39 Chapter 37 Confessions? Love?

The next 24 hours passed to everyone at First High in the blink of an eye. Everyone, no matter whether they were Course One students or Course Two, were awaiting the duel between the number one and number two of the entrance exams.

It wasn't a normal occurrence to have a duel between two students publicized like this so much. It was partly due to the way the duel was challenged and that the information regarding it couldn't be contained. It didn't help that the Student Council President herself advocated the match and opened a betting pool over the internet.

Many students, teachers and older Magicians placed bets, not that any of them would admit it.

This sent many of the students into a frenzy and their excitement peaked the afternoon the match was scheduled to start.

"Are guys heading over there to?".

"It's already started?!".

"No! It's starting in about 30 minutes! The Student Council, Public Morals Committee and the Club Management Group have all set up seats for Students to watch!".

"We've got to go right now then!".

1st years, 2nd years and even some of the 3rd year students all went to watch the match between Gyoubu and Mikazuchi. There was seating, a large arena and even some food stalls being managed by clubs in order to promote their produce.

The also moved the start of Club Week to tomorrow, and the festivities from today were just a taste of what First High, had to offer their new students.

"Are you ready Takemi?".

Their were three figures standing inside a tent on the side of First High's main sports field. Two of them were admiring the black and red CAD in the dual lock case and the other was tapping his foot against the ground looking at the time on his phone.

The latter's expression appeared impatient and he looked over at his friends, Kei and Kanon who were touching Varuna Astra with sparkles in their eyes.

"I've never seen a CAD like this before! The design! The handle! The trigger! It's all so-".

"Elegant! It's a little heavier than I thought, but it feels surprisingly natural in the hand. You said it's a Four Leaves original?".

Takemi nodded and was about to reply to Kei, before a white haired figure came in with an embarrassed expression, carrying a similar looking CAD to the one in Kei's hand.

"Sorry I'm late! The traffic was a little worse than I thought!".

Musashi scratched the back of her head as she poked out her tongue. The Saber Servant handed the CAD to Takemi who took it with a gulp.

He looked down at the Agni Astra and Kei gave back Varuna Astra and smiled unconsciously at the feeling of the two gun sword shaped CADs in his hands. It felt more natural than when he was using the two katana that Musashi gave him for practice.

'They should be, I helped design it after all'.

Takemi slipped the CAD into their respective sheaths and locked them underneath his belt. The belt was specially designed by him and made by Ushiyama to hold the two CAD. Without his First High blazer and with just vest, shirt and tie, it made Takemi look like some sort of cosplayer.

"It looks great Takemi! Kick some ass out there!".

Musashi punched the air and Takemi nodded at her remark, Kei and Kanon only looked at their teacher and said, "Are you sure you should be advocating one student to beat up another Mikazuchi-sensei?".

The Servant flinched.

"It doesn't matter! I'm not on the clock right now and I even bet on Takemi to-".

"What was that about betting Mikazuchi-sensei?".

The temperature in the room got colder as Yuuka walked in with the rest of the Student Council in tow. Charlotte had a happy smile on her face and Ichihara and Azusa had rather impassive expressions. Mayumi on the other hand,

"Are you going to be okay Takemi-san?".

Her actions raised some eyebrows, including Musashi's and the closeness and amount of concern in her voice was clearly evident.

"I'll be fine Mayumi-senpai. You shouldn't worry yourself with things like this. You'll ruin your beautiful-".

"Ehem!".

The pair turned and faced the Vice President who had a light pink on her cheeks before quickly returning to her normal look.

"Mayumi. Takemi. I'm sure your fully aware of what you look like to the rest of us and I advise you cease this. It is improper".

Takemi and Mayumi looked at each other and saw that the latter had her hands wrapped around the former and she backed away with a reddened face. She gave a bow before returning to Ichihara's side, trying to keep her face from changing to the same color as her eyes.

Yuuka sighed before eyeing Takemi, her gaze landing on his waist.

"Are those your CADs? You have two of them...".

"Yes they are Yuuka-senpai. I was raised to fight with two swords and requested them to be useful in combat as well as for Magic".

She smiled before Charlotte stepped forward and asked, "But why two of them? You should know that-".

"Kaichou! Even if we asked we might not get an answer.... and besides, Takemi has to prove to us why he should be allowed to enter the Student Council. I'm sure we'll find our answer soon".

Takemi smirked at Yuuka's comment and nodded. He watched the group leave the tent, leaving only Kei, Kanon, Musashi and Mayumi, whose gaze everyone was gathered on.

"I think we'll take our leave Kanon. I want to get good seats to watch the match".

Kei's purple haired fiancée caught his drift and the two left giving Takemi a knowing gaze before they exited.

"I'll leave now as well Takemi. Although once we get home, I need an explanation regarding some matters.... and it will take the entire night to explain them". Said Musashi. She gave her Master a wink and walked out of the tent licking her lips.

'It seems like Musashi's a lot more aggressive since Angelina....'.

Takemi was all alone with Mayumi and gestured for the Saegusa Princess to sit down with him. She accepted and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and her gaze flickered over to Takemi's.

"I wanted to talk to you about something....".

"What is it? Is it so important that you had to get everyone to leave first?".

She blushed and gave the room a once over.

"It's about.... us. No! You and me and what.... we are?".

Takemi leaned in closer to Mayumi and lowered his head, hunching slightly to meet her height. She wasn't afraid of his movements and just squirmed a little being so close to Takemi.

"Mayumi".

Her back straightened and her turned her head to look at Takemi whose golden eyes were staring into her own. They were the same golden eyes that haunted her dreams the last few days. She gulped.

"Yes? What is it?".

Although Mayumi asked this, her face had slightly tilted to the side and she could feel her nose touching Takemi's. Her breath grew heavier and she just closed her eyes.

"I want-".

"Hello! Hello! Students and teachers of First High!".

A loud voice rang out over the P.A System, interrupting the two causing a massive twitch mark to appear on top of Takemi's head.

'Why now of all times!'.

Her could hear Charlotte's voice introduce the school and several guests that decided to attend the fight, but didn't care and only looked at Mayumi who had retreated a couple steps back.

"Mayumi I-".

The girl's entire face had turned redder than a tomato and she was constantly moving hair behind her ear as she walked back and forth through the room.

"I can't believe I almost- No! It didn't happen! We were just messing around! Yes! Just-".

"Mayumi!".

The red eyed princess jumped a little at the intensity of Takemi's voice and stood still as she watched him come towards her.

"Takemi, I think it's best that we-".

"Do you have feelings for me Mayumi?".

Her gaze moved around the room and she didn't dare looking directly into Takemi's eyes but couldn't move her face when he cupped her cheeks with two hands.

Red met gold and the two remained silent for a while before Mayumi said.

"Yes. I think so but....".

"But what? Am I-".

Takemi's tone grew hurt but Mayumi shook her head frantically before saying, "I just don't want a relationship yet! I like you Takemi and I'd like to be something more however....

I want to at least finish High School before I start thinking about stuff like that!".

The inside of the tent grew silent and the two heard Charlotte introduce Gyoubu causing a wave of cheers to resound throughout the field. They both heard some people shouting for a demonstration and the sound of Psion Waves rang throughout the school.

"I see.... so for now you-".

"I just want to be.... friends.... if that's alright with you....".

Takemi felt a metaphysical arrow strike his heart and gave a chuckle and a wry smile ans backed away from Mayumi. She saw his current expression and her heart wavered for a second and they two of them heard Charlotte introduce Takemi.

"And in the red corner! Weighing approximately 61 kilos. Standing at 180 cm! The current freshman representative! The one the only!..... Mikazuchi! Takemi!".

Another wave of cheering coursed through the field and Takemi started to walk out the door. He felt a little disappointed inside, and part of him thought that he rushed into making Mayumi fall in love with him.

"Takemi wait-".

"I guess I'll see you- hm?! HM!".

He felt a soft sensation press against his lips and his eyes widen as Mayumi kissed him voluntarily.

It only lasted a brief second before the red eyed black princess pulled back.

"Why, I thought-".

Mayumi's face reddened before she said, "It's a good luck charm. I don't want you to lose if you were feeling bad about this.... I'm still serious about not being in a relationship though. I'm not ready-".

She stopped and went wide eyed when Takemi smiled and leaned his forehead against her and patted her head.

"Thank you Mayumi.... I won't give up on you just yet".

Takemi left the tent and left the future President of First High gobsmacked in the tent. She raised a hand to feel the warmth Takemi left behind on her forehead and smiled. Mayumi shook her head and ran back over to where the Student Council was with a smile on her face.

The other girls didn't need to ask questions to know that she was happy.

"Ah! Look at those dual CADs everybody! It seems that Mikazuchi is really gearing up today to hive us a show! How about a little display first?".

The Master smiled and drew Agni Astra from its sheath and pointed it to the sky. The entire crowed grew silent and only heard the push of a trigger before a giant Magic Sequence appeared above them.

Many anticipated a massive thunder strike or a torrent of water to come crashing down like some of the rumors that they heard about Takemi. However-

"Snow?".

Everybody that was looking up saw the water molecules in the air gather, along with the disappearance of heat in the surrounding atmosphere. Many thought it was a nice spell and seeing snow in the middle of spring was always a nice thing but it was a little lackluster.

That is until Takemi pulled out his second CAD and pulled the trigger.

Another Magic Sequence appeared directly above Takemi's head and started to spin and gather all the floating snow around him, creating a tornado of ice.

"Two spells? Dual Casting?".

"But that's impossible!".

"To separate one's mind to analyse two Magic Sequences at the same time! That's incredible!".

It's not possible for a normal Magician to cast two spells at once, as their Magic Calculation Area wouldn't be able to handle two separate streams of information. They would only get jumbled up and the Magic Sequence would implode in on itself.

Takemi only closed his eyes and moved the tornado of ice above him below him and explode beneath his feet. Many pairs of eyes turned upwards as they saw the young man do a flip mid air followed by another explosion of snow beneath his feet. And another. And another. And another...

"Loop Casting combined with Dual Casting! What?!".

Charlotte's voice made many snap out of it and the logical parts of their brains started working.

If the explosions of snow beneath Takemi's feet was actually just him gathering air underneath them, with the snow only being their for theatrical effect then it would seem possible for what was happening in front of them to occur. Even if it was just Loop Casting, using two different Magic Sequences at the same time was normal, than everybody would do it.

"It looks rather beautiful doesn't it Kanon?... Kanon?".

Kei looked to his fiancée whose face looked rather.... sensual. Kanon gave a envious sigh and shook her head. The effeminate boy looked around and saw many girls looking at Takemi with stars in their eyes.

"What is going- oh?.... wait, is that!".

In the sky above the field, Takemi's face was sweating rather heavily and he struggled to concentrate while executing his third spell in a row.

It was a rather simple one, but the amount of variables in it was a greater many more than even a basic Magic Sequence. It slowly gathered the excess snow particles in the air and created a figure with a rather large degree of likeness to a certain Student Council member.

Takemi ceased his first Magic Sequence and took the cold hands of the snow beauty in front of him and started to dance with it. It was just him and the snow beauty spinning round and round but it's real intention wasn't to look pretty or show off his prowess as a Magician.

It was a message.

"Ah? Mayumi-senpai? Why are you-", Azusa saw that the Saegusa Princess beside her had a single tear fall out of her eye. Ichihara and Yuuka both noticed this although they didn't say anything.

"It's nothing A-chan. I just think....".

A resounding ding entered Takemi's mind.

"That I've fallen in love.....".