Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 03 - Nine Schools Competition (I)

by Sato Tsutomu

  "Would you prefer Rika-chan?"

  "You're doing this on purpose! Eh, forget it, just call me Izumin."

  "So Izumi-senpai, what do you mean by there's no need?"

  Tatsuya had already learned this lesson; playing word games with Mayumi was a ceaseless struggle.

  He completely disregarded Mayumi and Izumi's exchange and focused only on the first sentence.

  "Hm? Oh...... Tatsuya-kun, you go ahead and take care of Saegusa's contest, I'll handle the other side."

  The female student called Izumi did not express a favorable attitude towards Tatsuya's inclusion on the technician team.

  Rather than being elitist, her problem likely arose from pride.

  She probably believed that she was capable of handling the situation even without Tatsuya's assistance.

  "Is that so, I understand."

  In reality, Tatsuya really wanted to beat a swift retreat, but since the division of labor was so clearly defined, he had no way out.

  So Tatsuya nodded without making any further comment.

  "Then it's up to you."

  Izumi left those words as a footnote and quickly departed.

  "She's not a bad person......"

  Mayumi exuded a powerless aura as she watched Izumi's departing figure, but the soft words that she spoke for Tatsuya's benefit went in one ear and out the other.

  Regardless of what course of action Izumi took and how Mayumi tried to defend her, both were utterly immaterial to Tatsuya.

  "Crowd Ball" was a sport that shared many similarities with tennis and racquetball, but there were no serving rules.

  Each session lasted three minutes with a three minute break tucked in between sessions, with a total of three sessions per round (the Men's Division had five sessions).

  After a signal announced the start of the contest, balls shot forth by compressed air would be released every 20 seconds and an insane flurry of balls would ensue until the ending signal.

  —Generally, that was the case.

  However, the contest unfolding before Tatsuya's eyes was not so.

  Mayumi's opponent mirrored her in that they only chose to wield magic.

  As expected of the participants who signed up for this contest, they had an exceptional grasp of Move-Type Magic.

  Her opponent seemed to rely on physical movement to complement her perception and hurriedly aimed the short model handgun-shaped CAD that she held in both hands at each ball.

  The balls caught in the Move-Type Magic changed direction before they fell into her half of the court and flew towards Mayumi's half of the court in an unnatural arc — and rebounded at double the speed once they passed across the net.

  Every ball. With no exception.

  Mayumi stood in the center of the court and held her CAD in both hands before her chest.

  As she held her CAD as if she was praying, Mayumi's eyes glinted with a mysterious light as she gazed slightly downwards.

  Just this alone was sufficient to deny her opponent from scoring a single point.

  Visually, the distance was roughly 10 cm.

  That was how far her opponent's balls were allowed to invade her position.

  Mayumi's magic did not make any precise adjustments to the balls.

  Neither did she aim for her opponent's blind spots, but purely rejected every ball back towards her opponent. Towards every trajectory that her opponent altered, she retaliated from every angle with what must be an incredibly difficult magic.

  Yet, the only one relentlessly scoring was Mayumi.

  The score was a complete landslide without Mayumi yielding a single point.

  When the whistle sounded for the end of the first session, Mayumi's opponent powerlessly fell to her knees on the court.

  This crumbling motion perfectly reflected her opponent's overwhelming despair.

  Mayumi appeared perfectly calm and collected as she wielded her magic with a majestic flair, but her emotions were nowhere near as peaceful.

  Hearing the whistle, she couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

  During this contest, she felt herself fall into a bitter struggle.

  She wasn't being conceited, but she knew from a purely objective sense that her Magic Power far outstripped her opponent. As long as she could maintain the course, victory was assured during the next session.

  The problem lay in the pair of eyes fixed on her from the side of the court.

  Mayumi was accustomed to the gazes of other people.

  Since her youth, she had always dwelt in the public eye.

  No matter if the gazes were filled with pure admiration or hiding dark, jealous, or other naked negative emotions, Mayumi dealt with it as if they were the very oxygen that surrounded her.

  Nevertheless, the gaze that she endured for the past three minutes was altogether unlike anything she had felt before.

  As if every inch of her was beneath a microscope.

  That was not simply someone seeing her naked or something like that (though that was also a major problem in and of itself).

  The look that Mayumi felt from him — from Tatsuya, was not something so superficial.

  Not just her skin, but everything beneath — the flesh and bone that made up her physical attributes, her consciousness, emotions, value system, temperament, habits, hobbies, the experiences that made her who she was today, the talent and diligence that supported her thus far — everything that constituted the person "Saegusa Mayumi" was being decrypted and bared beneath the sun. This pair of eyes caused her to feel an unfamiliar sense of dread.

  This was the first time Tatsuya observed Mayumi's contest from a close proximity.

  Still, he should have observed the 1st Year participants under his care multiple times during practice at this distance, yet none of the 1st Year participants complained of being ill at ease.

  Mayumi believed that none of the younger women could withstand this feeling.

  In that case, this feeling was either her own misconception, or — something that only she could feel.

  Right now, she was in the middle of the three minute break where the players would usually towel off the sweat or grab a drink of water.

  Unfortunately, her bag containing her towel and water was next to Tatsuya.

  Walking off the court was the same as actively moving towards where Tatsuya was waiting — where he lay in ambush.

  Mayumi was a little scared of leaving the court.

  That being said, she couldn't stay on the court either. Even though she hadn't moved a muscle during the earlier session, she should definitely take the opportunity to take a break right now. Not only that, she needed to replenish lost moisture and head towards the next court.

  She wouldn't have cared if she shocked the Operations Committee Members, but with her position, she couldn't afford to worry the students that came to cheer her on.

  Mayumi took a deep breath and expelled all her unease and worry.

  (Forget it, women need to be courageous!)

  Mayumi ordered her feet to start walking.

  "Good work."

  At her underclassman handing her a towel, Mayumi felt a sense of disappointment as that nameless dread seemed to fade away like a dream.

  As usual, any thoughts he had beneath that serious visage were completely obscured by the poker face that even she couldn't read. This young man gave her a formless and unidentifiable sense of dread, but at the same time provided a miraculous sense of relief that he would never betray her.

  Her earlier comment about "having a younger brother" was something spontaneous or intended to tease Tatsuya. While phrased as a joke, on some level it reflected Mayumi's real thoughts.

  Mayumi came to the conclusion that being afraid of him was ridiculous, so she adopted an obstinate attitude.

  "Don't say good work yet, the contest hasn't ended, so this isn't the time to relax."

  Tatsuya was on the representative team, but he wasn't a participant himself.

  He was onl
y on duty before and after the contests and was merely a bystander during the events, so telling him "this isn't the time to relax" was very odd, but Tatsuya made no mention of it despite noticing this.

  "No, it's over."

  He was pointing towards a more practical matter.

  "Ah?"

  "The opposing participant is unable to continue and, even if she was going to enter the second session, would definitely keel over from exhaustion in the middle. The auxiliaries from the other side are also aware of this, so this round will conclude with their surrender."

  Mayumi turned around to find the opposing team's tactical advisors discussing with the panel of judges about this exact topic.

  The participant was sprawled on top of a long chair while covered in medical detection equipment.

  "Psion exhaustion due to continuous magic invocation. Most likely a mistaken assignment. She was a little lacking to be your opponent, President."

  "......You understood that much just from seeing that?"

  "So long as I can 'see clearly'."

  There was no way the panel of judges could hear Tatsuya speak, but the moment he finished speaking, the panel announced that Mayumi's opponent had withdrawn.

  Dazed, Mayumi stood stock still without budging, an extremely rare side of her that would normally prompt a laugh. Yet, Tatsuya did not smile, merely urged Mayumi to start moving.

  "Let's return to the pavilion. It's best to review your CAD and prepare for the next round."

  "Yeah, you're right, I'll leave that to you."

  Right now, Tatsuya was completely in control of the situation, but Mayumi didn't make any pointless resistance as she followed Tatsuya after picking up her bag.

  After Tatsuya activated the maintenance device, Mayumi handed him her CAD and plopped down beside him.

  Not across from him.

  Mayumi wasn't wearing her cooling jacket that extended to her knees so she was still in her "tennis uniform" that she wore for the match, but this wasn't because she was in a teasing mood, rather that Tatsuya was no longer causing her to feel unnaturally cold.

  The two of them were close enough that their shoulders could rub against one another, but Tatsuya never spared a glance towards her exposed thighs.

  Nor was Mayumi upset by this.

  Her concentration was completely devoted to the maintenance device as well as the personal CAD currently attached to the machine.

  "Don't you need to measure my current status?"

  "The duration was only a paltry 10 to 15 minutes, so even if I could rewrite the code, there wouldn't be any time to test it, so there would be little point in taking the extra time to run measurements."

  This occurred quite often during their mutual conversation, but this time Mayumi involuntarily tilted her head.

  According to what he just said, this sounded like he could get a ballpark estimate completely independent of the machine......

  "......You can tell visually?"

  "Of course, surely the President knows as well?"

  "That......"

  "The President also knows that as long as they're Magicians, they can tell whether magic’s activated normally or if a CAD is functioning normally without the use of machines, right?"

  "This I know."

  "On some level, I'm just a little more knowledgeable."

  Tatsuya continued to watch the scrolling character strings.

  Mayumi was very interested in exactly what this "some level" was, but she didn't dare to disturb an engineer at work to satiate her curiosity.

  Tatsuya removed the CAD from the maintenance device and turned off the power before inspecting the trigger and Activation Sequence circuit, then personally handed the CAD back to Mayumi.

  Just as he promised, he never touched the code inside.

  Mayumi privately heaved a sigh of relief (she thought she managed to hide it, but Tatsuya saw everything), but owing to some reason, after she received the CAD, she curled her finger around the trigger and put it on her thigh.

  "President...... That's a little disconcerting, can you not point the muzzle at me?"

  Strictly speaking, a CAD doesn't have a "muzzle".

  Large, rifle-shaped CADs are usually equipped with image detectors at the front that gives the impression of the "muzzle" from a laser gun, but regardless of whether it was a long or short model, the "gun barrel" was made of metal.

  Still, the overall design mirrored that of a real firearm, so those that are aware of the danger guns pose would naturally feel uncomfortable staring down the "muzzle".

  "Ah, sorry."

  Tatsuya wasn't certain how familiar Mayumi was with this situation, but she frankly apologized and shifted her CAD and left the muzzle pointed at herself.

  "I should be the one apologizing for troubling you with such trivialities."

  "Please don't concern yourself, this is basic manners after all. So how is it?"

  Mayumi's question was once again overly simplified, but Tatsuya had no problems navigating through her cryptic meaning.

  "I felt that the calibration was well executed. No overclocking, no unnecessary unique features, it was a faithful job done strictly by the rules. There was an overemphasis on stability that led to a more convoluted Activation Sequence in some areas, but taking the President's Magic Power into consideration, I'd say this garners full marks."

  At any rate, this wasn't the time for needless flattery or nitpicking, so Tatsuya bluntly made his assessment.

  Tatsuya answered this question with his eyes still watching the Activation Sequence display on the maintenance device, so when he turned around — he discovered Mayumi in a profound state of embarrassment.

  "Is that so......? Hehehe, that makes me incredibly happy."

  The corners of her eyes were dyed pink as she slightly averted her eyes with a bashful smile.

  Compared to blushing obviously, this reaction was even more awkward.

  "......Is that so?"

  The reason why Tatsuya asked was that he was honestly lost on how to respond, but the real question lurking at the bottom of his heart was that Mayumi should have long been inured to hearing such praise on a daily basis.

  "Indeed, to receive the compliments of someone who usually gives scant praise, isn't that something worthy of being happy about?"

  Tatsuya didn't believe that he was a completely mature adult.

  From an objective standpoint, he felt that he was still an immature child.

  That being said, Mayumi's assessment made him out to be one of the fringe members of society unable to feign politeness, which he thoroughly disagreed with.

  "......I can be just as polite as anyone else."

  However, Tatsuya's rebuttal only earned a sweet smile from Mayumi that clearly said she saw through his subterfuge.

  "So you were just being polite just now?"

  "......No, I wasn't."

  Mayumi's delighted smile struck Tatsuya in the wrong way, but continuing this conversation served no practical purpose.

  Also, there was no reason he had to respond in the first place.

  Unruffled, Tatsuya calmly accepted Mayumi's smile.

  Among the Nine Schools Competition, "Crowd Ball" was the event with the most matches this day.

  In terms of pure number of matches, "Monolith Code" was the one sport among the other six that had the most matches. "Crowd Ball" and "Icicle Destruction" each had five, but "Monolith Code" and "Icicle Destruction" were split across two days, whereas "Crowd Ball" had to finish all 5 matches within half a day.

  The allotted time was short, but the nature of the event and the fact that each session lasted three minutes with almost continuous magic invocation with no chance to catch a breather combined to create a situation that was in no way less arduous than the other events.

  Thus, how to gauge the use of Magic Power was absolutely vital for seizing the gold in this event.

  The goal was, of course, two consecutive victories.

  During the match,
the players weren't trying to send back every ball haphazardly, but to take into account which shots should be allowed to score in order to properly pace themselves.

  Mayumi, who could continuously channel her magic throughout the entire session, was undoubtedly an outlier in this situation.

  Even so, Mayumi didn't charge forward and rely solely on her strength in battle.

  She also adopted strategies of her own.

  Two consecutive victories was absolutely mandatory — this would prevent people from saying "Wait, didn't she just power through to victory?"

  By choosing magic that was unsuited to this event by solely rebounding the balls back, this was to avoid exhaustion from continuously replicating magic — this also denied people from claiming that "She's not actually rationing her Magic Power, right?"

  Owing to these reasons, her philosophy in battle was to go all out from the start without a trace of hesitation.

  Yet, when the second round started, Mayumi was struck by a rare sense of confusion.

  Her status was excellent.

  Just like earlier, half the round was already over with her opponent unable to score a single point during the first match.

  Her confusion came from a completely opposite reason.

  (How......?)

  True, thanks to her opponent withdrawing from the first round, she had more time to rest than usual.

  Still, this was a tightly packed schedule with 5 rounds crammed into half a day.

  Usually, her mental and physical status would be gradually worn down from exhaustion, but they would definitely not show a marked improvement that even she could notice.

  Thus, there must be some reason behind this highly unusual circumstance.

  Mayumi could only think of one possible explanation.

  As soon as the ending whistle sounded—

  Mayumi decided to interrogate her perfidious underclassman.

  "Tatsuya-kun, I thought you said you didn't alter the Activation Sequence?"

  This was completely opposite from how the first round ended.

  As soon as the judges confirmed the end of the round, Mayumi stormed to where Tatsuya was on the sidelines.

  Mayumi's accusatory appearance caught Tatsuya by surprise, but he still replied back in a calm manner.

  "I never touched the Activation Sequence and there shouldn't be any performance issues, unless you noticed something wrong?"