The morning of the fourth day of competition. In the girls’ Ice Pillars Break solo, Miyuki won both matches of the finals in under one minute.

Her victories were so decisive there was some worry that she might have traumatized her opponents; however, Miyuki did not seem worried over that. And the spectators could not even pay heed to the losers. So charming was Miyuki’s smile that even though they saw that she had forgotten to offer a handshake to her opponents, they became even more entranced with her.

After the noon break was the Ice Pillars Break men’s solo and the Shield Down men’s solo. Tatsuya was in charge of Shield Down. On his way to the side of the ring, Tatsuya met up with Sawaki.

“Shiba-kun, you seem to be much better today.”

He had been taking care of Pillars Break (in short, Miyuki) throughout the morning, but he had washed his face after breakfast.

“I’m that different?”

Simultaneously feeling that the comment was both belated and sudden, Tatsuya questioned Sawaki.

“Ah. The first day, the second day, the third day, I could somehow see that you weren’t concentrating. I didn’t intend to say anything because you were still doing your work properly. I thought you were gripped with worry about something.”

Tatsuya was privately astonished. He had not been gripped by worry but by hesitation; however, he had not intended to let it show in his face. Even now, his friends--Honoka, Shizuku, Mikihiko and the rest as well as Isori and Azusa who were closer to him than Sawaki--each and every one of them had not seemed aware that his condition was off. Perhaps it was because Sawaki wasn’t with him all the time so he was aware of a small change. Nevertheless, Sawaki’s observation skills were terrifying.

“You look refreshed today. So I felt like mentioning it.”

“Although I wasn’t aware of it myself, fatigue might have been piling up on me. Yesterday, I had the first good night's sleep in a while that was enough to revive my constitution.”

As an excuse, it wasn’t a clever one, but it wasn’t an unnatural one. Thinking that he wouldn’t have accepted it himself, Tatsuya made that answer to Sawaki.

“That’s great. Keep yourself fired up, Shiba-kun.”

However, Sawaki didn’t show any doubts. He was simply team spirited. He didn’t consider anything else and remained focused on the upcoming match.

◊ ◊ ◊
The pace of Tatsuya’s recovery and First High putting pressure on the leader was the same.

Day 4. First High’s results: Ice Pillars Break-- Male Solo-3rd place, Female Solo-1st place. Shield Down--Male Solo 1st place, Female Solo-1st place. Third High started the day with a 100 point lead that shrunk to 60 points.

First High’s advance continued even in the Newcomers tournament. On the 1st day of the newcomers tournament, both male and female placed 1st in Row and Gunner. Tatsuya was the engineer in charge of the boys along with Kent. He guided his kouhai pair to a victorious smashing of Seventh High. The female winner, Kasumi, displayed a ‘there’s nothing to it’ victorious expression from the middle of the winners’ podium.

The second day of the newcomers tournament was the finals for Ice Pillars Break and Shield Down. The boys finished off in 3rd place in Shield Down, but the girls won magnificently. Tatsuya was the engineer in charge of Minami, but he really didn’t have a lot to do that day.

The boys got another 3rd in Ice Pillars Break and the girls were again victorious. Izumi had completely dominated Ice Pillars Break. When Izumi returned to First High’s tent, her whole face---somehow seemed to smile at Miyuki, drowning her with unwholesome desire, but for once Miyuki was willing to be kind enough to be embraced as a body pillow (she just stood) until Izumi was satisfied.

And on the Third day of the Newcomers tournament.

“........This was inevitable.”

“It was to be expected. Ayako is unrivaled at Mirage Bat……. Even I would be no match for her.”

The finals for the main tournaments’ Mirage Bat were two days away; today, Tatsuya, who was off tomorrow, was watching the finals of the newcomers’ Mirage Bat from the stands. Only one of First High’s athletes fought her way into the finals.

Actually, at the athlete selection stage, it had been suggested that either Izumi or Kasumi take part in the flower of the girls’ competition, Mirage Bat. The idea had a lot of supporters; however, Tatsuya had strongly opposed it, and Kasumi ended up in Row and Gunner and Izumi was assigned to Ice Pillars Break.

Tatsuya’s stated premises for opposing either of the pair taking part in Mirage Bat, which were ‘Kasumi has an inclination for Row and Gunner’ and ‘Izumi has an aptitude for Ice Pillars Break’, were not lies. The distinctive trait of the Saegusa clan’s magicians was ‘a lack of weak areas’, which could also be stated as having an aptitude for every kind of magic. Mayumi was rather unusual for having a clear specialty.

However, his true reason was ‘Neither could win against Ayako’.

Ayako’s specialized magic was ‘Ultimate Scattering’, a convergence type magic that diffused vapour, energy, etc. evenly to the point where they could barely be recognized anymore, The Ultimate Scatter spell had no direct relationship with Mirage Bat. However, Ayako had another magic which was just as much a specialty of hers as ‘Ultimate Scattering’.

That was ‘Mock Teleportation’. The magic consisted of cloaking herself or perhaps a partner in a cocoon of air, quelling inertia, and moving instantly through a vacuum tube made of air.

The vacuum tube would be viewed as an obstacle to other athletes in Mirage Bat, so she couldn’t use it like that. However, if the sequences of Mock Teleportation were downgraded, then the magic allowed her to jump faster than the eye could follow by continually creating gusts of air.

Even the use of flying magic could not compete with her speed. Mock Teleportation was extremely inferior to Flying magic in terms of potential movement distance. However, that did not pose a problem in Mirage Bat. The only possible way to win against Ayako in this event would be to cause the ball of light to disappear before she could find it.

As Tatsuya and Miyuki expected, the newcomers tournament’s Mirage Bat developed into a display of Ayako piling up her score alone. Their First High kouhai was putting up a good fight. She would probably manage to take second place.

However, that was as far as she could go. Because even now, the point spread was widening.

The winner of the newcomers tournament’s Mirage Bat was Fourth High’s Kuroba Ayako. The final results were 2nd place-First High, 3rd place-Third High, and 4th place-Fifth High.

Final day of the newcomers tournament, Monolith Code. Here again it was a difficult struggle but First High put up a good fight.

This year, Monolith Code was a round robin league; both the main and newcomers tournament used the six arenas over two days. Each team would have eight matches over ten rounds (in short, each team would sit out and rest two times).

Second day, ninth round. Lead by Shippou Takuma, First High’s team had won all of the six matches they had been in so far. They had narrowly defeated the team that they had regarded as their greatest rival before the competition started, Third High, in the match before their last match, so a victorious mood ran through the rookie team. However, they had seen Third High lose to Fourth High before their eyes in the last match. This riveted Takuma and the others’ attention like their heads had been soaked in cold water.

“That guy is incredible. What the heck is his name?”

Leo asked Tatsuya, who was in the stands, not the support staff area.

“Kuroba. Kuroba Fumiya.”

“Kuroba, of course….”

Mikihiko, who was observing from the stands as well, mumbled as if hesitant to speak out.

First High was facing Fourth High in the final match. Unfortunately, it looked like First High was in a pinch.

Dotted with big rocks, ‘the rock stage’ of Monolith Code imitated a karst-like area. The one defending First High’s monolith, which was erected on a bridge, was Shippou Takuma. Unexpectedly, he had volunteered to take on defense; until now, all the enemies had been repulsed. In their victory over Third High also, Takuma had annihilated the offense, which could be said to be one of the main reasons they won.

Despite that, Takuma was being pressed by Fumiya. Like Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Fumiya jumped from boulder to boulder, not allowing Takuma to lock him in his sights. And Fumiya was taking aim at Takuma with his gun-shaped CAD in midair, assaulting Takuma with an intangible attack.

The outer-system magic, ‘Phantom Blow’.

Tatsuya had used it in last year’s newcomers tournament, but compared to Tatsuya’s, this was much more powerful. It was not just that; Fumiya was using more than phantom blow. Under the cover of the flashier magic, another magic was being slipped in, ‘Direct Pain’, Fumiya’s specialty; a magic he alone could use to imprint pain directly into his opponent’s mind.

He had stepped it down so that any magicians in the stands wouldn’t notice, but even so, one blow was enough to take out Takuma’s mind. As a result, people were unaware of Direct Pain and only saw a powerful Phantom Blow.

Naturally, being mistaken about the source of such power did not change the effect. The accumulated effect of the pain in his mind was clearly keeping Takuma from concentrating.

A decreased ability to concentrate decreased the force of one’s magic. A decline in concentration decreased the force of the magic; there was a direct correlation between concentration and the success rate of magic. Takuma was trying to attack with ‘Stone Shower’---a magic that used herd control to spray an opponent with a concentration of pebbles---in order to stop Fumiya’s movements.

Stones whirled in Takuma’s vicinity.

However, they did not attack Fumiya; they sprinkled down directly in front of the boulder Fumiya was standing on. Direct Pain was being emitted from Fumiya’s hand concealed by Phantom Blow.

With all three members of First High’s team being KO'd by Fumiya, Fourth High’s victory was assured.

The curtain closed on the newcomers tournament ended with Fourth High’s victory in Monolith Code. However, First High secured second place and was graced with overall first place in the newcomers tournament.

As a result, with the conclusion of the newcomers tournament, the difference between Third High, which was in 1st place, and First High, in 2nd place, was 5 points. The actions of the first years had turned it back to a battle between Third High and First High for victory.

The ninth day of the NSC. The fight moved from the newcomers tournament back to the main tournament. And under the starry sky, the finals for Mirage Bat, also known as Fairy Dance, were being held.

First High was sending two people, Honoka and Subaru, to the final. Honoka’s engineer was Tatsuya; Subaru’s engineer was Azusa. While both were second years, this was a calculated move to overcome Third High in one blow. With Third High only having one athlete advance to the final, the strategy had already half succeeded. In preparation of attaining the other half of the strategy’s goal, Tatsuya and Azusa had gone all out. The rest was up to the athletes.

Wearing a uniform that was fitted to her entire body that had a light lime base tone, Honoka was a little embarrassed to be standing in front of Tatsuya. Even though she knew it was an athletic uniform, it was a decidedly embarrassing to be exposed in this manner to a male in close quarters.

“Absolutely nothing wrong. Do you feel there is anything wrong with your own condition?”

It was inevitable that after checking on the CAD tuning, Tatsuya would slowly and thoroughly examine Honoka’s body. One’s ‘eyes’ being more reliable than a machine at observation was something that was limited to him.

“No...nothing. I’m fine.”

Honoka was so embarrassed she answered in a small voice. She had a greater reason to be embarrassed than simply being seen by a member of the opposite sex. Tatsuya understood that as well but had to pretend nothing was wrong because he understood.

Should I leave her alone for a while before the event so she can concentrate on the match…….Tatsuya considered and just as he was about to bring it up to Honoka.

“Excuse me, Shiba-kun.”

Subaru had entered from the next booth where Azusa was doing her final check.

“Do you need something?”

His words were unfriendly, but his tone of voice was not all that hostile. Tatsuya was only asking; after all, even though they were members of the same team, Mirage Bat was an individual match. To visit an athlete this close to the match, although it could not be called thoughtless, was not normal.

“I thought I would give my regards to Shiba-kun.”

“Regards? To me?”

“That’s right, to you.”

Subaru agreed with an insolent air. Naturally, this was her usual manner. Last year, well it doesn’t matter now.

“I will be victorious in this match. Sorry Tatsuya, but the myth of your invincibility ends today.”

However, this arrogant speech wasn’t like Subaru.

The ‘myth of his invincibility’ referred to the fact that last year, athletes in his charge had only lost to each other, and so far this had continued to be true this year. Even at this year’s NSC, Row and Gunner-pair-Eimi; [Ice Pillars Break]-pair-Shizuku and solo-Miyuki; Shield Down-pair-Kirihara and solo-Sawaki; newcomers tournament’s Row and Gunner- male division and newcomers tournaments’ Shield Down- female division had all secured victory.

“I am not the one who won.”

However, Tatsuya did not misconstrue that as his own achievement. Eimi, Shizuku, Miyuki, Kirihara, Sawaki, and Minami. They were all athletes that would have won without his help. Tatsuya considered that he himself had been the lucky one. His response was accompanied by an exchange of ironic smiles; he wasn’t letting it go to his head.

“Although, that is true. Athletes in Shiba-kun’s charge don’t lose. I will smash this myth.”

However, this record put pressure on their opponents, so viewed objectively, there was no problem. This brazen attitude so unlike the usual Subaru was probably to get rid of that pressure.

To be honest, her attitude was unpleasant. However, that being said, to Tatsuya, Subaru was another athlete of his team. It would be unwise to make a clumsy response and increase the volume of pressure on her.

“Is that so?”

Other than that short reply, Tatsuya made no response.

After watching Subaru leave, when Tatsuya returned his attention to Honoka, she was all fired up for some reason.

“Tatsuya-san!”

Her eyes no longer showed any shame. Instead, they burned with competitive spirit.

“I am going to go all out. I’m going for it and winning! I will defend Tatsuya-san’s no loss record!”

Worry that she might be so fired up that she self-destructed arose. However, in Honoka’s case, trying to sooth her might have the opposite effect. Tatsuya had learned her personality well during their year’s acquaintance.

“I see. I’ll depend on you.”

Rather, it was better in times like this to fire her up even more.

“Yes!”

Honoka happily agreed, her fighting spirit coming out in a bright smile.

Finals of Mirage Bat.

The results were Honoka-winner and Subaru-2nd place. The Third High athlete managed to get 3rd place, but Third High had only acquired 20 points compared to First High’s 80.

In the overall rankings, First High was finally standing at the top.


◊ ◊ ◊
“Up to this point, I thought we might not make it, but somehow we managed to get to this point this year as well.”

The students of First High seated for dinner radiated relief rather than joy. It was the 10th day of the NSC, and First High had widened its lead on Third High to 95 points with their win in Monolith Code.

Momentarily, it had been a huge 100 point lead, but it was still a complete turnaround.

“Yoshida was today’s MVP. He really did well for us.”

The one praising Mikihiko was his Monolith Code teammate who had the name of Minakami Carey; he was a third year who, due to being of Indian and British descent, possessed unusual coloring: blonde hair with black skin.

“No…..it wasn’t just my efforts. I simply followed the lead of my senpais.”

As he was speaking, Mikihiko eyed Tatsuya, who was a little bit away from him and surrounded by girls.

“I was also helped by Tatsuya…..”

“That’s right. Shiba has made great efforts as an engineer for us again this year. Hey, Shiba!”

Carey made multiple beckoning gestures to Tatsuya who had looked up in their direction. Tatsuya stood up holding the tray he was eating from. As he watched Tatsuya leave the flowery group of girls that included his sister, Miyuki, to come to this table full of males, Mikihiko might have had the malicious thought, ‘He’s the only one making good memories…..’ but no one could be sure.

“Well, sit.”

Those words were from the head of the men’s table, Sawaki. Tatsuya did not dare to disobey---well, since he had brought his tray, he probably never intended to disobey---and indicated his understanding by sitting down.

“Good work, today.”

“No, I wasn’t able to do enough work yesterday, so, since I was able to recover a little.”

Tatsuya had not hastily decided to take charge of Mikihiko. From the start, Tatsuya was supposed to be looking after Mikihiko’s CAD. Although it was from the start, there had been the possibility that the Mirage Bat and Monolith Code events would overlap. If it had come to that, Tatsuya would have had to choose between being the engineer in charge of Honoka or Mikihiko.

“Nothing could be done about yesterday. We’re well aware of that.”

Everyone here understood that, but Hattori was the one who dared to speak up, demonstrating his ‘honest but hardheaded’ personality.

“It’s as he said. Besides, there were almost no problems with the work you showed us from you taking it a little easy yesterday. Make no mistake, you contributed to today’s victory.”

“With this, we should get the combined total victory. So you can show your face to your senpais.”

After Sawaki, Carey spoke up with a relieved look. This, his third year, was the first time he had been chosen as a representative, so the traditions were probably putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on him.

From Tatsuya’s point of view, this was a very hasty pronouncement. There was still the possibility of a huge reversal in the point spread with tomorrow's Steeplechase Cross-country.

However, Tatsuya didn’t point that out. It would be correct to say it was because he didn’t care about the rankings, number of points or the overall victory.

He wanted to make tomorrow’s event end safely.

No, he would crush anything that interfered with tomorrow’s event publicly finishing safely.

That was what he was thinking as he made an inoffensive reply.

◊ ◊ ◊
After dinner, Tatsuya went to the hotel’s observation lounge. The moon hadn’t yet risen but the sky was clear. The outline of Mount Fuji was carelessly displayed by the starlight. From this viewpoint, the darkness resembled that of hell. From the balcony, he looked down on the course for tomorrow’s Steeplechase event, which was a man-made forest with violent traps concealed within.

“How is it going?”

He questioned the doll in the shape of a girl right next to him.

[No response. I surmise that they are kept in a sleep-like state.]

The one that answered was the entity housed within the doll. A London conference had assigned it the name of parasite; Tatsuya and his friends called the pushion information entity, Pixie.

“As expected, there is nothing to be done but wait for tomorrow, hmm.”

Despair oozed from Tatsuya’s monologue. But no sign of depression was etched on his face. Tatsuya genuinely wished to know the whereabouts of the main actor in tomorrow’s planned experiment, the gynoids with parasites implanted in them, the Parasite Dolls, make no mistake. However, when he had Pixie accompany him here, he had not actually expected her to be able to find them. In the first place, if all he intended Pixie to do was find the Parasite Dolls, then it would not have been necessary to climb to a high place. After all, since Pixie and the Parasite Dolls were essentially the same type of existence, if both were active then they both would be aware of each other.

Since the night Miyuki had persuaded him to let her bet her own existence as a magician, Tatsuya had thrown away the notion of stopping the Kudou clan’s experiment that might add to the danger to the magic high school students himself. As the mysterious informer might have expected, he would decide what to do on the actual day then and there; in short, tomorrow. ---That the mysterious informer had not expected him to stop the experiment before it started was clear from the lack of a delivery of supplemental information.

Tatsuya’s coming to look at the site of tomorrow’s drama, which was submerged in darkness, was nothing more than a whim. The daring might say he came up here to divert himself a little from the anger he felt over being pushed this way and that by the Kudou clan and the mysterious informer.

“Watch tomorrow!” for that reason. It was simple to take advantage of Pixie’s ability to detect the Parasite Dolls.

“Tatsuya-kun.”

The observation lounge did not have a do not enter sign. However, so close to midnight, he had not expected anyone other than himself to be weird enough to come the topmost balcony, which had neither lighting nor effective air conditioning.

“Master, have you come to cool off?”

Naturally, in terms of being wierd, Yakumo was at a much higher level than he was. …..thought Tatsuya. When he had been thinking ‘as weird as himself’, he hadn’t been thinking of Yakumo.

“I, well, something like that. The night wind does feel better than air conditioning. But, doesn’t that young lady over there need you for something? I think it’s about time you speak with her.”

As Yakumo spoke, he didn’t go as far as shrugging his shoulders, but somehow he conveyed the impression that he had to Tatsuya on the balcony.

He could see a shadow within the darkness. The woman was older than him, but she was still regarded by the world as young. She was giving off a different aura than she usually did; her beautiful face wasn’t wearing its usual amusement, probably due to the stern “at the end of her rope” look she was wearing instead.

“As I thought, the message was from you, Lieutenant.”

Without a preamble, just as if they had already been in the middle of a conversation, Tatsuya spoke to her, making Fujibayashi’s face lighten a bit.

“How did you know?”

“It was a matter of probability. If I consider who among my acquaintances has that kind of high level technical skill, your name heads the list.”

“What if it was someone you didn’t know?”

“It’s futile to consider that possibility.”

“Oh….”

Even though she relaxed slightly, Fujibayashi’s face was still stiff. Was it from tension or was it from guilt, or was it due to a completely different reason…...Tatsuya was not yet equipped with the discernment to determine.

First, he had to ask about the things he didn’t know; there was no other way to a resolution. Therefore, Tatsuya asked without reserve or hesitation.

“Did you give me that warning on the road to the former Lab 9? What were you trying to get me to do?”

“What….. I wonder what it was that I wanted you to do, Tatsuya-kun……”

Tatsuya held her eyes with a piercing gaze. But he found nothing he could use to determine that she was trying to fool him.

“Tatsuya-kun, shouldn’t we change venues?”

Without magic to prevent eavesdropping or watching, they couldn’t speak about it safely; the information was surely on that level.

”You’re right….”

In this matter, it was not completely clear whether either Fujibayashi or the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion were allies. There was no sign of it being a trap, but he did not think the matter was as serious as that.

“You won’t mind if Master sits in?”

“Okay.”

“Eh, I don’t care.”

“Understood, I’ll leave it to you.” After securing the two’s agreement, Tatsuya gave his approval to Fujibayashi’s plan.

The place that Fujibayashi took Tatsuya and Yakumo was inside an RV that was similar to the one Tatsuya was using as a work van. The parking lot was different from the one allotted for use by the Nine Schools Competition. It was a little apart from the other unoccupied parked cars in the lot.

[Master, I can’t sense any wireless transmission waves.]

With the help of Ushiyama and the rest, Pixie’s sensors had been stretched to the limits they could go without impairing her 3H body.

“Tatsuya-kun, here. Sensei, please take a seat as well.”

After the pair took the offered seat on the simple sofa, Fujibayashi gave Pixie a slightly pensive look, but nevertheless, she went to the RV’s kitchen without saying anything.

She probably hadn’t intended to waste any time from the beginning. She came back carrying a tray with three glasses full of black liquid. She placed the glasses on the table and ignored the standing Pixie as she sat down opposite the two males.

“First, is it fine if I explain things in sequential order?”

Without proffering the drinks, Fujibayashi abruptly spoke to Tatsuya. The informal manner of speaking was presenting the stance that ‘Tatsuya was a friend she was speaking to’.

“You’re right. Before we get into discussing things, there are some things I would like confirmed.”

Seemingly without any wariness, Tatsuya sipped from the glass. His throat was a little dry.

“Okay.”

Fujibayashi was unsurprised at the way Tatsuya drank the ice coffee she had set out without any qualms. She was aware that Tatsuya probably knew more about the ingredients in the drink than she did; anyway, poison wouldn’t affect him more than an instant.

“First is the matter of why you didn’t leak any supplemental information to me as a follow up to your initial message. Were you under surveillance, Lieutenant?”

Right off the bat, he asked what she didn’t want him to ask, thought Fujibayashi. However, there wasn’t any reason not to answer now.

“Yes.”

“Then, secondly. Is this contact at the urging of Major Kazama and Saeki-kakka. Or at the urging of Kudou-kakka.”

“.....It is my commanding officer’s order. I am not under the surveillance of my grandfather.”

By no surveillance, it might mean that this forced experiment of the Kudou clan had nothing to do with Fujibayashi Kyouko, or it might mean that they could trust her so much that there was no need for surveillance.

“May I ask a question, Ojousan of the Fujibayashi.”

Before Tatsuya could ask that, Yakumo butted in from his side. Addressing her as ‘Ojousan of the Fujibayashi’ didn’t seem proper, at least to Tatsuya. However, Fujibayashi didn’t seem to mind; she smiled serenely as she nodded to Yakumo.

“Yes, go ahead.”

“What might be the stance of the Fujibayashi clan?”

However, she wasn’t able to maintain her poker face at the content of the question. She wasn’t scowling because she hadn’t wanted to be asked that question, but because she herself was anxious about the stance of the Fujibayashi clan.

“Neutral.”

“They are truly against it but they can’t oppose what the Kudou clan is doing covertly, is that what you mean?”

“..........”

“The honored wife of the actual head of the Fujibayashi clan is the daughter of the actual head of the Kudou clan. That connection with the magicians who bear the ‘9’ whom the traditionalists hold hostility to places them at the side of the magicians of the ‘9’ although they are Ancient Magicians. If they break away from the Kudou clan, the Fujibayashi clan could be standing alone in Japanese magic society…….is that it?”

Fujibayashi’s face lost all expression, probably to keep them from reading what was going on in her head. However, it goes without saying that the disappearance of her smile made this attempt a total failure.

“But that is not what I wish you to tell me. What does the Fujibayashi clan feel about the usage of the occultists from the continent?”

Yakumo’s eyes did not reflect his usual amusement. Instead, they bore a sharp gleam.

“If they did such a thing, I believe the Fujibayashi clan wouldn’t like it. Regarding the refugees Makoto-ojiue welcomed into the former Lab 9, Father has repeatedly urged him to change his mind.”

The gleam in Yakumo’s eyes faltered as Fujibayashi gave a clear reply to the query. Certainly, the Fujibayashi clan and the Kudou clan had become allies with the marriage. Nevertheless, both those who had chosen to take the path of bridging the gap between “those who bore the number 9” and ‘the Traditionalists’ and the traditionalists who clung to the antagonism felt welcoming that another nation’s occultists, who were searching for cracks in their defenses, was dangerous.

“Certainly, the refugee occultists possessed useful spells. By using the spells they provided, the volume of psion consumption by the Parasite Dolls slightly. However, despite that, both Father and I think it is a mistake.”

“Pardon me, Master, but we should go over the sequence of events.”

With Tatsuya’s interruption, the tension that had arisen between Yakumo and Fujibayashi was quelled. Yakumo’s face returned to its default faint emotionless smile.

“Lieutenant Fujibayashi.”

On the other hand, faced with Tatsuya’s treacherous fake smile, Fujibayashi started to feel an entirely different kind of tension.

“This incident has been incredibly frustrating and irritating for me. Although I am aware of what you would call the outline of the plan to test a new weapon on magic high school students at the Nine Schools Competition, I don’t have a very good grasp on what is actually happening behind the scenes. Well, the truth is I don’t really understand. For some reason, my informant has been stingy with information.”

“Uuumm…… Tatsuya-kun, about that.”

Fujibayashi’s face stiffened slightly but distinctly.

Perhaps seeing that satisfied him, and Tatsuya’s sadistic smile disappeared.

“If you just ignore the intentions of those maneuvering behind the scenes, it’s not all that complex.”

Miyuki had already made Tatsuya aware of that, but since it was irrelevant, he didn’t mention it.

“First, the anti-Asian Alliance hardliners in our nation’s military changed the events in the Nine Schools Competition to more combat oriented ones.”

No one disagreed with Tatsuya’s point.

“Next, the Kudou clan took advantage of this to plan a performance test of the Parasite Dolls.”

“Grandfather proposed it, but Uncle seems to have opposed it at first.”

“So then, the one who decided to use the refugee occultists was Kudou-kakka?”

“.....No, that was Uncle.”

“Is that so. Let’s call the person manipulating things behind the scenes through the refugee occultists who the current head of the Kudou clan took in X for now. X is aiming for the Parasite Dolls to go out of control and cause injuries and deaths among the athletes of the Nine Schools Competition. They might not intend to go as far as killing anyone, but they may intend to cause injuries that end their lives as magicians. X’s ultimate goal might be decreasing our nation’s military power by cutting off the supply of magicians who will become soldiers. Because an increase in the military power of Japan would be a hindrance to him.”

“Yes, that is our take as well. Hence my reason for being here.”

“.......What do you mean?”

Fujibayashi did not avert her eyes from Tatsuya’s gaze, which was laced with distrust and suspicion.

“Tatsuya-kun. We request your cooperation in stopping the Parasite Dolls from going out of control.”

She did not rise up to bow, as she sat on the sofa with both knees together with her hands on top of them, but Fujibayashi bowed her head down low. She did not call him ‘Special Officer” but “Tatsuya-kun”.

“Cooperation?”

“Yes, this is not an order. This request is not something in the realm of what we can command you to do as your duty. Therefore, this is a plea for your cooperation.”

Fujibayashi raised her head and got up from the sofa. Reading her unspoken intentions, Tatsuya got up as well. Fujibayashi moved in front of a box that looked like a coffin that could snugly hold a fully grown man. In front of Tatsuya who was by her side, she opened the lid.

Perhaps there was a spring in the hinge, as after the lid was opened only slightly, it sprang open. Inside was an ultramarine mobile suit---it resembled a bulky work jumpsuit.

“While the Parasite Dolls’ performance test is unofficial, it is still a project entrusted to the Kudou clan of the Ten master clans by our nation’s military. If we interfere in that, it could lead to discord within the military or a private war with the Ten Master Clans.”

“You want me to become an illegal agent of destruction.”

Tatsuya’s voice was cold and hard. It was inevitable after all; it was implied that they wouldn’t protect him if his identity was revealed. It could be called a mild response considering what had just been said.

“Even if you put it that way, I believe that nothing else can be done.”

Tatsuya’s gaze became even sharper; however, Fujibayashi met his gaze firmly. It might have been a bluff, but she did not appear to flinch.

“.....Fine.”

Their short face off ended with Tatsuya giving in. He had intended to finish off the Parasite Dolls himself from the start. He was actually grateful that he was able to use the new type of mobile suit augmented with stealth functions.

“Thank you. You can use this car as you wish. Here is the key.” Tatsuya accepted the wireless control box from Fujibayashi.

“When you are done with it, please press this button. After five minutes, the contents will self-destruct.”

Fujibayashi indicated a corner of the wall. There was a red button surrounded by yellow and black caution stripes.

“What do I do with the mobile suit? I don’t think it will be destroyed with the van’s contents.”

“If you place it in the box, it can be completely destroyed. Finish off the experiment.”

“Roger.”

Tatsuya directed a nod toward Fujibayashi while he looked at the ‘self destruct button’ with subdued eyes, and murmured that as if speaking to himself.

“Since this is in part a personal request, I will surely have you repay this favor someday.”

As Tatsuya’s statement made her cheeks lose color, Fujibayashi said farewell and left like she was fleeing. Since she offloaded the mobile suit and the RV onto Tatsuya, she was probably going to the hotel. Yakumo insisted on escorting her, ‘just in case’, as was proper. As their shadows merged with the big square one, Yakumo engaged Fujibayashi in conversation.

“Ojou-san, was that actually Kazuma-kun’s order?”

“.......What do you mean by that? Besides, could you please stop calling me ‘Ojou-san’?”

Fujibayashi answered with a stiff face without looking in Yakumo’s direction.

“Forgive my rudeness. Fujibayashi-san, I’ve been thinking. I would say that there was no need to make Tatsuya-kun do that. Make no mistake, by that I mean the Parasite Dolls won’t actually go out of control, will they?”

“Are you saying I lied?”

“Since lying is part of your job…..”

Yakumo barked that out in a tone that was both condemning and comforting.

“The weapon has a failsafe device. I don’t believe Kudou Retsu is the type of man who would neglect that……. By the way, did you know, Fujibayashi-san? Even Mikkyou has spells for manipulating a doll like a puppet. Novitiate monks whose virtue is insufficient to summon genuine Gohou Doushi use them to create fake Gohou Doushi.”

“No…..I didn’t know, but I theorized it.”

Fujibayashi responded to the sudden switch of topic by speaking with deliberation. Even though she peeped with sidelong glances to see what kind of face Yakumo was making, she completely failed to read his expression. Fujibayashi understood that the reason for that was not completely due to hostility.

“Before I came here, I went to the ‘Main Temple’, which I haven’t done in a while. I questioned an expert in this area. He claimed that he had already achieved the ability to call Gohou Doushi and was no longer using fakes, but-”

It seemed like some kind of trouble had occurred at that meeting. Yakumo made a reminiscing smile.

“No matter what type of practitioner, they would not neglect to define the rules of offense and defense. And, when a puppet broke those defined rules, a punishment would be incurred. A sealing so that the puppet could not inflict more harm. The seal spell is said to be part of the enslavement spell.”

Yakumo turned. His eyes were empty, his mouth had burst into a crescent shape. The face was so like a possessed doll that Fujibayashi let out a scream. ---No, she wasn’t able to scream.

In an instant, Fujibayashi had succumbed to Yakumo’s spell.

“The Parasite Dolls have the same type of spell installed, right? For instance, a prohibition about attacking non-combatants. If they didn’t, they couldn’t be deployed as an autonomous weapon.”

“....It is as you say.”

Fujibayashi had lost neither her mind nor her will.

“Even if the occultists want the Parasite Dolls to attack high school students, the foundation spell wouldn’t allow it. The instant they became violent, the control sequence would switch to a sealing sequence and seal the parasite.”

“That is what I heard.”

However, she didn’t hide it. She didn’t lie.

“If the Parasite Dolls are let loose, is the spell keeping them emplaced inside the mechanical doll cancelled, and does the procedure to emplace the free parasite into the mechanical doll have to be repeated. Does this not affect the fact that the parasite is attached to the mechanical doll?”

“I don’t know.”

“I see…..the testing hasn’t proceeded that far.”

Yakumo took his eyes off Fujibayashi.

Exhausted, Fujibayashi dropped down to her knees.

Yakumo called out to the darkness.

“It seems like that is how it is, Kazama-kun. Did you know?”

The shadows created the silhouette of a person. As it proceeded from the parking lot, under the scattered lights of the hotel the form of Kazama appeared.

“Why are you here?”

“You say that there wasn’t a need for Tatsuya-kun to cross that dangerous bridge.”

“No, I don’t know that.”

Perhaps he didn’t think his monitoring had been directly observed; Kazama paid no attention to Fujibayashi who was looking up at his own face with terror and answered his teacher’s question with a ---visibly---pensive look.

“You didn’t hear it from this Ojou-san?”

“Yes.”

Kazama was also one of the users of ancient magic. He should also have general knowledge of puppet spells. There should be no way that he wasn’t aware of the embedded failsafe. For him not to have asked about that….

“Hmmmm….. Apparently, there is a reason you want Tatsuya-kun to run amok.”

“You didn’t tell Tatsuya-kun either, Master, right?”

By answering the question with a question, he indirectly agreed with Yakumo’s words.

“I have no reason to defend the decision, but the commander of the brigade is unaware of this. Although the Major General is well informed in how to use magic, this is only regarding modern magic; she is the same as any amateur regarding ancient magic.”

“I thought you were her advisor……”

“Why didn’t you stop us, Master?”

Apparently, this policy of not answering was inconvenient for Kazama.

“Because it would be unpleasant to stop him.”

That didn’t particularly matter to Yakumo. He hadn’t intended to condemn Kazama from the start.

“Fujibayashi-san, about our earlier conversation.”

If he thought there was no danger, he would have told Tatsuya that.

“That is the truth in general. There is a possibility that it will not work so well in this matter.”

Yakumo, who had decided to divorce himself from the world, was seeing this incident to the end because he feared the impact this incident would have on the world.

“......For what reason?”

“Kudou Retsu is probably locked in the same mindset. Not just him, all the old guys at the former Lab 9 are assured by this bit of common sense.”

He himself was just about the age to be called an old guy, but Yakumo referred to the retired generation of ‘9’ as old guys.

“You should have received a detailed report from Tatsuya-kun regarding the nature of Parasites.”

Kazama and Fujibayashi nodded in answer to the question without a word.

“Parasites came to our world from a different direction via a small hole in the dimension wall and they are overwhelmed by strong pure thought. They fuse with the owner of that strong pure thought and that strong pure thought serves as an impetus.”

Yakumo repeated the phrase ‘strong pure thought’ many times. Fujibayashi was quicker to catch his meaning.

“Good grief…. What is Kokonoe-sensei trying to say!?”

“Strong pure thought. It would be strange if the grounds were not soaked in the desire to win the NSC on the final day of competition, right?”

“If the binding spell on the parasite malfunctions……?”

Kazama groaned out the question.

“Maybe they go out of control. Maybe they don’t go out of control. I believe that we should at least decide that we cannot let them go out of control.”

Yakumo’s reply was terribly irresponsible and sincere.

“And when the out of control Parasite Doll is ultimately destroyed, the released parasite might possess a youth emitting a pure thought.”

Neither Kazama nor Fujibayashi could deny the possibility of the worst case scenario Yakumo outlined. If Kudou Retsu himself were here, he probably would have turned pale and been unable to refute it.

“Therefore, I think it is correct to let Tatsuya-kun have that battlesuit. Tatsuya can deal a unilateral defeat to the parasite dolls. The military might also give up the foolish plan of using demons as you are thinking, Kazama-kun. So I will keep this matter under wraps for you. I want you to repay me by telling me something.”

In repayment for not informing Saeki that Kazama was concealing information from her, Yakumo wanted information.

“About what?”

“Who sent those mainland occultists to the Kudou clan?”

Even though he was asked, Kazama didn’t know. Fujibayashi was the one who answered Yakumo’s question.

“......A Chinese merchant of Yokohama, a young man named Zhou Gongjin.”

“Zhou Gongjin of Yokohama. I have been hearing that name a lot lately.”

“You know of him, Master?”

Yakumo did not answer Kazama’s question.

“Well, I asked about what I wanted to know, so I’ll go. As promised, I will keep quiet about your concealment of information and covert actions.”

Yakumo took a single step off the lighted path. That was all it took for him to disappear.

After Yakumo left, Fujibayashi finally got up.

“Major, well….”

“Go, Lieutenant. We do not want Tatsuya to see us.”

After cutting off whatever Fujibayashi had started to say, Kazama walked to the hotel.

Perhaps, she thought, if they followed Yakumo, it would become obvious to Tatsuya; Fujibayashi obediently trailed after Kazama, who hadn’t punished her.

“Lieutenant.”

Without turning around to confirm she was there, Kazama spoke to Fujibayashi.

“Yes, Major.”

“Were you deceived by Kudou-kakka as well, Lieutenant?”

“Wha?”

Although she continued walking, for a moment she seemed about to trip.

“About the possibility of the Parasite Dolls going out of control. However, you thought it was an impossibility, Lieutenant. Right?”

“Ah, yes.”

She didn’t immediately understand what Kazama wanted to say, so she had to make a guess.

“I did not confirm the information myself, sir. I was in a situation where I couldn’t report immediately. I only brought in false information. Consequently, I prevented the giving of mistaken orders.”

Kazama was offering to overlook Fujibayashi cleaving to Kudou’s side.

“Good work, Lieutenant.”

“Thank you, don’t mention it.”

Fujibayashi stopped and bowed deeply to Kazama’s back as he continued on without stopping.