Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 05 - Summer Holiday Chapter Page 5
Morisaki Shun was the only son of the Morisaki Family’s main branch (there were no other young men in his generation) and had started working in the agency two years ago. As a youth, people were not as wary of him. Rather than serving as a primary accompanying agent, he utilized this to his full advantage and served in a support role and observed the surroundings from the rear while preventing attacks.
When the agency was short on manpower, he was always called upon to assist regardless of whether he had the time (even though this was a side job), but recently he had not been asked to undertake any missions. Currently, Morisaki wasn’t interested in conducting practices that had no physical sense of accomplishment as he was more desirous of real (combat) experiences that validated his existence. However, he was not dispatched on a mission today either.
After removing his uniform jacket and tossing it aside, Morisaki caught the eyes of the frustrated young man watching him from the mirror.
The face belonged to him and no one else.
Takigawa’s warning reverberated in his ears.
Morisaki was aware that his current mental status was decidedly in poor condition.
He needed to switch gears while the warning from other people still dwelt in his mind – he told himself while forcibly suppressing his frantic mood before changing from his uniform into casual wear.
◊ ◊ ◊
Even if this was a spur of the moment outing in the afternoon, he could immediately find four or five companions if he opened his communication device right now.
Yet, Morisaki chose to walk the streets by himself.
He kept a small CAD hidden in the front pocket on the inside of his vest and kept the smaller, scattered belongings in a backpack slung over one shoulder before hitching a ride on the bus to downtown.
His destination was chosen entirely on whim. He did not come here for some specific purpose nor was this Morisaki’s preferred stomping grounds. Strictly speaking, he probably just wanted to will away the hours in a location that wasn’t too noisy but fairly lively at the same time.
With so many parks in the area, this location belonged to more than just youngsters. Still, during daylight hours on a day that wasn’t a holiday, the most conspicuous figures were young men and women of high school age enjoying their summer vacation. Most of them wore clothing appropriate for the summer season with an emphasis on cooling off.
This was rather refreshing for Morisaki.
Even during summer vacation, most students were dressed in accordance with school rules on campus.
Male students wore large sleeved tunics and female students wore leggings beneath their dresses. As a rule, both men and women wore jackets on top. Their athletic uniforms had long sleeves and pants while female students wore swimsuits used for competitions that covered everything below the neck.
However, cuteness in the form of backless clothing or revealed shoulders was on full display here. Wearing sandals with bare feet was perfectly natural just as miniskirts or shorts that covered the bare minimum areas were nothing out of the ordinary.
Morisaki himself was wearing easy-going gear that included a short-sleeved tunic embroidered with flower patterns and the top two buttons unbuttoned.
However, he was wearing a vest that opened in front that concealed a CAD.
This was the singularly most out of place area.
The youth coming and going were not carrying CADs. From the onset, Morisaki never witnessed any young man wearing dark jackets or vests nor did he see any young ladies carrying thick bracelets.
Just now, he hadn’t seen a single Magician.
It seemed like Morisaki was only able to truly comprehend the cold truth just now that Magicians belonged to a decisive minority.
Furthermore, he suddenly felt that “his throat had gone dry”.
(……This must be because I was sweating a lot in the morning……)
He rationalized this as thirst.
Not far from where he was standing stood the terrace of a café.
Without further contemplation, Morisaki walked towards the aesthetically pleasing café as if in stark resistance to acknowledging his thoughts and doubts.
The rather limited capacity of the café had no empty spaces left.
Lacking further options, Morisaki could only take a seat on the terrace that only provided an umbrella’s shade from the sun. Outdoor air conditioning services were not a rarity, but this café was not equipped with one. Given the outer appearance in the style of a small log cabin and the white wood furniture, the café owner was possibly a fan of natural décor.
A certain group of people might conceive the café’s style as “fashionable”. Though there was indeed a demand of such in the market, this was wholly dependent on the time of year. As proof of this, the terrace of the café was sparsely populated.
Morisaki claimed a corner seat for himself as he held a cup of iced coffee and observed the youth on the streets in a lackadaisical manner.
He felt that most of them were young men and women about his age.
At least half of them were couples whereas over 90% of the other half were moving as a group. Less than 5% of the crowd were loners like him (though based on mood, he was more of a solitary soldier than a true loner).
An ostracized feeling gradually overcame Morisaki as he continued to observe the human beings around him when suddenly the silhouette of a young girl entered his eyes.
Just like him, she was by her lonesome self. No, the rarity of this was exponentially higher given that she was female.
She wore a sleeveless tunic with a high collar and a pleated skirt that fell to her knees while her bare feet were covered with sandals, a rather neutral wardrobe that was neither coquettish nor mundane.
Still, her features defied the term “mundane”.
Eight out of ten people, and this number would spike to nine if they were men, would rate her as a “beautiful young lady” or “beautiful woman”.
If released from the ponytail that trailed down the front side along her left shoulder, her hair would have fallen to waist length. Her large eyes that were slightly uplifted along the corners flitted about without any effort, giving the impression of a large feline on the prowl. In this case, she was a leopard rather than a tiger or lion.
Her face bespoke of an Eastern ancestry but her complexion was that of a Caucasian. Rather than labeling her a leopard, perhaps a snow leopard would be more precise (except that in reality, the snow leopard’s fur was closer to gray than true white).
She looked to be two or three years older than Morisaki.
Though her features were certainly eye catching, there were quite a few young ladies present whose appearances were more beauteous when it came down to “eye catching”. Morisaki noticed her because of her appearance, but stared at her for an altogether different reason.
(She…… must be a Magician, right?)
She was not wearing the commonly seen bracelet-shaped CAD.
Seeing the bag she carried with her, there was the possibility that she was carrying a handgun-shaped CAD, but there was no way to verify short of popping open his machine.
Her appearance gave no indication that she was a Magician, but Morisaki instinctively labeled this girl as someone connected to the magical world.
She remained oblivious of Morisaki’s gaze, or at least feigned so, as she walked in front of the café where Morisaki was sitting.
Morisaki pursued her figure with his eyes and noticed that there were others also watching her.
And not with flirtatious intent.
Helping out the family business – an “instinct” gained from his role as support personnel raised the alarm.
She was being pursued by gazes with “malice” lurking behind them.
Morisaki paid the bill using the terminal on the table and stepped away from his seat as if nothing was out of sorts.
Morisaki was not shadowing this girl due to careful contemplation on his part. Morisaki’s experie
nces were not profound enough to constitute a “workaholic”, but this description was the closest approximation. Truth be told, the fact that she was a beautiful (young) woman certainly had an impact on Morisaki’s choice.
This young lady (though she was probably more mature than that appellation) seemed to be on some sort of business as she departed the park area and walked towards the manufacturing streets.
Maintaining a prudent distance as he trailed behind her, Morisaki noticed that there were few pedestrians passing by. Although this direction ran counter to the park or other amusement facilities, the rate at which the pedestrians were disappearing could not be explained as mere coincidence.
Morisaki recognized that this was unnatural – as if some “unnatural” force was at work.
Morisaki was unfamiliar with Ancient Magic, but he believed that Taoism or onmyoshi arts should be able to use some sort of technique to affect the subconscious, causing people to avoid a specific location.
In other words, this was the work of Magicians. Ever since Morisaki noticed this young girl, she never showed signs of casting magic. Thus, Morisaki judged that there was someone other than her wielding magic to ward away outsiders.
Then, what was the motive behind avoiding other people?
Obviously, this wasn’t a confusion engineered to avoid embarrassment. There was no way that would be the reason.
Possibilities included kidnaping, robbery, or – sexual assault.
In Morisaki’s opinion, assassination in broad daylight was out of the question, but at any rate they were up to no good.
The next question was how many people the other side possessed. Based on the broad scale of the magic involved, there couldn’t just be one or two people behind this. Without a clear picture on the opposing manpower, direct confrontation was a choice for fools. As such, the only option was to wait for the opponents to act then catch them by surprise from the flank, temporarily immobilizing the “enemy” and seizing that opportunity to evacuate the girl from the scene.
--Morisaki decided on this course of action.
However, the speed at which the situation spiraled out of control surpassed Morisaki’s calculations.
Morisaki had believed that these miscreants – at least whom he deemed were miscreants – would wait until the young woman reached the deserted factory area before making their move.
Even if there were only a few people around, the streets were still under observation from the cameras. Hence Morisaki was certain the events would not play out according to the miscreants’ wishes once the young girl reached the (second generation) Rainbow Bridge.
Nevertheless, during the instance that the road was devoid of vehicles and pedestrians, the eyes that followed the young girl transformed into figures that surrounded the girl.
“Who…… Who are you guys!?”
The young girl screamed at the silently approaching men.
Her reaction was rather defiant. Under these circumstances, it wouldn’t be strange for even a male to be stricken with fear and unable to speak freely.
Still, based on the fact that the young woman failed to detect that there was no one else around her, she too must have fallen prey to the miscreants’ magic.
Morisaki verified that the young woman was not panicking – her state of panic would necessitate a change in plans – and raised his CAD from behind the trees that dotted the sidewalk. Sniping from concealment was not one of the Morisaki Family’s stronger suites, but from an objective perspective, given Morisaki’s traditional responsibilities as a support member in the protective agency, he should be more adept at “Flanking” than “Quick Draw”.
There were a total of 6 suspects.
He needed to take them all out in one strike to safeguard the young woman.
Cold sweat slid down Morisaki’s temple.
At some point, his breathing became shallow and hurried. Forcibly adjusting his breathing pattern, Morisaki charged out from behind the trees.
As he charged towards the young woman, he squeezed the trigger twice.
He dove forward when he saw his targets reach inside their jackets and squeezed the trigger once more in mid-air.
In lieu of the nature surrounding the “bodyguard” profession (even a side business still counted as a profession), the Morisaki Family developed a type of a magic that could bring down a target with one blow without inflicting serious damage.
He caused the targets to accelerate to the rear then immediately accelerated them forward to nullify the force. By rapidly looping this Move-Type Magic that incorporated two processes, he shook the internal organs of five of the targets – with an emphasis on the brain, causing them to collapse one by one.
By the time Morisaki took aim at the sixth target, his heart leaped violently.
Directly in front of his eyes was a silencer – the gun’s muzzle.
That was no CAD.
It was a real gun – an automatic pistol.
Morisaki had accounted for the possibility of a magical counterattack, but never expected that someone would possess a firearm.
Given their use of magic to clear the area, he had assumed that his targets would lash out with magic.
He had erected magical countermeasures ahead of time, but was not prepared to defend against bullets.
There was no time to use magic to block the bullets or shift his own body.
Morisaki redoubled the efforts in his legs and sought to escape the line of fire.
Nonetheless, by the time he gave the order for his muscles to move, the unique cough that accompanied any firearm equipped with a silencer rang out.
The muzzle was not aimed at Morisaki.
The young girl had grabbed ahold of the hand holding the gun from the side.
Morisaki pulled the CAD’s trigger.
When the sixth person collapsed to the ground, the young girl seemed to be dragged downwards as she fell to a seat on the road.
“Can you stand?”
Morisaki ran to the young girl and reached out for her hand without waiting for a response.
“We best leave here soon. At any rate, let’s head for the bus station. These guys don’t seem like they want to cause a scene.”
The young girl was indeed made of sterner stuff. Despite suffering an ambush, there was no sign of tears or hysterics. After nodding in reply to Morisaki’s words, she grasped his hand and scrambled to her feet.
“This way.”
“Thank you.”
Hand in hand, Morisaki led the young girl on a run towards the train station.
Wearing sandals with heels normally prevented running at will, but rather than being pulled along by Morisaki, the young girl was neck to neck with him (Morisaki had obviously lowered his velocity as well).
She never let go of his hand.
The soft touch of that petite hand spurred the (nominally) chivalrous spirit in Morisaki’s heart.
◊ ◊ ◊
After reaching the bus station, Morisaki proposed that they quit Ariake, but the young girl shook her head.
“I have an appointment with someone else here.”
“Sending an e-mail message would……”
“Owing to a few pressing reasons, I am unable to directly contact the other person.”
The young girl raised her eyes and wore a slightly perplexed smile.
This bewitching smile caused Morisaki to lose the tenuous control he had over his internal turmoil.
“I am very grateful that you saved me.”
The young lady turned a blind eye to his furious blush.
Morisaki was appreciative of this caring side of hers that was altogether different from his peers.
The obligation that men held towards beautiful females – or something of that nature – burned even brighter in Morisaki’s heart.
Which is why he found it doubly hard to accept the young woman’s next words that ran counter to his expectations.
“However, I think this is far enough. Some ot
her time…… Some other day I would like to find a way to repay the favor. If it's convenient, could you give me your contact information?”
At this point, the young girl revealed a “dismayed” expression. Figuring something was amiss, Morisaki’s entire body tightened, but upon discovering the bashful smile on the young woman’s face, a different sort of anxiety pervaded his frame.
“Ah, my apologies. My name is Lin Richardson. I’m attending college in California and traveling at the moment. Please call me Lin.”
“I am Morisaki Shun.”
Morisaki was intensely thankful that his voice wasn’t amplified when he delivered his name, though it wasn’t like he knew who these thanks should be extended to.
“You don’t have to pay me back. After all, you bailed me out when I was in danger earlier. That aside……”
Morisaki drew upon duty as his motivation and sought to switch gears from his agitated mood (that being said, claiming that this duty arose from a more romantic motivation would be the most genteel way of putting it). When the enemy possessed the numerical advantage, loitering near the scene of the ambush was not a wise decision. Normally, they should not be leisurely conversing like so.
“I do not believe that this incident will end like this. Do you have any inkling as to the cause behind this attack?”
Seeing as the optimal decision of “fleeing” was off the table, Morisaki was trying to gather more information to devise a plan of action. For example, factors such as the identity of the enemies, how long until reinforcements arrive, etc. Protection of privacy was also one of the mandatory duties of a bodyguard, but this was subservient to necessity if that information was vital to the principal’s protection.
“I’m terribly sorry. I cannot reveal that.”
Furthermore, being unable to obtain all the necessary information was not a legitimate reason for failing to complete a protective assignment.
“Is that so……? I understand. I will not pry into Lin-san’s personal business. In turn, may I serve as Lin-san’s protection until the arrival of the person who was responsible for meeting you?”
Morisaki’s request caused Lin to widen her eyes.