Irregular at Magic High School: The Black Dragons

Chapter 8: Nine Schools Competition I

7-12-2095

Cosmos Household

Late Evening

Jonasan was in the living room by himself, Kurisu had gone to bed earlier. Jonasan was finishing up an AAR (After Action Review) of Blanche's attempted invasion of First High when the front window, which overlooked the city, lit up. Glancing up from his work, Jonasan could see several glowing balls appear over the Kokonoe Temple, which was the source of the light came from. As he watched, Jonasan could barely make out a figure above the temple, swatting the glowing lights. Several of the lights were extinguished before there was a small pause then two more vanished before the lights faded out entirely.

"Hmm... Ninjutsu, Ancient Magic, Demonfire perhaps." Jonasan mused. "A student training? But why would they vanish like that?"

A pause.

"Wait a minute." Jonasan quickly referenced his calendar program. "Ah, that. So, Mirage Bat then. It's the old man and one of the Shiba's then. Miyuki most likely."

On the calendar, there was a date typed in bold. Nine Schools Competition.

Jonasan mused for a few minutes before sending a message to one of their scouts, the betting market should have opened by now...

...

Student Council HQ

The next day

Kurisu and Jonasan were in the student council room as Mayumi was explaining the Nine Schools Competition.

"For the nine Magic University Affiliated High Schools around the country, the Nine Schools Competition is a high-profile event." Mayumi explained.

Azusa, who was working on something on her tablet looked up.

"The essay contest held in the fall is research-oriented, while during the Nine Schools Competition held in the summer, each school goes head-to-head in sports-type magic contests. Of course, since the school's honor is on the line, the contestants are chosen based on merit."

"So, the student council is taking the lead preparing for it, right?" Miyuki asked.

"Yes. As far as selecting our athletes, thanks to Juumonji's help, we've managed to finalize our roster, but..." Mayumi trailed off before looking at the two Cosmos. "Are you two sure that you don't want to compete?"

"As much as we'd like to, we were both given a firm no by our guardians." Kurisu said.

This was no lie. When Juumonji approached them about participating in a few of the events, they knew that they had to run it past Death and Time first. Both of their answers were a solid no, both citing the fact that the two tended to use their abilities when they got too into something.

"We will still be attending but we can't participate. Perhaps next year." Jonasan said while getting the sinking feeling that the three Fates had other plans in store for them.

Mayumi frowned at the statement but gave no response to it before continuing on, tapping her chopsticks against the table. "The other problem we have is choosing engineers. I mean the technical staff."

"You're still short on engineers, then?" Mari asked.

"Yes." Mayumi said with a depressed look on her face. "The third-year class is particularly skewed towards practical skills. As for the second years, we do have A-chan and Isori... but..."

Azusa had a happy expression on her face when Mayumi said that.

"Kei Isori, huh? I'd say he's more of a pure theorist, and not too adept at fine-tuning, right?" Mari asked.

Mayumi let out a sigh. "If only you could find a way to fine-tune at least your own CAD, Mari, my job would be so much easier..."

"Well, I see we do have a serious problem." Mari said, glancing at Suzune and Jonasan.

Jonasan subtly shook his head at her silent question, it would still go against Death's no. Suzune said nothing and Tatsuya's eyes flickered towards the door, Jonasan suddenly got a great idea and struggled to suppress the evil smirk that was trying to show itself.

"Hey, Rin. Would you take on the role of an engineer after all?" Mayumi asked with an innocent smile.

"Not possible." Suzune immediately said. "With my skills, I believe I'd only end up thwarting Ms. Nakajo and the others."

Mayumi let out a depressed sigh and laid her head on the table.

While Suzune was giving her explanation, Jonasan tapped Azusa's leg with his foot under the table, causing her to look at him. He lightly jerked his head in Tatsuya's direction. It didn't take the girl long to put 2 and 2 together and her eyes lit up in recognition of what he was trying to hint at.

There was a brief pause after Mayumi laid her head on the table in which Tatsuya's eyes flickered towards the door again.

"All right, I'll be heading out now." Tatsuya said as he grabbed his lunch and tried to make a break for it.

Azusa decided that now was the perfect time to offer Jonasan's suggestion.

"Um... in that case, wouldn't Shiba fit the bill? After all, it seems that Shiba's the one who adjusts Miyuki's CAD..." Azusa said causing Mayumi to raise her head and look at her before turning her gaze toward Miyuki and ending on Tatsuya.

"Talk about a blind spot!" Mayumi shouted slamming her hands on the table.

"Right..." Mari said. "I must be slipping...how could I not have come up with that."

The begging look on Mayumi's face was hard to beat, and Tatsuya narrowed his eyes at her before speaking.

"If I'm not mistaken, a first-year has never been elected to the technical staff."

"There has to be a first time for everything!" Mayumi said with a smile.

"Precedents were made to be overturned." Mari said.

"You two are progressive thinkers, so you might see it that way, but for a first-year, and a Course 2 student to boot... And on top of that, I've been standing out in a bad way, in more ways than one..." Tatsuya said.

"Well..." Mayumi replied a bit nervously.

"Trust between engineer and user is a crucial part of CAD fine-tuning. Appointing someone who might bring on a backlash from the athletes doesn't sound like a good idea..."

As Mayumi and Mari tried to figure out just how to refute Tatsuya's rather sound argument, the Cosmos's eyes flickered towards Miyuki who was watching everything unfold.

"Come on Miyuki, help them out."

"I'd like my brother to fine-tune my CAD for the Nine School Competition as well... Am I asking too much?" Miyuki said.

"For once in my life, I'm glad that she's a brocon." Jonasan thought.

Tatsuya looked at Miyuki.

"That's right! Having an engineer you can trust is a lot of moral support. Right, Miyuki?" Mayumi said.

"Hai." Miyuki said.

"All right, then. There's going to be a prep session after school, so let's talk it over then." Mayumi said.

Tatsuya gave a sigh of frustration.

As the group broke off to do their own thing Kurisu decided to give Tatsuya some food for thought.

"Tatsuya," Kurisu muttered as he slid up next to him. "Given the high-profile nature of the Nine Schools Competition, as well as the honor on the line, sabotage isn't out of the question."

"What do you mean?" Tatsuya asked sharply, his eyes narrowing at Kurisu.

"Just food for thought." Kurisu said, patting Tatsuya on the shoulder and walking off.

...

The group had reconvened at the student council room during lunch break to work on various tasks. Kurisu was assisting Mayumi and Mari with the mountain of paperwork that had to be done, Miyuki was practicing for one of her competitions, Suzune was doing some sort of research as was Azusa. Jonasan was utilizing the time to work on some homework for his classes and Tatsuya fiddling with a new holster for Silver Horn. Azusa, who was sitting across from him finally noticed what he was doing.

The holster was one of the newer concealed carry designs that slung across the individual's back and over their shoulders. It placed the CAD just below the armpit, allowing it to be easily hidden beneath clothing but also allowed for quick drawing, perfect for pistol-like CADs like Silver Horn or Phantom.

"I see you've brought the Silver Horn with you today!" Azusa said.

"Yes, I just got a new holster for it," Tatsuya lifted one of the straps. "so, I thought I'd break it in."

"What? Would you mind showing it to me?"

Tatsuya considered it for a moment. "That's fine with me." He handed it, holster and all, to her. "Here you go."

As Azusa was fawning over the CAD, Jonasan spoke to Tatsuya.

"You'll have to let me know how that holster works out for you Tatsuya. I've been looking for a good concealed holster for a while now."

Tatsuya gave him a nod as Azusa came to the end of her fawning. "Oh, how I adore you, Lord Silver..."

Kurisu and Jonasan snorted at the title and Miyuki's computer alarmed as she missed. Suzune briefly looked over at Miyuki and noted her annoyed expression before turning back to her research.

"It's so unusual for Miyuki to miss, isn't it?" Azusa asked.

"Must be a coincidence." Tatsuya replied.

Tatsuya took the holster back from Azusa and put his jacket back on, covering the holster and making it almost impossible to notice he had a CAD under his jacket unless you were really looking for it.

"I wonder what kind of person Taurus Silver is?" Azusa asked.

"Does he intrigue you?" Tatsuya asked.

"For sure, he intrigues me!" Azusa replied, gaining everyone's attention. "I mean, it's that Taurus Silver! Starting with making Loop Casting a reality, he's an engineering genius said to have catapulted specialized CAD software forward by at least ten years!"

Tatsuya sighed. "I see I'm not well-informed. Who knew that he was held in such high regard..."

"Speaking of, Jonasan?" Mayumi asked.

"Hm?" Jonasan looked up from his homework.

"You mentioned that you were a beta tester of Shadow Technologies. Do you see Emile Shadows at all?"

Everyone looked at him. "While I am a beta tester for his work, I've never met the man himself everything is done through a liaison. It would be nice to meet my employer though."

"Hey, hey, Shiba, what kind of person do you think Taurus Silver is?"

"Let's see..." Tatsuya replied. "He might actually be a Japanese youth like you or me."

Miyuki's computer suddenly alarmed again drawing Kurisu, Mari, and Mayumi's attention.

"Japanese, did you say?"

"Since he works exclusively for FLT, a Japanese firm."

"Jonasan, what about Emile?" Mayumi asked.

"That one, I can kinda answer. Emile is a Japanese youth about Tatsuya's age, he was hired on by Shadow Technologies when he was 13."

"My so young." Mari commented.

"How do you know all that?" Tatsuya asked.

Jonasan shrugged. "It's not a very big secret in ST. His age is a guess based on when he was hired but nobody besides the prototype testing teams and upper management actually gets to see him."

"I hate to interrupt but... A-chan?

"Hai?" Azusa asked.

"Weren't you supposed to finish your assignment during the lunch break?"

Azusa gasped in shock. "Chairwoman!"

Mayumi smiled. "I'll help you out just a little, all right?"

"For real?"

"So, what kind of assignment is this, exactly?" Mayumi asked and Azusa went to retrieve her tablet.

"Actually, it's a report on the Three Major Puzzles of Weight-based Magic." Azusa explained. "I understand the parts about actualizing a Gravity Control Type Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor, and actualizing a Quasi-perpetual Motion Machine based on Infinite Inertial Expansion, but I can't figure out how to explain why General-purpose flying spells can't be actualized."

Azusa then delved into explaining how magic-based flight would work.

"I was thinking that if layering was necessary, you could just cancel the ongoing spell and launch a new one in its place..."

"But if it was that simple, somebody must have tried it already, right?" Mayumi asked. "Not to mention, it's like releasing Area Interference after the fact..."

Jonasan mentally sighed at this as this was the same problem he was facing. Much like every other spell prototyping team in the world, he was trying to create a flying spell. The only difference was he was attempting to mesh Divine Magic with Modern Magic and it was simply too much. The Magic Calculation Area within a normal human mind quickly overloaded when trying to use the spell and trying to reduce the load on the MCA was proving to be an exercise in frustration.

"The year before last," Suzune inputted. "in England, they conducted an experiment based on the concept you just spoke of... But it ended in failure."

Mari, Mayumi, Azusa, and Miyuki gathered around her.

"What's the reason? Azusa asked.

"It doesn't say here."

Jonasan mentally shook his head. That team was a bunch of idiots, anti-magic was still magic.

"Tatsuya, Jonasan, what do you think?" Mayumi asked the two magic engineers.

"That experiment was fundamentally flawed." Tatsuya said.

"Huh?"

"A magic sequence can't be used on another magic sequence. That is true even in the case of Area Interference. Unless it's a spell that directly wipes out the magic sequence, it's no exception to this rule, even if it's an anti-magic spell."

Everyone paused to process his words.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Tatsuya here." Jonasan said. "An anti-magic spell is still magic, regardless of the anti in the name. They pointlessly burned magic in the experiment by using a spell to counteract another spell."

"The British scholars who planned that experiment must have misunderstood the nature of anti-magic." Tatsuya concluded.

There was a pause before Azusa looked at the time and panicked.

...

Cosmos Household

Late Evening

It was later that night when Kurisu and Jonasan were going over the various reports for the day when they got a call from one of their scouts. Quickly donning their masks and cloaks, they answered the call.

"Konda, report." Time said.

"Sir, we have a problem."

Death's eyes narrowed behind the mask. "What kind of problem?"

"Take a look at this." Konda said tapping a few keys on his end.

The screen was soon filled with reports detailing the movement of men and materials to the Southeast Fuji Training Area, the military base in which the Nine School's Competition is to be held.

"This is... concerning." Time said.

"The No Head Dragons huh?" Death said.

The No Head Dragons, a name coined by other organizations to refer to the syndicate, was a magic criminal organization based out of Hong Kong but had recently set up a branch in Japan and were attempting to muscle their way into the market. The syndicate held a monopoly on Sorcery Boosters, vile devices that allowed the user to make larger sequences than they were normally capable of, of one magic type. The cost? A living magician's brain.

"That's not all." Konda said. "Take a look at what's been happening on the betting market."

Report after report of the No Head Dragons making obscenely high bets on Third High. Combine that with the movement of men and materials and it painted a pretty clear picture.

"They are gonna sabotage the competition." Time said.

"Exactly." Konda said.

"Konda," Death said. "Take 10 million from the treasury and bet it all on First High. Then take some of our men and station yourselves in the region and keep monitoring. This is amount of movement is going to draw the attention of the military so keep a low profile."

"Yes sir. Konda out." The screen shut off.

Jonasan took off his mask and looked over at Kurisu who had done the same.

"We make damn sure First wins. No matter the cost." Jonasan said.

Kurisu nodded. While the Southeast Fuji Area was technically a neutral zone due to the overwhelming military presence, all bets were off during the competition.

...

It was almost one in the morning and Jonasan was still wide-awake glaring at a spell on the screen. The spell was almost complete, if he could get the MCA load down, he would be able to release the spell to the market, but it was proving to be damn near impossible. Dropping the strength anymore would result in a spell that could cause someone to levitate, which was progress, but he wanted freeform flight similar to the Divines. With a sigh, Jonasan went back to working on the spell. He needed to get this spell done before Tatsuya did. All the while he was unaware that Tatsuya had already beaten him to the punch.