Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 03 - Nine Schools Competition (I) (24 page)

"Ah, uh, you're right."

Honoka quickly agreed as someone on the other side of the aisle sharply nudged her flank.

(Why are you reminding her of her brother!
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(It's not like I meant to do that!
)

Honoka and Shizuku weren't telepathic but were still able to communicate with their eyes because maybe they both wanted to "do something" for the silently fuming Miyuki?

".
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Seriously, since we know who was going to be late, there was no reason for him to wait outside the bus.
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Why is Onii-sama always doing so much.
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Miyuki finally started to mutter aloud, which only increased the terrifying tension around her.

Honoka wanted to flee.

At the very least, she wanted to switch places with Shizuku.

But if she switched seats at this juncture, she would surely incur Miyuki's wrath.

—Scratch that, Miyuki wouldn't actually do anything to her friends, but the dangerous feeling surrounding her was enough to cause people to let one's imagination run wild (speaking of which, the 1st Year female student sitting next to Shizuku was huddled in a ball and keeping her eyes glued outside).

".
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And he's sitting in a tiny storage vehicle crowded with equipment.
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At least during the trip, I had hoped Onii-sama could get some proper rest.
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Shizuku glanced at the terrified Honoka and sighed.

Shizuku believed that Miyuki omitted the three words "next to me" (in other words, Shizuku mentally adjusted this to be "Onii-sama could get some proper rest next to me"), but she said something completely different.

"Still, Miyuki, this is where I think your older brother is amazing."

Shizuku took the opportunity of starting a conversation to switch seats with Honoka.

Honoka clasped both her palms together in thanks, but Shizuku couldn't see this with her back to her and Miyuki didn't notice this either.

Miyuki was wholly unaware that someone else had caught her muttering to herself, so she was unable to immediately react.

Shizuku seized the opening to keep speaking, completely shattering her normally stoic image.

"Even if he waited on the bus, I don't think anyone would actually complain about it, but your brother dutifully fulfilled his mission to 'verify all contestants had boarded'.
It's true that this seems like an unimportant chore, but he didn't take this boring task lightly and was able to maintain his composure even though something unexpected happened, which isn't easy at all.
Miyuki's brother is really amazing."

It was thanks to Shizuku's personality that she was able to say such a mushy comment aloud.
Honoka was more the type to think those thoughts in the privacy of her mind.

".
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You're right, Onii-sama is the nicest person in the oddest areas."

Finally, Miyuki was able to contain her embarrassment and the icy pressure around them faded as well.

Hiding behind Shizuku, Honoka made a victory sign with her hand.

With a few exceptions, human beings chose only to see things they wish to see.

More likely, "they chose to ignore objects that they did not want to perceive".

For biological organisms, bad news from the five senses was usually more vital than good news.
Objects and situations that were displeasing often caused harm to the physical body, so identifying these threats were integral to survival.

However, humans often avert their eyes from what they do not wish to see.

For example, even knowing that a weapon of mass destruction was currently aimed at them, they still chose to ignore this aspect of reality.

This was especially true for citizens of first world countries that are so removed from struggling for survival in their day to day activities.

Even without this exaggerated example, there were countless examples every day where people pretend not to see things that are repulsive and pretend that they didn't exist.

—Such as, the sheer killing intent emanating from a beautiful young lady.

Miyuki, who had returned to her usual serene grace, was surrounded by male students.

Who, until this moment, did not dare to approach.

Miyuki was gorgeous enough to cause anyone to stop in their tracks, so no one dared to crowd her too much, but whenever an opportunity presented itself someone would immediately try to strike up a conversation.
The majority of these offenders were 1st Year students, with the occasional 2nd or 3rd Year student.

Finally, Mari couldn't stand it any longer and forcibly relocated Miyuki and the other two to sit behind her.

Thus, with Miyuki and the now tranquil Kanon, much happier after venting, occupying the two window seats, Mari sitting beside Kanon, and Katsuto holding down the fort behind Miyuki, peace finally returned to the bus (Mayumi was sleeping soundly, likely satisfied after thoroughly teasing Hattori).

While it was pleasurable to speak with people of the same gender, there was something missing.

The two young ladies who shared this thought both absently watched the scenery passing by.

So Miyuki and Kanon were the first two to discover the situation.

"Watch out!"

Kanon was the one who shouted out.

Following her voice, just about everyone in the car looked out the window on one side of the bus.

From the opposite direction, a large vehicle — this was a smaller bus used for leisurely pursuits — was sliding towards them on the ground, scattering sparks everywhere.

Someone shouted that the tires burst.

Another agitated passenger claimed that the tires fell off.

There was no sense of danger in their voices.

There was a central divider between the two sides of the highway, further fortified by a protective barrier.

Basically, there was no way for the accident to spread over here.

In their young and inexperienced eyes, this disaster on the other side was only something to stimulate them.

A stimulation — that lasted for one second.

Someone shrieked.

Maybe more than one person.

This was hardly their fault.

The large vehicle suddenly spun as it collided with the central divider and, for some reason, flipped into the air towards them.

The bus slammed on the brakes, sending everyone careening forward.

The screams of pain were likely caused by the students who ignored the safety regulations and failed to buckle their seat belts.

The bus stopped.

Thankfully, they stopped short of impact.

However, the fallen vehicle was still sliding towards the bus while aflame.

"Let me shove it back!"

"Disappear!"

"Halt!"

"Oh!"

There was no panic aboard the bus, which was something worthy of praise.

But that only served to worsen the situation.

Without warning, several instances of magic shot forward and all tried to apply the phenomenon rewriting ability at the same time on the same object.

The only thing this would achieve would be to scramble all the magics against each other and do nothing to prevent the incoming disaster.

"You idiots, stop now!"

Mari quickly realized this.

Fortunately, everyone was still in the activation process and had not finished yet.

So everyone was forced to recall their half-formed magic, leaving a few precious seconds for some sort of meaningful defense.

They needed a powerful magic to instantly rewrite the current phenomenon.

Everyone gathered on board were the saplings and seeds of future Magicians, but they were all capable of doing this.

However — if they were able to logically follow Mari's orders, they wouldn't have tried to recklessly use magic.

Also, in order to overwrite the original effects of the magic and achieve the desired result, they had to use a stronger magic to forcibly overwrite the currently activated magic—

"Juumonji!"

Mari summoned a Magician capable of performing this feat.

Katsuto was currently readying his magic.

But Mari almost despaired at seeing his pale and agitated visage.

Mari understood as well.

This pocket of space where Magic Sequences were running amok was just like what would happen during "Calculation Interference".

Even Katsuto had no way of handling both the oncoming impact and roaring flames at the same time.
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"Leave the flames to me!"

The slim and beautiful figure of a 1st Year student rose near the window.

Her magic was already prepped and ready.

Seeing this, Katsuto immediately started designing the Magic Sequence for a fortifying barrier.

Yet, regardless of how incredibly talented she was, was this 1st Year student able to use her magic in this veritable storm of psions—?

For a second, Mari thought she was hallucinating.

She was a Magician fully capable of understanding magic, but she still questioned her own senses there.

Just as Miyuki was about to invoke her magic with the flaming metal hulk bearing down on them.
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The rampaging Magic Sequences all disappeared in an instant.

As if waiting for this moment to occur, Miyuki immediately activated her magic.

She wasn't freezing the flaming vehicle nor cutting off the air supply to suffocate the driver (though in this case, the chance that the driver survived was remote), she was efficiently using magic to dramatically lower the temperature to extinguish the flames.

Mari could not help but applaud her choice of action.

At the same time, this proved that Mari's magic perception ability was working normally.

Katsuto spread out the protective barrier magic — this was a Movement-Type Systematic Magic that creates a force field that renders any object that enters its boundaries immobile — causing the already ruined vehicle to crumple upon impact.
Mari looked elsewhere when she heard the sound of impact (Mari trusted that Katsuto's magic would be able to hold the incoming vehicle).

What the heck just happened?

The interfering remnants of Magic Sequences suddenly disappeared just before magic was applied to avoid the accident, but what the heck caused that?

Was it Mayumi's magic?

Mari immediately rejected this notion that floated into her head.

It was true that Mayumi was able to handle the rampant Magic Sequences.

However, Mayumi's Counter Magic (magic deployed specifically against magic) was shaped like psion bullets that used copies of Magic Sequences to tear them apart.

That type of magic couldn't completely annihilate every Magic Sequence down to the last iota.

If Mayumi's magic was synonymous to precision anti-aircraft guns, then the earlier magic (if it was magic at all) was something that would have carpet bombed the entire district.
Not a single pillar would be left standing, steel would turn molten, the foundations and cement would scatter everywhere from the explosions, rendering this entire area into complete rubble — that was how violent that attack was.

While Mari and Katsuto were both frozen before the primal chaos of the rampaging Magic Sequences, Miyuki seemed to know from the start that this situation would fade and activated her magic without any hesitation.

Did she know who cast that "magic"?

Hold on, was that magic.
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"Is everyone alright?"

Mari was staring at the storage vehicle — currently parked behind them — that was following them, and only recovered herself and turned around upon hearing Mayumi's steady voice.

"That was cutting it a little close, but there's no need for concern.
Juumonji and Miyuki-chan's excellent performances saved us from disaster.
Anyone who's hurt better realize how important safety belts are, so make sure to buckle up next time."