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  "Whatever Colonel Kazama's true intentions are, I'm still grateful that he's willing to send an escort for Saegusa-san. And since the escort is Sergeant Major Watanabe, I doubt it’s in her nature to collude with the Intelligence Department and try to frame Saegusa-san on false charges."

  Hiroto deeply bowed his head in a sign of acknowledgement.

  Tatsuya looked down at this scene as he stood up.

  "You've done your work. You can leave now."

  "Should I keep watch over Saegusa-jou's surroundings?"

  "You may continue."

  "Very well, sir."

  After bowing his head once more, Hiroto stood up and walked out of the parlor.

  Just as Hiroto was departing, and before Tatsuya could get up from the sofa, there was a knock at the door of the parlor.

  "Come in."

  "Excuse me."

  As if exchanging places with Hiroto, the figure of his niece, Fujibayashi Kyouko, emerged in the parlor. No, judging by the timing, she must have been waiting outside for her turn.

  As for why they didn't present themselves at the same time, it wasn't because they don't get along. It was just their way of distinguishing between work and private life.

  "Fujibayashi-san, please have a seat."

  Tatsuya stood up to greet Fujibayashi. Then he offered her the couch to sit on and sat down at the same time. Making a clear distinction with his treatment of Hiroto.

  "We've received the latest data from Spaceguard on the comet we discussed before."

  Spaceguard was an international organization dedicated to the discovery, observation, and study of near-Earth objects that threaten to collide with the Earth. Established at the end of the 20th century, the local Japanese organization, Japan Spaceguard, was 69

  established at the same time. It’s a non-profit corporation, and isn’t part of any governmental organization.

  The source of Fujibayashi's information was the local Japan Spaceguard, rather than the international Spaceguard. It wasn't obtained through illegal means, but as a favor from a researcher whom she befriended after helping him with a little hacking, for which he kindly shared some confidential data with her.

  "Its current position is at 61° ecliptic latitude and 122° ecliptic longitude in heliocentric ecliptic coordinates, at an estimated distance of 300 million kilometers from Earth."

  "At what time will it make its closest approach?"

  "About two months from now, its plane of revolution will intersect the Earth's orbit at an almost perpendicular angle, at which time the estimated distance will be around one and a half million kilometers."

  Whether or not she knew them in advance, Fujibayashi readily answered Tatsuya's questions.

  "That's about four times the lunar distance. So, if we were using it as argumentative material, a near-impact doesn't seem quite enough, right?"

  Tatsuya looked slightly disappointed at that answer.

  "No, I'd say it's dangerously close."

  However, Fujibayashi's opinion was different.

  "At the end of the 20th century, the Comet Hyakutake passed at forty times the lunar distance, and Lexell’s Comet of the 18th century passed at six times the lunar distance.

  Besides, its size is quite large for a comet, and if it were to break up and change its orbit midway, we could find ourselves in a catastrophic situation where at the very least the debris would rain down on the Earth."

  "But for all that, it doesn't seem to be getting much attention."

  Upon hearing the detailed explanation, Tatsuya tilted his head slightly to the side.

  "From what my collaborator at Spaceguard told me, the surface of the comet's core is completely coated with a tar-like non-volatile material, which accounts for the lack of a tail, and that makes it difficult to observe."

  70

  "So, since there is no fear of a collision, the information is being withheld to avoid causing a panic?"

  "No, I think there's more to it than that."

  "Like?"

  "I have just finished a calculation on the orbital data I just mentioned earlier. From it, I assume they are debating whether to make a public announcement or not, and if they do, which media to use and how much of the facts to reveal."

  "I see. That’s about as good as it is going to get for us."

  Tatsuya muttered in response to Fujibayashi's speculation.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  After listening to Fujibayashi's report, Tatsuya flew the Air Car to Miyakishima, despite it being late at night. Riding along in the car were Miyuki and Lina. Tatsuya had intended to go alone, but, after a stubborn insistence by Miyuki, he was coerced into letting her come along. As for Lina, she got pulled along by Miyuki.

  Tatsuya’s aim was the target comet ── as Tatsuya called the aforementioned comet ──

  his objective was to "see" it with his own "eyes." The issue when it comes to magic is that physical distance is not an issue, informational distance is. That being said, the informational distance is affected by the physical distance in terms of the difficulties in the perception. In order to ensure the success of the demonstration, it was necessary to have a predefined recognition of the target before the actual operation.

  So, why Miyakishima then?

  To tell the truth, Miyakishima wasn’t tonight’s destination.

  This was the reason why he finally allowed Miyuki and (incidentally Lina) to accompany him.

  June 21st, midnight.

  Tatsuya stood atop a "Virtual Satellite Elevator" located in the southwestern part of Miyakishima, fully clad in the airtight fully-flight capable armored "Freed Suit."

  71

  There’s a large space station that orbits at an altitude of 6,400 km’s above the Earth ──

  the Virtual Satellite Elevator connects the satellite orbital residence facility "Takachiho" to the ground by way of a massive engraved Mock-Teleportation magic circle.

  Engraved magic circles work by means of applying Psions to an engraved magic circuit that contains the information corresponding to a Magic Sequence ── or at least that was the conventional understanding. However, with his breakthrough on the true nature of the Event Interference Force, Tatsuya found out that this interpretation was incomplete.

  When activating engravement magic, not only Psions, but also Pushion Waves actualize the Event Interference Force that are emitted along with the Psions. The Psions that flow through the engraved circuits form the Magic Sequence, and the Pushion Waves are what activates the Magic Sequence.

  It was precisely due to this understanding that the engraved magic circle had been improved to the degree where it was possible to achieve Mock-Teleportation as far as 6,400 km’s away.

  By unraveling the true nature of the Event Interference Force, Tatsuya succeeded in raising the power of the magic activated in his Artificial Magic Calculation Area, that his mother had built in him with her magic, up to the same level as ordinary magic.

  However, his Event Interference Force ── which was the true nature of the Pushion Wave

  ── was originally optimized for his specific magic and conversely, it wasn’t optimized for other magic. With the exception of the Magic Sequences of his innate magic, "Decomposition" and "Regrowth", even if he managed to pour the Event Interference Force into the Magic Sequences, a decrease in efficiency was inevitable. At present, this was Tatsuya’s limitation.

  As such, he was unable to make the most out of the Virtual Satellite Elevator. Alone, he wouldn’t be able to reach tonight's destination, the Takachiho, which was at an altitude of 6,400 km’s above the Earth. In order to do so, it was necessary for him to borrow Miyuki and Lina’s power. It was under this pretext that he had no choice but to give in to Miyuki’s demand of "I want to go with you".

  Nevertheless, it wasn’t as if the Virtual Satellite Elevator couldn’t be operated without Miyuki and Lina. There were personnel stationed on Miyakishima who could operate the engraved magic circle, and if he were to ask them, he’d be able to reach the Takachiho without any problems.

  72

  Likewise, Miyuki wasn’t exactly the most adept at using the Virtual Satellite Elevator. As far as Mock-Teleportation travel was concerned, Ayako was more adept at it than Miyuki.

  By having Miyuki accompany him ── including taking into account her voluntary leave of absence from the university the next day ── Tatsuya was in effect, just indulging her.

  [We're ready, whenever you are.]

  Minoru's voice reached them from space, relayed through the communications facility on the ground. Although it was only an hour ago that he had informed the residents of the Takachiho, Minoru and Minami, about his unscheduled visit for tonight, they had both welcomed Tatsuya's visit despite the short notice. No matter how much they loved each other, they would still long for the company of others if they were always on their own.

  "Then, please."

  Standing at the center of the engraved magic circle, Tatsuya spoke via his communicator to Miyuki, who was standing at the outer edge of the 100 meter long magic circle.

  [Have a safe trip.]

  In response to Tatsuya's voice, Miyuki said so while courteously bowing, and soon after.

  His figure disappeared from the surface of the Earth.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  About ten seconds later, Tatsuya was floating in the void in front of what was originally a gigantic submarine. It was the Takachiho. This satellite orbital residence facility was once a large-sized New Soviet Union submarine that Tatsuya had sunk, which had been salvaged and repurposed for space use.

  [First of all, please come inside.]

  As soon as he heard Minoru's voice from the communicator built into his helmet, the airlock opened. It was located where the missile vertical launch system used to be when it was a submarine. Activating his flight magic, Tatsuya moved to the airlock, and through it into the Takachiho.

  "Welcome, Tatsuya-sama."

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  Minami was waiting for him behind the inner door of the airlock.

  Minami's choice of attire hadn't changed since the time she had lived with Tatsuya and the others. It was a black one-piece dress and a white apron. Considering that the Takachiho's habitation blocks were under artificial gravity, a skirt wouldn’t be a problem.

  But still, she wasn't a maid anymore, so there should be no point in sticking to this outfit.

  Was this a matter of Minoru's personal preference?

  Tatsuya secretly wondered on his own, but chose the obvious route of not mentioning it.

  With her guidance, Tatsuya entered the information center that had been converted from the submarine's command center.

  And there was Minoru at the console, standing up and waiting to meet Tatsuya.

  "Welcome, Tatsuya-san. We've finished identifying the target comet from the data you gave us."

  Being originally a submarine, the Takachiho was able to repel space dust and space debris to some extent. However, the same couldn’t be said for meteorites and large-sized debris, which the ship couldn’t withstand unscathed. In order to avoid such threats, this information center collects observation data from all directions of space. Not limited to data obtained from their own observation equipment, but also data provided by Miyakishima, and data obtained by intercepting radio waves traveling through space that were processed by the electronic brain here.

  "I'm fairly certain, but please confirm it yourself."

  The main monitor had the image of the telescope, while the sub-monitors displayed a wide array of data.

  The fact that the target comet barely reflects any light was already established. In order to observe it, a highly focused infrared laser was aimed at the comet, but the object itself lay 300 million kilometers away. Even light would take more than thirty minutes to travel there and back.

  Even so, with the result of precise tracing, the telescope captured the reflected infrared light of the irradiated beam. The main monitor showed only a faint dot. But there was no mistaking a visual confirmation. The vacuum of space made optical observation a possibility. Undoubtedly, he wouldn’t have been able to directly observe the reflected light 74

  on the ground, whether or not he used infrared. It was precisely because he was aware of this that Tatsuya had come all this way.

  "No doubt. Can you send the data from the sub-monitor over to me?"

  While saying this, Tatsuya put the helmet he had taken off back on.

  "Sure, I don't mind, but…"

  Minoru gave Tatsuya a quizzical look.

  "I'll go outside and take a firsthand look."

  Answering the unspoken question, Tatsuya backtracked into the airlock.

  The jet-black expanse of outer space. Yet, by no means void. To the left, it was the dead of night on the Earth. The light of the sun had yet to arrive, but it wasn’t entirely covered in darkness either. The city lights twinkled like a cluster of stars.

  To the right was the glow of real stars. Unlike the stars seen from the ground, these didn’t twinkle waveringly. Even though the light was distant and small, it asserted a certain existence. ──Or, perhaps, that they indeed existed in the past.

  Once again in the vacuum of space, Tatsuya turned his face to the point where the target comet should be according to the observation data. He manipulated the settings on the visor of his helmet and applied a filter that adjusted to the frequency of the reflected light of the infrared laser being emitted from the Takachiho.

  (That’s it?)

  A tiny dot of light like a grain of sand was displayed on the visor. Although it was optically processed, the light reflected by the comet was reaching Tatsuya directly.

  An informational path was established between the comet and Tatsuya.

  Using this path as a trail, Tatsuya made visual contact with the target comet with his Elemental Sight.

  (Got it.)

  With that, Tatsuya was now able to observe the Information Body of the target comet at any time.

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  ◇ ◇ ◇

  At one o'clock in the morning, Tatsuya returned to the ground via Mock-Teleportation that was activated by Minoru.

  And there at the Virtual Satellite Elevator on Miyakishima, Miyuki and Lina were waiting for him.

  "Don't tell me you've been waiting here all this time?"

  Tatsuya asked Miyuki without trying to hide his predictable surprise.

  "To tell the truth, I would have, but Lina stopped me."

  Miyuki replied regretfully. Beside her, Lina muttered, "Of course."

  "Instead, I asked Minami-chan to let me know in advance when Tatsuya-sama would be back."

  "So that's why…"

  Once Tatsuya had returned to the interior of Takachiho after placing an informational marker on the target comet, Minami earnestly suggested that he should relax for a moment. Tatsuya really wanted to go back immediately, but he felt it would be rude of him to refuse the tea ── herbal tea, that is ── that was made for him, so he just entertained her with a cup. That was probably just a way to buy time for Miyuki.

  "I really wanted to welcome you Tatsuya-sama. …Should I not have?"

  "Well, I wouldn't say that you shouldn't have."

  Removing his helmet, Tatsuya gave Miyuki a gentle look.

  "So Tatsuya. How did it go up there on the other end?"

  At this point, Lina somewhat forcefully interrupted. Perhaps unconsciously out of dislike for how the situation was developing into a mellow atmosphere.

  "I’ve got the target in sight. I can shoot at any time."

  Turning his attention to Lina, Tatsuya had the face of a warrior.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  76

  Monday, June 21st.

  Tatsuya had been staying on Miyakishima since last night. Not to mention, Miyuki and Lina, in spite of it being a weekday. As expected, both of them took a voluntary leave of absence from the university today.

  The three of them stayed in one of the several buildings in the northwestern part of the island that were privately owned by the Yotsuba Family. This building housed the offices of the leadership of the Yotsuba Family during their stay on Miyakishima, which was located adjacent to and integrated with the building that housed the information processing and communication facilities (known as the "Command Control Room"), which was used for the administration of the island, monitoring of the island proper, the surrounding waters, and self-defense. The adjacent building also housed a magic research facility in the basement, which was currently used as Tatsuya's personal laboratory.

  Presently, the three of them including Tatsuya were in the Command Control Room, and not in the living room nor the laboratory. The three of them weren’t the only ones there.

  Sitting in front of the communications equipment, where a full-time operator usually works, was Fujibayashi Kyouko at the console.

  "Managing Director, the line has been secured. We can transmit at any time."

  As such, Fujibayashi addressed Tatsuya.

  "Alright. Now seems to be a good time, so please send it."

  While seated in a chair at the conference table, Tatsuya gave his response.

  It's currently 10:30 in the morning. It was about the time when even the departments that worked until midnight would have started their work. There might be some who were at a meeting or out of the office, but those people could still just listen in at the most convenient time.

  "Roger. I will send the message."

  At Tatsuya's instruction, Fujibayashi sent the voice message with the time limit for playback set to 17:00.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  77

  10:40 A.M. The Ministry of Defense was scrambling around trying to deal with a message that arrived out of nowhere, having cleanly slipped through their firewall, as if one didn’t exist at all.

  At today's intelligence scene, there were practical applications of video and audio that could be used to cause psychological damage or implant suggestions by merely watching or listening to them. Being ordinary video or audio files in itself, it couldn’t be detected as a virus. For this reason, from the Ministry of Defense down to the other central government agencies, there exist systems in place to quarantine and inspect video and audio files, as well as to block real-time communications once they have been recognized as harmful.