Chapter 3
One of the advantages of having a set classroom at school was that it fostered building interpersonal relationships.
Regional proximity and blood relations are both powerful impetus for developing bonds and, regardless of whether they are official or unofficial organizations, serve to differentiate and categorize groups within groups.
For the practical application of this sentiment......
"Morning, Shiba. I heard about it already, nice going."
"Morning, Shiba-kun, great job."
"Good morning, Shiba-kun, I'm rooting for you."
"Hey, go for it, Shiba."
......And so, even students who normally weren't very close to him were voluntarily bridging out towards him through greetings and words of encouragement.
As soon as Tatsuya entered the classroom on Monday, he received a string of support from his classmates.
The reason why they did this was natural: Tatsuya was selected as one of the representatives for the Nine Schools Competition.
"The grapevine is quite active."
"Yep. This was only decided last week and there hasn't even been an official announcement yet."
"Yeah, so where did they get the news?"
Leo, Mizuki, and Erika did not appear to be feigning ignorance, so they probably weren't the culprits.
However, it's not like those responsible were issued gag orders either.
At the time, only upperclassmen attended the meeting, so they likely heard the news from their club leaders.
"Speaking of which, didn't they make the announcement today?"
Erika tilted her head to one side and asked, at which Tatsuya nodded in a solemn manner.
Including the technician team, the official roster for the Nine Schools Competition was finalized last Friday.
The original timetable called for the roster to be finalized two weeks ago, so they were obviously several steps behind.
The fact that the contestants were already decided may have been a blessing in disguise, since all the competition-use CADs and uniforms that usually took the longest time to prepare had already been assembled. The only bottleneck was that because the engineering candidates hadn't been settled, all of the maintenance and testing work was yet to be done.
Miyuki was a contestant herself, but owing to the constant stream of preparation work she was entirely unavailable. For her, Tatsuya was willing to sacrifice anything, but still couldn't dispel the notion that he was being railroaded.
"I think 5th period will be changed to an assembly, right?"
Mizuki said this as she gazed at the terminal screen set into the table before them that listed today's class schedule.
All grades shared the same schedule with three periods in the morning and two in the afternoon.
Even so, besides labs, technical skills, and physical education classes, standardized classes (classes set as progression goals) advanced according to the student's own pace. Modern schools allowed for personalized education to be displayed on the terminal screens in class and did not heavily restrict start and end times.
In modern schools, the higher the grade level, the less emphasis was placed on determining class time and break time. The fact that the school changed the entire 5th period into an assembly to properly send off the representatives was a clear sign of how highly the school viewed this event.
"Tatsuya-kun will also be onstage during the ceremony, correct?"
"Hm, yeah......"
Tatsuya stammered out a reply to Mizuki's question because this was precisely the point of contention that plagued him.
"And Tatsuya is the only First Year student, right?"
Just as Leo said, the only First Year student accepted into the technician team was Tatsuya.
Experience in CAD maintenance was absolutely necessary, so naturally upperclassmen should be the ones selected for the technician team, except that Tatsuya's skills were vastly different from the masses.
Of course, when taking into consideration that he was a pioneering expert in the development of CAD software, he would definitely be overqualified for serving as an engineer in a high school competition.
But, regardless of whether they were in his year or higher grades, no one was aware of this detail.
Only his sister Miyuki knew.
"Those Course 1 students look so~ very~ aggrieved."
The Course 1 students were still smarting from the results of the finals and this selection would only serve to throw more oil on the fire. This was blatantly obvious even without Erika verbalizing it.
"But all the contestants are Course 1 students......"
That was Tatsuya's perspective.
Since all the contestants for the Newcomers Division were Course 1 students and Tatsuya was only an auxiliary member, no one on the outside would comment on this.
—But for the people in question, this was insufficient to comfort the other Course 1 students that aimed to become Magic Artificers.
Tatsuya was rarely in a position that aroused jealousy.
He also lacked the ability to envy others.
His life experiences were not rich enough for him to observe all the minute details.
"There's nothing they can do about it. Jealousy alone isn't a good enough reason."
So when he heard Mizuki's piercing comment, Tatsuya was unable to formulate a reply.
"Relax, this time no one is going to throw stones or magic at you."
At Erika's overly extreme method of comforting him, Tatsuya could only smile wryly.
After 4th period, Tatsuya reported on time to the backstage, where he was handed a thin jacket by Miyuki, who arrived before him.
"This is?"
For all intents and purposes, this was a normal jacket, but Tatsuya still wanted to verify that.
"This is the uniform for the technician team. Please put that on during the ceremony in place of the actual uniform."
The one who answered was Mayumi.
—With the expected answer.
Mayumi herself was wearing a western-styled sports jacket.
That was probably the uniform for contestants.
Miyuki, who was still in her school uniform, let out an expectant smile as she held out the jacket to Tatsuya with both hands.
A brief, mischievous urge flashed across his mind, but Tatsuya knew that resistance was futile.
Tatsuya frankly removed the jacket of his school uniform and hung it on the coat hanger prepared ahead of time.
Next, he slightly bent his knees and allowed Miyuki to help him put on the jacket.
Standing behind him, Miyuki tugged the jacket over her brother's shoulders before looping to the front and adjusting the collar and sleeves. Afterwards, she took a step back to glance over her brother's torso and letting out a wide, satisfied smile.
Tatsuya was largely aware of why his sister was in such a fantastic mood.
Her happiness was likely caused by the school emblem embroidered over the jacket's left breast.
The emblem was styled after a flower with eight petals.
Miyuki's uniform had the same emblem over the same location.
The emblem of First High.
And not a replacement either, but the symbol of a Course 1 student.
"Onii-sama, that suits you perfectly......"
The intramural competition uniforms were largely the same as the normal ones, which was natural since it was only intended to identify which school the contestants belonged to.
However, in Miyuki's eyes, Tatsuya's appearance was finally restored to its rightful state.
Tatsuya honestly couldn't care less but it was precisely because he didn't care that he didn't want to spoil the mood. There was still some time until the commencement of the ceremony, so Tatsuya waited around wearing the uniform for the technician team.
Miyuki was completely mesmerized by the dashing figure Tatsuya cut in his uniform. She remained standing there without tiring in her uniform. Tatsuya gazed around him but failed to catch sight of Miyuki's western sport jacket. Even with the copious amount of time remaining, Tatsuya still felt that she should get ready as soon as possible.
"Don't you need to change?"
"I'm serving as the ceremonial assistant."
Hearing Tatsuya's question, Miyuki snapped out of her mesmerized expression to reply with her usual smile on her face.
In other words, this was the only time that Miyuki was excluded from the participant standing and served instead as the representative for the send-off party...... At least that's how Tatsuya interpreted Miyuki's words.
"Is that so, that's quite a heavy responsibility."
"Please don't remind me......."
There was no way she would shrink at such a marginal duty, but she still employed that weak tone and faltering gaze, prompting Tatsuya to smile softly and lay a hand on his sister's head.
—The surrounding onlookers directed cold gazes towards the two of them.
The team members responsible for organizing the so-called send off ceremony got the event started on time, and everything proceeded according to plan.
Even if Tatsuya stood onstage, there would be no stones or magic hurtled his way — that was a given.
However, for him, this was a very foreign location.
The participants and engineers assembled into two lines. Among the technician team, only Tatsuya was an underclassman. All the others were upperclassmen, which naturally lent the feeling that he was the odd man out.
Thanks to Tatsuya's performance during the selection meeting, he was spared the outright hostile or contemptuous gazes on stage.
That being said, it wasn't like the gazes were friendly. Favorable evaluation does not equate to a favorable impression.
Regardless of how they looked at it, his acceptance onto the team was an unprecedented elevation and special treatment.
To top it all off, Tatsuya was presently garbed in the jacket with the coveted eight petal flower emblem embroidered on it.
Surely someone must consider this offensive, which inevitably led to further backlash that he could do nothing about. Beneath the luminous lights, Tatsuya calmly thought about this as if he wasn't the principal.
During this time, they were introducing each contestant in turn on stage.
Mayumi was the master of ceremonies.
Upon being called, each participant would receive a special medal that concealed the ID crystal needed to enter the competition arena.
To improve the presentation, Miyuki was responsible for presenting the medal to each individual.
Just the contestants alone numbered 40 people (excluding Miyuki and Mayumi there were 38), so this was a very time-consuming process, but probably owing to her excellent upbringing, Miyuki maintained a sweet smile throughout as she smoothly pinned the medals onto each individual.
In such an extreme proximity that they could feel her breath, no male student was immune to Miyuki's smile as they desperately tried to fight their blushing and shaky expressions.
If that was the case, this scene would undoubtedly rouse the ire of the entire female student body, but even the female students that received the medals had succumbed to flushed faces or faltering gazes, so no one in the audience (especially the upperclassmen) was irked and instead smiled in agreement.
The medals were not just presented to the participants, but to the auxiliary team as well.
After the tactical advisory team was introduced, it was finally the technical support team's turn.
"Somehow I feel a little nervous."
Someone next to him suddenly spoke to him, causing Tatsuya to slightly turn his head.
The male student to his flank also turned his head slightly, catching Tatsuya's gaze directly.
The level of Tatsuya's sight was slightly higher.
If he recalled correctly, this was the Year 2 student named Isori Kei. Of course, he was a Course 1 student (and Tatsuya was the only Course 2 student onstage anyways).
"Yeah."
He was one of the very few that were openly friendly to Tatsuya.
This handsome youth possessed a mild temperament and, coupled with his slender figure, if he exchanged the pants for a dress, would perfectly fit the description of a "tall female student". However, he was also First Place in Magic Theory for the Year 2 class as well as one of the foremost Magicians with technical skills.
As Tatsuya re-examined his "beauty" at close range, he got the distinct impression that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
They were still on stage, so the conversation ended there.
However, even for a slower individual like Tatsuya, to be able to find one shining light of friendliness in this murky ocean of negativity was enough to lessen the gloomy emotions welling up in his heart.
As he felt his depression lighten, he had the excess energy to survey the audience.
Since there wasn't any assigned seating in the audience, the student body naturally split into two, with the Course 1 students in front and the Course 2 students in the rear.
That being said, a few outsiders had managed to infiltrate the front half.
They probably detected Tatsuya's gaze.
Erika vigorously waved at him from her seat in the third row from the front, which was close enough to be called front row seating.
Tatsuya was thoroughly astounded by this.
Taking a closer look, Mizuki sat next to Erika, with Leo on her other side and Mikihiko occupying Leo's other flank. Even the faces behind them were all familiar.
In sheer defiance of the disapproving looks sent their way by the surrounding Course 1 students, First Year Class E stormed the front of seating and claimed a section for themselves.
As Tatsuya was drawn to their courageous actions, Miyuki arrived in front of him with a small cart before her.
Of the 40 contestants, 4 tactical advisors, 8 technicians and removing the master of ceremonies and assistant, there were a total of 50 people on stage. Forty-nine of them had already received their medals.
Last, but not least, it was finally the 50th person's turn.
In other words, Tatsuya was up next.
Mayumi loudly proclaimed his name.
Was Tatsuya over thinking too much, or did she place extra emphasis on his name?
Tatsuya stepped forward to acknowledge the announcement.
Miyuki revealed a brilliant, melting smile — enough to cause Tatsuya to be worried about his sister's mental status — and stood before Tatsuya.
Miyuki clipped the medal onto Tatsuya's jacket.
At the same time, thunderous applause broke forth.
There was no need for any visual confirmation.
It was Erika and Leo leading the rest of his classmates in applause.
To Mayumi and Miyuki, who were responsible for directing the ceremony, this was an unplanned for ruckus.
However, just as the First Year Course 1 students were about to hush the clapping......
Mayumi and Miyuki seized the initiative to start clapping from the wings of the stage.
After introducing the last representative, the entire assembly started applauding.
This perfectly coincided with the applause for the entire team, which spread throughout the auditorium.
After the conclusion of the colors ceremony, the entire campus was completely focused on preparing for the Nine Schools Competition.
With the events they would be participating in settled, Miyuki spent every day practicing with Shizuku and Honoka until the last second before the campus closed.
Tatsuya needed to perform CAD maintenance at the same time he was assisting Miyuki with her tasks, so he was also occupied until late in the day.
Both Erika and Leo were affiliated with athletic clubs, so they were also drafted to help deal with the myriad tasks that needed doing.
Mizuki was the only one in the literary clubs, so this week she usually waited by herself for everyone else to finish.
Last week's colors ceremony filled her with anxiety.
Even though there was no assigned seating, it still took a lot of courage to disregard that unspoken rule.
There was no way she could do that alone, though the situation was more like if Erika hadn't been there, none of their classmates would've taken the plunge either.
Mizuki acknowledged her own introverted and cowering personality, so she was doubly impressed by and envious of her friend.
(But why was Erika striving so hard like that......?)
Mizuki was forcibly dragged along by Erika into participating.
Of course, she wanted to support Tatsuya as well, but reflecting on the situation, she would be more than satisfied with applauding from the rear.
Erika was inclined towards reckless behavior, so her ulterior motive may also be to taunt the Course 1 students.
At the same time, Erika was a flighty individual that usually didn't think things through.
In Mizuki's eyes, she was someone who loved to get in on the action, but rarely was the source of any troublesome business. This could be easily explained if it only involved her best friends like Mizuki, but to be motivated enough to involve all of their classmates, this didn't seem to fit a practical joker's state of mind.
(So Erika is really like that towards Tatsuya...... Right......?)
From Mizuki's perspective, the male who hit it off the best with Erika was Leo.
Erika also had an extensive back story with Mikihiko, who took Third Place in the Theoretical portion of their exams.
But Mizuki felt that Erika held something special for Tatsuya that weighed far differently than the others.
For some reason, Mizuki refused to assign this feeling Erika had a specific definition in her mind.
She arrived at the school entrance less than 5 minutes ago.
The time was too short for her to claim that she was tired of waiting.
However, this was more than enough time to jolt her thinking.
Without any conscious effort, an assortment of things flowed through Mizuki's mind.
This situation would perfectly fit the criteria for being distracted.
And so, with her sense unfocused towards any single point, she spread her senses outward and detected a foreign wavelength.
Mizuki pondered this for exactly one second.
Then she made up her mind to remove her glasses.
Instantly, a tidal wave of flowing colors came rushing in.
Her vision was filled with colorful lights from a myriad of shades.
Mizuki temporarily sustained the pain in her eyes brought on by the excess stimulation.
For her, the act of removing her glasses was like walking from pitch darkness into the sun's radiant rays.
The things she usually avoided looking at suddenly became visible.
The surplus data gave her a rudderless feeling as her ocular nerves and brain were overloaded by processing all this information.
If this happened to the average person, they might've been knocked unconscious by this information deluge, but for her, this was "another world" that had been by her side since birth.
Even people that were suddenly exposed before the powerful rays of the sun swiftly adapted after a short period of time.
For people with dark pupils suitable for intense light, this time would be even shorter.
All Mizuki had to do was blink two or three times and her eyes adjusted to be able to see a psion light several dozen times stronger than what the average Magician perceives as well as the pushion light that average Magicians couldn't even identify.
Mizuki cautiously replaced her glasses into the carrying case, then directed her gaze towards the odd vibration from earlier.
She swiftly found the frequency that allowed her to penetrate the anti-spirit light lens.
The pushion signal that possessed a wavering but regular beat like breathing.
Now, even the source of the light could be easily seen.
Mizuki advanced towards the Technical Skills Building where the vibration originated from as if drawn to it.
The closer she got to the Technical Skills Building, the more she felt the seeping cold air in the surrounding environment.
This was the middle of summer, and even if the setting sun was partially blocked by the neighboring hills and cut a horizon that was not altogether "curved", the temperature was still more than high enough to be sweating.
This was an illusion.
"Something" was pretending to be cold air, tucked within the folds of the warm summer air.
This "something" seemed to order Mizuki to turn back.
Like threatening her to desist her advance.
However, her feet did not come to a halt.
Logic demanded that she turn back, but Mizuki was a member of the magic community and destined to walk side by side with magic, so Mizuki's instincts instructed her to use her pair of "eyes" to ascertain what this something was.
There were very few people in the Technical Skills Building, so there were no sounds of friction or loud laughter.
The overhead lights on the ceiling maintained a degree of brightness that made for comfortable browsing of tiny letters.
Just as usual.
No, this was a school for magic instruction and this was the Technical Skills Building frequented by many individuals.
If an incident had occurred, it couldn't have gone unnoticed by the instructors and upperclassmen.
In comparison to ordinary high schools, magic high schools had no place for ghost stories or urban legends.
Since no alarm was triggered, that meant that the unusual situation that Mizuki detected was the product of magic.
Otherwise — the true spiritual manifestation that could not be detected by modern magic.
An ominous feeling wrapped around her heart and caused her back to quiver, but Mizuki pressed forward as if being herded in or dragged in without her control.
As Mizuki was led upstairs, she noticed a faint, pleasant smell lingering in the air.
She had encountered this fragrance during Magic Medicine class.
The fragrance was a combination of many incense woods that produced a sedative effect.
She pursed the pulse towards the medicine labs.
The irregular pushion lights seemed to be caused by a certain student's magical experiment.
After verifying that this wasn't a true spiritual manifestation, Mizuki let out a sigh of relief.
And so, the sense of curiosity that was lurking behind her wall of unease peeked its head out.
One of the fundamental lessons first taught in Magic Technical Skills class is that one must never intrude on another person's magic experiment site without permission. Unannounced guests run the risk of accidentally triggering the magic area and may even cause the magic to spontaneously burst out of control. The school has repeatedly reminded them that it is extremely dangerous and foolish for Magicians-in-training — such as new students like them — to barge into magic experiments unannounced.
However, the current Mizuki had completely forgotten that warning.
Mizuki's misdirected sense of caution prompted her to surreptitiously sneak over and nudge a small crack in the door.
She meticulously avoided making any noise and peeked into the room's interior from the crack.
In that instant—
Mizuki was barely able to swallow her scream of terror.
No, rather than being one of terror, it was simply a scream of surprise.
Inside the medicine lab, there were many blue, sky blue, and dark blue orbs dancing through the air.
Each orb had an independent "strength" and "consciousness".
Mizuki knew through "visual confirmation" that all things in the natural order possessed differing strengths that did not tilt towards any particular direction, but maintained a constant state of flux. Mizuki was quite familiar with scenes of "strength"-based natural phenomena that congregated as floating orbs. In her "eyes", the myriad details of the world were similar to the pushion flow that the human consciousness released.
However, this was the first time Mizuki felt that the floating congregates possessed a "consciousness".
(Spirits......?)
Is this what they call spirits — she thought.
Mizuki was deeply moved by this, enough to abandon all other thoughts.
And the person who summoned these spirits was—
"Yoshida-kun......?"
Completely abandoning any caution whatsoever, Mizuki softly murmured.
This was an entirely subconscious action.
Even so, the one whose name was called was no pushover.
Especially because he was situated in a private location where no one would pass by and the fact that someone witnessed his secret "magic".
"Who's there!"
A completely reflexive inquiry.
His words were laced with the fury of being discovered, causing the "consciousness" in the "orbs" to react.
"Ah!"
As the orbs swarmed forward, Mizuki screamed and clenched her eyes shut.
Simultaneously, a "strong gust" approached from her flank, forcing her to duck down.
But this was a flow of psions that would neither disturb a hair nor rustle her dress.
The gust swept back the swarming orbs and protected Mizuki, but she had no way of knowing with her eyes closed.
Trembling with trepidation, Mizuki slowly opened her eyes to find Mikihiko hatefully glaring at Tatsuya, who calmly accepted this gaze without expression.
"......Mikihiko, relax, I don't want to throw down with you here."
At Tatsuya's sudden appearance, Mizuki could only stare with wide eyes from her kneeling position. Before her, Tatsuya had two empty hands raised before him.
This was universal for both Magicians and mundanes, a sign that the person in question did not wish to fight.
Mikihiko revealed a thoroughly astounded expression and his enmity vanished at the same moment, as if it had never appeared in the first place.
This quickly dispelled the tense atmosphere. Mizuki finally shed her frozen posture and rose with a crestfallen Mikihiko in front of her.
"......Tatsuya, my apologies, I didn't mean to do that."
Mikihiko looked like a lost child without a home.
All of a sudden, Mizuki felt the urge to "comfort him", but was anxious because she couldn't find the appropriate words.
Fortunately, they managed to avoid the awkward period of silence.
"I don't mind, so put your mind at ease. At the end of the day, it was Mizuki's fault for disrupting the caster's concentration during the magic invocation phase."
"Eh? Me?"
Mizuki hurriedly turned around only to find Tatsuya mischievously smirking at her and quickly realized that he wasn't really scolding her.
"No, it's not her fault."
However, Mikihiko didn't see it that way.
When he rejected Tatsuya's comment, he spoke in a fairly rapid manner.
This was probably because Tatsuya's comment hit too close to home, causing him to panic slightly.
"It is only because of my own inadequacy that I would become frantic at just being called by name...... Also, I'm sorry I forgot something very important. Thanks, Tatsuya. Thanks to you, I didn't accidentally hurt Shibata-san."
"She would be fine even if I didn't do anything. Just then, that was Spirit Magic right?"
Mikihiko nodded at Tatsuya's question, but hesitated for some reason.
"Based on the Buddhist spirits of heaven and earth, our family calls it 'Divine Earth Magic'."
Even so, Mikihiko stuck by his guns, probably because this was a non-negotiable point for Magicians.
Spirit Magic is a type of Ancient Magic which uses independent Information Bodies commonly called "spirits" to interact with other Information Bodies. Magic studies often refers to this magic as "Spirit Magic", but also shortens spirits to SB (Spiritual Being), but users generally refer to them as "spirits".
"I don't have the ability to identify spirits, but I do know that you're the one controlling the rite. On top of that, Mizuki actually managed to bypass the dispersal ward, so it would be fairly difficult for her not to surprise you."
"How did you know about the ward...... Oh right, Tatsuya also studied Ancient Magic, so you would know if a rite is effective or not...... Looks like you are truly out...... No, you've surpassed the limits of my knowledge."
"You can go ahead and say 'outrageous'."
Tatsuya spoke in a teasing manner, to which Mikihiko replied with a wry smile — the tense corners of his mouth relaxed.
"At any rate...... No matter how much you don't want other people to see you, I think that setting a ward within the school labs also qualifies as an outrageous action."
"True."
Their combined laughter completely erased the previously tense atmosphere.
"Just now, were you using summoning magic on natural spirits? This is the first time I've seen it."
"......Hiding anything at this point is fruitless. Tatsuya is correct, I was using water spirits to practice summoning magic."
Mikihiko gathered the burning incense wood from the table stove and answered Tatsuya.
Beside him, Mizuki was using a cleaning cloth to wipe away the ashes that stuck to the tabletop.
Of course, Mikihiko wanted to politely decline this gesture, but Mizuki's diligence proved particularly stubborn on this point.
"Water spirits...... Unfortunately, I only know that they are the congregations of pushions...... Mizuki, what did you see?"
"Eh? Ah, me too, the only thing I saw were blue-colored orbs."
Hearing Tatsuya's question, Mizuki made a vague smile and shook her hands in a wavy manner before her.
Because Mizuki was still holding the wet cleaning rag in her hand as she did this, a small portion of the murky water splashed onto Mikihiko's face, but she was wholly unaware because the question caught her completely off-guard.
As Mikihiko himself...... he also seemed unaware.
His eyes were wide open as his expression tensed.
"Colored......? You can see differences in color......?"
"That, uh...... Yes."
Mizuki didn't understand why Mikihiko wore (from Mizuki's perspective) a terrified expression, so she answered back in a quavering voice.
"For example...... blue, sky blue, or dark blue...... Ah!"
Mizuki didn't dare to look Mikihiko in the eye, so she didn't stare directly at him as she replied. However, she let out a small cry upon noticing the small droplets of water on Mikihiko's face.
"S-s-sorry! That...... Oh, right, handkerchief, handkerchief."
Mizuki scrambled to get her handkerchief from the school bag to wipe Mikihiko's face.
However, Mikihiko roughly grabbed her extended hand.
And dragged the terrified Mizuki right before him.
Mikihiko caught the off balance Mizuki and stared at her eyes from such a close proximity that it seemed like he was about to kiss her.
"Uh...... This......"
Mizuki was so confused and frantic that she was incoherent, but Mikihiko didn't seem to notice that.
Mikihiko just kept staring without batting an eyelid, while the panicking Mizuki didn't dare to turn around.
Without any warning, the two of them just continued to stare at one another.
"......If this was a consensual scene then I'd have to excuse myself, but otherwise that may be a slight problem."
"Wah!"
"Ah!"
The two of them froze like they had forgotten how to breathe, but, likely recovering upon hearing Tatsuya's innocuous voice, quickly sprang apart.
"......I apologize."
"Please...... Please don't say it like that...... I'm the one who should apologize."
Quite the conundrum.
It was fairly obvious why Mikihiko was asking for forgiveness — that was borderline sexual harassment, and he shouldn't complain even if he got slapped in the face — but why was Mizuki also apologizing?
Most likely out of panic. Tatsuya also felt that the atmosphere was putting him off as well.
"......Miyuki, Erika and Leo are already at the rendezvous, so if you feel like staying, we can head back first."
"Eh? Ah, Tatsuya-kun, so that's why you came looking for me...... Wait, ah!"
Mizuki seemed to take half a second to process what Tatsuya told her (more like she took half a second to do this from her perspective), let out a cry of shock, then lapsed back into silence. No, she likely had something she wanted to say, but her frozen mouth was incapable of uttering words. It appeared that her distress had caused a blockage in the speech area of her brain.
At any rate, this should only be a temporary setback — Tatsuya thought as he put this in the rear view mirror — alas, his expression was a far cry from his usual "poker face" — as he directed his view towards Mikihiko.
"So, Mikihiko, what was that all about?"
Tatsuya started to dissect Mikihiko's astounding action with considerable interest.
"Sorry, I was just so shocked......"
Mikihiko let out a small sigh of relief at the change in topic and quickly took this opportunity to respond to Tatsuya's query.
"Wait, there's no need to apologize to me. Why were you so surprised?"
"Well......"
Hearing Tatsuya's words, Mikihiko once more bowed towards Mizuki.
"I'm terribly sorry.
That was because I never thought someone could tell the difference in color between spirits......
At the thought that you might possess crystal eyes, I simply couldn't sit still and lost control of myself......
I know this just sounds like an excuse, but I definitely didn't plan anything nefarious.
I truly just wanted to verify that fact."
Mikihiko's earnest apology achieved the desired effect; Mizuki's frazzled state returned to normal.
Just as he said, this was only an excuse.
This was entirely on Mikihiko and his unrestrained curiosity and had nothing to do with Mizuki.
Even so, at Mikihiko's desperate explanation, Mizuki responded with both a warm and gentle gaze, signifying that she had already forgiven him.
"Yoshida-kun, it's alright, I was just surprised, that's all."
After saying this, Mizuki revealed a sweet and relaxing smile and quickly added, "But that would be terribly embarrassing, so please don't do that again."
His face completely flushed, Mikihiko nodded vigorously.
It looked like the earlier attempted sexual harassment had reached a peaceful conclusion and Tatsuya's satire never occurred, but Tatsuya didn't want to dwell on that too much.
"Speaking of which, Mikihiko, why are you surprised?"
Seeing the two of them return to normal, Tatsuya resumed the earlier questioning.
"Based on what you said, the ability to identify the colors of the spirits is extremely rare?"
Tatsuya possessed the ability to decipher psion information bodies, but did not view the information body as an image during his analysis, so he wasn't aware whether color identification was special or not. No, the ability to identify pushion information bodies was definitely rare, but Tatsuya could not comprehend why "color identification" had any special meaning.
At Tatsuya's question, Mizuki also looked at Mikihiko with the same look in her eyes. She probably had the same question as well.
"Also, what do you mean by crystal eyes? If convenient, can you explain that to us?"
Mizuki's eyes clearly showed that she wanted to know as well.
"......Yeah, it's not like the information is any sort of secret."
Mikihiko's brief delay before answering clearly hinted that what he was about to say wasn't so simple. Tatsuya detected that Mikihiko occasionally showed lapses of irresponsibility...... that bordered on self-destructive impulses.
"Spirits have colors, and we as Summoning Magicians rely on these colors to identify the different types of spirits."
That being said, Mikihiko seemed very sincere as he began to explain the nuances of Summoning and didn't give off an irresponsible feeling.
"Even so, it's not like we can actually see the spirit's color."
Mizuki was confounded.
Tatsuya also didn't follow, but he didn't immediately ask and merely used his eyes to signal Mikihiko to continue.
"In reality, spirits don't possess set colors at all. The colors that the Magician "sees" change depending on what system or style they belong to.
Take my style for example: water spirits are blue.
But in Europe, the local style claims that water spirits are purple.
On the mainland, the dominant opinion is that the color is a dark blue-ish hue that is almost black.
This wasn't because the vibrations of the spirits differed based on location and magic.
It was because the Magicians used different methods of identification, hence why they 'see' different colors."
"......In other words, they aren't identified by sight, but through magic recognition of the vibrations?"
"Correct.
In order to better identify the spirits, we use colors to categorize the oscillations.
You could say that we've embellished the spirits a little.
So, we each have a method of identifying spirit colors.
In my style, water spirits are blue, fire spirits are red, earth spirits are yellow, and wind spirits are green.
No difference in shade or brightness.
We all apply the same color in our minds, so there's no discrepancy in hue.
So all water spirits are strictly blue.
According to this identification system, it's impossible to see sky blue or dark blue water spirits."
"......But Mizuki saw them."
"She probably felt the discrepancy in hue due to the strength and nature of the water spirits and 'truly' saw the spirits color.
My style refers to those types of eyes as 'crystal eyes'.
This term is likely used by other styles under different circumstances, but for our style, they refer to the eyes that can see 'god'.
Rumors say that those who can see the colors of the spirits are also able to see where spirits spring forth and congregate, as well as the 'divine spirits' of the natural order and the key to accessing those systems.
To us, the people with crystal eyes are mikos that can connect to the divine spirit systems."
"In other words, Mizuki is exactly the person you guys are looking for?"
"Yes...... But there's no need to worry. Currently, I don't have the power to stand against 'god'. If it was the me from a year ago, I might have arrogantly claimed her for myself, the current me possesses neither the desire nor the mettle to try. That being said, I also won't reveal to other Magicians that she's such a critical individual for divine magics. Even if it's my own brother, I could never bear to simply watch as others ascended to the heights of Divine Earth Magic. I won't tell anyone about Shibata-san's crystal eyes."
Mikihiko's gaze was unyielding.
Flecks of madness danced just below the surface.
Tatsuya read that as a metamorphosis of his original possessiveness.
This wasn't "claimed for himself", but "refusal to allow anyone else to do so".
Mikihiko was staring at Mizuki with those kinds of eyes.
"......That's true, I will also keep this a secret."
Based solely on the fact that neither "wished for their friend to be used", Tatsuya and Mikihiko could agree.
So he signaled his agreement by nodding his head.
Signaled to Mikihiko.
And to Mizuki as well.
Mizuki wore an open expression of astonishment at Tatsuya's motion and quickly responded with a placating smile without comprehending the reason behind it.
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