The Infinite Dimensions Starting from The Irregular at Magic High School

Erika did not want to hurt the upperclassmen, so she had never used any real strength to break free. As a result, by the time she wanted to leave, she was already surrounded on all sides and trapped there by force.

All she could do was let out faint cries of surprise.

Yet just as her words fell, through the gaps in the crowd, she vaguely saw a familiar figure charging toward her.

"Yotsuba... Is he coming to save me?"

For no reason at all, that thought sprang up in Erika's mind.

And in fact, that was exactly what was happening.

Mahiro had already charged into range of the crowd. A vast cluster of psions gathered around him, and then he stomped hard on the ground!

The massive amount of psions he released formed a magical storm that swept out in every direction.

The students forming the human wall were struck by a considerable magical impact before they even realized what was happening, and quite a few of them fainted on the spot.

The rest stumbled and fell to the ground, causing the encircling human wall to collapse completely.

Mahiro rushed in with the opening.

At the same time, Erika spotted him and stretched out her hand with all her might from within the group of upperclassmen surrounding her.

Seeing this, Mahiro grabbed her hand at once and pulled her out of the pile of people.

"We're running."

Before anyone could react—in fact, even Erika herself had no time to react—

he bent down, scooped up the bend of the girl's knees, gathered her into his arms, and bolted out of the crowd.

With skillful, almost magical steps, he dodged through without touching a single person, successfully escaping the crowd and reaching the shaded side of the school building.

Only when he put down Erika, whom he had been holding all along, did he realize just how badly those upperclassmen had mauled her.

Her hair was completely disheveled, one side of her jacket had been pulled entirely askew, her brand-new uniform was covered in wrinkles, and her fully untied necktie was still clutched in her hand.

The collar of the uniform, with the tie yanked off, was slightly open, revealing skin that had seen the sun yet still retained its fair whiteness.

As well as the delicate lines of her collarbones...

"Don't look!"

Erika noticed his gaze, hurriedly clutched her collar, turned around, and began straightening her clothes.

As the rustle of fabric rubbing together reached his ears, the girl's question followed.

"...Did you see?"

Although he could not see her face, he could imagine how flushed her cheeks must be.

However, Mahiro had the right to remain silent.

"You. Saw. It?!"

Erika raised her voice again, with a hint of sulking in it.

At the same time, the sound of clothing rustling had already vanished, so she had probably finished fixing her clothes.

But since she insisted so much, he did not feel like hiding it either.

So he shrugged and said, "I saw it. Very clearly. Off-white lace. It suits you."

"Idiot! Forget it!"

Hearing him describe it in such detail, Erika spun around in embarrassment and anger and kicked him hard in the shin.

However, being kicked by the soft toe of her shoe did not really hurt.

And after kicking him, Erika turned back around again, presenting her back to him.

Though the movement was a little quick, he could faintly see the tearful corners of the girl's eyes.

She really was innocent, the women of this era.

Back in his previous life, some of them practically wished they could have wardrobe malfunctions—North American succubi, for example.

A short while later, Erika's faint voice sounded dully.

"Still, thank you for coming to save me..."

Although stalls had been set up all over the entire athletic field, they were ultimately limited to the field itself.

The other specialized arenas were being used as normal venues for club public performances.

The gymnasium was the same.

After Erika's emotions had calmed and she had recovered her composure, she arrived there together with Mahiro. At the second small gymnasium, the kendo club was in the middle of a performance.

"Oh~ It's clearly a magic high school, but there's a kendo club," Erika murmured casually.

At that moment, the two of them were in the viewing area set up along the second-floor corridor, leaning against the railing as they enjoyed the kendo club performance below.

"Hey, weren't you the one who dragged me here? You clearly knew about it from the start, so what's there to be surprised about now?"

"Idiot! Couldn't you have just pretended you didn't hear?!"

Erika's face went bright red from his teasing words, and her small pink fists kept thumping against his arm.

She called it venting, but it looked more like she was acting spoiled, making Mahiro burst into laughter.

If an outsider saw them, they might have thought the two were a couple.

"But putting that aside, even if it was an exhibition match, that upperclassman from the kendo club was pretty strong."

"You mean Mibu Sayaka?"

"Mm-hmm."

"You know kendo?"

"Nope."

Mahiro answered so decisively that Erika looked at him in speechless disbelief.

"Then how do you know she's strong?"

"Because I sparred with her at the kendo hall a couple days ago. A pure kendo match."

"Huh? Then who won?"

The moment she heard they had sparred, Erika immediately grew interested and leaned a little closer. At once, a faint, delicate fragrance drifted into Mahiro's nose.

It was a completely different scent from Mayumi's.

If Mayumi was the kind of elegant, faint vanilla, then Erika was like a lively citrus.

Sweet and tangy, and very pleasant.

Mahiro gradually pulled his attention back and answered as if nothing had happened.

"Me, of course. Do you even need to ask?"

"Tch, liar."

"What would I lie to you for?"

"I don't believe you."

Erika rolled her eyes at him and said with disdain, "Mibu Sayaka was the runner-up in the women's division of the national kendo tournament the year before last, the somewhat famous 'Kendo Komachi.' If you could beat her at kendo, your swordsmanship would have to be at least 'inka' level."

He did know about inka. It was one of the ranks in kendo.

They were, in order, "kirigami," "mokuroku," "inka," "menkyo," and "kaiden."

However, he was more curious about something else.

"'Kendo Komachi'? What's that?"

"It means a beautiful kendo girl." Erika waved a hand as she explained.

Because of the champion's looks, the title of "Kendo Komachi" had naturally fallen on Mibu Sayaka at the time.

That made her, the runner-up, even more famous than the champion.

Still, the title of beautiful kendo girl really did suit her.

Seeing Mahiro staring intently at the exhibition match below, Erika's face bloomed with a wicked smile.

"Hey~ Does Yotsuba like girls like Mibu?"

"Mm, I like her a lot. Her sword is beautiful." Mahiro nodded with utter honesty. "But in comparison, I think Erika is cuter."

"Tch, hypocrite. Even if you say that, I'm not happy at all."

Though she glared at him from the corner of her eyes, the lifted corners of her gaze were still tinged with a blush.

Just then, however, a commotion broke out in the venue.

"Looks like there's a conflict down there."

"I see it~"

Mahiro propped up his chin and watched the disturbance below with Erika, both of them bored and listless.

From the looks of it, it seemed like friction between the sword arts club and the kendo club.

A clash between modernity and tradition?

No.

That did not seem to be the case.

"Oh my, things are getting interesting."

Erika suddenly spoke softly, as if talking to herself. Just from her voice, it was clear she was full of anticipation for what was about to happen.

"How so?"

"Didn't I just say it? Mibu Sayaka is the 'Kendo Komachi,' and that guy has a background too."

A hint of reminiscence surfaced in Erika's eyes as she continued.

"That guy's name is Kirihara Takeaki. He was the champion of the junior high division in the Kanto sword arts tournament the year before last, the genuine first place."

"The Kanto regional tournament and the national tournament—obviously the latter carries more weight, right?"

"Well, that's true enough." Erika waved a hand as she explained, "But in the end, magical sword techniques are far more practical than traditional swordsmanship."

"Really?"

As he spoke, he grabbed the railing and suddenly vaulted over it.

"Hey! Yotsuba? What are you doing?!"

"I'm going to lend a hand!"

Mahiro answered like that, but his figure had already plunged into the crowd and vanished.

"That guy... We agreed he'd watch the show with me." Erika folded her arms, grumbling in deep dissatisfaction.

Even so, she did not leave. She intended to watch this whole drama below play out to the end.

This conflict was definitely not as simple as a little friction.

One look at Kirihara Takeaki made it obvious he was deliberately provoking them—even that he had planned this for a long time.

Mahiro had seen that too, which was why he had gone down, intending to see just what this upperclassman Kirihara was trying to pull.

"Ooh~ Looks like it's about to start."

At that moment, on the first-floor floor of the gymnasium, the tension between the two sides had been stretched to its limit.

The drawn-sword atmosphere had reached its peak; there was clearly no way this would end peacefully.

And just as Erika and Mahiro had guessed, the first to take action was indeed that upperclassman Kirihara.

He walked forward with a wooden sword in hand.

"Mibu, have a match with me. Don't worry, this is a demonstration match for the kendo club. I'll accommodate you and refrain from using magic."

His tone was full of the lofty superiority of a Course 1 student.