On the fifth day of the Nine Schools Competition, the second day of rookie matches, Tatsuya arrives early for Shizuku's morning Pillars Break match but is stunned by her outfit.
"Shizuku, you're competing in that?" he asks.
"Yeah?" Shizuku tilts her head, unsure why he's asking, then adds nervously, "Does it not suit me?"
"No, it suits you. It's cute," Tatsuya admits, "but won't the sleeves get in the way?"
"It's fine. I'll use a tasuki, and they're short sleeves," she replies.
Tatsuya thinks she could've skipped the kimono but drops it since she likes it. "Eimi won, right?"
"You didn't watch?" Shizuku asks.
"Overslept a bit…"
"She won, but didn't look great."
"Oh… Tatsuya-san?" Shizuku's hesitant look prompts him to shrug.
"Come here," he sighs, beckoning her. Lately, he's indulgent with Shizuku, not just Miyuki.
"Getting to be a habit?" he teases, patting her head.
"Your hand feels nice," she murmurs, checking her general-purpose CAD—a balanced choice for offense and defense, signaling a straightforward approach.
"Time to go," Tatsuya says.
"See you," Shizuku replies, climbing the platform like a child to a parent. Tatsuya smirks, focusing for quick response if needed.
In the stands, Miyuki and Honoka wait for the match.
"Don't you need to be with Tatsuya-san?" Honoka asks.
"Pillars Break is individual. Since Shizuku and I might face off someday, watching her tactics wouldn't be fair," Miyuki explains.
Honoka recalls meeting Miyuki at the entrance exam, awestruck by her overwhelming magic, feeling outclassed. She also remembers Tatsuya from that day—not as Miyuki's brother, but for his flawless activation sequence, which感動 her. Yet, seeing him as a Course 2 student at enrollment infuriated her. His magic, precise and noise-free, lacked the speed, scale, or power for Course 1, but Honoka couldn't accept such skill relegated to second-tier status. That frustration sparked her overreaction during the early school incident.
"Honoka, something on my face?" Miyuki asks.
"N-No, nothing," Honoka stammers, blushing and looking away.
"If it's nothing, okay…" Miyuki says, unconvinced.
At First High's tent, Mayumi and Mori watch Shizuku's match on the monitor.
"Here comes Kitayama," Mori says.
"Normal CAD this time. What trick's next?" Mayumi wonders.
"Maybe she'll go straightforward to throw us off," Mori suggests.
Rin, nearby, thinks, "They're overthinking it," but stays silent.
"Kimono, huh," Mori notes.
"Rare this year," Mayumi adds.
For third-years like them, Shizuku's outfit is normal, unlike Tatsuya's initial surprise.
The buzzer sounds. Shizuku shatters enemy pillars instantly while shielding her own.
"Very straightforward," Mori remarks.
"You called it," Mayumi says.
Three enemy pillars shatter at once. "Mayumi, what was that?" Mori asks.
"Hard to tell from the monitor, but probably resonance destruction. She likely used a vibration spell on the enemy ground, adjusting frequencies steplessly until resonating with the pillars, then fixing and amplifying to collapse them," Mayumi explains.
"Using the ground as a medium to avoid countermeasures, unlike Kanon's brute-force minefield. Sophisticated," Mori adds.
"She's using data fortification to speed up resonance detection. Frequency control's her forte," Mayumi notes.
They recall Tatsuya's non-systematic magic against Hattori, precisely controlling psion wave frequencies. Shizuku's technique screams Tatsuya's influence.
Despite the opponent's desperate counter, Shizuku wins without losing a single pillar.
"Won," she says simply, descending.
"Yup," Tatsuya replies.
"Thanks to you, it was easy," Shizuku says.
"Your skill would've won without me," he counters.
"No way. Only you make me this confident in my CAD," she insists, her flat tone brimming with rare praise.
"Thanks," Tatsuya says, gently patting her head. Shizuku squints like a content cat, and Tatsuya thinks this moment isn't so bad.
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