"That is precisely why that brother of ours is foolish."
"...Izumi, you've gotten considerably more ruthless since leaving the Saegusa house, haven't you?"
They say love changes a person, but even with only familiar friends around, Kasumi—and even Shiina—were slightly taken aback by Izumi's utterly unhesitating statements, the likes of which they had never heard from her before.
"Setting that aside, Katsuto-san will probably attend the discussion as well. What will they do about that?"
"What do you mean, 'what will they do'?"
"I mean, if you trace it back to the source, it's something our brother caused. So I think it's only proper for him to step forward and give an explanation or apology. Am I wrong?"
Kasumi's point was that regardless of Tatsuya's stance, the party that proposed something calculated to rub the Yotsuba family the wrong way—Tomokazu—should be the one to step to the front and explain the circumstances.
"Since the proposer of that meeting was Katsuto-san, it does make sense in a way for him to stand in front."
"He really has the temperament of a hardship-bearer, doesn't he?"
The reason Shiina couldn't quite keep up with Izumi and Kasumi's conversation was that she had no direct acquaintance with Katsuto. Of course, since Shiina herself only officially took the Mitsuya name after entering Magic High School, this was hardly surprising.
"Hmm, Yugen-兄 probably gave my sister plenty of instructions as well, but will it be okay?"
"...When you put it that way, no reassuring factors come to mind at all."
Since Kasumi and Izumi were fundamentally outsiders to the matter, nothing came to mind regardless of what they did, and sticking their noses in recklessly would only complicate things further. Especially for Izumi, who was closer to the victim's side, she had no intention of defending her former household. Shiina quietly watched the two of them. Into this stagnant atmosphere, new visitors arrived.
"Izumi-chan, good work today."
"Kasumi, did anything happen?"
Honoka offered words of appreciation to Izumi, while Shizuku asked Kasumi if anything unusual had occurred. Though neither looked particularly busy, Shizuku posed the question to Kasumi as part of her duties.
"Ah, yes. Nothing out of the ordinary happened."
"I see."
Shizuku replied briefly upon hearing Kasumi's words. Since Kasumi was off-duty to begin with, it was understandable that she had visited the Student Council room after school, and Shizuku immediately recognized that she wasn't disrupting the Student Council's work. Shizuku glanced toward Honoka, who caught her intention and asked Pixie to serve them tea.
Without any misunderstandings or trouble arising, just as they were taking a breath over their drinks, Pixie walked up to Shiina's side.
"Shiina-sama. There is... a guest... in the reception room."
"A guest?"
Checking her terminal after Pixie spoke, Shiina immediately saw an internal school email announcing a visitor.
"Pixie, thank you. Mitsui-senpai, Izumi-san, as you heard, may I be excused?"
"Yes, of course."
Honoka answered Shiina's question, and Izumi raised no objection either.
"Thank you very much. Pixie, please clean up."
"Understood."
"Well then, I'll be going."
She turned back once in front of the door, gave a polite bow, turned back toward the door, and stepped out... leaving the bag containing her personal belongings behind in the Student Council room.
◇ ◇ ◇
Behind First High School lay a vast practice forest. Since students practiced magic here, it naturally possessed a large-scale training ground designed not to inconvenience nearby residents. Far from being a simple forest, it featured artificial hills creating terrain rich in elevation changes, along with an outdoor pool, waterways, and dedicated training grounds tailored to the Nine Schools Competition events.
And through one of these—the forest cross-country course—a male student named Jiro Yaguruma was sprinting. That said, he hadn't been caught up in trouble; he was playing "tag" as part of his martial arts training.
The rules were simple: run a 5-kilometer stretch and escape from multiple "it" chasers. However, as an added element of magic, if he so much as touched a toy knife thrown by a chaser, he was mercilessly sent back to restart. Jiro, who excelled at movement-type magic, had initially thought it would be an easy victory when he heard about it... provided the worst and most terrifying "it" hadn't joined in.
(Where on earth is that person watching from!? I was never told he had perception-type magic!?)
After all, he had to dodge high-speed flying objects launched from well beyond the range where he could sense Jiro's presence. Even if he managed to dodge those, the other chasers (including Leo, members of the Mountaineering Club, and Toya, who had joined at Erika's calling) threw knives at him without mercy. As a result, he had already restarted 14 times.
Furthermore, Yugen had barely moved from the starting point, launching knives using [Dancing Blaze]. Without relying on [Osiris' Sight], he was accurately pinpointing Jiro's position through communication with spirits. In other words, Jiro was running away right out of his own range of perception.
In terms of evading an opponent's attack, keeping one's distance was by no means incorrect; however, in this case, it simply came down to "having the worst possible opponent."
"...Yugen is brutal, isn't he?"
"My granddad used to do stuff like this without batting an eye. This is actually way gentler by comparison."
"Wait, seriously?"
When facing Yugen—who possessed skills far surpassing contemporary magic without even relying on unique magic or abilities—the situation resulted in a "checkmate" before it even began. Who could have ever anticipated such a development? Mikihiko went without saying, but even Erika spoke with a slightly taken-back tone.
Granted, there existed heroes who left human common sense far behind, but neither of them went so far as to mention that.
"If you rely entirely on magic and don't build up physical stamina, you'll definitely stumble down the line. That's precisely why the routine assigned in the light athletics club consists of physical training to build the physical strength needed to overcome individual challenges."
"...I think Yugen is genuinely amazing for moving so gracefully while wearing lead plates totaling 40 kilograms on both his arms and legs."
Mikihiko spoke in a tired tone, yet in terms of growth rate in the light athletics club, Mikihiko was showing progress second only to Leo. Incidentally, that growth had drawn Erika's jealousy, fueling her stubbornness in insisting, "I'm not going to stop calling you Miki."
Even Mikihiko himself seemed to have succumbed to Sana's plea when she begged, "I want to call you 'Miki' too," and he no longer complained as persistently—though he would occasionally mutter in resignation.
"That much is still on the milder side. The hardest task was being told to swing a 200-kilogram barbell around to defend against a rain of spears."
"Wait, what is that even supposed to mean? I mean, can you even hold that?"
"Barely... Just so you know, if we're talking weightlifting style, 280 kilograms is my limit."
"Y-You can actually hold that..."
Through Gozo's training, he had attained physical capabilities on par with top-tier athletes. When he received help at the Shiba family's villa in Okinawa and assisted fishermen as part of food procurement, he ended up securing a massive tuna with a harpoon. Since the tuna was too large for an individual to finish, part of it was frozen and sent to the Mitsuya family—where his father clutched his head in grand fashion, a story best left at that.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"