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

by Sato Tsutomu

  This overly optimistic cheer only served to deepen Kichijouji's unease.

  Although they were known as the militant Third High, the only ones with real combat experience were a handful of students with Masaki at the head.

  He himself had no "real combat" experience, and the faculty leading this team all specialized in research.

  In this world, if something could go wrong, it would.

  In the middle of the previous century, a certain man coined this rather unpleasant law which Kichijouji felt applied to this situation (in reality, the law became mainstream in the latter half of the century).

  Just as they entered the parking garage and the large bus came into view.

  —The bus suffered several direct hits from rocket launchers.

  Fortunately, the point of impact — maybe the sole blessing in disguise — was near the rear of the vehicle, so the driver was able to frantically escape before being caught in the explosion.

  The body of the vehicle was covered with the same heat and shock resistant plating used to coat military vehicles, so while the windows were cracked and several areas were burnt, the body itself was not compromised.

  Except the tires, which were completely shredded.

  "Those assholes!"

  Next to Kichijouji, Masaki was furious.

  In order to quickly get him to calm down, Kichijouji switched gears.

  If they were to change tires, they couldn't allow the enemy to close in during this time.

  He decided to let his good friend vent a little.

  Kichijouji left Masaki's side and moved towards the teacher leading this group.

  "Sensei."

  "Kichijouji, what is it?"

  With that slightly shaking voice, it was quite impressive that the man managed to steady himself.

  If he wasn't assured of his friend's overwhelming might, he too might be in the same condition.

  "Leave the enemy to Masaki; let's prepare to change the tires."

  "But, even if you say prepare......"

  "This is a designated parking garage for large vehicles and specialized cars. I believe there should be tools for simple maintenance and spare tires as well."

  "Y-You're right! OK, everyone with nothing to do help Kichijouji search for spare tires!"

  Having everyone with nothing to do join in was because there were other people who could engage the enemy besides Masaki.

  Unrelated to his identity as a Year 1 student, Kichijouji naturally controlled the initiative here given his status as the calmest individual present. The students from Third High, regardless of whether they were classmates or upperclassmen, moved together with the teachers along Kichijouji's instructions to prepare for evacuation.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  The group led by Azusa (which was a slightly inaccurate description) that included students from First High, faculty, and other associated individuals, reached the underground shelter slightly later than the other schools.

  The reason for their tardiness was because they had more people to account for.

  They had over 60 people. Normally, this wasn't a large number. Yet trying to bring everyone to a certain location without misplacing a single one required a lot of effort, and coupled with the fact they had to fend off hostile attacks along the way, their superior numbers were both an advantage and a disadvantage.

  The main entrance that allowed access to the outside during crises had been closed out of consideration of the enemy's presence.

  The lock must be disengaged by the evacuees already in the shelter's interior.

  While the door was being opened, Hattori and Sawaki were checking for stragglers in the plaza (the underground area was constructed as a plaza) before the front entrance.

  The faculty were also fulfilling their duties as adults. Asuka was examining the injured, Haruka was comforting the uneasy students, while Tsudzura was at the rear with Tomitsuka on guard.

  Thus, maybe this was the reason — why Tsudzura discovered the abnormality first.

  "Everyone, get down and cover your head!"

  There was an odd noise coming from the ceiling of the underground passage.

  The concrete creaked and groaned.

  The overhanging lights went out, plunging the tunnel into darkness.

  Cracks appeared all over the ceiling and walls.

  All of this happened in an instant.

  There were some who screamed in fright.

  There were others who just ducked and sought cover.

  Still others attempted to hold off the falling metal, concrete and dust with magic.

  Nonetheless, no matter what power caused this, the tunnel's collapse appeared unavoidable.

  At this time, Azusa was using the terminal responsible for communicating with the people in the shelter to ask them to hurry up and open the door.

  Hearing Tsudzura's warning, she couldn't help but turn her head, and now she couldn't tear her eyes away from the tragedy unfolding before her.

  There wasn't even time to close her eyes as the ceiling buckled and the walls started peeling off.

  She didn't have to worry about being caught in the cave-in.

  Even though she was standing outside the door, the shelter's entrance was covered in reinforced metal alloy.

  But the other students were......

  "......Eh?"

  However, after the dust settled, she used the remaining lights from the air raid shelter passage to survey the wreckage of the tunnel, but her eyes were not filled to the brim with painful tears. Instead, a shocked voice erupted due to this unexpected scenery.

  None of the First High students were buried alive.

  The concrete scraps were formed into a dome-like shape.

  What sort of pure coincidence could enable large concrete blocks to perfectly lock together to form a dome shape that held enough room beneath for half a person's height?

  No, this cannot be pure coincidence......

  The probability that this was a naturally occurring phenomenon was practically zero.

  (......I see, this is Polyhedra Handle! That's Tsudzura-sensei's magic!)

  The "Polyhedra Handle" she was mentally calling out did not refer to the command used to describe 3-D projections, but magic that broke up physical objects into pyramids and quadratic prisms and manipulated them to form these simple projections to form large scale construct variations.

  Modern magic did not excel in manipulating one aspect of an object. In order to halt the underground passage from caving in, the typical approach was to set the entire underground passage as the target.

  On the other hand, Polyhedra Handle split one object into multiple components and sought to alter one component in order to affect the entire whole.

  Of course, this required the ability to separate one object into multiple tiny pieces. Magicians capable of doing so could consciously create miracles when it would be impossible otherwise. —Just like now.

  Likely understanding that the underground tunnel was unable to support the weight above and collapse was imminent, Tsudzura used the sand's pressure to form a dome and controlled the impact of the falling rubble.

  Nevertheless, at the end of the day this was only a temporary measure formed of concrete and did not possess the sturdiness of natural stone.

  "Everyone, get over here quickly!"

  Azusa desperately cried out to the students, faculty, and third party individuals still sprawled on the floor and urged them to quickly flee through the shelter's opened doors.

  Asuka had left to care for the wounded, so Hirakawa was left all by herself in the 60 man group and she could only hunker down without even making a peep.

  True, the ceiling did collapse. The walls should have fallen. If that was the case, why wasn't she buried alive?

  Slowly opening her eyes in trepidation, Hirakawa was shocked out of her senses by the scene before her.

  Steel and concrete mixed together like toys to form a dome with a small opening. This impossible co
incidence caused Hirakawa to stare blankly.

  But, just then,

  "What are you staring at!? Get moving!"

  Amid the scolding, someone grabbed her hand.

  She gave a start out of panic and tried to fling away that hand on reflex.

  However, that hand gave Hirakawa a feeling of warmth without pain and contained a strength that refused to relinquish the grip on her hand.

  "Come on!"

  Without minding her reflexive rejection, that hand pulled her onward.

  Behind them, there were no human sounds or presence. While she was staring blankly, she had become the only one left behind.

  Ahead, a weak light shone the way forward, probably caused by people who had already fled the debris and turned a flashlight back this way.

  At this point, Hirakawa's brain wasn't even functioning. She was only being led by her hand and running as fast as she could despite her bent posture.

  The light at the end of the tunnel continued to grow stronger until they could finally see the exit.

  An unspecified sound reached her ear.

  Part of the debris was unable to sustain the weight and was beginning to collapse.

  The catastrophe played out in slow motion before her eyes.

  The young man pulling Hirakawa tugged that hand clasping Hirakawa into his bosom while using his empty right hand to pat the right side of her waist. Suddenly, Hirakawa noticed that her body was being pulled along with the charge.

  In front of the hand holding her tight, Hirakawa subconsciously clung onto the chest in front of her.

  By the time Hirakawa realized that this was the inertia caused by emergency acceleration, they had already escaped the falling debris into the shelter's passageway.

  Seeing Tomitsuka successfully rescue the young girl who hadn't fled in time, Azusa finally let out a sigh of relief.

  Yet, upon seeing the young girl's face, her recently settled heart suddenly pounded furiously again.

  (Hirakawa-senpai's younger sister......)

  As a member of the Technician Team for the Nine Schools Competition, Azusa enjoyed a close relationship with Hirakawa Koharu.

  The cultured and refined older Hirakawa was an upperclassman whom Azusa got along well with, and at the same time, she was a senpai who excelled in the same technical field.

  When Azusa first heard that her sister attempted to sabotage the representative team's work, Azusa initially suspected that she had misheard it.

  She had never met the younger sister directly, but based on the understanding reached from casual conversation, Azusa didn't believe she was the sort of girl to do such a thing. Hence she was hit doubly hard by this.

  Seeing her frantically separate herself from the young man who carried her in his embrace and dropping her head in shame while sneaking a peek at the young man, she looked like any other ordinary underclassman.

  Hopefully, this will enable her to wake up from this nightmare...... Azusa herself prayed that this would be so.

  Barely averting being buried alive at the eleventh hour, Hirakawa let out a sigh of relief near the sturdy ceiling covered with metallic alloy.

  And finally had the leisure to discover her current posture.

  "!"

  Was that a record setting reflex action? Hirakawa thought as she successfully sank into panic. The reason why she was successful was likely because she didn't enter a state of panic but was already submerged in one.

  At any rate, her limbs started moving first before she sprang away from the young man embracing her. Too ashamed to raise her head, but at the same time, she was highly curious as to what he looked like.

  In the end, she kept her head lowered while secretly sneaking peeks at the boy's face, but this suspicious action did not seem to dwell on the young man's mind.

  "Are you OK? Then please go ahead."

  A voice that cared for her.

  For Hirakawa, it seemed like an eternity since she had heard someone say something like that. Between taking advantage of others and being seen as a "collaborator", mutual care was nonexistent. After her mission's failure and her subsequent capture, everything she heard sounded like a scolding.

  But this young man naturally expressed worry on her behalf...... For some reason, this was the feeling she got.

  "Ah, wait."

  Hirakawa went through the door — and involuntarily clutched at the one who watched her and led her here — the young man's shirt.

  "Well...... Thank you......"

  Right now, those words were all she could manage.

  "Hm? You're welcome."

  Once the young man (at this point, Hirakawa wasn't aware of Tomitsuka's name) naturally accepted her words, Hirakawa amazingly felt overjoyed.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  Under the guidance of Fujibayashi's subordinates, Mayumi's party arrived at the plaza before the station that led to the underground shelter and were shocked speechless by the terrible scene before them.

  The entire plaza had collapsed.

  On top, there was a gigantic metal block walking around.

  "Bipedal tanks...... Where the heck did they get that!?"

  This appeared to be an unexpected enemy for Fujibayashi as well, judging from the surprised tone of her voice.

  It was a humanoid walking, firing platform that was covered in armored plates made of metallic alloy.

  The bottoms of the short, stubby legs were equipped with treads and walking devices while the body was shaped like a small car with a single seat and was equipped with all sorts of weapons. There were also two long, mechanical arms, but there was no head.

  The robot had a total height of 3.5 meters, shoulder height approximately 3 meters, width 2.5 meters, and length 2.5 meters. The weapon was originally developed by Eastern Europe to annihilate infantry in urban settings.

  And there were two of them.

  Fully loaded and with the pilot aboard, the total weight was approximately 8 tons. Still, if that was all there was, it was highly unlikely that they could have collapsed the reinforced road.

  The underground shelter or maybe the tunnel must have suffered some sort of attack from the bipedal tanks.

  "Take this!"

  "Kanon, using 'Mine Genesis' will cause too much trouble!"

  After recovering her wits, Kanon was fired up and ready to unleash her magic, but was stopped by Isori grabbing her wrist.

  With the underground situation uncertain, there was a high possibility that using surface oscillation magic might worsen the tragedy.

  "I won't use that!"

  Shaking off Isori's hand, Kanon was about to activate her magic.

  Just as she took aim at the targets,

  —Not only were they shot to pieces, they were also covered in white frost.

  "Ah......"

  "As expected of Mayumi and Miyuki. We don't even have time to do anything."

  Standing next to Kanon as she stared blankly, Fujibayashi offered her praise while chuckling wryly. Mayumi was a little embarrassed whereas Miyuki only offered a smile of her own as the two of them bowed.

  "......The group that went through the underground tunnel appears to be fine. No trace of anyone buried beneath the rubble."

  Mikihiko was the one who made that report. After closing his eyes and wearing an expression that indicated part of his mind was elsewhere, he had sent one of his five senses with the spirits to investigate.

  "Is that so. Since someone from the Yoshida Family said so, that must be the case. Good work."

  "No, that's hardly a praiseworthy achievement."

  At Fujibayashi's compliment, Mikihiko hurriedly opened his eyes and answered back.

  Looks like all the members who delighted in poking fun at innocent teenagers had gathered together.

  "—So, what do we do next?"

  Erika was the one who offered the next practical question.

  Seeing that Fujibayashi didn't waver in the slightest at this slightly combative tone, she truly had the maturity of
an adult.

  "Given that bipedal tanks have advanced this far, the situation must have worsened more than we imagined. From my perspective, I recommend evacuating to the base camp at Nogeyama."

  "But isn't that one of the enemy's primary attacking targets?"

  "Mari, any enemy attacking now won't differentiate between combat personnel and civilians. The danger will not decrease in the slightest even if you split off from the military. Rather, I'd say it would be even more dangerous."

  Mayumi gently denied Mari's argument.

  "Then, Saegusa-senpai, should we head for Nogeyama?"

  Isori asked the obvious question.

  However, Mayumi shook her head.

  "I plan to call in transport helicopters for civilians who haven't managed to evacuate in time."

  As Mayumi said this, her gaze turned towards the station. There, staring at the ruined entrance to the air shelter in despair, were countless civilians just standing there, and the number kept growing.

  "First, the wreckage needs to be removed to ensure a safe landing zone. I plan to stay here until the helicopters arrive. Mari, take everyone and evacuate with Kyoko."

  "What are you saying!? You want to remain here alone!?"

  At this thoroughly unexpected response, of course Mari had a huge reaction.

  Yet Mayumi's reply was resolute.

  "This is the duty of those who bear the name of the Ten Master Clans, Mari. We enjoy all sorts of privileges thanks to the name of the Ten Master Clans.

  Although this country does not officially have an aristocracy, in reality, we as the Ten Master Clans enjoy a degree of freedom outside the bounds of law. As a price for these privileges, we are required to contribute our power during times like this."

  "—Then I will remain behind as well."

  Determination was embedded in Mayumi's words — or maybe it was resignation. Yet the one who replied in place of Mari was Isori.

  "I too, am a member of the Hundred Families who benefited from the government."

  "If Kei stays, then I do too! I am also from the Hundred Families!"

  "Then, I as well. At the very least, I'm a daughter of the Chiba Family."