Chapter 9
The opening day for the National High School Magic Thesis Competition.
Tatsuya and Miyuki arrived at the rendezvous site without any accidents along the way.
The path was clear because the cargo truck bringing the stage devices had already unloaded its cargo.
Isori appeared to have beat them here,
And they could also see Kirihara with Sayaka in tow.
Based on their timing, the siblings appeared to be the last ones to arrive.
"......Onii-sama, I believe you need to do something."
Tatsuya's consciousness, that had been doing its best to escape from reality as an innocent bystander, was forcibly dragged back into the mix by Miyuki's voice.
"Do I have to do something......?"
Faced with Tatsuya's sour expression, Miyuki nodded in "deep regret".
Before their downcast eyes, Erika and Kanon were glaring darkly at one another.
"What's the matter?"
Tatsuya was not the only one present who was a close acquaintance of both Erika and Kanon.
In terms of closeness, Miyuki also counted as one of their dear companions, whereas Isori certainly outranked Tatsuya from a relationship standpoint.
Yet, Kanon refused to listen to Miyuki's mediation or Isori's nudge to remain neutral.
Sighing, Tatsuya interposed between the two glaring individuals.
"Ah, Tatsuya-kun, good morning-"
After Tatsuya joined in, Erika quickly gave him a carefree greeting.
While completely ignoring her opponent in the glaring contest.
Now, Kanon's eyes darkened even further.
Seeing this, Tatsuya got a firm grasp of the situation.
However, even with that understanding, he was still stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"—Shiba-kun, why don't you speak with this unreasonable ojou-sama?"
(Seriously...... Not even a "would you like to", but a "why don't you", eh......)
Whether or not Kanon consciously realized this, her word usage had thrown the entire burden over to Tatsuya for him to handle.
"Ha......"
Nonetheless, Tatsuya adopted a "it doesn't matter" kind of attitude. No matter how Kanon saw this, when compared to the two of them fighting it out, if he could swiftly put an end to all the fuss, at least the incident would be quickly handled even if he was a little heavy handed.
"If you're leaving all the decision making to me, then I'm not going to hold back."
Tatsuya didn't include any further conditions but asked for the power of attorney.
Realizing this, Kanon unwillingly furrowed her brows.
However, once she saw Isori next to her refrain from objecting, she grudgingly accepted this.
Tatsuya brought Erika and Leo to one side of the main conference hall and sat down on the sofa.
(Naturally, Miyuki sat next to him.)
"......Well, I get the overall gist of things."
Tatsuya said towards the two individuals who were set on causing mayhem.
"Erika probably didn't want a head-on confrontation either."
"......Sorry. I ended up causing Tatsuya-kun a lot of trouble......"
This rare, praiseworthy attitude that Erika displayed astonished Tatsuya. Based on her personality, she wasn't the type to read the subtle changes in other's emotions as her strong (more like "intentional") personality often rubbed people the wrong way despite her good intentions, thus leading to considerable awkwardness.
In this regard, Tatsuya still had a long way to go as a judge of character. The human heart was not something that could be so easily deciphered like magic.
"—It's not like you have to be part of the security detail, you can cheer us on from the audience stands. If anything happens, no one would complain if you chipped in to help."
Tatsuya intentionally placed emphasis on the word "help". Hearing this, Erika's previously downcast expression reverted to her usual warmth to the point that the corners of her lips twitched in a smile that clearly said "you evil man".
"Help, eh?"
"If you're bored before the match, then come play around in the back area. Since you're friends of mine, you don't have to hold back."
Hearing Tatsuya emphasize the words "play" and "friends" in his proposal, Erika and Leo exchanged a look before bursting into delighted laughter.
As the hour of the opening ceremony drew near, the waiting room for every school became quite lively.
Based on the schedule, the last school would present many hours from now, but it was only natural for the students who came to attend the Thesis Competition to be highly interested in the subject regardless of whether they were the speakers on stage, the supporting cast, or simply just supporters from school.
Everywhere in the main hall, students could be seen chatting away with their peers from other schools.
Students were not the only ones who had surpassed their official affiliations when it came to communication.
Haruka came to the Thesis Competition not because of her job as First High's faculty member, but because of her work as an intelligence operative for Public Safety.
After the events in April, Public Safety became deeply interested in Tatsuya.
To be precise, the department within Public Safety that Haruka belonged to developed an interest in Tatsuya's background.
However, whenever they investigated the details around him, the higher ups would apply pressure on them.
Haruka didn't directly feel the heat, but she overheard her superior complain about it when she received her mission.
This only served to deepen her director's interest. Since they couldn't dispatch any official investigators, the mission was handed directly to Haruka.
Of course, Haruka resisted this. Back in April, Haruka tried her best to drive the point home that he wasn't an opponent who would fall for her traps, but naturally this was completely ignored. Thus, she fell into a situation where she was forced to continue despite her inadequacies when dealing with Tatsuya.
She was ordered to uncover Tatsuya's real identity, but experts had already gone over his personal data with a fine toothed comb and came up with "nothing to report".
Originally, her talents didn't lie in this direction. Even so, she had planned to use counseling to sound him out, only to make no progress whatsoever, which was only to be expected when her observation target never utilized the counseling services.
Thus, her inefficient plan of action that had no guarantee of success was to investigate his acquaintances, especially the contacts that were not from school.
The target of her investigation was currently preparing the presentation device in the room assigned to First High. She had no excuse to enter the room, but as stated earlier, Haruka wasn't adept at handling Tatsuya.
Stuck between her personal feelings and sense of duty, the result was Haruka adopting a passive stance holding a cup of coffee while maintaining her surveillance of the entrance from the main hall (also, disposable cans had vanished in this day and age as all containers had recycling as first priority).
Fortunately for this, this was not without progress. Shortly after her observation began, a female guest visited the room. From her age and appearance, she was no high school student. She wasn't even a college student.
She was probably her own age. Matching the face against her memories, that woman probably wasn't affiliated with the school.
But she had an impression of her from somewhere.
"......So it is her."
After referencing the picture taken by the anti-theft camera issued from Public Safety with the numbers, the image search verified whether she recalled incorrectly.
"The Electron Sorceress......"
In Haruka's high school days, she was an individual of considerable renown. Taking her gender into account, she may be called a heroine, but Haruka felt that the term hero would be more applicable......
The individual responsible for delivering the victory to Second High during the Nine Schools Competition — the Electron Sorceress.
For Haruka, who gave up on being a Magician from the moment she took the high school entrance examination, she was a young girl who aroused both envy and awe.
After graduating from the magic university, rumor had it that she joined the Defense ministry, but what was she doing visiting First High's room instead of her alma mater Second High?
Still, it wasn't like it was completely unnatural. There was nothing strange about wearing casual clothes on Sunday. Maybe she was here to recruit students who were about to graduate and didn't know that only the Shiba siblings were inside. Heck, maybe she came to see Miyuki.
However, Haruka's instincts told her that this woman was a clue to Tatsuya's background.
Not knowing that they were under such rigorous observation — no, maybe precisely because they were aware — the siblings were conversing with Fujibayashi, who dropped in to visit.
"Miyuki, long time no see. The last time we met face to face was at least half a year ago."
"Ah, the last time we met was in February, so it has been a long time indeed."
"I went to see the Nine Schools Competition too. We held a small get together in the room to welcome Tatsuya, wouldn't it have been better if Miyuki came along too?"
Saying this, Fujibayashi leveled a "why didn't you bring her" look at Tatsuya.
Nevertheless, if he was cowed by this he wouldn't be Tatsuya.
"Bringing Miyuki along would be too eye-catching."
Tatsuya's gaze swiftly added that catching too much attention would cause difficulties.
Miyuki was a tad embarrassed whereas Fujibayashi smiled with a helpless look on her face.
—Looks like he wasn't going to get an answer by beating around the bush.
"Speaking of which, Fujibayashi."
He didn't call her lieutenant because this was a normal public facility. Although he had already checked for bugs, he still couldn't let down his guard.
"Is it OK for you to visit First High's waiting room?"
For the uninitiated, this might seem like an incomprehensible statement, whereas those who were slightly in the loop might still interpret this incorrectly. People who only knew of Fujibayashi's exploits during her high school years would likely wonder "is it OK for the previous champion from Second High to have a friendly conversation in the waiting room of a rival school".
"No worries."
Of course, the people in question had no misconceptions.
"Times like these, having an official capacity helps a lot. As one of the technical officers attached to the Weapons Development Division of the Defense Department, there's nothing odd about visiting someone like you who exhibited a high degree of skill during the Nine Schools Competition."
"Just as it's natural for a member of the Fujibayashi Family, right?"
"Exactly. So Tatsuya-kun, feel free to call me 'Lieutenant Fujibayashi', 'Fujibayashi', or even 'Fujibayashi-nee', OK?"
"Uh, I think nee-san is going to be impossible."
Tatsuya smiled halfheartedly at Fujibayashi's mischievous joke. —Of the wry smile variety.
"Then, let's leave the greetings there...... I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"
A familiar conversation began, Tatsuya thought, then allow me to respond to a classic question with a classic answer.
"Let's hear the good news first."
"......Don't people usually respond with 'let's hear the bad news first'?"
"Then let's hear the bad news first."
Seeing Tatsuya reply back while feigning ignorance, the normally stoic Fujibayashi sighed.
"......Forget it, it's OK. Let's start with the good news first. The Mobile Suit from beforehand has been completed. Captain Sanada said that they will be delivered tonight."
"Really...... As expected of him. Still, is it too late to run live tests tomorrow after returning to Tokyo......"
"Tomorrow, there will be a parade. Of course, in reality the captain wants to test this out as soon as possible, so he wanted to show off to you as soon as he could. The primary components were all furnished on your end, so at the very least he wants to bring out the assembled model in order to encourage himself. Yesterday, he even said something ridiculous like 'this way I can save face'."
"That's hardly ridiculous. The actual question was whether we could create something that could stand the rigors of live combat."
"I will convey your words to the captain. I believe he'll relax a lot more now."
Tatsuya chuckled wryly when Fujibayashi winked at him.
"Now...... for the bad news. No matter how we look at it, there's no way the earlier incident will just end there."
"Is there a problem?"
Tatsuya's face tightened, or more like his face became oddly solemn. By his side, Miyuki uneasily gazed at him.
This time, even Fujibayashi couldn't simply joke about it.
"The details are here."
She said as she handed a data card to Tatsuya.
Apparently, the contents were so classified they didn't want to send this over the wireless.
"Although I've added several layers of protection on my side...... There's still a chance this has already been leaked."
"Understood. We will make preparations on our end."
The siblings nodded in unison.
Seeing this, a trace of concern flashed across Fujibayashi's face, but she didn't forbid them to do so.
"We hope that nothing will happen, but...... If the worst case scenario does occur, we'll be relying on you."
No matter how much it hurt her, he was still an invaluable asset, so her position did not afford her the luxury of saying "stay out of it".
The time was 8:45 AM. The audience stands were almost entirely filled.
After Tatsuya reviewed the information Fujibayashi passed him, Isori and Kanon came in.
"Shiba-kun, time to switch."
They changed the guard every time a presentation finished, with the order already prearranged. Isori was very interested in the second topic "development of magic assistance devices capable of molecular rearrangement" presented by Fourth High, so he volunteered to keep watch during the first presentation.
Tatsuya felt that there was no need to pay extra heed to the sequential order since there was a screen in the waiting room, but he still acquiesced to Isori's proposal.
"It's all yours."
Concisely handing over his responsibility, Tatsuya headed to the stands with Miyuki.
—But.
The two of them came to a halt in the main hall.
"Shiba-san."
Miyuki was the one who was addressed.
The voice came from a young man, or maybe a teenager was more appropriate. The voice was slightly uneasy, probably caused by his heightened anxiety. The face belonged to someone whom the siblings hadn't seen for two months.
"Ichijou-san."
Ichijou Masaki had called out to Miyuki.
He wore a "security" wristband on his left arm. Rather than being one of the supporting cast from Third High, he appeared to be serving in the security detail composed of students from all nine schools that was headed by Katsuto during the Thesis Competition. This turnout was likely because he saw Miyuki while executing his mission of patrolling the premises.
"Long time no see, Shiba-san. I believe the last time was during the evening ball."
"......Ah, likewise, long time no see."
This natural yet unnatural pause was caused by a cognitive dissonance because Masaki saw Miyuki as his dance partner during the ball, while Miyuki viewed Masaki as her brother's opponent during the Newcomer's Division.
In order to cover this, or muddle the waters, Miyuki bowed with extreme politeness.
"Ah, no, me too......"
This flawless etiquette rattled Masaki even though he was more accustomed to moving through higher social circles than Tatsuya. The young man (probably another member of the security team who was Masaki's partner) also stood there mesmerized. Miyuki's devious plan worked perfectly.
"Are you patrolling the area?"
It was only now that Miyuki smiled and asked the rhetorical question.
"Y-Yes, indeed."
Isn't it a sign of immaturity to be shaken so easily? Tatsuya thought but changed his mind upon reflecting that when the opponent was Miyuki, such a result was inevitable.
Even he who was closer to her than anyone else and had had his mind reforged sometimes forgot himself while watching her. Thus, it was unsurprising that this outsider who stood in such close proximity to the fairest one would be overly conscious of Miyuki's presence.
Miyuki was not privy to her brother's ruminations. Her interest was roused and her mood excellent.
"Since Ichijou-san is giving this his all, I think we can safely relax. We'll be in your care."
True, it was heartening to know that the "Crimson Prince" was part of security. However, Tatsuya's thoughts were purely an objective assessment. —Still, isn't this laying it on a little thick?
"Yes! I will do my utmost to live up to your expectations!"
Completely nonchalant, Tatsuya wondered whether Masaki could make it through the day.
"Good luck to you too, Tomitsuka-kun."
"Ah...... Thank you for your encouragement."
Masaki's companion who had been left alone to one side dizzily replied back in a tone that was a little too stiff to be addressed to someone in the same year.
Although they didn't need to be as uptight as security, after Erika accepted the job on the spot, objectively speaking she had no intentions of backing down.
After regrouping with Mikihiko since they missed him while taking Tatsuya and company to the waiting room and reuniting with Mizuki, who had sent word ahead of time she would be late, they sat down in four seats in the audience stands. Erika paid extra heed to "easy observation areas" as well as "suspicious individuals".
Her efforts were not in vain. In one of the rear corners of the audience stands, she found a familiar figure.
Speaking of familiar, it was more like she couldn't forget even if she tried. This was a face that she used to see every day, and even with their schedule clashes nowadays, they still saw each other once every two days or so.
The other person also noticed Erika. No, maybe the other person noticed Erika even sooner. While this wasn't anything surprising after taking the other person's ability into consideration, this still irked Erika to no end.
"Eh? Erika, over there is......"
Mikihiko caught on as well.
Again, it wasn't weird that he would recognize that person either.
"Erika-chan, is that someone you know?"
"Just a Casanova wannabe. He's probably waiting for a woman right now."
Before her compatriots in the adjacent seats could turn this into a conversation, Erika opted to behave as if she didn't know that person.
Well aware of Erika's rocky relationship with Toshikazu (well, one-sided on Erika's part), Mikihiko avoided rocking the boat and shifted his gaze as Leo, insensitive to the currents, was about to ask him to clarify.
"Miyuki, do you know Tomitsuka Hagane?"
"Ah, he's from the neighboring class, so I only know his name and face. Does Onii-sama know him?"
After finding an empty seat, the siblings' conversation drifted not towards their rare guest Masaki, but to the reticent Tomitsuka Hagane.
—This must be what people refer to as unrequited passions.
"Tomitsuka is one of Sawaki-senpai's subordinates. In addition, the Tomitsuka Family's 'Range Zero' is quite famous."
The Tomitsuka Family dominated one area within the Hundred Families.
Even people without Tatsuya's encyclopedic knowledge knew of the heresy incidents caused by Magicians of that family.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Suddenly, Erika joined in after arriving from the audience stands.
"Erika, are you alone? Where's Leo?"
The two of them were just together, thus prompting Tatsuya's question.
Yet, displeasure colored Erika's face.
"......Tatsuya-kun. I'd like to take this opportunity to make something perfectly clear."
Erika wasn't the sort to do something outrageous like throw a fit with so many witnesses around, but her commanding tone was charismatic in its own right.
"Can you stop lumping me together with that? I only taught him a few tricks and gave him a weapon, beyond that there's nothing going on."
"That's not what I meant......"
Despite the misunderstanding, Tatsuya was not an "honest guy", but this time he was being earnest. He truly meant nothing by his words.
Speaking of which, wasn't this overreaction a hint that she hadn't discerned this was an issue? Tatsuya turned that thought over in his head, but wasn't evil enough to verbalize it.
"Where's everyone else?"
Since the triumph during the Nine Schools Competition, their peers from Year 1 Class E had expressed great interest and all claimed that "We're all coming to cheer you on~!" or something like that, so everyone from class planned on showing up.
"Our classmates shouldn't have arrived yet, right? That's probably because they know we're set to go onstage in the afternoon. Ah, but Mizuki and Miki are here in the front row. There's a lot of chemistry going on there."
Erika chuckled mischievously as she sat next to Tatsuya.
So she disliked talking about her own business, but was quite intrigued when talking about others.
In this regard, Erika was a perfectly normal young girl, Tatsuya thought.
It was 9 AM. The National High School Magic Thesis Competition kicked off with a solemn but not pompous atmosphere. Even with assistance from the military, but when compared to the student events during the Nine Schools Competition, the Thesis Competition was highly valued by universities, corporations, and research institutions. A properly handled introduction might even lead to an individual's career path (from a headhunting perspective). Taking into the account the magic knowledge being bandied around, this sort of scale at the event was perfectly understandable.
After going through the forms for the keynote speech, the introduction for the first presentation, Second High's "Usage of Convergence-Type Magic to Observe and Utilize Dark Matter" began.
Now that the Thesis Competition officially began, the hustle and bustle of the main hall died down.
Uninterested in magic technology, Haruka opted to take a break at the cafe to alleviate her boredom.
Just as she was about to do so.
"Ono-sensei."
A familiar voice called out from near the main entrance.
"Asuka-sensei."
As the school counselor responsible for the mental well being of First High's students, Haruka naturally shared a close relationship with Asuka, who headed the infirmary responsible for physical injuries, although their relationship had not progressed to "friends in private".
"Did Ono-sensei also come to see the thesis presentations? I thought you said you weren't very interested."
This comment might be too fiery depending on tone, but Asuka's amicable tone caused Haruka to suspect "Did I ever say that?". With Asuka's easily approachable personality, she was almost better suited to be a counselor than herself, Haruka thought enviously.
"No, there's just a few things on my mind...... Compared to that, Asuka-sensei, why are you here? Are you here with this child?"
Haruka was correct in that Asuka wasn't alone. By her side, there was a young girl out of uniform who was obviously a high school student. While she had some inkling, she didn't appear to be one of Haruka's students.
"Indeed. Hirakawa-chan said she wanted to watch today's presentations. Although she's recovered from her illness, her physical body is still a little frail, so I tagged along."
While these words smacked of blatant VIP treatment, but once she heard the name Hirakawa, Haruka immediately recalled where she heard this name. While she had no part in handling the attempted data theft, Haruka still had to make her report to the division of Public Safety she belonged to, so she was familiar with the overall situation.
Stimulating her with the success of fellow high school students, helping to provide her with life goals and ultimately changing her mentality was perfectly logical from a psychological standpoint.
"Is that so. Keep up the good work."
Haruka frankly spoke words of encouragement to Asuka.
After taking a small detour, Haruka arrived at the cafe on schedule.
Strictly speaking, a customer that nursed one cup of coffee for 20 minutes wasn't a good customer for this cafe.
She could just whittle away the time here until her day's work was done. Although she wanted to think that way, the world wasn't as easy as one's imagination. More like, society's trials (?) demanded much of her.
"May I borrow a bit of your time?"
Haruka's heart almost stopped when someone reached out to her.
As if to fill the loss of time, the next instant her heart started beating violently.
—Maybe this was a misconception, but her shock had truly upset her heartrate and breathing patterns.
The one who spoke to Haruka was Fujibayashi.
"Eh...... Ah, please."
"Thank you."
Gracefully sitting down, she ordered a cup of red tea from the waitress who swiftly appeared with a gentle voice.
In comparison to Fujibayashi's coolness, Haruka could not contain her anxiety.
That was hardly her fault.
Her observation target suddenly directly initiated a conversation with her.
Though Haruka was frantic enough to spit fire, since she was unable discern the other person's motives, she could only sit and watch in silence as Fujibayashi took a sip from the red tea that the waitress brought and let out a deep breath.
"......It is a little embarrassing to be watched like that."
Faltering, Haruka only noticed that she was staring at Fujibayashi when the other person pointed it out to her.
"S-Sorry."
Her shame and wavering continued to grow, but Fujibayashi's next words allowed Haruka's heart to immediately calm down.
"That's fine. It is my honor to be held in such high esteem by the 'Phantom Lady'."
"......I believe it is my honor for someone like me to dwell in the memory of the 'Electron Sorceress'."
Despite the heightened wariness in her tone, this degree of change was unavoidable given the circumstances.
The title Fujibayashi spoke of — "Phantom Lady" was nowhere near as famous as Fujibayashi's alias, the "Electron Sorceress". This name was only familiar to intelligence operatives when discussing the unidentified female spy who bore that name.
The fact that her identity as the "Phantom Lady" was exposed was more than sufficient to push Haruka to the brink.
Given that she was able to carelessly drop such an incredible secret, then on the flip side, her "demand" was likely to be heavy as well.
"So, what is it?"
Seeing a determined expression usurp her previously faltering form, Fujibayashi smiled in satisfaction.
"I think you know very well without me going into detail, correct?"
"......My sincere apologies, but I'm not as gifted as you are."
In reality, Fujibayashi's words were spot on as Haruka had already surmised her opponent's demands.
It was just that if she said "I understand" and nodded her head — this would be the same as raising the white flag.
"You're too humble. You graduated from college and graduate school with outstanding grades. Even Kokonoe-sensei gave you high marks."
Haruka mentally clucked her tongue.
The Fujibayashi Family was famous for their Ancient Magic users. Thus, it came as no surprise that they shared a close relationship with Kokonoe Yakumo, arguably one of the authorities on Ancient Magic.
On the other hand, Haruka and Fujibayashi's first meeting was today at this minute.
The trump cards she prepared were utterly useless.
"......I don't plan on making any demands that will put you in a difficult position."
This was not Fujibayashi backing down. This was a mental salvo in the form of her flaunting her superior position.
"I just want to propose that the two of us avoid encroaching on the other's territory. That's all."
Technically speaking, this comment held no information whatsoever, but was a profound demand that left no room for misinterpretation.
"......I don't entirely get your drift."
Actually, Haruka got the gist of Fujibayashi's proposal, just as Fujibayashi's request fell in line with her own speculation. In other words, Fujibayashi wanted Haruka to halt any investigation towards Fujibayashi's military activities.
On the other side, Fujibayashi clearly understood that Haruka comprehended the meaning of her request.
"Do you want me to repeat myself clearly once more?"
With a relaxed expression, Fujibayashi watched the fuming Haruka clench her teeth.
This vixen! Even if she continued to glare at her, right now Haruka could only bray like a whipped dog.
"Don't worry. Your superiors won't prosecute your responsibilities."
In other words, she had already made her move against Haruka's higher ups.
Fujibayashi lightly rose to her feet and handed her check to Haruka.
She could plainly pay for her bill at the table and it was doubly irritating to walk over to the front counter.
Haruka and Fujibayashi's first encounter ended in Haruka's complete and utter defeat.
(......Still, it's not like I got nothing out of this!)
At the very least, there definitely existed an unspeakable secret between Shiba Tatsuya and Fujibayashi Kyouko.
This was the only thing made painfully clear.
Haruka failed to discover her own mulishness as she vowed to avenge herself for this slight.
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