Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Mahouka.

Chapter 10

Mayumi let out a calming breath. Standing across from her opponent, a second year from Eighth High by the name of Subaru, she waited for the buzzer to go off. Even after her short time with Tatsuya, she was able to focus entirely on the match before her. She couldn't let anything slow her down, as she was still held to a bet with Katsura. If she didn't put all her effort into it, she would have to come up with some false story to give the girl – and pray that Masaki would go along with it. She didn't want to do that.

Holding her CAD tightly, the familiarity of the small pistol a balm on her nerves, Mayumi watched carefully for the balls that would soon be launching. Unlike tennis, a skilled player of crowd ball did not need to move at all, other than to activate their CAD. It was the method that Mayumi personally preferred to play, as it allowed her to focus on casting as many spells as she needed as quickly as possible. With this practice, she was typically able to overpower her opponents with little chance of retaliation.

Seeing the telltale sign of a ball bursting onto the field, Mayumi activated her CAD. Light flashed briefly before her eyes as she cast her spell of choice Multiple Bounce. Although it wasn't effective for precise play, she loved sending the balls back towards her opponent with twice the speed that they came towards her with. It tended to cause them to trip up, and inevitably give her the victory.

If a tennis player played this way, Mayumi was certain that foul play would be called. But that was the beauty of the magic based sports. Foul play was a lot harder to call in their events. Unless something deliberately harmful occurred, there were very few limits on what could be done.

Another three balls appeared on the playing field, and Mayumi was on top of them immediately. Recasting Multiple Bounce as needed, her opponent was unable to keep up with the sudden influx of high speed spheres bouncing onto the field.

"And the winner is First High!" the announcer's voice broke Mayumi out of her reverie.

The smell of sweat and burning rubber filled her nose as she refocused on her opponent. Giving the Eighth High girl a pleasant smile, she extended her hand for the customary post-match handshake. Although looking extremely disappointed, the girl firmly shook her hand; giving Mayumi a look that promised that she would improve.

And Mayumi was certain that the girl would. It was very common to see this sort of competiveness develop amongst young magicians, and was probably why the Nine Schools Competition was still an annual event. More than anything else, it encouraged the improvement of one's self.

Stepping off the court, Mayumi returned to her bench where she would wait for the next match she was required to participate in. Now that they were out of the preliminaries, it was single match eliminations, so things would move quicker than they had earlier.

It also meant that she would be expending more energy while casting and she didn't want to waste any opportunities to take a moment to relax before she was racing back out again. It was tiring to cast so much magic, and she was glad that, at least for that reason, she would be done by the end of the day. Taking part in more than two events was dangerous for any magician, whether in training or a fully qualified professional. The draw on one's mental fortitude and energy could leave one drained for days afterwards if overdone.

She had seen the result when her older brother had, in all his wisdom, decided to take part in three events. The end result had been him out of commission for nearly a week, and her father's temper flaring more than it ever has. Thankfully, none of it had been directed towards her, but she could still remember what that was like.

Grabbing her water bottle, she guzzled down some of the cool liquid as she refocused her thoughts on the upcoming matches. She desperately hoped that Katsura would be eliminated before the two could face one another, but she needed to prepare herself anyway, as the possibility that they would go against one another was still strong.

Third High had some extremely talented magicians, ones who could do things that were only imagined by some of the other schools. It was why they had consistently won the Nine Schools Competition prior to her, Mari and Juumonji joining First High. The three of them were natural talents, geniuses if the term was desired to be used, who could do things that even the dedicated young magicians of Third High couldn't match. It had developed a rivalry, and it was one that was going to get even worse during this competition.

Sighing, Mayumi once again regretted that Mari had got her into that stupid bet with Katsura. She was hoping to be able to just enjoy the Crowd Ball events for the day, participating, and winning, without any pressure. Now she was going to actually have to fight to make sure that she didn't lose and end up having to answer the girl's question.

Shuddering at the thought, Mayumi decided that it would be best to not think about that right now. Katsura was on the far end of the tournament bracket and was likely to be eliminated before they even met up.

"And Third High wins!" the announcers voice echoed through the courts, causing Mayumi's countenance to drop slightly.

So, Katsura was doing well so far. She couldn't keep it up all day, could she?

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Masaki was fascinated by Crowd Ball. Without any magic to properly participate, he found it the one event that he truly wanted to try, but was well aware that he couldn't. At the very least, he wouldn't be able to unless he learned some new magic that would blend better with the event.

However, his fascination today was also increased by watching Mayumi participate. He knew that she was going to be the big target for Third High to attempt to bring down, and, for whatever reason, Katsura was extremely pumped to be going against her.

As a supporter of his team, he was ecstatic to see the determination that his teammates were showing off. However, as Mayumi was his intended, even though they were trying to work on a way out of it, he was excited to see her win. The sheer ferocity of her play style was entrancing, and Masaki was glad that George was able to keep him separated from his fan club. They would be furious if they saw where his attention was directed.

"Don't forget to keep an eye out for anything suspicious," George said quietly.

"I haven't," Masaki replied, shifting his attention to some of the other participants in the event.

Despite his fascination with the event, Masaki was well aware that there were more important things that he needed to be keeping an eye out for. With the threat of cheating hanging over Third High, he refused to allow the school to take a victory that would dishonour his upperclassmen.

Scanning the crowd, he found that it was relatively difficult to get a good look at the overall situation from his position. Sharing a quick glance with George, Masaki slunk out of his seat and moved towards the top of the stands.

In their brilliant design, the stands were made so that the only entrance and exit was at the top, rather than anywhere else. It was a safety hazard if they were to be attacked, but Masaki knew that this was an event that mainly drew the attention of other magicians. And most of them always carried a CAD on their person at all times.

With George focused on the matches, and more likely to spot any foul play on the courts, Masaki was determined to make sure that no one pulled anything from the stands. With nine schools worth of students gathered to watch their classmates participate, as well as hundreds of other spectators, it could become messy quickly if anything happened.

Shifting his attention to the basic spectators, he settled into a comfortable stance: leaning against the wall. He needed to keep an eye on them just as much as the others, if not more so. It was highly likely that they would be the ones to cause problems in the games, not the…

Before Masaki could finish his thought, he caught sight of someone attempting to leave the area. Moving cautiously towards the person, he attempted to catch them before they could make it to the stairs. However, he wasn't certain that they wouldn't attempt to pull something on him. And currently not carrying one of his CADs, he was unsure as to what he could do to quickly put them down.

Thankfully that didn't seem to be the case as the person leaving the area was making a beeline for the nearest washrooms. Sighing, he relaxed his posture again; no longer needing to be on as high of an alert as he did before. Sure, he would need to keep an eye on that person in case they had decided to remove something that they had been carrying while outside of any security's line of sight, but he was able to take a moment to return his attention to the matches that were occurring.

Catching sight of Mayumi's next match, his eyes remain transfixed as she repeated the process that had won her the previous ones. Utilizing a single spell, she seemed to make the balls return with a stronger force than they had come at her with; effectively bombarding the other competitor with the balls. It was a risky play style, seeing as someone could easily just counter that speed with a good defensive spell, but Masaki could tell that it was the element of surprise that gave Mayumi her advantage.

No matter how many times one watched her compete, that person wouldn't be prepared for the sheer ferocity that she sent the balls back at her opponent with. It was almost like something from one of those sports anime Masaki had watched as a youth; one where the heroes were put up against someone with one of those crazy abilities that allowed them to dominate the sport.

In a way, it was pleasing to see someone with that skill, but it was also appealing to see that person put on the ropes. And if Katsura was proving anything today, it was that she wasn't to be messed with. At the rate that the two were going, Masaki was certain that they would be facing off against one another for the overall victory.

Glancing over at his classmate's match, he was impressed by the sheer level of skill that Katsura was outputting. Something seemed to have motivated her to do well in this competition, as she never took any of her matches at Third High anywhere near as seriously as she was taking this one. And when she was serious, Masaki confirmed that it left no options for her opponent to recover. A clash between her and Mayumi would be something to watch, especially since they both specialized in aggressive play styles.

However, that was not what Masaki was meant to be focusing on. He was keeping an eye out for whoever had been attempting to cheat in favour of his school, and he would not allow that person to escape his watch; if he could help it.

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Her play style was reckless, Mayumi was certain of that as she activated Multiple Bounce again. If anyone actually managed to properly return the balls at any decent speed, she would be forced to go on the defensive and change up her entire playstyle. Never had she needed to do that, and so far it didn't seem like that would be the case today either. However, she wasn't so arrogant that she would discount the idea immediately. There was always the chance that someone would be able to…

Her thoughts were interrupted as she cast Multiple Bounce yet again. This time the balls went blazing back towards her intended target. Unable to rebound them, her opponent faltered, and the victory was once again declared in Mayumi's favour.

Taking a moment to breathe, Mayumi reminded herself that she needed to give her acknowledgement to her opponent. The constant string of matches was starting to wear on her, and she knew that there were two more left before she set herself into the finals. Looking over at the tournament screen, she scowled when she saw that Katsura's path was likely to meet with her in the finals. The girl had been doing much better than she had intended, and was getting closer and closer to coming face to face with Mayumi.

Sure, Mayumi knew that she could easily lose the next match and walk away from it all. But she also knew that her competitive nature wouldn't allow that. Throwing a match, no matter what the reason, would be sacrilegious and an insult to all she had worked towards. There was no way that she could justify such an act, no matter what the circumstances were.

Sighing, she shook hands with her opponent and then returned to her bench. She needed to hydrate again before the next round. It would probably help her focus on what was really important; making sure that she brought home another win for First High.

End Chapter 10

A/N: So, it's been a while since I last updated. I truly do apologize for that. Had some life to deal with, but that shouldn't be much of an excuse for not sitting down and getting this done. Anyway, here is the first chapter dealing with the Crowd Ball event. So far, we have Mayumi being her awesome self and Masaki starting up his new position as an anti-cheating monitor.

Now, the next chapter should definitely be getting right into the Mayumi versus Katsura match and I'm really excited to be writing a full on sporting event in the detail that this match needs. So, I'm going to get that one completed ASAP, so until then:

Merchant Prince