Since morning, the school grounds had been covered by a buoyant atmosphere.
Today, no classes would be held in the afternoon; the Student Body General Meeting, the Campaign Speeches, and the election were being held instead.
In modern high schools, where individual classes almost never assembled, this was a very big event.
Not only that, in this Student Body General Meeting, a proposal to make a major alteration to the system of student government was supposed to be made.
As a matter of fact, since before summer vacation, a conflict between the proponent group and the opposition group had been brewing under the surface of school life.
Whether it was due to the current president Saegusa Mayumi’s popularity, the difficulty of publicly opposing the proposal, or the influence of the actions of the Second Course team in the Monolith Code event at the newcomers tournament, in terms of numbers, the proponent group was overwhelming. However, in response to that, the opposition group had grown more obstinate. People who examined the current state of affairs felt that there was a violent undertone; this made the mood of the school rife with unrest.
◊ ◊ ◊
“Everyone here? This is the final check for station deployment.”
After morning classes finished, all the members of the Public Moral Committee assembled at committee headquarters.
Since they worked in shifts and most of them operated solo, having all the committee members together was rare. The Student Body General Meeting was one of the few times all members would be out in force.
“In general, the committee will be stationed inside of the lecture hall. Outside the lecture hall, the automated surveillance cameras will be used. We are here to help the student government.”
The entire force of the Public Moral Committee was nine people. Since this was all that was available to police the 560 members of the student body accumulated in the meeting room, they didn’t have any guards to spare for handling the exterior. Still, even if they did have enough people, dealing with villainous intruders wasn’t part of their job.
“Chiyoda and I are at the main entrance; at the side entrance, Tatsumi and Morisaki…”
While listening to Mari’s directions, Tatsuya thought she‘s “unusually intense”. Instead of using feminine speech, she’s sounding quite boyish. Well, for the Public Moral Committee, this was a rare opportunity to assemble.
“Sawaki is on the upper part of the platform, Shiba is on the lower part; that’s all.”
Mari barked out the members’ names and posts in order to confirm them. His own station was the stage wing.
In case the official on stage was attacked, or as it was called, “got jumped”, he and Sawaki were the so-called last line of defense… but Tatsuya didn’t really have to worry about that.
After yesterday’s walk with Mayumi, he understood. No student at First High
School would be reckless enough to harm Mayumi. What he meant was that it was reckless to try to harm Mayumi at First High School, and every male upperclassman would make sure everyone knew it…
“Everyone, quickly man your post. Shiba, stay for a bit.”
When it was just the two of them, Mari reverted to her usual way of speaking. “Make it quick; Tatsuya-kun, how did it go yesterday?”
He didn’t need to ask her to explain what she was asking about. “Attacked, three times.”
Mari’s face quickly froze. “I was.”
However, as she heard his following words, her expression only showed “Huh?”
“No, it seems I’ve been gazing at the president a little too warmly.” “…Don’t worry about the time; just give me an explanation?” “To be brief, they seemed to be members of her fan club.”
As she heard Tatsuya's calm words of explanation, her face changed to comprehension.
“In short, misplaced jealousy.”
“You would think it would be obvious that it was not that kind of situation since Miyuki was with us.”
Remembering yesterday’s events, (an emotional) wave of fatigue rolled over him. At least, that’s the way it felt to Tatsuya.
“Well, only activate your CADs; don’t put the thought of doing something more tangible out of your head, but if you do something stupid, you will incur more than just the president’s wrath.”
“Got it…”
“In that condition, if we are caught in a crossfire, we might be unable to interfere… Because if the president receives a single blow, I see a problem occurring if we try to gang up on someone.”
Even fanatics didn’t want to die in vain. Suicide bombers carried out their plans in order to take their enemies (and their allies) with them. Snipers did not plan to strike from places they could be spotted, or at places that were known to be protected by bulletproof glass.
The two of them felt stupid for worrying over nothing, and shared relieved smiles.
…After all that, Tatsuya’s enthusiasm for his work approached zero level.
With the belief that he had been taking things so seriously that he had been seeing shadows, he took his place—standing at the side of the stage beside the stairs for the main event.
When he thought about it, it was obvious that it was only a matter of a high school government election. Even if the prestige of “Student Council President” had any real meaning, the titles of ‘vice president’, ‘secretary’ and the like carried no real meaning after graduation.
In the First High School’s system, if the Student Council President willed it, there could be two vice presidents or four secretaries; Course 2 students not being part of the Student Council wasn't a matter of honor, it was only a matter of pride.
And when it came down to it, it was a pretty petty form of pride.
(His view of the matter had been negatively influenced by “the outside world”…)
For the sake of ideals, for the sake of money, for the sake of honor, for the sake of pride… in the world Tatsuya was deeply immersed in, it was comparatively easy to exchange human life for these things; he had taken things too seriously when they were discussing and evaluating the danger and had forgotten the difference in the “Stage” before his eyes. He felt he had been viewing things in a way unrelated to reality, just as if he had been watching a movie.
“…For the above reason, I propose to dissolve the limitation concerning who can become a member of the Student Council.”
As Mayumi’s explanation of the legislation finished, a hand was suddenly raised from the third years’ row.
Tatsuya had no recollection of this First Course female student (in short, she had not participated in the Nine Schools Competition; she didn’t have enough power to be chosen as a member of the team) who stood at the questioner‘s podium.
Because modern parabolic microphones have the potential to pick up everyday conversation from 50 meters away, it wasn‘t going a little overboard to install a questioner‘s podium.
That small instrument and the big instrument that worked with it were going to gradually take away Tatsuya's sense of how the world should work.
“…This public position… sound argument…”
The words of the questioner, a part of the so-called opposition party, were intermittently failing to reach his ear.
Naturally, he wasn’t wearing earplugs; he unconsciously filtered the speech to only allow words that might induce trouble to enter his consciousness.
“The real issue is whether there is a need to change the system? In short, are there any Course Two students suitable to be part of the Student Council?”
Tatsuya scowled at the questions with clear aims. (There was nothing in the questions themselves that would make a speaker feel that they had to conceal their face from outsiders.)
It was a piece of undisguised good luck. Tatsuya thought that Mayumi answered the questions seriously; he didn’t know what she was thinking or if she was thinking but she answered them.
“Today, I will resign from the post of Student Council President. Accordingly, I cannot appoint new people to the Student Council and so I haven’t thought about who could be appointed.”
“However, you can pressure the next Student Council President into appointing the Course Two student of your own choice?”
(“your own choice” was used…)
Tatsuya felt the expression was extremely suggestive. “I am not thinking of becoming a hidden empress.”
She gave a slight high pitched giggle as she made her minor jest.
“The right of appointing the next Student Council’s members is one of the powers of the next Student Council President. I have no intention of countermanding any of the next Student Council President’s authority.”
“You mean the next Student Council President who you wish to surround with Course Two students; you mean you haven’t put forth this change in our system at this time with that intention?”
A stir arose in the lecture hall at the poison laced words. It seemed that Tatsuya wasn’t the only one thinking “Hey, now!”
“Quiet, please.”
The icy voice that called out the order was from Miyuki who was helping to keep the program on track.
Since President Mayumi, as the person who raised the issue, was standing in order to handle questions, Hattori was momentarily in charge of keeping things moving and Miyuki was employed as his assistant. (By the way, officially, the speaker could not take a break for food or drink during the Student Body General Assembly.)
“…The answer to that question is ‘no‘. The reason I am advocating the proposal at this time is because this is the only chance to do so. Because I consider it to be the responsibility of the Student Council President to ensure that any enmity among their Kouhai is fully doused and will not erupt into flames.”
Deep in Tatsuya’s heart, a sense of wonder emerged. No matter what, this noble face never seems to be seen outside of an arena like this one.
“The truth of the matter is that the inability of Course Two students to become officers of the Student Council is not a source of antagonism.”
On the other hand, the questioner—whose name was Asano—Tatsuya thought, was becoming more intractable.
“It is not a matter of whether or not there is a candidate, Asano-san. The system reveals the way an organization thinks. The system does not allow Course Two students to become officers of the Student Council; it says that it doesn’t matter how much power an individual Course Two student has, that individual cannot become an officer of the Student Council. This can be interpreted as a declaration from the Student Council that it believes Course Two students are not worthy of the privilege of becoming officers of the Student Council. That is being mistaken for elitism.”
She had put a lot of effort into making that presentation, Tatsuya thought, as the President was wrapped in applause.
It wasn’t coming entirely from the rows of Course Two students. “This is a subterfuge.”
No matter how thickheaded a person was, they would not be able to keep themselves unaware that the atmosphere that coated the lecture hall was against them. In the midst of this, she was still at it; I suppose it’s unsurprising that Asano’s words have started having a hysterical edge to them.
“Isn’t it because you, President, have a Course Two student you want to place on the Student Council, that you want the qualification annulled! Isn’t your true motive to give someone preferential treatment!”
There was a feeling of desperation to the voices that cried “That’s right” sporadically, but they were immediately drowned by a storm of booing. The storm thrust large waves of discontent against the questioner’s podium.
“President Saegusa! Isn’t your true intent to put that first year student on the Student Council?”
The finger of the hysterically wailing Asano pointed at Tatsuya.
“I know it’s true. You even went as far as the station with him on your way home, yesterday!”
This was probably hopelessness, an outburst of despair. Asano’s face crumpled.
Nevertheless, those words unexpectedly showed a major result. The storm of booing instantly abated.
The eyes of the entire student population were going back and forth between Mayumi and Tatsuya.
When he saw Mayumi’s face coloring faintly with red, Tatsuya thought “That face is only going to make this mess bigger!” But under the circumstances where he was unwillingly being kept under constant observation, there was no way he could make that kind of condemnation.
The impasse was broken when cold words were tossed from the stage. “That is all you want to say?”
Without anyone noticing, (probably just now) Miyuki had stood. A cold haughty glare was piercing the upperclassman’s face.
Even from the back of the stage, no, it was more like it was due to the fact that it was coming from the stage depths; her expression clearly possessed a queen- like dignity that was merely checking for a short answer; the lips of the gossip- mongering upperclassman were sewn shut by it.
(Magic… wasn’t invoked)
The very first thing Tatsuya did was check and see if Miyuki had lost control of her magic.
This pressure wasn’t magic.
Without invoking any magic, Miyuki was radiating the freezing chill that robbed a body of its ability to move freely as in the depths of the worst of winter; even Tatsuya felt it.
“I judge that the outburst just now was an attempt to cloud the issue by vicious personal slander. Therefore, in accordance with my authority as an aide to the person in charge of keeping these proceedings on track, I order you to leave; if you have an objection to this, then you must provide a foundation for your allegation that President Saegusa holds special feelings for a particular Year One student.”
“That is…”
Naturally, Asano faltered.
From the beginning, Mayumi having special feelings for Tatsuya came from the realm of speculation; that that was the motive for the current proposal was mere slander. Even Asano, herself, was aware of this.
Miyuki’s eyes were coldly fixated on the paralyzed Asano.
There was no magic in those eyes, they were only able to contain disdain, it seemed as if that stare was able to freeze an adversary’s heart.
And it really paralyzed the agitator who was involving her older brother in slander, so her adversary was in a condition where she couldn’t move even a finger.
It wasn’t authority, rank, social class… or experience in society; those things could not really belong to a high school student. This was really a situation where the word “Dignity” can be used; it sounded so glorious.
“—I am making a correction. There is no need for you to leave. To be correct, please discontinue your questioning of this matter and return to your seat, Asano-senpai.”
The one who at last moved to take control was the person in charge of proceedings, Hattori. “At last”… well in short, he too had been overwhelmed by the pressure Miyuki was still exuding.
Miyuki bowed elegantly and returned to her chair; Asano was in no condition to give even a single word in reply and awkwardly returned to her seat.
In the end, the opposition group’s hindrance had finished with a misfire.
Afterwards, a carefree mood that wouldn’t even permit heckling permeated the lecture hall, gradually (or possibly anticlimactically), people voted electronically and the annulment of the eligibility requirement for Student Council officers was approved by a majority.
And it was finally time for Azusa’s campaign speech.
Since there was only a single candidate, it was more like a declaration of the candidate’s convictions speech, but a formal, no, a vote of confidence would be held (moreover the ballots would be actual paper ballots as opposed to electronic voting). Her face mixed with enthusiasm and tension, Azusa approached the podium. As she made her quick bow, applause broke out.
Here and there, whistles and cheers blended together, but they soon stopped as Azusa begun her speech.
Tatsuya and Miyuki were unable to understand since they paid little attention to the entertainment industry, but the cute and feminine type of song and dance girl who performed on stage had widespread fan appeal among males.
Tatsuya was still unaware of why, but without regard to her excellent grades in theory and practical skills, without bragging even a little, the modest and friendly Azusa whose face and figure were also modest and friendly throughout the school had a reputation as “an easily befriended idol”, similar but slightly different than Mayumi’s.
Surprisingly (but putting it this way might be unfair to Azusa), she presented her “politics” and “policies” eloquently. The fundamentals had been inherited from the current Student Council’s views; he was able to see a strong high school student-ish inclination toward idealism, but generally she leaned to the conservative end. —Occasionally, she would strangely pepper her speech with cheers like “Go for it” and “You can do it;” well, we all probably have eccentricities.
The storm broke out when she referred to the officers of the next Student Council.
“—I will defer that decision until the day to make the appointments; I intend to appoint highly capable people without regard to whether they are Course One or Course Two students.”
“That Course Two student~?”
“Azusa-chan likes the young and untamed type~”
The comments were truly only low level jeers. From the beginning, they were only a vulgar way for the repressed opposition group to spew out their unabated and still smoldering dissatisfaction. Possibly, they subconsciously calculated that a counterattack against Azusa was more likely to be ignored.
But, their calculations were incredibly off.
Certainly, Azusa said nothing about the insults directed at her.
“Who said that just now!” “For making fun of Nakajou-san that way!” “If you have something to say do it in front of us!” “Get the cowards!”
…Under the circumstances, she didn’t have time to say anything when the big uproar began.
In the middle of the gathering, squabbling blossomed.
The jeering opposition group and Azusa’s nearby fans became involved in a scuffle.
“Please quiet down! Return to your seats!” “Silence please!”
“Settle down, everyone!”
Miyuki, Hattori, and Mayumi raised their voices multiple times, but the enraged students weren’t able to hear them.
The area where the scuffling was going on was gradually increasing.
The jeers, too, were gradually becoming less endurable.
Absolutely no skills were being used; the clump looked like squabbling children, but just plunging in would only result in being caught in the game of oshikuramanjuu (A children's game in Japan that involves shoving).
It would be easy if you didn’t have to care about injuring anyone; however… while the difficulties of controlling the situation were making his head ache, Tatsuya made eye contact with Sawaki and Tatsumi and decided to prepare to make the plunge.
But, the decision was too late.
They were making insinuations about Tatsuya and Azusa’s relationship; the moment an exceedingly vulgar jeer emitted from the mouth of one of the opposition group, a girl’s shrill voice took command of the disturbance.
“Calm down!”
She wasn’t screeching but there had been an illusion of loudness to the voice.
The voice was not loud but, the strength of the voice made an impact on the minds of those engaged in the fracas.
Reflexively, the students eyes turned, the next instant their eyes reflexively closed, while blinking their eyes they once again begun to raise them toward the stage.
On stage, a blizzard of Psion light was running wild. Violent rage was infringing on the world.
Modern magic was changing the world by projecting a false vision through an information body.
It wasn’t possible for magic to be invoked without an intention to guide its form.
Despite that, the chaos caused by wildly running emotions could enact that chaos on the world.
Such was the strength of the intervention power to negate common knowledge.
In this situation, no one could tell when the lecture hall was going to be smashed by ice.
Mayumi, Hattori, Suzune, and Azusa simultaneously extended hands holding out CADs upon the Queen of that World of Ice—Miyuki—to bring her under control.
—Nevertheless, the magic battle between fellow members of the Student Council in that terrible situation was fortuitously avoided at the last second.
Instantaneously, the back of a male student standing upon the stage obscured the girl’s passion from the students' field of vision.
The boy's hands were placed on both of the girl’s shoulders and the world that had been engulfed in the girl’s power and repainted looked as if it was being repressed.
What the two people said to each other or whether they conversed with their eyes alone without words could not be understood from off the stage.
Nonetheless, from the time the boy released the girl from his hands until they left the stage the gazes of the entire student body, First Years, Second Years, and Third Years locked (?) on the two of them as if they were nailed there.
◊ ◊ ◊
Afterwards, it was as if cold water had been thrown over everyone and order was completely restored to the gathering.
Even the jeerers were viewed like they were just rude people emboldened by a concert-like atmosphere.
The campaign speech portion solemnly disintegrated, and the students lined up to cast their ballots like tame sheep.
The ballots results would be posted the next morning after Third Years under the pay of the Student Council had finished their count.
Those results— “Congratulations A-chan.” “Nakajou, congratulations.” “Congratulations, Nakajou-san.”
—Even without hearing the voices congratulating her first thing in the morning, Azusa was elected Student Council President.
“…Shiba-san, I think it’s better if you don’t pay it any attention, since the ballot doesn’t affect anything.”
“Too bad, Tatsuya-kun.”
While listening to the sympathetic voice of Suzune and, unable to keep from showing how amusing she found it, voice of Mari, the siblings with matching pained faces read the vote tabulation report.
In total, there were 554 ballots.
The number of legitimate votes was 173 ballots.
The tabulation of the ballots contents… “…These are the results.”
“Shiba: 220, Nakajou: 173, Tatsuya-kun: 161…”
“…Wait a minute. The ballots of the large number of people who miswrote the name shouldn’t be recognized in the count…”
While crying out 'I want to pretend this doesn’t exist' without words, Miyuki calmly made an objection.
“Why are ‘The Queen’, ‘Her Majesty, the Queen’ and ‘The Snow Queen’ all being counted as votes for me?”
Miyuki cried this out in a tearful voice.
“Because on other ballots ‘Queen Miyuki’, ‘Her Majesty, Queen Shiba Miyuki’, ‘Snow Queen Miyuki’ and the like were written… there was no other way to interpret them.”
Listening to the apologetic voice of Suzune soothe her, there was no way Miyuki couldn’t understand.
“What do they mean by that? Do they think I have some sort of perverted inclinations?” (here, Queen can also refer to S and M Queen)
“…No, I believe that they definitely don’t mean anything like that. After seeing you look like that, I don’t believe anyone would have the nerve…”
As if she had lost an inner battle, her body actually slumped as Mari contradicted her in a confused manner.
“Hey, am I that appalling? Is my demeanor really that intolerable?” Miyuki’s tone had changed into a genuine wail.
“…Miyuki-san, calm down. After all, no one thinks that.”
Mayumi was trying with all her might to make her voice sound soothing so that she could somehow calm Miyuki’s mood, but it had almost no effect.
“Lend me the ballots! I’ll find whoever wrote them!” “That’s absurd… in the first place, how would you do that?”
Somebody murmured this obvious flaw in her plan, but in this case, it was utterly futile.
Miyuki turned her entire body towards Tatsuya, her eyes clouded all at once. “Onii-sama…”
With a needy look in her eyes, just as Miyuki was about to release her tears and snuggle against him, Tatsuya temporarily shelved his own disturbance.
“Do not ask for the impossible, Miyuki. Since this is a secret ballot, investigating who voted for whom is a serious violation of the rules.”
He patted her head without any trace of embarrassment and admonished her as if she were a small child.
“But… but…”
Not having a clue of what else to do, Tatsuya gently embraced his little sister who was sobbing her eyes out.
“It’s okay.”
His mouth neared the vicinity of his sister’s ear “After all, you are not a Queen.”
And with a deeply gentle voice,
“No matter how anyone else views you, to me you are a cute princess.” Tatsuya made that vow.
“Onii-sama…”
The sound of crying gradually ended, simultaneously it looked as if the anger and frustration were also ending, and as potential Armageddon was soothed away, everyone relaxed their tense posture.
Nevertheless, they were soon in an entirely different kind of awkward situation.
Although she stopped crying, Miyuki showed no sign of leaving Tatsuya’s arms.
Rather, her head and cheek were shockingly pressed against Tatsuya’s chest; the aura around them was so sweet that they were all suffering from heartburn.
◊ ◊ ◊
For the noon recess that day, the siblings, Tatsuya and Miyuki, did not show their faces in the Student Council room.
Not only did Miyuki cry in front of her senpai, she let herself be seen being embraced and comforted, so it was only natural that she was too embarrassed to come; as the seemingly unembarrassed Tatsuya had already informed them so, Mayumi and the rest were unworried.
Azusa was being honored with a celebration by her fellow second years so her seat was empty.
Suzune as usual didn’t come unless she had something to do, so she didn’t appear.
And today, unusually, Katsuto came to the Student Council room. “Here it is.”
When the meal came to an end, Mayumi took out tea for Katsuto. Katsuto made a silent toast and raised his teacup to his mouth. “So, why are you here today, Juumonji?"
Although they were both guests, Mari—maybe because she couldn’t hold back any more—behaved as if they were in her own headquarters and questioned him; Katsuto gave a “no reason” type of answer.
“Perhaps, because today is for Saegusa her true retirement day. This is the last time I can come to see her in Student Council President mode.”
“I see, you came to thank Mayumi for her service or something.” “Oh, Juumonji-kun, thank you,”
“Ah, you're welcome.”
While smiling smugly, the two of them coordinated an attack (a verbal assault?) which Katsuto solemnly rebuffed.
“…So that’s it. I thought Tatsuya-kun resembled someone; he responds to these things just like Juumonji-kun.”
“Shiba?”
'We’re alike?' Katsuto asked with a glance; Mari shrugged. Even though superficially their response was similar, Mari believed that Tatsuya’s were intentional and Katsuto’s were spontaneous, so her assessment was that their taciturnity was the only similarity.
“Speaking of Shiba, how do you think it went yesterday…”
Perhaps she believed that she couldn’t throw him off through body language alone, Mari attempted to make a swift change of topic.
“It was okay… But there was no need for us to worry.”
However, maybe because the topic on both of their minds, both Mayumi and Katsuto leaped over Mari’s choice and directed the conversation to the topic of their choice.
“I was too low to be able to really see what was going on, but did Shiba restrain his sister, just like it seemed to me?”
“Yes. Her outpouring of power and his suppression ability were unbelievable.” It was just the way Katsuto said it was. The truth of what was going on couldn’t be discerned by those facing the stage; only those like Mayumi who were on the stage were able to clearly see what happened.
Possibly, it was a practical application of “Gram Demolition”. A structure of Psions instantly displayed—without having to work it into an information body with Eidos, Psions themselves were the product of molded External Systematic Magic—in the form of an aura. A large amount of Psions wrapped around her running wild in a chaotic manner; that overwhelming power was compressed and poured back into Miyuki’s body.
Psions were not something exuded from someone’s body, but the body was the medium used for Emission or Absorption. The activation sequence formation used by CADs was an example of similar modeling.
Tatsuya had taken the Psions Miyuki had scattered around and, without any cooperation from her, poured them back “inside”.
“It doesn’t matter how good someone is at External Systematic Magic, it doesn’t matter if they are blood relations, can someone really manipulate someone else’s Psions that easily? At that time they were completely out of Miyuki’s own control; that’s another matter for consideration, but…”
These were a list of Mayumi’s concerns.
“Wasn’t that one of his ancient magic techniques? I think that there is an ‘Art of the Sage’ that is excellent for controlling Psions…”
Mari put forth her guesswork as an answer; however,
“No, no matter how well an ancient magic technique is mastered, it takes time to put it in motion. The Art of the Sage you’re talking about is an extremely time consuming system of magic.”
Katsuto indirectly refuted Mari’s guess with a “that doesn’t explain everything” type of answer.
“Even looking at his sister’s power, as I expected, I think their genetic makeup cannot be ignored…”
“But he himself denied ‘that he was a member of the ten master clans’ right?” And this time, Mari presented the counter argument to Katsuto’s logic.
“Ah. He didn’t seem to be lying.”
As they ran into that dead end, Mari and Katsuto tilted their heads.
“…Let’s stop already. This conversation. It is not good to inquire about bloodlines.”
Mayumi suddenly proposed a halt.
Mari and Katsuto, both felt Mayumi’s sudden change in attitude was unnatural; however, for magicians, inquiring about bloodlines was certainly a minor crime, so they were unable to express their objections.
Of course, Mayumi did not divulge to the two of them what she was secretly thinking.
Her own belief was that if Tatsuya was an “extra”, then that inquiry was forbidden.
—And this is how Tatsuya and Mayumi, both without ever conspiring, together became co-conspirators in order to keep Tatsuya’s background concealed.
Since morning, the school grounds had been covered by a buoyant atmosphere.
Today, no classes would be held in the afternoon; the Student Body General Meeting, the Campaign Speeches, and the election were being held instead.
In modern high schools, where individual classes almost never assembled, this was a very big event.
Not only that, in this Student Body General Meeting, a proposal to make a major alteration to the system of student government was supposed to be made.
As a matter of fact, since before summer vacation, a conflict between the proponent group and the opposition group had been brewing under the surface of school life.
Whether it was due to the current president Saegusa Mayumi’s popularity, the difficulty of publicly opposing the proposal, or the influence of the actions of the Second Course team in the Monolith Code event at the newcomers tournament, in terms of numbers, the proponent group was overwhelming. However, in response to that, the opposition group had grown more obstinate. People who examined the current state of affairs felt that there was a violent undertone; this made the mood of the school rife with unrest.
◊ ◊ ◊
“Everyone here? This is the final check for station deployment.”
After morning classes finished, all the members of the Public Moral Committee assembled at committee headquarters.
Since they worked in shifts and most of them operated solo, having all the committee members together was rare. The Student Body General Meeting was one of the few times all members would be out in force.
“In general, the committee will be stationed inside of the lecture hall. Outside the lecture hall, the automated surveillance cameras will be used. We are here to help the student government.”
The entire force of the Public Moral Committee was nine people. Since this was all that was available to police the 560 members of the student body accumulated in the meeting room, they didn’t have any guards to spare for handling the exterior. Still, even if they did have enough people, dealing with villainous intruders wasn’t part of their job.
“Chiyoda and I are at the main entrance; at the side entrance, Tatsumi and Morisaki…”
While listening to Mari’s directions, Tatsuya thought she‘s “unusually intense”. Instead of using feminine speech, she’s sounding quite boyish. Well, for the Public Moral Committee, this was a rare opportunity to assemble.
“Sawaki is on the upper part of the platform, Shiba is on the lower part; that’s all.”
Mari barked out the members’ names and posts in order to confirm them. His own station was the stage wing.
In case the official on stage was attacked, or as it was called, “got jumped”, he and Sawaki were the so-called last line of defense… but Tatsuya didn’t really have to worry about that.
After yesterday’s walk with Mayumi, he understood. No student at First High
School would be reckless enough to harm Mayumi. What he meant was that it was reckless to try to harm Mayumi at First High School, and every male upperclassman would make sure everyone knew it…
“Everyone, quickly man your post. Shiba, stay for a bit.”
When it was just the two of them, Mari reverted to her usual way of speaking. “Make it quick; Tatsuya-kun, how did it go yesterday?”
He didn’t need to ask her to explain what she was asking about. “Attacked, three times.”
Mari’s face quickly froze. “I was.”
However, as she heard his following words, her expression only showed “Huh?”
“No, it seems I’ve been gazing at the president a little too warmly.” “…Don’t worry about the time; just give me an explanation?” “To be brief, they seemed to be members of her fan club.”
As she heard Tatsuya's calm words of explanation, her face changed to comprehension.
“In short, misplaced jealousy.”
“You would think it would be obvious that it was not that kind of situation since Miyuki was with us.”
Remembering yesterday’s events, (an emotional) wave of fatigue rolled over him. At least, that’s the way it felt to Tatsuya.
“Well, only activate your CADs; don’t put the thought of doing something more tangible out of your head, but if you do something stupid, you will incur more than just the president’s wrath.”
“Got it…”
“In that condition, if we are caught in a crossfire, we might be unable to interfere… Because if the president receives a single blow, I see a problem occurring if we try to gang up on someone.”
Even fanatics didn’t want to die in vain. Suicide bombers carried out their plans in order to take their enemies (and their allies) with them. Snipers did not plan to strike from places they could be spotted, or at places that were known to be protected by bulletproof glass.
The two of them felt stupid for worrying over nothing, and shared relieved smiles.
…After all that, Tatsuya’s enthusiasm for his work approached zero level.
With the belief that he had been taking things so seriously that he had been seeing shadows, he took his place—standing at the side of the stage beside the stairs for the main event.
When he thought about it, it was obvious that it was only a matter of a high school government election. Even if the prestige of “Student Council President” had any real meaning, the titles of ‘vice president’, ‘secretary’ and the like carried no real meaning after graduation.
In the First High School’s system, if the Student Council President willed it, there could be two vice presidents or four secretaries; Course 2 students not being part of the Student Council wasn't a matter of honor, it was only a matter of pride.
And when it came down to it, it was a pretty petty form of pride.
(His view of the matter had been negatively influenced by “the outside world”…)
For the sake of ideals, for the sake of money, for the sake of honor, for the sake of pride… in the world Tatsuya was deeply immersed in, it was comparatively easy to exchange human life for these things; he had taken things too seriously when they were discussing and evaluating the danger and had forgotten the difference in the “Stage” before his eyes. He felt he had been viewing things in a way unrelated to reality, just as if he had been watching a movie.
“…For the above reason, I propose to dissolve the limitation concerning who can become a member of the Student Council.”
As Mayumi’s explanation of the legislation finished, a hand was suddenly raised from the third years’ row.
Tatsuya had no recollection of this First Course female student (in short, she had not participated in the Nine Schools Competition; she didn’t have enough power to be chosen as a member of the team) who stood at the questioner‘s podium.
Because modern parabolic microphones have the potential to pick up everyday conversation from 50 meters away, it wasn‘t going a little overboard to install a questioner‘s podium.
That small instrument and the big instrument that worked with it were going to gradually take away Tatsuya's sense of how the world should work.
“…This public position… sound argument…”
The words of the questioner, a part of the so-called opposition party, were intermittently failing to reach his ear.
Naturally, he wasn’t wearing earplugs; he unconsciously filtered the speech to only allow words that might induce trouble to enter his consciousness.
“The real issue is whether there is a need to change the system? In short, are there any Course Two students suitable to be part of the Student Council?”
Tatsuya scowled at the questions with clear aims. (There was nothing in the questions themselves that would make a speaker feel that they had to conceal their face from outsiders.)
It was a piece of undisguised good luck. Tatsuya thought that Mayumi answered the questions seriously; he didn’t know what she was thinking or if she was thinking but she answered them.
“Today, I will resign from the post of Student Council President. Accordingly, I cannot appoint new people to the Student Council and so I haven’t thought about who could be appointed.”
“However, you can pressure the next Student Council President into appointing the Course Two student of your own choice?”
(“your own choice” was used…)
Tatsuya felt the expression was extremely suggestive. “I am not thinking of becoming a hidden empress.”
She gave a slight high pitched giggle as she made her minor jest.
“The right of appointing the next Student Council’s members is one of the powers of the next Student Council President. I have no intention of countermanding any of the next Student Council President’s authority.”
“You mean the next Student Council President who you wish to surround with Course Two students; you mean you haven’t put forth this change in our system at this time with that intention?”
A stir arose in the lecture hall at the poison laced words. It seemed that Tatsuya wasn’t the only one thinking “Hey, now!”
“Quiet, please.”
The icy voice that called out the order was from Miyuki who was helping to keep the program on track.
Since President Mayumi, as the person who raised the issue, was standing in order to handle questions, Hattori was momentarily in charge of keeping things moving and Miyuki was employed as his assistant. (By the way, officially, the speaker could not take a break for food or drink during the Student Body General Assembly.)
“…The answer to that question is ‘no‘. The reason I am advocating the proposal at this time is because this is the only chance to do so. Because I consider it to be the responsibility of the Student Council President to ensure that any enmity among their Kouhai is fully doused and will not erupt into flames.”
Deep in Tatsuya’s heart, a sense of wonder emerged. No matter what, this noble face never seems to be seen outside of an arena like this one.
“The truth of the matter is that the inability of Course Two students to become officers of the Student Council is not a source of antagonism.”
On the other hand, the questioner—whose name was Asano—Tatsuya thought, was becoming more intractable.
“It is not a matter of whether or not there is a candidate, Asano-san. The system reveals the way an organization thinks. The system does not allow Course Two students to become officers of the Student Council; it says that it doesn’t matter how much power an individual Course Two student has, that individual cannot become an officer of the Student Council. This can be interpreted as a declaration from the Student Council that it believes Course Two students are not worthy of the privilege of becoming officers of the Student Council. That is being mistaken for elitism.”
She had put a lot of effort into making that presentation, Tatsuya thought, as the President was wrapped in applause.
It wasn’t coming entirely from the rows of Course Two students. “This is a subterfuge.”
No matter how thickheaded a person was, they would not be able to keep themselves unaware that the atmosphere that coated the lecture hall was against them. In the midst of this, she was still at it; I suppose it’s unsurprising that Asano’s words have started having a hysterical edge to them.
“Isn’t it because you, President, have a Course Two student you want to place on the Student Council, that you want the qualification annulled! Isn’t your true motive to give someone preferential treatment!”
There was a feeling of desperation to the voices that cried “That’s right” sporadically, but they were immediately drowned by a storm of booing. The storm thrust large waves of discontent against the questioner’s podium.
“President Saegusa! Isn’t your true intent to put that first year student on the Student Council?”
The finger of the hysterically wailing Asano pointed at Tatsuya.
“I know it’s true. You even went as far as the station with him on your way home, yesterday!”
This was probably hopelessness, an outburst of despair. Asano’s face crumpled.
Nevertheless, those words unexpectedly showed a major result. The storm of booing instantly abated.
The eyes of the entire student population were going back and forth between Mayumi and Tatsuya.
When he saw Mayumi’s face coloring faintly with red, Tatsuya thought “That face is only going to make this mess bigger!” But under the circumstances where he was unwillingly being kept under constant observation, there was no way he could make that kind of condemnation.
The impasse was broken when cold words were tossed from the stage. “That is all you want to say?”
Without anyone noticing, (probably just now) Miyuki had stood. A cold haughty glare was piercing the upperclassman’s face.
Even from the back of the stage, no, it was more like it was due to the fact that it was coming from the stage depths; her expression clearly possessed a queen- like dignity that was merely checking for a short answer; the lips of the gossip- mongering upperclassman were sewn shut by it.
(Magic… wasn’t invoked)
The very first thing Tatsuya did was check and see if Miyuki had lost control of her magic.
This pressure wasn’t magic.
Without invoking any magic, Miyuki was radiating the freezing chill that robbed a body of its ability to move freely as in the depths of the worst of winter; even Tatsuya felt it.
“I judge that the outburst just now was an attempt to cloud the issue by vicious personal slander. Therefore, in accordance with my authority as an aide to the person in charge of keeping these proceedings on track, I order you to leave; if you have an objection to this, then you must provide a foundation for your allegation that President Saegusa holds special feelings for a particular Year One student.”
“That is…”
Naturally, Asano faltered.
From the beginning, Mayumi having special feelings for Tatsuya came from the realm of speculation; that that was the motive for the current proposal was mere slander. Even Asano, herself, was aware of this.
Miyuki’s eyes were coldly fixated on the paralyzed Asano.
There was no magic in those eyes, they were only able to contain disdain, it seemed as if that stare was able to freeze an adversary’s heart.
And it really paralyzed the agitator who was involving her older brother in slander, so her adversary was in a condition where she couldn’t move even a finger.
It wasn’t authority, rank, social class… or experience in society; those things could not really belong to a high school student. This was really a situation where the word “Dignity” can be used; it sounded so glorious.
“—I am making a correction. There is no need for you to leave. To be correct, please discontinue your questioning of this matter and return to your seat, Asano-senpai.”
The one who at last moved to take control was the person in charge of proceedings, Hattori. “At last”… well in short, he too had been overwhelmed by the pressure Miyuki was still exuding.
Miyuki bowed elegantly and returned to her chair; Asano was in no condition to give even a single word in reply and awkwardly returned to her seat.
In the end, the opposition group’s hindrance had finished with a misfire.
Afterwards, a carefree mood that wouldn’t even permit heckling permeated the lecture hall, gradually (or possibly anticlimactically), people voted electronically and the annulment of the eligibility requirement for Student Council officers was approved by a majority.
And it was finally time for Azusa’s campaign speech.
Since there was only a single candidate, it was more like a declaration of the candidate’s convictions speech, but a formal, no, a vote of confidence would be held (moreover the ballots would be actual paper ballots as opposed to electronic voting). Her face mixed with enthusiasm and tension, Azusa approached the podium. As she made her quick bow, applause broke out.
Here and there, whistles and cheers blended together, but they soon stopped as Azusa begun her speech.
Tatsuya and Miyuki were unable to understand since they paid little attention to the entertainment industry, but the cute and feminine type of song and dance girl who performed on stage had widespread fan appeal among males.
Tatsuya was still unaware of why, but without regard to her excellent grades in theory and practical skills, without bragging even a little, the modest and friendly Azusa whose face and figure were also modest and friendly throughout the school had a reputation as “an easily befriended idol”, similar but slightly different than Mayumi’s.
Surprisingly (but putting it this way might be unfair to Azusa), she presented her “politics” and “policies” eloquently. The fundamentals had been inherited from the current Student Council’s views; he was able to see a strong high school student-ish inclination toward idealism, but generally she leaned to the conservative end. —Occasionally, she would strangely pepper her speech with cheers like “Go for it” and “You can do it;” well, we all probably have eccentricities.
The storm broke out when she referred to the officers of the next Student Council.
“—I will defer that decision until the day to make the appointments; I intend to appoint highly capable people without regard to whether they are Course One or Course Two students.”
“That Course Two student~?”
“Azusa-chan likes the young and untamed type~”
The comments were truly only low level jeers. From the beginning, they were only a vulgar way for the repressed opposition group to spew out their unabated and still smoldering dissatisfaction. Possibly, they subconsciously calculated that a counterattack against Azusa was more likely to be ignored.
But, their calculations were incredibly off.
Certainly, Azusa said nothing about the insults directed at her.
“Who said that just now!” “For making fun of Nakajou-san that way!” “If you have something to say do it in front of us!” “Get the cowards!”
…Under the circumstances, she didn’t have time to say anything when the big uproar began.
In the middle of the gathering, squabbling blossomed.
The jeering opposition group and Azusa’s nearby fans became involved in a scuffle.
“Please quiet down! Return to your seats!” “Silence please!”
“Settle down, everyone!”
Miyuki, Hattori, and Mayumi raised their voices multiple times, but the enraged students weren’t able to hear them.
The area where the scuffling was going on was gradually increasing.
The jeers, too, were gradually becoming less endurable.
Absolutely no skills were being used; the clump looked like squabbling children, but just plunging in would only result in being caught in the game of oshikuramanjuu (A children's game in Japan that involves shoving).
It would be easy if you didn’t have to care about injuring anyone; however… while the difficulties of controlling the situation were making his head ache, Tatsuya made eye contact with Sawaki and Tatsumi and decided to prepare to make the plunge.
But, the decision was too late.
They were making insinuations about Tatsuya and Azusa’s relationship; the moment an exceedingly vulgar jeer emitted from the mouth of one of the opposition group, a girl’s shrill voice took command of the disturbance.
“Calm down!”
She wasn’t screeching but there had been an illusion of loudness to the voice.
The voice was not loud but, the strength of the voice made an impact on the minds of those engaged in the fracas.
Reflexively, the students eyes turned, the next instant their eyes reflexively closed, while blinking their eyes they once again begun to raise them toward the stage.
On stage, a blizzard of Psion light was running wild. Violent rage was infringing on the world.
Modern magic was changing the world by projecting a false vision through an information body.
It wasn’t possible for magic to be invoked without an intention to guide its form.
Despite that, the chaos caused by wildly running emotions could enact that chaos on the world.
Such was the strength of the intervention power to negate common knowledge.
In this situation, no one could tell when the lecture hall was going to be smashed by ice.
Mayumi, Hattori, Suzune, and Azusa simultaneously extended hands holding out CADs upon the Queen of that World of Ice—Miyuki—to bring her under control.
—Nevertheless, the magic battle between fellow members of the Student Council in that terrible situation was fortuitously avoided at the last second.
Instantaneously, the back of a male student standing upon the stage obscured the girl’s passion from the students' field of vision.
The boy's hands were placed on both of the girl’s shoulders and the world that had been engulfed in the girl’s power and repainted looked as if it was being repressed.
What the two people said to each other or whether they conversed with their eyes alone without words could not be understood from off the stage.
Nonetheless, from the time the boy released the girl from his hands until they left the stage the gazes of the entire student body, First Years, Second Years, and Third Years locked (?) on the two of them as if they were nailed there.
◊ ◊ ◊
Afterwards, it was as if cold water had been thrown over everyone and order was completely restored to the gathering.
Even the jeerers were viewed like they were just rude people emboldened by a concert-like atmosphere.
The campaign speech portion solemnly disintegrated, and the students lined up to cast their ballots like tame sheep.
The ballots results would be posted the next morning after Third Years under the pay of the Student Council had finished their count.
Those results— “Congratulations A-chan.” “Nakajou, congratulations.” “Congratulations, Nakajou-san.”
—Even without hearing the voices congratulating her first thing in the morning, Azusa was elected Student Council President.
“…Shiba-san, I think it’s better if you don’t pay it any attention, since the ballot doesn’t affect anything.”
“Too bad, Tatsuya-kun.”
While listening to the sympathetic voice of Suzune and, unable to keep from showing how amusing she found it, voice of Mari, the siblings with matching pained faces read the vote tabulation report.
In total, there were 554 ballots.
The number of legitimate votes was 173 ballots.
The tabulation of the ballots contents… “…These are the results.”
“Shiba: 220, Nakajou: 173, Tatsuya-kun: 161…”
“…Wait a minute. The ballots of the large number of people who miswrote the name shouldn’t be recognized in the count…”
While crying out 'I want to pretend this doesn’t exist' without words, Miyuki calmly made an objection.
“Why are ‘The Queen’, ‘Her Majesty, the Queen’ and ‘The Snow Queen’ all being counted as votes for me?”
Miyuki cried this out in a tearful voice.
“Because on other ballots ‘Queen Miyuki’, ‘Her Majesty, Queen Shiba Miyuki’, ‘Snow Queen Miyuki’ and the like were written… there was no other way to interpret them.”
Listening to the apologetic voice of Suzune soothe her, there was no way Miyuki couldn’t understand.
“What do they mean by that? Do they think I have some sort of perverted inclinations?” (here, Queen can also refer to S and M Queen)
“…No, I believe that they definitely don’t mean anything like that. After seeing you look like that, I don’t believe anyone would have the nerve…”
As if she had lost an inner battle, her body actually slumped as Mari contradicted her in a confused manner.
“Hey, am I that appalling? Is my demeanor really that intolerable?” Miyuki’s tone had changed into a genuine wail.
“…Miyuki-san, calm down. After all, no one thinks that.”
Mayumi was trying with all her might to make her voice sound soothing so that she could somehow calm Miyuki’s mood, but it had almost no effect.
“Lend me the ballots! I’ll find whoever wrote them!” “That’s absurd… in the first place, how would you do that?”
Somebody murmured this obvious flaw in her plan, but in this case, it was utterly futile.
Miyuki turned her entire body towards Tatsuya, her eyes clouded all at once. “Onii-sama…”
With a needy look in her eyes, just as Miyuki was about to release her tears and snuggle against him, Tatsuya temporarily shelved his own disturbance.
“Do not ask for the impossible, Miyuki. Since this is a secret ballot, investigating who voted for whom is a serious violation of the rules.”
He patted her head without any trace of embarrassment and admonished her as if she were a small child.
“But… but…”
Not having a clue of what else to do, Tatsuya gently embraced his little sister who was sobbing her eyes out.
“It’s okay.”
His mouth neared the vicinity of his sister’s ear “After all, you are not a Queen.”
And with a deeply gentle voice,
“No matter how anyone else views you, to me you are a cute princess.” Tatsuya made that vow.
“Onii-sama…”
The sound of crying gradually ended, simultaneously it looked as if the anger and frustration were also ending, and as potential Armageddon was soothed away, everyone relaxed their tense posture.
Nevertheless, they were soon in an entirely different kind of awkward situation.
Although she stopped crying, Miyuki showed no sign of leaving Tatsuya’s arms.
Rather, her head and cheek were shockingly pressed against Tatsuya’s chest; the aura around them was so sweet that they were all suffering from heartburn.
◊ ◊ ◊
For the noon recess that day, the siblings, Tatsuya and Miyuki, did not show their faces in the Student Council room.
Not only did Miyuki cry in front of her senpai, she let herself be seen being embraced and comforted, so it was only natural that she was too embarrassed to come; as the seemingly unembarrassed Tatsuya had already informed them so, Mayumi and the rest were unworried.
Azusa was being honored with a celebration by her fellow second years so her seat was empty.
Suzune as usual didn’t come unless she had something to do, so she didn’t appear.
And today, unusually, Katsuto came to the Student Council room. “Here it is.”
When the meal came to an end, Mayumi took out tea for Katsuto. Katsuto made a silent toast and raised his teacup to his mouth. “So, why are you here today, Juumonji?"
Although they were both guests, Mari—maybe because she couldn’t hold back any more—behaved as if they were in her own headquarters and questioned him; Katsuto gave a “no reason” type of answer.
“Perhaps, because today is for Saegusa her true retirement day. This is the last time I can come to see her in Student Council President mode.”
“I see, you came to thank Mayumi for her service or something.” “Oh, Juumonji-kun, thank you,”
“Ah, you're welcome.”
While smiling smugly, the two of them coordinated an attack (a verbal assault?) which Katsuto solemnly rebuffed.
“…So that’s it. I thought Tatsuya-kun resembled someone; he responds to these things just like Juumonji-kun.”
“Shiba?”
'We’re alike?' Katsuto asked with a glance; Mari shrugged. Even though superficially their response was similar, Mari believed that Tatsuya’s were intentional and Katsuto’s were spontaneous, so her assessment was that their taciturnity was the only similarity.
“Speaking of Shiba, how do you think it went yesterday…”
Perhaps she believed that she couldn’t throw him off through body language alone, Mari attempted to make a swift change of topic.
“It was okay… But there was no need for us to worry.”
However, maybe because the topic on both of their minds, both Mayumi and Katsuto leaped over Mari’s choice and directed the conversation to the topic of their choice.
“I was too low to be able to really see what was going on, but did Shiba restrain his sister, just like it seemed to me?”
“Yes. Her outpouring of power and his suppression ability were unbelievable.” It was just the way Katsuto said it was. The truth of what was going on couldn’t be discerned by those facing the stage; only those like Mayumi who were on the stage were able to clearly see what happened.
Possibly, it was a practical application of “Gram Demolition”. A structure of Psions instantly displayed—without having to work it into an information body with Eidos, Psions themselves were the product of molded External Systematic Magic—in the form of an aura. A large amount of Psions wrapped around her running wild in a chaotic manner; that overwhelming power was compressed and poured back into Miyuki’s body.
Psions were not something exuded from someone’s body, but the body was the medium used for Emission or Absorption. The activation sequence formation used by CADs was an example of similar modeling.
Tatsuya had taken the Psions Miyuki had scattered around and, without any cooperation from her, poured them back “inside”.
“It doesn’t matter how good someone is at External Systematic Magic, it doesn’t matter if they are blood relations, can someone really manipulate someone else’s Psions that easily? At that time they were completely out of Miyuki’s own control; that’s another matter for consideration, but…”
These were a list of Mayumi’s concerns.
“Wasn’t that one of his ancient magic techniques? I think that there is an ‘Art of the Sage’ that is excellent for controlling Psions…”
Mari put forth her guesswork as an answer; however,
“No, no matter how well an ancient magic technique is mastered, it takes time to put it in motion. The Art of the Sage you’re talking about is an extremely time consuming system of magic.”
Katsuto indirectly refuted Mari’s guess with a “that doesn’t explain everything” type of answer.
“Even looking at his sister’s power, as I expected, I think their genetic makeup cannot be ignored…”
“But he himself denied ‘that he was a member of the ten master clans’ right?” And this time, Mari presented the counter argument to Katsuto’s logic.
“Ah. He didn’t seem to be lying.”
As they ran into that dead end, Mari and Katsuto tilted their heads.
“…Let’s stop already. This conversation. It is not good to inquire about bloodlines.”
Mayumi suddenly proposed a halt.
Mari and Katsuto, both felt Mayumi’s sudden change in attitude was unnatural; however, for magicians, inquiring about bloodlines was certainly a minor crime, so they were unable to express their objections.
Of course, Mayumi did not divulge to the two of them what she was secretly thinking.
Her own belief was that if Tatsuya was an “extra”, then that inquiry was forbidden.
—And this is how Tatsuya and Mayumi, both without ever conspiring, together became co-conspirators in order to keep Tatsuya’s background concealed.
