Volume 12, Chapter 5

This chapter is updated by wuxiaworld.eu

Common Era 2096, April 6, the first day of the new school year. Tatsuya and Miyuki went to school, Minami stayed home. The cliché phrase, 'it’s been a while,' didn’t fit, because they had occasionally went to school for Student Council meetings during spring break.

After today and tomorrow, the two siblings would no longer be alone on the path to and from school. Perhaps because she was conscious of that, Miyuki glued herself to Tatsuya during the short commute from the station even more than usual. From afar or even from near, their point blank nearness gave off the illusion that they were walking arm and arm.

From the start, these siblings had become pretty well known among the magic high school students, whose numbers could not be called small. At this time, almost no student did not know of the relationship of the elder brother and his younger sister. The ‘conventional people’ who raised their eyebrows at the impropriety of relatives who acted more like lovers were not just one or two. It was not a surprise that there were no brave souls (or possibly boorish people) calling out to them to take them to task, but the number of people who directed shocked eyes at them was not small.

Naturally, such a thing — being surrounded by those stares — did not make Miyuki anxious at all. For her, people who could not face her and speak up were only riffraff. Even under normal circumstances, it could be said that she accumulated a lot of looks, so the times she wasn’t being looked at were fewer. For Miyuki, other people’s stares were too numerous to be bothered about.

On the other hand, there was no way Tatsuya could ‘not let the gazes of others bother him’ like his sister.

He served as his sister’s guard. He defended his sister from all malicious intent. This was his assigned duty and, simultaneously, a privilege he would not let others take from him. Tatsuya could not ignore any ill will directed against Miyuki.

This was not particularly difficult. Because the trifling ill will was directed at Tatsuya himself, no one was able to direct it against Miyuki.

It was hard to aim a negative eye at Miyuki. For example, even those who felt jealous of Miyuki had difficulty aiming their jealousy. Her looks and talent were too luminous; jealously sent against her became a sort of graciousness. Due to the difficulty of directing malicious intent against Miyuki, a strong will was needed to do it.

Thus, if Tatsuya was aware of it, it was never a mere fluke.

Paired with a strong will, the stare was neither distinctly hostile nor friendly. The look being aimed at Miyuki was of an unusual type. Especially, from the opposite sex, it was even less understandable from a boy.

Tatsuya was familiar with the boy’s face. He had not met him face to face, but he had seen the 3D image that had come with the profile. The boy was one year younger than him, the freshman representative—

(—That is certainly the eldest son of the Shippou Clan.)

Unconsciously, his brow furrowed, but Tatsuya deliberately kept his expression from changing. Tatsuya vigilantly kept himself from displaying an oversensitivity, but perhaps because he was aware of the intermittent glances Tatsuya sent his way, Takuma averted his face and disappeared into an alley entrance.

“Onii-sama?”

Immediately afterward, Miyuki spoke to him in a doubtful voice. She keenly perceived that a fraction of her brother’s mind had slipped away from her. Even though she could ignore the gazes of the riffraff, she couldn’t ignore Tatsuya’s gaze.

Tatsuya shook his head to tell Miyuki ‘it’s nothing,’ turned around in response to a greeting of ‘morning’ and raised his hand.

Erika, followed by Leo, Honoka, Shizuku, Mizuki, and Mikihiko were in a mass. It wasn’t unusual for all of them to be together after school, but it had been a while since they had all been together on the way to school. Especially Shizuku, who hadn’t come to school with them since before the end of last year, because she had been studying abroad.

Seeing as at last their final member had returned, the faces were all the same, but some of them were wearing a design on their uniforms different than what they had until last month, when they were first years.

On Tatsuya’s breast, there was now an emblem of an eight petal flower surrounded by a gear.

The same embroidered design was on Mizuki’s blazer.

And on the right side of Mikihiko’s chest, there was the eight petal icon of First High School.

“Mikihiko, how does it feel to wear the uniform of the first course?” “Don’t mock me, Tatsuya.”

Mikihiko answered Tatsuya’s broadly grinning teasing congratulations with a pained but smug smile. They had known that Mikihiko would be transferring to the first course since last month; however, this was the first time they each got to look at each other in their new uniforms.

“How about you, Tatsuya how does the new blazer feel?” “Even though you called it new, it only looks that way.”

Mikihiko’s remark had also referred to the fact that the magic engineering course was a new course. Only the name denoted what it was and the instruction for the brand new course hadn’t even started yet. Well, not just the instruction but everything about the new course would start from today. At any rate, until the day it actually started not even the class lineup was clear, indeed, the feeling of not enough preparations had been made was incontrovertible. The remark about only the appearance being changed was also a joke but it was not without foundation.

“Ooh, cynical.”

However, Tatsuya had a serene, or rather a 'it doesn’t really matter,' attitude about it, contrary to his friends expectations it seemed. With Tatsuya’s personality, they hadn’t expected him to show great joy about the class separation, but they had imagined he would be a little buoyant.

“Re-al-ly, Mizuki was fairly slack jawed.”

After Leo, Erika rang out her discontent. She made a sidelong glare of disappointment, but as her opponent was Tatsuya, the dart of her glare passed on right through to the other side.

“I wa…was not slack jawed!”

Mizuki protested without thinking. She hadn’t intended to pay heed to her second course friends (in short, Erika and Leo). But she couldn’t conceal the embarrassed happiness on her face that Erika had pointed out.

“It’s alright not to over do it.”

And as Erika’s mischievous smile showed there was undoubtedly no need for Mizuki to be worried about their feelings.

The Magical Engineering Course classroom in the main school building was in the middle of the classrooms on the side on the third floor. Class E. In short, the room right above the one Tatsuya and Mizuki had been going to until last month.

By the way, Erika and Leo were both in class F. When they found out their assigned homeroom from the school’s wireless, the pair had blatantly displayed their distaste. Perhaps their attitude was genuine, or maybe they were concealing their real feelings out of embarrassment… only the people themselves knew and, anyway, it didn’t really matter either way to Tatsuya. Although, Mizuki and Honoka were deeply interested.

When Tatsuya entered the classroom, the seats were about half occupied. The five rows of five were the same as last year; the Japanese phonetic order of the seating was also the same as when they were first years. However, did the A I U E O lined on the side without regard to gender have a special meaning or was it merely a whim.

After wasting less than a second on solving the meaningless puzzle, Tatsuya went to his own seat. The first row from the hallway, second seat from the front. Like the previous year, Mizuki was in the seat next to him. Well, this had no special meaning since in Japanese phonetics, they were Shi-ba and Shi-ba-ta.

“Mizuki is next to Tatsuya this year also. It would have been good if I had attempted to change classes as well.”

The one who grumbled the unnecessary joke without caring whether anyone heard it was Erika, who had both her arms on the rail of a wide open window.

“Surely, that’s not needed. You’re in the class next door.”

Leo, who was peering at the face of Erika, who was thrusting her body out the window, followed up with a remark that, contrary to its contents, was spoken in a regretful tone.

“That’s right. Even though we're in different classes, it’s not particularly inconvenient.”

One year before, this scene would have become an exchange of abusive language, but Erika didn’t follow up with an inflammatory remark or tit for tat. That change was a little amusing to Tatsuya, as that behavior (on the surface at least) indicated agreement with Leo’s words without looking at him even a little.

“Since intruding on another class isn’t forbidden.” “Only taking instruction in another class is.”

Mizuki promptly showed her agreement with Tatsuya’s statement; she probably thought she could divert Erika. Of course, although she looked wild, Erika had almost never escaped from instruction. Tatsuya was the clear winner in number of times leaving the classroom during instruction.

“That’s also true.”

Perhaps, Erika no longer remembered placing any objections. She readily nodded her assent to Mizuki’s words.

“Nevertheless… there are a lot of unfamiliar faces.”

Erika murmured that as she looked around the room, changing her train of thought. The ostensibly sociable Erika remembered the faces and names of almost all one hundred of the second course students in their year. In short, ‘the unfamiliar faces’ were former first course students.

“Ah, now that you’ve mentioned it… it does seem a little unexpected.”

The number of students inside the classroom had considerably increased as it got closer to the start of instruction, and two thirds of the seats were now filled. That was confirmed by examining the group, and the genuinely sociable Leo, in a voice soaked in surprise as his words suggested, exhibited his agreement.

The pair — no, although she hadn’t piped up to agree with Erika’s statement, Mizuki should be included — the trio had believed that most of the people who would want to transfer into the new Magic Engineering course would probably be second course students. They hadn’t thought that the extremely proud first course students would choose to share a classroom with second course students.

For Tatsuya, although the first course transfers were surprising, it was a trifling matter, so even though he could certainly understand why Erika and the rest had thought that way, he hadn’t broken in with any special comment.

“By the way.”

Erika wasn’t fixated on this topic either. Besides, there was something she was more interested in.

“Tatsuya, you’re being glared at a lot.”

Erika’s remark was affirmed by Tatsuya displaying a slight shrug of his shoulders. Even before she pointed it out, he had been aware that he was on the receiving end of a fixed glare of hatred. And he had already grasped whose glare it was. As for why he was being glared at, since he couldn’t really understand, it might weigh on his mind. Nevertheless, he confirmed that he had more reasons to hate her than she had to hate him. Since merely being looked at didn’t cause actual harm, Tatsuya planned to leave it alone, but it seemed like for Erika, it wasn’t something she could ignore. Her disagreeable voice showed what was going on in the back of her mind.

“She caused all that trouble in so many ways; I wonder if she still hasn’t acknowledged that it was all her own temper tantrum.”

“Even if she knows it was a temper tantrum, she probably can’t just replace all those emotions quickly.”

“Quickly… it’s already been half a year.” “Only half a year.”

As Erika answered him thus, Tatsuya directed his eyes fleetingly to the origin of the stare, which was off to the side behind him. Flustered, Hirakawa Chiaki, who had been glowering at him in hatred, averted her eyes. Immmediately afterward — perhaps she was mad at herself for showing cowardice — she scowled at him with a grim look in her eye.

That attitude of Chiaki’s grated against Erika’s nerves even more. Naturally Erika, who had seen the brave display of introspection by Sayaka, who had been deceived into becoming part of a terrorist group after the incident, had trouble making up her mind about Chiaki’s behavior, since with the excuse of avenging a misplaced grudge, Chiaki had knowingly become a cat’s paw of foreign spies and even now hadn’t apologized to Tatsuya once. On the other hand, Erika, who didn’t have any problem picking fights, did want to go after Chiaki herself, but there was a chance that doing so would cause Tatsuya trouble instead. Besides, Erika felt that Chiaki’s impudent actions just now meant she was ‘trying to pick a fight.‘

A sharp light resided in both of Erika’s eyes. Her eyes did not narrow, to the contrary, both of her eyes were open with the corners of her eyes raised. Although Erika’s beautiful face had a catlike air about it, it was tinged with a ferocity that brought a tiger or leopard to mind. Her appearance even aroused some slight desire to appreciate her aesthetically in Tatsuya; however, if he let this situation go on, he was guaranteed to be embroiled in a whirlpool of trouble. Tatsuya considered the cost of being an onlooker a little too expensive.

“Erika, it’s useless to speak to her.”

Erika turned her sullen face to Tatsuya. A weak willed man would’ve immediately prostrated himself and apologized energetically, but unfortunately Tatsuya didn’t have any such laudableness (?).

“I’ll put out the sparks I let fall myself. That is, if the other side has the nerve to fan the spark into a flame.”

Tatsuya smiled cruelly. Seeing nothing friendly in that look, Erika calmed down. Perhaps it was an indication that she was showing her regret by trying to conceal her embarrassed smile.

At that point, a voice intervened with good timing and changed the mood. “Can I bother you for a bit?”

Tatsuya turned around to the voice that called out to him from right behind him. A male student, who had just entered the classroom with an amiable smile, was standing there.

“Is this the first time we’ve properly greeted each other? I am Tomitsuka Hagane. Nice to meet you, Shiba-kun.”

“That’s right, I know your name, but essentially this might be ‘the first meeting.’ Shiba Tatsuya. Nice to meet you, Tomitsuka.”

While grasping the offered hand in return, Tatsuya answered in his usual tone. To be truthful, wasn’t shaking hands a little over the top for a self- introduction between fellow classmates, Tatsuya thought, but he didn’t reveal his feelings. Tatsuya’s surprise over Tomitsuka being here also didn’t show on his face.

Nonetheless, Tatsuya’s friends didn’t have a poker face like Tatsuya’s. For example, Mizuki fixedly stared at Tomitsuka, who had sat down right behind Tatsuya, and when she came back to herself, her face turned red. She was probably embarrassed over her own bad manners. Mizuki spoke to Tomitsuka with an embarrassed grin.

“Tomitsuka-kun, nice to meet you. I am Shibata Mizuki. I am pleased to meet you.”

“I am pleased to meet you also.”

Tomitsuka’s friendly smile rid Mizuki of her embarrassed grin. Watching what was somewhat of a normal high school exchange at last released the other two from their petrified state.

“How unexpected… for the fifth ranked Tomitsuka to join the Magic Engineering course.”

As her words implied, the awkward words Erika directed to someone were full of surprise.

That was understandable. As Erika said, Tomitsuka was a top class honor student who was ranked fifth in the combined scores of the final exams at the end of their last school year (the top of the overall scores were 1st place Miyuki, 2nd place Honoka, 3rd place a male student by the name of Igara Sousuke, 4th place Akechi Eimi; Shizuku didn’t make the list because she was studying abroad). With such a satisfactory record as a first course student, there didn’t seem to be any need to switch to the magic engineering course. —As far as those with objective eyes could see.

“Are you Chiba-san? As someone who is also from the Hundred Families,

I think you might be aware Chiba-san, but my family specializes more in combat rather than emergency aid, and since I …have a problem with my practical skills.”

A question hadn’t been exactly addressed to him, but Tomitsuka answered Erika while directing a slightly pained face at her. Thus, Erika (and Leo as well) recalled the gossip about the other name associated with Tomitsuka.

Range Zero, a distance range of zero, was his nickname; while it was a title of honor implying the manifestation of matchless strength at zero distance, simultaneously it was an insult that said he could not do distance magic. Actually, it wasn’t that he couldn’t use them at all; however, there was no quibbling over the fact that Tomitsuka had a problem with long distance aiming which he himself recognized.

From the side, Tatsuya sent a lifeline to Erika, who was lost at sea and unable to find words to answer him with.

“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.”

Was he comforting him or needling him, to this questionable lifeline, “What Tatsuya says has persuasive power.”

With an earnest voice, Leo broke into the pause. Tomitsuka’s ‘bitter smile’ changed into a ‘sarcastic smile.’ “I found you, Tomitsuka-kun!”

Immediately afterward, his complex tangle of emotions was blown away by the cheerful voice that thrust into the classroom of second year class E.

“Akechi-san!?”

In front of the sight of Tomitsuka, who hurriedly turned around, ‘Amy’ — that is, Akechi Eimi — was noisily trotting to him from the classroom’s rear entrance. Due to the fact that she was an athlete in last summer’s Nine Schools competition, she was also an acquaintance of Tatsuya’s.

There was a large number of high pitched clicking sounds as the framework of Tomitsuka’s desk brought her to a halt; her hand was raised like she was trying to throw a ball through a hoop in some fashion and her whole face was smiling.

“Morning, Tomitsuka-kun.”

It was as if a ‘!’ and a ‘♪’ dancing were at the end of her words, so energetic was her greeting. Although they both had carefree personalities, Eimi was different from Erika whose joyfulness was concealing the wounds in her heart — Eimi was joyful to the core. She was the valuable type that made those watching her feel that the worries they were moping over were foolish. Despite the scene just now, due to Eimi’s arrival, all awkward feelings had been eradicated from the atmosphere.

“Ah, yes. Morning, Akechi-san.”

Tomitsuka was drawn by the charm of that energy. No, the feeling given off by the look on his face was not ‘Eimi is charming Tomitsuka;’ ‘Eimi is overwhelming Tomitsuka’ seemed closer to being correct.

“Shiba-kun, morning.”

“Morning, Amy. Come to think of it, Amy and Tomitsuka were in the same class last year.”

“That’s right. You’re well informed?” “It’s a minor thing.”

Tatsuya sent a smile drained of energy at the wide-eyed Eimi.

“Amy, this girl is Shibata Mizuki. This is Chiba Erika. The one over there is Saijou Leonhart. The three of them were my classmates last year.”

Mizuki and the others shouldn’t have had any interaction with Eimi. And Tatsuya’s hypothesis was not off the mark.

“Nice to meet you. I am Akechi Eimi. Call me Amy.”

Tatsuya had introduced the three simply (carelessly?) and Eimi had readily introduced herself in return.

“O.K., Amy. It’s alright if you call me Erika.”

The one who immediately responded was, naturally, Erika. “Please call me, Leo.”

“Nice to meet you, Akechi-san.”

Leo followed with a (supplementary) self introduction and Mizuki bobbed her head. As she did so for some reason, Eimi puffed up her red cheeks in dissatisfaction.

“Amy.”

“Eh?”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Amy.”

Mizuki could not understand what she’d done to make Eimi angry and her eyes showed guilt and innocence. If you looked at it objectively, Eimi’s insistence was nearly irrational, but cases where force triumphed over reason had been observed repeatedly in the world. Anyway, Erika and Leo were dumbfounded since they didn’t know what kind of girl Eimi was, and Tatsuya, who somewhat knew her, was not showing any intention of intervening for some reason. And the other person who knew her, Tomitsuka, appeared to be merely impatient and reluctant to intervene.

“Umm… nice to meet you, Amy. It would be fine if you addressed me as Mizuki.”

In the end, although she was puzzled, Mizuki gave in. “Yes. Nice to meet you, Mizuki.”

At once, Eimi smiled openly. The smile was more foolishly naïve than pleasant; it had the effect of making people doubt slightly that the selfish manner of speaking they remember her using had really happened. Satisfied, Eimi nodded and pivoted her body turning towards Tomitsuka.

“Now, it’s Tomitsuka’s turn.” “Uhh?”

Why had the conversation turned to himself? What the heck did she mean by his turn? Tomitsuka was completely dumbfounded by this too rapid turn of events.

“Amy.”

Eimi once again voiced her nickname.

Tomitsuka still didn’t understand what Eimi was demanding from him. The puzzled Tomitsuka looked right and left and became aware that Tatsuya was enduring the scene with a smile.

Tomitsuka asked for help from Tatsuya by eye contact. Tatsuya constructed a sober expression to answer Tomitsuka’s 911 call.

“You don’t like being called Akechi-san, right?”

Tatsuya’s hypothesis was on the mark it seemed, as Eimi nodded yes-yes. “Don’t you want Tomitsuka to also call you by your nickname?”

Eimi’s sullen display with Mizuki had foreshadowed this. Well, Tatsuya had already expected this development so he hadn’t said anything during the previous episode.

On the other hand, Tomitsuka’s face started to flow with cold sweat. “Eh, umm, Akechi-san, you called me ‘Tomitsuka-kun’ and…” “Oh? So it would be alright if I called you ‘Hagane-kun?’”

So that’s it ~ you should have said so earlier ~ Eimi said with her eyes while she leaned toward Tomitsuka, peering up at his face with both arms behind her back, holding her hands together. Tomitsuka was clearly flustered to anyone’s eyes. The lukewarm eyes of Tatsuya and the others went to Tomitsuka, who was leaning backwards with an even stiffer face.

“No, um, that isn’t exactly what I what I wanted to say… Ah!”

Tomitsuka was desperately trying to avoid meeting the eyes of Eimi, who was blissfully staring at him, and he deliberately stood up and raised his voice when he caught a stare flowing at him from two seats away.

“Akechi-san, let’s have this talk next time.”

Evading Eimi, who had blocked off half his field of vision by leaning forward, Tomitsuka walked toward the seat of the girl that had been looking at him.

“Is that you, Hirakawa-san? You’re in this class as well?”

Tatsuya and the others were just barely able to catch Tomitsuka’s voice from where they were. They weren’t able to catch Chiaki’s diffidently whispered words of reply at all.

“Amy, is it alright not to follow him?”

Erika spoke to Eimi, who looked sullen about being abruptly left behind, in a purposely low tone.

“Do you think there’s nothing you can do now but retreat…?”

Was this the whisper of a devil tempting a human heart into sin, or was it the voice of an angel to someone facing a hard road. —Of course, it wasn’t such a grandiose thing; it was simply nothing more than the declaration of an imp egging on her fellow schoolmate, but the effect was instantaneous. Eimi nodded with a determined look and rapidly went after Tomitsuka.

“…You are one scary female.”

To Leo, who was not making a quip but whispering it in a somber tone, “This way is more constructive, right?”

Erika answered with a broad grin.

“Certainly, this is an extremely interesting development.”

A bit of surprise mixed into the shocked look Mizuki gave to Tatsuya, who was looking at the gazes of undisguised curiosity that onlookers directed at the three of them, Tomitsuka, Eimi and Chiaki, which he just pointed out.

◊ ◊ ◊

The youthful drama of which Tomitsuka was the lead actor (or perhaps the prey) was taken care of by the ringing of the bell. After Eimi left the Class E classroom at a lively trot, Erika and Leo went to the Class F classroom.

Afterwards, there was no ceremony of the first time all the students were assembled for instruction. The stance of the school was that getting the information needed was an individual responsibility. From now on, this class would have a teacher in charge of their practical skills (just like classes A-D in the first course). Over half the class considered not even displaying the name of the teacher until the actual day it started pretty over the top, but Tatsuya was part of the minority who didn’t think so.

It probably hadn’t been decided til the last minute — if Tatsuya’s supposition was completely accurate.

After all, if the number of magicians qualified to be teachers hadn’t been inadequate, then half the students that they had the capacity for at First, Second, and Third high schools wouldn’t be placed in a lower caste.

Taking the dearth of personnel into consideration, the teacher in charge of

Class E’s practical skills instruction would be a fairly eccentric individual for a magician educator and might not be much of a teacher, Tatsuya predicted. For example, very elderly or perhaps the opposite fairly young. If all the instructor was going to do was teach practical engineering skills, then the teacher would not need to have a great deal of skill as a magician, so the possibility that they might dispatch a researcher without any qualifications as a teacher was also within Tatsuya’s expectations.

However, thirty seconds after instruction was to have started, a practical skills teacher stood in front of the entire second year class E who did not meet Tatsuya’s expectations. It also seemed like the teacher was not what the other students imagined either, as a small commotion ran through the classroom.

The one who appeared was a woman in her forties.

Of course, that alone wouldn’t strike anyone as unusual. There were clearly more male instructors in magic high schools, but female ones weren’t all that unusual. The surprise came from the woman’s looks.

Her hair was blonde. The color of her eyes were blue. Her skin color white. Her body was tall and her legs were long from this and her other physical traits; it was clear from looking at her that the woman was a Caucasian of Nordic descent.

“I am Jennifer Smith (sumisu).”

She gave her name in the style of English speaking countries and her full name was an English one.

“I am originally from Boston, but I became a naturalized citizen eighteen years ago.”

However, these words melted the majority of their doubts. If that much time had past since she had been naturalized, then there must be no worries on the security front. Normally, the patriotism of naturalized citizens (toward the nation that naturalized them) was required to be firmer than that of the citizens born in a nation. If they did not display more loyalty to their new country than their former country, then their naturalization wouldn’t be recognized. In the case of a magic researcher with many chances to connect with national secrets, this is especially true. The question of why she would throw away her nationality to become a naturalized Japanese citizen when the USNA was not only the wealthiest nation in modern era, but had the most cutting edge magic techniques remained, but to Tatsuya, that was comparatively unimportant.

“Until the end of the last school year, I was a professor at the National Magic University, but from this school year on, the main school has placed the instruction in magic engineering for this class in my hands. I look forward to working with you.”

She is in the same situation as Tsuzura-sensei, Tatsuya thought. Tsuzura’s back-story was that his too independent mind had caused his downfall. What could be the circumstances in Smith sensei’s case? —Tatsuya considered that hypothesizing she was a troublemaker was both rude and arbitrary.

◊ ◊ ◊

They had to register for electives by the end of first period, but from the second period on they immediately started on the regular curriculum; it was now the noon break.

Tatsuya arrived at the Student Council room.

He was, from now on, a Student Council Vice President. Tatsuya had transferred from the Public Morals Committee to the Student Council due to a secret(?) agreement between Azusa and Kanon; however, this was the result implemented by completely ignoring Tatsuya’s own will. Since he didn’t have any lingering attachment to the Public Morals Committee and he didn’t object to joining the Student Council, Tatsuya hadn’t put up any resistance, but if, for example, Tatsuya had made a show of resisting, then he probably have been persuaded after all. —Not by Azusa, but by Miyuki. Perhaps, Tatsuya didn’t try to resist because he understood that.

Whatever was going on in the background, First High School’s new regime for the common era 2096 new school year was safely launched. The Public Morals committee had also added new members. Mikihiko had been approved as Tatsuya’s successor under the recommendation system by the Student Council. From the clubs, Shizuku was chosen to supplement the lack of members brought by the end of the last school year. Today was the first day of the new school year and in the Student Council room, the roster of Azusa, Kanon, Isori, Tatsuya, Miyuki, Honoka, Shizuku and Mikihiko, in the spirit of a 'welcome new members' party, were holding a luncheon.

The student council meeting table was a little cramped for eight people. Perhaps Kanon thought that was a good excuse for totally gluing herself to Isori. While the pair’s passionate — Isori looked a little uncomfortable — scene seemed to embarrass Azusa and Mikihiko, Tatsuya and Shizuku were poker faced, Honoka seemed somewhat envious and Miyuki looked at the scene with a smile; lunch time proceeded harmoniously.

By the way, while Honoka wanted to take Kanon’s lead and glue herself to Tatsuya because it was cramped, with Miyuki’s standard attitude unbroken, she couldn’t muster the determination.

After the meal ended, each of the eight received a tea cup or a coffee cup according to their preferences. The one waiting on them was the 3H-P94, Pixie. The girl-shaped robot was originally on loan to the Robot Research Club; however, due to various circumstances, especially because Pixie itself wished it, from today on, it became something for Tatsuya to use in the Student Council room.

The topic of their first lunchtime conversation was the new Magical Engineering Course’s unique choice of professor. However, close to halfway through the noon break, their interest turned to the imminent admissions ceremony.

“Is there another rehearsal after school today?”

Mikihiko, who had not been involved in the preparations for the admissions ceremony, asked, politely conscious of the presence of the upperclassman,

“Its more of a business meeting than a rehearsal. There are only two formal rehearsals — one during spring break, and one immediately before the ceremony. And since we’re only practicing the program, we won’t be reading the formal address.”

Miyuki replied in her default polite tone for speaking to male students. “Last year also?”

“Yes.”

Miyuki, who had made the formal address last year, replied to Shizuku’s follow up question also.

“Eh, really? It did not look that way at all.”

Kanon’s response displayed her surprise in a way that looked slightly exaggerated. Naturally, for that reason, the person herself immediately spoke up.

“Our turns were pretty tough… because it’s hard work, I thought we’d hold many rehearsals.”

“At any rate, it was rough…”

As was her apparent habit, Kanon belatedly cut off her words just after she committed a verbal gaffe. Azusa, who had been employed as the freshmen representative the year before last, was timidly sinking into a deep depression.

“Well, well. Nakajou-san was nervous. That’s not particularly unusual.” Isori quickly followed up after his betrothed’s error on one side,

“Of course, Miyuki not getting stage fright was not all that peculiar.”

And Tatsuya followed up after Isori to prevent Miyuki from taking it the wrong way.

“Dear me, Onii-sama. Even I was nervous.”

Miyuki’s timing was not very natural when she spoke from her place next to Tatsuya, with both hands clasped on her thighs. In that state, she leaned her upper body to peek up at her elder brother’s face. While making a pained smile at his sister’s expression with slightly puffed cheeks, Tatsuya lightly caressed Miyuki’s hair, making her return her head to the original distance. Miyuki let out a small “Ah…” and sent a bashful smile to Tatsuya. Shizuku jabbed Honoka, whose face had frozen in an “Aargh,” with her elbow in the flank, and Kanon, who was closely sticking to Isori, looked innocent and unaware of her own inappropriateness.

In the confused atmosphere, Mikihiko deliberately coughed to return things to normal. And Tatsuya spoke to Mikihiko, whose face showed the effects of his effort to cough as if nothing had happened.

“Actually, neither Miyuki or myself has met this year’s freshmen representative face to face yet.”

“That’s because the school takes the lead in preparations for incoming freshmen.”

Upon taking note of Tatsuya’s words, Isori, who was more cognizant of the details than he, entered explanation mode.

“Even though the student’s autonomy is respected, an event like the admissions ceremony, which has many distinguished guests attending, is another matter, of course. Nonetheless, the Student Council handles the preparations on the current students’ side.”

“Are you saying… that the incoming freshman aren’t yet students of our school?”

“No, Mikihiko, that’s absurd.”

Without reservation, Tatsuya used a one-liner to deal with Mikihiko’s meaningless words. The trace of envy that could be seen in Isori’s eyes over their easy relationship with each other was surely only an illusion, of course.

“We don’t know the real reason. So this is only a hypothesis to us.”

With the smile still pasted on Isori’s face, his actual feelings were not something that could be glimpsed.

“Nakajou-san, have you meet him face to face?”

When Isori changed the topic, Kanon displayed an interest without delay. “You mean Shippou-kun?”

Azusa cast down her eyes as she pondered when gazes filled with curiosity turned toward herself.

“I have… he seems like an eager boy.”

She probably did not want to prejudice them against him. Azusa had chosen harmless and inoffensive words, but,

“An ambitious boy, eh.”

Seeing the lightly pained smile Azusa gave when Kanon put her words into blunt terms then, it seems that Azusa also actually shared the same opinion.

◊ ◊ ◊

The living room after dinner. In accordance with the division of labor, the dirty dishes were left to Minami and Miyuki was preparing coffee to Tatsuya’s tastes. To his sister, who had sat down next to the side table she had placed her own coffee on,

“If you consider his position as the eldest son of the Shippou family, he probably can’t help being an ambitious person.”

Tatsuya started the conversation like that with a soothing voice. “Onii-sama, why are you suddenly bringing up Shippou-kun?”

With both her hands folded together and placed on her thigh, Miyuki tilted her head inquiringly in a polite ladylike manner. There was no way Tatsuya was fooled by her formal face.

“Just because he has his reasons, there’s no need for us to bend over backwards. As long as we don’t have a quarrel with him, we don’t need to be any friendlier to him.”

“I did not quarrel or anything like that.”

As Tatsuya had been telling her not to pick a fight in a rather roundabout way, Miyuki looked the other way with a sulky look. —For her to take that attitude could only mean that she was somewhat self aware. He would hesitate to call the first meeting between Miyuki and the eldest son of the Shippou Clan one of compliments and friendliness.

Naturally, a quarrel had not been started from Miyuki’s side. At first, Miyuki also intended to welcome the freshmen representative that had become her kouhai warmly, nevertheless…

“Let me introduce you. This is Shippou Takuma-kun, who is serving as this year’s freshmen representative.”

After school in the student council room. Azusa was introducing him to the officers who were all present — Isori, Miyuki, Honoka, and Tatsuya — and Shippou Takuma bobbed his head quickly. This attitude was fairly common for a freshmen which continued when it came to Isori,

“Vice President Shiba Tatsuya. Nice to meet you, Shippou-kun.” Just as Tatsuya introduced himself, there was a complete change. “Shippou, Takuma. How do you do.”

There was an unnatural emphasis on the family name in his way of speaking, but his language was within the bounds of politeness. However, his attitude could not be called all that polite. Takuma wasn’t looking at Tatsuya’s face, but his right chest.

“…Shippou-kun?”

When Azusa spoke softly to him, Takuma looked a little taken aback and afterwards put an awkwardly friendly smile on his face.

“Pardon me. The gear shaped emblem Shiba-senpai is wearing is unfamiliar.”

Hearing Takuma’s excuse, Azusa nodded "Ah, I see.”

“It is the emblem of the new Magic Engineering course that started this year.”

“Oh, that‘s it.”

Although he probably didn’t mean to do it, he cast out his acknowledgement in a rather careless manner, indicating his lack of interest. Tatsuya did not consider that to be offensive. The Shippou clan’s trump card ‘Million Edges’ was unusual for Modern Magic, because the technique did not use a CAD. Tatsuya had heard gossip from his fellow engineers that the Shippou clan had a tendency to neglect Magic Engineering, perhaps for that reason. Everybody had their own way of looking at things. To him it had value, but he could not force other people to share his sense of values.

However, it was not something Miyuki could overlook. A haughty expression, a disrespectful look in his eye. A foundationless confidence of one’s own superiority and contempt for someone for no reason. The eyes of this freshmen was wearing the same look as her fellow freshmen last year, who scorned her elder brother as a ‘Weed.’ This could be felt by Miyuki.

Takuma, who immediately had to continue greeting people, turned to the next person. He did not intend to cause an uproar at this time and in the first place, Takuma was not aware of the rudeness of his behavior. It was not that he was being somewhat insensitive; one probably had to be very sensitive to how his rudeness would be taken. So he was not especially prepared for the next student council officer — in short, for turning his eyes to Miyuki.

Immediately afterward, he visibly winced which for Takuma was undoubtedly a disgrace. However, it had been inevitable. Because right then.

The Snow Queen descended.

Being in the presence of a blizzard princess or the like was not a gentle experience. An aloof face could be called ordinary; however, this ordinary face was a signal to prepare for a life or death struggle to previous Student Council officers. It was still far from the level it reached at that time — the Student Council Presidential election last year — however, it was not shameful that Takuma, who was experiencing it for the first time, should lose his composure due to the pressure being emitted.

Nonetheless, Takuma himself did not think so. He couldn’t help giving off a mortified look. He rapidly constructed a courteous smile, but looking at it objectively, it was not a very good one.

“Fellow Vice President, Shiba Miyuki.”

As fit her cold expression, Miyuki spoke only this statement for her self introduction.

“—Shippou Takuma. Nice to meet you.”

The shaking in Takuma’s voice was not out of fear but anger. He was disgusted with himself for being overwhelmed by Miyuki. He retained enough self control not to transfer the anger he felt at himself to other people, but Takuma was a naturally passionate boy. In order to restrain himself, he grinded his back teeth.

No matter how much he tried to smooth over his expression, it wasn’t enough to conceal it.\nThe attitudes of Miyuki and Takuma could not possibly be called harmonious. As the atmosphere gradually became more turbulent, Azusa started to get flustered. With last year’s officers, Suzune would have followed up as the next one in this setting, but Isori, who held the same position this year, looked like he was unsure what he should do.

Miyuki’s actions were childish for an upperclassman; nonetheless, Takuma’s conduct also was not the desired courtesy from a new student. The sense that they were both equally at fault was stymying them.

The only one here now who had the potential to rebuke Miyuki and bring the situation to an end was Tatsuya, who was silently examining Takuma’s facial expression.

…Afterwards, due to Honoka’s forcefully cheerful self introduction, the thorny atmosphere lightened a little. Nonetheless, the atmosphere of the meeting remained strained in the Student Council room for the rest of the meeting.

There was not any type of rehearsal today; it was over shortly since they were only going over an already decided program. If they had had to continue in that atmosphere for a long time, they would have had to worry about the outcome of the entrance ceremony. —If the tradition of inviting the freshmen representative to join the student council is taken into consideration, then it was already at a level that the potential harm to the Student Council’s activities had to be a concern.

“But I didn’t think we would suddenly be glaring at each other. The Shippou Clan’s eldest son apparently has a belligerent disposition.”

The attitude I took was not wrong, thought Miyuki. However, no matter how justifiable the reason — feeling that he had looked at the elder brother she loved and respected with scornful eyes — she had, that did not change the fact that she had despoiled the mood of the Student Council. So Miyuki had prepared herself for a light scolding. So while she was in the mood to fend off the questions of her elder brother, who hardly ever rebuked her a little, Miyuki agreed with Tatsuya’s words in a hesitant tone.

“I thought his attitude toward Onii-sama was not simply a type of insolence. I felt that he was concealing hostile intentions toward you.”

Now, when she looked back calmly, she believed that Takuma’s attitude was a little different from the one displayed by her classmates immediately after they were enrolled last year. He wasn’t disdaining Tatsuya as worthless, he was set on forcibly acting superior in order to deal with an enemy from a subjectively superior position… no, Miyuki corrected herself; he did not have the luxury of keeping it concealed.

“That’s right. He was watching us.”

Tatsuya knew that the hostility from Takuma was more towards Miyuki rather than himself. This morning on the way to school, the person Takuma had been looking at intently as if he was glaring was not Tatsuya, but Miyuki. Tatsuya felt that the hostility directed against himself was simply appended to the hostility toward Miyuki.

On the other hand, Miyuki had not considered the idea that she was the main target and Tatsuya was only an additional target even a little bit. Miyuki was aware that Tatsuya had said ‘Us,’ but in her own mind, she persistently put her elder brother as the greater and herself as the lesser.

“I do not comprehend the reason, but I believe it is best if we do not take it too lightly. Not like last year.”

Miyuki was talking about the incident that had taken place immediately after they enrolled last year caused by the domestic terrorism organization ‘Blanche.’ The impetus for the siblings to become deeply involved in the terrible situation that developed when terrorists infiltrated First High School had been Sayaka’s invitations to Tatsuya. At first, Tatsuya had taken it lightly, only considering it ‘an invitation to join in club activities.’

It was questionable if there would have been any changes in the developments that happened afterward had things been considered seriously. The consequences (for the siblings) had not been all that great. However, to Miyuki, her brother’s attitude that ’everything will be okay if we don’t get into a fight with him’ as the way they should react to Takuma’s challenging manner was reminiscent of the time with Sayaka, that he felt there was no need for caution.

“Last year? Ah, no, it probably won’t become anything like that? After all, he is a member of the Twenty-Eight families.”

By the Twenty-Eight families, he referred to the Ten Master Clans and the eighteen associated clans, which wasn’t a common way to refer to them. Only someone who was referring to their common origin in the magician development research laboratories would lump the Ten Master Clans and the eighteen associated clans together as equals and use that expression for them.

“I wouldn’t know anything about Shippou Takuma’s natural disposition, but…”

While holding his coffee cup, Tatsuya muttered something like a monologue.

“It is said that because of their rivalry with the Saegusa clan, the Shippou Clan has the strongest desire to ascend to the position of one of the Master Clans among the eighteen associated clans.”

Miyuki knew of the hostility between the Saegusa clan and the Shippou clan, but this was probably the first time she heard the rest of it. She listened to Tatsuya’s comments with a deeply interested look.

“He’s only wants his own power acknowledged because he really craves the spotlight, like most boys around our own age.”

“Well, are you like that too Onii-sama?”

“Well, about that. Ordinarily, I too would want that.”

Tatsuya answered her with a wry smile, feeling like he was being teased by his little sister when she asked him that.

“It seems that Shippou-kun has the kind of desire to be in the spotlight that makes him work twice as hard as other people. He probably wants to demonstrate that he has power suitable to be a member of the Ten Master Clans. So perhaps he acts hostile to people he feels might hinder him.”

“But we are not doing anything in particular to hinder Shippou-kun, are we?”

“For someone who wants to be acknowledged by those around him, people who are already acknowledged are a hindrance.”

Miyuki agreed with the words Tatsuya related to her with a wry smile with a deep nod.

“I see. In short, Shippou-kun is jealous of Onii-sama’s reputation.”

Tatsuya almost spit out his coffee in response to the comment Miyuki made to indicate ‘her understanding.’

“No, Miyuki, the one he recognizes as his rival and feels jealous of is probably you.”

“Me?”

Miyuki asked with her eyes if Takuma had really disregarded her Onii- sama to focus on herself, to which Tatsuya nodded his head countless times.

“He is this year’s freshmen representative, you are last year’s representative. That is enough of a reason to view you as a rival. Additionally, you were very active in the Nine Schools Competition. Doesn’t he view me as hostile because I am Miyuki’s hanger-on?”

“Absolutely not…! Onii-sama isn’t Miyuki’s hanger-on or anything like that!”

“No, it’s alright not to get excited… I’m just making an assumption about how Shippou-kun looks at me.”

“I will not accept any ridiculous assumptions like that.” “Even if you say you won’t accept it.”

Tatsuya felt a little bit at a loss about how to handle Miyuki when he suddenly pressed one of her buttons.

“Rather it is I who is Onii-sama’s… No, I must reluctantly admit that Onii- sama is my very important partner.”

In the portion that was mumbled out of embarrassment, he heard ‘Onii- sama’s belonging’ but Tatsuya didn’t let it bother him. To Tatsuya, the way she rephrased it was bold and fairly embarrassing but he ignored it as well.

“If we reconsider once more, there is also the possibility that he views us as hostile because he knows we are related to the Ten Master Clans.”

He pointed this out in a nonchalant tone, but it had enough weight to bring Miyuki’s mind back down to earth from where it had been lightly whirling around.

“He knows that we are related to the Yotsuba? Aren’t you over thinking things, Onii-sama?”

“That’s true. I don’t believe he has — no, rather the Shippou clan has — the ability to penetrate the Yotsuba’s control of information, but… I feel that there was some kind of strong impression of something of that level in his eyes.”

What Tatsuya was recalling was not the scene in the Student Council room where they glared at each other, but the intermittent staring Takuma had done at Miyuki on the way to school. Miyuki was unaware that Takuma did that, so right now what her brother was saying didn‘t ring any bells.

Even so, Miyuki housed her brother’s worry in her heart.

“That’s true… he is a member of the Twenty-Eight Families, it might be better to be cautious.”

…It was the right answer to any hostility directed to them related to the Ten Master Clans, but completely wrong if it was suspected that they had a connection to the Yotsuba. If they were suspected of being related to the Saegusa, it would also be the right solution, but neither Tatsuya nor Miyuki hit on that possibility. Even though they were friendly with Mayumi, for the pair who never forgot the complicated relationship between the Yotsuba and the Saegusa, being seen as part of the Saegusa’s clique was something that would never occur to them.

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