Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 03 - Nine Schools Competition (I) (9 page)

The fingers that held the chopsticks in her bento seemed boneless as well.

Recently, Miyuki was also very busy, but the President not only had to handle executive tasks, but other tiresome tasks that were not present given her usually sunny mood.

"Thankfully due to Juumonji's powerful assistance in this matter, we finally have a roster nailed down."

Today's lunch and show was Mayumi endlessly complaining about this and that, but it looked like the curtains were finally coming down.

Tatsuya's stomach wasn't weak enough to be upset by such trivialities, but always eating lunch with this as the background music would have an adverse effect on the nerves, so Tatsuya heaved a small sigh of relief when Mayumi stopped grouching.

"However, the engineer problem far outweighs the participant problem.
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Or not.

"We still don't have the right headcount?"

Mayumi powerlessly nodded at Mari's inquiry.

"The majority of our students aim to be Magicians, so talented personnel generally gravitate towards technical skills.
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Our 3rd Year students are particularly worrisome, with our numbers in the Magic Artificer department reaching dangerous lows.
In 2nd Year we have capable people in A-chan and Isori-kun, but our numbers are still insufficient.
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"Isori, eh.
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That guy specializes in geometry, so he's stronger in theory rather than maintenance, right?"

"We're long past the point of caring about these things."

It was extremely rare to see both Mayumi and Mari sigh, which said a lot about how serious things were — although using this to evaluate how serious the situation was would be slightly wrong.

"Even if Juumonji and I help out, there's a limit to how much we can do.
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"Aren't the two of you our primary participants as well?
If you're too busy worrying about other people's CADs and allow that to affect your own events, that's not something we can joke around with."

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If Mari could maintain her own CAD, that would lessen the burden a lot."

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Yeah, we're in trouble."

Maybe due to exhaustion or some other reason, Mari avoided Mayumi's earnest gaze and looked elsewhere.

The atmosphere in the Student Council Room was borderline hazardous to psychological well being.

In order to return to the classroom — that is, evacuate the premises, Tatsuya signaled Miyuki with a look, then sought a proper opening.

"Rin-chan, can you help as an engineer?"

Even with the chaos surrounding the preparations for the Nine School Competition, Suzune still hung around in the Student Council Room during lunch and was someone Mayumi never failed to invite.

"That's impossible.
My skills would only hamper Nakajou and the others."

But was coldly rebuffed each time.

With the apologies to the currently depressed Mayumi, but this was the perfect opportunity to beat a retreat.

Tatsuya glanced meaningfully at Miyuki, then rose—

"Then.
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How about we ask Shiba-kun?"

—Just as Tatsuya rose, his escape plan was ruthlessly derailed by Azusa's unexpected attack.

"Hoh?"

Mayumi, who originally had her head slumped on the table, abruptly lifted her head and let out an unintelligible sound.

Azusa, who up until this moment had been venting her irritation at the large flatscreen terminal in front of her — probably deep in the middle of homework — softly sighed as she hit the power button on her terminal and raised her head.

"I heard that Miyuki-chan's CAD is maintained by Shiba-kun.
I've seen it before, and its specs rival those of a first-class corporate technician."

Mayumi jumped out of her chair.

Her face was suffused with vitality, as if that earlier dejected scene never happened.

"Blind spot.
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The gaze Mayumi directed towards Tatsuya was like a hawk eyeing its new found prey.

That alone was sufficient for Tatsuya to give up halfway.

"You're right.
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I can't believe I didn't think of that, how careless."

Now that Mari had joined the fray, he was up a creek without a paddle.

"Speaking of which, he also handled the reserve CADs the Committee owns.
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But since he's the only one using them, I never thought about it."

Resistance was futile.
Tatsuya was about 90% ready to give up at this point, but surrendering without a fight was against his principles, so Tatsuya attempted a tiny — most likely fruitless — resistance.

"Earlier I heard the Chief talk about the importance of CAD technicians, but there's no precedent for a 1st Year technician, is there?"

"Everything has to start somewhere."

"Traditions are made to be overturned."

Mayumi and Mari immediately returned fire at a furious rate.

"The two of you may be 'progressive thinkers', but won't the other participants balk at this?
I'm a 1st Year Course 2 student, this would leave a negative impression on many people."

This was a little self-depreciating coming from him, but that didn't mean it wasn't true.

"For CAD maintenance, mutual trust between Magician and Artificer is extremely important.
A CAD's maximum performance is dictated by the level of the user's mental state.
Using a person like me to maintain CADs would lead to severe participant backlash, so I don't think I'm a good candidate.
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Tatsuya's logic also had its own merits, causing Mayumi and Mari to exchange a glance.

However, regardless of what Tatsuya said, the two of them had already seen through his facade.

In order to deliver the final blow to the lazy (?
) underclassman that didn't want to take the hot potato and force him to join, the two of them were visually confirming the order of attack (verbal persuasion).

At this time, they received some unexpected reinforcements.

"I was hoping that Onii-sama could work with my CAD while I'm participating in the Nine Schools Competition.
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Is that okay?"

Tatsuya froze at Miyuki's completely unexpected betrayal (?
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In a Shakespearean drama, Tatsuya's mood would undoubtedly mirror that of Caesar as he was assassinated:
"Et tu, Miyuki (Brutus).
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"Exactly!
Having a trustworthy and competent technician nearby is absolutely integral for participants to rely on.
Well said, Miyuki-chan!"

Mayumi immediately followed up on the attack.

"Yes, if Onii-sama joined the Technician Team, not only I, but Mitsui-san and Kitayama-san could set our minds at ease."

This is the first time that Tatsuya learned those two were entering the Newcomers Division as participants, but he considered them to be the expected candidates.

—This was also him trying to escape from reality.

Obviously, the battle had been decided.

The preparation meeting held after school in the Club Management Center would decide whether Tatsuya officially joins the roster.

There might be a tiny ray of hope, but Tatsuya had long since given up.

The moment Miyuki assented, Tatsuya had nowhere to run.
Under the assumption that his confirmation was in serious jeopardy, he actually had to work hard towards ensuring he was nominated and accepted — these were all within his calculations.

No matter what, the situation was utterly depressing.

At times like these, people tended to retreat into areas they excel in.

Even if he had an outside chance to be nominated, he still took the time to reflect on what he could do, what areas he excelled at, and re-examined his own sense of worth to properly restore his internal balance as a means of self compensation.

Possibly due to the build up of considerable stress, it was rare for Tatsuya to fall into this sort of self compensatory trap.

Two-thirds of the lunch period had already passed.
Miyuki was engrossed in dealing with the piles of documents and homework, while Tatsuya, who was currently idle while waiting for Miyuki, removed the silver CAD from the shoulder holster and started examining the modules in the cartridge, the buttons for switching Activation Sequences, and other movable parts.

"Ah, you brought the Silver Horn today as well."

Until now, Azusa was completely focused on her homework, but her sharp eyes caught Tatsuya's movement as she inched forward.

Tatsuya slowly shifted his gaze, not towards Mayumi or Mari, but Suzune.

Suzune accurately interpreted Tatsuya's silent inquiry as she adeptly used her brows and the shrugging of her shoulders to express a helpless emotion.
In other words, the current Azusa had completely lost interest in her homework.

"Yes, I purchased a new holster, so I would like to get used to it as soon as possible."

Is this what they meant by "being furious after receiving three in the morning, then happy when receiving four in the evening"?
Tatsuya was mentally considering this somewhat objective but also very rude train of thought as he shifted his gaze back onto Azusa and responded in a gentle manner (To supplement, Tatsuya was thinking of what it meant to play fast and loose).

Azusa's eyes shone brilliantly as she approached him.
It seemed that she was not only interested in the CAD itself, but the supplementary equipment as well.

"Eh, is it okay if I took a look?"

Truthfully speaking, Azusa generally avoided — more like was terrified of Tatsuya.
Precisely because of this impression, Tatsuya wanted to smile wryly.
However, given the way Azusa was bouncing around like a small animal and unable to calm down, he probably shouldn't treat her too poorly.

This may be a form of popularity — Tatsuya thought as he removed the jacket he wore even in the heat of summer — with built-in cooling systems, of course — and took off the shoulder holster before handing it to Azusa.

"Wow~ It's an original model for the Silver series.

Such an amazing trim would draw incredible lines when drawing and firing.

Something that didn't just cater to high technical skills but also a design that also took the user's skill into account.

Ah, I worship your genius, Silver-sama.
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After she received the holster, Azusa was happy enough to almost rub her face against it.

Tatsuya was barely able to maintain his poker face.

After Azusa meticulously went over every centimeter of the holster — or maybe finally satisfied herself— she returned it to Tatsuya with a pleased smile on her face.

"Shiba-kun is also a fan of the Silver series?
If based only on price and specs, the Maximilian Speed Shooter, Russ Type-F, or even Sagittarius series developed by FLT (Four Leaves Technology) are better deals, but the individual customization of the Silver series is so good that no one cares about the price!"

Tatsuya recalled that Mari once described Azusa as a "Device-taku".

At the time, he was considerate enough to consider this an exaggeration, but after witnessing her behavior today, he reflected that such a nickname was probably inevitable.

From Tatsuya's perspective, if the contrast between price and performance — efficiency, in other words, was too low, then satisfaction would also drop.
Even if that was the case, true performance may differ from official documentation.
Simply put, qualitative performance that could not be converted into numerical format was also very important.
If one could be "satisfied" without making this sort of analysis, Tatsuya considered that to be nothing more than brand loyalty.