Chapter 2
Local time: July 1, 17:00. In Japan’s time, it is July 2, 8:00
Major Noah Capella, the fifth unit’s commander, returned to Stars’s base in the suburbs of Roswell, New Mexico, USNA.
“Horse's Head has been successfully delivered to the Hawaiian base with Major Canopus and two others.”
“Good job. You may be dismissed.” Colonel Paul Walker, the base commander, thanked and dismissed the chapel. However, the chapel remained standing in front of the table.
“Major, did you want to ask something?” Walker invited the chapel to speak.
Capella’s behavior clearly indicated that he had some questions.
“Colonel. In my humble opinion, the ‘Illegal MAP’ should not be released. Colonel, did you forget how much damage was done when they went out of control?”
Illegal MAP - Illegal Mystic Assassin Platoon - was a detachment of magicians specializing in murder missions that were not able to be made public. It consisted of three platoons: "Charcoal Sack", "Cone Nebula" and "Horse's Head". As they specialize in killing, they had extremely high abilities in combat against people, but as Capella said, this detachment had significant problems with insubordination. This was made worse because this detachment did not act in the regular composition of the troops, and Stars repeatedly had to make an effort to eliminate the consequences from the Illegal MAP’s activities.
The "Hidden Arctic War", during which “Tuman Bomba” killed the previous Sirius, the Illegal MAP was pushed to their full extent in combat against a similar squad of the New Soviet Union. Though they did their job effectively, Stars lost quite a bit – in addition to losing Sirius, Stars also lost numerous members of the Star class.
After they completed post-war processes with the New Soviet Union, command sent
the personnel in the Illegal MAP to Midway Prison. That was seven years ago, but their ability to perform tasks is undeniable.
“I would not call excessive slaughter the correct execution of the task,” the Chapel finished.
Walker sighed, not willing to back down. Walker outranked Capella – as a colonel, he was higher than a major - but Capella was older and had the benefit of a longer army career, so Walker could not chase away the Chapel (the most senior member of the Star Class of Stars) without an explanation. Had Walker been infected with a Parasite, he would not have been disturbed in doing this, but he was still a man
- among the members of the Star class, still less than one-third of the personnel were Parasites. Most of Stars’s personnel, including Walker, only had a minor effect on their consciousness. The Parasites played off of the fear of the unofficial Japanese Strategic Class Magician (Tatsuya, in other words) to make them accept the Parasites and cooperate with their activities.
Still, the rest of the USNA army had not yet fallen under the control of the Parasites. Currently, the Department of Defense was divided into two main camps: one for the destruction of Tatsuya, and one for the use of his force in the USNA global strategy. Only the first of these two factions overlooked the control of the Parasites in Stars.
In these circumstances, Walker could not ignore tthe feelings of Capella.
“Under usual circumstances, it would not be a good idea to release the Illegal MAP, but the enemy is not so simple as to fall to usual tactics. It will be impossible to achieve the goal without going beyond the reasonable,” Walker responded to Capella’s arguments.
“Still, why use Horse’s Head?” Capella questioned.
Walker did not answer. Given their ranks, he was not obliged to answer Major Capella, but Walker didn’t want to give the answer “without comment”.
“Is their target Major Angie Sirius?”
“It is not.” Walker responded reflexively to Capella's assumption.
“The target is the Japanese Strategic Class Magician, Shiba Tatsuya.” Though he still had some indecision, Walker answered the question.
The chapel was not as close to Lina as Canopus was, and he was neutral about this rebellion. Capella was a typical military man - not good or evil, only showing dissatisfaction with acts such as killing the military, violating military laws, and hurting friendly soldiers, so though he technically remained neutral, he did not approve of the insurgency organized by Arcturus and the other Parasites. His feelings were only suppressed by his military discipline - to not wreak havoc during these times, Capella stuck to a neutral position. To keep Capella neutral, Walker avoided creating additional factors for the Chapel.
“In addition, they will act as if they received this job from the Chinese mafia. After the operation starts, all communications towards us will cease. The Horse’s Head consists of people from East and Central Asia, so they have an Asian appearance.
The detachment was originally intended for subversive activities in Eastern Siberia and the Great Asian Alliance, so it is made up of magicians with a suitable appearance. From an appearance perspective, their cover of agents of the Chinese mafia is quite suitable.”
However, Capella believed that this was not such an effective disguise. If captured by magicians, there is the possibility of interrogation using external systemic magic systems of mind reading or puppet control.
“I understand you. But who will take care of them if they get out of control?” Capella asked.
Capella did not express his views on the risks behind capture, assuming that the plan accounted for this. Instead, he focused on a more significant issue: insubordination of the unit.
“This question is still under consideration.”
Walker finally fell back on an ambiguous answer, causing Capella to narrow his eyes.
His face expressed the feeling of “I am so fed up with this.”
“...No more questions?”
Walker understood that his answer could not be called an answer, so he did not condemn Capella’s behavior, instead hinting that he would not answer further questions.
“No, Colonel.” Capella took the hint.
“Then you are dismissed, Major.”
Chapel obediently left the office of the base commander. While seeing him off, there was an unknowable irritation of Walker’s own.
Regular exams began today at First High, but Tatsuya immediately left after accompanying Miyuki to school. After the reveal of his identity as the “Silver” half of the famous CAD engineer “Taurus Silver”, Tatsuya was exempted from school tests and exams, and he didn’t have a habit of doing things that he didn’t have to do. His opinion on this coincided with the opinion of the majority, so nobody held it against him for not attending exams.
At the moment, Tatsuya was in one of the rooms of a research building on Miyaki Island trying to develop new magic using the Chain Casting technique. The building on Miyaki Island was positioned as a new FLT research center, but it could also be considered the FLT laboratory. Still, he would have preferred to transfer this development to the FLT lab that he worked at previously, but he continued here because he was afraid to leave Lina unattended for a long time. Tatsuya did not doubt Lina, confident that she was not a saboteur against Japan under the cover of
“escaping from her own country”. Tatsuya trusted Lina, to an extent, and knew that she was completely unsuitable for that type of deceitful penetration mission.
Therefore, it was not a lack of trust that made Tatsuya want to stay around Lina, but rather that he felt she could do something stupid out of boredom or some other cause.
She was not a small child, so she had at least some idea of common sense, but Tatsuya was not completely confident in this aspect of Lina.
Tatsuya had arrived on this island at 9:30 by flying not in his car, but in a small VTOL operated by Hyogo. Immediately after his arrival, he retired to the laboratory.
Current time: 11:50.
“Is it time to have lunch?”
Tatsuya thought this as he left the lab.
“Tatsuya!”
Lina called out to him in the corridor of the research building.
“Lina, do you need something?”
“Are you going to lunch now? May I join you?” Lina asked Tatsuya.
The building Lina lived in was towards the west of the island, and this research building was to the east. Miyaki Island was a small island with only 2 kilometers between these points, but it was still a surprise for Tatsuya to see Lina here.
Obviously, “having lunch together” was an occasion to discuss some business and not just a leisurely time.
“I do not mind, but will this take much time?”
Tatsuya did not want to spend too much time discussing business, as he needed the time to not only develop new magic using Chain Casting, but also master the magic of sealing Parasites.
“If you don’t have much time, let’s hurry,” Lina responded.
Lina was not bothered by the indifferent tone of Tatsuya. She simply turned and walked towards the dining room.
Miyaki Island’s logistics were still at the preparatory stage, so there was not a very wide variety of goods on the island. So far, delivery has only been arranged for vital items to allow comfortable living. Despite this, the food seemed delicious. The dishes in the local canteen, though not reaching the level of nicer restaurants, were at least on par with home cooking. Due to the lack of other pleasures, the food seemed all the better, so the food was overall quite enjoyable.
The research building had already been completed, so there were several other researchers. In order to not particularly distinguish themselves with the presence
of a personal butler, Tatsuya asked Hyogo to go separately from them while he went to lunch with Lina. While they were having coffee, Lina started to talk about the main topic.
“Tatsuya, I want to tell you something.”
“Is it a long story?” Tatsuya asked.
Lina shook her head negatively in response to Tatsuya’s question.
“Tell me briefly.”
Tatsuya put his coffee cup on the table and looked at Lina. Lina regarded this as agreement, and after a short “thank you”, she began her story.
“As I told you, an uprising took place at the headquarters of Stars, and I was able to escape with Ben’s help.”
“By Ben, do you mean Major Benjamin Canopus?” Tatsuya requested this clarification.
“Yes,” Lina responded.
“But as far as I know, Second Lieutenant Ralph Hardy Mirfak accompanied you to the airport, and the path of retreat to Japan was organized by Colonel Virginia Balance,”
Tatsuya stated.
“That’s right. But it was Ben who asked the Colonel for help, and it was he who created the opportunity for escape.”
Tatsuya realized that Lina felt obligated to Major Canopus.
“So, what’s next?” Tatsuya asked.
“I think after I escaped, Ben probably surrendered,” Lina continued. “His ability is enough to run away, breaking through any entourage, but he is not the kind of person who runs alone, leaving the rest.”
“In my opinion, he could have suppressed a rebellion if he used all his strength.”
Tatsuya stated his opinion.
At this, Lina opened her eyes and stared at Tatsuya, but there was not the slightest sign of a smile on his face.
“He is not the kind of person who will direct a sword to a friend,” Lina stated.
“I do not think that Parasites can be considered comrades, but this is a different question. Okay, so what’s next?” Tatsuya asked.
“Ben has personal connections beyond just Stars in the Pentagon and State Department. Parasites should not have executed him. Most likely, he was sent to a military prison. He has probably already been taken to the site,” Lina continued.
“But is there a prison capable of deterring a magician of First Star class?” Tatsuya asked. “Even if you restrict him from using CADs, he can still use magic. Unless there is a magic sealing technique for practical use?”
“There should not be such at technology, I didn’t hear anything like that from Abby,”
Lina said.
“Is Abby the developer of the Brionac magical weapon?” Tatsuya asked.
“Yes, that’s right. Chief Engineer of Stars, Dr. Abigail Stewart,” Lina responded
“She has no military rank?”
Tatsuya, surprised that Lina revealed the full name of the developer of the Brionac, instantly asked another question far from the main topic. Still, Lina giving the name of Dr. Stewart was not negligence, and rather gave it as a demonstration of not hiding anything...probably.
“In that case, where is Major Canopus now?”
Tatsuya, who realized that his words had turned the conversation away from the main question, returned to the main topic himself before Lina also turned off the main road.
“I think he most likely went to Midway Prison,” Lina responded.
“That is, even if he escapes from the prison itself, there will be only the sea around,”
Tatsuya clarified.
“This prison was apparently built with just such a concept. Even a magician of our own level would not be able to escape through 100 km of water without any devices.”
“So, what is next? What do you want from me, talking about the prisoner on the island of Midway, Major Canopus?” Tatsuya finally asked the main question.
Lina’s face tightened at this question.
“...The fact that Ben was sent to Midway Prison is not random speculation. Ben once said that if they ever decided to get rid of him for political reasons, he would bargain to go to Midway Prison. I was going to do it too,” Lina stated.
“This is quite a radical measure....”
“Ben said that the struggle for power is meaningless, and there is only justice when you win. No matter how right you are, how wrong your opponent is… in the end, the loser can only submit to the strong. But as long as this is not an absolute defeat, as long as there are opportunities for making deals, one cannot give up. Even if it seems that one has lost, that defeat is already inevitable, then lose with the maximum benefit for oneself. Ben constantly reminded me of that.”
“That point is not only relevant in the struggle for power. Often, that principle is used to end a war. Major Canopus is excellent not only as a combat magician, he is also a soldier, well versed in strategy.” Tatsuya complimented Canopus.
“He is a graduate of the USNA Military Academy.” Lina stated this fact.
“I see,” Tatsuya responded.
“So, he became a military magician by chance?” – thoughts such as this passed through Tatsuya’s head.
Tatsuya and Canopus had not met in the past. Tatsuya’s memory of Canopus only had an unpleasant memory of failure when Canopus had sunk the ship carrying Gu Jie right before his eyes, destroying the body with the magic Molecular Divider.
After this incident, Tatsuya started to see Canopus as a person who could become a hindrance in the future and required special attention, but he was only able to access a file containing surface details, so the knowledge Tatsuya had of the man amounted to his age of 40 years old. If he had not serve in the army since his adolescence, then he had only joined the military after the end of World War III, entering West Point just
after the war ended. Using magicians as ordinary combat soldiers (at least as ordinary as one could be while possessing magic) was quite natural, and magician officers were rarer at that time, so if a magician wanted to join the military, then regardless of their intellectual abilities, they would not be able to enroll in an elite educational institution training officers. Because of this, it is quite likely that the qualities inherent in a combat magician were discovered during his training at West Point or after graduation from there.
These were Tatsuya’s thoughts about Canopus. If Tatsuya’s assumptions were correct, then Major Canopus was originally likely to become a high-ranking officer who managed the armies and plots of war. However, because he was a magician, he was forced to follow the path of a combat magician and get his hands dirty with the work of eliminating terrorists, and now even attack his comrades captured by the Parasites… this could explain why Major Canopus still thought of the Parasites as comrades and didn’t suppress the Parasite rebellion himself. Tatsuya felt that Major Canopus likely had to often restrain his emotions about himself and his situation.
“Tatsuya?” Lina gently prodded. While he was thinking, Tatsuya was oddly silent.
“Oh, yes, sorry.”
Tatsuya realized that his mind had been dominated by thinking about another person who wasn’t Miyuki. Tatsuya could not help but grin as he thought that he would not be able to live normally if he was able to sympathize with the lives of everyone else.
“In short, can you argue without a doubt that Major Canopus is definitely on Midway Island?” Tatsuya asked.
“Yes. Ben should have been able to negotiate this. It’s hard to escape from Midway Island, but it’s also hard to send a killer there,” Lina responded.
“But can other prisoners attack him?” Tatsuya speculated.
“The probability of this, of course, is not zero, but... everything there is arranged specifically. I only saw the prison cells through a picture from a security camera, but I saw enough to understand that all the prison cells are solitary and soundproof. Food delivery and dish collection are fully automated. Cells are equipped with both a toilet
and a shower. They are released solitarily to go to the gym or for a walk. There are essentially no interactions between prisoners,” Lina explained.
“To prevent collusion between prisoners?” Tatsuya correctly made this assumption.
“Yes. Ben said that this was also done because valuable combat magicians would not be wasted in prison.”
This was not only because the magicians hold value in combat, but also because it would be incredibly hard to stop powerful combat magicians. Brainwashing would be preferred as a last resort, even if it could lower combat ability.
“Though in prison, it seems that they live well enough,” Tatsuya said. “Probably to not lower the combat potential of the magicians. So it’s like this...” Tatsuya began.
Tatsuya talked about it as if it were completely normal, but Lina’s face expressed concern. She felt emotional shock as she realized once again that magicians are only seen as weapons.
“So, Lina wants me to pull Major Canopus out of Midway?”
Tatsuya did not ask this seriously. He did not think Lina would make such a bold request.
“...Yes.”
When Tatsuya saw Lina nod, he doubted his vision and hearing.
“...Are you serious?” he asked.
“I understand that this is an audacious request. But what is happening now in the States cannot be called an ordinary conflict. Even protected in Midway Prison as he is, we do not know what lengths the parasites will go to. Murder is definitely possible. In the worst case, Ben could even become infected with a Parasite.”
Tatsuya could not ignore the possibility of Canopus being infected with a Parasite. If the request was only for Tatsuya to save Canopus in order to make him an ally, Tatsuya would definitely refuse. Canopus would only become an ally temporarily, and would go back to being an enemy again once the Parasite infection was dealt with again. It makes no sense, then, to penetrate the military prison to kidnap Canopus from there. However, Tatsuya had to consider that Canopus could become a Parasite.
Tatsuya had already seen Canopus’s abilities. One time was enough to evaluate his skills.
“There is not enough benefit covering the risks,” Tatsuya responded.
The conclusion voiced by Tatsuya was no different from his reflections.
“To eliminate the risk of Canopus becoming a Parasite, it would be much easier to blow up the prison on Midway Island with my “Material Burst”. With a pretext of “It was to stop the Parasite epidemic”, it would be possible to avoid criticism from the international community.”
“Wait! If you announce something like this, the States will...! If it becomes known that the USNA is doing nothing to stop the Parasites, trust in the USNA will plummet.
It could cause internal strife and even disintegration of the state...” Lina pleaded.
“But if your country is planning to use the power of Parasites, then the threat of the parasites must be announced.” Tatsuya’s words were not a simple threat.
“...If there is a benefit for you, would you agree?” Lina asked Tatsuya with a persistent and intense facial expression.
“…Yes. I also do not want to resort to such an approach as the explosion of the whole island. Generating that much heat could have a negative impact on the global climate.”
Lina felt a chill run down her back as she saw Tatsuya say this with a serious face. A single magic capable of harming the global climate… she knew that his words were not an exaggeration. The tension Lina felt showed on her face.
“I will become an ally of Tatsuya,” Lina said.
Tatsuya did not understand what Lina was trying to say. He looked at her with doubt in his eyes.
“If I return to Stars, then I will stop any hostile activity towards Tatsuya.” Lina collected her thoughts and gave her answer under Tatsuya’s keen gaze.
“I don’t think that you will be able to solve this issue only on your own,” Lina said.
“If they don’t listen to my opinion, I will leave the army and get Japanese citizenship.
I am the daughter of Shogun Kudou's niece, so I meet the requirements for naturalization.”
“In your case, citizenship can be obtained without kinship, but will the USNA allow you to do this?” Tatsuya asked.
“It does not matter whether the army agrees or not. I’ve already ran from the military this time. By the time they could do anything, I would already be applying for demobilization and escaped from the States.”
“Do you think it will be that easy?” Tatsuya wondered, but did not voice this doubt out loud so as not to destroy Lina’s determination.
For Tatsuya, this benefit was enough for him to justify the risk. When this is over, and Lina returns to USNA before escaping from there again, the Yotsuba would undoubtedly become the receiving party again - inside Japan, there would not be anyone other than the Yotsuba who would be prepared to act aggressively against the USNA.
Lina is currently regarded as a guest, but if she escapes to Japan again and becomes a citizen, then she could be used as a fighting force. Not only this, this fighting strength would not belong to the Yotsuba, but would rather be the personal strength of Tatsuya. Lina had said: "I will become an ally of Tatsuya," and Tatsuya did not intend to hand her to Maya.
“I understood. I cannot promise that it will be quick, but I will work on developing a rescue plan for Major Canopus.”
“Really!? Thank you, Tatsuya!” Lina enthusiastically jumped up with a radiant face, leaning over the table.
If there was no such table between them, she would have hugged him tightly.
“By the way, Lina.”
“What?” Lina asked.
“The granddaughter of a brother or sister is called a great-niece. It is not accurate to say, ‘the daughter of His Excellency Kudou’s niece’. You should instead say ‘the
great-niece of His Excellency Kudou’. It will be useful to remember this when you introduce yourself to someone.”
Lina's face immediately became sad. Tatsuya had accidentally spoiled her mood, or was it on purpose? In any case, he, in his own words, "broke the flag."
Classes ended just after noon during exam week in the national High Schools of Magic, but when Tatsuya returned to school, it was already 15 o'clock. The members of the student council were not required to stay, but the responsible female students of the student council stayed after in the student council room to prepare for exams.
“Shiina.”
“Y-yes!?”
The freshman, with headphones hidden in aerial curly dark brown hair, responded to Tatsuya’s voice. Her name was Mitsuya Shiina, and she was the youngest daughter in the Mitsuya family of the Ten Main Clans. She saw Tatsuya walk into the student council room, but she did not expect him to talk to her. When Tatsuya called out to Shiina, her voice was higher pitched in response than usual.
“I have a case in which I would like to hear the opinion of either your father, Mitsuya Gen-dono, or his eldest son Motoharu-dono. Could you ask them if they have time to talk with me?” Tatsuya asked.
“Um, I mean, do you want to meet and talk to dad?”
Shiina quivered slightly while saying this.
“Yes.”
“Shiba-senpai, what do you want to talk about with Shii-chan's father?” Unable to look at the bewildered Shiina, Izumi intervened in the conversation.
“I want to know about the activities of the American army.”
Tatsuya did not ignore this interference from Izumi. He answered her honestly rather than inventing an excuse.
“American army?” Honoka exclaimed from next to Izumi, surprised.
Miyuki told her in a whisper: “People from the Mitsuya family have detailed information about abroad military affairs.”
Izumi, being a part of the Ten Master Clans herself, already knew this. Tatsuya wanting to ask about the American army from the head of the Mitsuya family was quite reasonable, in her opinion.
“Shiba-senpai! I'll ask dad about his work schedule!”
Shiina hurriedly gave this answer to Tatsuya because she understood Izumi’s feelings.
Because of her intervention, Izumi did not have to apologize. However, Izumi didn’t know which was worse: apologizing to Tatsuya or being protected by Shiina.
“Izumi-chan. Come on, let's see the tasks that will be on the practical exam.” Miyuki saw Izumi thinking and quickly moved on from the topic.
“Uh? Miyuki-senpai, are you sure?” Izumi responded.
“It's okay. I am well versed in the system of vibrations.”
“I agree! Okay, I’m counting on you!”
Miyuki left the student council room, taking Izumi with her, whose face expressed intense excitement. "I have good support," thought Tatsuya.
After seeing Miyuki disappear into the building used for practical exercises, Tatsuya went to the training forest.
“I'm sorry to distract you during the exams,” Tatsuya apologized to Mikihiko.
“What are you saying? This is much more important than exams.”
Tatsuya had sincerely apologized, but Mikihiko responded with a smile, as if he took it for a bad joke. He did not really laugh, but just smiled slightly, as if he had no alternative facial expressions – this was the kind of person he was.
“Besides, I'm not one of those who crams everything during the last night.”
“Wow” , thought Tatsuya. If Mikihiko said it seriously, then he deserves praise, even if he just pretends everything is in order.
“I’ll rely on you, then,” Tatsuya replied.
"In any case, let's go home early today," thought Tatsuya, and then gave Mikihiko a signal to start training.
Mikihiko created an independent informational body (a “spirit”), and Tatsuya quickly sent Psions to flow around the out of control mass, “swallowing” the Psion mass. On the third day of training, Tatsuya found that this method was much more effective than spreading a Psion cloud around the target and then compressing it.
Mikihiko had helped to train Tatsuya even on the Sunday before the exams, so today was the sixth day of training. So far, Tatsuya had managed to find that instead of sending psionic streams from six directions with the same pressure, it is more efficient to send psionic streams from four directions while installing flaps above and below it to keep the Psion mass from escaping. All Tatsuya had left to do was master the technique of compressing the Psions.
The shape of the spirit was not a cube, but rather a ball. From the view of efficiency, it was necessary to not only compress, but to apply pressure around the sphere equally in the shape of a sphere. To not just “squeeze” it, but to make a mold around it and apply pressure on every side at once.
It was not necessary to compress the sphere all at once. It was fine to make many smaller compressions to get a small, solidified sphere.
“...Tatsuya, this...” Mikihiko exclaimed, not really knowing what to say
“... It worked?” Tatsuya asked.
50 cm in front of Tatsuya hung a ball of high-density Psions. It was so stable that it seemed almost real. Tatsuya carefully extended his hand and grabbed the psionic sphere. The intangible psionic mass reacted as if it were solid, but it was not reacting with Tatsuya physically – rather with Tatsuya’s psionic field, which follows the shape of his physical body. There was no sign that it would collapse, even if it was grabbed even more.
“This is the Sealing Sphere, non-systematic magic for capturing Parasites with just a spell!” Mikihiko said delightedly.
The spirit was sealed by “technique”, without using help from amulets, dolls, or similar material tools. This magical technique gave Mikihiko a strange feeling.
Tatsuya released the psionic sphere from his hand, controlling his own psionic field so as not to interfere with the sphere’s structure. Tatsuya and Mikihiko remained still, watching the psionic mass, which had become a pseudo-solid body until it self-destructed after 7 minutes.
During these 7 minutes, the “spirit” that was imprisoned inside did not show any activity. Over the next two hours, Tatsuya continued to practice, having several successful and unsuccessful attempts. Only approximately 30% of his attempts were successful, but in the last 10 minutes, he made 4 successful attempts in a row.
“Mikihiko, let's finish today. I shouldn’t strain you further.”
“I’m all right, or at least I would like to say that, but.... Unfortunately, unlike you, Tatsuya, I have reached my limit today.” Mikihiko smiled, even though he was breathing heavily. “However, you are already close to the goal.”
“Yes. Thanks to you, Mikihiko.”
“Happy to help, but to be able to use it in real combat, you need to increase the success rate unfortunately.” Mikihiko maintained his smile despite his exhaustion.
“Sorry, but could you help me tomorrow too?” Tatsuya asked.
“Of course.”
Trying to smile wider, Mikihiko nodded. His smile expressed a sense of satisfaction as he was able to help his friend through these “workouts”.
?
Tuesday evening, July 2.
In the mansion of the Saegusa family, Kasumi and Izumi diligently prepared for their exams. The detachment duty for intercepting Minoru was still going on today, but school was a priority for these two, so they were released from their work. In addition to these two, Mayumi also remained on standby tonight, so she was able to receive and unexpected guest.
“Mari ...!? You're here so suddenly - what happened?” Mayumi exclaimed.
“I want to chat about something. Am I distracting you?” Mari replied.
“No, you’re not a distraction… come in!”
Mayumi pulled the unusually polite Mari inside the mansion and led Mari to her room. She prepared drinks herself as she ordered the mansion’s servants not to enter the room in order to guarantee the privacy of their conversation. Mayumi’s room was Western styled, with only a desk, bed, and low table. Mayumi put their tea cups on the table, brought cushions from the corner of the room, and sat opposite Mari.
“You should have called and informed me that you were coming! You're lucky I’m even home right now! If you had come last night, you would not have caught me.” For Mayumi, this was a chatter between friends, and her words did not carry that much meaning.
“Busy fishing for Kudo Minoru?” Mari asked.
But she caught her breath when she heard something completely unexpected from Mari.
“How do you know about Minoru-kun...?” Mayumi wondered.
“I knew that the Top Ten Clans were drawn into it. Is Juumonji involved as well?”
"So it was a suggestive question?" Mayumi thought and looked at Mari, frowning.
However, Mari had not intended to trap Mayumi. She had only voiced her hunch as a prelude to the topic she was going to raise.
“In truth, now I am also connected to the prosecution of Kudo Minoru,” Mari explained.
“Uh, you? But why?” Mayumi asked.
“A pursuit team was formed from the main squad of a first division strike infantry platoon. I was ordered to join this operation as a participant,” Mari said.
“But you are still a student...” Mayumi muttered.
“The meaning of the term ‘student’ is different from at the University of Magic. You should know that students of the Academy of Defense become soldiers at the time of admission.”
There was no irony in Mari’s voice. And she did not look dissatisfied with the fact that she was sent on a mission.
“A squad of shock infantry, you say...? From the "Swordsmen" detachment? The squad of melee magicians formed from passionate admirers of Elder Kudou?”
Mayumi asked for clarification.
“Yes, it is this squad. If you know this much, this conversation will be short. A platoon of strike infantry is acting to avenge the Elder. Though I think using the army for an act of personal malice is bad, as far as I have heard, Kudou Minoru cannot be ignored,” Mari explained.
“Revenge...? So Minoru-kun killed the Elder...?” Mayumi was in awe.
“This is reliable information,” Mari stated.
“It can’t be...” Mayumi could not hide her shock.
Mari was slowly sipping her iced tea, waiting for Mayumi to calm down.
“The self-defense forces have deployed a search network just West of Hakone, so we most likely will not see each other working, but I thought that just in case, I should warn you so that your family would not get confused if we so happen to meet.” After Mayumi’s complexion returned to normal, Mari said the main thing she wanted to say.
“...Be careful, Mari. Minoru-kun is very strong,” Mayumi warned.
“He was able to defeat the Elder. I understand that I am not a rival to him in one-on-one combat. I'm not going to attack recklessly.”
Mari responded to the anxious Mayumi while making a face that showed she had no desire to rush into battle. Looking at her, Mayumi thought: "she is not at all what she was in her First High years."
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