Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 25 - Escape (II) - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

First High and its nearest station were connected by a straight road.

Although it does branch out, it can still be said that, the main road is the only one.

Most of the students go to and from school on this road. The only exceptions are students who live within walking distance of the school.

Tuesday, June 11th, morning. On the mentioned pedestrian route the noise from conversations of pupils had risen. Because the well-known President of the School Council, Shiba Miyuki, was walking quite closely with one male pupil.

And this person was as famous as the President of the School Council.

And in terms of fame in society, he was far more famous.

The name of this person is Shiba Tatsuya.

He has returned after a long absence.

"Tatsuya-san!"

From the gate to the courtyard of First High’s main building was a straight road. Right after Tatsuya stepped on this road, he was called out by a voice that was in front of him.

There was a figure in the opposite direction among the students going to school, and she was not alone.

"Tatsuya-san, are you coming back to school?"

The people who knew the circumstances had faces as if they were saying, "There is nothing to be done about it..." and the ignorant people looked at them with curiosity. Honoka, not paying attention to any of them, ran to Tatsuya.

"Yes. From now on, please take care of me again."

With a crooked smile on his face Tatsuya answered Honoka, trying not to cause concern.

Tatsuya quietly approached Honoka and looked at her back.

Shizuku, standing behind Honoka, said hello with a confused face.

And behind her back, Erika, Leo, Mikihiko and Mizuki stood with joyful faces. Erika, noticing the glance of Tatsuya, slightly waved her hand.

Tatsuya continued to go towards the school building with Miyuki to his left, and Honoka attached to his right.

The entrance for the Magic Engineering course was in the second hallway from the main walkway.

This was due to the fact that the classrooms for classes A to D and E to H had separate entrances, and the structure of the school building could not be changed any more.

Separating from Miyuki, Honoka, Shizuku and Mikihiko, Tatsuya went to his classroom together with Erika, Leo and Mizuki.

It's been a long time since he was in classroom 3E. Although Erika and Leo were in class F, they also went to class E.

"We finally left the main group."

Going to his place at the window, Tatsuya gave his impressions, which were not sarcastic, and quite heartless feelings. Erika and the others did not say anything, but only had stretched smiles.

Mizuki sat down at her seat, located on the side of Tatsuya, and turned to face him.

"Given your Stellar Furnace project, is it okay for you to be here now?"

"Well, of course I'm going to be busy. Therefore, it will be difficult to come to school every day."

Mizuki's face was a little sad when she heard Tatsuya's answer.

However, she quickly hid it behind a smile.

"Got it. But I'm glad you'll at least come sometimes."

After the words of Mizuki, Erika through the window in the corridor nodded.

"Even if you are only an 'escort' for Miyuki, and you leave immediately after you came, it will still be somewhat normal. In fact, if Tatsuya-kun isn’t here at all, then there is some sense of dissatisfaction."

"'Escort' for Miyuki?"

Tatsuya could not resist to curve his lips into a smile, hearing the words of Erika, completely ignoring the meaning of school attendance.

But what Erika said was unexpectedly true.

"By the way Tatsuya, how bad is it for Sakurai?" Leo worried about Minami because she was a kohai from his club.

"The doctor says that her complications should not remain. But it's going to take a little time."

"Okay..."

Leo was worried about Minami’s condition, and Tatsuya was also concerned about her.

Of course, the very desire for a full recovery was not a lie. But at the same time, Tatsuya was thinking about the question of what to do with the protection of Miyuki.

Yesterday she went to and from school alone. It is quite rare to meet a person who can harm Miyuki, whether it be a magician or a non-magician. Besides, Tatsuya can protect Miyuki even when he's not around.

However, there are also problems that can be avoided only by having an assistant close by. Even for the Yotsuba family it will be difficult to send people to the school grounds. No, it may be possible to send a person to the school staff, but it is impossible to quickly prepare a pupil who will always be there. To only be an escort during the trips to and from school, was what Tatsuya was thinking before Erika mentioned it.

Tatsuya had returned to First High, not because the excitement of Project Dione had calmed down. On the contrary, because of Tatsuya’s countermeasures that he had started last weak, the hype flared up again.

The fact that the journalists were no longer crowded around First High was a consequence of the shooting incident.

Since Taurus Silver's identity has already been disclosed, they did not have to risk their lives to gather information.

Now it seemed that the excitement, which began in the vicinity of Tatsuya, has spread to a global scale. Among the four largest states, the New Soviet Union took the side of Project Dione, and the Indo-Persian Union, though an official statement from the Government had not yet been made, but it clearly demonstrated the position of supporting Tatsuya’s Project ESCAPES.

The Great Asian Alliance has not yet disclosed its position.

Among other countries: in Europe, they mainly support Project Dione; Countries from West Asia to South-East Asia support Project ESCAPES; Brazil and Australia, like the Great Asian Alliance, have not disclosed their attitude.

The fact that both "camps" do not publicly show a hostile attitude makes the situation quite confusing. The thing is that both projects, Dione and ESCAPES, coincide in terms of peaceful use of magic. And both projects do not bear the principled position that the enemy should be expelled from Earth. Judging by the published materials, the implementation of Project Dione will not make it impossible to move along with Project ESCAPES, and vice versa. There is just one problem: the same magician will not be able to participate in two projects at the same time.

With the recognition that these two projects can coexist, the unfolded war of propaganda between Tatsuya and Clark moved forward with it leaning to the side of Tatsuya. It was not Tatsuya’s superiority of intellect over Clark, but it was related to the advantage of "Acting Second*". This war was not a competition with a judge. Whether delays or fraud are involved, in the end, victory is the most important thing.

[Explanation from the explanatory dictionary for the word used: "Wait and see the enemy's move, before making your move (for example, in Rock-Paper-Scissors, seeing what the opponent will show before you show your answer)"]

With his debate, Edward Clark hoped to bypass this using political influence.

At the time when First High had already finished its first lesson, the commander of the 101 Brigade of the Self-Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Saeki Hiromi visited the office building of the Ministry of Defence. This was also the joint headquarters of the Japanese Navy, but the purpose of today's visit was the Public sector.

Saeki was back at the base before noon. Going into her office, she called Kazama.

"...Tatsuya, that is, Shiba Tatsuya-san..."

"No need to correct yourself, Lieutenant Colonel."

Interrupting someone else's speech was not like the normal Saeki. She didn't even try to hide her bad mood.

Kazama was not puzzled, but rather amused, and he was forced to make great efforts to restrain himself from smiling.

"...I beg your pardon. So you were told to persuade Tatsuya to take part in Project Dione?"

"The Head of the Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no authority to give me orders."

In the conference hall of the Ministry of Defence, Saeki met with the Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs of North America. As Saeki said, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no authority to give orders to the Self-Defense forces. Everything that was said in the conference room was in the form of a request. But the words spoken in the presence of the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense, in fact, were coercion, or, in other words, an order.

The military do not like to violate their command system. And officers have an even stronger feeling towards this sentiment, and Saeki was no exception. Her bad mood was largely explained by this.

"Was this request voiced to Your Excellency, because Tatsuya is Special Officer Ooguro Ryuuya?"

"It looks like it."

Kazama sighed, not hiding this from Saeki, who had made a dissatisfied face.

"It seems that the bureaucrats do not seem to know, why Tatsuya was assigned the title of 'Special Officer'."

"The status of Special Officer Ooguro is in a certain sense outlawed.

It's no surprise that office clerks don't know about him."

As Saeki said, in the current Self-Defense Forces there was no such title as "Special Officer". To begin with, if you look from a historical point of view, then calling Tatsuya a "Special Officer" would be wrong.

It would be more appropriate for him to be called a "militia who has been treated as an officer assigned to the regular army under normal conditions, not temporarily." Since there was no corresponding term for this concept, he was simply called a "Special Officer" for convenience.

Therefore, those who did not know the real situation, based on the original meaning of the concept of an "officer with special duties", Tatsuya would be perceived as an ordinary soldier.

"I think that they should know because they are office workers under jurisdiction of the official legal system."

Legal problems were solved by the Self-Defense Forces themselves, but this problem was "illegal". The existing system requires the consent of the bureaucrats, so it would be impossible to justify the negligence of the Ministry of Defense officials by saying that they did not know.

"You're right about that, Lieutenant Colonel, but now we have other problems."

"I beg your pardon. The problem is whether we can persuade Tatsuya and whether or not we should be persuaded. Isn't it?"

To deviate from the topic of apologizing, Kazama listed two problems.

"Right."

Saeki nodded to him.

"First of all, does the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs understand that Tatsuya is the operator of the 'Material Burst'?"

"Based on the feelings of today's conversation, they did not seem to know."

"Understood. If that is the case, I can understand why they gave such an absurd order."

Tatsuya was the greatest magical military force Japan possessed. No, not only in magic, he is the greatest of all possible forces. The Joker, alone changing the entire World balance, the fifth ace, creating the strongest hand*.

[Poker terminology. "Hand" is a combination of 5 cards received in hands.]

Although the use of such a problem person as a "Joker" may be prohibited by rules, but in this world its use is not prohibited. And nobody in his right mind wants to part with him. If they knew that Tatsuya is the strongest magician of the strategic class, they would not even think about asking him to join Project Dione.

"Instead, how about registering Tatsuya as the 14th 'Apostle'?"

Saeki’s face showed her surprise. But the silent pause didn’t last long.

"...That's not a bad idea."

"Your Excellency?"

This time Kazama was the one to be surprised. Because he was just joking.

"If things worsen even more, we may have to consider this option. If it becomes obvious that he is a Strategic Class Magician, officials will stop saying that he should be transferred to USNA."

"That is so, but..."

"Well, it depends on how the situation will develop. We will deal with the problems as they appear."

Having said that, Saeki made a tired face.

"And if you were to ask him now, Lieutenant Colonel Kazama, do you think you could persuade Shiba-kun?"

"That's impossible."

He would not be able to convince Tatsuya to go to America, even if he were to ask. Therefore Kazama immediately replied that any attempts of persuasion are useless.

"Besides, I can't say that Tatsuya has a good relationship with us right now. And my own mistake, when we were caught while getting video footage the other day, only added more suspicion."

"It was a mistake by my calculations too. In any case, if we try to convince him, then we cannot succeed, and would on the contrary only worsen our relationship with him."

"That's what I think."

Saeki had no objection to the judgement of Kazama.

"Then, do you think, will we be able to gain the favour of Shiba-kun, by rejecting the demand of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"

"Hmm... Who knows..."

On the other hand, Kazama did not agree with her idea.

"Whatever we do, Tatsuya won't take part in Project Dione. I don't think he's going to be particularly grateful. Wouldn't it be a better choice to do nothing at all?"

"That is true..."

Saeki looked down at her hands and pondered. Kazama stood motionlessly in front of her table and waited for her to say something.

"I'll follow your advice."

"You mean you're not going to do anything?"

"Yes. The demand of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not voiced in the proper manner, but done rather unofficially. There will be no problems if I were to neglect it."

Kazama decided that Saeki said so, but she probably planned to ignore the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the very beginning.

It was normal to ask his opinion whether it was possible to benefit from this case, about deserving the gratitude of Tatsuya. At least that's what Kazama understood.

"Lieutenant Colonel, thank you for your help, you are dismissed."

"Understood. Beg your pardon."

Kazama went out of the commander's office.

At first Kazama thought that it was necessary to tell Tatsuya, but quickly gave up on this idea.

The intentions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Self-Defense Forces for Tatsuya are irrelevant. This cannot be used as material to restore their relationship.

Instead it was necessary to ask Tatsuya’s opinion about his registration as the fourteenth "Apostle", as the conversation about it could become a reality at any moment.

Tatsuya has already received undesirable fame from being Taurus Silver. At this rate keeping himself a secret will be impossible. But for Kazama, it was obvious that if you ask Tatsuya if he wants to become an officially State recognized Strategic Class Magicians, the answer will be definitely be "no". Such an idea can worsen his mood if a mistake were to be made.

...Kazama seriously worried that his relationship with Tatsuya became so alienated that he had to think of such things.

And not only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was swept between Tatsuya and Edward Clark.

The Ministry of Industry suffered from pressure from the office of the leader of the ruling party, a part-minister. Once, the Ministry of Industry was called the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, but although the name had changed, foreign trade was still under their jurisdiction. The USNA was one of their most important trading partners in this era, so the bureaucrats from the Ministry of Industry wanted to make the differences in trade as little as possible. For them, the quarrel of a single civilian with the USNA was not a joke, and they seriously wanted Tatsuya to go to America as soon as possible.

However, this morning a request was made by the Office of the Minister who inquired about the legislative measures necessary to implement the

"Magic Stellar Furnace Energy Plant Project". In other words, it meant that they would have to consider another way so that he could not participate in the USNA’s Project Dione.

Since neither Project Dione nor the project of the plant with a Stellar Furnace reactor were governmental municipal enterprises, Japan itself did not have to care about whether they should join them or not. Even in the New Soviet Union, which showed itself to be the most collaborative, the statement of cooperation wasn’t made by the government, but by the academy. At this stage, if the government does nothing, the USNA will not be able to accuse them of anything.

On the other hand, the project of the plant is an internal affair of Japan, so it can be said that the role of the Ministry of Industry is to consider its legal aspects. But the request from the Office of the Minister was exerting pressure, because it demanded them to "support the project", not paying any attention to the circumstances.

Wondering about why this happened, the Ministry of Industry conducted an investigation. The Office of the Ministers sent inquiries to many groups of companies, which are a great source of funds for the ruling party.

There were a lot of businessmen who opposed the project, which is likely to worsen their relations with the USNA. Therefore, the real concern of the Ministry of Industry was that the project announced by a simple schoolboy could so quickly divide the business world into two camps.

"Since when has he had such connections?"

"How has he persuaded these old men that lead such companies?" The employees of the Ministry were puzzled about such questions.

Tatsuya did not leave the classroom until the morning half of the lessons were over. In the third year of training, the number of specialized subjects related to magic increased. But it does not mean that the number of subjects of the general course disappeared. Tatsuya concentrated on general course lectures that he had missed during his absence, studying them at triple speed.

Unfortunately, the accumulated quantity could not be completed in half a day, but he did not think he could catch up by even working for a whole day. When the lunch break came, he got up to go for a bite.

"Tatsuya-san, are you going to eat at—"

"Shiba-kun."

The voice of Mizuki who was sitting him was blocked by a boyish voice.

It was the voice of Tomitsuka.

"“Mizuki, go to the cafeteria first, I'll catch up." Tatsuya answered to Mizuki, then turning to Tomitsuka.

"Tomitsuka, do you need something?"

"...I'd like to talk to you about something." Tomitsuka replied with a little hesitation, making a persistent face.

"Is this conversation going to take a long time?"

In contrast to Tomitsuka, Tatsuya did not seem to be very enthusiastic about this.

"Possibly."

"Can we do this after school?"

But he still showed that he was ready to listen.

"I would like to do it immediately."

"But this is going to be a long conversation?"

"That is so... But..."

Tomitsuka couldn't decide what he wanted to say.

"Why are you acting so high and mighty? Can't you just talk to him?"

At that moment, a hysterical voice intervened in the conversation.

"Hirakawa-san...?"

Hirakawa Chiaki gave Tatsuya a burning look. But she did not embarrass Tatsuya, but Tomitsuka.

"To say such a thing…! When did Tatsuya-san say he wouldn't listen!?"

Mizuki who remained there although she was told to go to the dining room, retorted the words of Chiaki.

It could have escalated into a quarrel between schoolgirls in an empty classroom, so Tatsuya stopped it in advance with the phrase "Mizuki, stop".

"Mizuki. I'm sorry, but I'm wasting my time talking to Tomitsuka this lunch break. Please tell the others."

"... I got it."

Mizuki, trying to hide her dissatisfied face, bowed to Tatsuya and withdrew from the class.

"Tomitsuka, where are we going to talk?"

"Uh, let's go to the roof."

Tatsuya slightly raised his eyebrows, because other students could still hear them on the roof.

"Alright."

But if Tomitsuka was fine with it, then Tatsuya was not going to complain.

"Hirakawa-san, thank you."

Tomitsuka quietly said this to Chiaki, who sat down, while clenching her fist. After that, he quickly chased after Tatsuya.

Contrary to Tatsuya’s expectations, the roof was deserted. In Tokyo, the rainy season began last week, and today the sky was also covered by clouds, so looking at it, it could rain at any moment. Therefore, the absence of students wishing to dine on the roof was quite natural.

There were benches on the roof, but neither Tatsuya nor Tomitsuka sat down. They stood up straight, facing each other.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Tatsuya began the conversation.

"...The other day, my mother had a seizure."

"That is the chairman of the Magic Association, Tomitsuka Hisui, I heard about it from Miyuki. I hope she recovers quickly."

Indignation appeared on the face of Tomitsuka after hearing what Tatsuya said about the matter.

"However, this is the problem for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chairman of the Magic Association. Complaining to me is not quite right."

Tatsuya noticed the expression on Tomitsuka's face, but was not going to treat him condescendingly.

"The way you are talking about it is wrong isn’t it?" Tomitsuka angrily spoke in response to the insensible words of Tatsuya.

"Fighting a girl younger than yourself, is that not 'Wrong' too?"

Tomitsuka wavered because of Tatsuya’s remark.

For the first time since coming here, Tomitsuka noticed that Tatsuya’s eyes were filled with cold anger.

"So, Tomitsuka. Are you saying that I have to be sacrificed to spare the chairman of the Magic Association from worries?"

"What do you mean sacrifice!"

"Don’t you want to drive me to the USNA?"

"Drive to...?"

With a bitter voice, Tatsuya exceeded the expectations of Tomitsuka.

"I... I think that the project will really help magicians..."

"Tomitsuka. Don't you understand the real purpose behind Project Dione?"

This time the voice of Tatsuya was slightly annoyed.

Not realizing why Tatsuya asked, Tomitsuka was confused, forgetting his anger for the cold-blooded behaviour of Tatsuya.

"The real purpose...?"

"The real purpose of Project Dione is to expel magicians from Earth and tie them to the asteroid belt and the orbits of Jupiter and Venus."

"...What?"

"Magicians will be placed on the satellite orbits around Venus and Jupiter, and for the most part this concerns the magicians of the USNA, the New Soviet Union and Britain. If I also participated in Project Dione, it would be at least 10 years before I could return from Jupiter's orbit. It's like a lifelong sentence."

The sarcastic hint from Tatsuya that he is not "expelled to the island", but "expelled to space*", was not understood by Tomitsuka.

[The Japanese expression means "expelled to space" literally spells "expelled to land".

The author in the second case has changed "island" to "space".]

"If it is like that... Shiba-kun, are you exaggerating...?"

"I am not going to force you to accept the truth of what I have said.

Read the published materials again. Let's continue this conversation after that." Tatsuya said this and then turned his back to Tomitsuka.

There was no voice coming from his back, that asked him to stop.

Even if Tomitsuka thought Project Dione would be successful, if he approached Tatsuya again, Tatsuya was not going to agree with his beliefs.

(I won't take part in Project Dione.)

(I will not go into space, leaving Miyuki on the ground.) (I’m not going anywhere, leaving Miyuki behind.) No one can change these principles. Tatsuya was just stalling for some extra time. But his desire for Tomitsuka to learn about the hidden malice behind Project Dione was not a lie on his part.

Tomitsuka, overwhelmed by looking at Tatsuya’s retreating figure, kept standing there, until Tatsuya was out of his sight.

"...What does this mean?" Muttered Tomitsuka, when he came to himself after feeling the sensation of falling rain drops.

"It’s true goal? Sentenced to space? Huh, that's just a conspiracy theory." He mocked Tatsuya aloud. But no matter how much he denied it, the words of Tatsuya settled deep in his mind.

The rain had gotten more intense.

Tomitsuka wasn’t annoyed that he got wet because of the rain, or maybe he did not notice it. He continued to stand still on the roof.

"I haven't heard anything like it. Nobody said anything like that."

None of his entourage really talked about this. The TV program, which he watched, also did not arouse such an opinion. There was nothing like that.

No matter how much information is readily available, there is a limit to how much information one person can obtain by themselves.

"A true goal you say? You're exaggerating. Being expelled to space is not something public opinion will allow."

Nevertheless, even the so-called "own thinking" of a person is not created just by themselves. It was formed under the influence of the information received from Tatsuya.

Tatsuya and Tomitsuka have had different experiences, pieces of information and accumulated reflections. They were not superior to each other, they just had completely different natures. For Tomitsuka it was very difficult to perceive the conclusions that were voiced by Tatsuya.

Probably because Tomitsuka was more normal. Most people are likely to have shared this disagreement with him.

After an unsuccessful attack on the Izu Plateau, Edward Clark tried many times to call Igor, but he was unable to reach him.

"You never managed to contact Dr. Igor?"

"Yes, Sir William."

Clark was now on the phone with McCloud in Britain. In Los Angeles, where Clark was, it was midnight, in London, where McCloud was, it was early morning. They did not know where Igor was. He could be in Moscow, or in the Far East, so he did not know the correct time to call him.

"Unfortunately, Dr. Igor seems to refuse to contact us."

"There is nothing to be done... The doctor belongs to the east, they are hostile to us. We live with him on the same planet, but in different worlds. He decided to do everything his own way and, from the very beginning, he was unable to be controlled."

"If that’s so, does it mean that Igor is plotting another attack?"

Clark's address changed from 'Dr. Igor' to simply 'Igor'.

"I think so. He will strive to get rid of the magic that converts mass into energy."

"If only he had waited a little..."

Clark unwittingly ruffled his hair.

"Sir William... Is there a chance that he could succeed?"

"I think there is hope. But it's about 50-50. Last time it seemed that we had cornered him, but we don't know Shiba Tatsuya's real abilities."

"Do you want to say that everything depends on the magic power of Shiba Tatsuya? ...Really, you're right."

McCloud’s guess sounded quite unreliable, but Clark could do nothing but agree.

"Dr. Clark. Even with your 'Hli?skjálf', you do not know the real abilities of Shiba Tatsuya?"

"...Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. It seems that the nickname

'Untouchables' is not just for show."

"Untouchables" was the nickname give to the Yotsuba family. Before Tatsuya even came up, for reasons unrelated to him, Clark had already targeted the Yotsuba family as an enemy that should disappear at all costs. In truth, the Hli?skjálf terminal was handed over to Maya so that Clark could collect information about the Yotsuba family.

However, the Head of the Yotsuba family did not do what Clark expected. From just the history of the terminal used by Yotsuba Maya, it was difficult for Clark to grasp any details about the real abilities of both Shiba Tatsuya and the magicians that belong to the side branches of the family.

"Got it..."

McCloud released a sigh of disappointment. He did not intend to insult him with these words, but Clark's pride was seriously affected.

"Thus, we can only pray that next attack of Dr. Igor is going to be successful... Dr. Clark, I apologize for the conversation at this late time."

"No, I called you. Sorry for it to be so early in the morning."

"It's a normal time for me to wake up. Then, Doctor, Good night."

"Yes, Sir William. And you have a good day."

The connection with McCloud was interrupted.

At the end, McCloud said the usual "Good night".

But Clark wasn’t going to go to sleep just yet.