The Irregular at Magic High School: Mayumi Route

Volume 27: Yokohama Disturbance: Part 2

It was after school, the next day. Tatsuya would have preferably wanted to begin working with the relic, but the Thesis Competition was coming so soon that he had no time.

On his journey through the library, a certain person sneaked up behind him. "Ta-tsu-ya!"

Mayumi leaped onto his body, causing him to fumble forwards, "Mayumi? Why are you here?"

"What? Are you unhappy to see your amazing girlfriend? You should be happy that I'm here, or am I just that useless to you now?" She pouted.

"No, no, it's not that, you're perfect, it's just, with the exams coming up, I thought you'd be studying... Or is it that you've been recommended, after all, you are a Saegusa."

"Didn't you know? It's a tradition for people in the student council to turn down any recommendations. I'm only here today to see you... Just you!"

She hugged him closer, Tatsuya getting slightly embarrassed.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Didn't you just say you came here for me, so shouldn't you know why I'm here?" he replied smugly, watching her struggling reaction.

"Well... Umm..."

"I'm here to gather some things for the thesis competition."

"Right! Rin did say that she asked you for some help."

She paused for a moment, looking at the door to the room. There was someone standing outside, waiting to use it as the two of them dawdled around.

"...Oops, we should probably get inside, we'll be in the way here."

She gestured towards the small room, "You were going to use it anyway, right?"

Tatsuya nodded, walking in.

The room was relatively small, but Mayumi had a small stature for a girl. The problem was Tatsuya, who, since last autumn, had surpassed the build of an average grown man.

It wasn't too much, but the two felt slightly cramped.

Even with his stern poker face, Tatsuya couldn't help but look away from Mayumi. He was too close to her.

"I'm sure this was quite sudden, but I hope you do your best," she said, breaking the ice.

"Well, it was certainly sudden, but it's not like it doesn't help me in any way."

She put up a confused face.

"That person. He somehow knew me."

His mind flashed back to the moments after Hime's death. A strange man appeared; he had an aura of immense power. So much that even Tatsuya had to pause for a moment in a trance of somewhat fear.

And his final word: "brother" wrung in his soul.

That man was his brother?

"I need some way to defeat him. Nothing is safe if that person is around. And with another one of the Three Great Puzzles of Weight Systematic Magic solved, I'd be able to continue my research into him and how to defeat him much easier."

"So you're still hung up about him..."

"Of course I am. He killed Hime!" Realizing he raised his voice, Tatsuya quietened down, "Besides, he'll likely be coming for me and probably all of you sometime in the future. If I truly am his brother."

"I suppose so, then."

The mood in the small space disappeared. It was replaced with cold silence.

"Ah~"