Published at 26th of March 2019 2:11 am

Volume 13, Chapter 6

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

August 5th. The 2096 Nine Schools Competition was finally starting. Not only had the events changed this year, but various procedures had as well.

First for [Ice Pillars Break] and [Shield Down], there were three separate group preliminaries each involving nine contestants (or nine pairs) who competed three times (three sets), with the winners of each bracket coming together for the finals. [Rower and Gunner] would be decided by each pair making one run, with their score being based on number of targets hit and the amount of time taken.

The event with the least rule changes, [Mirage Bat], also had 27 contestants with three qualifiers from each school. The fixed four competitors per set had been changed to three rounds with four competitors and three rounds with five. Which set a competitor would go into would be decided by lottery. Usage of sustained flight was restricted to one minute bursts. This meant that competitors were required to land within one minute.

[Monolith Code] was changed from its irregular tournament format of qualifying league then finals to a round-robin league spanning two days. Using five stages four matches could be staged at a time, meaning a school's eight matches would take place over 10 rounds. [Monolith Code] competitors therefore compete in their eight matches on the 9th and 10th, then on the last day of the tournament compete in [Steeple Chase Cross Country] on the 11th. A heavy physical and mental burden was to be expected.

The first day featured the men's and women's qualifiers for [Ice Pillars Break], as well as [Rower and Gunner].

"If the competition times had overlapped, it would be quite problematic for you, Isori-sempai."

"It seems that's a needless worry now though."

Early in the morning inside the First High tent, Tatsuya coughed in relief. Isori answered with a smile. They were studying the game schedule for the day.

There were nine matches each of qualifiers for both men and women. This was half the number of last year, so each pair would only compete twice a day. The burden on players for this event had been greatly reduced.

While there had been two courts for both men and women up until last year, this year only one court was available to both. This meant that while the overall schedule density had not changed, a margin was freed up in each school's schedule.

Tatsuya breathed a sigh of relief after finding out that Eimi's race and Shizuku's bout would not overlap.

Tatsuya was responsible for Shizuku's CAD in [Ice Pillars Break], and Eimi's CAD in [Rower and Gunner]. He had been strongly solicited by both, but if Eimi's race and Shizuku's and Kanon's match had clashed, he would have had to leave Shizuku's and Kanon's follow-up to Isori.

Besides, both [Pillars Break] and [Rower Gun] (the contraction for Rower and Gunner) had very little for the technical staff to do during the event. The only events requiring CAD exchange and fine-tuning during the match were [Shield Break] with two rounds, and [Mirage Bat] over three periods. Therefore even leaving a pair to one technician was technically not an issue, but Tatsuya did not like the idea of leaving his responsibilities to someone else. If it had come to that, he would have been quite ashamed.

The match schedule had Eimi in the first race of the morning, and Shizuku in the fourth and seventh matches. There was no overlap.

"Then, I'll be going to the [Rower Gun] course."

"Good luck. With Shiba-kun, I'm sure there's no need for worry." With a sunny smile that was wasted on guys, Isori saw Tatsuya off.

Next to the starting point were three doors provided for players and staff; Tatsuya entered the first one. There was nobody inside. That being said, there was still half an hour before the race began. The technical staff had to begin their work, but there was still time for the competitors.

"Good morning!"

Immediately after that thought came to mind, he was greeted by the spirited voice of Azusa.

"Morning, Shiba-kun!"

Faster than he could return the greeting, Eimi poked out from behind. Caught a bit on the back foot, Tatsuya nonetheless replied in order.

"Good morning, President. Eimi, you came together?"

'Together' referred to the third year student who had entered with her. Due to her quiet personality she simply bowed to Tatsuya, and Tatsuya for his part did likewise.

"Yeah, we had breakfast together. Did you have to wait?"

Eimi asked Tatsuya, although she didn't seem overly concerned.

It would only have troubled Tatsuya if she were, so he just shook his head normally.

"No, not at all."

"That's great!"

Clapping her hands together, Eimi grinned. Although it would have seemed sly by anyone else, it suited Eimi perfectly well.

"Then let's get the CAD adjustment started." As Tatsuya spoke to Eimi,

"Let's go over there." Azusa spoke to her player.

The results of that first day were Eimi's pair in first place, and the men's [Rower Gun] team in third. The Shizuku-Kanon pair qualified for the finals, with the men's [Ice Pillars Break] team also comfortably making it through.

"Eimi, nicely done. Your shooting was almost perfect."

"Thanks, Subaru. I was pretty shocked myself."

Similar bright voices swirled around at dinner, but there was no feeling of an easy win.

"Seventh High doing so well was unexpected."

The executives — Azusa, Hattori, Isori, Kanon, Tatsuya and Miyuki — were gathered in a corner in order not to disrupt the mood, and evaluated the results of the first day frankly.

"We got third for men's and first for women's. They got first for men's and second for women's."

At Azusa's words, Hattori glanced at the results for the day. Taking those into account, they were in second place. And the [Rower and Gunner] solo event tomorrow was the one First High had struggled the most with.

"They are truly [Seventh High of the Seas]. I don't think we lost out in terms of accuracy, but their proficiency was amazing."

As Isori spoke heavily, Hattori went on in a careful tone.

"If Seventh High claims first place in the solos tomorrow, it may be advantageous later."

"Because their point difference will be closer to Third High?"

"It's something I'm reluctant about myself."

Placing second in the men's and third in the women's division, Third High had earned 60 points. First High was ahead by 20 points. Although they had the lead, the prevailing thought was 'this won't last'. This was because they had no confidence whatsoever in the solos tomorrow.

"......Maybe it would have been best for Shiba-kun to be in charge of the [Rower

Gun] solo after all? If it were him, whoever we send out would be able to win."

That sudden remark was from Kanon. Well, the theory was somewhat sound, but it was still pure recklessness to say the least.

A chilling pressure descended upon the executive gathering. Kanon reflexively went on the defensive, but Tatsuya suppressed Miyuki while Isori did the same for Kanon and a confrontation was avoided.

"......Changing engineers now is impossible. And even if it weren't, there's no guarantee that I could salvage the situation."

At the first point everyone — even Kanon — had to nod their head in agreement, but she seemed rather suspicious about the second. That was because the victory of the women's pair today was clearly owed to the superlative accuracy and efficiency of their magic shooting.

"It was my feeling while watching today that the first trial round had a significant impact on performance. I'm sure having those pairs give advice would achieve the same effect."

Although that was certainly a sound argument, it was obvious that Tatsuya was changing the topic. However, no one protested this time.

◊ ◊ ◊

It was an open secret that Miyuki was staying in Tatsuya's room, the implications of which were varied and questionable. Because of that, he could no longer just camp in his room like he did last year.

Of course he couldn't stay in the cafeteria or lobby talking forever either. To make matters worse, the hotel was full, so the number of supporters from each school who could stay there was just 20. The rest had to be based outside. Lingering for too long would draw chilly looks.

The spot Tatsuya's group chose for their talk was beside the CAD adjustment work vehicle.

"......It somehow feels like a camp."

"Camping at a hotel?"

Honoka's impression was tsukkomi'd by Shizuku. "That's why it's weird, don't you think?"

"You're right."

The exchange however ended somehow with Honoka's victory.

They were sitting in collapsible chairs for camping. Before them was a foldable camping table. Overhead an awning tent was stretched from the roof of a camper- van.

The work vehicle used by the technical staff of First High was a camper-van with an over-cab. Given that they only had a small wagon last year, it was a remarkable improvement — almost a luxury. Indeed the students of other schools had been wide-eyed at First High's work vehicle.

One may have thought that the mastermind behind this ridiculousness was clear, but it was actually Miyuki. Last year she had been outraged her beloved brother had been forced to travel in such a piece of junk, and even one year later this dissatisfaction had not subsided — rather, she had forcefully pushed through a decision to improve the conditions for the technical staff. Miyuki had intended for FLT (in other words their father) to foot the bill, but in the end she had been unable to turn down the kindness of Shizuku's father.

Even while doing so, she had pressed for a seat on the bus for him to sit together with as well; Miyuki was rather selfish when it came to her brother. Well, in the end it had not been Tatsuya's transport environment which improved but that of the rest of the technical staff, so maybe she was actually being fair after all.

—Although, that had only been an afterthought. "Here, coffee."

"Ah, thanks."

This conversation was not between Miyuki and Tatsuya. Although very reluctantly on Miyuki's part, it was Pixie who served coffee to Tatsuya. Not just Tatsuya, Pixie was handing out coffee to everyone.

"......Thank you."

"............"

Neither Miyuki nor Minami hid their displeasure. However Pixie was systematically integrated with the camper-van kitchen. There was nothing for the two of them to do here.

"Oh, thanks."

Kent thanked Pixie as naturally as if speaking to another human. He was Tatsuya's assistant this 9SC, having won his position admirably.

"Mizuki, Erika isn't actually unwell is she?"

Perhaps to distract herself from her mood, Miyuki questioned Mizuki on the matter they had heard earlier.

There were eight people here: Tatsuya, Miyuki, Honoka, Shizuku, Mikihiko, Mizuki, Minami, and Kent. Pixie, technically not a person, served as their waitress.

"No...... Eri-chan said she has something to take care of."

It was late at night, and there were few students still out and about. That being said, it wasn't just First High that had parked next to the wall for their technical staff to perform CAD adjustment; the engineers of other schools had been passing by and staring at the impromptu tea gathering for some time. By tomorrow this tea party would probably be known by the other contestants of First High. In that case, the number of participants would definitely go up for tomorrow night.

In fact Tatsuya and Miyuki were the only ones here who had not been called either directly or indirectly. The two had of course invited Leo and Erika as well. However, there was no sign of either of them.

"Leo said he would come......"

Mikihiko spoke as if apologizing. He had invited Leo over a voice communicator; he hadn't actually been in the same room with him. It thus couldn't be helped that he was unaware of Leo's movements, but Mikihiko was the sort of person who felt the need to apologize for that sort of thing.

"Um, about Saijou-sempai, I saw him on the way here."

Someone unexpectedly provided information. The one who spoke was Kent, smiling at Tatsuya (both Honoka and Miyuki sitting on either side of him tensed, although he remained facing forwards.) He had been working here since after dinner, so had rushed back to his room when it was tea time to take a shower.

"He was stopped by the Japanese branch director of Rozen."

"Rozen?"

Tatsuya's quizzical remark was due to the preliminary information heard from Mikihiko.

When he turned to glance at Mikihiko, Mikihiko returned the same questioning look.

"Yes, that man was without a doubt Ernst Rozen."

Tatsuya and Mikihiko's eye contact lasted for only a moment; Tatsuya's eyes were back on Kent immediately.

Kent appeared to be unaware of the exchange, and answered Tatsuya with a smile like a puppy running up, tail wagging.

"Saijou-sempai looked like he was quite troubled." Immediately after Kent spoke,

"What about me?"

As if waiting for the right timing, Leo entered on cue.

Kent hadn't exactly been gossiping, but he was unable to escape the awkwardness of such banter about his sempai.

"He was talking about how he saw you in the lobby with Ernst Rozen."

Before that could manifest, Tatsuya stepped in to talk to Leo.

"Ah, ahhh...... well. That took a while. Sorry about that."

"It's not a problem. This isn't some formal gathering anyway."

As Kent had felt, it seemed Rozen's talk with Leo had not been pleasant. Not prepared to pry any further than that, Tatsuya offered Leo a seat.

The tea party adjourned at 10pm. Mikihiko, Leo, and Kent (technically a man) escorted Shizuku, Honoka and Mizuki back. Miyuki and Minami remained, ostensibly to help clean up.

That Miyuki and Tatsuya were staying together in the same room was an open secret. That being said, Miyuki didn't have the courage to be seen going back to Tatsuya's room by Honoka and the others. She was not yet that bold. On Honoka's side, she likewise didn't want to see Miyuki and Tatsuya happily disappearing behind a door together. Miyuki was remaining there for both their sakes. — Minami's reason for staying behind actually was to clean up, her 'maid mission sense' being particularly high.

Minami's pride was fully satisfied. This was because Pixie had been called to work on Tatsuya's behest, and did not participate in the clean-up.

Pixie was sitting on a camping chair under Tatsuya's gaze. She had closed her eyes, and was blocking her ears with both hands. A 3H body received audio input not only from the ears, and even if she closed her eyelids the optical sensors would still be capable of visualizing her surroundings. Cutting off external information could be accomplished just by shutting down the sensors anyway, so this was technically pointless behavior. The reason for Pixie undertaking such human actions was that she was exercising her non-mechanical senses.

"How is it? Can you detect anything?"

"I cannot sense any of my brethren."

Pixie answered Tatsuya, who was standing before her, with active telepathy. Immediately after the tea party ended, the Parasite infused within the female robot had been directed by Tatsuya to search for the Parasite Dolls.

According to the intel from the Kuroba, Parasite Dolls were essentially the same thing as Pixie. They were likely attempts by the Kudou, who knew of Pixie, to duplicate her. That was Tatsuya's thought anyway. Of course, their bodies were not for something like housework, they were no doubt made for battle. But considering their feminine rather than masculine forms, it was evident they had Pixie in mind.

The Parasites could sense their fellows. Not only those occupying a human host, but those in human hosts and those in mechanical hosts could sense each other as proven by the incident in February. Even if each party was now in mechanical hosts, the mutual detection should still hold true.

The reason Pixie couldn't sense the Parasite Dolls was because they were in a state they couldn't be traced, Tatsuya thought. There was no way the actual Parasites within the machines would be unable to sense each other. It was also not unthinkable that perhaps the Kudou had simply not brought the Parasite Dolls there yet.

(Perhaps they're dormant. Pretty cautious of them......)

Tatsuya had heard from Pixie that an inactive individual was harder to sense. Were the Kudou engineers aware of that as well? What he had ascertained that night anyway was that searching for the Parasite Dolls storage location like this would be difficult, at least until they became active.

When Minami came to stand next to Tatsuya, the clean-up had all been completed. There was nothing more — nothing productive to be gained from continuing.

Tatsuya ordered Pixie to lock up the vehicle and enter a suspended state, before returning to the hotel with Miyuki and Minami.

◊ ◊ ◊

August 6th, the second day of the 9SC.

The summer morning dawned fast. Even so, the sky at the moment was dark, and had only begun to be tinged with blue. At that middling time, Miyuki was in a dim room sitting at the side of a bed. She was watching the sleeping face of her beloved brother.

No doubt many would have been surprised if they knew, but Tatsuya slept soundly. Miyuki had left the room dark, but turning on the lights wouldn't have woken him. Even someone in the same room making noise wouldn't have woken him.

As many would agree with, regardless of the depth of his sleep Tatsuya was a good riser. He would always reliably awake at the time he set for himself. There was no need for an alarm. His biological clock was very accurate. Furthermore, he would still react to any malice or ill-will when asleep. Even if someone sneaked up quieter than the sound of a needle falling, had they the intent to harm him or Miyuki he would immediately awaken. That being said, if someone came close enough even without any ill intent, Tatsuya's awareness would still open his eyes.

That boundary distance varied according to time and circumstance. Sometimes he wouldn't awake until close enough to breath on him; other times as soon as someone entered the room. Miyuki thought Tatsuya probably set the boundary himself before he went to sleep.

She guessed that the reason she could get so close was that Tatsuya had fallen asleep before he had set anything.

In this situation where they slept in the same room, the range wherein she would normally move about after waking up should have been set outside the boundary. Yet even after bringing a chair to sit beside him, he showed no signs of waking.

She was not confident about how much further she could get. If she moved closer by even just 10cm, he might wake up. Or she may be able to snuggle up beside him without him opening an eye.

Miyuki wanted to know.

How much closer could she get to her brother? What was a distance he would consider with her present?

(Just how far would Onii-sama allow me go......)

Miyuki suddenly felt a chill. That thought beating within her, however, did not cool. Even in midsummer, the temperature before dawn was cold, and she was in nothing but a nightgown. If she remained as she was, naturally her body would cool down.

At this point Miyuki's awareness began to wander in a strange direction. (I wonder if Onii-sama is cold?)

In fact, this was the first time Miyuki had spent a night together with Tatsuya in the same room. Last night — or rather the evening the day before yesterday — she had been so elated she'd simply dropped asleep at some point like a switch being thrown. She'd slept soundly until morning. From yesterday night to this morning, however, she'd been so acutely aware of Tatsuya sleeping next to her that she had awoken countless times. To top it off, even though it wasn't yet fully dawn, here she was at her brother's bedside almost like a stalker. The lack of sleep was beginning to melt Miyuki's self-control.

As if in a fever, Miyuki reached out to Tatsuya. Although it appeared to be a deliberate act, her consciousness was vague; the foremost thought once on her mind, 'he might wake up', no longer present.

Fortunately, Tatsuya did not open his eyes. His forehead was cool against her palm.

(Cold......)

Thinking clearly why that was so — Tatsuya's body avoided useless metabolism and was cooler to begin with, while Miyuki's temperature was higher due to the lack of sleep. Miyuki's thinking however—

(Oh no......I have to warm him)

—had already short-circuited.

(Umm, skin contact is better for situations like these......was it?)

That was more something for times of emergency.

Such a thought, which had her head been functioning properly would no doubt have caused her to overheat, had at some point been fixed under the pretext of 'nursing' in Miyuki's mind.

(......I guess stripping is no good after all......)

It seemed a modicum of shame was left to her yet. Completely forgetting about waking him, Miyuki gently snuggled up next to Tatsuya.

(Onii-sama, let Miyuki warm you......)

Already on the border between wakefulness and sleep, Miyuki descended into dreamland while holding on to Tatsuya.

Confirming that Miyuki's breathing had evened out, Tatsuya opened his closed eyes.

(She's finally asleep......)

Gently lifting Miyuki's arm off his chest, Tatsuya slipped out of bed. He had actually been awake when Miyuki stretched out her arm towards him. However, his sister had been in some strange mood (he could tell even without looking), so he had ascertained her condition while pretending to be asleep.

[[Fortunately]], he was not overcome by sexual desire even with such a peerless beauty sharing the same bed with him. That did not mean he had not felt anything at all however, and when he thought of sleeping together with his similarly aged sister he couldn't help but feel embarrassed. The pleasant sensation of Miyuki's soft body increased the embarrassment several times over. He could no longer sleep any further.

That being said, his sister was competing today, and he couldn't wake her. Tatsuya didn't know just when Miyuki had woken up, but there was at least time to sleep a little longer.

Tatsuya dressed roughly without making a sound. Stroking Miyuki's hair and thinking 'sleep well', Tatsuya breathed in the early morning air and quietly left the room.

◊ ◊ ◊

"Good morning."

"Ah, good morning ... ... ?"

Azusa had tilted her neck as she replied back to Tatsuya and Miyuki, who had entered the HQ tent bringing in breakfast sandwiches. And for this, the greeting ended up unfinished.

Miyuki, always trailing behind Tatsuya, looked strangely, no, very embarrassed. From Azusa's view the distance between them was a bit -- basically about 30 cm -- further apart than usual. And Miyuki's eyes were a bit red at the corners and were slightly directed downwards.

Today, Miyuki would play in the preliminaries for [Ice Pillars Break] solo category. The tactics of First High, aiming for the overall championships, called for grabbing the championship in the Girls' [Ice Pillars Break]. Computing the events where the maximum number of points was obtainable, and avert crashing out of preliminaries even if the worst were to happen -- that was what the prudent Azusa was thinking. In Miyuki's case, they couldn't foresee her losing this event, but now she was giving off a tinge of anxiety.

"What happened?"

Azusa was asking that because she couldn't shake off that vague feeling of worry. "What, you ask?"

Asked in return with a forced tone by Tatsuya, she was shut out from asking any more questions.

◊ ◊ ◊

Results-wise, Miyuki stormed past the preliminaries with a wide lead. Things got a little scary for the boys, but they safely advanced past preliminaries. And as First High executives had dreaded, both boys and girls ended in an ignominious fourth in [Rower and Gunner] solos, gaining no points.

As for the other schools, Seventh High won both boys and girls with 100pts; with 200pts total, they were on the forefront for the 2nd straight day. Third High got 2nd place at both; with 120pts total, they'd slipped past First High for 2nd place overall. Considering the events from tomorrow onward, they could quickly upset Seventh High -- that was what Third High should have been thinking. It should have been a good start for Third High.

However, the dinner scene at Third High was definitely not totally joyous. The second years gathered in a corner were suffused with a heavy atmosphere. The source of their dark clouds was the [Rower and Gunner]'s solo player Kichijouji, who was unable to grab the championship.

"Kichijouji, even 2nd place isn't that bad. Don't let it weigh you down."

"Yeah. I was 2nd place once, but I paid no heed to that."

There were even third years, having finished eating and heading for trailer clean- up, cheering him up as they passed by with not much visible effect.

"Who could have seen that Seventh High would pull something like that off......?"

Until then he had been at ease, but the unexpectedly frustrating grumble escaped from Kichijouji's silent mutterings. If it weren't for the tableware before him, he would have been falling forward.

He was shocked not because he was defeated that easily, but because of how he was defeated. For someone like Kichijouji, who relied on ingenuity, tactical defeats were an even bigger blow than ability defeats. And he felt today's defeat was not due to ability, but tactics.

"No use griping about it."

Those were easy-to-say words, more comforting for all the complaints and grumblings than just falling into dead silence. The second years surrounding Kichijouji were saying this to him at the critical moment.

"That's right, using the rules to abandon all shooting is unorthodox."

Seventh High's tactic was simple and unexpected -- targets hit by mechanical spray-firing were a bonus, and so their magic power was diverted into board control, intent on shortening the time. Rower and Gunner rules stipulated that the fastest team's time be divided by the number of hits from the team with the most hits to calculate the time per hit. This value was multiplied by the hit count and the resulting product was subtracted from the running time to get the time difference. The team with the smallest time difference would then be chosen as the champion. This meant if the time difference was small the team with the most hits had the advantage; conversely, if there was no big difference in the hit count, the team with the fastest time had the advantage.

Incidentally for the Boy's solo event, Third High's Kichijouji had the most hits. This meant that from the results of precision firing and spray-firing, the time difference was too big. A result where brute-forcing won over seeking accuracy was something Kichijouji couldn't comprehend.

"For the pair event, all teams focused on their hit counts."

"In truth, that was where First High's girls trumped over Seventh High."

"Seventh High might have been blessed with an unexpectedly lucky shot. It has happened before in competitions. Don't you think so, Masaki?"

The second year boys, in search for a consensus, brought the story to Masaki. There, all who were consoling Kichijouji, noticed something strange.

Looking back, up to now Masaki hadn't said even one comforting word to Kichijouji. On the contrary, he hadn't said a thing since dinner had started. He'd been eating all right, but he gave the impression that his mind was focused on a totally different matter.

"Masaki?"

"Hm? True, the strongest doesn't always win, but today's victory will affect

Seventh High negatively. First High might have lost to them, but they'll catch up. Looking at it objectively, I believe it's far from bad. It was within their calculations."

It seemed he'd been following them, but for some reason the unnatural feeling couldn't be shaken off. Both male and female classmates surrounding Kichijouji, in spite of gender, looked at each other.

"I see ... you're right. First High will catch up."

"Our final objective is the overall championship. We have our work cut out for us starting tomorrow."

"Dwelling on today's results is not the best action, you said? I understand, Masaki."

However, it seemed that Kichijouji got over his shock due to Masaki's words. On that note the dinner was concluded, and no one bothered asking about Masaki's unnatural behavior.

Today's night tea party was scheduled because at the start various work, including CAD tuning, was coming to an end. Tomorrow morning would be [Shield Down] for the Boy's pair, and the afternoon would be the finals for [Ice Pillars Break] for the Girl's pair.

Even though he was in charge of Shizuku, who charged past preliminaries, he was serving as engineer for Kirihara, of the Kirihara and Tomitsuka pair. What was more, the day after tomorrow he was taking care of Miyuki's [Ice Pillars Break] Girl's solo in the morning and Sawaki's [Shield Down] Boy's solo in the afternoon. This was expected to be the busiest two days *especially for Tatsuya at the 9SC*.

"Shiba-senpai, voltage checks for Kirihara's CAD have been completed."

"Hook them up to the auto-debugger next."

"Okay."

With Kent as his assistant, Shizuku's and Kirihara's CADs were tuned. This work had strong tinges of inspection rather than tuning, so making Kent the assistant had strong educational impact in guiding him in "orthodox" CAD tuning protocols. However, Kent was unexpectedly skilled and knowledgeable, and he was turning into a capable help for Tatsuya.

Just as the pair's work appeared to be ending soon, a visitor came for Tatsuya. "It's you, Ichijou. What's up?"

Coming to visit the operations van was Masaki.

"Sorry to visit you at this hour. Do you have a moment?"

"We're running on schedule. If it's just for a moment, then it's fine. Kent, I'm taking a break."

"Okay, senpai."

Tatsuya called out to Kent with this, then went along with Masaki to a spot unlit by the van's headlights.

"You're entrusting the engineering work to a freshman?" Masaki, walking alongside and a bit surprised, asked him that. "I was once a freshman last year."

However, on hearing Tatsuya's slightly sarcastic answer, Masaki bitterly smiled, thinking "That's way too rude."

"Well then, I believe you've come to me only for the Steeplechase case."

Ignoring Masaki's relatively friendly façade, Tatsuya went ahead and spilled out what the former would say. Masaki instantly hardened his expression, then changed his mind figuring this was no time for idle chat.

"Yeah, it's as you've said. Somehow, it's more suspicious than I thought."

"What did you find out?"

Tatsuya stopped walking and turned towards Masaki. The latter directly took on the former's inquiry.

"It's still far from the point where you can say that I've found them out. It's just that the JSDF hard-liners appear to be involved with it."

"Hard-liners?"

Tatsuya inquisitively asked back; Masaki immediately found out that Tatsuya didn't know what [hard-liners] was simply referring to.

"Oh, sorry, it's the anti-GAA hard-liners within the JSDF."

"And they are the ones maneuvering behind the 9SC?"

With a little thinking, it was an easy-to-understand plan. The powers that desired a war victory were in a hurry to expand their battle strength by selecting combat- capable magicians. High school students may not be ready fire-power, but even the hard-liners wouldn't be wishing for a war outbreak in a day or two. Besides, if they were to see results in the 9SC, it would be easy to guess that this method would be expanded into the university magicians' athletic meets.

However, house Kudou, no, Kudou Retsu and the hard-liners joining together -- to consider it would be a troublesome combination. Tatsuya had heard that Kudou Retsu hated to see magicians used as weapons. It was all rumors, but it had high credibility. Just hearing it from Fujibayashi could be for the benefit of her relatives; such was worth considering, but Kazama, critical of the Ten Master Clans organization, would say pretty much the same thing.

Retsu hated the use of magicians as weapons, and yet he was not denying the use of them as soldiers. Paradoxical, yet that was the very reason there was no way for that old man to use high school students as guinea pigs for such a foul-looking method. For soldiers are not expendable, but are important resources.

"I heard Col. Sakai wants us high school students to join up the JSDF, bypassing the Ministry of Defense in the process."

With Masaki continuing to explain, Tatsuya sensed he was getting more and more confused. I see, if the hardliners' objective is to secure volunteers as ready firepower then confrontations against Kudou Retsu cannot occur. If they are to introduce strong combat-type events, then their plan is crystal clear. Perhaps they'd try to instill to the high school students the exhilarating feelings when battle instincts and destructive urges were unleashed. If that's the case, it's no different from trying to increase the number of youth that aim to join as combat magicians.

Even himself as among the youth --- on the contrary, in spite of not being on a youth's level, Tatsuya thought of it as someone else's problem. Motivating for combat instincts and destructive urges was a MO even used in Yotsuba training.

Nevertheless, that did not explain the spell to make parasite dolls go on a rampage. The hardliners had to know how much, how far the connections went. Either they were tied to the puppet master or they were mere minor actors.

And then a small problem suddenly popped up within Tatsuya's mind. "... You got as far as finding out Col. Sakai's name."

Even the Ichijous probably had a channel of their own into the JSDF. But it should have been no easy task to thoroughly check out the ringleader's name in a short time. Since it was no public political party, there were no written registries going around about each faction.

Masaki showed a bitter expression at Tatsuya's monologue on abrupt question. "Col. Sakai was my father's old acquaintance..."

As expected, even Tatsuya was astounded by this *acknowledgement*. "Ichijou, I didn't expect that..."

"No, that's way off! Don't take it for something else, Shiba!"

As expected, Ichijou openly denied the confusion even when going as far as suggestively taking a stab at it. Even Tatsuya felt relief for the denial. Better that the enemies keep on increasing; if this situation deteriorates any further, he would turn the tables over with bothersome brute force.

(No ... ... I'd rather end up destroying the steeplechase course. Doesn't matter what kind of action I have to take if I do that.)

"That they were acquaintances was a matter for the past."

Masaki was flustered over something else, totally unaware that Tatsuya was thinking of something far more dangerous.

"Col. Sakai was the top commander in that area during the Sado invasions four years ago."

(From the start I have nothing to do with the Kudou's objectives or with the JSDF predictions.)

"Perhaps you knew about it, but a volunteer force with my father as the leader was formed to recover Sado. At the same time father appealed to Col. Sakai for whether a regiment-sized unit can be dispatched to Niigata, Hokuriku. That time both the gov't and the JSDF were focused on Okinawa, so the JSDF had intended to send in a battalion once the volunteer army had recovered Sado."

(Having First High win the 9SC is optional. Or at least on the last day's Steeplechase, Miyuki or Honoka or Shizuku's championships will wait until after this is over. A premature 9SC termination would be a complete humiliation for the Magic Association well into the thesis competition --- but that's out of my hands.)

"Col. Sakai answered my father's appeals. We're thankful for that even now. At that time a large military force had been virtually thrown our way. We haven't seen an offensive that big, as my father would say, and I believe so, too."

(If I hit the ground just below the surface with a Material Burst it would probably be misidentified as explosions from conventional weapons. Targeting for an infinitesimal mass is possible with a *self-made* Third Eye and a *short distance of a few kilometers* and shouldn't trigger any volcanic ranges. Doing it at the dead of night won't cause any harm to all students. That leaves persuading Miyuki and to whom to pin this action on ... I think.)

"However, just after the first part of the Okinawa battle, the colonel tried to pull a counter-invasion on the New Soviet Union! My father protested, but the colonel would hear none of it. Of course, there's no way the GHQ would approve such a venture. As a result the counter-invasion didn't happen, but father was at loggerheads with the colonel until the regiment stood down. From there they quarreled and split up, and they haven't spoken to each other since."

(If only there were criminal syndicate members prowling about just like last year to be able to pin this on them. Don't they have the latent strength to go against the armed forces?)

"I talked to my father yesterday and he was troubled, saying 'it's better off without that mutiny nonsense', but then he said, 'it's already other people's problem so we can do nothing about it' as he shook his head with finality."

"Mutiny, you said?"

Tatsuya thought it was totally different from Masaki's *explanation* thus far. However the single word that would match with his thoughts came flying through his hearing, spontaneously focusing his consciousness onto Masaki's story.

For Masaki, Tatsuya suddenly giving out a response after silently listening to his explanation (that's what he saw) was a surprise, and he learned that the word [mutiny] was extreme for a new irritant.

"No, there's no such thing as suspicions of mutiny against Col. Sakai's group. I myself know little of the details, only the [it's only a matter of time for a mutiny to occur] kind of rumors."

"That means you don't have any proof."

"Y, yeah."

"Only rumors then."

"That's probably the case ... anyway!"

Masaki must have felt this conversation was going in a direction he himself didn't like. He raised his voice to force the conversation back on track.

"Right now the Ichijous have nothing to do with Col. Sakai. We did some socializing back then so we have many connections; it was through these connections that we're aware of this case. Col. Sakai's group probably isn't planning on a mutiny. If they are plotting on something, I believe it's to gather a considerable number of young magicians and take them into their own faction, then take the battle to the GAA's shores."

"That much is enough for a not-so-quiet conversation, ... but thank you. I'll keep those in mind."

"I, it's nothing much. I'm investigating for my own sake, no thanks are necessary. Anyway that's as the situation goes so maybe no one's making a move on the matches. They might when the tournaments are over. I'll contact you when I find something ... whether during the closing party, or by discreetly contacting you."

"Thanks."

Tatsuya sent off Masaki, who was taking his leave very hurriedly, with a terse thanks. He knew Masaki's conjectures were off, and he didn't intend to drag the latter into the Parasite Dolls matter.

(Hardliners......)

Offered with a definite candidate for a possible scapegoat, Tatsuya instead regained his composure. There was clearly no time even if diversionary tactics were executed. It was less than ten days until match day for Steeplechase Cross- country, where the parasite doll experiments would be performed. To complete an operation with such a short time interval would be difficult even with Yakumo's help. It might be possible with Yotsuba help, but it was highly unlikely that Maya would give her support to the partial explosion at Fuji training grounds from the onset.

(It's so unlike me to be too indecisive over this or that...)

With that, Tatsuya finally recognized that he was wearing out. For now, tonight, Tatsuya ordered himself to drive out the Parasite Doll matter from his mind and relax in a tea session with his younger sister and friends.

◊ ◊ ◊

Day three of the 9SC. In the morning the prelims and finals for Shield Down, boys pair, and the finals for Ice pillars break, boys pair, were carried out.

And currently they were in the midst of the third finals match for Shield Down, boys pair. Both First and Third High were tied for first in the finals, so the winner of this match would be the champion of Shield Down boys pair.

Tomitsuka hoisted up his shield, then charged on. The Third High players, aware from the matches thus far that the First High pair were both close-range types, always kept their distance from both Kirihara and Tomitsuka as they fought on. However, the immediately effective remote magic was a high-strength area interference instead of the narrow one created by Tomitsuka -- that's what the Third High players believed. The truth was they were kept out because of contact- type Gram Demolition. In that situation the Third High players lobbed compressed air masses at them.

"Yaaah!"

The shockwave unleashed from Tomitsuka's shield blew up the compressed air masses into mere "quite strong" winds. It was a composite of Movement-type magic [Rest] and a derivative of acceleration magic [Explosion]. It was not the application of radial acceleration to solid masses, but an alteration where the gases directly in contact with the shield face were given acceleration vectors that were perpendicular to the shield face ([Rest] here was meant to restrain against its backlash).

Until 9SC training had started, Tomitsuka was unable to learn the air-based attack magic that was popular among Modern Magic users. This magic type mostly required continuous state maintenance of the compressed air until it rushed towards or touched an opponent. For Tomitsuka, unable to control magic beyond the range of his limbs, there was no getting around the fact that there were things he knew he was not good at.

However, being 'totally' unable to learn this type of magic was really a problem of the 'consciousness'. As long as one was on solid ground, air was everywhere. It existed 'where it is within one's reach'. By only accelerating the air close at hand, long-range control was unnecessary. An example would be Sawaki's Mach Punch, where it was just a mass of solidified air surrounding the fist pushing out the air in contact with said mass. A spell to accelerate part of a body, no, the entire body into sonic speeds after moving solidified air through sonic speeds without any time lag was a tough proposition, but the remote control for the 'process' of firing out a shockwave wouldn't be used at all.

Tatsuya, serving in a double role as tactical officer, drew up the basic theoretical framework. But, it was through Hirakawa Chiaki's efforts that an activation sequence for [Blast] that Tomitsuka could master was devised and its CAD optimized.

Chiaki was by nature more proficient in CAD hardware than in software-based activation sequences; she too was proficient in adjusting activation sequences, but she was bad at arranging them. But after hearing from Tomitsuka the concepts behind [Zero Range Blast], Chiaki, under Professor Jennifer Smith's daily guidance, grappled with her weakness that was activation sequence arranging, before she succeeded in a rearranged activation sequence for Blast that Tomitsuka could easily handle. One could say that thanks to Chiaki, a zero-ranged Tomitsuka could use Blast.

Kirihara, taking his cue from Tomitsuka blowing away Third High's attacks, rushed forward. For the ring positions, Tomitsuka was in the middle, the Third High pair were on the edge, and Kirihara was smack between them.

He then lowered his body, kneeling down on one knee as if going down, then struck the ring with his shield.

A beat later the ring shook. Along with the counter vibration due to the ring being struck, magic to create frequency-controlling vibratory waves was fed in.

The shaking was great in the center. However, it had a big psychological impact on the Third High pair, who were standing on the edge. Should they fall out of the ring, they would be eliminated.

Their consciousness focused on their footing, they veered away from Kirihara and Tomitsuka.

The pair didn't let that opening slip through. Using self-acceleration magic, Tomitsuka rushed forward and past Kirihara, ramming one Third High player with his shield. This time it was his specialty, an Explosion that affected solid bodies.

The other Third High player had no time to realize that his partner had fallen out of the ring as Kirihara had stabbed into that player's shield with his Shield Edge.

It was a variant of Sonic Blade. The Third High's shield did not break, it was shattered. And without going for round two, the Shield Down boys pair championship went to First High.

Kirihara took Tomitsuka's hand and raised them up high. At the ringside staff chairs, Chiaki was clapping her hands with joy. She had an always sour look due to Tatsuya sitting beside her, but it appeared even that was forgotten.

◊ ◊ ◊

On the third day First High took third for men’s Ice Pillars Break pairs, and first for the women’s. The men’s Shield Down pair took first, but the women’s pair dropped out in the prelims. This was an unexpected result, but they had been grouped with Third High who ended up winning overall. If they had beaten Third High at that match they likely could have ended up winning themselves; so intense was the fight.

But what’s done is done. Third High placed no lower than second for all their events today. The point gap which had been 40 at the end of the second day was now 100. At the dinner table, even the pairs who had won were in a sombre mood.

Instead--

“Shizuku, congratulations on your win!”

“Well, with Shizuku’s abilities that was a given.”

“Yep yep, congrats Shizuku!”

At the evening tea party at Tatsuya’s work vehicle, words of praise to Shizuku flew fast.

“Thanks, everyone.”

No matter how many times, it was still something to be happy for. Shizuku lightly inclined her head.

“Tomorrow is Miyuki’s turn, huh?”

Slightly abashed, but covering it magnificently as always, she turned the focus to Miyuki.

“Yes, I’ll have to do my best, too.”

Without jesting or subtlety, Miyuki replied with a determined smile.

“I think it’d be best if you didn’t think like that. If you focus all your effort into that you might make a pitfall when you least expect it.”

“There’s no way any sort of trap could defeat Miyuki, right? Rather, I think the most important thing is to take care not to make a false start.”

“That’s the biggest pitfall.”

“Jeez...... Subaru, Erika, do you really think I would be that careless?”

The reason Subaru and Erika had framed their concerns as jokes was because they couldn’t take the pure atmosphere radiating between Shizuku and Miyuki. With Miyuki’s light protest, the air in the group relaxed again.

“No, it’s not that.”

Subaru answered with a wry smile, and Miyuki likewise pursued no further.

The breezy chatter of the girls melted into the night sky. The number of people attending the parties had increased steadily and things were becoming livelier.

Erika hadn’t come the first day, saying she was ‘busy’, but had joined since last night as if there were no more problems. Tonight, Satomi Subaru and Akechi Eimi had also come along. The camping table would be full soon. If even more people came, they’d have to find another table and chairs. --All the second year girls were here now, however, so it was probably unlikely any more would turn up.

The first tea party was known to all of the First High team by the next morning. The reason Eimi and Subaru had joined tonight wasn’t because they were reserved about staying the night.

“That said Eimi, it’s good you’re feeling better. Spending a night like that wouldn’t have been very nice."

“I, I wasn’t sulking! Not at all!”

It wasn’t like she had pressed the issue because she thought it was that big a deal......but seeing Eimi frantically refute it, Subaru heaved a sigh. Based on her attitude, it was questionable if she was really calm, but Subaru had been able to feel that Eimi was troubled.

Subaru and Eimi shared a room. They weren’t as close to Tatsuya’s group as Honoka and Shizuku and since coming to the 9SC, outside of matches, they mainly spent their time together. So when Subaru felt that something was bothering Eimi, she herself would feel affected and as a friend, would feel the need to do something.

“What happened?”

Miyuki questioned not Eimi herself, but rather Subaru. “Nothing at all!”

Her facing reddening, Eimi tried to interfere. But something like that wasn’t able to stop Subaru.

“It’s about Tomitsuka......”

At that answer which Subaru gave with one eye closed and a shrug, Miyuki, Honoka and Shizuku all breathed out with expressions of understanding.

“What did Tomitsuka-kun do?”

Mizuki turned to question Shizuku, who sat next to her. It was Erika who answered, however.

“He was probably flirting with that chick.”

“That chick.....?”

“Hirakawa. Hirakawa Chiaki.”

It seemed Mizuki finally understood what Erika was driving at. Still looking unconvinced, however, they turned to Eimi.

“Eimi. It’s Tomitsuka-kun, I’m sure he was just expressing his gratitude.” Talking about how Tomitsuka and Chiaki had been getting along well during dinner(although Chiaki had her head down most of the time), Honoka spoke words of comfort to Eimi.

“I said there was no problem.”

Eimi persisted in her denial, but it hadn’t been only Honoka who had seen Tomitsuka with Chiaki. Shizuku and Miyuki had seen the same thing. Even if they hadn’t, it was evident with a glance by comparing Subaru and Eimi’s expressions who was more trustworthy here.

“Eimi, Tomitsuka-kun is hopeless.”

“What was that?!”

Displaying such a predictable reaction, it was questionable whether she was really holding something back. That said though, Shizuku's words had been fairly confrontational--to put it lightly.

“Unlike Tatsuya-san, Tomitsuka-kun is honest-to-god dense. You’d have to clearly spell things out to him.”

After Shizuku elaborated, Eimi was left with a delicate expression. It appeared she wouldn't go to his defense--or rather, it was a face which conceded there was no defense.

Speaking of delicacy, Tatsuya seemed lost as to what sort of expression to make. Perhaps mercifully, his troubles didn't last long.

[Master.]

Being telepathically called by Pixie all of a sudden, Tatsuya suppressed his tension and stood up with a neutral expression. He had forbidden Pixie to use telepathy except in one specific scenario. In other words, that situation had occurred.

"Onii-sama?"

"Tatsuya-san?"

"Something sounds off. I'm going to go have a look."

Leaving Miyuki and Honoka that excuse which could be rather openly interpreted, Tatsuya headed inside the vehicle.

Once inside, Pixie led him over to the map located on the panel at the driver's seat. In the center of the map the SCCC course was laid out, adjoining the military road opposite them.

[I have caught readings of my compatriots in this location.] "Are the signals still ongoing?"

Scrutinizing the map with a pained expression, Tatsuya contacted Pixie. [It is. It seems my presence has likewise been compromised.]

"How many?"

[I can identify 16.]

That number coincided with what Tatsuya had gleaned from the former Ninth Institute lab.

[Ah......]

Pixie voiced her feelings reflexively. This sort of personal behavior had become increasingly common lately.

"What is it."

[I have suddenly lost all contact. I believe they may have gone dormant.] "Any signs of movement?"

[From what I had intercepted, negative.]

At this stage the Parasite Dolls were yet unable to be developed in military facilities. Tatsuya did not know just how much they had been informed, but this Parasite Doll performance test was most likely a secret. If that was the case, Tatsuya believed it was likely they had been brought in via a mobile lab of some sort.

Tatsuya likewise didn't know the effective distance it would have to be in to effectively monitor the Parasite Dolls. But for the sake of a performance test, he deduced that they wouldn't want to be too far when the competition was under way. A position close to the course should therefore be the logical choice. The only problem was--

(If we could determine the location of the Parasite Dolls from here, they likely know the position of Pixie as well......)

That point caused him considerable concern. If Pixie could recognise the Parasite Dolls, the reverse also likely held true. Meaning the fact that the presence of the Parasite Dolls had been compromised was a fact also known to the Kudou experiment team.

If Tatsuya was in their shoes, he would have moved out immediately. That meant finding a different position until the day of the experiment. However, these people were complacently operating under the aegis of Kudou Retsu's protection, and there was a good chance they wouldn't be that wary.

(......Didn't I just decide yesterday that there was nothing to be gained from wondering here. It's not like there's much to lose. Let's go have a look.) Tatsuya finally decided upon that course of action.

By the time he had collected his equipment and headed back outside, the tea party was already wrapping up.

"Tatsuya-san, see you tomorrow."

"See you, too, Miyuki."

"Tatsuya-kun, thanks for the party."

"Shiba-kun, Miyuki, thanks again~"

"See ya, Tatsuya."

"Shiba-sempai, good night."

The lively group of friends (+ one junior) returned to the hotel. Having seen them off, Miyuki cheekily smiled up at Tatsuya.

"Onii-sama, are you heading out?"

"Yeah."

She knew him so well that there was no point trying to hide anything as he nodded.

"I thought as much, so I got everyone to head back early."

He had been seen through to a frightening degree, but thinking 'this isn't new', his disturbance faded before it ever surfaced. Her next words, however, did affect him.

"Onii-sama, please don't go."

"Miyuki......what do you mean?"

"No. Rather, Onii-sama. I won't let you go."

There was no longer any trace of amusement in her eyes. Rather, they glinted with an unshakeable will.

"Onii-sama, must you really go confront the enemy now? I personally don't think so."

"Pixie has detected the enemy's location. We finally have a lead."

"Before that. What I'm asking is, why must Onii-sama move to intervene with the experiment of the Kudou."

It was one of those rare moments Tatsuya was lost for words. From the moment he had received the message from the unknown sender, he had taken that they must be stopped as a given. However, that was only something *he* had thought.

"This may be selfish of me. I haven't exactly assisted you in this case either, so this may be rather shameless of me as well."

As she spoke, Miyuki was resolute. Whilst bearing her 'shame', she continued to stand before him.

"You may scold me as much as you like later. But Onii-sama. Before that, please hear me out."

Tatsuya's eyes never wavered from Miyuki's. After declaring he had intended to go face the enemy, he had not moved an inch from before her.

"There is not a single reason why Onii-sama should have to bear responsibility for the Kudou's plans. Onii-sama does not have any obligation to stop the Parasite Dolls at all."

Tatsuya himself knew that all too well. He understood it fully.

"Neither should Onii-sama have to bear responsibility for all the competitors in the Steeple Chase Cross Country."

It was like being struck by a warning stick during meditation. Tatsuya dimly began to realize what his sister wanted to say, and where she was right while he was wrong.

"Onii-sama. I'm about to say something extremely selfish. Something I'm ashamed to even think of."

There was not a trace of humility or pretentiousness in Miyuki's tone. Not a single trace of hesitation, either.

"All Onii-sama has to do is protect me. The only one Onii-sama has to be responsible for, is me."

Only her voice, even now, held a quaver close to tears.

"Whether they're from First High, or another school altogether, Onii-sama does not have to concern himself with anyone except me!"

Miyuki audibly clenched her teeth. Her downcast bangs hid her tear-stained eyes.

"It's fine to leave the Parasite Dolls alone until the actual day. If you don't consider the fact the actual Parasites would only be released, those creatures aren't even close to worthy of being Onii-sama's adversaries. It's fine to just destroy them all on the day. After the competition has ended, I will destroy the spirits themselves."

Slowly, bit by bit, Miyuki raised her gaze to meet Tatsuya's. Her eyes were now dry.

"If you will insist on going even then, while impertinent, I will have to stop you by force."

Now Tatsuya felt dismay in earnest.

He could feel forbidden powers now gathering inside her.

"Stop this, Miyuki! Are you intending to seal my 'eyes'!? If you do something like that, you'll end up being unable to use magic as well!"

"I'd have to drop out of the competition tomorrow. In fact I guess I'd have to drop out of First High. But I'd prefer that to seeing Onii-sama force himself on like this!"

For the first time, Miyuki laid herself bare. With a tearful cry, she revealed her true feelings.

"Onii-sama, do you not even realise how much you pile on yourself!? From the morning to the evening you've been busy adjusting the competitor's CADs, then after the matches you consult with the other technical staff and give advice, then teach the juniors late into the night while making preparations for the next day.

Taking on the military and the Kudou on top of that......Even for you, Onii-sama, it's far too much! You'll end up breaking!" Tears spilled down from Miyuki's eyes.

Tatsuya finally realised just how tired he was, and just how exhausted his sister had become worrying for him.

The hesitation which had been clouding him cleared, and he found his heart was now lighter for it.

"There's no need for that."

Miyuki looked up dumbfounded at Tatsuya as if she had been struck. The frustration had disappeared from his voice, and in its place a kind gentleness had reappeared.

"I'll return to our room."

"Onii-sama......?"

"Miyuki. You are correct. I was wrong."

Miyuki hadn't thought she would be able to convince him. As a human being, she had known all along that her brother was in the right. So she wasn't able to believe that she would be able to change his mind.

"It's as you say. You're the only one I have to protect. As long as I can keep you safe, the rest is superfluous. You are all I need."

Those were the words Miyuki had always wanted to hear, which now filled and bound her heart. As if her earlier eloquence had been a lie, she simply stood looking at Tatsuya in silence. Her gaze, as straightforward as it had been a while before, seemed to be staring into a dream.

"Let's go back."

Gently pushing on her shoulders, he began walking the puppet-like Miyuki back to the hotel.

--Behind them, Minami, who had kept to the background during the one man show, followed, keeping her head down to hide her twitching expression.

◊ ◊ ◊

The morning of the fourth day of competition. In the girls’ Ice Pillars Break solo, Miyuki won both matches of the finals in under one minute.

Her victories were so decisive there was some worry that she might have traumatized her opponents; however, Miyuki did not seem worried over that. And the spectators could not even pay heed to the losers. So charming was Miyuki’s smile that even though they saw that she had forgotten to offer a handshake to her opponents, they became even more entranced with her.

After the noon break was the Ice Pillars Break men’s solo and the Shield Down men’s solo. Tatsuya was in charge of Shield Down. On his way to the side of the ring, Tatsuya met up with Sawaki.

“Shiba-kun, you seem to be much better today.”

He had been taking care of Pillars Break (in short, Miyuki) throughout the morning, but he had washed his face after breakfast.

“I’m that different?”

Simultaneously feeling that the comment was both belated and sudden, Tatsuya questioned Sawaki.

“Ah. The first day, the second day, the third day, I could somehow see that you weren’t concentrating. I didn’t intend to say anything because you were still doing your work properly. I thought you were gripped with worry about something.”

Tatsuya was privately astonished. He had not been gripped by worry but by hesitation; however, he had not intended to let it show in his face. Even now, his friends--Honoka, Shizuku, Mikihiko and the rest as well as Isori and Azusa who were closer to him than Sawaki--each and every one of them had not seemed aware that his condition was off. Perhaps it was because Sawaki wasn’t with him all the time so he was aware of a small change. Nevertheless, Sawaki’s observation skills were terrifying.

“You look refreshed today. So I felt like mentioning it.”

“Although I wasn’t aware of it myself, fatigue might have been piling up on me. Yesterday, I had the first good night's sleep in a while that was enough to revive my constitution.”

As an excuse, it wasn’t a clever one, but it wasn’t an unnatural one. Thinking that he wouldn’t have accepted it himself, Tatsuya made that answer to Sawaki.

“That’s great. Keep yourself fired up, Shiba-kun.”

However, Sawaki didn’t show any doubts. He was simply team spirited. He didn’t consider anything else and remained focused on the upcoming match.

◊ ◊ ◊

The pace of Tatsuya’s recovery and First High putting pressure on the leader was the same.

Day 4. First High’s results: Ice Pillars Break-- Male Solo-3rd place, Female Solo- 1st place. Shield Down--Male Solo 1st place, Female Solo-1st place. Third High started the day with a 100 point lead that shrunk to 60 points.

First High’s advance continued even in the Newcomers tournament. On the 1st day of the newcomers tournament, both male and female placed 1st in Row and Gunner. Tatsuya was the engineer in charge of the boys along with Kent. He guided his kouhai pair to a victorious smashing of Seventh High. The female winner, Kasumi, displayed a ‘there’s nothing to it’ victorious expression from the middle of the winners’ podium.

The second day of the newcomers tournament was the finals for Ice Pillars Break and Shield Down. The boys finished off in 3rd place in Shield Down, but the girls won magnificently. Tatsuya was the engineer in charge of Minami, but he really didn’t have a lot to do that day.

The boys got another 3rd in Ice Pillars Break and the girls were again victorious. Izumi had completely dominated Ice Pillars Break. When Izumi returned to First High’s tent, her whole face---somehow seemed to smile at Miyuki, drowning her with unwholesome desire, but for once Miyuki was willing to be kind enough to be embraced as a body pillow (she just stood) until Izumi was satisfied.

And on the Third day of the Newcomers tournament. “........This was inevitable.”

“It was to be expected. Ayako is unrivaled at Mirage Bat……. Even I would be no match for her.”

The finals for the main tournaments’ Mirage Bat were two days away; today, Tatsuya, who was off tomorrow, was watching the finals of the newcomers’ Mirage Bat from the stands. Only one of First High’s athletes fought her way into the finals.

Actually, at the athlete selection stage, it had been suggested that either Izumi or Kasumi take part in the flower of the girls’ competition, Mirage Bat. The idea had a lot of supporters; however, Tatsuya had strongly opposed it, and Kasumi ended up in Row and Gunner and Izumi was assigned to Ice Pillars Break.

Tatsuya’s stated premises for opposing either of the pair taking part in Mirage Bat, which were ‘Kasumi has an inclination for Row and Gunner’ and ‘Izumi has an aptitude for Ice Pillars Break’, were not lies. The distinctive trait of the Saegusa clan’s magicians was ‘a lack of weak areas’, which could also be stated as having an aptitude for every kind of magic. Mayumi was rather unusual for having a clear specialty.

However, his true reason was ‘Neither could win against Ayako’.

Ayako’s specialized magic was ‘Ultimate Scattering’, a convergence type magic that diffused vapour, energy, etc. evenly to the point where they could barely be recognized anymore, The Ultimate Scatter spell had no direct relationship with Mirage Bat. However, Ayako had another magic which was just as much a specialty of hers as ‘Ultimate Scattering’.

That was ‘Mock Teleportation’. The magic consisted of cloaking herself or perhaps a partner in a cocoon of air, quelling inertia, and moving instantly through a vacuum tube made of air.

The vacuum tube would be viewed as an obstacle to other athletes in Mirage Bat, so she couldn’t use it like that. However, if the sequences of Mock Teleportation were downgraded, then the magic allowed her to jump faster than the eye could follow by continually creating gusts of air.

Even the use of flying magic could not compete with her speed. Mock Teleportation was extremely inferior to Flying magic in terms of potential movement distance. However, that did not pose a problem in Mirage Bat. The only possible way to win against Ayako in this event would be to cause the ball of light to disappear before she could find it.

As Tatsuya and Miyuki expected, the newcomers tournament’s Mirage Bat developed into a display of Ayako piling up her score alone. Their First High kouhai was putting up a good fight. She would probably manage to take second place.

However, that was as far as she could go. Because even now, the point spread was widening.

The winner of the newcomers tournament’s Mirage Bat was Fourth High’s Kuroba Ayako. The final results were 2nd place-First High, 3rd place-Third High, and 4th place-Fifth High.

Final day of the newcomers tournament, Monolith Code. Here again it was a difficult struggle but First High put up a good fight.

This year, Monolith Code was a round robin league; both the main and newcomers tournament used the six arenas over two days. Each team would have eight matches over ten rounds (in short, each team would sit out and rest two times).

Second day, ninth round. Lead by Shippou Takuma, First High’s team had won all of the six matches they had been in so far. They had narrowly defeated the team that they had regarded as their greatest rival before the competition started, Third High, in the match before their last match, so a victorious mood ran through the rookie team. However, they had seen Third High lose to Fourth High before their eyes in the last match. This riveted Takuma and the others’ attention like their heads had been soaked in cold water.

“That guy is incredible. What the heck is his name?”

Leo asked Tatsuya, who was in the stands, not the support staff area. “Kuroba. Kuroba Fumiya.”

“Kuroba, of course….”

Mikihiko, who was observing from the stands as well, mumbled as if hesitant to speak out.

First High was facing Fourth High in the final match. Unfortunately, it looked like First High was in a pinch.

Dotted with big rocks, ‘the rock stage’ of Monolith Code imitated a karst-like area. The one defending First High’s monolith, which was erected on a bridge, was Shippou Takuma. Unexpectedly, he had volunteered to take on defense; until now, all the enemies had been repulsed. In their victory over Third High also, Takuma had annihilated the offense, which could be said to be one of the main reasons they won.

Despite that, Takuma was being pressed by Fumiya. Like Minamoto no Yosh*tsune, Fumiya jumped from boulder to boulder, not allowing Takuma to lock him in his sights. And Fumiya was taking aim at Takuma with his gun-shaped CAD in midair, assaulting Takuma with an intangible attack.

The outer-system magic, ‘Phantom Blow’.

Tatsuya had used it in last year’s newcomers tournament, but compared to Tatsuya’s, this was much more powerful. It was not just that; Fumiya was using more than phantom blow. Under the cover of the flashier magic, another magic was being slipped in, ‘Direct Pain’, Fumiya’s specialty; a magic he alone could use to imprint pain directly into his opponent’s mind.

He had stepped it down so that any magicians in the stands wouldn’t notice, but even so, one blow was enough to take out Takuma’s mind. As a result, people were unaware of Direct Pain and only saw a powerful Phantom Blow.

Naturally, being mistaken about the source of such power did not change the effect. The accumulated effect of the pain in his mind was clearly keeping Takuma from concentrating.

A decreased ability to concentrate decreased the force of one’s magic. A decline in concentration decreased the force of the magic; there was a direct correlation between concentration and the success rate of magic. Takuma was trying to attack with ‘Stone Shower’---a magic that used herd control to spray an opponent with a concentration of pebbles---in order to stop Fumiya’s movements.

Stones whirled in Takuma’s vicinity.

However, they did not attack Fumiya; they sprinkled down directly in front of the boulder Fumiya was standing on. Direct Pain was being emitted from Fumiya’s hand concealed by Phantom Blow.

With all three members of First High’s team being KO'd by Fumiya, Fourth High’s victory was assured.

The curtain closed on the newcomers tournament ended with Fourth High’s victory in Monolith Code. However, First High secured second place and was graced with overall first place in the newcomers tournament.

As a result, with the conclusion of the newcomers tournament, the difference between Third High, which was in 1st place, and First High, in 2nd place, was 5 points. The actions of the first years had turned it back to a battle between Third High and First High for victory.

The ninth day of the NSC. The fight moved from the newcomers tournament back to the main tournament. And under the starry sky, the finals for Mirage Bat, also known as Fairy Dance, were being held.

First High was sending two people, Honoka and Subaru, to the final. Honoka’s engineer was Tatsuya; Subaru’s engineer was Azusa. While both were second years, this was a calculated move to overcome Third High in one blow. With Third High only having one athlete advance to the final, the strategy had already half succeeded. In preparation of attaining the other half of the strategy’s goal, Tatsuya and Azusa had gone all out. The rest was up to the athletes.

Wearing a uniform that was fitted to her entire body that had a light lime base tone, Honoka was a little embarrassed to be standing in front of Tatsuya. Even though she knew it was an athletic uniform, it was a decidedly embarrassing to be exposed in this manner to a male in close quarters.

“Absolutely nothing wrong. Do you feel there is anything wrong with your own condition?”

It was inevitable that after checking on the CAD tuning, Tatsuya would slowly and thoroughly examine Honoka’s body. One’s ‘eyes’ being more reliable than a machine at observation was something that was limited to him.

“No...nothing. I’m fine.”

Honoka was so embarrassed she answered in a small voice. She had a greater reason to be embarrassed than simply being seen by a member of the opposite sex. Tatsuya understood that as well but had to pretend nothing was wrong because he understood.

Should I leave her alone for a while before the event so she can concentrate on the match…….Tatsuya considered and just as he was about to bring it up to Honoka.

“Excuse me, Shiba-kun.”

Subaru had entered from the next booth where Azusa was doing her final check. “Do you need something?”

His words were unfriendly, but his tone of voice was not all that hostile. Tatsuya was only asking; after all, even though they were members of the same team, Mirage Bat was an individual match. To visit an athlete this close to the match, although it could not be called thoughtless, was not normal.

“I thought I would give my regards to Shiba-kun.”

“Regards? To me?”

“That’s right, to you.”

Subaru agreed with an insolent air. Naturally, this was her usual manner. Last year, well it doesn’t matter now.

“I will be victorious in this match. Sorry Tatsuya, but the myth of your invincibility ends today.”

However, this arrogant speech wasn’t like Subaru.

The ‘myth of his invincibility’ referred to the fact that last year, athletes in his charge had only lost to each other, and so far this had continued to be true this year. Even at this year’s NSC, Row and Gunner-pair-Eimi; [Ice Pillars Break]- pair-Shizuku and solo-Miyuki; Shield Down-pair-Kirihara and solo-Sawaki; newcomers tournament’s Row and Gunner- male division and newcomers tournaments’ Shield Down- female division had all secured victory.

“I am not the one who won.”

However, Tatsuya did not misconstrue that as his own achievement. Eimi, Shizuku, Miyuki, Kirihara, Sawaki, and Minami. They were all athletes that would have won without his help. Tatsuya considered that he himself had been the lucky one. His response was accompanied by an exchange of ironic smiles; he wasn’t letting it go to his head.

“Although, that is true. Athletes in Shiba-kun’s charge don’t lose. I will smash this myth.”

However, this record put pressure on their opponents, so viewed objectively, there was no problem. This brazen attitude so unlike the usual Subaru was probably to get rid of that pressure.

To be honest, her attitude was unpleasant. However, that being said, to Tatsuya, Subaru was another athlete of his team. It would be unwise to make a clumsy response and increase the volume of pressure on her.

“Is that so?”

Other than that short reply, Tatsuya made no response.

After watching Subaru leave, when Tatsuya returned his attention to Honoka, she was all fired up for some reason.

“Tatsuya-san!”

Her eyes no longer showed any shame. Instead, they burned with competitive spirit.

“I am going to go all out. I’m going for it and winning! I will defend Tatsuya-san’s no loss record!”

Worry that she might be so fired up that she self-destructed arose. However, in Honoka’s case, trying to sooth her might have the opposite effect. Tatsuya had learned her personality well during their year’s acquaintance.

“I see. I’ll depend on you.”

Rather, it was better in times like this to fire her up even more. “Yes!”

Honoka happily agreed, her fighting spirit coming out in a bright smile. Finals of Mirage Bat.

The results were Honoka-winner and Subaru-2nd place. The Third High athlete managed to get 3rd place, but Third High had only acquired 20 points compared to First High’s 80.

In the overall rankings, First High was finally standing at the top.

◊ ◊ ◊

“Up to this point, I thought we might not make it, but somehow we managed to get to this point this year as well.”

The students of First High seated for dinner radiated relief rather than joy. It was the 10th day of the NSC, and First High had widened its lead on Third High to 95 points with their win in Monolith Code.

Momentarily, it had been a huge 100 point lead, but it was still a complete turnaround.

“Yoshida was today’s MVP. He really did well for us.”

The one praising Mikihiko was his Monolith Code teammate who had the name of Minakami Carey; he was a third year who, due to being of Indian and British descent, possessed unusual coloring: blonde hair with black skin.

“No…..it wasn’t just my efforts. I simply followed the lead of my senpais.”

As he was speaking, Mikihiko eyed Tatsuya, who was a little bit away from him and surrounded by girls.

“I was also helped by Tatsuya…..”

“That’s right. Shiba has made great efforts as an engineer for us again this year. Hey, Shiba!”

Carey made multiple beckoning gestures to Tatsuya who had looked up in their direction. Tatsuya stood up holding the tray he was eating from. As he watched Tatsuya leave the flowery group of girls that included his sister, Miyuki, to come to this table full of males, Mikihiko might have had the malicious thought, ‘He’s the only one making good memories…..’ but no one could be sure.

“Well, sit.”

Those words were from the head of the men’s table, Sawaki. Tatsuya did not dare to disobey---well, since he had brought his tray, he probably never intended to disobey---and indicated his understanding by sitting down. “Good work, today.”

“No, I wasn’t able to do enough work yesterday, so, since I was able to recover a little.”

Tatsuya had not hastily decided to take charge of Mikihiko. From the start, Tatsuya was supposed to be looking after Mikihiko’s CAD. Although it was from the start, there had been the possibility that the Mirage Bat and Monolith Code events would overlap. If it had come to that, Tatsuya would have had to choose between being the engineer in charge of Honoka or Mikihiko.

“Nothing could be done about yesterday. We’re well aware of that.”

Everyone here understood that, but Hattori was the one who dared to speak up, demonstrating his ‘honest but hardheaded’ personality.

“It’s as he said. Besides, there were almost no problems with the work you showed us from you taking it a little easy yesterday. Make no mistake, you contributed to today’s victory.”

“With this, we should get the combined total victory. So you can show your face to your senpais.”

After Sawaki, Carey spoke up with a relieved look. This, his third year, was the first time he had been chosen as a representative, so the traditions were probably putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on him.

From Tatsuya’s point of view, this was a very hasty pronouncement. There was still the possibility of a huge reversal in the point spread with tomorrow's Steeplechase Cross-country.

However, Tatsuya didn’t point that out. It would be correct to say it was because he didn’t care about the rankings, number of points or the overall victory.

He wanted to make tomorrow’s event end safely.

No, he would crush anything that interfered with tomorrow’s event publicly finishing safely.

That was what he was thinking as he made an inoffensive reply.

◊ ◊ ◊

After dinner, Tatsuya went to the hotel’s observation lounge. The moon hadn’t yet risen but the sky was clear. The outline of Mount Fuji was carelessly displayed by the starlight. From this viewpoint, the darkness resembled that of hell. From the balcony, he looked down on the course for tomorrow’s Steeplechase event, which was a man-made forest with violent traps concealed within.

“How is it going?”

He questioned the doll in the shape of a girl right next to him.

[No response. I surmise that they are kept in a sleep-like state.]

The one that answered was the entity housed within the doll. A London conference had assigned it the name of parasite; Tatsuya and his friends called the pushion information entity, Pixie.

“As expected, there is nothing to be done but wait for tomorrow, hmm.”

Despair oozed from Tatsuya’s monologue. But no sign of depression was etched on his face. Tatsuya genuinely wished to know the whereabouts of the main actor in tomorrow’s planned experiment, the gynoids with parasites implanted in them, the Parasite Dolls, make no mistake. However, when he had Pixie accompany him here, he had not actually expected her to be able to find them. In the first place, if all he intended Pixie to do was find the Parasite Dolls, then it would not have been necessary to climb to a high place. After all, since Pixie and the Parasite Dolls were essentially the same type of existence, if both were active then they both would be aware of each other.

Since the night Miyuki had persuaded him to let her bet her own existence as a magician, Tatsuya had thrown away the notion of stopping the Kudou clan’s experiment that might add to the danger to the magic high school students himself. As the mysterious informer might have expected, he would decide what to do on the actual day then and there; in short, tomorrow. ---That the mysterious informer had not expected him to stop the experiment before it started was clear from the lack of a delivery of supplemental information.

Tatsuya’s coming to look at the site of tomorrow’s drama, which was submerged in darkness, was nothing more than a whim. The daring might say he came up here to divert himself a little from the anger he felt over being pushed this way and that by the Kudou clan and the mysterious informer.

“Watch tomorrow!” for that reason. It was simple to take advantage of Pixie’s ability to detect the Parasite Dolls.

“Tatsuya-kun.”

The observation lounge did not have a do not enter sign. However, so close to midnight, he had not expected anyone other than himself to be weird enough to come the topmost balcony, which had neither lighting nor effective air conditioning.

“Master, have you come to cool off?”

Naturally, in terms of being wierd, Yakumo was at a much higher level than he was. …..thought Tatsuya. When he had been thinking ‘as weird as himself’, he hadn’t been thinking of Yakumo.

“I, well, something like that. The night wind does feel better than air conditioning. But, doesn’t that young lady over there need you for something? I think it’s about time you speak with her.”

As Yakumo spoke, he didn’t go as far as shrugging his shoulders, but somehow he conveyed the impression that he had to Tatsuya on the balcony.

He could see a shadow within the darkness. The woman was older than him, but she was still regarded by the world as young. She was giving off a different aura than she usually did; her beautiful face wasn’t wearing its usual amusement, probably due to the stern “at the end of her rope” look she was wearing instead.

“As I thought, the message was from you, Lieutenant.”

Without a preamble, just as if they had already been in the middle of a conversation, Tatsuya spoke to her, making Fujibayashi’s face lighten a tad.

“How did you know?”

“It was a matter of probability. If I consider who among my acquaintances has that kind of high level technical skill, your name heads the list.”

“What if it was someone you didn’t know?”

“It’s futile to consider that possibility.”

“Oh….”

Even though she relaxed slightly, Fujibayashi’s face was still stiff. Was it from tension or was it from guilt, or was it due to a completely different reason…...Tatsuya was not yet equipped with the discernment to determine.

First, he had to ask about the things he didn’t know; there was no other way to a resolution. Therefore, Tatsuya asked without reserve or hesitation.

“Did you give me that warning on the road to the former Lab 9? What were you trying to get me to do?”

“What….. I wonder what it was that I wanted you to do, Tatsuya-kun……”

Tatsuya held her eyes with a piercing gaze. But he found nothing he could use to determine that she was trying to fool him.

“Tatsuya-kun, shouldn’t we change venues?”

Without magic to prevent eavesdropping or watching, they couldn’t speak about it safely; the information was surely on that level.

”You’re right….”

In this matter, it was not completely clear whether either Fujibayashi or the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion were allies. There was no sign of it being a trap, but he did not think the matter was as serious as that.

“You won’t mind if Master sits in?”

“Okay.”

“Eh, I don’t care.”

“Understood, I’ll leave it to you.” After securing the two’s agreement, Tatsuya gave his approval to Fujibayashi’s plan.

The place that Fujibayashi took Tatsuya and Yakumo was inside an RV that was similar to the one Tatsuya was using as a work van. The parking lot was different from the one allotted for use by the Nine Schools Competition. It was a little apart from the other unoccupied parked cars in the lot.

[Master, I can’t sense any wireless transmission waves.]

With the help of Ushiyama and the rest, Pixie’s sensors had been stretched to the limits they could go without impairing her 3H body.

“Tatsuya-kun, here. Sensei, please take a seat as well.”

After the pair took the offered seat on the simple sofa, Fujibayashi gave Pixie a slightly pensive look, but nevertheless, she went to the RV’s kitchen without saying anything.

She probably hadn’t intended to waste any time from the beginning. She came back carrying a tray with three glasses full of black liquid. She placed the glasses on the table and ignored the standing Pixie as she sat down opposite the two males.

“First, is it fine if I explain things in sequential order?”

Without proffering the drinks, Fujibayashi abruptly spoke to Tatsuya. The informal manner of speaking was presenting the stance that ‘Tatsuya was a friend she was speaking to’.

“You’re right. Before we get into discussing things, there are some things I would like confirmed.”

Seemingly without any wariness, Tatsuya sipped from the glass. His throat was a little dry.

“Okay.”

Fujibayashi was unsurprised at the way Tatsuya drank the ice coffee she had set out without any qualms. She was aware that Tatsuya probably knew more about the ingredients in the drink than she did; anyway, poison wouldn’t affect him more than an instant.

“First is the matter of why you didn’t leak any supplemental information to me as a follow up to your initial message. Were you under surveillance, Lieutenant?”

Right off the bat, he asked what she didn’t want him to ask, thought Fujibayashi. However, there wasn’t any reason not to answer now.

“Yes.”

“Then, secondly. Is this contact at the urging of Major Kazama and Saeki-kakka. Or at the urging of Kudou-kakka.”

“.....It is my commanding officer’s order. I am not under the surveillance of my grandfather.”

By no surveillance, it might mean that this forced experiment of the Kudou clan had nothing to do with Fujibayashi Kyouko, or it might mean that they could trust her so much that there was no need for surveillance.

“May I ask a question, Ojousan of the Fujibayashi.”

Before Tatsuya could ask that, Yakumo butted in from his side. Addressing her as ‘Ojousan of the Fujibayashi’ didn’t seem proper, at least to Tatsuya. However, Fujibayashi didn’t seem to mind; she smiled serenely as she nodded to Yakumo.

“Yes, go ahead.”

“What might be the stance of the Fujibayashi clan?”

However, she wasn’t able to maintain her poker face at the content of the question. She wasn’t scowling because she hadn’t wanted to be asked that question, but because she herself was anxious about the stance of the Fujibayashi clan.

“Neutral.”

“They are truly against it but they can’t oppose what the Kudou clan is doing covertly, is that what you mean?”

“..........”

“The honored wife of the actual head of the Fujibayashi clan is the daughter of the actual head of the Kudou clan. That connection with the magicians who bear the ‘9’ whom the traditionalists hold hostility to places them at the side of the magicians of the ‘9’ although they are Ancient Magicians. If they break away from the Kudou clan, the Fujibayashi clan could be standing alone in Japanese magic society…….is that it?”

Fujibayashi’s face lost all expression, probably to keep them from reading what was going on in her head. However, it goes without saying that the disappearance of her smile made this attempt a total failure.

“But that is not what I wish you to tell me. What does the Fujibayashi clan feel about the usage of the occultists from the continent?”

Yakumo’s eyes did not reflect his usual amusement. Instead, they bore a sharp gleam.

“If they did such a thing, I believe the Fujibayashi clan wouldn’t like it. Regarding the refugees Makoto-ojiue welcomed into the former Lab 9, Father has repeatedly urged him to change his mind.”

The gleam in Yakumo’s eyes faltered as Fujibayashi gave a clear reply to the query. Certainly, the Fujibayashi clan and the Kudou clan had become allies with the marriage. Nevertheless, both those who had chosen to take the path of bridging the gap between “those who bore the number 9” and ‘the Traditionalists’ and the traditionalists who clung to the antagonism felt welcoming that another nation’s occultists, who were searching for cracks in their defenses, was dangerous.

“Certainly, the refugee occultists possessed useful spells. By using the spells they provided, the volume of psion consumption by the Parasite Dolls slightly. However, despite that, both Father and I think it is a mistake.”

“Pardon me, Master, but we should go over the sequence of events.”

With Tatsuya’s interruption, the tension that had arisen between Yakumo and Fujibayashi was quelled. Yakumo’s face returned to its default faint emotionless smile.

“Lieutenant Fujibayashi.”

On the other hand, faced with Tatsuya’s treacherous fake smile, Fujibayashi started to feel an entirely different kind of tension.

“This incident has been incredibly frustrating and irritating for me. Although I am aware of what you would call the outline of the plan to test a new weapon on magic high school students at the Nine Schools Competition, I don’t have a very good grasp on what is actually happening behind the scenes. Well, the truth is I don’t really understand. For some reason, my informant has been stingy with information.”

“Uuumm…… Tatsuya-kun, about that.”

Fujibayashi’s face stiffened slightly but distinctly.

Perhaps seeing that satisfied him, and Tatsuya’s sadistic smile disappeared.

“If you just ignore the intentions of those maneuvering behind the scenes, it’s not all that complex.”

Miyuki had already made Tatsuya aware of that, but since it was irrelevant, he didn’t mention it.

“First, the anti-Asian Alliance hardliners in our nation’s military changed the events in the Nine Schools Competition to more combat oriented ones.”

No one disagreed with Tatsuya’s point.

“Next, the Kudou clan took advantage of this to plan a performance test of the Parasite Dolls.”

“Grandfather proposed it, but Uncle seems to have opposed it at first.”

“So then, the one who decided to use the refugee occultists was Kudou-kakka?”

“.....No, that was Uncle.”

“Is that so. Let’s call the person manipulating things behind the scenes through the refugee occultists who the current head of the Kudou clan took in X for now. X is aiming for the Parasite Dolls to go out of control and cause injuries and deaths among the athletes of the Nine Schools Competition. They might not intend to go as far as killing anyone, but they may intend to cause injuries that end their lives as magicians. X’s ultimate goal might be decreasing our nation’s military power by cutting off the supply of magicians who will become soldiers. Because an increase in the military power of Japan would be a hindrance to him.”

“Yes, that is our take as well. Therefore, I’m here.”

“.......What do you mean?”

Fujibayashi did not avert her eyes from Tatsuya’s gaze, which was laced with distrust and suspicion.

“Tatsuya-kun. We request your cooperation in stopping the Parasite Dolls from going out of control.”

She did not rise up to bow, as she sat on the sofa with both knees together with her hands on top of them, but Fujibayashi bowed her head down low. She did not call him ‘Special Officer” but “Tatsuya-kun”.

“Cooperation?”

“Yes, this is not an order. This request is not something in the realm of what we can command you to do as your duty. Therefore, this is a plea for your cooperation.”

Fujibayashi raised her head and got up from the sofa. Reading her unspoken intentions, Tatsuya got up as well. Fujibayashi moved in front of a box that looked like a coffin that could snugly hold a fully grown man. In front of Tatsuya who was by her side, she opened the lid.

Perhaps there was a spring in the hinge, as after the lid was opened only slightly, it sprang open. Inside was an ultramarine mobile suit---it resembled a bulky work jumpsuit.

“While the Parasite Dolls’ performance test is unofficial, it is still a project entrusted to the Kudou clan of the Ten master clans by our nation’s military. If we interfere in that, it could lead to discord within the military or a private war with the Ten Master Clans.”

“You want me to become an illegal agent of destruction.”

Tatsuya’s voice was cold and hard. It was inevitable after all; it was implied that they wouldn’t protect him if his identity was revealed. It could be called a mild response considering what had just been said.

“Even if you put it that way, I believe that nothing else can be done.”

Tatsuya’s gaze became even sharper; however, Fujibayashi met his gaze firmly. It might have been a bluff, but she did not appear to flinch.

“.....Fine.”

Their short face off ended with Tatsuya giving in. He had intended to finish off the Parasite Dolls himself from the start. He was actually grateful that he was able to use the new type of mobile suit augmented with stealth functions.

“Thank you. You can use this car as you wish. Here is the key.” Tatsuya accepted the wireless control box from Fujibayashi.

“When you are done with it, please press this button. After five minutes, the contents will self-destruct.”

Fujibayashi indicated a corner of the wall. There was a red button surrounded by yellow and black caution stripes.

“What do I do with the mobile suit? I don’t think it will be destroyed with the van’s contents.”

“If you place it in the box, it can be completely destroyed. Finish off the experiment.”

“Roger.”

Tatsuya directed a nod toward Fujibayashi while he looked at the ‘self destruct button’ with subdued eyes, and murmured that as if speaking to himself.

“Since this is in part a personal request, I will surely have you repay this favor someday.”

As Tatsuya’s statement made her cheeks lose color, Fujibayashi said farewell and left like she was fleeing. Since she offloaded the mobile suit and the RV onto Tatsuya, she was probably going to the hotel. Yakumo insisted on escorting her, ‘just in case’, as was proper. As their shadows merged with the big square one, Yakumo engaged Fujibayashi in conversation.

“Ojou-san, was that actually Kazuma-kun’s order?”

“.......What do you mean by that? Besides, could you please stop calling me ‘Ojou- san’?”

Fujibayashi answered with a stiff face without looking in Yakumo’s direction.

“Forgive my rudeness. Fujibayashi-san, I’ve been thinking. I would say that there was no need to make Tatsuya-kun do that. Make no mistake, by that I mean the Parasite Dolls won’t actually go out of control, will they?”

“Are you saying I lied?”

“Since lying is part of your job…..”

Yakumo barked that out in a tone that was both condemning and comforting.

“The weapon has a failsafe device. I don’t believe Kudou Retsu is the type of man who would neglect that……. By the way, did you know, Fujibayashi-san? Even

Mikkyou has spells for manipulating a doll like a puppet. Novitiate monks whose virtue is insufficient to summon genuine Gohou Doushi use them to create fake Gohou Doushi.”

“No…..I didn’t know, but I theorized it.”

Fujibayashi responded to the sudden switch of topic by speaking with deliberation. Even though she peeped with sidelong glances to see what kind of face Yakumo was making, she completely failed to read his expression. Fujibayashi understood that the reason for that was not completely due to hostility.

“Before I came here, I went to the ‘Main Temple’, which I haven’t done in a while. I questioned an expert in this area. He claimed that he had already achieved the ability to call Gohou Doushi and was no longer using fakes, but-”

It seemed like some kind of trouble had occurred at that meeting. Yakumo made a reminiscing smile.

“No matter what type of practitioner, they would not neglect to define the rules of offense and defense. And, when a puppet broke those defined rules, a punishment would be incurred. A sealing so that the puppet could not inflict more harm. The seal spell is said to be part of the enslavement spell.”

Yakumo turned. His eyes were empty, his mouth had burst into a crescent shape. The face was so like a possessed doll that Fujibayashi let out a scream. ---No, she wasn’t able to scream.

In an instant, Fujibayashi had succumbed to Yakumo’s spell.

“The Parasite Dolls have the same type of spell installed, right? For instance, a prohibition about attacking non-combatants. If they didn’t, they couldn’t be deployed as an autonomous weapon.”

“....It is as you say.”

Fujibayashi had lost neither her mind nor her will.

“Even if the occultists want the Parasite Dolls to attack high school students, the foundation spell wouldn’t allow it. The instant they became violent, the control sequence would switch to a sealing sequence and seal the parasite.”

“That is what I heard.”

However, she didn’t hide it. She didn’t lie.

“If the Parasite Dolls are let loose, is the spell keeping them emplaced inside the mechanical doll cancelled, and does the procedure to emplace the free parasite into the mechanical doll have to be repeated. Does this not affect the fact that the parasite is attached to the mechanical doll?”

“I don’t know.”

“I see…..the testing hasn’t proceeded that far.”

Yakumo took his eyes off Fujibayashi.

Exhausted, Fujibayashi dropped down to her knees. Yakumo called out to the darkness.

“It seems like that is how it is, Kazama-kun. Did you know?”

The shadows created the silhouette of a person. As it proceeded from the parking lot, under the scattered lights of the hotel the form of Kazama appeared.

“Why are you here?”

“You say that there wasn’t a need for Tatsuya-kun to cross that dangerous bridge.”

“No, I don’t know that.”

Perhaps he didn’t think his monitoring had been directly observed; Kazama paid no attention to Fujibayashi who was looking up at his own face with terror and answered his teacher’s question with a ---visibly---pensive look.

“You didn’t hear it from this Ojou-san?”

“Yes.”

Kazama was also one of the users of ancient magic. He should also have general knowledge of puppet spells. There should be no way that he wasn’t aware of the embedded failsafe. For him not to have asked about that….

“Hmmmm….. Apparently, there is a reason you want Tatsuya-kun to run amok.”

“You didn’t tell Tatsuya-kun either, Master, right?”

By answering the question with a question, he indirectly agreed with Yakumo’s words.

“I have no reason to defend the decision, but the commander of the brigade is unaware of this. Although the Major General is well informed in how to use magic, this is only regarding modern magic; she is the same as any amateur regarding ancient magic.”

“I thought you were her advisor……”

“Why didn’t you stop us, Master?”

Apparently, this policy of not answering was inconvenient for Kazama. “Because it would be unpleasant to stop him.”

That didn’t particularly matter to Yakumo. He hadn’t intended to condemn Kazama from the start.

“Fujibayashi-san, about our earlier conversation.”

If he thought there was no danger, he would have told Tatsuya that.

“That is the truth in general. There is a possibility that it will not work so well in this matter.”

Yakumo, who had decided to divorce himself from the world, was seeing this incident to the end because he feared the impact this incident would have on the world.

“......For what reason?”

“Kudou Retsu is probably locked in the same mindset. Not just him, all the old guys at the former Lab 9 are assured by this bit of common sense.”

He himself was just about the age to be called an old guy, but Yakumo referred to the retired generation of ‘9’ as old guys.

“You should have received a detailed report from Tatsuya-kun regarding the nature of Parasites.”

Kazama and Fujibayashi nodded in answer to the question without a word.

“Parasites came to our world from a different direction via a small hole in the dimension wall and they are overwhelmed by strong pure thought. They fuse with the owner of that strong pure thought and that strong pure thought serves as an impetus.”

Yakumo repeated the phrase ‘strong pure thought’ many times. Fujibayashi was quicker to catch his meaning.

“Good grief…. What is Kokonoe-sensei trying to say!?”

“Strong pure thought. It would be strange if the grounds were not soaked in the desire to win the NSC on the final day of competition, right?”

“If the binding spell on the parasite malfunctions……?”

Kazama groaned out the question.

“Maybe they go out of control. Maybe they don’t go out of control. I believe that we should at least decide that we cannot let them go out of control.”

Yakumo’s reply was terribly irresponsible and sincere.

“And when the out of control Parasite Doll is ultimately destroyed, the released parasite might possess a youth emitting a pure thought.”

Neither Kazama nor Fujibayashi could deny the possibility of the worst case scenario Yakumo outlined. If Kudou Retsu himself were here, he probably would have turned pale and been unable to refute it.

“Therefore, I think it is correct to let Tatsuya-kun have that battlesuit. Tatsuya can deal a unilateral defeat to the parasite dolls. The military might also give up the foolish plan of using demons as you are thinking, Kazama-kun. So I will keep this matter under wraps for you. I want you to repay me by telling me something.”

In repayment for not informing Saeki that Kazama was concealing information from her, Yakumo wanted information.

“About what?”

“Who sent those mainland occultists to the Kudou clan?”

Even though he was asked, Kazama didn’t know. Fujibayashi was the one who answered Yakumo’s question.

“......A Chinese merchant of Yokohama, a young man named Zhou Gongjin.”

“Zhou Gongjin of Yokohama. I have been hearing that name a lot lately.”

“You know of him, Master?”

Yakumo did not answer Kazama’s question.

“Well, I asked about what I wanted to know, so I’ll go. As promised, I will keep quiet about your concealment of information and covert actions.”

Yakumo took a single step off the lighted path. That was all it took for him to disappear.

After Yakumo left, Fujibayashi finally got up. “Major, well….”

“Go, Lieutenant. We do not want Tatsuya to see us.”

After cutting off whatever Fujibayashi had started to say, Kazama walked to the hotel.

Perhaps, she thought, if they followed Yakumo, it would become obvious to Tatsuya; Fujibayashi obediently trailed after Kazama, who hadn’t punished her.

“Lieutenant.”

Without turning around to confirm she was there, Kazama spoke to Fujibayashi. “Yes, Major.”

“Were you deceived by Kudou-kakka as well, Lieutenant?”

“Wha?”

Although she continued walking, for a moment she seemed about to trip.

“About the possibility of the Parasite Dolls going out of control. However, you thought it was an impossibility, Lieutenant. Right?”

“Ah, yes.”

She didn’t immediately understand what Kazama wanted to say, so she had to make a guess.

“I did not confirm the information myself, sir. I was in a situation where I couldn’t report immediately. I only brought in false information. Consequently, I prevented the giving of mistaken orders.”

Kazama was offering to overlook Fujibayashi cleaving to Kudou’s side. “Good work, Lieutenant.”

“Thank you, don’t mention it.”

Fujibayashi stopped and bowed deeply to Kazama’s back as he continued on without stopping.

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