Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume3 Phase02 (section)

===Part 9===

''Boooooom!!!

Orange flames blossomed on the surface far below.

The Student Council Vice President was a real princess. Surace was in the hallway outside the 75th floor’s members-only beauty salon – which she had demanded be built for her even though it had nothing at all to do with the school. By the window, she elegantly held a hand to the side of her red hair and focused on the earphone in that one ear.

The bizarre flying machine meant to leave the planet had exploded on the ground.

The launch had failed.

The sorcery rocket was full of technology, but it had zero defensive capabilities with more than 90% of its mass made up of a special fuel. The slightest shock would cause it to lose control and explode.

However…

“Kitten.”

“No, I still haven’t fired the bazooka resting on my shoulder.”

The response from Secretary Sibell came through loud and clear.

Which meant…

(Was it an accident? I suppose a handmade rocket from that disgraced club wouldn’t be the most well-made in the world.)

“Do not bother thinking it through. Coming up with possibilities is a waste of time.”

The President’s response was short and to the point.

In other words…

“''We know a rocket is coming.'' We can trust that leaked information. So if Ayato isn’t coming on that rocket, he must be coming on a different one.”

Surace heard another explosion.

But this time, the light formed a streak of controlled energy. Water vapor billowed out like a cumulonimbus cloud and a sharp, swordlike silhouette shot up from the trailers of the Student Dorms. The flying fish’s wings spread wide.

“A second one!? Kitten!!”

“I can’t cover that angle. But the rocket will be overhead before I can reach another firing point.”

This would have caught them entirely by surprise without the advance warning.

Or they might have suspected the second rocket was another decoy and the criminals were attempting to reach the Student Council Office from the ground while the entire Student Council was busy. Or they might have suspected the plan was for Ayato’s group to be discovered badly injured at the initial explosion site so they could be taken to a higher floor than would ordinarily be allowed so they could receive emergency surgery.

But the Council didn’t have to doubt.

They weren’t surprised, they weren’t led astray, and this do-or-die plan was reduced to a mere farce.

''There was nothing to fear when you knew the answer ahead of time.

“Gark,” said the President.

The ringlets Vice President saw something drop down past the window. There was nothing but empty air out there, but someone must have jumped from the roof without hesitation.

That someone was a large boy wearing a blue blazer.

The heavy metallic clang may have been the sound of the thick shields in his hands crashing together.

That was Student Council Treasurer Gark Bryan.

What he had done couldn’t have been simpler.

He was the highest ranked Bouncer, known as Grapple Shields.

He dived straight down toward the rocket launching skyward.

They collided.

The head-on collision was like a blow from above. A pure-white explosion erupted in the empty air.

“Kyah!”

All of the towers shook and cracks ran through the glass of the 75th floor window in front of Surace.

The Academy Towers gathered only the most talented people. They all had some kind of extraordinary ability, including a fat girl in the Mixed Martial Arts Club who had tried to go on a diet and ended up winning the championship belt without meaning to, or the ace of the Sharpshooting Club who was blind but could snipe with perfect accuracy.

And the Student Council reigned at the top of them all.

All four of them had to be capable of feats like this.

“You really are a monster,” commented Surace.

“Thanks for the assist, macho! I was just about to get a talking to,” said Sibell.

In a head-on collision between rocket and boy, the boy emerged victorious.

The large boy wielding twin shields tore through the expanding dust and flames, continuing straight down toward the ground. Rocket wreckage and scrap poured down around him.

This hadn’t been enough to shake the President’s confidence.

“Our wall was thicker.”

They had nothing to fear when they could prepare in advance.

Not even the greatest stage magician could fool the audience if the trick was explained before the show.

The glasses boy was a powerful Sorcery Hacker himself, so he had an intimate understanding of their weaknesses.

“Is a little thing like treachery enough to stop you, Ayato Criminaltrophy?”