Tatsuya used Gram Demolition to blow away the magic sequence Kasumi had been manifesting, then caught the girl herself with practiced ease.
"Wh-what? Why didn't my magic..."
"Kasumi-chan... how envy—I mean! Tatsuya-kun, are you alright?" Mayumi cried out, her face a mask of concern.
"Yes. Something of this level isn't a problem."
Rather than catching her head-on, Tatsuya had pivoted slightly to bleed off her momentum, sweeping her up into a horizontal carry. In other words, Kasumi was currently being held in Tatsuya's arms in a perfect "princess carry."
"Whoa?! Put me down!"
It was a natural reaction. Regardless of the fact that her own recklessness had caused the situation, being hoisted up by a male stranger she had just met was enough to send any girl into a panic.
"I'm happy to put you down, but you're the one clinging to me," Tatsuya noted calmly.
"Eh? ...Oh. You're right. I'm sorry."
Realizing she was indeed gripping Tatsuya's shoulders, Kasumi relaxed her arms to prepare for landing. Sensing the shift, Tatsuya lowered her gently to the pavement.
"Kasumi-chan, what on earth are you doing?" another voice asked.
"Ah, Izumi... I just, uh, jumped the gun a bit..."
"You're as scatterbrained as ever, Kasumi-chan," the newcomer, Izumi, noted with a sigh.
"This is more than just being 'scatterbrained'!" Mayumi interjected sharply.
"Eek! What was that for, Onee-chan?!" Kasumi squealed as Mayumi's lecture began.
While the twins seemed ready to laugh it off, their older sister was not amused.
"I've told you a thousand times! Activating magic for anything other than self-defense is a crime, let alone a violation of school rules! And on your very first day... I only let you two come early because you said you wanted to see the campus, but did you use magic anywhere else?!"
"N-no! I didn't! Besides, it got snuffed out before it could even activate..."
"That's only because your opponent was Tatsuya-kun!"
Mayumi knew Tatsuya could use Gram Demolition. She also knew that, as a Student Council officer, he was authorized to carry his CAD on campus.
"Tatsuya... Gram Demolition... wait, you don't mean the Tatsuya Shiba?!" Kasumi blurted out.
"That's Shiba-senpai to you! Calling someone you just met by their name without an honorific... Kasumi-chan, it seems you're in need of some re-education."
"What?! Onee-chan, why are you so mad?!"
While Mayumi and Kasumi bickered, the second twin, Izumi, turned to Tatsuya and offered a graceful bow.
"Please accept my apologies for my sisters' behavior, Shiba-senpai."
"Don't worry about it. Saegusa-senpai is... well, she's usually like this."
"Is she really?" Izumi asked, her eyes twinkling with curiosity.
"Anyway, you're freshmen, right? You should head to the auditorium soon. If you wait much longer, you won't be able to find seats together."
Tatsuya was certain that, whatever their differences, these twins would never choose to sit apart.
"He's right. Kasumi-chan, let's go."
"R-right! See ya, Onee-chan!"
"Haaah... fine. Just wait until we get home," Mayumi sighed, watching them go. Izumi merely looked on at her sisters with an expression of mild exasperation.
"Well then, Saegusa-senpai, and to the younger Saegusas as well—I must return to my patrol."
Tatsuya took his leave of the trio as quickly as possible. Once out of sight, he sent a mental command to Pixie via Thought Transmission, instructing her to scrub any lingering psion remains of the magic activation from the area. This was a stealth technique he had learned from Kyoko Fujibayashi, the "Electron Sorceress," and Pixie—driven by her singular devotion to being useful to Tatsuya—had mastered it with remarkable efficiency.
Guiding freshmen wasn't a particularly difficult task. The auditorium wasn't hard to find, and as long as students had terminals equipped with Local Positioning System (LPS) functions, they rarely got lost. Cases like Erika's from the previous year—who lacked a terminal and had no sense of direction—were the exception. Tatsuya's job was less about giving directions and more about warning students who were running late.
"Um, excuse me, Senpai? Could you tell me where the auditorium is?"
"I'll take you there. Follow me."
"Thank you so much! Oh, I'm Kento Sumisu, by the way."
"Smith?"
Tatsuya looked at the boy, surprised. He bore a striking resemblance to their new instructor, Ms. Jennifer Smith. However, "Smith" was one of the most common surnames in the English-speaking world. Probably just a coincidence, Tatsuya thought.
"Ah, yes. It's written with the kanji for 'corner' (Sumi) and 'protect' (Su), but it's pronounced Sumisu. My parents naturalized from the States before I was born. They chose the kanji to match the name 'Smith'... It's a bit of a weird name, isn't it?"
The boy, Kento, seemed to misinterpret Tatsuya's surprise as confusion over the kanji.
"No, I don't think it's weird at all," Tatsuya replied. "By the way, Sumisu-kun, does your terminal not have an LPS function?"
"Oh, please just call me Kento! And as for the LPS... it has one, but... well, I only have a virtual-type terminal. I borrowed this old info-terminal from my dad for today, but the LPS standards are so old they don't match the school's system."
"Let me see it."
Tatsuya reflexively took the terminal Kento offered and checked its processing power and remaining capacity.
"I've installed a campus map using GPS. It's less accurate than the LPS app, but it should serve as a decent guide."
"Wow, thank you!"
"You should really get a new terminal, though. This is just a temporary fix."
"U-um, Senpai... you're Tatsuya Shiba-senpai, aren't you?!"
"I am. Have we met?"
"No, but I saw everything you did at last year's Nine School Competition! Your tactics were incredible! Your tuning was genius! Honestly, I only chose First High because you were here! Until I saw the competition, I was planning on going to Fourth High because I'm not very good at the practical side of magic. But after seeing your 'super techniques,' I decided I had to come to the same school as you! I'm only a Course 2 student right now, but I'm going to work my hardest so I can get into the Engineering Course with you next year!"
Tatsuya listened to Kento's passionate speech as if it were about someone else entirely.
"...I see. Keep at it. With that much enthusiasm, I'm sure you'll be fine."
"Thank you, Senpai!"
Kento's eyes shone with a puppy-like adoration. In a way, he was like a male version of Honoka. Tatsuya, for his part, found himself a little overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of the boy's gaze.
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