Chapter 102

It was another morning, and another school day. Tatsuya exited the station with Miyuki and the two of them went to meet up with their friends, then go on their way to school. One had left earlier in the year, and last week yet another had gone, but besides that it was the same as since spring.

This morning, however, something different awaited Tatsuya. Before they could find their friends, the voice of a senior called out from the ticket gate. Both Tatsuya and Miyuki had already been aware of her presence before she had called out.

At this time, most of the people using the station were students of First High and associated persons. Unlike with the mass transit trains of old, it is now uncommon to see large crowds of passengers at the station all at the same time. Nonetheless, in order to get out of the way of the students arriving moment by moment, the siblings walked over to where Mayumi stood by the wall.

More than a few students flickered glances their way, but none of them were overly concerned. There was nothing particularly wondrous about the previous Student Council President and the current Vice- President conversing, and that the brother of the VP was a favourite with the previous Prez —from a gossip point of view anyway— was a well known fact amongst First High.

In truth, there wasn't even a conversation. Without linking up and walking to school together, Tatsuya and Miyuki went through the ticket gate. Mayumi had uttered only one line: "After school, come to the second cross-field club room."

The cross-field club (a club for magic combat survival games) was a club Katsuto had once been a member of. Their second club room implicitly served as an informal meeting place, and amongst those in the know, it was an open secret that Katsuto continued to use this room privately after he had left the club. Sure enough, when Tatsuya turned up, both Mayumi and Katsuto were already waiting.

"You're alone?"

It wasn't just Katsuto who asked this, but a surprised Mayumi as well. "Yes, you called only me after all."

Truth be told Miyuki had vehemently insisted on accompanying him, but he had somehow eventually managed to coax her cooperation. — The price had been as cheap as promising to accompany and treat her to a cake buffet.

Regardless, it was evident that Tatsuya had come himself. While it was true that Mayumi had called out Tatsuya only, she hadn't really expected that Miyuki actually wouldn't come. Despite that, she immediately launched into the topic at hand.

"Tatsuya-kun, last night, did you go out?"

Mayumi's question was within Tatsuya's expectations. "I did."

He didn't add 'What of it?' "By bike?"

"Yes."

People normally become more talkative when trying to deceive another. Tatsuya at this moment however had no need to feign verbosity.

"...May I ask where you were going?"

Rather, it was Mayumi who had to puzzle over how best to proceed. She didn't have the deviousness or experience for such subtle probing. Katsuto, waiting beside her, didn't even seem to be bothered at all.

"I was called by Yoshida who was engaging the vampire, and saw there both the vampire as well as an unidentified magician who was following it."

Things could take a while at this rate Tatsuya thought, as he voluntarily decided to advance the discussion. As Mayumi blinked in amazement, he kept his expression emotionless. Even a more experienced adult, for example Mayumi's father, would have found it difficult to read his face.

She had no idea what he was thinking.

That simply fueled Mayumi's anxiety, and her psychological defenses began to waver.

"From when?"

Perhaps stepping in to support Mayumi, or perhaps not, Katsuto came up with a question in her stead.

"I merely rushed over yesterday because I was called. I was not involved in the actual search for the vampire."

Since the question didn't ask by whom, or for what, Tatsuya omitted such things in his answer. He had no interest in finding out what Katsuto or Mayumi thought either.

"The two of you are aware that Saijou of Class 1-E was attacked, correct?"

There was no way they didn't know. He was more making a statement than asking a question. The reply was of course in the affirmative.

"It's not just me who wants to find out exactly what is going on. Until those responsible are found and apprehended, there can be no peace. Whether there's a lone culprit or a group, whether it's non- communicable or contagious; shedding light on at least these is the bare minimum."

Having being looking at the two of them while talking, Tatsuya now shifted his gaze to Mayumi alone.

"Sempai, if you don't at least tell me how much you know about the situation, or what you intend to do about it, I can't help you."

His seizing the initiative was probably the opposite of what was expected. Taking a breath, Mayumi's expression turned serious.

"If Tatsuya-kun promises to help, we'll gladly give you the information we've got. As I'm sure you know though, you mustn't leak anything."

"Understood. Let's cooperate."

Tatsuya agreed immediately to Mayumi's proposal. It was the answer she had wanted to hear, but being unable to comprehend his true intentions, she continued to scrutinize him for a while.

"...Does that mean you'll join our search parties?"

"That's what I meant."

"Why now, all of a sudden? It's not like you didn't see the conference notice."

That was Katsuto speaking. The Saegusa and Juumonji families had jointly set up 'Vampire Hunt' teams, and notices had been sent to the heads of the Ten Master Houses, 18 auxiliary houses, and Hundred Families requesting cooperation. If one is not connected with the 'Numbers' then it's certainly not something a mere high school student would have seen, yet Katsuto was basically speaking as if it were already a fact.

"Considering I'm not even of the Hundred Families, I had thought it's none of my business."

For his part, Tatsuya didn't bother trying to conceal that he had indeed read it. Obtaining non-classified notices wasn't a hard thing to do, after all.

"Being asked directly, however, is a different story."

It was a rather vague answer, but while it wasn't perfectly clear, there was nothing irregular or particularly strange about it. Thus, both Mayumi and Katsuto felt compelled to accept.

In terms of previous experience, Mayumi's exposure to Tatsuya's terrible personality was different from Katsuto's.

"...Still, is this alright? Earlier, I do believe it was said that before cooperating it'd be necessary to disclose information."

"If neither of us make concessions we won't get anywhere. Besides, even if you do back out I can do just as easily."

At his words, which while appearing far too straightforward, seemed to contain various hidden meanings within them, Mayumi gave a dry laugh. There was a sense of secrecy coming off her, yet for the most part it looked like she simply wanted to get things over with.

"Understo~od. Then, I'll tell you everything we know at this stage. Before that though, can I say just one thing?"

"What?"

"Tatsuya-kun, your personality is too terrible."

"..."

In the information Mayumi shared, Tatsuya learned three things in particular.

First was the scale of damage. This far exceeded his previous expectations, yet still did not seem to be at a critical level yet.

Second was that it was increasingly unlikely all this was the work of a lone perpetrator. Tatsuya had considered the possibility of collaborators before, but the idea there were multiple vampires themselves had not crossed his mind.

And lastly was the presence of a third force interfering with the efforts of Mayumi and the others. At first Tatsuya had thought of Erika's group, but upon hearing the details he soon realized it was a different group altogether.

The second and third points particularly bugged Tatsuya. That masked magician likely was one of those disrupting the search parties. He could also make a good guess as to their identity.

However, he could not fathom the motive they would have to do such a thing. He felt that if only he could understand, it would make things so much easier, yet that only served to irritate him more.

"What do you intend to do after catching one?"

In order to avoid being stuck in those roundabout thoughts, Tatsuya switched issues. Though he had only promised cooperation, he couldn't simply ignore what would come after.

"We'll interrogate them, find out their true identity and purpose. After that..."

"It'll be disposal."

Katsuto finished off Mayumi's sentence. Well... Tatsuya wasn't particularly keen on hearing a phrase like 'disposal' coming from a high school girl's mouth either, so he didn't think of it as being soft or naive.

Besides, humanitarianism wasn't one of Tatsuya's strong points. Neither practically nor emotionally.

"—Got it. So, what should I do?"

"Accompany us then, I guess. If possible from toni—"

"No Shiba, move on your own. Please report in if you find anything."

At Katsuto overturning her instructions, Mayumi simply stared in silence. There was no discomfort in her eyes, but a dramatic sense of suspicion.

"Understood."

To be honest, it would have been easier for Tatsuya to go along with Mayumi's instructions. In any case he had never been too serious about his promise of 'cooperating', so he nodded without hesitation to Katsuto's words.

Revealing nothing of his own hand, and having heard everything he wanted to hear, Tatsuya left the two and departed.

When Tatsuya's footsteps were no longer audible (there were hidden mics as spy countermeasures in the room), Mayumi spoke.

"Juumonji-kun, why'd you tell Tatsuya-kun to move alone?" There wasn't reproach in her tone, but a sense of incomprehension. "I thought it'd be more efficient that way."

Katsuto's voice as he answered lacked no confidence.

"But as things are, wouldn't he simply go with the Chibas?"

Mayumi knew that Erika's group was going around in a way contrary to the notice. Although the Ten Master Clans are leaders, they are not rulers, and so cannot easily go around enforcing their will or throwing out penalties. But in a situation where the shadows of foreign powers can be glimpsed, being headstrong and doing things one's own way was inconvenient trouble. While the combo of Chiba Erika and Yoshida Mikihiko was unavoidable, Mayumi's true intentions had been to keep at least the siblings, Tatsuya and Miyuki, within eyeshot.

"Truthfully speaking, that will likely be the case." However Katsuto waved away Mayumi's concerns.

"As long as we keep faith, Shiba likewise will not betray us. That's the sort of man he is."

"...So an absolute form of give and take? What a subtle reliability."

"Even the code of the samurai came from 'favour' and 'duty', or give and take. I'd say it's much more trustworthy than blind submission."

"...And underlying absolute loyalty is 'dependence'. That's not something to be expected from Tatsuya-kun, nor is it something fitting the First."

At Katsuto's nod, satisfied, Mayumi returned a nod.

◇◇◇

Although he was still missing several crucial pieces — meaning that he had gathered enough pieces already to realize that he was yet missing something definitive — what he had collected thus far was still a satisfactory result. Going over the information he had, Tatsuya hurried over to the Student Council room where Miyuki was waiting.

It was still light out. Perfectly natural, considering it was a Saturday. School had ended, but it was barely past noon. Tatsuya wasn't hurrying because he was getting late going home, but because he was getting late for lunch.

There wasn't a prayer that Miyuki would begin eating without waiting for Tatsuya. It'd be different if he asked (ordered?) her to eat without him, but he hadn't done so today because he hadn't thought he would end up being this delayed. In fact Miyuki wouldn't have been waiting for that long, but the mere thought that he was keeping his sister was sufficient to drive his feet forwards.

—That made two of them.

Tatsuya's physical prowess was on full display as he leaped up an entire flight of stairs, to come to a stop in front of the SC room. The moment he did, almost as if watching and waiting, the door opened.

A brilliant gold flashed into his view.

Tatsuya slid aside while Lina backed away from the door at almost the same time. They had been trying to get out of each others way, but seeing the humorous situation they were now in the corners of Tatsuya's mouth twitched as he stepped into the gap once occupied by the one who was blocking his way (?).

Technically he was ignoring the convention 'ladies first', but he didn't ignore the lady herself.

"Yo, Lina. How's it going?"

Turning to her as he passed, he lightly patted her on the shoulder. "Hello, Tatsuya. I am doing fine. Thank you."

Being suddenly touched, Lina didn't cry out 'Sexual harassment!' or anything. Instead, without raising one eyebrow, she simply smiled as she replied, returning Tatsuya's pat twice.

Both Miyuki and Honoka joyously rose at the sight of Tatsuya, as he took a seat at what he guessed was a conference table. —He didn't even want to think that it was there expressly for the SC members to simply have meals and drink tea off of.

There was no sign of Azusa or Isori. Not that he would have been troubled if they were here, but he did feel more comfortable this way. It wasn't that he was tense around seniors, rather that he had to take care. Particularly around Azusa, who at the slightest matter (or so Tatsuya thought) would immediately start looking terrified.

Mayumi calling him had been completely unplanned for. So, he didn't have anything prepared for lunch. Besides, if he suddenly brought up what had happened, it would definitely cause panic rather than help.

Going to the cafeteria by this time would likely only lead to a view of 'Sold out' signs everywhere, so he decided to leave himself in the care of the SC dining server.

Honoka was operating the cooking panel, while Miyuki prepared drinks. Tatsuya's role was to sit quietly and wait to be served.

...Looking at things objectively it'd be 'what a lucky bastard', but he cut off such unproductive thoughts before they reached his conscious.

"Come to think of it, what was Lina doing here?" Instead, he turned his mind to another matter.

"The school suggested making Lina a special SC member during study periods."

Setting a coffee cup before Tatsuya, Miyuki tilted round and answered his question.

Her lustrous jet black hair cascaded before Tatsuya's eyes like a waterfall. Transfixed as she lightly brushed her hair behind her back, his mind nevertheless resolutely processed the information his ears had just received.

"Ah... That reminds me, earlier, she had said she couldn't decide on any clubs and was feeling troubled."

"Yes. The soliciting from behind the scenes had gotten rather intense...

It seems that President Hattori then came up with this idea."

The one who answered this time was Honoka, bringing a steaming tray up to him. In that manner Honoka, U-turning, and Miyuki, walking around the table, brought their own trays to the table and lunchtime began.

"She's only studying here this one semester, so she wouldn't even be able to attend the athletics festival."

"I'm pretty sure there were more ulterior motives behind it." A rather wicked smile flitted across Miyuki's face,

"There were even idiots who wanted to make photo albums of Lina to sell off."

As Honoka sighed with a frown.

"There's a photography club in this school?"

Tatsuya wouldn't have been surprised if there was, but he had no recollection of there being one.

"The Art department's photography team. They wanted to do something as moronic as have Lina join the light gymnastics club and take pictures of that."

Light gymnastics is a sort of gymnastics for magicians with the limits of gravity and inertia lowered, performing floor exercises as if on a trampoline without actually using trampolines. The Mirage Bat competition which Miyuki and Honoka had competed in was a development from light gymnastics.

"I see... Certainly, that would make for quite the picture."

"O-nii-sa-ma?"

"Although I'm not sure about selling them."

"..."

As Miyuki swung a suspicious look in his direction, Tatsuya quickly averted his gaze.

However, a similar look stared back from that direction as well. "...Wait, that was a rather bad way to put it. Sorry."

Returning to face his sister, he raised the white flag. If he had faced those fierce glares in a 'staring contest' it was likely the girls would have caved first, but exploiting their feelings over something as trivial as this seemed like a very bad idea.

On Miyuki's part, upon realising that Tatsuya hadn't meant anything by those words yet had acted so apologetically, was unable to contain her embarrassment and lowered her head.

"A-Anyway. Similar stories were abound, and the situation was getting to the point that the recruiting was troubling not only Lina herself but staff as well, and um..."

Honoka, often seen as someone rather intense yet in fact a delicate (or timid) person, began to fret at the strange atmosphere.

"So it was decided to make her a SC member."

Immediately understanding Honoka's consideration, Tatsuya came up in support,

"Yes. If she uses SC duties as a front, it should be enough to head off any club."

And Miyuki followed up.

Seeing that the sensitive air which had drifted between the siblings was swept away, Honoka breathed a sigh of relief. The one anticipating a quarrel between them and thinking other such disingenuous thoughts was, unfortunately(?), a different girl.

"So, what was Lina's decision?"

"She didn't seem terribly enthusiastic."

"It seemed like she wasn't keen on spending any time after school. I think that could also be the reason she's still undecided on clubs, despite being so sought after."

At Miyuki and Honoka's replies, Tatsuya nodded with a 'That just might be it' look.

◇◇◇

After dinner, Tatsuya was sitting on the sofa in the living room looking at a large screen mounted on the wall.

Miyuki was snuggled up beside him.

The screen was divided into three. The main section depicted a real time video feed of Tokyo seen through stratospheric surveillance cameras as well as three glowing dots moving through it. The top subsection had roads and maps overlaying the same three dots, while on the bottom, text scrolled by in 30 second intervals.

The reason he had access to the stratospheric platform cameras was thanks to Sanada.

The reason he had access to and could monitor the tracer signals of the Saegusa/Juumonji search parties was not because Mayumi had provided the authentication codes, but because of the unparalleled hacker Fujibayashi Kyouko.

He tracked the signal of the Chiba search party at the same time.

The spots of light were apparently interference strength, the waves of which were detected by transceiver interceptors mounted on the stratospheric platforms and processed by the supercomputer belonging to the Independent Magic Battalion.

Being an experimental magic force, and as far as Tatsuya vaguely knew, being equipped with state-of-the-art technology (they wouldn't have the Mobile suits otherwise), he was reminded again of their peculiar abilities.

And speaking of technology.

"It seems like the Stars have better technology for detecting Parasites than us."

Watching the Stars' movements as they fixed on a spot of interference strength, Tatsuya muttered in an impressed voice.

Although it's impossible to track the movements of Parasites directly, by analysing the pathway of the energy the three Parasites they were tracking left, it was possible to trace them. And despite not having the benefit of street camera sensors nor stratospheric platform observation equipment, the ones Tatsuya estimated to be the Stars were tracing the movements of the Parasites the fastest. Tatsuya didn't know whether that was due to some special ability or advanced technology. He also didn't know whether it was specific to tracking the Parasites, or if it was capable of detecting other magical signals. All he knew was that the USNA was ahead of Japan in this field.

Tatsuya had never considered Japan's magic technology to be in the forefront of the world. He didn't consider himself to have an exhaustive knowledge of current technology either. Yet even so, he couldn't help feeling some pangs of regret and a desire to know.

"Now's not the time for that though."

Saying so and cutting off unnecessary thoughts, Tatsuya straightened. "Onii-sama, are you going?"

As Tatsuya rose, Miyuki spoke while looking up from the sofa. "You're a good girl, so just wait here alright?"

Tatsuya stroked her cheek.

Miyuki raised her hand and pressed Tatsuya's palm against her cheek. It was as if she were imprinting his warmth onto her.

"I'll be waiting for you."

"Yeah. Without a doubt, sometime soon, your strength will be needed. When that time comes—"

"Yes. Then, together—it's a promise, Onii-sama."

"…Well, I don't think this situation will turn out as dangerous as Yokohama."

While Tatsuya joked, Miyuki, also smiling, released Tatsuya's hand.

Miyuki saw Tatsuya off at the doorway, equipped with his favourite CAD and other equipment as he went to battle.

She continued staring at the closed door until her brother's presence faded.

Then the moment she could no longer make sense of his whereabouts, she turned around with a snap.

There was no trace of sadness. Within her determined expression, her eyes burned with a bright light.

Miyuki returned to the living room, and hit the switch of the dimmed screen. Although by no means mechanically incompetent, in terms of strengths and weaknesses, what she now had at hand was definitely not her area of expertise.

However she was blessed with extraordinary memory. Although not as great as Tatsuya, who had vast memory capacity as a side effect of his mental remodelling, reproducing the operating procedures she had just seen earlier was not a problem.

She brought up the display she had been watching a while back with her brother. The scroll speed of the text data was a little too fast for her, but she didn't know how to change it so she bore with it.

She desperately tried to calculate her brother's whereabouts from the points of light moving around. She had been told to just 'wait', but this time she didn't intend to 'just wait'. Even if it meant going against her brother's orders, even if it meant she would be scolded when he got back, it was still far more preferable to doing nothing as her brother was hurt.

Certainly, there was little chance of a large scale conflict breaking out. In that sense, the danger was indeed less than Yokohama.

But even though the scale was small.

Even though the situation would greatly limit the use of force. His opponent, in all probability, would end up being those Stars. —Though having said that, there was nothing Miyuki could do.

As an individual, at 15 years of age, she possessed one of the highest levels of power in the country. It might easily be one of the highest levels of power in the world.

But her power lay not in farsight or clairvoyance.

Nor did she have the authority yet to mobilise the Yotsuba. Unlike her brother, she did not have a personally built-up network. None of the hacking skills of Fujibayashi either.

With no specialised magic to find Tatsuya, neither contacts nor expertise, Miyuki could only hug her chest as she stared at the screen.

It was an unconscious action.

In her chest was her heart. And although her clothes were in the way and she couldn't feel it beat, she could feel something else in its stead.

Within her chest, in her heart,

She could feel her connection to Tatsuya. Abhorrent, latching on to her brother. The reconfigured Limiter.

The lock and chains were none other than she herself. She herself was also the key.

Binding her to bind her brother, it was nothing short of a curse.

Yet for all that, it was still a definite connection which linked her and her brother.

--If only I could see too--

Miyuki thought.

However far Tatsuya was from Miyuki, he was able to know her situation. She had heard that his 'vision' could analyse existential information, and things such as her whereabouts and condition were always known to him in the form of data.

In a sense that meant she had absolutely no privacy whatsoever, but that didn't bother Miyuki in the least.

She didn't have a single secret she had to keep against her brother. If there ever was something she could not say hidden in her heart, she would want him to know of it through his power. She thought so even as she knew his 'vision' didn't extend to the mental realm.

On the other hand, Miyuki had no way to 'see' her partner from a distance.

Instead, for Miyuki who was born with Mental Interference magic, she could 'sense' the 'location' of the 'mind'. By releasing the Limiter on Tatsuya and thereby freeing her own abilities, Miyuki could 'touch' the minds of others. She might even be able to touch the spirits drifting in the world.

However, she couldn't feel the 'being' of one far away. She couldn't transmit like her brother in the dimension of information, where physical distance had no meaning.

That was the difference between sight and touch. Even if she could touch something which 'is there', she couldn't use it to find something she couldn't locate.

Feeling her brother in her chest, which only heightened her sense of frustration, Miyuki thought hard.

Driven by an unexplained ominous sense of foreboding, she wished she could rush to his side.

She didn't know how long she had continued to feel so, as she stared at the screen.

Awakening her was the chime ringing, announcing an unexpected visitor.

With a start, she glanced at the clock.

Alright, let them leave, Miyuki thought. There was no fault in not even pretending to not be at home, since it was far too late an hour to be visiting others anyway.

She had a look at the intercom monitor. Recognising the visitor, Miyuki immediately modified her plans. While considering what to change into, she also calculated how long it would take.

"Please wait a moment, Sensei." Standing there was Yakumo.

◇◇◇

Tatsuya watched the fight between the Parasite and the masked magician from the shadow of a tree.

He had gotten to the park three minutes before the battle broke out. When they had reached the predicted point of capture he had let out a sound despite himself, but now he concealed his breathing and erased his presence, awaiting an opportunity to intervene.

According to the information from Mayumi there were multiple vampires and multiple hunters after them, but seeing the two before him he was certain they were the same two from yesterday. He had merely looked at the movement of the groups and predicted where the first contact would occur, but he hadn't identified the individuals.

(…This is a coincidence, right?)

A shiver ran down Tatsuya's spine and he almost inadvertently revealed his position. Somehow holding it back, he complained in his mind. –Something along the lines of 'if this is fate, it's far too disagreeable'.

He looked back to the state of the battle. The momentum was clearly on the side of the masked magician. By comparison, the white masked vampire was attempting to get away. And the net to block that escape was yet incomplete.

(Four people. As I thought, it's not enough.)

As three forces — if you include the police who weren't working with the Saegusa, it'd be four — ran together and got in each others way, four magicians were converging here from four different directions. They were the away team, without any street monitoring equipment, yet had impressively managed to call in four other people unnoticed by the others, is what he would have thought, but at the end of the day it was safe to say such numbers could not hope to cut off all the escape routes in this three-dimensional city.

Which was why this situation would soon become not 'hide and seek' but 'tag'...

(Your enemy's enemy is, in the end, just another party. That one fact alone doesn't automatically make them an ally, huh.)

If all the forces pursuing the Parasites were to work together, each team had only to send this many people out and then herding them in would be a simple matter. But due to the differences in intent, it wouldn't work out. Even his own goals did not completely match with that of Mayumi or Erika.

But for the moment, the vampire was more of an enemy. (Now then, how to make my entrance.)

Whilst predicting the various reactions the masked character could make, Tatsuya pulled from his waist not his CAD but a gun. Of course it was illegal, but that was about the furthest thing on his mind at this point. He pointed the gun at the vampire which had just made a huge leap to avoid a knife stroke with complete calm, aimed at around the belly, and casually pulled the trigger.

The average effective range of a handgun is 50 metres, while in real combat the effective range is said to be more within 20m. This had changed little from the last century, and the reason was because handguns were a weapon made with those needs in mind.

The distance between the shaded tree under which Tatsuya was hiding and the longcoat wearing phantom was about 10m. Although Tatsuya had exceeded the minimum necessary training time, he by no means practiced with a handgun every day, and it was a still a fairly difficult distance.

The gun in his hand was a single shot chambered gun designed for a special bullet. There were no second chances. He would have preferred to aim for an area of exposed skin, but he had to give up on what he couldn't do.

Besides, as the target was wearing a hat over the eyes as well as a longcoat which stretched down to the ankles in addition to a white mask which completely covered the face, it was a fair bet that there was no exposed skin in any case. There was nothing to fret over.

The low speed heavy bullet absorbed more of the discharge than a suppressor would have, yet as aimed, the bullet hit the abdomen of the coat. While the weight of the bullet was twice that of a standard 9mm, the lack of speed was compensated by the fact the vampire had been falling back towards the bullet.

The masked magician turned towards Tatsuya. Golden pupils glinted with a harsh light as they watched him.

Discernible within them was unmistakable hostility.

She abandoned her knife at the same time Tatsuya released his gun. Her hand shot to her waist, as Tatsuya's went to his breast. Tatsuya's hand reached his destination first.

But his finger froze midway through pulling the trigger of his CAD.

In his opponents hand was a medium sized automatic pistol. Tatsuya's vision discerned a magic formula already formed within its barrel.

The activation speed was comparable to Tatsuya's Decomposition. It was a specialised device which began an activation sequence the moment it was gripped, cutting out the time and effort needed to operate the switch and thus seizing the initiative.

The magic triggered was Data Fortification. A magic which strengthened any bullets passing through the barrel.

Tatsuya flicked the selector of his CAD, switched from a magic for decomposing Eidos to one for decomposing entities and began activation.

His target was the chamber of the gun the masked magician held. More precisely, the bullets which would be fired from therein.

Time seemed to slow during that moment of high-density information processing as magic was activated, as Tatsuya watched the masked magician pull back the trigger of her automatic pistol while Tatsuya did the same with his CAD.

The distance between the masked magician and Tatsuya was approximately 15m. The subsonic bullets fired from that suppressed gun, which emphasised stealth, would take 0.05s to reach him.

That was almost the same as instantaneously.

However, the time after being enhanced with Data Fortification would be even less.

As the speed enhanced bullets sped through the air, they disintegrated to dust.

A jolt was evident from behind the mask.

She certainly had reason for her confidence, Tatsuya thought.

Mere 'suspension' or 'vector modification' would not have been sufficient to stop those bullets. If one had sufficient ability such as Katsuto it would be a different story, but the average magician wouldn't stand a chance. Even a magician of the combat class from the Ten Master Clans would be hard-pressed.

In Tatsuya's case, 'Decomposition' was a strong counter to 'Data Fortification' so he was able to cope, but if that hadn't been the case he would have definitely been in trouble with no countermeasures.

That was all, however, mere conjecture. And now, the masked magician had exposed a gap before Tatsuya.

He fired off magic the instant he became aware of that gap.

The magic he had failed to fire off initially, now hit the masked magician head-on.

Reflected in Tatsuya's vision, things such as 'colour', 'shape', 'sound', 'heat' and 'position' were written as information. He targeted not the magician herself, but rather locking on to her disguise magic he released the anti-magic Gram Dispersion.

Decomposing the magic formula itself, it stripped her insubstantial outer covering and scattered it away.

—In that instant,

—the demon was reborn as an angel.

◇◇◇

The night sky was filled with stars. Within the inside of the motor sedan which was racing along the highway in the heart of the city, views of the outside came as 3D imagery as neither sound nor vibrations transferred through.

"...Sensei."

Sitting in the back seat of that quiet cabin, Miyuki hesitantly opened her mouth.

The person she was addressing was the Ninjutsu user sitting next to her, Kokonoe Yakumo.

"Nn, what is it?"

Yakumo opened his eyes, and turned to face Miyuki.

"Why at this time...are you helping? If I remember, your rule had always been to not get involved in the real world."

It was caution, or rather observance of Buddhist principles. The meanings were different, but the results were similar. And the commandments Yakumo had imposed on himself involved both.

"Well, there are some circumstances involved."

Yakumo's tone was frivolous as always, and it was difficult for Miyuki to see through to the true intent beneath.

"Though I discarded all earthly bonds when I took up my ordination, I did not discard my work as a shinobi. It wasn't my call alone to make after all.

Not that he couldn't, but that he *didn't*. There was no sense of regret, but rather the feeling that Yakumo considered it to be perfectly natural...that was what Miyuki read.

"There are those who call it the responsibility or obligation of those who have inherited skills...it may be considered the height of worldliness, but even in Buddhism, authority is not free from tradition so it should be acceptable I guess?"

Although he had technically asked a question, Miyuki had no answer. Nevermind Miyuki, it wasn't something you'd ask a 15 year old girl in general.

"Haah..."

The best she could do were ambiguous words of support. It seemed that Yakumo's disciple in the driver's seat was sending signals reminiscent of raised eyebrows, but that may have been just her imagination.

"The thing is, I heard from Kazama-kun that the enemy Tatsuya-kun was facing may have been using the Kudou's 'Parade'. If that really is the case, we'll have to give them a warning. The one who taught the Kudou 'Matoi', which they developed into Parade, had been my predecessor after all."

The whole thing's such a pain, Yakumo sighed. That indiscreet remark however passed Miyuki by.

"The precursor to the Kudou's secret technique 'Parade', was taught by Sensei's master..."

If it had been Tatsuya, he would probably have just said 'ah, so that sort of thing happens' and simply accepted it. But for Miyuki, it wasn't as easy to swallow.

"Oh? You didn't know? The purpose of the Ninth Institute had been to develop magicians who could implement streamlined and re- systematised Ancient magic into modern magic. To that end, the Ninth Institute gathered many Ancient users. My predecessor was amongst them."

Naturally, Miyuki had no idea.

Rather, the idea that a high school girl would be knowledgeable about the dark side of modern magic, the sealed miseries which were the Magic Ability Development Institutes, was more absurd. Even Miyuki, an inheritor of the results of the most infamous Fourth Institute, would be clueless as to what the other institutes had been up to.

"...Then could it be, Sensei's family name[1]?"

Miyuki's eyes widened as she gasped, and she inquired with a pale expression.

"No, you're just overthinking things."

He probably guessed what Miyuki was thinking immediately. Laughing bitterly, Yakumo shook his hands in denial.

"The name Kokonoe is merely something I inherited from my predecessor."

The air in the car eased up a little. But that warmth plunged back down almost immediately.

"Anyway, it was under those circumstances that my predecessor taught the Kudou 'Matoi' and they developed it into 'Parade'. It involves original secret techniques of our own. So if the magician tangled with Tatsuya-kun is truly using 'Parade', they'll have to be warned not to flash it around any further. And if they're not inclined to listen, well, that'd be most unfortunate."

Yakumo's tone and expression were as carefree as ever. And yet, Miyuki felt a chill run down her spine. Nor was it just her. Gripping the wheel, Yakumo's disciple's hunched shoulders were rigid as stone.

◇◇◇

A demon turning into an angel. That was the impression left on Tatsuya's mind, so vivid was the change.

The scarlet hair, reminiscent of the darkness of the abyss blazed into gold shining in the feeble light.

Cruel golden eyes transformed into the serene blue of an azure sky. The curves of her face softened, and her figure slimmed down. Even her height seemed to shrink slightly.

Such beauty couldn't possibly have been hidden by such a small mask.

Of course, if one could change even their physique, it's no wonder they could have fooled the world.

If various evidence had not built up until now, even Tatsuya probably would not have known.

Tatsuya's hand moved unconsciously. From the hand of the golden- haired sapphire-eyed girl flew another five bullets, all of which disintegrated before reaching him.

Then just before she could fire off any more bullets, the slide of her handgun flew off and the barrel fell out.

Being forced to stop shooting, not to mention having her Device impossibly destroyed by magic, the masked girl froze.

"That's enough, Lina! I don't want to fight you!"

Taking advantage of the lull, Tatsuya tried to contain the situation. His goal today was the capture of the Parasite. To restrain it, and find out it's identity. That was why he had taken the hard route of firing a bullet which would shoot out an anesthetic needle from that single-shot gun.

To him, the fight with the masked magician/Lina was a pointless waste of time. That line should have been the end of the battle, but...

It was a bad move — achieving instead the opposite effect. From behind the mask, blue eyes glinted with a hard light.

Returning the wrecked specialised CAD to it's holster with her right hand, she withdrew it holding miniature throwing daggers instead.

The magicians of the USNA favour and make widespread use of integrated armament CADs. It was more than possible that those daggers weren't simple blades, but some sort of armament device.

Short boots kicked off from the surface of the softcourt. It was hardly a speed one would expect out of a young lady, but it didn't exceed the limits of ordinary men.

Tatsuya took a ball of lead out from his pocket and flicked out his fingers.

Whistling through the air, it flew straight towards Lina's right hand — and passed right on through.

There was no spray of blood. It hadn't hit flesh, but rather an illusion.

At that moment Lina pulled back her arm. The dagger sped towards Tatsuya from a metre away from where his naked eye had perceived it.

Jumping aside to dodge, Tatsuya's eyes traced it's trajectory. Where his eyes led, he saw an illusion throwing another dagger.

His naked eyes saw a small masked girl, yet his minds eye knew it was only an insubstantial stereoscopic image.

(How troublesome!)

Tatsuya let out a wordless complaint. The difference between knowing and actually dealing with something really was quite pronounced.

The technique Parade created an Information Body containing all the elements 'colour', 'shape', sound', 'heat' and 'position'. It was the same as Yakumo's 'Matoi'.

Unlike 'Matoi', which projected a Body identical to the original in colour, shape, sound and heat yet with a different position, Lina's Parade emphasised projecting different colours and a different shape. However, that didn't mean Parade was unable to shift position too. The technique which the Kudou devised, and Lina inherited, was perfectly capable of doing so as well.

Right now Lina was focusing the computing power for changing colour and shape all into changing position, preventing Tatsuya from getting a grip on her real location. And without target coordinates, he was unable to cast magic. Magic which required coordinates based on determination from visual information was as good as disabled once the target was no longer in sight. And the difference between 'Parade' and an illusion was that the false position carried over even into the dimension of information.

For magic to take effect, the magic sequence must be projected upon the target's Eidos. For example, to execute a file on a computer, the path of the directory where the file is located must be specified and an execution command must be carried out, but since specifying the path every time is laboursome a shortcut is often used. If the shortcut is changed to instead specify a path leading to an inexistant dummy file, then despite carrying out the same procedure as before, rather than executing the actual file an error will occur.

Applying this principle to the magic process, in most cases the visual information is the shortcut icon, and within it is the auditory and temperature tactile information. If the visual information is disrupted due to an illusion the magic will not trigger, yet if the illusion and true body are overlapping the sequence can still reach the Eidos through the coordinate information most of the time. In this case, despite a delay the magic will function as normal.

Even if the illusion is in a different place, it's still possible to take the association between the illusion and true body as a key and attempt to locate the position of the true body. But if the coordinates are faked and a dummy is present in the dimension of information, the magic formula released taking the information from the five senses as a shortcut acts instead towards the dummy, the result of which is 'nothing happened'.

This is the system of the anti-magic 'Parade'.

—Thus in order to break through 'Parade',

—it's necessary to either locate the body between the time when the old illusion breaks down and a new illusion is created,

—or disregard the five senses to find the coordinates of the body directly in the dimension of information.

The former was currently not going so well. To make matters worse, Lina's magic activation was blindingly fast. Her activation speed surpassed that of even Miyuki. Not to mention, she would have especially practiced this particular magic to death. The speed at which she reactivated the magic was utterly monstrous.

For Tatsuya, the latter method was a possibility. Being under constant physical attack, however, the majority of his perception was in the material realm, and shifting into the immaterial would be a considerable gamble.

(—There's no choice.)

As she pulled out the fifth dagger, Tatsuya decided. Unable to find the body before a new illusion sprang up, nor able to locate his target's Eidos in the dimension of information, he settled for the third option.

He took out a small cylindrical can from the pocket of his jacket. And threw it lightly upwards.

For a split second, a confused expression floated on Lina's face, yet upon recognising what the 'can' was, her eyes widened.

It was a miniature canister grenade. "Je—"

Jesus, was probably the word she was going for. But Lina didn't have the chance to finish. Wasting not the time to utter even that short word, she threw up an objective barrier.

(Fixed Deceleration.)

On the other hand, Tatsuya Flash Casted a magic for constantly decelerating the movement speed of objects. If he had tried creating a weak barrier with his virtual magic area, it would have been impossible for him to completely block out his own canister grenade (a grenade specialised for throwing out shrapnel).

And if he had used speed stopping suspension magic, it was possible that it would lose out to the sheer kinetic energy of the projectiles and fail to modify the event.

Which was why he used fixed deceleration. Even then, he wouldn't have been able to achieve a large scale deceleration like to a hundredth or a thousandth of velocity.

By combining the fact it was a weapon he had prepared and knew everything about with his virtual magic area's interference strength, he was able to produce magic of the bare minimum required for success.

Fixed deceleration alone, however, couldn't stop the shrapnel. It wasn't a magic designed for that task. As he turned to his side and dropped to his knees, tiny shards peppered his flank, thigh, and the arm he had raised to cover his head.

Very few penetrated the fabric of the artificial leather with a minor bulletproof capacity, but still over a dozen were now digging into the flesh of his limbs.

[Self restoration / Auto start] (Self restoration cancel)

Willfully suppressing his self restoration which automatically tried to initiate, Tatsuya leaped towards Lina who was completely unscathed behind a barrier. He immediately began working to decompose the anti-personnel barrier Lina had newly thrown up. Being completely caught off guard, even Lina couldn't manage any more than that.

"...How reckless, Tatsuya."

Lina was thrown onto the ground, and Tatsuya pressed down from above. Pinned to the ground, Lina spoke in an amazed voice. Her lips, not hidden behind her mask, were curled into a smile, but it wasn't difficult to see through her bravado.

"It's textbook when dealing with an opponent you can't locate to simply bring out non-directional attacks, right?"

"That's called an indiscriminate attack."

"Feel free to think so. Unfortunately, I simply don't have the skill to cast area effect magic. Well, if it's Lina I'm sure you would've been able to defend against that anyway, so with that said please forgive me."

"If you incapacitate yourself in the process, I think it defeats the whole purpose."

"Without resorting to this, there was absolutely no catching you."

"You wanted to catch me? If you're going to declare your love, I'd have preferred a more romantic manner."

Looking downwards into those azure eyes, Tatsuya grinned. He was pinning both of Lina's hands above her head with one palm.

When he moved his free hand towards her mask, Lina's shoulder twitched. The fingers of her left hand wrapped in thick gloves tried to move, but Tatsuya forcibly splayed them open.

"...It hurts, Tatsuya."

"Unfortunately, I know the trick of that CAD. Now then..." Tatsuya's hand took hold of the mask.

Lina closed her eyes, and turned away. Even though her identity had long since been exposed, she still seemed reluctant to show her true face. Tatsuya didn't understand the thinking behind such rationale, but it wasn't like he was trying to strip her, so he had no reason to stop.

"Activate, [Dancing Blades]!"

The moment his hand touched the mask, Lina facing away cried out.

The five daggers Lina had thrown out responded to the sound of her voice, and whirled towards Tatsuya.

(A voice activated armament is it...a device which activates not on an activation sequence but on a delay trigger is pretty interesting.)

Sensing the daggers rushing at him, Tatsuya muttered to himself.

Two were aimed at his right hand holding the mask, one at his right shoulder, one his left arm and one his leg.

None targeted his vitals.

Come to think of it, all of Lina's attacks had been meant to disable, none with the intent to kill...as he considered such things, the daggers had already reached his flesh.

And the moment they made contact, they dissolved into dust.

"Corrosion...no, Decomposition...?"

Lina's eyes returned to face Tatsuya, as they widened in shock. Paying it no mind, Tatsuya began peeling off the mask.

Lina tried to resist, violently shaking her head, but Tatsuya's hand was immovable.

"You'll regret this, Tatsuya!"

"The moment the target I should have successfully captured fled, I felt plenty enough regret."

During the scuffle with Lina, the Parasite had escaped a good distance away. Even though he had insurance, he couldn't help feeing frustration over the whole affair. Lina should have been after the vampire too, so what in the world were her intentions in helping it escape filled Tatsuya's thoughts.

Despite being faced by those teary eyes, being pleaded to in such a desperate voice, Tatsuya felt no obligation to hesitate. He removed the receivers acting as clasps on her ears. As expected, it seemed the mask acted as an information terminal.

He gently removed the mask which was made of a surprisingly firm material. Even Tatsuya, who was more than accustomed to good looks, couldn't help almost letting out a sigh at the sheer beauty now revealed.

Lina clenched her lips and glared at Tatsuya.

The very next moment, heartrending screams issued from those lips. At that totally abrupt development, Tatsuya was stunned.

His arm restraining Lina's hands didn't loosen however, having being mercilessly educated as a subordinate of the unscrupulous Kazama.

"Someone, anyone help!"

It was like she was crying to be saved from a rapist.

Although not a rapist, Tatsuya's very convincing cold eyes weren't helping his case.

As if lying in wait for Lina's scream as a signal, the sound of rushing footsteps could be heard. Wearing navy blue uniforms under scarlet bulletproof vests lined with white reflective paint, four people hurried in from four directions. The emblem that shone on their caps was the sakura crest.

Grasping Lina's left arm, Tatsuya forcibly tore off the glove from her left hand.

With the sensation of a cord ripping, Lina's white hand was revealed. "Put your hands in the air and turn around!"

A policeman — or at least a man dressed up like one — yelled as he ran up while aiming a handgun.

Tatsuya spun behind Lina, and rushed the man.

Lina was pushed into the chest of the man as he gave a cry. The man caught her.

And Tatsuya, vaulting overhead, landed on the man's shoulders. As if booting a soccer ball, he slammed a kick right into his face.

Leaping off the shoulder of the man who crumpled back without a sound, Tatsuya slipped out from the encircling fake cops.

"...What in the world would you have done if he had been a real cop?" Lina's voice was absolutely disbelieving.

However,

"It's really time you dropped the act, Angie Sirius." At Tatsuya's reply, the atmosphere hardened.

"If they're aiding you, it doesn't matter if they're real or not. Although complacent 100 years ago, modern criminal law states that even unwittingly abetting foreign aggressors is grounds for prosecution. If you think dressing up as cops is enough to scare people, you're gravely mistaken. Don't underestimate the resolution of the magicians of Japan."

The three fake officers, excluding the one kicked down, turned to await the decision of Lina, of their commander Angie Sirius.

With a sigh Lina faced Tatsuya and, lightly bending her knee, gave a polite bow.

"We're sorry for the rudeness. Truly, we underestimated you. There's a great difference between hearing and seeing. As a fellow magician, I apologise."

Then she aligned her feet, stood up straight and placed her right hand to the side of her forehead. Even without a military cap, it was unmistakably a salute.

Earlier she had been just another magician, but now she was acting as the captain of the USNA military magician corps. That was what Tatsuya interpreted her gesture as.

"I am the captain of the USNA army integrated magician force Stars, reporting directly to the Chiefs of Staff, Major Angelina Sirius. Angie Sirius was the name I went under during my previous disguise, so please just continue calling me Lina as you always have done. Now then."

The killing intent which she had kept under wraps for the sake of courtesy, now assaulted Tatsuya full force.

"Now that you know both my true face and true identity, Tatsuya, the Stars have no option but to annihilate you. If you had left the mask on we could have avoided this, however much a deception it would been; it's a pity."

"Are you telling me you regret this?"

In the midst of that bloodthirstiness, Tatsuya laughed fearlessly.

"If you had just stayed quiet and allowed yourself to be caught, we could have ended this without killing at the least."

"My bad. I've let your heartfelt consideration go to waste."

"No, what will be taking your life is our self-centred circumstance, so there's no nothing to apologise for. You may even feel free to resist."

One of the fake cops handed out to her a combat knife in one hand, and a medium-sized handgun in the other. A blade form armament device, and a gun shaped specialised CAD.

Tatsuya also drew his CAD.

"This really is a shame, Tatsuya. I had gotten to quite like you." Stretching out her left hand, Lina pointed her CAD at Tatsuya.

Stretching out his right hand, Tatsuya pointed his CAD at Lina. Lina's subordinates took positions behind him. He was surrounded. "...Goodbye, Tatsuya."

"I won't let you, Lina!"

Suddenly at that moment, a commanding voice cold as deepest winter froze the air.

A startled light floating into her eyes, Lina turned towards the sound of the voice.

As if covering their now wide-open superior, Lina's subordinates moved in to simultaneously attack Tatsuya from three sides.

Large combat knives swung towards Tatsuya. Extending from the blades edges was 'Molecular Divider'.

Tatsuya pulled the trigger of his CAD. The virtual territory, designed to invert the bonds holding molecules together, vanished in spite of the operators intent.

Now that the combat knives was a mere blades, Tatsuya broke out from the net. One of Lina's subordinates, running right past Tatsuya, suddenly pressed a hand to his stomach and fell over. Welling out from between his fingers was blood.

His blood-soaked left hand flung out. Blood splattered towards the other fake cops.

One of them stopped in his tracks, and the other one ran right into him.

Tatsuya's right hand returned to point towards Lina.

Lina's left hand was aimed at the person who had gotten in her way — Miyuki.

The activation sequence she initiated was dispelled by Tatsuya's 'Gram Dispersion'.

Before a man could jump at Tatsuya, a cold which chilled the blood of all the attackers descended.

The man's footsteps came to an abrupt halt. Behind him stalked up a shadow.

Wordlessly, the man fell unconscious.

The one person remaining was already flat on the ground.

"Well, Tatsuya-kun, that was pretty dangerous."

Having incapacitated two of the Stars members in an instant, Yakumo strolled up with the same unconcerned expression as always.

Seeing that figure able to maintain 'as always' even in this situation, Tatsuya acknowledged his own inexperience.

"How shameless, master. Despite the fact you were waiting to make the perfect entrance."

Being impressed in spite of himself was vexing, so he threw out sarcasm instead.

At that line, Lina's eyes widened.

In front of her was Miyuki, CAD prepped and battle ready. Tatsuya's right hand was aimed straight at Lina.

Yakumo's eyes were directed towards Tatsuya, but Lina was also fully within his field of view.

The one surrounded was now Lina.

"Well, I guess this is fine. There are some things I had wanted to ask you anyway."

"Eh, was that so Onii-sama?"

Miyuki turned around in dismay. Looking away from Lina she left herself wide open, but due to the increased pressure from both Tatsuya and Yakumo, Lina was paralysed.

Immediately noticing her own blunder, Miyuki also returned her focus to Lina in a hurry.

"You allowed yourself to be surrounded on purpose in order to draw information from them right...and without considering that, I just stormed in. Please forgive me, Onii-sama."

Still turned towards Lina, Miyuki spoke in an apologetic voice as she begged Tatsuya's pardon.

"No, it really was dangerous, so your judgment wasn't wrong.

Therefore there's nothing to apologise for. Rather, I should be the one expressing my gratitude. Miyuki, thank you."

"Onii-sama...there's no need..."

Miyuki muttered with a dazed expression. Well, Miyuki apologising to Tatsuya and then this happening was pretty much a guaranteed occurrence. Or like some sort of ritual. Despite never taking her eyes off Lina, Miyuki was paying only the bare minimum of attention.

"Besides, I can simply start asking them now."

This was spoken towards Miyuki, but they were also meant for Lina. From the way he spoke every word clearly, Lina realised his intent.

"...Are you going to try to force me to talk?"

"Interrogation generally involves force."

Lina spoke through ground teeth, and Tatsuya returned an indirect confirmation.

"Three on one is cheating! Unfair!"

"Unfair...just how many of you were ganging up on Onii-sama earlier?"

At that vexed cry of complaint, Miyuki hit back dumbfounded. "Come now, don't say that."

Before her shock turned to anger, Tatsuya soothed his imouto.

"Fair is a façade when in a favourable position to maintain that condition, and unfair is an expedience when at a disadvantage to wring concessions from the other side. From a tactical perspective, using words to avoid conflict when one cannot win through force is not wrong. The moment you're drawn in is when you lose, Miyuki."

"I see, so that's what it was."

It was rather blunt, but at least it managed to achieve it's effect of calming Miyuki down.

"Façade? Expedience?"

At the same time, it had the effect of setting Lina off. Incidentally, Yakumo was just muffling his laughter all the while.

"I don't want to be told that by you Japanese who aren't ashamed to hide your true intentions with a façade!"

"Aren't you 1/4 Japanese yourself?"

"..."

"The 'Parade' you use was developed in Japan, and the reason you can use it is because of the Kudou, in other words Japanese, blood flowing within you right? Beside which, double standards are the hallmark of the white establishment. I've yet to hear of a people who don't separate their true feelings from their façade."

Lina silently glared at Tatsuya, her white skin flushed bright red. Silently, as she didn't even let out a groan.

Facing Lina's eyes with his terrible grin, Tatsuya noticed her bloodlust had completely faded and he smiled wryly.

"...Is something strange?"

"No, I'm just thinking that interrogating Lina at this rate is just going to make her more obstinate."

"At least call it pride!"

Knowing the difference between obstinacy and pride, her Japanese really isn't bad, Tatsuya thought, impressed. —Not that that was very relevant.

"The other groups will be here soon too..."

"Wait! Are you listening to me at all??"

It was best to ignore the irrelevant things.

"Lina, let's have a fair deal. If you think three on one is unfair, what about a one on one. If you win, we'll let you go for today. If I win, you'll have to truthfully answer our questions. How's that?"

Even if Lina won, Tatsuya still knew her true identity, and if he won, she would have to talk. Although the match would be one on one, the conditions still weren't balanced.

"...Fine."

"Please wait!"

As Lina accepted bitterly, Miyuki spoke up at the same time. Both Tatsuya and Lina looked over at Miyuki.

Undaunted, Miyuki spoke clearly.

"Onii-sama, please leave the match with Lina to me."

"Miyuki, just what are you..."

"Lina, remember this. I will never forgive those who intend harm on Onii-sama. I think of you as my rival and my friend, but when you declared your intent to kill him, even if those were mere words, I absolutely will not forgive it. By my own hands, I will have you realise your sin."

Miyuki's eyes shone with a fully serious light. Seeing that far too deep obsession, it seemed like Lina would laugh it off as deception, but she only let out a chuckle.

"Don't worry. I won't kill you."

Miyuki's words declared it was already her victory.

"Hmph...Miyuki, you think you can win against me? I, who hold the name of Sirius, me!"

Hearing that, the flames of battle flared up in Lina's chest. The two queens glared at one another.

"Alright. Miyuki, I leave it to you. Is that fine with you, Lina?"

"Thank you very much, Onii-sama."

"Have it your way. If I lose, I'll tell you whatever you want. Not that that will ever happen though!"

The agreement was made. And so it was that the two extraordinary beauties, prepared to raise the curtain on a magnificent duel.

◇◇◇

Miyuki's prowess with cooling and freezing magic was unrivaled.

However the nature of her magic came from shutting down the motion of molecular vibration, and wasn't derived from the harnessing of snow spirits or ice demons. Of course, it wasn't like in those settings common to fantasies aimed at young kids, where receiving the patronage of such a spirit granted immunity to cold. The point being.

Cold is cold.

Riding tandem in a bike in the midst of this midwinter night, there was no way she wouldn't have been cold.

So—

(There's no problem in being like this, right...it's cold after all.)

While clinging tightly to Tatsuya, pressing her cheek to his back as well as her chest, Miyuki repeated such an excuse in her head.

—Is there any point making excuses by this time? Was something that was best left unsaid.

Flicking a glance at the headlights of the motorcycle right behind him, if anyone had seen his expression, it could only have been described as 'mischievous'.

From his position he was unable to see Miyuki at all behind Tatsuya's shadow, but he was perfectly able to predict what her actions, condition and expression would be. To him, the feelings the siblings had for each other was something quite of interest.

As the corners of his mouth twitched, he felt a rising tension from next to him. It seemed like his smile had been misinterpreted.

"There's no need for such concern. As long as you follow the agreement, I have no intention of harming you."

"...Considering the position I'm in, are you really telling me to believe that?"

Her eyes fixed forwards, Lina replied in a harsh voice. No, rather than 'harsh' it would be 'stiff'.

"Well, I can see where you're coming from."

Caught between Yakumo and his disciple in the back seat of the sedan, if anyone had seen her position they would no doubt have assumed she was being escorted. Knowing the power of the men sitting beside her, that feeling only deepened.

Yakumo had taken out two Stars in the blink of an eye.

Without any one of them noticing at all, that black clad— ninja had suddenly appearing right behind them. The back of the man gripping the wheel had no openings either.

Even at three to one odds she didn't think they would have been opponents she couldn't defeat, but she knew she would most likely not escape unscathed either.

"But you can be at ease."

Perceiving her tension, and estimating that it stemmed from her vigilance and hostility, Yakumo spoke in a relaxed tone.

For Lina, that was even more disconcerting.

"I have no interest in what happens between you and Tatsuya-kun. My only interest is the proper handing down of our secrets. All I ask of you is, like I said earlier, to not reveal what we taught the Kudou to others. So that those who are not privileged to know do not learn."

"...You don't care even for your national interests?"

"Nope."

"Not even world peace? The future of humanity?"

"Not in the least. I'm a recluse."

"You're a magician as well, aren't you!"

Yakumo's words were simply irreconcilable with Lina's values. And so, she unnecessarily wasn't able to believe him.

"I am a shinobi. Not a magician."

Yakumo replied to her in a calm voice. A decisive refutation. "...Aren't Ninjutsu users a type of magician?"

"Just because we can use magic, doesn't mean we must become magicians."

She knew what he meant. She could understand.

Yet even so, Lina could not agree to what Yakumo said.

"In the same way, just because one became a magician doesn't automatically place an obligation upon them to serve their country."

She couldn't agree, but for some reason, she couldn't object either.

◇◇◇

The car Lina rode in stopped somewhere at a riverbank.

'Somewhere' was in the sense that Lina had no idea where it was, but guessing from their travel time it should still be within the city or the suburbs. Lina was surprised that such a metropolitan city like Tokyo still had such places.

No lights were visible at all.

With the sedan's headlights turned off, as well as the lights of the bike behind, the place was pitch black.

With no moon, and only the starlight to guide them through the darkness, Tatsuya and Miyuki walked up.

All of a sudden, Lina was attacked by anxiety.

Her CAD had not been taken, but she no longer had her transmitter or communications terminal. She hadn't been subject to a body check, but all her equipment had been guessed and she had had no choice but to obediently hand them over.

She was assured that they would be returned to her later, but for now, she had no way of contacting her compatriots as to her whereabouts. A satellite should have been monitoring her movements, but the ones taking her here were skilled in the art of 'Ninjutsu', well known for their illusionary shadow magic. It was more than plausible they could fool even military grade high resolution satellite cameras.

—It was possible that she had been brought to this isolated place to be confined. In the worst case, she may even be assassinated.

Lina tightly squeezed the CAD at her breast through her clothes. —In that worst case, she would have to play her trump card.

"I can pretty much guess what you're thinking, but we're seriously going to keep our word so relax."

It too all Lina had to not cry out. Being spoken to so suddenly, she couldn't suppress a shiver. When she turned around, she saw Tatsuya, who had closed in enough for his expression to be visible under the starlight, laughing silently.

"I'm just reminding you of the conditions. If you answer the questions I have, we'll drop you off at the station."

Being the other party, it was a very outrageous laugh. "That's only if you win."

Naturally, Lina's voice was sour.

"Of course. In that case, we'll carry out the terms as well."

His shamelessness, not decreasing in the least, was irritating her more and more, yet Lina knew that getting all worked up here would only worsen her position.

Tightly clenching her teeth, she set her eyes behind Tatsuya — towards Miyuki.

Eyes overflowing with fighting spirit stared back. Miyuki too was already brimming with motivation.

"Now then...Lina may be dissatisfied with this, but the referee will be Master. All he'll be refereeing however is deciding who wins and who loses, so he won't be pausing the match or interfering partway through."

"I knew that there would be no one but enemies here from the start, so there's nothing to be dissatisfied over."

"That's very good grace."

Tatsuya cooly cruised over her sarcastic comment.

Her frustration had been boiling over, yet now Lina suddenly felt calm.

"Then, this humble servant Kokonoe Yakumo will be your referee for this match. The victory conditions are when one party surrenders, or is rendered incapable of further combat. No killing please. That would only lead to ill-will."

"Understood. That's perfectly fine."

"I'll finish everything long before that."

Miyuki nodded quietly, while Lina gave a spirited agreement.

While their attitude was contrasting, their absolute faith in their own victory was shared.

Everything was on edge. "Then, shall we start?"

"Master, one moment please."

Unfortunately, someone who was totally incapable of reading the mood was there. Absolutely ignoring the stares Yakumo and Lina were sending him, Tatsuya walked to his little sister.

He approached to within two feet of her, yet still didn't stop. "Um, Onii-sama?"

Without replying to Miyuki, who was confusedly unable to guess her brother's intent,

One foot.

He continued on.

He finally stopped close enough to be able to hold Miyuki if he stretched out,

—and embraced her. "Ummmumumum."

Being held so tightly at the waist, Miyuki blushing furiously began to panic. A third party would probably have found that odd, considering how much she had been hugging him just earlier, but to her hugging and being hugged were two entirely separate things.

Tatsuya's other hand caressed Miyuki's head. Miyuki was no longer capable of sound. Running his fingers through his sister's hair,

Drawing her face which had ceased all resistance to his lips, Tatsuya gave Miyuki a kiss on the forehead.

When he finally let go, Miyuki's wide-eyed face was revealed. There was no embarrassment, only frozen shock. "This...why..."

"You showed me how to do this earlier, and while it's imperfect, I remembered the gist of it. Although it's only temporary, I restore your power to you. Please compete to your heart's content."

"...Yes!"

At her brother's words, in utter earnest, Miyuki nodded with an indomitable smile.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, master."

Lina, standing next to Yakumo, was making a face as if she had eaten too much and gotten heartburn.

"Lina as well...I know that was rude, but you don't mind a few moments right?"

"You're one to talk...no, it's fine."

Replying to the (in her eyes) now utterly indifferent Tatsuya, Lina answered in her most sarcastic voice.

Miyuki didn't follow behind. It seemed she didn't intend to engage in close combat.

From Lina's observations so far and in the light of this, Lina determined that Miyuki was a typical magician deficient in physical abilities. For the rogue magician executioner 'Sirius', they were the easiest type of prey.

(I'll end this in one blow!)

There had been no starting signal yet, but Lina had no intention of waiting for any such thing. There had been nothing in the arrangements about a signal after all.

Close the gap with self-acceleration magic, neutralise the opponent's magic with Data Fortification, then eliminate in CQC.

Then while Tatsuya and the other's were distracted by Miyuki's loss, use high speed magic to make an escape.

That was the plan.

However, she could only let out a silent cry.

One step faster than she could activate magic, a tempest was rushing in.

The moment Lina leaped aside, a torrent of frozen air flashed past. As she raised her head, this time she saw a blizzard howling in from the side. By manipulating air density and creating a wall of vacuum, Lina was able to weather the storm somehow.

"I guess this much isn't enough."

As Miyuki muttered to herself, the night air began to gather around her.

Lina clenched her teeth.

In terms of activation speed, Lina wins over Miyuki.

For Miyuki to have made the first move, meant she must have set up earlier.

Not to mention the two volleys just earlier were sequences designed to maximise speed at the cost of power.

Lina felt shamed twice over.

Both at her intention to exploit her opponent's naivety, and being caught off guard in turn.

She had thought she could win even with powered down attacks and, in fact, she had come dangerously close.

(But now it's my turn!)

The gap was likely in order to cast a stronger magic for the decisive blow. But that would be fatal, Lina thought. As she did so. she simultaneously activated self-acceleration and Data Fortification.

By cladding herself in self-acceleration magic which lowered both gravity and inertia, Lina rushed straight towards Miyuki. Her right hand grasped what had looked like decorative buttons on her jacket.

She hadn't taken out her gun, but this much should be more than enough to take out a high school girl.

Then the moment Lina was five metres away, her intuition screamed for her to halt.

She planted her feet firmly to resist a gale which suddenly threatened to pull her body in.

She applied a static magic on herself to further counter that drag force.

In that position, she triggered movement magic on the buttons in her hand. The buttons, empowered to move at 300 km/h without acceleration, slowed and dropped to the ground before they had traveled even one metre.

Miyuki's senses had felt Lina blazing in faster than the eye could see.

Although she couldn't draw data directly from the dimension of information like Tatsuya, it was possible to perceive the traces of event modification left by magic. This was something any magician could do at varying levels, and anything a magician could do Miyuki could do at the highest level.

Self-acceleration was a magic which caused event modification on the user themself. Therefore by tracking the traces of event modification in real time, it was possible to determine the position of the caster. Miyuki had learned how to exploit that weakness of self-acceleration from Tatsuya.

Everything so far had proceeded just as planned. Her saying "I guess this much isn't enough" had been deliberate, a suggestive ploy to provoke the other side.

The clincher would be this next magic. ([Deceleration Zone])

The technique itself was rather commonplace. It was a magic widely used both in Japan and abroad to slow the movement of a target object.

But when Miyuki uses this magic, her targets can extend even to gas molecules.

The movement speed of gas molecules is proportional to its pressure. To be precise (although this is still just an approximation) in an enclosed space, the pressure of a gas is proportional to the square of its movement speed. By forcibly decelerating the movement speed of air molecules in a region the pressure falls, and the resulting pressure gradient causes air from the surrounding space to move in.

Rapidly and forcefully.

Not just air, but people and objects were sucked in as well.

If a person caught in this had insufficient power to oppose the magic, they would be deprived of their movement speed and trapped.

And if the person had sufficient interference power to shut down the magic, the greatly decelerated gas molecules would suddenly regain their speed and expansion back to an appropriate pressure would occur; in other words, an explosion.

A magic which originally was only used in battle as a second option to reduce the impact of projectiles when lacking the power to outright stop them, had been wrought into a two-fold anti-personnel magic by Miyuki's overwhelming magic power.

However, Lina held her ground against the raging suction force. What she had shot out had looked like ornamental buttons.

Merely given some initial velocity there was no way those clumps of resin could break through Miyuki's Deceleration Zone, but more importantly, they had clued Lina in as to exactly just what kind of magic Miyuki was using.

(If that's the case!)

Always be prepared two, three steps ahead of your opponent, was something repeatedly taught to her by Tatsuya on a daily basis. If the plan to draw the opponent into Deceleration Zone and eliminate her there failed, she had planned strategies to take her down outside the area as well.

Whilst doubling over the inside zone, Miyuki released the outer area. The forcibly slowed air molecules returned to their original speed.

The air, once contained in a small area was freed in a great rush of pressure, and engulfed Lina in a blast.

The traces of a large scale phenomena alteration disappeared.

According to her instinct, Lina flattened herself on the ground and cast an objective barrier above.

A blast wave washed over the top of the shield. The high-speed air flow threatened to lift her shield and all off the ground, and after holding by applying major inertial increase magic several times whilst remaining prone, Lina raised her head and looked for an opportunity to counterattack — or rather to assess the situation.

Lina had no intention of leisurely(?) waiting for a chance to arise. Up to this moment, she had been entirely on the back foot.

Her opponent was a mere high school student, while she was the captain of the world's strongest unit.

Naturally such pride had been there, but now more than that, the awareness that she was losing ground brought its own mental pressure.

If she didn't retaliate at least a little, she would be overpowered.

Unless one has an overwhelming defensive magic, in a magic battle offense was stronger than defense. So went the theory.

Lina felt the wind pressure weaken. It wasn't so much due to cancellation of the magic as the blast which occurred as a result; after all that compressed air had been released, it was little wonder the wind had dropped.

Lina gripped her combat knife in her right hand.

Her gun had been taken, but this knife capable of operating 'Molecular Divider' had not.

The armament device of the magic developed by the previous Sirius, and now the trump card of the Stars.

When materialised, this magic, similar to an extended virtual area, must surpass the opponent's interference power.

Furthermore, since winning by halves wasn't an option, it would actually have to be a rank higher.

At the very least however,

(This should be enough to get Miyuki's attention!)

With her left hand which was still flat on the ground, she scattered daggers where Miyuki couldn't see.

She canceled her inertial increase, then rising up at full speed, (Molecular Divider)

On her knee, she swung her knife.

She activated the virtual area almost simultaneously. At that time, Lina felt an overwhelming interference strength surpassing anything she had ever seen burst into the space between her and Miyuki.

The virtual area, in the midst of being formed, was overrun by the torrent of interference.

She knew that she would be stopped. It might even be said she had counted on it.

"Dancing Blades!"

Even before confirming that Molecular Divider had been disabled, Lina activated her next magic.

Her discreetly scattered daggers rose and flew forwards in the blink of an eye.

By grazing the ground, they avoided the space dominated by Miyuki.

(If you're able to stop four blades attacking from the front and back in this darkness, please go ahead and try!)

Sensing magic tinged objects closing in at high speed Miyuki canceled her offensive magic sequence partway, and switched to an area defensive magic.

The daggers approaching Miyuki lost their flight momentum and fell to the ground.

Her magic which indiscriminately defended against all directions was more difficult than one which targeted an area, far more difficult than one which targeted individual objects, yet Miyuki as she was now could pull it off with ease.

It could even stop this attack filled with the magic power of the Sirius, Lina.

If her control had been tied up in Tatsuya's seal as usual, it would have been hard for her to defend against that.

She most likely wouldn't have been able to manage the control needed for such a dense technique.

If she had challenged Lina to a battle alone, she would have lost alone...thinking that, Miyuki offered a prayer of gratitude in her heart.

(Onii-sama is watching over me...I won't lose. I can't lose!)

Seeing her elaborately devised surprise attack crushed through sheer power, Lina felt a rising sense of both trepidation and exhilaration.

Her mind suddenly returned to that saccharine sweet, heartburn inducing sight from earlier.

At that time, she had thought he was merely messing around with the fight.

But at that time, Tatsuya had certainly whispered something to Miyuki.

Thinking about it, it was fully possible Tatsuya had been informing her about 'Dancing Blades'. She had seen Tatsuya decompose five incoming blades at once.

It was not a sequence for any intermolecular force neutralising magic that she knew, but from the results, she guessed that it must have somehow undone the bonds holding molecules together.

But that wasn't the point.

What was critical was that it had targeted multiple projectiles closing in at the same time, and dealt with them at the same time. What had stopped her attack, was not Miyuki's strength alone.

(I see...so he won't make a move, but he'll go ahead and speak. Not bad!)

Miyuki thought.

I absolutely cannot lose.

Lina thought.

I'll have to go full force.

The two of them cried out at the same time.

"Miyuki!"

"Lina!"

"This is it!"

The world froze. The world burned.

The magic of the two repainted reality itself, as two worlds collided. Glinting with crystal light, an endless plain of ice and snow. Roaring with thunder, an infernal storm of fire and lightning.

A hell which froze the air in eternal winter, 'Niflheim'.

A hell which consumed the air in scorching purgatory, 'Muspelheim'.

On one hand, an area magic which slowed down the vibration of gas molecules freezing not only water vapour and carbon dioxide, but right down to nitrogen as well.

On the other hand, an area magic which decomposed gas molecules into plasma, and furthermore, by forcibly separating the ions from the electrons, created a high energy electromagnetic field.

The sheer cold cooled the plasma back into gas, and the molten plasma reverted the frozen air.

The fury of the two powers now clashing created an aurora on the ground.

It really was a very pretty sight.

Almost enough to make one forget that life and death hung in the balance.

Tatsuya, his finger on his CAD trigger, carefully scrutinised the scene. If either side lost control, he would immediately erase the spells.

He expected substantial difficulty in canceling the magic of these two at the same time, but he was a magician who specialised in restoration and decomposition. He fully intended to surpass such absurdity.

In the midst of that aurora, as fire and ice met in what seemed an eternity of mutual destruction, in less than a minute the tide was revealed.

The cold air was expanding, and the plasma was shrinking.

In the first place, Miyuki was a magician who excelled in large scale magic over a wide area.

On the other hand Lina's power was focused on individual objects, excelling in severe magic on those.

From the beginning, this sort of engagement had favoured Miyuki.

Adding to that however Lina had already fought the vampire and then Tatsuya, making this her third consecutive battle.

Even though she herself was not aware of symptoms, fatigue was already setting in.

With her opponent holding the advantage and herself handicapped, the result was clear.

The match between Miyuki and Lina had never been a competition of magic power, but was to be decided by who could keep calm and make the most rational decisions.

"Kuh..."

She herself likely knew this as well. Lina groaned painfully.

And moved her hand to her back. She pulled out another armament device. Multicasting in this situation, however skilled a magician she may be, was pure suicide.

"That's enough, you two!"

Shouting out, Tatsuya pulled the trigger of his CAD.

His 'Gram Dispersion' dispelled both Miyuki's 'Niflheim' and Lina's 'Muspelheim' at the exact same time.

The cold and hot air rapidly mixed, creating a gale which would cause both frostbite and burns. Bracing himself for the severe pain he was sure was incoming, the storm of sheer cold and scorching heat was blocked right before him by an invisible wall.

"Onii-sama! That was far too reckless!" Her face pale, Miyuki came running up. Stunned, Lina could only stare.

For those two, protecting themselves from the thermal aftermath was a piece of cake regardless of fatigue. However, that sort of thing was impossible for Tatsuya. It was at times like these that Tatsuya, who looked with indifference on his own talents, was somewhat envious of the skills of ordinary magicians.

"My my...Tatsuya-kun, what will you do now?"

Having made no move to defend himself yet nevertheless appearing unharmed, Yakumo spoke in mock surprise. —No, looking at how muddy his disciple following after him was, he had likely dived into the ground. So called Earth Release jutsu.

"Master...what do you mean?"

He knew how Yakumo had escaped the heat and cold, but he didn't understand the question. Towards Tatsuya who had replied straightforwardly, or rather reflexively, Yakumo showed a truly surprised face.

"Well, you know...the victory conditions had been decided as when one side surrenders, or is rendered incapacitated. This was a match originally conceived by you, and now that you've gone and wrecked it, what will you do?"

Tatsuya had no words to reply with.

In that situation, if he had not intervened it would have gone against the condition of 'no killing' and so he had no regrets concerning the intervention itself.

But the entire match after all had simply been an excuse to slip around regulations.

The fact was, their treatment of Lina was a very messy situation.

As an actual soldier, Lina had guaranteed rights as a prisoner of war. If she had remained incognito that wouldn't have been an issue, but Tatsuya had heard from her own mouth that she was the 'Stars captain', and a 'USNA army major' not to mention acknowledging it himself before that. Her rights as a POW couldn't be ignored.

Even without a legal state of war, practically speaking anyone captured during a military operation had the rights of a POW. Adding to that, Tatsuya's group as civilians technically weren't allowed to apprehend the soldier Lina.

If he could prove his connection to the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion they could take her prisoner, but unfortunately there was no chance his highly classified status would be brought to light over an incident of this scale.

If they interrogated or detained Lina without legitimate right, they could only offer the USNA political excuses. This wasn't even beginning to consider punishment.

Of course on the other hand, they could raise the issue of Lina attacking civilians, but unfortunately a magician's rights to be protected as a civilian were still greatly restricted. In a court of international law, Tatsuya and co would be heavily disadvantaged.

Yet that being said, considering the future, there was no way they could just let her go without doing anything. How in the world will we sort out this situation...Tatsuya thought as he felt a headache approach.

"It's fine as my loss."

However, there was no need for that worry. A helping hand extended from the most unexpected place.

"At that moment, I most certainly was being overpowered. If I had transferred capacity to another magic in that state, I likely could have been overwhelmed by Miyuki's magic and lost my life. At the least, I would have been in no condition to fight further."

Turning to Tatsuya and Miyuki, Lina gracefully acknowledged her own defeat.

"So it's my loss, Miyuki. Tatsuya, I have no intention of any further undignified resistance."

However, the feeling of relief was premature.

"It was a promise. I'll answer whatever you ask. However..."

"However what?"

"However, my replies will only be 'yes' or 'no'. Anything which cannot be answered by that, I cannot disclose. You interfered and changed the conditions agreed to between Miyuki and I, so let me change our conditions my way this much Tatsuya."

She was rather more stubborn than he had thought.

At Lina who was smiling so radiantly one would hardly think she had lost, Tatsuya could only nod.