Enrollment Arc, Part II

by Tsutomu Sato

  Copyright

  THE IRREGULAR AT MAGIC HIGH SCHOOL

  TSUTOMU SATO

  Translation by Andrew Prowse

  Cover art by Kana Ishida

  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.

  © TSUTOMU SATO 2011

  All rights reserved.

  Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS

  First published in Japan in 2011 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2016 by Yen Press, LLC.

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  First Yen On eBook Edition: October 2017

  Originally published in paperback in August 2016 by Yen On.

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  ISBN: 978-1-975-30078-4

  E3-20171004-JV-PC

  An irregular older brother with a certain flaw.

  An honor roll younger sister who is perfectly flawless.

  When the two siblings enrolled in Magic High School, a dramatic life unfolded—

  The club committee headquarters, just before closing time.

  “—And that concludes my report on the incident in which the kenjutsu club interrupted the kendo club’s recruitment demonstration.”

  Tatsuya had just finished relating the full story of the incident he had witnessed and experienced: the argument between Sayaka Mibu and Takeaki Kirihara, their personal struggle, and the sequence of events culminating in an attempted brawl where Tatsuya had taken on the kenjutsu club by himself. Three students were in front of him.

  “I just can’t believe you fought over ten people and came away unscathed…”

  Facing him on the right was the student council president, Mayumi Saegusa.

  “Fourteen, to be exact. I guess I should expect nothing less from one of Kokonoe’s disciples.”

  In the middle was the disciplinary committee chairwoman—and in a sense, Tatsuya’s boss—Mari Watanabe. Her comment was accompanied by a jovial laugh. It was amused rather than derisive, and not sarcastic in any way. She wasn’t entirely honest with how she expressed her emotions, but her praise sounded sincere.

  Mayumi and Mari were impressed (?) with how, after he’d subdued Kirihara, he’d dealt with the frenzied group of kenjutsu club members without actually attacking them at all, purely by defending himself. Tatsuya, however, didn’t truly feel he had shown any praiseworthy skills.

  He was out of touch with the expected skill level of average high school students. What he’d done wouldn’t have even been up to the Yakumo temple’s gatekeepers’ standards. He didn’t get it—what was so good about dispatching fourteen people at once and being unharmed?

  Instead, he was paying more attention to the male senior on the left facing him. That was probably Katsuto Juumonji, head of the club committee—the eldest child of an elite Numbers family, with the juu in his name written with the character for “ten.”

  He’s like a giant boulder…

  He stood around six feet one, so Tatsuya didn’t need to bend his neck to look at his face. But he had a bulky chest, wide shoulders, and muscles that bulged distinctly through his uniform. And his striking physical characteristics weren’t the only thing on his side. The very density of his existence had to be measured on an entirely different scale. It was like he contained every factor humans possessed, compressed into the smallest space possible.

  He was one of the three giants of First High, along with Mayumi and Mari, and his appearance and impression were more than enough to convince Tatsuya of that.

  “You didn’t see how it started, right?” asked Mari, having calmed herself.

  Snapping back to reality, he summoned up his memories of the incident he’d just finished reporting on yet again. “Yes,” he confirmed. “However, I don’t know who started it. The kendo club says Kirihara provoked it, and the kenjutsu club claims the kendo club made the first move.”

  Tatsuya had only come in during the start of Sayaka and Kirihara’s argument. He and Erika had left their spots on the viewing deck and were just about to leave the gymnasium when they heard noises that sounded like people fighting over something. From that far away, though, he couldn’t hear what they were saying. By the time he’d cut through the crowd there and seen for himself, it was already a touchy situation, with Sayaka and Kirihara staring each other down.

  “Perhaps that’s why you didn’t intervene right at the start?” That was Mayumi. Katsuto had been just listening the entire time.

  “I did intend to disrupt them if I decided things were dangerous,” assured Tatsuya, though conditionally. “My thoughts were that they could deal with it themselves if all that resulted were a few scrapes and bruises.”

  The reason Tatsuya had taken an observer’s viewpoint at the beginning, like Mayumi noted, was because he didn’t know which of them needed to be stopped. There was always the option of stopping both, but one of two conditions would need to be fulfilled for him to do so: Either there still needed to be enough room to talk them down, or there needed to be a justification for overpowering them despite how famous—or notorious—they were. Neither of those had applied in this case.

  That wasn’t his only reason, however. A disciplinary committee member’s job, at least as far as Tatsuya understood, was to take control of situations involving acts of magic-based violence. Though the contest between Sayaka and Kirihara was a personal one, it started as a battle of sword skills. There had been no magic involved. If Kirihara hadn’t used any—like his High-Frequency Blade—then Tatsuya probably would have stuck to his guns and watched it play out.

  “…Well, that’s fine. We obviously can’t be there every time someone gets into a fight. We don’t have enough people for that,” said Mari. Her remark was rooted in the rule that the club committee—not the disciplinary committee—was the one that dealt with recruitment-related trouble. Neither Mayumi nor Katsuto had any objection to that. “What did you do with Kirihara after subduing him?”

  “His collarbone was broken, so I gave him to the health-care committee. It was a light enough wound that magic could heal it quickly, though. He admitted his fault in the nurse’s office, so I decided no further action was necessary.”

  In reality, getting hit with a shinai wouldn’t do any more than put cracks in a bone—his collarbone had been broken when Tatsuya slammed him into the floor. That, however, didn’t need to be said, so he didn’t.

  Mari hadn’t been present when Kirihara was hurt, nor did she see his wounds firsthand. She wouldn’t have known better. “Hmm… All right. We’re leaving the choice to take legal action to
the other party anyway.” Tatsuya nodded briefly, and Mari looked at Katsuto. “That’s that, Juumonji. The disciplinary committee won’t be bringing this incident to the punishment committee.”

  “I appreciate your generosity. The High-Frequency Blade is a highly lethal spell, and he used it in the open for a petty reason. Normally he’d face expulsion for this, but I think he knows that. I will give him a good talking-to and make sure he learns his lesson.”

  “Thanks,” said Mari. Katsuto bowed lightly, and she nodded back.

  “Will the kendo club be satisfied with that?” asked Mayumi, worried.

  “They’re equally guilty. They took the bait and got into the fight,” answered Mari, cutting down her concern with a single stroke. “They have no right to complain.”

  The disciplinary committee chairwoman had delivered her judgment, the club committee leader had accepted it, and the student council president had no objections. That marked the end of the incident.

  Tatsuya listened to their exchange with a detached attitude. It wasn’t his job to smother any smoldering flames of discontent. He conveyed his position by asking for permission to withdraw. “Chairwoman, may I leave?”

  “Oh, wait, one more thing I want to know first.” Mari’s tone of voice was casual; she didn’t seem to want Tatsuya to do anything else. For today, anyway. “Was Kirihara the only one who used magic?”

  “That’s right,” nodded Tatsuya simply.

  More precisely, Kirihara was the only one who had successfully executed magic—but Tatsuya wasn’t possessed of the hardworking spirit he would have needed to explain the particulars.

  “I see. Good job, then. You can leave.”

  With permission to go, Tatsuya put the club committee headquarters behind him.

  After leaving the club committee HQ, Tatsuya planned to head straight for the student council room.

  There was only a little sunlight left. Regardless of how talented with magic they might have been, it was inappropriate for girls of Miyuki’s age to walk around on their own at this hour. Miyuki would never have ventured to leave Tatsuya at school and go home anyway.

  Halfway there, however, he was forced to revise those plans.

  The club committee was in a separate building from the main school building, where the student council room was. To get to the former from the latter, you needed to go out to the courtyard (no need to change into your shoes—the custom of wearing slippers had all but disappeared) then go around the entrance. But as he turned the corner he found familiar faces there to greet him.

  “Oh, hey there! Good work!”

  “Tatsuya!”

  The first one to say something was Erika, but the first one to run over to him was Miyuki. The others looked surprised at her unexpected agility.

  “How was work? I heard you did a lot today.”

  “It was nothing much. Miyuki, you probably had a harder time.”

  Separated from Miyuki only by the bag he was holding in front of his waist, she looked up into his eyes; he stroked her hair a few times as her look asked him to. She narrowed her eyes comfortably, but didn’t turn them away from her brother.

  “You know, I get that you’re brother and sister, but…” muttered Leo, walking over to the two of them and glancing subtly away with an embarrassed look.

  “You two look kind of picturesque…” Next to him, Mizuki blushed, but looked at them with a penetrating gaze.

  Erika narrowed her eyes at Leo and Mizuki. “Hey… Just what are you two expecting from them, anyway?” She lifted her hands to the left and right in an exaggerated shrug, looked down, and slowly shook her head from side to side. That kind of action was obviously feigned, but it looked good when Erika did it. “Didn’t you just say they’re brother and sister?”

  The implication in her repeating what Leo said as Erika stared at him seemed to be understood by both Leo and Mizuki. Their flustered reaction spoke to that.

  “D-d-d-d-don’t be stupid! I-I’m not expecting anything!”

  “Th-th-th-th-th-th-that’s right, Erika! D-don’t say strange things!”

  “…Okay, okay. I’ll be nice this time and drop the subject.”

  Nevertheless, if Erika hadn’t made her wisecrack, Leo’s and Mizuki’s misbegotten notions probably would have run away with them.

  Ignorant of Erika’s solitary struggle, Tatsuya finally removed his hand from his sister’s hair and looked at the three of them. Miyuki followed suit with a reluctant expression.

  —The fact that she made that kind of expression all the time was exactly why they were getting those strange ideas.

  But Tatsuya, without any expression or action that could have been linked to such flights of fancy, addressed his friends apologetically with an honest look and said, “Sorry—did I keep you waiting?”

  With the odd atmosphere swept away, Leo suddenly broke into a smile and shook his head. “Don’t be so formal, Tatsuya. This isn’t the time for apologies.”

  “My club orientation just ended a few minutes ago. I wasn’t waiting at all!” Mizuki, too, gave an affable smile and rejected Tatsuya’s apology as unnecessary.

  “He just got out of club, too. Don’t worry about it,” Erika replied arrogantly with her usual mischievous smirk.

  Leo, Mizuki, and Erika all welcomed him with a smile.

  Tatsuya quickly realized the truth was the opposite of what they said, but they were only doing it out of consideration. He wouldn’t bring their efforts to naught. “It’s late, so why don’t we grab a snack somewhere? I’ll treat you, as long as it’s less than a thousand yen.”

  The denominations of monetary units had been changed twice now, so the value of currency had been about the same for a century. One thousand yen for a high school student was a bit on the high side, but still an appropriate line to draw.

  It was an invitation offered in lieu of any further apologies. All present understood as much, and refrained from acting needlessly reserved.

  In a café different from the one they’d used on the day of the entrance ceremony, the five students enthusiastically spoke of the various experiences they’d had today—like the clubs they’d entered, having to mind their club rooms in the absence of others and being bored, and people hitting on them under the guise of recruitment. But of the most interest was the grand tale of Tatsuya’s arrest.

  “—This Kirihara sophomore—he used magic with rank B lethality, didn’t he? And you didn’t get hurt by it?”

  “It may be deadly, but the High-Frequency Blade has a fairly narrow effective range,” answered Tatsuya to the blindly impressed Leo, shrinking back a bit. “If you leave aside the fact that you can’t touch any part of the blade, it’s no different from a well-sharpened katana. It’s fairly easy to deal with spells like that.”

  “But that means you stopped someone with a sword using only your bare hands! Isn’t that really dangerous?”

  “It’s all right, Mizuki. You don’t need to worry about my brother.”

  “You seem pretty relaxed, Miyuki,” remarked Erika. Miyuki’s expression did indeed have an unnatural ease to it as she soothed Mizuki, whose own face had clouded over.

  “Yeah, considering you handled over ten guys, your skills can only be called excellent—but Kirihara’s were certainly nothing to shake a stick at. In fact, he was a cut above everybody else there. Miyuki, you really weren’t worried?”

  “No,” answered Miyuki instantly and without hesitation. “There can’t possibly be anyone who can best my brother.”

  “—Umm…” Even Erika didn’t know what to say to that. She had seen Tatsuya’s skills firsthand when it happened. Even from her point of view, Kirihara’s swordsmanship had been merciless and keen. Tatsuya would have known that his blade’s sharpness rivaled that of an actual sword. And still, he didn’t use any more energy than he absolutely needed to, which had betrayed the complete absence of any nervousness or fear in his mind. He had closed in on Kirihara faster than Kirihara could bring down his shinai, g
rabbed its hilt, twisted its wielder’s wrist, and thrown him to the floor like it was an aikido technique. In fact, Erika mused that it might have been an actual technique—one meant to disarm an opponent.

  Calling his skills master class wasn’t an exaggeration. Tatsuya had already learned enough that he’d earned the title of master. Or, at the very least, something close to it. Still, though, Erika would have been lying a little if she said she wasn’t worried.

  “…I’m not doubting your ability, Tatsuya,” began Mizuki, “but the High-Frequency Blade isn’t just a normal sword. Doesn’t it create ultrasonic waves?”

  “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of it, too,” remarked Leo. “Don’t some people use earplugs when they cast it so they don’t get sick on the waves? Well, I guess you would have already considered that.”

  “That’s not it. It isn’t just because of my brother’s superb physical abilities,” answered Miyuki to their worried questions. She, however, seemed to be holding back a smile. “Nullifying magic programs is my brother’s forte.”

  Erika lost no time in getting a word in. “Nullifying magic programs? Not, like, Information Boost or Area Interference?”

  “That’s right,” nodded Miyuki meaningfully. Tatsuya gave a resigned smile.

  Erika looked at them in turn and muttered, half in admiration and half in astonishment, “That, uh, sounds like a pretty rare skill to have.”

  “Yes. At least, I don’t think they teach it in high school. Not everyone who learns it can actually use it. Erika, right after my brother ran out there, did you feel like the floor was wobbling?”

  “Hmm… It didn’t do much to me, but I think there were kids who came down with a bad case of motion sickness. Come to think of it, it wasn’t just at the start. Smaller ones kept happening during the fight, too, I think…”

  “That was my brother’s doing. Tatsuya, you used Cast Jamming, didn’t you?”

  “You always see right through me, Miyuki.”

  “Well, of course. I know everything about you.”

  “Wait, wait, wait!” interrupted Leo, grimacing as the two exchanged smiles—one dry, and one happy. “That’s not how siblings talk to each other. You’re even past the level of a married couple!”