Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 06 - Yokohama Disturbance Chapter (I) Read online

  The plates and utensils from dinner were left to the HAR to dispose of as Miyuki began her homework.

  Despite being known as a magic high school, all other subjects besides magic were not mandatory.

  There were no regular tests, but daily homework was highly emphasized.

  Today, her homework assignment was mathematics. Strictly speaking, this was not one of her strong suits.

  Stuck on a question that bedeviled her from the beginning, Miyuki allowed her attention to drift from the screen before her.

  This was the age where the man-machine interface could easily process these problems, so no one save for mathematical researchers would actually work out problems by themselves. Yet, mathematical logic powerfully aided the development and formation of new magic, hence her brother had stringent instructions regarding this subject, and so cutting corners was not an option.

  Miyuki heaved a bored "Whew".

  At times like these, she envied her omnipotent brother.

  Maybe I should ask Onii-sama to teach me, she idly thought before frantically shaking her head furiously.

  Right now, Tatsuya was probably deep into analyzing that relic.

  Her very presence alone bound Tatsuya's freedom, so she definitely couldn't bother him anymore, Miyuki thought.

  The sole reason Tatsuya entered First High was because Miyuki enrolled in First High, at least this was how Miyuki interpreted the situation.

  A diploma from a magic high school was a prerequisite for attending the National Magic University, but there were always exceptions; especially, talented individuals who might have discovered a "Cardinal Code" would immediately qualify for the examination process even without a magic high school diploma. So long as Tatsuya wished to do so, he would immediately obtain that right and simply passing the examination would not trouble him in the slightest.

  Miyuki knew that her brother's goal lay in the graduate level research programs within the magic universities, so the life of a high school student was actually a considerable detour for him.

  The reason Tatsuya was forced to do so was because he was Miyuki's guardian.

  The guardians of the Yotsuba Family bore the duty of preserving their primary's life even at the cost of their own. This title came from the combat slaves that once rescued a young woman from the Yotsuba Family from enemy attack and were responsible for preserving the Yotsuba bloodline.

  On the surface, this mission differed little from ordinary bodyguards, but temporarily hired bodyguards were fundamentally different from guardians. While the Yotsuba guardians were not selected from birth, once selected, their term was for life. Though they were the same as bodyguards in that they served for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, guardians did not possess the right to resign from their duties. Since guardians were only relieved when their primary was released from protection, to this day, without exception, Yotsuba guardians had done their duty until the day they died.

  Tatsuya possessed a certain degree of freedom by virtue of the fact that he could still protect his primary even away from the house. Magic was not restricted by physical distance or obstacles. There was no telepathic connection between the two, but Tatsuya was able to unconsciously monitor Miyuki's surroundings through his "Idea Identification Vision". In other words, it may be more accurate to say that he had cast magic to keep an eye on her.

  Nevertheless, even Tatsuya wasn't able to use magic while sleeping.

  Even if distance was no hindrance, their everyday lives needed to synchronize to some degree.

  During holidays and long vacations, Miyuki could still match Tatsuya's activities, but in school Tatsuya had to link with Miyuki, so they had to accommodate the high school schedule. Also, though magic wasn't affected by physical distance, a closer proximity made it far easier to react to possible danger.

  However, in the end, all of these were only true under the condition that Miyuki does not dismiss Tatsuya from his duties as a guardian.

  Once Miyuki would dismiss Tatsuya, surely another guardian, likely of the same age and gender, would be dispatched to her. Even if the number of Magicians was limited, Miyuki was still one of the more promising candidates for the next head of the Yotsuba Family.

  Of course, Miyuki hoped to retain Tatsuya as her guardian for reasons that went beyond her own stubbornness.

  Within the Yotsuba Family, a guardian's mission held the highest priority.

  While serving as Miyuki's guardian, he wouldn't be assigned any meaningless tasks. Nor would he receive any dirty jobs.

  Even their father and his new wife couldn't press the issue on the surface.

  They could not insist that Tatsuya help them in their work.

  Even with all these considerations in mind, she still wished for her brother to attend the same school she did — the bottom line was that she herself was unable to separate herself from that dependence on her brother, something that Miyuki was aware of.

  Again, Miyuki heaved a deep sigh.

  Her frazzled mind was incapable of deciphering the answer, just as she was unable to solve the homework question before her.

  Actually, even if she didn't need him to guide her through every step, all she needed to do was ask her brother for help. By the time Miyuki thought of this, 30 minutes had already passed.

  Chapter 3

  The next day after school.

  In order to acquire the documents necessary for their presentation, Tatsuya arrived at the library.

  In truth, he really wanted to focus on the analysis of the specimen (Magatama-class relic), but neither could he mail it in for the Thesis Competition preparations (assistance).

  Despite its name, the library had already been completely digitized, with actual tomes of paper becoming the decisive minority. Furthermore, a significant portion of the materials could be accessed online, so there was no particular need to visit the library, except that the materials required by the thesis team belonged to the restricted archives that could not be removed from it. Searching for a spare seat in the depths of the reading area, Tatsuya accidentally ran into a familiar face.

  "Ara, if it isn't Tatsuya-kun."

  "Saegusa-senpai, are you in the middle of the 'Fall of Studying'?"

  The last time he ran into Mayumi was approximately a week ago, so he could hardly say "long time no see".

  At Tatsuya's immediate reply, even though Mayumi had expected the question, she still pouted in vexation.

  "I say, Tatsuya-kun...... I am a Year 3 student after all."

  "This...... I know."

  Tatsuya was bewildered by this perfectly obvious statement that was delivered gravely.

  "The first thing that comes to mind for Year 3 students are college entrance exams, correct? How is it that you never considered I need to prepare for the exams...... Do I look that carefree to you?"

  Mayumi's words only served to confuse Tatsuya even more.

  "......Saegusa-senpai, didn't you receive the recommendation?"

  Excellent grades, service as the Student Council President, renowned for her participation and many victories in magic competitions.

  If she wasn't recommended, then who else could qualify for a recommendation.

  Still, Mayumi's answer surpassed Tatsuya's expectations.

  "Ah? Doesn't Tatsuya-kun know? I declined the recommendation. It is an unwritten tradition for the members of the Student Council to decline the recommendation."

  "......First I've heard of this."

  "Every year, each school recommends 10 students to the magic university, that's how it was decided~. Compared to other schools, our school has a higher percentage of students that take the entrance exams, so in order to more efficiently utilize the recommendation system, that's how we decided to go about it."

  "In other words, we let the students on the borderline take first priority for recommendations, did I get that right?"

  "That may be going a little too far...... But, that's pretty much it."

  "That's......"
>
  On some level this made perfect sense, but he still felt that there was something wrong with this system.

  Despite these thoughts roaming through Tatsuya's head, he decided to drop the matter upon seeing Mayumi sitting there without any perplexity on her face.

  Seeing Tatsuya hum and haw, Mayumi tilted her head to one side with a "Hm?" before her attention was caught elsewhere.

  "Speaking of which, why is Tatsuya-kun here?"

  Tatsuya was slightly put out by Mayumi's surprised tone — at the very least he frequented the library much more often than Mayumi did — however, there was no need to belabor that point.

  "I am here to gather materials for the Thesis Competition."

  "Ah, that's right, you were selected to help Rin-chan."

  (......Help, eh.)

  That must be the case from another person's perspective, Tatsuya thought.

  Although this was also a group activity, unlike Monolith Code with the option to put an individual's talents on full display, there was no way to identify individual contribution in the thesis itself.

  It was hardly odd to believe that everyone besides the primary speaker were only assistants.

  "......Oh, standing there and talking would bother every one else. Come on in."

  As she said this, Mayumi pointed at the reading booth she just came out of.

  "Aren't you using it?"

  Despite the fact that retaking the booth after returning it was against the rules, it's not like he could just stand outside the door.

  Tatsuya nodded without further hesitation.

  The reading booth was originally designed for one user and while two people felt a little tight, three people would be completely out of the question. Even if Mayumi belonged on the petite side of her gender, Tatsuya's physical stature was undoubtedly above average among his Year 1 peers. Despite not being particularly swarthy, his wide shoulders still took up considerable seating space. Hence Tatsuya sat near the end of the seat shoulder to shoulder with Mayumi, who took a seat on the backup stool.

  He was alone in a tiny room with a beautiful young lady.

  However, even under these conditions, Tatsuya was neither overly excited nor filled with trepidation. Owing to past experiences, he had already learned how to handle Mayumi. (As for her pride as a "beautiful woman", well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.)

  At Tatsuya smoothly operating the terminal despite their close proximity without a care in the world, Mayumi didn't become anxious or display a disappointed expression. Frankly, she continued their interrupted conversation in a wholly unguarded fashion.

  "I know it's a bit sudden for Tatsuya-kun, but good luck, OK?"

  "......True, it was a little sudden."

  Tatsuya was slightly off kilter at Mayumi's seemingly natural words that came without any premonition, but once he connected these words with their earlier conversation, he was fortunately able to avoid asking "For what?".

  "But that's not something that Saegusa-senpai would worry about, right?"

  He replied carelessly while his eyes were focused on the screen.

  "That may be true. Still, this topic is more important to Rin-chan than taking First Place in the Thesis Competition."

  "Now that you mention it, did senpai talk to you about serving as a substitute?"

  "That's definitely not a topic I can handle. Also, I'm not that handy with sustaining magic with complex processes."

  The question and answer provided didn't entirely match up, but Suzune was likely aware of what areas Mayumi excelled at, hence she removed her name from the replacements roster, Tatsuya explained to himself.

  "It's unfortunate. Rin-chan helped me out quite a bit, but now I can't give her a hand."

  He was unsure whether she was muttering to herself or towards him. While he thought about reassuring Mayumi, who wore a pained expression on her face, ultimately he chose to silently plug away and keep searching for data.

  "So I really hope Tatsuya-kun will try his best, since Tatsuya-kun can definitely provide powerful assistance to Rin-chan."

  "Does Ichihara-senpai have any particular thoughts about this topic?"

  Tatsuya asked this question more out of curiosity than because he was motivated by her encouragement.

  "On some level, this is the first step to realizing Rin-chan's dream."

  Tatsuya didn't dig deeper into Mayumi's formless words.

  Even if Suzune had a dream, surely that had nothing to do with him.

  Regardless of Tatsuya's thoughts on the matter, Mayumi didn't stop there.

  "Raising the social standing for Magicians. She aimed not to change their social standing through political pressure, but through economic necessity. By turning magic into an irreplaceable aspect in the economy, Magicians would be truly free of their fate as humanoid weapons. According to Rin-chan, Sustained Gravity Control-Type Magic Sequence Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor is the key step towards this goal. This thesis is precisely the first step for that purpose."

  Tatsuya couldn't help but turn his head at this.

  Under his widened eyes, even Mayumi shrank back a little.

  "Hm, what is it?"

  "That's astounding. I never thought that Ichihara-senpai was contemplating the exact same thing."

  "Eh? Tatsuya-kun too?"

  In all honesty, Suzune and Tatsuya couldn't be credited with the idea of using economic utility to raise Magicians' social standing. Despite the paltry number of supporters, this notion had already been around for at least twenty years. The only technicality was that there had hitherto been no sign of success.

  Currently, the primary usage for Magicians remained strictly military.

  With the global situation gradually stabilizing, practical mobilization of weaponry had decreased as well.

  Still, innovations for Magicians — and not the magic sort — were still dominated by military purposes in the 90% tier.

  At the current progression, all of this had yet to change.

  The overwhelming majority of magic for domestic purposes could be replaced by machinery.

  Temperature control and physical acceleration couldn't match the same superb effect from magic, but if restricted to the level for public consumption, then non-magic technology could still be viable. There was no need to use magic.

  Nor did advanced automatons need to be replaced by Magicians. Magic was not required for operation or organization.

  So far, no result that could only be produced by magic had supplanted the versatility of modern science, so "using economic advantages to liberate Magicians" remained empty words from idealists.

  On the other hand, the concept for Sustained Gravity Control-Type Magic Sequence Thermonuclear Fusion Reactors didn't come from Tatsuya's group either.

  In this regard, research had begun 50 years ago to use magic to actualize thermonuclear fusion reactors.

  Nevertheless, this research had been forgotten in this day and age.

  After judging that repeatedly activating Gravity Control-type Magic to maintain a thermonuclear fusion reactor rated as one of the "Three Great Puzzles for Gravity Magic", most developed countries already used solar energy to address their energy problems, so presently there was no sign of energy shortage.

  Those who placed their hopes on using Sustained Gravity Control-Type Magic Sequence Thermonuclear Reactors to raise the social standing of Magicians had practically gone extinct in the latter half of the 21st century.

  "I can't believe I found someone who shared such radical beliefs."

  Seeing Tatsuya wear an admiring expression rather than shock, Mayumi stared at him for some unknown reason.

  "......Hm, that's wonderful. So you share the same interests as Rin-chan."

  Not only her eyes, even her tone was irked.

  "Ah, no, I hardly think that it's a question of whether Ichihara-senpai and I share the same interests...... Our methodology is completely different."

  What is she so upset about, Tatsuya thought as he replied i
n a fashion like someone plucking an excuse out of nowhere.

  "But the basic concept is the same, right? Tatsuya-kun, in reality, Rin-chan's more your type, huh?"

  "Ha?"

  "Even with such an alluring young lady next to you, yet you show no signs of even trying. Well, Onee-san is sorry that she has such an adolescent figure."

  What was this person talking about? Those were Tatsuya's unfiltered feelings.

  Speaking of which, even if they shared the same topic, it was hardly a guarantee that they were companions and more likely that they were opponents. Despite her petite figure, Mayumi didn't boast an adolescent physique at all, more like an intriguing figure filled with mature charm.

  There were too many misunderstandings that demanded his immediate attention, but Tatsuya was at a loss as to where to begin.

  "I have no exhibitionist tendencies. I would never do anything to a woman before all these cameras here."

  Tatsuya was quite befuddled.

  The first answer that came to his mind after the cobwebs didn't appear to fit very well.

  "Eh......?"

  At Tatsuya's apparently profound, but actually completely careless words, Mayumi started fidgeting in place and her eyes started drifting around.

  "Well, then, what if there weren't any cameras or people here? Let's say, for example, if it was just the two of us alone in a hotel room?"

  "If that's senpai's invitation to dine, then I shall gladly 'dig in' without hesitation."

  With a clatter, Mayumi sprang away from her stool, blushing furiously and pressed against the wall to pull as far back as possible from Tatsuya in the narrow room. Seeing this, Tatsuya suddenly realized the double entendre in his words.

  Still, saying anything else would just dig himself deeper, so Tatsuya took it as a fortunate sign that he managed to stop there. He turned his gaze from Mayumi and concentrated on gathering the necessary data for the project.

  On the other hand, Mayumi, who should have felt threatened by Tatsuya's response, chose to remain in the reading booth for some mysterious reason.

  ◇◇◇

  During the evening three days before the thesis was due, Tatsuya was going over the numbers at his private work station when he noticed that the home server was under attack.