by Sato Tsutomu
"The suggestion about a path that could make the best use of magic sensitivity and my knowledge about magic even if I couldn’t use it was yours, right?"
Tatsuya instantly started to scowl but didn’t out of consideration for Kobayakawa’s feelings.
"Did Watanabe-senpai let it slip..."
Even so, he could not hide the disgust in his voice.
"Don't say it like that. I forced Mari to spit it out."
"I asked Watanabe-senpai to pretend it was her own idea, yet she told you anyway."
All the third year female representatives to the Nine Schools competition, including Mari and Mayumi, had worried about Kobayakawa. Mari, who had narrowly escaped a similar incident, could not help taking it personally. Kobayakawa’s accident had led to the incident involving Hirakawa Chiaki in October, which only increased Mari’s worries.
After that incident, Mari had grumbled idle complaints at Tatsuya. She understood it was not his responsibility, but although she prefaced her complaints with that, the gist of her grumbling was ‘was there really no way to prevent Kobayakawa’s accident.’
Tatsuya had an answer for those doubts.
The answer was ‘he couldn’t.’
He was not all knowing and all powerful. And even if the ‘all powerful’ was omitted, he was far from ‘all knowing’. It was all he could do to use his observation power to cover the area around himself and Miyuki and take care of the duties he was responsible for, therefore he did not have the freedom to look after others. It was the same for the other members; because neither Kobayakawa herself nor Hirakawa Koharu (the elder of the Hirakawa sisters) who was responsible for her CAD had been aware of the trick, nobody else had caught it either.
However, it would be awkward to just coldly cut her off like that. So Tatsuya had sent their theoretical discussion down another route.
Tatsuya had heard from Fujibayashi a number of times that there was a dearth of tactical staff that understood how to take magic into consideration for tactical planning. Because there were so few people with a talent for magic, they were normally sent to the frontlines, so inevitably in an actual battle, the staff managing the tactical planning from the rear were all non-magicians who had only a theoretical understanding of magic.
If someone who was a superb magician but could not use magic for some reason was added to the tactical staff, then it would be much easier for the magicians on the frontlines to do their work than it was now. That was the idle complaint from Fujibayashi, who had seen the problems from both the front lines and in the rear, to Tatsuya. He had relayed that to Mari without naming who he had heard it from.
"Well, she tried to keep it from me. But, it didn’t seem like Mari was all that interested in hiding it."
"Geez, that girl..."
"I am glad she told me."
Kobayakawa’s sincere words interrupted Tatsuya’s statement expressing his annoyance.
"I wasn’t aware of it myself, but until I heard those words I was in a state of despair. I said ‘do you think this will defeat me,’ but it was a bluff, thinking that way was only to fool myself into not admitting that I already felt defeated."
Kobayakawa’s eyes watered; she was probably remembering how she was back then.
"But, when I heard that news from Mari, I felt like my eyes were truly opened. I thought 'this is the road I must follow.' This way I would not be left behind alone; it gave me hope that I would not be cut off from my fellow students that I had walked the road to become a magician with. In the eleventh hour, my life path suddenly changed; I thought that if I tried hard for just half a year, I could pass."
Kobayakawa’s face was once again red, undoubtedly she was embarrassed by the statements coming from her mouth.
Tatsuya did not feel the statements he heard were particularly embarrassing, but,
"So, Shiba, no, Shiba-kun, thank you."
Kobayakawa’s tone changed to a polite one as she bowed deeply.
Tatsuya was not so impudent as to sit while he was bowed to.
He got up from his chair and clicked his heels together.
Kobayakawa was not the only one who lifted her head up at the sudden sound of the clicked shoes; he accumulated the gazes of all of the small number of students in the cafeteria, but Tatsuya ignored that as something not worth paying attention to as he delivered the salute of the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion.
"Shiba-kun..."
"Kobayakawa-senpai. It is trite, but good luck."
As he answered her with a salute, Tatsuya said that without embarrassment or laughter.
Tears swelled in Kobayakawa’s eyes once more however, and she nodded with a smile without crying.
"Senpai, the party has started."
"Yes, it has. Well then, goodbye. Good luck to you too!"
As she said goodbye and trotted off, Tatsuya sat down.
Mysteriously, the lukewarm coffee did not taste inferior.
◊ ◊ ◊
"Onii-sama, sorry for making you wait."
When the lively voice called out to him, Tatsuya took his eyes off the portable information terminal he was in the midst of writing a paper on and looked up.
"Tatsuya-kun, what are you writing?"
The one who had called out to him and made him look up was not Miyuki; it was a broadly grinning Mayumi with the roll of her diploma — as expected, the school used paper — clasped to her breast.
"I’m just writing some notes related to lengthening the time of continuous magic by systematic assistance."
"...Um, I didn’t think it was a fruitless topic like that."
Tatsuya stopped before replying to Mari, who looked at him with a stunned look, and simply lightly shrugged his shoulders. He thought about complaining to her about the Kobayakawa incident, but today was their day. With that thought in mind, he restrained himself from trivial sniping.
"More importantly, why are all of you together? I didn’t think either Saegusa-senpai or Watanabe-senpai wouldn’t have been invited to the after party."
From behind the backs of the female students, who were looking at each other, Katsuto’s face abruptly appeared.
"We thought we would say goodbye to you before that."
"...That’s thoughtful of you. If you hadn’t purposely come to see me, I was going to come and say my goodbyes afterwards."
"Oh, really? Because Tatsuya is hiding away from the parties here, I thought you would pretend not to know us and just leave."
Even though he knew that Mayumi’s sullen face and outpouring of complaints were an act, Tatsuya still felt like he had to give her an explanation.
"I am not even a member of the student council, so I shouldn’t show up at the graduation party right? Especially the first course party."
"What!"
Suddenly an intense exclamation interrupted the explanation Tatsuya was framing.
A shiny blonde head of hair pushed through the graduates to appear in front of Tatsuya.
"Why was I, who am not even a proper member of the Student Council, made to help with the party, when it’s all right for Tatsuya, a member of the Public Morals Committee, to do nothing!?"
The one who flared up at Tatsuya and insolently spelled out her workload was Lina.
"...Public Morals Committee members are not Student Council members. Besides, although it is only temporary, aren't you a member of the Student Council?"
"I just don't get it!"
Lina was probably not all that bothered by the graduates' stares. In front of the bewildered Mayumi and the others, Lina was her usual self.
"Hey Lina, don’t say rude things to Onii-sama."
And, she was faced(?) with the usual speech of Miyuki's love for her brother.
No, perhaps it should be said that it was Miyuki's usual love for her brother speech.
"You are a temporary member of the Student Council and Onii-sama is a member of the Public Morals Committee, this was all settled before the preparations for the party started. I
n the first place, why are you grumbling about it now — weren't you all fired up?"
Tatsuya did not know what she meant by ‘fired up,’ but unquestionably, Lina turned red before the gazes she had accumulated.
"Miyuki, what do you mean by fired up?"
Tatsuya did not have the option of ‘not daring to ask what happened’ at this place.
"Tatsuya, it’s nothing!"
"Well, as you know it would be deplorable to give a temporary officer of the Student Council, Lina, the type of work that would take a lot of time so we put her in charge of today’s entertainment, but…"
"Miyuki!"
"Even if we said entertainment, we didn’t say she had to do some kind of performance — it would have been alright if all she did was get volunteers from the graduates and the other students, but,"
"Miyuki, stop talking!"
"Lina apparently misunderstood."
"Miyuki, please! Don’t say it!"
Lina desperately tried to interrupt Miyuki's discourse, but the amused Mayumi and Mari cleverly blocked her movements.
"So?"
Miyuki was looking at Lina, distracted by the desperation in her voice; however, at Tatsuya’s prompting, she readily switched her gaze back to her brother.
"She took the stage as the lead singer of a band. She stood up there and sang about ten songs, she was very enthusiastic."
"Yes, it was an extremely fine performance. Not inferior to a professional talent."
Mari added to Miyuki’s explanation, and,
"It’s true. Shields-san is a very good singer. She has an incredible voice."
In a not-all-that-complimentary tone, Mayumi praised Lina’s singing.
"Urk..."
Lina looked down, red-faced in shame.
It was not an angry face, it was clearly an embarrassed face.
Looking at that made Tatsuya feel like smiling.
"I see...you’ve made some good memories, Lina."
"...I don’t care."
Aside from Lina, the people let out genial laughter at her speaking rudely and turning away.
◊ ◊ ◊
(That was the last I saw of Lina.)
After graduation was over, Lina didn’t come to school.
When he asked Miyuki, she had given class A the explanation of ‘she was busy with preparations to return home.’
Nonetheless, he thought a withdrawal order had probably come in since that incident. Even so, until that day, Lina had continued attending school and she probably hadn't done it to fulfill her assigned role as a high school student or prepare for the graduation party.
It could be that she did it so she could enjoy the life of a high school student a little.
—As he looked at the arrival and departure delay announcement, Tatsuya mused over that.
The day before yesterday, the third quarter had ended.
In short, the first year of his high school life had ended.
Tatsuya's grades were predictable.
His marks in theory were extremely good.
His marks in technical were pretty bad.
His combined marks was in the lower middle.
However, he wasn’t bothered by that.
In that year he had continued to get entangled in various troubles, but he had steadily approached his goal.
Contrary to his expectations, he was able to build good friendships.
Even taking into account the negative aspect of getting involved in a string of incidents, it could be said to be an excellent first year.
Today, he had come to the Tokyo Bay floating international airport to welcome one of those friends back.
Of course, he was not alone.
Miyuki and Honoka were to his left and right; Leo, Erika, Mikihiko and Mizuki sat across from him.
The plane Shizuku was on was supposed to arrive in a little less than an hour.
"As I thought, it takes time to get here from the American mainland."
From Tatsuya’s left, Miyuki spoke to him, and,
"It seems like it takes a military plane less than four minutes to cross the Pacific Ocean, so why does it take this long for a civilian plane?"
on his right side, Honoka asked him.
Thereupon,
"The engines are different. Because military planes can go above the stratosphere. Safety and economy are a priority for civilian planes."
Leo interjected from directly across from him,
"Oh my, you’re well informed. Despite being a barbarian a horse could kick."
Erika teased.
"Why you!"
"Leo, restrain yourself."
"Erika-chan, you too, stop constantly teasing him."
And Mikihiko and Mizuki interceded into their strife, well, as they usually did.
Just then, Tatsuya spotted a familiar gleam of gold among the crowd of people in the lobby.
His friends looked up at Tatsuya who quickly stood, wondering what was up.
Miyuki promptly stood up too.
Although a little slower, she had also spotted the same thing as Tatsuya.
Miyuki followed Tatsuya, who had walked away with a short announcement of "I won’t be long."
A flustered Honoka also stood up, but for some reason Erika, who was seating directly in front of her, grabbed the sleeve of her spring coat.
"Honoka, don’t interfere. Because it is a farewell to a rival."
Before the gaze of Erika, who was impolitely twisting around in her seat,
Lina, who of course hadn’t fled after being spotted by Tatsuya, walked towards the siblings herself.
"Tatsuya, Miyuki, have you come to see me off?"
When they had approached close enough to speak to each other normally, Lina spoke first.
"Well. Meeting you here was a coincidence."
Lina’s momentary brooding completely disappeared as she let out a genuine laugh.
However, she did not feel completely the same as she had been. A shadow of doubt could be seen in her eyes that hadn't been there when she had just barely arrived in Japan. That showed that in this brief period she had become more mature.
"Oh my? Did I not say I was departing today?"
"We didn’t hear you say it."
Miyuki finished off Lina's exaggeratedly mild befuddled banter in one blow.
Even so, Miyuki wasn’t in a bad mood, and she was smiling in a wry way.
"Well, joking aside. I am obliged for the aid of you two."
Lina’s smile became brazen as she said it,
"Don‘t you mean, we've caused you trouble?"
and Tatsuya smoothly denied it.
"I’m the one who is in trouble. ...You’re an unbending person to the end, Tatsuya."
"You wouldn’t be happy if I went easy on you Lina... Besides, this isn’t the end, right?"
Lina shrugged her shoulders at Tatsuya's question.
"I think it might be. I don’t think I am able to easily leave my own country."
Lina’s voice showed tinges of acknowledging a painful truth.
However, to erase that,
"But, this is not the last time."
Miyuki interjected with emphatic words.
"Miyuki."
"So I shall not say goodbye, Lina."
"...Miyuki, what was that — it sounded like a confession?"
Lina widened her eyes as she stared at Miyuki with a face that had grown mischievous.
"Hmm, I suppose it might be a type of confession. You are my rival, Lina."
Miyuki was undisturbed by the remark and made that declaration in an unwavering voice.
"You will surely reach out to take Onii-sama’s hand someday. You will surely become Onii-sama's ally. And that will begin our true competition. And so, I will not say goodbye. Until we meet again, Lina."
Lina’s eyes widened again. And this time her gentle smile was like the sun matching the color of her eyes and hair.
"I can’t understand what you said very well, but... Miyuki, sur
ely it will be as you said. Now, I have that premonition as well. Until we meet again Miyuki, Tatsuya."
"I’m back."
One hour after Lina disappeared into the gate, these were Shizuku’s first words.
"Welcome back, Shizuku!"
Over the back of the moist-eyed Honoka embracing her, which she was patting to soothe her, Shizuku directed her eyes to Tatsuya.
"Welcome back, Shizuku. I’m glad you came back safely."
"Yes."
Her curt replies hadn’t changed from before her study abroad, but,
"Shizuku, your aura has changed."
"That’s true. It has become more grown-uppish."
As Miyuki and Erika said, the aura coating her body had become fairly mature.
"Did you undergo some kind of sinful experiences?"
"Erika-chan!?"
The one who responded to the broadly grinning Erika’s jibes was Mizuki; Shizuku, the one under attack, only tilted her head slightly.
It was unchanged from what had been the normal commotion; however, a stronger sense of composure could be felt.
"Tatsuya-san."
"Hmm?"
After Honoka finally released Shizuku from her embrace and allowed her to step away from her, Shizuku walked in front of Tatsuya and looked up at his face.
"I have many things I want to talk about. I also have been given many messages from Ray. Will you listen?"
"Good. I will certainly listen."
Perhaps, her souvenirs from America were a lot of insights.
That was what Tatsuya thought.
◊ ◊ ◊
Their talk with Shizuku took a pretty long time.
Even so, they weren’t able to finish discussing everything.
They could not discuss Raymond Clark’s message in front of their other friends.
(It might be necessary to take her up on her invitation to her house…)
In order to relate the remaining message, Shizuku had invited Tatsuya and Miyuki to her own house. To go to the great industrialist, Kitayama Ushio's, private residence without their other friends.
Even for the Yotsuba, this was not a minor thing to have.
However, they could not choose to not accept the invitation. The information she had returned with was necessary to decide their future course of action.