The ringing of the school bell signifies that it's the end of classes and the students are on their way back home.

Akiri is currently making his way towards the Student Council room for further discussions about his enlistment to the Disciplinary Committee.

As he reached the Student Council room, he saw that Tatsuya and Miyuki are already standing in front of the door.

Akiri: You were waiting for me?

Miyuki: Of course. It wouldn't feel right to go on ahead without you

Hearing that brought a small smile to Akiri's face.

Akiri: Thanks, guys

Tatsuya just nodded before knocking on the door.

Tatsuya: Excuse us

Tatsuya said as they opened the door and walked in.

The room is full of activity as everyone in the room working hard on their Student Council duties. Azusa and Suzune were working on the computers, Mari and Mayumi were handling the many paperwork they had to do. Hanzo was also standing there, staring out the window.

Tatsuya: It's Tatsuya Shiba

Miyuki: It's Miyuki Shiba

Akiri: It's Akiri Amatsuki

Mari: Hey, you made it!

Mayumi: Welcome, Miyuki, Akiri. And thanks for coming, too, Tatsuya.

Hanzo turned away from the window and faced the group. He walked forward and purposely walked past Tatsuya and introduced himself to Akiri and Miyuki.

Hanzo: I'm the Vice President, Gyobu Hattori. Welcome to the Student Council, Miyuki Shiba. And congratulations on getting recommended to the Disciplinary Committee, Akiri Amatsuki

Akiri just silently nodded and Miyuki glared at him as well before bowing.

Akiri: (thoughts) So he's acting like Tatsuya isn't here, huh? That sense of superiority of his must be pretty high

Hanzo then turned and walked away.

Mayumi: Let's get started, then. A-chan, if you please

Azusa: Right

She nodded and stood up. Mari then turns towards Akiri.

Mari: So, Amatsuki. What's your answer? Will you join the Disciplinary Committee?

Akiri: Yes. I'll join the Disciplinary Committee

He answered with his arms crossed and Mari smiled.

Mari: Good, then why don't we get moving you two

Mari said, looking at Tatsuya and Akiri.

Tatsuya: Where to?

Mari: The Disciplinary Committee headquarters. Since it would probably be easier for you two to watch and learn

Akiri: Right. Lead the way

She then started to walk towards the door.

Hanzo: Ms. Watanabe, please wait a moment

Mari: What is it, Vice President Hanzo Gyobushojo Hattori?

Hanzo: Please don't call me by my full name!

He said as he was getting embarrassed.

Mari: Okay, then Vice President Hanzo Hattori

Hanzo: It's Gyobu Hattori!

Mari: That's not a name, it's a government post of your family, right?

Hanzo: We no longer hold that office. At this school, I'm registered as Gyobu Hattori. No, that's not what I meant to say!

Mari: Then what is it?

Hanzo then glared at Tatsuya.

Hanzo: I am opposed to that first year being appointed to the Disciplinary Committee. No Weed has ever been appointed to the Disciplinary Committee before

Mari looks towards him as soon as she heard the word 'Weed' and Akiri just rolled his eyes.

Mari: It's forbidden to refer to the Course 2 students as Weeds. You have some nerve, uttering that term in front of me

Hanzo: Glossing over it won't do any good. Or do you intend to bust over a third of the entire student body?

Hanzo: The Disciplinary Committee's job is to crack down on students in violation of the rules using practical skills. While a Bloom would be just fine, a Weed couldn't hack it, their skills are inferior

Mari: It's true that the Disciplinary Committee is meritocracy based, but there's more than one kind of practical skill

She said as she pointed to Tatsuya.

Mari: Tatsuya has the eyesight and brains to read activation sequences directly, and accurately identify which spell is about to be activated.

Akiri: (thoughts) Though he's not the only one...

Hanzo: Impossible... Even an Essential Singularity-type activation sequence is loaded with data as much as 30,000 letters of the alphabet! There's no way that he could read it in an instant!

Hanzo said in shock.

Mari: Common sense tells us that there's no way. That's precisely why his skills so valuable. He's sure to become a powerful deterrent... Towards all those would-be violators who keep getting off easy because we can never establish their crimes

Mari explained to Hanzo.

Mari: Also, there's one more reason why I want him on my committee. Just as you say, at this school, there's an emotional chasm between the Course 1 and Course 2 students. The Course 1 students police the Course 2 students, but it's never the other way around. This system has only served to deepen the rift

Akiri: I see. So Tatsuya would be some sort of representative for the Course 2 students

Akiri added and Mari nodded.

Mari: Right. And I'm just not a fan of the notion of allowing the committee that I lead to foster such a sense of discrimination

Hanzo then turns towards Mayumi.

Hanzo: President. As Vice President, I am against appointing Tatsuya Shiba to the Disciplinary Committee

He said with a demanding tone with his hands behind his back.

Hanzo: A Course 2 student lacking magical power would be in over his head on the Disciplinary Committee!

Akiri was about to speak out, but Miyuki beat him to it as she stepped forward.

Miyuki: Just a minute!

Tatsuya looked at her in shock.

Miyuki: It's true that my brother's practical test scores were sub-par, but only because his skills were incompatible with the method of assessment! In an actual battle, my brother would never lose to anyone

Akiri: (thoughts) Actual battle?

Hanzo: Ms. Shiba! A magician must recognize everything as it is, calmly and rationally. Because we possess the power to make the impossible possible, we are expected to train ourselves rigorously to serve the public interest. An aspiring magician cannot allow her judgement to be clouded by nepotism

Akiri let out a quiet chuckle and Tatsuya walked toward the window and adjusted his tie before speaking out.

Tatsuya: Vice President Hattori... Will you take me on in a simulated battle?

Hanzo: What?

The entire room looked at him in shock except for Miyuki and Akiri.

Hanzo: Don't be so arrogant! You mere reserve!

He shouted in rage, but Tatsuya just chuckled.

Hanzo: What's so funny?

Akiri: You say that a Magician must be calm and rational, yet you are the one who is acting in opposite

Tatsuya: Exactly. Not that I want to be on the Disciplinary Committee or anything...

Tatsuya said as he looked at Miyuki to see that she was looking down.

Tatsuya: But if I'm to prove that my sister's judgement isn't clouded, I have no choice

Hanzo: Fine. I'm going to show you just how much you need to know your place!

Akiri: (thoughts) Someone's gonna know their place alright...

Akiri thought with a smirk.

Mayumi pulled out a tablet and tapped a few things on it.

Mayumi: Okay, I've booked the third practice room. You have one hour to prepare

Akiri: (thoughts) This should be quite an interesting battle...

(Timeskip)

Akiri: So. Who do you girls think would win?

Akiri said as they were waiting for Tatsuya to arrive at the practice room.

Mari: Hanzo, of course. Shiba-san is up against one of the best in our school. Hanzo has never lost a duel before

Akiri: There's a first time for everything. I'm going with Tatsuya

Mayumi: Same here

About that time, Tatsuya and Miyuki walked in the door. Tatsuya set down a case on a table within the room and opened it.

Inside the case, were a pair of dual pistols as well as several ammo magazines.

Akiri: (thoughts) An FLT model Silver Horn, huh?

Tatsuya: Sorry to keep you waiting. Tatsuya said, walking towards Hanzo.

Mari: Do you always carry around multiple storage devices?

Tatsuya: Yes. Since I don't have sufficient processing skills to master a generalized CAD

Tatsuya and Hanzo went to the middle of the practice room and faces towards each other. Mari then took a step forward and got their attention.

Mari: I'm going to explain the rules now. Spells that prove fatal, as well as those that cause your opponent irreparable damage are forbidden. Direct attacks should never cause your opponent any more than a sprain. Weapons are prohibited. Bare-handed attacks are permitted. The winner will be declared either when one party acknowledges defeat, or when the referee determines that one party is unable to continue. I myself will be using sheer force to deal with any infractions of the rules, so be prepared! That's it

Tatsuya and Hanzo had a long staredown. Akiri then noticed Hanzo's expression as he stared at his opponent.

Akiri: (thoughts) He is planning his moves... Not a good idea. In a one on one Magician's battle, preplanning is the last thing that a Magician should do as it usually leads to false assumptions about your enemy. It's better to react on the fly and adapt to the situation

Mari: Are you ready?

The two tensed up.

Mari: Begin!

It was over within mere seconds. As Hanzo prepared to cast his spell, Tatsuya leaned forwards and disappeared from sight.

Hanzo then suddenly fell over. It was revealed that Tatsuya was behind him, pointing his CAD at where he was standing.

Everyone had a shocked look on their faces except for Miyuki. Mari was still in shock at what had transpired and was broken out of her shock when Tatsuya looked at her.

Mari: The winner is... Shiba Tatsuya!

Tatsuya gave a slight bow.

As Azusa and Suzune set Hanzo against the wall, Tatsuya walked back toward his CAD case while Akiri was still keeping his gaze towards him.

Akiri: (thoughts) I knew that Tatsuya would win... But I didn't think it would end that quickly...

Mari then turned to face Tatsuya.

Mari: Hold up

Tatsuya: Hm?

Mari: That move you just made. Did you deploy a self acceleration spell in advance?

Everyone looked at Tatsuya, expecting an explanation.

Tatsuya: That wasn't magic. It was a bona fide physical technique

Akiri: So you practice ninjutsu as well, huh?

Miyuki: Yes. He's undergoing training by Yakumo Kokonoe

Akiri: (thoughts) That old man is training him?

Mayumi: Tatsuya, then was the spell you used in that attack also ninjutsu? It only looked to me as if you'd released Psion waves...

Tatsuya: That's correct. That was an Essential Singularity-type Spell, and all I did was generate Psion waves

Mayumi: Even so, that doesn't explain why Hanzo got knocked out

Tatsuya: He was wasted

Mayumi: Wasted? On what, exactly?

Akiri: I see... So you used one of the principles of magic. That's an unusual way of using it

Mari: Explain

Akiri: I'm sure all of you know the basics. As magicians, we perceive Psions the same as we do visible light and sound waves. Thus, when a magician is exposed to unexpected Psions, he or she hallucinates that his or her body is being shaken. This causes the magician to experience something akin to a violent bout of seasickness. That's what you did, right, Tatsuya?

Tatsuya just nodded in response.

Mayumi: Such a powerful surge as that..how on earth did you..?

Mayumi said looking at Tatsuya confused.

Suzune: Compound waves, right? You created three consecutive Psion waves of varying oscillation frequencies, calibrated them so that all three would converge where Hattori was standing, then generated a powerful surge, like a triangular wave

Tatsuya: Very impressive, Ms. Ichihara

Suzune then looked at her tablet which was displaying the information from the battle.

Suzune: Still, how were you able to pull that off in such a short time? With that kind of processing speed, I don't see how your technical scores could be so low

Tatsuya wasn't expecting her question and seems to be struggling to find an answer. But Azusa suddenly spoke out.

Azusa: Excuse me...

Azusa said while meekly looking at Tatsuya's Silver Horn with a blush.

Azusa: By any chance, Tatsuya, is your CAD a Silver Horn?

Mayumi: Silver Horn? As in Taurus Silver, the mysterious genius magic engineer?

Azusa: That's right!

She replied with sparkles in her eyes.

Azusa: A specialist in Four Leaves Technology! The miraculous CAD engineer whose real name, appearance, and profile are all shrouded in mystery!

As she was saying this, she was jumping around Tatsuya trying to reach his Silver Horn which he held high above his head.

Azusa then turned her head towards a second Silver Horn in the case.

Azusa: Taurus Silver was the programming genius who was the first to implement the Loop Cast System! Silver Horn is the name of the specialized CAD model fully customized by Taurus Silver himself, and it's optimized for Loop Casting!

Mayumi: But Rin, that still doesn't add up, does it?

Suzune: No, it doesn't add up. The purpose of a Loop Cast is to launch consecutive invocations of the exact same spell. It just isn't possible to use a Loop Cast to create multiple surges of varying oscillations

Akiri: It is if you define the oscillations as variables

Suzune: Don't tell me... That's exactly what you've pulled off here, Tatsuya?

Tatsuya: At this school, multivariable isn't subject to evaluation... Not as processing speed, nor as calculation scale, nor as interference intensity

???: In the practical exam...

A different voice speaks out and everyone saw that it was Hanzo who was getting up.

Akiri: Oh hey, you're finally awake

Hanzo: Magic skill scores are determined by Spell Invocation Speed, the scale of the Magic Sequence and Target Data Rewriting Strength

Hanzo attempted to stand while still holding his head.

Hanzo: I see. So that's what happens when tests don't reflect your true abilities

Mayumi then walked over to him and leaned down in front of him.

Mayumi: Are you all right, Hanzo?

Hanzo shot to his feet and put his hand to his tie.

Hanzo: I'm fine!

Hanzo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then faced Miyuki.

Hanzo: Ms. Shiba?

Miyuki: Yes?

Hanzo: What I said before... About nepotism... That was rude of me

He then looked towards her.

Hanzo: I was the one whose judgement was clouded. I hope you'll forgive me

He bowed to her.

Miyuki: Actually, I'm the one who was out of line

She then bowed to him.

Miyuki: Please forgive me

The two straightened up and Hanzo looked at Tatsuya. The two had a brief staring match before Hanzo walked away.

Akiri: Even after getting his ass handed to him, he still won't shelve his pride

Mari sighed with a small smile and Mayumi had a small smile on her face as well.

Azusa let out a sound of disappointment when Tatsuya closed the case that had the Silver Horns in it.

Mari then turned and looked at Tatsuya and Akiri.

Mari: All right, we did get waylaid unexpectedly, but why don't we get back on track and head to the Disciplinary Committee headquarters?