Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 01 - Enrollment Chapter (I) Read online

  "I'm sorry, Onii-sama. Because of me, people are getting a bad impression..."

  "It's nothing you need to apologize for."

  Without letting the distressed-looking Miyuki finish her words, Tatsuya brought his hand up and placed it on Miyuki's head from the side with a small knock. As he continued to stroke her hair in a combing fashion, her downcast face became tinged with an enraptured shade. To any onlooker, this pair of siblings appeared to be approaching a dangerous boundary, but perhaps, still withholding their reservations as a consequence of having just met the siblings, Mizuki, and Erika as well, said nothing to that.

  "Well, since we are all here, why don't we go have a cup of tea?"

  "Sounds great! There seems to be a nice cake shop around."

  In other words, it was a teatime invitation.

  There was no need to ask them whether their families were waiting for them. Asking such a thing would probably be a needless consideration. It was the same for Tatsuya and Miyuki.

  That aside, Tatsuya had something else to ask. In truth, it was really an insignificant thing, but it was something that would gnaw at him if he didn't ask.

  "You didn't check up on where the school entrance ceremony would be held, and yet you know where a cake shop is?"

  It might be a question of a slightly teasing nature.

  "Of course! It's something important, isn't it?"

  But Erika nodded confidently without the slightest bit of hesitation.

  "'Of course', huh..."

  His acknowledgement turned into a moan. But, as if it were somebody else's business, Tatsuya thought that someone would receive the brunt of that.

  "Onii-sama, what do you think?"

  But it seemed like Tatsuya was the only one shocked at Erika's rash remarks.

  Even Miyuki did not appear to have paid heed to the lack of common sense in prioritizing a confectionary over the ceremony venue. —Though in the first place, Miyuki was not aware of the details of the whole story.

  "Well, sounds good. After all, we just got acquainted with one another. Be it the same gender, or the same year, we won't find another friend too many."

  Even though he said that, he had never really put much thought into his agreeing response. There was no particularly pressing matter awaiting him at home either. Originally, Tatsuya did think that they should go somewhere to spend the afternoon to commemorate his younger sister's enrollment before going home.

  Since it was not a well thought out line, it reflected his offhand true voice.

  Apparently aware that it was his true voice speaking, Erika and Mizuki returned their words in this manner.

  "Shiba-kun I say, when it comes to Miyuki, you don't think too deeply into it..."

  "You really care about your sister, don't you..."

  Whether it was a compliment or a comment from blank amazement, before the combined respective differing gazes, Tatsuya could only remain silent with a bitter face.

  ◇◇◇

  The "cake shop" that Erika brought them to was in fact a "French cafeteria with delicious dessert"; they took their lunch there and spent some time chatting merrily (it was the three females talking, and Tatsuya was only listening), and by the time they got home, it was close to evening.

  There was no one to welcome them.

  The house, which vastly exceeded the average size, appeared to be mostly inhabited by just Tatsuya and Miyuki.

  He returned to his room and took off his uniform first.

  He really didn't want to think that such a 'makeshift mantle' could affect him that much, but, after taking off the blazer that was intentionally fashioned to look "different", he felt a little lighter. He clicked his tongue once at these feelings of his and quickly finished changing.

  As he was relaxing in the living room, before long, Miyuki, who had finished changing, came down from her room.

  Even though materials had made a large progress, apparel design had largely remained the same as a hundred years ago.

  With her beautiful shapely legs revealed from below the short skirt of a style from the start of this century, Miyuki approached him.

  For some reason, this little sister's fashion sense tended towards a more revealing nature at home. Even though he seemed to be more or less used to it, her considerably increased femininity from it frequently caused Tatsuya to feel troubled about where he should set his eyes on.

  "Onii-sama, would you like something to drink?"

  "Sounds good; I would like a coffee then."

  "Certainly."

  As she headed towards the kitchen, a banded loose tail of hair swayed behind her slender back. It was to prevent her hair from interfering with her kitchen work, but, from the fleeting glimpses of the fair nape of her neck, which was normally covered by her long hair, an inexpressible loveliness radiated from the wide center of the neckline of her clothing.

  In an advanced country where the use of Home Automation Robots (HAR) was widespread, women —— as well as men —— who involved themselves with kitchen work belonged to the minority. There were few people who performed any actual cooking in general, such as toasting bread or brewing coffee, with their own hands unless it was a hobby.

  And Miyuki belonged to this minority group.

  It was not because she was a machine moron.

  When friends came to visit, she would normally leave it to the HAR.

  But, when together with just Tatsuya alone, she would definitely opt to labor herself.

  The grinding sounds of beans and bubbling sounds of boiling water reached Tatsuya's ears faintly.

  She could be said to be pretty hung up to even go to the extent of using the simplest paper drip, rather than using an old coffee maker model.

  He had tried asking her once, and her reply was that she wanted to do it that way, so it was probably indeed a hobby for her. He also recalled the time when he had asked her whether it was a hobby, and she had glared at him with a pouting face.

  At any rate, the coffee Miyuki brewed was most suiting to Tatsuya's taste.

  "Onii-sama, here you go."

  She placed the cup on the side table, came around from the other side and sat beside him.

  The coffee on the table was black, while the one she held had milk added to it.

  "Tastes really good."

  There was no need to compliment further.

  Just from that alone, Miyuki broke into a grin.

  Then, peering into the satisfied face of her elder brother with her smiling eyes, a relieved look surfaced on her face as she brought the cup to her mouth —— that was the usual Miyuki.

  With that, the two of them savored their coffee.

  Neither of them struck up a forced conversation.

  Both of them were not bothered by the presence of the other person beside themselves.

  The times when it felt bad to not speak to each other for a long period of time had long since passed.

  The topics they could talk about were plenty. Today was the school entrance ceremony. They had made new friends, and for some reason, they had encountered worrisome upperclassmen. Miyuki was invited by the student council as expected. The things that could be recalled, and the things that could be discussed, were too many for one night.

  But, facing the sibling pair, in the house of theirs, were merely tilted cups in silence.

  "—It's almost time to make dinner."

  Holding her empty cup, Miyuki stood up. Handing over his coffee cup to his little sister's outstretched hand, Tatsuya also stood up.

  The evening deepened into night as usual for the two siblings.

  Chapter 2

  He awoke to the second day of his high school life, and it was quite ordinary.

  Even though he had started to attend high school, it didn't mean that the earth's rotation cycle would be affected.

  He lightly washed his face — since he was going to properly wash it again later — and put on his usual attire.

  Then he went downstairs to the dining
room and saw that Miyuki had begun to make breakfast.

  "Morning, Miyuki. you're quite early today."

  It was still at the break of dawn, and there was no sign of the spring sun yet.

  It was still too early to go to school. The first lesson was at 8am sharp and commuting to school would take roughly 30 minutes, so it would be ideal to leave the house at 7:30am. Preparing breakfast, eating, cleaning up... if we considered the time needed for all this, there would still be over an hour of extra time.

  "Good morning, Onii-sama... please help yourself."

  "Thanks."

  She handed him a glass of fresh juice.

  After a sincere word of gratitude, he emptied the glass in one breath, then returned it to Miyuki's outstretched hand. —Miyuki had a perfect grasp of Tatsuya's breathing pattern.

  Just at the exact moment he was about to say "I'm leaving" to his little sister, who was once again facing the kitchen table, Miyuki's hands stopped and she turned around.

  "Onii-sama, I was actually planning to go with you today..."

  Upon saying that, she lifted a basket full of sandwiches. It seemed more accurate to say that she had "finished making breakfast" rather than "started to make breakfast".

  "I don't really mind, but... will you be coming in your uniform?"

  He asked while eyeing the school uniform under her apron, a stark contrast to the sweatshirt he was wearing.

  "I haven't reported to sensei about school enrollment yet... and also, I can no longer accompany you in your training, Onii-sama."

  And that was Miyuki's answer.

  The reason why she had already changed into her school uniform this early in the morning was to show her high school look to him.

  "Understood. Miyuki, it's not like you need to carry out the same morning training as I, but Master will probably be happy to see you.

  ...Though I hope that he doesn't start running amok from being overly happy."

  "If that happens, then Onii-sama, please protect me."

  The sweet wink from his little sister naturally brought a smile to Tatsuya's face.

  ◇◇◇

  In the slightly chilly, refreshing air of the early morning, a young woman was gliding up the hill road on her rollerblades, her long hair and skirt fluttering in the wind.

  Without kicking off the ground to propel her, she was zooming up the gentle but long hill road against gravity.

  Her speed probably reached 60 kph.

  Tatsuya was keeping pace beside her.

  Though he was jogging, each stride he took went as far as 10 meters.

  But, he did not look as relaxed as Miyuki did.

  "Perhaps, I should slow down a bit?"

  "No, then it wouldn't count as training."

  Asked Miyuki while having spun around and gliding backwards on one foot, to which Tatsuya replied without losing a single breath despite the evident fatigue.

  Both of them did not have any kind of propelling device installed in their shoes.

  Needless to say, this speed was an effect of magic.

  What Miyuki was using was a magic that decreased the acceleration due to gravity and a magic that would allow her body to follow the slope of the road to move towards her destination.

  What Tatsuya was using was a magic that would amplify both acceleration and deceleration forces generated when he kicked off the ground, and a magic that would suppress his upward motion in order to prevent him from jumping too high.

  Both of them were using a simple combination of motion and acceleration spells. As a result of their simplicity, not just Miyuki, even Tatsuya who could only enroll as a Course 2 student, was able to maintain a persistent invocation.

  In such a situation, it couldn't be said which magic, the one employed by Miyuki who was wearing rollerblades, or the one employed by Tatsuya who was running with his own legs, was of a higher difficulty level.

  At one look, with the rollers to reduce the burden of motion, it seemed like it was more effortless for Miyuki, but, without using her own feet, it meant that she had to control her motion vector completely with magic.

  On the other hand, for Tatsuya, he could determine the direction of his movement with his running legs.

  Tatsuya who had to continuously reactivate his spell at every single step, and Miyuki who could not release her control on her spell, even an instant.

  The training the two of them were imposing on themselves was of completely different natures.

  ◇◇◇

  Their destination was about ten minutes away from their house — at the speed they were moving — on top of a slightly elevated hill.

  If we were to use a single word to describe it, it would be "Temple".

  However, the people who were gathered there did not resemble any "priests", "monks", nor even "novice monks" in the slightest.

  If we are daring enough to put a fitting label to them, "Practitioners of Austerities" or "Soldier Priests" might be more appropriate.

  Shrouded by the atmosphere of being rigid towards girls, especially towards young ones who would make them so fearful that they wouldn't be able to get close, Miyuki glided in on her rollerblades without a single moment of hesitation. While it was an act that was unlike her usual courteousness, the head had repeatedly told her "It's fine" to the point of irritation, so she just dispensed with the formalities.

  As to what Tatsuya was doing at that time, he had not kept up his pace; no, that wasn't it, he had in fact met with a violent reception as he passed through the temple gate.

  When one first starts going to this temple, one would start off sparring with a single person at a time, but right now there were about twenty of the middle-ranked or lower disciples coming at Tatsuya all at once — not round-robin — an unusual thing.

  "Miyuki-kun! Long time no see."

  A merry voice suddenly called out from Miyuki's blind spot, who, while standing at the front yard of the main temple building, had turned around to look worriedly at her elder brother who was buried in a mass of people.

  "Sensei... please stop erasing your presence and sneaking up on us; we have been looking all over for you..."

  Despite any extra vigilance, the same kind of thing kept happening over and over again, to the point that it’s not so much a shock as a pointless waste to Miyuki.

  "Telling me not to sneak about, Miyuki-kun, is giving quite a tall order.

  I’m a 'shinobi'. Sneaking about is what I do."

  Wearing the black robe of a monk, with a clean shaven head, he did not seem at all out of place here but did not give any impression of age.

  The only description that could really be used was ‘aloof’, and even though he was dressed as a monk, that was impossible to believe.

  "In this day and age, there’s no such occupation as ninja. I wish you’d correct that as soon as possible."

  Even as Miyuki earnestly protested,

  "Tut tut tut, don’t misunderstand by labeling us ninjas; we are fully legitimate 'shinobi'. It’s a tradition, not an occupation."

  He replied while wagging his finger back and forth. —It was altogether rather rude.

  "We respect your legitimacy. So please stop it with all the mystery. Why is sensei so..."

  Frivolous, she had been about to say, but gave up. It was pretty pointless, she had learnt that by now.

  This wannabe monk — well, actually, he does have the qualifications of a genuine monk — Kokonoe Yakumo, is a self ascribed "shinobi".

  Or more liberally, a "ninjutsu user".

  Just as he insisted, he is an operative who draws the line with only surpassing physical capabilities, teaching the ways of ancient magic.

  At a time when magic was becoming the target of science, yet still concealed from the public world, and thought of as fiction, it was revealed that masteries such as ninjutsu had somehow become classified not just as mere forms of medieval martial arts but categories of magic.

  Yet rather than fiction, it’s probably closer to think o
f it as a mysterious "art".

  Naturally, as with other magic systems, the legend doesn’t tell the whole truth.

  The "transformations" in the ninjutsu of storytellers are just high speed movement and illusions.

  Not just ninjutsu, but all traditional forms of magic rely on tricks like that, and things such as transformations, shape shifting, and alchemy are considered impossible in many fields of modern magic.

  The Kokonoe Yakumo whom Miyuki calls sensei, and Tatsuya calls master, was one who passed on such traditional shinobi magic knowhow.

  However, putting aside his priestly attire (which screamed of falsehood anyway), his appearance and residence notwithstanding, no matter how you look at it he lacked a sense of propriety-

  "Is that the uniform of the First high school?"

  "Yes, we had the entrance ceremony yesterday."

  "I see I see. Mmm, it’s nice."

  "...Today, I knew you would be starting school..."

  "That brand-new green uniform, neat and clean, has some sort of hidden charm."

  "..."

  "Almost like a flower bud that is about to open, a shoot about to sprout.

  Ah yes... moe, this is truly moe! Mrmph?"

  At this massively rising tension Miyuki was slowly backing away, then suddenly Yakumo twisted around while raising his left hand above his head.

  Thwak, the sound of an arm chopping down.

  "Master, you’re frightening Miyuki; could you please calm down a bit?"

  "…Not bad, Tatsuya-kun. Taking me from the back, hah."

  Whilst blocking Tatsuya’s right arm with his left, Yakumo lashed out from the right.

  Weaving his arm in a figure 8, it was enveloped by a fist just as it was about to reach the side.

  As Yakumo effortlessly somersaulted forwards, aiming a kick at the back of Tatsuya’s head, Tatsuya deftly spun around and dodged.

  The gap between the two closed.

  A sigh rose from the spectators.

  At some point in time, those two had been surrounded by a large circle of people.