Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 09 - Visitor Chapter (I) Read online

  "No, I think I should be the one who is surprised."

  At Mikihiko's praise, Lina widened her eyes in disbelief.

  —Speaking of which, at least when compared to Miyuki, Mikihiko found Lina easier to talk to. When speaking to Miyuki, Mikihiko still spoke formally while he could speak more casually with Lina.

  "I used to be undefeated in high level competitions like this, but I can never seem to beat Miyuki, and when against Honoka, I may win in overall skill but I still lose in complexity of design. As expected of the Japan, one of the strongest magical countries."

  "Lina, practical exercises are just that and not a competition. I believe there's no point in dwelling on victory or defeat."

  "Magic competitions are very important. While these are only practical exercises, I believe specifically choosing highly competitive subjects where victory matters is the only way to improve."

  Faced with Miyuki's humble deflection, Lina charged forward with her counter argument, completely unafraid of any potential clash.

  This was just the way she was, which was a refreshing change of pace in its own right.

  "The will to compete is very important during contests, but surely there's no need to carry that beyond the event itself, right? Practical exercises are ultimately only practice and are fundamentally different than practical skills examinations that determine personal skill."

  "......True. Maybe Tatsuya is right. I might have been a little too excited."

  "Excitement isn't a bad thing. Miyuki has also become more motivated with a new opponent taking the field, so on that point, I should thank you, Lina."

  Lina was frankly nodding her head in assent to Tatsuya's words in the beginning, but now she turned an incredulous expression towards him.

  "It appeared! Tatsuya-kun's sis-con commentary!"

  To one side, Erika gave off an "Ah ha" comment while pretending to sigh.

  "Ah...... Oh, so that's how it is...... Tatsuya and Miyuki are on very good terms."

  Swallowing a more impolite outburst, Tatsuya seemed to feel that the gaze Lina sent his way was rapidly dropping in temperature.

  "Speaking of which, Lina, although this isn't really major......"

  Detecting the atmosphere heading in a wonky direction, Tatsuya changed the subject.

  "What is it?"

  She sent a chilling gaze his way, but it was bereft of any condescension, so this was probably an act to parallel Erika's practical joke.

  While this was the result he was hoping for based on his observations, there was no guarantee he was correct. Still, this was Tatsuya, and Tatsuya was not so tender that he would shut his mouth and retreat from just this.

  "If I recall correctly, isn't 'Angie' the usual nickname for 'Angelina'?"

  This was not supposed to be a groundbreaking question.

  At least, that was the case for Erika, Mizuki, and Honoka, who were sitting at the table with them.

  Yet, for one brief moment, Lina's expression definitely faltered.

  "No, you remembered correctly, but the nickname 'Angie' isn't as rare as you think. For comparison, I had a classmate in elementary school called 'Angela' who was referred to as 'Angie'."

  "So that's why Lina prefers to be known as 'Lina' and not 'Angie', eh."

  Tatsuya nodded his head in comprehension.

  He never gave a hint that he discovered how badly Lina faltered just then.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  First High did not have any student dorms.

  Since there were only nine magic high schools in the entire country, it was inevitable that students from abroad would be present.

  Thus, while student dorms didn't seem to be entirely out of the question, in this day and age, besides a few specialized boarding schools that viewed student dorms as an integral part of the curriculum, facilities such as student dorms were no longer in service.

  In the modern age, HAR (Home Automation Robot) has already entered the mass market, purchase of daily items can be done online and delivered directly to the door, so students can freely live on their own without discomfort, making student dorms a redundant facility. Owing to the above reasons, most of the students who were unable to return to their family homes largely chose to rent housing close to the school. As a transfer student, there was nothing odd in Lina renting an apartment. Her house was only two bus stops from school, which was considered close proximity thanks to modern public transit. The reason that she did not rent a personal studio or a one room apartment and instead chose a small, family-sized apartment was because Lina wasn't living on her own.

  "Welcome back, Lina."

  "Silvie, back already?"

  The moment Lina opened the door to the apartment, Warrant Officer Silvia, who was serving as her support on this mission, immediately greeted her as if she had been waiting for her arrival for quite some time.

  "It's quite late now, isn't it?"

  Lina smiled wryly upon hearing this after taking a roundabout way home and walked towards the dining room in her uniform. There was,

  "Mina, you're here."

  A young woman wearing a tense expression greeted Lina. She was standing in front of the table and had probably just conversed with Silvia.

  "Yes, sorry for bothering you, Major."

  The woman called Mina replied back in a stiff tone. With a perplexed smile on her face, Lina took a seat by the table.

  "Please sit, Mina. Silvie, could I trouble you for some tea?"

  Normally, Silvia would completely ignore the chain of command and fire back with "Given that you're a girl, you should fix your own tea". However, she wasn't someone who couldn't read the atmosphere.

  "Is milk tea OK? Mina, would you like a cup?"

  "Ah, OK, sorry for the trouble."

  Silvia's question seemed to terrify Mina, but at least she loosened up a few degrees as she replied back.

  The woman's full name was Michaela Honda, or Mina for short. She shared Lina's Japanese-American heritage, but unlike Lina, Mina could fully blend in based on her appearance. Perhaps her skin tone was a little darker? This degree was not enough to raise eyebrows in Japan.

  She was one of the spies who had entered Japan ahead of Lina's group. That being said, this wasn't her original occupation either. Her true identity was a magic researcher attached to the Department of Defense who specialized in Release-Systematic Magic. She was a talented woman who participated in last November's black hole experiment in Dallas. She volunteered for this mission in search of an alternate breakthrough for "annihilation reaction energy conversion" after the debacle at the Dallas Research Center.

  Like many magic researchers, she was also a Magician. Unlike the fake students who came this month under the guise of mutual research, she had infiltrated the magic universities under the identity of a salesperson and engineer from the Japanese branch of Maximilian Industries, "Mia Honda". Speaking of which, her current housing was directly next door to Lina's rented apartment. Despite not being combat or intelligence personnel, she still served as support and was concealed enough to serve as an active asset for this infiltration mission.

  "Do you have any clues?"

  Lina's initial question was posed for Silvia, who had just sat down after setting down the cups.

  "I've gone over the publicized information, but so far I haven't found any new data."

  "I see, looks like there's no way to get results quickly from that direction."

  This time she turned towards Michaela.

  "How about your side, Mina?"

  "Nothing here either...... Sorry."

  Michaela had somewhat relaxed a little before curling up again out of anxiety.

  It wasn't Lina's intent to make everyone so high strung like she was a strict person. However, ever since the end of last year, Michaela had always been extremely nervous around Lina since day one. Rather than saying (because) there was a divide between researchers and combat personnel, the more likely cause (reason) was because Lina stood at the pinnacle of USNA
Magicians as "Sirius" despite her youth. Simply telling her to relax wasn't going to achieve anything. Even though it had already been two weeks since that day and they were now able to have some degree of interaction, this was only restricted to everyday conversation. In the short term, Lina herself knew that it was impossible to achieve the same degree of an easy working relationship she had with Silvia.

  "How's your side Lina, did you get closer to the target?"

  Hearing Silvia's question, Lina's expression seemed to be enveloped in fog.

  "I feel that I haven't gotten closer at all."

  Lina sighed and wore a bitter smile on her face.

  "I haven't gotten a single piece of critical information and it seems like they've already seen through my disguise."

  "......What are you talking about?"

  "Tatsuya asked me 'isn't Angie usually short for Angelina' and almost scared me half to death."

  "Couldn't that be a coincidence?"

  "I have no idea. I'm such a failure. So I guess I'm really not cut out for this (type of work), eh?"

  Lina kept sighing deeply. Silvia filled her cup with milk tea again. Noticing that Silvia and Michaela were sending worried looks her way, Lina managed to find her second wind.

  "Don't worry about it, my opponent is only a high school student after all. He shouldn't able to discern my identity as Sirius. Even if he suspects something, there's no way he'll stumble onto something concrete."

  It didn't take a genius to tell that these brave words were only empty talk. In the beginning, Lina had already been tasked with identifying their target under any circumstances, so saying "not getting identified" was just empty talk. Silvia was well aware of this, but decided to abstain after considering that this would damage morale too badly. In addition, nor could she say that their opponent was no ordinary high school student.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  After handing a robe to his sister, who just rose from the bed of the psion wave examination device in nothing but her underclothes, Tatsuya watched the examination results while his customary, machine-like poker face contained slight traces of concern that could not escape Miyuki's eyes.

  "......Are you troubled by something? Onii-sama, please feel free to tell me anything. No matter what Onii-sama needs to say, I am always willing to listen."

  Rather than calling this an overreaction, this was more like overly motivated.

  As this thought ran across Tatsuya's mind, he was mystified as to how to respond and what expression to greet this with, and in the end only adopted a dry chuckle.

  "No, rather than saying what troubles me, I think this time it's my own problem. Since the upper ceiling of the scale of magic design exceeded original expectations, the processing power of the CAD can no longer keep up with your Magic Power. I was planning on setting a larger magic calculation area inside...... You're over thinking this."

  "I apologize."

  "What are you apologizing for? I should be the one praising you."

  Gently caressing his sister's hair as she kept her head bowed, Tatsuya smiled warmly at Miyuki when she raised her head.

  Miyuki followed her brother's lead, more like mirrored her brother's smile. Everything was fine up until this point—

  (......This is not the time to start blushing.)

  Cognizant of the inherent danger — largely presented by the cleavage peeking through the gaps in the robe — Tatsuya quickly picked up the conversation.

  "Looks like Lina transferring into the same class became an excellent stimulus."

  Upon hearing Lina's name, the brilliant blush across Miyuki's face immediately faded.

  "Indeed...... This may sound a little arrogant, but I've yet to meet an opponent of her caliber before."

  This was not because the mood had been ruined. Miyuki wasn't the sort of woman who would be upset that another woman's name came from Tatsuya's lips. Her expression contained a visible degree of transparency for another reason altogether. A quiet, burning fighting spirit lurked in Miyuki's eyes.

  "Oh yes, Onii-sama, your question earlier this morning was indeed?"

  "You noticed?"

  Tatsuya chuckled lightly as he said this.

  "As I suspected, Lina is 'Sirius'."

  Tatsuya declared this as his smile was replaced by a sharp expression.

  "As surmised, there's no way to hide these things from Miyuki."

  Seeing Tatsuya laugh once more and raise his arms to stretch, Miyuki couldn't keep a straight face any longer and smiled mischievously while raising a finger towards Tatsuya.

  "Of course, because Miyuki watches Onii-sama more closely than anyone else."

  Tatsuya intentionally laughed aloud. There was no way to tell whether he felt that Miyuki was joking or he was simply trying to regard it as a joke.

  Seeing her brother laugh, the only thing on Miyuki's mind was how badly she really wanted to know what Tatsuya was truly thinking about.

  Rather because the basement (more like underground facility) air conditioning was still running, it was more like a flimsy robe covering her undergarments was the true reason why neither one of them could relax.

  Miyuki needed to return to her room and change, so the two of them returned to the house.

  What covered Miyuki's slim and exquisite legs were not a pair of black leggings or tights, but black stockings. The clothing around her upper body was rather loose and there was a hint of Miyuki's pale flesh between the mini-skirt and stockings.

  This was all well and good while standing, but the moment Miyuki sat down, he immediately noticed that, wasn't this a terrible situation? — And exactly why was this terrible, Tatsuya calculated.

  Unaware of her brother's feelings — not that he had any way of telling — Miyuki placed the coffee mug in front of her brother.

  Except today, she sat across from Tatsuya rather than on the sofa next to him.

  She did not adopt a lotus-like posture and place her legs atop one another.

  Rather, she placed her knees together and kept them slanted diagonally.

  This was a very amorous posture which hinted at the secret charms beneath her skirt.

  Uncertain of Miyuki's intention (the superficial intent was obvious, but the true meaning remained elusive), Tatsuya elected against focusing on that.

  After making that decision, Tatsuya's gaze ceased wavering.

  Across the table, he could detect a trace of displeasure from Miyuki, but he chose not to call her on it and began to speak while watching Miyuki.

  "Continuing our earlier conversation, I believe there is a high possibility that Lina is 'Angie Sirius'."

  Last month, Tatsuya had received a warning from his aunt Yotsuba Maya that the USNA's Army Magician unit Stars had begun investigating the Magician responsible for the Strategic-Class Magic "Material Burst". At the time, Maya had made it very clear that Tatsuya and Miyuki were likely to be included among the possible suspects.

  Tatsuya believed that Lina coming to First High was likely one aspect of the ongoing intelligence war.

  "Currently, the problem is that we have uncovered Sirius's identity despite our opponent's efforts to conceal her identity. In addition, we can also see that they are trying to unravel our true identities."

  It was only natural that Tatsuya was confused, given the inexplicably weak personal and mental defenses around Lina, at least by USNA standards. The reason behind this remained beyond Tatsuya's grasp at the moment.

  "Furthermore—"

  Maybe he would burst into laughter upon learning the truth, but right now Tatsuya wore a serious expression as he continued his analysis.

  "Why would USNA send Sirius, who is practically their trump card, over here?"

  Miyuki had long since switched gears and was following Tatsuya's example by adopting a serious tone of her own.

  "Just so. Based on the observations in the past week, I feel that Lina's strengths do not lie in intelligence work. I fear that her real mission may lie elsewhere and her disguise is m
eant for that."

  "'Sirius' simply covers too many angles......"

  "Assuming Lina is Sirius...... Her infiltration mission may just be a cover. Her real target may lie somewhere else."

  "To force the USNA to invest Sirius into an international mission...... What could it be?"

  They might be dwelling on this too much, but fortunately the two of them were still in the dark.

  "I have no idea...... However, I think right now we don't have to focus on that."

  From an omniscient perspective, Tatsuya's speculation had already drifted off subject as his tone suddenly lost its earlier intensity.

  "We are very fortunate that America has provided you with an excellent opponent, Miyuki."

  Nonetheless, his earnest tone did not disappear.

  "Indeed, Onii-sama."

  At her brother's sincere tone and gaze, Miyuki changed her tone.

  "Compete against Lina with all your might. We were just talking about it this morning, but we should care about victory or defeat. That will push you to a higher plane than ever before."

  "Yes."

  "Mutual competition as the fuel for growth applies towards Lina as well, but right now you don't have to worry about that. This is a rare opportunity."

  Hearing Tatsuya's powerful words, Miyuki revealed a serene smile without a trace of unease.

  "That's true. Also, Miyuki has Onii-sama with her. So long as Onii-sama is by my side, I will fear no foe, even if they be Sirius herself."

  Tatsuya's words spoke of a rival and not an opponent.

  There was a slight feeling from Miyuki's words that she was a little off topic.

  However, in the face of Miyuki's limitless faith, Tatsuya nodded his head without any hesitation.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  There were quite a few alterations in Tatsuya's extracurricular activities. On paper there were only two, staying in the library or patrolling the grounds as a member of the Public Moral Committee, but the latter presented many interruptions.

  Enough to give one pause and consider if someone was conspiring something.