Time: April 8, morning. Place: National Magic University’s First Affiliated High School. Event: entrance ceremony.

Tatsuya, Miyuki, and Minami arrived at First High two hours before the ceremony, this time without being ambushed by any ill-mannered staring. The reason they came so early went without saying—to prepare for the ceremony. The three of them went straight to the lecture prep room, where their final meeting would be held. Minami was worried about being an outsider, but Tatsuya, experienced in coming to school with his sister and having time on his hands, forced her to come anyway.

Isori and Honoka were already in the prep room.

“Good morning, Tatsuya!” Honoka chimed. “And you, too, Miyuki!”

“Good morning, Shiba,” added Isori. “You’re right on time.”

While Miyuki exchanged morning salutations with Honoka, Isori chatted with Tatsuya.

“Good morning. You’re early, Isori,” the latter greeted him.

“Well, it’s who I am. I can’t calm down unless I arrive early,” answered Isori with a smile. He looked over at Minami, who was waiting behind Miyuki. “By the way, who is she? A new student, right?”

“That’s right. Minami?”

“Yes, Big Brother Tatsuya?”

At Tatsuya’s call, Minami trotted over. Isori made a somewhat surprised face at the response. “Big Brother? Shiba, I didn’t know you had another sister.”

In a way, his question was exactly what Tatsuya had expected. “No, she’s our cousin,” he replied, giving the lie they’d prepared in advance. “Minami, this is Isori.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Isori. I’m Minami Sakurai.” Minami kept in mind Tatsuya’s instructions not to be overly polite.

Isori didn’t seem to think anything was off, either. “Nice to meet you, Sakurai.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

It was as Minami was giving another bow to Isori that Azusa, Kanon, and the new student representative, Takuma Shippou, entered. (Kanon, incidentally, had just gone through a seating check.)

“Good morning… Am I the last one here?” asked Azusa, her face looking a little shaky.

“Good morning, President. You’re right on time,” replied Miyuki with a smile. She was actually about three minutes late, but Miyuki’s smile had enough sternness to imply she wouldn’t accept either apologies or excuses.

As Azusa swallowed down her planned apology, Takuma stepped out from behind her and spoke. “Good morning, Isori, Shiba.”

“Good morning, Shippou,” said Isori in return, bowing.

Takuma turned to face Miyuki and Honoka. “Shiba, Mitsui, good morning. I look forward to working with you today.”

Was he nervous? Tatsuya wondered. His attitude was actually commendable today, unlike two days ago.

“Good morning, Shippou. Please do your best today.”

It would take more kindness than that, however, to move Miyuki. Her smile was lovely, and her tone gentle. Her face was the perfect picture of a gentlewoman’s—but that was an impenetrable mask for social occasions. Takuma had only changed his attitude; he hadn’t apologized for his rudeness the other day. As long as he didn’t apologize to her brother, she had no intent to compromise.

Her smile was aloof, but nobody could complain about it, and so Azusa and Isori both floated expressions of distress. They couldn’t chide Miyuki, because there was nothing to chide. But that didn’t mean they could ignore the awkward mood beginning to drift about. Azusa, not knowing what to do, looked to Tatsuya for help.

“It looks like we’re all here, so let’s start by going over the program.” Tatsuya’s response to her was to push the conversation forward like nothing had happened.

Kanon immediately laid down covering fire. “Yeah, no point wasting time.” She probably also figured they needed to divert the conversation’s momentum.

“Let’s start with our positions thirty minutes before opening. Miyuki will be guiding visitors in, and Honoka will be in the broadcasting room…”

This was technically Azusa’s job, but Tatsuya ignored that and began their prerehearsal meeting. The unnatural fact that Minami was here was eventually forgotten without anyone pointing it out.

Their preceremony rehearsal ended without issue, the air palpably tense and strained as the real thing drew closer. Azusa, for example, breathed a sigh of relief as it ended, seeming to relax completely—or rather, collapse—even though the ceremony was in thirty minutes. It seemed to Tatsuya that she was being a little too loose about it, but it wasn’t his job to point that out. Besides, he revised his thinking, it was better than her getting too high-strung and ending up useless during the ceremony. He decided to get on with his own job.

“I’ll go guide in the new students.”

“I will see you soon, Brother.”

“Oh yes—thank you.”

After being seen off by Miyuki and Azusa at the side of the stage, as well as by Minami, who bowed without a word, Tatsuya left the lecture hall.

His preceremony role was to guide new students who didn’t know where to go. He’d run into Mayumi before the entrance ceremony the previous year because she’d had the same job. When he’d heard of that at the end of March, during their debates about this year’s job assignments, Tatsuya had felt like it wasn’t something the student council president should have to do before an important event like an entrance ceremony. Now, though, he’d changed his mind. Maybe it had been an excuse for her to distract herself from her nerves.

He hadn’t personally been that anxious. He did, however, still feel something of a sense of release. This was probably just who he was—he felt more comfortable outside where he could feel the wind than indoors setting up for a stiff, formal ceremony. Perhaps Mayumi was similar in that respect.

And perhaps that was exactly why he ran almost headlong into Mayumi as soon as he exited into the front school grounds.

“Oh, Tatsuya?”

“Saegusa? Good morning.”

“I would say it’s been a while…but it really hasn’t. Are you showing the new students where to go?

“Yes, more or less.”

“So you joined the student council after all.”

There were non–council members doing the guidance work as well. The disciplinary committee was keeping an eye on the venue, too, partly for security’s sake, and they even had provisional members patrolling. Mayumi shouldn’t have been able to conclude from his answer alone that he was in the student council, but he made no objection as she giggled in amusement. After all, he had, in fact, joined the student council, and something else was bothering him more.

It didn’t need to be stated at this point, but Mayumi had graduated First High the previous month. She wasn’t wearing a school uniform, which of course made sense. A single outfit swap, however, shouldn’t have been able to make her look this much like an adult.

This wasn’t the first time he’d seen her in something other than a uniform. The summer dress she’d shown them on the way to and from the Nines the previous summer had been quite captivating. But at the time, despite her exposed skin, she hadn’t seemed like a different person.

But now, garbed in a women’s suit, she came off as so mature she seemed like a completely different person from last month. She wore a short jacket over a blouse with frills decorating the chest, along with a tight skirt that ended below the knees, none of which even gave a much different impression from First High’s girls’ uniform. Was it her cardinal-red high heels? Her makeup, which was light but still added color? The amber barrette holding her hair instead of a big ribbon? Most likely all of them combined and enhanced one another to produce the result—and more importantly, Mayumi herself had taken her first step toward adulthood.

“It hasn’t been a month since the graduation ceremony…but I hardly recognized you, Tatsuya.”

It was unavoidable, then, that when she suggested something similar about him, he’d be taken aback. “Really?” he managed.

Mayumi gave him a warm smile. “Yes. Your uniform—it’s the magical engineering curriculum one, right? Completely different from last year.”

“Only the uniform is different, though.” Tatsuya wasn’t trying to hide embarrassment—he was telling the truth. That was what he seriously believed.

“No, no. You probably can’t tell, but your face is totally different from when you had the Course 2 uniform on at the beginning of last spring. You look like you feel…freer than last year,” Mayumi pointed out.

It wasn’t that Tatsuya didn’t argue—it was that he couldn’t.

A fact he hadn’t noticed. A truth he hadn’t been aware of.

He’d thought he hadn’t been taking anything seriously, and yet he’d still allow the sense of inferiority another person might feel imprison him.

“I surrender. I suppose it’s always hardest to understand oneself.”

Tatsuya raised the white flag gracefully. His declaration of defeat wasn’t only lip service, either. He genuinely decided to take the wisdom of his predecessors—that even if you think you understand yourself, you actually don’t—to heart as a warning from now on. But when he saw Mayumi puff out her chest proudly a moment later, the seed of rebelliousness began to sprout.

“I should say the same for you. You’ve changed quite a bit yourself.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes. You can tell you’re a college student. You look very mature.”

“D-do you think so? Our entrance ceremony was only just the other day.”

She responded in the negative to his thoughts, but her slackened expression and fidgeting behavior made it clear that she didn’t find it altogether disheartening. (Incidentally, Magic University’s entrance ceremony had been on April 6.)

“Yes. The sober barrette and the adult high heels suit you very well. You’re almost like a different person.”

“Ee-hee-hee, you think so? …Wait.” As Mayumi let her facade crumble, evidently not trying to hide herself anymore, her face suddenly stiffened as though in epiphany. “Tatsuya…what did you mean by that…?”

No, it was not as though in epiphany—she had, in fact, caught on.

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“You said I matured, like a different person.”

She’d caught on to the fact that Tatsuya had been teasing her.

“Do you mean to say I used to look childish…?”

“You’re thinking about it too hard.” Tatsuya, though, wasn’t endearing enough in personality to so easily admit to his own wicked deeds (?). As Mayumi glared up at him, he constructed the perfect expression of seriousness and honesty, answering her in a voice to match. “I have never once thought that you have a baby face or that you have the build of a child.”

“Baby face… Build of a child…”

For some reason, Mayumi seemed to be in shock. From an objective standpoint, she was simply short—she didn’t, in fact, have a baby face or childlike body. If Tatsuya had to judge, her face was more cute than pretty, but that didn’t mean it was childish, and her balanced proportions actually made her look mature next to others her age.

But it seemed the fact that she was too short—and it wasn’t like she was extremely short or anything—was a secret complex of hers. Tatsuya had given a clear denial, but nevertheless, she’d interpreted his words in a bad way.

“Are you feeling all right?” he queried, not sounding overly worried.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she answered firmly, half of which was a front, once again staring at him with upturned eyes. “Then what did you mean by ‘a different person’?”

“I didn’t really mean anything in particular. It’s a common expression.”

With the young woman persistently questioning him, Tatsuya wondered to himself if he’d messed up. He hadn’t broached the topic intending for it to drag on for this long. He wasn’t about to blow her off, but he couldn’t spend all his time occupied with her, either. And now that he thought about it, why had Mayumi come to her alma mater?

“Really? That’s not how it seems to me,” she grumbled, stepping in without hesitation. Her upturned stare turned into a point-blank glare. She probably didn’t realize it, but she was close enough to invite misunderstandings from outside parties.

“No, I’m serious… By the way, what brings you here today?”

He saw Mayumi’s expression of startlement at about the same time that he heard an angry, shrill voice shouting “Hey!”

“Step away from my big sister, you womanizer!”

At first, Tatsuya didn’t know those words had been directed at him. There was no reason anyone would be calling him a philanderer. But then he saw a girl, petite enough to fit the high-pitched voice, dashing straight for him along the cherry tree–lined path and realized she’d misinterpreted this situation—the positional one, in which Tatsuya appeared to be hanging over Mayumi because of the height difference.

“Kasu?!”

Mayumi, for her part, understood by the term big sister and the voice’s characteristics that the line had been directed at her. She looked back toward the girl running at them, quickly brought her face back to Tatsuya, then took a vehement step backward. She was obviously flustered. She must have figured out that they’d been misunderstood.

Tatsuya knew without having to look at the new student register that this girl Kasu was Mayumi’s younger sister. And if Mayumi had been misunderstood by her younger sister to have been getting too cozy with a male underclassman, Tatsuya could understand her losing her composure. Her reaction did, however, feel a little too spirited.

His momentary doubts proved correct. Had her heels brought about the disaster? No—Mayumi would have had many chances to attend formal parties, so she couldn’t have been unaccustomed to high-heeled shoes. Had she slipped, then, out of the sudden confusion?

Tatsuya thought about all this calmly as Mayumi’s feet were about to fall out from under her. They were the thoughts of an outside observer. Had he simply seen it through to the end, he would have earned the title of “insensitive clod” and deserved it—but even he wasn’t that inhuman.

Tatsuya quickly moved to support the staggering Mayumi by grabbing both her shoulders. He didn’t do anything overly familiar like put his arms around her waist, of course, nor were there any unpardonable accidents like his touching her chest.

“Th-thanks…”

So when Mayumi thanked him, her face embarrassed, the only thing she would have been concerned about was the fact that she’d been about to trip over nothing.

Unfortunately, her sister didn’t seem to think that way.

“I told you to get away from her!” she yelled.

A moment later, her sister Kasumi’s body floated into the air. Her petite body accelerated through the air, not in a parabola but in a straight line, and her outstretched knee flew toward Tatsuya’s face.

Tatsuya stopped her knee with one hand, not guarding with his forearm but catching it with his palm. By adding force like that of an uppercut, he dissolved the impact upward, and the momentum escaped into the ground.

Mayumi’s eyes ballooned at the sight, but Kasumi was even more surprised than her sister. Blocking or smacking her away would have been one thing, but she was being raised just as a ballerina might lift a leg. Because her state of movement had been forcibly altered, her compound acceleration/movement spell lost its effects.

“Uwah-wah?!”

Her posture was unstable, one leg kneeling atop a palm without any magic-based assistance. Perhaps expectedly, she lost her balance. Her body began to tilt over.

Before Kasumi could continue to flip, Tatsuya pulled back one foot, opening his stance, and lowered his hand.

“Waah!”

With a cry that was decidedly not very cute, Kasumi fell, still in her leaning-forward posture. If she continued like this and made contact with the front schoolyard’s soft-coat pavement, she might not hit her head, but she would probably scrape her knees and palms. One could say she’d be in a fairly miserable way as one about to attend her high school entrance ceremony. It would doubtless be a bitter first-day experience for a girl.

To stop the tragedy, Tatsuya could have caught her body in midair—but he didn’t. The reason wasn’t that he had no time to react. He’d been watching his new underclassman’s descent with calculating eyes. The fact that she was Mayumi’s younger sister didn’t have very much weight in his decision making. What meant more was that she had, even incompletely, carried out an attack on him. Besides, if he caught the girl’s body as it fell, he’d give the other girl an opening.

“Ah?!”

Tatsuya saw the reason Kasumi cried out dumbly and understood it.

A magic program was attached to her body, slowing her rate of descent. Without even damaging her eidos-skin—the layer of Information Boost protecting her. This sort of phenomenon normally only happened when the person applied a spell to herself—but it had emerged by way of a third party’s magic.

At about the same time Kasumi made her soft, unharmed landing, Tatsuya took a big jump backward. After opening up three meters’ worth of distance, he saw another girl, with exactly the same face and build as Kasumi but a different hairdo, running to the kneeling Kasumi’s side.

“Kasumi, are you all right?!”

“Thanks, Izumi.”

Standing side by side, it was obvious that they really were twins. Had anyone who didn’t know their profiles seen them like this, they would have thought they were identical. And, of course, Tatsuya was aware that they actually were.

Kasumi and Izumi Saegusa. The sisters were known among the Numbers as the Saegusa twins, a simple nickname lacking any creativity or witticism.

But despite their identical features, they gave off noticeably different impressions. Kasumi, with her smooth hair and short haircut, appeared to be the energetic type, one who might lean toward physical education or martial arts over book studies—someone who was always ready for a fight.

On the other hand, Izumi, with straight, evenly cut hair that brushed her shoulders, was more the introvert, with a mild-mannered air of bookish grace about her. What she’d just said, both in tone of voice and expression, evidenced how alarmed she was, but she seemed to be somehow lacking apprehension—on the surface, at least. Still, Tatsuya felt as though she was the one to be careful around.

He was now on the receiving end of a pair of unmannerly gazes from people he’d never met before, but the feeling went both ways. In terms of how blunt their gazes were, Tatsuya’s was practically reserved.

“Izumi, this guy’s real strong for a philanderer.”

“Wait, umm, Kasumi?”

But there was a clear difference in energy between them. They both watched him curiously, but Kasumi was the only one with enmity burning in her eyes.

“I think you’d better calm down…” said Izumi, soothing her.

“My gut’s telling me that this guy’s not ordinary.”

But Kasumi wasn’t listening. Still on one knee, glaring at Tatsuya, she pushed up her left sleeve to reveal a CAD.

“Izumi, let’s do the thing,” she said, about to let her fingers at the CAD’s console.

Usage of magic without permission—a blatantly illegal act. And the second time, too. Even removing the fact that they were aimed at him from the equation, that wasn’t something he could overlook. They might have been students about to go to their opening ceremony, but he didn’t have the option of not subduing them.

He decided all this in an instant, but fortunately, before he could act, the illegal magic usage ended before it began.

“Give it a rest!”

Mayumi, who had been frozen in place, unable to keep up with the situation, had brought her fist down on Kasumi’s head.

“…”

Judging from how Kasumi squatted holding her head, unable to talk, it must have hurt a considerable amount.

“…What did you do that for, Sis?”

“That’s my line! Kasu, what on earth are you doing?!”

Mayumi looked down, hands on her hips, at her sister, as the girl looked up at her teary-eyed. Mayumi was seriously mad. Kasumi’s excited mind cooled at her older sister’s threatening countenance, and her face shifted from a warm color to a cool one.

“I told you many times that using magic without permission is a crime! And on the very day you start high school… How do you explain yourself?!” she said, rattling on in a voice that was half an octave higher than normal.

Tatsuya watched her, a little bit appalled. He’d seen her get upset before. But this was the first time he’d seen her furious. It was a guileless, straightforward attitude he couldn’t have imagined from her normal approach—hiding her feelings behind a meaningful smile.

Meanwhile Kasumi, exposed to her naked wrath, tried to make herself small but didn’t give up her resistance. Because she was family? Or was she used to this?

“B-but that guy was trying to do lewd things to you, Sis…”

And her counterattack was certainly effective—

“I… Le-lewd?!”

—in terms of dealing damage to her opponent, at least.

“We were doing nothing of the sort! What are you thinking?!”

Looking at the big picture, though, it was nothing more than fuel for the fire.

“You were the one who said you wanted to look around before the ceremony, and that you’d be all right since you’re not a kid, Kasumi! You haven’t been bothering other people this way, too, have you?!”

I see. So that’s what’s going on, thought Tatsuya. Mayumi had brought her sisters to the entrance ceremony in place of their busy parents.

“That would be outrageous, Big Sister.”

The challenge to Mayumi’s scolding in interrogative form came not from the trembling Kasumi but Izumi, standing close to her twin.

“Aside from Kasumi’s misunderstanding just now, we have not done anything that would bother anybody else.”

“Really…? Can I believe you, Izu?”

“You can, without a doubt.”

Izumi’s words, insisting on their innocence in a way that almost seemed too polite, seemed to let Mayumi regain some of her cool.

“All right,” she said after seeing Izumi’s eyes and nodding. “Tatsuya, I’m sorry!” She bowed deeply toward him. “My sister isn’t behaving herself. Kasu, you apologize to him, too!”

Whether or not Kasumi truly understood how serious her older sister was, she didn’t express displeased behavior as she had earlier. She went next to Mayumi and bowed her head without complaint. “I’m terribly sorry,” she said.

“I would like to offer my apologies as well. Please, forgive Kasumi’s rudeness, Shiba.”

Not only Kasumi, the perpetrator, but even Izumi followed suit.

With three beautiful girls—no, one beautiful woman and two beautiful girls—apologizing to him at once, Tatsuya felt uncomfortable. Miraculously, no one had witnessed the violent act earlier, but now he could feel a few curious stares. If they saw him as bullying the girls or something, the damage and aftereffects would be much worse than Kasumi’s flying knee.

“Please, raise your heads, all of you. Nothing ultimately happened, so it doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Actually, Please don’t let it bother you anymore was closer to how he really felt. He wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible to escape the gazes of the ever-increasing curious onlookers. But saying he didn’t care anymore wasn’t a lie, either.

Mayumi probably understood that, too. A relieved look came over her face, but it quickly faded to an apologetic, guilty one.

“Umm, look, Tatsuya?”

“What is it?” The air had turned odd, somehow. Tatsuya mentally prepared himself.

“I know… I know that normally you’d have to report this to the faculty office, but…” Mayumi, facing Tatsuya, shut her eyes and put her hands together. “Please! Could you make an exception just this once and overlook it?!”

“Oh, that?” murmured Tatsuya. “I never intended to make a big deal out of something so small.”

In reality, if she had taken issue with things “so small,” he had no idea how many times she would have lectured him or Miyuki. He didn’t say it out loud, but his unadorned feelings were that the feeling was mutual.

“Thanks so much, Tatsuya!”

Which made him worry when she was so strongly thankful. And…

“No, I knew from the start she was going to stop right before hitting me.”

There was also the flying knee being a bluff. If she’d actually attacked him, Tatsuya wouldn’t have responded so amicably.

The compound acceleration/movement spell Kasumi had cast on herself had been made to quickly decelerate her thirty centimeters from Tatsuya’s face, stopping her dead in midair ten centimeters away. No matter how well trained he was, it wasn’t possible to use one hand to stop forty kilograms of body mass hurtling at him at fifty meters a second. He had known when she would start decelerating and when she’d stop, so he had literally given her a hand stopping herself and the spell right before that would have happened anyway.

“Right… I should have known, Tatsuya.”

While Kasumi uttered, “But how…?” in bafflement next to her, Mayumi nodded, impressed. She was used to how abnormal Tatsuya could be.

“In any case, I need to show the new students in. The venue is open by now,” said Tatsuya, forestalling Mayumi’s next remark—which probably would have been an unnecessary one—before leaving without waiting for an answer.

“Pixie?”

After parting ways with the Saegusa sisters, he moved to a mostly deserted spot and brought his mouth to his voice communication unit.

“Yes, Master?”

The soft whisper in response came via active telepathy. It was from “Pixie,” inside a 3H type P-94.

“Delete all psion sensor data from the lecture hall entrance to the front yard area, starting now and going back ten minutes.”

“Of course, Master.”

Mayumi seemed to have accidentally forgotten, but Tatsuya couldn’t cover up Kasumi’s unlawful magic usage just by keeping quiet. Sensors that surveilled magic usage were set up all over the campus, and except during special intervals like club recruitment week, all improper magic usage would be recorded by these devices.

“Deletion completed.”

Tatsuya hadn’t, of course, withdrawn Pixie from the student council to make her run errands. Perhaps because she had originally been a housekeeping robot and she wanted to do it, he was letting her, but his intentions lay elsewhere—to hack the school’s surveillance system.

Up until March, when Mayumi had still attended the school, he could have asked her to do most of these things. She had codes to get into the school’s surveillance system beyond the level normally permitted to student council presidents. There was obviously no way she’d obtained that ability via any proper means. Thus, it naturally hadn’t passed down to the next student president.

Tatsuya, in many ways a shady customer himself, needed to figure out his own way of getting into the surveillance system now that Mayumi was gone. And that had led him to the way Pixie was put together.

Right now, Pixie’s main body, a parasite, was operating in direct control of the Humanoid Home Helper’s electronic brain. In other words, “Pixie” had the potential to control electronic systems directly, without needing any sort of interface. Tatsuya had assumed this would be the case.

And so Tatsuya had taught Pixie as many hacking techniques as he could cram into their spring break. Originally the techniques had been taught to him by Fujibayashi, the Electron Sorceress. His efforts had borne fruit, and though it was limited to First High’s internal systems, Pixie now had the skills to freely infiltrate the systems keeping an eye out for magic and overwrite their data.

Although he called his job new student guidance, it wasn’t very hard to figure out where the entrance ceremony venue—the assembly hall—was, and nobody would ever get lost if they had a device equipped with an LPS, or local positioning system. Cases like Erika last year, when she hadn’t had her terminal and hadn’t known where to go, were an exception. Tatsuya’s job, as well as the others’, wasn’t to give new students directions but to give a heads-up to the ones who seemed like they were going to be late.

“Excuse me, where might the assembly hall be?”

So Tatsuya hadn’t expected to run into someone who had actually gotten lost.

The place: the tree-lined path between the library and small gymnasium number two—the opposite side of campus from the ceremony location. There, Tatsuya had spotted an incoming male freshman who looked very much like he didn’t know what to do. After Tatsuya called out to him, that had been the response.

This new student is quite conspicuous, though, thought Tatsuya. Among his own classmates were several sporting different colors from most Japanese people, with red hair or blue eyes or dark skin. But there were none so dazzlingly colored as the short student standing in front of him.

His hair was platinum, his eyes were silver, and his skin was white. The colors weren’t the only thing that set him apart—his features were devoid of any Japanese characteristics as well. A manifestation of strong northern Caucasian genes? Come to think of it, Tatsuya noted, he resembled his instructor, Mrs. Smith.

“I’ll show you. You can come with me.”

Despite what was on his mind, his answer came without delay. The new student gave a relieved expression and bowed deeply. “Thank you very much. Umm, my name is Kento Sumisu.”

“Sumisu—Smith…?” repeated Tatsuya in spite of himself. He seemed to have the same family name as the person Tatsuya considered the boy similar to. But Smith was the most common last name in the English-speaking sphere. A coincidence, he decided.

“Oh—yes, written with the characters for corner and defense. My parents naturalized here from the States before I was born. When they did, they put those kanji to the name Smith… I know, it must sound like a strange name.”

Apparently, though, this Kento boy seemed to have taken the reaction for a different kind of confusion. His voice tapered off at the end. Maybe he had experience being teased for his last name in elementary or middle school.

“No, I don’t think it’s strange at all.”

Middle school was one thing, but elementary school kids might display such innocent, unthinking cruelty. Tatsuya, though, had no ties to that sort of foolishness. What he’d been thinking was that if both the boy’s parents were naturalized Japanese citizens, it made sense he didn’t have any Japanese physical characteristics.

“By the way,” said Tatsuya, something more important on his mind. “Doesn’t your information terminal have an LPS function, Sumisu?”

When Tatsuya had spotted Kento, the boy had been looking at his information terminal screen like he was about to cry. If the device had an LPS function, he wouldn’t have lost his way.

“Oh—you can just call me Kento. As for LPS, well…it does have one, I guess, but…” he said, removing a rather large information terminal from his pocket. The boy only came up to Tatsuya’s chest. Considering ethnic characteristics, he was quite short. He would even be classified as short among Japanese boys his age. Perhaps deciding that his holding it made it too hard to see, Kento raised his information terminal above his head and pointed it at Tatsuya.

The terminal was a fairly old model. That was all Tatsuya knew about it, but it was actually more than twenty years old. And it wasn’t from a domestic manufacturer, either, but was a model made in the USNA that had been popular there.

“All I had was one of the virtual terminals, so I borrowed the one my dad used a long time ago for today… But the LPS is a different standard, so…”

Ah, thought Tatsuya. LPS was a public infrastructure, and it had retained backward compatibility ever since its first version update, but that only went for domestic terminals. Japan and the USNA processed data slightly differently. Plus, the USNA’s LPS was no more than a supplemental system for GPS, not a standalone feature like Japan’s.

“Here, let me borrow it for a moment.”

Tatsuya reflexively took the terminal from Kento and checked its processing power and free space. It was an old model, but it had been tuned up in several ways. Maybe Kento’s father was an electronics engineer. Deciding it was fit for the task, Tatsuya connected his own terminal to Kento’s and sent it a location information app.

“I’ve installed a GPS-based map of the school. It isn’t as precise as an LPS app would be, but you should be able to see where to go, at least.” Finished with the installation, he returned the terminal to Kento.

“Thank you so much!” Kento, despite the simple act, looked at Tatsuya awfully impressed.

“Of course, you should buy a new terminal. This is just a quick fix.”

Tatsuya gave that obvious advice because even he, behind his poker face, was taken aback. He quickly became aware of the reason for Kento’s overreaction.

“U-umm, if you don’t mind me asking, you’re Tatsuya Shiba, right?!”

“Yes, I am… You’ve heard of me?”

“Yes! I got to see you during the Nine School Competition last year!”

Tatsuya wasn’t surprised by Kento’s answer. There was nothing strange about a student enrolling at Magic High School, despite being a Course 2 student, having watched the Nine School Competition. Monolith Code was the center-stage event, even though he’d only been in the rookie one. Kento probably could have coincidentally remembered his face.

That’s what Tatsuya thought, anyway—

“Brilliant tactics! Genius tuning! I picked First High because you’re here, Shiba!”

—But it turned out that he was half-incorrect. Kento didn’t know of Tatsuya as an athlete, but as an engineer.

“I planned to go to Fourth High until I saw last year’s competition. I’m not great at practical skills, you see. But when I saw your super technique, I decided I had to go to the same school!”

Tatsuya listened to Kento’s excited words with detachment.

“As you can see, I’m only in Course 2 right now, but I’ll do my best to get into the engineering program next year, just like you!”

“…I see. Well, good luck. With your enthusiasm, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Thank you!”

His intentions were rather different, but he seemed like a male version of Honoka. As Kento gazed at him eagerly like a puppy, Tatsuya found himself somewhat at a loss.

After leaving Mayumi at the entrance to the assembly hall, Kasumi and Izumi chose seats near the front row. Kasumi sat down immediately, and as Izumi was politely taking her own seat, Kasumi eagerly brought her face close in.

“Izumi, do you know that philanderer?”

There were still almost twenty minutes until the entrance ceremony began. Many other new students were there, too, sitting in groups and talking among themselves. Izumi, who had braced herself at hearing a conspiratorial whisper, gave her sister a deflated look once she understood her aim.

“Yes… Kasumi, do you mean you actually don’t know who he is?” The more she realized Kasumi had been asking seriously, the more appalled her expression became.

“…Is he famous?”

“Yes, in a way.” Izumi gave a light sigh, then turned in her seat to face her little sister. “His name is Tatsuya Shiba. He was a Course 2 student last year, but he transferred into the magical engineering curriculum this year.”

“Huh… If he went from Course 2 to magical engineering, he must be pretty smart.”

Kasumi’s reaction was somewhat impassive; she didn’t sound impressed, though she was also not making fun of him. Izumi looked at her as if to say, What am I going to do with you?

“What?”

“Well, he is certainly an intelligent individual… I’m simply not sure such a commonplace word is enough to describe him.”

Izumi assumed a feigned posture of confusion, with a hand to her cheek. Kasumi huffed at the attitude, but she knew that if she got angry, it would just give Izumi the advantage. The twins had always been together, ever since they were born. Their tendencies and countermeasures for all sorts of different situations were pitch-perfect. Kasumi kept her mouth shut, waiting for Izumi to continue.

“Last year, he was an engineer participating in the Nine School Competition—not only as a freshman, but as a Course 2 student. The athletes he was in charge of took first through third place in the rookie women’s Speed Shooting and Ice Pillars Break, first and second place in the rookie Mirage Bat tournament, and first place in the regular one.”

“No way! You mean all the athletes he was assigned to only lost to each other? Like, they were practically undefeated?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve got to be joking…”

“It’s not a lie, and it’s not a joke. His achievements were staggering—for all intents and purposes, every athlete he was assigned to went undefeated.”

While Izumi answered her question, Kasumi stared hard at her twin’s face, watching for even the slightest hint of a lie. But when she realized Izumi’s answer was serious, her eyes—already wide—widened even more.

“He worked as Big Sister’s support in Cloudball, too—you really didn’t notice that, Kasumi?” followed up Izumi, her face not even appalled at this point, but rather pitying.

“I had no idea…”

“It seems it was a sudden assignment, but Big Sister showed no signs of any inconvenience.”

Kasumi was crushed; she didn’t know what to say. The twins had watched Mayumi’s matches together during last summer’s competition. She was in shock that only Izumi, and not she, had noticed the presence of an annoying bug clinging to their older sister.

“Still, I don’t quite like him,” said Izumi to herself as Kasumi sat there dazed. “Big Sister appears to be quite lax around our upperclassman Shiba… This may be an unexpected ambush.”

That was as much as she said aloud. After her disquieting soliloquy, she sank deeper into her own thoughts, with Kasumi still unable to recover from the shock.

The entrance ceremony finished up as planned, without any accidents or incidents. Takuma’s address in particular ended without issue. It was a safe speech, without all eyes in the venue glued to the dais like last year, or students both old and new watching over the address giver in suspense like the year before that.

After that was the traditional student council invitation. There was an unwritten rule that discussing the student council with the new student representative/head of the class waited until the entrance ceremony ended, the reason being that that person wasn’t a student until it did. It felt too formal in a way, but nothing had ever gone wrong in the past. Even if there was a disturbance like last year, there had never been a failed invitation. However…

“I’m very sorry, but I must refuse.”

That was Takuma’s answer to Azusa’s invitation to join the student council.

“…May I ask why?” pried Isori. He was the only other one who had come with Azusa to make the invitation, and he spoke in her place, as Azusa was now petrified at the unexpected no.

“I’d like to focus on improving myself,” replied Takuma, returning Isori’s gaze. “My goal is to grow into a magician as strong as the Ten Master Clans. For my extracurricular activities, I would prefer to work hard in a club instead of learning organizational management in the student council.”

His answer came smoothly—he’d probably prepared it in advance. Which in turn meant that his resolve was firm. Isori decided that convincing him would be an uphill battle.

“I see…”

But it wasn’t Isori whose voice drifted into the depressed air, but Azusa. She’d broken free of her paralysis surprisingly quickly, hanging her head without energy as though she would heave a sigh. Had it been such a shock to her? Isori, at least, thought so as he watched from next to her.

“Then there’s nothing we can do. We can’t force you to join.” Her next words in response to Takuma, though, came unexpectedly easily. “We’re sorry to hear it, but if this is a decision you’re sure about, then please do your best in whatever club you end up joining.”

Her attitude was a surprise to Takuma, too—she seemed too ready to give up. But if he hung around here any longer, they might start to think he actually kind of wanted to be a member. Or, since they’d expected they’d be able to keep him, they could take it as rude. That was what Takuma thought.

“I’m sorry. Please excuse me.”

Hurried by the thought that he was thinking too much about this, Takuma walked quickly away from Azusa.

At about the time the pair of seniors were fighting to invite Takuma in (and losing), a trio of juniors—Tatsuya, Miyuki, and Honoka—were busy with work of their own.

Honoka was on cleanup detail for the entrance ceremony. Her eyes were almost spinning with checking guest attendance, organizing the congratulatory messages, and exchanging photographic data with a company representative.

Tatsuya was directing and supervising the juniors who had been roped into helping with the ceremony. His having been in Course 2 the year before was one thing, but nobody voiced any complaint at taking instructions from him with his eight-toothed gear emblem on. He was currently in the middle of collecting smaller items such as armbands and headsets from his classmates as they finished their assistance.

And as for Miyuki…

“If there was anything disappointing about this year’s ceremony, it’s that we didn’t get to hear a speech from Shiba.”

“Some things simply cannot happen, Mr. Kouzuke. The only students who take the platform during the ceremony are the student council president and the incoming freshman representative.”

“Ha-ha-ha. You’re right, come to think of it.”

…She was being earnest in keeping a friendly smile, surrounded by adults who were making much ado about nothing.

The man called Mr. Kouzuke was a politician by trade. A Diet member belonging to the party currently in power whose constituency was in Tokyo, the young up-and-comer was said by many to be a shoo-in for a ministerial position should that party win in the next election. He was also known as one of the Diet members friendlier toward magicians, and he’d worked as an extramural inspector for Magic University in the past. With anti-magician demonstrations steadily rising in intensity, neither the Magic University nor First High could afford to alienate someone like him.

And Miyuki understood that. That was why she’d been smiling along with his pointless conversation for some time now. It honestly wasn’t something a sixteen-year-old girl should have to be concerned about, but she was tolerating it well.

For his part, Mr. Kouzuke’s eyes were flickering with shadows of lust. They weren’t strong enough to link to any direct action, and it was closer to an instinctual yearning toward a young and beautiful girl of a man who was starting to realize his own physical decline, but even if it was a mental thing (though not a platonic one), it was doubtless uncomfortable for a girl to be on the receiving end of such leering. Still, Miyuki endured it, pretending not to notice the rude gaze.

His long-windedness was starting to become a bother to the faculty as well. With a Diet member of high status among the rest of the guests remaining at the venue, the faculty found it difficult to leave as well.

In fact, Mr. Kouzuke hadn’t even rambled for so long until this year. Nevertheless, it didn’t mean he’d suddenly become fond of empty loquaciousness. He’d been reserved last year and the year before that with Mayumi.

Reserved not toward Mayumi personally, but to the Ten Master Clans’ Saegusa name.

Mr. Kouzuke didn’t act friendly with magicians out of goodwill or interest. He certainly didn’t hate them, but as a politician, he used defending magicians as a way to use their power for his own political activities later. Kouzuke and magicians had a utilitarian relationship; thus, he’d shown restraint with someone from the Ten Master Clans, since they occupied a representative position among magicians.

Had Miyuki made her connection to the Yotsuba clear, Kouzuke probably would have given a forced smile and left that place right away. The Yotsuba name had even more impact than the Saegusa. The Saegusa might have had more political value, but the Yotsuba went above and beyond when it came to striking fear into those with influence.

However, the only last name Miyuki was permitted to use was Shiba, not Yotsuba. And though she was reaching the limits of her endurance at this point, she didn’t want to rely on the Yotsuba’s power for something so trivial. After all, they weren’t allies she could unconditionally rely on.

What saved her from the quandary and irritation she couldn’t do anything about wasn’t a Yotsuba, but a Saegusa.

“Hello, Mr. Kouzuke.”

Kouzuke turned toward the voice suddenly calling his name, and as soon as he saw the maturely smiling Mayumi in her grown-up suit, his face drew back.

“Thank you for attending again this year. I know how busy you must be.”

“This day is a cause for celebration for all the talented young men and women with this country’s future on their shoulders. I should be thanking you—I consider it an honor to be invited year after year.”

With Mayumi addressing him in a polite tone of voice, one that wasn’t too stiff or formal, Kouzuke very quickly seemed like he wanted to leave. He wouldn’t be a ministerial hopeful if he couldn’t read signs like Mayumi placing unnatural emphasis on busy. Politicians could be insensitive—but they couldn’t be fools.

“By the way, what brings you here, Mayumi? Accompanying your younger sisters?” asked Kouzuke, glancing over at Kasumi and Izumi, who were standing behind Mayumi. He’d derailed the conversation in a way that seemed natural, and in doing so begun his escape preparations.

“Yes. Both my parents were coldhearted enough to insist they simply couldn’t make it today.”

“Ha-ha-ha.” Kouzuke’s insincere, friendly smile pulled back a little. “Well, they’re very busy people as well.”

“Kasu, Izu, say hello.”

Either satisfied her joke had gone over well or not willing to pursue the topic any further, Mayumi turned back to her sisters.

“It is nice to see you again after so long, Mr. Kouzuke.”

“I’m terribly sorry—it really has been a very long time.”

Once they’d been addressed, the pair waiting obediently in the wings greeted him, Kasumi briskly and Izumi politely.

Their by-the-book greetings were a good opportunity for Kouzuke. “No, no. I’m sure you’ve been busy with your exam studies, so you don’t need to worry. I hope everything goes well for you in high school.”

“Thank you, Mr. Kouzuke.”

“We will apply ourselves even more.”

Kasumi and Izumi gave another deep bow, and an air of completion settled over them. Kouzuke didn’t let the chance escape.

“I have high hopes for both of you. Now then, Mayumi, if you’ll excuse me.”

With a simple goodbye, Kouzuke quickly left the place.

And Mayumi didn’t press the attack from behind.

“Miyuki, are you okay?”

“Yes, and thank you, Saegusa.”

As Mayumi addressed her with a genial smile, Miyuki answered with a modest one of her own. The ears and eyes of the faculty were still about them. Giving too clear an indication of her agreement might lead them to think Mr. Kouzuke had caused her distress.

Still, though, Miyuki wasn’t seriously cautious about the school’s staff tattling on her. She was only acting in such a way that she would never be taken advantage of, out of habit, without particularly noticing it. As long as it didn’t involve Tatsuya, her feline skin was impenetrable as a stab-proof sheet woven with poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide (Kevlar).

You needed a very discerning eye to see through her mask, harder than steel, to her face. It wasn’t possible for one female high school student she’d just met, at least. Even if that student was a direct descendant of one of the Ten Master Clans and used to seeing foxes and tanuki regularly. For most people, Miyuki’s suppressed display of emotion surely would have looked ladylike and graceful, the epitome of the neat and trim Yamato-nadeshiko woman.

“Izu?”

At least, that was how she appeared to Izumi. Izumi was entranced, her eyes and attention stolen.

“Izumi? Hey, Izumi!”

“Yes?” she replied, the elbow from Kasumi next to her finally cluing her in to the fact that Mayumi was talking to her.

“Aren’t you forgetting something? Be polite and say hello to Miyuki.”

Her older sister’s words permeated Izumi’s consciousness, and she hastily turned her eyes in front of her. They settled on Miyuki, looking a little troubled but still smiling gently at her.

She’s like a goddess…

Izumi, of course, had never met an actual goddess before. Miyuki’s appearance was so detached from reality in Izumi’s eyes, however, that the word naturally sprang forth into her mind. Her sister Mayumi was an unabashed beauty, and she even thought Kasumi was cute in her own right, an opinion that others might have taken as narcissistic. But she knew this was the first time she’d ever seen a woman as beautiful as the upperclassman floating an ephemeral smile right in front of her. Miyuki was the ideal image of what Izumi wanted to be.

“I’m Izumi Saegusa. Excuse me, but may I call you Miyuki?”

“Yes, I don’t mind.”

Izumi’s eyes clouded as though a sudden heat had entered them, and her voice was a little off. The shift was enough for Mayumi and Kasumi to be anxious about why she’d suddenly gotten like that, but Miyuki nodded, her kind smile still on her face.

“Miyuki, I had the pleasure of watching you during the Nines. You were simply wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

Miyuki accepted Izumi’s passionate gaze with the smoothness of upperclassmen.

“But now that I’ve met you in person, I have to say you look many times more beautiful than when I saw you from the stands.”

“I-is that so?”

However, as a lunacy that went above and beyond mere idol worship began to creep into her feverish eyes, even Miyuki was taken aback.

“I can’t believe I’m attending the same school as someone like Miyuki… I’m so moved.”

“Izu, what on earth has gotten into you?”

The sight of Izumi’s emotions running amok when she was normally so hard to read behind her calm smile was enough to thoroughly confuse Mayumi. Kasumi, who knew her twin sister actually had an impassioned streak, simply watched in exasperation, though.

“Miyuki…will you do me the honor of being my big sister?”

“Big sister?!”

“Wait a minute, Izu! Calm down! You have an older sister right here!”

Miyuki and Mayumi’s voices broke into a higher pitch at the same time. Izumi, the very one who had created this rare sight, just kept on staring at Miyuki. Next to her, Kasumi had her cheek turned, not wanting anything to do with it.

“I don’t believe it will be possible for you to become Big Sister Miyuki’s younger sister, Saegusa.”

It was Minami, who had been listening in on the four for a short while now from a slight distance, who tossed a stone into the chaotic stalemate.

“Minami?” Miyuki, who hadn’t noticed Minami standing there, said her name, meaning to indicate she was wondering, How long have you been there?

But Minami left answering that question for later. “It is possible to become Big Brother Tatsuya’s younger sister, however. Should Saegusa’s older sister be wed to Big Brother Tatsuya, you would become his younger sister-in-law.”

Once Minami finished her supplementary explanation to Izumi, she whirled around to face the other way.

“In this case,” cut in a very male voice, “wouldn’t Saegusa, sister- in-law to Big Brother Tatsuya, who is Big Sister Miyuki’s younger sister, qualify as her sister?”

“Brother?!”

It had been, as Miyuki proclaimed, Tatsuya who asked that question of Minami.

“I will not approve of this!”

But Tatsuya couldn’t respond to Minami’s question or Miyuki’s outcry. Before he could open his mouth, Kasumi voiced her own objection at what Minami had said:

“I want everyone to know that I’m against my sister being Shiba’s wife!”

Kasumi, who had been keeping to the sidelines, suddenly broke in between Tatsuya and Mayumi, facing him as if to shield her sister. Her previous meek attitude was nowhere to be found, and now she was fully giving off an aura that said, Don’t come close to my sister.

“Kasumi, we were only speaking hypothetically…”

Perhaps it was a division of labor only available to twins. Kasumi and Izumi seemed to have things set up so that when one of them was beside herself, the other would make up for it. Izumi, who had been looking up at Miyuki passionately until just a moment ago, suddenly cooled and began to soothe Kasumi.

Mayumi rubbed her temples as she watched them. It wasn’t just a pose she was assuming—she looked like she actually had a headache.

“Tatsuya?” she said, downcast, hand to her forehead.

Tatsuya tried to move close enough to Mayumi to have a normal conversation with her, but Kasumi stood in his way again, a threat in her eyes.

But a moment later…

“Yowch!” Crying out like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Kasumi grabbed her head and squatted down.

“And Miyuki?”

Behind her, Mayumi had swung her fist down, her eyes still on the floor. A truly miserable-sounding voice came from her lips.

“I’m, um, really sorry for my stupid sisters…”

Her face, looking down as it was, was completely red around the eyes. It must have seriously been embarrassing for her. Tatsuya supposed he could understand—if his sister had gone out of control so many times in a row, he probably would have been ashamed to stick around, too.

“I don’t mind it. Right, Miyuki?” said Tatsuya, trying to draw Miyuki out.

“Not at all. Please, don’t worry about it.” Miyuki shook her head brightly. Izumi’s scandalous conduct aside, Kasumi had very much been treating Tatsuya like a harmful insect—but for some reason, Miyuki was in a good mood. Mayumi felt suspicious and uneasy at her attitude, but she didn’t have the emotional wherewithal to pursue the topic.

“I’ll make it up to you, I promise. And you two—we’re going home.”

“Ow! That hurts, Sis!”

“Big Sister, you’re hurting me! Why must I be punished, too?”

Grabbing her twin sisters’ collars in either hand, Mayumi escaped the area.

On a specific corner of the road to school leading from the school gates to First High Station was Einebrise, the café that Tatsuya and the others visited often. He’d come to the shop again today on the way back from the entrance ceremony, along with Miyuki, Minami, Honoka, Shizuku, and Mikihiko, all amusing themselves with light conversations with coffees in their hands.

After the Saegusa sisters left, Tatsuya’s group had briefly met up with Azusa. She’d told them firmly, however, that they could go home for the day, so he had decided to leave school with Honoka’s group, which was already there.

“By the way, how did inviting the new representative go?”

Shizuku’s question came the moment there was a pause in the chatter. She didn’t have any special intentions, but neither did she ask the question out of curiosity, whether innocent or snoopy. If anything, the remark had been dragged out from the sudden lull in the conversation.

“…Not well.”

So when Honoka—even though it wasn’t her fault—suddenly looked as though she were about to be crushed under the weight of dark clouds, Shizuku ended up regretting asking it.

“Huh? Did Shippou refuse to join the student council?”

Which was why this statement from Mikihiko, who actually did sometimes prioritize his curiosity, was such a skilled play, preventing an uneasy silence from settling over them.

“Apparently, he said he wanted to focus on club activities. If there’s something else he wants to do, we can’t do much about it.”

Tatsuya’s answer wasn’t aimed at Mikihiko so much as it was telling Honoka not to worry about it.

“Right. We can’t force him.”

Mikihiko, either sensing Tatsuya’s intent or through pure coincidence, backed him up, restoring the storm clouds over Honoka to a mere slightly cloudy sky.

“It would be more constructive to think about who to invite to the student council in his place,” said Miyuki to Tatsuya, moving all six of their attentions completely away from the new boy.

“Yeah,” nodded Tatsuya with a serious look. “If none of the new students join, things might be shaky later on.”

Miyuki clapped her hands together lightly. “I know. Why don’t we have Minami join?”

Minami had been listening to the older students talk in silence. Her face froze at the idea.

“Miyuki, I don’t think Minami would like that much.” But before Minami could open her mouth, Tatsuya turned down the proposal. “It’s a tradition to invite the top student to the student council, so we should select alternate candidates by their test scores, too.”

Minami looked relieved. Miyuki, even with her proposal rejected, didn’t seem dissatisfied in the slightest. Instead, she was smiling brightly. She must not have seriously been considering Minami for the student council—she just wanted to tease her a little.

“Who was second?” asked Shizuku—who had taken Tatsuya’s statement at face value regardless of Miyuki’s ideas—of Honoka, who as the student council secretary would know all the entrance exam grades.

“Umm, that would be Izumi Saegusa. Our senior’s younger sister.” Honoka remembered the exam results just fine without having to check her terminal.

“Third place was her other sister, Kasumi. The two of them and Shippou were first, second, and third by a really tight margin. Their grades were a lot higher than fourth place.” Miyuki, too, knew the results, so she added to the explanation for Shizuku.

“Then it would not be odd for one of Saegusa’s younger sisters to join the student council.” Mikihiko seemed to still be using a polite tone of voice, even when talking to Miyuki.

“But if we go in order, it would be Izumi, right?”

Depending on how one viewed Mikihiko’s attitude, his observation might have invited groundless suspicion or come off as amused, but Shizuku objected flatly, not sounding very interested at all.

Miyuki made a slightly distressed face at this. Maybe she’d realized from earlier that she wouldn’t be very good at handling Izumi.

“It’s up to the president, but ultimately it depends on whether she wants to.”

Tatsuya must have understood why her expression had changed, but none present could quite figure out whether that line was meant to respect her feelings or not.

As Tatsuya was washing his hands in the bathroom, Mikihiko came in. That, by itself, wasn’t particularly meaningful. Thinking the timing happened to be coincidental, Tatsuya moved to pass him by and exit.

“Tatsuya?”

But he was stopped by Mikihiko’s low, conspiratorial tone.

“What? …Something you can’t talk about out there?”

“Mm… I don’t want too many other people to hear this.”

“All right. I’ll keep it quiet.”

Mikihiko’s face, which had been locked with hesitation and vacillation, softened a bit. “I’m glad you catch on so quickly.”

“It’ll be strange if we’re holed up in here for too long, so you might want to keep it short.”

Like Tatsuya said, staying too long here was, hygienically speaking, bound to garner disgraceful suspicion. With that made clear, Mikihiko somewhat hastily began to speak. “Tatsuya, did you know that the new president of Rosen’s Japan branch was at the ceremony today?”

Rosen was, of course, the German magical engineering device manufacturer, Rosen Magicraft, one of the two leading manufacturers of CADs in the world, competing for the top position with Maximillian Devices. The president of its Japan branch was a VIP to Magic University, and consequently to magic high schools.

“I did. I had a chance to say hello briefly.”

Tatsuya had obviously known the branch president had been invited, and had even seen him in the seats.

“Briefly? At last year’s post-Nines party, I think the previous branch president was very eager about his scouting efforts.”

“Fortunately, he didn’t have that time today.” Tatsuya’s face puckered as Mikihiko dug up a particular set of irritating memories. But his expression went back to normal a moment later, before he prompted his friend, “Anyway, what about this new branch president?”

“Do you know his name?”

“Ernst Rosen. Apparently a member of the main Rosen family.”

“Yeah. The industry papers are buzzing with news about them having their first big shot in a while.”

Mikihiko’s words caught there for a moment. But right after that, he cast away his hesitation and lowered his eyes in a way that might be considered a little desperate, and whispered the next words:

“And he happens to be Erika’s mother’s cousin.”

Even Tatsuya couldn’t keep up his poker face against that bombshell. “Erika’s mother is related to the Rosens?” he asked, the shock clear in his eyes.

Mikihiko very slightly—but very certainly—nodded. “Erika’s maternal grandfather apparently eloped with a Japanese woman.”

“Eloped? That’s pretty old-fashioned.”

“I guess…” Mikihiko gave Tatsuya a little pained grin. It was rare for him to express surprise at something other than the main point, and it somehow made the grave air calm slightly. His face looking rather more relaxed, Mikihiko continued. “He ran away to Japan against his family’s wishes, so they’re currently estranged from the main Rosen family. Her grandmother’s—maternal grandmother’s—family didn’t seem to think highly of their relationship, either, and I hear Erika’s mother has had a pretty hard time of things.”

“That’s unfortunate, but what are you getting at?”

Even Tatsuya considered Erika’s home situation infelicitous, but Mikihiko’s goal probably wasn’t to get him to sympathize with her. Tatsuya prompted him to get to the point quickly.

“…Ever since then, Japan hasn’t had a very good opinion of the Rosen family. Sales-wise, their headquarters are in Japan, but no main family member has ever been placed at the branch.”

“You know, you’re right.” Tatsuya tried to go back through Rosen Magicraft Japan branch executive names from the last decade. Mikihiko was right—there were no Rosens in that list.

“I might be thinking about this too hard, but…I don’t think Ernst Rosen coming to Japan is unrelated to Erika.”

Tatsuya thought he might be overthinking it, too. But more importantly, the question of why Mikihiko was talking to him about this tugged at him. “And what would you like me to do?”

“I didn’t want you to do anything. I just wanted you to keep it in mind, that’s all.” When Tatsuya looked at him dubiously, Mikihiko grinned bitterly at himself. “No, that’s not it… It’s just a little hard for me to carry this alone, so maybe I wanted to get you involved with it,” he muttered, sounding a little mad at himself. “I know, I’m terrible.”

Tatsuya’s frank impression of Mikihiko, despite what he had to say about himself, was completely free of dark criticism.

Even after Tatsuya and the others had left, Azusa had remained by herself in the student council room until just before closing time. (Pixie was in sleep mode.) The council had a whole mountain of work to do for the new year after the entrance ceremony ended. It wasn’t odd that she, the president, was staying this late. If anything, what was odd was the other members going home before her.

Then was Azusa doing the work of five people on her own? No, she wasn’t doing that. For a while now, she’d only been idly staring at this month’s schedule. Occasionally she would give a heavy sigh and shake her head to snap herself out of it. Those were the only times she faced her terminal with enthusiasm, and even then she quickly reverted to idly staring at her monitor again. The process had repeated several times already.

She was sighing again, having lost count of how many times she had, when change finally showed up. A beep and a display message informed her simultaneously of a visitor’s arrival. She switched the screen to the camera and saw Hattori in it. Hastily, she pressed a button or two and unlocked the door.

“I’m coming in, Nakajou… Wait, it’s only you?”

“Oh, um, yes. I wanted some time alone to think,” said Azusa, politely standing up and offering him a seat.

And in another display of politeness, Hattori sat down in the chair she’d offered.

“You could have just used your ID to come in. You wouldn’t have needed me to unlock the door,” she said airily as she moved to put on tea.

Hattori gestured that she didn’t need to. “I’m not part of the student council anymore. I need to keep things separate, you know.”

“That’s very like you.” Azusa giggled and went back to her seat. It might have come as a bit of a surprise, but Hattori was one of the very few male students she could talk with normally and informally. “Anyway, what did you need?”

“It’s about the freshman representative this year.”

One of the good things about Hattori was definitely that he didn’t start joking about I just came to see you or What, I can’t come if I don’t need something?

Still, she couldn’t deny that he was a little too straightforward, and lacking delicacy besides. “You mean Shippou…?”

Seeing a forced smile come to Azusa’s face, Hattori knew he’d messed up. Unfortunately, it was too late. The option to stop the conversation now didn’t exist in Hattori’s creed anyway. “Yeah… I heard he turned down the invitation.”

Azusa was well aware of how inflexible and overly serious Hattori could be. She wasn’t going to get mad at him or feel hurt about it at this point. “Yeah. He says he wants to make himself better through club participation.”

“Seems like it. Anyway, I thought I should explain something to you in advance.” Hattori went on without stopping, thinking it would be ruder to be too considerate.

“Huh? Explain what?”

“This year the club committee, like the student council, has decided to groom an officer candidate from the freshmen. Now that I’ve succeeded Juumonji, it’s really hitting me how much we need to do that.”

“People like Juumonji only come around once in a lifetime. But I think you’re doing fine…”

Hattori gave a wry grin at Azusa’s attempt at comfort. No helplessness or self-loathing could be seen in his expression. She was relieved—he didn’t seem to be depressed about it.

“I’m trying to keep that in mind, too. That’s why we need to start right away.”

Finally, Azusa realized what Hattori had come to say. “You want to put Shippou up as that candidate, don’t you?”

“Yeah. It might seem to you like I’m snatching him away from the student council, but…”

“He already turned us down, so I don’t feel that way,” said Azusa with a smile and a wave of her hand.

“Oh. That’s good.” Hattori lowered his head in gratitude.

“Really, you don’t have to worry about it. I had a feeling Shippou would turn us down from the start anyway… Oh, right!” Azusa clapped her hands together particularly brightly. “Since you’re here, would you mind giving me your opinion on something?”

“My opinion? On what?”

Without answering Hattori’s question right away, Azusa called up the data on her own monitor onto the big wall display.

“Data on the new students?”

It was detailed information on the freshmen, including their grades by subject on the entrance exams.

“Shippou got away from us, but I still think we should get one of the new students into the student council.”

“And you were worried about who to invite in his place?”

It was exactly what Tatsuya and the others had been discussing at Einebrise. It was clearly a waste for them to be worrying about the same thing in different places, but only if you looked at the two events with a bird’s-eye view. This sort of redundancy happened all over the world all the time.

“Mm-hmm. I kind of feel like they’re all really talented…” said Azusa, seeming at a loss.

“Do you need to think about it that much?” asked Hattori, cutting her musing down swiftly. “If the top student turned you down, go to the next one. The second highest this year—let’s see, it’s…”

But when the sorting changed to show names in grade order, Hattori suddenly trailed off with a grimace.

“I guess Saegusa’s younger sister would work… Hattori, what’s wrong? You don’t look very good.”

“No, it’s nothing. I think that’s the best option, too,” answered Hattori, standing up, quickly bowing to say goodbye, and leaving the student council room.

“I wonder what was wrong…” murmured Azusa as she watched him go. The reason behind Hattori’s grimace was still unclear to her.

April 10, 2096. It was lunch break on what was, for the freshmen, the third day of school.

Tatsuya sat facing Kasumi and Izumi in the student council room. He wasn’t up against them alone—he was sitting in as a member of the student council.

For him, the situation induced déjà vu. He’d been called to this room the previous spring, also on the third day of school. He hadn’t been the only one invited, of course, nor had he been the guest of honor. He’d merely been an extra for Miyuki. And then, by some mistake, he’d been stamped with the official title of disciplinary committee member.

Ever since then, his high school life had been forced to deviate massively from his plans. If he hadn’t come to this room that day, maybe he would have been enjoying a peaceful high school experience. At least that was what he thought—though whether he could have gotten anyone else to agree with him was doubtful.

At the time, Mayumi had been the one to invite Tatsuya and Miyuki here. And now, it fell to Tatsuya to ask Mayumi’s sisters to be on the student council. Maybe this was fate, thought Tatsuya, a little off track.

“Then which one of us do you suggest to be a student council member?”

Izumi’s remark, touching on the main topic, pulled Tatsuya back to the scene. As always, Kasumi was glaring at him as though she intended to start barking. That was why he’d been fleeing from reality.

“To be able to do the same work as Miyuki… It’s like a dream.”

And with Izumi putting a hand to her cheek and giving an entranced sigh, Miyuki had on an impenetrably friendly smile. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking or feeling. Kasumi had her enmity on full display, and Izumi her desires. Even Azusa, Isori, and Honoka seemed entirely absorbed in the twins’ strange behavior. As a result, it fell to Tatsuya and Miyuki, the objects of that enmity and those desires, to negotiate with them.

“If you both want to, we’re okay with you both coming.”

Tatsuya felt like something was wrong with him being the negotiator when he was a target, but he couldn’t let his sister bear the brunt of this assault alone, which was why he’d returned to the table to begin with.

“I have no intent to join the student council.”

But his efforts succeeded only in drawing a brusque reaction from Kasumi. The strength of her rejection toward Tatsuya was expressed in her polite choice of words. Maybe her politeness was what she used in public, and the opposite had been an accidental glimpse at her true self when she’d been in a frenzy.

“Kasumi, you’ve been very rude to Shiba this whole time.” Even Izumi found her sister’s clear sharpness inexcusable, and warned Kasumi harshly. She didn’t do it in a soft voice, possibly out of an attempt to create an alibi for herself with the others present.

Meanwhile, Azusa, Isori, and Honoka couldn’t hide their surprise at how Miyuki wasn’t saying anything. Her fraternal love for Tatsuya, which bordered on worship, normally rewarded malice toward him with a burning (freezer-burning?) wrath. And yet the way she looked at Kasumi made it seem like she found it heartwarming. That made the three of them feel more afraid than suspicious. It was the calm before the storm.

Of course, they were thinking about it too hard. Miyuki was sensitive to malice directed at Tatsuya, and she instinctively realized that Kasumi’s attitude was not one of contempt but of jealousy and caution. She was empathetic to Kasumi’s feelings, sensitive to the fact that it was her love for her sister driving her to hostile behavior with a man getting close to her. Kasumi, who had little chance of being friendly with her brother in the future, was an adorable underclassman Miyuki could manage with relief.

“Oh. That’s a shame.” In that sense, it was a shame for Miyuki that Kasumi had turned down the student council. “Will you join the student council then, Izumi?”

But without letting on about those feelings even a bit, and without giving so much as a hint of her true desire to respectfully avoid Izumi, Miyuki delivered her question brightly.

“Gladly!”

And her perfectly ladylike smile didn’t even falter when Izumi gazed at her with ever-increasing feverishness.

After school and after spending some time in the library, Kasumi went by herself to the café. There was still about half an hour until she had to meet back up with Izumi, who had gone to the student council room right away. It was a somewhat long time to wait on her own. Izumi had told her it was okay if she went home if she got tired of waiting, and as she was idly wondering what she’d do…

“What’s the matter? You don’t seem to be well.”

…a voice suddenly addressed her. She looked up and saw a young faculty member in a pantsuit.

“Ah, no, I don’t feel sick or anything like that,” answered Kasumi, implying she’d rather not be bothered right now. But the only thing that made it past her lips was a voice more unsteady than she’d intended, which surprised her.

The female staff member smiled as though she’d seen through to Kasumi’s worries. She took a seat opposite her without asking permission. The one-sided behavior got on Kasumi’s nerves a little, but considering the totally harmless way the woman was smiling, Kasumi quickly stopped caring about that.

“I’m a counselor here at First High. My name is Haruka Ono.”

“I’m Kasumi Saegusa, a freshman.”

Haruka had taken careful aim at the moment the annoyance left Kasumi’s expression to introduce herself, so Kasumi had returned the greeting without time to think.

“If I recall correctly, you are in Class 1-C, right?”

“I am, but…” Once the first move was made, Kasumi had fallen completely into step with Haruka.

“I’m not assigned to 1-C, but if you’re worried about something, I can give you an ear.”

“I’m not exactly worried, but…”

Without time to feel any psychological resistance, Kasumi honestly explained that she had more time than she knew what to do with since her sister had joined the student council.

“I see. That must feel rather complicated for you,” said Haruka quietly after listening to her story with a serious look.

What about it is complicated? thought Kasumi, but Haruka continued before she could ask.

“Would you be interested in the disciplinary committee, Saegusa?”

For Kasumi, that proposal was abrupt and completely unexpected. She found herself unable to react immediately.

Haruka peered into Kasumi’s eyes and smiled sweetly. “Do you know much about the disciplinary committee system at First High?”

This time, the question had a simple yes-or-no answer. “Yes…I’ve heard from my older sister.” Even Kasumi, still not free of her surprise, could answer it.

“Good. That will make things quick.”

Haruka didn’t ask who her older sister was. The last name Saegusa was unusual and famous, so she probably didn’t have to ask anyway—and besides, she’d known who Kasumi was before asking for an introduction.

“There’s actually an extra faculty recommendation spot open,” she explained. “A few things happened, so we decided to make up for the missing person by choosing one of the new students.”

“And you want me? I don’t want to sound rude, but is this really something I should be deciding right now without asking anyone else first?”

“If you accept the position, there wouldn’t be anyone who would complain.” Now that Kasumi had returned to normal and asked the obvious question, Haruka smiled a little to brush it away. “I think you would do just as well as Shiba did last year.”

And when that line came out, delivered in a way that seemed on the surface to be casual, Kasumi’s eyes, after not having been very interested, changed. “By Shiba, you mean the brother?”

“Yes.” For an instant, the words got her practically appeared on Haruka’s face, but Kasumi didn’t notice. “Shiba was the student council’s recommendation, and he was just as conspicuous as Watanabe, the chairwoman last year. Morisaki, the faculty’s recommendation, had steady and safe results himself, but I can’t deny that he paled a little in comparison to Shiba. And there was an issue last year with another of the faculty-recommended members. If that keeps happening, people will start to blame the faculty, so I would be obliged if you accepted.”

Haruka might not have needed to talk about the second reason. As soon as Kasumi heard that Tatsuya had stood out the most, she found herself broiling with a blend of fighting spirit and competitiveness.

“I understand. If you’ll allow me to join, I will.” She was so enthusiastic that flames might have gone up behind her at any moment.

“…Thank you. I’ll contact the committee chairwoman. She should contact you tomorrow.”

Having known there was trouble around the time of the entrance ceremony, Haruka had used levers to manipulate Kasumi. But when the effects were so far beyond what she’d expected, she had to question what on earth had really happened.