Published at 26th of March 2019 2:11 am

Volume 13, Chapter 3

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

By the end of the week, First High School was finally recovering from the shock given to them by the Nine Schools Competition’s administration. They had already reselected the athletes to deal with the changes they had received notice of on July 2nd; on Saturday the 7th, practice for the events had commenced again. Quarterly exams started on Tuesday; however, they intended to have the new representatives get in at least one practice before then. Especially for the new events Row and Gunner and Shield Down, they decided that in order to get a grip on how to compete in the events, they should try holding mock bouts. They were unable to start on Steeplechase Cross-country; the overly massive scale of that field meant they hadn’t yet finished preparations.

The Battle Board waterway was used ’as is’ for the Row and Gunner practice; the targets were on loan from the Biathlon and Hunting clubs. As for Shield Down, they made one makeshift ring each in the sports field for both the girls and boys' practices, which had begun immediately after school.

Currently, in the girls’ ring — which was really of the same standard dimensions as the boys' ring, at 20 meters in length and width, and 1 meter in height — the female solo representative, Chikura Tomoko, was facing off against Erika.

Aside from its size, the Shield Down ring looked like a boxing ring without the pillars and ropes; however, the floor surface had been made from materials that prevented slippage and tamped down vibrations to the least amount possible.

Despite the canvas being barely suitable for running around on, Erika was freely rushing about.

“What the, so fast…!”

For some time now, Tomoko had been trying to push Erika out of the ring with ‘Bias Release’ magic. The normal way to use this magic is to compress the air on one side, then force a high pressured release of air on the opposite end.

However, she had been completely unable to keep track of Erika, who was using personal acceleration magic. Tomoko lost sight of Erika’s form as she moved in a zigzag, and in the next instant, her shield received a fierce attack.

Erika made a practical application of landslide and smashed Tomoko’s shield with her own. The technique could be called a shield bash version of landslide. The second they touched, the bash from Erika, who had maximized her own shield’s inertia, sent Tomoko flying out of the ring with her shield.

Erika jumped down from the ring and reached out to offer her hand to Chikura Tomoko, who had landed on her back and was buried in the cushions laid out outside the ring. At Tatsuya’s side, Hattori watched them and sighed. Realizing that Tatsuya had sent him a questioning sidelong glance, Hattori turned to face the boys’ ring. There, Sawaki and Leo were crossing swords — or rather shields — with the representative pair, Kirihara and Tomitsuka.

The shields used in Shield Down were made of wood. The surface area of the boys’ shields was over 0.5 square meters, while the surface area of the girls’ shields was over 0.3 square meters. Aside from the handle, the rules prescribed that its form had to have no more than 2 curved surfaces. In short, as long as the surface of the shield’s form wasn’t wavy or something like that and both sides didn’t fold back or something like that, it could be round, square or even star shaped.

As a result of the simulations of the athlete representatives’ attack patterns, First High had adopted a spindle shaped shield. Kirihara was pointing the tapered end of the shield towards Leo.

In the middle of the ring, Leo dropped to his knees to catch and stop Kirihara’s thrust. Without even a slight falter, Leo was truly remarkable, but Kirihara, who wasn't thrown off-balance in the slightest from the recoil of that total block, was just as amazing.

The two’s movements ceased. Aiming for that moment, Tomitsuka set up an attack on Leo.

Tomitsuka dodged the glaring Sawaki, swiftly going around Kirihara on the right side. The trapped Kirihara was holding the shield one handed on his right arm; Tomitsuka’s shield was longer and he gripped two handles with both hands. With his posture placing the shield in front of him on the right side, it looked like he was about to thrust a spear at Leo.

“Uwaa!?”

However, immediately beforehand, Tomitsuka’s body was assaulted by a sudden gust of wind. As Tomitsuka went around to Kirihara’s right, Sawaki went around to Leo’s left. Sawaki, who had his shield attached to his left arm, was thrusting his right fist out at Tomitsuka.

Sawaki specialized in creating waves of air pressure with the speed of his fists. Magic widened the surface area without increasing the weight by coating his hand in a thick veil of air, and sent forth jabs of wind using magically accelerated fists. By the rules of Shield Down, hitting anything but the shield with a solid or liquid object attack was absolutely forbidden, but there were no guidelines on gaseous attacks.

Tomitsuka’s slight body tumbled to the canvas. He barely avoided tumbling out of the ring; however, without the means for a distance attack, Tomitsuka was, in this instant, rendered an invalid. Kirihara was locked shield to shield with Leo, but his left hand could manipulate the CAD worn on his right arm.

There was only one move that could abolish the two to one formation. He had to compile magic to destroy Leo’s shield, ‘a sonic blade’ using his shield as a medium. Kirihara applied a high frequency magic sequence and another magic sequence to prevent its own destruction to his shield.

The waves were transmitted to Leo’s shield where the edges touched— “Nuoh!?”

—Kirihara’s shield was half destroyed. Unintentionally, Kirihara cried out in surprise, a reaction that was only natural. The reason the shield broke from the oscillation was that Kirihara’s magic sequence, which was to prevent the shield from self-destructing, had lost out to Leo’s fortification magic.

Leo smashed the edge of Kirihara’s now upright shield. Leo’s magically fortified shield shattered Kirihara’s shield to pieces.

This result caused another sigh to escape Hattori’s mouth. He shook his head two to three times and haltingly spoke to Tatsuya.

“Shiba… wouldn’t it be better if we appointed Chiba and Saijou to the team?”

Actually, they had been put forth as representative candidates before, but Tatsuya had been the one to object to them the most.

“If there weren’t restrictions on the attacks, those two would both be strong candidates, but-”

“They wouldn’t win under the rules of Shield Down? You said that at selection time, but in actual bouts, this is…”

“Only because neither Chikura-senpai nor Kirihara-senpai are used to the methods of fighting in Shield Down. Minami.”

After gently denying Hattori’s misgivings, Tatsuya called out to Minami, who was watching the practice from close to the girls’ ring.

“Yes, Tatsuya-niisama?”

Minami started to rush over to him; however, Tatsuya stopped her with a hand gesture and walked over to the girls’ ring himself. The girl beside Minami, who was Minami’s partner in the first year girls' Shield Down pairs competition, stiffened out of nervousness.

“Erika.”

“What?”

Tatsuya beckoned Erika with a hand as he walked. Erika, who had been fervently watching Leo’s bout, immediately returned to the girls’ ring.

“Erika, take on Minami as an opponent for me, please.”

“You mean solo?”

“Yes.”

"Hnmm... Alright then."

After visually inspecting Minami from head to toe, Erika nodded of agreement and ascended to the ring.

“Minami.”

While obviously shaken by this unexpected development, Erika continued her ascent as Minami was called to a stop and Tatsuya whispered something to Minami.

Watching this, Erika forced her lips to smirk.

“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting, Chiba-senpai. Please start whenever you are ready.”

When Minami climbed into the ring, she called out pleasantries and “I wonder what tactical advice he gave you. This is going to be fun.” Erika answered with a deadly smile.

“If both of you are ready.”

As with the Nine Schools Competition custom where no referee is present in the arena itself, there would not be one on the canvas for Shield Down. Instead of the electronic beep, Tatsuya blew a whistle.

Erika attacked Minami head on. She wasn’t refraining from using a feint because she took Minami lightly. She just couldn’t keep her curiosity over what plan Minami had received from Tatsuya under control.

As she faced the savagely lunging Erika, Minami quickly and calmly manipulated her CAD.

Erika’s body instantly halted. Because the inertia affecting her body was neutralized, so was the possibility of further movement according to Erika’s own will.

Minami had created an all encompassing wall that Erika’s shield had slammed into. There was no recoil because inertia had been reduced as much as possible. However, that was true for Minami as well. Not being jarred by the impact, Minami switched to her next cast.

Erika’s body was slightly elevated. She was not floating of her own will. She was stranded on the slightly angled barrier Minami created. Even with inertia cancelled, gravity was still in effect so it was possible to straddle the barrier. However, there wasn’t resistance for her feet to push off from and get loose.

“Wait a…”

Erika hurriedly tried to cut off the neutralization magic, but unfortunately with her skill she could not immediately end the magic. Inertia had been reduced, but uniform velocity still applied. As a result, Erika was moved out of the ring by the advancing Minami’s barrier as if she had wings.

“It couldn’t be, just now… was that Juumonji-senpai’s ’Phalanx’!?” Hattori whispered, his voice full of shock.

“No. The method used just now is successive movement of a single layered physical barrier.”

Tatsuya quickly refuted that.

“The principle works just the same as simple movement magic. For movement magic, the process alters the coordinates of the target, one after another. In this case, the target for coordinate alteration is not a physical object, but rather the coordinates for the deployed barrier.”

“Is it really that simple…?”

Hattori’s shock didn’t wear off; instead, it deepened slightly. If that could be easily done, then anyone could duplicate the attack aspects of ‘Phalanx’.

“The difference between the degree of difficulty of the process Minami is using and Phalanx is extreme. After all, the attack type Phalanx is a magic that continually creates multiple barriers against physical objects in constant motion between set parameters and is unique in its sustainability. There is no need for Minami to build and sustain enough force to crush her target into her sequence.”

After he answered the question, he left Hattori’s side and walked over to where Chikura Tomoko was. There, Erika, who had fallen from the ring, and Minami, who had descended from the ring with an apologetic look on her face, gathered.

“Man~, I got done in bad. But, good grief, I didn’t think I could be thrown out of the ring so quickly.”

“If your thrusts are that obvious, it’s inevitable that you’ll be hit with a counterattack. Erika’s forte is speed the eye can’t follow; in short, her opponent has to use something that does not require visual confirmation.”

“…Well reasoned.”

Tatsuya turned his gaze from Erika, who looked daunted from having the weak point of her secret technique mercilessly pointed out to Tomoko.

“I believe you have just seen how to deal with adversaries who challenge you to close combat.”

“…I can’t use a barrier like that.”

“Chikura-senpai, aren't vector inversion processes your specialty?”

Perhaps since she hadn’t realized Tatsuya knew her magic specialty, Tomoko’s eyes widened slightly.

“…Yes, that’s true.”

“Applying vector reversal on your opponent just before your shields touch would be a good way to send your opponent flying out of the ring with movement magic.”

It was vexing that Tatsuya proposed a technique she hadn't known of or imagined. In this Nine Schools competition, Tatsuya held two positions, that of an engineer and a tactical advisor. It would be out of the question for him not to know the athletes’ strengths and weaknesses for either role. It was a slightly blunt way of putting it, but perhaps there was a reason. —The potential for facing such a situation was high.

Aside from whatever she thought of his attitude, Tomoko generally understood Tatsuya’s advice. The one who looked like she had something to say was Erika, but Tatsuya’s attention was on the vibrating information terminal in his pocket.

He took the terminal out and read the message. Tatsuya then turned around and spoke to Hattori.

“It seems that the preparations for Pillars Break are done. I would like to switch over to there, so can I leave this to you?”

“Ah, good work. I’ll take it from here.”

Having anticipated those words, Hattori quickly agreed to it.

Just in case, Tatsuya took a look over at the boys’ ring. At the side of the third year engineer entrusted with fine tuning Sawaki’s CAD, Hirakawa Chiaki was listening to Tomitsuka with all her might. Perhaps she might be listening to his impressions of the CAD he would use in competition. Deciding there were no problems, Tatsuya made his bow to Hattori and Chikura and spoke to Erika and Minami, then went to the practice grounds of Pillars Break in the training forest.

Every year Pillars Break practice took place in an open air fifty meter pool deep inside the training forest. It wasn’t a pool for swimming; it was for fluid control practice. The normally waterless pool was capped and filled with water, where pillars of ice were created and then erected using magic. And finally, Pillars Break practice could begin. That was the usual procedure.

Up till last year, the business of preparation took a lot of time. This year, however, the preparations finished in one fourth the usual time.

“Ah, Onii-sama. The preparations have been made.”

Since she was a freshman last year, Miyuki had tactfully refrained from volunteering, but this year she was deeply involved in the operation and had proceeded to show what she could do. Tatsuya was aware that last year she was only doing about half of what she was capable of, but Miyuki’s ability was exceeding even Tatsuya’s expectations. —Actually, it only took about as long as it took to prepare and fill the pool with water.

“Thank you for your hard work. That was really fast.”

“I can't have Onii-sama waiting after all.”

Miyuki’s remarks were in keeping with her image as a Yamato Nadeshiko; however, the look she was giving Tatsuya was completely at odds with her words and image. Her eyes spoke eloquently. She wanted him to return to her as soon as possible. Her real motive was clear to anyone who looked at her; Kanon and the rest were openly disgusted.

“My, I didn’t think she would swiftly mold twenty four pillars of water and freeze them in one fell swoop.”

“Did Tatsuya-san arrange that fluid control magic?”

Kanon’s grumbling was mixed with sarcasm; however, Shizuku was interested in the techniques Miyuki had used.

“The application of similar models duplication theory was my idea, but the practically usable form was Miyuki’s.”

“I just intuitively used the magic from the Activation Sequence Onii-sama had already constructed.”

The brother and sister were praising each other’s achievements. At this point, not just Kanon, but Shizuku as well turned away allowing the two to have their own way.

“…Anyway, since the preparations are done, let’s get started.” At Tatsuya’s words, Miyuki immediately got into position.

Kanon and Shizuku’s moves were somewhat sluggish which was not completely their fault.

As already noted, the fifty meters long, twenty meters wide, and five meters deep pool was not for swimming. Therefore, it was not kept to a high hygienic standard. All that had been done was to coat the surface of the walls and bottom with highly water-repellent clay. However, that made it quite suitable for Pillars Break practice.

On the scaffolding on one side was Miyuki.

On the scaffolding on the other side were Kanon and Shizuku.

It was a two to one handicap match, but it could not be said that the pair had a clear cut advantage.

Except in special conditions, magic could not be mixed. If the combination of magic Kanon and Shizuku released did not go well, both their magics would just not activate. Or, rather if they screwed up, neither of the effects of their magic would appear. This was a problem in the other pair competitions as well, but it was expected to be especially problematic for Ice Pillars Break.

“Good luck, Shizuku!”

Honoka was cheering on Shizuku. Because construction on Mirage Bat was delayed, she had come to watch the Pillars Break practice, at least that was her excuse for being with Tatsuya.

“Miyuki-senpai, good luck!”

Izumi rooted for Miyuki competitively, but with slight embarrassment. She was the representative in the newcomers’ Ice Pillars Break, so while she probably had some wicked thoughts, she was actually here to learn from observation.

“Well then, begin.”

As Tatsuya’s words continued, the conveniently installed light that was red switched to yellow. When it switched to green, magic exploded into the pool.

Kanon, who was sitting on a folding chair, was frowning with a faraway look in her eyes. Miyuki and Shizuku were standing, looking at each other as if they were bewildered about ‘what to do about it’.

They had continued the mock combat for five rounds with Miyuki doing almost all the ice pillar replacement; in short, regardless of how much excess power she used, Miyuki had won all five rounds. Even someone other than Kanon would be sullen at this result.

“Chiyoda-senpai on attack; Shizuku on defense. I don’t think this strategy is fundamentally unsound.”

And making no attempt to soothe Kanon’s sullenness, Tatsuya spoke to her with no hesitation.

“Are you saying we didn’t fail due to the magic? So what are we doing wrong?”

“It’s not that you are doing anything wrong; you’ve had too little practice in coordinating with each other. Since today is the first day, it’s only natural.”

“…In what way was it bad.”

“In the area where your magic was active, Senpai and Shizuku’s Fortification area overlapped a little.”

Hearing Tatsuya’s explanation, Shizuku bowed her head in front of Kanon. “I’m sorry, Senpai. It was my mistake.”

“That‘s right. In order to oppose the area Miyuki’s magic affected, you probably widened the target of your fortification to encompass our whole area, but as expected, Fortification magic is meant to be used not on areas, but individual Information Bodies. Besides, in Pillars Break, as long as at least one pillar remains, you haven’t lost, so you should have considered narrowing the number of your targets.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Onii-sama, do you have any advice for me?”

With a ‘smile’, Miyuki interposed herself in front of Shizuku, whose face as she gazed up at Tatsuya looked like a puppy waiting to be petted.

“When you lose, Miyuki, I’ll give you advice. And if it’s because you weren’t trying, I’ll scold you.”

“Scold… I wouldn’t deliberately lose. It would be an insult to Senpai and Shizuku.”

Miyuki replied to Tatsuya’s words in an angry tone, but she was a little red around her averted eyes.

Kanon watched with a flabbergasted look. She was actually unhappy that the engineer in charge of practice was Tatsuya, not Isori. So she wanted to find fault with Tatsuya’s work; however, seeing the attachment Miyuki and Shizuku had for Tatsuya with her own eyes, in her heart, Kanon smiled wryly and said ‘I guess I’ll put up with it until the actual match’ to herself.

◊ ◊ ◊

July 7th, Saturday night. With the length of the days in this season, the time could still be called early evening; despite that, the Saegusa Clan’s main house had fallen silent.

The eldest son of the master, Koichi, had already married and currently resided in a condo in the city's heart with his wife. The second son was always staying overnight at the former Lab Seven or one of the other magic research facilities established by the Saegusa Family, thus that had practically become his home. The eldest two were the children of Koichi's deceased first wife and were in the habit of avoiding their younger sisters, the children of the second wife. By no means were they on bad terms, but there was probably some antipathy for them somewhere in their hearts.

As for Koichi’s daughters, Mayumi, the eldest, was again at a party today and hadn’t returned. This evening’s ball wasn't part of the Numbers’ social scene, but a Star Festival party sponsored by the university; however, she probably would return sometime close to midnight as usual.

Kasumi and Izumi had bathed earlier and retired to their own rooms. Because the pair had quickly spat out ‘we’re exhausted, today’, they might already be asleep.

Although like his youngest daughters, Koichi was exhausted, he could not rest. In the study, the underling who the working Koichi was waiting for asked leave to visit.

“Enter.”

A knock provoked authorization to enter the room. The knocker was Nakura, his trusted retainer for the present.

“What did Zhou Gongjin have to say?”

In his prologue, Nakura constrained himself to brevity when giving the requested information. Of course, Nakura was not merely economizing on the effort of speaking; he was offering an emotionless reply.

“A refugee from the Great Asian Alliance has received a commission from the present head of the Kudou Clan.”

“Hmm…what’s the real reason he contacted Kudou?”

“To interfere with the performance test of the parasite possessed combat gyroids ‘Parasite Dolls’ in the Nine Schools Competition, by driving them amuck and injuring the participants. He says he will not go as far as killing them. Do you think it’s alright to trust him on this point?”

“The method?”

“By using a technique that will drive the parasite being used insane.”

“……External Systematic Magic that intervenes by spirits, huh.”

Koichi murmured, seeming deeply interested. However, he apparently immediately lost interest and turned his body to the desk.

“Good work.”

The words were filled with a command to leave. However, Nakura did not meekly obey it.

“Is it alright to leave it alone?”

“Not my concern.”

Koichi answered with his back toward Nakura.

“The Parasite Doll performance test is being held during the Steeplechase Cross- country event. First years are not a target.”

“Do you mean it’s not your concern because your own relatives will not be injured?”

“That’s an odd thing to say.”

There was no tinge of criticism in Nakura’s voice, but Koichi felt that there was something there he had to respond to and turned his chair to face Nakura.

“Why should I expend my efforts for the sake of other clans’ daughters?”

Nakura bowed his head, acknowledging his error and Koichi’s point. In the first place, considering his connections to the events connected to this, it would be hypocritical of him to be concerned about other families.

“Besides, the first ones to interfere in this event were the Military’s extremists.

The Parasite Dolls’ test is something that came about when Master Kudou used it for his own ends and substituted the magicians for machines. By now, one or two more stratagems have probably been piled on.”

Due to the ringleader being part of a group he was close to, Koichi was very familiar with the particulars that led to the extreme changes in the rules and events of the Nine Schools Competition.

At the start, the military’s anti-Great Asian Alliance extremists laid the foundation. They vehemently opposed the peace treaty made with the Great Asian Alliance in November of last year.

They advocated that we must take advantage of the opportunity given by the loss of third of the Great Asian Alliance’s total fleet and attack to rid ourselves of the longstanding threat. In short, they wanted to start a war. Before the Yokohama incident, this was a minority opinion within the Military, but since Yokohama, there had been a steady increase of supporters.

However, the military threat had been effectively grounded. A fact which increased the opposition to the extremists, which had grown to have too much influence for the military’s top brass to ignore.

Approval for putting pressure on the Magic Association was largely influenced as to pacify the extremists. As a result, competitive events with a strong military flavor were scheduled in this year’s Nine Schools Competition.

What would happen afterwards, Koichi could only conjecture, but Kudou Retsu hadn’t blocked the flow of events since then, only twisted it. Retsu had, under the pretext of testing a magic weapon, attracted the interest of the extremists, to show them a scene where magicians were beaten by Parasite Dolls; that rather than making weapons out of magicians, he would make them think advancing development of the Parasite Dolls initially created as a weapon would provide greater military gains.

There was no proof. It was nothing more than conjecture inferred from the situation. However, no matter how much Koichi considered it, it was rather fitting that Kudou Retsu would prefer this over the development of magicians as weapons.

“Nakura, there is no reason to brood over this. Even if Makoto-dono falls into the trap, sensei will make things work.”

His attitude showed how Koichi trusted his former teacher.

◊ ◊ ◊

July 8th, Sunday. Tatsuya had visited FLT’s 3rd Division research facility in spite of it being a day off, would be a suitable expression to use in this case. Or perhaps it was more adequate to say he had done so because he was off from school.

The only unusual point was that Tatsuya was alone. Because quarterly exams were from Tuesday on, Miyuki was studying at home. Wearing herself out by practicing her skills would be meaningless, but reviewing her notes would be effective.

As usual, the lab was brimming with researchers not knowing any difference between the weekdays and holidays. They were all busy working. The 3rd Division was currently approaching the final stage of developing a new product.

A completely thought-controlled CAD. The completed device would bring about a technological breakthrough by providing Device-Assisted Magical Invocations. Half a year earlier, Rozen Magicraft had put together the world’s first completely thought-controlled model, but FLT’s new product would succeed that.

Naturally, Rozen and FLT’s products were based on completely different concepts. Rozen’s CAD incorporated an exclusive mechanism utilizing a Psion wave- activated switch, which, as a device, would enter a fairly large size.

In contrast, the completely thought-controlled CAD FLT developed was one solely specialized to produce the Activation Sequence for Non-Systematic Magic operating the CAD. Where traditional CAD focused on producing given Activation Sequences for designated magic through finger input, this device realized that through Non-Systematic Magic input.

Though FLT’s completely thought-controlled model mandated installation of a pairing software that coupled to the CAD, they thought there were huge advantages to being able to continue using a device you were accustomed to working with. At least, that was how the 3rd Developmental Division read the situation. The pairing software covered eighty percent of the CADs that had been put on the market in the last five years, regardless of whether they were general purpose or specialized models. Because it could be manipulated by Psion waves alone, this new product was expected to triumph over the issue of brand designs and generate large demand as a supplementary product.

Today was the day it underwent the final test to become a finished product; if no problems were discovered, then they would begin arrangements to launch the commercial model. By the time Tatsuya showed his face in the monitor room, the test had already started.

“Good morning. Am I a little late?”

“Good morning, young master! No, you are right on time. We couldn’t bear to wait until your arrival, so we started early.”

Ushiyama lowered his head with an apologetic look on his face, but his eyes were happily smiling.

He wasn’t sneering at Tatsuya as he smiled; the smile was that of a craftsman when he built a piece he was proud of.

“Is that so. Then I don’t particularly mind, but…”

His eyes went to the monitor on the surface of the wall and Tatsuya made a smile similar to Ushiyama’s.

“It looks like it’s going well.”

The large monitor was displaying the ongoing results of the twenty-two testers simultaneously going through the test. They were going through the eight major types of magic in the four great systems one by one and swapping the CADs each time.

“Up til now, everything has gone well! The time loss is also below our assumed estimates.”

The testers were only using rudimentary magic. This was a commonplace scene when testing a new model of CAD. However, there were two points where it differed from the familiar. The first was that the CAD switches were not being touched by the hands. And the other one was that a small, medal shaped device was dangling on a thin chain from the necks of the testers.

This 3 cm diameter, 6 mm thick object with an artificial silver finish was a round disk. This was the completely thought controlled CAD. Reflected on the monitor providing a visualization of Psion light activity was the status of their medal- shaped CADs as they took in Psions and generated an Activation Sequence. Tatsuya watched one of the testers being displayed on the monitor through his power to observe both the Information Body and the Activation Sequence produced from the medallion on the chest as the tester’s Psions changed to manipulate the Magic Sequence, watching as the Psion waves converged into a narrow point, pinpointed the switch buttons on the bracelet worn on the left arm, and were absorbed.

While CAD buttons had electric switches, it similarly had an inductive stone antenna installed to receive Psion signals. This antenna, which was an already installed type of switch that did not need manipulation, directly interacted with Psions instead of being manipulated by fingers; however, users who were unfamiliar with Psion manipulation unfortunately often activated the wrong Activation Sequence, and the probability that the CAD would itself recognize the mistake was small. This completely thought controlled CAD had been developed to allow even Magicians not well versed in Psion manipulation to accurately designate the Activation Sequence, and also get rid of the former CAD misrecognitions.

For that purpose, the plan Tatsuya and his team had adopted was one where through the Psion waves converging into the inductive stone antenna, they would send in Non-Systematic Magic. To generate the Activation Sequence needed to invoke magic using magic. Certainly, that was a circuitous way, but only because it was best to use a simple structure to operate the CAD, so the burden on the magician would almost always be low enough to ignore. On consideration of the matter, compared to the merit of correctly indicating the Activation Sequence, the indirectness of the method was trivial. “I want to test it as well.”

“Please do. Hey, give the young master a test model!”

Tatsuya took the medal shaped, completely thought-controlled CAD from the researcher who came running in answer to Ushiyama’s call and went to the test room.

◊ ◊ ◊

The afternoon of that same day, Tatsuya took Miyuki downtown. Or to put it more correctly, Miyuki took him.

The test of the new model CAD proceeded without problems and finished before noon. Tatsuya had already returned the special model cartridges to the storage of the CAD he normally used from the one he used in the movement verification test he had overseen and he couldn't find any flaws.

For that reason, the time he had reserved for fixing bugs became completely vacant.

Removing the character for 'prototype', Tatsuya returned home with the completely finished version of the completely thought-controlled CAD as a souvenir to face the sullen glare of his younger sister, who was starting to feel stressed. Of course, Miyuki didn't snipe at Tatsuya or anything — it was rare for her to do so — she just directed surly, angry eyes at him.

However, Tatsuya could not set that aside. Since they had started high school, Miyuki had always maintained second place in the written tests (in the combined scores, it goes without saying that Miyuki was the undisputed top). By no means did Miyuki not comprehend the subject matters she was studying; having said that, she was not the type to obsess over placement. It only took one glance for him to decide that the amount of stress Miyuki was under wasn’t merely from studying.

(Have the preparations for the Nine Schools Competition become burdensome…) Thinking that, Tatsuya suggested Miyuki go out to change her mood.

“An excursion with Onii-sama? Let’s go! Please let’s go!”

While Miyuki replied like that, Tatsuya was caught off guard by her fierce attitude. In short, Miyuki wanted Tatsuya to come with her. He felt her response was a little too extreme, his little sister just wanted to be spoiled by her elder brother. Tatsuya hesitated because he was aware of that, but he didn't dislike spoiling Miyuki.

“How about you, Minami?”

Tatsuya’s question was partly due to the importance of taking their housemate into consideration.

“No, I have to study for the tests and I want to do a little cleaning.”

So you don’t need to include me, was the sum of Minami’s politely worded answer. Her conscience said ‘Shouldn’t she fulfill her duty as a Guardian and accompany them’, but in the end, her feelings of ‘There’s no way I want to be stuck in that sickening sweet atmosphere’ won.

Tatsuya had suggested the outing, but he hadn’t thought up an actual plan when he did it. So deciding where to go was left up to Miyuki, and as a result, they went shopping in downtown Shibuya.

A weakness for fine clothes was an aspect of Miyuki. She still had only a slight interest in cosmetics, but she liked looking at and wearing clothes, thought Tatsuya. Miyuki’s real feelings were slightly different; she liked having Tatsuya look at her all dressed up. Well anyway, it was a frequent pattern that when he went out with Miyuki they would tour those types of shops. So today as well, the pair was visiting a recently built Fashion Center.

In this center, each tenant did not run a separate business, but rather each floor’s shop owners seemed to collaboratively do business; there were no partitions between fellow tenants. The party dress display was next to the area that sold lingerie, the layout making any male casually walking around feel uncomfortable.

Tatsuya also drew attention when he first got there, but since he was basically only following Miyuki, he didn’t avoid their attitudes. Since he didn’t feel particularly embarrassed, Tatsuya decided that feeling awkward about crossing the lingerie area and the swimsuit area on the sides was strange.

Today, that would backfire on him.

Miyuki had chosen a well ventilated dress for summer use in the area that sold casual wear and presented it to the clerk hoping to try it on; unfortunately, none of the changing rooms for that area were open. Both Miyuki and Tatsuya were fine with just waiting for the previous customers to finish up; however, perhaps a strange inclination awoke in the store clerk who was moved by Miyuki’s beauty, and the clerk forcibly guided Miyuki to an open changing room on the same floor.

Which was a changing room in the area that sold swimsuits.

As usual, Tatsuya crossed the narrow area displaying women’s swimsuits; however, perhaps even he felt it would be wrong to stand outside the changing room. As Miyuki disappeared into a door in the wall across from him, he told her to call him on his information terminal if she needed him and Tatsuya left the area.

However, his consideration was not rewarded. Of the four changing rooms lined up and completely concealed in the store, this was the one furthest in, and as Tatsuya took the corridor to get out to the main floor, he passed in front of the other three changing rooms, where in front of the one closest to the door, he bumped into two young girls. The girls were kouhai that Tatsuya knew well.

“Shiba-senpai!? Why are you here! This is the women’s locker room!”

The one with the upset voice that pressed him for answers was Saegusa Kasumi, who was a boyish figure in her T-shirt with an animal design and jeans with the cuffs turned up.

“It’s not a locker room, it’s a changing room, Kasumi-chan…… Ah, could it be!

You’re with Miyuki-senpai!? Where is she!?”

After she corrected the shocked words of her elder twin, Saegusa Izumi suddenly excitedly approached Tatsuya, clad in her quite feminine but somewhat sheer sleeveless dress that used a lot of lace and had a wide neckline with a hem that was five inches above her knees.

And if the pair was here then he could make a rough but accurate guesstimate about who was in the changing room. Gripped by a sense of impending doom, Tatsuya tried to leave the area. —Unfortunately, he was a little late.

“What are you two making a fuss about…….Oh.”

The high but not quite complete airtightness of the changing room was to blame. Even though Mayumi could hear the noisiness of her younger sisters, she couldn’t catch what they were saying and thus opened the door to scold them.

He knew his back was being glared at. If he made a run for it here, everyone would conclude he was a peeping tom. Rather than resigning himself to being accused of a crime he had no memory of committing, Tatsuya reluctantly faced the momentary awkwardness. Tatsuya had rapidly calculated that in his head and forced himself to calmly turn around.

After all, there was no way she was coming out naked, the worst case scenario was that Mayumi would be wearing underwear.

The cloth that Mayumi, who was standing stock still wide-eyed in front of Tatsuya, was wearing only covered a little bit of her body, the area around her breasts above and her hips, bottom and crotch area below — it was a white bikini.

Her chest had an abundance that did not match her small body and there was a clearly defined cleavage between those two mounds.

Her hips were lush to an unexpected degree and with her narrow waist formed mesmerizing curves.

Her exposed thighs looked smooth as marble but somehow gave off an impression of softness.

“Wha…….Tats…..he…..”

“Please calm down, Saegusa-senpai.”

He thrust both palms out at Mayumi who was beginning to tremble out of fear and repeatedly made small soothing gestures. In short, his body language matched the words he spoke. Surprisingly, Tatsuya’s appeals (?) bore fruit.

Mayumi gradually backed away from Tatsuya, returned to the inside of the changing room and, with a slight click, shut the door.

“Kyaaaaaaa!”

What he could hear from inside the changing room was unmistakably Mayumi’s scream. Once again, Tatsuya plotted his escape.

“I thought there had been some kind of incident……”

“I made a fuss….”

All it took was Miyuki’s honest impression to make Mayumi convey an apology with her body hunched down.

“No, it is not your fault, senpai. Rather, it is I who should apologize.”

They were in a coffee shop doing business in the fashion center. Tatsuya, Miyuki, Mayumi, Kasumi and Izumi surrounded the table.

“It’s because I had Onii-sama accompany me to a place like that……Senpai, Onii- sama, I am so sorry.”

Miyuki had invited the other four to this shop. She had asked Mayumi because she wished to properly discuss the previous turmoil; Kasumi and Izumi on the other hand had been summoned as witnesses by Tatsuya.

“No, it’s not your fault, Miyuki-san. It’s not…..it wasn’t like I was seen naked. Be- being embarrassed about the swimsuit is a little strange. I am sorry, Tatsuya-kun. I screamed a little while ago, just out of surprise.”

Because she was older or perhaps because she was aware that she was older, Mayumi determinedly conducted herself like an adult. However, at the same time, it was clearly evident to everyone but herself that her remarks were actually aimed to herself. If you looked at her stained red cheeks and the way her fickle gaze whirled all over the place, you would completely understand that even now she was still distressed.

Tatsuya didn’t say anything. If he denied Miyuki’s words, he would unfortunately look like he was covering for her and all apologizing to Mayumi would do was stir up her mortification.

“No, I think it is understandable.”

It took all his strength for Tatsuya to make that answer.

However, that left one of the girls there dissatisfied. Kasumi was secretly — actually she couldn’t hide it — indignant over Tatsuya embarrassing Mayumi.

If Kasumi’s thoughts were put into words then it would be something like ‘all because he wanted to take a look at Onee-chan in an embarrassing position when she least suspected it!’. She had enough reason left not to call him a ‘Damned peeper!’ but any way you looked at it, she was unreasonably angry at Tatsuya. Happily for Tatsuya, Izumi probably didn’t share the same rage as Kasumi. “Miyuki-senpai, do you have plans for what you are going to do later?”

At this time, Izumi’s mind was completely full of Miyuki.

“I intend to look at western style clothing for a little while, then return home. Since the tests are next week.”

“So, can I join you?”

All pretence of rational thought had flown out of Izumi and she coaxed Miyuki to let her join them. With what is called ‘artlessness’, she stared at Miyuki with a lust tinged gaze. With great difficulty, Miyuki maintained her smile in the face of the proposal of Izumi who was true to her own desires.

“Hmmm, if Onii-sama says he doesn’t mind.”

“Izumi-chan, it is wrong to interfere with another family.”

Miyuki’s reply was neither a yes or a no, but Mayumi’s words clearly censured Izumi. By nature, Izumi was quick on the uptake. Being gently scolded by her eldest sister quickly returned her to a rational state.

“You’re right. Forgive my rudeness, Miyuki-senpai.”

If things had ended here, the Shiba siblings and the Saegusa sisters would have probably parted amicably. However, Kasumi was a little bit more upfront about her feelings than Izumi.

“Right, Izumi. It’s wrong to interfere with Shiba-senpai and Shiba-senpai’s date.”

“Date!?”

For some reason, the one who rapidly responded was Mayumi. “Kasumi. We’re not on a date or anything like that.”

Tatsuya’s voice was too calm to sound like an embarrassed denial. As usual, this suitably expressionless response violently rubbed Kasumi the wrong way as usual.

“There’s nothing on earth that can convince me that a high school boy and a high school girl shopping together alone is not a date.”

Mayumi timidly peered at Miyuki’s countenance.

For some reason, Miyuki was bearing it all with a broad smile.

“I don’t think that’s true when the high school boy and the high school girl are brother and sister.”

“I think it’s altogether useless for siblings to date!”

“Kasumi-chan, you are being incredibly rude.”

Izumi broke in from her side speaking in a sharp tone of voice. It was obvious to her that if she didn’t lend her a hand, Kasumi was going to go past what is called ‘the point of no return’.

Even Kasumi herself understood that she was about to plunge into a bottomless pit of quicksand. However, for some reason, whenever she dealt with Tatsuya, the most trifling thing would set her off. It was unusual for one of a basically summery disposition like Kasumi; even she herself felt it was strange.

However, it wasn’t like that realization would win a race against Kasumi’s mouth.

“Excellent magicians have a duty to leave an heir! Or are you going to partner with your sister, Shiba-senpai?”

“Kasumi.”

However, Kasumi’s rampaging tongue was halted by Tatsuya’s not very loud voice.

“That being said, isn’t it also useless to spend your day off with your sisters?”

“Grr!”

In the blink of an eye, Kasumi’s face stiffened and became increasingly red. To her regret, Tatsuya coolly looked back at the kouhai who was glaring at him. “Senpai, we will take our leave of you here.”

And immediately after breaking eye contact, he made a bow toward Mayumi as he stood up.

“Ah, I should-”

Seeing the bill grasped in Tatsuya’s hand, Mayumi abruptly started to rise.

“No, since you have had to endure the childish antics of your kouhai, this is a recompense.”

However, there was almost no resistance and Tatsuya went to the register. Miyuki stood up, bowed to Mayumi and went after Tatsuya.

At the table, Kasumi’s sisters were gazing at her face that looked about to cry and pursed lips with worry and remained with her.

After leaving the shop, Miyuki walked a little while then turned around. Naturally, the Saegusa sisters weren’t following them. With a slightly relieved look, Miyuki spoke to her brother.

“Umm, Onii-sama. I don’t think Kasumi meant any harm.”

For an instant, Tatsuya looked back at Miyuki with a strange look and immediately agreed with a wry smile.

“I think so, too.”

Tension loosened by Tatsuya’s answer, Miyuki let out a huge sigh.

“Even I understood that Kasumi never intended to say that. I only used that logic to keep Kasumi from continuing further but……I was a little too mean.”

Tatsuya smiled in a self-depreciating manner, but Miyuki understood that he wasn’t seriously attacking himself.

“...I like Onii-sama’s habit of not being overly gentle to other girls.”

“...You have all the traits needed to be a wicked girl, too.” Miyuki’s cheeks swelled with a ‘humph!’

That childish action made Tatsuya smile sweetly.

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