly memorize every player's psion specifications.

"Yes, I did."

"Everyone's?"

"Yes, I did."

After Tatsuya repeated the exact same, brief statement twice, Mayumi stared at him with her eyes wide in shock.

"This might seem like hindsight... But Tatsuya-kun is amazing. You don't happen to have instantaneous recall or photographic memory, do you?"

"Compared to you, I rather have a more typical Magic Power."

"From a student's perspective, that's an impossible luxury."

Obviously, Mayumi was guaranteed a spot in the magic universities without taking the entrance exams, but she still said this.

—Accompanied by her using both hands to rub her puffed up cheeks. "......"

"Hm? What's wrong?"

Tatsuya started massaging his temples using his thumb and index finger while Mayumi slightly tilted her head to one side.

"President, are you...

Never mind."

"?"

Tatsuya originally wanted to say "Are you actually this way and not acting?", but forcibly swallowed those words — which was a wise decision.

"...Isn't the contest about to start?"

"Indeed, let's go."

"Ah?"

"I said, let's go?"

"...Yeah, you're right."

CAD calibration was forbidden while the contest was ongoing, but calibration might be necessary immediately after the round was over.

That's why it was perfectly natural for the technician to follow the contestant around rather than waiting by the pavilion — even so, there was no need to proceed into the court at the same time, but Tatsuya walked alongside Mayumi the entire way.

"Miyuki-chan is at the observation deck?"

This was the first thing she said as they walked together. "She went to watch 'Icicle Destruction'."

Mayumi's question didn't cause Tatsuya to think "Why do you ask?", but rather "It's this question again?".

"So...

The two of you actually act independently sometimes."

Tatsuya was careful to keep his expression neutral and not allow his displeasure to show at this answer, whereas Mayumi nodded in an expressive manner.

Tatsuya felt somewhat miserable.

"...In your eyes, are we attached at the hip?"

His expression was probably thoroughly miserable. Mayumi hurriedly shook her hands in denial.

"Ah, no, I know that's not the case. I know that you two are apart while running errands for the Student Council and during class, so, how do I put it...

Perception, it's all a matter of perception!"

"President...

For Magicians, perception is reality."

The increasingly humid and heavy gaze prompted Mayumi to break out into an invisible sweat.

The heavy atmosphere persisted until the two of them reached the courts.

Once they reached the arena, Tatsuya felt that this would negatively impact morale, so he forcibly reined in his expressions.

Yet, when Mayumi took off her cooling jacket (a sports jacket with a built-in cooling system based on thermodynamics), Tatsuya's poker face almost slipped.

"...Are you wearing that in the competition?"

"Yes."

Mayumi's matter of fact nod caused Tatsuya to feel a headache incoming.

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

"Eh, is it strange?

...Does it not suit me?"

"......

It suits you perfectly."

"Is that so

...? Tee hee, thank you for your compliment."

Mayumi happily started stretching, while Tatsuya carefully scrutinized her one more time for verification.

No matter how he looked at it, his eyes didn't deceive him.

Polo shirt paired with miniskirt could only be described as a tennis uniform, which was more attentive to the latest fashions than competitive practicality.

Leaning slightly would cause the skirt to sway and reveal the petticoat beneath.

"Crowd Ball" was a physically demanding sport.

The shooting device uses compressed air to shoot a 6 cm diameter ball with low elasticity which players used rackets or magic to send towards the opposing courts, with the number of goals determining the victor. Each round lasted three minutes in a court encased within a transparent box. Every twenty seconds, another ball would be introduced to the mix with a total of 9 balls in play in the end, leaving the players no time to catch their breath.

Players usually wore T-shirts and shorts, though some opted to wear elbow and knee protectors to help with diving.

If wielding magic alone, there would be no need for running or wearing protective gear, though players that forgo the racket usually wear more protective gear on the court.

Usually, no one would wear clothing that would leave their limbs exposed.

(Then again, given who this is, her dictionary probably doesn't contain the word "impossible".)

Tatsuya arrived at this conclusion after a moment of observation and accepted this facet of reality.

"Tatsuya-kun...

Are you contemplating something impolite?"

"I wouldn't dare. You don't need a racket?"

This piercing accusation forced Tatsuya to sidestep quickly and adopt a more formal tone to change the topic.

"Yeah, this is my usual style."

For a moment, Tatsuya thought she was referring to the "tennis uniform" style, but Mayumi obviously meant a style that "only relied on magic".

"Which CAD are you using?"

"This one."

After Mayumi spoke, she pulled out a handgun-shaped Specialized CAD.

The gun barrel was fairly short, hence it was commonly known as the "short model" while a select minority referred to them as the "civilian model" (Tatsuya's CAD was a "long barrel", which the select minority referred to as the "carbine model").

Handgun and rifle-type CADs were both equipped with aim modifiers in the gun barrel. The "gun barrel" was actually the location of the targeting reticle for magic calculation (the relative coordinates for the Eidos within the information dimension) that functioned like a motion sensor.

The longer the gun barrel of the CAD, the greater the emphasis placed on the aim modifier.

On the other hand, for Magicians that only cared about the activation speed of Specialized CADs and didn't require any aim modification, the short model provided everything they could possibly want.

"I recall that the President usually ran Generalized CADs?"

"That's usually the case, but I'm only using one this time."

Mayumi's comment was very abstract, but Tatsuya correctly interpreted this to mean "Since this contest only requires one magic, I chose a Specialized model".

"Move-Type Magic? Or Reverse Speed Magic?"

"Correct, it's 'Multiple Bounce'."

Mayumi was carefully stretching, so she didn't play coy with Tatsuya before answering his question.

"Tatsuya-kun, could you give me a hand?"

"No problem."

Mayumi sat on the ground with both legs spread and Tatsuya gently pushed her back.

With practically no resistance, her chest was pressed against the ground.

"Using multiple bounces to take advantage of the kinetic energy vectors... But wouldn't relying only on this magic pose a considerable risk? If the inelastic balls lose momentum along the floor or walls, you would have no way of sending them back to the other side."

Tatsuya could feel some body heat flowing across his palm as he softly whispered a warning.

"Hm! Hm hm hm... Whew, I also prepared a few other Speed-Type

Magics, but I never resorted to them last year."

She spoke nonchalantly, but this required a significant difference in strength to fuel this confidence.

Once again, Tatsuya realized how incredibly powerful Mayumi was compared to everyone else.

"That's fine."

Mayumi stretched to the left and right four times then informed Tatsuya to let go.

Tatsuya straightened and backed off a few steps whereas Mayumi closed her legs and raised a hand towards him as she looked at him.

Initially, Tatsuya wasn't certain what Mayumi wanted, but once he noticed her watching him intently with an increasingly displeased expression, he quickly got the message.

Tatsuya came around to her front and grasped her outstretched hand. A dainty, delicate hand.

With a soft tug, Mayumi rolled handily to her feet. "Thank you."

"No, you're welcome."

Tatsuya personally felt that his response was very cordial, but for some reason Mayumi was very happy.

"Hm~ What a novel feeling."

"Ah?"

That comment came out of the blue.

Tatsuya replied on reflex and Mayumi smiled in response.

"I have older brothers and young sisters, but no younger brother."

"Hm..."

Tatsuya was aware of this.

Unlike the Yotsuba Family that was shrouded in secrecy, the Saegusa Family was always in the public eye.

Every birthday for the children drew crowds of guests to celebrate in grandiose fashion.

This only required a cursory investigation of the members of the Saegusa Family, so it wasn't very difficult.

If he remembered correctly, besides two older brothers, she also had a pair of twin sisters in 8th grade.

"Tatsuya-kun never treated me differently, right?"

"I personally don't believe I'm pretending to be overly familiar with the President..."

Wary of falling into a trap, Tatsuya replied cautiously, but Mayumi laughed lightly.

"That's not what I meant. You wouldn't be on guard against me, flustered, or uneasy, right?"

Ignoring the first one for now, wouldn't the latter two only occur under conditions that Mayumi had created herself? Tatsuya thought but didn't verbalize.

"You address me with the proper honorifics, but in reality you're not being overly polite either. I thought you were a cold person, but you still go along with my selfish requests, so I think this is what it would be like to have a younger brother."

Tatsuya involuntarily widened his eyes at Mayumi.

Indeed, excluding her height, Mayumi had a well-rounded personality, a surprisingly feminine side and, while it was hard to notice, she did care about others in her own way so she fit the bill for an "older sister" perfectly.

Yet, in all honesty, having an older sister like that would probably mean a lifetime of stress.

"...Heaven knows, I only have a little sister after all."

"That's true."

Mayumi smiled serenely as she gazed at Tatsuya. This smile was enough to cause people to suspect she had forgotten the contest altogether.

Acutely uncomfortable, Tatsuya looked for an opportunity to escape. "Excuse me, I think I should check on the other players' status."

"There's no need."

Unfortunately, with the intercession from a third party, his plan of egress was dashed.

"Ara, Izumin."

"Saegusa...

You're still up to your usual name-calling."

The person who looked like she was fighting off a migraine was a female student wearing the same type of jacket as Tatsuya. She was a 3rd Year student in the technician team — Rika Izumi.

"Would you prefer Rika-chan?"

"You're doing this on purpose! Eh, forget it, just call me Izumin."

"So Izumi-senpai, what do you mean by there's no need?"

Tatsuya had already learned this lesson; playing word games with Mayumi was a ceaseless struggle.

He completely disregarded Mayumi and Izumi's exchange and focused only on the first sentence.

"Hm? Oh... Tatsuya-kun, you go ahead and take care of Saegusa's contest, I'll handle the other side."

The female student called Izumi did not express a favorable attitude towards Tatsuya's inclusion on the technician team.

Rather than being elitist, her problem likely arose from pride.

She probably believed that she was capable of handling the situation even without Tatsuya's assistance.

"Is that so, I understand."

In reality, Tatsuya really wanted to beat a swift retreat, but since the division of labor was so clearly defined, he had no way out.

So Tatsuya nodded without making any further comment. "Then it's up to you."

Izumi left those words as a footnote and quickly departed.

"She's not a bad person..."

Mayumi exuded a powerless aura as she watched Izumi's departing figure, but the soft words that she spoke for Tatsuya's benefit went in one ear and out the other.

Regardless of what course of action Izumi took and how Mayumi tried to defend her, both were utterly immaterial to Tatsuya.

"Crowd Ball" was a sport that shared many similarities with tennis and racquetball, but there were no serving rules.

Each session lasted three minutes with a three minute break tucked in between sessions, with a total of three sessions per round (the Men's Division had five sessions).

After a signal announced the start of the contest, balls shot forth by compressed air would be released every 20 seconds and an insane flurry of balls would ensue until the ending signal.

—Generally, that was the case.

However, the contest unfolding before Tatsuya's eyes was not so.

Mayumi's opponent mirrored her in that they only chose to wield magic.

As expected of the participants who signed up for this contest, they had an exceptional grasp of Move-Type Magic.

Her opponent seemed to rely on physical movement to complement her perception and hurriedly aimed the short model handgun-shaped CAD that she held in both hands at each ball.

The balls caught in the Move-Type Magic changed direction before they fell into her half of the court and flew towards Mayumi's half of the court in an unnatural arc — and rebounded at double the speed once they passed across the net.

Every ball. With no exception.

Mayumi stood in the center of the court and held her CAD in both hands before her chest.

As she held her CAD as if she was praying, Mayumi's eyes glinted with a mysterious light as she gazed slightly downwards.

Just this alone was sufficient to deny her opponent from scoring a single point.

Visually, the distance was roughly 10 cm.

That was how far her opponent's balls were allowed to invade her position.

Mayumi's magic did not make any precise adjustments to the balls.

Neither did she aim for her opponent's blind spots, but purely rejected every ball back towards her opponent. Towards every trajectory that her opponent altered, she retaliated from every angle with what must be an incredibly difficult magic.

Yet, the only one relentlessly scoring was Mayumi.

The score was a complete landslide without Mayumi yielding a single point.

When the whistle sounded for the end of the first session, Mayumi's opponent powerlessly fell to her knees on the court.

This crumbling motion perfectly reflected her opponent's overwhelming despair.

Mayumi appeared perfectly calm and collected as she wielded her magic with a majestic flair, but her emotions were nowhere near as peaceful.

Hearing the whistle, she couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. During this contest, she felt herself fall into a bitter struggle.

She wasn't being conceited, but she knew from a purely objective sense that her Magic Power far outstripped her opponent. As long as she could maintain the course, victory was assured during the next session.

The problem lay in the pair of eyes fixed on her from the side of the court.

Mayumi was accustomed to the gazes of other people. Since her youth, she had always dwelt in the public eye.

No matter if the gazes were filled with pure admiration or hiding dark, jealous, or other naked negative emotions, Mayumi dealt with it as if they were the very oxygen that surrounded her.

Nevertheless, the gaze that she endured for the past three minutes was altogether unlike anything she had felt before.

As if every inch of her was beneath a microscope.

That was not simply someone seeing her naked or something like that (though that was also a major problem in and of itself).

The look that Mayumi felt from him — from Tatsuya, was not something so superficial.

Not just her skin, but everything beneath — the flesh and bone that made up her physical attributes, her consciousness, emotions, value system, temperament, habits, hobbies, the experiences that made her who she was today, the talent and diligence that supported her thus far

—everything that constituted the person "Saegusa Mayumi" was being decrypted and bared beneath the sun. This pair of eyes caused her to feel an unfamiliar sense of dread.

This was the first time Tatsuya observed Mayumi's contest from a close proximity.

Still, he should have observed the 1st Year participants under his care multiple times during practice at this distance, yet none of the 1st Year participants complained of being ill at ease.

Mayumi believed that none of the younger women could withstand this feeling.

In that case, this feeling was either her own misconception, or — something that only she could feel.

Right now, she was in the middle of the three minute break where the players would usually towel off the sweat or grab a drink of water.

Unfortunately, her bag containing her towel and water was next to Tatsuya.

Walking off the court was the same as actively moving towards where Tatsuya was waiting — where he lay in ambush.

Mayumi was a little scared of leaving the court.

That being said, she couldn't stay on the court either. Even though she hadn't moved a muscle during the earlier session, she should definitely take the opportunity to take a break right now. Not only that, she needed to replenish lost moisture and head towards the next court.

She wouldn't have cared if she shocked the Operations Committee Members, but with her position, she couldn't afford to worry the students that came to cheer her on.

Mayumi took a deep breath and expelled all her unease and worry. (Forget it, women need to be courageous!)

Mayumi ordered her feet to start walking. "Good work."

At her underclassman handing her a towel, Mayumi felt a sense of disappointment as that nameless dread seemed to fade away like a dream.

As usual, any thoughts he had beneath that serious visage were completely obscured by the poker face that even she couldn't read. This young man gave her a formless and unidentifiable sense of dread, but at the same time provided a miraculous sense of relief that he would never betray her.

Her earlier comment about "having a young brother" was something spontaneous or intended to tease Tatsuya. While phrased as a joke, on some level it reflected Mayumi's real thoughts.

Mayumi came to the conclusion that being afraid of him was ridiculous, so she adopted an obstinate attitude.

"Don't say good work yet, the contest hasn't ended, so this isn't the time to relax."

Tatsuya was on the representative team, but he wasn't a participant himself.

He was only on duty before and after the contests and was merely a bystander during the events, so telling him "this isn't the time to relax" was very odd, but Tatsuya made no mention of it despite noticing this.

"No, it's over."

He was pointing towards a more practical matter. "Ah?"

"The opposing participant is unable to continue and, even if she was going to enter the second session, would definitely keel over from exhaustion in the middle. The auxiliaries from the other side are also aware of this, so this round will conclude with their surrender."

Mayumi turned around to find the opposing team's tactical advisors discussing with the panel of judges about this exact topic.

The participant was sprawled on top of a long chair while covered in medical detection equipment.

"Psion exhaustion due to continuous magic invocation. Most likely a mistaken assignment. She was a little lacking to be your opponent, President."

"...You understood that much just from seeing that?"

"So long as I can 'see clearly'."

There was no way the panel of judges could hear Tatsuya speak, but the moment he finished speaking, the panel announced that Mayumi's opponent had withdrawn.

Dazed, Mayumi stood stock still without budging, an extremely rare side of her that would normally prompt a laugh. Yet, Tatsuya did not smile, merely urged Mayumi to start moving.

"Let's return to the pavilion. It's best to review your CAD and prepare for the next round."

"Yeah, you're right, I'll leave that to you."

Right now, Tatsuya was completely in control of the situation, but Mayumi didn't make any pointless resistance as she followed Tatsuya after picking up her bag.

After Tatsuya activated the maintenance device, Mayumi handed him her CAD and plopped down beside him.

Not across from him.

Mayumi wasn't wearing her cooling jacket that extended to her knees so she was still in her "tennis uniform" that she wore for the match, but this wasn't because she was in a teasing mood, rather that Tatsuya was no longer causing her to feel unnaturally cold.

The two of them were close enough that their shoulders could rub against one another, but Tatsuya never spared a glance towards her exposed thighs.

Nor was Mayumi upset by this.

Her concentration was completely devoted to the maintenance device as well as the personal CAD currently attached to the machine.

"Don't you need to measure my current status?"

"The duration was only a paltry 10 to 15 minutes, so even if I could rewrite the code, there wouldn't be any time to test it, so there would be little point in taking the extra time to run measurements."

This occurred quite often during their mutual conversation, but this time Mayumi involuntarily tilted her head.

According to what he just said, this sounded like he could get a ballpark estimate completely independently of the machine...

"...You can tell visually?"

"Of course, surely the President knows as well?"

"That..."

"The President also knows that as long as they're Magicians, they can tell whether magic's activated normally or if a CAD is functioning normally without the use of machines, right?"

"This I know."

"On some level, I'm just a little more knowledgeable." Tatsuya continued to watch the scrolling character strings.

Mayumi was very interested in exactly what this "some level" was, but she didn't dare to disturb an engineer at work to satiate her curiosity.

Tatsuya removed the CAD from the maintenance device and turned off the power before inspecting the trigger and Activation Sequence circuit, then personally handed the CAD back to Mayumi.

Just as he promised, he never touched the code inside.

Mayumi privately heaved a sigh of relief (she thought she managed to hide it, but Tatsuya saw everything), but owing to some reason, after she received the CAD, she curled her finger around the trigger and put it on her thigh.

"President... That's a little disconcerting, can you not point the muzzle at me?"

Strictly speaking, a CAD doesn't have a "muzzle".

Large, rifle-shaped CADs are usually equipped with image detectors at the front that gives the impression of the "muzzle" from a laser gun, but regardless of whether it was a long or short model, the "gun barrel" was made of metal.

Still, the overall design mirrored that of a real firearm, so those that are aware of the danger guns pose would naturally feel uncomfortable staring down the "muzzle".

"Ah, sorry."

Tatsuya wasn't certain how familiar Mayumi was with this situation, but she frankly apologized and shifted her CAD and left the muzzle pointed at herself.

"I should be the one apologizing for troubling you with such trivialities."

"Please don't concern yourself, this is basic manners after all. So how is it?"

Mayumi's question was once again overly simplified, but Tatsuya had no problems navigating through her cryptic meaning.

"I felt that the calibration was well executed. No overclocking, no unnecessary unique features, it was a faithful job done strictly by the rules. There was an overemphasis on stability that led to a more convoluted Activation Sequence in some areas, but taking the President's Magic Power into consideration, I'd say this garners full marks."

At any rate, this wasn't the time for needless flattery or nitpicking, so Tatsuya bluntly made his assessment.

Tatsuya answered this question with his eyes still watching the Activation Sequence display on the maintenance device, so when he turned around — he discovered Mayumi in a profound state of embarrassment.

"Is that so...? Hehehe, that makes me incredibly happy."

The corners of her eyes were dyed pink as she slightly averted her eyes with a bashful smile.

Compared to blushing obviously, this reaction was even more awkward.

"...Is that so?"

The reason why Tatsuya asked was that he was honestly lost on how to respond, but the real question lurking at the bottom of his heart was that Mayumi should have long been inured to hearing such praise on a daily basis.

"Indeed, to receive the compliments of someone who usually gives scant praise, isn't that something worthy of being happy about?"

Tatsuya didn't believe that he was a completely mature adult.

From an objective standpoint, he felt that he was still an immature child.

That being said, Mayumi's assessment made him out to be one of the fringe members of society unable to feign politeness, which he thoroughly disagreed with.

"...I can be just as polite as anyone else."

However, Tatsuya's rebuttal only earned a sweet smile from Mayumi that clearly said she saw through his subterfuge. "So you were just being polite just now?"

"...No, I wasn't."

Mayumi's delighted smile struck Tatsuya in the wrong way, but continuing this conversation served no practical purpose.

Also, there was no reason he had to respond in the first place. Unruffled, Tatsuya calmly accepted Mayumi's smile.

Among the Nine Schools Competition, "Crowd Ball" was the event with the most matches this day.

In terms of pure number of matches, "Monolith Code" was the one sport among the other six that had the most matches. "Crowd Ball" and "Icicle Destruction" each had five, but "Monolith Code" and "Icicle Destruction" were split across two days, whereas "Crowd Ball" had to finish all 5 matches within half a day.

The allotted time was short, but the nature of the event and the fact that each session lasted three minutes with almost continuous magic invocation with no chance to catch a breather combined to create a situation that was in no way less arduous than the other events.

Thus, how to gauge the use of Magic Power was absolutely vital for seizing the gold in this event.

The goal was, of course, two consecutive victories.

During the match, the players weren't trying to send back every ball haphazardly, but to take into account which shots should be allowed to score in order to properly pace themselves.

Mayumi, who could continuously channel her magic throughout the entire session, was undoubtedly an outlier in this situation.

Even so, Mayumi didn't charge forward and rely solely on her strength in battle.

She also adopted strategies of her own.

Two consecutive victories was absolutely mandatory — this would prevent people from saying "Wait, didn't she just power through to victory?"

By choosing magic that was unsuited to this event by solely rebounding the balls back, this was to avoid exhaustion from continuously replicating magic — this also denied people from claiming that "She's not actually rationing her Magic Power, right?"

Owing to these reasons, her philosophy in battle was to go all out from the start without a trace of hesitation.

Yet, when the second round started, Mayumi was struck by a rare sense of confusion.

Her status was excellent.

Just like earlier, half the round was already over with her opponent unable to score a single point during the first match.

Her confusion came from a completely opposite reason. (How...?)

True, thanks to her opponent withdrawing from the first round, she had more time to rest than usual.

Still, this was a tightly packed schedule with 5 rounds crammed into half a day.

Usually, her mental and physical status would be gradually worn down from exhaustion, but they would definitely not show a marked improvement that even she could notice.

Thus, there must be some reason behind this highly unusual circumstance.

Mayumi could only think of one possible explanation. As soon as the ending whistle sounded—

Mayumi decided to interrogate her perfidious underclassman.

"Tatsuya-kun, I thought you said you didn't alter the Activation Sequence?"

This was completely opposite from how the first round ended.

As soon as the judges confirmed the end of the round, Mayumi stormed to where Tatsuya was on the sidelines.

Mayumi's accusatory appearance caught Tatsuya by surprise, but he still replied back in a calm manner.

"I never touched the Activation Sequence and there shouldn't be any performance issues, unless you noticed something wrong?"

"Liar!"

Mayumi pointed a finger at Tatsuya's nose, her whole stance quivered like it was about to give off "Bishi!" sound.

"The efficiency of magic construction was significantly higher and, since there was no time to change the hardware, the only possibility is that you altered the software!"

"...So the efficiency coefficient wasn't lower, but higher?"

Tatsuya's clearly befuddled question took the wind out of Mayumi's sails.

"That's true... But..."

This would be a whole other story if efficiency dropped, but Mayumi finally noticed that her attitude was wholly ridiculous for someone coming to complain that her performance had shown marked improvement.

"Regardless, why don't you take a seat first?"

Still wearing a baffled expression, Tatsuya handed her a towel, which Mayumi accepted awkwardly before sitting down with a look of consternation on her face.

"The efficiency coefficient rose likely because the garbage was removed."

Tatsuya sat half a body length away from Mayumi and intentionally didn't watch her as he softly settled her down.

"Don't mess around with me. I was watching you the entire time. You didn't take apart the CAD for cleaning, nor did you use any cleaning fluids, correct?"

Mayumi said petulantly, but Tatsuya replied back patiently.

"No, I wasn't cleaning the hardware, I was removing the unnecessary software."

CAD performance was also affected by the user's mental condition. If the user didn't trust the engineer, then this would obviously negatively impact the CAD's performance.

Since he did act without giving prior warning, which meant that he did not go through the informed consent phase, Tatsuya still felt that it was necessary for him to give an in-depth explanation.

"The President's CAD had system files left over from earlier versions of the OS, so I had these removed. While previous system files rarely accumulate these garbage files, that doesn't mean that they are completely removed either. By completely erasing these files, CAD performance can be improved by a few percentage points. However, this usually would not bring about an immediately noticeable improvement, hence I didn't inform you beforehand. This just goes to show that the President's senses are just that refined and I was being overly rash."

"Ah, that...

If that's all it is, then don't worry about it."

Tatsuya's excessive bow and apology prompted Mayumi to frantically wave both her hands.

"In that case, this also shows that Tatsuya-kun was dutiful in all regards, so I should be the one apologizing for suspecting you in the first place."

When Tatsuya raised his head, Mayumi was also bowing to him in apology.

Tatsuya couldn't help but note how swiftly she was able to shift gears. "Then, let's end this conversation here."

He also felt that she was someone who could readily admit her own mistakes.

"You're right."

Must be from a composure born of maturity.

"Then, Tatsuya-kun..."

Even so, it wasn't like she was taking the high ground either.

"What is it?"

"That calibration method... or do you call it garbage cleanup? Can you teach me later?"

No ill intent whatsoever.

"No problem, but please focus on your next match."

"Of course, leave that to Onee-san!"

At this stage, choosing to adopt an older sister's attitude could make anyone smile.

And so, Mayumi completely denied her opponent from scoring a single point. She won every match 2-0 without yielding a single point and took sole possession of the crown for the Women's "Crowd Ball".

◊ ◊ ◊

"Icicle Destruction", also known simply as "Pillar Knock", was held in an outdoor arena that was 12 meters long and 24 meters wide. The field was divided into two halves, each with 12 ice pillars that were 1 meter wide and 2 meters tall, with the victor destroying all the pillars in the opposite field first.

Thanks to this, "Icicle Destruction" required preparation on a massive scale.

Requiring hundreds of huge ice pillars that needed to be kept frozen during the height of summer, it greatly limited the number of arenas, even with the military's complete support.

Owing to the limits on ice production, the Nine Schools Competition could only afford to prepare two arenas for both the Men's Team and Women's Team for a total of 4 arenas. Each of the two sites had 12 matches in the first round and six matches in the second round for a total of 18 matches, which was the maximum limit for one day.

"Nevertheless, this is a contest that severely depletes Magic Power. If they held every match in one day, many of the players wouldn't make it. For the single elimination contest on the second day, there's an extremely short interval between each match. Thus, there is some truth in the saying that 'Icicle Destruction is won by those with the greatest stamina'."

Tatsuya was lecturing on the details while the one listening and nodding was Shizuku.

Miyuki was also present, but if his sister was the only one here, then Tatsuya wouldn't have to explain at this particular time.

The three of them weren't in the audience stands, but the auxiliary working area.

Their goal was to watch Kanon's match from close proximity to get a first hand experience of what the contest was like.

Kanon was busy discussing the final details with Isori, so this wasn't a good time to interrupt them.

Everyone went to watch the Men's "Crowd Ball" contest.

Sayaka came to cheer on Kirihara, Erika chose to accompany her and roped Mizuki into the mix, then Mizuki invited Mikihiko to come along, finally culminating with Mikihiko grabbing Leo. And that's how it was.

After hearing Miyuki's report, Tatsuya maintained a "what a duplicitous bunch" feeling. As for who among them was duplicitous, some things are better left unsaid.

Kanon finally stepped onto the stage.

There were two platforms that stood four meters high at the two ends of the arena.

The players had to use magic to defend the icicles in their own half of the court while simultaneously destroying their opponent's icicles.

After entering the arena, all restrictions on magic safety were removed, so this was publicly acknowledged to be the most intense of all the magic contests.

"Shiba-kun."

After seeing Kanon off to the platform, Isori turned to wave at Tatsuya.

"Let's go too."

Isori invited Miyuki and Shizuku, who brought Tatsuya with them.

Behind the platforms where the players stood, there was a special observation deck for support personnel.

Here, there were several devices responsible for monitoring the players' physical condition as well as a large window for viewing the competition.

"How's Chiyoda-senpai's status?"

Tatsuya felt that it was impolite to remain silent, so he supplied an icebreaker question.

"She's very motivated, to the point that I'm a little concerned that she's too fired up and will lose steam in tomorrow's matches."

With a smile on his face, Isori answered Tatsuya's customary question. There was no trace of unease on his face.

"I heard that senpai won the first round in the fastest time ever recorded."

"Well, that is Kanon's personality... I earnestly hope that she would be a little more prudent, so those watching over her could relax somewhat."

Tatsuya was quite interested in Isori's wry smile and response.

Tatsuya was accompanying Mayumi all through the morning, so of course he missed the first round in the morning.

He only knew that Kanon claimed the first round using the least amount of time possible.

That being said, while the match time was very short, quite a few of her own icicles had fallen

"It's starting."

Shizuku's soft voice prompted Tatsuya to direct his gaze back towards the arena.

With the shrill sound of the starting whistle, the earth groaned. "Mine Genesis."

This was no Mine Field, this was Mine Genesis.

The scene before Tatsuya's eyes forced him to speak its name.

Versatility and speed were the crowning advantages of Modern Magic. Nonetheless, Magicians are also human, so there are fields where they specialize at or are not adept at.

Since magic talent is inherited, blood relations within a family naturally share similar aptitudes towards magic fields.

The Yotsuba Family, with each family member excelling in a unique area, was a notable exception.

Within influential families, besides everyone's individual names, family members that share a notable skill usually share a second name as well — almost like a special title.

Some of the more famous ones include the Juumonji Family's "Phalanx".

The Ichijou Family's "Rupture".

The Saegusa Family did not have a system that they did not excel at, so they were ironically referred to as "Omnipotent".

The Chiba Family was known as "Magic Swordsman" — this title referred more to their skills and techniques than any unique talent the family possessed, but was still used to refer to this family as a whole.

The Chiyoda Family was known as "Mine Genesis".

The Magicians of the Chiyoda Family specialized in using Long Range Solid Matter Oscillation Systematic Magic, particularly when it comes to using Earthshaker magic.

Dirt, rock, sand, cement, all materials were irrelevant.

A powerful oscillation could be applied as long as the solid matter was recognized as the "Earth's surface". This was the true face of the Chiyoda Family's specialty "Mine Creation", with the Chiyoda Family's title derived from "Mine Creator" = "Mine Genesis".

The opposing field suffered vertical vibrations that ran perpendicular to the epicenter, with two icicles collapsing each time.

Her opponent tried to counter with Move-Type Magic "Compulsory Arrest" in an effort to stifle any motion on part of the object, but "Mine Genesis" continued switching targets at a speed that her opponent was unable to match, so by the time five of her twelve pillars had collapsed, her opponent abandoned all pretense of defense and concentrated solely on the attack.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"?"

Tatsuya and the others all expressed their astonishment in different ways, whereas Isori smiled wryly from the side.

As he watched the pillars on his side collapse without any resistance, he shook his head helplessly.

"Should I commend Kanon for going all out or criticize her for being overly reckless...

Her methodology revolves around going for the jugular before she gets KO'ed."

"No, well...

I hardly feel that this is the wrong tactic."

Her opponent had switched from defense to offense, and her resistance was suitably lowered.

By the time the number of pillars left on her side dipped to six, Kanon had already collapsed every pillar in her opponent's territory.

"Victory!"

Kanon smiled widely as she flashed a victory signal while descending from the platform.

The target of her smile was, of course, Isori.

Isori's face plainly said "what am I going to do with you", but he was wearing the same smile.

"How should I describe this..."

"Match made in heaven?"

Miyuki was reluctant to voice her opinion, but Shizuku had no such compunctions.

"You two should say that they understand one another perfectly."

Hearing the two of them, Tatsuya smiled wryly for a completely different reason.

Still, Tatsuya also acknowledged that they were a "match made in heaven".

The two of them had a lot of synergy.

The player and the auxiliary, even though they didn't step onto the stage together, the two of them were in the fight as one.

Yet — Tatsuya thought.

If they were a pair with so much synergy, would Isori be able to fulfill his duties to the utmost when paired with other players?

There were 40 players and only 8 technicians.

On average, each technician was responsible for five players.

Tatsuya was in charge of the 1st Year Women's Team, but that was still six people, seven if you counted the the impromptu addition in the morning.

Once they forged an intense emotional bond with one individual player, could they put forth their all with the other players?

Tatsuya was also facing that quandary.

Would he really go all in for Shizuku or Honoka the same way he would for Miyuki?

"...Shiba-kun, what's up?"

"No, it's nothing."

It's not like he could actually ask Isori something like "Do you work so hard for every player?".

Tatsuya replied back in completely inane and normal manner to muddle through Isori's question.

◊ ◊ ◊

After securing advancement to the third round, Kanon and company

—with Tatsuya, Miyuki and Shizuku in tow — returned to the pavilion in high spirits, only to frown at the dour atmosphere suffusing the camp.

"...What happened?"

Isori asked Suzune, who was probably the only one who maintained her usual attitude.

Suzune turned around to reveal an even more blank emotion than normal.

"The Men's 'Crowd ball' event didn't perform as expected — we're recalculating the odds right now."

The standings in the Nine Schools Competition were determined by the aggregate score from each event.

First Place received 50 points, Second Place received 30 points, and Third Place received 20 points.

Fourth Place finishes in "Speed Shooting", "Battle Board", and "Mirage Bat" netted 10 points. "Crowd Ball" and "Icicle Destruction" only awarded points to the top three, so the three teams that are eliminated in the third round each receive 5 points.

For "Monolith Code", First Place would receive 100 points, Second Place receives 60 points, and Third Place only gets 40 points, which makes it the single largest event in terms of points.

Half the points from the Newcomers Division would be added into the total.

This was the score breakdown for the Nine Schools Competition.

Anyone not in the top four or six would receive no points, so even if First Place was out of the question, taking Second through Fourth place was still valuable in scoring points to contest the overall victor. According to this breakdown, advancing as many players in as many contests as possible to the single elimination or duel phases was one of the keys to victory.

"Not performed as expected means..."

"The players were eliminated during the first, second, and third rounds."

Isori asked with trepidation while the voice that answered him was quite indifferent by comparison.

"While we held onto next year's right to compete, this result was thoroughly unexpected."

The voice was largely indifferent likely because the person being questioned was struck heavily by the news.

Compared to the other events, the Men's "Crowd Ball" lineup was certainly lacking in firepower.

Regardless of the fact they didn't possess an ace like the Women's "Speed Shooting", "Crowd Ball", and "Battle Board" or the upcoming Men's "Icicle Destruction" who was "assured of victory", they still should possess enough talent to compete for First Place.

"The Newcomers Division is a little harder to estimate, but based on our current lead, if the Women's "Battle Board", Men's "Icicle Destruction" as well as "Mirage Bat" and "Monolith Code" all seize First Place, we're still in the clear."

A 2nd Year student from the tactical advisory team made the report.

Tatsuya, who was just listening as a bystander, felt that this threshold was a little high.

Including both the Men's and Women's contests, they wanted to claim First Place in four of the six remaining events in the Official Division.

Katsuto and Mari could be relied on to win the gold in their respective events, but based on these calculations, if any accident were to occur, they ran the risk of morale reaching a breaking point.

Still — this wasn't something that Tatsuya had to concern himself with.

He was probably overstepping his boundaries by worrying about these things.

Compared to the points, Tatsuya personally was more mindful about something else.

Kirihara was participating in the Men's "Crowd Ball" event.

Certainly, Kirihara had a reckless side to him, but he also possessed a strong sense of duty.

He wouldn't be depressed because of this turnout, would he...?

◊ ◊ ◊

After the day's events had drawn to a close, Tatsuya found Kirihara near the hotel's rest area close to dusk.

Outwardly, he looked perfectly normal. Sayaka was sitting next to Kirihara.

Kirihara was working hard to keep up a cheerful appearance, but Tatsuya could tell at a glance that he was forcing a smile.

"Kirihara-senpai, thanks for your hard work."

"Ho, so it's Shiba."

Of course, Tatsuya could have chosen to pass by the rest area without saying a word, but he didn't do so.

"I was taken out early in the second round, and quite badly at that."

He was definitely putting on a strong front, but he recovered faster than Tatsuya suspected.

Maybe athletes were more accustomed to victory and defeat and were more resilient when it came to dealing with the bitterness of defeat.

Tatsuya always lost when he was trading blows with his master so he didn't have any real "competitive" experience, and could only rely on logic to explain this.

Tatsuya was unable to judge whether this was an appropriate moment to offer words of comfort, so he elected to speak the truth.

"Senpai was unlucky to draw Third High's ace that was favored to win the event in the second round and only lost by a grand total of eight points after losing three out of five matches. This favored player was exhausted from the long struggle with senpai and was promptly eliminated in the third round, so this was a Pyrrhic victory for him as well."

"...Man, you're one blunt guy."

Tatsuya never bothered to sugarcoat the defeat and delivered a cold analysis that didn't smack of comfort, but Kirihara wasn't angry.

"You never thought that I would be depressed?"

Kirihara's tone and expression were more teasing than anything else. "I did, but I couldn't think of any consolation."

The scene was dead silent for a few seconds. Kirihara suddenly burst into laughter.

And he was laughing to the point that he was bent over the sofa. Enough to thoroughly discomfit Sayaka by his side.

Tatsuya continued to watch him without any expression.

"Shiba... You really are an interesting guy. Usually, now would be the time to wear a totally~ awkward expression and quickly pass me pretending not to see me, not the time to actually sit down and talk."

That choice — intentionally overlooking him — was also on the table, but Tatsuya believed that wordlessly passing by wasn't cordial enough. However, this time it looked like Tatsuya was being a "busybody".

Tatsuya realized that he shouldn't even be taking how cordial he was into consideration since that didn't jibe with his personality, but...

"Still, I feel a lot better thanks to you. Since you said it was a 'Pyrrhic victory', then that must be how it was. This shows that I've still got a lot of potential."

...Looks like that wasn't the case.

Whether Kirihara truly believed that was immaterial.

Likewise, whether this was truly the result Tatsuya was aiming for was also immaterial.

◊ ◊ ◊

Despite the outcome falling into considerable doubt, the basic personnel duties did not change very much.

The ones responsible for odd jobs and errands might claim otherwise, but since Tatsuya was a member of the technician team, the brass from First High wasn't foolish enough to have him work on menial tasks and run the risk of endangering his original duties.

After preparing for the Newcomers Division two days from now, double checking the physical and mental conditions of the players under his care and running a final compatibility test for CADs, today's work schedule came to a close.

Tatsuya received a long package in the mail from the hotel counter and returned to his own room.

It wasn't dinner time yet.

There was still ample time left, so Tatsuya opted to test the item in the package.

He took a glance at the clock to verify when the dining hall opened.

There was still a significant interval until he had to meet up with Miyuki.

Tatsuya unpacked the parcel and gazed at the contents within.

This was something he called Four Leaves Technology's CAD Development 3rd Division in the early hours of the morning for.

The components were all universal, the shape exceedingly simple, and was assembled to the point that an automatic construction device could do the rest by reading the manual. Even so, the fact that this could be assembled and shipped all within half a day was quite impressive.

(I hope Ushiyama-san isn't pushing himself again...)

Should he be saying pushing himself, or pushing his subordinates?

Tatsuya took great pains to carefully remind them that this item was "partially out of curiosity".

Regardless, Tatsuya couldn't "really" turn back the clock, so fussing over these details was useless at this point.

After he opened the package and took a look inside, he found a combination seal around a long, thin container. This case was usually intended to transport CADs with the dimensions of a shotgun.

Tatsuya punched in the usual code. 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 hand guard.

The entire length measured 70 cm, and 50 cm without the hand guard

—that was how it was shaped. There was no blade.

This did not refer to the lack of an edge, but the fact that this tool was never forged to be a "sword".

The literal meaning of the words seemed paradoxical, but a better description would be "a metallic bokken forged to look like a long sword".

Or maybe it was "flat rod with an added hand guard". This item was plainly not any ordinary rod.

After thumbing the activation button and upping the psion intake, a familiar feeling passed across Tatsuya's hand.

This item was in the same vein as Erika's police baton in that it was a weapon that concealed a CAD.

The utility was even more restricted than a Specialized CAD and could only provide one Activation Sequence. Erika's CAD was a Specialized model that retained the ability to switch abilities. In comparison, this was a Specialized CAD that possessed only one function, making it a prototype for "Weaponized Integrated CADs".

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.

There was some time until the arranged meeting time, but given that the presence on the other side of the door did nothing to conceal themselves, he knew that friends had come calling.

And this prototype suited that friend very well.

Rather than testing this himself, it would be far more interesting to have that guy handle it — Tatsuya thought as he opened the door.

"Onii-sama, is this a good time?"

The leader and the one who spoke up first was his little sister.

Tatsuya pushed the door open and beckoned everyone inside. Erika, who was following Miyuki, came close enough that the two of them were almost touching.

Next, Honoka, Shizuku, Mizuki, and Leo came in, with Mikihiko bring up the rear.

Rather than saying ladies first, it would be more appropriate to say this was how the pecking order went.

Still, while this was a double room for the sake of storing equipment, it was still a squeeze with so many people piling in at once.

Just the chairs and bed weren't enough, someone even had to sit on the table — which was neatly ordered and not the least bit sloppy, so Tatsuya had no complaints.

Erika was the one sitting on the table, so of course she was the one who noticed the "sword" on the table, and it naturally 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."

"Who uses the term samurai in this day and age... Then what is it? ... Ah, is it a Houki?"

Erika flipped it over and examined both sides and asked again upon noticing the trigger on the handle.

"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 aforementioned magic."

"Wow..."

The reason why Erika made this sound wasn't because the Weaponized Integrated CAD was incredibly rare, but because this was the first time she saw one in the form of a "sword". Erika wasn't the only one gazing at the sword in her hand, both Honoka and Shizuku were looking on with deep interest.

Miyuki's faced revealed an "Ah, so that's what it was" expression, clearly because she remembered the conversation from last night.

Neither Mizuki nor Mikihiko expressed any interest, probably because they preferred familiar objects rather than foreign materials.

Tatsuya glanced at the other person standing to the side and smiled mischievously as he plucked the prototype from Erika's hands.

"Leo."

And tossed it towards Leo, who was standing off to one side with his face averted.

"Whoa! Tatsuya, isn't that kind of dangerous?"

In reality, Leo was burning to give it a go, but he feigned disinterest due to his ongoing cold war against his nemesis (?) Erika, so while he was outwardly frantic, he eagerly grabbed hold of the sword hilt.

Tatsuya completely ignored his protest and sent a challenging smirk his way.

"Want to give it a try?"

"Eh, me?"

Leo's mouth split into a wide grin.

To the side, Erika wore a "This guy is easy to read..." expression, to which Tatsuya spared only a single glance before directing his attention back to Leo.

"This weaponized calculation device was created by merging a striking weapon with the Fortifying Magic that Watanabe-senpai used during the 'Battle Board' event, with the blade also serving as a slashing weapon after being reforged, so I think this suits you very well."

"So Tatsuya made this?"

"Yes."

"Hold on."

Mikihiko inserted himself into Leo and Tatsuya's conversation.

Initially, he wore an apathetic expression, but he was paying attention to the entire conversation.

"Watanabe-senpai's event was yesterday, so you made this in one day? This doesn't look like a ready-made product."

"The components themselves are all commonplace. The outer frame is also a generic alloy, so there are no special materials involved."

"But this still isn't something you can manually forge, right? You shouldn't have that much spare time..."

"Why of course, I only came up with the design, then had a familiar factory construct this using automatic assembly devices."

Miyuki overheard the entire conversation and when she heard the term "familiar factory", she almost burst into laughter. Thankfully, she regularly prepared several masks for occasions like these, so she didn't draw any attention to herself or her brother.

"So Leo...

Want to give it a try?"

Tatsuya's words were like the sweet whispers of the demon Mephistopheles.

Even while knowing something was afoot, the lure was irresistible. "...OK, I'll be your guinea pig."

"He fell for it."

Shizuku's soft whisper succinctly reflected everyone's inner thoughts.

Next, Tatsuya pulled out a HMD with light refracting mirrors and a speaker attached.

"This is the instruction manual."

Seeing the HMD in front of him, Leo seemed to not comprehend Tatsuya's words as a question mark sprouted on his head.

"Take a look, the user's manual for the weaponized calculation device is recorded within."

"Ah? Oh..."

This object that Tatsuya handed him (more like tossed to him) appeared to have images and sound files stored on it, which included the Weaponized Integrated CAD instruction manuals. Leo let out an "I get it now" expression and accepted the HMD from Tatsuya's hands.

"This counts as a virtual terminal device, right?"

Honoka, who asked the question, wasn't the only one wondering about this.

Virtual information terminal devices posed considerable harm to immature Magicians.

With this in mind, First High forbade students from using virtual terminal devices.

Tatsuya himself insisted on using a material terminal device, but asked his friend to use a virtual terminal device. Even if the device was restricted to visual and hearing, everyone held the same misgivings.

"It's nothing that outrageous, but they do share some similarities."

"... Is this OK?"

"Huh? Oh... You're referring to the harm caused by the virtual terminal device?"

"Uh... Yeah."

"There's no need to worry on that account. The risks from virtual terminal devices arise from the user's inexperience. If used strictly for testing realistic conditions, then it's actually quite a valuable tool."

"I don't follow..."

Honoka's tone towards Tatsuya was very polite, but there were traces of Miyuki's influence mixed in.

"Magic is a skill that uses perception to temporarily alter reality. Virtual terminal devices create illusions that people mistake for reality."

Tatsuya's explanations were always attentive and exhaustive, which possibly was a reflex on his part.

"The two of them share the distinction that they project an unnatural phenomenon into reality. On the other hand, by experiencing the phenomenon through the virtual terminal device, there's no need to expend energy to rewrite reality, nor is there a risk for spell failure. Herein also lies the risk for virtual terminal devices."

Tatsuya temporarily stopped at this point.

Because he felt that he was being overly loquacious.

However, his friends that were arrayed in front of him wore equal parts understanding and incomprehension on their faces, so he felt that his explanation wasn't detailed enough and plodded on.

"Virtual terminal devices would cause a Magician to hallucinate and believe that they can effortlessly alter reality with no consequence. People incapable of using magic wouldn't run into this problem in the first place. Skilled Magicians would be able to differentiate what they are capable of, but immature Magicians may confuse the difference between what they experienced in the virtual world with what they can actually accomplish and overestimate their abilities.

Once immature Magicians have become accustomed to altering reality without the concepts of hard work or failure, they become unable to reflect upon why they cannot use magic to successfully rewrite reality and lose the ability to think critically and the drive to do so. Hence the popular belief that immature Magicians still studying magic experience harm from using virtual terminal devices."

Tatsuya paused again to survey his friends' faces.

Additional explanations were probably unnecessary, but he'd still conclude as a precaution.

"In other words, the problem lies in whether the user believes he or she has accomplished something they were previously unable to. Utilizing virtual terminal devices to test the waters isn't a problem in and of itself. That type of virtual experience actually benefits the planning phases for constructing Magic Sequences. At the end of the day, it remains extremely challenging to pick out only the benefits, so I feel that a global ban on virtual terminal devices made perfect sense."

"Is that so...

I actually learned a lot from that."

Tatsuya felt that Honoka's nodding was overly zealous and also believed he said too much.

Even if she heavily relied on him, he had no way of responding...

Those were Tatsuya's heartfelt words.

◊ ◊ ◊

The test for the prototype calculation device was set after dinner, using one of the outdoor combat training facilities on the outskirts of the Nine Schools Competition area.

Tatsuya didn't make the arrangements; Erika was the one who called on her connections.

Since arriving here, Erika seemed to be frivolously throwing around her family's influence in a self-destructive manner.

Did something happen that caused her mental landscape to change?

Speaking of which, Tatsuya recalled that something similar happened during the banquet.

Nevertheless, Tatsuya was powerless to act regardless of how worried he was.

His own emotions were only façades anyways.

It was probably better to look the other way and let an engineer's curiosity take first priority. This was probably a more honest method to go about it.

Tatsuya convinced himself this way and once again warned himself against butting into other people's business.

"Leo, do you understand the mechanics?"

Next, he had to focus all his concentration on this test.

Even if this was something done during his leisurely time — even if this was an overly simplified way of applying modern magic — this still broke new ground for testing magic and calculation devices.

If an accident occurred due to his complacency, the one who would bear the brunt of it would be Leo and not Tatsuya.

"Uh, I think so...

But, am I really going to do that?"

"That" likely referred to the demonstrated motions he saw within the HMD.

Likely was the wrong word to use, since that was the only possibility at this point.

"We're undergoing this test to find out."

"You're right."

This training facility was 30 minutes away from the hotel by foot.

This would pose no problems during the day, but it was night time now.

Likewise, city districts would be fine, but they were located in a military training facility in the mountains.

Miyuki and Erika stubbornly refused to cooperate, but were finally persuaded to remain at the hotel.

Despite this, Tatsuya still remained uneasy, so he called on Honoka to watch Miyuki and Mizuki to keep an eye on Erika.

Now, only Tatsuya and Leo were present. "Let's begin."

"Got it."

Initially, they weren't going to use the slashing (more like striking) dummy.

Right now, they needed to verify the movements of the Weaponized Integrated CAD without performing any physical actions.

"Starting now."

Leo thumbed the activation button on the bottom of the hilt. With a "clang" sound, a feathery touch crossed his fingers.

He wrapped his index finger around the trigger near the top of the handguard and started supplying psions.

Contrary to his physical impression, Leo's supply of psions wasn't explosive, but possessed an inexhaustible durability. Correction, maybe that would be the most suitable description for his youthful and energetic side.

If a CAD was not calibrated for individual use, there would be practically no assistance in constructing Magic Sequences, so there was a small delay as the Activation Sequence was translated into the Magic Sequence.

Approximately 0.6 seconds.

Even so, this was still much swifter than during practical skills class.

This might be caused by his personal expertise in this field of magic, or the outstanding performance from the CAD and Activation Sequence.

Regardless of which one it was or both at the same time, this detail remained unimportant. What was important right now was to observe the activated magic in action and not the time necessary to activate aforementioned magic.

"Oh?"

Leo gasped, not because the magic was activating, but because the effects of inertia far exceeded his expectations.

"Haha, it's actually floating, how incredible!"

Leo revealed a childlike smile and swung the "sword" that had less than one half of the blade still attached.

The other half of the blade floating in midair mimicked his motion and swung in a similar arc.

"Three, two, one..."

"Whoa...."

Leo stopped upon hearing Tatsuya counting down. "Zero."

With the end of the countdown, the blade swiftly reconnected with the "broken" blade and reformed into a complete "sword".

"Tatsuya, that was a complete success."

Leo was wearing a thoroughly delighted expression as he raised a thumb, whereas Tatsuya mirrored his gesture.

"Still, I'm impressed that you could come up with something like this. Detaching the blade from the hilt, then using Fortifying Magic to solidify its position and 'shoot' out the blade. I still can't believe I just did that. Now I know Fortifying Magic can also operate by separating objects."

"That is because the core concept behind Fortifying Magic is stabilizing relative positions, and if you ignore all the stereotypes, you find that objects don't have to be physically connected to one another. In addition, the operational form of this CAD is more like 'extension' rather than being 'shot out'.

"The blade will only elongate in a linear fashion, since the middle segment is empty space."

"I never thought about that, I'll just treat this like a really~ long sword."

Just as Leo said, this weaponized calculation device wasn't like other long range system weapons that required additional energy to control, but was simply matching the motion of the blade while flying at a set distance until the magic lost effect.

"Speaking of which, why did the blade come back? I didn't activate any other magic."

"Oh, that's simple. That's an electric current reaction-type recall alloy, so it only separates the moment an electric current is applied to break the connection."

Leo nodded to signify his understanding, since this was a popular design in the modern era.

"So if a large force is applied during the state where magic isn't supplied, this could easily be broken."

"That's not a problem, we just have to store it in a scabbard when not in use, right?"

"That's true, shall we perform live tests on dummies? Or test the fluctuations during separation?"

"Tatsuya, while this thing is separated, is the length adjustable?"

"That's not impossible, but exceedingly difficult. Currently, the Activation Sequence tied to the activation button on the hilt is set as a constant, but that can be easily changed to a variable. The challenge lies in that whenever the length needs to be adjusted, a new magic needs to overwrite the previous one."

"Is that the case? So if the return speed could be increased, then there's no need to concern ourselves with the changing distances in between.

After all, a real sword can't elongate itself halfway through the slashing motion."

"Yet Erika seems to be able to accomplish that feat. What do you plan to do?"

"Well... Let's do a dummy test first."

"Got it."

Tatsuya manipulated a control mechanism that was slightly larger than a notepad and called up three man-sized straw dolls from the ground.

"...Oldschool."

"...I wonder whose hobby this is?"

Even though regenerating products had become mainstream in modern society, the oddly outdated design still prompted the two of them to exchange a helpless glance.

"Regardless... In terms of sheer specs, they'll do as slashing targets."

"Straw dolls don't have any "specs"... But there's no other choice."

Leo slapped his face lightly with his empty left hand to focus himself, then fell into a stance against the straw dolls.

He thumbed the power switch. The blade flew into the sky.

Leo swung the weapon with all his strength.

Ahead of his right arm, the detached blade built up rotational momentum to a respectable speed before smashing into the straw doll.

"Lot of strain on the arm."

Leo looked like his hand had gone numb, but he lightly swung the restored medium length, sword-like weaponized calculation device as he voiced his thoughts.

"That's because while the flying part is physically small and despite the fact that speed can supplement strength somewhat, inertia still remains an issue, so you need extra arm strength to compensate."

"No wonder. So in actual combat, I would need to apply more strength into each of my swings."

Leo acknowledged Tatsuya's explanations with a nod of his head and aimed at the next target.

As he watched Leo fall into another combat stance, Tatsuya thought:

(Indeed, even after applying an actual blade, a slight increase in weight would be perfect for combat conditions. Still, this level of power would be appropriate for competition venues.)

The thought circulating in Tatsuya's mind was the restriction on direct contact during "Monolith Code". This weaponized calculation device had a flying blade, so it bypassed this restriction.

(...Not that there's any connection here.)

While he claimed this was strictly a toy, he was still actively considering practical applications. Tatsuya could only secretly laugh at himself.