Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 09 - Visitor Chapter (I) Page 3

  "Happy New Year, Shiba-kun. Your attire suits you, how unexpected."

  Dressed in a kimono, just like Miyuki, Honoka seemed to be slightly cowed by her classmate's loveliness, but upon catching sight of Tatsuya's plain but altogether different aura, her heartbeat spiked and she immediately took on a coy smile.

  "Happy New Year. Honoka looks great too."

  Tatsuya wasn't just offering empty flattery. He honestly believed that Honoka's kimono was exquisite.

  Tatsuya smiled slightly at the ecstatic Honoka and lowered his gaze to his own clothes.

  "Since you mentioned this was unexpected, do I really look that out of place?"

  "What are you talking about, Tatsuya, it fits you quite well. You look like a boss."

  "So I'm the mafia now."

  The one who interjected with this comment — in earnest or jest, that was unknown — happened to be the jacket-clad Leo.

  The three who joined them at the shrine were Mizuki, Honoka, and Leo. Erika and Mikihiko were unable to spare themselves due to the high number of disciples at their respective families, and Shizuku was about to study abroad and was unable to attend due to her father's business.

  "Although you don't look like the mafia, it's definitely a rare sight to see a high school student wear a haori hakama so well."

  "Rather than being from the mafia, you look more like a police chief."

  Just as the slightly tardy Haruka and Yakumo said, today Tatsuya wore the traditional Japanese hakama and bamboo clogs. Much like what Honoka and Leo said afterward, he really did look the part. The only thing missing was a pair of swords and a police baton.

  "Ho, Haruka-chan. Happy New Year."

  "Happy New Year, Ono-sensei. ...Tatsuya-san, and this is?"

  Immediately on the heels of Leo's well wishes, Honoka also followed up with her customary greeting towards a teacher as she kept one eye on Yakumo and the other eye carefully watching Tatsuya.

  Upon hearing Tatsuya's introduction, both Honoka and Mizuki widened their eyes in shock. Honoka was aware of Yakumo's name, but even Tatsuya was amazed to learn that Mizuki had heard of Yakumo as well.

  "I see, so that's why we're at the shrine."

  Tatsuya was amazed by Leo's display of hitherto unknown depths, but this was in no way meant to be derogatory towards Leo.

  "So?"

  Given that Haruka was unaware of the link, this definitely wasn't common knowledge.

  "Hm? When it comes to Buddhist monks, wouldn't they be monks from the Tiantai school of Buddhism? The Sanno faith and inner sect is practically inseparable."

  Hearing Tatsuya's simplistic explanation that was phrased as a question for some reason, the number of question marks floating around Haruka's head only increased.

  "I say, you're quite knowledgeable despite your youth. I believe you are Saijou Leonhart-kun?"

  Ignoring the completely confused Haruka, Yakumo happily struck up a conversation with Leo.

  "Eh? Do you know me?"

  Faced with someone he met for the first time, Leo responded in a rather serious tone.

  "That's because I watched the recordings for the Nine Schools Competition."

  Yet, Yakumo's response was also a perfectly serious, uninhibited response, but that only caused Leo to furrow his brows on reflex. This was probably because the image of him wearing a cloak and hood that belonged in a different age and location was likely a memory that would stay with him no matter how badly he wanted to forget it.

  After the mutual introductions were finished, the five students and the bald man (in a normal male kimono and not the kasaya) and the young woman walked towards the shrine together. —Fortunately, no one inquired the reason why Haruka came along.

  The scenery lining the path had remained unchanged over the past 100 years. However, this scenery was only possible after the world food crisis had passed. This was a scene that moved anyone of advanced age who lived through that time, but Tatsuya and company had nothing to be emotional about.

  Without any curved paths, up on a long flight of stairs, past the threshold, they arrived in the courtyard of the shrine. There, Tatsuya abruptly noticed a pair of eyes gazing this way.

  This was not an impolite gaze stalking them, but a pair of peeping eyes that occasionally glanced this way.

  "Shiba-kun, is something up?"

  "No."

  "I gather the foreigners are rather curious about Tatsuya's wardrobe."

  Despite the disguise, there was no way to escape Yakumo's eyes. Even Tatsuya discovered the source without using Elemental Sight and, excluding Haruka for the moment, it was guaranteed that Yakumo would notice.

  The "foreigner" Yakumo spoke of was a model young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Still, in this day and age, just this alone might be insufficient to determine foreign ancestry. Nevertheless, that young woman's features gave a hint of Japanese descent.

  Her age was roughly the same as Tatsuya. After taking into account the differences between white and Asian peoples, the differential would be slight, Tatsuya thought.

  "Onii-sama, what are you looking at?"

  While Tatsuya only observed the young lady for less than a second, this was enough to rouse Miyuki's attention.

  Following her brother's gaze, her eyes glinted as an "Oh" passed her lips.

  "...What a beautiful child."

  Miyuki softly expressed her internal thoughts.

  In Miyuki's eyes, that young woman was a gorgeous young lady who fully deserved the description "beautiful".

  Her hair and eyes were both brilliant in color. On some level, she had features that rivaled even Miyuki herself.

  Regardless, Tatsuya was not observing her for these reasons.

  He sent an inquiring look to Yakumo for help — but seeing Yakumo's highly entertained smirk, he was forced to defuse the situation on his own.

  Tatsuya held his sister's gaze while replying to her complaint in an even tone.

  "There's no way she can hold a candle to you."

  "...You say that every time. Don't think you can always coax me with that."

  While the literal words might seem like a vibrant counterattack, her embarrassed visage, flushed beet red, undercut any threat behind her words.

  "I'm not coaxing you; I truly think that way. Also, that's not the reason why I'm watching her."

  "Seriously, Onii-sama."

  Miyuki turned her face to one side upon discovering the hidden warning tucked in Tatsuya's words that could not be ignored.

  "...Is there something suspicious about her?"

  "In terms of suspicious... I suppose her wardrobe is a little suspicious."

  Tatsuya replied with a wry tone. Because of this, Miyuki took another look at the young blond woman and finally realized what he was talking about.

  She wore a bright tan coat over her pleated skirt along with striped pants and a pair of long boots. In truth, if that were all there was then this would not have been worthy of note. However, the length of her coat was approximately the same as her skirt, which was about 10 cm below the hips, so you could only see the bright patterns on the tip of the pleat skirt. In addition, she wore tall boots with a thick cushion that was highly elastic as well as practically see through lace leggings. To top off the ensemble, she carried a bag covered in artificial fur along with a soft hat with animal figures embroidered on the side. All in all, this made her stick out like a sore thumb when it came to modern fashion. It was almost as if she wore a combination of fashion designs from the pre-war Spice Girls. With this in mind, it was hardly amazing for Tatsuya to think that she was highly irregular.

  Still, Miyuki knew that her brother wasn't truly paying attention to external appearances.

  "But, that's not all there is to it."

  Miyuki directed an altogether different, and more intent, gaze toward the young girl.

  Maybe it was because she noticed that she had been discovered, the young girl started walking as if nothing had happened.

  She wa
s headed straight towards Tatsuya's group.

  She silently passed next to them before departing down the long flight of stairs.

  Still, the profound gaze sent his way as they rubbed shoulders was most definitely not Tatsuya's misconception.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  The infiltration mission assigned to Major Angelina Sirius also included blatant misdirection. Among them, the initial contact with the target also included allowing the target to catch a glimpse of herself, so this was successful. Although she was initially worried that hiding her own presence would prevent her target from discovering her, this apparently was a groundless concern, just as her subordinate had said. Still, being discovered so easily didn't sit very well with her. Ruminating on this, Major Sirius returned and opened the door to the high class condo that served as her quarters for the duration of this mission.

  "Welcome back."

  Originally, Major Sirius believed that her roommate shouldn't have returned yet. However, contrary to her expectations, a welcoming response came from within the house.

  "Silver, you're back."

  The Major used her pet name to greet her adult roommate who intentionally met her at the door.

  Her roommate was called Silvia Mercury First. Besides her first name Silvia, the rest were all code names, meaning that she ranked first among the Stars planet-class "Mercury". Rank Warrant Officer. Twenty five years of age. She was a highly regarded female CO who attained the title of "First" at an early age. In the beginning, Silvia didn't want to join the military and intended to become a journalist after graduating from college. This time, her outstanding ability in data analysis prompted her selection as Major Sirius's support personnel.

  "Silver?"

  This talented roommate paid no heed to Sirius's words and just stared blankly at her. Feeling that something was awry, the major called out to her again before Silvia replied back her eyes still glued to the major.

  "Lina... What can I say about that getup?"

  Lina was the pet name for Major Sirius. Given the requirements of the infiltration mission, it was vital to hide her identity and avoid terms like "High Commander" or "Major", hence she was ordered to use her pet name Lina. Furthermore, Silvia originally possessed an unrestrained personality, so she quickly forgot about the differences in military rank and warmed up to Lina.

  Although her word usage did not contain any honorifics when addressing a superior officer, Lina paid no heed whatsoever.

  "Ah, you mean my appearance? In order to avoid notice, I spent some time investigating Japanese fashion magazines from the last century. It was really tiring. So, how do I look?"

  "...Before I answer the question, may I present another?"

  "Sure, go ahead."

  Although Silvia was currently rubbing her temple with the appearance of a grievous headache, Lina didn't notice anything off.

  "Don't you have a lot of problems walking around in those boots?"

  "Indeed, I almost fell over quite a few times. I'm amazed that Japanese girls can walk around in these boots without twisting their ankle."

  "Have you seen any girls wearing those kind of boots?"

  The original question had now turned into two questions, but again Lina didn't notice.

  "Hm? Now that you mention it, I don't think I have."

  Silvia's expression shifted from pained to helpless.

  "Lina, allow me to put it bluntly. Those boots of yours were out of date a long time ago!"

  "Eh~!?"

  Lina's eyes widened in shock at Silvia's words. Seeing this reaction, Silvia's frustration finally exploded.

  "What do you mean, eh! Not just the boots. The leggings and hat are also out of date. That's the fashion statement from 100 years ago! Also, your wardrobe doesn't fit very well and is completely unlike something a young girl would wear. There's no way you can walk outside without drawing attention."

  Lina's facial expression became stiff upon hearing this reprimand, probably because she was aware of this herself. In reality, she did notice that she drew a lot of attention when she left this morning. Still, at the time this occurred, she thought this was only because the populace didn't see foreigners very often.

  "No matter how badly you wanted to get the attention of the target... Why the heck are you drawing attention from unimportant people as well?"

  As if unable to hold it back any longer, Silvia gave a huge sigh of defeat.

  "High Commander!"

  The tone was very calm and steady, but Lina felt a cold bead of sweat trickle down her back.

  "Today, the rest of your itinerary is canceled. Allow me, Mercury, to personally give you a simple and easy to understand explanation on the most up to date Japanese fashion."

  Silvia made this declaration with both hands on her hips. While Lina vastly outranked Silvia in combat prowess, for some reason she couldn't muster a single counter argument.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  After the brief but densely packed winter vacation, the third semester began.

  "Densely packed" included taking Shizuku to the airport, where an unexpected "tearful departure" (starring: Honoka and Shizuku, co-starring: Miyuki and Mizuki) forced them into a corner (this wasn't something that could be solved with brute force), which served as a valuable life experience, but Tatsuya firmly believed that all this would eventually become nothing more than a "wonderful memory". —At least, it would be too depressing if he didn't tell himself that.

  Supposedly, the new transfer student taking Shizuku's place in Class A would be arriving today, but Tatsuya felt this matter didn't relate to him. This person was going to be Miyuki's new classmate, so it's not like it was wholly unrelated, but there were enough degrees of separation that he didn't need to voluntarily greet them.

  Speaking of classes, starting on the first day of the third semester, the course schedule would last the entire day. While rumors of the mysterious transfer student in Class A would leak out the moment first period ended, Tatsuya didn't proactively seek them out and paid little attention to the rumors that drifted in one ear and out the other.

  Nevertheless, his aloof attitude was decisively among the minority. During the break time after second period, even he was dragged into the rumor mill thanks to his overly curious friends.

  "I hear it's an incredibly beautiful young lady."

  Seeing the highly excited, or perhaps anticipatory look on Erika as she struck up a conversation finally caused Tatsuya to capitulate.

  "She's got a head of luminous blond hair; even the upperclassmen are going to look."

  "Erika didn't go catch a glimpse?"

  At any rate, the basis for such a lively conversation was nothing more than rumors, which was somewhat of a concern for Tatsuya, prompting his interjection.

  "There's a crowd of people there, so there's no way to get in."

  "I know exactly where you are most concerned about."

  The moment Leo jumped into the conversation, he already preemptively covered his head with one hand.

  A second later, Leo was warbling like a frog that was off tune as he keeled over to the floor while clutching his throat.

  (If you knew that was going to happen, then keep any unnecessary thoughts to yourself.)

  Tatsuya stared in amazement at Leo, who had been rendered unconscious by the sudden jab to the throat by a rolled up notebook, while the person responsible, Erika, continued on as if nothing had happened.

  "I am a girl after all~. No matter how pretty that girl is, I sure don't want to squeeze through that crowd."

  While Tatsuya supported the idea of not venturing forth specifically to get a look, her perspective that lumped curiosity and lust into one category would draw outrage from any male present.

  "That's because this is a magic high school with no precedent for transfer students. Everyone would naturally be curious about students from abroad. After all, this hasn't occurred in the past 10 years."

  "I'm not very clear on what happened in the past, but we're not t
he only one who received transfer students."

  The one who interrupted was Mikihiko, who came fresh from the Geometry Preparation Room.

  "Second High, Third High, and Fourth High all received short term transfer students. The universities also received people who came in the name of research. I heard this from the family disciples."

  "Ah, I also heard about the university. With the incredible edge Flying-Type Magic lent to the military in the Yokohama incident, there are rumors that they are frantically trying to get more information from us."

  Ancient Magic and modern magic belonged in separate fields. The Yoshida and Chiba Families both boasted high numbers of disciples, so naturally their level of information was superior to the norm. Apparently, the USNA had invested a surprisingly high amount of personnel. When coupled with the information regarding independent Stars movement he received in November, the situation looked to be grave indeed, Tatsuya thought.

  "So the transfer student in Class A is a spy?"

  "You moron..."

  At the completely uninhibited question from the newly revived Leo, not just Erika, but even Mizuki and Mikihiko looked overcome.

  "Leo-kun, you can think about those things, but don't say that aloud..."

  "As students, we have to at least maintain a cordial relationship..."

  Despite suffering a double whammy from both Mizuki and Mikihiko, Leo still soldiered onward.

  "Why would we need to do that, she's in Class A, isn't she? There's no connection, right?"

  "You idiot, Miyuki is in Class A. That's the transfer student you see once in a blue moon along with the Student Council Vice President. Until the transfer student has fully acclimated to the school, Miyuki will at least have to watch over her for appearance's sake. So long as this affects Miyuki, there's no way we can remain unrelated."

  Erika immediately overruled Leo's rebuttal.

  Unwilling to draw more trouble, Tatsuya inwardly sighed "What she said".