Chapter Seven
Thursday, July 11.
Today was the first school day after a three-day break due to the New Soviet Union invasion.
Pupils walking from the nearest station to First High were talking, but very few conversations were about the upcoming summer holidays.
The conversations were instead focused on the appearance of Angelina Kudou Shields.
The first and second years were wondering who the beautiful blonde student was, having never met Lina.
Among the third years, however, the question became “why is Shields-san here?”
They weren’t just confused about Lina, either. Students from every grade had the common question, “who is the beautiful girl next to her with the hair tie?”
The elite schools of the National University of Magic primarily didn’t accept new students in the middle of the school year – slots previously taken by expelled students would not be replaced. However, there was a transfer system between the schools, so it wasn’t exactly impossible for new students to transfer in. The students were skeptical about this, but they were aware that it was a possibility.
The first and second years were more willing to accept this explanation, as they mistook the similarity of Miyuki’s face disguised by Parade to Lina to mean that they were relatives. However, the third years, knowing better, were even more confused.
***
Reporters were rushing around the school road to try and get information about Ocean Blast from Tatsuya, who had been revealed as one of the developers, and Miyuki, known as to be Tatsuya’s cousin. The reporters had initially crowded FLT, leaving for Fuchu after finding out that Tatsuya had not come to work today.
However, after finding an empty house, they still didn’t give up, instead splitting into three groups waiting at all three important locations – the FLT office, the house in Fuchu, and the road leading to First High.
It wasn’t a secret that classes in magic high schools were being resumed today – the information had been published on the official website, so reporters waited on the road from the station to the school from early in the morning.
Despite their efforts, however, they couldn’t find any trace of their target students.
While the media briefly focused on the pair of blonde and brown haired female students standing out from the rest, they had no way to know that they weren’t usual students. Dismissing them as beautiful girls, they didn’t waste time on them believing that they wouldn’t be valuable news.
However, reporters weren’t the only group from outside the school paring attention to Lina and Miyuki.
Two approximately forty-year-old men with sloppy appearances watched Lina head towards the school while sitting at a window seat on the second floor of the coffee-house chain famous throughout the country.
“…this may be the outskirts of Tokyo, but the street is so open…”
One of the men muttered this in an annoyed voice, but the second ignored his question, taking it as a monologue.
“Is this definitely Angie?”
The two men were speaking in English despite their East Asian faces. While they might not have been purely Japanese, they didn’t stand out much for their looks, so the guests and waiters of the establishment simply didn’t mind them.
“Her appearance is quite remarkable. There’s no way someone else could be mistaken for her,” The first responded. “And the other one is similar to her, see? They would look the same if it weren’t for the color of their hair and eyes.”
“Angie is skilled at disguising magic. The second one must be under a disguise, but I don’t know why Angie made it look like herself.”
“It might be that guy’s bride?”
“It’s possible. Very possible.”
The girls with blonde and brown hair were gone now, and the two men looked away from the window, looking at each other.
“But even if it is Angie…”
The first man – who had raised the topic in the beginning – continued in a careful voice.
“Our job isn’t to eliminate the deserter.”
The other man nodded at the words of the first.
“I know, but we must also report this to the authorities.”
“…I agree, but if the one with brown hair is that man’s bride, then she is the more important one.”
“Yes. We must revise the strategy and account for Angie’s possible intervention.”
The two men speaking in the coffee shop were members of Horsehead platoon, the Illegal Mystic Assassin Platoon’s sabotage detachment. After they finished their leftover coffee, they rose from the table to leave.
Once Miyuki arrived at school with Lina, she headed to the school board room with Lina before she went to her classroom.
Opening the door with an ID card, she found Izumi facing the entrance. She was in the room despite the fact that the school board’s work would start later. Izumi had seen the information from the ID-card reader on the wall terminal, so she knew it was Miyuki and got up to greet her.
“Good morning, Miy-
Huh?”
Izumi was surprised to see an unfamiliar girl appear before her.
“Good morning, Izumi-chan.”
The light-brown-haired girl answered Izumi with Miyuki’s intonation, though without her voice.
Once she closed the door, she pulled the cherry-colored hair tie out of her hair which was immediately followed by a transformation.
Her light-brown hair turned as black as raven feathers, her eye color still reflecting her hair color.
Her face structure changed as well, and Izumi’s beloved Miyuki-oneesama appeared before her.
“Miyuki-senpai, what was that?”
Izumi’s eyes were round, her surprise at the events evident.
“This is because of all the annoying people.”
Izumi’s eyes started to return to their normal shape and her face changed to one of understanding after hearing Miyuki’s answer. She nodded slightly and said “Oh, so that’s it.”
“You shouldn’t talk about this,” Miyuki said.
“Of course. I won’t tell anyone anything.”
“Thanks.”
Miyuki thanked her kohai with a smile, expecting her answer. She finally entered the room with Lina and pointed to her, causing Izumi to notice her.
“This is Angelina Kudou Shields-san, but you can call her Lina. She studied here as an exchange student from the USNA when I was in my first year. Lina, this is Saegusa Izumi-san. She is a second year. I call her Izumi-chan.”
Izumi came to her senses when she was introduced.
“My name is Saegusa Izumi. Nice to meet you, Shields-senpai.”
“I’m Angeline Kudou Shields. Nice to meet you. You can just call me Lina.”
Lina tried acting like a high school student, but Miyuki found it funny and almost laughed. She was careful not to let it show however, as she didn’t want to hurt Lina’s feelings.
“OK, Lina. Let’s go to the deputy director. Izumi-chan, see you soon.”
“Yes! Miyuki-senpai, Lina-senpai, goodbye.”
Miyuki led Lina to the director’s room with Izumi’s gaze still following her.
Tatsuya headed to the underground floor after seeing Miyuki and Lina off.
The basement of the high-rise building in Chofu housed an organized research facility with more sophisticated than equipment than the home in Chofu. The lab had been created solely for Tatsuya – regardless of the main house’s feelings towards Tatsuya’s power and origins, they couldn’t ignore his contribution to their income with his identity as half of Taurus Silver.
Tatsuya was currently framing the results of his two-day observation of Parade into a organized format following the framework of magical science to analyze them from a scientific point of view. He hoped to move past basic recognition and intuition to understanding everything on a theoretical level in order to discover a method to counter or break through Parade.
However, after only spending an hour at the console, he was forced to interrupt his work at 9 AM due to the arrival of an unplanned visitor.
After receiving the alert, he quickly headed from the laboratory, located 3 floors underground, to the second floor above ground where the reception room was located.
Fujibayashi Kyouko was waiting there for him.
“Good morning. You’re not in uniform today?” Tatsuya asked.
“Nice to see you, Tatsyua-kun. Today’s my day off.”
Fujibayashi responded to Tatsuya in a friendly manner after his good-natured greeting.
“Please, sit down. I assume I should call you Fujibayashi-san?”
“Yes, I will be grateful if you address me that way.”
Fujibayashi affirmed that she had come as a private citizen rather than as a military visitor as she sat on the sofa indicated by Tatsuya. Tatsuya made his assumption after she addressed him by his name rather than his title, Special Officer Ooguro.
Right after Fujibayashi’s affirmation, there was a knock on the door.
“Enter,” Tatsuya called.
Recognizing Tatsuya’s voice, the door opened automatically and a young woman in a long dress and white apron entered the room. She pushed a trolley from behind it, and though her face was different than Minami’s and Honami’s, it had the same feeling.
She replaced Fujibayashi’s empty tea cup with a new one and set a cup of coffee in front of Tatsuya.
“Fujibayashi-san, if you want a different drink, feel free to ask,” Tatsuya said.
“No, this is fine. Thank you,” Fujibayashi responded.
Fujibayashi’s last two words addressed the maid, politely thanking her for doing her job.
The young maid wearing the apron smiled and bowed before she rolled the cart out of the room.
“She is quite skilled. I envy your wealth of talented people.”
After the maid with an waitress-like aura disappeared behind the door, Fujibayashi muttered a comment complaining about Tatsuya’s family’s apparent luck in finding talented personnel.
“She isn’t combat personnel. What’s your business today? Since you aren’t with the military right now, I assume your goal isn’t to continue yesterday’s conversation on the phone regarding Lina.”
After Tatsuya’s question, Fujibayashi straightened.
“No, today I came as the representative of the head of the Fujibayashi family, Fujibayashi Nagamasa, to apologize.
Fujibayashi changed her casual manner to a more official one, speaking in a serious tone with formal phrasing before bowing low.
“Apologies? For what? …I don’t understand.”
“I’m referring to the unacceptable disgrace committed by a member of the Fujibayashi family, Kudou Minoru. The head of the family wishes to apologize for the acts committed by Kudou Minoru against the Shiba family.”
“You say a family member, but he isn’t directly related…” Tatsuya responded, confused.
Fujibayashi Nagamasa was the head of the Fujibayashi family and the father of Fujibayashi Kyouko. Nagamasa’s wife was Kudou Makoto’s younger sister, so Minoru was officially Nagamasa’s nephew, but they didn’t really have a relationship – it might be better to describe Minoru as Nagamasa’s wife’s brother’s son. He had no blood connection and their relationship wasn’t particularly personal.
However, when considering secret facts, their relationship becomes much closer –
Minoru was born through the artificial insemination of Nagamasa’s wife’s egg with sperm from Kudou Makoto.
While this does make the apology make slightly more sense, the Fujibayashi family had no need to feel guilty about Minoru’s actions. The fault clearly fell on the Kudou family.
Fujibayashi responded with understanding of this context.
“Even if there isn’t a direct blood relationship, he is still the son of the wife of the head of the family, and therefore a member of the family – at least, says the head.”
Tatsuya could accept Fujibayashi’s explanation, but he still didn’t think the apology was necessary. Nagamasa’s wife hadn’t committed an act as immoral as incest with her brother – she had only provided genetic material.
“…alright. However, Fujibayashi-san, did you come in person just to apologize, or do you have other business too?”
“It isn’t a different matter, but something material. Our apology isn’t just verbal,”
Fujibayashi responded.
“…go on.”
Tatsuya raised his eyebrows as he asked Fujibayashi to explain.
“Here.”
As she said this, Fujibayashi reached a hand into her purse and retrieved a solid cube, laying it on the table. It was a high-capacity solid-state drive.
“This is representative of the apology from the Fujibayashi family. Please accept it.
This contains documents describing Parade’s sequence of magic and its usage. We also included documents about the Ancient Continental Magic, Sekirei Hachijin.”
Tatsuya couldn’t hide his surprise at hearing this – Fujibayashi’s gift was beyond convenient, but it revealed extremely valuable information.
“Are you sure? Parade is the secret technique of the Kudou family.”
Fujibayashi frowned slightly and sighed at Tatsuya’s statement.
“…the Kudou family were probably the ones who should have provided this to you, actually. Despite this, just getting them to agree to provide information wasn’t easy.”
The Kudou family’s pride didn’t allow them to donate their secrete technique to the Yotsuba, so they compromised and used the Fujibayashi family as a middle party. It was silly, but understandable.
“Then, I will accept it gratefully.”
Regardless of their intentions, the description of Parade was the exact information he wanted from the Kudou family. The luck was unexpected, but Tatsuya was grateful regardless.
Fujibayashi bowed to Tatsuya.
“Sekirei Hachijin is a spell similar to Ghost Walker but on a larger scale. It builds a large-scale barrier hiding an area.”
She briefly commented on the contents of the second part of the media.
“Do you mean that Minoru’s shelter was built using this technique?”
“At least, we think so.”
“This is more than enough…”
Assuming Fujibayashi wasn’t lying about the contents, then Tatsuya had suddenly acquired all the information he needed at once. It seemed to be too convenient, giving Tatsuya bad premonitions.
“Tatsuya-kun, we don’t expect you to catch Minoru-kun without fail.”
Seeing Tatsuya’s doubts, Fujibayashi took off her mask as the representative of the head of the Fujibayashi family.
“Father and Uncle Makoto want to catch Minoru-kun with their own hands, so they won’t ask you for help. If anything, they want you to leave it to us.”
“Can’t we combine our efforts?”
“…I will give this request to my father, Tatsuya-kun.”
Tatsuya clearly didn’t want to retreat. After saying this to excuse herself, Fujibayashi got up and headed for the exit.
Lina was still slightly panicked before she started her entrance exams, but once the written exams in the morning finished and she headed for lunch, her face was beaming.
“How was it?” Miyuki asked her.
“This was the natural result with my abilities,” Lina responded.
Lina’s pride was expressed by her chest pushed so far forward that she seemed to be nearly bent so far that she would fall backwards. Miyuki found the contrast between Lina’s reaction while studying with now humorous, as Lina had fallen face first on the table several times while complaining about her exhaustion.
“There are still the practical exams, but as you said, you don’t need to worry at your skill level.”
“…I was more worried about the knowledge portion,” Lina said.
Lina narrowed here eyes and gave Miyuki a reproachful look, causing the others present at their lunch table to laugh.
It was currently lunch break, and they were sitting at a table in the school cafeteria.
Lina was wearing a uniform she borrowed from Miyuki until her own uniform arrived.
Lina’s presence was drawing everyone’s attention from the fact that she was both beautiful and a transfer student.
There were only third-years at Lina’s table, and Lina was familiar with more than a few of them. She was, of course, acquainted with Miyuki and Shizuku, but she also knew some of the others from her time as a transfer student in their first year.
“Lina will definitely get into the First Course, but which class will she be in?”
“Hmm...probably ours. We have the fewest students.”
Erika’s question was answered by Honoka after a moment of thought.
Honoka’s class had the fewest number of students because her class had the most students expelled in the past year and a half – from when classes had been adjusted after the creation of the magical engineering course.
This was slightly ironic, since Miyuki, Honoka, and Shizuku – the top 3 students in the school, monopolizing an imaginary podium – all came from class 3A. Did having the top students in the same class correlate with increased drop out rates, or was this just a coincidence?
“I didn’t know that Lina-san came to Japan. How long has it been since you arrived?”
Mizuki addressed Lina with her question causing her face to twitch, not knowing how to answer.
“Shibata-san, this is…”
“Mizuki, don’t you know Lina’s circumstances too?”
Mikihiko squinted his eyes slightly and pressed his teeth together as he tried to stop Mizuki while Erica made a slightly reproachful face and made a rhetorical statement.
They were aware that Lina was Angie Sirius and understood the awkwardness of the question.
“Ah! Excuse me…!”
Mizuki quickly realized the delicacy of her question and bowed in a panic.
“…it’s okay… but I will be grateful if you don’t ask about it again.”
“Of course!”
Mizuki nodded vigorously as Lina, Mikihiko, and Erika breathed a sigh of relief.
“Lina transferred here because of me,” Miyuki said.
Miyuki intended to defuse the loaded atmosphere with a brief explanation, but she had intended to explain this anyway, regardless of how the conversation went. She had been presented with an opportunity to explain, however, so she took it.
“What do you mean?”
Shizuku was the first to respond to Miyuki.
“This is because of all the annoying people looking for me.”
“Ah, the media,” Honoka responded.
“Looks like Kichijouji’s statement about jointly developing it with Tatsuya renewed the reporters’ enthusiasm. This morning was hectic,” Erika added.
“Yeah.”
Mizuki nodded to agree with Erika’s and Honoka’s statements.
“They can’t get Tatsuya, so they’re pressing you, Miyuki-san?
“…that’s a difficult situation to be in, since you can’t use force against them. Since this is connected to secrets of national defense, it’s probably best to let the government settle the issue.”
“Indeed,” Miyuki responded curtly in contrast to Leo’s short speech.
“So how is this related to Lina’s transfer?” Shizuku asked.
Shizuku referred to Lina by her first name despite this being their first meeting. Her time spent as a transfer student in the USNA probably helped her get used to this type of addressing.
“Lina is a master of disguise magic,” Miyuki responded. “She can completely change someone’s appearance.”
“Even better than you, Honoka?” Shizuku asked, now addressing Honoka.
Honoka could change her appearance by creating a 3D projection, but this couldn’t even remotely compare to Parade.
“Much better than me.”
“That’s amazing!” Shizuku responded.
“…so, you can transform more than just yourself?”
Erika waited for Honoka and Shizuku to finish their conversation, then turned to Lina.
“Yes. It’s actually easier to use it on another person if they don’t resist, because when applying it to myself, I can only check the result with a mirror.”
“Yeah, and if you only have one mirror, you can’t check your back,” Erika added.
“Exactly.”
Erika and Lina were communicating easily with each other. It was almost unbelievable that they were trying to kill each other not even two years earlier.
Lina and Miyuki had also once fought each other in a duel with Muspelheim and Niflheim. Nilfheim could neutralize an enemy with hypothermia, while Muspelheim generally caused instant death or fatal injuries.
“So you will be walking to school together, then?” Honoka asked, changing the subject.
Miyuki answered with a slightly apologetic look.
“Yes… until the media loses interest, Lina and I will only return home from school with each other.”
“That is, we shouldn’t approach either? Since if familiar faces are nearby, you might be revealed?”
“Exactly. Thanks, Erika.”
Miyuki winked at Erika, thanking her for showing concern.
Erika winked back.
In addition to First High, all 8 other high schools of magic reopened at the same time.
Third High was no exception, but Ichijou Masaki and Kichijouji Shinkuro weren’t at school.
They decided not to attend because of all the reporters trying to get material. The perseverance of the media wasn’t just causing issues for Tatsuya and Miyuki. Their determination to find information about the new officially recognized Strategic Class Magician and the main developer was even stronger than their persistence in searching for Tatsuya and Miyuki.
Had they gone to school, they would have troubled their classmates and underclassmen even more. Reporters were swarming the school without them even there; it would have been incomparably worse had they chosen to attend. Considering this, Masaki and Kichijouji decided to start summer “vacation” early – though it wasn’t really much of a vacation.
Kichijouji still took up work at the institute and Masaki still had to guard Liu Li Lei at the Komatsu base, so they were given official days off from the director of third high –
Maeda Chizuru - in order to fulfill official jobs.
In addition, the private school Masaki’s younger sister Ichijou Akane goes to announced the start of summer holidays today since the external threat had not yet been resolved – in total, 10 days were added to the summer holidays.
Thus, the brother and sister of the Ichijou family spent the start of their summer at Komatsu base.
***
Akane and Li Lei became friends quickly, but Masaki’s relationship with the commander of Li Lei’s escort detachment was still tense.
Akane and Li Lei were currently sitting at a table in the center of the room sitting shoulder to shoulder. Akane was using one of her textbooks – stored on her portable tablet terminal – to teach Li Lei general information about Japan.
They were being watching by Masaki and Commander Lin from opposite corners or the room. They didn’t converse at all – all of their conversations quickly turned into fierce arguments about their next course of actions. Masaki knew he was being childish, but they ended up piercing each other with their gazes from opposite ends of the room since they couldn’t ignore each other. Staying vigilant, Masaki spent his time studying with one of his textbooks.
In addition to the 2 pairs in the center and the corners, soldiers from both the Great Asian Alliance and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces were in the room – Commander Lin’s subordinates and soldiers currently on active duty in Komatsu Base, Masaki felt uneasy here, but he couldn’t leave. He had accepted the duty of watching over and taking care of Akane, so if he noticed Commander Lin or her subordinates start taking hostile action, he would work with the soldiers of the base to subdue them.
Masaki quelled his anxiety with patience and studied while remaining vigilant.
However, at just 1 PM, Masaki’s stomach started hurting from hunger.
Masaki had a visitor from another base in the lobby of the special residential building where he and Li Lei’s group were staying.
Komatsu base was an air base, but the visitor was an officer in the land forces. It was Lieutenant Chiba Naotsugu from the Sword Corps. It was a temporary assignment, Masaki didn’t really understand this. It didn’t really matter though, as the information the visitor provided was far more important.
Chiba Naotsugu was still a student at the academy of defense, so it was weird for him to have the rank of Lieutenant – it had only been granted to him under special conditions. He had been given the rank because of his achievements and his fame as
“one of the ten best fighters in the world at a distance less than 3 meters.” He needed an officer rank because he often participated in joint operations with security personnel of allied countries.
Incidentally, the platoon commander of the Sword Corps had been a Senior Lieutenant, and the commanders of each of the units were Lieutenants, so Naotsugu had the same rank as the individual commanders. He was technically out ranked, though, because the commanders of each unit had all served for longer than he had.
Two of the unit commanders had also been sent here, but they were currently organizing and coordinating with the base command.
As a result, Naotsugu currently held the highest rank among the remaining soldiers in the squad, so he headed to Masaki’s and Li Lei’s groups to explain the situation.
“Lu Ganghu will attack us?” Commander Lin said, startled.
“We don’t have evidence that this report is true, but we came here considering it might be,” Naotsugu responded.
Naotsugu’s calm contrasted Commander Lin’s panic. However, his vague speech style that failed to say anything about how factual the information was gave Lin some doubt.
“…that is, you left Tokyo without even checking anything?”
The Sword Corps were based in Tokyo, hence Lin’s assumption that he had departed from there. Her statement was correct, however – the Sword Corps were sent because of the message they received about the sabotage detachment from the GAA. The army couldn’t ignore it and gave it a higher priority than capturing Kudou Minoru.
However, they had no reason to explain unconfirmed facts to refugees from another country.
“There isn’t any clear evidence, but we need to be prepared for the worst. That’s all I can say.”
Naotsugu’s reply didn’t completely convince Lin, but she stopped arguing.
“Please don’t leave this building until it is confirmed to be safe.”
“For how long?” Li Lei asked Naotsugu.
“We are currently looking for Lu Ganghu with police assistance. We will find him in a day or two as well as the rest of the saboteurs who have entered the country.”
As soon as Naotsugu said this, Commander Lin grew nervous.
However, only Mari, standing next to Naotsugu, noticed the minor change in her demeanor.
It was the first day back at school for the students at First High after the three-day school closing, but there were only 10 days left before summer break so many students still had plenty of time. Their freedom was further increased from the cancellation of the Nine Schools Competition that was usually held during the summer holidays.
Classes in First High lasted until 3:30 PM, but most students engaged in club activities after school, so they stayed a bit later.
Usually, the school board had enough work during this time of year to force them to stay at school until the sun had fallen over the horizon – even in long daylight hours of summer. However, without the Nine Schools Competition increasing many students work load, it was still light when students involved in club activities left the school.
Miyuki walked with Lina – who had successfully passed her entrance exams – to the station a bit before everyone else. Her appearance was currently disguised – she looked like a girl with chestnut-colored hair and matching eyes.
The other members of their company waited in the cafeteria for a bit, talking with each other. Their group had initially come together with Tatsuya and Miyuki at the core, but they were all now good enough friends to meet up even when the siblings weren’t around. They left after a short discussion.
However, about halfway along the road to the station, Erika suddenly looked up into the window of the second floor of a roadside coffee shop.
“Erika-chan, what happened?”
Mizuki noticed her pause and immediately turned towards her.
Erika turned around, slowing her pace to allow Mizuki to catch up.
“I felt a strange gaze on me,” she answered.
“Strange gaze?” Mikihiko questioned.
The group left at the same time, but their difference in walking speed caused them to separate slightly. However, with Erika’s sudden pausing, they were all grouping up again.
“I didn’t feel it all that clearly, but… it was as if something was looking at me from behind, wriggling into me… hmm. An evil gaze. Yeah, that’s the right word.”
“Evil look?” Honoka asked.
“What do you mean? Are you trying to scare us?” Shizuku said with slight disgust.
Shizuku and Honoka caught up to the three and gave Erika a slightly reproachful gaze.
“Erika, you said you didn’t understand its intent? So you don’t know if it means harm…?
Mikihiko paid more attention to Erika’s lack of understanding than her wording calling it evil.
“I was a little relaxed. I wasn’t on guard, but when I felt it and focused on detecting it, it simply disappeared. It might just be my imagination,” Erika responded, explaining herself.
“You were relaxed, so you lost sight of the enemy? Are you sure you didn’t just stumble upon a mirror?”
“Shut up, moronic lump of boob.”
Erika kicked Leo in the leg.
She didn’t have any experience in kicking martial arts, but it still hurt enough to make Leo grab one leg from the pain and start jumping up and down – which was especially surprising considering Leo’s resistance to pain. Apparently, Erika’s kicks hurt more than being hit by a motorcycle.
“~~Oi! What did you put in your shoe?”
“Who knows…” Erika responded.
“Oh you…!”
Leo looked ready to pound on Erika at any moment while Erika stretched out a magical baton and prepared to fight.
“Hey, you two!”
Mikihiko hurriedly got between them.
“Leo, calm down. You spoke too far just now.”
“Erika-chan, violence isn’t for girls! Why did you have to kick him so suddenly?”
Mikihiko subdued Leo while Mizuki chided Erika, but their antics distracted everyone from the original topic and the question of the “evil eye” went unresolved.
Only Honoka turned to look at the window Erika had stopped at.
A man and a woman sat at a table by the window on the second floor of the roadside coffee shop mentioned above.
“…were we seen?” the woman asked.
“No, I don’t think people noticed. People wouldn’t be able to distinguish our faces with the naked eye from such a distance, and there weren’t any signs of magic usage,”
the man responded.
“They definitely noticed our presence, at least,” the woman continued.
“Yes. Their skill exceeded our expectations.”
The pair sitting across from each other like a couple were in fact members of the Horsehead squad of the Illegal MAP. Different members were present than in the morning, but their purpose was the same.
“So Angie’s report wasn’t an exaggeration?” the woman asked.
“Even a small girl was able to become Sirius.”
The man didn’t explicitly say what he meant, but his meaning was clear: they shouldn’t underestimate their opponents just because they were young.
“What do we do?”
“The final decision will be made by the squad leader, but I would prefer to avoid the swordswoman from the Chiba family.”
“I agree,” the woman responded. “What about Mitsui?”
“I think she’s fine. She found nothing, even when our location was pointed out to her.”
“Understood.”
Talking, the pair didn’t even bother looking at the group of schoolchildren they had been watching for anymore.
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