Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - 𝕁𝔸𝔼𝔾𝔼ℝ

Ch. 17 - Mirage Card

Hiro laid in the hospital bed, unconscious, his wounds healing slowly internally. Mayumi was spending time looking for him before Mirage Bat began, the rookie event at least. "Hiro.. you idiot." She said calmly as she smiled down at him, the most she ever expected him to do was to push someone out of the way of a blast- not take it head on for them. A smile kept across her face as she exited the room and shut the door, a burst of steam shooting off of his body as it healed further and completed itself. "You're going to need to act injured.." Maelstrom said mentally as Hiro opened his eyes and looked around. "Which also means you won't be waking up for awhile- I will keep everyone close to you safe, so my power will be leaking out of the limiter." the spirit said as the day then continued on.

 He was awake subconsciously, watching them on the television. Mirage Bat was dangerous if the CAD was tampered with, so he sat there watching with his eyes subconsciously open. Sure enough, someone did indeed fall however- they were caught by something strange, almost as if it wasn't a physical force. It was able to make her literally float down to the ground where she was retrieved; Maelstrom seemed to be keeping his end of it all.

The door then began to open once again as he shut his eyes, this time it was Miyuki in the room. Tatsuya was working on his "Third-Eye" as well as calibrating the flight CAD and while that was going on she had enough time, enough time to see Hiro. She walked over to his left, placing her hand in his, Maelstom had already said that he needed to be more impulsive. The great idea that this spirit came up with was to grasp her hand lightly, with her smiling and sitting on his bed before a pair of arms wrapped around her comfortably. The Princess of the Yotsuba then laid her head down onto the pillow with him as he curled up around her. It was obvious from the subconscious movements that he had some sort of feelings for her, with his head in her chest as if they were actually that close. She fell asleep before her match with a smile- and she was luckily found by Tatsuya before anyone else and woken up, Miyuki looked back to Hiro as she got up with a smile and pressed her lips against his forehead before leaving. It took a few minutes but, Hiro completely woke up after she left, getting up and standing as the spirit finished his work inside his body.

"It'd be better if I didn't distract her." He smiled as he looked at the television, then just moving around the room to get his blood flowing. "Even on the screen, she looks beautiful." Hiro reached up and touched the screen before she hit the last target, before sliding his hand down and shutting the television off. In the time that it would take him to get back, they'd likely have moved to their meeting room. A first year passing through an official event was a big milestone, and he was sure that they'd at least celebrate. He made his way down the elevator as he then checked out. The people who had taken care of him besides any of the students that checked in on him, had known what exactly he was, thus made it look like he was hurt and they were just treating him. No issues occurred while checking out so, he made his way to the meeting room which was located in the same building as their living accommodations. His hand grabbed the handle lightly as he opened the door, finishing their cheering as he then stepped in and shut the door behind himself.

Eyes basically darted to him as he walked up to Mayumi and patted her on the head, with her tearing up but, maintaining her composure. "Thank you for taking care of me." Hiro said bluntly as he then pivoted and walked over to Miyuki, pulling her into a hug as he was stared at. "I worried you the most- didn't I?" the young man said as he looked down to her, as to which she melted a little more into the hug, placing down her cup and looking up at him. She almost broke into tears however dried her face with her hands as he released her. The little gathering than continued as usual, so he sat down in a chair angling it so he could look out the window. A cup was then set in front of him by Mayumi as she smiled to him. The night continued as the curfew time was then reached with them heading away from the meeting room. Hiro walked to his room before Miyuki grabbed his hand as every moved away and asked him softly; "Can you accompany me tonight... my brother hasn't returned." which gained a soft smile from Hiro, "Oh all right- I'll do it. Just don't expect anything from me."

He entered the room with her and sat at the edge of the bed, with a smile radiating from Miyuki as she laid down under her covers. Hiro didn't know how to deal with.. this type of situation, so he just sat there until she fell asleep. As he tried to get up, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his hips, Miyuki was sleeping but holding him. This made him sigh as he then said to himself, "I swear if this gets me in trouble.." as he then slid into the bed and laid however, remained above the covers as she hugged him from behind. Soon enough, the cold feeling from her grasp made him fall asleep, with the comfort making their slumber seem oh-so short. Of course during the night, Miyuki's roommate did come in but elected on not disturbing them. This meant that he slept there alone with two women in the room; men could only dream of what could've happened. Hiro of course knew what happened, they all just slept, and only Miyuki stayed by his side. The Yotsuba Princess woke up as she immediately sat up and looked at him, placing a hand over her mouth due to the surprise that had occurred, "Did I sleep with him..?" she thought to himself, dragging herself out of the bed.

Not too long after the girl woke up, he had woken up as well and quickly made his way out after coming to his senses and realizing where exactly he was. Tatsuya found Hiro at the door to the room and fought the urge to pummel Hiro right then and there because he knew that logically he wouldn't do anything to Miyuki however, Tatsuya couldn't help that because it was his younger sister. Of course, Hiro and Tatsuya were quite equally matched but, the taller male was of course the more intimidating out of the two. "U-uh, good morning.." the shorter male arguably stuttered as the taller male ask, "Did you do anything to Miyuki?" in a serious tone. "No.. nothing like that. She asked me to accompany her and then when I tried to leave, she hugged me unconsciously.." he tried to explain to Tatsuya and, well, this was normal behavior for the girl to hold something in her sleep, so he digressed. This made Hiro feel a sense of relief as he leaned his head back against the wall.

Hours passed as the last match went on before the awards ceremony, Juumonji had quite literally destroyed the competition in monolith code. Phalanx was a strong spell however that did not mean it had impeccable defense. Miyuki of course earned her medals for first place in Mirage Bat and Pillar Break, as well as Juumonji being the schools representative for their position. There was now something that Hiro was the most unfamiliar with- a ball. Not like the one you'd roll but, a dance. It directly went against how spike mages would normally behave, which would be violent and ruthless, into a loving and soft behavior. Hiro sat in a chair at a table, angling his head down and shutting his eyes. Miyuki had been utterly crowded by males with superficial feelings so, the young man had elected on letting her deal with it herself, as he'd be in the way. A peculiar thing did happen however.. she continued to look at him even while she danced with the Crimson Prince.

Soon enough she did approach Hiro and offered her hand, as to which he looked up to her with a smile beating down on him. A light sigh came from him, "I guess I didn't exactly disappear did I?" he joked with her as she giggled. To keep up with his injured act, he stood up with a grunt and walked with her away from the tables as to not hit anything. His hands were placed in hers as they began to pace around, this was dancing in all actuality. Eventually they both came together and she was hugging him at this point; it was subtle but it showed how they both really felt. Miyuki smiled and said, "I think they're getting a little jealous." as to which Hiro looked around and shrugged. "I don't care anyways. Their opinions are irrelevant to this moment." It was sort of flirty how they interacted with each other, with the music wrapping up as the two smiled lightly at each other. Mayumi had been watching them and smiled brightly- he wouldn't need to be constantly with the red-eyed girl anymore, he found his happiness.

"I need to go check on brother, if you don't mind Hiro." she said as he nodded with understanding. "Go. He's been alone most of the time, and I'm sure he'd enjoy seeing you." although violent, the spike mages were extremely understanding and had some hint of humanity in their mind. Gazes pushed into Hiro even after she had left him to go check on Tatsuya. The night slowly came to an end as they finished their dancing outside, with him walking out on his own. Miyuki looked to him and smiled as she wrapped up her dance with her brother. She smiled and waved lightly at Hiro before she made her way back to her room, being escorted by Tatsuya. The next day was pretty uneventful, they made their way back to the school for the rest of the day, and now Hiro was under the careful eyes of the ten master clans as well as patriarch Kudou. It would be an asset to have such a powerful individual on any of their sides- so their cards would have to be played correctly.