Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 03 - Nine Schools Competition (I) (23 page)

He did not look anywhere else, but at the same time, this meant — he was desperately trying to not look anywhere else.

He originally came over out of concern for Mayumi, but he hurriedly averted his gaze — likely out of guilt that he did look in that direction, causing Hattori to look incredibly out of sorts.

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Given that this alone was enough for him to be guilty and wavering to this degree, only served to prove that he was an honest and innocent teenager.

"Ichihara-senpai!
I didn't look there.
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No, uh, I just wanted to offer the President a blanket.
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Unfortunately, his innocent teenager image only served to be the perfect prey for his senpais.

"Vice President Hattori wanted to bring the President a blanket?
Then by all means, go ahead."

Suzune revealed an understanding expression as she rose and used her eyes to signal Hattori to hurry up.

As for Mayumi, she pitched in by pretending to avert her eyes out of embarrassment and used both her hands to cover her slightly exposed chest.

With a spread blanket in both hands, Hattori was rendered completely immobile.

A definite trace of mischief could be seen in Mayumi's eyes.

Looks like Mayumi has become even harder to control than ever.

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Shiba-kun made the right decision — Suzune thought to herself.

He washed his hands of the whole deal.

"What the heck are those guys doing.
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Hattori was frozen in place, Mayumi was watching with expectation dancing in her eyes, and Suzune was calmly watching from the sidelines.
This awkward three-way caused Mari to sigh and comment in a helpless tone.

As usual, Hattori was dancing to Mayumi's tune.
After verifying this, Mari sat back down after rising from her seat (as a matter of fact, her seat was facing Suzune and company's position from across the aisle).

Mari didn't say this aloud, but she too was concerned on Mayumi's behalf, but her inability to do anything was more pronounced.

"Eh.
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Just like old times.
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Mari secretly suspected that Hattori was under a lot of stress due to Mayumi's constant teasing, which in turn brought about his harsh attitude towards Course 2 students, and that led to Mayumi's headaches regarding her Vice President's actions and created a vicious cycle.
This was something that did not sit well with her.

That being said, Mari also knew that Mayumi's stress level was far heavier than hers.

Mari's family boasted considerable history — rumor said that they were descended from General Watanabe Tsuna from the peaceful eras, although no one knew if this was true — but based on the current standings, they were barely on the fringes of the "Hundred Families".

Mari didn't know if it was because of a mutation, if her genes skipped a generation or she simply didn't inherit the bloodline, but at any rate she was the only one in her family with vaunted magic talent.
Thus, even though her family had great hopes for her, Mari didn't have to concern herself with the family rivalries that were abundant in magical society.

On the other hand, the Saegusa and Yotsuba Families currently dominated the upper echelons of the Ten Master Clans and while Mayumi wasn't the next head, she was still a direct descendant and the eldest girl, so even though she was still a high school student, there had been quite a few marriage proposals even before she reached high school (which were not rumors, but grounded in fact).

As for Mayumi herself, even compared with the other Magicians within the Ten Master Clans, she still possessed "outstanding" magical talent.
She was the subject of intense scrutiny, the veritable rising star of tomorrow among pure bloods.

On top of that, she was also the Student Council President, which only added to the things on her plate.

No matter how resilient her personality was, her days were by no means a walk in the park.

She's only playing a little bit, Mari thought, so leniency is probably the best approach.

While she was considering this, Mari did not add in "from a friend's perspective", likely because she also possessed a slightly shameful teasing side to her.
But if someone actually said that to her face, Mari would probably knock them to the floor.

—Back on topic,

Unless the ruckus got out of hand, she wasn't going to interfere — Hattori seemed to be a willing participant anyways — so after making that somewhat one-sided decision, Mari directed her gaze out the window.

She sat in the aisle seat of a two person row.

So she had to look at the person sitting in the window seat.

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Mari-senpai, what's up?"

An equally listless female student asked Mari after noticing her gaze.

"Hm?
No, Kanon, I'm just looking outside."

Mari transferred her focal point from outside to the 2nd Year student sitting next to her, Chiyoda Kanon, who was wearing a handsome smile that was particularly popular among female students.

She was an underclassman that Mari especially favored and Mari was actively prepping her to be the next Public Morals Committee Chief.

Thanks to Tatsuya (if he heard this, he would strongly protest that he was coerced and not asked), Mari had already prepared the transfer documents just for her.
If it wasn't Kanon, Mari likely wouldn't even bother.

They were both of the Hundred Families, but Kanon belonged to the Chiyoda Family near the pinnacle.
Talented Magicians from prestigious families were the true representation of "Hundred Families".

Here, the "Hundred Families" didn't actually mean the number broke one hundred.

Just as the hundreds digit followed the tens digit, the same meaning applied in that they were "families that were second only to the Ten Master Clans".

In addition, the Ten Master Clans did not consist of only ten families.
There were a total of 28 families worthy of the name the Ten Master Clans, and whoever possessed the strongest magic (notice that this was not the most talented, but the strongest), the top ten would be collectively known as the Ten Master Clans.

Mayumi's Saegusa Family always boasted a large number of talented Magicians, whereas the Yotsuba Family possessed one of the strongest Magicians in the modern era.
The "Demon Lord of the Far East", the "Midnight Queen", Yotsuba Maya was the current head of house, which caused both families to be acknowledged as the twin aces of the Ten Master Clans.

Currently, the Ten Master Clans consisted of "Ichijou", "Futatsugi", "Mitsuya", "Yotsuba", "Itsuwa", "Mutsudzuka", "Saegusa", "Yatsushiro", "Kudou", and "Juumonji", which just happened to number from one to ten chronologically.
However, this was the first time this had occurred since the Ten Master Clans had been formed, and there have been situations where one or two numbers were either duplicated or missing altogether.

The strongest of the strong became the Ten Master Clans, with the other 18 families as replacements, followed closely by the authentic "Hundred Families".

Kanon belonged to the Chiyoda Family, which was one of the Hundred Families.
Kanon's direct attack power rivaled Mari herself and if she had a weapon in hand, her firepower could match Magicians from the Ten Master Clans themselves.
No wonder she had the magic worthy of the name of the Chiyoda Family.

However, the crowning difference from Mayumi was that Kanon wasn't listless because she was overwhelmed with family business.

Hearing Mari's response, Kanon softly said "Is that so" and directed her gaze outside, followed with a lazy "Heh.
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sigh.

This ridiculous response only irritated Mari further.

"Kanon.
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"Yeah?"

Kanon turned around again, but this time she smiled in a fashion completely different from before.

Unfortunately, the imitation paled before the original, as Mari smiled back in an equally radiant manner — from a female perspective.

"It's at most two more hours to the dorms, can you not wait for that long?"

"Hey, that's mean!
I'm not a child, I can wait for a paltry two or three hours!"

At Mari's casual question, Kanon was suddenly fired up like she was another person.

Her middle length hair bobbed as she pouted and complained.

"But, but, I thought we would be on the bus together today, so it's OK if I'm a little upset."

"Haven't you guys been together.
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Even if you're engaged, counting the time you two have been together, that's probably longer than 'that pair' of Shiba siblings, right?"

"It's impossible to share a bus trip these days, so I was really looking forward to it.
I mean, last year I was all alone.
And when compared with siblings, of course engaged couples share more time together!"

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Really?"

"Of course!"

Kanon puffing out her chest — which was slightly insulting and not altogether flattering – declared this to which Mari secretly sighed again.

This underclassman was usually decisive and dependable with a strong and active personality, which were qualities Mari admired in the young lady, but.
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(Every time, the moment she gets to Isori it's like she's someone else entirely.
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"Speaking of which, why does the technician team have to hitch a different ride!
It's not like they can do anything during the ride, so why are they in a separate car!
This bus has enough seats for all of us, and even if that wasn't the case, we could still charter a double-decker bus!"

Kanon seemed to have seized upon the proper venue and started to loudly vent her frustration.
At this, Mari could only sigh again.

On the bus, there was another young woman who also shared Kanon's displeasure.

—This young lady did not make a fuss like Kanon, which only served to increase her friends' trepidation.

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Uh, Miyuki, would you like some tea.
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"Honoka, thank you.
However, I'm sorry, but I'm not thirsty right now.
I'm not like Onii-sama, who was ordered out into the hot sun to stand watch."

Her voice was both calm and gentle.

Just like the chill that someone would feel upon gazing at the fine layer of frost that covered the landscape.