Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 20 - Southern Sea Riot - Chapter Ep

Epilogue

In the waiting room for the departure of the airport there are 3 kinds of people.

People that see others off with a smile. People that escort with tears. And people that escort with a different look than the first two. Discarding the detailed classification, it could be anything, except for smiles and tears.

Similarly, there are three types that are escorted. People who go with a smile. People who go with tears. People who depart with something different from the first two.

However, we dare add one more group for those who are leaving.

People who go home with a tired face.

There were differences between working and playing, there was a difference between physical and mental exhaustion, but those who now waited for the return airplane had exactly this expression.

Even the girls were exhausted.

March 29. The day after the party on an artificial island near the coast of Kume Island.

"It was a tiresome trip..."

Naha Sayaka, who came to the airport departure hall, grumbled, leaning both her hands on her suitcase to relieve the load of her own weight.

Azusa, who heard her, giggled with restraint. It was like saying "I agree!", Because she could not say aloud the same thing to the invited classmate.

"True? But was it fun?" But her partner, Kirihara, had a different opinion. He objected with a cheerful expression. The excitement of yesterday's evening had not yet passed. This excitement was not from the party, but from the battle.

"...So Kirihara-kun had fun? Like a child, who rejoices when getting wet in a puddle.”

Looking at Sayaka with sad eyes, Kirihara immediately looked away. He remembered how she got angry last night for a spoiled suit.

"Er, that's not because we wanted to play in the water. Hey, Sawaki."

Sawaki nodded strongly, although he did not understand well what he meant by "hey."

"Yes. It was a good fight. I am happy that for the first time in a long time I had to give my best."

"Oh, no! It is not true!" On Isori's apologizing words, Sayaka quickly waved her head. "I'm sorry to say strange things. Sure, I was having fun."

"Yes, I understand." With a smile, Isori nodded and fussily explained to Sayaka.

"Everybody is tired of getting into such an incident. I would like to rest another day."

"I agree!" Kanon reacted to the words of Isori.

"Refuse today's flight and stay one more night!" Grabbing his hand, Kanon with a spoiled voice tried to persuade Isori.

"Such a reason will not work."

"Correct. Although there are still a few days before the ceremony of entering the university, you still need to start preparing in advance."

Having confirmed Azusa's words to Hattori, Kanon did not seem convinced.

"Yes, but what is there to prepare?"

"By the way, you have already passed the registration for landing?"

Ignoring Kanon's objection, Hattori turned to Isori.

"Exactly." Answered Sawaki. He pushed his suitcase toward the check in counter for landing.

"Wait! Hey, do not ignore me!"

Followed by Sawaki Hattori, looked back at the protesting Kanon:

"It's not a different country. Maybe we'll come again in the summer?"

"A good idea. Will we go again with this line-up?" He responded vigorously to Hattori's words.

"Uh, I'd like to see Kei and I together." Kanon immediately expressed discontent.

"We do not know if the summer holidays will be really free."

Speaking of the National Academy of Defense, Kirihara, entering the same course as Sayaka nodded with a disappointed face.

"It is not necessary to be limited only to the summer of this year. A chance can be given at any time, because risks are everywhere."

"Hattori, is this some sort of philosophy?"

On the hob of Kirihara, Hattori with a smile shook his head.

"It's not entirely philosophy. Simply words of consolation."

"I do not understand what you mean."

"It's like saying that next time you have to do better." Sawaki, who finished registration, looked around. "Then, next time, let's deal with the problem only on our own."

"Well, something like that." Smiling, Hattori nodded at Sawaki's words.

Unlike the group of graduates of First High, which, as planned, flew to Tokyo on the plane the day after the party, a group of current students swam carefree in the morning. The tour of Kumejima, interrupted by the attack of the submarine, was organized anew on the same ship with the transparent bottom.

"Suddenly it became not a mission, but a trip" said Miyuki with a bitter smile.

"I think this does not count." Tatsuya also smiled ironically.

"What do you mean 'does not count'?" Honoka immediately asked with curiosity.

"The trip to Okinawa this time was a job, so I talked about going out without work next time." Because there was no need to hide this, Tatsuya honestly answered Honoka's question.

In a conversation last night, Miyuki requested that next time he not have any work. It was during their conversation on board the yacht returning from the artificial island to the main island of Okinawa. Since then, only half a day has passed. When it was mentioned that this cruise can be considered a "trip without work," Tatsuya and Miyuki showed bitter smiles, feeling that the conversation last night was continued.

"Hmm, that’s what you mean?" Honoka did not go any further. She, probably understood that questions like "is it possible if I go with you?"

will receive undesirable answers.

"How long will you stay here?" Feeling the sufferings of her best friend, Shizuku decided to change the subject, referring to Miyuki.

"We plan to return to Tokyo tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

"There's not much time left after all."

"In fact, we planned to return with today's flight. But in the end we had extra time."

"Hmm…"

Miyuki did not explain where the extra time came from. Shizuku also did not ask.

"We will soon have to organize preparations for the opening ceremony."

Since Shizuku is an ordinary member of the disciplinary committee, she needs to participate only in the school events themselves, but there is no need to participate in their training. But Miyuki is the president of the school board. She must participate in a large number of preparations for the ceremony of admission.

Annually in March, preparations are made for various events including the admission ceremony, other events at the beginning of the year, an acquaintance with the first graders' representative is being held, etc., but this year Miyuki left Tokyo immediately after the closing ceremony to fulfill something similar to official duties (although this was not an

"official" duty, but close to this). Most of the preparations were completed before spring break, but a meeting to prepare the speech for the newcomers had not yet been held.

"This year, the representative of the first-graders, is again a girl?"

"Correct."

"She's from the Top Ten Clan Clans?"

"Yes, Shiina-san. The youngest daughter of the Mitsuya family. But we have not met."

"So this is how it is. That's why you cannot stay longer."

"Yes. I'm afraid that is why." When Miyuki said this, not only herself, but Honoka also had a depressed face.

But not because Tatsuya will also leave when Miyuki goes to Tokyo.

Honoka is also in the school board, so she also needs to participate in the preparation for the welcome ceremony. Honoka and Shizuku planned to return to Tokyo on the 31st, but if Miyuki returns on the 30th to prepare for the admission ceremony, they would also have to think about returning on the same day.

"...Anyway, let's rest while we're here! It's a little early to be in the sea, but why not swim in the hotel pool, where we stayed? It is quite spacious!" With Honaka's returning enthusiasm she approached Tatsuya. Shizuku thought that from the face of Miyuki, who was watching, a bit of calm disappeared.

The report on the capture of Jasmine Williams and James J. Johnson by the Japanese army reached William MacLeod in Britain in the middle of the following day.

The incident, with an attempt to sabotage the artificial island in Kumejima, was apparently carried out by a detachment of deserters from the Great Asian Alliance with the support of the Australian army, but in fact it was Britain that organized the two forces together. If these details come to the surface, it would be impossible to avoid revealing that the British army was the culprit.

Knowing this, the intelligence department of the British army was surrounded by a tense atmosphere. Of course, there was not much noise, as if the hive had been turned over. Even in the building of the headquarters of the military intelligence department in the White Hall (the Government Center of Britain in the business district), this case was not loudly voiced, for fear of information leakage.

It was unnecessary to create a depressing atmosphere. Therefore, there was nothing but reproach from the people MacLeod was passing. The staff involved in this operation knew that MacLeod had a leading role in nominating the detachment of magicians from the Australian army.

MacLeod understood why these reproachful views were aimed at him.

He was already asked to explain himself. The fact that his reputation worsened was clear to all, however, William MacLeod did not need to worry about the hostility directed at him. During interrogation by senior officers, he was treated like an aristocrat just like before.

First, he expected that the British government would not be negligent towards one of the official magicians of the Strategic Class. The fact that he was calm, spoke of his confidence in the safety of his position, despite the fact that he was involved in an independent trip to Australia, where he directly supervised the operation.

MacLeod left the headquarters of the so-called DIS and entered the old building next to the First Block. There was a branch of the government communications headquarters (formerly MI1), which was in charge of the British SigInt (engaged in interception of communications, eavesdropping, interception of radio signals, radar waves, etc.). For passers-by it was completely unclear what this building is, but it was MacLeod's workplace. Roughly speaking, in one of the rooms adjacent to the GCHQ building Macleod had a private office.

Not meeting anyone on the way, he went into his office and locked the door. In general, there were people walking back and forth through the building, but MacLeod's office was on a technical floor, where ordinary employees usually did not go. And access to the office itself was hidden from with the help of a dedicated elevator.

MacLeod included the most modern communication terminal, incompatible with the appearance of the old building. A figure of one man immediately appeared on the display. Apparently, the interlocutor approached his terminal before the appointed time.

"Hello, Sir William MacLeod. How is your health?”

“Hello, Dr. Clark. Health is normal. For my age.”

"I did not mean anything like that ...I'm sorry."

"No, sorry for being rude. This was just a joke."

The name of the man, smiling puzzled on the terminal screen, was Edward Clark. He is a scientist from the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America and a specialist in large-scale information systems.

"You are an evil man, sir. By the way, it seems that the question we discussed earlier, as expected, ended in failure."

"There's nothing to hide from you, Doctor."

"I apologize. So, the introduction of the 'Trojan horse' was successful?"

"Not yet. Jas was caught by Haru Kazama."

"How? ...And I thought the Yotsuba would be interested in getting such a sample."

"I still think there's a chance. It seems that there is a special connection between the division of Haru Kazama and the Yotsuba."

"Through the telepathic network of the 'Brothers Williams', having the same genetic code, I hope to find out some secrets of the Yotsuba."

"In the case of Jas, you should say "Sister", do you not? Although there is no confidence in the conscious use of telepathy, it has the advantage of being difficult to detect to the enemy. In combination with the

"system" of the doctor, the limits in which our eyes and ears can penetrate will increase significantly."

"Information is what you need to manage the world. Sir William, the USNA thanks you for your cooperation, regardless of the success or failure of the operation."

"Thank you. For the prosperity of Britain, Doctor, continue to provide us with your wisdom."

"Of course. Because we are allies."

From the screen of the communicator, Edward Clark uttered a friendly

"Well, see you soon." Immediately after this, the screen went out.

MacLeod also turned off the communicator, carefully closed it, and left this secret cabinet.

Two days after the incident when an attempt was made to sabotage the artificial island in Kumejima. Maya visited a prestigious residential area near the city center.

The house looked like an old big mansion. But in fact it was a kind of fortress, which, in addition to the latest security equipment, was protected by a large number of ancient defensive spells.

The owner of the house was called Todo Aoba. Also known as His Excellency the priest Aoba, he was one of the secret players (also known as Yokai [ghosts, demons]) in the political and business arena of Japan. He was the true owner of the former Fourth Laboratory, and also the Yotsuba sponsor.

Elder Todo rarely summoned Maya. Although this was called sponsorship, the relationship with the Yotsuba family could not be called a one-sided patronage. In terms of funding, the Yotsuba family can do without the help of Elder Todo.

The Yotsuba family once won freedom from the army, destroying all workers of the former Fourth Laboratory.

But before that the army had already deprived the Todo family of power over the Fourth Laboratory.

That's why Elder Todo and the head of the Yotsuba family still had friendly relations. Just as the Yotsuba family depends on the influence of Elder Todo, so does he on the strength of the Yotsuba family.

Relations of mutual support. Therefore, since Todo called Maya, the problem was really important.

After a formal welcome, Maya and Todo immediately moved on to the main topic.

"The day before yesterday in Kumejima you did a good job."

"Thank you."

The work to prevent the diversion, commissioned by Maya to Tatsuya, was the request of Elder Todo.

"Then you captured magicians from the Australian army."

"Yes. One of them is an ordinary magician, but the other seems to be a very interesting specimen."

"And she is." Elder Todo nodded at Maya's words. "It is natural for you to be interested. But never bring this person to the heart of the Yotsuba."

Hearing the words of the elder, Maya slightly rounded her eyes.

"Ara... Is it a trap? Like a living bomb?"

"Worse than a bomb. This woman is ‘ears’."

Despite the abstract expression, Maya accurately realized that "ears" is a person with a special intelligence ability.

"As you wish. I will ask Ms. Saeki get rid of this person immediately."

Maya did not doubt the words of Elder Todo. And she did not ask where he got this from. The Yotsuba family was not the only development of the former Fourth Laboratory. In the organization that preceded the Fourth Laboratory, mating was also practiced. And Elder Todo also had with him those who once offered their "blood" to the Yotsuba family.

"Correct. It will be much more effective to inform Saeki through you than to simply give the order from here."

On the orders of Elder Todo, Maya bowed with a heartless smile.

[Grammatical and structural edits by englishmuffins10]