This was more than enough to completely crush her confidence.
With pitying eyes, Tatsuya watched them carry away his unconscious
senpai on a stretcher.
The greatest reason why young men and women lost their ability to
use magic was because of hazardous situations caused by magic
failure and the subsequent distrust towards magic in general.
Magic is a power that deceives the world.
Magic itself exists outside the truth of the world, hence the deception.
Even so, if everyone could use their "eyes" to see magic like Tatsuya,
then they could easily believe this deceptive yet truthful power.
Nevertheless, for most Magicians (especially the chicks and saplings),
magic was an immutable, invisible existence. Even if they could see
the psions, they couldn't see how magic was interacting with their
world. In short, they were clueless beyond theoretical knowledge.
— When I'm using magic, is this really my own power —
Every Magician-in-training came across this question during their
education. No, this suspicion. Once magic failed to materialize,
resulting in danger that relied on magic to avert, this suspicion rapidly
turned into belief.
— See, magic doesn't exist —
This belief.
Once this idea was implanted into a Magician, magic would forever be
out of their reach.
Magic was such a fragile existence that balanced on the tips of the
mental scales.
(...Kobayakawa-senpai is likely broken for life.)
As if to comfort the utterly pale Miyuki, Tatsuya cradled her shoulders
into his chest as he murmured to himself.
When in gravity's grasp and at the moment of inception,
Kobayakawa's expression was covered with terror.
It was someone else. Even if he made that distinction, realizing that
someone had forever lost their precious abilities certainly left a bitter
after taste.
As if pressing a burning brand to the gaping wound, his messaging
terminal in the chest pocket started vibrating and arrested his
melancholy.
Miyuki, who was pressed tightly against him, turned a shocked
expression towards Tatsuya. He calmly removed the fold up device
and pressed it to his ear.
"Tatsuya, it's me, Mikihiko. Got a moment?"
"...Ah, no problem."
Even though the lights clearly showed that the sound wave
interference module on the device was working, Tatsuya still lowered
his volume.
"Unfortunately, during the earlier incident, I was unable to detect any
magic at work."
"Is that so..."
"Sorry for disappointing you..."
"Please don't worry on that account, I failed to notice anything either."
"However, Shibata-san has something she wants to say to you."
"Mizuki? You mean, her glasses were off?"
Tatsuya's tone contained a level of astonishment that wasn't feigned.
Yet, Mikihiko didn't immediately reply,
"Tatsuya-kun, this is Mizuki."
Because someone else had taken hold of the phone.
"Mizuki, did you see anything?"
Are you OK? Those words were stuck in Tatsuya's throat.
Still, Tatsuya believed that this would be trampling over Mizuki's
good intentions.
As someone affiliated with magic, she made the conscious decision to
use her "vision".
Then, inquiring about the results was what a member of the magic
world like him should respond with, Tatsuya thought.
"Yes, well... On Kobayakawa-senpai's right arm... maybe near where
she was wearing her CAD, I saw a light, no, more like a 'spirit'
bursting apart."
"Really... You saw that. So, you said this 'spirit' burst apart?"
"Uh...... Yes, that's the feeling I got. Like a really old electronic
scattering sparks everywhere, something like that......"
"I see. So that's it, I get it now... So that's how they did it."
Tatsuya got a muddled image of what snare their "enemies" laid for
them.
"Uh, Tatsuya-kun...?"
Apparently, his nodding movement could be detected through his
voice over the phone.
A somewhat hesitant, but very hopeful voice (from Mizuki) traveled
across the other end of the line.
"Excellent find, Mizuki. This is an invaluable piece of information!"
"Thank you, you are very welcome!"
Before Mizuki could ask her burning questions, Tatsuya replied first.
Afterwards, Mizuki's anxious voice came back over the line.