Maidens of Cygnus - Volume 5 - Chapter 7.5

The afternoon of Friday, August 28th, two days before the finals of the Martial Magic Arts National Tournament.

Marika and the other participants from the Magic Arts Club were at First High’s second small gymnasium making their final adjustments. — Tomorrow is the eve, so any real adjustments done today are final.

“Uh? What happened, why do you look like that?”

Seeing Alisa appear at the second small gymnasium, Marika raised a confused voice.

Alisa’s attire was a short-sleeved shirt with First High’s logo and spats that don’t reach the knee. In other words, it was the gym outfit. Her hair was also collected in a chignon that she uses when she does intense physical exercise.

“Did you come here directly from Crowd Ball practice?”

Due to Marika’s circumstances, they didn’t have lunch together today. The Magic Arts Club had a lunch meeting so they had no choice but to eat separately.

Looking properly at Alisa’s shirt, it was heavy with sweat. Her breathing was a little rough. She looked like she just had an intense workout.

“Mina, how are you?”

The condition of Alisa’s voice was different than usual must be due to the lingering effects of the workout. Marika felt that way.

“Yeah, listen to this! I should be able to somehow use ‘Bodily Forging’ in the competition!”

“Is that so... Learning that in such a short time, you’re incredible, Mina.”

“No, well, I got the complete Activation Sequence, after all. I just assembled the magic by following the Activation Sequence... I say that, but I still can’t maintain it for even a second.”

“Even that is amazing.”

“M-Maybe it is? Ahahaha...”

After being praised by Alisa, who had a serious expression, Marika laughed, embarrassed.

“Well, what about the other one?”

“...The other one?”

However, after Alisa’s next question, Marika’s smile was repainted in confusion.

“Chiba-senpai’s ‘Shadow Technique’.”

Marika’s face tensed up for a moment.

“N-No, Asha. You told me to put that on hold, didn’t you?”

The anxiety appeared in Marika’s face for only a moment, but unlike everyone else, Alisa didn’t fail to notice it.

“But in reality you were practicing it, weren’t you? Hiding it from the senpai and from me, doing it in secret.”

Seeing the serious mood the two were creating, Chika quickly walked up to them while saying “Hey, what’s going on?”. Chigusa followed right behind her as well.

“A-Ahah... W-what are you saying, all of a sudden...”

“Am I wrong?”

“—Hng!”

Alisa peered directly into Marika’s eyes, who threateningly glared back.

Alisa slightly lowered her eyes.

Marika’s spell was broken, but the tension didn’t change at all. Rather, it was increasing more and more.

“Mina. Will you got along with my game for a little bit?”

“Game?”

While she called it a game, the mood coming from Alisa’s whole body was serious.

That’s why neither Chika, nor Chigusa, nor anyone else uninvolved could stop them.

“O-Okay...”

And the only one with the right of veto, Marika, was overwhelmed by Alisa’s strange mood that was completely uncharacteristic for her.

“You’ll go along with it? Thank you.”

After saying so with a voice that didn’t have much emotion, Alisa entered a state of complete concentration. Just like when she’s about to use a powerful magic technique.

“Mina, use ‘Reactive Armor’.”

Alisa spoke with the same tone as when she makes a harmless, mundane request. But feeling a pressure that Marika couldn’t tell if it was actually there or not, Marika activated ‘Reactive Armor’ almost by reflex.

“I’m an amateur, so don’t move, okay?”

Alisa said that, and while filling her whole body with strong force of will — rather, with a large amount of Psions housed in her body, she walked up to Marika.

She stopped at a distance where she could reach for Marika, and then actually extended her hand towards her.

Her hand was in a form to thrust the heel of the palm into Marika’s abdomen.

But the hand she extended had no force. It was a palm heel thrust in form only, merely a slow touch.

Alisa was unable to touch Marika’s body, covered in ‘Reactive Armor’. Alisa’s palm stopped three centimeters away from Marika’s body.

In the next moment.

A glaring light blinded Marika and the surrounding onlooking club members.

From Alisa’s palm, placed on Marika’s stomach, intense Psion light radiated.

A non-physical light, caused by the sudden release of the Psions accumulated in Alisa’s body.

This dazzling light was the result of the huge amount of Psions released all at once being bounced back by the barrier of ‘Reactive Armor’.

However, the Psion stream Alisa released was not completely repelled.

Judging from the total amount released, it was about a fifth.

But those made a hole in Marika’s armor and pierced her body.

No wounds were given to Marika.

They merely passed through her body.

Alisa fell despondently on both knees. She was assaulted by lethargy as a reaction from the rapid release of Psions.

With a slight delay, Marika pressed down on her stomach with one hand while getting on one knee.

From the circle of spectators, a voice came through, “No way, was that ‘Gram Demolition’?”.

That voice, filled with the nuance of ‘I can’t believe it’, was from the Club President of the men’s division, Chigusa.

“What...was that...?”

Marika, with cold sweat on her face, asked Alisa.

“...The answer... is ‘Psion Laser’... Mina...”

With a pale face and her lips losing their color, Alisa replied back.

“Psion... Laser? What... is that...”

Marika, with a painful-sounding, about-to-use-up-all-her-strength-sounding voice, kept piling up questions.

“Well... you see. You... arrange Psions... in ‘waves’... pack them tight... relea...”

Right then, Alisa reached her limit and collapsed sideways.

An uproar was sparked in the second small gymnasium.

Bellows of “Get her to the infirmary!” and “No, go call the nurse!” flew about inside the gymnasium.

While listening to that, Marika clutched her stomach, her body leaning forward.

◇ ◇ ◇

Marika and Alisa lost consciousness at the same time and were peacefully taken to the infirmary.

When she woke up, Marika sat up on her bed, next to the one Alisa is sleeping in.

“Asha!?”

Marika, looking anxious, tried to get closer to the bed next to her.

But she was unable to get out of her bed.

“You have to sleep a little longer.”

With a gentle reprimanding voice, Marika was pushed back into bed. It wasn’t a strong push by any means, but Marika couldn’t resist and was brought down facing upwards.

“Asuka-sensei...”

The one to push Marika down into bed was the school nurse, Asuka Satomi. A beautiful woman with a gentle, rather delicate appearance, though rumors among the combat sports clubs are ‘Is she actually a martial arts expert?’.

“Tookami-san, you don’t need any treatment in particular, since your Psion flow was only disturbed, but you should still not overexert yourself yet.“

“How is Asha... What is Juumonji-san’s condition?”

Marika, self-aware that she’s not in perfect condition, asked Asuka about Alisa’s condition while obediently lying down.

“She is a little more seriously ill than you. I would say about a whole day of rest.”

“What do you mean with seriously ill!?”

Marika suddenly sat up.

“Yeah, yeah, stop struggling.”

But with only a light push on her shoulders by Asuka, she was lying on her back again. Not only that, even though she was being held with only one hand around the collarbone, she couldn’t move at all.

Understanding that resistance is futile, Marika immediately became obedient.

Asuka, still pushing Marika down, smiled at her to give her some peace of mind.

“Juumonji-san is overworked.”

She then answered Marika’s question.

“Overworked...?”

“It’s a state in which a large amount of Psions are released in a short period of time to the point of depletion. Her recovery rate is normal so there are no signs of damage to her spiritual body and astral body.”

“Is that so...? So she’s going to get better?”

“Yes, she’ll make a full recovery.”

Hearing Asuka’s answer, given both clearly and with a smile, Marika relaxed and sank her head into the pillow.

“But if this recklessness is repeated, the astral body will get damaged and her magic abilities may get marred. You too, Tookami-san, please be careful.”

But the advice she received afterwards made Marika’s face turn pale.

Just before 5pm, due to a call from Asuka, a car from the Juumonji Family arrived to pick Alisa up. Alisa had already regained her consciousness and was in a state where she was able to walk home as well, but her father and former Head of the Family Kazuki, once contacted, agreed with Asuka’s advice that she should be prudent.

In the car was, as Alisa’s attendant, Yuuto, who was going to school for Student Council work, and Marika, who Alisa wanted to ride with.

“I’m really sorry, Mina.”

Inside the car, Alisa apologized for at least the tenth time.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong, Asha. I keep saying this, but I shouldn’t have wavered for so long. Asha, you were only trying to do something about it for my sake. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

And Marika also replied with the lines she has been repeating many times for a while.

“But, even though it’s just before an important tournament...”

“I’ve already recovered. Asuka-sensei approved it. So don’t worry about it, Asha.”

Alisa didn’t appear to accept it, but at the words ‘Asuka-sensei approved’, she temporarily stopped her penitence so she wouldn’t make Marika worry any further.

Yuuto, sitting on the other side of Marika with Alisa in the middle, was pondering in silence.

The self-driving car arrived at the Juumonji Family house and, with the help of Marika, Alisa laid down in the bed of her room.

Alisa said she would go ‘sleep a little’ and, after confirming she had closed her eyes, Marika attempted to leave the Juumonji residence.

“Tookami-san. Do you have a moment?”

But Yuuto called to stop Marika.

“Yes, what is it?”

“What you were saying before in the car about the damage being gone, was that true?”

“Yes, it’s true. I’m not just putting on a brave front.”

Obediently obeying Yuuto when he stopped her was also because her recovery was not a lie. If the damage she received from Alisa remained, she would have chosen to be honest about it and go home.

“I see. In that case, can you come with me for a little while?”

Saying that, Yuuto pointed to the neighboring lot, the building of the Former Tenth Research Institute.

“For you it may be a place you don’t want to step into, but for today I want you to endure it.”

After noticing Marika’s hesitant expression, Yuuto once again asked her to follow him.

“...I don’t have any thoughts in particular about the Tenth Research Institute.”

Guessing that Yuuto’s business is something related to Alisa, she accepted Yuuto’s request with that wording.

Yuuto brought Marika to a combat training room — a room for training in interpersonal combat — in the Former Tenth Research Institute where there was nobody else.

Just the two of them, male and female high schoolers. But Marika understood without being told that Yuuto didn’t bring her to this room with that kind of objective in mind.

Yuuto’s gaze towards Marika told her that.

In Yuuto’s eyes, there was no lust. His gaze is not directed to someone of the opposite sex, it was the kind aimed at an enemy.

“Since the night of the day before yesterday, Alisa has been trying to reproduce Chiba-senpai’s technique that ignores magic shields and deals damage. Well, in truth she only started trials in the night of the day before yesterday, she had been looking to reproduce it since last weekend, from the day she returned from Okutama.”

Standing opposite each other in the center of the training room, Yuuto spoke to Marika, his voice having his emotions suppressed.

“I see.”

Marika didn’t know. But she wasn’t surprised.

Alisa was aware that she was having trouble learning the ‘Shadow Technique’. Alisa had also guessed that, even though Marika knew there was not enough time during the preparation for the upcoming tournament, she wouldn’t be able to give up on it. That being the case, Alisa must have tried to explain the secret of the ‘Shadow Technique’ that she had not been taught in Marika’s stead. — No matter how reckless that was, if the positions were reversed, Marika thought she would have tried to do the same for Alisa.

“In the end, Alisa wasn’t able to reproduce Chiba-senpai’s technique. However, though she couldn’t find the answer, she found a solution. I know what it is.”

“So you lent me your help, senpai?”

“I only helped Alisa. That was also because it was impossible to stop her. Since I couldn’t stop her, I served as her sparring partner to bring it to an end as quick as possible. With that kind of outcome, I should have stopped her.”

Yuuto’s face distorted with regret.

Marika clenched her back teeth without changing her expression, but she felt the same way as Yuuto. Her regret over not clearly making up her own mind on her stance and making Alisa work too hard was no lie, it was how she truly felt.

“Let’s stop regretting over what has passed now. It’s a waste of time.”

Yuuto shook his head twice, three times to shake off his regret.

“The solution Alisa found was ‘Gram Demolition’.”

“— ‘Gram Demolition’ is that counter-magic that nullifies an invoked magic formula, isn’t it? So that negate magic shields?”

“That guess is right, but that’s not it.”

Yuuto’s answer, at first, is confusing. But in his face was an expression of someone who knows what he is talking about.

“‘Gram Demolition’ is a technique that nullifies magic by dispelling the Magic Sequence from the target of the magic, be it object or empty space, with a high-density stream of Psions.’

Marika only said “Yes” and nodded.

“Usually this counter-magic has no effect outside nullifying the magic formula. Because of its nature, the stream of Psions of ‘Gram Demolition’ decreases in strength with distance. Even if you are several meters apart, you can dispel a Magic Sequence exposed at the surface of the target, but it is impossible to influence the body of a magician clad in unconscious Data Fortification.”

Marika, once again, said “Yes” and nodded.

‘Gram Demolition’ releases a high-density stream of Psions into the physical dimension of reality, and by pouring that onto a physically existing target of magic, it tears off and destroys the Magic Sequence attached to its surface.

Because of how it works, the reduction in power due to physical distance cannot be avoided. The short effective range is this counter-magic’s greatest drawback.

This is not information that is taught at magic high schools, she learned from Alisa about ‘Gram Demolition’ and that it was a counter-magic that has the potential to break through her magic ‘Reactive Armor’. — It goes without saying, Alisa knew this information from the Juumonji Family’s own teachings.

“But putting it the other way around, if there is no attenuation due to distance, it is possible to change the condition of another person’s body with ‘Gram Demolition’s’ Psion stream. This is because the physical body has a Psion Information Body overlaid on top of it, a copy of the body’s information, and damage dealt to the Information Body is feedbacked to the sensations of physical body.”

“...Sorry. Like you said earlier, senpai, In the case the opponent is a magician, I would expect Data Fortification to prevent that.”

As Yuuto briefly mentioned earlier, magicians unconsciously activate Data Fortification to protect their own bodies. Even if the physical body is exposed to a stream of Psions from someone else, the effect should be blocked by the wall of Data Fortification.

“It’s different for Data Fortification that is consciously activated, but if it’s unconscious Data Fortification, even a stream of Psions with no phenomenon interference power can break through it, depending on how you do it.”

Marika’s eyes opened wide. It was an expression of surprise, but also of understanding.

“— Is that the ‘solution’ Asha found?”

“Yes.”

While directing a look that felt like a glare at Marika, Yuuto nodded strongly.

“Can you teach me that method?”

“No.”

Marika asked, keeping her manners, to which Yuuto shook his head.

“I won’t teach. I will have you learn.”

“...”

“I have no intention of interfering in your relationship, and I understand that you’re not responsible for Alisa collapsing. But I absolutely won’t accept Alisa trying so hard for your sake for naught.”

...Yuuto’s grievances are, in nature, close to an unjustified grudge. To put bluntly, he’s venting his anger on her.

Marika had no obligation of going along with Yuuto’s outbursts. No social duty, either.

“What should I learn?”

But Marika voluntarily accepted his venting.

She was proactively trying to take it in.

“Arrange the Psion’s waveform and frequency so they align. I still don’t know the theory, but by continuously sending in uniform waves of Psions at point-blank range, you can make a hole in both the magic barrier and the Data Fortification.”

Send in waves with uniform frequency. Alisa’s description of it as ‘Psion Laser’ was an attempt to convey this common feature.

“For how long should I do it?”

“You don’t even need a full second. 0.5 seconds is plenty.”

“Got it. — Specifically, how can I unify the Psion waves?”

A question concerning the core of the technique that isn’t known, at least widely.

“You have to wish for a single thing with your whole heart.”

There was no pause in Yuuto’s answer.

“Psions are said to be particles that give shape to our wishes and thoughts. If we turn this hypothesis over, if your wishes and thoughts are unified, the shape of the Psions at that time will also be unified.”

“So as long as I think about a single thing, the Psion waves will be maintained at the same waveform and frequency, right?”

“It shouldn’t be difficult.”

Yuuto casually called the technique that involves erasing all idle thoughts, which would usually be considered difficult, ‘not difficult’.

“At least during a bout, you shouldn’t be thinking about anything other than winning, other than defeating your opponent.”

“...You mean I must not waver over how to defeat them, right?”

“You can’t do that?”

“No, I will do it.”

Not ‘I can’, but ‘I will’.

Marika accepted Yuuto’s provocation head-on.