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

by Sato Tsutomu

  "Liar!"

  Mayumi pointed a finger at Tatsuya's nose, her whole stance quivered like it was about to give off "Bishi!" sound.

  "The efficiency of magic construction was significantly higher and, since there was no time to change the hardware, the only possibility is that you altered the software!"

  "......So the efficiency coefficient wasn't lower, but higher?"

  Tatsuya's clearly befuddled question took the wind out of Mayumi's sails.

  "That's true...... But......"

  This would be a whole other story if efficiency dropped, but Mayumi finally noticed that her attitude was wholly ridiculous for someone coming to complain that her performance had shown marked improvement.

  "Regardless, why don't you take a seat first?"

  Still wearing a baffled expression, Tatsuya handed her a towel, which Mayumi accepted awkwardly before sitting down with a look of consternation on her face.

  "The efficiency coefficient rose likely because the garbage was removed."

  Tatsuya sat half a body length away from Mayumi and intentionally didn't watch her as he softly settled her down.

  "Don't mess around with me. I was watching you the entire time. You didn't take apart the CAD for cleaning, nor did you use any cleaning fluids, correct?"

  Mayumi said petulantly, but Tatsuya replied back patiently.

  "No, I wasn't cleaning the hardware, I was removing the unnecessary software."

  CAD performance was also affected by the user's mental condition.

  If the user didn't trust the engineer, then this would obviously negatively impact the CAD's performance.

  Since he did act without giving prior warning, which meant that he did not go through the informed consent phase, Tatsuya still felt that it was necessary for him to give an in-depth explanation.

  "The President's CAD had system files left over from earlier versions of the OS, so I had these removed. While previous system files rarely accumulate these garbage files, that doesn't mean that they are completely removed either. By completely erasing these files, CAD performance can be improved by a few percentage points. However, this usually would not bring about an immediately noticeable improvement, hence I didn't inform you beforehand. This just goes to show that the President's senses are just that refined and I was being overly rash."

  "Ah, that...... If that's all it is, then don't worry about it."

  Tatsuya's excessive bow and apology prompted Mayumi to frantically wave both her hands.

  "In that case, this also shows that Tatsuya-kun was dutiful in all regards, so I should be the one apologizing for suspecting you in the first place."

  When Tatsuya raised his head, Mayumi was also bowing to him in apology.

  Tatsuya couldn't help but note how swiftly she was able to shift gears.

  "Then, let's end this conversation here."

  He also felt that she was someone who could readily admit her own mistakes.

  "You're right."

  Must be from a composure born of maturity.

  "Then, Tatsuya-kun......"

  Even so, it wasn't like she was taking the high ground either.

  "What is it?"

  "That calibration method...... or do you call it garbage cleanup? Can you teach me later?"

  No ill intent whatsoever.

  "No problem, but please focus on your next match."

  "Of course, leave that to Onee-san!"

  At this stage, choosing to adopt an older sister's attitude could make anyone smile.

  And so, Mayumi completely denied her opponent from scoring a single point. She won every match 2-0 without yielding a single point and took sole possession of the crown for the Women's "Crowd Ball".

  ◇◇◇

  "Icicle Destruction", also known simply as "Pillar Knock", was held in an outdoor arena that was 12 meters long and 24 meters wide. The field was divided into two halves, each with 12 ice pillars that were 1 meter wide and 2 meters tall, with the victor destroying all the pillars in the opposite field first.

  Thanks to this, "Icicle Destruction" required preparation on a massive scale.

  Requiring hundreds of huge ice pillars that needed to be kept frozen during the height of summer, it greatly limited the number of arenas, even with the military's complete support.

  Owing to the limits on ice production, the Nine Schools Competition could only afford to prepare two arenas for both the Men's Team and Women's Team for a total of 4 arenas. Each of the two sites had 12 matches in the first round and six matches in the second round for a total of 18 matches, which was the maximum limit for one day.

  "Nevertheless, this is a contest that severely depletes Magic Power. If they held every match in one day, many of the players wouldn't make it. For the single elimination contest on the second day, there's an extremely short interval between each match. Thus, there is some truth in the saying that 'Icicle Destruction is won by those with the greatest stamina'."

  Tatsuya was lecturing on the details while the one listening and nodding was Shizuku.

  Miyuki was also present, but if his sister was the only one here, then Tatsuya wouldn't have to explain at this particular time.

  The three of them weren't in the audience stands, but the auxiliary working area.

  Their goal was to watch Kanon's match from close proximity to get a first hand experience of what the contest was like.

  Kanon was busy discussing the final details with Isori, so this wasn't a good time to interrupt them.

  Everyone went to watch the Men's "Crowd Ball" contest.

  Sayaka came to cheer on Kirihara, Erika chose to accompany her and roped Mizuki into the mix, then Mizuki invited Mikihiko to come along, finally culminating with Mikihiko grabbing Leo. And that's how it was.

  After hearing Miyuki's report, Tatsuya maintained a "what a duplicitous bunch" feeling. As for who among them was duplicitous, some things are better left unsaid.

  Kanon finally stepped onto the stage.

  There were two platforms that stood four meters high at the two ends of the arena.

  The players had to use magic to defend the icicles in their own half of the court while simultaneously destroying their opponent's icicles.

  After entering the arena, all restrictions on magic safety were removed, so this was publicly acknowledged to be the most intense of all the magic contests.

  "Shiba-kun."

  After seeing Kanon off to the platform, Isori turned to wave at Tatsuya.

  "Let's go too."

  Isori invited Miyuki and Shizuku, who brought Tatsuya with them.

  Behind the platforms where the players stood, there was a special observation deck for support personnel.

  Here, there were several devices responsible for monitoring the players' physical condition as well as a large window for viewing the competition.

  "How's Chiyoda-senpai's status?"

  Tatsuya felt that it was impolite to remain silent, so he supplied an icebreaker question.

  "She's very motivated, to the point that I'm a little concerned that she's too fired up and will lose steam in tomorrow's matches."

  With a smile on his face, Isori answered Tatsuya's customary question.

  There was no trace of unease on his face.

  "I heard that senpai won the first round with the fastest time ever recorded."

  "Well, that is Kanon's personality...... I earnestly hope that she would be a little more prudent, so those watching over her could relax somewhat."

  Tatsuya was quite interested in Isori's wry smile and response.

  Tatsuya was accompanying Mayumi all through the morning, so of course he missed the first round in the morning.

  He only knew that Kanon claimed the first round using the least amount of time possible.

  That being said, while the match time was very short, quite a few of her own icicles had fallen

  "It's starting."

  Shizuku's soft voice prompted Tatsuya to direct his gaze back towards the arena.
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  With the shrill sound of the starting whistle, the earth groaned.

  "Mine Genesis."

  This was no Mine Field, this was Mine Genesis.

  The scene before Tatsuya's eyes forced him to speak its name.

  Versatility and speed were the crowning advantages of Modern Magic. Nonetheless, Magicians are also human, so there are fields where they specialize at or are not adept at.

  Since magic talent is inherited, blood relations within a family naturally share similar aptitudes towards magic fields.

  The Yotsuba Family, with each family member excelling in a unique area, was a notable exception.

  Within influential families, besides everyone's individual names, family members that share a notable skill usually share a second name as well — almost like a special title.

  Some of the more famous ones include the Juumonji Family's "Phalanx".

  The Ichijou Family's "Rupture".

  The Saegusa Family did not have a system that they did not excel at, so they were ironically referred to as "Omnipotent".

  The Chiba Family was known as "Magic Swordsman" — this title referred more to their skills and techniques than any unique talent the family possessed, but was still used to refer to this family as a whole.

  The Chiyoda Family was known as "Mine Genesis".

  The Magicians of the Chiyoda Family specialized in using Long Range Solid Matter Oscillation Systematic Magic, particularly when it comes to using Earthshaker magic.

  Dirt, rock, sand, cement, all materials were irrelevant.

  A powerful oscillation could be applied as long as the solid matter was recognized as the "Earth's surface". This was the true face of the Chiyoda Family's specialty "Mine Creation", with the Chiyoda Family's title derived from "Mine Creator" = "Mine Genesis".

  The opposing field suffered vertical vibrations that ran perpendicular to the epicenter, with two icicles collapsing each time.

  Her opponent tried to counter with Move-Type Magic "Compulsory Arrest" in an effort to stifle any motion on part of the object, but "Mine Genesis" continued switching targets at a speed that her opponent was unable to match, so by the time five of her twelve pillars had collapsed, her opponent abandoned all pretense of defense and concentrated solely on the attack.

  "Huh?"

  "What?"

  "?"

  Tatsuya and the others all expressed their astonishment in different ways, whereas Isori smiled wryly from the side.

  As he watched the pillars on his side collapse without any resistance, he shook his head helplessly.

  "Should I commend Kanon for going all out or criticize her for being overly reckless...... Her methodology revolves around going for the jugular before she gets KO'ed."

  "No, well...... I hardly feel that this is the wrong tactic."

  Her opponent had switched from defense to offense, and her resistance was suitably lowered.

  By the time the number of pillars left on her side dipped to six, Kanon had already collapsed every pillar in her opponent's territory.

  "Victory!"

  Kanon smiled widely as she flashed a victory signal while descending from the platform.

  The target of her smile was, of course, Isori.

  Isori's face plainly said "what am I going to do with you", but he was wearing the same smile.

  "How should I describe this......"

  "Match made in heaven?"

  Miyuki was reluctant to voice her opinion, but Shizuku had no such compunctions.

  "You two should say that they understand one another perfectly."

  Hearing the two of them, Tatsuya smiled wryly for a completely different reason.

  Still, Tatsuya also acknowledged that they were a "match made in heaven".

  The two of them had a lot of synergy.

  The player and the auxiliary, even though they didn't step onto the stage together, the two of them were in the fight as one.

  Yet — Tatsuya thought.

  If they were a pair with so much synergy, would Isori be able to fulfill his duties to the utmost when paired with other players?

  There were 40 players and only 8 technicians.

  On average, each technician was responsible for five players.

  Tatsuya was in charge of the 1st Year Women's Team, but that was still six people, seven if you counted the the impromptu addition in the morning.

  Once they forged an intense emotional bond with one individual player, could they put forth their all with the other players?

  Tatsuya was also facing that quandary.

  Would he really go all in for Shizuku or Honoka the same way he would for Miyuki?

  "......Shiba-kun, what's up?"

  "No, it's nothing."

  It's not like he could actually ask Isori something like "Do you work so hard for every player?".

  Tatsuya replied back in a completely inane and normal manner to muddle through Isori's question.

  ◇◇◇

  After securing advancement to the third round, Kanon and company — with Tatsuya, Miyuki and Shizuku in tow — returned to the pavilion in high spirits, only to frown at the dour atmosphere suffusing the camp.

  "......What happened?"

  Isori asked Suzune, who was probably the only one who maintained her usual attitude.

  Suzune turned around to reveal an even more blank emotion than normal.

  "The Men's 'Crowd ball' event didn't perform as expected — we're recalculating the odds right now."

  The standings in the Nine Schools Competition were determined by the aggregate score from each event.

  First Place received 50 points, Second Place received 30 points, and Third Place received 20 points.

  Fourth Place finishes in "Speed Shooting", "Battle Board", and "Mirage Bat" netted 10 points. "Crowd Ball" and "Icicle Destruction" only awarded points to the top three, so the three teams that are eliminated in the third round each receive 5 points.

  For "Monolith Code", First Place would receive 100 points, Second Place receives 60 points, and Third Place only gets 40 points, which makes it the single largest event in terms of points.

  Half the points from the Newcomers Division would be added into the total.

  This was the score breakdown for the Nine Schools Competition.

  Anyone not in the top four or six would receive no points, so even if First Place was out of the question, taking Second through Fourth place was still valuable in scoring points to contest the overall victor. According to this breakdown, advancing as many players in as many contests as possible to the single elimination or duel phases was one of the keys to victory.

  "Not performed as expected means......"

  "The players were eliminated during the first, second, and third rounds."

  Isori asked with trepidation while the voice that answered him was quite indifferent by comparison.

  "While we held onto next year's right to compete, this result was thoroughly unexpected."

  The voice was largely indifferent likely because the person being questioned was struck heavily by the news.

  Compared to the other events, the Men's "Crowd Ball" lineup was certainly lacking in firepower.

  Regardless of the fact they didn't possess an ace like the Women's "Speed Shooting", "Crowd Ball", and "Battle Board" or the upcoming Men's "Icicle Destruction" who was "assured of victory", they still should possess enough talent to compete for First Place.

  "The Newcomers Division is a little harder to estimate, but based on our current lead, if the Women's "Battle Board", Men's "Icicle Destruction" as well as "Mirage Bat" and "Monolith Code" all seize First Place, we're still in the clear."

  A 2nd Year student from the tactical advisory team made the report.

  Tatsuya, who was just listening as a bystander, felt that this threshold was a little high.

  Including both the Men's and Women's contests, they wanted to claim First Place in four of the six remaining events in the Official Division.

  Katsuto and Ma
ri could be relied on to win the gold in their respective events, but based on these calculations, if any accident were to occur, they ran the risk of morale reaching a breaking point.

  Still — this wasn't something that Tatsuya had to concern himself with.

  He was probably overstepping his boundaries by worrying about these things.

  Compared to the points, Tatsuya personally was more mindful about something else.

  Kirihara was participating in the Men's "Crowd Ball" event.

  Certainly, Kirihara had a reckless side to him, but he also possessed a strong sense of duty.

  He wouldn't be depressed because of this turnout, would he......?

  ◇◇◇

  After the day's events had drawn to a close, Tatsuya found Kirihara near the hotel's rest area close to dusk.

  Outwardly, he looked perfectly normal.

  Sayaka was sitting next to Kirihara.

  Kirihara was working hard to keep up a cheerful appearance, but Tatsuya could tell at a glance that he was forcing a smile.

  "Kirihara-senpai, thanks for your hard work."

  "Ho, so it's Shiba."

  Of course, Tatsuya could have chosen to pass by the rest area without saying a word, but he didn't do so.

  "I was taken out early in the second round, and quite badly at that."

  He was definitely putting on a strong front, but he recovered faster than Tatsuya suspected.

  Maybe athletes were more accustomed to victory and defeat and were more resilient when it came to dealing with the bitterness of defeat.

  Tatsuya always lost when he was trading blows with his master so he didn't have any real "competitive" experience, and could only rely on logic to explain this.

  Tatsuya was unable to judge whether this was an appropriate moment to offer words of comfort, so he elected to speak the truth.

  "Senpai was unlucky to draw Third High's ace that was favored to win the event in the second round and only lost by a grand total of eight points after losing three out of five matches. This favored player was exhausted from the long struggle with senpai and was promptly eliminated in the third round, so this was a Pyrrhic victory for him as well."