Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 05 - Summer Holiday Chapter

Home > Other > Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 05 - Summer Holiday Chapter > Page 15
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 05 - Summer Holiday Chapter Page 15

by Sato Tsutomu


  They wore grimy jumpers, as they swung a Boston bag onto the counter.

  Their style was so traditional that an onlooker might even be confused as to whether this was a bizarre attraction of some kind or something, but from the desperate yelling they directed at the bank staff one could surmise that they might just possibly might be the real thing.

  "Onii-sama, what should we do?"

  With eyebrows raised Miyuki looked up at Tatsuya, and asked him in a business as usual tone.

  "If you like, I can handle this."

  Her usual feeling of not wanting to cause bother to Tatsuya came to the fore.

  "No, there's no need for us to interfere."

  Laughing, Tatsuya put his hands on Miyuki's shoulders. He lightly patted her.

  Miyuki happily buried her head in Tatsuya's chest.

  For the other customers who made anxious expressions and stiffened at this scenario, this 'could not care less' attitude was less than familiar. Needless to say, these two who exuded such a relaxed mood in the turbulent atmosphere stood out pretty damn well.

  If you need an explanation for the sake of Tatsuya's honor, he hadn't said there was no need to interfere just so he could flirt around with his sister. Strictly speaking, his current actions were simply to appease her. Just because bank robberies had become such rare crimes didn't mean banks didn't have security systems in place to combat it. A bank robbery would never succeed with just remodeled handguns anyway.

  The proof of that was evident before them. A previously transparent shield had extended from the counter to the ceiling to prevent all access. Within that shield, another semi transparent shield descended from the ceiling to cover the open window before the clerk.

  The Boston bag caught in that window was torn apart. If the robber's arm had been there, it was probable it would have fractured seriously enough to even require amputation.

  One of the robbers fired a bullet at the shield. It didn't even faze the first layer.

  The clear outer shield appeared to be made of a material similar to high viscosity liquid. It prevented collateral damage. Seeing that, Tatsuya was impressed by the design.

  One of the robbers spat then looked back into the lobby. Looking right at the man, Tatsuya averted his gaze. What the man's eyes settled upon was Miyuki. Being suddenly stared at (she felt), she hurriedly cast her face downwards.

  A glimpse could be seen of the man's eyes from the gaps in the mask. Putting the fear and tension of the fleeing customers in the lobby aside, from the unpleasant smile he wore it seemed this man in particular had a short temper. Anyway, it was safe to say that Tatsuya and Miyuki had caught the man's attention.

  Tatsuya sensed his malice. He wouldn't be much of a bodyguard otherwise. Of course, there was little chance of a robber looking at them with friendly eyes. He could also perceive the sadistic light that shone in his eyes.

  Miyuki also realized the robber was looking at her with such eyes. She huddled closer into Tatsuya's chest. It was the splitting image of looking frightened in the face of the situation. Judging from his smirk, the robber thought so too. But Tatsuya, who could feel Miyuki's body through her thin clothes, knew there was no tension in her. His sister wasn't nervous in the least. If he could see her expression, he wouldn't have been surprised if she was trying to stifle laughter.

  Subconsciously, he hid his own wry smile under his signature pokerface. He hoped it wasn't too unnatural, as he then made an anxious expression and held Miyuki's hand tightly. It wasn't something he normally did, but he was also perfectly proficient in drama if it came to it.

  The eyes of the four robbers converged on the two. It was impossible to see clearly under the masks, but it was easy to tell from their exposed eyes that they were grinning broadly. Miyuki and Tatsuya's acting must have stimulated them quite well.

  Tatsuya went so far as to tremble a little. Even he thought that was probably a bit much, but the robbers seemed to drink it up.

  Their attention had completely diverted from the other customers in the lobby. A security system that even took into account ricochets, should definitely extend beyond just cutting off the counter from the lobby.

  The immediate focus of the robbers was the two of them. They completely failed to notice the beams forming above them in a rectangular pattern. Before they knew it, the ceiling had been replaced by stereoscopic images. From the girders, people dropped in onto the heads of the robbers. The conditioned wiry guards overpowered the robbers in the blink of an eye.

  Tatsuya wasn't particularly surprised at the scene. For someone able to sense others presences, something such as a stereoscopic screen was no shield whatsoever. As he was waiting, he had always been aware that there were guards ready for deployment overhead.

  The bank staff of course didn't know he was like that. Miyuki, still huddled in his chest, would by common sense be seen as crying in relief at the close of a tense situation. They thought Tatsuya's arms were hiding her face as he embraced her because of that. Truthfully, he had simply read the mood and was trying to hide her smile from the somber staff and guards.

  With Miyuki's head still cradled in his arms, the bank manager came out to Tatsuya. Asking his name, he apologized profusely and offered him exemption from fees for one year as compensation for the distress. Unsure of how to look, Tatsuya maintained his pokerface-- at that, the bank manager's expression visibly tensed-- before accepting the offer. In the eyes of most people, that really was a relatively dangerous situation after all.

  After being told Tatsuya had come to update his ID, the manager called a subordinate to carry out the necessary proceedings. Tatsuya gently released Miyuki, and she hid her face behind her long hair as she allowed herself to be guided by the shoulder.

  There was no chance of being spied upon during the process, as it was all carried out by a machine in a private room. Entering, away from the eyes and ears of others, the two of them finally dropped the act and, facing each other, burst out laughing.

  This encounter with the bank robbers was the one unusual occurrence the two siblings experienced that day.

  That incident the two went through on that last day of summer vacation, in the minds of the two, was organized along with the others into their 'memories of a certain summer'.

  Presidential Elections and the Queen

  Chapter 1

  “It’s already the month that we have to resign…”

  The atmosphere of the Student Council room, initially swollen with talk of the summer vacations, subtly changed when Mayumi’s pronouncement was made.

  Until that time, the usual mix of males and females who shared lunch in the Student Council were going on about their first day back or their experiences over the summer.

  Compared to their usual daring conversation which contained phrases such as “remaining chaste before marriage” and “the age of free sex”, what they did during the summer paled as a topic. Although the reasons not to have sex before marriage were usually something like “do not give into a sweet talking man”, the conclusion might be the same, as before the “free sex era” the consciousness behind it differs greatly. In the end, just because sexually experienced women aren’t penalized by society doesn’t mean “doing it” is nothing to a woman. They don’t want to be talked about as cock teasers or bragged about in locker rooms. In conclusion, the young ladies who congregated in the Student Council room were not going to treat themselves as cheap merchandise, even though they were girls who possessed a large number of contraceptive options. Pregnancy could no longer occur from accidents or crimes.

  Be that as it may, “forcibly took off my jacket”, “strongly pressed me to the bed”, “caressed the nape of my neck with his breath” and like phrases continually let loose before his eyes was enough to make a healthy young man ill at ease. To say nothing of the same man having to endure lines like “I wanted a little better mood”, “I wanted to be able to wear white” and others proclaimed around him with complete naturalness.

&nb
sp; This could be happening because he was no longer being treated as a male, or even that they forgot he was there; however, from the beginning, they had shamelessly talked like this in the presence of a member of the opposite sex. For a while now, Tatsuya had been fleeing from this kind of talk by concentrating his eyes and consciousness on a magic book (the Public Moral room had a surprisingly good collection). Whatever twist the conversation took he could tune it out.

  Nevertheless, possibly because he was expecting it, this change of conversation penetrated his consciousness.

  “Now that you mention it, the Student Council President election is this month.”

  “Yes, the election is at the end of the month, but we need to set up the format from next week on. We have to announce the candidates and do all the other stuff that needs to be done.”

  This affirmative answer to Tatsuya’s question was put forth by Suzune.

  But, was this completely poised senpai who conversed on topics forbidden to people under eighteen, much less under fifteen, under “we're all girls here” without even a snicker? Tatsuya entertained doubt, but nevertheless, the content of his next question was different.

  “What is the format?”

  'Were there any materials?' was the gist of the question, but Suzune correctly understood Tatsuya’s point.

  “If there is more than one candidate, an election is held. That being said, because the students who can become President are limited, it’s fought out within the family after all.”

  “Within the family?”

  “For the past five years, the Student Council President has held the post of top student to enter university.”

  Now that she mentioned it, he has some memory of hearing that the first day he was called to this room.

  “To summarize, the Student Council President is decided without being elected.”

  “It is not limited to that method. It’s been that way for the past five years; six years before that it was different. It’s just that there’s never been a case of a student becoming Student Council President without becoming a member of the Student Council first, and this time as well because even if an election is held, it should be a one on one battle between Hattori-kun and Nakajou-san. What’s probably going to happen is, things will be talked out before the election and will be down to one candidate.”

  "I see; if that’s the case it is certainly 'within the family'." Tatsuya grasped the concept.

  The one who didn’t grasp the concept was the one who was being mentioned as a candidate.

  “It’s impossible for me to become Student Council President! We don’t need a discussion; I don’t intend on becoming a candidate.”

  Tatsuya certainly grasped that you couldn’t hold the post of Student Council President with teary eyes, however,

  “Do you mean that six years prior someone other than the top student held the post of Student Council President?”

  “So Hanzou-kun will be the next Student Council President.”

  Immersed in their talk, the Public Moral chief and the student body president didn’t seem to pay attention to what was going on around them.

  Whatever their personal opinions, policy-wise Azusa was closest to them.

  So while they could certainly understand why she would want to throw away the post of president…

  (… She doesn’t seem to want to do it…)

  If there are no other candidates aside from Azusa, it would be imperative to persuade her, but with Hattori also a candidate, that wouldn’t be the most proper way to go about it, Tatsuya thought.

  “So Nakajou-senpai was last year's top student.”

  However, Miyuki’s thinking seemed to be going on a different angle than Tatsuya’s. She seemed to be aiming at different aspects, but Tatsuya thought he could see what his sister was up to. As Miyuki was pointing out and Tatsuya was aware of himself, “Hattori was also one of last year’s top students.”

  “That’s right; there wasn’t much difference between the all-around scores, right?”

  Mayumi nodded an acknowledgement to Miyuki and directed her question to Azusa, but Suzune was the one who replied.

  “For theory, the order for the top spots were Isori-kun, followed by Nakajou-san and Hattori in third place. In the practical, Hattori-kun took the Top place over Nakajou-san by a narrow margin. The all-around top student was also Hattori-kun followed by Nakajou-san by a narrow margin."

  Putting all this upon the school’s bulletin board in a big display each semester as an incentive to study is really meaningless, Tatsuya thought.

  "I might be called the rotten apple that spoils the barrel… but from the start, most serious students can’t cross swords with the Student Council President and the chief…" at least, that was Tatsuya's assessment of Suzune.

  “So in practical skills, Nakajou-senpai was higher than Chiyoda-senpai?”

  Miyuki had already understood this point, but while attending the Nine Schools Competition, becoming familiar with this person had created a different impression.

  “That’s because that girl Kanon is too sloppy.”

  “She has a majestic quality to her at least?”

  At Mari’s blunt opinion, Mayumi agreed with a forced smile.

  “To the contrary; it’s just the slender A-chan looks to be unsuited for sports competitions.”

  “Nonetheless, Nakajou is going to be an athlete in the coming year, right?”

  Although she had been listening to Mayumi as if she wasn’t being discussed, when Mari’s dropped bombshell, Azusa’s body begun to shake in response.

  “… I may have introduced the topic… but this is next year, Nakajou? There’s no point in getting all scared about it right now.”

  “Th… that’s right. Next year… next year, aside from Chiyoda-san, there’s Shiba-san, Kitayama-san, Mitsui-san and others; we have plenty of prospective athletes…”

  As Azusa forced herself to reply with a peculiarly weird voice, Mayumi’s face took on a triumphant look.

  “Well, there are a lot of great prospects among this year's freshman girls… the third years can’t just push the burden upon their underclassmen.”

  “No, such a thing, placing a burden, I just meant the right person for the right job, that is…”

  If that was the case, it was certainly logical; gazing at her with his half closed eyes and hard to refute, the Student Council President had it tough Tatsuya realized.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  When he stepped into the Public Moral room after six weeks away, it was unexpectedly crowded.

  “I didn’t get any notice of a meeting?”

  Tatsuya inquired of Mari who was, for some reason, standing at the entrance; she nodded with the dignity of her office.

  “That’s correct, I don’t have any memory of sending out a notice.”

  “So this is a ceremony in honor of the first day of the new semester?”

  “The inaugural ceremony takes place only once a year.”

  “This isn’t some kind of special membership meeting?"

  “Well, now”

  Upon Mari’s reply, Tatsuya made a light bow and turned to retrieve his personal recorder from his locker with a brisk pace — but he didn’t get three steps before he stopped.

  Looking behind him, he found standing at exactly the same distance as before — to be clear, shadowing him exactly — Mari, gazing back at him.

  “…Is there something?”

  “It’s not work. But that doesn’t change the fact that there is a big event for the Public Moral Committee.”

  “Ahh…”

  At Tatsuya’s cautious response, Mari adopted an “oh, well” expression.

  “…It’s best to go to the heart of the matter directly with this kind of thing.”

  “I’ve glanced through the important news.”

  “What I’m talking about is a completely inter-committee kind of thing.”

  She was glancing around while she was talking with a “is there a
nything that needs to be taken care of…” kind of feeling that Tatsuya perceived.

  In the end, the one to give in was Mari.

  “There is no term of office for the Public Moral members."

  “I know. Although you select a replacement, there is no need to resign; it all seems a little strange.”

  “We tend to cling to this delicious position. Every graduating class selects their replacements, but quite a few of us remain in position until graduation.”

  She gave a subtle shrug of her shoulders as she spoke. Perhaps she was thinking of the special privileges of the Public Moral Committee with an “oh, well” thought floating in her mind.

  “To tell the truth, one of the third years resigned at the end of last semester. Today, the replacement is coming.”

  Tatsuya raised his eyebrows in suspicion at Mari’s words.

  “This is a welcome party?”

  “By no means; we’re not that cohesive an organization. You understand that by now, right?”

  Certainly, the Public Moral Committee was an organization more suited for words like “division” and “antagonism” rather than unity. Because he understood that, the whole thing gave Tatsuya an anxious mood. Given those facts, what was this crowd doing here?

  “It’s just that it’s unusual to have a girl chosen as a member, so everybody who was free came to take a look at her.”

  I got it, Tatsuya thought. The members have not gathered out of comradery but rather curiosity. However, for that reason—

  “It’s about time to choose a chief.”

  At Tatsuya’s point, an ill-humored expression silently came over Mari’s face. Apparently there were many things on her mind and she didn’t want to trouble her kouhai, so she was choosing her words in order to gloss over things.

  “…Well, in my case it’s part of my job. It’s only right that I greet the new member. By the way, could I trouble you to look after things for a while?”

  “…You mean me?”

 

‹ Prev