Too slow.
Ichijou Masaki sprang off the ground, amplifying his somersault with magic. He backflipped into the air, catching sight of an explosion out of the corner of his eye where he was just standing; he landed on his two feet on the other side of the magician, with barely enough time to smash through a boulder flung his way. He sensed rather than saw the oscillation blasts coming from opposite sides; he instinctively activated his signature defensive maneuver, 'Interference Armor'. The two oscillation magics clashed and cancelled each other out.
Kichijouji Shinkurou watched the skirmish from the edge of the field, terminal in hand. Masaki continued to dodge the barrage of attacks, never once retaliating. The purpose of the exercise was twofold; Masaki was practicing evading magic attacks, in the offhand incident his own magic couldn't counter it. Not that it was likely. The second was to get the other potential Monolith Code competitors to practice attacking; since Masaki was battle-tested, pitting the other students against him was a reasonable training regimen as to what might appear during the games. Even so, Masaki himself could win the competition by himself; he was nigh invincible.
Footsteps approached from behind. Kichijouji turned around to see Isshiki Airi, Tsukushiin Touko and Kanou Shirori approach. Airi crossed her arms and raised her brows at the scene unfolding in front of her.
"I can't tell whether he's actually practicing or showing off. Is it really necessary for him to be fighting nine other students at once?"
"Call it a concentration and awareness exercise for him. He doesn't use any Sensory-type magic, so in this situation, he'll have to be careful he doesn't get hit. As for the other students, if we're going to have a solid team, they're going to have to get better at targeting."
"He's not retaliating?" asked Touko.
"If he did, nine of third highs best would be out of action for at least a week...so, no."
"...if they coordinated their attacks instead of firing off spells, they would have a better chance of landing a hit."
Shiori's face remained impassive as she analyzed the mock battle.
"Still, landing a hit on Masaki-kun would be a challenge for anyone."
Kichijouji glanced at Shiori, who was holding a rifle-shaped CAD; she must have just gotten finished with some target practice.
"How was the speed shooting practice?"
"It wasn't bad. Wasn't great either. Still have to make some minor adjustments to the spell, clean it up, make it faster. I'll have to take a look at the code again. And I might need some help with calibration?"
Kichijouji took the last sentence-turned-question and expectant look as a request for help. It wasn't the first time he had helped her out.
"Ehhh? Shi-o-ri, you get Kichijouji-kun to calibrate your CAD?"
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"Well, isn't calibrating your CAD like exposing your innermost feelings? And for a male engineer?"
Touko cheekily leaned in towards Shiori.
"You must be pretty comfortable around Kichijouji to let him calibrate it for-WAHH! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!"
"You know what it was for."
Kichijouji turned back to look at the field where Masaki was still taking on the nine other students while Shiori and Touko went at it. The attacks were becoming slower, less accurate and more infrequent. Exhaustion seemed to be setting into the offensive team, while Masaki still moved with the power and dexterity he started with.
"He's still going strong after twenty minutes of this...unbelievable."
"Even if he isn't trying to show off, he is still quite impressive."
After being silent for most of the past few minutes, Airi finally spoke up.
"He is the Crimson Prince after all. No one can beat him."
"...Is that what you truly believe?"
"What?"
Kichijouji turned and glanced at her at her sudden question, they turned back to the field. Two students fired off move-type magics in an attempt to strike, but Masaki's interference strength was far greater and the spells shattered. Such a strange question. Masaki was the best. Right?
"Forget I said that. What do you see when you look at him?...I see a product of a broken society, created to prove its superiority. I see a curse, the curse to live up to a reputation of being indestructible, undefeatable."
He turned back to Airi; her eyes were not visible from underneath her bangs, and there was a certain tension in her body. The words she spoke, he felt that she was talking about more than just Masaki. She finally looked up, once last survey of the battle, then she left. Kichijouji was left staring at her retreating form.
"Kichijouji-kun?"
Shiori and Touko were finally done with their argument. Shiori had a concerned look on her face; he gave one last glance at Airi before turning his full attention back to her.
"Oh yea, about that calibration. I can help you whenever I'm done with Student Council activities today."
"George!"
Masaki's sudden call caused him to divert his attention. His friend was the only one standing in the middle of the field, all the other students panting, collapsed on the ground.
"Well...does this mean practice is over?"
"Is it ok to be using the Student Council office as our lunchroom?"
Kichijouji waved the question away and turned back to the computer in front of him.
"Tsuzuya-kaichou doesn't mind. The other members of the Council don't use this room for lunch, although they may occasionally pop in for a report or otherwise. Tsuzuya-kaichou and Soshiroda-senpai usually lunch together on the roof of the school. Ishimaru-senpai will probably in the Club room, and Daiju-senpai and Fukuda-senpai eat in the lunchroom."
"You certainly know a lot about our seniors," Masaki said, throwing away the tray he got at the beginning of the lunch period from the meal dispenser. Airi scrolled through her terminal, getting a jump on some of her homework from earlier classes, face scrunched in concentration.
Kichijouji shrugged, gaze still attached to the computer screen.
"You kinda have to when they ask you to run errands all around the school. I remember one day I couldn't find Ishimaru-senpai when Tsuzuya-kaichou needed a report he was supposed to finish two days before; I was late to physical education."
"I remember that day! Sensei was not too happy about you missing the first part of the physical."
Touko swiveled around on one of the chairs surrounding the conference table, while Shiori passed out coffee to the other students. Masaki graciously accepted one handed to him as he sat back down in his seat.
"So George, have the results been released yet?"
Kichijouji's typing slowed down as he hit the last few keys; a deliberate strike to the enter key he turned back around to face the rest of them sitting around the table. A moment later, all the terminals in the room flashed up, indicating that a file had been transferred.
"Ask and you shall receive."
Masaki pulled open the file that was just sent to his terminal, and a list containing the nine magic high schools flashed up.
"All the results are in there from each magic high school, from the magic theory portion of the exams to practical scores," Kichijouji intoned, "Of course, that's really all we have to go on, since it doesn't give the score breakdown of each tested area, but I think it's a good predictor.
"...So, which school do we look at first?" asked Airi.
Masaki, out of curiosity, opened up the file on Third High. He was fairly certain he was going to get picked for at least Monolith Code, and a good chance for Ice Pillars break because of his long-range capability, but he just wanted to see the other possible competitors from Third. He opened up the files and stared at the screen for a few seconds.
Surely this is a mistake.
"Hey George. This says there are only 199 students in this year's class...Is that correct?"
"Yes...I-I think."
Masaki couldn't help but feel that something was slightly off. The feeling was fleeting and ominous.
199...but each year this school accepts 200 students…
"Oh, here's the file. We're getting a foreign student that was supposed to arrive at the beginning of the school year but got held up by some family issues. That must be it; it says they'll arrive at the end of the summer."
Shiori shrugged and tapped her terminal screen.
"No use thinking about that right now, Nine Schools is happening in less than two months. We have to size up the competition. Lunch will be over in fifteen minutes and I want to at least comb through one of these high schools."
"In that case, let's just look at Ninth."
"That's the first serious thing you've said all day, Touko."
"Hey! That's not true! I say lots of ser-"
Airi sighed and interrupted Touko's feeble defense.
"ANYWAY. We should only have to look at the top 25 students from each class, possibly the top 40. Now based on each school's testing methods…"
"Hirota Keiji, eh? I believe he was ranked right after Juuichiban on the exams. So he'll be competing with us in Monolith Code. Anything notable?"
The two followed the crowd towards the auditorium; a week before the competition, and finalized list of competitors and engineerings would be recognized before the assembled student body.
"He tends to favor move-type magic; I've seen him use a full powered 'Land Tsunami', but he's definitely going to have to tone it down for the fight. Speaking of that, you've looked at the rules right? You're going to need to put some stops in your magic to avoid killing someone."
"I'll keep that in mind."
The two walked into the building where most of the students were already finding seats. Glancing over to the edge of the stage, he saw Airi waving for them to make their way over.
"You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago!"
"Sorry! Masaki was helping me finish up some council work."
"Council work!? You're supposed to be handing out the security pins to the participants!"
As Airi turned to Masaki, Kichijouji dashed off to find the rest of the council.
"And you need to get in line."
Grabbing his hand, she led him off to where the other participants were standing to the side."
"Airi, is it really necessary for you to lead me? I can walk you know."
Flushing, she released his hand with a huff and stalked over to where Shiori and Touko were standing.
"Airi, were the two of you holding hands?"
"NO."
"Touko, be quiet; the ceremony is about to start."
The ceremony was simple; Nanko and the rest of the Student Council introduced all the members of the team, one by one, with their class and what event they would be competing in. Kichijouji would in turn give to each student a security pin for the venue.
"As we conclude this send-off, we wish the best of luck to our athletes; do your best and do your school proud! We will be cheering for all of you! Let's win this year's Nine Schools Competition!"
Hey all!
I've decided there was enough interest for me to continue with a NSC arc. I know this chapter is really short, but I wanted to give yall a look at what it might look like. Reading back on this, I definitely want to do a re-write, but I'm not sure when. I also tried to add some more interaction with the other cast members; however, at the moment I am unsure of whether I want to add an underlying plot in addition to the games, and I have no ideas. So pleasepleaseplease review and message me with ideas to write about. For now, this might the only chapter for a few months as school will be starting up. Thanks for all you support, and once again, constructive criticism is always welcome! See yall next time, whenever that might be!
p.s. for now, im not planning on mugura hana (my oc) appearing in this arc as of now (bc no one remembers her), but if yall like her, i might try and find a way of weaving her back into the story. my intention for this story was to expand on the canon world of mahouka, but i might take some liberties ;)
New Characters:
Hirota Keiji - Course 1 student competing in Monolith Code (name is placeholder, may change depending on canon)