Disclaimer: I don't own anything except a nearly broken neck. (No gold medal in the Olympics tho.)
Before you start reading, I just wanted to say that I am sorry for the delay in this chapter. I know it's been like three weeks but I went on a trip with friends and came back and got sick as hell. I couldn't even move from bed for two days. Even now, my neck is killing me and I can't even move it thirty degrees without feeling like I am dying. But thanks for the continued support and I hope it will continue.
Although the Third World War had changed a lot of things about school systems across the world, Japan was one of the very few nations that were lucky enough to be able to stay with their old ones. After all, the rampant wars had forced many countries to take a backseat when it came to educational facilities. Therefore, the fact that the end of July was near meant that the time for summer vacation had arrived and the students were in a festive mood. After all, no matter what you do, a vacation is always a happy thing.
Shiba Tatsuya was currently sitting on top of the roof of First High's main building. He had no particular objective in mind when he did this except to take a break from all the activities of the Student Council. The past few days had been hectic for him due to the fact that all the newly established clubs in the school had to conduct summer camps based on their respective fields. Although the Club Committee was in charge of this procedure, The Student Council had been asked to help the Committee with their work which had increased their workload a lot.
"What are you doing here President Shiba?" If Tatsuya was an ordinary person, the unexpected question would have surprised him. After all, he was supposed to be the only person on the roof. Access to this location was strictly under the control of the Student Council and not many people could get said access. But he was not a regular person and as such, he had foreseen the arrival of Yotsuba Miya a long time ago.
"Nothing. Just wanted to take a break." He replied formally.
"I apologize for the extra workload that we have forced upon the Council when we already knew that you are busy." Miya served as the head of the Club Committee and as such, it was originally supposed to be her job. However, due to the fact that the members of the Club Committee were completely unfamiliar with such work had delayed their progress a lot.
"It is not a problem. Everyone is new to this after all." Tatsuya replied.
"Say, Tatsuya-san, have you ever thought about what you want to do in the future?" Miya asked which surprised Tatsuya a lot. After all, she wasn't the type of person who was good at small talk.
"Can't say that I haven't. I was planning on starting a small CAD Manufacturing Firm after University. It will be helpful in realizing my goal of creating a Gravity Control-Type Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor." Tatsuya said honestly. Although he might be at a different time, this didn't mean that his end goals had to change. Plus, with Flying-type magic already secured in his hands, Tatsuya was probably the only person who could possibly accomplish this feat.
"I did not know that you had such a lofty ambition Prez". Miya said. "To think that you want to solve one of the Three Great Puzzles of Weight Systematic Magic. Might I ask why?"
"Why not? After all, isn't it better to aim high instead of being satisfied with mediocrity?"
"Well yes, but that only applies when you have the skills to back up the aim. Then again, with Prez's skills when it comes to CADs, it might not be such an impossible ask. After all, hardly anyone can double the speed of a CAD that they have never seen before in under two hours, no matter how badly it is tuned." Miya said. Tatsuya could sense that she was amused.
'Looks like Maya isn't just an odd apple when it comes to behavior in the Yotsuba Family' Tatsuya thought to himself. "You flatter me, Ms. Miya. All I did was remove some unwanted redundancies in the CAD's code. You could have done the same thing easily." Tatsuya knew from Maya as well as his past life experience that Miya was the one who tuned the CADs for the entirety of the Yotsuba main house. In terms of Engineering skills alone, she was among the best in not just Japan, but the entire world.
"How is Maya-san doing? I haven't seen her around much recently." Tatsuya said, trying to change the topic.
"She also has gotten busy with the summer break coming up. Although the school is relatively peaceful, one cannot let their guard down for a moment with how high tensions between some clubs are." Although Miya recognized that Tatsuya was trying to divert the topic, she complied.
"If things don't settle down soon, the Student Council will have no choice but to interfere." Tatsuya sighed. Unlike in his previous life, students in First High, or any of the Nine Magic High schools for that matter, were not banned from bringing their own personal CADs to school. Although everything had been relatively peaceful for the first few months, the number of confrontations between students where magic had been almost invoked, had increased exponentially. Many of the students of First High were from families that were not in the best of terms, to put it mildly.
Maya's presence as the chief of the Disciplinary Committee helped things a lot. After all, no one wanted to go against the princess of the Yotsuba family but she couldn't be everywhere at all times and some students simply didn't care.
"The worst part is that the University will be forced to interfere if things don't calm down."
"It appears to me that the number of disciplinary incidents has increased once again this week, am I wrong?" Kasugikawa Kotarou was currently holding a joint meeting between First High's student representatives and staff representatives.
"You are correct sir. This past week alone, we have had sixteen different incidents of disciplinary breach, twelve of them involving the use of magic. No one has been injured as of now but with how things are going, it is only a matter of time before that eventuality." Maya was completely serious as she spoke.
"If things continue like this, we will have no choice but to ban the use of CADs in the school entirely." The principal said.
"Excuse me sir but I might have an idea on how to deal with this." Tatsuya spoke.
"Tatsuya? Go on then."
"Since the students want to fight, why not give them an opportunity to fight? Without injuring each other, that is. I propose that we establish an official channel for interpersonal combat based on a ranking system under the strict supervision of the faculty." Tatsuya said. This was something that had already existed in First High when he joined but he wasn't aware of when it was implemented.
"Interesting. Do you have the details in mind?" Kotarou asked.
"Basically, every single student will be assigned a rank based on how good they are at combat, and then students can challenge each other to a duel where the winner takes the higher rank. The initial rank can be decided either based on practical test scores or after conducting a school-wide combat tournament. Anyone who doesn't wish to fight can be termed as unranked and will be excluded from being challenged. As for the actual rules, banning physical attacks and use of excessive force should be enough to mitigate any gender differences." Tatsuya explained calmly.
"I think it is an interesting idea." The principal said. "What about you?" He asked the rest of the people present in the room.
"I like it." Maya said enthusiastically. Then again, something like this was right up her alley.
"I have no objections as long as no one gets seriously injured." The staff representative said.
"I also think that this is a good idea." Miya, the final member in the room agreed.
"Wonderful. Then I will contact my colleagues in the other schools before contacting the University. I will announce the results later." With that, the meeting was adjourned.
"Tatsuya!" As soon as he walked out of the meeting room, Tatsuya was jumped by an excited Maya from behind. "That was such a cool idea." She said as she hugged him from behind. Tatsuya noted that as time went by, the physical distance between him and the young Yotsuba was shrinking constantly to the point where she was consistently invading his personal space whenever they met.
"You liked it, didn't you?" This was not a question. While she might not be the psychopath that he was familiar with, this Maya was every bit the battle junkie that his former aunt had been.
"Of course. Needless to say, if it goes through, I will take the First Rank, no questions asked." Maya said enthusiastically.
"I don't doubt it." Aside from Miya, who could put up a decent fight before losing, Maya was completely invincible in combat in First High. Even Tatsuya couldn't say that he could beat her without incapacitating her in some form with his innate abilities. His new body might be an A-rank magician, but Maya was the pinnacle when it came to one-on-one combat.
"I'll ask Dad to let this go through." Maya said. "Maybe we can conduct the tournament during the summer vacation."
Two days had passed since Tatsuya had given his idea and it was the last day before school would close for the summer. Tatsuya was currently heading towards the principal's office where he had been summoned. As he entered the room, Miya and Maya were already there.
"Now that everyone is here, I would like to say that Tatsuya's idea that we discussed two days ago has been approved by The National Magic University and will be implemented in all nine of the Magic High Schools. So, congratulations to Tatsuya. The University officials will contact you to make it official soon. We have also been informed that the initial ranking will be based on a tournament that will be conducted during the last week of the summer vacation before school starts. Therefore, all the students will be informed through online communications and will be given enough time to prepare. The detailed rules will be informed shortly afterward." The principal said.
"Congrats Tatsuya." Maya hugged him.
"Congratulations Prez." Miya was much more reserved than her sister.
Just as the principal had said, Tatsuya had indeed been contacted by The National Magic University who had taken his suggestions regarding the matter. The new system was designed within a week afterward and was announced to the students. Tatsuya was unable to access the data due to being on vacation but he had heard from some of the faculty that almost ninety percent of First High's student body had already signed up for the tournament. However, Tatsuya had more pressing issues at hand.
The Shiba Clan might have had their roots in the Yotsuba but the fact of the matter was that they weren't considered a clan even amongst themselves. Therefore, the fact that his grandfather had asked him to visit the ancestral home was less of a summoning and more of a request. Hence, Tatsuya was on his way to Chiba where his grandparents lived.
The building where he arrived was something that could be considered grand by modern standards, which showed that his ancestors were relatively wealthy. The old model house was well taken care of and you could see servants walking by as he made his way to the main house.
"Pardon the intrusion." Tatsuya announced as he was invited into the main house by a servant and then taken to the room of his grandparents who, from the looks of it, were waiting for him.
"Tatsuya. I am glad to see that you have arrived safely." Shiba Gennousuke was an imposing figure who looked like he belonged to the Juumonji clan. He was wearing a black yukata that made him look like a Yakuza boss. That said, from the original Tatsuya's memory of his grandfather, Gennosuke was a rather gentle soul who got along with his children and grandchildren splendidly.
"It has been a while, Tatsuya. I hope you are doing well." Shiba Sayuri, his grandmother was the complete opposite of her husband when it came to looks. She was rather tall for a woman and was almost as tall as Tatsuya who had crossed the threshold of 180cm by now. She too, was a gentle soul, much like her husband.
"Thank you, Grandpa, Grandma. Here is a small gift from me." Tatsuya handed over a small bag containing a few sweets he had purchased for the old couple.
"I heard that you can use magic now. How is life at Magic High School going?" Gennosuke asked.
"It has gone smoothly for the most part. However, being the student council president is a lot of work." Tatsuya said honestly.
"My. Even though there are children from so many big houses in that school, our Tatsuya is the leader. Isn't that great honey?" Sayuri asked her husband.
"Yes. But you should be more careful Tatsuya. You might attract attention from dangerous people otherwise."
'It's a little too late to say that.' is what Tatsuya thought to himself but he gave a polite nod to the old couple as a response.
"Why don't you freshen yourself up Tatsuya? After all, you must be tired from all the traveling." His grandmother said to which Tatsuya nodded.
After taking a bath and spending some time talking with his grandparents, Tatsuya had dinner with the old couple. After he was finished, his grandfather asked him to go with him to the ancestral hall for some reason.
The Shiba family's ancestral hall was rather young. After all, the only person enshrined in it was his great-grandfather who was the first patriarch of the family and a former member of the Yotsuba, if Genzou's words were to be trusted. After worshipping the spirit of the deceased patriarch, Tatsuya was brought to a small room adjacent to the ancestral hall.
"This is why I asked you to come here." Shiba Gennosuke said as he took a small sealed box from a hidden chest in the room. Tatsuya watched his actions closely.
"Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form." Gennosuke chanted and the sealed box in his hand reacted. It shone brightly for a moment before all the seals around it fell apart and all that was left was a small box the size of Tatsuya's palm.
"When he was on his deathbed, my father, your great grandfather asked me to guard this box until the time comes when someone in our family gives birth to a child with good magical talent. Since none of your uncles or aunts or cousins have shown the potential to be a great magician, I was more than willing to pass it on to your eldest uncle before I died. Then I heard that you had gotten accepted into a magic high school, defeating the children of several prominent magical clans in the process, I remembered about this. Tatsuya, my time in this world is slowly coming to an end. I firmly believe that you are probably the only person in the family who can make use of whatever it is in this box. My father said to me that in the correct hands, this is an item that could change the world of magic forever. Even if you can't use it, please pass it down to the next generation." Gennosuke explained. Out of respect for his grandfather, Tatsuya had decided against using Elemental Sight since entering the ancestral home. This meant that he didn't have any idea what was in the box.
"I will try my best Grandpa." Tatsuya said before he returned to his room.
Upon reaching his room, Tatsuya carefully analyzed the outside of the box that he was given. It was a box that was built using wood that looked like Mahagony. There was a small inscription on one side of the box which looked like it was written using molten gold. The words in it were not written in Japanese but in Traditional Chinese and it read '阿弥陀佛' which from his knowledge of Chinese, meant 'Amitabha Buddha'.
After scrutinizing the box for a while, Tatsuya finally came to the important event which was seeing what was inside the box. As he opened it, he couldn't say that he was surprised, for there was a completely ordinary-looking ball of jade in it, which was the size of his palm. Tatsuya, however, wasn't the type of person who judged everything based on looks alone and as such, he activated his Elemental Sight. What he saw inside shocked even the usually calm Tatsuya to the point that he almost dropped the ball in his hand.
There was a fully functioning magic spell engraved within the Jade ball.
What is the biggest problem with the actualization of a Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor that utilized Gravity Control Magic to carry out Fusion? Depending on which era you asked this question, the answers you received for this question might vary. In essence, the problems were simple. To actualize such a reactor, you would need a magician to continuously cast spells to keep the reactor running. This would not only tire out the magician quickly, but the chances of disasters occurring due to spells interfering with each other were not low. Then there was also the fact that in such a system, the magician would be nothing more than a part required to keep the whole thing running. Tatsuya, in his previous timeline, had managed to solve two of these three problems. The Loop Cast system he designed reduced the burden on magicians exponentially when casting the same spell multiple times, the system he designed for Flying-type magic could be used to eliminate all possibilities of spells interfering with each other, etc.…
However, not even Tatsuya had an answer for the final problem. It was impossible to keep a spell going without a magician being part of it. However, the little green ball in front of him changed everything. If he could analyze the material of this little globe and find a way to mass produce it and improve its quality, Tatsuya's life's goal would be complete. After all, this tiny little thing could turn magicians into an indispensable part of the economy of the world without removing their humanity, thereby ensuring that every single nation will have to take care of their magicians or risk falling behind others. The idea of potentially limitless clean energy was just that great.
Tatsuya knew that he had reached the point of no return but did he care? Not really. I mean, if push comes to shove, he could take the world in a fight and win.
That's it. I know I have gotten a little rusty but I hope you liked it. Happy Holidays Everyone and if my neck stops trying to kill me, I will write the next chapter within two days max. No promises tho. I would like to address everyone's worries here but I can't write anymore. I'll address the major points in the next chapter. So feel free to correct any faults.
P.S: Almost twenty people reviewed the last chapter probably because it was a bit late and I am thankful for the support. I tried using a little less Japanese honorifics for a change so tell me if I should go back to the original style or keep it this way.