Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 12 - Double Seven Chapter

by Sato Tsutomu

  “Old-fashioned…?”

  “Geek…?”

  Got pretty revved up, apparently by those keywords.

  “Uh, I…”

  —The original cause of their conflict, Kento, was left in a lurch.

  Right now, the mood was explosive. The first to arrive at the scene were not Student Council officers or Public Morals Committee members, they were the members of the Public Safety Division independently patrolling.

  “The Robot Research Club and the Bike Club please calm down!”

  The first to enter the breech was a member of the Public Safety Force, Tomitsuka Hagane, a Second Year student.

  Taking a place next to him was Public Safety Trainee, Shippou Takuma.

  For Shippou Takuma, who was apparently recruited by Hattori — or at least it looked that way — to join the Public Safety Division to which he had enthusiastically agreed, this was his first assignment: to assist Tomitsuka in arbitrating any trouble between clubs they happened upon.

  Takuma’s vigor had pushed Kento out of the battle ring.

  “Aren’t you Kento?”

  Then he met Tatsuya and Miyuki who had arrived just after Tomitsuka.

  “Ah, Shiba-senpai.”

  Kento happily turned around to look at Tatsuya. He did not pay attention to Miyuki who was standing beside Tatsuya. This could be called extremely unusual. While he felt somewhat uncomfortable with Miyuki’s deeply interested innocent gaze, Tatsuya questioned Kento.

  “What happened?”

  At this point, Tatsuya had no way of knowing that Kento had anything to do with starting the trouble that was going on before his eyes.

  He had caught his eye and Tatsuya had spoken to him only because he actually knew him.

  “Ah, um, I’m sorry, Senpai!”

  Even if Kento suddenly apologized, Tatsuya had simply no way to know what was going on.

  “I haven’t decided which club to join yet, I intended to merely take a look around today, but since I went in to hear more about the club, it suddenly got like this afterwards…”

  He was probably excited, and Kento’s statement was almost completely incoherent. While Tatsuya was painstakingly working through that difficult to understand explanation, the situation underwent a new change.

  “Public Morals Committee!”

  Tatsuya heard a quarrelsome note in that familiar voice. The Robot Research Club and the Bike Club members were proclaiming their own righteousness in high pitched voices and Tomitsuka was raising his voice to be heard above them, so no one was really responding to the person who spoke.

  “Eh? That’s Kasumi-chan, Onii-sama.”

  “Ah…”

  Tatsuya had not deigned to face the direction that screaming voice had come from, but that really didn’t matter much. Even without Miyuki telling him, Tatsuya had recognized that Kasumi had identified herself as a member of the Public Morals Committee.

  “Kento.”

  Kento, who had looked over his shoulder with wide eyes in the direction of Kasumi’s excited voice, returned his attention to Tatsuya.

  “Oh, yes, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not really something you have to apologize for.”

  Tatsuya smiled slightly at Kento, who was so nervous it was almost pitiful. There was a thick layer of sniggering in that smile, but it only appeared like that to Miyuki at his side, who knew all his smiles. —The person it was directed at, Kento, didn’t notice.

  “Yes, I’m sor—ah.”

  “…Alright.”

  Before an awkward silence could descend over them, Tatsuya continued speaking.

  “In short, the Bike Club misunderstood your intentions and the Robot Research Club managed to get tangled up in that?”

  “Umm, yes, maybe…”

  “I see… well, that part seems fine, now.”

  The quarrelsome voices they had heard earlier had been replaced with other voices. And they had not noticed the beginning of a dangerous interchange. There was still the threat of a magic fight starting in the air; while the Robot Research and Bike Club members were settling down, the source of that threat — was a confrontational Takuma and Kasumi, who were glaring at each other.

  “Kento, it’s alright for you to go. Leave talking to the Robot Research and Bike clubs to me.”

  While the thought of the underclassmen who had come here to arbitrate one incident starting one of their own made his head hurt, Tatsuya directed Kento to leave the area.

  “Yes… Thank you.”

  Kento seemed a little hesitant about whether he could allow Tatsuya to settle the matter for him, but in the end, he made a bow to Tatsuya and obeyed his command.

  “This matter is already being handled by the club affairs Public Safety Division. So you can leave already, Public Morals member.”

  This had been the first thing Takuma had said to start the dispute.

  His arrogant way of speaking instantly made Kasumi flinch. However, when she recognized him as a fellow freshman, she indignantly spoke back to him.

  “But I believe the Public Morals Committee has jurisdiction over disputes between students.”

  So there’s no reason for me to just dolefully leave, Kasumi implicitly informed and tried to bypass Takuma.

  “Hey, wait.”

  Takuma reached out to take hold of Kasumi’s arm as she passed him. However, that hand wasn’t able to grab hold of anything. Kasumi made a smooth sidestep and evaded Takuma’s hand. Takuma was momentarily dumbfounded by his unthinkable failure to grab her; however, seeing Kasumi’s triumphant look made his blood boil and rush all to his head.

  Naturally, even Takuma was not so simple minded as to use that as an excuse for violence.

  “Persistent aren’t you. Can’t you stop getting in the way?”

  Nimbly going around Takuma who got in her way again, Kasumi spoke to him in a bored tone.

  “I said we’re taking care of things, Saegusa. Or can’t you understand that, without me speaking more clearly? There’s no reason for you to intervene.”

  “Hmm… Shippou-kun. You know who I am?”

  Kasumi looked at Takuma with meaningful eyes and attempted to forestall him with words.

  “Do you even notice when you’re being treated as a hindrance? What a sorry state. You do know that Public Morals members don’t have to obey the orders of the Public Safety Division.”

  Within Kasumi’s slightly amused expression, only her eyes were glimmering with the light of battle.

  “Saegusa… are you picking a fight?”

  Takuma was the opposite with his red faced expression, only his eyes contained a cold light.

  “I don’t intend to pick a fight. But, I’m always ready to accept one.”

  “Oh… so you’re ready to take me on?”

  Takuma’s left sleeve was tugged back slightly. Revealing the form of a bracelet style CAD. Officially, only members of the Student Council and Public Morals Committee were permitted to carry CADs on campus, so members of the Club Affairs Public Safety Division who were not members of those organizations were forbidden to carry them. However, some of the rules against carrying CADs were relaxed during club recruitment week. What glittered on his wrist was not a CAD with safety limits for use in competitions, but his personal one that was suitable for actual combat.

  “I guess so, I’ll do my best to give you more of a fight than you expect. Enough that you won’t consider picking a fight with me again.”

  Kasumi also tugged back her left sleeve to reveal her left arm. It sat slightly higher on her wrist than Takuma’s, it was on the small size and it was designed to look prettier, however the CAD within was a cutting edge model that was not in any way inferior.

  “You don’t seem to have anyone with you. You okay with doing it solo?”

  “What? You want the excuse that you lost because it was two to one?”

  Takuma and Kasumi were now already incapable of noticing anything but the adversary right before their eyes. Not even the fac
t that the dispute between the Robot Research Club and the Bike Club that they had come to arbitrate was now in the middle of a armistice or that Kento, the one who triggered their dispute, had already left the scene.

  “Wait a minute!”

  The dispute between the Robot Research and the Bike Clubs had drawn a big gallery of spectators. A male student suddenly intervened before they could have what looked like an inevitable and extremely public battle.

  “Both of you, settle down!”

  This was Tomitsuka who had been stunned by the malice Takuma and Kasumi had been invoking into the atmosphere until now.

  “Senpai, please don’t interfere.”

  “I said settle down, Shippou!”

  “Tomitsuka-senpai, are you protecting Shippou-kun?”

  “No way! Saegusa-san you settle down as well!”

  …With Tomitsuka between them, the violent mood receded somewhat, but it didn’t feel like they were done snarling at each other. Due to this, neither the Robot Research nor the Bike Club felt like bringing up the fact that the dispute that had brought them here hadn‘t been resolved yet.

  “Everyone, isn’t it time to go back to whatever you were doing?”

  So, the voice that called out from the side made them feel like they had been graced with a proclamation from an angel (it was quite convenient).

  “Do not make this incident a problem for the Student Council. I will be the one who talks to the Public Morals Committee and the Public Safety Division.”

  Tatsuya had followed after Miyuki with an assertion ‘to not make this incident a problem’, which meant that the Robot Research Club went back to the garage and the Bike Club went back to their tent to gradually resume recruitment. Tatsuya and Miyuki also went back to Club Affairs headquarters; all that remained was the gallery of onlookers and the three people who had garnered their attention: Takuma, Kasumi and Tomitsuka.

  Chapter 8

  “……And that’s why it was so annoying.”

  “Ha...... I’m amazed you were able to hold back, Kasumi-chan.”

  The same day, during the evening of April 13th, AD 2096. It was only after the children finished dinner that they were informed that guests were coming (even though their two eldest brothers were not home yet), so Kasumi came to Izumi’s room to complain about what had happened after school.

  “Hm, well, when I thought about all the cleanup afterwards, I felt that it would be better not to throw down there. However, to be honest, I really wanted to kick his ass.”

  As she was sitting on the rug with her hands wrapped around a pillow, she socked the pillow two or three times probably because she was pretending that the offending item was Takuma.

  “Speaking of which…… Based on your story, Shippou-kun’s attitude was a little too unfriendly.”

  “That wasn’t something cute like being unfriendly. He was blatantly picking a fight.”

  “Yes, yes. Then, since he was picking a fight, how did he explain the antagonism displayed by the Club Activities Group to the Public Moral Committee?”

  “Yeah. That’s why I said that guy was picking a fight against the Saegusa because he’s a Shippou.”

  Hearing the suggestion from the seated Kasumi as she excitedly related what happened, Izumi did not see this as her personal feelings and reject it.

  “Setting aside whether he’s acting on behalf of the Shippou, it remains true that he has shown hostility.”

  Hearing Izumi’s unexpected perspective, Kasumi threw the pillow down with both hands as she blinked several times.

  “So it’s not for the Shippou Family, but for his own personal grudge?”

  “Can’t believe you said grudge, Kasumi-chan…… Well, I guess that’s close enough.”

  Seeing Kasumi’s exaggerated display, Izumi nodded with a bewildered expression before putting on an expression of rapt attention as she thought to herself.

  “I heard that the head of the Shippou Family is a moderate. Based on the rumors, he shouldn’t be the type to do anything that directly antagonize the Saegusa Family……”

  At the same time, the head of the Saegusa Family, Saegusa Koichi was preparing to welcome the scheduled guest.

  “A pleasure to meet you. My name is Sawamura Maki.”

  “We have been waiting for you. I am the head’s daughter, Mayumi. Please follow me.”

  The one who welcomed her was Mayumi. This was not a coincidence, as Koichi ordered Mayumi to lead the way. After leading Maki to the guest dining hall, Mayumi felt more suspicious than curious.

  (This person should be the actress Sawamura Maki-san…… What business does an artist have with the Ten Master Clans……?)

  If the visitor was a politician or an industrialist, Mayumi would not have found anything odd regardless of the visitor’s gender. Even someone from the entertainment circle seeking the power of Magicians itself was not something out of place. However, employing the might of the Ten Master Clans on someone from the cream of the entertainment business was a mite too much.

  “Otou-sama, I have brought Sawamura-san.”

  Despite how suspicious this was in her mind, none of this was reflected on her face. Perfectly playing the part of a refined daughter welcoming a guest, Mayumi led Maki to the dining hall where her father was waiting.

  After allowing Mayumi to leave from the doorway and dismissing the maids in attendance, Koichi remained seated as he opened the conversation with Maki.

  “This should be the second time we have met.”

  Adopting a similar seated posture, Maki smiled back.

  “I am honored that you remember me.”

  “You’re welcome. Please, enjoy yourself before the dinner gets cold.”

  A full array of appetizers and main entrees was set up on the table. The format intentionally avoided presenting one dish at a time because Koichi was aware that this was supposed to be a secret negotiation. Nor did Maki raise a fuss over this.

  “Thank you very much. Then allow us to dine.”

  Accompanied by a somewhat suave answer, Maki picked up her utensils. Completely different from the slightly nervous tic in her manners, Maki’s table manners were impeccable.

  In Maki’s eyes, Koichi seemed to smile in satisfaction upon seeing this.

  “Ah, my apologies.”

  It was impossible to determine how to decipher that look – maybe because he wished to muddle the issue, Koichi opened his mouth to offer his apology.

  “How rude of me to wear these glasses indoors.”

  “No, I am aware of the details surrounding your story.”

  When he was 14, Koichi was the victim of an international kidnapping incident that targeted Magicians, an incident that cost him his right eye in battle. Once he became an adult and his body’s development halted he began using a false eye, though he was quite famous during his teenage years as the “Young Magician with the Eye Patch” among magic circles. Now, he preferred to use lightly colored glasses to help disguise the oddity of the false eye. Such details were easily available with a small amount of investigation.

  After exchanging small talk and finishing the main entrees, Maki adopted a proper sitting posture. Personally, she wanted to talk about this in a more natural atmosphere, but she was unable to find any weaknesses in Koichi while they were dining.

  “In reality, I asked to borrow some of your time today because there’s something I wish to impart to you, Saegusa-sama.”

  Just as Mayumi finished changing and was about to relax a little, the speaker leading to the door rang out.

  “Onee-sama, this is Izumi. May I speak with you?”

  “Of course. Please do.”

  The words “please do” were actually the pass phrase. The voice recognition system from the HAR (Home Automation Robot) received Mayumi’s voice and disengaged the lock. Entering the door were Izumi and Kasumi coming in together.

  “Sorry, but there’s something I would like your opinion on.”

  Hearing Izumi’s request,
Mayumi thought “Oh?”. She did not say “please teach me” but “your opinion” instead. In other words, this was something unrelated to school studies or magic training.

  “What is it?”

  “Onee-san, do you know what kind of a person is the head of house for the Shippou Family?”

  The first thing that ran across Mayumi’s mind after hearing Kasumi’s question was “Why would you ask such a thing?”, but the answer immediately flashed through her mind.

  “Kasumi-chan……”

  Mayumi was well aware of how terrible her facial expression was right now without seeing her young sisters’ reactions.

  “W-What is it?”

  Not only had her tone changed, even the eyes were wandering all over the place. Seeing Kasumi’s reaction, Mayumi was even more certain that her instincts were correct.

  “Something happened between you and Shippou-kun.”

  “How did you know that!?”

  Kasumi didn’t play dumb and immediately capitulated (more like confessed). No, she actually wanted to cover this, but Mayumi’s overly decisive remark prompted a more honest reaction out of her.

  “You……”

  “Please wait, Onee-sama.”

  Seeing Mayumi set to deliver a tongue-lashing, Izumi quickly intervened from the side.

  “It was true that Kasumi-chan almost got into a private duel with Shippou-kun, but the responsibility for today’s incident lies more with Shippou-kun and not Kasumi-chan.”

  Mayumi searched Izumi with a suspicious gaze. However, Izumi’s gaze never wavered. Mayumi gave a huge “Whew…..” of relief as her expression relaxed.

  “I understand. I believe you.”

  Hearing this, now it was Kasumi’s turn to let out of a huge “Whew…..”. The secret glance she darted at Izumi contained definite traces of “Thanks!”.

  “So that’s why the two of you wanted to know about the personality of the Shippou Family’s head.”

  Mayumi furrowed her brows as she adopted a considerate posture.

  “True…… Though I have not spoken to him in length…… He should be a very practical and considerate person.”