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 Yoshitsune, 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.
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