Ok, Userunfriendly here...(I'm male, btw)
I've just rewritten chapter 2, and chopped out the bits about "fan service". If you've already read the first version I've posted, you know just how awful that part was. I'm sorry, but I simply forgot the first rules of writing comedy...what seems hilarious inside your head doesn't always work out when written...and of course, you should never be afraid to edit and revise, because there's nothing sadder than a joke that falls flat.
Now, please understand, I have written stories with even sillier and ludicrous premises and made them work. See my stories in the "House" fan fiction section...but I know from experience those kinds of stories require very careful planning from the BEGINNING which I simply didn't do in this case. Reading my post again made me realize I had written dodo. So, after a bit of scooping, I can read chapter 2 without cringing.
Don't worry, I will post additional chapters soon...and I've got an insane idea for an interlude chapter (Omake Theater style) about the ubiquitous animatronic kids game found in almost every pizza parlor in 2097...
No, not the "Whack-A-Mole" game...the "Club-A-Baby-Seal" game...trust me, I already know how make the internal logic work...and I truly love writing this kind of (so) very non-politically correct humor. :D
Thanks!
Of course, there were more people than Saegusa Mayumi, Ichihara Suzune, Watanabe Mari, Ichijou Masaki, Kichijouji Shinkurou, Angelina Kudo Shields, Sylvia Mercury First, and the Student Body of First Magic High School who had strong reactions to this broadcast, considering just how many lives were touched by Shiba Tatsuya and Miyuki in their two years as high school students…one in particular was a certain "beautiful kendo-girl" whom by circumstances had received advance knowledge of Shiba Tatsuya's goals…
Mibu Sayaka and Kirihara Takeaki were laughing as they ran into the Magic University Café they favored. They thought that because of class, they would be late for this incredibly important broadcast, and Kirihara was miming hitting Mibu with an imaginary sword, to "get more speed out of those ridiculously impractical high-heels!"
As Mibu Sayaka and Kirhara Takeaki ran into "Abracadabra" still giggling, they stopped in uttermost shock as they saw Shiba Tatsuya and Shiba Miyuki on the large monitors… the broadcast, as it was carried by a local network, had the unbelievable caption written below the two kouhai both knew…"Taurus Silver revealed to be a 17 year old High School Student! World Wide Announcement of Solving of the Second Great Puzzle of Weight Magic in this Broadcast! Please Stay Tuned!"
"-created the non-systemic magic sequence that makes Loop-Cast possible, I was 13, and when I created Generalized Gravity Controlled Flight Magic, I was 16. I was too young to sign the papers for the International Patents necessary for commercial use of the technology created by my designs. As you can see by my uniform, I am still a student at First Magic High School, but as I will be turning 18 later this month, the conditions necessary for joint signatures no longer apply."
At this point, Mibu Sayaka completely lost it. Collapsing against her boyfriend, she started giggling uncontrollably…
"hee hee heee! Ahahahah! Shiba-kun…heheehehehe! Shiba-kun…haha…even…told me what he was going to do! Hahahahhhaha!"
It took a while for Kirihara Takeaki to get an intelligible answer out of Mibu Sayaka, and unfortunately it caused him to assume a rather funny expression (as if he had swallowed a toad), which caused yet another giggle attack on Sayaka (pointing at his face), which led to Takeaki pouting (righteously denied by Takeaki, as "men don't pout!"), ending up with them both helplessly laughing at each other. They missed much of the start of this broadcast; fortunately the FLT website had a copy they could see together later…
Anyway, Back to the Broadcast:
"I'm here to talk to you today about Magic. Much of what you all thought you knew about Magic is quite simply false…excuse me, that is to say I am making an assumption as to what an individual viewer may understand or not about magic, that is to say, I am obviously uncertain about…" At this point, Miyuki silently put her right hand into Tatsuya's left hand.
While Miyuki was smiling radiantly, it was clearly apparent that Tatsuya did not enjoy being in the spotlight, and as she gently slid her hand into Tatsuya's grasp, he was able to visibly collect himself.
"Thank you, Miyuki. I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but despite my duties as a Magical Engineer to present my research to the world publically on occasion, I'm really much more comfortable in academic settings or in a laboratory." Tatsuya smiled boyishly and charmingly.
At the sight of Shiba Tatsuya smiling with such "natural" charm and the incredibly beautiful Shiba Miyuki gazing at her fiancé with such rapt worship in her eyes, the only word that would fit this wonderful image of two young people so obviously in love, and one of them revealing himself as an incredibly brilliant and world famous Magic Engineer, would be…"Perfect."
This word was said simultaneously by both Major Kazama Harunobu and Dr. Yamanaka Kousuke with broad grins. They were watching the broadcast in Major Kazama's personal quarters, at the headquarters of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion.
Saturday, March 30, 2097 Common Era (16 days before the broadcast)
When Yotsuba Maya and Shiba Tatsuya had requested Major Kazama for an interview, in person, to discuss the "Dire Situation brought on by Jiedo Heigu", Major Kazama knew that his guess had been correct. Jiedo Heigu had been captured alive by the "task force" from the 10 Master Clans.
"Tatsuya-kun, how did you get all this? Didn't Heigu take precautions?" asked Kazama as he was handed the data chip that contained the raw footage from Jeido Heigu's "rigorous interrogation", the hard copy transcript still in his hand. He accepted that portions would be redacted to preserve Yotsuba secrets. This was the worst possible news... Benjamin Canopus was a decades old deep cover "sleeper" agent of Jiedo Heigu. He was actually Jiedo Heigu's grandson, Richard Sun's half-brother. It was Canopus who had provided the explosives used to bomb the 10MC Conference, and he had deliberately failed in his assigned mission to assassinate Jiedo Heigu before the bombing. A high ranking "Stars" commander and relative of the USNA President's Chief of Staff? When this leaked, this would bring down the Witherspoon Presidency…
"We removed his implanted suicide device. And because of his induced deadly allergy to truth drugs and hypnotics, we were forced to use…old fashioned methods." Tatsuya had originally helped modify "poisoned bees" to let Kuroba operatives, not just Kuroba Mitsugu use the Sensory Systemic Magic. It worked by inflicting pain on the target, infinitely until the heart literally gave out. It had been child's play for Tatsuya to create a variant that had a limit on the pain inflicted on the victim, for purposes other than simple assassination...
"Tatsuya, Heigu was over 90 years old…"
"Once we made it clear he wouldn't be able to escape us by dying, he eventually broke." Major Kazama looked at Tatsuya's face, hoping his pity at what his friend had to endure wouldn't show in his eyes. Physical torture was always risky, in that the subject could die, especially if they were elderly. By using Tatsuya's "Regrowth", even heart failure wouldn't stop the interrogation. Unfortunately, every time that Tatsuya had used "Regrowth" to restore Heigu's eidos back to a state before a heart attack, he must have experienced the very same torture that had induced the heart attack…in condensed form.
"Because of how we got the information, we can't use it. Damn it!" Kazama swore in frustration. Somehow, Jiedo Heigu had managed to inflict a "perfect storm" of events to destroy the Yotsuba as well as the nation of Japan. When Benjamin Canopus stands up in front of live cameras in 16 days, to declare that Jeido Heigu's attack was planned and sponsored by the USNA, public pressure to renounce the current alliance the Japanese government has with the USNA would be overwhelming. Japan could end up alone…still neighbors to the country with the largest military on the planet, one which she was still "officially" in a state of hostilities since the attempted invasion of Okinawa back in '92…
Even if public pressure failed to force the Kusanagi government to renounce the alliance with the USNA, at the next General Election the Hardliners or Humanists would take the government. At that point, when you game it out, none of the possible outcomes could be called good...no, all the outcomes Kazama could see were complete disasters…
If the Humanists won the election Japan would renounced the treaty with the USNA, obedient to their secret Great Asian Alliance masters. Immediately after signing a mutual defense treaty with the GAA, the government would enact policies and laws incredibly repressive to magicians. Those of the 100 clans that refused to toe the line would be purged. Those that resist, including the Yotsuba would be targeted by the JSDF. This would lead to civil war.
If the Hardliners won, but had to renounce the treaty, Japan might be able to hold out for a few years. However, the Great Asian Alliance, without the threat of a mutual defense treaty with the USNA, would increase provocation, eventually leading to war with the GAA.
If the Hardliners won and Japan keeps the treaty, there would be peace for a while, but the GAA would know that sooner or later they would resume hostilities. They would most likely see a preemptive strike as their only way out, leading to war. Even if they did nothing, Japan would sooner or later resume hostilities when the Hardliners thought the JSDF had an edge in military magic, or enough magicians to attack with an acceptable chance of success. Again, this would lead to war with the GAA.
In all the scenarios, Shiba Tatsuya would face his worst nightmare. Due to a secret agreement with the Kusanagi government, only the JSDF Joint Chiefs, and the senior officers of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion knew the identity of Ooguro Ryuuya. This kept the secret of the true identity of Japan's unregistered Strategic Class Magician known only to those who absolutely had to know. If either the Humanists or the Hardliners took power, they would demand the military turn over the secret. This would mean that Tatsuya would be used as a weapon against the GAA, or he would become a weapon OF the GAA. To compel obedience, they would most likely attempt to take Miyuki hostage…
"Yotsuba-san, I can't ask this legally, as a JSDF officer, but about Canopus…"
"I agree, Major Kazama. After all, wagging tongues should be stilled. They should be in place soon."
"Thank you, Maya-sama." Kazama deeply bowed. Even if Yotsuba Maya considered this a personal favor owed to her, to be repaid in the future by him, it was worth it to silence Canopus.
"Major Kazama, we've asked you here for more than…damage control. My son and I have a plan that we request your cooperation on. This plan would change the situation we're facing completely."
Kazama merely sat quietly, waiting for Yotsuba Maya to speak.
"We have a plan to cripple the world wide Humanist movement forever, to massively prop up the Kusanagi government, to provide an incentive for the USNA to an even closer relationship with Japan, to induce the other Great Powers to seek an alliance with us, and to start a wave of economic prosperity in this country unseen since…ever. Best of all, this will be my vengeance against a world that treated me so badly…" Maya whispered the last sentence, low enough only Tatsuya caught the words.
Major Kazama sat absolutely still, shocked. This was Yotsuba Maya, she didn't say things…she never spoke without the ability to back up her words. His hands visibly trembled as he accepted the binder full of hard copy pages Tatsuya gave him…
Kazama was angered when he realized that Tatsuya's breakthrough with the Magatama relic hadn't been shared with the military first, but had to accept the reasoning that this was far more important than some "transitory strategic advantage". As he learned the full scope of this "incredibly audacious plan" to change the world forever for magicians and non-magicians, he could only sit in shock as he realized the full magnitude of Tatsuya's Accomplishments.
Kazama made the suggestion they bring in Dr. Yamanaka Kousuke, who had a secondary specialty as an expert in Propaganda and Psychological Warfare to make best use of this "weapon". Unfortunately, Dr. Yamanaka would be unable to arrive until tomorrow. They would all resume this interview later. Tatsuya excused himself, citing a previous commitment, as he could tell from the gazes and the silence that his "elders" wished a few words alone…
"My son tells me that his presence was 'declared mandatory' by Miyuki-chan, Ayako-chan, Fumiya-chan, and Shibata Kotona-chan. Apparently the girls were getting beauty treatments this morning, and after they 'generously allow' Tatsuya to buy them lunch, they'll be trying on clothes, and need him to make comments from 'the male' perspective." Maya smiled in amusement.
"Yotsuba-san, I thought that Fumiya-san's voice had already started breaking…"
"Impressive, Major. Just how extensive are your files…well, according to my son, this will be Fumiya-chan's last chance to indulge in lavish parfaits, which would be too shameful to eat in public unless he was dressed as a girl. Fufufu."
Kazama wanted very badly to ask Yotsuba Maya if Tatsuya really was her son...but knew that this would be the one question that could never be asked. As far as he was concerned, if Yotsuba Maya claimed Tatsuya for her own, and treated him like a son, that was how it was. As for Shiba Miyuki, it wasn't any of his business, and Tatsuya was a friend.
"Yotsuba-san, once we go ahead with this plan, we destroy Tatsuya-kun's usefulness as an operative to both the Yotsuba and to the JSDF…"
"But what we get is so much better, major. Tatsuya still remains the trump card of the JSDF, and you'll continue to receive the fruits of his labors in Magic technology."
"But once Tatsuya becomes center of the World's attention, don't you think his secrets will come out?"
"And that's why we must cooperate to make sure that OUR secrets stay safe."
"Yotsuba-san, why would you…I mean, we could use a stand-in…"
"Because my son, my only son will become the glory of the Yotsuba. He will stand tall and straight in the light, and he will be my answer to those who see the name of 'Yotsuba' as a mere hiss in the dark. He will have created a brand new world, in the name of the most hated and despised. He will be my vengeance on the world for all that it has inflicted on me and mine. And he will have broken the last of Dahan."
Kazama had known better than to ask, but he had to know Lady Maya's motives. He knew she was lying, but about what? Her words had the ring of truth to them. Perhaps she truly was endorsing this plan to make sure that the Yotsuba name would change from what it was…but something was off…
"Thank you so much, Maya-sama, with your permission, I will be briefing Dr. Yamanaka and of course Major-General Saeki. May I keep this?"
"Of course Major. I look forward to our discussion tomorrow. Hayama has arranged for transportation. See you soon."
After Kazama left, Yotsuba Maya indulged herself in a rare fit of contemplation. Her plan had no flaws that she could see. Regardless of whether or not Tatsuya did as she predicted, she was secure in her trump card.
Tatsuya had always known his freedom and his life depended on the threat imposed by the Great Asian Alliance to Japan. This country could never otherwise tolerate the threat he embodied, an individual capable of converting mass into energy, an individual capable of destroying the world. Once his new technology was announced, all the nations in this planet would seek to make it theirs. Japan would have its pick of alliances, strong enough to destroy the GAA…at which point, the JSDF would take action against Tatsuya and Miyuki. Their only choice to have any kind of a life would be to disappear…her weapon against the world would be armed, ready and out of reach of the Japanese Military to destroy.
Yotsuba Maya, like Shiba Miyuki possessed both heritages of the Yotsuba. Yotsuba magicians were of two types, those that possessed strong powers in mental manipulation, such as Yotsuba Miya, and those that had unrivaled powers in physical magic, such as Shiba Tatsuya. She had the unrivaled power of "Meteor Stream" and she possessed a secret mental interference magic. Her mental interference magic was almost useless, as it could only be used on one individual. Because it was so limited in its use, her uncle Yotsuba Eisaku had told Maya alone about what he had seen in her Magical Calculation Area when she was old enough to understand. But it was perfect for her plan.
"Corsican Brothers" allowed Maya to feel strong emotions experienced by Shiba Miyuki. This was how she had known of her "forbidden love". Otherwise Maya would never have thought to engage Tatsuya to Miyuki… Though the world would turn away in disgust, to Yotsuba Maya, the knowledge that Shiba Miyuki loved her brother as a woman loves a man only brought Maya joy.
The second power of "Corsican Brothers" was when Yotsuba Maya died, so would Shiba Miyuki. Like the "Corsican Brothers" from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, what one twin felt, the other did also. This was one way only, what Shiba Miyuki felt intensely, Yotsuba Maya would feel. But if either died before the other, it would trigger an irresistible suicidal impulse that would inevitably lead to the death of the surviving "brother". A power that could rebound lethally on the wielder? No wonder Yotsuba Eisaku had only told Maya what he saw…
Yotsuba Maya indulged herself in laughter in her inner sanctum, watched only by the HAR (Home Automation Robot) in her private office. As the Chinese emperors of old, she wished earnestly that as she died, her people would join her on the pyre. They had no right to live once she was gone! But she would do one better than those ancient tyrants. The whole world would be her funeral pyre! She would live a long life, knowing that as she faced the final darkness her magnificent son would light the fires that would burn up this…despicable world. And even if somehow Tatsuya could prevent himself from becoming the God of Destruction that he was born to be, his children would inherit "Decomposition". This much had been confirmed by the team of geneticists she had assembled years ago, and silenced to keep her secrets. They would not have the shackles imposed from without; they would be true demons, with a child's selfish, emotional tantrums, and the power to unmake the world itself!
Had anyone been in Yotsuba Maya's private study, they would surely have recognized the madness shading her laughter, the wild light in her eyes. But only the unseeing gaze of the HAR was there to watch a woman's descent into insanity.
Tuesday, April 15, 2097 Common Era, at the Headquarters of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion, Major Kazama Harunobu's personal quarters, shortly before the Broadcast:
"Yamanaka, what I don't fully understand is why we had to shoot so much footage of Tatsuya-kun showing his ability as a combat magician. And really, did we have to include footage from his Junior High Legball Championship? I guess it adds interest for the interviews, but it doesn't seem…I mean, we definitely want to showcase his ability as a magical engineer, right?"
"Kazama, have you ever read a Twentieth Century author named Joseph Campbell? 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces'? The Monomyth?"
"No, of course not. You know my tastes in books."
"Yes, of course, though it is unusual to see hard copies in this day and age." Dr. Yamanaka waved his hand at the bound copies of military history, tactics, strategy, and of course magic on the bookcases in the small office. All the volumes were what one would expect of a career military officer. The only incongruities were several books on woodworking and furniture making…which was strange as Kazama, as far as he knew, had no interest in collecting or making wooden furniture...
"So anyway, the Monomyth is a concept put forth that all mythologies share a common source, that all mythic narratives as variants of one great, all-encompassing story that transcends cultures, civilizations, peoples. All of the great tales of the ancient world, all the stories of heroes and their quests are basically the same; they share enough core elements to be recognized if told to another person of a different tradition. There are striking similarities between the Ramayana (epic Hindu poem, the Journeys of Prince Rama) and the Odyssey, for example. Scholars have compared the story of Yamato Takeru (legendary hero/emperor of Yamato Dynasty), in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki to the Arthurian legends. I could go on and on…"
"Please don't, Yamanaka-kun." Despite being an old Academy drinking buddy, and by military tradition the only subordinate he could unburden himself with, (as the Unit's Senior Physician) Yamanaka was also known for excessively enjoying the sound of his own voice. (and for spraying the room with spittle when he talked excitedly, but let's not mention that)
"The point I'm trying to make is that we have the potential to create a narrative…tell me if this sounds familiar. A boy is born into the family of the Demon Queen, the strongest Magician in the world. Because he is low ranked in magic, he is not acknowledged as belonging to the Royal Family. He is instead trained in the path of the warrior mage, as a humble retainer. However, he becomes so skilled, and so capable that he is given the highest duty that exists in the Court of the Demon Queen, bodyguard to the precious Princess of Ice and Snow, his sister. He keeps training, gaining in wisdom and martial arts, and even though he has already won the greatest honor a warrior mage can aspire to in the Court of the Demon Queen, he aspires to become more. He then takes on the greatest challenge of all…the secrets of Magic itself! After a great trial, he is able to grasp the secrets of giving the gift of Magic to all of Mankind, and he humbly presents this immense, golden…excuse me, this Silver gift to his Queen. As reward, the Demon Queen lifts the spell, revealing that the Princess and he are merely cousins, and grants her hand to this Golden Youth…excuse me, Silver Youth, as the supreme reward." Yamanaka sat back with a pleased expression. Then he sat up straight with a thought…
"I say, Kazama, is it too late to change 'Taurus Silver' to 'Taurus Gold'? After all, gold is more precious than silver…it would sound better…"
Kazama looked at Dr. Yamanaka in astonishment, and guffawed.
"Just a few years too late. But let me see if I'm getting you. You basically want to create a…myth? Isn't that just a bit too old fashioned in this day and age?"
"No, not really. Just because this is the twenty first century doesn't mean that people still don't crave stories of heroes, overcoming huge obstacles to attain impossible victories, and beautiful princesses. They've just…re-branded them. Sports, Movies, and even…manga."
"MANGA?! So you're setting up Tatsuya-kun as the hero of a shounen manga (boy's manga)?!"
"Urm…not so much. No, what we're trying to do here is to make Tatsuya-kun…seem extraordinary, a legendary figure, larger than life…surely the major is aware of the advantages of being seen as a living legend, Dai Tengu-san? (Great guardian mountain/forest demon)" Yamanaka smirked. He knew how much Kazama hated his nickname, given to Kazama during the Vietnamese Conflict.
"I see… it may be wise to never release the footage of Tatsuya-kun's first rehearsals…" At this, both men smiled wryly.
Last week, when the first rehearsals for the broadcast were being shot, Tatsuya was…a little stiff. Despite being instructed to talk about his discoveries "not as if you're giving a military briefing!" this seemed to be something that Shiba Tatsuya had great difficulty with. In spite of operational security, a PR firm had been hired to "coach" Tatsuya. Not even the legendary ability of Shimada "Mayushi" Mayu, Green Leaves Entertainment former client and current head of "Dealing with the Hopeless" Public Relations Coach, had been up initially to the task of dealing with BOTH Shiba Tatsuya and Shiba Miyuki.
Between Tatsuya's inability to "be charming to the camera", Miyuki could be…even worse.
"Don't you think that you could shoot it so that Tatsuya-sama looks more dashing?"
"No, the lighting makes him look pale; I think we should emphasize Tatsuya-sama's rugged good looks."
"Seriously, don't you think that this sports drink is too sweet? Tatsuya-sama prefers a bit more acid in his beverages."
"Please turn up the heat a bit more; Tatsuya-sama mustn't catch a cold!"
Shimada-san found Shiba Tatsuya equally vexing.
"So the easiest and simplest way to explain Transformational Magic is to use this simple equation in Tensor Calculus…"
"Denied! Shiba-kun, your audiences are not mathematicians!"
"Shimada-san, I can't explain it properly without using…"
"Denied! Shiba-kun, please explain it using Japanese!"
"I am using Japanese! Transformational Magic is matching the surface area of the targeted phenomena, in this case the expanding shockwave of a heavy hydrogen chain reaction with a carefully tailored Magic Sequence such that the magical event wave "overlaps" the target phenomena with above 93% congruency! Because we're talking about geometry that change over time, the only way to describe it is to use calculus!"
"Shiba-kun, are you trying to kill me?! Don't answer that! Shiba-kun, we're trying to explain the importance of your discoveries to housewives, salarymen, and kids! Imagine…imagine you're explaining things to your fiancé…"
"Fortunately Miyuki has a good grounding in calculus and theoretical physics…"
"SHIBA-KUN!"
Shimada-san might have lost it at that point, fortunately she saw Miyuki hiding a grin…and Tatsuya had a tiny smirk on his face, and she finally realized that Tatsuya was using her as his "play-toy" to try to ease Miyuki's nervousness…
The problem was that while Shiba Miyuki had been trained as an ojou-sama, a young lady able to attend any social function with style and grace, aware that her beauty would inevitably be the center of attention, AND trained to deal with it, Shiba Tatsuya completely lacked those skills. With only a bit of training, Shiba Miyuki could do this broadcast, no question. She was photogenic, and with her help, she would have no problem "making love" to the camera. Miyuki was potentially "star" material, charismatic and attractive…whereas Shiba Tatsuya was simply not. And because it was SHIBA TATSUYA'S discoveries and achievements that were to be broadcasted, Miyuki was becoming more and more nervous for the sake of her fiancé…as Tatsuya-san…hated the situation more and more? And Tatsuya expressed his hatred for the situation by becoming more and more wooden in his performance and more and more concerned about Miyuki as the situation continued to deteriorate. As the first day's rehearsals went on and on, without a single satisfactory performance by Tatsuya, Miyuki's obvious distress over her beloved increased, and Tatsuya was becoming even more frantic over Miyuki's anxiety over Tatsuya's performance…gah! This sucked!
Shimada decided to try something that at first glance seemed to be doomed…She decided to put both Tatsuya and Miyuki on camera. When Tatsuya-san was explaining things off camera, or in his interactions with his fiancé, he could be charming, and his obvious enthusiasm for the technology he invented was…captivating. His embarrassment at presenting his ideas to the camera showed, which was perfect…it was completely and utterly endearing. Shimada's task was to "brand" Shiba Tatsuya, and the best fit was for a brilliant and charming YOUNG super-genius. This public "personality" that could be accepted by the world was a combination of the "youthful warrior" persona given off by the USNA…excuse me, former USA President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in his first presidential campaign, and the "socially inept but brilliant" charming awkwardness of Albert Einstein's first public appearances. If she could pull this off, this "public persona" Shimada was helping Tatsuya create would fascinate the whole world…crossing both fingers and toes, Shimada Mayu decided to bite the bullet and asked Shiba Miyuki to join her husband to be on camera…
Once Again, Back to the Broadcast:
"But despite my duties as a Magical Engineer to present my research to the world publically on occasion, I'm really much more comfortable in academic settings or in a laboratory."
Shimada Mayu leaned back on her sofa, and with a glass of wine in her hand, watched the broadcast. Everyone in Green Leaves Entertainment had been under "house arrest" until literally a few minutes ago, kept under lock and key by expressionless and incredibly intimidating 10 MC operatives. Now that the broadcast was being aired, the communications blackout was lifted, and while her coworkers were checking personal terminals and catching up on their lives from their "week in prison", she was watching her two protégés charm the whole world…
"Perfect." Said Shimada Mayu, echoing the sentiment expressed by both Major Kazama Harunobu and Dr. Yamanaka Kousuke.
"Ok, then, the first 'misconception' that most of you have is that the Second Great Problem of Weight Magic is that of actualizing a Gravity Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor. Simply not true." Tatsuya grinned at the camera. With Miyuki right next to him, his anxiety didn't reach critical levels, causing his "emotional limiter" to trigger, turning his voice emotionless, and after Shimada-san's extensive coaching, he was able to accept that visible awkwardness was ok…it made him more "approachable". Tatsuya could now let his natural enthusiasm for the topic show…Miyuki could see the same shining eyes as she had seen before, just like all those years ago back in Okinawa, when the then Lieutenant Sanada Shigeru had shown the 13 year old Shiba Tatsuya some Specialized CADs he was developing…
"Originally, among Magic Researchers, the goal was simply the actualization of a Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor. Initial designs were for using Electromagnetic Magic; however, this approach was abandoned due to complexity. Because the magic necessary to reduce Coulomb force was discovered over a decade ago, and been continuously refined and improved since then, the technical challenge of creating a working Fusion Reactor has been reclassified as "Gravity Magic". You see, Coulomb force, which prevents deuterium from 'fusing' was originally seen as the greatest hurdle."
The monitor behind Tatsuya changed from the FLT logo to show a representation of two atoms of "Deuterium", or heavy hydrogen with the electron "Shell" surrounding the single Neutron and Proton. The diagram changed to show the electron "Shell" being removed by an arrow labeled "Coulomb Force Reduction Magic" and the two deuterium atoms collided…arrows labeled "Gamma Radiation" and "Neutron Radiation" flew away from the "Fusion Event". The arrows struck the side of the "Containment Vessel" and a rather alarming label "Neutron Bombardment causes Slow Disintegration of Containment Vessal" appeared…
"Once the problem of actualizing Coulomb Force Reduction Magic was overcome, the biggest hurdle toward actually making a commercially viable Fusion Reactor is Containment Vessel Degradation. Under continuous bombardment from Neutrons created in a Heavy hydrogen Reaction, which provides the greatest energy per unit of fuel, the 'Containment' vessel starts to disintegrate. This is bad for running a power plant. So the idea was to create a 'Containment' vessel using Gravity Control Magic made of water. Hence, it became the 'Second Great Puzzle of Gravity Magic.'"
The diagram changed to show the "Containment Vessel" filled with water…arrows showed that the water was pulled back from the center with "Gravity Control Magic" and the "Fusion Event" happened inside a "shell" of water…
"This approach is excellent for preventing the loss of the 'Containment Vessel' and this was the approach used by my 'Stellar Furnace' experiment last year; however it does have its disadvantages. For one thing, you have to use a mixture of 'Heavy' and 'Light' water, this mixture not only serving as the 'Fuel' but also as 'Containment Vessel'. This mixture is heated by Fusion, which THEN heats a 'Coolant', typically distilled water, which THEN turns a turbine, to generate electricity."
The diagram changed to show pipes labeled "Coolant" running through the "Containment Vessel", and the pipes going to a box labeled "Steam Turbines connected to Electric Generators".
"Now, as an engineer, this setup is inefficient, as energy that could be used to generate electricity is being wasted transferring from one superheated liquid, the mixture of Heavy and Light water, to the 'Coolant' which does the actual work of turning the electric generators. We naturally wanted something more efficient…"
The diagram changed to show a "Containment Vessel" filled with "Filtered Seawater", and a thin tube leading to the center labeled "Convergence and Movement Magic used to 'pipe' pure Deuterium Fuel to the Center of Containment Vessel".
"We had two objectives designing the Pulse based Compound Magic Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor. We wanted a system that was cheap to construct, so that it makes sense economically for countries to replace existing solar-cell power-farms with our Fusion Reactors. We wanted a high degree of efficiency, so fuel consumption was reduced, allowing power companies to sell electricity cheaply, yet still make a good profit. Sounds impossible? This was why we went with a pulse system. Deuterium is 'piped' to the center of a 'Containment Vessel' filled with plain, ordinary seawater. Why seawater? Because after the super-heated steam from the seawater is used to generate electricity, we can condense the steam to make distilled water. This type of Fusion Reactor makes THOUSANDS of liters of distilled water, easily made suitable for agriculture or industrial use, not to mention potable water for human consumption, per SECONDS of operation. That really is elegant…making electricity, and making huge amounts of distilled water while you're generating the kilowatt hours."
Arrows labeled "Coulomb Force Reduction Magic" and "Compression Magic" surrounding the center of the "Containment Vessel" animated to show a small explosion labeled "Fusion Event"…
"We use Convergence and Movement Magic to transport deuterium to the center of the reactor, filled with seawater. We use Coulomb Force Reduction Magic and Compression Magic to generate a tiny thermonuclear 'Event', which produces Gamma Radiation and Neutrons. We use Dispersion Magic to transform the Gamma 'Flash' and Neutron 'Flash' into heat, which of course also prevents the creation of secondary radioactive isotopes…that produces the steam to generate electricity with, and to be collected after use to become distilled water, which is another product that will be sold by our Thermonuclear Reactors. Ideally, we'll execute this sequence several times a minute, hence a 'Pulse' type Thermonuclear Reactor."
The diagram showed lines surrounding the "Fusion Event" labeled "Dispersion Magic", which produced a large amount of "Steam"…
"Now Magic Researchers who are watching will say that it is impossible to produce a "Dispersion Magic" field strong enough to 'disperse' the radiation of a small thermonuclear 'event'…and they'd be right. However we can make this work using the theory of 'Controlling Phenomena after Creation'…or FAE for short."
The diagram showed "Free After Execution used to create a powerful Dispersion Magic Field".
"FAE, or Free After Execution tells us that after a Magic finishes altering phenomena, there is less than millisecond of delay before the laws of Physics re-exerts itself. For example, say I use lifting magic to lift this egg. Once the magic completes, there is about a millisecond's 'window' during which if I can execute a second magic, to once again lift this egg, it will require far less interference power, to repeat the same effect."
As the suspended egg spun in midair without support, Tatsuya smiled in genuine and honest appreciation for the unknown Magic Pioneers in the USNA who had created Brionac…which had taken FAE out of theory into practical, commercially useful reality.
Now the monitor showed a blinking box labeled "Free After Execution-Do you wish to Learn More?" Home viewers could tap the button on their remotes to open up a webpage containing more details, to be studied in their leisure.
"And this was why we went with a pulse system. We use convergence and move magic to push fuel to the center of the Containment Vessel, surrounded by seawater. Immediately after the convergence and movement magic completes, we execute, under a millisecond, inside the FAE 'window', a compression magic to compress in the drop of deuterium fuel, and Coulomb Reduction magic to initiate a heavy hydrogen chain reaction. Because the SECOND magic executes under a millisecond after the first magic completes, before the laws of Physics re-exerts itself, it has about 8 times the interference strength for the same magic ritual."
The diagrams on the display in the camera's field of view showed the "Fuel" being moved inside the "Containment Vessel" by "Convergence and Movement Magic". "Convergence and Movement Magic" blinked, and the words were replaced by "Compression and Coulomb Force Reduction Magic" but in bigger and bolder font. This was to show how the second spell, utilizing FAE Theory, was amplified in power.
"But we're not through. We execute a THIRD FAE magic immediately after the 'Compression and Coulomb Force Reduction Magic' completes, this time 'Dispersion Magic', to turn the Gamma 'flash' and Neutron 'flash' into useful heat energy. This will also prevent the creation of Sodium-24 which is radioactive and would normally be the most troubling byproduct of using filtered seawater."
"Convergence and Movement Magic" flashed and turned into "Compression and Coulomb Force Reduction Magic" (in bigger and bolder font) which then flashed once again into "Dispersion Magic". (same font and size, to show that this effect isn't increased with repetition)
Now the diagram showed "Deuterium Fuel" being injected, "FAE Compression and Coulomb Force Reduction" generate a small "Fusion Event" and then a second "FAE Dispersal Magic" turning the seawater in the "Containment Vessel" into steam.
"Now we're missing only one thing. For those of you who are Magic Researchers, hold on to your seats, we got Transformational Magic to work." As Tatsuya smiled in sincere appreciation for all the work put together by his "people" in the Third Division of FLT, a number of Magic Researchers who were riveted to their monitors felt complete disbelief…
"NO WAY! TRANSFORMATIONAL MAGIC!" A-Chan exclaimed, to the surprise of Miyumi, Suzune and Mari. A-Chan, or Nakajou Azusa, had snuck in while they had been watching…
"Transformational Magic is something that had been theorized for years and proven experimentally, but no one could make it work in a practical sense. You see, according to the theory of Systemic Magic, one can take phenomena from one Major Type, and convert it into the other Major type in the SAME Great System. For example, under the Systemic Movement and Oscillation Great System, there is a magic called 'Hale Particles'. 'Hale Particles' magic uses Convergence Magic to gather CO2 out of the atmosphere, and then uses the Major Type Oscillation to freeze the CO2. It then uses Movement Type Magic, which is the other half of the Great System Oscillation/Movement to propel the resulting projectile."
The display behind Tatsuya was now a diagram of the "Four Great Systems" and "Eight Major Types". "Speed/Mass", "Convergence/Dispersion", "Absorb/Release" and "Oscillation/Movement" could be seen.
"Now then, 'Hale Particles' use Oscillation Magic to freeze the CO2, and Movement Magic to propel it. It has one peculiarity. If the day is warm, the ambient heat from the surroundings will naturally try to melt the frozen CO2. This causes the 'Hale Particles' to SPEED UP! Somehow, in direct contravention of the Third Law of Thermodynamics, the Entropy, or heat in the surrounding air, is REDUCED, and 'Transforms' into Movement. Please note that this can only happen going from one 'Major Type' to the corresponding 'Major Type' within the SAME 'Great System'. In the case described, it is happening to the Oscillation/Movement family."
The diagram showed "Heat" surrounding the "Hale Particle" and as each "Heat" touched the "Hale Particle" it become "Movement".
"As a magic engineer, we've all thought that if we could use this on existing phenomena, we can make power plants and engines more efficient. For example, we know that internal combustion motors, burning hydrocarbons, are from an engineering perspective, enormously inefficient. Most of the heat energy created by compressing and igniting the fuel is wasted, not used to generate work. But if we could somehow use Transformational Magic to convert part of the heat into Movement, we could add Movement to the piston, getting more work out of the same amount of hydrocarbon fuel."
The diagram now showed a representation of a piston type internal combustion engine. As the diagram animated, it showed an explosion inside the cylinder, and arrows of "Wasted Heat" flying out of the "engine". Now as "Transformational Magic" appeared inside the cylinder, this time less "Wasted Heat" came out of the engine, but the piston was enhanced with "Wasted Heat Transformed into Movement" increasing the number of strokes of the cylinder.
"The problem with using this type of 'cheat' to increase efficiency is that the phenomena we're extracting energy from, has to be created by magic. It has been theorized that if we could match the geometry of a dynamic phenomenon precisely, with the correct Transformational Magic, we don't need to create the initial phenomena using magic. For example, let's say we're trying to extract Movement out of a candle flame. If we could 'program' the magic so when it executes, the 'effective field' of the phenomena alteration matches the geometric shape of the candle flame, it should work."
The display showed footage of a real candle burning. Then a red colored circle flashed, covering the flame, and it showed "Transformation Magic-Match 37%". The red colored circle flashed again, this time it was elongated, more and more flame shaped. "Transformational Magic-Match 53%". Every time the red colored "circle" flashed again, it shaped itself closer and closer to the flame, until "Transformational Magic-Match 93%" appeared, and the logo "Transformational Magic-SUCCESS!" appeared.
"This is very hard to do outside of an experiment. We've been able to make it work inside the laboratory, but we have a problem making it work in real life. That's because while high speed photography does exist, so we can see a dynamic phenomenon, like a candle flame at tens of thousands of frames per second, Kirilian Photography, which is how we see magic phenomena, is limited to about 300-500 frames per second. Very difficult to synchronize the magic when you can't see the magic as it is happening FAST enough..."
The display behind the seated Shiba Tatsuya now displayed a photo of two researchers, a young man and woman, in their white lab coats.
The Third Division of Research at FLT, known internally as "the Silver Taurus Division" has been described as "rebels and renegades" and were composed of the "surplus" employees of the technical department. What exactly does this mean? One only has to look at director Ushiyama, who still wore his Mechanic's overalls at work. Ushiyama had never hid the fact that to complete his graduate studies in Computer Engineering he had to work as an electric car mechanic, and insisted on wearing his overalls to remind people that "no matter how brilliant the theory or technology, if people can't use it as easily as they would drive a car, it was worthless." That and his trademark afro should be all the clues you need to tell you what kind of a person the Director of the Third Division was.
The rest of the Third Division, were those former Technical Department employees who were deemed "surplus" to their original departments and had been chosen to join a new division, created for the purposes of supporting a 13 year old "genius" in his work. The directors of the First and Second Research Division at FLT were handpicked by the then Vice President in Charge of Research Shiba Tatsurou, and they had taken the opportunity to remove their personal "eyesores" among their researchers. Unfortunately for the directors of the First and Second research divisions, those "eyesores" were the most creative among the FLT magic researchers. "Hoisted on their own petards" might be a rude but accurate assessment of the situation for the directors of the First and Second Research Divisions. Of course, the one really responsible was Shiba Tatsurou, who had chosen his directors based on their business acumen, and a proven ability to "stay in budget, and always mindful of profitability". They really had no business (joke intended) running a RESEARCH laboratory. As the director of Second division watched with a sick feeling in his stomach, the two annoyingly Otaku researchers he had leapt at discarding had their photos broadcast to the entire world…
This of course was not to say that the personnel in the Third Division were easy to manage. Ushiyama had to give Tomoe extra time off to move his "Sailor Moon Crystal" figurines to a storage locker before his ever increasing collection took over his apartment, and Kitsuuyu's OCD required monthly visits to a dermatologist to treat her blistered hands due to her compulsive hand washing (she tended to forget to take her medication when she was "in hot pursuit of an idea"), and the dress code was relaxed at the Third division, "as long as you button up your lab coats, what you wear underneath is your own business." But they delivered. Shiba Tatsuya was after all only one person, and no matter how brilliant of a Magic Engineer he was, Tatsuya needed the Third division to make his ideas into reality. And he certainly wasn't the only creative mind in FLT's Third Research Division…
"This is Masters Candidate Ozora Mirai and Doctoral Candidate Ozora Hiroshi in this photograph. They're siblings, and they both work in the Third division at FLT. About two years ago, they came to me and Director Ushiyama with a proposal. Now, let's review how a Kirilian camera and a magician can see magical phenomena. When a magician alters a target eidos in the information dimension, which by definition IS magic, it generates psions as a byproduct of the event. Those psions manifest itself in the observable universe. A magician can see the resulting psion 'flash' because his or her Magic Calculation Area 'translates' the psions as something the mind can perceives as an image. A Kirilian video camera has a special type of induction stone built into its imager, or the 'eye' if you will of the video camera. An induction stone translates psions into electrical signals and of course, vice versa. Using the 'translated' electrical signals, the processor of the Kirilian video camera generates a visual image that a non-magician can see. As I mentioned, this is limited to about 500 frames a second, which is useful for most purposes, but we're simply unable to see very high speed magic phenomena, which has always been an obstacle in magic research. At over 500 frames a second, the photographs we get have so much visual artifacts that they're basically useless. The Ozoras came to me and Ushiyama with a proposal for a completely new way to observe magic phenomena. They thought that by using a special induction stone material, a low cost, low latency material developed for psion imaging applications, rather than for CADs, we might be able to get better results. This new induction stone material was only developed a few years ago, for the purposes of law enforcement, to be used as the imager in the psion detectors we see in most large metropolitan areas, and we thought this would be a perfect test of this new technology. We authorized a budget for this new project, and after a few months, we had a prototype. It failed miserably." Tatsuya smiled in memory, and took a sip of his tea.
"Naturally this didn't deter Ozora Mirai and Ozora Hiroshi at all. They speculated that the minuscule magnetic fields of the electronics in the new type of imager we developed were interfering with the conversion of psions into the electrical signals with the new type of induction stone. I did mention that induction stones converted psions into electrical signals and vice versa didn't I? We know, because of experiments that psions, even though they don't fit the Standard Model (the currently accepted model of Modern Physics)as either fermions (matter) or bosons (force)that psions can be influenced by magnetic fields. This is in fact how a standard Kirilian camera works, by focusing, using magnetic fields, psions into the imager. Well, to cut a long story short, we ended up going completely old school. The Ozoras ended up designing a molecule thick layer of the new type of induction stone material, backed on to a molecule thick layer of an electrically powered bioluminescent material. This gave us an imager that did not use any electronics at all, but relied on electro-chemistry. As an artificial 'neuron' in the induction stone material receives a psion, it will 'flash' an electroluminescent area on the backing. This gave us an image that we could photograph at high speed from the back of our psion imager. And for the 'lens' we threw away the normal psion image focusing system of concentric magnetic fields and using a simple aperture in a psion opaque material. The other possible reason for the artifacts in the images we were getting was imperfections in the symmetry of the magnetic fields that acted as the 'lens' in Kirilian cameras. After spending hundreds of thousands of yen, we invented a psion version of the Pinhole Camera." At this statement, Shiba Tatsuya actually grinned wickedly…
For a long time, among magic researchers and engineers it was believed that the biggest hurdles in high speed imaging of magical events was due to induction stone latency and electromagnetic/magnetic distortions in the psion "lens" assembly. Modern induction stones were synthetic neurons analogous to the "cerebellum" portion of the brain. Because these "generalized" neurons handled everything from visual processing, to cognition, like the difference between "generalized" CADs and "specialized" CADs, it was slower while being useful for more applications. The new induction stone material was analogous to the primitive areas of the brain, which didn't "process" psion information, reduced this natural latency significantly. The other hurdle, long thought to be impossible to overcome, was the fact that ALL Kirilian imaging systems HAD to use magnetic fields to focus the psion "flash" into the imager. Even in the laboratory, it was almost impossible to generate a perfectly shaped and symmetrical magnetic field, to focus psions into the imager of a Kirilian camera without errors. While this wasn't a problem at 500 frames a second, at tens of thousands of frames a second, it became significant, and rendered footage useless for research purposes. Despite the tens of millions of dollars spent by Maximilian Industries in trying to develop distortion free magnetic field generators, success was still elusive. It was typical of "Taurus Silver's" trademark innovative way of thinking that he reversed the question, and succeeded where Maximilian's outrageous research budget had failed so embarrassingly. The "pinhole" of a "pinhole camera" was about as primitive of an optical device could be.(it predates the invention of glass lenses by THOUSANDS of years) By avoiding the entire issue of using a magnetic field to "focus" psions, Taurus Silver had succeeded where the ENTIRE research division of Maximilian had failed. Professor Michael Amagi, head of advanced magic research in Maximilian, known to colleagues as "Dr. Machinegal" for his work on Combat Servitors decades ago, resisted the impulse to do a facepalm or just bang his head against the table repeatedly…
"The Pinhole Camera or Camera Obscura has been known since antiquity; in fact written up in the Codex Atlanticus by Leonardo Da Vinci. It is one of the ancestors of the ancient film based camera, which of course is the ancestor of the modern digital camera. Despite the fact we're using technology this ancient; our version of a high-speed Kirilian photography system is able to do something that no other device can do in the world. We can see magical phenomena at thousands, tens of thousands of frames per second." The display behind Shiba Tatsuya displayed the schematics of what a historian would recognize as a pin-hole camera, with the identification of "Pinhole Camera/Camera Obscura Device". It simply consisted of a simple box, the pinhole acting as a "lens" that displayed an upside down image of a candle that served as the target, projected on a piece of paper at the back of the device.
"This technology still has very real limitations, for example, we can only image very strong magic phenomena because a pinhole is highly inefficient in 'imaging'. Only very 'bright' psion events yield useful results. Finally, because of the nature of the 'pinhole', which uses the rectilinear propagation of light or in this case psions, we have to build it big to make this technology useful. Our current model is about the size of an auditorium. Naturally, as we improve and refine the technology, we expect to be able to use this technology to image a greater range of magical phenomena, and make this technology more useful to our research. But we have results now, and here you can see for the first time see Neutron Blocking or Dispersion magic at 9,000 frames per second…"
As the entire world watched in fascination, the display changed to a black screen. A single bright point of light appeared, which rapidly grew into a sphere, and then morphed into a series of incredibly complex and quite simply beautiful geometric shapes…
"…and one of the reasons FLT has always been the world leader in the design and manufacture of CADs and other magical equipment is due to our commitment to original magic research. The other reason obviously is the hard work, dedication and the brilliance of our magical researchers. Without them, my identity as 'Silver' would mean nothing."
As Tatsuya spoke honestly and gratefully about how he depended on the hard work of his staff, a number of people had already begun think about the "implications". While far less well known than the Three Great Puzzles of Weight Magic, high speed Kirilian photography was a breathtaking achievement in the Magical Research community. They had no way of realizing that the entire reason Tatsuya had disclosed FLT's breakthroughs in high speed Kirilian photography (which was staggering enough) to simply reduce the disbelief as he announced the REAL breakthrough in just a few minutes…
The directors of the First and Second division at FLT whom had followed Shiba Tatsurou's directives on cutting back on "expensive and unnecessary research" which "wastes money and diverts us from our core business" felt like throwing up.
Professor Michael Amagi, Chief Researcher for the Advanced Magic Research division at Maximilian, knew, just knew that after this broadcast, he and other Chief Researchers and division heads would be summoned to David Morrow's office. As before, when Taurus Silver had released Generalized Flight Magic, David would have a number of biting comments and insults for his Department Heads. As the principles of Generalized Flight magic are simple enough for even the "suits" to understand, management had a number of questions two years ago… "Why if this stuff is so simple to understand, didn't YOU idiots invent it!? WHY ARE WE PAYING YOU SO MUCH WHEN YOU KEEP SCREWING UP SO BADLY?!" Management is NOT going to like the fact that Maximilian spent millions on magnetic field technology when Taurus Silver had poked a hole in a cardboard box…
Ernest Rozen was still laughing. It felt so GOOD when the shoe was on the other foot… Rozen had been considered the prime contenders to solve the First Great Puzzle a few years ago. Their spectacular failure in their attempts to make "Post-Event Zone Interference" work had been pathetic…Taurus Silver during his FRESHMAN year in high school had succeeded where their top scientists hadn't… Now that 17 year old kid had succeeded on a shoestring where Maximilian, with their grotesque project budgets had failed. Amagi must be chewing bricks right now…And wouldn't Morrow be PISSED?! Ernest Rozen's stomach hurt from laughing too hard.
Rozen, like Maximilian, was started by a brilliant magic engineer and scientist, "Mutti" (mother) Heidi Rozen. However, unlike Maximilian who had sold the company after the death of the brilliant Geoff Maximilian, to the "Wellmart" corporation, Rozen Magicraft was still run by "Mutti" Rozen and her children and grandchildren. (of course, minus one "Anna Rozen Katori" whose name was still not mentioned in his mother's house.) It must have been disappointing to "Mutti" when her daughters and son had failed to inherit their mother's genius in magic technology, and ended up working the "business" side of her company, but at least it was kept in the family. Certainly the second and third generation had Rozens with the inclination to follow the engineering track. Part of Ernest Rozen's mission in Japan was not only to explore reconciliation with Erika Chiba, whom "Mutti" earnestly desired to meet, but to cement closer ties to FLT, which like Rozen was founded by a single genius developer. (though FLT had existed before Taurus Silver, it had been seen at best as an average level supplier of parts for CADs prior to Taurus Silver's release of Loop-Cast) Heidi Rozen had felt that Taurus Silver was a kindred soul, a fellow scientist and magic engineer, and wanted to develop a closer tie to the person she felt was a peer…unlike Maximilian, with whom she had cut personal contact with after the death of her friend Geoff Maximilian. "Mutti" Rozen was in her nineties now, most of her contemporaries, friends and rivals had passed away. She was lonely. As mentioned, she considered Taurus Silver to be a peer…unlike Amagi, whom "Mutti" despised as a bootlicking scrote… she had hoped to become a "mentor" for Taurus Silver. Heidi Rozen had revolutionized the Magic world half a century ago, as the genius biochemist and magic engineer who invented Specialized CADs. Now, nearing the end of her long life, widowed for nearly 20 years, she wanted to see the future entrusted to individuals she considered worthy, not to those like that jackass Amagi, who cared more about "politics" than science.
Ernest Rozen contemplated his mother's probable reactions to the fact that Taurus Silver had been revealed as a 17 year old high school student…and not just any high school student, no, but the acknowledged son of the "Demon Lord of the East", Yotsuba Maya. There was still a possibility that Shiba Tatsuya was NOT Taurus Silver, and this was a ploy of some sort…no, that was just too simple to disprove. The kind of innovative and unique genius that was Taurus Silver was impossible to counterfeit…a few simple questions to test the unique powers of someone widely acknowledged to be one of the best magic researchers in the world. Ernest Rozen started typing, asking his research staff at Rozen Magicraft, Japan for questions with which to test "Taurus Silver" given the opportunity…
"…of course, this is simply about efficiency. This 'pulse' based design for a Thermal Nuclear reactor uses magic to enhance the efficiency of power extraction from the heavy hydrogen reaction. We use dispersion magic to extract useful thermal energy from the electromagnetic emissions of our 'fusion event'; we're using the Transformational magic to extract the energy from the concussion wave. You see, as mentioned the 'fusion event' is a small, thermal nuclear explosion, inside a liquid medium. There are engineering solutions to dissipate the shockwave and convert that into heat to increase the steam production, but using Transformational magic brings up our reactor design to approximately 80% efficiency per cost of a unit of fuel. In contrast to this proposed design, it has been estimated, due to the extremely high output of the heavy hydrogen reaction, that commercially profitable fusion reactor designs need only 15% efficiency. The rest is incentive for companies worldwide to use our design, as the initial investment could be paid off very quickly, possibly in less than a single year, allowing power companies to sell power and of course desalinated seawater at low cost and high profit. Unfortunately, there is just one little problem with our design."
Shiba Tatsuya looked straight at the camera. "The problem with actualizing this proposed design for a Pulse Based Compound Magic Thermal Nuclear Fusion reactor is the limitations on the magicians necessary to make this work. The Neutron dispersion magic, for example, is monolithic, in that we can't separate the magic into multiple parts, and so we can't reduce the number of steps in the magic below 58 processes. For those of you unfamiliar with magic, processes, or steps are the components that constitute a magic. For example, in order to move this egg intact from my hand to the table requires four steps, or processes. We need Increase Speed (Acceleration), Movement, Reduce Speed (Reverse Acceleration), and Stop (end of movement). But dispersion magic alone constitutes almost sixty steps, and no matter how we tried, we couldn't reduce the number of steps. I am engaged to one of the most capable A-class magicians in Japan, Shiba Miyuki, and so I know that her limit is about 30 steps. 58 Steps are beyond the capability of any known magician." As Shiba Tatsuya held Miyuki's hand, he bowed his head and looked sorrowful.
"We were forced to conclude that with current magical technology, there was absolutely no way to complete our design for a commercially viable Pulse-Based Compound Magic Thermonuclear Reactor. It just can't be done, with the limitations imposed by the capability of the magicians who are necessary to invoke the magic and control the processes necessary to make our vision come true. At this point, we gave up." At this admission, Michael Amagi sighed in relief, Ernest Rozen felt disappointment, and the directors of First and Second Research Division at FLT looked up from their misery. The "Kid" had failed? YES!
As Saegusa Mayumi, Ichihara Suzune, Watanabe Mari, Ichijou Masaki, Kichijouji Shinkurou, Angelina Kudo Shields, Sylvia Mercury First, and the Student Body of First Magic High School looked on in sympathy, Shiba Tatsuya bowed at the camera, as if to apologize for wasting their time. He then raised his head, and to the surprise of everyone watching, he had a smile on his face…
"Please note, I had mentioned with 'current magical technology'. So, we created a completely new type of magic technology." "EH?!" thought everyone watching…
Shiba Tatsuya pulled out the silver octagonal box with the FLT logo on the front and showed it to the camera.
"This is a Non-linear-Logic Lattice-based External-psion Magic Sequence ROM. This device stores and plays back MAGIC SEQUENCES." With these simple words, Shiba Tatsuya dropped his world shaking bombshell…
Michael Amagi screamed as his jaw dropped open in shock with so much force he dislocated it… Ernest Rozen tried to simultaneously lean forward to get a better view and to stand up so he could walk closer to the monitor in his office…predictably, he slid off his seat and landed on the carpet of his office with a "thump!" The directors of the First and Second Research Divisions at FLT screeched as the "Kid" announced he had solved the Greatest Puzzle in Modern Magic… Mibu Sayaka and Kirihara Takeaki, like everyone else in "Abracadabra" had dazed looks on their faces as Taurus Silver, their kouhai, revealed to the world the greatest breakthrough in magic since…since…EVER…
"Are you KIDDING ME!" were shouted by Saegusa Mayumi, Ichihara Suzune, Watanabe Mari, Ichijou Masaki, Kichijouji Shinkurou, Angelina Kudo Shields, Sylvia Mercury First as they watched in COMPLETE surprise…they were even more surprised than when they had found out Shiba Tatsuya was Taurus Silver…something they would have sworn a few minutes ago could NOT possibly happen…
The entire student body of First Magic High School looked at with eyes bugged out in complete disbelief to the form of Shiba Tatsuya on the monitor holding that octagonal silver box with the FLT logo…then they looked at the REAL Shiba Tatsuya standing in front of them, holding that exact same octagonal silver box over his head in triumph, Shiba Miyuki at his side. It was at that exact instant that the Next Chapter in the History of Modern Magic began…
-To Be Continued-