Hello, ITalkToSky Here.
This chapter is still about the same night as the previous. It is quite a long chapter where Mizuki can demonstrate her ability to her heart's content. Enjoy.
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The Same Night, Tatsuya's room
"Onii-sama, is this a good time?"
At his sister's beckon, he pushed the door open and invited everyone in. Honoka, Shizuku, Mizuki, Leo and finally Mikihiko filed in to the room, making it a little bit cramped. Since Tatsuya finished his technician work for the day, he didn't mind a friendly meeting.
Without enough space to sit on, Erika opted to sit on one of the table and noticed the device that Tatsuya ordered in.
"Tatsuya-kun, is that a blade replica? Except, it looked more like a sword?
"Negative."
"Then an iron whip?"
"Also negative…I don't think the Samurai of this country would use an iron whip."
"Who used the term Samurai in this day and age." The red-haired girl flipped the object around, inspecting from different angle. Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed the trigger on the hilt. "Is it what I think it is?"
"Correct, to be precise, this is a weaponized integrated CAD, commonly known as weaponized calculation device. It is attuned to only a single spell and can double as close combat weapon."
"Wow."
Everyone in the room gazed at the object with interest, especially Erika who had never seen a device shaped like a sword. Miyuki held an understanding eyes as she remembered the conversation about the sequences that Tatsuya was tinkered with.
There would be only one exception to the excitement, which Tatsuya noticed promptly.
"Is there a problem, Mizuki."
"Ah, nothing. Can I take a look?"
"Sure." Tatsuya replied as he took the device from Erika hand, who seemed to want to inspect further.
Mizuki received the device under the surprised eyes of the surrounding that didn't expect Mizuki to have any interest in such object. However, Tatsuya only watch her with his steely eyes.
Mizuki held the blade out horizontally, perpendicularly. The girl looked to her left and saw that no one was around and clasped her finger on the trigger. This prompted Tatsuya to be alert and said "wait." Still she pressed it anyway.
Tatsuya didn't do anything further to stop her, because there was no way that magic from a CAD could activate accidentally. CAD provided the blueprint for magic, which the magician needs to input the variables to manipulate themselves. If they don't know what to input, then the spell would fizzle out.
The sublime red-tinged light shone. While everyone was slightly baffled, Tatsuya was even more so as the light didn't fizzle out as he thought. It continued shinning dimly for a few seconds before half of the sword detached and flew out. The result was that the detached blade, hung in the air a meter away from the hilt.
When the light was shining, the device was function as intended, outputting psionic activation sequence to Mizuki's magic calculation area. Since the device could only output one type of spell, Mizuki thought that she could decipher the content of the activation sequence on her own. She was, by no mean, similar to Tatsuya who could understand the activation sequence visually. However, she absorbed the sequence in to her brain, as with the typical process, so she could manually inspect its power. The result she came up with was that the spell was convergence-type reinforcement spell that fixes the coordinate of hilt and the detached blade. It was quite neat as she could levitate half of the blade and fix its coordinate relative to the hilt, essentially making a flying blade.
"Hmm?" Mizuki didn't swing the now detached sword around, but seemed to try and balance it on her two hands. It wasn't an endearing gesture of trying to lift too heavy object, her moves seemed to be calculated as she continued to inspect the sword.
"I…am surprise that you could activate it the first-time round. However, I suggest that you don't activate the device you are not used to handling." Tatsuya chided, but his eyes remained rounded. He didn't think that Mizuki would be so sharp as to discern the function of his device on her own. His periwinkle eyes trained in on her, searching for any clues.
"I am sorry, Tatsuya-san." Mizuki apologized, but continued to maintain the magic. "Since you said this is a weaponized integrated CAD, I figured that I understand its function enough to attempt to decipher the activation sequence on my own."
"You can do that?" Erika burst out.
"Yes, if you understand the theory behind it, you can inspect it to your liking with no risk of misfire." Mizuki replied as a matter of fact.
"Hoh, that is quite the skill to have." At the mention, Tatsuya eyes narrowed and displayed a hidden, dangerous glint.
At this point, Tatsuya panicked. How could he be so complacent as to let such an element around him? Over the past few days, he felt as if Mizuki was a stranger. She had never shown him any of this talent in their classroom. Tatsuya watched with cold calculating eyes, wondering if Mizuki had the same power as him. If that was so, then he was in deep trouble. Her hypersensitivity to pushion emission was bad enough. If she also had the elemental sight, his secret would be clear to her as day. He had to find out and if she really knew…
"It is just a practical application of magical theory. I cannot visually recognize the activation sequence of the spell by mere sight. However, if I absorbed it, then it is different matter."
"That is quite a reckless move. An untuned device can cause mental strain when in dissonance with the user." Tatsuya continued his admonishment, but his eyes softened considerably. He sighed in relief as Mizuki didn't seem to possess elemental sight like he does, so his aunt shouldn't be involved.
"I am quite aware of that, but I take safety measures." Mizuki smiled wryly as she let go of the trigger, causing the blade to retract and click into its place. "Again, I am sorry for messing with your device."
"It's quite alright. Please be careful. Still, do you have any comment as my first tester."
"Ah, Ah, Test. Hello, Earth to the two of you, what are you talking about?"
"Yes, Erika?"
"I don't understand what is going on." Erika reflected the sentiment of the majority in the room.
"Erika-chan, it is quite simple. Theoretically, when one casts magic, the activation sequence is provided by the CAD, correct?"
"Yep, no question there." Erika chimed.
"And that activation sequence is fed into the magic calculation area in your brain to be constructed into magic ritual that can affect the world." Mizuki rolled the blade in her hand, continuing to inspect for something. "This meant that the brain has to be able to input the variable into the spell work the complete the product. If the brain doesn't know what the activation sequence is about, then it will fizzle out."
"However, this is not always true. The reason that unknown activation sequence will usually fizzle out is because when the brain cannot understand it, the sequence is usually ignored and discarded." Tatsuya added plainly, but his eyes lit up in fascination. "However, there is a way to override this tendency, by trying to figure out the activation sequence content. Instead of throwing the sequence away, you try to figure it out. Normally, no one would do this because it typically takes several seconds, longer than even the most incompetent magician to complete. Therefore, nobody bothered to record the technique down as no magician will try to use CAD containing unknown magic anyway."
"So, that is what Mizuki meant by absorbing it in and reading it, right?" Erika leaned back.
"Precisely."
The atmosphere of the room became quite awkward. It was not strange for the topic to alienate most audience. The people presented didn't particularly excel in the field of theoretical magic. Only Tatsuya, a prodigy, could naturally understand Mizuki's explanation without needing elaboration. Even Mikihiko and Shizuku who knew well the theory of magic, based on their exams, were quite baffled that such feat was possible in the first place.
"Still, that begs the question. How do you know of this technique in the first place? I don't believe that there was any instruction around. And why did you bother to learn it in the first place? Identifying unknown sequence through direct use seems to be quite a narrow niche." Tatsuya probed, his eyes calculating.
"Marisa taught me that. It seems that she worked that out from the theory and tested it out. She said that it was useful for safety." Mizuki answered off-handedly.
"Marisa? And Safety? How is that related to safety?"
"Well, it is usually unrelated to me, because of the usual way I cast magic. However, for certain spell, it is better safe than sorry."
"Elaborate?"
"Normally, my CAD contains very basic magic. This meant that I take longer to cast them for increased versatility. For example, acceleration altering magic can be used to both increase or decrease velocity. Depending on the sign, magnitude and direction, I can increase speed by +10 m/s/s or decrease by -10 m/s/s." As Mizuki explained so, Tatsuya nodded. Most could still follow along, but scratched their cheeks slightly at the technical talk. "However, more specialize version will result in shorter cast time. For example, for deceleration magic, you can just indicate 10 m/s/s and in the context of that magic meant -10 m/s/s of acceleration."
"That's how magic work." Tatsuya nodded curtly.
"However, for more specialize magic, there is a potential to bring out wrong effect. If you input 10 m/s/s in your mind, what version of magic you use will dramatically affect the result correct."
"While the magnitude is the same, if you intended for deceleration, but accidentally use acceleration sequence…"
"You could potentially accelerate object when you shouldn't. That is the safety issue that Marisa pointed out." Mizuki sighed.
"It normally won't happen normally…But in the heat of the moment, something can slip through." Tatsuya rubbed his chin.
"Yes, that is why, if I desire speed and use the specialize version, I can at least confirm the nature of the spell as a failsafe."
"This made me want to converse in detail about magic with you and Marisa more often. On the side note, where is Marisa?"
"Oh her? She is reading something right now, so it didn't feel right to disturb her." The girl shook her head. As a matter of fact, if they didn't invite her to this little rendezvous, she would also be reading or learning something from Marisa. While she wouldn't fault any of her friend, the missed opportunity to learn was a little bit vexing.
"That's unfortunate." Tatsuya who was listening attentively could only smile wryly.
"Shibata-san is quite something. Even if I desperately study magic theory, I still feel quite lacking." Mikihiko who was listening on the side shook his head and smiled self-depreciatingly.
"That is not necessarily true, Mikihiko. The content of our conversation is quite advance that even I am surprised." Mizuki waved her hand, hoping to alleviate her friend's worry.
"Man, I didn't know Mizuki is such a bookworm." Leo then slapped Mikihiko's shoulder. "Don't worry man, I don't understand any of that either."
"Since when can you understand anything?" Erika tauntingly grinned.
"What did you say?" Leo was ticked off.
"The truth!" Erika replied hotly.
"It's on!" Then both declared the state of war against each other, as always.
The whole room could only watch the two duked it out like always. Their usual arguments weren't too destructive as long as none got caught in the crossfire, so they elected to leave them to their own devices.
As if suddenly remembering something, Tatsuya's eyes flickering for a moment before training on Mizuki. His shoulders relaxed a little after learning most that he found was relevant.
"Still, what are your comment?" Tatsuya asked?
"On this?" Mizuki raised the lump of metal in her hand.
"Yes."
"Well…" Mizuki's eyes darted from side to side and she fidgeted a little. "Please don't take offense to this, but I don't think it is a viable, though I can appreciate the originality."
At the end, it seemed that the air in the room froze. Over the time that they had spent together, Tatsuya seemed to be the person with the best theoretical knowledge that no one could refute. However, all of sudden, Mizuki seemed to challenge that notion, earning wide eyes from many. While it wasn't too obvious, Miyuki's glare leveled at Mizuki, concealing a hint of irritation.
"I am sorry, but Mizuki, can you elaborate?" Without showing any sign of being offended, Tatsuya's eyes flickered with curiosity as he leaned in to listen to the girl.
"Very well. The concept compromises both its capability at range and up close. Namely, up close, the blade with a breakable joint in the middle is a disaster waiting to happen. The blade has neither the taper or appropriate thickness for cutting." Balancing the blade on one hand, Mizuki pointed that the center of gravity was way too far from the hand guard. "The balance is off, making it a little unwieldly. However, most of those problems could be correct by proper construction. The main problem with the concept is about the magic itself."
The pause Mizuki took for a breath was silent. Honoka and Shizuku stared at Mizuki with dumbstruck eyes. Erika, who is quite familiar with blades, nodded at her comment. She took note that Mizuki was someone with some knowledge about sword construction. The red-haired girl could follow along because this niche of blade producing was the one that her family, Chiba clan, specialized in.
"When extended, the reinforcement magic will anchor the position of the two sword pieces together correct? This will lock their coordinate in relative together. As the mass of the blade remained the same, even when separated, you aimed to exploit its higher speed. Even when you move your arm the same distance, the detached sword will move faster at higher speed, thus more kinetic energy. However, by moving the object away from the rotational center, you increase its moment of inertia, thus the torque to get it to move. Essentially, you still spend a lot of force to deal more damage. It is essentially no different from impractically long sword."
When hearing Mizuki said so, Erika seemed to tap her forehead and silently berating herself for not being able to point it out the first time she held it. Not that anyone could fault her as she wasn't too involve in the process of blade making or ever held a defective blade before.
"Furthermore, if a force is applied to one end, that force can also be felt in the other end due to locked coordinate. If the sword is set to 1 meter apart and someone tried to yank the end any farther than that, the magic will try to pull the piece back together by making your hand feel the pull too, so the distance of 1 meter is conserved. It is understandable that you would not have this knowledge if you don't primarily wield a sword, but normal sword flexes to absorb some impact energy. Reinforcement magic anchoring two pieces together made them behave like a rigid body, meaning that it won't flex. What would happen to the massive reaction force on impact if the sword cannot absorb it."
"The hand. I can see a strong swing form that breaking a wrist if the blade is separated enough." Erika interjected, while eyeing the sword in Mizuki's hand.
"Atop of this, I doubt that the way the sword handles and balances will be the same when retracted and extended at different distance. That is why I don't believe this to be a particularly valid design. Such weapon would be too specialized and unwieldy to be practical." Mizuki finished and the surrounding was enveloped in heavy silence. After all, nobody expected Mizuki to abruptly tear apart the whole concept of their friend's invention.
Perhaps, the one who showed the strongest reaction was Miyuki, who glared dangerously at Mizuki. As if the heater was set too low, everyone shivered except Mizuki who continued to stare straight at Tatsuya.
Then, a chuckle and claps followed. The surprise made Mizuki's body twitched and perked up slightly as Tatsuya met her eyes and clapped his hand.
"Well done, well done. I give up. Those were very reasonable arguments. While it was unfortunate that it didn't work, I learned something new and will gladly take your compliment for originality."
"Well, it is good that you built it. Although I hope that you didn't spend too much." Mizuki smiled diplomatically.
"Not at all, I simply asked the factory that I know about to fabricate it from cheap materials." Tatsuya held his hands out to receive the blade back from Mizuki and with an uncaring glance, locked the item into its box.
"You know quite a lot about sword. I didn't know that Mizuki is trained in swordsmanship and craftsmanship." The energetic red-haired finally found the new target of interest.
"I am a little bit trained in swordsmanship, but it is not like I am too focused on it. I have a broad range of interest and I read a lot."
"Eh, no way. There is no way that just reading about it can make you this familiar with sword."
"Well, if you read about it and handled it enough, you tend to absorb some of it."
"Ho? Then what kinds of sword did you handle and what style of swordsmanship." Erika watched Mizuki with sparkling eyes, finally finding her kindred soul. It was quite comical as Mizuki was quite troubled to deal with the overflowing enthusiasm that her friend displayed.
The meeting continued until Tatsuya advised that they should turn in for the night. While the tense atmosphere was dispelled by the face that Tatsuya took his failure in stride, it still left a lasting impression about Mizuki.
Shizuku felt that the girl knew more than she showed. Honoka was slightly jealous that Mizuki held Tatsuya undivided attention and he seemed to stare at her with profound curiosity.
The more physical duo, Erika and Leo, had to revise their impressions of Mizuki. Not only was she smart, but also very observant. Erika in particular found her kindred soul, in her opinion, which sparked some curiosity about Mizuki's swordsmanship. The details she could glean and her gut feeling told her that she would be in for a surprise if matched against Mizuki and her extensive knowledge.
Mikihiko concluded that the event that occurred many nights before wasn't a lie. The girl he met that night was definitely Mizuki and she was as competent if not more than she showed. It made him recoiled in shame slightly to know how far he had fallen. He used to be the favored members of Yoshida clan, but now, even with his best effort, his knowledge still paled in comparison to his classmate.
Perhaps the person left with the most misgiving that night was Miyuki. She felt quite irritated to see her brother rebuffed. However, since her Onii-sama accepted the argument to be both valid and educational, she didn't see the need to press the issue. However, emotion and reason often contradicts.
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Another chapter down for the count.
What do you think of the new Mizuki? She had changed quite considerably. She just ripped apart Tatsuya's idea. It is one of many things I found unlikable about Mahouka. Not only was that sword ugly as hell, it screamed impracticality if I ever saw one.
If there is any mistake in the physics part of the story, please let me know with explanation.
Can you take a guess for the next chapter?
As always, if you have comment, suggestion or words of encouragement, please leave a review.
