by Tsutomu Sato
“The terms Bloom and Weed are forbidden from use by the school, the student council, and the disciplinary officers, but unfortunately, many students use them anyway.
“However, the problem is not only that Course 1 students call themselves Blooms and decide to condescendingly call Course 2 students Weeds. Even Course 2 students scorn themselves as Weeds and accept it in resignation. It is a very sad tendency, and it exists.”
A few people hooted, but nobody made an open argument.
The coalition had run out of arguments against Mayumi, who was concealing a coquettish, devilish smile, delivering an impassioned speech with a dignified expression and an imposing attitude.
“This wall in our minds is the real problem. Course 1 and Course 2 exist, clear as day, as part of the school system. However, this is due to there being a national shortage of teachers, which is not something that will be solved very soon. Either they give insufficient education to all, or give sufficient education to some. There is certainly a discrimination inherent in that.
“And there is nothing we can do about it. It’s a regulation we need to accept as students of this school if we are to study here. But other than that point, there is no systematic discrimination. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but the curriculum for Course 1 and Course 2 students is exactly the same. There may be differences in how fast they progress, but it uses the same lectures and practices.”
That was a surprise to both Tatsuya and Mayumi. He couldn’t help but mutter “Huh…” under his breath, and she silently agreed with that sentiment. Suzune’s mouth broke into a smile at seeing them.
“Even for extracurricular activities, the club committee and the student council assign facility usage as equally as we can. I won’t deny that we do give preferential treatment to clubs with more members over those with less. However, that is a decision made because we can’t ignore either individual opportunity or club-based opportunity. We do not and will not systematically prioritize magic-based extracurricular activities.
“Earlier, a member of the coalition mentioned that magic-based clubs were being given a heftier portion of the budget. He was correct in his conclusion, but I have already showed with a graph that the distribution is a result of their actual achievements being considered.
“Every issue aside from the teaching one can be explained through something other than the division between Course 1 and Course 2. I believe you now understand that there are rational, logical grounds for them. It is the wall in our minds that is the problem—our willingness to blame it on the Course 1/Course 2 division despite understanding there is another cause, which then distances Course 1 and Course 2 students from each other.”
A few people hooted again. This time, though, some of the hoots were in agreement. The coalition supporters were jeering, but the voices coming from the cluster of Course 2 students present telling the coalition to shut up clearly displayed a shift in the way things were going.
“As the student council president, I am not satisfied with the current state of affairs. This mental wall can even incite hostility in school sometimes, so I’ve begun to want to solve this problem somehow. However, the solution must not be something that creates a new kind of prejudice. Even if Course 2 students were being discriminated against, reverse discrimination against Course 1 students is no solution. That cannot be permitted even as a temporary solution.
“Both Course 1 and Course 2 students belong to this school, and these are the only three years any of us will have as students here.”
Applause broke out. There weren’t enough people clapping to describe it as the entire audience applauding, but it was certainly not sparse. Among those clapping their hands, there was no division between Blooms and Weeds.
The wave of applause receded and silence came over the room. Both Course 1 and Course 2 students, both those who had clapped and those who had not, were staring fixedly at Mayumi up at the podium, eagerly awaiting her next words with bated breath.
The coalition panelists, on the same stage as her, glared at her, frustrated.
“I believe the only two things permitted to us are to remove the systematic discrimination and to not engage in reverse discrimination. This is an excellent opportunity, so I’d like it if you could all listen to my hopes.
“In all honesty, there is one last piece of the system that discriminates between Course 1 and Course 2 students in the student council—and that is the restriction on naming officers to non–student council groups. In the current system, all officer positions besides those in the student council must be nominated from Course 1 students. This rule is only part of the general assembly of the student council when a new student council president is elected, and we can change it. I plan to abolish this regulation during the assembly when I leave office. It will be my final job as student council president.”
There was a stir. The students forgot to even hoot and jeer, and began whispering amongst themselves—to their fronts and backs, to their lefts and rights. Mayumi waited silently until the commotion died down naturally. “I’ve only been in this position for about half a year, so this commitment may sound premature. But we can’t force people to change their minds, and we must not try. That’s why I plan on tackling these reforms as much as I can using other means.”
The entire lecture hall exploded into applause.
There was no shortage of cheers resembling those a fan club might give an idol, but it was clear that both Course 1 and Course 2 students supported not what the coalition had expressed, but what Mayumi had stated.
Mayumi was preaching about the upheaval of mental discrimination.
The actions of the coalition had certainly been the opportunity that allowed them to start on a path toward getting rid of discrimination. However, it was exactly the opposite of the kind of change they wanted. Reformist groups, even after accomplishing their goal, would gradually become unsatisfied with just that.
They were too caught up in achieving their goals using the methods they had imagined. The result was that this was unsatisfactory not so much to the coalition members but to those backing them.
—And besides, the masterminds who had incited Sayaka behind the scenes weren’t planning to end things here, anyway.
Suddenly, an explosion rattled the windows of the lecture hall, and the students, letting themselves be engrossed in one action—their applause—awoke from their collective reverie.
The deployed disciplinary officers acted immediately.
With the kind of unified movements that seemed unbelievable since they hadn’t gone through any kind of training, they restrained each marked coalition member.
A window shattered and a spindle-shaped object came flying in.
As the grenade hit the floor, it began spewing white smoke, but the smoke didn’t scatter—instead, the grenade and the smoke all vanished back out the window, as if it were a videodisc being played backward.
Tatsuya looked over, praise in his eyes, and Hattori looked away from him, irritated. Mayumi couldn’t help but giggle when she saw them.
Mari was facing the exit, her arm extended. Several intruders wearing gas masks all fell over as though they’d tripped on a stair and stopped moving.
The predicted assault had come with unexpected, extreme methods like explosives and chemical weapons, but as planned, it was quickly being put down. The panic in the room seemed like it would settle before being triggered.
“I’m going to check on the practicum building.”
“I’ll go with you, Tatsuya!”
“Be careful!” shouted Mari after the siblings as they headed for the area they’d heard the first explosion coming from.
Because magic high schools taught practical applications of magic, magicians were permanently stationed there as teachers. And with First High, seen as the highest magic high school, the teachers were all first-rate magicians as well. The school had the power to independently force out a small military group from a lesser nation. Of
course, they might have accounted for the possibility of outside attackers, but they hadn’t predicted that it would happen. In a place where nobody felt there would be an impending crisis, there was no real sense of caution.
The practicum building had easily surrendered control to the invading attackers belonging to the external faction. Its walls were scorched and its windows were in shards. The explosion Tatsuya had heard must have been a miniaturized explosive incendiary. The flames from it were still burning along one wall, and there were two teachers working on putting it out.
“The hell’s going on here?” demanded Leo, who was engaged in a fierce, prolonged battle to guard those teachers when he got a glimpse of Tatsuya.
Miyuki’s hands gracefully danced. With one hand she manipulated her portable terminal CAD. The psionic information bodies expanded, constructed, and were executed in the blink of an eye. The sparkling of magic, which only magic users—magicians and magic engineers—could see with the naked eye.
Three men surrounding Leo flew away all at once. They were dressed like electricians, and were clearly neither students nor faculty. They flew back with such force it looked like they’d stepped on a land mine, but Leo, in the middle of it all, wasn’t affected at all. That pinpoint targeting was the biggest strong point of magic.
“Terrorists have infiltrated the school!” explained Tatsuya, very simply and cutting out the details, as Miyuki was talking to the teachers about something.
“Sounds pretty dangerous!” That was all it took to convince Leo—Tatsuya knew he was the understanding sort from that overtime practice.
What was important right now was that there were enemies who needed to be eliminated.
“Leo, your broom! …Oh, reinforcements are here?”
Then, from the other direction where the office was, came Erika. She slowed her pace upon seeing Tatsuya and Miyuki there.
“Don’t worry! You made it in time.”
“Why would I worry? You wouldn’t die even if they killed you!”
“What was that?! …Actually, there’s no time to fool around. Just give me my CAD already—hey, don’t throw it!”
CADs were delicate instruments, but they were also built with the premise of usage in tough environments in mind. They wouldn’t break just from falling on a soft-coat path. Erika knew that, which is why she threw it to him, so she naturally ignored Leo’s protest…though she probably would have ignored it even if it could have broken.
“Is this yours, Tatsuya? Or Miyuki’s?” asked Erika simply, gazing at the moaning invaders crawling along the ground without even a hint of sympathy.
“Miyuki’s. I’m not efficient enough for one of these.”
“It’s mine. I cannot bother my brother with dealing with these lowlifes.”
Tatsuya’s answer and Miyuki’s, having come up beside him, were spoken at the same time.
“Right, right, what beautiful sibling love… So these guys, I can wipe ’em out, no questions asked, right?”
“No need for mercy as long as they’re not students,” Tatsuya answered, completely and thoroughly ignoring her wisecrack, glancing subtly away from her.
Erika grinned happily. “Hee-hee—and here I thought high school would be way more boring!”
“Whoa, scary. You sure are warlike, you know.”
“You be quiet.”
Erika had brought her right hand halfway up, but even she seemed to be cautious of hitting him with her specially-made baton.
“By the way, what were you two doing in the practicum building at a time like this?”
If they didn’t have detention or make-up classes, the practicum building wasn’t somewhere students had anything to do after school. He hadn’t meant to ask it in a teasing, vengeful way—it was a casual question.
“Huh? Um, well, I mean—huh.”
“Um, yes, well, that is—hmm?”
Their being so unsettled was something he didn’t expect.
“…What were you doing alone together?” he asked in a suspiciously serious tone of voice.
“Alone together?!” Erika’s tone was so disturbed it was funny.
“That isn’t it!” Leo’s tone could have been called a scream. “I was just in there practicing! She came later!”
“I came here to practice, but this annoying guy was hogging the damn thing!”
“Did you just call me annoying?!”
“Uhh, okay, I understand. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
The reality wasn’t actually that interesting, but their reaction had been well worth it.
His mind switched gears. “Did you see any other invaders?” he asked seriously, though not suspiciously this time.
“I was protecting the teachers on the other side, but they’re really good—they’re mostly all taken care of,” responded Erika, as though her previous fluster had never happened, in neither a serious nor light tone, but a calm one.
Leo was quick to change gears, too. “This may sound weird coming from me, but they’re really third-rate magicians. Even three-on-one they couldn’t put up any magic.” He spoke as if it didn’t matter, but taking on three people at once was no easy task in the first place.
This classmate of his seemed to be capable of more than he gave him credit for.
“Erika, is the office safe?” asked Miyuki.
Erika nodded. “They were quick to respond over there. By the time I arrived, the teachers had already tied up the invaders. There are a lot of valuables in there, after all.”
Tatsuya found himself stuck on something she’d just said. He understood the office being a target of attack because of how many valuables were kept inside. But all that was in the practicum building were old CADs from previous generations. If there was any value to be found, it was the heat-resistant, vibration-resistant, shock-resistant building itself, which got away with just a few burns to its exterior after being hit with a grenade. If it had been destroyed, classes would have been obstructed for at least a month, but in the end, this was all that happened. If there were any other places where the school’s administration would be hampered due to destructive activities, it would be where important equipment, materials, and documents were stored, since they couldn’t resupply them immediately…
“…The lab building and the library!”
“Then was this a diversion? I did not expect such a broad scope. Could the resistance holding down the debate have been a diversion in itself?”
Tatsuya shook his head at the question Miyuki offered. “No, I think they were serious about it. I wonder if the coalition was just being used.” He didn’t use a word like unfortunately that would have shown pity toward them. That would be rude to those who were seriously clamoring for the elimination of discrimination.
“Anyway, the question is what we do now.”
They had three choices: split up into two groups, go to the lab building, or go to the library.
“They’re after the library.”
Their decision was brought to them in the form of information.
“Ms. Ono?”
Low-heeled shoes, a slim-fitting pantsuit, and a lustrous sweater under a jacket. Her outfit today was completely different from the other day—it was meant for moving around in. The shine on her sweater probably came from metallic fibers with anti-bullet and anti-blade effects. Even her expression was drawn in severity. The air she gave off was like another person’s.
“Their main force has already gotten into the library. Mibu is there, as well.”
The three others looked at Tatsuya, confused. He stared right back at Haruka, though. Less than a second passed. “May I ask you for an explanation once this is over, ma’am?”
“I’d like to decline, but that won’t be enough. May I ask you one thing in exchange?”
“What is it, ma’am?”
Haruka displayed vacillation, but she didn’t get caught up on her words and waste time. “I’m asking you this as Haruka Ono, a counselor. I want you to give Mibu a ch
ance. She’s been worried since last year about the gap between her worth as a kendo athlete and as a Course 2 student. I talked to her several times…but I don’t think I was enough. She ended up going along with them, so—”
“That’s naive, ma’am.” Her request was likely founded in an earnest awareness of her duties, but Tatsuya discarded it without mercy. “Let’s go, Miyuki.”
“Yes.”
“Hey, Tatsuya!” Leo called after him.
And then, to a friend he couldn’t discard, he gave one piece of advice. “If you have pity when you can’t afford it, you’re not the only one who gets hurt.”
He didn’t have time to say any more—and that was clear as he ran off.
Close skirmishes had unfolded in front of the library.
Aside from CADs, the attackers were also carrying knives and throwing weapons. There seemed to be a few students among them, but most were outsiders—invaders. The receiving end of the attack, composed mostly of seniors, had no CADs but had overwhelmingly superior magic power. The skill it took to go toe-to-toe with magic and without a CAD against weapon-wielding enemies marked them as fledgling magicians with hopeful futures. (And not so much fledglings as star rookies, they were.)
No sooner had Leo seen it than he dove in. Loosing a scream of “Panzeeeer!” he charged into the fray. There was meaning in his roar.
“Voice recognition? He gets more unique every day…”
“Tatsuya, was he just expanding and constructing a program at the same time?”
“Yeah, sequential expansion. It was all the rage a decade ago.”
“Boy, even his magic is outdated…”
Fortunately, Erika’s talking behind his back (?)—after having ignored the fact that the sealing magic she used was a technique of the past now—didn’t make it to the fighting Leo. With his bulky, wide CAD that covered his forearm like a gauntlet, he stopped a cudgel being brought down at him and delivered a return punch.