Chapter 7
It's the third day of the Nine Schools Competition.
The Men and Women's "Icicle Destruction" and "Battle Board" were being held today, making this the biggest hurdle of the first half of the Nine Schools Competition.
The players from First High that had advanced thus far included two men in "Icicle Destruction", two men and women in "Battle Board", and one woman in "Icicle Destruction".
This was not going according to plan, but was still within the acceptable combat parameters.
"Hattori-senpai is on first for the Men's Team, Watanabe-senpai is in the second round for the Women's Team, Chiyoda-senpai is set for the first round, and Group Leader Juumonji is scheduled for the third round......"
Tatsuya felt a headache forming as he surveyed the schedule.
Even if the start of the contest didn't coincide perfectly with the schedule, he could only watch either Hattori's or Kanon's event.
(Though Hattori-senpai probably doesn't want me to watch him compete......)
That being said, Miyuki and Hattori were both part of the Student Council, so not watching Hattori's contest was still a problem.
"Ah, found you, Tatsuya-kun!"
Still, Tatsuya no longer had to concern himself with this, or maybe he no longer had to concern himself period.
"President, what's the matter?"
"I was hoping you could help."
Mayumi dragged Tatsuya towards the engineering vehicles.
"Onii-sama, it's about to start!"
In the end, Tatsuya barely got away in time to catch the start of Mari's event.
Mari had dropped by when Tatsuya was working and specifically reminded him: "You are going to come watch me, right?" If he stayed away after that, even if he was just a little tardy and missed the opening segment, he would never hear the end of it.
Tatsuya thanked his little sister and friends for saving him a spot, then turned to look at the starting line.
Looks like he made it just in time.
Mari was wearing her customary headband with her hair fluttering as she adopted the set position.
There were a total of three contestants in the semifinal round, which would run for two matches.
The winners of the two matches would advance to the final round where they would duel one another.
The two others were tense with anxiety, but Mari fearlessly awaited the starting signal.
The "Get Set" whistle sounded.
The audience was dead silent.
After a split second, the second whistle rang out.
The race was on.
The first one out the gate was Mari.
Unlike the preliminary round, the one in second was right on her heels.
The player in third was only slightly further behind.
"They're tough......!"
"No wonder they're known as 'Seventh High of the Waves'."
"I remember that they had the same team in last year's finals."
The billowing waves on the surface were clear evidence that their magic was interfering with one another.
Generally, Mari would use her position in the lead to take advantage of the waves to disrupt her opponent behind her, hereby achieving greater effect than the sum of its parts, but the player from Seventh High adeptly maneuvered her board to compensate for her disadvantage in magic.
The three players threaded through the snaking aqueduct and rounded the tight corner neck to neck.
After passing through there, they entered a passage that couldn't be seen from the observation deck, so now the action had to be watched through the television screens.
Tatsuya glanced towards the widescreen TV that was displaying the images from the sharp turn.
"Huh?"
A small oddity onscreen grabbed his attention.
"Ah!"
So Tatsuya accidentally missed this moment.
Screams erupted from the stands.
Tatsuya frantically looked back.
The player from Seventh High had completely lost her balance.
"Speed Burst?"
Someone shouted out.
That's certainly what it looked like.
The player's board wasn't gripping the water's surface.
As if in full flight, the player from Seventh High was gliding across the water's surface and was about to slam straight into the railing.
—Under the assumption that no one was in the way.
Mari, who had just finished decelerating and was ready to sprint ahead, was directly in the path of the trajectory.
Mari faced the railing.
Even so, she still kept her head turned behind her, likely because she detected the oncoming presence from the rear.
Her following action, could only be described as superlative.
Mari canceled her forward acceleration and switched to parallel rotational acceleration, using the waves crashing back from the walls of the aqueduct and her own magic to spin the board halfway around.
Next, she used multiple recalculations to use two new magics and prepared to receive the out of control Seventh High player.
First she used Move-Type Magic to fling away the player's board and then applied Weight-Type Inertial Neutralization Magic to prevent herself from crashing into the railing after catching the other player.
This would have been enough to avert disaster.
If the water's surface didn't suddenly dip.
It was only a minute difference.
However, Mari was in the middle of a high level technique to achieve a 180 degree turnaround.
Mari wasn't a surfing expert, she was just using superb magic and personal buffing to change her stance. The moment her flotation faded, her balance was destroyed as well.
Which in turn caused the activating magic to fizzle.
She successfully redirected the other player's board that was hurtling towards her legs.
But the Inertial Neutralization Magic didn't activate, which sent the player from Seventh High careening into Mari.
The two of them slammed into the railing together.
Shrill shrieks sounded from all around the stands.
Immediately, a flag rose to signal a halt to the competition.
Tatsuya couldn't help but rise to his feet.
Mari was sandwiched between the railing and the player from Seventh High.
It looked like she wasn't able to successfully erect any protective measures.
"Onii-sama!"
Completely pale, Miyuki was gazing up at him.
"I'll go take a look, you guys stay here."
Tatsuya had received military and guardian training since youth, which more than qualified him for minor surgical operations.
"Understood."
Tatsuya's steady voice allowed Miyuki to realize that everyone going to take a look would only add to the panic, so she waved her hands to signal their friends to take a seat and nodded her assent towards Tatsuya.
Tatsuya charged down the observation deck and threaded through the dense crowds as if performing a magic trick.
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