Cygnus Maidens

New - Irregular at Magic High School

Magic, club activities, and love.

As the two girls enter the school

And their chests swell with their reunion,

A new wind blows through the Magic High School.

“Whether you are a first course or second course student, all of you are students of this school, and for
each of you, the three years you spend here are irreplaceable.”

(Excerpt from a speech by then Student Council President, Saegusa Mayumi, at a special student
conference at the National Magic University-affiliated First High School in April of 2095.)

...At the current First High School, there is no discrimination between the first course and second course.
The first and second course system itself was abolished last year, in April of 2098. The goal of former
Student Council President Saegusa was a school with no discrimination or reverse discrimination, a goal
that has been realized for the time being. But there is no doubt her message was more than that. The
most important point is probably this phrase:

“For each of you, the three years you spend here are irreplaceable.”

Other than very rare exceptions, high school life happens only once. That does not change even if you
are a student at a magic high school. The fact is you are a high school student even if you can use magic.

The years of school, may it be middle school, high school, or university, are a part of the preparation
period to become a fully-fledged adult. But that’s not all it is. Those three years of high school are also
an irreplaceable part of a person’s life that they can never get back.

A magic high school is a school for training magicians, but it is not a place for spending time just doing
that. Studying and training are things that must be done, but they are not the only things.

It is said, ‘boys grow old easily, but getting learned is harder’1, and ‘Life is brief, fall in love, maidens.’2
Studying and love, at first glance, appear to be opposing concepts. But they both are warnings that the
young years of boyhood and girlhood are short and will quickly pass them by if they do nothing.

1 The common English equivalent is ‘study hard while you are young’. The Japanese proverb is said to be
based on a Chinese poem by Zhu Xi (1130-1200).

2 Lyrics from a 1915 romantic ballad, Gondola no Uta.

Whether they become a magician in the future or not.

Whether they can use magic or not, the boys and the girls of today are high school students. Studying is
important, club activities are important. Even the time enjoyed with friends or spent with a lover, it is a
page in their all-important young life.

Chapter 1 – Monthly Exams: Results and Preparations

30th of April 2099, a Thursday morning.

“AAAAAAAAAH”

A sorrow-stricken shriek was heard in the classroom of class 1-B of the National Magic University-
affiliated First High School. Among those who heard it, there was nobody who didn’t feel pity towards
the one who let out her lamentations, their classmate Tookami Marika.

“To... Tookami-san? What is wrong?”

The boy in the seat next to her nervously asked, sounding worried. This boy is not a close friend of
Marika’s, he is a simple classmate, but even he couldn’t ignore Marika’s anguished yells that filled the
room.

“Uh, oh. It’s nothing.”

Marika seemed unwilling to reveal why she shouted. She turned to the boy next to her and hurriedly
shook her head.

“I... see...?”

Marika’s sighing made him feel that it wasn’t nothing. But ‘don’t ask’ was written plain as day on her
face. Besides, the monthly exam grades and rankings for April had just been announced. It is likely that
her results were unsatisfactory.

The male classmate, who identifies as someone who can read the mood, appeared to reach that
conclusion in his mind and pretended to be deceived instead of questioning Marika further.

Until two years before, new students at First High School were divided into first course and second
course students. It was a system employed to deal with the lack of teachers

who could teach practical skills, and it concentrated the teacher’s practical skills guidance on the half of
students with better results in the admission exams, while the remaining half was effectively neglected.
Such was this discriminatory system.

But this system was abolished last year. That in itself is a good thing, but the shortage of staff that led to
the discriminatory system had not been solved. If the number of teachers using the same teaching
methods remain the same as they were up until then and the students to teach double, by simple
calculation, the density of teaching is reduced by a half. If this didn’t change, not only the first course
students but also the second course students would receive half-finished guidance, unintentionally
making it a change for the worse for all students.
The measure adopted by First High’s Principal Momoyama was to arrange classes based on ranks to
make teaching more efficient. By putting together the lower ranked students, the stagnation in lesson
progression is prevented. To deal with student growth appropriately, classes are changed every month
and the curriculum is also adjusted to reach a good stopping point on a monthly basis.

And like that, the current, new system was ready. Before its introduction, there were concerns that the
system would deteriorate into students preventing each other’s progress due to instigating their
competitive spirits more than necessary, but to this day there were no signs of that. Currently, in its
second year, the new system is working successfully.

◇◇◇

Having passed a month since their enrollment, their behavioral patterns and the people they hang
around with were already largely decided. For instance, during lunch break, Marika eats lunch at the
school cafeteria. The people surrounding her on the same table, other than Alisa, were always Alisa’s
classmate Isori Mei, Marika’s classmate in class B Nagatomi Koharu and Alisa’s club member Sengoku
Hiyori.

“Marika, you don’t look too well.”

Like Mei said, Marika is missing her usual color today.

“Koharu, you look a little gloomy too...”

Rather than just gloomy, Koharu was evidently depressed.

“Did something happen in class B?”

The questions kept on piling up, and Koharu’s shoulders suddenly trembled.

“Class B...”

After a somber murmur, Koharu quietly let out a “Fufufufu...” that resembled a laugh.

She wasn’t really laughing, it was similar to someone monotonically reading a laugh from a stage play
script. And if such script truly existed, the stage directions would simply say ‘self-deprecating laugh’. It
was a laugh (?) that gave off that kind of impression.

“W-what happened?”

In this situation, it was natural for Mei to become agitated.

“Nothing happened in class B. After all, I’m no longer a student in class B.”

“...You’ve gone down in class?”

It would not be an exaggeration to describe the reserved voice doing the inquiring as ‘fearful’.
“Yes I’ve gone down! I’m in class D!”

Koharu suddenly exploded.

Though objectively speaking, her shouting wasn’t very loud. It’s just that the difference to right before
then so large that it felt like an ‘explosion’.

“I tried my best, and yet... To think I would fall from B to D.”

For Koharu, these were probably her sincere, unfiltered thoughts. But it was somewhat, no, it was quite
the inappropriate statement.

“I’m sorry that you’re going to class D.”

Hiyori interjected with a calm voice. There were no thorns in her tone. But her remark lacked emotion,
accentuating her discomfort even more.

“Ah... I-I didn’t mean it like that...”

Koharu hastily tried to explain herself. However, the follow-up wouldn’t come out.

“Hiyori, I don’t think Koharu was belittling class D, and much less making fun of you.”

Alisa, unable to just sit and watch, gave Koharu some assistance.

“I’m sure she’s just feeling bad for dropping in the rankings.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Given that Hiyori responded immediately, she didn’t look to be actually angry or sulky.

“Umm, I’m sorry, Hiyori-san.”

Feeling a little relieved, Koharu apologized to Hiyori.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s work together during this month.”

“Yes! I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“Looks like somehow things settled peacefully over there... so?”

While glancing from the side at Hiyori and Koharu’s reconciliation, Mei start talking to Marika.

“Did you drop in class too, Marika?”

“No. I’m still in B...”

Marika answered Mei’s question, feebly shaking her head.

“Then isn’t it okay?”

Mei sounded half exasperated in her consolation.

“But... I didn’t get into the same class as Asha!”

And in response, Marika complained, sounding like she was about to cry.

“...Isn’t it okay if you do your best next month?”

Even while mentally overwhelmed, Mei retorted with sound reasoning.

“The topics for this month’s exams were Acceleration-Type and Weight-Type. Next month’s are
Movement-Type and Oscillation-Type. I’m better at Acceleration-Type than Movement-Type. This month
was my chance!”

After saying that, still sounding about to cry, Marika looked down and tightly clutched her hands on top
of her knees. If her emotions rouse up any further, she might actually start crying.

“Mina, calm down.”

Expectedly, Alisa probably thought she couldn’t leave Marika be any longer. Alisa gently put her hands
on top of Marika’s clenched hands.

“Just like you’re trying your best, so is everyone else in our year. I believe your efforts will be rewarded,
but I don’t think victory or rankings are guaranteed. After all, your competitors must also be working
hard.”

“...Yeah, you’re right.”

“So let’s try even harder. Do it with me.”

“With you, Asha...?”

Marika looked up and tilted her head.

In the new class composition, Alisa is still in class A. Marika doesn’t think Alisa needs to try harder.

“I’m good at Movement-Type, but not at Oscillation-Type. So I have to work harder than this month to
keep my rank after May’s exams. I’ll coach you at Movement-Type, so I want you to help me with
Oscillation-Type, Mina.”

“But I’m just ‘not that bad’ at Oscillation-Type?”

“Then let’s practice together.”

“...Yeah. Special training with Asha! I’ll try my hardest to be in the same class in June!”

“Yes, let’s do our best.”

Seeing Alisa and Marika getting excited by themselves, Koharu whispered a proposal to Hiyori, “Shall we
also have special training?”, to which Hiyori said clearly, “Is it okay to ask if there’s something I don’t
understand?”

◇◇◇

In the evening, Alisa, who left school along with Marika, visited her best friend’s apartment. They were
going to have a discussion to work out countermeasures for May’s practical skills exams.

She can’t deny it feels a little hasty. Classes have not even started in the areas that will feature in the
practical exams.

But ‘no time like the present’, so the two decided to come up with their strategy right away. — It could
be said that this is an excuse for a ‘house date’. If they were not of the same gender, that’s what the
situation could be referred to as.

While Marika was changing clothes, Alisa put on an apron and made milk tea. She doesn’t need to ask
for permission every time she wants to use the kitchen. The kitchen in this apartment is something Alisa
and Marika have shared ownership of.

Marika finished changing and came to the kitchen wearing a matching apron. The black tea was already
poured onto the cups, so Marika began preparing the cake to go along with it. She opened the fridge
and took out a large white cake.

“Wow, it looks delicious! Is that an unbaked cheesecake?”

“Not exactly. I used strained yogurt and tried to freeze it like an unbaked cheesecake.”

“So that’s what it is. I can’t wait.”

In front of Alisa’s sparkling eyes, Marika cleanly cut the yogurt cake. The properly cut slices were a
testament to her proficiency in confectionery. — A skill that, unfortunately, is completely useless in
magic practical exams.

Luckily, there was nobody there that would make such a boorish retort. They both sat around the table
with black tea and cake with a smile on their faces.

“I think the problem really is securing a place to practice and a coach.”

While drinking some milk tea, the first thing Marika said — it may be rude to say it was unexpected of
her — was surprisingly proper.

“Setting the place aside... I think finding a coach might be difficult.”

Alisa gave her earnest views to Marika’s suggestion. Regardless of what it might look to other people,
these two intended to have a serious talk about their studying plans.
“Maybe a teacher could give us a little of their time after school?”

“I wonder about that... Class time is one thing, but after school... They don’t have time to deal with all
the students in their class, and teaching only some of them might bring about noise about their
partiality.”

“Riiight... Well, nothing we can do about that. The classes are organized according to the practical skills
results because of the lack of teachers, after all.”

Though she said that, Marika didn’t appear too disappointed. Perhaps the idea of asking a teacher for
help was something she said fully knowing it was unreasonable.

“Then we have no choice but to do it by ourselves. Where should we practice?”

“Mina, you might not like it, but I think Katsuto-san will lend us a place if we ask him.”

Alisa proposed, slightly hesitating.

“The facilities of the Former Tenth Research Institute, huh...”

As Alisa expected, Marika spoke with a small frown that showed that she ‘didn’t like it’.

Marika didn’t need to be told that ‘Katsuto-san’ referred to the current Head of the Juumonji Family.
Marika also knew that the Juumonji Family is managing the facilities of the now closed former Tenth
Research Institute.

The former Tenth Research Institute, unlike the former Fourth Research Institute which was taken over
by the Yotsuba Family, is still national property. Even the Juumonji Family can’t freely use it. But the use
of some of the facilities, like the training area, is allowed by the state.

Marika didn’t know the situation in such fine detail. But one would ordinarily think that the Juumonji
Family, one of the Ten Master Clans, must have a private magic training facility they can use at any time.
Marika, of course, also thought so.

“...Asha, sorry, but I think I’d rather not.”

“I figured as much.”

Even not considering her feelings towards Katsuto himself or her opinions of the Juumonji Family,
Marika’s dislike of the idea to use the facilities of the former Tenth Research Institute was natural. That
was what Alisa was thinking before hearing Marika’s answer.

Marika’s surname ‘Tookami’ was originally spelled ‘Toogami’. She is from a family of ‘Extras’ of the
former Tenth Research Institute.

Marika herself never had any connection with the former Tenth Research Institute. She also never had
any negative feelings from being an Extra. At least as far as her memory goes.
But her grandfather was ousted from the Research Institute, and although her father has talent for
magic, he couldn’t make it in life with his magic abilities. Her brother also gave up the path of the
magician. All of this as a result of the Research Institute stripping her grandfather of his numbered
surname.

Marika also wouldn’t have thought of going to a magic high school if it wasn’t for Alisa. Though she
didn’t suffer from it directly, as a human being, she still ended up harboring a considerable amount of
resentment.

“In that case, we have to get a place at school, somehow.”

Truthfully, Alisa considered this to be the only option from the start.

“But won’t there be a lot of competition?”

Alisa and Marika aren’t the only ones who want a place to practice magic. Numbers from the Ten Master
Clans and the Hundred Families probably have their own private training facilities, but many students
come from different households. In addition, first year students aren’t the only ones with monthly
practical skills exams.

“You’re right... What do we do?”

The two racked their brains over it together.

But there are other people involved. It was not a problem they could come up with a good solution for
just by thinking over a table.

◇◇◇

After school on the first Saturday of May, Alisa and Marika were patrolling the school on duty for the
Public Morals Committee.

They had a look around the practical skills building and then left through the front door. After making
their way to the sports grounds, they went back to the front of the library and sat on a bench to rest.

“About the practice spot, what do we do?”

Marika asked Alisa, with a tone suggesting she feels she is in a stalemate.

“Truly, what do we do?”

Alisa, looking like she is at a loss, sent back the same question to her best friend.

The two huddled closely together, with a similar ‘worried pose’.

They stayed like that for a while, time passing by.

Two figures stopped in front of the bench where the two were sitting.
“Is something wrong?”

A gentle voice called out to them, to which Alisa and Marika not only raised her faces at the same time,
but also stood up without delay.

“Ah, President.”

Marika was the first to react.

(...Who?)

Alisa didn’t know who this upperclasswoman (probably) who called out to her was.

She is 5 centimeters shorter than Alisa, who is 165 centimeters tall. Her long hair has a brightish color.
Her almond eyes made her feel like she somehow had seen her before.

Behind that girl was an upperclasswoman she knew even without thinking. Public Morals Committee
Chief, Urabe Aki.

Aki saw Alisa was confused and a look that said ‘Figures...’ appeared on her face.

“Chika, introduce yourself.”

Aki, with no hesitation in her tone, urged the other upperclasswoman to give a self-introduction.

“Could this perhaps be the first time we’ve spoken to each other directly?”

The girl addressed Alisa in a ladylike manner.

“I am Kitahata Chika, from class 3-C. I also serve as the Club President of the women’s division of the
Martial Magic Arts Club.“

“I-I am Juumonji Alisa, from class 1-A. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Alisa became flustered due to confusion caused by the discrepancy between what was coming in
through her eyes and ears and what she remembered.

(Huh, no way?... Kitahata-senpai?)

(This senpai that looks so graceful?)

(Really?)

When speaking of the Martial Magic Arts Club President Kitahata, she would think of a gallant-looking,
rough-speaking girl who is easily mistaken for a young pretty boy. — Though she was too old to be
considered a girl. It was pretty hard to believe that this well-mannered, elegant, feminine
upperclassman was that same person.

“Asha, this is the first time you’ve seen the President with this look, right?”
But Marika was treating the female student in front of her as Kitahata Chika. This is the relationship
between Alisa and Marika: she can tell Marika is not lying or joking just by looking at her.

“You seem to be quite surprised.”

However, between the refined figure laughing with a “Ufufu” in front of her eyes and the violently
shouting figure in her memories, there truly was no overlap.

“...I can see why Juumonji-san is so confused.”

Unable to just watch Alisa’s bafflement anymore, Aki talked to her in a voice filled with deep sympathy.

“You may not believe this, but Chika doesn’t have a double personality.”

“The thought of me having double personality... Aki, you’re awful.”

Chika teased her with a voice sounding like she’s on the verge of tears. Though it might have been a
deadly serious objection for this current Chika.

“Shut it.”

And just like that, Aki silenced her.

“99 times out of 100, people would think you’re a different person when they see you like this for the
first time."

“Eh, is that really true...?”

Chika put her cheek against her hand and cocked her head to the side. Rather than being flirty, it was an
old-fashioned gesture.3

3 Similar gestures are associated with flirtatious girls who act cute, pretending to be innocent and
helpless to gain the favor of men.

“But I don’t really put on much makeup, other than wearing a hairpiece.”

The word hairpiece, over wig, feels correct for this Chika. It also felt that a furisode or hakama would
suit her better than a school uniform.

Now that it has been said, outside of the long hair, her face does match Alisa’s memories of the
President of the women’s division of the Magic Arts Club. Alisa was surprised as well as impressed that
the impression Chika gives off could change this much with just a wig.

But why is Chika wearing a hairpiece? Sure, there are no school regulations against wearing hairpieces.
Maybe there are other students taking their classes while wearing wigs and Alisa just doesn’t know
about it.
But at the very least, this is the first time Alisa has seen Chika this way. She normally doesn’t wear it, so
is there a reason she’s wearing a hairpiece today, Alisa pondered.

But maybe Chika has some deep reason that shouldn’t be inquired about. Thinking like that, Alisa
refrained from asking.

“This doesn’t have any particularly deep reason, you know?”

But the curiosity gnawing at her appeared to leak into her facial expression.

Chika tilted her head slightly to the right, scooped up a tuft of her long chestnut-colored wig hair and
smiled at Alisa.

“For some reason I was just in the mood for it this morning.”

“Mood?”

“Yes. Since the tea was made so nicely this morning.”

(Make? Tea?)

For this Chika the phrase ‘make tea’ didn’t feel out of place.

But normally, her image has no correlation with the way of tea.

“Juumonji-san, I truly understand how you feel right now.”

Once again Aki gave her sympathies to the perplexed Alisa.

“But you shouldn’t worry. There are some not-deep reasons.”

Did I hear that wrong?, Alisa thought.

“...So there are no deep reasons, but there are reasons that aren’t deep?”

“Exactly. The reason isn’t very significant. In any case, think of Chika as this kind of creature.”

“Oh my. I do feel it is quite rude to see your best friend as some sort of creature. Don’t you think so too,
Juumonji-san?”

Even the way she shows anger is anachronistic, or old-fashioned and calm. Alisa was frankly still
wondering what the ‘’not-deep reasons’ were, but even if he asked Chika she would probably say ‘it’s
not worth knowing’.

Alisa decided to follow Aki’s advice.

“... Yeah, you’re right.”

Specifically, she chose an appropriate response and let it out.

“More importantly, what happened to you two?”

She probably thought ‘At this rate, time will just pass and nothing will get done’. Aki brushed Chika aside
to question Alisa and Marika.

“You looked like you were worrying about something?”

“Yes, Chief. Truth is...”

Marika was already used to Chika’s dual-nature and answered Aki ahead of Alisa, who was still yet to
recover from the impact of the disparity.

“...A training area for practical skills, huh. That really is a troubling matter.”

Aki nodded with an understanding face. She might have the same trouble reserving a location for
herself.

“Juumonji-san, would it not be fine to use one at your home?”

Chika inserted herself into the conversation, sounding curious.

“Do you think Tookami-san could do that on an emotional level?”

Aki’s tone towards Chika was one of reproach. This means that, apparently, both Aki and Chika know
that Marika comes from a family of Extras.

“Is that the case? The facilities of the former Tenth Research Institute are being managed by the
Juumonji Family, are they not? Tookami-san also has a right to use them. Besides, if it caused problems
for her grandfather and father, I think it’s just right to turn it into her steppingstone.”

(Ah, that’s definitely Kitahata-senpai.)

Hearing that cheeky assertion, the ladylike upperclasswoman in front of her and the manly Magic Arts
Club President of the women’s division finally merged in Alisa’s mind.

Alisa felt nothing of Chika’s statement other than ‘Kitahata-senpai-like’, Marika thought nothing of it
other than ‘So there’s that way of thinking about it too?’, but it looked like Aki couldn’t ignore the
irrationality of the argument.

“Chika... Not everyone would be satisfied with that like you are.”

She raised her voice to chide Chika.

“Maybe you are right. Then, I shall take my leave before I say any more unnecessary things. Tookami-
san, Juumonji-san, do your best, both in your patrol and your studies.”

Chika bowed politely and continued her walk.

“If you’re having trouble finding a practice room, have you tried talking to the Student Council?”

Aki left that advice and lined up next to Chika.

Alisa and Marika looked at each other with expressions that said ‘Now that you mention it’. The two
immediately headed towards the 4th floor of the main school building, where the Student Council room
is located.

◇◇◇

The Student Council room is by nature not a place people are let in easily. But as members of the Public
Morals Committee, the two of them were now used to showing up often. Perhaps due to influence of
Alisa’s older brother, Vice President Yuuto, and their friend Mei who was appointed as a secretary,
President Shiina and Treasurer Saburou already treat Alisa and Marika as family. Today as well, they just
knocked on the door and were allowed in right away.

“It doesn’t look that busy in the first half of the month.”

Mei replied as such when Marika asked about using a practice room.

“But in the second half it will be hard to find a free room. It will be impossible if you apply on the day,
and reservations will be drawn by lottery.”

“I see...”

“It wasn’t this busy when we were in the first year.”

President Shiina heard the conversation between the three first years and joined in.

“Not that there weren’t any students studying by themselves, of course.”

“True, the rooms in the practice building were never all filled.”

Treasurer Saburou joined in as well.

“It’s been like this ever since the classes started being divided by grades, right?”

“Because it’s easily interpreted as matter of status.”

Saburou’s expression as he agreed with what Shiina said was a little bitter.

“Is there something like a fight for status at this school?”

Marika asked, looking surprised.

“...Yeah, of course there is.”

And to her question, Saburou nodded, looking unamused.

“Fights for status sound bad to the ear, but competition is necessary. It’s healthier than not having your
skills evaluated.”

“Yeah, under the previous system, the classes for the first and second courses were fixed, no matter
how hard the second course students tried.”

Perhaps it was just imagination, but Shiina looked like she was somewhat staring somewhere far away.

Those must have been horrible circumstances, Marika and Alisa both thought.

“So you mean the current situation, where students compete with improving their skills as their goal is
healthy, right?”

“It would be a problem if students boasted about their grades and looked down on students below
them. So far, the situation hasn’t gotten that bad yet.”

With a wry smile, Samurai agreed with Alisa.

“But I have a feeling the competition is getting more intense every day. It’s looking like securing a
practice room will be tougher this month than the last.”

And then Shiina apologetically added to his words.

“...And that being the case, if you want to use a practice room, you should do it now. Though it is tough,
not being able to practice before the exam.”

Mei said, and for some time, she tilted her head in thought.

“If you’re looking for a place to practice at school, that means there is a reason you don’t want to use
Alisa’s house, right?”

Marika doesn’t voluntarily spread the word that she’s an Extra. Mei’s Isori Family is a main family of the
Hundred Families, the Numbers, so if she were to investigate it’s probably possible for her to find the
relationship between Marika’s Tookami Family and the former Tenth Research Institute. But randomly
looking up her friend’s situation is the sort of behavior Mei doesn’t like.

Therefore Mei doesn’t know that Marika is an Extra. ‘Not wanting to use the Juumonji Family’s facilities’
was simple reasoning.

In addition, the Vice President Yuuto, a related party whenever the topic of the Juumonji Family comes
up, isn’t here. He went away to a briefing with the Club Activities Group.

Marika replied to Mei’s question with an indifferent “Well, yeah”. There was no seriousness to be seen
on her face.

“Then, come to my home?”

“By your home, you mean the Isori Family’s?”

Marika couldn’t hide her surprise at Mei’s proposal. Alisa also had a face expressing ‘Huh?’.

“Of course I won’t do anything like trying to figure out the secrets of your magic.”

Mei declared, looking completely serious.

“I’m not worried about that... Asha, what do you think?”

“It’s not just up to me... I have to ask Katsuto-san.”

When Marika asked her for her opinion, Alisa replied with a perplexed expression.

“You can give me the answer any time. Even the day before if you want.”

“...Okay. Thank you.”

Alisa expressed her sincere thanks to Mei for her generosity.

“If Asha can’t, can I go by myself?”

“Of course, feel free to.”

And Mei willingly agreed with Marika, who showed motivation even if she was by herself.

Quiet Chat 1

The third son of the Juumonji Family of the Ten Master Clans, Tatsuki, did not enter the First High School
that stands in his hometown, instead enrolling at Third High School in Kanazawa. There was no sort of
scheme going on in the background. The reason was rising complications in the relationship with his
family members. Specifically, he doesn’t agree with bringing in his father’s illegitimate daughter as a
member of the family.

Seen by an outsider, it was a childish fixation. Tatsuki himself also sometimes thinks ‘What am I doing?’.
But there’s nothing he can do about it either. There are times where even adults are swayed by childish
feelings, let alone 15-year-olds who are not adults yet.

Besides, Tatsuki is walking forward. Whether it is in the right direction, nobody knows. That is something
only the future can tell. At the very least, as a Third High School student, Tatsuki is living a high school
life that can’t be admonished as indolent nor profligate.

Like usual, he is earnestly carrying out his patrols around the school as a Public Morals Committee
member today. It is a custom in Third High that the best of that year’s new students is appointed to the
Public Morals Committee. Tatsuki was the second best. While it is a fact that he was a replacement for
the top student, Ichijou Akane, who was unable to perform the Committee’s activities, that didn’t
discourage him from carrying out the duties of the Public Morals Committee.

Though, despite saying ‘earnestly’, he still takes breaks during his patrols. Just as he is doing now.
Tatsuki stood at the martial arts gallery (a corridor-shaped aisle for spectating installed at the height of a
second floor) where he stopped his patrol and observed the practice being conducted.

The club activities happening are by the Judo Club and the Martial Magic Arts Club. Third High is fully
equipped with facilities for martial arts and other combat sports, as

expected from a school with a ‘warlike’ spirit. This martial arts area is also large enough to be used by
two clubs at the same time. It is clearly larger than the small gymnasium used by First High’s martial arts
and other combat sports clubs.

The Judo Club is the club his classmate and neighbor, Ikura Samon, belongs to. For some time, Tatsuki
studied his practice spars.

It wasn’t the first time Tatsuki watched him practice, but once again he felt Samon was ‘strong’.

His randori4 opponent is an upperclassman, maybe in his third year. Setting aside the width, the
opponent is taller than him. Moreover, he can even see that they are well trained from the surface of
the judo uniform. Thinking about it normally, they should be stronger and have more stamina than
Samon, who was a middle schooler just two months ago. Even in technique, one would ordinarily think
that upperclassmen with more experience would be superior.

4 Free-style practice. In Judo, a spar against a single opponent.

But from what Tatsuki could see, Samon had the advantage. To begin with, the upperclassman was
clearly being shoved around by pure strength. There are still people who are convinced that strength is
not necessary in judo, misunderstanding the idea of ‘flexibility over strength’, but once you catch the
opponent and perform a technique, strength is absolutely necessary. Not just strength of arms, but legs,
abdomen and back as well.

Skill and flexibility are indispensable, but the stronger the better. As far as judo is concerned, rather than
saying ‘flexibility over strength’, the expression ‘small over large’ might be more appropriate.

Samon was exactly an example of this at that moment. He was shoving around a senior student whose
physique trumps his own. And he wasn’t using his full strength, just breaking their stance by shaking
them up in all directions.

The moment the upperclassman was conclusively out of position, Samon quickly got closer to his
opponent.

The moment right after, his opponent’s body danced through the air, like magic.

“Well done.”

Tatsuki unconsciously muttered.

Of course, though said to be like magic, there was no actual magic. The technique to control your own
body and your opponent’s body is called ‘skill’. Once again, this is not the first time Tatsuki has seen
Samon practicing. But it appears that Samon’s ability is somehow considerably higher than Tatsuki
thought. Either that, or he might be improving very fast in a short period of time.

Samon helped the opponent he hurled get back on his feet. They bowed at each other and began
walking to the wall. Apparently they’re going to take a break. On the way, Samon raised his face and his
eyes met Tatsuki’s.

Samon smiled and raised his hand. Afterwards he walked to the spot right under Tatsuki and stopped.

“Are you on patrol?”

Samon called out to him, to which Tatsuki replied with “Yeah”.

“It’s looking good for you.”

Tatsuki added right after.

“Yeah man, I’m in perfect form.”

Samon gave him a thumbs up and a wide smile.

“You still have some time, right?”

“Yeah, just a bit more.”

“Then go look over that way too. It’s a sight to behold.”

Tatsuki, who thought for sure he would tell him to stay watching his own activities, was surprised. He
turned his sight to the direction Samon pointed.

There, the women’s division of the Martial Magic Arts Club was having a spar in the form of a bout.
Instead of having many fights at the same time, they had one pair face off at a time.

“Ah, nice timing.”

Samon raised his voice. He spoke in a way that made it seem he was more talking to himself than
addressing Tatsuki.

Two girls stepped forward to the center of the mat, facing each other. Tatsuki hasn’t memorized the
faces of all 200 first year students yet, but these two he knew.

(Ichijou Akane and Liú Lìlěi...)

In the school register, their names are Ichijou Akane and Ichijou Reira. However, it is rumored that
Ichijou Reira’s true identity is the Great Asian Union’s Nationally Recognized Strategic-Class Magician Liú
Lìlěi. By indirectly observing her during this past month, Tatsuki is almost convinced that the rumor is
true.
Just to add some words to his credit, he is neither a peeper nor a stalker. What is the purpose for the
Great Asian Union’s Liú Lìlěi attending a Japanese magic high school, with what kind of intent is the
Ichijou Family making their eldest daughter move with Liú Lìlěi, that’s what he, as a member of the
Juumonji Family, is trying to find out... And so far, he has no results at all.

Ichijou Akane and Liú Lìlěi — though Tatsuki is convinced, her real identity is still conjecture — assumed
their stances. As if reflected in a mirror, their stances were completely identical. Akane had a left front
stance, while Liú Lìlěi had a right front stance, giving it an even stronger impression of a mirror.

(That isn’t karate... Are the two of them using wushu as base?)

Wushu is a martial art developed in the East Asian continent that has been turned into a modern sport.
There have been enthusiasts in Japan for over a hundred years. So it isn’t all that surprising that Ichijou
Akane is learning wushu.

But Tatsuki had a thought that Akane learned her technique from Liú Lìlěi. — No, he assumed that was
the case.

At the signal to begin the practice bout, Akane and Liú Lìlěi began a fierce exchange of blows.

Instead of aiming for a valid blow by reading the distance between them and the opponent, they
repeatedly attacked to create openings. This is a tactic common in modern boxing, which gives
importance to the number of punches when scoring.

Amazingly, as far as Tatsuki could tell, neither of them scored a clean hit. They looked to be completely
on the offensive, but they were defending properly too.

Akane avoided valid blows with astonishing speed.

Liú Lìlěi deflected attacks with outstanding skill.

(Liú Lìlěi’s technique is superior... but it’s Ichijou Akane who is putting on the pressure.)

Tatsuki thought that as he watched their offense and defense. And while thinking why he felt that way,
he murmured “Magic, huh?”.

“You think so too?”

Tatsuki barely hid his agitation when he heard a voice coming from right beside him.

Samon was in front of him when he turned around. Tatsuki didn’t realize Samon had moved from the
floor to the gallery. He was paying that much attention to the spar between Akane and Liú Lìlěi.

Samon didn’t appear to notice Tatsuki’s unrest. Maybe he was just pretending not to notice. Contrary to
what his unrefined appearance suggests, Samon is the type that notices these things.

“Ichijou Reira hasn’t used magic for a while, right?”

“...It’s not that she’s not using magic at all.”

He needed a short period of time to get over the agitation. Now basically back to his usual state of mind,
Tatsuki shook his head lightly to what Samon said.

“Ichijou Akane is launching weak electric attacks, and Ichijou Reira is using magic to block
electromagnetic fields to protect herself.”

“Eeh, you really know this stuff. That’s the Ten Master Clans for you... Sorry, you don’t like being told
that, right?”

In the middle of his remark, Samon saw Tatsuki put on a slight frown.

“No, it’s not like that. I just don’t think I should be praised when I don’t understand what Ichijou Akane
is trying to do.”

“Isn’t she just trying to give her an electric shock? Wait, about that, I don’t think shocks are allowed in
Magic Arts?”

“Electric shocks from an out-of-contact position are a foul. The reverse, from a contact position, doesn’t
break the rules.”

While answering Samon’s question, Tatsuki was thinking about something different.

It is understandable that Samon didn’t recognize Akane’s magic. The magic she used in the spar was very
weak. When hit by that electric current, you’d feel a little tingle. Thinking about it normally, it won’t
cause any damage.

Maybe it’s blocking their next move to some extent. Maybe Liú Lìlěi disliked that? But if the expense of
resources in the conscious for use of magic is considered, it doesn’t feel like Akane’s electric shock magic
is strong enough to deliberately protect yourself against...

While Tatsuki was going through that line of thought, the practice bout was nearing its conclusion.

At the same time as Liú Lìlěi, who swung both her arms like a windmill, scored a hit, Akane pushed both
hands out. She didn’t do it with her fists closed — they were open-hand strikes.

Liú Lìlěi’s right hand connected with Akane’s left shoulder.

But before the power was fully transmitted, Akane’s hands thrust into Liú Lìlěi.

Liú Lìlěi fell onto the mat on her back.

Akane did not pursue. She walked up to where Liú Lìlěi had just fallen and held out her right hand.

Liú Lìlěi took her hand and stood up. There was no signal, but it appears the spar is over. Tatsuki stopped
looking at Akane and Liú Lìlěi and walked to the stairs leading to the floor. Samon followed behind him.
Tatsuki didn’t return to his patrol immediately, instead stopping at the drinks corner in the lobby of the
martial arts area. He wasn’t that thirsty himself, but he was invited by Samon.

Tatsuki bought carbonated water from a vending machine. Samon got water. There isn’t just a vending
machine but also a simple water server that provides water for free.

“What did you think of those two, a sight to behold, wasn’t it?”

Samon elatedly asked while holding his second paper cup filled with water. That boastful look on his face
was slightly irritating, but it really had been a marvel to spectate.

“Yeah. Honestly, I was surprised. Definitely exceeded my expectations.”

“Oh, it is an honor.”

A voice from behind them suddenly interrupted the conversation.

Tatsuki wasn’t as surprised as when Samon called out to him before. Having sensed that someone was
approaching them, he composed himself and turned around.

“Didn’t expect to get such high praise from someone of the Juumonji Family.”

Ichijou Akane was the one who spoke to Tatsuki. Right behind, waiting for her, stood Liú Lìlěi.

“Was it high praise? I think your technique is worthy of it.”

“Oh, so I’m being acknowledged. I thought you were joking.”

Tatsuki nodded with a serious expression on his face, to which Akane, looking like she didn’t expect this
at all, turned towards him.

“Juumonji-kun, you’re a very serious person, aren’t you?”

“It looks like you know who I am, so I probably don’t need to introduce myself, but I’m Juumonji Tatsuki.
I believe this is the first time we’ve talked like this.”

Tatsuki stubbornly kept his overly serious composure.

Feeling at a loss, Akane let out a bitter smile.

“You’re right, this is the first time. I’m Ichijou Akane. I heard about you from my brother. Sorry for not
being there the other day.”

“No, it is I who should say sorry, it was rude of me to not make prior arrangements.”

As a matter of fact, on the Sunday two weeks after coming to Kanazawa, Tatsuki went to the Ichijou
Family’s house to give his greetings. But on that day, Akane was away from home.
“That isn’t right. You gave my father advance notice that you were coming, didn’t you? It’s our father’s
fault for failing to tell the rest of the family.”

“I was the one who asked him to not treat it with great importance. Your father is not to blame.”

“Okay, I got it. So it was something you decided in advance.”

As Tatsuki nodded, he shifted his attention to just behind Akane.

In response, Liú Lìlěi voluntarily stepped forward towards Tatsuki.

“Nice to meet you, Juumonji-san. I’m Ichijou Reira, from class 1-A. I am Akane-san’s cousin-in-law.”

“It’s good to meet you too. I’m Juumonji from class B.”

Tatsuki didn’t pry into ‘Ichijou Reira’s’ identity. It would be a lie to say it isn’t worrying him, but the
equation ‘Ichijou Reira = Liú Lìlěi’ has already become a fact in his mind. He had decided that as long as
he wasn’t negligent with that conviction, no problems would arise, even if it was actually a
misunderstanding.

“And this is Ikura, he’s in B class like me.”

Tatsuki led Akane’s and Liú Lìlěi’s gaze towards Samon by glancing towards him and giving a simple
introduction. Then he signaled Samon, urging him to introduce himself as if saying ‘do the rest yourself’.

Samon didn’t misinterpret his intention.

“Pleased to meet you two, Ichijou-san, Ichijou-san.”

Samon said that and then laughed a bit, feeling awkward. When he said that sentence out loud, though
it wasn’t wrong, he felt it was pretty idiotic.

Akane and Liú Lìlěi also laughed. There was a difference between them, in that Liú Lìlěi simply snickered
while Akane’s laugh was strained.

“Please call me Reira. Juumonji-san, you as well.”

“You can call me Akane too.”

“Thank you. Well then, once again, Akane-san, Reira-san. I am Ikura Samon, from class 1-B, member of
the Judo Club.”

Today, the clubs having their activities in the martial arts area are the Magic Arts Club and the Judo Club,
and since he’s wearing a judo uniform, it is obvious at a glance that Samon is a member of the Judo Club.
Nevertheless, he explicitly stated it, which probably means him being a judoka has become part of his
identity.

But that’s not what Akane took notice of.

“Ikura, Salmon?”5

5 Akane mishears his first and last name. She misunderstood the intonation of the last name, and
assumed it was the word ikura, meaning “salted salmon roe”. The first name she mishears as the English
word salmon. Combining both misunderstandings, his name sounds ridiculous.

Akane stared in amazement and asked back, as if saying ‘You’re joking, right?’ with her tone of voice.

“It’s not salmon!”

Samon immediately replied to the question with a retort, not an exaggeration if said it was a
conditioned response. Perhaps this mistake has happened many times before.

It is certain that Akane’s misunderstanding was awful. Samon’s name is ‘Ikura Samon’, but he would
never pronounce it ‘Ikura Salmon’. There really wasn’t any room for misunderstanding the intonation, so
it appears reasonable that Samon would adopt a violent tone.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Akane hurriedly apologized. Even she probably thought it was a terrible misunderstanding.

“You’re right, it’s not salmon.”

After saying that quickly, Akane asked “How do you write it in kanji?”

Samon immediately wrote his own name in big characters in the air.

“Got it. So you’re ‘Ikura 伊倉 Samon 左門’. Understood.”

“Don’t get it wrong next time, Akane-san.”

Even if he didn’t emphasize it like that, this is not a mistake you make twice unless it is done
intentionally. He really must have some bitter memories of this weird mistake.

“Okay okay, I won’t get it wrong again.”

After speaking, Akane walked to the water server. Apparently, the two girls also came here to drink
water.

She filled two paper cups with water until they were 70% full, and while holding them in her hands she
looked back at Tatsuki.

“Juumonji-kun, if you have any message for Onii-san, I can take care of it for you.”

It was a blatant change of topic, but neither Tatsuki nor Samon questioned it.

“I am going to have practice with the Magic Arts Club at the Magic University soon.”

But it seemed her objective was not just to completely escape the topic.
“I see... In that case, could you tell him ‘I’m doing well thanks to you’?”

“Hmm, okay. I’ll tell him that.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it... Hey, Juumonji-kun, you’re as formal as you are honest. I don’t hate people like
that.”

“I guess I should say thank you?”

Tatsuki so said, and left that area without waiting for a reply.

As he left the martial arts area behind, Samon watched him disappear from his sight with a grin on his
face.

Chapter 2 – Preparations for the Monthly Practical Skill Exams

May 3rd, Sunday.

Alisa finished her club activities for the Crowd Ball Club and returned to the school to join up with
Marika, who had also finished hers, at the café terrace.

“Did I keep you waiting?”

To Alisa’s question, Marika honestly answered “Just a little”. At this stage of their relationship, they
don’t need to be considerate of each other, like saying ‘Not at all’ here.

“Then, let’s get going?”

“Are you okay with not drinking anything?”

“I’m not that thirsty. If we take our time here we’ll be late.”

It’s not late enough to say it is almost evening, but the sun reigning the clear sky is leaning to the west.
There is plenty of time if they were just going home, but they had plans to visit Mei’s house.

They’re not going there to play. They’re going to use the Isori Family’s practice grounds to prepare for
the monthly practical skill exams.

The reason why not just Marika but also Alisa decided to take on Mei’s goodwill of offering them a place
where they can practice magic as a replacement for a practice room was, needless to say, because they
wanted to practice together. Of course, Alisa got permission from the Head of the Juumonji Family.

Alisa’s willfulness, which is not unlikely to lead to the leak of magic techniques, was accepted
unexpectedly easily by her eldest brother and Head of Family Katsuto. Alisa felt it was almost anti-
climactic.
Though Alisa was not surprised. It was Katsuto who brought her into the family from Hokkaido. He
knows Alisa’s and Marika’s circumstances well. She understood that Katsuto had taken her friendship
with Marika into account.

The Isori Family house is located in the northwest of Tokyo, near the border with the former Saitama
prefecture. From First High School, it is about 30 minutes from one station to the other. In a straight line
the distance is much closer than to Alisa’s and Marika’s houses, but modern public transports, the
Cabinets, don’t make any stops on the way, so in terms of time there isn’t that much difference.

They soon found the Isori Family house. It stood on a site so large it was almost like some kind of
factory. The building also looked more like a factory or a research institute than a house.

“This is... Even more impressive than I expected.”

Alisa expressed her admiration.

“I wonder, do they make anything in there?”

Marika asked that kind of question.

“I’m sure they make something, but it’s not a manufacturing plant. I think it’s closer to research
institute?”

“Asha, do you know about it?”

“Didn’t I tell you before? The Isori Family are a worldwide authority on Engravement Magic, which is
closely connected with magic artifacts.”

Marika folded her arms and pondered Alisa’s explanation.

“...I feel like I’ve heard this before. So basically, magic tools are made in Mei’s house?”

“I’m not really an expert on it though.”

While replying, Alisa pushed the gate’s intercom. Then she got her face closer to the mic to talk into it.

But despite that...

“It’s Mei. I’ll open it now.”

She said before Alisa even opened her mouth, leaving her a little puzzled.

Mei would be able to see through the camera who pushed the intercom’s button, so it is not strange
that she would give her name before Alisa. But normally, wouldn’t the door be unlocked only after
announcing their visit? It doesn’t feel that way at school, but is Mei actually impatient?
While thinking about it, not only were the gates unlocked, they also opened. Automatic doors
themselves are not unusual, but there are not many examples of private houses where even the gates
are automatic. Well, it didn’t look like a private house from the start anyway.

“Asha, it’s open, you know?”

Marika urged Alisa with a curious voice. She didn’t seem to feel any surprise or suspicions about Mei’s
reception.

Marika pushed Alisa and the two stepped inside the perimeter of the Isori Family house. About ten
meters before the door — or rather, ‘entrance’ — of the three-storied low-rise building opened, Mei
appeared.

“Welcome. Come on in.”

Even if rationalism is the policy of the house, she should pay a little more attention to appearances...
Alisa felt that way, right up until she saw what was on the other side of the door.

The entry hall to the Isori Family’s house was built like a high-class traditional Japanese inn. Taking a
closer look, the metal sliding door, which looks like the entrance to a warehouse, has geometric patterns
of an inconspicuous color drawn on its surface. Alisa

knew that was a magic engraving. Unfortunately, she couldn’t understand enough to know its effects.

“It’s a Engravement Magic circle for thermal insulation.”

Seeing through Alisa’s doubts, Mei announced, somewhat boastfully.

“By thermal insulation, you mean it’s a measure against fires?“

It was Marika who asked.

“That is its most important function. In theory, just by engraving this door, the fireproof effect extends
to the entire building.”

“That’s amazing... Most important, you mean it has other functions?”

That question came from Alisa.

Mei smiled, as if proudly saying ‘splendid question’.

“Yeah. We have plans to have external insulation in the future so that air conditioning and heating will
no longer be needed.”

“Huh? But magic activated with seals...”

“Yeah. Engravement Magic is activated by pouring a large amount of Psions. And generally, when
compared to the same magician using an Activation Sequence to activate the same magic, it tends to
last for a shorter time. The stability of the activation process is superior, which makes it suited for
dealing with emergencies, but it is said to be inferior for every day compared to magic with the use of a
CAD.”

Mei anticipated everything Alisa wanted to say. And then her proud smile broadened even more at
Alisa, who had question marks floating above her head. Mei smiled like a child boasting about their
favorite toys.

“To overcome that shortcoming, our family is developing a mechanism that automatically supplies
Psions to the Engravement Magic circle. We’re using Shiba Tatsuya-sama’s Stellar Furnace system as
reference.”

“Isn’t the Stellar Furnace system a trade secret?”

Alisa curiously tilted her head.

“Obviously they can’t tell us everything, but I think they can tell us the know-how for supplying Psions.
My older brother was also a member of that experiment.”

“Obviously we can’t know it all, but I think they would tell us the know-how for supplying Psions. My
older brother was also a member in that experiment, after all.”

That experiment refers to the Stellar Furnace experiment conducted three years before at the same First
High School these girls attend. At the moment, a team of First High students led by Shiba Tatsuya
showed for the first time the feasibility of a Stellar Furnace. It is well known among people studying
Magic Engineering in Japan that Mei’s older brother, Isori Kei, was in charge of the ‘Coulomb Force
Control’ of the experimental device and was later one of the people who contributed heavily to the
implementation of the Stellar Furnace.

“Mei, can I ask you something?”

Marika raised her voice.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Why do you call that alumnus by his full name?”

Marika’s question, however, had no relation at all to Magic Engineering.

“By the surname alone you can’t tell him apart from the former Student Council President, right? She is
a famous person too.”

“Former Student Council President?”

“Shiba Miyuki-san. Shiba Tatsuya-sama’s fiancée.”

Mei’s answer was a little unnatural. — Not the contents, but her tone. It was like she started by calling
her ‘Shiba Miyuki’ and then added the ‘san’ like she was forced to. Not just that, but when she said
‘fiancée’, a slight sense of resistance was transmitted.

“...Mei, do you perhaps hate that former President?”

Marika showed hesitation on whether to ask or not, but in the end she asked it.

Mei’s reflexively grimaced. She thought she had been able to hide her inner thoughts.

“To be honest, I don’t really like her.”

Mei reluctantly admitted Marika’s words were true.

“Because she’s the fiancée of the person you admire?”

“It’s not like that!... I’m a bit jealous though.”

“Yeah, yeah. I totally get that feeling.”

Marika nodded with a ‘know-it-all’ face, to which Mei felt more than a little irritated. She took a deep
breath so that Marika wouldn’t catch that and calmed herself down.

“It’s not what you think. How do I say it... That woman, she’s too good to be true, it feels like she’s
artificial.”

“She does?”

Marika didn’t really understand what Mei wanted to tell her, but Alisa, who knows what Shiba Miyuki
looks like, thought ‘I get that’ when she heard it from Mei.

“...Now, enough about that. Let’s not stand at the front door talking forever and move to the practice
area.”

Standing at the front door being just a waste of time is a good point. Neither Marika nor Alisa had any
objections.

They both followed Mei’s back right away.

In terms of floor area, the practice area at the Isori Family’s house is inferior to First High’s practice
building, but the equipment is not at all inferior. Particularly, the

various measuring devices are an upgrade. Alisa, who usually uses the facilities of the former Tenth
Research Institute, unconsiouly showed how impressed she was.

“The things you were bad at, for Marika was Movement-Type and for Alisa was Oscillation-Type, right?”

“I’m no more than ‘not bad’ at Oscillation-Type. I’m not confident enough to say I don’t need practice.”
Marika replied to Mei’s question, sounding confident.

“I’d like to practice both too.”

Alisa agreed with Marika.

“But won’t it be more efficient if you practice separately?”

Even though the advice gave priority to rationality, Marika shook her head.

“I think there are things we don’t notice if we practice alone.”

“You have a point... wait, don’t you just want to practice with Alisa?”

“Ehehe...”

Mei pointed it out and Marika dodged the question by laughing.

Mei was dumbfounded by her childish smile.

“Good grief... Marika, you’re like a child who can’t leave her parents.”

“What the!”

“No, maybe a little sister who can’t be away from her older sister.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“So that’s fine...”

Alisa watched from the side as Marika and Mei argued and giggled.

“T-Then, let’s begin with Movement-Type first. I’ll give you advice if I notice something too.”

“Thank you, Mei. That will be a great help.”

Alisa thanked Mei with an honest smile.

That straightforward and sweet smile made Mei flustered.

“This way.”

Hiding her lack of composure by turning away, she thought to herself ‘I feel I understand why Marika
yearns for Alisa now’.

“What do you think we should start with?”

Marika asked, to which Alisa turned to Mei.

But Mei just gave a small shrug. She wasn’t being cold, she probably just couldn’t make the decision
because she hadn’t seen Marika’s practice skills. Naturally, Alisa wasn’t offended by it.

“Then let’s start with the basic tasks for Movement-Type Magic.”

“Okay. If Asha thinks that’s good.”

There was no hesitation in Marika’s response. Far from it, she showed no hints of thinking about it,
which caused a small, strained smile appear on Mei’s face.

Mei led them to the stationary CAD for use in training. It is of the same type they use during lessons at
school. Next to it is a medium-sized electric pod installed on a 1.5-meter-tall self-standing pole.

Mei picked up the remote control that was placed by the side of the CAD and operated it. The electronic
board displayed a timer with digits up to hundredth of a second.

The ‘stillness’ task of Movement-Type Magic is to make an object stay still in mid-air for a fixed period of
time. To get a passing mark, if the task duration is less than 1 minute, the measurement error has to be
within a second, if it is between 1 and 3 minutes the error must be within 3 seconds and if it is over 5
minutes the error must be within 10 seconds. The task is harder the higher the mass of the object to
float, or the higher its volume, or the more asymmetrical its shape.

The easiest task is to float a hollow ball made of aluminum alloy the size of a baseball ball at shoulder
height for 30 seconds. The way this exercise is done is by holding the metal ball with your hands and
stretching your arms straight forward at shoulder height, then releasing the ball and letting it float.
Conversely, the most difficult task is to use magic to float a bunch of fieldstones of irregular shape that
were placed on the floor and hold them in place. This challenge is only for students aiming for extra
points.

The task they are trying to tackle right now is the easiest one.

Marika put her left hand on the stationary CAD and raised her right hand to shoulder height while
holding the metal ball with her palm facing down. At the same time she invoked the magic, the timer
connected to the Psion sensor began.

The effect of the magic cut off, and Marika caught the falling metal fall with her right hand.

“You went 3 seconds over.”

Hesitant to say it, Alisa announced the result.

With a ‘Huh?’ on her face, Marika looked at the electronic board.

The digits displayed there were -3.14. The timer is set to decrease from 30 seconds and to add a minus
sign once it passes 0. Which means that ‘-3’ is 3 seconds over. It was Alisa’s kindness that made her
round the time down to the second when she announced the results.
“A-Again.”

With impatience in her voice and face, Marika declared she would repeat the challenge.

After that, Marika continued the ‘stillness’ practice for nearly an hour, while alternating with Alisa, but
her success rate was below 50%.

Though that doesn’t mean nothing went well. Marika worked on various Movement-Type Magic tasks,
including ‘stillness’, for nearly two hours, and increased her success rate in ‘shoot’, where an object is
made to move with precision, to 90%, and ‘slalom’, where the object is made to move while avoiding
obstacles, also reached a passing level.

“Marika, your problem seems to be initializing the variables correctly.”

Looking at those results, Mei summarized it like that. She pointed out that in the process of constructing
the Magic Sequence, the addition of requirements not defined in the Activation Sequence, the
‘variables’, is not going well.

For ‘shoot’, the only requirement is where the movement ends.

‘Slalom’ is a series of short movements and the speed and coordination of magic activations is more
important than accuracy.

In contrast, ‘stillness’ requires the input of two variables, the coordinates to keep the object in position
and how long it lasts for.

“... Yeah, looks like that’s it.”

Marika seemed to know it herself, and nodded with her face showing her fatigue.

Also, Alisa didn’t practice much herself and spent her time supporting Marika.

◇◇◇

After school on Thursday. Alisa and Marika luckily managed to make a reservation for a booth in a
practice room, where they were doing special training for the practical skills exams. This room is
partitioned into six booths, and five booths, including theirs, were occupied. The last one has also been
reserved.

“Oh, come on! I can’t do it at all!”

Marika suddenly yelled when she finished her tenth trial. Signs of people being startled leaked from the
other booths. Flustered, Alisa ended up going around to apologize to the other booths, saying “I’m sorry
for the noise”.

“Mina, stop that. We’re not the only ones using this room.”

“...Sorry.”
After Alisa came back from her apologies and scolded her, Marika became completely dejected.

She was so disheartened that Alisa, who didn’t intend on scolding her so strongly, became impatient.

“To start, I don’t think you should be this disappointed. You’ve improved, haven’t you?”

“... I still haven’t reached a passing mark.”

“It’s only been a week since this month’s practical skills started. Don’t be so impatient.”

‘You must not be impatient’, Alisa rebuked Marika with a voice that couldn’t hide her impatience.

At that moment, the sound of knocking arrived at their ears. It wasn’t the sound of knocking at the
room’s door, it was on the booth partition.

“Izayoi-senpai... Is something wrong, for you to knock like that?”

Marika asked Souma with suspicion.

“What do you mean?”

He questioned her. Though it could be seen he was amused just by looking at his face.

“I mean, senpai, suddenly calling people from behind is your hobby, right?”

“A hobby... You’re making me sound like a pervert.”

“Isn’t it a hobby?”

According to Marika’s expression, that was a genuine question.

As expected from that, Souma’s face stiffened.

“...It was just a coincidence that I did that until now. It is absolutely not a hobby of mine or anything like
that.”

“Ah, I see.”

Marika nodded, looking clearly unconvinced.

During this back-and-forth, Alisa was silent.

Souma didn’t dwell on the hobby comments any longer.

“...More importantly, are you at an impasse?”

Souma asked them the question he had previously intended to use as an excuse to talk to them.

Marika didn’t give him an answer. ‘Unwilling’ is written on her face. That was the answer.
“I could teach you if you’d like?”

Souma proposed with a people-pleasing smile.

“No, I’m sure you’re busy too, senpai.”

Alisa gently refused faster than Marika could answer.

“Really? I didn’t say you had to, anyway.”

Souma easily backed down.

Alisa felt it was unexpected, but she was relieved.

“But I think it isn’t efficient for you girls to practice on your own. You’re still in your first year.”

Neither Alisa nor Marika could refute his point.

“If you’re too embarrassed to learn from your seniors, how about talking with the teacher in charge of
your class?”

“But sensei shouldn’t have time for private lessons, right? Also, if they give a private lesson, wouldn’t
that be considered favoritism?”

Marika questioned Souma’s advice. This had also been the conclusion of the discussion she had with
Alisa.

“It’s different when it’s practical skill guidance, but just asking questions is normal. Nobody will say
anything about that.”

“Questions...”

A listless mutter came out of Marika’s mouth.

“...”

‘We didn’t consider this’ was written on Alisa’s face.

“It’s fine for you to talk to your teacher about the points you’re not doing so well at. Well then, keep
doing your best.”

Souma said and then left them.

◇◇◇

When their time for using the practice room ended, Marika and Alisa each went to their respective
teachers. The closing time of the practice rooms is 30 minutes earlier than the school’s. Seen from the
opposite angle, students have no more than 30 minutes left at school. Though they’re going to ask
questions to their teachers, they can’t ask too many of them.
But if they don’t have enough time, they can just continue the day after. Either way, because of Marika’s
nature, she was compelled to act. And, surprisingly, there was something similar inside Alisa.

The practical skills guidance teacher of class A, Chikata Fujino, is consistently in the staff room, but Kitou
Tomohiko, the teacher for class B who specializes in Magic Geometry, is often in the geometry
preparation room on the third floor of the experiment building. Marika went to the staff room with
Alisa, where she heard Kitou was in the preparation room and then headed to the third floor of the
experiment building.

Kitou was the only teacher remaining in the geometry preparation room. Differently from what this
suggests, it isn’t that the other teachers aren’t serious. The closing time stipulated in the law has already
passed (noteworthy to mention that the teaching staff of the National Magic University-affiliated High
Schools are civil servants — not just ‘deemed‘ civil servants — like the teachers at the Magic University,
and their treatment is not that of an ordinary government official, but governed by special laws). That is
to say, Kitou is working overtime. Not just at First High but any educational establishment, closing hours
are not well observed.

“Excuse me.”

“Tookami, huh?”

Kitou saw Marika greet him while opening the door and immediately recognized who she was, as should
be the norm.

“Please, have a seat.”

He pointed Marika to a seat next to his. She felt a little uncomfortable about sitting on a teacher’s seat,
but after a short period of indecision, she obeyed Kitou. They see each other every day, but it’s the first
time they’ve been this close. It’s not that she particularly avoided it, but there hadn’t been such a
situation until now. Kitou isn’t the type to pay a lot of attention to individual students while teaching, he
gives verbal guidance. Moreover, he might also have in mind that he has to keep a moderate distance
from female students.

(I just noticed. Sensei kinda looks like Onii...)

Kitou and Marika’s older brother, Tookami Ryousuke, have almost the same physique. She had noticed it
before, but even his body shape is very similar.

They both are the type that looks slimmer in clothes. He’s hiding the well-trained body under his
clothes.

(I wonder if sensei does something...?)

Her older brother Ryousuke practiced various bare-handed combat modalities, from modern combat
sports to old fashioned martial arts, to the point he could be called a hand-to-hand combat enthusiast.
Right now, Marika was feeling a similar scent from Kitou.
“Do you have any question?”

Kitou asked Marika after she sat down.

“Yes. There was a task on Movement-Type Magic I can’t do well.”

With that introduction, Marika asked for advice because she was deadlocked on the ‘stillness’ task.

“Tookami. There’s something you’re misunderstanding. The reason you’re not doing well in the
‘stillness’ task is not because you have low aptitude for Movement-Type Magic.”

That was the first thing Kitou said after listening to Marika.

“Is there another thing causing it?”

“It’s a weakness more than a cause. I was planning to say this in class in the second half of the month,
but in your case it seems better to fix it early.”

“Fix...”

Marika’s voice was tense. She felt this was something important.

“First thing is that the ‘stillness’ task does not measure your skills in Movement-Type Magic. It is only
incorporated into this month’s curriculum because it uses Movement-Type Magic.”

“Is that true?”

Kitou nodded calmly to Marika’s completely pointless question. Not making students anxious is an
attitude worthy of a teacher.

“Let’s go straight to the conclusion. The reason you aren’t doing well in the ‘stillness’ task is because the
variable setup is unclear.”

Variables are elements not described in the Activation Sequence that are necessary components for
constructing Magic Sequences. The intentional lack of fixed values is to make the Activation Sequence
versatile and it allows the magician to freely set them.

When the magician reads the Activation Sequence the variables are sent to the Magic Calculation Area
in the form of an image and combined with the Activation Sequence to assemble the Magic Sequence.
Variables define the effect of the magic, so if they are unclear, the desired effects won’t be achieved.

“But I think I’m visualizing it correctly.”

“Is the image specific? Is it not intuitive?”

Marika couldn’t answer Kitou’s question.

“Specific...?”
She couldn’t understand the difference between a ‘specific image’ and a ‘intuitive image’ to begin with.

“An important thing in magic is to be fully aware of all processes and effects.”

Kitou suddenly began talking in a lecturing tone.

“It’s not good to do it without knowing why. In exercise, it might be better to do it without being
conscious of your body movement. But the reverse is true for magic. Even if you can do it unconsciously,
you must always try to be aware of the process.”

Feeling like she’s being taught something extremely important, Marika unconsciously straightened her
back.

“You can’t use magic accurately just with intuition. It is essential for you to think and be conscious of not
only the process of invoking magic, but also the preparation steps, what phenomenon you want to
modify, and the results after the modification.”

“I get it. It’s not ‘don’t think, feel’, it’s ‘think instead of feeling’.”

Kitou knit his brows in confusion. Apparently he doesn’t know the 20th century movie Marika was
quoting from.6

6 Enter the Dragon (1973)

“...Time is a ‘concept’ we cannot see. That is why an even clearer image is necessary. The reason
‘stillness’ was incorporated as a task early into the first year was to get you to learn how to set variables
correctly.“

“Sensei. I understand the objective of this task now...”

Marika slightly tilted her head after speaking.

“But an image, isn’t that an intuitive thing...?”

“If the word image is hard to understand, perhaps it would be better to describe it as a concrete
concept?”

“I didn’t understand any more than before.”

Is she turning defiant? But it’s not a bad feeling. It could be said that Marika’s attitude was rather
refreshing.

The complicated expression with which Kitou looked at Marika was not any sort of glare. He seemed
worried about how he should explain. It might be because he’s still young, but his earnest attitude
towards teaching was visible.

After careful consideration, Kitou took out the key case from a draw on his desk and stood up. He then
told Marika “Please follow me”.
Marika obediently answered “Yes” and got up.

Kitou brought Marika to the neighboring room. They didn’t go through the corridor. This room was on
the other side of a door at the back of the preparation room.

Marika listlessly looked around the room with curious eyes. Today is the first time she has visited the
geometry preparation room, so of course it was also the first time she has seen this room that can only
be entered through the preparation room.

She was alone with a man in a room with only one exit. But despite that, for some reason, Marika wasn’t
afraid or impatient.

She wasn’t overestimating her abilities. There is no doubt that her teacher Kitou has superior magic skills
to hers. Marika is a Martial Magic Arts fighter and not just a powerless high school girl, but as she
already perceived, Kitou is no amateur at combat either. Marika intuitively understood there was no
way she would win, even not considering magic.

And yet, for some reason, she wasn’t even wary of him. She didn’t even wonder why that was the case.

“Sensei, this room?”

The question that came to her mind was not about her mental state, but ‘what is this room?’. There
were no desks or chairs inside the room. Other than a cabinet by the wall, there were only workbenches
with wheels whose counter could have its height changed between 50 centimeters, 1 meter, or 1.5
meters.

“This is the room that we teachers use to test the tasks we create.”

Kitou readily answered Marika’s question. True, to create tests for students, a place out of sight from
students is needed.

“Umm, is this okay? Isn’t it bad for students to enter this room...?”

But she wondered if it was fine for him to tell this to his student. Marika felt such possibly unnecessary
worries.

“You’ll be in trouble for getting in without permission, but I brought you with me this time, so there’s no
problem.”

Kitou answered quickly. After he mentioned it, Marika thought that, sure enough, he wouldn’t have let
her inside the room if it was a problem for her to do so.

But that wasn’t the only thing she was worried about.

“This CAD should be fine.”

Kitou said while taking a CAD shaped like a tablet the size of A4 paper from the cabinet next to the wall
and placed it on the smallest workbench.

“Sensei. Are you perhaps going to give me practice skills guidance?”

“That’s the plan.”

While replying affirmatively to Marika’s question, Kitou took out an electric board with a pole stand
attached from the rectangular cabinet. It is about the same size as the one in Isori Family’s house.

“Umm... Won’t this be seen as favoritism?”

“I don’t intend to only do this for you, Tookami. It’s the job of a teacher to respond to a student’s desire
to learn, as much as time allows me to.”

Kitou promptly denied her doubts, Marika finally being released from her guilty consciousness.

“Sensei. I will help setting it up.”

Looking like she got over those feelings, Marika offered to assist Kitou.

“Then take this.”

What Kitou held out to her with the hand that wasn’t holding the stand was the aluminum alloy ball
used in the ‘stillness’ practical skill. After handing Marika the hollow metal ball, Kitou set the electronic
board beside the workbench with the CAD on it.

“To start with, just look at the timer. Don’t use the CAD and don’t activate any magic.”

“Yes.”

She didn’t understand why Kitou gave her that instruction, but agreed for the time being.

“What you should pay attention to is to not count the number of seconds in your head. Give your full
attention to understanding the number of seconds. It’s fine to ignore the digits under a second.”

“Okay...?”

She could understand the significance of it all less and less. But Marika thought she should try to do as
she is being told anyway.

On the board there was a six-digit number displayed. 02, colon, 02, colon, 02. They are ‘minutes’,
‘seconds’ and ‘hundredths of a second’ respectively. That numbers changed to ’00:30:00’.

“Let’s begin.”

The timer started running.

As Kitou told her too, Marika stared intently at the decreasing numbers.
“Were you able to embody the concept of 30 seconds?”

Kitou asked Marika right when the timer stopped.

He then added an explanation for the confused Marika.

“Instead of adding up each second, recognize 30 seconds as a lump of time.”

“...Please allow me to go again.”

After digesting and understanding Kitou’s words many times over, Marika requested a rechallenge.

“Alright. Are you ready?”

Kitou accepted the request and reset the timer.

“Yes.”

Marika’s expression tightened.

Kitou gave a signal and the numbers on the timer started running at the same time.

Marika’s tension did not disappear even after the zeros lined up on the display. Maybe this should be
called a kind of Zanshin7?

7 Zanshin is a term that refers to a state of relaxed alertness. It is a concept used in several martial arts.

“I feel like I understand now.”

“Now, raise your right hand to position to release the ball and watch the timer. Don’t use magic yet.”

“Yes.”

After that, she practiced recognizing the time many times without using magic. Kitou went along until
‘feel’ and ‘like’ disappeared from Marika’s answer.

Then, with closing time imminent, Kitou instructed her to actually use the magic and perform the
‘stillness’ practical skill.

“I’ll start now!”

She invoked the magic and the timer started running.

When the metal ball that was floating midair dropped onto Marika’s hand, the timer was showing -0.4
seconds.

An error of 0.4 seconds. Within passing range.

“This is my best result so far! Thank you, sensei!”

Marika quickly bowed.

“If you can’t practice magic at home, then you should train embodying the image. For embodying time,
analog displays are effective than digital ones.”

Marika raised her face and Kitou gave her this final advice.

Marika bowed with quick movements once again.

Right after leaving the geometry preparation room, Marika checked her information terminal.

Just as she thought, she received an email from Alisa. It said ‘I’m waiting at Einebrise’.

Marika left the school gate with hurried steps and headed for Einebrise.

◇◇◇

It was already late, so Alisa and Marika didn’t stay very long at Einebrise and returned home on the
Cabinet.

“Your question took a long time, huh?”

Inside the Cabinet, Alisa asked about the period of time between them splitting up and rejoining.

“You couldn’t find the teacher?”

“No. Sensei was in the preparation room. I was late because he gave me practical skills guidance.”

“He gave you a private lesson!?”

Alisa shouted out in surprise.

“Yeah. Thanks to him, I now know what I should practice. I’ll tell you later, Asha.”

“...Where did you get this lesson? Wasn’t the practice room already closed?”

Alisa asked while raising her eyebrows. Her expression clearly shows she’s not seeing the situation in a
positive light.

“Next to the preparation room there’s a room where I could practice. It’s a room where they test the
tasks they give to students.”

“Was there a room like that...?”

“The inside of the room can’t be seen from the corridor. It’s probably to make sure students don’t peek
in. There was only one entrance in the back of the preparation room.”

“So it’s a half-locked room. Just the two of you, in a place like that...?”
Understanding what Alisa was suspecting, Marika blew a ‘Pfft’, suppressing her laughter.

“Asha, you’re overthinking it~. Sensei just taught me seriously. ”

“Really?”

“For realsies. He taught me seriously and with enthusiasm. Though I was surprised, during our normal
lessons he gives off this calm vibe. Today he felt a little like Onii.”

“Like Ryousuke-san...?”

“Yeah. When you look at him closely, his figure looks similar.... Now that I talk about him, I wonder what
Onii is doing right now.”

From then on, their discussion shifted to Marika’s older brother, Ryousuke, who has stopped contacting
them after going to the former Canadian territory of the USNA.

Chapter 3 – After School Friendships

May 8th, Friday.

Alisa was facing off against Hiyori as part of the Crowd Ball Club’s activities.

Over this past month, Alisa didn’t break the rule regarding the size of shields any more. She is finally
getting used to the Crowd Ball rules.

But putting it a different way, she’s just getting used to the rules. She hasn’t won a match yet. — Though
called a match, they’re just practice matches with club members. Since Alisa joined the club there has
yet to be a match with outsiders.

Crowd Ball looks similar to tennis or racquetball. But even excluding that there are multiple balls or that
magic is used, tennis is a substantially different sport.

In ball games that use rackets, not just in tennis, the winner is the side that reaches a fixed number of
points. Crowd Ball, however, has a unique timing system and set progression system.

Each set lasts 3 minutes. Each match has 5 sets for men or 3 sets for women. The player who scored the
most within those 3 minutes, even if just by one point, takes the set, and in the case of a 3-set match,
the first to win two sets wins the match. Those are the basic rules for Crowd Ball.

Currently, a match between Alisa and Hiyori is right in the middle of its second set.

Hiyori hit a ball back and Alisa, who was standing at the front of her court, extended her racket.
Differently from tennis and racquetball, there is no rule that balls can bounce a maximum of one time.
The opponent scores as many times as the ball bounces on your court. Alisa’s positioning is based on an
offensive strategy, hitting back with a volley if she can reach it to minimize lost points.
Hiyori, on the other hand, is standing at the back of the court and is safely hitting the balls after they
bounce once. It’s a defensive strategy that in exchange of allowing some points, it prevents a large
number of points. Crowd Ball assumes that balls out of reach

of the racket will be hit back with magic. Most magicians, like the overwhelming majority of humans,
can more accurately recognize objects in front of them than objects behind them. That’s why she allows
lost points by assuming a position near the back of the court.

Conversely, Alisa can play close to the net because of her high spatial awareness ability and high skill in
coordinate specification when invoking magic. Alisa is in class A, Hiyori in class D. Alisa’s magic skills are
clearly superior.

But it was Hiyori who took the first set. Magic power by itself doesn’t decide whether you win or lose.

Hiyori bounced her shot off the side wall, slipping past the side of Alisa’s magic shield. Alisa got
distracted by that ball and Hiyori took advantage of that to attack with a drop shot. With her
consciousness split between the front and the back, Alisa was doing her best to pick one of them. She
had no breathing room to switch to the offensive.

Instantly deciding which balls to pick up and which to let go. It’s a tactical play considered to be a
necessity for stamina management in sports that don’t involve magic, but this decision becomes
essential in Crowd Ball, where there are multiple balls and points are counted even on the second or
more bounces.

In addition, the decision of which balls to reach out to with the racket and which balls to return with
magic also determines victory and defeat. Because the size of shields was restricted, one magic can no
longer be used to deal with the opponent’s offense. Each set is only 3 minutes, but even for a first-class
magician it is still difficult to keep continuously multicasting magic. If the ball can be returned by hand,
hitting it with the racket is also reduces the load on the mind — on the Magic Calculation Area.

In this way, Crowd Ball is a sport where the ability to make split-second decisions is an important factor
that determines victory or defeat. And this kind of judgement is polished during tough matches. Alisa,
who has little experience in ‘matches’, not just Crowd Ball ones, was lacking in knowledge.

Over the past month Alisa became aware of her own weaknesses. By nature she lacks a desire to win,
but, like everyone else, she has a desire to improve herself. She concluded

that to compensate for her shortcomings, she should ‘devote herself to defense with offensive
positioning’.

(Quicker. Faster!!)

She formed a vector reversal magic shield behind her. The ball that fell on the side of the net was
cooped up with the racket and at the same time launched into the ceiling by the acceleration force field
on the surface of the racket.
Balls that didn’t fall on the court are sent back as they are with vector reversal.

Balls that fall on the court hit the ceiling and are sent back to the opponent’s court.

Alisa thought that not thinking about how to attack the opponent’s court and assigning those mental
resources to speeding up magic activation and pick up the balls in any way was the best thing she could
do right now.

Two thirds of the second set have passed. So far Alisa is in the lead. This in part was also Hiyori’s
strategy. She took the first set and, to an extent, abandoned the second set. It’s a tactic that
acknowledges Alisa is improving. She held back from unreasonably dashing around, controlled the
expenditure of her physical strength, and hit the ball to places where Alisa could barely reach them to
snatch away her stamina. Moreover, Hiyori thought she should put all her cards on the final set.

As Hiyori predicted, Alisa, who took the second set, sat down on the bench next to the court, heavily
breathing. Club President Hatsune looked so worried she even asked her “Are you okay?”.

“Should we extend the time a bit?”

The interval between sets is 1 minute. Hatsune proposed to extend it but,

“No, let’s follow the rules.”

Alisa declined it.

“It won’t be proper practice if I’m given an advantage.”

During the second set, Alisa realized Hiyori was trying to drain her stamina. And Alisa was taken in
successfully. If she hadn’t done so, she wouldn’t have won the second set.

Alisa understood that this was a victory for Hiyori regarding her ability to designate the flow of the
match and that this was the difference between their abilities. Alisa thought that if she received extra
break time, it would be an advantage that would cover up this difference in skill. She felt it was
unforgivably unfair, even in a practice match. Alisa doesn’t care about winning or losing, but she’s very
picky about fair play.

This may have appeared in her expression. Hatsune looked worried, but she just muttered “Okay...” and
didn’t say anything more.

The break reached its end and Alisa returned to the court. She looked at Hiyori on the other side, who
had returned to the court ahead of her. Right after they assumed their stances, the service ball was
launched onto Hiyori’s court and the third set began.

Occasionally, willpower can cause the body to exhibit power above its usual limits. But that is power
drawn out because of a strong will. Will to live, will to keep one’s honor, will to get revenge. And of
course, will to win. To put it in order words, tenacity, or even maybe obsession.
Unfortunately, Alisa has little attachment to victory, so it can’t be expected for her to get much effect
from this kind of doping. In fact, since about the middle of the third set, Alisa’s movements have gotten
noticeably worse.

While extending the racket to the ball, a feeling of resignation that ‘I still can’t win’ passed her mind. At
the same time, a feeling of guilt about not having strong feelings of wanting to win arose.

It was a feeling of indebtedness towards her opponent. The drive to win was reaching her from the
other side of the net. It felt like proof that Hiyori was taking Crowd Ball seriously. In comparison, she felt
she was being dishonest for not feeling like she wants to win.

Today was not the first time Alisa has felt this guilt. Each time she had a practice match, those feelings
gradually built up.

(...I’m going to give it my all, at least.)

If that would help her get rid of this guilt even if just a bit. That’s what Alisa thought, and decided to use
the magic she was practicing at the Juumonji Family house.

(What? Alisa suddenly got tougher...)

Hiyori was caught by surprise and became suspicious when she suddenly stopped scoring points. All the
balls that flew to Alisa’s court bounced off. Almost like she’s hallucinating that they’re just hitting a wall.

She knows the reason. A small vector reversal shield is being formed matching the trajectory of the balls.
And it’s extremely quick.

Alisa’s magic shield construction was fast from the start. Her deployment speed really gives the
impression that she is from the Ten Master Clans, from the Juumonji Family. But compared to that, this
speed is like a different person’s, no, someone at a different level.

(No, she’s not just fast. Is she constantly multicasting 2, 3, or more magic shields?)

Indeed, the number of magics was increasing. This change, rather than the magic casting simply being
faster, was like there was an extra Alisa.

Because of Crowd Ball’s special characteristic of using nine balls at the same time, the points pile up
quickly. Hiyori’s massive lead decreased very fast, and it finally reversed when there were 30 seconds
left.

(Just a bit more.)

(I’m still okay.)

Alisa came to Tokyo to learn how to prevent ‘Overheating of the Magic Calculation Area’. The most
important task given to Alisa was to never lose sight of her limits, no matter the situation.
Because of that, she knows that right now she is very close to her limits. She can confidently say that
she’s putting her very best into this. Alisa vacantly thought that like this she would be able to escape her
self-loathing for not being honest with Hiyori.

Meanwhile, her Magic Calculation Area continued to assemble magic. The magic shield she is
constructing is a subspecies of ‘Phalanx’, ‘Pelta’ (Pelta was the shield used by ancient Greek light
infantrymen called Peltasts, who fought as skirmishers against the heavy infantry that formed Phalanx).

‘Phalanx’ is composed of multiple shields successively constructed at the same coordinates. First, shields
with different properties are deployed in layers, and then each shield’s backup is put on standby. When
one shield is destroyed, the backup shield is deployed at the same time, and the backup is replaced with
another as well.

Therefore, ‘Phalanx’ is a magic shield that is continuously deployed to close the holes every time a part
of it breaks. This is in contrast with the ‘Pelta’ Alisa is using, which is a physical magic shield that is
continuously deployed at different coordinates. It is the same in that each deployed shield has a backup
of the same type prepared in advance. There are just some differences in that the backup is not
automatically deployed and the coordinates are determined when they are deployed.

The property given to the ’Pelta’ shields in this match is ‘vector reversal of solids’ and the termination
condition is ‘execute effect once’. Immediately after bouncing the ball, said shield is set to disappear. So
while only four shields at most were tangible and could be seen, in reality Alisa kept nine shields ready
to deploy at any time.

This is no different from continuously multicasting nine magics. Alisa was overusing her mind — the
Magic Calculation Area, more than could be seen from outside. Continuing in this state for a minute
cannot be properly explained by talent alone. Let’s say this is the result of the training she has
accumulated in the last two plus a bit more years.

But it was still only two years.

She has not reached the level of a genuine thoroughbred that has gone through rigid training since
childhood, like the current head of the Juumonji Family, Juumonji Katsuto.

(It’s still not over...?)

(Any more than this and... it’s shame but, I don’t think I can anymore.)

With 10 seconds left in the match, Alisa finally hit the limit.

If it kept on like this, her first victory was assured. But in this case her lack of attachment to victory is a
positive thing. Judging that any more magic shield multicasting would push her beyond the limits, she
resolutely cancelled the magic in standby state.

But she hasn’t abandonment the match. Alisa moved to the back of the court and switched to the
strategy of ensuring all balls get returned after one bounce.
The lead Alisa stole slowly closed. But in this match, she had luck on her side. As a side effect of Alisa’s
‘Pelta’, Hiyori was surprised and her pace was disrupted. Because of that, Hiyori was already out of
stamina. She was doing all she could to prevent conceding a large number of points, which left no room
to shift to the attack.

The match was over.

The result... Alisa won the third set by 12 points.

With the set count at 2 to 1, Alisa won her first practice match.

As soon as the match ended, Alisa lost her strength and her posture was thrown off. She was released
from the tension and her knees became weak from physical exhaustion. She was about to fall but, with
effort, somehow managed to stay up.

Right then, Hiyori jumped over the net and walked up next to Alisa, who was heavily breathing with her
hands on her knees.

“Congratulations on your first win.”

Alisa raised her face, which had an expression like she didn’t understand anything that was said.

“This is your first win, right?”

While saying that, Hiyori held out her right hand for a handshake.

“Uh, ah, yeah.”

Alisa straightened her back, looked at Hiyori and held her outstretched right hand.

“So? Feels good to win, right?”

Hiyori knows that Alisa doesn’t have an attachment to winning, or rather, she can’t have an attachment
to it.

“...I don’t really get it.”

So she didn’t feel this was a snide answer. Instead, Hiyori felt pity.

“I see... I wonder why. Being happy about winning isn’t a particularly bad thing, right?”

“I get that, but...”

Hiyori got a little flustered when Alisa fell into deep thought.

“Sorry, I said something weird. You don’t have to worry about it so much.”

While Hiyori was talking, she used gestures to urge Alisa to leave the court.
“Yeah... But I don’t think it’s okay for me to stay like this...”

As they walked, Alisa revealed her worries to Hiyori.

“You and our seniors, aren’t you all playing and aiming for a win? And yet, I don’t mind if I win or lose,
makes me feel like I’m not really serious...”

“That’s not the case.”

Hiyori immediately denied Alisa’s words of self-blame.

“Everyone has different reasons to do sports. There’s doing sports because it’s fun or just to train
yourself. And Alisa, aren’t you serious when you practice and during matches?”

“Yeah. That’s what I mean to do.”

“Then don’t you think that’s fine? You don’t have to feel guilty over winning, but you don’t have to feel
guilty about not going for victory either.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

With that said, Hiyori left the court encircled in transparent walls, strongly patting Alisa’s back with the
palm of her hand to encourage her.

◇◇◇

The next day, Alisa and Marika were patrolling around the practice forest on Public Morals Committee
duties.

“This weather is really nice.”

“Makes you wish you had a parasol, right?”

Marika returned a pragmatic response to Alisa, who was looking up at the sky and squinting her eyes.

“Asha, shouldn’t we walk in the shade more?”

As Alisa’s looks suggested, she is not very good with ultraviolet rays. She has naturally taken measures,
like using UV protection cream, but from here on will be the sunniest part of the year. Marika’s concern
was not exaggerated.

“You’re right.”

Alisa wouldn’t be obstinate about this either. They both got off the road made for running and went into
the shades of trees.

They continued going forward, deeper into the woods.

And then suddenly, their visibility widened. They arrived at a treeless empty lot of about 20 meters in
diameter. There were about 20 students hard at work there.

“Juumonji-san, Tookami-san, are you on patrol?”

The one who called out to them was Alisa’s classmate, as well as Marika’s friend, Kagari Joui. This is the
training grounds for the Mountaineering Club to which he belongs to.

“Yeah, Public Morals Committee’s duties.”

“Hello, Kagari-kun. Impressive sweat.”

Marika replied first, and then Alisa greeted him.

Like Alisa said, Joui’s face was covered in sweat.

“Ah, sorry about this.”

Joui wiped the sweat with a towel he had in his hand. Apparently, he was just about to wipe his face
before they arrived.

“We’re in the middle of our club activities, so I apologize for the slight stink of sweat.”

“It doesn’t smell particularly bad.”

Alisa replied to Joui with a smile.

“I don’t plan on getting close enough to you to know what you smell like.”

Marika added, also smiling.

“By the way, what were you doing?”

Marika asked, now with curiosity painted on her face.

“I was climbing a rock wall.”

“A rock wall? There’s something like that here?”

When Marika asked him, Joui pointed about 5 meters behind him.

There was a large, almost round open hole.

Marika advanced towards the edge of the hole and Alisa followed her.

“Woah, it’s deeper than I expected.”

As Marika said, the vertical hole is considerably deep. The diameter does not reach 3 meters, but it
appears to be more than 10 meters deep at first sight.
“Isn’t it impressive? The Club President from two years ago, Saijou-san, negotiated with the school to
have this wall hole for climbing made.”

“You climb this? There are some overhangs in there, but...”

As Alisa pointed out, on one of the sides of the hole, the wall protrudes about 50cm in the middle.

“Should I show you?”

Joui said, a little proudly, and went down the hole.

Frankly speaking, neither Alisa nor Marika were very interested, but when he said like that, they would
be guilty if they just ignored him and left. The two watched over Joui.

Joui descended to the bottom of the hole by sliding on a rope with both hands, which had gloves on.

“I think that’s called rappelling. So they do this kind of stuff too.”

“Yeah. Looks like there’s a ladder on the other side though.”

Like Marika pointed out, on the opposite side to where Joui used the rope was a ladder made by
banging U-shaped metal rods against the rock wall. Joui surely descended with

the rope and not with the ladder because he’s used to it. By no means did he do that to make himself
look good in front of the girls.

Once he arrived at the bottom of the hole, Joui looked up at them once and then put his hands on the
wall.

And just like that, he smoothly climbed the rock wall. Midway, he cleared the overhang on the surface of
the wall by sticking to it with both hands and feet.

“... Just now, didn’t something seem weird?”

Marika questioned, sounding suspicious.

“He didn’t hang on the protruding wall, he kind of just sticked close to it, what happened to gravity?”

“I think he used magic.”

The tone Alisa used in her answer convinced Marika, even though she chose to express it with ‘I think’.

“But he didn’t use a CAD then, right?”

Marika didn’t dispute the point that Joui had used magic. But it was weighing on her mind that she
couldn’t see the output of the Activation Sequence anywhere.

“That’s what I saw too.”

Alisa agreed with what Marika said.

Activation Sequences are Psion signals that describe the information of the magic to be activated. The
practitioner reads the Activation Sequence outputted by the CAD into his mind through his own body.
Until the reading of the outputted Activation Sequence is complete, it can be observed as a bunch of
Psions from the outside.

Nevertheless, there was none of that in Joui’s magic. Like Marika said, no Psions indicating the output of
the Activation Sequence could be seen before he used magic.

And speaking of nothing to be found, Joui’s CAD itself can’t be found anywhere on his body. The
bracelet-type CAD currently used by most people because of the popularity of the completely thought-
operated CAD can’t be seen on either of his arms, and there is no chain around his neck where the
pendant-type Non-Systematic Magic CAD that functions as a switch hangs from. As for the rest, he
doesn’t appear to be carrying a portable terminal-type, buckle-type, ring-type, brooch-type or a small-
sized ankle band-type.

“It’s possible to activate magic without using a CAD, but... I don’t see why he would deliberately not use
it.”

Alisa inclined her head after speaking.

“You can use magic necessary for club activities if you get permission beforehand. From the opposite
perspective, he shouldn’t be using magic in front of us members of the Public Morals Committee if he
didn’t get permission first.”

As they racked their brains, not understanding why Joui didn’t use a CAD, the person himself returned
from scaling the side wall of the hole.

“What do you think? That’s how you use this hole.”

Joui looked a little proud when he asked them. He really is a guy. It looks like the desire to look good in
front of girls, especially beautiful girls, cannot be suppressed.

“Yeah. I don’t understand the technical part, but it was amazing.”

Alisa properly made him look good... Some people might have seen this with a preconceived notion that
she’s unintentionally making a man misunderstand something.

“By the way, Kagari-kun. You used magic in there, didn’t you?”

Marika, unlike Alisa, prioritized her curiosity. No doubt there are good and bad things about each of
their reactions.

“...It’s magic that we, as the Mountaineering Club, have notified and received full approval to use.”
Joui showed a little caution, perhaps because of the Public Morals Committee armband they are
wearing?

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking this as a member of the Public Morals Committee.”

As proof, Joui was clearly relieved to hear Marika’s words.

“Then, what is it?”

“Kagari-kun, you didn’t use a CAD, did you? Why? Did you decide in advance where you would use
magic while ascending?”

Modern wizards use CADs for speed and accuracy. CADs are essentially required except in situations
where there is enough time to spend preparing beforehand. — There are some magicians who use
magic circles because they like them, but nowadays they are an exception.

But contrarily, by deciding in advance where to use magic, the drawbacks of not using a CAD can be
overcome.

But Joui shook his head at Marika’s question.

“I decided on the route to climb. But I try not to use magic until I’ve climbed as much as possible. But
after... saying I’d show you, I thought I shouldn’t keep you waiting.”

“Are you trying to make yourself look good?”

“Ugh... Even if you know you don’t need to say it.”

“Aah! I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine... It’s exactly as you said, Tookami-san.”

Joui’s complexion darkened as he spoke.

“I really am sorry.”

“So you just didn’t use a CAD?”

Feeling like she needed to change the mood, Alisa interjected here.

“Or are you not carrying one at all?”

“Hmm? Ah, yeah, I don’t carry one.”

“Will that be good enough in an emergency situation? The Mountaineering Club uses magic as a
replacement for lifelines, right?”

Alisa’s tone had a deep shade of criticism of the recklessness rather than worry.
“It’s okay. Even if we fall it’s ten meters at most, and there’s a mat down there.”

“But still...”

“Plus, it’s better to not rely on CADs during practice.”

Joui interrupted Alisa and spoke with a smile.

“Because the magic we can use during club activities is limited.”

Magic can’t be freely used, even inside the premises of a National Magic University-affiliated High
School. Even during lessons, if magic other than the one designated for the assignment is used, points
will be deducted. Even more, as already mentioned, the use of magic without getting permission in
advance is forbidden. Students who break this rule can, at worse, be expelled. Because of this, there are
clubs that went as far as getting permission from their advisors to use counter-magic to obstruct
activation of magic and they perform their club activities while using it.

“By using the same magic all the time, your proficiency with that magic may increase, but sooner or later
your magic ability itself will stop improving, right?”

“...So you’re creating a bad situation on purpose?”

Alisa tilted her neck slightly and Joui nodded to confirm it.

“That’s exactly it. Besides, I’m sure there is no machine that doesn’t break down. Like you said,
Juumonji-san, magic is a lifeline. If the CAD broke down at a critical moment

and I couldn’t use magic, it would be no joke. I think it’s dangerous to rely on CADs that much.”

“How unexpected. You gave some proper thought to this, huh?”

Previously uninvolved in the discussion, Marika inserted herself with a forced expression of surprise.

Joui, who immediately answered “That unexpected was uncalled for” with a dejected tone, had a smile
on his face.

◇◇◇

The second Sunday of May, Crowd Ball Club.

They always disperse after practicing in the courts in the suburbs on Sunday, but today they returned to
the clubroom at school for a planned meeting. All the members were notified of this matter — though
including the Club President, who called for the meeting, there are six of them in total — so everyone
rode electric kick scooters from school. On this sunny day of May, the girls (there are no male members
in the Crowd Ball Club) gathered in the club room on the second floor of the preparations building
without being forced to endure walking under the strong ultraviolet rays for a long time.

“It has been decided: we’ll be having a competition with Third High.”
After the introduction to start the meeting, Club President Hatsune talked about the main topic with no
hesitation. Only the first-year students Alisa and Hiyori were surprised. The senior students apparently
already knew of the plans for this competition, or maybe it was a pre-established annual event.

“It’s going to be on the 24th of May, a Sunday. It will be at the Magic University.”

She didn’t talk particularly loud here either.

“The matches will have three sets and there will be three singles matches and two doubles matches.
Naturally, everyone will participate.“

A small “Eh?” escaped from Alisa’s mouth.

Hatsune turned to her and gave her a sweet smile.

“Of course, you too, Juumonji-san. It’s not an official match, but both Sengoku-san and Juumonji-san will
have their debut matches.”

Alisa nodded with a tense look. When she looked to her side, Hiyori looked to be anticipating it more
than she was tense.

“Juumonji-san will play singles, Sengoku-san will play doubles.”

Doubles matches are more difficult than singles in Crowd Ball. This was an agreeable appointment.

“Both of you, do your best.”

Alisa and Hiyori answered to Hatsune’s encouragement in unison with a “Yes”.

The meeting ended soon after. After Alisa and Hiyori voluntarily gave the club room a quick cleanup —
the full cleanup along with disinfection is done by a cleaning company who comes during the night —
they left the preparations building side-by-side.

“Alisa, are you going to meet up with Marika now?”

“Yeah. Are you coming too, Hiyori?”

“Are you going somewhere?”

If she was just going home, she wouldn’t invite anyone. Hiyori’s question held that conjecture.

“I’m making a side trip..., or should I say an outing? We scheduled to go practice practical skills at Mei’s
house.”

“You mean to prepare for the monthly exams?”

“Want to come too?”

“Won’t it be a bother to drop in without warning?”

“I think it would be okay.”

“Hmm... I want to go, but I already have plans for today...”

After groaning, looking uneasy, Hiyori shook her head with plenty of regret on her face.

“Then, how about next week?”

“Hmm...”

Hiyori became worried again.

“Leaving that side, I’d like you to help me study.”

After thinking about it for some time, Hiyori responded to Alisa’s proposal in a modest tone.

“Study? You mean the theory?”

“Yeah. I can somehow manage with the general subjects, but I can’t keep up with the lectures on magic
theory... Can you?”

Hiyori timidly asked, to which Alisa replied “Sure” with a cheerful tone.

“Then, how about tomorrow after school?”

“Is it fine for you to be that soon?”

“Mina always has her club activities on Mondays, so I just study by myself or read after school. You don’t
need to worry about it.”

“Thank you... I’ll be counting on you.”

“When tomorrow’s lessons end, I’ll go to the class D classroom. It’ll be more convenient to use your
terminal, right?”

“Okay, I’ll wait there.”

With a promise made for the next day, the two split up at the inner courtyard. Hiyori then headed
straight to the school gate, while Alisa headed to a bench in the vending machine corner attached to the
school cafeteria, where she was going to meet up with Marika.

◇◇◇

The following Monday, after school.

Alisa visited 1-D’s classroom as she promised.

Hiyori was in class D last month as well. It’s not the first time Alisa has come to this classroom. But this
class sits in the middle of the grade order and there are many students who went up and down classes
so the faces have changed considerably since last month. The only student Alisa knows that is still in the
classroom is Hiyori. Koharu, who she had lunch with, was nowhere to be seen. Most likely she went to
her club activities. Hiyori was looking into a terminal display with a boy Alisa didn’t know.

“Hiyori.”

“Ah, Alisa. Sorry for not noticing.”

Hiyori raised her face and hurriedly stood up after hearing Alisa’s voice. Alisa felt she was being a little
too formal, but she might have also done the same thing in her position. Besides, if she had taken a less
polite attitude, it would probably have been uncomfortable.

“Alisa, this is the first time you’re meeting Karatachibana-kun, isn’t it?”

While Hiyori was saying that, she shifted her eyes to the boy next to her. Alisa thought ‘He’s called
Karatachibana-kun. That’s an unusual name...’ and nodded to Hiyori’s question that sought
confirmation.

On the other hand, the male student, Karatachibana Mamoru, appeared to interpret Hiyori’s glance as a
signal. Before Hiyori could serve as an introduction broker, he stepped forward to Alisa.

“You’re Juumonji-san, right? Pleased to meet you.”

“You know about me?”

There wasn’t much surprise in Alisa’s voice. She knows full well that she stands out.

“Because you’re the target of rumors among the guys.”

And even though she understands he knows her without her knowing him, she strangely wasn’t
uncomfortable with this boy.

“Umm, what kind of rumor is it...?”

But she couldn’t be indifferent to the details of the rumors whispered among the boys.

“I swear, it’s not a bad rumor.”

The air around Mamoru is gentle and honest. He doesn’t seem to be lying — or at least, he doesn’t seem
to be making up indecent stories about Alisa.

“I see. So, what is it specifically?”

Alisa is 165 centimeters tall, which is tall for a girl. Mamoru about the average for a high school boy,
with 170 centimeters. Alisa is looking at his expression from a slightly lowered position.

Mamoru felt awkward when he met those upturned eyes and averted his.
Alisa kept staring at him in silence.

Somehow, Mamoru’s face got stiffer the longer this went on.

“...Alisa, please stop tormenting Karatachibana-kun.”

Hiyori interjected from the side, and the tension between Alisa and Mamoru dissipated.

“I’m not doing anything like that?”

Alisa looked over her shoulder to Hiyori and smiled, looking like she couldn’t hurt a fly.

“Even if you don’t intend to, Karatachibana-kun looks like he’s a frog being stared at by a snake.”

“Is that how it is?”

“The gist of the boy’s rumors about you has to be about your looks and style, right? Even from a girl’s
perspective, you’re very beautiful. And the rest of them are something like ‘I wonder if she’s dating a
boy’. That’s about right, isn’t it?”

The ending ‘That’s about right, isn’t it?’ was aimed at Mamoru.

“No comment.”

When Hiyori hit him with the question, Mamoru’s expression disappeared and he replied with just two
words.

Alisa, on the other hand, sunk into silence, looking embarrassed. As a result, Hiyori successfully
performed the role of mediator and brought the situation to a close.

“...Hiyori, were you studying with Karatachibana-kun?”

Alisa felt uncomfortable with the excessive praise and changed the topic by sending Hiyori a question.

“Yeah, Karatachibana-kun taught me a lot about the general subjects.”

“Huh? Didn’t you say you were fine with general subjects?”

“I didn’t say that. I didn’t say I was ‘fine’, I said ‘I can somehow manage’. If someone better than me can
help me out, it doesn’t hurt bad to learn from them, right?”

“Hmmm. Karatachibana-kun is smart then.”

“Yeah. He’s really smart.”

By Hiyori’s side, Mamoru, being modest, strongly insisted “I’m not that smart”, but Hiyori continued
speaking as if it didn’t reach her ears.
“If he went to a general high school, he would easily get into a famous A-rank university, I think. I’ve
been told he was a regular on the national top 100 in the middle school mock exams.”

“That’s really impressive...”

Alisa was amazed. Maybe she didn’t think she would be able to do that.

Mamoru tirelessly continued insisting “It’s not that big a deal” but neither Hiyori nor Alisa lent him their
ears.

“I wonder if you could teach me too. There are things in physics and maths I don’t understand...”

“Karatachibana-kun?”

Following Alisa’s mutterings, Hiyori tried to persuade him.

“If you’re okay with me, then gladly... Umm, I’d like to ask you something in return. Juumonji-san, aren’t
you going to have a magic study meeting with Sengoku-san? Could you teach me magic as well? It’s fine
if it’s after Sengoku-san.”

This time, Mamoru was not unnecessarily humble. Instead of humility, he offered a deal with a smile.

“Are you sure you’re okay with me? I don’t know as much as Mei — Isori-san from class A.”

Mamoru was a little embarrassed and gave a bitter smile to Alisa’s response.

“This might sound like an excuse — Actually, it is no more than an excuse, but I knew practically nothing
about magic until the spring of last year. Neither of my parents are from a lineage of magicians, so there
was nobody around to teach me.”

“So you’re a ‘first generation’, Karatachibana-kun...”

In magician society, the words ‘first generation’ are used in mainly two ways.

The first way is an original modified body. A person with a modified body created by gene manipulation
is called ‘first generation’, their children are ‘second generation’, and their grandchildren ‘third
generation’.

And the other way is to identify a magician born to a non-magician family by means of mutation. If
Mamoru isn’t a magician whose traits reappeared after some generations and is instead, as he
understands himself to be, from a family with no magicians, then he is a ‘first generation’ magician.

It has been less than 100 years since magic was public recognized. Only about half a century has passed
since the formation of modern magician family lineages. So, even if called ‘lineage of magicians’, as far
as modern magicians are concerned, there isn’t really a traditional tradition, but if magician is through of
as a profession, it can be said that children who are in houses with magician parents and grandparents
are in a much favorable environment for magic education compared to the children who aren’t.
Thinking of it that way, Mamoru’s excuses don’t stink enough for him to ridicule himself.

“It was only in July of last year that I found I have talent for magic when I took an aptitude test. Until
then I wasn’t told I was apt for it. I did take magic power measurements before entering elementary and
middle school though.”

“Eh, so that kind of thing exists.”

Hiyori’s surprise was exposed when she interjected.

Alisa didn’t say anything, but she was sympathetic. In her case, she vaguely knew she probably had
talent for magic. But it was only when it became clear, in the winter of the first year in middle school,
that she decided to learn magic, and until that point she thought she wouldn’t ever have anything to do
with it.

“Alright, Karatachibana-kun. If there is anything I can teach you, just ask.”

Alisa accepted Mamoru’s suggestion, in large part due to that sympathy.

“In return, I’ll be counting on you for the general subjects, okay?”

“With pleasure.”

Despite having just met, Alisa and Mamoru were surprisingly comfortable with each other.

“Thank you, Alisa. Thanks to you, I think I’ll manage to finish this report on time.”

The after-school study session. Alisa sat next to Hiyori and continued to give her advice for about an
hour while looking at the same terminal screen. As a result, the most pressing hurdles seemed to have
been cleared.

“I appreciate this too. It was really easy to understand.”

Mamoru, who was looking into the same screen from the other side of Hiyori, also gave his thanks.

“You’re welcome. Though I feel you didn’t need much of my help, Karatachibana-kun.”

For this past hour, Mamoru didn’t ask any questions, and just supplemented what Alisa was explaining
to Hiyori sometimes. Alisa’s words were not flattery, they were her true feelings.

However, Mamoru shook his head as he said “That’s not right”.

“There were quite a few things I misunderstood that I was unaware of.”

“Well, if it helped, then that’s good.”

“Yeah, it definitely helped. I might not be able to return the favor, but if you have any questions on
general subjects, feel free to ask any time. I’m not boasting, but I don’t have any bad subjects.”
Listening next to Alisa, Hiyori let out a slightly idiotic sigh.

“If you’re this smart, you could even be a scientist or a doctor. Maybe you’d be good as a magic doctor?”

“A magic doctor? If that kind of job exists, I’d like to aim for it.”

Mamoru, who muttered in response to Hiyori, looked a little like he was looking far away.

“You see, before I knew of my aptitude for magic, I was thinking of becoming a doctor...”

“I see. I was also thinking of becoming a veterinarian until the first year of middle school.”

“Heh, you too, Juumonji-san?”

“I don’t know whether or not there is a job called magic doctor, but there is magic for medical
treatment, so I’m thinking any doctor who uses magic can be one. I think if you want to go for it, it
would be great if you became the first ‘magic doctor’, Karatachibana-kun.”

“The first magic doctor?... That sounds pretty nice.”

Mamoru nodded with a cheerful smile at the idea Alisa presented.

Looking at the two of them, Hiyori thought ‘These two have a nice mood going on’, but she didn’t say it
out loud, understanding from the situation she would get in their way.

◇◇◇

Marika finished her club activities early and was heading to the classroom of class 1-D. Their meeting
place is the café terrace, but she heard from Alisa that she had plans to help Hiyori study in class D’s
classroom.

Right now is not the season where air conditioning is used. But the strong sunlight makes the rooms hot
when they are closed. Because of that, as long as people remain inside, the windows are open.

The windows of class A were closed. It seems Alisa is not there. Marika passed through the corridor
without changing her pace.

The windows of class B were open, but she also passed through in the same way.

The windows of class C were closed like class A, but she didn’t look at them because she had no business
there from the start.

After passing through class C, Marika slowed her pace and peered in through the windows of class D.
Like she heard, she was sitting next to Hiyori.

And next to Hiyori was a male student Marika doesn’t know.

(I wonder if that is Hiyori’s boyfriend?)

Marika thought so at first. But soon enough, she realized that the one the boy was happily talking to was
Alisa.

(Who...?)

It’s not like the boy was talking alone with Alisa. Hiyori was in the middle of them, they were neither
next to each other nor facing each other.

Besides, he was being friendly, but not too much. Thinking calmly, it looked like Alisa was teaching
Hiyori’s classmate along with Hiyori.

But... Alisa also looked like she’s having fun. She turned her face towards the boy and Marika couldn’t
see her expression. So maybe ‘looks like she’s having fun’ was Marika misunderstanding it.

(But, this feels a little...)

Before verbalizing the sickly feelings she had, like she was afraid of them, Marika turned around and
returned back through the corridor.

◇◇◇

Just after joining Alisa and leaving the school through the gates, Alisa was invited to Einebrise by her
best friend who was now walking beside her.

It is unusual for just the two of them to go to Einebrise. It would be no exaggeration to say that the
residence in the Juumonji Family house Alisa lives in and Marika’s rented apartment are both within
walking distance. For the two of them it is usual to have tea

in one of their rooms. Alisa felt a bit suspicious at this behavior that is different from usual.

When they entered Einebrise, there were some known faces facing each other at a table. Alisa’s older
stepbrother Juumonji Yuuto and their senpai from the Public Morals Committee Izayoi Souma.

Alisa hesitated on whether she should greet them or say nothing to not disturb them.

“Juumonji-san, Tookami-san, is it just the two of you today?”

While she was thinking it over, Souma talked to her first.

“Yes, just the two of us.”

Souma’s question was answered by Marika. Marika was going to ignore them and not talk to them at
first, so she was not disturbed when they took the initiative.

“If you’d like, you could come here?”

Souma invited them to share a table with him.

Marika was quick to answer here as well.

“No, there is something I want to talk about, just the two of us.”

Alisa’s spine shivered in a way others couldn’t tell. Leaving Yuuto aside, Alisa was reluctant to share a
table with Souma, so she had no objections to her rejecting the proposal. But the phrase ‘I want to talk
about, just the two of us’, for some reason, gave her chills.

“But all the tables are taken.”

Like Souma said, all the table seats are taken, unusual for Einebrise at this time in a weekday.

“I don’t mind taking the counter.”

But Marika coldly refused this offer as well.

“Souma, if you go any further you’ll be forcing them.”

Yuuto said, and then stood up for some reason.

“We’ll move to the counter. You two can use this table.”

And then he offered to give his seat to the girls.

“Eh, wait, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Even though Marika can be unfriendly towards Yuuto and Souma, it appears she can’t be brazen. She
hesitated, even showing a bit of shame.

“Don’t you want to talk to Alisa about something? You won’t be able to calm down if you have a private
conversation at the counter, don’t you think?”

Yuuto said and quickly moved to the counter. Souma followed after him in a hurry.

Now that it has come to this, it would be rude to continue holding back.

“Mina, let’s take the table?”

Alisa urged Marika to take a seat at the table they were given.

“Yeah...”

Faltering, Marika sat down on side opposite to Alisa.

The female-model waitress robot , Serveroid, took their order. Both Alisa and Marika ordered hot
coffee.

“Asha.”
As soon as Serveroid returned to the counter, Marika started talking without waiting for the coffee they
ordered to arrive.

“Who was the boy you were with before?”

“Eh, what? This feels a little like I’m being questioned about having an affair.”

Alisa stared at Marika in surprise, her eyes deliberately forced open.

“Who was he?”

Marika repeated the same question, quieter. A quiet voice, lacking in emotion, but Alisa felt the
pressure slowly piling up on her.

“By ‘before’, do you mean when I was with Hiyori? You saw that?”

In response to Alisa’s question, asked in a casual tone, Marika faltered, saying “Uh...”. But right away she
nodded with a firm expression and said “Right”.

(You don’t have to get worked up like that...)

It isn’t a relationship she’s particularly feels guilty about. Alisa has no reason to avoid answering.

“He is Karatachibana-kun from class D. As a ‘first-generation’, he didn’t have anyone involved with magic
around him, so he didn’t have anyone to teach him magic theory.”

“‘First generation’, you don’t mean a modified body, right? He’s someone who didn’t have magician
parents or any magician ancestors?”

Marika’s grandfather was a magician created at a Magician Development Research Institute. Though
he’s not classed as a modified body, he is similar in that he was

genetically designed. That is because of these circumstances that Marika, who is lacking knowledge
about magician society, knows about modified bodies.

“Yeah. A first-generation magician, who unexpectedly appeared in a family with no magicians. Though I
don’t know if it’s true or not.”

“You mean he could be lying?”

“I didn’t feel he was lying. The opposite, I thought he was very sincere. What I mean is that he might not
know that one of his ancestors had the magic factor.”

“Ah, so that’s what...”

Marika was relieved and relaxed a little.

“So! What kind of relationship is there between you and this Karatachibana-kun!?”
But this isn’t a situation to be relieved right away, and Marika got closer to Alisa with a fierce expression.

“Relationship... He’s just Hiyori’s classmate.”

“Is that all...?”

“No less and no more than that, I just met him for the first time?”

Alisa looked into Marika’s eyes, asking ‘Why?’ with her gaze.

“But Asha, you just said he was ‘sincere’.”

“That is just a mere impression I had. Like a first impression. I’m not that conceited to think I can see
someone’s true personality just like that.”

“...But you two had such a good mood going on!”

“Eeh!?”

Alisa was flabbergasted at the unexpected allegation.

Marika glared at Alisa, who was lost for words, with a pouty face.

“It’s a misunderstanding! You’re misunderstanding it!”

Knowing that Marika was clearly getting it wrong, Alisa hurried to deny her suspicions.

“Really?”

“Really! Rather, I want you to tell me what made you think that kind of thing!”

Alisa and Marika silently stared at each other.

“Okay. I believe you.”

“Naturally. It was a misunderstanding, after all.”

The tension was removed from their shoulders. And just at that moment, the coffee was brought in.

They took the cups to their mouths are the same time and washed away the remnants of their pent-up
feelings with the pleasant bitterness.

◇◇◇

Alisa and Marika left Einebrise with Yuuto and Souma. The pair of boys matched their departure time to
the girls’.
Souma split from them when they got on the Cabinet. Yuuto, however, rode on the same Cabinet as
Alisa and Marika. As a consequence, they were riding on a four-seater Cabinet, which was unusual for
the two girls.

It is obvious Yuuto has some motive. But he didn’t take any action inside the Cabinet. His objective
became clear after they got off at the station nearest to their homes and walked a little after splitting
with Marika.

“Alisa, I want to ask you something.”

Yuuto spoke to Alisa, a little timidly.

“What is it?”

In Alisa’s voice there was a small sense of caution.

“Umm... Could you tell me the name of the boy you studied with today after school?”

“...”

Alisa looked at Yuuto’s face in silence.

“Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t intent to tell you off at all.”

Yuuto got flustered and gave a quick excuse.

“I have no plans of forcing an old-fashioned ban on relationships with the opposite sex. But Tookami-san
looked extremely worried about it...”

“Were you eavesdropping?”

Alisa’s tone of voice was lower than usual when she replied.

“I-I guess I did, but I wasn’t trying to listen to it voluntarily. That’s why I didn’t hear his name.”

Alisa let out a small sigh. She can understand why Yuuto is worried about her... There’s no way it is
because he has a sister complex.

“Sure. But I don’t know his full name.”

Even if you ask for more, it will be pointless, Alisa made sure to tell him.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. This was the first time we’ve met, after all.”

“I-I see...”
Yuuto sounded relieved, which increased Alisa’s suspicions that he might have a sister complex increase
a little.

“Karatachibana-kun from class 1-D. I only know his last name.”

“Karatachibana... Haven’t heard of them.”

“Apparently, he’s a first generation.”

“Born from an ordinary family, huh?”

An uncomfortable feeling passed through the back of Alisa’s mind.

Yuuto just called non-magicians, who can’t use magic, ‘ordinary people’. In fact, the number of
magicians who use this expression is not small.

If humans who aren’t magicians are called ‘ordinary people’ based on the understanding that magicians
are ‘not ordinary’ in that they are the absolute minority, Alisa has no objection. However, she feels that
many magicians use it to mean that ‘magicians are special, superior humans who have powers other
humans don’t’.

She can’t say for sure if Yuuto is like that. Maybe there aren’t any magicians who think that way, and
she’s just overthinking all of it. But to Alisa, it didn’t seem likely that it was all just her misunderstanding.

Besides, she herself uses expressions like ‘ordinary people’ and ‘normal people’ sometimes, without
being especially conscious of it. The thought that she might have such twisted elite way of thinking
hidden inside her makes her feel uncomfortable when magicians use expressions like ‘ordinary people’,
even when she doesn’t feel any malice from it.

“Alisa?”

Yuuto’s confused voice brought Alisa’s consciousness back after she fell silent because she was thinking
of such things.

“Ah, sorry. Umm, we were talking about Karatachibana-kun not being a descendent of magicians, right?”

“If that’s true, it’s no surprise I’ve never heard of that name.”

Yuuto nodded as he said it.

“He said it himself, but I don’t know if he really is a first generation.”

“Right. For example, there are many cases of people of so-called ‘medium’ families that aren’t aware
they’ve inherited magician lineage.”

Yuuto’s attitude softened. Alisa’s appeal of ‘I don’t know details’ might have worked.

He didn’t bring up the topic again at home.

Quiet Chat 2

Third High School has a reputation for training combat magicians. It’s not that they focus on training
military personnel, but they teach magic relevant for real warfare, using ‘education of martial arts for
mental training’ as intuition. — Though there are different perceptions, even inside Third High, about
whether this is resulting in the desired effect or not.

Because of this, magic sports, martial arts, and other combat magic clubs are prosperous. For the past
month, Tatsuki, a member of the Cross Field Club, a magic sport, and his friend and neighbor Samon
who is in the Judo Club, have been hard at work in their club activities during their days off.

But today, due to special outdoors lessons for third year students being carried out, all club activities
were cancelled. For lack of anything else to do, Tatsuki was studying all morning just like any high school
student would (?).

As Tatsuki was looking at the clock and thought ‘It’s about time to go prepare lunch’, the doorbell on his
rented apartment aimed for students rang.

Tatsuki stood up and went to look at the intercom’s monitor. Displayed on the screen was someone he
half-expected, Samon.

Tatsuki opened the door without saying anything through the intercom’s microphone.

“Tatsuki, let’s go have lunch.”

Right after opening the door, Samon said as such, jumping past the greetings and initial small talk.

“...Okay. Where are we going?”

Tatsuki thought a little and then agreed, asking Samon another question.

“Let’s go to the front of the station and have some fun.”

The ‘front of station’ Samon talked about was not the front of the station nearest to his apartment. It
was Kanazawa station’s. This apartment is located on the outskirts of Kanazawa City, just a ten-minute
walk away from Third High, which isn’t inconvenient for buying daily necessities and go out to eat as a
replacement of cooking for oneself, but there are not many places to have fun.

“Alright...”

The time Tatsuki spent thinking was longer than before. He’s not the type to enjoy the downtown area,
but his parents’ home is in a relatively lively location. He was a city boy to the point that he thinks it isn’t
a bad thing to occasionally immerse himself in the tumult of the city.

“OK. What are we going to do?”

“Let’s do some light exercising!”

“Got it. I’ll go change clothes to wait a minute.”

“Sure. I’ll wait outside.”

Light exercise is probably bowling or something similar. Thinking that, Tatsuki changed to clothes that
were easy to move around in and that wouldn’t feel out of place in the downtown area.

After having their meal at a store adequately priced for high school students, Tatsuki was brought to the
amusement building by Samon. A signboard next to the establishment said there was a bowling alley.

But that’s all that was correct about Tatsuki’s prediction. The area Samon brought Tatsuki to was the
racquetball court.

“Didn’t you say it was light exercise...?”

He has experience with racquetball. It was required by the Juumonji Family to play sports that don’t
involve magic to build up physical strength. Tatsuki chose swimming,

but his little sister Kazumi liked racquetball so he also played with her sometimes. What Tatsuki didn’t
find amusing was that his little sister’s training partner was Alisa and Tatsuki was only invited when it
was inconvenient for Alisa. That said, he doesn’t have an especially bad opinion of the sport. He just
thought ‘Racquetball should be pretty hard, though’.

“I’m not going to play serious. It’s just for fun, for fun.”

Well, that being the case, he has no objection to it. He felt that his mental perception of Samon and
racquetball don’t go well together, but Tatsuki thought it was not something he should say anything
about.

Tatsuki went with Samon to the reception to apply for a court and rent rackets.

“Huh?”

In the middle of operating the touch panel, they were called out by someone.

“Juumonji-kun and, uumm, Ikura イクラ-kun?”

The one who called them was Ichijou Akane. Behind her were Liú Lìlěi and a girl who Tatsuki doesn’t
know the name of, but remembers seeing inside Third High.

“Akane-san, the intonation!”

Samon retorted to Akane at the speed of a spinal reflex. Certainly, her ‘Ikura-kun’ just now had the
intonation for a certain seafood.

“Ah, sorry, sorry. Ikura 伊倉-kun. It’s fine like that, right?”

Akane pacified Samon with a smile.

Samon still didn’t look satisfied, but this was not a topic that could continue forever.

“What a coincidence, Akane-san.”

Tatsuki talked to Akane to change the subject. Worth of note that Tatsuki and Samon call Akane by her
first name because she asked them to do so when she introduced herself to them the other day.

“It really is.”

Akane cheerfully agreed. At this stage in her life, she is a charming young lady. She doesn’t have
overwhelming good looks that makes one unable to avert their eyes, but she is expressive, attractive,
and the type that feels good to be with. Just because she doesn’t look too inhuman, it can be said that if
she weren’t a magician the entertainment industry would not leave her alone.

“Did you two come here to play because club activities were cancelled too?”

It appears that Tatsuki is also a boy. He is usually very wary, but he involuntarily let his guard down
around Akane.

“Samon invited me for some light exercise. Same for you two?”

“Same. Well, it’s not just the two of us though.”

Akane said and then turned to the girl Tatsuki doesn’t know the name of.

That girl walked forward until she was in line with Akane.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Juumonji-kun. My name is Hiiro Hiromi, and I am in class 1-C.”

“Likewise. I am Juumonji Tatsuki. And this is Ikura Samon, who is in class B like me.”

After listening to Tatsuki, Samon exchanged greetings with Hiromi. — Also, Hiromi didn’t seem to have
any weird misunderstandings when she heard Samon’s name, as her expression did particularly change.

Looking at them from the side, Akane continued talking to Tatsuki about the topic she interrupted.

“Hiromi will play with the Crowd Ball Club in a match against First High next week. And despite that, club
activities were cancelled.”

“So that’s why you came here, to be a practice partner. You’re quite thoughtful.”

“I’ve never played Crowd Ball, so I thought I could at least play racquetball with her. But I don’t know if
I’ll be much use to her.”

Akane humbly said, looking bashful.

Hiromi quickly stepped in when she heard that.

“You will be. Even just having someone to hit the ball with is a big help. My match intuition will get dull if
I just bounce the ball off the wall.”

“I see.”

Tatsuki is little more than a beginner, but he felt he understood what Hiromi was talking about.
Naturally there is no human intention when the ball just bounces off a wall. The presence or lack of
presence of human strategy is a factor that can’t be ignored before a match.

“Then why don’t we do it together? Though our level may not be satisfactory enough.”

There was no objection by the group of girls to Samon’s proposal.

As Tatsuki thought at the start, that could not possibly be called light exercise. Even though they took
turns, both Tatsuki and Samon worked up a proper sweat. Akane and Liú Lìlěi are also sweating and
gasping for breath, though not as much as the other two because they didn’t play as much.

And Hiromi, who played with almost no breaks, was the most composed.

“Hiiro-san, you’re amazing.”

Still regaining his breath, Tatsuki sent an honest compliment over to Hiromi.

“I’m just used to it.”

Hiromi’s reply was short, but looking closely, it can be seen that she is slightly embarrassed. Maybe her
personality is the sort that has difficulty in being honest. Tatsuki felt she was probably similar his little
sister, Kazumi, and a sense of closeness came over him.

“Hiiro-san, would it be okay if I pried a little?”

That must have been the reason why Tatsuki felt inclined to ask something.

“Only if it’s just a little.”

However, that feeling of closeness Tatsuki had appeared to still be one-sided. Hiromi was clearly
cautious of him.

Tatsuki was a little depressed by her reaction, but that didn’t stop him from asking.

“Hiiro-san, are you by chance involved with the Isshiki Family?”

“...Yes. My father is the younger brother of the current Head.”

“Heeh~.”

Samon raised his voice.

Tatsuki didn’t say anything, but within he felt similarly to Samon.

“Then, ‘Hiiro’ is your mother’s surname?”

Tatsuki’s question was pretty unreserved, but Hiromi — at least on the surface — didn’t seem to be
offended by it.

“No, I heard that my father was adopted into the Hiiro Family before he became an adult.”

It seemed to be a fairly complex family, but Tatsuki wasn’t especially interested in that. It is not
uncommon for magicians who have the root in the same Magician Development Research Institute to
have complicated blood relationships.

What Tatsuki was interested in was that Hiromi must have inherited the magic disposition of the Isshiki
Family. — That was the important point.

The niece of the current Head of the Isshiki Family, in other words, the granddaughter of the previous
Head. It’s basically direct descendancy. It is almost guaranteed that her innate magic talents are
comparable to his own and Akane’s.

He just doesn’t know about them, but he has rivals everywhere. — Tatsuki thought as such.

Chapter 4 – First Match

Saturday, May 23rd.

Alisa was preparing to go home after lessons finished when she was talked to from the neighboring seat.
The owner of the voice was Joui, who has been sitting next to her since the previous month.

“Juumonji-san. You’re going to play in a match tomorrow, right?”

“So you know about it, huh?”

Although it’s a competition against a different school, it’s just a practice match. It hasn’t been especially
talked about around the school.

“It’s because I’m a member of the Club Activities Group.”

But when the reason was revealed, her doubts disappeared at once. Each club’s activity plans are
periodically reported to the Club Activities Group. Alisa is not involved with the work of Club Activities
Group so she doesn’t know the details, but this time the activities will be outside the school, so a
detailed report must have been made. It was no surprise that it included even the names of the
members participating in the matches.

“It’s at the Magic University, right? I’ll go cheer for you.”

“Eh, you don’t have to.”

“Why? You don’t have to be so reserved.”

“It’s not that I’m being reserved...”

Alisa’s avoided meeting his eyes as she continued mumbling,

“...I just have no confidence.”

She added with a very low voice.

“I see...?”

Understanding that Alisa seems to seriously not like it, Joui didn’t talk about cheering any more.

“By the way, Juumonji-san, I’ve heard you’re getting along with a boy from class D recently.”

“Eh?”

Alisa opened her eyes when she heard something she didn’t expect.

“...Do you mean Karatachibana-kun?”

“You were studying with him at the library, right?”

The information Joui heard is not wrong. Monday is a day with no Crowd Ball Club activities, so Alisa
reads and studies until Marika’s club activities end. This Monday she went to the library to advance her
general subject schoolwork. It was there that she met Mamoru by chance and he taught her things she
didn’t understand. However, Alisa thinks that calling it ‘getting along’ just because of that is a little
exaggerated.

“...But it was only one time, this Monday, you see?”

They weren’t even planning to meet at the library. Not counting the simple greetings when they saw
each other on the corridors, this was the second time since the previous Monday that they spent some
time together. If that is enough to be called ‘getting along’, then she gets along much better with Joui.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Why is there a rumor like that...?”

“Isn’t it’s because it’s unusual?”

From behind, a classmate talked to Alisa, who had her head tilted as she thought.

“Mei... What do you mean unusual?”

The voice who called out to her belonged to Mei.

“Alisa being together with a boy.”

Mei was straightforward in answering Alisa’s question.

“...I think the way I act with boys is normal though.”

“Wasn’t it just the two of you?”

“It was at the library. There was plenty of other people around.”

“I don’t think what actually happened has any relevance at this point. Alisa had a rare one-on-one
conversation with a boy. That image has been strongly etched into the minds of other boys.”

The grimace on Alisa’s face could be easily understood.

“I don’t like this, it’s like I’m being watched.”

To that short comment, Mei looked at Joui and laughed with a “Fufu”.

“You stand out, Alisa. There’s nothing you can do about that. If you were a boy, you’d think about it too,
right? Though I’m not saying all boys would.”

Joui turned his eyes away from Mei’s gaze and as he stood up from his seat, said somewhat unnaturally
“Well, shall we go to our club activities?”.

◇◇◇

Alisa and Marika returned to the Public Morals Committee headquarters after finishing their patrol
around the school and said “Good work today”.

The two looked ahead of them at Souma, who had a refreshing smile.

“Izayoi-senpai, why are you here?”

Marika asked, when she looked back at Souma’s fresh, conspicuous smile with suspicion.

“Senpai, I thought you’re not on duty today? Do you maybe have too much free time?”

“Free time... I’ve felt this for a while, Tookami-san, don’t you act a bit too unfriendly towards me?”

Obviously, he couldn’t keep his smile, as Souma’s face twitched.

“Isn’t that just your imagination?”

Contrary to him, Marika’s attitude was a perfect example of bluntness.

“Umm, we found no rule violations. Nothing out of normal. Also, where is the Chief?”

Alisa thought this attitude towards their seniors was, of course, bad, and put herself between them.

“Okay, understood. The Chief had business today so she left. If you have nothing in particular to report,
it’s fine to deliver the activity journal on Monday morning, the Chief said.”
The current rules of the Public Morals Committee state that the patrol report is expected to be delivered
on the morning of the day after. But Alisa and Marika are first years, so they submit the journal to the
Chief right after patrols and receive guidance regarding their activities.

“Did you stay behind so you could tell us that?”

“The upperclassmen can’t all go home right away and leave the first years to do the work, right?”

Souma replied with a tone that seemed to be accompanied by a wink. — In reality, he didn’t do that
kind of pretentious thing.

Marika once again looked around the room. It’s true, the only one left at the Public Moral Committee
headquarters was Souma.

“Thank you for being so considerate.”

It was Alisa who sincerely thanked him. Marika dared to not give a response.

Marika didn’t believe this situation was due to Souma’s good intentions. She had no grounds to question
it. Maybe she is just being tied down by her own prejudice against Souma. Maybe she is just stubborn.
Either way, she was aware of those possibilities, but she had no intention to change her mind. In short,
she didn’t get along with him8.

8 Literally: not a good match for the horse. The pun is that Souma’s name has the kanji for horse.

“By the way, tomorrow is your match, right Juumonji-san?”

Souma only said ‘tomorrow’ and ‘match’, but there is no room for doubt that he’s talking about the
Crowd Ball competition. Alisa interpreted it that way and replied “Yes” with a nod.

“It’s for something different, but I’m going to the Magic University tomorrow. I’ll go cheer for you if I
can.”

In truth, she has no confidence so she doesn’t want to be seen. But she felt telling her upperclassman
‘don’t come’ would be too unfriendly.

“Thank you very much. But please keep it within reason.”

Alisa replied in this manner, to be polite about it.

◇◇◇

Sunday, 24th of May.

The sky was cloudy, with no indication of when rain would start to fall.

“I hope it doesn’t rain.”

On the way from the nearest station to the Magic University, Alisa muttered while looking up at the sky.

“You don’t get sunburned when it’s cloudy, so isn’t it fine?”

Alisa was talking to herself, but Marika, who was talking next to her, picked up on her mutterings and
replied with a cheerful voice.

“Ultraviolet rays reach us even on cloudy days.”

Alisa responded back, with a chiding tone.

“I know that, but it is less when the clouds are thick. Ah, I put on sunscreen properly, of course.”

“Then that’s fine.”

Marika is neither an unrefined girl nor a girl who wears no makeup. Alisa knows that. She has been
paying attention to skin care since they were in the first year of middle school when they lived together,
and she doesn’t appear to be cutting corners recently either. If she says she is properly protected against
ultraviolet rays, she probably is.

“Putting that aside, what will happen if it rains during Crowd Ball?”

“What do you mean?”

“The court isn’t weather-proof, right? If the points are counted based on the changes in electric
resistance on the court’s surface, won’t it be affected by the rain? There are holes on the ceiling.”

As Marika said, Crowd Ball courts are covered by a transparent shield that has small air holes at regular
intervals. It is not completely waterproof.

“Like the courts we use for our club activities, most courts are partially outdoors with a roof, so the rain
doesn’t influence the matches. I guess the University’s courts are probably the same.”

“I see now. But why are there air holes in the first place? I don’t think they’re needed.”

“I don’t know. I wonder why.”

While the two were looking at each other with their heads slightly tilted, they arrived at the front of the
main gate of the Magic University, their meeting place.

There was nobody at the front of the main gate. Alisa and Marika appeared to be the first ones to arrive.
Alisa patted her chest in relief for not making her seniors wait.

“We arrived very early, huh.”

But Marika poured cold water on that joy — no, relief.

“You’re right... Let’s go kill time somewhere.”

The meeting time is 9:00 in the morning. Right now is 8:20. Regardless of how they see it, they are way
too early.

“But... if we go away for too long, we’ll miss each other.”

What Alisa said is not correct. They are meeting, so as long as they come back in time, they will be able
to meet. But she came early to ensure she won’t keep her seniors waiting. If they arrive while she isn’t
there, it will have been pointless. In the sense that their arriving times would be off and she wouldn’t be
able to welcome them at this spot, ‘miss each other’ was not off the mark.

“Do you want something to drink?”

Marika suggested while taking a look around. Near the Magic University there are no other universities,
vocational schools, high schools, or any other kind of schools, so it can’t be called a student district, but
there are a considerable number of restaurants nearby. There appear to also be some stores doing
takeout. Even if she couldn’t find that kind of store, she saw several unmanned convenience stores
between where they are and the station.

Speaking of drinks, Alisa brought some for the match. But they are sports drinks to supply water and
minerals during the match (also, they lack sugar and have bland taste). It was an unsuitable drink to pass
time.

“Sorry, could you go?”

Alisa couldn’t leave this location, so she decided to depend on Marika.

“Sure, what do you want?”

“Then, I’ll go with ice milk tea. If they don’t have it, I’ll leave it up to you.”

“Roger. I’ll be going now.”

Marika left the scene.

Alisa, all by herself, vacantly looked up at the sky as she carried a bag with both hands, containing her
racket and a change of clothes.

(It kind of feels like it’s about to start. Even though it shouldn’t rain during the day today.)

A 10% chance of precipitation means that the probability of rain of 1 millimeter or more within 3 hours
is between 5% and 15%, so there is always the possibility of light rainfall of less than 1 millimeter. Also,
14% is about one-sevenths, which is less than 15%, so it is not strange for it to rain on one out of seven
days.

Besides, Alisa saw the weather forecast for Tokyo’s Josai area, if she had looked at the forecasts of the
wards that compose it, it may have given different results.
Maybe that monologue was a flag? Before long, rain began to fall.

Alisa looked around the nearby area to look for a shelter from the rain. However, unfortunately, she
couldn’t find any edges of roofs that could keep away the rain. So instead, she noticed some roadside
trees. The leaves on these trees had grown more than usual for the season. It should be plenty to keep
away this much light rain.

(Is this some kind of platanus?)

As she looked up at the big leaves cut similarly to maple leaves, raindrops fell from them.

“Kya”

Alisa unconsciously closed her eyes, turned her face away and let out a small scream.

“Excuse me. Did I scare you?”

A male voice could suddenly be heard from nearby.

When Alisa turned around in surprise, a young man with an apologetic look on his face stood there.

He is clearly older than Alisa. Probably even older than Yuuto.

He appears to be a student at the Magic University, since his CAD can be seen on his left sleeve. At first
glance he seemed sincere, and his light jacket, which was carefully worn and made him look stylish, was
a little wet. He must have rushed under this tree seeking shelter from the sudden rain, just like Alisa.

“No, I was just surprised by the raindrops and screamed without thinking... I should be the one saying
sorry for making you worry about me.”

“So that was it. No, please don’t worry about it.”

After smiling a little, the young man turned his body away from Alisa. Maybe he did that so that he
doesn’t give a girl the misconception that he’s staring at her. It felt a bit too formal for his age, but Alisa
thought it was a gentlemanly attitude.

Though that said, there was an undeniable uncomfortable silence between the two strangers in close
proximity. Alisa looked at the sky, wondering if the rain would stop soon.

“...Are you going to participate in the Crowd Ball competition?”

Just as she was thinking of some topic to talk about, as she was unable to stand the silence, the young
man talked to Alisa.

“Huh? Yes, I am.”

Why does he know? For a moment, she questioned it. But right after, Alisa remembered that she was
holding a sports bag with her racket inside.
“Today’s matches are against Third High, right?”

“You seem to know about it?”

Her surprise towards what the young man said was even more than when he correctly guessed her club.

Crowd Ball was an event at the Nine Schools Competition until 2095, but not counting that it was always
a minor competition. Many magic competitions are derived from military training and they also make up
the majority of the population in competitions. Alisa heard that since it’s a magic sport that was created
independently of the military, there aren’t many students at the Magic University who have an interest
in it.

“It’s a match that brought my alma matter to the university. I can’t help having an interest.”

‘Why’ had been written on Alisa’s face, so the young man gave her a modest smile and revealed his
background.

“You’re an alumnus of First High?”

Alisa asked with a tone that sounded like she understood, instead of being surprised.

“Yeah. I am Hattori, a 2096 graduate.”

“I am Juumonji Alisa, I enrolled this year. Pleased to meet you.”

Alisa politely bowed about 30 degrees with her back straightened.

“Likewise.”

Hattori returned a slight bow to Alisa.

“Ah, you’re here!”

At that time, a familiar high pitched girls voice — a familiar voice that Alisa would never mistake for
someone else’s — was heard.

“Mina.”

Alisa turned towards where she heard the voice coming from and raised her hand.

Marika rushed over to Alisa’s side, carrying a shopping bag at chest level.

Behind her, she could see Hatsune holding an umbrella. Apparently, they joined up in the middle of
shopping or right after that.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Aaah... Geez, Mina, you really got yourself wet...”

Alisa took out a towel from her own bag, which was hanging by its shoulder strap, and put it on Marika’s
head.

Alisa gently dried Marika’s hair.

And while Marika was entrusting her hair to Alisa,

“Who is that person? Was he trying to hit on you?”

She asked from under the towel.

“N-No!”

Hattori replied with a panicked voice.

“Hattori-san is an alumnus of First High.”

Alisa explained with a smile, but...

“An alumnus is hitting on his kouhai?”

Marika wasn’t convinced.

“I wasn’t hitting on anyone. We just happened to take shelter from the rain at the same place.”

Hattori regained his calm tone, but his voice was still stiff.

“Did you have a reason to purposefully choose the same place as a female kouhai?”

“It wasn’t on purpose. I’m saying it just happened to be that way.”

Alisa was dumbfounded by the aggressive attitude Marika suddenly assumed, but she recovered and
interrupted the two of them.

“Mina, you’re being rude to our senpai.”

“But...”

“No buts.”

Alisa scolded Marika and turned back to Hattori.

“I’m very sorry, senpai. This girl’s rude behavior...”

“No... It just shows how important you are you her.”

After Hattori showed such a mature reaction, Marika couldn’t lash out at him anymore.

Looking frustrated, Marika groaned as she looked at Hattori.

“Gyoubu-san, did you two talk?”

She probably wasn’t deliberately choosing the time when the three stopped talking, but Hatsune stood
next to Hattori and joined the conversation then.

“Hatsune?”

Alisa was surprised by the friendly tone between the two.

“President, do you know Hattori-san?”

They certainly have the same surname, ‘Hattori’, but it’s not that rare of a surname, so Alisa thought it
was a coincidence.

“We’re distant relatives.”

That’s why Hatsune’s answer was unexpected, but not that surprising.

“You look really close for distant relatives though.”

Marika pointed out what Alisa was also thinking but didn’t say. Her look towards Hattori is the same kind
of look she has towards Souma. She might have already classified him as a ‘man who flirts with Alisa’ in
her mind.

However, to be agitated to the point that she addresses Hatsune harshly is going too far. In fact, Alisa is
frowning.

“It’s because we’re legally cousins.”

Though Hatsune’s expression and tone indicate she doesn’t care one bit.

“We really were distant relatives, but I happened to become the adopted daughter of Gyoubu-san’s
uncle and aunt. So legally, I am his cousin.”

“...So that’s why.”

This story seems to involve some sensitive circumstances, so naturally even Marika couldn’t press
further. She vaguely nodded as a declaration of withdrawal.

“And that’s why, as his cousin, I can testify that he’s completely incapable of hitting on girls.”

“Haa...”

Marika, revealed she understood in the form of a sound, looking completely dumbfounded.

On the other hand, Hattori was saying ‘completely incapable...’ with bitter expression. — Given that he’s
not denying it, he is probably aware of it himself.
“After all, he’s been holding on to the same unrequited love since his high school days, over 5 years
ago.”

“Hey!”

But it seems he couldn’t stay silent here.

“She truly was out of his reach, but during his days at First High Gyoubu-san was an honor student who
served as the Vice-President of the Student Council and President of the Club Activities Group, so I think
he should have been braver in his offensive.”

But Hatsune wasn’t concerned about him at all.

“That’s why, Tookami-san, you can rest easy.”

Fortunately, the change in weather was only temporary and there wasn’t much rainfall. The sky also
became a little brighter. Alisa and the rest left from under the platanus that had been sheltering them
from the rain.

They split with the alumnus Hattori at that time. While they were taking shelter from the rain they
talked a bit and learned that he stayed in the seminar room the previous night and didn’t sleep at all and
was now on his way to go shopping. Despite that, he didn’t have any indication of being tired, neither on
himself nor his clothes. It was in this way that his committed and meticulous personality became
apparent.

10 minutes before the appointed meeting time, all six club members plus four members comprising an
unofficial cheering group which included Marika, for a total of ten people from First High, entered the
Magic University.

◇◇◇

The Crowd Ball courts at the Magic University were under a semi-cylindrical dome-shaped roof
supported by eight pillars. The roof is thin as curtains, allowing light to pass through them, and there are
no walls on either of the four sides. The matches can be watched from outside the roofed area.

There are four courts under the roof. Two for singles matches and two for doubles matches. For today’s
matches, only one each will be used.

That doesn’t necessarily mean there will be one singles and one doubles match played simultaneously.
The competition will have only one match at a time. They rented both courts because the rules
regarding the courts are different between singles and doubles.

The length and height are the same. However, the width is different. For singles it’s 6 meters, while for
doubles it’s 9 meters. Unlike tennis, the court’s sides are walled, so singles and doubles matches can’t
use the same court.
When the girls arrived at the courts where the matches would be held, the members of Third High were
already there. There is still plenty of time until the matches begin, so they didn’t have to feel guilty for
making them wait. But the overly serious second year students appeared to feel embarrassed.

As for Alisa, she just carefreely understood it as ‘I guess they stayed over from yesterday’. Hiyori is also
not any different from usual. The first-year pair appears to be mentally tougher than the second-year
students.

“Uh oh, as I thought, she’s here... Well, of course she would be.”

But those words Hatsune mumbled at her side were something Alisa could not ignore.

“Umm... Who’s here...?”

“Ah...”

Looks like her mumbles were not intended for other’s ears, as ‘I’ve done it now’ was written on
Hatsune’s face.

If the gaze pointed at her was only of curiosity, she might have given an adequately ambiguous
response. But when she saw anxiety shaking in her junior’s eyes, Hatsune decided that hiding it would
have the opposite effect.

“...There aren’t many people who compete, but there is a nationwide open tournament for Crowd Ball.”

“I see.”

Alisa showed she was following and urged her to continue with her eyes.

“Last year, there was a third-year middle school student who finished second at that tournament.”

“...And you mean that this person is in Third High?”

“Yeah. Her.”

As she said it, Hatsune led the eyes of Alisa and the others, not with her hands, but with the movement
of her eyes and face.

“...That girl?”

“Right. Hiiro Hiromi-san.”

“President. She’s in her first year like us, correct?”

Hiyori, who until then had been silently listening to Hatsune’s and Alisa’s conversation, joined in with a
confident tone.

“That’s right.”
“Can you let me have her?”

“You want to play against Hiiro-san?”

“Yes.”

As she looked at Hiyori who face overflowed with fighting spirit, Hatsune thought ‘This is the difference
between Sengoku-san and Juumonji-san, huh’.

“I’m a beginner so I think my chances of winning are slim at the moment... but even if I lose, I will use it
to get stronger.”

Though the words ‘fighting spirit’ can be misleading, Hatsune thinks that will to win and improve are
important qualities in a competitor.

Hiyori has both of them.

Unfortunately, Alisa has a definite lack of will to win, and because she doesn’t have those feelings, as an
observer, her desire to improve also feels unsatisfactory.

Her obsession is not being transmitted to others, it should be fine to say it like that?

(...Well, that kind of girl is more popular with the boys.)

With good looks and personality, Alisa is loaded with factors popular with the boys. She’s not an
otherworldly beauty, but at this level not being exceedingly beautiful is a plus. Hatsune unintentionally
thought about such unnecessary things.

“I understand how you feel. However, Sengoku-san, you’ll be disappointed to know we can’t decide the
opponents in advance. We can only decide the order.”

“Is that so...”

“Instead of that, you’ll swap your doubles match with me. I think it’s highly likely that Hiiro-san will
appear in the last match.”

“...Is that okay?”

These last two weeks, Hiyori has been practicing doubles, assuming that she would play doubles today.
It is not just Hiyori who is affected by a change right before the match. It will also be troublesome for the
senior who practiced with her as her partner.

Despite that, Hiyori didn’t decline immediately, as she had that strong of a desire to compete against
Hiiro Hiromi — a strong opponent.

“Yeah. I’m used to doubles too.”

“Thank you very much.”

Hiyori looked happy and she energetically bowed to Hatsune.

Hiyori appeared a little dazzling to Alisa.

And as Alisa had her dazzled eyes — envious eyes focused on Hiyori, Marika, who was listening in silence
to their conversation, looked a little worried.

“Look, I don’t think you need to mind it.”

Alisa was getting changed in a changing room she borrowed when Marika addressed her in a cheerful,
somewhat fake tone. “Mind what?”

Alisa wasn’t playing dumb. Nevertheless, her expression lacks color. Alisa surely isn’t aware of it herself.

“About earlier. Every person has their own personality, and I don’t think that passion is necessarily
good.”

“...Aah, that.”

Alisa understood what Marika was talking about and shook her head lightly.

“Whether it’s good or not, I don’t think about it like that either. It’s just, I really don’t have that kind of
passion.”

“That’s why it’s fine for you to not be like that.”

“Yeah. Maybe it’s impossible for me. That’s probably why I’m so jealous of it. She looks really cool when
she’s giving it her best.”

“Asha, you’re giving it your best too. You just have a different way to express it.”

“I wonder if that’s true?”

“It is!”

Marika became worked up and insisted on it, to which Alisa said “Thank you” with a smile.

◇◇◇

The player lists were exchanged and the opponents were finally decided.

The matches will be played in the order of singles, singles, doubles, doubles, singles. Alisa is in the
second singles match, and Hiyori, who was originally due to play in the fourth match, in doubles, was
changed to the last round of singles. — And Hatsune, who exchanged with Hiyori, was originally set to
play in the first and last singles matches because of the number of people.

And the topic of many discussions, Third High’s Hiiro Hiromi, will appear in the court on the second
round of singles.
“...I didn’t expect this.”

Hatsune sounded restless, probably because it really was unexpected.

Hiyori had a frustrated look on her face.

And Alisa was lost for words.

Hatsune walked up to Alisa.

“Uuh, we can’t change the match you’re playing in anymore.”

And she put her hand on Alisa’s shoulder.

“This is a practice match. Don’t think about it too much, it’ll be fine if you just do your best.”

“President... Yes, I’ll give it my all.”

Alisa returned a stiff smile in response to Hatsune’s encouragement.

Neither Hatsune nor Alisa talked about winning.

◇◇◇

“Juumonji, that Juumonji?”

On the Third High’s side, what was gathering all the attention was Alisa’s name on the list.

“But was there a girl named Alisa-san in the Juumonji Family?”

Alisa’s opponent Hiromi looked back at Akane with a confused expression. Akane came to the Magic
University to participate in the Magic Arts Club practice, but there is a little time before it’s scheduled to
start so she came to support Hiromi. Hiromi asked

Akane about it, since as a member of the Ten Master Clans, Akane might know about the Juumonji
Family’s state of affairs, Hiromi thought.

”Aah, she was taken in two years ago.”

Sure enough, Akane knew about Alisa’s existence and her circumstances.

But that wasn’t because she was a member of the Ten Master Clans.

When Tatsuki enrolled at Third High School, the Juumonji Family was able to bow their heads to the
Ichijou Family, saying ‘If anything happens, we want you to help Tatsuki’. At that time, they also told
them about Alisa. It wasn’t a question from the Ichijou Family, the Juumonji Family explained it before
they asked.

“So she’s adopted?”

“No comment. Family circumstances are private.”

Akane shook her head.

“Yes, of course.”

Hiromi quickly gave up. She’s not quite as strait-laced as her wording implies, but she is reasonable. Plus,
even a guess is fine. With just ‘no comment’, she understood it was a situation that shouldn’t be asked
about just out of curiosity.

“I’ll tell you just one thing. This is just a maybe, but I think Juumonji-san has magic abilities matching her
name.”

“Is that so?”

With those words, Hiromi realized the essence of the situation. Juumonji Alisa is a blood descendent of
the Juumonji Family. Despite that, she was suddenly taken in two years ago, which means she is an
illegitimate child of the current, no, the former Head of the Juumonji Family.

But that’s not what’s important here.

“I’ll be careful, just in case. Still, under the current rules, Crowd Ball can’t be won with just magic.”

This is a good chance to prove that, Hiromi thought... Perhaps she has some kind of complex towards
the Ten Master Clans.

“I will win. Absolutely.”

◇◇◇

The competition has begun.

Third High’s Crowd Ball Club is also having troubles with the reduction of club members like First High,
having only seven members in total. What is different from First High is the number of members per
academic year. They have three third-years, one second-year and three first-years. Next year, when the
third-years graduate, there might be more doubts about the club’s survival than its First High
counterpart.

In the first match, Third High brought forward their only second-year.

The first player from First High, Hatsune, is also a second-year student, so it’s a confrontation between
people of the same grade. Their abilities were evenly matched.

The match was heated from the start. The first set was taken by Third High, the second by First High, and
the final set was in a stalemate.
Stamina has a big influence in who wins and loses in Crowd Ball. Because of that, taking the first set is
considered an advantage. Hatsune lost the first set and appeared to struggle more in the final set as
well. But still, the point difference wasn’t widening. They’re constantly swapping in point advantage.

The court’s lights turned off. The end of the match is not indicated by a buzzer or a whistle, but by the
faint light on the surface of the court disappearing.

The point difference was 5 points.

The winner was Hatsune.

At this victory from a disadvantage, First High’s benches — not idiomatic benches, literal benches —
erupted in joy.

While celebrating Hatsune’s victory with everyone, Alisa’s heart strangely calmed down.

By nature, she doesn’t have a desire to win. No, it’s not that it’s completely inexistent, she does feel a
little happy when she wins, but when she thinks of having to compete with others in the process, she
becomes depressed.

On top of that, she just heard from Hatsune that her next opponent is a powerhouse, so she doesn’t feel
she can win at all.

All that said, it’s not like she’s pretending to be happy about Hatsune’s win. Those feelings of happiness
for Hatsune’s victory are genuine.

But — she felt like there was something caught up in between those feelings of hers.

A scenery she’s looking at through a lens.

Or maybe a live broadcast projected on a display.

A feeling of alienation where she views herself objectively like an unrelated person.

(...I should go into the court soon.)

She didn’t realize it was an escape from the pressure of having to play the match.

◇◇◇

With a defeat in the first match, Hiromi fighting spirit was burning up even stronger. She justified that by
connecting the reason for those feelings of ‘I can’t lose’ that she wasn’t clearly aware of with the love
for her school.

“Hiiro-san, you don’t have to strain yourself too much, okay? You shouldn’t lose if you play normally, but
even in the one in a millionth chance if you don’t win, it’s not an official match.”
To her Club President’s words trying to get her to relax, Hiromi shook her head with a serious
expression.

“No. Even if it’s not an official match, it’s a competition against our rivals, First High. A losing streak is
out of the question. First, I’ll make it to even in the next match.”

To have a match appropriate for a competition against a rival school.

That is an incentive everyone who heard it would agree with, and even Hiromi herself did not doubt that
was the reason she was so excited.

“Now then, President. I’m going to win.”

Hiromi expressed her will and headed to the court.

◇◇◇

Alisa entered the court.

Slightly slower than her, Hiromi stood on the other side of the net.

They both held their rackets and assumed a stance with their hips slightly lowered at the same time.

If she faces Hiromi in this position, she will for sure be overpowered. — Alisa believed this, but her
prediction was off the mark.

(I’m no good. To think I would be this unmotivated.)

She scolded herself for not having any fighting spirit.

(I’m responsible for this match...)

She averted her eyes from those feelings telling her that she can’t win and put a lid over them.

(So I’ll do my best.)

Even still, she doesn’t think ‘I’ll win’. She can’t say it, even if it’s just to herself.

It was in such half-hearted mental state that Alisa began her match.

The 3 minutes of the first set passed in a blink of the eye.

— I couldn’t even do a thing.

— What could I have done, what was I doing, I don’t understand.

— I don’t understand why, all I got out of that is fatigue.

Those were Alisa’s feelings.

The interval between sets is 1 minute.

Alisa returned to the benches but did not sit down, instead she put her hands on her knees and adjusted
her breathing.

“...Asha, are you okay? Do you think you can continue?”

Marika looked worried as she stared at Alisa’s face, which was facing down to her upper body.

“Juumonji-san, it’s fine if you withdraw, okay...?”

Hatsune anxiously called out to her from the side.

Alisa raised her body after those words. She turned to Hatsune with a strong look on her face.

“No... I’ll do it. Please let me continue.”

A strong look, like she was a different person from just before the match started.

“Okay.”

Judging from what she could see, Alisa’s stamina hasn’t recovered much at all. But Hatsune didn’t tell
her ‘You can’t!’ nor ‘That’s too reckless!’.

A signal turned on, urging her to return to the court.

“No matter how fast your opponent moves, the balls don’t disappear.”

Hatsune sent a word of advice to Alisa’s back as she walked away.

Hiromi was already on her stance inside the court.

Alisa gave her a small blow and apologized for being late, and then assumed the same stance.

And within her mind, she pondered what Hatsune said.

(Before, Hiiro-san was playing me like a fiddle with her speed...)

She recalled the first set and thought to herself.

In the second and third sets, the serves are received by the side who won the previous set. A ball gently
sent in from the shooter using compressed air was hit back towards the ceiling.

Hiromi suddenly appeared at the spot where that ball was falling after bouncing off the ceiling and the
back wall.

She understands that in theory Self-Acceleration Magic allows Hiromi to move faster than she can
perceive. But even if the magic accelerates body movement, common sense dictates that Hiromi’s
senses shouldn’t be able to keep up.
Acceleration beyond the speed of your perception is similar to running around in the darkness and
letting your fear go. Even if an obstacle is getting closer, you will crash and self-destruct before that
information reaches the brain.

Nevertheless, Hiromi moves like she can see her surroundings at such high speed that perception
shouldn’t be able to follow. In the first set, Alisa was toyed with by this speed that defined even magic
common sense.

(But it’s not like the balls she returns will move faster than I can perceive.)

Hiromi doesn’t use much magic to manipulate the ball directly to send it back. She also likes chasing the
balls with her abnormal speed and hitting them back with the racket.

She runs to the point where the ball her opponent hit will fall and sends it back from there. If you know
the trajectory of the ball you hit, the opponent’s movement won’t confuse you. That is what Alisa
understood from Hatsune’s advice.

(I’m just chasing the balls. Only the balls.)

Right after the set started, Alisa’s senses were scattered, loose, spread widely. She doesn’t need any
detailed information. She doesn’t need to prepare for needles as thin as hair or colorless gas. She just
has to follow nine balls with a large diameter.

(I can’t match her speed, but...)

Alisa doesn’t know what kind of technique Hiromi is using to surpass her perception speed limits.

(But, in perception range, I have her beat!)

The Juumonji Family’s magic is a shield that can stop every attack. To be able to sense and respond to
attacks launched from any place at any time, a wide range of perceptual ability is necessary.

But the Juumonji Family doesn’t have perception talents like remote viewing and future sight. They
supplement the lack of these talents with techniques. They expanded their perception radar, which is
like a passive radar, to the information dimension, and from there polished their techniques to sense
‘changes’ that are signs of attacks.

When an object or phenomenon changes, that information is recorded in the ‘world’. Reading that
information is an ability common to all magicians, even if there are individual differences in precision,
range, and depth. The magicians of the Juumonji Family have polished this ability. The active perception
ability to ‘probe’ for specific phenomena was discarded in favor of an ability to passively locate ‘changes’
in a wide range and ‘detect’ attacks.

Before she was aware of it, Hiromi’s figure disappeared from Alisa’s ‘field of view’, and only nine balls
bouncing around in a 6m x 10m x 4m space were projected on it.
One minute has already passed since the start of the second set. So far there is practically no difference
in the scores.

(It’s like a completely different person from the first set...)

Hiromi was surprised by how the match has progressed.

Winning the first set doesn’t mean you conserve stamina in the second.

She came into this set seeking to decide the match at once.

But the score isn’t widening. In some moments she even allows it to be reversed.

(I thought this would be an easy victory, but it looks like it won’t go that way.)

(As expected from the Ten Master Clans’ Juumonji Family... but!)

(That being the case, I really can’t lose!)

Why ‘really’? The reason for that did not pass through Hiromi’s thoughts.

Hiromi shifted up a gear and the point difference started to slowly widen.

Six balls rained down on Alisa’s court at the same time. Normal magic can’t handle all of them.

Hiromi used the ball’s pace and bounced them on the walls and ceiling on her own side to match the
timing of their return. Hiromi took the lead not by using only her speed, but also by having a good grasp
of techniques unique to Crowd Ball.

Crowd Ball has various restrictions concerning the use of magic. For example, restrictions on shield size.
Another example is that magic that directly manipulates the

ball’s trajectory is prohibited. Outside of those, there is a ban on magic whose effect on the ball has a
long duration, on successively interfering with the same ball, interfering with the court’s facilities, and so
on.

It is also a violation of the rules to use magic on balls that are past the net. Players can’t reach out to
balls on the opponent’s court. So, by alternatingly hitting balls to the walls on your own side, you can
match the timing to return them to the opponent.

Of course, it’s easier said than done. But Hiromi has mastered this high-level technique to a very high
level.

Currently, Alisa is completely relying on her magical perception by way of information dimension to
recognize the balls. No matter how many balls are returned at the same time, she knows where all of
them are. She just doesn’t have enough hands. Then, to overturn this situation, she should increase the
number of hands.
As she isn’t following the ball with her physical vision, she has leeway to use her eyes to see other
things.

Like a clock.

There are 90 seconds left in the second set.

(...Still too early.)

The rate at which the points difference is increasing is accelerating. Still 70 seconds left.

(Just a little more.)

That magic is more mentally taxing than Phalanx. It exhausts the powers of the consciousness, such as
concentration, cognition, and judgement, more violently than the load on the Magic Calculation Area
that exists in the unconscious. Alisa is still not proficient enough to maintain it for long periods of time.

60 seconds left. If the point difference grows any higher, it will be impossible to revert it.

(It’s still a little too soon, but I have to do it!)

Thought-operated CADs use a combination of two devices.

One is a device that electronically records Activation Sequences and outputs the Activation Sequence
identified by sensitive switches that receive Psion signals. Many of these devices assume the form of a
bracelet (generally, they are called bangles, due to their width).

The other is a single-function device for activating a Non-Systematic-Type Magic that generates a Psion
signal that corresponds to the sensitive switch and transmits it to the other CAD. It is popular for these
to have the form of pendants.

Alisa used this pair of CADs to activate the multi-spot shield generation magic, a variant of the defensive
Phalanx, ‘Pelta’.

Since she increased the acceleration level, her lead has widened. But as she couldn’t push forward as
much as she expected, Hiromi became anxious about the progress of the match.

The magicians the First Research Institute tried to develop are magicians who can interfere with living
organisms. More specifically, combat magicians who use magic to inflict direct damage on enemy
soldiers.

The products, the Ichijou Family, the Ichinokura Family and the Isshiki Family are each of them good at a
different kinds of ‘magic that interfere with living organisms’.

The Ichijou Family’s specialty magic is interference with body fluids.

The Ichinokura Family’s specialty magic is interference with body temperature.

And the magic the Isshiki Family’s is specialized in is interference with the electricity in living organisms.
Hiromi’s speed is due to the Isshiki Family’s magic that interferes with the action potential involved in
nerve cells.

The five human senses are perceived when the action potentials generated by the sensory organs as
they receive their corresponding stimuli are transmitted to the central nervous system, primarily the
brain, through the sensory nerves. From the point of view of the field of magic, there is one more step
where perception is established by transmitting the information from the brain to the mind.

However, Isshiki Family’s magic creates a shortcut in the process, transmitting the electrical signals
produced by the sensory organs directly to the brain. This created perception speeds capable of
handling magical acceleration.

In addition, concerning movement, a shortcut is made to bypass the motor nerves in the central nervous
system that transmit orders from the brain to the muscle cells, so movement of limbs and body happens
at the same time as the decision to move. This eliminates the sub-second time lag from decision to
action, normally inescapable for humans, allowing people to start moving one beat faster than other
people.

The Isshiki Family calls this neurotransmission process shortcutting magic ‘Lightning’. This name is also
camouflage. The true nature of Isshiki Family’s magic was not ‘speed’ through the addition of lightning,
but ‘quickness’ that puts them ahead of their opponent.

In fact, her opponent Juumonji Alisa has been unable to handle her quickness. She can’t even tell that
it’s not speed, but quickness. — Hiromi felt it was that way. That’s why she couldn’t make sense of why
the point difference wasn’t expanding in the second set.

But Hiromi was finally starting to understand. Alisa is not responding to her quickness, nor is she even
seeing Hiromi. It doesn’t feel like she is even looking at the balls with her eyes.

Unlike herself, who is strengthening her physical perception abilities with magic, Juumonji Alisa must
have grasped the movements of the balls directly with some kind of magic of her own, Hiromi thought.

(In that case, I just have to make an attack you can’t return even if you understand it!)

Hiromi used her sped up vision to quickly grasp the position of all the balls. Then, using her own walls
and ceiling, she hit eight balls to the opponent’s court at the same time.

This is not a number that can be handled by the racket. And if you try to return them with magic, there
is a high probability of committing a foul by exceeding shield size. Her returns would also probably be
inadequate.

Hiromi believed this would push her opponent back.

(Eh?)
So when all the balls were bounced back to her court, Hiromi couldn’t react right away.

The eight balls from Hiromi’s saturation attack and one hit by Alisa normally. An attack with nine balls at
the same time overran Hiromi’s court.

In Crowd Ball, a ball that falls on your court is not just one point. You concede as many points as the
number of times the ball fell on the court. In this one play, Hiromi lost ten points. No, she somehow
stopped it at 10 points.

But once the flow of the match is stolen, it’s difficult to take it back. Especially when the result is
suddenly overturned at a critical point in the match, it’s impossible to not lose your composure. Even
assuming there was no mental aspect, Hiromi couldn’t even begin to understand Alisa’s barrier magic
counterattack, where suddenly eight shields were built at the same time and deployed in parallel with
pinpoint precision on the ball’s trajectory.

Right before the end of the second set, Alisa felt the limits from continuous deployment of ‘Pelta’. Alisa
wasn’t looking at the clock at that time, but her intuition told her there was still 10 seconds or more left
in the second set.

And she wasn’t mistaken. The time elapsed at that point was 2 minutes and 48 seconds. There were 12
seconds remaining. And Alisa has a 17-point lead. In Crowd Ball, it is fully possible to reverse a lead like
this in the remaining time.

However, Alisa didn’t strain herself and cancelled ‘Pelta’. As soon as she sensed the limits, she didn’t
hesitate for a moment. She didn’t guess Hiromi was out of energy. She’s just got her priorities straight.

Naturally she didn’t cut corners on the match. She wasn’t using ‘Pelta’ anymore, but the normal shield
magic was in full operation and she was running all over the court.

The three minutes of the second set were over. There was no point reversal and Alisa took the set with a
point lead of 19 points, which meant it had increased slightly.

Right after the end of the second set, Hiromi didn’t move for a while.

“— Hiiro-san, what’s wrong!?”

A Third High third year student anxiously called out to her after she stood still for over 10 seconds.

Breaks are only 1 minute long. Crowd Ball, unlike tennis, is a sport that has a short length of time, but
because during that short time the players move around intensively, they sweat a lot. Especially Hiromi,
whose style is to run around the court. She should drink enough water to moisten her mouth. If she
doesn’t drink water, she should at least wipe off the sweat.

After hearing the third-year’s voice, the solidified Hiromi regained her expression. She immediately left
the court and headed to Third High’s benches. Hiromi didn’t sit down and didn’t pick up a bottle to drink
either, she just wiped the sweat with a large towel.
“Hiromi, are you okay?”

It was Akane, an outsider, who asked her, sounding unconcerned.

“Yes, I’m okay. That magic surprised me, but I already see an opportunity.”

“Alright. Then I guess I don’t need to say anything.”

“Yes. I think you and I are thinking about the same thing.”

Hiromi’s voice indicated she wasn’t bluffing.

Akane left with a satisfied expression.

“Asha, good job! That was a great comeback.”

Over at First High’s benches, Marika greeted Alisa with a big smile.

“You’re saying that too soon. That was only the second set.”

Alisa’s breath was rough when she responded. She put a big towel on her face and wiped the sweat that
was just about to fall with her slightly rough handwork.

“Juumonji-san, are you feeling okay? Does your head hurt?”

Hatsune asked Alisa, who put down the towel and took a sip of a drink, her voice full of concern.

“I’m fine.”

While that’s true, she didn’t misrepresent the situation.

“I stopped the parallel shield magic to make sure I didn’t overdo it. That wasn’t my real limit.”

“That’s fine then.”

Hatsune appeared convinced for now.

“Asha, are you really okay?”

On the other hand, when Marika heard Alisa’s answer, she looked like she couldn’t be as relieved as
Hatsune.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I have to go now.”

Alisa headed to the court to prevent further questions.

(I said that to Mina, but...)

She certainly wasn’t suffering from serious symptoms like terrible headaches. But since a while back,
Alisa has been feeling a thin haze in her consciousness.
This is a sign that the Magic Calculation Area is fatigued.

Because of the Juumonji Family’s special innate characteristics that makes them have a tendency to
overheating the Magic Calculation Area, they teach the various symptoms cause by its exhaustion at
home.

So Alisa understood that she was walking into a dangerous situation. Like usual, the thought that she
should abandon the third set also crossed her mind.

But she still chose to continue the match.

(I’m still okay.)

One of the reasons is that this isn’t the first time she’s experienced this condition. Like intense exercise
makes it difficult to breathe, exhausting the Magic Calculation Area by using high level magic is a natural
phenomenon. If you stop running right when you run out of breath, no matter how much time passes,
you will never have the cardiopulmonary system to finish a marathon. Magic power — Mental power is
the same, it won’t improve if you always avoid putting a heavy load on it.

...That’s what she learned from the Juumoji Family. It is, so to speak, parroting what they said. Wanting
to train her magic powers was not the reason why Alisa chose to not withdraw from the match.

However, even if she were to be asked ‘then why?’, she would be unable to answer.

She was not aware of why she was continuing the match herself.

The third set began.

Hiromi’s play style did not change. She lost the second set, but she didn’t feel the need to make
countermoves.

(That magic really is a nuisance.)

A nuisance.

But not a threat. Nor does it bring about the fear of defeat.

(Even if she takes a temporary lead, that won’t decide the outcome of the match.)

That magic that deploys several shields in parallel in an instant and bounces all the balls back. While she
is using that, it is difficult for Hiromi to score points. But she can keep the number of points she
concedes low.

She gave away a lot of points in the second set, but, frankly, she was totally confused by the unexpected
magic and couldn’t deal with it properly. She doesn’t want to admit it, but she was panicking at that
time. Immediately following the end of the second set, in the short time when her teammates were
stunned, Hiromi completed that self-analysis.
The defensive power of that magic that bounces all balls back without violating the shield size
restrictions is truly impressive. It will be hard to surpass that and score.

But the balls just come back. They don’t change course, nor does their speed change. If she plays like
she intends to just hit against a wall, even if she concedes points, it won’t be a lot of them.

(Also, it looks like she has a limit in how long she can use it.)

Even if you don’t concede many points, you can’t win the set if you don’t score. If she could continuously
use that magic for 3 minutes, Hiromi wouldn’t be able to do a thing. However, her opponent, Juumonji
Alisa, only used that magic in the second half of the second set, and furthermore she released the
parallel shield magic just before it ended.

This fact indicates that she doesn’t have the power to continuously maintain that magic through the
whole set. Is it a magic that, by nature, is supposed to only be used for a short time, or is it that she’s
inexperienced?

Whichever way it is, it doesn’t matter to Hiromi. The important thing is that she is guaranteed to have a
gap to take the advantage during the match. If she controls the number of lost points while that magic is
being used, she will win through her other abilities. Hiromi felt that was the case from the first and
second sets.

(In the end, I’ll be fine if I just play how I usually do.)

There is no need for cheap tricks. Crowd Ball has always been a sport where it’s more important to
reliably return the balls without making mistakes than to outwit your opponent by taking advantage of
their mistakes. She just has to calmly pick them up repeatedly with her unrivalled speed, just like she’s
doing now.

(I will be taking this win, Juumonji-san.)

Hiromi strongly declared in her mind, as she hit back a series of airborne balls that flew in within a short
period of time.

(I knew it, I’m no match for her when I play normally.)

As the point difference between the two slowly grew apart, Alisa was fully feeling the difference in
ability to her opponent, Hiiro Hiromi.

She doesn’t feel completely out of her depth. It’s not the same feeling of not knowing what she’s doing
like in the first set. She’s returning balls and scoring points. But despite this, her opponent’s lead is
increasing.

(A difference in experience... I’m sure that’s not just it.)

Of course, the difference in their careers has to be a big reason. But Alisa felt like it wasn’t the only
reason.
This opponent has something she doesn’t know about.

Or maybe she does.

And it has become an insurmountable wall, standing right in front of Alisa.

(It’s still too early, but I have to use it.)

She decided early to use what, rather than being a trump card, is really her only weapon.

(Call 04, enter.)

In completely thought-operated CADs, the device to transmit the Psion signal using Non-Systematic-
Type Magic is operated with one’s thoughts.

This device is constantly in standby mode, becoming active only when Psions are poured in.

And then, like normal for a CAD, with the process of inputting variables as images, the number of the
Activation Sequence stored in the device it is paired with is specified through the image.

The format is not fixed, and there is no issue with using normal conversation styles like ‘specify number
4’. Alisa uses English over Japanese or Russian simply because a lot of magic terminology is derived from
English.

The number allocation for the Activation Sequences can also be arranged freely by the magician. Some
magicians assign them by groups, others do it by order of frequency of use.

In Alisa’s case, she orders them by frequency of use during practice at the Juumonji Family house. 01 is a
single-layer shield magic, 02 is ‘Defensive Phalanx’, 03 is ‘Offensive Phalanx’. And 04 is ‘Pelta’.

Magic shields in standby mode are stocked inside Alisa. When the coordinates are specified they will
deploy immediately. Modern magic normally specifies the target when the Magic Sequence is
constructed. Shield magic changes the properties of space. The targets to specify are the coordinates.
‘Pelta’, which has the specification of the targets of phenomenon modification after the Magic Sequence
is constructed, can be said to be a fairly special modern magic.

Alisa activated ‘Pelta’ and quickly stepped back and stopped at the back of the court, or using tennis
terms, just in front of the center of the baseline. In Crowd Ball, this is considered to be the best position
when playing only with magic.

In the second set she only used her magic senses to perceive the trajectory of the balls, but now she was
using both her magic senses and her eyes.

The magic shields that were given vector reversal properties were placed on the trajectory of the balls
that crossed over the net. The shields disappear right after balls bounce off them, as their termination
condition was defined to be that.
At the same time, standby shields were placed inside Alisa. The shield stock is automatically restored in
this way because the ‘Phalanx’ system was reused. This is what makes ‘Pelta’ a ‘subspecies of Phalanx’.

(...The pace has slowed down?)

By using ‘Pelta’, her trump card, she stopped conceding points. The opponent’s attacks were completely
shut out.

But unlike the second set, she is also not scoring. The balls being hit back are clearly lacking momentum.

(She’s assuming that the vector reversal shield will catch the balls and she’s hitting the balls weakly on
purpose so they are easier to deal with when they are returned...?)

Vector reversal is magic that instantly reverts the movement direction of an object. It establishes a
magic forcefield, that is, a magic shield, in a space, and when an object touches it, it gives an
instantaneous propulsive power in the opposite direction with the speed it had when it made contact.

There is a variation that gives and amplifies the kinetic energy, but Alisa didn’t add this energy
amplification feature this time. In the case of the normal phenomenon of ‘energy amplification’, strictly
speaking, it is an increase in energy. Energy is brought from elsewhere in advance, converted into the
energy you want to amplify and then added in. The total amount of energy is unchanged. Contrary to
this, ‘energy

amplification’ by means of magic literally means increasing energy without sacrificing other energy
beforehand.

There are several factors that determine the amount of stress given to a magician by a magic, but in
general, the greater the divergence from the desired phenomenon and the initial state, the greater the
burden is on the magician. Put in another way, the greater the burden is on the Magic Calculation Area.

Increase rn decrease in amount of energy is a factor that has an especially big effect. It is said that the
smaller the deviation between the total amount of energy before and after the phenomenon
modification, the smaller the burden on the magician. In other words, it isn’t just the increase in total
amount of energy, the decrease in energy also increases the load on the Magic Calculation Area.

Alisa uses a simple vector reversal to keep the exhaustion of the Magic Calculation Area in check and to
extend the duration of ‘Pelta’

(But if it doesn’t lead to a good result, there’s no point in doing it...)

Hiiro Hiromi deliberately lowered the speed of the balls to make it easier to pick up balls bounced back
with vector reversal. At the same time, this slows down the pace of the rally, leading to reduced
opportunities to score for both sides.

(Hiiro-san has probably seen through me. She knows I can’t keep using ‘Pelta’ until the end.)
And when she can’t use ‘Pelta’ anymore, Hiromi’s planning to immediately jump to the offensive. Alisa
thought so.

(No matter which I choose, I can’t take the lead.)

Alisa realized her tactical mistake. Her opponent has the upper hand. She should have used ‘Pelta’ from
the start, without thinking about getting tired in the middle.

(Regretting now won’t change anything!)

It is no use crying over spilled milk. Yes, the match isn’t over yet. Regretting tactical mistakes during the
match doesn’t help one bit, but there are things she can do during the match.

So that she would end with no regrets, Alisa decided to try doing everything she can.

The play Alisa suddenly came out with caught Hiromi by surprise.

Alisa, while running, strongly hit a ball that Hiromi slowly sent back. Hiromi was too slow to react and
managed to catch it after one bounce and kept the points conceded to a minimum.

And in the meantime, quick balls were being hit into Hiromi’s court, and she successively conceded
points one after another.

Hiromi hit back the balls using magic and her racket. The weak balls bounced back midair, but the faster
ones fell on her opponent’s court.

(Did she cancel the parallel shield magic?)

It was faster than Hiromi expected. Was the fatigue from the previous set still there?

(But the plan stays the same. That magic is cancelled, so I will just attack!)

Hiromi shifted up a gear, like she was venting her anger from being forced to slow her pace down.

Alisa reduced the point difference due to her surprise attack, but before she could catch up, the points
began drifting apart again.

Even if she runs, extends her arms, or uses her magic with all she has, she will still concede more than
she will score.

(Once again... No, that’s no good. The same thing will just happen again.)

She has enough energy to use ‘Pelta’ again. Alisa had the feeling she could maintain ‘Pelta’, probably
until the same time as the second set, specifically, until about 10 seconds before the match ends.

But overturning the current point difference would probably be impossible. Her opponent can just do
the same she was doing before.
(If I can’t catch up anyway, then...)

Alisa mentally crossed out reusing ‘Pelta’ as an option.

As Hiromi’s lead steadily increased, she was feeling displeased with the way the match progressed.

(I wonder why Juumonji-san isn’t using that magic? Even though she shouldn’t be at her limit yet...)

Hiromi thought Alisa should know she wouldn’t be able to fight on par with Hiromi without using that
parallel shield magic.

Is she not trying to use it, despite having energy left, because she doesn’t want to try winning...?

(Then you should just withdraw immediately!)

In Hiromi’s mind, her dissatisfaction turned into irritation.

(If this is how it’s going to be, I will completely crush you!)

And she turned that irritation into a violent will to fight.

Alisa couldn’t respond to Hiromi’s increasingly fierce attacks. The rate at which the point difference is
increasing is going up. At last, Alisa stopped moving in the middle of the court.

Third High’s benches were full of smiles, while First High’s was covered in resignation.

However, when less than 1 minute remained, the flow of the match changed. Surprisingly for First High’s
side, Alisa began making a comeback.

Alisa, her feet still unmoving, returned balls only using magic.

It wasn’t ‘Pelta’. It wasn’t a magic shield installed in a space, she’s actively invoking Acceleration-Type
Magic on each of the balls to launch them towards the opponent’s court.

This magic is ‘Reverse Accel’. This magic gives an object acceleration in roughly the opposite direction of
its movement direction. Instead of reversing the vector accurately, the movement direction can be
arbitrarily determined by the magician within a range perceived to be ‘the opposite direction’. The
acceleration can also be freely changed.

Because they can be arbitrarily defined, there are more things for the magician to decide, which at first
glance seems like it would increase the burden on the magician. But the Magic Sequence itself is simpler
than vector reversal, which must modify each object according to its angle and acceleration.

If the same values for direction and acceleration are used, it can be semi-automated with Loop Cast so
that it is not necessary to decide on the values for each ball. Applying the same values for direction and
acceleration means that the same balls will be returned to the opponent, just with a different position.
For Hiromi, the difficult of returning the ball would decrease.
However, the Magic Sequence is simple and no decisions are required, so the magic can be activated
quickly. Also, by choosing to only react with magic, thinking whether to hit with the racket or magic is no
longer needed. As a result, Alisa was once again able to return the balls at a speed not inferior to Hiromi.
Sometimes she even surpassed Hiromi.

It was a high-speed, hectic exchange.

If Hiromi adjusted the pace like in her strategy against ‘Pelta’, she might have abused the flaw in Alisa’s
‘only return the same kind of balls’ strategy.

But Hiromi got worked up and responded with a high-pace rally. The result was that, unlike what
happened until then, Alisa was scoring more points than she conceded and gradually closed the
difference in points.

The First High and Third High benches fell completely silent. Rather than cheering, they watched over
the two players while holding their breaths.

First High’s benches, in their hearts, were yelling ‘Just a little more’,

Third High’s benches hoped for it to ‘End already’.

The lights on the court’s surface went out.

The set was over.

The score difference is one digit. By a narrow margin of 7 points, Hiromi took the set and the match
ended with her victory.

◇◇◇

“Asha, that was so close!”

After shaking hands with Hiromi and returning, the first to greet Alisa was Marika, who was cheering
with the uniformed members of the club on her school uniform.

“No, it was a complete defeat. The difference in our abilities was more than the score suggests.”

Alisa looked tired, but there was not much frustration on her face.

Instead, there is an impression that she played to the end. Or maybe the impression that she did her
best. Alisa had an expression that said she did everything in her power, regardless of whether she
achieved something.

“Juumonji-san, good work out there.”

Hatsune gave her some words of appreciation. There were no further words, not to criticize nor to
console her for her defeat.
“...I apologize, President.”

The one to reference the defeat was Alisa.

“As expected, I ended up losing.”

To this remark lacking in fighting spirit, Hatsune just replied “It’s okay”.

“More importantly, Juumonji-san, do you want to take a shower?”

“No, please let me cheer for you right here.”

“Alright, but don’t push yourself.”

Hatsune said, and Alisa, who was still standing, sat down on the bench.

◇◇◇

“Congratulations, Hiromi.”

On the other benches, Akane was the first to talk to Hiromi.

“Thank you very much.”

As she responded, the smile on Hiromi’s face didn’t don’t very happy at all.

“I wondered if it was going to be an easy win when the first set ended. Though it didn’t go as one-sidedly
as I expected, huh?”

“...”

“Are you perchance frustrated that it was a close game?”

“No, it’s nothing like that.”

Hiromi indifferently answered Akane’s unreserved question.

Her Third High teammates felt anxious watching these two.

“But you didn’t expect it, right?”

“Right. It is as you said before the match, Akane-san, I suppose she really is a Juumonji Family member.”

“...If you feel like she was cutting corners, I think it’s something different.”

Hiromi’s eyelashes twitched.

“Rather than not being used to Crowd Ball, it felt she didn’t have experience with matches.”

“...It certainly felt like she couldn’t read the flow of the match.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t know where to put in effort, or when she should try harder.”

Hiromi didn’t agree nor disagree with Akane’s conjecture.

“...I’m very sorry. May I go take a shower?”

That line was directed to the third-year Club President.

Hiromi announced “I’ll be back soon” to the awkwardly nodding Club President and headed towards the
shower booths attached to the nearby changing rooms.

◇◇◇

Marika turned towards Third High’s benches, an action with no meaning.

Before Alisa’s match started, Marika was worrying about Alisa, who must have been nervous before her
first match outside the school, and during the match she focused on it. When Marika understood that
Alisa wasn’t very shocked by her defeat after the match ended, Marika finally took a breather. Because
of that, it was only now that Marika had time to look around.

Alisa’s opponent, Hiiro, is speaking with a girl in Third High uniform. She must be supporting her, just like
Marika is. Unlike First High in the Tokyo area, Third High is not at a distance where they can freely come
and cheer, so it could be that there was something she had to do in Tokyo, maybe at the Magic
University.

Hiiro had her back turned to Marika, so she couldn’t tell what kind of expression she’s making, but the
supporter girl was talking with an indifferent expression. She didn’t seem to be taking the topic that
seriously.

Maybe the conversation reached its end, as Hiiro left the benches. She’s heading to the front of the
shower booths, so she’s probably going to wash away her sweat.

After that, the supporting female student who was sending Hiromi off suddenly turned her face towards
Marika. Did she perceive Marika looking at her?

When their eyes met, Marika felt electricity running through her spine. There was no murder intent nor
threat in her eyes. The true form of that hallucination that ran along Marika’s back wasn’t fear nor a
sense of caution either.

It was joy.

It was a feeling of expectation.

It’s a premonition that ‘she’s not just an ordinary person’.

She felt that girl was a person who would fight on the same stage as her.

She instinctively felt that girl was a person who would fight with her.
Marika was sure, without any basis, that she and this girl would eventually fight in a Martial Magic Arts
ring.

“...Mina, is something wrong? You look a bit scary.”

When Alisa called to her attention, Marika realized she was ecstatic, excited.

“It’s nothing.”

Marika gave Alisa a smile. By making a smile, her growing belligerence subconsciously dispersed.

◇◇◇

“Akane, is something on your mind?”

A delighted-looking smile suddenly appeared on Akane’s face and Liú Lìlěi asked her why.

“Smiling while thinking about the past is creepy, you know.”

Liú Lìlěi defected from the Great Asian Union to Japan two years ago in July. She met Akane right after
that.

These two were quick to hit it off from the start. And over these last two years, they have completely
stopped holding back on each other.

“You’re awful! You’re terrible for calling me a creeper, Rei-chan!”

‘Rei-chan’ is the nickname for Liú Lìlěi that only Akane uses. Akane has called Liú Lìlěi that ever since she
had just defected.

“I didn’t call you anything of the sort though. From which era is that outdated slang from?”

“It really is old-fashioned, huh? But there’s nothing creepy about it. I wasn’t laughing at my old
memories.”

“Then what is it?”

“Hmm, so there is this girl that looks pretty interesting.”

Akane said and then guided Liú Lìlěi’s look with her eyes.

“That supporter student from First High? Do you know her, Akane?”

“I might.”

Akane nodded slightly while looking at the girl at the First High benches.

“I’ve only seen her in photos, but I think she’s ‘Hokkaido’s champion’, Tookami Marika.”
“Champion? Is she a Magic Arts fighter?”

“Yes. So she’s attending First High...”

With the corners of Akane’s mouth raised, her face had ‘I can’t control my excitement’ written on it.

“When we return to Kanazawa, I’ll ask them to set up a bout with First High...”

◇◇◇

In the third match, Third High’s Club President’s pair won, and the fourth match was won by Hatsune’s
pair.

With a score of 2 to 2 until now, the fifth match with Hiyori arrived.

The opponent is a third-year in Third High.

The match became increasingly intense, turning into a close fight for the lead.

“Sengoku-san really is skilled at setting the pace of the match. She has complete control of the game.”

When half of the first set had passed, Hatsune, who was sitting next to Alisa, muttered full of
admiration.

Alisa, who was cheering for Hiyori, shifted her attention to Hatsune. Feeling her look, Hatsune began
answering her silent questions while still facing the court.

“Sengoku-san chooses the balls so that her points scored are higher than the points she concedes. That
ability to make instant decisions is her weapon.”

“So it’s not good enough to just send back the balls that were hit?”

Alisa asked while also keeping her eyes on the match.

“Of course, it would be best if you can return all of them. But if you can’t avoid losing points, you need
to make decisions. Which balls to return with the racket and which to return with magic. Which balls to
send back directly and how many times to allow the others to bounce. By factoring in the loss of some
points, you can be more flexible in your use of magic. With this flexibility, you can use magic more
effectively. This is what Sengoku-san is doing.”

“...That’s something I can’t do. My playstyle is just brute force...”

“Up until now, yeah. But what about from now on, Juumonji-san. Starting now, it would be best for you
to learn technique. And besides...”

Hatsune intentionally stopped talking and shifted her eyes that were fixed on the court to look at Alisa.

“...Quite often, overwhelming power demolishes technique.”

Hatsune’s remark had a nuance like it was inciting her.

The fifth match was won by Hiyori. It was 2 to 0 in set count. The points were close in both the first and
second set, but judging by the end result, it was a straight-sets victory.

She didn’t feel overpowering with her abilities. Maybe this is what Hatsune meant by ‘skilled at setting
the pace of the match’, Alisa thought.

With Hiyori’s victory, First High won three matches and Third High won two. The competition reached its
end with a First High victory.

At the end, everyone shook hands once again. During that, Hiyori was spoken to by Hiromi.

“That was a good match. I would like to play against you some day.”

Alisa was next to Hiyori. Therefore Alisa could hear those words from Hiromi.

Hiromi didn’t say anything when she shook hands with Alisa. That doesn’t mean she had a particularly
unfriendly attitude towards Alisa. This way was more normal. She just did it mechanically, which might
not be appropriate word to use, as a formality to wrap up the competition. Alisa also just gave small
bows to the people she shook hands with, not saying anything in particular.

That is why Hiyori’s response to Hiromi, “Me too. If the chance presents itself, I’d love to”, got stuck in
Alisa’s mind and didn’t disappear.

Alisa did not realize what she was feeling was a form of jealousy.

◇◇◇

Crowd Ball matches are short. Even matches where all sets are played last only 11 minutes, including the
breaks. Counting the preparation time, a full match ends within 15 minutes. Even after spending time
doing various things like greeting the other school’s players and changing clothes, it wasn’t noon yet.

Alisa and the rest of the First High team, along with Marika and the other people who accompanied
them to the Magic University to support them, went to a nearby restaurant to have lunch together. The
Third High students didn’t go with them. They were invited (called?) by a female graduate of Third High
who attends the Magic University.

Compared to First High, which is in Tokyo like the Magic University, the other affiliated Magic High
Schools tend to have strong ties with their alumni. Maybe it is fitting to call them more caring. The
frequency of dinner parties and drinking parties are definitely higher than First High graduates.

Among them, that trend is particularly strong with Third High. Alisa and the rest of the first years don’t
know, but when Third High students visit the Magic University, their seniors will always call out to them,
so it’s unlikely they had plans for post-competition social gathering from the start.
With lunch over, they left the area. Alisa didn’t go straight home, instead she went to Marika’s
apartment. They also made plans to prepare for the practical exams at Mei’s house after the match, but
Alisa didn’t have the energy for it.

And from the get-go there is no option in Marika’s mind to have her special training alone or maybe
together with Mei. At the start of the month Marika asked Mei ‘If Asha can’t, can I go by myself?’, but
whether she would put that into practice or not was a different story.

She’s trying hard to prepare for the exams because she wants to be with Alisa in class, but she wants to
spend time with Alisa even more, so doing something separately from Alisa during a precious day off
would be, for Marika, getting her priorities backwards.

“You’re not hungry yet, right? Are you good with just something to drink?”

Alisa sat down on a dining chair and Marika asked her from across the table.

“...Rather than that, can you lend me your bath?”

The matches are short, but she got quite dirty from the heavy workout. So Alisa wanted to refresh
herself by washing up properly. She used the shower at the Magic University, but because she had
limited time she just gave herself a quick wash.

But it seems that no matter how long their relationship was, she was still hesitant to say ‘I want to take a
bath’, so the voice in her request was very reserved.

“Of course you can.”

Marika gladly agreed to Alisa’s request. She did so, while thinking ‘I wish you weren’t so reserved about
it’. As she saw it, ‘can you lend me’ is a little too formal. Given their relationship, just ‘lend me’ would be
sufficient, so she felt mildly displeased.

“Should I fill it with hot water?”

This meddlesome agreement is maybe a reflection of her dissatisfaction. Marika encouraged Alisa to not
just take a shower, but also to soak in the bathtub.

“Sure... Please do.”

Alisa didn’t hesitate anymore, maybe because Marika’s feelings that she was being too ‘distant’ were
being transmitted to her.

After Alisa carefully washed her body she was relaxing in the bathtub when suddenly the bathroom door
opened.

Alisa reflexively let out a little yelp.

“Eheh, sorry for disturbing.”

“Mina... Don’t startle me like that.”

Marika was the one to come in. Though the possibility of being anyone other than her were next to zero,
Alisa breathed a sigh of relief when she actually confirmed it with her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Marika picked up the showerhead while apologizing with a light-hearted tone. She washed the sweat
and dirt off her body and then dipped her feet in the bathtub. — The micro-nanobubble bathing
equipment that started spreading in the beginning of this century has had its efficiency improved to the
point where, by the end of the century, body soap is not required unless one is extremely dirty.

So she’s not being negligent by just using the shower and then entering the bathtub. But —.

“...Mina, this is too cramped.”

The bathtub in this apartment is a bit too small for two people. The two of them were side-by-side,
soaking in the water, almost, no, completely sticking to each other.

“Is it really?”

But Marika didn’t seem to care at all.

“I like feeling Asha’s warmth like this.”

“The water you’re soaking in is 40 degrees9, which is more than the temperature of the body, so there
will be no warmth or anything. Also, your body temperature is higher than mine, isn’t it?”

9 104 in Fahrenheit.

Alisa looked dumbfounded at Marika, who was pressing against Alisa’s skin with an ecstatic expression.

Marika wasn’t discouraged by Alisa’s cold attitude.

“Doesn’t it feel good when our bodies are this close?”

“...I don’t like the way you said that, it felt kind of dirty.”

“EEH?”

But when this heartless remark was given to her, Marika let out an exaggerated scream.

“Asha, you’re so cold...”

“I’m getting off now, okay?”

Alisa didn’t listen to Marika’s dramatic lamentations and stood up as she said she would.
Alisa was standing in front of the mirror, having wrapped herself with only a bath towel and picked up a
cordless drier to dry her hair. Apartments of higher grade are equipped with automatic hair driers, but in
houses without them, the tool called hair drier is still used now at the end of the 21st century. Naturally,
the efficiency of the drier has improved immensely.

Within 3 minutes of Alisa starting to use the drier, Marika got out of the bathroom.

“You’re done already? Did you get properly warmed up?”

Alisa kept looking into the mirror and spoke to Marika’s reflection.

“I’ll do that for you.”

What Marika replied from behind her was not an answer to her question.

Marika, who didn’t get her hair wet, took the drier off Alisa’s hands a bit forcibly. Then she brought Alisa
out of the changing room.

Alisa was sat down on a dining chair.

Standing behind her was Marika, using the drier on Alisa’s hair.

As of yet, neither of them had put on clothes. The only thing hiding their naked bodies is a bath towel.

“Hey, Asha.”

“Hm, what is it?”

The drier isn’t just better at hair care, it is also quieter. The sounds of the motor and the fan did not
drown out their voices.

“Good work today.”

Marika suddenly showed appreciation for Alisa’s efforts. Her voice was very gentle.

“Why are you saying that out of nowhere?”

Alisa wasn’t confused by the words, but by the voice, and she replied back in a deliberately light tone.
Though her response was a question that didn’t have any meaning, it was closer to just hiding her
embarrassment.

“You aren’t very good at matches, and yet you tried your best to the very end.”

“...Yeah.”

But this time she couldn’t gloss over it.

“I think it’s great that you tried so hard, despite not really caring about winning.”
“Did I really try my best?”

Alisa worriedly asked.

“You really were giving it your all.”

Marika gently, clearly, confirmed it for Alisa.

“I see. I’m glad...”

A weight Alisa was unaware of disappeared from her shoulders.

For Alisa, this was the moment the match finally ended.

Chapter 5 – Premonition of a Rivalry

Monday, the day after Alisa’s first match. Nobody in the class Alisa belongs to, 1-A, asked her anything
about the match.

It was a competition against a rival school, but it was still an unofficial practice match, moreover, Crowd
Ball is currently a minor sport. Most students didn’t know the matches were held.

“Good morning, Juumonji-san.”

“Good morning, Kagari-kun.”

But Joui, who sits next to Alisa, knew she had the match. The day before the match he even said ‘I’ll go
cheer for you’. Alisa declined.

But today, Joui didn’t mention yesterday’s match.

Mei, who also knew in advance about the match, also didn’t bring it up.

They both acted like they didn’t really care, but they might have been just avoiding talking about Alisa’s
loss.

◇◇◇

It wasn’t like nobody touched on the subject of Alisa’s defeat though.

After school, after Alisa left the classroom and was on the stairs on the way to the library, someone
called her by the name “Juumonji-san” from behind.

“Izayoi-senpai.”

The one to call out to her, as if aiming for the moment when Alisa was completely alone, was Souma.

“Are you going to the library?”

“Yes. You too, senpai?”

“No, a teacher called me in to talk about something.”

“I see.”

Who called him and why, Alisa didn’t ask. Maybe it’s heartless, but she isn’t that interested in Souma.

That said, she felt it was pretty bad to say ‘Okay then, bye’ and leave. Also, the staircase between the
second and first floor is like a straight path. Alisa was forced to stay walking with Souma as a result of
her half-hearted decisions.

Because of that, it was Souma who continued the conversation.

“You were pretty close yesterday, huh.”

“Did you watch it?”

Alisa asked him, her voice revealing her surprise. She had no recollection of seeing Souma at the Magic
University the day before.

“I didn’t have much time, so I only caught the last set. It was while you were playing, so you probably
didn’t notice because I left as soon as it ended.”

“So that’s why. Thank you for going out of your way to watch. Forgive me for showing you an improper
match despite taking your time to be there to support me.”

“It wasn’t improper at all. Your decision to change your magic to something simpler in the middle was
splendid.”

Alisa was even more surprised by this detail Souma brought up than by him having seen her. And that
someone noticed her ingenuity made her unexpectedly happy.

“...Thank you very much.”

“Don’t mention it. Juumonji-san, Crowd Ball seems to suit you quite well.”

These words though, she couldn’t honestly accept so delightfully.

“Why do you think so?”

“In Crowd Ball, magic isn’t used to attack. I think it’s perfect for a nonaggressive defender like you to
train your magic skills.”

“Nonaggressive defender...”

That way of phrasing it might be too unusual, as Alisa started chuckling.

“So you knew I can’t use offensive magic.”

“I think that’s just fine, don’t you? Not everyone needs to be the hero. The party needs healers too.

“Party? Healer?”

“You don’t know RPGs?”

“I’m never played them, but I’ve heard a little about them... Izayoi-senpai, do you have an interest in
games?”

“Just a bit. Well now, see you later.”

Once they arrived at the first floor, Souma headed towards the corridor that leads to the faculty room.

“Ah, yes. Excuse me.”

Since she needed to go outside to go to the library, Alisa went towards the entryway.

◇◇◇

After school in the Second Gymnasium, nicknamed ‘Arena’. On Mondays, like today, it is practice day for
the Magic Arts Club and Kenjutsu Club. It can’t be said it’s big enough for the two clubs to share, but
both clubs are already used to it. They figure it how to do it amongst themselves.

“Tookami, you’re even more motivated than usual today.”

The Club President of the women’s division, Kitahata Chika, called out to Marika who was hitting a
dummy with a combination of punches and kicks. Today, she is her usual manly self.

“Ah, you don’t need to stop.”

Chika said to Marika, who was about to turn around and respond.

“No.”

But Marika stopped hitting the dummy and turned to Chika.

“This is just the right time.”

As proof that Marika’s words were the truth, a timer set up on the dummy’s head was showing a zero.

“Alright then. Tookami, did something happen this weekend?”

The way Chika sees it, Marika’s spirit is different from when they practiced last Friday. It was natural to
assume there was some motive for this.

“I went to support the Crowd Ball Club yesterday.”

“Ah. The competition with Third High, was it?”

As could be understood by her words, Chika knew about yesterday’s competition.

“I noticed a girl that looked interesting there.”

“Noticed? You didn’t talk with her?”

“Right. She came to support Third High, and there was no chance for us to talk.”

“Oh? What kind of girl was she?”

Chika asked with growing interest.

“Let me see... Let me borrow the blackboard for a minute.”

Marika walked to the electronic blackboard placed close to the wall. It has a large display that uses a
large colored electronic ink display.

She picked up the electronic pen and began drawing the girl’s likeness on the electronic blackboard.

Chika let out a “Oh” with a different meaning, revealed her admiration. It was line art with just black,
but it was realistic, well drawn and quick to a surprising degree. It looks like she could even make a living
as a portrait artist. This was the moment Marika’s unexpected talent became known to anyone other
than Alisa.

“...She was like this.”

When she saw who was drawn on the portrait, Chika immediately knew who it was.

“Isn’t that Ichijou Akane?”

“You know who she is?”

“Rather, why don’t you know?”

Looking amazed, Chika sent the question back.

“She is the eldest daughter of Ichijou Family of the Ten Master Clans, and she was a semi-finalist in the
women’s division at last year’s Magic Arts tournament in the Chubu region.”

“If that was last year, she was still a middle schooler, right?”

“Yeah. She’s become quite the hot topic in the Magic Arts community, the ‘supernova in the world of
women’s Magic Arts’.”

Marika felt a little embarrassed due to Chika’s dumbfounded look.

“Last year I was studying really hard for the entrance exams, so... I didn’t have any time to look at news
about areas I’m not involved with.”
“I get it. I guess that would be the case.”

Luckily, Chika believed it and didn’t make fun of her either.

“Well, that said, your intuition wasn’t wrong. Though it’s not ‘looked interesting’, it’s ‘super
interesting’.”

The smile when she said that was a little mean.

“...Isn’t your grading of me too rigid?”

“It’s important to have the insight to determine your opponent’s abilities.”

“I only saw her from far away.”

“Wasn’t it just enough distance to tell she wasn’t an ordinary person?”

Marika was at a loss of words.

Chika grinned, looking like he was having great fun.

“I have video recordings of Ichijou Akane’s matches. Want to watch?”

“Yes please!”

Marika’s reply was instantaneous.

When she saw Marika readily jump at the opportunity, Chika giggled with a smile of a different variety
than she had until then.

“In that case, we should probably gather everyone who wants to watch tomorrow in the club room.”

“Understood! I’ll go talk to all the first years about it!”

“Don’t be in such a hurry. We can just tell them at the meeting after practice.”

“Ah, you’re right, ahahah...”

She was probably embarrassed from anticipating it so much, but she put on a deceiving smile.

“Are you that excited?”

But unfortunately, Chika wasn’t that easy of an opponent.

“I’m going back to practice!”

Marika didn’t do anything foolish like continuing to resist Chika’s assault, choosing to retreat instead.

◇◇◇
After school, Alisa went to the library. Her objective is to study by herself until Marika’s club activities
end. Since last month, when Marika joined the Magic Arts Club and Alisa joined the Crowd Ball Club, it
became a habit for Alisa to wait in the classroom or the library on Mondays, as their time to go home
didn’t match.

The library is divided into large reading rooms and self-study rooms. There are no open access
bookshelves full of books filling the library, which are a symbol of libraries of the past century. Except for
the books held in the underground storage room, all of them have been converted into digital format
and can be read in each student’s personal terminal.

Among the reading rooms, there is a room where students can read valuable books and papers
belonging to the Magic University. However, the use of this room requires special permission, so
students almost never use it.

On the other hand, any student can use the self-study rooms, though it is first come, first served. These
rooms are very similar to the ones in school libraries in the last century.

Though that being said, the seats in these rooms are rarely completely filled. It is the practice rooms and
experiment rooms that are usually filled. Whether it is a classroom for general or specialized subjects,
they have private terminals for students, so the library’s self-study rooms that require procedures to
rent information devices like tablet terminals or notebook terminals are not very popular.

Alisa doesn’t use the self-study rooms in the library because she can concentrate better that way. It was
so that she could read books as soon as she got tired of studying, a reason inconsistent with the purpose
of the room. From the start, her number one objective is to pass time while waiting for Marika. In short,
it’s to waste time.

Alisa rented a notebook terminal at the counter and entered a self-study room, then she looked around
for an empty seat. She then happened to make eye contact with a boy she had just recently come to
know. Alisa decided to sit next to the boy who raised his hand slightly when he noticed her.

“Hello, Karatachibana-kun. Can I seat here?”

She chose to sit next to Mamoru, but there’s no deep meaning to it. It was simply because their eyes
met. Alisa felt it was rude and unfriendly to pick a seat away from him after they both became aware
that they were there.

“Of course.”

Mamoru replied with a smile to Alisa’s formal permission request. And as for Alisa, she would smile even
if it wasn’t Mamoru.

“Karatachibana-kun, do you come to the library often?”

It was just a coincidence that they met in this self-study room the week before. Maybe she just hadn’t
noticed him before that. Alisa thought that and asked Mamoru about it. Not even for an instant did Alisa
misunderstand that he was waiting for her.

“Yeah. I’ve always liked the atmosphere in libraries. In my hometown there’s still a library with books
lined up.”

“You mean paper books?”

There was sizable surprise in Alisa’s question.

“Yeah, that’s right. The smell of paper made me feel really calm. It’s unfortunate that the library here
doesn’t have that smell. But still, I can feel the air has the same nature.”

“I see... Is your home far away?”

Nowadays, libraries that have open access bookshelves with paper books are rare. Alisa’s curiosity lead
to her question, it wasn’t because she was interested in Mamoru’s private life.

“I’m not sure if I would call it far... It’s in Ashikaga.”

But Mamoru’s response sounded like he was a little embarrassed. Consciously or not, he definitely had
the wrong idea.

“What about you, do you come here often?”

Mamoru abruptly changed the topic because he didn’t want those weird feelings any longer.

“Me? I only come here on Mondays.”

The other party in the conversation, Alisa, didn’t seem to notice those feelings.

“My friend has club activities on Mondays, so I’m waiting for that to end.”

“When you say friend, are you talking about Tookami-san?”

“Karatachibana-kun, you know Mina?”

Alisa found it surprising that Mamoru would know about Marika. Mamoru isn’t in any club. He isn’t the
sporty type, and he gives the impression that he isn’t at all involved with combat sports.

“Mina? You mean Tookami-san? Then I know about her. You two are the only first years to be chosen
for the Public Morals Committee, and even if you weren’t, you two stand out.”

Knowing because she’s in the Public Morals Committee is a story that Alisa could believe.

“What stands out about us?”

But she didn’t immediately understand this part.

“Eh, well...”

“Well?”

Alisa kept piling on the questions on Mamoru, who looked hesitant to say anything. Alisa wasn’t
particularly worried enough that she had to keep asking him questions either. She just asked for ‘no
reason’. In fact, when Alisa first met Mamoru, she kept troubling him with successive questions like this
too, but she had forgotten about that.

“...”

“...”

Alisa stared at Mamoru who was avoiding looking at her in the eye.

Though Alisa didn’t mean it that way, the gaze of a beautiful girl puts pressure on most boys.

“Umm... It’s just that you’re pretty and Tookami-san is cute...”

Mamoru turned red when he gave up and confessed.

Luckily for him, Alisa isn’t the type to get carried away because of this.

“Ah... Umm, sorry.”

Alisa apologized awkwardly.

“And... Thank you.”

But because she shily said that while looking away, Mamoru was ultimately not spared from the massive
damage.

As a result, Alisa became even more embarrassed.

“By the way, Karatachibana-kun, what are you studying?”

And to dispel the bittersweet but uncomfortable atmosphere, Alisa asked the most usual question she
could in this room.

“Ah, umm, I was doing civics homework.”

The use of magic is severely restricted by law. Because of that, magic high schools emphasize education
in civics over geography and history compared to general high schools, and education in the legal field is
regarded as especially important. While legal education regarding the use of magic is a general subject,
in a magic high school it is tinged with some specialized subject characteristics.

“The one that is to be delivered by next week?”

Today is May 25th. The monthly practical skill exams are the day after tomorrow. Alisa had decided that
there was no point in rushing to prepare for the exams now, but even so, she didn’t feel like making
progress on the homework which has a deadline on next Monday right before the practical skill exams.
— That is, until she heard Mamoru’s answer.

“...Can you help me, Karatachibana-kun?”

Among the general subjects, Alisa’s strong point is science. She is particularly good at chemistry and
biology. If this was a world without magic, she might have been called a ‘science girl’.

Conversely, she knows she is not very good at liberal arts. She is good at memorizing, but complex
sentences make her flinch. Among the things Alisa is not good at, homework requiring essays about law
are the worst.

Incidentally, Marika is even worse at it. The practical exams were not the only reason they both put off
doing this assignment.

“I’m not too confident either, but... Should we do it together?”

“Yes, let’s do our best.”

Alisa, who had involuntarily been putting on the pressure with her gaze, nodded with a relieved
expression.

But when it comes to ‘relieved’, it must have been far greater for Mamoru who escaped the pressure
from the beautiful girl.

◇◇◇

Marika received a mail from Alisa, who was waiting at the library. She should head to the library as soon
as practice in the Magic Arts Club ends, as she did until last week, but for this week only she’s making a
detour.

Her destination is the geometry preparation room on the third floor of the experiments building.

The person she came to see is the teacher of class 1-B, Kitou Tomohiko.

“Excuse me. I’m Tookami from class 1-B.”

“Come in.”

Marika opened the door after being granted permission. She took a quick look around the room before
she went in. Marika became relieved there was nobody in there other than Kitou and then came inside.

“Sensei, may I ask something about the range of topics in the practical exams in two days?”

Marika didn’t return to the geometry preparation room because she wanted to be alone with Kitou. She
just wanted a high score at the fast approaching monthly practical skills exams by any means necessary.
Specifically, she wants to be in the top 25 in her year. Each class has 25 students, so if she is within the
top 25, she’ll join class A. If that happens, he’ll be in the same class as Alisa —.

Put simply, Marika is doing her utmost because she wants to become Alisa’s classmate.

“You don’t have to be that formal. Like you said, the exams are very soon so I can’t give you practical
guidance, but if it is just a verbal question, I can help whenever.”

“Thank you very much. Honestly, I don’t really understand the theory behind frequency control. The
swaying motion of a pendulum is periodical by nature, isn’t it? So then why do we need a process to
maintain the amplitude?”

Maybe because Kitou allowed it, Marika’s tone became slightly informal while still retaining the
politeness.

“The theory is related to physics and mathematics, not magic. To start, it is a necessary condition for a
pendulum that it maintains its isochronism...”

Kitou explained while drawing a diagram on the electronic blackboard. He didn’t draw it by hand, he did
it entirely with CG in a program. Kitou’s tone is firm, but the explanation polite. But Marika still can’t
understand it well.

It’s understandable. Present day middle school doesn’t teach in this much detail and they haven’t yet
reached this part in the standard high school physics curriculum. There are no doubt many students who
don’t have questions, who don’t realize they have questions, at this stage. Just by thinking ‘Why?’, it can
be said Marika deeply understands it.

But still, as a result of about ten minutes of Kitou’s fervent teaching, Marika reached one conclusion.

“So basically, pendulums like the ones used in practice that are just hanging don’t have a fixed period
unless the amplitude is very small.”

“Correct. For now, it’s good enough that you understand that.”

“Okay. I don’t really get the theory, but I understand why it’s needed to have the process for
maintaining the amplitude in the Activation Sequence. Now I should be able to use the magic without
giving it too much thought.”

Satisfied, Kitou nodded to Marika’s words.

“As a mathematics teacher I want you to understand the theory properly, but from the standpoint of
magic practical skills, that much is fine. Doubt is a big obstacle to magic, so it’s important to understand
the magic you’re using.”

“Yes. Thank you very much. If you’ll excuse me.”

Marika bowed to Kitou, looking refreshed, and left the geometry preparation room.
It was a few minutes after Marika left. A call came in on Kitou’s terminal, who was in the geometry
preparation room preparing to go home. After confirming that the door to the preparation room was
closed, he deployed a soundproof field around himself and pressed the answer button.

“...Yes, that’s right. There is no doubt that Tookami was the one who came with the questions... Even
without my Lord’s instructions, as a teacher, I have the duty to respond to student’s desire to learn...
Don’t worry so much. As it is, I feel I’m winning her trust. How is it going for you?... No, I don’t think all
girl students are looking for love. Just because they get close to a particular boy doesn’t mean it will be a
hindrance. Rather, it’s more dangerous to be too impatient. Yeah, let’s talk in more detail later.”

With the call over, Kitou cancelled the soundproof field and resumed his preparations to leave.

◇◇◇

Just as she left the experiments building, Marika received a message on her terminal. It was a message
from Alisa. It said that she was waiting for her in the lobby of the library.

(Oh no. Did I make her wait too much?)

Marika started to run. On the way, she passed by a boy who came out of the library, but she didn’t have
the time to care about who he was.

“Sorry, did I make you wait!?”

Marika said that almost at the same time as Alisa got up from the bench.

“I didn’t wait that long. Sorry, I made you hurry here. It was time for the study room to close.”

“Eh, it’s already that late!?”

Flustered, Marika looked at a clock. For sure, it was already almost time for the gates to close.

“I’m really sorry.”

“I already said it’s fine. Anyway, let’s go home?”

“Yeah.”

Alisa and Marika simultaneously joined their hands. It was a natural thing for them. Thankfully most
students had already left school, so there was nobody to give them strange looks. The two left through
the school gates like that and headed to the station.

“Did the club drag on that much?”

Alisa asked Marika on the way. It was not a tone of criticism at all. Magic Arts Club practice had never
prolonged that much, so she was simply curious.

“Eh, uh, yeah.”

“...What are you so flustered about?”

“Ah, I’m not flustered or anything. Umm, truth is... I went to ask sensei a question.”

“By sensei, you mean the teacher in charge of class B, Kitou-sensei?”

“Yeah.”

Marika nodded with an expression that felt somewhat similar to resignation.

Alisa wondered why she had that expression on her face. A little like she’s feeling guilty about
something...

But Alisa couldn’t ask Marika about it.

“Why so suddenly? I would have gone with you if you went tomorrow or any day.”

What Alisa asked about was something different.

“Eh?”

But Marika was unexpectedly shaken by that question.

“Ah, uh? Ahahah... I wonder why?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Alisa responded, sounding exasperated.

(She wanted to meet the teacher all by herself... There’s no way, right?)

Alisa laughed off the suspicions that passed through her mind.

◇◇◇

After eating dinner and bathing, Alisa was studying in her room when the Vidiphone rang, signaling a
call. The caller was Marika.

Alisa pressed the answer button without hesitating.

“What’s wrong? Did you forget anything?”

She then asked that to Marika when she appeared on the monitor.

“No, it’s nothing. Were you busy?”

“It’s fine. I was just studying.”

Considering the duty of a student, that no doubt falls under ‘busy’, but neither Alisa herself nor Marika
questioned that answer.
“Come to think of it, what did you go ask Kitou-sensei? The contents of the practical skills exams were
already posted.”

Though she said they were posted, that doesn’t mean on a physical notice board in the school building.
It was published in the student website, which she idiomatically called ‘posted’.

“Did you go show him what you’ve accomplished with ‘stillness’?”

Alisa heard from Marika herself that she received guidance from Kitou regarding ‘stillness’, a
Movement-Type Magic practical skills task.

“No way.”

On the monitor, Marika slightly shook the palms of her hands sideways.

“They can’t give me practical skills guidance this close to the exams.”

“So there’s that too, huh?”

“He also warned me that he can answer questions, but not tutor me.”

It is not a weird word, but despite that Alisa felt uncomfortable at ‘tutor’. But she had a premonition
that it would blow up in her face if she tried figuring out what it was about that word that bothered her
so much, so she didn’t say anything.

“I asked him to give me an explanation for why the process of maintaining amplitude is included in the
frequency control magic.”

“Isn't that because the period of a simple pendulum changes as the width of its swing changes?”

Alisa tilted her head, her expression showing she didn’t understand what her doubts were.

“Hngh.”

Marika intentionally verbalized a phenomime and puffed her cheeks.

“What did I do!?”

Not understanding why she suddenly had this sulky expression, Alisa showed impatience.

“Anyway, I went to ask!”

“I-I see... So, did you settle it?”

“He said a lot of things, but I couldn’t understand the theory very well. But I understood the process for
maintaining amplitude really is necessary.”

“Isn’t that fine then? As long as you can use the magic, you don’t need the details of the theory.”
“Kitou-sensei also said the same thing.”

For some reason, Marika had a proud smile.

(Mina seems really attached to Kitou-sensei...)

Alisa’s thoughts revealed her shock. Alisa doesn’t know Marika’s attitude towards teachers after the first
year of middle school. During those days, the old Marika was a girl who didn’t show whether she liked or
disliked her teachers. She sometimes complained about ‘unpleasant teachers’ with her friends, but
personally she didn’t assume a rebellious attitude, nor did she ever get too close to them.

(After I came to Tokyo, did something happen that changed her attitude?)

If her attitude towards teachers in general changed, it’s not something worth worrying about.

(Or maybe it’s only Kitou-sensei that is special?)

But assuming that it is affection for a specific teacher, that would be a big problem.

(...There’s no way, right?)

“Asha, is something wrong?”

“I was thinking that not needing to understand the theory is a very problematic thing for a teacher to
say.”

Alisa misrepresented her own worries with a joke.

“Aha, you’re right.”

Luckily, Marika didn’t notice Alisa was unjustly suspicious of her.

“What were you doing, Asha?”

“After school?”

“Yeah, in the library.”

“I did civics homework.”

“The one about law?”

Alisa responded with Marika with a nod of her head. She felt a bit relieved — she didn’t realize she felt
that way because Marika didn’t ask ‘With who?’.

“Ueh, that... I haven’t even started it yet.”

“It’s fine. It wasn’t that bad once I tried it.”

“Uh... Can you help me when the practical skills exams end?”

Marika skillfully showcased her puppy eyes through the monitor.

When she has this face, Alisa is unconsciously filled with the desire to pamper her.

“Okay. I haven’t finished all of it either, so let’s do it together?”

“Yay!”

On the screen, Marika raised both her hands as if screaming ‘Banzai!’.

“When should we do it? Submission is Monday, so Sunday? Or maybe on Saturday, so we have a day of
leeway.”

“Before that we have the practical skill exams on Wednesday. Tomorrow’s club activities are
independent training for me. Want to prepare for it then?”

Marika responded with a pleasant smile, and Alisa proposed they prepare for the exams tomorrow.

“I’m sorry. I have a club meeting tomorrow after school.”

However, Marika turned her down.

“Did you mention that before...?”

“It was quickly decided today.”

The practical skills exams are not done by the entire student body at once. This month, first years do
them on Wednesday the 27th, the second years on the 28th and the third years on the 29th. The class
distribution is also announced on the morning after each exam day.

But despite being in preparation for the exams the next day, even if it’s only the first-year students,
they’re holding a special meeting? Alisa thought about it that way.

“Maybe it’ll end quickly, then if you still want...”

Marika looked like she felt guilty, perhaps she’s got the wrong idea that Alisa was blaming her. Thinking
that, Alisa made the brightest smile she could.

“It’s okay then. I’ll ask Mei about it.”

“Yeah, please do!”

Alisa’s smile seemed to have the planned effect.

Marika responded cheerfully, her expression freed from her worries.

◇◇◇
Tuesday 26th, after school.

In the clubroom of the Magic Arts Club on the second floor of the preparations building, all the first-year
and most of the second-year female students were gathering.

“Quite a lot of you here. I’m very impressed.”

And the only third-year student who came to the clubroom, Club President Chika, nodded with
satisfaction as she looked over the gathered members.

“Okay then, let’s begin.”

Chika didn’t prolong the introduction unnecessarily. Taking into account that tomorrow is the practical
skill exams for first years, they’re supposed to finish quickly.

The electronic blackboard that was carried here by the male club members switched to video mode.
Worth noting that the male members are not here. They were chased out, with “Today is for girls only”
as an excuse. Returning the electronic blackboard is also a job for the first-year male members after they
finish the practical skills exams tomorrow. The epitome of male exploitation, a tradition in Japanese
society, can also be found here.

The video shown on the electronic blackboard was a recording of a Martial Magic Arts bout. It’s from
last year’s tournament in Chubu.

“First up are the quarterfinals.”

Chika added a single sentence of exposition.

The height was not very different between the opponents facing each other. It is maybe about 5
centimeters of difference. But in terms of physique, one of them far outweighs the other. They felt
properly trained instead of being fat. The one with the lesser physique had the image of someone who’s
still growing, instead of being slim.

The match began. First they exchanged jabs. They both had upright stances and given that they looked
good at striking moves, they must be the striker type.

However, that impression was immediately discredited. The one with the large build pretended to go for
a combination blow by lowering her body, instead aiming to reap the legs with both hands. This fighter
is apparently more of an all-rounder.

The smaller fighter jumped lightly, just barely avoiding the tackle. No, it was tight timing, but it didn’t
feel like he was ever in any danger. Rather, it looked like she avoided it easily.

The smaller one kicked her opponent’s shoulder mid-jump. The distance between them grew
enormously from the recoil.
The person who received the kick was still standing in the same place. It could be seen by the way they
behaved that they were slightly concerned about their shoulder that was used as a foothold. It might
have received more damage than it looks.

“I think most of you know her, but the one who just dealt the kick is Ichijou Akane. It was found after the
match that the fighter who she kicked, Kotani, had a damaged acromioclavicular ligament on their right
shoulder.”

The ‘acromioclavicular ligament’ is a ligament that surrounds the acromioclavicular joint which connects
the shoulder blade and the collarbone. It is said that when the acromioclavicular joint takes damage, this
is the first part to be injured.

A commotion was spurred up among the members watching the video. It looked like Akane only kicked
lightly. But they understood that that kick, which it appeared like it was just a convenient way to
increase the distance, was accurately aimed at the tip of the collarbone. Nobody there had the carefree
thinking to assume it was a coincidence.

When the match on the screen, which had slowed down, picked up again, the club members became
quiet.

This time, Akane closed the distance. She appeared to be taking it easy while walking, but in a blink of an
eye she was within reaching distance.

Her opponent, Kotani, was not fully prepared for it, perhaps fooled by her relaxed appearance. Akane
pushed out her left hand to take advantage of this. She didn’t stop walking and right after putting her
left foot forward, she swinged her left hand like a whip. Her palm, not a fist, slapped Kotani in the face.

It didn’t look that powerful. However, Kotani bent backwards slightly, but clearly to the eye, and brought
her guard up.

As a result, Kotani’s upper body rose. At this point, because she left her stomach unguarded, Akane
stabbed into it with a front kick. The soft shoes used in Magic Arts are named ‘soft’ because there are
not hard parts in them, thus kicking with the tip of your toes is likely to hurt your feet. Nevertheless,
Akane’s front kick appeared to thrust the tip of her toes, probably because she added a movement like
she was squeezing in her toes right after hitting with the base of the toes — the so called ‘forefoot sole’.

Kotani’s body bent into the shape of the Japanese character ‘く’. She appeared to be going down like
that, but, as expected of someone who made it to the quarterfinals, she wouldn’t simply fall over. She
went for a tackle where she dove in from her position with her upper body falling down.

It was a surprise attack that ignored the damage received, to the point that some members watching the
recording involuntarily raised their voices. In truth, it was so quick it caused them to question whether
she was just pretending to be hurt.
But Akane read it this time as well. She dodged it so smoothly that it was impossible to assume anything
but that she knew it in advance. She sidestepped to the right, pushed away the opponent’s arm with her
left hand, pressed down on her back with her right hand and kicked her stomach from below with her
left foot.

Kotani cowered down on the mat in pain. The referee announced she was down. The count began.

Kotani got up at the count of eight.

Right then, Akane went into full-on offensive.

On the next down, Kotani could not get up again.

The video stopped right there. Chika looked at the other members and asked “Do you want to watch the
rest?”

A mood of indecision filled the room. Ichijou’s fighting style didn’t feel impactful enough to evoke fear in
the viewers. But it lacks any weak spots, to the point it can be

called magnificent, the kind that robs one of their self-confidence and breaks their heart. Rather than
‘supernova’, it seems more appropriate to call her fighting style that of a ‘queen’.

“Please let me see!”

But ignoring that atmosphere, Marika spoke up.

Seeing that Marika hadn’t just kept her fighting spirit, but was overflowing with it, both corners of
Chika’s mouth went up in satisfaction.

“Anyone who doesn’t want to watch, you can go home, ya know?”

Chika provoked the club members, other than Marika.

Not a single one of them left.

The recording of the semi-final ended with Akane giving up from a lock.

A relieved air flowed through the room. Perhaps seeing that it was true that Akane lost with their own
eyes, they were reassured that ‘by no means is she is an opponent I can’t win against’.

But Chika isn’t so kind to let things end like that.

“The one who beat Ichijou, Isogami, is known as an expert of locking techniques, and they went on to
win the final as well.”

She briefly stopped talking and looked around the clubroom to see if what she wanted to convey was
being transmitted. After confirming that the relaxed mood disappeared from their faces. She swung her
sword yet again.
“If Ichijou had fought in a way that didn’t allow Isogami to get close, the victory might have gone the
other way... Tookami.”

Chika called out Marika’s name, who still had a bright light shining in her eyes.

“How would you fight her?”

“I would go for an exchange of blows.”

The other club members were taken by surprise when they heard Marika’s answer. They were expecting
to hear her say ‘I’ll grapple her or something’.

“You would fight on the battleground your opponent is best at?”

Chika, looking amused, kept questioning her. No surprise was on her face.

“It is my best battleground.”

“Hahahahaha...”

Chika laughed out loud. This way of laughing could be described well as a ‘hearty laugh’.

“You’re not going to take those words back, right?”

“I have no intention of taking them back.”

“Alright. I’m going to work you to the bone, aiming for the national tournament in late August.”

“Yes, please!”

The other members were astounded by the exchange between Chika and Marika.

◇◇◇

Once the meeting was over, Marika rushed to the classroom of class 1-A. She had arranged to meet Alisa
as well as Mei there.

“I’m sorry, I ran late.”

“You’re finally here, huh.”

The one to respond to the loudly apologizing Marika was Mei. Contrary to the superficial meaning of her
words, her tone wasn’t bitter at all.

“I’m reeally sorry.”

Marika lowered her head and joined her hands together above it. It wasn’t the posture of a serious
apology.
“Mei, please forgive her.”

Alisa, mediating between them, was also half laughing.

“You’re right, we don’t have much time. As long as you get me something next time we go to Einebrise.”

“I will definitely treat you to something.”

Marika deliberately humbled herself to Mei’s self-important remarks. Put simply, this was a joke among
fellow high school girls.

Alisa and Mei stood up and left the classroom along with Marika. The girls went to Mei’s house without
making detours on the way there.

The three of them headed straight to the training facility when they arrived at the Isori Family house.
The practical skills exams are tomorrow, after all.

Mei had been waiting in the classroom because she was exempted from the Student Council duties to
prepare for tomorrow’s monthly exams. Suddenly holding a meeting (a pretense for watching a video)
like the Magic Arts Club did is most certainly unusual.

“...Isn’t this just fine? You’ve at least passed the reference points for every task.”

After having finished the tasks, Mei gave a general comment on the results.

“Really? I’m so glaad!”

Marika shouted in joy because of Mei’s review.

“Alisa, you don’t seem to have any issues either. Well, in your case, you can practice at home as well.”

“No, this really helped. I can’t properly set up things at home like they are at school.”

Alisa showed Mei her gratitude with a smile.

“Good for you, it looks like you’ll be in the same class next month.”

“You too, right Mei?”

Alisa quipped at Mei, who had spoken like she was unrelated.

“Of course.”

But Mei was not perturbed. She was fully confident that Alisa and Marika were very grateful to her.

“It would be good if Koharu came too.”

“And Hiyori as well.”

Marika and Alisa talked about their friends that weren’t there with them.

“There’s nothing we can do if it doesn’t fit their schedule. They both live with their families, so they have
a lot to do.”

Mei looked a little disappointed as she said that. She invited them during lunch today, but both Koharu
and Hiyori declined, as they already had plans.

“Either way, let’s do our best tomorrow.”

To wrap things up, the three of them attempted the tasks they were least good at once more.

Chapter 6 – One Thing After Another

The morning of Thursday.

“I’m soo glad...”

In the classroom of class 1-B, Marika was not shouting with joy, instead letting out a murmur of relief
from being released from the tension.

On the screen of her open terminal, the results of the practical skill exams were displayed, along with
the class she’s assigned to.

◇◇◇

“Marika, congratulations for rising to class A.”

“That’s really good for you, Marika-san.”

During the lunch break at the cafeteria, Marika was receiving the blessings of her friends who
surrounded the same table.

“Thank you. Ehehe, I finally got to the same class as Asha.”

Though bashful, Marika didn’t hide her joy. As she said herself, her two-month long wish of being in the
same class as Alisa has finally come true, and she has been thoroughly enjoying the feeling since this
morning.

“You all did great too. Congratulations.”

And Marika shared the joy with all her friends.

Everyone had great results in yesterday’s monthly practical skills exams. Marika will be rising to class A,
and Alisa and Mei maintained their class A status. Incidentally, Joui, who is not present, also remained in
class A.
Koharu and Hiyori will be in class C next month. Koharu was in class B last month so she looked a little
unsatisfied from being unable to return, but she was honestly pleased for rising to an upper class.

“Everyone else has a day off from your club activities too, right?”

Mei, who is part of both the Student Council and the Track and Field Club, asked them. Tomorrow is the
practical skill exams for the second-year students.10 As far as the Student Council knows, all the sports
clubs and almost all of the cultural clubs too were scheduled to take a break from their activities.

10 In the previous chapter it was claimed that the second years had their exams for this month on the
same day the first years got their results. The ones taking their exams tomorrow should be the third
years. This is probably a mistake by the author.

Marika was the first to nod to Mei’s question, followed by Alisa and Hiyori.

“The Bike Club isn’t taking a break, but participation is always voluntary, so I can take a day off.”

The last one was Koharu, who replied, looking a bit uneasy.

“Then how about we celebrate after school at Einebrise?”

“Okay with me, but what about the Student Council?”

Alisa asked Mei, based on her proposal. Most clubs are taking a break from club activities, but the
Student Council should be a different matter. There is the daily routine work to be done.

“I’ll finish it within an hour.”

Mei replied with no hesitation. Maybe the practical skill exams were somewhat stressful for her too.

“If that is enough, then we can wait for you, but...”

Is that really doable? Alisa’s look was asking that.

“Will you wait for me then? I’ll join with you later for sure.”

Mei once again had no hesitation in her tone.

Alisa reckoned that if Mei is saying it like that, she probably didn’t need to worry about it.

“Then we’ll be leaving first.”

Marika told Mei, with a tone that said that having the celebration was a settled matter.

Fortunately, neither Koharu nor Hiyori seemed to have objections.

◇◇◇
As they were to meet up at Einebrise, Alisa and Marika went to the store ahead of everyone else and
secured a table. It was luckily not packed today, but just to be sure they informed the master that they
‘want to have a celebration’ and got his permission. The master said “I can’t reserve the whole store on
the day, but you can use the table in the back as you wish” and put a ‘reserved’ sign on the table next to
where Alisa and Marika sat down as well.

It was not long after that that three people came in.

Koharu, Hiyori, and a quiet-looking male student.

“Is it okay for one more to come?”

Hiyori put her hands on the boy’s sleeve and asked Alisa and Marika.

“It’s fine but... Who is he?”

It was Marika who asked. Alisa was surprised and stared with her eyes wide open.

“This is Karatachibana-kun, from our class.”

As soon as she heard that, Marika glared, her eyes shining. Marika had forgotten Mamoru’s face, who
she once glanced at when he was with Alisa, but she remembered very well the name she heard from
her best friend.

“Uh, what is it?”

As for Mamoru, he didn’t understand why Marika was looking at him like that. He was perplexed over
why he had to be glared at by a beautiful girl he just met for the first time.

“...Maybe I would just be a nuisance?”

As a result of that thought, Mamoru had only one thing in mind.

“I knew it, I shouldn’t have come.”

He didn’t come here because he himself wanted to in the first place, Hiyori just caught him when he was
about to leave and dragged him here against his will.

Mamoru didn’t have the courage to be the boy who crashes a girl’s party by himself. He took Marika’s
unwelcomeness as an opportunity to try to escape from here.

“I told you, it’s fine.”

But Hiyori didn’t let Mamoru go.

“Right, Alisa.”

“Y-yeah.”
Suddenly talked to, Alisa reflexively nodded.

And Mamoru couldn’t disregard Alisa. No, even if it wasn’t Alisa, he was so unaccustomed to girls that
he couldn’t ignore them.

“But...”

Mamoru’s eyes were turned towards Marika.

Alisa followed his line of sight and realized the kind of look Marika was pointing at Mamoru.

“Mina, this is the first time you’re meeting Karatachibana-kun, isn’t it?”

So when she saw those eyes, she softly warned her.

Marika couldn’t ignore Alisa. She couldn’t even pretend she didn’t understand. Deep inside she was
reluctant, but she gave Mamoru a welcoming smile, as if her attitude until then was just a mistake.

“I am Alisa’s number one best friend, Tookami Marika.”

In a cute, almost flirty voice, Marika introduced herself to Mamoru. In her voice was hidden something
different — forcefulness, blatant cunning.

Easily understood that Marika was restraining herself, Mamoru’s cheeks stiffened.

“Okay. I understand. I am Karatachibana from class D.”

Mamoru tried his hardest to sound normal and managed to finish his self-introduction without
stuttering. He tried to express ‘I have no particular relationship with Juumonji-san’ and ‘I have no
intention of fighting over Juumonji-san’, but he wasn’t confident it got through to Marika.

The air between the two is full of tension — Marika is the one letting out the pressure, Mamoru is a
complete victim — and Alisa, unable to stand it, made eye contact with Hiyori and asked “Why did you
bring Karatachibana-kun?”

“I brought him because he seemed to have free time. You don’t mind, right? We’ve studied together
too.”

But Hiyori didn’t appear to care at all about the pressure emanating from Marika and said so
nonchalantly.

It was an answer for Alisa, and at the same time, a question for Marika.

“Sure, fine. It wasn’t a girls-only party anyway, right?”

When pressed directly like this, not even Marika could deny him.

“Karatachibana-kun, take a seat.”

With a smile — an insincere one, of course — Marika urged Mamoru to sit down.

Alisa and Marika were sitting next to each other.

First, Hiyori put the other table next to theirs, turning their four-seat table into an eight-seat table, and
sat down next to Alisa. Koharu hesitated a little, finally sitting in front of Marika.

“Karatachibana-kun, you sit there.”

The seat Hiyori indicated for Mamoru was in front of Alisa.

On the surface Marika looked calm, but Alisa knew she wanted to say something about it.

“Just until Mei arrives, okay?”

But when that was said, Marika had to agree to it.

“What shall we order?”

By Hiyori’s initiative, the mood of the night before of a war cooled down before the war actually started.

They decided as a group to order sweets after Mei arrived. But even with only drinks, the chatter of the
high school girls got lively. Mamoru didn’t look comfortable, but when talked to, he gave sensible
responses and in his own way made the place livelier.

Also, Mamoru only seemed to be having fun when he was talking to Alisa. Alisa didn’t seem to be that
dissatisfied.

It wasn’t just Marika who thought like that. Marika’s frustration became more intense every time Alisa
and Mamoru exchanged words and smiled, but Hiyori, in contrast, became more excited. Only Koharu
was out of the loop, but she was unaware of that.

Hiyori brought Mamoru with her because she felt he and Alisa had a certain pleasant mood. And
currently, that mood is continuing as she expected. Perhaps it is in Hiyori’s nature to be a matchmaker.

But neither Alisa nor Mamoru have the kind of feelings for each other that Marika and Hiyori are
thinking they do right now. Marika was just overthinking, and Hiyori was just getting excited by herself.
This sort of unpalatable situation lasted until Mei joined them.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

As Mei said herself, she joined them within an hour, to be precise, in 56 minutes.

As Mamoru heard everyone other than him reply to her voice, he stood up to give her his seat.

He then turned to her and said “Please, take a seat”.

But as far as Mei is concerned, a boy she doesn’t know just suddenly talked to her in a friendly way. This
wouldn’t be that confusing if it was a downtown ladies’ man, but the friends who she was scheduled to
meet were having a friendly talk with this stranger.

“Umm, who are you?”

So this kind of reaction coming from Mei was presumably inevitable.

“Ah...”

When she looked at him with suspicion, Mamoru thought ‘I’ve been careless’. Swept away by the mood
— mainly, he let himself be influenced by Hiyori — he fell into the illusion that they were all friends, but
in reality Koharu was just a classmate he didn’t talk with much until yesterday, and for Marika it was
essentially they first time they’ve met. While he knows this girl is a member of the Student Council, it’s
only him that knows her, and looking from the other side he was just a complete stranger who is
wearing a First High uniform.

“I should have introduced myself sooner, I’m Karatachibana from class 1-D.”

When he said that, Mei realized she had been impolite and became a little embarrassed.

“No, I should have too. I’m Isori from class 1-A. If you’re in class D, that means you’re a friend of
Hiyori’s? Or maybe Koharu’s?”

“Just classmate would probably be closer than friend. Sengoku-san dragged me here today.”

From the point of view of an outsider, what he said smelled like an excuse. But Mei easily accepted it.
She does seem like she would do that, that is the impression Mei has of Hiyori.

Also, it was entirely factual in this case.

“Karatachibana-kun. Since you’re already here, why don’t you stay a bit longer? Today we’re celebrating
the end of the monthly exams.”

Mei relaxed her tone and attitude and suggested him to stay.

“Alright.”

Mamoru also tore down his frank attitude.

He had no reason to refuse, so he sat down in front of Hiyori.

Mei sat in front of Alisa and everyone placed their orders again. From then on, the five girls shared
sweets and talked about their thoughts, and Mamoru devoted himself to silently listening. Mamoru was
only addressed when asked about which class he would be in next month, but the conversation didn’t
go any further when he said he would be in class B. Mamoru would be the only one there who would be
in class B next month.
...Looking at it objectively, it was probably a waste of time for Mamoru. But at least Marika’s hatred
towards him didn’t increase any further.

◇◇◇

On Friday, with the third-year students’ practical skills exams having finished, club activities were held as
usual.

Upon finishing practice in the Magic Arts Club, and before joining up with Alisa, Marika went to the
geometry preparation room on the third floor of the preparations building.

“Excuse me. It’s Tookami.”

She said her name while opening the door. The exams were already over, so she didn’t think there was
any issue.

Also, Marika didn’t say her class when she gave her name. She unconsciously believed that even if she
didn’t say it, ‘sensei’ would recognize who she is.

“Come in.”

Kitou invited Marika in. Like always, there were no teachers other than him in the preparation room at
this time.

With a smile, Marika stood in front of Kitou, who remained sat on his chair.

“Sensei. I’ve gone up to class A.”

“I know. You’ve done well.”

As he looked up from his chair, Kitou congratulated Marika on her efforts with a calm smile.

“It’s all thanks to you, sensei. Thank you so much.”

“If there is anything you don’t understand, come ask me again.”

Kitou said to the enthusiastically bowing Marika.

“Is that okay!?”

Marika raised her head and asked with a look that couldn’t hide her surprise.

“I won’t be in charge of next month’s practical skills, but my position as a first-year teacher hasn’t
changed. Don’t hesitate if you have any questions.”

“Yes. I’ll be relying on you.”

Looking happy, Marika lowered her head once more.

◇◇◇

The last Sunday of the month. Souma was visiting a residential area near the center of the region of
Tama. At the end of a complicated road there was a mansion with a look that made it feel it had history.
That was his destination. On the nameplate, most likely handwritten in Chinese ink, was the name
‘Anzai’.

Souma stood in front of the gate, not using the intercom and instead heading straight into the residence
and introducing himself with his full name.

He didn’t speak very loudly. Just spoke a little louder than for normal conversations. The closed gates
hiding the house, obviously, should remain closed. It didn’t look like a voice with that volume would ever
reach.

Despite that, the gate opened from the inside without waiting for too long. On the other side was a
person who probably opened the gate. Souma knew it was a servant who guards the gate of this
mansion. The owner of this place must have the power and wealth to be able to continue with such old-
fashioned customs in modern times.

Souma and the gatekeeper gave each other a nod as a greeting. In the sense that they obey the owner
of this mansion, Souma and the gatekeeper are associates. The roles they have been bestowed are
different, but neither is above the other. The only one who stands above them is the owner of the
residence.

He followed the cobblestone path with shrubbery planted on both sides and the elegant two-story
building came into sight. The retro look is modelled after the residences of the nobility from the late
19th century. Its appearance makes one feel the weight of history, but in truth this building was rebuilt
about 20 years ago.

When Souma stood in front of the entrance, the door opened immediately from the inside. This too was
operated by human hand. Using manpower over machines is already a kind of extravagance. In the next
century, it likely will increasingly become more of an upper-class privilege. Even if that happens, the
owner of this mansion will without a doubt continue to employ servants.

“I have come, in accordance with my Lord’s summons.”

Souma informed the female servant who opened the door about his reason for coming.

The maid, who appeared to be a little over 40 years of age, bowed politely to Souma as she said “I have
heard you would come” and led him to a reception room.

The western-style reception room is spacious. The dignified furniture is arranged just as needed and
there is nothing that gives a disorderly impression. Souma knew that the other rooms were treated in
the same luxurious way that one wouldn’t expect from a place near the city center.
Despite all appearances, this is a secondary residence. ‘Lord’s’ main house is in Ashiya. They built a
house here because ‘the lower ranked influential people are gathering in Tokyo, so it is more convenient
to have a house in Tokyo’.

Souma’s master, Anzai Isao, also known as ‘Lord’, is a ‘mastermind’ of this county, so to speak. He is a
part of the top group of people who operate in the shadows, no, that control the shadows.

As Souma was waiting in the reception room with his back straightened up, another visitor was led into
the room. Souma stood up and silently bowed to the man eight years older than him.

That man was First High School’s teacher in charge of practical skills for class 2-B as well as 1-B, Kitou
Tomohiko.

Kitou returned a light bow to Souma. Afterwards he sat down on the sofa in silence.

After seeing that with his own eyes, Souma also returned to his original sitting position. They did not
talk. This is the inside of ‘Lord’s’ residence. Even if they both serve Anzai, having a conversation without
their master’s permission would be disrespectful of them, even downright rude.

The time for the appointment arrived.

Anzai appeared right on time. He is a tall, slim man in his late fifties to early sixties. Neither Souma nor
Kitou know details of his identity, including his exact age. It is likely that only a small number of people in
this country know. He had a rough style, only wearing a jacket on top of a shirt and no tie, but that
doesn’t undermine Anzai’s dignity.

“Both of you, thank you for coming.”

He had a friendly tone, but his voice naturally pressures them to bow their heads. There was a possibility
that the pressure was just a reflection of their preconception of the power he holds, but neither of them
were willing to try it out.

“My Lord, we will be here any time you call for us.”

Kitou responded to Anzai as their representative. Anzai hates the pompous wording, but even that he
suppressed. In fact, Anzai reluctantly accepts being addressed as ‘Lord’ to distinguish him from other
‘masterminds’ of the same rank.

“Raise your heads.”

With Anzai’s command, they both straightened themselves.

“Your reports.”

Anzai gave them a straightforward order.

Of course, they did not commit the blasphemy of asking ‘what report?’.
“I, Izayoi Souma, will give my report first.”

To Souma’s introduction, Anzai gave a small nod that he may or may not have been able to see.

“Thus far I have been unable to confirm the strength of Juumonji Alisa’s anti-mental interference magic
barrier. I am still monitoring her, so I’d like some more time.”

“Have you tried illusions?”

“I tried something that Juumonji Yuuto couldn’t perceive, but it had no effect. But I have not finished
ascertaining if it was due to the magic barrier or her innate mental resistance.”

“Understood. We’re not at a point where we need to hurry yet. Keep trying to win her over carefully so
that the Juumonji Family won’t notice.

“Yes, I will.”

Souma gave another respectful bow.

“Now, I want to hear from Kitou.”

Before Souma raised his head, Kitou took over and began to speak.

“As I reported the other day, Tookami Marika has inherited the technique of the ‘Toogami’, and her
potential is proving to be quite high.”

“Does it look like she could be useful?”

“If she is raised well, I think there is a chance she could surpass the magicians of the Juumonji Family.”

“I see... But I heard the ability of the ‘Toogami’ has a flaw that makes it impractical to use in real
combat.”

“Tookami Marika is a unique individual who possesses talents both as magician and a psychic. It seems
likely for those defects of the ‘Toogami’ to be mitigated and to put her in missions.”

“Understood. Then continue to persuade her as well.”

“My Lord. Regarding that, I, Izayoi, have a suggestion.”

Anzai turned his attention to Souma, who already fixed his posture.

“Speak.”

“Yes. As I have previously reported, I think the co-dependent relationship those two have is what makes
it so difficult to do anything regarding them. Therefore, I believe that at this stage, providing a situation
where the two of them play an active role would be particularly effective for Juumonji Alisa.”
“You want to applaud and praise her to increase her confidence, encouraging her to be independent and
make her overcome her co-dependence?”

“That is correct. Also, the existence of rivals is an opportunity for her to look outwards.”

“But in that case, won’t you get more competition for your assignments?”

“Juumonji Alisa already attracted a lot of attention when she was taken in by the Juumonji Family. I
don’t believe the situation will change just because it increased a little.”

“You’re right...”

Anzai didn’t ponder for a long time.

“What is your idea, exactly?”

That question conveyed his intention to adopt Souma’s plan.

“Juumonji Alisa is in the Crowd Ball Club.”

Souma controlled his eagerness and revealed his plan.

“I think Crowd Ball’s return to the Nine Schools Competition would be a good idea.”

“Wouldn’t a defeat deepen her dependency?”

“If that happens, I do my best to follow it up.”

“Very well. I will make arrangements.”

“Thank you for humbling me.”

At the same time as he said this slightly out-of-place line, Souma, still sitting on the sofa, let his upper
body descend until it was parallel to the floor.

◇◇◇

The month ended and it was now June the 10th, a Wednesday noon.

Alisa and Marika already returned from the cafeteria to the classroom of 1-A.

The lunch break would soon end and Mei, who couldn’t have lunch with them due to her Student
Council work, rushed into the classroom with an excited look on her face.

“Alisa, good news!”

“What happened, Mei? You look really happy.”

It is rare for Mei to expose her excitement, but since she said ‘good news’ herself, neither Alisa nor
Marika next to her panicked.

“The revival of Crowd Ball at the Nine Schools Competition has been confirmed!”

Even Mei’s tone was elated when she answered.

“Eh...?”

Alisa showed her confusion. She understood the meaning of the words, but not the reason for Mei being
so excited.

“The newcomers match will be doubles. In other words —”

“Asha is confirmed to participate!?”

Marika interposed before Mei could finish.

“Yes! Get ready, Alisa. With this, you can’t say anything about not wanting to participate in the Nine
Schools Competition!”

It’s almost time to select the participants for the Nine Schools Competition. When she was previously
asked about it by the Student Council, Alisa said that she ‘wants to decline’, but the girl’s friends weren’t
convinced with her answer.

“No way...”

Alisa’s face is showing she has a hard time accepting this. But there are only two first year students in
the Crowd Ball Club, including Alisa. And if the newcomer match is a doubles match, she is guaranteed
to be selected as a player.

“Juumonji-san, do your best.”

Joui irresponsibly sent her a yell of encouragement.

“Asha, do your best! I’ll be giving it my all too!”

Even knowing how Alisa felt, Marika added that with a smile.

With astonishment on her face, Alisa looked around the classroom in search of an ally.

However, she didn’t find a single person on her side.

Afterword

This has been the second volume of the ‘New - The Irregular at Magic High School’ series. How was it? I
hope it was to your liking.
This book was difficult to write. I won’t say it was the hardest one I’ve ever done, but the number of
trials and errors may be my highest ever. I wrote and corrected, wrote and corrected repeatedly, and I
have reached a single conclusion.

I can’t write youth. It appears I’m not cut out for peaceful school things.

Being that what it is, I can’t change my path now. Writing this series will continue to be difficult.

As of this second volume, I feel the series’ regular and semi-regular cast has almost been completely
introduced. Ichijou Akane for Marika and Hiiro Hiromi for Alisa. Unlike the previous series, in this series
the protagonists will challenge higher ranked rivals. As a structure for fiction, I think I can say this is a
more usual approach.

In the previous series, the protagonist had an advantage in abilities because they were placed in a world
where if they lost, it was the end and it wasn’t possible to try again. In this series, it is possible to retry
sports competitions again. That is the main difference.

Even if a loss is the end in a battle story, if it’s a group against a group, I think the kind of development
where the protagonist stands up from defeat and seizes victory at the very end is possible. But in the
previous series, the protagonist seemed to be making enemies even in the groups he belonged to.

In that way, in sports, losing is kind of where it really starts... Though I can’t say this is always the case. In
martial arts stories, if anything, it seems there is a recent trend where they push their way to the top
undefeated.

Now then, this time protagonist 1, Alisa, suffered a defeat by the ends of a rival due to their respective
abilities, but what about protagonist 2, Marika? Please look forward to future developments.

Marika’s rival, Hiiro Hiromi, is from the same Isshiki Family as the rival character Isshiki Airi from ‘The
Honor Student at Magic High School’, which has started airing this month, and they use the same magic.
But she is an entirely different person. Isshiki Airi won’t appear in this series nor the sequel series. The
original character from ‘The Honor Student at Magic High School’ is a ‘Honor Student’-only character.

Airi is a showy character the likes of which is not in ‘The Irregular at Magic High School’, so it’s worth
seeing her take an active role. And she’s not as unreliable as Lina.

With that said, please watch the TV anime ‘The Honor Student at Magic High School’ as well.

Now, it’s about time to end this digression. These are hard times, but please take care of yourselves.
Please look forward to the next instalment of this series.

Satou Tsutomu