by Tsutomu Sato
Haruka cleared her throat and reconstructed a businesslike smile, then continued to speak as if nothing had happened.
“I’m going to start the guidance for the school’s curriculum and establishments on your terminals. After that, you will register for your elective courses, and orientation will be over. If there’s anything you don’t understand, please press the call button. Those of you who have already looked over the curriculum guide and the establishments guide can feel free to skip the guidance and go straight to registering for electives.”
Haruka looked down at her lectern monitor then, and made a hm? face.
“…Those who have already registered for their electives can feel free to leave the room if they wish. However, once guidance has begun, you will be unable to leave the classroom, so if anyone wants to do so, please leave the room now. And don’t forget your ID cards when you go.”
A chair clattered, as if waiting for those words.
It wasn’t Tatsuya.
The one who stood up was a slender, high-strung young man. He sat a bit away from Tatsuya, in the front row at the window. He bowed toward the lectern, then turned his back to the classroom and exited to the hallway.
He left the classroom haughtily, appearing to act tough, not paying attention to the upturned gazes gathering on him from both sides. It drew Tatsuya’s interest, but only for a moment. Aside from Tatsuya, about half the class watched his back as he left, but their stares soon returned to the lectern.
It didn’t look like any others would leave early. It wasn’t as if Tatsuya disliked the place so much that he’d do something so conspicuous to get out of it.
He looked back at his hands, stopped on the keyboard, and wondered what to browse to pass the time, when suddenly he felt eyes on him and looked back up.
Haruka was looking at him from the lectern.
Even when their eyes met, she made no attempt to avert hers, and smiled sweetly at him.
What was that all about…?
He noticed it after that, too—Haruka was smiling at him. Not the whole time, though—she did it with short, reserved glances so the other students wouldn’t harbor suspicion, but it still created an air of excessive secrecy.
He could say for sure this was the first time they’d met.
It was clearly too frequent to be a merely friendly smile, so Tatsuya tried stepping back through his memories to figure it out. That used up a lot of time, but…
That wasn’t…her trying to get me to relax, was it? It seemed more like something to unsettle me… And I don’t think that a member of the faculty would be hitting on a student in the classroom, even if she isn’t a teacher…
As far as he could think, it was probably her being interested in Tatsuya for remaining in his seat even though he had finished registering just like the student who left had. But he still felt like it was still a fairly confidential smile, to put it in a positive light.
As he was puzzling over it, a voice addressed him from the seat in front of him.
“Tatsuya, what are you gonna do until lunch?”
Leo was looking at him, straddling his chair with his hands over its back and resting his chin on it, almost as if it were his regular pose. It was the exact same way he’d done it last time.
Eating lunch in the classroom was no longer a tradition in junior high schools and high schools. Information terminals were sensitive devices despite advances in waterproofing and dust-proofing tech. If you accidentally spilled soup on one, things could end up a disastrous mess.
Should he go to the cafeteria, to the courtyard, to the roof, to a clubroom—or should he just find any old place? It was more than an hour until the cafeteria opened.
“I had planned to stare at the catalog of information right here…but okay, I’ll come with you.”
Leo’s eyes, sparkling with fun, clouded with disappointment at what Tatsuya said. He smiled wryly at Leo’s truly transparent expressions and nodded. “Where should we go see, then?”
Magic wasn’t taught in public schools until after junior high school. Children with an aptitude for magic learned the basics at public cram school after regular school hours. At that stage, the children weren’t judged based on how good or bad their magical technique was—it was purely to further their potential. Whether or not they had the talent to walk the path of magic as a living was something decided by the students themselves and their parents or guardians. There were certain private schools that included magical education as an extracurricular activity, but magic went assiduously unnoted on students’ grades.
Serious magic education started at the high school level, and though First High was counted among the most difficult magic high schools to get into, this meant that there were many students who had advanced here from a normal junior high school. The upper-level, magic-related courses would have contained classes that those students had never seen before.
Today and tomorrow, the school had built time into the day to let students observe the classrooms they’d be in. It was to relieve some of the worries of the new students unfamiliar with such courses.
“Wanna go to the workshop?”
Tatsuya’s question to Leo’s response was this: “Not the arena?”
Leo grinned in a satisfied way at the unexpected inquiry. “I guess I do come off that way, huh? Well, you’re not wrong, but…”
On average, the students here would be intelligent. They had gotten into this school in the first place, after all. But this young man was—how should he put it? He was brimming with energy—he seemed like the outdoor type, or something. Frankly speaking, he came off like a rascal. It made him feel like he was more suited for going all-out in the arena than fiddling with sensitive devices in the workshop, and Tatsuya probably wasn’t the only one.
But upon hearing the next thing Leo said, he acknowledged his false impression.
“Hardening magic is most efficient when you pair it with weapon techniques, after all. I want to at least be able to take care of my own weapons by myself.”
“I see…”
Leo’s career of choice was a policeman—and a SWAT officer or member of a wilderness security force, at that. It things went as he hoped, he would have plenty of opportunities to use simple shields and weapons like batons, axes, and hatchets. Those tools had good affinity with hardening magic, and its effectiveness varied greatly depending on whether you were familiar with the properties of the materials making up the weapons.
His classmate seemed to have a far more grounded and realistic idea of his own aptitude and course for the future than he let on.
As the two of them finished their conversation, a shy request to join them came from the seat next to him. “If you’re going to see the workshop, may I go with you?”
“Shibata, you wanna go there too?” Erika interrupted from past Mizuki’s head.
“Yes… I want to be a magic engineer as well.”
“Ah, that makes some kinda sense!”
In the same way he had before, Leo gave an affected grimace. “You’re more the type to do physical labor, aren’t you? Just go to the arena or something.”
“I don’t want to hear that from you, you wild animal.”
Tit for tat.
“What was that? You were thinking of that one all day long, weren’t you?”
They always seemed to get into arguments right away. “Stop it, you two… You just met today.”
I still think they’re actually rather compatible, thought Tatsuya, breathing a sigh and trying to mediate, but it didn’t stop that easily.
“Heh, I bet we were bitter enemies in a past life.”
“Yeah, you were a bear wrecking the farmlands or something, and I was the hunter they hired to exterminate you.”
Mizuki had been meekly keeping out of it, but she had finally given up on this ending anytime soon, so she attempted a forced change of course. “Let’s get going! We’ll run out of time!”
Tatsuya took advantage of the opportunity with
out a moment’s delay. “You’re right! If we don’t go soon, we’ll be the last ones left in the classroom.”
Interrupted by their fast talking, Leo and Erika glared at each other in displeasure, then immediately both turned away.
Even on the second day, people were already solidifying into groups to move around in together. Maybe this was a quick adjustment, or maybe it was hasty, and perhaps it was only natural—Tatsuya didn’t know. But when he thought about whether he’d drawn a good lot, he decided that he had, in all probability.
Erika and Leo were both bright and outgoing, and Mizuki, while shy, seemed to have an easygoing personality. He was aware of his tendency to sink into cynicism, so he considered himself lucky that they had been the first friends he’d made at high school.
But “in all probability” didn’t mean 100 percent.
Those few percentage points that remained…
I’m very glad and everything that they aren’t obsequious, but can’t they do something about this? wondered Tatsuya calmly.
“Tatsuya…”
On the other hand, Miyuki was grabbing Tatsuya’s uniform cuff with her fingers, looking up at his face with a mixture of perplexity and unease.
“Don’t apologize for anything, Miyuki. This isn’t even 0.1 percent your fault,” replied Tatsuya, purposely in a strong voice, to encourage his sister.
“Yes, but… Will you stop them?”
“…That would probably have the opposite effect.”
“…Yes, perhaps. But still, I was rather surprised… Erika seemed the type, but to think Mizuki had that kind of personality as well…”
“…Same here.”
Watching over them from a few steps away—or maybe just watching them—the siblings’ eyes reflected a group of new students, split into two, glaring at each other in a volatile atmosphere. One group was Miyuki’s classmates, and the members making up the other were, of course, Mizuki, Erika, and Leo.
Act 1 had occurred in the cafeteria at lunchtime.
The First High cafeteria was rather large for a high school, but it would always get crowded at this time of year, because the new students didn’t know what was going on yet.
But Tatsuya and the others, who had left their observation of an upper-level course early and come to the cafeteria, secured a four-seat table without much trouble.
It seated four, but it was just two benches facing each other; you could probably fit three slender female students on one side.
When they were about halfway done with their food (Leo had already finished), Miyuki arrived in the cafeteria surrounded by both male and female classmates, saw Tatsuya, and hurried over to him.
That was the first bit of trouble—that Miyuki tried to eat with him. She wasn’t an eccentric who refused to mingle with her classmates, but in her mind, Tatsuya was the top priority.
Only one other person could sit at this table. Miyuki didn’t give her choice between her classmates or Tatsuya a second thought.
But of course, her classmates, especially the male ones, wanted to share a table with her.
At first, they used indirect expressions like “There’s no room” or “I don’t want to bother them.” Upon seeing how unexpectedly strongly fixated Miyuki was on this, some ended up saying things like “We shouldn’t share a table with Course 2 students” or “We should make a distinction between Course 1 and Course 2 students.” One even demanded Leo vacate his seat, since he’d finished eating.
Leo and Erika were on the verge of lashing out at the Course 1 students’ selfish, arrogant remarks. Tatsuya quickly finished eating, said something to Leo, informed Erika and Mizuki—who were still eating—and got up from his seat.
Miyuki apologized with her eyes to Tatsuya and the other three and, without sitting at the table that now had one empty side, walked away in the opposite direction.
Act 2 had been an event during an observation of an upper-level course that afternoon.
Class 3-A was having a test of practical skill in the long-range magic practice room, affectionately dubbed the “shooting range.” It was the class the student council president Mayumi Saegusa was a member of.
Students weren’t necessarily picked for the student council based on grades, but she was considered the kind of genius at long-range precise magic that came around only every ten years, and she had brought enough trophies to First High to back that up.
New students had heard the rumors about her as well. And they had seen her look more coquettish than those rumors at the entrance ceremony.
A large number of new students packed into the firing range to witness her skills, but only so many of them were able to observe it. When it came to it, amidst many Course 2 students giving their spots to Course 1 students, Tatsuya and the others boldly positioned themselves in the front row.
So of course, they were seen as obtrusive.
And Act 3 was now occurring, with Mizuki speaking in sharp tones just as they were leaving.
“Would you please just give up? Miyuki said she’s going home with her brother. Strangers shouldn’t be arguing with her about that.”
She was speaking to a student from 1-A. It was one of the faces they’d seen in the cafeteria during lunch break.
Basically, two of Miyuki’s classmates had been clinging to her as she waited for Tatsuya after school, and one had taken issue with him. Incidentally, that classmate was a girl. Meanwhile, the male student, as one would expect, had remained silent at the beginning, probably because he was worried about stares from others (or maybe Miyuki’s). But now, their restraint—or perhaps his common sense—had left the area.
“Miyuki isn’t treating you like nuisances, is she? If you wanted to go home with her, then you should just come along. What right do you have to tear the two of them apart?”
Unexpectedly, Mizuki was the first one to snap at the Course 1 students’ irrational actions. She kept her demeanor polite, but her logic was merciless as she delivered her oratory without taking even one step back from the Blooms she was speaking to.
Yes, at first it was logical, but…
“Tear us apart…?” murmured Tatsuya from a little ways away. He got the feeling that something was decisively off about that.
“M-Mizuki must be misunderstanding something, right?” After hearing her brother murmur, Miyuki started to get flustered for some reason.
“Miyuki… Why are you the one panicking?”
“Huh? No, I’m not flustered at all, am I?”
“And why do you keep asking questions?”
Glancing at the siblings who were central to this trouble as they were moving into a rather confusing situation, their “extremely considerate” friends were getting more and more heated up.
“We have something to talk to her about!” That was male classmate number one of Miyuki’s.
“That’s right! I’m sorry, Mr. Shiba, but we just need to borrow her for a bit!” That was female classmate number one of Miyuki’s.
Leo burst out laughing at their selfish complaints. “Hah! Do that during your free period. They put time aside for stuff like that, you know.”
Erika put on her best sarcastic face and tone and followed up. “Why don’t you get the person’s consent beforehand if you had something to talk to them about? You can’t just ignore Miyuki’s wishes and have a big discussion with her. Those are the rules. You’re in high school now—you know that, right?”
Erika’s words and attitude were meant to make them angry. It did just that—male student number one snapped. “Shut up! People from other classes, and Weeds at that, shouldn’t be messing with us Blooms!”
School rules forbade the usage of the term Weed on the grounds that it was discriminatory. It was a rule in name more than reality, but it still wasn’t a term to be used in a situation where this many people were listening.
The one who responded to that outburst head-on was—and this was not necessarily a surprise—Mizuki.
“Aren’t we all new stude
nts? How much better do you Blooms think you are at this point in time, anyway?” She wasn’t raising her voice by any stretch, but it still strangely reverberated through the schoolyard.
“…Uh-oh. This isn’t good,” Tatsuya thought aloud as a mumble. It was drowned out by the Course 1 student’s stifled voice, and only Miyuki, who was next to him, heard it.
“…If you want to know, then I’ll show you how much better we are!”
Mizuki’s claim was correct, based on the rules of the school, but at the same time, it was in a way rejecting the school’s system.
“Hah, that’s funny! Come on, give us a lesson!” Leo called out provocatively upon hearing the Course 1 student’s words, which could be taken either as a threat or an ultimatum. The situation had already reached a point where nothing could be done, so it didn’t do any good to mention it now, but he and Erika were in complete “tit for tat” mode.
Mizuki had the truth on her side. They knew it, too. That’s why those who lived comfortably within the current system—students and teachers alike—would respond emotionally.
Even if there was a clear breach of the rules here, unless it came from Mizuki’s side, most people would probably pretend they didn’t see it.
Even if it wasn’t only a breach of school rules—but against the law.
“Then I’ll show you!”
The only students permitted to carry their CADs inside school were the student council members and members of certain clubs.
Usage of magic outside school was strictly controlled by the law. However, possessing a CAD outside of school wasn’t forbidden. There would be no point.
CADs were currently an essential item for magicians, but they were not absolutely necessary to perform magic. One could use magic without a CAD. So just owning one wasn’t against the law.
Because of this, the school made students possessing CADs leave them in the office when classes began and come back to get them when they left school. Also because of this, students having CADs when going home from school wasn’t really that strange.