Kuon’s first thought was, “Good.”
He wasn’t sure why, but when the school’s strongest Cavalleria suddenly appeared in front of Kuon, he felt relieved. Even though they’d never met before, she seemed familiar.
“Kuon-sama?” Kaede said. “Her name is Suzuka, too. Was she a relative in your former life?”
He frowned. “Could be… I don’t know her, though. Suzuka’s parents died and he was shipped off to the orphanage, so he never had much contact with his family.”
“I see… Then what’s with the way she looks at you?”
“Good question.”
Headmaster Nanahoshi had given him a brief explanation. Suzuka Hanabi had asked to be his final opponent, Kaede allowed it, and he should go all out, which he was planning on doing anyway.
She was a Division 5.
“Nice to meet you, Okegawa Kuon-kun. My name is Suzuka Hanabi. I’m sorry to spring this on you out of the blue, but let’s make it a good fight.”
With an oddly happy smile, she activated her Device.
“Reimei, activate.”
A brilliant light shot out of her Device, and rice-kernel-sized cubes swirled all around Hanabi’s body. Each of them rolled over and, in the blink of an eye, took shape.
There was a reason people “wore” and didn’t “ride” Division Maneuvers. Mechanical armor-like coatings covered Hanabi’s limbs and body. Within 0.00078 seconds of activation, a barrier was deployed, and her body began floating. Armor covered her back as well, and a backpack covered in thruster nozzles like a fighter plane appeared via unseen connectors.
This was the Division Maneuver—an armored magical weapon that covered the body like armor and tapped into the magic within to allow humans to fly. Their invention had immediately rendered all previous weaponry obsolete.
Suzuka Hanabi’s DM had a bright red frame. The backpack was unusually large, and wings extended from the sides of her back, about as wide as she was tall. The gigantic rifle in her right hand was even larger than the one Suzuka Hachishiki had used previously.
Her info appeared on Kuon’s vision. En began reading it aloud.
“Frame name: Reimei (Type-3 Artillery). Division 5 All-rounder, leans ranged. Top spec in mobility, defense, and output. Type-3 Artillery refers to the experimental simultaneous deployment of a high-output rifle and Servants, only made possible by Division 5 magic. Definitely the big shot you’ve been looking for.”
Kuon nodded. This was the fastest route to becoming a Cavalleria. Get picked to be in the Lunatic Order, rack up the accomplishments while at this school, graduate, join the Air Force, and team up with everyone else his master had trained to kill the Jave Queen. This was the first hurdle he had to overcome to get there.
He had to beat this Division 5 as a Division 1. He had to be a giant-killer.
He definitely hadn’t expected to be facing the school’s best already.
“Looking forward to it, Suzuka Hanabi-senpai.”
He pressed Standby and drew his Blade.
“My heart is dancing, Okegawa Kuon-kun,” Hanabi-senpai said with, for some reason, an incredibly joyous smile.
As he listened to the countdown, Kuon finally realized just how beautiful she was.
✦ ✦ ✦
The crowd of new students set up a straw poll.
Suzuka Hanabi: 37 votes.
Okegawa Kuon: 2 votes.
The two voting for Kuon had each lost to him. The spiky-haired kid was one of them, throwing him a vote on a “you beat me, you’d better not lose here” basis, but pretending he wasn’t. The other was a Division 4 who would likely have been the strongest new student, had he not fallen hard to Kuon’s Fencing.
The thirty-seven backing Hanabi were jealous of the fact that a Division 1 had won nine times running; angry at him for being so good despite his Division; panicking (and feeling left behind) because someone their age had been challenged by the school’s best; and realistically assuming he didn’t have a chance against her. All of them were at least partially motivated by a desire to see him lose.
Would the weakest magic win?
Would the school’s best win?
As the crowd waited with breathless silence, one more vote was cast.
Who else would easily hack into an unofficial group chat the new student group had set up, just to cast a vote herself? Their own headmaster, Nanahoshi Kaede. Not just the school’s, but humanity’s best Maneuver Cavalleria had cast her vote…