Maidens of Cygnus - Volume 2 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – After School Friendships

May 8th, Friday.

Alisa was facing off against Hiyori as part of the Crowd Ball Club’s activities.

Over this past month, Alisa didn’t break the rule regarding the size of shields any more. She is finally getting used to the Crowd Ball rules.

But putting it a different way, she’s just getting used to the rules. She hasn’t won a match yet. — Though called a match, they’re just practice matches with club members. Since Alisa joined the club there has yet to be a match with outsiders.

Crowd Ball looks similar to tennis or racquetball. But even excluding that there are multiple balls or that magic is used, tennis is a substantially different sport.

In ball games that use rackets, not just in tennis, the winner is the side that reaches a fixed number of points. Crowd Ball, however, has a unique timing system and set progression system.

Each set lasts 3 minutes. Each match has 5 sets for men or 3 sets for women. The player who scored the most within those 3 minutes, even if just by one point, takes the set, and in the case of a 3-set match, the first to win two sets wins the match. Those are the basic rules for Crowd Ball.

Currently, a match between Alisa and Hiyori is right in the middle of its second set.

Hiyori hit a ball back and Alisa, who was standing at the front of her court, extended her racket. Differently from tennis and racquetball, there is no rule that balls can bounce a maximum of one time. The opponent scores as many times as the ball bounces on your court. Alisa’s positioning is based on an offensive strategy, hitting back with a volley if she can reach it to minimize lost points.

Hiyori, on the other hand, is standing at the back of the court and is safely hitting the balls after they bounce once. It’s a defensive strategy that in exchange of allowing some points, it prevents a large number of points. Crowd Ball assumes that balls out of reach of the racket will be hit back with magic. Most magicians, like the overwhelming majority of humans, can more accurately recognize objects in front of them than objects behind them. That’s why she allows lost points by assuming a position near the back of the court.

Conversely, Alisa can play close to the net because of her high spatial awareness ability and high skill in coordinate specification when invoking magic. Alisa is in class A, Hiyori in class D. Alisa’s magic skills are clearly superior.

But it was Hiyori who took the first set. Magic power by itself doesn’t decide whether you win or lose.

Hiyori bounced her shot off the side wall, slipping past the side of Alisa’s magic shield. Alisa got distracted by that ball and Hiyori took advantage of that to attack with a drop shot. With her consciousness split between the front and the back, Alisa was doing her best to pick one of them. She had no breathing room to switch to the offensive.

Instantly deciding which balls to pick up and which to let go. It’s a tactical play considered to be a necessity for stamina management in sports that don’t involve magic, but this decision becomes essential in Crowd Ball, where there are multiple balls and points are counted even on the second or more bounces.

In addition, the decision of which balls to reach out to with the racket and which balls to return with magic also determines victory and defeat. Because the size of shields was restricted, one magic can no longer be used to deal with the opponent’s offense. Each set is only 3 minutes, but even for a first-class magician it is still difficult to keep continuously multicasting magic. If the ball can be returned by hand, hitting it with the racket is also reduces the load on the mind — on the Magic Calculation Area.

In this way, Crowd Ball is a sport where the ability to make split-second decisions is an important factor that determines victory or defeat. And this kind of judgement is polished during tough matches. Alisa, who has little experience in ‘matches’, not just Crowd Ball ones, was lacking in knowledge.

Over the past month Alisa became aware of her own weaknesses. By nature she lacks a desire to win, but, like everyone else, she has a desire to improve herself. She concluded that to compensate for her shortcomings, she should ‘devote herself to defense with offensive positioning’.

(Quicker. Faster!!)

She formed a vector reversal magic shield behind her. The ball that fell on the side of the net was cooped up with the racket and at the same time launched into the ceiling by the acceleration force field on the surface of the racket.

Balls that didn’t fall on the court are sent back as they are with vector reversal.

Balls that fall on the court hit the ceiling and are sent back to the opponent’s court.

Alisa thought that not thinking about how to attack the opponent’s court and assigning those mental resources to speeding up magic activation and pick up the balls in any way was the best thing she could do right now.

Two thirds of the second set have passed. So far Alisa is in the lead. This in part was also Hiyori’s strategy. She took the first set and, to an extent, abandoned the second set. It’s a tactic that acknowledges Alisa is improving. She held back from unreasonably dashing around, controlled the expenditure of her physical strength, and hit the ball to places where Alisa could barely reach them to snatch away her stamina. Moreover, Hiyori thought she should put all her cards on the final set.

As Hiyori predicted, Alisa, who took the second set, sat down on the bench next to the court, heavily breathing. Club President Hatsune looked so worried she even asked her “Are you okay?”.

“Should we extend the time a bit?”

The interval between sets is 1 minute. Hatsune proposed to extend it but,

“No, let’s follow the rules.”

Alisa declined it.

“It won’t be proper practice if I’m given an advantage.”

During the second set, Alisa realized Hiyori was trying to drain her stamina. And Alisa was taken in successfully. If she hadn’t done so, she wouldn’t have won the second set.

Alisa understood that this was a victory for Hiyori regarding her ability to designate the flow of the match and that this was the difference between their abilities. Alisa thought that if she received extra break time, it would be an advantage that would cover up this difference in skill. She felt it was unforgivably unfair, even in a practice match. Alisa doesn’t care about winning or losing, but she’s very picky about fair play.

This may have appeared in her expression. Hatsune looked worried, but she just muttered “Okay...” and didn’t say anything more.

The break reached its end and Alisa returned to the court. She looked at Hiyori on the other side, who had returned to the court ahead of her. Right after they assumed their stances, the service ball was launched onto Hiyori’s court and the third set began.

Occasionally, willpower can cause the body to exhibit power above its usual limits. But that is power drawn out because of a strong will. Will to live, will to keep one’s honor, will to get revenge. And of course, will to win. To put it in order words, tenacity, or even maybe obsession.

Unfortunately, Alisa has little attachment to victory, so it can’t be expected for her to get much effect from this kind of doping. In fact, since about the middle of the third set, Alisa’s movements have gotten noticeably worse.

While extending the racket to the ball, a feeling of resignation that ‘I still can’t win’ passed her mind. At the same time, a feeling of guilt about not having strong feelings of wanting to win arose.

It was a feeling of indebtedness towards her opponent. The drive to win was reaching her from the other side of the net. It felt like proof that Hiyori was taking Crowd Ball seriously. In comparison, she felt she was being dishonest for not feeling like she wants to win.

Today was not the first time Alisa has felt this guilt. Each time she had a practice match, those feelings gradually built up.

(...I’m going to give it my all, at least.)

If that would help her get rid of this guilt even if just a bit. That’s what Alisa thought, and decided to use the magic she was practicing at the Juumonji Family house.

(What? Alisa suddenly got tougher...)

Hiyori was caught by surprise and became suspicious when she suddenly stopped scoring points. All the balls that flew to Alisa’s court bounced off. Almost like she’s hallucinating that they’re just hitting a wall.

She knows the reason. A small vector reversal shield is being formed matching the trajectory of the balls. And it’s extremely quick.

Alisa’s magic shield construction was fast from the start. Her deployment speed really gives the impression that she is from the Ten Master Clans, from the Juumonji Family. But compared to that, this speed is like a different person’s, no, someone at a different level.

(No, she’s not just fast. Is she constantly multicasting 2, 3, or more magic shields?)

Indeed, the number of magics was increasing. This change, rather than the magic casting simply being faster, was like there was an extra Alisa.

Because of Crowd Ball’s special characteristic of using nine balls at the same time, the points pile up quickly. Hiyori’s massive lead decreased very fast, and it finally reversed when there were 30 seconds left.

(Just a bit more.)

(I’m still okay.)

Alisa came to Tokyo to learn how to prevent ‘Overheating of the Magic Calculation Area’. The most important task given to Alisa was to never lose sight of her limits, no matter the situation.

Because of that, she knows that right now she is very close to her limits. She can confidently say that she’s putting her very best into this. Alisa vacantly thought that like this she would be able to escape her self-loathing for not being honest with Hiyori.

Meanwhile, her Magic Calculation Area continued to assemble magic. The magic shield she is constructing is a subspecies of ‘Phalanx’, ‘Pelta’ (Pelta was the shield used by ancient Greek light infantrymen called Peltasts, who fought as skirmishers against the heavy infantry that formed Phalanx).

‘Phalanx’ is composed of multiple shields successively constructed at the same coordinates. First, shields with different properties are deployed in layers, and then each shield’s backup is put on standby. When one shield is destroyed, the backup shield is deployed at the same time, and the backup is replaced with another as well.

Therefore, ‘Phalanx’ is a magic shield that is continuously deployed to close the holes every time a part of it breaks. This is in contrast with the ‘Pelta’ Alisa is using, which is a physical magic shield that is continuously deployed at different coordinates. It is the same in that each deployed shield has a backup of the same type prepared in advance. There are just some differences in that the backup is not automatically deployed and the coordinates are determined when they are deployed.

The property given to the ’Pelta’ shields in this match is ‘vector reversal of solids’ and the termination condition is ‘execute effect once’. Immediately after bouncing the ball, said shield is set to disappear. So while only four shields at most were tangible and could be seen, in reality Alisa kept nine shields ready to deploy at any time.

This is no different from continuously multicasting nine magics. Alisa was overusing her mind — the Magic Calculation Area, more than could be seen from outside. Continuing in this state for a minute cannot be properly explained by talent alone. Let’s say this is the result of the training she has accumulated in the last two plus a bit more years.

But it was still only two years.

She has not reached the level of a genuine thoroughbred that has gone through rigid training since childhood, like the current head of the Juumonji Family, Juumonji Katsuto. 

(It’s still not over...?)

(Any more than this and... it’s shame but, I don’t think I can anymore.)

With 10 seconds left in the match, Alisa finally hit the limit.

If it kept on like this, her first victory was assured. But in this case her lack of attachment to victory is a positive thing. Judging that any more magic shield multicasting would push her beyond the limits, she resolutely cancelled the magic in standby state.

But she hasn’t abandonment the match. Alisa moved to the back of the court and switched to the strategy of ensuring all balls get returned after one bounce.

The lead Alisa stole slowly closed. But in this match, she had luck on her side. As a side effect of Alisa’s ‘Pelta’, Hiyori was surprised and her pace was disrupted. Because of that, Hiyori was already out of stamina. She was doing all she could to prevent conceding a large number of points, which left no room to shift to the attack.

The match was over.

The result... Alisa won the third set by 12 points.

With the set count at 2 to 1, Alisa won her first practice match.

As soon as the match ended, Alisa lost her strength and her posture was thrown off. She was released from the tension and her knees became weak from physical exhaustion. She was about to fall but, with effort, somehow managed to stay up.

Right then, Hiyori jumped over the net and walked up next to Alisa, who was heavily breathing with her hands on her knees.

“Congratulations on your first win.”

Alisa raised her face, which had an expression like she didn’t understand anything that was said.

“This is your first win, right?”

While saying that, Hiyori held out her right hand for a handshake.

“Uh, ah, yeah.”

Alisa straightened her back, looked at Hiyori and held her outstretched right hand.

“So? Feels good to win, right?”

Hiyori knows that Alisa doesn’t have an attachment to winning, or rather, she can’t have an attachment to it.

“...I don’t really get it.”

So she didn’t feel this was a snide answer. Instead, Hiyori felt pity.

“I see... I wonder why. Being happy about winning isn’t a particularly bad thing, right?”

“I get that, but...”

Hiyori got a little flustered when Alisa fell into deep thought.

“Sorry, I said something weird. You don’t have to worry about it so much.”

While Hiyori was talking, she used gestures to urge Alisa to leave the court.

“Yeah... But I don’t think it’s okay for me to stay like this...”

As they walked, Alisa revealed her worries to Hiyori.

“You and our seniors, aren’t you all playing and aiming for a win? And yet, I don’t mind if I win or lose, makes me feel like I’m not really serious...”

“That’s not the case.”

Hiyori immediately denied Alisa’s words of self-blame.

“Everyone has different reasons to do sports. There’s doing sports because it’s fun or just to train yourself. And Alisa, aren’t you serious when you practice and during matches?”

“Yeah. That’s what I mean to do.”

“Then don’t you think that’s fine? You don’t have to feel guilty over winning, but you don’t have to feel guilty about not going for victory either.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

With that said, Hiyori left the court encircled in transparent walls, strongly patting Alisa’s back with the palm of her hand to encourage her.

◇ ◇ ◇

The next day, Alisa and Marika were patrolling around the practice forest on Public Morals Committee duties.

“This weather is really nice.”

“Makes you wish you had a parasol, right?”

Marika returned a pragmatic response to Alisa, who was looking up at the sky and squinting her eyes.

“Asha, shouldn’t we walk in the shade more?”

As Alisa’s looks suggested, she is not very good with ultraviolet rays. She has naturally taken measures, like using UV protection cream, but from here on will be the sunniest part of the year. Marika’s concern was not exaggerated.

“You’re right.”

Alisa wouldn’t be obstinate about this either. They both got off the road made for running and went into the shades of trees.

They continued going forward, deeper into the woods.

And then suddenly, their visibility widened. They arrived at a treeless empty lot of about 20 meters in diameter. There were about 20 students hard at work there.

“Juumonji-san, Tookami-san, are you on patrol?”

The one who called out to them was Alisa’s classmate, as well as Marika’s friend, Kagari Joui. This is the training grounds for the Mountaineering Club to which he belongs to.

“Yeah, Public Morals Committee’s duties.”

“Hello, Kagari-kun. Impressive sweat.”

Marika replied first, and then Alisa greeted him.

Like Alisa said, Joui’s face was covered in sweat.

“Ah, sorry about this.”

Joui wiped the sweat with a towel he had in his hand. Apparently, he was just about to wipe his face before they arrived.

“We’re in the middle of our club activities, so I apologize for the slight stink of sweat.”

“It doesn’t smell particularly bad.”

Alisa replied to Joui with a smile.

“I don’t plan on getting close enough to you to know what you smell like.”

Marika added, also smiling.

“By the way, what were you doing?”

Marika asked, now with curiosity painted on her face.

“I was climbing a rock wall.”

“A rock wall? There’s something like that here?”

When Marika asked him, Joui pointed about 5 meters behind him.

There was a large, almost round open hole.

Marika advanced towards the edge of the hole and Alisa followed her.

“Woah, it’s deeper than I expected.”

As Marika said, the vertical hole is considerably deep. The diameter does not reach 3 meters, but it appears to be more than 10 meters deep at first sight.

“Isn’t it impressive? The Club President from two years ago, Saijou-san, negotiated with the school to have this wall hole for climbing made.”

“You climb this? There are some overhangs in there, but...”

As Alisa pointed out, on one of the sides of the hole, the wall protrudes about 50cm in the middle.

“Should I show you?”

Joui said, a little proudly, and went down the hole.

Frankly speaking, neither Alisa nor Marika were very interested, but when he said like that, they would be guilty if they just ignored him and left. The two watched over Joui.

Joui descended to the bottom of the hole by sliding on a rope with both hands, which had gloves on.

“I think that’s called rappelling. So they do this kind of stuff too.”

“Yeah. Looks like there’s a ladder on the other side though.”

Like Marika pointed out, on the opposite side to where Joui used the rope was a ladder made by banging U-shaped metal rods against the rock wall. Joui surely descended with the rope and not with the ladder because he’s used to it. By no means did he do that to make himself look good in front of the girls. 

Once he arrived at the bottom of the hole, Joui looked up at them once and then put his hands on the wall.

And just like that, he smoothly climbed the rock wall. Midway, he cleared the overhang on the surface of the wall by sticking to it with both hands and feet.

“... Just now, didn’t something seem weird?”

Marika questioned, sounding suspicious.

“He didn’t hang on the protruding wall, he kind of just sticked close to it, what happened to gravity?”

“I think he used magic.”

The tone Alisa used in her answer convinced Marika, even though she chose to express it with ‘I think’.

“But he didn’t use a CAD then, right?”

Marika didn’t dispute the point that Joui had used magic. But it was weighing on her mind that she couldn’t see the output of the Activation Sequence anywhere.

“That’s what I saw too.”

Alisa agreed with what Marika said.

Activation Sequences are Psion signals that describe the information of the magic to be activated. The practitioner reads the Activation Sequence outputted by the CAD into his mind through his own body. Until the reading of the outputted Activation Sequence is complete, it can be observed as a bunch of Psions from the outside.

Nevertheless, there was none of that in Joui’s magic. Like Marika said, no Psions indicating the output of the Activation Sequence could be seen before he used magic.

And speaking of nothing to be found, Joui’s CAD itself can’t be found anywhere on his body. The bracelet-type CAD currently used by most people because of the popularity of the completely thought-operated CAD can’t be seen on either of his arms, and there is no chain around his neck where the pendant-type Non-Systematic Magic CAD that functions as a switch hangs from. As for the rest, he doesn’t appear to be carrying a portable terminal-type, buckle-type, ring-type, brooch-type or a small-sized ankle band-type.

“It’s possible to activate magic without using a CAD, but... I don’t see why he would deliberately not use it.”

Alisa inclined her head after speaking.

“You can use magic necessary for club activities if you get permission beforehand. From the opposite perspective, he shouldn’t be using magic in front of us members of the Public Morals Committee if he didn’t get permission first.”

As they racked their brains, not understanding why Joui didn’t use a CAD, the person himself returned from scaling the side wall of the hole.

“What do you think? That’s how you use this hole.”

Joui looked a little proud when he asked them. He really is a guy. It looks like the desire to look good in front of girls, especially beautiful girls, cannot be suppressed.

“Yeah. I don’t understand the technical part, but it was amazing.”

Alisa properly made him look good... Some people might have seen this with a preconceived notion that she’s unintentionally making a man misunderstand something.

“By the way, Kagari-kun. You used magic in there, didn’t you?”

Marika, unlike Alisa, prioritized her curiosity. No doubt there are good and bad things about each of their reactions.

“...It’s magic that we, as the Mountaineering Club, have notified and received full approval to use.”

Joui showed a little caution, perhaps because of the Public Morals Committee armband they are wearing?

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking this as a member of the Public Morals Committee.”

As proof, Joui was clearly relieved to hear Marika’s words.

“Then, what is it?”

“Kagari-kun, you didn’t use a CAD, did you? Why? Did you decide in advance where you would use magic while ascending?”

Modern wizards use CADs for speed and accuracy. CADs are essentially required except in situations where there is enough time to spend preparing beforehand. — There are some magicians who use magic circles because they like them, but nowadays they are an exception. 

But contrarily, by deciding in advance where to use magic, the drawbacks of not using a CAD can be overcome.

But Joui shook his head at Marika’s question.

“I decided on the route to climb. But I try not to use magic until I’ve climbed as much as possible. But after... saying I’d show you, I thought I shouldn’t keep you waiting.”

“Are you trying to make yourself look good?”

“Ugh... Even if you know you don’t need to say it.”

“Aah! I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine... It’s exactly as you said, Tookami-san.”

Joui’s complexion darkened as he spoke.

“I really am sorry.”

“So you just didn’t use a CAD?”

Feeling like she needed to change the mood, Alisa interjected here.

“Or are you not carrying one at all?”

“Hmm? Ah, yeah, I don’t carry one.”

“Will that be good enough in an emergency situation? The Mountaineering Club uses magic as a replacement for lifelines, right?”

Alisa’s tone had a deep shade of criticism of the recklessness rather than worry.

“It’s okay. Even if we fall it’s ten meters at most, and there’s a mat down there.”

“But still...”

“Plus, it’s better to not rely on CADs during practice.”

Joui interrupted Alisa and spoke with a smile.

“Because the magic we can use during club activities is limited.”

Magic can’t be freely used, even inside the premises of a National Magic University-affiliated High School. Even during lessons, if magic other than the one designated for the assignment is used, points will be deducted. Even more, as already mentioned, the use of magic without getting permission in advance is forbidden. Students who break this rule can, at worse, be expelled. Because of this, there are clubs that went as far as getting permission from their advisors to use counter-magic to obstruct activation of magic and they perform their club activities while using it.

“By using the same magic all the time, your proficiency with that magic may increase, but sooner or later your magic ability itself will stop improving, right?”

“...So you’re creating a bad situation on purpose?”

Alisa tilted her neck slightly and Joui nodded to confirm it.

“That’s exactly it. Besides, I’m sure there is no machine that doesn’t break down. Like you said, Juumonji-san, magic is a lifeline. If the CAD broke down at a critical moment and I couldn’t use magic, it would be no joke. I think it’s dangerous to rely on CADs that much.”

“How unexpected. You gave some proper thought to this, huh?”

Previously uninvolved in the discussion, Marika inserted herself with a forced expression of surprise.

Joui, who immediately answered “That unexpected was uncalled for” with a dejected tone, had a smile on his face.

◇ ◇ ◇

The second Sunday of May, Crowd Ball Club.

They always disperse after practicing in the courts in the suburbs on Sunday, but today they returned to the clubroom at school for a planned meeting. All the members were notified of this matter — though including the Club President, who called for the meeting, there are six of them in total — so everyone rode electric kick scooters from school. On this sunny day of May, the girls (there are no male members in the Crowd Ball Club) gathered in the club room on the second floor of the preparations building without being forced to endure walking under the strong ultraviolet rays for a long time.

“It has been decided: we’ll be having a competition with Third High.”

After the introduction to start the meeting, Club President Hatsune talked about the main topic with no hesitation. Only the first-year students Alisa and Hiyori were surprised. The senior students apparently already knew of the plans for this competition, or maybe it was a pre-established annual event.

“It’s going to be on the 24th of May, a Sunday. It will be at the Magic University.”

She didn’t talk particularly loud here either.

“The matches will have three sets and there will be three singles matches and two doubles matches. Naturally, everyone will participate.“

A small “Eh?” escaped from Alisa’s mouth.

Hatsune turned to her and gave her a sweet smile.

“Of course, you too, Juumonji-san. It’s not an official match, but both Sengoku-san and Juumonji-san will have their debut matches.”

Alisa nodded with a tense look. When she looked to her side, Hiyori looked to be anticipating it more than she was tense.

“Juumonji-san will play singles, Sengoku-san will play doubles.”

Doubles matches are more difficult than singles in Crowd Ball. This was an agreeable appointment.

“Both of you, do your best.”

Alisa and Hiyori answered to Hatsune’s encouragement in unison with a “Yes”.

The meeting ended soon after. After Alisa and Hiyori voluntarily gave the club room a quick cleanup — the full cleanup along with disinfection is done by a cleaning company who comes during the night — they left the preparations building side-by-side.

“Alisa, are you going to meet up with Marika now?”

“Yeah. Are you coming too, Hiyori?”

“Are you going somewhere?”

If she was just going home, she wouldn’t invite anyone. Hiyori’s question held that conjecture.

“I’m making a side trip..., or should I say an outing? We scheduled to go practice practical skills at Mei’s house.”

“You mean to prepare for the monthly exams?”

“Want to come too?”

“Won’t it be a bother to drop in without warning?”

“I think it would be okay.”

“Hmm... I want to go, but I already have plans for today...”

After groaning, looking uneasy, Hiyori shook her head with plenty of regret on her face.

“Then, how about next week?”

“Hmm...”

Hiyori became worried again.

“Leaving that side, I’d like you to help me study.”

After thinking about it for some time, Hiyori responded to Alisa’s proposal in a modest tone.

“Study? You mean the theory?”

“Yeah. I can somehow manage with the general subjects, but I can’t keep up with the lectures on magic theory... Can you?”

Hiyori timidly asked, to which Alisa replied “Sure” with a cheerful tone.

“Then, how about tomorrow after school?”

“Is it fine for you to be that soon?”

“Mina always has her club activities on Mondays, so I just study by myself or read after school. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Thank you... I’ll be counting on you.”

“When tomorrow’s lessons end, I’ll go to the class D classroom. It’ll be more convenient to use your terminal, right?”

“Okay, I’ll wait there.”

With a promise made for the next day, the two split up at the inner courtyard. Hiyori then headed straight to the school gate, while Alisa headed to a bench in the vending machine corner attached to the school cafeteria, where she was going to meet up with Marika.

◇ ◇ ◇

The following Monday, after school.

Alisa visited 1-D’s classroom as she promised.

Hiyori was in class D last month as well. It’s not the first time Alisa has come to this classroom. But this class sits in the middle of the grade order and there are many students who went up and down classes so the faces have changed considerably since last month. The only student Alisa knows that is still in the classroom is Hiyori. Koharu, who she had lunch with, was nowhere to be seen. Most likely she went to her club activities. Hiyori was looking into a terminal display with a boy Alisa didn’t know.

“Hiyori.”

“Ah, Alisa. Sorry for not noticing.”

Hiyori raised her face and hurriedly stood up after hearing Alisa’s voice. Alisa felt she was being a little too formal, but she might have also done the same thing in her position. Besides, if she had taken a less polite attitude, it would probably have been uncomfortable.

“Alisa, this is the first time you’re meeting Karatachibana-kun, isn’t it?”

While Hiyori was saying that, she shifted her eyes to the boy next to her. Alisa thought ‘He’s called Karatachibana-kun. That’s an unusual name...’ and nodded to Hiyori’s question that sought confirmation.

On the other hand, the male student, Karatachibana Mamoru, appeared to interpret Hiyori’s glance as a signal. Before Hiyori could serve as an introduction broker, he stepped forward to Alisa.

“You’re Juumonji-san, right? Pleased to meet you.”

“You know about me?”

There wasn’t much surprise in Alisa’s voice. She knows full well that she stands out.

“Because you’re the target of rumors among the guys.”

And even though she understands he knows her without her knowing him, she strangely wasn’t uncomfortable with this boy.

“Umm, what kind of rumor is it...?”

But she couldn’t be indifferent to the details of the rumors whispered among the boys.

“I swear, it’s not a bad rumor.”

The air around Mamoru is gentle and honest. He doesn’t seem to be lying — or at least, he doesn’t seem to be making up indecent stories about Alisa.

“I see. So, what is it specifically?”

Alisa is 165 centimeters tall, which is tall for a girl. Mamoru about the average for a high school boy, with 170 centimeters. Alisa is looking at his expression from a slightly lowered position.

Mamoru felt awkward when he met those upturned eyes and averted his.

Alisa kept staring at him in silence.

Somehow, Mamoru’s face got stiffer the longer this went on.

“...Alisa, please stop tormenting Karatachibana-kun.”

Hiyori interjected from the side, and the tension between Alisa and Mamoru dissipated.

“I’m not doing anything like that?”

Alisa looked over her shoulder to Hiyori and smiled, looking like she couldn’t hurt a fly.

“Even if you don’t intend to, Karatachibana-kun looks like he’s a frog being stared at by a snake.”

“Is that how it is?”

“The gist of the boy’s rumors about you has to be about your looks and style, right? Even from a girl’s perspective, you’re very beautiful. And the rest of them are something like ‘I wonder if she’s dating a boy’. That’s about right, isn’t it?”

The ending ‘That’s about right, isn’t it?’ was aimed at Mamoru.

“No comment.”

When Hiyori hit him with the question, Mamoru’s expression disappeared and he replied with just two words.

Alisa, on the other hand, sunk into silence, looking embarrassed. As a result, Hiyori successfully performed the role of mediator and brought the situation to a close.

“...Hiyori, were you studying with Karatachibana-kun?”

Alisa felt uncomfortable with the excessive praise and changed the topic by sending Hiyori a question.

“Yeah, Karatachibana-kun taught me a lot about the general subjects.”

“Huh? Didn’t you say you were fine with general subjects?”

“I didn’t say that. I didn’t say I was ‘fine’, I said ‘I can somehow manage’. If someone better than me can help me out, it doesn’t hurt bad to learn from them, right?”

“Hmmm. Karatachibana-kun is smart then.”

“Yeah. He’s really smart.”

By Hiyori’s side, Mamoru, being modest, strongly insisted “I’m not that smart”, but Hiyori continued speaking as if it didn’t reach her ears.

“If he went to a general high school, he would easily get into a famous A-rank university, I think. I’ve been told he was a regular on the national top 100 in the middle school mock exams.”

“That’s really impressive...”

Alisa was amazed. Maybe she didn’t think she would be able to do that.

Mamoru tirelessly continued insisting “It’s not that big a deal” but neither Hiyori nor Alisa lent him their ears.

“I wonder if you could teach me too. There are things in physics and maths I don’t understand...”

“Karatachibana-kun?”

Following Alisa’s mutterings, Hiyori tried to persuade him.

“If you’re okay with me, then gladly... Umm, I’d like to ask you something in return. Juumonji-san, aren’t you going to have a magic study meeting with Sengoku-san? Could you teach me magic as well? It’s fine if it’s after Sengoku-san.”

This time, Mamoru was not unnecessarily humble. Instead of humility, he offered a deal with a smile.

“Are you sure you’re okay with me? I don’t know as much as Mei — Isori-san from class A.”

Mamoru was a little embarrassed and gave a bitter smile to Alisa’s response.

“This might sound like an excuse — Actually, it is no more than an excuse, but I knew practically nothing about magic until the spring of last year. Neither of my parents are from a lineage of magicians, so there was nobody around to teach me.”

“So you’re a ‘first generation’, Karatachibana-kun...”

In magician society, the words ‘first generation’ are used in mainly two ways.

The first way is an original modified body. A person with a modified body created by gene manipulation is called ‘first generation’, their children are ‘second generation’, and their grandchildren ‘third generation’.

And the other way is to identify a magician born to a non-magician family by means of mutation. If Mamoru isn’t a magician whose traits reappeared after some generations and is instead, as he understands himself to be, from a family with no magicians, then he is a ‘first generation’ magician.

It has been less than 100 years since magic was public recognized. Only about half a century has passed since the formation of modern magician family lineages. So, even if called ‘lineage of magicians’, as far as modern magicians are concerned, there isn’t really a traditional tradition, but if magician is through of as a profession, it can be said that children who are in houses with magician parents and grandparents are in a much favorable environment for magic education compared to the children who aren’t.

Thinking of it that way, Mamoru’s excuses don’t stink enough for him to ridicule himself.

“It was only in July of last year that I found I have talent for magic when I took an aptitude test. Until then I wasn’t told I was apt for it. I did take magic power measurements before entering elementary and middle school though.”

“Eh, so that kind of thing exists.”

Hiyori’s surprise was exposed when she interjected.

Alisa didn’t say anything, but she was sympathetic. In her case, she vaguely knew she probably had talent for magic. But it was only when it became clear, in the winter of the first year in middle school, that she decided to learn magic, and until that point she thought she wouldn’t ever have anything to do with it.

“Alright, Karatachibana-kun. If there is anything I can teach you, just ask.”

Alisa accepted Mamoru’s suggestion, in large part due to that sympathy.

“In return, I’ll be counting on you for the general subjects, okay?”

“With pleasure.”

Despite having just met, Alisa and Mamoru were surprisingly comfortable with each other.

“Thank you, Alisa. Thanks to you, I think I’ll manage to finish this report on time.”

The after-school study session. Alisa sat next to Hiyori and continued to give her advice for about an hour while looking at the same terminal screen. As a result, the most pressing hurdles seemed to have been cleared.

“I appreciate this too. It was really easy to understand.”

Mamoru, who was looking into the same screen from the other side of Hiyori, also gave his thanks.

“You’re welcome. Though I feel you didn’t need much of my help, Karatachibana-kun.”

For this past hour, Mamoru didn’t ask any questions, and just supplemented what Alisa was explaining to Hiyori sometimes. Alisa’s words were not flattery, they were her true feelings.

However, Mamoru shook his head as he said “That’s not right”.

“There were quite a few things I misunderstood that I was unaware of.”

“Well, if it helped, then that’s good.”

“Yeah, it definitely helped. I might not be able to return the favor, but if you have any questions on general subjects, feel free to ask any time. I’m not boasting, but I don’t have any bad subjects.”

Listening next to Alisa, Hiyori let out a slightly idiotic sigh.

“If you’re this smart, you could even be a scientist or a doctor. Maybe you’d be good as a magic doctor?”

“A magic doctor? If that kind of job exists, I’d like to aim for it.”

Mamoru, who muttered in response to Hiyori, looked a little like he was looking far away.

“You see, before I knew of my aptitude for magic, I was thinking of becoming a doctor...”

“I see. I was also thinking of becoming a veterinarian until the first year of middle school.”

“Heh, you too, Juumonji-san?”

“I don’t know whether or not there is a job called magic doctor, but there is magic for medical treatment, so I’m thinking any doctor who uses magic can be one. I think if you want to go for it, it would be great if you became the first ‘magic doctor’, Karatachibana-kun.”

“The first magic doctor?... That sounds pretty nice.”

Mamoru nodded with a cheerful smile at the idea Alisa presented.

Looking at the two of them, Hiyori thought ‘These two have a nice mood going on’, but she didn’t say it out loud, understanding from the situation she would get in their way.

◇ ◇ ◇

Marika finished her club activities early and was heading to the classroom of class 1-D. Their meeting place is the café terrace, but she heard from Alisa that she had plans to help Hiyori study in class D’s classroom.

Right now is not the season where air conditioning is used. But the strong sunlight makes the rooms hot when they are closed. Because of that, as long as people remain inside, the windows are open.

The windows of class A were closed. It seems Alisa is not there. Marika passed through the corridor without changing her pace.

The windows of class B were open, but she also passed through in the same way.

The windows of class C were closed like class A, but she didn’t look at them because she had no business there from the start.

After passing through class C, Marika slowed her pace and peered in through the windows of class D. Like she heard, she was sitting next to Hiyori.

And next to Hiyori was a male student Marika doesn’t know.

(I wonder if that is Hiyori’s boyfriend?)

Marika thought so at first. But soon enough, she realized that the one the boy was happily talking to was Alisa.

(Who...?)

It’s not like the boy was talking alone with Alisa. Hiyori was in the middle of them, they were neither next to each other nor facing each other.

Besides, he was being friendly, but not too much. Thinking calmly, it looked like Alisa was teaching Hiyori’s classmate along with Hiyori.

But... Alisa also looked like she’s having fun. She turned her face towards the boy and Marika couldn’t see her expression. So maybe ‘looks like she’s having fun’ was Marika misunderstanding it.

(But, this feels a little...)

Before verbalizing the sickly feelings she had, like she was afraid of them, Marika turned around and returned back through the corridor.

◇ ◇ ◇

Just after joining Alisa and leaving the school through the gates, Alisa was invited to Einebrise by her best friend who was now walking beside her.

It is unusual for just the two of them to go to Einebrise. It would be no exaggeration to say that the residence in the Juumonji Family house Alisa lives in and Marika’s rented apartment are both within walking distance. For the two of them it is usual to have tea in one of their rooms. Alisa felt a bit suspicious at this behavior that is different from usual.

When they entered Einebrise, there were some known faces facing each other at a table. Alisa’s older stepbrother Juumonji Yuuto and their senpai from the Public Morals Committee Izayoi Souma.

Alisa hesitated on whether she should greet them or say nothing to not disturb them.

“Juumonji-san, Tookami-san, is it just the two of you today?”

While she was thinking it over, Souma talked to her first.

“Yes, just the two of us.”

Souma’s question was answered by Marika. Marika was going to ignore them and not talk to them at first, so she was not disturbed when they took the initiative.

“If you’d like, you could come here?”

Souma invited them to share a table with him.

Marika was quick to answer here as well.

“No, there is something I want to talk about, just the two of us.”

Alisa’s spine shivered in a way others couldn’t tell. Leaving Yuuto aside, Alisa was reluctant to share a table with Souma, so she had no objections to her rejecting the proposal. But the phrase ‘I want to talk about, just the two of us’, for some reason, gave her chills.

“But all the tables are taken.”

Like Souma said, all the table seats are taken, unusual for Einebrise at this time in a weekday.

“I don’t mind taking the counter.”

But Marika coldly refused this offer as well.

“Souma, if you go any further you’ll be forcing them.”

Yuuto said, and then stood up for some reason.

“We’ll move to the counter. You two can use this table.”

And then he offered to give his seat to the girls.

“Eh, wait, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Even though Marika can be unfriendly towards Yuuto and Souma, it appears she can’t be brazen. She hesitated, even showing a bit of shame.

“Don’t you want to talk to Alisa about something? You won’t be able to calm down if you have a private conversation at the counter, don’t you think?”

Yuuto said and quickly moved to the counter. Souma followed after him in a hurry.

Now that it has come to this, it would be rude to continue holding back.

“Mina, let’s take the table?”

Alisa urged Marika to take a seat at the table they were given.

“Yeah...”

Faltering, Marika sat down on side opposite to Alisa.

The female-model waitress robot , Serveroid, took their order. Both Alisa and Marika ordered hot coffee.

“Asha.”

As soon as Serveroid returned to the counter, Marika started talking without waiting for the coffee they ordered to arrive.

“Who was the boy you were with before?”

“Eh, what? This feels a little like I’m being questioned about having an affair.”

Alisa stared at Marika in surprise, her eyes deliberately forced open.

“Who was he?”

Marika repeated the same question, quieter. A quiet voice, lacking in emotion, but Alisa felt the pressure slowly piling up on her.

“By ‘before’, do you mean when I was with Hiyori? You saw that?”

In response to Alisa’s question, asked in a casual tone, Marika faltered, saying “Uh...”. But right away she nodded with a firm expression and said “Right”.

(You don’t have to get worked up like that...)

It isn’t a relationship she’s particularly feels guilty about. Alisa has no reason to avoid answering.

“He is Karatachibana-kun from class D. As a ‘first-generation’, he didn’t have anyone involved with magic around him, so he didn’t have anyone to teach him magic theory.”

“‘First generation’, you don’t mean a modified body, right? He’s someone who didn’t have magician parents or any magician ancestors?”

Marika’s grandfather was a magician created at a Magician Development Research Institute. Though he’s not classed as a modified body, he is similar in that he was genetically designed. That is because of these circumstances that Marika, who is lacking knowledge about magician society, knows about modified bodies.

“Yeah. A first-generation magician, who unexpectedly appeared in a family with no magicians. Though I don’t know if it’s true or not.”

“You mean he could be lying?”

“I didn’t feel he was lying. The opposite, I thought he was very sincere. What I mean is that he might not know that one of his ancestors had the magic factor.”

“Ah, so that’s what...”

Marika was relieved and relaxed a little.

“So! What kind of relationship is there between you and this Karatachibana-kun!?”

But this isn’t a situation to be relieved right away, and Marika got closer to Alisa with a fierce expression.

“Relationship... He’s just Hiyori’s classmate.”

“Is that all...?”

“No less and no more than that, I just met him for the first time?”

Alisa looked into Marika’s eyes, asking ‘Why?’ with her gaze.

“But Asha, you just said he was ‘sincere’.”

“That is just a mere impression I had. Like a first impression. I’m not that conceited to think I can see someone’s true personality just like that.”

“...But you two had such a good mood going on!”

“Eeh!?”

Alisa was flabbergasted at the unexpected allegation.

Marika glared at Alisa, who was lost for words, with a pouty face.

“It’s a misunderstanding! You’re misunderstanding it!”

Knowing that Marika was clearly getting it wrong, Alisa hurried to deny her suspicions.

“Really?”

“Really! Rather, I want you to tell me what made you think that kind of thing!”

Alisa and Marika silently stared at each other.

“Okay. I believe you.”

“Naturally. It was a misunderstanding, after all.”

The tension was removed from their shoulders. And just at that moment, the coffee was brought in.

They took the cups to their mouths are the same time and washed away the remnants of their pent-up feelings with the pleasant bitterness.

◇ ◇ ◇

Alisa and Marika left Einebrise with Yuuto and Souma. The pair of boys matched their departure time to the girls’.

Souma split from them when they got on the Cabinet. Yuuto, however, rode on the same Cabinet as Alisa and Marika. As a consequence, they were riding on a four-seater Cabinet, which was unusual for the two girls.

It is obvious Yuuto has some motive. But he didn’t take any action inside the Cabinet. His objective became clear after they got off at the station nearest to their homes and walked a little after splitting with Marika.

“Alisa, I want to ask you something.”

Yuuto spoke to Alisa, a little timidly.

“What is it?”

In Alisa’s voice there was a small sense of caution.

“Umm... Could you tell me the name of the boy you studied with today after school?”

“...”

Alisa looked at Yuuto’s face in silence.

“Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t intent to tell you off at all.”

Yuuto got flustered and gave a quick excuse.

“I have no plans of forcing an old-fashioned ban on relationships with the opposite sex. But Tookami-san looked extremely worried about it...”

“Were you eavesdropping?”

Alisa’s tone of voice was lower than usual when she replied.

“I-I guess I did, but I wasn’t trying to listen to it voluntarily. That’s why I didn’t hear his name.”

Alisa let out a small sigh. She can understand why Yuuto is worried about her... There’s no way it is because he has a sister complex.

“Sure. But I don’t know his full name.”

Even if you ask for more, it will be pointless, Alisa made sure to tell him.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. This was the first time we’ve met, after all.”

“I-I see...”

Yuuto sounded relieved, which increased Alisa’s suspicions that he might have a sister complex increase a little.

“Karatachibana-kun from class 1-D. I only know his last name.”

“Karatachibana... Haven’t heard of them.”

“Apparently, he’s a first generation.”

“Born from an ordinary family, huh?”

An uncomfortable feeling passed through the back of Alisa’s mind.

Yuuto just called non-magicians, who can’t use magic, ‘ordinary people’. In fact, the number of magicians who use this expression is not small.

If humans who aren’t magicians are called ‘ordinary people’ based on the understanding that magicians are ‘not ordinary’ in that they are the absolute minority, Alisa has no objection. However, she feels that many magicians use it to mean that ‘magicians are special, superior humans who have powers other humans don’t’.

She can’t say for sure if Yuuto is like that. Maybe there aren’t any magicians who think that way, and she’s just overthinking all of it. But to Alisa, it didn’t seem likely that it was all just her misunderstanding.

Besides, she herself uses expressions like ‘ordinary people’ and ‘normal people’ sometimes, without being especially conscious of it. The thought that she might have such twisted elite way of thinking hidden inside her makes her feel uncomfortable when magicians use expressions like ‘ordinary people’, even when she doesn’t feel any malice from it.

“Alisa?”

Yuuto’s confused voice brought Alisa’s consciousness back after she fell silent because she was thinking of such things.

“Ah, sorry. Umm, we were talking about Karatachibana-kun not being a descendent of magicians, right?”

“If that’s true, it’s no surprise I’ve never heard of that name.”

Yuuto nodded as he said it.

“He said it himself, but I don’t know if he really is a first generation.”

“Right. For example, there are many cases of people of so-called ‘medium’ families that aren’t aware they’ve inherited magician lineage.”

Yuuto’s attitude softened. Alisa’s appeal of ‘I don’t know details’ might have worked.

He didn’t bring up the topic again at home.