A+A-

Chapter Seven

Thursday, July 11.

Today was the first school day after a three-day break due to the New Soviet Union invasion.

Pupils walking from the nearest station to First High were talking, but very few conversations were about the upcoming summer holidays.

The conversations were instead focused on the appearance of Angelina Kudou Shields.

The first and second years were wondering who the beautiful blonde student was, having never met Lina.

Among the third years, however, the question became “why is Shields-san here?”

They weren’t just confused about Lina, either. Students from every grade had the common question, “who is the beautiful girl next to her with the hair tie?”

The elite schools of the National University of Magic primarily didn’t accept new students in the middle of the school year – slots previously taken by expelled students would not be replaced. However, there was a transfer system between the schools, so it wasn’t exactly impossible for new students to transfer in. The students were skeptical about this, but they were aware that it was a possibility.

The first and second years were more willing to accept this explanation, as they mistook the similarity of Miyuki’s face disguised by Parade to Lina to mean that they were relatives. However, the third years, knowing better, were even more confused.

***

Reporters were rushing around the school road to try and get information about Ocean Blast from Tatsuya, who had been revealed as one of the developers, and Miyuki, known as to be Tatsuya’s cousin. The reporters had initially crowded FLT, leaving for Fuchu after finding out that Tatsuya had not come to work today.

However, after finding an empty house, they still didn’t give up, instead splitting into three groups waiting at all three important locations – the FLT office, the house in Fuchu, and the road leading to First High.

It wasn’t a secret that classes in magic high schools were being resumed today – the information had been published on the official website, so reporters waited on the road from the station to the school from early in the morning.

Despite their efforts, however, they couldn’t find any trace of their target students.

While the media briefly focused on the pair of blonde and brown haired female students standing out from the rest, they had no way to know that they weren’t usual students. Dismissing them as beautiful girls, they didn’t waste time on them believing that they wouldn’t be valuable news.

However, reporters weren’t the only group from outside the school paring attention to Lina and Miyuki.

Two approximately forty-year-old men with sloppy appearances watched Lina head towards the school while sitting at a window seat on the second floor of the coffee-house chain famous throughout the country.

“…this may be the outskirts of Tokyo, but the street is so open…”

One of the men muttered this in an annoyed voice, but the second ignored his question, taking it as a monologue.

“Is this definitely Angie?”

The two men were speaking in English despite their East Asian faces. While they might not have been purely Japanese, they didn’t stand out much for their looks, so the guests and waiters of the establishment simply didn’t mind them.

“Her appearance is quite remarkable. There’s no way someone else could be mistaken for her,” The first responded. “And the other one is similar to her, see? They would look the same if it weren’t for the color of their hair and eyes.”

“Angie is skilled at disguising magic. The second one must be under a disguise, but I don’t know why Angie made it look like herself.”

“It might be that guy’s bride?”

“It’s possible. Very possible.”

The girls with blonde and brown hair were gone now, and the two men looked away from the window, looking at each other.

“But even if it is Angie…”

The first man – who had raised the topic in the beginning – continued in a careful voice.

“Our job isn’t to eliminate the deserter.”

The other man nodded at the words of the first.

“I know, but we must also report this to the authorities.”

“…I agree, but if the one with brown hair is that man’s bride, then she is the more important one.”

“Yes. We must revise the strategy and account for Angie’s possible intervention.”

The two men speaking in the coffee shop were members of Horsehead platoon, the Illegal Mystic Assassin Platoon’s sabotage detachment. After they finished their leftover coffee, they rose from the table to leave.

Once Miyuki arrived at school with Lina, she headed to the school board room with Lina before she went to her classroom.

Opening the door with an ID card, she found Izumi facing the entrance. She was in the room despite the fact that the school board’s work would start later. Izumi had seen the information from the ID-card reader on the wall terminal, so she knew it was Miyuki and got up to greet her.

“Good morning, Miy-

Huh?”

Izumi was surprised to see an unfamiliar girl appear before her.

“Good morning, Izumi-chan.”

The light-brown-haired girl answered Izumi with Miyuki’s intonation, though without her voice.

Once she closed the door, she pulled the cherry-colored hair tie out of her hair which was immediately followed by a transformation.

Her light-brown hair turned as black as raven feathers, her eye color still reflecting her hair color.

Her face structure changed as well, and Izumi’s beloved Miyuki-oneesama appeared before her.

“Miyuki-senpai, what was that?”

Izumi’s eyes were round, her surprise at the events evident.

“This is because of all the annoying people.”

Izumi’s eyes started to return to their normal shape and her face changed to one of understanding after hearing Miyuki’s answer. She nodded slightly and said “Oh, so that’s it.”

“You shouldn’t talk about this,” Miyuki said.

“Of course. I won’t tell anyone anything.”

“Thanks.”

Miyuki thanked her kohai with a smile, expecting her answer. She finally entered the room with Lina and pointed to her, causing Izumi to notice her.

“This is Angelina Kudou Shields-san, but you can call her Lina. She studied here as an exchange student from the USNA when I was in my first year. Lina, this is Saegusa Izumi-san. She is a second year. I call her Izumi-chan.”

Izumi came to her senses when she was introduced.

“My name is Saegusa Izumi. Nice to meet you, Shields-senpai.”

“I’m Angeline Kudou Shields. Nice to meet you. You can just call me Lina.”

Lina tried acting like a high school student, but Miyuki found it funny and almost laughed. She was careful not to let it show however, as she didn’t want to hurt Lina’s feelings.

“OK, Lina. Let’s go to the deputy director. Izumi-chan, see you soon.”

“Yes! Miyuki-senpai, Lina-senpai, goodbye.”

Miyuki led Lina to the director’s room with Izumi’s gaze still following her.

Tatsuya headed to the underground floor after seeing Miyuki and Lina off.

The basement of the high-rise building in Chofu housed an organized research facility with more sophisticated than equipment than the home in Chofu. The lab had been created solely for Tatsuya – regardless of the main house’s feelings towards Tatsuya’s power and origins, they couldn’t ignore his contribution to their income with his identity as half of Taurus Silver.

Tatsuya was currently framing the results of his two-day observation of Parade into a organized format following the framework of magical science to analyze them from a scientific point of view. He hoped to move past basic recognition and intuition to understanding everything on a theoretical level in order to discover a method to counter or break through Parade.

However, after only spending an hour at the console, he was forced to interrupt his work at 9 AM due to the arrival of an unplanned visitor.

After receiving the alert, he quickly headed from the laboratory, located 3 floors underground, to the second floor above ground where the reception room was located.

Fujibayashi Kyouko was waiting there for him.

“Good morning. You’re not in uniform today?” Tatsuya asked.

“Nice to see you, Tatsyua-kun. Today’s my day off.”

Fujibayashi responded to Tatsuya in a friendly manner after his good-natured greeting.

“Please, sit down. I assume I should call you Fujibayashi-san?”

“Yes, I will be grateful if you address me that way.”

Fujibayashi affirmed that she had come as a private citizen rather than as a military visitor as she sat on the sofa indicated by Tatsuya. Tatsuya made his assumption after she addressed him by his name rather than his title, Special Officer Ooguro.

Right after Fujibayashi’s affirmation, there was a knock on the door.

“Enter,” Tatsuya called.

Recognizing Tatsuya’s voice, the door opened automatically and a young woman in a long dress and white apron entered the room. She pushed a trolley from behind it, and though her face was different than Minami’s and Honami’s, it had the same feeling.

She replaced Fujibayashi’s empty tea cup with a new one and set a cup of coffee in front of Tatsuya.

“Fujibayashi-san, if you want a different drink, feel free to ask,” Tatsuya said.

“No, this is fine. Thank you,” Fujibayashi responded.

Fujibayashi’s last two words addressed the maid, politely thanking her for doing her job.

The young maid wearing the apron smiled and bowed before she rolled the cart out of the room.

“She is quite skilled. I envy your wealth of talented people.”

After the maid with an waitress-like aura disappeared behind the door, Fujibayashi muttered a comment complaining about Tatsuya’s family’s apparent luck in finding talented personnel.

“She isn’t combat personnel. What’s your business today? Since you aren’t with the military right now, I assume your goal isn’t to continue yesterday’s conversation on the phone regarding Lina.”

After Tatsuya’s question, Fujibayashi straightened.

“No, today I came as the representative of the head of the Fujibayashi family, Fujibayashi Nagamasa, to apologize.

Fujibayashi changed her casual manner to a more official one, speaking in a serious tone with formal phrasing before bowing low.

“Apologies? For what? …I don’t understand.”

“I’m referring to the unacceptable disgrace committed by a member of the Fujibayashi family, Kudou Minoru. The head of the family wishes to apologize for the acts committed by Kudou Minoru against the Shiba family.”

“You say a family member, but he isn’t directly related…” Tatsuya responded, confused.

Fujibayashi Nagamasa was the head of the Fujibayashi family and the father of Fujibayashi Kyouko. Nagamasa’s wife was Kudou Makoto’s younger sister, so Minoru was officially Nagamasa’s nephew, but they didn’t really have a relationship – it might be better to describe Minoru as Nagamasa’s wife’s brother’s son. He had no blood connection and their relationship wasn’t particularly personal.

However, when considering secret facts, their relationship becomes much closer –

Minoru was born through the artificial insemination of Nagamasa’s wife’s egg with sperm from Kudou Makoto.

While this does make the apology make slightly more sense, the Fujibayashi family had no need to feel guilty about Minoru’s actions. The fault clearly fell on the Kudou family.

Fujibayashi responded with understanding of this context.

“Even if there isn’t a direct blood relationship, he is still the son of the wife of the head of the family, and therefore a member of the family – at least, says the head.”

Tatsuya could accept Fujibayashi’s explanation, but he still didn’t think the apology was necessary. Nagamasa’s wife hadn’t committed an act as immoral as incest with her brother – she had only provided genetic material.

“…alright. However, Fujibayashi-san, did you come in person just to apologize, or do you have other business too?”

“It isn’t a different matter, but something material. Our apology isn’t just verbal,”

Fujibayashi responded.

“…go on.”

Tatsuya raised his eyebrows as he asked Fujibayashi to explain.

“Here.”

As she said this, Fujibayashi reached a hand into her purse and retrieved a solid cube, laying it on the table. It was a high-capacity solid-state drive.

“This is representative of the apology from the Fujibayashi family. Please accept it.

This contains documents describing Parade’s sequence of magic and its usage. We also included documents about the Ancient Continental Magic, Sekirei Hachijin.”

Tatsuya couldn’t hide his surprise at hearing this – Fujibayashi’s gift was beyond convenient, but it revealed extremely valuable information.

“Are you sure? Parade is the secret technique of the Kudou family.”

Fujibayashi frowned slightly and sighed at Tatsuya’s statement.

“…the Kudou family were probably the ones who should have provided this to you, actually. Despite this, just getting them to agree to provide information wasn’t easy.”

The Kudou family’s pride didn’t allow them to donate their secrete technique to the Yotsuba, so they compromised and used the Fujibayashi family as a middle party. It was silly, but understandable.

“Then, I will accept it gratefully.”

Regardless of their intentions, the description of Parade was the exact information he wanted from the Kudou family. The luck was unexpected, but Tatsuya was grateful regardless.

Fujibayashi bowed to Tatsuya.

“Sekirei Hachijin is a spell similar to Ghost Walker but on a larger scale. It builds a large-scale barrier hiding an area.”

She briefly commented on the contents of the second part of the media.

“Do you mean that Minoru’s shelter was built using this technique?”

“At least, we think so.”

“This is more than enough…”

Assuming Fujibayashi wasn’t lying about the contents, then Tatsuya had suddenly acquired all the information he needed at once. It seemed to be too convenient, giving Tatsuya bad premonitions.

“Tatsuya-kun, we don’t expect you to catch Minoru-kun without fail.”

Seeing Tatsuya’s doubts, Fujibayashi took off her mask as the representative of the head of the Fujibayashi family.

“Father and Uncle Makoto want to catch Minoru-kun with their own hands, so they won’t ask you for help. If anything, they want you to leave it to us.”

“Can’t we combine our efforts?”

“…I will give this request to my father, Tatsuya-kun.”

Tatsuya clearly didn’t want to retreat. After saying this to excuse herself, Fujibayashi got up and headed for the exit.

Lina was still slightly panicked before she started her entrance exams, but once the written exams in the morning finished and she headed for lunch, her face was beaming.

“How was it?” Miyuki asked her.

“This was the natural result with my abilities,” Lina responded.

Lina’s pride was expressed by her chest pushed so far forward that she seemed to be nearly bent so far that she would fall backwards. Miyuki found the contrast between Lina’s reaction while studying with now humorous, as Lina had fallen face first on the table several times while complaining about her exhaustion.

“There are still the practical exams, but as you said, you don’t need to worry at your skill level.”

“…I was more worried about the knowledge portion,” Lina said.

Lina narrowed here eyes and gave Miyuki a reproachful look, causing the others present at their lunch table to laugh.

It was currently lunch break, and they were sitting at a table in the school cafeteria.

Lina was wearing a uniform she borrowed from Miyuki until her own uniform arrived.

Lina’s presence was drawing everyone’s attention from the fact that she was both beautiful and a transfer student.

There were only third-years at Lina’s table, and Lina was familiar with more than a few of them. She was, of course, acquainted with Miyuki and Shizuku, but she also knew some of the others from her time as a transfer student in their first year.

“Lina will definitely get into the First Course, but which class will she be in?”

“Hmm...probably ours. We have the fewest students.”

Erika’s question was answered by Honoka after a moment of thought.

Honoka’s class had the fewest number of students because her class had the most students expelled in the past year and a half – from when classes had been adjusted after the creation of the magical engineering course.

This was slightly ironic, since Miyuki, Honoka, and Shizuku – the top 3 students in the school, monopolizing an imaginary podium – all came from class 3A. Did having the top students in the same class correlate with increased drop out rates, or was this just a coincidence?

“I didn’t know that Lina-san came to Japan. How long has it been since you arrived?”

Mizuki addressed Lina with her question causing her face to twitch, not knowing how to answer.

“Shibata-san, this is…”

“Mizuki, don’t you know Lina’s circumstances too?”

Mikihiko squinted his eyes slightly and pressed his teeth together as he tried to stop Mizuki while Erica made a slightly reproachful face and made a rhetorical statement.

They were aware that Lina was Angie Sirius and understood the awkwardness of the question.

“Ah! Excuse me…!”

Mizuki quickly realized the delicacy of her question and bowed in a panic.

“…it’s okay… but I will be grateful if you don’t ask about it again.”

“Of course!”

Mizuki nodded vigorously as Lina, Mikihiko, and Erika breathed a sigh of relief.

“Lina transferred here because of me,” Miyuki said.

Miyuki intended to defuse the loaded atmosphere with a brief explanation, but she had intended to explain this anyway, regardless of how the conversation went. She had been presented with an opportunity to explain, however, so she took it.

“What do you mean?”

Shizuku was the first to respond to Miyuki.

“This is because of all the annoying people looking for me.”

“Ah, the media,” Honoka responded.

“Looks like Kichijouji’s statement about jointly developing it with Tatsuya renewed the reporters’ enthusiasm. This morning was hectic,” Erika added.

“Yeah.”

Mizuki nodded to agree with Erika’s and Honoka’s statements.

“They can’t get Tatsuya, so they’re pressing you, Miyuki-san?

“…that’s a difficult situation to be in, since you can’t use force against them. Since this is connected to secrets of national defense, it’s probably best to let the government settle the issue.”

“Indeed,” Miyuki responded curtly in contrast to Leo’s short speech.

“So how is this related to Lina’s transfer?” Shizuku asked.

Shizuku referred to Lina by her first name despite this being their first meeting. Her time spent as a transfer student in the USNA probably helped her get used to this type of addressing.

“Lina is a master of disguise magic,” Miyuki responded. “She can completely change someone’s appearance.”

“Even better than you, Honoka?” Shizuku asked, now addressing Honoka.

Honoka could change her appearance by creating a 3D projection, but this couldn’t even remotely compare to Parade.

“Much better than me.”

“That’s amazing!” Shizuku responded.

“…so, you can transform more than just yourself?”

Erika waited for Honoka and Shizuku to finish their conversation, then turned to Lina.

“Yes. It’s actually easier to use it on another person if they don’t resist, because when applying it to myself, I can only check the result with a mirror.”

“Yeah, and if you only have one mirror, you can’t check your back,” Erika added.

“Exactly.”

Erika and Lina were communicating easily with each other. It was almost unbelievable that they were trying to kill each other not even two years earlier.

Lina and Miyuki had also once fought each other in a duel with Muspelheim and Niflheim. Nilfheim could neutralize an enemy with hypothermia, while Muspelheim generally caused instant death or fatal injuries.

“So you will be walking to school together, then?” Honoka asked, changing the subject.

Miyuki answered with a slightly apologetic look.

“Yes… until the media loses interest, Lina and I will only return home from school with each other.”

“That is, we shouldn’t approach either? Since if familiar faces are nearby, you might be revealed?”

“Exactly. Thanks, Erika.”

Miyuki winked at Erika, thanking her for showing concern.

Erika winked back.

In addition to First High, all 8 other high schools of magic reopened at the same time.

Third High was no exception, but Ichijou Masaki and Kichijouji Shinkuro weren’t at school.

They decided not to attend because of all the reporters trying to get material. The perseverance of the media wasn’t just causing issues for Tatsuya and Miyuki. Their determination to find information about the new officially recognized Strategic Class Magician and the main developer was even stronger than their persistence in searching for Tatsuya and Miyuki.

Had they gone to school, they would have troubled their classmates and underclassmen even more. Reporters were swarming the school without them even there; it would have been incomparably worse had they chosen to attend. Considering this, Masaki and Kichijouji decided to start summer “vacation” early – though it wasn’t really much of a vacation.

Kichijouji still took up work at the institute and Masaki still had to guard Liu Li Lei at the Komatsu base, so they were given official days off from the director of third high –

Maeda Chizuru - in order to fulfill official jobs.

In addition, the private school Masaki’s younger sister Ichijou Akane goes to announced the start of summer holidays today since the external threat had not yet been resolved – in total, 10 days were added to the summer holidays.

Thus, the brother and sister of the Ichijou family spent the start of their summer at Komatsu base.

***

Akane and Li Lei became friends quickly, but Masaki’s relationship with the commander of Li Lei’s escort detachment was still tense.

Akane and Li Lei were currently sitting at a table in the center of the room sitting shoulder to shoulder. Akane was using one of her textbooks – stored on her portable tablet terminal – to teach Li Lei general information about Japan.

They were being watching by Masaki and Commander Lin from opposite corners or the room. They didn’t converse at all – all of their conversations quickly turned into fierce arguments about their next course of actions. Masaki knew he was being childish, but they ended up piercing each other with their gazes from opposite ends of the room since they couldn’t ignore each other. Staying vigilant, Masaki spent his time studying with one of his textbooks.

In addition to the 2 pairs in the center and the corners, soldiers from both the Great Asian Alliance and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces were in the room – Commander Lin’s subordinates and soldiers currently on active duty in Komatsu Base, Masaki felt uneasy here, but he couldn’t leave. He had accepted the duty of watching over and taking care of Akane, so if he noticed Commander Lin or her subordinates start taking hostile action, he would work with the soldiers of the base to subdue them.

Masaki quelled his anxiety with patience and studied while remaining vigilant.

However, at just 1 PM, Masaki’s stomach started hurting from hunger.

Masaki had a visitor from another base in the lobby of the special residential building where he and Li Lei’s group were staying.

Komatsu base was an air base, but the visitor was an officer in the land forces. It was Lieutenant Chiba Naotsugu from the Sword Corps. It was a temporary assignment, Masaki didn’t really understand this. It didn’t really matter though, as the information the visitor provided was far more important.

Chiba Naotsugu was still a student at the academy of defense, so it was weird for him to have the rank of Lieutenant – it had only been granted to him under special conditions. He had been given the rank because of his achievements and his fame as

“one of the ten best fighters in the world at a distance less than 3 meters.” He needed an officer rank because he often participated in joint operations with security personnel of allied countries.

Incidentally, the platoon commander of the Sword Corps had been a Senior Lieutenant, and the commanders of each of the units were Lieutenants, so Naotsugu had the same rank as the individual commanders. He was technically out ranked, though, because the commanders of each unit had all served for longer than he had.

Two of the unit commanders had also been sent here, but they were currently organizing and coordinating with the base command.

As a result, Naotsugu currently held the highest rank among the remaining soldiers in the squad, so he headed to Masaki’s and Li Lei’s groups to explain the situation.

“Lu Ganghu will attack us?” Commander Lin said, startled.

“We don’t have evidence that this report is true, but we came here considering it might be,” Naotsugu responded.

Naotsugu’s calm contrasted Commander Lin’s panic. However, his vague speech style that failed to say anything about how factual the information was gave Lin some doubt.

“…that is, you left Tokyo without even checking anything?”

The Sword Corps were based in Tokyo, hence Lin’s assumption that he had departed from there. Her statement was correct, however – the Sword Corps were sent because of the message they received about the sabotage detachment from the GAA. The army couldn’t ignore it and gave it a higher priority than capturing Kudou Minoru.

However, they had no reason to explain unconfirmed facts to refugees from another country.

“There isn’t any clear evidence, but we need to be prepared for the worst. That’s all I can say.”

Naotsugu’s reply didn’t completely convince Lin, but she stopped arguing.

“Please don’t leave this building until it is confirmed to be safe.”

“For how long?” Li Lei asked Naotsugu.

“We are currently looking for Lu Ganghu with police assistance. We will find him in a day or two as well as the rest of the saboteurs who have entered the country.”

As soon as Naotsugu said this, Commander Lin grew nervous.

However, only Mari, standing next to Naotsugu, noticed the minor change in her demeanor.

It was the first day back at school for the students at First High after the three-day school closing, but there were only 10 days left before summer break so many students still had plenty of time. Their freedom was further increased from the cancellation of the Nine Schools Competition that was usually held during the summer holidays.

Classes in First High lasted until 3:30 PM, but most students engaged in club activities after school, so they stayed a bit later.

Usually, the school board had enough work during this time of year to force them to stay at school until the sun had fallen over the horizon – even in long daylight hours of summer. However, without the Nine Schools Competition increasing many students work load, it was still light when students involved in club activities left the school.

Miyuki walked with Lina – who had successfully passed her entrance exams – to the station a bit before everyone else. Her appearance was currently disguised – she looked like a girl with chestnut-colored hair and matching eyes.

The other members of their company waited in the cafeteria for a bit, talking with each other. Their group had initially come together with Tatsuya and Miyuki at the core, but they were all now good enough friends to meet up even when the siblings weren’t around. They left after a short discussion.

However, about halfway along the road to the station, Erika suddenly looked up into the window of the second floor of a roadside coffee shop.

“Erika-chan, what happened?”

Mizuki noticed her pause and immediately turned towards her.

Erika turned around, slowing her pace to allow Mizuki to catch up.

“I felt a strange gaze on me,” she answered.

“Strange gaze?” Mikihiko questioned.

The group left at the same time, but their difference in walking speed caused them to separate slightly. However, with Erika’s sudden pausing, they were all grouping up again.

“I didn’t feel it all that clearly, but… it was as if something was looking at me from behind, wriggling into me… hmm. An evil gaze. Yeah, that’s the right word.”

“Evil look?” Honoka asked.

“What do you mean? Are you trying to scare us?” Shizuku said with slight disgust.

Shizuku and Honoka caught up to the three and gave Erika a slightly reproachful gaze.

“Erika, you said you didn’t understand its intent? So you don’t know if it means harm…?

Mikihiko paid more attention to Erika’s lack of understanding than her wording calling it evil.

“I was a little relaxed. I wasn’t on guard, but when I felt it and focused on detecting it, it simply disappeared. It might just be my imagination,” Erika responded, explaining herself.

“You were relaxed, so you lost sight of the enemy? Are you sure you didn’t just stumble upon a mirror?”

“Shut up, moronic lump of boob.”

Erika kicked Leo in the leg.

She didn’t have any experience in kicking martial arts, but it still hurt enough to make Leo grab one leg from the pain and start jumping up and down – which was especially surprising considering Leo’s resistance to pain. Apparently, Erika’s kicks hurt more than being hit by a motorcycle.

“~~Oi! What did you put in your shoe?”

“Who knows…” Erika responded.

“Oh you…!”

Leo looked ready to pound on Erika at any moment while Erika stretched out a magical baton and prepared to fight.

“Hey, you two!”

Mikihiko hurriedly got between them.

“Leo, calm down. You spoke too far just now.”

“Erika-chan, violence isn’t for girls! Why did you have to kick him so suddenly?”

Mikihiko subdued Leo while Mizuki chided Erika, but their antics distracted everyone from the original topic and the question of the “evil eye” went unresolved.

Only Honoka turned to look at the window Erika had stopped at.

A man and a woman sat at a table by the window on the second floor of the roadside coffee shop mentioned above.

“…were we seen?” the woman asked.

“No, I don’t think people noticed. People wouldn’t be able to distinguish our faces with the naked eye from such a distance, and there weren’t any signs of magic usage,”

the man responded.

“They definitely noticed our presence, at least,” the woman continued.

“Yes. Their skill exceeded our expectations.”

The pair sitting across from each other like a couple were in fact members of the Horsehead squad of the Illegal MAP. Different members were present than in the morning, but their purpose was the same.

“So Angie’s report wasn’t an exaggeration?” the woman asked.

“Even a small girl was able to become Sirius.”

The man didn’t explicitly say what he meant, but his meaning was clear: they shouldn’t underestimate their opponents just because they were young.

“What do we do?”

“The final decision will be made by the squad leader, but I would prefer to avoid the swordswoman from the Chiba family.”

“I agree,” the woman responded. “What about Mitsui?”

“I think she’s fine. She found nothing, even when our location was pointed out to her.”

“Understood.”

Talking, the pair didn’t even bother looking at the group of schoolchildren they had been watching for anymore.

 

Lieutenant Lin, the commander of Liu Li Lei’s escort detachment, was actually a spy for the New Soviet Union. Enemy spies often tried to occupy important positions in organizational structures, especially between countries with long land borders.

Since this happens often, countries monitor for penetration of spies very closely. The Great Asian Alliance was no exception, and the selection process in choosing an escort for their official Strategic Class Magician, Liu Li Lei, many suitable candidates were selected and screened extremely closely with a truth serum. Many candidates lost their identities during processing as the Great Asian Alliance attempted to brainwash them.

Even so, there was always the possibility for there to be a spy among them. Spying and counterintelligence played a vicious back and forth to counter each other’s methods, and in this situation, the New Soviet Union came out on top. Lieutenant Lin’s special ability was stronger than the anti-spyware measures of the Great Asian Alliance’s military, allowing her make it through screening.

Her ability is hypnosis – not mental interference magic, just hypnosis. It was considered a special ability because to use it as Lieutenant Lin had, one needed to be able to use the advanced technique at an extremely high level.

Lieutenant Lin’s hypnosis could penetrate deep into the subject’s mind at a level similar to mental interference magic, and she could use it on herself. This is how she was able to bypass the effects of the truth serum – she hypnotized herself in order to pass the Great Asian Alliance’s tests.

This is much easier said than done, however. She needed to set up a situation in which she would pass the screening while not acting overly suspicious, all without knowing the specifics of the screening process. This isn’t even accounting for the difficulty of the technique – and she couldn’t “cheat” and use magic anywhere or the GAA would have noticed the trick. Luckily, her trick didn’t use any magic and she wasn’t a particularly high-skilled enough magician for the GAA to be wary of her.

Even entering the country and receiving orders from the NSU was beyond difficult –

in addition to the state, a multitude of other armed groups monitored invasions of enemy magicians.

However, despite all the difficulties, Lieutenant Lin managed to find a position as the escort of Liu Li Lei, but now everything seemed to be on the verge of falling apart.

Lu Ganghu was leading a sabotage detachment from the GAA that seemed to be assigned to kill Liu Li Lei.

Lieutenant Lin needed to quickly find a way out of the situation. Her one advantage was her nonmagical hypnosis ability, which ignored magic resistance.

***

The residential buildings provided to Liu Li Lei and her escort detachment were guarded by magicians preventing both outsiders from coming in and the refugees from leaving. They were chosen with priority given to resistance to mental intervention magic over offensive strength, and were given anti-magic projection to add onto their already-high resistances.

The government was confident that the guards were safe from external control, giving Lieutenant Lin a big advantage – not only was her technique not guarded against, the enemy had grown complacent thinking they were safe.

Knowing this, Lieutenant Lin began her plan to get out of the situation.

“I need something that I can’t get inside the base… it will only take an hour. May I have permission to leave?”

Lieutenant Lin directed her request to the soldiers responsible for guarding the residential building while Li Lei took a bath with Akane.

The soldiers looked at each other, puzzled, before turning back to Lin.

“What exactly do you need to buy?” one soldier asked.

“Something necessary for women from the GAA.”

“I can buy it for you.”

“…no, it’s embarrassing,” Lin responded.

Any further attempts the soldiers made to argue this only caused an embarrassed reaction from Lin.

“Why at this time?” the other soldier asked, changing the topic after seeing the progress made on the original topic.

“While Lieutenant Liu Li Lei is in the bathroom, I don’t have to worry that Ichijou Masaki will lead her away.”

For some reason, this answer convinced both soldiers and they conceded this topic, allowing Lin to go outside on the condition that they escorted her to the store themselves despite not getting permission from base command.

The soldiers posted at the gates of Komatsu base in order to protect Liu Li Lei were vigilantly waiting for an attack from the outside by Lu Ganghu, so they weren’t paying much attention to Lin, leaving through the gate of the base accompanied by soldiers from surveillance.

***

Mari watched the army convertible driving past her with suspicion. Some time earlier, when Naotsugu was explaining the current situation to the group centered around Liu Li Lei, she noticed a flash of anxiety flash in Lin’s eyes.

“Xu.”

Mari turned to face Naotsugu. She was walking with him along a city street.

“Did you notice something?”

Naotsugu stopped searching for suspicious shadows in the neighborhood to face Mari.

“Lieutenant Lin was in the car that just passed by.”

Naotsugu knit his brow after hearing what Mari said.

“The commander of Lieutenant Liu’s escort and guard? I asked them to refrain from going outside.”

Naotsugu trusted Mari and didn’t check if she was certain – she would have said so otherwise.

“She was with two soldiers from her surveillance.”

“Then it isn’t surprising she was able to leave…”

Naotsugu made a slightly confused comment.

“No, it’s still strange she was able to leave as a refugee in this circumstance. Usually it should have been impossible to go outside without permission.”

“…yeah, that’s how it should have been.”

Staying alert, Naotsugu agreed with Mari’s argument. He wasn’t sure how to process the events so far.

“Did the supervising soldiers receive an important clue about the agents penetrating the country, or are they being manipulated?” Naotsugu said, thinking out loud.

“Mental interference magic?” Mari asked Naotsugu with a slightly pale face.

It would be a terrible nightmare if a skilled user of mental interference magic penetrated a military facility. They would be able to mass produce traitors and spikes without spending time, effort, or money.

“No, if magic were used on the base, it would quickly be detected and dealt with.”

“…yeah, that’s how it is. Sorry, I panicked.”

“You calmed down too quickly, Mari,” Naotsugu said, his face becoming more serious.

Mari’s face seemed relieved, but Naotsugu chided her. The most likely scenario was that the soldiers were being manipulated, and it became much harder to deal with if it wasn’t done with magic.

“You don’t need magic to manipulate other people. You have a technique like that too, don’t you?”

Mari’s eyes shot open in surprise. As Naotsugu said, Mari had a technique that manipulated airflow to mix various harmless, legal aromatic substances to loosen a target’s mind.

“Per haps Lieutenant Lin is manipulating the supervising soldiers with a non-magical method,” Naotsugu finished.

“Like with a drug?” Mari asked.

“No, she wouldn’t have been able to carry drugs into the base. Lieutenant Lin is a woman, so she must have used something that doesn’t arouse suspicion.

…perhaps, hypnosis with the use of precious stones.”

“Hypnosis can allow one to impose their will on another?”

Mari asked this question since her technique could only lower people’s willfulness. She couldn’t completely subordinate someone’s will.

“I don’t know the techniques very well, so my answer could be wrong, but… even if it’s impossible to gain complete control of another person, I think’s its at least possible to manipulate their will in a specific direction.”

“…to direct their will? You mean direct their thinking?”

“Lead their thinking? …hmm. Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

Naotsugu thought about Mari’s paraphrasing before aggreging with it.

“That wording is more appropriate. It doesn’t matter whether it’s hypnosis or something else – when you need to convince someone of a different opinion, you need to lead them along. You can’t just directly explain your thinking to them – you need to lead them to the way you think.”

“You think so? So, even with hypnosis, you can’t force the target to do something they are completely against, but you can nudge them towards the path you intend for them to go.”

“Yeah. Then, it’s likely she was able to deceive the guards into removing themselves from the base.”

“…I understand the theory.”

Mari quickly collected her thoughts before looking at Naotsugu.

“If the soldiers surveilling her are manipulated, then it’s a serious matter, Xu.”

“Yes. This isn’t something where we stand on the side and just let things happen. We don’t have time to leisurely discuss everything.”

As he said this, Naotsugu pulled a portable army terminal out of his breast pocket.

“Xu, what are you doing…?”

“We need to temporarily stop looking for Lu Ganghu. We can’t just let Lieutenant Lin execute whatever her plan is – it’s too much of a risk.”

Naotsugu answered Mari while writing commands with his finger on the mobile terminal screen.

“The current location of their vehicle should be easy to track. They shouldn’t be moving stealthily… great. I found them. Let’s leave for Lieutenant Lin now.”

“Got it.”

Naotsugu and Mari ran in the direction of the car they were tracking using high-speed movement magic.

The soldiers accompanying Lieutenant Lin brought her to the a pharmacy of the Hong Kong Pharmacological Network located a few minutes away from the base.

There weren’t any official diplomatic relations between Japan and the Great Asian Alliance after the last war, but there was still economic exchange in the private sector, and many companies operated in both countries.

“Please wait here,” Lin told the soldiers and entered the pharmacy. The front wall was made of glass, and one could easily see what was going on inside from the road, so the soldiers allowed her to go in alone as long as she only approached the counter.

Lin stopped in front of a counter with a female cashier that looked to be in her 20s behind it. The cashier had black hair with matching black eyes, as was typical of the East Asian demographic. Her appearance was innocent enough, and didn’t appear at all connected with the GAA or the NSU, but this was intended – who would choose a suspicious looking person to infiltrate enemy territory? The cashier was, in fact, Lin’s contact with the NSU.

“I’m having problems with Asian dust1.”

Lin spoke to a Cantonese saleswoman about a seemingly honest topic, but it was a cipher. “Asian dust” was code for the Great Asian Alliance, and Lin’s words indicated that she was fearing an attack.

“Really? I thought the busiest season already passed.”

The saleswoman also answered in a cipher. Her words meant “large-scale military was not observed.”

“It seems that a little dust still made it here.”

“Then, do you want a test drug?” the cashier asked.

“No, I would like you to prescribe the ointment before the symptoms appear.”

But reconnaissance wasn’t enough anymore. Lin wanted them to send an opposition detachment.

“As you wish.

…and what is the dosage?”

Suddenly, the saleswoman stopped using the cipher, and spoke as one would expect in the situation. Lin found this strange.

“Has anything unusual happened?”

1Dust clouds affecting East Asia originating in the Gobi desert in Mongolia, Northern China, and Kazakhstan where high speed surface winds kick up intense dust storms.

This mainly affects China, North and South Korea, Japan, and parts of Eastern Russia.

She was actually asking if Lin wanted the reconnaissance squad to search for them.

Suddenly, Lin heard a voice from behind her.

“Lieutenant Lin.”

Suddenly hearing a voice she had hoped not to hear, she turned around in confusion and panic.

“Captain Lu!” Lin shouted, clearly startled, but she couldn’t say anything more.

Lu Ganghu’s huge hand grabbed her neck, and she couldn’t speak further.

“You did will. You aren’t needed anymore,” the Man-Eating Tiger said to the NSU agent acting as a saleswoman.

After Ganghu said this, the agent headed to the back of the store. Seeing this, Lin understood everything.

The agent had submitted to Lu Ganghu before she had arrived. She had probably been tortured, even though she had no external wounds.

With his skills, Lu Ganghu could give the victim enough pain for them to wish for death without letting any of it show on their exterior. The pain making their lives a nightmare deprived the victim of their desire to resist. It wasn’t surprising for the agent to succumb to his torture.

Lu Ganghu smiled while Lin was in despair.

She was about to face the same unfortunate fate as the agent she had just been talking to.

Except, in her case, it wouldn’t end with just torture. All that awaited her was death.

Lin’s last thread of hope was on the street, but when Lin found no hope when she looked toward where the soldiers escorting her had been.

Two Japanese soldiers sat with their heads down in the seats of their convertible. They looked to be asleep, but this wasn’t the case.

Lin intuitively knew they were already dead. Lu Ganghu would never have left them alive.

Lin probably should have expected this – the soldiers escorting her were not even close to being Lu Ganghu’s rivals – but she had at least held hope that they could distract him for long enough for her to escape.

“Traitor, Lin Yiyi.”

Lu Ganghu called Lieutenant Lin by her full name without a title, scorning her.

“Call Liu Li Lei for help,” Lu Ganghu said as he slightly loosened his grip on her neck, allowing her to clear her throat.

Lin thought about Lu Ganghu’s goal.

His plan probably wasn’t as simple as luring Liu Li Lei here to kill her. The Japanese army wouldn’t just allow her to leave the base.

Lin’s task as an NSU spy was to escape with Li Lei to Japan to create an excuse to start a war. She had already completed her task, and there was no chance that the NSU

would send help – to them, she was just a consumable item, and she didn’t hold enough value to make her worth saving.

She also didn’t hold much value to the Japanese army. They may feel a bit of shame that a refugee was killed while under their protection, but to the Japanese government, she was just an addition to Liu Li Lei. The Japanese government also wouldn’t see her as worth saving.

Even if she cal ed for help, the Japanese army wouldn’t do anything if it put Liu Li Lei in danger.

Lu Ganghu definitely understood this.

Lin was confused. She shouldn’t hold any value as bait, but Lu Ganghu still took a mobile terminal from his pocket and handed it to her after searching her body with his free hand.

Ignoring her confusion, he said, “You don’t have a choice.”

She could try to tell Lu Ganghu it was pointless, but she did as she was told and opened a communication channel to her subordinates still at the base.

Komatsu base was in chaos.

“Why was Lieutenant Lin released from the base?”

Shouts could be heard around the base.

“Why is Lu Ganghu in a store in the middle of the city?”

“If this guy tried to create chaos, damage to civilians is inevitable! This is a replay of Yokohama!”

Cries were being exchanged throughout the base.

“Why would he appear there? Even if he is the Man-Eating Tiger, didn’t he trap himself?”

Most soldiers didn’t understand what was going on in the chaos and a variety of opinions were being formed based on incomplete information.

Lieutenant Lin had been taken hostage by Lu Ganghu, and part of Komatsu base’s command felt that Liu Li Lei should be notified since she would find out anyway if Lieutenant Lin was killed – and the probably of her dying was quite high.

The base command didn’t want Li Lei’s opinion of the Japanese military to deteriorate as a result of them hiding the information, so she was informed that Lieutenant Lin was taken hostage.

“Let me go!”

Liu Li Lei begged the Japanese soldiers guarding her to let her leave to find Lieutenant Lin.

Her reaction was quite predictable – it had been the main argument for hiding the information.

“You can’t. You are under the protection of our army.”

Still, the army had prepared for this reaction.

“But! If I don’t go... Lin-jiejie…!”

Liu Li Lei had lost her composure from distress. She usually only used called Lieutenant Lin “Lin-jiejie,” equivalent to calling her “Lin-neesan,” in personal conversations between the two. Most of the soldiers understood this, but some of the more dense ones wondered who Lin-jiejie was.

“Lieutenant Liu, even if you go, Lieutenant Lin will probably not be released. All you will do is allow Lu Ganghu to kill her sooner.”

However, Liu Li Lei had lost the ability to understand rational arguments and could no longer think soberly.

“Then what do I do…?”

She looked around with pleading eyes, but no one responded to her looks.

“…nii-san, can’t you do something?”

Liu Li Lei hung her had, looking ready to cry, completely hopeless. Watching this, Akane asked her brother if he could help, looking as if she too, was about to cry.

Her voice and Li Lei’s pathetic look touched Masaki’s heart, but…

“Sorry, Akane.”

He couldn’t help.

“I don’t know why he showed up at a pharmacy in the city instead of the base, or why he took Commander Lin hostage, but I do know one thing for sure.

Lu Ganghu’s end goal is Lieutenant Liu. I need to stay here at my post in order to protect Lieutenant Liu if all else fails.”

“….”

Akane bit her lip and continued to look at Masaki, but she didn’t say anything further.

Masaki also bit his lip and turned away from her gaze.

He was facing a dilemma.

As he had stated, Lu Ganghu’s goal was killing Liu Li Lei, so her protection needed to be given priority, but at the same time the Japanese army couldn’t simply stand by and observe the murder of Lieutenant Lin. They didn’t yet know Lieutenant Lin was a NSU spy, so to them, Lieutenant Lin was a refugee who needed to be protected.

They knew that the guards escorting Lieutenant Lin had already been killed by monitoring their vital signs, and given the situation, it was clearly done by Lu Ganghu or his subordinates. Since Lu Ganghu also posed a threat to public safety, the base needed to send soldiers to preserve their honor and eliminate this threat. The only question was how many people to send.

Was capturing Lu Ganghu possible if enough soldiers left immediately, or was Lu Ganghu acting as bait to reduce the number of soldiers and therefore the strength of the base?

How many soldiers were necessary to capture one of the strongest melee fighters in the world?

Lu Ganghu was able to use Steel Qigong to reflect shots from firearms, making him a formidable enemy no matter the situation. Sending a small number of people to be safe would just be giving them a death sentence, but sending too many people raised concerns for the base.

Komatsu base was in a deadlock. They didn’t know what move to make. The only way out of the situation lay in the unknown activity happening behind the scenes.

In this case, only Chiba Naotsugu and Watanabe Mari were in a position to pull Komatsu base out of this situation.

Naotsugu and Mari arrived at the pharmacy 5 minutes after Lu Ganghu captured Lieutenant Lin.

The building was currently off limits to civilians, and the entire quarter was cordoned off by the police. Using a convenient excuse, they restricted people from both entering and exiting the area.

Dressed in military uniforms, Naotsugu and Mari passed by the police without being stopped. They were concentrating on high-speed movement magic, so they still didn’t know about the incident with the hostage.

After arriving at the location, Mari noticed Lu Ganghu inside the building while searching for Lin.

At the same time, Lu Ganghu saw Mari standing outside.

Lu Ganghu roared from inside the building, letting out his battle cry. He threw Lin’s body threw the window of the pharmacy, but Mari didn’t have time to catch her.

Lu Ganghu was right behind Lin, jumping through the now broken window. His fist was on a trajectory directly towards her face. While his attack seemed to be rash and impulsive, Mari wasn’t in a defensive stance and didn’t have time to react.

She was inches away from death when Naotsugu stopped his attack.

“Xu?”

Chiba Naotsugu, the Illusion Blade, and Lu Ganghu, the Steel Qigong clashed, sending sparks out.

“Chiba Naotsugu!”

“Lu Ganghu!”

“I’ve been waiting for this!” Lu Ganghu yelled.

Chiba Naotsugu and Lu Ganghu were among the best melee fighters in the world and were worthy adversaries.

And with that, the battle between the young master of the “Art of the Thousand Blades” and the mad tiger began.

Mari had nearly died from Lu Ganghu’s sudden attack, but now she was focusing on the magnificent image of her lover and savior.

She watched as Lu Ganghu’s fist, strong enough to mow down thick trees or crush rocks, flew towards Naotsugu.

Rather than try to parry the fist’s strength, he used the sharpness of the sword to counter the strike, knowing that he didn’t hold the advantage in a battle of brute force.

Mari’s eyes were riveted on the techniques of her beloved.

It took about ten exchanges for Mari to finally come to her senses and start analyzing the situation.

Her first action was to rush to the convertible that brought Lin.

“Damn. They’re dead.”

Seeing their state, she entered the pharmacy. Lu Ganghu didn’t have the ability to stop her and didn’t try, so she entered easily. While she could have tried to join the fight, she would probably have caused as much harm as she did help – Naotsugu would start to focus on protecting her, and she couldn’t do much in this battle.

Suddenly, as she entered the pharmacy, she heard a gunshot suppressed by a silencer.

Slightly inside the pharmacy was a woman – the NSU agent acting as a cashier – pointing a gun at Lieutenant Lin. Having hit her target, she quickly shifted her aim to Mari, but before she could pull the trigger, Mari slashed the woman’s gun-hand.

The gun toppled to the floor, and Mari stepped slightly closer to the woman.

She still held her three-piece sword in her right hand, but she instead reached out with the three cylindric containers in her left hand. Inside were various scents, and using magic to manipulate the airflow, Mari directed the scents into the woman’s naval cavity.

A moment later, the woman fainted.

Confirming that the technique had worked, Mari set the woman onto the floor and headed to Lin, sinking down beside her on one knee.

It was already too late. The bullet had hit her vitals, and Lin died instantly.

Mari quickly prepared to interrogate the woman who shot Lin. Naotsugu and Lu Ganghu were still fighting outside the building, but Mari felt she would be most useful if she learned more about the situation first.

***

The battle between Naotsugu and Lu Ganghu was completely even. Lu Ganghu fought with his usual style, forcefully suppressing his opponent with pure power, but Naotsugu countered this with a style less familiar to him, relying on his speed to defend.

Naotsugu usually fought using magic to control his inertia, accelerating and stopping his movement instantly. This gave off the appearance of after images, seeming to be an illusion – hence the name of the style.

However, now Naotsugu was only defending against his enemy’s attacks with the sharp, strong blade of his sword. His techniques as a so-called “Genius Swordsman” worked well.

The nervous one in this situation was Lu Ganghu.

Naotsugu had come here in pursuit of Lieutenant Lin, who was acting suspiciously, but his initial purpose had been searching for Lu Ganghu. This random turn of events coincidentally aligned with Naotsugu’s main mission, so he was eager to fight Lu Ganghu and was prepared.

On the other hand, Lu Ganghu hadn’t expected a battle with the young master swordsman of the Chiba family. His only mission had been to prevent Liu Li Lei from falling into Japan’s hands and becoming a weapon against the Great Asian Alliance by executing her.

He had attacked Mari out of anger and revenge after she defeated him in Yokohama, but he hadn’t prepared for a match of this level at all. While he was ready to fight in general, his mental state wasn’t as focused as he would like it to be, and he still needed to concentrate on his mission, so while he was eager to fight Naotsugu again, he worried that this fight would be at the expense of the success of the mission.

A fine line separated victory and defeat in this fight, and Lu Ganghu’s mental state was bringing him down. The difference between them came not from a difference in skill, but from a difference in readiness.

Naotsugu attacked with a horizontal swing perpendicular to Lu Ganghu’s vertical punch. While Lu Ganghu’s technique protected him from having his hand cut off, he couldn’t stop the force of the swing and his fist was drove away from its path.

Despite this, Naotsugu’s legs both sunk into the ground as a result of this clash. Seeing an opportunity, Lu Ganghu started to use one of his most powerful technique: a crushing blow with both palms. He wrapped his palms, his tiger paws, in Steel Qigong, and started the technique stronger than a tank’s front armor.

Had Naotsugu been hit, his body would have been torn into pieces as if he had a stick of dynamite in his mouth.

However, the attack was not enough to finish Naotsugu.

Lu Ganghu had been mistaken about the distance of the strike, and half a second before the impact, Naotsugu started controlling his inertia.

He hadn’t abandoned using his Illusion Blade – he had abstained from using it to make his enemy forget about it, saving it for a decisive blow.

Naotsugu lunged towards Lu Ganghu’s chest, but Lu Ganghu caught the blade with his hands, protecting his vitals.

He couldn’t get away from this unharmed, however, and right before he grabbed the blade, Naotsugu turned the blade a quarter of a rotation causing it to dig into Lu Ganghu’s right fist.

Still, his left fist was enough to stop the sword, and he grasped the blunt side before it stabbed his chest.

Lu Ganghu smiled. While his right arm was injured and his left was grasping the sword, he still had his legs and Naotsugu was stuck holding onto his seized sword.

However, Lu Ganghu’s kick never happened.

Naotsugu exhaled and let go of his sword while Lu Ganghu collapsed, still holding the sword.

He only released the sword when he finished falling backwards. Once he confirmed that everything was over, Naotsugu relaxed.

“The prick of the shadow… a technique of the hidden sword,” Naotsugu murmured to himself.

He had thrust with a sharp psion blade. The technique mimicked the heart being pierced. It wasn’t mental interference magic, which only affects one’s consciousness – the technique deceived the very soul by directly affecting the psionic information body accompanying the physical body.

A hidden sword which stops the heart.

Naotsugu’s temples showed sweat flowing in streams, and he sunk to his knee, exhausted.

 

When she returned to the base, Mari informed Masaki and the others that Lu Ganghu was defeated.

Despite this, Li Lei didn’t rejoice.

Since Lin wasn’t with Mari, she could assume what had happened.

“Lin-jie… is Lin-jie dead?” Liu Li Lei asked with shaking lips. “She was secretly communicating with the NSU army and… was killed by her ally, another NSU

agent…?”

“Yes,” Mari replied solemnly.

“Liar!”

Li Lei broke into a fit towards Mari.

“You say this based on the unfounded words of an NSU agent!” Li Lei yelled.

Mari’s solemn face – calm and serious – contrasted Liu’s face flushed with anger.

“Lieutenant Lin, codename Taiga, was ordered to organize your escape to Japan in order to create an excuse for the NSU to declare war against Japan. The agent I questioned, Sasha Foo, admitted this.”

“That’s nonsense!”

;”Lieutenant Lin, don’t you think it’s strange that when you escaped from the air base in Primorsky Krai, Vozdizhenka, the NSU reacted late? The Far Eastern army was deployed north of Vladivostok, yet the only sent fighters in pursuit after you flew over their heads. Ordinarily this shouldn’t be possible. The NSU wouldn’t have ignored a plane that could turn out to be a bomber.”

“But…”

“In addition, the Far Eastern army should have been wary about observation from the air.”

Liu Li Lei finally stopped objecting, starting to accept what had happened. She was able to recover quickly because she had been told about Lieutenant Lin’s situation in advance.

“You’re not to blame here, Lieutenant. You were used. Sasha Foo confirmed this.”

“Lin-jie just used me…”

Watching Liu Li Lei’s shocked muttering, Mari frowned. She felt anger towards the New Soviet Union, especially Lin Yiyi, for using this child as a disposable pawn. She also was angry at the Great Asian Alliance for making her a Strategic Class Magician at her age.

“We will now interrogate the other members of your escort detachment. You cannot be in contact with any of them until we are certain that there are no NSU spies hidden among them,” Mari said.

“Please wait!” Masaki spoke up. “Lieutenant Lin is a fourteen-year-old girl. Separating her from her compatriots in a foreign country is a bit…. Haven’t you already learned who is a spy from Sasha Foo? So you don’t need to keep them in isolation anymore!”

“Masaki-san…?” Liu called Masaki with a confused face.

She hadn’t expected Masaki to object. He had proposed taking her to his home previously, saying she needed to be separated from Lin-jie so her thoughts were spinning as she tried to make sense of his reasoning.

“Sasha Foo only knew about one spy – Lieutenant Lin,” Mari said.

“Then…!”

Mari sighed slightly at Masaki’s raised tone. It made the situation feel urgent.

“Ichijou-kun, I understand your reasoning, but this is a necessary measure. Surely you understand this.”

“…”

Masaki and Mari weren’t personally acquainted, but they knew their relationship as senpai/kohai when looking from the point of view of the University of Magic in general, so Mari spoke as a senpai – not as a member of the military.

“Luckily, Lieutenant Liu speaks Japanese fluently. I want you guys to keep her company.

Okay, Lieutenant Liu. That’s all I have to say. On this note, I say goodbye to you.”

Mari saluted to Liu Li Lei before leaving.

“Lei-chan…”

Akane turned to face Li Lei. She was looking down, barely managing to stay standing.

“Let’s sit down?”

Li Lei didn’t resist Akane’s hand grasping hers, and the fourteen-year-old girls sat down side by side on the sofa. However, Akane didn’t know how to proceed. All she could do was be with her.

Neither her nor the adults knew what to do next.

Masaki was the next one to speak.

“Lieutenant Liu. I don’t think Lieutenant Lin betrayed you.”

“Masaki-san?”

“Nii-san?”

Akane and Li Lei spoke simultaneously, looking up in sync.

Masaki couldn’t help but flinch at their reactions, but he caught himself and continued his explanation.

“I can’t say for sure, and I can’t claim to know exactly what she was thinking. We only met a week ago, and we quarreled the entire time, unable to understand each other.”

Masaki paused for a moment before continuing.

“But I don’t think that Lieutenant Lin’s worry for Lieutenant Liu was faked.”

“Even if Lieutenant Lin was a spy for the NSU. Even if your escape was just part of the NSU strategy…”

Masaki looked straight into Liu Li Lei’s eyes.

“She defended you from both the NSU and the GAA by escaping to Japan.

This is an indisputable fact.”

“Ah…”

Liu Li Lei sighed faintly.

“Also, Lu Ganghu’s sabotage ended up failing, partly because Lieutenant Lin left the base.

While I don’t know what she was planning, in the end, Lieutenant Lin defended you at the cost of her own life, so even if it wasn’t her intent, she deserves respect for the outcome.”

“Wa…”

Liu sounded if like she was about to cry.

Seeing this, Masaki stopped his speech and left her to Akane.

“Ahh…”

Li Lei covered her face with her hands and cried. Akane put her arm around her shoulder, sending Masaki a reproachful glare.

Masaki answered with his eyes, as if to say, “I’ll take my leave” as he ran away from the lobby.

However, rather than receiving an exasperated stare from Akane, her look was warm, as if saying, “nothing can be done about you.”

“How is this guy a “Man-eating Tiger”! He is useless!” Minoru shouted angrily.

His temporary annoyance had exceeded his self-control, and he shouted loudly. If the study made by Zhou Gongjin hadn’t been soundproofed, he would have surprised Minami.

“He couldn’t buy me any time at all!”

After venting his anger, Minoru calmed down a bit and thought about what to do.

He had helped Lu Ganghu enter the country secretly in order to cause turmoil around the murder or attempted murder of Liu Li Lei to allow him to move from his current location, known by Tatsuya, to a new refuge. He had been vigilantly tracking the movements of Lu Ganghu through the network created by Zhou Gongjin, waiting for a convenient moment, but Lu Ganghu hadn’t even bought Minoru a single day!

Lu Ganghu and his squad initially hid in a secluded area of the mountains near Matsue, after which they infiltrated the city of Komatsu, but just 2 days after entering the country, Lu Ganghu was killed - the same day he entered the city of Komatsu.

Thus, Minoru’s plan to buy time through Lu Ganghu ended in utter failure. Lu Ganghu had been killed my Chiba Naotsugu, a member of the Sword Corps sent to Komatsu, in part thanks to Minoru – he was the one who warned the Japanese military, causing events to proceed so quickly.

However, despite his involvement in causing his plan to fail, his anger was still mostly directed towards Lu Ganghu’s weakness. He understood he was guilty, but he directed his anger towards Lu Ganghgu anyway.

“I need to calm down.”

Minoru stopped walking in circles around the room and sat in a high-backed chair.

“Anger isn’t helping here. I need to think about how to proceed now.”

He needed to leave the shelter as soon as possible. The chance of him being found soon was almost certain – unless he overestimated Tatsuya, the shelter would probably not even last another week.

“He might find this place as soon as tomorrow

…I used to think I had more time, that I would only have to leave here “some day”, but… for the location of this shelter to have been somewhat determined already…

Tatsuya-san, the Self-defense forces, and the Ten Master Clans al know my general location. This whole area is under constant surveil ance, so that if we went outside the protection of Ghost Walker – of Sekirei Hachijin, we would be caught. We couldn’t even escape through Parade.

It might be pessimistic, but it’s safer to assume that Tatsuya-san received a clue to help him break through Parade. Knowing that, there is no way I escape.

It’s too difficult for me alone, so… maybe I can get helpers on the side?”

“Then what about help from us?”

This thought didn’t come from Minoru.

He felt it through his connection to the Parasites.

“Raymond?”

“Minoru, you aren’t acting normal. You even stopped maintaining your mental barrier.”

Realizing his mistake, Minoru immediately hid his emotions behind a barrier once more.

“Even though you heard it, you can’t do anything about this, can you?”

Minoru responded to Raymond once his barrier was back up.

“I am aware of the situation, but I didn’t read your thoughts. I learned about this with my own method of collecting information.”

“Hlioskjalf?” Minoru thought. He was aware of the existence of the backdoor terminals into Echelon III.

“We are currently anchored in Sagami Bay.”

“Did you use Independence as a cover?” Minoru asked.

“Right.”

The entrance of the USS Independence Aircraft Carrier into the war occurred suddenly and unnaturally. Part of its purpose was to help Raymond and his colleagues penetrate into Japanese coastal waters.

“We aren’t the only ones who have infiltrated the country. The Il egal MAP has already penetrated Tokyo.”

“Illegal MAP… the Illegal Mystic Assassin Platoon of the USNA Army?” Minoru confirmed.

“You are wel aware, but they technical y don’t belong to the army.”

“Official y, no, but in reality, yes, is it?”

“Wel , you can say that.”

Minoru heard Raymond’s laugh after this thought, but whether he had imagined it, or whether Raymond’s humor had been transferred was unclear.

“Continuing, one of the platoons of the Il geal MAP – the Horsehead platoon – is embarking on a mission to kil Tatsuya.”

“To kil Tatsuya? They won’t succeed.”

Minoru didn’t believe anyone could kill Tatsuya as he currently was. While he thought it might be possible to beat him, he didn’t think there was any way to stop Tatsuya from escaping.

“Yeah. We think so too.”

Minoru heard Raymond’s chuckle again.

“But the Illegal MAP is pretty capable. They should at least do better than Lu Ganghu.”

As soon as Raymond made this comparison, Minoru understood his intent.

“You suggest I use this as a chance to escape from here?”

“Yes,” Raymond responded. “If you get to Yokosuka, we wil help you escape from Japan along with your girlfriend.”

Minoru couldn’t immediately answer. He needed to think about Minami first.

Could he take Minami with him from Japan?

“What do you say?” Raymond asked again.

However, this time Minoru gave an answer.

“I will gratefully accept your help.”

Tatsuya and Miyuki were no longer alone at the dinner table. A third person had been added to their number – Lina sat with them as well.

The three had eaten together yesterday, as well. Miyuki invited Lina to eat with them until she got settled.

Miyuki’s home cooking was delicious, as usual.

Lina was shocked by this fact. Her surprise showed on her face when she brought the fork to her mouth for the first time, tasting it. She had unconsciously murmured,

“oh… how tasty,” as her eyes rounded and she grew visibly more alert.

“If you want to learn, ask Miyuki to teach you to cook, but don’t try to say you wil prepare tomorrow’s dinner in order to compete with Miyuki…”

Tatsuya had some unspoken thoughts when he saw Lina’s reaction.

As soon as Tatsuya finished eating, the videophone rang.

He stopped Miyuki from getting up, as she still hadn’t finished eating, and headed into the living room himself to accept the call there.

He had never spoken to the man who appeared on the screen before, but he recognized the man’s name and face from his file.

“Shiba-dono, sorry to bother you at this time.”

“Please to meet you. The head-dono of the Fujibayashi family, I presume?”

“That is correct. I am honored that you know of me.”

The person on the other end of the call was Fujibayashi Nagamasa, the head of the Fujibayashi family and a famous practitioner of ancient magic.

“Your daughter helps me often,” Tatsuya said.

“On the contrary, I should apologize for that fact that Kyouko constantly gives you impossible tasks.”

If Tatsuya’s data wasn’t wrong, Fujibayashi Nagamasa was 55 years old – older than Tatsuya’s own father. While the age difference made it odd for him to speak politely, Fujibayashi Nagamasa’s words still contained gratitude.

“I sincerely apologize that a person related to our family has caused you so many problems,” Nagamasa continued, turning the conversation towards the main point.

“No, I do not hold the Fujibayashi family responsible for this in any way.”

Tatsuya repeated what he had told the Electron Sorceress.

“I appreciate such words, but even if I don’t have a blood connection to him, he is still my nephew. The nephew of the head of the family can still be considered a member of the family. We aren’t entirely unrelated to this, and therefore we cannot stay indifferent to this. As the head of the Fujibayashi family, I want his trial to be an internal affair of our family. The Kudou family has already given permission.”

“The Kudou family agreed to this?” Tatsuya asked.

Tatsuya hadn’t expected this. Kudou Minoru was the son of the current head of family, but also the murderer of the previous chapter. The Kudou family had already entrusted the capture of Minoru to the Ten Master Clans.

“They real y don’t want others to interfere,” Tatsuya thought.

“However, I also heard that Shiba-dono intends to take part in his pacification.”

“This case began because of a conflict between me and Minoru, so I believe that I must complete this business with my own hands.”

Tatsuya gave a clear answer, not allowing any misunderstanding.

He believed that he couldn’t just stand aside in this matter.

“I respect your opinion as an interested person, so in this regard, we should agree on our schedules for pacifying Kudou Minoru together. The day after tomorrow –

Saturday, July 13th, I am heading to the Sea of Trees to attack Minoru. Does this suit you, Shiba-dono?”

“…the day after tomorrow?” Tatsuya asked.

Tatsuya didn’t answer immediately because he believed that he would need more time to analyze Parade and Sekirei Hachijin. However, he also knew that Minami needed to be saved as soon as possible.

“…I agree. I will go with you.”

“Thank you. Then, the place and time of our meeting will be your choosing, Shiba-dono.”

“I understand. I will pass it to your through your daughter later,” Tatsuya responded.

“Do as you see fit. Then, see you on the appointed day.”

At this, Fujibayashi Nagamasa bowed low before ending the conversation.

Tatsuya tensed up once more as the events developed too rapidly, far exceeding his expectations.

“Makoto-dono, did I do everything right?”

After completing his call with Tatsuya, Nagamasa turned to Kudou Makoto, who was sitting quietly just outside of the camera’s view.

“Yes. That will do. Nagamasa, thank you for doing this.”

“As I said earlier, to Shiba-dono” Nagamasa started, “though I do not share a blood connection with him, Minoru is still my nephew. As he is a member of my family, I can’t ignore this problem.”

Kudou Makoto nodded silently in response to Fujibayashi Nagamasa.

The dimly lit dark room feel into a deep silence.

(To be continued in "The Chase (Part 2)") (Very light edits made by englishmuffins10)  

Afterword

Thank you for buying this volume.

How have you liked the 28th volume of The Irregular at Magic High School: Chase Chapter (Part 1)?

This arc is titled Chase Chapter despite only one fifth of the volume being devoted to the chase – the beginning. After that, it transitions into hide and seek.

After Tatsuya faces a situation his powers are not well suited to solving, he starts to discover a new ability, but to be honest, I still have doubts about the form in which the book should describe it.

In games, all possible means of combat are known in advance. However, real combat is not so simple – there are too many different possibilities to grasp, and there is almost always potential for a “secret weapon” using a clever new idea. When faced with an enemy using an unknown power, it looks like carelessness on the side being forced to adapt. However, in reality, both sides often prepared well – one side just prepared better and took the right risks.

The battle between Tatsuya and Minoru in this novel somewhat describes this – both sides were prepared, but Minoru had his “secret weapon” in the form of Sekirei Hachijin, and Tatsuya had his own weapon in discovering a new way to disperse spells.

While Tatsuya wasn’t able to complete a new ability in this volume due to my doubts as an author, one of the enemies was defeated by a new and interesting technology, so I, to an extent, at least followed my contract as an author to write an interesting story, didn’t I?

This time, Tatsuya’s friends, not seen for a while, recieved a share of the action. While there wasn’t any serious activity in this volume, the next volume, Chase Chapter (Part 2) has a lot of action planned.

In this volume, the majority of the combat activity was given to Mari’s fiancé, Chiba Naotsugu.

Masaki played the role of Liu Li Lei’s companion well, but his share of action was nothing compared to Naotsugu’s.

It was easy for me to write the scene containing the battle between Naotsugu and Lu Gnaghu, but when writing it, I felt that Lu Ganghu’s departure from the spotlight was undeserved. Still, it’s easier for me to imagine scenes of hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting than scenes of gunfire. I hope that as this series reaches its end, I will increase my skill in this direction, but it’s unlikely to bring additional income.

Volume 29, Chase Chapter (Part 2), is scheduled for release in 2 months. After this, the Rescue Chapter arc is planned.

Once that is done, the next arc will be Future, and after that, a short arc, Graduation.

I will be grateful if you stay with The Irregular at Magic High School until its end.