Author's Note: To the few crazy ass motherfuckers out there still leaving reviews on this a year after it was released, your prayers have been heard!

To everyone else, I want to say sorry for dropping this project. Between being lazy and busy, but mostly lazy, I never got to writing more after the initial burst. However, I did have so much more to this story planned out in my head, and even more now.

And I do want to see this story to the end, so here's the deal. I will release a new chapter every week on Sunday until this story ends. Some weeks may have to be skipped if life becomes a real bitch, but I will try my best. Each arc will probably need to be broken up into more chapters that are significantly shorter. But enough of that, enjoy!

Kirihara plants his left foot into the ground, and jabs his shinai towards Sayaka.

She dodges to the side, knocking Kirihara's shinai away with her own. She immediately follows up by spinning around, whipping her shinai around with herself, aiming to hit Kirihara in the back.

But Kirihara is just quick enough to recover and block the strike.

Sayaka backs off, and the fighters are in a neutral position again. Now it's time for her attack.

She swings downwards from above her head, a move that Kirihara easily sees coming and blocks. But as the swords connect, Sayaka bends down and sweeps with one leg, knocking Kirihara off balance.

Kirihara sees Sayaka swing at him again as he is falling, so he responds by pushing off the ground away from her.

Sayaka continues to relentlessly attack after Kirihara stands back up. All that he can do is block. After each block, Sayaka quickly spins around and strikes Kirihara from a different angle.

The crowd watching cheers as Sayaka spins around Kirihara over and over, her moves swift and elegant, almost as if she were dancing.

Finally, Kirihara had enough and as he blocks Sayaka again, he goes for a counterattack, backing up just out of range of Sayaka's follow-up spinning attack, and then swinging after she misses.

But Sayaka is too fast. She backflips over Kirihara's sword, surprising everyone.

With Kirihara caught off guard, Sayaka simply swings her shinai towards his head, knowing Kirihara does not have enough time to dodge.

But just moments before Kirihara is about to lose, almost instinctively, he activates the CAD on his shinai, accelerating his own movements.

Magic allows Kirihara to duck the blow. Then with another spell, he launches himself high into the air. In that instant, the kendo battle had been replaced by kenjutsu.

Sayaka becomes furious, reaching for her own standard CAD on her wrist.

Tatsuya reads the activation sequence and sees Sayaka activating Knockback in order to prevent Kirihara's next attack, while Kirihara activates Executing Dive, one of his signature kenjutsu finishers which is a movement-type spell that launches him into the ground.

Tatsuya feels a gentle push from Erika. Understanding what she means by it, Tatsuya runs forward.

As both Kirihara and Sayaka's spells activate, Tatsuya dives towards Sayaka, pushing out of the way of Kirihara's Executing Dive, while simultaneously causing Sayaka to miss her spell too.

"This unauthorized fight is over. Mibu Sayaka and Kirihara Takeaki, both of you will be detained for misconduct and improper use of magic."

Then into his communication device, Tatsuya says, "To any active members of the Disciplinary Committee, I need assistance in the gymnasium immediately."

With that, the crowd quickly disperses, and soon more members of the Disciplinary Committee arrive to escort Sayaka and Kirihara out.

"You guys go on ahead exploring the clubs," Tatsuya briefly meets back up with his group of friends, "I'm going to have to take care of this with the Disciplinary Committee."

In the student council office, only Tatsuya, Mayumi and Mari are there, sitting around the table.

"And that's everything that I witnessed," Tatsuya finishes his report of the prior events.

Mari is the first to speak up, "This definitely seems to fall under the categories of misconduct and misuse of magic. We'll still need to talk to Kirihara and Sayaka for more details, but I think I know the gist of what happened."

Mayumi jumps in, "Hasn't Sayaka been one of the more vocal first year students about the discrimination of course 2 students? You think that could be why the fight started?"

"Yes," Mari frowns, "She hates course 1 with a burning passion. I can't completely blame her though. She's always been the best at what she does, yet now she can't be the best because she lacks natural magical capabilities."

Mayumi sighs, "As student council president, I've worked hard towards stopping the discrimination between course 1 and 2 students. Strict punishments are given out to course 1 students who bully course 2 students. But even so, not every instance can be caught, and it's only human nature for some course 1 students to harass course 2 students in order to feel better about themselves."

Mari pats Mayumi on the head, "Don't be too harsh on yourself. I know you're trying your best. I remember looking at Sayaka's test results and her magical capabilities aren't even that bad compared to other course 2 students. She also has the problem of refusing to mix magic with her incredible kendo skills. I think that perhaps if she didn't deny magic in her swordplay, she could turn out to be a fearsome combatant."

"Unfortunately for us, as course 1 students, Sayaka wouldn't listen to a thing that we tell her. I don't see a way for us to help her.

Tatsuya suddenly speaks up, "Maybe I can help. Let me talk with her. I've been in her shoes and I think I can help her. Tell her that this is her punishment."

Mayumi's eyes light up, "That's right! Since Tatsuya is a course 2 student, you may actually be able to help her."

Mari smiles, "All right. That might just be what she needs. I'll need to talk with her first privately, but I can set up a time for you two to talk."

"Thank you," Tatsuya bows and leaves the room.

After classes the next day, Tatsuya heads directly to the school library. At one of the tables in the group study area, he spots Sayaka sitting there, bored out of her mind. This is the meeting that Tatsuya had requested.

"Sorry if you've been waiting a long time," Tatsuya smiles and pulls out a chair across from Sayaka.

"It's whatever. Just hurry it along. It's not like this is supposed to be a date. . ." Sayaka stares straight into Tatsuya's eyes, trying to read his mind, ". . .right?"

Immediately realizing Sayaka's misconception, Tatsuya swiftly responds, "Oh no, of course not. You're not accusing me of taking advantage of being a Disciplinary Committee member in order to force you on a date, are you?"

Finally dropping her stare, Sayaka says, "Then why did you do this? Set up this meeting as my punishment? Is it out of pity? Because I don't need your pity."

Tatsuya ponders his lack of emotions for a second, "I can't say I know what pity feels like. But, I can tell you that I wanted to talk to you because during your fight with Kirihara, I saw how talented you are with the sword. I saw how much potential you have. I would hate to see all that potential go to waste."

"My skills? Don't make me laugh. Of course I know how skilled I am with a sword. I had to work my ass off every day to get those skills. I know what potential I have. But the system is rigged against me. In this world, the only thing that matters is magic.

Let me tell you something, Tatsuya. Most of those blooms? They're lazy and stupid. Yet they walk around all high and mighty as if they deserved it or something. It disgusts me. If I was born with their magic capabilities, I'd wipe the floor with them."

"So the world is unfair. The world has always been this way since the beginning of time. There will always be those who are more talented, more wealthy, or more lucky than you. You can't change that. So maybe instead you should focus on changing yourself. . ."

"Oh shut up. I know the world is unfair. That doesn't mean the school should make it worse by perpetuating the superiority complex of those blooms. Trust me, I wish I could show them their place with what little magic I have, but I can't. There's nothing I can do when they can use magic to be faster, stronger, and throw spells from a range."

"You're wrong."

"Oh? That's hot stuff coming from another weed. What do you know about fighting? I've been fighting and training as soon as I could walk. Trust me, if I could beat blooms in a fight, I would've found it."

"You're refusal to integrate magic with your swordplay. . ."

Sayaka stands up from her seat, "We're done here. I don't need to listen to you side with the blooms."

As Sayaka turns to leave, Tatsuya stands up as well, "Fine then. I challenge you to a kendo duel. If I beat you, then will you listen to what I have to say?"

Speechless for a second, Sayaka turns back to face Tatsuya, laughing, "Ha ha ha, a kendo match? You can't be serious. You don't think you can actually beat me at the one thing that I'm confident that I'm the best at, do you?"

Tatsuya's face remains unfazed. Sayaka realizes that he's being serious. So more calmly, Sayaka replies, "Alright then. If you do somehow beat me in kendo, then maybe you do have something worth listening to."

"Very well. Tomorrow, after school."

"Deal."

As promised the following day, Sayaka meets up with Tatsuya in a combat training room. Sayaka is wearing her usual training outfit of a tank-top and short shorts, while Tatsuya is still in his school uniform.

Sayaka has brought her kendo equipment and hands a shinai to Tatsuya.

"Alright then," she says, "we can skip all the formalities I assume and go straight into the match?"

"Well actually," Tatsuya says, "I don't know any of the rules of kendo. Can you explain them first?"

Sayaka's eyes widen in shock, "No way you challenged me to a kendo duel without even knowing the rules. How do you think you can possibly beat me?"

"I may be unfamiliar with kendo, but I am very experienced in combat. So rest assured, this is no joke. As I was trying to tell you yesterday, magic is much like every other skill, including kendo. You can be faster and stronger than me, but that doesn't mean you can beat me."

"If you say so. I must say I do admire your confidence. Anyway, the rules are quite short and simple. The match begins with us standing apart, with shinai crossed. The objective is to strike the opponent in four areas of the body, which are the head, the torso, the wrists, or stabbing the throat.

There are specific conditions you must follow for your strike to count. First, you must strike one of those four areas with the upper portion of the shinai. Second, both hands must be holding the shinai. Third, the string on the shinai represents the back of the katana, so the strike must also land with the side opposite of the string. The first to land a successful strike wins. Got it?"

"Yes."

With that, the two combatants face each other in the middle of the training room, swords raised.

"And go!" Sayaka shouts, starting the match.

She immediately strikes with one of her fastest moves, slicing downwards at the head. To her surprise, Tatsuya actually dodges to the side, but just barely.

He's fast, Sayaka thinks to herself, but not as fast as me. He was only able to dodge that move because he started his dodge as soon as the match began. If he fails to predict a move, I'm sure that he won't be able to dodge it.

Sayaka's shinai reverses momentum as she slash upwards and to the side towards Tatsuya. There's no way he can dodge this time! But at the last fraction of a second, Tatsuya brings his own shinai to deflect Sayaka's strike.

The blow has so much force that Tatsuya is knocked back. Just as he gains his footing again, Sayaka is already coming at him with another strike. This time, she slashes sideways twice, back and forth, at Tatsuya's torso.

Just like before, Tatsuya is barely able to dodge the first slash and then is forced to block the second.

As Sayaka's shinai bounces off of Tatsuya's, she quickly whips her body around in a spin, striking Tatsuya on the other side. Before her spin even finishes, Tatsuya has already stepped back out of range.

He predicted my move again! How. . . I've never seen someone so lucky. . . or perhaps it's not luck. What's strange is that most people look at the blade to dodge or block, but this whole time, his eyes have been glued to me.

Is he a pervert?! Does being a pervert give him special powers that I was unaware of?

As fast as she possibly could, she goes to strike Tatsuya again and again, slashing and jabbing and spinning. But not a single hit lands. Each time, Tatsuya just barely moves out of the way of Sayaka's shinai or blocks at the last second.

The two of them dance around the training room for a few minutes, with Tatsuya never even attempting to strike at Sayaka. For her, she has never seen someone move the way Tatsuya does, seemingly knowing Sayaka's next attack before she even launches it.

My attacks are so very close to connecting every time. There has to be one time where he messes up and fails to dodge or block right? At least. . . he is making no attempts to strike at me, so I can freely keep up my assault.

From Tatsuya's perspective, he actually cannot find an opening to strike at all. Even though Sayaka is performing attack after attack, her moves are so fast and disciplined that there is physically no time between her attacks for Tatsuya to strike. Even as time goes on, Sayaka does not seem to be tiring out from all of her movement; her stamina is unbelievably high. All this must be the result of years and years of dedication honing her skills.

Originally, Tatsuya thought that if he could make space between himself and Sayaka, he'd have an opportunity to be offensive. But unfortunately, Sayaka's relentless strikes prevent Tatsuya from making any space at all.

So the only option left is to get even closer. Tatsuya watches Sayaka go for another upward slash and instead of backing away, he rushes towards her.

As Sayaka's shinai is about to reach Tatsuya, he manages to block it with his own shinai. But this time, instead of absorbing the force of the block, he simply lets go of his shinai.

The bamboo blade goes spinning into the air, catching Sayaka off guard momentarily. Her eyes track the stick in the air for just long enough for Tatsuya, who had already been rushing at Sayaka, to slip behind her.

Sayaka immediately realizes what Tatsuya has done and so she spins her body around too, slashing behind herself. But since she had no visual of Tatsuya for a brief moment when he went behind her, she did not realize that Tatsuya was hugging the ground, too low to be hit by her slash.

And just as Sayaka's blade slices above Tatsuya's head, he propels himself off the ground, just in time for his flying shinai to land in his hands.

With one forceful swing, Tatsuya brings the shinai down and smacks Sayaka in the head.

The match ends, just like that. Sayaka is left speechless, and Tatsuya sits down to catch his own breath.

"No way. . ." is all that Sayaka can muster. "You actually beat me. I've never seen anyone fight quite like you did."

Tatsuya looks up from the floor to see Sayaka reaching her hand towards him. He grabs it and Sayaka pulls him onto his feet.

"I'm not faster or stronger than you. But you don't need to be to win a fight. The same goes with magic duels too. Every spell has a counter, or weaknesses, or limitations. It's never about raw power. I think I've proven my point. Now, will you listen to what I have to say?"

Sayaka reflects on the kendo match, "Fine, but first, you must tell me how you did it."

"Did what?"

"You predicted every move that I made. That's how you were able to dodge or block in time. You're too slow to dodge or block in time if you hadn't started moving before my attacks even started."

Tatsuya looks into Sayaka's eyes and says, "It's my eyes. My eyes are fast, unnaturally fast if you will. Your muscles are so well trained that they act before you've even made the decision to act. It really is incredible. They almost seem to have a mind of their own, as if they're moving instinctively."

Sayaka blushes a bit, "So that's why you were looking at my body the entire time. . ."

"Exactly. By seeing how your muscles moved before every attack, I was able to determine what move you would use next, perhaps even before you yourself knew what move to use."

". . .You're still a pervert for doing that."

"Don't worry, I was only watching for your arm and leg muscles. I had absolutely no reason to look at your breasts or your butt."

Sayaka's face turns bright red. Tightening her grip on her shinai, she swings it wildly at Tatsuya's torso. It would have been easy for Tatsuya to dodge the attack, but something in the back of Tatsuya's mind told him that doing so would be a bad idea.

The blow was forceful, carrying the weight of all of Sayaka's anger and embarrassment with it. Tatsuya goes flying across the room, smacking into the wall.

"You didn't have to be rude about it!" Sayaka exclaims.

Tatsuya stands back up, "Please forgive me. I did not mean to imply anything. Let's just move on. I wanted to have this duel in order to show you that it's never about raw speed and power. You can win and you can fight despite being weaker. This is true for both kendo and magic."

Sayaka finally calms down a bit, "So you're telling me that I can fight against magic? Look, I don't think you understand just how much less magic I am able to use compared to blooms."

"The weaker your magic, the more you would need to compensate with other skills. And, the more clever and creative you need to be about approaching your fight."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In kendo, you've always been the strongest and fastest, so you are always able to approach fights straight on, overpowering your opponents. You can't take such an approach to a magic battle when you are now the weaker one. Instead, you need to fully utilize any advantage against your stronger opponent that you can find."

Sakaya laughs a little, "Oh, so you mean like how you stared at my muscles? Is that what you want me to do? I really don't think I could see the way you see with your weirdass eyes even if I tried."

"No, of course that's not what I meant. For you, your incredible physical ability and swordsmanship alone are massive advantages. I think if you combine that with some clever use of magic, you can beat opponents with much stronger magical capabilities."

"You act like I've never tried," Sakaya looks down at the ground, feeling sad, "I tried using magic with kendo, but it doesn't work well. The use of magic disrupts the harmonious flow and dance of the blade."

"That's because you keep thinking about it as using magic to aid your swordplay. You need to start thinking about it as your swordplay aiding your magic."

"How do I do that? . . . I. . . I'm willing to give it a try."

Tatsuya starts to pack his belongings, "Well, that's for you to figure out. But if you want, I can lend you a hand tomorrow."

Tatsuya opens the door of the training room and looks back one more time at Sakaya. After thinking for a long moment, she faces Tatsuya directly, puts her feet together, and bows.

"Alright. I look forward to your help, Tatsuya."

Nodding, Tatsuya turns back around. But just before exiting, he leaves one last comment, "Oh. By the way, for a bit of extra motivation, I hear that you are allowed to challenge Kirihara to an official duel to take his spot in the solo duel tournament at the Nine Schools Competition. You seem like the kind of girl who would enjoy. . . payback."

Sayaka looks back up, surprised at first, but then grins, "I very much do."

That night, at the Shiba siblings' house, Miyuki is getting ready for bed and doing one last check around the house to make sure all the lights are turned off.

As she's checking each room, she notices that the light to the basement is still on. The basement is Tatsuya's work room. Rubbing her eyes and letting out a yawn, Miyuki makes her way down the stairs to see what her brother could be doing at such a late hour.

She sees Tatsuya sitting at his desk in the back corner of the room, typing away while looking at his multiple large monitors. The basement room is relatively empty for how big it is, with a few large machines in the center, a few shelves of books on one side, and Tatsuya's desk on the other.

"Onii-sama, you're still up?"

"Yes, I'm almost done. I'll be getting to bed soon too, so don't worry about me."

After staring silently at her hard working brother for a few moments, Miyuki slowly walks towards him while saying, "You know, I don't think I've seen you work this hard since. . . since you tried to solve the mysteries of our aunt's magic. Please tell me you're not doing that again."

Sensing his sister approach him, Tatsuya pauses his work, and turns around just in time for Miyuki to fall into his lap. Tatsuya strokes her silky straight hair as she closes her eyes, her head resting on his chest.

"No. Of course not. I've long since given up on that project. I told you, you don't need to worry about me. I'm just doing a little bit of research on Mibu Sayaka. That's all."

"Mibu Sayaka. . . You mean the girl in the fight that you stopped yesterday? I heard you had a nice talk with her after school. I didn't know she was the type you were into."

"I'm not into her."

"You are enough to be stalking her online all night."

"You're mistaken. I'm only looking at her history to see what types of magic she should be good at."

"That is stalking."

"I'm only trying to help her. It was your idea, remember?"

Suddenly, Miyuki jumps up, a lot more energetic than she was a moment ago. "You mean," Miyuki says giggling, "When I told you that you should get more involved with your classmates and help them?"

"Yeah."

"I'm glad you took that advice to heart. I really am," Miyuki can't help but to continue smiling.

"Though," Tatsuya adds, much less enthusiastically than Miyuki, "I still don't see the point of it all. I don't see the payoff for all of this helping I'm doing."

"Yep. That's the way it is," Miyuki says, finally calming down. "You may never see any return for helping someone, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. In the end. . ."

"In the end," Tatsuya finishes her sentence, "you can't do everything alone. Especially with what I want to do. . . I very much can't do it alone."

"We. What we want to do," Miyuki corrects him.

Tatsuya turns back around in his chair, "Oh, I did find something I wanted to share with you. Mibu Sayaka's father is Mibu Yuuzou. Remember him?"

Miyuki thinks for a moment before finally remembering, "You mean Mibu from the military? I vaguely remember. . . We didn't interact with him much while we worked in the military because Mibu mostly conducted solo missions. He wasn't associated with any of the well known magic families in Japan, but he was very skilled in illusion magic."

"Yes. He isn't powerful at all in terms of psions or cast time, but he was very clever in the way he used the small amount of illusion magic that he was capable of. He could hide what he was doing in plain sight with minimal use of illusion magic, allowing him to be an excellent undercover agent for the military."

"Oh I see where you're going with this. Just like her father, Mibu Sayaka lacks raw magic power, but perhaps she can make up for that in other ways."

"Precisely. Illusion magic is a subset of light magic, one of the eight major types of magic, but it is perhaps the least used type of magic in combat. That fact alone could give Sayaka an advantage for using light based magic."

"But," Miyuki wonders, "do you even know that Sayaka is proficient in light based magic? I don't think light based magic is taught well in school, and there's always a chance that she didn't inherit the genes from her father that boost light based magic."

"True. I'm thinking when I meet up with her tomorrow, we'll run through basic tests for the major types of modern magic. Based on the test results, we'll know which type of magic she is strongest with."

"You've really thought this one through, haven't you, onii-sama? You're really going above and beyond my expectations when I told you to help your classmates. But I like this. I really do."

With that, Miyuki gives Tatsuya one last hug goodnight before going back up the stairs.

The next day, for once, it's Tatsuya who waits in a training room as Sayaka arrives.

"Ready to begin?" Tatsuya stands up from the training room's spectator seat.

"Of course."

"So first, I want to test your affinity with each of the different major types of modern magic."

"Can't you just look at the school's data for that?"

"Well, I wanted to do some practical tests. I do not trust the accuracy of the school's tests when applied to combat. You know what the eight major types of modern magic are, right?"

"Hey look buddy, just because I'm bad at magic doesn't mean I don't pay attention in class. They are acceleration, pressure, waves, light, thermodynamic, electromagnetic, molecular, and nuclear."

Tatsuya nods, "Yes, that's correct. Nuclear magic is banned from combat, leaving only seven types that we need to test today." Reaching into his bag, Tatsuya grabs a baseball and tosses it to Sayaka.

"Acceleration is simple. This type of spell always involves increasing or decreasing the speed of your target, sometimes multiple targets. Cast a speed-up spell on this baseball and then throw it as fast as you can." Sayaka does just that, but when she looks over at Tatsuya, he's frowning.

"What's your problem?!" She shouts.

"Your lack of magic really isn't exaggerated."

The baseball goes flying towards Tatsuya's face. Something in his mind tells him that this physical abuse isn't going to stop even if he lets the ball hit him. So he catches it.

"The next test will be pressure. Less straightforward than acceleration magic, meaning it has more variety to its application. Essentially this is applying a force to a target. It can be used to push objects, which would create a similar effect to acceleration, but with a different control mechanism. As you know, no magic spell can target a living being. This means acceleration spells cannot be used to move yourself. Instead, pressure spells must be used to push the air around you. Also gases and liquids can be pressurized. The most common is probably Air Bullet. Cast the spell to condense a ball of air. Then push that Air Bullet towards me with another pressure spell."

Sayaka casts the spells, sending the Air Bullet at Tatsuya. This time, Tatsuya has no reaction at all. The air bullet merely breezes past him as if it were a gust of wind.

Ignoring that result too, they move on to the next magic type. "Wave and oscillation magic. This category includes sound based spells and vibration spells just to name a few. Using air again, I want you to cast Air Shockwave, which creates waves of air vibrations resonating from you."

To Tatsuya's amusement, Sayaka's Air Shockwave actually knocked him off of his feet.

"So I have a high affinity with this type of magic, I guess?" Sayaka asks.

"Seems like it. But you can have affinity with multiple magic types, so let's keep going. Next is light magic. Any manipulations to light fall in this category, including illusion magic."

"My dad told me about illusion magic. It seems really difficult. . ."

"And it is. In order to create a convincing illusion, you have to carefully manipulate the light that enters the eyes of the people you are trying to trick. But with each person receiving the light at different angles and intensities, the calculations required are hard to keep track of."

"Am I supposed to be able to do that?"

"Of course not. This is why light magic is very rarely taught in high school. But light does have other uses. Try casting the Spotlight spell to create a cone of light."

Sayaka enters the code for Spotlight into her CAD, then says, "As if this spell is going to do anything in combat."

A blindingly strong light emits from Sayaka's fingers onto the ground where she targeted.

"Wow," Tatsuya nods, "it seems you have an affinity with light magic too. Light magic used in combat is rare, but if you get creative, it can be extremely powerful. You can cast strong enough light magic to actually cause a blinding effect. I did not expect it to be this powerful."

"But. . ." Sayaka says while rubbing her own eyes, "this light blinds me too."

"Hm. . ." Tatsuya thinks for a second, "we can think of a solution later. Let's quickly test the remaining three types of magic. Next is thermodynamic magic. This category deals with heating and cooling and energy release. All freezing magic stems from this type. Try Ice Cube, to make an ice cube.

Ok. . . your ice cube is very small. You definitely don't have an affinity with this type. After that is electromagnetic magic. As the name implies, this type of magic controls electromagnetic fields and the movement of electrons in the form of electricity. Try casting Spark on the floor and let's see how big your electric strike is.

. . .Not big enough for combat. Finally the last type, molecular. Molecular magic involves controlling and manipulating groups of, well, molecules. I brought two powdered chemicals here. With molecular magic, you can cause these unreactive solids to react with each other. . ."

Sayaka sighs, "They didn't mix at all."

"Well molecular magic is usually the most specialized of the major types. That is to say most magic technicians can't really use molecular magic and those who can often are weak at using every other type of magic."

"We're finally done right?" Sayaka plops herself on the floor.

"Yeah. It seems like wave and light magic are the two you are strongest with, especially light. I'm getting an idea of how you can use it, but I want to test something out first. A test that requires a training partner, so we'll have to do it tomorrow."

The next morning, everyone is sitting in their classrooms and class is about to start.

Erika walks over to Tatsuya's desk, eyeing him intently. "Where've you been lately? You seem to be going missing after school everyday.

Tatsuya looks up emotionlessly, "Yes, I've been with Sayaka."

Leo chokes on his water in the seat in front of Tatsuya and Erika's eyes widen.

"Like. . ." Mizuki whispers from the side, "Like you two are dating?"

"No. . . Wait. . . is that too rude of me? Should I say not yet?" With such a statement from Tatsuya, Leo can't stop coughing up his water.

"Well, well, well," Erika crosses her arms, "Aren't you moving fast in this world."

Still straight faced, Tatsuya looks at Erika, "Speaking of, can you come with me after school today as well?"

Erika's face turns red. Leo turns around, tears rolling down his face, and says, "Man, I respect you so much. You are so brave. Two at once? A daring play indeed!"

"Also, blindfolds," Tatsuya interrupts, "I'll need some for after school today. Do you guys know where I can find some?"

Erika immediately grabs Tatsuya by the collar, "Look here you little. . ."

"Sorry, I think there's a misunderstanding here," Tatsuya finally realizes his mistake, "I've been teaching Sayaka how to fight with magic. I thought Erika would make a good training partner since both use swordplay."

Just as Erika drops Tatsuya, the bell rings and the teacher walks in to begin class.

Erika and Tatsuya walk down to the same old training room that Tatsuya has used a few too many times by now. Erika has brought her own training CAD katana. Tatsuya has brought an extra training CAD katana for Sayaka.

Tatsuya tosses the CAD katana to Sayaka. "What's this?" she asks.

"It's a specialized CAD device, unlike the generalized CAD that you normally use. This allows you to activate your CAD and cast spells without your hands ever leaving the sword."

Sayaka plays with the katana for a minute, balancing it on her fingers, "The feel and weight of this katana is way too different from what I use."

"Yes, yes, I can customize a CAD katana for you later. Just train with it for today."

"And the blindfolds. . .?"

Tatsuya hands one to Sayaka and one to Erika. "I want to see how well Sayaka can fight blind."

"What's the point of that?" Sayaka asks.

"You can be a lot more flexible with your use of light magic if you are able to fight blind.

Erika is amused, "Light magic you say? I can't say that I've ever seen light magic go well with swordplay." Then noticing Sayaka's disappointed look, Erika quickly adds, "That's not to say they can't work well together. Maybe you can be the first."

"Let us begin," Tatsuya gestures for the two girls to get ready to fight.

Erika energetically raises her hand, as if in class, "So are we using magic? Or is this straight sword fighting?"

"Yes, you can use whatever magic you would normally be allowed to use in a duel."

"I'm impressed you managed to convince Sayaka to use magic with her kendo."

"Well. . .it definitely wasn't easy."

With blindfolds on, Sayaka and Erika stand in the middle of the training room, katanas crossed.

Tatsuya shouts "Go!" and the test begins.

Both girls immediately rush towards each other, blades still touching. Erika is the first to activate a spell, using a pressure spell to push her body around and behind Sayaka, so quickly that it appears as if she teleported.

Somehow, Sayaka knows to turn around as well and their blades meet as they both strike at each other simultaneously.

Upon impact, Erika hops backwards to create space, but again, Sayaka is quick to follow, striking again at Erika.

Erika is not prepared for this strike. She thought that she had created enough space. The blow from Sayaka lands and the duel ends.

Tatsuya begins clapping and nodding. The girls take off their blindfolds, both equally surprised at what had just happened.

"You managed to track me even while blindfolded," Erika is the first to comment. "Impressive."

Sayaka looks at her own blade, "I'm not even entirely sure how I do it myself. It's just that as soon as my blade loses contact with yours, I have a good idea of where you went."

"If I had to guess," Tatsuya adds, "I think that you're able to determine where your opponent went simply based on the motion of the opponent's blade when you lose contact with it. Or perhaps even if you don't know it, your muscles definitely know where to strike next."

"I guess I've never tried relying purely on muscle memory to fight."

Tatsuya hands Erika a water, "That's it for today. Thanks for your help. I owe you one."

Erika smirks, "Oh yeah? What are you offering exactly?"

"It was a figure of speech. . ."

"You're no fun," Erika complains while getting ready to leave.

"Well if you want some fun, I can tell you this. Very soon, like next week, Sayaka is going to challenge Kirihara for his spot at the Nine Schools Competition. You should come and watch."

"That is a worthy offer. I can't wait."

After a few more days and a weekend of training, the day has finally arrived for Sayaka to challenge Kirihara.

It is lunchtime, so it is expected that the school is louder than usual, but to the Disciplinary Committee's chief, Watanabe Mari, today's lunch is too loud. Something has to be going on.

She steps outside of the Disciplinary Committee's office and sees student council president Saegusa Mayumi walking past.

"Are you going to check on all the commotion as well, Mayumi?"

"Yes, I think it's coming from the gymnasium. We should go together."

"Of course."

As the two walk towards the gymnasium, streams of students are heading to and from the same direction. Far too many for simply students walking to and from class. Yet as soon as the students see Mari and Mayumi, they grow silent.

The two look at each other, confused, and pick up their pace.

They open the gymnasium doors to find it filled with students, both course 1 and course 2, eating their lunches and looking towards the center of the gymnasium. There in the middle, Sayaka and Kirihara prepare to duel.

Just as both Mayumi and Mari are about to run into the middle of the gym to shut the whole thing down, Tatsuya pops up in front of them.

"Hey, look, I know that this is a surprise, but everything is under control."

Mari tries to make an angry face, "You better explain yourself right now!"

"Sayaka is challenging Kirihara to an official duel. See there? Hattori is refereeing so you know that this is official."

"But. . ." Mayumi tilts her head cutely, still confused, "Kirihara's punishment for his improper use of magic when he fought with Sayaka the first time was that we removed him from the Nine Schools Competition. His spot in the solo duel tournament no longer belongs to him. You know this, Tatsuya. . ."

Tatsuya nods slowly, "Yes I am aware of that. But I heard you guys are still looking for a replacement. Plus, I needed something to motivate Sayaka with."

Mari raises one eyebrow, "Yes, it's true that we're still auditioning students for the spot, but Sayaka winning this duel means nothing."

Tatsuya extends his hand towards the middle of the gymnasium, a gesture of welcoming the two student council officers to watch, "Well then, how about you consider this as her audition?"

Mayumi starts to laugh, "I can't believe you set this all up without the two of us knowing. I accept your offer."

Mari on the other hand, looks worried still, "Does Hattori know what's going on? And Kirihara, wouldn't he tell Sayaka the truth?"

"Don't worry," Tatsuya reassures her, "They're both in on the whole situation. Actually. . . not letting the two of you know about this was Hattori's idea."

Hearing that, Mari tries even harder to appear angry, but she simply can't. So she sighs and rests her head on Mayumi's shoulders, who is still smiling.

"Very well," Mari finally utters, "If Mayumi is okay with this, then I will be too."

Then under her breath, she murmurs, "But I will kill Hattori after this one. He can count on it."

With that issue resolved, Tatsuya returns to join Miyuki and the rest of their friends to watch the duel.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the gymnasium, the combatants are now ready. Both Sayaka and Kirihara take their place on the gym floor, where tape was used to mark the edges of their duel arena. Unlike the last time these two faced off, this time both fighters are wielding dulled-edged CAD katanas.

Hattori shouts, making sure both combatants can hear him, "Just to be clear once again, this is an official magic duel, not a kendo match. It ends when one combatant is knocked out or is put in a checkmate, meaning they are unable to avoid what would be a lethal blow."

The two fighters nod in understanding.

Hattori raises a small flag in the air. The entire gymnasium falls silent. The duelists take their battle positions, with katanas crossed. The silence may have only lasted a few seconds, but with all the anticipation, it felt like an eternity.

Then, without hesitation, Hattori swings his flag down and blows his whistle as loud as he can, signalling the start of the duel. The gymnasium erupts into cheering, with the course 1 students cheering for Kirihara and the course 2 students cheering for Sayaka.

Surprisingly, Sayaka is the first to cast a spell on her CAD. But seemingly no spell is activated.

As soon as Sayaka finishes her cast, Kirihara has already rushed at her with an attack. Sayaka blocks it easily and spins around to strike Kirihara from the opposite side, one of her signature moves.

But in that time, Kirihara casts a spell before Sayaka's blow can land. Kirihara launches himself backwards to safety. Sayaka does not hesitate to follow in pursuit, much to Kirihara's surprise. He's surprised that Sayaka has grown to be so comfortable fighting against magic in such a short period of time.

In truth, over the past few days, Sayaka has familiarized herself with Kirihara's fighting style and which spells he casts most often. She has watched so many of Kirihara's tournament VODs that his moves no longer scare her.

Seeing Sayaka rush towards him at lightning speed, Kirihara has no choice but to launch himself into the air with another spell.

But Sayaka knew this was coming. Kirihara's fighting style often involves gaining advantage by being airborne. So She jumps up, grabs Kirihara by the foot, and slams him into the ground. The crowd goes wild.

But Sayaka isn't done yet. She gets into position to strike Kirihara as she falls. Kirihara rolls out of her strike just barely in time to avoid it.

When Kirihara gets back up, he knows he needs to pull out some more advanced moves in order to beat Sayaka. This isn't the same girl who used to get frustrated at the sight of magic in a sword fight.

Kirihara casts multiple spells as Sayaka rushes towards him again. No one can tell what spells are cast. Well, no one other than Tatsuya with his God's Eye that is.

Sayaka swings at Kirihara, but just before her katana hits him, it seemingly hits a wall of air. Kirihara is using a wall of pressurized air as a shield.

He takes this opportunity to dash around Sayaka. He jumps and then kicks off another wall of thin air, performing a flip that lands him directly above Sayaka. The kickflip catches Sayaka off guard.

Kirihara puts all of his body weight into his airborne strike. Sayaka manages to block the strike at the very last second.

Unfortunately, her body position is not ready to absorb the full force of the blow, so it sends her flying across the gym floor. Everyone watching holds their breath.

Kirihara knows that he made his opening. Sayaka is weakened from the last strike, so his next attack will be harder for her to avoid. He quickly enters another spell to propel himself forward, towards Sayaka, ready to end the duel here and now.

As he's speeding towards her, Sayaka types a spell into her CAD katana for the second time.

The combatants' blades meet once again, thanks to Sayaka's fast reflexes. This time, she deflects Kirihara's blade to the side. A loud screech can be heard around the gymnasium as the two dulled, but still metal, katanas slide against each other.

Before the blades lose contact with each other, Sayaka swiftly brings one hand up, and snaps her fingers.

In that moment, a bright white light emerges from her fingertips. At the speed of light, literally, the room becomes engulfed by this blindingly bright light. No one in the entire gym can see a thing. Well, no one except for Tatsuya and his friends, who came prepared with special sunglasses that is.

"I see," Miyuki smiles and gently whispers into Tatsuya's ear, "A charged cast and a two-step cast spell? Neither of those ways of casting are taught in high school, let alone using both together. So a custom spell and a custom CAD katana. You're really pulling out all the stops for this girl, aren't you?"

"Well. . ." Tatsuya scratches his face, "I did what I had to to get the job done. Nothing more. Nothing less."

For everyone else watching, all they can see is white, so the only information of the battle raging below is from the sound of katanas clashing and spells activating.

As soon as Kirihara saw the blinding light, he immediately cast a spell to attempt to launch himself backwards to safety. But to his surprise, Sayaka followed him and clashed blades with him, as if she knew exactly where his katana would go.

In desperation, Kirihara tries to evade and create space between him and Sayaka again, but every time, Sayaka would follow him despite not being able to see.

The blinding light begins to disappear, giving Kirihara hope that he could recover.

But then, he feels Sayaka's legs sweeping at his, and in that very moment, Kirihara realizes that he lost.

Everyone soon regains their vision to see Kirihara falling on the ground. Sayaka quickly steps over his body and presses her dulled katana against his neck. The duel is over.

The entire gym goes crazy, especially the course 2 students. Tatsuya and Miyuki look on quietly, but Erika is jumping up and down out of her seat. Leo, Mizuki, Mikihiko, even Honoka and Shizuku, are clapping and cheering, albeit much less dramatically than Erika.

Erika is the first to speak to Tatsuya, "Ha, I had no idea you had it in you to make all of this happen. I am truly amazed."

She takes a deep breath, rests her arms against the railing, her hands holding her head up, "You know, I think you've changed the course of Mibu Sayaka's life entirely. I can't imagine that she would have gotten anywhere with her skills had it not been for this. So for her sake, I want to say, thank you."

Tatsuya wants to reply, saying that he did this for his own selfish desires. But Tatsuya has never heard Erika's voice sound so sincere before, so he decides against speaking at all.

Tatsuya feels a pat on his back. He turns around to see Mayumi and Mari next to him. This time, it is Mayumi who is on Mari's shoulder, sobbing from joy.

"I've never seen so many course 1 and 2 students gathered together be so happy. I'm so glad," Mayumi remarks through all her tears.

Mari looks at Tatsuya. "I guess I have to say, for an audition, that was pretty good. She can take our empty spot in the solo duel event at the Nine Schools Competition. And I guess I don't have to kill Hattori. At least not yet."

And finally, Sayaka herself makes her way towards Tatsuya. Before he can even say anything, she jumps up and wraps her arms around him. This gets a glare out of Miyuki, a smirk out of Erika, and a jaw drop out of Leo.

After a long hug, Sayaka takes a step back. "I can't possibly thank you enough, Tatsuya. I don't think I've felt this good since. . . well since I discovered kendo. I'll work my hardest to do well in the Nine Schools Competition. Just you watch!

But. . .

I have wanted to ask. Why did you do all this for me? Why are you so nice to me? I didn't do anything to deserve this."

Tatsuya smiles, "It's because I see a lot of myself in you. I may be capable now, but I wasn't born this way. There was a time when I felt so completely and utterly hopeless too. Thankfully, I had a sweet, loving, little sister. But even now, there is an opponent who is so, so much stronger than me. Yet even so, I must defeat her one day. Seeing you succeed here gives me hope for my future as well."

Tatsuya looks up at the sky through the gym's skylight windows. He knows that there will always be a dark and undeniable future waiting for him in the distance. But for now, even if just a momentary distraction, he has the Nine Schools Competition to look forward to.