Chapter 14

In stark contrast to two weeks ago (more precisely, twelve days ago), the hall was filled with a peaceful air. Keeping your mind open and unbiased was easier said than done, and if someone said the young minds here weren’t preoccupied with their wins or losses, it would be a lie.

But right now, they’d just been released from fierce rounds of battles that had lasted ten days. The recoil they felt to being exposed to such tension, and for no short period of time, had placed most of the students into an excessively friendly mood.

The unified party on the last night again had a dress code of school uniforms only. Now stuck back in his blazer that didn’t quite fit, Tatsuya had to wonder that if people were going to be dancing, why not have the right clothing for it? He stood by the wall as he considered things that would probably dig his own grave if he ever said them aloud.

“Pretty popular, eh?”

Addressing him with a wry grin was Mari, who had been given the slip of approval of complete recovery one day sooner than expected.

“Thanks to you. I’d rather be letting her take it easy, but…”

Without finishing his sentence with it can’t be helped, Tatsuya glanced over at his little sister, who was surrounded by a crowd several layers deep. There were students from other schools, tournament organizers, high officials on base that supported the venues, and corporation officers backing the competition…

Maybe it really was inevitable, but there were even media professionals (from studios that created television programs, commercial production companies, and performing arts production houses) following her about. It made him want to demand of the party’s organizers what was going on.

He would have liked to eschew all courtesy and physically kick the annoying hangers-on out the door, but Suzune was guarding against such an impolite approach with those sagacious (or just indifferent?) eyes of hers, so he refrained from intruding.

“I wasn’t talking about your sister,” said Mari to Tatsuya’s honest answer, letting out a suppressed laugh and looking like she couldn’t stand it anymore. “I was saying you’re popular, Tatsuya.”

Tatsuya frowned at her remark, clearly fed up with that idea. He wasn’t often compared to Miyuki, who had never-ending crowds pressing down upon her, but people had been coming to talk to him as well for a while now.

Most of them were adults he’d never met before. Not ones who were unknown to him, though. In being freely associated with his father’s company, Tatsuya knew the faces of a lot of businessmen for a high school student. But he knew them only on a high school student level. He lived in a laboratory and didn’t touch any of the management or business affairs. Compared to regular company employees in the same business, he was only a little knowledgeable. And more than half of the people coming to talk to him were ones whose faces he knew.

“Wasn’t that Rosen’s Japan branch manager? Wouldn’t that be the first time he’s ever spoken to a freshman?”

“I don’t know whether he has in the past or not. This is the first year I’ve actually been at the Nine School Competition.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Mari wasn’t trying to hide her grin. It was getting on Tatsuya’s nerves a little—mostly because of pent-up anger. “…Well why bother being angry? I don’t know why you’re so negative about your name getting out there. But you can’t fool a smart person by showing them a rock painted like a gemstone, and if you show a gemstone painted like a rock to someone, they’re gonna know.”

Tatsuya’s jaw tightened.

“Don’t look so sullen. The dance is about to start. After that’ll be smooth sailing as a student. Just hold out a little longer.”

She patted him on the shoulders, then walked over to the table with the drinks. For some reason, she appeared to be in high spirits. After she was injured, she seemed like she was forcing herself to act the same as usual, but now she looked like her mind had completely recovered.

Having a boyfriend has some pretty tremendous effects… Though he knew he couldn’t understand things of that nature, he still couldn’t help talking to himself about it. With the way she’s going, she’s probably going to slip out of the party to see Naotsugu, he thought, his imagination uncharacteristically turning to gossip.

That was just how he avoided the urge to sigh. Mari was right—all this barefaced trickery the adults were pulling would be over soon.

But it would be replaced with something he was just as unwilling to face: the dance.

However, students like Tatsuya were actually exceptions. As the big shots withdrew, the hall grew more gentle and restless. The soft sound of wind instruments began to play.

The boys reacted right away to the zeal of the organizers for having live music here. Taking the hands of the girls they’d succeeded in deepening friendships with via clever use of conversation, they headed to the center of the hall.

It was unfortunate the girls weren’t in proper dresses, but the dancers didn’t seem all that concerned about it. And besides, the silk organza inner gowns (the sleeveless gowns they wore under their outer bolero jackets), which were common to all nine schools, fluttered every time the girls turned, creating a splendor not all that different from full-length dresses.

As expected, boys clustered to Miyuki from all schools and grade levels. But nobody had succeeded in taking her hand yet. She had been surrounded by guests until just moments ago, so they probably hadn’t talked very much yet.

Unlike Tatsuya, Miyuki had been formally trained in ball etiquette (it wasn’t a dance party!), so she wouldn’t stubbornly refuse a dance from a partner who was courteous (not to say she’d dance with anyone, of course), but the boys looked like they were being timid anyway.

Then, a face Tatsuya recognized came to Miyuki from out of the crowd. Not only did he recognize him—it would be fine to say he was acquainted with him.

Tatsuya left his spot at the wall and walked toward the crowd. He was certainly not of slender frame, but he skillfully slipped through the swarm of boys and walked up next to Miyuki.

“It’s been two days, Masaki Ichijou.”

“Oh. Tatsuya Shiba.”

They exchanged relaxed greetings. They didn’t think of each other as friends, but they also didn’t think strict etiquette was necessary between them.

“Is your ear all right?” asked Masaki.

“There’s no need to worry, and certainly no reason for you to worry on my behalf.”

“Oh. Whatever.”

Masaki’s response couldn’t be called friendly, though Tatsuya had at least thought he’d made his suggestion diplomatically. Still, for someone who’d suffered defeat at the hands of someone they could have beaten nine times out of ten, having that underdog worry about him wouldn’t be pleasant. So Masaki’s response was, in a way, justified in its cold brevity.

When Masaki noticed Miyuki looking at him uncomfortably, his mind was taken over by panic. “Wait, I… What? Shiba?!”

Masaki gave a little shout all of a sudden, saying Tatsuya’s last name in a hysterical voice. Tatsuya looked at him strangely, as if wondering if he was all right in the head.

“Are you two siblings?!”

Masaki’s words gave Tatsuya an indescribable feeling of exhaustion. “…You didn’t realize that until now? Really?” he asked, irritated, implying that it was easy to see.

While Masaki stood there, speechless, a short, polite laugh came at him. Miyuki covered her mouth and looked away. “…So we don’t look like siblings to you, Ichijou?” she asked, stifling her laughter and seeming happy about it for some reason.

“Uh, well, I… No.”

Masaki gave up on making excuses and hung his head. Miyuki, in return, gave him a sweet smile. Tatsuya didn’t know what she was so happy about, but Ichijou seemed to suit his sister’s tastes—though only on the level of being an acceptable dance partner.

“Staying put here forever is going to get in the way, so why not dance with Ichijou, Miyuki?”

Masaki’s face suddenly shot up at about the point when he said “dance with Ichi…” His eyes sparkled in anticipation.

Miyuki giggled for a few moments and then tilted her head at him, as if to ask what he wanted to do.

“Yes…may I…have this dance?” he asked, desperately restraining his high-pitched voice and respectfully offering his hand to Miyuki.

“Yes, you may,” said his sister, also giving a respectful response and taking Masaki’s presented hand.

Just before they got into position, Masaki shot Tatsuya a look of gratitude.

Tatsuya saw it and thought, How devious.

For Tatsuya, the charming romantic comedy with Masaki in it had nothing to do with him. (He hoped Miyuki felt the same about the comedy part.) That’s why he could deal with it so easily. But if he’d been the dance partner concerned, just dealing with the situation passably, to say nothing of ideally, would have been beyond him.

Tatsuya fully realized his own inexperience as he watched Honoka stealing glances at him with hesitant, upturned eyes.

“Sir, at times like these, the man must take the lead.”

I already can’t deal with Honoka. And now someone’s making fun of me. Who could blame me for wanting to run away? thought Tatsuya, complaining to nobody in particular—though not mentioning any of this aloud, of course. “Erika…why are you a waitress?”

“Because that was the condition for staying here in the first place,” she said, smoothly ignoring his troubles.

Leo and Mikihiko had been called to the party as champions as well. Erika and Mizuki were offered honorary staff spots, too, but all four had turned them down. Right now, they were working diligently at their side jobs in the kitchen and hall.

Mikihiko had been placed in the kitchen like he originally wanted, but Erika was again going in and out of the hall in the same frilly waitress costume as before.

“…Then I don’t think you should be wasting time in a place like this…”

“One of my jobs as hall monitor is to give appropriate advice to our esteemed guests.”

Turned away once again by a composed expression, Tatsuya felt the urge to groan. Leaving aside the whole “jobs as hall monitor” bit, he knew her insistence bore some truth to it.

Honoka was waiting for Tatsuya to ask her to dance. He knew that much without having to be told. But he didn’t know what to do about it. He had an absolute lack of experience inviting girls like this.

“Sir? I don’t believe there is anything that requires such careful thought.”

Erika had just been fooling around with him before, but her words were sounding more and more irritated. If he let her keep going, then she’d probably actually get mad before much longer.

And Tatsuya thought that would be a little—no, very—pathetic of him to do.

“…Honoka?”

“Yes?!”

Tatsuya steeled himself. “…Want to dance?” Despite that, though, there was a significant pause before he got the words out, and they came out as an unsure question, to boot.

“Gladly!”

Still, Honoka seemed more than happy to hear it.

After that, Tatsuya was forced into hard labor, dancing with Shizuku, Eimi, and Mayumi in turn. When it was all over, he slumped against the wall, exhausted.

Mayumi had been especially hard to dance with. Her sense of rhythm was…unique.

Nobody could call Tatsuya a good dancer, even as flattery. He hadn’t ever practiced, so that was only natural. But he didn’t make the mistake of stepping on the girls’ feet or bumping into anyone else. In fact, he never missed a step. When Shizuku danced with him, she had actually told him he danced like a machine; he wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or an insult. He was simply changing the speed of his motions based on the music, replicating a memorized dance while omitting the finer details. So leaving the beauty, elegance, and grace of his dancing aside, he at least had perfect precision.

On the other hand, Mayumi was, in a way, the exact opposite. She was not stepping in time with the music. It wasn’t that she had no sense of sound, but she seemed to have a rather creative purpose in mind—although each of her steps was slightly off, she was actually dancing very gracefully if he considered the flow of the song.

Thanks to that, Tatsuya had been forced to jump through hoops to align his own steps with both the music’s rhythm and hers. If he’d been a normal person, he wouldn’t have had so much trouble getting in line with his partner, but Tatsuya was only reproducing movements he had in his head rather than letting his body do the work. Applying that was a lot of trouble.

Afterward Mayumi, herself rather elated, had left the utterly exhausted Tatsuya and gone to find a new dance partner, but there had actually been a lot of female students wandering around “aimlessly” in front of Tatsuya. After Masaki finished his dance with Miyuki, he’d been in great demand among the female upperclassmen. It hadn’t been that bad for Tatsuya, but there was no lack of girls who had seen him in Monolith Code and gotten interested in him.

But when they saw him standing there like all his willpower and energy had been drained, they all sent him the same look of sympathy and passed him by. He didn’t even have the mental power to reflect on how unfortunate that was for him. Just as he was thinking about getting back to his room, someone held a glass out to him, as if they’d timed the opportunity.

“Tha…thank you.” He paused in the middle because of how completely unexpected the person who’d approached him was.

“You seem tired.”

“…Yes, well.”

“Can’t do it like your matches?”

“Well… No, you’re right. This may be forward of me, but you don’t look like you have trouble with either of those things, Chairman.”

“I’m used to it.”

The one to talk to him was Katsuto. He gulped down his non-alcoholic drink in one go. Tatsuya got the feeling he needed to match him, so he downed his own glass in the same way.

But the real talk came after that. “Shiba, come with me for a minute,” said Katsuto. No sooner had the words left his mouth than he had handed his empty glass to a passing waitress (not Erika) and turned his back.

That meant he didn’t have any right to refuse. Tatsuya handed over his glass as well and silently followed along.

The courtyard where he’d caught the armed trespassers the night before the competition’s opening ceremonies was silent tonight, with no signs of anyone sneaking around. It wasn’t completely silent, though; someone must have opened a window, because he could hear the faint sound of the music. But the soft sounds seemed to only deepen the silence here all the more.

“Is this all right? I think the victory celebration is starting soon,” asked Tatsuya politely to Katsuto’s back once he stopped walking.

After the party, the hall had been reserved for First High’s victory celebration. It was a trivial privilege given to the school that won the overall championship. Katsuto, both an officer of First High’s team and a main player, would obviously need to be in attendance.

“Don’t worry. This won’t be long,” answered Katsuto, turning around abruptly.

Is it not that important? Then why would he have to bring me outside during the party? he thought. Or maybe…it was something that would be settled in a short period of time.

…It seemed, at least, that Katsuto’s plan involved the latter.

“Shiba, you’re a member of the Ten Master Clans, right?”

The sudden attack almost put Tatsuya on guard against danger. That wasn’t a metaphor—he nearly assumed a combat stance. At this stage, anyone knowing his true identity was taboo. “No, I’m not part of the clans.”

There was a powerful insight in Katsuto’s gaze, one that wouldn’t permit lies or concealment. Tatsuya had been able to give his decisive question a denial only because it was the truth by the letter of the law. He wasn’t part of the Ten Master Clans. He might have had their blood in him, but he wasn’t recognized as a member. That was the undeniable truth.

“…I see.” Katsuto stared at Tatsuya for a few moments, then nodded impassively. Tatsuya couldn’t tell if it was because he believed him. “Then allow me to give you advice as the Juumonji’s representative magician to the Master Clans Council. Shiba, you should be part of the clans.”

Tatsuya stared.

“Let’s see… How would Saegusa sound?”

“…Are you referring to her as a marriage partner?”

“That’s right.”

Katsuto’s spell, Phalanx, was basically the natural enemy of Tatsuya’s original magic, Dismantle. He could dismantle one thin barrier, but then more would come out at him. It would be an endless cycle. Tatsuya had felt a shudder at his prediction of such a thorough battle of attrition while he was watching the final match…but he hadn’t predicted this at all, and now he felt himself shuddering again but with a conviction that was firm.

Katsuto was, without a doubt, his natural enemy.

—For many more reasons than he’d thought.

“…Wouldn’t your name be at the top of the list to marry President Saegusa, Chairman?”

“That is another possibility.”

“…Is President Saegusa not your type?”

“That’s not it. Why? Saegusa is still quite charming in certain respects.”

“…Ah.” Tatsuya couldn’t find anything to say to that.

“…Oh, are you worried about age, Shiba? Hmm… What about her younger sisters, then? I last met them two years ago, but they looked like they would be beautiful in the future.”

“…I’m sorry, but unlike you and the president, I’m just a high school student, so all this talk of marriage and engagement seems premature…”

“Does it?” Katsuto tilted his head a bit. “…But you can’t be too carefree for much longer. Beating the next head of one of the clans in a one-to-one match is a lot more serious than you think.”

Tatsuya wanted to retort, I don’t want to hear that out of you, since Katsuto had been the one who’d actually forced him into fighting Masaki in the first place.

“…We should get back. Don’t be too late, Shiba.”

He couldn’t believe it—or at least, he didn’t want to. Is he…is he actually an airhead…?

But as Tatsuya watched him stride away majestically, he earnestly felt that Katsuto was terrifying.

“Tatsuya?”

It was as he stood there in the night, overcome with surprise, that his little sister’s voice snapped him out of it.

“What’s the matter? It’s unusual for you to be so absent that you don’t realize I’m coming.”

“No, well…I just saw something a little unexpected…”

“Like what?”

“It’s, well, really not important…”

“Hm?” Tatsuya’s words were inconsistent, but Miyuki just tilted her head in confusion and didn’t pursue the topic. “…The party is ending soon.”

“And the victory celebration is after that…” grumbled Tatsuya, his face scrunching up reflexively at the suggestion. “Guess I can’t pass up on that…”

Miyuki put a hand to her mouth and giggled. “I think you just need to give up. If you go back to your room, I think you will only be attacked by Honoka and Erika.”

“I can understand Honoka, but…?”

“Erika was captured by the president,” said Miyuki. She laughed at it like it was funny. “The president is one step in rank above her,” she added. “And besides…” With another smile, but restraining her laughter, her eyes a little serious, she peered into her brother’s eyes. “I will not let you run away, Tatsuya.”

Tatsuya heaved a sigh. But rather suddenly, Miyuki’s ears perked up. “…Ooh, the last song is starting.”

“Is it?” Tatsuya could tell the song had changed, but he wasn’t aware this was going to be the last one.

“Tatsuya, would you share this last dance with me?”

Under the light of the moon and the stars, Miyuki asked him to dance, with a clear smile that he had barely ever seen before. The smile wouldn’t permit any resistance from him.

“…Then let’s get back before it ends.”

“No, we’ll just be wasting time, then.” Miyuki took his hand. “We can hear the music from here.” She brought her body in close enough that he could feel her breath. “And I can dance just fine on the grass with these shoes.”

Tatsuya said nothing and put one hand on his sister’s back. She leaned on it and put her hands on his shoulders.

Their bodies touched.

Gently clasping her hand and holding her back close to him, Tatsuya took the first step.

They spun and spun under the starry sky.

And as they spun around, Tatsuya’s face was always right in front of Miyuki.

Miyuki’s face was always right in front of Tatsuya’s.

The scenery, the stars, the moon, the darkness…

With everything in the world spinning around them, they looked only at each other.

Chapter 2 Fin