Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Magian Company - Volume 6 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

[Clandestine Departure]

On the night of the day Tatsuya and Minoru visited Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and of Laura's escape from Japan.

After lights out, Ryousuke, carrying a daypack with only the bare necessities on his back, opens the window in his hospital room.

It was mid-summer. The window had been closed because of the air conditioning, but since some inpatients don't like the cooled air and prefer to let the breeze in, just opening the window wouldn't raise suspicions. But climbing over the window was a surefire way to set off the alarms. Alarm not against escapees, as this is not a prison. It's a measure set up to watch out for falling accidents and suicides attempts.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. If you go through that window, you'll be noticed right away."

In his hesitation, Ryousuke hurried to look back when he heard someone say from behind him, showing just how nervous he was at the moment.

Before he knew it, there stood the faint silhouette of a person.

A figure is neither tall nor short. Neither fat nor thin. No remarkable features to the point of being unnatural.

The same is true of the face. Well-balanced, but without any distinguishing marks. Objectively speaking, there was a slight resemblance to a handsome man, but there were so few points that caught the eye that a plain impression was all that was left. He seemed to be a carbon-copy of the image of an "ordinary" man.

"Who are you?"

Ryousuke kept his sensibility not to raise his voice here.

"A collaborator."

Ryousuke frowned at the man's answer.

Ryousuke didn't ask for his name. He could tell he would not get an answer.

"Collaborator? And what would you be collaborating with me for?"

He inquired instead of asking for a name.

"You want to go to America, don't you?"

The man returned his question with another.

"…I don't plan on smuggling in there."

"So you don't need help?"

Ryousuke couldn't outright shake his head.

He couldn't shake, nor nod his head.

When asked if help was unnecessary, he could not nod his head at the "unnecessary", at the same time that he found it hard to refuse the "helping hand" being offered.

"It's pointless to try to escape from the hospital in the first place. And you know that, don't you?"

Again, Ryousuke had nothing to say.

He had a good point. Even if he applied for a long-stay visa and arranged for an interview at the embassy, he would still not be granted a visa right away. It may be several weeks, if not months, for the visa to be actually issued.

He is expected to be discharged from the hospital in two days. In the case he sneaks out tonight, he will have to temporarily hide himself from his acquaintances. He'll end up causing more trouble than it's worth.

Because at the end of the day, Ryousuke is just a slave to his escapist tendencies. He is easy to run away at the thought of his family discovering his whereabouts. And he himself is keenly aware of this.

"First of all, you need to be discharged from the hospital in a way that won't get you in trouble."

Rather than pressuring the wordless Ryousuke for an answer, the man proceeded on his own.

"I will arrange for you to be discharged from the hospital a day early tomorrow. At the same time, if you submit your resignation to your employer, the authorities will not intervene even if you go into hiding."

"How can you do that…?"

"Leave the hospital part to me. You can submit your resignation online." 

"Online…?"

"You don't know how to do it?"

"No, I can, but… Wouldn't it be too ungrateful of me?"

Ryousuke hesitated, causing the man to look at him with distaste.

"Even if you care about your duty, there's nothing you can do about it."

Said the man in a tone of retort,

"─Haha!"

A sneer escaped Ryousuke.

It was a sneer at himself. Who was he to worry about looking dishonest when he was about to run away in the night, he thought.

With that, Ryousuke's resolve was set.

"If you're still willing to, please give me that help."

"Understood. I'm Ooto."

"Ooto-san, right? You probably already know, but I'm Tookami Ryousuke. I look forward to working with you."

Taking the "Ooto", another reading of Daito's last name, Ryousuke said his name, even though he felt it was unnecessary at this point.

He chose not to reach out for a handshake.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning."

"Got it."

The man leaves the hospital room without making so much as a sound.

Ryousuke drops the bag he was carrying, changes into his pajamas, and crawls into bed.

Early in the morning of the next day, Ryousuke went through the discharge procedure by himself. By morning, the discharge date had been changed. Needless to say, the handiwork of Fujibayashi Hiroto, who had contacted Ryousuke last night under the alias of "Ooto".

Ryousuke left the hospital and headed for his company's residence in Izu. Since he always intended to return to America in the near future, he did not have much luggage at the company housing. Nevertheless, he still had important valuables there, including his passport, which he needed to pick up.

He was able to enter the building without any problem. He still was a resident there, after all.

Anxiety over the prospect of being detected by the security system nagged at Ryousuke, who thought to himself in self-deprecating amusement, "I'm being way too self-conscious…"

He used the terminal furnished in his room to go over the resignation procedures. This was Fujibayashi, after she saw how empty his room was, she added the terminal at the company's expense. Ryousuke felt a little guilty about wasting their money like this.

Even so, there was nothing that would make Ryousuke stay in Japan with the Magian Company. He had already made up his mind. To put it bluntly, the die has been cast. All that remained was to cross the Rubicon River. That was how Ryousuke felt after submitting his resignation letter.

But after this, he had an appointment at the USNA Embassy in the afternoon for his visa interview. There was no time for sentimentality. Ryousuke put all his belongings into the 3-way bag he had also used when he came back to Japan, left the key inside, and walked out of the room.

It's not particularly uncommon nowadays, but there is no caretaker at this corporate housing. Inconvenient as it seemed, the staff of the management company was supposed to come there when the need arose. So, Ryousuke was supposed to be able to leave this place, where he had spent several months of his life, unnoticed.

Unfortunately, he runs into an unexpected situation in the auto-locking lobby.

Today being Wednesday, both the Magian Company and Makouien are naturally on duty.

"─Oh, is that you, Tookami-san?"

And yet, for some reason, he ran into Mayumi in the lobby of the company housing.

◇ ◇ ◇

It was by sheer coincidence that Mayumi came back to the company house at that time. She just so happened to have something she needed at work, and it was quicker to get it from her room than to place an order for it. It was also unexpected for Mayumi to find Ryousuke there.

"Saegusa-san…"

Ryousuke was pale. Not quite ghastly, but enough that you could tell even without looking too close.

Was it because he just left the hospital? wondered Mayumi as she realized something at that moment.

"Tookami-san, weren't you due to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow?"

"……"

Ryousuke does not answer.

A bad feeling swells inside Mayumi.

"Tookami-san, what is that luggage? You're not going on a business trip, are you?"

"…I just submitted my letter of resignation a few minutes ago."

"Are you going back to your parents' home?"

She asked knowing the answer was, "no".

"…No. I'm not returning to my parents' house."

"Then, where are you going?"

She felt that might come off as intrusive. They are just co-workers, and have only known each other since April of this year. Still, after having fought together three times against criminals, and having shared life and death experiences together, Mayumi could not remain indifferent to the matter.

"……"

"It's not back to America, by any chance?"

Ryousuke did not respond, but Mayumi could guess by his expression. 

"…I see. So you're going to America to never come back again, is that it?"

"…That's right."

Perhaps finally conceding, Ryousuke admits with his own mouth.

Mayumi looked down sorrowfully.

A look of frustration crossed Ryousuke's face, but he felt no need to wonder why.

"Did you think I was going to tell your family about you, Tookami-san? Is that why you decided you couldn't stay in Japan anymore?"

"No, you're getting it wrong!"

Realizing what Mayumi must have misunderstood, Ryousuke loudly denied it.

"I just came back to Japan because Milady ─ I mean, Lena Fehr, ordered me to find out what Executive Director Shiba was up to. I was a spy from the very beginning!"

Faced with this loud, sudden confession from Ryousuke, Mayumi, for the time being, could only blink in confusion.

"Sure, I'm doing this because of what you mentioned about my sister, Saegusa-san. But that's just what kicked me off. Now that Magian Society and FEHR have a partnership, I've come around to decide that my spy job here is done. So I decided to go back to FEHR."

"Back, you say…"

Spoke Maymi with a soft smile, which Ryousuke found to be rather sad. Though he immediately dismissed his impression as "no way." Still, the guilt remained.

"Tookami-san, your loyalty is to Lena, isn't it?"

"─Yes."

Ryousuke solidly affirmed. He could not give a vague answer to this question.

"To the point that you can't even be in Japan, the place you were born? And, more importantly, with your family? I don't think that's right."

"I can't wriggle out of this one." Ryousuke felt.

He didn't need to convince or give satisfaction to Mayumi here. No matter what she says, his next move is already decided. If anything, he should not have wasted time here.

"Until the day she says she doesn't need me anymore, I want to work for Milady." 

But Ryousuke failed to abide by the sober judgment his rational mind had come up with.

"I want to devote all of my time to Milady. And there is no one that can take her place for me."

"…Not even your family?"

With an expression of being overwhelmed by Ryousuke's fervor, Mayumi nonetheless managed to wring out a counter-argument.

"Yes."

But after he said so without a drop of hesitation, Mayumi officially lost her words.

"I'm an ignorant piece of shit. An ungrateful son, a heartless brother. Five years ago, I was about to take the head of the family. I'm sure he would have spoken my ear off, cursed me, and urged the family to cut ties with me… That's who I am now. But I still want to be useful to that person. I want to be at her side and serve her."

"……"

"I know getting permanent residency in the US will not be an easy thing to do. I don't have any notable academic background or skills worth mentioning, nor do I have a company backing me up. So, I'm willing to do what it takes, humiliating as it may be, to be by her side."

"That far…"

"Yes. That far. But even I still have some shame in me. I wouldn't want my parents or my sister to find out about me like this. So…"

Mayumi came to grips with the fact that she wouldn't be able to persuade Ryousuke.

"I understand. I will not contact your family."

That was all she could say, all the while gripping with a sense of helplessness.

So Ryousuke was gone from the Magian Company.

Even so, Tatsuya kept track of his movements through his subordinate, Daimon.

◇ ◇ ◇

August 25, Wednesday night.

At Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, the USNA Air Force's most advanced supersonic high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft, the Sprite, was being readied for takeoff.

In the weapon bay, primarily designed for bombing applications, was being loaded with the Stealth Diver, a specialized descent and infiltration vehicle instead of the customary UAV.

Tatsuya and Minoru were already in the cockpit of the Stealth Diver in their everyday clothes. Inside, they shoved their own backpacks filled with a change of clothes and other things needed for infiltration into the small cargo space behind the seat.

"Mr. Shiba, I'm closing the hatch."

Where the conventional fighter jet would have the canopy, the Stealth Diver's version is called a "hatch", because it is made of the same material as the outer wall and does have a window or allow for any external visibility.

"Yes, please."

At his prompt the airframe he was in is sealed hermetically. The same goes for the Stealth Diver with the figure Minoru has changed into with [Parade].

The weapon bay containing the stealth diver closes, and the strategic reconnaissance aircraft Sprite makes its leisurely way to the runway.

The "Sprite" nickname, which originally is a name for "fairy", is actually a reference to the meteorological phenomenon known as "sprite", or "red sprite". A red light emission phenomenon that occurs in the mesosphere. One of the kinds of upper-atmospheric lightning, also called "upper-atmospheric red lightning flash."

The SR-92 Sprite is not a continuation of the design lineage of the SR-71 Blackbird, the supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft that once long reigned as the fastest aircraft during the past century. The Sprite succeeds the never officially recognized SR-91 Aurora. Its fuselage follows the isosceles triangle flying wing design.

Just being a flying wing design, however, does not necessarily imply that the Sprite is a stealth aircraft. It was designed solely with speed and climbing performance in mind.

Apart from the air-to-surface missiles fitted in bombing operations, its armament consisted of a single laser to intercept incoming air-defense missiles. As such, it's not suited for aerial combat. From the concept, it is supposed to use its speed and altitude to avoid attacks, and use the lasers to intercept any missiles that it cannot shake off. The stealth divers that Tatsuya and Minoru are in will be launched in the same way as an air-to-ground missile.

With Tatsuya and Minoru onboard, in the weapon bay instead of the cabin, the Sprite took off into the midnight sky to the south.

◇ ◇ ◇

The Sprite took off from Kadena Air Base shortly after 9:00 p.m., but, on account of the time difference, reached the skies over Tibet before 8:00 p.m. 

From Okinawa, the Sprite flew south and entered the airspace over Tibet from the northern part of the Indochina Peninsula. When it was over the eastern edge of the Himalayas, it dropped the Stealth Divers.