Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 07 - Yokohama Disturbance Chapter (II)

by Sato Tsutomu

  "......It is a little embarrassing to be watched like that."

  Faltering, Haruka only noticed that she was staring at Fujibayashi when the other person pointed it out to her.

  "S-Sorry."

  Her shame and wavering continued to grow, but Fujibayashi's next words allowed Haruka's heart to immediately calm down.

  "That's fine. It is my honor to be held in such high esteem by the 'Phantom Lady'."

  "......I believe it is my honor for someone like me to dwell in the memory of the 'Electron Sorceress'."

  Despite the heightened wariness in her tone, this degree of change was unavoidable given the circumstances.

  The title Fujibayashi spoke of — "Phantom Lady" was nowhere near as famous as Fujibayashi's alias, the "Electron Sorceress". This name was only familiar to intelligence operatives when discussing the unidentified female spy who bore that name.

  The fact that her identity as the "Phantom Lady" was exposed was more than sufficient to push Haruka to the brink.

  Given that she was able to carelessly drop such an incredible secret, then on the flip side, her "demand" was likely to be heavy as well.

  "So, what is it?"

  Seeing a determined expression usurp her previously faltering form, Fujibayashi smiled in satisfaction.

  "I think you know very well without me going into detail, correct?"

  "......My sincere apologies, but I'm not as gifted as you are."

  In reality, Fujibayashi's words were spot on as Haruka had already surmised her opponent's demands.

  It was just that if she said "I understand" and nodded her head — this would be the same as raising the white flag.

  "You're too humble. You graduated from college and graduate school with outstanding grades. Even Kokonoe-sensei gave you high marks."

  Haruka mentally clucked her tongue.

  The Fujibayashi Family was famous for their Ancient Magic users. Thus, it came as no surprise that they shared a close relationship with Kokonoe Yakumo, arguably one of the authorities on Ancient Magic.

  On the other hand, Haruka and Fujibayashi's first meeting was today at this minute.

  The trump cards she prepared were utterly useless.

  "......I don't plan on making any demands that will put you in a difficult position."

  This was not Fujibayashi backing down. This was a mental salvo in the form of her flaunting her superior position.

  "I just want to propose that the two of us avoid encroaching on the other's territory. That's all."

  Technically speaking, this comment held no information whatsoever, but was a profound demand that left no room for misinterpretation.

  "......I don't entirely get your drift."

  Actually, Haruka got the gist of Fujibayashi's proposal, just as Fujibayashi's request fell in line with her own speculation. In other words, Fujibayashi wanted Haruka to halt any investigation towards Fujibayashi's military activities.

  On the other side, Fujibayashi clearly understood that Haruka comprehended the meaning of her request.

  "Do you want me to repeat myself clearly once more?"

  With a relaxed expression, Fujibayashi watched the fuming Haruka clench her teeth.

  This vixen! Even if she continued to glare at her, right now Haruka could only bray like a whipped dog.

  "Don't worry. Your superiors won't prosecute your responsibilities."

  In other words, she had already made her move against Haruka's higher ups.

  Fujibayashi lightly rose to her feet and handed her check to Haruka.

  She could plainly pay for her bill at the table and it was doubly irritating to walk over to the front counter.

  Haruka and Fujibayashi's first encounter ended in Haruka's complete and utter defeat.

  (......Still, it's not like I got nothing out of this!)

  At the very least, there definitely existed an unspeakable secret between Shiba Tatsuya and Fujibayashi Kyouko.

  This was the only thing made painfully clear.

  Haruka failed to discover her own mulishness as she vowed to avenge herself for this slight.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  As the main lead for First High's performance, Suzune arrived at the conference hall just after 11 AM, which was an hour earlier than expected.

  This was after the third presentation, Fifth High's grandiose "The Control of Plate Tectonics and Gradual Extraction of Tectonic Force". Tatsuya was in the waiting room to welcome Suzune, Mayumi, and Mari.

  "I came early~."

  Mayumi's voice prompted people to question exactly how old she was, but how was he supposed to respond to that, Tatsuya thought as he fell into a reverie.

  "What is it?"

  "Nothing really...... Is there a reason why you came ahead of schedule?"

  Neither Mari nor Suzune took exception, so any sign of exhaustion on his part would be his loss. Injecting fresh enthusiasm into himself with those words, Tatsuya reinvigorated himself and asked this question.

  (Speaking of which, Miyuki had already decided to see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil.)

  Tardiness would be a huge problem, but there was no problem in getting here early.

  The waiting room designed to accommodate presentation devices had sufficient room for the Shiba siblings as well as several upperclassmen with professional grade skills prowling around. Even with three extra female students in the mix, the place wasn't cramped.

  "The interrogation ended earlier than expected."

  Still, this nominally unimportant question provoked a response from Mari that could not be ignored.

  "Another interrogation? And on this day in particular?"

  There was no need to ask who was being interrogated. He was present when Sekimoto was arrested, though to be brutally honest about his clandestine activities, he had illegally recorded evidence that time.

  Still, there was only that one time.

  Of course, that wasn't the only time he saw Sekimoto. He was also there when they went to interrogate the first time.

  After Lu Gonghu's assault, Sekimoto had devolved into panic. Since Mari maintained that this was not caused by her magic, the only possible cause would be that he realized his life was on the line. There was no way that Sekimoto would be unaware that the latest attack aimed to silence him.

  Hence dedicated government officials were conducting a thorough investigation surrounding Sekimoto.

  "We really should have finished yesterday......"

  "It was difficult to get permission in the first place...... And I can't just throw the family name around like that."

  That's true, Tatsuya thought. Given that he wasn't part of a criminal organization, it was extremely difficult to receive permission to interrogate individuals deemed as invalids.

  "But why today? Couldn't you continue tomorrow?"

  "Such an optimistic outlook doesn't fit your personality."

  Tatsuya's natural question was subjected to Mari's correction for some reason.

  "Sekimoto and Hirakawa's sister targeted the data for the Thesis Competition, though that does not appear to be their only objective. No matter how you put it, since they took aim at the data, then there is a definite possibility that the organization using them as cat's paws will act during the competition itself."

  "Ha. There is that possibility."

  This was within Tatsuya's calculations. However, even if they had intel on the organization lurking in the shadows, they still didn't have time to prepare countermeasures. Without an emergency response task force on standby, even the regular army of a monarchy would find it impossible to mobilize on a moment's notice.

  In regards to competition security, they had already done everything they could to prepare for emergencies by having Katsuto lead the group. Since Sekimoto wasn't privy to the details of the assault, interrogating him should not be a high priority.

  Regardless, pointing out these details was not in Tatsuya's job description.

  "Indeed. Since there is that possibilit
y, we cannot ignore it. After all, the more intel the better."

  In today's case, when compared to mostly unusable intel, Suzune's presentation stood at a much higher priority. In any case, since this was all in the past, there was no need to quibble over the details.

  "I see. So did you find out anything new?"

  "Yeah. After verifying once more, Sekimoto had traces of mental manipulation."

  "......No wonder."

  Regardless of the utility of this piece of information, its contents were sufficient to astonish Tatsuya.

  "Why wasn't this detected during the psychological screening?"

  Ever since Sayaka had been magically manipulated into leading terrorists from "Blanche" onto campus in spring, the students of First High were required to undergo scheduled psychological evaluations.

  For prospective Magicians who were to be the pillars of public safety and national defense, being brainwashed into serving foreign powers was no joke at all. For the school administrators and the government organizations responsible, this was a malicious nightmare that ultimately voided any concept of "student privacy".

  With the discovery of another victim of mental manipulation, this measure appeared to be redundant. After all, why were they going through psychological evaluations in the first place now?

  "The psychological evaluation is held at the beginning of each month. There is a high probability that Sekimoto was ensnared after that."

  "Nicely executed...... Was it medicinal?"

  "That remains unclear. Neither myself nor Mayumi are experts in that field."

  Although Tatsuya thought "Is that so?" in regards to Mari's answer, he refrained from commenting further.

  "The psychologist didn't say, but this definitely was not done through normal means. Maybe this is the real 'Evil Eye'."

  Mayumi's opinion was more or less deeper than Mari's comment.

  "So they sent a natural Outer-Systematic Magician......"

  Unlike the "Evil Eye" developed by Russia before the formation of the New Soviet Union and passed on to separatist terrorist cells, Magicians who could naturally wield mental interference Outer-Systematic Magic had the power to completely rewrite someone's personality. These wielders of the "True Evil Eye" could completely change a person's activities in a short period of time while the victim and other people were still in the dark.

  "Hm, no matter how strong the mental interference magic is, successful imprinting is largely impossible without conforming to the target's subconsciousness."

  This was just like hypnosis. On the surface, human consciousness appeared to be easily malleable, but was actually incredibly resilient. Manipulating unspecified emotions and impulses were another story, but the sort of magic that interfered with established physical behavior — trying to interfere with the conscious mind and manipulate voluntary decisions was incredibly challenging.

  "From the very start, Sekimoto disagreed with this country's way of handling magic behind closed doors. He believed that all Magic Sequences and Activation Sequences across the globe should be shared publicly and that this was the only way for magic to achieve true evolution. In summation, he's a proponent of open resourcing."

  Hearing Mayumi's explanation, Mari added a few bitter words of her own.

  "That may be true from a scholarly standpoint, but given that international hostility still exists in reality, I am hard pressed to say that he is correct."

  Mayumi's voice expressed a trace of compassion.

  "Rather, that is undeniably the wrong position."

  Tatsuya decisively came to that conclusion. At least for him, theories that did not jibe with reality had no purpose whatsoever.

  "......How stringent, Tatsuya-kun."

  "......At any rate, they found an opening through Sekimoto's ideals. Then, they planted the powerful conception that it was the duty of magically progressive nations to pass on their advanced research to magically underdeveloped nations."

  "Underdeveloped countries refer to who?"

  Mari's did not have an optimistic answer for Tatsuya's question.

  "We didn't get that out of him. He didn't appear to know."

  "......So a lock was placed on his consciousness."

  I see, so that's how they realized he was being mentally controlled, Tatsuya speculated.

  "So that's why the next step has gone beyond our initial projections."

  Mari's voice was tinged with anxiety that mirrored the concern in Mayumi's tone.

  "There is a chance that hostile action beyond our imagination will occur. Hanzou-kun asked me to pass the message to everyone. Rin-chan, go finish your task. We'll be here and will keep a careful eye on the conference hall. Tatsuya-kun, please be careful as well."

  "I will."

  Though Tatsuya never let down his guard after receiving Fujibayashi's advice, he honestly accepted others' concerns on his behalf.

  While Tatsuya and company were discussing their decidedly not peaceful topic, Suzune continued to edit her draft without batting an eyelid.

  In the communications room within the same building, Fujibayashi used a special trick to receive a vitally important piece of information. She was busily looking for an empty room when she received the emergency summons and received the incoming transmission across the information dimension that ran no risk of being overheard.

  "Lu Gonghu escaped? My apologies, but is this information accurate?"

  "I know you don't want to believe this, but it's true."

  Kazama's voice came down the other line in a completely serious tone. Also, it wasn't in Kazama to crack such a joke in poor taste.

  "The transport was attacked in transit to Yokohama. There were no survivors."

  "Which means that Lu Gonghu's corpse was not at the site...... Speaking of which, why did they select today to move him?"

  "The so-called Thesis Competition should only be an event at the high school level."

  "My sincere apologies!"

  Hearing Kazama's logical response, Fujibayashi finally realized that she was unconsciously grumbling to her superior and immediately apologized.

  "Still, you have a point on why today was chosen specifically to transport the prisoner."

  Naturally, Kazama wasn't the sort of person to care about these tiny scruples.

  "There must be a reason why the enemy chose today to launch their rescue mission. We must take that possibility into account."

  As combat personnel, Kazama had served as a front line commander since the very beginning, so he valued practicality much more than others.

  "Fortunately, we've already made preparations to test out the new equipment at Tsuchiya tomorrow. Leaving for your position effective immediately, our ETA is around 1500 hours."

  "Understood. I will take heed of the local conditions."

  "Thank you, lieutenant."

  After receiving Kazama's orders, Fujibayashi saluted even though she knew that he couldn't see her due to their method of communication.

  In regards to the changes in the mission parameters handed down by Mayumi, Hattori grabbed Kirihara to report the alterations and interrogation results to Katsuto (Sayaka and Erika had left for lunch at this point).

  "I see. Kirihara and Hattori, form up and patrol the outer perimeter."

  "Understood!"

  Coincidentally, Katsuto shared a table with them during lunch as they dined on simply packed sandwiches. After listening to Hattori's report, he handed out new orders without hesitation.

  Normally, that would have been all there was to it because Katsuto rarely asked for input from underclassmen.

  "Hattori, Kirihara. Based on the current situation, do you get the feeling that something's awry?"

  Yet today, Katsuto broke form and asked.

  "Something's awry?"

  Kirihara glanced at Hattori, who wore a look of bemusement as he opened his mouth.

  "......Even taking into account Yokohama's unique features, there are too many foreigners around."

&nbs
p; Since he wasn't born in Yokohama and was unfamiliar with the area, Hattori diligently inspected the conference hall surroundings in the previous two weeks. Compared to that time, Hattori felt that there was a noticeable spike in the number of foreigners around.

  "So Hattori also thinks so."

  "Yes. Does Juumonji-senpai concur?"

  "Hm. What do you think, Kirihara?"

  "Sorry. I didn't notice anything about the foreigners, but......"

  "Go ahead."

  "Yes. It's just that, compared to the conference hall, the aura along the streets is oddly filled with killing intent."

  "Hm...... Indeed."

  Katsuto nodded and fell into thought. Though it was no more than 10 seconds, both Hattori and Kirihara felt that Katsuto's silence lasted more than ten minutes.

  The atmosphere was very heavy.

  "Hattori, Kirihara. Put on Kevlar for your afternoon patrols."

  The two of them stared wide-eyed at Katsuto's face.

  Despite the rudeness of their stare, Katsuto didn't mind in the slightest as he picked up the short range wireless communicator.

  He issued the same order to all security personnel that he just gave to the two of them.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  The introduction for the afternoon presentations was set for 1 PM.

  First High would get the stage at 3 PM. There were less than two hours until their presentation.

  After switching the guard before noon, Tatsuya and Isori were discussing the last minute details.

  They were each accompanied by one person.

  Tatsuya had Miyuki whereas Isori had Kanon.

  The industrious "workers" before noon had vanished at this point.

  In order to avoid distracting Suzune, Mayumi and Mari gravitated towards the door.

  Over there, someone knocked lightly on the door.

  Mayumi carefully opened the door to find the young girl who was even shorter than she was that was to succeed her.

  "Ara, A-chan. Can you leave your place now?"

  Mayumi whispered quietly because Azusa was selected as one of the student judges.

  There was no panel of judges for the National High School Magic Thesis Competition. Since there were great alterations in the crowd during each presentation, it was too difficult to ask the crowd to make an assessment.