Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 06 - Yokohama Disturbance Chapter (I)

  Chapter 1

  It was October of 2095. In order to achieve 'round-the-clock operation, harbor facilities have already been upgraded to automatic services, so there was essentially no one present. The vast majority of the personnel clocked in during the daytime, and, aside from a few security personnel, only machines were active at night processing the incoming and outbound ships as well as unloading cargo.

  With the reduction in personnel, each harbor was being redeveloped to prevent illegal immigration, and was set at a prudent distance from the duty-free areas and city streets, thus prohibiting the sailors from coming ashore in those areas.

  During the night, when only the automatic services were in operation, the areas forbidden to all ships extended beyond the shoreline for the duty-free zone. Passengers who wished to disembark had to wait until the morning when the dock personnel arrived. Therefore, there should have been no one present during the middle of the night.

  However, around midnight, a group of people concealing their presence appeared at the Yokohama Wharf.

  "We have illegal aliens of unknown nationality coming ashore from the small cargo ship in Cargo Pier 5. All personnel, converge on Cargo Pier 5 immediately."

  Once the directions came over the intercom, two plain-clothed detectives glanced at one another and broke into a run. Yet, their expressions were diametrically opposed.

  "Ah ha, so they were there."

  "This isn't the time to complain, Inspector!"

  "But, Inagaki-kun."

  "Shut up and run!"

  "I'm your superior."

  "But I'm older than you."

  "Ah ah."

  While returning an appropriate response to his older subordinate, Inspector Chiba Toshikazu quickened his footsteps. There were 700 meters between Pier 5 and Pier 3, where they were stationed at. No matter how hard they tried, this was still a two minute journey at least. Despite their bantering, Inspector Chiba and Assistant Inspector Inagaki arrived in 30 seconds.

  This wasn't a normal human's speed.

  Neither of them were normal humans. They were both Magicians.

  "We are really undermanned."

  "Nothing we can do. Only police officers who are Magicians can handle criminals who wield magic."

  "In reality, it's not, entirely, like that!"

  As he said these unmotivated words, Inspector Chiba sprang into the air.

  He was holding a bokken that was approximately one meter in length.

  In midair, Inspector Chiba waved his bokken like a leaf soaring through the wind, and passed cleanly over the crowd of illegal aliens who were firing three round bursts from assault rifles with silencers attached. Setting aside his leg strength, no one would be able to achieve this sort of trajectory through the air without the aid of magic.

  That irregular trajectory threw off the aim of all the illegal aliens who were trying to provide covering fire.

  Towards the three Magicians standing in the back of the crowd hurtling long range magic attacks, Inspector Chiba slashed a spiraling attack.

  Using Move-Type Magic that blatantly ignored gravity and inertia to avoid the aim of enemy magic attacks, Chiba used his bokken to knock them all out in turn.

  On the other side of the crowd, Inagaki was using his handgun to take out the gunners.

  Once Chiba joined the fray from the flank, over ten foreigners were suppressed within the blink of an eye.

  While other small-scale conflicts broke out in other areas, they were quickly handled before the two could get there and offer assistance.

  "Inspector, take the helm!"

  "Eh~, me?"

  "Stop dilly dallying!"

  Seeing these partners, it was obviously the subordinate who was more proactive on the job. (More like his superior was too lacking in professionalism.) Even so, it's not like he could bail on the scene right now.

  "OK, OK. Then, Inagaki-kun, stop the boat for me."

  "...If I do that, I might sink this thing."

  "No worries. The captain will take full responsibility."

  "...Wow, he's not taking the responsibility himself..."

  He shrugged in disappointment while continuing to load bullets into his handgun.

  His left hand pressed the switch on the handle and the targeting scope attached to the barrel of the handgun lit up.

  Immediately afterwards, he used the Weaponized Integrated CAD — a revolver-shaped weaponized calculation device in the handle — and a Specialized CAD in the actual body began the Activation Sequence.

  At the same time as he squeezed the trigger, the Magic Sequence kicked in.

  Using Move and Weight Compound Magic to stabilize the trajectory and increase penetration, a metallic bullet traced the trajectory set by the Magic Sequence and pierced through the stern of the small ship moored off the coast.

  A second and third gunshot rang through the night. The foam sprouting from the stern weakened. Based on the ship's external appearance, the shots had successfully penetrated the accelerator on board.

  "Nicely done."

  Leisurely praising his subordinate, a sound came from Chiba's hand like a lock being undone.

  Apparently, the bokken he was carrying was actually a sword cane.

  With a brilliant blade of cold steel in hand, Chiba dashed towards the floating ship with an agility that matched Yoshitsune himself as he skipped over 8 ships in a row.

  He swung his blade at the parked ship and rent the metallic cargo door in two.

  The secret sword technique "Iron Breaker" from the Hundred Families' Chiba Family.

  This technique did not view the sword to be cast from iron and steel, but identified the "sword" itself as a concept and applied Move-Type Magic to the slashing motion with the aid of the Magic Sequence.

  A "sword" identified as a singular concept turned into a molecular blade that couldn't be shattered, blunted, or broken as it cut through all resistance along the slashing axis.

  Once more swinging his blade to clear a path, the Chiba Family's heir, Chiba Toshikazu, pressed on alone.

  "Nice work, Inspector."

  "Seriously, this is what they call wasting your time and energy."

  The sky was already turning lighter as Inspector Chiba groused complaints as if the situation had nothing to do with him. Likewise, he didn't berate his subordinate who was obviously trying to hold back gales of laughter.

  After bravely charging into the ship, he found that there was no one on board.

  It appeared that the illegal aliens had already evacuated from the bottom of the ship, leaving the gate open to allow water to flood in. The leisurely pace the boat was sinking at was exacerbated by the opening Chiba left behind for the wind to flow through, increasing the rate the boat sank at, and it was currently completely submerged in water.

  "Looks like we don't have any clues to which direction the miscreants fled."

  "However, their final destination is blatantly obvious."

  The young man who almost went down with the ship shrugged his shoulders at what his older subordinate wanted to say and gazed eastward towards the rising sun.

  ◇◇◇

  Directly before Inspector Chiba's eyes was the wharf, which wasn't far away, along with the renowned streets of Yokohama known throughout the nation.

  A large well was situated in the backyard of one of the nameless restaurants along the streets. Despite the early hours, three well-dressed men were standing around it.

  One of them was approximately in his twenties.

  One of them appeared particular
ly handsome. Of course, this wasn't in a feminine manner, but because he came from a line of breeding and prosperity. The well with an attached pulley he was watching was not meant for consumption but for firefighting instead.

  The wall of the well directly below the pulley suddenly crumbled without warning. A soaked man squirmed out of the gaping hole followed by 15 others.

  The middle-aged man who emerged last from the well bowed to the young man in greeting with a humble smile on his face. The young man put his right hand over his left breast and returned a slight bow.

  "Everyone, please go get changed. Breakfast has already been prepared."

  In regards to the young man's words,

  "Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Zhou."

  The middle-aged man replied in a tone devoid of gratitude.

  Still, the young man smiled regardless of the other side's rude tone, and led the 16 men into the building.

  ◇◇◇

  The first new Student Council for the National Magic University affiliated First High had started roughly a week ago.

  Currently, Tatsuya and his peers from Class E arrived at the cafeteria for their lunch break.

  He had dined in the Student Council Room before, but that was Mayumi (largely) abusing her power.

  In addition, he didn't plan on making it a habit to eat lunch in the Student Council Room every day. With the new Student Council in session, Tatsuya also came to the cafeteria to eat.

  However, a natural result of this was that Miyuki also started dining in the cafeteria. Add in their mutual friends, and a lively luncheon had become a regular event since the start of October.

  That being said, since Tatsuya, Erika, Leo, Mizuki, and Mikihiko were in a different class than Miyuki, Honoka, and Shizuku, the first group that arrived would reserve a table. Today, Tatsuya and company seemed to be waiting for Miyuki's group.

  "Sorry for the wait, everyone."

  "No worries; good work today."

  They waited for approximately ten minutes after Miyuki sent word ahead of time to Tatsuya that she would be delayed due to Student Council business. Seeing Miyuki intentionally bow in apology in front of him, Tatsuya smiled as he reassured her as was well. Completely heedless of this eye-catching behavior, Honoka seemed to receive some sort of signal and also huddled down as she spoke to Tatsuya.

  "My apologies, Tatsuya-kun. They were late because of me."

  After the night of confession at Ogasawara during their summer vacation, Honoka's responses and facial expressions towards Tatsuya had only intensified. Naturally, Tatsuya was aware of this, but he chose not to mention this. Now, if he wanted to be more proactive about this, he should probably smile a little — even a wry one would do — but Honoka's frail and oversensitive reactions might make it seem like Tatsuya was intentionally abusing her, which wasn't good for her mental state anyway. Hence, he didn't have a good solution at this moment. It's not like he could explain every time that this was born out of a misunderstanding, so Tatsuya simply gave up on the current situation and took a completely passive stance.

  "Please don't be concerned on that account. Anyone who just started a new job usually encounters a few difficulties."

  In Tatsuya's eyes, Honoka believed that her personal mistake led to everyone's disappointment, and that was why she seemed so down. Did she really believe she was incapable? While Tatsuya didn't believe that for a second, he still diligently tried to reassure Honoka with comforting words.

  "Yeah, no need to worry about that."

  "It's only been a week."

  Erika and Leo unexpectedly (?) displayed their sensitive sides and chimed in along with Tatsuya.

  Seeing everyone wearing a "Don't worry about it" smile, Honoka sat down with trepidation.

  "However, today really wasn't Honoka's fault, Onii-sama. The Faculty Office suddenly asked to see 'all the records from two years ago,' so we had to bring up all the data from the Student Council Room before third period ended. We even got Shizuku to help us."

  Miyuki smiled as she also provided support, but, for some reason, this made Honoka shrink even more on her chair.

  "But...didn't Miyuki find it very quickly; meaning I'm the one who's lacking..."

  "Me too. If Honoka's a turtle, then I'm a snail."

  Shizuku's comment didn't have any ulterior meaning.

  "...After all, Miyuki had been using this system since April. Honoka just joined the Student Council, and Shizuku is an outsider... Miyuki has a giant head start on you in terms of experience. It can't be helped if you take some time to get used to the system."

  So Tatsuya directed his comment towards Honoka's nonmalicious description as a "turtle," and once again reassured Honoka and Shizuku.

  Still, based on the aforementioned comment, with the election of the new Student Council, Honoka had also joined the executives on the council.

  The new Student Council consisted of President Nakajou Azusa, Vice President Shiba Miyuki, Secretary Mitsui Honoka, and Accountant Isori Kei. (First High's Accountant also comprised the "supervisor" role and was traditionally appointed by the President.)

  In reality, Azusa privately offered Tatsuya the role of Vice President. Of course, Tatsuya immediately turned her down, but the one who fought against this even more fiercely than himself was the new Chairperson for the Public Moral Committee, Kanon.

  Her words were, "If Shiba-kun left, then the board's paperwork simply can't be finished".

  Kanon directly pronounced this declaration in front of Azusa and Tatsuya, but when he heard this, Tatsuya was "flabbergasted."

  By all rights, he was on active duty and not a pencil pusher.

  Scratch that, technically, all members of the Public Moral Committee were on active duty, and were all responsible for doing paperwork.

  That was how Mari wrote it on the transfer papers she handed to Kanon.

  Tatsuya personally recorded the documentation, so there could have been no mistake.

  However, Azusa nodded seriously at Kanon's announcement.

  Tatsuya had a headache brewing at the "misunderstanding" of these two upperclassmen. Still, even without Tatsuya's thoughts on the matter, Azusa pressed for Tatsuya to join the Student Council despite Kanon's resistance. To state it plainly, she didn't have the confidence to hold Miyuki at bay without Tatsuya, but it wasn't like Miyuki could leave the Student Council either.

  Tatsuya's head was seriously starting to hurt now.

  In the end, they completely disregarded the person in question as Azusa and Kanon hammered out a compromise. Tatsuya would remain with the Public Moral Committee until the end of the year, and would transfer to the Student Council in January. To the end, they never sought Tatsuya's opinion...

  (...My head hurts just thinking about that.)

  The moment he said, "...just joined the Student Council," he remembered what happened a year ago and the headache associated with it.

  Instinctively, he followed the gaze on him and found Miyuki watching him with concerned eyes.

  Mentally sighing at his sister's sensitivity, Tatsuya visually signaled for her not to worry and moved his chopsticks again.

  ◇◇◇

  "Onii-sama, are you here?"

  After school, Tatsuya visited the reference room in the basement of the library. Hearing his sister call out to him, he pulled himself out of the world of numbers and data and returned to reality.

  "Miyuki, I'm over here."

  Tatsuya raised his head from the terminal he was reading and waved Miyuki over.

  Wireless communication was impossible in this reference room. Not only would the walls absorb the majority of the electronic waves, there were also signal dampeners in place.

  The goal, of course, was to prevent data theft.

  This reference room contained information deemed unsuitable to be published, highly dangerous materials, or papers containing ideas and concepts that went against mainstream beliefs and could easily influence students negatively. These documents were phy
sically stored in the magic universities before transporting digital copies here and stored in independent databases separated from the outside world. In theory, the files could be freely accessed, but removing them was absolutely forbidden. Of course, making private copies of these protected files was also forbidden.

  Given the nature of the materials in question, the overwhelming majority was not pertinent to class, very few individuals actually used this resource. It was more appropriate to say that the usual volume of traffic was zero. However, in the past half a month, Tatsuya had set a new record for visiting the reference room.

  Even though he waved Miyuki over, Tatsuya didn't leave the terminal. Miyuki understood why, so she walked over to Tatsuya's side.

  "What are you looking at?"

  Arriving at Tatsuya's side, Miyuki was drawn towards the screen he was gazing at and couldn't help but ask.

  "Data records on Alexandrite."

  In regards to Miyuki's question, Tatsuya replied without hesitation just as usual. No matter how he treated others, Tatsuya had nothing to hide from Miyuki. The subject of this investigation was also something that Miyuki was well versed in.

  "Have you been looking for alchemical documents this entire time...?"

  Right now, he hadn't divulged the connection between that topic and the purpose behind it to Miyuki, hence her current state of confusion.

  "I want to understand the basis behind alchemy, but just the nature and creation process of the 'Philosopher's Stone.' Of course, there are plenty of documents citing the creation of a Philosopher's Stone as the definitive goal in alchemy."

  "Transmutation... You're not thinking of challenging this area, are you."

  For modern magic, transmutation currently remains an impossible task. While Flying-Type Magic was also once thought to be impossible, the actualization of transmutation exists on a completely different level of difficulty. Miyuki once heard Tatsuya say, "There is a very low possibility of actually achieving true transmutation."

  "Of course not."

  At Miyuki's question, Tatsuya laughed lightly in denial.