Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 31 - Future Arc - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 
July 29 th , Monday. 
In Hawaii, preparations were in full swing for an attack on Miyakijima in the Izu archipelago . Meanwhile,  in the New Soviet Union, a certain force was progressing beneath the surface  to seize this opportunity to strike Japan and the USNA simultaneously. 
However, as the crisis has not surfaced yet, Tatsuya hadn’t yet noticed that the USNA and New Soviet Union were playing with fire. 
On this day, for the first time after a long time since the morning, he was resting in his room at their secondary residence [10] . 
Tatsuya knew that this peace that he currently has won’t last long. 
Minami was taken back, but Minoru’s location was still unknown. 
Project Dione was neutralized, but Edward Clark ? the mastermind behind it ? remained alive and well. 
Bezobrazov, who received serious damage from the counterattack , would also not remain silent for much longer . 
Knowing that the time for settling all these matters  was approaching, Tatsuya decided that it was all the more reason to get some rest. 
However, if other people saw Tatsuya right now, they would say: “But why aren’t you resting?” On the desk he’s facing right now, there’s a large display with a Workstation Console for editing magic Activation Sequences. Background music was playing in the room, and his fingers continuously tapped the keyboard. In preparation for the upcoming decisive battle, Tatsuya was developing new magic. 
More precisely, he  didn’t start the development from scratch, but resumed it. The basis of the new magic  was the ‘Chain Casting’ that was used in Bezobrazov’s ‘Tuman Bomba’. Parallel with the development of the Strategic-Class Magic ‘Ocean Blast’, which was given to Ichijou Masaki through Kichijouji Shinkurou, he was also  working on the creation of the Activation Sequence for another  large-scale magic . Tatsuya  suspended the development  to rescue Minami abducted by Minoru, and now he was working on it  again . 
It  would look like work to other people , but for Tatsuya, it  was just an efficient use of his spare time. That’s why he could easily suspend the current project  if there  were more pressing matters at hand. 
“Onii-sama, would you mind if I have some of your time?” 
For example, if there  was a request from Miyuki, like this… 
“Of course.” 
He gave it  priority without hesitation. 
“I’m sorry, then would you mind coming to my room?” 
“All right. I’m going now.” 
He answered Miyuki through the intercom, then saved his work and got up from his chair. 
There was a bedroom with two twin beds  between Miyuki’s and Tatsuya’s rooms. He could go through that bedroom, but Tatsuya went out into the hallway and knocked on the door of Miyuki’s room instead. 
“Please come in.” 
Simultaneously with Miyuki’s response, the door opened. 
While it was Miyuki who replied, it was Minami, wearing an apron on top of her short-sleeved shirt and short pants, who opened the door. 
Miyuki greeted Tatsuya, standing  almost in the room’s center with her cheeks reddened out of embarrassment… She stood  in front of a big mirror which reflected her whole body, wearing only a snow-white bikini, which could easily be confused with ordinary underwear. 
“……” 
Tatsuya quickly entered the room, slipping past Minami who had taken a step back, and  closed the door behind himself. There were only three people in this secondary residence with a 4LDK [11] layout  and floor area of 140 square meters, nevertheless he felt that it was better to close the door immediately. 
“Um… my  bras have ceased to fit me in size… So along with the purchase of new underwear, I would like to buy a new swimsuit.” 
Seeing Tatsuya’s doubting face, Miyuki hastened to explain herself, which only sounded like an excuse. 
“…I see.” 
Tatsuya didn’t show any embarrassment, but responded only with that. 
“So, uhm, would you help me choose?” 
“ ? All right.” 
There was no change in the complexion of Tatsuya’s face. However, subtle facial movements showed that he’s not entirely unaffected by embarrassment. 
Minami walked over to Tatsuya and handed him the AR glasses. And at that moment, Tatsuya finally understood why Miyuki was dressed like that. 
In front of Miyuki was a tall mirror larger than her height. But it wasn’t a simple mirror. It was an AR display with a mirror function. In this ‘mirror’ goods are projected over the mirror image of the client, turning it into a virtual fitting room. 
The AR glasses that were handed over to Tatsuya showed the tried on goods at a different angle relative to this display in the form of a full-figure mirror. The AR-display displayed a mirror image, and the AR-glasses were arranged so that the clothes  were projected onto the figure , in the real field of vision of the person using these glasses. 
The white bikini was ideally suited for this, as it  didn’t distort the color and shape of the overlaid  images. This made it possible to evaluate only the appearance of things , not the comfort of wearing them. However, in this way, it was possible to try on as many clothes as you like, even if you  don’t have access to the real product. It was the cutting-edge tool developed for online clothing stores. 
“Umm… Minami-chan, can we start?” 
“Certainly.” 
In response to Miyuki’s request,  said with a  slightly embarrassed voice, Minami operated the eight-inch touch panel. 
The transformation occurred immediately. The reflected image of Miyuki in the mirror was wearing a one-piece high-leg swimsuit [12] . 
Miyuki’s identical appearance was reflected in Tatsuya’s field of vision through the AR glasses. It was a pretty adult-looking swimsuit with a tropical floral pattern on a white background. This in no way meant that she was too young to wear something like that. Quite the opposite,  this wasn’t sufficient enough for Miyuki, whose allure and elegance increased day by day. 
Miyuki turned slowly on the spot. 
“…How do I look?” 

Miyuki made one full turn while looking at the AR-display. Then, she turned her face to Tatsuya and asked this. 
“It’s…” 
Tatsuya was about to voice his thoughts that came to mind, but something else suddenly caught his attention. 
“No, wait a minute.” 
“Yes…?” 
As Tatsuya suddenly spoke in a serious tone, Miyuki seemed perplexed. 
“Minami.” 
“Yes?” 
Minami, who didn’t expect to be  called so suddenly, showed an expression on her face similar to Miyuki. 
However, Tatsuya’s next question increased Minami’s bewilderment even more. 
“The catalog uses online data , doesn’t it?” 
“Yes, that’s right…” 
The AR-data, used for fitting, could also be downloaded. However, there are few who do so. This is because ordinary homes usually don’t have the computing resources needed to render a perfect AR image in real time ? that is, in such a way that  it doesn’t differ from trying on real clothing. No need to even mention the amount of data. 
Each person trying on clothes has their own individual body contour. Besides, during the fitting, no one stands motionless. Everyone takes various poses to see how they will look in these clothes . And if we take, for example, one hundred people, each of these hundred will move in their own way. Without a [Neural Network on the server side for] pattern recognition , it’s not easy to calculate such small differences each time from scratch, even with the processing power of modern computers. 
Therefore, almost all users of this system use the image rendered in real time on the server and showing on the display online. Miyuki also used this online mode without hesitation. 
“ For starters,  disconnect from the server. Download the catalog and switch to offline mode .” 
Minami’s reason for being puzzled by Tatsuya’s order was mentioned earlier . 
“…Won’t the download take a considerable time?” 
“This service is designed  for a common consumer, isn’t it? With the speed of this building’s dedicated  line, downloading won’t take much time.” 
This building was one of the command centers of the Yotsuba family, and had an information infrastructure comparable to that of military facilities. If the average home network is capable of viewing the image generated on the server without delay, it should also  be capable of downloading the necessary data  in a short time, even though the volume of this data will increase by four orders of magnitude. 
“Understood.” 
Minami bowed to Tatsuya as a sign that she understood. Then she immediately started downloading the catalog of data. 
“Onii-sama, please accept my apologies.” 
Meanwhile, Miyuki, who returned to her white bikini, walked beside Tatsuya and bowed. 
“In my situation, it was reckless to allow the online transfer of my  body’s data that can be used for biometric authentication.” 
Miyuki apologized because she interpreted Tatsuya’s «order to stop» as a security measure, intended to protect the next head of the Yotsuba family. 
However, Tatsuya made a slightly surprised face upon hearing her words. 
“No, It’s not only that…” 
It indicated the main intention behind that order was something different. 
“?” 
Miyuki looked at Tatsuya with a questioning gaze. 
“Although AR image rendering is processed automatically, there is no guarantee that the data stored on the server will not be viewed by someone from the operating company.” 
“…Indeed. Even though the Terms of Service clearly  indicates that the user’s personal data will not be visible to other people’s eyes, the possibility of data misappropriation cannot be ignored. Onii-sama, are you worried that someone may misuse it?” 
“That too. But above all, it’s unpleasant for me that you could be put on display for complete strangers from who knows where.” 
Tatsuya’s tone lacked confidence, even though he was talking about himself. 
Miyuki was confused as to how to interpret his words. 
At this moment, Minami invited herself into the conversation, announcing in a business-like tone: 
“Tatsuya-sama, Miyuki-sama. Data  download and offline settings are complete.” 
Then, she unexpectedly added: 
“It might be rude for me to say this, but I’m surprised. I didn’t know that Tatsuya-sama also has the desire for sole possession.” 
Tatsuya widened his eyes upon hearing this statement from Minami. 
Then an expression surfaced on his face, as if saying that «he realized». 
“I see… So this is the desire for sole possession? This is the desire for sole possession…” 
Standing beside him, Miyuki put her head down, blushing to the very tips of her ears. 
She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, and a blissfully happy smile appeared on her face.