Chapter 70

The opening day for the National High School Magic Thesis Competition.

Tatsuya and Miyuki arrived at the rendezvous site without any accidents along the way.

The path was clear because the cargo truck bringing the stage devices had already unloaded its cargo.

Isori appeared to have beat them here,

And they could also see Kirihara with Sayaka in tow.

Based on their timing, the siblings appeared to be the last ones to arrive.

"...Onii-sama, I believe you need to do something."

Tatsuya's consciousness that had been doing its best to escape from reality as an innocent bystander was forcibly dragged back into the mix by Miyuki's voice.

"Do I have to do something...?"

Faced with Tatsuya's sour expression, Miyuki nodded in "deep regret".

Before their downcast eyes, Erika and Kanon were glaring darkly at one another.

"What's the matter?"

Tatsuya was not the only one present who was a close acquaintance of both Erika and Kanon.

In terms of closeness, Miyuki also counted as one of their dear companions, whereas Isori certainly outranked Tatsuya from a relationship standpoint.

Yet, Kanon refused to listen to Miyuki's mediation or Isori's nudge to remain neutral.

Sighing, Tatsuya interposed between the two glaring individuals. "Ah, Tatsuya-kun, good morning-"

After Tatsuya joined in, Erika quickly gave him a carefree greeting. While completely ignoring her opponent in the glaring contest. Now, Kanon's eyes darkened even further.

Seeing this, Tatsuya got a firm grasp of the situation.

However, even with that understanding, he was still stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"—Shiba-kun, why don't you speak with this unreasonable ojou- sama?"

(Seriously...

Not even a "would you like", but a "why don't you", eh...)

Whether or not Kanon consciously realized this, her word usage had thrown the entire burden over to Tatsuya for him to handle.

"Ha..."

Nonetheless, Tatsuya adopted a "it doesn't matter" kind of attitude. No matter how Kanon saw this, when compared to the two of them fighting it out, if he could swiftly put an end to all the fuss, at least the incident would be quickly handled even if he was a little heavy handed.

"If you're leaving all the decision making to me, then I'm not going to hold back."

Tatsuya didn't include any further conditions but asked for the power of attorney.

Realizing this, Kanon unwillingly furrowed her brows.

However, once she saw Isori next to her refrain from objecting, she grudgingly accepted this.

Tatsuya brought Erika and Leo to one side of the main conference hall and sat down on the sofa.

(Naturally, Miyuki sat next to him.)

"...Well, I get the overall gist of things."

Tatsuya said towards the two individuals who were set on causing mayhem.

"Erika probably didn't want a head-on confrontation either."

"...

Sorry. I ended up causing Tatsuya-kun a lot of trouble..."

This rare, praiseworthy attitude that Erika displayed astonished Tatsuya. Based on her personality, she wasn't the type to read the subtle changes in other's emotions as her strong (more like "intentional") personality often rubbed people the wrong way despite her good intentions, thus leading to considerable awkwardness.

In this regard, Tatsuya still had a long way to go as a judge of character. The human heart was not something that could be so easily deciphered like magic.

"—It's not like you have to be part of the security detail, you can cheer us on from the audience stands. If anything happens, no one would complain if you chipped in to help."

Tatsuya intentionally placed emphasis on the word "help". Hearing this, Erika's previously downcast expression reverted to her usual warmth to the point that the corners of her lips twitched in a smile that clearly said "you evil man".

"Help, eh?"

"If you're bored before the match, then come play around in the back area. Since you're friends of mine, you don't have to hold back."

Hearing Tatsuya emphasize the words "play" and "friends" in his proposal, Erika and Leo exchanged a look before bursting into delighted laughter.

◊ ◊ ◊

As the hour of the opening ceremony drew near, the waiting room for every school became quite lively.

Based on the schedule, the last school would present many hours from now, but it was only natural for the students who came to attend the Thesis Competition to be highly interested in the subject regardless of whether they were the speakers on stage, the supporting cast, or simply just supporters from school.

Everywhere in the main hall, students could be seen chatting away with their peers from other schools.

Students were not the only ones who had surpassed their official affiliations when it came to communication.

Haruka came to the Thesis Competition not because of her job as First High's faculty member, but because of her work as an intelligence operative for Public Safety.

After the events in April, Public Safety became deeply interested in Tatsuya.

To be precise, the department within Public Safety that Haruka belonged to developed an interest in Tatsuya's background.

However, whenever they investigated the details around him, the higher ups would apply pressure on them.

Haruka didn't directly feel the heat, but she overheard her superior complain about it when she received her mission.

This only served to deepen her director's interest. Since they couldn't dispatch any official investigators, the mission was handed directly to Haruka.

Of course, Haruka resisted this. Back in April, Haruka tried her best to drive the point home that he wasn't an opponent who would fall for her traps, but naturally this was completely ignored. Thus, she fell into a situation where she was forced to continue despite her inadequacies when dealing with Tatsuya.

She was ordered to uncover Tatsuya's real identity, but experts had already gone over his personal data with a fine toothed comb and came up with "nothing to report".

Originally, her talents didn't lie in this direction. Even so, she had planned to use counseling to sound him out, only to make no progress whatsoever, which was only to be expected when her observation target never utilized the counseling services.

Thus, her inefficient plan of action that had no guarantee of success was to investigate his acquaintances, especially the contacts that were not from school.

The target of her investigation was currently preparing the presentation device in the room assigned to First High. She had no excuse to enter the room, but as stated earlier, Haruka wasn't adept at handling Tatsuya.

Stuck between her personal feelings and sense of duty, the result was Haruka adopting a passive stance holding a cup of coffee while maintaining her surveillance of the entrance from the main hall (also, disposable cans had vanished in this day and age as all containers had recycling as first priority).

Fortunately for this, this was not without progress. Shortly after her observation began, a female guest visited the room. From her age and appearance, she was no high school student. She wasn't even a college student.

She was probably her own age. Matching the face against her memories, that woman probably wasn't affiliated with the school.

But she had an impression of her from somewhere. "...So it is her."

After referencing the picture taken by the anti-theft camera issued from Public Safety with the numbers, the image search verified whether she recalled incorrectly.

"The Electron Sorceress..."

In Haruka's high school days, she was an individual of considerable renown. Taking her gender into account, she may be called a heroine, but Haruka felt that the term hero would be more applicable...

The individual responsible for delivering the victory to Second High during the Nine Schools Competition — the Electron Sorceress.

For Haruka, who gave up on being a Magician from the moment she took the high school entrance examination, she was a young girl who aroused both envy and awe.

After graduating from the magic university, rumor had it that she joined the Defense ministry, but what was she doing visiting First High's room instead of her alma mater Second High?

Still, it wasn't like it was completely unnatural. There was nothing strange about wearing casual clothes on Sunday. Maybe she was here to recruit students who were about to graduate and didn't know that only the Shiba siblings were inside. Heck, maybe she came to see Miyuki.

However, Haruka's instincts told her that this woman was a clue to Tatsuya's background.

Not knowing that they were under such rigorous observation — no, maybe precisely because they were aware — the siblings were conversing with Fujibayashi, who dropped in to visit.

"Miyuki, long time no see. The last time we met face to face was at least half a year ago."

"Ah, the last time we met was in February, so it has been a long time indeed."

"I went to see the Nine Schools Competition too. We held a small get together in the room to welcome Tatsuya, wouldn't it have been better if Miyuki came along too?"

Saying this, Fujibayashi leveled a "why didn't you bring her" look at Tatsuya.

Nevertheless, if he was cowed by this he wouldn't be Tatsuya. "Bringing Miyuki along would be too eye-catching."

Tatsuya's gaze swiftly added that catching too much attention would cause difficulties.

Miyuki was a tad embarrassed whereas Fujibayashi smiled with a helpless look on her face.

—Looks like he wasn't going to get an answer by beating around the bush.

"Speaking of which, Fujibayashi."

He didn't call her lieutenant because this was a normal public facility. Although he had already checked for bugs, he still couldn't let down his guard.

"Is it OK for you to visit First High's waiting room?"

For the uninitiated, this might seem like an incomprehensible statement, whereas those who were slightly in the loop might still interpret this incorrectly. People who only knew of Fujibayashi's exploits during her high school years would likely wonder "is it OK for the previous champion from Second High to have a friendly conversation in the waiting room of a rival school".

"No worries."

Of course, the people in question had no misconceptions.

"Times like these, having an official capacity helps a lot. As one of the technical officers attached to the Weapons Development Division of the Defense Department, there's nothing odd about visiting someone like you who exhibited a high degree of skill during the Nine Schools Competition."

"Just as it's natural for a member of the Fujibayashi Family, right?"

"Exactly. So Tatsuya-kun, feel free to call me 'Lieutenant Fujibayashi', 'Fujibayashi', or even 'Fujibayashi-nee', OK?"

"Uh, I think nee-san is going to be impossible."

Tatsuya smiled halfheartedly at Fujibayashi's mischievous joke. —Of the wry smile variety.

"Then, let's leave the greeting there... I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"

A familiar conversation began, Tatsuya thought, then allow me to respond to a classic question with a classic answer.

"Let's hear the good news first."

"...Don't people respond with 'let's hear the bad news first'?"

"Then let's hear the bad news first."

Seeing Tatsuya reply back while feigning ignorance, the normally stoic Fujibayashi sighed.

"...Forget it, it's OK. Let's start with the good news first. The Mobile

Suit from beforehand has been completed. Captain Sanada said that they will be delivered tonight."

"Really...

As expected for him. Still, is it too late to run live tests tomorrow after returning to Tokyo..."

"Tomorrow, there will be a parade. Of course, in reality the captain wants to test this out as soon as possible, so he wanted to show off to you as soon as he could. The primary components were all furnished on your end, so at the very least he wants to bring out the assembled model in order to encourage himself. Yesterday, he even said something ridiculous like 'this way I can save face'."

"That's hardly ridiculous. The actual question was whether we could create something that could stand the rigors of live combat."

"I will convey your words to the captain. I believe he'll relax a lot more now."

Tatsuya chuckled wryly when Fujibayashi winked at him.

"Now... for the bad news. No matter how we look at it, there's no way the earlier incident will just end there."

"Is there a problem?"

Tatsuya's face tightened, or more like his face became oddly solemn. By his side, Miyuki uneasily gazed at him.

This time, even Fujibayashi couldn't simply joke about it. "The details are here."

She said as she handed a data card to Tatsuya.

Apparently, the contents were so classified they didn't want to send this over the wireless.

"Although I've added several layers of protection on my side...

There's still a chance this has already been leaked."

"Understood. We will make preparations on our end." The siblings nodded in unison.

Seeing this, a trace of concern flashed across Fujibayashi's face, but she didn't forbid them to do so.

"We hope that nothing will happen, but...

If the worst case scenario does occur, we'll be relying on you."

No matter how much it hurt her, he was still an invaluable asset, so her position did not afford her the luxury of saying "stay out of it".

◊ ◊ ◊

The time was 8:45 AM. The audience stands were almost entirely filled.

After Tatsuya reviewed the information Fujibayashi passed him, Isori and Kanon came in.

"Shiba-kun, time to switch."

They changed the guard every time a presentation finished, with the order already prearranged. Isori was very interested in the second topic "development of magic assistance devices capable of molecular rearrangement" presented by Fourth High, so he volunteered to keep watch during the first presentation.

Tatsuya felt that there was no need to pay extra heed to the sequential order since there was a screen in the waiting room, but he still acquiesced to Isori's proposal.

"It's all yours."

Concisely handing over his responsibility, Tatsuya headed to the stands with Miyuki.

—But.

The two of them came to a halt in the main hall. "Shiba-san."

Miyuki was the one who was addressed.

The voice came from a young man, or maybe a teenager was more appropriate. The voice was slightly uneasy, probably caused by his heightened anxiety. The face belonged to someone whom the siblings hadn't seen for two months.

"Ichijou-san."

Ichijou Masaki had called out to Miyuki.

He wore a "security" wristband on his left arm. Rather than being one of the supporting cast from Third High, he appeared to be serving in the security detail composed of students from all nine schools that was headed by Katsuto during the Thesis Competition. This turnout was likely because he saw Miyuki while executing his mission of patrolling the premises.

"Long time no see, Shiba-san. I believe the last time was during the evening ball."

"...Ah, likewise, long time no see."

This natural yet unnatural pause was caused by a cognitive dissonance because Masaki saw Miyuki as his dance partner during the ball, while Miyuki viewed Masaki as her brother's opponent during the Newcomer's Division.

In order to cover this, or muddle the waters, Miyuki bowed with extreme politeness.

"Ah, no, me too..."

This flawless etiquette rattled Masaki even though he was more accustomed to moving through higher social circles than Tatsuya. The young man (probably another member of the security team who was Masaki's partner) also stood there mesmerized. Miyuki's devious plan worked perfectly.

"Are you patrolling the area?"

It was only now Miyuki smiled and asked the rhetorical question. "Y-Yes, indeed."

Isn't it a sign of immaturity to be shaken so easily? Tatsuya thought but changed his mind upon reflecting that when the opponent was Miyuki, such a result was inevitable.

Even he who was closer to her than anyone else and had had his mind reforged sometimes forgot himself while watching her. Thus, it was unsurprising that this outsider who stood in such close proximity to the fairest one would be overly conscious of Miyuki's presence.

Miyuki was not privy to her brother's ruminations. Her interest was roused and her mood excellent.

"Since Ichijou-san is giving this his all, I think we can safely relax. We'll be in your care."

True, it was heartening to know that the "Crimson Prince" was part of security. However, Tatsuya's thoughts were purely an objective assessment. —Still, isn't this laying it on a little thick?

"Yes! I will do my utmost to live up to your expectations!"

Completely nonchalant, Tatsuya wondered whether Masaki could make it through the day.

"Good luck to you too, Tomitsuka-kun."

"Ah...

Thank you for your encouragement."

Masaki's companion who had been left alone to one side dizzily replied back in a tone that was a little too stiff to be addressed to someone in the same year.

◊ ◊ ◊

Although they didn't need to be as uptight as security, after Erika accepted the job on the spot, objectively speaking she had no intentions of backing down.

After regrouping with Mikihiko since they missed him while taking Tatsuya and company to the waiting room and reuniting with Mizuki, who had sent word ahead of time she would be late, they sat down in four seats in the audience stands. Erika paid extra heed to "easy observation areas" as well as "suspicious individuals".

Her efforts were not in vain. In one of the rear corners of the audience stands, she found a familiar figure.

Speaking of familiar, it was more like she couldn't forget even if she tried. This was a face that she used to see every day, and even with their schedule clashes nowadays, they still saw each other once every two days or so.

The other person also noticed Erika. No, maybe the other person noticed Erika even sooner. While this wasn't anything surprising after taking the other person's ability into consideration, this still irked Erika to no end.

"Eh? Erika, over there is..."

Mikihiko caught on as well.

Again, it wasn't weird that he would recognize that person either. "Erika-chan, is that someone you know?"

"Just a Casanova wannabe. He's probably waiting for a woman right now."

Before her compatriots in the adjacent seats could turn this into a conversation, Erika opted to behave as if she didn't know that person.

Well aware of Erika's rocky relationship with Toshikazu (well, one- sided on Erika's part), Mikihiko avoided rocking the boat and shifted his gaze as Leo, insensitive to the currents, was about to ask him to clarify.

"Miyuki, do you know Tomitsuka Hagane?"

"Ah, he's from the neighboring class, so I only know his name and face. Does Onii-sama know him?"

After finding an empty seat, the siblings' conversation drifted not towards their rare guest Masaki, but to the reticent Tomitsuka Hagane.

—This must be what people refer to as unrequited passions.

"Tomitsuka is one of Sawaki-senpai's subordinates. In addition, the Tomitsuka Family's 'Range Zero' is quite famous."

The Tomitsuka Family dominated one area within the Hundred Families.

Even people without Tatsuya's encyclopedic knowledge knew of the heresy incidents caused by Magicians of that family.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Suddenly, Erika joined in after arriving from the audience stands. "Erika, are you alone? Where's Leo?"

The two of them were just together, thus prompting Tatsuya's question.

Yet, displeasure colored Erika's face.

"...Tatsuya-kun. I'd like to take this opportunity to make something perfectly clear."

Erika wasn't the sort to do something outrageous like throw a fit with so many witnesses around, but her commanding tone was charismatic in its own right.

"Can you stop lumping me together with that? I only taught him a few tricks and gave him a weapon, beyond that there's nothing going on."

"That's not what I meant..."

Despite the misunderstanding, Tatsuya was not an "honest guy", but this time he was being earnest. He truly meant nothing by his words.

Speaking of which, wasn't this overreaction a hint that she hadn't discerned this was an issue? Tatsuya turned that thought over in his head, but wasn't evil enough to verbalize it.

"Where's everyone else?"

Since the triumph during the Nine Schools Competition, their peers from Year 1 Class E had expressed great interest and all claimed that "We're all coming to cheer you on~!" or something like that, so everyone from class planned on showing up.

"Our classmates shouldn't have arrived yet, right? That's probably because they know we're set to go onstage in the afternoon. Ah, but Mizuki and Miki are here in the front row. There's a lot of chemistry going on there."

Erika chuckled mischievously as she sat next to Tatsuya.

So she disliked talking about her own business, but was quite intrigued when talking about others.

In this regard, Erika was a perfectly normal young girl, Tatsuya thought.

◊ ◊ ◊

It was 9 AM. The National High School Magic Thesis Competition kicked off with a solemn but not pompous atmosphere. Even with assistance from the military, but when compared to the student events during the Nine Schools Competition, the Thesis Competition was highly valued by universities, corporations, and research institutions. A properly handled introduction might even lead to an individual's career path (from a headhunting perspective). Taking into the account the magic knowledge being bandied around, this sort of scale at the event was perfectly understandable.

After going through the forms for the keynote speech, the introduction for the first presentation, Second High's "Usage of Convergence-Type Magic to Observe and Utilize Dark Matter" began.

Now that the Thesis Competition officially began, the hustle and bustle of the main hall died down.

Uninterested in magic technology, Haruka opted to take a break at the cafe to alleviate her boredom.

Just as she was about to do so. "Ono-sensei."

A familiar voice called out from near the main entrance. "Asuka-sensei."

As the school counselor responsible for the mental well being of First High's students, Haruka naturally shared a close relationship with Asuka, who headed the infirmary responsible for physical injuries, although their relationship had not progressed to "friends in private".

"Did Ono-sensei also come to see the thesis presentations? I thought you said you weren't very interested."

This comment might be too fiery depending on tone, but Asuka's amicable tone caused Haruka to suspect "Did I ever say that?". With Asuka's easily approachable personality, she was almost better suited to be a counselor than herself, Haruka thought enviously.

"No, there's just a few things on my mind... Compared to that,

Asuka-sensei, why are you here? Are you here with this child?"

Haruka was correct in that Asuka wasn't alone. By her side, there was a young girl out of uniform who was obviously a high school student. While she had some inkling, she didn't appear to be one of Haruka's students.

"Indeed. Hirakawa-chan said she wanted to watch today's presentations. Although she's recovered from her illness, her physical body is still a little frail, so I tagged along."

While these words smacked of blatant VIP treatment, but once she heard the name Hirakawa, Haruka immediately recalled where she heard this name. While she had no part in handling the attempted data theft, Haruka still had to make her report to the division of Public Safety she belonged to, so she was familiar with the overall situation.

Stimulating her with the success of fellow high school students, helping to provide her with life goals and ultimately changing her mentality was perfectly logical from a psychological standpoint.

"Is that so. Keep up the good work."

Haruka frankly spoke words of encouragement to Asuka.

After taking a small detour, Haruka arrived at the cafe on schedule.

Strictly speaking, a customer that nursed one cup of coffee for 20 minutes wasn't a good customer for this cafe.

She could just whittle away the time here until her day's work was done. Although she wanted to think that way, the world wasn't as easy as one's imagination. More like, society's trials (?) demanded much of her.

"May I borrow a bit of your time?"

Haruka's heart almost stopped when someone reached out to her.

As if to fill the loss of time, the next instant her heart started beating violently.

—Maybe this was a misconception, but her shock had truly upset her heartrate and breathing patterns.

The one who spoke to Haruka was Fujibayashi.

"Eh...

Ah, please."

"Thank you."

Gracefully sitting down, she ordered a cup of red tea from the waitress who swiftly appeared with a gentle voice.

In comparison to Fujibayashi's coolness, Haruka could not contain her anxiety.

That was hardly her fault.

Her observation target suddenly directly initiated a conversation with her.

Though Haruka was frantic enough to spit fire, since she was unable discern the other person's motives, she could only sit and watch in silence as Fujibayashi took a sip from the red tea that the waitress brought and let out a deep breath.

"...It is a little embarrassing to be watched like that."

Faltering, Haruka only noticed that she was staring at Fujibayashi when the other person pointed it out to her.

"S-Sorry."

Her shame and wavering continued to grow, but Fujibayashi's next words allowed Haruka's heart to immediately calm down.

"That's fine. It is my honor to be held in such high esteem by the 'Phantom Lady'."

"...I believe it is my honor for someone like me to dwell in the memory of the 'Electron Sorceress'."

Despite the heightened wariness in her tone, this degree of change was unavoidable given the circumstances.

The title Fujibayashi spoke of — "Phantom Lady" was nowhere near as famous as Fujibayashi's alias, the "Electron Sorceress". This name was only familiar to intelligence operatives when discussing the unidentified female spy who bore that name.

The fact that her identity as the "Phantom Lady" was exposed was more than sufficient to push Haruka to the brink.

Given that she was able to carelessly drop such an incredible secret, then on the flip side, her "demand" was likely to be heavy as well.

"So, what is it?"

Seeing a determined expression usurp her previously faltering form, Fujibayashi smiled in satisfaction.

"I think you know very well without me going into detail, correct?"

"...My sincere apologies, but I'm not as gifted as you are."

In reality, Fujibayashi's words were spot on as Haruka had already surmised her opponent's demands.

It was just that if she said "I understand" and nodded her head — this would be the same as raising the white flag.

"You're too humble. You graduated from college and graduate school with outstanding grades. Even Kokonoe-sensei gave you high marks."

Haruka mentally clucked her tongue.

The Fujibayashi Family was famous for their Ancient Magic users. Thus, it came as no surprise that they shared a close relationship with Kokonoe Yakumo, arguably one of the authorities on Ancient Magic.

On the other hand, Haruka and Fujibayashi's first meeting was today at this minute.

The trump cards she prepared were utterly useless.

"...I don't plan on making any demands that put you in a difficult position."

This was not Fujibayashi backing down. This was a mental salvo in the form of her flaunting her superior position.

"I just want to propose that the two of us avoid encroaching on the other's territory. That's all."

Technically speaking, this comment held no information whatsoever, but was a profound demand that left no room for misinterpretation.

"...I don't entirely get your drift."

Actually, Haruka got the gist of Fujibayashi's proposal, just as Fujibayashi's request fell in line with her own speculation. In other words, Fujibayashi wanted Haruka to halt any investigation towards Fujibayashi's military activities.

On the other side, Fujibayashi clearly understood that Haruka comprehended the meaning of her request.

"Do you want me to repeat myself clearly once more?"

With a relaxed expression, Fujibayashi watched the fuming Haruka clench her teeth.

This vixen! Even if she continued to glare at her, right now Haruka could only bray like a whipped dog.

"Don't worry. Your superiors won't prosecute your responsibilities." In other words, she had already made her move against Haruka's higher ups.

Fujibayashi lightly rose to her feet and handed her check to Haruka.

She could plainly pay for her bill at the table and it was doubly irritating to walk over to the front counter.

Haruka and Fujibayashi's first encounter ended in Haruka's complete and utter defeat.

(...Still, it's not like I got nothing out of this!)

At the very least, there definitely existed an unspeakable secret between Shiba Tatsuya and Fujibayashi Kyouko.

This was the only thing made painfully clear.

Haruka failed to discover her own mulishness as she vowed to avenge herself for this slight.

◊ ◊ ◊

As the main lead for First High's performance, Suzune arrived at the conference hall just after 11 AM, which was an hour earlier than expected.

This was after the third presentation, Fifth High's grandiose "The Control of Plate Tectonics and Gradual Extraction of Tectonic Force". Tatsuya was in the waiting room to welcome Suzune, Mayumi, and Mari.

"I came early~."

Mayumi's voice prompted people to question exactly how old she was, but how was he supposed to respond to that, Tatsuya thought as he fell into a reverie.

"What is it?"

"Nothing really...

Is there a reason why you came ahead of schedule?"

Neither Mari nor Suzune took exception, so any sign of exhaustion on his part would be his loss. Injecting fresh enthusiasm into himself with those words, Tatsuya reinvigorated himself and asked this question.

(Speaking of which, Miyuki had already decided to see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil.)

Tardiness would be a huge problem, but there was no problem in getting here early.

The waiting room designed to accommodate presentation devices had sufficient room for the Shiba siblings as well as several upperclassmen with professional grade skills prowling around. Even with three extra female students in the mix, the place wasn't cramped.

"The interrogation ended earlier than expected."

Still, this nominally unimportant question provoked a response from Mari that could not be ignored.

"Another interrogation? And on this day in particular?"

There was no need to ask who was being interrogated. He was present when Sekimoto was arrested, though to be brutally honest about his clandestine activities, he had illegally recorded evidence that time.

Still, there was only that one time.

Of course, that wasn't the only time he saw Sekimoto. He was also there when they went to interrogate the first time.

After Lu Gonghu's assault, Sekimoto had devolved into panic. Since Mari maintained that this was not caused by her magic, the only possible cause would be that he realized his life was on the line. There was no way that Sekimoto would be unaware that the latest attack aimed to silence him.

Hence dedicated government officials were conducting a thorough investigation surrounding Sekimoto.

"We really should have finished yesterday..."

"It was difficult to get permission in the first place...

And I can't just throw the family name around like that."

That's true, Tatsuya thought. Given that he wasn't part of a criminal organization, it was extremely difficult to receive permission to interrogate individuals deemed as invalids.

"But why today? Couldn't you continue tomorrow?"

"Such an optimistic outlook doesn't fit your personality."

Tatsuya's natural question was subjected to Mari's correction for some reason.

"Sekimoto and Hirakawa's sister targeted the data for the Thesis Competition, though that does not appear to be their only objective. No matter how you put it, since they took aim at the data, then there is a definite possibility that the organization using them as cat's paws will act during the competition itself."

"Ha. There is that possibility."

This was within Tatsuya's calculations. However, even if they had intel on the organization lurking in the shadows, they still didn't have time to prepare countermeasures. Without an emergency response task force on standby, even the regular army of a monarchy would find it impossible to mobilize on a moment's notice.

In regards to competition security, they had already done everything they could to prepare for emergencies by having Katsuto lead the group. Since Sekimoto wasn't privy to the details of the assault, interrogating him should not be a high priority.

Regardless, pointing out these details was not in Tatsuya's job description.

"Indeed. Since there is that possibility, we cannot ignore it. After all, the more intel the better."

In today's case, when compared to mostly unusable intel, Suzune's presentation stood at a much higher priority. In any case, since this was all in the past, there was no need to quibble over the details.

"I see. So did you find out anything new?"

"Yeah. After verifying once more, Sekimoto had traces of mental manipulation."

"...No wonder."

Regardless of the utility of this piece of information, its contents were sufficient to astonish Tatsuya.

"Why wasn't this detected during the psychological screening?"

Ever since Sayaka had been magically manipulated into leading terrorists from "Blanche" onto campus in spring, the students of First

High were required to undergo scheduled psychological evaluations.

For prospective Magicians who were to be the pillars of public safety and national defense, being brainwashed into serving foreign powers was no joke at all. For the school administrators and the government organizations responsible, this was a malicious nightmare that ultimately voided any concept of "student privacy".

With the discovery of another victim of mental manipulation, this measure appeared to be redundant. After all, why were they going through psychological evaluations in the first place now?

"The psychological evaluation is held at the beginning of each month. There is a high probability that Sekimoto was ensnared after that."

"Nicely executed...

Was it medicinal?"

"That remains unclear. Neither myself nor Mayumi are experts in that field."

Although Tatsuya thought "Is that so?" in regards to Mari's answer, he refrained from commenting further.

"The psychologist didn't say, but this definitely was not done through normal means. Maybe this is the real 'Evil Eye'."

Mayumi's opinion was more or less deeper than Mari's comment.

"So they sent a natural Non-Systematic Magician..."

Unlike the "Evil Eye" developed by Russia before the formation of the New Soviet Union and passed on to separatist terrorist cells, Magicians who could naturally wield mental interference Non- Systematic Magic had the power to completely write someone's personality. These wielders of the "True Evil Eye" could completely change a person's activities in a short period of time while the victim and other people were still in the dark.

"Hm, no matter how strong the mental interference magic is, successful imprinting is largely impossible without conforming to the target's subconsciousness."

This was just like hypnosis. On the surface, human consciousness appeared to be easily malleable, but was actually incredibly resilient. Manipulating unspecified emotions and impulses were another story, but the sort of magic that interfered with established physical behavior

—trying to interfere with the the conscious mind and manipulate voluntary decisions was incredibly challenging.

"From the very start, Sekimoto disagreed with this country's way of handling magic behind closed doors. He believed that all Magic Sequences and Activation Sequences across the globe should be shared publicly and that this was the only way for magic to achieve true evolution. In summation, he's a proponent of open resourcing."

Hearing Mayumi's explanation, Mari added a few bitter words of her own.

"That may be true from a scholarly standpoint, but given that international hostility still exists in reality, I am hard pressed to say that he is correct."

Mayumi's voice expressed a trace of compassion. "Rather, that is undeniably the wrong position."

Tatsuya decisively came to that conclusion. At least for him, theories that did not jibe with reality had no purpose whatsoever.

"...How stringent, Tatsuya-kun."

"...At any rate, they found an opening through Sekimoto's ideals.

Then, they planted the powerful conception that it was the duty of magically progressive nations to pass on their advanced research to magically underdeveloped nations."

"Underdeveloped countries refer to who?"

Mari's did not have an optimistic answer for Tatsuya's question. "We didn't get that out of him. He didn't appear to know."

"...So a lock was placed on his consciousness."

I see, so that's how they realized he was being mentally controlled, Tatsuya speculated.

"So that's why the next step has gone beyond our initial projections."

Mari's voice was tinged with anxiety that mirrored the concern in Mayumi's tone.

"There is a chance that hostile action beyond our imagination will occur. Hanzou-kun asked me to pass the message to everyone. Rin- chan, go finish your task. We'll be here and keep a careful eye on the conference hall. Tatsuya-kun, please be careful as well."

"I will."

Though Tatsuya never let down his guard after receiving Fujibayashi's advice, he honestly accepted others' concerns on his behalf.

While Tatsuya and company were discussing their decidedly not peaceful topic, Suzune continued to edit her draft without batting an eyelid.

In the communications room within the same building, Fujibayashi used a special trick to receive a vitally important piece of information. She was busily looking for an empty room when she received the emergency summons and received the incoming transmission across the information dimension that ran no risk of being overheard.

"Lu Gonghu escaped? My apologies, but is this information accurate?"

"I know you don't want to believe this, but it's true."

Kazama's voice came down the other line in a completely serious tone. Also, it wasn't in Kazama to crack such a joke in poor taste.

"The transport was attacked in transit to Yokohama. There were no survivors."

"Which means that Lu Gonghu's corpse was not at the site...

Speaking of which, why did they select today to move him?"

"The so-called Thesis Competition should only be an event at the high school level."

"My sincere apologies!"

Hearing Kazama's logical response, Fujibayashi finally realized that she was unconsciously grumbling to her superior and immediately apologized.

"Still, you have a point on why today was chosen specifically to transport the prisoner."

Naturally, Kazama wasn't the sort of person to care about this tiny scruples.

"There must be a reason why the enemy chose today to launch their rescue mission. We must take that possibility into account."

As combat personnel, Kazama had served as a front line commander since the very beginning, so he valued practicality much more than others.

"Fortunately, we've already made preparations to test out the new equipment at Tsuchiya tomorrow. Leaving for your position effective immediately, our ETA is around 1500 hours."

"Understood. I will take heed of the local conditions."

"Thank you, lieutenant."

After receiving Kazama's orders, Fujibayashi saluted even though she knew that he couldn't see her due to their method of communication.

In regards to the changes in the mission parameters handed down by Mayumi, Hattori grabbed Kirihara to report the alterations and interrogation results to Katsuto (Sayaka and Erika had left for lunch at this point).

"I see. Kirihara and Hattori, form up and patrol the outer perimeter."

"Understood!"

Coincidentally, Katsuto shared a table with them during lunch as they dined on simply packed sandwiches. After listening to Hattori's report, he handed out new orders without hesitation.

Normally, that would have been all there was to it because Katsuto rarely asked for input from underclassmen.

"Hattori, Kirihara. Based on the current situation, do you get the feeling that something's awry."

Yet today, Katsuto broke form and asked. "Something's awry?"

Kirihara glanced at Hattori, who wore a look of bemusement as he opened his mouth.

"...Even taking into account Yokohama's unique features, there are too many foreigners around."

Since he wasn't born in Yokohama and was unfamiliar with the area, Hattori diligently inspected the conference hall surroundings in the previous two weeks. Compared to that time, Hattori felt that there was a noticeable spike in the number of foreigners around.

"So Hattori also thinks so."

"Yes. Does Juumonji-senpai concur?"

"Hm. What do you think, Kirihara?"

"Sorry. I didn't notice anything about the foreigners, but..."

"Go ahead."

"Yes. It's just that, compared to the conference hall, the aura along the streets is oddly filled with killing intent."

"Hm... Indeed."

Katsuto nodded and fell into thought. Though it was no more than 10 seconds, both Hattori and Kirihara felt that Katsuto's silence lasted more than ten minutes.

The atmosphere was very heavy.

"Hattori, Kirihara. Put on Kevlar for your afternoon patrols." The two of them stared wide-eyed at Katsuto's face.

Despite the rudeness of their stare, Katsuto didn't mind in the slightest as he picked up the short range wireless communicator.

He issued the same order to all security personnel that he just gave to the two of them.

◊ ◊ ◊

The introduction for the afternoon presentations was set for 1 PM.

First High would get the stage at 3 PM. There were less than two hours until their presentation.

After switching the guard before noon, Tatsuya and Isori were discussing the last minute details.

They were each accompanied by one person.

Tatsuya had Miyuki whereas Isori had Kanon.

The industrious "workers" before noon had vanished at this point.

In order to avoid distracting Suzune, Mayumi and Mari gravitated towards the door.

Over there, someone knocked lightly on the door.

Mayumi carefully opened the door to find the young girl who was even shorter than she was that was to succeed her.

"Ara, A-chan. Can you leave your place now?"

Mayumi whispered quietly because Azusa was selected as one of the student judges.

There was no panel of judges for the National High School Magic Thesis Competition. Since there were great alterations in the crowd during each presentation, it was too difficult to ask the crowd to make an assessment.

This wasn't something they could say as representatives, but other than the professional assessors, each school also sent one student as a judge to help analyze presentations from other schools.

This judge position was traditionally filled by each school's Student Council President. First High was no exception, so Azusa had started her task in the early hours of the morning.

"The first group in the afternoon finished early, so I wanted to check in on everyone."

"So you came to encourage us. Thank you, Nakajou."

"Ah, you're welcome...

Sorry, Suzune. I hope I'm not distracting you."

Even though she kept her voice down, since Suzune was in the room, Azusa's already petite body shrank even further (atmosphere-wise).

"Who's in the lead right now?"

Isori turned and joined the conversation. The conversation was cut short in the middle, but not because Isori looked down on Tatsuya. — If that was the case, he might have suffered a blizzard when he entered the waiting room.

"It's Fourth High, as expected. This year, they brought another device that took a lot of time and effort."

Asuza's assessment caused Isori to tilt his head slightly. "Don't you think they're a little too vainglorious?"

Fourth High presented second before the noon break and was the school that Isori was most worried about.

"Still, it was amazing they were able to create a system that could flawlessly combine magic. ...Ah, sorry, it's about time for the next presentation. Good luck everyone."

Given that she never forgot her original objective even at the very end, Azusa should be doing a fine job as the Student Council President. Probably.

In the audience stands, a select group of people sat together.

Highly motivated, Erika and Leo sat there with their weapons along with Honoka and Shizuku, who had joined them during lunch, as they eagerly waited for Tatsuya's group to appear.

"Mikihiko... How is it?"

Although they were waiting patiently, they weren't just twiddling their thumbs.

"Nothing out of the ordinary yet."

After using Sensory Synchronization to receive local intelligence from the spirits he sent out, Mikihiko responded to Leo's whispered question.

"Mizuki?"

"No sign of anything strange."

Mizuki shook her head at Erika's concise question. Mizuki replaced the glasses she took off earlier.

They were preparing for the "enemy" that was not in the audience and might or might not arrive.

After being checkmated by Fujibayashi and unable to continue her assignment, Haruka could just have departed from the premises, but that would have seemed like she was fleeing from the field. This mentality caused Haruka to remain in the main hall and subconsciously monitor the crowd.

"Ono-sensei."

Suddenly, someone called out to her from behind. "Tsuzura-sensei?"

Turning around, she found the lead adviser for First High's representative team standing there with a long time no see expression.

"Why are you waiting here? Is something the matter?"

"No, not really...

I was just taking a break. Tsuzura-sensei, why are you here?"

Haruka's question prompted a mixed smile to appear on Tsuzura's face.

"There's no need for yours truly to appear today. We have a fine team of representatives this year."

This guy actually referred to himself as "yours truly"...

Even taking that into account, Haruka involuntarily acknowledged his

"excellence".

"Still...

I have this irritating premonition."

Hearing him say that in an unambiguous tone caused Haruka to grow a little anxious.

Tsuzura was a magic researcher and Magician who obtained his position as an assistant professor at the magic university at a young age.

His expertise lay in magic geometry and he was especially famous for a theory known as Polyhedron Magic.

It was a theory that viewed macro phenomena as simply a combination of triangular pyramids and quadratic prisms and used the motions of these multiple polyhedrons to grasp the changes in phenomena. Using magic that manipulated multiple imaginary polyhedrons to alter the Eidos was one of the paths in modern magic theory.

However, Polyhedron Magic theory's utility as a stepping stone to solving deficiencies in modern magic like partial phenomena changes had been overshadowed by its potential to predict the future.

By using a recognition system to capture the entire world seen as three dimensional objects along with the myriad interactions between these objects in the world, the caster could view the various interactions through an abstract, three dimensional projection. This abstract model for viewing the world allowed a certain degree of data manipulation to project the future to be somewhat facile.

As the young authority on Polyhedron Magic, Tsuzura's "premonition" was on a certain level closer to a "prediction".

"...That being said, I do have a premonition that the worst will not come to pass."

Although the last comment seemed to be tacked on, Haruka earnestly prayed that he was not just saying that to comfort her.

◊ ◊ ◊

It was three in the afternoon. The presentation from First High's representatives went off on schedule.

While Third High's Kichijouji Shinkurou, the discoverer of the "Cardinal Code", was the main draw of the Thesis Competition, First High's topic regarding one of the three Great Puzzles of Gravity-Type Magic "Gravity Control-Type Thermonuclear Reactor" also received a lot of attention. In the main hall, besides the students and faculty from First High, many individuals affiliated with the magic university and civilian research organizations had gathered there. The audience rested their expectant gazes on the podium.

There, a large device sat on the stage bathed in natural light while Suzune spoke through the international conference hall's speaker system with a clear and calm voice.

Next to her, Isori was manipulating the model device and Tatsuya was on stage switching the CAD displays and Activation Sequences.

"...Is the actualization of thermonuclear power a necessity? This question has already been answered in the previous century." Suzune stood next to a gigantic glass ball.

Tatsuya toggled the Activation Sequence for Release-Type Magic.

The instant Suzune touched the control panel on the CAD, the deuterium gas sealed within the globe ionized and reacted with the coloring painted on the inside of the globe to emit a dazzling light.

This magnificent display caused a small ruckus to break out in the crowd.

"First of all, there is the time needed for the deuterium serving as fuel to ionize as well as the ability to maintain the situation. Both of these issues can be solved through Release-Type Magic."

Still, this phenomenon has been proved in previous experiments so it was a little lacking in originality.

"The primary obstacle for thermonuclear power is the time created because the ionized electrons possess electric repulsion that prevents fusion chemical reactions, or simply the problem caused by the interaction of the electrons."

The flashing globe dimmed and a large screen descended from the center of the stage.

"Our predecessors attempted to achieve thermonuclear power without magic by applying overwhelming pressure to overcome electric repulsion."

The screen displayed images from the previous century's experiments and various models and charts.

"However, regardless of whether they used ultra-high temperatures or surface compression to increase pressure, they never managed to create a stable thermonuclear reaction. This was because of a multitude of reasons such as the container's durability and fuel resupply. Even if the thermonuclear reaction itself could be sustained, there are examples where the energy output is so tremendous that it became unwieldy. Still, all the problems can be narrowed down to the fact that the electron repulsion forces require too much resources to be feasible."

The silver screen rose.

Behind the screen, two large cylindrical magnets stood there, each with four cords attached between them to form a basic experimental device.

Isori raised one of the cylinders — although it looked like he was using his hands to pull them, he actually used magic — and let go of his hands.

The vigorously waving magnets were repelled by the magnetic force before they could make contact.

"This should be plainly obvious without an explanation, but the electron repulsion force will be magnified the closer the objects are to one another. Objects with strong Coulombic force will increase the repulsion force as they draw closer, so contact will be avoided."

Suzune silently stood by the repeatedly shaking device and wore earplugs to protect her ears from the cacophony while her hands remained on the control panel.

Immediately, a sound similar to repeated banging on a large gong reverberated across the conference hall.

Suzune took her hands off and the two magnets silently returned to stillness.

"However, electron repulsion force can be reduced with magic.

Here, we successfully developed a Magic Sequence that can reduce the Coulomb's force to 1/10000 within a brief period of time."

Suzune did not raise her voice.

Nevertheless, her words caused the audience to break into a furor.

As if to signal for quiet, the primary model slowly rose from the stage.

If asked to describe it, the model looked like a piston forged from transparent materials.

A modified piston connected to a flywheel and crank handle was inserted into the large, transparent cylinder. There were two valves at the top of the cylinder. From there, a transparent tube was inserted that was connected to a sink filled with clear water.

"This device takes into account the dangers of radiation, so we used hydrogen instead of deuterium gas. Release-Type Magic is used to ionize the hydrogen gas within the canister while Gravity Control- Type Magic and Coulomb's force resistance magic are activated at the same time. The ionized electrons have their repulsion force lowered by the Coulomb Force Resistance Magic and are gathered by the Gravity Control-Type Magic in the center, thus triggering a thermonuclear reaction. This device requires approximately 0.1 seconds to achieve a thermonuclear reaction. As you know, a thermonuclear reaction will not continue indefinitely on its own. If impetus is not supplied externally, the reaction quickly grinds to a halt. Our school's Gravity Control-Type Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor proactively makes use of this element. Once the reaction stops, Oscillation-Type Magic is used to cool the Deuterium gas to levels that the container can withstand. The heat energy recovered will serve as fuel for Gravity-Control Type and Coulomb Force Resistant Magic. Drawn by the gravitational field generated by the Gravity Control- Type Magic, the inertia of the piston continuously rises and sends the cooled Deuterium gas into the heat sink..."

While Suzune was delivering her explanation, Isori operated the control panel for the demonstration device. Ionization, Coulomb Force Control, Gravity Control-Type, cooling, energy recovery, ionization, Coulomb Force Control, Gravity Control-Type... Isori regularly activated this chain of magics several dozen times in a row just like that.

"Currently,a highly skilled Magician is required to operate this device for sustained operation. However, if a device highly efficient in energy recovery could be used, I believe that a Gravity Control-Type Thermonuclear Reactor that only needs a Magician to jump start the device can become a reality.

The second Suzune's voice stopped speaking, the conference hall was filled with thunderous applause.

The reason why Gravity Control-Type Thermonuclear Reactors were thought to be impossible was because the target of the Gravity Control-Type Magic, the elements in the nuclear reaction, are constantly diminishing. In addition, since Gravity-Control Type Magic is directed towards a quantitative value, the lowered value of the elements would cause the magic to fizzle under the mistaken impression that the "target does not exist". Hence a nuclear explosion is possible, but sustained nuclear reactions were held to be impossible.

Now, with the addition of Coulomb Force Resistance Magic, Gravity Control-Type Magic was no longer as integral as before. This way, there no longer needed to be a continuous nuclear reaction, but instead they borrowed a leaf from the new technique "Loop Cast" to ignite multiple nuclear reactions. The praise from the audience below unanimously declared this to be an incredible idea.

Thirty minutes were allotted for each presentation during the Thesis Competition with ten minutes in between.

The previous team employed these ten minutes to help gather their materials and devices so that the next team could come on stage.

Compared to the presentation itself, the representatives and support personnel from each school felt that the break time in between was the busiest part.

Tatsuya was just about to dismantle the control device used during the presentation when the next team's operator (the assistant who had the same job as Tatsuya) came forth to setup their equipment.

"Nicely done. Allow me to congratulate you on a fine performance."

Initially, Tatsuya wasn't aware that this comment was directed to him because there was practically no time to converse.

Still, based on the direction of the voice, the target must be him. With that in mind, he raised his head to find Kichijouji Shinkurou smiling fearlessly at him.

"Should I say thank you here?"

"Don't worry about it, I wasn't expecting anything in return anyways." Pah, Tatsuya closed the lid on the case and hefted the control panel that was about the size of the electron synthesizer on the table. Kichijouji set down a similar case carrying a control panel in the same place.

There were connections at both ends of the stage to allow ease of access from both sides, so was there a reason why he specifically chose the same side as Tatsuya?

"Gravity Control-Type Magic is a vital component in Flying-Type Magic and Coulomb Force Control Magic is a refined edition of ionization convergence magic developed by the previous Sirius, William Sirius. Compared to those, the fluidity of that 'Loop Cast' was astonishing."

"Your keen eye is truly terrifying. As expected of Cardinal George."

As Tatsuya was speaking, Kichijouji's hands were busy setting up his equipment.

Tatsuya was the only student from First High left on stage.

He was just about to leave the stage, holding the rectangular case as he walked towards the backstage.

"However, we're not going to lose. In fact, we're going to beat you this time."

A voice called out behind him.

That sounded a little childish, but it didn't seem malicious.

How should he make a witty comeback, Tatsuya thought as he stopped to turn around.

Just then, a colossal boom and vibration sent the entire hall shaking.