Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 32 - Sacrifice Arc - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

Friday the morning of August 23rd. 

When Miyuki left her room after changing into her uniform, Minami was unusually sitting on a chair at the dining table in a daze. 

"Minami-chan?" 

"Oh, Miyuki-sama. Good morning." 

Minami tries to hurriedly get up. 

But in the middle of the movement, she returned to the chair as if her legs lost strength. 

"Minami-chan!? What's wrong!?" 

Miyuki screams and runs up. 

"That's okay… I just stood up too fast." 

As Minami tries to stand up again, Miyuki holds her body with her arms under her armpits. 

"Don't push yourself! Come here, for now." 

In that position, Miyuki made Minami sit on the sofa in the living room. 

"Medical call!" 

Then, with her hands on Minami's body, she called out to the home automation. 

"This is the infirmary. Miyuki-sama, is there something wrong with your body? " 

In response to that voice, the medical staff resident in the building asks back from the speaker on the wall. 

"It's not with me. Something strange has happened with Sakurai Minami's body. Please come to the room immediately." 

"We will go immediately." 

The medical staff immediately obeyed Miyuki's orders. 

"So what is Minami's condition?" 

"Mild anemia. The doctor think it's just summer heat exhaustion" 

"Is that so……" 

Tatsuya, who received a phone call from Miyuki at the laboratory of Miyakijima, patted his chest when he heard it. 

"It seems that hospitalization is not necessary. She is resting in bed now." 

"That's right. It must be not only physical but also excessive mental stress.. Minami will need a rest." 

Minami has been working hard ever since she came back. Before that, she had a two-week life on the run. The process of being taken away by Minoru must have been a great stress. 

It was a situation where it wouldn't be strange to get sick. Given that Minami has a bomb called overheating in the magical calculation area, she should have been forced to rest earlier. 

"I won't go to school today and will continue to watch over Minami-chan." 

"I'll return soon, then." 

"Eh? And what about your work?" 

"The guidance is over. We will have meetings as the occasions demand." 

Tatsuya's words were not a lie. The guidance for the technical team dispatched from USNA ended yesterday. All he has to do is have them visit him freely and explain what they didn't understand at a meeting. 

"I see." 

Miyuki in the display gave a relieved expression. Even though Lina was at her side, she must have been lonely in Tatsuya's absence. 

"I will be waiting for you, Onii-sama." 

On the screen, Miyuki thanked him politely. 

Minami's condition was informed to Minoru in Kobe through the parasite possessing her. 

"…Minoru, are you okay?" 

By the time the sun leaned west, Minoru was completely worn out. Raymond was so worried that he called out. 

The frozen parasite do not have the ability to communicate. Only the Psion activity of the object of possession, which is Minami, is transmitted through the technique that binds the parasite. 

So, he doesn't know the detailed symptoms. 

For that reason, Minoru had to fight impatience since morning. 

Even at the risk of his location being found out, he still wants to know the details of Minami's condition. 

Minoru does not intend to run away from Tatsuya forever. However, there is no point in returning to Japan if they are just killed or if they are captured and sealed. If he ends up getting killed, he ought to be at Minami's side. 

"…I've decided, Raymond." 

Minoru raised his face and smiled at Raymond. 

"Let's move in this evening." 

When he heard the words, Raymond opened his eyes. 

"Then, is finally the time?" 

"Yeah. I will send a letter of challenge to Tatsuya-san tomorrow." 

Minoru nodded with a firm determination. 

Tatsuya arrived at the Chofu building before noon. He was welcomed home when he got off the Air-car on the rooftop heliport. Minami was sleeping in the top floor residence assigned as her residence. 

She got up after 5 pm. 

"Minami, it's okay for you to get up already?" 

The first person to speak to was Lina, who had been in the living room of Tatsuya and Miyuki house since lunch, worried about Minami. Lina was also given a residence on the top floor apart from Minami'. 

"Yes, it's okay. I'm sorry I made you worry." 

Minami bowed deeply to Tatsuya and Miyuki, following Lina. 

"Don't overdo it, Minami-chan. If you're feeling a little out of sorts, just be honest with me.'' 

"As you wish." 

Minami bows again to Miyuki's words. 

"Anyway, I'm glad it wasn't a matter of grave concern." 

"Tatsuya-sama. I'm really sorry for disturbing your work." 

"You don't have to worry about it. It is nothing I could remediate in a day or two." 

Tatsuya dared to respond with an overconfident attitude to Minami, who showed a guilty face. 

"Wow. Somehow, it is annoying that it does not sound presumptuous." 

Lina puts down the tea in a hateful tone. 

Miyuki is the first to laugh, which spreads to Lina and Minami. 

Tatsuya returned to Chofu from Miyakijima because he was worried about Minami in the first place, but that was not the only reason. 

The situation he expected did not happen on the day he returned home. 

His prediction was right the next evening. 

"Tatsuya-sama. I have received an email." 

"To me?" 

There is no surprise in Tatsuya's voice asking Minami, who announced the arrival of the email. Rather, it seems like he was expecting some kind of contact. 

"Yes." 

"Open it for me." 

The email arrived at Tatsuya's home address, not his personal address. 

Tatsuya ordered Minami to open it on the wall display in the living room instead of reading it in his room. 

The ciphertext was automatically decoded and displayed on the screen. 

Short plaintext and a map. 

Tatsuya, Miyuki and Minami who were gathering in the living room saw it at the same time. Lina was still in her room. 

"Minoru-kun!?" 

It was Miyuki who made a surprise voice. 

The sender was Minoru. 

Minami has her eyes wide open and her mouth closed with both hands. 

Only Tatsuya was calm. It's as if he knew Minoru would contact him. 

No, it's not "as if". Tatsuya has been waiting for a message from Minoru. 

"Is it 22 o'clock tomorrow?" 

The email was short enough to be read at a glance. 

It says, "I will be waiting for you at the East Fuji Exercise Area at 22:00 on August 25th. Kudou Minoru", and the attached map marked one point of the exercise area. 

Twenty-fourth, Saturday night. 

Minoru and Raymond were boldly in a hotel's twin room at the East Fuji Exercise Area. They didn't sneak in. With Minoru's magic, he did impersonate another person and stayed proudly. This is a hotel where defense officers stay, so high-level measures against anti-camouflage magic were taken, but even so, with Minoru's camouflage inherited the skills of modern magic and ancient magic from the 9th Lab, and the knowledge of the style of ancient magic of the continent from Zhou Gongjin, they couldn't detect him. 

"Minoru, why did you do such a reckless thing?" 

Raymond, who was pretending to be enjoying the thrill until he was guided to the room, locked the room, confirmed that there were no surveillance cameras or wiretapping devices, took a breath and asked Minoru. 

"This hotel was offered to athletes' accommodation during the nine-school game." 

"Heh…" 

Raymond knew what the nine-school game was. Minoru wasn't able to play in the Nine Schools Competition for health reasons. 

"I wanted to stay there once. I'll never have this opportunity again." 

"…That's right. Then it's fine." 

Raymond also knows what Minoru intends to do tomorrow. What kind of determination is hidden behind the words "never again"? 

With that in mind, he didn't feel like blaming him for being a bit unreasonable. 

"I wasn't suspicious of anyone. Tatsuya doesn't think we're hiding in a place like this." 

Minoru didn't say anything to Raymond, who said lightly, but responded with a fleeting smile. 

Tatsuya did not keep the "challenge letter" sent from Minoru a secret. 

"…Then, are you going alone?" 

Maya asked Tatsuya, who reported the call from Minoru and asked her not to interfere with it. 

"No, I'm going to take Miyuki and Minami. And also Lina, as Miyuki escort." 

"Will Lina be okay alone?" 

Even though Maya was voicing some doubts, she was not that worried. 

"No problem. Minoru has no more pieces to move." 

There was no basis for this assumption, but Tatsuya was sure of it. 

''That's probably true, isn't it?" 

Maya didn't object either. 

"I understand. Then Kudou Minoru's matter will be left to Tatsuya-san. However, make sure you finish it this time." 

Instead, Maya reminded him with a strong tone. 

"Acknowledged." 

Tatsuya accepted the condition without any pretense. 

After talking to Maya, Tatsuya immediately made the next call. 

This time it's a voice-only call, not a vidphone. 

"Hello" 

A classic response phrase that flows out of the speaker after the ringing tone is repeated three times. 

"It's Tatsuya. Is it Master on the other side?" 

"Yeah, what is it?" 

On the other side of the phone is Yakumo. 

"The Parasites Kudou Minoru and Raymond Clark have entered the country." 

"Didn't that happen Monday?" 

"Where you aware?" 

Tatsuya is not surprised. It's no wonder Yakumo has the magical means of detecting the invasion of parasites, as he used Pixie to find the reaction of Minoru and his colleagues. 

Rather, it would be strange to think that Yakumo could not do it. 

"It looks like it's out of sight now. Did you want me to find them for you? " 

"You don't mean that you did take care of it?" 

"No. Their whereabouts are unclear to me for now." 

"Even if you don't know where he is now, if you want to find it, you can find it. As expected of Master." 

It wasn't flattery, Tatsuya expressed sincere admiration. 

However, his tightened expression soon returns. 

"But this time I don't need you to tell where Minoru is." 

In advance, Tatsuya confided to Yakumo the contents of the email received from Minoru. 

"Are you going to take his challenge? You don't need me to look for him because he'll be showing up from the other side?" 

"That's right." 

"What about Minami-kun? Are you going to take her with you, by any chance?" 

Tatsuya had been seen through. 

Tatsuya felt that way, but it didn't bother him. This time it was a case where he didn't have to be wary even if they could see what he was thinking. 

"I will take her and bring to an end on this." 

"Do you mean to destroy Kudou Minoru?" 

"…Master. Can you leave Minoru's matter to me?" 

Tatsuya avoided answering Yakumo's question. 

"Hmm…" 

It's a voice-only call, so he can't see what expression Yakumo is making. However, it turned out that the voice alone gave Tatsuya a hint of an expression that looked like he was trying to grasp Tatsuya's true intentions. 

"I promise results that will satisfy both Master and His Excellency Toudou." 

"So, you are saying to me not to interfere this time, right?" 

"That's right." 

"Ok, then." 

Contrary to expectations, Yakumo's answer came back immediately. 

On the contrary, Tatsuya had a time lag in the reaction. 

"……Thank you." 

"However, it's hard to convince that people. Though, I think His Excellency Todo will understand." 

"That people" is known by Tatsuyaa as the "hidden masterminds of the nation" who Yakumo mentioned after the battle, which he had to stand up as an obstacle and fight seriously against Tatsuya, who was chasing Minoru and Minami who were about to leave Yokosuka. 

Tatsuya thinks that, perhaps, that "hidden masterminds" and the sponsor of the Yotsuba family are the same people. Aside from the power that made Yakumo say "about the second of this country," it is difficult to ignore their intentions. 

Still, Tatsuya had no intention of changing the ending he envisioned. 

"It's okay. Please, leave it to me." 

He had no hesitation in spouting big words here. 

"Is it tomorrow? It does feel a bit sudden, right?" 

Maya raised her face to the voice heard from diagonally above. 

Perhaps he misunderstood her gaze, Hayama threw away the contents of the teacup in front of Maya and poured a new cup. 

"You don't oppose it, do you?" 

"You mean Tatsuya-sama fighting with Kudou Minoru alone?" 

"He will also be taking Miyuki-san and Lina-san along." 

" Didn't madam consider that Tatsuya-sama will not allow Miyuki-sama to help?" 

In response to Hayama's question, Maya simply agreed with "Yes." 

"It is unlikely that Tatsuya will fall behind Kudou Minoru, but I wonder if he can escape again?" 

In the meantime, Maya confesses her concerns to Hayama in the form of a question. 

"I think Tatsuya is also very vigilant about that point. Bringing Miyuki-sama may be a countermeasure." 

"…Hayama-san." 

There was a short time before Maya said the following words. 

"Yes, can I do something?" 

"In the unlikely event that the parasites escape, the Senate's mood would be the worst, right?" 

"We'll probably have to spend a great deal of time and energy before it gets better." 

The "Senate" mentioned by Maya is not the legislative body that existed in the early Meiji era, before the opening of the Imperial Diet. Of course, it is not a successor institution and has nothing to do with the "Genrou2" who was an unconstitutional institution. 

It is an unofficial secret organization that sponsored the Yotsuba family in exchange for the capture and disposal of magicians who committed heinous crimes and the magicians who were planning heinous crimes. That is the Senate, and Toudou Aoba is one of them. 

As a matter of fact, the Yotsuba family does not have interest in the Ten Master Clans. It doesn't matter what the Magic Association says. And the Japanese government is too afraid of the Yotsuba family to interfere with them. 

The Yotsuba family was concerned only with the will of the Senate. 

"Our role is to deal with humans who have fallen into the darkness of the devil, and non-human demons are also in this scope." 

"Parasite is a human-mutated monster, so it is included within the scope of action of the Yotsuba family." 

"Manager Hayama, is that your opinion as an agent of the Senate?" 

Maya turns a keen eye to Hayama. 

It's a kind of gaze directed to Hayama that is never shown in front of other servants. 

The fact that Hayama was an agent dispatched from the Senate to monitor the Yotsuba family was a secret that only the head of the Yotsuba family could know. 

"There is no need to be so formal. Please use the words a madam would use to her butler." 

However, after many years of hardship, Hayama himself now puts more emphasis on himself as a butler of Maya than as an agent of the Senate. The answer Hayama told Maya with his unchanging reverence was his true intentions. 

"Right……" 

Maya softens her gaze. 

"Then let us know what you think, as the lead butler of the Yotsuba family. Should we or should we not move tomorrow?" 

"Given the existing situation. I think it's okay to surround it with a wide berth so that it doesn't get in the way of Tatsuya-sama." 

"Siege the ambush…… Good, let's do that. Hayama-san, can you please make arrangements." 

"To every branch family?" 

"Please speak to Yuka-san only." 

Maya didn't hesitate and ordered that only the Tsukuba family should do anything. 

"Understood." 

Hayama bowed and left Maya's study to fulfill his master's orders.