Episode 49: Preparations for Battle and Starlight
Under the moonlight in the Student Council room, Mizuki was facing off against a girl.
A girl with whom various coincidences had once aligned, allowing them to temporarily fight side by side.
Her name is Solciera.
One of the top individuals in Academy City.
“Even if you know everything, there’s little you can do about it.”
Solciera said this calmly without any sign of panic, even in front of Mizuki.
She was the one who initiated the conversation after all.
She must have known that Mizuki was approaching.
“Then, wouldn’t it be much better to live in an illusion from the start?”
“That’s just a counterfeit.”
“Even if it’s counterfeit, isn’t happiness enough? Do you dislike lies?”
Solciera averted her gaze from Mizuki and exhaled faintly.
It was an ordinary gesture, yet Mizuki found herself unconsciously following it with her eyes.
Realizing this, Mizuki steeled herself and said,
“Yeah, I dislike lies.”
“That’s right. We get along well then, don’t we?”
With that, Solciera smiled.
But it was impossible to tell what she truly felt.
Still, her piercing blue eyes seemed to see through Mizuki’s innermost thoughts, making her feel uneasy.
“…Answer me. Why have you come here? If possible, I don’t want to be your enemy.”
Mizuki knew how strong Solciera was.
Hence, she understood how terrifying it would be if Solciera became an enemy.
Above all, this girl had once helped her. She was Mizuki’s benefactor, and pointing a gun at her made her hesitate.
However, Solciera showed no change in attitude despite Mizuki’s words.
“I have no intention of accommodating your circumstances. Neither allies nor enemies are determined by star fate.”
“So…?”
Just as Mizuki was about to deploy her armament, Solciera interrupted her.
“But, perhaps I could offer a little help?”
Standing up, Solciera took out several sheets of paper from a magic circle and tossed them towards Mizuki.
Mizuki picked them up.
They appeared to be documents, ones that were quite familiar to her.
“These… Are they the documents Toa and Kei were organizing?”
“Yes. The documents your juniors were working on.”
Solciera gestured for Mizuki to read them.
Prompted by this, Mizuki examined the documents.
(These are related to the debts owed to Kisou Academy. I recognize them well since I’ve seen them often.)
“What happened to these?”
“Are you still not realizing?”
“…What is it?”
“It seems like the debt has decreased… Your Student Council President seems quite competent.”
Solciera suddenly stated this.
Though it seemed like a topic change to cover something up, it wasn’t something she usually did.
Mizuki clearly understood that.
“What happened to Miroku?”
“She’s been hospitalized for quite some time now, hasn’t she? The other male student already returned to the academy. As far as I know, she didn’t sustain any injuries…”
“…Could it be?”
“Fufu, if you’re close to her, why not visit her?”
Teasingly, Solciera suggested this.
Her smile now seemed as though she was testing Mizuki.
“Did something happen to Miroku?”
“Hmm? I didn’t say anything like that.”
Solciera tilted her head.
It was evident that she was hiding something.
If so, Mizuki shouldn’t hesitate.
“Answer me!”
Deploying her armament, Mizuki pointed her gun at Solciera.
However, Solciera stood still, not even bothering to draw her weapon, merely staring at it intently.
“What’s wrong? Suddenly pulling out weapons… Did I do something to upset you?”
“What happened to Miroku? Answer me!”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
With that, Solciera activated her magic circle.
Ignoring Mizuki’s protests, she stepped into it.
(Is she teleporting!? Is it possible to transfer via a magical formula rather than an ability?)
Mizuki rushed forward hastily.
Just before the circle disappeared, she leapt into it.
■
The next scene Mizuki saw was the training ground of Factom General Academy.
The place, originally just a schoolyard, had been transformed by Mizuki with various obstacles and training equipment, becoming a familiar location for her.
“Why… Why the training ground…?”
If Solciera was fleeing, she should have gone outside the autonomous zone of this academy.
As Mizuki thought this, a voice came from behind her.
“So, you followed, huh?”
Turning around, Mizuki saw Solciera standing atop one of the tallest obstacles in the training ground, looking down at her.
“I haven’t received my answer yet.”
“I dislike forcefulness.”
“Like I care about that!”
Without hesitation, Mizuki pulled the trigger.
She fully understood that holding back wouldn’t work against someone she couldn’t defeat easily.
From the very beginning, she needed to fight with full strength.
Two bullets of flame and water were fired from her two guns.
Facing such a powerful attack, Solciera remained calm, simply raising her left hand.
In that instant, a magic circle unfolded on her left hand, summoning a scythe that deflected the two bullets while rotating, finally settling into her grasp.
Pointing the scythe at Mizuki, Solciera said,
“Alright. Let’s play a bit.”
In the next moment, her figure vanished against the backdrop of the starry sky.
“!?”
Simultaneously, Mizuki sensed a presence behind her.
Without hesitation, she turned and fired.
“You’re too slow,”
said Solciera, dodging the bullet.
As the bullet passed her, a massive explosion erupted behind her.
The secondary attack caused by her dodge was Mizuki’s signature move.
However, it was thwarted by a barrier of magical power that Solciera erected in the instant of the explosion.
(That technique I showed her when we fought together last time. It wouldn’t work anyway.)
Calmly, Mizuki manipulated the prevented explosion again.
She began reshaping it into countless small projectiles.
(I haven’t perfected it yet, but I can’t hold back now.)
At Mizuki’s signal, the projectiles were launched.
The explosive projectiles spread out, encircling Solciera as if trying to trap her.
An unstoppable wave of attacks.
Seeing the incoming assault from all directions, Solciera finally stopped moving.
At the same moment, a flame bullet headed toward her.
Soon, the surroundings were enveloped in smoke and a loud explosion.
“…”
Mizuki kept her guard up, pointing her gun into the smoke.
Infusing all her magical power, she continued firing bullets.
The wave attack was merely a delaying tactic.
Her real plan was to strike while Solciera was stopped.
For several seconds, Mizuki continued firing until her magical power was depleted.
As silence began to dominate the area, Mizuki sighed and said,
“I thought it might at least have some effect.”
The night breeze cleared away the dust.
There stood Solciera, unchanged from the start.
“Nice attack.”
It sounded like praise.
Upon hearing those words, Mizuki realized this wasn’t a battle at all.
(Am I not even allowed to fight…?)
“However, this won’t reach the stars.”
Saying this, Solciera floated gracefully into the air.
Raising her right arm towards the sky, a magic circle unfolded.
While its principles and mechanisms were unclear, Mizuki immediately recognized what was happening within the circle.
The flames and water overflowing from everywhere within the circle…
They were undoubtedly the bullets Mizuki had fired at Solciera earlier.
“Could it be… You gathered the bullets?”
The bullets fired from Mizuki’s gun were derived from magical power. Thus, someone like Solciera, who could freely interfere with magical power, might indeed be able to gather them.
Intellectually, Mizuki understood this.
Yet, she also realized that this was a realm people shouldn’t tread upon.
“Are you really human?”
“Well, how about that?”
Solciera continued bundling the flames and water within the magic circle.
The red and blue, two opposing forces, were being sublimated into something else by Solciera’s hands.
“The essence of your power isn’t about creating and manipulating flames and water.”
“…What do you mean?”
“…Flames represent a simplified concept of incineration interpreted by oneself. Water is merely a byproduct of imagery used to manipulate magical power more precisely.”
Facing the increasing brilliance of the bundled magical energy, Solciera calmly explained.
She had already deciphered the essence of Mizuki’s abilities.
What Mizuki had fired earlier had already transformed into something beyond Solciera’s understanding.
“…What is this?”
Eventually, a star was born.
There was no other way to describe it—this enormous, bluish-purple sphere of magical energy.
Its dazzling glow illuminated the surroundings, fitting only to be called a star.
Seeing this, Mizuki refrained from raising her gun.
Instinctively, she knew bullets wouldn’t make a difference.
“I’ll show you the light of the stars.”
Saying this, Solciera deployed multiple magic circles around the magical sphere.
It was impossible to predict what would happen next.
Soon, Solciera gracefully swung her scythe upward.
Just as she was about to bring it down, a familiar voice came through the emergency channel connected via Dive Gear.
“Mizuki, duck down!”
Without hesitation, Mizuki obeyed and crouched down.
Shortly after, a brilliant golden light streaked above her.
This golden beam, shining brighter than anything else, destroyed several of Solciera’s magic circles and struck the magical sphere directly.
At that moment, a tremendous explosion occurred.
“!?”
Mizuki fired bullets into the ground, instantly creating a water wall for cover, diving behind it.
Enduring the explosion as it swept away many tools and obstacles,
The explosion subsided after a few seconds.
Surveying the greatly changed training ground, Mizuki looked up at the sky.
There, Solciera still hovered unchanged.
“—I had a little fun. See you later.”
Saying this, Solciera deployed another magic circle in the air and disappeared into it.
She had escaped completely this time.
“…Solciera. What does she know?”
“Mizuki! Are you alright!?”
A shouting voice came from afar.
Looking over, Mizuki saw Toa running desperately towards her, carrying a heavy cannon, still in her pajamas.
Mizuki raised a hand to indicate she was fine, causing Toa to break into a bright smile.
“Mizuki, geho, Mizu, Mizuki, cha, uh, geho!”
“It’s because you’re running with such a heavy thing. Are you alright?”
“Y-Yes! You must’ve had it worse, Mizuki. I fired instinctively, but was it the right decision?”
That was an action driven by Toa’s instinctive sense of mortal danger.
“Yeah. You saved me. If Toa hadn’t fired the convergence shot, I don’t know what state I’d be in now.”
“That’s good… There were strange explosion sounds, so I hurried here. Running while performing magical convergence for the first time was tough. Look, I’m still in my pajamas!”
Indeed, Toa was still in her pajamas.
(Still with the teddy bear pattern… And the nightcap…)
As Mizuki contemplated whether to point out how childish the design still was, a voice suddenly rang out.
“Are you both alright?”
The speaker seemed to be Kei.
Kei was rushing towards them with great urgency.
Apparently, he hadn’t been sleeping, as he was already dressed in his uniform.
“Kei, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. I heard explosions and saw strange lights coming from the training ground, so I rushed here. What’s going on?”
“…It’s Solciera.”
“Eh!?”
Kei exclaimed in surprise.
Looking around, he nodded.
“Indeed, this level of chaos fits Solciera. …This place is really messed up.”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing, Kei?”
“……If I had arrived sooner… Maybe my paralysis poison could have worked, right?”
Kei summoned a short sword to demonstrate.
However, Mizuki shook her head.
“No, even if all three of us were together, we probably wouldn’t have won… S-Rank individuals are truly formidable.”
“……Is that so?”
Seeing the drop in Kei’s tone, Mizuki put an arm around him and linked shoulders.
“Because of that, we need to become stronger, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“Haha, I came to take a shower but ended up getting dirty instead.”
“I’m covered in dust too…”
“Shall we go to the shower room together? How about you, Kei?”
At those words, Kei stiffened.
“…No, I mean… uh, um, I’ll pass.”
“Hmm, okay.”
(Did Mizuki seriously invite him? Does she not differentiate between genders?)
Deeply shocked by her childhood friend’s actions, Toa decided to change the subject to help Kei.
“Uh, by the way, why did Solciera come here?”
“…Right!”
At those words, Mizuki remembered why she had fought.
Despite the overwhelming power she faced, which had momentarily erased it from her mind, this was fundamentally important.
Looking at Toa and Kei, Mizuki said seriously,
“There might be something wrong with Miroku.”
