As the main lead for First High's performance, Suzune arrived at the conference hall just after 11 AM, which was an hour earlier than expected.
This was after the third presentation, Fifth High's grandiose "The Control of Plate Tectonics and Gradual Extraction of Tectonic Force". Tatsuya was in the waiting room to welcome Suzune, Mayumi, and Mari.
"I came early~."
Mayumi's voice prompted people to question exactly how old she was, but how was he supposed to respond to that, Tatsuya thought as he fell into a reverie.
"What is it?"
"Nothing really...... Is there a reason why you came ahead of schedule?"
Neither Mari nor Suzune took exception, so any sign of exhaustion on his part would be his loss. Injecting fresh enthusiasm into himself with those words, Tatsuya reinvigorated himself and asked this question.
(Speaking of which, Miyuki had already decided to see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil.)
Tardiness would be a huge problem, but there was no problem in getting here early.
The waiting room designed to accommodate presentation devices had sufficient room for the Shiba siblings as well as several upperclassmen with professional grade skills prowling around. Even with three extra female students in the mix, the place wasn't cramped.
"The interrogation ended earlier than expected."
Still, this nominally unimportant question provoked a response from Mari that could not be ignored.
"Another interrogation? And on this day in particular?"
There was no need to ask who was being interrogated. He was present when Sekimoto was arrested, though to be brutally honest about his clandestine activities, he had illegally recorded evidence that time.
Still, there was only that one time.
Of course, that wasn't the only time he saw Sekimoto. He was also there when they went to interrogate the first time.
After Lu Gonghu's assault, Sekimoto had devolved into panic. Since Mari maintained that this was not caused by her magic, the only possible cause would be that he realized his life was on the line. There was no way that Sekimoto would be unaware that the latest attack aimed to silence him.
Hence dedicated government officials were conducting a thorough investigation surrounding Sekimoto.
"We really should have finished yesterday......"
"It was difficult to get permission in the first place...... And I can't just throw the family name around like that."
That's true, Tatsuya thought. Given that he wasn't part of a criminal organization, it was extremely difficult to receive permission to interrogate individuals deemed as invalids.
"But why today? Couldn't you continue tomorrow?"
"Such an optimistic outlook doesn't fit your personality."
Tatsuya's natural question was subjected to Mari's correction for some reason.
"Sekimoto and Hirakawa's sister targeted the data for the Thesis Competition, though that does not appear to be their only objective. No matter how you put it, since they took aim at the data, then there is a definite possibility that the organization using them as cat's paws will act during the competition itself."
"Ha. There is that possibility."
This was within Tatsuya's calculations. However, even if they had intel on the organization lurking in the shadows, they still didn't have time to prepare countermeasures. Without an emergency response task force on standby, even the regular army of a monarchy would find it impossible to mobilize on a moment's notice.
In regards to competition security, they had already done everything they could to prepare for emergencies by having Katsuto lead the group. Since Sekimoto wasn't privy to the details of the assault, interrogating him should not be a high priority.
Regardless, pointing out these details was not in Tatsuya's job description.
"Indeed. Since there is that possibility, we cannot ignore it. After all, the more intel the better."
In today's case, when compared to mostly unusable intel, Suzune's presentation stood at a much higher priority. In any case, since this was all in the past, there was no need to quibble over the details.
"I see. So did you find out anything new?"
"Yeah. After verifying once more, Sekimoto had traces of mental manipulation."
"......No wonder."
Regardless of the utility of this piece of information, its contents were sufficient to astonish Tatsuya.
"Why wasn't this detected during the psychological screening?"
Ever since Sayaka had been magically manipulated into leading terrorists from "Blanche" onto campus in spring, the students of First High were required to undergo scheduled psychological evaluations.
For prospective Magicians who were to be the pillars of public safety and national defense, being brainwashed into serving foreign powers was no joke at all. For the school administrators and the government organizations responsible, this was a malicious nightmare that ultimately voided any concept of "student privacy".
With the discovery of another victim of mental manipulation, this measure appeared to be redundant. After all, why were they going through psychological evaluations in the first place now?
"The psychological evaluation is held at the beginning of each month. There is a high probability that Sekimoto was ensnared after that."
"Nicely executed...... Was it medicinal?"
"That remains unclear. Neither myself nor Mayumi are experts in that field."
Although Tatsuya thought "Is that so?" in regards to Mari's answer, he refrained from commenting further.
"The psychologist didn't say, but this definitely was not done through normal means. Maybe this is the real 'Evil Eye'."
Mayumi's opinion was more or less deeper than Mari's comment.
"So they sent a natural Outer-Systematic Magician......"
Unlike the "Evil Eye" developed by Russia before the formation of the New Soviet Union and passed on to separatist terrorist cells, Magicians who could naturally wield mental interference Outer-Systematic Magic had the power to completely rewrite someone's personality. These wielders of the "True Evil Eye" could completely change a person's activities in a short period of time while the victim and other people were still in the dark.
"Hm, no matter how strong the mental interference magic is, successful imprinting is largely impossible without conforming to the target's subconsciousness."
This was just like hypnosis. On the surface, human consciousness appeared to be easily malleable, but was actually incredibly resilient. Manipulating unspecified emotions and impulses were another story, but the sort of magic that interfered with established physical behavior — trying to interfere with the conscious mind and manipulate voluntary decisions was incredibly challenging.
"From the very start, Sekimoto disagreed with this country's way of handling magic behind closed doors. He believed that all Magic Sequences and Activation Sequences across the globe should be shared publicly and that this was the only way for magic to achieve true evolution. In summation, he's a proponent of open resourcing."
Hearing Mayumi's explanation, Mari added a few bitter words of her own.
"That may be true from a scholarly standpoint, but given that international hostility still exists in reality, I am hard pressed to say that he is correct."
Mayumi's voice expressed a trace of compassion.
"Rather, that is undeniably the wrong position."
Tatsuya decisively came to that conclusion. At least for him, theories that did not jibe with reality had no purpose whatsoever.
"......How stringent, Tatsuya-kun."
"......At any rate, they found an opening through Sekimoto's ideals. Then, they planted the powerful conception that it was the duty of magically progressive nations to pass on their advanced research to magically underdeveloped nations."
"Underdeveloped countries refer to who?"
Mari's did not have an optimistic answer for Tatsuya's question.
"We didn't get that out of him. He didn't appear to know."
"......So a lock was placed on his consciousness."
I see, so that's how they realized he was being mentally controlled, Tatsuya speculated.
"So that's why the next step has gone beyond our initial projections."
Mari's voice was tinged with anxiety that mirrored the concern in Mayumi's tone.
"There is a chance that hostile action beyond our imagination will occur. Hanzou-kun asked me to pass the message to everyone. Rin-chan, go finish your task. We'll be here and will keep a careful eye on the conference hall. Tatsuya-kun, please be careful as well."
"I will."
Though Tatsuya never let down his guard after receiving Fujibayashi's advice, he honestly accepted others' concerns on his behalf.
While Tatsuya and company were discussing their decidedly not peaceful topic, Suzune continued to edit her draft without batting an eyelid.
In the communications room within the same building, Fujibayashi used a special trick to receive a vitally important piece of information. She was busily looking for an empty room when she received the emergency summons and received the incoming transmission across the information dimension that ran no risk of being overheard.
"Lu Gonghu escaped? My apologies, but is this information accurate?"
"I know you don't want to believe this, but it's true."
Kazama's voice came down the other line in a completely serious tone. Also, it wasn't in Kazama to crack such a joke in poor taste.
"The transport was attacked in transit to Yokohama. There were no survivors."
"Which means that Lu Gonghu's corpse was not at the site...... Speaking of which, why did they select today to move him?"
"The so-called Thesis Competition should only be an event at the high school level."
"My sincere apologies!"
Hearing Kazama's logical response, Fujibayashi finally realized that she was unconsciously grumbling to her superior and immediately apologized.
"Still, you have a point on why today was chosen specifically to transport the prisoner."
Naturally, Kazama wasn't the sort of person to care about these tiny scruples.
"There must be a reason why the enemy chose today to launch their rescue mission. We must take that possibility into account."
As combat personnel, Kazama had served as a front line commander since the very beginning, so he valued practicality much more than others.
"Fortunately, we've already made preparations to test out the new equipment at Tsuchiya tomorrow. Leaving for your position effective immediately, our ETA is around 1500 hours."
"Understood. I will take heed of the local conditions."
"Thank you, lieutenant."
After receiving Kazama's orders, Fujibayashi saluted even though she knew that he couldn't see her due to their method of communication.
In regards to the changes in the mission parameters handed down by Mayumi, Hattori grabbed Kirihara to report the alterations and interrogation results to Katsuto (Sayaka and Erika had left for lunch at this point).
"I see. Kirihara and Hattori, form up and patrol the outer perimeter."
"Understood!"
Coincidentally, Katsuto shared a table with them during lunch as they dined on simply packed sandwiches. After listening to Hattori's report, he handed out new orders without hesitation.
Normally, that would have been all there was to it because Katsuto rarely asked for input from underclassmen.
"Hattori, Kirihara. Based on the current situation, do you get the feeling that something's awry?"
Yet today, Katsuto broke form and asked.
"Something's awry?"
Kirihara glanced at Hattori, who wore a look of bemusement as he opened his mouth.
"......Even taking into account Yokohama's unique features, there are too many foreigners around."
Since he wasn't born in Yokohama and was unfamiliar with the area, Hattori diligently inspected the conference hall surroundings in the previous two weeks. Compared to that time, Hattori felt that there was a noticeable spike in the number of foreigners around.
"So Hattori also thinks so."
"Yes. Does Juumonji-senpai concur?"
"Hm. What do you think, Kirihara?"
"Sorry. I didn't notice anything about the foreigners, but......"
"Go ahead."
"Yes. It's just that, compared to the conference hall, the aura along the streets is oddly filled with killing intent."
"Hm...... Indeed."
Katsuto nodded and fell into thought. Though it was no more than 10 seconds, both Hattori and Kirihara felt that Katsuto's silence lasted more than ten minutes.
The atmosphere was very heavy.
"Hattori, Kirihara. Put on Kevlar for your afternoon patrols."
The two of them stared wide-eyed at Katsuto's face.
Despite the rudeness of their stare, Katsuto didn't mind in the slightest as he picked up the short range wireless communicator.
He issued the same order to all security personnel that he just gave to the two of them.
The introduction for the afternoon presentations was set for 1 PM.
First High would get the stage at 3 PM. There were less than two hours until their presentation.
After switching the guard before noon, Tatsuya and Isori were discussing the last minute details.
They were each accompanied by one person.
Tatsuya had Miyuki whereas Isori had Kanon.
The industrious "workers" before noon had vanished at this point.
In order to avoid distracting Suzune, Mayumi and Mari gravitated towards the door.
Over there, someone knocked lightly on the door.
Mayumi carefully opened the door to find the young girl who was even shorter than she was that was to succeed her.
"Ara, A-chan. Can you leave your place now?"
Mayumi whispered quietly because Azusa was selected as one of the student judges.
There was no panel of judges for the National High School Magic Thesis Competition. Since there were great alterations in the crowd during each presentation, it was too difficult to ask the crowd to make an assessment.
This wasn't something they could say as representatives, but other than the professional assessors, each school also sent one student as a judge to help analyze presentations from other schools.
This judge position was traditionally filled by each school's Student Council President. First High was no exception, so Azusa had started her task in the early hours of the morning.
"The first group in the afternoon finished early, so I wanted to check in on everyone."
"So you came to encourage us. Thank you, Nakajou."
"Ah, you're welcome...... Sorry, Suzune. I hope I'm not distracting you."
Even though she kept her voice down, since Suzune was in the room, Azusa's already petite body shrank even further (atmosphere-wise).
"Who's in the lead right now?"
Isori turned and joined the conversation. The conversation was cut short in the middle, but not because Isori looked down on Tatsuya. —If that was the case, he might have suffered a blizzard when he entered the waiting room.
"It's Fourth High, as expected. This year, they brought another device that took a lot of time and effort."
Azusa's assessment caused Isori to tilt his head slightly.
"Don't you think they're a little too vainglorious?"
Fourth High presented second before the noon break and was the school that Isori was most worried about.
"Still, it was amazing they were able to create a system that could flawlessly combine magic. ......Ah, sorry, it's about time for the next presentation. Good luck everyone."
Given that she never forgot her original objective even at the very end, Azusa should be doing a fine job as the Student Council President. Probably.
In the audience stands, a select group of people sat together.
Highly motivated, Erika and Leo sat there with their weapons along with Honoka and Shizuku, who had joined them during lunch, as they eagerly waited for Tatsuya's group to appear.
"Mikihiko...... How is it?"
Although they were waiting patiently, they weren't just twiddling their thumbs.
"Nothing out of the ordinary yet."
After using Sensory Synchronization to receive local intelligence from the spirits he sent out, Mikihiko responded to Leo's whispered question.
"Mizuki?"
"No sign of anything strange."
Mizuki shook her head at Erika's concise question.
Mizuki replaced the glasses she took off earlier.
They were preparing for the "enemy" that was not in the audience and might or might not arrive.
After being checkmated by Fujibayashi and unable to continue her assignment, Haruka could just have departed from the premises, but that would have seemed like she was fleeing from the field. This mentality caused Haruka to remain in the main hall and subconsciously monitor the crowd.
"Ono-sensei."
Suddenly, someone called out to her from behind.
"Tsudzura-sensei?"
Turning around, she found the lead adviser for First High's representative team standing there with a long time no see expression.
"Why are you waiting here? Is something the matter?"
"No, not really...... I was just taking a break. Tsudzura-sensei, why are you here?"
Haruka's question prompted a mixed smile to appear on Tsudzura's face.
"There's no need for yours truly to appear today. We have a fine team of representatives this year."
This guy actually referred to himself as "yours truly"...... Even taking that into account, Haruka involuntarily acknowledged his "excellence".
"Still...... I have this irritating premonition."
Hearing him say that in an unambiguous tone caused Haruka to grow a little anxious.
Tsudzura was a magic researcher and Magician who obtained his position as an assistant professor at the magic university at a young age.
His expertise lay in magic geometry and he was especially famous for a theory known as Polyhedron Magic.
It was a theory that viewed macro phenomena as simply a combination of triangular pyramids and quadratic prisms and used the motions of these multiple polyhedrons to grasp the changes in phenomena. Using magic that manipulated multiple imaginary polyhedrons to alter the Eidos was one of the paths in modern magic theory.
However, Polyhedron Magic theory's utility as a stepping stone to solving deficiencies in modern magic like partial phenomena changes had been overshadowed by its potential to predict the future.
By using a recognition system to capture the entire world seen as three dimensional objects along with the myriad interactions between these objects in the world, the caster could view the various interactions through an abstract, three dimensional projection. This abstract model for viewing the world allowed a certain degree of data manipulation to project the future to be somewhat facile.
As the young authority on Polyhedron Magic, Tsudzura's "premonition" was on a certain level closer to a "prediction".
"......That being said, I do have a premonition that the worst will not come to pass."
Although the last comment seemed to be tacked on, Haruka earnestly prayed that he was not just saying that to comfort her.
It was three in the afternoon. The presentation from First High's representatives went off on schedule.
While Third High's Kichijouji Shinkurou, the discoverer of the "Cardinal Code", was the main draw of the Thesis Competition, First High's topic regarding one of the three Great Puzzles of Gravity-Type Magic "Gravity Control-Type Thermonuclear Reactor" also received a lot of attention. In the main hall, besides the students and faculty from First High, many individuals affiliated with the magic university and civilian research organizations had gathered there. The audience rested their expectant gazes on the podium.
There, a large device sat on the stage bathed in natural light while Suzune spoke through the international conference hall's speaker system with a clear and calm voice.
Next to her, Isori was manipulating the model device and Tatsuya was on stage switching the CAD displays and Activation Sequences.
"......Is the actualization of thermonuclear power a necessity? This question has already been answered in the previous century."
Suzune stood next to a gigantic glass ball.
Tatsuya toggled the Activation Sequence for Release-Type Magic.
The instant Suzune touched the control panel on the CAD, the deuterium gas sealed within the globe ionized and reacted with the coloring painted on the inside of the globe to emit a dazzling light.
This magnificent display caused a small ruckus to break out in the crowd.
"First of all, there is the time needed for the deuterium serving as fuel to ionize as well as the ability to maintain the situation. Both of these issues can be solved through Release-Type Magic."
Still, this phenomenon has been proved in previous experiments so it was a little lacking in originality.
"The primary obstacle for thermonuclear power is the time created because the ionized electrons possess electric repulsion that prevents fusion chemical reactions, or simply the problem caused by the interaction of the electrons."
The flashing globe dimmed and a large screen descended from the center of the stage.
"Our predecessors attempted to achieve thermonuclear power without magic by applying overwhelming pressure to overcome electric repulsion."
The screen displayed images from the previous century's experiments and various models and charts.
"However, regardless of whether they used ultra-high temperatures or surface compression to increase pressure, they never managed to create a stable thermonuclear reaction. This was because of a multitude of reasons such as the container's durability and fuel resupply. Even if the thermonuclear reaction itself could be sustained, there are examples where the energy output is so tremendous that it became unwieldy. Still, all the problems can be narrowed down to the fact that the electron repulsion forces require too much resources to be feasible."
The silver screen rose.
Behind the screen, two large cylindrical magnets stood there, each with four cords attached between them to form a basic experimental device.
Isori raised one of the cylinders — although it looked like he was using his hands to pull them, he actually used magic — and let go of his hands.
The vigorously waving magnets were repelled by the magnetic force before they could make contact.
"This should be plainly obvious without an explanation, but the electron repulsion force will be magnified the closer the objects are to one another. Objects with strong Coulombic force will increase the repulsion force as they draw closer, so contact will be avoided."
Suzune silently stood by the repeatedly shaking device and wore earplugs to protect her ears from the cacophony while her hands remained on the control panel.
Immediately, a sound similar to repeated banging on a large gong reverberated across the conference hall.
Suzune took her hands off and the two magnets silently returned to stillness.
"However, electron repulsion force can be reduced with magic.
Here, we successfully developed a Magic Sequence that can reduce the Coulomb's force to 1/10000 within a brief period of time."
Suzune did not raise her voice.
Nevertheless, her words caused the audience to break into a furor.
As if to signal for quiet, the primary model slowly rose from the stage.
If asked to describe it, the model looked like a piston forged from transparent materials.
A modified piston connected to a flywheel and crank handle was inserted into the large, transparent cylinder. There were two valves at the top of the cylinder. From there, a transparent tube was inserted that was connected to a sink filled with clear water.
"This device takes into account the dangers of radiation, so we used hydrogen instead of deuterium gas. Release-Type Magic is used to ionize the hydrogen gas within the canister while Gravity Control-Type Magic and Coulomb's force resistance magic are activated at the same time. The ionized electrons have their repulsion force lowered by the Coulomb Force Resistance Magic and are gathered by the Gravity Control-Type Magic in the center, thus triggering a thermonuclear reaction. This device requires approximately 0.1 seconds to achieve a thermonuclear reaction. As you know, a thermonuclear reaction will not continue indefinitely on its own. If impetus is not supplied externally, the reaction quickly grinds to a halt. Our school's Gravity Control-Type Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor proactively makes use of this element. Once the reaction stops, Oscillation-Type Magic is used to cool the Deuterium gas to levels that the container can withstand. The heat energy recovered will serve as fuel for Gravity-Control Type and Coulomb Force Resistant Magic. Drawn by the gravitational field generated by the Gravity Control-Type Magic, the inertia of the piston continuously rises and sends the cooled Deuterium gas into the heat sink......"
While Suzune was delivering her explanation, Isori operated the control panel for the demonstration device. Ionization, Coulomb Force Control, Gravity Control-Type, cooling, energy recovery, ionization, Coulomb Force Control, Gravity Control-Type...... Isori regularly activated this chain of magics several dozen times in a row just like that.
"Currently, a highly skilled Magician is required to operate this device for sustained operation. However, if a device highly efficient in energy recovery could be used, I believe that a Gravity Control-Type Thermonuclear Reactor that only needs a Magician to jump start the device can become a reality."
The second Suzune's voice stopped speaking, the conference hall was filled with thunderous applause.
The reason why Gravity Control-Type Thermonuclear Reactors were thought to be impossible was because the target of the Gravity Control-Type Magic, the elements in the nuclear reaction, are constantly diminishing. In addition, since Gravity-Control Type Magic is directed towards a quantitative value, the lowered value of the elements would cause the magic to fizzle under the mistaken impression that the "target does not exist". Hence a nuclear explosion is possible, but sustained nuclear reactions were held to be impossible.
Now, with the addition of Coulomb Force Resistance Magic, Gravity Control-Type Magic was no longer as integral as before. This way, there no longer needed to be a continuous nuclear reaction, but instead they borrowed a leaf from the new technique "Loop Cast" to ignite multiple nuclear reactions. The praise from the audience below unanimously declared this to be an incredible idea.
Thirty minutes were allotted for each presentation during the Thesis Competition with ten minutes in between.
The previous team employed these ten minutes to help gather their materials and devices so that the next team could come on stage.
Compared to the presentation itself, the representatives and support personnel from each school felt that the break time in between was the busiest part.
Tatsuya was just about to dismantle the control device used during the presentation when the next team's operator (the assistant who had the same job as Tatsuya) came forth to setup their equipment.
"Nicely done. Allow me to congratulate you on a fine performance."
Initially, Tatsuya wasn't aware that this comment was directed to him because there was practically no time to converse.
Still, based on the direction of the voice, the target must be him. With that in mind, he raised his head to find Kichijouji Shinkurou smiling fearlessly at him.
"Should I say thank you here?"
"Don't worry about it, I wasn't expecting anything in return anyways."
Pah, Tatsuya closed the lid on the case and hefted the control panel that was about the size of the electron synthesizer on the table. Kichijouji set down a similar case carrying a control panel in the same place.
There were connections at both ends of the stage to allow ease of access from both sides, so was there a reason why he specifically chose the same side as Tatsuya?
"Gravity Control-Type Magic is a vital component in Flying-Type Magic and Coulomb Force Control Magic is a refined edition of ionization convergence magic developed by the previous Sirius, William Sirius. Compared to those, the fluidity of that 'Loop Cast' was astonishing."
"Your keen eye is truly terrifying. As expected of Cardinal George."
As Tatsuya was speaking, Kichijouji's hands were busy setting up his equipment.
Tatsuya was the only student from First High left on stage.
He was just about to leave the stage, holding the rectangular case as he walked towards the backstage.
"However, we're not going to lose. In fact, we're going to beat you this time."
A voice called out behind him.
That sounded a little childish, but it didn't seem malicious.
How should he make a witty comeback, Tatsuya thought as he stopped to turn around.
Just then, a colossal boom and vibration sent the entire hall shaking.
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