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Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 4 - Nine School Competition (II) - Chapter 11.2




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The day broke over a darkened sky and showed no signs of turning for the better by the time the second match started around 9:30 AM.

"It's a fine day today... Hopefully, this will continue into the evening."

"Might get sunny around the evening."

"Though starlight presents its own challenges... Oh well, still better than a rainy day."

The siblings' conversation seemed to assume that advancing beyond the preliminaries was a statement of fact. However, Azusa, who was sitting in a nearby chair, seemed completely "indifferent" with this.

Generally, the difference in strength between Year 1 and Year 2 students exceeded the difference between Year 2 and Year 3 students. This was because customized magic education officially began at the high school level.

Thus, if not present during the Newcomers Division, rarely do Year 1 students appear in the Official Division. Usually, players that were suddenly promoted to the Official Division from the Newcomers Division had a tough time getting through the preliminaries, not to mention placing in the standings.

That being said—

(That sort of common sense probably doesn't apply to Miyuki... And on top of that, there's Shiba-kun as well.)

Excluding her more timid nature, Azusa was undoubtedly one of the top tier Magicians (chicks) in her cohort. The fact that she was selected as one of the brass within First High despite her weaker personality was a testament to her skills.

Yet in Azusa's eyes, Miyuki possessed the power to challenge for First Place.

Just the sister alone was already a formidable opponent with superlative skills, now there was an older brother who was fully supporting her.

Even Mari, the favored champion, would be hard pressed to defeat her even in peak condition.

While Azusa was contemplating these other details, in reality, she was the technician responsible for the third match, which is why she was here so early to help make any final CAD adjustments and system diagnostics.

The Official Division's Monolith Code and Mirage Bat were the final two gender exclusive events in the Nine Schools Competition, so each school's personnel were busy preparing for the events.

First High chose to pair one player with one technician to handle these two events.

To be brutally honest, as a Technician, Tatsuya was also Azusa's opponent.

However — before the first shot was fired, regardless of who won or lost, Azusa's will to compete had completely evaporated.

The earlier incident.

The board sent word that Tatsuya assaulted some of the staff. Upon learning this, she was more "terrified" than shocked.

Rather than being surprised, somewhere in her heart she knew — "if it was him".

Even though they were nothing more than recent, casual acquaintances, Azusa believed that "he wasn't the type to act violently without cause". On the other hand, if he did have a reason, he wasn't the sort to hold back.

This readiness to resort to unbridled savagery chilled Azusa to the core.

A considerable proportion of magic usage fell within the purview of the military, both in terms of military strength and active deterrents. Azusa was perfectly clear on this point. But regardless of whether it was the military or public safety, this was still an institutionalized "violence". In order to activate this "violence", the responsibility was divvied between the decision maker, the one who gave the orders, the executors, and the supervisors.

Yet, he was willing to make the decision, execute, and bear the full responsibility.

Perhaps, he wouldn't even bat an eyelid if the man had to die — executed with his own hands.

She was absolutely terrified of that ice-cold heart forged of steel.

The shock came afterwards, when he shared the details behind his actions.

He came across illegal CAD modifications and apprehended the culprit on site.

The tear-stricken, tortured expression on Hirakawa, the Year 3 student who served as Kobayakawa's Technician, was deeply imprinted into Azusa's eyes. That sort of harrowing regret was easy to imagine and could resonate with anyone.

She hadn't noticed that the CAD was tampered with. Due to this, a player suffered a major accident, culminating in an exceptional peer possibly bidding farewell to her powers forever and being doomed to a broken life. In the face of that, she... If she was in Hirakawa's shoes, she might have fled the scene and cried herself to sleep in her hotel room, Azusa thought.

It was an undeniable fact that Tatsuya was a Course 2 student and, at the same time, a "dunce".

His technical scores hovered just above passing.

During the skill examinations after school commenced, roughly five students failed every year, so even if his grades were closer to "pretty terrible" instead of "fairly poor", there was nothing to be done.

Yet, the reality was — when excluding the "strength" based on artificial conditions like examinations and based solely on the Magician's ability to adapt fluidly to various situations, his assessment was completely inverted.

Regardless of whether it was development, analysis, calibration, or combat.

His strength went "beyond" First-Class.

Even if they didn't exclude his Magic Power and assessed him based on his ability to apply Magic, he was the true "valedictorian" worthy of standing at the top of the pyramid.

Then—

(Our "grades"... "Course 1 students", what of these? What's the point of differentiating between "Course 1 students" and "Course 2 students"?)

During the Nine Schools Competition, after watching Tatsuya at a close proximity, Azusa started seriously considering this question.

And remained bewildered.

That was the unease coming from her faltering values system, hitherto unchallenged and held to be truth, which had suddenly become vague and untrustworthy.

Azusa never held herself as an elitist who took pride in her "Bloom" status and derogatorily looked down at the Course 2 students as "Weeds".

At least, she wasn't conscious of it.

Despite this — her exceptional magical talent and her identity as a skilled magic high school student — she still took "pride" in these labels.

For Magicians groping their way through life, confidence in their own magical abilities was synonymous to the courage that sustained them throughout their journey to blaze a new path as Magicians. Even if Azusa wasn't consciously aware of this point, the fact remained that her confidence as a Magician undeniably supported her throughout her life.

This wasn't restricted to just magic. For youngsters, anyone would be greatly uneasy about such murky concepts like "tomorrow" or the "future" precisely because they lacked the "experience" or "track record", hence they relied on their "self-confidence" and "self-esteem".

For Azusa, those things ("self-confidence" or "self-esteem") originated from her "magic" and ultimately gave her status as a "talented student within the magic high schools". To be precise, her self-confidence and self-esteem were born out of her "magic grades".

That being said, both self-confidence and self-esteem could only wilt before the spectacle that was Tatsuya.

Her test scores as a Year 1 student were plainly superior, but regardless of whether as a combat Magician, Magic Artificer, or even Magic Researcher, she never got the inkling that she was better in any way. Even her own unique talents, which she privately felt could rival even Mayumi or Mari, paled in front of Tatsuya.

Still, Azusa felt that she didn't need to stress out over this feeling of self-abasement.

She was more than 90% sure that Tatsuya was "him".

—Against "him", feeling inadequate was only natural.

—Against "him", feeling diminished was ludicrous.

Azusa used this to convince herself.

(But everyone doesn't know yet...)

Precisely because no one knew, this feeling became more prominent,

Became more obvious.

Surely the other Year 1 students in his cohort felt the same.

As a Course 1 student who was outshone by a Course 2 student — what did their "grades" even signify?

"A-chan, it's best not to dwell on that for too long!"

Azusa was startled when someone suddenly greeted her from behind and swiftly turned around to find Mayumi smiling wryly at her.

"That thing, is spe·ci·al."

Despite referring to her underclassman as a "thing", her tone was quite warm.

"There will be some children who simply cannot accept this...... But as high school students, they must learn to accept things that they do not agree with. Even if it's true that Course 2 students cannot match Course 1 students in technical skills, it is also true that Tatsuya-kun has surpassed our level."

"Eh? But..."

Hearing these shocking words, Azusa was struck speechless.

True, Tatsuya's level was above her, Azusa thought. —Even if she was against "him", she was forced to admit she would have some regrets.

But Mayumi's level was also superb, and Azusa didn't think she would lose to Tatsuya in any way.

"It's not like I'm completely out of his league."

Maybe seeing through Azusa's bewilderment, Mayumi smiled wryly once more.

"From an aggregate magic perspective, I should have the edge. If it turned into a shootout, so long as I keep a wide berth, I can still do it."

After downplaying her words, Mayumi's expression eased somewhat.

"However, there are areas where I am unquestionably behind. For CAD related skills, even though I'm not far behind, I'm definitely no match for him. Unfortunately, he also holds all the cards in terms of magic knowledge."

Mayumi added carelessly, as if the upperclassmen's complete loss of face didn't concern her in the slightest.

"Everyone is proficient and lacking in different areas, so there's rarely someone who's superior in every single way. When I say Tatsuya's level is higher, I mean that his knowledge and skills in magic engineering are unrivaled."

Mayumi caught Azusa's eye in order to carefully examine Azusa's gaze.

"On the other hand, regardless of whether it is myself or A-chan, both of us tower over Tatsuya-kun in magic technical ability, so there's no reason to be so depressed. The contents of the magic skills examination each possess their purpose, just as the test scores are not representative of a person's value, test scores are only one part of a person's value."

Azusa wordlessly listened to Mayumi's words.

"Then again, heh..."

Whew, this time Mayumi actually let out a sigh.

"Those that fully believe in 'their own superiority' tend to be unwilling to accept that they cannot surpass someone in every way. They even forgot that the actual difference between Course 1 and 2 students originally arose because they needed to differentiate the grades for those who passed the entrance exam and who could receive instruction."

Somewhere, somehow, Azusa's eyes widened. Her mind had gone completely blank at Mayumi's unexpected words.

What did she mean forget? This was the first time she had ever heard that the difference between Course 1 and 2 students was caused by educational differences.

"In the end, it was still a uniform issue... In the beginning, it was simply because the number of students exceeded expectations and they couldn't change all the embroidery in time......"

"Eh, really?"

"Huh? You didn't know?"

Hearing the real story for the first time, Azusa received a wholly different shock than before and remained silent. Hearing Mayumi murmur, "Really, it appears that not many people know......", Azusa could only keep nodding.

"Did you know that First High used to accept 100 students each year? They had to accept more Magicians to follow international standards, so First High increased their student body size. The government at the time must have wanted immediate results. Adding new students at the beginning of the next school year would have been fine, but in reality, they added more students in the middle of the term.

However, the school was unable to increase the number of educators in the middle of the term. So, their temporary solution was to teach the theoretical knowledge to the students who joined in the middle of the term, then begin technical instruction during the second year. This became the Course 2 student system.

However, once the Course 2 students enrolled, there was an error in the orders for school uniforms. Because of this, the Year 1 students who were temporarily set as Course 2 students had to suffer the indignity of wearing uniforms without the school emblems. This led to an unexpected misunderstanding...... The Course 2 student system was meant to be a placeholder until they could enter the next level. They were simply students who were enrolled after the original spots were already filled. Yet, they were gradually seen as replacements. Also, the plan that called for increased students ultimately failed to provide the adequate instructors, resulting in the misinterpreted 'replacement treatment' eventually becoming reality. This is the true face of the Course 2 student system.

The uniforms also suffered the same fate. In order to cover up the error, no one bothered to correct the issue after the original plan was scrapped. This is the truth behind the matter. In hindsight, creating two different uniforms was a complete waste...... Since everything is done automatically until the school emblems are affixed, it would be cheaper to have one uniform design even if the measurements differ."

Once she started, the words just wouldn't stop.

Azusa's sincere opinion after hearing Mayumi's explanation changed drastically.

The deep antagonism between "Blooms" and "Weeds" that had caused numerous instances of friction actually originated from such a trivial matter.

These words definitely must be kept from Miyuki, Azusa thought — the outcome was too terrifying to imagine.

"...Please, don't tell Miyuki-chan?"

Mayumi seemed to arrive at the same conclusion.

Azusa nodded in agreement without another word.

 

Miyuki was wholly unaware of the fact that she was seen as a dangerous individual by two senpais on the Student Council. She was standing in the arena and happily waiting for Mirage Bat to begin.

That was because this was the first time in the Nine Schools Competition that her brother's time and energy were solely devoted to her.


Normally, by the time they returned home, their lives were restricted to each other.

There was limitless time for the two of them to be alone.

Yet in the dorms of the Nine Schools Competition, this was impossible.

Not that her unfulfilled desire was bursting from the seams (at least, that's what she thought), but after spending such a long time in a suppressed state, her joy was magnified in this instance.

In the box reserved for related personnel, her brother was watching her.

And watching only her.

Somehow, she felt that she could soar into the skies without the aid of magic.

She rendered the naked, lustful gazes directed towards her uniform that left none of her curves to imagination into oblivion. There was no reason to care because all stares other than Tatsuya's own were nothing more than trash. Turning the audience into beans — or even onions and carrots — was a widely known tactic that was rather useless to people who suffered from stage fright (anyone capable of turning people into beans wouldn't have stage fright in the first place). Yet for Miyuki, she honestly believed that all gazes other than from Tatsuya alone were utterly meaningless.

She knew very well that her brother admired well-taught and cultured individuals regardless of gender as she adopted a truly impeccable posture.

With such an incredibly beautiful young lady falling into a dancer's pose, many young men within the audience alternated sighs as their emotions ran rampant. At this rate, they were going to have to call for the stretchers before the match even began.

Possibly under the influence of the audience's warm reception, despite the sheer impossibility of this, the signal for the commencement of the match did go off a few seconds early.

Miyuki's frame lightly soared into the sky.

Every player for Mirage Bat prepared two uniforms.

One was a brightly colored uniform that could be seen beneath the brightest rays of the sun.

The other was a colorful uniform that glowed beneath the night sky.

The reason behind the designs was to prevent midair collisions between players and it became an unwritten rule based on previous experience.

The primary color that covered Miyuki was a deep magenta.

A tiny shade off and this would be a helplessly coarse color, but Miyuki wore this with an aura of nobility.

Neither did the cosmetics with UV protection take away from her elegance.

Her fair and graceful form was still developing, but when she extended her slim limbs, this painted a glorious vision of her beautifully curved bosom and slender waist, all of this combining to give off intimate charm of a blooming flower rather than a sheer animal desire.

No two ways about it, her beauty was breathtaking.

No one was going to second anyone anything as they all leaped towards the targets. Among them all, only one person could be worthy of the term "floating".

Miyuki captured everyone's gaze once more.

If this match was judged by the beauty of dance alone, she was unquestionably First Place.

Yet, as expected of the Official Division with its numerous aces, the Nine Schools Competition could not be underestimated.

"Someone is actually leading against Miyuki-chan..."

When the signal sounded to end the first round, Mizuki held her breath and seemed to expel out a series of "disbelieving" words.

"The player from Second High who is first place... Even if she isn't a BS Magician, but plainly, she has refined the 'Leaping' spell into a specialized magic spell..."

"Not just that. She also takes her trajectory into account and neatly obstructs Miyuki's path. Rather than calling her an expert in 'Leaping', she's more like an expert in 'Mirage Bat', right?"

Mikihiko and Erika both shared Mizuki's shock while they offered their own opinions.

"That's because the player from Second High was another favored candidate to take the crown alongside Watanabe-senpai..."

"Can't say anything about being noticed after that conspicuous display. Also, the pride of the Year 3 students is on the line."

Honoka and Shizuku, who were in the normal audience stands today, each expressed their agreement from different perspectives.

"However, this is not the end."

Leo's bright declaration seemed to blow the depressed air around them to the four corners of the earth.

In the next round, Miyuki managed to make up for lost ground and exited the second round in First Place.

However, her lead was slim. Miyuki still had strength within her, but her opponent appeared to be making adjustments for the third round as well.

Victory was still uncertain.

While it has been said that magic has become more constrained due to a limited number of combinations, for someone to be able to fight Miyuki to a standstill at the high school level surprised Tatsuya to no end.

"This country is so small yet so broad at the same time..."

Tatsuya muttered to himself in front of Miyuki, who was busy regulating her breathing.

Instead of watching his sister, he directed his gaze towards Second High's box.

...Just then, someone suddenly yanked his sleeve.

Looking down, he found Miyuki standing from her chair and watching him with eyes that shone with a brilliant glint.

"—Onii-sama, may I use that?"

Her eyes, her voice, and her slim fingers that clung to his sleeve sent the message, "I don't want to lose".

She wasn't just a beautiful, adorable "doll". Tatsuya delighted in seeing her expression that carried such a powerful will.

Her mouth naturally parted and her eyes narrowed slightly.

"...Of course. All is as you will."

He originally prepared that as the ace in the hole for the finals.

Still, Tatsuya abandoned his original game plan and nodded his assent.

"Eh? Miyuki's CAD has changed."

Seeing Miyuki standing on the field of the final round, Erika was the first to notice the change.

Until now, Miyuki held her usual smartphone-shaped CAD, yet now she wore a bracelet-shaped CAD on her right wrist.

"But, she looks like she's holding a CAD in her left hand too..."

Mikihiko also took a look. In their group of friends who were mystified by this turn of events, Honoka was the only one who nodded emphatically.

"Yes... Miyuki wanted to try that long ago..."

"That?"

Hearing Shizuku's question, Honoka replied back with a longing expression that was mixed with frustration.

"The secret weapon Tatsuya-kun prepared only for Miyuki. A secret weapon that Tatsuya-kun devised that only Miyuki can control. This will be a shocker... Definitely! Everyone present here, without a single exception!"

What exactly is it — before Shizuku could make her inquiry, the signal sounded for the start of the third round.

The bracelet on her right wrist was only the back up. The real one was the smartphone-shaped Specialized CAD held in her left hand.

The simplistic command interface only contained the on and off buttons. Once the starting signal went off, Miyuki swiftly tapped the on switch.

A tiny Activation Sequence started spreading out.

The sequence never halted nor paused as it repeatedly began processing automatically.

Following that, Miyuki's body started floating into the air.

The player from Second High was directly in her path.

Her trajectory would place her to Miyuki's lower left.

Owing to her opponent's faster rising speed, Miyuki would end up crashing into her if she continued forward.

Miyuki used her accelerated flying speed to avoid the collision.

The audience raised a clamor after Miyuki eliminated the orb and slightly turned in place as she became still in midair.

During her leap, she had applied additional Magic Power to accelerate again.

The gasps from the audience only reflected their cursory understanding of the basics of magic.

However, Miyuki paused briefly in the air then immediately proceeded towards the next target without landing. Once this scene was imprinted into their eyes, the cheers were shocked into silence.

Two, three, four...

The other players who had to continuously jump back and forth across the 10 meter height had no way of competing against Miyuki, who only had to move parallel to the earth.

After she had seized the fifth point, the audience's frozen vocal cords finally started to thaw.

"Flying-Type Magic...?"

Some unidentified individual murmured aloud.

Even the players could only stare in amazement as they gaped at the skies.

With the players not even making any jumping or landing sounds, this soft grumble reverberated throughout the silent arena.

With bat in hand, Miyuki's appearance took on that of an avenging angel of heaven, but never lost her grace and beauty.

"Taurus Silver's...?"

The whispering started a chain reaction,

"Bullshit, how can that be..."

"That was just released last month..."

And quickly rippled through the crowd.

"But that..."

"No doubt about it, that's Flying-Type Magic..."

Without a single exception, everyone's eyes were glued to the young lady dancing through the skies.

In the skies, a fairy was waltzing over the lake.

Her arms spread out to maintain her balance and her lovely legs swayed lightly to change her stance as if the spring breeze itself was her dancing partner.

Actually flying through the skies was nothing short of revolutionizing modern magic, and no one was more appropriate to perform this miraculous feat said to be "impossible" than this beautiful young lady before them... Surpassing age, gender, and even the enmity, all were mesmerized by the young girl dancing through the sky.

They were all touched by this magic that simply went beyond modern or ancient magic.

By the time the ending signal sounded, this spellbinding magic wasn't dispelled until the young lady landed before them.

—In Mirage Bat's preliminary round, first arena, second match, Miyuki stormed into the finals by a dominating lead.

 

The audience finally recovered their wits when the players started leaving the arena.

The players did not depart in sequence.

At the end of the match, the players closest to the exit left first.

Miyuki, who landed in the center of the lake, was the third out of the four people to leave.

After extending a deep bow towards First High's supporters in the stands, Miyuki lightly leaped into the air and flew across the sky towards the exit like a figure skater gliding across the ice.

Her graceful motions prompted a thunderous applause from the audience.

In the stands, numerous individuals could be seen frantically typing away on their portable messaging terminals.

Some were overly excited to the point that they sent scattered spittle as they shouted into the microphone; others had to repeatedly shout the same words over and over into the phone, yet still wound up with a headache because of the speaker on the other line; still others furiously ran their fingers through their hair as if mad while their fingers danced across the keyboard; there were others who jotted down their thoughts on erasable boards... All sorts of people used a myriad ways to convey their amazing experience to others who were not present.

Among them, one strange, expressionless man was staring at the messages from the HMD. However, no one seemed to remark on his presence.

 





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