Masterpiece Meets Mahesvara (You-Zitsu × Mahouka)

Chapter 08 - Sudden Negotiation / Prelude of the Invasion

Ayanokouji's POV

It was a brand new school day and our lesson for today was another practical one. We went back to the same testing area as before and conducted it again. Although it is a practical test, it was a different one compared to last time where we just focused on how fast we activated a magic sequence. This time, our assignment was to compile a Single Systematic Magic then activate it within a time sensitive requirement of 1000ms. As I finished my turn on the machine with a 860ms record. It was now Tatsuya's turn. He got within the time limit on his third try with a 940ms mark. Mizuki was excited for him as if Tatsuya was her son.

"940ms Tatsuya-kun! That's a passing mark! But it's kind of surprising that you're actually bad at the practical tests." Mizuki said in an overjoyed tone.

"You forgot to add that it was on my 3rd try. And what do you mean by 'surprising'? I'm pretty sure I've made it obvious even before that I clearly lack in this department." Tatsuya replied with a wryly smile.

"Ahh well, ever since before you've showed exceptional skills so I thought that you were just joking about it." She replied back to Tatsuya's confusion.

"Well as you can see, I wasn't bluffing about it." He stated back.

"But doesn't that upset you Tatsuya-kun?" Mizuki asked Tatsuya curiously.

"Upset? Me? Why?" He answered her question with another question.

"Well, for starters, always getting compared to your brilliant sister. And even though you have amazing skills, the school evaluated you as just a 'reserve'." She asked the obvious since anyone would get furious if they were to always be compared to their honor student of a sibling.

"Hmm, well not really. Since I know how much Miyuki worked hard to become the person she is, so the only thing I feel about that is admiration. And for your other question, I don't particularly care about other's evaluation of me since I know myself better than anyone else does. And besides, processing speed is also crucial element in a magician's skillset so I think the school rated me just right." He said his statement logically without factoring any emotions in it.

"You... you're always logical even in these kinds of situations huh. But I wouldn't necessarily agree with the last part, cut yourself some slack, Tatsuya. I mean, no human is perfect." I interjected into their conversation.

"Oho? It's not like I need consolation, but you have a way with your words Kiyotaka." He replied back to my statement calmly.

"Eh? But Tatsuya-san, during your first attempt at the test, you could have activated faster couldn't you?" Mizuki replied back, Tatsuya seemed shocked by the sudden revelation but only widen his eyes slightly.

(A/N) As I rewatched the anime I just realized that Mizuki calls people with -san as an honorific same as Miyuki so I'll revise the previous Mizuki chapters to fit in her actual character into it.

"Oh? What led you on to come up with that conclusion?" Tatsuya ushered Mizuki to continue.

"Well, when you tried for your first attempt, you read the activation sequence while simultaneously building your own magic sequence. So I theorized that for magic at this level you could potentially just make a magic sequence ignoring the activation sequence completely." Mizuki elaborated her theory in a descriptive manner to better understand it.