Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 03 - Nine Schools Competition (I) (3 page)

"The teachers understand that I wasn't intentionally getting them wrong, but they still advised me to transfer."

"Transfer?"

"Why?
Why would they do that?"

Mizuki and Honoka both shouted out with their faces completely pale, while the other three wore similar expressions.

"Among the Nine Schools, Fourth High is renowned for their specialty in Magic Research, so the teachers suggested I transfer there.
I declined, of course."

Two people let out sighs of relief, while two others looked furious.

The former two were Mizuki and Honoka, the latter Leo and Erika.

The last member of this conversation wore an unreadable poker face.

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So if someone doesn't excel in technical skills, then they should join a school that doesn't emphasize technical skills at all, isn't that completely self-contradictory for a school?
I can understand if someone's grades were bad and they couldn't keep up in class, but that's obviously not the case with Tatsuya."

"Probably because he's an eyesore.
Maybe Tatsuya-kun knows more about magic than the teachers themselves."

"Relax, you two."

If left alone, Leo and Erika would only feed off each other's fury, so Tatsuya stepped in to extinguish them.

"It's just as Leo said, barely passing is still passing, so there's nothing that would necessitate a transfer.
It's possible that the teachers only had my best interests at heart.
Regardless, even if that was the case, these best interests possess no empathy, and are solely in place to protect themselves."

Tatsuya's soft tone did nothing to cover his acidic assessment, causing the originally furious pair to shrink away.
This was precisely the cooling effect that Tatsuya aimed for, and while the method may be called vile, but alas, the result was not the most ideal.

"At the end of the day, I think that teachers shouldn't be mistaken in the first place."

Just as everyone was hesitant towards what to say next, Shizuku spoke up in a singular manner that was neither supportive nor critical.
From the way her comment relaxed the tension caused by Tatsuya's mocking words, the overall effect would probably be categorized as supportive.

"Fourth High doesn't scoff at technical skills, but when compared to the combat-centric magic that would be expressed in the Nine Schools Competition, they are more interested in further intricate techniques, the more complex and procedures the better."

"Is that so?
Shizuku-chan, you know quite a lot about this."

"That's because my cousin studies at Fourth High."

Hearing Shizuku's answer to Mizuki, Honoka and the other four people said "So that's how it is" as they nodded.
Given that this came from a student attending Fourth High, this should be a reliable source of information.

As everyone professed agreement to these words, they also sprouted considerable mistrust towards the teacher that summoned Tatsuya.

However, this group of individuals wouldn't focus their attentions on a stranger (the teacher) who wasn't with them at the time.

"Speaking of which, it's almost time for the Nine Schools Competition, right?"

Leo probably recalled what Shizuku was saying earlier, to which Tatsuya nodded at his inquiry.

"Miyuki is already complaining.
There are a lot of things to account for, including vehicles, tools, and uniforms."

"Isn't Miyuki-chan also participating in the competition?
That sounds tough."

Mizuki wasn't being overly polite, but she was honestly concerned on Miyuki's behalf.

"However, Miyuki should be able to cruise during the newcomers' competition, so the preparation work should be more intensive."

Erika replied in a manner that half supported and half refuted the earlier sentiment.

"Don't be overconfident.
The scion of the Ichijou Family started attending Third High this year."

Shizuku's objection was a little off the mark.
The official and newcomers competitions in the Nine Schools Competition were separated by gender, so there was no way Miyuki would go against the young master from the Ichijou Family.

That being said, no one intentionally retorted at this.

"Is that so.
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"You say Ichijou, as in Ichijou from the Ten Master Clans?"

From their heartfelt expressions of surprise, this appeared to be the first time Erika and Leo found out that someone in their year was descended from the Ten Master Clans.
Mizuki didn't seem too astounded, maybe she knew something about the "scion of the Ichijou Family".

"That might be a tough opponent.
That being said, Shizuku you sure know a lot."

"Shizuku is a die hard fan of 'Monolith Code', so she watches the Nine Schools Competition every year, right?"

Honoka, who knew Shizuku as well as she knew herself, answered Erika's question.

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Hm, yeah."

Hearing Honoka answer for her, the normally expressionless Shizuku nodded in slight embarrassment.
Honoka owed Tatsuya a favor, so it wasn't surprising for her to be interested in Tatsuya.
However, Shizuku was different; she only knew Tatsuya because her best friend Honoka was interested in him, as well as the fact that he was Miyuki's older brother.
Initially, Shizuku had only commented from the periphery, but gradually she had lowered her guard and started expressing herself openly.

"Now that you mention it, besides the All-Japanese and the International University Intramural, 'Monolith Code' can only be seen at the Nine Schools Competition."

Standing diagonally across from the embarrassed Shizuku, Tatsuya nodded upon hearing Honoka's answer, wearing an expression that signified that he understood that sentiment.

Nine Schools Competition was an inter-school competition between high schools affiliated with magic universities.
In other words, it was an internal competition that happened to be open for public viewing.

That was because the Nine Schools Competition was one of the few stages that provided magic competition as entertainment.

Every year, a total of 1200 students entered their first year at the nine magic high schools.

In comparison, there were anywhere between 1200 and 1500 young men and women of age 15 every year who developed enough magic talent to be accepted.

In other words, for the youths that manifested magic talent, if they aimed to become Magicians or Magic Artificers, almost every single one of them would enter one of the nine magic high schools.

So the magic competitions at the high school level, besides kenjutsu, martial arts, and a few others, were completely monopolized by the nine magic high schools.

In order to allow the general public to better understand and become invested in magic competitions, as well as to further society's acknowledgement of magic, the Nine Schools Competition had become one of the few major events to propagate these ideas.

"Our toughest opponent this year is going to be Third High, right?"

"Probably."

Knowing this to be Shizuku's area of expertise, Erika specifically asked for her opinion.
In response, Shizuku simply nodded happily.

"And this year you're not in the audience, but one of the contestants, right?"

Shizuku was Second Place in technical skills for their year; so even if the official roster hadn't been publicized yet, Shizuku was like Miyuki in that they were guaranteed to be selected.

"Yeah.
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Hearing Mizuki's question, Shizuku quietly nodded in response, her face illuminated with motivation.

After finals were over, Tatsuya spent almost every afternoon in the HQ of the Public Morals Committee.

Immediately after summer vacation, the election for the new Student Council President would be held.

After a new President was elected, a new Public Morals Committee would be selected, along with its new corresponding Chief based on the new elections.

According to tradition.
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More like according to bad habits, there had never been a smooth transfer between Chiefs of the Committee.
More often than not, the unorganized activities record and current members were tossed to the incoming Chief to handle.

That being said, when Mari took over as Chief during her first year, there was no problem with the transfer the following year.
However, the 2nd Year students in her Public Morals Committee had insufficient experience, so Mari wished to minimize the confusion during the transfer of power between Chiefs.

—Regarding all the documents necessary for the transfer, Mari tossed that responsibility to Tatsuya.

"I'm starting to think I'm a goody two-shoes.
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"A goody two-shoes that's bad to the core?
I think this dual nature of yours is quite interesting."

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This comment was overly pertinent, rendering Tatsuya unable to reply.

"However, this time I'm very grateful for your good side, since without your help, we would only be repeating past disasters."

Mari comforted him in this way probably because she felt a little guilty seeing Tatsuya silently plugging away at his work.

Yet, Tatsuya did not possess split personalities, nor was he merely helping to organize the material.
He was the only one organizing the materials.

These words achieved no comforting effect whatsoever.

"Even so, you've started preparing for the transfer very early?"

Tatsuya asked a piercing question without stopping his hands from their work.

The documents he was preparing would be completed in a week.

If no further input of additional details was needed, this would create a two month buffer zone.

Also, there was no guarantee that major events or incidents would not occur during this time period.

This wasn't the type of material that should be created as soon as possible.

"Once we start preparing for the Nine Schools Competition, we won't have the time to compile this.
There's a mountain of things to do, from verifying the roster, training, adjusting equipment, gathering and analyzing data, to devising strategies."

All these things had nothing to do with Tatsuya.

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When is the Nine Schools Competition going to be held?"

That being said, cutting off the conversation here would be awkward, so Tatsuya focused all his attention back onto data organization as he asked this.

"Ten days, from August 3rd to the 12th."

"That's quite a long time."

"Hm?
You've never seen it?"

"Yes, since I've always been busy with errands during summer vacations."

Tatsuya's answer thoroughly confounded Mari.

"But according to Mayumi, your little sister goes to see it every year, to the point that she even remembers what events we competed in.
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Tatsuya almost burst out laughing.

"No, it's not like we're attached at the hip 365 days a year.
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Occasionally we move separately as well."

"Eh?
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No, that's true.
It's just that whenever we see the two of you, it's like you're always with each other."

"Speaking of which, we're usually on our own at school."

After Tatsuya objectively pointed this out, even if Mari's expression revealed her incomprehension, she nevertheless still accepted it.

"If that's the case, no wonder you were completely lost when I started talking about the preparations for the Nine Schools Competition."

"Yes, to be honest, I don't even know what competitions are being held.
I only know about 'Monolith Code' and 'Mirage Bat'."