While he has been enrolled since his birth in Darkeas, the school of supervillains, Uchiri Nanaya ends up by mistake in Aitori ... the school of the Magical Girls.
Nanaya silently nodded to Tomeo's question. He still had a little trouble believing it. His father was so shocked that Thoki immediately took him back to the mansion and he slept for the rest of the day. The butler then came to explain with Nanaya and Teiji.
He didn't really know much. Uchiri Narino, Nakamara's brother, was six years older than him. He had been an exemplary big brother, always taking care of the youngest, treating him like a precious little thing. He boasted to anyone who would listen that he was his brother. Maybe even a little too much. If someone had the misfortune to attack Nakamara, Narino would come immediately. Thoki could only remember all the times he had to go to Nakamara's school, on behalf of their father, because Narino had broken in to beat up kids for being mean to his brother.
Then when he was sixteen, Narino had to take the Darkeas entrance exam. But that day, he never returned to the mansion. Later the next day, Uchiri Natsuo announced that his eldest son had been killed on the way home after his exam. But apart from him, no one had been able to see the body and the criminal responsible for the alleged murder could never be identified.
Nanaya had invited his friends to his room to discuss it around his kotatsu.
"So..." muttered Mineko, "your uncle had to run away and your grandfather preferred to pretend he was dead?"
"Thoki," Nanaya replied, "he thinks my uncle failed the entrance exam. Apparently, the treatment I received while being raised to be Experion was nothing compared to the violence of my grandfather. So if he really failed his exam..."
"It was better to flee," Kōtarō guessed, "than to be beaten to death by the old man. Yeah, I see that..."
"What I don't understand," Kenji continued, "is why now? Why is he picking on your dad after all these years?"
The question was relevant. But none of them seemed to find an answer. They thought about it for a while until Rena started fidgeting. Her gestures were too fast for those who were still learning sign language.
"She asks," translated Nanaya, "how you would react if someone took something you really wanted, only to finally get rid of it."
"That makes no sense, Mute," Kōtarō growled, "where's the point?"
"No," Tomeo interrupted, "that makes sense. If Lord is Uchiri Nakamara's older brother, wasn't he the one who should have become Experion?"
"He would have let it pass that his little brother took over the role... but did not accept that he gave it up. Yes, say like that... I can't believe I agree with the bulldozer."
"I love you too Doggie."
An argument ensued between Kōtarō and Tomeo, until Aitori's teacher in charge of the night watch came to remind them of the curfew.
~~
Students from America joined the classes. Tables had to be added in the suddenly too narrow classes and of course, the second year American magical girls were particularly surprised by the presence of a boy. Although the fight against Volcano was shared on the net all over the world, seeing a magical boy was still surprising.
After only two days, it was finally time to start the first elimination round. This concerned students with no offensive powers. All the students and teachers from the six schools met in front of the complex. There were also reporters and simple spectators there. The police and other heroes had been hired to help the teachers keep the public at a distance, so as not to disturb the participants.
Nakamara was finishing setting up the drone cameras he had prepared and a few reporters had their full attention on him. Since his retirement from crime, he was at the center of all discussions.
Thoki was also present and took it upon himself to keep them at bay, since the former Experion was focused on his task.
When he finally finished calibrating his machines, they flew away and disappeared between the trees. Shadow, Starlight, Bunny and the three American directors therefore approached to speak with him for a moment, before giving him a microphone.
After a few checks, Nakamara called for silence.
"Welcome to the first round," he announced, "I will now explain the rules. Students with offensive powers should also be careful, because they will have the exact same test tomorrow."
He repeated the whole thing in perfect English, then Shadow gave him what looked like a wooden nine. Nakamara held it up for all to see. The object was a little larger than his hand and painted in camouflage colors.
"Eight numbers like that," he said, "have been hidden all over the forest, in the trial area. Eight figures, therefore eight finalists, who will therefore be selected to participate in the duels. This test is done without the help of your powers. This is why, in order to avoid any form of cheating, we are going to put suppressors on future heroes and villains. As for the magicals, I would ask them to entrust their scepter to their guardian, who will remain here."
When he finished rehearsing in English, some students protested, but they had no choice. The professors went around to put the collars on them, while the guardians made sure that their humans didn't cheat, by retrieving the scepters.
When all the necklaces were put on and the scepters confiscated, a few teachers from the six schools went ahead to post themselves around the area, to avoid any intruders.
Nakamara picked up the microphone again, along with a remote control which he took from his pocket. When he pressed one of the buttons, a dozen holographic screens of a certain size materialized for all to see. They showed pictures of the forest, in different places and from different angles. The filmed images were moving, indicating that the cameras were in motion.
"The camera drones that I created especially for this tournament," Nakamara said, "will roam the event area so that we can all follow the proceedings live. You can also access the images on your phone, tablet, laptop, whatever, any device from which you can open the SDA complex website. A section has been added especially for this event, you will find the link to follow the camera images on the main page of the site."
A few people immediately dived into their phones to see more easily, or simply share the information with relatives.
Nakamara continued to give some rules for the test, before receiving a message confirming that all the teachers were in place. He was then able, finally, to announce the start of the event.
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