demanding equalization

On the last day of the clubs recruitment events Tatsuya gets ambushed and manages to catch a glipse of a red, white and blue armband on the attackers wrist as he flees, showing his connection to Blanche an anti-magic user terrorist group.

"Seriously dude, why in god's name would blanche be at this school?" Sosuke asks Tatsuya, who told him about the failed attack.

"I don't know yet." Tatsuya replies.

"Man, you're annoying. But OK I'll get our acquaintance to look into it." Sosuke agrees, talking about their commander while they were working together on the battlefield.

"Thanks." Tatsuya says, before He, Sosuke and Miyuki, who was walking next to her brother stands in front of them.

"Hi, I'm Sayaka Mibu and I wanted to thank you two again, also Tatsuya, do you have a minute?" She asks

"Not right now how about in..." Tatsuya says, only for Sosuke to shove him towards the ponytailed brunette.

"There, take him, I'll bring Miyuki to the council." Sosuke tells him, pulling Miyuki along while they make their way to the student council office.

"Why are you in a rush to get to the student council office?" She asks intrigued.

"To get to see the beautiful Mayumi and Mari of course. " Sosuke tells her with a wink before Miyuki looks back where her brother disappeared to.

"Don't worry about him. You little bro-con." Sosuke tells her gently before they enter the Student council.

"Miyuki. Hello, oh and you're here too Sosuke." Mayumi greets the two welcomingly.

"But of course, who would pass up a chance to spend some more time surrounded by such beauties as yourself." Sosuke teases her.

"Sosuke! Don't make me arrest you for harassment." Mari warns him, sitting at a table, typing something into a computer.

While Sosuke spends some time in the student councils before heading to class to meet up with Erika and his other friends, Mibu asks Sosuke to join her Kendo club and tells him about their idea to group all non-magic clubs together to force the student council to equalize the treatment of course 2 students.

Tatsuya refuses, but offers to her out her ideas for what demands they want to make another time.

That noon Sosuke and Tatsuya have joined the student council for lunch in their office. Sosuke to stay close to his siter and Sosuke mostly so he can have a quiet place to nap and maybe manage to get some food from the members, having forgotten his, after he woke up late, plagued by a nightmare, something that's an usual occurrence to him by now.

Mayumi and Miyuki both shared some of theirs with Sosuke, who is now savoring every bite.

"You know Tatsuya, there is a rumor going around you dumped Mibu in the cafeteria. Is that true?" Mari says intrigued.

"Dump her? That's no way to talk. And no, I simply refused her invitation to the Kendo club." Tatsuya answers.

"Really? Then why have I heard that Mibu was blushing flustered?" Mari asks challengingly.

"Big brother, would you care to explain this?" Mayumi asks coldly, her magic freezing everything around them.

"Mayumi, be careful, you almost ruined this delicious food Mayumi shared with me." Sosuke complains, the only spot on the table not frozen being his own plate as well as Mayumi's lunchbox, with her sitting next to Sosuke.

"What an impressive aura you have Miyuki." Mayumi says, impressed, seeing Mari's tea being frozen solid.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Miyuki apologizes timidly, withdrawing her magic.

"What happened there Sosuke?" Mari asks, seeing his and Mayumi's lunch being unharmed from Miyuki's powers.

"Trade secret." He says with a wink, continuing to eat his meal.

"Anyways, the reason Mibu seemed flustered is because she told me of her groups believe that the disciplinary squad is the abusing of power and that they have favorable treatment." Tatsuya informs the others.

"Hmm, do you agree with her?" Mari asks.

"No, otherwise I wouldn't have joined." Tatsuya answers.

"Well its false anyways, the disciplinary committee has no impact on grades and placement." Mari says.

"But it is true that its power can be misused. And there are parties focusing on this to make problems." Mayumi adds thoughtfully.

"Do you know who that party is?" Tatsuya asks abruptly.

"No, so far there have only been rumors. Why?" Mayumi answers.

"He thinks blanche is sinking its slimy claws in some student groups here at the first academy." Sosuke tells her, finishing his meal.

"Blanche? How do you know about... well it doesn't matter. Why do you think that Tatsuya?" Mari questions.

"Just a hunch." He replies.

That evening Sosuke comes over to the sibling's house again, sharing the knowledge the commander provided up till now with them.

|2 days later|

The students of the class 1e have their class in a training area, where the objective is to cast multiple spells in succession, making a board move, speeding it up, then slowing it down and finally bringing it back.

Sosuke and Tatsuya are in a group with Leo, Mizuki and Erika.

Tatsuya, Mizuki and Leo are discussing their plans after they graduate when Erika steps up to the machine.

She quickly finishes the objective in a better than average time.

"Very nice, maybe I should ask you for your help." Sosuke praises her.

"Oh please, I'm sure you are way better than me." Erika says.

"Just watch." Sosuke says, starting the machine and suddenly the board slams into the wall opposite of them before speeding back and crashing, kicking up a cloud of dust from shattering part of the wall in front of them.

"Think I'll have to pay for that?" Sosuke asks with a sigh.

"What the hell happened?" Erika asks shocked.

"I didn't have time to cast the slowing down part." Sosuke replies.

"Yeah still, it shouldn't have moved at such speeds. Did you do that on purpose?" She asks.

"No, because of my condition I just have a lot more magic power, which is also a lot denser." Sosuke says.

"But how, I am surprised you can use magic at all with how much antinite is in your body." Erika whispers, pulling him to the side to talk in private.

"There is more than one kind of antinite. Or rather not every antinite works the same way. You see, some antinites don't disperse magic formulars, they absorb them up." Sosuke explains.

"I've never heard of those." Erika says surprised.

"I'm not surprised, they are only experimental, there are no known functioning prototypes, well and mine I'm not too keen on sharing with everybody." Sosuke explains.

"But why do yours work instead of other tries?" Erika asks intrigued.

"Because the ones implanted in me, have me as let out. You see other prototypes don't work because the magical power they absorb will get to be too much for the antinites to handle, while with me, the stored energy gets released into my system.

"That's also the reason I have to wear these at all times." Sosuke says, pulling up a pant leg to show her his unique looking ankle weights.

"What do they do?" Erika asks.

"They disperse my magic around my body in a steady stream, enough at least so that my body won't explode from overloading and can gradually adapt."

Sosuke tells her, before they follow their classmates to the cafeteria with their lesson ending.

"You are just one surprise after another." She tells him with a gentle smile.

"Yeah well, I promise you I will always be honest with you, there are some things you probably shouldn't look into though, for your own safety." Sosuke advises.

"Like what?" She asks wearily.

"My past, well more than what you know at least, some of it is pretty classified and I don't want you to get mixed up in some of the messes I'm involved in." Sosuke tells her.

"Classified, what did you do?" She asks shocked, but he remains silent.

"Right, I shouldn't pry, sorry." She apologizes sheepishly.

"You're safer this way." He says, while they are sitting down at an empty table.

"I'm gonna get a coffee, do you want something? My treat, for putting up with me." Sosuke offers.

"I'll have one too thanks, but I like spending time with you. You're straight forward and speak your mind." Erika tells him.

"Thanks. I have to say I cherish spending time with you too. I don't really have anyone else." Sosuke tells her, squeezing her shoulder appreciatively while he walks past her to fetch their drinks.

"Erika! There you are. Where did you disappear to? We lost sight of you when that trainings device busted through the wall." Mizuki greets her.

"Erika? You still in there?" She asks when the redhead doesn't seem to have acknowledged her presence and waves a hand in front of Erika's eyes.

"Huh? What's up?" She asks, snapping out of her train of thoughts, involving her mysterious schoolmate.

"I asked where you were when the wall shattered." Mizuki repeats.

"I was with Sosuke. He's getting us a drink." Erika says, pointing at their brunette friend waiting in line.

"What's up with you and Sosuke? I know we don't know each other very long, but you seem to spend more time with him than the rest of us." Mizuki asks, while Leo, Tatsuya, Honoka and Shizuku join them at the table.

"Leo, get out of my seat." Sosuke then says, arriving at the group, setting down the drinks in front of Erika and the seat next to her.

"Why? You want to sit next to your girlfriend?" Leo teases him, leaving the seat.

"I wish." Sosuke replies mumbling quietly, but Erika overheard him and her face lights up a bit.

"Ohh, did I struck a nerve there?" Leo asks cockily with Erika wishing the earth would swallow her whole.

"Shut up." Sosuke grumbles defensively, seeing Erika getting uncomfortable.

"Or wh..." Leo starts to say, but feels something pressed against his leg under the table, looking down he sees a blue- whiteish construct of a shotgun aiming for his kneecap, the barrel seemingly appearing out of his ring cad

"Sosuke. Don't, you're part of the disciplinary squad." Erika tells him disapprovingly.

"I won't stand by idly while my closest friend is being made fun of." Sosuke says, but recalls the construct before leaving the table with his coffee, leaving behind his three friends in silence.

"Sorry about him getting so defensive, he didn't have the easiest childhood."

Erika apologizes for her Afghan friend, looking after him concerned.

"Looks like Leo was onto something, huh?" Miuki asks the fellow girl.

"I don't know... maybe" she says unsure.

At the same time, in a coffee shop located on the school ground Tatsuya is meeting with Mibu again, who wanted to convince him to join her cause, telling him that they want to force the school to give them better learning conditions but can't name specific steps when Tatsuya asks her to clarify what changes she's expecting.

|The next day|

Sosuke, Tatsuya and pretty much everyone else is in class when an announcement is made, that a group having taken over the communications center wants to talk to the student council body about equalization of course 1 and 2 students.

The disciplinary committee then assembles in front of the room with Mayumi, Maki and Jumonji already waiting in front of it, having shut down the announcement system from the outside.

"You're late." Maki tells Tatsuya and Sosuke who arrive together.

"Sorry, we were in class which is where I would assume most of the people here should be at." Sosuke says, looking to the end of the hall on both sides where a group of students have gathered.

"What's the situation?" Tatsuya asks.

"They can no longer send, but they are holed up in the room with the door locked from the inside." Mari informs them.

"And you can't just open it from the outside?" Tatsuya inquires.

"No, they stole the replacement key." Jumonji says.

"So? Ah, just move aside please, lovely ladies, you too Jumonji." Sosuke says, stepping in front of the door after the three moved aside.

"Let's see." Sosuke says, kneeling down and peers at the keyhole, placing his palm over it and they hear a quiet clink coming from just behind the door.

He then reaches in his back pocket, pulling out some small lock picking tools and picks the lock with expertly ease.

"And voila." He says, pushing open the door, revealing four shocked faces of Mibu and some of her cohorts.

"Now, freeze everyone." Sosuke says, a blue glowing, nearly transparent handgun in his left hand, raised at the group.

"Sosuke, we only want to detain them while we sort this out." Mayumi berates him, with the older members of the disciplinary committee arresting the four students.

"Fine." Sosuke says, holding up his gun and pulling the trigger, with a white glowing flower, made entirely of magic shooting out of the tip and puts the flower behind Mayumi's ear, ignoring the angry and shocked looks from the students around them.

"Don't worry. Next time it'll be a real flower." Sosuke tells her with Mayumi blushing heavily.

"Don't stare at me boys, round them up." Sosuke then tells the members of the disciplinary committee who were stupefied by his actions.

"R-right." They say and take away the three members beside Mibu.

"Mibu, what did you expect to get out of this stunt?" Maki asks her fellow sword fighter.

"To get to revisit the school's policies which favor the first-year students." Mibu replies.

"Fine. While I wish you'd have come to the student council directly instead of making such a scene, since no one was hurt I will accept, and we'll hold a public forum tomorrow." Mayumi agrees after which Mibu gets lead away.

"Are you sure that was the best decision Mayumi?" Sosuke asks her.

"Ah, yes. Don't worry as long as they stick to logical arguments, we're fine." Mayumi tells him confidently.

"I'm not talking about that. But with you leading the public forum many students might see you as the one oppressing them." Sosuke warns her.

"While I agree that you might be right, this is still my duty as student council president. Plus I'll have Mari and you all to make sure no one does anything else stupid." Mayumi replies, shooting him a gentle smile.