Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 12 - Double Seven Chapter Read online

  “Good morning, Isori-senpai, Shiba-senpai.”

  After getting Azusa to swallow the apologetic complaints they expected from her, Takuma stepped forward from behind her and spoke to first Isori, then Tatsuya.

  “Morning, Shippou-kun.”

  He made a silent bow to Isori’s reply and then turned around to face Miyuki and Honoka.

  “Shiba-senpai, Mitsui-senpai, good morning. Please take care of me today.”

  Could he be nervous? Compared to the attitude Takuma hit them with the day before yesterday, the change was laudable.

  “Good morning, Shippou-kun. Please give it your all today.”

  However, Miyuki was not a gentle girl who could be moved by something like that. Her smile was magnificent, her tone was gentle. The perfect face of a lady in what was known as an impeccable social mask. Only Takuma’s attitude had changed; he had not apologized for his rude manner the other day. Miyuki did not intend to make any concessions from her side as long as he didn’t make any apologies to her elder brother.

  Azusa and Isori looked confused by the smile so formal that no one could complain about it. With nothing to indicate ill intentions, they could not rebuke Miyuki. On the other hand, they could not let the uncomfortable mood that had started to spread simply be. Azusa requested help from Tatsuya with her puzzled eyes.

  “Since all of us are here, let’s go over the order of the ceremony first.”

  However, Tatsuya’s only answer to that was to continue speaking as if nothing was wrong.

  “That’s right, we shouldn’t waste time.”

  Without a moment’s delay, Kanon provided supportive agreement. She too had probably decided that they needed to forcefully gloss over this scene.

  “Then, starting with the arrangements for thirty minutes before the admissions ceremony. The guiding of guests is Miyuki’s charge, the reception room is Honoka’s…”

  This was originally Azusa’s duty, but Tatsuya was not concerned with that as he continued with the rehearsal arrangements. It wasn’t right for Minami to be in this place, but no one pointed it out and it was completely forgotten.

  And the rehearsal immediately before the ceremony proceeded safely in the strained atmosphere that did not allow them the luxury of feeling pressured by the imminence of the actual event. Azusa and the others breathed a sigh of relief as it finished; in spite of the entrance ceremony starting in thirty minutes, they were very relaxed or rather they were in an exhausted state. Tatsuya thought they were letting their attention wander a little too much, but it wasn’t Tatsuya’s job to point that out. Besides, it was better than getting so worked up beforehand that they were useless when the main event started. Reconsidering things, Tatsuya set about his own work.

  “I’m going to guide the new students.”

  “Oh; take care, Onii-sama.”

  “Ah, thank you for your work.”

  As Miyuki and Azusa saw him off from the side of the stage and Minami bowed a silent goodbye, Tatsuya departed from the auditorium.

  His duty before the ceremony was to guide students who didn’t know where the event was. Last year, when Tatsuya met Mayumi, it was because she was assigned with the same job. When he heard that at the end of March when the jobs were assigned, Tatsuya hadn’t felt it was a suitable job for the student council president, who had important duties just before the actual ceremony. However, he had now reconsidered and he thought it might have been an excuse to go outside and relieve her tension.

  There was no way he himself was tense to that extent. Nevertheless, he was aware of a slight sense of freedom. Perhaps this was only natural, to be more at ease outside in the wind instead of inside preparing for a formal ceremony. Maybe, he resembled Mayumi on this point.

  Possibly, because he was thinking about that stuff,

  “Ah, Tatsuya-kun.”

  “Saegusa-senpai? Good morning.”

  Soon after he ventured in to the front yard, he unexpectedly met with Mayumi.

  “Saying 'it’s been a while'..... would be strange. Are you the new student guide?”

  “Ah, well.”

  “So you joined the Student Council after all.”

  The student assigned the task of guiding new students wouldn’t be anyone other than a member of the student council. However, the Public Morals Committee members were also patrolling in order to police the grounds, and temporary officials were also making the rounds. Thus, she should not have been able to conclude that he was an officer of the Student Council just from his answer, but Tatsuya did not say anything to refute the happily giggling Mayumi at all. He had, in fact, joined the Student Council, and another matter had caught his attention.

  It did not really need saying, but Mayumi had graduated from First High School last month. Therefore, she wasn’t wearing a uniform; this too was only natural. However, it probably couldn’t be called ‘expected’ for her to be here in attire that looked very mature.

  This was not the first time Tatsuya had seen Mayumi in non-uniform clothing. Last summer, when they departed for the Nine Schools Competition, he had seen her in a fairly spectacular summer dress. However, at the time, although she had been showing more skin, he hadn’t felt like he was seeing a different person.

  However, the Mayumi who was now clad in a feminine suit seemed older and a different person than she had been last month. The frills from her blouse were arranged in her chest area, she had a short jacket, and she also had on a tight skirt which did not give off an impression completely different than that of a high school girl. Could it be because of her deep red high heel pumps? Could it be because she had augmented her coloring with light makeup? Could it be because she had exchanged her large hair ribbon that held back her hair for an amber colored barrette? Perhaps, everything from the top on down created the effect, and more than anything else, Mayumi had gone up one more rung of the ladder to adulthood.

  “Not even a month has passed since graduation, but… for some reason, you don’t recognize me, Tatsuya-kun.”

  While Tatsuya had been thinking about those things, Mayumi, herself, on the other hand had claimed ‘that he didn’t recognize her’ and penetrated the — what can probably be called inevitable — hole in his defenses.

  “That may be true.”

  Mayumi smiled warmly at Tatsuya, who had just barely managed to reply.

  “Eh. That uniform… it’s the Magic Engineering Course, right? It’s different from last year’s.”

  “I think my uniform is the only thing that’s changed.”

  His comment wasn’t to hide his embarrassment — it was his actual opinion. That was what he really thought, but,

  “No, I think you may not be aware of it yourself, but last year when we first met in this same season, the Tatsuya-kun who was wearing the Second Course uniform had a completely different look than the present Tatsuya-kun. Compared to last year, you look more at ease.”

  Tatsuya did not dispute the claim Mayumi was making because he could not dispute it.

  The fact was that he himself was not aware of it. That he was not self-aware was the truth.

  To put it plainly, he had a bit of an inferiority complex about ordinary things.

  “I concede. I do not understand my own self.”

  Tatsuya bravely raised a white flag. This was not merely lip service. ‘Even though you try to understand yourself, you really can’t’ had been a bit of ancestral wisdom that had been around forever; he thought from his heart that this was the reason for his admission of defeat. However, seeing Mayumi just throw out her chest in triumph, a seed of rebellion sprouted within Tatsuya.

  “You called it failing to recognize you, but I think Senpai has changed way more than me.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yes. You’re completely a university student. You look very mature.”

  “Re-Really? It’s just barely past the entrance ceremony.”

  She spoke as if to deny Tatsuya’s impression, but Mayumi’s not at all displeased lo
ok and bashful manner were obvious. (By the way, the university admissions ceremony was on April 6th.)

  “Yes. From that barrette in your hair to those grown up pumps, they suit you very well. Like you’re another person.”

  “Teehee, really… you say.”

  Mayumi was no longer trying to conceal anything, but she looked like she came to a sudden realization when her smile cracked and her face abruptly hardened.

  “Tatsuya-kun… what do you mean by that…?”

  No, it was not like she came to a realization. Evidently, Mayumi had realized something,

  “Do you mean I rely more on them?”

  “To make myself look different, more mature?”

  She herself was being made fun of by Tatsuya.

  “In short, you want to say I used to look childish…?”

  “You’re over-thinking this.”

  Naturally, Tatsuya was not so weak willed as to easily acknowledge his own misdeeds(?). Faced with Mayumi glaring up at him with upturned eyes, he made his face look sober and honest and answered with a voice that matched that face.

  “I have never thought even one time that Saegusa-senpai’s face or figure was childish.”

  “Face… figure…”

  It seemed like Mayumi had received some kind of shock. Looking at her objectively, only her height was short; her face and figure were not childish. Anyone would say her face was the cute type, but it was not ‘childish’ and her voluptuous proportions could be called extremely mature for her age.

  Nevertheless, apparently Mayumi had a hidden complex about — she wasn’t really all that short — her height. Disregarding Tatsuya’s denial, she was probably interpreting his words in the worst way.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  As she answered Tatsuya’s words — in which she didn’t hear all that much concern — in a confident tone that was half bluffing, Mayumi was once again glaring up at him.

  “So Tatsuya-kun, what did you mean by a different person?”

  “It doesn’t really have a deep meaning. It’s a common phrase.”

  The persistently questioning Mayumi made Tatsuya feel like ‘he had failed.’ This was not a topic he intended to speak on at length. He didn’t intend to make light of Mayumi, but he could not have her occupy all his time. —Come to think of it, why had Mayumi come to her alma mater, thought Tatsuya at last.

  “Really? I don’t think so.”

  Mayumi made a straight forward appraisal. The ‘upturned stare’ transformed into ‘a scowl at point blank range’. Mayumi herself probably wasn’t conscious of it, but a spectator would mistake it for unwanted closeness.

  “No, really. …By the way, Senpai, why are you here today?”

  Mayumi displayed an ’ah’ look and a ‘Hey, you!’ in a shrill angry voice reached his ear at nearly the same time.

  “Get away from Onee-chan! You skirt-chaser!”

  At first, Tatsuya did not understand that those words were directed at himself. Because the label of ‘skirt-chaser’ was completely unwarranted. However, he saw that the petite girl that matched the shrill voice was coming down the path between the rows of cherry trees directly at him, and he became aware that apparently, this situation — the difference in the heights between Tatsuya and Mayumi had concealed what was actually going on — had been mistaken for something else.

  “Kasumi-chan!?”

  On the other hand, from the word, ‘Onee-chan,’ and the distinctive voice, Mayumi had understood that the remark was aimed at them. Mayumi turned toward the girl who was running to them and immediately looked back in Tatsuya’s direction and vigorously took one step backwards. Clearly flustered, perhaps she had some kind of clue of how the girl had misunderstood the situation.

  Tatsuya knew the girl called ‘Kasumi-chan’ was Mayumi’s younger sister even without looking at the new student registry. If her cordial relationship with her male junior was misunderstood by her younger sister, then it was only natural for her to be flustered, thought Tatsuya. However, he felt that her response seemed to be a little too energetic.

  His momentary concern did not turn into a needless anxiety. It was probably the high heels that led to the disaster. No, Mayumi should have had many chances to attend formal parties, so it probably wasn’t that she was unused to shoes with high heels. So she had probably been careless with her footing when she moved unexpectedly.

  Before Mayumi had tripped and fallen, Tatsuya had calmly considered the possibility. Completely from a bystander’s point of view. If he could have just kept looking and been done with it, he probably would have accepted the label of ‘heartless’ without complaint, but as usual he was not so lacking in human feeling.

  Mayumi, who had stumbled, was swiftly supported by Tatsuya. He had grabbed Mayumi’s shoulders with both hands. He did not grasp her hip area in an overly familiar manner and of course he did not insolently accidentally touch her breasts.

  “Ah, thank you…”

  Therefore, Mayumi thanking him while looking embarrassed was simply because she was bothered by falling when there was nothing to trip over.

  However, it seemed Mayumi’s sister didn’t think so.

  “I said get away from her, right!”

  Immediately after she screamed that. Mayumi’s sister — Kasumi’s body gently floated up. The petite body accelerated mid-air without forming a parabolic line, floating in a straight line with a knee protruding out to attack Tatsuya’s face.

  Tatsuya stopped that knee with one hand. He did not block it with his forearm — he caught it in his palm. Being high in the air adding to the power, the shock went up and the inertia fled to the ground.

  Mayumi looked up at the spectacle with her eyes so open that they were perfect circles, but Kasumi was even more surprised than her sister. It was better than being blocked or knocked down, and if it was a ballet lift, it would have been praised exultantly. As her movement conditions were forcibly altered, Kasumi’s Acceleration and Movement-type combination magic lost its effect.

  Without the assistance of magic, the one knee above the palm posture was an unstable stance. As one should expect, Kasumi’s balance was destroyed. Her petite body tilted violently.

  Before she tipped over completely, Tatsuya released the body he caught by one leg and lowered his hand.

  “Whoa!”

  The shriek she raised could not be called very cute, as Kasumi fell in a pitched forward posture. If she made contact with the soft coat of the pavement of the front yard in this manner, then even if she didn’t hit her head, she would probably be wounded on her palms and knees enough to cause bleeding. As a look for attending the entrance ceremony, it could be called a very pitiful one. That would be a very tough trial for a girl who had just barely become a high school student.

  In order to prevent this tragedy, Tatsuya would have to catch Kasumi’s body as it fell — which he did not. The reason was not that he didn’t have enough time to react. His cold eyes pursued the process of the girl who had just become his junior falling down. The knowledge that she was Mayumi’s sister did not have any significant impact on his decision making process. Although the attack had failed, the fact that the girl had launched an attack on him was more important and significant to Tatsuya. Besides, if he had caught this girl’s body as she fell, he would have shown the other girl a hole in his defenses.

  “Ah!?”

  Tatsuya understood from observation why the girl raised her voice hysterically.

  A Magic Sequence had pasted itself to the girl’s body. Her falling speed slowed. A protective barrier of data fortification protected the girl’s body so that neither the Eidos or the skin were damaged. Normally, this phenomenon wouldn’t occur unless the magician applied the magic to his own body, but a third party had cast it.

  As Kasumi landed gently undamaged, almost at the same time, Tatsuya made a big leap backward. Three meters in front of the space he vacated, a girl, who aside from her hair style loo
ked exactly like Kasumi, with the same face and body type, rushed over to Kasumi, who was on both her knees.

  “Kasumi-chan, are you okay!?”

  “Izumi, you saved me. Thanks.”

  Side by side, they really were like two peas in a pod. Even a person unaware of their background information would probably conclude from looking at them that they were identical twins. Of course, Tatsuya knew the pair were indeed twins.

  Saegusa Kasumi and Saegusa Izumi. Within the Numbered, the sisters were known, without irony or whimsy, as ’The Saegusa Twins’.

  Even though their faces were identical, their auras differed greatly. From looking at Kasumi, who was emitting signs of aggression with her curl-less hair cut in a short hairstyle, she was probably very sports oriented; possibly she was some kind of martial arts practitioner. On the other hand, Izumi, who was clothed in a graceful, gentle aura, had straight hair cut to give her bangs reaching her eyebrows and hair that touched her shoulders evenly; perhaps she was a bookworm, as she looked like she might be an indoor type of girl. From her words just now as well as her tone and expression, he knew she was flustered, but somehow she did not seem all that nervous. —At least on the surface. However, Tatsuya felt that this was the one he should be more wary of.

  It was somewhat rude for Tatsuya to stare at someone when it was their first meeting, but they were all doing it. They all had blatant looks in their eyes but Tatsuya’s was indeed the most temperate.

  “Izumi, this guy is strong for a playboy.”

  “Uh, umm, Kasumi-chan?”

  Certainly, there was a clear difference between their mental states; although the probing looks they sent at him were the same, the flame of hostility was only burning in Kasumi’s pupils.

  “Calming down a little would be…”

  Izumi was gently stroking Kasumi.

  “My intuition is screaming. This guy, he’s not ordinary.”

  Nonetheless, Kasumi was not listening to her advice. She glared up at Tatsuya on her knees, shifting her left sleeve and exposing her CAD.