Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 04 - Nine Schools Competition (II) Page 13

  "I thought that replacing players are forbidden even if the starters suffered injuries?"

  "After carefully considering the situation, a special exception was made."

  What an unsurprising answer.

  Still, even if all these answers were anticipated, accepting them was an entirely different story.

  "......Why me?"

  This was no question, but a subtle rejection in and of itself. It was just that he was facing upperclassmen, so he had to at least observe the forms and could not simply say "No".

  Mayumi probably predicted that Tatsuya would answer this way and still hadn't come up with a method to persuade him, hence she kept beating around the bush. Currently, she wore a forced smile pasted on her miserable expression.

  "I just thought that Tatsuya-kun was the strongest candidate......"

  "Disregarding your grade in technical skills, in live combat ability alone you are undoubtedly the mightiest among the 1st Year male students."

  Mari, who until this moment had left the negotiations to Mayumi, noticed that the situation was turning bleak from Mayumi's vague response, and threw her weight behind the "persuading" side.

  "Monolith Code is not 'live combat' — it is a 'magic competition' where hand to hand combat is forbidden. I'm sure everyone is well aware of this without me pointing it out."

  Despite this, Tatsuya still didn't capitulate.

  "On magical fighting strength, I think you are also in the highest tier as well."

  Mari glanced at Hattori, who knitted his brows with a thoroughly miserable expression.

  This was a merciless, but effective angle of attack, so Tatsuya was forced to abandon his excuse of being "incapable". However, he still had another card up his sleeve.

  "But I'm not a player. In terms of replacements, we should still have other players that have only competed in one event."

  Now, even Mari was at a loss.

  "Even if we ignored the pride from the Course 1 students, by grabbing a replacement 'player' from the ranks of the 'auxiliaries', you would damage the confidence of future participants as well."

  This was probably the issue that was causing them the most headaches and also the one they didn't want to address.

  The Newcomers Division did wonders for educating new students. Even if they triumphed this year, they could not guarantee that this would not negatively impact the Official Division in the ensuing years, which was essentially putting the cart in front of the horse.

  If the replacement for one of the primary players turned out to be an auxiliary, and a Course 2 student to boot, this would have a shattering impact on not just the other players, but also the pride of the collective body of Course 1 students.

  Mayumi and the others had no rejoinder for this.

  He was the master of the field, Tatsuya judged. Now was the time for him to tactfully decline and bow out, and—

  "Don't be naive, Shiba!"

  Katsuto's booming voice rang out.

  For a time, Tatsuya was unable to respond.

  He was temporarily unable to discern exactly why he was being scolded.

  While it was true that his words were sophistry laden with logic, it was logic nonetheless.

  If they deployed him, even if victory over Third High wasn't attainable, Second Place in Monolith Code was still possible.

  The difference between gold and silver in Monolith Code was a paltry 40 points. If they captured Second Place, then they would likely carry the Newcomers Division.

  But in that case, no matter how you sliced it, Tatsuya would become the key contributor that made the Newcomers Division victory possible.

  This would be an absolutely unacceptable result to the Course 1 students still dwelling in their elitist world. Even if he was eliminated during the preliminary round, they would not suffer a Course 2 student like him to represent them in Monolith Code.

  "You are already a member of the representative team."

  However, Katsuto's words fell precisely on the weakest point of Tatsuya's defense.

  "Regardless of whether you are a player or auxiliary, that is not important. You are one of the 20 representatives selected out of the 200 1st Year students."

  Katsuto's alternate meaning.

  In other words, Tatsuya's presence had already dealt a huge blow to the Course 1 students and brought about severe shock and panic.

  "In light of this emergency, our leader Saegusa has selected you as the replacement.

  As a member of the team, once you have accepted this responsibility, you also have the obligation to fulfill your duty as a member."

  "But......"

  Even so, he still had to respond. Otherwise, they......

  "As a member, you should not go against your leader's decisions.

  If the judgment was erroneous, then we who aid the leadership will bring it to a halt.

  Members other than ourselves have no place to object.

  Indeed...... Regardless of whether it's myself, the person in question, whoever!"

  Tatsuya stared at him blankly and dropped what he was going to say.

  Tatsuya finally comprehended what Katsuto really wanted to express.

  The message Katsuto was driving across was that regardless of who objected and regardless of what the outcome was, the brass would take full responsibility for the fallout.

  "Do not cower, Shiba. Do not worry that you are a substitute. Since you have been selected, go out there and do your duty."

  These words were not just restricted to the Nine Schools Competition. The Nine Schools Competition never had a replacement policy in the first place.

  —Do not use your status as a Course 2 student as an escape route.

  —Do not look for excuses.

  —Do not put yourself in a position of weakness and wallow in despair.

  Do not worry that you are a substitute — that's what this meant. Do not concern yourself with your substitute (Weed, Course 2 student) status, these are what those words entailed.

  All his egress routes had been denied.

  Also — since they've already gotten to this point, he had no plans to back down.

  "......Understood. I shall do my best."

  Mayumi and Mari both relaxed.

  Katsuto solemnly nodded.

  "Then, who are my teammates?"

  In front of the upperclassmen, his tone was noticeably softer.

  To be precise, he was intentionally using a firmer tone than usual up until now.

  "That's up to you."

  "Ah......?"

  Tatsuya was not feigning ignorance. He was once again unable to comprehend what was being said.

  "The last two members will be decided by you."

  The same instructions were repeated in a different manner. Katsuto added a few words as if he had just thought of something.

  "It would be best if you could decide now, but if you need some more time to consider, then come back an hour from now."

  Hearing Katsuto's words, Tatsuya almost blurted out, "You're just the same."

  This was the case in April when they sacked "Blanche's" base. He gave full authority to an underclassman as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

  If he could avoid taking full responsibility, then this would only be a tactic to preserve himself. Yet for Katsuto, the only thing he had was responsibility here, so there's no reason he could treat this so cavalierly. Rather than calling this a byproduct of his leadership training, it may be more appropriate to say this was his nature...... Abandoning these useless thoughts, Tatsuya focused back on the topic at hand.

  "No, if I just need to choose, I don't need any time......"

  Tatsuya had already selected two replacements in his head from the roster.

  "I just don't know if they will agree."

  "Let us handle that."

  ......Again, refusing was not an option.

  Today was the first time Tatsuya learned that the eldest son of the Juumonji Family had such a forceful personality
.

  "Is anyone alright? Even if I choose people from outside the team?"

  Tatsuya's mood lightened considerably as if he was allowed to be as frivolous as possible.

  "Eh? That's a little......"

  "That's fine. This is already an unprecedented exception, so by now, no one will care if two more are added."

  "Juumonji-kun......"

  Mayumi helplessly glanced at Katsuto. On his part, Katsuto was wholly unperturbed by this.

  "Then, I choose Yoshida Mikihiko from Class 1-E and Saijou Leonhart, also from Class 1-E."

  "Hey, Shiba!?"

  Hattori quickly tried to interject, but was held back by Suzune's raised hand.

  "That's fine. Nakajou."

  "Yes, present!"

  Katsuto didn't bat an eyelid at Azusa's exaggerated response.

  "Please call Yoshida Mikihiko and Saijou Leonhart here. The two of them should be at this hotel, though not with the normal cheering squads."

  At first glance, he was bold and unconstrained — while this was also true, he was also someone who paid attention to the minute details. That being said, it was true that unofficial members and students that weren't part of the cheering squads and were also residing in this hotel did count as oddities. For people doing their due diligence, this was something worthy of devoting some attention to, so it was hardly surprising that he knew. Even so, Tatsuya was still impressed with Katsuto's knowledge.

  "......Tatsuya-kun. Can you tell us why you chose them?"

  Since she abandoned the responsibility for persuading Tatsuya to Katsuto, Mari was in no position to object at this point.

  Nevertheless, she was still unable to accept this answer, maybe even suspicious that something was afoot as she asked this.

  "Of course. A big reason is that I have practically not trained or interacted with any of the male team members."

  Tatsuya was only responsible for calibrating the Women's team, so it was true that he had never observed any of the men practicing.

  "I am utterly unfamiliar with their proficiency and weaknesses. The competition is tomorrow. It is by far too late to start investigating, devising strategies, or doing calibration."

  "......Do you know these two very well?"

  "Yes. We're not just in the same class — we also understand each other very well."

  "Hm...... You have a point. Since we can rely on other technicians for calibration, if teammates don't understand each others' strengths and weaknesses, teamwork would become a serious issue."

  As Mari considered this, she suddenly revealed a completely unexpected, mischievous expression.

  "Then, that's not the biggest reason, so what is it?"

  At Mari's curious question, Tatsuya didn't hesitate and immediately made a stand.

  "Ability."

  "Wha?"

  This intrepid answer caused Mari, Mayumi, Katsuto, and Suzune to look upon Tatsuya with profound interest.

  ◇◇◇

  "Hey, Tatsuya...... Is it true?"

  Rather than being confused, Leo wore a forlorn expression as he repeated this question for the umpteenth time.

  "Setting aside President Saegusa for the moment, do you think Group Leader Juumonji would spin such a complicated lie?"

  Tatsuya was getting ready to give up answering this question.

  "Even if you said setting aside the President, I still don't understand...... Oh, so it's really true."

  Until now, Leo was still skeptical as he heaved a deep sigh.

  To his side, Mikihiko was highly distracted as his eyes drifted, evidently unsure where to look.

  "Miki, settle down a bit."

  "My name is Mikihiko."

  After conversing with Erika as if prearranged, a disgruntled Mikihiko sat down on the bed.

  They were in Tatsuya's double room. The entire brass went and persuaded the two of them to accept — more like coerced — and Tatsuya called them over to make plans for the future.

  With Erika and Mizuki following along, this does seem a little "prearranged".

  Miyuki, Honoka, Shizuku were tied up by Eimi, Subaru, and their teammates and were currently locked in a spiral of "madness".

  "But...... Haven't Mikihiko and I made no preparations whatsoever?"

  "Exactly...... Forget about the CAD, I don't think we even have uniforms?"

  Mikihiko's face was a little pale. Owing to his sudden selection, he was a little timid and mystified at his completely unexpected elevation as a Course 2 student to starter for the Newcomers Division. Not that Mikihiko would ever be caught dead admitting that.

  Leo's coloring was normal, but he had shaken off his usual joking expression. He didn't look particularly energetic.

  Besides Mikihiko, Tatsuya was surprised to find that even Leo was a little daunted, but he didn't choose to alter the plan of attack. Don't even dream of throwing everything to me, Tatsuya thought.

  "Relax. They didn't prepare a uniform for me either."

  "Wait, that's hardly a comforting thought."

  Tatsuya waved his hand at Leo's ready retort.

  "It'll be OK. Even if there's nothing we can do about it, just relax."

  "No, that's not what I meant."

  This time it was Erika's turn to snark.

  Those two certainly share the same interests, Tatsuya thought.

  "Fine, you're right. Honestly, that's all I can say. Don't worry about it. We've already put Nakajou-senpai in charge of the protective gear and tunics. Appearances can be pretty deceiving and she's quite a competent person. I'm sure she'll have the perfect uniforms for us."

  Nobody had any comment for that. Not that anyone was going to call into question whether her competence belied her appearance.

  "I'll handle the CADs. I guarantee that I'll only need an hour per person."

  Completely calibrating a CAD from scratch to the point that it was customized for a Magician usually required triple the amount of the time.

  Yet, neither Leo nor Mikihiko seemed particularly astounded.

  On one hand, they weren't wholly aware how impressive "one hour" actually was, and on the other hand, they had already seen so many "shockers" in the past four days that they already thought "Tatsuya's omnipotent".

  "Is that OK? Isn't it already 9 PM? You still need time for your gear, right?"

  Erika was the only one of the four who was aware how time-consuming CAD calibration was. Thus, she was the only one looking on with concerned eyes.

  "That'll be fine. I only need 10 minutes."

  Looks like their worries were groundless. Once more experiencing first-hand how ridiculous he was, Erika heavily sighed.

  "Ten minutes, eh, ten...... Why do I even bother worrying about you."

  "Unfortunately, in reality, we don't have that much time."

  "Eh?"

  Erika comically portrayed a carefree expression, but upon hearing Tatsuya's bleak words, she quickly became anxious again.

  "Regardless of how you describe this, we are an impromptu lineup with no tactical planning.

  We have no time to practice, so we must do our fine tuning in battle.

  Charging into the fray with only a rough battle plan is like heading in there blind.

  For me, this is simply the last resort."

  Rather than saying that Tatsuya was discouraged, it was more like he was ranting.

  Erika relaxed somewhat and nodded.

  "......So that's how it is. Trickery is Tatsuya-kun's specialty."

  "That's going a little too far."

  Tatsuya could only droop his shoulders and smile at Erika's overblown description of his shortcomings.

  "Well...... It's pointless to complain any further about something that has already been decided. While Ichihara-senpai and Nakajou-senpai are scrounging up the necessary materials, let's go over our strategy."

  "You were the one who said we couldn't come up with a plan."

  Seeing Erika nitpicking Tatsuya's words, Mizuki barred her path with a vexed expression
on her face. (She was just standing in front of her.)

  "Erika-chan...... At the very least, please don't hinder Tatsuya-kun."

  "Ouch! Mizuki, I was just trying to liven up this totally deadbeat~ atmosphere......"

  "Yes, yes, as this deadbeat~ atmosphere is fading away, please be quiet. He already said we're running out of time, Erika."

  Recently, Mizuki had finally figured out the key to dealing with her friend, so she wasn't being pulled this way and that like she was in the past.

  "Hm......"

  Erika puffed her cheeks at being scolded, but mercifully remained silent. No matter what she said or what attitude she adopted, she stayed because she was sincerely worried about Tatsuya, Leo, and Mikihiko.

  "Our first topic is the formation itself."

  Tatsuya completely ignored the interruption and kept going.

  "I'm on offense, Leo is on defense, while Mikihiko will use guerrilla tactics."

  "OK. But what am I supposed to do on defense?"

  "I want to know too. What do you mean by guerrilla?"

  At this point, Leo and Mikihiko had either accepted their fate or were earnestly getting excited. The highest probability was that they were just trying to muddle through it. Regardless of the reason behind their completely different and proactive attitude, Tatsuya continued his fluid explanation.

  "The defense's job is to protect allied territory from enemy assault.

  Everyone knows the victory conditions for Monolith Code, right?"

  At this question, Leo answered without much confidence.

  "To render the opposing team unable to continue, or transfer the code hidden within the monolith into the terminal, right?"

  "That is correct. In order to transfer the code hidden within the monolith, a special Nonsystematic Magic must be inputted into the monolith. The special Magic Sequence serves as a key and splits the monolith in two. Once the monolith has been split, the team is forbidden from using magic to reseal the break. However, using magic to prevent the monolith from splitting is valid. Also, there is a requirement stating that the special Magic Sequence must be used within 10 meters of the monolith and would immediately stop upon leaving that range."

  "......In other words, the defense's job is to prevent the enemy from getting within 10 meters of the monolith, and even if the special (key) Magic Sequence has been inputted, their goal then becomes preventing the monolith from opening or disrupting the enemy from reading the code, these three points?"