Third High School, which is affiliated with the National Magic University, is located outside Kanazawa City in the Ishikawa Prefecture. Because of the wide scale shift of district lines under the current district system, it is properly called the "former Ishikawa Prefecture," but people, including the mass media, normally refer to former prefectures and their capitals by their old names. Probably out of habit. It could be that "Ishikawa Prefecture" is also used instead of "The Domain of Kaga" or "The Country of Noto" because "it’s what we’re used to".
It's not really important.
In the reference room of Third High School, located outside Kanazawa City in the Ishikawa Prefecture, Kichijouji Shinkurou stopped working so diligently on his manuscript and did a gigantic stretch. He might be on the brink of ruining it by trying to improve it, so he took off the headset for the brain wave assistant interface and once again made a big arch with his back.
He’d been working longer than he’d thought; it would probably be best to make that posture again. The sound of bones cracking back into place continued; the feel of small aches and pains made Kichijouji scowl.
Since he was taking a break from writing for now, he turned his face away. There was no window in the reference room since it might potentially be used to inspect the highly confidential documents, but, perhaps for refreshing purpose, on the side of a wall in the small private room was a window- emulating display that switched between different landscapes. The ‘landscape’ he could see from this private room was of a grove of trees deep in the mountains wavering in a gentle wind; Kichijouji was fond of this scene.
What he’d been working on was the manuscript he would use for his presentation for "The National High School Magic Theory Thesis Competition sponsored by the Japanese Magic Association" at the end of October. Kichijouji was a world renowned magic researcher as well a first year high school student, so he’d been chosen as a member of Third High School’s representatives. His personal preparations had begun before summer vacation, but ever since the Nine Schools Competition had ended, he had become overzealous about writing his manuscript — even he himself felt so.
He was also aware of the reason.
It was the rivalry he felt with that boy he met at the Nine Schools Competition, Shiba Tatsuya.
Until the Nine Schools Competition, Kichijouji had never felt that he was inferior to anyone around his own age in Magic Theory. In fact, he had almost no memories of ever feeling rivalry with anyone. Aside from the practical side of Magic, the realm outside of magic theory, in terms of owners of brains equal to his own which discovered the "Cardinal Code", Kichijouji prided himself on being the only one in his age group whose brain was at this level not only within the country, but even if taking the worldwide viewpoint.
And, he was not being conceited. In the world of the study of magic, there were currently new scientific findings being announced day by day, but scientific findings that equaled the "Cardinal Code" were no more than once a year at the most. Kichijouji Shinkurou’s achievement was that rare and valuable.
However, his vanity had been crushed a number of times in the last Nine Schools Competition. At least, Kichijouji himself felt so.
The theoretical is accompanied by the practical, for the first time that had meaning. In the world of magic research, this was a widely supported way of thinking; in this country especially, the concept was common sense and a widely diffused premise.
Kichijouji also considered that a natural idea. Magical theory in the end is something for the purpose of using technical skills called magic; a theory that can not be put into practice is ridiculous. If the study of magic is to promote learning, then sooner or later it might advance to include the study of logical concepts to explain reality that were purely mental constructs. However, the modern study of magic was not at that level.
And, in regards to the way theory is useful for practice, the technique demonstrated by that guy, First High School First Year — Shiba Tatsuya, had carved a sense of defeat into Kichijouji’s heart. Not just knowledge, not just technique, but the power of the two unified to make him actually feel that the sum was greater than the parts.
That left Kichijouji immensely aggravated.
Knowledge and technique were the cornerstones of his self-confidence. He who could never win against "them" in power was so useful to "them" that he was an utter necessity, and another person could not outperform him. Therefore, Kichijouji pledged to himself that he would redeem himself from his loss during the Nine Schools Competition at the Thesis Competition. He considered victory over First High School at the Thesis Competition to be the shortest route to regaining his self confidence, which he needed to do.
For that reason, directly after the Nine Schools Competition was over, he spent almost every day confined in this reference room working hard composing his presentation speech.
Speaking of the aftermath of the Nine Schools Competition. —Ichijou’s state of mind seemed a little off—
That phrase fell into Kichijouji’s ears some days rarely, some days frequently.
He made no objection to calling Masaki’s condition as off. Kichijouji himself thought so. He was also aware that it was not just his imagination. After all, Kichijouji knew the reason Masaki was "off".
(…Despite that, there isn’t really anything I can do)
Kichijouji probably could not be attacked for not being a "true friend". After all, Masaki was afflicted with a disease that had from old been called "a sickness no doctor can cure" and "not soothed by hot springs therapy".
Kichijouji accepted it. Ichijou Masaki was suffering from "Love Sickness".
"Shiba Miyuki"
That was the name of the one Masaki had fallen for.
It was inconceivable that the next head of that Ichijou clan could be tormented by love troubles — but he was. Masaki with his brains, good looks and pedigree was the type that did not have to do anything to have a pack of girls after him; the reason for his torment was not anything like him being a neophyte, a complete prude, or a sexual deviant or anything like that — there really was no reason for him not to confess his feelings and end his torment of unrequited love, Kichijouji thought.
Even he himself couldn’t keep his heart from beating faster when he recalled that girl’s image.
The girl was that lovely. Not like a flesh and blood person, if someone said she was the fantasy of a teenage boy transformed into a three dimensional image by super science, he could just about believe it. Even without relying on a photo, his brain could revive her clear image; once or twice, he had gotten the feeling that she was some sort of dream or product of some wild delusion.
Since even he who had no feelings of affection toward her was in this state, Masaki who had fallen in love with her probably couldn’t help becoming more distracted than was usual for him.
In his case, she was an unreachable goal that inspire feelings of awe. Thanks to that (probably), the matter ended without inciting hopeless feelings of unrequited love; however, in Masaki’s case, in part due to the potential of actually getting her, the illness had become unnecessarily severe.
The name of Shiba Miyuki had special meaning for Kichijouji above and beyond that of being the subject of Masaki’s unrequited love.
She was Shiba Tatsuya’s younger sister.
The younger sister of the guy he held animosity for held his friend’s heart. The inner workings Kichijouji’s heart were more complex than he knew.
◊ ◊ ◊
"George."
The sun was almost completely past the western horizon with just an edge was passing through when Kichijouji turned around towards the voice that called him just as he was leaving school.
"Masaki."
Even without turning around, he had recognized him by voice alone. Before he could turn around, the owner of the name he spoke caught up to him mid-turn.
"You’re already leaving, right? If that’s so, let’s go together."
"Sure, if you're fine with it."
Kichijouji’s remark was another words for "you won't go out of your way".
Almost every day, Kichijouji returned directly to the school dormitory. In contrast, Masaki made numerous detours hither and thither on his way home. These were not all recreational (though a lot of times he was just playing around), as the number of times that the eldest son of the Ichijou clan had to run around on family business were not few.
"Oh, today I don’t really have anything special to do. ...All right. George, it’s been awhile so let’s visit my house."
"Wouldn’t there be a problem if I just dropping in without warning?"
To his friend’s sudden suggestion, Kichijouji presented a common sense response. However, Masaki lightly laughed it away.
"Don’t say anything to imply that we’re not close. Besides, if it's you, that family of mine will always give a warm welcome."
"Really? Got it. I’ll drop in."
Masaki invited Kichijouji, who lived alone, out of friendship without any guile. However, Kichijouji had reasons for why he could not freely accept the Ichijou family’s good will.
In the first place, he did not have any reason to dislike visiting Masaki’s family. Since Masaki was going straight home and he did not need to worry about interfering with any business he had on the way, Kichijouji displayed no real hesitation when he nodded his acceptance of Masaki’s invitation.
◊ ◊ ◊
Masaki’s house was a mere thirty minute walk from school. Commuting to school did not take thirty minutes; walking took thirty minutes. Naturally, the fact that Third High School and the Ichijou mansion were within walking distance of each other was a simple coincidence. There was no background detail like the school being useful to the Ichijou clan or the principal working for them, no matter what was whispered in places. In the first place, Third High School, like the other magic high schools, was a national high school affiliated with the National Magic University. Deciding the placement of high schools was in the jurisdiction of government offices; the Ten Master Clans were ostensibly private citizens so affecting the planning was not within the Ichijou clan’s reach. —The Ten Master Clans would also not use their influence in a matter like this.
The thirty minute route took Masaki and Kichijouji twenty-five minutes without hurrying. With the season’s long day already past, the twilight sky was dipped in purple for a while. Since Kichijouji thought that the members of the Ichijou family would not be home yet, he was a little surprised to be hailed as he passed through the gate into the garden.
"Ah, Shinkurou-kun, welcome."
The cheerful voice speaking to him had the high pitched soprano of a child. "Akane-chan, hello, pardon me."
The one who greeted Kichijouji with a smile was Masaki’s younger sister, Ichijou Akane. Akane was a sixth year elementary student, but Masaki also had another sister younger than her. Kichijouji had not had many chances to talk to that sister who was a third year elementary student, but Akane had attached herself to him long ago, so whenever he visited the Ichijou residence, she would always pop in to see him at least once whether she was there when he arrived or not. He did not know how serious she was, but she had said "I will become Shinkurou-kun’s bride someday".
The first time he heard this statement, Kichijouji was not all that old; by the third time, he was puzzled. When she first proclaimed her intentions to him two years before, Akane was still a fourth year elementary student at that time and all she was to him was Masaki’s younger sister who would grow to be a vivacious beauty in the future. Kichijouji himself was a second year middle school student at the time; proposals of marriage and the like did not seem all that real to him. On the other hand, he did not hate Akane for any reason and since he felt indebted to the Ichijou family, he could not treat her coldly, so Kichijouji at that time was at a complete loss on how to handle it.
He had not received such a clear "confession of love" in about a year, but Akane had teetered on the edges in her words. Kichijouji no longer felt bewildered about the situation, so she might have gradually breached his defenses. Kichijouji himself was unaware of this, however.
Well, since Masaki would not accept getting into any situation that made him look like he should receive the slur of lolicon (by that he meant Masaki wouldn’t accept anyone going after his sister while she was still a child), even if the outer gate of the castle had been raised, it was up to Masaki to decide when to raise the inner gate.
It seemed like she was just about to leave for practice, so he parted from Akane there. That being said, since Kichijouji probably couldn’t leave until after he dined with them for supper, he would probably meet her again later on.
The master of the house, Ichijou Gouki — Masaki’s father, the head of the Ichijou Clan — had not yet returned home. In order to support their position as leaders in the magician community and their personal military potential, the Ten Master Clans and the additional eighteen families managed, and sometimes invested, the assets they had been endowed with to an extent that was not very well known. There were cases of some of them officially being at the "local bigwig" level while unofficially controlling an international corporation effectively (one corporation owned another corporation which owned another corporation…), but the Ichijou clan’s interests were not that widespread. An undersea mining company was the official Ichijou family business. If no irregular situation occurred, Kichijouji knew Gouki would probably return in time for the evening meal.
On the other hand, Masaki’s mother was a housewife, but she was absent as well. She was probably out shopping. This was an era where everyday items and food as well could be supplied by online shopping, but women who wanted to look at the actual goods were numerous, especially among the lady of the manor class. Kichijouji felt it wasn’t all that different from online shopping as the goods were still delivered instead of being brought by the shoppers when they went home, but that might be only be the male point of view.
The Ichijou mansion was a grand residence roughly ten times the scale of an average separated house residence, but did not employ a lot of live-in maids and other type of servants. When the clan gathered, or when it hosted guests related to the society of magicians, and on similar occasions, they hire people from friendly local inns and restaurants. The garden needed specialized skills which were satisfied by periodically calling on a landscape gardener. In contrast to the families like the Saegusa and Itsuwa, who were fellow Ten Master Clans and surrounded themselves with a large number of servants, they operated under the policy of "if a machine could do it, then a machine would do it" and extensively used home automation.
Today, there were no special guests expected. Since there was no need to be polite to anyone in the unpopulated hallway, the two male high school students went straight to Masaki’s room.
Masaki’s room was, if you use traditional measurements, a six tatami western style room which is not considered an especially big room by conventional wisdom. But, in accordance with the upper class modern architectural style, the bed, closet and other furnishings could be stored within the wall and accessed by a wall mural, guaranteeing that even a six tatami room would have plenty of space.
Completely at home in his friend’s room, Kichijouji stowed the bed away, drew out the counter stool style table from the opposing wall using the mural, and put his butt down on one of the chairs that came with the table.
Masaki took two nice and cold glasses of blended tea from the small refrigerator within his room. One was placed in front of Kichijouji, the other remained in his hand as he sat down on the opposite side from Kichijouji.
"George, what state is the manuscript in?"
"Thank you for your concern, Masaki. It’s all good."
Kichijouji answered the seated Masaki’s inquiry, modestly concealing the confidence in his smiling face.
"How about you, Masaki? The gossip I’ve been hearing says that you’ve been doing some reckless things."
Kichijouji had heard a large amount of hearsay about Masaki’s activities after the Nine Schools Competition, especially about Masaki’s extremely difficult training regimen. He could understand Masaki’s motive. Like Kichijouji, who felt defeated by Shiba Tatsuya in CAD application and tuning, Masaki probably felt bitter over the defeat in Monolith Code and wanted payback.
"Not so bad. And I’m probably not going to see immediate results."
"That might be true."
Masaki’s voice was carefully casual as he responded to Kichijouji’s question about his mental condition. He was more volatile than expected, but he wasn’t feeling the gloomy implacability he had worried about. Relieved on that point, Kichijouji agreed in a light tone.
◊ ◊ ◊
Immediately after the electronic ping rang, Masaki let loose a groan from his core.
"George… it’s time."
"But this is the last one? Is using up time in the middle stage really okay?"
Kichijouji asked for confirmation over their monitors that were placed back to back and Masaki gave a weak nod.
Both screens suspended the real time battle simulation game. It looked like a still shot of a cityscape where all time and movement had frozen and Masaki switched the image to a bird’s eye view. In that way, he could see how much the monitor encroached on Masaki’s attention. Kichijouji felt like smiling at this friend’s indomitable spirit that was earnestly agonizing over this activity, he consciously keeping his face loose and unsmiling. Naturally, this wasn’t necessary. Since clearly with his eyes so fixated on the monitor, Masaki did not have any ability to pay attention to anything else.
Besides, although this game was for fun, it could not be looked at as a mere diversion. The scenarios in this simulation game had been created by the Magic University’s Military Research department; the algorithm had been upgraded by each division of the defense forces, so its urban combat scenarios for magicians were so accurate that it could be used for practice simulations.
"…Waiting in ambush there is probably a little too evil. And also, deliberately descending the rope without magic and the rest…"
Masaki’s grumbling might have been a monologue. Nevertheless, Kichijouji soon responded to his remarks.
"Leaving aside your point about the ambush, haven’t we seen the tactic of deliberately not using magic because it would draw the opponent’s attention recently, Masaki?"
Kichijouji’s tone had not changed from conversational, but Masaki’s response was to snap his eyes open and grind his back teeth with great vigor.
"That guy…"
"Yes. The tactic he used against Second High School in the Newcomers Tournament of Monolith Code."
Masaki used "that guy" and Kichijouji used "he" for the same person, First High School first year Shiba Tatsuya; between the two of them there was no need to verify that they meant the same person.
While agreeing to Masaki’s words, Kichijouji opened up the game menu screenshot and chose save and close. After all, he knew Masaki’s mind was no longer on the game.
A pause inquiry appeared on Masaki’s monitor. Masaki chose "yes" and extinguished his monitor; like Kichijouji, he shut his notebook style terminal and turned to face him again.
The first to open his mouth was Kichijouji.
"Masaki, for better or worse I think you overuse Oudou."
The Royal Road or the Path of Kings. This can be interpreted as taking the shortest path to victory. i.e. Making preparations to ensure success, might makes right and the shortest distance between two points
"That touched a nerve."
At Kichijouji’s point, Masaki made a pained smile and shook his head. "I don’t like saying these things, but for now I want you to listen."
Kichijouji face was slightly stiff as he spoke, and the smile had disappeared from his lips.
"I don’t intend to be closed-minded about this matter. What else?"
"I know, sorry."
Instead of doing what Masaki said, Kichijouji used words to continue easing the tension.
"Oudou is not a bad thing, since Oudou is the most practical and fastest path you can use to reach a destination. Besides, even if I tell you to use a lot of surprise moves and clever tricks, it wouldn’t really suit your personality, Masaki."
"Yeah, that’s probably true."
Once again, Masaki’s face sported a pained smile. This time Kichijouji did not seem to take it as a rebuke and a tinge of laughter entered his voice.
"Good. Since that is definitely true, Masaki."
While a smile was on his face, Kichijouji narrowed his eyes even further. In a certain sense, it was a dazzling expression.
"Did you mean that as praise?"
However, Masaki responded in a tone that made a joke of it; perhaps he didn’t notice, or was pretending not to notice, or possibly there was another explanation.
"Relax, since it’s mostly a compliment."
"Mostly, eh."
As if they had it planned for it to happen, the two simultaneously started chuckling.
"After all not only is it impossible for Masaki to use the same kind of tactics as he does, it is also probably not necessary."
Immediately after the laughter disappeared, Kichijouji returned to the topic with serious expression on his face.
"I think what Masaki must learn is not how to use clever tricks but how to deal with clever tricks."
"…You don’t just mean in simulation games by that, do you?" Kichijouji nodded visibly to the uncertain tone and gaze.
"True, I’m not just talking about simulation games. I am going to speak plainly."
As he spoke, Kichijouji temporarily trimmed away any placating phrases.
"If all we do is train in a reckless manner, next year’s Nine Schools Competition will probably be the same kind of failure as this year’s was."
There was a small silence until Masaki raised a question to be certain he understood the meaning beneath that remark.
"Are you saying my way of doing things is wrong?"
"I did not say it was meaningless."
While Kichijouji’s reply was indirect, there was no room for misunderstanding.
"If that’s all you train, you’ll need outside help. Training will become your flesh and blood."
But Masaki was not confused by the superficial encouragement. That he intuitively understood what Kichijouji wanted to say was evident by his next words.
"But victory and defeat are not determined by strength alone."
Even though he had anticipated them, Kichijouji’s words were a bitter pill for Masaki to swallow.
"Masaki. Even now, I believe you are more powerful than Shiba Tatsuya."
"But, I lost."
Masaki’s tone was flat, as if he did not want to hear his own words.
"I know that. It wasn’t just you, Masaki. I, too, lost to the Yoshida family’s magician of Ancient Magic. In spite of the fact, I am the clear winner in terms of speed. We also lost as a team to First High School. Our opponents’ true power surpassed our expectations. That is certainly true, however…"
On the other hand, a hint of caution was displayed in Kichijouji’s voice as if he was furiously thinking, rechecking his conclusions as he spoke them.
"I think where we ultimately failed was in the field of strategy. Additionally, rather than being entrapped by our opponents’ plan, my opinion is we screwed up."
With this statement of Kichijouji, Masaki tilted his head with a doubtful look on his face.
"I don’t think there was anything wrong in George’s strategy, but…"
Masaki’s words weren’t meant to comfort Kichijouji, this was what he really thought.
However, Kichijouji shook his head at those words.
"No, my strategy was wrong. Looking back, I certainly sunk us with the plan."
"…I don’t really understand what you mean."
"To be brief. I probably shouldn’t have ‘meddled with the plan’ in that match. I shouldn’t have concentrated on controlling our opponents’ actions; it would have been better if we had kept to our usual way of fighting."
As Masaki questioned him with a look, Kichijouji cut off his words, and read the fact that Masaki still wasn’t getting it from his face; while thinking ‘it can’t be helped’, Kichijouji continued explaining.
"It was not necessary for Masaki to get close to him in that match."
It can’t be helped, he thought again, this is how I am useful to Masaki. Kichijouji did not realize how much joy he felt over being able to compensate for Masaki’s weak spots.
"If we had kept to Masaki’s original style, long distance bombardment, we wouldn’t have lost that advantage. Since the open field setting was without vegetation, it was not necessary to guard against attacks from blind spots. I was probably concentrating on him too much."
Masaki did not say anything to console him and nodded as Kichijouji placed the blame on himself.
"The cause of our defeat in that match was my mistakes in strategy. But, there is a point I also want Masaki to reflect on."
"Uh-oh, this time it’s my turn, huh."
As Masaki purposely appeared taken aback, Kichijouji replied with a broad and evil grin.
"You were following the plan, but, Masaki, if you had been a little more wary of your opponent’s tricks, you could’ve avoided that last sound attack. Masaki, you chose to intercept when he closed the gap between the two of you for hand to hand combat, but there would have been a different result if you had leaped back for a moment."
"That really touched a nerve… in short, George, you’re trying to tell me not to become a daredevil, to remember to hold the line?"
They took preventive measures to keep the mood of their after action review from becoming too serious and to a certain extent they were successful.
"A little different. I think I said it before, but tricks don’t suit you, Masaki. And also, I don’t think you have to learn trickery yourself; I think it would be better if you learn what to do if you’ve fallen for one of your opponent’s ploys."
"Specifically?"
Masaki was neither depressed nor rebellious over Kichijouji’s harsh criticism and asked for a positive plan of action to fix his weaknesses. For a long time, this had been the way the pair operated.
"I think we need to work on situational judgment: when to temporarily retreat to take a look at the situation, when to smash through to victory by sheer power, and when to play for time and consult those who are acting as your staff officers. For the rest, developing the sensitivity to know something is going on."
Masaki mulled over the proposal he received from Kichijouji with a sour look. This face probably indicated that he had been already aware of what he needed to do himself. Kichijouji did not doubt that the admonition of touching a nerve indicated that Masaki was giving his words his complete attention.
"Therefore, instead of abusing our body, let’s forge our minds. Not with games like this one — I will seek a strategic simulation game that is closer to realistic war conditions for us."
"Urk…"
Within the low moan of Masaki’s voice, real actual gloom could be heard; without thinking, Kichijouji burst out laughing.
"Sounds like you’re enjoying yourself, Shinkurou-kun. What are you talking about?"
Just as Kichijouji was sniggering, Akane knocked and at once opened the door and entered the room.
"Akane… I’ve always told you to wait until you get an answer before you open the door, right?"
Masaki admonished his sister.
"Isn’t it okay since Shinkurou-kun is here? If the one Nii-san was holed up with here was a girl then even I would have restrained myself."
Akane, without a trace of demureness, approached the table facing Kichijouji and Masaki.
"Akane, err."
"What. You don’t want anything to drink Nii-san?"
Masaki’s pained expression changed to a sour one without him speaking and while Kichijouji watched over the siblings’ warm (crude) exchange, Akane set down two glasses of iced coffee and one glass of iced cocoa.
Masaki queried about the extra glass without a word.
Akane answered her brother’s question with an impish look and discreetly sat down on the chair next to Kichijouji. —While Akane had placed the glasses on the table, Kichijouji had tactfully moved the things that they had been storing on the stool. Apparently scenes like this were a normal occurrence for this household.
"Hey, Shinkurou-kun, why were you laughing? Nii-san did something ridiculous again?"
While sitting on the stool, Akane turned her gaze and the rest of her towards Kichijouji.
"Akane, are those really the kind of words you should say to your own brother…"
To his little sister who was clearly having fun at his expense, Masaki made an extremely earnest objection — that is to say, he attacked her with complaints, however.
"I didn’t say it to Nii-san. I was addressing Shinkurou-kun."
Receiving this truly impertinent answer, Masaki was too speechless to even make a faux pas.
Possibly satisfied for now by joking with Kichijouji, Akane left the room after about five minutes.
The two high school boys exchanged a tired laugh over being toyed with by an elementary school girl. No matter how young a "woman" is, she is still undoubtedly a "woman".
"…Sorry, she’s troublesome"
"Hahahaha…"
Kichijouji replied with meaningless laughter to the apology spoken by Masaki, who was so crestfallen that his shoulders drooped. "No, umm, isn’t it good that she’s spirited?"
Kichijouji tried to come up with something safe and comforting to say, but,
"As her elder brother, I wish she would exercise that spirit more discreetly, but..."
Masaki was not able to stop whining. On the contrary, his monologue of "compared to that guy’s sister", "Why does that person have to be that guy’s sister", "I’m jealous", "It’s so unfair"
"Darn it, unforgivable!" and the like gradually escalated. Slowly, Kichijouji realized that if he couldn’t detour him from this path, it would get really bad.
"Now, now. I think Akane-chan is fine." He said, but,
"George, you…"
Unfortunately, Kichijouji had made a critical error in his phrasing. "If you go for that type, I’m not going to say anything crude, but…"
"Eh?"
Receiving a look mixed with revulsion and wariness from Masaki, Kichijouji at last realized his screw up.
"At least wait till she graduates from elementary school before courting her, for my sake, please."
"Uh, umm..."
Kichijouji intended to explain that he was wrong. What he actually meant to say was "I think Akane-chan’s personality is fine the way it is".
"I trust you, George. Say you’re not a lolicon, please."
However, for some reason not one word of "denial" made its way out of his throat. Maybe he was unable to say a word that might be interpreted as a rejection of Akane; if Masaki took it that way he might not be able to continue his relationship with the Ichijou family due to the misunderstanding… unfortunately, those thoughts instantly struck Kichijouji.
Mending his friendship with Masaki was more important than correcting the misunderstanding.
Subconsciously.
He wasn’t even aware of it himself. "Absolutely! I am not a lolicon!"
For no reason he knew of, Kichijouji once again failed to correct the mistake and he let the big mix-up remain out of his own will.
He did not have any freedom to think about what kind of earthquake might come from the big fault line in his relationship with Masaki that the mix up created; Kichijouji could do no more than endure Masaki’s cool stare. —Even if you called it an earthquake, this was nothing more than a private matter in the first place.
Kichijouji did not even have the freedom to do anything like wishing for an unknown time in the future in which he could think. Finally unable to endure any more, Kichijouji changed the subject in desperation.
"Enough about me, Masaki how about you!? Have you made a little progress with her?"
It’s too late for regrets. Though, it’s normal for regret to come after. The moment after the words he spoke to change the subject left his mouth, Kichijouji thought "Aw, nuts…" with intense regret.
"If by her you mean ‘that her’ then no progress."
The frozen expressionless look on his face was more stone mask than poker face; in a voice that matched the face, Masaki made answers like "none" and "I’ve gained nothing".
"…What?"
A voice shouted stop in his heart. That was the voice of Kichijouji’s common sense. But by the time his inhibitions returned, Kichijouji’s tongue and lips could not help forming questions.
"You can’t get in touch with her?"
"I didn’t ask for her contact information."
"Why!? Didn’t you dance with her, Masaki. She did not seem to dislike you."
"I don’t think she hated me either. But, it’s hopeless."
He could hear the emotions Masaki was holding back in his voice; even Kichijouji felt so much pressure he found it difficult to breathe.
"But, why!?"
"She’s that guy’s sister. Until I erase the stain of defeat, I feel unworthy to pursue her."
Kichijouji did not say that he thought the girl would not care about that. He thought it would be irresponsible to say that without due consideration; even if that was the truth, it would be meaningless since it did not keep it from bothering Masaki.
He did not feel like laughing it off as foolish stubbornness. Quite the contrary, he wouldn’t be Masaki if he did not get obstinate about this type of thing, Kichijouji thought.
His next words gushed out easily from within him without hesitation or calculation.
"I’ll help you, Masaki. No, not help you. Let’s wipe out the stain of defeat together."
"Yeah. I’m counting on you."
◊ ◊ ◊
Masaki’s father, Gouki, had a sudden dinner meeting with a client, so he would be coming home late today.
Naturally, he cancelled dinner. Five people gathered around the dining table for the Ichijou family evening meal: Masaki; Midori, his mother; Akane; Masaki’s even younger sister, Ruri; and Kichijouji. Masaki sat across from Kichijouji with Ruri next to him. Kichijouji sat next to Akane and Midori sat at the head of the table to watch over all of them.
The mood of the evening meal was the usual one. Akane was gaily chatting to Kichijouji; across from them, Ruri was silently working her chopsticks.
Masaki was flicking his gaze back and forth between his sisters being a busybody and Midori was watching over her children’s actions with a bright smile.
It had been three weeks since Kichijouji had last partaken an evening meal with the Ichijou family. That being said, because ten of those days were the period spent on the Nine Schools competition (the total days actually spent was two weeks), it had not really been a long period of time.
"Shinkurou-kun, it’s been a while since you’ve come to our house. Have you been busy?"
Nevertheless, it seemed like Midori viewed it differently.
"That’s right. It would be better if he came over to play more often."
As expected, Akane voiced her agreement. Kichijouji did not commit the folly of objecting.
"You probably just want to play."
"Oh, Nii-san jealous? It’s ok-ay, because I won’t take Shinkurou-kun away from Nii-san."
"Id-i-ot. George and I don’t have that kind of relationship."
In response to Akane’s negative statement, Masaki started to raise his voice without thinking but he restrained himself.
"Who are you calling idiot! Humph, you can only afford to act like that now. Since friendship is fleeting in the face of love."
"Lo-Love!? Akane, you’re way too precocious for an elementary student!"
"Don’t mock elementary students!? What about you Niisan, you’re already a high school student and you don’t have a girlfriend!"
"Akane, there are things you shouldn’t say…!"
"Both of you are too loud."
"Ruri!? You don’t speak like that to your elder sister!"
"My my, Masaki, Akane, Ruri, all of you settle down. Why don’t we enjoy our food?"
Participating in such an uninhibited conversation was not something Kichijouji could do.
He took care not to let his envy show and also made sure no one realized his smile was fake so that he could look at the happy circle of the Ichijou family with what looked like a happy face.
—Because she could see he was acting like an outsider, the next words came from Akane’s mouth.
"I’ve got it, Kichijouji should live here."
"Oh, Akane. Great idea."
Kichijouji did not have time to break in — the next blow came from Midori.
"Yes, it is! This house has too many unused rooms. Hey, Shinkurou-kun, get out of the dorm and stay at our house."
"No, there’s no way I could put myself in your debt so much…"
Kichijouji wasn’t merely being polite, these were his true feelings. No, there was an unmistakable element of politeness, but he was not just refusing for form’s sake — this was a genuine polite refusal.
"Shinkurou-kun, wouldn’t it be better to say yes?"
Since she was sincere, Midori’s saying such a thing only made Kichijouji more uncomfortable. It wasn’t that he hated the idea of living with the Ichijou family, rather, it was because a part of him found it enticing that he was confused over how to refuse.
If Masaki hadn’t thrown him a lifeline, Kichijouji might have been overwhelmed by Midori.
"Kaa-san… Akane aside, please stop saying such things that make George uncomfortable. This matter was discussed enough two years ago, right?"
Right. The subject of staying with the Ichijou family had also come up two years ago. He had refused it himself and chosen to continue living in the dorms
—thanks to Masaki’s assistance, he remembered that close call. "I’m sorry, Midori-san."
Since it had been impressed on him in various ways that he should not call her anything like Oba-san, "Midori-san" spun easily out of Kichijouji’s mouth.
"I can’t become more indebted to you, it would be too painful, and it is often convenient to be in a dorm that is attached to a laboratory."
The latter half of his statement was in no way a lie. Third High School was at the former site of the first laboratory of the Kanazawa Magic Research Institute, which is the research institute Kichijouji was attached to and the place he also discovered the "Cardinal Code" at. The dorm built at that site had facilities to conduct experiments late at night and designed so that no one had to "sleep in a huddle in the hallway" to conduct research and HD panels with convenient supplies for emergencies.
But that was an add-on, an additional reason; the first part, "I can’t become more indebted to you" expressed Kichijouji’s true feelings.
"Really? …If you change your mind, you can move in anytime. We would not think of it as any trouble at all."
Midori saw Kichijouji’s attitude toward this matter as his usual stubbornness and did not persist in inviting him further. Akane was a little unhappy, but she stopped with making a face; she might have realized that twisting Kichijouji’s arm any further would ruin his mood.
While Kichijouji was relieved that Midori and Akane had eased off, he worried that he might have caused his benefactors, the Ichijou family, to feel depressed. But although he was dependent on the kindness of Midori, Akane, and the others, there were some emotions within his heart that he could do nothing about.
—Three years prior, acting in conjunction with the Great Asian Alliance’s invasion of Okinawa, the New Soviet Union invaded Sado. Even now, the New Soviet Union denied participating in the invasion; however, without a doubt those troops belonged to that nation.
The invading troops were only a small detachment of the overall invasion force. However, even so, that was enough military power to quash the Island of Sado.
Kichijouji, who was living on Sado at the time, became a war orphan with the loss of his father and mother in that conflict.
Both of Kichijouji’s parents had also been magic researchers. At that time on Sado, there was a facility dedicated to experiments to clarify the nature of psions using below ground impressions; both Kichijouji’s father and mother worked at that facility. It was said that the facility was the target of the New Soviet Union’s invading troops. The research facility bore the brunt of the invading army’s surprise attack; over half of the employees got caught in the battle between the invaders and defenders and lost their lives.
A mere single day of tragedy. On that day, at 10AM, he received word that unidentified troops were invading in a surprise attack; Kichijouji had been unable to contact his parents, and he had been evacuated to a shelter near his school under the guidance of the staff of his middle school.
Although he prayed for his parent’s safety inside the shelter, Kichijouji had already been mature enough to have a realistic premonition of disaster.
However, Kichijouji was still childish enough at the time to tremble, feeling powerless, forgetting that he had magic of his own as a weapon.
The ones who rescued Kichijouji, who had squatted in the shelter enduring the terror, were a heroic group of volunteer soldiers spearheaded by the Ichijou clan
—
That time was not the only time they had saved him from terrifying peril.
Masaki’s father, Gouki, also pulled some strings to allow him to intern at a magic theory research institute while he was still a mere first year middle school student. With both his parents dying simultaneously and having no other relatives, Kichijouji, who would have had to enter one of the infamous orphanages for magicians, had a place to live and the means to pay for his expenses thanks to the Ichijou clan. This was not just a belief of Kichijouji, this was an objective fact.
Soon after entering the research institute, his unique natural talents as a magic researcher blossomed and by his deed of discovering "the Cardinal Code," he had repaid that favor — no, Kichijouji would never be able to forget that act of kindness. He should never consider himself finished with paying that favor.
Kichijouji had decided in his heart to make repaying the Ichijou clan for their support a mission he would spend his whole life doing.
For he himself to become a member of the Ichijou family, even as a simple lodger, was something too astounding for Kichijouji to contemplate.
◊ ◊ ◊
With Kichijouji employed as her home tutor, who would come once a week, Akane’s good humor was restored. The debits and credits of this transaction made a one sided minus on Kichijouji’s side but he was not the least bit dissatisfied. Instead, having an excuse to visit the family once a week made him unconsciously joyous.
The meal ended, Kichijouji went and collected his things from Masaki’s room and made bows in the Ichijou foyer.
"Thank you, for the delicious meal."
"No no, it was not all that great. I am sorry. It is gracious of you to say you liked it."
"Don’t be ridiculous. I like Midori-san’s home cooking."
"Oh, really, thank you."
It definitely took a while for Midori to release him from the demurring battle. "Kaa-san, you need to get back soon. Aren’t Akane and Ruri waiting?"
Masaki’s two younger sisters were in the midst of cleaning up after the meal. Kichijouji thought it would have been alright to leave washing dishes and the rest to a HAR (Home Automation Robot), but under Midori’s policy of "I’d be too embarrassed to let a daughter of mine leave the house to become a bride, if she can’t even do this much", the girls did a daily chore rotation of cooking, cleaning, and laundry.
"Oh, that’s true. Then Shinkurou-kun, come over to play again."
"Yes, I promised Akane-chan I’d do that."
Since they could not see Kichijouji to the front door, the sisters conducted their goodbye rituals in the dining room (dining hall suited the room better).
Akane had been tedious about reminding him about the matter of home tutoring until Kichijouji’s words and the false gaiety of Midori’s mood sent her into the kitchen.
"It was awful of me to force you to stay so late."
"Don’t worry about it. It’s summer vacation."
Kichijouji laughed and shook his head at Masaki who was worn out by the thanking.
"At any rate, I’d have been alone if I’d gone back to the dorm — it was fun."
"Really, I’m relieved to hear you say that."
Masaki knew that even though it was summer vacation, Kichijouji had his hands full with the reports for both the Thesis Competition and the research institute’s reports, so he didn’t have much free time. Despite knowing that, Masaki had still invited Kichijouji. Actually, the statement of ‘it was fun’ had eased Masaki’s mind greatly.
"I’ll come again on Saturday."
"…It’s okay to not worry about what Akane said."
"There no way I could possibly do that."
As he watched his friend’s apparent rivalry with his younger sister, a snigger nearly leaked out against his better judgment.
"I won’t be just coming to be Akane-chan’s home tutor, I have to serve as your opponent for simulation games, Masaki."
Masaki’s lips formed in to a "へ" syllable, as memories of the beginning and end of today’s simulation game overwhelmed him. Kichijouji knew that just from watching him. Therefore, as it’s said, Kichijouji didn’t do anything else to drive Masaki into a corner and they proceeded in that fashion.
"Hey, George, I’ve been thinking a little."
Nevertheless, it was called to a halt from Masaki’s side. "What’s up, something important?"
"No, not all that important matter, but..."
While he introduced it like that, Masaki’s face did not have any trace of levity in it.
"Concerning that conversation, the problem of situational judgment."
"Hmm, that problem."
"Whether to advance, to retreat, or to maintain the course… the discussion was about instant decision making on a single combat level; I don’t see how strategic simulation games have much to do with that."
"That’s not true. It’s important to develop what’s called an eye for opportunities, and squad combat and single combat are not all that different in the essentials."
"Even if you say so, instant judgment is a reflexive and intuitive thing, right? In order to cultivate a tactical eye for single combat, I still believe the best way is to partake in a multitude of mock combat…"
"Masaki… the loss in Monolith Code to First High School was somewhat due to the single combat tactics within the framework of the overall strategy. Polishing a squad level tactical eye is absolutely indispensable."
"But for squad tactics, isn’t getting the opinion of a competent staff officer more important?"
"Ahh… it’s true about staff officers, but..."
Taking Kichijouji’s hesitation as assent, Masaki mysteriously sported a bright, shiny sparkling smile.
"Then there’s no problem. Because I have George to be a competent staff officer for me."
This surprise attack inflicted great damage on Kichijouji.
To Kichijouji, Masaki’s statement was an excessively sweet blow.
Kichijouji needed tremendous strength of will to stiffen his face and keep his smile from falling off.
"…Flattery won’t work, Masaki. Making decisions on the strategic ideas the staff officers offer is the duty of the general to whom they report to."
Masaki's furious mutters as they parted informed him that there was no way he was being flattered but Kichijouji pivoted and showed Masaki his back.
The muscles in his face were just about to reach their limit. Luckily, Masaki had not been aware of the state he was in.
If he had been aware of it then, he would not mistake it for anything but something awkward he hadn’t considered.
(Masaki, for you I will become the greatest staff officer. I will always be only your staff officer. So become the greatest general for me.)
The rival he had always been continually conscious of since the Nine Schools Competition, and the fact that Masaki’s romantic interest was that person’s younger sister as well, all disappeared from within his head. Kichijouji just felt happy about being needed by Masaki whom he saw as his benefactor.
Third High School, which is affiliated with the National Magic University, is located outside Kanazawa City in the Ishikawa Prefecture. Because of the wide scale shift of district lines under the current district system, it is properly called the "former Ishikawa Prefecture," but people, including the mass media, normally refer to former prefectures and their capitals by their old names. Probably out of habit. It could be that "Ishikawa Prefecture" is also used instead of "The Domain of Kaga" or "The Country of Noto" because "it’s what we’re used to".
It's not really important.
In the reference room of Third High School, located outside Kanazawa City in the Ishikawa Prefecture, Kichijouji Shinkurou stopped working so diligently on his manuscript and did a gigantic stretch. He might be on the brink of ruining it by trying to improve it, so he took off the headset for the brain wave assistant interface and once again made a big arch with his back.
He’d been working longer than he’d thought; it would probably be best to make that posture again. The sound of bones cracking back into place continued; the feel of small aches and pains made Kichijouji scowl.
Since he was taking a break from writing for now, he turned his face away. There was no window in the reference room since it might potentially be used to inspect the highly confidential documents, but, perhaps for refreshing purpose, on the side of a wall in the small private room was a window- emulating display that switched between different landscapes. The ‘landscape’ he could see from this private room was of a grove of trees deep in the mountains wavering in a gentle wind; Kichijouji was fond of this scene.
What he’d been working on was the manuscript he would use for his presentation for "The National High School Magic Theory Thesis Competition sponsored by the Japanese Magic Association" at the end of October. Kichijouji was a world renowned magic researcher as well a first year high school student, so he’d been chosen as a member of Third High School’s representatives. His personal preparations had begun before summer vacation, but ever since the Nine Schools Competition had ended, he had become overzealous about writing his manuscript — even he himself felt so.
He was also aware of the reason.
It was the rivalry he felt with that boy he met at the Nine Schools Competition, Shiba Tatsuya.
Until the Nine Schools Competition, Kichijouji had never felt that he was inferior to anyone around his own age in Magic Theory. In fact, he had almost no memories of ever feeling rivalry with anyone. Aside from the practical side of Magic, the realm outside of magic theory, in terms of owners of brains equal to his own which discovered the "Cardinal Code", Kichijouji prided himself on being the only one in his age group whose brain was at this level not only within the country, but even if taking the worldwide viewpoint.
And, he was not being conceited. In the world of the study of magic, there were currently new scientific findings being announced day by day, but scientific findings that equaled the "Cardinal Code" were no more than once a year at the most. Kichijouji Shinkurou’s achievement was that rare and valuable.
However, his vanity had been crushed a number of times in the last Nine Schools Competition. At least, Kichijouji himself felt so.
The theoretical is accompanied by the practical, for the first time that had meaning. In the world of magic research, this was a widely supported way of thinking; in this country especially, the concept was common sense and a widely diffused premise.
Kichijouji also considered that a natural idea. Magical theory in the end is something for the purpose of using technical skills called magic; a theory that can not be put into practice is ridiculous. If the study of magic is to promote learning, then sooner or later it might advance to include the study of logical concepts to explain reality that were purely mental constructs. However, the modern study of magic was not at that level.
And, in regards to the way theory is useful for practice, the technique demonstrated by that guy, First High School First Year — Shiba Tatsuya, had carved a sense of defeat into Kichijouji’s heart. Not just knowledge, not just technique, but the power of the two unified to make him actually feel that the sum was greater than the parts.
That left Kichijouji immensely aggravated.
Knowledge and technique were the cornerstones of his self-confidence. He who could never win against "them" in power was so useful to "them" that he was an utter necessity, and another person could not outperform him. Therefore, Kichijouji pledged to himself that he would redeem himself from his loss during the Nine Schools Competition at the Thesis Competition. He considered victory over First High School at the Thesis Competition to be the shortest route to regaining his self confidence, which he needed to do.
For that reason, directly after the Nine Schools Competition was over, he spent almost every day confined in this reference room working hard composing his presentation speech.
Speaking of the aftermath of the Nine Schools Competition. —Ichijou’s state of mind seemed a little off—
That phrase fell into Kichijouji’s ears some days rarely, some days frequently.
He made no objection to calling Masaki’s condition as off. Kichijouji himself thought so. He was also aware that it was not just his imagination. After all, Kichijouji knew the reason Masaki was "off".
(…Despite that, there isn’t really anything I can do)
Kichijouji probably could not be attacked for not being a "true friend". After all, Masaki was afflicted with a disease that had from old been called "a sickness no doctor can cure" and "not soothed by hot springs therapy".
Kichijouji accepted it. Ichijou Masaki was suffering from "Love Sickness".
"Shiba Miyuki"
That was the name of the one Masaki had fallen for.
It was inconceivable that the next head of that Ichijou clan could be tormented by love troubles — but he was. Masaki with his brains, good looks and pedigree was the type that did not have to do anything to have a pack of girls after him; the reason for his torment was not anything like him being a neophyte, a complete prude, or a sexual deviant or anything like that — there really was no reason for him not to confess his feelings and end his torment of unrequited love, Kichijouji thought.
Even he himself couldn’t keep his heart from beating faster when he recalled that girl’s image.
The girl was that lovely. Not like a flesh and blood person, if someone said she was the fantasy of a teenage boy transformed into a three dimensional image by super science, he could just about believe it. Even without relying on a photo, his brain could revive her clear image; once or twice, he had gotten the feeling that she was some sort of dream or product of some wild delusion.
Since even he who had no feelings of affection toward her was in this state, Masaki who had fallen in love with her probably couldn’t help becoming more distracted than was usual for him.
In his case, she was an unreachable goal that inspire feelings of awe. Thanks to that (probably), the matter ended without inciting hopeless feelings of unrequited love; however, in Masaki’s case, in part due to the potential of actually getting her, the illness had become unnecessarily severe.
The name of Shiba Miyuki had special meaning for Kichijouji above and beyond that of being the subject of Masaki’s unrequited love.
She was Shiba Tatsuya’s younger sister.
The younger sister of the guy he held animosity for held his friend’s heart. The inner workings Kichijouji’s heart were more complex than he knew.
◊ ◊ ◊
"George."
The sun was almost completely past the western horizon with just an edge was passing through when Kichijouji turned around towards the voice that called him just as he was leaving school.
"Masaki."
Even without turning around, he had recognized him by voice alone. Before he could turn around, the owner of the name he spoke caught up to him mid-turn.
"You’re already leaving, right? If that’s so, let’s go together."
"Sure, if you're fine with it."
Kichijouji’s remark was another words for "you won't go out of your way".
Almost every day, Kichijouji returned directly to the school dormitory. In contrast, Masaki made numerous detours hither and thither on his way home. These were not all recreational (though a lot of times he was just playing around), as the number of times that the eldest son of the Ichijou clan had to run around on family business were not few.
"Oh, today I don’t really have anything special to do. ...All right. George, it’s been awhile so let’s visit my house."
"Wouldn’t there be a problem if I just dropping in without warning?"
To his friend’s sudden suggestion, Kichijouji presented a common sense response. However, Masaki lightly laughed it away.
"Don’t say anything to imply that we’re not close. Besides, if it's you, that family of mine will always give a warm welcome."
"Really? Got it. I’ll drop in."
Masaki invited Kichijouji, who lived alone, out of friendship without any guile. However, Kichijouji had reasons for why he could not freely accept the Ichijou family’s good will.
In the first place, he did not have any reason to dislike visiting Masaki’s family. Since Masaki was going straight home and he did not need to worry about interfering with any business he had on the way, Kichijouji displayed no real hesitation when he nodded his acceptance of Masaki’s invitation.
◊ ◊ ◊
Masaki’s house was a mere thirty minute walk from school. Commuting to school did not take thirty minutes; walking took thirty minutes. Naturally, the fact that Third High School and the Ichijou mansion were within walking distance of each other was a simple coincidence. There was no background detail like the school being useful to the Ichijou clan or the principal working for them, no matter what was whispered in places. In the first place, Third High School, like the other magic high schools, was a national high school affiliated with the National Magic University. Deciding the placement of high schools was in the jurisdiction of government offices; the Ten Master Clans were ostensibly private citizens so affecting the planning was not within the Ichijou clan’s reach. —The Ten Master Clans would also not use their influence in a matter like this.
The thirty minute route took Masaki and Kichijouji twenty-five minutes without hurrying. With the season’s long day already past, the twilight sky was dipped in purple for a while. Since Kichijouji thought that the members of the Ichijou family would not be home yet, he was a little surprised to be hailed as he passed through the gate into the garden.
"Ah, Shinkurou-kun, welcome."
The cheerful voice speaking to him had the high pitched soprano of a child. "Akane-chan, hello, pardon me."
The one who greeted Kichijouji with a smile was Masaki’s younger sister, Ichijou Akane. Akane was a sixth year elementary student, but Masaki also had another sister younger than her. Kichijouji had not had many chances to talk to that sister who was a third year elementary student, but Akane had attached herself to him long ago, so whenever he visited the Ichijou residence, she would always pop in to see him at least once whether she was there when he arrived or not. He did not know how serious she was, but she had said "I will become Shinkurou-kun’s bride someday".
The first time he heard this statement, Kichijouji was not all that old; by the third time, he was puzzled. When she first proclaimed her intentions to him two years before, Akane was still a fourth year elementary student at that time and all she was to him was Masaki’s younger sister who would grow to be a vivacious beauty in the future. Kichijouji himself was a second year middle school student at the time; proposals of marriage and the like did not seem all that real to him. On the other hand, he did not hate Akane for any reason and since he felt indebted to the Ichijou family, he could not treat her coldly, so Kichijouji at that time was at a complete loss on how to handle it.
He had not received such a clear "confession of love" in about a year, but Akane had teetered on the edges in her words. Kichijouji no longer felt bewildered about the situation, so she might have gradually breached his defenses. Kichijouji himself was unaware of this, however.
Well, since Masaki would not accept getting into any situation that made him look like he should receive the slur of lolicon (by that he meant Masaki wouldn’t accept anyone going after his sister while she was still a child), even if the outer gate of the castle had been raised, it was up to Masaki to decide when to raise the inner gate.
It seemed like she was just about to leave for practice, so he parted from Akane there. That being said, since Kichijouji probably couldn’t leave until after he dined with them for supper, he would probably meet her again later on.
The master of the house, Ichijou Gouki — Masaki’s father, the head of the Ichijou Clan — had not yet returned home. In order to support their position as leaders in the magician community and their personal military potential, the Ten Master Clans and the additional eighteen families managed, and sometimes invested, the assets they had been endowed with to an extent that was not very well known. There were cases of some of them officially being at the "local bigwig" level while unofficially controlling an international corporation effectively (one corporation owned another corporation which owned another corporation…), but the Ichijou clan’s interests were not that widespread. An undersea mining company was the official Ichijou family business. If no irregular situation occurred, Kichijouji knew Gouki would probably return in time for the evening meal.
On the other hand, Masaki’s mother was a housewife, but she was absent as well. She was probably out shopping. This was an era where everyday items and food as well could be supplied by online shopping, but women who wanted to look at the actual goods were numerous, especially among the lady of the manor class. Kichijouji felt it wasn’t all that different from online shopping as the goods were still delivered instead of being brought by the shoppers when they went home, but that might be only be the male point of view.
The Ichijou mansion was a grand residence roughly ten times the scale of an average separated house residence, but did not employ a lot of live-in maids and other type of servants. When the clan gathered, or when it hosted guests related to the society of magicians, and on similar occasions, they hire people from friendly local inns and restaurants. The garden needed specialized skills which were satisfied by periodically calling on a landscape gardener. In contrast to the families like the Saegusa and Itsuwa, who were fellow Ten Master Clans and surrounded themselves with a large number of servants, they operated under the policy of "if a machine could do it, then a machine would do it" and extensively used home automation.
Today, there were no special guests expected. Since there was no need to be polite to anyone in the unpopulated hallway, the two male high school students went straight to Masaki’s room.
Masaki’s room was, if you use traditional measurements, a six tatami western style room which is not considered an especially big room by conventional wisdom. But, in accordance with the upper class modern architectural style, the bed, closet and other furnishings could be stored within the wall and accessed by a wall mural, guaranteeing that even a six tatami room would have plenty of space.
Completely at home in his friend’s room, Kichijouji stowed the bed away, drew out the counter stool style table from the opposing wall using the mural, and put his butt down on one of the chairs that came with the table.
Masaki took two nice and cold glasses of blended tea from the small refrigerator within his room. One was placed in front of Kichijouji, the other remained in his hand as he sat down on the opposite side from Kichijouji.
"George, what state is the manuscript in?"
"Thank you for your concern, Masaki. It’s all good."
Kichijouji answered the seated Masaki’s inquiry, modestly concealing the confidence in his smiling face.
"How about you, Masaki? The gossip I’ve been hearing says that you’ve been doing some reckless things."
Kichijouji had heard a large amount of hearsay about Masaki’s activities after the Nine Schools Competition, especially about Masaki’s extremely difficult training regimen. He could understand Masaki’s motive. Like Kichijouji, who felt defeated by Shiba Tatsuya in CAD application and tuning, Masaki probably felt bitter over the defeat in Monolith Code and wanted payback.
"Not so bad. And I’m probably not going to see immediate results."
"That might be true."
Masaki’s voice was carefully casual as he responded to Kichijouji’s question about his mental condition. He was more volatile than expected, but he wasn’t feeling the gloomy implacability he had worried about. Relieved on that point, Kichijouji agreed in a light tone.
◊ ◊ ◊
Immediately after the electronic ping rang, Masaki let loose a groan from his core.
"George… it’s time."
"But this is the last one? Is using up time in the middle stage really okay?"
Kichijouji asked for confirmation over their monitors that were placed back to back and Masaki gave a weak nod.
Both screens suspended the real time battle simulation game. It looked like a still shot of a cityscape where all time and movement had frozen and Masaki switched the image to a bird’s eye view. In that way, he could see how much the monitor encroached on Masaki’s attention. Kichijouji felt like smiling at this friend’s indomitable spirit that was earnestly agonizing over this activity, he consciously keeping his face loose and unsmiling. Naturally, this wasn’t necessary. Since clearly with his eyes so fixated on the monitor, Masaki did not have any ability to pay attention to anything else.
Besides, although this game was for fun, it could not be looked at as a mere diversion. The scenarios in this simulation game had been created by the Magic University’s Military Research department; the algorithm had been upgraded by each division of the defense forces, so its urban combat scenarios for magicians were so accurate that it could be used for practice simulations.
"…Waiting in ambush there is probably a little too evil. And also, deliberately descending the rope without magic and the rest…"
Masaki’s grumbling might have been a monologue. Nevertheless, Kichijouji soon responded to his remarks.
"Leaving aside your point about the ambush, haven’t we seen the tactic of deliberately not using magic because it would draw the opponent’s attention recently, Masaki?"
Kichijouji’s tone had not changed from conversational, but Masaki’s response was to snap his eyes open and grind his back teeth with great vigor.
"That guy…"
"Yes. The tactic he used against Second High School in the Newcomers Tournament of Monolith Code."
Masaki used "that guy" and Kichijouji used "he" for the same person, First High School first year Shiba Tatsuya; between the two of them there was no need to verify that they meant the same person.
While agreeing to Masaki’s words, Kichijouji opened up the game menu screenshot and chose save and close. After all, he knew Masaki’s mind was no longer on the game.
A pause inquiry appeared on Masaki’s monitor. Masaki chose "yes" and extinguished his monitor; like Kichijouji, he shut his notebook style terminal and turned to face him again.
The first to open his mouth was Kichijouji.
"Masaki, for better or worse I think you overuse Oudou."
The Royal Road or the Path of Kings. This can be interpreted as taking the shortest path to victory. i.e. Making preparations to ensure success, might makes right and the shortest distance between two points
"That touched a nerve."
At Kichijouji’s point, Masaki made a pained smile and shook his head. "I don’t like saying these things, but for now I want you to listen."
Kichijouji face was slightly stiff as he spoke, and the smile had disappeared from his lips.
"I don’t intend to be closed-minded about this matter. What else?"
"I know, sorry."
Instead of doing what Masaki said, Kichijouji used words to continue easing the tension.
"Oudou is not a bad thing, since Oudou is the most practical and fastest path you can use to reach a destination. Besides, even if I tell you to use a lot of surprise moves and clever tricks, it wouldn’t really suit your personality, Masaki."
"Yeah, that’s probably true."
Once again, Masaki’s face sported a pained smile. This time Kichijouji did not seem to take it as a rebuke and a tinge of laughter entered his voice.
"Good. Since that is definitely true, Masaki."
While a smile was on his face, Kichijouji narrowed his eyes even further. In a certain sense, it was a dazzling expression.
"Did you mean that as praise?"
However, Masaki responded in a tone that made a joke of it; perhaps he didn’t notice, or was pretending not to notice, or possibly there was another explanation.
"Relax, since it’s mostly a compliment."
"Mostly, eh."
As if they had it planned for it to happen, the two simultaneously started chuckling.
"After all not only is it impossible for Masaki to use the same kind of tactics as he does, it is also probably not necessary."
Immediately after the laughter disappeared, Kichijouji returned to the topic with serious expression on his face.
"I think what Masaki must learn is not how to use clever tricks but how to deal with clever tricks."
"…You don’t just mean in simulation games by that, do you?" Kichijouji nodded visibly to the uncertain tone and gaze.
"True, I’m not just talking about simulation games. I am going to speak plainly."
As he spoke, Kichijouji temporarily trimmed away any placating phrases.
"If all we do is train in a reckless manner, next year’s Nine Schools Competition will probably be the same kind of failure as this year’s was."
There was a small silence until Masaki raised a question to be certain he understood the meaning beneath that remark.
"Are you saying my way of doing things is wrong?"
"I did not say it was meaningless."
While Kichijouji’s reply was indirect, there was no room for misunderstanding.
"If that’s all you train, you’ll need outside help. Training will become your flesh and blood."
But Masaki was not confused by the superficial encouragement. That he intuitively understood what Kichijouji wanted to say was evident by his next words.
"But victory and defeat are not determined by strength alone."
Even though he had anticipated them, Kichijouji’s words were a bitter pill for Masaki to swallow.
"Masaki. Even now, I believe you are more powerful than Shiba Tatsuya."
"But, I lost."
Masaki’s tone was flat, as if he did not want to hear his own words.
"I know that. It wasn’t just you, Masaki. I, too, lost to the Yoshida family’s magician of Ancient Magic. In spite of the fact, I am the clear winner in terms of speed. We also lost as a team to First High School. Our opponents’ true power surpassed our expectations. That is certainly true, however…"
On the other hand, a hint of caution was displayed in Kichijouji’s voice as if he was furiously thinking, rechecking his conclusions as he spoke them.
"I think where we ultimately failed was in the field of strategy. Additionally, rather than being entrapped by our opponents’ plan, my opinion is we screwed up."
With this statement of Kichijouji, Masaki tilted his head with a doubtful look on his face.
"I don’t think there was anything wrong in George’s strategy, but…"
Masaki’s words weren’t meant to comfort Kichijouji, this was what he really thought.
However, Kichijouji shook his head at those words.
"No, my strategy was wrong. Looking back, I certainly sunk us with the plan."
"…I don’t really understand what you mean."
"To be brief. I probably shouldn’t have ‘meddled with the plan’ in that match. I shouldn’t have concentrated on controlling our opponents’ actions; it would have been better if we had kept to our usual way of fighting."
As Masaki questioned him with a look, Kichijouji cut off his words, and read the fact that Masaki still wasn’t getting it from his face; while thinking ‘it can’t be helped’, Kichijouji continued explaining.
"It was not necessary for Masaki to get close to him in that match."
It can’t be helped, he thought again, this is how I am useful to Masaki. Kichijouji did not realize how much joy he felt over being able to compensate for Masaki’s weak spots.
"If we had kept to Masaki’s original style, long distance bombardment, we wouldn’t have lost that advantage. Since the open field setting was without vegetation, it was not necessary to guard against attacks from blind spots. I was probably concentrating on him too much."
Masaki did not say anything to console him and nodded as Kichijouji placed the blame on himself.
"The cause of our defeat in that match was my mistakes in strategy. But, there is a point I also want Masaki to reflect on."
"Uh-oh, this time it’s my turn, huh."
As Masaki purposely appeared taken aback, Kichijouji replied with a broad and evil grin.
"You were following the plan, but, Masaki, if you had been a little more wary of your opponent’s tricks, you could’ve avoided that last sound attack. Masaki, you chose to intercept when he closed the gap between the two of you for hand to hand combat, but there would have been a different result if you had leaped back for a moment."
"That really touched a nerve… in short, George, you’re trying to tell me not to become a daredevil, to remember to hold the line?"
They took preventive measures to keep the mood of their after action review from becoming too serious and to a certain extent they were successful.
"A little different. I think I said it before, but tricks don’t suit you, Masaki. And also, I don’t think you have to learn trickery yourself; I think it would be better if you learn what to do if you’ve fallen for one of your opponent’s ploys."
"Specifically?"
Masaki was neither depressed nor rebellious over Kichijouji’s harsh criticism and asked for a positive plan of action to fix his weaknesses. For a long time, this had been the way the pair operated.
"I think we need to work on situational judgment: when to temporarily retreat to take a look at the situation, when to smash through to victory by sheer power, and when to play for time and consult those who are acting as your staff officers. For the rest, developing the sensitivity to know something is going on."
Masaki mulled over the proposal he received from Kichijouji with a sour look. This face probably indicated that he had been already aware of what he needed to do himself. Kichijouji did not doubt that the admonition of touching a nerve indicated that Masaki was giving his words his complete attention.
"Therefore, instead of abusing our body, let’s forge our minds. Not with games like this one — I will seek a strategic simulation game that is closer to realistic war conditions for us."
"Urk…"
Within the low moan of Masaki’s voice, real actual gloom could be heard; without thinking, Kichijouji burst out laughing.
"Sounds like you’re enjoying yourself, Shinkurou-kun. What are you talking about?"
Just as Kichijouji was sniggering, Akane knocked and at once opened the door and entered the room.
"Akane… I’ve always told you to wait until you get an answer before you open the door, right?"
Masaki admonished his sister.
"Isn’t it okay since Shinkurou-kun is here? If the one Nii-san was holed up with here was a girl then even I would have restrained myself."
Akane, without a trace of demureness, approached the table facing Kichijouji and Masaki.
"Akane, err."
"What. You don’t want anything to drink Nii-san?"
Masaki’s pained expression changed to a sour one without him speaking and while Kichijouji watched over the siblings’ warm (crude) exchange, Akane set down two glasses of iced coffee and one glass of iced cocoa.
Masaki queried about the extra glass without a word.
Akane answered her brother’s question with an impish look and discreetly sat down on the chair next to Kichijouji. —While Akane had placed the glasses on the table, Kichijouji had tactfully moved the things that they had been storing on the stool. Apparently scenes like this were a normal occurrence for this household.
"Hey, Shinkurou-kun, why were you laughing? Nii-san did something ridiculous again?"
While sitting on the stool, Akane turned her gaze and the rest of her towards Kichijouji.
"Akane, are those really the kind of words you should say to your own brother…"
To his little sister who was clearly having fun at his expense, Masaki made an extremely earnest objection — that is to say, he attacked her with complaints, however.
"I didn’t say it to Nii-san. I was addressing Shinkurou-kun."
Receiving this truly impertinent answer, Masaki was too speechless to even make a faux pas.
Possibly satisfied for now by joking with Kichijouji, Akane left the room after about five minutes.
The two high school boys exchanged a tired laugh over being toyed with by an elementary school girl. No matter how young a "woman" is, she is still undoubtedly a "woman".
"…Sorry, she’s troublesome"
"Hahahaha…"
Kichijouji replied with meaningless laughter to the apology spoken by Masaki, who was so crestfallen that his shoulders drooped. "No, umm, isn’t it good that she’s spirited?"
Kichijouji tried to come up with something safe and comforting to say, but,
"As her elder brother, I wish she would exercise that spirit more discreetly, but..."
Masaki was not able to stop whining. On the contrary, his monologue of "compared to that guy’s sister", "Why does that person have to be that guy’s sister", "I’m jealous", "It’s so unfair"
"Darn it, unforgivable!" and the like gradually escalated. Slowly, Kichijouji realized that if he couldn’t detour him from this path, it would get really bad.
"Now, now. I think Akane-chan is fine." He said, but,
"George, you…"
Unfortunately, Kichijouji had made a critical error in his phrasing. "If you go for that type, I’m not going to say anything crude, but…"
"Eh?"
Receiving a look mixed with revulsion and wariness from Masaki, Kichijouji at last realized his screw up.
"At least wait till she graduates from elementary school before courting her, for my sake, please."
"Uh, umm..."
Kichijouji intended to explain that he was wrong. What he actually meant to say was "I think Akane-chan’s personality is fine the way it is".
"I trust you, George. Say you’re not a lolicon, please."
However, for some reason not one word of "denial" made its way out of his throat. Maybe he was unable to say a word that might be interpreted as a rejection of Akane; if Masaki took it that way he might not be able to continue his relationship with the Ichijou family due to the misunderstanding… unfortunately, those thoughts instantly struck Kichijouji.
Mending his friendship with Masaki was more important than correcting the misunderstanding.
Subconsciously.
He wasn’t even aware of it himself. "Absolutely! I am not a lolicon!"
For no reason he knew of, Kichijouji once again failed to correct the mistake and he let the big mix-up remain out of his own will.
He did not have any freedom to think about what kind of earthquake might come from the big fault line in his relationship with Masaki that the mix up created; Kichijouji could do no more than endure Masaki’s cool stare. —Even if you called it an earthquake, this was nothing more than a private matter in the first place.
Kichijouji did not even have the freedom to do anything like wishing for an unknown time in the future in which he could think. Finally unable to endure any more, Kichijouji changed the subject in desperation.
"Enough about me, Masaki how about you!? Have you made a little progress with her?"
It’s too late for regrets. Though, it’s normal for regret to come after. The moment after the words he spoke to change the subject left his mouth, Kichijouji thought "Aw, nuts…" with intense regret.
"If by her you mean ‘that her’ then no progress."
The frozen expressionless look on his face was more stone mask than poker face; in a voice that matched the face, Masaki made answers like "none" and "I’ve gained nothing".
"…What?"
A voice shouted stop in his heart. That was the voice of Kichijouji’s common sense. But by the time his inhibitions returned, Kichijouji’s tongue and lips could not help forming questions.
"You can’t get in touch with her?"
"I didn’t ask for her contact information."
"Why!? Didn’t you dance with her, Masaki. She did not seem to dislike you."
"I don’t think she hated me either. But, it’s hopeless."
He could hear the emotions Masaki was holding back in his voice; even Kichijouji felt so much pressure he found it difficult to breathe.
"But, why!?"
"She’s that guy’s sister. Until I erase the stain of defeat, I feel unworthy to pursue her."
Kichijouji did not say that he thought the girl would not care about that. He thought it would be irresponsible to say that without due consideration; even if that was the truth, it would be meaningless since it did not keep it from bothering Masaki.
He did not feel like laughing it off as foolish stubbornness. Quite the contrary, he wouldn’t be Masaki if he did not get obstinate about this type of thing, Kichijouji thought.
His next words gushed out easily from within him without hesitation or calculation.
"I’ll help you, Masaki. No, not help you. Let’s wipe out the stain of defeat together."
"Yeah. I’m counting on you."
◊ ◊ ◊
Masaki’s father, Gouki, had a sudden dinner meeting with a client, so he would be coming home late today.
Naturally, he cancelled dinner. Five people gathered around the dining table for the Ichijou family evening meal: Masaki; Midori, his mother; Akane; Masaki’s even younger sister, Ruri; and Kichijouji. Masaki sat across from Kichijouji with Ruri next to him. Kichijouji sat next to Akane and Midori sat at the head of the table to watch over all of them.
The mood of the evening meal was the usual one. Akane was gaily chatting to Kichijouji; across from them, Ruri was silently working her chopsticks.
Masaki was flicking his gaze back and forth between his sisters being a busybody and Midori was watching over her children’s actions with a bright smile.
It had been three weeks since Kichijouji had last partaken an evening meal with the Ichijou family. That being said, because ten of those days were the period spent on the Nine Schools competition (the total days actually spent was two weeks), it had not really been a long period of time.
"Shinkurou-kun, it’s been a while since you’ve come to our house. Have you been busy?"
Nevertheless, it seemed like Midori viewed it differently.
"That’s right. It would be better if he came over to play more often."
As expected, Akane voiced her agreement. Kichijouji did not commit the folly of objecting.
"You probably just want to play."
"Oh, Nii-san jealous? It’s ok-ay, because I won’t take Shinkurou-kun away from Nii-san."
"Id-i-ot. George and I don’t have that kind of relationship."
In response to Akane’s negative statement, Masaki started to raise his voice without thinking but he restrained himself.
"Who are you calling idiot! Humph, you can only afford to act like that now. Since friendship is fleeting in the face of love."
"Lo-Love!? Akane, you’re way too precocious for an elementary student!"
"Don’t mock elementary students!? What about you Niisan, you’re already a high school student and you don’t have a girlfriend!"
"Akane, there are things you shouldn’t say…!"
"Both of you are too loud."
"Ruri!? You don’t speak like that to your elder sister!"
"My my, Masaki, Akane, Ruri, all of you settle down. Why don’t we enjoy our food?"
Participating in such an uninhibited conversation was not something Kichijouji could do.
He took care not to let his envy show and also made sure no one realized his smile was fake so that he could look at the happy circle of the Ichijou family with what looked like a happy face.
—Because she could see he was acting like an outsider, the next words came from Akane’s mouth.
"I’ve got it, Kichijouji should live here."
"Oh, Akane. Great idea."
Kichijouji did not have time to break in — the next blow came from Midori.
"Yes, it is! This house has too many unused rooms. Hey, Shinkurou-kun, get out of the dorm and stay at our house."
"No, there’s no way I could put myself in your debt so much…"
Kichijouji wasn’t merely being polite, these were his true feelings. No, there was an unmistakable element of politeness, but he was not just refusing for form’s sake — this was a genuine polite refusal.
"Shinkurou-kun, wouldn’t it be better to say yes?"
Since she was sincere, Midori’s saying such a thing only made Kichijouji more uncomfortable. It wasn’t that he hated the idea of living with the Ichijou family, rather, it was because a part of him found it enticing that he was confused over how to refuse.
If Masaki hadn’t thrown him a lifeline, Kichijouji might have been overwhelmed by Midori.
"Kaa-san… Akane aside, please stop saying such things that make George uncomfortable. This matter was discussed enough two years ago, right?"
Right. The subject of staying with the Ichijou family had also come up two years ago. He had refused it himself and chosen to continue living in the dorms
—thanks to Masaki’s assistance, he remembered that close call. "I’m sorry, Midori-san."
Since it had been impressed on him in various ways that he should not call her anything like Oba-san, "Midori-san" spun easily out of Kichijouji’s mouth.
"I can’t become more indebted to you, it would be too painful, and it is often convenient to be in a dorm that is attached to a laboratory."
The latter half of his statement was in no way a lie. Third High School was at the former site of the first laboratory of the Kanazawa Magic Research Institute, which is the research institute Kichijouji was attached to and the place he also discovered the "Cardinal Code" at. The dorm built at that site had facilities to conduct experiments late at night and designed so that no one had to "sleep in a huddle in the hallway" to conduct research and HD panels with convenient supplies for emergencies.
But that was an add-on, an additional reason; the first part, "I can’t become more indebted to you" expressed Kichijouji’s true feelings.
"Really? …If you change your mind, you can move in anytime. We would not think of it as any trouble at all."
Midori saw Kichijouji’s attitude toward this matter as his usual stubbornness and did not persist in inviting him further. Akane was a little unhappy, but she stopped with making a face; she might have realized that twisting Kichijouji’s arm any further would ruin his mood.
While Kichijouji was relieved that Midori and Akane had eased off, he worried that he might have caused his benefactors, the Ichijou family, to feel depressed. But although he was dependent on the kindness of Midori, Akane, and the others, there were some emotions within his heart that he could do nothing about.
—Three years prior, acting in conjunction with the Great Asian Alliance’s invasion of Okinawa, the New Soviet Union invaded Sado. Even now, the New Soviet Union denied participating in the invasion; however, without a doubt those troops belonged to that nation.
The invading troops were only a small detachment of the overall invasion force. However, even so, that was enough military power to quash the Island of Sado.
Kichijouji, who was living on Sado at the time, became a war orphan with the loss of his father and mother in that conflict.
Both of Kichijouji’s parents had also been magic researchers. At that time on Sado, there was a facility dedicated to experiments to clarify the nature of psions using below ground impressions; both Kichijouji’s father and mother worked at that facility. It was said that the facility was the target of the New Soviet Union’s invading troops. The research facility bore the brunt of the invading army’s surprise attack; over half of the employees got caught in the battle between the invaders and defenders and lost their lives.
A mere single day of tragedy. On that day, at 10AM, he received word that unidentified troops were invading in a surprise attack; Kichijouji had been unable to contact his parents, and he had been evacuated to a shelter near his school under the guidance of the staff of his middle school.
Although he prayed for his parent’s safety inside the shelter, Kichijouji had already been mature enough to have a realistic premonition of disaster.
However, Kichijouji was still childish enough at the time to tremble, feeling powerless, forgetting that he had magic of his own as a weapon.
The ones who rescued Kichijouji, who had squatted in the shelter enduring the terror, were a heroic group of volunteer soldiers spearheaded by the Ichijou clan
—
That time was not the only time they had saved him from terrifying peril.
Masaki’s father, Gouki, also pulled some strings to allow him to intern at a magic theory research institute while he was still a mere first year middle school student. With both his parents dying simultaneously and having no other relatives, Kichijouji, who would have had to enter one of the infamous orphanages for magicians, had a place to live and the means to pay for his expenses thanks to the Ichijou clan. This was not just a belief of Kichijouji, this was an objective fact.
Soon after entering the research institute, his unique natural talents as a magic researcher blossomed and by his deed of discovering "the Cardinal Code," he had repaid that favor — no, Kichijouji would never be able to forget that act of kindness. He should never consider himself finished with paying that favor.
Kichijouji had decided in his heart to make repaying the Ichijou clan for their support a mission he would spend his whole life doing.
For he himself to become a member of the Ichijou family, even as a simple lodger, was something too astounding for Kichijouji to contemplate.
◊ ◊ ◊
With Kichijouji employed as her home tutor, who would come once a week, Akane’s good humor was restored. The debits and credits of this transaction made a one sided minus on Kichijouji’s side but he was not the least bit dissatisfied. Instead, having an excuse to visit the family once a week made him unconsciously joyous.
The meal ended, Kichijouji went and collected his things from Masaki’s room and made bows in the Ichijou foyer.
"Thank you, for the delicious meal."
"No no, it was not all that great. I am sorry. It is gracious of you to say you liked it."
"Don’t be ridiculous. I like Midori-san’s home cooking."
"Oh, really, thank you."
It definitely took a while for Midori to release him from the demurring battle. "Kaa-san, you need to get back soon. Aren’t Akane and Ruri waiting?"
Masaki’s two younger sisters were in the midst of cleaning up after the meal. Kichijouji thought it would have been alright to leave washing dishes and the rest to a HAR (Home Automation Robot), but under Midori’s policy of "I’d be too embarrassed to let a daughter of mine leave the house to become a bride, if she can’t even do this much", the girls did a daily chore rotation of cooking, cleaning, and laundry.
"Oh, that’s true. Then Shinkurou-kun, come over to play again."
"Yes, I promised Akane-chan I’d do that."
Since they could not see Kichijouji to the front door, the sisters conducted their goodbye rituals in the dining room (dining hall suited the room better).
Akane had been tedious about reminding him about the matter of home tutoring until Kichijouji’s words and the false gaiety of Midori’s mood sent her into the kitchen.
"It was awful of me to force you to stay so late."
"Don’t worry about it. It’s summer vacation."
Kichijouji laughed and shook his head at Masaki who was worn out by the thanking.
"At any rate, I’d have been alone if I’d gone back to the dorm — it was fun."
"Really, I’m relieved to hear you say that."
Masaki knew that even though it was summer vacation, Kichijouji had his hands full with the reports for both the Thesis Competition and the research institute’s reports, so he didn’t have much free time. Despite knowing that, Masaki had still invited Kichijouji. Actually, the statement of ‘it was fun’ had eased Masaki’s mind greatly.
"I’ll come again on Saturday."
"…It’s okay to not worry about what Akane said."
"There no way I could possibly do that."
As he watched his friend’s apparent rivalry with his younger sister, a snigger nearly leaked out against his better judgment.
"I won’t be just coming to be Akane-chan’s home tutor, I have to serve as your opponent for simulation games, Masaki."
Masaki’s lips formed in to a "へ" syllable, as memories of the beginning and end of today’s simulation game overwhelmed him. Kichijouji knew that just from watching him. Therefore, as it’s said, Kichijouji didn’t do anything else to drive Masaki into a corner and they proceeded in that fashion.
"Hey, George, I’ve been thinking a little."
Nevertheless, it was called to a halt from Masaki’s side. "What’s up, something important?"
"No, not all that important matter, but..."
While he introduced it like that, Masaki’s face did not have any trace of levity in it.
"Concerning that conversation, the problem of situational judgment."
"Hmm, that problem."
"Whether to advance, to retreat, or to maintain the course… the discussion was about instant decision making on a single combat level; I don’t see how strategic simulation games have much to do with that."
"That’s not true. It’s important to develop what’s called an eye for opportunities, and squad combat and single combat are not all that different in the essentials."
"Even if you say so, instant judgment is a reflexive and intuitive thing, right? In order to cultivate a tactical eye for single combat, I still believe the best way is to partake in a multitude of mock combat…"
"Masaki… the loss in Monolith Code to First High School was somewhat due to the single combat tactics within the framework of the overall strategy. Polishing a squad level tactical eye is absolutely indispensable."
"But for squad tactics, isn’t getting the opinion of a competent staff officer more important?"
"Ahh… it’s true about staff officers, but..."
Taking Kichijouji’s hesitation as assent, Masaki mysteriously sported a bright, shiny sparkling smile.
"Then there’s no problem. Because I have George to be a competent staff officer for me."
This surprise attack inflicted great damage on Kichijouji.
To Kichijouji, Masaki’s statement was an excessively sweet blow.
Kichijouji needed tremendous strength of will to stiffen his face and keep his smile from falling off.
"…Flattery won’t work, Masaki. Making decisions on the strategic ideas the staff officers offer is the duty of the general to whom they report to."
Masaki's furious mutters as they parted informed him that there was no way he was being flattered but Kichijouji pivoted and showed Masaki his back.
The muscles in his face were just about to reach their limit. Luckily, Masaki had not been aware of the state he was in.
If he had been aware of it then, he would not mistake it for anything but something awkward he hadn’t considered.
(Masaki, for you I will become the greatest staff officer. I will always be only your staff officer. So become the greatest general for me.)
The rival he had always been continually conscious of since the Nine Schools Competition, and the fact that Masaki’s romantic interest was that person’s younger sister as well, all disappeared from within his head. Kichijouji just felt happy about being needed by Masaki whom he saw as his benefactor.
