[404] The Final Decision (4)
Shirone's team, gathered in the park after a long time, discussed plans for the break.
If the back half of their graduation year was going to be fiercer than the first, it was better to start preparing strategies now.
"Last year I trained alone, but I found out some people formed teams. So I was thinking—why don't we form a group and hold a training camp?"
Only someone who'd been through the graduation year, like Amy, would have thought of that, so the others considered it favorably.
Iruki raised a finger as if one concern had occurred to her.
"Sure, if there are events like capturing points or one-on-one combat, teams have the advantage. But you know what? Only ten people will pass anyway. Even if we form a team, we'll still be competing to make the final ten. The question is how much we share."
It was only natural to want to keep a trump card under wraps until the graduation exam.
Unless it was a two-person team, the chance that all five would pass was nearly miraculous—this had to be clarified.
Amy hadn't suggested it on a whim either.
"I thought the same until last year. But we don't need to use the whole vacation. Let's meet and focus on basic training, and afterward everyone can work alone on their finishing move."
Amy insisted that building teamwork might increase their pass rate more than everyone researching finishing moves alone.
The reason was simple: Fermi controlled the graduation class, and all of Shirone's group were marked by him.
Since they couldn't know what would happen on exam day, staying tightly knit was the only way to cut down on variables.
"I think Amy's right."
Nade was all for it.
Truthfully, he didn't care much about the exam itself, but training with friends sounded thousands of times better than spending months stuck in his miserable hometown.
"How about this: we do a short training camp—about a month—and borrow the graduation-class system. Set daily goals and score ourselves."
Iruki nodded like she'd been convinced.
"Keep the graduation routine. That's a good idea. You can raise proficiency fast and use the remaining time to hone your individual finishing moves."
As opinions flowed, Shirone stayed quiet, simply storing each friend's face in his mind.
Nothing had been decided yet, but the feeling was odd.
If, at the last moment of his life, he had to remember something, it might well be the faces of the friends gathered here.
"Huh? Maya, are you all right?"
When Shirone finally looked back at Maya, he asked, startled.
Her complexion was off. Her face had gone pale as if in terror, and she was breathing hard, her chest heaving unevenly.
Nade, who'd noticed Maya's state belatedly, asked with concern, "Are you okay, Maya? Want me to take you to the infirmary?"
Maya shook her head quickly.
Then, as if snapping out of amnesia, she jerked her head up, turned to Shirone, and said,
"Shirone."
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
A hush fell over the park bench.
Nade's mouth hung open, Iruki blinked rapidly, and only Amy waited calmly for Shirone's reaction.
Staring at Maya, Shirone swallowed.
This time it wasn't a joke. The feelings that had dripped like tiny drops over time had filled into a lake in her chest.
"Uh—should we give them some space?"
Maya shook her head again.
"I don't think I could summon the courage twice, so I wanted to say it where everyone could hear. I'm sorry, Shirone. But I've come to love you. Please accept my feelings."
She pulled a letter from her pocket; it smelled faintly of flowers.
"Will you read it?"
She handed the letter to Shirone, avoided everyone's gaze, and stood.
"I'll hear your answer then."
With those words left behind, Maya walked off. Nade glanced at Amy for a cue. Even in this situation, Amy's poker face was unruffled.
Amy stepped behind the bench and peeked over Shirone's shoulder.
"Lucky you. A girl confess. What does it say?"
Reading Maya's earnest letter in front of others would be rude. But considering the delicate relationship between Shirone and Amy, it wasn't a clear-cut no.
When Shirone hesitated, Amy smiled and gave his shoulder a light tap.
"Kidding. Why so serious? You knew Maya liked you."
"No, it was just so sudden…"
"Go back to your room and read it alone. Read it two, three times. Then do what you want. Maya's a good person. I'll be going—I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."
Amy spoke without pausing and left.
Her face was composed, but her tone had been clipped and her behavior awkward.
"Hey, hey, what are you going to do? Do you already have someone in mind?"
Shirone clutched the letter and stared off into the distance.
Amy and Maya. They were both so kind he couldn't imagine hurting either of them.
'Now I have to decide.'
Maybe Maya's confession was a blessing in disguise.
Before tackling grand issues like heaven or humanity, this was something that had to be settled first.
"Nade, Iruki. I need a favor."
* * *
The next afternoon.
Shirone entered the headmaster's office.
Alpheas silently indicated a bookshelf and opened a secret door.
They went down the stairs into a room where both expected and unexpected people waited.
Expected were Gaold and Plu; unexpected were Etella and Shiina.
"Professor?"
"You came, Shirone."
Shiina didn't look pleased.
She'd been briefed on the existence and danger of Heaven, on the mastermind behind the recent incidents, and on those involved—how could she remain unmoved?
Shirone understood why Gaold had come to Alpheas.
With his limbs severed, Gaold didn't have many people left to turn to. A teacher from the Alpheas School of Magic would be a valuable ally.
"You must have suffered a lot alone. Don't worry—teachers will protect you now."
Etella, a bishop of the Karsis order, wouldn't stand idle when humanity's fate was at stake, but Shiina's decision had been made purely for Shirone's sake.
In a crisis of global scale there was no room to display Shirone's life, feelings, or dignity. Acting as a teacher determined to protect her disciple, Shiina had willingly chosen to go to Heaven.
"Professor…"
Maybe a quiet resentment had built up.
Sleepless nights and nightmares had raced by—fear that his life would be destroyed by a sudden incident, worry that the National Intelligence Service might arrest and execute him.
"You're here? I called to share all information per our contract. Today we'll open Istas and meet Miro. She'll be in a Samadhi state so conversation will be impossible, but there are things we must confirm before going to Heaven."
Gaold's voice was excited.
It would be a reunion with Miro after twenty years. He knew it could also be the last time he saw her.
"But is it okay to go like this? There might still be agents."
The National Intelligence Service had barricaded the area around Istas and searched warehouses to find the "upper levels" where Miro's time-space was said to exist.
They'd found nothing and left, but they couldn't rule out agents still lying in wait.
"Ha. It's fine. Having come this far, what does it matter?"
Gaold strode out confidently.
When the mage reputed to be the strongest in Tormia acted as if there were no problem, the others followed without complaint.
Beyond the NIS barricade, the ninety-eight warehouses lay scattered like dismantled blocks, deactivated while in their highest-level separated forms.
"Nothing's changed here at all."
Gaold opened the Istas control panel cover.
Not knowing where to start, his hands hovered—then ten National Intelligence Service agents sprang out from behind the building.
"Mikaea Gaold, by the kingdom's security law you are under arrest for treason."
Shirone immediately took a combat stance.
As the feared scenario unfolded, he realized how foolish it had been to follow Gaold.
He'd overlooked that even a first-class archmage could be, fundamentally, mad.
How had he entrusted such a simple judgment to Gaold? As if he'd been under some spell.
Gaold didn't even look at the agents; he kept inspecting the control panel.
"Hmm, how did this work again? Hey, was it the red button?"
A cold voice came from behind the agents.
"No, it was the blue button, you idiot."
The agents split left and right as a man stepped forward.
The moment Shirone saw him, a chill ran through his body.
His hair was combed straight back; he had no eyebrows. Thin lips blended into his skin. Most unnerving were his pumpkin-colored irises—like clockwork gears, the irises seemed to tick and turn.
"Oh right, blue. I keep forgetting things as I get older."
Ignoring Gaold, the man strode to Alpheas and bowed with unnervingly smooth, uniform motion.
"Long time no see, Headmaster."
"Yes. It's been a while, Sein."
"Se—Sein?"
Only then did Shirone take his eyes off the agents.
Sein was one of the founding members of the Paranormal Psychoscience Research Society Gaold had mentioned. He was also the one who'd produced Istas's master equation.
Etella gently touched Shirone's shoulder and pointed at the agents.
"Shirone, use empathy to scan them."
Following Etella's instruction, Shirone sensed Sein's Spirit Zone unfurling like tendrils, connecting to every National Intelligence Service agent without exception.
"Mind control?"
"Yes. Top-level mind control."
If they were NIS agents, their physical abilities would be above average, and professionally they'd have resistance training against mental techniques.
To have a 100 percent success rate against such people meant extraordinary power.
He'd heard from Arin that to make that possible required a concentration of willpower twenty times the target's mental strength.
Istas hummed to life.
Gaold, who'd taken his hand off the blue button, still stared at the panel as he introduced Sein to Shirone. It had been part of the contract.
"Sein is a servant-class and mental-type mage. He's currently active under the alias 'Snake' in the Black Line. Don't be fooled—he's a Red Line-designated Triple-A criminal. Get his signature if you can."
"Black Line?"
Shirone glanced uneasily at Sein.
The Black Line denied magical taboos and used magic according to personal belief.
They were on a different level than folks who merely killed or tortured.
Even the notorious villain Arcane had been at the edge of the Red Line spectrum.
Someone like Arius of the Seven Great Mages—who could trespass into human minds and plunder intellectual property—was already the kind of threat that could collapse social systems.
"If you name the strongest mental mages in the Black Line, you usually pick two: Gitaruman of the Seven Great Mages, and Snake. He'll handle orders for our team. Of course I'll be commander."
Sein snorted.
"Nonsense as ever. Playing house at the association really made you that stupid? The reason a man like you can pose as commander is because my orders are precise."
He's got a personality a lot like Iruki's, Shirone thought.
Living with cognitive abilities beyond normal humans seems to push one's confidence to the limit.