Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 04 - Nine Schools Competition (II) Read online

  And to top it all off, there were two matches in one day alone.

  In terms of physical stamina, this was a more punishing event than Crowd Ball or Monolith Code.

  With the players' exhaustion in mind, there was a large interval for resting between the preliminary and elimination rounds, which could be said to be a unique feature of this event.

  The first match was set at 8 AM. With two arenas going at the same time, the preliminaries would be finished around noon.

  The elimination round would start at 7 PM. This was the only night time event in the entire Nine Schools Competition.

  Some may question why the Nine Schools Competition forced the preliminary and elimination rounds into one day rather than splitting them across two days. There was, of course, a method to the madness.

  Mirage Bat was an event that involved swinging a bat towards the orb-shaped holograms (Strictly speaking, they were three dimensional orb images. Modern imaging techniques technically possessed fundamental differences with holograms). In other words, the player had to identify the illusion floating ten meters off the ground while still grounded, otherwise there was no way to complete the event. This event was not suited to be conducted under the burning sun. Hence an airship was deployed during the third match to avoid letting the sun interfere with the event.

  Mirage Bat was designed to be conducted during night time.

  In order to avoid letting the players' bodies cover the projecting lights, the 3D projector was set atop the cylindrical light towers that surrounded the arena. From this alone, one could fully understand this was intended to be a night event.

  ◇◇◇

  After the end of the second match — as expected, both Honoka and Subaru advanced — Tatsuya was headed back to his room to take a quick nap.

  The two players had already returned to their rooms and were sound asleep.

  In this event, restoring lost stamina was absolutely critical.

  As the technician, Tatsuya didn't need to rest physically, but this was a good opportunity to relax his nerves. He toyed with the idea of using the Sleeping Docks, but elected to yield that to the players first and returned to his room, pulled the curtains, and lay on the bed.

  Right now, the third match of Mirage Bat was progressing. He was very fortunate to be assigned the first and second matches. Even though it was only one more hour, this hour had a huge impact on refreshing himself mentally and physically.

  He also wished that Miyuki's Official Division preliminary was early as well, but that was out of his hands. Tatsuya abandoned that thought after taking into account how meaningless that consideration was.

  His physical body wasn't tired, so he didn't have to force himself to sleep, but allowed his mind to wander.

  As he lay on the bed with his eyes closed, Tatsuya thought back to the scene from yesterday morning.

  Ichijou Masaki and Kichijouji Shinkurou — while they were of the same age as he was, they were both prodigies that were renowned in the world of magic.

  Ichijou Masaki — Three years ago, when the Great Asian Alliance invaded Okinawa, the New Soviet Union also took military action on Sado, where the young man of a mere 13 years volunteered for the front lines and, alongside the current head of the Ichijou Family, Ichijou Tsuyoshi, used "Rupture" to annihilate many enemy soldiers. He was a Magician who possessed live combat experience.

  While the scale of the battle was quite small (to this day, the New Soviet Union denies their connection with the militants that invaded Sado), he was awarded the title "the Crimson Prince of the Ichijou Family" for his exploits. (Here, "Crimson" praised him for the fact that "he was bathed in blood and fought to the last" rather than being a derogatory "bloodthirsty" label.)

  Kichijouji Shinkurou — A genius Magician that identified the "Cardinal Code", which had only existed in theory, at age 13. Based on his surname Kichijouji and the "Cardinal Code" he discovered, he was given the title "Cardinal George" and was held to be one of the rising stars behind theoretical Magic Sequences who were known throughout the field.

  The fact that both of them registered at the same school in the same cohort was a coincidence that bordered on criminal.

  For the two of them to team up during Monolith Code was already an invincible combination, at least for the Newcomers Division.

  Morisaki and company deserved to be pitied. Tatsuya viewed things that were not connected to him more mercifully.

  If only there was some way to close the gap.

  ("Rupture" is a magic that possesses A-Rank destructive power...... Maybe.)

  The Ichijou Family's far-famed ability "Rupture" was a Dispersal-Systematic Magic that vaporized all fluids within the target's body.

  Once the fluids from a biological target were vaporized, the body would tear apart.

  For internal combustible machines, once the fuel evaporated, the car would immediately explode. This was also the case for battery liquid. Even if there were no flammable liquids on board, there was still engine oil, lubricants, coolant. There was practically no machine that didn't use some sort of fluid. Thus, as long as "Rupture" was activated, the Ichijous could destroy any machine at will.

  This was the perfect magic for both anti-personnel and anti-armor combat. "Rupture" was designed solely for military use, so naturally it infringed upon the rules for Monolith Code.

  (That being said, he is still the next head of house for one of the Ten Master Clans and possesses the proud title "Crimson Prince", so he wouldn't just rely on "Rupture" as his trump card...... Speaking of which...)

  He shifted his thoughts from two people who signed up for Monolith Code and declared war in front of him to the Monolith Code event itself.

  He didn't have to devote all his energy into creating countermeasures for Third High yet.

  Right now, First High's second match was about to start.

  (They already took the first match and the second match is against the lowly Fourth High. Even they can't screw this up that bad......)

  Tatsuya's eyes remained closed as he surrendered to his drowsiness and drifted off to sleep.

  ◇◇◇

  Tatsuya woke up shortly after noon and headed for the competition area, only to find the area covered by a rattled atmosphere.

  Scratch that, it was a complete state of panic that enveloped the pavilions.

  First High's pavilion was the center of it all.

  "Onii-sama!"

  The moment he stepped into the pavilion, Miyuki ran over to him as if this was a predetermined event. Shizuku was right alongside her.

  "Miyuki...... Shizuku too, weren't you two with Erika's group?"

  According to the plan, before Honoka got up — she had to prepare for the finals around 5 PM — Miyuki and Shizuku should have been watching Monolith Code with Erika and the others.

  Yet, the two of them were here, which implied that......

  "What's going on? Did something happen during Monolith Code?"

  Without waiting for an answer, Tatsuya immediately followed up with another question.

  There was no reason to ask if something had occurred, the very mood testified that an incident occurred.

  Tatsuya had an inkling that this was likely worse than he had feared.

  "Yes, there was an accident, but......"

  "Miyuki, that was no accident!"

  As Miyuki hesitated to speak, Shizuku forcefully overrode her words as she interrupted.

  "That was intentionally overkill. It was blatantly against the rules."

  Although she kept a tight rein on her tone, Shizuku's eyes betrayed her fury.

  "Shizuku...... This is not the best time to make wild accusations. We don't have proof that Fourth High intentionally did this."

  "Indeed, Kitayama-san."

  Behind them, Mayumi interjected into the conversation.

  "It is hard to imagine that this was purely an accident...... Even so, we cannot jump to the conclusion that this was premeditated. If we hurtle suspicions
around blindly, some people who do not know any better may assume that's the truth."

  This may be a little impolite, but that was certainly a worthy argument from the upperclassman leadership.

  As he saw Shizuku reflect upon that gentle reprimand, Tatsuya also thought, "The President does have a few tricks up her sleeve". ......Unfortunately, Mayumi immediately squinted at him from the side.

  "......Is there a problem?"

  "......You were just thinking something impolite, weren't you?"

  (H-how sharp......!)

  Tatsuya faltered slightly at how adeptly she saw through him.

  Still, when he stood there, his life experiences belied his actual physical appearance.

  "No, I was just thinking, as expected of the Student Council President......"

  He wore a mask of honesty and feigned that he was being unjustly suspected in order to carefully gauge her reaction.

  "......Is that so?"

  While her eyes remained suspicious, Mayumi reined herself in at least. Not only was she unable to find any chinks in Tatsuya's acting, she also felt this wasn't the right time to pursue this issue.

  "Then, what's our injury situation?"

  "So you realized from the conversation alone that Morisaki-kun and the others are injured......"

  Mayumi sighed, her expression had "what a troublesome issue" written all over her face.

  "......They are seriously injured. The event was held in an urban setting and they were crushed beneath the rubble from a ruined building that crumbled when the attacks from 'Battering Ram' struck."

  "......If used against people in closed environments, the magic "Battering Ram" rates as A-rank in destructive power. This is on a completely different level than the danger encountered during Battle Board and is a blatant violation of the rules."

  The "Battering Ram" that the two were speaking of was also known as "Point Burst", which was a magic developed through PK research. This magic functions by rewriting the Eidos of the target object and applying a massive Weight-Type Magic on a single point. When used against buildings, the target requirement was usually a wall or the ceiling, or at least a "single surface" that was separated from any pillars and also required a colossal magic capacity as well as high interference strength.

  If simply destroying a building was the goal, it was more efficient to use Move-Type Magic and sling a hammer around. In comparison, "Battering Ram" was a highly demanding magic that, besides BS Magicians, was not something that could be casually treated like a toy.

  "Agreed...... Even if they were wearing military-use protective equipment, that's not going to help against tons of rocks and dirt falling on top of you. Thanks to the protective helmets and the observers casting Light Weight Magic in time, disaster was averted...... The three of them have undergone magic healing, but even then this will take two weeks. They are confined to bed for the next three days."

  Still, Mayumi avoided making a judgment on whether the accident was truly intentional and subtly altered the direction of the conversation.

  "......It's more serious than I imagined."

  Tatsuya could sympathize with Mayumi's stance on not voicing an opinion and thus avoiding the need to pursue the issue.

  "Indeed. This may be a little rash, but once I saw the magic healers going, that was a horrible sight."

  Just as she said, this was a somewhat harsh opinion regarding the injured members.

  At any rate, the fact that Mayumi faltered so badly was also a clear indication that she was probably not on guard against Tatsuya.

  "Wait, I'm still unclear on this point. Were all three in the same building?"

  This may not have been a matter Tatsuya needed to worry about, but in Monolith Code, the typical strategy called for either one person on the attack and two on the defense or vice versa. Tatsuya had a hard time figuring out what situation would call for all three members of the team to be struck down by the same attack.

  "They immediately suffered a surprise attack once the match was under way. It wasn't that they couldn't find anyone before the start signal, but it was that they didn't have a chance to. Setting aside 'Battering Ram' for now, there's no question that jumping the gun is a clear violation of the rules."

  The one who answered was the fuming Shizuku.

  "I see...... In that case, then the board will be busy too."

  "Because they weren't able to prevent it...... Right?"

  Seeing Tatsuya grin evilly, Miyuki tilted her head as she asked in confusion.

  Miyuki was too sincere and honest to comprehend Tatsuya's twisted line of logic.

  "This isn't anything too important. Rather, setting an easily destructible ruin as the starting location was one of the key causes of this accident — we'll call it an accident for now. The board may elect to scrap Monolith Code from the Newcomers Division altogether."

  "......That's also true."

  Miyuki nodded in profound agreement to Tatsuya's reasoning. At this time, Mayumi jumped back in.

  "There are indeed calls for a halt to this. However, the ending result is that the preliminaries are still going on for all the schools besides us and Fourth High. The worst case scenario is that our school will be treated as withdrawn from the second round of the preliminaries."

  Hearing Mayumi's words, it was Tatsuya's turn to turn his head.

  "What do you mean worst case scenario? The players are unable to compete any longer, so aside from withdrawing, I don't see any other options......"

  "On this point, Juumonji-kun is currently negotiating with the board."

  "Really......"

  After the commencement of the Nine Schools Competition, changing players was forbidden. In other words, since the other side violated the rules, they were going to request an exception?

  Even so, the Monolith Code team members consisted of the 1st Year male students with the top three magic technical scores. Even if they found replacements, victory remained elusive. Rather than looking for replacements, a better option would be an unorthodox request to remove the scores from Monolith Code from the aggregate score. Behind these vague responses, Tatsuya made this consideration.

  Naturally, Mayumi had no idea what dark plots were running through Tatsuya's mind.

  "—Tatsuya-kun, I wish to speak with you."

  Mayumi's voice contained coquettish overtones. She must be thoroughly unnerved by this chain of accidents and was subconsciously looking for something or someone to rely on.

  At practically the same time, his sister fixed a burning gaze on Tatsuya. He really wanted to dig a hole and hide as he thought “I didn't do it, don't glare at me, why aren't you glaring at Mayumi?”. But there was no way he would be caught dead saying that.

  "Can you come with me for a moment?"

  Does this mean she was worried about other people overhearing their private conversation?

  The burning gaze doubled in intensity, but Tatsuya feigned ignorance as he followed right behind Mayumi.

  ◇◇◇

  Although they were inside the pavilion with a wall separating them from the outside, it was only made of cloth after all. From this perspective, this served as a poor sound barrier.

  Yet, this was the realm of magic that reversed the laws of reality. Mayumi slowly built up a magical barrier that prevented their voices from traveling outside.

  "Quite the perfect sound barrier."

  "Really......? Hm hm, thank you."

  Mayumi sat down with a slightly embarrassed expression while Tatsuya also pulled up a chair and sat.

  "Then, let's cut to the chase......"

  "Very well."

  "............"

  Even though Mayumi claimed time was of the essence, she refrained from speaking. Since the two of them alone would arouse all sorts of problems, Tatsuya finally opened up.

  "You suspect that this accident is also related to the previous sabotage incident?"

  "......Yes. On that topic, I would like to hear Tatsuya-kun's opinion. Tatsu
ya-kun mentioned before that Mari's incident had a high probability of the CAD being tampered with, right?"

  Mayumi finally worked up the courage to ask, to which Tatsuya nodded and replied: "Yes."

  "If they were using the same tactic this time, that would fully explain Fourth High's actions...... How do you think we should go about proving this?"

  "Our only option is to catch them red handed, all other options are not viable."

  "Can't we...... Borrow Fourth High's CADs and look them over?"

  "This would be fine if traces of the rewritten Activation Sequence remained...... But given the ominous silence from the already disqualified Seventh High, this seems unlikely."

  "Really......"

  Mayumi's gaze dropped down to her ten interlaced fingers on the table top.

  Tatsuya watched her pose and considered that he caused her some disappointment here. Mayumi didn't raise her eyes and continued asking.

  "......If this played out according to Tatsuya-kun's assumptions and our school is the subject of sabotage...... What do you think the motive is? Vengeance? Revenge for the incident in spring?"

  So that's the real item that Mayumi was concerned about, Tatsuya thought.

  Tatsuya possessed the intelligence in his hands to dispel this concern. He knew that this situation was not caused by remnants of "Blanche", the terrorist organization that they shattered, or any related organizations. If he revealed everything that he knew, he would be able to alleviate Mayumi's anxiety.

  Yet, whether revealing everything was truly the best choice, he hesitated briefly over this decision.

  "......This is unrelated to the incident in spring."

  Finally, Tatsuya elected to play one card from his hand.

  "Eh? What makes you say that?"

  Mayumi quickly raised her head and asked back, her voice betraying her hopes and prayers that he had some basis for saying so.

  Tatsuya possessed the power to realize that hope. At the same time, he was denied the option of laying everything out on the table.