The back of the accommodation for the Nine Schools Competition Outdoors training field for the competition
All right, ready to start?
Roger!
Here goes!
It's really floating up there!
This is so cool!
3... 2... 1...
Zero.
Whoa!
I'd totally call that a success, Tatsuya!
So Fortifying Magic works even when it's not physically connected...
Fortifying Magic is defined by how it stabilizes relative positions.
There's no need for objects to be in contact.
The way this device works is probably more like “extending” than “flinging out.”
Since there's nothing in the middle, it will only move along the extended length of the sword.
It feels the same as if I were swinging a really long sword.
That helps because it keeps me from over-thinking.
All right, the next step is a live test.
Third day of the competition Battle Board Venue
Semifinal Second Race Makiko Hidaka Ninth High School Risa Kuroki Seventh High School Mari Watanabe First High School
On your marks.
Just as I thought... she's tough.
Gotta hand it to “Seventh High of the seas!”
This is the same matchup as last year's final, right?
Semifinal Second Race
Over-acceleration?
That's...
Brother!
I'm heading over there. You guys wait for me here!
V-Very well...
Susono Base Hospital
Mari?
Are you back with us?
Do you know who I am?
Mayumi?
What are you talking about?
There's no need to ask me something like... Ouch...
Is this the hospital?
Yes, it's the hospital on the Susono Base.
Thank goodness... There doesn't seem to be any mental damage...
Oh, no, you shouldn't be getting up yet.
You broke your ribs.
For now, they've been reconnected with magic,
but they haven't set yet.
This is just a stop-gap measure, all right?
How long will it take for it to set?
One week for a full recovery...
Normal activities won't pose any problem after a day of bed rest,
but to be safe, you'll have to abstain from strenuous exercise for ten days.
Hey, but that means...
You'll have to withdraw from Mirage Bat as well.
But it can't be helped.
I see...
How did the race go?
Seventh High was disqualified for reckless conduct.
Third High and Ninth High will be in the final.
I hear that the Seventh High player's injuries weren't serious.
Your efforts to protect her weren't in vain.
Doesn't do us any good if I get seriously injured myself...
If you hadn't decelerated at that moment and protected that girl...
Seventh High's player would've suffered critical injuries,
and I think her career as a magician would've ended.
That was Tatsuya's opinion as well.
Hey, why would you bring that guy's name up at a time like this?
Because he was the one who carried you here
and stayed with you while you were being treated.
What?
You should thank him yourself later, at least.
After all, Tatsuya was the one who came running,
saw at a glance that your ribs were fractured, and told the paramedics what to do.
By the way, Mari...
When it happened, were you being hindered by a third party using magic?
What do you mean?
The reason you lost your balance just before catching the Seventh High girl
must have been because of an illegal spell cast by a third party,
which interfered with the water's surface...
That's what I mean.
True...
Just before my board sank, I did feel an unnatural swaying at my feet...
What made you think that?
The moment you lost your footing, the water's surface was fluctuating unnaturally.
There was a discontinuity to it, seen only in Phenomenon-rewriting spells.
But at the time, neither the Seventh High girl nor the Ninth High girl were using that kind of magic.
The only other possibility would be a spell cast by a third party.
Tatsuya agrees with me on that, too.
He says he's going to borrow the videos from the tournament staff
and analyze the fluctuations of the water's surface...
But...
Who in the world would do such a thing, and why?
So did you find out anything?
I considered it from all angles.
We should look at this as a third party's intervention, after all.
Shiba, you really work fast.
Still...
This is going to be tougher than we thought...
What do you mean by that, Kei?
As you know, Kanon...
To prevent foul play by outside parties using Interference Magic,
the NSC not only has hired magicians skilled in Counter Magic stationed throughout each arena,
but they also have a massive amount of surveillance cameras in place.
I was sure that some kind of sequence was launched from outside the surveillance network.
But according to Shiba's analysis,
the force that affected the water's surface was generated from within the water...
The only possible explanation would be that there was an operative lurking in the water.
Miyuki?
Yes, Brother.
Let me introduce these two.
My classmates, Yoshida and Shibata.
I've asked them to come here to help solve the riddle of the underwater operative.
Nice to meet you.
I look forward to working with you.
I'm sure you know them, but this is Kei Isori, and that's Kanon Chiyoda, both second years.
Hey.
Good to be working with you, too.
Right now, we're verifying the possibility
that Ms. Watanabe was the victim of illegal magic interference by a third party.
Just before Ms. Watanabe lost her balance, the water's surface was seen to cave inward unnaturally.
This was almost certainly due to magic interference from within the water.
It's impossible to cast a spell on the waterway from outside the waterway without being detected.
It's also unlikely that it was caused by delayed magic.
In that case, it's feasible that the spell was cast by someone hiding underwater.
But that's a preposterous theory.
There's simply no way to hide oneself one hundred percent,
either with modern magic or Ancient Magic.
That being the case...
Something other than a human was lurking in the waterway.
That would be the logical conclusion.
Do you think that it might have been Spirit Magic, Tatsuya?
Yoshida's a magician highly skilled in Spirit Magic.
And Shibata is gifted with an exceptional sensitivity to Pushions.
Mikihiko...
Is it possible to cast a delayed spell, deferring activation for several hours,
and under specific conditions, to cause the water's surface to cave in?
Can you do that with Spirit Magic?
Yes, it's possible.
For you, too?
As long as I'm familiar with the ley lines and topography,
I can send in the spirits through the ley lines.
That said, casting such a spell wouldn't generate enough power to matter.
Even if you managed to disrupt the water's surface,
that in itself wouldn't be enough to create a huge wave that could knock Ms. Watanabe off balance.
If the Seventh High player hadn't accidentally over-accelerated,
it wouldn't have been any more serious than a kid's prank.
If that was just an accident, too.
Look at this.
Normally, the Seventh High player should've started decelerating here.
But in fact, she began to accelerate.
Right, that is unnatural.
No Magician who'd make such a beginner's mistake would possibly be chosen for the NSC...
In all likelihood...
Her CAD must have been tampered with.
This is the first turn where she would have needed to decelerate.
If her Activation Sequence for deceleration was swapped out for an Activation Sequence for acceleration,
then there'd be an accident waiting to happen right here.
And based on the lap times from last year's final,
one could foresee that they would be in a virtual dead heat as they made this turn.
If I wanted to thwart them, this would be my chance to knock off both front-runners at once...
I would've seen it that way.
I admit that sounds logical, but...
Could a CAD be tampered with?
And if it was tampered with, then who would do such a thing?
Someone on the Seventh High engineering staff?
While that possibly can't be ruled out entirely...
I believe it's much more likely that there's an operative among the tournament committee members.
But, Brother.
Just when and how could this person have tampered with the CAD?
All the schools keep their CADs under strict lock and key...
Just once, without exception,
all CADs are taken out of each school's keeping and are handed over to the committee.
However...
We still don't know how they tampered with it...
That complicates things...
Nine Schools Competition Part V
The Official matches still left to be played are Mirage Bat and Monolith Code.
To assure ourselves of an overall victory,
we'll have to take first place in both.
Not only that, but with the added perk of having to watch out for interference by an unknown entity.
Come in.
Excuse me.
Have a seat, will you?
I've brought you here because there's something important to consult you on.
Rin,
would you mind giving them the rundown?
I think you're both aware of today's results.
Although we did suffer an accident,
our school's scores are more or less in line with our projections.
First High Third High
However, since Third High has been making greater gains than we'd anticipated,
our lead is less comfortable than projected.
Should we fall drastically behind Third High in the Rookie Events that start tomorrow,
then depending on our score in the Official Mirage Bat event,
it's possible that we'd be overtaken.
Official points are worth twice as much as Rookie points.
Therefore, as the team's Strategic Advisors,
we have decided to pour our resources into the Official Mirage Bat event,
even if it's somewhat at the expense of the Rookie Event.
Yes, Tatsuya, it is what you think.
Miyuki...
We're going to have you take Mari's place and compete in the Official Mirage Bat event.
Tatsuya, you'll continue to serve as Miyuki's engineer, and come to the arena on Day 9 as well.
But... There are older students participating in just one event.
Why would you choose me as a replacement when you'd have to take me out of the Rookie Event?
We never had a backup for Mirage Bat.
That's the reason.
Players who've trained in advance have more upside.
Besides...
Your little sister has what it takes to win even the Official Event, right?
It's possible.
B-Brother!
Since you've evaluated us so highly,
I'll be sure to give it my very best as your engineer.
You can do it, can't you? Miyuki...
Yes!
Fourth day of the competition First day of the Rookie Event
Honoka... Are you in the final race?
Yes! Since I'm racing in the afternoon, there won't be any overlap with the Girls' Speed Shooting event.
I just hope it goes without a hitch...
Uh, nothing.
I've been a little concerned about something, you see...
What I'd really like to do is check out your CAD, Honoka...
But since I can't do that, I've decided to at least watch your race from the sidelines.
Really?
That's a promise, okay?
Sure.
Check it out thoroughly to make sure nothing's wrong.
Right. All good.
It's more comfortable than my own.
Is it? Then I'm satisfied.
Tatsuya?
Are you sure you don't want my family to hire you?
If you're relaxed enough to joke around right before your match, then you'll be fine.
I'm not joking... Look, you don't have to work for us exclusively...
I'm sure I've told you repeatedly,
but let's talk about that after I get my license, all right?
Gotcha.
It's time... Shizuku.
Yes.
All right, good luck!
Okay. I'm gonna give it my all.
Women's Rookie Event Speed Shooting Qualifying Venue
Is that seat next to you available?
Hey, Miyuki! Sure, it's available. Be my guest!
Huh?
Honoka, are you ready for your race?
S-Sure I'm ready! My race isn't till the afternoon, anyway!
Honoka, if you get nervous now, you won't make it till your race.
I know that, but...
I know you'll be just fine, Honoka.
Didn't my brother tell you the same thing?
Since you've come to see this match in order to take your mind off your race,
let's just root for Shizuku for now.
Okay.
You're right!
Come to think of it,
this will be our first time seeing his engineering skills in an actual match.
That's true. In my case, he really just helped me out a little,
so I can't wait to see how a CAD he's fine-tuned from scratch will perform.
Starting with Ms. Kitayama, he seems to be getting high praise from from the athletes.
Apparently some athletes even went to the trouble of bringing their own CADs with them today...
Hey, hey...
That could affect the matches, couldn't it?
Regarding that, it seems like it's all under control.
Apparently, he'll be servicing them after the matches are over.
So he's steadily increasing his fan-base, huh?
Shizuku Kitayama First High School Rookie Event (Qualifying First Round)
Shizuku Kitayama First High School
That's dynamic!
Could it be that she's set the whole scoring area as her Magic Activation Zone?
That's right.
Shizuku is tagging all solid substances inside the zone with Vibrating Wave Magic to destroy her targets.
The effective scoring area in Speed Shooting...
...is a cube measuring 15 meters on each side, placed in the air.
Shiba's Activation Sequence sets another cube inside it,
measuring 10 meters on each side,
and the nine points comprised of each of its vertices and its center, have been defined as epicenters.
Each point has been numbered,
and when that number is entered as a variable in the Activation Sequence that's been launched,
sphere-shaped virtual waves will spread from the epicenter.
The coverage area of these waves is 6 meters.
In other words, activating the magic sequence once will cause the formation of a spherical “destruction space”
with a radius of 6 meters and an epicenter at its core.
In speed shooting, the position of the players, as well as the distance from,
the direction and the size of the effective scoring area remain constant.
Therefore, there is no need to enter variable coordinates each time.
Rather, you can simply specify the number of your choosing during activation,
and the Magic Sequence will be launched.
In effect, the player only needs to pull the trigger to destroy her targets...
Shizuku Kitayama First High School
The proper name of this magic spell is Active Air Mine.
I hear it's a Shiba original.
Due to its massive Activation Sequence, Ms. Kitayama's processing power makes it a viable spell.
In concept, it's the exact opposite of your magic, Mayumi...
I can't believe that he came up with a sequence like this.
Good job.
It seems anticlimactic, for some reason.
I didn't think they'd go for the blind spots...
Just as I expected, the settings weren't spiteful at all.
Tatsuya, you worry too much.
It's still only the preliminaries, you know.
But from the quarterfinals, you'll be playing in match mode.
I already fine-tuned your CAD this morning, so see how it feels later.
Gotcha!
So all three of our first year girls made it through, huh?
What's going on with Battle Board?
Two of the boys' races are over, and they both missed the cut.
We had one girl competing, and she qualified.
So that leaves us with just one more guy...
As for the girls, Ms. Mitsui, who's in the final race, is sure to qualify...
We can't have A-chan letting up any time soon...
It may be a good idea to put more effort into nurturing engineers at our school, don't you think?
Tatsuya, are you all right?
I'm fine.
I'm sure you already know this, but this is a totally different model than what you used in the prelims.
We're out of time, but if you feel any discomfort at all, I'll adjust it as much as possible,
so don't hold back.
There's no discomfort whatsoever.
Actually, it's such a good fit, it's creepy.
Is that right?
The others...
The other two both won, right?
Yeah.
Next is... My turn...
Don't worry.
If you perform like you always do, you can win, too.
Of course...
Since you've done everything to pave the way to victory for me, Tatsuya, all I have to do now is win.
No way am I gonna lose.
That's the spirit.
Nine Schools Competition Part VI
NEXT TIME