Enrollment Arc, Part II

by Tsutomu Sato

  I see. The CAD doubles as body armor, so I understand why it uses voice recognition—it doesn’t need any moving parts or exposed sensors. Still, though…

  “I’m surprised it hasn’t broken on him yet,” Erika remarked.

  “He’s using hardening magic on the CAD itself, too. Hardening magic works by confining the relative coordinates of particles to a tight area. However strong the impact is, as long as the relative coordinates between pieces don’t go out of alignment, it can’t be broken as long as its exterior remains intact.”

  “So he can use it as violently as he wants, huh? Fitting magic for a guy like that.”

  Erika and the others, trading comments for sneering, went around the melee toward the entrance. Leo, despite it, began a rampage, like he was trying to blow off steam. With his hands both covered by black gloves, he shattered the pellets and icicles flying toward him and went on smashing the shafts of metal and carbon resin. Sometimes sparks would fly. There were probably stun batons mixed in. There were thrusting knives he couldn’t quite avoid, and some spring-loaded darts hidden in the enemies’ sleeves firing at him to try and surprise him. None of them penetrated his white-and-green blazer.

  “Is he hardening everything he’s wearing? It’s like he’s covered in a full suit of plate armor.”

  The man himself had been unhesitating in declaring this his specialty. He’d clearly meant it.

  By using a method of sequential expansion so he could both expand an activation program and construct and execute a magic program at the same time, Leo’s hardening magic was being continuously updated.

  The terrorists might have been armed, but they were still fresh, hairless amateurs in terms of how well trained they were. They wouldn’t be able to pierce his armor. And his fists—they should have been punching with nothing but physical power, but the movement and acceleration spells he was using granted them exceptional destructive force. That kind of combat potential could be used right this instant in the military, as long as it was a close-combat skirmish where usage of firearms was restricted.

  “Leo, we’re going on ahead!”

  “Got it! I’ll hold ’em!”

  Tatsuya left the area to Leo.

  It was deathly silent inside the library. If Haruka was to be believed, then the attackers hadn’t been repelled—the ones who went to intercept them had been blocked off. Nonfaculty police officers were normally stationed in the library, but it seemed like they’d been pacified already. Their competence was on another level, as might be expected from their “main force.”

  Tatsuya temporarily hid in a large closet beside the entrance, then expanded his awareness and searched for life signs. Not for indications of presence, but life signs.

  Modern magic was a method of interfering with eidos, the information that accompanied events and the bodies that were one and the same with life. Everyone who used modern magic was conscious of individual eidos within the Idea—the information body belonging to the world itself, and the “information” platform containing all eidos had come to be called by a term from ancient Greek. But they were only conscious of eidos. There were few who could tell them apart. In exchange for normal magic talent, Tatsuya possessed a special, efficient perceptual ability that allowed him to distinguish individual eidos within the Idea.

  “Four in the special viewing room on the second floor, two at the bottom of the staircase, and two more at the top…”

  “Wow. With you around, there’d be no point in an ambush. I definitely wouldn’t want to get on your bad side in a real battle.”

  “What could they be doing in the special viewing room?” asked Miyuki.

  “For a hacking attempt, this is too docile. They’re probably trying to steal classified information owned by the Magic University,” speculated Tatsuya. “You can access private documents barred from the general public from the special viewing room.”

  Erika looked disappointed.

  “Erika, you look like you’ve been let down,” prodded Miyuki.

  The girl took the opportunity to give her signature exaggerated shrug. “I’m not! It’s just…a rebellion at school, youthful energies running rampant… I was kind of excited for it. But now that we know it’s just some normal spy operation… I guess I just want my hopes and dreams back, you know what I mean?”

  “Don’t ask me. And you’d have been better off not having those dreams to begin with.”

  “But you just answered me!”

  Tatsuya grunted, unable to argue with her. Miyuki hastily backed him up. “We must hurry to the special viewing room. Shall I perform an ambush?”

  “No way, I’m gonna steal your thunder this time!” sang Erika before leaping out without waiting for a response like a burglar who’d just stolen a role in a play.

  Without a sound or a hint, she urgently slid toward the stairs. Her baton, CAD embedded in its hilt, was already expanded.

  The enemies had been waiting for an ambush opportunity, but instead they were assaulted. She brought down her baton, and as soon as they were struck, they toppled over backward.

  Erika had taken down two enemies in an instant. It was a fully refined hand-to-hand combat technique, in stark contrast to Leo’s wild fighting style.

  At the sounds of their allies falling, the personnel lying in wait at the top of the stairs finally noticed she was there. One began to dash down the stairs, and behind him, the other began expanding an activation program. But in a flash of psions, the program shattered. The magician stood there, dazed, his magic having been negated. Tatsuya noticed the man stiffen up unnaturally, and a moment later he lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs.

  “Oops…” grunted his little sister cutely.

  “No problem,” he responded curtly, returning his handgun-shaped CAD to his shoulder holster.

  People who stand on two feet do so by unconsciously making minor adjustments to their center of gravity. If your body’s movements were suddenly decelerated and forced to stop, you wouldn’t be able to stay standing. They’d known that much, but Miyuki hadn’t predicted the man would fall down the stairs.

  Well, it doesn’t look like he’s broken his neck. He was part of all this violence, so he would have gone into this knowing he could get two or three ribs broken and maybe a concussion. That’s what he meant by “no problem.”

  On the other hand, the second ambushing trooper came at Erika with not so much a knife as a real blade you wouldn’t go wrong in calling a short sword.

  He knew his face. He was the male student who had gone up against Sayaka as part of the kendo club’s exhibition. Tatsuya could see a white wristband lined with blue and red on the right wrist he was using to try and break Erika’s posture. It seemed as though the kendo club had been the first ones corrupted.

  “Crap. Tatsuya…I need to…go easy…on students…right?”

  Her question, spoken through a clash of locked swords, trembled slightly. The difference in physical strength born from their height disparity was affecting both of them, placing them in a stalemate.

  “You don’t need to force yourself to go easy on them,” said Tatsuya, stepping toward them.

  “No help needed here! No sir!” she said, stopping him. “I think this one’s good enough for me to get serious.”

  She instantly upped the pressure she was applying, then let it go a moment later. Parrying her opponent had reversed their positions. She waved for them to keep on going. “Leave this to me!”

  “All right.”

  The male student placed himself into a half-stance, on guard against a pincer attack. But the student didn’t exist for Tatsuya or Miyuki anymore. Tatsuya launched himself off the floor with force. Miyuki launched herself off the floor with grace. Tatsuya’s body bounced off the wall…and Miyuki’s danced through the air. They landed on the upper floor at the same time.

  Erika whistled in admiration as they left her and the dazed coalition student there and headed for the end of the hallway, where the special vie
wing room was.

  Sayaka watched the work being done before her eyes with a complicated mind-set. Her allies, members of Blanche, were hacking into the only terminal in school that could access the secret documents—books and materials containing the very latest in magic research.

  It was over half a year ago now that the boys’ captain, Tsukasa, had mediated for her to be placed here. For some reason, Tsukasa didn’t take her to Égalité, of which he was a member, but to Blanche instead. Sayaka hadn’t intended to spread her own activities outside of school in the first place. She wasn’t willing to even come close to getting involved with the law. Meeting them was part of her obligation toward Tsukasa, to whom she was indebted.

  Tsukasa’s older brother, who they said was the representative of Blanche’s branch in Japan, had taught her a few things. Even now that she had started to think magic-based discrimination wasn’t a problem that could be solved just by staying within school, her own focus of concern was the discrimination against Course 2 students.

  She had actually wanted to participate in the debate. It wasn’t enough for her to feel strongly about it; she wished to make her voice heard. Tsukasa had convinced her that this would be a more suitable position for her, though, so she couldn’t decline.

  What am I doing? she thought. They’d taken a key without permission, and taken part in hacking… Was this what she wanted? As she felt her thoughts beginning to move in a forbidden direction, she quickly returned her attention to the mission in front of her.

  But they were supposed to be trying to abolish magic-based discrimination. Why did they need cutting-edge magic research materials for that? Tsukasa’s older brother had told her that publicizing the research results of magic schools would be the first step toward abolishing discrimination.

  But I don’t really think letting people who can’t use magic see magical theory would mean anything…

  The question that had been pestering her came to mind again. Magic studies had no use for those who couldn’t use magic. Magical theory was practical in a certain sense, too, so it didn’t have any of the spiritual nature of religion. If there was anybody who wanted to reap the fruits of cutting-edge magic research, then wouldn’t it be those who wanted to use magic…?

  No, I’m sure there is research hidden in there that will benefit those who can’t use magic, too…

  It was a hypothesis created to satisfy herself. An answer she had been led to believe. But no matter how many times she repeated it to herself, she was never fully convinced.

  “…Great, it’s open.”

  There was a slight stir. Someone hastily produced a solid cube for recording data. Sayaka thought she saw a clear sign of greed cross her allies’—cross the men’s faces, and turned her eyes away. Toward the door.

  So she was the first one who noticed it. “The door!” she shrieked, causing the remaining members to whip around to look. They watched as the door was cut into a square, then fell into the room.

  “Absurd!”

  The surprised shout could have been called restrained, given the reality.

  Stable, solid objects were not easily affected by eidos. The door was constructed from composite armor that could withstand a hit from an antitank rocket. Magic could destroy it—but to do that, whether by weighting, vibration, or dissolution, the magic program would need to be gigantic. It would require one of those processes to be layered upon itself many times. This instantaneous, quiet destruction should have been impossible.

  As the men stood there frozen in both thought and action at the outrageous display, the memory cube at the one’s fingertips shattered. Then, the portable terminal they were using to hack in with fell apart like its manufacturing process had just been swiftly reversed. The signal from the connected device suddenly broke off, and the viewing terminal locked itself.

  “Corporate spies, I presume? Consider your schemes officially ruined,” said a familiar voice, declaring the end in an indifferent tone. Tatsuya held a shining, silvery, handgun-shaped specialized CAD. Gracefully sticking behind him was a slender person with her portable terminal at the ready.

  Neither of the siblings’ expressions bore any excitement whatsoever, and it almost made her forget they were in the middle of committing a crime.

  “Shiba…” whispered Sayaka. She saw a right arm come up beside her.

  Not in surrender—her ally was pointing a live gun at his underclassmen. The man was not a student of First High. He wasn’t even a student at all. Their leader, Tsukasa’s older brother, had directed them to bring this man with them. The carefully selected team member now looked hostile and ready to kill. Sayaka screamed silently. She controlled it so her voice didn’t come out. Her hands didn’t move. The realization that her ally was a killer scared her out of her wits.

  But he didn’t shoot. No bullet, capable of such easy death, came out. Instead, he crumpled to the floor, then writhed in such intense pain he couldn’t even shout. His right hand still held the handgun. No, the handgun was glued to his hand; it was swelling up and turning purple.

  “Please stop this foolish behavior. Do not think for a moment that I will overlook any malice directed toward my brother.” The girl’s tone was quiet, polite…and dignified.

  She was so utterly different. Sayaka knew she couldn’t stand up to her no matter what she did. Hers was a voice that froze any rebellious thoughts in their tracks just by speaking.

  Next, Sayaka’s paralyzed ears heard Tatsuya’s cruel words. “Mibu, this is reality.”

  “Huh…?”

  “An equal world, one where everyone is treated as good as everyone else. Such a thing is impossible. If there were a fair world where ability and aptitude were ignored, it would be a world in which everyone was treated equally coldly. You understand, though, don’t you, Mibu? Nobody can grant that kind of equality. It only exists as a sweet, convenient lie used for deceit.”

  Sayaka’s unfocused eyes became focused then. Her underclassmen watched her directly, their eyes expressionless, but that slight hint of emotion deep inside them…

  “Mibu, you’ve been used to steal the Magic University’s private technology. This is the reality—the one you’ve been given by someone else, and the ideal that sounded so good.”

  Was it pity?

  “Why?! Why did it turn out like this?” As soon as she felt that, some emotion she didn’t really understand exploded out of her. “Was it wrong to try and get rid of discrimination? Was it wrong to want equality?! There’s obviously discrimination out there, isn’t there?! I’m not just imagining it. I didn’t just imagine all the ridicule. The insulting stares. I heard the voices making fun of me! Was it wrong for me to try and get rid of that? Aren’t you the same? You’ve always been compared to your perfect little sister next to you, haven’t you? And you’re being insulted unfairly! Everyone looks down on you, don’t they?”

  Her shouting was her heart’s lamentation. It was a scream from deep in her heart. But it didn’t make it to Tatsuya’s heart. It didn’t evoke sympathy. Everything she’d just said was the simple truth, and he accepted all of it without a second thought. The only things that registered in his mind were the definitions of her shouted words and the fact that she was shouting. He only saw that there was a girl here, wailing.

  The light of pity Sayaka had seen was no more than something created by her own pity toward herself. She had hurled her words at the young man, but they hadn’t reached his heart—instead, they came back to her own.

  “I do not look down on my brother.” It was a quiet voice. But in Miyuki’s voice was an emotion to silence Sayaka’s grief: anger. “Even if everyone else in the world slanders my brother, abuses him, and despises him, I will never change in my respect and affection for him.”

  “…You…” Sayaka was speechless. Miyuki’s oath was so striking that it didn’t only cut off her words, either, but her thoughts and feelings as well.

  “My respect and affection have nothing to do with magic power. At the ver
y least, the magic power the world seems to find so important is much stronger in me than it is in my brother. However, that fact holds no sway over my feelings for him. None of my feelings for him will be changed in the slightest because of something like that. Because I know that it’s only one part of who he is.”

  “……”

  “Everyone looks down on my brother? That is the unforgivable insult. There are certainly ignorant people who scorn my brother. But just as much as they scorn him—or maybe even more—there are people who understand how wonderful he is. Mibu, you are a pitiful person.”

  “What was that?” Her voice was loud—but without strength. It was devoid of feeling and emotion.

  “Wasn’t there anyone who acknowledged you? Has magic always been the only thing you’ve been measured by? No, I don’t think that’s true. I know at least one person who doesn’t think that way. Do you know who I’m talking about?”

  “……”

  “My brother has acknowledged you. Both your skills with the sword and your appearance.”

  “…But those are just superficial things!”

  “They are indeed just superficial things. But they are still a part of you. They’re your charm. They’re who you are, are they not?”

  “……”

  “Of course they’re superficial. This is only the fourth time you’ve directly talked to my brother, after the two times in the cafeteria and the one time at the broadcast room. Only four times. What are you expecting from someone you just met?”

  “Well, I…”

  “In the end, the one most prejudiced against you is you. You are the one who looks down on yourself more than anybody as a failure and a Weed.”

  She couldn’t argue. She couldn’t even think about arguing. Miyuki’s indication was such a shock that her mind went white.

  And when people stop thinking…