Afterwards, Mayumi requested: "In order to avoid panic from
spreading throughout the 1st Year female students, I'm counting on
your support." Tatsuya remained in the pavilion...... Except he had no
clue how to accomplish this.
He felt that it was the duty of the female upperclassmen to care for the
mental status of their female underclassmen.
He deeply regretted his lackadaisical acceptance of this charge, so
while he wore an expression that claimed "nothing had happened", he
devoted himself thoroughly to CAD calibration for the upcoming
events.
That was all he did, but for some reason, he became surrounded by the
1st Year female players.
This may simply be because Miyuki, who was one of the leaders of
the 1st Year female players, stuck to him like glue. Initially, Tatsuya
thought this was the case but unfortunately, he was not dull enough to
believe this without question.
Their eyes were actually focused entirely on him.
These were not flirtatious looks. He was not narcissistic enough to
misinterpret that, nor was he wilted enough to be able to not notice
them.
At the same time, he was slightly bemused as to the exact meaning
behind them — that was the only area where he was slow in.
Completely besieged by these silent gazes, this was an irritating
condition to work under, but it's not like he could shoo them away
either.
He refrained from engaging in conversation not because he was
hindered by them. Lacking any other options, he elected to ignore
them and adopt his usual procedure of silently continuing his work.
An eternally unchanging appearance.
An eternally enduring object.
He had no idea what value this possessed.
For someone who had always labored under restrictive conditions and
was well aware of the intermittent nature of the world like Tatsuya,
few things were truly eternal.
Even so, the young ladies quieted down gradually as they watched
him work as if nothing had happened. All of this Miyuki beheld with
her own eyes as she nodded in place of her brother and revealed a
satisfied smile.
The greatest beneficiary from his normalcy — or even feigned
normalcy — and its ensuing effect, was actually Honoka.
Initially, after hearing the "incident" surrounding Morisaki and the
others, her face had turned completely pale. Yet, after watching
Tatsuya plug away and attend the tactical meeting as if nothing had
occurred, she gradually settled down as well.
The change was so complete that now Tatsuya was the uneasy one.
"There are no strategic adjustments from the preliminary round. In the
end, Mirage Bat is a test of stamina."
Still, even if he felt uneasy, there was nothing he could do at this
point.
The match was about to begin. He was pressed for time at the
moment, so he could only table his unease and focus his concentration
on the battle ahead.
"Avoid getting into a battle of attrition. The only thing you need to do
is calmly make any necessary adjustments."
Under Tatsuya's watching gaze, Subaru nodded in an exaggerated
fashion.
"Honoka, don't expend energy on excess techniques. Just as we
practiced, there are fakes created from illusion magic that serve to
waste your stamina."
Forewarned, it was Honoka's turn to nod.
"The only thing the two of you should be thinking is how to release
your specialties to the fullest. Don't worry, know that we already own
First and Second place right here."
At Tatsuya's daring proclamation of victory, both of them nodded in
delight.
◊ ◊ ◊
While it was the height of summer, the longest days had already
passed.
By 7 PM, the sun had long since set and the blue sky had been
replaced by the hanging stars.
The surface of the lake reflected the overhanging starlight, causing the
entire scene to flash brilliantly.
Among the stars, six young ladies stood on several raised pillars.
The thin uniforms that traced their figures did not include any amazing
accessories or designs, but over the shimmering waves, they gave off
an almost fey like aura. —That's why there were a lot of male fans
flooding the stands.
Mirage Bat used special bats to strike away at the projections that
floated 10 meters above the ground, with the highest total determining
the victor.
While they said strike, in reality there was no sense of impact nor did
the orbs shatter into pieces.
The reason behind this was because the bats in the players' hands
would interact with the CAD and release a signal at the same location
as the projections. Once they overlapped, the orb projections would
automatically terminate upon registering the impacting signal and add
the score to the striking player's column.
Winning this event required two skills.
The ability to swiftly leap to the same height as the floating
projections.
And the ability to even more hastily locate each and every orb's
location.
Of the two, it was the second that could be easily and unexpectedly
overlooked. Since nothing was faster than light, immediately taking
off after verifying the projection location was usually the swiftest
choice. But — there were a few exceptions.
There were a few milliseconds of delay before the projection
materialized in the air. If someone could detect the oscillations of the
light waves even an instant earlier, they would be able to move
towards the location of the light waves before the orb had even formed.