The atmosphere around Yuuji and Erika had noticeably ged i few days enough that even Leo, who wasn’t the best at reading the air, noticed it.

  During lunch, while Yuuji would normally sit iween Aika and Tatsuya, Erika was now sitting in Tatsuya’s pstead. And although Erika, Yuuji, and Aika were talking as usual, they could notice how closer the three have bee with each other.

  But that was it. Except for Tatsuya and Miyuki, who Yuuji, Aika, and Erika decided to tell, no one knew about Erika’s retionship with Yuuji yet. She was too embarrassed since she’s not used to dealing with romantic stuff, and she simply wanted everything to stay the same when they’re with their friends.

  In fact, Erika was also hesitant to tell Tatsuya and Miyuki, but Aika vinced her by tellihat if she wao keep it a secret from the two, she’ll have to limit her iion with Yuuji when they’re at home sih Tatsuya and Miyuki often came to visit.

  Erika khat the four were quite close with each other, but she was quite surprised when she found out that they’re even closer than she first expected.

  So in the end, she agreed and told Tatsuya and Miyuki about her and Yuuji’s retionship… After all, the only time she could act like a real couple with Yuuji was when she’s in his house. If she couldn’t even do that during that time, then when would it be! She didn’t want to sneak around whehey wao flirt!

  They have no ce to flirt in school because Yuuji was in Course 1 while she’s in Course 2. Not only was their far from each other, their csses were also different. So the only time they could talk was during lund after school.

  Though unfortunately, Yuuji couldn’t meet her during lunch sihe student cil invited him, Aika, Tatsuya, and Miyuki to lun the Student cil’s offibsp;

  So all Yuuji could do was text Erika and tell her he’ll make up for it by treating her with dinner.

  Tsubakihara Yuuji: I’m really sorry. I’ll treat you to dionight to make up for it.

  Chiba Erika: It’s fine! I’ll be eating with Mizuki then! I’ll look forward to dinner!

  Tsubakihara Yuuji: Mm. Love you.

  Chiba Erika: Love you too.

  Yuuji smiled softly as he looked at her reply and giggled to himself inwardly. He could easily imagine how red she was wheyping this. After all, even after spending a few evenings hanging out and flirting with him in his house along with Aika, she’s still not used to the intimabsp;

  It was really cute.

  Just then, he snapped out of his thoughts when Mayumi began to speak.

  “For the nine Magiiversity Affiliated High Schools around the try, the Nine Schools petition is a high-profile event. The essay test held in the fall is research-oriented, while during the Nine Schools petition held in the summer, each school goes head-to-head in sports-type magitests. And of course, sihe school’s honor is on the lihe testants are chosen based os.”

  “So the Student cil is taking the lead in preparing for the event, right?”

  “Yes. As far as seleg our athletes, we’ve mao finalize our roster thanks to Juumonji-kun’s help. In fact, we were quite spoiled for choice while choosing our freshmen representatives since we have Yuuji-kun, Aika-san, and Miyuki-san. But the issue is choosing engineers… The teical staff…”

  “You’re still short on engineers huh?”

  Mari crossed her arms and looked at Mayumi with a ed look. Although there’s still time, still being short on engineers until now was quite a problem.

  “Yes… The third year csses are particurly skewed towards practical skills. As for sed years, we do have A- and Isori-kun… But…”

  “Isori Kei, huh…? I’d say he’s more of a pure theorist, and not too adept at fiuning, right?”

  “Hah… If only you could find a way to fiu least your own CAD, Mari, my job would be so much easier…”

  “Well, I see we have a serious problem…”

  In the midst of silence as Mayumi, Mari, Suzune, and Azusa tried to think of a solution, Yuuji raised his hand.

  “Uhm… I’m sure we’ll still need an engineer, but to perhaps alleviate some of the burden, I could tune my own CAD, Aika’s, and oher athlete’s CAD if need be.”

  “Eh?! Really? you fiune your own CAD?”

  Yuuji nodded and lowered his left sleeves slightly, revealing the bracelet-type CAD on his wrists.

  “Yes. I’ve been tuning this CAD as well as the one on Aika’s wrists myself.”

  “Oh, that’s impressive.”

  Mari, Suzune, and Azusa all looked at him impressed.

  “But you’ll be participating as an athlete as well right, Yuuji-kun? Will you be alright?”

  Mayumi was delighted, but she was also quite worried. After all, even though he had shown his skills in both practical and theory, he was still a first year student. She didn’t want to burden him too much by making him both an athlete and an engineer for su importa.

  “It will be alright, president. I’m used to fiuning my own CAD and Aika’s, and I believe I’ll be able to handle oher person’s CAD. If you’re worried about the results, then perhaps I be an engineer for another freshman athlete.”

  “Hm… That’s not a bad idea. I agree with this!”

  Mari nodded with an approving smile.

  “...Alright. Thank you so much, Yuuji-kun. But if you feel overwhelmed with the work, the make sure to tell me, okay?”

  “Yes. Thank you very much for your , president. But… even then, I believe we’ll still be g in terms of manpower, right?”

  “Uhn… You’re right. We still need someone dedicated as an engineer…”

  Mayumi let out a sigh, but she felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Yuuji smiling ever shtly at her.

  “Then what about Tatsuya, president?”

  “Ah-!”

  All of them immediately turheir heads towards Tatsuya with widened eyes. Their lips slowly f into a smile as they realized that their solution is right in front of them all along.

  Mayumi’s eyes alshtened and she immediately held Yuuji’s shoulders in delight.

  “What a nice idea, Yuuji-kun!!!”

  “I see… I must be being careless… How could I not have e up with that?”

  Tatsuya g Yuuji in disbelief a out a sigh as soon as he saw his grin.

  He turowards Mayumi and tried to make a case for himself.

  “...If I’m not mistaken, a first year has never beeed as a teical staff.”

  “There has to be a first for everything, right president?”

  “Uhn~! It’s as Yuuji-kun said~!”

  “Mm. Prets were made to be overturned.”

  “...You trogressive thinkers, so you might see it that way, but for a first year, and a Course 2 to boot… And on top of that, I’ve been standing out in a bad way in more ways than one.”

  “W-Well that’s…”

  Mayumi let go of Yuuji’s shoulders and grasped her hands as she averted her gaze, defted.

  “Trust between engineer and user is a crucial part of CAD fiuning. Appointing someone who might bring on a backsh from athletes doesn’t sound like a good idea… Moreover, I believe Yuuji will be suffit enough to cover for the position of both engineer and athlete sidering his capabilities. That should be enough, right…?”

  Yuuji widened his eyes and looked at Tatsuya in disbelief. Did he really not want to join the Nine Schools petition? No, they’ve talked about it while pnning on what they’re going to do against the No Head Dragons that will be b them during the event, and he’s included in the pn.

  Then… Could he be… pnning to go as an outsider like Erika, Mizuki, Leo, and Mikihiko…?

  If he was, then he would be able to attend the event without being part of the representative team. But… the Nine Schools petition wasn’t only a pce for him to show his prowess and gain reition from others, but also an integral factor for his personal growth.

  He might think it’d be better for him to hide from his aunt until he’s ready, but his growth as a person is much more important! Also, didn’t everything end well in the aher way?

  Yuuji didn’t want him to miss this event… He truly believed this event would be good for him.

  He stared at Tatsuya and saw him looking back at him. His gaze, firm and unmoving.

  Yuuji was truly at a loss… After everything Tatsuya had said, he couldn’t force him anymore…

  Yes… he ’t. But there’s someone who could.

  “I’d like my brother to fiune my CAD for the Nine School petition as well. I-I uand that Yuuji is also perfectly capable, but as expected, I’d feel more fortable if my brother is the one who does it!”

  Yuuji couldn’t help but cheer in his heart the moment Miyuki stood up from her chair and said that. He let out a sigh of relief as Aika also jumped up from her seat and pced her hands on Miyuki’s shoulder with a grin aimed at Tatsuya.

  “Hehehe~ That’s right~ You said it yourself right, Tatsuya~? That trust between the engineer and the athlete is super important~! That means, it will be for Miyuki’s best if you, the persorusts the most, fiune her CAD! Right, Miyuki-~?”

  “U-Uhn… Is it… Okay, onii-sama…?”

  “Ah…”

  Yuuji’s lips curled into a smile as he looked at his expression. It has been decided.

  As expected. When dealing with a sis, we need his sister to be the one who asks him and he’ll do everything!

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  After the discussion, Miyuki stayed to do her duties as a member of the student cil while Tatsuya also stayed to apany her.

  Yuuji and Aika, oher hand, excused themselves from the student cil room to meet up with Erika, who’s waiting for them.

  They went out of the building into the courtyard and immediately saw Erika sitting on a park ben front of a tree, waving at them.

  “Hey! How was the meeting?”

  “It went well. It was more of a talk than a meeting, though.”

  Erika scooted iving Yuuji space to sit beside her and Aika to sit on his other side.

  “Oh, is it about the Nine Schools petition?”

  “It was! And you’ll never believe what we talked about!”

  “Hm? What?”

  Aika grinned and pced her hand to the side of her lips, hiding it from outside view, and tinued.

  “Tatsuya will bee an engineer for the team!”

  “Eh?! Really?!”

  “Well, to be precise, he’ll be reended by the student cil. But I’m sure he’ll be accepted, sidering his skills.”

  Yuuji added as he looked at the surprised Erika with a small smile.

  “Heeeeeh, that’s amazing.”

  “Mm. We’ll also be holding a meeting along with Juumonji-senpai and the rest of the team for this, so we might go home te…”

  “Ah… Oh well, it ’t be helped, right…?”

  Erika smiled helplessly in disappoi. She was really looking forward to visiting them after school today since Yuuji will be treatio dinner, but sihey’ll be going home te, it’ll be difficult to do so.

  “Hehe~ You just go to our house first, Erika~!”

  “Eh? Will that be okay?”

  “Of course, why wouldn’t it be? We’ve registered your fingerprint for the lock st time for a reason.”

  “A-Ah… T-Then, I’ll be waiting for you guys there.”

  “Mm. We’ll go back as soon as possible.”

  “Hehe~ Isn’t that great, Erika? You use this ce to dive into Yuuji’s bed and sniff it all you want, you know~”

  “W-What are you saying, you pervert!!! I won’t do that!!!”

  “Eeeehhhh~? Really~??? Well, it’s your loss~ I’m just saying because Yuuji’s room is never locked~”

  “...”

  Yuuji leaned bad watched Aika tinuing to tease Erika silently with a helpless smile.

  Seeing them getting along this well had been a tremendous relief to him. After all, his biggest since agreeing to Aika’s harem pn was whether or not the girls in his harem could get along. He repared to do his best to pacify them when needed and bee an intermediary when they fight. But so far, he never had to do that.

  In fact, Aika and Erika had bee really close really quickly, which is nothing but good news for him.

  Just then, the bell signaling the end of their lunch break rang.

  “Ah, it’s the bell. We better return to css soon.”

  “Hehe~ Don’t fet what I said okay, Erika~? You’re free to do anything you want in Yuuji’s room!”

  “I-I get it already! Just go back to your css! I’ll be going back to!”

  “Ah, wait.”

  Yuuji grab Erika’s hand when she was about to leave and turned her around.

  And before she could say anything, he pced a hand on her cheek and gave her lips a soft, gentle kiss filled with his affe.

  “Alright. See you ter. I love you, Erika.”

  Erika stood there with eyes opened wide, pletely frozen, before her face burst into red and quickly averted her face away from him.

  “U-Uhn! I-I-I love you too! S-See you guys ter!!!”

  With her hand freed from Yuuji’s grasp, she immediately burst into a sprint and run away from them, leaving Yuuji with a helpless smile and Aika with a wide, teasing grin on her face.

  “Kekeke~ How the proud swirl has fallen~ Good job, Yuuji~ You’re successfully corrupting her into your love sve slowly~”

  Yuuji sighed and bonked her on the head.

  “That’s not what I’m doing… Now stop messing around a's go back to css. We’ll be te.”

  “Sure~”

  Aika hugged Yuuji’s arm with a wide smile and made their way back to css, separating from their hand holding midway ohere were other students around.

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  After school.

  Yuuji, Aika, and Miyuki went to the First High School’s Extracurricur Activities Federation HQ for a meeting regarding the Nine Schools petition which would be held soon.

  Leading the meeting was Saegusa Mayumi, who sat at the ter of the desk up front, fag him and the rest of the stduents who will be representing First Highschool in the petition.

  To her left was the chairwoman of the Disciplinary ittee, Watanabe Mari, while tht was the chairman of the Extracurricur Activities Federation, Juumonji Kaito. And stly, standing diagonally behind the student cil president was her vice, Hattori Hanzou.

  But not only them, Yuuji and Aika alsnized a few people currently in this room. Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka, who came with them along with Tatsuya and Miyuki to this rht after their st css ended, Isori Kei and Chiyoda Kanon, who they reized from the anime, as well as Kirihara Takeaki, who they are quite closely acquainted with after the bnche i.

  After preliminary messages from the leaders of each of the student anizations, Mayumi immediately went straight to the point with her main agenda.

  “As the president of the student cil, I hereby nominate Shiba Tatsuya to be a member of our team as an eo represent First High School in the uping Nine Schools petition.”

  As they expected, many were unvinced by the fact that a Course 2 student was nomio be a member of the team to represent the school, while some doubted his ability and wondered whether or not he could fiune a CAD.

  Seeing their reas, Juumonji’s voice resounded, sileng all of them with his deep, baritone, anding voibsp;

  “It seems like many are still unvinced… It would probably be best to have you actually see Shiba’s skills.”

  “Oh…? What are you pnning to do specifically?”

  Mari leaned in slightly and turowards Juumonji.

  “I’m thinking of having him actually fiune a CAD. If needed, I will be the test subject for all of you to see his skill.”

  “What? That is too dangerous!”

  “That’s right, chairman. If the tuning is sub-par, suffering from injuries would be the least of your s!”

  “I am the one who nominated him, so I shall take on the role.”

  Mayumi also raised her voice to volunteer herself. But before anyone could say anything iurn, Kirihara stood up and raised his hand.

  “Excuse me, but may I be the oo take on that role?”

  “... Are you sure, Kirihara-kun?”

  “Of course, president.”

  “...Then please.”

  WIth no one else raising their voice, all of them moved to a nearby b where they would test Tatsuya’s skills in fiuning a CAD.

  Like most of the rooms in the school, the b had predominantly white floors and walls with various advanced puters and devices. The devices and puters here were all advaeology that lives up to the kind of facility that would be present within one of the best schools of magi the try. While they were not as advanced as the ones used iremely dedicated research b fic such as FLT’s b or Yuuji’s b, it was still far more than suffit for students to use and dive deep into the world of magic.

  Tatsuya sat down before the main puter and began preparing it for his task. As he did, he turowards the president, who was standing a few distance away from his side along with Mari, and begaerating his task.

  “The task is to copy Kirihara-senpai’s CAD’s settings over to this CAD for petitive use, and to make it immediately usable. However, I am not to tamper with the Activation Sequeself. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, that will be all. Hm? What’s wrong?”

  “...Although I don’t really reend copying the settings of a CAD with different specs. It ’t be helped. I will take a “Safety First” approach.”

  Tatsuya began his task and the ser device, where both Kirihara’s personal bracer-type CAD and the bracer-type CAD used for petitions were id on, began to glow.

  At the same time, Kirihara also put on a visor and pced his hand on another sing device which was used to get the measurement of his vitals and magibsp;

  A few moments ter, Tatsuya told Kirihara that it is fio take it off now that the sing is plete and began to type at high speeds.

  Seeing his “unusual” method of fiuning, many who had already doubted him began to doubt him even further and some even s his “strange” and “old sethods.

  But the few who did uand what he was doing were impressed by his skills, including Azusa and Isori Kei.

  “A totally manual fiuning, huh? That’s impressive…”

  “Eh? Is it really that impressive, Kei?”

  From his side, a beautiful purple-haired girl leaned in and asked her beloved fiance fusedly.

  “Mm. It is. It’s just that there seem to be a lot of people who don’t get what it is that he’s doing.”

  Hearing their little versation, Yuuji couldn’t help but approach them.

  Although Kei p character in the anime, Yuuji couldn’t help but like him as a person. After all, he was aremely kind, gentle, and soft spoken man who’d he would really love to get along with. He’s like a gentle older brother in Yuuji’s eyes.

  “I agree. Isori Kei-senpai and Chiyoda Kanon-senpai, am I right? It is a pleasure to meet the both of you. I’ve heard many good things about both of you and your skills.”

  Kei and Kanon wideheir eyes in surprise for a moment when the super famous freshman approached them. Not only that, he also knew about them.

  “Y-Yes. It is my pleasure to meet you as well, Tsubakihara-kun. I didn’t expect you to know about us.”

  “You are too humble, Isori-senpai. The fact that you uand what Tatsuya’s doing speaks well to your knowledge and profi this subject.”

  “You as well.”

  Kei answered with a soft smile, and Yuuji smiled back. As he expected, he could really get along with this guy very well.

  “Hey, I’ve heard about you volunteering to bee both an athlete and an engineer. Is that true?”

  Kanon asked, tilting her head forward to better see the freshman she heard so much about.

  She felt her heart skip a beat a moment ago from suddenly seeing his super handsome face up close, but as expected, no one else could enter her heart apart from her beloved childhood friend and fiance!

  Now, she only felt curiosity towards Yuuji and a slightly good impression of him, seeing as he seemed to admire her Kei a lot.

  Oher hand, Yuuji was surprised she already heard about this even though he just said it this m.

  “Yes. Though I don’t think I be as dedicated to engineering with my time as Tatsuya or the ineers, but I at least fiune my, Aika’s, and oher person’s CAD.”

  “Heeeeeh~ That’s amazing.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be okay? Taking care of yourself is also your responsibility as an athlete, you know?”

  Kei said in , and Yuuji simply nodded gratefully.

  “Mm. Thank you for your , but I will be fine, senpai. I’m used to handling my own and Aika’s CAD, and oher person will not make much of a difference.”

  “I see… Well, if you ever need help, just tact me, okay? I will be happy to help.”

  “Hehe~ Kei is an amazing engineer, so you definitely t on him!”

  Kei smiled helplessly as Kanon advertised him with sparkling eyes while hugging his arm.

  “Of course.”

  Yuuji tinued his versation with Kei and Kanon a bit more, but a few moments ter, Tatsuya finished his fiuning.

  Putting on the bracer-type CAD to his left wrist, Kirihara activated a spell as he held a bamboo sword in his left hand. It was the spell he frequehe most, the Sonic bde.

  After he successfully activated the spell, Juumonji began to speak.

  “How does it feel?”

  “No problem at all. I don’t feel anything different. It feels very natural.”

  Many were surprised by the results, and some, whainst him joining, began to speak up.

  “So he does have some passable skills, but you ’t say that he’s got finesse.”

  “His methods are tur.”

  “That’s right.”

  But surprising to everyone, a petite girl with sholden brown hair stepped up and frohose who said that.

  “I, for orongly support naming Shiba to the team! The skills he just showed us are extremely advanced! Doing all that fiuning manually… that’s something I could never hope to do!”

  Despite her nervousness and shyness of speaking in public, Azusa still did her best to express her opinions. After what she had seen, she really waatsuya to joieam! The skills he had dispyed were amazing and it would be a great be for their team and the school if he could join the petition!

  “His teiques might be advanced, but if the results are pedestrian, then there’s no meaning to it.”

  Azusa defted at those words, but to the surprise of everyone once again, Hanzou raised his voice.

  “Kirihara’s personal CAD is a model boasting higher specs than the one for petitive use. Preventing the user from pig up on the difference, I believe that such skills should be rated highly.”

  “W-Well, I guess that is true…”

  Yuuji smiled as he looked at Hanzou, who met his gaze, and spoke up as well.

  “Full manual tuning might seem irregur and strange in this day and age where everything be done using a more streamlined and automatic process. However, that is only due to its high barrier of skill required to properly perform it. With enough knowledge and skill to execute it, full manual fiuning would allow engio tuhe CAD with more precise and refined adjustments pared to other methods. And as you all see, I believe Shiba Tatsuya possesses such skills.”

  Hanzou o Yuuji and turowards the president.

  “President. I support adding Shiba-kun to the engineering team.”

  “Hanzou-kun…!”

  “In the Nine School’s petition, our school’s prestige is on the line. “Because he is a first year” or “there’s no pret”... We ot afford to dwell on such trivial matters”

  Silence fell upon the room as those whainst Tatsuya joining the team failed to find a logical argument to assert their point.

  And as the final nail in the coffin, Juumonji also spoke up in favor.

  “I also agree with the points both of you have pointed out. Shiba just showed us that he has the skills to be a member of our school’s team. I, too, support adding Shiba to the team.”

  AN: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter~! Please ent your thoughts~! I would love to hear what you think about it~!!!!

  Also, if you'd like to read additional chapters ahead a a pdf version (Light & Dark), please feel free to chey at patr.eon./vergsx ~!!