Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 12 - Double Seven Chapter Page 2

  "Ah, there’s no need to be humble. Don’t you think so too, Hayama?"

  Hayama, who had hitherto stood both silent and motionless behind Maya, spoke in a serious tone.

  "Though points should be deducted for allowing the enemy to break through the window, the exercise still concluded with the successful incapacitation of all 10 targets. I believe this logically deserves a passing grade."

  After hearing Hayama’s words, Minami’s eyes widened in shock. This was not because she felt that the evaluation was overly harsh. As the head butler who oversaw all the servants in the mansion, Hayama was scant with his praise towards subordinates, yet here he was giving a "pass" to a servant. To Minami’s knowledge, this was the first time this had occurred. On top of that, she was the recipient of such praise, which only doubled her astonishment.

  "Speaking of which, Minami-chan......"

  "What is your will, milady?"

  However, she didn’t have the leisure to remain surprised. There was no way that the head of the Yotsuba Family would banter with a journeyman like herself simply to congratulate her on the results of the exercise. That much was clear without any deeper contemplation.

  "You are about to graduate from middle school. Any thoughts on high school?"

  "……Haven’t decided."

  "Really, are you still worrying about that?"

  Worry was hardly the right word, given that the decision to enter high school was not something she could decide for herself. Minami was indentured to the Yotsuba Family. Even if she said that "she wanted to attend high school", so long as Maya or Hayama declared that to be "unnecessary", the point was moot. "Haven’t decided" was akin to "Haven’t received further orders", so Minami herself had no cause to worry.

  "Then, Minami-chan, you will go to Tokyo."

  This order caused Minami to feel 30% comprehension and 70% surprise. A year ago, Minami had heard that she would eventually be serving Miyuki. Still, she assumed that was far off in the future and at least after Miyuki returned to the main house. Though Miyuki’s house in Tokyo was slightly larger than the average dwelling, it was still within the boundaries of a typical residence. A full-time maid on staff would feel somewhat unnatural. Furthermore, a child who had just graduated from middle school would only deepen suspicion from others, Minami thought.

  Her mistress swiftly answered the questions churning in her head.

  "Go and attend First High."

  Was First High referring to the National Magic University Affiliated First High? That was the only question in Minami’s mind. Since she had been ordered to "head for Tokyo and attend First High", no further explanations were necessary.

  Since registration was now done online, there was no need to worry about the registration deadline. Still, the problem was First High boasted the most difficult entrance examination among the schools. Without any formal tutoring to prepare for the exam, would she be able to pass? This caused Minami to feel deeply uneasy.

  "You do not have to worry on account of the exam."

  Were they going to use their connections to get her through? In truth, that was what Minami was hoping for.

  "There’s still 3 weeks until the exam. All the necessary information will be directly written into your brain."

  However, that line of thinking was overly naïve. There was indeed such a device in this village that utilized brainwashing as a technique to directly carve necessary knowledge into a person’s mind with or without their consent. Yet, that device seriously depleted a person’s strength. She would likely be bedridden for a week after the exam.

  "Do your best. You will be granted a period of time to rest after the exam. Likewise, from tomorrow onward, you are relieved of your duties as a maid."

  As if sensing Minami’s unease, Maya made this gentle yet merciless declaration – "You have no choice".

  "Minami-chan."

  "Present, milady."

  Up until now, Maya’s expression had been smiling, but now she was absolutely serious. Following her mistress’s example, Minami tightened her expression.

  "Go to Miyuki’s side. Starting in the spring, Miyuki will be your mistress."

  "Understood."

  This was a mission that was originally assigned to her ahead of time. A steely determination lurking in the midst of her anxiety, Minami accepted Maya’s orders.

  Chapter 1

  Thursday, April 5th, AD 2096. Today was the day before the opening ceremony of a new school year for the National Magic University Affiliated First High and three days before new student orientation.

  In the house of the Shiba siblings, Tatsuya stood before a giant mirror that reflected his entire body with a discomfited expression on his face.

  By his side, his sister Miyuki wore a dazzling smile like a flower in full bloom. Actually, before such a brilliant smile, even the cherry blossoms may wilt into buds out of shame. That radiant smile was enough to cause people to deem it “magical”. Miyuki drew so much attention that even the existence of the newcomer standing beside her seemed to diminish. She was the new maid/bodyguard/houseguest sent by Yotsuba Maya to the siblings and would become their underclassman at First High in three days, Sakurai Minami.

  With hopeful eyes that fairly shone, Miyuki smiled widely as she watched her brother in front of the mirror. On the cabinet next to the mirror, Tatsuya’s new uniform jacket hung there after being delivered by mail last night.

  “Onii-sama, please hurry and don your new uniform so I can see it. Or do you wish for Miyuki to be anxious……?”

  Ignoring her would probably throw Miyuki into a sulk right now. For the sake of his sister’s mental health, Tatsuya felt that there was a need to set aside his personal unhappy mood for the moment.

  Currently, he was already wearing the uniform pants and full vest, so the only thing left was for him to put on the coat. Tatsuya could only helplessly pick up the sleeve of the suit.

  Minami stepped forward as if to assist Tatsuya with the sleeves, but was immediately blocked when Miyuki moved at the same instant. Without feeling put out, Minami returned to her original position.

  His sister pressed a hand to the coat while Tatsuya turned around. Miyuki helped Tatsuya into the sleeves of the long suit before working from her brother’s back to the shoulders, fixing the contours.

  Next to Tatsuya, who had once again turned to face the mirror, Miyuki drank in his figure with a hand laid against her dazed face as warm gasps of air exhaled from her mouth.

  The style and colors were exactly the same as the school uniform for male students at First High. However, there were three particular details that were different from before.

  On Tatsuya’s new school uniform, an emblem of eight petals forming a gear was embroidered over the left chest and over both shoulders. A new design, the emblem was the exact same size as the eight petal flower on the Course 1 student uniforms and also sewn at the ends of both sleeves.

  “Onii-sama, this fits you perfectly……”

  Though Tatsuya himself still felt a little out of sorts with the new uniform, this new design was absolutely integral for allowing Miyuki to vent the aggravation of watching her older brother spend the entire previous year without an emblem to his chest.

  That gear was the symbol of the new Magic Engineering Department established this year. In the previous year, Tatsuya had accumulated accomplishments that were undeniable to both within and without. If his “substitute” status was maintained, the school believed that would have a detrimental effect on the student’s image. In the end, the new Magic Engineering Department was established, or Magitech for short.

  Of course, the school system wasn’t being changed for Tatsuya alone. Setting aside the reason behind all this for the moment, there was no way the newly created classes could only accept one student.

  In regards to this, a fundamental adjustment was made to First High’s class structure.

  The number of new students accepted into Course 1 and 2 remained unchanged at 100 s
tudents each.

  What changed was the procedure involved when these students advanced to Year 2. The new Year 2 students had the option to choose between the original Magic Study or Magic Engineering classes. Students who chose to continue with the original would still be divided into 4 classes of Course 1 students and 3 classes of Course 2 students. On the other hand, students who volunteered for the Magic Engineering Department and passed the examination in March would join the newly established Magic Engineering class with an emphasis on magic engineering in the curriculum.

  In the name of devising a new experimental class, First High accepted new faculty dispatched from the university. Though they only began with one class, if the results were positive, the plan was to grant new students who had just enrolled the same option of choosing between the normal Magic Study or Magic Engineering.

  Furthermore, as a side effect of the Magitech class’s establishment, Course 2 students were granted access to this class to supplement the deficiency of Course 1 students transferring into that department. This was done based on the practical skills ranking among the Course 2 students. Among Tatsuya’s friends, Mikihiko would be transferred to Course 1 at the start of this year.

  Regardless of how they tried to embellish the truth, the fact that the Magic Engineering Department was created because of Tatsuya was blatantly obvious to those who were aware of the details.

  Hence there was a reason, and it was therefore natural, for Miyuki to be overjoyed with her brother’s “dashing figure”.

  Maybe because she was satisfied after her brother struck a series of poses, Miyuki finally relented and let Tatsuya off the hook. Though he got the impression that he was being treated like a dress up doll, Tatsuya consoled himself with the words “Miyuki is a girl after all”. (Speaking of which, Minami’s new student fashion show had been performed three days ago.)

  “Onii-sama, Minami-chan, come have tea.”

  Miyuki delightedly proposed to her housemates as she seemed to bounce off to the kitchen. Even the scene of Minami’s seemingly gloomy look at her retreating back was now within the norm. In Tatsuya’s eyes, maybe because of her age – perhaps her youth would be a better way of putting it – and the fact that she had been firmly imbued with a sense of diligent professionalism, Minami was very proud of her duties as a maid (a somewhat rude way of looking at it). For Minami, stealing her task of preparing the tea was something that impacted the meaning of her existence. However, when it came to the importance of “taking care of Tatsuya”, Miyuki would second that to no one. Which is why during the first 5 days after Minami came to this house, the two of them were outwardly pleasant towards one another, but were actually engaged in a furious tug of war. If Tatsuya was someone with a weak constitution, he would surely have succumbed to an ulcer. Fortunately (?), his physical flesh as well as his nerves and innards were as strong as steel.

  With both sides putting their raison d'etre on the line, the result of this quiet war ended in a dubious compromise between Miyuki and Minami.

  First, Minami was responsible for cleaning and washing clothes.

  Second, Minami was responsible for cleaning up after meals and tea.

  Third, when Tatsuya was present, Miyuki would prepare meals. Minami could do so if Tatsuya was not around.

  Fourth, when Tatsuya was present, Miyuki would prepare tea. Minami could do so if Tatsuya was not around.

  Fifth, Tatsuya’s wardrobe was Miyuki’s domain. Minami would assist with Miyuki’s clothes and garb.

  The reason this was dubious was because even now, whenever Miyuki or Minami detected that the other side had left an opening, they would immediately seize the opportunity. Still, in Tatsuya’s eyes, the two of them seemed to be on a relatively friendly footing.

  On the surface, Tatsuya and Minami’s relationship appeared to be cordial. –Then again, a soon to be 17-year old youth and a 15-year old girl becoming the best of friends in two weeks was probably a problem in and of its own right. Tatsuya thought as if all this did not affect him in the slightest.

  Though this didn’t constitute estrangement, it was true that Tatsuya was of the mind to keep Minami at a distance. Regardless of the slightly downward drooping eyes at the corner, the dark brown, wavy hairstyle, willowy brows, or the dimples that appeared on the sides of her face when she smiled – Minami was too similar to Honami.

  Sakurai Honami. The woman who served as his dead mother’s guardian. Four years ago, she had died at Okinawa while protecting Tatsuya.

  Like Honami, Minami was born from an unfertilized egg that came from the same “mother” and had also undergone genetic modification before applying sperm from the same “father” to “manufacture” a genetically modified human being whose magical genes had been strengthened – a modified body. Though they weren’t “twins”, they were close enough to be “sisters”. The family tree would list her as a cousin, so it was only natural for Minami’s facial structure to be similar to Honami.

  Of course, that extent of the theory was known to Tatsuya. Still, that sort of comprehension was insufficient to explain anything or comfort anyone. The thing that created the estrangement (or something akin to that) was not her appearance, but that her appearance triggered Tatsuya’s memories of the dead.

  To the siblings, Honami was someone who was practically family. Upon further contemplation, she was a girl who might have been an older sister. Whenever she was reminded of her, Miyuki was always filled with melancholy and gloomy remembrance. However, Tatsuya’s recollection contained more bitter regret than Miyuki. For Tatsuya, even the reminder that she was practically family only compounded the bitter aftertaste. It wasn’t something he couldn’t swallow, but he still couldn’t help but frown at the bitterness of it all.

  —Too powerless—

  The struggles Tatsuya bore towards the regret involving Honami could be summed up in that one phrase.

  The cause of Honami’s death was physical weakening. If Tatsuya had not met the Great Asian Alliance’s fleet attacking Okinawa, then at least she wouldn’t have died there. The undeniable truth of the matter was that in order to protect Tatsuya, Honami had forced herself to use large scale magic that burned through all of her remaining life force.

  However, Tatsuya didn’t regret the decision he made at the time. He didn’t believe that choosing to meet the enemy assault was the incorrect decision. Although his actions at the time were not the product of careful planning and were the result of impetuousness, there was a much higher probability of the situation worsening if he had not chosen to annihilate the Great Asian Alliance fleet. This was not just Tatsuya’s opinion, but the consensus of the research labs in the University of Defense after running multiple simulations.

  His regret came from the fact that Honami’s power was even necessary.

  Currently, Tatsuya did not need to employ any extra effort when wielding Material Burst. Now that he had learned to set up “Decomposition” as an area of effect magic, Tatsuya no longer needed to rely on Honami’s power to intercept the shots fired from the enemy fleet.

  He was just that powerless at that time.

  Triggered by Minami’s appearance, Tatsuya was reminded of his powerless self.

  “Onii-sama?”

  “Ah, I’m on my way.”

  Tatsuya fell into a reverie for less than 3 seconds. Miyuki didn't call out to him because they were pressed for time, but rather because of the subtle change of atmosphere that Tatsuya produced.

  He replied back to Miyuki’s call and began walking forward.

  Immediately behind him, it seemed perfectly natural for Minami to wait for Tatsuya to make the first move.

  Since there were literally only the siblings in the house, the sudden addition of another housemate required purchasing quite a few replacement items. The dining table was one such item. The table was one size larger than before and the surface design was now composed of glass that was able to withstand high temperatures. That said, the table was actually sturdier now and was
proof against breakage unless a two-handed hammer was used against it. Considering its moisture resistance and ease of cleaning, practicality was also a plus. –In comparison, the price was also significantly higher. Tatsuya took a seat at the table while Miyuki sat across from him, with Minami sitting to Miyuki’s side.

  For some reason, Miyuki still wore an apron. By her side, Minami remained silent though she also wore an apron. Sitting across from two young girls both wearing aprons was certainly an interesting scene, Tatsuya thought.

  However, though they were both wearing aprons, the style differed drastically between the two.

  Minami wore a full body, long-sleeved frock with a high collar. The thick, sturdy apron practically covered every inch of her body from the front and was clearly designed with practicality first in mind. Even though this wasn’t the “official” European maid uniform from the 19th century, this plainly evoked that impression.

  Compared with that, Miyuki wore a mini-gown which daringly revealed the thighs even though it was still early spring. The apron was also the type with thin straps – how many aprons did she have squirreled away – and left the curves from the chest to the collarbone on full display. Naturally, everything below the edge of the apron that was 10 cm above the knees was also uncovered. Through the surface of the transparent glass table, the depths of her thighs could be seen along her knees that were side by side.

  Was this little sister of his tempting – teasing him?

  Stop, he lost if he started paying heed.

  Thankfully, once he made up his mind, he was truly able to put it from his mind. In this regard, he should express thanks to his mother and aunt, Tatsuya thought. –Though perhaps Miyuki bore the opposite opinion.