The Unknown God at First High

Chapter 7: A Near Miss and a Banquet

The time for First High to move to their hotel for the Nine-Schools Competition was today, and everyone was getting on the separate busses. Ryuga got on the large bus with Miyuki, who was, basically, the only person on the bus that he knew. Tatsuya had to take a separate bus for the technical team. Ryuga heard Mayumi, Suzune, Hanzo, Mari, and a girl named Kanon being pretty loud, but he ignored it as usual. He was sitting to the left of Shizuku, on the left side of the bus. Honoka and Miyuki were sitting on the right sight, in that order.

Apparently Miyuki was feeling down about Tatsuya having to sit in the sun in order to check attendance, and Shizuku walked over to their side to try to comfort Miyuki. Ryuga didn't mind and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep. 

However, he was soon awakened by the sound of a crash, tires squealing, and the sight of a car hurtling towards the bus. The car was now on fire, and many of the students started chanting magical sequences.

Mari: "Idiots! Stop it!"

Mayumi: "Everyone calm down!"

Mari: "Juumonji, do you think you can stop it?"

Juumonji: "Stopping it won't be a problem, but the psion storm surrounding it is massive. I can't extinguish the fire as well."

Miyuki: "I'll take care of the fire!"

The magic surrounding the car, set by the students, was dispelled, and Miyuki was about to extinguish the fire, when the fire was suddenly put out. The psion storm was completely dispelled, and the car stopped with a crash, almost looking like it hit an invisible wall. Everyone inside the bus was astonished, and Ryuga's eyes slowly dimmed.

Mari: "What.. just happened?"

Suzune looked behind her to see if Ryuga had anything to do with it, but he was "still asleep". The busses pulled over to the side, and Mayumi checked if everyone was okay. Mari scolded Kanon for leading the charge in the mess that canceled the others' magic.

Ryuga walked out of the bus and talked to Tatsuya, near the scene of the crash, causing both Mari and Suzune to be suspicious of them.

Mari's mind: "Who was it that canceled those magic sequences?"

After a while, the surprising accident was settled, and the bus, eventually, arrived at the students' hotel. Hanzo got off the bus, and saw Ryuga, Tatsuya, and Miyuki talking together. He was brought out of his train of thought by Kirihara, who got out behind him.

Kirihara: "What's wrong, Hattori?"

Hanzo: "No, it's nothing."

Kirihara: "At the very least, it doesn't look like things are going well." Hanzo turned around towards Kirihara.

Hanzo: "It's just that my confidence took a bit of a hit."

Kirihara: "Hey, the competition starts the day after tomorrow. Is this really the time for a crisis of confidence?" He walked past Hanzo, and Hanzo started to walk with him.

Hanzo: "That incident earlier today."

Kirihara: "Yeah, talk about a close call huh?"

Hanzo: "While it was happening, in the end, I couldn't do anything."

Kirihara: "Not taking action shows you had good judgment, if you ask me."

Hanzo: "Right, but Ms. Shiba handled it right away. If it were purely a test of power, I'd probably lose to Ms. Shiba. But superiority among magicians isn't decided solely by the power of their magic spells. Still, it's not just a matter of skills. If I'm lesser of a magician than a girl who's younger than me, then how can I not lose confidence?"