Women's Ice Pillars Break, Round 1, Match 5
Shizuku, in a furisode, stepped onto the platform. Her opponent's wanderer-like outfit was striking but didn't faze her. Just an eccentric choice, she thought. Shizuku wasn't one to be rattled.
Red lights on the field's poles turned yellow, then blue, signaling the start. Both moved instantly. Shizuku acted first, sliding her fingers over her bracelet CAD, casting magic on all twelve of her ice pillars. Her opponent's spell followed, targeting Shizuku's pillars, but they didn't budge.
She's well-prepared, Tatsuya thought, nodding silently at the monitoring screen. Unlike Eimi's sleep-deprived first match, Shizuku was in top form. Her Resonance Destruction and Information Reinforcement activated smoother than in practice.
Resonance Destruction, inherited from her mother, Benio Kitayama (née Naruse), was a familiar spell for Shizuku, mastered before high school. It involved raising an object's vibration frequency to match its natural resonance, minimizing resistance for destruction—a two-step process. When used indirectly, as here, constant resonance monitoring was key. Tatsuya had embedded this into the spell's activation sequence, bypassing mechanical aids. Shizuku's match showcased her rigorous training, both in and out of school.
Yugen had joined her for off-campus practice at the Ueyama family's Tokyo estate, near a Shin-Inryu swordsmanship dojo. A large training ground in the mountains allowed intensive sessions. For two weeks before the competition, Shizuku stayed there, partly at Tatsuya's request. For her, it was a chance to train against a rival like Miyuki. For Yugen, Shizuku's discretion allowed uninhibited magic practice. Their mutual benefit was clear, though Shizuku, awed by Yugen's ability to conjure ice pillars effortlessly, thought, This shouldn't get out.
Her joy at training with her crush soured Miyuki's mood, who knew of Shizuku's feelings. Tatsuya had to intervene, explaining Miyuki's icy demeanor at the women's Speed Shooting. To appease her, Yugen gave Miyuki an activation sequence.
Back to the match, Shizuku's opponent destroyed one of her pillars, but her psion waves remained steady. She wasn't aiming for a perfect victory—reassuringly pragmatic. Shizuku cleanly shattered her opponent's four remaining pillars, advancing to round two.
Women's Crowd Ball
The crowd buzzed. Nanami, returning to the waiting room, was stunned. Her opponent, Second High's first-year Yume Takatsuki, shut her out without conceding a point. Nanami's Rainbow Spring, her signature spell, failed against Yume, a middle school nobody whose movements seemed inhuman.
Is that even human? Nanami thought. She'd trained for human reflex limits, but Yume exceeded them.
Subaru entered, visibly dejected. "You lost too, Nanami?" she asked.
"Yeah. Those weren't human movements," Nanami replied.
"Third High's Isshiki was the same," Subaru said.
Their shock wasn't just defeat but facing opponents beyond imagination. They didn't know someone else would soon face greater shock.
Women's Crowd Ball Final League, Last Match
Second High's Yume Takatsuki versus Third High's Airi Isshiki. Yume, the tournament's dark horse, faced Airi, known as Éclair for dominating Libre Épée in middle school. Both had one win, making this match the championship decider.
A high-speed rally ensued, both wielding rackets. Airi took the first set 11–20, but Shuji, watching, groaned. Not because his friend struggled, but because Yume was toying with her.
"She's playing around in a crucial moment," Shuji muttered.
"Typical Yume. She could be the top disciple if not for that," Himeri, beside him, sighed, half-admiring.
Yume's habit of testing strong opponents surfaced, a greedy but disrespectful tactic. Performing it casually proved her overwhelming skill. Shuji and Himeri knew her grandmother, the Kagurazaka patriarch, had ordered her to "show her presence." Even against a Shibo Clan heiress, no mercy was allowed. They sighed, anticipating a lecture, but restrained themselves among spectators.
"Airi's linking sight to reflexes, reacting instantly to the ball. Bad matchup," Shuji said.
"She'll use Raiden now," Himeri predicted.
At the second set's start, Yume positioned herself at the court's rear center. Airi's balls, passing the front, curved toward Yume as if drawn, then rocketed back with sudden acceleration and trajectory shifts, scoring rapidly. This was Raiden, Yume's metal-based Tenjin magic, creating a force field that altered ball properties based on entry direction. The court's walls simplified positioning.
As an attack spell, Raiden treated the caster and target as magnetic poles, repelling incoming attacks and pulling the caster's—including magic—to the target. It auto-tracked hidden opponents and resisted other metals. Its lethality depended on output, scale, and field effects, making it hard to assess fully. Here, it redirected Airi's balls inward, then altered their paths post-field, exploiting human vision's inability to track sudden diagonal shifts. Airi's perception-enhancing spell forced her to process all balls, slowing her reactions. Yume used the court's transparent walls to slam balls into Airi's side.
"Let's tease Yume later," Shuji said.
"Not praise her?" Himeri asked.
"Grandmother's lecture is guaranteed," Shuji replied.
"Fair point," Himeri conceded.
The match ended: second set 180–12, third set 209–0. As the crowd roared, Shuji and Himeri quietly left. Yume won the championship, Airi took second, another Third High player third, Subaru fourth, and Nanami sixth—a respectable multi-student finish for their school.
Noon
Yugen returned to First High's tent for lunch (a bento). First High's results: two women in Crowd Ball placed, two in Pillars Break advanced to round two. Men's Pillars Break saw two first-round losses, leaving Yugen as the sole afternoon competitor.
Nanami and Subaru, bolstered by Honoka, recovered. Subaru, also in Mirage Bat, had refocused, relieving Yugen.
"Those guys okay?" Eimi asked, eyeing the dejected men's Pillars Break players.
"Worry about yourself first, Eimi," Yugen said, shaking his head. "Though I'm one to talk."
Their slump differed from Yugen's recent struggles, but he understood dwelling on defeat. Still, growth required moving forward. He recalled Gozo's mixer advice, but the players showed no such resolve. Harsh as it was, Yugen saw it as their issue to resolve.
"Brutal," Eimi remarked.
"Losing's not bad. It's what you do next that matters," Yugen said.
His past actions felt like "running away," partly due to his otherworldly kin. His father's recent talk forced self-awareness, a heavy realization. Shizuku's murmur prompted his response, while Miyuki, beside him, beamed.
"Tatsuya," Yugen said.
"Sorry, give up," Tatsuya replied.
"Throwing in the towel already?!" Yugen teased.
Tatsuya and Miyuki had been finalizing adjustments. Spotting Yugen, Miyuki rushed over joyfully. Tatsuya, indulgent, couldn't stop her. Yugen's plea was met with Tatsuya's blunt refusal. No wonder they call him a siscon, Yugen thought, unspoken.
"Yugen-san, you and Miyuki have afternoon matches. What costumes?" Honoka asked.
"Yugen picked mine—classic style," Miyuki said.
"News to me," Shizuku said, pouting and pinching Yugen's side.
"I wasn't asked, so I didn't say. Stop pinching," Yugen said, wincing but not scolding, aware his actions caused this.
"My mom chose mine. My sister wanted to, but I persuaded her otherwise," Yugen said.
"You have a sister?" Honoka asked.
"Seven siblings—I'm sixth. My sister doesn't use the Mitsuya name yet, per tradition," Yugen explained.
"Seven's a lot for a magic family," Honoka noted.
Indeed, for a Ten Master Clan. Yugen's sister, Shina, nearly picked a white tuxedo, but their mother chose a traditional outfit. Yugen found it fitting, though he mused a past-life foreigner might've embraced it, quirks and all. Not referring to that clumsy strategic mage, Angelina Kudou Shields, he clarified mentally.
Third High's Tent
Airi, Kanna, and Kuzuko froze, stunned. Checking the afternoon schedule, Kanna relayed Rin's words about First High's lone male, Yugen Mitsuya. His photo on the roster shocked them.
Airi had bounced back from her Crowd Ball loss, thrilled to face a superior opponent. Kanna and Kuzuko, amused, called it "typical Airi."
"He's… Ten Master Clans?" Airi gasped.
"Shocking," Kanna said.
"His name's different, so no wonder we couldn't find him," Kuzuko realized.
Yugen's First High uniform marked him as a competitor, but searching for "Yuto Nagano" yielded nothing. His true name, Yugen Mitsuya, explained it, though the similar reading caused confusion.
"No deliberate misdirection, I bet," Kanna said.
"What now? His match doesn't clash with ours," Kuzuko noted.
"Let's watch. I can't ignore him," Airi decided.
As a Shibo Clan member and Third High student, Airi wanted to see Yugen, a Ten Master Clans scion who might face their heir, Shogo. Kanna and Kuzuko followed her to the men's Pillars Break venue.
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