by Sato Tsutomu
"Tatsuya......"
"Why do you reject yourself to this level?
Why do you disparage yourself to this level?
What is it that so dissatisfies you?"
"......Even if I tried to explain, Tatsuya, you wouldn't understand. There's no point in talking about it."
"There may be."
Mikihiko reacted by throwing up a high wall and retreating behind it, but Tatsuya's ensuing words smashed the wall to bits.
"Ah......?"
This time it was Mikihiko's turn to be speechless, while Tatsuya pierced him with a sharp look.
"Mikihiko, you're concerned about the magic activation speed, correct?"
"......You heard that from Erika?"
"No."
"......Then how do you know?"
"Your technique is too verbose."
"......What did you say?"
"My point is, the problem isn't your capability, but the technique itself. This is the underlying reason why you cannot wield magic the way you desire."
"How would you know that!"
Mikihiko roared.
Because he was in a state of panic.
Because he was exasperated.
The technique he uses was a product the Yoshida Family had refined over many years by incorporating the aspects of the traditions in Ancient Magic and the results of modern magic.
After seeing it once or twice, Tatsuya immediately tossed it out as a blemished product, which threw Mikihiko into a rage.
He always rejected this line of thinking as a vain attempt to escape from reality, but after hearing Tatsuya bring up this previously ignored topic, Mikihiko panicked.
"I do know. But you don't need to force yourself to believe me."
Yet, Tatsuya calmly replied to Mikihiko's furious outburst, forcing Mikihiko to respond with an even more wavering statement.
"......What did you say?"
Mikihiko used the same words as he did before, but this time the tone was vastly different.
"I can comprehend any magic design that I can 'see', which allows me to read the details behind any Activation Sequence and to provide an in-depth analysis of the Magic Sequence."
Tatsuya replied with this outrageous answer.
Mikihiko's panic had hit a peak.
He had never heard of a Magician capable of such a feat and, if someone with this unique ability truly exists, then half the mysteries facing modern magic theory would be solved in an instant.
"......Again, you don't need to force yourself to believe me."
Tatsuya repeated his earlier words.
Mikihiko felt like he was telling him "what follows next is your own problem".
"Let's table this topic for now. Ignoring that for the moment, we still need to deal with these guys. I'll keep watch for the moment, could you call security? Or do you want me to go?"
Honestly, with Mikihiko's mental state right now, he was unable to consider whether Tatsuya's "confession" was true or not, so he desperately clung to the life line thrown at him.
"Ah, I'll go."
"Understood, I'll wait here."
Mikihiko once more activated his "Leaping" technique and vanished over the railing.
On the other hand, Tatsuya briefly considered how to restrict the intruders' freedom of movement, and ultimately elected to bury them. He could use "Dissolution" to remove the excess dirt, so he needed to use both "Separate" and "Move" magics. Doing so without a CAD was truly a tiresome task, but just like the earlier "Leaping", Tatsuya had already memorized such a simple Magic Sequence and, as long as he performed them sequentially and not simultaneously, this really didn't pose a problem.
Ironically, this was one advantage gleaned from the artificial virtual Magic Calculation Area currently residing in his consciousness, which was the ability to recall any Magic Sequence stored in his memory.
(I'm a devious man.)
He held onto the victim's perspective, but viewed the byproduct as an efficient tool to use.
Tatsuya smirked at his unprincipled self and prepared to invoke his magic.
—But there appeared to be no need for that.
A familiar presence approached, prompting Tatsuya to cancel his magic.
Shortly after, the other person initiated the conversation.
"Special Lieutenant, your earlier suggestion was truly merciless."
"Major, you heard all that?"
Tatsuya didn't detect Kazama eavesdropping.
Which was honestly not that surprising.
Kazama had studied under Kokonoe Yakumo longer than Tatsuya had and was considered to be Yakumo's second best student. Without linking to the information dimension, Tatsuya found it very difficult to trace Kazama's presence.
Tatsuya saluted in greeting, to which Kazama smirked in response.
"Isn't it rare for the usually completely indifferent Special Lieutenant to do such a thing?"
"Labeling this one 'completely indifferent' is uncalled for."
"Or maybe you sympathize with his plight? That young man shares similar problems as you do."
"This one has long since graduated from that level of concern."
"In other words, you're someone who's been around the block?"
"......Could you deal with these people?"
Kazama revealed a foxy smile as he mercilessly pressed the attack and Tatsuya, who had lost all avenues of retreat, finally managed to change the topic.
"Leave that to me, I'll explain everything to the base CO."
Still, Kazama realized that continuing to pursue this line of questioning served no purpose.
He retracted his smile and solemnly nodded towards Tatsuya.
"Sorry for troubling you."
"No worries, looks like many unexpected things were added to your plate as well."
"True. But I wonder what these guys were trying to do?"
"God knows, handling criminals isn't in our job description...... Yet they are surprisingly capable and proactive. Tatsuya, be wary."
"Yes, thank you for your concern."
"We'll talk in detail tomorrow at noon."
"Yes, sir, then allow this one to depart."
"Yeah, goodbye."
The two of them changed from superior and subordinate to two friendly disciples bidding each other farewell.
Chapter 5
The day after Tatsuya's unplanned nighttime excursion.
The Nine Schools Competition began without further incident.
In the next ten days, the number of spectators alone exceeded 100,000 people. Even though the location was inconvenient, at least 10,000 spectators came every day to watch the contests, and the number of online viewers easily surpassed 100 times this number.
While it couldn't draw the same numbers as popular professional sports games, there was still a large number of people who paid attention to this event. That being said, very few people knew about the details regarding last night's incident.
The participants all possessed first class Magic Power but were still high school students.
The malefactors' attack ended without any meaningful accomplishment, so the military judged that it would not negatively impact the participants. As such, they elected to keep the secret.
Rather than calling the opening ceremony glamorous, an orderly impression was more obvious. The magic contests were gaudy enough in their own right, so there was no need for any additional ceremony to embellish the issue, and neither were there tedious speeches from dignitaries. After the school songs from the nine schools were played in succession, the events officially began.
The curtains were drawn for the next ten days, where men and women each competed in 5 events for the Official Division as well as the 5 events for men and women in the Newcomers Division for a total of 20 events.
The 1st day's events were the preliminaries and elimination rounds for "Speed Shooting" and the preliminaries for "Battle Board".
The difference in scheduling reflected the time needed for
each event.
"Onii-sama, the President is about to take the field."
"So our main strength is taking the stage for the first event, though I recall Watanabe-senpai's preliminary round is the third one?"
"Yes."
Tatsuya and company headed towards the Speed Shooting stands to watch Mayumi's event. From the left, the order was Shizuku, Honoka, Tatsuya, and Miyuki. They were not seated in the participants' area in the arena proper, but in the regular audience stands.
"Speed Shooting" involves using magic to destroy flying targets from 30 meters out within a limited period of time. The key lies in how accurate and how fast one could fire magic outwards, hence the name "Speed Shooting".
The contest was divided into two portions.
In the preliminary round, contestants advanced on individual merit based on the number of targets destroyed within five minutes.
The preliminary round simultaneously used four shooting galleries to conduct six contests, with the top eight advancing to the Elite Eight.
Also, only 24 contestants were allowed to participate.
If all nine schools sent three contestants, there would be a total of 27, but three of the nine lost their right to participate due to their performance from the previous year and were only able to dispatch two contestants.
Besides "Monolith Code", all events shared this rule.
After the Elite Eight, the event turned into a duel format.
There were 100 red and 100 white targets in the arena, with the total number of corresponding targets destroyed determining the victor.
"Highly destructive magics can be used during the preliminaries to swiftly destroy a large number of targets in one go, but after the Elite Eight, precision targeting is far more important."
Shizuku nodded at Tatsuya's words, as Shizuku was the only one among them to participate in the Speed Shooting portion of the Newcomers Division.
"Generally speaking, most people use different magics during the preliminary and elimination rounds......"
"But President Saegusa is renowned for using the same magic during these two rounds."
In the middle of Tatsuya's explanation, a young lady behind them cut in.
"Erika."
"Hey, Tatsuya-kun."
"Yo."
"Morning."
"Tatsuya-kun, Miyuki-san, Honoka-san, Shizuku-san, good morning everyone."
Seated behind Tatsuya and company, from right to left, were Leo, Erika, Mizuki, and Mikihiko (but the speaking order was Erika, Leo, Mikihiko, and Mizuki).
The reason why the four of them found these spots was that they were sitting in the back row.
"Aren't there more spots up front?"
"That's because I saw Tatsuya-kun's group sitting here, and it's easier to see everything from the back, right?"
"True."
The stands were built like a series of rising stairs, with the higher levels in the back.
This is an event involving shooting targets at high speed, so the spectators in the front rows have to possess the same eyesight as the contestants.
Even so, the spectators still crowded forward, because—
"Because there are an amazing amount of stupid boys."
Erika disdainfully declared in a way that wasn't altogether joking.
"Looks like there are more than teenager boys mixed in."
Tatsuya replied in a sarcastic tone.
In other words, for this reason, there were no spare seats in the front rows.
"Is this what is called 'Onee-sama~'? How depressing."
"Don't be like that, there might be considerable value up front. Even for someone like me who sees the President on a daily basis, she seems like a completely different person now."
"Whoa! Miyuki, what shall we do? Your Onii-sama has fallen for someone else!"
At Erika's ridiculous words, Tatsuya and Miyuki could only wryly smile.
The subject of their conversation was......
"The 'Elven Sniper', quite the suitable title."
"The President dislikes the term, so make sure not to bring it up in front of her."
Tatsuya's admonishment caused Honoka to shrug in her neck.
The teenage boys and girls squeezed into the front rows to admire Mayumi, who was waiting in the first shooting gallery for the contest to begin.
Mayumi wore a pair of mufflers over her luminous locks of hair, a pair of transparent goggles, an elastic pair of uniform pants and an upturned tunic that could be easily mistaken for a mini-suit. Paired with a rifle-shaped CAD that was mandatory for all Speed Shooting events, this created the perfect combination of cuteness and heroism as if she was the female lead in an upcoming movie.
"There are actually people who use the President as the subject for doujins......"
Mizuki softly said this probably because this getup jolted something in her memory.
"......That's the first I've heard of that."
However, this came so far out of left field that even Erika was barely able to manage a response in time.
"......Mizuki, exactly under what context did you come by this knowledge? If your 'interests' lie in that direction, I may have to re-examine our friendship."
Looks like Miyuki and Erika were thinking of the same thing. This outwardly serious voice contained roughly 10% earnestness.
"Eh? No, I don't have those kinds of interests!"
Still, Mizuki was undoubtedly the most shaken.
"It's starting."
Mizuki was in a full state of panic at realizing what they were hinting at, but managed to snap out of it and quiet down at Tatsuya's words.
The spectator stands were deathly quiet.
The participants were wearing ear muffs, so no amount of audience noise would affect them, but this was a matter of principle.
The participants raised their slender, elongated rifles that almost looked like cane-shaped competition-use CADs, while their poise and concentration caused the silenced audience to grip the edge of their seats.
The flashing light signaled for them to begin.
Targets flew through the sky accompanied by soft firing sounds.
"They're fast......!"
Were the soft words that burst out of Shizuku referring to the flight velocity of the targets?
—Or was she referring to Mayumi's magic that was busy smashing targets left and right?
Mayumi didn't raise her head and stood stock still with her CAD aimed forward.
This event never relied on using the rifle to shoot bullets, so there was no need to visually line up with the target and the CAD never possessed a muzzle or scope.
Rather than presenting arms, her stance was more akin to drawing a bow.
The targets shot forth at irregular intervals.
A total of a hundred targets in five minutes.
On the average, that was one target every 3 seconds.
Compared to normal shooting, this was a ridiculously fast pace. Complicating the matter was that sometimes multiple targets shot forth within a tight interval and sometimes, five or six would fly out after a 10 second interval.
Mayumi shot down every "individual" target without missing a beat.
The five minute contest was over in the blink of an eye.
"......She was perfect."
Mayumi removed her protective goggles and ear mufflers as she smiled in response to the spectators' applause. Seeing her, Tatsuya murmured as if he could think of nothing else to say.
"She was using sub-sonic bullets formed from ice particles, correct?"
Miyuki asked as she was applauding, prompting Tatsuya to smile and nod.
"Correct, I'm surprised you could tell."
"......That was trivial enough that even I could see that......"
Erika retorted in a huff, causing Tatsuya to chuckle wryly.
"That's true, seeing the same magic a hundred times certainly makes it easier."
Someone averted their eyes in shame (probably because they couldn't s
ee it), but Tatsuya elected to pretend he didn't see them.
"One hundred? She didn't miss once?"
Honoka asked Tatsuya in honest surprise, likely brought about by her direct personality.
"Correct, the amazing aspect is not the speed of magic invocation or number of times activated, but the precision entailed. Even using Sensory Magic at the same time, the individual still needs to use their brain to process the data. I don't know if it's because she's accumulated enough experience in repeated calculations or is simply that talented...... She is truly worthy of being one of the direct descendants of the Ten Master Clans."
"Did the President use Sensory Magic?"
Mizuki exclaimed in surprise, but the difference was that many people mirrored her expression this time.
"Long Range Visual Systematic Sensory Magic 'Multi-Observation' is not meant to examine non-material bodies or information bodies, but observe a physical object from multiple angles like a visual radar. The President often uses this sort of magic."
Tatsuya's gaze asked "Didn't you notice?" to which Mizuki shook her head.
"During the school assembly, she would use this magic to 'watch' every corner, which is a very rare ability...... Don't you think that this level of shooting is impossible for the naked eye?"
"That's true."
Shizuku immediately replied. During the competition, she was putting herself in Mayumi's shoes and considering her options in the shooting gallery.
"Still, the President is using Speed-Type Magic to turn air molecules into ice particles then applying acceleration to sub-sonic levels and using Sensory Magic at the same time, right? With Sensory Magic running, and then using deceleration and acceleration back and forth a hundred times, the President has amazing Magic Power."
At this point, the "Magic Power" Leo was talking about did not refer to the "Magic Power" from the technical skills assessment, but the more generic context of having the physical capacity of repeatedly casting spells.
A common misunderstanding is that magic is an activity that consumes energy.
Phenomena are not rewritten by burning physical energy, but by editing the data surrounding the phenomena.
In order to edit the data, a Magic Sequence formed from psions is required, so the number of times magic can be invoked is limited by the difference in the scale of Magic Sequences. The "Magic Power" Leo is talking about here, if likened to an actual concept, would be similar to the mental strain exerted on the body.