Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 03 - Nine Schools Competition (I) (38 page)

The Nine Schools Competition was changed to the current format 10 years ago.
Of all the people present who had participated in the Nine Schools Competition, the only who had fought under the current rules was Fujibayashi, who assisted Second High in claiming the crown in her year.

Just as the two of them were about to embark upon a heated debate regarding their specialties, Kazama halted them in their tracks.

"Regardless, we cannot reveal any magic that constitutes a military secret before so many witnesses, so there's no point in discussing this, is there?"

Kazama intervened in his subordinates' debate like a man fighting off a headache.

Suddenly, his face assumed an emotionless mask as he turned on Tatsuya in a voice like cold steel:

"Speaking of which, Tatsuya, you understand that if you are called upon to serve as a participant.
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"Major, this one understands.
If forced into a situation where 'Mist Dispersal' must be deployed, this one will choose to forfeit and accept his defeat."

Even with the sword still in its scabbard, Tatsuya could still tell the difference between real blades and bokkens.
At any rate, seeing Kazama's serious attitude with a merciless blade lurking behind him, there was no way Tatsuya could misread Kazama's intention.

Kazama and Tatsuya both learned from the same master and there was a definite bond of friendship between the two.
Yet, their mutual apprenticeship and friendship were not the first priority in Kazama's mind.
If necessary, Kazama would abandon Tatsuya without any hesitation, and Tatsuya would do likewise.

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However, this one cannot imagine any situation where he would be forced to participate as a player."

"That's a mental block.
So long as you understand the situation."

Among everyone else's laughter, Kazama and Tatsuya fixed each other with an intense look and ended the conversation.

As the saying goes, "only God knows", but even with this in mind, Tatsuya's perspective was the more logical possibility.
Both of them were of one mind on that point.

Nevertheless, neither Kazama nor Tatsuya were completely confident in Tatsuya's assessment of his own predicament.

"Tatsuya-kun, over here, over here!"

This was the competition location for the Women's Speed Shooting event.
After bidding farewell to Kazama's group and leaving their tea break, Tatsuya returned to find the stands bereft of spare seats.
As he searched through the crowd for his friends, Erika found him first and called out to him.

"The Elite Eight must be that popular."

Tatsuya waded through the crowds and sat down next to Erika.

"That's because the President is on next — the other rounds don't have nearly as many spectators."

Tatsuya's words were only his private thoughts murmured aloud, but Miyuki, who was comfortably installed on Tatsuya's other side, politely responded.

This time, the sitting order was like this:
Miyuki sat behind Leo, Mizuki was behind Erika, Honoka behind Tatsuya, and Shizuku behind Miyuki.

"Honoka, am I in your way?"

Tatsuya had hit a growth spurt since entering high school and was now nearly 180 cm (178 cm to be precise), and even with the difference in seating height, he was still worried that he was completely eclipsing Honoka's view.

However, Honoka grinned as she shook her head at Tatsuya, who had turned around to ask.

"Is that so.
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By the way, where's Mikihiko?"

"He said he wasn't feeling well, so went back to his room to rest."

As Erika replied to Tatsuya's inquiry, her expression clearly added a "how useless" afterthought.

"He's likely affected by anxiety.
I would probably faint if I wasn't wearing my glasses."

Mizuki spoke on Mikihiko's behalf.

No wonder, Tatsuya thought, this is a natural side effect for those who deal with acute senses.

He was highly interested in their respective emotional states, but opted to leave it be for now.

The instant Mayumi appeared on the shooting platform, a storm of cheers shook the observation area.

The screens placed around the observation deck flashed the words "Silence Please", causing the cheers to die out immediately.

With the absence of any sound, the anxiety level spiked.

Tatsuya pitied her opponent a little.

Regardless of the competition, when facing a superstar, there was always added stress and anxiety.

Maybe he was concerned on the opponent's behalf.

As if completely tuning out the spectators' cheers, Mayumi flicked the safety off for the rifle-shaped CAD and prepared herself for the match.

The tournament used lights to signal the start of the match.

From the Elite Eight onwards, the contest format resorted to duels.
A hundred red targets and a hundred white targets were fired into the air and the victor was decided by who destroyed more of their designated target.

Actually, so long as no targets were shot forth by the machine, the round hadn't started yet.

Even so, for Speed Shooting players, the five signal lights remained the horn that sounded the commencement.

The first light flashed.

The lights gradually increased.
Once they hit the peak, porcelain discs began filling the sky.

The white discs danced through the sky.

Mayumi's target color was red.

The red-tinted targets all shattered the moment they entered firing range.

"Impressive.
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Tatsuya privately agreed with the sighs coming from behind him.

It was truly impressive.

From a strategic perspective, this wasn't the most efficient method.

By taking down your own targets, your opponent wouldn't have to worry about accidentally gifting you points.
The opponent could fire at any target they could see.

However, Mayumi's overwhelming power rendered this tactic moot.

"Eh?"

Honoka let out a gasp.

Shizuku made no noise, but from her breathing patterns, she was no less astounded.

"The 'Magic Shooter'.
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Is even faster than last year."

Tatsuya's eyes were locked onto the flying discs and nodded at Miyuki's words.

For red discs obscured by the white discs in the sky, the ice particles shot through them "from below".

They weren't homing projectiles, as no one would test their luck with such inefficient magics.

This long range magic was attacking the red discs with ice particles from locations that were not obstructed by white discs.

She wasn't creating magic bullets, but shooting them — hence the name "Magic Shooter".

There were many magic abilities that could affect targets at long range.

In the Speed Shooting contest, Mayumi's use of bullets to snipe the target was actually the exception.
Mainstream tactics involved casting Oscillation-Type Magic on the discs themselves to shatter them, or applying Move-Type Magic to have the discs collide into one another.
Magic is not hampered by physical obstacles, so discs that are usually obscured from sight don't actually require a special skill to destroy.

In that case, why was the so-called "Magic Shooter" who specialized in using magic bullets from long distances deployed in this contest?
What was her advantage?

The answer was that this magic allowed the user to strike from the blind spots outside of her opponent's casting range.

For example, assume that both players are using Oscillation-Type Magic on the discs in the same Speed Shooting round.

When the red and white discs are in close proximity, the two magics may interfere with one another and cause an unpredictable result – such as fizzling altogether or releasing ultrasonic shock waves.

When casting magic in the same general vicinity as other Magicians on the same long distance targets, one must carefully select the firing position and then apply strong interference.

The duel format for Speed Shooting was originally designed to test magic invocation speed and Magic Power, but with Mayumi sniping the targets from beyond her opponent's firing range, she effectively created a pocket of space where she was casting magic without interference.

Her opponent naturally enjoyed the same advantage.

In that case, the duel was decided solely on speed and precision targeting.

In terms of speed and precision targeting, Mayumi's Magic Power ranked among the foremost in the world.

High school students simply couldn't compare.

The first day's round of "Speed Shooting" went as everyone predicted, with Mayumi earning a crushing victory in the Women's Division and the Men's Division also securing First Place.

"Congratulations, President!"

Mayumi smiled widely as she nodded to accept Azusa's praise.

"Thank you, Mari also advanced into the semifinals."

She shifted her gaze to the side.

"Currently, everything is going according to plan."

In her line of sight, Mari nodded in response.

As the night deepened, after catching a bite and some time in the bath, the only thing left was proper rest to restore what was lost during the day, so the female members (including the Public Morals Committee Chief) all congregated in Mayumi's room.

The first day's events were over and Mayumi still had to compete tomorrow, so they could save the official celebrations until after they seized the crown.
Presently, they only raised cups of juice to celebrate.

The reason only women were present was because of time constraints.
Still, it wasn't like they were planning on a pajama party, so even if men were present it wouldn't be an issue.

Given that, the reason why only women were present was because –

"It got tense for a bit, but Hattori managed to pull through."

Just as Mari's lifeless words implied, victory for the Men's Division was not assured.
"Speed Shooting" secured First Place as predicted, but the "Battle Board" preliminaries turned out to be a hard fought contest.

"Seems like the CAD wasn't properly adjusted for him.
After the round, Kinoshita-senpai and I were both working on it, but.
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"It wasn't finished."

Hearing Azusa's words, Suzune examined the maintenance reports from all members from her terminal.

"Kinoshita's skills aren't bad.
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"Alas, they're not exceptional either."

Mayumi stuck up in Kinoshita's defense, but could only smile bitterly at Mari's direct analysis.
Still, Azusa felt that this assessment was overly critical.

"Well.
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I don't think Kinoshita-senpai is at fault here.
I feel that Hattori-kun's been out of sorts since arriving here."

"What I'm about to say may be harsh, but it is also up to the technician to take the player's mental status into account."

Yet, Mari swiftly rejected this defense.

"That may be true.
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But.
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Mari was right in that this was the technician's duty, but the player also had a responsibility towards their own mental preparation.

Azusa thought of this, but kept it to herself.

"OK, Mari.
Stop picking on A-chan."

Mari's logic regarding players and Azusa's logic regarding technicians weren't right or wrong, but frankly parallel to one another.
This required the leadership to intervene.

"Fortunately, Hattori-kun doesn't have to compete tomorrow, so it's up to the two of them to work it out.
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Still, now the question becomes what are we going to do with the players Kinoshita-kun is responsible for tomorrow?"