Saturday, April 28th, 3:00 PM.
Led by Hattori, Tomitsuka and Takuma arrived at Training Room 3 precisely on schedule. Hattori was to serve as the referee for this match. By some twist of fate—or perhaps by inevitable design—Tatsuya found himself involved in Takuma's affairs once again, this time as an official witness.
From Tatsuya's perspective, Takuma showed no lingering aftereffects from the previous night, neither physical nor psychological. He assumed the actress had handled the "aftercare" skillfully, though this also suggested that the conversation about cutting ties hadn't happened yet. I'll have to keep an eye on things for a while, Tatsuya thought.
The room was filled with an illustrious crowd. From the Student Council, Miyuki and Honoka were present; the Disciplinary Committee was represented by Sawaki, Mikihiko, and Shizuku; and from the Board of Club Delegates, Kirihara had made an appearance. Kirihara had even gone so far as to bring a wooden sword, having secured permission to use a CAD for the session.
"For this match, there will be no restrictions placed on the use of Million Edge," Hattori announced.
Tatsuya, who had been listening to the rule explanation with only half his attention, sharpened his focus at that specific detail. Hattori's goal was likely to strip Takuma of any excuses in the event of a loss, but Tatsuya felt a prickle of concern—wasn't the risk a bit too high?
(Does Tomitsuka-senpai have some secret countermeasure for Million Edge?) Takuma wondered, his brow furrowing. (Whatever it is, I'll blow right past it!)
Though he felt a flash of irritation that Tomitsuka had so easily accepted the rules, Takuma didn't complain; the lack of restrictions was, after all, to his advantage.
(He's just a Course 1 student who transferred to the Magic Engineering Course. He can't be that much of a threat.)
Takuma was aware of Tomitsuka's reputation to some degree, but as a member of the Shippou family—whose Million Edge required no CAD—he harbored the typical elitist bias toward magic engineers. In Takuma, this prejudice was particularly pronounced. Deep down, he had already looked down on Tomitsuka as an inferior opponent.
Hattori stepped back and raised his hand. The room fell into a heavy, expectant silence; not a soul moved, not a sound was made. The air was so still that even the sound of Hattori drawing a sharp, steady breath seemed to echo.
"Begin!"
Hattori's voice shattered the silence.
Takuma moved first. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say that Tomitsuka didn't move. Takuma snapped open his "book," fanning the first few dozen pages between his fingers before tearing them away in a single motion. The moment he applied force, the paper didn't just tear—it disintegrated into a blizzard of razor-sharp confetti.
The paper blades swarmed Tomitsuka, seeking to shred the skin of his limbs. At that exact moment, an explosive radiance of Psions erupted from Tomitsuka's entire body. The eighty thousand paper shards instantly lost the force driving them through the air; they reverted to harmless scraps of paper, fluttering feebly to the floor.
"Gram Demolition...?" Mikihiko whispered, his face pale with shock. "There's someone else in this school who can use that besides Tatsuya...? And he's in our year...?"
While Sawaki—Tomitsuka's teammate—took the display for granted, Hattori, Kirihara, and Tatsuya remained equally unfazed. However, the other three—Miyuki, Honoka, and Shizuku—all showed varying degrees of surprise.
"You should probably specify that it's the 'Contact-type' variety," Miyuki added, her voice calm despite her initial surprise.
"Exactly! As expected of you, Shiba-san. You have a keen eye!" Sawaki barked, nodding with more enthusiasm than necessary.
"Still, Tomitsuka is really giving it his all today," Sawaki remarked. He knew Tomitsuka had pushed for the "no-restriction" rule precisely because he was confident in this technique. Sawaki had been prepared for Tomitsuka's Gram Demolition, but the sheer brilliance of the Psion emission today exceeded even his expectations. It made Sawaki grin; he still possessed the heart of a competitive boy, after all.
Million Edge was useless against Tomitsuka. Takuma realized this truth after a single exchange.
(No... it's just that a frontal assault won't work! I only just learned the day before yesterday that magic is all about how you use it!)
Takuma gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay focused. But in his hesitation, he was wide open. Tomitsuka knew he could end the match right then if he chose to, but he also understood that a quick victory wouldn't serve the true purpose of this lesson.
Takuma fired an Air Bullet, using Self-Acceleration magic to try and circle around to Tomitsuka's flank. The Air Bullet wasn't meant to be a finishing move; it was a distraction, and Takuma knew it wouldn't take Tomitsuka down on its own.
However, when Takuma finished his maneuver, Tomitsuka was already waiting for him.
"Gah—! Urgh!"
A brutal body blow followed by a hook. Unable to even brace himself, Takuma was sent sprawling across the floor. He managed to keep hold of his book—his activation medium—out of sheer, stubborn pride. Pushing himself up onto one knee, he whipped the book open with his left hand.
A swarm of paper shards, double the number of the first wave, screamed toward Tomitsuka. This time, instead of splitting into four streams, Takuma concentrated them into a single, massive point. In swarm-control magic, the interference power drops as the number of "swarms" increases. By funneling all his magical power into a single mass, Takuma attempted to overwhelm Tomitsuka's Gram Demolition through sheer brute force—or so it seemed. The real threat was the second strike he had prepared with a time-lag.
As Tomitsuka released another burst of Psion light, the blizzard of 160,000 shards turned into harmless waste paper and carpeted the floor. But then, tearing through that white cloud, a delayed tornado of 200,000 blades erupted from beneath Tomitsuka's feet.
(Got him!)
At that moment, Takuma still didn't understand the difference between standard Gram Demolition and the Contact-type. The moment the 200,000 blades touched Tomitsuka's body, they were instantly reduced to 200,000 scraps of trash.
"What...?"
Gram Demolition was a technique that exhausted a massive amount of Psions in a single burst; Takuma had convinced himself that it couldn't be fired in rapid succession. But that had been nothing more than wishful thinking. As Takuma stood there, paralyzed by disbelief, Tomitsuka stepped in and delivered the final, decisive blow.
"That's enough. The winner: Tomitsuka."
Hearing Hattori's declaration, Tomitsuka gave a polite, shallow bow. He then walked over and knelt beside Takuma, who was still collapsed on the floor.
"Shippou. Are you conscious?"
"I am."
"Then stand up. Go rest by the wall for a moment."
"——Yes."
Crushed by the weight of his defeat, Takuma obeyed without even wondering why he was being given such an order. He trudged to the side of the room opposite the witnesses, leaned his back against the wall, and slid down until he was sitting on the floor.
Once Tomitsuka confirmed that Takuma was watching, he turned and walked straight toward Tatsuya.
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