Of course, the meeting to decide who would participate ended quickly. The candidates had already been chosen beforehand.
The representatives put forward by each club were already set to compete in the Nine Schools Competition. In previous years, this meeting had been little more than a formality.
Just as the formalities were about to wrap up, Saegusa Mayumi, standing at the podium, proposed that Shiba Tatsuya serve as a technician. The room immediately erupted.
The Course 1 girls took it fairly well. They got along with Shiba Miyuki, and Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka were especially close to Shiba Tatsuya, so they had no objections.
But the Course 1 boys who had never liked Shiba Tatsuya started making vicious remarks.
"This is awful. They have no idea how good Tatsuya is with technology."
Mitsui Honoka, who admired Shiba Tatsuya, immediately spoke up in his defense.
Kitayama Shizuku didn't say anything, but her gloomy expression made her displeasure clear.
As for Shiba Miyuki, she was doing her best to keep her magic from erupting, lest she freeze the people insulting her brother into human icicles.
"I see. So everyone's simply never seen Shiba's work and doubts his abilities!"
Jumonji Katsuto's steady voice quieted the murmuring crowd.
"In that case, let Tatsuya give a demonstration right here. I assume none of you will have any complaints after that!"
Watanabe Mari proposed the simplest and most efficient solution, and the boys fell silent.
"Then who's going to be the guinea pig?"
A boy in the audience asked with a sneer.
Everyone fell silent. When a magician used a CAD, the activation sequence entered their mental realm.
Put simply, a magician's mind was completely unguarded against their own CAD.
That meant that if the CAD's tuning wasn't precise—
At best, it could disrupt their mental realm, causing unpleasant symptoms like dizziness, vomiting, or mental instability.
At worst, it could cause permanent mental damage. In severe cases, it could even make them lose their qualification to be a magician.
Besides, according to Shiba Tatsuya himself, he had only ever tuned CADs for his own family. No matter how well they usually got along, no one was willing to take that risk on the spot.
"Then I'll—"
"Forget it. Since I brought it up, I'll do it."
Kudo Mitsunobu cut off Jumonji Katsuto, who had been about to volunteer.
While the others might not have known, Kudo Mitsunobu did. The skill Shiba Tatsuya had displayed in the Student Council room that day was exceptional—almost on par with his own.
So Kudo Mitsunobu didn't feel nearly as anxious as Jumonji Katsuto would have when he volunteered.
Kudo Mitsunobu's offer made Jumonji Katsuto relax without realizing it.
Saegusa Mayumi looked at Kudo Mitsunobu with concern. The excitement she'd felt after resolving her doubts was gone.
Kudo Mitsunobu gave Saegusa Mayumi a reassuring look, then took the CAD off his ear and handed it to Shiba Tatsuya before stepping onto the Adjustment Platform.
After taking the CAD, Shiba Tatsuya sat down. Nakajo Azusa handed him a Competition Type bracelet CAD.
"What do you want me to do?"
After connecting the two CADs, Shiba Tatsuya asked Kudo Mitsunobu.
"Just randomly select five Magic Formulas and transfer them into it."
Competition Type CADs were somewhat similar to Specialized Armed Types. They couldn't store many Magic Formulas.
"Understood. Though I don't really approve of transferring them directly like this."
"CADs with different specifications are better off being reprogrammed from scratch..."
Shiba Tatsuya's fingers flew across the keyboard, but he still sounded dissatisfied with such a crude method.
"I agree this isn't ideal, but this way saves time!"
Even though Kudo Mitsunobu was standing on the Adjustment Platform, he still had the leisure to chat with Shiba Tatsuya. Saegusa Mayumi quickly shot him a sharp look, signaling him not to get distracted.
But when the people below saw Shiba Tatsuya making the adjustments manually, they thought they'd caught him pretending to know what he was doing.
They began jeering without restraint, completely unaware that their reaction only showed how ignorant they were.
Saegusa Mayumi was ready to shut them up by force. Shiba Tatsuya was tuning Kudo Mitsunobu's CAD, after all!
If their heckling distracted Shiba Tatsuya and caused him to make even the slightest mistake, Kudo Mitsunobu's safety could be at risk.
"Calm down, Mayumi."
Watanabe Mari quickly held Saegusa Mayumi back and gestured for her to look at Shiba Tatsuya.
Saegusa Mayumi turned her gaze toward him. She knew how to tune CADs herself, though she could only adjust her own, so she could still follow what someone else was doing.
At least to her, Shiba Tatsuya seemed completely composed, his expression calm throughout.
From what she could tell, there didn't seem to be any mistakes in the program he was entering by hand.
Although he was typing everything in manually, Shiba Tatsuya finished no more slowly than the Tuning Machine's automatic adjustment function—in fact, he was even a little faster.
"Done."
Shiba Tatsuya calmly lifted his hands from the keyboard, entirely unaware that what he had just done was a remarkable feat in the eyes of the technical team, led by Nakajo Azusa.
"Then I'll give it a try!"
Kudo Mitsunobu stepped down from the Adjustment Platform, fastened the CAD to his wrist, and walked into the testing room behind them.
Every CAD adjustment room at the school had an adjoining testing chamber. It wasn't particularly spacious, measuring only about thirty square meters, but its construction could withstand the force of spells below Class A.
That way, students could conveniently test their magic after their CADs had been adjusted.
Everyone present focused on Kudo Mitsunobu through the large glass window.
Saegusa Mayumi, Jumonji Katsuto, and the others were worried about Kudo Mitsunobu's safety.
The Course 1 boys were hoping something would go wrong with Kudo Mitsunobu so they could kick Shiba Tatsuya off the team.
Kudo Mitsunobu's safety was the least of their concerns.
Besides, in their eyes, Kudo Mitsunobu had already betrayed the Course 1 team by speaking up for Shiba Tatsuya.
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