by Tsutomu Sato
Her eyes looked like she was bent on this.
I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me, he thought, but being careful not to let any irritation into his voice, he answered, “Just Tatsuya is fine.”
“…I understand. And, well…” she replied.
“…What is it?” he asked.
As the result of a quick eye contact, Miyuki placed herself in front of Honoka.
“…May I come with you to the station?”
Timidly, and yet with a certain determination in her face, Honoka had requested to go with them.
Erika and Mizuki exchanged glances—the look on her face was more surprising than her words. Though neither they nor Leo, nor Tatsuya nor Miyuki, of course, had any reason to refuse her, and no grounds to do so anyway.
The situation on the way back to the station was complicated.
They were the four members from 1-E—Tatsuya, Mizuki, Erika, and Leo—and those from 1-A—Miyuki, Honoka, and the female student who had caught Honoka when she nearly fell over at Mayumi’s appearance, a girl named Shizuku Kitayama.
Next to Tatsuya was Miyuki, and Honoka had taken up her position on the other side of him for some reason.
“…Then Tatsuya does the tuning on your assistant, Miyuki?”
“Yes. Letting my brother do it gives me the most peace of mind,” answered Miyuki proudly, as if it applied to her, in response to Honoka’s question.
“I just tweak it a bit, though. Miyuki has high throughput, so it’s not hard to do maintenance on her CAD.”
“But still, you can’t do that without knowing all about the device’s OS.” Mizuki poked her face out from beside Miyuki and entered the conversation. Tatsuya’s rather forced smile didn’t seem to have much effect.
“You also need the skill to access the CAD’s basic systems. That’s really something,” remarked Leo.
“Tatsuya, maybe you could take a look at my broom, too?” piped in Erika.
He turned around to the two of them.
Erika had switched from calling him “Shiba” to calling him “Tatsuya,” declaring unilaterally that if he let Mitsui do that, she could, too. And as a truly generous bargaining point, she said that in exchange, he could just call her Erika. Of course, Mizuki requested the same deal, so it had already become an established fact.
“No way. I’m not confident enough to mess around with such a unique CAD.”
“Aha! You really are amazing, Tatsuya.”
It was difficult to know whether Tatsuya’s reply was serious or it was just him being modest, but Erika responded with unadulterated praise.
“What?”
“You knew that this was a broom.”
Erika smiled brightly and spun the strap of the baton with the extending hilt around her finger at Tatsuya’s question. But there was a glint of something other than a simple smile in her eyes.
“Huh? That baton is a device?”
As if that had been what she’d actually been wanting, Erika nodded twice when she saw Mizuki’s eyes grow wide. “Thanks for the normal reaction, Mizuki. If everyone had figured it out, I don’t know what I would have done!”
Leo asked, even more puzzled than before after hearing this exchange. He asked, “…Where is the system in that, anyway? From how it felt before, it’s not completely hollow, right?”
“Bzzt. Everything but the handle is totally hollow. It makes seal techniques more powerful. Hardening magic is your specialty, isn’t it?”
“…Converting spells into geometric patterns, carving them into a sensitive alloy, and injecting psions into it to activate it—those seals? Doesn’t using stuff like that take a ton more psions than normal? It’s a wonder you don’t run out of gas. And besides, I thought seal magic was too energy-inefficient and wasn’t used much anymore,” pointed out Leo.
Erika opened her eyes a bit wider, her face displaying half surprise and half admiration. “Oh, look at you, such a specialist. But unfortunately, there’s one more step. The only moments strength is needed are at the very beginning and when you fire. If you channel the psions precisely at those moments, it doesn’t drain that much. It’s the same principle as helm splitting… Hey, what’s wrong, you guys?” asked Erika uncomfortably, stricken with a blend of admiration both good and bad.
“Erika… Don’t people refer to helm splitting as an almost superhuman technique? It’s far more amazing than just having a lot of psions,” Miyuki answered for everyone.
Despite her casual remark, Erika’s face stiffened up—she actually seemed as if she was getting flustered.
“Tatsuya and Miyuki are both amazing, but I guess Erika is amazing too… I wonder if normal people are the rarity at our school?” remarked Miyuki spontaneously.
“I don’t think there are any normal people at Magic High School,” returned Shizuku Kitayama—who had been silent up until now—absentmindedly, but she was right on the mark. With that, the meaningful basis of their conversation disappeared without a trace.
The train station used by First High was simply called First High Station. It was a nearly straight path from there to the school.
With how trains had changed, midtrip train transfer meetings didn’t happen anymore. But for this school at least, walking with friends from the station to the school was a frequent occurrence.
He’d already seen many examples of that yesterday—the second day of school—and he’d even witnessed it multiple times this very morning.
Still, what is this? It’s just too sudden, thought Tatsuya.
“Tatsuya… Were you acquainted with the president?” asked Mizuki.
“We just met the day before yesterday on the day of the entrance ceremony… At least, I’m pretty sure we did.” Tatsuya himself cocked his head in puzzlement at Mizuki’s question.
“Sure doesn’t look like it,” commented Leo.
“She’s running all the way here!” added Erika.
Tatsuya had confidence in his memory. He could positively assert that he and Mayumi Saegusa had first met the day before yesterday.
But as his friends had said, she definitely wasn’t acting like she had just met him.
“…Maybe she’s coming to invite you, Miyuki?” suggested Tatsuya.
“…She called out your name, though,” noted Miyuki.
Surrounding him were Mizuki, Erika, and Leo—the group he could already call “the usual” without it feeling strange.
They had done the same yesterday. Just as Tatsuya had come to school with Miyuki, as he had always done until now, the three of them called out to him one after another as if lying in wait for him—one while he was inside the station, another as soon as he left the station, and the third directly after that—and joined up with them.
As far as things went, he didn’t dislike it or anything. It was a nice way to start off the day.
But as the five of them leisurely walked the rather short path to the school gates, a voice called out “Tatsuya!” If it had been anyone else, they surely would have been embarrassed by it. As soon as he identified the petite girl jogging over to him, he just knew (without proof) that today was going to be another stormy day.
“Morning, Tatsuya! And good morning to you as well, Miyuki.”
Tatsuya felt that her treatment of him was rather rude compared to Miyuki, but she was a senior and the student council president.
“Good morning, President.” He needed to endeavor to respond with suitable politeness. After Tatsuya, Miyuki showed her a polite bow.
The other three gave greetings that were more or less polite, but they couldn’t help but be rather hesitant. Being nervous in this kind of situation was more normal.
“Are you by yourself, President?” He knew the answer just by looking, but he was also asking whether she was planning on following along with them like this.
“Yup. I don’t particularly meet up with anyone in the morning.” Her affirmation also confirmed the implied question.
But…she was still acting overfamil
iar toward him.
“I had something I wanted to talk about with you as well, Miyuki… Would you mind if I came with you all?” Those words were directed at Miyuki.
She was still speaking rather informally now, but the way it sounded was different.
And apparently that wasn’t just Tatsuya’s imagination.
“No, I don’t mind, but…”
“Oh, I’m not trying to tell you anything confidential. Or shall I wait until later?” she asked, smiling and looking at the other three, who were standing rigidly a few feet away. They expressed with words and gestures that she could feel free, and Mayumi bowed to them and another smile escaped her lips. Tatsuya, however, couldn’t help but look glum.
“President… Is it just me, or are you treating one of us a little differently?”
“What? Oh, my, was I?”
Sure, now she changed how she spoke—but even if she played dumb, her tone and expression gave it away. Tatsuya wasn’t one to get angry over this much, but that isn’t to say he didn’t feel any stress.
Miyuki hastily brought the conversation back to her. “What did you want to talk about? The student council?”
“Yes. I’d just like to explain it at ease at some point. Might you have any plans for lunch?”
“I think I’ll be eating in the cafeteria.”
“With Tatsuya?”
“No—he’s in a different class, so…”
She probably remembered what happened yesterday. Mayumi nodded a few times to Miyuki’s reserved answer with a look implying she knew how it was. “There are a lot of students bothered by the strangest things.”
Tatsuya glanced beside him. As he expected, Mizuki was nodding along. It looked like she was still hung up on what happened yesterday.
But, President, wouldn’t you saying that cause controversy? thought Tatsuya to himself.
“Then why don’t you have lunch with me in the student council room? You can bring your lunch box, and there’s a vending machine, too.”
“…Is there a dining server placed in the student council room?” replied the normally serene Miyuki, without being able to conceal her surprise.
Her surprise wasn’t only the positive kind, either.
Why would an automatic waiting machine, the sort usually placed in unmanned airport cafeterias and dining cars on long-distance trains, be stationed in a high school student council room?
“I’d rather not say too much before having you in there, but we do end up working late some days.” Mayumi smiled awkwardly, a little embarrassed, and continued with her invitation. “And if it’s the student council room, then there’s no problem with Tatsuya coming with you.”
At that time, just for a moment, Tatsuya thought he saw her smile change to a sly one—or an evil one, more frankly. Regardless of her expression, though, her remark had still been troubling.
“…Yes, there is. I’d rather not have any trouble with the vice president.” He had no intention of interfering with his sister’s student council activities, but Tatsuya had to get a word in.
The male student who had given him that glare from behind Mayumi on the day of the entrance ceremony must have been the second-year vice president.
There was no mistaking that sort of glare. If he were to casually go and eat lunch in the student council room, there was no doubt in his mind the young man would pick a fight with him.
“The vice president…?” Mayumi’s head tilted to one side, and then she theatrically clapped her hands together. “You mean Hanzou? You don’t need to worry about him.”
“…Are you referring to Vice President Hattori?”
“Yes, why?”
At that moment, Tatsuya strongly resolved himself to never give Mayumi a reason to give him a nickname.
“Hanzou always eats lunch in his club room.” Mayumi, of course, continued her solicitation without dropping her bright smile, and without a care for those thoughts of Tatsuya’s. “If you like, everyone else may come with you as well. It’s my role as a member of the student council to inform people of our activities, after all.”
However, Mayumi’s sociable offer was met by a refusal in the direct opposite tone of voice. “Thanks for the offer, but I think we’ll pass.”
It was an awfully blunt way of refusing her.
The atmosphere began to take a turn for the worse because of Erika’s unexpected attitude. But as long as Tatsuya didn’t know what she truly thought, he could neither overturn it nor follow up on it.
“I see.”
The only one that didn’t change was Mayumi, who still smiled.
It seemed less that she was dense and more that she was aware of circumstances they were not… Tatsuya had no particular reason for that guess, but it was still his guess.
“Then, what about just you and Tatsuya?”
Miyuki looked at him, her eyes asking what they should do. It would have been fine for him to refuse until just now, but considering the attitude Erika had just taken, refusing without coming off as abrasive would be difficult.
“…I understand. Miyuki and I will take you up on the offer.”
“Is that so? That’s good. Then we’ll leave the details for then. I’ll be waiting!” Mayumi spun around and nearly skipped away.
What is so much fun for her? Despite headed for the same school building, the five that saw her off plodded along.
A sigh escaped Tatsuya’s lips.
Lunch break came quickly.
His feet felt like lead. But his conditioning wasn’t so poor that he would get exhausted just from walking up to the second floor; what really felt like lead was his mood—his feet feeling like lead was just a metaphor. It meant that he was starting to have second thoughts about this.
In contrast, Miyuki’s footsteps were light. He didn’t venture to ask why. He was at least smart enough to know what she was enjoying.
They headed for the end of the fourth-story hallway.
The door there was made of plywood and looked the same as the other classrooms. The differences amounted to a wood-carved plate buried in the middle, an intercom on the wall, and numerous security devices likely skillfully camouflaged.
The plate read STUDENT COUNCIL ROOM.
Miyuki was the one who had been invited—Tatsuya was just an extra. He yielded the duty of knocking to Miyuki. (Of course, only in a figurative sense. There wasn’t actually a knocker on the door, just an intercom.)
Miyuki gracefully asked to be let in, and a bright word of welcome returned from the intercom speaker.
There was a soft sound of the door unlocking, so quiet that you wouldn’t notice unless you strained your ears. Tatsuya placed his fingers on the door handle. Angling his body to be in front of his sister, he opened the door.
He knew that there wasn’t any particular reason he needed to be cautious…but this was a habit that was part of them at this point.
“Welcome! Don’t be shy—come on in.” A voice addressed them from directly ahead, at the desk in the back.
Mayumi smiled, and Tatsuya found himself wanting to ask what on earth she was enjoying so much. She beckoned to them with her hand.
Miyuki passed in front, and Tatsuya followed behind. He stopped one pace in front of the door, and Miyuki two. She placed her hands together and looked down, giving a perfect bow that you could put in a textbook.
Tatsuya couldn’t emulate such a refined act. The way she spoke and acted had been instilled in her by their late mother, someone Tatsuya hadn’t had much contact with.
“Umm… How very polite of you.”
At the sight of a bow that could get her into a party in the Imperial Palace, Mayumi seemed to falter a bit as well.
There were two other officers seated, but they were engrossed in her aura. A third, the only nonofficer seated, the disciplinary committee president, maintained a calm expression, but Tatsuya got the impression she was forcing herself a little to put on a poker face.
My sister seems like she’s really going
for this, he thought. However, he didn’t know exactly why Miyuki had done something so intimidating.
“Please, sit down. We can talk while we eat.”
As if her pace had been ruined by Miyuki’s preemptive strike, a shadow crossed over Mayumi’s tone of voice, which was casual at best and overfamiliar at worst.
She was probably pointing out the long meeting table. The fact that there were no information terminals embedded in it in this age was probably in anticipation of its being used for food and drink.
In any case, she pulled out a chair and had Miyuki sit down at the table, a thick wooden one unusual to see used as school equipment. Tatsuya took a seat next to her, farther from the head of the table. His sister would always stubbornly make him sit farther up the table from her, but she understood that she was the guest of honor today, so she seemed to be enduring it.
“Would you like meat, fish, or vegetarian?”
Astonishingly, not only was there a waiting machine—it had multiple meal options. Tatsuya chose the vegetarian meal, and Miyuki the same. One of the sophomores—if he recalled correctly, she was Azusa Nakajou, the secretary—began to manipulate the machine, which was positioned along the wall, and which was about the size of a chest of drawers.
Now they only had to wait.
Mayumi sat at the head of the table; next to her, across from Miyuki, was a female senior; next to her, across from Tatsuya, was the disciplinary committee chairman, and next to her was Azusa. Mayumi, having regained most of her composure, broached the topic.
“We were introduced during the entrance ceremony, but just in case, I’ll introduce everyone again. To my left is the accountant, Suzune Ichihara, also known as Rin.”
“…Only the president may call me that.” Her face was proper, though each part of her face had the impression of being harsh. She was tall, and her limbs were long. The word beauty would have been a better way to describe her appearance than pretty. She certainly looked more like a “Miss Suzune” than a “Rin,” which came from a different reading of one of the characters in her name.
“And next to her—you know her, right? She’s Mari Watanabe, the head of the disciplinary committee.”