The Infinite Dimensions Starting from The Irregular at Magic High School

It was not.

"If you don't want to talk, then I'll do it myself."

He pressed both hands to the man's temples, and psions pierced into his brain through them like long needles.

"Gah...! Aghah...! Guh...! Guoooh...!"

The instant the psions invaded his brain, his whole body convulsed as if he were cramping, like a fish thrown onto shore.

His eyeballs gradually rolled upward, exposing the whites.

White foam kept spilling from his mouth, and drool and snot ran all over the floor.

His memories were being forcibly and rapidly flipped through by Yotsuba Mahiro.

If this had been any other family line, they definitely would not have been able to do it, but for the Yotsuba Family, which excelled at mental magic, it was easy.

As for whether it would leave aftereffects, he did not care at all.

Hard work paid off. After scanning the man's memories, Yotsuba Mahiro found what he wanted.

The international criminal organization "No Head Dragon," the outside betting pool for the Nine Schools Competition, and an insider on the operations committee...

A dangerous glint flashed through Yotsuba Mahiro's eyes.

"Now I've finally caught you by the tail."

"What happened?"

Just as the venue lay in utter silence, everyone staring in terror at Yotsuba Mahiro crouched on the ground and beat the operations committee member in charge, an old man's voice slowly rang out.

The voice was very calm, with neither pressure nor authority, and it felt very familiar to Mahiro.

"Old Master Kudo, it's been a long time."

As if throwing away trash, he casually tossed the man, who had already turned into an idiot, onto the ground.

Upholding the bare minimum of courtesy, he stood and bowed to Kudo Retsu.

"Mm, it has indeed been a long time. Your matches over the past two days were splendid. Your performance was quite good. But can you tell me what happened here?"

"This bastard illegally installed a spell formula into our school contestant's CAD. I discovered it, so I dragged him out and questioned him a little."

As a gesture, he even kicked the idiot at his feet.

"I see."

Everyone who had just been frozen by Yotsuba Mahiro's violent aura and killing intent believed this was a lie.

They did not believe someone could install a spell formula into a CAD through a scanner.

Besides, how was this questioning him a little?

They had seen with their own eyes how Yotsuba Mahiro had brutally beaten the person in charge.

Rather than questioning, it looked more like revenge.

Everyone present knew that yesterday, because Contestant Yotsuba's magical power was too strong, the operations committee had banned the magic formula he had been using.

So was this really not revenge?

But with Kudo Retsu present, they did not dare interrupt carelessly.

"This is the CAD that was illegally tampered with, correct?"

"Yes."

The old magician once praised by the world as the ultimate and the most skillful took the CAD from the inspection machine, brought it before his eyes, examined it repeatedly, and nodded.

"...There is indeed a foreign object mixed in. I have an impression of this thing. This is the Electronic Cicada that once appeared in the East Sea Archipelago theater back when I was still an active soldier."

After Kudo Retsu finished speaking, he cast a cold gaze at the man lying on the ground, drooling nonstop.

Electronic Cicada was a special magic that invaded electronic machines through wired circuits and paralyzed high-tech weapons.

It was not an ordinary magic formula.

The person behind this was rather intriguing.

Thinking this, Kudo Retsu had already started walking toward the man.

But then Yotsuba Mahiro's voice rang out.

"Old Master Kudo, if you intend to interrogate this man and get anything out of his mouth, you should give up."

He said, "I've already forcibly read this man's memories, turning him into an idiot. If you want to know anything, just ask me directly."

Those words made several committee members suck in a sharp breath.

Before they could speak, Mahiro continued:

"However, the identity of the person behind the scenes is somewhat special, so I'd like to wait until after the Nine Schools Competition ends before discussing this with you. How does that sound?"

As he spoke, his gaze swept casually over the few people following behind Kudo Retsu.

Those people immediately felt chills run down their spines. As if they had been targeted by a fierce beast, cold sweat streamed down them, and they involuntarily retreated a few steps.

Was this boy really a student?!

And Kudo Retsu had caught the implication as well, and he immediately smiled in amusement.

"Then let's do that. Once the tournament is over, come find me. It's been so many years since we last met; this is a good chance for me to have a proper chat with you, little fellow."

"As for the CAD, use a spare. Since something like this happened, there's no need to inspect it again—Tournament Committee Chairman, wouldn't you agree?"

Kudo Retsu's sudden question made the people following close behind him look like mice that had stepped on a cat, and they hurriedly nodded.

"To think a mole infiltrated the operations committee and tampered with things. This is an unprecedented scandal. You had better give a proper explanation."

The Tournament Committee Chairman looked as if he might faint at any moment, but he still forced himself to give an affirmative response.

With Kudo Retsu stepping in, the matter could be considered settled for the time being.

When Mahiro returned to First High School's headquarters tent with the CAD, he found it completely silent inside.

The gazes everyone cast his way seemed extremely complicated. Some were ashamed, some shaken, others frightened, and still others grateful.

He had no idea how these senior girls and boys had managed to pack so many emotions into their expressions.

Until Mayumi appeared.

"Oh my, Mahiro."

As the student council president and the students' representative, Mayumi welcomed him with a gaze warmer than everyone else's and a calm voice.

"When I heard from tournament headquarters that a student from our school had suddenly caused a disturbance, I was worried it might have been you, Mahiro, going to make trouble for the committee because you were dissatisfied with what happened yesterday. I never expected you had actually protected our competitor, Mari."

Though nine-tenths of what she said sounded off, and there was a teasing note in her tone, it was still more or less the truth.

Even Watanabe came over and expressed her thanks to him.

"Thank you, Mahiro. The tournament side has already issued a notice regarding the conflict.

But when they were inspecting the CAD, what exactly happened?"

Not only Mari Watanabe, but everyone else was also very curious.

Because the contents of the tournament side's notice had been extremely vague and had not explained the specifics. Perhaps they were afraid of losing face?

"I just happened to catch a petty thief adding an illegal spell formula into the CAD during the scan. Nothing major."

As he spoke, he handed the inspected CAD over to Watanabe.

"Although the tournament side has allowed us to use a spare, rather than saying there was no need for inspection, I've already cleaned out the illegal spell formula inside this one. You should keep using this, Senpai."

"?"

Mari froze for a moment, then asked curiously, "Since I can use a spare, why go through all this trouble?"

At that, Mahiro shrugged helplessly and said, "There's too little time left. The match is about to start. I wouldn't be able to write the protective formula into a spare, so you'll just have to make do with the one you have, Senpai.

Or could it be... you don't trust me, Senpai? Are you afraid there's still some illegal spell formula left inside that will affect the match?"

When he said the second half, his tone was joking.

But it still made Watanabe's voice rise several degrees.

"How could that be?! I just... felt there was no need to go to so much trouble..."

"Oh, Mari! Mahiro is also thinking of your safety."

Mayumi said, "Having a protective formula as insurance is always better. Mari, you wouldn't want any accidents during the match, would you?"

"That's true, but..."

"In that case, Mari, hurry up and go get ready for your match!"

Mayumi urged her to hurry, hurry, while pushing her back, forcibly sending Watanabe out of First High School's tent area.

And after she turned back around, Mayumi pulled him into a relatively secluded room, her expression becoming serious as well.

"Mahiro, tell me honestly. Is this incident very troublesome?"

"You deliberately sent Watanabe away just to ask me about this?"

Mayumi said nothing and simply stared at him.

Although she did not know exactly what had happened, as the eldest daughter of the Saegusa Family, she had already scented danger in it.

"All right. Sorry, but I can't tell you about this for now."

"Why?"

"Because that's what Old Master Kudo Retsu wants."

Though this was simply using another's authority to intimidate people and make Mayumi give up on digging for the truth, there was no other way.

Even if she knew, what could she do?

In the end, it would only add to her worries.

Time moved on.

By the time the semifinals for Monolith Code arrived, the stands were still packed, every seat filled.

But compared to yesterday's cheers, there were far more hushed whispers today.

Especially when they saw that Yotsuba Mahiro was still wearing that conspicuous engineer's outfit.

"Heh, what's he so cocky for? He just knows one Rank A lethal spell, that's all."

"No, no, that magic he used has already been upgraded to tactical-class by the competition organizers, and the Operations Committee has banned it."

"Seriously? Doesn't that mean he can't use it? How's he supposed to compete now?"

"Now this should be fun to watch~"

Their voices were not loud, but once enough people started talking, the words became perfectly clear.

They happened to reach Sayaka's ears just as she was getting ready to enjoy the match.

She turned back and glared angrily at them, then immediately turned around again and asked the people nearby, "What are those people talking about? What magic did the competition ban?"

At the mention of that, Miyuki, Kitayama Shizuku, and Honoka—who were both competitors and in the know—each averted their eyes and fell silent.

Miyuki in particular could not help clenching the hem of her skirt in both hands.

What the committee had done was far too excessive, no matter who looked at it!

Even so, she still believed in Yotsuba Mahiro. Just as he had said yesterday, so what if he did not have Nihility?