Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 03 - Nine Schools Competition (I) (41 page)

Mayumi's opponent mirrored her in that they only chose to wield magic.

As expected of the participants who signed up for this contest, they had an exceptional grasp of Move-Type Magic.

Her opponent seemed to rely on physical movement to complement her perception and hurriedly aimed the short model handgun-shaped CAD that she held in both hands at each ball.

The balls caught in the Move-Type Magic changed direction before they fell into her half of the court and flew towards Mayumi's half of the court in an unnatural arc — and rebounded at double the speed once they passed across the net.

Every ball.
With no exception.

Mayumi stood in the center of the court and held her CAD in both hands before her chest.

As she held her CAD as if she was praying, Mayumi's eyes glinted with a mysterious light as she gazed slightly downwards.

Just this alone was sufficient to deny her opponent from scoring a single point.

Visually, the distance was roughly 10 cm.

That was how far her opponent's balls were allowed to invade her position.

Mayumi's magic did not make any precise adjustments to the balls.

Neither did she aim for her opponent's blind spots, but purely rejected every ball back towards her opponent.
Towards every trajectory that her opponent altered, she retaliated from every angle with what must be an incredibly difficult magic.

Yet, the only one relentlessly scoring was Mayumi.

The score was a complete landslide without Mayumi yielding a single point.

When the whistle sounded for the end of the first session, Mayumi's opponent powerlessly fell to her knees on the court.

This crumbling motion perfectly reflected her opponent's overwhelming despair.

Mayumi appeared perfectly calm and collected as she wielded her magic with a majestic flair, but her emotions were nowhere near as peaceful.

Hearing the whistle, she couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

During this contest, she felt herself fall into a bitter struggle.

She wasn't being conceited, but she knew from a purely objective sense that her Magic Power far outstripped her opponent.
As long as she could maintain the course, victory was assured during the next session.

The problem lay in the pair of eyes fixed on her from the side of the court.

Mayumi was accustomed to the gazes of other people.

Since her youth, she had always dwelt in the public eye.

No matter if the gazes were filled with pure admiration or hiding dark, jealous, or other naked negative emotions, Mayumi dealt with it as if they were the very oxygen that surrounded her.

Nevertheless, the gaze that she endured for the past three minutes was altogether unlike anything she had felt before.

As if every inch of her was beneath a microscope.

That was not simply someone seeing her naked or something like that (though that was also a major problem in and of itself).

The look that Mayumi felt from him — from Tatsuya, was not something so superficial.

Not just her skin, but everything beneath — the flesh and bone that made up her physical attributes, her consciousness, emotions, value system, temperament, habits, hobbies, the experiences that made her who she was today, the talent and diligence that supported her thus far — everything that constituted the person "Saegusa Mayumi" was being decrypted and bared beneath the sun.
This pair of eyes caused her to feel an unfamiliar sense of dread.

This was the first time Tatsuya observed Mayumi's contest from a close proximity.

Still, he should have observed the 1st Year participants under his care multiple times during practice at this distance, yet none of the 1st Year participants complained of being ill at ease.

Mayumi believed that none of the younger women could withstand this feeling.

In that case, this feeling was either her own misconception, or — something that only she could feel.

Right now, she was in the middle of the three minute break where the players would usually towel off the sweat or grab a drink of water.

Unfortunately, her bag containing her towel and water was next to Tatsuya.

Walking off the court was the same as actively moving towards where Tatsuya was waiting — where he lay in ambush.

Mayumi was a little scared of leaving the court.

That being said, she couldn't stay on the court either.
Even though she hadn't moved a muscle during the earlier session, she should definitely take the opportunity to take a break right now.
Not only that, she needed to replenish lost moisture and head towards the next court.

She wouldn't have cared if she shocked the Operations Committee Members, but with her position, she couldn't afford to worry the students that came to cheer her on.

Mayumi took a deep breath and expelled all her unease and worry.

(Forget it, women need to be courageous!
)

Mayumi ordered her feet to start walking.

"Good work."

At her underclassman handing her a towel, Mayumi felt a sense of disappointment as that nameless dread seemed to fade away like a dream.

As usual, any thoughts he had beneath that serious visage were completely obscured by the poker face that even she couldn't read.
This young man gave her a formless and unidentifiable sense of dread, but at the same time provided a miraculous sense of relief that he would never betray her.

Her earlier comment about "having a younger brother" was something spontaneous or intended to tease Tatsuya.
While phrased as a joke, on some level it reflected Mayumi's real thoughts.

Mayumi came to the conclusion that being afraid of him was ridiculous, so she adopted an obstinate attitude.

"Don't say good work yet, the contest hasn't ended, so this isn't the time to relax."

Tatsuya was on the representative team, but he wasn't a participant himself.

He was only on duty before and after the contests and was merely a bystander during the events, so telling him "this isn't the time to relax" was very odd, but Tatsuya made no mention of it despite noticing this.

"No, it's over."

He was pointing towards a more practical matter.

"Ah?"

"The opposing participant is unable to continue and, even if she was going to enter the second session, would definitely keel over from exhaustion in the middle.
The auxiliaries from the other side are also aware of this, so this round will conclude with their surrender."

Mayumi turned around to find the opposing team's tactical advisors discussing with the panel of judges about this exact topic.

The participant was sprawled on top of a long chair while covered in medical detection equipment.

"Psion exhaustion due to continuous magic invocation.
Most likely a mistaken assignment.
She was a little lacking to be your opponent, President."

".
.
.
.
.
.
You understood that much just from seeing that?"

"So long as I can 'see clearly'."

There was no way the panel of judges could hear Tatsuya speak, but the moment he finished speaking, the panel announced that Mayumi's opponent had withdrawn.

Dazed, Mayumi stood stock still without budging, an extremely rare side of her that would normally prompt a laugh.
Yet, Tatsuya did not smile, merely urged Mayumi to start moving.

"Let's return to the pavilion.
It's best to review your CAD and prepare for the next round."

"Yeah, you're right, I'll leave that to you."

Right now, Tatsuya was completely in control of the situation, but Mayumi didn't make any pointless resistance as she followed Tatsuya after picking up her bag.

After Tatsuya activated the maintenance device, Mayumi handed him her CAD and plopped down beside him.

Not across from him.

Mayumi wasn't wearing her cooling jacket that extended to her knees so she was still in her "tennis uniform" that she wore for the match, but this wasn't because she was in a teasing mood, rather that Tatsuya was no longer causing her to feel unnaturally cold.

The two of them were close enough that their shoulders could rub against one another, but Tatsuya never spared a glance towards her exposed thighs.

Nor was Mayumi upset by this.

Her concentration was completely devoted to the maintenance device as well as the personal CAD currently attached to the machine.

"Don't you need to measure my current status?"

"The duration was only a paltry 10 to 15 minutes, so even if I could rewrite the code, there wouldn't be any time to test it, so there would be little point in taking the extra time to run measurements."

This occurred quite often during their mutual conversation, but this time Mayumi involuntarily tilted her head.

According to what he just said, this sounded like he could get a ballpark estimate completely independent of the machine.
.
.
.
.
.

".
.
.
.
.
.
You can tell visually?"

"Of course, surely the President knows as well?"

"That.
.
.
.
.
."

"The President also knows that as long as they're Magicians, they can tell whether magic’s activated normally or if a CAD is functioning normally without the use of machines, right?"

"This I know."

"On some level, I'm just a little more knowledgeable."

Tatsuya continued to watch the scrolling character strings.

Mayumi was very interested in exactly what this "some level" was, but she didn't dare to disturb an engineer at work to satiate her curiosity.

Tatsuya removed the CAD from the maintenance device and turned off the power before inspecting the trigger and Activation Sequence circuit, then personally handed the CAD back to Mayumi.

Just as he promised, he never touched the code inside.

Mayumi privately heaved a sigh of relief (she thought she managed to hide it, but Tatsuya saw everything), but owing to some reason, after she received the CAD, she curled her finger around the trigger and put it on her thigh.

"President.
.
.
.
.
.
That's a little disconcerting, can you not point the muzzle at me?"

Strictly speaking, a CAD doesn't have a "muzzle".

Large, rifle-shaped CADs are usually equipped with image detectors at the front that gives the impression of the "muzzle" from a laser gun, but regardless of whether it was a long or short model, the "gun barrel" was made of metal.

Still, the overall design mirrored that of a real firearm, so those that are aware of the danger guns pose would naturally feel uncomfortable staring down the "muzzle".

"Ah, sorry."

Tatsuya wasn't certain how familiar Mayumi was with this situation, but she frankly apologized and shifted her CAD and left the muzzle pointed at herself.

"I should be the one apologizing for troubling you with such trivialities."

"Please don't concern yourself, this is basic manners after all.
So how is it?"

Mayumi's question was once again overly simplified, but Tatsuya had no problems navigating through her cryptic meaning.

"I felt that the calibration was well executed.
No overclocking, no unnecessary unique features, it was a faithful job done strictly by the rules.
There was an overemphasis on stability that led to a more convoluted Activation Sequence in some areas, but taking the President's Magic Power into consideration, I'd say this garners full marks."

At any rate, this wasn't the time for needless flattery or nitpicking, so Tatsuya bluntly made his assessment.

Tatsuya answered this question with his eyes still watching the Activation Sequence display on the maintenance device, so when he turned around — he discovered Mayumi in a profound state of embarrassment.

"Is that so.
.
.
.
.
.
?
Hehehe, that makes me incredibly happy."

The corners of her eyes were dyed pink as she slightly averted her eyes with a bashful smile.

Compared to blushing obviously, this reaction was even more awkward.

".
.
.
.
.
.
Is that so?"

The reason why Tatsuya asked was that he was honestly lost on how to respond, but the real question lurking at the bottom of his heart was that Mayumi should have long been inured to hearing such praise on a daily basis.