Rebirth

Saegusa nods, “While the Student Council President is elected by the student body, the rest of it is basically appointed entirely at the discretion of the Student Council President.”

Watanabe pipes up, “My position as the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee is one of those exceptions. The Student Council, the Club Management Group, and the teachers each select a representative to determine this position.”

Saegusa nods, “Yes, and because of that, in a way, Mari has the same authority I do. But the Student Council President holds their position from September to October the next year, and during that time, unless they are overridden by the facility they retain the right to appoint and remove the rest of the Student Council. I spoke to Yuki briefly on the day of the entrance ceremony, but there is a tradition in the Student Council President inviting the freshman representative every year to join the Student Council with the intent of training them to be their successor. Have you thought about whether or not you will take me up on my invitation Yuki?”

Yuki looks down at the table, his eyebrow furrowing, “I have… I just… Saegusa-senpai, given you mentioned it the first time you met Onee-sama, I know you're aware of Onee-sama's scores.” She nods, looking a bit confused, and Yuki continues, “The only reason I am the freshman representative is because the nine highschools use a rather outdated method of measurement of focusing on casting speed. If it wasn't for that, I would not be the freshman representative, Onee-sama would have been. I honestly do not feel like I should be the one you're inviting given I only have this place on outdated technicalities. Onee-sama should, and it's Onee-sama you should be inviting to the Student Council.”

Saegusa's brows furrow, but she speaks up before Saegusa can, “Yuki, we've had this discussion before when you were upset you were the representative instead of me.” He looks up a little wide eyed, but she shakes her head, “Besides, that's also working under the assumption I want to be on the Student Council. I can't say I have any particular desire to be. If I was the one being invited I might accept just to help out, but I don't particularly desire the position.”

She had been on, had created, the Student Council at Hogwarts in her previous life, but that was to combat the issues in Hogwarts, from the DADA curse, the problematic Professors, and even Dumbledore stealing from the school as well as everything else. The Student Council at First High did not have the power to change the problems she had in this universe. Either because they didn't have the ability to change the issues in the school itself much less the other schools in the nine magic highschools, or they were more societal. Despite what people may have thought given her fame in her previous life, she doesn't actually like the limelight. She won't stand idly by when injustices are happening, but she'd genuinely prefer a quieter, more private life. And sure, being on the Student Council wouldn't instantly make her famous, but why would she draw unwanted attention to herself unnecessarily?

Besides, in all honesty, she was busy with her own project and was genuinely only attending highschool to begin with out of some selfishness. She couldn't resist the idea of enjoying a school life with her soulmates, which she obviously hadn't had the opportunity for in her previous life given their age differences. Then again, it wasn't entirely selfish. If she wasn't attending, she'd be throwing herself wholly and completely into her project and her beloved soulmates knew it, so they'd basically lovingly bullied her into it as a means of making her take time away from it.

She's pulled out of the quick tangent her thoughts had taken by Saegusa relaxing, “In fairness, Toshiko scored so high that when I got a look at her results, my confidence actually faltered a bit, but… I'm sorry Yuki, it may actually be better that Toshiko doesn't have any desire to join the Student Council since it's actually a rule that the members of the Student Council have to be selected from course one.”

Yuki's shoulders slump a bit, “I see…” Then he takes a breath to recenter himself, “I am honored to receive an invitation to the Student Council, and I apologize. I said all of that without understanding the situation. Please forgive me.”

Saegusa smiles and waves off the apology, "In that case, Yuki will join the current Student Council with the title of secretary?" 

Yuki nods, "Yes, I will work hard to fulfill my duties. Please look after me." 

Saegusa nods at Yuki with a smile, "You can get the details from A-chan." 

Nakajou turns those somewhat naturally teary looking eyes on Saegusa, "As I just said, President... Please stop calling me A-chan..." 

Saegusa cheerfully ignores her, "If there are no complications, can you come today after school?”

Yuki glances over at her, “Will that be a problem Onee-sama?”

She bites back a sigh, wishing he wouldn't be so clingy that he can't even contemplate the obvious idea that they can just leave school at separate times. He'd probably have a meltdown if she pointed that out though, but she decides that maybe she should start taking steps towards forcing him to get used to the idea, “It's fine. I can wait at that cafe nearby that Erika dragged us to on the day of the entrance ceremony or something.”

Yuki does his best to hide his displeasure at the idea of her leaving the school grounds at all without him, but it's not the meltdown he would've had if she'd pointed out that since they take cabinets rather than have someone who picks them up or something, it doesn't inconvenience anyone if they just head home at separate times.

He manages to control his expression enough that the smile he turns back to Saegusa is only a little strained, “Then no, it won't be a problem.”

She thought that would be the end of the discussion, but Watanabe suddenly stirs, “Actually Toshiko, would you mind coming to the after school meeting as well?”

She blinks in surprise, “Ah? Well, no, I suppose not, but why?”

Watanabe hums, “There's actually a couple things I need to look into before I answer that.”

Her brow furrows in confusion, “Alright…” Then she shakes herself, “Is that all?” The upperclassmen all nod, so she stands, “Then excuse me. As there's still a bit of lunch break left, I'll be taking my leave.” Without giving him the chance to join her since he's only getting worse despite the many talks she's had with him, since she wants to try to force Yuki to back off a bit by forcing him to be away from her longer, “You should stay here Yuki, to hear a bit about the position you accepted. I doubt there's enough time before lunch ends to really get into it, but there's probably enough to get the basics.”

The struggle to hide how he's feeling from the others gets even harder for Yuki given that increases his displeasure and makes him seem to start instantly regretting accepting the offer of joining the Student Council. The rest on the other hand seem to think it's a great idea and cheerfully wave her off. As soon as they have and it's polite for her to leave, she heads out.

Once the door is closed behind her, she picks up her pace to a speedy walk, wanting to eek as much time from what's left of lunch in with her soulmates as she can.

She lifts her hand above her shoulder in wordless acknowledgement of the good luck wishes from the group of kids that are quickly welding themselves into a friend group, though she's not sure that description is entirely accurate in regards to her, Sora, Miho, and Hoshi, given the mental age gap.

Regardless of whether it's an accurate description, it does simplify things to just call them their friends rather than try to figure out what they should be calling them, so she'll probably just start doing that for now. Anyway, there had been some talk while they were doing an exercise for practical magic, since it's not that course two didn't have them, they just didn't have a teacher on hand to guide them and answer questions. While they'd been completing it though, they had asked about the meeting in the Student Council room. Despite the fact she had no clue what Watanabe wanted with her, they insisted on wishing her luck anyway. That, and they seem to have an inkling on what it could be about.

Which confused the hell out of her, which amused them, even more so when Hoshi had cheerfully told them that she'd always been like that which seemed to only increase the baffling amusement.

Yuki is excited when they meet up to go to the Student Council room. Suspiciously so. There isn't any point in trying to pry answers out of him though, she's all too familiar with that expression, and it's one he tends to make when he wants to surprise her.

She doesn't tend to like his surprises, given he doesn't really pay attention to what she wants and tends to just go with what he believes she should have.

When they get to the Student Council room, rather than using the speaker next to the door to be allowed in, Yuki swipes his ID card. Apparently having already had his access adjusted, it unlocks immediately.

The moment they step inside, the gaze of only male currently on the Student Council immediately locks on her with distaste. Ignoring him, she turns her own gaze to Watanabe as she closes the door behind her, “So why did you want me at this meeting?”

Watanabe smiles, “I wanted to look into some of the rules to double check that there wasn't a similar one as the Student Council has barring course two students, but there's three empty positions in the Disciplinary Committee. Given how valuable the ability to read magic sequences before they're deployed is, I thought you'd be a good fit.”

She blinks rapidly in surprise as she sits, “I-... suppose I can see why the Disciplinary Committee would value such a skill.” She tilts her head, “Can't say I've ever thought about joining or ever had aspirations to,” Yuki tenses as his expression falls subtly, though the older girls seem to be more than patient enough to wait to let her finish. Her gaze roams away in thought. The whole point of the Disciplinary Committee was to ensure the safety of the students, and she's always been protective of innocents which being on the Disciplinary Committee will give her the authority to do freely. Also, members were allowed to carry their CADs rather than being more limited on the circumstances they could be in possession of them on school grounds which she may not inherently need but does act as decent cover if she has reason to use her magic, “but I suppose I'm not inherently against the idea.”

Watanabe beams, “Wonderful! Then-!”

The only male that had been in the Student Council room when they arrived, Student Council Vice President Hattori Gyoubu(1) from a brief glance at her memories regarding the introductions during the entrance ceremony, slams his hands down and shoots to his feet, “Watanabe-senpai! You can't really be thinking of appointing a first year course two student to the Disciplinary Committee, can you?!”

Watanabe's eyes sharpen, “The Disciplinary Committee recruits first years every year. You are fully aware of this Hattori Gyoubushoujo Hanzou.”(1)

Hattori shoots her a glance, “Don't call me by my full name. You know full well most know me as Hattori Gyoubu. And I'm aware, but she's a course two student. How is she supposed to be able to subdue course one students if it becomes necessary? I object to this appointment strongly!”

Watanabe narrows her eyes, “It isn't your place to object to such. Mayumi used her right to appoint three of the nine Disciplinary Committee members, and the right of those appointments is hers alone. You don't have the authority to object officially to begin with and an offer has already been made.”

Hattori's eyebrow twitches, “It's still unofficial itself until the offer is accepted by the party in question.”

Watanabe's expression turns a little colder, “No, she hasn't accepted, but given the offer has already been made, the final decision is up to Miss Toshiko at this point.”

Hattori's jaw tightens, “I don't know why you're being so stubborn Watanabe-senpai. I have perfectly valid concerns about her actually being able to perform the job of the Disciplinary Committee officers!”

Saegusa raises her hands placatingly, “Now, now Hanzou. Toshiko has already proven that she has very valuable abilities to bring to the Disciplinary Committee-”

Hattori swings a hand sharply to the side, “In what way is a Weed supposed to be of any help to the Disciplinary Committee?!”(2)

Watanabe immediately narrows her eyes as the hand that had been resting the back of her fingers against her chin clenches, "That's a taboo derogatory term, Vice President Hattori. A taboo term as banned by the Disciplinary Committee. You have a lot of nerve using that in front of me, the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee.”

Despite her warning, Hattori doesn't even falter, "You can ban that term all you want. Do you plan on punishing a third of the entire student body? The difference between Blooms and Weeds is something that is written into the school system and acknowledged by the school itself. The source of the difference between Blooms and Weeds is the difference in ability. Disciplinary Committee members are responsible for the task of subjugating students that break school rules. A Weed with inferior abilities is incapable of accomplishing that task.”

Watanabe smiles coldly, "It is true that the Disciplinary Committee is ability-based, but ability comes in many forms. If we need to use strength for suppression, that's what I'm here for. Even if I'm up against ten or even twenty opponents, I can handle them alone. In this school, the only people that can go one on one against me are President Saegusa and Club Management Group Leader Juumonji. According to you, the people with low combat capability are unnecessary. So, do you plan to challenge me, Vice President Hattori?”

Hattori grinds his teeth, “That isn't the problem. It's in her ability to adapt and handle whatever situations come up that is.”

It wasn't very surprising the clearly prideful boy wasn't backing down, given he clearly firmly believed course two students genuinely had inferior abilities purely based on their placement, which inherently ignores the fact the only determining factor in who amongst the accepted students is course one and who is course two is their castingspeed.

Watanabe huffs, "Did I not say that ability comes in many forms? Toshiko can read the activation sequence and thus knows the magic being invoked." 

Hattori falters, "...What did you say?”

Watanabe pushes on mercilessly, "In other words, even before the magic has been invoked, she already knows what magic her opponent is using. According to our school rules, depending on the type of magic used, the level of punishment also changes. Unfortunately, if we were to disrupt the activation sequence before invocation like Mayumi did, there is no way to tell what magic was originally used. If we waited until the activation sequence finished, then that would defeat the entire purpose. Thus it is safer to disrupt magic during the activation sequence. Without any definite accusation of wrongdoing, the only thing we can charge them with is attempted disruption and the subsequent lighter punishment. But with Toshiko, we can properly catch those that have been using stronger magics." 

Hattori was still flabbergasted, but still managed to muster himself enough again, "...But, if she ran across an actual crime scene, and was unable to stop the magic invocation..."

Watanabe shoots that down as well, "In that case, it would be beyond a first year course one student anyways. And probably beyond second year students as well. How many people do you know that are able to invoke second and still manage to deny their opponent from invoking first? Besides that, there is still one more reason I want her to join the Disciplinary Committee.”

Hattori doesn't even really have a chance to protest, but he seems to be floundering anyway, "To this day there is no Disciplinary Committee member that comes from course two students. In other words, course two students that improperly use magic against school rules are apprehended by course one students. As you said, there is a wide divide between course one and course two students. Course one students can apprehend course two students, but the reverse is not true. This configuration has only served to widen that divide. I do not like it that the committee members under my command are only serving to widen this differential impression.”

Seemingly trying to change the atmosphere, Saegusa pipes up then, "Ah... Quite impressive, Mari. You have even taken this into account? I thought you only cared about Toshiko.”

The Student Council treasurer, Ichihara, immediately replies, "Please be quiet, President.”

Saegusa gives her a reproachful look, but Ichihara shakes her head in return, and Saegusa seems to back off on trying to shift the mood. Hattori finally musters himself at that, "President... as the Vice-President, I object to appointing Shiba Toshiko as a Disciplinary Committee member. While I accept that Chief Watanabe has got a point in her assertion, the original mission of a Disciplinary Committee member is to uncover and subjugate the school rule breakers. A course two student who is lacking in magic ability can't perform the duties of a Disciplinary Committee member. Such a misplaced appointment will surely damage your reputation as the President. Please reconsider.”

Yuki finally seems to hit his breaking point at that, so she quickly opens her mouth before he can, “You keep circling back to my placement in course two and ability to subdue perpetrators if necessary, despite being repeatedly shot down with numerous reasons. I meant what I said earlier when I said I didn't have any particular aspirations for joining it, but you're honestly sounding like a broken record at this point Hattori. If anyone should be thinking about their reputation it should be you.”

She tilts her head, “It's not a good look for a member of one of the Hundred Families when they can't come up with different points for an objection when their first has been shot down. Again, repeatedly since you keep pushing that angle.” Hattori stiffens and gives her a nasty look, but she pushes on regardless, “Furthermore, your objection is based entirely on prejudice, as the only differential between course one and course two students is casting speed, and that's far from the only thing that matters.” Hattori opens his mouth and she coolly cuts through whatever he was going to say, “As anyone with actual combat experience could tell you.”

That seems to make Hattori particularly mad, and he glares at her, “If you're so confident in that and that you can handle being a Disciplinary Committee officer, then why don't we have a mock duel and you prove it?”

Watanabe stiffens, “Hattori-!”

He turns to her, “If you're so confident in her ability, then there shouldn't be any problem with it.” He gives her a derisive look, “Not that I think-”

She doesn't even twitch, “Alright then. If Watanabe-senpai is alright with using her authority to oversee duels this early into the school year, I don't mind.”

Watanabe gives her a surprised searching look, but after a beat, she glances over at Saegusa who nods, "As the Student Council President, I authorize the formal mock battle match between second year Class B, Hattori Gyoubu and first year Class E, Shiba Toshiko." 

Watanabe nods again, "On the basis of the Student Council President's declaration, as the Chief of Disciplinary Committee, I recognize that the match between the two of you as a legitimate extracurricular activity in abidance of the school rules. The time of the match will be thirty minutes from now, at the third practice room. The match will be a private one, and I authorize the use of CADs by both sides.”

The last one was pretty much a standard in the school for mock duels from her understanding, and entirely to keep such matches from becoming brawls, which would inherently go against the school rules regarding violence.

Hattori turns away sharply, likely to prepare, and she watches him go idly, before turning back to Watanabe, “Given you authorized CAD use, I'm going to need to retrieve mine from the lockers we're obligated to leave them in, but I've heard that the Disciplinary Committee has some bracelet type CADs. Since the whole point of this is to prove I can do the job, is it alright if I borrow two for demonstrative purposes?”

Watanabe blinks rapidly at her in surprise, “Hm? Yeah, sure?”

She nods, “Would it be better if I went with you to get them before I went to retrieve my CAD, or?”

Watanabe waves her off, “I'll bring them to the practice room. Two right?” She nods, “It'll be easier to make sure there's enough time for you to get your CAD that way so I'll fetch them before we meet back up at the practice room.”

She nods, then quickly heads out.

It had been fairly easy to retrieve the case containing her CAD with the letter of approval with the Student Council's stamp on it, something which was still done on paper because it made it a bit harder to fake, and it isn't long before she's setting it down on one of the tables off to the side in the practice room to pull out her specialized CAD rather than her generalized one and do a check that everything is in order before the start of the match, temporarily ignoring Saegusa, Ichihara, Nakajou, and Yuki who were there as well as Watanabe and Hattori. Her specialized CAD was, funnily enough given the way this life started, one of the gun shaped CADs unlike the smartphone or bracelet shaped generalized CADs.

The main difference between the two was that generalized CADs could hold up to ninety-nine activation sequences, whereas specialized CADs like her guns could only hold nine, but were faster as well as had auxiliary aiming systems placed in the barrel of the gun. The reason for it was also because it was that very system which made it slightly faster, as it streamlines the coordinate data input into the activation sequence and lessens how much the magic calculation area has to input. If it's a spell that moves in a straight line or is single-target, it can handle it entirely on its own using the barrel as the start point and also the angle and all that for lines and just whatever it's pointing at for single target spells. The magician only had to add anything to it if it's area of effect, and that's only in how far the boundaries of the spell extend from what would be the impact point if it was an actually fired gun which it treats as the dead center of the spell.

Once she's done and has collected the two bracelet shaped CADs Watanabe had brought and put them on, she heads over to the starting point for her. Given Hattori had been waiting at his own start point, once she's in position, Watanabe starts speaking as she glances between them, "Alright, allow me to explain the rules. In terms of either direct or indirect attacks, lethal attacks are forbidden. Techniques that deal permanent disabilities to the opponent are also forbidden. Abilities that cause direct harm to the physical body are forbidden. However, direct attacks that do not result in anything greater than bone fractures are permitted. No weapons at any time. Unarmed combat is allowed. If you plan on using kicking techniques, please remove your shoes and change into the school's soft boots. The condition for defeat is when the judge has determined one side is unable to continue the battle. Both sides please do not activate your CADs until I give the signal. Breaking the rules results in an automatic defeat. I will use my full strength to stop it, so remember that. That is all.”

She nods in understanding of the reminder of the rules, which had actually been amidst the plethora of information the school had provided and that she'd memorized, but she can certainly understand why Watanabe would give them a refresher just in case. Hattori also nods, and while his expression was more solemn than anything derisive or aggressive, he definitely seemed to be approaching things with a fairly laid back attitude under that more serious look. It wasn't really that surprising though, given how much Hattori seems to buy into the end all be all superiority of casting speed. As the very thing that separates course one and course two students, he undoubtedly thinks that this match where they are obligated to wait to activate their CADs at the same time is practically already won.

Watanabe looks between them as she starts to raise a hand, a bit on the slower side, undoubtedly to give them both time for any last minute mental preparation. After she has it held straight up, she holds it there for a second before swinging it down quickly in a chopping motion, “Begin!”

Hattori quickly starts pressing buttons on his bracelet shaped CAD, but without hesitation, she activates one of the few fast cast Ancient Magic techniques, which she's been told is called Shukujihou. It helps her close the distance and slip around Hattori fast enough that he barely has time to gain a surprised look of her getting close before she's behind him. As soon as she is, she points her CAD at him, then glances at the surprised Watanabe and very purposely and obviously readjusts her aim to miss him. Hattori flinches as he feels the wave of Psions go by him, whirling towards her as he starts typing on his CAD again.

From the activation sequence he's pulling up, it's a moment type magic that would essentially throw her back into one of the walls. Unfortunately for Hattori though, as he's absorbing the sequence to put in parameters and then starting to invoke it, “If I can read an activation sequence, do you really think I'm not capable of knowing the target parameters of a spell in the moments between the magic sequence coming out and actually being invoked?”

That's the only warning he gets before she uses magic again to sidestep twice quickly after the magic sequence appears, and the only thing affected by his spell is the translucent veil like thing female students are allowed to attach to their short coat like things that curve behind their backs to end off around their ribs.

She'd almost chosen not to have a veil attachment of her own, but after a little it had occurred to her that while they needed to get the designs on them approved to make sure there wasn't anything inappropriate, it was otherwise entirely up to them. And while she wouldn't let her previous life as a British citizen sway her loyalties in this life to betray her current home country, not unless they became utterly reprehensible as a whole and even then her loyalties likely wouldn't default to Britain given the kind of stuff she's been hearing them pull, she was still a Potter at her core.

And her Potter heart, ever the low-key goth as Miho liked to put it, hadn't been able to resist the temptation.

Which is how she had ended up with a dark purple nearly translucent coat veil(3) with designs that looked like black flowers, but if you actually studied them enough, you may realize were actually scythes, skeletal hands, and gothic scrollwork. It's relevant, because if the way Yuki's eyes are shining, the spell caught the fluttering edges as she moved out of the way and yanked it back in either a dramatic looking fashion, or the tug on it pulled her clothes in such a way that they were briefly a little more revealing.

His movement magic, set to toss anything in a certain radius she'd been in the center of before, catches the edges of it, but she ignores the tug as she aims her CAD dead at him again, then once again very obviously moves it to miss him on purpose before firing. Hattori flinches again as the silent message seems to sink in.

Two unofficial wins in this duel for her already.

He scowls, “That one may have possibly counted as a potential victory, but you cheated the first time! You'd already casted acceleration magic!”

She shakes her head, “One of the few ancient magic techniques which is faster than modern CAD casting.”

As he holds his hand out to try to cast again, she crosses her arms in an ‘x’ at the wrists, pressing the buttons with some pure magic manipulation and uses them to create a wave of Psions, purposely designed to interfere with one another, causing his magic sequence to break under the resulting Psion noise.

This time when she aims her CAD at the surprised Hattori, she doesn't readjust her aim before pulling the trigger. Hattori practically immediately looks sick to his stomach and like a blow just hit him, before he sways dangerously for a second as the only warning prior to collapsing.

Watanabe stares at Hattori in stunned silence for a minute, and while she does, she takes a quick glance at the Eidos log to see if the magic Hattori cast earlier catching her veil had pulled her clothes into laying in a more revealing fashion briefly. Seeing that she didn't unintentionally flash anything inappropriate, much less to Yuki of all people, she refocuses on the present and Watanabe. When she tilts her head at her, Watanabe musters herself enough to call out, “The winner is Shiba Toshiko!”

Ichihara tilts her head in curiosity as Watanabe moves forward to check on Hattori, “That movement at the very beginning.” When she glances over she continues, “What sort of Ancient Magic was it? I've never heard of any that can be used faster than modern magic.”

She shrugs, “The man who taught it to me said it was called Shukujihou, though he can be a bit eccentric sometimes, so I don't actually know if that is the technique's name.”

Watanabe straightens sharply, “Shukujihou? I've heard of that.” She glances at Ichihara, “Kinda like how some people use Psions to control their body instead of electrical impulses, it's considered a purely physical technique because there's no actual spell to it. From my vague understanding of it, you just use pure Psion manipulation to boost what the body is physically capable of a bit.”

Saegusa gets a look of understanding, “I see!” Then she shoots Hattori a slightly concerned look, “But… How did you even take him down? Was that also Ancient Magic? It only looked to me as if you released Psions waves…”

She laughs lightly as Watanabe starts to move to collect Hattori and pull him over to lean against a wall in a sitting position, “No it's not Ancient Magic. You are right about it being Psions waves though. All I did was generate them.”

Saegusa gets a little more confused, “Even so, that doesn't explain why Hanzou got knocked out.”

She shakes her head, “As you undoubtedly know, Magicians are capable of perceiving Psions. If they get hit by an unexpected or particularly powerful Psion wave though, their bodies can frequently feel like they're being shaken. Sort of like how the placebo or hypnosis can work both negatively and positively and cause someone's body to start presenting symptoms of something they believe. I just took advantage of this, causing him to feel something similar to a particularly extreme case of seasickness.”

Saegusa seems to misunderstand a bit, “Such a powerful surge as that… how on earth did you..?”

Before Toshiko herself can answer, Ichihara does, “Compound waves, right?

Saegusa turns to her, “Rin?”

As intelligent as Saegusa was, it wasn't surprising that just the two words weren't enough to make her understand, so Ichihara continues, "You created three consecutive Psion waves of varying oscillation frequencies, calibrated them so that all three would converge where Hattori was standing, which created a powerful surge, like a triangular wave.”

She smiles at her, a bit impressed at the young girl's brilliance to figure it out so quickly, and all too reminded of her old friend Hermione, “Very impressive, Ichihara-senpai."

Ichihara loosely curls her fingers in front of her mouth in thought, “Still, how were you able to pull that off in such a short time? With that kind of processing speed, I don't see how your technical scores could be so low.”

Before she can answer, Nakajou, who has been staring at her CADs since she pulled one out, seems to break, having moved over to her side and was gazing at her CAD with shining eyes and a blush, “Excuse me… By any chance, Toshiko, is your CAD a Black Flower?”

Saegusa tilts her head at her, “Black Flower? As in Tōkōkuro Mihana, the mysterious genius magic engineer?”

Nakajou looks up at her with excited shining eyes, “That's right! A specialist in Four Leaves Technology!” By now, she's turned back to her and her excitement has her trying to get her hands on her CAD, which she holds out of the shorter girl's reach with vague amusement as she continues to practically gush, “The miraculous CAD engineer whose real name, appearance, and profile are all shrouded in mystery!” After a bit of straining for her CAD, she seems to remember that she has two gun CADs at least and leans over the case where her other specialized CAD was resting excitedly, “The programming genius who was the first to implement the Loop Cast System! ‘Black Flower’ is the name of one of the specialized CAD models fully customized by Tōkōkuro Mihana herself, and it's optimized for Loop Casting! They're also capable of invoking spells with the least amount of magic, are critically acclaimed, and are particularly popular amongst law enforcement! Although they're sold on the market, it's hard to get one! And judging from the fact yours has a longer barrel than usual, yours must be a limited edition module! Where did you get them?!”

She feels a little embarrassed, having vaguely known they were held as among the best CADs available, but not having realized they were thought of that highly.

Saegusa looks at her a little surprised, “Calm down A-chan.” Then she looks over as Ichihara, clearly looking for answers, “But Rin, that doesn't add up, does it?”

Ichihara slips her eyes closed in thought briefly, “No, it doesn't add up. The purpose of a Loop Cast is to launch consecutive invocations of the same spell. It just isn't possible to use a Loop Cast to create multiple surges of varying oscillations.” She opens her eyes, “I suppose it's feasible if the oscillations are defined as variables, but to set the oscillations as one more variable along with the coordinates, intensity, and duration…” Her eyes widen slightly, “Don't tell me… that's exactly what you pulled off here?”

She shrugs. In fairness it would probably be more difficult for a normal magician, but when you add in her Occlumancy and the way time flows faster in the mind then in reality by nature… well, it becomes significantly easier to pull things like that off. She can't exactly say that though, so she just skirts around the topic, “At this school, multivariables aren't subject to evaluation… not as processing speed, calculation scale, and interference intensity.”

Hattori had regained consciousness during the discussion, and chooses then to weakly pipe up, “In the practical exam, magic skill scores are determined by spell invocation speed, the scale of the magic sequence, and target data rewriting strength. But the vast majority of the weight of value is placed on casting speed.” He tries to stand, but ends up slumping into the wall holding a hand to his head instead, “I see. So that's what happens when tests don't reflect your true abilities.”

Saegusa leans over him, looking slightly concerned, “Are you alright Hanzou?”

He makes a slightly cut off noise, then shoots to his feet and clenches a hand in front of his chest, “I'm fine!” He relaxes his stiff posture as he glances over at her, “Shiba?”

She tilts her head, “Yes?”

He glances away, “I apologize for my comments before. It was rude of me.” He shakes his head, “I was the one whose judgment was clouded. I hope you'll forgive me.”

She smiles at him before she turns to finish putting her CAD away and closing the case and take off the Disciplinary Committee's bracelet CADs, since she hasn't officially become a member and therefore gained the authority to carry them around, “It's fine.” Yuki starts to stiffen but she shoots him a Look before she finishes speaking, “We all make mistakes. It says more of your character that you acknowledge them. Just as it would say more of mine if I was the type to hold onto some sort of grudge over it even after your apology.”

Hattori smiles a bit himself, then turns to leave the practice room. Watanabe turns to her with a smile of her own, “All right, we did get waylaid unexpectedly, but why don't we get back on track and head to the Disciplinary Committee headquarters?”

She smiles back, “Of course. Do I need to take my CAD case back to the drop off area first though, since I'm not officially part of the Disciplinary Committee yet?”

Watanabe waves her hand, “Since you're with me and I have the authority to authorize you having them and it'd be silly to have you trudge all the way over to do that just to have the authority to go and collect them again if you were sticking around a bit longer after you're officially brought on, just bring them with. Also, that two crossed CAD thing looked like cast jamming?”

She nods as she picks her case up, “Alright then. Lead on Watanabe-senpai. And yeah, it's a sort of pseudo cast jamming. Why?”

As they head out, Watanabe peers over at her, “Because it's a valuable skill. Can you teach it to others?”

She shrugs, “I can try. Whether they can learn it is another matter entirely.”

Watanabe nods, “Fair enough. It's worth a shot anyway.”

She hums in agreement.

She looks around the room Watanabe had led her to, directly under the Student Council room actually, which very much was not a coincidence, and there was even a… not quite secret, but private and discreet direct staircase between the two.

Watanabe moves further in as she speaks, “It's a little untidy, but hey, find yourself a seat somewhere while I find the official paperwork to bring you on board.”

Untidy was a bit of an understatement. Or rather, on the scale of untidy, it was on the upper end. She shakes her head and chuckles lightly, “Don't let my boyfriend find out how untidy my soon-to-be headquarters are.”

Watanabe looks at her in confusion, “Mm? Why?”

She snickers, “Because he'll barge in whether you authorize him or not, even if he has to circumvent the electronic lock, and go on a cleaning spree while muttering about how I'm ‘enough of a workaholic, and don't need to potentially be cleaning up messes and how dare you put me in a position to have to potentially clean up and-’ and won't stop until at minimum he's completely cleaned the place.”

Watanabe's shoulders had started shaking with suppressed laughter partway through, before she gives her an amused look, “Well. I guess I know which of you may end up being the stay at home spouse if you got married, hm?”

She laughs, “Considering he's practically already my fiancè, to the point we have everything but the guest list already planned out, and after I teasingly called him something along those lines, he just kind of… rolled with it, and describes himself as a future stay at home husband/father unless I need him for backup or something?”

Watanabe outright laughs at the end. After taking a moment to get past the humor, she gives her an interested look, “By backup, do you mean he's on par or close to your skill level? Because honestly, it's technically one of the faculty selections, but the one of other students that was being considered for the Disciplinary Committee fell though, and there's kind of a scramble to find a replacement since they were so sure of their choice they didn't have one in mind.”

She snorts, “I love Sora to pieces, and he is absolutely on a level that he could also have smoked Hattori in that duel, but one, he's also a course two, because while he does see a certain amount of value in speed, he's always prioritized versatility when practicing, and two… again I love him, but he's really not a good fit.”

Watanabe tilts her head, “Mm? Why?”

She gives her a bemused look, “Because Sora only follows rules when it suits him. Put him in a position where he has to pick between rules and something he truly cares about, and he'll pick the latter with zero hesitation or remorse.”

In fairness, she was sort of similar, but she wasn't as bad as Sora, and when she does pick something she cares about, including her care for innocents, she tends to only break the rules or even laws when it's entirely reasonable to have done so.

Watanabe sighs, “Fair enough. That's a shame though. The original candidate was Morisaki, and given what he pulled the very first day which you are fully aware of… Well, needless to say, as I had to bring him in on my authority as the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee, the faculty quickly withdrew their support for his nomination, even without me and Mayumi having to say anything against it.”

She blinks a few times quickly at her, then snorts, “Funny. He was all in line to receive one of the positions that are viewed with respect in general by the school, but let his temper blow the chance the very first day of school.”

Watanabe nods. And there's a beat of silence as she looks for the papers before something else occurs to her, “Actually, on second thought…”

Watanabe looks up, “Hm? Second thought about what?”

She hums, “On letting Sora know about the untidiness of the Disciplinary Committee headquarters. It just occurred to me that yes, if he finds out he's going to barge in and tidy up and grumble about me working in such an environment all the while, but if it's not mentioned then it'll inevitably add another complaint about hiding it from him to the rest.”

Watanabe chuckles slightly, “Well, it's not like there's classified information in here, or that anything that could potentially be considered sensitive isn't already locked up in some way, so if you want to invite him up here, you're more than welcome to.”

She hums, “Is it okay if I take a picture of the headquarters, or?”

Watanabe waves a hand, “It's fine.”

She gets back out of her chair to move over to the door, snapping a photo before moving back to her seat as she opens up the group text. Not the one between just her, Sora, and Miho, but the other one that also has Hoshi.

Group text

So. I wanna preface this by saying I am NOT trying to give you more to do Sora, and it's more because you'd be upset if you found out, and even MORE upset if I didn't mention it and you decided I was HIDING it from you.

Sora

Do I need to beat someone up?

Miho

Why is your immediate reaction always violence?

Hoshi

I second Sora. Does someone need to catch hands?

Miho

Why are you BOTH like this?

Previous occupation.

Anyway! I was recruited to the Disciplinary Committee.

Sora

To the surprise of literally only you.

What?

Hoshi

Why do you think everyone was wishing you luck?

…We'll talk about that later. ANYWAY. I just got to the Disciplinary Committee headquarters, and again, I'm not trying to give you more to do, but you'd be mad if I DIDN'T tell you, so…

[You have sent an image]

It's a bit untidy.

Miho

Aaaand he's gone.

Miho

I'd come up to help, but we all know he'd potentially get mad at that too, so…

Hoshi

Sora: A mess? In one of MY girls’ workplaces? I don't think so! Absolutely unacceptable!

Does he even know where the Disciplinary Committee headquarters is?

Miho

It was in the information for First High in case anyone needed to know to report something.

Hoshi

…Or for other reasons.

Miho

…Only if you're a delinquent…

As long as he knows I guess.

Anyway, I'm supposed to be doing some paperwork to make my placement on the Disciplinary Committee official soon, and I should also warn the Chief that Sora is, in fact, coming up, so I should go.

Talk to you in a bit.

After lingering long enough to make sure they don't add anything, she looks over at where Watanabe has some papers in her hands but seems to be searching for something else, “Told my boyfriend on a group chat and was promptly informed that he left the others, so he's undoubtedly on his way up.”

Watanabe hums, and reaches over before hitting a button on her desk, which was separated from the long table that was presumably for meetings and use by the rest of the Disciplinary Committee, “I made it so the door will remain unlocked for half an hour or until I hit the button again in case it closes, but you can prop it open so he knows if you'd like.”

She nods, then gets up to do just that, scooping up a physical book to use for it. As she approaches the door, one of the two people she'd vaguely noticed coming down the hall with her Elemental Sight swipes his ID and opens it.

She slips past them as they greet Watanabe to catch the door and set the book down to keep it from closing entirely. When one of them starts to open their mouth with furrowed eyebrows, presumably to say something about her propping it open a smidge, Watanabe speaks up, “I gave her permission to do that.” Her lips twitching, “Apparently her boyfriend would never accept the headquarters she'll be working from being so messy, so he's on his way up to tidy up.” Her lips twitch again, “I've been warned that there will be excessive grumbling, but it would only be worse if it was hidden from him.”

One of them coughs into his fist, as though that will hide his amused grin, then slips his arms back behind him as he basically stands at parade rest, “Anyway, big sis. I wasn't expecting you to be in when we got back from patrol.”

Watanabe starts to make her way forward, and the other guy speaks up at that point, posture also going to parade rest, “Speaking of Chief, we've completed today's patrol mission. No arrests have been made.”

If he had anything else to say, it's cut off by Watanabe using the rolled up papers in her hand to smack the first guy on the cheek before she starts whacking the top of his head with it, “Don't call me big sis! How many times do I have to tell you? Is that head of yours just an empty ornament?”

Given they don't look anything alike, she'd guess the whole ‘big sis’ thing is more of a nickname than a reference to an actual familial tie between them. The guy has his head ducked down and his arms vaguely over his head at that point, “Please don't beat up on me like that!” She finally stops at that, and he glances over at her as he straightens, “By the way Chief, what's with the new girl?”

Watanabe moves right past the way she'd been swatting at him so easily that she's fairly confident it's a normal occurrence, “That's Shiba Toshiko of class 1-E. She'll be joining us under the recommendation of the Student Council.”

The two gaze at her briefly before the first guy who'd just been getting whacked comments, “Emblem-less, huh?”

Sighing almost inaudibly, the second guy warns him, “Tatsumi-senpai, your choice of words may run afoul of the banned words regulations.” Then he glances over at her, “In this case, the proper term would be course two student.”

Watanabe's tone gets fairly light, “You guys, you're going to get the rug pulled out from under you if you hold such a simplistic outlook.” She settles herself so she's kind of sitting on the edge of the table, then smiles at them, “Between you and me, Hattori just got himself royally tripped up a while ago.”

Tatsumi, from what the other guy called him, gives her a surprised look, and he's not the only one, “You mean… she defeated Hattori?”

Watanabe slides back off her seat at the table, “That's right. In an official match too. She actually technically could've won three times instead of just one, but the first two times she very obviously purposely re-aimed her CAD to miss him at the last moment.”

The second guy, who's name she doesn't know, speaks up then, surprised enough to lose his more business-like tone, “What the… Are you saying that Hattori, undefeated since he started here, got beaten by a new student?”

Tatsumi crosses his arms even as he gets a small smile, “I'm glad to have her on our side!”

The other guy crosses one arm over his body as he brings the other up to rest his curled pointer finger against his chin, “We've got ourselves a phenomenon. Right, Chief?”

Watanabe turns her gaze from them to smile at her, “Who would've thought, right?” There's a few beats of quiet as she gazes at her before she slips her eyes closed, “This school, with its asinine ‘Bloom’ and ‘Weed’ labeling, is teeming with people either wallowing in their sense of superiority, or drowning in their sense of inferiority.”

She opens her eyes to pin them with a look, “To tell you the truth, I've been fed up with it all. Speaking for myself. Fortunately, both Mayumi and Juumonji of the Club Management Group know what kind of personality I have. They've used their recommendation slots to pick people who are relatively immune to those kinds of sensibilities.” The two boys look somewhat proud at those words, which is entirely deserved as far as she's concerned as Watanabe turns her gaze to her, “Their feelings of superiority may not quite be at zero, but they're good guys who can evaluate others’ skills fairly.” Watanabe leans over to place a hand on the table, “I don't think this place will be all that uncomfortable for you.”

She turns her gaze to the other two contemplatively, and Tatsumi steps past the other guy and extends a hand for a shake, “I'm Tatsumi Kouraro of class 3-C. Nice to meet you, Shiba. Able people like you are more than welcome here!”

Having not gone back to her seat after she propped the door open but just stepped out of the way, she smoothly steps forward to shake his hand as the other boy smiles at her over Tatsumi's shoulder, “I'm Sawaki Midori of class 2-D. Glad to have you on board Shiba.”

She smiles back, “Watanabe-senpai already introduced me, but it's polite to introduce oneself anyway. I'm first year student Shiba Toshiko of class 1-E. Likewise, it's nice to meet you too.”

Before anything else can be said, Sora all but bursts into the room, startling the other three. As Watanabe instinctively reaches for her CAD, she waves her off, “This is Amano Sora. The boyfriend I mentioned.”

The three relax immediately at that, even as Sora glances down at the book and leans down to scoop it up as he surveys the room with the same critical eye like he's calculating the exact angle to swing on a wire. He greets them almost absently before brushing past them and descending on the mess almost with the air of a wrathful god.

The other three's shoulders are shaking with suppressed laughter, and Watanabe holds the papers she had rolled up in her hand that she'd been beating Tatsumi with earlier, “If he's tidying up our headquarters, we may as well help while you fill out these forms for your official placement on the Disciplinary Committee.”

She accepts them and moves over to one of the seats to set the papers in front of it. Before she can sit down though, Sawaki asks in curiosity, “I don't mind us finally getting this place in order, but shouldn't you be helping as well?”

She smiles at him in amusement and reaches for one of the boxes on the table. She hardly has it lifted an inch from the table before Sora practically teleports to her side and snatches it from her hand, “You get your workaholic hands off the cleaning missy!”

Then he turns and moves off with the box as the other three's shoulders start shaking again. Watanabe grins at her, “Fair enough.”

Then the other three start helping Sora as she settles down with the forms she needs to fill out.

She's smacking at Sora's arm as he snickers while walking down to the gates with her, “Why did you just assume I was going to be invited to the Disciplinary Committee!”

Sora catches her hand in amusement, twining their fingers together as he grins at her, “Oh sweetheart. You're the only one who didn't piece together the sequence of events of Watanabe-senpai being impressed by your ability to read activation sequences, Saegusa-senpai admitting to Yuki that your scores are impressive but it's against the rules to have you on the Student Council, and Watanabe-senpai asking you to attend Yuki's… introduction meeting or whatever it was but needing to look into things.”

She pouts at him, but she doesn't get a chance to say anything before they're nearing the gates and Miho's voice enters the conversation, “You really are alone in not having seen it coming.”

She looks over to see Miho giving her a fondly exasperated look while Hoshi snickers at her side. As she steps up to them, Hoshi flicks a look over her shoulder, then slides around her to walk directly behind her as Miho slips to her other side.

It's the only thing she needs to see to know Yuki was incoming, even if she hadn't spotted it with her Elemental Sight.

She's pretty sure it's very much going to be her new normal as often as possible from here on, if the faces they made and the way they looked at each other after she mentioned trying to force Yuki to get more used to them being separated or having more distance between them quietly on the way back from lunch is any indication.

Before, they seemed to take more of an approach of respecting that she didn't want to deal with Yuki throwing fits if he couldn't at least just walk beside her when they were together and tended to have her walk on one of the ends. They seemed alltoo happy that she'd changed her mind and decided the tantrums are worth trying to force Yuki to accept things better though.

To that extent, she's not surprised in the slightest to see the unhappy expression and nasty looks he was giving the three of them with her Elemental Sight when he catches up and they start to leave the school.

Yuki was very likely to throw a tantrum at home later, and it was practically a guarantee that he was only holding his tongue after having learned the hard way more than once that she wouldn't accept him speaking ill of them. He's only getting worse and worse about her boundaries though, so she practically feels it has to be done to force a bit of distance from his constant pushing.