The Irregular at Magic High School, Vol. 5 - Summer Vacation Arc+1 PDF
The Irregular at Magic High School, Vol. 5 - Summer Vacation Arc+1 PDF
The Irregular at Magic High School, Vol. 5 - Summer Vacation Arc+1 PDF
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are
the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is
coincidental.
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ISBN: 978-1-9753-0081-4
E3-20180302-JV-PC
Contents
Cover
Insert
Title Page
Copyright
Epigraph
Character
Glossary
Summer Vacation
The Honor Student’s Extracurricular Lesson
Amelia in Wonderland
Friendship, Trust, and Lolicon Suspicions
Memories of the Summer
The Student Council Election and the Queen
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Afterword
Yen Newsletter
An irregular older brother with a certain flaw. An honor
roll younger sister who is perfectly flawless.
Shizuku appeared willing to clear her schedule for Tatsuya’s sake; when
Miyuki called her back, she nodded, with her reply ready. Shizuku then
contacted Honoka to tell her the plan, while Miyuki talked to Erika and
Mizuki. During that time, Tatsuya invited Leo and Mikihiko. Every single
person was able to make it. Was that really just a coincidence? Whatever it
was, it made Tatsuya want to keep his wits about him.
And so, still caught up in his own amazement, the day of the trip arrived.
The girls in the group had gone shopping together in preparation, creating a
stare-worthy event in the swimsuit section of the department store, but
Tatsuya had put his memories of that away in a drawer and welded it shut, so
we will omit the details here.
For whatever reason, the group finally assembled at a marina in Hayama
instead of an airport.
“Wow…that’s a fantastic cruiser.”
This time (unlike during the Nine School Competition), Erika’s shorts and
unreservedly exposed slender, shapely legs weren’t out of place as she looked
up at the white boat, eyes glittering.
“Erika, I’m sure your family has at least a cruiser,” mentioned Shizuku,
her face slightly flushed. (Tatsuya, too, had grown to understand her
expressions well.)
“We have a boat, but you can’t really call it a cruiser… Or at least, I don’t
want to. They always have the stabilizers turned off, so it’s a pretty terrible
ride.”
“…For training?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re quite thorough with your training…” said Miyuki, amazed.
Next to her, Mizuki didn’t know what expression to make, so she just
gave a vague smile.
On the other hand…
“A Fleming propulsion system… I don’t see any air ducts, so it doesn’t
The Muko Islands, where the summerhouse was, were about six hundred
miles away. The voyage took approximately six hours on a Fleming ship,
which actually had a maximum speed of one hundred knots.
Right now, Tatsuya hadn’t the faintest idea whose interests had led them
to use a boat instead of an airplane (VTOLs with propellers were not
Without running into any storms or letting anybody suffer from seasickness
—even though the waves were somewhat rough—thanks to the stabilizer and
swing adsorption system, the ship safely made it to Nakoudo Island, where
the beach house was located.
The coral reefs near this island had met their bitter end in the latter part of
the previous century due to goats that had gone feral. Artificial restoration of
the reefs had later been planned but showed poor results. Now, the coastline,
after its loam was dredged, had been converted into a wharf and sandy beach
with the private capital used to build the summerhouse. This was the so-
called environmental destruction that intellectuals so often targeted in their
criticisms.
However, the coral hadn’t been damaged while this island was inhabited,
and it was also thanks to humans that the feral goats were wiped out. So had
the environmental harm come because people were present, or because they’d
left?
Tatsuya felt compelled to sink further into cynical thoughts, but he
decided better of it. He couldn’t arrogantly criticize the place when he was
one of the people who had come to it for fun.
As you might expect from this internal monologue, Tatsuya and the others
had already arrived at the island and gone to the beach.
The white sands. The shining sunlight.
But the beach shone even brighter than that.
“Tatsuyaaa, aren’t you gonna swiiim?”
“Tatsuya, the water is cool. It feels very good!”
Erika and Miyuki both called out to him from the water’s edge. Tatsuya
smiled vaguely and waved his hand from the shade of the parasol he’d stuck
into the sand.
If asked what was dazzling so brilliantly, his answer would have been the
The dazzling blue sky spread out before Tatsuya. As he rested his back
against the water’s surface (though almost entirely submerged, with only his
face above the water), he floated along, drifting among the barely discernible
waves.
The aquatic dialogue from just a little while ago had evolved into a
playful aquatic battle, then evolved to the point where he wanted to call their
shots “jet streams” (magic ones, of course, with Tatsuya being delegated to
the role of target). Still, being the only boy in a group of five girls was
mentally straining even for Tatsuya. If Leo and Mikihiko had been there, it
wouldn’t have been bad enough for him to flee like he had. Unfortunately,
the two had gone for a long-distance swimming race, and they were pretty
much out of sight by now. When Tatsuya had said “I’m going out a little
farther” and turned his back on the quintet, Miyuki had given him a fairly
unhappy look, but she still appeared to understand his needs.
“Hic…hic…ic…”
“Umm, Honoka, I… Is…? Are you all right…?” asked a bewildered
Mizuki. Honoka had finally sat down on the sandy beach and promptly broke
down in tears for real. The other three—Shizuku, Erika, and Miyuki—stood
around them awkwardly.
“Hic…that’s why…ic…I said…” she sniffed, “I said to wait…”
Of course, the one finding this hardest to bear was Tatsuya. He truly
wanted to run away. There was no option for a course change or a retreat in
this situation, though.
“Well, I mean…Tatsuya was the one who saved you…” noted Erika
honestly, but it didn’t have much effect. Miyuki couldn’t find any words to
comfort her, either, given simply that Tatsuya had been one of those
involved.
“Honoka, well…I’m sorry.” Tatsuya hadn’t meant to be mean—and in
When Leo emerged from the ocean after his looong (long-distance and long-
sustained) swimming race, it was just about teatime on the balcony.
Cold drinks and a rainbow assortment of fruit sat upon the table.
Working as the steward, Kurosawa wore an apron, underneath which was
not the same clothing as before, but a thin one-piece mini. Over that short
one-piece, which exposed her shoulders and slender limbs, was a big white
apron larger than the dress itself. She possessed a sexiness that would have
For dinner, they had barbecue. The eight of them stood harmoniously around
the grill, going back and forth between it and the table.
Miyuki had regained her calm after a bit of rest, while Honoka boldly
hovered around Tatsuya a bit too much, and Erika had a pleasant
conversation with Shizuku.
Mizuki, perhaps slightly traumatized by that afternoon’s teatime, sat
slightly away from Miyuki and the others, preferring to exchange quieter
words with Mikihiko.
Leo used his mouth only for eating. His appetite had basically repurposed
Kurosawa into his personal waitress.
The group wasn’t clearly divided, of course. Sometimes Honoka would
join Miyuki’s circle, and sometimes Tatsuya and Leo would have a small
food fight.
But there was a little bit—compared to normal—of an awkward
atmosphere floating among them.
The pair left the summerhouse and went left, following the water’s edge.
Shizuku walked in silence, and Miyuki followed in silence.
Once they had walked to a place where the beach house’s lights no longer
reached, Shizuku finally turned around.
Her face was more impassive than usual—no, it was strained with tension.
Miyuki had a gentle smile on, but it was an archaic smile, one that
betrayed no emotion.
Right after Shizuku and Miyuki left, Honoka stood in front of a mirror. Going
out to pick flowers had just been an excuse to leave the room.
As she looked into the mirror, she remembered what Shizuku had
whispered to her after dinner: “I’ll get Miyuki outside, and then you can
invite Tatsuya.”
She knew right away what Shizuku had meant. They didn’t even have to
talk about it, because Shizuku could read her like a book.
Even the accident earlier in the day, where the boat had overturned, had
actually been a matchmaking scheme of Shizuku’s. It had been her plan to
mention beforehand that Honoka was a bad swimmer, get Tatsuya to rescue
her, and then have Honoka approach him in various ways as a means of
thanking him. They even had a backup plan ready in case Tatsuya didn’t
make it in time. The shameful event that had actually transpired was a
complete accident, but as a result, she’d been able to monopolize the boy.
Honoka felt guilty about it, but happy at the same time.
And now, Shizuku had set everything up for her love confession. Honoka
hesitated a moment, putting on only a little bit of light lipstick so it wouldn’t
stand out. After checking her hair and clothing again, she chimed an “all
right!” to raise her spirits. Intending to follow the plan and invite Tatsuya out
while his sister was absent, she returned to the living area.
She didn’t realize that her legs were trembling slightly.
Summer vacation was well into its second half now, and the First High
campus lay dormant. The season’s biggest event, the Nine School
Competition, was over, and the sports-related clubs had since shifted into
independent training mode. There was still one more week until the new term
began; clubs would restart their actual activities then, but none were
scheduled now.
That wasn’t to say the campus was completely empty, of course. Though
few, there were some students who came out for independent training.
Especially the freshmen. The training facilities were almost always
reserved for upperclassmen, so for the freshmen, it was a chance to get full
usage of them. Indeed, many freshman club members could be seen here in
the closed-quarters battle practice area.
Feeling glum, Morisaki looked down at himself as the lights came back on
the course. A red paintball had splashed against the right side of his combat-
shooting club practice uniform.
The rubber paint had already dried. He probably could have torn it off
anyway, but he’d have to use the remover in the prep room to get it off
cleanly. He headed for the exit at a run, careful not to disturb the next person
in line for the course.
At the sound of the door clattering open, the female student doing
maintenance on a directed-shooting launcher blinked in surprise and turned
around. (To explain, “directed shooting” was the name of a magic-based
sport where a person fired a bullet using only magic, no gunpowder or
compressed air, at a small target 2.54 centimeters—or 1 inch—across. The
launchers used for directed shooting were shaped like rifles, with a CAD built
into the stock and four long rails in place of the barrel, which held bullets
inserted from four directions.)
“…Morisaki, you look frazzled,” said the girl, Kazumi Takigawa of Class
1-C, speaking to him in a worried tone as she stopped her work on the
launcher.
“Takigawa…? Aren’t you in the D.S. club? What are you doing here?” Of
He took off his club gear and replaced it with his regular uniform, consisting
of shirt and slacks. As he was about to put his arms through his summer
blazer, the emblem embroidered on the left breast pocket caught his eye.
—Four months ago, he’d been proud of this emblem.
—But sometimes, especially lately, it was strangely irritating.
Now was one of those times. An unclear irritation was eating away at his
mind. Or maybe it would be more apt to say he was letting its identity remain
unclear.
Morisaki decided not to put on the jacket, instead slinging it over his
shoulder and leaving the locker room. When he looked up, he squinted
against the strong sunlight pouring down.
He didn’t need Takigawa to tell him; Morisaki knew he was being
impatient. But he also knew that if she hadn’t said it so firmly, he probably
would still be wasting time with fruitless training. The next time he saw her,
he’d have to treat her to an ice cream or something.
Even the wounds he’d sustained during the Nine School Competition,
which had been diagnosed as needing over a month to heal normally, had
been perfectly mended by magical healing. But his body had dulled during
his weeklong stay at the hospital, and it wasn’t completely back to normal
yet. At least, not by his standards.
And there was one more thing.
He felt like his experience on the grand competition stage hadn’t helped
his magical talents grow. In fact, he felt less skilled than before the
vacation…
The notion had built a little nest in his heart. His mind knew that wasn’t a
good thing, but he couldn’t seem to clamp down on his impatience.
The teachers aren’t even here…
When most people thought of the Morisaki family, they thought of their
quick-draw.
The family wasn’t one of the Numbers, just a branch family, and even
compared to the Hundred Families their magical abilities were rated as
average. But when it came to their one very specific talent, some said they
were as good as the main Numbers families.
What kind of technique was quick-draw?
Nothing outlandish, actually. Quick-draw was simply that—rapidly
drawing a gun and firing. Its purpose was to activate a spell as quickly as
possible using a CAD. In a little more detail, the idea was to quickly activate
a CAD from a non-combat stance, speed through the activation processing,
and disable an opponent before they could activate their own spell.
The user’s spell power was secondary. The difficulty level didn’t matter,
either. The spell could be a weak one, but even a weak one could disable an
opponent if you attacked first.
The implementation of CADs had brought about a speed-up in the magic
activation process, and this technique was an extension of the ideas behind
that: develop and improve CAD efficiency.
Because the technique stressed speed, a greater importance was placed on
specialized CADs than multipurpose ones. Specialized CADs were mainly
shaped like handguns, so the technique had been born from positioning the
body to efficiently draw and activate a handgun-shaped device. This was
where the name quick-draw was derived.
The original technique had a side effect nobody had expected at first. The
It wasn’t very big inside the café, and all the seats were taken. Without
any other choice, he sat down on the terrace, where the only thing blocking
the sun’s rays was a parasol. Outdoor air conditioners weren’t uncommon
these days, but this store didn’t have one. Given the log cabin–style exterior
and the plain wooden chairs and tables, the store’s owner probably liked the
down-to-earth feel.
There was a certain demand for ostensibly stylish cafés such as this, but
demand changed depending on the season. As proof of that, almost none of
the seats out here were filled.
Morisaki took a seat near the side of the terrace and stared idly at a group
of kids walking around with iced coffees in one hand. It seemed like most of
the people out here walking were boys and girls his age. And half of them
were couples, with 90 percent of the rest in groups. Not even 10 percent of
that remaining half were lone wolves like him (though he felt less like a lone
wolf and more like a one-man army).
As he people-watched, and the sense of being on the wrong side ate at
him, he suddenly caught sight of a certain girl.
She was alone, like him—and actually, lone girls were probably far rarer
than boys. She wore a high-necked sleeveless shirt, a knee-length pleated
skirt, and sandals. Her fashion sense was something between showy and
boring.
But her appearance couldn’t be called normal.
Eight out of ten people—nine out of ten, if they were men—would have
rated her as “pretty” or “beautiful.”
She wore her hair in one long ponytail hanging over her left shoulder, and
it was so long that if undone it would reach her waist. Her eyes were large
and slanted slightly upward, and her movements were graceful and
completely devoid of waste. They gave her the appearance of a large feline—
and not a tiger or a lion, but a panther.
The reason he followed the girl wasn’t due to any deep thoughts he had.
His career hadn’t been long enough yet to chalk it up to an occupational
disease, but that was the closest way to describe it. To point out another thing
rather bluntly, the fact that the girl was such an attractive (young) beauty was
another thing influencing his actions.
The girl (who looked a bit too old to be called that) was headed away
from the park areas and toward the warehouse district. Did she have
something to do there?
Morisaki, following carefully from a distance, noticed that there were
fewer and fewer people passing by. The parks and recreational facilities were
in the other direction, but passers-by were decreasing far too quickly to be
Upon arriving at the station, Morisaki suggested leaving Ariake, but the girl
shook her head. “I’m meeting someone here.”
“Then you could send them a text…”
“I…can’t, really. It’s not possible for me to contact from my end,” she
said with big eyes, giving a concerned smile.
Morisaki couldn’t help but be flustered at that enchanting face.
“Thank you so much for saving me.” Luckily, the girl pretended not to
notice his reddened expression.
Her considerations were a bit different from people the same age as him,
The distance would be shorter if they walked down main roads, but
Morisaki purposely chose winding, twisting park routes. He had decided that
the spell from before, which had prevented pedestrians and vehicles alike
from coming near, would be less effective in parks where people mostly
stayed in one place, rather than avenues, where they were naturally on the
move and passing through.
It certainly wasn’t because he wanted to be with Rin for longer. Not
consciously, at least.
He’d made her put the pendant in her purse. Averting other people’s
attention would have the opposite effect from what they wanted at the
moment.
The idea had been theoretically correct—but unfortunately, it had invited
some unexpected trouble.
There was a wall of people in front of them now. All were young men
around Rin’s age. They were packed in tightly, like pro soccer players trying
to block a free kick. Unfortunately, their clothing, countenances, and other
features were as far as they could be from any sort of bracing sportsmanship.
Frankly speaking, they didn’t look very respectable.
There were small differences, but they each wore essentially the same
thing. The most common outfit consisted of a vest made from shiny fabric,
metal rings around the wrists, below the elbows, and above the elbows.
The vests’ surfaces, which looked like lizard scales, were metal-skins, a
material that had brought in a minor-league fad about three years back. The
synthetic resin boasted defense and shock absorption that was leaps and
bounds more advanced than the bulletproof, stab-proof synthetic fibers of
yesteryear. However, it was a defective product—its lack of breathability
meant that you’d sweat wearing one even in a heated room in wintertime,
nevermind outdoors in summertime. Even sleeveless vests were still seen as
Without a word, the two walked hand in hand as they made their way to
the place where the boat was to arrive.
“Shun, Shun! Are you all right?!” called Rin, face desperate as she knelt
beside him.
“I’m fine,” he said, nodding and opening his eyes. He was faceup; he
stayed there for a few moments to catch his breath, then brought himself to a
sitting position. When he tried to stand up, though, he fell back to one knee
with an “Agh!”
“Shun?!”
“I’m all right… Just a sprain or two,” he said, though a greasy sweat had
appeared on his brow.
Rin looked all around for help. The effects of the mental interference
spell, which had prevented anyone from noticing them, had already
disappeared. Most of the tourists and couples out on dates were looking at
them from afar. But they were distant stares—uncanny ones. Everyone
focused on Morisaki’s left arm, noting the mounted bracelet-shaped CAD
that marked him as a modern magician.
She could hear them whispering to each other. Nobody dared come near.
Eimi found herself dragged from the world of dreams by the ringtone of the
videophone she had brought into her bedroom. The digital clock showed that
it was five in the morning.
What a bother, she thought before looking at the message window and
seeing it was from her English grandmother. She was the aunt of the current
head of the Goldie family, renowned in England for its modern magic, and
the number two woman within the family in terms of authority.
Eimi’s eyes snapped open.
Her parents’ skill at staying asleep was larger than life: They wouldn’t
“Amy!”
At the sound of her name, she turned to see a girl—their sponsor for today
—waving her hand.
“Sakura!” She waved back, then trotted over to her.
The girl, who wore a gothic Lolita–styled (key word being styled) one-
piece, was named Akaha Sakurakouji. Though the characters for her first
name, meaning “red leaf,” were more commonly read “Momiji,” hers was
After that conversation, they both gave a hollow laugh. That was how
they became friends, though—destiny worked in strange ways.
“Sakura, did you and Subaru come together?”
“Eh-heh-heh…”
Eimi hadn’t meant anything in particular by the question, but Akaha
laughed, indicating the answer.
Wait, is that what she’s into? Eimi made a note of that in her grade book
—unbeknownst to Akaha, of course. But with the person next to her brought
into focus, she revised her thoughts. Maybe I do understand a little.
At first glance, it was a pretty boy wearing a summer suit. A pair of fake
bottom-rimmed eyeglasses only strengthened the boyish image.
But in actuality, it was a boyish-looking girl from their class.
Eimi had gotten to know Subaru Satomi after they’d been teammates
during the Nine School Competition. They hadn’t been friends for very long,
but they’d already gotten to the point where they were comfortable enough
having conversations like, “Subaru, can you come with me so boys don’t try
to hit on me?” “I would be delighted to escort you, my lady.”
It warrants adding that during the conversation, they were not so much
smiling as smirking.
“What’s wrong, Amy?” asked Subaru, looking over Eimi’s face as she let
her imagination run wild.
Eimi’s heart almost skipped a beat seeing how handsome Subaru looked,
“Come on! I get that using an LPS would spoil the fun, but why on earth
can’t I use the GPS?!” complained Eimi into her portable terminal. She and
the other two had been to three attractions so far. But now, for some reason,
she seemed to have lost sight of them.
“What did you expect? That’s their selling point.” Subaru was the one she
was venting to.
“But they’re blocking signals! That’s going too far!”
“It’ll be okay. Do you see any signs nearby?”
Even Eimi’s irritation calmed slightly at Subaru’s response; she was
always gentle, and was noted for knowing how to handle girls well (despite
being one herself). “I’ve been looking for one for a while…but I don’t even
see any guides, much less signs.”
“Hmm…? Well, if it really gets bad, you can shoot off a firework and
we’ll use my magic to come to you.”
Subaru’s magic of choice was Leap. In addition, she possessed an innate
skill called Awareness Block, which made her hard to notice. (Her regularly
theatrical behavior was apparently a reaction to nobody paying attention to
her anymore.)
Her Awareness Block wasn’t at the same level as the stealth of Haruka
Ono, a counselor at First High and secret part-time operative for Public
Safety. Still, it was a cinch for her to float along through the air in secret,
without being noticed, while everyone else was absorbed in their own fun.
On the other hand, Eimi’s own specialty magic was a type of movement
magic people called bombardment magic (purely a nickname)—spells to
move large masses quickly and over a short distance. During the Ice Pillars
Unlike her friends, now steadily making their way to the meeting place while
filled with deep misgivings, Eimi hadn’t made any progress toward their
destination. Frustration had taken over again. She couldn’t think about
anything else.
Like before, she could still make out the top of the tower, so she hadn’t
lost track of her direction. But whenever she tried to head that way, she
wound up in dead ends. Then a forced right turn, then detours going all over
Upon finally meeting back up with Subaru and Akaha, they sat on a park
bench together, gnawing at crepes they’d gotten instead of lunch. Eimi
watched a staff member wearing a horizontally striped shirt and pants pass by
them, and asked, to nobody in particular, “If this is Wonderland, how come
there aren’t any rabbits…?”
“Look…you know that would probably be copyright infringement.”
“Hm? Amy, did you want bunny boys to wait on you or something?”
“No! Geez… We came all the way to a wonderland. I was just thinking
maybe the staff should be wearing more wonderland-y outfits.”
“Wonderland-y?”
“Hmm… Yeah, like a street magician in a Venetian mask.” A certain
monotone clown had come to Eimi’s mind, one that looked similar to certain
wounded people. But she figured that would make children cry as soon as
they saw him, so she searched her brain for something with a similar
impression.
“Oh, that might be good.”
“Mmhmm, I think so, too. It would make things interesting.”
As they enjoyed talk of meaningless wardrobe changes every time a staff
The National Magic University Affiliated Third High School was on the
outskirts of the city of Kanazawa, in the prefecture of Ishikawa. Ishikawa’s
administrative system had seen a change, however, and was now technically
a large administrative ward. Because of that, it was more accurately the
“former Ishikawa prefecture,” but everyone, media included, referred to it
using its old prefectural name. They were used to it—the same reason
scholars believed the prefecture didn’t take the name Kagahan or Noto-no-
Kuni. People were just used to calling it Ishikawa.
That aside…
In the reference room of Third High—which sat on the outskirts of
Kanazawa, Ishikawa—Shinkurou Kichijouji took a break from typing his
report and gave a big stretch. His neural assistance interface headset got in
the way of his arms, though, so he removed that and leaned back for another
stretch.
He’d been sitting in the same position for longer than he thought. With the
crisp cracking of bones came a slight pain, and he winced.
Instead of going back to writing, he looked to the side. The reference
room had no windows, since you could view highly secret documents here.
To give the same refreshing effect as windows, however, the small private
rooms each had a video display on the wall that resembled one, with the
backdrop image varying for each booth. The “scenery” he could see from this
one showed a bamboo forest in the mountains, swaying in the breeze. It was
his favorite.
He was busy with composing his presentation for the thesis competition—
the Magic Association of Japan’s All-High Magic Thesis Competition—that
would take place at the end of October. He was a world-famous researcher of
magic, so even though he was a freshman, he’d been chosen as Third High’s
representative member for the event. He’d actually started getting it all
“Miyuki Shiba.”
That was the source of Masaki’s lovesickness.
The next in line to lead the Ichijou family having romance troubles was
inconceivable. Because of his skills, looks, and family, girls flocked to him
without any effort on his part. Not because he was an innocent, pure-hearted
boy, or aloof to everyone, or a womanizer. Still, this was her, so he was
convinced that Masaki could be so worried about his unrevealed, one-sided
feelings. Even Kichijouji couldn’t lie and say his heart didn’t start pounding
when he thought about her.
That was how incredibly good-looking she was. She was so pretty that if
someone told him she wasn’t a real person, but a 3-D image that had taken
the form of the ultimate desire of all young men using over-technology, he’d
believe them. Despite not needing a picture to clearly see her in his mind’s
eye, he’d started thinking of her as a dream or a product of his fantasies more
than once or twice.
Kichijouji didn’t feel romantic love toward her, and even he was brought
“George!”
With the sun far in the west and the gates about to be closed, as Kichijouji
was leaving school he turned around at a voice addressing him from behind.
“Masaki?”
He didn’t need to turn around to know whose voice it was; he said his
name as he swiveled.
“You going home, right? Let’s go walk home together.”
“Sure, if you’re okay with it.”
By “it,” Kichijouji meant “not stopping anywhere”; he went straight back
to his dormitory almost every day. Masaki, however, liked to stop at other
places on his way back. Not all of them were for fun—though he did that a
lot, too. As the eldest son of the Ichijou, he was always having to run around
doing errands and jobs.
“Yeah, I don’t have anything scheduled today,” he assured him. “Oh,
George. You should come over. It’s been a while.”
“Huh? This is sudden. I won’t cause trouble?” Kichijouji asked,
displaying a downright sensible reaction to his friend’s abrupt ideas.
But Masaki laughed it away cheerfully. “You don’t have to act like a
stranger. And the rest of my family loves it when you come over.”
Masaki’s house was only thirty minutes from school on foot. Not to say his
commute took thirty minutes but that it took thirty minutes to walk.
Third High and the Ichijou residence being within walking distance of
each other was pure coincidence. There was no hidden reason for it of the
sort one sometimes heard, like the Ichijou family having established Third
High or one of them being its principal. After all, like the other magic high
schools, it had been created as an affiliate of the National Magic University.
It was up to competent authorities to decide where they’d be built. The
Ichijou family, despite its standing as one of the Ten Master Clans, were no
more than civilians to the public, so they hadn’t any chance to get a good
word in—the clans’ influence wasn’t something to be used for matters of that
nature.
Masaki and Kichijouji went through the thirty-minute trek home in
twenty-five without much hurry. Although the season with the longest days
was behind them, it would take some time yet today before the twilight sky
was covered in purple. Kichijouji noted to himself the others in his family
probably hadn’t returned yet. So when someone addressed him from the front
yard not a moment after going through the gate, he was a little surprised.
“Huh? Oh, welcome, Shinkurou!” came the energetic, high-pitched
soprano—or rather, simply a child’s voice.
“Good afternoon, Akane. Please excuse my intrusion,” said Kichijouji
with a smile.
She was Akane Ichijou, Masaki’s younger sister. She was in sixth grade,
and she and Masaki had another sister, even younger. Kichijouji hadn’t
gotten much chance to talk to that one much—she was in third grade—but
There was an electronic beep, and a moment later Masaki let out a groan, like
he’d just crawled out of the pits of the earth.
“George…it’s time.”
“But it’s almost over. You want to use up all your time halfway through?”
asked Kichijouji, looking over their back-to-back monitors.
Masaki nodded helplessly.
The real-time strategy game they’d been playing on their screens paused.
All the motion and change in the image of the urban district froze as though
time had stopped, and Masaki switched to a bird’s-eye view. Engrossed, he
stared at the monitor.
Kichijouji wanted to smile—his friend, ever one to hate losing, worried a
lot even over games like this. He had to consciously stop his lips from turning
up. Of course, he hadn’t needed to; Masaki still had his eyes glued to the
screen, clearly unable to spare any attention to other matters.
And in this game’s case, while it was a “game like this,” it didn’t deserve
to be taken as “just a game.” This simulation had been written by the Magic
University’s Military Club Tactical Research Room, and it was incredibly
precise. A few more optimizations in the algorithm and the divisions of the
National Defense Force for magicians could use it to simulate city-based
combat for training.
“You sound like you’re having fun, Shinkurou. What were you talking
about?”
Right when Kichijouji let the laugh slip, there was a knock at the door. It
was Akane, and she entered the room.
“Akane…how many times have I told you to wait for an answer before
opening the door?” said her brother, candidly advising her.
“But it’s just Shinkurou, so it’s okay. If you brought a girl here, even I
would wait.” Without a hint of shyness, Akane walked over to the table
where the two sat facing each other.
“Look, Akane…”
“What? I guess you didn’t want this drink, then.”
Masaki’s sour face became even more acrid, and he fell quiet. As
Kichijouji watched the heartwarming exchange between the siblings, Akane
placed two glasses with iced coffee and one with iced cocoa on the table.
There’s one extra? asked Masaki silently.
In response to her brother’s question, Akane crafted a wide, innocent
smile and took a seat right down on a chair next to Kichijouji—one he’d
deftly pulled out from the under-table storage space while Akane was placing
Akane left about five minutes later, satisfied with her bout of playing with
Kichijouji for the moment.
The two high school boys exchanged worn smiles at having been pushed
around by a grade school girl. Maybe it meant she was a woman despite her
size.
“…Sorry for the trouble,” apologized Masaki honestly, his shoulders
drooping.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha…” Kichijouji answered with an empty laugh. “Well, I
mean, at least she’s energetic, right?” he added, trying to work out some kind
of acceptable words of comfort.
“As her brother, I wish she’d be energetic in a more obedient way.”
Masaki’s whining didn’t stop there. Instead, it escalated as he muttered
things to himself, like, “I mean, just look at his sister in comparison,” “Can’t
believe she’s that guy’s sister,” “I’m jealous,” “It’s not fair,” and “I’ll never
forgive him!”
Kichijouji decided he needed to get his course corrected before it got bad.
“Okay, okay. I think Akane is fine.”
Unfortunately…
“George, you…”
…Kichijouji left out the most important part.
“If you’re fine with it, then I’m not going to say anything uncouth about
it, but…”
Three years ago, at the same time the Great Asian Alliance invaded
Okinawa, the Federal Soviet Republics marched onto Sado. The Soviets still
denied any involvement in the invasion, but there were no doubts that the
attacking contingent had been from their nation.
The invasion force had been a small-scale one. Even so, it was enough
force to transgress upon the island of Sado. Kichijouji, who lived there at the
time, lost his parents in the battle and became a war orphan.
His parents had both been magical scientists. At the time, there was an
experimental facility on the island built into a deserted mine. It was for the
purpose of exploring the nature of psions, and his mother and father had
worked there.
Some said the Soviet invasion force’s goal had been that facility. It took
Saving him from that hopeless peril wasn’t the only thing they did,
however.
It had been on the recommendation of Masaki’s father, Gouki, that he had
gotten into a magical science laboratory as an apprentice scientist, despite
being in his first year of middle school. After losing both of his parents in one
stroke and not having any other relatives, he would have had no choice but to
stay in an infamous magician orphanage if not for the Ichijou family giving
him a place to live and a means to make his livelihood. This was objective
fact, not a mental bias on his part.
Despite having paid back his debt not long after going there by
blossoming his rare natural talent into the amazing accomplishment of
discovering a Cardinal Code, Kichijouji had never forgotten what they’d
done for him. He didn’t consider his debts to them paid at all.
He treated repaying the Ichijou family as a lifelong mission.
So becoming a part of the Ichijou, even just boarding with them, felt like
more than he deserved.
[AUGUST 31 (1)]
August 31, 2095 AD—the last day of summer vacation for magic high school
students.
Their vacation was about the average length for high schools. Most
technical and liberal arts schools had already started the new term, while
many art schools and physical education schools would be on break until
mid-September. The Nine School Competition had, incidentally, been held
from August 3 to August 12, but the representative members didn’t get the
special privilege of an extended break.
Even in the twenty-first century, long breaks came with assignments
(homework). And all across Japan, one could observe the signs of the season:
students nearly crying—or actually crying—on this last day of their break as
they stared at piles of worksheets or electronic documents containing only a
title. Still, not all students were that irresponsible (?). There was certainly no
shortage of boys and girls like the sibling freshmen enrolled at the National
Magic University Affiliated First High School who would be spending this
last day relaxing at home.
Though the refined manner in which they spent it—eating tea biscuits and
amusing themselves through conversation—could have been unusual.
“Miyuki, it’s finished.”
“Thank you. Please excuse me, Tatsuya. I didn’t want to busy you with
trifles such as these…”
Tatsuya had to smile at his sister’s display of gratitude, rather overdone as
it was. “Making crushed ice is no trouble at all,” he said, placing the ice pick
on the dining room table.
Drawn by that smile, Miyuki gave a graceful one in response. In her hands
was a coffeepot made of heat-resistant glass, liquid shaking around inside.
Miyuki placed the tray back down on a small table, in a first-floor room
that faced their small yard. It had originally been used as a guest bedroom,
but the bed had been removed, so now it was a perfectly empty room. After
opening all the windows and the sliding glass door, Tatsuya and Miyuki
settled down to enjoy a coffee break, at least able to feel as though they were
on an open terrace at a resort.
Of course, Miyuki was so busy briskly waiting on Tatsuya that she had no
time to warm her own seat, but she found it fun, so it would be uncouth for a
third party to say anything about it.
Still, eventually satisfied, she took off the modestly frilly white apron and
sat down—not across from Tatsuya at the round table but next to him.
She wore a light dress under the apron, one with wide shoulder straps
joined around her neck and exposing her fair arms. Tatsuya remembered that
breezy polka-dot dress.
Her sharp eyes read his expression, and before he could speak, she
glanced away shyly and asked, “You noticed?”
“Of course. It looks very good on you.”
Tatsuya’s praise didn’t contain the slightest bit of jest, and Miyuki’s
cheeks reddened a little. “Oh, that’s all you ever say, Tatsuya.”
“Because I really think that way. That’s what I’ve been saying since the
beginning. Besides, I wouldn’t have given you a gift I didn’t think looked
[AUGUST 14 (1)]
August 14—two days after the Nine School Competition. Tatsuya and
Miyuki had come to a shopping tower in the city.
They were both high school students currently on summer break. They
hadn’t necessarily needed to come all the way to the city on a Sunday just to
go shopping, but they had a reason, of course. From tomorrow, the fifteenth,
to the eighteenth, Tatsuya would have to appear at meetings at Four Leaves
Technology’s R & D Section 3 regarding the commercialization of the flight
device. Next week, he planned to attend field training and meetings with the
Independent Magic Battalion on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If his
weekends were the only days he had free either way, Tatsuya decided he
shouldn’t leave this until too much later.
But what didn’t he want to leave until later? Tatsuya wanted to buy
Miyuki something nice as a reward for her victory in Mirage Bat. Miyuki had
gotten strangely sulky at the term reward rather than present, but she seemed
happy to receive a gift regardless of what he called it, so she was in a great
mood as she walked alongside him.
Of course, she wasn’t as happy to be receiving a gift as she was to be
getting one from Tatsuya. It was a small yet profound difference, and not
something Tatsuya was capable of understanding.
Miyuki’s outfit for the day was a light-colored blouse with see-through
sleeves, a long off-white skirt, and sandals. She wore a wide-brimmed straw
hat on her head. As they were going out in private, she could have exposed
more skin and been completely fine, but her fashion habits were, outside the
house, conservative as always.
She continued to try on clothes (read: put on a fashion show) after that.
Each and every time, Tatsuya would give her blunt praise that made it seem
like he wasn’t aware he was embarrassing her, and every time she would get
embarrassed enough for the both of them. And yet she still kept trying more
on to hear what he had to say. Doubtless she enjoyed her brother’s praise so
much that the stress on her heart and her face’s blood vessels weren’t enough
to dissuade her from it.
Miyuki had no modeling experience. Although she had the beauty to
make the world’s top models run away with their tails between their legs, she
had no professional modeling skill. She hadn’t acquired the art of changing
clothes quickly.
Basically, what he was trying to get at was that a lot of time was passing
as she continued trying on new clothes. He couldn’t obviously look inside the
changing room while the door was closed, but when she came out to show
her clothes to Tatsuya, she could be seen from the shop’s display space as
well. Every once in a while, Tatsuya would request that she do a little twirl,
or turn, or strike a pose, and eventually a small crowd of people started to
form around the changing room.
They weren’t being overt about it and piling up in a group to watch her.
Tatsuya wouldn’t have kept quiet in that case, and the employee would
probably ask them politely to leave before he did anything anyway. Instead,
some young people had made a distant ring so they could glance over. They
walked slowly, too, pretending to look at the mannequins but actually totally
unable to tear their eyes from the spectacle.
The young people weren’t all male. There were some guys, but in terms of
numbers, the girls clearly had the upper hand. Which was understandable—
the store was awkward for male customers to enter alone. They made up
about one-third of the people there, and all were college students or
entrepreneur-looking people the young women had brought with them.
Tatsuya was probably the only male high school student here…though he
doubted many people had enough power of insight to see that.
[AUGUST 31 (2)]
“Still, I hadn’t thought you would buy three dresses. They were rather
expensive, too.”
Miyuki was thinking back on it, too, with a happy smile, though a
mischievous tease was slipping into her tone.
“I would have been fine with just this one. Tatsuya? Are you spoiling
me?”
“I didn’t let you try on twenty-one dresses for nothing. It’s summer break,
but I can’t go out shopping with you very much. Or was it unnecessary of
me?”
“Oh, no, never!” Miyuki had simply pretended to criticize the act as
useless spending, but with the tables turned, she immediately held up the
white flag. “I was, well…I was happy about it.”
On the surface, it would appear that Miyuki had been talked down by
Tatsuya, but she didn’t find it displeasing. In fact, the distance between them
—her looking up at her brother bashfully, and him looking down at her—had
gotten even shorter than before.
Tatsuya smiled, satisfied, as he watched his sister give him the good-
natured apology. “We don’t get chances like that very often, after all.” Then
his face clouded before he bitterly said, “I would have liked to let you take a
leisurely look at the yukatas and other summer items, too, but…”
“…It wasn’t your responsibility, Tatsuya,” whispered Miyuki gently,
placing her palm on the back of the hand Tatsuya had on the table.
[AUGUST 14 (2)]
It was as Tatsuya finished ordering for both of them under these covert
stares that a new actor entered the stage.
She was an exceptionally pretty girl.
Looking to be around twenty, she was equipped with both the vivacity of
a woman just exiting her teens and a magnificent complexion, like a
chokingly aromatic rose bouquet.
Wherever she was, whenever it was, her beauty would not fail to draw
attention.
This beauty’s owner understood that well, and moved as if she were
As the young man brought his face toward the beauty gesturing to him
from the other side of the table, he had a different woman on his mind.
No, perhaps this should be corrected: another girl on his mind.
The girl, sitting behind him to the side, was more dazzling than any he’d
ever seen, and that was what was occupying his mind.
For him, beautiful women were products, toys, accessories. As the third
president of a huge entertainment production company, he had placed several
sought-after actresses under his support, and had made dozens of as-yet-
unknown actresses his own. It was only natural for him—he didn’t feel a
scrap of guilt about it. That went for the woman in front of him, too. Sure,
she was a star actress now, one who walked with a pompous swagger. But
before, she was a terrible actor with nothing going for her aside from her
pretty face. He was fairly sure she’d only attained her current position
because he’d been looking after her since she was just starting out. Having a
good time with her was the proper reward for all the hard work he’d put in,
and she’d been benefiting from this as much as him. He thought a show of
gratitude was in order.
He’d brought her to a plebeian shop such as this because he wanted to
show her off and watch the plebs stare in envy at her. Accessories were
pointless but to show them off. He knew it was a base hobby, but the
professional entertainment world was a base trade already, wasn’t it? He
didn’t know anything of his predecessors’ struggles through the wars, during
the hard winter of entertainment. The seat of president of production was
nothing more than a way to casually satisfy oneself with short-lived vanity.
He’d brought his favorite accessory of the moment here today, under the
guise of scouting out a new filming location. Her earnings weren’t at the top
of the company’s, but her appearance was first among his women. Now that
he’d managed to befriend a first-rate actress, imperfect though she may have
For a little while now, Tatsuya had been sensing a sulking stare (in the
childish sense) of hostility on him. He’d decided it wasn’t the type to cause
harm to Miyuki, so he’d left it be, but it wasn’t a very pleasant experience.
Just as he was thinking that, its origin—the now-standing young man at the
table diagonally in front of him (and diagonally behind Miyuki)—walked
over to the siblings’ table.
Though his lunch had left him in an unexpectedly refreshed mood (with
just a little bit of embarrassment mixed in), nothing ever ended so simply.
They were about to walk down the escalator leading out of the restaurant area
and into the shopping one when Tatsuya scowled. Miyuki, too, frowned in
revulsion, half hiding behind her brother.
[AUGUST 31 (3)]
“I never would have thought we’d meet alumni in a place like that,” giggled
They went to the bank, though not to withdraw cash. Electronic wallets
and money cards, evolved forms of personal checks, had spread throughout
the country to replace physical wallets. Cash money now saw very limited
use. Still, there was no reason to go to a bank to deposit paychecks, or to
balance one’s checkbook, either. Paychecks and transaction records had
mostly been converted to online systems, so using a brick-and-mortar bank
for those things only happened in special cases.
What had Tatsuya come here for, then? He had to update the identification
When he stepped into the disciplinary committee HQ for the first time in six
weeks, it was unusually crowded.
“I don’t recall hearing we were planning a meeting,” mentioned Tatsuya
to Mari, who was standing next to the entrance for some reason.
She nodded, as if it were a matter of grave concern. “You wouldn’t have. I
don’t remember notifying you.”
The new committee member was exactly the one he’d expected.
“Now that we’re all introduced…Kanon, I want you to go with Tatsuya
for the day and get an idea of what patrolling is like.”
Introductions didn’t seem necessary for a person as famous as Kanon, but
they’d gone through the motions anyway. After that, some of which had been
excessively excited, Mari came back over to Tatsuya, the last one in the
room, and announced the words above.
As always, Tatsuya didn’t seem to have the right to refuse. In fact, based
on him staying behind after all the other committees left, Kanon’s own choice
could only have been Tatsuya or Mari.
“There’s no set patrol route you need to follow. You also don’t have to look
around every single corner of the school. I’ve never been on patrol with
another member, but I believe many of them only go around specific routes.”
He wasn’t happy about it, but he still had to do his job. Tatsuya was trying
to be serious as he lectured Kanon on the job description while they walked
together, but…
“Huh… Shiba, you’re really adaptable.”
…The sudden impression of him was wholly unrelated to his explanation.
“I mean, right after you enrolled, you started doing this important job of
patrolling the school all by yourself. I’ve heard tales of your heroism from
club recruitment week.”
“Well, there was a lot going on back then…”
He felt like her admiration was somewhat misdirected, but he didn’t
deliberately argue the point. Suddenly throwing him into a patrol job by
himself was normal; Kanon was the one acting overprotective.
But if he’d told her that truth, nobody would be happy. Instead of arguing,
he continued his lecture:
“Come to think of it, the student council elections are coming up, aren’t
they?”
Now that the chaotic situation had finally settled down, and perhaps
reminded of it by talk of the next disciplinary committee chairperson, Sayaka
broached the topic for the second time today (for Tatsuya, anyway). They
moved near the wall so they wouldn’t get in the other club members’ way,
standing in a circle trading idle chatter.
“End of the month, right?” answered Kirihara to her question. “Yeah, I
guess they are coming up.”
“They say it’ll be a choice between Hattori and Nakajou.” Kanon quickly
added herself as a friendly member of the conversation, either because they
were all juniors or there was no hierarchy obsession present.
“No, Hattori’s not gonna do it,” Kirihara stated.
Though it was the second time Tatsuya had talked about this, a new fact
now came to light.
“Wait, really?” Kanon seemed just as surprised at the news.
“Yeah. He’s been recommended for the next club committee chairman.
He wants to do it, too. He said he won’t be in the election.”
“Hattori? Really…? I guess that’s reasonable. You have to have more
brute strength for the club committee anyway.” Kanon seemed convinced as
she nodded at the young man’s answer.
Unfortunately, there were only so many ways he could deal with groundless
rumors. And he wouldn’t be able to do it on his own. So maybe he should
have been happy to welcome her as a foothold to breaking the deadlock.
He tried to use that fact to comfort himself, but it didn’t do anything to
quell the annoyance he felt right now.
Twenty-five members per class was relatively low. At least in the sense of
being able to see what everyone was doing at a glance. Even if he didn’t want
to know, it was hard to deny that twenty people (everyone minus the four
he’d chatted with before classes started) were, without exception, stealing
glances at him and trading rumors.
He could hear the fragments of sentences, like “I knew it” and “president”
and “election,” being passed around.
He didn’t think he’d ever felt this uncomfortable before.
After turning back around in his seat, he suddenly realized Mayumi was
standing in front of him. She’d barged into the freshman classroom (though
upperclassmen in this day and age didn’t think so much about boundaries like
That day, as though her small-animal danger instincts had warned her away,
Azusa didn’t come to the student council room for lunch. Tatsuya figured
that, at this rate, she might make up some reason she couldn’t come after
school, either, so after fifth period, he decided to march into Azusa’s
classroom. (Magic high schools had five periods in all: three in the morning
and two in the afternoon.)
He looked into the classroom from the door. Azusa was hurriedly getting
ready to go home. She probably would have escaped before getting caught if
not for her earnestness keeping her in front of her terminal until class ended,
thus bringing her to ruin.
Along with his sister, who would never balk at such neglect of rules when
she was with Tatsuya—she probably wouldn’t hesitate to even dirty her
hands with a grave crime—he stepped foot into the classroom of 2-A.
He received Who the hell is that? stares, mostly from the boys. Still, they
were mature enough not to flare up at an underclassman just for coming into
the room. Of course, part of their difficulty at taking action was the pressure
coming from the girls’ stares, which were keenly interested, as though they
were assessing a brand product in a store.
Tatsuya gave all those stares the cold shoulder and walked straight to
Azusa’s desk. She’d realized he was approaching a few moments ago, but
he’d gotten to her while she was still hesitating to run away and instead only
“Tatsuya?”
As Tatsuya was about to go back to his classroom, with only a few
moments left in lunch break, he was stopped by Mari. They were in the
hallway, right after leaving the student council room.
Tatsuya and Miyuki turned in tandem, and for some reason Mari gave a
pained smile. Perhaps she had thought overly friendly siblings, but if he
worried about every single thing like that, he’d be worrying forever.
“What is it?” said Tatsuya, urging Mari on, wanting to settle whatever it
was in a quick fashion.
“There’s something I want to talk about. Could you come to HQ?” He
Mayumi and the siblings walked down the straight road from the school gates
to the station, the same road the siblings would usually travel with Leo,
Erika, and the others. Miyuki seemed a little on edge—and while he could
understand that, Mayumi seeming nervous was more smile inducing than
anything. She held her bag in front of her with both hands, her eyes
downcast. Her posture made him want to joke about which school for young
ladies she’d graduated from.
Of course, she actually was one of those proper young ladies.
Tatsuya wasn’t the sort to offer a topic of conversation. Small talk in
particular was not really in his field. Plus, they were on alert for surprise
attacks from the opposition faction. All that meant the three had gone down
almost 70 percent of the road without saying much at all.
“…Hey, Tatsuya?”
“What is it?”
So when Mayumi suddenly tried to talk to him, he accidentally braced
himself, thinking something was going on.
“You two were waiting for me to go home, weren’t you?”
But even though he’d braced himself, the remark still surprised him, and
he couldn’t immediately respond.
Their father stayed around his second wife, so the Shiba residence, for all
intents and purposes, belonged only Tatsuya and Miyuki. It was pretty large
for a private house. Still, compared to the palatial mansions of the Kitayama
or Saegusa (not that the siblings had actually seen either of those yet) it was
only on the level of a private house.
Of course, you couldn’t call it just any private house.
The basement was taken up by a university-level magic engineering
research facility. (It sounds like a secret base when it’s put that way, but the
facility had the same surface area as the first floor, just completely renovated
into a laboratory.)
Tatsuya, who had just come up to the living room out of the basement lab,
sank down onto the sofa, seeming unusually exhausted.
He firmly rubbed his temples with his thumb and middle finger, bringing
them around a couple of times. As he did, he looked at the ceiling, freeing his
mind from his thoughts.
His mind then wandered to his memories of what had happened this
evening. About how they’d brought Mayumi to the station, and about the
bodyguard she’d introduced to them. Her escort had been male, which
Tatsuya hadn’t expected.
He’d always figured a girl her age would need to have a female
bodyguard, so he was honestly quite surprised. He’d been an aging gentleman
in his mid-fifties or so, though, so maybe he didn’t have any need to worry
about their appearance from society’s perspective.
The middle-aged man looked more like a butler than a bodyguard—and
honestly, more like her grandfather than a butler. However, he kept his back
straight and was lean despite his slender build. It only took one look for
Tatsuya to know he was fully fit for the job. His characteristic bearing was
very polite, to use a roundabout expression. It gave Tatsuya the sense that the
man had military experience, and was in the military for quite a long period
of time as uniformed personnel.
With a splish, Mayumi stuck one arm and one leg out of the water.
Boutiques and beauty salons often say I have long limbs for my height.
She brought her arm and leg back in and softly put a hand to her breasts.
They say my chest is large for my height, too, and I never have trouble
fitting into any clothing with my waistline.
I know I’m relatively hot.
But her… No matter how much I tell myself not to care, it makes my
confidence waver.
The pronoun her, spoken in her mind, was converted into the proper noun
Miyuki Shiba in her unconscious regions.
Once again, she sighed, still not aware that she’d done so.
Mayumi’s face sunk into the water up to her nose. Her breath caused
bubbles to form and pop on the surface. Whether the bubbles came from a
weary sigh or one of contentment, not even she knew.
She brought her face above the bathwater and inhaled deeply. After taking
a few breaths, she giggled.
The water was plenty warm. Nevertheless, she shivered. She knew it
wasn’t from cold on her skin, but she sank deep into the bathtub anyway.
He stayed quiet while I introduced him to Nakura today, but that was a
test.
A test to see if he reacted to the name Nakura or his appearance.
That was what Mayumi thought as the blood rushed to her head.
“Everyone here? Great. I’ll go over our positions one last time.”
After morning classes ended, all the disciplinary committee members met
in the committee headquarters.
The members were on rotations and frequently acted out of sync with one
another; everyone being together in one place was a rare sight. The student
council election was one of the few affairs the disciplinary committee would
mobilize all its members for.
…it was only because other people started shouting that she didn’t have
the time to.
A little skirmish broke out in the middle of the auditorium, a grappling
After that, as though evil spirits had left the room, the auditorium went back
to perfect order. Nobody made rude comments, and nobody shouted cheers
like it was some kind of concert. Once the rest of the proceedings were
carried out in silence, the students, like domesticated sheep, lined up to cast
their votes.
The results would be counted that same day by a third party hired with
student council funds and announced in the morning…
“Congratulations, Ah-chan.”
“Nakajou, congratulations.”
“Congratulations, Nakajou.”
Before she had time to hear the congratulatory words in the student
council room first thing in the morning, Azusa had been elected student
council president. The issue had been settled—or, well, it should have been.
“…Shiba. You really don’t have to worry that much. Those votes were
null and void, after all.”
“That’s too bad. You were pretty close, too, Tatsuya.”
The siblings, listening to Suzune’s almost-sympathy and Mari’s not
entirely concealed amusement, both made sour faces as they looked at the
tally.
Five hundred forty-four votes had been cast.
During lunch break that day, the Shiba siblings didn’t show up to the student
council room. But the council members weren’t worried; Mayumi had gotten
a text from Tatsuya saying that, while Miyuki’s upperclassmen seeing her cry
was one thing, them seeing her being hugged and coddled like that must have
been embarrassing for her. He didn’t come off as the least bit embarrassed in
his text, though.
Azusa was absent because she was celebrating with her classmates.
Suzune, as always, didn’t show up unless she had something to do here.
Today, unusually, Katsuto came to the student council room.
“Yes, come in.”
“I came after I was finished with lunch,” he explained as Mayumi gave
him some tea. He nodded a silent thanks and brought the hot water to his lips.
“What’s the matter today, Juumonji?” asked Mari, who was an outsider
herself but had loitered around the place so long that she treated it like her
own room.
“Nothing,” answered Katsuto. “Today is the day Saegusa effectively
retires. I just came to see her as student council president for the last time.”
“I see. You’ve come to show your appreciation, then?”
“Oh, Juumonji. Thank you.”
Thank you for purchasing another book in The Irregular at Magic High
School series. For those of you who just replied, “But this is the first time,”
I’ll use this opportunity to introduce myself. I’m Tsutomu Sato.
As volume 4’s afterword suggested, this fifth volume is a collection of
short stories. Timewise, they show five episodes during summer vacation but
after the Nine School Competition, and one that takes place from September
1 to October 1. How nice, you may think—but some of the characters ran into
some not-so-nice trouble. Please, pardon the format and stories as a kind of
adventure. They were good memories for those involved.
Here are some additional explanations about each episode, as is customary
(?) in collections of short stories.
Summer Vacation
The concept of this episode was Morisaki having time in the spotlight, since
he never seems to get rewarded for his efforts. The kid can do it if he puts his
mind to it! …So I made sure he tried his best.
Amelia in Wonderland
The origin of the title goes without saying—the thing with the rabbits and the
This episode is about the freshman duo of Third High, Masaki and Kichijouji.
Not only are there suspicions about the latter having a Lolita complex, but
you might have been even more suspicious about something else. That would
be a misunderstanding. Probably. Where will Kichijouji’s future lead?!
This is the “plus one” episode. It’s a short story, but it’s closer to a sub-story
continuation of the main story… Do your best, Ah-chan. You’ll have a lot
more to struggle through in the future.
I’d like to show my appreciation for all those involved in this book. Thank
you all very much. Mr. M, I really am sorry for making you go along with my
fervent, indecipherable cry of “It’s finally the swimsuit issue, so let’s go with
that for the cover!” I was excited this time around, even for me. I’ll reflect on
my attitude. Ms. Ishida and Mr. Stone, thank you for all the fabulous
illustrations once again, even though you were busy. I watch Aquarion Evol
every week!
Finally, I’d like to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s read this far
in the afterword. If you thought it was interesting, then that’s all I need to do
my best for next time.
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