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Visitor Chapter (II) is the 10th volume in the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Light Novel series.

Synopsis[]

December, 2095. In exchange for Shizuku going to study in the USNA, Lina has been attending Magic High School in Japan.

Tatsuya figured out her true identity as a member of USNA special forces right away but as soon as one mystery is solved, another breaks out.

Right around the same time as Lina's arrival in Japan, there has been a series of attacks on magicians by something called the "vampire." But while Tatsuya and Mikihiko try to use old magic to discover the identity of this criminal, an assault on their school occurs![2]


World Affairs as of 2095[]

Spoiler
This section begins by summarizing changes in the names and borders of various countries, resulting from conquests, around the globe in the aftermath of World War III. It also mentions military alliances, a split in the EU, isolated nations, and nations entirely destroyed by the war.

Chapter 8[]

Spoiler
Next Sunday morning, Tatsuya summons Erika’s group and Kazuto-Mayumi pair at the Student Council Office to provide information that he has obtained on the vampire incident. He tells them that he has managed to implant a ‘synthetic molecular transmitter’ that sends out a set electronic signal every three hours into the vampire’s body and it could be tracked by utilizing the antennae placed on street cameras that are used to detect illegal electronic signals. He provides the signal frequency to both of the group without answering any of their inquiries.

He leaves the Office after providing the information and after implying that he has no interest in doing anything further if the officials can do anything about the situation and he has no problem whether they cooperate or go separately.

◇ ◇ ◇

At the same time Tatsuya left the campus, Lina is dragged out of her bed by her roommate (Silvie). They are discussing about what happened on the previous night and believes that they would not be getting off without any reprimand.

Silvie tells her that the HQ is sending Spec Ops as reinforcement and that there is nothing they could do about it. She also tells her that Mia is scheduled to arrive at First High around lunch, which surprises Lina and her smile stiffens when she hears about it. She dislikes anyone who sees her current disguise as a normal High School student. Seeing her like that, Silvia smirks in secret.

◇ ◇ ◇

American West Coast, Saturday evening, Jan 28. Shizuku is at a house party being thrown in her dorms. She was approached by Raymond S. Clark and they both start to have a small chat, after which they move to the yard. Apparently, she asked Raymond about the Vampire incidents which have happened in USNA. Raymond provides the details he got and keeps on trying to hit on her which she keeps misunderstanding as his curiosity.

◇ ◇ ◇

After providing information about parasites to Erika’s and Mayumi’s group, Tatsuya and Miyuki takes a detour for some shopping to relax. They were not using the motorcycle, in which they ride on a bus instead.

Tatsuya feels bad about pushing the vampire hunt to Erika and Mayumi’s group. Miyuki points out that Tatsuya is becoming more and more kind. When he asks how, she says - He cannot forgive himself for letting Leo get hurt, and while the time together with Lina has been limited, he doesn’t want to do anything violent towards Lina who has become their friend -.

Miyuki says that she is happy that Tatsuya have those heartfelt feelings for someone other than herself and have more humane emotions than he believed himself to have possessed. This makes Tatsuya embarrassed, which he tries to hide from her. This makes Miyuki overjoyed since he has shown that side to her.

◇ ◇ ◇

Both Erika and Mayumi are currently cooperating with each other to hunt the parasites. Mayumi is responsible for the information control while Katsuto and Erika lead the mobile units. Unfortunately, the transmitter Tatsuya has provided was not strong. Even though the antennae could capture the signal waves, the target could cover a whole lot of ground in 3 hours. Furthermore, the signal was only emitted once every ten minutes.

Mayumi is annoyed at Tatsuya for not participating on the hunt. She swears to herself that she will make him eat the most bitter chocolate during Valentine’s Day.

◇ ◇ ◇

Earlier in the week, Tatsuya found a rather familiar sight of Erika sprawling over her desk for the past few days. She seemed to be exhausted enough to not wake up even while Tatsuya and Mizuki talked to each other in normal volume near her. Tatsuya told Mizuki to let Erika sleep when he was asked if they should wake her up, He didn’t have the spare energy to worry about other people’s mental framework at the time.

◇ ◇ ◇

The reason for his lack of spare energy can be explained by a telephone call he received half a day before from Shizuku. She called to inform him about what she learned about the parasite inside from Raymond. She seemed drunk and her attire made even Miyuki blush. She reluctantly put on a robe after being told to do so.

She provided the information that she got from Raymond to Tatsuya. He was surprised to hear about the information. He realized that the reason for the blackhole experiment was conducted was due to the magic he used during Yokohama Incident (Material Burst).

Miyuki asked him how it is related to the Vampires hesitantly. He explains how in his theory gravity, it is the only force which can interact between alternate dimensions and also supports the dimensional barrier. He adds that the gravity separates their side from the other which is filled with magical energy and how miniature blackholes could destroy the barrier temporarily. The gap created by the blackhole allows magical energies which are beyond the control of magic sequences may seep through which spontaneously forms an information body.

Realising the terror, Shizuku was shaking slightly and Miyuki was latching onto Tatsuya’s arm as if she never wanted to let go.

◇ ◇ ◇

Mikihiko shows up in class after the second period was over. Today, he is also being cared for in the infirmary. He complains to Tatsuya for leaving him alone to deal with everything last Sunday. He was the only one who talked when Mayumi just sat smiling while Erika shut her mouth with a displeased look on her face. He got ulcer due to all the pressure he felt during then.

Erika finally revives around lunch time. Maybe because she's finally revitalized, she grabs Mizuki and drags her into an empty classroom (the lab that Mikihiko frequented) and starts complaining about how the number of vampires to chase has increased. They start with one and now they have three to chase.

After Erika’s ranting settles down, Mizuki asks why she was fighting with Tatsuya. Erika is startled by her sudden question and denies it. Mizuki says she understands that Erika was not the one who has caused it since even if Erika made a fuss, Tatsuya would most probably smile and accept it.

Erika feels like she was just insulted by Mizuki, she denies fighting with Tatsuya but she is feeling awkward from her side. She says she was feeling embarrassed for getting mad when she saw Tatsuya was also helping Mayumi with the parasite hunt, even though she didn’t ask for Tatsuya to help her on the hunt. She also assumed that he would chip in and she don’t plan on dragging this for long.

Mikihiko enters the classroom with sandwiches and hands one to Erika and Mizuki, saying they are from Tatsuya, since Erika appears to be avoiding him, he had Mikihiko deliver them. During their conversation, Mizuki suddenly feels sudden pain and grumbling about some sort of aura. Noticing that something was amiss, Mikihiko hurriedly pulls out a talisman and casts a barrier which blocked spirits. He also senses a ‘demonic’ presence, when he concentrates himself, which was familiar to him. All three of them goes to the office where their CAD are kept to retrieve them.

◇ ◇ ◇

Lieutenant Silvia, call sign “Mercury One”, serves as Major Angelina Sirius’s support during her mission to Japan. As a “1st Class” member of Comet “Mercury”, Silvia’s duties typically resides in supporting from the rear, such as utilizing magic to gather and analyse data.

Currently, she's searching for USNA soldiers who were under Stars umbrella in Japan, praying that she doesn’t find any vampire wavelength from any of them, but contrary to her exaptation, she found something she could not believe.

◇ ◇ ◇

As Lina dines with her classmates from Class A (not with Miyuki’s group), she remembers that Mia would visit today at First High so she decides to visit her after she is done with lunch. While she was thinking about it, she senses the aura of the masked individual. She also discovers the rough direction and finds out that it was coming from beyond the door where the worker was coming out of and gets worried about Mia. She excuses herself from her friends and hurries towards the location.

◇ ◇ ◇

The vampires are communicating with each other using pushion wave and are checking the formation spread out along the wall and doorway. They conclude that it was a mistake for rating First High as a normal high school. Mia is feeling uneasy in her heart and feels that they should not have gone there.

◇ ◇ ◇

After lunch, Tatsuya, Miyuki and Honoka arrives on the school rooftop. Owning to Erika’s sour mood today, it turns out that only three of them are taking lunch together. While they are on the rooftop, Miyuki notices some uncomfortable waves and tells Tatsuya about it (pushion waves, since psion waves would not be able to escape from Tatsuya’s detection).

While wondering on how to uncover the source of that pushion wave and investigate it, he receives a call from Mayumi through his information terminal, informing him that the vampire is on the school campus and tells him the location.

Immediately after receiving the information, Tatsuya uses Flying-Type magic and jumps off from the roof. He is followed by Miyuki, leaving behind Honoka alone on the rooftop (she lacks a personal Flying-Type device).

◇ ◇ ◇

Mikihiko and Erika are trying to get their CAD from the storage room when Katsuto arrives to retrieve his CAD. With the help of Katsuto, Erika and Mikihiko were able to acquire their own CAD without much trouble.

◇ ◇ ◇

Lina hurries towards the place were Michaela’s trailer is supposed to be. She is still struggling with herself regarding whether she should visit Michaela at the trailer for Maximilian Devices. Caught between her duty towards her comrades and her mission, Lina is stuck between a rock and a hard place. She has adopted an attitude that avoided enemy detection, but has neglected to be wary of her surroundings.

Even if she could see Michaela descending from the trailer at a distance, Lina didn’t feel anything in particular as she sighs.

◇ ◇ ◇

Tatsuya and Miyuki see Lina trying to contact a woman and identifies her as “Mia”, based on Lina’s lip movements. Tatsuya assumes that this woman must be the USNA agent sent to infiltrate Maximilian Devices. Based on yesterday’s interrogation, Lina said that she was hunting for vampires and while they are aware that the deserters fled to Japan, they are still unaware of their actual identities. There was a high chance that a vampire has disguised as one of their agents.

Tatsuya finds it hard to imagine that someone like ‘Sirus’ of Stars would be unable to identify her target, even after repeated head-on confrontation with her target. He uses his “sight” to sweep over that woman and immediately finds a massive amount of “spirits” dancing around the woman’s surroundings.

◇ ◇ ◇

In regards to Angelina Sirius’s unexpected request for contact on First High’s campus, Michaela Honda feels a surge of confusion and anxiety. There was no way that she could ignore her direct superior. By doing so, she would immediately cause suspicion.

Michaela leaves the trailer and walks towards Lina while trying to assume an air of normality. Towards the spirits that keep hounding her, she waves her hands like someone trying to fend off a pest.

◇ ◇ ◇

Mikihiko notices the female technician attempting to avoid the spirits and concludes that she was the vampire. Erika notices Lina and assumes that she was the leader. Mikihiko invokes a wide-area magic that inhibits the senses using his talismans. Mikihiko, Erika, Katsuto get ready for battle while Mizuki is behind them, unable to hide her dismayed expression.

◇ ◇ ◇

Lina feels confused seeing Michaela waving her arms as if she is shooing insects. It is the middle of winter and there should not be any insects around due to the cold weather. Lina decides that Michaela’s actions are not important at this time. She should warn Michaela to escape from there as she notices the presence of ‘vampires’, but before she could, she notices that they are surrounded.

◇ ◇ ◇

Miyuki is surprised to see the large trailer that she is watching suddenly disappears and asks Tatsuya if it was due to a barrier. Tatsuya conforms that it was and it should have been casted by Mikihiko. He adds that the effect lies in cutting off sight and hearing and it looks like it can’t affect physical movement.

Tatsuya contacts Mayumi and asks her to turn off the recording devices in that area. After getting confirmation that the devices are off, Tatsuya and Miyuki flies out of the classroom window from where they were hiding.

◇ ◇ ◇

Erika initiates attack on Mia. Lina tries to blow Erika away but is stopped by Katsuto. Erika uses that chance to attack Mia but her blade is caught by Mia barehanded without using any CAD. Mia’s hand is wrapped in a barrier magic. Lina notices that Mia is using the same magic as the masked magician she was chasing.

At the same time, Lina is contacted by Silvie using magic. Silvie informs her that Mia was the masked magician. Erika stabs Mia on her chest, but it heals as soon as she is forced to retreat by Mia. Miyuki steps in from the shadows, along with Tatsuya, and freezes Mia completely before Mia could react.

Erika, Tatsuya and Katsuto are on a dead lock on arresting Lina and securing Mia. Mikihiko is the only one who was observing the whole situation and notices the danger. Mia, who was frozen, explodes and the parasite frees from its host.

After a long battle, with the help of Mizuki to locate the Parasite, Tatsuya and Mikihiko manage to damage it significantly and chase it away.

From Tatsuya’s perspective, their net gain from the combat is effectively zero. The most they could say is that their score isn’t negative. Tatsuya forcibly makes sure that he doesn’t say "It was a disaster" out loud. For him, it is nothing more than rubbing salt into an open wound. There is no way Tatsuya would do something that would leave such a mess on his hands.

Chapter 9[]

Spoiler
In order for the parasite to survive, it is forced to ingest pushions continuously. However, in the physical world, it is unable to gather pushions without a physical form that is able to do so. After repeatedly using its power while in basic form and after being immersed in a high stream of psions, the portion that enabled it to invade the physical dimension had largely been shorn away along with most of its psions. In order for it to survive, pushions were absolutely vital, but with insufficient psions, interfering with the physical world would become difficult.

It needed a place to rest. A location that was meaningless, save for its congregation of pushions. For example, blood that had just been separated from a living body, a mindless doll granted a humanoid form to obtain pushions. It avoided the moving humans and finally located a receptacle for rest in one of the storage rooms located near the edge of First High’s campus.

◇ ◇ ◇

The next morning.

Erika is still sulking. She believes that Lina is working alongside the vampires. After yesterday's incident, Tatsuya lets Lina go, even after an overwhelming 6-to-1 advantage over her. Also, the fact that she was unable to do anything against the Parasite after it took on the form of an information body added to her frustration.

Tatsuya tells Erika not to overthink things and paints Lina black completely, and if she is truly guilty, he will take necessary action against Lina. Erika asks if he can win against Lina, (she still does not know Lina is the crimson haired Magician with golden pupils. Still, based on their back and forth struggle with the parasite yesterday, she judged that Lina was no 'run of the mill' opponent). Tatsuya says that victory and defeat are a matter of luck but he will not hold back if the time comes. Erika returns back to her usual mood soon after.

◇ ◇ ◇

Meanwhile, Lina is being reproached at a hearing in the USNA embassy. They want to know how she did not know that the person who lived next to her for almost a month was a parasite and want her to undergo a full-body examination there to see if there are any ‘bite’ marks of any sort. She is about to explode when reinforcements arrives from Colonel Virginia Barans, who barges into the meeting.

After the Canadian military was assimilated and reorganized, she became the number two of the department established to monitor both those in uniform and black ops. That was Colonel Barans’s task. USNA Joint Chiefs of Staff Intelligence Division, Internal Affairs, First Deputy Director. Due to her title, no one dared to reprimand her.

After stepping out of the meeting room, Lina finds Silvia waiting for her. Silvia apologizes for not being able to figure out Michaela’s real identity sooner. Silvia tells her that she is ordered to return to USNA for intense examination to conform that she is not infected.

Colonel Barans tells Lina that she is not allowed to return to USNA unless and until she is deemed to be free of infection to prevent an event where Lina turns against the military in the influence of a parasite. In case of Silvia, if she turns into a vampire and betrays the military, the possibility of classified intelligence leaking to foreign nations is considered and ordered to return to USNA as soon as possible.

◇ ◇ ◇

Kuroba Mitsugu receives a call from Maya while he is at his hotel room in Yokohama. Maya asks him about information on the Parasite incident. Mitsugu informs her that there of the 12 Parasites hosts: 4 were eliminated by the Americans, 1 was done in by Tatsuya and Miyuki the previous day, and the remaining 7 has already been identified and located by him.

Maya praises him and mentions that the ‘client’ has asked her to hasten the action against them. She then orders him to kill the remaining hosts. He mentions that it would not solve the problem. In her eply, Maya says that she is more interested in finding out how the parasite detaches after the host dies, how far they can move as an information bodies, how long does it take to filly assimilate withing a new host and how much time is needed before they can move again. She orders Mitsugu to collect those data after eliminating them.

Mitsugu affirms her orders and hangs up.

◇ ◇ ◇

Tatsuya is trying to develop a method to fight the parasite with the help of Yakumo. Miyuki is watching over his training. It has been a full week since the day after the vampire invaded the school campus. On the second day after that, Tatsuya had reached out to Yakumo regarding training, and today was the seventh day.

Tatsuya is having difficulty with it, he is comforted by Yakumo and faced by Miyuki’s eyes that far exceeds expectation and borders upon pure faith. He decides to push forward without complaining.

◇ ◇ ◇

In late January of 2096, bad news comes from across the Pacific. The Shiba siblings are having their breakfast when the news on the television catches the attention of both of them. The news contains information about a certain experiment to counter the secret weapon that the Japanese military wielded on the southern part of the Korean peninsula. The goal of the experiment was to summon demons and make contract with them to counter the Japanese super weapon. The news also says that the experiment failed and the magicians who were supposed to make a contract with the demons got possessed instead, leading to the vampire incident which started late last year.

Tatsuya notices the unusual way of packaging the news which includes concerns towards magic and magicians. With overwhelming majority of people unable to use magic, it was not worth the time to consider which side the media would take. He is more interested in the source of the information, which had been reported in the news.

◇ ◇ ◇

The news report in the morning causes headache to Lina. She believes it is not the time to attend school and acts as if nothing happened but she is ordered to move as usual so she had to go to school.

On the path to school gate, she is approached by Tatsuya. She tries to flee like a rabbit but fails to do so with Miyuki blocking her. Tatsuya asks her about the news broadcast and how much of it is true. Lina says that all key parts are lies and only lays down the truth on the surface.

He asks Lina where they might have gotten the information from, as those type of information should be classified. Lina speculates that it should have been an organization called “Seven Sages”, whose identities are unknown and no matter what they did, they could not identify any clues about them.

In the end, he asks if drawing the parasite was the intended result. Lina rejects it completely and she gets furious. Lina says that she has already executed three of the ‘infected’ and if it was someone’s plan all along, she would not forgive that person under any circumstances.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Two seconds… it’s quite difficult to match Oji-sama.”

Kuroba Mitsugu is mocking himself after assassinating one of the ‘Vampires’ using his magic. “Poisoned Bees”, a sensory interference spell that increases the target’s pain perception infinitely until death.

In terms of killing power, this magic pales in comparison to the “Reaper’s Blade” created by his uncle, Yotsuba Genzou, the head of the Yotsuba Family two generations ago. On the other hand, “Poisoned Bees” is a superb magic for assassination as it only needs a tiny prick of a pin or needle to finish the opponent, leaving no evidence behind, while “Reaper’s Blade” requires personal delivery to ensure death, leaving behind wounds on a corpse and blood splatter everywhere.

“Poisoned Bees” is also not restricted to Mitsugu alone since unlike other sensory interference magic, it has an Activation Sequence that wasn’t caster-specific with a well streamlined process. Currently, all of the Kuroba agents employs “Poisoned Bees” as their trump card.

Mitsugu’s subordinate informs him that the execution has been completed and there were no causalities. He orders his subordinates to not loose track of the information bodies and to not slack off.

Chapter 10[]

Spoiler
The news broadcast stirs up the Magician-discriminatory actions, stemming from the humanists, which becomes a large wave and it sweeps across the North American continent from east to the west.

◇ ◇ ◇

{Explanations about diplomacy and secret meeting between them behind closed doors and so on are given}

In the middle of a night in a foreign country, two middle-aged men are having a secret meeting. One of them was of European descent and the other seems to be from Japan. The slight smile on their faces remains the same and there is no change in their voice during the conversation, but the strange atmosphere between them is evident from the beginning.

The European man is trying to get information about the magician and the magic which destroys the ‘Asian Alliance Armada’ while the other person is not giving him any hints and says that the military is not giving any information.

◇ ◇ ◇

Fujibayashi is playing a recording of the conversation between the two diplomats to Tatsuya and Miyuki. She arrives at the Shiba household, under the guise of ‘a pre-recruitment interview’. The conversation between them involves the possibility of USNA delaying their fleet to support Japan during the invasion of Yokohama by GAA.

Fujibayashi hands Tatsuya courtesy chocolate while she is leaving since she won’t be able to during Valentine’s Day due to work.

◇ ◇ ◇

Tomorrow would be Valentine’s Day, and its frivolous ambience would permeate the First High School campus all day long. In this matter, magicians (to be) are also normal young girls.

Honoka is making a lot of mistakes during her work at the Student Council due to this particular reason. Even with repeated suggestions by her fellow co-workers, to take a rest and leave earlier for the day, who are worrying about her, she desperately denies her condition and continues working. Lina is also present at the office {her real identity is still a secret from the normal students}.

In the end, Honoka leaves when Miyuki tells her that she is not getting any work done and it's better to take rest. Miyuki knows why Honoka was doing a lot of mistakes and Honoka also knows that Miyuki understood the reason. Knowing this, she finally stops working and leaves after apologizing.

◇ ◇ ◇

Miyuki is explaining the reason why Honoka leaves the Student Council Office early while they are on the way to the station. Lina is together with them and the conversation switches to who Lina is going to give chocolate to. Lina asks Miyuki if she is going to give an “I love you” chocolate to Tatsuya in order to tease her but Miyuki’s answer makes her unable to counter.

◇ ◇ ◇

Izumi and Kazumi are peeking at Mayumi, who seems to be making chocolate with a creepy laughter (Izumi and Kazumi are given a general introduction). They wonder about who is going to get the chocolate. They see that Mayumi is using the kind of chocolates, which are 95% cacao and 0% sugar. They also notice that there is a bag of espresso powder.

◇ ◇ ◇

Tatsuya is training with Yakumo to find a method to fight against the parasites. Miyuki is worried that Tatsuya would do something which can cause grave side effects on his body to develop the magic, but is reassured by him that he won't do any such things to himself.

Miyuki is not at the Temple just for watching over Tatsuya. It is February 14, and she has come to the temple on the same day last year and the year before, to give her appreciation to Yakumo by giving him some chocolates. Yakumo accepts the chocolates happily while getting a cold look from Tatsuya.

◇ ◇ ◇

Though they had initially met at the station, due to the unfixed arrival times of the cabinets, Tatsuya and his friends now meet in the classroom. However today Tatsuya and Miyuki are walking with Mizuki when Honoka greets them. Seeing Honoka’s expression, Mizuki realises Honoka wants to be alone with Tatsuya but is unsure how to leave. Miyuki steps in and says there is something on Mizuki’s uniform and tells Tatsuya to go on ahead.

Tatsuya and Honoka go on ahead. Tatsuya tries to make conversation but Honoka is too nervous to respond properly. Realising she is running out of time, Honoka asks for a moment of Tatsuya’s time and the pair head to the only private spot on the school grounds which Honoka knew of, in the shadow of a tree behind the robot research garage.

There, a bright red Honoka presents Tatsuya with a decorated box of chocolates. Seeing her unable to get the words out, Tatsuya mercifully takes the box and thanks her and switches it with a slightly smaller one. Tatsuya explains it is a thank you gift in addition to the one on White Day.

Honoka opens it and is left shocked into a stunned silence.

Within a nook in the garage built on the grounds of First High, the thing that was slumbering within the doll was stirred awake by a wave that resembled the one that had drawn it into this world. Bathed in a strong pure thought that resembled a prayer, a new self-sprouted in that thing and a consciousness was born.

Upon reaching her classroom, Honoka drags Miyuki to the restroom to show her the gift from Tatsuya, a pair of crystal hair ties. The design is not fancy but clearly not cheap. Miyuki assures the nervous Honoka they suit her. Honoka did not notice however, but Miyuki sounded like she was reading a script.

As Tatsuya went to his own classroom, feelings of self-hatred welled up inside of him. For deceiving Honoka and making Miyuki an accomplice. Miyuki had chosen the hair ties. Were that all, he would not have minded, but the very concept of the exchange invokes a sense of feelings being exchanged and a relationship being bound by the promise to reciprocate. And so, Tatsuya reciprocated today so no such promise was made.

Tatsuya cannot do anything about the fact that he was a brute who could not comprehend human emotions and thinks of it as reaping what he has sown. In order to avoid Honoka confessing again, he involved Miyuki in his ploy.

Leo notices something is off when Tatsuya arrives. Tatsuya comments Leo looks well for someone who just got out of the hospital. Mikihiko joins the conversation as Leo explains he was discharged early though the doctor was not too happy about it. Leo then asks if Tatsuya had a fight with Miyuki but Mikihiko thinks it is because of Valentine’s Day. Tatsuya tries to use Mizuki to change the subject as she enters the room. They share greetings and as she reaches her desk, Mizuki gives all three a small box of chocolates each, Mikihiko looks a little disappointed and Leo appears to be getting his first ever box.

Erika enters at this point and jokes Leo only got discharged for the chocolates. Tatsuya throws Leo a lifeline and greets Erika. She laments about the day as there are a lot of boys at the dojo so is a hassle every year as she has to give chocolates to everyone to avoid animosity, though her father does pay. Erika lashes out at Mikihiko by pointing out many of their students are girls and insinuates he has his pick, though he denies it, accidently insinuating that Erika’s dojo is frivolous for participating in Valentine’s Day which triggers Erika.

◊ ◊ ◊

The curriculum of Magic High Schools is the same as a normal high school, with the addition of the study of magic with modern education supporting a policy of early specialisation with a range of similar specialised non-magic school. And as the curriculum tends to be more intense at a magic high school, its students tend to be more industrious, especially those in Course 2.

However, there are exceptions, and February 14th is one such exception and as a result the school has an unpredictable ambience wafting throughout.

Miyuki’s class is in the changing room getting ready for their physical education class and are chatting while doing so. Lina is using the locker normally used by Shizuku, which is next to Miyuki’s usual locker.

Miyuki queries why Lina is using this locker instead of the usual one and Lina explains she is fed up with being asked about Valentine’s Day chocolate to. The two discuss the situation and it leads to them casually comparing their figures, with Miyuki being the more forward.

When the scene gets too much for the other girls, Honoka slams her locker and the pair resume getting changed.

◊ ◊ ◊

Immediately after school, the capricious ambience flourished across campus.

Kanon invaded the Student Council Room to give Isori his chocolates and pressures him with a smile into eating them all there and then.

Sayaka went to Kirihara’s classroom and presented him with his chocolates, to his elation.

For today, the students are not ‘magicians to be’ but rather ‘high school students’.

Tatsuya bumps into Mayumi and tells her that he and Morisaki are one patrol duty for the Public Morals Committee as the seniors are all busy. Mayumi then asks for a moment of his time. Tatsuya agrees but then asks if Hattori is okay as he had fallen prostrated across the table.

The three are in an area of the cafeteria with partitions, mainly used by the third-year students. Line of sight is blocked but sound is not.

Tatsuya asks how Hattori was poisoned when there should not be anything like that in the school. Tatsuya was only here to grab a drink when he had heard Hattori’s painful moan and come to check.

Tatsuya quickly realised Mayumi is the culprit.

While deciding how he should react, Tatsuya is asked for water by Hattori. Tatsuya heads to the cooler and gets Hattori a cup. Hattori struggles to drink it and then thanks Tatsuya, Hattori’s docility giving Tatsuya a sense of wrongness. Hattori then excuses himself and leaves.

Alone, Mayumi asks Tatsuya to take a seat while playing innocent. As he is about to sit down the pair are interrupted by Subaru and Eimi. The pair apologise for the commotion upon seeing Mayumi and then hand a bag full of chocolates from them and most of the other girls who had been on the freshman team for the Nine Schools Competition, including Shizuku but not Honoka or Miyuki. Hearing this Tatsuya accepts and the pair head off.

Alone once more, Tatsuya takes a seat, noticing a suspicious smell of coffee. Mayumi played dumb and presented a box of chocolates to Tatsuya which had the same smell. Having no excuse to refuse, Tatsuya accepts them. Feeling the weight, Tatsuya realises Mayumi used high grade materials for her plot and he wonders what he did to earn her ire.

Mayumi pressures Tatsuya to taste them there. Tatsuya had something he wanted to ask her but intended to be courteous since she was close to her entrance exams, but given she intended to toy with him, Tatsuya decides to ask for some of her time and asks if they can change locations. In part because they should not be overheard and in part to protect his reputation should he collapse like Hattori. Mayumi agrees and uses her terminal to find an empty room and the pair leave, seen leaving together by well over ten people.

◇ ◇ ◇

Mayumi unlocks the door to one of the lounges for interviews with guardians and visitors where eating and drinking were allowed. Mayumi got them both a drink and the pair sat down to talk.

At Tatsuya’s enquiry, Mayumi reports that things are calming down, something Tatsuya had heard from the Independent Magic Battalion, though he does not consider the situation resolved.

Mayumi goes on the say the overall number of disappearances is up, so it seems more likely that the Parasites are simply being more discreet rather than having stopped. Neither is aware that all the hosts were killed and are simply waiting to revive.

Tatsuya suggests they keep a look out, maybe trying to dispatch people with extra sensory perception with the search teams. Mayumi is unhappy at dealing with a situation with so many unknowns.

The conversation over, Tatsuya tries to leave but is stopped by Mayumi firmly grasping his sleeve and then gives him a small box. Realising she was not going to let him escape, Tatsuya resolves himself and eats the Valentines chocolates(?) she made for him, much to her delight.

◇ ◇ ◇

It is nearly dusk as Honoka cuts across the school yard toward the preparation room with a large terminal, still elated with her hair ties. She is aware she has been rejected but fully intends to cling to him for as long as Tatsuya will allow it for.

On arriving Eimi calls out to greet Honoka confused as to her presence and Honoka explains she is filling in for Isori. Eimi asks about the hair ties and from Honoka’s reaction Eimi realises it was from Tatsuya and Honoka explains it was a return gift.

Honoka’s elation quickly ends when Eimi drops a bombshell; Mayumi was seen giving Tatsuya chocolates. Eimi explains it might not be anything to worry about but Honoka voices her suspicion that Mayumi likes Tatsuya. Honoka is troubled by Mayumi as although Miyuki is the greater rival, she cannot overcome the sibling barrier, Mayumi has no such issue and is superior in both looks and talent. The sole advantage against Mayumi for Honoka was the fact Mayumi is older, but the small gap likely would not bother Tatsuya.

Waves radiate from Honoka’s heart and the barely born slumbering consciousness she was linked to truly awakened.

◇ ◇ ◇

Heading home, Tatsuya is accompanied by Miyuki, Lina and Honoka and Lina is getting a little fed up with the awkward behaviour between Honoka and Miyuki who are too conscious of each other to cosy up to Tatsuya. Lina had been forced to remain when everyone else had left due to the work of the student council. The ambience was so awkward that she had forgotten the Shiba siblings were the targets she was sent to observe and was on the brink of leaving ahead of them, but the station is in view.

Honoka leaves first, living in the opposite direction.

As Lina and the Shiba siblings wait for a cabinet in silence due to the complicated relationship between them. Lost in his own musings, Tatsuya did not notice that Lina had something to say until Miyuki spoke up, but Lina dismisses it as nothing.

As the cabinet arrived at the platform Tatsuya embraces Miyuki’s shoulder and Miyuki leans into him without hesitation.

◇ ◇ ◇

Colonel Balance asks what is bothering her subordinate as they watch Lina with the Shiba siblings via satellite.

The operator explains that he was shaken because as for a moment, it looked like Tatsuya had looked directly at the camera and is aware that they were watching.

Balance dismisses that it is impossible as they are watching via a surveillance satellite. Just to be safe, they watch the moment in question again and he does look up, but this is dismissed by Balance, as him looking at the sky on a whim.

Balance then looks at the feed of Lina inside her commuter. Lina’s unstable behaviour is a bigger concern.

◇ ◇ ◇

Lina returns to the rented apartment.

She has courtesy chocolates with her that she had intended to give to Tatsuya. As though enemies, they have fought side by side and he was keeping her identity a secret. When he saw him embrace Miyuki, she could not bring herself to give him them.

Lina’s inner turmoil leaves her frustrated and uncertain why, though she vehemently denies having any feelings for him.

As she enters her apartment, her mind quickly cools as she can sense a presence, despite the fact that Silvia had already returned to the USNA, and so, she enters cautiously and prepares to rush in.

Before Lina can act, Balance calls out, commenting on Lina’s perception abilities.

Lina prepares tea and teacakes and joins Balance at the dining room table.

Balance begins by mentioning that the majority of her career has been covert operations and a major part of that is managing personal relations. Balance then states her concern directly, she is concerned that Lina is becoming too emotionally involved with the target (Tatsuya), and looks at Lina’s bag.

Lina realises that anything she says to retort this will not be believed.

Balance then states that she understands Lina’s special circumstances, the only person assigned to command the STARS unit in their teens. She goes on to say that many voices believe that she was too young, and Balance admits she too would have said so were she asked.

Balance goes on to say that she understands that Lina, being sixteen, will make it hard for her to control her emotions around people her own age.

Lina’s reaction prompts Balance to point out that she might seem like an old lady, but she is still young herself, leading Lina to refute that she is having such rude thoughts and breaking the tension.

Lina opens up and states that she does have inappropriate feelings for Tatsuya, given her position, but they are those for a rival and not a love interest, bringing up the fight she lost, the first since becoming the ‘Sirius’.

Balance states that will make things simple, and then gives Lina her orders.

Hunting the deserters is on hold for the time being and she is to return to her primary assignment; securing the target with the sequence to convert mass to energy, and if they cannot be secured render them unable to cast, meaning assassinate. For now, they will assume that Tatsuya is the target, and they will strike tomorrow evening using Stardust. Lina will equip Brionac and intervene when she judges it necessary.

Lina salutes and acknowledges.

◇ ◇ ◇

Erika has a long commute to and from school. It had been suggested that she should get a room closer, but she insisted on staying at home to be stubborn.

Erika returns home to her outbuilding by the dojo, where she lives alone, and collapses on the bed, exhausted from the holiday’s traditions and the unwanted attention from boys and some girls her age. She is glad that she is not as attractive as Miyuki, which ables her to avoid such hardships.

The situation makes her think of her late mother, Anna Rosen Katori, who passed away when Erika was fourteen. Anna had been her father’s mistress and as Erika was born whilst his wife was on her sickbed. Erika was denied the Chiba name until she took the First High entrance exam.

After everything, she now believes that she is the happiest whenever she is with classmates that warms her heart, friends she could squabble with and tease, and a childhood friend she could also tease, all who acknowledges her own ‘power’. As she is happy, she does not want to waste time on romance.

Someone signals the doorbell to signal they are coming in, and Erika makes no effort to see who it is as it is too early for dinner when her siblings hate dining with her. After pondering about who it could be, Erika is about to rouse herself when there is a knock at her door and from the footsteps, she realises that it is her brother Naotsugu.

As she invites him in, she takes a more respectful place by the desk.

Naotsugu enters and apologises and Erika asks what he wants.

Naotsugu tells her that Shiba Tatsuya is under surveillance by the National Defence Force. Erika is in disbelief, but likely for another reason than why Naotsugu suspected, as she knew he was a civilian member of the defence force, which was a national secret. She finds it ridiculous that they had surveillance on a member of their own organisation.

Naotsugu tells her that he has an informal order; he is to watch and protect.

Naotsugu recommends that she keep her distance from Tatsuya for the time being.

Erika decides to be subtle and try for more information and so states she is in the same class at school.

Naotsugu says in school should not be an issue, tipping Erika off to the fact that Tatsuya is being used as bait, meaning that the aggressors are not Lina’s group, though she could be involved.

Erika tells Naotsugu that though she and Tatsuya are friends to the point that they go to the station together, they are not close enough to make plans after school.

◇ ◇ ◇

Immediately after they get home, Miyuki takes the paper bag full of chocolates from Tatsuya and stows it in the refrigerator, much to Tatsuya’s relief that the resentment from previous years is cooler this year. Miyuki then asks him to stay in his room until dinner and realising that she means to stay there until called, Tatsuya meekly goes to his room and remains there.

One hour later, Tatsuya comes down for dinner and is greeted to a meal with a chocolate theme, and Miyuki wearing a Julie Andrew’s style waitress uniform.

The meal is overloaded with chocolate.

The pair dine together but after finishing dessert, Miyuki looked a little flushed, leading Tatsuya to suspect that she had failed to cook off enough of the brandy in the fondue. Whilst she is clearing the plates away, Miyuki stumbles and Tatsuya catches her and the plates. Tatsuya then tells her to rest on the sofa and clears the plates for the HAR to take care of.

This leaves Miyuki a little depressed for ruining the atmosphere she had created.

And she laments on her curse.

"…Why must I be Onii-sama's younger sister?"

Unintentionally voicing a piece of her forbidden true feelings.

Panicked, Miyuki checks if Tatsuya did not hear.

A thought that must never be uttered.

Miyuki is not unhappy to be Tatsuya’s sister as it is the reason that they can be together but a part of her longs for a different relationship. She fears that the day it outgrew the part 'happy to be a sister' and this overwhelms her, and the thought of Tatsuya finding out. Miyuki is relieved, but there is also regret that he had not heard her.

Chapter 11[]

Spoiler
The parasite slowly figures out how to use its new vessel, using the pool of psions it has luckily acquired until it could see and operate the vessels mechanisms. Finally succeeding, it makes the vessel appear happy using its own power. The vessel lacking such an ability, while it searched for ‘that person’ with the brain it had acquired.

◇ ◇ ◇

February Fifteenth A mysterious confusion floats over the campus of First High due to an incident, in which Tatsuya is summoned to investigate on his break after a first year involved begged him to do so.

Tatsuya arrives to find President Azusa, Isori, Kanon and Hattori, the Group Management Leader already there with a crowd of concerned people. The issue is that the Type P94 H3 housekeeping robot is smiling and magic is detected. The smiling in of itself is not an issue but Type P94 units do not have such a function installed so it was likely caused by magic, which is a cause for concern.

They are informed that Tsuzura-sensei has investigated it but he could not reach any conclusions other than it seems to be emanating from the unit’s chest compartment, where the power source and electronic brain are. But as the unit has no induction stone installed, this should be impossible.

Isori also reports that pushions have also been detected. Tatsuya asks if the control system is working and Isori confirms that the unit is following orders. Isori sums up by asking Tatsuya to investigate the unit’s electronic brain since he is the foremost expert in the school on CADs, in Isori’s opinion, and quietly mentions the Golden Electron Silkworms from the Nine Schools Competition. Tatsuya agrees but states he will need somewhere to do the checks. Azusa gets permission to use the maintenance room after fourth period.

The maintenance room is normally used by students and staff to modify their CADs but it was not just for modifying CADs. Tatsuya brings the P94 unit, along with Isori, Azusa, Miyuki, Honoka, Erika, Leo, Mikihiko and Mizuki. Kanon is on an errand and Hattori is keeping the onlookers out.

While eating lunch, Tatsuya asks for all the details. Isori tells him the facts; on February 15th, at 7:00pm, the 3H type P94 nicknamed Pixie, was reactivated from suspended mode by a wireless device automatically for the morning self-diagnostic, so there were no students in the garage. Instead of shutting down afterwards, the P94 began to electronically communicate with the server to access the student register of this school.

Thinking that it was caused by a malware, a shutdown command was sent to completely shut down the unit, a command which cannot be ignored by domestic units. However, Pixie did not shut down and continued to function until the server cut itself off on the other end.

Throughout the incident, the cameras recorded Pixie smiling a seemingly happy and excited smile. Isori then confirms the logs verify everything.

After pondering for a moment, Tatsuya states that the P94 continued to operate when the electronics were supposed to be shut down because something other than electricity was sending command signals to control the machine. Either pushions or psions.

Tatsuya begins his investigation and activates Pixie, ordering her to browse her logs and to enter inspection mode. Pixie agrees but is looking into his eyes and not his pocket where she should be scanning for the access card as Tatsuya’s face is not registered for this level of clearance.

Everyone starts to realise that something is wrong when Pixie suddenly moves and launches into a hug and embraces Tatsuya, shocking everyone. Miyuki is angry about the situation, pointing out that Tatsuya could have easily evaded but when Tatsuya tells her that Pixie would have collided with her had he dodged, Miyuki quickly apologises.

Azusa comments that they should move things along and Tatsuya orders Pixie to sit down and Pixie obeys, though reluctant. Tatsuya asks Mizuki to look inside of Pixie and asks Mikihiko to guard her while he does, tipping both off to what Tatsuya suspects.

Once Mikihiko is ready, Mizuki looks into Pixie and her eyes widened. Faster than Mizuki could speak, Pixie makes a humanlike expression as Mizuki reports that a parasite is inside Pixie.

She then examines the pattern and then examines Honoka and looks back and forth comparing the two. Mizuki then tells them the parasite’s wave pattern resembles Honoka’s, much to Honoka’s horror and explains that the parasite seems to be under the influence of Honoka’s thought waves but they are not linked. It seems to be more of a duplication, like they are burned into it. Honoka quickly denies doing it and Mizuki calmly explains that she does not think it’s deliberate.

Mikihiko speculates that Honoka was imprinted onto the parasite which then possessed Pixie, or it was in Pixie and then Honoka’s thoughts got burned in.

Pixie itself then confirms it by telepathically stating that she was awaken by strong and distinctive thoughts Honoka has about Tatsuya. Tatsuya asks if she can speak, and Pixie explains she can, but it is hard to use the body’s voice. Tatsuya then proceeds to question Pixie as the others watch on.

Tatsuya asks how Pixie understands their language and she explains that the knowledge was retained from the previous host. Only the knowledge, which is within the parasite, not the memories of the host so she does not know how many hosts she has had.

Tatsuya asks if they have emotions and Pixie explains that they desire to survive, and Tatsuya concludes their likes and dislikes are derived from that.

Tatsuya asks its name and Pixie states to use the individual’s name, Pixie, and confirms that she can access the electronic brain.

Tatsuya asks if Pixie is hostile. She states that she is Tatsuya’s underling due to the desire to be so, which she attained from Honoka. Honoka tries to intercede but is restrained by Erika and Miyuki. Pixie explains that such highly pure thoughts form the core of their self; the closest word would be prayer.

Pixie then states the prayer that had awakened her, her core:

— I want to devote myself to you.

— I want to be useful to you.

— I want to serve you.

— I want to become yours.

— I want to dedicate all of me to you

Having this heard, Honoka would likely be screaming were she not restrained.

Pixie goes on to explain that she does not know how she was drawn into this world, as it was lost with the previous hosts' memories so all that she is now is this desire to serve Tatsuya.

Honoka collapses at this point, though Tatsuya does not care as his mind was occupied by knowledge rather than emotion.

Tatsuya states that their having an ego is unexpected, as is the fact that they are persistently passive. Pixie affirms that they did not desire to come into this world as their desire is derived from the host.

Tatsuya reconfirms that Pixie desires to obey him and then prohibits her from using her psychic powers without permission, as is her making human expressions. Pixie complies.

Chapter 12[]

Spoiler
The Shiba siblings discuss the situation and their surprise at Pixie in their personal car, which Tatsuya had purchased so he could deliver Miyuki to places in a secure and prestigious manner, as her high station as a very high-class Ojou-sama warranted. In addition to school, she underwent additional studies as training for her position.

Miyuki asks how Tatsuya intends to proceed with the situation with Pixie. He explains that she cannot be removed from the school as they do not know if Pixie was telling the truth and know too little of the parasites. All they know for sure is that it has imprinted from Honoka, as Mizuki confirmed it. Until they can confirm that Pixie cannot contact the other parasites and call them in whilst he and Miyuki are sleeping, he will not keep her close. Ending his answer by stating that the authenticity of the information that is extracted is something that can be decided by them.

◇ ◇ ◇

Tatsuya leaves Miyuki at her etiquette school, where men are prohibited from entering. As it would take too long to realistically return home while Miyuki had her classes, Tatsuya instead heads to a local food venue as usual, this time a family-oriented restaurant.

Killing two hours while not eating would be a problem usually, so Tatsuya orders something expensive to avoid causing an issue. He then gazes out of the window, focusing his mind to observe both his and Miyuki’s locations within the information dimension, absorbing the information from every nook and cranny.

Nothing could threaten Miyuki in this ‘observation field’. This ability is what allowed Tatsuya to overcome his gender and become Miyuki’s bodyguard. Tatsuya normally uses this unconsciously, but right now it has been actively used to monitor the existence of any and all cause and effect.

Tatsuya still could only read information on the ‘present’ and twenty-four hours of the ‘past’. As a result, it is extraordinarily effective at searching for enemies.

Within that observation field, the information about the looming adversaries was displayed, targeting himself.

◇ ◇ ◇

Lt. Colonel Virginia Balance relieves a report that the troops are in position.

They had analysed Tatsuya’s daily habits and the fact that they were so few opportunities to attack had shocked her. He trains every morning before school, goes to an unknown location on a Sunday but they cannot determine where. The only thing they understood from two weeks of observation was that he was no ordinary high school student and is likely an agent of a special ops group, but they doubted it as Tatsuya has no connections to anyone. And Lina had established the degree of difficulty of getting to him when he was with his younger sister.

This evening was one of the few chances to strike.

Balance radios Lina, who is on standby in a nearby park.

The plan is for Stardust members disguised as robbers to attack the restaurant and try to subdue and abduct Tatsuya. If that fails, they will retreat and lead him to Lina’s location.

The plan was simple, but that was all that the situation can afford and the biggest concern was that the Stardust would be wiped out too quickly, but Balance thinks that these five men being destroyed by one boy, in the middle of his teens, was unthinkable.

That said, if they were defeated, all their records were gone so they were no issue if it failed.

◇ ◇ ◇

Having finished talking to Balance, Lina did the final check on the tactical magic weapon, ‘Brionac’, a weapon only she could use. Though portable, its maximum power rivals a battleship’s main armament.

The ridiculous looking armament is combined with a CAD. It is a magic weapon that works purely by magic power.

Lina doubted that this operation is going to work, that the Stardust would be quickly wiped out.

At first, Lina had thought that Miyuki was the tougher adversary, but such thoughts had now completely disappeared. Any inclination to treat Tatsuya lightly due to his lower rank were gone now.

— What could the magic that turned ‘Dancing Blades’ to dust be?

— What on earth was the technique that canceled the effects of 'Muspelheim’?

At the time, she thought it was simply magic dispersing the molecular bonds and neutralising the activation sequences. But when she thought about the latter, her mind froze as such a thing could not be done.

At the time, both her and Miyuki’s magic had been competing. In order for magic to be neutralized, a calculation sequence must overwrite the magic sequence. In short, at that time, if Tatsuya had neutralized the magic, then he had invoked at over twice Lina’s interference power.

The thought makes her body shake.

The Stars vice commander, Benjamin Canopus might have been able to figure out that Tatsuya had used ‘Gram Dispersion’ to do that, but Lina was unaware of its existence. Lina joined at a young age so she has a lot of combat experience but had little time to acquire knowledge. And that was making her uneasy.

To put it simply, the girl was too young to be the commander of the Stars, the embodiment of the weakness of the abhorrent practice of completely relying on strength to determine leadership. She was now paying the price for her deficiencies against a foe that had both combat experience and knowledge.

◇ ◇ ◇

Tatsuya does not believe himself that he is a battle junkie as all the fights he has been in hadn’t been started by him, they were to protect Miyuki and her prestige. At the same time, he is not a practitioner of non-resistance.

Tatsuya sees the five men arrive and makes his decision in a second. He settles his bill and heads outside.

The men, wearing ski-masks, arrives as Tatsuya left the shop, leaving them a little perplexed but the stares did not continue for long.

Tatsuya moves first and simply walks past them, leaving them astonished.

As the attackers come to their senses, one aims a gun at him. Analysing the device, which made it obvious that they are from the USNA, Tatsuya realises that it’s a non-lethal attack to capture him.

Tatsuya uses his magic to dismantle the gun and pulls further back while the men are in shock. Interfering with an object under the influence of someone else’s magic, is normally impossible due to the sheer power required to do so, especially when the object is being touched by them.

Tatsuya had no reason not to capitalise on their shock, but as this was a public street with cameras and passers-by, killing them would be problematic with so many witnesses.

Tatsuya strikes the first of the men and flash casts oscillation magic into them.

It fails and Tatsuya immediately evades and strikes the man again in the opening left by their counterattack, this time it works, and they fall.

Tatsuya realises the reason that the first strike had failed is because the men are either modified, or more likely reinforced humans. As he evades and dodges the men as they continue their attack, Tatsuya analyses the men’s information. The information of their warped structure of their bodies tells him that this was not simply DNA modification, unmistakably it is the result of multiple preposterous reinforcements. The men are on the brink of death from the modifications, and it would be more appropriate for them to be hospitalised, just like shooting stars just before they burned out.

Given the recklessness of such opponents, Tatsuya realises he must finish them quickly.

Just as he makes the distance and begins to get ready to take them all down, Chiba Naotsugu intrudes on the fight.

Naotsugu had been observing Tatsuya as ordered and had not anticipated the fight. From Tatsuya’s educational records, he believes Tatsuya to be timid. Naotsugu jumps from the roof of the building he’s on and uses magic to run at 120kph to reach the fight within thirty seconds. Sensing Tatsuya’s use of magic, Naotsugu wonders if Tatsuya can use magic martial arts and realises the dossier, he was given on Tatsuya must be missing information.

Switching Tatsuya from target to observe to target to protect, Naotsugu readies his kodachi armament device for battle.

Naotsugu recalls the information on the enemies attacking Tatsuya. Stardust, which are human weapons made from magicians, as a suicide squad. This unit is modified for close combat. Naotsugu reflects that suicide soldiers are the most dangerous in the world and believes that they will be too much for a high school boy so on arrival, he interposes himself between Tatsuya and the Stardust members.

Tatsuya knew both the USNA and another party were observing him, but he had not expected intervention. The fact that Naotsugu is showing Tatsuya his back means that he likely is not an enemy and knows that he was Erika’s elder brother but did not know why he is intervening.

Also unexpected, Naotsugu introduces himself to Tatsuya and states that he will deal with the situation. Tatsuya steps back and leaves it to Naotsugu.

One of them down, the remaining four all produce guns and took aim while activating magic to stop incoming projectiles.

Faster than they can pull the trigger, Naotsugu closes the distance at a speed the three he wasn’t charging at would lose sight of him. He uses the magic ‘Pressure Cut’ on the edge of the kodachi, cuts of the first man’s hand holding the gun. The other three try to shoot Naotsugu but because of his rapid and erratic movements, which are enabled by the use of magic, he is able prevent them from keeping track of him.

While Tatsuya is analysing Naotsugu’s abilities, all four men are rendered powerless.

Just as Tatsuya takes a step towards Naotsugu to thank him, the pair are assailed by a intense sense of danger and a shining ray of light hits the kodachi Naotsugu raised to defend himself. The beam is cut in two, but the electromagnetic wave’s influence from the beam renders Naotsugu unable to move.

Tatsuya looks to where the attack originated and sees the masked magician ‘Angelina Sirius’, who is looking at Tatsuya with a gaze of invitation.

Gallery[]

Click on the images to enlargen them.


References[]

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