Chapter 10

October 30, AD 2095, 3:30 PM.

This was the time and date recorded as the start of the Yokohama Incident, the trigger for what would later be considered a turning point in mankind’s history: the Scorching Halloween.

First High’s presentation had ended, and Toshikazu, who had been making small talk with Fujibayashi in the lobby—they’d been together all morning, and so small talk was the only topic left at this point—felt his shoulders give a jerk, and stopped mid-sentence.

The communicator-only terminal in his pocket (a police device which, in exchange for not being loaded with many information-processing capabilities, hosted powerful communication functions) had begun to vibrate, telling him he had a message.

He excused himself from Fujibayashi, then turned around to answer the terminal.

“This is Chiba. Is that you, Inagaki? —What?! …All right. I’m heading there now.”

He turned back around to see Fujibayashi just finishing up a call of her own.

“I need to go on-site,” he said.

 “I’ll be staying here,” she replied.

They each spoke with complete confidence that they’d been given the same information—and that their orders didn’t, in fact, contradict.

“You’ll have to excuse me! If anything happens, please call me!”

Fujibayashi nodded, and Toshikazu, without time to say any more, flew out to his car with a magic-assisted dash—from a certain angle, his feet appeared to be moving too fast.

“What’s the situation?!”

Three minutes after receiving the call, Toshikazu, already speeding toward the scene in his car, angrily shouted into the vehicle’s hands-free communicator.

“The suicide car that rammed the control building is currently on fire. No follow-up attacks.”

A voice several times calmer than his came back through the speaker with the report. Even if it had been just one car, he still had reason to worry.

The target had been the ingress-egress control building built right next to the entrance to Yamashita Wharf. There was no damage to the building itself; its sturdy construction had repelled the heat and impact from the explosion. But they couldn’t let noncombatants continue working after a terrorist attack, even if they were civil servants. During their evacuation, before the police were completely in control of the port, there would be a serious security hole in surveillance of entering ships.

We were too focused on the civilians!

The government had resisted them. The public didn’t like the defense force and the police being over-present, so control of ports had been put into the hands of public workers. But for an island nation, port control and border security were one and the same. The Chiba family, including Toshikazu, had long believed that if they didn’t want to entrust the job to the Japan Defense Force, they could have at least stationed armed police there.

I hope our fears aren’t on the mark this time, Toshikazu thought, the sober part of him already knowing it was nothing more than a fleeting hope.

“Rockets fired from a berthed cargo vessel! They appear to be from infantry launchers!”

Toshikazu nearly mishandled the steering wheel. He quickly jerked the wheel and yelled into the microphone, “Registry?!”

“Freighter registered to Australia! But its shape suggests a landing ship for mobile forces!”

Which meant the registration was fake. What are the Immigration Bureau and the Coastal Defense Force doing?! he fumed, fighting back the urge to wail out loud before calling someone else.

“…Dad? It’s Toshikazu. A camouflaged warship of unknown nationality has invaded via the Yamashita Wharf in Yokohama. Can you request that the JDF deploy for me? Also, send over the Ikazuchi-Maru and the Orochi-Maru right away.

“…What am I doing with the Orochi-Maru? Having Erika use it, of course!”

Fujibayashi headed to her car, seeking instructions from her own HQ. She’d ended up following Toshikazu out, but she hadn’t been lying when she’d said she’d be staying there. She didn’t need the car—she needed the communicator in it.

Still, she thought. The one to give the prediction last night had been none other than her, but she hadn’t thought the situation would be quite this dire. She’d expected some spy remnants would try to kidnap people and use them as hostages to trade for their allies, and that was all.

When Toshikazu had taken her at her word and mobilized all those subordinates and equipment, she’d been astonished. Now, it looked like his efforts were well-placed. Maybe simple earnestness does trump cunning, she thought, honestly impressed.

The hands on the clock pointed to 3:37 PM.

An explosion and tremors suddenly reached the competition hall. The spectators, unaware of what was going on, began to make noise, demanding to know what they should do.

“Miyuki!”

In their midst, Tatsuya called for the one he had to prioritize above all else.

“Tatsuya!”

He heard the reply from below the stage, and in two steps—one to jump to the edge of the stage, and the other while adjusting his power—he went down to his sister. Despite having been in the second row in the official guest seats, she’d already tried to run to him. Her reflexes were fast, too.

“Tatsuya, what on earth…?” she asked, startled. She seemed a bit unsure, but not in a state of full-out panic yet.

“I think a grenade exploded near the front entrance.”

Meanwhile, confusion and panic were nowhere to be seen on Tatsuya’s face. The explosion and tremor were things he’d experienced during his training with the Independent Magic Battalion time and time again. With his experience, he knew it had happened near the front entrance of this building even without accessing the Idea. The situation wasn’t looking bright, but at least he’d been able to get to Miyuki right away, which was good for him.

“A grenade?! Are our upperclassmen all right?”

“I believe the official security team from the Magic Association was assigned to the front. They have experienced combat magicians, too. If this were on the level of a normal crime organization, it wouldn’t be a problem, but…”

Even as Tatsuya answered her, a bad premonition came over him. That data card Fujibayashi had given him a while ago…it had said that intervention by a foreign national agency was possible.

Then, as if to lend credence to that recollection, he began to hear gunfire.

They’re not full auto… High-powered anti-magician rifles!

Combat magicians had ways of neutralizing firearms. The multilayered barrier magic of the Juumonji was one of the greatest archetypical examples. Even at the end of the twenty-first century, the main weapon of infantry was firearms. Therefore, magic to block bullets gave a person a big advantage in ground combat.

But attacks and defenses were in a constant race with one another, and even stronger attack methods would inevitably be devised to counteract the improved defense.

Magic was no exception, and magic wasn’t all-powerful, either. If a moving object’s inertial force was greater than a spell’s interference level, the spell would fail, with no deceleration, trajectory changes, or coordinate immobilization applied at all. A physical shield could weaken the force of something piercing it, but if magic failed to alter events, then it was the same as if the person did nothing in the first place.

High-speed bullets that created high inertial force to neutralize a magician’s defensive spells—that was the design concept behind high-powered anti-magician rifles. But in order to gain the speed necessary to nullify a combat-level magician’s interference level, the technology for manufacturing the gun had to be two or three stages more advanced.

Small countries’ official forces weren’t enough to create the weapons, much less deploy them. And private criminal organizations and terrorists—private in the sense of having no national support—couldn’t acquire them. But come to think of it, during the attack on the Hachiouji Special Detention Home, Ganghu Lu’s allies had been using high-powered rifles. It was hard to imagine separate factions launching similar successive attacks in such a short time. The enemy was probably—no, almost definitely—hounds from the Great Asian Alliance. It could have even been the GA3 itself. But they’re making such a big show of things. What on earth could they be after?

Tatsuya wavered. If he didn’t know their goal, he also didn’t know how far the situation would escalate. “Assume the worst possible scenario” was easy to say, but in reality, there was no upper bound on “worst.” If he didn’t know how bad the worst was, he had no way to decide how to respond.

In any case, he couldn’t call this hall fit for holing up in, assuming they were going to take a standard response. That by itself would mean he should take his sister and evacuate to the waiting room.

But their friends were still in the audience.

Miyuki was the only one he had a responsibility to, but that didn’t mean he took action only when his responsibilities demanded it. He was pretty sure he had the strength to cut his way through most things without needing to protect himself, but he still resisted turning a blind eye to the needs of others.

However, for better or worse, he didn’t need to worry about it for long. With a tempest of clattering feet, a group bearing rifles began to flood into the auditorium.

I’m getting careless!

He’d considered the possibility of their arrival, but they still broke through too fast to thwart. As shrieks echoed through the room, Tatsuya swore to himself.

As the audience cowered in fear, it was the Third High students on the stage who showed a dauntless, courageous reaction. As though they could switch their presentation theme to anti-personnel attacks, they used the CADs they’d brought with them onstage and tried to trigger magic at the invaders.

Gunshots rang out.

Bullets riddled the back wall of the stage before the Third High spells could manifest.

Judging by the bullets’ force, they were indeed carrying high-powered rifles, just as Tatsuya had predicted.

“Quiet down!”

The angry shout felt somehow unsteady. Even if they were foreigners, they must have only recently entered the country (illegally). They weren’t wearing uniforms or field combat outfits, but they did sport an odd unification: They dressed in all the colors of the rainbow, but each of them had on a high-necked sweater, a blouson, and loose-fitting cargo pants. Each person appeared to be durable, too; it was certain these were no mere thugs.

Modern magic had gained enough speed to rival firearms through the speed granted by CADs, but nonetheless, they only rivaled firearms, and it depended on the magician’s strength. Standard practice was to not recklessly resist if the opponents already had their guns at the ready.

“Remove your devices and put them on the floor.”

The invaders seemed used to fighting against magicians; it was possible that they were actually magicians themselves, since only a very select handful of magicians adopted fighting styles that relied solely upon magic. A soldier carrying a gun, even though he or she was a magician, was actually a more common occurrence.

The Third High students on the stage, including Kichijouji—Masaki wasn’t present among them—put their CADs on the floor, their expressions frustrated. Bravery and recklessness were two different things. Third High had apparently taught that to their students properly.

Tatsuya watched their response with admiration, but unfortunately, things got personal very quickly. The siblings happened to be the only ones standing out in the aisle, which was why they were caught in the crosshairs.

“Hey, you, too!”

One of the invaders, muzzle pointed at him, approached with careful footsteps.

There was no doubt his words had been directed at Tatsuya. There was simply no way to misunderstand that.

Guess that’s it… Tatsuya thought. Six in all. Three units, front and backup. Tatsuya, without using his CAD, took aim at the terrorists or guerilla soldiers or whoever the intruders were. He didn’t want to use Mist Dispersion in front of so many people, but if things got to that point, he wouldn’t have a choice.

I’d rather settle this with a spell I can lie about more easily, thought Tatsuya, face impassive, as the intruder yelled at him again: “Do it now!”

Despite the aggravation in the man’s shout, Tatsuya didn’t move. The way he’d been raised and taught had been a bit too twisted for him to believe that his safety was guaranteed if he gave up resistance.

Without a word, he stared at the man approaching them. Actually, the expression “watching closely” would have fit his gaze better. There was no fear or distress in Tatsuya’s eyes; he simply observed the man’s entire body, the gun in his hands, and the muzzle aimed directly at him.

Irritated by the cold stare being directed at him, and a fear of the unknown he probably wasn’t even fully aware of, the invader facing down Tatsuya squeezed his index finger on the trigger.

“Hey, wait!”

He probably couldn’t hear his ally’s warning. A gunshot rang out, and a scream followed.

The man had fired the bullet with clear intent to kill from just three yards away. It was more than enough to make one imagine an unavoidable tragedy.

That image made everyone’s shock that much greater.

A right hand in front of his chest, closed, as though gripping something—that was the only change that had happened to Tatsuya.

Not a single drop of blood dripped from his body.

And the bullet the man fired was gone without a trace: not in the wall, not in the floor, not in the ceiling.

The man drew back as he fired a second shot, then a third. Each time, Tatsuya’s right hand appeared in a different position as though he were in a time-lapse video. His hand moved too fast for any onlookers to see what he was doing. The next thing anyone knew, his right hand was in a different place, and still clenched shut as if holding on to something.

“Did he grab the bullets…?” someone muttered, baffled.

“How the hell…?” asked another, similarly confused.

“You demon!”

The man threw his gun to the side out of panic.

It would have been one thing if he’d magically blocked the bullets, but when offered the nonsensical idea that Tatsuya had grabbed them, the man came to the false conclusion that his gun would do him no good.

Still, he hadn’t lost his will to fight. The fact that the man whipped out a large combat knife and came at Tatsuya to slash him spoke volumes of the high-level training the man had been through.

But the act only ushered in even more surprise.

The man approached, but Tatsuya was the one to close the distance between them. He opened his hand, straightened it, and slammed its rigid side into the arm holding the knife.

His hand then cut straight through the man’s arm with no resistance.

“Gya—”

A scream sprang from the man’s mouth—or was about to, anyway.

But before his voice reached that volume, Tatsuya buried his left fist into the man’s solar plexus.

Fresh blood spurted out from the man’s severed right arm, splattering onto Tatsuya’s clothes.

That was the only counterattack the man could manage. He crumpled to the floor, and Tatsuya, without sparing a glance at him, made a light backward jump to put his sister right behind him again.

The unexpected, unimaginable sight had frozen both the audience and the invaders solid. It wasn’t only their movements that had stopped—it was their thoughts, too.

With one exception:

“Tatsuya, I’ll get the blood off. Please hold still for a moment.”

Miyuki’s soft voice reached every corner of the dead-quiet hall. Her voice hadn’t even a fragment of dismay; she spoke with the severity of someone saying, “I’ll dust you off.”

With her voice as a signal, the frozen time began to move.

“Arrest them!”

The members of the combined security team fired a barrage of magic from both stage wings.

One or two invaders responded by dodging, but none of them were able to resist the practiced magic of nine magic schools’ cream of the crop.

The magic Miyuki executed neatly took all the blood off Tatsuya.

More accurately, she separated it from my skin and clothes, vaporized the moisture, and scattered the solid parts. Despite having just fought for his life, Tatsuya didn’t even bat an eye.

Actually, maybe the phrase didn’t bat an eye wasn’t accurate in this case. It was true that no confusion or excitement was visible on his face, but he had actually frowned at the man collapsed on the floor in a puddle of blood.

Miyuki picked up on the slight change in his expression and activated another spell. She froze the man’s right hand and the severed part of his right arm, then dried up the pool of blood, making it into a dark red dust.

When Tatsuya turned around, his little sister smiled happily at him. She was too good, and before he knew it, he found himself smiling with her.

Then, for some reason, her eyes shook. But he didn’t think much on it and started walking toward the front entrance.

Miyuki followed right behind him. Even as they slipped past the one-armed man, they showed a complete lack of interest in him.

And then…

“Tatsuya!” shouted two voices at once—one female, one male.

Under normal circumstances, their overlapping voices would have made these two scowl at each other, but they obviously didn’t have the time for that right now.

Following Erika and Leo came Mikihiko, Mizuki, Honoka, and Shizuku, all surrounding Tatsuya and Miyuki. Honoka, though, pushed past Erika and Leo, the first ones to dash over, and asked in a fluster, “Your hand! Is it hurt?!”

It was a contrived question, but that didn’t mean Tatsuya didn’t immediately understand what she was getting at.

He obviously hadn’t caught the bullets with his hand; he’d only dismantled their physical structure and movement vectors to neutralize the attack. But his friends wouldn’t know that, so Tatsuya raised his right hand and opened and closed it a few times to show them it was unharmed.

Honoka and Mizuki breathed sighs of relief, but Mikihiko and Shizuku gave him questioning looks, clearly asking How? But Tatsuya wasn’t about to answer that, verbally or not. Instead, he answered Erika’s spoken one.

“This is starting to blow way out of proportion…” she said. “What do we do now?”

The words you seem happy about this made it halfway up his throat, but it was highly likely that saying them would just waste time. “Whether we flee or give chase, we have to clean up the enemies at the front entrance first,” he said.

“You’re not gonna tell us to hang tight and wait for you, right?” said Erika, eyes glittering.

Now he really wanted to point out how happy she seemed, but all he did was shake his head in resignation. “Guess it would be better than splitting up and getting attacked separately.”

It was no more than a passive agreement, one suggesting it would be a tiny bit better for them that way. So when he saw not only Erika and Honoka but also Mizuki and Shizuku beaming with joy, Tatsuya had to sigh. Give me a break…

Still, this was an emergency. He obviously didn’t have time to be sulking. He took the lead, quickly heading for the entrance.

“Wait… Wait a minute, Tatsuya Shiba!”

They were stopped by a voice—one clearly confused, and somehow desperate.

“What could you possibly need, Shinkurou Kichijouji?” asked Tatsuya, not an ounce of friendliness in his voice.

But without wincing at the obvious irritation—likely without the mental leeway to even do so—Kichijouji answered, “Wasn’t that Atomic Divider?!”

Kichijouji’s cry caused a stir. He continued:

“The spell to divide bonded atoms is a secret technique devised by the former commander of the USNA Army’s Stars, Major William Sirius. Unlike the neutralization spell that weakens the bonding force between atoms, this dividing spell should be a USNA military secret!”

Kichijouji had completely misunderstood—because Tatsuya conveniently knew a lot about it.

“How can you use that?! Why do you know it?!” came Kichijouji’s wide-eyed demands of denouncement.

“Is this really the time?” said Tatsuya to cut the conversation short, putting annoyance into his voice so that he’d sound like he was saying No point in hiding it now to Kichijouji’s inference.

The reality was different. The spell Tatsuya had used was not the military secret magic of the USNA Army called Atomic Divider. Nor was it, of course, a certain fictional kenpo that could slash through body parts with bare hands.

Just as he’d dismantled the bullets, he’d simply activated his dismantling spell at relative range zero with his right hand as the starting point. But as someone ordered to protect this secret, he had no way to explain this. There was no time for it given their current situation, anyway.

“Saegusa, and Nakajou, too—you should get out of here as soon as possible. Whatever their end goal is, their first objective is probably to kill or kidnap as many high-ranking magic students as they can.”

After leaving that warning with Mayumi, who had just popped out from a stage wing, and Azusa, who was sitting in the front row as a judge, Tatsuya left the place behind him.

A moment after Tatsuya’s group disappeared out the door, another, stronger explosion shook the hall. Chaotic screams and angry shouts muddled together, turning into a twist of sound that whittled away at everyone’s nerves even more.

But the chaos hadn’t extended to the front-row judging seats where Azusa was.

Not yet, anyway.

Without a doubt, though, this would escalate into a level of panic where several people would be injured. Before such a clamor, Azusa had sat frozen in place, not knowing what to do, what she should do.

“Ah-chan, Ah-chan…Student Council President Azusa Nakajou!”

A voice scolded her from the stage. Azusa hastily stood and looked up to the platform.

Mayumi, standing at a wing, came out farther to the front, looked at Azusa, and said, “At this rate, we’ll have actual panic on our hands. Many people will be hurt. Please, calm everyone with your power.”

“Huh?!” Azusa’s eyes widened, though not because she didn’t understand. “But that’s…”

Her spell could interfere with a person’s emotions, so it could quell panic. It would be incredibly effective in this situation. However, magic that interfered with mental processes was an especially tightly restricted type. It wasn’t something a minor could decide to use lightly.

“Your power is for times like these, right? Not my power, not Mari’s, and not Suzune’s. Azusa, right now, we need you.”

But Mayumi wasn’t telling her lightly: “Suzune,” not “Rin”; and “Azusa,” not “Ah-chan.”

In the past, Mayumi had normally called them Ichihara and Nakajou for more formal situations, but she could count on one hand the number of times she’d called Azusa by her first name. Azusa understood how serious Mayumi was, that she was demanding she use her Azusa Bow, her emotional interference spell, for real.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll take responsibility. The Saegusa name isn’t just for show.”

Mayumi winked comically; it was to relax Azusa. She’d said her last name out loud to ward off the adults who should have had the power in the room but were now watching, unable to do anything about the panic.

Azusa had known her long enough to understand that. There was no lie in her words.

She wasn’t about to push all the responsibility on Mayumi, either, but she couldn’t play dumb after being told all that. So she nodded firmly, turned around, and set her sights on the audience seats, which had escalated in places to shoving and jostling.

She drew in the chain hanging on her neck and pulled a locket big enough to hide a little kid’s hand out of her collar. She undid the clasp and tugged it off the chain, then gripped it in her left hand.

After letting out a long breath, she poured psions into the locket.

The locket was a one-of-a-kind spell assistant device, created with only the backbone pieces of a CAD.

Its only function was to store one type of activation sequence and output one type of magic program, and so it eliminated every single system needed for switching between them, like buttons and displays. It was a miniaturized magic wand.

The magic wand built for one person alone spoke the magic words for its only spell…

…and the Azusa Bow, the emotional interference spell only Azusa could use, activated.

…The clear sound of a string passed through the hall from front row to back.

It wasn’t a real sound.

A sound that floated through the sea of the unconscious rather than the air.

A wave that vibrated pushions instead of psions.

For the first ringing echo, it was like a traveler in a marshland with nothing but muddy, dirty water chancing upon a single drop of rain, then stopping and staring idly up at the sky, waiting for the next droplet. It made people long for the next echo; it tied their minds to that alone.

Once the first echo had completely faded, the second plucked the strings of their unconscious.

The people waited for the next echo even more firmly.

And at some point, the audience had stopped thinking, turning their ears to listen inside themselves.

In terms of time, it was just three seconds.

That was all it took for the panic to change into a trance.

“…I am Mayumi Saegusa, former student council president of First High.”

As Mayumi’s voice came amplified over the speakers, it completely drew in the spectators’ minds, which had stopped thinking.

“This city is currently being invaded.”

Those next words, spoken with an absolute grasp of the audience’s consciousness, turned their daze into shock.

“An unknown vessel berthed in the port has launched a rocket attack, and in response, guerilla soldiers secretly in the city have risen up.”

This was too sudden to easily believe.

If Mayumi hadn’t told Azusa of this earlier, she wouldn’t have believed it, either.

But just like she’d said, the name “Saegusa” wasn’t just for show. She was in a position to learn the truth quickest of all, and not one to make irresponsible guesses. However hard this story was to believe, it was the truth.

“The thugs we just apprehended were likely allies of the invading forces. It’s also highly likely that the explosions we’ve been hearing are attacks aimed at the magicians and magic technology gathered here.”

Mayumi paused for a moment, then looked out across the crowd. The audience held its collective breath and waited for her next words.

“As you all know, this building is connected to a train station shelter via an underground passage.”

They stared at her, hanging on her every word.

“The shelter should have more than enough capacity to hold us all.”

They bent their ears to her voice.

“However, the underground shelter is equipped for disaster and air raids.”

Both the students and the adults…

“It is not necessarily a perfect defense against ground forces.”

…even the so-called authorities, who should have been used to commanding and leading the others…

“I estimate that the invaders’ ranks include a force of magicians. We cannot hope for much from the shelter if it comes under magical attack.”

…most of the people in the hall knew who Mayumi was. Both her looks and her competitive accomplishments had shown everyone what her name meant. Not a soul in the place could laugh off her pessimistic outlook as the ramblings of a child. Even the teachers, considering the power behind the Saegusa name, had yielded the platform to her.

“Even so, it may be even more dangerous to try to escape into the crossfire in the city. However, remaining here in the auditorium is the most dangerous option.”

The hall was completely silent. Mayumi didn’t commit the blunder of wasting time with lengthy pauses.

“Would all school representatives please gather their students and begin moving? Whether you evacuate to the shelter or escape the building, there isn’t a moment to lose!”

A different kind of bustle spread through the hall. And the shouting, unlike before, had a certain amount of order to it.

“For all those not related to the nine schools, I apologize, but you must use your own judgment to evacuate. Unfortunately, we don’t have the strength to shoulder the responsibility for everyone’s safety.”

That declaration, which could have been seen as heartless, didn’t garner any argument or denouncement. All the guests here were related to magic in some way. They were all closer to the abnormal than others.

“If you are evacuating to the shelter, please head for the underground passage at once. If you wish to escape the building, we have reports of the Coastal Defense Force sending transport ships to the Mizuho Pier.”

Mayumi bowed, turned off the microphone, and then spoke to Azusa again. “Ah-chan, I’ll leave everyone in your hands. Would all the teachers be so kind as to support Nakajou?”

The teachers, starting with Tsuzura, all nodded, but meanwhile, Azusa’s eyes went wide. “Huh? Wait, Pres— I mean, Mayumi?” she asked in a hurry.

Mayumi smiled and nodded. “See? You understand. You’re the student council president of First High right now, Ah-chan. It’ll be fine; I know you can do it. After all, I trained you personally.”

She gave Azusa a quick wink, then turned around and ran back to the waiting room where Suzune and the others were.

There was a shoot-out between rifles and magic going on in front of the main entrance.

The attacking guerillas all had Asian features. They each wore the same assorted high-necked sweaters, jumpers, and loose cargo pants as the terrorists who made it inside the hall, and they were armed with the usual assault rifles plus the anti-magician high-powered rifles.

Professional, Magic Association–sent magicians were intercepting them.

However, as one could understand from how they’d already let some of the guerillas break through the front gates, the battle wasn’t looking good. The guerillas had more numbers to begin with, but likely due to their anti-magician armaments, several experienced combat magicians—who would never have let normal-equipped infantry anywhere near them—had been injured and now lay on the ground.

Tatsuya, who had been running ahead of the others, stopped behind the entrance. Miyuki, who had been following behind him, stopped along with him, but two others, seemingly in a race for third, let their zeal get the better of them.

“Stop!” Tatsuya shouted at Erika, who was about to leap out in front of him. “They have high-speed anti-magician bullets!”

“Gweh!” grunted Leo as Tatsuya grabbed his collar to drag him close at the same time.

“…Tatsuya, you have no mercy,” Mikihiko muttered, sounding impressed.

“That’s why he’s alive,” Shizuku flatly countered.

This marked the arrival of the remaining four a few moments later. The fact that his friends were still going at it at a time like this was reassuring, but Tatsuya clamped down on his pained grin before it could come out. Instead, he looked to his sister. “Miyuki, quiet their guns for me.”

All his friends gave him a confused look.

“Right away. However, Tatsuya, for this many people at once, I…”

For some reason, Miyuki’s answer seemed filled with an out-of-place embarrassment. The rest of the party cocked their heads at this new mystery.

“I know.”

Tatsuya’s next action immediately put that question to rest.

He held out his left hand, and Miyuki gently entangled her right hand in his fingers. Her bashful expression was not, from any angle you looked at it, the kind a sister would give to her brother.

But before anyone could call them out on it, Miyuki’s face tightened, becoming that of an operating magician.

Her left hand now held her CAD; she had moved so naturally that nobody noticed her reaching for it.

Tatsuya raised his right hand, then pointed at the guerillas from across the door they hid behind.

A moment later, Miyuki’s magic went off.

It was a spell to freeze fire.

The oscillation-/deceleration-type conceptual extension spell Freeze Flame.

Freeze Flame, which expanded the concept of freezing, was a spell that prevented combustion.

Its effect was to hold the heat retained by its target to a fixed level or below.

A gun, in the simplest terms, shot bullets using the gas pressure created by combusting gunpowder. The blasting-cap detonation that made the gunpowder combust was also a type of combustion. And the normal concept of combustion always accompanied an increase in heat. If a combustible was denied that heat increase, it wouldn’t be able to burn. Therefore, any firearms affected by Freeze Flame, whether it was a gun or heavy artillery, as long as it used powder to fire, would be forced into silence.

Exactly thirty guerrillas remained.

At the moment, the upper limit of how many simultaneous targets Miyuki could handle was sixteen.

A double firing of Freeze Flame targeted thirty rifles.

Without first checking to see if the spell worked, Tatsuya jumped out from behind the door.

In the blink of an eye, he was within the guerillas’ ranks, swinging the ridge of his magic-enhanced hands.

The astonishing spectacle of someone cutting through body parts with his bare hands gave a far larger shock to the guerillas than seeing their allies gunned down, because they couldn’t tell if it was magic or not just by looking.

Even as their inability to use their firearms threw them into confusion, a few bravely responded with combat knives; but once five of their number had been cut down, they started to get cold feet.

They looked at Tatsuya like he was a terrifying monster.

He had purposely taken a risk and used zero-range magic instead of long-distance shooting magic for two reasons. The first was so that his friends wouldn’t catch on to the real spell he was using. More importantly, though, he was trying to incite panic.

Being treated like a man-eating fiend was exactly what Tatsuya had wanted.

Their wills broken and their focus lost, the guerillas watched as a silver wind, faster than the eye could see, swept past them from the side. Blood splattered into the air along the gale’s path, and the men fell.

The silver flash had actually been a short blade, a kodachi—though, from its length, perhaps more accurately a wakizashi.

Erika had switched from her usual police baton to a guardless wakizashi-shaped integrated armament CAD, then run through them with a self-acceleration spell, pinpointing and slicing apart their carotids.

Like Tatsuya, she had no hesitation when it came to taking enemy lives. Part of that was because this wasn’t her first battle. But more importantly, she had learned skills to take human lives, using weapons that were made for it. She knew the danger of hesitation. How arrogant and foolish it would be to hesitate to kill her opponent when they could just as easily kill her was branded into the core of her mind.

On that point, it was the same for Mikihiko. The values fostered in him by his family, which had passed down the weapon of magic for generations, wouldn’t allow him to feel doubt over using magic for its original purpose.

“Tatsuya, Erika!” came Mikihiko’s voice from behind, causing the two to spread left and right.

What blew through then was a true whirlwind.

The cutting air hidden in the gale shot through the guerillas, brutally tearing through their skin.

After leaving the remaining enemy troops to the magicians in the security team, Tatsuya and Erika fell back to their allies.

“I didn’t even get a turn…”

Tatsuya gave Leo, who was timid for some reason, an encouraging pat on the back (which, as a result, made Leo squat down with an anguished look), then gave Mikihiko a thumbs-up, and a faint smile to Honoka and Mizuki, who were looking a little scared, with faces like they were trying not to vomit.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That might have been a little much for you two.”

“…No, I’m fine.”

Honoka gave a brave nod, probably an act of her feelings for him.

Whatever the reason, he was glad she was still holding tight. The truth of the matter was that Tatsuya would rather they panic or avoid him after they got out of this situation.

“Mizuki?”

“Ah…I’m fine, too.”

One simple, kind word from his sister was enough to make Mizuki give a tense smile. She was as smart as the rest of them. She understood that this was not the time to act how she usually did.

“Erika, how did you even get that here?” asked Tatsuya. “It’s too big to fit in your bag, isn’t it?”

Still, scenes of killing weren’t something one got used to right away, and the shock from it wouldn’t fade quickly. Tatsuya purposely brought up something unrelated to give the two of them time to calm down.

“Yep. When it’s like this, anyway.” And Erika, too, replied in a more casual tone than usual because she’d guessed Tatsuya’s intention properly. “But when you do this… See?”

“Ooh, now that’s something…”

But the admiration that slipped from Tatsuya’s lips was no act. Even Honoka and Mizuki, who had looked over on a whim—as well as Miyuki, Shizuku, and Mikihiko—had wide eyes.

And this gimmick was definitely worth the boggled expressions. When Erika pressed a switch on the bottom of the hilt, the thin, sharpened blade shrunk into a short truncheon with an elliptical cross section before their very eyes.

“Cool, huh?” said Erika. “It’s a form-memory club-sword they plan on providing to the police next year.”

“Oh, right,” replied Tatsuya. “Your family makes close-combat weapons, don’t they?”

“Actually, it’s basically our main source of income!”

The conversation wasn’t funny enough to warrant laughter, but the sight of them trading casual words seemed to let Mizuki and the others calm down.

“…So, what do we do now?” asked Leo, having read the mood. His tone was nearing impatience as he asked Tatsuya for more instructions.

“We need information,” said Tatsuya. “Like Erika said, things have gotten a lot bigger and more serious than we thought they would. Playing things by ear might get us caught in a whole host of difficulties.”

If we go to the association, we’ll get information for sure. Secret lines for the Ten Master Clans’ personal use ran from the Magic Association HQ and sub-HQ, and Tatsuya had been given access privileges for the Yotsuba family’s secret line. If he used it, he could even obtain top-secret information from National Defense Force council meetings.

Were Tatsuya alone, it would take him less than ten minutes to get to Bay Hills Tower, where the Magic Association’s Kanto branch was, even if he was caught in the middle of a city battle. He didn’t go for a high-speed run every morning for nothing.

However, without roller blades or a flight device, Miyuki wouldn’t be able to keep up with him. Perhaps Leo, Erika, or Mikihiko could stick with him, but it was clearly impossible for Honoka, Shizuku, and Mizuki.

“What if we use the VIP conference room?”

As Tatsuya’s brow unconsciously creased into a frown, Shizuku made this suggestion, indicating the building they’d just come out of.

“VIP conference room?”

Tatsuya didn’t know of any such facility. He knew of the VIP reception room, but she couldn’t have simply misspoken. Besides, the room he thought of was purely for reception, and its information terminals were only hooked up to the usual communication lines.

“Yep. They use it for top-level meetings with high government officials and economic organizations, so we should be able to access most of what we need.”

“There’s a room like that?”

“It’s not open to the general public.”

“…You really know a lot about this stuff,” said Erika, for once genuinely impressed.

Shizuku, a little embarrassed, said in a slightly upbeat way, “I know the encryption key and access code, too.”

“Wow…” breathed Mizuki.

“Uncle Ushio really dotes on her,” added Honoka.

Tatsuya nodded, convinced. Her father certainly seemed the type. And if Ushio Kitayama would use the room, then it could probably intercept police and Coastal Defense Force communications, too. “Shizuku, could you guide us there?” he asked.

Shizuku bobbed her head up and down in an unusually spirited fashion.

Using Shizuku’s access code to have the police’s map data sent to the VIP conference room monitor, they found an entire swath of land on the ocean filled with red, indicating dangerous areas. And that red zone was expanding inland as they watched.

Nobody knew exactly how many enemies there were. But given the speed of their invasion, it seemed certain that their enemy had invested a considerable force. Hundreds, at the very least, and Tatsuya estimated that they were using a battalion-sized unit, numbering anywhere from six hundred to eight hundred. He frowned—the situation had gotten worse than he’d anticipated.

“What is this?!”

“Whoa, this is horrible.”

“There are so many… But how?”

Although his scowl didn’t stand out, thanks to some exaggerated reactions from his friends.

“Tatsuya…”

But though it didn’t stand out, there was no way Miyuki wouldn’t notice. The rippling in his mind was directly linked to his sister’s unrest. The siblings’ minds were connected.

After giving his nervous-eyed sister a pat on the head, Tatsuya turned back to his friends. “I know I don’t have to say it, but the situation is looking fairly bad. If we stick around here, we’ll be captured before the JDF arrives. Even so, there doesn’t look to be an easy avenue of escape. Not overland routes, at least. After all, the transportation systems aren’t running.”

“Which means we go by sea?” asked Leo.

Tatsuya shook his head. “That isn’t looking good, either. Any boat they dispatched probably couldn’t fit all of us.”

“Evacuate to the shelter, then?” suggested Mikihiko.

Tatsuya nodded, but there wasn’t much confidence in his expression. “That would be the realistic option…” he mused. “This place might be sturdy, but if they bomb the building itself, it won’t last.”

“Then we use the underground passage,” prompted Erika, looking ready to dash off at any moment.

“Wait,” Tatsuya said to her. “We shouldn’t go underground. Let’s keep above the surface.”

“Huh? Why? …Oh, I see,” said Erika, looking convinced before he had to explain.

She really is from a family famous for its combat magic, thought Tatsuya in admiration. That wasn’t the only reason he’d called for pause, though. “Also, could you give me a little time?”

“I don’t mind, but…for what?” asked Honoka, cocking her head to the side. Everyone could see the situation was a race against time, but Tatsuya had suggested delaying. Still, her answer was a yes to begin with, and that spoke volumes of her feelings toward him.

“I want to get rid of the data in the demonstration machine.”

“Oh, right,” said Mikihiko. “Since that might be their objective.”

Everyone nodded.

“Shiba, Yoshida.”

In the hallway that led from the elevators to the back of the stage, Tatsuya and Mikihiko were addressed by a heavy, booming voice. They only knew one high school student with a voice that deep.

“Juumonji?”

They turned around to see Katsuto Juumonji walking over, followed by Hattori and Sawaki. All three wore bulletproof vests, the surfaces covered with small, scalelike, overlapping plates. Even Katsuto, who had a powerful magical barrier at hand, was wearing body armor, which brought the gravity of the situation that much more into focus.

“The others are with you? I thought you’d all evacuated earlier.” Evacuate now was written across his face.

“We were headed to the demonstration machines to wipe the data so they can’t steal it, just in case. The girls, well, I figured it would be better than all of us moving independently.” Tatsuya had vacillated over how to explain why he’d brought them here without telling him they’d essentially hacked into the private conference room, and decided to fabricate a fake reason. (The first half, though, wasn’t fabricated.)

“But all the other students are already headed for the underground passage.”

This from Hattori.

Tatsuya scowled in response, and Sawaki, sharply picking up on that, asked, “Is it dangerous down there?”

“Not dangerous, really…but it’s not a straight line, so they could run across another group. Depending on the situation—”

“You mean they could encounter the enemy?!” demanded Hattori without letting him finish.

“The underground passage will restrict their movements,” explained Tatsuya. “They won’t be able to run away or hide, and they could be forced to face them head-on. That was why I decided to go aboveground.”

Katsuto’s verdict was swift. “Hattori, Sawaki, go after Nakajou at once.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood.”

After watching the two of them speed off, Katsuto looked down at Tatsuya with a trace of criticism in his eyes. “Shiba, for someone so resourceful, it seems like you have poor footwork.”

Tatsuya, of course, understood what he was trying to say. That wasn’t to say he accepted it, but for now, he wouldn’t argue.

“Well, fine. Let’s hurry.”

“Understood.”

This time, it was Tatsuya following after Katsuto.

There weren’t enough words in their exchange to show that Katsuto had acknowledged what Tatsuya was trying to do and decided to help him, but Tatsuya knew he had.

“What are you doing here?”

Upon returning to the stage’s rear, where they’d left the demo machines, a remark that completely ignored the question of his own presence was the first thing that slipped out of Tatsuya’s mouth. Suzune and Isori were here, fiddling with the machines, while Mayumi, Mari, Kanon, Kirihara, and Sayaka surrounded them in defense.

“Wiping the data.”

Tatsuya could tell what they were doing just from looking. What he’d really wanted to ask was why they were still here, but when Suzune purposely came back with a literal answer to the question, he found himself at a loss for words.

“You all haven’t evacuated yet?”

“With Rin and Isori doing their best, we can’t very well run away before them, can we?”

Katsuto had given voice to what Tatsuya wanted to say, but with yet another person—Mayumi—responding as though their behavior was entirely natural, he couldn’t say anything more, either.

“We’ll take care of things here, so could you do the ones still in the waiting room, Shiba?”

“If you can, destroy the equipment the other schools left, too, please.”

“Once we’re done here, we’ll head to the waiting room. Then we’ll decide what to do from there.”

After successive requests (instructions?) from Isori, Kanon, and Mari, Tatsuya and Katsuto both turned on their heels.

By the time Tatsuya, with Miyuki, had gone around to the other schools’ waiting rooms and returned (he hadn’t brought the other members with him, since he didn’t want them to see him using his magic to dismantle the patterns recorded in the information and empty the storage media), Suzune’s group had already finished up their work onstage and come to the waiting room.

“You’re back early.”

“How’d it go?”

“The data has been destroyed from all the abandoned terminals,” Tatsuya answered succinctly.

“Really…? How?” asked Kanon, having predicted the answer but being unable to hide her surprise anyway.

Tatsuya’s answer was brief: “It’s a secret.”

“Kanon, you can’t just ask other magicians how their secret spells work. It’s not polite.”

Those words belonged to none other than Isori. Protest was written all over Kanon’s face, but she backed down honestly.

“So, what do we do now?” asked Mari, getting the ball rolling by looking at Mayumi.

“One enemy ship in the port,” said Mayumi. “Nobody’s spotted any others in Tokyo Bay. We don’t know exactly how large the force they landed is, but it looks like almost all of the coastline is under enemy control. All aboveground transportation facilities are frozen. We probably have the guerillas to thank for that.”

“What could they be after?” wondered Isori.

Mayumi and Mari exchanged glances. “This is only a guess, but…” Mayumi answered. “They’re targeting Yokohama, so I’m wondering if their objective is a certain something they can only find here. Though there is one in Kyoto, too.”

“The Magic Association’s sub-headquarters?” blurted out Kanon without waiting for Mayumi to get to the answer.

“More accurately, the association’s main data banks,” replied Mari with a dry grin, supplementing her answer. “The important data is all centrally controlled in Kyoto and Yokohama. It’s still possible that they’re after the academics who came to the Thesis Competition, though.”

“When will the evacuation ships arrive?” said Mari, less a question than a prompt for confirmation.

Mayumi made a face like she wasn’t sure. “The Coastal Defense Force transport ships should arrive in ten minutes. Apparently, they can’t guarantee it’ll be enough to cover everyone evacuating, though.”

Her information matched what Tatsuya’s group had gotten on the floor above. Which meant it was certain that not everyone would be able to evacuate.

“As for Nakajou and the others who headed for the shelter, it unfortunately looks like your worries were on the mark, Shiba,” said Suzune in Mayumi’s place. “They’ve been stopped in their tracks by guerillas. But it doesn’t seem like there are many of them, and Nakajou contacted me to say they would eliminate them soon.”

“And that’s the situation,” said Mari. “We don’t know how much space the shelter will have, but unfortunately, we probably won’t be able to get on that boat. I think the only thing we can do now is head for the shelter. What does everyone else think?”

Mayumi, Mari, Suzune.

Isori, Kanon, Sayaka.

Tatsuya, Miyuki, Erika, Leo, Mikihiko, Mizuki, Honoka, and Shizuku:

Those were the fourteen left here. Katsuto had already taken Kirihara, who had still been guarding Suzune, with him to start searching again for anyone who hadn’t escaped yet.

The three seniors all had their mouths shut. They must have wanted to make their remarks after hearing what their underclassmen had to say.

“…I agree with Mari’s viewpoint.”

Kanon and the other juniors seemed to be under the impression that they didn’t have a choice.

The freshmen’s eyes all fixed upon Tatsuya.

Mari also looked at him for an answer…only to see his eyes pointing in an entirely different direction.

With lightning-fast motions, he brought his silver CAD up and pointed it at the wall.

“Tatsuya?!” came both Miyuki’s and Mayumi’s surprised voices at once.

Without answering, Tatsuya pulled the trigger.

Many from a third party were here in this place, and Tatsuya hadn’t forgotten about that for a moment.

But he didn’t have enough time to deal with the situation while protecting his secrets.

He’d noticed it almost by coincidence.

Maybe it was his Yakumo-trained intuition that told him. The man had instructed him over and over not to rely too much on just Elemental Sight.

Tatsuya, who had been overcome with a powerful sense of danger and expanded his “sight” beyond the wall, had picked up on the information of the massive object plunging toward them.

If Katsuto had been here, the situation would have been different.

If soldiers had jumped in, he could have left it to Mayumi, Mari, and the like.

Had she the time, he could have had only Miyuki deal with it, too.

But at that moment, the only thing that could respond to the big truck covered in armored plates crashing into the room was Tatsuya’s magic.

Four yards high, three yards wide, and weighing thirty tons.

The truck, one allowed to be significantly larger due to advancements in road standards and to which many heavy protective plates were also attached, fell completely into Tatsuya’s aim, and he triggered his dismantling spell, Mist Dispersion.

A moment later, the truck turned into dust and vanished.

The driver was flung out of the disappeared driver’s seat, slammed into the ground, and collided with the wall.

Propelled by inertia, a powder of metal and plastic pounded the hall’s wall, the only proof that the large piece of transportation machinery had ever existed. The outer wall only suffered minor scratches, with no damage to the inner wall.

But unfortunately, things were never so easy. Someone realized what had happened.

“…What was that?” asked Mayumi with much trepidation.

Tatsuya wanted to click his tongue in frustration. He was right to worry—Mayumi had witnessed the scene. She’d probably looked where he was looking, then peered beyond the wall with her perception-type spell Multiscope.

But fortunately—though it was still just putting off the problem—he didn’t need to answer her.

Because Mayumi, who had left her expanded vision active, paled at a new sight:

A swarm of small missiles sailing toward them.

Tatsuya, who had also left his vision expanded, spotted them as well.

Looks like the invaders recognized everyone still in here as dangerous to combat, thought Tatsuya. With the capture of their forces in the hall, the battle outside the front entrance, and the truck being destroyed a moment ago, it looked like they’d changed their combat objective from point securing to annihilation.

As one part of his mind calmly analyzed the situation as though it was someone else’s problem, another part was building up a spell to intercept the rain of portable missiles coming down.

But this time, he didn’t need to do anything. A magical barrier, several layers thick, formed on the outside of the room’s wall.

Before the missiles struck the new wall, a sonic boom fired into them from the side, and they exploded in midair.

“Sorry for the wait!”

Suddenly, a voice addressed them, and Tatsuya and Mayumi both returned to normal vision.

As though she’d timed the moment—and he wanted to believe she wasn’t mean enough to do something like that—a woman had entered the waiting room.

“Huh? Wait, is that you, Ms. Kyouko?”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Mayumi?”

Her sudden appearance completed, Fujibayashi greeted her old friend Mayumi with a smile.

Katsuto had spotted the missile rain because he’d sensed the presence of powerful magic. Magicians perceived the usage of magic by the reactions of event alterations; however, the spell he’d sensed barely had any reaction at all.

Nevertheless, Katsuto knew that the world had just undergone a significant alteration.

It wasn’t like Tatsuya had a patent on understanding the world beyond the traditional five senses. Katsuto used magic that altered spatial properties, so he possessed an acute awareness of changes in space.

Gravitational force was equivalent to the distribution of mass—one of the most basic properties of space. By perceiving fluctuations in mass distribution, Katsuto could ascertain the movement and changes in objects. Even if the object with a lot of mass wasn’t as big as a boat or a building, his senses had clued him in to a quantity of mass, which could only be called enormous, suddenly dispersing.

Katsuto didn’t think he’d ever seen such a smooth event alteration on such a large scale. Rather than feeling threatened, he felt himself grow curious, so he paused his search for people who hadn’t escaped yet and jumped to where the mass had dispersed.

Though difficult to imagine given his large frame, he was very good at spells that helped him move at high speeds, too. Leaving Kirihara behind, he leaped through the air as if sliding across it, then rounded a corner by altering his movement vector, and finally arrived at the wall outside the waiting room.

Had that been good luck or bad luck?

According to Mayumi or Mari, one could call it good.

One wouldn’t know what Katsuto himself thought without asking him.

Because the moment he landed there, he was welcomed by portable missiles.

His reaction was almost a conditioned reflex.

In the blink of an eye, he constructed a multilayered wall—one that wouldn’t even let air through, and one that could withstand heat up to two hundred thousand degrees. The heat wave from the missiles, which had blown up in midair for some reason, hit the barrier Katsuto had made, not leaving a single burn mark on the actual wall behind it.

Katsuto whirled around to where the shock wave that had blown up the missiles had flown in from. He saw an open-top military vehicle and a JDF captain standing in it, holding what looked like a missile launcher.

“A supersonic launcher… Would you happen to be from the 101st?” he called out to the vehicle as it neared, speaking politely.

The captain jumped out from the car, which had approached with almost complete silence—it seemed to use a hybrid system—and saluted Katsuto with a smile that looked like a sticker on his face.

“Shigeru Sanada, captain of the Japan Defense Force’s 101st Brigade, Independent Magic Battalion. I’m much obliged that the current leader of the Juumonji would know who I am.”

Katsuto’s eyebrow twitched. But that was all, and that could be said to be due to his exceptional mental prowess for an eighteen-year-old.

“Apologies. We should both probably refrain from pointless chatter.”

“…That fault is mine.”

“Again, much obliged. Next leader of the Juumonji family—shall we go?” said Sanada, heading for the conference hall.

Katsuto had no idea what they wanted with him, but he decided that, for now, he shouldn’t take his eyes off this soldier—since he clearly knew the secret circumstances in the Juumonji family.

The two lined up (one behind the other) and entered the assembly hall from the nearest entrance.

Fujibayashi wasn’t alone.

From behind her military field uniform (featuring thin slacks and short boots) came a man in the prime of his life, also wearing the uniform of the Japan Ground Defense Force—one with a major-rank badge on it.

The major came before Tatsuya, who was standing there bewildered, and clasped his hands behind him.

“Specialist, information control is temporarily revoked,” said Fujibayashi from beside the colonel.

The bewilderment vanished from Tatsuya’s face. He straightened and responded with a salute to the man in front of him.

Everyone else present, save for Miyuki, and including the just-arrived Katsuto, stared at him, unable to hide their shock.

The soldier answered Tatsuya’s salute with one of his own, then looked to Katsuto and walked over to him. “Harunobu Kazama, major of the Japan Ground Defense Force. Please forgive me, as circumstances dictate I withhold my attachment.”

Sanada had already revealed their attachment; Kazama was more considering the fact that Mayumi, Erika, and the others were listening.

“I see—so you would be Major Kazama. I am Katsuto Juumonji, representative agent of the Juumonji of the Ten Master Clans.”

In response to Kazama’s self-introduction, Katsuto openly stated his own name and public position in the magic world.

Kazama bowed slightly, then turned so that he could see both Katsuto and Tatsuya at once. “Fujibayashi, explain the situation to them.”

“Yes, sir. In terms of our forces, the Hodogaya garrison is currently in combat with the invading forces. In addition, one battalion each from Tsurumi and Fujisawa are making their ways here posthaste. The Magic Association’s Kanto branch has also assembled a volunteer army, which has begun taking action for self-defense.”

“Thank you. Now then, Specialist…” After curtly thanking Fujibayashi, Kazama looked at Tatsuya and used the term Specialist. “Considering the uniqueness of the present situation, we’ve just received orders to join the defense despite being deployed on another mission in Hodogaya. In accordance with the special duty bylaws of the Japan Defense Force, I hereby order you into action.”

The power of his stare, more than his stern words and grave tone, cut off any argument from Mayumi, Mari, and Kanon.

“Specialist, the MOVAL suits you designed are in the trailer,” said Sanada. “We should hurry.”

Tatsuya nodded to Sanada and turned back to his friends. “Sorry, but you heard them. I want all of you to evacuate with our upperclassmen,” he said, lightly bowing in apology.

“Specialist, our team will accompany them,” said Fujibayashi in support.

Tatsuya was honestly thankful for her—and the Major’s—good offices in assigning some of their most elite for the sake of his friends in this situation, despite how few they had. “I would be grateful for that, Lieutenant.”

“Roger that. You do your best, too, Specialist.”

Tatsuya bowed to Fujibayashi, then followed Kazama out.

He’d apologized to his classmates, while completely ignoring his upperclassmen, but either both groups had a good enough grasp on the situation or were simply too baffled to stop him.

“Tatsuya, please wait a moment.”

Instead, the one to call out to him, face tormented, was his sister, Miyuki.

Tatsuya looked at Kazama in silent question, and the man returned a nod before leaving ahead of him.

Miyuki went before her brother and reached her hand out to his cheek.

Her goal wasn’t to stop him. Miyuki understood Tatsuya’s position and duties just as well as he did. In fact, her biggest fear was to be an impediment to him.

What she was trying to do now…

Was something she had no right to do.

But Miyuki, on her own judgment, taking full responsibility, decided to do it anyway. She had resolved herself to undo the chains binding her brother.

Tatsuya saw the determination in her eyes.

His sister looked up at him with eyes full of confusion, understanding, and gratitude, all mixed together, and nodded. Tatsuya knelt down on one knee in front of her—like a knight bending before his princess.

Miyuki put her hand on his cheek, then brought her brother’s face, his eyes closed, up to face her.

Then, she bent down…

…and kissed her brother’s forehead.

Her lips parted, her hand pulled away from his cheek, and Tatsuya hung his head once again.

The change happened suddenly.

Particles of light, bright enough to burn one’s eyes, seethed up from Tatsuya’s body.

They weren’t photons but rather the particles that were the wellspring of magic, wrapped in a light that wasn’t natural.

Tatsuya opened his eyes and stood.

The psions, energized to the point of impossibility, raged around him in a whirlwind.

He was like a high king of storms, veiled in tempests and attended by thunderbolts.

The inconceivably intense radiance dimmed quickly, but the vast field of psions was still quietly swirling around him.

As everyone staggered one or two steps away from Tatsuya, Miyuki, with a graceful smile, pinched her skirt and curtsied to him.

“Use it as you like.”

“I’ll be back soon.”

And with his sister’s gaze—replete with every emotion imaginable—seeing him off, Tatsuya departed for the battlefield in the city of Yokohama.