Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 03 - Nine Schools Competition (I) (28 page)

His fidgeting had been noticed after all.

Miyuki furrowed her brows in concern as she watched Tatsuya.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it.
Sorry for making you worry."

This sequence thoroughly shamed Tatsuya, as it was getting difficult to tell who the older sibling was.
In addition, this was an official event with mandatory attendance, so one shouldn't complain that they were uncomfortable or displeased.

"No, Onii-sama, please don't say that."

She probably noticed the minute adjustments to Tatsuya's expression and realized that he had wiped out his depressed mood.

Miyuki smiled happily.

"OK, those siblings over there can stop flirting."

The slightly teasing words caused Tatsuya to glance aside — strictly speaking, he had to glance downwards — to see Mayumi stifling her smile as she watched them.

"I can't believe you said flirting.
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What's this?"

On the Internet, Tatsuya had read that some young women have been afflicted with a malady that causes them to see all interactions between different genders as romantic interactions.
Truth be told, Tatsuya had several people around him suffering from the same illness, so he really didn't want to broach that subject.

However, Mayumi seemed to be up to her old tricks and only wanted to needle him a little.

Tatsuya had long since accustomed himself to not receiving a straight answer, but still used his eyes to prompt Mayumi to respond.

But Mayumi's gaze wasn't resting on Tatsuya, rather on someone beside him.

At the sight of her trying not to burst out into laughter, Tatsuya followed her line of sight and.
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"Miyuki.
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Why are you so embarrassed all of a sudden?"

His sister ducked her head in shame.

"Everyone, let's go."

Mayumi retracted her teasing attitude and urged everyone onward, her mood excellent for some unknown reason.

On some level, Tatsuya was irritated that he had turned into a device for mood improvement, but upon seeing Mayumi's retreating figure move away with lighthearted footsteps, he suddenly thought "Ah, forget it".

Of the people participating in the Nine Schools Competition, there were 360 contestants alone and over 400 members if the auxiliaries were added in.

On the surface, the attendance of all members is mandatory, but there were many who found some reason to decline.

Even so, this was still a large scale fellowship event that well exceeded 300 people.

The meeting area had to be large enough to accommodate the large number of guests and servants.

As expected, just the hotel's employees and the support from the local base were not sufficient to cover everything.
There were also many temporary employees that were obviously teenagers specifically hired for this event walking around in servant uniforms, which was not surprising in the least.

However — finding a familiar face among these temporary employees definitely constituted a surprise.

After a short keynote speech — thankfully this speech was short enough not to induce boredom — Tatsuya immediately headed for the dining area when a familiar voice rang out behind him.

When a familiar voice asked "Would you like a drink?"
, Tatsuya turned around to find Erika holding a serving tray carrying drinks with one hand.

"So that's what you meant by having it covered.
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"Ah, you heard from Miyuki?
So, surprised?"

".
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Very."

Erika flashed a pleased smile while Tatsuya had no excess processing power to come up with a witty retort, so he merely nodded in response.

"I can't believe you actually infiltrated here.
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Belay that, it's just like you to do this."

After all, that's just what this kind of place is.

Even if they hired hourly interns, they wouldn't easily hire high school students.

Other than that, there's an age restriction as well.
Even with a banquet where alcoholic beverages are forbidden, they wouldn't relax the restrictions either.
Actually, most of the servants and waitresses circulating the area looked to be in their twenties.

He should probably say "as expected of the Chiba Family".

But she appeared to have used her connections in the wrong place.

"By the way.
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"Hm?
What's up?"

"Never mind.
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Tatsuya's tone was muddled, which was entirely unlike him.

After all, it's probably impolite to say "By the way, you've changed a lot" in front of the person in question.

Erika should also be aware that her age was a little different.

Her makeup was considerably more mature.

Even at close range, she looked to be the same age as the other waitresses.

Usually, Erika gave off the impression that she was a lively and beautiful young lady that matched her age perfectly, but her slim figure was also perfectly suited for a more mature look.

(And only her.
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)

Tatsuya noticed to his dismay that his thoughts were slightly uncoordinated.

Erika didn't come alone.

Mizuki should also be here.

Mizuki disliked places with too many people so it was hard to say that she was suited for dealing with customers, so would she be able to serve in this type of situation?

"Hey, Erika, your dress is adorable.
I see what you meant by you had it handled."

Miyuki joined the conversation and conveniently covered for the lull in the conversation due to Tatsuya's silence.

"That's how it is.
Well, isn't this cute?
But Tatsuya-kun seems unwilling to comment on it."

Erika twirled left and right, causing the Victorian-style servant uniform with a miniskirt to lightly dance back and forth with an unhappy tone in her voice.

With Tatsuya suddenly under siege, his naturally agile mind immediately began to formulate a retaliation, but Miyuki beat him to it.

"Erika, it's useless to ask Onii-sama for these things."

Miyuki smiled and shook her head and, compared to Tatsuya, it was Erika who was taken aback as she watched Miyuki.

Miyuki's comment was not covering for Tatsuya nor denying her words, which completely surprised Erika.

—However, that was only Erika jumping to conclusions too early.

"Onii-sama wouldn't be affected by external appearances like a woman's clothes, but admires our innate qualities, so in this type of situation special uniforms hold no interest to him whatsoever."

Tatsuya believed that Miyuki's assessment was both overly high and overly low.

In this case, Tatsuya was concerned about his other friends — especially Mizuki, so he wasn't paying attention to Erika's garb.
Of course, he is also capable of praising women's fashion and, if the wardrobe was overly risqué, he certainly wouldn't know where to look.

—No, in this situation, the problem isn't the clothes themselves, but the personality that lay beneath the clothes.

"Oh, so that's how it is, Tatsuya-kun isn't interested in cosplay."

"This is cosplay?"

"I don't think so, but I think the guys see me this way."

The two young maidens left the reticent Tatsuya by the wayside and kept going.

"By guys you mean Saijou-kun?"

"That guy isn't even capable of voicing such an opinion.
Miki was the one who said this was cosplay, but I have already sternly chastised him for that."

The last sentence that hinted of danger was clearly imprinted in Tatsuya's ears.

Yet Miyuki didn't seem to understand.

"Miki?"

When the person one is speaking with suddenly sprouts a stranger's nickname, it was only natural for Miyuki to fixate on that.

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Who is that?"

At Miyuki's question, Erika let out an "Ah" expression.

"That's right, Miyuki wouldn't know."

Erika softly said and bailed before anyone could stop her.

"Nice moves, looks like she has a great sense of balance.
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Seeing Erika weave through the crowd with tray in hand and without spilling a drop, Tatsuya was honestly impressed.

Miyuki thought this comment was a little off topic, but she continued regardless.

"What is going on?"

Actually, Miyuki didn't expect a straight answer.

It was only because she was out of the loop that she actually asked.

However, her brother actually provided her with a clear answer.

"She's going to look for Mikihiko.

You've probably heard the name Yoshida Mikihiko?"

"That's Onii-sama's classmate, correct?"

Miyuki recalled that this name created huge controversy during the announcement for the finals' scores.

"He grew up with Erika.
Miyuki probably hasn't met Mikihiko, so she likely wanted to introduce the two of you?"

No wonder, that does seem like something Erika would do.

Including taking off without saying another word.

"Miyuki, there you are."

"Tatsuya-kun is also here."

As the siblings glanced towards the direction Erika vanished off to, a pair of female students struck up a conversation.

"Shizuku, were you looking for me?"

"Honoka, Shizuku.
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You two are always together?"

Speaking of which, Tatsuya had always seen the two of them moving in concert, so this question was only out of curiosity and had no intent of probing deeper.

"That's because we're friends, so we have no reason to be apart."

"That's right."

Shizuku answered without any sense of shame, which caused Tatsuya to chuckle wryly at his foolish question.

Starting last month, Tatsuya started to refer to the two of them by name.

The one who "demanded" he do so was Honoka, but from Tatsuya's perspective, he was pressured into accepting by Shizuku's overpowering silence.

"And the others?"

Miyuki was the one who asked.

But her tone was slightly odd.

"Over there."

In the direction that Honoka pointed, a crowd of male students quickly looked elsewhere.

The 1st Year female students in the representation team also stood frozen in the same place.

"They probably want to approach Miyuki, but won’t dare with Tatsuya-kun lurking nearby."

"What is this, am I a watchdog now.
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?"

Shizuku's speculation elicited a helpless sigh from Tatsuya.

There was a high chance she was correct, so he couldn't just laugh it off.