Volume 12, Chapter 11

This chapter is updated by wuxiaworld.eu

The wave of anti-magician sentiment in the world grew stronger on a daily basis, but a school is something like a self-governing fiefdom. It doesn’t have the independence of an extraterritoriality, but it is unmistakably, to a certain extent, an isolated society. Inside the grounds of First High, tranquility was also preserved. Nevertheless, Tatsuya had been certain that this was the calm before the storm since he had heard Fumiya’s story.

April 19th, Thursday night. At last, the announcement of when the storm would arrive traversed the phone lines to reach Tatsuya.

[Tatsuya-san, thank you for your hospitality to us so well the other day despite the suddenness of our visit.]

“You're welcome.”

Even though she called it hospitality, all they had done was set out tea and snacks. Tatsuya knew Ayako was using polite phrasing when she said that, but he wasn’t one for exchanging flattery and protestations of humility.

“More importantly, what kind of news do you have for me today?” [Tatsuya-san, wouldn’t it be nice if we chatted for a while?] “Next time.”

Should she be angry or shocked - the two looks fluctuated on Ayako’s face but in the end she chose to be resigned.

[Well,… that’s fine for today. Certainly, I have important news to impart.] “Let me hear it.”

Tatsuya’s mind was concentrated on the ‘important matter’ even before he spoke. Being examined by a gaze strong enough to cross the screens, no, it was strong enough to cross the open space between them, made Ayako avert her eyes in shame.

[About the matter you heard about from Fumiya the other day, the schedule has been essentially set.]

Nevertheless, the embarrassed Ayako steadfastly did her duty. Concerning such things, Ayako was not the frivolous girl she appeared to be.

[On April 25th, Wednesday of next week, a member of the national diet will visit First High for an inspection.]

“The Civil Rights Party’s congressman Kanda?” [That’s right. Good guesswork.]

“Isn’t it rather a lack of unpredictability.”

Congressman Kanda, a young politician and a member of the civil rights’ branch of the opposition party which was well known to be extremely critical of the national defense force, had rapidly received increased media exposure this week. And his words and deeds were being circulated by the media, which, while superficially pro-magician at a glance, was actually for the exclusion of magicians from the military, which anyone who paid it a little serious attention understood.

[That’s true.]

Perhaps because she thought Tatsuya’s point was only natural, Ayako chuckled as she smiled.

[So that Congressman Kanda will invade First High with his usual entourage of reporters.]

“What will he do when he invades?” [Who knows, I haven’t thought that far.] “So he hasn’t prepared some big trick.”

Tatsuya didn’t even bother pretending to consider Ayako’s behavior and simply nodded with an understanding look.

[I think you might be interpreting this in some kind of twisted way……]

This conversation was being held between Tatsuya and Ayako only. Miyuki wasn’t near Tatsuya and Fumiya wasn’t next to Ayako. Perhaps because she was so relaxed over not being watched, Ayako looked flabbergasted in a way that was appropriate for her young age.

“If something large scale was prepared for that stage, there’s no way you wouldn’t know, Ayako, right?”

[…..I accept your words of praise.]

“You’ve been praised, so enough of that.”

While he summed it all up in those words, Ayako barely managed to give a cool reply (at least she thought it was); however, as could be expected of Tatsuya, he took up the chase more seriously, making her genuinely at a loss for words.

[Tatsuya-san…..are you perhaps doing this knowingly?]

“What?”

[You are such a…..no, enough.]

Apparently Ayako was making a show of being hounded but the girl swallowed the words she was going to say, faced with the poker face with no hint of emotion peeping out from it as if it was an iron wall. And also for the reason that she finally remembered that she had not made the call for that purpose.

[As you have said Tatsuya-san, I don’t know what they are going to do with that too large stage. Maybe, it’s the usual performance, right. However, the journalists who accompany him are going to be many times the norm so he probably intends to make a big fuss.]

“I see, that seems to be it.”

At this point, Tatsuya appeared to have sunk into thought in front of his second cousin for the first time that evening; however, that was only for about five seconds. Tatsuya returned his gaze to Ayako and gave her a slight smile of thanks.

“Thank you for contacting me. The information is worth considering.” [I will look forward to you displaying your skills.]

Tatsuya responded to Ayako’s affectation with a smile and after the polite niceties, the call was ended by her.

◊ ◊ ◊

The following day, April 20th, Friday. Tatsuya called Azusa and Isori to the student council room before class started.

“Hey, that’s a very serious matter!”

When she heard about opposition party Congressman Kanda’s inspection, Azusa stood up kicking her chair, raising her voice in distress.

“…..is it something to get that upset about?”

Sticking to Isori like glue as usual, Kanon presented the question ‘aren’t you going overboard’.

“No, this is a grave situation, Kanon.” Isori rebuked his betrothed’s optimism.

“If you look superficially, Congressman Kanda appears to advocate for magician’s rights. However, his arbitrary reasoning is that magicians being inducted into the military is decidedly wrong; beneath the surface is his concealed intention to obstruct the relations between magicians and the military.”

“Even I understand that somewhat. But Kanda’s target this time is the relationship between the military and education, right? Not us.”

Perhaps, Kanon disliked Isori siding with Azusa and Tatsuya and not herself. She directed a slightly displeased look at Isori as she answered.

“Even if it damages our freedom?”

Kanon’s face made an ’eh?’ at Isori’s retort. Kanon still had not hit upon what Isori was worrying about.

“If people who believe that the practical application of magicians by the military should be stopped take power, they will certainly prohibit both magic high school students like us from choosing to enroll in the defense college upon graduation and graduates of the magic university from joining the military as well.”

“You mean they’d employ thought control.”

Kanon asked with a look of disbelief to which Isori turned his head away from so he could close his eyes. This was not a rejection of her spoken question, he was rejecting the look on her face when she asked the question.

“Fundamentally the principle of pacifism doesn’t even accept the analysis that defensive armaments are needed to deal with military threats to one’s own nation. They’ll suppress freedom of speech by forbidding slightly positive assertions about the existence of the army. For that purpose not even violent measures would be forbidden. To them, there is probably no reason to hesitate using thought control on us. While they preach about the human rights of magicians, they take away a magician’s right to choose their own employment without concern.”

It was an unexpectedly wicked diatribe. Since Kanon who should know Isori better than anyone else seemed somewhat daunted, it might be natural for Tatsuya to feel surprised. Perhaps, Isori had some kind of bad memories about the ‘fundamental principles of pacifism’.

“…..for that reason, we can’t pretend that it is someone else’s concern,

Kanon. So, Shiba-kun, how do you intend to resist them?”

Perhaps even himself feeling that he had gone a little overboard, Isori changed the topic with an awkwardly amiable smile.

“You called us here because you had some kind of idea, right?” “Yes.”

Tatsuya gave a brief answer to Isori, and turned around to exchange a look with Miyuki. From the time Azusa and the rest had come, Miyuki had been hanging back behind Tatsuya’s back, but now she passed the electronic blackboard she had been carrying in her hand over to Azusa and Isori. Tatsuya saw their gazes drop onto the electronic blackboard and immediately began his explanation.

“They are condemning Magic High Schools as sites of military education and claiming that the schools are directing students into military related fields. So then, wouldn’t it be great to show that the fruits of magic education are more than things related to military purposes.”

Tatsuya spoke in a frank tone anticipating the conclusion. No one responded to his words with sounds of comprehension, objections or questions.

“So I thought we would want to hold a slightly showy demonstration that coincides with Congressman Kanda’s visit to the school.”

“… slightly?” “… this?”

Azusa and Isori finally made these responses. Their shocked faces were an indirect form of protest. However, their voices did not express their shock as well as the looks on their faces so it gave off a superficial impression.

“It will need large-scale preparations, but the demo itself wouldn’t be all that different from normal electrical discharge experiments, implosion experiments and the like. The outward appearance is superior, though.”

“Maybe we could only make a show of it.”

Although Azusa protested in a weak voice, Tatsuya’s wry smile with which he was enduring this did not change.

“If we made something only similar in appearance the meaning would be quite different… and so this would be eminently effective. But, Shiba- kun…”

Perhaps he finally got over the shock, Isori after vocally persuading himself to agree gave Tatsuya a somber look.

“Can you really do it? One of the Three Great Puzzles of Weight Systemic Magic, The Gravity Control-Type Magic thermonuclear fusion reactor.”

Isori’s questioning of the most essential part of the plan made Tatsuya make a slightly hesitant face.

“I can’t make the actual thing yet.”

However, this did not indicate a lack of confidence regarding the practicality, he was pondering how he should answer the question.

“I did not say an experimental reactor. Not in the form of an reactor. But, we can produce something with the potential to implement nuclear fusion in a showier and more easily understood way than the thesis we did for last year’s competition.”

“…..’a stellar furnace’?”

Azusa, who had never taken her eyes off the electronic blackboard throughout the conversation, murmured that, still in the same posture.

“The Gravity Control-Type Magic thermonuclear fusion reactor. I think this concept is the opposite of Suzune-san’s proposal of an intermittent style of nuclear fusion.”

Azusa was staring at the electronic blackboard as if boring into it; she didn’t look at either Tatsuya’s face or Isori’s face.

“The quantity of energy that it is capable of producing per unit of time is incomparably larger than Suzune’s system….. If Shiba-kun’s stellar furnace is implemented, there will be no distinction between day and night, it would be possible to supply energy that is unaffected by the influence of weather conditions. Factories also could operate without worrying about the electrical supply and it would put an end to fear of another radical temperature drop. There is probably no other demonstration superior to this for showing magic’s use for peaceful purposes.”

Azusa broke off her monologue-like whispering and turned to face Tatsuya.

“Is this an original plan of yours, Shiba-kun?”

“It’s not a unique idea in by any means, but certainly, this is something I am working to create. The method is still far from practical since the magic skill level needed is so high, but if our school’s students have the ability and if it’s for a short period of time, then there is potential to operate an experimental reactor.”

As Tatsuya answered Azusa’s question, he nodded firmly and deliberately. It was like he was saying the Gravity Control-Type Magic thermonuclear fusion reactor was the summit of his ambitions. The stellar furnace was nothing more than the main component for realizing his own original goal, but at this point of time, Tatsuya did not intend to make that obvious.

“Is that so……understood.”

Azusa also returned his nod with uncharacteristic boldness. Tatsuya hadn’t told them everything; however, his feelings about making the stellar furnace a reality were genuine. And, Azusa sensed Tatsuya’s sincerity and nodded.

“Isori-kun.”

Azusa turned to face Isori.

“I wish to cooperate with Shiba-kun’s plan. How about you, Isori-kun?” “I will also cooperate. A public stellar furnace experiment. Not just a countermeasure to Congressman Kanda; as someone aiming to be a magic engineer, I am all for doing it.”

As he answered Azusa. Isori also shook his head up and down.

On the noon break of that day, Tatsuya went to the staff room to visit Professor Jennifer Smith. To hold experiments not in the course curriculum, a written application must be submitted; if it is part of club activities then to the club adviser, if it is an independent experiment not part of club activities then to the class teacher, if there is no class teacher due to being in the second course then to the staff room; no experiments are allowed without the school’s permission.

When Jennifer looked at the list of magics to be used at the beginning of the written application, she suddenly raised her eyebrows.

“Gravity control, Coulomb force control, Four Phase Shift, Gamma ray filter, and a Neutron Barrier? Shiba-kun, do you intend to do a high output laser cannon experiment?”

“I do not intend to do something like that.”

Tatsuya artlessly replied to his professor’s question in a traditional style. There was no need to give his answer a strange aspect, but perhaps his choice of a cliché phrase he didn’t have to think about was due to the sheer unexpectedness of the question. While he compiled the list of magic combinations he had offered, he had not been aware of the potential for their use to complete a laser device that uses a nuclear fusion reactor until Jennifer had pointed it out to him.

However, Jennifer was not even listening to Tatsuya’s answer, so they might be even. Her question had been a kind of a monologue; Jennifer’s eyes were glued to the written application.

“The subject of the experiment is extremely ambitious……”

Jennifer looked up from the electronic paper displaying the written application and turned her eyes to Tatsuya who was standing to the side.

“Can you guarantee the safety?”

“According to my calculations, I can guarantee it.”

Tatsuya’s answer could be thought of as irresponsible, but Jennifer did not chide him about it. It was the role of an experiment to determine whether a theoretical possibility was an actual possibility. “Stopping an experiment because it was unknown whether it was actually safe” was in a sense putting the cart before the horse. She was a scientist who wouldn’t have anything to do with that kind of foolishness.

“In this school’s presentation at last year’s Thesis Competition, a proton to proton chain reaction was used to avoid exposure to neutron radiation. Why does this experiment use a heavy hydrogen reaction?”

Of course, that did not mean she did not consider the risks. That risks should be minimized by calculations was something Jennifer naturally kept in mind.

It goes without saying that Tatsuya also considered that point. There was no hesitation in his answer.

“The conditions for using the original proton to proton chain reaction were too strict for the energy source. The techniques in Ichihara-senpai’s experiment were likely to guarantee the successful control of the reaction, but if the utility of the energy reactor is taken into account, I believe the returns are too little to justify the investment of the techniques. Besides, with the proton to proton chain reaction, isn’t the danger of exposure to radiation only slight if the neutrons don’t break out.”

Jennifer silently considered Tatsuya’s answer for a while with her arms crossed.

“……understood. I cannot give permission at my own discretion. The written application will circulate. A decision should be made by the end of the schoolday.”

“Thank you. Furthermore, please keep the experiment secret from outsiders.”

Tatsuya had not thought that he would receive immediate approval to use the Radiation experiment room and the campus. After a few additional last words, Tatsuya bowed a goodbye to Jennifer.

“So, did you get permission for the experiment?”

After school in the Student council room. Tatsuya, who was posed this question by Azusa, offered the written application with the principal’s electronic signature stored on that had been sent to him. “A condition has been attached, but it was approved.” “Condition?”

Hearing Isori’s question to Tatsuya, Azusa looked up from the electronic paper displaying the written application.

“It’s only natural, a teacher will supervise. That is the condition.” “I see. So, which teacher will work with us?”

Just as Isori was asking for a more detailed answer from Tatsuya, the chime rang signaling a visitor.

“Tsuzura-sensei. He has thoughtfully come here for the meeting.” Miyuki, who checked the monitor, turned around to answer Isori.

Izumi promptly stood up. She didn’t seem the least bit energetic; however, as the only first year among upperclassmen, it was proper for her to go to the door to greet Professor Tsuzura.

Student council activities temporarily ceased with the coming of Tsuzura. Izumi, who was in the middle of training in student council procedures, also stopped her hands and went to the table for the meeting. Tsuzura sat down in the seat the student council president usually sat in, and the student council room quickly changed into the experiment meeting room. Of course, Tatsuya, who had planned this experiment, had also planned on helpers beyond the student council members here. He had asked them to meet him here without telling them the reason.

“I’ve gone over the protocol for the experiment. I think it’s an interesting approach.”

After moistening his throat with the tea Pixie served, Tsuzura was the first to speak up at the meeting.

“So, Shiba-kun. Have you considered who to assign to which duty?”

What he meant by duty assignments was who would perform which magic. The magic that was to be used in this: Gravity Control, Coulomb Force Control, Four Phase Movement, Gamma Ray Filter, Neutron Barrier.

“First, I want Mitsui-san to take charge of the Gamma Ray Filter.”

“Me!?”

Abruptly designated, Honoka spoke out hysterically. She hadn’t even heard the particulars of the experiment until this stage, so it was understandable.

"In magic involving controlling the frequency of electromagnetic waves, I know of no one who is superior to you, Honoka. Won’t you undertake it, Honoka.”

“I understand! I will do my best!”

Nevertheless, in the end, Honoka, after hearing no more than Tatsuya’s “please”, shook her head in agreement. Considering her feelings, this was probably fairly inevitable.

“Isori-senpai, please take Coulomb Force Control.”

Perhaps they had already discussed this, as Isori just silently nodded.

“For Neutron Barrier, there is a first year I know of, I think she can take care of this.”

At this statement of Tatsuya’s, Izumi’s face twitched. “A first year? Is that okay?”

The unease was probably insuppressible even for Tsuzura. It felt like he interrupted without thinking.

“Yes. The girl possesses genius level talent for barrier magic against objects.”

“Who is it?”

“Her name is Sakurai Minami. My cousin.” “I see.”

However, hearing Tatsuya’s explanation, Tsuzura relaxed to his former posture with a relieved look. Tatsuya thought Tsuzura changed his attitude a little too easily. Maybe, it wasn’t because she was his cousin that Tsuzura’s worries eased; Tsuzura was probably confident because she was Miyuki’s cousin, Tatsuya extrapolated.

“I haven’t determined who to ask to handle the Four Phase Movement, yet. And, I believe my sister will handle the necessary Gravity Control.”

At the same time as Tatsuya said that, Miyuki made a small seated bow. “I believe that is a suitable personnel selection”

This time, Tsuzura’s face showed understanding. Currently, in First High school, the student with the highest level of magic power aside from the third years was Miyuki. Tsuzura naturally knew this.

“With all that done then, the only thing undecided in the first order of business is who to ask to handle the Four Phase Movement.”

As he spoke, Tsuzura turned his eyes to Azusa. “Is there any impediment for Nakajou-san?”

The one who replied to Tsuzura’s suggestion was Tatsuya, not Azusa herself.

“I believe the president should oversee the overall operation.” “I see. Certainly, that would be appropriate.”

Withdrawing his own suggestion, Tsuzura once again looked lost in thought. At that point, Izumi raised her hand.

“Umm, if it would be all right if that task were left to us?”

This proposal should have been something unanticipated, but, without letting what was going on in the back of his mind show, Tatsuya asked in a businesslike tone.

“By us, do you mean the two of you, Kasumi and yourself?”

“Yes, I might not have enough power myself to do it, but if Kasumi-chan and I do it together, I think we would surely be useful.”

Listening to Izumi’s words were the other six people (Tsuzura, Azusa, Isori, Tatsuya, Miyuki, Honoka) here, among whom four had a puzzled look on their faces.

“…..I can understand Tsuzura-sensei knowing, but I didn’t think even

Shiba-senpai would know.”

Naturally, Izumi herself felt having doubts was more natural, so she had not expected to be easily accepted. There was no way an upperclassman who had been chosen as an engineer for the Nine Schools Competition and as a representative to the Thesis Competition would not know what it meant for two people to be in charge of one sequence. Furthermore, he had not shown any surprise. There could be no other reason than that he knew of the scope of their power.

“Let’s go into that topic at another opportunity. Such an opportunity might never come though.”

Tatsuya easily sloughed off Izumi’s searching stare to look at the model of the experiment reflected on the screen in the surface of the wall.

“Tsuzura-sensei, Mitsui-san and Saegusa-san do not know the particulars of the experiment. So I thought going through the explanation would also confirm the details.”

With Tsuzura’s agreement, Tatsuya went over the details of the experiment with the student council members. Azusa, Isori and Miyuki already knew the contents but no one looked bored.

“…..the stellar furnace system from a technical point of view is still underdeveloped. However, if we cooperate and function as a team, then without a doubt we can succeed in this experiment concerning what is one of the so-called three great problems.”

At last he summed it all up and Tatsuya’s ‘stellar furnace’ was turned into a small stunt.

◊ ◊ ◊

The stellar furnace experiment’s actual preparation period was from April 21st to April 24th, a four day period. If the time spent crafting the experimental devices for the Thesis Competition is considered then it was a hopelessly insufficient period. However, this time there was not going to be a full school mobilization. In the first place, Tatsuya and the others were not supposed to know of Congressman Kanda’s forthcoming inspection. This experiment must appear unrelated to the visit of Congressman Kanda and the media. It wasn’t necessary to conceal the Stellar Furnace experiment itself, but it was temporarily confined to volunteer accomplices and the student council officers.

However, from the start Tatsuya and Miyuki hadn’t been pessimistic about the situation. As he had said to Isori, this time they were not going to build the structure of an energy reactor. They were only going to display the structure. This experiment was fundamentally a performance: they were not constructing actually functioning experimental devices like they did for the thesis competition. Tatsuya was very conscious of the difference. On the other hand, Miyuki could not look on anything Tatsuya attempted pessimistically.

The preparations steadily advanced to the goal and begun to look like the real thing, and the faces of the other participants in the experiment began to look less impatient. From the face of Kasumi, who seriously worked on the experiment determined not to do less with her efforts than that darn Miyuki with a frowning expression that all but said she was unwilling as well; from the face of Hirakawa Chiaki, whose attitude displayed the question, ‘how did this happen?’, but never let her hands rest for a second either; and from the face of Tomitsuka, who had innocently dragged in Chiaki with good intentions and whose face went back and forth from letting his unease disappear to looking resistant. ---among them was a silver haired first year who had intended to only gaze at his hero, Tatsuya, but whose whole body spoke of his delight at helping; Sumisu Kento had managed to slip in despite being an outsider.

And April 24th, Tuesday. After school the day before the main event, in the radiation experiment room, the final rehearsal was being held. A 50% heavy water and 50% light water mixture had been poured into the globe shaped water tank made from a highly transparent, pressure resistant resin. The large quantity of heavy water had been provided by Tsuzura. It was possible to industrially manufacture heavy water from ordinary sea water, but securing a large quantity of heavy water was of course difficult for a simple high school student. The abundance of heavy water that they were able to get was the result of Tsuzura exercising his connections to the fullest.

“Okay, let's start. Miyuki.” “Yes.”

First, Gravity Control magic was invoked. “Kasumi, Izumi.”

“Four Phase Shift, go.”

The twin sisters spoke as one and executed the Four Phase Shift magic. “Honoka, Minami.”

“Gamma Ray Filter in effect.” “Neutron Barrier, in place.”

He did not rely on the girls’ reports; Tatsuya used his own ‘eye’ to confirm that the steps of the experiment had been cleared.

“Miyuki.”

“Focus point established.”

Tatsuya called out Miyuki's name once again, informing Miyuki that all the preparations were made.

“Isori-senpai.”

“Electromagnetic repulsion force neutralization, start.”

And when the last safety valve was released, the voices of the members in position in front of the gauge fluttered about doing the checklist.

“Degree of Gravitational field Stability, no issues.” “Gamma rays, measurement within safety limits.” “Neutron rays, measurement within safety limits.” “.......”

Tatsuya serenely gazed at the first step of his dream while listening to those voices.

The last rehearsal ended well. If this was a simple experiment then they would have been satisfied with the conclusive results they received today. However, this experiment was being held as a demonstration against anti- magician advocates. Tomorrow was the crucial moment. The participants were keeping their expectations quiet as they departed the experiment room.

Due to Azusa and Isori taking on the cleaning up and closing up, the other participants moved to the student council room. It was nearly time for the gate to close, but maybe they felt they had entered some kind of state of continuous emergency. Tatsuya pondered that. Still, the other participants, Miyuki and Honoka who followed Tatsuya, Izumi and Minami who followed Miyuki, and Kasumi who followed Izumi, formed a kind of chain. Kasumi and Minami were not members of the student council; however, no one here right now was bothered by that.

“Welcome back.”

Shizuku greeted Tatsuya and the rest. She wasn’t a member of the student council either, but, like the boss(aka. Mari/Chiyoda) of the public morals committee, she frequently used the stairway that connected the student council room and the public morals committee room. From her taciturn exterior, it was hard to imagine that Shizuku actually had a pretty laid back personality. Even so, her sense of responsibility was above average, so, since she was asked to look after things in their absence, she diligently did the duty like this.

“Sorry for making you wait, Shizuku. You really helped us out.” “Nothing special happened.”

Miyuki’s words of thanks were met by a ‘don’t worry about it’ headshake, and after informing them that nothing unusual happened, Shizuku turned to face her best friend.

“Honoka, about that?”

Instantly, Honoka’s face displayed an ‘urk…..’ flinch. Perhaps discerning the answer to her question from merely that, Shizuku just showed an ‘oh, well’ look.

Rising up and moving behind Honoka’s back, Shizuku grabbed both of her friend’s shoulders. Honoka was taller by half a head; however, paying that no mind, Shizuku forcibly changed the direction Honoka’s body was facing, so Honoka was directly opposite Tatsuya facing him head on. Taking her hands off, leaving Honoka there, she looked here and there in the vicinity until she found Honoka’s bag and reached in to get a small box wrapped in pretty paper. Pressing that box into Honoka’s hands, she went behind her friend’s back again to give her a strong shove in the back.

Honoka stopped herself after one step and looked up at Tatsuya’s face that was closer than before. There was still too much space between their positions to enact a Love Scene. Of course, with this many onlookers, no matter how easy it was for Honoka to constrict her vision, it would be difficult for her to act boldly. The attempt she was going to make was going to be a very innocent occurrence.

“Umm, Tatsuya!”

After that statement, Honoka squeezed her eyes shut and offered the box with both hands.

“Today is your birthday, Tatsuya-san!”

Leaving no room for Tatsuya to answer, Honoka continued speaking. She was talking so fast it was doubtful that she was taking the time to breath, but it definitely wasn’t hard to understand what she was saying.

“It’s not much, but I worked hard at picking it out! Please accept it!”

Kasumi’s voice saying something like ‘Do Mitsui-senpai and Shiba-senpai have that kind of relationship’ reached Tatsuya’s ears from a corner of the room, but Honoka undoubtedly didn’t hear her.

“Of course, I will accept it.”

The moment Tatsuya’s hand touched Honoka’s present, he felt not a piercing but a penetrating gaze. However, when he took fleeting sidelong glances behind him, all traces of that sword-like stare had disappeared.

“Thank you.”

“N-no, it’s nothing. Umm, please unwrap it when you’re alone.” “Hm? Ah, got it.”

Tatsuya nodded with a slightly mystified look and Honoka let out a big sigh. She seemed like she was just about ready to collapse having used up so much of her strength, but fortunately all she did was stumble. Shizuku decided by the ‘I adore Tatsuya’ look on Honoka’s face that she was not up to anything else and took charge from next to Honoka.

“Tatsuya-san, are you free next Sunday?”

As usual, Shizuku suddenly started speaking. Tatsuya was quite used to it, but he couldn’t keep from being instantly confused.

“What time?”

Of course, he was only confused for a moment. And he continued the conversation without missing a beat.

“The evening. Around six o’clock.” “……that’s fine.”

He had a meeting on developing a completely thought controlled model of CAD on Sunday with FLT’s R&D section three, but six pm in the evening left him plenty of time to return. Neither the main office or R&D section three were in the habit of letting their meetings run over.

“It would be a little late, but I want to hold a birthday party for Tatsuya at my house. Is that okay?”

This ‘is that okay?’ was packed with three different meanings: ‘Is it okay to count on your participation?’, ‘Is it okay to have it at my house?’ and ‘Is it all right that I just went and planned a birthday party for you’.

“It’s completely fine. Thank you for inviting me.”

There were no ulterior motives beneath Shizuku’s proposal to give Tatsuya a birthday party out of her own good will, he knew that without even checking. Tatsuya nodded without even pretending to think about it and Shizuku answered with a slight nod. While she looked expressionless, there was a slight hint of smugness in the shape of her mouth.

“Miyuki and Minami-chan too.”

Without a moment’s delay she spoke to Miyuki and Minami, needlessly hiding her embarrassment.

“Yes, it’s fine.”

“Thank you for your invitation.”

Unrelated to Miyuki’s smiling answer and Minami’s more diffident answer, Kasumi was looking at Tatsuya with an appraising eye. Kasumi hadn’t thought Tatsuya was the type to be popular with girls, but that mental evaluation was shaken.

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