The Infinite Dimensions Starting from The Irregular at Magic High School

Until Sayaka was the first to take that step—

She leaned back slightly, as if falling into his arms.

Yotsuba Mahiro paused, then realized what was happening.

He stopped the hair dryer and set it aside, then wrapped both arms around Sayaka, holding her completely in his embrace.

Because she trained so much, Sayaka's figure, in a certain sense, could be called top-tier for her age. That omnipresent springiness showed off the vitality and softness known as health, making it an almost ultimate pleasure.

Of course, this was also his first time being so close to a girl.

Smelling the scent of body wash on Sayaka and feeling that soft warmth filling his arms, Yotsuba Mahiro could not help narrowing his eyes in comfort and letting out a long breath.

At the same time, he also noticed that Sayaka was very nervous.

She was using slow breaths to do her best to calm that nervousness, her body softening bit by bit as she completely nestled into his broad embrace.

And when she heard that comfortable sigh, her mood immediately improved too.

The change she had brought about made her feel something she could not tell was happiness or relief. In any case, thanks to that feeling, her nervousness eased a little.

It let her tilt her ear and enjoy the thump, thump of the heartbeat coming from that broad chest.

Like Yotsuba Mahiro, she had never been this close to a boy before.

Perhaps only her father had ever held her like this, but Yotsuba Mahiro's embrace was different, even more different than the last time in the infirmary.

It made her feel at ease, while also filling her with an inexplicable fluttering.

Until the owner of that embrace suddenly spoke.

"Sayaka, would this count as you seducing me? Aren't you worried I might bully you?"

Though it was only a simple joke, those words made Sayaka's body suddenly stiffen.

She did not answer right away.

She merely stayed silent, strangely so, her face red as her slender fingers kept rubbing the hem of her yukata.

She remained silent for a long time, so long that even her hair seemed to have dried a little naturally, before he heard her answer softly—

"If it's Mahiro-kun, then actually... it's okay to bully me."

Such a simple sentence, spoken in that shy tone, was enough to stir the most primal madness in a person.

That was exactly what happened to Yotsuba Mahiro.

By the time he came back to his senses, it was already past midnight, deep into the night.

Sayaka's flushed face and the way she lightly bit her pearly teeth still echoed in his mind.

And now, the girl was sleeping soundly on her side in his arms, her head resting on his arm.

Her nostrils fluttered slightly.

Her soft, willow-fine hair spilled past her shoulders like a quiet stream of black ink, looking gorgeous and alluring.

The bedside lamp was not bright, casting a gentle glow.

The orange light fell over her body, and the faint valley it outlined made her skin look smooth and moist as jade, soft light gleaming over it like cream.

As if she were afraid of the cold, her shoulders curled in slightly.

The rosy flush spreading across her lovely face made her beautiful as a newly bloomed peony touched with morning dew.

"Mm..."

Just then, along with a low murmur, Mahiro suddenly felt the girl in his arms shift. Immediately after, those tightly closed eyes slowly opened, and her hazy gaze met his.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Mm... no. Mahiro-kun, you're still not sleeping?"

After a long silence, Sayaka finally answered in a low voice.

Perhaps she was a little dehydrated, because her voice carried a slight dryness, and sounded a bit muffled.

"I'm not really sleepy."

"I see... Actually, I'm the same."

After dozing for a short while, though her body was still very tired, her mind was unusually clear.

Her body curled up of its own accord, as if searching for somewhere warm. She nuzzled gently, resting her head against his chest and listening to the strong, powerful beat of his heart.

Mahiro naturally noticed Sayaka's little movement, and he gently raised a hand to rest it on her shoulder, the sensation at his fingertips clearly smooth and silky like fine cream.

"Since neither of us wants to sleep, how about we chat for a while?"

"...Mm, okay."

Sayaka nodded lightly.

However, though they said they wanted to chat, neither of them could think of a good topic for the moment.

The two of them remained silent in the darkness.

Until a short while later, Yotsuba Mahiro spoke first.

"By the way... do you regret it?"

The sudden question made Sayaka's delicate body tremble slightly.

It was tension brought on by the unexpected, but her taut body soon relaxed again.

Because Mahiro had not finished speaking.

"I think you should know what I am. I said it at the banquet before, too. I'm an adjusted-body magician of the Yotsuba Family. You should know what the greatest drawback of adjusted bodies is, right?"

Lifespan.

All adjusted bodies had one issue in common: lifespan.

He and Miyuki had yet to show that drawback, but Sakurai Honami, who had also been an adjusted body, had met an early end because of overuse of magic.

And it was the same for the Kudou Family—Kudo Retsu's grandson, Minoro Kudou.

Because he was an adjusted body, his magical power was extremely strong, but he was frail and sickly, bedridden all year round.

He did not know whether he would become like that in the future.

But after a long while, Sayaka spoke softly.

"...I know."

"Although I don't understand adjusted-body magicians that well... there's only one thing I know, and that's that you saved me, Mahiro."

It was as if she had reached out from a pitch-black mire, unable to speak, only able to pray silently, to plead.

Yet no one had ever paid her any mind, simply watching as she sank little by little into the abyss.

Then, at that moment, Mahiro had appeared, gripping her hand tightly and pulling her out of that mire.

"When you did so much for me, Mahiro, I had already fallen deeply in love with you. I loved you so much I couldn't pull myself free."

He had helped her regain her true self, stood up for her, and even single-handedly wiped out a terrorist organization so that she would not be punished by the law.

Thinking of this, the girl could not help burying her head in his chest and saying in a muffled voice:

"So from that moment on, I made up my mind. Although I'm not as outstanding as President Saegusa, and I'm not as beautiful as Shiba, as long as you need me, Mahiro, I'll always stay by your side."

Her voice was small, but it still lingered gently in the quiet room.

Though the room was dim and her face could not be seen, Mahiro felt as if he could sense the burning gaze from her shimmering eyes.

To say nothing of those words.

Mahiro did not know how others would react if they heard them, but at this moment, he felt a throbbing from deep within his heart.

It ignited his madness once more.

Amid Sayaka's startled cry, Yotsuba Mahiro embraced her again.

This night was destined to be restless.

On the day after the banquet, there was still one free day, and the engineering teams were all busy making their final push.

The contestants, meanwhile, conserved their strength in their own ways, preparing to face the matches in the coming days in the best possible condition.

The next day, the Nine Schools Competition opened as scheduled.

The competition venue, which could hold a full hundred thousand people, could now be described as packed to the rafters. Among those seated were students who had deliberately given up their summer vacation time to cheer on their schools, but even more were members of the public who had come specifically to watch!

Although it was only a competition for high school students, those who came here were essentially all elite students from the various magic high schools.

As long as the students chosen by their schools to participate did not fall halfway, without exception, they would later become mainstays in the military and in various magic-related enterprises.

However, perhaps because magic competitions themselves were already very flashy, there was no need for the ceremony to be noble and ornate, nor were there lengthy guest speeches. The competition began punctually at nine in the morning.

Starting today, over the course of ten days, the official matches—five events each for boys and girls, open to contestants from all years—and the rookie matches—five events each for boys and girls, limited to first-year contestants—began. In total, twenty magic competition events had opened.

The events on the first day were the preliminaries and finals for the official Speed Shooting, as well as the preliminaries for Mirage Bat.

Normally, magic engineers were supposed to be responsible for events, after which the contestants would choose the engineer they preferred to make adjustments.

But Yotsuba Mahiro did the complete opposite.

And that led to one problem—

Mayumi and Mari Watanabe, the two upperclassmen, had overlapping events.

Mayumi had entered Speed Shooting and Monolith Code, while Watanabe had entered Mirage Bat and Fairy Dance.

As a result, from early this morning, Mahiro had been busy.

Fortunately, Mirage Bat was only in the preliminaries, and Watanabe herself was also a favorite to win the championship, so he did not need to take too much care of her.

After preparing the CAD and handing it to Watanabe, he put all his energy into Mayumi's side.

"Is this amount of pressure okay?"

"Mm~ You can use a little more force. It's fine."

Following Mayumi's request, he increased the force again and pressed down hard.

And Mayumi's body was pressed down by him until she was practically folded in half.

Don't get the wrong idea. This wasn't some strange position.

It was just a simple pre-match warm-up stretch.

However...

"Senpai, your body really is flexible," Mahiro praised in surprise.

She could actually spread her legs, bend forward at the waist, and touch her own toes. Her posture was like a closed shell.

As far as he knew, even people who studied dance professionally would probably struggle to pull off such an absurd stretching pose.

Let alone doing it as effortlessly as Mayumi did.

At the very least, Sayaka, who practiced kendo, definitely couldn't do it. After all, that night, they had tried a lot of things too...

"Mm, that's enough."

After Mayumi had stretched left and right four times each, she ended it with those words, calling back his wandering thoughts.

He held her small, soft hand and tugged lightly, pulling Mayumi up from the floor.

"Thank you~"

"You're welcome."

Once she stood up, Mayumi Saegusa stretched her waist, a bright smile appearing on her face, especially when she looked at him.

"By the way, Mahiro-kun, when you were helping me warm up just now, were you thinking about something rude?"

!!!

Had she actually noticed?

"Of course. You were clearly a little distracted just now. Even though you were with a beautiful girl like me, you were still thinking about something else."