"Seriously. Monolith Code and Mirage Bat are events we absolutely have to win, but now that Mari can't participate, it's really troublesome," Mayumi Saegusa complained.
She kept talking, but her hands didn't stop moving. Her fingers were gripping Yunyi's arm tightly, as if venting her dissatisfaction.
Yunyi didn't seem to mind her little actions.
"Isn't the Nine Schools Competition supposed to allow substitutes to fill in for the participants? As long as we can find someone to replace Chairwoman Watanabe, that should be fine, right?" Yunyi asked.
He remembered clearly that in the original plot, Miyuki Shiba replaced Mari Watanabe, and even let her take the opportunity to show off her Flight Magic.
"Yes, we can use substitute players, but we didn't anticipate this problem in the Nine Schools Competition, so we didn't prepare any substitutes for Mirage Bat Picker. Besides, very few others can perform like Mari."
At this point, Mayumi Saegusa looked at Miyuki Shiba.
"How about letting Miyuki participate in the main competition?"
Mayumi Saegusa's suggestion surprised everyone, and Suzune Ichihara pondered the possibility of this approach.
Miyuki Shiba was also somewhat surprised, and she had some questions she wanted to ask.
Just then, Yunyi suddenly interjected, "No need for all that trouble. It's just Mirage Bat. Mayumi, you can go to the competition in Chairwoman Watanabe."
"Eh? Yunyi-kun, you mean you want me to go?" Mayumi Saegusa was so surprised she didn't know what to say.
"It's not that I'm bad at Mirage Bat, Yunyi-kun."
Mayumi Saegusa is really not suitable for dealing with the Mirage Bat. Moreover, she herself is not the type with particularly good athletic ability.
"Give me two days, and I'll give you some special training. If that doesn't work, then let Shiba take your place. Otherwise, wouldn't we be giving up the Rookie Tournament's Mirage Bat Championship for nothing?"
Yunyi's first half of his sentence might not have been enough to persuade Suzune Ichihara and the others, but his second half struck a chord with Suzune Ichihara.
"Two days is fine, but Liu Yunyi, are you really sure you can do it?" Ichihara was still somewhat unsure.
"If something flying in the sky scores faster than something bouncing on the ground, then all I can say is that Mayumi is an idiot." Yunyi shrugged.
"Flying in the sky? You're planning to have the president use Flight Magic? That's too reckless! The Mirage Bat Competition isn't a one-round contest!" Suzune Ichihara immediately objected.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't joke about something like this! The magic I taught her won't have this problem."
At this point, Yunyi paused slightly. He turned to look at Tatsuya Shiba and said, "However, Tatsuya, you know what's going on, right?"
A rare hint of surprise appeared on Tatsuya Shiba's usually expressionless face. After a long pause, he sighed heavily, "I still have rookie contestants to take care of, so please go easy on me."
"Don't worry, Tatsuya, there are only two spells this time. And one of them is Loop Cast that you're very good at!"
"By the way, Shiba- kun," Yunyi then looked at Miyuki Shiba, "You don't have any objections to this arrangement, right? If you want to participate in the main competition, then we won't let Mayumi replace Chairwoman Watanabe."
Miyuki Shiba chuckled and shook her head; she naturally wouldn't care about such things. Besides, she envied the way Yunyi and Mayumi Saegusa got along.
"We're all from the Ten Master Clans, so why can President Saegusa do this, but my brother and I can't?"
"OK~ Since Shiba- kun has agreed, let's not delay. Mayumi, I'll take you to experience it first." Yunyi called out to Mayumi Saegusa.
Upon hearing his words, Mayumi Saegusa shook her head vigorously, and retreated repeatedly, hiding behind Suzune Ichihara.
"No way! It took me ages to forget the feeling of you dragging me off the top of that department store!"
"I..." Yunyi was stunned. He hadn't expected Mayumi Saegusa to react this way. Wasn't it said that all magicians in this era wanted to fly? Why was this girl's reaction so strange?
"Department store?" Shizuku Kitayama, adept at finding keywords, spoke again, immediately grasping the crux of the matter.
"Oh, it's that building over there in XXX. Wasn't it attacked not long ago? Mayumi and I happened to be there. To escape, we jumped off the rooftop restaurant," Yunyi explained.
"Well..."
"No way?"
"Really?"
After hearing Yunyi's explanation, everyone finally understood why Mayumi Saegusa reacted this way.
Although that building wasn't one of the tallest in the city, it was still nearly a hundred meters high. Jumping from there without proper preparation would certainly not be a pleasant experience.
" Mayumi, this time it's not about jumping off a building, ugh, what jumping off a building. This time it won't be like the last time. I'll be more careful, okay?" Yunyi tried to comfort Mayumi Saegusa.
"Really?" Mayumi Saegusa tilted her head, looking at Yunyi cautiously.
"Really! Last time it was a desperate measure, but it won't happen again this time," Yunyi assured him once more.
"Well, I'll give it a try." Mayumi Saegusa stepped out from behind Suzune Ichihara, as if she had made a very difficult decision.
Yunyi secretly rolled her eyes. Was this Flight Magic really that scary?
This is the logistics area of First High School; no other schools would come here. And even if someone saw her, Yunyi wasn't afraid of being noticed. Besides, Tatsuya Shiba had also prepared a flight technique for Miyuki Shiba, so Yunyi was even less worried.
Although Mayumi Saegusa agreed, it was still a bit difficult for her to learn Flight Magic right now. Besides, the rookie battle was starting tomorrow, Tatsuya Shiba would definitely be using tonight to make final adjustments to the contestants' CAD software, so he obviously wouldn't have time to take on Yunyi's request.
With this in mind, Yunyi decided to let Mayumi Saegusa adjust herself first. If she still resisted in the end, then he would think of other ways.
After leaving the reserve area, everyone dispersed.
After a day of competition, Yunyi returned to his room, Tatsuya Shiba and Miyuki Shiba seemed to have the same idea. Shizuku Kitayama and Honoka Mitsui originally wanted to go and watch the matches that hadn't finished yet, but tomorrow was the first-year rookie match, so the two of them also returned to their rooms. Only Mayumi Saegusa stood at the door watching everyone leave, her gaze towards Yunyi filled with resentment.