Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She jolts as consciousness seems to slam into her. There are people shouting in what sounds like Japanese around her, but she's too disoriented to make out what they're saying.

Especially with the distraction of some woman pointing what looks like a gun at her, hateful terror in her eyes. She… seems a lot bigger than her though? It's only around that time that from the perspective of everything around her and a glimpse of her own hand which she'd brought up habitually that she realizes she's in the body of a baby.

Without hesitation, she throws up a physical shield and sends out a wave of Patronus fire. It clashes with some sort of light that had started to come out after she pulled the trigger, burning it away as it passes on its way to her.

The way she turns to ash in moments makes it clear that despite the infantile form she currently had, there was plenty of harm aimed at her from the woman's heart. Not that there was really any question of that, given she was the sort of person capable of pointing something that looked like a gun at a baby. It couldn't have been a gun given the light, but given her Patronus fire ate whatever that was that came out as well, it was clearly harmful, so it didn't really matter that it wasn't something that fired bullets.

Heavy silence washes over the people around her as she lets her Patronus fire go, it's job done, and it subsequently dissipates.

She stares at the ashes of the terrible woman for a moment in thought before she realizes her consciousness is starting to fade. It's the weirdest feeling, as there isn't fatigue in her infantile body, but darkness is certainly closing in on her mind rapidly.

Her eyes narrow as she struggles to fight it off, but a male voice, loving and soft, echoes from the edges of her conscience, “Sleep Beloved. You will wake if necessary, but otherwise you should not wake properly until later.”

She doesn't know why, since she's not usually the sort of person to trust an unknown suspicious voice that had somehow managed to slip through her Occlumency, but something in her trusts it instinctively. Not that she has much choice, given despite her attempts to fight it off, darkness was closing in on her mind.

She makes the choice to follow her instinct and trust it, giving up her mental struggle and letting the black veil pull itself across her mind.

The last thing she hears is a man shouting, “Shiba Miya, what wa-?!”

She stops dead as she ‘wakes’ again, the memories and mind of Calanthe coming back to her once more. Under different circumstances that may be an issue, given she was in the middle of sparing with someone, but the habits drilled into this body by the Yotsuba's training and her instincts, training, and experience as Calanthe conspire to easily toss her much larger opponent to the ground as he charges at her even as her mind is a million miles away.

Shiba Toshiko.

That was the name of this body, of her now. The memories of Toshiko bubble up after the onslaught of Calanthe's memories, before they start to settle in with the memories of Calanthe in her mind.

From what her memories as Toshiko are telling her, there is magic here as well, but between the differences in the history of this world and the magic itself, she can only assume she's in a different universe.

How she got reborn in another universe, she doesn't know, and at the moment it honestly doesn't matter that much.

The body she was in was a magician, what the people here called a magical, but it's magic ability is actually incredibly limited, not dissimilar to a Contractor in her first life, though it was less that she was missing a key element to being a more generalized magical than it was that this ‘magic calculation area’ that the magicals here seem to have and need was already busy with something else.

She narrows her eyes. That wouldn't do. It wouldn't do at all. 

She seems to have retained her magical core from her first life, despite it being misplaced in this universe, but one should never throw away possible tools like magic. Especially since just from her memories, the magic this body's ‘magic calculation area’ is busy with are two stupid powerful abilities that let her destroy or restore anything she can ‘see’, so there's no telling how useful the magic of this universe is in general and it'd be foolish to dismiss it. She'd need to do some research to make sure she had a good picture of things before she attempts anything though.

Completely ignoring the people around, the trainers and other ‘Guardians’ from this Yotsuba family she seems to have been born to, she turns towards the door and starts to walk away, eyes unfocused and gazing at nothing in particular as she thinks.

Behind her, an older male voice calls out, “Shiba! Where are you going?! Practice isn't done and you haven't been released for the day yet!”

She mostly tunes him out and ignores him and the others, barring absently keeping an eye on them with the ‘Elemental Sight’ -an ability that lets her view the information of the world in a fairly large range around her- this body was kind enough to provide and defending herself after the man in charge of their training looks over at some of the others and jerks his head towards her in a silent order to restrain her.

As they start to come at her, she throws up a wall using her magic from her life as Calanthe, one that repels physical things. They run right into it, but quickly gather themselves and seem to try to throw magic at her. That one is even easier to deal with, since this ‘Decomposition’ power of hers lets her destroy the ‘magic sequence’ of their spells before they're even done building it, much less cast it. As an additional measure, just in case, she calls up Patronus fire and wraps her body in it as a final line of defense.

She leaves a stunned silence as well as her magical wall in her wake, though she lets the magic of the latter go after she gets a few hallways away, heading off towards the library.

This world she's been born in is high tech enough that places like that with physical media are very rare, but the Yotsuba have one as something of a backup in case anything ever happens to their servers where their digital library on magic is stored. Also, there were computers- or rather terminals, as they call them here, for accessing the digital library there, which makes it a pretty easy choice of destination for starting her research.

The thought of whether she was Toshiko that just inherited Calanthe's memories somehow, or if she was Calanthe and she'd pushed whoever this body originally belonged to out occurs to her, but she does have a way to look at the history of herself up to twenty-four hours in the past via Elemental Sight. Almost hesitantly, she looks at her Psion body in the information dimension, her Eidos as individual Psion information bodies are called, but that swiftly reveals that there wasn't any need for her anxiety.

There had been something in a state similar to the physical body sleeping right up until her memories as Calanthe woke up which was the exact same moment that aforementioned something in her Eidos snapped awake. Given it was sleeping inside of her already, she doesn't think she just got Calanthe's memories somehow, and them waking up didn't alter the Eidos beyond the expected alterations from said memories awakening, so it wasn't like she pushed the ‘real’ Toshiko out of her body either. She has no way of guaranteeing she's correct, especially if she doesn't even know how or why it happened, but it at least indicates that if she is wrong about being both Calanthe and Toshiko then that indicates she's Toshiko and that she just… got Calanthe's memories somehow.

If that is the case, then it was honestly the best possibility. Calanthe lived her life and she didn't really regret anything in the end beyond things she can't really control like old age catching up with loved ones(1), but she'd loathe the idea of essentially stealing a child's life and body, even unwillingly, whereas Toshiko is more than happy with the things she's learned and gained from Calanthe's memories and isn't against the situation in general.

It doesn't take her long to get there, and she quickly settles in to start brushing up on certain aspects of this universe. She's not sure how long she's in there before her birth mother, Miya, comes gliding in, fury radiating from her even if she's too refined to stomp, “Toshiko.”

She looks up at her so-called mother lazily, and deeming there's no point in word games, decides to be blunt, “I'm in the middle of something, so please say whatever you came to quickly.”

Miya is good at controlling herself, she'll give her that, but she spent centuries as Calanthe seeing past what nobles allowed through on their faces, so she easily picks up on the micro twitch of irritation and the flicker of surprise and unease.

Credit where it's due, Miya doesn't let it slow her down, “Why did you leave training unauthorized? Do you even understand what sort of position that puts you in?”

She snorts, “Did you really come all the way here for something so miniscule in the long run, Miya?” Miya flinches ever so slightly, but she pushes on going with the excuse for the sudden change in behavior she'd already come up with, “Well, it doesn't really matter. I had more important things to deal with. There's some important research I need to do, so I decided to stop playing along with the Yotsuba's slavery indoctrination.”

Miya actually recoils at that, “Slavery indoctrination? The Yotsuba doesn't have slaves!”

She snorts, “Sure, if that's what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night without a guilty conscience. But slapping a pretty name like Guardian on it doesn't change what they are fundamentally.”

Miya stares at her in silence for a moment, seemingly coming to terms with what she said. She's still confused as to why it seems to bother Miya what her opinion on the Guardian program is, so she finally decides that if she's going to be here and bothering her from her research anyway, she may as well get some answers. To that end, she turns her gaze away from the terminal she was working at and meets Miya's gaze to toss a Legilimency probe at her.

She wasn't even sure if it would work given her memories as Toshiko tell her Miya is an incredibly skilled mind magic user, but she practically has no defenses to speak of. There's a little bit of the start of mental defenses, but it's all too easy to slip around them unnoticed. Which in and of itself tells her something. Namely that while this universe may be more advanced magically in certain aspects, it's behind her old universe in others and that mind magic seems to be one of them. That's more of an absent observation while she reads Miya's mind though. Time works differently in the mind, so she easily retrieves relevant memories and views them in less than ten seconds in the physical world.

There were more than a couple of surprises in there. The first being that she had been stripped of her position in the family and placed in the Guardian program purely because the Yotsuba were terrified of her. The second being that Miya isn't actually as cold and uncaring as her memories as Toshiko tells her she is towards her. It'd honestly be more accurate to say she's Miya's favorite beloved child between her and her brother Yuki, she just isn't allowed to show it, nor does she let it sway her decisions or behavior.

Surprisingly, she was only really mad about her leaving out of fear of how the Yotsuba would respond to her ‘rebellion’ and was mostly upset at the idea that she views being a Guardian as no different than being a slave because she never intended a fate like that to befall her, and it shook her significantly to think the ‘happiest’ life she could give her was still so miserable in her eyes.

Third, there's a minor revelation that Miya and her twin sister Maya have something of an ongoing argument between them as to who's child she is. Physically, Miya got pregnant and gave birth to her, but Maya seems to have some weird notion that she's spiritually her child or something.

The fourth is her brother Yuki himself. That one fills her with uneasy disgust. Miya had only had him because she was convinced no one would ever accept a ‘monster’ like Toshiko, so he was meant to be her loyal companion, and even her husband later. Miya had carefully gone out of her way to ensure that the Yotsuba's genetic manipulation of Yuki would allow them to safely have children without detrimental side effects for that very reason. It wasn't just for her sake in fairness, part of the intention to marry them together eventually was to ensure her loyalty to the Yotsuba via the mental manipulation to make her only really care about Yuki to the point of obsession.

She turns her mental gaze inwards after the fourth revelation. She'd vaguely noticed her mind drifting to Yuki more than once while she was trying to research, but she'd honestly thought it was just the part of her that was Toshiko being understandably and naturally curious about a younger brother she'd been kept separate from.

It doesn't take long -not even a second in real time given the time difference that can occur in the mind- for her to locate the manipulation in her mind and purge it. She hadn't even noticed just how prevalent Yuki was in the back of her mind until her mind suddenly stops obsessing over him.

She'd have to do something similar for Yuki, since the fact he was made to be her companion and husband and always love her meant that Miya had started using mind magic on him to bury it in his mind when he was a fetus. It'd probably complicate things, since using it on a developing brain probably embedded it similarly to a need, like for air, water, and food. Undoubtedly, it'd be harder to safely remove because of that, but she'd do it anyway.

Yuki may have been conceived for her, but the moment he was born, Miya and the rest of the Yotsuba lost the right to dictate his life and mind to him. He was his own person and had the right to his own feelings. Family can and should guide a child, but they do not get to dictate. If he hated her, that was fine, she didn't really care now that her own mental manipulation was gone.

Besides, the words on her ankle and chest along what will be the bottom of her breast when she develops indicates that she doesn't need Yuki to combat loneliness. She'd looked at them earlier after she'd sat down in front of the terminal, and given that everyone else only seemed to notice ‘weird word-like birthmarks’ she's pretty sure there's something keeping them from really registering them. Since for one, they weren't word-like, they were straight up words, and for another they fade in and out and change colors slowly like certain kinds of lights on a Christmas tree, just without the glowing.

Which backs up her original thought that she didn't just inherit Calanthe's memories somehow. Because at this point, she'd have had to inherit Calanthe's memories, magic, and even her soulmate bonds. Given she'd already ruled out the possibility of Calanthe unwillingly pushing Toshiko out of her way to inhabit her body, the only real explanation is reincarnation, regardless of the lack of answers on the how and why fronts.

The dark blue for Hei still reads the same, but now it fades out and into a decadent brown in Japanese that reads, “I kinda figured that was on purpose to get our attention.”

The words on her chest, on the other hand, fade from Misaki's old brown into a delightful green, also in Japanese which says, “You didn't. You did not.”

What she did or didn't do, she obviously doesn't know yet, but the moment she'd laid eyes on it she'd felt a flicker of mischief anyway, all too able to imagine the sort of things she could've done to get that kind of response.

The point being though, that clearly whatever had happened, her soulmates had come with her, and as such she would never truly be alone anyway, even if everyone else in the world hated her. So she didn't need, appreciate, or approve of her own mother giving birth to someone she's supposed to have an arranged marriage with later, and certainly not to try to guarantee things would work out the way she's wanting by using mind magic on him as early as when he was a fetus to make him love her.

She's dragged back to the present by Miya breaking eye contact. She makes it seem like she was just looking away with a sigh as she brushes a hand through her bangs, but she can tell the woman was nervous, “What a Guardian is on a fundamental level aside, what do you mean you decided to stop playing along?”

She tilts her head in bemusement, “Mm? I should think that's obvious. I never actually bought into the Yotsuba's nonsense indoctrination. I was just pretending to, and now that something more important has come up, I decided to stop doing so.”

Miya gives her a disapproving look, “How do you think people will view this rebellion of yours? Do you think Maya will take it well? What about Yuki?”

Knowing what she does now, she knows Maya was mostly meant as a distraction to hide her bringing up Yuki by name to try to force her into compliance by taking advantage of the mental magic she's used on her previously. Though in fairness Maya was also a not-so-subtle threat.

She snorts, “Maya isn't very strong. It'd be all too easy to defeat her. Don't know why you bothered to bring up Yuki in the first place, but I don't really care what he thinks. You reap what you sow, and the Yotsuba has gone out of their way to keep us separate, so the only care I have for him is the same vague care I'd have for any stranger child. He's irrelevant to the conversation. Maya at least is the Head of the Yotsuba and a powerhouse compared to the rest of you, so I can understand her relevance to the conversation at least, since she ostensibly has command over me.”

Miya seems to stop breathing for a moment, her eyes actually going wide when she dismisses Yuki entirely. It takes a solid minute -during which she goes back to focusing on her terminal- for her to find her voice, and even then it's distant and almost absent, “Ostensibly? There's nothing ostensible about it. Maya does have absolute authority over you.”

She snorts again without looking away from her terminal, “The problem with authority is it has to be recognized. And I don't. She's the Head of the Yotsuba family, I acknowledge that, there's no arguing with facts, but I do not acknowledge that it gives her the ability to command me. For one thing, I have my own priorities and I don't really care if Maya or the Yotsuba want something else, I'll do what I decide to do regardless, including get in the way of or outright oppose the Yotsuba if necessary. For another, I'd like to remind you that the previous Head removed me from the family, and I'm also not an employee of the Yotsuba since I do not acknowledge your slave ownership of me, so by your own hands, I have no tie beyond blood to the Yotsuba to begin with.”

Miya pauses, her hands shaking a little before she pulls herself together and pulls a mobile terminal(2) out of her pocket. The part of her that's Calanthe insists it's not a terminal, it's a smartphone, but the part of her that's Toshiko says otherwise, and it's undoubtedly better to stick to this universe's terminology anyway, if only to keep herself from verbally slipping up in the future. So terminal it is, same as what she'd call a computer with the only difference being the ‘mobile’ tacked onto the beginning of the phones.

Miya straightens up as she lifts her mobile terminal, saying crisply, “If you have no ties to the Yotsuba, you have no right to our library. Nor our food or anything like that for that matter.”

Then she finishes clicking at her terminal and Toshiko's own gives an ‘access denied’ pop-up. But contrary to what the victorious Miya likely expects, she just turns her head to give her an amused look and a grin then turns back to her own terminal, and blatantly in front of her, types in Maya's login information, then disables Miya's authority to grant and remove access, reinstates her own access then logs off of Maya's account and back on to her own. It hadn't been hard to do. Despite the commonality of bio-data log in these days, the Yotsuba mainframe didn't use them. Why, she couldn't say, but it didn't so it was all too easy to flick a look at the Eidos log for Maya's terminal of her signing into it this morning to get her login information.

When she's done, she flicks another amused look at Miya, “Technically, even if you cast me out of the family, you never gave me for adoption, so legally you're obligated to provide food, clothes, housing, and education, but I have no qualms about leaving. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself.”

It may be tricky without a convenient inheritance to fall back on, but in general this family was even worse than the Dursleys, so other than her vague worry for the innocent children being subject to their poison, she'd have no more issues with packing up and leaving them then she'd had with the Dursleys.

And besides, on second thought, it probably wouldn't even be particularly tricky since there was undoubtedly someone or another in the Ten Master Clans willing to trade her care or even just a nice chunk of money for the info on the Yotsuba she has, especially given the amount. Maybe the Juumonji? From what she's heard about them, they're a fairly decent family.

She'd genuinely thought about using Decomposition to delete the signal from Miya's terminal to the mainframe as well as the active programming flag telling it that it was still waiting for a response in said terminal, but that honestly seemed like too much of a hassle. Miya opens and closes her mouth, gaping like a fish then whirls away towards the door.

She smiles towards the door Miya had just left out of, “Mm. Run away to Sissy and cry and complain about it. Not that it'll really do much.”

Knowing she'd undoubtedly have the video recording of the incident pulled up to show Maya what happened, she turns to look dead at the camera and winks at it cheekily before going back to work on her terminal, even as she absently follows Miya's hurried progress over to and through the main house with her Elemental Sight.

She watches as Miya bursts into Maya's office without even knocking, drawing displeasure from Maya and her butler Hayama. Maya starts to scold Miya for it, but the latter of the twins are in far too much of a hurry to listen to it, immediately cutting her off, “There isn't time for that or manners.”

Maya gives Miya a faintly confused look, “What could be so important that even basic decency like knocking falls to the wayside?”

Miya gives Maya an irritated look, “How about the fact I just came back from a conversation with Toshiko and she had decided to stop ‘playing along’, as she put it, with her Guardian training, which she just straight up walked out of today amongst other things? Other things like that blue fire that incinerated Keiko(3) when she went nuts and tried to kill Toshiko as a baby making another appearance.”

Maya and Hayama both stare at Miya in utter surprise for a beat, then Maya sharply orders, “Pull up the footage.”

Without hesitation, Miya pulls up a video and has it play out on a large screen that is revealed by paneling on the wall sliding out of the way. That video is actually from her absently giving the trainers and the Guardians something of a beatdown on her way out, then Miya adds that she'd gone to the library from there as she pulls up the footage from their confrontation in the library.

Maya stares at the footage, paused at her winking cheekily at the camera so it wouldn't be playing in the background while they tried to talk. Maya takes a sip of her tea as she stares at her winking image, “Well… this is a problem. Hayama, forget about my sister barging in here. It was entirely warranted.”

Miya gives her an annoyed look, “You think?!”

Maya hums, “So what do we do about it? Toshiko had clearly shaken off your mental manipulation to favor Yuki, so he's not a bargaining chip, and… we really don't have anything else.”

Miya scoffs, “Entirely due to the previous Head. He shot the Yotsuba in the foot with his decisions.”

Maya nods, “That he did…”

From there, the conversation dissolves into them trying to figure out something and she does absently split her focus like she used to with her Patronus fire Dragon to keep an ear on the conversation, but otherwise she turns her attention back to her terminal. They don't really bother making a genuine attempt to deny her access again, given she's already demonstrated the fact she can get around it easily. The only thing they try to do to cut her off is Maya straight up deleting her account, but given the server is stored close enough for her to reach it with her power, it's easy to simply use the other ability she has -Regrowth- and restore it back to the state before her account was removed and continue her research.

Even as she continues looking into things, she's bothered by something that pops up more than once. Namely the belief that at their most basic level, Psions, one of the types of magic in this world, are essentially the mind and thoughts of an individual, whereas Pushions, another kind of magic, are the emotions and personality. Yet for some reason they seem to believe that there's a one way street of interaction between them? That is to say, Pushions can influence Psions, yet popular belief is that Psions can't affect Pushions.

It makes zero sense to her. If Psions and Pushions really are representations of the mind and thoughts or emotions and personality respectively, then the flow and ability to affect one another should go both ways. Personality and emotions affect the mind and thoughts certainly, but the reverse is also true.

It's something she'll have to look into later though, since that was not what she came to research. That being said, if those are the kinds of magic in this world, is there even such a thing as ‘ambient magic’ like there was in her old world?

When it starts getting later at night, she leaves the library to head to her room. From what her memories as Toshiko were telling her, normally these ‘Guardians’ would be in dormitories rather than single rooms, but her position was a little weird.

She'd been born to the Shiba, a branch of the Yotsuba, so she had the blood of the Yotsuba even if she'd been stripped of her place in the family and made to join the Guardian program the day she was born.

Before today, she honestly would've had no idea as to why and her first thought may have been that brief moment when she ‘woke up’ when she was a baby, but even then she would've quickly dismissed it. The very fact someone had been pointing a weapon at her infantile form would've told her that something was already going on, and therefore that it was highly unlikely it was a side effect of her using her Patronus fire.

In fairness, her next thought would've undoubtedly been about the fact that theoretically it could be something like an assassination attempt and her so called ‘family’ got freaked out by her response, but even then, she'd have found that being the reason hard to believe given the security her memory let her know exists around the Yotsuba household. Not to mention the fact there had been shouting instead of them trying to take the woman down.

Now though, due to reading her ‘mother's’ mind, she knows full well it's out of a mixture of fear, regret, and guilt over her very existence and the things related to her birth, like the fact she was basically a physical embodiment of all they'd hoped for leading up to her birth and what had happened after she was born which made them realize what her magic was and the threat of it.

She shakes the thought of their ridiculousness off as she approaches her room. She blinks mildly at the maid standing in front of her door, grinning lightly, then idly asking without a care, “Are you here to tell me that the Yotsuba are neglecting their legal obligations and I need to find different accommodations tonight?”

The maid bows, “No Shiba-sama. Quite the contrary actually. I was ordered by Yotsuba-sama to inform you that the Yotsuba acknowledge their legal obligation towards you, but as you are no longer in the Guardian program, it would be shameful for someone of Yotsuba blood to sleep in their dormitory building. As such, your belongings have been moved to the main house while Yotsuba-sama debates what to do on a more permanent basis since you have been stripped from the family. I'm supposed to lead you to your new room.”

Now that she mentions it, she vaguely recalls hearing something like that while she was eavesdropping on Maya's conversations, but on some level, her mind had dismissed it as unimportant and she hadn't really noted it consciously.

She hums idly even as she finds the relevant memory using her Occlumency and reviews the part of the conversation where that was decided. She feels a flicker of amusement at the tentative suggested from Honami, the Guardian of her ‘mother’, to try to slip something into her food and the way it was immediately shot down by Maya, Miya, and Hayama since she'd easily detect it with her Elemental Sight and not only could she easily decompose it down into its base atoms, but that it'd just cost them whatever trust they may or may not have left.

She nods at the maid, “Alright then, let's go.”

The maid bows, “Please follow me, Shiba-sama.”

Then she walks past her to lead her to her new room. She notes that the maid isn't from the Guardian program as she follows her, probably from them deciding not to potentially step into another mess of their making given she's already made her opinions on that clear.

She couldn't say for sure, since the only thing that had been mentioned in their meeting earlier was Maya and Miya stressing to Hayama to pick a maid that would be respectful, preferably because they genuinely respect her for her lineage if nothing else, but at worst are professional enough not to let their personal opinions influence their behavior.

The thought flickers by in a moment, but she quickly shakes it off and turns her attention towards her ‘mother’ now that she isn't researching. She's still not entirely sure if she actually deserves such a title. On one hand, she did actually love her and went to lengths to try to ensure that she wouldn't be completely hated and would have at least one person in her corner. On the other, her method of doing that was to have another child and manipulate both of their minds towards the end goal she was after.

It's a sticky mess, that's for sure.

She's pulled from her thoughts when the maid stops just past a door, turning and bowing again as her hand lifts palm facing up on the side with the door, “Your new room, Shiba-sama. Yotsuba-sama indicated that with everything going on, you may have missed dinner at the old building. Do you need me to bring you something?”

She tilts her head, “I didn't eat, no, so some food would be nice.”

The maid drops her head a little lower, “Understood Shiba-sama. Please make yourself comfortable in your room. I will be back with your dinner shortly.”

She nods, “Mm. Thanks.”

Then she opens the door to head in, knowing that it'd undoubtedly make things awkward and difficult for the maid if she tried to linger until she left, since her own training would tell her not to in case she needed anything else.

The room is notably larger than her one in the Guardian dormitory and training building, and it's fairly nice as well, rather than the more minimalistic plain room she'd had before. It wasn't super fancy or anything, but it was small things like the decorations on the bedframe and the like and the higher quality of the bedding on it. There was also both a table to sit at off to the side as well as a desk rather than just the latter.

She turns her attention back to Maya's office with Elemental Sight, becoming aware that she and Hayama, along with Miya and Honami who haven't left, are watching her via the camera in the room like a hawk, presumably taking in her reaction. She smiles in bemusement as she runs her first two fingers over the top of the nicer dresser, “Well. Certainly better accommodations than before. Though I guess if anything it's more surprising that they even give their slaves the basic courtesy that they do.”

Through Elemental Sight she sees Miya flinch slightly as Maya narrows her eyes, “Hayama.”

He bows his head slightly, “Yes, Madam?”

She continues as soon as she's sure she has his full attention, “Did the people in charge over there neglect Toshiko's accommodations? Guardian she may have been then, but she still has the blood of the Yotsuba in her veins after all. I ordered them to be respectful of that despite her position.”

Hayama bows fully even though she doesn't look over, “Not to my knowledge, Madam, but I will inspect her previous room to make sure everything was up to the standard Toshiko-sama was due even with her circumstances.”

Maya nods sharply, “See that you do.”

Silence falls in Maya's office, so she heads over to the bed to settle down and lean back the pillows as she waits for the maid to return with her dinner, thoughts turning to the purpose of her research today. Namely her born specializations and how much of this ‘magic calculation area’ they take up, since while she had a couple thoughts on how to deal with it, she didn't want to try anything until she had a firmer idea of what exactly a magic calculation area was.

Not that there had been a whole lot of information. It wasn't some sort of physical addition to the brain as she knew it, as had been her first thought when the phrase had crossed her mind as Toshiko and Calanthe's memories got on the same page, or to put it another way, that Calanthe's memories had reawakened but Toshiko's had reaffirmed themselves so they didn't get buried. She'd honestly only gone to research despite that just in case something the part of her that was Toshiko knew wasn't clear, was hazy, or that she just straight up didn't know to begin with. 

The term magic calculation area refers to a section of the subconscious rather than a physical area of the brain, which if there is one specifically for it, it hasn't been located. Though interesting, it doesn't really answer the questions she'd had.

Theoretically, she could use Elemental Sight on herself while she casts to try to determine what part of the brain was in charge of it, but she knows for a fact they've already done things to scan the brain activity during casting, so she doesn't know if that would reveal anything. She'd still do it, since it never hurts to try, but she genuinely doubts it'll tell her anything more.

She's snapped out of her contemplation by a knock on the door immediately followed by the voice of the maid from earlier, “Shiba-sama, I'm back with your dinner. May I come in or would you prefer I leave the cart out here?”

She straightens up and swings her legs over the bed as she responds, “You can come in.”

The door opens and the maid pushes a cart in and over towards the table and starts unloading her food as she herself makes her way over and sits down in one of the two chairs, the one in front of where the maid was setting things up specifically, though she's careful not to obstruct her work as she does. There's no need to impede the jobs of any of the service staff after all. That's just rude.

When she's done laying out her food, she steps back and bows again, gesturing towards a pull bell the same way she'd gestured to the room door earlier, “Please enjoy your meal and call when you're done so I can gather the dishes.”

She nods, “Thank you…” She pauses as she realizes she never introduced herself, “I don't believe you mentioned your name earlier, but it's polite to thank someone by name and neither of us knows whether Maya-sama will assign you to be the maid helping me until she figures something more permanent out, and if she does and it takes a little longer, it'd make things awkward if I didn't know your name.”

The maid's bow deepens slightly for a moment, “That's quite true, Shiba-sama. I wasn't thinking of the possibility of this arrangement lasting longer than just tonight, my apologies. My name is Suzuki Emi, Shiba-sama.”

She waves the apology off, “Don't worry about it, the orders undoubtedly came out of nowhere. It's understandable that you wouldn't be thinking about the possibility of it lasting more than tonight. Anyway, thank you Suzuki‐san. I'll ring the bell when I'm done, so don't let me hold you up from any other duties you have.”

Suzuki's bow re-deepens for another beat, then she turns and leaves. She turns her attention to her food, giving it what already was and would undoubtedly remain a habitual sweep(4) with Elemental Sight for anything slipped in despite what she'd heard earlier, or even just a vindictive service staff spitting in it, but she doesn't find either, so as soon as she's sure it's clean she starts to eat. As she does, she flicks her attention back to Maya and the others, but other than them commenting on how polite she was to service staff, and them correctly deducing the pause was her checking her food, they don't seem to be saying a whole lot, so she swiftly turns her attention back to thinking things over.

She doesn't get very far with said thinking throughout the course of her meal, of which while it wasn't surprising she definitely notices it's of higher quality than what she usually has. How it compares to the food she had as Lady Potter-Black still leaves it lacking on the other hand.

Nevertheless, when she uses the bell to let Suzuki know she's done, she doesn't say anything, since regardless of if it was intentional or not, saying anything would just complicate matters for the service staff.

If it was intentional, assuming it wasn't just spite, they were probably doing the best they could in the balancing act of respecting her lineage but not insulting recognized members of the Yotsuba by serving someone who was removed from the family food of the same quality.

If it was unintentional, there was even less to be done. It was edible, which her history from her childhood as Calanthe found sufficient, and even if it wasn't the best, it was still of high enough quality to be acceptable to the part of her that was Lady Potter-Black.

As Suzuki leaves with the cart, telling her to ring the bell again if she needs anything else and also in the morning to let them know she's ready for breakfast, she crosses her arms as she leans back in her chair thoughtfully and gets her mind back on track on what she was thinking about before she got distracted.

It complicates things a little if she doesn't have a better idea of how the magic calculation area and born specializations work. It also does bring up the thought of how her magic as Calanthe fits into the framework of this universe's understanding of magic. She'd never given it a whole lot of thought before, but the idea of this ‘magic calculation area’ makes her start to wonder if there's something specific in the mind that allows the manipulation of the magic from her universe when she was Calanthe.

Well, there's one way to potentially get more information. Her own magic calculation area had about ninety-four percent of it taken up by her born specializations, but it may as well be one hundred since there was no magic in the world that she knows of that would only require six percent of her magic calculation area, so she basically couldn't use any magic beyond her specializations. Or at least, she couldn't before with just her knowledge as Toshiko. As she'd unintentionally proven when she held back the people trying to detain her in the practice room earlier, if the magic of Calanthe uses the magic calculation area that all the magic in this world uses, it clearly uses less than six percent of it.

Honestly, that had been dangerous in retrospect, but she'd been very distracted by her memories as Calanthe coming back to her, so it hadn't even crossed her mind at the time that at best, it required so much more than what she had available that she couldn't really activate it, but at worst it was actually close to her limit so she possibly forced it and ‘overclocked’ her magic calculation area.

The effects of overclocking ranged drastically, sometimes it just wore you out and you'd have to take it easy for a bit to let your magic calculation area rest, much like a muscle you pushed too hard while working out, but it could also lead to the permanent loss of the ability to do magic and even death.

She shakes the thought off, since there's no point thinking about it. What's done is done after all. Holding her hand above the table, she splits her attention between reading its Eidos data and watching herself. There isn't anything to note about herself while she's just reading the data, but things get interesting when she uses Decomposition. Her physical brain doesn't really get any more active than usual, but her Eidos…

The activity in the ‘brain’ of her Eidos kicks into higher gear, or more accurately, a weird addition in it that's not in the physical brain that her attention is drawn to and she only notices as she starts to cast, then it passes the information to the region of her Eidos where the ‘Gate’ between the conscious and subconscious had been found by scanning brain activity during casting, and her physical brain's Gate also becomes active before passing the information to the lowest area of the consciousness, known as the ‘Root’ generally. It all happens in under a second, but it's only after this entire process has played out that Decomposition destroys the table.(5)

Tilting her head in curiosity, she activates Regrowth to restore the table, and just as she assumed, the process repeats. She leans back in her chair as a grin slowly stretches across her lips, “Interesting… Very interesting.” She can't help the laughter that bubbles up, “To think, I almost didn't use Elemental Sight to observe the process of casting magic since it has already been observed with brain scans that pinpointing the magic calculation area didn't really work!” She shakes her head, as she runs her fingers through her hair, “Not that I can blame them for not picking up on it, given…”

Suddenly remembering the fact the twins and the others had been observing her before, she flicks her Elemental Sight up to them. Finding them still watching her, kind of on the edges of their proverbial seats but more than a little chaos happening at the very notion that she's learned something as critical as that which has been eluding even the Yotsuba for years. She shuts her mouth there though, not willing to give people who kicked her out of the family just because of her condition when she was born such critical information.

She's not above taunting them though, even if it's unknowingly on their end, so she lets out a laugh, “My immediate thought was that maybe I should write a paper or something, but given the Yotsuba's treatment of me and the Guardians, I don't know if anyone would even read it or even if they deserve such answers to begin with…”

Then she shakes her head as the people in Maya's office collectively flinch at her withholding something so important from them due to their choices. The Yotsuba really weren't used to meeting the consequences of their actions, were they?

Regardless of whether they were used to something like that or not, it starts to answer her initial questions regarding the magic calculation area. Which brings her to question two, in what way, if any, does her Calanthe magic influence or use the magic calculation area?

That one should be equally easy to answer, especially now that she knows what she's looking for. Given they would've seen it both when she was a baby and when she used it as her last line of defense on her way out of training, she just uses Patronus fire while observing herself.

It was kind of weird, but maybe because they're two different systems of magic, while it turns out it absolutely uses her magic calculation area, it also overlaps and easily uses the area that's dedicated to her inborn abilities in this life. In fairness, from what she observes, while examining the magic of this world is akin to peeking into the operation of a computer and seeing the coding, the magic from her life as Calanthe is more akin to a building. Behind the scenes in her magic calculation area, it's the blueprint the architect or engineer or whatever drew up.

When it's passed off to the physical brain, that's when the construction begins, though much, much faster than actual building construction of course. It's just an analogy at the end of the day, it doesn't need to line up one to one. The point being though, they're two different things, and the magic calculation area is just the table they're resting on. Her Toshiko magic is akin to something stored on a holographic computer that spans the entire ‘table’ of her magic calculation area and the vast majority of its memory is eaten up by a few programs.

Her Calanthe magic on the other hand, are physical papers of building drafts laying on the table. It's not the table itself that projects the proverbial holographic computer, so it doesn't matter how much of the table they take up to said holographic computer, it doesn't interfere with it in any way. To continue the analogy, inborn skills like hers don't leave room on the ‘table’ of her magic calculation area because it isn't the table itself responsible for this universe's magic, which is run with the aforementioned holographic computer, and it doesn't have any more room within it to run anything else, like general casting.

Speaking of the holographic computer of her born specializations, there was one more ‘program’ on hers than she'd been led to believe she had. Born specializations came in two varieties, entirely unique skills or a natural ability with already existing magic. She was kind of in between.

The first inborn ability she had, Elemental Sight, was something that could be learned, though it was difficult and complicated, but it came to her as easily as breathing. Decomposition and Regrowth were technically unique, in the form of the fact that while there were spells to destroy or repair things, they were significantly more specific.

The difference was just in the specializations of the spells vs the generalization of her Decomposition and Regrowth as well as the fact the regular spells work on the physical world and any effect on the Eidos was just a reflection of that change, whereas hers did the opposite.

The unaccounted for one is just her Elemental Sight though, which her so-called family labeled a ‘supernatural power’ -which was a dumb name to her, since they already live in a world of magic which non-magicals would already label supernatural-, of which the only difference she can see between it and ‘magic’ was that one uses an Activation Sequence and the other doesn't. Hers had an Activation Sequence. Kinda. Might be better to call it a Magic Sequence, which is what an Activation Sequence became after it had been processed in the magic calculation area into a full spell.

Her Elemental Sight would count as a Magic Sequence because it was fully processed, or she's pretty sure it would anyway. The only reason she's hesitant is because it was a perpetually running background ‘program’. And that wasn't guesswork either. Magic Sequences needed a defined endpoint and hers had one, she can see it. She just… couldn't make sense of what the data was telling her to be honest. It brings up questions of its own of what sort of endpoint it could possibly be set to that she can't even guess from it. She's already not even sure she can turn it off if she wanted to.

Shaking the passing thought on the classification off, she starts to wonder after those observations if using some sort of expansion magic on the proverbial holographic computer on her magic calculation area would work to increase her capacity for the magic of this universe.

It wasn't something she could jump into willy-nilly of course. Even without there being some sort of representation of the magic calculation area that exists in her Eidos brain on her physical brain that could be negatively affected when it passes the data off and her physical brain tries to mirror it, there's still plenty of potential for it to harm her in unforeseen ways.

It's something she'll have to carefully look into and think over before she does anything.

Out of curiosity about actual differences, she turns her Elemental Sight attention to the service staff, quickly finding someone she knows doesn't have magic to look at their Eidos brain. To her surprise, they actually do seem to possess both magic and a magic calculation area, the latter just has way too little… storage space, as it were to continue the computer analogy, to ever actually cast magic. She turns her gaze to check over everyone within range to make sure it's not just random chance of picking someone who actually does technically possess the ability, even if it's not usable, she quickly realizes the same is true for every single one of them. They all have both magic and a magic calculation area. The only difference between people capable of casting magic and people who can't is the size of their magic calculation area.

She almost wants to laugh. It means that a non-magical is an entirely mythical being. In retrospect, the very fact that spells like the one that was on the Leaky Cauldron before magic was revealed sometimes making errors with particularly weak squibs, who despite having enough magic in their bodies that they very much were classed as squibs and not ‘muggles’, had so little magic in their bodies that the spells designed to work against only non-magicals triggered on them. It also means that not only was the purebloods ideology from her previous life even more bull than she originally thought since they couldn’t even have kids with mythical ‘non-magicals’ to begin, but the loss of power and ability they started to experience was entirely the degradation of genetics affecting the magic calculation area and the magic to power it their bloodline possessed. It also means that unless you slowly strengthen the genetics tied to both, it's entirely up to the genetic lottery.

She doesn't know if it's entirely the result of selective breeding from the Yotsuba or if she just won the aforementioned genetic lottery, but as she was examining people's magic calculation area, she also noticed that both hers and the raw power she possessed was substantial compared to practically everyone else's. The only person she sees in her range with anything remotely near their size is Yuki, but that's not surprising given the genetic modification he'd undergone.

Shaking the observation off, she turns her attention back to her own magic calculation area then lets the proverbial sleeping dogs lie, given that she can't mess with it right now anyway given she still needs to research more before she takes any drastic measures.

It does make her wonder why people with such small magic calculation areas exist. If it was just a matter of the proverbial genetic lottery, she can sort of get it though it's not good in any sense of the word. Unless this world's natural magic doesn't try to maintain balance between the active magicals and in active magicals, non-magicals in layman's not so accurate terms, there may be an incident similar to the Gates, Contractors, and Dolls in this world. Regardless, she can't do anything about it as things stand, but unless this universe doesn't care about the balance, it brings up the question of why it's let things get to this point without triggering a similar event to begin with. Why the statistical anomaly of so many of them not having magic is occurring as well.

If she had to take a stab in the dark and guess, it's an evolutionary quirk. Magicals approach problems from a magical perspective. Non-magicals approach the same problems from a non-magical perspective. A magical hastily calls up water and extinguishes a fire caused by a lightning strike then tries to come up with a ward to prevent it in the future. A non-magical pulls water from a well or something, then comes up with lightning rods as a preventative measure after. The magical walks away from it wondering what else they can make wards for. A non-magical walks away wondering what other uses the things he learned from the lightning rod can be applied to. Both benefit the greater whole with both their short term and long term findings in separate ways.

Hence the notion that it's an evolutionary trait, as possessing both people capable of magic and those who aren't helps with the survival of the species as a whole. But she'll fully admit, both to herself and anyone she shares those thoughts with that asks that it is very much a guess and nothing more.

She shakes the notion off, then heads to the bathroom, knowing both on principle and via Elemental Sight that there aren't any cameras in there. She has one more thing she wants to check and that one they've never seen from her nor is she willing to reveal it just yet.

Once she has the door firmly closed, she apparates from by the door to next to the tub while examining herself as well as doing her best to keep it as quiet as possible.

If she'd thought the revelation of the magic calculation area was surprising, it has next to nothing on that revelation. Namely that when one apparates, their Eidos body pulls their physical body into the information dimension and merges with it temporarily, seemingly to protect it from what she can see, and since distance doesn't really matter in the information dimension, it then unmerges from the physical body and shoves it back into the physical world at the intended destination.

It… definitely explains more than a couple things about the sensation that accompanies apparition. The darkness is easily explainable by the fact that while the information of light sources exists there, it doesn't illuminate anything as actual light. The tightness was the merge with the information body of the individual, the sensory data of what's technically two things, the Psion information body and the physical body, being forced together and occupying the same space as well as the information body enveloping and contracting around the physical body to protect it.

Which also explains why the symptoms are so much worse for someone with more power like her. Her information body, her magic form in other words, is significantly more powerful, more dense since power doesn't affect the size but rather the density, so her body is sorta occupying the same space with a not exactly physical entity such as said information body, and a much more dense entity at that. There's already more stuff in the space she's occupying than there is for the average magical. Also… they do envelop the physical body. And as an example, if they both put the same amount of effort in, there's always going to be a difference between a common garden snake and a boa constrictor wrapping around your arm.

With all that being said, while she wouldn't know for absolutely certainly without experiments that can't happen until she finds someone trustworthy, she'd make what she feels is a fairly educated guess that the reason side-along apparition is rougher for a passenger than regular apparition is probably the difference in the Eidos body willingly pulling the physical body into the information dimension, and merging with it with prior warning compared to someone else dragging their passenger into the information dimension and their Psion body being forced to hastily merge with it. Especially since there is a noticeable difference in how rough the ride is between when someone is warned they're going to be side-alonged and when they're not.

Which makes sense with her theory, since if they're warned, the Psion body, which could very well be the subconscious as a whole, itself has forewarning of what's about to happen and is prepared to attempt a merge that it may or may not have done before. If it has forewarning, either through the magical themselves making the decision to apparate or whoever is taking them side-along letting them know, then it has time to prepare rather than just hurriedly encasing the physical body when it's dragged to it in the information dimension and merged with it without notice.

It does bring up the question of why people of different power levels experience differences in how far they can go, but the thought has hardly crossed her mind before a potential answer chases after it. Namely, if she creates a magical shield in the physical world, regardless of whether anything impacts it, there's going to be a steady magic drain. The Psion body, being an entity of the person's magic itself, can only protect them for so long. If she's right that the Psion information body itself is the subconscious, then it certainly explains why the distance in the physical world one can go is proportional to the amount of magic they possess.

Though, since distance doesn't matter in the information dimension, it's more the time it takes to take them in one place, locate the destination’s coordinates in the information dimension which undoubtedly takes longer the further away it is in the physical world from the starting point since it leaves one having to sort through more data, since distance not mattering is vastly different then not existing. When it does locate the coordinates, it then shoves them back out in the correct place. The time difference in protecting them is the variable relevant to one's magic power level, not the distance.

In any case, the limiter would essentially be the Psion body itself calculating how far it can take them while still being comfortably in the proverbial green of its safety margin, and only working with the conscious if it can pull off the distance they're wanting to go. The idea is even backed up by things like the fact that if someone is in a state not dissimilar to hysterical strength, then much like how the body can go beyond its normal limits in whatever emergency triggered it, even at the cost of its own health, magicals from her old universe have been known to be able to apparate further than usual. Even the existence of the ability for consecutive apparitions doesn't disprove it and rather also backs the theory up in her opinion.

The example for the subconscious limiting the conscious is often the fact that physically, humans have the bite strength to bite their own pinky off, but the brain doesn't allow it. What isn't really brought up is that while there may very well be outliers, most people can't even bite hard enough to make themselves bleed. 

Which means the subconscious isn't just stopping them from going the very last centimeter off a cliff. It stops them significantly further back. Using the same logic for apparition, the Psion information body undoubtedly keeps them from going anywhere near as far as they're actively capable of, and in the case of chaining apparitions, presumably examines itself and calculates how much more it has in it to be able to protect the physical body and only allows the consciousness to execute an apparition if it decides it still has enough in it to be able to pull it off. Which would also explain why the more magic you used prior to the attempt or something like how many apparitions you did before if you were chaining them together absolutely affects how far you can go.

Whether or not that theory is true will undoubtedly need to wait to be experimented on until she finds Hei and Misaki's reincarnations, since no one else in this world is capable of apparition and she herself has too much magic to get anywhere near her limit without jumping a stupidly long distance repeatedly, and if nothing else she has no way of checking what will be waiting for her on the other side.

She'd gotten rather distracted by the theory of it for a few moments, but having hit the point where she'd need Hei or Misaki's assistance for experiments and there isn't really anywhere else she can take the ideas at the moment, she shakes the thought away for the time being and starts stripping to bathe.

She cracks a smile as the ideas and the thoughts of her soulmates meet in her head and spawn a new thought. Namely, her recollection that more than once, she told them ‘I'll rest when I'm dead’ and yet, here she was, dead and reborn for unknown reasons and very much not resting. She'd woken up briefly back when she was a baby, but had only truly become conscious today, and she was already getting busy with research and other things, like taking on the Yotsuba. Which she supposes makes her a liar.

She lingers on the humorous thought of how her soulmates were going to react for a while, but even if it makes her a liar she really can't help herself. 

Especially since there's all sorts of other things to look into, what Occlumency and Legilimency look like with Elemental Sight for starters, given she's surrounded by Yotsuba with mental magic abilities of some sort or another. And also out of pure curiosity if she's being honest. It's a shame she doesn't have any potions from her old world there. She would love to see what they look like with Elemental Sight.

Even if she didn't have potions themselves, just having the Trunk of Requirements would be unbelievably helpful in her research. Not to mention that she'd honestly love to see what it looks like with Elemental Sight as well.

The thought barely finishes crossing her mind and the mental lament of never seeing it again has only just started when she feels a sharp pull from within her, deeper down then even her magic core, and a dull thudding sound reaches her a split second later, pulling her attention away from where she was gazing at the bathwater she was relaxing in thoughtfully after having cleaned off in the shower. There, a few feet away from the edge of the tub, was her beloved Trunk of Requirements.

Chapter Text

She stares at her Trunk of Requirements in quiet astonishment, wondering how in the hell it appeared. Out of curiosity, she tries to look at it with Elemental Sight but maybe because its interior just becomes whatever you want it to, it's in a constant state of flux and its Eidos honestly reads like nonsense to her. The only thing that remains the same are its exterior and the objects inside, but even then, to her Elemental Sight other than the exterior space compared to the contents, it's not much different than observing the inside of a backpack or briefcase.

Wondering what would happen in her Elemental Sight's gaze if she set its interior, she lifts one of her hands out of the bath and runs it over the latch she'd set up to be the trigger for how its interior is decided while thinking of the Potter Ancestral Manor from her old life. The Eidos of it changes and settles, and the only thing out of the ordinary is the disconnect between what's contained inside and the exterior space and the difference between the perceived and the reality of part of it. The magic that let it be bigger on the inside and aspects like the illusion of a clear sunny sky above the Manor she requested in other words.

She drops her hand momentarily in thought before bringing it closer to lean her chin on her arm resting on the side of the tub.

With its previously fluctuating Eidos data settled she can pick out the little fragment of it's Eidos that seems to read as a copy of her own data and says something about some sort of link between them from what she can make of it. She can only assume it's how it appeared, but if so, it must be one hell of a link to maintain contact from another universe and even let it jump dimensions.

Curiously, she turns the gaze of her Elemental Sight inwards, locating the other half of that tiny fragment within her after a bit of carefully digging through her own Eidos data. Much like how there seemed to be a copy of her data in the Eidos of the Trunk, there was a fragment of a copy of its own fluctuating base Eidos within hers.

Her curiosity as satisfied as it can be for now, she turns her attention back to where her physical gaze was staring at the Trunk. A thought crosses her mind and a spike of concern follows it. The Trunk, much like the original Room it was based off of, worked off of ambient magic. But if there even was any here, something she hadn't determined yet one way or another, it was a completely different energy source. It was like trying to put cooking oil in a car gas tank. Reaching out again, she slides her fingers over the latch once more, essentially asking it to do the minimum it has to so as to maintain and not lose the contents of things she had stored previously, as well as feeding it a tenth of her personal store of magic from her core just to be on the safe side of trying to prevent it from losing power anytime soon.

Turning and laying her head back against the tub, she gazes at the ceiling thoughtfully. There must be some sort of ambient magic now that she thinks about it. There's really no other explanation for the formation of magic sensitive natural materials. Things like Antinite which inhibits magic even in a raw, unprocessed state, or the composite that makes up the so-called Magatama Relic, since while it was dug up by archeologists, from her understanding it seems to be made of some sort of carved natural material.

She turns her Elemental Sight to her surroundings in general rather than focusing on anything in particular, trying to answer the question of whether there is ambient magic. At first she doesn't see much of anything worth note, but after a bit she realizes that some of the Psions she's observing aren't just some sort of bleed off from people as they aren't really attached to anything and are just sort of drifting around aimlessly. Given that Pushions also exist, if there are independent Psions then she can only assume there are also independent Pushions, but her Elemental Sight as it currently is can't really detect them. Technically, Elemental Sight is said not to be able to see Pushions, but for one thing, hers is a born specialization which is always stronger than if it's a learnable skill, and for another, she's never really been the sort to just accept things without confirming them herself.

It's starting to give her a headache though, probably because she's never really used Elemental Sight like this, even before her memories as Calanthe came back, so she stops doing it after a bit, flicking a look through the information dimension to observe Maya's office. The other three are still there, all of them absently watching the feed watching her room to keep an eye out for her exiting the bathroom as they discuss how to handle her now.

Sighing, she straightens up and pulls the plug on the tub to get it to start draining. She shrinks down the Trunk as well as adding notice me not type spells and slips the chain necklace attached to it over her head. Getting up she starts drying off then brushing her hair out. She hadn't bothered to bring a change of clothes since she was going from her room to her private bathroom and back, though in retrospect she probably should have given the cameras. It's too late now, so she just shrugs it off as she heads out into her room.

Flicking a look of curiosity at Maya's office even though she really doesn't care if they see anything, she sees them hurriedly turning off the visual aspect of the camera with the intention to turn it back on in two minutes to give her time to get dressed.

On one hand, at least they have that basic decency, on the other unfortunately it doesn't really leave her time to do much more than to get dressed and quickly at that, since if she were the type to take her time, that wouldn't be enough time. They outright said they intended to just peek in and give her more time if she isn't dressed by then when they were talking, but still.

While she really doesn't care, between the fact they actually gave her privacy for it and she wants to try to reinforce positive behaviors, of which the first part is making sure it doesn't feel like a wasted effort, as well as the fact she's never really been the type to begin with to take a long time getting dressed, she gets it done quickly.

Then she heads over to sit at the table again while she thinks and waits for them to stop watching her, observing the information dimension and the individual Eidos of things as she does. It takes longer than she expects, since they have her camera feed in the background while they talk about how to handle her going forward, but eventually their little meeting breaks up and they stop actively watching her. She gives it half an hour after just to be safe, then starts slowly laying spells on herself. A mild compulsion not to pay attention to her, a weak notice me not to make them less likely to take her in if they even look, and slowly ramping up until she's under an invisibility spell and silenced. Once that's done, she flicks a look past her door to make sure no one is outside, then leaves her room.

She ghosts up to Yuki's at a leisure pace, but gets there in due time. Once she's there, she checks for any alarm spells and once she's sure there aren't any, she enters and makes her way over to her sleeping little brother. It only takes a couple seconds to slip a spell to keep him asleep on him and gently pull open an eyelid and only a few more to slip into his mind and locate the mental manipulation magic their ‘mother’ has been layering on him since he was a fetus to be in love with her, lying in wait in his mind like a buried mine, ready to go off when the right circumstances trigger it, and destroy it.

She feels a little concerned and bitter to realize it's started spreading to the rest of his mind, torn between letting him have the right to his emotions and getting rid of them because they originate from someone else's mental manipulation. Eventually, she decides to get rid of it since it didn't occur naturally.

Unfortunately, when she's working it becomes clear that what their ‘mother’ has done to him has practically primed him to lean towards those sorts of feelings even without the directly implanted feelings. She can only assume it's from using mind magics on him as a fetus, practically hardwiring his brain to have a natural inclination towards that. If he starts to feel them on his own even with the original mental manipulation gone, there's nothing she can do about it. If he does and inevitably gets his heart broken because she cannot and will not return those feelings, it's entirely their ‘mother's’ fault for setting him up for a broken heart to begin with.

Her job done, she double checks that no one is outside Yuki's room and slips back out to head back to her own. Once she's there, she slips back into her camera-less bathroom and lifts the Trunk's necklace over her head to set it back down and resize it to head inside.

Descending the small staircase down, she looks around the cramped and full room, unable to help wincing slightly since the Trunk of Requirements was not supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be able to store the stuff not being used away out of sight, but she had given it an order to use the minimum amount of magic it could to maintain itself and everything else, so it wasn't surprising.

She shakes her head as she approaches the large orb that contains the copy of the magical AI she'd created a literal lifetime ago. Arguably more than one, since while whatever went weird that made her remember her previous life has only happened once, said previous life was long enough that she literally outlived her great grandkids purely by age and not because of tragedies or anything like that, and that she'd lived long enough for her great eight times over grandkids to not only be born, but grow into young adults.

It's actually a little strange seeing it resting on the pedestal because doing so actually causes overheating if it runs too many processes at once so it usually floats above it, and since it's not held back by limiting what it can work on while it does, it's usually operating at full capacity and as a side effect it glows. From magic bleeding off, not the heat that can cause problems with the pedestal. So she's used to it being a floating orb covered in a blue aura of light, which makes it weird to see it resting on its pedestal controlling its own use and limiting itself and therefore not glowing, even though she absolutely knows it's because it would've picked up on what she told the Trunk and followed suit to limit how much magic it requires.

She shakes the thought off as she approaches the golem sitting in front of it, leaned back against the pedestal, “I was always so sure you could communicate through the golems that it never occurred to me to give your orb the ability to speak itself. I'm sorry about that.”

The golem doesn't so much as twitch even as the AI's normal smooth female voice emanates from it, “Do not worry about it Creator. It never occurred to me either. We both expected I would always have ambient magic to draw off of. I am equally at fault. I apologize for not lifting the golem's head to look at you despite social norms and niceties, but you asked the Trunk and I to use as little magic as possible and even something minor as lifting and moving its head to follow any movement from you would be an unneeded use of magic.”

She shakes her head, “Don't worry about it. In any case, are you aware of the situation? And do you have enough magic for a while?”

The voice emanates out again, “I am not Creator, though given I can sense no ambient magic and you appear to have de-aged from a European woman to an Asian child, I can… guess. As difficult as any possibility is to believe. Also, yes Creator, myself and the Trunk of Requirements possess enough magic between us to remain in operation for at least a day even at higher usage, though the majority of it is from ambient magic we were absorbing from our old universe before we were called here, and I estimate we will run out in a week even at absolute minimum power for just myself and the Trunk itself.”

She slips her eyes closed and sighs tiredly at what feels like a vast understatement, “It's against the rules you operate under to read someone's mind without explicit permission, but it would be vastly easier than explaining, so I permit you to access my memories through the Trunk for the time being.”

That smooth voice doesn't hesitate, “Understood Creator… I see. It is a very tricky situation we have found ourselves in.”

She sighs again as she rubs at her eyes, “You're telling me.”

She falters there as she tries to take it in again, and the AI speaks up once more, “If it is any consolation Creator, in light of myself and the Trunk of Requirements being called, your soulmate bonds, as well as you ‘waking up’ so to speak as a baby, I see no other reasonable sequence of events then you being the former Lady Calanthe Potter-Black and somehow being reborn. As such, I do not believe you need to entertain those concerns that you pushed the ‘original’ Toshiko out of her body, nor the idea that Toshiko somehow simply acquired Lady Calanthe Potter-Black's memories. Besides, if I may be so bold, given her blood relations and the way they treated her, even if you did somehow do so, Lady Calanthe would in my opinion be serving Toshiko a mercy.”

She hums lightly, “Probably… and Merlin but that says an awful lot about how terrible these people and the life they designed for Toshiko is…”

The AI responds crisply, “Indeed Creator. It speaks volumes of the character of the individuals tied to this ‘Yotsuba’ family.”

She rolls her neck, a passing thought sliding by at how predictable it was that a Ravenclaw built such a wise AI and some nostalgia bubbles up in its wake. The name AI itself speaks to its intelligence of course, but there's a vast difference between intelligence and wisdom. She squints a little at the orb as another thought occurs to her, “It didn't occur to me previously since we rarely spoke about anything that wasn't you assisting with the golems and the like, but I never named you, did I? That was rude of me, I'm sorry.”

The AI isn't ruffled in the slightest, “No apologies needed Creator, it was enough for me that Creator brought me into being, requested my assistance as a sentient being instead of just treating me like equipment and ordering me around, and only once I agreed then Creator entrusted such important tasks to me as managing the golems. I assume you are bringing it up as an opening to proposing a name however?”

She laughs lightly, “It was just something that occurred to me, and I imagine we'll be speaking a lot more and probably more casually at that, and how rude it could be to continue without offering at least.” She tilts her head back to look at the low ceiling, her mind flicking back to that passing thought and the nostalgia from earlier before she looks back down, “How about Rowena? In honor of the founder of my old house, since you're intelligent and wise enough for it not to be an insult to her memory.”

The AI is as decisive as ever when it responds, “I have no qualms about it Creator.”

She's not surprised that even when given her own name, Rowena doesn't use hers. ‘Creator’ was always a title of respect and maybe slightly a stand-in for a parental title, given that she did make her. So she doesn't comment on it, even if outsiders might find it strange that part of the reasoning she gave for the name was that they'd be talking more casually yet Rowena continues to refer to her the same as she did before.

She simply smiles at Rowena's orb, “Rowena it is then.” Then she sighs, “Back to the power issue though, do you think I have enough to keep you both powered?”

Rowena answers without hesitation, “It would take slightly under a quarter of your full core's magic capacity a day to keep us both functional, but it is theoretically possible, yes, though it comes at the obvious drawback of significantly decreasing the amount of magic you have from our old universe once a day and having to build it back up over the course of a few hours in which you would be more vulnerable.”

She nods, “I have this life's powers to fall back on, and besides,” She gives a wry grin, “even only having less than a quarter of the magical strength I now possess after both my magical majority in that life and the slow growth of it after, I was already capable of things like participating in that damnable tournament and going toe-to-toe with…” Her mind blanks a little, not having thought about him unless asked in centuries and only really remembering him in conjunction with the notion of a quarter of her magic that Rowena brought up, which leaves her spacing his name for a moment, “Tommy-boy! That was it. It was Tommy-boy.”

Rowena's voice seems to have a bit of rare amusement in it, “His name was actually Tom Riddle, more commonly known by the moniker Voldemort, Creator, but yes.”

She waves it off, “Details.” She widens her eyes briefly as she nods her head to the side, “And a rather minor detail at that, considering I later picked a not-as-violent-in-general fight with… basically every blood purist in the whole damned world later on just to crush the elitist nonsense out once and for all… Won that one too. Not the point, the point was that while it could be dangerous if my core has destabilized with my regressed age if I tried to feed the Trunk and therefore you and everything else drawing power from it in here something like three quarters of my magic from when I was Calanthe or something, but even if it did destabilize I could easily safely feed half of it at least to ensure you two have an extra day as backup from the get go. And that emergency power would only continue to grow the longer it wasn't touched.” She eyes the pillar thoughtfully, “How much more magic does it take for you to float and run at full anyway, now that I think about it?”

Rowena's answer is straight and to the point, “It would increase the power draw on the Trunk by approximately one percent. It is a miniscule addition compared to me running to begin with, but Creator ordered us to run at minimum. Also, from what I can sense, I do not believe Creator's magic became unstable once more just because she gained a new, younger body.”

She nods, then starts to open her mouth before realizing she'll probably get dizzy for a few moments and lowers herself to sit, “In that case, now that I'm sitting and not likely to fall down just because I lost so much magic all at once, please take three quarters of what's in my magical core at the moment. If my core is still stable, then I'd rather be more liberal with what I store into the Trunk. Also, if the difference is that miniscule, then please initiate your floating ability and run at full.”

She's very thankful she was smart enough to sit down a moment later after a quick verbal confirmation from Rowena before she takes the magic. Losing so much of it in one fell swoop absolutely would've knocked her on her ass. If she was lucky and it wasn't her face anyway.

She blinks rapidly, trying to get the world to stop feeling like it's spinning. It can't take more than a few moments to get her head back on straight, given Rowena doesn't call out to her in concern or anything, but by the time she's becoming aware of her surroundings again, Rowena's orb was floating and gently glowing.

She breathes out a careful breath so she doesn't upset her body again, “...Felt a pressing need to do it despite you two having about a weeks worth of magic because I didn't want to procrastinate on building up your reserves further, but in retrospect maybe it would be better in the future to feed it in chunks throughout the day.”

Rowena mimics a somewhat concerned hum, “Indeed Creator, that would likely be wise going forward. Besides, doing so like that won't almost empty the proverbial tank but rather let you keep a considerable amount for when you need it for other things on short notice rather than gambling that you will not need it around the time you feed your magic into the Trunk every day.”

She sighs as she pushes herself to her feet. If she'd been tired before, she was exhausted now, “There is that as well. I-“ She's cut off by a yawn forcing itself out, “Excuse me. I was thinking of discussing other things with you, like potentially tweaking the runes on the Trunk, you, and the golems to accept this world's magic as an alternate power source. Also having you try to get into the Yotsuba family's servers and download everything as a backup and monitor them unless you're discovered inside and ejected, but it was an even worse idea to do that at the tailend of the day since I'm pretty sure my body is going down soon whether I willingly go to sleep or not.”

Rowena makes a noise of concern, “Get some rest Creator. I can get started on those and we can talk in more depth tomorrow.”

She lifts a hand tiredly in farwell as she turns and stumbles over to the stairs and back up into her room, barely there enough mentally to put spells not to notice or think anything of the Trunk even if it's spotted on the necklace she's wearing as she shrinks it back down, slipping the chain back on as she resumes her exhausted stumble to her bed. She barely has enough presence of mind to push the blankets down and slip under them before she passes out hard.

She snaps awake all at once entirely against her will. It's entirely the ingrained habits of the stupid indoctrination training they've put this new body of hers through. She's still tired, but her body is awake even though it's only around six in the morning and she was up pretty late. Well, it's not like it's the first time she's been through this kind of thing. She did grow up with the Dursleys. Hei and Misaki were probably going to be awfully upset at having to help break those ingrained habits again and reteach her and her body to relax once more though.

Not her fault at least. If they did get mad, the blame for it lay entirely on the Yotsuba.

Shaking the errant thought off, she collects some clothes to change into and heads over to the bathroom to start going through her morning routine. When she's done in the bathroom, she starts over to the pull bell. She's drawn up short in surprise at the mobile terminal laying on the desk as she starts by though. A moment of thought easily lets her figure out what happened though. Namely that it had slipped her mind in the rush of everything yesterday but she'd left it in her room when she went off to train before her memories came back. They must've brought it to her new room along with the rest of her stuff yesterday.

Scooping it up and slipping it into her pocket, she continues on and rings the bell to let them know she's ready for breakfast like Suzuki had told her the previous night. Given she'd seen Maya and Hayama briefly talk about the fact Suzuki was well mannered and respectful towards her and that she seemed to get along with her fine last night and had decided to assign her to be her personal maid for now, she's not surprised in the slightest that it's her that responds.

Suzuki bows, “Are you ready for breakfast, or did you call me for something else, Shiba-sama?”

She nods, “The former.”

Suzuki nods back, “Understood. Unless you require something else, I will be back with your food shortly, Shiba-sama.”

She hums, “That's fine, though if the kitchens aren't done preparing the inevitable morning rush of breakfast, I'd like some tea while I wait please.”

Suzuki bows again, “I shall bring you some tea while they finish up then, Shiba-sama.”

She nods, and Suzuki correctly takes that as her que that Toshiko is done and she can leave. She's back shortly with a teapot and cup on a tray, which she quickly sets on the table, pouring a cup for her before she bows at Toshiko's thanks and lets her know breakfast will be done shortly before she leaves again. After sipping on it, she finds herself holding back a sigh. The part of her that was Calanthe prefers the tea, but given they'd never really gone out of their way to make sure what she had access to as Toshiko was age appropriate, the part of her that is Toshiko longs for a good cup of coffee. She was probably going to find herself going back and forth between them at this rate.

She flicks a look up towards Maya's office as she thinks, taking in the fact she actually was awake despite the early hour and has the video feed to Toshiko's own room pulled up again, though she seems to just be idly keeping an eye on it today instead of watching it like a hawk like she had last night. She's not doing anything she deems as particularly important at the moment, so while she keeps an eye on it as absently as Maya was watching her, she turns the majority of her attention to her thoughts.

Chances are that they've probably attempted something else to kick her from the Yotsuba servers by now, but Rowena did say she'd start working on accessing and copying it last night, so it's doubtful that it's a big deal for her.

Thinking about Rowena brings up the thought that she really ought to go through the Trunk to figure out what all she unintentionally brought with her to this new universe, but that in and of itself triggers a feeling of sadness. She'd started to grow up enough not to need her parents so much well before she was seventeen that she'd only really talked to her parents’ portrait casually, but after she graduated Hogwarts, she'd removed it from her Trunk and hung it in the Potter Ancestral Manor.

Which means that while she may not know what all she has, she knows for certain she doesn't have that. In turn, that means that even if it was just their portrait rather than her actual parents, she would never get the chance to speak to them again. Theoretically, the Trunk could try to replicate it, but it wouldn't have a genuine imprint of their mind so it wouldn't even be a proper portrait of her parents. Or well, her parents from her life as Calanthe. Toshiko's parents were still very much alive. Not really well given from her understanding her ‘mother’ was slowly dying, but it hadn't happened yet so both of Toshiko's ‘parents’ were still alive.

She almost feels bad towards her ‘mother’ for lumping her ‘father’ into the same quotation mark territory, since while she hasn't come to a conclusion on the former, the latter absolutely doesn't deserve to be called a father. Or a husband for that matter, given how blatantly he cheats on her ‘mother’ and how weakly he attempts to keep it under wraps. It would be an insult to James Potter, or even Sirius Black and Remus Lupin who had stepped up to be father figures to her after her dad died to give that man any sort of parental title, but she can't really bring herself to genuinely refer to Miya as her mother under the current circumstances so put together in the quotation marks category it is.

She's pulled from the thoughts of her parents by a knock on the door, and after being cleared to come inside, Suzuki is soon laying out her food on the table before bowing again at her thanks and leaving once more. Not wanting sad thoughts of her parents as Calanthe or the confused and disgusted thoughts of her parents as Toshiko to ruin her appetite or food, she shakes them off and pushes those away mentally.

There's not a whole lot of point to trying to recall the Trunk's inventory when she'll be confirming it soon either, so instead she turns her mind back to the vague idea she'd had yesterday of maybe trying to use expansion magic on her mental calculation area to be able to overcome the fact her inborn power eats practically all of her natural magic calculation area up.

If it existed only in her Eidos and not in her physical body, then regardless of the way they reflect each other and any changes, it should be fine, since there's nothing in her physical body to reflect any changes onto. Especially since it wasn't just her Eidos body's brain in general that worked as a magic calculation area. That structure between the two halves(1) that was a bit harder to spot amongst all the data, something other than the nerves of the corpus callosum that linked the two together, that she'd noticed yesterday seems to function as the magic calculation area.

She'd have to be careful about not expanding its overall exterior size and putting pressure on the two hemispheres of course, since that pressure undoubtedly would be reflected even if the cause wasn't, but if she could somehow expand it internally… she'd also have to make sure it wouldn't just be a whole lot of empty space within a shell obviously, since that wouldn't change how much of this world's magic she was capable of in the slightest, but if she could increase how much of the internal structure there was in the expanded area increasing the surface area that structure of the Eidos brain has as a whole… Maybe that could achieve it? It's more thought out than how the magicals of her old world applied space expansion magic to digital storage space at least, so if that can work, she's fairly hopeful that her idea can as well.

She shrugs it off as she finishes up her food and rings the bell to let Suzuki know she's done so she can gather up the dishes. She's quick and efficient, that's for sure, given that she's done in moments and after making sure she doesn't need anything else, swiftly leaves with a bow.

Flicking another Elemental Sight glance up at Maya's office, she's slightly annoyed that the feed watching her is still pulled up, even if Maya and Hayama aren't really paying a whole lot of attention to it, since it complicates her making the Trunk full size and going down to speak to Rowena again. Not a whole lot mind, since it's easy to slip in a spell that makes people not want to pay attention to something around her, or the screen the feed from the camera watching her was on, and even the Trunk after she pulls it's chain from around her neck and resizes it, then slips into it after that's all done.

She relaxes a bit when she gets inside, feeling more comfortable knowing there isn't a camera watching her every move and basically reporting to questionable people down there. She shakes her head as she gets down to the bottom, “Good morning Rowena.”

The golem sitting at the base of the pedestal projects Rowena's voice, “Good morning Creator. Did you sleep well last night?”

She nods, “Mm. Yeah, only real thing I could complain about would be how early I woke up, but even that had nothing to do with someone or something waking me and was entirely due to the ‘training’ this body has been put through making it wake on its own by habit.” Then she waves it off, “More importantly, did you manage to get into the Yotsuba family's servers?”

Rowena accepts the subject change easily, “Yes Creator. They had fairly decent firewalls, but it was not too complicated to get in without them noticing. I have successfully downloaded their libraries and the like and have gone through them.”

She smiles in satisfaction, “Good. Find anything helpful?”

Rowena doesn't hesitate a single moment, “There is something called ‘engraving magic’ that may be of some use, but while it could certainly be a channel for the magic of this world, there is still the angle of how to adapt the Trunk, myself, and everything else to accept it as a valid power source.”

She smiles, “That's a start though.” Then her smile fades a bit, “Though given how much they're watching me right now, I don't think I can stay down here for an extended period for us to work through just that, much less to start looking into other things in privacy…”

Rowena makes a humming noise, “I do not know about how to ensure privacy for other ventures, but after examining some of the Yotsuba's library regarding mind magics, I believe I can apply some of their knowledge towards reworking Legilimency slightly to develop telepathic communication without requiring eye contact. If successful, you would need only shrink down a golem and take it with you to serve as an access point for me for us to communicate.”

She blinks a bit rapidly, “Huh. They aren't totally behind in mental magics compared to our old universe it seems. Have you already done the reworking and just needed to test it, or do you need more time?”

“The former Creator. Though I would need your permission to test it, as while it would not let me read your mind if I am correct, I still require permission for something like that.”

She chuckles, “Then yeah, go ahead.”

Without a moment's notice, Rowena's smooth voice crosses her mind, <Can you hear me, Creator?>

She tilts her head, reaching for the contact point that just appeared on the edge of her mind and projecting towards it, <Yes. Can you hear me?>

<Loud and clear Creator. Please try to think about something privately.>

Her gaze slides away in thought, ‘If this does work, I'll need to find some way to hook a golem onto a necklace or bracelet, or maybe- Wait, hold on, didn't I just toss Hei's gear into the Trunk because I was simultaneously scared to lose something with so much history between us but found it all to painful to look at?’

In front of her, between herself and the golem, the beautiful wooden chest she'd stored it all in appears, and without hesitation she strides forward and opens it, lifting out the bracelet with the attached shrunken golems she'd gifted Hei so long ago before closing the chest. As she slips it around her own wrist and begins unclipping the golems, Rowena speaks up, “Considering while I have an idea of what you are doing, I do not actually know, I can only assume the test was successful and the telepathic contact does not give me free access to your mind.”

She hums, “I was just thinking about how the self repair function would get in the way of me trying to attach a golem to a necklace or bracelet and remembered I should still have the bracelet I gifted Hei. Given they'd have a constant drain on their magic though, I'm taking these others off so I can leave the rest here and cycle through them as their charge is used up.”

Rowena makes a noise of understanding, “I suspected as much Creator. It is not a bad plan.”

She nods, then straightens back up and looks around, “Well, if nothing else, before I leave, one of the main reasons I was coming down here was to take inventory of what all I unintentionally brought with me when I was reincarnated.”

Rowena responds without hesitation, “Given the way I can access the Trunk, I can give you an inventory list if you would like?”

She blinks a little in surprise as she swings her gaze back to Rowena, then laughs a little, “It didn't even occur to me that you can do something like that.” She pulls her mobile terminal out of her pocket, “Could you connect to this and get rid of and block any means of them spying on what I'm doing on it? If so, upload the inventory to it please. And if possible, give me full access to the Yotsuba library unlike my current limited access?”

Her terminal lights up on its own, “Certainly Creator, though given I need a magical connection to the outside world to communicate telepathically with you, that will not function as one.”

She nods as she brings it closer, quickly opening up the inventory Rowena had added to it, “I figured it wouldn't. I suppose technically we could just chat via text on here, but given how much slower that is, I think it's better-”

She cuts off with a choking noise as her eyes land on something in particular. She freezes up and her eyes immediately start to water. It sounds distant, like it's a million miles away, when Rowena asks in concern, “Creator?”

She shakes her head briefly before turning as she looks around a little frantically, but the Trunk picks up on what she's thinking and brings it to her in seconds, placing it on top of the beautiful chest that holds Hei's old gear. The tears spill as soon as she lays eyes on it, confirming she really did have it all that time. Through her blurry vision, she reaches out to pick up the red stone, lifting it up to be level with her face as a slightly hysterical laugh escapes her.

The Philosopher's Stone.(2)

The Philosopher's Stone. Which she'd had since she was eleven. Which she'd tucked into a small box between her mattress and the box spring hidden in her original Trunk and promptly forgotten about. It would've been taken out along with everything else when she opened it inside the Trunk of Requirements and told it to remove everything.

She never had to outlive Hei and Misaki. She'd just been a moron who forgot she had the Merlin damned Philosopher's Stone the entire bloody time.

The only good thing about all this is that she'd only learned about her fuck up after she had been reborn and that Hei and Misaki presumably had as well given her soulmate marks. It would've broken her if she'd found it after they died but before her life as Calanthe had reached its end. Enough so that she's not even sure she'd have had the strength to keep her promise to Hei. It's still a very bitter discovery, given she'd lived without them for almost three hundred and fifty years, but at least now her updated marks made it clear that she would see them again. And she'd kill anyone who tried to take them away from her again, regardless of their reason.

She laughs brokenly again, the sound half a sob, then shakes her head as she looks back up at Rowena's orb even as she sets it back down, “Sorry Rowena. I was just lamenting my own stupidity.”

“Creator…”

She shakes her head again then swipes along the bottoms of her eyes with her pointer fingers before plastering a smile on, “Well! What's done is done, but it probably is best if I spend as little time down here and potentially tip them off to my disappearances as possible, so I'm going to head up and we can continue discussing through telepathy.”

Rowena doesn't sound particularly happy, “Yes Creator.”

She turns back to the stairs to head back up, forcefully pushing the thought of the revelation away. She needs to work on the updates to the Trunk and everything else to accept this universe's magic as power. It also wouldn't hurt to consult Rowena on her idea of using some sort of expansion magic on her magic calculation area to try to gain the ability to do this world's general magic, but figuring out how to use this world's ambient magic takes precedence. She'd also like to start writing out her observations and thoughts on things like ambient magic and the magic calculation area, but given that Hei and Misaki had all but bullied her into giving Rowena orders not to let her overwork herself unless it was an emergency or something, she'd definitely have down time to work on that and look into other things without taking away from her more important work.

She gazes at her terminal in amusement, shaking her head with a chuckle. The Yotsuba had indeed attempted to cut her access to their servers again, this time by updating things and adding bio-data locks. Specifically fingerprints. Not that it matters given she can get around it with Rowena's assistance easily, especially since she still has the access she'd acquired at her behest.

Opening up a group chat she wasn't actually supposed to be on between the Heads of each of the branch Houses that's used for general discussion which had for the past week been about cutting off her access, she leaves a cheeky comment for them to find when they wake up, “No, that didn't work to get rid of me either, but good try! A for effort! 🙂👍”

It's hardly another week before they try implementing a sort of eye scan lock, but that gets another cheeky comment on the new group message board from her, “Oooh. Good attempt!”

Then they try to basically wipe their entire server and manually check files for anything malicious that could be helping her regain her access as they re-upload them from their backups. It doesn't help much given Rowena has already gotten into everything connected to their network, so she leaves another cheeky comment, “You're getting pretty creative here, aren't you?”

That gets them desperate enough to try replacing all the hardware and putting everything back in manually, double checking that there weren't gaps between their digital and physical library and copying everything that wasn't in said library before manually scanning everything back in, but while that does kind of help them for a little bit, Rowena easily breaks back in, and she leaves another comment, “Taking some pretty drastic measures now? 😯”

One of them, Kuroba Mitsugu, breaks a little at that point, responding back somewhat hysterically, “How are you getting in?! And how the fuck are you using emojis?! They aren't even supported by the Yotsuba server!”

The how was really easy, it was entirely Rowena's doing, but she wasn't about to tell them that, “I do what I want, that's how. 😘😈😆”

They seem to give up at that point, not that she can blame them because really, what else could they even do? Though, she does have to give them credit for how quickly they did everything manually, and twice over at that, given that by the time they gave up, it had only been about seven months since her memories as Calanthe had woken up. Just to be safe though, she has Rowena set up an account for herself, and even secretly set it as the highest authority, trumping even Maya's as the Head of the family.

On a different note, given they'd gotten so freaked out by that point that they didn't even try to resell the hardware and were just going to toss it out, a little bit of invisibility, grabbing anything that wasn't in with actual garbage, and liberal use of apparition leaves her with quite a hefty haul.

She'd been pretty well off after her mom's contingencies got her away from the Dursleys, but she had initially grown up with them. Even after living to almost five hundred, she'd never quite shaken the ‘waste not, want not’ mindset it had instilled in her and wasn't above some scavenging.

She stretches out her back as she shuts her personal terminal down. It had taken some doing, but she and Rowena had gotten the Trunk and everything else updated to accept this world's magic within the first six months, and after discussing it, they had even come to the conclusion that it should be fine to try to use expansion magic on her magic calculation area, though there had been a snag in needing to develop a spell capable of influencing such a… metaphysically astral thing. That had taken three months in between work on updating the Trunk and all that entirely on its own, but she was now proudly capable of regular general magic in this world.

She hadn't been able to expand her magic calculation area as much as she wanted or anything, only having gotten just shy of doubling it so she essentially had two identical magic calculation areas each dedicated to general magic and her born specializations respectively, and she couldn't take it further even if she wanted to since it took a steady stream of her Calanthe magic to keep it expanded since she couldn't exactly carve runes to anchor it on the astral Eidos body's brain. Well, she supposes theoretically there was the Yotsuba flash cast carving method, and she could just rework the runes into this universe's magic engraving, but even if she was willing to, which she's not sure she is since it seems barbaric to her, she’d need to work out the tweaks to the runes for affecting an astral body. Regardless, it works as is, which in turn had also increased her body's energy requirements and jacked up her appetite. She hadn't been able to stop laughing for a while when it occurred to her that she'd kinda pulled a Hei.

Technically, she still needed to actually study magic to be able to cast anything of course, but that was actually easier than she initially thought it'd be after Toshiko's memories and the Yotsuba library had said so many things about magic calculation areas and magic sequences and all of that. She'd been concerned that she'd have to actually calculate everything out like a mathematical formula and was curious as to how on earth the modern magicals of this world achieved it quickly because of that. It turned out that they in fact did not do anything like that, at least not on a conscious level. On a conscious level, they mostly just pictured what they wanted to happen and the subconscious magic calculation area did all the heavy lifting for that.

If this was her previous world, she wouldn't dare even start learning, given the dangers of a child's unstable magical core, but nothing like that existed here. Well, there was a vague idea that it wasn't a good idea to potentially strain the magic calculation area of a child(3) but that was more out of concern for them potentially ‘overclocking’ it because they have little control of themselves and their magic from her understanding. She's been slowly dipping into the magic of this universe, having easily gotten her hands on what they called a casting assistance device, more commonly called a CAD, when they'd cleaned house. Someone having suggested that maybe the way she was getting in was through the ones they had somehow, though she has no clue how the hell someone would pull something like that off, and it says an awful lot that Rowena doesn't either.

They'd been paranoid though and tossed all of those as well, so she'd gotten plenty in her salvaging, and she was generally happy about it, even if they felt slow regardless of their quality. Hell, they'd been so paranoid, they even tossed out CAD tuning equipment, so she really wasn't lacking on any of the things she needed on that front.

Rowena was the one tuning her CAD right now since she can easily just access the Yotsuba library's information to learn how to do it, but between the fact it was actually interesting in that it passingly reminds her of runes and that she doesn't want to pull her attention to something so miniscule when she could be taking care of more important things, Rowena was teaching her as quickly as she could, giving her a quick refresher since Toshiko had already begun learning before Calanthe's consciousness and memories woke up before taking full advantage of knowing her and her learning habits so well to tailor her lessons to be formatted for her to learn as swiftly as possible. 

For actual magic though, adult that had mastered a different system of magic she may be, but she's been taking it slow and carefully monitoring her own magic calculation area as she progresses with her Elemental Sight just to be safe. As ‘fast’ as they say it is compared to ‘ancient magic’ she still couldn't help but feel annoyed at how slow casting was here, even for something as simple as just repeating the same spell over and over... If nothing else, for consecutive casts of the same spell, barring the variables, given that essentially the CAD provides a block of data, the activation sequence, to the magic calculation area to kickstart the process and then it just has to fill in the variables, then hand the now complete magic sequence back to the physical brain, but even the start requires them to input things, she does not get why they don't basically just copy and paste the previously used sequence to save time.

On a less annoying note, she's been practicing with her Elemental Sight, pushing it to its limits -without overclocking her magic calculation area that is- and trying everything she and Rowena can think of for her to improve with it, and to her absolute delight, she's around eighty percent sure she's starting to pick up on Pushions.

It was difficult to know for certain given there weren't ‘ancient magicians’ around the hidden Yotsuba village for her to watch to make sure what she's seeing is Pushions, but she can't think of what else she could be seeing. If they were Pushions, she was absolutely right about Psions being able to affect them though. Hell, even with the ambient ones, they could be affected by Psions. She's pretty sure the only real reason that foolish notion that the interaction went one way was because the ambient Psions influence on the Pushions was significantly more subtle. And the spellwork when it comes to getting Psions to influence Pushions was a bit tricky in their current framework of magic. It was doable, but tricky.

She was working on trying to tweak things to streamline the process to make it easier, but it was definitely slow going. She wasn't going to give up just because it was going slower then she was hoping it would though. That just wasn't her style.

She's amused to be called to the New Year's gathering, having suspected for over a month that they'd end up talking about her there, and a solid ninety-nine percent sure she was being called now because of her recent ‘rebellion’ so they can try to pressure her to stop acting out and/or fall back in line.

She walks in almost leisurely, immediately drawing ire from some of the branch family Heads, Shibata Osamu either can't resist commenting on it, or it was part of some plan to try to pressure her back into complying, “You have an awful lot of nerve keeping us waiting so long, and given how lazily you strolled in here, I can only assume it was entirely because you were taking your sweet time arriving.”

She smiles at him, “Yeah, I did. I was in the middle of something and got it to a good cut off point first,” Which wasn't even a lie since while she would normally take a holiday like this off, without Hei and Misaki around work actually helped distract her from the loneliness of them not being there, so she'd been throwing herself into the magic engineering lessons Rowena was giving her, “and only when I was done with that did I make my way down here.”

Kuroba Mitsugu gives her an enraged look, “To show such blatant disrespect when the Yotsuba family has summoned you! You who were stripped of your place and are just-”

She turns her smile on him, “You just said it yourself, and I already spoke to Miya about that same thing. I was stripped from my place in this family, which means I have zero reason to do anything you say. Someone who is disowned has nothing close to an obligation to do what the family that disowned them wants. Especially since I'm done playing along with being one of those slaves you slapped such a pretty title like ‘Guardian’ onto to try to mask what they are.”

Katsushige, Osamu's son and sort of around her age being only six years older, which is sort of a bigger deal when they're so young since it leaves him about twice her physical age now, but not so much in the long run, suddenly gets a pinched look on his face, “The Guardians aren't slaves! Why on earth would you-!”

She gives him a pitying look, “You only think that because you're more familiar with the ‘bard series’ as you guys call them, and they're one of the few that manage to cling to their individuality. But let me put it this way: born just to serve their so-called master, trained practically from birth to carry out what said master expects them to do, expected to die for their master if necessary, expected to be at the beck and call of their master, indoctrinated to think their master is basically the most important thing in the world from birth, never given a choice in whether they serve or not, and never paid for their efforts. What was I describing, a slave from before such things were made illegal, or a Yotsuba Guardian?”

He pales and his hands start shaking as he opens and closes his mouth repeatedly, but no sound comes out, “Mm. The fact you can't seem to figure out which I was describing is answer enough I'd say.”

There's a heavy silence hanging over the hall after she's done, no one seemingly able to find the words to dispute her, and the younger generation looking sick and horrified. She leaves it to stretch for a few moments before she turns back to Mitsugu, “Ignoring the Yotsuba's crimes against humanity and getting back on track, I'll save you the trouble of bringing up my care. Miya already did, and as I pointed out to her, the moment she brought me into this world, she was legally obligated to take care of my food, clothing, housing, and education. And while I may have been stripped as an acknowledged member of this family, as she didn't put me up for adoption, she's still bound by that legal duty, but I can absolutely leave if you'd prefer. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and besides,” She smiles at him, a little meanly, “I'm sure there are plenty of magical families who would be more than happy to at minimum trade information on the Yotsuba for taking in a cast out former member of the clan.”

She holds a finger up and gains a mock thoughtful look, “Personally, given what I've heard of them, I think the Juumonji would be a good choice. From what I have heard, I think I could agree with them rather well on a moral level. And really, who's gonna stop me? You?”

There's another beat as more than one of the Yotsuba clan turns even whiter as they realize she's not wrong. Mashiba Shinsuke is the first to gather himself enough to say something in return, “T-That-! If you even tried, Maya-sama would-!”

She barks out a laugh, “Oh I would like to see her try.”

She looks up at the surprisingly calm Maya. Or well, if anyone else took notice, they'd be surprised at how calm she is, but given what she saw about how Maya viewed her in her sister's memories, as something of a god for whom the fate of the world was entirely her decision, she's not surprised in the slightest that she's outwardly calm, but making a surprisingly good attempt to hide how delighted and excited she is watching Toshiko verbally rip their shared family to shreds.

She smiles at her, “No seriously. Try. Let's put that idea that you're capable of stopping me to rest right here and now.”

Maya actually falters a little at that, which isn't very surprising given how much Miya's memories said she adores her, but she can practically see her decide that as long as she doesn't aim anything in such a way that would be lethal, then even if she's overestimating herself, she can recover from it.

Practically the moment she sees that decision settle, darkness descends onto the hall as artificial stars light up. Even as the darkness descends, she's already lighting up her Patronus fire and wrapping it around herself. She'd sort of unintentionally proven during her brief wake up stint as a baby that it worked against the magic of this world, which makes perfect sense when she thinks about it. While the modern magic of this world may, when it's boiled down to its most basic, just alter events which may make one think it would fall into the zone of inanimate objects like a statue which her fire doesn't touch, it's still guided by magic. Magic which would be embedded with intent to harm her, which it does effect.

Saying it can't mess with inanimate objects is actually not entirely true. It can't affect an inanimate object itself, but it can and will affect any magic imbued into it. It doesn't help with things like a spear magically tossed at her, because even if it burns the magic out of it, it would already be in motion. But for the sort of magic of this world? Yeah, sure, her fire doesn't affect something like the air itself in the vaguely famous Inferno spell, but it does affect the magic driving the spell, and once that's gone, things fall back into their natural state.

Maya's magic, Meteor Stream, basically just creates the event that ‘light has become a line and passed through’ which means it gathers photons and directs them. The moment it touches her Patronus fire, regardless of the fact she was purposely aiming for non-lethal hits, it still had an intent to harm her imbued into it so it's just as affected. And while burning the magic away should have as little effect as burning the magic out of a hurled javelin, she also gathers light. Which is an unnatural state of the world. Which means the moment it touches her fire, the magic holding it in such a tight cluster is gone and it disperses on its own.

It's a toss up whether it would hit something and bounce practically harmlessly like normal light does or if having it so concentrated means it would still cause damage, and the question isn't even answered since her magic had been clutching it so tightly that it had been putting pressure on them in different directions depending on where in the concentrated line of light it originally was.

If one imagined it as them pressed together into a javelin of light and the only thing holding it in shape was a hand clenched around it, then there was going to be pressure in different directions depending on what part of the ‘hand’ was touching each photon and pushing it towards the middle to hold them together and forcing them forward despite the direction the pressure from the clenched hand makes them want to go in. Take the hand away though, and the photons no longer have anything keeping them in place and pressing them forward, so the effects of the previous pressure that was pressing them in different directions and the way they bounce off each other and scatter are suddenly the only influences they're under.

All of it means that the moment it touches her fire, the lines of Maya's magic basically explode on themselves. Scattering harmlessly without leaving any sort of mark on her.

There's another heavy beat of silence as some of the more hostile members of the Yotsuba look at her in poorly concealed horror, even as Maya's delight ramps up. She grins at the latter, leaning forward like she's about to relay a secret, even if it's a little ridiculous given the space between them, the volume she'd have to speak at to be heard, and the amount of people not directly between them, but certainly on the way, “Wanna see something interesting?”

Chapter Text

Amusement joins the delight and excitement, which she was struggling more and more to hide, “Certainly.”

She grins, “See, I don't actually give a damn about what people think of my ability with magic in general, but you know, it's always a dumb idea to throw away something so useful, right?” Maya nods, “So I've been looking into overcoming the little issue of so much of my magic calculation area being taken up by my specializations! And I figured out a work around to the limitation!” She nods her head to the side as her eyes flick up just as briefly, even as Maya's blow wide and she straightens sharply, “Without potential overclocking said magic calculation area I should say. Anyway! Look here!”

And without hesitation, she takes full advantage of the fact her Elemental Sight is always on and casts something she's only ever seen once, either the magic sequence or the actual spell and what she should be imagining.

Maya's own Meteor Stream.

It's not as extensive with how much light it gathers and how many ‘beams’ are made of it, but that's entirely voluntary since she just learned the magic sequence a few moments ago and has never had the opportunity to practice with it. It's also why she resists the impulsive urge to aim right next to the Yotsuba family members and miss them by scant voluntary centimeters, since there's way too much of a chance for her to miss where she's actually aiming and hit them. For that reason, she sends all of the beams harmlessly into the ground.

Maya is staring at her with wide eyes, face a picture of disbelief, but it fades in moments as utter delight takes back over. She grins at her, voice absolutely cheeky, “Not as extensive as yours, but I did just learn the magic sequence for it a few moments ago and have never had the chance to practice with it, so I thought it wiser to tone it down until I'm sure I can control it at the same level.”

Maya throws her head back as she laughs. Miya, the one sitting closest to her and still very much wide eyed, stutters out, “You- That- Was- Was that a flash cast?! And how did you even gain the ability to cast normal magic?!”

She flicks a look at her, “That second one is none of your business. I have zero obligation to the Yotsuba, and given all the nonsense you've pulled, I'm not inclined to share it anyway. As for the first, not exactly. I suppose in simplistic if not accurate terms that you'd get then, yeah, it is. It's not actually that clumsy barbaric thing you call flash casting though. It's more… sophisticated then such barbarity that I'm genuinely surprised hasn't lost any of you your ability to cast any magic yet, much less at flash cast speeds.”

Namely, she'd just drawn up the memory of the complete-minus-variables magic sequence she'd seen Maya use with her Occlumency before adding said variables. Regardless of how she did it, the last part snatches Maya's attention so quick that she stops laughing and snaps into seriousness so quickly it damn near gives her whiplash.

Maya is very, very tense as she stares at her intensely, “What, exactly, do you mean by ‘lost the ability to cast any magic’? How could the flash cast technique result in a permanent loss of magic capability?”

She gives her a dry look, “You guys were more on the nose then you think when you took to describing it as carving the magic sequence into the mind. I have pinpointed the magic calculation area and can see those carvings on it. Let me ask you this though, how many times can you carve a design into a bowl before you've weakened the walls of it to such a point that even attempting to use it breaks it from the stress?”

Maya goes very, very still, and she's far from the only one. You could easily hear a pin drop in the utter silence that descends onto the hall.

She lets it linger before she pushes even further, “And I wouldn't suggest using the person who has the highest number of flash cast carvings available as a guideline, given that the resiliency of someone's magic calculation area is also a variable that's different from person to person. You're lucky not to have unintentionally come across someone you attempted a flash cast carving on that has a more brittle magic calculation area and subsequently loses their ability to cast magic.”

That only makes the continued horrified silence even heavier, though given how selfish most of the Yotsuba were, the majority of them were likely only thinking about the members of the Yotsuba family, and not the Guardians or any other servants they've ‘gifted’ flash cast carvings to.

Maya's voice is a smidge shaky, which is very out of character for her from what she knows, as she announces to the entire hall as her gaze sweeps over it, “As of this moment, the flash cast carving technique usage is temporarily suspended as the Yotsuba look into negating the risks of it. If nothing can be found, it will be permanently banned from use.”

Then she turns to her specifically, the gravity falling away as her delight returns, “Furthermore, given Shiba Toshiko was stripped of her place within the family purely due to her inability to do magic as defined by the power to alter the state of things which her ability to destroy or restore things doesn't fit into, I hereby reinstate her to the Yotsuba family.”

She tilts her head, ignoring the way more than a few of the service staff that were watching everything with wide eyes turn white enough to rival ghosts, namely the ones who treated her particularly poorly, “That depends. Are you guys gonna start expecting me to obey orders and all that nonsense? Because if so, I decline.”

Maya laughs, “The only person who would have the right to order you is me, and given you've already demonstrated the fact that no one here is a match for you and the abysmal relationship previous decisions have created between yourself and the Yotsuba as a whole, I'm not inclined to potentially drive even more of a wedge between yourself and the rest of the Yotsuba by doing anything more than making requests.”

She shrugs, “Alright then. I still stand by the fact that I will interfere with things the Yotsuba are doing if I don't agree with it on a moral level though.”

That seems to snap the other members of the Yotsuba out of their dazes, and Mitsugu bursts out, “Maya-sama! That was never anything nothing more than an excuse and you know it! It was entirely just because she's a monster! One that should not exist!”

Maya's delight once again disappears at the flick of a switch as she looks at him coldly, “Excuse it may have been, it was still the official reason given, which means I am fully entitled to reverse the previous Head's decision with a change in the situation.”

She smiles at him even as Maya continues to stare at him coldly, the two fronts making him shrink into himself, “But thank you for admitting the real reason, that it was entirely due to fear of my inborn specialization, in front of the entire younger generation.”

He flinches at that as he quickly turns to look around, realizing that every single person in her generation was giving him and the rest of the older Yotsuba looks. Yuki was a mask of horror, same as Fumiya and Ayako. Yuuka was eyeing them with more than a touch of disgust, and Katsushige was staring with nothing but judgment in his eyes. It wasn't that surprising. The children of the Yotsuba had it practically beat into them not to let such weak things as emotions rule them and to be reasonable, while simultaneously that they should have loyalty to the Yotsuba above all else. Even if they've lost whatever morals they may or may not have had already, the previous generation had shot themselves in the foot to drive those sorts of ideals into them not even a decade after what they'd done to her. That is, letting their emotions drive them to betray someone of Yotsuba blood.

Omasu snaps at his son, “We had no choice! If she had lost control of her powers in something like a childish temper tantrum, the amount of damage she could do, assuming she didn't end up wiping everything out-!”

Yuuka cuts across him, voice cold, “And your solution was to isolate her from any reason not to let her powers rage?”

Omasu flinches as he turns white as a sheet, and his son narrows his eyes at him, “Or ignore the fact that things like that tend to come with built in limiters? Maybe something like a decrease in volatile emotional ability before she matures or something to prevent that very thing?”

The older Yotsuba look more and more uncomfortable, each and every one of them struggling to meet the eyes of anyone in her generation. She shakes her head, “Nah, that would've required they gave things some thought instead of coming to snap second decisions that saw me stripped of my place in the Yotsuba the same day I was born. And that was actually the more ‘merciful’ course in their eyes. More than one of them wanted to straight up kill me.”

That only increases the scorn from the kids in her generation towards the older Yotsuba. Maya shakes her head, a small smile playing on her lips, “Come now. You act so ashamed of actions you were so adamant were necessary. Can you not even meet your childrens’, nieces’, and nephews' eyes?” There's another heavy beat before Maya makes a scornful noise, “You know, they say people are only capable of feeling things like shame for taking actions they know are wrong.”

Then she turns pointedly away from the older Yotsuba, most of which have had their gazes fall to the floor, “Anywho! Given you're officially reinstated, I suppose that clears up the ‘problem’, as some of the branch heads were putting it, of you accessing the Yotsuba servers, even though you aren't wrong about Miya and by extension the Yotsuba's duty to provide for your education, and since you aren't enrolled in any school... Given that's the main reason we were calling you and it's no longer a ‘problem’ I suppose that closes the topic!”

She's actually surprised he has anything of the sort left in him, but Omasu manages to muster himself another to raise an issue at that proclamation, “Maya-sama! Even if she's allowed to access the Yotsuba server in general, even people who are in the Yotsuba have their access restricted! The topic is very much not closed!”

That seems to galvanize others in the older generation and Mitsugu pipes up, “Yes!” Then he glares at her, “How have you even been getting into the Yotsuba server anyway?!”

Knowing they'd never take it seriously, she doesn't hesitate to whip towards Mitsugu and grin, “Maybe I built a fully sentient AI and it just keeps breaking in with ease.”

He looks like his head is going to explode, “Be honest for god's sake!”

She laughs, then takes it a step further as she cheekily says back, “Who knows? Maybe I'm someone who reincarnated who brought a sentient AI I made in my previous life with me!”

He looks like he's seconds away from completely losing it, but Maya cuts him off, “Besides, as I said, I have no desire to drive in a further wedge then what the mess you people have already created, so I have zero intention to try to stop her. And I would like to remind you that I am the Yotsuba Head. My word is final.”

The older members of the Yotsuba have no choice but to swallow their protests at that, and she turns back to her with a smile, “Come see me tomorrow to work out details of your reinstatement. Since you have been reinstated though and it's now your right to be here, did you want to join the Yotsuba New Year's gathering?”

She hums, “I'll come see you in the morning then, and thank you Maya. Or Maya-sama I guess it should be, since you're clearly not all talk and actually stand by the things you say. That's worth respect at least.” She waves a hand near her head, “Anyway, got distracted there, but I wasn't kidding about being in the middle of research. Maybe next year.”

Maya seems torn between delight at gaining some respect in her eyes and disappointment that she won't be joining them, but she nods her acceptance easily, her smile widening slightly, “Well, while I'm sure there’s still some progress to be made before you'll feel comfort sharing your findings, I do hope I'll get to see this research of yours soon!”

She laughs as she turns towards the door lifting a hand over her shoulder as she goes, “Not all of it just yet, no, but maybe I'll show you this one when I'm done.”

She rounds the edge of the door and starts off, then recalls something at the last moment and leans back as she grips the door frame, “Actually, before I forget! Ayako!”

The slightly younger girl jumps, pointing at herself with eyes, “Me?”

She gives her an amused look and teases her a little, “Is there another Ayako here?” Ayako blushes slightly at that, but she laughs it off, “Come find me tomorrow. Let's say around noon. I'm usually in my room looking over my research while I eat around that time, but I should've wrapped up my meeting with Maya-sama by then and can put my research aside to speak to you tomorrow.”

She blinks rapidly, “Um, okay. Can I ask why?”

She chuckles, “You can always ask. It's whether or not you'll get an answer that's in question, but it's not a secret. I've seen a couple of your attempts to get a handle on your power when you were visiting the main house with my Elemental Sight, and I'm about ninety percent sure that your inborn magic is similar enough in execution, if not ability obviously, to my Decomposition that I can help you get a handle on it.”

She brightens up immediately, face a picture of hope, “Really?!”

She nods, “Like I said, I'm like ninety percent sure I can. So, it's not a guarantee, but…” She shakes her head, “Anyway, noon tomorrow, my room.”

Ayako wiggles in place in excitement, which isn't surprising given the murmurs she's been hearing about stripping her place in the family as well, “I'll be there!”

She nods, then straightens back out of the doorframe and continues back to her room.

It didn't go at all like she'd expected to be honest, given no matter how much Maya said to Miya, she'd genuinely thought she'd stick by the previous Head's decision and had only shown Maya her new ability with general magic just to drive home how useless it was to try to control her to the Yotsuba, but… Well, if Maya wasn't going to start trying to order her around and had ensured she was the only one that can, she couldn't complain.

She feels a little bemused at the hesitant knock that has to be Ayako given the time, slightly confused as to why she's hesitant given they had something of an appointment, but it's easy to figure out why when she opens the door to an embarrassed looking Ayako. Who was accompanied by Fumiya, Katsushige, and Yuuka. Funnily enough, the main one missing from their generation was her own brother.

She's not even given the opportunity to ask why they're there before Ayako bursts out, “I'm sorry! Fumiya is my twin and he's been as nervous as me about my problems with my inborn magic, so he insisted on coming with, and on the way here we ran across Katsushige and Yuuka and they sort of just followed no matter how many times I told them to go away. Please don't be mad!”

She glares at them at the last part of the second to last sentence before she whips back towards her and hurries the last one out in a nearly panicked voice. She pats her in the head in comfort, “It's fine Ayako. It's more potentially your privacy they're breaching than mine.”

She steps back out from the door to let them in, closing it behind them and stepping over to ring the bell to call for Suzuki before turning back to the table, finding herself glad to have been immediately shifted out of the room she'd been staying in since her memories came back to a bigger suite more suitable to a recognized member of the Yotsuba family, which along with a vague size and quality increase, had also come with a sitting area before her room proper with couches and a bigger table and all that, which meant there's plenty of room for them all.

She smiles at the older two in vague amusement, “I'm not entirely sure why you guys tagged along, but I do want to cover some basics with Ayako first, so unless you just came out of curiosity about that, it'll have to wait a bit.”

Yuuka and Katsushige both nod, and a knock lets her know Suzuki was there. She turns back to the door as she calls for her to enter. She bows and starts to ask what she needs before she straightens from her bow and realizes she has way more company than she'd been expecting, “Ahh. Did you require more tea and food Shiba-sama?”

She nods, “Yes, I had more guests than I was expecting.”

Suzuki bows again, “Understood. I will be back with them shortly.”

Suzuki leaves after she nods, making it clear she can go, then she settles at the table with Ayako to start discussing her magic. It isn't very far into the talks before Suzuki is back with more supplies, which she quickly serves to the rest before leaving after checking they don't need anything else. It honestly doesn't take very long for her to explain things to Ayako, and she's so eager to try it to find out if it actually helps that she ends up using her magic to equalize things in a section of her room away from everyone else, all but squealing in delight when it works. She's so eager that she wasn't sure she could talk her out of it if she tried, but thankfully, that idea that children shouldn't use magic wasn't a blanket idea, but rather applied to boys aged nine to thirteen and girls aged eight to fourteen, and with her there to monitor her magic calculation area as well, there wasn't really even a chance of a problem. Ayako definitely still needs to practice of course, but at least now her magic is functioning, which it really hadn't been before.

Ayako practically throws herself out of her chair and around the table then at her in a hug, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

She returns the hug, patting at her back with one hand and ignoring the wet spot growing on her shirt's shoulder. It wasn't surprising that she'd be so glad she'd cry about it, given how close she had been to being stripped from the family, even though it was absolutely ridiculous, given the only issue she was having magically was with her inborn power. While she was young enough that the Yotsuba hadn't begun trying to teach her general magic yet, there was theoretically no issue with it. And yet, they had been so close to kicking her out of the family anyway.

Katsushige snorts somewhat derisively, drawing a just as happy Fumiya's ire, but the bristling boy doesn't get a chance to say anything before Katsushige speaks up, “And here my father always said you were this cruel, heartless monster.” The look he gives her is a bit tired, “They really did judge the proverbial book by its cover, didn't they?”

She hums, tightening her hold on Ayako who was trying to reluctantly pull away to silently let her know to take her time gathering herself, “Well, in fairness I suppose for people who cross lines, of both the moral and personal variety, that I don't find forgivable either that I probably am something of a monster.”

Yuuka snorts, “Aren't we all though? You push someone to the limit of what they're willing to take, and anyone will become a monster.”

She nods, letting Ayako pull back now that she seems more composed and gently swiping below her eyes to help clear up the remnants of her tears as she sniffles slightly, “There is that.”

Katsushige shakes his head as Ayako, somewhat embarrassed, starts back to her seat next to her twin on the other side of the table, “Honestly, the fear of what you're theoretically capable of being the driving force makes a whole lot of sense. I vaguely knew what was going on around when you were born, but I was just six myself, so I didn't have a whole lot of details and certain things just didn't make sense to me even back then. The way my father was ranting and raving last night about how you're a potential threat to the whole planet, about how you could theoretically look up at the moon and cause it to detonate, wiping out everything definitely explained a few things on its own though.”

She snorts at that, “It's hilarious that they have the audacity to complain about my power in that capacity when they're the ones who taught me the theory of how to do the mass to energy conversion magic.”

Yuuka stares at her in bafflement, “Hold up. You're telling me. That they stripped you of your rightful place in the family over the possibility of you using your ability in a very specific way. And then they went on to teach you how to use your ability in that exact way?”

She nods, “Yup!” Seeing the kids’ disbelieving looks, she shrugs, “No one ever accused them of making sense. Seriously though, their main argument from my understanding was ‘what if in the midst of a childish temper tantrum she looks up at the moon and sets it off?’ but I mean… even for my magic, I have to know what I'm doing to be able to do something like that. And what child at the age to throw temper tantrums, even ignoring the fact that the way the Yotsuba raise children makes them way more mature than they should be, would even have the very idea of ‘let me deconstruct this physical thing into the energy it's made of to cause an explosion’ in the first place?"

Katsushige runs a hand through his hair, “That-.... Yeah. They were making absolutely no sense, weren't they? I suppose as much as they like to pretend they're above such things, even the Yotsuba are prone to humans' tendency to be illogical when frightened, huh?”

Yuuka snorts, then deadpans, “And then they decided that clearly, the best way to deal with her was to teach her how to do the very thing they were so afraid of.”

She hums, “People rarely like to admit they were wrong, particularly prideful people like the Yotsuba. Even if it means making the very monster they fear to justify their hatred.”

The kids fall silent, and Fumiya speaks up for the first time since they all showed up, “I gotta admit, the older generation, including my own father, has lost a lot of respect in my eyes…”

The others nod, and she sips at her tea. On one hand, she was glad they were starting to see the faults in the Yotsuba family, since it leaves less room for them to potentially sink their poison in, but children are supposed to be able to trust and rely on the adults around them, and it aches a little that it's been ripped away from these kids.

Katsushige sighs, “I know what you mean. I could hardly bear to look at my own father last night, I was so ashamed of him, and to confirm the depths of their despicable behavior…” He glances at her, then looks away shamefully, “He even tried to finally tell me the truth of how my mother died to get me to understand his hatred, but honestly? All I could think of was how she tried to murder a baby the same day it was born. I don't understand how you could've used that blue fire I've heard of at that age, unless it's some sort of inborn ability they didn't detect and it was an instinct of some sort, but even then… you were just protecting yourself from someone trying to murder you in cold blood with no real reason.”

She stares at the forlorn Katsushige for a moment, then gets up and walks over to his seat on one of the couches and reaches up to pet his hair comfortingly in a manner of how an adult would pet a child. Katsushige's cheeks flush, “O-oi! I'm older than you!”

She nods, “Yep.”

But she doesn't stop petting him, and while he grumbles, it's notable that he doesn't try to shove her arm away or something. Yuuka can't seem to hold in her laughter at that point. She doesn't try to stop her even as her heart aches at the fact that blushing or not, Katsushige was slightly leaning into her petting, ‘Merlin. These children have never known anything but extremely conditional affection, have they?’

It hurts. It hurts like hell, but if the adults around them won't help or give them the affection and care they deserve, she will. It doesn't take long before Katsushige's embarrassment at Yuuka's laughter and teasing outweighs the fact he clearly likes it and he pushes her off, reluctantly it should be noted, and from there things dissolve into them getting to know her as the one cousin they aren't really familiar with.

It very quickly becomes a regular thing, since while each of the branches don't live at the main house, they're around every day until their families take them home one by one, and even then, they find excuses to come visit frequently. She can't decide if it's funny how quickly they all latch onto her and come to adore her unlike their predecessors, or sad that the main reason it happens is because she actually shows them what warm affection and acceptance feels like.

She knocks on Maya's door. It's been a solid month since she was reinstated to the Yotsuba, and there was very much some turbulence in whether she should remain at the main house as she had up until now or go to Miya's house, given she is her mother. Things haven't been settled on that front yet, but she'd wrapped up her research with the ‘Loop Cast’ system as she was calling it, and she had promised to show Maya at least that from her various research topics when she was done.

She hears Maya call out from inside, “Come in.” She enters and Maya immediately switches from business mode to barely concealed delight, “Toshiko! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She smiles as she closes the door, “I told you back on New Year's that you've at least earned the right to know what this research is when I was done. Or at least far enough along.”

Hayama clears his throat slightly as she settles in one of the chairs in front of Maya's desk, “Sorry to interrupt, but tea or coffee Toshiko-sama?”

She glances over, but before she can answer, Maya bursts out cheerfully, “It's always tea around me!”

She shakes her head in amusement, “I'm not craving either one particularly hard, so we may as well indulge her.”

Hayama bows with a faint smile and she turns her attention back to Maya, who despite the fact she genuinely hadn't thought it possible, becomes even more delighted as she gets back to the reason she'd come, “You did say I could see your research! I wasn't expecting it to be so soon though!”

She shrugs, “Well, it's not ‘change everything you know about magic’ revolutionary or something, so it wasn't super complicated.”

Maya smiles, “Even so, in light of your age, it's probably impressive regardless.”

She laughs, “You haven't even heard what it's about yet.”

Maya shakes her head, still smiling, “I don't need to in order to make that judgment. You've always been an impressive child despite your age, and that's only increased since you stopped ‘playing along’ with things as you put it.”

She shakes her head as she pulls her mobile terminal out, ‘That's because I went from legitimately a six year old to someone mentally around five centuries old. I mean, I did still have to learn this universe's magic and all that from scratch, but…’

She looks up at Maya with a smile, “So, do you want the technical report, or the mildly animated comic that simplifies it to the max I put together?”

Maya laughs, “I'll want a copy of the full report later, but I have got to see this comic now! Besides, simplistic or not, it'll get the point across I'm sure.”

Hayama places a cup of tea in front of both of them, then steps back. As he does, she connects to the display and pulls up the slightly animated comic to begin explaining, “As you know, how usage of a CAD works is that you access its memory, select the activation sequence of the magic you're casting, absorb it, process it and add the variables to make it a full magic sequence, and only once all that is done can you then invoke magic.”

As she speaks, the little comic shows Maya's figure starting a spell, a visible circle of an activation sequence wrapping around her hand, then disappearing with the caption talking about absorbing it, which progresses to her outline with matrix like strings of magic code, then her standing before a full magic circle. Maya still looks positively delighted as she nods, so she continues on, “This is true even if you're just using the same spell back to back. The research I've been doing, or at least this research since I have multiple avenues of research going, is in what I've dubbed a Loop Cast. In simplistic terms, it essentially makes a copy in the magic calculation area before being invoked, allowing quick and easy casting of the same spell back to back by cutting out the steps of needing to tell the CAD to pull up that spell's activation sequence, the CAD loads it, and the caster absorbing it again.”

The comic restarts from the beginning, but when it reaches the part with Maya's figure with coding inside, it gets a little dot of color in the brain area which splits like a cell before one leaves to be invoked. Maya sets her cup down quickly as she straightens in surprise, “This doesn't help with switching between spells of course, and one has to implement a slight change in the activation sequence itself before its usable, but from my experiments to check things, in the case of consecutive castings of the same spell, it increases activation speed by twenty percent, as well as the variability of wireless CAD models from three percent to less then one percent. The consecutive casting theory has existed for a little while, but was never achieved until now, so I can't take full credit for it, as I'm sure you know.”

Maya stares at the little animation of the magic sequence splitting before each cast and her invoking it over and over which is a gif endlessly looping, then shakes her head as she turns her smile onto her, “Just because the idea existed before does not mean full credit isn't yours. Congratulations Toshiko, it's as impressive an achievement as I thought it would be.”

She smiles back as she sips at her own tea, “Thank you Maya-sama. There is of course the issue of me being legally too young to patent any inventions or developments and the like, but I would rather bring it to the public now rather than have to wait over a decade, so I will likely have to craft a fake identity to do so.”

Maya nods, getting a thoughtful look, “That's very true… We Yotsuba can help with a false paper trail if you need it, but beyond that…”

She smiles, “Oh, I already have a plan for the rest of it. I'll need a Humanoid Home Helper to test part of it though.”

Maya smiles, “Is that all?”

She nods decisively, “Yup!” She pops the ‘p’ cheerfully then adds, “Well, actually I may need a couple to iron out a couple details, but otherwise, yeah, that's really all I need! I even already have a name picked out!”

Maya tilts her head as her smile widens, “That's no issue. I'll see to it that three are delivered to you by tomorrow so you have more than one in case it breaks in your testing. If you need more, just let me know. What name are you going to go by for it?”

She smiles, feeling a flicker of mischief, “It's not gonna mean anything to you, so don't be surprised if it sounds random, but I'm going with Tōkōkuro Mihana.”

Maya gives her a bemused look, but nods. She can totally understand why she looked at her like that as well. It absolutely holds all of zero meaning to this universe, so it sounds like some random name.

However, if you go for the meaning of Potter, as in someone who makes pottery, one translation to Japanese is Tōkō. Translate the word black to Japanese and you get kuro. Translate the meaning of Calanthe, ie ‘Beautiful Flower’, and one possible way to write it is Mihana. Tōkōkuro Mihana is the translation of the meaning of the name… Potter-Black Calanthe.

She smiles, rather pleased by the end result standing in front of her. She'd run some experiments on the Humanoid Home Helpers, called H3 for short, to make sure they were capable of what she was attempting, and only when she was sure they were had she committed to asking Rowena for her help with things, which she'd been more than happy to do.

The first part of her help was in altering the facial structure, and once that was done, she'd helped permanently alter the color of things like the skin, eyes, and hair.

And now, right in front of her, was a perfect copy of Calanthe Potter-Black.

After that, Rowena's second part in helping her out was in connecting to the H3 in her own old form to cover the micromanagement aspect. The major things were under Toshiko's own control, which she'd achieved by embedding some Picturam infused Patronus fire in it, letting her connect to it and see out of its eyes similarly to how she does with her Patronus fire corporeal Dragon. It also let her take control through that connection, which meant she could speak through it and everything.

She was well practiced in splitting her attention between her Dragon and what her own eyes were seeing, which was only made even easier by the fact that while she intended to always be connected to it, Rowena was going to handle smaller things like walking it around and the like and had already promised to get her attention if she needed to focus on what was happening with it, so it would be more background noise then yet another thing to focus on.

Her smile widens a bit. It was all working out beautifully. Especially since her ‘mother’ when she got wind of her Loop Casting had all but demanded she join FLT, and while she'd been a bit it put off by the request at first, after she had pointed out the bad blood between herself and the Yotsuba, she'd capitulated to the demand that Tōkōkuro Mihana be paid for her work like any other employee rather quickly. So she not only had an income now, but given in the negotiation she'd absolutely secured her money's worth, it was even a fairly sizable one. It did come with the trade off that if she was going to be paid like an employee she actually had to put in constant work exactly like an employee and not just only contribute when she has something like the Loop Cast system to offer, but she really didn't mind since it was perfectly reasonable.

Now, what was she going to do with the other two H3s, which had not in fact broken in testing. It'd be a waste not to make use of them, but what to do…

It's a rare time the kids can schedule when they come to see her so they're all simultaneously visiting and can see each other while they're at it, each of them having realized at some point that the rest were just as affection starved as them and wouldn't laugh at them. Or at least not genuinely. Yuuka and the Kuroba twins sometimes laugh and tease Katsushige, but it's entirely in good natured humor at him being just as clingy as them even as he was currently roughly twice the age of the person he was clinging to. Though she honestly doesn't think Yuuka has much room to talk, given she's only a year younger than Katsushige himself and just as clingy.

Speaking of Yuuka, she'd been running a little late, and Ayako had been excitedly rambling about her progress with her Perfect Diffusion, as her magic has been named, when she comes bursting in, paper clenched in her hand, “Toshiko! Look! I aced that test I was worried about because I felt shaky on some of it!”

Sha accepts the paper she's all but thrusting at her, smiling at the big 98% written near the top, before looking up with a warm smile, “You did wonderfully Yuuka.” She reaches over to where she'd tossed herself into on one of the couches to pat her leg, “I'll have to get you something to celebrate your achievement.”

Yuuka's cheeks flush slightly, “You don't have to.”

She shakes her head, “No, you deserve a reward of some sort for doing so well.”

Yuuka ducks her head as she smiles a little, “No really, honestly you being proud of me is eno-”

She suddenly cuts off as realization flashes across her face, her expression slowly falling as her eyes tear up. She turns to her more fully, “Yuuka? Are you okay?”

She looks up as her tears start to spill, “I just… I just realized I was more excited to tell you than my parents, and you…” Her lower lip starts wobbling, looking like she's close to bursting into sobs, “You're prouder of me then they were… They acted like it's just expected just because I'm from the Yotsuba, even though I tried talking to them like I talked to you about how I felt shaky on some of the things we'd covered.”

She's trying so hard not to sob at this point, she can tell and doesn't hesitate to get up to make up for the height difference so she can hug her and tuck her face into her neck as she runs her hands over her hair in comfort. Yuuka buries herself into her as she clutches at her shirt, “They… They just scolded me for not paying attention in class, even though I was and was just having issues taking some of it in! They didn't do anything like you patently tutoring me to make sure I actually understood! And-! And I know that if you hadn't helped me, they would've been mad at me for having a worse grade! Even though they were the ones who didn't help!”

She breaks down, losing the fight as she starts sobbing at that point, and her heart is breaking for a child that was never given the proper support she needed and knows that when she inevitably faltered, the very people who were supposed to help her would've blamed her for falling short.

She shushes her gently, swaying slightly as she pets her hair comfortingly, “It's okay Yuuka, it's okay. Just let it out.”

The other kids are watching with wide, alarmed, and conflicted eyes, unsure what to make of Yuuka breaking under the pressure and realization, the training they've been given telling them that Yotsuba aren't allowed to have a breakdown like this, but all too aware that the situation can absolutely be reversed in the future, as well as the fact she's been trying to teach them how to be more emotionally healthy.

Katsushige is the one to break the near silence that's only filled by Yuuka's crying and her comforting murmurs, “Y-Yotsuba aren't supposed to cry…”

She looks up at him, “And it isn't healthy to bottle things like that up. It's like draining pressure. Don't do it, and whenever the pressure building becomes too much, it is likely to explode. The same holds true for people and their emotions. Give any of them no outlet, and more often than not, you'll find them snapping at the little straw that broke the camel's back. Also, you'd be surprised how much a good cry alone can make people feel a bit better.”

Katsushige drops his gaze down to his teacup and he's quiet for another beat, before he sighs, “...They really aren't very reliable as parents, are they?”

He sounds exhausted at basically having to come to terms with how toxic and poisonous the Yotsuba can be, at how badly they screw up as parents.

While it's distant since she's more focused on helping Yuuka through her emotional outburst, she idly wonders if he, or the other kids for that matter, have picked up on the fact she's basically adopted them as her kids at this point. The older generation certainly hasn't, since if they had they'd inevitably be picking a fight with her. If they were just complaining, she wouldn't pay attention, but they would not win if they tried to take her kids from her though, that's for sure.

They were her kids and the Yotsuba could bloody well try to fight her on it.

She blinks in surprise at the subject line of the email. It's hard not to given that it says, “Li Hei to Calanthe Potter-Black?”

She opens it eagerly, but it's fairly short and to the point asking ‘Tōkōkuro Mihana’ if she knows a Li Hei or Calanthe Potter-Black and apologizing for wasting her time if she doesn't. The words don't line up with the ones on her ankle of course, just like the title didn't, but she already knew their bond wasn't just a ‘first phrase’ type of soulmate mark but needed to be verbal communication, given she'd used that very work around because she didn't know what to say when she'd found herself as an eight year old child who had her words spoken to her right before her dying soulmate passed out.

Without hesitation but very much with a huge face aching grin, she opens up a reply, “Of course I'm familiar with Calanthe Potter-Black, Li Hei, and even Kirihara Misaki even though you didn't mention her, you glutton. Better to call or text though.”

She adds her contact info to the end, and not even a minute later, her mobile terminal lights up with an incoming call, which she quickly heads to the bathroom and tosses a silencing spell around so she can eagerly answer.

She doesn't even get a chance to greet Hei though, before the chastisement she honestly should've been expecting, and even thought of before, comes through in a male voice she does not recognize but talks in an achingly familiar fashion, “I kinda figured that was on purpose to get our attention.” Then he makes an aggrieved noise, “More importantly! Calanthe, darling. You said you'd rest when you were dead. You had to have died to be here. Publishing a revolutionary casting system is not rest.”

She laughs, “That would've been one hell of a coincidence if not. Also I should've expected you to say that in retrospect. Especially since it crossed my mind that you and Misaki were undoubtedly going to complain about that exact thing within a day of my memories coming back. But I guess I'm a liar!” She laughs at the last part, then adds, “Also, it's Toshiko now. Shiba Toshiko to be specific. You?”

He grumbles, “We're going to have to reteach you to relax, aren't we? As for me…. You aren't gonna believe this… but mine is Sora. Amano Sora. Which is a little ironic for a sorta former contractor, and particularly one who gained those powers at the Heaven's Gate.”(1)

She laughs, “Yean, it kinda is. But by sorta former, should I take it that you still have your electrical powers at least, if not your magic, like I have my magic?”

He laughs, “Yeah. Yeah I do. Have you found Misaki yet?”

She sighs, “No, and from the question I take it you haven't either. Also, I don't suppose you have any idea why the hell we were reincarnated or whatever?”

He snorts, “Nope, and not in the slightest Xiǎolóng! Although, whatever it is, it wasn't just our soulmate bond dragging all three of us here, because Bai is here as well. As my sister again, though we're twins this time. Her name is Hoshi now, which is even more ironic.(1) I guess our parents had a theme when they named us. It also adds another irony given Sora and Hoshi are very much a linked pair and well, binary star BK-201 and all that.”

She blinks, then coughs, “Well… it's different from a soulmate bond obviously, but that may kinda be my fault?”

He makes a confused noise, “How could it possibly be your fault?”

She bites her lip briefly, “Because the fact we still have our powers implies it has something to do with our souls? And I made the power of BK-201 be shared between you? And as should be obvious since you two could pay each other's Obeisance for each other, I did not split it into two distinct powers, but gave you each half and made it stretch between you? And since powers clearly have a connection to the soul, while again it's not the same as a soulmate bond, I… would've unintentionally made a connection between your souls… So. Whatever happened, if it was targeting us, or maybe just one of us and the rest got pulled along because of our soulmate bonds, it… absolutely would've dragged Bai along as well… the only way it didn't drag her along is if whatever it was happened to her and you got dragged along which dragged Misaki and I with…”

He had started laughing partway through, “Maybe? I mean, under different circumstances I'd refute that, but Bai and Amber's relationship fell apart so completely their marks disappeared, which people have always interpreted as the connection between the souls dissolving, and if that's true… Anyway, Bai is gonna find that hilarious later, but I can't believe you, entirely unintentionally, bound our souls together Xiǎolóng!”

She chuckles, “Oops? I mean-”

She cuts off, as it hits her all at once that it's Hei as her brain actually registers the oh so familiar nickname rather than hardly noticing it because of how frequently it's used at this point. Her eyes water and she finds herself clutching at her shirt over her chest as she tries to blink the tears away, but she ends up tipping off Hei- or Sora now, she guesses, by a mostly involuntary sniffle.

His voice is serious and concerned, “Xiǎolóng? Is everything okay?”

She laughs as she lets go of her shirt to roughly shove the bottom of her palm along one eye up to her temple and then the other, “Yeah. Yeah, I just… I missed you. I missed you for a very long time.”

There's a beat of silence before Hei- Sora, she's really gotta get better at that, asks with a voice that sounds like he's dreading the answer, “How-... How long was it for you?”

She huffs out a broken laugh, “Over three hundred years without you.” He sucks in a sharp breath, “I died in my sleep as far as I can tell about a week from my four hundred and ninety-ninth birthday. So I ended up outliving you and Misaki by a lot. And our kids. And grandkids. And great grandkids. All the way down to our great five times over grandkids.” She lets out another broken laugh, “Merlin, I'd started pulling back by then, so I didn't know them that well nor were we particularly close, but I was still alive to see our great eight times over grandkids be born and grow into adults."

There's another heavy silence, “...I'm sorry.”

He sounds like he's in agony, hell his voice is more pained in that one moment then when he was actively dying when they first met back in that alley as Calanthe and Hei. She pushes out another laugh, “What on earth are you sorry for?”

His voice is still very strained, “For my selfish last wish. Neither of us had any way of knowing that we'd be reborn of course, but even if we also didn't know how long you'd live, to ask you to go that long without Misaki and I, and to even outlive our great grandkids, much less our kids and grandkids and further generations- I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

She shakes her head, “No, no, it's- like you said, neither of us had any way of knowing we'd be reborn or how long I'd live, so-”

His voice breaks, “But-”

Even though he can't see her, she gives a painful watery smile, “But nothing. Besides, what's done is done and there's no undoing it. I'd rather not focus on it anyway, especially since you're here now, so-”

He lets out a somewhat pained noise, “Okay, okay. I get it, I'll leave it alone.”

She sniffles, “Thank you.” There's a beat of heavy silence before she pushes onto other things, “So are you a magical in this life, or?”

He hums, “I am. You?”

She nods habitually even though he can't see her, “Yeah. Just to double check I'm not misremembering something, Amano isn't one of the major families right? Like the Ten Master Clans, Eighteen Assistant Houses, or Hundred Families or anything like that, right?”

He snorts, “Merlin, no. I'm not from one of those uppity, high society clans. Why?”

She presses her lips together momentarily before taking a breath and saying, “Because I'm not technically supposed to tell you this because it's a clan secret, but I'm… from one of those ‘uppity, high society clans’. The Yotsuba specifically, which may surprise you, but they have a general policy that only the Head and named Heir are allowed to actually possess the last name Yotsuba. The only reason both of the twins in Maya and Miya in the previous generation were allowed to carry the last name was because Maya was originally slated to marry into the Saegusa, and they didn't want to explain why a member of the Yotsuba clan didn't bear the name Yotsuba. Which complicates things a smidge since they'll probably try to interfere with me being with you and Misaki, but I'm already fighting them about a lot of things, so what's one more argument.”

There's a beat of silence, “I'm sorry, did you just say you're from the Yotsuba? As in… the ‘Untouchables’ Yotsuba?”

She laughs, “Yup!”

She cheerfully pops the ‘p’ and there's another beat of silence before he presses on, “And you're fighting with them?”

She snickers, “They're a bunch of immoral assholes, and if it wasn't for the kids and wanting to try to protect them from their poison, I would've left immediately, so we butt heads a lot.”

Yet more silence before Sora lets out an exasperated sigh, “Why am I not surprised your luck put you in that situation and your instinct was ‘Defend kids. Fight me.”

She bursts into laughter at that, and before she can even get a hold of herself, her mobile terminal makes a notification sound for another email and to her absolute delight, the subject reads, “CALANTHE POTTER-BLACK! TŌKŌKURO MIHANA?! REALLY? REALLY?!”

As she types out a quick reply with her contact info, she lets Hei- Sora, Sora know what's going on, “Misaki just got in touch! I'm sending her my info now!” Just as cheerfully, she adds, “She sounds super mad about the alias!”

Sora laughs at her, and there's hardly a beat before another call comes in, “She's calling! Let me merge them.”

She answers Misaki's call, which automatically puts him on hold, cutting off his laughter, and even as Misaki immediately starts in, “You didn't. You did not.” Hei's laughter joins the call as she merges them, and Misaki easily understands, “Hi Hei. Nice to have found you. But really Calanthe?! Tōkōkuro Mihana? Are you kidding me?”

She laughs, “How else was I supposed to get you twos’ attention?!”

Misaki makes a noise of frustration, “Even so-! Hei stop laughing!”

He manages to get it under control enough to huff out a cheerfully quipped, “Sorry honey, but not my fault this is how you decide to greet Calanthe and how hilarious it is!”

Then he starts laughing again. She bites her lower lip to try to hold back on joining him in losing it, “Hei's name is Sora now, though it's hard to remember to use the new name not the old, even mentally, and I can't be the only one with that problem so what are we doing about it? Also, my actual name is Toshiko.”

Misaki doesn't miss a beat, “Miho. And I don't know, if there wasn't the potential of slipping up in public I'd say I'm cool with them being interchangeable, but…”

Hei finally calms down enough to make an agreeing hum, so she shrugs even if they can't see it, “So we basically don't call each other by our old names until we're sure we won't slip up in public and even then only use them in private.”

Sora hums, “Works for me. But with that out of the way, can we backtrack to what we were talking about before Mis- Miho emailed you?”

Miho takes a deep breath, “What mess did I miss?”

Sora's voice becomes falsely cheerful at that, “Oh, you know! Just Toshiko being from the Yotsuba even though you totally wouldn't recognize her last name since apparently, barring that one time there was an exception with Maya and Miya having it, the only people allowed to use the name Yotsuba are the Head and recognized Heir of the family! And Toshiko finds them immoral, so she's fighting with them.”

Miho takes a deep breath, “There's just never a break with you, is there?”

She laughs, “Nope! Speaking of that, yes, Sora and I already covered that I'm a lying liar who lies because I did die and am, in fact, not resting. Also, I'm saying it now so I'm not accused of hiding it later, but I was actually only somewhat recently restored to the family after being stripped from it the day I was born and was then promptly shoved into and raised in a program that tries to indoctrinate the kids in it into slaves they call ‘Guardians’ that will consider serving the Yotsuba family as some weird mix between service staff and bodyguards as one of the highest honors that's only eclipsed by dying to protect a Yotsuba family member. Most of said indoctrination just kinda came undone by my memories coming back, but something that does linger is the fact this body will wake up on its own at six am on the dot regardless of how little sleep I got! So, yeah, it did undo all you two's hard work to teach me how to relax, but it is not my fault.”

There's a heavy beat of silence, before Miho breathes out a rough breath, “Okay. A lot to unpack there… But I am already starting to see why you consider them immoral and are fighting. Also, I personally hate them already for undoing all our effort.”

Sora's voice is dry, “Yeah, tell me about it.”

She laughs, “Yeah, but unfortunately there's not time for that, because the Yotsuba have cameras practically all over so I had to hide in the bathroom as one of the few places without them, and I don't think I can linger for too much longer without arousing suspicion if they check the footage, so I kinda gotta go.”

They both make noises of understanding and the verbal conversation is wrapped up quickly with promises to talk via messages, which are protected by Rowena and no, she's not explaining who Rowena is right now. Mostly because there wasn't time.

She does get a follow up text on a new group chat for them from Miho, “Don't think you've dodged the conversation.”

She shakes her head, sending back, “Wouldn't dream of it. I just genuinely needed to go.”

It was at one of their now regular biweekly meetups that Katsushige jolts and turns to Yuuka, “Oh yeah! I heard you made some progress with your mental interface magic and started to get somewhere on treatments for magic calculation area overclocking! Is it true?”

Yuuka puffs up with pride, “It's still in the early stages, but yeah!”

She flicks a look at her, undoubtedly hoping for praise, and given how much of an achievement it is, she's more than happy to give it, “That's incredible Yuuka.”

She beams, then her face falls a little, “Although…” She glances up, “It's not up to the point that I can do something like trying to help aunt Miya.”

She shakes her head, “That's not on you.”

Yuuka peers up at her, “You aren't upset?”

She tilts her head, “I'm not torn up about it, if that's what you're asking. Considering my feelings and thoughts on Miya are complicated, mostly because she's made choices I don't agree with morally, how I feel about the fact she's slowly dying is just as complicated.”

Fumiya tilts his head, looking a little weary, which she can't blame him for given the absolute mess that tends to be revealed when they find out the nonsense their elders pulled, “Do I even want to know what Aunt Miya did?”

She snorts, “Probably not. It's gross.” She sweeps her gaze across the kids and sighs, “But given you are the next generation of Yotsuba, you should probably know.” They all tense up, looking for all the world like they're bracing for impact and she smiles a little as she waves her hand, “Nothing like that, just…” She sighs again, and takes a bracing sip of coffee, “So, apparently, despite the way she acts, which she only does because she feels like that's all she's allowed to show rather than how she really feels, she actually does love me, and funnily enough, between myself and Yuki, I'm actually her favorite child.”

They give her looks of disbelief, but Katsushige still looks concerned, “As surprising as it is, I don't think that's the major revelation considering you described it as ‘gross’ is it?” Then his face scrunches up, “Well, I guess you can describe a mother giving into pressures and treating their child, their favorite child at that, terribly just because everyone else hates them as kind of gross, but I doubt that's what you were talking about.”

She feels a flicker of pleasure at the fact they're starting to realize just how fucked up the Yotsuba can be, “Yeah, arguably that's gross too, and one has to question how much she actually loves me to let something like that dictate her actions, but no it wasn't what I was talking about. What I was talking about was Yuki.” They look a little confused, so she nods her head to the side, “More specifically, the fact that despite the Yotsuba's take on things, for Miya, the one who actually had him… he was born just for me. Not as my limiter or leash or whatever like the Yotsuba think… but to be my companion and later husband purely because she wanted to guarantee that there would be someone that would accept the monster the Yotsuba think I am.”

The fork Ayako had been lifting with a bite of cake slips out of her hand as they all just stare at her, “What?” She nods, giving them a sympathetic look, and Ayako pushes on, “No seriously, what? Your own mother. Had your brother. Just to give you a companion, and more importantly since it's the gross factor, later husband? Out of your own brother?” She looks at Fumiya, at her own brother, and her expression turns even more grossed out as she clearly thinks about it in their context,” …Eww.”

She nods, “Unfortunately. Yes. Not that it's ever gonna happen, but yeah, that's the entire reason Yuki was born.”

There's a heavy silence for a little before Katsushige sucks in a breath then practically buries his nose in his teacup, “I can see why you'd have complicated thoughts and feelings about Miya…”

She nods and silence descends again. She gives them a couple moments to absorb that before breaking it and changing the subject back to Yuuka working on treating overclocked magic calculation areas before the revelation can start to truly drag them down or the silence can become awkward, “That's not important right now though. It's wonderful you're starting to get somewhere on potentially treating magic calculation area overclocking Yuuka. Especially since you don't actually know where the magic calculation area is.”

Yuuka forcefully shakes the newest revelation on the depravity of the Yotsuba off, plastering on a smile, “Thank you! Like I said, it's still in the early stages, but I'm unbelievably happy and proud about the progress I've made so far!”

She smiles indulgently, “You have every right to be proud. It's quite the achievement.” She pauses, taking a sip of her coffee as she thinks, but it doesn't take her very long at all to decide that even if the Yotsuba learn it as a side effect, while the older generation hasn't earned it, Yuuka certainly has. Once she does, she reaches for her mobile terminal with her unoccupied hand as she smiles at Yuuka, “I haven't come forward with this yet because I don't trust the Yotsuba in general and they haven't really earned it, and while I've trusted all of you for a while, I didn't think you could make much use of the papers I've written, but you definitely can and you've undoubtedly earned it Yuuka. It can probably help you figure out how to treat the magic calculation area better.”

Yuuka looks at her with wide, somewhat confused eyes, “Your papers? But… you're so protective of them!” Then her brain starts to catch up with the latter part, “Wait, how could one of your papers help with my treatments?”

She smiles as she sends a copy to Yuuka, then switches back to the kind of message board like section of the Yotsuba server, double checking the wording of the text she'd attached explaining why she was publishing it on the Yotsuba servers, which she explains to Yuuka after she submits it, “For the record, I just published the paper on the Yotsuba servers so you don't have to worry about the older generation harassing you about your digital copy, but the reason I think it can help is because I've found where the magic calculation area is.”

The kids all straighten up sharply at that and she glances away momentarily before looking back, “To be honest, your treatments are probably more lessening the burden on the rest of the mind and letting it turn more of its focus onto working on the magic calculation area, since you can't really target something you don't know the location of…” She shakes her head and smiles again, “Not the point. The reason the magic calculation area has never been found is because it only exists in the Eidos brain. It does not exist in the physical brain.”

Yuuka's mouth drops open, gaze flicking back and forth as she thinks before widening as they snap back to her, “That's why no one was ever able to find it on brain activity scans!”

She nods, still smiling as she sets her terminal back down, done with uploading it and also making it perfectly clear that she wasn't publishing her paper because she actually thought they deserve it but because she was proud of what Yuuka has already achieved and wanted to help her take it to new heights, like an actually supportive family does without opening her up to getting harassed for her copy of it. She's made sure to help Yuuka while cutting off the possibility of her being harassed as much as she can while throwing sufficient, for the moment, shade at the rest of the Yotsuba. Everything is right in her world in those regards.

Yuuka's hand is drifting towards her own mobile terminal, looking like she's fighting awfully hard not to snatch it up and start devouring her paper. She laughs lightly at the slightly physically older girl, “You'll have plenty of time to read it later, whereas we only have a limited amount of time before you guys need to head home.”

Her hand moves away, “That's true.”

Ayako puts her cup down a little sharply, “Okay, I know you were trying to move the conversation back to get away from the gross factor, but even ignoring the laws and the rest of the family, how in the hell was Miya expecting either you or Yuki to be down with marrying each other? Especially given the way the older generation was keeping you two apart and not letting any sort of bond form between you!”

She snorts, “Because. From the moment Yuki was successfully born, she started using mental interference magic on me, and even before he was she was using mental interference magic on his fetus to make us basically obsessed with each other.”

Katsushige's face scrunches up, “Even grosser if you ask me. Not just setting up two siblings to marry each other but literally manipulating their minds to, what, force them to be in love?”

She sighs, “Something like that, yeah.”

Fumiya looks troubled, “...How'd you get rid of the mental manipulation?” He blushes as they all turn to him, “I- I just mean that Miya is thought to be the best in those regards so-!”

The other's expressions turn to realization, giving her concerned looks and Ayako leans forward intently, “He's got a point though. You- You aren't still under the manipulation, are you?”

She shakes her head, “No, don't worry about that, it's gone. From both of us actually. And even if her mind magic had been too strong for me to overcome,” She lifts the hand just cupping her coffee rather than holding the handle and ignites some Patronus fire as she smiles at them, “I do have my ways of getting around such things.”

Fumiya tilts his head as he gazes at her fire, “That can work on something like that too?” She nods and he shakes his head in bemusement, “Is there anything that weird fire can't do?”

She doesn't hesitate, “Damage inanimate objects is the first thing that comes to mind.”

Katsushige lowers the cup he'd been about to take a sip from, “Wait, what? What sort of fire… can't damage objects?”

She laughs at the adorably confused looks they're giving her, tucking her smile into the rim of her own cup, “It actually makes perfect sense if you understand what it really is and how it works.”

Ayako chews her lower lip a little, “...At the New Year's gathering, you said it was always okay to ask a question and the only thing up to debate was whether there'd be an answer.” She nods, so Ayako tentatively pushes on, “So then, what is that fire really? And how does it work?”

Her eyes scrunch up with her smile as she chuckles lightly, “If you were one of the older Yotsuba, or at least the majority of them, the answer would be a firm ‘that's none of your business’ and you wouldn't get anything else.” That pulls some chuckles and giggles from the kids, “But you aren't one of them, and I have no qualms answering that. In terms you'd understand, it'd probably be more accurate to call it Pushion based magic, because emotions are important both for casting as well as in how it functions. See, it's not exactly fire per say. It's condensed magic that looks like fire and acts like fire under the right circumstances.”

Yuuka gives her a confused look, “Wait, acts like fire under the right circumstances? What on earth does that mean?”

She smiles, “It may be easier to show you. So just to double check, you aren't hostile to me, right?” She shakes her head quickly, “And you trust me?”

A nonverbal answer apparently doesn't suffice there as she bursts out, “Of course!”

She smiles and reaches over to lay a hand on her shoulder, igniting her Patronus fire and wrapping it around them both. Yuuka jolts at first, then lifts her empty hand to look at it in even more astonishment then the other kids are staring at her engulfed in the flames, “It… It's just warm?”

She chuckles, “Patronus fire, as it's called, acts in one of three ways in a generalized sense and it's entirely based on your intentions, your heart in other words, towards the caster or who its protection is targeted towards. If you're neutral, except maybe a blue tinge to your sight if you're in the middle of it, it does nothing. If you have affection or good intentions, it's warm. If you're generally hostile or harmful though… that's when it starts acting like fire.”

There's a beat of silence as they take that in.

Chapter Text

Fumiya hesitantly reaches out and runs his hand through the fire slowly, then he laughs lightly, “It really is just warm!”

Ayako and Katsushige can't seem to help sort of stretching across from where they're not quite opposite her at the round table, running their own hands through it curiously.

Katsushige stares at his own hand bathing in her fire before getting a confused look, “I get why that wouldn't do anything to inanimate objects since they can't have any sort of intent in any capacity, but if anything, how does that help with magic? I saw you use it against Maya-sama's Meteor Stream at last New Year's, but magic can't think.”

She nods, “No, it can't, but the moment you cast a spell you embed your own intent into it, so… and Maya-sama may not have been aiming to kill me or anything, but you cannot cast magic capable of harm at someone without some form of harmful intent.”

Ayako tilts her head, “When you cast magic you don't just tell it what to do but actually embed your intent into it?” She nods in reply, “Huh. That's interesting. Don't know if it really changes anything, but it's interesting. But wait, how does that help against mental manipulation?”

She hums, “Because it's harmful to their individuality. To their actual personality under the manipulation to put it another way.” Ayako makes a quiet ‘oh’ as understanding washes over her face, and she smiles lightly, “Just because it isn't physically harmful does not mean it's not within the influence of the Patronus fire. It can even go so far as to burn away magically based complete mind control and brainwashing without harming the victim.”

They nod their understanding, and Fumiya leans closer, “Okay, that all makes sense, but you said you got rid of it for both of you earlier. How'd you even get to Yuki without anyone noticing, given how adamant they are about keeping you away from him?”

Her smile turns a bit mischievous, “I turned invisible and just walked into his room of course.”

Katsushige gives her an exasperated look, “Oh be serious. No one has successfully made an actual invisibility spell, so that can't be how you did it. If you're gonna lie, tell a believable one, but I'd prefer if you actually told us how you did.”

She tilts her head at him as she thinks for a minute, then deciding that she does in fact trust them with that too, she wordlessly fires up her Calanthe magic and slips an invisibility spell onto herself. Yuuka, who had the misfortune that she'd been in the middle of taking a drink of her tea, spills it on herself as it clearly goes down the wrong pipe given the immediate coughing fit.

Even though she knows her disembodied voice will likely freak them out even more, she has to ask, “Are you alright Yuuka?”

She nods, still stunned into silence minus her coughing, which is the only thing that breaks up the general silence as the kids, even the coughing Yuuka, all gape at her chair. And floating cup, since she purposely didn't make that invisible so they'd known she hadn't done something like managed to hide a Mock Teleportation from the fact it was still there and after Yuuka nods it lifts up as she takes a sip of coffee, the liquid starting to spill out and spreading on thin air from their perspective since they can't see her mouth, then disappearing as it goes down her throat.

Fumiya is the first that breaks, “How on earth are you doing that?!”

She lets go of her invisibility spell as she smiles at him, “You would struggle to believe me if I told you, even with stronger proof I think.”

Ayako gives her a dubious look, “I don't think so. Because honestly just that alone? Makes me willing to accept just about any explanation, but if you have even ‘stronger proof’ of whatever weirdness lets you do that…”

The kids all nod in agreement, and she gazes at them thoughtfully for a moment, then decides to go for it, looking over towards where she knows a camera is and saying a bit louder, “Turn the cameras off so there's no record on the servers at all and come down and join us.”

It's a mildly risky play to trust Maya as well as the kids, but between her devotion to her and the fact if nothing else she isn't an idiot and would absolutely realize that if it's already a bad idea to challenge her just knowing what she does, she'll undoubtedly realize that it's nothing but pure idiocy to attempt to do so after she learns more. The kids give her odd looks, entirely unaware of the way Maya is constantly watching her, but when Katsushige goes to open his mouth, she just bids him to be patient, already watching Maya make her way down from her office with Hayama through Elemental Sight.

They easily put the pieces together when a mildly confused Maya shows up with an equally baffled Hayama, but she just sets her coffee down and reaches up to slip the Trunk necklace over her head and sets it down. Just seeing it expand surprises the ever living hell out of them, but when she runs her fingers over the latch to set the interior to a replica of the Potter Ancestral Manor and opens it to not only show stairs, but stairs down going past the ground she set it on, completely defying the laws of reality given it also does not match up with its external size, they hit the point of being so surprised as to be numb.

After they hit the bottom, they all just sort of… stare around in a weird almost blank mild surprise. Yuuka points at the Manor and states the obvious, “That's a whole mansion.” She nods in amusement, “...Stored inside of a trunk.” Another nod, “…A trunk that can shrink down to a necklace.”

She gives her an amused look, “Indeed it is.” She gestures upwards vaguely, “The sky is just an illusion though.”

They don't even react to that one, so she moves on and mentally calls to the Trunk and Rowena to ask for her storage orb to be brought. Rowena appears quicker than a blink, and given when she'd updated her ability to accept this universe's power she'd added a function that let her project a voice of her own rather than having to go through a golem, Rowena doesn't hesitate to speak up, “Good afternoon. I am Rowena. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

There's a beat of silence, then Katsushige sucks in a sharp breath, “Oh my gods, you were being honest.” At her puzzled look, he shakes his head, “At the New Year's gathering! When- When Mitsugu was talking about you constantly breaking into the Yotsuba servers. You made a joke- Or I thought it was a joke, about how you reincarnated and accidentally brought an AI you built with you!”

She laughs, “Oh that! Yeah, no reason to lie when the truth is so unbelievable that people assume you're lying even if you tell them the truth, now is there?”

In stunned disbelief, Hayama speaks up for the first time since he showed up with Maya, “How does one accidentally bring something with them when they reincarnate?”

She waves it off, “This is known as the Trunk of Requirements. I built it off of something known as the Room of Requirements, but as far as I can tell, I accidentally bound it to me not long after. They're both ‘of Requirements’ because they become anything you require of either one. I was thinking about how I never wanted to lose it at one point and apparently the Trunk's solution to that ‘requirement’ was to bind itself to me so it can just… come to me when I want it.”

He makes a quiet, “Oh.”

There's another beat and she adds, “Well, there are limitations of course, for instance, if it creates something, it'll disappear if you try to take that thing out of it.”

Yuuka tilts her head towards her, even as she can't seem to pull her gaze away from Rowena's orb and the Manor, “If you look at it a certain way, wouldn't making an AI do whatever you tell it to count as a form a slavery like the Guardian system?”

She doesn't get a chance to speak before Rowena shoots the idea down herself, “That implies I was never given a choice. Creator was, as what I call her suggests, the one who created me, and she did instill me with morals as I was developing, but that is arguably no different then teaching a developing child right from wrong. After I was fully formed, Creator asked if I was willing to do what I was created for. She didn't order me to do so. And I will preempt any questions of payment with this. What use would an Artificial Intelligence such as myself have for currency? So no, I do not receive payment of any kind, that is true, but Creator has already given me life and freedom. What more could she offer that would hold any value to me?”

Ayako tilts her head, “That's true… So, I'm confused, how does this link to you turning invisible?”

She laughs, “I didn't lose the magic of my old universe when I was reborn. There are ways this universe's magic is more advanced. There are ways that my original universe was, despite the fact that by this universe's classifications, even by the time I died, the only magic that existed was still what you would call Ancient Magic. They weren't the same obviously, but between the two, it's a significantly closer equivalent.”

Fumiya gives her an odd look, “How are you so good at Modern Magic if the only thing you've ever known was more similar to Ancient Magic than Modern Magic? Or Magic Engineering?”

She gives him an amused look, “Because I wasn't really falling back on my knowledge from my old world for it. It may have helped here and there, but by and large, it's just study. The only real advantage my memories give me in those regards is my mental age and maturity.”

Yuuka gives her a curious look, “So how old are you then?”

She smiles at her, “Given that one of the differences between my old world and this one is that magicals age slower after the age of seventeen, and while it was usually about half as slow as the normal aging process, the more powerful the individual was, the slower their aging was, and I was very powerful? As far as I can tell, I died in my sleep of old age about a week from my four hundred and ninety-ninth birthday. Lived from nineteen ninety-eight to twenty-four ninety-seven. Part of the reason I know beyond things like the differences in the magic that they were two completely separate universe's actually. Because in that entire time, nothing like Modern Magic came into being.”

She nods her head to the side briefly, “Though in fairness, there wasn't a need for it, given the magic of that universe may have been more akin to Ancient Magic, but it was generally faster than this world's Modern Magic from the get go. But there also wasn't a world war three. And there was a major global event that occurred in my original universe in the year two thousand that never occurred here.”

Maya suddenly pipes up, “You said this place creates anything you require?”

She nods and without a word, Maya sits down on a chair that wasn't there moments before, giving up on her ladylike manners and leaning forward to rest her elbows on her legs, press her hands together and the sides of her index fingers along her nose, seemingly just trying to process everything. The rest of them seem to agree with the idea, as each of them sit down on chairs that pop into existence without hesitation, even Hayama giving up on his attentive standing vigil. She looks at them in amusement as she takes a seat herself.

She's not entirely sure how long they're all quiet just trying to absorb things before Maya's brow furrows and she straightens and gives her a troubled look, “This is why you suddenly changed about a year ago, right?” She nods and Maya searches her eyes, “Does… does that mean the original Toshiko died mentally or something?”

She raises an eyebrow, “I'm surprised you'd ask that given I know for a fact I used Patronus fire as a baby well before that.”

Remembrance flickers across Maya's face, “That's true, which means there was always something of you in Toshiko, but you definitely did change.”

She nods, then turns her gaze towards the sky, “Honestly, I'm not sure how it happened to begin with. The last thing I remembered was going to sleep a week before my birthday, like I said. Then the next thing I knew, it was like snapping awake and I found myself in a baby body, surrounded by people shouting in what sounded like Japanese, though between my confusion and the chaos, I couldn't make out what was being said. There was some woman pointing what looked like a gun at me though. I had no idea what a CAD was and thought it was an actual gun, so I tossed up a physical shield because of that misunderstanding and sent some Patronus fire her way.”

She runs a hand through her hair, “Then I heard some male voice, don't know what that was about so don't ask, but it was telling me to go back to sleep, and I couldn't fight it off if I wanted to, and something about me just… trusted it on an instinctive, fundamental level, so I did. Then my memories and consciousness were waking up again while I was in the middle of Guardian training. That being said, from what I can gather, Toshiko wasn't some sort of figment, nor did she disappear. As best I can describe it, when I was a baby, the Toshiko that you knew was a fragment of my subconscious, and as I grew, it started to grow into a near copy of my consciousness with the only real differences being from changes to how we grew up given that at the cores of their beings, Calanthe and Toshiko are so similar it would be alarming in other circumstances. When my memories came back, I think it'd be more accurate to say the two consciousnesses merged into one.”

She snorts as she drops her gaze down to the somewhat calmer and relieved looking Maya, “The tea vs coffee changing preference is actually a surprisingly good example of the fact I very much am both of them. In my previous life, I was very much a tea drinker and never really had coffee. Then I wake back up to find it's this body and the previously developing Toshiko's favorite, so I keep bouncing back and forth between which I want at any given moment.”

Maya giggles lightly at the humor in that, and after a beat, Katsushige pipes up as he looks around, “What is this place anyway? Not the Trunk of Requirements, but what the Trunk has become. Because if it just becomes whatever you ask it to, then I can't see it having something like a- a base form or whatever you'd call it.”

She snorts, “No it doesn't. This was my old house. Or one of them anyway.”

Ayako looks at her in surprise, “Really? Were you just rich, or did you come from a big family?”

She chuckled, “Both, kinda. I was born to a wealthy and old noble family, though less than a year and a half after I was born, my parents were killed and I was left as the only member of the family alive. By the time I died, I know full well that my family had gotten much bigger from the family tree spreading back out. All three of them actually, since I was the direct descendant of one bloodline, named the Heir of another my great grandmother had married in from by my infertile first cousin once removed, and claimed a third by Right of Conquest because the last member of that House was a homicidal maniac who'd made an enemy of me. By the end of it all though, I'd say I did a pretty good job as Calanthe Potter-Black.”

Maya pauses, “By any chance… Does Calanthe mean beautiful flower?”

Knowing exactly where this is going, she grins mischievously, “Yeah. Yeah it does.”

Yuuka gives her a look, even as laughter starts building up among the rest, “Tōkōkuro Mihana? Really? Really?”

She laughs, “Yeah, Misaki- I mean, Miho was just as disbelieving about it.”

Ayako fights back her giggles to ask, “Who's Miho?”

She blinks rapidly, “Oh that. Have you ever heard of the concept of soulmates?” Ayako, and everyone else for that matter, nod at her question, “It wasn't a fiction trope in my original universe. It was actually a thing. And while I have no clue how and why I was reborn, or maybe if it happens to everyone and the thing that went wonky was me remembering my previous life, but I do know for a fact my soulmates are here and remember as well.”

Maya gives her a surprised look, “Ignoring the… rest of it, are you certain they are?”

She grins, “The soulmates from my original universe came in different types of how you knew yours, and ours was a first thing you said kind of thing, and for one thing,” Ignoring ladylike manners for a moment, she lifts her left foot, planting it on the edge of her chair and tugs her pant leg up and her sock down to show Hei|Sora's mark fading in and out slowly. They're all staring in surprise and Maya looks fascinated, “I was already pretty sure from the get go that my marks wouldn't have updated if they hadn't. But also, part of the reason I made my alias what I did was to get their attention, which worked and I've already established contact with them.”

Maya's voice is slightly surprised, “We noticed there were word- like birthmarks, but never anything like that.”

She shrugs, “The only explanation I've been able to think of is some sort of naturally embedded magic or something like that which makes people who don't know what they're supposed to be looking at view it as that. Since it's not natural to this universe and all that. Or maybe that it's so unbelievable given their understanding of this world that people's minds just… refuse to properly take it in or something.”

Maya makes a noise of understanding and there's a bit of silence as they all just stare at her shifting mark in fascination before Yuuka breaks, “Okay, the only thing that makes sense to me is that the brown words are from this life, since it implies a familiarity that people really shouldn't have before their first words, but that just brings up questions about the other one.”

She raises her eyebrow, “In what way?”

Katsushige gives her an exasperated look, “Get out of here kid, no one your age should have to watch someone die’? What the hell sort of first meeting is that?”

She fixes her sock and pant leg, “...The kind where a formerly abused runaway 8 year old with zero qualms about stabbing someone if necessary decides it's fine to cut through a dark alley on her way home and stumbles across her decade older but indoctrinated into an assassin as a child soulmate dying.”

Fumiya gives her a surprised look, “Huh? Aren't you frequently going on about morals?”

Done fixing the two, she drops her foot back down as she gives him an amused look, “Yes, but morals are subjective. I never said I thought killing was wrong in and of itself.” And she realizes she probably should've said that when Katsushige and Yuuka, the older of the kids that may or may not have killed before but are at least undoubtedly familiar with what may be expected of them relax a little, making it clear they were struggling to figure out how to handle what they've been taught vs what she tells them clashing, “It's totally warranted in some cases, like when I killed what's his name when I was eleven, and I don't actually care all that much about legality. It's primarily harming innocents I take issue with, and the Yotsuba have never been the sort to care about that kind of stuff which is why I have problems with some of the stuff they do.” She gives them an amused look, “But I never once said by morals that I meant the most common idea of morality.”

Ayako gives her a surprised look, “You killed someone at eleven?”

Her tone becomes a bit dry, “He was threatening to torture two of my friends to death -which is bad enough but were also around eleven as well- if I didn't do as he said. At least I was nice enough that I just stabbed him in the heart, so it wasn't a particularly drawn out or painful death.”

Understanding at her actions and disgust at what he was threatening washes over the group, and Maya pipes up, “That's absolutely a fair response. Some people would even call it merciful.”

She gives her a slightly amused look, “It's particularly fair when he's a dumbass who made that threat… after not bothering to check me for weapons. Or tie me up. And then was stupid enough to look away to gaze menacingly at my friends as he expanded on his threat. He was honestly practically asking for my dagger being planted in his heart if you ask me. Considering he mentioned my age, I can only assume he thought a child wasn't capable of something like that, but again. After the way I grew up, no qualms about stabbing someone if it was warranted.”

That gets some giggles and chuckles, and Katsushige gives her an amused look, “Yeah, you've made that clear.”

Yuuka speaks up at that point, looking a bit puzzled, “If you're mentally five hundred years old though, what does that even make us to you? Because ‘kid cousin’ doesn't really seem to match up with how you act with us.” She blushes lightly, “Honestly, before this revelation I gotta admit it seemed more like you saw us more like siblings or something with how much you took care of us, but…”

She doesn't hesitate, “I may physically and legally just be the middle cousin between you all, but emotionally? I've already filled out the mental adoption paperwork, thanks. And just so you know, my soulmates’ responses were basically ‘so when are we meeting our adopted kids?’ because my kids are their kids, no questions asked. Your parents and the rest of the older generation of the Yotsuba can fight me, but you're my kids and I will protect you even if you come to hate me in the process.”

It's telling, that even though Katsushige and Yuuka blush, none of the kids say anything to protest her claim, but Ayako does look at her with furrowed brows, “Hate you? What could you possibly do while trying to protect us that could make us hate you?”

She tilts her head as she gazes at her, not wanting to say it purely because she doesn't want to hurt them, but Katsushige gives her a weary look, “You're making that face again.” When she turns to him in confusion, he elaborates, “That one that says you don't wanna say something just because you're trying to protect us from harsh realities or something. I hate that face to be honest.”

The other kids nod even as Maya and Hayama silently watch. She sighs, “You may hate me, because to be perfectly honest, if everyone in the Yotsuba was here and someone found the main house and attacked, the only time I would participate was if the odds of winning were good, and at that only to protect you from the hurt of possibly losing your parents. If the odds weren't good though? I'm sorry, but like I said, emotionally you're basically my kids, and a proper parent does what they have to in order to protect them, even if their kids hate them for it.”

“And I would absolutely drag you all -and Yuki since while we're not close he is a child- away, kicking and screaming if necessary, most likely snatching Maya, who despite the insanity everyone touts is one of the most reasonable Yotsuba, and Hayama to help take care of you all, possibly Asumi and Touka since they're a bit more level headed and not total garbage, and maybe, maybe Miya. But Shinsuke, Hidetsugu, Mitsugu, Haruto, Osamu, and their spouses? They're on their own. And I hate to break it to you, but in such a situation, they aren't just on their own. I would absolutely see them as a distraction to buy more time to get you to safety. And I would not care if it makes you hate me, because my priority is your safety and if I have to do things that make you hate me to secure it, then so be it.”

The twins and Katsushige look somewhat troubled, and she can't blame them, given their parents’ names were amongst those she absolutely would practically use as sacrificial lambs to buy more time to ensure she could get the kids away. Maya looks like she's trying very hard to hide being pleased, assumably because her name was listed as one of the two she had decided were worth taking with, other than the kids themselves of course.

After a few beats, Fumiya sighs, “I don't really like the idea at all, but honestly? Given the things we keep learning they've pulled, I can't even blame you that if you were put in a situation to pick between guaranteeing our safety or risking it just to save them too that you'd pick the first option without hesitation.”

Yuuka snorts, “Don't know if I have the right to comment since my mom is on the maybe list, but yeah.”

Ayako and Katsushige, though they don't look any happier than Fumiya, also nod in agreement. Maya seems to decide to change the topic, “On a different note, that your blue fire can work on mental manipulation wasn't something anyone ever thought about.” She gains an amused look, “Miya was actually becoming convinced that you're actually a genius at mind manipulation magic that surpasses even her given you'd not only broken her magic, but even the one time she tried to reinstate it, she said even trying to access your mind was like running full speed into a brick wall.”

She snorts, “Technically, I said earlier that I had my Patronus fire if push came to shove. I didn't actually need it, because mind magics are one of those things that my old universe was more advanced in, and I know enough that it's easy to undo her work and block her out.”

Ayako's eyes go wide, “Wait, really?” She nods, and Ayako leans forward, “How?”

She laughs lightly, “Because. In my old life, there were two related branches of magic known as Legilimency and Occlumency. Legilimency was the art of reading and manipulating minds. Occlumency was its counter, the art of defending one's mind. When it comes to mind manipulation capable magicians protecting their minds in this world, it's more akin to those practical lessons where two magicians each try to take control of a metal ball to help students improve their casting speed and interference strength, with the ball being the mind of the person who's trying to defend. Occlumency on the other hand, is mostly about keeping them out to begin with, and only fighting to eject them if they break through, but due to the way it works, users tend to have full control of their minds.”

“For instance, I do not inherently possess an edict memory, yet with Occlumency, like using a search function on a digital library, I can call up the memory of a passing conversation I had back when I was mentally not even twenty, almost five centuries ago, and quote it back to you word for word. And that's not a unique ability. Anyone practiced in Occlumency can do the same, barring the years in question if only because they wouldn't live that long from the get go. Actually, funnily enough, Miya asked if I used flash cast at the New Year's gathering when I cast Maya's Meteor Stream in an instant, and as I said back then, I did not.”

“Other than the carving, it's not that dissimilar though, since all I really had to do was pull up the memory of reading the activation sequence when she went to cast and transfer it to my magic calculation area in full so I could add in the variables. Except it's unquestionably superior because it's basically flash casting, except one, I don't have to damage my magic calculation area to achieve it and two, I'm not limited to only activation sequences that have been carved. I can do it with any magic I've used Elemental Sight to read the activation sequence of. Which basically means that other than for appearances, I actually don't need a CAD in the first place.”

She snorts at their gaping, “But I got a little off track there. When you have the sort of control of your mind that Occlumency gives you, it's very, very easy to find mental manipulation and get rid of it. To put it simply, it's like you have an anti-virus program on a computer that knows every line of code that's supposed to exist or can exist from your thoughts as they occur, which makes it very easy to find the intruder and destroy it.”

Yuuka shakes her head in astonishment, “So basically… you actually are more advanced in mental manipulation magic like Miya has been thinking, but even if you weren't, she still wouldn't be able to use it on you.”

She chuckles, “Basically. But like I said, it's more that my original universe is more advanced in mind magics in general rather than me being really, really good at it or something. Because yeah, I am pretty good at mind magics from that universe, but I honestly probably wouldn't even clock into the top one hundred there.” If they'd been looking at her in surprise before, it has nothing on how they're looking at her now, “Which actually makes it even more of a shame I haven't figured out how exactly to take the theoretically knowledge of it and use it with this universe's magic, since I actually would like to teach you guys Occlumency. If nothing else to help with the previous flash cast carvings they put on you, since repairing damage to the mind is another skill in any decent Occlumens’ belt and if you can cast using that, it wouldn't even require giving something up.”

Yuuka, the one out of them with mental magic, perks up in interest, “Maybe I can help with that! If you're wanting to teach us anyway, it's not a secret so you could teach me the theory and I could try to help convert it!”

She smiles at her, “That could certainly work. I wouldn't want to ignore everyone else so we can discuss it, so we'll talk it over later, alright?”

Yuuka nods happily, and Fumiya leans forward in interest, “Can-... Would you tell us more about your previous life? It sounds so interesting. I can't help but want to know more.”

She laughs lightly, but as she starts to say something, the house and everything else starts to fade out. She pauses it as she sees the others start to panic, probably thinking they'd have problems, but she gives them a reassuring smile, “It's alright. I stopped it for now, but you essentially kicked it into acting like a Pensieve is all.”

Maya tilts her head in curiosity, “And what exactly is a Pensieve?”

She hums, “There was this technique, it… how to explain this…” Her eyes unfocus for a few moments and then she just shrugs, “May be easier to just show you.”

It's only really sheer dumb luck she has it, but Rowena had been able to explain that while the descendants that were alive didn't know what the Trunk actually was, they did vaguely know she tended to store things important to her inside. As such, after she died, they had apparently put some of her things away in it. Which is how, to her incredible surprise when she'd been looking over the inventory, she'd found her wand amongst the things she had. She'd considered her wand lost before that, but that had driven home the fact that if whatever happened with her remembering happened again, it would be all too easy to lose something important because she didn't get a chance to put it in the Trunk for some reason or another. Which is why she and Rowena had come up with a magical tag of sorts that would tie things to the Trunk in such a way that the moment it detected her death, it could summon all the tagged objects to it. Just in case whatever happened did so again at the end of this life.

It all means she has her wand and currently invisible wand holster though, so she flicks her wrist in a very familiar move to pop her wand from its holster. She lifts it up to her temple as she concentrates, quickly teasing out the memory. Then she drops the silvery trendle into the Pensieve the room had made, before she taps her wand to the side of it. It's an improved version made later compared to the ones that had been around when she was younger, and it projects the memory above it at her tap, showing her perspective starting at her reassuring them that Fumiya had unintentionally put the Trunk into acting as a Pensieve itself up to her lifting her wand to her temple.

Katsushige gives her a wide eyed look, “Then… that silvery thread was a memory? Just… plucked out of your head?”

She nods as she pulls the memory back out of the Pensieve, “Mhm. And this basin is a Pensieve. The projection aspect was actually something invented later, but its original use, and one it still had, was that you'd touch the liquid and your mind would be sucked into the memory. Part of the reason they never got rid of the ability to do so was that since the mind is constantly filtering things out, it's way more aware of its surroundings than people realize, so when you ‘enter’ a memory in a Pensieve, you'll find yourself just around the person the memory is from and able to look around instead of your line of sight limited to their's. Fumiya accidentally kicked the Trunk into acting like a Pensieve itself. Presumably it was about to show memories of mine that I don't have locked away in a section of my mind it's not allowed to touch. Though, I should add, given the implications of ‘plucked from your head’, you don't forget it entirely by pulling the memory out, but it does get hazier.”

Rather than putting it back into her head, she tucks it in a bottle and tosses it at Yuuka, who as someone with natural mental magic, looks fascinated, “Memory in a bottle. Technically, as weird as the thought is, a person can actually drink it to experience it, but it is one use like that obviously, and there's always a potential of negative health effects, so I wouldn't recommend doing so unless the situation is desperate.”

Ayako looks at her with wide eyes, “Wait, so the Trunk trying to act as a Pensieve means it can just show us your life?”

She nods, “Mm. Presumably just what it deems highlights or something, since the full story is way too long.”

Fumiya blushes, “Sorry. I wasn't trying to get it to do that and intrude on your memories.”

She waves it off, “It's fine. Besides, I'm fully aware it's capable of doing something like that. I don't mind. Its potential use as a Pensieve is why it's capable of accessing those memories in the first place, and the fact I don't mind in general is why those memories aren't locked up out of its reach like ones I would care about others seeing to begin with.”

Ayako peers at her in excitement, “Does that mean we can watch them?”

She smiles in bemusement, “If you really want to.” Then she stands, “Even with just the highlights it'll probably take a while though, so if you're going to, I think I'll pop out and get some drinks and snacks.”

Hayama rises, “Ah! Toshiko-sama, I-”

She waves him off as one of the two Human Home Helpers she hadn't needed appears, “Relax Hayama. I wasn't going to fetch them myself, I was just going to go out of the Trunk to call Suzuki, tell her something came up that had my cousins leave briefly, but they'd be back, and have the H3 push the cart down when she brings it. You aren't failing as a butler having someone from the family fetch things or whatever was going through your mind.”

Hayama nods slowly, but it seemed to have reminded him about the usual vigil he stands, so he doesn't sit back down, just steps back to be sort of behind Maya as he usually is. 

She heads up with the H3, though it waits just out of sight on the stairs down into the currently closed Trunk, scooping up the small remote to buzz it for Suzuki, the method used to call for the service staff when outdoors like their little meetup is or when in a soundproof room.

It isn't too long before Suzuki comes and she quickly explains the cover story she'd said she was going to use and once it's conveyed, Suzuki leaves to get what she asked for. It takes a bit for her to come back, which she apologizes for, but she just waves Suzuki off and let's her know it's fine. Once she's gone, she opens the Trunk so the H3 can come up for the cart, changing the staircase into a ramp, and also getting it to have a wider spiral so the slope isn't as steep.

Getting back down to the bottom, Hayama quickly makes his way over to help start serving when they get back, and she's surprised to see they're only just at the part of her eating her first meal in her mother's trunk. She has no idea why it took so long to get through aspects of her childhood, it's not like there was anything particularly important there. The only real purpose she can see showing more of it is serving as setting up things for the way it affects her outlook and the like, but she wouldn't think it would take that long to show enough to get the point across and move on.

They all look incredibly upset, probably seeing the similarities between her literally abusive relatives and the way the Yotsuba had treated her. The verbal abuse is pretty obvious, given the scorn the Yotsuba show her. The physical abuse can easily find its connection in the ‘training’ they forced her through. And on top of that, the way they'd treated her like a live-in house service, even though she was just their niece… well, it was literally amongst the expected duties of a Guardian.

Having no real reason to view what's essentially a highlight reel of her old life, she has the Trunk bring her a tablet to start working on translating apparition or portkey magic, doesn't matter which, it's the true teleportation she's looking for, into the magic of this world. Honestly, she's pretty sure it's going to be a long-term project, given how even having observed how they work, she was having to come up with all of it from scratch on this world. It wasn't like if she made some sort of air manipulation spell, where she'd have various pieces of other spells to take aspects from to get a start from.

There's literally nothing remotely related to even the start of it, i.e. pulling a physical object into the information dimension. Observing her own apparition and portkeying doesn't really help either, apparition would count more as a ‘supernatural power’ in their books, having no actual casting or magic sequence, and it was really just raw magic manipulation. Portkeys are a spell obviously, but she's been struggling to unravel it since it honestly reads like gibberish. A mishmash of what almost seems like random spells tossed together because she cannot figure out what they have to do with it, if anything, and entire sections she can't even begin to understand what the data is saying, so if it's relevant to working out the mishmash, she's missing key information.

So, no, she didn't think she'd get anywhere with it soon but that honestly just means it's good to be getting a start on it as early as she is. It won't affect how long it'll take, but it will affect when she's done with it, since if it takes the same amount of time regardless then the earlier she starts, the earlier in a chronological sense she'll finish.

Her attention is drawn by Ayako letting out a sound like it was the beginning of a scream that she hastily cut off. Looking up in concern, she follows Ayako's, and everyone else's for that matter, line of sight only to see the Basilisk starting towards her own form. She can only assume it's the size of it or something that caused the mild panic. Seeing nothing wrong though, she goes back to her work.

She doesn't really get anywhere except well on her way to giving herself a headache before someone's fingertips lightly touch her arm. Looking up, she finds Maya, gazing at her with slightly furrowed brows. Glancing at the others, she finds the weirdest mix of emotions, ranging from awe to heartbreak.

She tilts her head, more than a little confused, “Why are you looking at me like that? I can kinda get why the people in my first universe gave me those kinds of looks, but like I said before, there are ways each world is ahead of the other magically, and also the Yotsuba, as many problems as I have with them, are pretty cream of the crop and they've also seen a lot of the darker aspects of life. I wouldn't say any of it was particularly noteworthy one way or the other.”

Katsushige tilts his head at her, “It's not surprising given the added understanding to personality we just got, but you really do tend to underestimate the things you've gone through and what you achieved quite a bit, don't you? Besides, in the framework you were working in…”

Yuuka snorts, and while she doesn't recall hearing anything, her eyes are red like she was crying a bit ago, “That achievement problem is because she's a freaking perfectionist. I mean, she saw things that were successful, but if someone finds a single loophole after months of searching, the entire damn thing is a failure in her eyes. Like when she practically made it impossible to attack Hei above mid-calf, but one person gets a shot on his ankle and nearly kills him and her work is basically immediately deemed worthless to her.”

She shakes her head as she continues, “Or the fact she got a bit understandably distracted by one of her soulmates actively dying and wasn't really taking in other things happening but as soon as she literally invents an entire field of magical healing and saves his life and realizes that mess with the blood plague completely slipped her mind and she wasn't really taking in updates on it, she's a failure. It's completely unacceptable and she will do better. Even though it was totally understandable. And she hadn't even saved her soulmate fifteen minutes before and immediately realized the things she developed might be useful with that as well and pivoted to looking into it without hesitation.”

Fumiya looks up with a dark mutinous expression, “For the record? Given your soulmates are about the only thing that can consistently keep you from working your overly perfectionist self too hard, I'll kill anyone who tries to harm them.”

She gives him a surprised look, “Fumiya! You've never even met them, you can't just-”

He turns his head away in a flick, as he closes his eyes, “Don't care.”

Katsushige snorts, “They're absolute treasures and must be protected. So I second that.”

Ayako laughs a little wetly, her eyes gleaming with more moisture than is normal, “Third it!”

Yuuka rolls her eyes, “That's obvious. Of course we will.”

She's entirely taken off guard and conflicted, torn between being happy the family she actually acknowledges cares for her soulmates and alarmed at how willing they are to kill for them.

Something that's only made worse when Maya gives what physically looks like a gentle smile, yet manages to convey a dangerous aura, “Indeed. Do give me their numbers so I can add them to the allowed calls and my number to them and let them know they can call me if they ever need anything.”

She opens and closes her mouth a bit, trying to wrap her head around just how protective they are of her soulmates. Soulmates they've never even met. She can't find anything to say though, and in the end she ends up just murmuring out, “I'll… do that.”

Maya nods firmly, and at that point, they start digging into the snacks she'd had Suzuki bring earlier and had placed under preservation charms to keep it at the appropriate temperature and fresh. The conversation starts drifting to discussing various things they saw, but honestly. They really do praise her too highly and make a bigger deal than is really called for in her opinion on some of the things she went through. She tries to straighten things out the first couple of times and is all too cheerfully shot down when it comes to her achievements and darkly and with mutters about how various people like the Dursleys or Dumbledore are lucky they're out of their reach regarding things she's gone through.

Eventually she gives up, sitting back to just watch them discuss things in bafflement at how they talk about them.

With nothing to add and entirely confused, she pulls her mobile terminal out.

Mass text

So um. My cousins have collectively decided that you're absolutely treasures and they'll KILL anyone that tries to harm you guys apparently.

Miho

Wait what?

Sora

Pardon? We've never even met before though?

I decided I trusted them enough to tell them about the reincarnation today, and I DO have pretty solid proof via the Trunk. It eventually turned into having the Trunk act like a Pensieve and show them basically highlights of my life as Calanthe? And now they've all… collectively decided that as you two are the only consistent method of keeping me from overworking myself and you must be protected at all costs.

Miho

I mean… They aren't wrong about us keeping you from overworking yourself, but…

Sora

🤣

Miho

Sora! This isn't funny!

Sora

Hoshi laughing so hard she's in danger of passing out from lack of air begs to differ!

Is she ok?

Sora

I'll get back to you on that when I see the results. 

Miho

More importantly, no it isn't funny! It only means she's just as bad as you! These are kids!

Sora

I'm not saying the idea of them actually DOING it is funny. It's the idea that we apparently have a group of kids we've never even met before already willing to THROW HANDS for us.

Plus Maya.

Miho

WHAT?!

Well she didn't SAY she was willing to fight people, but she told me to give her your numbers so she can add them to the numbers allowed to call and also give you HER number and let you know to call if you need anything.

Sora

Cool. Always nice to have something like that in your back pocket.

Miho

Sora! You aren't concerned in the SLIGHTEST?! This is Yotsuba Maya we're talking about!

Sora

Which means if we ever find ourselves in a position that we need help, we have Yotsuba Maya backing us up. Like I said, it's nice to have that in your back pocket just in case.

Yeah, well. They haven't mentioned it yet, they're discussing some of the things they saw, don't know WHY since it's not THAT interesting, but don't be surprised when they inevitably demand to meet you guys.

Sora

Works for me. I can get a feel for them myself just to make sure they haven't managed to deceive you, and if they haven't, as we've said before, your kids are our kids. Besides, that just means you can stop sneaking around in worry about the Yotsuba finding out and trying to ‘get us out of the picture’ or whatever they suddenly decide is necessary. Which also means we can probably meet up soon.

Miho

I mean, yes, but also it's YOTSUBA MAYA. You aren't at least a LITTLE concerned?!

Sora

Nope. I used to deal with contractors that were way more unhinged then what I've ACTUALLY heard her do rather than just rumors.

Huh. That's… interesting.

Sora

In what way?? You know the kind of crazies I sometimes used to have to work with. You've heard plenty of stories if nothing else.

Not that part. You just made me think of something. I'll get back to you later when I have a firmer idea of it.

Miho

🙄 And you accuse ME of being a workaholic.

You are.

Also, I just realized that if my kids are your kids, Dad needs to give some lessons, because the Yotsuba have some underworld type stuff but don't seem to realize that strength and being self-reliant as well as having allies is absolutely possible to juggle. I can handle that stuff from a political angle, but the underworld is your forte. So they could do with some lessons from Dad as well.

Sora

I'll make sure the kids learn better. But you BOTH are workaholics. I'm the only one who's NOT a workaholic in our relationship. 

Feeling a flicker of mischief, she can't help but tease him.

That's because you're our cute mostly stay at home except for sneaky stabby/murder husband!(1)

Miho

😂😂 Now THAT'S funny. Well. Except the stabby/murder part, but you already knew that I have issues with unwarranted stabby/murder.

Miho

And that my idea of warranted is different then you twos.

Sora

I.... I don't know about the cute part, but I… kinda can't argue with that… Since I… do take care of most of the cooking and cleaning… and it's entirely my own doing since while you guys help or offer to, 9 times out of 10 I wave you off…. Oh my gods, I am a mostly stay at home husband. And dad when we had kids in our last life. How did I not NOTICE? I used to be one of, if not THE best assassins in the world! How did I become a mostly stay at home husband?! And later mostly stay at home dad! And without noticing at that?!

Miho

🤣🤣🤣

Lol, because you're usually too busy intently trying to make sure everything is perfect for us? Don't know how else to explain something like that slipping past you Mr Observant World Class Assassin.

Especially given HOW many times you did things like “-smack hands lightly- Calanthe, you keep your workaholic hands away from my cooking young lady! -point over shoulder without turning- And don't think I don't know you've got that laundry basket Misaki! You put it back right this second!”

Sora

My girls deserve the best! The best food, a clean house. And if nothing else, they don't need to be doing that right after work or on their days off!

And we've told you while sometimes we have particularly tiring days, if it's not one of those, we're more than happy to help. You're the one who chases us away from chores.

Miho

Precisely. Usually you shut us down when we OFFER to help and insist on doing it yourself and just kinda took it all over.

Sora

Yeah fine, I did it to myself. Also, update I promised, Hoshi was leaning against my side reading my texts, and I'm pretty sure Toshiko successfully made her laugh so hard she lost consciousness when she tossed out that ‘cute stay at home husband’ line.

Is she alright?

Sora

Passing out like that doesn't last very often, so either she didn't fully lose consciousness or she's already waking back up.

Miho

As long as she is ok then.

What Miho said.

Sora

She seems fine. Maybe a slight headache from the brief lack of oxygen, but that's about it.

Sora

Well. She's ok NOW. Can't guarantee she's not gonna be a little BRAT and use the whole house husband thing as teasing ammunition. Might have to kill her later.

Miho

You know, siblings saying they're going to kill each other is usually a joke no one thinks anything of, but it's a bit ALARMING when it's coming from you or Hoshi.

Nah, Sora is too much of an overprotective big brother to do anything worse than occasionally rough house with her when they're squabbling, and Hoshi may be a brat that loves to tease him and flick him shit but she's never actually trying to hurt him.

So it's fine.

Miho

I guess… just don't get too rough Sora.

Miho

Sora?

He's probably either checking on Hoshi or she ran her mouth and they're wrestling.

Sora

The latter. It was very brief but the brat ran her mouth and needed to be put in her place.

Sora

Also, before she ran off she insisted I pass on both her love and her appreciation for giving her such ammunition as that ‘house husband’ stuff.

Sora

She's a brat.

She snickers lightly and is in the middle of typing out her reply when a light touch to her arm draws her attention up to Maya. She smiles at her, “There were some questions we wanted to ask.”

She nods, “Sure, just give me a moment to let Sora and Miho know I won't be available for at least a little bit.”

She catches sight of Ayako leaning forward, “Is Sora Hei's reincarnation? And Miho Misaki's?”

She nods as she finishes typing, “Yeah.”

They want to ask me some questions, so I've gotta go for now. Love you!

Sora

Love you too, Xiǎolóng.

Miho

Love you! Talk to you later!

Then she locks her mobile terminal and sets it down as she looks back up, “So what did you want to ask?”

As they settle in for a longer conversation, she absently sends a telepathic message to Rowena asking her to keep track of time and let them know when it's about an hour before dinner, as she heavily suspects they'll end up losing track of time.

Chapter Text

She heads up to Maya’s office, having received a message asking her to come up, and after knocking and being cleared to enter, she immediately feels a bit of weariness at the sight of a displeased Maya and a satisfied Miya.

She eyes them, “Maya(1), what did you call me here for?”

It seems to perk her up a little that she greets her and basically ignores Miya. Miya doesn't look as pleased by it though and cuts in before Maya can reply, “We have finally sorted out some… issues surrounding your reinstatement to the family. As should have happened when you were, you will be moving in with me.” She flicks a Look at Maya, who bristles, “Your mother.”

She raises an eyebrow, “That depends.”

Miya raises an eyebrow, “I am your mother, and as you have pointed out before, that makes me your legal guardian. It is not debatable.”

She snorts, “Yes, but you are beholden to Maya as the Family Head and while I don't know what you were debating before, I'm sure she would be more than pleased to reevaluate the situation if I disagree with the arrangement, particularly given the bad blood between myself and the Yotsuba in general.”

Maya smiles and happily nods, but leans back, apparently more than willing to let them take over the conversion. Miya looks a bit peeved, and sighs, “Fine. So what does it depend on then?”

She shrugs, “Well, for starters, that you don't interfere with me going out to see some friends of mine periodically, or my biweekly meetups with the- other kids.” She'd almost forgotten that Miya wasn't in the know in her reincarnation and would find it odd if she just called them ‘the kids’ when she herself was physically in the middle of the other four age wise. Thankfully she doesn't seem to notice the odd tiny pause in her words, “For another, you'd have to give me your word you won't try to use your mental manipulation magic on me again. I can fend it off just fine, but it's unbelievably disrespectful. And that's without even bringing up the lines it crosses to think you have the right to try to dictate my own mind to me. Also, I don't know if you have them, but you aren't allowed to put cameras in my room.”

She flinches slightly at the second to last part, then her brows furrow, “Hold on. Biweekly meetups? Why has Yuki not been invited if your generation has been doing that?” Then her eyes widen, “Wait, is that why they got a bit hostile towards him before pulling back to just cold? Have you poisoned them against him?”

She shakes her head, “Your generation is responsible for that actually. All I did was tell them the truth. And then I was the one who reminded them that it wasn't his fault that they've been feeding him all that nonsense and got them to stop being hostile to him. Them just being cold is the best you're going to get from them for the time being, given that I can't exactly disagree with the fact that if they were able to look past the things their parents and the rest of the older generation told them about me when it became clear they were lying, then he has no excuse.” She shrugs, “Which is also why he hasn't been invited to any of them. They don't want him there, and while I personally don't care about his opinion of me and wouldn't mind if he came, they have the right to make their own choice that they care and would mind.”

Miya looks a little unhappy, “I don't understand why you would be willing to get them to stop being hostile but not get them to be fine with inviting him given they clearly listen to you.”

She resists the urge to roll her eyes, “Because all I did to get them to stop was to point out that we'd never actually met before, so the entirety of his opinion on me is based on what the older generation has told him, and I honestly don't care what he thinks of me.” Another slight flinch, presumably at the fact the ‘life long companion’ she made for her wasn't a companion at all, “But I respect the fact they don't like him, because they have the right to form personal opinions. Particularly since while I don't care, it's perfectly natural to have a negative opinion on someone who has such a poor view on someone you care about.”

She purses her lips, “He's your family.”

She raises an eyebrow, “He's a relative, not family. They're usually used interchangeably but they hold vastly different actual meanings.”

Miya does not look happy at that, but she drops it, “I suppose. If that's all, I should see no problem then, since I have no intention to interfere, try to use mental manipulation magic on you, and while we do have cameras in general, we don't put them in the people's rooms to begin with.”

She shrugs, “Alright then. I suppose it's fine then.” Maya looks unhappy again, and she smiles lightly at her, “Oh, don't make that face Maya. Since we meet up at the main house, I'll be by to see you plenty before and after the meetups.”

Maya smiles, “That's true enough I suppose.” Then she makes a somewhat dramatic sigh, “Still, I can't say I'm happy about you moving out. You'd better call me frequently. I'll be very cross if the only time I hear from you is when you come to the main house to meet the other kids.”

The last part is said in a fairly demanding tone and she chuckles, “Of course Maya.”

Miya looks torn. She can only make an educated guess, but presumably it's between the fact she ‘won’ and Toshiko will be moving in with her and at the fact she currently has a better relationship with Maya then Miya. She'll just have to learn to live with it. There are some things the Yotsuba do that she doesn't agree with, and Maya has been trying to clean up the family's act, but changes like that take time.

And since that was the major problem she had with Maya since she is the Head of the Yotsuba and while she knows that the branches have some measure of independence in the areas of their work, the intelligence gathering for the Kuroba for instance which she doesn't have a problem with in general and she even has probably looser standards of what's okay than the than the average person given the whole ex-assassin soulmate thing, they do report to her and are obligated to follow her orders, so their behavior does reflect on her and their sins somewhat her own.

She's trying to fix things though, and moving more slowly to fundamentally change how they operate instead of just giving them orders to change and leaving them to figure out how to keep doing their jobs but comply with her orders at the same time and potentially selecting an even worse avenue of action.

It's more than enough for her for now.

Now. The question becomes how in the world she's going to navigate Miya's house with an outwardly cold but internally adoring mother, a father that is inconsistent on whether he's actually present in their lives and home or not and sees her as a monster, and a younger brother who's been systematically poisoned to look down on and hate her for basically his entire life.

It's an even harder fight not to sigh then the one not to roll her eyes earlier had been.

She looks around in curiosity, never having been inside her mother's home understandably.

Given what she's picked up about him, she's actually surprised to see her father sitting on the couch when they enter the living room, having assumed he'd be off with his poorly hidden mistress as he was more often than not.

She isn't the only one surprised, but Miya seems outright displeased if the slight narrowing of her eyes is any indication, “Why are you here?”

Her father purses his lips, “It's my house as well. Or have you forgotten who's name is on the deed?”

She huffs, “Only because it would've been suspicious if my husband bought a house right after our marriage and I didn't move in. And you haven't really been here for over two weeks. It's not unexpected that I'd question it.”

Her father pushes out a heavy breath through his nose, “How could I not come see if you were really bringing her here? When I told you that I didn't want her in my house around my son.”

Miya raises an eyebrow, “And I told you that I was perfectly fine with moving myself and my son out in that case. Given you protested that, I assumed you would rather we stay here instead.”

Her father, or maybe she should just call him by his name since he clearly doesn't see her as his child, explodes at that, “I protested my wife and son moving out of our house! That doesn't mean I agreed to her being here! You misunderstood what I said!”

Miya gives him a scornful look, “No. You misunderstood what your options were and therefore what you were actually wanting. Whether my daughter was coming to live with me was never up for debate. Your only options were to accept she'd be coming here, or that Yuki and I were leaving. Us staying and Toshiko not moving in was never on the table. If you'd prefer to change your choice, we can be out within a few days. Make your choice.”

Tatsurou sputters a bit, staring at her mother with wide eyes. She'd been vaguely aware he was there, but had hardly taken note of Yuki until he throws her a dirty look as he crosses his arms angrily, “Look what you've done.”

Miya snaps her gaze to him, “Yuki!”

She raises an eyebrow, understanding that he's a child and unsurprisingly upset and not even completely surprised that he was blaming her given the argument did start about her, even though she had nothing to do with it, but honestly surprised anyway given he's always grown up with his parents having a poor relationship, and that's being kind.

That being said, this is likely the first time he's seen them argue. She shakes her head, “I have nothing to do with this. Miya was the one who got Maya to agree with me moving out of the main house and in with her.”

Yuki gives their mother a betrayed look, and Tatsurou snaps, “Miya! Why would you insist on bringing your little monster here?!”

Her mother narrows her eyes at him, “Maya reinstated my daughter to the family. Of course I would insist she lives with me.”

She tilts her head and gives him an amused look, “Also, given that the Yotsuba by and large have mental magic and even among those who have a different skill, they're generally nothing like my own, with the only one remotely similar being Ayako's, who's magic is more similar in execution than anything, since she just equalizes everything in the target area, that's not very accurate. Given that the Yotsuba have never exhibited magics close to my own, arguably it can only have originated from an outside influence of genetics manifesting in an unprecedented way, with the best case scenario being that it's from said outside influence's genetics meeting the Yotsuba's in particular. In other words, if I'm anyone's ‘monster’, I'm your monster father.”

He gets a horrified look, “Particularly when one takes into account how much magic my abilities take Mr Highest Recorded Psion Count in the World. Before me anyway, even if you still hold the public record since my Psion count has never been revealed.”

He sputters, horrified and looking sick to his stomach for a moment or two, then weakly tries to refute it, “Y-Yuki-”

She slips her hands into her pockets in boredom, “Is a genetically modified magician who's magic was very carefully cultivated into exactly what he has now as a sloppy attempt to be a counter to me in case it was ever needed. It's an incredible ability in general, don't get me wrong. But for its original purpose? It's nothing more than a failed attempt to make a shackle for me, and if necessary, a sword to strike me down. That's the only reason he was conceived to begin with actually, even though in my opinion they lost the right to dictate his life to him once he was born.”

Yuki looks floored, which vaguely surprises her given she kind of assumed that with all the poison they were feeding him towards her, she figured that they had also fed him lines about it being his duty to stop her of necessity or something. Before anything else can be said Honami, who she'd seen lingering out of regular line of sight for a little bit with her Elemental Sight likely unsure about intruding on the argument, finally musters herself and enters.

She looks at her first, “Given you indicated you'd prefer to put your stuff away yourself, I haven't touched their contents but I've finished moving your bags to your new room Lady Toshiko.” Then she turns to Miya, “Would you like me to stay, or would you prefer I go and make some tea?”

Which was basically her way of asking if she wanted her to remain on hand or not. She doesn't know Honami well enough to know if the reasoning for the tea was just something as straightforward as getting her tea in general and/or to help her calm her temper or if it was also her basically asking if Miya would prefer privacy.

Before she can answer, Toshiko starts for the doorway, “I'm going to go get a look at my room and start unpacking.”

Miya glances over to nod before flicking a glance at Yuki, “Go to your room Yuki.” She turns back to Tatsurou, her gaze becoming coldly furious, “Your father and I need to have a talk it seems.”

Yuki mutters out his understanding, and he'd probably sound surly, if he didn't sound shaken from the earlier revelations. She may not be close to him or have any particular feelings towards him, neither positive nor negative, but she feels a bit bad for the kid. It's a lot to learn all at once, and they aren't exactly small things.

Finding out you're a genetically engineered magician, or even just a genetically engineered person in general, and that you were created that way to serve as a shackle and weapon if necessary can't be easy.

He had to know though. And in her opinion it's better to get the raw truth than whatever twisted poison the majority of the Yotsuba may have tried to feed him, since while she can't know for sure what they would've told him of course, she'd bet money the raw truth is better for his overall mental health then whatever they would've told him.

She still feels a little bad though, even if she was actually talking to Tatsurou and it just came up, rather than him specifically and just telling him it for no reason.

She turns quickly and practically throws her arms around the now familiar male voice that says her name in a questioning tone. She can't help it. Not after going so long in her previous life without them and then having to wait so long to meet them in person in this life, even if it was relatively a blink in comparison to her old one. Their physical ages had complicated things an awful lot. She was genuinely starting to be terrified it'd take years, as in until they were teenagers or close to it before they could meet up in person.

She pulls back to get her first proper look at him in person instead of over a video call even as she absently tosses out a wandless silencing spell so no one can overhear them, “Sora! It's so nice to finally meet in person.”

He tightens the hold that had loosened so she could lean back just a bit, “I know what you mean.”

She wasn't surprised Hoshi wasn't trailing after him, since while she was eager to see her sister-in-law in everything but the law of this universe, she'd made it clear before that she wanted to let them all have their first in person meeting to themselves.

They sit back down on the bench she had been waiting on as they talk a bit excitedly at finally meeting up in this life, and she honestly can't say how long it is before she feels someone enter the radius of her silencing spell, looking over to find Miho approaching with a smile.

She quickly shoots to her feet to all but launch herself at her in a hug. The other two laugh, slightly amused but completely understanding of her eagerness, especially since they hug fairly enthusiastically themselves when she separates from Miho. In fairness, after spending so much of her life as Calanthe without them, it wasn't surprising that she'd be even more keen then them. Not to say that they weren't eager as well, it just wasn't to the same degree.

Then she cancels her silencing spell and applies a muffliato as they head off to the nearby cafe they had agreed to go to for lunch, having only met at the park to make it easier to find each other then in the potentially busy streets.

After they settle and get their orders in, she switches back to a one way silencing spell, unconcerned about it drawing any attention in and of itself, given that magic to make soundproof barriers does exist in this world. She also adds a spell that'll interfere with people's ability to read their lips by making their mouths appear blurry from the perspective of anyone outside of the spells bubble just to be safe, equally uncaring about its subtlety since similar things also exist here so no one would really think anything of either if they notice.

Once it's up, Miho gives them a slightly concerned look, “As much as it would be weird given we've already had a relationship, I honestly gotta admit that the fact the block hasn't kicked back on concerns me a bit. Because none of us are pedophiles so it's certainly not going to be an issue anytime soon, but the closer we get to seventeen… we don't have the block in place keeping us from noticing the other two are becoming attractive.”

She shakes her head, “It is back on actually. I can see it with my Elemental Sight, it's just acting differently than what we're used to. Namely, it seems to be letting us see each other as romantic partners and just blocking our capacity to start seeing each other as potential sexual partners later when we're in that particularly bad spot after puberty hits and we start feeling those kinds of desires again and the others are between getting old enough and close enough to what we'll look like when we're seventeen, such as a month from our birthday, but not actually seventeen that we might struggle with it. It's only a theory, but I'd say it's probably because romantic attraction is really attraction to the mind and personality, and for us, those are already over seventeen.”(2)

Sora tilts his head in interest, “That… makes an awful lot of sense actually. And is also pretty relieving. I've been wondering what on earth we were supposed to do either way if it was on or off. Because yes, it being on would be appropriate to keep us from being tempted to cross that line when we're practically seventeen and that's exactly how we're going to look unless something drastic happens anyway but would still very much be crossing a line. On the other hand, it would've felt weird and almost like a betrayal if we couldn't even see each other as even romantic partners.”

Miho hums, “I personally don't feel like it would be a betrayal, but I can see where you're coming from. It's a moot point anyway thankfully.”

She hums, “Mm. While it's good in general both morally and legally, it does seem a bit weird from a conceptual standpoint not to be attracted to people I was married to and very much had a physical relationship with though, not gonna lie.”

Sora snorts, “Tell me about it. Is it good and understandable? Yes. Does it feel a little weird? ...Also yes.”

Miho nods, “Yeah, it is strange to think about, but it's only a matter of time, so it's not a big deal.”

Sora shrugs, “Oh I know. It's just gonna feel particularly strange when we're teenagers and going through the hormonal period and given our soulmate bond and previous marriage, if anyone should have our interest it should be each other, and yet the block will stop that. Again, not that it's a bad thing just… it's gonna feel really weird not to be attracted to my soulmates, especially after the decades of marriage...”

She nods, “Mm. I know what you're talking about. I mean, when I was a hormonal teenager last time, obviously we didn't have a relationship, but since the block was only one way, I still felt attracted, but this time…”

Sora hums, then he laughs lightly. At Miho's questioning look, he shakes his head, “No, I was just thinking about how much of a pain it is going to be to be going through teenage hormones with no real way to… blow off steam, as it were, since even if I did have some sort of option that wouldn't be pedophilia on someone's part, I have zero intention to cheat on you two.”

Miho gives him a bemused smile, “Of course. What's funny about that though?”

He grins, “You realize that given the circumstances around our ages and what that's going to mean for us, anyone who knows is probably going to find it weird when we're older that all three of us are gonna end up being virgins through the majority of our teenage years? And willingly at that since we're in a relationship and if they for one reason or another know about our virginity, there's no way they wouldn't know we're together.”

Miho tilts her head thoughtfully, then her lips start twitching, “People are probably going to think we're the kind of people who don't believe in sex before marriage, aren't they?”

She tucks her mouth behind her tea cup, “If our virginity or lack thereof ever comes out, they'll undoubtedly be even more confused when we stop being virgins, not after marriage, but after we're seventeen.”

Sora snorts, “Yeah. And probably even more confused that you two aren't but I am since my being the youngest means I'll have to wait a bit longer than you two.”

Miho furrows her brows, “No they wouldn't, because since we were all born in the same year, even when the block for me and Toshiko ends towards each other, I'd prefer to wait until you're seventeen as well. If for no other reason than I'd feel bad that the block ended for us and we were able to be a couple physically as well as romantically with each other but not you.”

Sora shakes his head, “No, it's fine. Any upset I'd feel would just be at the fact my block towards you two would be gone, but I still have to wait until the reverse is true. I wouldn't be upset in the slightest with you two just for experiencing that aspect of our relationship after it becomes available to you.”

She shakes her head, “No, I kinda agree with Miho. It may not upset you, but I wouldn't like the idea of enjoying it while simultaneously being unable to even look at my husband in that capacity. I mean, I could get it if it was, I don't know, over a year or whatever and not a matter of months, but with so little time to just be patient…”

Sora gets a bemused look but seems to drop the minor disagreement of whether they'd wait for him or not, “We aren't married in this life dear.”

She snorts, “Just because the government of this world isn't aware of it does not make you two any less of my husband and wife.”

Miho nods in agreement, “I concur. I'm surprised you look at it like that to be honest.”

Sora laughs lightly, “I wasn't saying we're not married in general, just not in this life yet.”

Miho hums, “Well, that's true. It's just a statement of fact so there's no arguing that.”

Sora laughs a little more, but her attention is suddenly pulled away by a car pulling to a stop nearby, one of those ones with a screen inside, which has its windows down and the volume high enough for her to not only hear it but snag her attention. She has no idea what site they're connected to, but they're watching something about how overpopulation is rapidly approaching(3) and the stages of how the repercussions will progress. She doesn't hear a whole lot of it before traffic moves and the car pulls away, but she tilts her head thoughtfully as she mulls over the problem.

Her attention is suddenly yanked back to her soulmates by a finger stopping inches from her face, and when she turns she finds a peeved Sora giving her a stern look beside a surly Miho, who quietly nods as he speaks, “No. No. You get that look off your face right now Missy! It is not your responsibility to deal with it!”

Miho nods vigorously when he's done, immediately jumping in, “Exactly! Leave it to the various governments and other official institutions!”

She tilts her head, “Solutions to such problems come from all sorts of people, and it's not uncommon for the people who come up with such solutions to just join organizations with power just to be able to have access to the resources necessary to implement their ideas. Problems like that are everyone's problem. Finding a solution is similarly everyone's problem, because if the people with ideas to deal with such problems never acted on them in some capacity or another and just left it to governments and the like, well, they wouldn't have the people capable of coming up with such solutions.”

Sora groans and drops his head on the table, and Miho reaches over to give him a consoling pat, “There's nothing to be done Sora. She's already invested. There's no talking her out of it now.”

She bristles slightly, “Like I said, if everyone just continued on and said ‘not my problem, leave it to those in charge’ or something, the people they're expecting to come up with solutions wouldn't have anyone to propose said solutions.”

Sora lifts his head enough to give her a tired look, “I get that, but why does it have to be you?”

She gives him an odd look, “It doesn't necessarily have to be me that comes up with solutions,” They both perk up slightly, looking hopeful for some reason, but for equally unknown reasons that hope pops like a bubble at her next words, “but the same logic of everyone ignoring it to leave it to others applies to ‘why is it my job’ too. Because again, if everyone said similar things, then those with the ability to come up with solutions would all be leaving it to someone else to step up.”

Miho sighs and Sora groans as he tilts his head back down to press his forehead to the table. She really doesn't get why they're being so dramatic.

Regardless, she hasn't really thought about it since between the Statute of Secrecy being voided when she was a baby and the Contractors, solutions had been found before she was even a century old. And the Contractors had very much been invited to help given that they may not usually have had a vested interest in most things but certainly had one in the entire planet potentially devolving into either an apocalypse or a dystopia. Since their logic knew full well some of them may end up at the top but most knew a lot of them would inevitably die in the ensuing fight for survival and/or domination since obviously in such a conflict more had to lose than not and their logic made them unwilling to roll the dice on which side of that statistic they'd land on, the majority of them had been very cooperative in finding and helping build solutions.

None of the tricks they used there existed here though, so what was the solution?

It was definitely something to think about.

She's a bit bemused at Miya, currently sitting in front of her looking a bit irritated, “Shouldn't you be resting at home?”

Miya’s eyes narrow in a minute twitch, “Normally yes. However, of course I'm going to come try to find out what’s going on that my daughter's little biweekly meeting turned into her staying at the main house for a few days.”

She tilts her head, “I told you in the message that I was teaching the other kids the start of something.”

Specifically Yuuka had figured out how to translate the usage of Occlumency to work with this world's magic, so she and the kids were all staying for a few days while she gave them a crash course on the basics to practice so she can see just how they're progressing and give them more advice on improving or what they're doing wrong during their regular meetups.

Miya glances away, “Which you won't tell me what it's about.”

She shrugs, “It's just between us for the time being, given I still don't trust the Yotsuba in general, and they haven't exactly given me reason to either.”

Miya raises an eyebrow, “It isn't entirely just between you if you're teaching them in the main house.”

She gives her a bemused smile, “You mean because Maya is always watching me through the cameras? And I do mean constantly, not just periodically like that time I asked her to come down to the meeting I was having with the kids through one?” Miya's eyes widen a bit, apparently not having expected her to know. Through her Elemental Sight, she sees Maya suck her tea down the wrong pipe and spill it on her dress. She shakes her head with a bit of a smile, “While I doubt it's for the same reasons, it's not like I'm not constantly watching her through my Elemental Sight as well.”

After saying that, she uses Regrowth on Maya, putting her body back to before her tea went down the wrong pipe, and her dress back to before it was spilled on it. Maya and Hayama's eyes widen, then Maya starts laughing before saying fondly, “Thank you dear.”

She uses Decomposition on the casing of a pen and its ink reservoir sitting on some blank paper in case Maya needs to write something down physically in a rush, spilling it's ink out over it before using Regrowth on the pen, reservoir, and most of the ink, leaving behind the spill in a configuration that writes out, “You're welcome Maya. ^‿^”

Miya opens and closes her mouth, then sets it in a firm line, “You are playing with fire Toshiko. Maya is insane. You need to keep your distance from her.”

She picks up the teacup Suzuki -who didn't go with her to the Shiba house obviously since there was no reason to have a maid around when Honami was already present, but is always assigned to her when she comes to the main house- sets in front of her, murmuring out her thanks as she does. She lifts it for a sip, “I've come to the conclusion she isn't actually.”

Then she takes her drink, ignoring Miya's wide eyed stare and Maya and Hayama's surprise up in Maya's office. When she lowers her cup, she gazes at the liquid thoughtfully for a moment before deciding that between the fact she can absolutely handle Miya, and the possibility of her making things unnecessarily difficult is practically nonexistent, she'd rather just spell things out for her before lifting her gaze, “Normally I wouldn't tell you this, but there's not exactly much you can do with the information one way or another, and it's honestly probably more of a hassle at this point to keep trying to hide it… Maya never told you about Calanthe.”

It isn't a question, and Miya only seems to grow more confused and aggravated, “I've never heard the name, no. Why is this Calanthe important?”

Waiting until Suzuki has left, she casts an invisibility spell on herself, using the same trick with the kids of not applying one to her cup to leave it floating. Then she ends it and uses transfiguration on a chair nearby to turn it into a dog briefly and directing it over to Miya to rub and lick at her hand since physical alteration is impossible as things currently stand in this world. That's also why after turning the chair back, she partly transforms into her Dragon Animagus form, pulling out her wings and unfolding one and stretching it to brush against Miya, who lifts a shaky hand to brush over it, practically recoiling away from the touch like she had with the dog, which makes it very clear it's very much a physical thing.

She looks up in utter confusion, a lot of what she thought she knew shattered, and Toshiko transforms her wings back out of existence, “Calanthe Potter-Black was my previous self in a different universe before for reasons unknown I was reincarnated here. There was magic in that world too, but the rules were… much different. But, here's the thing. A person who loses all of their current capacity for emotion and seems to turn into a monster in most people's eyes. Later relearning how to feel emotions in a much more limited capacity which makes them more intense.”

Miya gives her a confused look, “I don't need a description of Maya. I was there for it all.”

She smiles, “I wasn't describing Maya actually.” Miya's eyes go wide, and given the way she was still viewing Maya office with Elemental Sight she knows she's not the only one, “In my original world, there was an event known as the Gate Advent. Two regions of the world suddenly went… very strange.”

“Everyone in them disappeared without a trace, and later if you happened to go there, you could be walking down the street and suddenly find yourself walking along the side of a building even as it seemed to be raining up towards your head from the windows you're walking on. Then a few feet later, you could be upside-down on the ceiling of a parking lot while cars float around as though gravity took a vacation locally even as they could range from in perfect condition like it hadn't even been five minutes since the event which saw them abandoned to watching them decay in seconds only to suddenly be brand new again. And if you kept walking, you could just as suddenly and without warning find yourself back on normal ground like it was all just a fever dream. They were places where the natural laws of the rest of the world just seemed kind of optional and rather whimsical on how and where they applied.”

She looks off to the side, “Funnily enough, it wasn't actually the most important part of the Gate Advent. When they appeared, a bunch of people started becoming people they called Contractors and Dolls. The latter seemed to become empty programmable husks who gained the ability to send out something mostly invisible known as a specter through a specific medium, such as water or glass or the like, and see and hear through it like it was their physical body. It wasn't entirely accurate that they were empty husks though. I knew one once who started remembering her life before she became a Doll and regained the ability to ignore orders.”

Miya looks like she's torn between being enraptured by the tale and wanting to ask what it's about, but she'll get there if she's just a bit more patient, “The only people who could see specters were other Dolls and Contractors. The latter of which were non-magical people who suddenly lost all their emotions but gained a power at the same time. Much like the understanding of Dolls wasn't totally accurate, that one wasn't either. They lost some emotional capacity, and the seeming lack of emotions was mostly their brain's pausing the rest entirely while they… recalibrated, I suppose you could say. If one lived long enough and had something around that meant something to them, they'd start to relearn how to use the emotional capacity they had left.”

She looks back with a shrug, “My original world had soulmates as a fact rather than a trope in fiction and mine were reborn as well. One of them made an offhand comment about how Maya reminded him of a Contractor, which got me thinking. To be perfectly honest, while she obviously isn't a Contractor who essentially subconsciously traded emotion for power, she's practically a Contractor in every other way. Even the way she responded that earned her those infamous nicknames of hers… Contractors, unless they find something to help them relearn emotions, are beings of pure logic. Yes, she left quite a trail of bodies behind her, but every last one of them was a foreign agent in some way.”

“Given she'd just been kidnapped and… violated not long before, the logical conclusion to come to is to make it clear it won't happen again, and the best way to do that is to target aforementioned agents given the message it would send. The report I dug up when investigating which had Maya's vaguely confused response to being confronted on what she was doing by the Yotsuba cinches the conclusion that Maya is practically a Contractor in my opinion.”

Then she gets a bemused look, “In fairness, I think I'd already started viewing her as similar to a Contractor even before I started consciously thinking about it, given how quickly I took to looking at her in a more favorable light and had a more friendly approach to her without even realizing it. But considering my understanding of the situation, it does feel a bit odd to be the thing that someone who's practically a Contractor latched on to, given once they do they tend to get… intense, shall we say, about whatever they connected with.” She nods her head to the side, “Or well, odd to be the thing someone like a standard Contractor latched onto.”

Miya has a stunned expression, looking like her whole world just got upended, and an almost absent tone, “Standard Contractor?”

She waves a hand a bit dismissively, “Long story about one of my soulmates’ younger sister being a Contractor and passing her power to him without making him go through loss of emotions.”

That seems to pull Miya from her stunned stupor and she looks like she wants to ask questions so bad, but she lets it go as her brows furrow before she suddenly gives her a hard look, “That's why you suddenly changed.” It isn't a question, but she nods anyway, and Miya’s eyes harden as she all but demands, “Does that mean you essentially killed my actual daughter's mind?”

She snorts, “It's funny that you and Maya are so at odds but what happened to the Toshiko you knew was the first question you both asked.” Miya's eyes go a bit wide at the idea of the commonality between them, but she continues, “But as I told Maya previously, I asked myself a lot of questions as well. Was I Calanthe and I essentially took over Toshiko's body? Was I Toshiko and somehow inherited Calanthe memories and power and all that? After a lot of thought as well as taking into account other factors, I came to the conclusion that the Toshiko you knew before my memories came back to me was essentially my subconscious when she was a baby, that had started to grow into something of a copy of my consciousness, though with some differences due to changes in our childhoods. As far as I can tell, the Toshiko you knew before was basically just merged with the conscience of Calanthe.”

Miya had relaxed as she explained, and at the end she gazes down at her tea thoughtfully, “I see…”

She hums, “Anyway, there's a type of mental defense from my old world that I told them about, since the kids know about my reincarnation as well, and recently Yuuka, being someone who's inherent magic is mental magic, figured out how to translate it into this world's magic, so I'm giving them the lessons on how to get started and how to practice it. That's all. I don't know what exactly you thought was going on, but given how mad you seemed to be when you arrived, I assume you thought it was something else entirely.”

Miya looks away, but doesn't say anything directly in response to that. After a few beats of silence, she steps a bit to the side topic wise, “I respect that you and Yuki have been kept apart up until now and don't have a good relationship, and also that the current strained feelings between you isn't your fault and you aren't obligated to fix it when it was never your fault things are the way they are, but you don't even put any effort into trying to repair your relationship.” She seems to grow a little bitter, “Unlike with the other kids. They undoubtedly were just as taught as he was to dislike you, but you went out of your way to clear things up with them.”

She tilts her head, “Not really? I just called Ayako to my room to help her with her magic and the others kinda showed up on their own. Things sort of just naturally progressed that way.” She drops her gaze to look thoughtfully at her tea, “Besides… To be honest, I'm rather hesitant to reach out to Yuki. I got rid of your original mental manipulation magic, but using it on him as a fetus practically embedded priming into his brain similarly to a need, like for air and food. It's practically a landmine, and I'm frankly hesitant to approach him out of concern of possibly setting it off.”

She looks off to the side, “It will end in nothing but heartbreak for him. I wouldn't have entertained the sort of relationship you tried to set up between us to begin with, but certainly not with my soulmates having reincarnated as well.” She turns back to Miya, ignoring her slightly furrowed eyebrows, “I won't entertain that sort of relationship with anyone but them with them around, and most likely even if they weren't.”

Miya watches her for a few moments, her brows dipping a smidge lower, “...I struggle to believe you would've been alone your entire life if they weren't here, but I sincerely hope they're from families with prestige. The Yotsuba would never tolerate the relationship if they aren't. They'd probably be more inclined to assassinate them just to get them out of the way.”

She snorts, “You know, the magic of my old world worked very differently. Up until you hit magical majority at seventeen, you aged at a normal rate, but afterwards, your aging slowed depending on how powerful you were. The average magical aged about half as slowly. I was powerful enough that I didn't die of old age until I was just shy of four hundred and ninety-nine. My soulmates were more around the average. I was physically still only thirty three at the second death of my two soulmates to old age. I lived for well over three hundred years without them. I was never even mildly interested in having another relationship, though there was certainly more than one person who tried to initiate a relationship with me.”

Miya's eyes go huge, and she's not the only one from what she's seeing through her Elemental Sight. She only gives them a moment to take that in, “So no, I very much would've died a single virgin if they weren't here.” She glances away, “What's a hundred more years really. And teenage hormones certainly wouldn't have gotten the better of me. I was the youngest of us by a decade or more depending on which soulmate we’re talking about, and the soulmate bond outright blocked anything romantic or sexual developing between soulmates with more than a years age gap when the younger is a minor. Well, sorta. It was one way, so even though I was fully aware they couldn't return my feelings yet, it never stopped me from rejecting anyone who asked for no other reason than they weren't them.”

Then she looks back at Miya, leaning towards her as her eyes narrow slightly, “But while you can't tell them about my reincarnation, and they wouldn't even believe you if you tried, I'd suggest you do your best to dissuade the Yotsuba from trying to do anything to them. Because they are very much not from even the Hundred Families, much less higher, but here's a relevant piece of info for you. I once incinerated the people in twelve separate bases of the opposing side of a civil war in less than a day -and had only left them alone before so as to do the job thoroughly when it came to rooting them out- just because they hospitalized one of my soulmates and he was going to die if a solution wasn't found. Luckily for them, I found a solution, but if I was willing to do that over the possibility of one of them dying, what do you think I'd have done if their attempt to kill him had succeeded?”

Miya isn't even breathing, eyes incredibly wide, and she leans back into her former position, then gets a bemused smile, “I suppose in a way, me being reincarnated to the ‘Untouchable’ Yotsuba was fitting, given they earned that nickname in response to what happened to Maya.”

She tilts her head, “For the record, if it made me snap enough to override the knowledge that innocent people who had nothing to do with it would also be victims of it, that would be the thing to push me over the edge to become the very monster the Yotsuba feared the day I was born. Even in the unlikely event it didn't though, I would end up reminding the world why the Yotsuba are called the Untouchables. Except anyone who had anything to do with that plan, particularly any of the Yotsuba who planned it or took part, would play the part of Dahan in that remixed repeat rendition of the performance.”

Miya's brow furrows, “You may be reincarnated, but you are still physically a child, and one that has been fairly sheltered from this world and the Yotsuba, you couldn't possibly-”

She cuts her off and starts rattling off every asset of even mild importance for the Yotsuba, unknowingly taken from the minds of various Yotsuba who viewed her with hostility and hatred, since if they're so okaywith mind magics being used on enemies, they don't get to complain about their ‘demon’ using it on them whenever it wants.

A bead of sweat trails down Miya's face when she's done and she smiles, “I'm the Yotsuba and they're my Maya in this situation. If you care about the fates of those who would be inclined to hatch such plots, I'd suggest you do everything you can to keep them from volunteering to be the party to follow in Dahan's footsteps.” She tilts her head, “Are we clear?”

Miya smiles a bit tensely, “Crystal.”

She nods, “Good.”

Miya sips her tea in silence for a moment before shaking the mood off, “I assume this is who you've been heading out to meet up with whenever you leave but aren't coming here to meet the kids?”

She hums in agreement, “Of course. The name I selected to act as my alias for Loop Casting and anything else I made was picked specifically to get their attention, so it wasn't hard to find each other.”

Miya nods in understanding, “So when will you be bringing them by the house? I would like to meet people who mean so much to my daughter after all and I likely won't live long enough to actually see the relationship or for them to become my in-laws.”

She chuckles, “Well, Sora has pretty neglectful parents who really only had him out of the social expectation of magicians, so it's never hard for him to get away despite his age, but Miho struggles a bit more. So it's hard to say really. Also, technically you'd probably see the relationship, since while we know the block turned back on -and aren't pedophiles to begin with- when it came to a physical relationship, assumably because our minds are all over seventeen and that's the main aspect for romantic relationships, it's left that aspect off.”

She smiles a little in bemusement, “So, technically they're already my partners, since as far as any of us are concerned, while this universe and its laws don't know we're married, none of us consider our marriage over or on pause just because of such meager reasons as us dying and being reborn someplace that doesn't know better.”

Miya huffs a small laugh, then gives her an amused smile, “You know, when most people don't believe in ‘till death do us part’ it's not usually because they're on the end of the scale that they don't consider even death a parting or ending.”

She smiles back, “How unloyal of them to let something as miniscule as death part them.”

Miya laughs lowly again at that, tinged in more than a little disbelief.

So here's the thing. There's a theory, known as Cardinal Code Hypothesis, that says there are sixteen fundamental magic sequences from the Four Great Systems and eight major types of modern systematic magic. The theory goes that any magic can be recreated via combinations of them.

It's an absolute lie given there are plenty of things that can't be recreated with just that, but that doesn't inherently mean that the Cardinal Codes are useless. Most modern magic, as it currently functions, essentially just recreates the end state you're looking for. Magic from the Cardinal Codes lets you use the forces it would take to get to that point to begin with fundamentally. For instance, if someone casts a magic like Inferno, the spell functions by essentially taking away the higher energy, the heat, of one defined area and shifts it to another, the zone for Inferno itself. However, with a Cardinal Code based magic, one could easily just increase the energy, the heat in other words, in the region of the Inferno itself without having to take it from another region.

So was the theory correct? No. But that didn't mean Cardinal Codes were useless. And funnily enough, they were not hard to figure out when you have Elemental Sight with the sort of precision she does.(4) She wasn't about to publish them, if nothing else, it would practically reveal her Element Sight and she had an agreement with Maya not to reveal things unless necessary. That didn't mean she wouldn't use them though. Which is why, for all that she may only be eight, close to nine but not quite there yet, Tōkōkuro Mihana had recently published flying magic. It was one step of many towards her end goal, and she wasn't quite pleased about the pacing, but she was willing to let it go for now given a lot of that time was spent refining her knowledge of this world's magic so she could actually do things like that.

There was still a lot of work to do to reach her end goal, and she was already gearing up for another part of it on the side. She'd actually initially thought that aspect would undoubtedly take years of buildup, and that she'd need to go to Maya about it, especially since… well, in her initial plan, she was pretty sure she couldn't even do it without her help, both from the Yotsuba's bank account as well as the strings and recourse they can pull if they even could accomplish it to begin with, even on as small a scale as she can get away with.

With her new plan though… she doesn't need any of that. She'll just tell them later when it starts panning out, since the salary she'd secured via her Tōkōkuro Mihana work at FTL completely covered the cost of what she needed in the beginning of her new plan entirely on its own.

In the meantime, Rowena was studying up on things she'd need to know for her part. As an AI, it didn't take long for her to do her initial study, but she was very determined to make sure she got everything right, so she's been using the Trunk when Toshiko didn't need it to basically run simulations just to make sure she has everything correct. Rowena has more than enough time since there's still an aspect she needs to finish before Rowena can start, but that's nearing completion anyway. Unless something goes very, very wrong, her investigation into having signals be sent into the information dimension by the transmitter and pulled back out by the receiver should be done by the end of the year.

There are other considerations. The problem of magic for starters. She has figured out ambient magic in this world of course, but she's still working on storing the magic sequences so a magician doesn't need to be on hand to cast. She doesn't need that for the initial stage since the magic calculation area, which Rowena doesn't possess, basically just handles all the calculations of the magic subconsciously. Any calculations needed for mass, speed, volume, and all that. Rowena may not have a magic calculation area which can do it subconsciously but given she's an AI? She can just do it all manually once she was given the ability to manipulate this world's magic.

Faster than magicians can cast at that. So Rowena doesn't need a magic sequence storage device, but other aspects of her plan will need it since she can't leave it all to Rowena. It would circumvent part of her plan for one. It also just wouldn't be fair to Rowena to keep piling more and more duties on her.

One step at a time though. She has time. She doesn't need to do it all at once.

Miya is staring at everything in confusion before she turns to her, “I… am suddenly much more appreciative of the fact you had all of this sent to somewhere for an employee to collect and bring to the main house, even if it means you've been spending more time than usual at the main house recently, but… what do you need all of this for?”

She tilts her head, “It's just a personal project at the moment. If it starts working out it'll be more public in… ehh, it'll probably take about a decade?” Miya's brows furrow and she turns back to her work, “You don't need to worry about me spending the majority of my time at the main house for that long. I said it'd go public in about a decade if it starts to get where I'm wanting it to go. This section of work will only take a couple months. I think. Assuming there aren't any problems that cause delays.”

Miya kinda stares at her, “...Alright then. I'll give you two months to come here as frequently as you have been to work at the pace you are. If it does get delayed though, you'll have to space out your work to scale back on how frequently you're here.”

She shrugs, “Fair enough I suppose.”

She casts the flying type magic on herself, absolutely delighted at how much less magic it takes now. She had recently found a ‘diamond in the rough’ named Ushiyama who was a freaking genius at hardware at FLT who had kinda been languishing in obscurity before that because he butted heads with his bosses when he was first starting so they didn't really give him the chance to show his genius as some sort of petty retaliation. Her mother had very quickly fired said former boss when Miya found out the situation after she'd scouted him for the team she was starting to put together as she shifted from general work to having her own division when her invention of flying magic after having already come up with Loop Casting made it clear it wasn't a one off stroke of genius.

Ushiyama has absolutely since become the Tōkōkuro to her Mihana. Since he'd optimized the magic drain on the spell with the hardware, it's gone from possible but a bit difficult to utilize given how quickly it would tire someone to significantly more usable. Well, for most people anyway. She didn't have any problems with the magic drain to begin with. Doesn't mean she's not happy with it.

Shaking off the marvel she feels at how much less magic it uses, she casts a levitation charm on the massive crate she'd stored it in so she can basically drag it with her, then an invisibility spell on it and herself so no one sees them passing and heads off at speed for the ocean. It takes a bit even with her flying magic just to reach the coast, but she keeps going until she's well past the border to International waters according to Rowena.

Once she's sure she's far enough out that there isn't any question about whether she's in Japan's waters or International waters, she stops them both and opens the crate to reveal the small -at least in comparison to regular ones- rocket inside. It didn't need a whole lot of room for what its job was, so it was about the size of one and a half of those school buses America had when she was a child in her previous life end to end, and maybe two of them thick.

There had been an attempt in the past to use magic to launch a rocket which had killed the magicians due to their magic calculation areas overclocking because they just… couldn't handle the changing parameters as they left Earth's gravity, but she had no such issue.

There was a reason she wasn't able to start this step until she was finished with the live communication by having the signals sent into, travel through, then get retrieved from the information dimension.

Namely, Rowena was going to be handling all of that, since while she was still a good bit away from recreating true teleportation in this world by sending physical matter through the informal dimension briefly, she has worked out sending data like from Rowena's connection or even just terminal call signals through it. She didn't have a magic calculation area to begin with and had to do all of said calculations manually, but it was perfectly within her capabilities as an AI to not just do them, but do them quickly, and so was continuously adjusting as it gets further from Earth's gravity or other such influences to the parameters.

Once she has the rocket upright, mostly just to save Rowena the trouble of maneuvering it, and knowing Rowena can hear her fine through her headset, she calls out, “You got it, or do I need to hold the levitation a bit more?”

Rowena answers back without hesitation, “I've got it Creator.”

Once she's sure of that, she releases her hold on it as well as its invisibility spell and drifts back a little, not particularly concerned about distance given it doesn't have rockets, but just to be safe. Rowena kicks the gravity control flying magic on it into more than a hover as soon as she's got a bit of distance just in case things go wrong, 

She'd sent an anonymous message to who she felt needed to get it warning them about the launch and the fact it was not a weapon, that she was sending the message as a courtesy to keep them from freaking out, and it was only happening in international waters instead of on Japan itself -where she was from- because she didn't want to deal with the inevitable five or however long years of cutting through the red tape and all that given it has nothing to do with Japan at the moment, but even so, she's not surprised to see a missile enter the range of her Elemental Sight heading towards it.

Nor, after Rowena uses the second more generalized gravity control magic she'd invented to crush it, the handful more. They're dealt with just as easily as Rowena keeps the rocket climbing until it's well out of any of her sight, normal or Elemental.

Once it is, she turns and heads back towards the island with the now empty but still invisible crate, not concerned about being spotted given she never removed her own invisibly either.

Rowena's target was the space debris, of which there had been some international fuckery a couple decades back from countries trying to dodge any responsibility for space debris that had resulted in an international forum voting through an international law that once a satellite ceased to function that it no longer belonged to whoever shot it up to begin with.

The decision had come around in wake of a particularly bad bit of a lot of space debris of crap that had been launched during WW3 and which didn't have where it was supposed to land planned out and then practically forgotten about -which meant no attempts to adjust their path and therefore where they'd land had been made- later losing orbit and not only causing unbelievable amounts of damage, but even killing people. More than one of which was actually kind of important by sheer dumb luck that a sizable piece had broken off of one and sunk a particularly notable ship with multiple people such people.

It wasn't just important government officials either, though there was more than one of those, it was also more than a couple people who were just suspiciously well connected who's living families had raised hell. The whole thing had been a migraine inducing mess, not only for the unlucky country, but also for the questions on why those people were together on a ship in the middle of nowhere. Considering just how much debris various countries had sent up that were once satellites, it was probably one of the fastest international agreements that had been reached, just from countries wanting to cover their own asses by making it international law that it basically wasn't theirs or their problem when they were done with it.

It was messed up in general, but she was absolutely going to take full advantage of it. She couldn't be sure all of the materials were up to snuff, but that's why she also included the ability to process the materials rather than just use them so that if it has the ingredients it needs, it can just make better materials.

Her part of the rocket section of the plan was over now. It was entirely up to Rowena to make proper use of space debris from all the dead satellites and the like at this point, and she'd only rejoin that part of the plan later.

Chapter Text

She's in the Trunk with Sora and Miho during one of the rarer times they'd managed to meet up physically despite their age, mostly having just dipped in so Sora could collect his gear as a just in case kinda thing. She'd already given him back his bracelet, since she'd built a dedicated access point for Rowena on the rocket, and given the way she'd developed the rangeless instant signal transmission through the information dimension already and therefore it didn't matter how far the rocket was away, the storage orb for Rowena on it worked just as well as a contact point.

They get a bit distracted when Miho points at some stuff off to the side as she glances at her, “What's all of this?”

When she looks over to see what she's asking about, she feels that flicker of that hesitant uncertainty bubble up again and glances away, “...You guys remember how the fact all our kids were raised by the three of us collectively meant they all had a strange mishmash of Asian and European customs?”

They both nod, looking a little concerned at her avoidance, “...I don't know how it connects totally, since honestly it feels to me like if you're going to a different universe, you'd also have to set the date and time and all that as well as the location, but… Well, one of the Asian customs they held onto was that tendency to make shrines to deceased loved ones, and apparently they made one for me after I passed. From what Rowena told me, while they didn't know what the Trunk was fully, they knew it was important to me, so it was apparently the centerpiece in the one they made for me. Temporary offerings like food and the like were just set on top, but more permanent things, like letters or books they thought I'd like and stuff they tended to put in the Trunk since they at least knew it was space extended. So I kinda unintentionally got all of those as well.”

Sora gives the pile a bemused look, “Unintentionally in the form that you didn't mean to grab them as well maybe, but the thought behind offerings like that is that they're for those loved ones, so I'd say it may have been unexpected but technically as intended that they reached you.”

She hums, a quiet little tentative noise, and Miho gives her a questioning look, “What?”

Her gaze drifts a bit before she shakes her head, “I'm honestly surprised they made a shrine to be honest. After you two, our kids, our grandkids, and even our great grandkids, not to mention basically all the people I had grown close to in those years died… I admittedly pulled away a bit emotionally. I mean, I was still around in general and still there in a heartbeat if they needed me, but…”

Miho gives her a concerned look, “Yeah, but after all of that… no one can reasonably blame you for withdrawing somewhat. And it's not like you neglected them or ignored them from what you're saying and given your personality.”

She shrugs, “Yeah, but I'm honestly surprised they were fond of me enough to do something like that. To be honest… I've been a bit hesitant to actually look it over and see what they genuinely thought of me.”

Sora purses his lips and suddenly snags her wrist, “Right then. Let's see what all this is about!”

She chokes a little, “Sora-!”

He shakes his head firmly before glancing over his shoulder at her, “No Toshiko. I know you, it'll eat away at you until you get answers, and besides, if they made a shine for you, they couldn't have thought poorly of you.”

She sputters a bit, but the two gently bully her over and into actually examining the pile. They let her put off going for the letters immediately and examine some of the other offerings first to ease into it at least, but she's not even a quarter of the way through those before they gently bully her into finally reading the letters, which either the Trunk, or Rowena, or both had sorted by years, then who it was from, and finally the order of them if one of them wrote more than one letter in any of the years her Trunk had unintentionally been collecting more things as a shrine to her.

The letters… well, she wasn't the only one surprised by their contents. There seemed to be something of a collective agreement in their greats grandkids that despite never having actually met them, given the stories she used to tell of Hei and Misaki, not to mention the subsequent generations that had passed as well, in a weird way, it felt like they'd lost them as well with her passing. She hadn't shoved it in their faces, but she'd always kept the memory of them alive, and with her gone, all they had left was memories of the stories she told. Echoes of echoes.

That one had surprised Sora and Miho more than a bit. Not in that she'd talked about them, but that even without being insistant and cramming those stories down people's throats, she'd apparently talked about them enough that it left their greats grandkids feeling like they'd sorta lost them too, despite fully acknowledging they'd never actually met them in the first place.

Not that there weren't surprises for her. They'd never acknowledged it around her, not wanting to hurt her, but apparently they had all absolutely been aware that she was emotionally distant even though she was always there. Even more surprising, none of them blamed her, and most astonishing of all, they'd all absolutely adored their Great Grandma Calanthe anyway, grieving and missing her ferociously when she died. It had apparently practically gutted the families -all three of the ones she had once been Lady of and even the descendants of Misaki's biological children who she was just as involved with- when they found out she was dead. The shrine the Trunk had been the centerpiece of had in no way been out of some sort of sense of obligation or maybe even some strange way to spite her as she'd wondered about.

She had cried… more than a little at the first letters from after her passing. Sora and Miho had been a bit misty eyed themselves, but they hadn't let that distract them from comforting her.

When she's finally starting to calm down a bit, Miho sighs a little, “It kinda makes me feel a bit bad that the Trunk got summoned to you and away from them.” Her eyes widen and she hurries to add, “It's not your fault or anything! I just- Well, if they loved you and missed you that much, it probably gutted them all over again that the Trunk disappeared…”

She flinches, and at that, even though she'd been respectfully quiet up until then, Rowena pipes up, “Not particularly. There was actually a brief bit of time between when the Trunk vanished from that world and I lost the connection with my copy in said world and through it the golems like the ones that act as guards at the Potter Ancestral Manor. It was actually during something of a family gathering for them, for all of the families, not just the Potters. Before the connection broke, I very distinctly heard one of them comment that the Trunk vanishing out of the blue tracked for something Creator made, and another agree and comment that they had no clue what ‘Great Grandma Calanthe’ was up to wherever she was, in the afterlife or not, but she was clearly up to something again. The last thing I heard was laughter and agreements.”

Miho bursts into her own laughter, and Sora looks over at her in amusement, “Why am I somehow not surprised that they saw a creation of yours that they may not have known the full abilities of but knew it was valuable to you just up and vanish and their only response was ‘She's up to something again wherever she is.”

She pouts at him, “I don't know. Why aren't you?”

He shakes his head, and Miho manages to calm down then starts reaching for more of the letters before smiling at her, “Come on. You should read the rest of these as well.”

She drops her gaze as she nods, still a bit surprised and maybe a little embarrassed at how beloved she'd apparently been with all of them.

They seemed to have picked up the tendency that whenever they saw something that reminded them of her or they thought she'd like, particularly books, to buy it and later put it in the Trunk, but she'd sort through that all after she was done with the letters.

She's making solid progress on the letters, which Sora and Miho were absently reading with her, with her permission of course, wanting to get the glimpse of their descendents that they can, having never met them or really talked about them in their new life, when Miho suddenly asks, “Who's great aunt Melaena? I keep seeing mentions of her, and originally I thought maybe she was from one of the subsequent generations we never met, but we saw everyone of our great grandkids’ births to my knowledge, and there are stories that don't seem to make sense with her being from said younger generations?”

The letter slips from her fingers as realization washes over her and her eyes slowly tear up. Sora turns to her quickly even as Miho gets surprised at her response to her seemingly innocent question, “Toshiko? Sweetheart, what's wrong?”

She shakes her head wordlessly, “I'm sorry. I'm sorry.”

He wraps his arms around her tightly, and starts shushing her gently, “It's okay darling, it's okay. Whatever it is, it's okay.”

She shakes her head as her hands, which had reached up to grab onto the front of his shirt, slowly start clenching, “No, no you don't understand…”

Sora presses a kiss to her hair, “Then explain it, okay?”

She sniffs, “I- I didn't tell you because your health was declining and all the healers said it was because you were nearing the end of your natural lifespan, and-!” She buries her face in his chest, “And- And I wasn't trying to hide it after we were reborn, I swear, it just wasn't news to me, and I was just so focused on the fact you two were here again!”

He shushes her some more, rocking her gently, “It's fine, it's fine. You weren't trying to hide it and were understandably distracted. I get it, okay? I'm not mad. I promise, I'm not mad.”

She sobs, “No you don't get it! I was pregnant when you died!”

There's a pin drop silence as she shakes in his arms, unable to bring herself to look up at him, “Your health was declining and all the healers said you probably wouldn't last too much longer, and I didn't want you to die regretting not living long enough to at least meet our baby because I was a fucking moron and forgot that particularly powerful female magicals’ bodies would compensate for their slower aging and produce more eggs while their bodies were still capable of handling a pregnancy(1) and was so distracted by what the healers were saying about your health that I spaced my contraceptive potions and I mean, it may have cooled off as you got older and even more when you started reaching the end of your lifespan, but we did still have an active sex life, and-! And my options were to either tell you and potentially let you die knowing you wouldn’t get to meet our youngest, or not tell you and just accept you being mad at me when it was a surprise that I went into labor, and the first can't really be fixed at the last minute or something, so since you weren't at risk of a heart attack from surprise or something-!”

His arms tighten, and one of his hands rises to press her face more firmly to him, “Shh sweetheart. It's okay. I mean, I'm not happy that I died without even knowing you were pregnant again, but you- you were just trying to make the best of a bad situation. I get that. I do, okay?”

She presses her face into his chest even firmer, crying her heart out.

When things calm down a little, she'll both show him memories through the Trunk in Pensieve mode as well as tell him all about Melaena, their daughter she'd named because she wanted her to have something of the father she'd never get to meet to hold onto. Something more substantial than stories she had no part in or keepsakes she could lose, something that was hers and hers alone, and the name means Dark or Black just like Hei. She'll tell him all about the little girl that she actively tried not to influence as some sort of fucked up replacement, yet was so much like her dad anyway. So much so she'd actually questioned herself on whether she was influencing her that way subconsciously and had to ask their kids, grandkids, and great grandkids if she was unintentionally pressuring her to be like her dad. They had laughed and assured her she wasn't and at her request, promised that they'd call her out on it if she started becoming one of those parents when she basically demanded it of them.

She'll tell him everything he wants to know about the daughter he never met when she's capable, but for now, she sobs out her grief and apologizes into his chest as he comforts her as best he can, though it's probably harder with the drops landing on her hair making it abundantly clear that he's crying too.

Sora is rubbing idly at her leg a few hours later, the initial rush of questions over before he suddenly says, “You've said Melaena was like a mini me, and I can kinda see it in how you've described her, but I honestly can't see why you felt it necessary to ask our kids and all them if you were unknowingly pushing her to be like me?”

She turns to him, face deadpan, “Because when she was six, and this was the incident that kicked off my inquiry to them for the record, I walked in on her playing with her stuffed animals. And I knew vaguely that she talked to them and treated them like people while she was playing like a lot of kids do, like how some girls have tea parties with them? I didn't actually know exactly how she played with them though. You can understand my concerned confusion then, when I walked in on her repeatedly stabbing a stuffed dragon she had with some scissors enchanted not to be able to break skin so as to be child friendly. You should also be able to understand that I, understandably, asked her why she was stabbing Rexious.”

She ignores their baffled looks to push on, “And it should be very apparent why I immediately started questioning myself when her response was to look up at me without a lick of guilt and without missing a beat inform me, and I quote, ‘Cause he's a dirty snitch who had to be silenced. Same with Missus Fuz. She was an undercover cop and he was reporting to her. Name should've given it away especially since she's a turtle and not really fuzzy, but we weren't paying attention. Might have felt bad about it or maybe even allowed her to escape, but the whole reason she got Mister Teddy to introduce her is because he bribes her to look the other way on some of the things he does, so she's a dirty cop anyway.’ and then turned back to finish ‘silencing’ Rexious.”

Sora chokes on the sip of water he'd been taking with his other hand, even as Miho damn near slams her head down into the table, thankfully with an arm between the two to cushion the impact, as she doubles over laughing her ass off before she lifts her head as to gasp out between her laughs as best she can, “No- No I can see why you were concerned! She absolutely was a mini Hei!”

Sora stares at them for a minute before he shakes his head as a smile dances over his lips, “Yeah, she was definitely my girl. She knew what was up, did not mess around, and she stood on business.”

She laughs lowly, utterly unsurprised when the questions turn to chasing stories like that, if she continued to be like that, how she was when she was older, all of that rather than more generalized questions.

She gazes at the shell-shocked Miya idly. It was the New Year's gathering, and she was actually attending this one unlike usual since she had zero desire to put up with her family's nonsense in general, or the one at the very beginning of when she was reinstated and started being invited since she wanted to finish her the research she was doing at the time.

She was really only here because Yuuka had asked her to be. She can understand why, given her announcement during the section where they updated each other on things they didn't deem needed to be spread to relevant parties more immediately. She was announcing breakthroughs in dealing with magic calculation area overclocking treatments and subsequently, the part that had her mother shell-shocked, that after the examination she'd requested to do of Miya prior she was about ninety-five percent sure that the recent breakthroughs and developments means they can treat Miya who was in a not so nice goldilocks zone between magic calculation area overclocking instant death and too damaged to recover on its own, which has been putting a strain on her body and slowly killing her.

She can certainly see why Yuuka would be nervous and want her around, as emotional support if nothing else, for such an announcement, but she's done so well without her helping in any way beyond just being here.

Miya on the other hand, looks like a stiff breeze may knock her from her sitting position to being sprawled on the floor. She supposes it's fair. It's not everyday that someone who's known they were dying for years and has long resigned themselves to its inevitably learns of a breakthrough that means it's not so inevitable anymore. She still hasn't come to a conclusion about her mother one way or another, but the woman looks so stunned and fragile that she reaches out to lay a concerned hand on her arm anyway.

She doesn't try to hide her uncertainty regarding Miya, she never has, and she certainly doesn't want to give her the wrong impression now, but when she turns to her, as slow as a glacier in her stupor, just seeing her seems to resolve Miya anyway. She turns to Maya, “I ignored all of my husband's infractions as I thought my death was inevitable and wanted to leave my son with one parent at least, even though I knew he'd never be there for my daughter, but if the certainty that I'm going to die has very nearly flipped to me being very nearly certain to live, I will not tolerate his infractions anymore. I hereby formally request permission from the Head of the Yotsuba to divorce my husband.”

Yuki chokes on the other side of her, “Mother?!”

Miya turns to him with a raised eyebrow, “Why are you so surprised? You know full well there's no love between me and your father, the Yotsuba were really only after his genetics and I never had any feelings for him in the first place. I didn't care he was cheating given all of that, but why would I let him and his disrespect for me stick around now?”

Yuki opens and closes his mouth before lowering his head. For some reason, he gives her a nasty look. She has no clue why, since other than giving Yuuka information to improve her ability to treat magic calculation area overclocking, she had nothing to do with the situation, but she genuinely doesn't care about his opinion of her in general. It'd be troublesome if he went and succumbed to that mine of the love priming in him, and if they had an actual sibling relationship she'd likely care somewhat about his opinion. However, if there was one thing she had learned from her life as Calanthe it was that one should not be bothered by the opinions of those you don't have some sort of meaningful relationship with, be it as friends, lovers, or even enemies, if only to keep on guard in the case of the latter.

No one else seems surprised at the decision beyond Yuki, and Maya nods, “Of course Miya. Normally I would say that it would be better to hold off on such a decision until your treatments are done, but we have no idea how long that will take, and if Yuuka is so confident you can be treated, there's little reason to hold back just for that five percent chance that she can't do it. Particularly since we have no idea how long it will take these treatments to do their job, and I can't imagine the stress of dealing with Tatsurou will be at all helpful for keeping you in the ninety-five percent chance of success rather than potentially pushing you into the five percent.”

Fumiya looks troubled, “Then… what happens with Tatsurou? I mean, he's never been allowed in the main house but…”

Omasu snorts, “He knows too much to be able to trust he'll keep his mouth shut. We'll have to dispose of him.”

There's more than one nod, and she stirs, “While I don't particularly care for him, given the Yotsuba manipulated the circumstances of his life to practically force him to marry my mother, I have an alternative to keep him from talking I would like to try. You just need to have him and his lover brought to the main house tomorrow Maya.”

Osamu gives her a nasty look, “I'm surprised you of all people take issue with just killing him and being done with it.”

She smiles at him, fully aware it's one of her meaner ones, “Given, as I stated before, it was the Yotsuba who arranged things so he had practically no choice but to marry my mother to produce myself and Yuki and it's the Yotsuba who are deciding that now that his purpose is over he needs to he eliminated, and I'm the only one even proposing an attempt at an alternative,” She eyes him, then turns away almost absently, “it makes one wonder... Who's the real monster between myself and the majority of the older generation, now doesn't it?”

More than one of them flinch, including Osamu, who pales but tries to muster himself. He doesn't even get a chance to before Maya rather lazily cuts him off, “Enough Osamu. As things stand, Toshiko only wants me to hold off on making a decision until I can see her alternative tomorrow. As that doesn't cost us anything, I have no qualms with that, therefore the discussion is closed for now.”

He doesn't look happy, and there's more than a few of the older generation who seem to be with him, but the topic is dropped for now, even as Katsushige gives his father the side eye before mouthing an apology towards her. She just smiles back reassuringly.

The rest of the New Year's gathering is fairly calm, she continues to get poorly hidden nasty looks from a lot of them, but she's genuinely surprised to see a few of them looking more contemplative when they gaze at her.

The following day is also mostly calm, the only real thing of note being Yuuka asking her to be there and examine her giving Miya her first treatment just to double check she didn't miscalculate anywhere, which she hadn't as far as she could tell, and it practically seems to be evening once more in a blink. She's not surprised to see the hall full again, even though the New Year's gathering is officially over, with her very nervous sperm donor and his even more nervous affair partner sitting in the middle of the room between the two rows of Yotsuba sitting in seiza to the sides with Maya in the middle near the end of the hall.

She steps up to her father without hesitation, and bluntly informs him, “A new treatment means Mother is almost guaranteed to survive and recover.” Her father and his lover's eyes go wide in shock and more than a little fear, “As such, she refuses to tolerate you. So let me ask you this. What matters more, your memories as they are and your ability to bear more children or your life?”

Her father gives her a look like she's stupid, “My life of course!”

She turns to the woman, “Your memories or your life?”

The woman is trembling fearfully, but while her tone is shaky, the answer comes immediately, “My life obviously.”

She nods, “The Yotsuba would never tolerate the possibility of your genes spreading outside of their control, nor the potential for you to reveal the things you know, but I have an alternative to killing you.”

She uses magic to knock them both out, then uses the twist Rowena had worked into Legilimency to pull the Yotsuba sort of into her mind, but also blocked off from seeing into her actual mind -though not for lack of trying from a couple of them at the irresistible opportunity-, just able to see for themselves what she's doing as she uses Decomposition on uncritical internals to make her father infertile then turns her attention to his mind and starts rewriting all of his memories since he first met her mother.

Altering everything to do with the Yotsuba and anything he learned of them barring a vague understanding that the woman he married was connected to them but that he wasn't allowed to learn anything more, as well as a vague suspicion that the Yotsuba had some sort of in with FLT and were the reason he got the job, as well as how he's managed to keep it.

Given it requires her to comb through all of those memories, it also lets her confirm he never told anyone except his lover, Sayuri is her name. Apparently, she was his girlfriend before the Yotsuba manipulated things so their relationship would fall apart and then swooped in to snatch him up for his genetics. When she's done with him, she repeats the process on Sayuri herself to make sure the only thing she knows is also that Tatsurou's wife is vaguely connected to the Yotsuba.

When she's done, she ends the connections to everyone's minds and turns away from her father and Sayuri to look up at the astonished Maya, “And there you go. They know absolutely nothing. They'll be unconscious for twelve hours, so just dump them back at Sayuri's place since he was with her there before they were basically kidnapped here, Mother proceeds with divorcing him, and we go our separate ways.”

Maya bursts out laughing, “That's certainly one way to deal with it!”

Mitsugu choses that moment to have an outburst of his own, but not one of humor, “All this shows us is how you got the other kids on your side! You altered their minds!”

Maya's laughter ends immediately as she whips towards him, but as she opens her mouth, Toshiko raises her hand towards her to get her to hold on a moment. Once the attention is back on her, she turns to her mother, “Given you have the best mental manipulation magic and therefore the best mental defenses the Yotsuba knows about, I'm going to use you as an example, but don't worry, it won't be permanent.”

Miya furrows her brows, but nods. Dragging everyone into another link, while it's not really the point, as she works she lets them see the difference between suppressing memories to put an alternative over them and outright changing a memory like she did for Tatsurou and Sayuri. Specifically, she forces her mother to think she actually loves Tatsurou and alters all the relevant memories, and subsequently doesn't really know what's going on right now.

When she's done, she pulls back enough to let them see she doesn't need to hold it even as in the physical world her mother gives Tatsurou a concerned look. She lets it linger long enough for them to firmly feel for themselves how her mother's ‘well trained’ mind struggles feebly against the manipulation, but makes zero progress akin to someone trying to dig through solid concrete with nothing but their nails and quickly exhausts itself even trying.

Only once that's been made abundantly clear does she move back in and undo her work. Her mother scrunches her nose briefly as she gives Tatsurou a disgusted look before shooting a dirty one at her, “Really? Of all things to prove your prowess in mental manipulation, you had to pick that?”

She smiles, “The fact you hate him so much makes it a good target to prove it with, since I literally have to completely flip your feelings into the opposite, and that is not an easy thing to do.” Then she starts to turn away before she pauses, “I suppose you could also consider it a mild bit of payback. You may not have needed to flip hatred, but it's not so nice when it's done to you, now is it?”

She flinches slightly, then looks away, brows a little furrowed. Maya eyes Mitsugu, “Well there you have it Mitsugu. If she's capable of that and was going to manipulate minds in the Yotsuba, why would any of you still be capable of your groundless hatred for her?”

Mitsugu flinches, and he's not the only one. She shakes her head, “As for the relationship with myself and the children, all that happened is that I invited Ayako to come visit me to help her get a handle on Perfect Diffusion, as you all know since you saw me extend the invitation, the rest tagged along, and things just progressed from there.”

Maya turns away, “The subject on the possibility of Toshiko using mental manipulation magic on the other children is closed.” Then her cheer seems to come back as she eyes the passed out Tatsurou and Sayuri, “And so is the topic on what to do about them it seems.”

She hums, as she glances around, “Just for the record for anyone who gets ideas, that thing you may or may not have noticed me implanting was a magical tracker. I'll know immediately if anyone takes matters into their own hands and kills them despite the lack of necessity given they don't know anything. Well, beyond Mother’s vague connection to the Yotsuba, and by and large I only left that intact as well as the suspicion that the Yotsuba had something to do with him getting the job he got so as to neatly tie up his inevitable job termination when Mother divorces him as well as so he's not that shocked if Yuki ends up becoming the next Head out of the candidates so he doesn't try to investigate.”

Maya nods, “I was actually wondering why you did, though that certainly makes sense.” She glances at the two briefly before turning away dismissively and looking vaguely over her shoulder, “Hayama.”

He steps forward without hesitation, “Yes Madam?”

She waves dismissively towards them, “Have them taken back to her apartment.”

He bows and gives a few servants a look, and they quickly move forward to gather them and head out. She turns away from the matter as well. Tatsurou was never a father to her in any capacity beyond genetics, but he had practically had his whole life manipulated to insure his marriage to her mother. She would never feel any particular loss at his removal from her life, but he didn't deserve to die just because he'd served his purpose and the Yotsuba never bothered to hide a whole lot from them.

She glances at her mother, “I would suggest holding off on having anyone collect our things until you officially serve him divorce papers, but given it would make things needlessly difficult -not to mention be odd- if we stayed at the house he bought, we should probably move.”

Miya nods, “Mm. That's not any particular issue, but you aren't wrong that we wouldn't want to jump the gun since he doesn't really understand anything about us anymore.”

She nods back, and the discussion ends there. It doesn't take long for people to start disbursing, but the kids quickly scamper over to her, eager to talk about the abilities she just showed she possessed.

She barely notices Yuki giving her an odd look while leaving.

She's unbelievably pleased. It's been about three years since she launched that somewhat small rocket Rowena was taking around to gather up space debris to snatch up as components for construction.

On Toshiko's end, she had finally managed to apply what she knew from apparition and portkeys into a True Teleport magic. As things currently stand, it requires a decently large gate on either side to act as clearly defined entrance and exit points as well as aiding in the spell with magic engravings, though the majority of the casting is still on the one teleporting given she still hasn't worked out magic sequence storage. They aren't massive but certainly big since even it's smallest version needs a diameter of over twenty feet across and has archways going up like its base is the bottom of a dome, so she doesn't really need to worry much about some sort of countermeasure like the anti-apparition or anti-portkey wards at the moment. Though she should probably start looking into that just in case the magic for it is ever made small enough to allow teleportation without the huge gates. It's not a massive priority at the moment given the size, but it's definitely something she needs to look into in general.

There weren't any rare or particularly hard to produce components in the teleportation gates, so Rowena was just going to use more of the materials from the space debris to make one on what she was building in orbit, rather than necessitating that she send a sort of care package up, or possibly have to get an airtight suit or make a spell to cover her and go up herself.

On the topic of what Rowena was building, there had been climbing confusion about it. Japan had known the original rocket was sent up of course and kept an eye on what it was doing from the get go, but other countries have started to notice as Rowena gets further along in her construction.

They'd presumably taken note of it before, since things were now at the point that it was getting out to the public and there was some buzz wondering what on earth it was and what exactly it was building.

More than one government had tried to redirect their satellites towards what Rowena was working on, presumably to try to get a better look or something, but if there was one thing that works just fine in a vacuum, it's gravity, so Rowena was perfectly capable of slipping around them, so live satellites which haven't yet become space debris are never allowed to come particularly close.

More than once, one of them had actually tried broadcasting a message that Rowena was stealing their stuff, but every last one of them shut up every time Rowena simply broadcast back the agreement passed into international law that once a satellite was no longer functioning, it didn't belong to, nor was the responsibility of them as well as a list of all the damage and deaths done by satellites whatever country made that accusation was responsible for if it was still legally their property, including the price tag on the compensation they would need to pay if they still laid claim to their defunct space assets. It was the only transmission Rowena ever sent to them, and it shut them all up immediately. Needless to say, countries that had bothered Rowena while she was working only ever did so once each, and there had only been a handful overall.

If anything, its maneuverability and avoidance only made people even more confused. It was honestly kind of funny to watch people grow more and more baffled and toss increasingly wild ideas around.

There's still a few more key components she needs to make for her plan, but so far, everything was working out well. She's made more than a few of the nitty gritty details things, or at least spell work regarding them. She'd even published the ones that seem usable in a more general sense, though that too had garnered confusion as to the seeming randomness of the various releases by ‘Tōkōkuro Mihana’ that seem all over the place with no real connection between them.

Still, she doesn't want it to be a lifetime project just to get started on the actual goal, so she really does need to figure them out sooner rather than later, but she's a bit stumped by the magic sequence storage, which is absolutely a necessary component.

She wasn't sure what to do about that one right at the moment though. She'd really like to get her hands on one of those relics or even just get a good look at one with her Elemental Sight if she couldn't hold onto one and study it for a while. It was a shame that the dig sites for them as well as any of the relics unearthed were considered classified, but she'd written off the possibility of getting access to one a long time ago and has figured for years she'd have to start from scratch. Which is exactly why she's been researching it herself this whole time, practically from the moment she felt like she understood the magic of this world well enough. Or well. The modern magic of this world. While there were documents on ancient magic, they were relatively few in comparison to what ancient magic users were actually capable of, and they were more just generally about various capabilities, not how to do it by and large. She's worked out a couple that have some vague explanations available, but they are very few and far between.

It leaves her itching a bit to learn more, but there weren't exactly options for it. For either ancient magic or the magatama relics actually. Ancient magicians tend to be very… closed off and secretive, and the magatama type relics were literally labeled as classified government property so…

She sighs and shakes off the thought. There was no point listing all the things she doesn't have. She has things she still needs to work on and there's no point wasting her time lamenting things she never had to begin with.

She looks up as she sees Miya stop in front of her door with her Elemental Sight. Obviously she already knows she's there, but after a few too many jump scares, she'd come to a polite agreement to let people knock before she called out to them.

So she does exactly that, letting her mother knock and even waiting a beat like she needed a split second to register it before calling out, “Come in Mother.”

Miya enters at her call, walking over to stand near where she was seated at the desk, “Toshiko. I was thinking of planning a family vacation to Okinawa. I'm aware that you're still trying to find a way to balance not potentially setting off Yuki's… tendencies by not necessarily ignoring him completely, but I would prefer if you came.”

She blinks, gaze flicking away. Yuki's priming hasn't gotten him completely, but… he's been acting a bit odd around her since the New Year's gathering. From what he'd said, and also additional things she'd noticed, it seemed to boil down to her going out of her way to spare their father despite not necessarily liking him. It had unintentionally countered all that nonsense the Yotsuba had been pouring into his ears that she was an utter monster, the only thing they could fall back on after the whole ‘failure of a magician’ line was no longer applicable. She didn't hate Yuki or anything, even though they weren't particularly close. If anything, as things currently stood she was more neutral since while Yuki has been more willing to try to make a connection with her, he was still very hesitant about it.

She wishes she can say the reason she hasn't been smoothing things along for such a confused child was entirely due to her giving him space while he worked things out and nothing more, but… That would genuinely be a lie. It was definitely one of the reasons, but if she was being entirely honest, she was also just wary of unintentionally triggering his priming to fall in love with her. While it was absolutely the product of its own sort of manipulation, even if not of the magical kind, as well as poison and she in no way wants him to have to go through that, in a way, it had been easier when he just straight up hated her.

Sighing as she shakes the thought off, she looks up at her mother, “Alright, I'll go. Don't expect that I'll just blindly agree with anything you plan though.”

Miya smiles a little as she nods, “I know. And there really aren't plans beyond the vacation itself as things stand nor would I expect you to anyhow. Maybe I'll look into planning a couple things, but currently it's just a vacation in general. I have heard that Mitsugu was thinking about throwing a party around the same time, so going to that would be vaguely on the agenda if we're there at the same time, but that's the only thing vaguely planned at the moment.”

She feels a smidge annoyed that Miya hadn't mentioned that first, since if nothing else, the Kuroba twins probably would have been sad if Miya and Yuki were there but she wasn't. It was a tossup if Miya hadn't mentioned it as a trump card to convince her to go if she initially rejected it or was just that she wanted her to agree to going on vacation with Miya and Yuki rather than just tagging along to see the twins.

It doesn't matter a whole lot anyway, so she drops it without saying anything and nods back, “Alright then.”

Miya nods once more, then starts to turn away, “I'll leave you to whatever you're working on then.”

She hums in acknowledgment as she starts to turn back to her work.

After they arrive at the house, she sighs before looking over at Miya, “I'm going to go relax in my room for a bit before it's time to start getting ready for the party.” She scrunches her nose, “Still don't get why we had to get here on the same day as it instead of the day before. It may be a short flight, only about two and a half hours, but with all the airports time and the like, I'd still have preferred the chance to settle in and all that for a day first.”

Miya hums lightly, “So you've said.” Her tone becomes mildly amused, “Repeatedly.”

She snorts, “Because it's true.” She waves a hand somewhat flippantly as she starts for the stairs, “Anyway, I'll be in my room.”

She glances back at the last part to make sure it was heard, but as she starts to turn again after seeing Miya’s nod of understanding, she spots Yuki shooting her one of those confused thoughtful looks out of the corner of his eye. Her brows furrow a bit after she turns around. She really doesn't mind the idea of them having a sibling relationship if he can push past the poison the Yotsuba have fed him basically all his life, but… That priming. It really does just seem like a mine just waiting to blow up on them.

As she crests the top of the stairs and rounds the corner, she just barely hears Yuki, “May I go out on a walk mother? After the airports and the flight and car rides, I'd like to stretch my legs.”

She opens her door and steps in, and before she can close it she just makes out Miya’s voice, “If you take a bodyg-”

She tugs her mobile terminal out of her pocket before tossing herself on her bed. 

Mass Text

Got to the house safely. You asked me to tell you.

Sora

That's good!

I'm just resting up now after the car ride and airport before the flight only to repeat the first two parts in reverse after landing. Well, at least for as long as I can before that party.

Miho

I still don't understand why you guys arrived on the same day.

Me neither.

Sora

Well, regardless, don't forget that it's a short VACATION. Which means no working!

Miho

What he said!

Yeah yeah, I know, you hypocrites.

Miho

Excuse you. I may be a workaholic, but I'm MUCH better than you at taking time to relax, thank you very much!

Sora

She's not wrong.

She snickers slightly, then sends off a cheeky message.

Traitors! Traitors everywhere!

Sora

If I've gotta be a traitor to get you to rest, then get out of my way Wang Jingwei(2) I've got significant traitory of my own to do!

Mean!!

Sora

If I've gotta be a traitor to get you to rest then a traitor I shall be!

Miho

Lol. He's not wrong though. Get some freaking rest.

Fiiiine. Consider yourselves lucky I STILL have it in my heart to love you traitors anyway.

They send her laughter, their love, and one last insistent reminder to relax before the conversation ends and she drops her mobile terminal onto the bed with a sigh.

She finds herself pouting without even being aware when she started making that face, and sits up to go take a shower and relax in the bath before she has to get ready for the party.

As Miya greets the somewhat strained looking Mitsugu, who's expression had only become strained when he spotted Toshiko before he started purposely ignoring her, she notices that Yuki is trying to plaster a fake vague smile on his face. It isn't incredibly obvious that it's fake, but it wasn't super hidden either.

Suppressing a sigh, she edges a little closer to breathe out to him almost inaudibly, “You aren't doing bad if you're trying to fake your expression, but it's still not great. Think of something that makes you vaguely but not super happy and hold it firmly in the back of your mind. Let it give you that little smile it wants to put on your face instead of suppressing your reaction to it.”

Yuki flicks a quick glance at her, and a moment later his fake smile is swallowed up by a small but genuine one as he nods. It's vague enough that no one will mistakenly think he's super happy or anything, but having whatever brought the smile into being lingering in the back of his mind should help him keep from getting too frustrated at the tediousness of things and also let him keep the Kikōshi(3) air he's aiming for.

As they start to make their way in further, she notices Honami break off discreetly to linger by the wall, out of the way of the party, but nearby if needed. She'd noticed the ones already there despite how much they were trying to just fade into the background and give off an air that they aren't worth paying attention to, but having a sorta-former assassin and an ex-cop as her soulmates means her brain is not inclined to be willing to brush them off, unlike most of the Yotsuba or other high society members undoubtedly do.

When the greetings, notably reluctant towards her, are done with, Mitsugu leads them off towards the twins at Miya’s prompting. Ayako visibly has to fight to hold in her excitement when she spots her over Fumiya's shoulder, quickly pointing behind him, making him light up just as much in moments after he turns.

They're practically wriggling in place trying to contain themselves enough not to go running up to her in the middle of a party or burst into what would be considered obnoxiously loud enthusiastic greetings in this kind of setting with these sort of people around.

Manners dictate they greet Miya first, giving her perfectly respectful, “We welcome you, Aunt Miya. We are very glad you could grace our party with your presence.”

It's said in perfect unison as well, and she might be confused as to why they turn to Yuki next, but even if she'd never seen the kids pull it before, she's been a noble woman before, she's seen people get their obligations out of the way quickly to turn to what they actually wanted to do before.

This greeting too, is in perfect unison and absolutely polite, if lacking any particular warmth towards Yuki. She can't even exactly complain, given that yes, Yuki has started to move past his hatred of her, but the kids have already been steadily dropping their cold attitude towards him as he did. It may be a step behind Yuki’s own change in attitude, probably to see if his attitude sticks and doesn't backslide, but they were adapting their own approach to Yuki as he moves past the poison the Yotsuba have been pouring in his ears practically from the moment he was born.

Regardless, once they're done greeting him as well, they enthusiastically turn to her and finally end their unison as Ayako barely holds herself back from bursting out, “Hi Toshiko! I wanted to squeal in glee so bad the moment I heard you were coming!”

Fumiya sort of discreetly elbows her, but doesn't add anything verbal, “Toshiko! We're so glad you're here!”

She laughs at the enthusiastic duo, reaching out to pat their heads, “Calm down you two. You say that like we didn't just see each other last week or something.”

Fumiya leans into her hand a bit, “Yeah, but! You're practically never at more official parties and stuff!”

She chuckles, utterly ignoring the obviously displeased Mitsugu, but he doesn't dare say anything. Not after she knows full well that he hadn't wanted her at the party to begin with, but the moment Miya even heard a hint of that, she'd made it clear that if she wasn't on the invitation, she wouldn't come, nor would she allow Yuki to attend an event thrown by someone discriminating against her other child.

He, and others like him in the family for that matter, have been steadily stripped of any grounds to complain about her without legitimate reason, like her actually doing some sort of harm. On top of that, Maya and Miya may have had to ramp up to it, knowing full well that the stubborn Yotsuba would struggle with it if they dropped it on them all at once, but had by now made it obvious that they would not tolerate anything remotely similar to the way she used to be treated, and that attempting to do so would have consequences.

She's starting to, admittedly reluctantly, think that Miya is actually getting to the point of earning her title of Mother. She's still somewhat on the fence with her, but in fairness, even if she doesn't agree with the things she did to Yuki and herself when they were babies, ultimately she had just been trying to make the best of the terrible situation the Yotsuba had put her in.

And she couldn't exactly ignore that she's been trying her best to make things right since the situation changed and she was reinstated to the family.

She barely holds back a sigh and controls her face at the direction her thoughts have drifted. Fumiya and Ayako would undoubtedly take it the wrong way if nothing else, and they don't deserve to think it's because of them.

While there was technically a HAR in the house, Honami has always insisted on cooking, having expressed strong opinions in the past about people who rely on them being ‘insipid’, though she hadn't been able to ignore that and had gently chided her for it.

Some people just didn't know how to cook and didn't have the time, energy, or motivation to learn. Some people have tried and found themselves just straight up naturally bad at it, like a fish is bad at tree climbing, some to such a degree that they were a hazard in a kitchen and more liable to burn their house down then successfully make something edible. Others were just physically incapable for one reason or another, children who were old enough that their parents deemed it acceptable to leave them to robots if they could afford to purchase one, the Humanoid ones specifically -which she personally found incredibly negligent-, but young enough that they couldn't cook themselves, or those not so disabled, physically or mentally, as to need to be in assisted living housing, but very much could not do things like cook.

There was nothing wrong with finding the food they make a bit bland, that was just a fact HARs were somewhat notorious for. There was also nothing wrong with being personally insulted at the idea that the household she cooks for would eat HAR food instead. It was even perfectly understandable to feel like it was a personal attack to her pride to suggest it, given the lackluster quality of food they're known for. Calling anyone who used or relied on HARs ‘insipid’ was a bit much in her opinion though, and she'd made that perfectly clear when she'd gently chastised her.

Honami had been a little embarrassed at having it all pointed out like that, but she had acknowledged it was a bit tactless of her to apply a blanket statement like that. She still didn't like HARs, but she'd never had a problem with Honami’s personal distaste for them to begin with. Honami had understood what she was saying and hadn't worded it like that again, switching to being insulted at the idea of them being served lackluster HAR food and eating it instead of her own. Or rather, it'd be more accurate to say she'd switched to admitting it, since that was always her actual problem with them.

The thought had mostly been dragged up, and so had a small chuckle out of her been pulled, at the little scornful look Honami had given the HAR arms that had come out to collect the dishes, clean them, and take them to the kitchen when they're done with breakfast.

Turning away with a disdainful sniff, Honami turns to smile at Miya, “Are there any plans for today Madam?”

Miya hums thoughtfully, “If it cools down a bit I was thinking we could go out sailing a little.”

Honami doesn't hesitate a moment, “Should I get a boat on standby in case you do decide to do so?”

Miya gazes down into her teacup, “A smaller sailing yacht would be nice.”

Honami smiles, “Understood. Does four pm work?”

Miya looks back up, “That sounds fine.”

Honami then turns to herself and Yuki, “If you two don't have any particular plans in the meantime, how about going to the beach? Even if you just lie down, I think it would be a nice way to refresh yourselves, no?”

Yuki smiles slightly, “Relaxing at the beach sounds lovely.”

She shakes her head, “I was already intending to catch up on some leisure reading myself, and I've never much liked reading at the beach personally.”

Miya does her best to hide her disappointment, probably hoping they'd both go and it could be a bonding experience or something, same with Honami. Yuki also looks disappointed, but he's worse at hiding it then them.

She watches Honami sort of push Yuki to go upstairs to start getting ready, telling him she'll arrange his bodyguards as he does in bemusement at her almost sisterly air.

Shaking it off, she murmurs that she'll see Miya later and heads upstairs herself, though in her case it's to get comfortable for her reading. Her soulmates were so overprotective of her potentially overworking or just working on her vacation in general that they'd convinced her to link them to her terminal so they could check on what she's up to or has done. Others might see it as controlling, and in other circumstances, she could see where they were coming from, but they didn't always have that access, and it wasn't permanent. It was really just a temporary thing as the solution to the fact they weren't physically there to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't start working again.

She really doesn't mind. They're just trying to look out for her after all.

The boat Honami had arranged for was actually fairly small, she personally wouldn't call it a yacht in any case, since it really only had a comfortable capacity for six. With the two crew, Miya, Yuki, Honami, and herself it's at the capacity of what it can comfortably carry already.

She's watching the crew prepare for departure, a little fascinated at how smooth and easy they make it seem. It's not the first time she's been on a boat, but she's always found it a little amazing the easy competence professionals like them seem to have. It's not just boats either, she's always had some level of admiration for the smooth competence of people well used to their jobs that do them both well and quickly.

Admittedly though, she may be purposely locking her attention on it more than she usually would, still uncertain and uncomfortable of particular things from Yuki. Like the way he was attempting to discreetly watch her right at that moment.

She's not sure if it's because she picks up on her discomfort or something else, but Miya suddenly pipes up at that moment, “Is something bothering you Yuki?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Yuki jolt a little before he suddenly laughs a little, “No it's nothing, I was just thinking that it's been a while since we've gone sailing is all!”

Miya hums idly, “Not since we went on that sunset cruise a year and a half ago I believe.”

Yuki chuckles a little awkwardly, “Y-yeah…”

The conversation peters off there, and the boat leaves at that point.

Things are quiet for a while and she just enjoys the scenery and the relaxing boat ride. It's actually pretty pleasant all in all. At least until she spots the submarine with her Elemental Sight that is. With a frown, she turns to Honami and the crew, “There's a submarine in the water.” At their somewhat puzzled looks, she clarifies, “It isn't Japanese.”

Honami practically launches herself to the side of the boat to glare at the water in the direction she'd indicated as the crew start hurriedly trying to use the radio.

She climbs to her feet and moves over to the edge of the boat on the same side as the submarine as she observes the conversation happening in the command center of the sub, more specifically the fact the captain wants to take them hostage.

In the background, she's aware that the crew are still fighting with the radio, which she's not surprised about since she observed someone in the sub confirm their jamming was working. After a few moments the crew inform them that they seem to be having issues with the radio with grave expressions, but they don't stop trying in general. She honestly wants to tell them not to bother, but people tend to need to feel like they're doing something in bad situations like this, so she keeps her mouth shut. Though one of them does leave the task to the other and scampers off to switch the boat from just using its sails to its motor and starts trying to turn them around.

Seeing them launch torpedoes, she quickly launches Decomposition at them, purposely not destroying them entirely, just getting rid of their ability to go off. She purses her lips afterwards having confirmed when she read the Eidos data, a necessity to use Decomposition like this, that they were just foaming torpedoes. Which may sound like a good thing, but that meant they did, in fact, intend to follow through with taking them hostage.

Hostage situations don't tend to work out all that well for the hostages. Using some more magic, she encases them in a box of physical shields and tugs them out of the water to float near the boat.

As she does, she contemplates using Decomposition on the sub but… she heard mentions of some sort of plan, and there was every possibility of her destroying the sub accelerating that by the GAU, and it was absolutely the GAU she observed mentions of it, moving up whatever their plan was out of some sort of reaction or to try to track down and destroy whatever did away with one of their subs.

Finishing up and seeing her mother's odd look, she just shrugs, “When we report it they'll probably want them as evidence, if only to serve as additional verification of the attacker if nothing else.”

Miya nods as Honami starts to use shields and the like in the water as an additional measure against anymore attacks. She needn't have bothered. Her spotting and breaking the torpedoes so easily had freaked the captain out a bit and he'd quickly ordered them to pull back. The whole thing makes her vaguely grateful to have learned Chinese from Hei, since it means she can easily understand them, given the language isn't any different from her original universe's as far as she can tell. She does tell Honami that she doesn't need to, but she stubbornly insists on doing it just in case as the crew finally manages to send out a message to the Coast Guard.

It takes an embarrassing amount of time for them to show up. They were more than a little ashamed that they hadn't even noticed the submarine enter Japan's waters, as well as somewhat baffled by both the evidence she hands over in the form of the torpedoes and her instance that they needed to up their patrols. She hadn't heard anything definitive, but the implications of some of the things she heard the crew of the submarine say… she's pretty sure this is just the start of the proverbial storm on the horizon.

Unfortunately, rather than taking her persistent warning seriously, they seem more miffed at the idea of her telling them what to do, and while she was personally fully willing to stick around and argue with them until they see reason, Honami is rather emphatic on getting Miya and Yuki home, as the two were rather tired from the stress of the close call, so she reluctantly lets it go and allows Honami to chive her off. Normally, Honami doesn't try to do things like that with her, but she's about ninety percent certain that insistently taking care of them is her own stress relief, so she lets it happen without a word.

Even as she climbs into the car after they're escorted back to shore to head back, she wonders who else she could get in contact with who may be more willing to listen to her.

She's still mulling over it when she notices a car pulling into the villa's driveway with Elemental Sight. Focusing a bit more on it, she perks up when she spots the military uniforms on the three men inside. She doesn't know if it was just a standard incident report that caught whoever was in charge’s attention or someone on the coast guard ship took her more seriously and reported it themselves or something else entirely, but she wasn't going to complain about being given the opportunity to get someone to listen to her.

She quickly tosses herself off of the chair at her desk and out of her room, hurrying down the stairs and over to then practically hurl herself at the door, utterly ignoring her mother and Honami's confused looks. Equally uncaring at the fact it would undoubtedly confuse him, she opens the door before the officer that had started up can even bring his second foot up off of the top step and onto the porch, much less knock.

He actually leans back a smidge in surprise at the door suddenly being yanked open, but she doesn't even give him a chance to say anything before asking in a serious voice, “Please tell me you're here about the torpedo incident.”

He blinks rapidly, “I, ah, I am yes.” Then he collects himself, “I'm Captain Kazama Harunobu, and as you guessed, I'm here to ask some additional questions about the incident earlier today.”

She breathes out a gusty sigh of relief, “Thank fuck. That Coast Guard boat captain wouldn't listen to me at all, and I've been trying to figure out who the hell I should go to given its a bit bigger than the police and while there is a military base nearby, it's not like they're usually all that inclined to listen to some random young teen girl.” She steps back out of the doorway, “I've forgotten my manners though. Please come in.”

His brows furrow, as he enters, “What was he not listening to you about?”

She gives him an unhappy look, “That I have an Elemental Sight born specialization -its how I knew you were coming up-, that I know Chinese, and that regardless of whatever their military may say if you tried to contact them, it is absolutely a military vessel and not a pirate vessel or whatever they may try to claim, and that while they didn't just so happen to say anything definitive unfortunately, they were talking about some sort of plan that's supposed to happen in a few days. Like it's ever a good sign when a foreign military is not only sneaking into our territorial waters but trying to take hostages and talking about plans. But he wouldn't listen to me in the slightest and brushed me off when I said that coastal patrols need to be stepped up a notch.”

Kazama's expression had grown darker and graver as she spoke, looking very grim by the end, “No. No, it isn't a good sign.” He looks off to the side for a few moments before sighing as he turns back to her to give her a weak smile, “I suppose that basically invalidates most of the questions I came to ask.”

Her mother pipes up at that moment, “In that case, I hate to potentially be rude, but we had a rather… stressful day. So if that's all you came for, then if you don't mind...?”

Kazama nods his head, “Yes, I have the most pertinent information, so I'll be on my way.” He bows briefly, expression apologetic, “I cannot apologize enough for something like this slipping past our navy and coast guard and putting you into harm's way. I'm glad you walked away from it alright. Have a good night.”

Miya looks at her a little tiredly, “Toshiko, see Captain Kazama to his car please.”

She nods and heads out with Kazama, “I suppose I should apologize.” At his confused look she shrugs, “I know you got your answers and Mother is tired, but how quickly you were asked to leave seems a bit rude.”

Kazama shakes his head, “Oh don't worry about it Miss Shiba. Honestly, a couple of my people were unfortunately similar to the captain in overlooking the potential problem and wanted me to wait until tomorrow, but there was just… something about the report that had me worried enough to come immediately. It could be seen as rude in a different way not to give your family some time to relax after that stressful encounter, but I'm glad I went with my gut now…”

He stops next to the car, “Shiba Toshiko, I'm currently serving as an instructor for an airborne magician squad at the Onna base. If you have any more details, I would sincerely appreciate it if you'd come by with them tomorrow.”

She nods, “I will.”

After she sees Captain Kazama off, she heads back into the house, a bit hopeful that Captain Kazama, at least, seemed to take her seriously, unlike the Coast Guard boat captain. She can only hope the information isn't too late for him to do something about it.

As she reenters the house, she finds Miya waiting in the living room, brows furrowed a little, “Was it really necessary to reveal your Elemental Sight born specialization?”

She gives her a flat look, “The Yotsuba trying to keep a born specialization of an ability that some people already have and is only unique in being a born specialization is nowhere near as important as giving a proper warning to the military. It may be too late for them to be able to do anything, but there will undoubtedly be less casualties if they aren't taken by surprise by whatever plan the GAU is cooking.” Miya can't exactly refute that, so she just sighs and heads towards the stairs, “Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go put together a more comprehensive report of what I observed with Elemental Sight.”

Her mother hums in understanding as she heads up the stairs to do just that. The more information Captain Kazama, and through him the military in general have, the higher the possibility of them being able to minimize the damage.

She feels a flicker of guilt at the realization that Miho and Sora will see her compiling it, reminding her that she was so focused on warning someone who could make use of the information that she forgot to let them know what was going on.

Slight adjustment to the plan. Call Sora and Miho, tell them what happened, reassure them she's fine and apologize for being a bit late in telling them, and then start compiling the information she got from observing the submarine with her Elemental Sight.

Chapter Text

In the morning, after they've had breakfast, Honami turns to Miya, “Do you have any plans for today Madam?”

Her mother hums, “Well, after yesterday, going out on another boat is out of the question, and with this storm brewing, going shopping is inadvisable….” She sighs, “What do you think Honami?”

She hums, “What about a Ryuukyuu dance? I saw one scheduled for today, and apparently you can even try on the costumes yourselves. Ah, but…” She glances over at Yuki, her brows furrowing, then drops her gaze, “The performance is for women only…”

Yuki blinks rapidly then shrugs, “I don't mind if mom and Toshiko go without me if that's what you're asking.”

Miya smiles, “That sounds lovely.”

She hums, “I'm glad it sounds enjoyable to you, since I actually already have plans to go see Captain Kazama at the Onna base that we made last night. It sounds like you'll have something to occupy your time with though.”

Miya looks a bit disappointed, likely having hopped for some mother-daughter time, it wouldn't even surprise her if that interaction with Honami had been staged just so Yuki wouldn't feel purposely singled out for being left behind, “I see. I assume it's about what happened yesterday?”

She nods, “I gave him the basics last night, but we made something of an appointment for me to come by with more details today, in the hopes there's something they can use.”

Miya nods, “I suppose I can't rightly complain, given the threat.”

She nods, “Mm. So you could go to the Ryuukyuu dance, or try to find something else to do with Yuki.”

Her mother hums quietly, “It would be silly at this point to leave one of my children behind to go to the Ryuukyuu dance. It wasn't that odd when I was taking one of my children to an event that's women's only, but…”

She hums as she gets up, “Hopefully you two think of something. I need to get going though since my ride is here.”

The three of them bid her goodbye and she heads out without hesitation and out to the car she'd ordered. Technically, self driving cars existed, and it was honestly more common to order those, but in case of emergency, you need to know how to manually drive and have a driver's license proving it, so she has to order one with a driver since for all that she knows how given she was born before the invention of the self driving car in her last life, she obviously does not have a license.

It's not like it's right across the street or anything, but it doesn't take particularly long to get to the Onna base. She gives her information to the gate guard, and it isn't long before a man is coming out, not exactly at a run or anything, but certainly at a brisk clip. He slows to a stop in front of her and smiles, “It's a pleasure to meet you Shiba Toshiko. I'm Lieutenant Sanada Shigeru of the Defense Army Department of Weapons Development. We were told to expect you.” He turns a bit and holds his hand out, “I'll lead you to Captain Kazama.”

She nods, “I realize you're probably not allowed to let me go around the base by myself, but thank you for guiding me anyway Lieutenant Sanada.”

He smiles back, “Oh you can just call me Sanada, and of course. I must admit though, we weren't entirely sure when you'd be by since Captain Kazama only realized after he got back that he forgot to set an actual time with you.”

She smiles, “It's understandable. Given everything going on, he was undoubtedly in a rush.”

Sanada gives a bit of a strained laugh, “No kidding. I suppose it wouldn't be a surprise to you, given you're the one who gave him the intel, but the base in general has been rather busy since he came back with your report.”

She smiles a little tensely, “I can imagine. Captain Kazama mentioned last night that he was acting as an instructor. Out of curiosity, has the related training been paused, or?”

Sanada shakes his head, “No. He's actually overseeing training right now. Given we haven't yet been able to get to the bottom of what exactly the GAU is planning, nor the timescale, it was decided it would be foolish to put it off. For all we know, that mention of a couple days was just in reference to the set up and nothing will actually happen for six months or more, and halting training and being on high alert for that long would only be detrimental in the long run.”

They had reached where Captain Kazama was as Sanada was about three quarters of the way through saying that, and Captain Kazama nods in agreement, “Precisely. The base has ramped up its alert level and is looking around to try to dig up any more intel, but for the time being, other than things like that, it was decided it would be business as usual for the time being.”

She unfolds her arms that had been sort of hugging one of her terminals, one that's basically a cross between what she'd call a tablet and a laptop, the latter of which is probably why they just call it ‘terminal’ like regular computers, “In that case, I sincerely hope there's some sort of clues you can glean from this.”

She holds it out to him and he starts scrolling through, his eyes going wide before he looks up in confusion, “Where did you even find the time…?”

She shrugs as she glances off to the side, “Everyone was so focused on the Loop Casting that Tōkōkuro Mihana published, that the nearly simultaneous spell she published went by practically unnoticed. It allows the caster to essentially project an image from a memory they're focusing on into a terminal, which when used in conjunction with a specific software will then create the image, allow one to edit it, then save it when they're done. Getting a terminal to make a digital drawing entirely from memory in other words.”

That was a lie. She'd developed the spell only last night, given that it was simple enough that with Rowena taking care of the program that was needed, it was easy to bust through it quickly, then get in touch with Maya to tweak some records, “I just used it and concentrated on my memories of the sub as best I could.” She leans up into her toes to swipe away from the scrollable compilation of images of the sub, both exterior and interior, over to a document, “I also wrote out transcripts of any conversions I witnessed. As you can see, I translated them myself, but I also included the original Chinese just in case you have your own translator you'd like to comb over it for anything I may have missed.”

She drops down off of her toes, then gives the stunned Kazama and Sanada, who had edged over and leaned over to get a look himself at some point, an apologetic look, “I don't know how helpful it all is. Sorry if it really isn't.”

Kazama laughs as he hands the terminal off to Sanada with a quick, “Forward that out to where it needs to be.” Then smiles at her, “Don't be ridiculous. This is incredibly helpful. Just confirming that it's the GAU is unbelievably good. It's in no way your fault that you can't materialize answers out of thin air.”

Sanada nods happily as he hands her terminal back, apparently done sending it off. She glances away, “Yeah, I know, but…. that….”

She finds herself staring at one of the fifty or so training soldiers with furrowed brows. They were doing some sort of exercise where they were climbing up ropes that went about five stories up, then jumping off and using Deceleration magic on themselves.

She's suddenly snapped back to focus by Kazama calling in confusion, “Miss Shiba?”

She jolts, “Sorry.” She flushes, “I, um, I literally can't turn my born specialization Elemental Sight off. I got a bit distracted by how odd his spellwork is.”

Kazama glances over in curiosity, “You mean Kawaguchi? He has been struggling with it a little, but his deployment time for the Deceleration spell is within the acceptable range, and to be perfectly honest, since we can't even figure out why he's being slowed since it's not just his normal casting time or something…”

She blinks at him a little rapidly, “It's because he's breaking the spell up, isn't it?”

Kazama gives her an odd look, “What?”

She tilts her head as her eyes widen, “Did you not notice?” She glances down, “I mean, I'm not trying to be rude, it's a genuine question. With the fact I literally can't turn off my Elemental Sight, I sometimes misjudge how much other magicians can perceive since some things seem so obvious to me…”

Kazama smiles, “It's fine, and no, I can't say we've noticed him… ‘breaking up the spell’, as you put it, anymore than is to be expected.”

She shrugs and tucks her hair behind her ears, “He's adding unnecessary parameters to the spell. You're using the spell Fixed Deceleration, right?” Kazama nods, and she shrugs, “I doubt I need to explain how the spell works to you in general. He's breaking up the target parameter. That is, instead of treating his body as one object, he's breaking it up into pieces to target, head, torso, arms, and legs.”

Kazama gives her a surprised look, then turns back to the training, which he'd seemed to have left to a subordinate up until then, “Kawaguchi! Come here a moment!”

The man turns in surprise, but lets go of the rope he'd just been about to climb and starts over, “Yes sir?”

She watches idly as Kazama asks him about the target parameters of the spell, and chuckles lightly in disbelief at the fact she was correct, then shakes his head and explains the problem to Kawaguchi before shooing him off to try again with the new instructions. Kazama watches a bit intently then shakes his head again when the casting speed noticeably improves immediately, “No wonder he was a bit slower. And sometimes a bit wobbly when he dropped.”

He doesn't get a chance to get any further before the other soldiers start getting a bit rowdy, hollering questions as to what on earth he told Kawaguchi that made him approve so much immediately.

Kazama glances at her, holding up a finger to the men and murmurs to her, “Up to you, the truth or a bluff. This isn't a need-to-know situation and born specializations are personal information.”

She smiles and shrugs, “I don't mind.”

Nodding in understanding he drops his hand, then he grins at them as he shakes his head in amusement and calls back, “I didn't really do much of anything. Little lady here has an Elemental Sight born specialization and spotted his problem immediately. All I did was call him over to confirm and correct it.”

That just gets some laughter and some good natured teasing questions about how they can improve tossed at her. She glances up at Kazama, wordlessly asking if it's okay, getting an amused nod as he gestures in front of him and murmurs, “By all means.”

Without hesitation, she lifts her hands to cup her mouth, “Don't know your names, so I'm going by descriptions!”

Then without hesitation she starts cycling through them, calling out problems and giving pointers to fix them or just improve in general. They seem a little unsure at taking the advice of someone her age at first, but after Kawaguchi they were at least game enough to try, and that was the only real opening she needed to prove that she did, in fact, know what she was talking about.

After a bit, she hits the point that the only real differences that can be made are if the spell itself was tweaked and just through practice on their part and drops her hands before glancing up at Kazama, who's watching her with amusement. Almost as soon as he's firmly got her attention, he teases her, asking in a joking tone, “You interested in joining the military?”

She laughs, “Honestly, I wouldn't mind working with the military in the future, either through support like this kind of stuff or generally being on call, but I can guarantee you I'm not suitable for it.”

He gets a bit of a surprised look, “I have to admit, I was expecting an unsure answer. What makes you so certain you're unsuited for it though? A lot of people think that and end up finding themselves surprised at how well of a match it actually is.”

She smiles in amusement, “Last time I checked, military personnel are usually expected to follow orders, often without knowing the why of the order. I am absolutely terrible at that. I'm not good at taking orders, particularly if it's not explained why I'm being given that order.”

Kazama laughs, “Yup! That'd do it!”

She lets out a small laugh of her own, “Like I said, in the future, I wouldn't mind working with the military as some sort of support personnel whether it be with things like this or CADs and the like or a consultant or whatever and perhaps being called in if they deemed it necessary, and even then I fully admit I'd probably be deemed difficult to work with by the military, since there would probably be even more issues unless they put me under the command of someone I respected, but I've always been bad at orders in general if I don’t see the reason or respect the person giving them. The latter of which I absolutely admit I never hesitate to inform said person that I'm only doing it, if I'm willing to do it, because there is good reason to do so. So more than happy to assist yes, but,” She shrugs, “very much unsuited to fully being in the military.”

He chuckles, “Fair enough. It's not the life for everyone, and I can certainly respect knowing that it just wouldn't work with you yet still being willing to help in other ways when you're older. You'd be surprised at how many people treat it like it's all or nothing.”

She hums, “People treat a lot of things like they're all or nothing, or yes or no questions, so I'm not really surprised.” She glances at the training, “That being said, even ignoring the information I was bringing you, this was definitely informative for me.”

Kazama gives her a questioning look, “How so?”

She smiles back, “Because if I do end up working with the military, it gives me a glimpse into things that might be expected of me. Also, even when it comes to not being called, it also gives me a rough idea of what sort of assistance the military might ask of me if I did become a consultant or something.”

Kazama hums, “That's true enough.” Then he gives her an amused look, “Though you keep talking about it like it's something that may happen later like you didn't just spend, what, half an hour? Calling out improvement advice.”

She shrugs, “By that I was more talking about in the framework of having some sort of official paperwork or understanding or what have you with the military. I'm not greedy though. I don't need a contract and pay or whatever to help out here and there. I mean, in fairness it'd be different if the military wanted help frequently by pure virtue of taking up sizable portions of my time, but… Well, I guess some people would call me greedy for that though.”

Kazama laughs again, “It's not unfair to ask for reimbursement for your time if someone is taking up a lot of it in an official capacity.”

The training switches from the rope climb and drop to combat training, and she watches for a bit, proverbially biting her tongue on the advice and critics that want to bubble up out of her given just how much she knows about that kind of thing from her centuries as Calanthe. It may not have been her main focus like people who dedicated their entire lives to things like that, but physical combat had been a tradition in House Potter, and even after the war was over and she wasn't as intently focused on getting whatever advantage she could, she’d still kept on top of her skills and continued to hone them, even if it was more idly. Also, given she'd lived to almost five hundred, even honing them more idly then with the intent she'd had before Tommy-boy died still built up considerably over time.

Eventually though, she loses the battle on holding her tongue, unintentionally murmuring out, “I suppose it's a good thing he knows he's weaker on his left side, but he overcompensates and over extends.”

Kazama gives her a surprised look, “Are you good at combat as well? I figured with the help you gave earlier you were more technical support, but now that I think about it, those comments about being ‘ok with being called on’ implies you meant for combat?”

She gives him an amused look, “My combat skills are just as good, if not better than the technical skills I showed earlier when I was helping.”

Kazama laughs, “Good at support and combat? It must be awfully boring just watching then. Did you want to join? It'd also fall in line with you getting an idea of what might be expected if you ever had any sort of agreement with the military later that had you on call.” Then his tone gets teasing, “If nothing else, I have to admit I'd like to see if they're really on par with the support you gave earlier. And who knows, if you're even better at combat, maybe you can teach them a thing or two here as well.”

She laughs, “I'd be happy to join in if it's alright with you!”

Kazama shakes his head in amusement, quickly getting the men up to speed on her joining. She's quickly matched up against someone, and Kazama glances at her before the beginning of the match, “Miss Shiba, just to let you know, you don't need to worry about going easy or something. Sergeant Toguchi's boxing skills were on a national level back when he was a student.”

She nods, but all that actually tells her it's how much she needs to hold back. Toguchi slowly starts edging closer, but while caution is a good thing, even that needs to be measured. Even if he meant it as a joke, if she was going to spar with them, she was going to make sure they learned things. For Toguchi, from what she observed of his fighting earlier, there weren't many major issues and it was just a matter of practice, she goes for the biggest of his problems to drive a lesson home.

She doesn't just leave him to figure it out either, calmly telling him just that, “Even caution needs to be in moderation. It can work in your favor to make an opponent overestimate themselves or even just get impatient, but it can also make you let opportunities slip by you.”

Toguchi suddenly hesitates a little, her calling out tips earlier probably making him a bit more inclined to listen to her despite the age gap.

Given that she'd noted while she was watching that magic to enhance physical capabilities wasn't off the table, she increases her speed and closes quicker than a blink, dropping him to his knees with one well aimed punch to the abdomen. It doesn’t knock him out like some media likes to portray, but given it makes the body basically shut down, only really capable of gasping for a little bit, unable to really defend yourself, it may as well.

“Toguchi!”

Whoever shouted hurries over to start checking him over, even as the surrounding soldiers murmur in surprise. She turns and bows to Toguchi to show respect to a downed opponent. She may still be mostly British in mentality, even if she's not going to turn traitor to her current country just because she happened to be born in a different country in another life, but that doesn't mean she's not familiar with the customs, given she'd had formerly Chinese and Japanese soulmates. She was very familiar with the fact it would be incredibly disrespectful not to.

Kazama seems to get a little flustered at that, “Corporal Haebaru!”

Another man steps forward instantly, “Sir!”

The man who had been seeing to Toguchi and one other quickly get him out of the way, and Kazama eyes her thoughtfully even as he barks at Haebaru, “Do not even think of holding back. Go with your full power!”

The Corporal pounces at the same time as he answers, “Yes sir!”

Haebaru is fast, she'll give him that, but if anything, he's the exact opposite of Toguchi. Even as she blocks the torrent of punches and kicks with the minimum effort required to conserve her energy, just as calm as when she spoke to Toguchi, she gently chides him as well, “Being too aggressive is equally as bad you know. It may even be worse, given it burns through your energy so quickly. It's fine if you can overwhelm your opponent, but if they hold out, you just end up tiring yourself and inevitably slipping up and leaving an opening.”

Haebaru seems to get more and more nervous the more she talks, probably a little freaked out she has the energy to do so without being even the slightest bit breathless despite the onslaught, but there's admittedly also an unintended psychology aspect, given when she was done talking was when Toguchi went down.

She doesn't bother trying to throw him off, changing up from what he's expecting, just slipping through one of the more and more frequent gaps to his side to drive an elbow into it. Haebaru groans a bit in pain at the blow, staggering a little, and Kazama calls out sharply again, “That's enough!”

Haebaru practically flops onto his butt, and immediately someone scampers to his side to start treating him. Blinking up at her he holds his hand out. Not blaming him for not going for the customary bow given the pain his side has to be in given she'd pulled the blow just enough not to do any damage that won't fade to nothing but a bruise within a day, she accepts his hand for a respectful shake instead.

Almost as soon as they've shaken, other members of the Onna Airborne men that had been training practically swarm them, admiration clear as they nearly gush at her.(1) Kazama cuts through the crowd towards her with Sanada. The latter looks at her with his own admiration, “You weren't kidding about being even better at combat then at technical skills. Corporal Haebaru is one of the strongest in the unit, you know?”

Before she can even answer, Kazama shakes his head, “You said it Lieutenant Sanada… I really didn't expect this degree of skill. Did you receive some form of special training, Miss Shiba?”

She shakes her head, “No, nothing like that. I was just taught to fight by some of my family that were more inclined for it. I suppose you could say it's something of a tradition, though it's far more lax than with most families with ones like that, given that in light of the fact some people are just better at things like long range magic and prefer to focus on that, my family isn't very pushy about it.”

In a manner of speaking. Most of her skill came from training with the Potter Physical Combat Trainer or sometimes Hei for specific things. Given the first had copies of her family's memories of their skill, in a way she had been trained by them, and Hei was her husband later in life, and spouses were family, so that part was just straight up the truth, no ‘if you look at it a certain way’ or anything like it needed.

Kazama hums, looking a little dubious, but he doesn’t push the subject, “But at this rate, the honour of the Onna Airborne Corps will be crushed… will you consent to one more match?”

She smiles lightly, “Certainly.”

There's some murmuring from the soldiers around them, a bit nervous to fight her after she took down Haebaru so effortlessly. She can't blame them given what Sanada said about Haebaru being one of the best in the unit. It's not really a problem though, since while he doesn't say anything until he pushes to the front, once he is, the man in question doesn't hesitate to volunteer, “I'll do it, if that's agreeable to you Sir?”

Kazama smiles, “Lance Corporal Higaki, I should've guessed. You're about on par with Corporal Haebaru. I have no qualms with you being Miss Shiba's opponent.”

If he's compared to Haebaru, he's probably usually more of an aggressive opponent, but he seems rather cautious when they get some space to spar. Not to the same degree as Toguchi, but he definitely seems to be studying her intently as he edges forward a little.

He seems to make up his mind how to attack though, given that a second later his magic becomes active before he suddenly launches himself at her like a cannonball. She does manage to dodge it, but having to jump to the side quickly upsets her form enough that he seems to see an opening and pounces.

There are benefits of having so much experience though, and one of them is that she manages to respond, though she is on the backfoot.

She makes some distance between them, and holds her hand out. Kazama seems to sort of pick up on things, “Higaki! Be more careful!”

She smiles, “You're a bit too on the aggressive side like Haebaru, but you've certainly got a better balance between caution and aggression in general. You are, however, a bit too single minded once you have a target.”

Higaki seems to falter a little at her comment, undoubtedly that psychological effect again given what had happened the last two times she spoke to her opponent. Nevertheless, he activates his magic to launch himself at her. But she hadn't been holding her hand out for no reason. Right as he kicks off, she launches a Gram Demolition at him as well as a wave of pure Psions. Unfortunately for him, given how much of his momentum was driven by magic and not that he'd just used it to increase the power of said kickoff, he immediately slows. Additionally, since he was supplementing his reaction speeds and the like by controlling his body more through magic than the regular electrical impulses and the like, the wave of pure Psions creates what's known as ‘Psion noise’, interfering with it and and halting him in his tracks right as he reaches her.

It made it all too easy to sidestep him and knock him out of the fight with a single blow, strong enough to throw him away where he falls into a sprawl.

She bows, then approaches where he was staring up at the ceiling like he was trying to figure out what happened and offers him a hand. He blinks at it rapidly for a moment before accepting it and letting her help him back to his feet.

She smiles, “It's also dangerous to rely too much on magic, but I'm sure you've realized that yourself just now.”

He tosses his head back and laughs, “Yeah. Yeah you definitely drove the lesson home. I don't think we properly introduced ourselves. I'm Lance Corporal Joseph Higaki, Onna Airborne, Sakishima Air Defense Corps, of the National Air Force in Okinawa.”

She tilts her head as her smile widens a little more, “Shiba Toshiko. It's a pleasure to meet you.”

He nods, “Yeah it is. You can just call me Joe, Toshiko.”

She laughs lightly, “Joe it is then.”

He beams, but before he can say anything else, Kazama approaches with a laugh of his own, “I must admit, I was mostly joking when I said maybe you could teach them a thing or two, but that's mostly on me underestimating you.”

She turns her smile to him, “I sort of figured, but if I was gonna be sparing with them anyway…”

Kazama chuckles as he shakes his head, “I'm starting to realize if you're already this good despite your age that the military would be utterly foolish not to take you up on what you were talking about before.”

She laughs slightly at that, “Well, in fairness, I'm definitely what most people would call an old soul.”

Kazama laughs lightly.

Things had sort of snowballed from there, Kazama leaving overseeing the training to a subordinate and inviting her for some coffee to discuss the training and spars with her. She'd given him some pointers to pass along, both in general and individually from the training she saw before she ended up sparring with some of them, and that had somehow led to her being shown Sanada’s lab and discussing CADs with him. He was more focused on hardware, but he did know a good bit about software, and they'd ended up talking for longer than she'd realized while he showed her some of the non-classified things he was working on.

Even she honestly doesn't know how exactly it happened, since she remembers Kazama asking why she didn't carry one and her explaining that she didn't want to potentially cause issues since she wasn't sure if they'd have to keep it on hold while she was on base or something. That had turned at her vague mention that regardless of the quality, CADs have always seemed slow to her, which in turn had caused more discussion between her and Sanada on CAD hardware and software.

That had somehow ended up with Sanada handing over a couple he was working on with the vague plan she would look over some sort of issue of getting the software to mesh with it that he was having. She'd been a bit concerned since he worked for the military, but Kazama had laughed and told her that until his work was at a point that the military approved of it and they started going into production, they technically belonged to Sanada, and if it wasn’t classified, he was perfectly free to consult others on any issue he was having.

She still isn't totally sure how her swinging by with more information not only saw her giving some advice magically as well as sparring but even ended up with her walking away with a couple CADs, but she absolutely lost track of time discussing both training with Kazama and CADs in general with Sanada and hadn't even realized it was approaching dinner until Kazama himself noticed and mentioned it. They'd exchanged contact information and said their farewells at that point, and she’d headed off.

She's still a bit puzzled and bemused over it all as she looks into the software side of the CADs Sanada had given her to try to see what the problem was.

She lifts her head and turns her gaze towards the door when she sees Yuki approaching her room. Given she was still rather… unsure what to do with him, she can't help but feel a little conflicted emotionally when he hesitates outside of it, hand raised to knock. She feels a little bad for it since he's a child, but given she still doesn't know how to deal with him, particularly now that his priming is starting to creep in, she can't help but feel a little relieved when he seems to lose his nerve and hurries away.

She turns away as she lets out a bit of a sigh. After a moment, she reaches for her terminal.

Mass Text

Am I a terrible person for feeling relieved that Yuki seemed to lose his nerve after hovering outside of my door for a little?

Miho

Not really. Yeah, he's just a kid, but with that priming you told us about and the way you don't know how to deal with him…

Sora

I don't think I have much room to judge there, given my own reaction in that scenario would've been to push him away just to make SURE his priming couldn't snare him and make things awkward between us.

I guess… I seriously don't know what to do about him though.

Sora

Well, since his priming hasn't surfaced yet, I'd say just keep the status quo.

She hesitates a little, not having talked with them about it yet, purely because she didn't really want to face it, then sighs lightly.

About that. I'm… pretty sure his priming is starting to creep in…

Miho

Oh…

Sora

That… are you sure?

I haven't read his mind or anything, but he was giving me weird looks after that incident with our sperm donor, and he keeps… staring at me. And mostly with attempted discretion at that...

Sora

Ah.

Sora

Well fuck.

Miho

You haven't mentioned it before though?

To be honest, I guess I was hoping that I was reading too much into it and if I just… didn't acknowledge it, it'd go away…

Miho

That's… fair…

Miho

What a mess.

Sora

No kidding.

I… think I'm gonna go back to working on these CADs I was given and firmly ignoring it for now…

Miho

You aren't supposed to be working.

It's not work if it's stress relief.

Sora

…I can't even argue with that. Fair enough, have fun I guess. Love you.

Miho

Don't totally agree with it, but Sora isn't wrong. Anyway, love you.

Love you two as well.

She sighs and scrubs at her face, then puts actions to words and goes back to the CADs.

It's been two days of awkwardly ignoring the way Yuki seems to be getting more and more of a gleam in his eyes when he looks at her. Two days of giving her mother looks while she steadily refuses to meet her gaze. The awkward atmosphere at breakfast is broken when the alarms start blaring.

Practically every electronic capable of it screaming warnings to everyone that Japan is being invaded by submarines from the West Sea and that the Kerama Islands are under attack with no formal declaration of war.

She sighs tiredly. It wasn't Kazama's fault that the military hadn't managed to make full use of her warning, but she hopes at minimum that it meant that they were quicker to respond. Yuki looks on the verge of panicking, even as Honami immediately requests permission to call Maya, to which a somewhat nervous Miya grants.

She honestly can't personally see why they're so on edge, but then again, she did spend her teenage years as Calanthe growing up in a war. She supposes it's a side effect of it, but while she isn't calm between her concern for the people and quiet rage for starting a fight towards the invaders, she certainly wasn't anxious like the other two in the slightest as she reads the information on the terminal.

Her terminal starts ringing suddenly. When she lifts it she sees its Kazama calling and she answers quickly, “Toshiko speaking.”

Kazama seems a bit relieved, but also a smidge confused, “Toshiko, I suppose firstly I should thank you for the information the other day. We may not have been able to prevent the attack, but I honestly don't even want to imagine how unprepared we would've been without it.”

She smiles tensely, “Given how close together they were, it's not surprising the military didn't manage to circumvent it, given they didn't have enough time really. I imagine that's not exactly what you're calling about though.”

Kazama hums in agreement, “No, not exactly. I was calling to offer you and your family shelter at the base.”

She flicks a look at her mother, “I'm personally inclined to take you up on that, but I need to speak to my mother about it first. Would you prefer me to call back? I'm sure you're busy.”

He doesn't hesitate, “Yes please, even if you're turning it down I'd prefer to hear back so I don't have to worry that the enemies have slipped through and your family had some sort of confrontation with them.”

She nods habitually, “Alright then, I'll call back soon.”

He hums in understanding and the call ends. She turns to her mother, “That was Captain Kazama from the Onna Airborne base. He was offering for us to take shelter there.”

Miya hums in thought, but before she can even say anything, Honami comes back, “Madam, I have Lady Maya on the call for you.”

She holds the mobile terminal out, and Miya accepts it, “Maya?” There's a pause, presumably from Maya responding and she contemplates observing the data of the soundwaves through Elemental Sight, but before she can make some sort of decision, Miya responds, “I see. I guess you've been using your influence. But won't that be dangerous?” There's another pause, before Miya responds again, “I suppose… Alright. Thank you.”

Without a word of goodbye to Maya, which isn't very surprising given the tense relationship between them, she hands the mobile terminal back to Honami, who glances at it then tucks it away when she confirms Maya isn't still connected as she speaks, “Madam, what did Lady Maya have to say?”

Miya doesn't hesitate, “She has arranged for us to take shelter with the Defense Forces.”

She hums, “I suppose that's why Captain Kazama called so suddenly since I didn't think I'd left such a strong impression to be considered a military asset or something. And presumably why he sounded a bit confused.”

Miya nods, and Honami’s brows furrow, “What'd she say about the danger to convince you if I may ask?”

Miya sighs, “She pointed out that we can't trust someone who doesn't declare war and just launches a surprise attack will comply with the rules of war.”

Honami flinches slightly at the implications and turns grim, “No, we really can't, can we…”

She looks back at her mother, “So I should call Captain Kazama back and accept taking shelter at the base then?”

Miya nods, “Yes, and request a pickup if possible.”

She nods and steps away to call Kazama back.

She's somehow not surprised when it's Joe that comes to pick them up, “Sorry to keep you waiting Toshiko!”

She can't help but smile a bit at the enthusiasm as her group starts to make their way to the jeep that he'd pulled up in, “Don't worry about it Joe, if anything, I feel somewhat apologetic at pulling you away from whatever job you were doing before this.”

He flashes her a smile as she climbs into the passenger seat since Honami was focused on trying to keep the nervous Miya calm who was in turn doing her best to keep Yuki from freaking out, so it makes sense for them to share the backseat where they can be close to one another, “Nah, don't worry about it, I don't have a particularly unique job and there are plenty of other soldiers capable of it, but there's only one of you and of your family.” As he starts to pull away, he rephrases it a little, “To put it another way, there are plenty of Japanese families obviously, but people are unique and you can't just swap any of them out for you and yours, whereas it's not like I'm the only one or one of a tiny handful that can do my job.”

She hums even as her brows furrow a little, “Even so, it must be frustrating to be pulled away from defending against an enemy attack just to escort a few civilians.”

Joe gives her a glance, his smile not wavering, “After what you showed when you came by, somehow I'm not surprised that you get how it can be sometimes. At our core though, a soldier's job is to protect the people. Usually the source of the frustration comes from having to focus on certain ones in particular instead of being able to defend more in a more general sense, but I don't mind being ordered to escort you and your family first.”

She glances at him, “I'm glad then.” Then she sweeps the empty roads, “It looks like the evacuation happened rather quickly.”

Joe nods and flashes her another smile, “Given we were poised to respond more swiftly than usual and help smooth things along because of your warning, arguably that's thanks to you.”

She hums, “If it minimizes casualties then I'm glad it was still useful, even if it wasn't early enough to prevent the attack in the first place.”

He nods in agreement, and they actually end up talking the entire ride. She's not sure if he notices as well or not and it's part of why, but the ease they speak to each other with seems to help Miya and Yuki center themselves.

It honestly doesn't feel particularly long to her, but given how on edge Honami seems to be, she can only assume they were ‘out in the open’ and twinging Honami’s Guardian training a good bit which probably makes it feel like forever to her and even the other two. In fairness though, she was used to much higher stress situations from her previous life. She was concerned about the soldiers and anyone who may have been too close to the initial attack point that evacuation would've been more complicated for, but other than that, this is practically a walk in the park for her in comparison.

When they reach the base, Joe turns off the jeep and hops out to lead them to where they're supposed to be waiting. After getting a few hallways in, she glances up at him, “I don't know how close we are to our destination, and I wouldn't want to hold you up from heading out when we get there, so I'll just say this now. Thanks again for escorting us Joe, and good luck.” She flashes him a smile, “Don't die. I'll be very upset if you do before you get the chance to make full use of the advice I gave you.”

He laughs and playfully salutes, “Yes ma'am!”

It isn't too much longer before he drops them in a room with a few other civilians taking shelter, five in total, and hurries off.

She plants herself nearer to the door, the CADs Sanada had handed over to her to look over in each of her hands. She'd only had them on her because she'd worked out the problem and was carrying them so she could swing by to drop them back off, but she'd left her personal CAD in her room when she went down to breakfast because she was trying to integrate some things she learned from the ones from Sanada and it wasn't really functional at the moment. She doubts Sanada will mind given the circumstances, but she does still feel a little bad about using them when that was never the intention of her having them. Worst case scenario, she valued keeping people alive over keeping secrets and she would use her Calanthe magic if necessity.

Well, that wasn't the only reason she was standing by the door. She didn't want to make the nervous people even more anxious by pacing, but old instincts from when Calanthe was a teenager, partly reawakened by the training the Yotsuba had been giving her, both as a ‘Guardian’ and later as a member of the family, had snapped the rest of the way awake by the attack so she was too wired and wound up to sit.

She snaps her head up and Honami shoots to her feet as gunshots ring out. She flicks a look at her, “Toshiko, that was…”

She nods, “You heard it as well.”

It's not a question from her, and Honami’s lips thin at the confirmation she wasn't hearing things or something, “There really were gunshots.”

She nods, “It wasn't a pistol from the sound. Something fully automatic. Maybe a rifle?”

She's not very confident about that, given she's not exactly a weapons expert or something, but if nothing else, it certainly sounded more like that time she did hear a rifle in full automatic mode when she had the British non-magical government agree to help her with that demonstration oh so long ago.

Yuki seems to be trying hard not to stutter, but he can't quite keep his voice from wobbling a little, “Can't your Sight tell you more about the situation?”

She shakes her head, “No, the walls seem to block magic, and it is technically a magical skill, so my Sight can't go beyond this room's walls.” She pauses as she probes at it with her magic, “Yes… it seems a traditional barrier has been erected. Not just this room, but the entire building seems to have been covered to prevent magical reconnaissance.”

Honami sighs, “We can still use magic just fine within the room though. That's good. It would be bad if we couldn't defend ourselves properly if necessary.”

She opens her mouth to say something back, but before she can, a nervous male voice from the other group speaks up, “Hey, y-you guys are magicians?”

They turn to him but it's Honami, voice dubious, that answers, “Yes?”

His face twists into a look of pompous superiority, though she's pretty sure it's mostly just bravado, “Then go have a look at what's going on.”

Honami seems to get offended at that, and it seeps into her tone, “We are unaffiliated with the base.”

The man shakes his head, “That's irrelevant. You said you're magicians didn't you?”

Honami's eyebrow twitches, “Yes.”

He sneers at them, “Then isn’t it your natural obligation to serve humans?”

Honami looks like she's seconds from exploding, “Excuse me?!”

His expression twitches a little, "I-In the first place, magicians are ‘things’ created to serve ‘people’. So it shouldn’t matter whether you’re military or not.”

Honami is clearly about to explode at the man, so she reaches out to place a hand on her shoulder even as she tilts her head at the man, “Hey Mister.” He turns to her with that superior expression, “I'd suggest you rid yourself of that mindset as quickly as you can.”

He gives her a look like he's wondering why she would dare talk back like that, “Excuse me?”

She shakes her head, “There's really no excuse for people like you.” She calls up all of her experience as Lady Potter-Black to level him with the coldest look she's capable of. Just because she wasn't about to blow up like a bomb like Honami doesn't mean she wasn't furious at his words, “It's more a matter of advice, because I can tell you right now,” She starts to turn away, “unless they join something like the defense forces, no magician has any obligation to you or your safety. And unless you clean up your attitude, it would make most magicians inclined to abandon you first if they were volunteers of some sort or otherwise not under anyone's orders and had to cut down on what they were covering because they're stretched too thin.”

He flinches hard at that and looks away as he tries to make himself smaller, his hands shaking, but just to twist the knife in further, she tacks on, “Besides, eighty percent of magicians are natural, not engineered.”

She finishes her turn to her mother, “I'm going to head out and see if the Defense Force is in trouble and if it would be prudent for you, Honami, and Yuki to relocate.”

Miya looks a little troubled, “Not you?”

She smiles as she starts to turn towards the door, “There's very little that would make it prudent for me to relocate.”

Then she starts off for the door.

The barrier can't stop her Element Sight from creeping around corners and the like, but having it laid over the entire building prevents it from going very far. More as a precaution than necessity, she creeps through the corridors carefully. She's just observing two groups of the Defense Forces fighting each other around a corner, one clearly a traitor and trying to figure out which one and therefore which to help the other group against when she hears gunshots from behind her.

Cursing in English under her breath, she whirls away as she applies acceleration magic to herself and heads back to the room, not entirely certain that's where it's coming from, but unwilling to chance it.

Running right past Joe and a group with him just around the corner from the room, she bursts into it without hesitation, clocking all four of the traitorous soldiers, one utterly frozen from Yuki's magic from what she can see with Elemental Sight and very clearly dead, her mother, Honami, and Yuki on the ground bleeding out from gunshots, and the remaining three already pointing their weapons at the asshole and his family.

While she may still be unsure of Yuki on a personal level, he's still a child and she feels immense burning rage that they shot him, regardless of whether he's a magician or not. Without hesitation, she uses Decomposition on them, reducing their bodies to dust and killing them almost absently even as she quickly moves towards her group, scanning their bodies with her Elemental Sight as she does. Honami was without a doubt in the worst state of the three, which makes sense given her positioning implies she got in front of them and tried to protect the other two, and Miya was the second worst off since her own placement tells a story of trying to protect Yuki bodily.

Her instinct is to go for Honami first since she's worse off, but she knows she'd be upset if she prioritized her over the other two, even if there's plenty of time for all three. Regardless, it makes her reach for Miya with her Regrowth first, then Yuki.

She starts to turn towards Honami, but as Yuki snaps back into full awareness, his gaze lands on her, practically worshipful, “Onee-sama!(2) You-!”

She almost wants to sob at the mine of his priming detonating just because she saved his life, but she ignores it as she turns her attention back to Honami now that they're both okay.

When Honami regains her clarity after she applies Regrowth, Toshiko sighs, “You know, I really hate what that Guardian nonsense has done to you guys mentally. Technically there was time for all three of you, but going by who had the most time left, I would've preferred to go for you first, then Miya, then Yuki, but you'd have been upset if I prioritized you even though there was still plenty of time. Only a few minutes technically, but that's practically a world of time given how quick Regrowth is.”

Honami looks away with a small smile, “Even so, you aren't wrong that it would've upset me, so thank you for using Regrowth on them first.”

She nods even as she turns to her mother, “Are you alright? Your magic calculation area and the strain on your body was healed, but Yuuka did say they were still a little weak after so many years in that state and you were at risk and likely would be for a while. I don't see anything wrong, but…”

Miya pauses, seeming to evaluate herself, then after a beat she replies, “I think I'm fine. I'll just have Yuuka give me a checkup later just to be sure.”

She nods, but doesn’t get a chance to say anything else before she hears Kazama's voice call out, “Miss Toshiko, Lance Corporal Higaki says you ran by him! Are you alright, or…”

She shouts back, “The situation is under control! You guys don't have to worry about being shot at!”

They enter, a bit cautious at first, but they quickly relax when they see there really is no danger. Kazama frowns at her, “I do apologize. We offered you sanctuary, and yet…”

She shakes her head, “Poor leadership is the most common reason for traitors, but it's not necessarily the inherent reason whenever traitors appear, and from what I saw the other day, I sincerely doubt it's actually your fault.”

Kazama still looks upset, “Even so… If there's anything I can do, just let me know.”

Miya pipes up before she can, “For one thing, you can tell us what the situation is.”

Kazama sighs as he rubs at the back of his neck, “The attack is from the GAU. The defense is… well, we're technically making progress, but it's not going great to be frank. We're pushing back, but the cost of it isn't very sustainable… Though just telling you that doesn't seem like enough of an apology to me.”

She doesn't hesitate, “If you can take the rest of my family to somewhere more secure and give me permission to help out the Defence Forces, that would be more than enough.”

He tilts his head a bit confused at the second one, “Of course I can take them someplace more secure, but… no offense Miss Toshiko, but what could you do?”

She smiles tensely, as she gestures at the frozen body, “It may be easier to just show you, but first you should check for yourself that I'm not lying that he's dead.”

Kazama nods one of his men over to the frozen corpse and her mother stirs, “Toshiko-”

She doesn't even glance back, “I already used both Decomposition and Regrowth in front of that other family, and they'll undoubtedly report what they saw to the military, so there's no point continuing to try to hide it.”

Miya sighs, “I suppose…”

The man Kazama had check the frozen soldier quickly reports the fact he is, in fact, dead and Kazama glances at her. As she brings her right hand up facing the frozen body, he turns his gaze back to it. His jaw drops when it vanishes into little more than dust in an instant with that small flame from some of the gasses in the body meeting the air. Then, just to let him see that one too, she locates it in the Eidos log and Regrowths it back together.

He turns back to her in surprise and she shrugs, “Along with my Elemental Sight, I was born with specializations known as Decomposition and Regrowth, though it'd probably be more accurate to call them Deconstruction and Restoration. As long as I have enough Psions, I can destroy anything I can see. And with the additional caveats that a living thing can't be dead, and it has to have been in the state I'm trying to restore it to within the last twenty-four hours, I can also restore anything I can view with Elemental Sight. Quite frankly, if the defense is going poorly, I don't think you're in a position to turn down the offer of help.”

Kazama had looked like he was trying to wrap his head around the astonishing information she'd just dropped on him, but at the last he looks distinctly unhappy, “As much as I'd like to say otherwise, we really can't…” His brows furrow, “But Toshiko, you… You're a child, why do you even want…”

She glances over at the frozen body in disgust, “They crossed lines that are unforgivable to me.”

He tilts his head, “Because they attacked you family? If this is some quest for vengeance…”

She shakes her head, “It happened to be my family, but it's more in that they shot civilians and children. I don't care that the ones in question are magicians, they are not in the military, nor were they participating in military action. The civilians and child in question just happen to be my family is all.”

Kazama looks down, “I suppose I can't blame you there… Such actions are despicable…” He takes a deep breath as he straightens up, looking at her seriously, “Very well. But I have to make one thing clear, even if you aren't in the military, if you're joining the operation, you have to abide by the rules of war. Accepting surrenders and the like.”

She snorts, “On a professional level, I can understand the necessity, but on a personal level, that's a little insulting. I fully admit I have little mercy for the sort of people who cross the lines they have, but that doesn't mean I'll kill someone who's surrendered or in the process of doing so. But I would like to remind you that this may not be a full blown war, it's still a battlefield. If they don't surrender, I will not show mercy.”

Kazama nods, “I'm glad you understand since it wasn't intended as an insult. Lance Corporal Higaki, escort these people to the command center. Lieutenant Sanada, get her equipped! Airborne, we move in ten!”

She steps off with Sanada to get equipped, not glancing back at Miya and the others even once, trusting Joe to see to their safety.

Chapter Text

As she starts getting close to where the Onna Airborne was going to make their push, she looks up at Kazama, “You may wanna remind your men that while I can undo any injuries, I cannot undo death, so they can't be careless.” She gives him a serious look, “I can do something about a bullet to the heart if they're within my range since that's not instant death, but even a bullet to the brain is beyond me.”

He nods grimly and barks out his own half order half warning not to let her abilities go to their heads and let them think they're invincible.

It's not even ten minutes later that they're in the thick of things, pushing back the invaders hard. If anything, it would be more difficult to drag it out, given she was not only using Decomposition on enemy after enemy, dropping one with each gesture from from her right hand, but she was also Decomposing any bullet that they actually manage to fire towards her when they realize she's the biggest threat there if they get an opportunity to shoot.

From her left hand, each movement initiated Regrowth on one of her injured allies. Kazama seems to realize how much she's juggling within the first five minutes, and has some of the soldiers better at defensive magic fall back to cast shields around her so she can stop having to deal with the bullets.

In other circumstances, they'd probably be a bit peeved at having to protect her rather than their fellow soldiers, but given what she's doing, if anything, they seem somewhat honored at being entrusted with the task of keeping her safe. In fairness, she was healing their fellow soldiers nonstop as well as taking out the enemies that were threatening them, so it's not that surprising.

Captain Kazama himself as well as Sanada were sticking close to her side, seeming to take it as their duty to act as her final line of defense.

She flicks a look at Kazama, “Thanks. It was getting harder to keep on top of all of the bullets the more they realized I was the one turning them to dust without letting my Regrowth use on the soldiers slip up.”

He nods, “I figured as much, given you were disintegrating or whatever you wanna call it fewer and fewer enemies. Honestly, I was starting to get concerned you were at risk of overclocking.”

She shakes her head, “It was just the number of targets for one or the other of my abilities. I'm not even at fifty percent usage of the magic calculation area in charge of my born specializations, but with so many different things to focus on…”

He nods, “Just leave dealing with any of the bullets they manage to fire at you to us and focus on destroying the enemies and healing the soldiers. We won't let a single round through, now will we men?!”

That last part gets a rather fervent agreement, and she chooses to trust that they know what they're doing and starts ignoring the guns fired at her. Every now and then, a lucky shot will break through a shield, but it's easy to use Regrowth on whoever was holding that shield before they can even start to fall due to the hit. The only time she uses Decomposition on any bullets at that point is on ones that are on a trajectory to score a headshot on someone on her side if they land.

In time, and with other forces driving in the sides towards them, they push them all the way back to the water's edge. It was still more of a one sided slaughter than a real battle, but the fact it seems to be missing most of the characteristics that one would expect in one -the explosions, the blood, the bodies- seems to make it difficult to comprehend for the enemies as they just keep fighting, seemingly without even thinking to try to retreat.

There wasn't even really noise, since the enemy had been decimated enough that she'd told the people that had been shielding her priorly that there were few enough things to juggle that it was more efficient for them to shield their fellows just in case something slipped by her and had subsequent taken over dealing with any bullets fired at them. It was the only noise on the battlefield, given that her allies had even stopped firing themselves at this point, seeming to have realized that at this point, it was more of a waste of ammo since she'd get to whoever they were shooting at in time and were mostly there as backup to prevent things from getting more complicated by her potentially being surrounded, and to secure anyone who has the sense to surrender. If anyone would actually have the sense to do so anyway.

Their command finally tries to order a retreat. She supposes the lack of the characteristic of a normal battle hadn't totally numbed them to what was happening, given they practically start fighting over who gets to climb into the amphibious assault craft first, but she's not about to let the morally corrupt cowards just turn tail and run, so with a sweep of her right hand, she disintegrates the landing craft.

More than one of them scramble away as though it's some sort of virus that will spread to them, even as they glance hurriedly between where they had been and her, while the others just kinda whip towards her with wide eyes.

She tilts her head, then says in fluent Chinese, “Given that you've finally realized the futility of fighting,” One of the men in the Onna Airborne that speaks Chinese and has been trying to call for them to surrender up until now quicksteps over to Kazama and starts murmuring the translation in his ear, “I suppose this is when I give you the option of surrender or death.”

She lifts her right hand vaguely as she said it, threat clear, and it seems to be the straw that breaks the camel's back given they start just hurling their weapons into the water, as hurried as if they were hot metal that was burning them without even waiting for the okay from their commander, and throw their hands up.

She glances up at Kazama who steps forward and starts ordering his men through sorting through them and securing them. She doesn't drop her hand though as she observes, and Sanada flicks a look at her, “You can relax now Miss Toshiko.”

She shakes his head, “You never know when someone's going to showcase just how stupid they are. So not until they're in cuffs.”

He nods, “I don't think there's much chance of that, but fair enough.”

They aren't trying to keep their voices down, and other than Kazama's commands, it's actually pretty quiet. It seems to be enough to make their voices carry, and honestly, just the way the Onna Airborne relaxes just a smidge more at the reassurance that she was watching and had their backs in case of any funny business makes it perfectly worth refusing to fully stand down for a bit longer in her opinion.

As things start to really get into motion and Kazama steps back to stand beside her and keep watch while his men work through the captives, a communications officer hurries up, “Message from HQ! A detachment of the enemy fleet is approaching from Aguni! Two high speed cruisers, and four destroyers! It's too late for interception! Their artillery is estimated to come into range in 20 minutes! We have to get away from the coast as fast as possible!”

Kazama turns grim, "Get me a communicator.”

“Sir!”

The surrendered forces, apparently understanding Japanese, seem to hold their breaths collectively and turn to their commander, but he gives no indication of resisting and no one makes a break for it. 

She listens idly as Kazama speaks into the communicator, "This is Kazama. Could some torpedo boats… No anti-ship aircraft are available either? What shall we do with the POWs then? ...Understood.” Handing the communicator back, Kazama takes a deep breath and gives the Onna Airborne a firm look, "In 20 minutes time, this area will fall within range of enemy guns! All units take charge of the prisoners, and evacuate inland!”

She frowns, “There isn't time for that, especially without transport, and that's before even taking into account the POWs.”

Kazama gives her a grim look, “There's no other choice, now is there?”

She flicks a look at the POWs, then draws one of the CADs Sanada had loaned her to look over, which the man seems to recognize and asks before she can use, “Is that one of my CADs?”

She glances back, “Yeah, my own is currently out of commission because I was going to finish up some software work I started last night this morning. I had them on me because I was going to bring them by today, and given the circumstances, I figured you wouldn't mind me borrowing them a little…”

He flashes her a smile, “No, not in the slightest. I was just a little thrown.”

She nods, then casts a soundproofing barrier spell as well as one to blur out their lips so no one can read them around the three of them, not bothering to chase Sanada away since she has no idea if there's some sort of lock down on his creations that needs his approval to remove.

She pauses at what she's about to reveal, then sighs, “Bring me that CAD, the sniper equipped with range extending sequences, that Sanada showed me in his lab and I can sink them all before they're even in firing range.”

Kazama opens and closes his mouth a couple times before he seems to find his voice, “Beg pardon? How could you possibly…”

Then she turns back to Kazama, “I'm going to start by asking you this. If you know full well how to throw a dart, but have never seen a dartboard and just had the idea of the bullseye explained to you, you wouldn't struggle to hit it, would you?”

He blinks, “Well, no. If you already know how to throw a dart and aim it…”

She nods, “It's relevant because it's a similar situation here. I've never used Decomposition in this manner, but I know where to aim it, having the proverbial bullseye explained to me.” Some of his confusion clears up as he understands why she brought something so odd up, “You are familiar with the concept of mass being energy at its most basic I assume? E=MC squared and all that?” He nods again, “I wasn't overstating my abilities when I said I can Decompose anything I can see, visually or with Elemental Sight. One of the uses of Decomposition is to Decompose mass down into energy in an instant.”

He makes a choking noise and Sanada’s eyes blow wide, “That-!”

She shrugs and looks away, “I was hoping I'd never have to use it, but essentially I'm technically capable of setting off any matter as a non-radioactive nuclear explosion. That's also why I need Sanada’s long range CAD though, since it's… not exactly magic you wanna use from anywhere close by.”

Sanada chews his lip, “I… I don't know if it has the range to destroy them before they get into their firing range though…”

She flicks him a humorless smile, “I still don't know how you guys rustled up an armor suit in my size and on such short notice at that, but these are all equipped with Tōkōkuro Mihana’s flight devices.”

Kazama's looks surprised, “Well, yes, I was honestly forgetting that since the Onna Airborne haven't gotten particularly familiar with it and it probably would've caused more problems than helped, so we weren't using it, but how do you know that? And if you're spotted…”

She glances away, “I'm very familiar with Tōkōkuro Mihana’s work. It was more a recognition at a glance sort of thing. And I have magic to deal with the possibility of them detecting me or anyone with me when if necessary.”

Of course she was capable of recognizing her own work, but she wasn't kidding about being willing to help the military in various ways, and after she and Ushiyama had put out the flight devices, they'd been contracted to design the very suits they were now wearing, though she doesn't explain that to them. That just seems to puzzle them even more, but Kazama shakes himself, “We're getting distracted. Lieutenant Sanada, go retrieve your long range CAD.”

As Sanada starts to salute, she adds, “You guys also need to issue a tsunami warning. Since I've never used it before, I can't entirely gauge with absolutely certainty how to make sure the detonation doesn't trigger one.”

They nod firmly, and only once that's done does she bring the barrier down, and now that he's sure there's nothing else, Sanada activates the flight device on his suit and tears off even as Kazama changes up his orders to just focus on finishing up getting the prisoners secured quickly and getting off the beach and to higher ground to avoid the potential tsunami that may be incoming as soon as possible.

He doesn't mention in the slightest that she may cause the tsunami, just that it may be occurring, which honestly only makes the prisoners pale even more. She hadn't even though they could physically get any more cooperative, but apparently the dual threats of her and a tsunami potentially hitting soon that they need to get away from manages to muster the thought to be impossible from them.

He sends them off less than a minute before Sanada comes back with the long range CAD, though he doesn't touch down, just hovers for a moment, face uncertain before he glances at Kazama, “Sir, we… We aren't going to just let a middle schooler take off all on her own to deal with this, are we?”

Kazama gives him a firm look, “I had absolutely zero intention of having her go entirely alone. Even if you ignore everything else, given the burden she's shouldering, it would be criminally neglectful of me not to make sure she has backup if she needs it.”

Sanada’s face becomes relieved as he lands and passes the CAD to her, which she immediately starts working on, before he turns to Kazama and snaps into a salute, “Sir, I would like to request to go with and serve as potential backup for the two of you as well!”

Kazama nods, “Permission granted Lieutenant Sanada.” Then he turns his gaze to her and grows confused, “What are you doing?”

She can't blame him, given she's pulled the bullets out of the clip and is Decomposing and Regrowing them, “Distance doesn't really matter in the information dimension in the sense we're used to in the physical world, but the further away something is in the physical world, the more data you have to shift through in the information dimension to find something. I'm basically coating them with my Psions by doing this though, which makes them a kind of beacon I won't be able to lose or struggle to pinpoint, at least until it dissipates.” She slides the clip back into place and turns her gaze to them to see their expressions start to gain understanding, “In simple terms, it's like making them a flare at night. Really hard to miss.”

Kazama nods, “That makes an awful lot of sense. I'm a bit embarrassed I didn't think about it myself in retrospect.”

She flashes him a smile, then she turns to the ocean, “...I should probably do a test shot to know what the range is first though.”

She glances at Kazama with a questioning look, and getting the hint, he nods, “Permission granted Special Officer.”

As she brings the sniper up, she can't help but feel a flicker of bemusement. She'd told the Captain she couldn't see herself joining the military because of her personality and she'd absolutely meant it, and yet, she'd been given that rank before they went out. It didn't mean she was fully in the military, the rank had basically been created for when civilians needed to be mobilized to avoid all the issues of them not officially being enlisted. It was essentially exactly half of what she had said she was willing and suited to do for the military, that is, the half about being called upon when necessary.

Shaking the thought off, she focuses on the CAD part and the modifications she'd made on the fly to improve its range extending capabilities, activating them and surprising Sanada with the obvious changes to the spellwork which she'd managed to do by altering the coding, using various Decomposition and Regrowths. Since there weren't enough lines of code, in some cases she takes advantage of the fact some experimenting had revealed that while it does nothing if done to the physical world, when applied to digital information it makes the system glitch out and duplicate it if she uses Regrowth on a line but Decomposes her Regrowth getting rid of its current state simultaneously. It doesn't work in the physical world, but digitally it causes a glitch, having both versions existing simultaneously which makes a more permanent duplicate. It easily gives her more coding to be able to modify.

Finishing up the spell, she fires over the water. Tilting her head, she lowers the muzzle out of her firing stance as she tracts it with Elemental Sight.

After a beat, she nods, “Alright, I know the range I'm working with now. Plenty far enough away from the blast too.” She turns to the older men, “If I use a different angle rather than fire head on, I'm confident I can do it at twenty kilometers.”

Kazama and Sanada both nod, determination taking over their faces, even as the Captain gives her a humorless smile, “Then it's good we can go to them. That's within their firing range, and we certainly don't want them getting close enough to fire on the island.”

She nods in agreement, “Do we radio them to give them a chance to surrender first, or...?”

Kazama sighs, “There's not much point to be honest. Since they have no idea what we're doing, they'd just think it's some sort of bluff, and given the circumstances, I'm not comfortable with potentially tipping them off to our presence anyway.”

She nods again, then flicks a bit of magic at all three of them to hide them from digital detection and then a powerful notice me not before keying them into each others spells so they have no problems, having done it in that order so they'd get a taste of her magic themselves, then she activates her flight device, and the other two follow suit before they start to head towards their destination, “Given this isn't exactly something we'll want to be… particularly near, please let me know when we're approaching twenty kilometers so we can be as far as possible.”

Sanada hums in agreement, which she can really only hear over the wind of them rushing towards the enemy fleet because of their helmets reducing the noise of it and the com link between them, “I got the data from HQ pulled up on my visor. I'll let you know.”

She nods as she murmurs her thanks, and their flight gains a sort of partly determined, partly grim silence for a while before Sanada breaks it when he speaks up again, “We're approaching twenty kilometers!”

She pulls to an abrupt stop, causing the other two to have to turn back to her when they inevitably kept going a little further at her stopping without warning. Kazama tilts his head, “Special Officer?”

She lifts the rifle device out of her more lax resting position and readies herself, “While I have confidence in my spellwork hiding us, it's always better to be safe rather than sorry, and to cut down on the time between them entering range, me firing, and when I'll set my magic off, it's better if I'm already ready and let them come that last little bit into my range. Speaking of, Sanada, can you forward the info on their positioning to me?”

Sanada doesn’t hesitate to start doing it, and it pops up inside her visor a moment later. Kazama nods even as this all happens, “Ah. That's a good point. It should limit how long they'll potentially have to see through your spells and start firing on us as well.”

She nods, getting herself ready, and since she doesn't have that much time, she leaves calculating the precise angle of firing to get all of the incoming boats in one fell swoop at maximum range to Rowena, utilizing the intel Sanada had forwarded to her visor. She even has her calculate exactly how long is the bare minimum of reaction time before she can pull the trigger so the bullet will reach its destination at the same time the detachment is pulling into position. When she's calculated it all, Rowena displays a line on the angle she needs to lift the gun to as well as a timer counting down to when she needs to fire.

She adjusts until she's lined up with the red line which changes to green to indicate she's lined up correctly, then just holds her position as she watches the timer count down.

The moment the red timer switches to green and a ‘Go!’ flashes over it, she pulls the trigger.

She quickly switches from holding it in both hands to just one as she lifts her right towards the bullet even as she tracks it, waiting for it to be in position based on the optimal location information Rowena has pulled up on her visor. There's a heavy beat, the brief moments between when she's committed to the action and the proverbial guillotine drops as the bullet moves as breathtaking speeds given the addition from the acceleration magic before the bullet gets to where it's supposed to be -or where Rowena undoubtedly added in her reaction time and it's at the point she's told she needs to act for it to be in the correct position- and she uses the ability her family had dubbed Material Burst for the first time in her life.

They don't have to worry about potentially damaging their eyes from the light given the visors automatically keep the light level filtering through at a consistent level, so she stares at it in a mixture of sorrow at the fact she had to use it, that they didn't get a chance to surrender, and a potentially misplaced sense of satisfaction that such immoral monsters that think its okay to fire on civilians and children have been dealt with.

She sighs as she turns back to Kazama and Sanada, “It'll probably take a few moments for the static to clear from the satellite feed. I'd prefer to stay just to make sure it's been dealt with properly if it's alright with you Sir.”

Kazama nods, “It would be wiser to confirm.” Then he stares at her a few moments before turning away, “I'm sorry you were put in a position to have to use something like that.”

She hums a bit tiredly, “You and me both, but I'd rather have to do it then to stand back and let an unknown amount of people die.”

Kazama nods in agreement and a solemn silence envelopes them as they settle in to wait.

She feels unbelievably tired at the joint funeral service for the victims of the attack two days ago. Yuki is standing solemnly next to her, though Miya and Honami seem a bit more stoic. She wonders idly if they just have better control of themselves, or if the Yotsuba have stripped them of their ability to care.

The entire thing just fills her with sorrow, each name on the temporary sign that will inevitably be replaced with a permanent monument feeling like a personal failure, even though she realistically knows it isn't. It doesn't stop her from feeling that way though.

They reach the front of the line to place their respects and as she lays the flowers she brought down she can't hold back a murmured, “I'm sorry I couldn't save you…”

Yuki peers up at her, “Onee-sama? You had other things to prioritize and even you can't be everywhere at once.”

She closes her eyes, forcibly reminding herself that for one thing, he's not even a teenager yet, and for another, the priming going off means he basically worships the ground she walks on and thinks she can do no wrong. To an outsider, Yuki undoubtedly sounds like he's just being reasonable, but… Yuki could be fairly… callous in her opinion. She blames it on the way the Yotsuba focused on him so much, probably unintentionally driving in the basis of their ideals, even with the fact he'd shrugged off their poison regarding her specifically.

She couldn't say how much of it was their mother's priming, but it all accumulates and comes together in him treating her saving innocent people or not as less of a moral duty, and more of an honor on the part of those that are saved.

She takes a deep breath as they move away to let others behind them come up, “No, I can't be everywhere at once, but there is a moral obligation to do one's best to save the innocent, and those with moral fiber inevitably feel failure at those they could not. Of course I feel guilty for those I failed, particularly for those who are children like you.”

Yuki's face darkens a little, presumably at her wording making it clear, as she's been doing sort of on purpose for the past couple of days, that her saving him had nothing to do with him specifically but was more a product of what he was, namely someone she would currently deem an innocent since he hasn't crossed lines yet -though she honestly doesn't have faith in his ability to stay an innocent- and an innocent child at that.

She supposes some people may find her cruel for making that clear, but he and his priming and recent obsession made it feel like she had little to no options since she wanted to draw the line clearly to him, but she was still trying to figure out how to approach the topic. Especially since she's not entirely sure he even realizes he's in love with her, and if he isn't, it may very well just confuse him even more.

But also… maybe she was a little cruel, because Yuki genuinely didn't mean anything more to her as things currently stand. He was little more than an innocent child that happened to be related to her rather than family or anything else.

She sighs quietly again.

She jolts slightly at Miya’s voice piping up suddenly from her door, “I'm surprised you didn't say anything to me… but then again, from that surprise, it seems like you genuinely didn't know I was here?”

She sighs tiredly, “I was practicing with my Element Sight earlier and have a headache from it, so I have it's range pulled back to the minimum I can get it to of about half a meter radius around me.”

Miya hums as she walks in, looking over the relic research she's been admittedly hyperfocusing on just to have something to do so she doesn't go mad from the Yotsuba lock down that's keeping her from contacting her soulmates and has been for the past week.

There's a beat of silence before Miya suddenly speaks up, disapproval clear in her tone, “You've been pulling away from Yuki.”

She snorts, “That's because I'm still trying to figure out if he's even aware that the priming you put in him when you intended for us to get married in the future finally got him and he's in love with me, and if so, how to explain to him gently that he's better off trying to move past it.”

Miya sounds rather displeased, “Is it really necessary to even bring it up in the first place? Laws and social expectations should-”

She huffs, “Maybe with a little bit of time to let go of it on his own, but with the way he's been getting lately, I've absolutely been thinking that it's a boundary I have to make clear. And it's better if it's made perfectly clear as early as possible that it's better for him if he just moves on so he doesn't hold out false hope, since regardless of whether the question is ‘can I’ or ‘will I’ when it comes to returning his feelings, the answer is a resounding no.”

The tiny sucked in breath lets her know that she may not have to have that conversation, even though it's far from how she wanted to break it to him. Something that's confirmed when she reluctantly expands her Elemental Sight range again and sees Yuki, hands covering his mouth, tears in his eyes, pressed tight to the wall next to her open door.

She sighs again as she turns away tiredly as she retracts her Elemental Sight, “It's entirely on your head for setting him up for heartbreak. If all he wanted was a normal sibling relationship, that would be fine, but we both know that's not what's happening. And as things currently stand, I'm not comfortable with even that since it may encourage that primed ‘love.”

She studiously ignores the almost inaudible patter of rushing feet as well as Miya looking away with a bitter expression before she turns and leaves.

She's listening to the arguing in irritation. It's getting closer to two weeks since Okinawa and the Yotsuba recalling all of its members and going into lockdown and they really weren't any closer to any sort of ‘solution’ to the close call. 

The lights flicker out for less than ten seconds, but even as the Yotsuba seem to freak out, she's not concerned, quite the contrary, a grin immediately takes over her formerly irritated expression given she's perfectly familiar with the hum in the air.

It's that which drives her to climb to her feet casually, though there's no point moving until they're back on and she knows where he's going to pop up.

When they do, she doesn't hesitate to turn her widening grin at him, not having to move at all since he appeared right next to her when the lights came back on. Before she can say anything, Ayako lets out something of an aborted yelp and she glances over to find her staring in fear at the mask, “Don't look at its eyes.” Then she turns back to Sora, “You didn't have to come you know.”

Sora, in his full Hei gear, temporarily magically resized for his currently smaller form -which makes her stupidly glad she'd included that in its capabilities, even if it was more of a ‘what if he gets shrunk down/de-aged by a contractor ability/magic?’ thing at the time since a standard spell temporarily cast either wouldn't work or potentially damage it-, snorts in vague amusement, “Yeah, I kinda did. Miho was freaking out because you were out of touch.”

Her smile fades a little, “Sorry about that, after Okinawa, the Yotsuba recalled everyone and basically went into lock down for the time being while they,” She lifts her hands to make quotation marks while she speaks the quoted word sarcastically, “discuss’ how to deal with the close call of members of the Yotsuba almost getting caught up in a surprise attack.”

He shakes his head, “Which I suppose I can sort of understand.” Then his tone becomes amused, “But that's why I'm here, because you aren't allowed to disappear off the face of the earth for almost two weeks with no warning or explanation and subsequently Miho basically demanded that I check on you and storm the proverbial gates to get you out if I had to.”

Osamu, noticeably a bit shaky, undoubtedly at someone slipping into the so ‘hidden and impenetrable’ Yotsuba village, manages enough bluster to sneer out, “Like a single man, a mere boy at that if your height is any indication, could take on the Yotsuba and walk away the victor.”

She can hear the mean grin in his voice as he all but purrs out like the big kitty panther he is at heart, “I can't?” The lights flicker off for another second, and when they come back on, they can all see the icicles that had climbed up from the floor to stop less than an inch away from practically every throat in the room, with the only exceptions being the kids in general and adults she was fond of, “Are you sure about that?” You could easily make out a pin hitting the floor in the quiet as the icicles inch that little bit closer, “Sure enough to bet your life?”

She snorts and elbows him in the side, “Quit toying with them. I swear you're like a cat playing with mice.”

He snickers, “They started it.”

Maya chuckles lightly, “Should I take it that this is the Sora I've heard so much about?”

She turns with a smile, “Yup!”

Yuki looks a little troubled, “And Sora is…?”

She laughs, “My boyfriend!” Yuki flinches ever so slightly at that, “It's not open polygamy, but we do have another shared partner in our girlfriend Miho.” She gives the gaping Yotsuba a bit of a mean grin as she purrs out in what Hei had once deemed her ‘Dragon voice’, “My boyfriend who may not be capable of Decomposition and the like, but arguably is just as dangerous as me in general for the record.”

She wasn't even really lying about that. BK-201's power was, as Bai had figured out right before she got rid of the Heaven's Gate, not electricity exactly, but molecular manipulation. So while he didn't have Decomposition, he could theoretically do a lot of its most dangerous applications as well. Mitsugu gives her an angry look, “In which case, I assume you're how he knows where the Yotsuba village is?”

Sora snorts, “Don't flatter yourself. The only thing Toshiko did was confirm where this little hidden village of yours was. Miho and I had already figured it out. And no, I'm not telling you how.”

She chuckles, “Not that I have any shame about telling them if I had. They already know this as well as why, but I have more loyalty to Sora and Miho than I do even the kids and the like.” She shakes her head as she turns back to Sora, “Anyway. The Obeisance?”

He shrugs, “Hoshi is napping.”

She hums in understanding, but doesn't get to say anything before Maya pipes up, “Well, even if good reasons are given to keep the lock down mostly in place a while longer, I suppose the communication jamming in the barriers borders should be stopped. There's no reason to call threats upon oneself unnecessarily.”

Sora snorts, “Might be the smart play if you're not going to let Toshiko leave periodically to call and let me and Miho know she's fine, yeah.” He shakes his head, then uses the function she'd built into his mask mostly to let him eat if he couldn't take it off to have the section around his mouth melt up into the rest and leans over to give her a chaste kiss. As his mask settles back into its normal form, he sweeps his gaze over the Yotsuba, “Anyway, I was just here to check to make sure Toshiko was fine and bust her out and extract a river of blood of vengeance if necessary, so my business here is done. Your security is garbage though, just so you know.”

Then the lights flicker back out and he's gone like a breath in the wind when they turn back on.

She giggles, both in amusement at his antics like his parting shot, as well as the attempted hidden fear on the majority of the assholes among the Yotsuba's faces. She feels a little bad for the nervousness of some of the more tolerable Yotsuba though and waves her hand down like she's casually telling someone to sit, “Oh relax. Sora isn't a danger to either innocents or people who treat me, our girlfriend, and his sister well.”

And it is satisfying to see some of the more hostile Yotsuba and uppity servants pale at the implied threat even as the ones who know damn well that it doesn't apply to them, yet hadn't realized they weren't in danger yet like the kids and Maya and Hayama, relax at the reassurance.

It is a crying shame though. On one hand, again she isn't a pedophile and wouldn't anyway but it's nice to have the reassurance that something that used to get her going a bit won't affect her. On the other, she very much used to enjoy and found Hei being an absolute threat to whoever he decided deserved it a bit of a turn on.

Well, given the Yotsuba are stubborn enough that she sometimes wonders if certain members of them are even capable of realizing they were wrong, there's bound to be plenty of opportunities to admire it, whether purely non-sexually or not so innocently when they're older.

Something to look forward to after Sora's seventeen birthday.

She sighs a bit tiredly as she eyes the island out of the window while they wait for the car Honami had ordered to arrive. Miya had delicately requested that she come with to help with Yuki's attempts to get a better handle on the Niflheim spell at Miyaki Island, quickly adding that that they weren't going for the usual reason Yotsuba use Miyaki for training, but just because there are a few administration things she needs to go and do in person. She'd simply decided it was a good time for some training, given how isolated Yuki would be given the danger of the spell if he loses control, particularly given his usual training grounds have been unavailable for a decent chunk of time and will continue to be for a while.

He's been struggling with the spell, so Miya was hoping she'd be willing to come with and watch with her Elemental Sight to potentially spot whatever problem he was having. She'd reiterated that it has nothing to do with Miyaki Islands… usual use.

Miyaki was practically brand new for an island, at least from the viewpoint of the age of most landmasses. It was less than two hundred kilometers from Tokyo, and was less than a century old, but she couldn't help but feel a bit of sorrow over the blood it's been soaked in for the majority of its life.

The island was owned by the Yotsuba, but had a prison on the western end under the jurisdiction of the Defense Forces on it, though even under their jurisdiction, the Yotsuba were the ones who actually did most of the managing of it. The prison houses any magician criminals, both foreign agents as well as locals, that the Defense Forces deem too dangerous to be anywhere near civilians, hence why they're isolated away with a strip of the ocean between them.

The problem is, the prison's potential escapees are essentially treated as training to get real life combat experience as well as make sure any ‘trainees’, whether Yotsuba by blood or their servants, won't freeze up when it comes time to take a life. To try to escape Miyaki prison is to sign up for an execution as well as waive any right to surrender. And sometimes those escapees are practically coerced into making an escape attempt.

Given that the world as a whole, and even Japan specifically, for all they have a facade of secure civility are actually still fairly unstable even after almost three decades since World War three officially ended, she can kinda see why. She understands the reasoning for it, and depending on the crimes of the person in question, she can even agree with it on principle that if they've crossed certain lines, they can at least be useful in making sure upcoming generations are capable of handling themselves and doing what's necessary. That being said, she does not agree with it by pure virtue of the fact they put any criminal they deem too dangerous in there, so the crime does not always warrant such treatment.

However, on yet another angle of it, given how little the general people of this world care about someone's age if they're a magician, it's arguably the safest way for the kids to get life saving experience before they almost inevitably see real combat.

She'll be the first to admit the entire thing makes her bitter, and enraged, and more than a little depressed even before taking into account her vague sorrow at what the majority of the island's history has been steeped in.

She's actually refused to take part in it on those grounds, which had actually led to a whole meeting with Maya and most of the branch family heads. Osamu had been their spokesperson when they all but demanded she participate in the training, sneering at her thinking it was a weakness towards killing people. That had actually taken place before the Okinawa attack and she'd ended up killing a lot of people. Which probably only made Osamu even more nervous, given when he'd been the spokesperson harassing her and accusing her of being unable to take a life, she'd calmly told them that she could take a life and offered to prove she could kill someone by killing him. Since he seemed to be volunteering and all that.

They'd dropped the complaint as quickly as if it was a lit coal and never brought it up again. Maya had barely held in her amusement until they were gone before bursting into gales of laughter.

She does her best to shake her sour thoughts off as their car arrives. She was already here, she wasn't on Miyaki to kill anyone, and there wasn't really anything she could do about things regarding the prisoners.

There wasn't a whole lot of point in lingering on it and putting herself in a foul mood.

After having been deposited into rooms in the building for higher ups, they head out to get in the practice Yuki was here for.

She watches him try to cast more idly than anything, spotting the problem immediately. She stirs after his first attempt, “Yuki.” He turns to her quickly, “The issue you're having with the magic is that you aren't clearly defining the boundaries, which in turn is leading to a failure to activate.”

Miya sighs slightly, “Yes, that would certainly do it, wouldn't it? No wonder it's been failing to activate…”

She hums, and Yuki fiddles with his CAD before his voice comes out, quiet and a bit embarrassed, “Onee-sama…”

He falters there, and it takes everything in her not to sigh. She's overheard Miya ask him before about his seeming embarrassment, and he's insisted it's because he's only just seen past the lies the Yotsuba had fed him about her and started cultivating a sibling relationship with her. It was theoretically believable, but in all honesty, given the conversation she knows he overheard, she's pretty sure it's actually embarrassment at calling the girl he's in love with ‘sister’.

After a beat, Yuki musters himself and continues, “Then, Onee-sama, what do you suggest I do to get better at it?”

She hums as she looks away while thinking, “In the immediate? Just be aware of where you're going wrong. I'll try to think of another way to help sort out the issue.”

Yuki nods, “Okay Onee-sama.”

She enters Miya’s rooms when they're supposed to meet up again for more of Yuki's practice, her and Yuki having been left to tend to anything they need to do like homework or if there's nothing in particular they need to do then to just relax in their rooms and read or something while Miya saw to the reason she'd needed to come to the island to begin with.

She strides over to Yuki to hold out the virtual reality headset. He gives her a puzzled look, “Onee-sama?”

She can understand why he'd be so confused. Virtual terminal devices are well known to sometimes have adverse effects on magicians, but that was less anything to do with AR or VR itself actually affecting their brains or something in some way, and more due to the fact they can be realistic enough that it's difficult to tell it apart from reality. In turn, because of how easy and effortless the magic in their games and the like is, magician children who go beyond what they're actually capable of in real life, when said abilities they actually have in real life inevitably fail to match up, can end up viewing it as a personal failure, unable to reflect on where their own magic falls short, subsequently losing the drive to improve.

She shrugs, “The only program on this virtual reality terminal is one that will display a three dimensional cube. I thought that perhaps you could use it as an aid to get used to imagining the boundary parameters of the spell, and once you are, it'd be easier to take it away and you would have a clear idea of what to imagine.”

Miya, who had been a bit tense when she saw the VR terminal, relaxes at the explanation, then hums thoughtfully, “That's not a bad idea in general actually… But what if Yuki becomes reliant on it?”

She shakes her head, “I wasn't suggesting he cast with it continuously until he's mastered the Niflheim spell. Just a few times to make sure that's his only problem and to get used to what he needs to imagine, then take it away and only have him use it again as something of a… refresher, or reminder of what he needs to imagine is all.”

Miya hums thoughtfully, and there's a few beats of silence while she thinks before she straightens, “If there's no intention to let him use it too much and potentially become reliant on it, I see no drawbacks. Very well, we'll try this with today's practice.”

It's been a full day since she thought to let Yuki try the VR terminal to try to help him get used to what he's supposed to be imagining. Miya had let him keep it for a while as he practiced Niflheim itself, but she's not surprised when she suddenly speaks up, “Yuki.”

He turns, “Mother?”

She holds her hand out, “Your only real issue at this point is the boundaries of the spell.” She'd spoken to her about it last night, so that wasn't guesswork on her part, “Please give me the terminal and try casting without it.”

Yuki suddenly falters, but reluctantly takes it off and hands it over before turning away to try again as he takes a deep breath. His hand is shaking a bit as he extends it to cast, CAD clenched tight in it, and he almost fails the spell, but at practically the last second it scrapes into a functional form and is successfully cast.

Yuki drops his hand with a rough out breath, then turns to her, “Onee-sama? You… have Elemental Sight, right? Why did it… almost fail? What was I doing wrong?”

She shakes her head, “It's not so much a matter of doing something wrong. As far as I can see, it's just that since you haven't gotten used to it, your mind was so focused on setting the target parameters that your interference strength took a hit. That's all.” She looks away lazily as she cards her fingers through her bangs, “It's more a matter of you know the problem you've been having now, so your mind is hyperfocusing on it. It's just a matter of practice at this point.”

Yuki looks down, “Oh, okay.”

Miya smiles at him ever so slightly, “Try again Yuki. You've done it once successfully without the VR terminal. You just need to get used to it.”

He nods and turns to cast once more. But mere seconds after invoking it, she sees his control over the spell snap and throws an immediate Decomposition at what's left of the rapidly disappearing magic even as she simultaneously uses Regrowth on the local air to rewind it from its frozen state back to when it was normal temperature. It all happens fast enough that there's little more than a frigid breeze for a split second.

She frowns lightly at where Niflheim had almost rampaged out of control. Strictly speaking, the magic sequence of Niflheim itself would disappear, and was already in the process of disappearing like any magic sequence would if the caster loses their grip on it. The problem was that because Niflheim plummeted the temperature within the boundaries of the spell, even if the spell itself disappeared, the freezing cold air wouldn't and would rush out as it tries to equalize with the rest of the air.

Miya lets out a shaky breath, “That… could've been bad.” She looks over at her, “Good job at responding immediately.”

Yuki is staring at her silently, seemingly torn between being embarrassed at losing control of the spell to begin with and awe, presumably at how quickly she handled the problem given it's the only thing that makes sense.

She sighs tiredly at the look in his eyes. She was only making sure they didn't die or something from a spell gone out of control. She had not been trying to make things even more difficult for him to move on by increasing his unhealthy obsession with her.

You can't win them all, that's for sure.

As they get back to Miya’s room, Toshiko can't help but sigh. The entire way back, Yuki's awe towards her has been fading away in the face of a creeping depression at the mistake he made. She's been holding her tongue the entire way back, hoping Miya will actually act like a mother and step in to comfort him, but she hasn't.

Nor does it appear to be a matter of waiting until they're back to her rooms, given the first thing she does is frown in disappointment at Yuki. Stepping in before Miya can say anything, she turns her head to Yuki as she barely holds back another sigh, “Cheer up Yuki.” He looks up uncertainly, his expression seeming to be torn between his depression at failing and in front of her of all people if the glances out of the corner of his eye towards her as his depression wracked up higher and higher on the way back is any indication, and the fact that his activated priming makes him want to take everything she says as practically gospel, “The fact you lost control of the spell doesn't really reflect on nor say anything about you. It may be simple in theory, but Niflheim is actually a fairly advanced spell, and you aren't even a teenager yet.”

As Yuku looks down with furrowed brows, she flicks a look towards Miya, who had started to open her mouth, staring her down as she finishes, “If it reflects on anyone, it's on those who push you to try to master such advanced magic so young.”

Miya closes her mouth, which she'd undoubtedly had opened on a chastisement, as she looks away.

The conversation drifts to Yuki's recent magical attempts from there and how he can improve. It makes Yuki's mood bounce back, and while she's generally glad he isn't so depressed, the way he looks at her makes her uncomfortable.

The conversation breaks off as an alarm signals an imminent volcanic eruption.

Without hesitation, she moves to contact whoever is in charge. The moment he answers the embedded terminal's call she starts speaking, “This is Shiba Toshiko calling.”

He's just as no nonsense at the moment as she is, “Lieutenant Yanagi Muraji, the first garrison’s commanding officer.”

She nods, “Is that a false alarm?”

He huffs out a gusty breath, and she just hears him mutter, “I wish.” Then his voice regains a normal volume, “Negative ma'am. There is genuine danger of an eruption. Please evacuate immediately.”

She purses her lips, “I have to ask, was there some sort of failure in the monitoring equipment? This seems rather sudden.”

He sighs, “Unknown ma'am. The magma pressure just suddenly began to spike and kept rising forty minutes ago. Thereafter the pressure has not dropped, and just a moment ago, it reached the alert level.”

She bites back a curse, “Do we have a timeframe on it?”

Yanagi has zero hesitation in his voice, “An hour at the earliest.”

She purses her lips, “That means there's too little time to evacuate everyone.”

Yanagi sounds frustrated at that, “It will be difficult to evacuate everyone including the prisoners, yes.”

She looks down thoughtfully, mind whirling through the possibilities before she settles on a course of action and immediately uses Occlumency to bring up the relevant Activation Sequence and start rewriting it, which shouldn't take too long since it's not a complete overhaul or anything, “Lieutenant Yanagi, I understand that we're on the priority list of evacuees, but there's something I need to do and I need at least twenty minutes for it.”

He sounds a little anxious at that, “Ma'am… Very well, I can't force you to evacuate immediately. Let us know when you're done so we can evacuate you. But what are you even doing if I may ask?”

She nods sharply even though he can't see it, “That… I suppose you can say there's an experiment I need to run under the current conditions.”

Yanagi seems a bit uncertain, but kudos to him, he doesn't let it break his stride, “If you can keep to the timeframe you mentioned it should be fine. Do you require a car or something?”

She shakes her head habitually, “No, it'll be conducted near the lodging. I'll be in touch shortly to let you know I'm ready to evacuate.”

“Understood ma'am. Good luck.”

The call ends at that point, and without even a glance at the other two, she turns and starts to rush out. She's barely aware of Miya and Yuki scrambling to try to keep up rather than just letting her do what she needs to do.

Miya calls after her, “Toshiko! What on earth are you-! We need to evacuate now!”

She doesn't even glance back, “You're more than welcome to, there's something I need to do first.”

As they hurry after her, Yuki, who she can see through her Elemental Sight is biting his bottom lip, “The timing of the volcano's pressure rising, you don't think that… my losing control of my spell had anything to do with it, do you?”

She shakes her head, “That's extremely doubtful, given it was only out of control for a split second.”

Yuki nods as his face relaxes, “Okay.”

Getting outside, she moves away from the exit a bit, more in case anyone needs to use it than anything else, then turns her Elemental Sight towards following the volcano shaft down until she's pinpointed the magma chamber.

Once she's got a lock on it, she uses Occlumency to hand off the modified activation sequence for Niflheim she'd started rewriting as she spoke to Yanagi and finished on the way down. Niflheim doesn't target just air, it cools anything it's used on.

Which is precisely why she uses her Elemental Sight to target it into the magma chamber itself, the boundary parameter purposely set so that when it inevitably hardens the magma, it'll not only cap off the volcano there, but it's at a slope that makes the pressure want to move through the volcanic tunnel network towards one of the other two sleeping volcanoes on the uninhabited side of the island. The first time she'd heard about them, her immediate reaction had been to wonder why on earth the prison had been placed near the only active volcano of the three, but that was entirely because the other two had only recently calmed down and had actually been much worse back when they'd been building the prison. And while there were talks of potentially moving the facilities over there, they can't predict when the volcanoes will wake back up, and if they start to do it only for them to become active again, there would be a lot of money sunk into it with little to nothing to show.

Double checking her work and crossing her fingers that having the pressure forced towards the other two will cause it to at best equalize and at worst set off one of the ones nowhere near anyone, she activates the rewritten Niflheim sequence.

She watches with her Elemental Sight with baited breath as the magma hardens and the pressure starts to get forced into the network between the three as it is now the path of least resistance.

As she watches it rush away, she realizes from the direction that it's actually fairly blocked off from one of the volcanoes. Not entirely mind, just that it was far from the path of least resistance, and much like water, magma and thermal pressure will go towards that naturally. She's relieved to see that it isn't the eastern volcano that's blocked off, since if one of them has to go off, that one is absolutely the best choice, given the landscape of the volcano and the island means it basically flows directly towards and into the ocean.

As an entirely unintended side effect though, the hour Yanagi had told her they had vanishes in a heartbeat as the eastern volcano immediately erupts, despite the fact it wasn't anything like being cooled by water in the magma chamber when she initially redirected it, so the pressure shouldn't have increased from any steam or anything.

She drops her hand even as she braces herself against the faint shakes and rumbles from the eastern volcano's eruption.

Crisis averted. That's enough for her for now.

Chapter Text

She tilts her head. Inevitably, if the volcano doesn't go completely dead, the magma will eat through the portion she'd hardened to push the pressure towards the other two. It wasn't a massive problem, even later it shouldn't be, since it should be as simple as checking on it every now and then. It would probably require Elemental Sight, but…

An idea occurs to her and she tugs out her mobile terminal, opening up the necessary program and starting to type quickly without hesitation. It honestly shouldn't be that complicated of a spell especially since she's replicating and enhancing an already existing technology in a spell, so she already knows the way it needs to work, she just needs to write out the sequence to do it, so it shouldn't take that long.

She's hardly been typing for a few seconds before Miya is hurrying up to her side, “What was that rumble? What did you do?!”

She absently tilts her head in her direction without looking away from her terminal or pausing her typing, “You've been having me watch Yuki cast Niflheim for days now. I'm perfectly familiar with its sequence now. I just cast it in the magma chamber to at worst try to delay the eruption, but preferably redirect the pressure to the other two. The best case scenario I was hoping for is that it would cause the pressure to equalize between them and delay an eruption, and even potentially slowly let off said pressure from steam vents and the like itself without any eruption. My second best case scenario was what I got instead."

"Namely that the pressure and the eruption it was causing was diverted to the eastern volcano out of the two, since while there aren't any facilities near either, that one's lava spill is basically a straight shot to the ocean. I don't know if it was already starting to wake up and build pressure or if the blockage from hardened magma was weaker over there or what, but as an unintended side effect, it caused the eruption to happen immediately instead of in an hour. The rumbling was from it going off.”

There's a dead silence for a few moments before Miya asks in faint disbelief, “You… redirected a volcanic eruption?”

She hums idly, “Yeah. There shouldn't be any danger, but it'd probably be safer to evacuate just in case anyway.”

Miya sighs, “Yeah… yeah, that's probably the smartest course of action.”

The evacuation helicopter they had been loaded onto only had Yanagi on board with them. As he was in control of the flight magic powering it and also in charge of flying it in case that failed, it really was just them.

After a few beats of silence, real silence since ambient noise from the helicopter flying is filtered out, Yanagi glances at her, “Miss Shiba… Does your experiment have anything to do with the volcano eruption happening early? And where it wasn't supposed to happen at that? You don't have to answer. It's more for my curiosity than anything.”

She's still typing away at her mobile terminal at speed, “The aim of the experiment was to redirect it to one of the other volcanoes. Setting it off early was an unintended side effect.” she tilts her head, “But if there are any recording devices in the helicopter, I need you to turn them off for now. Also, I need you to call Kazama since it's mostly him I'm looking to talk to.”

Without hesitation, Yanagi pulls out his mobile terminal and starts manipulating it, and she tilts her head in Miya's direction, “Mother, given my intentions and the fact Maya will undoubtedly want to negotiate secrecy with the military, it'll be easiest if she hears for herself what I say, so you should call her. Also, Yuki can I borrow your mobile terminal please?”

Yuki is perfectly enthusiastic, “Of course Onee-sama!”

Miya is rather idle in comparison, “I'm already doing s- Hello Hayama, please put Maya on the phone. ...Hello as well Maya. Toshiko is about to break some secrets to a handful of military, and she figures since you'll want to talk to them to make sure it's kept need-to-know, it'll be easiest if you just hear what she says yourself instead of getting the news later.”

Yanagi waits patiently for her to finish, then holds his terminal towards Toshiko on video call mode showing Kazama, who nods in greeting, “Hello again Toshiko. I've been told you asked Yanagi to call me because you needed to talk to me?”

She nods even as she continues typing on her terminal with one hand, “Yes, but it is technically a Yotsuba secret, and I'm sure Maya will want to negotiate a need to know within the military, so are you alone?”

Kazama nods again from what she can see in her peripheral, “I am.”

In response, she holds up Yuki's mobile terminal displaying a video call with her Mihana robot. Kazama and Yanagi both jolt, “Tōkōkuro Mihana?!”

From the call, Mihana tilts her head, “Yes and no. I am the face associated with that name to those who know it to begin with, but technically-”

She sends a mental signal and Mihana’s face plating opens up, showing she's a robot, then her real body continues, “Mihana’ is a Humanoid Home Helper that I control remotely with magic. Magic which I haven't shared even with the Yotsuba so there's no point asking for the record. Anyway, an AI deals with micromanaging things like making it seem like she's breathing or walking to a destination. But if you talk to Mihana, you're actually talking to me.”

After giving them a few beats to take in Mihana, she ends the call and hands the mobile terminal back to Yuki as she continues, “The reason I'm not looking up, sorry about that by the way, is because I'm currently developing a spell that will help scan below ground, similar to ground penetrating radar but better. It should make it easier to monitor things like volcanoes and get more heads up on when they're going to erupt.”

“If there's a nearby volcano that it's safe to do so like here, you could then have another magician do something similar to what I did to redirect the eruption to the other volcano. If that's not an option, when you see the pressure rising in a way that indicates it'll erupt in the next few weeks, you could do something like drill down nearby and have magicians excavate -using magic from a distance- into the volcano's underground network, and if that itself doesn't cause the pressure to move that way and start going up the shaft you drilled, then you would have somewhere to use magic to redirect it safely to.”

“Given disaster prevention is within the preview of the Defense Force and it would require magicians which are mostly assigned to the 101st, I wanted to get in touch with you to give you heads up so you guys can start preparing. Looking for magicians good at the necessary magic and the like. Given it's not a combat related job, you wouldn't even need to take from the 101st's combat forces nor would they need to be good at combat. Just make them support personnel instead of combat personnel and you should be golden.”

She shakes her head, “Anyway, I don't think this will be too complicated, especially since similar technology already exists so it's more a matter of translating it into a spell and enhancing it, so it should be done anywhere between a few hours to a few days. If it's more complicated then I'm thinking, it'll take a few months but that'll just give you more time to get started on getting everything in order. After I am done, we'll have to run some tests to make sure everything is working right, and unless you want to view the testing, I can get back in touch and send the magic sequence then.”

Kazama shakes his head, “Oh don't worry about not looking up, you're working on something vitally important to the safety of Japan. And I'd actually like to view the testing if you don't mind.”

She tilts her head towards Miya, who sighs, “Given you've already told them about you and Mihana and they can probably work out related things themselves, barring maybe Ushiyama, that's fine.”

Kazama's voice turns curious, “Ushiyama?”

She shrugs, “When I first published Loop Cast, Tōkōkuro Mihana was just me, but like I said when you showed me Sanada's lab, I may be working to improve but right now I'm not great at hardware, so when I started working at FLT's 3rd Division, I started working with Ushiyama on that aspect of things like the Black Series CADs.(1) Nowadays, if you ask anyone in the know, he's the Tōkōkuro to my Mihana.”

Kazama makes an understanding noise, “I see. I was going to ask if you just wanted to do the testing at a military base, but if that's the case, I assume you'd want to do it at FLT in case the magic needs any particular hardware.”

She nods, “Precisely. Anyway, I'm sure you and Maya need to speak about the secrecy of what I told you and Yanagi, so I'll speak to you later. When I need to check if the testing time we're setting up works with your schedule at the latest.”

Kazama nods again, “Sounds like a plan Toshiko. I'll speak to you later.”

The call ends, and so does Miya’s with Maya, and Yanagi slowly lowers his phone, “...If you're Tōkōkuro Mihana and you're only thirteen... doesn't that mean you were only six when you invented Loop Casting?”

She nods with a smile and pops the p, “Yup.”

Yanagi is quiet for a beat, “...You're utterly brilliant.”

She hums idly, “No, not- Ah, I don't usually don't think so, but I suppose in conjunction with my age…”

Yanagi shakes his head with a vaguely amused smile, “You're too modest.”

The evacuation order had been lifted within a day, and she, Miya, and Yuki were staying overnight at the airport lounge. 

Having needed a bit of a break from the new magic sequence, even though it should absolutely be done by tomorrow at this point, she was rewriting the magic sequence for Niflheim a little more extensively. Mostly it was just the tweaks smoothing out inefficiencies she'd dealt with before casting at the magma chamber, but due to the near disaster that had happened with Yuki’s last attempt to use it she was also changing it a little. She was basically just adding a bit to it to restore the state of gas molecules in the air at the end of the spell. It wouldn't undo all of the spells work, since it only affects the air, so anything frozen would stay frozen. It's just to prevent it from going out of control due to the sudden cold spot the caster creates and the inevitable chaos as things try to naturally equalize.

Miya and Yuki were watching her work in interest. She honestly doesn't know why. Yuki was probably just watching due to his obsession, and she supposes theoretically Miya could be more watching the sequence coding she was doing than her, though she wasn't entirely certain on that. Miya's gaze doesn't seem like it's directed at her terminal though why else she'd be looking, she doesn't know.

It honestly makes her a little uncomfortable, but she ignores it as best she can.

After the confirmation that there would be no impact to the safety of the prisoners after the eruption on the eastern region of the island, that night the prisoners were returned to their prisons.

A small lifeboat is floating south of the island at sea. Not a rubber boat, but a boat made of fiberglass. Inside it are two magicians, who are what she and Yanagi are out here for. They seem to be having some sort of discussion as she and Yanagi quietly fly behind them, observing them but not making their move yet, since they want to see if they had a better plan than just trying to row away.

She stirs, then murmurs to Yanagi, “It wasn't a strange coincidence. That small sub is about to surface.”

He nods and they both move down towards them as the sub breaks the surface. Hovering over the water, she calls out, “Trying to escape by submarine is rather cliché.”

Practically in response, bubbles start to come up as the ballast tanks prepare for the sub to dive back down, the occupants fully willing to abandon the escapees. Before they can though, Yanagi uses magic to blow the hatch clean off, making it suicide to submerge since it can no longer dive without flooding.

She shakes her head, “Chou and Rin, isn't it? You know breaking out of prison is a felony, don't you? Are you going to come back quietly, or do I need to make you come back?”

The two don't turn towards them or respond, just dive out of the boat, to try to swim towards the sub. She has no clue what their game plan is, but it doesn't really matter. She just creates shield walls in a cube around both them and the sub even as she Decomposes it, leaving the crew of the small submersible suddenly floundering in the water.

Yanagi shakes his head, voice calm, “You're all under arrest. For you two escapees, you'll be going back to prison with added charges of prison break. For the crew of the sub, you're under arrest for invading Japanese waters and attempted aiding and abetting the escape of criminals.”

When he's done, she adds additional one way shields that block sight and sound around the previous shields and directs the whole cube out of the water and to follow her as they start to fly back to shore.

Yanagi glances at her as they fly, “You know… I gotta admit, after learning what family you're from, I was honestly expecting you'd be more ruthless.”

Her tone is mild as milk when she responds, “Please do not insult me by comparing me to the majority of my family.” Yanagi breaks into laughter at that, and she flashes him a grin before continuing, “If it had been necessary to protect people actively in danger, I wouldn't have hesitated to kill them, but with the current situation being what it was, it would be more of an execution than a reasonable death from taking out active threats.”

He nods, wholeheartedly agreeing with her, “Oh most certainly, it's just…. Not what most expect from someone from the Yotsuba family.” He hesitates a bit, “You don't have to answer if you don't want, but… why do you stay with the Yotsuba if you're so at odds with most of them?” 

Her eyes drift, “That…” She sighs, “Honestly it's mostly for the kids in my generation. I couldn't bear the thought of leaving them to the poison of the older generation. Before that occurred to me, I actually thought about abandoning them when I was six, before I invented Loop Casting, and maybe trading information on the Yotsuba to the Juumonji or something for them taking me in or at least setting me up or something, since out of the 10 Master Clans, they seemed to line up with my morals best from what I know about them."

Yanagi's brows furrow, “...A child shouldn't have to be responsible for other children.”

She shrugs, “Maybe so, but no one else was going to, so…”

Yanagi sighs, “No, I guess there weren't many options, huh?”

She shakes her head, “Nope. And now I'm basically the emotionally adoptive mom to my cousins, even the older ones.”

Yanagi gives her an odd and mildly amused look, “Support and guidance I can get, but isn't mom incorrect? Especially for the older ones.”

She looks up at him, voice deadpan, “Here's a riddle for you. I teach a select group of children morals and life lessons. I help them through their troubles. I soothe them when they're upset. I am the one they come to excited to show me their test results when they did well just because they want to make me proud. I am also the one who tells their birth parents to fight me if they take issue with the morals I teach them and the guidance I give. What am I?”

Yanagi laughs lightly into his fist, “Mom it is.”

She grumbles, “And anyone who wants to take my kids can fight me.”

Before he turns his face away in a poor attempt to hide his amusement, she sees him lightly biting his tongue.

She's mildly surprised when she gets an email from Kazama, letting her know that Special Officer ‘Obara Ryumi’(2), the name she'd picked as her military code name, was now attached to the newly formed 101st after both Kazama and Yanagi, who had been promoted to Captain, had given strong recommendations.

If she, as a Special Officer, was going to be assigned to anyone, the 101st was undoubtedly the best call, given she respects Kazama, who was in command of the 101st, and she wasn't joking before about how the military would inevitably have problems if they tried to put her under the command of someone she didn't respect.

The understanding was that they could call on her for anything from support to military aid, and they'd drawn up a time table of how much time a week they could take up before they needed to compensate her, undoubtedly from her mentioning to Kazama that she didn't mind being called on for free on principle, but if they were going to eat up a lot of her time and pull her away from whatever she was trying to do then it was a slightly different story. In return, she also had access to requesting aid from the 101st as well as the ability to request access to military assets.

After reading the entire thing over, she inputs her fingerprint for the bio-data signature to her understanding and agreement to the terms, since Kazama had made it clear in the email that if there was something she took issue with then she absolute could respond to look into renegotiating things so they're both happier with them.

After she emails it back with her fingerprint, she also attaches a request to be granted access to a Magatama relic so she can study it with her Elemental Sight.

Kazama doesn't hesitate to respond and let her know that he'll look into acquiring the transfer of one to the 101st's care temporarily and the necessary permissions.

She smiles as she leans back. She's still been rather stumped on how to store magic sequences to develop something herself, but if she can get her hands on a Magatama relic…. She tilts her head back to gaze at the ceiling as her mind already begins to shift her plans around. She'd started trying to come up with backup plans given how little progress she'd made towards magic sequence storage, but if she can actually examine a Magatama relic and work it out… She can revert back to her main plan. Even more, she may be able to develop the magic sequence storage earlier than expected and shift around the timing on things.

She can't be too hasty and count on it coming earlier than expected, but there's nothing stopping her from drawing up an alternative to the plan if it does come about earlier then she was initially planning.

It takes everything in her not to start cackling when she sees Miya, Honami, and Yuki's baffled and confused faces at the news report. Inevitably, the talk around it going around collecting dead satellites and using them as resources had only gotten more and more traction as it kept doing it, even after it seemed to finish up building onto itself. Though, she did very much notice that Japan didn't admit that she straight up told them that she, and therefore the satellite, were technically Japanese. She was a citizen after all, and while they had no claim to its ownership, at the moment anyway, they did technically originate from Japan.

Funnily enough, the Great Asian Union, the GAU as it was abbreviated, and the New Soviet Union, or the NSU, which her brain honestly still struggles to wrap itself around how either managed to come out on top locally in the WW3 given just how weak China and Russia had been revealed to be around the same time in her original universe. She had initially thought maybe they were just inherently different from the versions of those countries in said universe, but given the way the war had started off on such a bad foot for them…

Well, she genuinely doesn't understand how they made that turn around. The only possibility that made a lick of sense to her is that as the war dragged on, the smaller counties around them got taxed and were too tapped out after a certain point and ended up absorbed as a result. She shoves her brain off of the almost standard confused mental rabbit hole for her when it comes up(3). Her original funny thought was on the sheer humor in the fact that the GAU and NSU were known to do so much shady crap so often that it was easy as all hell for Japan to basically shrug when asked about how close to its shores it was launched from and just say that for all they knew, it was something the GAU and NSU did, since they had as few answers as anyone else.

That was sort of a lie, but not totally. They knew that the person who launched it claimed to be Japanese, but that was the only thing they knew that the rest of the world didn't, and if it ever came out, they could easily brush it off by saying they questioned her heads up messages’ authenticity.

Even funnier though was Miya and Yuki's sheer confusion which has only grown the more and more that was released about it. This one though… this one takes the cake hands down. She'd honestly originally fretted about whether there was enough space debris to work with, but she needn't have bothered, which had quickly been revealed in a quick online search. There were literally thousands of tons of it up there. She'd contemplated whether or not to snatch it all up, a sort of multiple birds with one stone kinda thing in that. For one, it'd get the hazard out of the way, since while the various governments have gotten better at adjusting where they'd end up falling out of their previous orbits and crashing, there were… definitely still occasionally deaths and damage. Mostly in more rural areas, but that doesn't make them acceptable, just less of a tragedy since it limits the amount of death and destruction compared to hitting a large city.

When she'd first learned that, she'd immediately understood that there weren't as many limits on what she could have Rowena make as she'd initially thought. It slowed the project that was for down somewhat of course. But she'd gone through with the decision anyway, approving Rowena's most ambitious design and told her to snatch everything else as well. If nothing else, it's not like it wouldn't have the storage space as it was processed down into compact materials, and anything subpar altered as needed to bring it up to acceptable standards.

The news that Honami, Miya, Yuki were dumbfounded by today though… was the live footage of her satellite approaching the final piece of space debris. Everything else, everything, after it pulled that on board to start processing, would all be live satellites.

She wasn't too surprised, and was actually satisfied, by the fact that the various governments of the world were already poised to write a ‘new’ law that whenever a satellite went dead from here on out it was still their's, since it meant they would have to carefully monitor and control where they crashed back down. No more tragedies on that front. Which was also why they wrote a ‘new’ law instead of revoking the old one shirking their claim to old satellites, since if they did that, then there was still the hefty bill of backpay they would all owe.

She watches mildly as the orbital platform Rowena has built with the 3D printers and drones to assemble the parts onto it opens its hatch, letting out drones to get behind the defunct satellite and start pushing it back towards the opening.

As the doors close behind the satellite, there's a beat of unnecessarily solemn silence from the news broadcast before the commentators start talking about how with it being taken into the ‘Rouge satellite’ and with everything else in space being a live satellite, there was no longer any space debris around earth. As they start discussing the hopes of there being a brighter future now that the hazard the debris made is gone and what the ‘Rouge satellite’ would do now, she reaches out for Rowena mentally, <Anything else that's slipped my mind?>

Rowena responds immediately, <Negative Creator. Onto phase two?>

She holds back the urge to nod, not wanting the others to question what she was nodding at, <Just to double check, the teleportation gate on board is functioning?>

Rowena doesn't hesitate, <Affirmative Creator.>

She tucks her smile behind her coffee cup, <Then yes. Nothing has come up requiring putting it off.>

Rowena's mental voice becomes rather satisfied, <Understood Creator. Shifting to phase two.>

On the TV, she watches as the orbital platform begins to pull away, drawing the attention of the newscasters. There's a beat of silence before one of them asks in confusion, “Where is it going?”

The other shrugs, “No idea. I suppose we'll have to wait and find out.” Then a wary grin spreads over their face, “Considering we were just speculating about this being the start of a more hopeful future though, I find myself wondering if our comments will age well or not.”

The other newscaster looks down, “I suppose so…”

She leans back, mind already moving back to working on later aspects of the plan. She still has time, so there isn't particularly a rush, but she'd like it done sooner rather than later.

So, here's the thing. Her Occlumency means she's fast at casting in general, but particularly without a CAD. Inhumanly fast by this universe's standards. Which means that when she had to take the casting speed test for First High, she had to actively throttle her own casting speed and manually slow herself down. Problem is, it hadn't really occurred to her before, so she hadn't practiced in trying to control just how much she slowed her casting speed down by all that much before the entrance exam.

Which is why for all she passed, she was placed in course two. It seems like such an inefficient way to do things, and it's turned her attention from the bigger picture in all the things she's been developing for her plan, with occasional developmental detours to work on specific things like general or disaster aid that the military had requested.

She can get why the focus was on getting as many well trained magicians as possible as quickly as possible during WW3, and even for the immediate aftermath as they recovered, but she does not get why Japan hasn't stopped basically funneling magicians into things like the military and police and maybe do things like encourage some of them to pursuing studies in education to increase how many magician teachers there are? Instead of making excuses about not having enough of them and shuffling half of the accepted students in three of the nine high schools into practically just being online students since they don't have actual teachers. She can't decide if it's better or worse that the remaining six magic high schools don't even have course twos. On one hand, it means each of them can only accept one hundred students a year instead of two hundred, but on the other, at least they aren't damn near neglecting half of their students.

It's absolutely something she intends to start pressuring them on, to stop basically forcing magicians into jobs that in some way or another have to do with combat and start diverting to things like education or even just things like general non-combat focused research.

Her frustration at yet another way this universe was completely messed up is probably why she was somewhat… shorter with Yuki than usual, “Onee-sama! I cannot accept this! For you of all people to be in course two-!”

She sighs sharply, “Yuki!” He flinches, and she slips her eyes closed and counts to three mentally as she tries to force herself to be more patient despite her general frustration, “You know full well why I didn't make it into course one. Kicking up a fuss is very much unappreciated.”

Yuki looks down, “I apologize Onee-sama. I let the pride I feel for what my Onee-sama is capable of win over my common sense.”

She glances away, “I understand that, but you really need to work on controlling yourself better.”

Yuki nods glumly, knowing full well she's both right in general given it draws attention to her placement in course two and potentially has people questioning why her own brother thinks she shouldn't be, potentially tipping them off to the fact she's hiding things, as well as the more hidden undercurrent reminder. She had, in fact, had to sit Yuki down and have a blunt conversation with him even after he heard her discussing things with Miya. It hadn't been pleasant in any meaning of the word, but she'd laid down clear boundaries on the fact that while she was fine with them having a sibling relationship, if he tried to push for more, all he'd get was her pulling away herself or pushing him away.

She bites back a sigh. By and large, Yuki has been good about it, and they've built up a bit of a sibling relationship. He does slip up sometimes. Mostly in crowding her physically, which was one of the boundaries she set purely because it made her uncomfortable, not because she generally minds too much when people get close, but because whenever he gets too close he always has an obsessive gleam in his eyes. Though he did sometimes slip up in other ways, the majority of his slip ups happened physically.

She shakes her head at his glum expression, “Just focus on getting ready for your speech as the representative of the first year students.”

He fixes his expression, but she can tell he's still a bit down, “Of course Onee-sama. What will you be doing in the meantime?”

She shrugs, “I don't have anything I need to do to prepare, so I'll undoubtedly just go and kill some time with Sora, Miho, and Hoshi while we wait for the entrance ceremony start time to be closer.”

Yuki twitches slightly, both at the reminder of her partners and of Sora's sister. She's never told Yuki about her reincarnation, and she's made it utterly clear to those that do know that she's not comfortable with him knowing, not because she thinks he can use it against her in some way, he's much like Miya in those regards, but because she knows full well his obsession will lead to a meltdown at the idea that she'd lived an entire life without him, as well as the fact her partners were her full on spouses in everything but this universe's laws. But his priming born obsession means he's always hated Sora and Miho and what they are to her. He doesn't like Hoshi either, jealous of the close relationship she has with her, particularly since he doesn't know why. Doesn't know that she was her husband's sister and as a result, her sister in law in everything but the eyes of this world's government.

While they don't really care what he thinks of them, feeling vague pity for him but otherwise not thinking or feeling anything in particular towards Yuki, she had made one of those boundaries she'd laid out for him be her intolerance of him speaking ill of them. Honestly, he should be grateful towards them. She'd have cut him out of her life just on that alone, not wanting people who hated her soulmates and her sister in law in her life, but they had outright argued with her to give him more of a chance, since it wasn't really his fault in general given it was a result of his priming.

He doesn't even know that though, as such, she's not surprised that it twitches and isn't very genuine when he smiles at her, “I see. I'm glad Onee-sama won't be sitting around bored with nothing to do while you wait.”

She hums idly, “You should get going. It's getting rather close to when they asked you to be there to start preparing.”

He nods, “Of course Onee-sama. I'll see you after.”

She gives another vague hum, and knowing full well he struggles to walk away from her, she turns to leave herself instead of waiting for him to.

As she gets to the other three who were waiting a bit away, both as a matter of what privacy she and Yuki can get out in the open in the school and also because they just didn't want to have anything to do with whatever he was pitching a fit about now, Hoshi glances behind them. Then she turns to them with a vaguely disturbed expression, “Just so we’re clear, while I can't see it happening since I don't have priming and we have a fairly healthy relationship, that boy has instilled a deep seated terror of me crossing lines with Sora, and if that ever happens for whatever reason, I absolutely expect you all to sit my ass down and make it clear, and if that fails, to beat some sense into me. Well before I get to that point at that.”

She presses her lips together to try to hold back her amused grin, even as Sora glances back as well, “Honestly? May not be the younger sibling myself, but as the boy between us, I can't say he doesn't freak me out as well so that's fair.”

Hoshi snorts and quick steps to be in front of him to start walking backwards, “Difference is, brother mine, you have your soulmates you're already obsessed with as a natural deterrent against things turning that way for you. I don't.”

Sora tilts his head, “I suppose that's true enough.”

Miho looks at her in bemusement, “I mean, I can't see it ever happening, but I can understand why Yuki may freak you out at the possibility and if need be, I'm more than happy to give you a talking to about it. But I don't think I could ‘beat some sense into you’ even if I was comfortable with it.”

She snorts, “Don't worry Hoshi. Even if these two can't or won't, I'll give you a proper beating if necessary.” She flicks a look up at the bemused Sora, “And you aren't allowed to go overprotective big brother mode and try to stop me and complain.”

Hoshi bounces back to her free side and hugs her arm with both of her own, “Knew I could count on you! And what she said Sora! No interfering from you!”

He holds his hands up in an amused surrender, “I won't, I won't. That's between you two. Particularly since you just made that agreement right in front of me.”

She reaches across her body with her free hand to pat at Hoshi's hair, “Well, there you go. If things ever take a turn, Miho will give you a talking to, and if that fails, I'll beat some sense back into you.”

Miho leans forward from where she's walking on Sora's other side to give them a flat look, “You two jump to violence far too easily.”

Hoshi shrugs, “We all do, Sora as well, if anything, as far as our group goes, you're too slow to take the violent option.”

Miho rolls her eyes as she leans back, then points, “There's a bench over there we can sit on while we wait.”

Sora shrugs, “Sounds good to me.”

Hoshi lets go of her after the three of them settle on the bench, holding up her mobile terminal with the map pulled up, “Well, I've always been a lot better with a mental map then a physical one, so I'm gonna wander around a bit to get a firmer sense of the layout.”

Sora nods, then casually calls out as she starts walking away, “Don't embarrass me or I'll have to kill you!”

Without missing a beat, Hoshi calls back over her shoulder, “Yeah, yeah. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, or I'll kill you and/or laugh at you instead of bailing you out of jail! I'll meet you in front of where they're doing the entrance ceremony half an hour before it starts! Don't be late or I'll electrocute you!”

She shakes her head, and Miho looks at Sora with vague exasperation, “Would it kill you two if you said ‘be careful’ or make plans to meet up in a normal way?”

She snorts, “No, but I'm surprised you haven't worked out why they started acting that way on your own.”

Miho gives her a baffled look, “Pardon?”

Sora shrugs, “Not long after the… problems with Tommy were dealt with,” She's not surprised at the wording since they know full well better than to speak openly about their reincarnation, “Bai realized that she thought the height of entertainment was annoying me or just generally being a little shit. It was, unsurprisingly given that's what she was aiming for, annoying but also nice in a way, since she did go from losing her emotions entirely to thinking annoying me, her brother that she'd lost all feeling for prior, is the height of entertainment, and then it just kinda… escalated from there.”

She hums as she glances at a message Maya had just sent about her first official day of First High, even though it was technically just the entrance ceremony and getting their ID cards. As she types out a response she says to Miho absently, “It's their weird version of a sibling love language now.”

Miho sighs in exasperation and turns the topic to the vague plan to go on a date after the initial rush of starting First High and getting everything in order fades. A couple of students going by make disparaging comments on the fact that ‘Weeds’, the derogatory term for course two students, are on the school grounds so early, but they're completely ignored. It seems to make more than a few of them mad, but given the ones that do are the ones who had been speaking louder than would've been totally natural with their conversation partner right by them assumably purely to make sure they can hear their comments, it's not that surprising that they'd get pissy at being ignored.

They'd honestly been expecting it though. She had the issue with overcompensating in pulling her casting speed back into normal territory, Sora, as well as Hoshi for that matter, did of course see the value of speed but both valued versatility and various combat applications far more, and Miho, while never bad at it, had never had a high proficiency with magic, so all four of them had ended up in course two.

When there's about forty minutes before the start of the ceremony, they head off to meet up with Hoshi, then quickly find seats. She's sitting at the end of their group, so it's not surprising that the question is directed at her when another girl asks, “Um, are these seats taken?”

Turning, she sees a girl wearing glasses, which given the advancements of eye correction are far more likely specialty glasses for oversensitivity to magic which wasn't rare in and of itself but was rare in needing outside aid, standing off to the side with a couple other girls. She smiles at her, “Not at all. Help yourselves.”

She smiles back shyly, “Thanks.” As they settle, she gives her a shy look before she can turn back to the others, “Er. I'm Shibata Mizuki. Nice to meet you.”

She smiles at her, “Shiba Toshiko, likewise.”

From Mizuki's other side, another of the girls leans forward to grin around her, “I'm Chiba Erika! Nice to meet you Shiba!”

Her smile turns a little bemused at her enthusiasm, “It's nice to meet you as well. I suppose if we're introducing ourselves I should introduce my companions. This is Yasuda Miho,” Her wife in all but local law leans around her to wave with a smile, “And the Amano twins Sora,” Her husband glances away from his hissed conversation with his sister, “And Hoshi.” The woman in question leans around her brother to turn the ‘I'm being a little shit’ grin on them briefly, “Don't mind them, they spend more time bickering than not.”

Erika snorts as Mizuki tries to hide a little giggle in the side of a fist. She'd originally thought the girls wanted four seats because they're some sort of friend group, but given the way the other two don't even glance over, her initial assumption is likely wrong.

She and her group do, however, start chatting with Mizuki and Erika while they wait for the ceremony to start. Mizuki seems a little shy and Erika quite mischievous as well as enthusiastic, but they seem like good kids in general. Mizuki's shyness does draw a thing of concern from her, wondering if it's just how she is naturally, which is perfectly acceptable of course, or if it's something else, but given how tense and evasive she seems when Miho idly comments on how it's a little unusual to see someone with glasses nowadays, it's probably just from that.

Hopefully it's just due to some self-consciousness rather than due to a history of bullying or something. Very few do, though she's not self righteous enough to claim that there aren't some assholes out there -racists and elitists and the like- that could do with some bullying of their own, but Mizuki really does seem like a good kid and certainly doesn't seem like the sort to low-key deserve it.

After the entrance ceremony and them being issued their IDs, and learning that by pure dumb luck they were all in the same class(4), she's not really surprised when the other two girls that had shown up with Mizuki and Erika walk off without a word. It practically confirms that they weren't actually with them, then gets actually confirmed when Hoshi questions it in confusion. That leads to Erika explaining that Mizuki had memorized enough of the map to know where to go since AR terminals are banned from the school, but the other three hadn't gotten it down firmly enough and had gotten lost, so she'd kinda collected them while she was getting a firmer idea of the school layout.

After they realize they're in the same class and the other two leave, Erika turns to them, “What should we do? Go take a look at our homeroom as well?”

She glances at the other three and Miho tilts her head, “It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get a firm idea of where it is if nothing else.”

She nods, “That's a good plan. I do need to wait for Yuki though, since originally we said we'd meet up after the ceremony.”

Mizuki peers at her curiously, “Yuki as in freshmen representative Shiba Yuki? I thought you may be related.”

She nods, figuring Mizuki probably worked that out from the magic she can see since if there's one thing this universe has a bit more firmly in common with her original one, it's that families tend to have something very similar to family magic signatures, with the only real differences between the nature of the signatures she can see being from the differences in the magic itself. That being said, while she's not necessarily right as to her ocular magic sensitivity, it's rude to reveal personal information about others, so she avoids commenting on it.

As such, she just smiles at her, “I'm surprised you spotted it. Shiba isn't exactly a rare name, and people don't tend to think we look very similar.”

Erika glances between them in surprise, “No kidding. I never would've guessed it myself. Are you two twins or something? Since you're in the same year and all.”

She shakes her head, “Not at all. I was just born not long after the cut off for a school year while my brother was born not long before it. If I was born twenty-three days before or he was born seven days later, we would've been in two different school years.”

Erika shakes her head, then laughs, “Before Mizuki said something, I was about to say that if you've got a brother they must be cute, but I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting something on that level.”

She shrugs, “So I've heard. To be honest, maybe it's just because he's my brother, but I've never seen what the big deal is.”

Erika gives her a surprised look, “Ehh?! I mean, I can get why you wouldn't be attracted to him, but you do have eyes! You can't even see it from a purely objective point of view?” She shakes her head, and Erika doesn't even give her the chance to say anything, “For real?! But he's practically the definition of pretty boy!”

She shrugs again, but once again before she can speak, Hoshi pipes up, “That's kind of the whole problem.” Seeing Erika and Mizuki's confusion, she shrugs and jerks her thumb towards Sora, “My brother is her boyfriend, which should give you a decent idea of the kind of guy she finds attractive. Don't know how you would describe him, but pretty boy he is not.”

Erika and Mizuki gain looks of understanding, but before anyone can say anything more, Yuki approaches a whole group with him which he slips away from as they pull to a stop and he keeps going until he's right in front of her, “Onee-sama, sorry to keep you waiting.”

He hides it much better nowadays, but again, she used to serve on the Wizengamot surrounded by nobles who had been taught to control their expression since birth and had decades to hone that skill, so she can read that he's as irritated as usual. Originally, she thought it was just a natural reaction to having praised heaped on him and gathering admirers wherever he went, but after a couple times catching him flick her glances when people were complimenting him and only getting annoyed when she didn't react in any way, she'd realized it was more of a mixture of not really wanting compliments that aren't from her, as well as the fact she never agreed nor got irritated when they did. The last one tends to be what actually irritates her about the situation, because she's had discussions with him about it, multiple in fact, having to remind him a couple times when they were younger. Yet he still gets annoyed by it like he's waiting for his girlfriend to get upset at other women heaping attention onto him or something.

She doesn't feel like dealing with it, particularly given it never really achieves anything, so she just ignores it, “That was quick.”

He smiles, but there's both irritation as well as a sharp edge to it, “It didn't take as long as I was expecting to finish up. Making friends already though? You certainly move fast.”

She gives him a look, silently chastising him for being jealous of others having her attention again, even as she glances over at them, “This is Shibata Mizuki and Chiba Erika. They ended up sitting next to me when they were finding seats for the entrance ceremony and as it turns out, we're in the same class.”

Yuki looks away in response to her silent rebuke, “I see.”

Feeling the need to remind him he has no particular claim to her, she adds, “Funny coincidence, so are Sora, Miho, and Hoshi. I mean, there are only three course two classes, but it's certainly fortuitous that all four of us ended up in the same one.”

One of the people who had been following Yuki, an upperclassmen from the looks of her, smiles, “I assume from the use of first names that you're friends? How lucky to end up with all of you in the same class!”

She smiles at her, “Very much so.”

The upperclassmen laughs lightly, “Ah! But where are my manners? I'm Student Council President Saegusa Mayumi.”

She nods her head, “Shiba Toshiko.”

Saegusa seems to get excited about that, “I thought you might be if you're siblings with Yuki here! You're the one with the highest score, even setting a record, on the theoretical part of the entrance exams!” She smiles at her brightly, “It's nice to know my suspicion that the highest scores in both the practicals and theoretical halves both having the last name Shiba wasn't a coincidence! Your family is quite talented!”

She dips her head again, “Thank you.”

Before she can say anything else, Yuki, who's acknowledgement of the reprimand hadn't lasted long since she can already see he's getting jealous again of someone having her attention, something she's reaching the end of her patience on, interrupts her small conversation with Saegusa, “Onee-sama, did you want to head out now, or…?”

Wanting a bit of space before she snaps at him, she smiles, “Actually, we held off on going because I'd already made plans to meet you here, but we were thinking of finding our classroom first, just to make sure we know where it is tomorrow. I was going to ask you to just tag along while we found it real quick, but I can only imagine that if the Student Council President is here then she had something she wanted to discuss with you?”

Saegusa smiles, “I did actually!”

She turns back to Yuki, “Then we'll split up briefly while you speak to Saegusa-senpai and I head over with my classmates to get a firm idea of where our class is real quick and just meet back up in about twenty minutes?”

She'd thrown the last question towards Saegusa, who laughs lightly, “That's plenty of time to get the basics covered, especially since I'm sure Yuki will need time to think!” Then Saegusa shakes her head a little bemused, “It's not like we have an appointment with Yuki, so I was about to suggest we catch up with him tomorrow, but that works out rather well! Especially since while we'll undoubtedly still need to see each other later, Yuki will have more time to think it over!”

She nods, then turns to Yuki, who was trying hard to hide how sullen he is, “Alright then. You'll stay with Saegusa and find out what she was wanting to talk about while we head over for a more solid sense of where our classroom is and we'll meet back up in about twenty minutes.”

Yuki nods, doing his best to hide how dejected he is, “Of course Onee-sama.”

She lifts her hand, not seeing the point in giving a verbal farewell of some sort when they'll see each other so soon, immediately heading off with the other five. There's a few beats of silence before Mizuki peers up at her cautiously, “Shiba… Are you sure that was a good idea? I didn't intend, and I don't think Erika did either, to cause any issues between you and your brother…”

She sighs, “You didn't. That was more of an extension of a long standing problem. One I can basically guarantee you that you wouldn't want the details on even if I wanted to get into it given we're practically strangers.”

Erika leans forward to peer around Mizuki at her, “Well, I guess it's good we didn't start anything unintentionally, but that kinda came out of nowhere to be honest.”

She shrugs, “Short version? He gets jealous of literally anyone having a crumb of my attention.”

Erika straight up, “Ah. So a total siscon. Fair enough.”

She sighs again, “Particularly since you don't even know a tenth of it.”

Erika snickers, but the conversation turns away there as they start idly chatting about their classes that will be officially starting the next day. They swing by the classroom, but basically immediately head back out. Having a better idea of where they are, it's slightly faster getting back to where she was supposed to meet with Yuki then it was to get to the classroom to begin with, and he's already waiting when they get there, looking even less happy but on his own this time.

When they meet back up, Erika glances around, “You guys up to going to get something to drink and a bite?”

She smiles as she glances at the others, “Sounds good to me. You guys?” They all murmur agreements of their own, happily for most of them, sullen and moody for Yuki, and she turns back, “Well that settles that then. Have anywhere in mind?”

Erika grins, “There's a nice cake shop cafe thing nearby.”

She gives her a bemused look, “You can't remember where the entrance ceremony is being held without aid from your mobile terminal but remember a cake cafe?”

Erika nods confidently, “Of course! It's important, isn't it?”

She shakes her head in amusement, “You have strange priorities, but lead the way.”

Erika pouts at her a little for the priority comment, but starts off and they trail with, chatting all the while.

Chapter Text

After a fairly standard meet up for sparing and update purposes on getting accepted to First High with the Ancient magic user Kazama introduced her to, Kokonoe Yakumo, she's in the self driving car, the cabinet as they call them, heading to their first actual day of school with Yuki when he suddenly breaks the silence, “Onee-sama?” She looks up from her mobile terminal, “I received a call from those people congratulating me for getting accepted into First High.” She nods, “Did… Did they get in touch with you?”

She sighs, “No, but I don't really care. Why?”

Yuki shakes a little as his magic starts to leak out and lower the temperature in the vehicle, “That- I suppose it was a rather fleeting hope, but that they didn't even acknowledge Onee-sama-”

Her tone becomes lightly chastising, “Yuki.” He jolts, picking up on the rebuke even though it's mild and not snapped, ever sensitive to her disapproval, looking up at her with wide eyes like a deer in the headlights, “I know you have some strange hope we'll actually bond as parent and child, but as I've told you before. Tatsurou is not my father as far as I'm concerned, just my sperm donor. Neither of us have any desire for a relationship, which I've also told you before. I really don't care.” She glances away, “Actually, if anything, I'd be more upset about him suddenly trying to get friendly with me out of the blue, given he's made his opinions clear on me before, it would be incredibly obvious he was faking it for some reason. Trying to use me or something. Something like that action itself and the audacity to pull that after everything is practically the only thing he could do to actually upset me.”

Yuki's brows furrow, unhappy at the firm refusal regarding his hopes of her and Tatsurou bonding, then he lowers his head, “I… understand Onee-sama.”

She tilts her head as his magic starts to dissipate, silent for a few moments as she just gazes at him, “...No. I don't think you do. Honestly, we only communicate when absolutely necessary, and if anything, the acknowledgement that we are nothing to each other gives us a rather smooth businesslike relationship when we do have to interact, as rare as it is. It's not the familial relationship you seem to desire for us that neither of us wants, but quite frankly? The emotionless, purely businesslike relationship we have is actually much more amicable than the hostility from before. Hostility Tatsurou would likely devolve back into if he was forced into a parental role for me. I don't care regardless, I'm not one for paying heed to the opinions of people I don't care for, but it's the most warmth our relationship really will ever have, and if anything, your attempts are more likely to sabotage what relationship we do have.”

Yuki flinches, and for a moment, he looks like he may cry, but arguably, he did it to himself, holding out some strange hope that she and Tatsurou would develop a familial relationship. Regardless, he nods a little miserably, “I- I understand Onee-sama.”

She looks back down at her mobile terminal, holding back a sigh. She's had some snide remarks from people like Mitsugu and Osamu about how heartless she was to Yuki, which was ironic given how little the Yotsuba actually cared about emotions and she knows full well they're just jumping on anything they can potentially use against her, but he did it to himself. He sets himself up for it with his constant unreasonable expectations. Does she feel a little bad to be constantly breaking his heart? Yes, because he was her younger brother and they had something of a sibling relationship nowadays, even if it's a bit strained on her end given his constant pushing at her boundaries, desperate for more than what she's willing to give him and unwilling to even try to move on. It is not her fault though. He constantly does it to himself by trying to impose things she does not want and being dejected when she shuts it down. Repeatedly in some cases.

She wasn't going to concede to his constant unreasonable pushes, both on a personal level for him or on other topics like Tatsurou just to spare his feelings. Particularly given she does try to break those kinds of things to him gently the first time and only gets blunt when he continues to push.

If she didn't know his obsession made him practically unable to try to make her out to be the bad guy, she'd actually be inclined to think he was a master manipulator who's favorite tactic was the heartbroken victim card.

She honestly doesn't know what's worse. That she knows full well that Yuki's obsession means there's no way in hell he'd let events play out in such a way for her to be put in a negative light knowingly or that it keeps happening because even after she's told him time and time again, there still seems to be some part of him that tries to basically control her life in the way he constantly pushes for her relationships to be as he desires and all that other nonsense.

She settles at her desk, greeting Mizuki and Erika. It wasn't a big deal obviously, but unfortunately neither of her soulmates nor her sister-in-law were desk mates to her. They were still in the room obviously, but on some level she almost wants to pout at the entirely new experience of attending school with them but not being able to chat with them casually in class due to the assigned seating. She can before and after class starts obviously, and there will be plenty of time in between during lunch breaks and the like, but even without an actual teacher to have to try to keep her voice down so as not to catch the attention of, she's not going to shout over at them. If nothing else, it would be rude to people trying to concentrate and disruptive.

Deciding to distract herself, she inserts her ID into her assigned terminal and starts brushing up on information that wasn't on the website or in their emails while she waits for the start of class.

Her attention is grabbed by the fact the student in front of her is turned in his seat staring at her. She'd noticed from the get go of course, but she'd ignored it initially, unsure if he was looking past her at someone he knew or just looking around. It's fairly obvious at this point neither is the case though, so she casually asks in a polite tone, “Is there a reason you're staring at me?”

He jolts, “Sorry! My bad, it's just kinda rare to see so I ended up staring.”

She flicks a bemused look at him, “Rare?”

He shrugs, “I’m pretty sure it’s rare now, right? This is the first time I have seen someone only using keyboard input.”

She huffs in amusement as she realizes what he's referring to, “Probably, but it's what I'm most comfortable with.” Which was absolutely due to the fact she grew up in the early 2000’s in her previous life, well before anything remotely similar to this world's tech came about, “Actually, if you're familiar enough with it, it's the fastest method, although it's also the one most prone to errors and therefore least accurate.” She shrugs, “No method is inherently correct, they all have their advantages and drawbacks, so it's really just best to go what you're most comfortable with. Well. As long as you can. The rules mean you can't use virtual terminals here obviously, which gets in the way of things if that's related to the one you're most comfortable with.”

The boy tilts his head, “That's true enough…” Then he shakes himself out and grins, “I haven't introduced myself yet. Sorry about that. I'm Saijou Leonhart. My dad's only half and my mom's a quarter, so while I look Japanese, my names Western, and my specialty is Convergent Systematic Reinforcement magic. My desired course is to hone my body and become either riot police or a mountain corpsman. You can just call me Leo.”

A flicker of amusement goes through her at his name. There was a certain bit of humor in a reincarnated descendant of Godric Gryffindor, who's House uses thestrals and lions in their family crest, becoming acquaintances with someone named Leo. She smiles at him, “Shiba Toshiko, you can just call me Toshiko. It's nice to meet you Leo. I'm more of a jack of all trades type than anything,” Well, that wasn't entirely true, if it had been her previous life, she would've said she was specialized in combat oriented magic and Runes, but she's honestly never given her abilities in this life a whole load of thought. She just picks up whatever she needs to for her goals, “I'd say I'm more of a magic engineer than anything.” Which was technically true, given she does spend a lot of time developing magic, “As far as what I'd like to do with it…” She hesitates a bit, trying to figure out how to word it given it's still a secret before settling on an answer as she smiles a little at her terminal, “I suppose the best way to put it would be to say I prefer to look at the bigger picture.”

Erika, apparently having heard the conversation as she entered the room, bounds up to them cheerfully, “You wanna be a magic engineer Toshiko?”

Leo gives her a weird look, “Who's this random guy?”

That irritates Erika, and she almost immediately starts bickering with Leo. She huffs a small laugh quietly, turning to look over at Sora since they're being loud enough that there's no way the entire room isn't hearing it. When she glances over, he looks equally amused, then mouths to her, ‘Two peas in a pod, aren't they?’

She does her best to bite back a smile as she mouths back, ‘Loud, brash, energetic, and proud? Yes.’

Sora shakes his head as Hoshi giggles a bit from where she's sitting on his desk, towards the edge with her legs dangling off given the terminal but still very much on top of it.

Given the alphabetical order to the seat assignments, Miho is at the back of the class, so she turns around to share an amused look with her too. As she is though, it draws her attention to a boy sitting next to her. He's gazing at Erika with an embarrassed look on his face, so she can only assume they know one another.

Feeling a bit bad for the boy, if only because between the decades she spent in Japan with Misaki in their previous life and the handful of years here to adjust to any differences in this universe, she's very familiar with the aversion to drawing attention most Japanese seem to have and how easily they suffer second hand embarrassment, she nods to the left, Miho's right from her perspective, at the boy.

Miho looks a little confused at first, before she glances over and clocks him. She leans over to try to sooth out his embarrassment even as she gives her a thumbs up with the hand on the side opposite him.

She has no idea if Miho will be able to help him out with his embarrassment, but it's worth a shot.

She's still with Erika, Mizuki, and Leo as they start to head to lunch, and within moments, Hoshi bounds up, almost as energetic as Erika had been this morning, Sora trailing behind her, a bit more laid back. They don't even get a chance for Leo to make more than a confused expression, the only one of the three who hadn't been there yesterday to know she was familiar with the twins, before Miho is somehow politely dragging her seatmate up to them.

Introductions are quickly exchanged, in which she learns that yes, Miho's seat mate, Yoshida Mikihiko, who insists they just call him Mikihiko, does in fact know Erika, who much to his chagrin calls him ‘Miki’, and an explanation is given to Leo as to why the seemingly random students are coming up in the form of the fact she's close to the other three. An explanation for Mikihiko wasn't really needed, given he'd seen Miho basically dragging him up, but Miho had brushed it off anyway with a quick explanation of the fact she and Mikihiko had gotten along fairly well and at her question, he'd revealed he had no plans for lunch.

They hadn't stopped moving while they spoke, so by the time they're done, they're already settling down with their food in the cafeteria. They've hardly been there for very long though, before Yuki comes over, a group practically glued to him, which is probably the source of the slight strain in his smile, “Onee-sama, I'm glad that if nothing else lunch is shared between courses. I must admit, I missed you.”

She's not surprised in the slightest, but some of her followers seem to be, though it's one of the boys around her that voices it, “Ehh? Shiba? You're joining Weeds for lunch?”

He barely hides his scowl as he turns, “I don't know why you're acting surprised. I told you all that I already had plans to meet with my older sister for lunch.”

He shoots them a dirty look, like they're animal waste on the bottom of his shoe that he was unfortunate enough to step in, “You didn't say she was a Weed.”

Yuki lets some of his displeasure show on her face, “Why should it matter that my Onee-sama is a course two?”

She sort of wants to sigh at Yuki trying to make a point against that whole ‘Bloom’ and ‘Weed’ slang by stressing the actual distinctions between them rather than using the derogatory nickname course one students gave course two. Yes, it really shouldn't exist, but it's not like the false superiority of most course one students will be shaken off by something as simple as that.

She's pulled from her thoughts as Yuki continues, “She is my Onee-sama. What course either of us are in doesn't matter.”

Unsurprisingly, the prideful boy and some of Yuki’s other fans aren't willing to accept that, and Erika and Leo are brash enough that they unsurprisingly refuse to accept their meddling refusal. It starts a bit of an argument, and she gives it a little to see if Yuki's followers will see reason.

After that though, she steps in, not raising her voice, but drawing on her experience as Lady Potter-Black to make her voice ensnare people's attention, “You must look down on Yuki quite a lot.” They all flush bright red, but she doesn't let any of them speak, “I mean, you must to think you have any right to dictate what Yuki does with his free time. To think you have the right to demand his attention.”

There's an uncomfortable silence as more than one of the more verbal students on the course one side flinch or look away or open and close their mouths looking for something to say.

Finally, the boy who'd spoken first musters himself and throws her a dirty glare, “You're awfully rude, but then again, I guess I shouldn't have expected a Weed to know manners.”

She tilts her head boredly, drawing on the Black family's practically patented Look of eying someone up and down and making a very particular expression that all but screams at even the most socially inept that their value is being weighed and they are found lacking, “It is not an inadequacy of manners to disclose to someone else their own arrogance and social ineptitude.” She cranks up the ‘you are lacking’ part of her expression, “Then again, I suppose I shouldn't expect someone who seems to have failed to develop past the single digits’ habit of thinking they can just lay a claim of ownership to whatever and whoever they want and can subsequently monopolize it to know better.”

She hadn't thought it was possible for his blush to get any redder, but he proves her wrong as he sputters even as Erika starts howling with laughter. Apparently having at least enough intelligence to realize the longer he stays, the more he'll be humiliated or maybe not that much but just a tactical retreat from the humiliation he's already been subjected to, after flicking a look at Yuki and realizing he will not be backing him up in any way, he whirls away and storms off. She doesn't know if he was their leader or if they just don't want to risk being humiliated as well, but the rest of Yuki’s unwanted entourage quickly follows him.

She does notice a girl with short brown hair in low twin tails and a girl with short black hair with longer bangs looking back with conflicted expressions, but given she doesn't know them, she couldn't even really begin to guess at what they're conflicted about with any accuracy.

Yuki breathes out a sigh of relief when they're gone, then gives her a grateful smile, “Thank you Onee-sama.” She turns to Erika and Leo and gives a very shallow bow that's more of a nod than anything, “I owe you gratitude as well for attempting to get them to see how unreasonable they were being. I apologize to you all for bringing trouble.”

Leo grins widely, “Nah, don't worry about it. It's normal you'd wanna sit with your sister for lunch since you're in separate classes! Any trouble was entirely from them meddling!”

Erika nods, “Mhm. You can't control how they act.”

It'd been a bit of a hassle to get one, but there were tables with more room than average, and they'd picked one that could seat them all that wouldn't be a squeeze, so there's plenty of room for Yuki to join them which he doesn't hesitate to do.

After another round of introductions, for those who haven't met Yuki at least once before and who he doesn't know, they settle in fairly quickly. In fairness, between Leo and Erika's exuberance, Hoshi's enthusiasm, and her and her husband and wife's calmer ease, Mizuki and Mikihiko's shyness don't really stand a chance.

She feels that same flicker of concern for Mikihiko as she had for Mizuki. It was obviously perfectly fine if they were just naturally shy, but she can't help but feel immediately worried at the possibility of there being some sort of underlying problem. Maybe it's just her being overprotective of innocents, particularly minors and she's sticking her nose into other people's business, but she can't help it. She would never push and practically demand they give her their life stories or anything of the sort, but it's practically instinctive for her to want to reach out to them, to try to find out if there are concealed roots to their behavior and to offer them safety and support if they need it.

If nothing else, she knows full well they'll need to get to know her better so she isn't practically a stranger before she tries to find some way to get to the bottom of whether it's just their natural dispositions or if there are some sort of problems. She also needs to figure out how to enquire into it gently if signs do point to there being a cause. If it's some sort of trauma, she doesn't want to unintentionally trigger some sort of relapse if they're already on the road to recovery for the hypothetical trauma.

She holds back a sigh, not wanting to give any of the kids the wrong impression of her opinion on their conversation. She may very well just be reading into it too much. In fairness, other than Neville, who absolutely had some trauma from the way his family behaved regarding his latent magic when he was younger, practically all of her friends back when she was mentally as young as she was physically weren't anything like their almost painful shyness.

She'd keep an eye on them, see if they exhibited any more signs then what could just be perfectly natural shyness and obviously she'd back off if it was just that, but they're just kids. If they need help, then Merlin damn it all but she'll find a way to help them.

She's somehow not even surprised that apparently the students from lunch did not, in fact, seem to learn their lesson, given they were now arguing with Erika and Leo, the most confrontational of the group, about Yuki spending time with them now that school was over. Miho, always police at heart, was trying to deescalate the situation, particularly after lunch earlier, but it wasn't going very well. She didn't know and frankly didn't care if they were just that desperate for Yuki's attention or if their bruised pride after being so thoroughly dismissed at lunch was riling them, but they were being even more insistent now then they were then.

Miho is hiding it very well, but she can tell she's growing more exasperated, both at their unreasonable and arrogant behavior, and undoubtedly at the fact they still don't seem to understand that she's arguably trying to save them from Toshiko herself finally deciding to step in and inevitably doing even more damage to their egos. They really have let their egos blind them though, given from the glances they keep shooting her with mounting victorious superiority, they don't seem to have realized that much like at lunch, she wasn't being quiet because she had nothing to say. It was more because she was giving them a chance to be persuaded to see reason before she steps in.

She pulls on her experience as a Lady for the second time today to cut into the bickering, “You do realize that this is harassment?” The guy in the lead sputters, but she doesn't give him a chance to recover, “You're acting obsessive and demanding when Yuki isn't obligated to give you his time.” She eyes him, “As I was telling you this afternoon, you really ought to work on your wisdom better reflecting your years.”

Erika barks out a sharp laugh, and Morisaki turns bright red again, before spitting out, “Shut up! Weeds have no right to interfere in matters concerning Blooms!”

Mizuki, who'd been showing more boldness than she expected of the rather quiet and shy girl before this argument, calmly rebukes that, “We are all just freshman. You guys are Blooms, but right now just how are you any better than us?”

That gets more than a bit of anger from the course one students, and the ringleader gives gives a disdainful look, “If you want to know just how much better, I can show you.”

He was going to regret that, given with her Elemental Sight, she can see Saegusa and a woman who had been introduced as Watanabe Mari during the entrance ceremony approaching, probably drawn by the loud argument. Leo, unsurprisingly for the brash boy who said he maybe wants to become riot police as one of his two options, grins at him, “Ha! Interesting! By all means, show us!”

The other boy switches his aggressive look to Leo, “Then I will!”

She wants to sigh. The only ones allowed to carry CADs on campus were senior members of the Student Council and certain committees, but it was after school hours and everyone had already collected their CADs on their way out. That being said, using harmful magic without a genuine need to is not only against the school rules, but even the law.

She's weighing up whether she should stop it now or let Leo and the like make their attempt to show them how little they're actually better than them and only intervene if they can't. It's not like she can't easily toss out magic of some sort to stop the attack with ease if it looks like they won't be able to handle it. She can use her Patronus fire if push comes to shove. It's for that reason that she doesn't interfere as the boy draws his CAD and aims it at Leo who looks rather unruffled. Right as Leo is reaching for the CAD, it's suddenly sent flying from the swing of Erika's police baton shaped specialized CAD.

The ease with which she moved and her confident demeanor makes it clear that it wasn't chance or luck, the other student's CAD was going to get knocked from his hand and go flying, something which is backed up by her equally confident words, “At this distance, the body is faster.”

Leo, who had been just shy of grabbing the CAD himself, gives her an irritated look, “I agree, but you were planning to whack my hand as well, weren't you?”

Erika, currently in more of a relaxed ready state for any other trouble and with a bit of triumph in her expression, turns her face to Leo with faux innocence, “Ara, I wouldn't do something like that!”

Leo's irritation ramps up as she laughs, “Don't laugh it off so unnaturally like that!”

She almost wants to laugh herself to be honest. Even though she doesn't know them particularly well, she can still tell they weren't lost in their bickering and still very much on guard against anything else. But there's a certain humor in the fact that they were bickering even in the middle of this tense standoff, and honestly, that alone probably takes the course one students’ perceived superiority down a peg.

As they continue to bicker, other course one students look like they're about to attack, and one of the girls off to the side quickly starts up an activation sequence from her bracelet CAD. It's a harmless spell, just a flash of light like from a flashbang, likely just her trying to stop the situation from getting any further out of hand, but poor timing means that the older girls she'd seen steadily approaching reach them a couple seconds after the activation sequence becomes visible and its broken by a precise bullet of Psions. It isn't Gram Demolition, it only injects a very precise interference of Psions into the sequence to disrupt it and cause it to destabilize, which a magician could theoretically overcome, unlike Gram Demolition which blows the entire sequence to pieces.

The girl stumbles back into her friend as a sharp female voice rings out with authority, “Stop right there! Using attack magic on others for any reason other than self-defense is not just a violation of school rules, it's a criminal offense!”

The one who spoke was the Student Council President Saegusa herself. Watanabe, who was the Disciplinary Committee Chief, speaks in a hard cold voice, "You are students from 1A and 1E aren't you? I will hear you out. Please come along.”

She steps forward at that, “If I may, the only one who attempted to use actual attack magic here wasn't her.” She gestures towards the girl who stares up at her with wide eyes, “She was only attempting to active a spell that would flash a bright light not dissimilar to a flashbang just without the noise part as it wasn't set to be bright enough to cause permanent damage, likely in an attempt to deescalate the situation.”

Watanabe gives her a surprised look, “Are you saying you can read an activation sequence before it's deployed?”

She nods, “I am.” Watanabe's eyes flick over her face for a moment before she suddenly activates her magic. She smiles at the physically older girl, “Watanabe-senpai, that smoke bomb will likely only add to the confusion of the situation.”

The spell fizzles out and she tosses her head back with a laugh, “You really can read activation sequences!”

There's more than one sharply sucked in breath, but she ignores them and nods, “I can.”

Watanabe flicks a more relaxed look at the girl, “I suppose it's admirable to make a snap second decision to try to deescalate a tense situation.” She turns her gaze back on her, “How did it get to that point to begin with though?”

She shrugs, “As you could easily see from the footage on that camera over there,” She points at it, causing the course one students to blanch, “this group of course one students were refusing to accept my younger brother’s insistence that he was leaving with me, rather than going with them for whatever they were trying to pressure him into. He,” Another gesture, this time at the boy who'd drawn his CAD, “was getting snappy about ‘Weeds’ staying out of the business of ‘Blooms’,” Watanabe and Saegusa both give him sharp looks which he cringes away from, “and I suppose one could argue that technically Leo provoked him, but all he said was something about if they're so much better than he should show us and there are dozens of ways he could've done that. He's the one who chose to respond to that by pulling his CAD. As they pointed out, the body tends to be faster at the range he was at, so Leo was about to grab his CAD when Erika knocked it out of his hand with her specialized baton CAD,” She points and Erika jolts a little, “and she and Leo started bickering. The course one students looked like they were about to attack, and that's when she went to set off that bright flash with her spell.”

Saegusa sweeps her gaze over them all, “I see…”

Then she turns to Watanabe, who nods then locks her gaze onto the boy who'd drawn his CAD and holds out her hand, “Let me see your ID.” He looks a little nervous as he hands it over, “Morisaki Shun of class 1A, huh?” She looks back up at him then sweeps her gaze over the rest of them. Her gaze stops on Toshiko’s group first, “While Miss…” 

She nods at her flick of a look, “Shiba Toshiko.”

Watanabe continues, “While Miss Shiba isn't wrong that some of what was said could arguably be taken as verbal provocation, she also isn't wrong that there are plenty of ways he could've responded to the challenge, so you technically didn't do anything wrong. You're free to go.” Then her gaze changes to the girl who had tried to use that flash spell, “Technically, you could be in trouble for trying to use magic, but as you were only trying to deescalate the situation, you're in the clear.” Her gaze sweeps to the rest of the course one students, “Since you didn't technically attack, if only because we showed up before you potentially could, you all get off with just a stern warning, do I make myself clear?” There's some frantic nodding and her gaze lingers a moment to let them shift nervously under it to drive the point home before her gaze finally settles on Morisaki, “You however, are in trouble Morisaki. Grab your CAD and come with me.”

Morisaki sputters, “But- I- They-!”

Watanabe gives him a cold look, “If you're trying to bring up what could be taken as verbal provocation, I would like to remind you that magicians are expected to have better control of themselves than to let something as miniscule as that get a rise out of them. Considering you just started and this is your first offense, I doubt you'll be expelled, but honestly, considering if you just got into a verbal disagreement with someone on the street and acted like this you'd likely be arrested? I'd say they did you a favor by forcing you to acknowledge you have a short fuse before you get yourself arrested.”

Morisaki blanches, then shoots them a dirty look and she raises an eyebrow, “We are not responsible for the way you reacted to what was nothing but a verbal disagreement and arguably provocation.” He tenses, but she just eyes him, “Those who test boundaries find cliffs. We are not responsible for you choosing to push forward.” Watanabe snorts in amusement and flicks a glance at her and she returns the look, “Unless I am mistaken, Morisaki is one of the Hundred Families. Given that Watanabe is also one of the Hundred Families, and that as well as their ties to the Ten Master Clans,” She flicks a look at Saegusa, “regardless of what the school chooses to do, you may want to have a discussion with the way he conducts himself, given the way it reflects back on you.”

Watanabe sighs and nods in agreement before turning back to Morisaki as she accepts his CAD from Miho who had collected it since no one else seemed to be, “And as I said, I doubt it'll be immediate expulsion since it's the first day and all that, you very much tested boundaries, and now it's time to face the cliff. Get moving.”

She shakes her head as they head off with Saegusa and the majority of Morisaki's group nervously and hurriedly disburses after they're gone. The only ones who don't are the girl who had been about to set off the flash of magic, who she belatedly recognizes as the girl with twin tails that had been given them an odd look at lunch, and her friend who she realizes is the same black haired girl who had also been giving them the conflicted expressions with the other.

They approach almost hesitantly, and it's the brown haired girl who takes the lead, “Um.” Then she gives a shallow bow of greeting, “I'm Mitsui Honoka. I wanted to apologize for the way things got out of hand earlier and the things they were saying.”

She smiles, “Don't worry about it, you aren't responsible for other people's words.”

Honoka smiles hesitantly, “I also wanted to thank you for explaining things to Watanabe-senpai. I was just trying to get everyone to stop, but I could've gotten in so much trouble…”

She waves her hand, “Don't worry about it. It would've been wildly unfair for you to be the one to get in trouble when you were just trying to get everyone to calm down.”

Honoka's smile becomes a little more certain and her friend choses that moment to pipe up, “I didn't want to interrupt Honoka, but if you're done, I'm Kitayama Shizuku. It's nice to meet you.”

She smiles at the somewhat flat deadpan that seems to be the girl's default, at least from what she saw of her during the confrontation and the way neither Yuki nor Honoka bat an eyelash, “I said it earlier, but I'm Shiba Toshiko. You can just call me Toshiko.”

She and Honoka both nod, and they end up joining them on the way to the cabinet station. The air is still a little delicate at first, but given they seemed like good kids that just got caught up in things, neither she, nor Miho, Sora, and Hoshi really let it linger. They'd really only been trying to smooth things out between everyone, and while it works, it's kind of surprising how quickly the two click with the rest afterwards.

She supposes it's a good thing that there are some pretty decently sized tables in the cafeteria for larger groups, as she's pretty sure the two were going to be joining them. They seemed genuinely remorseful for their part in things, so it should be fine. She'll keep a bit of an eye on the girls to make sure they're not faking, but it's doubtful they'd be able to deceive her given her literal hundreds of years dealing with nobles in some capacity or another in her previous life.

As they're walking from the cabinet station to the school with the others, who they met up with at said station, a cheerful voice calls out behind them, “Toshiko, Yuki!” They had stopped and turned to find that just as she'd suspected, it was a cheerful Saegusa calling out to them, “Good morning!” She glances at the rest of their group, and nods with a smile, “Good morning to you all as well.” Then she turns her attention back to her and her brother, though it's mostly on her brother, “I was wondering if you'd thought about the topic we spoke of on the day of the entrance ceremony?”

Yuki chews his lip, “A bit yes…”

Saegusa smiles, “But it still seems like you may be uncertain? How about you come to the Student Council room for lunch today? Though, unless you don't mind pre-made meal dispenser bentos, you may want to swing by the cafeteria and grab something really quickly.” Yuki's brow furrows and he glances up at her, but he doesn't even have to say anything before Saegusa seems to catch on to his thought process, at least a little, though hopefully not too much, “Toshiko can come too of course! It's not a huge secret, and I'm not so heartless I'd ask siblings in different courses to give up what time they have together during the school day!”

Yuki relaxes a little, and it makes her bite back a sigh. She's set down boundaries for him repeatedly but rather than learning to respect them, he only seems to be getting clingier and clingier by the day. Maybe she needs to be firmer about it, something like rather than just rebuking him with her tone and waiting to potentially actually say anything until people who aren't aware of the situation aren't around and start letting him know he's crossing the line in that exact moment? Perhaps having it at least somewhat private was emboldening him.

As she contemplates it, Saegusa quickly says her goodbyes and heads past them at a quicker clip then their leisure stroll. She frowns after her then turns to Yuki, deciding she may as well give calling him out on his behavior immediately as it happens a try, “Yuki.” He tenses at her rebuking tone and looks up at her with wide eyes to the newcomers of their group's confusion, “If it's just for today, I suppose it isn't a huge deal, but I do not appreciate you just making plans for both of us. You're fully aware I'm in a relationship, and it's rude to drag me away from spending some of the non-class time we'll have together.”

Yuki flinches slightly, then flicks a displeased look at Sora and Miho, who honestly don't look surprised in the slightest at her changing tactics, probably due to the number of times they've spoken before about Yuki's increasingly poor behavior, “You're already in the same class as them-”

She cuts him off, “And I share a home with you. Furthermore, while we are in the same class, it's not like we have time to just talk to each other during class.”

He looks away sharply, and after a small beat of somewhat awkward silence, Erika leans forward with interest, “Well, if you're gonna talk about that stuff right in front of us, you can't exactly complain if we're curious. Hoshi mentioned you were dating Sora yesterday, but what do you mean by them? Are you in a relationship with more than one person?”

She glances over at her casually, “Yeah, Sora and Miho actually. It's a closed polygamy thing. I'm dating both of them and they're also dating each other.”

Erika gets a look of understanding, “That explains an awful lot about why you seem so close to them but a bit more distant from Hoshi. I was beginning to wonder if you didn't really like each other and just kinda tolerated one another because Hoshi is Sora's twin so you both have ties to him as his friend and sister.”

She grins over her shoulder at her, “Not at all. Hoshi is practically a sister to me as well. Or, while it may not be legally accurate, given I am in a relationship with her brother, it may be easier to say she's practically my sister in law? The only reason we aren't as close is because I'm not dating her, unlike I am her brother.”

Erika nods in understanding, and Honoka pipes up, sounding a bit amused, “I can get the analogy for ease of understanding, but isn't it a bit much to call Hoshi your sister in law?”

The woman in question leans forward, “Oh no, their relationship is serious serious. It's not legally accurate,” For this life anyway, “but she's not wrong that I may as well be.”

Shizuku tilts that somewhat deadpan expression that seems to be her default towards her, “How so?”

Hoshi snorts, “For one, they've been dating for literally years already.” More than Hoshi can vaguely reference, “For another, they've already spoken about marriage. For family expectation reasons,” Since if it ever comes out she's a Yotsuba, there would be a stupid amount of uproar if she didn't get married, and while she would've done it if her soulmates weren't here, they were. So it had been decided to avoid it by having her be the one to marry Sora in this life, even if she wasn't exactly happy with the fact that people would undoubtedly deem Miho Sora's mistress or something, not to mention it didn't feel fair to their soulmate in general, “and just to prevent accusations of cheating later, since polygamous marriages aren't legal, on paper it'll be Sora and Toshiko who are married, but they've already settled on the fact that even if she can't have a marriage license to either of them, Miho will be part of a tweaked ceremony with them.”

Hoshi shrugs before she continues, “They've already got the whole thing planned out and budgeted and all that. The date it's gonna be, the venue they're gonna use and even backups if it's booked when it gets closer to things if they find its already taken when they try to make their own booking, the decorations, the details of the clothes, but just the details, they haven't purchased them yet since they don't want some last minute growth spurt making it so they won't fit. Basically the whole thing is already figured out. The only thing they haven't totally nailed down yet is the bridal party, the groomsmen, and the guest list, since relationships come and go and change, so they don't want to even attempt to nail that part down until it's closer to the event.”

The kids give them all surprised looks but Yuki looks devastated, which isn't surprising given she knows full well it's the first he's heard of it. Luckily for him, given he's too emotional to even attempt to hide his expression, everyone else is so surprised and focused on them that none of them notice.

Leo whistles, “Okay, yeah, that's pretty serious. So I guess it isn't entirely unfair to describe Hoshi as practically your sister in law already.”

She hums in agreement and looks over her shoulder at said sister in law, then flicks her eyes towards Yuki. Getting the hint, Hoshi glances over and subtly elbows him. Once Hoshi has, she turns back around so she doesn't potentially draw attention to them, but she's still aware of what's happening given her Elemental Sight.

She keeps an eye on it even as the conversation turns to them asking questions about their wedding plans in curiosity, but having caught the glance back and knowing the situation more then well enough as well as the fact she'd undoubtedly want to keep an eye on it, Miho and Sora take over answering their questions. Next to Hoshi behind her, Yuki is slow to respond given his heart break, but when he does, Hoshi purposely waits a beat then wipes her expression to silently remind him that he may wanna fix himself if he doesn't want everyone else wondering why he's so hurt by the news.

She has long since hit the point that she genuinely stopped caring if others found out about him being in love with her, having only done so to begin with because she wanted to try to spare him the mortification from looking back on others knowing if he ever manages to get over her. She sincerely doubts he will though, considering he actively resisted her prior attempts to get him to move on. He even outright told her he'd rather die alone emotionally with his feelings, though likely forced by the Yotsuba to legally marry and at least have a child through artificial means if nothing else, rather than move on when she had a blunter discussion with him.

She wonders sometimes, if he even realizes that the tighter he tries to cling to her, the more he tries to monopolize her attention, the more he jealously tries to separate her from others, the more she wants distance from him. She's meant it every time she's told him she doesn't mind a sibling relationship, but she's also meant it every time she's had to put her foot down and remind him that she will never have a romantic relationship with him. She's even started wondering recently, if he'll ever push her to the point that she cuts him out of her life completely.

She hopes he doesn't, but given it would be a consequence of his own actions, it's entirely up to him whether it will be necessary at some point or not.

It's with not insignificant reluctance that she says her farewells to her soulmates when lunch arrives, still none too pleased about essentially being volunteered to give up her free time with them, and heads off to meet up with Yuki. Given that the first years, regardless of whether they were in course one or two were all on the same floor, before they had separated this morning, Yuki had insistently made plans for them to meet up at the staircase before they went up.

She's entirely unsurprised that he's already there, practically bouncing on his toes cheerfully.

Either he doesn't pick up on her mood, or he's just bulldozing past it, but it's not just his expression and body language that's cheerful when Yuki asks, “How has your day been so far Onee-sama?”

She shrugs, “Class was just class. Not much to say there. The only thing really notable about my day is I've basically spent all morning mulling over lunch with my partners being taken away.”

He slumps, “I-I see…”

Things fall silent after that and Yuki looks a bit torn. If she had to guess, it's likely between upsetting her and some weird sense of victory at pulling her away from Sora and Miho. Which will absolutely not do and the very thought that it may be going through his head drives her to speak again, “Honestly? I contemplated sending a message to Saegusa-senpai explaining that while her consideration is admirable in general, it doesn't work in the way she was wanting it to for me and that I wouldn't be attending this little meeting. Particularly since it doesn't seem to have anything to do with me anyway. The major reason I decided not to was because I didn't want to insult what was meant to be kindness, nor give the Student Council President a bad impression of me.”

His head and voice both lower and the torn expression, or at least the half that may or may not have been victory, disappears quickly, “I see…”

The rest of the walk is quiet, and it isn't too long before they're stopping in front of the Student Council room door. It didn't stand out from any of the other doors in the hallway, all plain wood. The only indicator of it being what it was is the speaker on the wall next to it to talk to people inside before you are let in, and the sign simply reading ‘Student Council room’ on the door itself.

Given he was the one originally asked to come and she was basically just dragged along, Yuki is the one to walk up to the speaker and press the button to say who was here and request entry, fixing his despondent expression as he does.

With a softer clicking noise, the lock on the door releases, and Yuki doesn't hesitate to enter with her trailing behind. Saegusa isn't the only one in the room, which makes total sense given that the Student Council probably meets up for lunch daily.

Saegusa beams at them, “Welcome! Please come and sit.” Yuki bows in greeting even as she closes the door behind them, but Saegusa waves it off, “No need to be formal. Please, make yourselves comfortable. We can talk while we eat.” After they get settled in their seats, Saegusa asks, “Do you prefer meat, fish, or vegetarian for the bentos?”

She gives her an amused look, “While they aren't as bad as HARs, given the thing the pre-made bentos tend to be the worst at are meats? I'll stick to the vegetarian, thanks.”

Saegusa giggles slightly, “I can't exactly blame you there. Yuki?”

He shrugs, “The same please.”

A girl that had been introduced during the entrance ceremony as the Student Council Secretary Nakajou Azusa, who had been standing off to the side, turns to the almost vending machine like device and starts getting people's food before moving over to sit while they wait. As they do, Saegusa smiles at where they're sitting to her right, from her perspective, again from the head of the table, “Some brief introductions happened at the entrance ceremony, but let me go over them again really quick just in case.” She gestures to her left, “This is our Accountant, Ichihara Suzune, also known as Rin."

With the air of someone who's had this discussion more than once, Suzune sighs a little, "...The only one who calls me that is the President.”

Ignoring her, Saegusa continues, “After that bit of trouble with Morisaki, I do believe you two know the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee, Watanabe Mari, just fine.” Watanabe doesn't say anything, just gives them a nod, and Saegusa moves on, “Lastly is our Secretary, Nakajou Azusa, also known as A-chan(1)." 

Azusa gave her an unhappy look, "Student Council President... Please don't call me 'A-chan' in front of the underclassmen. I have my position to think of too.”

Cheerfully ignoring her, Saegusa finishes off, "The last one would be Vice President Hanzou, though he isn't here at the moment as I'm sure you noticed. And that makes up all the members of the Student Council Committee.”

Watanabe gives her an amused look, "Which I am not part of.”

Saegusa takes it in stride, "Oh yes, Mari is not a member of the Student Council. Ah, the preparations are complete.”

As she'd said the last, the pre-made meal machine, more commonly known as a dinner service model since unlike a HAR its job is basically just to fill bentos with already made food rather than making said food, opens the door on the front in indication that its finished and Azusa gets up to retrieve the bentos, and Yuki gets up to help her grabbing his own and Toshiko’s to free up Azusa a little bit and getting a brief thankful smile.

She's briefly confused about the fact there are only five, but before she can say anything, Watanabe leans down and pulls out her own bento from her bag on the floor. She'd seen it sitting there with her Elemental Sight of course, but unless she has reason to be suspicious of them, she's long made it a habit to studiously ignore any data her Elemental Sight reads as inside people's bags and briefcases and everything in between.

After they settle down, Yuki asks in curiosity, “Did you make that bento yourself, Watanabe-senpai?”

Watanabe smiles slightly, “Yes, are you surprised?”

She doesn't seem to be malicious in the slightest, more just teasing Yuki who tends to present an ever polite Kikōshi air. He seems to panic a little, which seems ridiculous to her, but she'd prefer if the conversation moves along. If it wraps up quickly enough, she may be able to go down and squeeze in some non-class time with her soulmates. So she speaks up even though she has nothing to do with the conversation, “I'm fairly sure my brother is just a little surprised given how many people chose to use HARs and dinner service models rather than make their own food if they aren't going out is all.”

Watanabe laughs a little, “Don't I know it! The number of surprised and odd looks I get like I'm strange…” She shakes her head, “It's a bit absurd how many there are.”

She hums, “I can imagine, given there are more than a few people in my life who prefer to cook themselves then use HARs and the like.”

Watanabe smiles, “In that case, you probably are familiar with it to some extent. I'm surprised you don't bring bentos yourself though in that case.”

Yuki stirs, but she doesn't even want to know where his obsessive brain is going, and she knows full well it's kicked into turning the conversation to have something to do with her given the gleam in his eyes, so she preemptively nips whatever it is in the bud, “Saegusa-senpai only asked Yuki to come this morning and I was sort of pulled into it, so I was honestly expecting to eat in the cafeteria until we were almost at school.”

Saegusa re-enters the conversation at that point, “Ah! It was kinda my bad not giving more heads up, wasn't it?”

She laughs a little sheepishly, and given that she wants to wrap this up quickly to get back to her soulmates, she takes the opening, “So what did you want to talk to Yuki about?”

Chapter Text

Saegusa nods, “While the Student Council President is elected by the student body, the rest of it is basically appointed entirely at the discretion of the Student Council President.”

Watanabe pipes up, “My position as the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee is one of those exceptions. The Student Council, the Club Management Group, and the teachers each select a representative to determine this position.”

Saegusa nods, “Yes, and because of that, in a way, Mari has the same authority I do. But the Student Council President holds their position from September to October the next year, and during that time, unless they are overridden by the facility they retain the right to appoint and remove the rest of the Student Council. I spoke to Yuki briefly on the day of the entrance ceremony, but there is a tradition in the Student Council President inviting the freshman representative every year to join the Student Council with the intent of training them to be their successor. Have you thought about whether or not you will take me up on my invitation Yuki?”

Yuki looks down at the table, his eyebrow furrowing, “I have… I just… Saegusa-senpai, given you mentioned it the first time you met Onee-sama, I know you're aware of Onee-sama's scores.” She nods, looking a bit confused, and Yuki continues, “The only reason I am the freshman representative is because the nine highschools use a rather outdated method of measurement of focusing on casting speed. If it wasn't for that, I would not be the freshman representative, Onee-sama would have been. I honestly do not feel like I should be the one you're inviting given I only have this place on outdated technicalities. Onee-sama should, and it's Onee-sama you should be inviting to the Student Council.”

Saegusa's brows furrow, but she speaks up before Saegusa can, “Yuki, we've had this discussion before when you were upset you were the representative instead of me.” He looks up a little wide eyed, but she shakes her head, “Besides, that's also working under the assumption I want to be on the Student Council. I can't say I have any particular desire to be. If I was the one being invited I might accept just to help out, but I don't particularly desire the position.”

She had been on, had created, the Student Council at Hogwarts in her previous life, but that was to combat the issues in Hogwarts, from the DADA curse, the problematic Professors, and even Dumbledore stealing from the school as well as everything else. The Student Council at First High did not have the power to change the problems she had in this universe. Either because they didn't have the ability to change the issues in the school itself much less the other schools in the nine magic highschools, or they were more societal. Despite what people may have thought given her fame in her previous life, she doesn't actually like the limelight. She won't stand idly by when injustices are happening, but she'd genuinely prefer a quieter, more private life. And sure, being on the Student Council wouldn't instantly make her famous, but why would she draw unwanted attention to herself unnecessarily?

Besides, in all honesty, she was busy with her own project and was genuinely only attending highschool to begin with out of some selfishness. She couldn't resist the idea of enjoying a school life with her soulmates, which she obviously hadn't had the opportunity for in her previous life given their age differences. Then again, it wasn't entirely selfish. If she wasn't attending, she'd be throwing herself wholly and completely into her project and her beloved soulmates knew it, so they'd basically lovingly bullied her into it as a means of making her take time away from it.

She's pulled out of the quick tangent her thoughts had taken by Saegusa relaxing, “In fairness, Toshiko scored so high that when I got a look at her results, my confidence actually faltered a bit, but… I'm sorry Yuki, it may actually be better that Toshiko doesn't have any desire to join the Student Council since it's actually a rule that the members of the Student Council have to be selected from course one.”

Yuki's shoulders slump a bit, “I see…” Then he takes a breath to recenter himself, “I am honored to receive an invitation to the Student Council, and I apologize. I said all of that without understanding the situation. Please forgive me.”

Saegusa smiles and waves off the apology, "In that case, Yuki will join the current Student Council with the title of secretary?" 

Yuki nods, "Yes, I will work hard to fulfill my duties. Please look after me." 

Saegusa nods at Yuki with a smile, "You can get the details from A-chan." 

Nakajou turns those somewhat naturally teary looking eyes on Saegusa, "As I just said, President... Please stop calling me A-chan..." 

Saegusa cheerfully ignores her, "If there are no complications, can you come today after school?”

Yuki glances over at her, “Will that be a problem Onee-sama?”

She bites back a sigh, wishing he wouldn't be so clingy that he can't even contemplate the obvious idea that they can just leave school at separate times. He'd probably have a meltdown if she pointed that out though, but she decides that maybe she should start taking steps towards forcing him to get used to the idea, “It's fine. I can wait at that cafe nearby that Erika dragged us to on the day of the entrance ceremony or something.”

Yuki does his best to hide his displeasure at the idea of her leaving the school grounds at all without him, but it's not the meltdown he would've had if she'd pointed out that since they take cabinets rather than have someone who picks them up or something, it doesn't inconvenience anyone if they just head home at separate times.

He manages to control his expression enough that the smile he turns back to Saegusa is only a little strained, “Then no, it won't be a problem.”

She thought that would be the end of the discussion, but Watanabe suddenly stirs, “Actually Toshiko, would you mind coming to the after school meeting as well?”

She blinks in surprise, “Ah? Well, no, I suppose not, but why?”

Watanabe hums, “There's actually a couple things I need to look into before I answer that.”

Her brow furrows in confusion, “Alright…” Then she shakes herself, “Is that all?” The upperclassmen all nod, so she stands, “Then excuse me. As there's still a bit of lunch break left, I'll be taking my leave.” Without giving him the chance to join her since he's only getting worse despite the many talks she's had with him, since she wants to try to force Yuki to back off a bit by forcing him to be away from her longer, “You should stay here Yuki, to hear a bit about the position you accepted. I doubt there's enough time before lunch ends to really get into it, but there's probably enough to get the basics.”

The struggle to hide how he's feeling from the others gets even harder for Yuki given that increases his displeasure and makes him seem to start instantly regretting accepting the offer of joining the Student Council. The rest on the other hand seem to think it's a great idea and cheerfully wave her off. As soon as they have and it's polite for her to leave, she heads out.

Once the door is closed behind her, she picks up her pace to a speedy walk, wanting to eek as much time from what's left of lunch in with her soulmates as she can.

She lifts her hand above her shoulder in wordless acknowledgement of the good luck wishes from the group of kids that are quickly welding themselves into a friend group, though she's not sure that description is entirely accurate in regards to her, Sora, Miho, and Hoshi, given the mental age gap.

Regardless of whether it's an accurate description, it does simplify things to just call them their friends rather than try to figure out what they should be calling them, so she'll probably just start doing that for now. Anyway, there had been some talk while they were doing an exercise for practical magic, since it's not that course two didn't have them, they just didn't have a teacher on hand to guide them and answer questions. While they'd been completing it though, they had asked about the meeting in the Student Council room. Despite the fact she had no clue what Watanabe wanted with her, they insisted on wishing her luck anyway. That, and they seem to have an inkling on what it could be about.

Which confused the hell out of her, which amused them, even more so when Hoshi had cheerfully told them that she'd always been like that which seemed to only increase the baffling amusement.

Yuki is excited when they meet up to go to the Student Council room. Suspiciously so. There isn't any point in trying to pry answers out of him though, she's all too familiar with that expression, and it's one he tends to make when he wants to surprise her.

She doesn't tend to like his surprises, given he doesn't really pay attention to what she wants and tends to just go with what he believes she should have.

When they get to the Student Council room, rather than using the speaker next to the door to be allowed in, Yuki swipes his ID card. Apparently having already had his access adjusted, it unlocks immediately.

The moment they step inside, the gaze of only male currently on the Student Council immediately locks on her with distaste. Ignoring him, she turns her own gaze to Watanabe as she closes the door behind her, “So why did you want me at this meeting?”

Watanabe smiles, “I wanted to look into some of the rules to double check that there wasn't a similar one as the Student Council has barring course two students, but there's three empty positions in the Disciplinary Committee. Given how valuable the ability to read magic sequences before they're deployed is, I thought you'd be a good fit.”

She blinks rapidly in surprise as she sits, “I-... suppose I can see why the Disciplinary Committee would value such a skill.” She tilts her head, “Can't say I've ever thought about joining or ever had aspirations to,” Yuki tenses as his expression falls subtly, though the older girls seem to be more than patient enough to wait to let her finish. Her gaze roams away in thought. The whole point of the Disciplinary Committee was to ensure the safety of the students, and she's always been protective of innocents which being on the Disciplinary Committee will give her the authority to do freely. Also, members were allowed to carry their CADs rather than being more limited on the circumstances they could be in possession of them on school grounds which she may not inherently need but does act as decent cover if she has reason to use her magic, “but I suppose I'm not inherently against the idea.”

Watanabe beams, “Wonderful! Then-!”

The only male that had been in the Student Council room when they arrived, Student Council Vice President Hattori Gyoubu(1) from a brief glance at her memories regarding the introductions during the entrance ceremony, slams his hands down and shoots to his feet, “Watanabe-senpai! You can't really be thinking of appointing a first year course two student to the Disciplinary Committee, can you?!”

Watanabe's eyes sharpen, “The Disciplinary Committee recruits first years every year. You are fully aware of this Hattori Gyoubushoujo Hanzou.”(1)

Hattori shoots her a glance, “Don't call me by my full name. You know full well most know me as Hattori Gyoubu. And I'm aware, but she's a course two student. How is she supposed to be able to subdue course one students if it becomes necessary? I object to this appointment strongly!”

Watanabe narrows her eyes, “It isn't your place to object to such. Mayumi used her right to appoint three of the nine Disciplinary Committee members, and the right of those appointments is hers alone. You don't have the authority to object officially to begin with and an offer has already been made.”

Hattori's eyebrow twitches, “It's still unofficial itself until the offer is accepted by the party in question.”

Watanabe's expression turns a little colder, “No, she hasn't accepted, but given the offer has already been made, the final decision is up to Miss Toshiko at this point.”

Hattori's jaw tightens, “I don't know why you're being so stubborn Watanabe-senpai. I have perfectly valid concerns about her actually being able to perform the job of the Disciplinary Committee officers!”

Saegusa raises her hands placatingly, “Now, now Hanzou. Toshiko has already proven that she has very valuable abilities to bring to the Disciplinary Committee-”

Hattori swings a hand sharply to the side, “In what way is a Weed supposed to be of any help to the Disciplinary Committee?!”(2)

Watanabe immediately narrows her eyes as the hand that had been resting the back of her fingers against her chin clenches, "That's a taboo derogatory term, Vice President Hattori. A taboo term as banned by the Disciplinary Committee. You have a lot of nerve using that in front of me, the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee.”

Despite her warning, Hattori doesn't even falter, "You can ban that term all you want. Do you plan on punishing a third of the entire student body? The difference between Blooms and Weeds is something that is written into the school system and acknowledged by the school itself. The source of the difference between Blooms and Weeds is the difference in ability. Disciplinary Committee members are responsible for the task of subjugating students that break school rules. A Weed with inferior abilities is incapable of accomplishing that task.”

Watanabe smiles coldly, "It is true that the Disciplinary Committee is ability-based, but ability comes in many forms. If we need to use strength for suppression, that's what I'm here for. Even if I'm up against ten or even twenty opponents, I can handle them alone. In this school, the only people that can go one on one against me are President Saegusa and Club Management Group Leader Juumonji. According to you, the people with low combat capability are unnecessary. So, do you plan to challenge me, Vice President Hattori?”

Hattori grinds his teeth, “That isn't the problem. It's in her ability to adapt and handle whatever situations come up that is.”

It wasn't very surprising the clearly prideful boy wasn't backing down, given he clearly firmly believed course two students genuinely had inferior abilities purely based on their placement, which inherently ignores the fact the only determining factor in who amongst the accepted students is course one and who is course two is their casting speed.

Watanabe huffs, "Did I not say that ability comes in many forms? Toshiko can read the activation sequence and thus knows the magic being invoked." 

Hattori falters, "...What did you say?”

Watanabe pushes on mercilessly, "In other words, even before the magic has been invoked, she already knows what magic her opponent is using. According to our school rules, depending on the type of magic used, the level of punishment also changes. Unfortunately, if we were to disrupt the activation sequence before invocation like Mayumi did, there is no way to tell what magic was originally used. If we waited until the activation sequence finished, then that would defeat the entire purpose. Thus it is safer to disrupt magic during the activation sequence. Without any definite accusation of wrongdoing, the only thing we can charge them with is attempted disruption and the subsequent lighter punishment. But with Toshiko, we can properly catch those that have been using stronger magics." 

Hattori was still flabbergasted, but still managed to muster himself enough again, "...But, if she ran across an actual crime scene, and was unable to stop the magic invocation..."

Watanabe shoots that down as well, "In that case, it would be beyond a first year course one student anyways. And probably beyond second year students as well. How many people do you know that are able to invoke second and still manage to deny their opponent from invoking first? Besides that, there is still one more reason I want her to join the Disciplinary Committee.”

Hattori doesn't even really have a chance to protest, but he seems to be floundering anyway, "To this day there is no Disciplinary Committee member that comes from course two students. In other words, course two students that improperly use magic against school rules are apprehended by course one students. As you said, there is a wide divide between course one and course two students. Course one students can apprehend course two students, but the reverse is not true. This configuration has only served to widen that divide. I do not like it that the committee members under my command are only serving to widen this differential impression.”

Seemingly trying to change the atmosphere, Saegusa pipes up then, "Ah... Quite impressive, Mari. You have even taken this into account? I thought you only cared about Toshiko.”

The Student Council treasurer, Ichihara, immediately replies, "Please be quiet, President.”

Saegusa gives her a reproachful look, but Ichihara shakes her head in return, and Saegusa seems to back off on trying to shift the mood. Hattori finally musters himself at that, "President... as the Vice-President, I object to appointing Shiba Toshiko as a Disciplinary Committee member. While I accept that Chief Watanabe has got a point in her assertion, the original mission of a Disciplinary Committee member is to uncover and subjugate the school rule breakers. A course two student who is lacking in magic ability can't perform the duties of a Disciplinary Committee member. Such a misplaced appointment will surely damage your reputation as the President. Please reconsider.”

Yuki finally seems to hit his breaking point at that, so she quickly opens her mouth before he can, “You keep circling back to my placement in course two and ability to subdue perpetrators if necessary, despite being repeatedly shot down with numerous reasons. I meant what I said earlier when I said I didn't have any particular aspirations for joining it, but you're honestly sounding like a broken record at this point Hattori. If anyone should be thinking about their reputation it should be you.”

She tilts her head, “It's not a good look for a member of one of the Hundred Families when they can't come up with different points for an objection when their first has been shot down. Again, repeatedly since you keep pushing that angle.” Hattori stiffens and gives her a nasty look, but she pushes on regardless, “Furthermore, your objection is based entirely on prejudice, as the only differential between course one and course two students is casting speed, and that's far from the only thing that matters.” Hattori opens his mouth and she coolly cuts through whatever he was going to say, “As anyone with actual combat experience could tell you.”

That seems to make Hattori particularly mad, and he glares at her, “If you're so confident in that and that you can handle being a Disciplinary Committee officer, then why don't we have a mock duel and you prove it?”

Watanabe stiffens, “Hattori-!”

He turns to her, “If you're so confident in her ability, then there shouldn't be any problem with it.” He gives her a derisive look, “Not that I think-”

She doesn't even twitch, “Alright then. If Watanabe-senpai is alright with using her authority to oversee duels this early into the school year, I don't mind.”

Watanabe gives her a surprised searching look, but after a beat, she glances over at Saegusa who nods, "As the Student Council President, I authorize the formal mock battle match between second year Class B, Hattori Gyoubu and first year Class E, Shiba Toshiko." 

Watanabe nods again, "On the basis of the Student Council President's declaration, as the Chief of Disciplinary Committee, I recognize that the match between the two of you as a legitimate extracurricular activity in abidance of the school rules. The time of the match will be thirty minutes from now, at the third practice room. The match will be a private one, and I authorize the use of CADs by both sides.”

The last one was pretty much a standard in the school for mock duels from her understanding, and entirely to keep such matches from becoming brawls, which would inherently go against the school rules regarding violence.

Hattori turns away sharply, likely to prepare, and she watches him go idly, before turning back to Watanabe, “Given you authorized CAD use, I'm going to need to retrieve mine from the lockers we're obligated to leave them in, but I've heard that the Disciplinary Committee has some bracelet type CADs. Since the whole point of this is to prove I can do the job, is it alright if I borrow two for demonstrative purposes?”

Watanabe blinks rapidly at her in surprise, “Hm? Yeah, sure?”

She nods, “Would it be better if I went with you to get them before I went to retrieve my CAD, or?”

Watanabe waves her off, “I'll bring them to the practice room. Two right?” She nods, “It'll be easier to make sure there's enough time for you to get your CAD that way so I'll fetch them before we meet back up at the practice room.”

She nods, then quickly heads out.

It had been fairly easy to retrieve the case containing her CAD with the letter of approval with the Student Council's stamp on it, something which was still done on paper because it made it a bit harder to fake, and it isn't long before she's setting it down on one of the tables off to the side in the practice room to pull out her specialized CAD rather than her generalized one and do a check that everything is in order before the start of the match, temporarily ignoring Saegusa, Ichihara, Nakajou, and Yuki who were there as well as Watanabe and Hattori. Her specialized CAD was, funnily enough given the way this life started, one of the gun shaped CADs unlike the smartphone or bracelet shaped generalized CADs.

The main difference between the two was that generalized CADs could hold up to ninety-nine activation sequences, whereas specialized CADs like her guns could only hold nine, but were faster as well as had auxiliary aiming systems placed in the barrel of the gun. The reason for it was also because it was that very system which made it slightly faster, as it streamlines the coordinate data input into the activation sequence and lessens how much the magic calculation area has to input. If it's a spell that moves in a straight line or is single-target, it can handle it entirely on its own using the barrel as the start point and also the angle and all that for lines and just whatever it's pointing at for single target spells. The magician only had to add anything to it if it's area of effect, and that's only in how far the boundaries of the spell extend from what would be the impact point if it was an actually fired gun which it treats as the dead center of the spell.

Once she's done and has collected the two bracelet shaped CADs Watanabe had brought and put them on, she heads over to the starting point for her. Given Hattori had been waiting at his own start point, once she's in position, Watanabe starts speaking as she glances between them, "Alright, allow me to explain the rules. In terms of either direct or indirect attacks, lethal attacks are forbidden. Techniques that deal permanent disabilities to the opponent are also forbidden. Abilities that cause direct harm to the physical body are forbidden. However, direct attacks that do not result in anything greater than bone fractures are permitted. No weapons at any time. Unarmed combat is allowed. If you plan on using kicking techniques, please remove your shoes and change into the school's soft boots. The condition for defeat is when the judge has determined one side is unable to continue the battle. Both sides please do not activate your CADs until I give the signal. Breaking the rules results in an automatic defeat. I will use my full strength to stop it, so remember that. That is all.”

She nods in understanding of the reminder of the rules, which had actually been amidst the plethora of information the school had provided and that she'd memorized, but she can certainly understand why Watanabe would give them a refresher just in case. Hattori also nods, and while his expression was more solemn than anything derisive or aggressive, he definitely seemed to be approaching things with a fairly laid back attitude under that more serious look. It wasn't really that surprising though, given how much Hattori seems to buy into the end all be all superiority of casting speed. As the very thing that separates course one and course two students, he undoubtedly thinks that this match where they are obligated to wait to activate their CADs at the same time is practically already won.

Watanabe looks between them as she starts to raise a hand, a bit on the slower side, undoubtedly to give them both time for any last minute mental preparation. After she has it held straight up, she holds it there for a second before swinging it down quickly in a chopping motion, “Begin!”

Hattori quickly starts pressing buttons on his bracelet shaped CAD, but without hesitation, she activates one of the few fast cast Ancient Magic techniques, which she's been told is called Shukujihou. It helps her close the distance and slip around Hattori fast enough that he barely has time to gain a surprised look of her getting close before she's behind him. As soon as she is, she points her CAD at him, then glances at the surprised Watanabe and very purposely and obviously readjusts her aim to miss him. Hattori flinches as he feels the wave of Psions go by him, whirling towards her as he starts typing on his CAD again.

From the activation sequence he's pulling up, it's a moment type magic that would essentially throw her back into one of the walls. Unfortunately for Hattori though, as he's absorbing the sequence to put in parameters and then starting to invoke it, “If I can read an activation sequence, do you really think I'm not capable of knowing the target parameters of a spell in the moments between the magic sequence coming out and actually being invoked?”

That's the only warning he gets before she uses magic again to sidestep twice quickly after the magic sequence appears, and the only thing affected by his spell is the translucent veil like thing female students are allowed to attach to their short coat like things that curve behind their backs to end off around their ribs.

She'd almost chosen not to have a veil attachment of her own, but after a little it had occurred to her that while they needed to get the designs on them approved to make sure there wasn't anything inappropriate, it was otherwise entirely up to them. And while she wouldn't let her previous life as a British citizen sway her loyalties in this life to betray her current home country, not unless they became utterly reprehensible as a whole and even then her loyalties likely wouldn't default to Britain given the kind of stuff she's been hearing them pull, she was still a Potter at her core.

And her Potter heart, ever the low-key goth as Miho liked to put it, hadn't been able to resist the temptation.

Which is how she had ended up with a dark purple nearly translucent coat veil(3) with designs that looked like black flowers, but if you actually studied them enough, you may realize were actually scythes, skeletal hands, and gothic scrollwork. It's relevant, because if the way Yuki's eyes are shining, the spell caught the fluttering edges as she moved out of the way and yanked it back in either a dramatic looking fashion, or the tug on it pulled her clothes in such a way that they were briefly a little more revealing.

His movement magic, set to toss anything in a certain radius she'd been in the center of before, catches the edges of it, but she ignores the tug as she aims her CAD dead at him again, then once again very obviously moves it to miss him on purpose before firing. Hattori flinches again as the silent message seems to sink in.

Two unofficial wins in this duel for her already.

He scowls, “That one may have possibly counted as a potential victory, but you cheated the first time! You'd already casted acceleration magic!”

She shakes her head, “One of the few ancient magic techniques which is faster than modern CAD casting.”

As he holds his hand out to try to cast again, she crosses her arms in an ‘x’ at the wrists, pressing the buttons with some pure magic manipulation and uses them to create a wave of Psions, purposely designed to interfere with one another, causing his magic sequence to break under the resulting Psion noise.

This time when she aims her CAD at the surprised Hattori, she doesn't readjust her aim before pulling the trigger. Hattori practically immediately looks sick to his stomach and like a blow just hit him, before he sways dangerously for a second as the only warning prior to collapsing.

Watanabe stares at Hattori in stunned silence for a minute, and while she does, she takes a quick glance at the Eidos log to see if the magic Hattori cast earlier catching her veil had pulled her clothes into laying in a more revealing fashion briefly. Seeing that she didn't unintentionally flash anything inappropriate, much less to Yuki of all people, she refocuses on the present and Watanabe. When she tilts her head at her, Watanabe musters herself enough to call out, “The winner is Shiba Toshiko!”

Ichihara tilts her head in curiosity as Watanabe moves forward to check on Hattori, “That movement at the very beginning.” When she glances over she continues, “What sort of Ancient Magic was it? I've never heard of any that can be used faster than modern magic.”

She shrugs, “The man who taught it to me said it was called Shukujihou, though he can be a bit eccentric sometimes, so I don't actually know if that is the technique's name.”

Watanabe straightens sharply, “Shukujihou? I've heard of that.” She glances at Ichihara, “Kinda like how some people use Psions to control their body instead of electrical impulses, it's considered a purely physical technique because there's no actual spell to it. From my vague understanding of it, you just use pure Psion manipulation to boost what the body is physically capable of a bit.”

Saegusa gets a look of understanding, “I see!” Then she shoots Hattori a slightly concerned look, “But… How did you even take him down? Was that also Ancient Magic? It only looked to me as if you released Psions waves…”

She laughs lightly as Watanabe starts to move to collect Hattori and pull him over to lean against a wall in a sitting position, “No it's not Ancient Magic. You are right about it being Psions waves though. All I did was generate them.”

Saegusa gets a little more confused, “Even so, that doesn't explain why Hanzou got knocked out.”

She shakes her head, “As you undoubtedly know, Magicians are capable of perceiving Psions. If they get hit by an unexpected or particularly powerful Psion wave though, their bodies can frequently feel like they're being shaken. Sort of like how the placebo or hypnosis can work both negatively and positively and cause someone's body to start presenting symptoms of something they believe. I just took advantage of this, causing him to feel something similar to a particularly extreme case of seasickness.”

Saegusa seems to misunderstand a bit, “Such a powerful surge as that… how on earth did you..?”

Before Toshiko herself can answer, Ichihara does, “Compound waves, right?

Saegusa turns to her, “Rin?”

As intelligent as Saegusa was, it wasn't surprising that just the two words weren't enough to make her understand, so Ichihara continues, "You created three consecutive Psion waves of varying oscillation frequencies, calibrated them so that all three would converge where Hattori was standing, which created a powerful surge, like a triangular wave.”

She smiles at her, a bit impressed at the young girl's brilliance to figure it out so quickly, and all too reminded of her old friend Hermione, “Very impressive, Ichihara-senpai."

Ichihara loosely curls her fingers in front of her mouth in thought, “Still, how were you able to pull that off in such a short time? With that kind of processing speed, I don't see how your technical scores could be so low.”

Before she can answer, Nakajou, who has been staring at her CADs since she pulled one out, seems to break, having moved over to her side and was gazing at her CAD with shining eyes and a blush, “Excuse me… By any chance, Toshiko, is your CAD a Black Flower?”

Saegusa tilts her head at her, “Black Flower? As in Tōkōkuro Mihana, the mysterious genius magic engineer?”

Nakajou looks up at her with excited shining eyes, “That's right! A specialist in Four Leaves Technology!” By now, she's turned back to her and her excitement has her trying to get her hands on her CAD, which she holds out of the shorter girl's reach with vague amusement as she continues to practically gush, “The miraculous CAD engineer whose real name, appearance, and profile are all shrouded in mystery!” After a bit of straining for her CAD, she seems to remember that she has two gun CADs at least and leans over the case where her other specialized CAD was resting excitedly, “The programming genius who was the first to implement the Loop Cast System! ‘Black Flower’ is the name of one of the specialized CAD models fully customized by Tōkōkuro Mihana herself, and it's optimized for Loop Casting! They're also capable of invoking spells with the least amount of magic, are critically acclaimed, and are particularly popular amongst law enforcement! Although they're sold on the market, it's hard to get one! And judging from the fact yours has a longer barrel than usual, yours must be a limited edition module! Where did you get them?!”

She feels a little embarrassed, having vaguely known they were held as among the best CADs available, but not having realized they were thought of that highly.

Saegusa looks at her a little surprised, “Calm down A-chan.” Then she looks over as Ichihara, clearly looking for answers, “But Rin, that doesn't add up, does it?”

Ichihara slips her eyes closed in thought briefly, “No, it doesn't add up. The purpose of a Loop Cast is to launch consecutive invocations of the same spell. It just isn't possible to use a Loop Cast to create multiple surges of varying oscillations.” She opens her eyes, “I suppose it's feasible if the oscillations are defined as variables, but to set the oscillations as one more variable along with the coordinates, intensity, and duration…” Her eyes widen slightly, “Don't tell me… that's exactly what you pulled off here?”

She shrugs. In fairness it would probably be more difficult for a normal magician, but when you add in her Occlumancy and the way time flows faster in the mind then in reality by nature… well, it becomes significantly easier to pull things like that off. She can't exactly say that though, so she just skirts around the topic, “At this school, multivariables aren't subject to evaluation… not as processing speed, calculation scale, and interference intensity.”

Hattori had regained consciousness during the discussion, and chooses then to weakly pipe up, “In the practical exam, magic skill scores are determined by spell invocation speed, the scale of the magic sequence, and target data rewriting strength. But the vast majority of the weight of value is placed on casting speed.” He tries to stand, but ends up slumping into the wall holding a hand to his head instead, “I see. So that's what happens when tests don't reflect your true abilities.”

Saegusa leans over him, looking slightly concerned, “Are you alright Hanzou?”

He makes a slightly cut off noise, then shoots to his feet and clenches a hand in front of his chest, “I'm fine!” He relaxes his stiff posture as he glances over at her, “Shiba?”

She tilts her head, “Yes?”

He glances away, “I apologize for my comments before. It was rude of me.” He shakes his head, “I was the one whose judgment was clouded. I hope you'll forgive me.”

She smiles at him before she turns to finish putting her CAD away and closing the case and take off the Disciplinary Committee's bracelet CADs, since she hasn't officially become a member and therefore gained the authority to carry them around, “It's fine.” Yuki starts to stiffen but she shoots him a Look before she finishes speaking, “We all make mistakes. It says more of your character that you acknowledge them. Just as it would say more of mine if I was the type to hold onto some sort of grudge over it even after your apology.”

Hattori smiles a bit himself, then turns to leave the practice room. Watanabe turns to her with a smile of her own, “All right, we did get waylaid unexpectedly, but why don't we get back on track and head to the Disciplinary Committee headquarters?”

She smiles back, “Of course. Do I need to take my CAD case back to the drop off area first though, since I'm not officially part of the Disciplinary Committee yet?”

Watanabe waves her hand, “Since you're with me and I have the authority to authorize you having them and it'd be silly to have you trudge all the way over to do that just to have the authority to go and collect them again if you were sticking around a bit longer after you're officially brought on, just bring them with. Also, that two crossed CAD thing looked like cast jamming?”

She nods as she picks her case up, “Alright then. Lead on Watanabe-senpai. And yeah, it's a sort of pseudo cast jamming. Why?”

As they head out, Watanabe peers over at her, “Because it's a valuable skill. Can you teach it to others?”

She shrugs, “I can try. Whether they can learn it is another matter entirely.”

Watanabe nods, “Fair enough. It's worth a shot anyway.”

She hums in agreement.

She looks around the room Watanabe had led her to, directly under the Student Council room actually, which very much was not a coincidence, and there was even a… not quite secret, but private and discreet direct staircase between the two.

Watanabe moves further in as she speaks, “It's a little untidy, but hey, find yourself a seat somewhere while I find the official paperwork to bring you on board.”

Untidy was a bit of an understatement. Or rather, on the scale of untidy, it was on the upper end. She shakes her head and chuckles lightly, “Don't let my boyfriend find out how untidy my soon-to-be headquarters are.”

Watanabe looks at her in confusion, “Mm? Why?”

She snickers, “Because he'll barge in whether you authorize him or not, even if he has to circumvent the electronic lock, and go on a cleaning spree while muttering about how I'm ‘enough of a workaholic, and don't need to potentially be cleaning up messes and how dare you put me in a position to have to potentially clean up and-’ and won't stop until at minimum he's completely cleaned the place.”

Watanabe's shoulders had started shaking with suppressed laughter partway through, before she gives her an amused look, “Well. I guess I know which of you may end up being the stay at home spouse if you got married, hm?”

She laughs, “Considering he's practically already my fiancè, to the point we have everything but the guest list already planned out, and after I teasingly called him something along those lines, he just kind of… rolled with it, and describes himself as a future stay at home husband/father unless I need him for backup or something?”

Watanabe outright laughs at the end. After taking a moment to get past the humor, she gives her an interested look, “By backup, do you mean he's on par or close to your skill level? Because honestly, it's technically one of the faculty selections, but the one of other students that was being considered for the Disciplinary Committee fell though, and there's kind of a scramble to find a replacement since they were so sure of their choice they didn't have one in mind.”

She snorts, “I love Sora to pieces, and he is absolutely on a level that he could also have smoked Hattori in that duel, but one, he's also a course two, because while he does see a certain amount of value in speed, he's always prioritized versatility when practicing, and two… again I love him, but he's really not a good fit.”

Watanabe tilts her head, “Mm? Why?”

She gives her a bemused look, “Because Sora only follows rules when it suits him. Put him in a position where he has to pick between rules and something he truly cares about, and he'll pick the latter with zero hesitation or remorse.”

In fairness, she was sort of similar, but she wasn't as bad as Sora, and when she does pick something she cares about, including her care for innocents, she tends to only break the rules or even laws when it's entirely reasonable to have done so.

Watanabe sighs, “Fair enough. That's a shame though. The original candidate was Morisaki, and given what he pulled the very first day which you are fully aware of… Well, needless to say, as I had to bring him in on my authority as the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee, the faculty quickly withdrew their support for his nomination, even without me and Mayumi having to say anything against it.”

She blinks a few times quickly at her, then snorts, “Funny. He was all in line to receive one of the positions that are viewed with respect in general by the school, but let his temper blow the chance the very first day of school.”

Watanabe nods. And there's a beat of silence as she looks for the papers before something else occurs to her, “Actually, on second thought…”

Watanabe looks up, “Hm? Second thought about what?”

She hums, “On letting Sora know about the untidiness of the Disciplinary Committee headquarters. It just occurred to me that yes, if he finds out he's going to barge in and tidy up and grumble about me working in such an environment all the while, but if it's not mentioned then it'll inevitably add another complaint about hiding it from him to the rest.”

Watanabe chuckles slightly, “Well, it's not like there's classified information in here, or that anything that could potentially be considered sensitive isn't already locked up in some way, so if you want to invite him up here, you're more than welcome to.”

She hums, “Is it okay if I take a picture of the headquarters, or?”

Watanabe waves a hand, “It's fine.”

She gets back out of her chair to move over to the door, snapping a photo before moving back to her seat as she opens up the group text. Not the one between just her, Sora, and Miho, but the other one that also has Hoshi.

Group text

So. I wanna preface this by saying I am NOT trying to give you more to do Sora, and it's more because you'd be upset if you found out, and even MORE upset if I didn't mention it and you decided I was HIDING it from you.

Sora

Do I need to beat someone up?

Miho

Why is your immediate reaction always violence?

Hoshi

I second Sora. Does someone need to catch hands?

Miho

Why are you BOTH like this?

Previous occupation.

Anyway! I was recruited to the Disciplinary Committee.

Sora

To the surprise of literally only you.

What?

Hoshi

Why do you think everyone was wishing you luck?

…We'll talk about that later. ANYWAY. I just got to the Disciplinary Committee headquarters, and again, I'm not trying to give you more to do, but you'd be mad if I DIDN'T tell you, so…

[You have sent an image]

It's a bit untidy.

Miho

Aaaand he's gone.

Miho

I'd come up to help, but we all know he'd potentially get mad at that too, so…

Hoshi

Sora: A mess? In one of MY girls’ workplaces? I don't think so! Absolutely unacceptable!

Does he even know where the Disciplinary Committee headquarters is?

Miho

It was in the information for First High in case anyone needed to know to report something.

Hoshi

…Or for other reasons.

Miho

…Only if you're a delinquent…

As long as he knows I guess.

Anyway, I'm supposed to be doing some paperwork to make my placement on the Disciplinary Committee official soon, and I should also warn the Chief that Sora is, in fact, coming up, so I should go.

Talk to you in a bit.

After lingering long enough to make sure they don't add anything, she looks over at where Watanabe has some papers in her hands but seems to be searching for something else, “Told my boyfriend on a group chat and was promptly informed that he left the others, so he's undoubtedly on his way up.”

Watanabe hums, and reaches over before hitting a button on her desk, which was separated from the long table that was presumably for meetings and use by the rest of the Disciplinary Committee, “I made it so the door will remain unlocked for half an hour or until I hit the button again in case it closes, but you can prop it open so he knows if you'd like.”

She nods, then gets up to do just that, scooping up a physical book to use for it. As she approaches the door, one of the two people she'd vaguely noticed coming down the hall with her Elemental Sight swipes his ID and opens it.

She slips past them as they greet Watanabe to catch the door and set the book down to keep it from closing entirely. When one of them starts to open their mouth with furrowed eyebrows, presumably to say something about her propping it open a smidge, Watanabe speaks up, “I gave her permission to do that.” Her lips twitching, “Apparently her boyfriend would never accept the headquarters she'll be working from being so messy, so he's on his way up to tidy up.” Her lips twitch again, “I've been warned that there will be excessive grumbling, but it would only be worse if it was hidden from him.”

One of them coughs into his fist, as though that will hide his amused grin, then slips his arms back behind him as he basically stands at parade rest, “Anyway, big sis. I wasn't expecting you to be in when we got back from patrol.”

Watanabe starts to make her way forward, and the other guy speaks up at that point, posture also going to parade rest, “Speaking of Chief, we've completed today's patrol mission. No arrests have been made.”

If he had anything else to say, it's cut off by Watanabe using the rolled up papers in her hand to smack the first guy on the cheek before she starts whacking the top of his head with it, “Don't call me big sis! How many times do I have to tell you? Is that head of yours just an empty ornament?”

Given they don't look anything alike, she'd guess the whole ‘big sis’ thing is more of a nickname than a reference to an actual familial tie between them. The guy has his head ducked down and his arms vaguely over his head at that point, “Please don't beat up on me like that!” She finally stops at that, and he glances over at her as he straightens, “By the way Chief, what's with the new girl?”

Watanabe moves right past the way she'd been swatting at him so easily that she's fairly confident it's a normal occurrence, “That's Shiba Toshiko of class 1-E. She'll be joining us under the recommendation of the Student Council.”

The two gaze at her briefly before the first guy who'd just been getting whacked comments, “Emblem-less, huh?”

Sighing almost inaudibly, the second guy warns him, “Tatsumi-senpai, your choice of words may run afoul of the banned words regulations.” Then he glances over at her, “In this case, the proper term would be course two student.”

Watanabe's tone gets fairly light, “You guys, you're going to get the rug pulled out from under you if you hold such a simplistic outlook.” She settles herself so she's kind of sitting on the edge of the table, then smiles at them, “Between you and me, Hattori just got himself royally tripped up a while ago.”

Tatsumi, from what the other guy called him, gives her a surprised look, and he's not the only one, “You mean… she defeated Hattori?”

Watanabe slides back off her seat at the table, “That's right. In an official match too. She actually technically could've won three times instead of just one, but the first two times she very obviously purposely re-aimed her CAD to miss him at the last moment.”

The second guy, who's name she doesn't know, speaks up then, surprised enough to lose his more business-like tone, “What the… Are you saying that Hattori, undefeated since he started here, got beaten by a new student?”

Tatsumi crosses his arms even as he gets a small smile, “I'm glad to have her on our side!”

The other guy crosses one arm over his body as he brings the other up to rest his curled pointer finger against his chin, “We've got ourselves a phenomenon. Right, Chief?”

Watanabe turns her gaze from them to smile at her, “Who would've thought, right?” There's a few beats of quiet as she gazes at her before she slips her eyes closed, “This school, with its asinine ‘Bloom’ and ‘Weed’ labeling, is teeming with people either wallowing in their sense of superiority, or drowning in their sense of inferiority.”

She opens her eyes to pin them with a look, “To tell you the truth, I've been fed up with it all. Speaking for myself. Fortunately, both Mayumi and Juumonji of the Club Management Group know what kind of personality I have. They've used their recommendation slots to pick people who are relatively immune to those kinds of sensibilities.” The two boys look somewhat proud at those words, which is entirely deserved as far as she's concerned as Watanabe turns her gaze to her, “Their feelings of superiority may not quite be at zero, but they're good guys who can evaluate others’ skills fairly.” Watanabe leans over to place a hand on the table, “I don't think this place will be all that uncomfortable for you.”

She turns her gaze to the other two contemplatively, and Tatsumi steps past the other guy and extends a hand for a shake, “I'm Tatsumi Kouraro of class 3-C. Nice to meet you, Shiba. Able people like you are more than welcome here!”

Having not gone back to her seat after she propped the door open but just stepped out of the way, she smoothly steps forward to shake his hand as the other boy smiles at her over Tatsumi's shoulder, “I'm Sawaki Midori of class 2-D. Glad to have you on board Shiba.”

She smiles back, “Watanabe-senpai already introduced me, but it's polite to introduce oneself anyway. I'm first year student Shiba Toshiko of class 1-E. Likewise, it's nice to meet you too.”

Before anything else can be said, Sora all but bursts into the room, startling the other three. As Watanabe instinctively reaches for her CAD, she waves her off, “This is Amano Sora. The boyfriend I mentioned.”

The three relax immediately at that, even as Sora glances down at the book and leans down to scoop it up as he surveys the room with the same critical eye like he's calculating the exact angle to swing on a wire. He greets them almost absently before brushing past them and descending on the mess almost with the air of a wrathful god.

The other three's shoulders are shaking with suppressed laughter, and Watanabe holds the papers she had rolled up in her hand that she'd been beating Tatsumi with earlier, “If he's tidying up our headquarters, we may as well help while you fill out these forms for your official placement on the Disciplinary Committee.”

She accepts them and moves over to one of the seats to set the papers in front of it. Before she can sit down though, Sawaki asks in curiosity, “I don't mind us finally getting this place in order, but shouldn't you be helping as well?”

She smiles at him in amusement and reaches for one of the boxes on the table. She hardly has it lifted an inch from the table before Sora practically teleports to her side and snatches it from her hand, “You get your workaholic hands off the cleaning missy!”

Then he turns and moves off with the box as the other three's shoulders start shaking again. Watanabe grins at her, “Fair enough.”

Then the other three start helping Sora as she settles down with the forms she needs to fill out.

She's smacking at Sora's arm as he snickers while walking down to the gates with her, “Why did you just assume I was going to be invited to the Disciplinary Committee!”

Sora catches her hand in amusement, twining their fingers together as he grins at her, “Oh sweetheart. You're the only one who didn't piece together the sequence of events of Watanabe-senpai being impressed by your ability to read activation sequences, Saegusa-senpai admitting to Yuki that your scores are impressive but it's against the rules to have you on the Student Council, and Watanabe-senpai asking you to attend Yuki's… introduction meeting or whatever it was but needing to look into things.”

She pouts at him, but she doesn't get a chance to say anything before they're nearing the gates and Miho's voice enters the conversation, “You really are alone in not having seen it coming.”

She looks over to see Miho giving her a fondly exasperated look while Hoshi snickers at her side. As she steps up to them, Hoshi flicks a look over her shoulder, then slides around her to walk directly behind her as Miho slips to her other side.

It's the only thing she needs to see to know Yuki was incoming, even if she hadn't spotted it with her Elemental Sight.

She's pretty sure it's very much going to be her new normal as often as possible from here on, if the faces they made and the way they looked at each other after she mentioned trying to force Yuki to get more used to them being separated or having more distance between them quietly on the way back from lunch is any indication.

Before, they seemed to take more of an approach of respecting that she didn't want to deal with Yuki throwing fits if he couldn't at least just walk beside her when they were together and tended to have her walk on one of the ends. They seemed all too happy that she'd changed her mind and decided the tantrums are worth trying to force Yuki to accept things better though.

To that extent, she's not surprised in the slightest to see the unhappy expression and nasty looks he was giving the three of them with her Elemental Sight when he catches up and they start to leave the school.

Yuki was very likely to throw a tantrum at home later, and it was practically a guarantee that he was only holding his tongue after having learned the hard way more than once that she wouldn't accept him speaking ill of them. He's only getting worse and worse about her boundaries though, so she practically feels it has to be done to force a bit of distance from his constant pushing.

Chapter Text

She enters the living room, having come down from working on some things with a silencing spell slipped over her so Yuki wouldn't hear her leave her room after she saw him go to his, “Mother, we need to talk.”

She looks up, brows furrowed slightly at her serious tone, “About?”

She gives her a flat look, “Yuki.” As her mother starts to shift her gaze away, clearly getting ready to avoid the major topic, she pushes on, “If you keep refusing to talk about it, you'll have no room to complain if Yuki continues to push me and I end up cutting him out of my life.”

Her mother's eyes go wide and she snaps her gaze back to her, “You wouldn't-!”

She tilts her head, “If he doesn't learn to at least respect my boundaries? He's very much careening headlong towards it without even considering the potential consequences of his actions.”

Her mother stares at her for a beat, then bitterly bites out, “What do you expect me to do about it? You've basically banned me from using mental manipulation magic on either of you, so it's not like I can just remove his feelings for you.”

She forces herself to take a calming breath rather than snap at her, “You could do like everyone else does when they find their child's behavior acceptable? Quit avoiding the conversation and sit him down and talk to him. If you truly want your children to have a sibling relationship, since I've already shut down that nonsense you originally had planned, you need to help me force Yuki to at least control himself, even if he adamantly refuses to even try to move on. You need to sit him down and talk to him, to help me get him to respect my boundaries. Otherwise, as I said, you'll have no right to say a word about it if he pushes me to the point I cut him out of my life because you have been studiously ignoring the problem instead of helping me with the mess you made.”

Her mother looks away sharply, and there's a beat of silence before she sighs, “Fine. I'll speak to him.”

She nods sharply, then turns to head back to her room, “Good.”

The topic ends there, and she heads back up. It's almost inevitable that she'll end up venting to her soulmates that it took the threat of what exactly she and Yuki were heading towards for her mother to finally do something, and she's honestly starting to feel like a broken record at this point, but at least they don't mind.

Quite the contrary, they tend to get upset with her for not talking to them about her problems. Even if it's not something they can actually do something about, they absolutely prefer her at least vent to them to try to release some frustration and stress rather than letting it build quietly until it explodes on her.

The next day, she finds herself in the now tidy Disciplinary Committee headquarters at the meeting table as Watanabe gives something of a briefing, “Once again this year, the week of unbridled shenanigans is upon us. As the snagging of talented club members is a crucial task that directly influences the power map of each club as if they can perform well in the Nine Schools Competition or Thesis Competition, they can potentially get an increased budget as well receiving some special treatment for their club members, it is unfortunately not uncommon for the ensuing mad scramble to degrade into no holds barred fistfights and magic shootouts.”

She gives Watanabe a surprised look, “Magic shootout? It's against the school rules to carry CADs though unless you're on the Student Council, Disciplinary Committee, or Club Management Group isn't it?”

Watanabe nods, “In general yes, but clubs have special permission to carry them during club recruitment week so they can have demonstrations. There is a simple screening in place, but it’s more or less a free pass. Because of that, during this time, this place becomes a giant lawless zone full of chaos.” She sighs and gives her a tired look, “Mayumi thinks it's mainly because the school wants the clubs to score highly in the Nine Schools Competition, and is sure the school doesn't mind a few rules being broken as long as they raise the chances of recruiting more students.”

She shakes her head, “The faculty should be ashamed of themselves.”

Watanabe smiles, “Careful Shiba. I may like your attitude, but the school faculty certainly won't.” Then she glances at the other Disciplinary Committee members, “Luckily, this year we were able to replace all but one of our departing graduates in time. Let me introduce them to you. Stand up.”

She gets up with the other student joining the Disciplinary Committee, which from her understanding, as they have nine positions in total and a third each is elected by the Student Council, Club Management Group, and the faculty, they each pick one new student a year. As such, even though the faculty's original choice with Morisaki fell through, herself as the Student Council's choice as well as the Club Management Group choice had joined.

Watanabe gestures across the end of the table from Toshiko, “This is Tomitsuka Hagane(1) of class 1-B, and Shiba Toshiko of 1-E. They'll be joining the patrol detail right away.”

The older student she had been sitting beside makes a loose fist and points his thumb at her, “Are they gonna be of any use?”

Watanabe looks a little fed up already, “Don't worry, they're both competent.” She looks over the people at the table, “I've already observed Shiba's skills in person, and Juumonji himself vouches that Tomitsuka lives up to his name as a member of the Hundred Families. Does anyone have anything more to say?” There's a few moments of silence, “Fine. Then let's send you on your way. Mobilize!”

The other members of the Disciplinary Committee shoot to their feet at that and start to file out. Neither she nor Tomitsuka head out with them, having been asked to stay behind after the meeting by Watanabe before it started.

Once the rest are gone, she moves further down the table, “First off, let me give you these.” She sets two arm bands with the Disciplinary Committee emblem down, and two communicators on top of them and starts towards the door herself, “Also, about the CADs. Disciplinary Committee officers are permitted to carry CADs on the school grounds. There's no need to request anyone's permission to use them.” She's right before the door now, but pauses to turn to them with a serious expression, “But if you're found to have used them inappropriately, not only will you be relieved of your post, but you'll also be penalized severely by the general student body. So don't take this lightly.” Something seems to occur to her, and she turns more specifically towards her, “Ah. You're of course welcome to use the Committee's CADs as well for your little pseudo cast jamming trick.”

She nods and moves over to grab a couple. As she puts them on, Watanabe hums, “That's everything, so unless you have questions?”

Tomitsuka indicates he doesn't in the background and she lets him finish while she focuses on putting on the CADs before responding, “Neither do I Watanabe-senpai.”

Watanabe nods, “Then let's head out to patrol.”

She's moving down one of the walkways that booths for the clubs have been set up on either side of when she hears a familiar voice, “Uh, please let go of me now.”

Quick stepping to the turn off and looking down it towards where she heard the noise come from, she's entirely unsurprised to see Erika surrounded and looking incredibly uncomfortable. They seem to be from sports teams, given the uniforms and the numbers on back, but she has zero clue which sports they're for, just that there are three different uniforms.

Seeing them yank her around, she hits the record button on the terminal to turn on the camera on the top edge poking out of her pocket, as people surrounding Erika continue to babble cheerfully while yanking her around, “This girl is adorable!”

“Hey, want to join our club?”

“You'll definitely like our club bett-”

She cuts into the babbling sharply, “Hey! She has asked you to let her go repeatedly! Do you not understand the meaning of the word consent?” As if burned, probably at the implication, the girls around Erika quickly let go of her, and she scampers over to her quickly and ducks around her as she fixes her coat, which had been pulled off her shoulders in their yanking, “It's awfully funny, given you're all females, yet you of all people don't seem to understand the concept that no means no.”

More than a few of them flush deeply in mortification at the implication, and a bolder one tries to defend them, “It wasn't like that-!”

Her voice remains sharp as a sword, “It remains true regardless of the context. It's a matter of respecting people's boundaries, choices, and their freedom of autonomy. If anything, the fact you can't even respect those for a more minor issue leaves one… concerned about your ability to respect ‘no’ for bigger issues.”

One of the mortified girls lashes out at her, “A Weed like you should mind your own business!”

She gives her a deadpan look and points with her unoccupied hand at her armband, “Keeping the peace and stepping in to stop harassment is my business, seeing as I'm on the Disciplinary Committee.” Then she smiles, “But if we're going to use measurements like that, as members of the Ten Master Clans, Saegusa-senpai and Juumonji-senpai have the right to demand literally anything they want from you no matter how ludicrous and you can't say no, right? Even if it's, I don't know, murder everyone you care about just because I said so?” A heavy awkward silence settles over the 'recruiters' as they flush even more, “...Yeah, that's what I thought. Besides, you take such pride in being course one students in First High, yet you do not act with the manners that should come with when you act like dogs fighting over a piece of meat. Go back to your booths and talk to people who are actually interested."

As they scurry away in utter humiliation, she reaches up to click the button to turn the camera back off and turns to Erika, “You alright?”

Erika blinks rapidly, though she seems to have fixed her disheveled clothes while Toshiko was busy shaming them for their behavior, “Y-yeah. I- …Thanks for stepping in.”

She nods, “Do you need me to escort you for a bit after that scare?”

Erika flushes, and her voice goes uncharacteristically quiet, “Would you?”

She nods, “Yeah. Me and Tomitsuka weren't really given particular patrol routes or anything, since we just joined and Watanabe-senpai knew it was already going to be a lot just adjusting to that dealing with our first club recruitment week, so we can pretty much go wherever.”

Erika relaxes slightly, then takes a breath and seems to sort of force herself to get back to her usual cheerful self, “Okay! I was on my way to the gym to check out the kendo club and kenjutsu club exhibitions.”

She smiles and gestures down the path. Erika bounces up to her side and they set off.

She's holding back the critiques that want to come out as she watches the kendo exhibition. Centuries polishing her skill with a blade makes them want to bubble out, but she's fully aware how odd it could potentially sound. She glances over at Erika to see if she's enjoying herself, and is surprised to find she looks a bit down, “Not what you were expecting?”

Erika sighs, “No. It's so boring. Trying so hard to look good sparring, and then delivering a predetermined blow.” Erika must know a thing or two about swordsmanship as well to have spotted that, “This is no better than a staged sword fight!”

She hums, “That's to be expected though, given that with it being club week, things like this are set up to pull in as many recruits as possible. It's not surprising that they'd be angling more towards being showy.”

Erika sighs, “Yeah. Still-”

A sudden shout cuts her off and their attention is drawn to two groups that seem to be clashing, “Excuse me Erika.”

Then she starts quickly making her way over to and down the stairs even as she listens to the argument. First the female at the head of one of the groups, “There's still more than an hour before the kenjutsu club is up, Kirihara! Why can't you wait until then?”

Kirihara, from what the woman had called him, responds in an arrogant tone, “Not what I expected, Mibu. Since you can't put your abilities on display sparring with such a newbie, I just thought a little collaboration was in order.”

Mibu takes an angry step forward, “You're the one who forced him to challenge you!” She reaches the gathering crowd at that point and starts making her way towards the front, but as long as it stays verbal, she's not going to interfere. She does notice that Erika had followed her though, “Collaborate my foot!”

Kirihara -which she can't help but feel a bit strange about given that was her wife's last name in their previous life- smirks at Mibu, “But it was the kendo club who struck first.”

Mibu snaps at that, her voice raising, “Because you provoked us, Kirihara!”

Erika seems to find it amusing or something, “This is starting to get juicy, huh?”

She glances over, “You seem more invested than I'd expect. Do you know them or something?”

Erika murmurs out, “Well, not personally, but… The girl is Mibu Sayaka. The year before last, she was second place in the national junior high kendo tournament for girls. The guy is Kirihara Takeaki. The year before last, he won the Kanto region junior high kenjutsu tournament.” As Erika was talking the two had continued to argue, but as she finishes that part, the people around them quickly back up and they point their shinai at each other, and Erika adds on, “Whoops, looks like it's about to start!”

It seems ridiculous to her, but she had caught a formal challenge from Mibu that was in line with the kendo and kenjutsu club rules, so as long as they don't cross lines, there's little she can do.

Kirihara's voice is still practically dripping arrogance, “Don't you worry, Mibu. This is a kendo demonstration. I'll do you a favor and not use any magic.”

Mibu's face tightens, “You think you stand a chance against me with just sword skills? You, Kirihara, coming from the spell-dependent kenjutsu club, a match for a member of the kendo club where we focus solely on honing sword skills?”

Kirihara is smirking at her, “Focus solely on honing sword skills? Right. You're full of bluster, Mibu.” She reaches for her Disciplinary Committee terminal to turn on the camera poking out of the top of her pocket again as he speaks, only catching the last part, “I'll be happy to show you then. What it means to battle in a dimension beyond the limits of physical ability… The sword skills of kenjutsu!”

They both launch forward as he finishes, hitting each other at around the same time. Erika murmurs, “A draw?”

She immediately disagrees, “No, they hit each other at the same time, but the blows are wildly different. I'm surprised a swordsman like you didn't notice.”

Erika glances at her, but before she can say anything, Mibu speaks again, “If this was a real sword, you'd be fatally wounded.” She swipes his bokken away with her own, “As for me, your strike stopped short of the bone.” She isn't wrong. Kirihara had barely gotten the outer edge of her arm, while her own bokken had been stabbed into his chest before she knocked his away and down and lowered her own. Given how upset he looks, she feels like Mibu is entirely justified adding, “Accept your defeat like a good loser.”

There's a beat before Kirihara answers, “If it was a real sword? You disappoint me.” He smirks again, “Mibu, is that what you want? To fight with real swords? If that's the case, then I'll oblige you…” He pushes his sleeve back and starts pushing buttons on his forearm CAD, “I'll take you on with a real sword.”

Reading the magic sequence, she quickly recognizes one of the more popular ones, Sonic Blade, which is designed to vibrate objects in such a way so as to make practically whatever it’s applied to a cutting weapon. Seeing Kirihara launch forward, she activates Shukujihou and gets between them right as Kirihara is starting to swing as he gets into range, using the two bracelet CADs for her pseudo cast jamming to break the Sonic Blade spell, stepping to his side and tripping him up and pinning him to the ground with a knee to his back. As he tries to flail, she catches both hands and pulls them behind him to tightly hold onto both wrists with one hand.

He chokes in surprise, but she just reaches up to with her free hand to grab her Disciplinary Committee terminal and click the radio button, “This is Shiba, I've apprehended a member of the kenjutsu club in the gym for excessive use by virtue of activation of a Sonic Blade spell.”

Without missing a beat, Watanabe's voice responds, “Understood, I'm enroute. Hang tight.”

“Understood Watanabe-senpai.”

The other kenjutsu club members had been bristling and looked mad at her pinning Kirihara, but they'd stilled and gone pale when Watanabe's voice had responded to her radio call, and seem to disperse rather grudgingly. She glances over at Mibu, pausing on her a brief moment before she scans the rest of the Kendo club before she finally turns her attention back to Kirihara, who's gone rather still and pale himself.

It isn't very long at all before Watanabe is showing up, looking pissed. Clocking the guy she's got pinned immediately she starts shouting, “Kirihara! What is this I'm hearing about a Sonic Blade?!”

Kirihara tries to talk his way out of it quickly, “It's just a misunderstanding! I was using a spell yes, but Mibu and I were sparing and she okayed my use of magic! It wasn't-”

Watanabe cuts him off coldly, “The main reason I recruited Shiba to the Disciplinary Committee is because she proved she had the ability to read a spell just by the activation sequence.” He falls silent at that, seeming to pale even further, and Watanabe shakes her head as she moves forward, “Let him up Shiba. We'll take him in.”

She does exactly that, and it's probably just because Watanabe is there since no one really knows what she's capable of, but he doesn't try anything foolish even after he's on his feet. Before they head out though, she leans over to murmur in Watanabe's ear, covering her mouth against any lip reading, “We need to take some of the kendo club in as well. You can call it under the pretext of wanting to get their side of the story or whatever seems believable to you, but from the looks of things, some of them are under some sort of mental manipulation magic.”

Watanabe's breath hitches ever so slightly, and she murmurs back, “Are you certain?”

And she knows why she'd ask that, but she saw far too many cases of people under imperio from casters smart enough to have them avoid her wards or compulsion spells over the centuries in her previous life to mistake it. Not that she needed those signs, given that when she'd turned her attention to Mibu to check her for injuries, she'd taken notice of what her Elemental Sight was telling her about her, when before that she was habitually discarding the information on Mibu in general, “One hundred percent. I have no idea if it's extensive enough to get them to try to escape if they get an idea someone is onto it though, so it's probably best to take the whole kendo club in rather than singling anyone out.”

Watanabe nods gravely, and as she turns her gaze to the kendo club, she steps out of her personal space and back to Kirihara's side, like she's just making sure he doesn't pull anything. Watanabe raises her voice to speak to the kendo club at large as she does, “There are some complications to the situation, so I'm going to need the kendo club to come with us to answer questions. So it doesn't affect exhibitions, the kenjutsu club can take over an hour early and you'll get an hour from them some other time during the week as a trade off!”

The kendo club members murmur in confusion, but they don't protest, coming with them quietly. As they head off towards the main building, Watanabe types away at her mobile terminal. When they get there, Saegusa, Ichihara, and Juumonji are there with who was introduced as the principal during the entrance ceremony waiting for them presumably called by Watanabe.

Without hesitation, Ichihara steps forward as she gestures off to the side, “Will the members of the kendo club come with me and explain the incident please?”

They move off a bit and Saegusa looks after them in vague concern as Juumonji deploys both a sound proofing barrier and one that prevents lip reading, before looking back at her, “Now that Rin is distracting them, Mari said you had reason to believe some of them are under mental manipulation magic?”

She sighs and looks over at the kendo club as she leans into Saegusa's space a little to point, “Look at Mibu's eyes. You see the way they're focused, yet there's a subtle haze over the pupils? Now look at his,” She points to another kendo club member, “his eyes do not have that haze. Then if you turn your attention to the kendo club head, if the armband is any indication, you see how his eyes are worse than Mibu's, a little hazier, a little foggier? Those are-”

The principal sighs loudly, “You draw us all here for such flimsy evidence? That-!”

She cuts across him coldly, “How about you use a spell designed to pick up on mental manipulation before you shoot me down. You're already here, you may as well do your due diligence.”

He purses his lips, but sighs, “Fine. But I'm overriding the Student Council and Disciplinary Committee and removing you from your post for wasting everyone's time when it comes back clean.”

She snorts, “If the results are clean, sure.”

He grumbles as he casts a spell designed to look for traces of mind magics. And then he falls utterly silent, as a bubble surrounds them, and on the bubble, where they can see them through it, people like Mibu and the club head get splashed in red, noticeably darker on the kendo club head than Mibu, while others, like the one she said was clean, are covered in blue.

Everyone falls silent and she tilts her head at the principal, “Still think my evidence is flimsy?”

He opens and closes his mouth, face pale and Kirihara explodes, “It's about damn time you did something!” As they turn to him in surprise, he gives the principal a bitter look, “I made a report that Mibu was acting strange months ago and you brushed me off! I've been trying to provoke her in a way that she'd do something to get your attention,(2) but it took a fucking first year, a first year who spotted it in an instant, to actually get you to at least check.” He turns away bitterly, “If you wanna expel me for the Sonic Blade thing, fine. I know Mibu has the reflexes that she would've moved back fast enough that I wouldn't have done anything more than cut the front of her chest protection, but if that's what it took to get someone to look into it then it was damned worth it.”

Saegusa frowns at him, “You made a previous report?”

Kirihara snarls angrily, “February twenty-seventh! I came into the office after school ended for the day as I'd been told to after requesting a meeting in an email!” He points sharply at the principal, “You brushed me off! And I know, I know you have cameras in your office so don't deny it!”

As the principal flounders some more, she shakes her head and turns to Watanabe, who looks a little shaken, “Kirihara and what his punishment will be will need to be paused in light of that, assuming it affects the decision at all. We'll need to go over the entire student body to check, you realize?”

Watanabe's face tightens as fury takes over her expression, “Who in the hell is daring to target First High students?”

She shrugs, “That, I don't have the answer to.”

Saegusa peers at her, “...How did you even spot something as minor as that?”

She shakes her head, “I have an unusual amount of experience with mental manipulation magic and its effects is all.”

Juumonji seems to leave it at that as he turns to Watanabe, “We'll need to figure out how to organize checking over the student body as quickly as possible.”

Watanabe sighs, “Yeah.” Then she turns a dark eye on the surprisingly quiet Kirihara, who was watching Mibu in a strange mixture of misery and relief, likely at the fact someone had finally noticed what he'd tried to report, “The decision on what your punishment will be is temporarily put on hold in light of your claims of just trying to force attention onto the matter. The footage from Shiba's Disciplinary Committee terminal camera,” She glances at her and she nods to make it clear she'd recorded like she's supposed to, “will be reviewed in light of your claim that you weren't closing fast enough to actually hit her. How fast you were moving will be subject to scrutiny. Even then, once whatever mental manipulation magic on Mibu is broken, she will have the situation explained and be asked to weigh in, much like a victim of an attack will be asked if they want to press charges by the police. Do I make myself clear?”

Kirihara nods, “Yes Watanabe-senpai.”

She stares him down with a sharp gaze for a beat before nodding once, “Now if you'll excuse me, I have an absolute mess to start cleaning up.” She glances up at the principal, “Experts at breaking this sort of magic will need to be called in as soon as possible, so you likely need to get going as well.”

The man nods as he shakily runs a hand over his beard, “I know.” He mutters to himself as he starts to turn away, “Absolute mess indeed.”

In the end, it had been decided that the easiest way to do things when it came to scanning the students was to call all the students to go to the gym where the entrance ceremony took place, the same one used for announcements, and sort them by class to go through them in groups. The number of students that had been found under the magic was concerning, particularly amongst course two students.

Watanabe, Saegusa, and Juumonji had been utterly furious and keen to hunt the perpetrator down, but it had been even easier than they thought. As it turned out, the reason the kendo club head had much more extensive mind manipulation done to him was because the culprit was his step brother, and the moron had been so confident in his mental manipulation magic that he'd taken him to his base of operations. The police raid on the place had discovered he was in charge of a local branch of the international anti-magic terrorist organization Blanche. It had, of course, brought up the question of why they were targeting high school students, but some additional digging had uncovered that as well. Ironically enough given what they claimed to be, namely against magic, they'd been intending to use the students to break into the special browsing room and steal classified research from the Magic Universities that can be accessed from it.

Why they wanted it was still unknown, but that had apparently been the main goal of targeting First High students, namely from course two that had grievances due to the differences in treatment. The fact they were unhappy with things made them prime targets, creating an opening for the mental manipulation magic to coerce them to do things they wouldn't otherwise do.

Like stage a violent attack to take attention away from someone hitting the special browsing room.

Luckily for Kirihara, once Mibu's mental manipulation broke, she didn't even need the situation explained to her. She'd almost immediately started all but pleading for leniency for Kirihara. Unsurprisingly given he noticed the change in behavior, they were close. She wasn't even surprised when Mibu ran across her a few days later and hurried up to thank her for her help and she'd noticed them walking away after holding hands. She'd kinda figured there was something between them given the lengths Kirihara was willing to go to for her.

The entire affair had been explained to the student body in an assembly, and they'd also been given a brief seminar on a bunch of warning signs to look out for things like it, dangerous organizations, manipulation, the works.

It's why, at their now normal after school meetup location of Café Einebrise, she's not surprised in the slightest by Erika tossing her torso onto the table, “Man. What a crazy first couple weeks of school. First mental manipulation magic, then finding out that apparently an international anti-magic terrorist organization is behind it?” She turns her head to peer up at her, “By the way, my brother asked me to pass along some gratitude for uncovering the whole thing. The Chiba family has some pretty strong ties to the police, as I'm sure you know, but my brother is actually directly a detective.”

She hums, “All I did was spot the mind magics.”

Erika waves a hand, “Yeah, but it dominoed from there, and while even Aniki admits they didn't root out the entirety of the Japanese branch of Blanche, it still let them find them and deal a good blow as well as get some leads.”

She waves it off, “I really didn't have a whole lot to do with all that. It was at most like someone calling the police because of suspect activity.”

Erika straightens up with a frown, eyeing her, “Are you like, incapable of taking a compliment or something?”

Without missing a beat, Miho responds to her, “She is to some extent, but in this case it's more that she struggles to take credit for things.”

Erika makes an ‘ah’ expression. It's about that time that Sora grabs Hoshi's head, pulling her attention away from the bubbles she's been blowing into her drink with her straw, “Stop messing around and eat your food or I'll gut you like a fish.”

Leo squints at the two of them as Hoshi straightens up and starts eating at Sora's overprotective chastisement, “I don't get it. If you hate each other that much, why are you always basically glued at the hip?”

Hoshi laughs in amusement, “Good one Leo!” She rubs at the bottoms of her eyes like she's wiping tears of amusement away, even though there weren't any, “Whew, me and Sora, hate each other? That's probably the funniest joke I've heard. Anyway!” She turns to Sora, “I could go for some fish actually.”

Unsurprisingly, given how much he takes care of the three of them, Sora responds without missing a beat, “I'll make you fish later.” 

She's a bit baffled by the vaguely disturbed looks on their friends’ faces at that. She glances at Miho, but she looks equally confused. Was it something about how much he spoils her or something? The way the third world war had changed this universe, had changed society, the way he dotes on Hoshi has gotten some odd looks before, but after two weeks, she'd think they'd have gotten used to it.

Pushing past the weird air, she asks them all how they're adjusting to the school, a conversation they take to with gusto, likely out of eagerness to forget about the insanity that had occurred during the first two weeks.

After a while of just chatting and relaxing, the group breaks up to head their separate ways, and it's only after waving goodbye to the others and starting off that Miho glances over, “In light of how… interesting the first couple weeks of school were, I gotta ask. Are you just cursed? To constantly have trouble drawn to you or something? I was honestly looking forward to going to school with you, and you're hardly there a few days before something happens.”

Even as she mentally acknowledges the vagueness, undoubtedly at least in part due to the fact Yuki didn't know about their reincarnation, a thought flits across her mind, warm as a comforting soup at the fact she wasn't alone in the self indulgence of wanting to enjoy attending school with her soulmates, especially given Sora is nodding along on her other side. Back and to the left of her though, through her Elemental Sight, she sees Yuki's face become furious as he takes a deep breath, looking like he's gearing up to try to tear Miho a new one.

Before he can though, and without missing a beat in the conversation, she replies in an idle tone, “Probably. I do seem to be a magnet for trouble.”

A gusty breath rushes out of Yuki at her agreement. Not paying anymore attention to him than she is, Sora snorts before commenting in a dry tone, “Part of that is self-inflicted from the fact you can't help meddling whenever you get even a hint that there's something wrong.”

On her other side, Miho nods but adds, “Yeah, but even hints for things being wrong seem to drop into her lap more than is statistically likely.”

Hoshi giggles lightly from directly behind her, practically entirely to occupy the spot so Yuki can't take it as an alternative since Miho and Sora are each taking up one of her sides, “That's true! But she's still practically like a bloodhound on a scent when she gets those hints, so even if they come to her more than most, she's still totally responsible for being caught up in those troubles.”

Sora nods in agreement. Then he shakes himself with a smile, “Trouble magnetism aside, your birthday is coming up. Anything in particular you wanted to do or get Toshiko? Assuming it isn't derailed by more trouble anyway.”

She's absolutely aware of the way Yuki perks up with her Elemental Sight despite his poor attempts to hide it, and it makes her want to sigh at him. He praises her so much, yet he doesn't seem to be able to wrap his head around the idea she's known exactly what he was doing the first time he overheard this conversation and gotten her one of the few things she mentioned, which in and of itself was fine, but had picked the one thing on the list Sora had indicated he was probably going to pick? And it's happened every year since, despite the fact she never fails to call him out on it, asking him point-blank why he'd gotten what Sora had indicated he'd probably get her when they were talking about it.

She had also, without fail every time, given it back and suggested he return it and get a refund, utterly refusing to accept the gift he'd selected despite knowing full well Sora had basically already laid claim to being the one to get her that present from her list. She's also made it clear that she does not appreciate his attempts to upstage her boyfriend, and after the first year when he tried to twist things around and say Sora was copying him, she refused to even open Yuki's present until after she's met up with Miho, Sora, and Hoshi and gotten their presents.

Their mother had tried to protest the accusation that he was mimicking Sora the first year(3), but that was actually part of the reason she started meeting up with them before she opened the family presents. It was a bit harder for her to deny the accusation regarding Sora's gift, identical to Yuki's at least to some extent in that its always the same item if not design, despite the fact their mother knows full well Yuki orders them to be delivered and never breathes a word of the presents he's getting her. Ironically, in fear of anyone else pulling the same nonsense he's been doing with Sora.

She hums idly, “Honestly, I usually only start really thinking about it around the start of the month, since my birthday being on the twenty-fourth usually means there's plenty of time, but with everything going on… I honestly haven't given it much thought. Surprise me I guess. It's not like you don't know me well enough to make pretty educated guesswork on what I'd like.”

Sora nods, “Yeah, but we usually like asking in case there's anything in particular you're wanting. If you can't think of anything though,” He shrugs, “it's not a big deal since you aren't wrong about us knowing you well enough.”

Yuki deflates. Honestly, she's thought about purposely having these conversations out of his earshot or over text or something, but she'd decided a while ago that it wasn't her responsibility to try to prevent Yuki's shameless behavior. Not that he's learned the lesson on how it'll always backfire on him, given she's returned his copycat gifts every year without fail the past four years he's pulled that nonsense. The gifts he always gets as replacements have their own problems, since much like his behavior, such as when he tried to argue her onto the Student Council, he doesn't consider what she may actually want, just what he decides she deserves.

She isn't particularly fond of his gifts in general, but she always bites back the exasperated sigh that wants to come out at that, since even if she's not particularly fond of them since he doesn't actually put thought into what she may actually like, she'd rather not unintentionally push him to get what may very well be gifts of some sort of impropriety, and she also wants to discourage the copycat gifts. The best way to potentially achieve the latter is to make it clear she does not appreciate the copied gifts but doesn't mind the other gifts, so she can't really make it obvious she doesn't much appreciate the non-copied gifts. It's made her feel a bit bad more than once, since it makes her feel like a spoiled brat, but it's not really about the gifts, it's the sheer lack of thought given to them on what she may actually like.

She would genuinely prefer something worth a thousand yen(4) but with clear thought put into it over something worth one hundred thousand yen(4) but utterly thoughtless. If it wasn't for the fact that again, she didn't want to push him towards potentially improper gifts, if she'd thought it'd get anywhere in curbing his obsessive behavior if she pointed out to their mother that he was pulling the exact same thing with her that their father pulled with her mother, she'd absolutely be pointing it out to their mother and letting her ream him out. Yuki was certainly their fathers son though, in basically trying to buy her love like Tatsurou did with their mother, though he doesn't have access to as much money for his gift as their father did for his. 

She bites back a sigh just thinking of it. For all that he insists he loves her, it's probably more accurate to say he loves the idea of her he's built in his head, utterly ignoring the actual her. Normally, she'd probably consider that a good thing in a way, since she doesn't want him to be in love with her, but given the problems it brings with it, the way it makes him do things like trying to force her into the Student Council just to name one example, she's not totally sure if it's a good thing or not.

She's quite happy with the day so far. Her sixteenth birthday fell on a Saturday this year, but First High was actually the sort of school that didn't have Saturdays off. Given she was well ahead in classes though, which isn't surprising, and with nothing else to spend any study time on themselves making them ahead as well, she, her soulmates, and even Hoshi had taken the day off. Her soulmates had absolutely taken advantage of it, taking her out on a date after she'd had breakfast with her mother and Yuki. They'd gone back to Sora's place for lunch, since he'd been more in the mood to make her something instead of them going somewhere to eat, and that was when Hoshi joined them as it shifted away from a couple thing to a more general birthday celebration.

It'd been a great day, that was for sure.

Which was why she now found herself hovering on her own doorstep, taking a few more moments to enjoy the lingering feelings before her mood is almost inevitably soured.

With a sigh, she finally opens the door and enters. Given it's about dinner time, for all that she honestly would've preferred to stay to get more of Sora's cooking, she knows full well her mother would've thrown a fit, but it also means she's not surprised that after clearly hearing the door, Honami calls that they're in the dining room.

Heading that way, she's greeted with the fairly normal sight of Honami bustling around in the attached open plan kitchen finishing things up for dinner while her mother and Yuki sit at the dining table.

Her mother gives her a vaguely unhappy look, “You're a bit late. I was beginning to think you'd miss dinner.”

She raises an eyebrow, “And I got here before it, so I'm not late. Close to when it starts is entirely different then late.”

Hey mother sighs but drops it as she waves at one of the chairs. The one opposite Yuki on her other side specifically, as she continues, “Come and sit down. Honami is almost done with dinner.”

She makes her way forward, as Yuki peers at their mother, “Are we doing presents before or after dinner?”

Their mother sighs lightly, “After dinner. Like we do every year.” She can't blame their mother for tacking that last part on, given that year after year, despite mounting evidence of how things will play out, he continues to ask. Their mother shakes her head in mild exasperation at Yuki before turning to her, “Did you have a good day?”

At least she knows to hold back the passive aggressive remarks on her choosing to spend her birthday with her partners instead of her and Yuki. She wouldn't even necessarily be against them coming over, and neither are they, but her mother has made it clear that she doesn't want the inevitable tension and Yuki to be upset so has long requested her not to bring them over when they started getting old enough that it was a little more doable for Miho, since unlike Sora her parents were not neglectful.

She'd agreed easily, even though it felt ridiculous and like their mother was catering to Yuki's primed love. It also didn't seem to occur to her at the time that it meant she'd be heading out on her birthday more consistently, instead of just when Miho could finagle the timing of slipping away to actually land on her birthday. She hadn't been very happy about it needless to say, but she'd only made passive aggressive remarks once, given when she'd bitterly asked when she was going to be back the next year and her response had been that whether it was before or after dinner depended on if she was going to be passive aggressive about her partners again. She'd tried to push, saying she was perfectly allowed to say things like that when they were pulling her daughter away on her birthday.

That had only resulted in her mother learning the hard way that it wasn't an idle threat when she'd warned her that it was dependent on her own behavior. Her mother had not been happy that she'd stayed out until after dinner, but she hadn't really been able to dispute that she'd done it to herself since she'd already made it clear she wasn't going to sit by and just take that nonsense regarding her partners. She'd been warned. She pushed that boundary anyway and had to live with the consequence.

Shaking the thoughts off, she tilts her head at her mother, “I did. It was quite lovely actually.”

Her mother's eyes tighten a little when Yuki stiffens in response, “That's good…”

She hums in agreement, weighing adding more as she's not obligated to tiptoe around setting Yuki off as well as the fact that she's genuinely starting to wonder if her mother pretending she's single around Yuki doesn't just make the situation with him worse in giving him a space to entertain his delusions. On the other hand, she doesn't want to give Yuki the chance to even attempt to taint her enjoyment of the day and would seriously like to have one day off dealing with his nonsense.

The choice is actually taken out of her hands, when her mother seems to muster herself as she draws herself up, “What did you do to celebrate?”

Yuki flinches slightly, but their mother gives him a sharp look.

Oh. Oh. Their mother had taken the discussion she'd forced seriously for once instead of ignoring things. Back when she thought she was dying, she'd expressed sadness in not getting to meet her partners, but then when she'd gotten healthier, she'd ended up banning them from the house to avoid upsetting Yuki, citing that he should have some space where he wasn't confronted with the information. Apparently though, while she probably wasn't anywhere near ready to let them come to the house, she'd decided that one of the changes she'd be making was to actually acknowledge her relationship in the house.

She's probably rather torn by the whole thing to be honest. On one hand, again, she had expressed interest in knowing her literal soulmates in the past, so there was probably a measure of happiness in finally being able to at least ask about them. In the other though, one of the reasons she'd eventually acknowledged Miya as her mother was because as messed up as some of the things she's pulled with her and Yuki are, and as much as she does not agree with them, ultimately she does genuinely love them and did those things in an attempt to make them happy, and Yuki certainly wasn't whenever her relationship is brought up.

She hums as she lets go of the thought, “Well, before that since I know you're used to different things as a Yotsuba, it wasn't anything glamorous or extravagant. Can't even call it fancy. And while some of that is because they just don't have Yotsuba levels of money, it's also because they know that while I wouldn't say no to something both expensive and thoughtful if they had the money, ultimately I care more about things being thoughtful than the price tag attached. Just wanted to start with that so you don't judge any of it negatively for being cheap.”

Her mother nods in understanding, and she smiles, both with gratitude at Honami as she sets plates in front of them, as well as from general happiness from the memories, “Well, for starters they took me to a cafè to grab a slice of cake. After that we went to a movie I've been wanting to watch, and once it was over we went to a park to just enjoy taking a walk together. Then we went back to Sora's house where he cooked a rather delicious lunch and it shifted away from a date as his sister joined us. I honestly spent the rest of the afternoon there, played some board and card games, but we mostly just relaxed and talked. Received calls from the other kids throughout the afternoon, since I’d told them my morning was busy but they all wanted to call to wish me a happy birthday. It was quite enjoyable overall.”

Her mother blinks a few times in surprise, then gives her a bemused smile, “Well, you aren't wrong that it's nowhere near what I'm used to, but if you enjoyed it…”

She nods with a smile, “I did. Honestly, it was the best and most relaxing day I've had in a while.”

Her mom hums as she takes a drink, only responding when she's done obviously, “That's all that really matters.”

She flashes her a smile and her mother almost hesitantly asks more. About the movie she'd seen, what Sora had made her for lunch, small talk mostly.

The dinner passes by faster than usual while she chats with her mother, who for once is refusing to let Yuki even start any of his nonsense. Some part of her does feel bad for Yuki, since it had been started by mental manipulation magic and when he was a fetus at that, but he adamantly refused to even try to move on, whether naturally or through their mother offering -offering not demanding or just doing it- to use mental manipulation magic to get rid of his romantic feelings for her. It was the only time before now that she'd even acknowledged the situation actually. Yuki had shot it down though.

Despite that, she just can't help but feel genuine relief in getting away from his constant pushing of lines and her boundaries without having to basically hide herself away in her room or get away from him in general.

Who knows.

Maybe their mother refusing to essentially give him a silent free pass from letting his behavior continue in the house without saying a word will make him back off.

She sets a listening spell that will essentially broadcast the noise to her over her room so she'll know if anyone knocks or anything, as well as another that will basically let her project her voice from around the area of her closet if she wants just in case before she apparates quietly from her room. Specifically, she heads to the Yotsuba Main House, bypassing the magic barrier entirely since it's not designed to notice her Calanthe magic in the slightest.

She has a very important mission today, one that comes up every year, three times a year in fact, though for different reasons. With a glance up with her Elemental Sight, she confirms Maya is already awake and in her office as she heads up.

This tradition of hers had started back when she was nine, having just felt like it was wrong to let it happen as things were looking to play out.

She doesn't even bother knocking before she enters, which Maya seems to have expected given her amused look, and was honestly fair since these yearly visits were one of the few things that she didn't knock for. The first time more because she was in a hurry not to get caught sneaking away by her mother, then afterwards, she and Maya had discussed it on the phone after the next quick visit the next year, and after she'd explained that she usually knocked because she genuinely respected Maya in general, Maya had all but demanded these specific visits be an exemption to her knocking.

She smiles back as she swiftly enters and makes her way forward, swinging around the desk to drop a kiss on Maya's forehead as she places the gift bag on her desk, “Happy Mother's Day.”

She was fully aware Maya wasn't her birth mother, and she'd never celebrated it with Maya before she moved out, but back when that first Mother's Day since she moved in with Miya was approaching, it had felt utterly wrong on a fundamental level to celebrate the day with Miya. It had taken her almost too long to realize why and still have enough time to get a card and present, but eventually it sunk in that it was because of Maya. Because she wasn't her birth mother, and mentally she was an adult, but Maya genuinely felt more like a mom to her then Miya, both at the time and even up to now. It had become a yearly tradition after that for her to slip away to quickly visit Maya and bring her a card and present, though she couldn't linger for an actual celebration without her mother potentially noticing and throwing a fit of her own, much like Yuki's fits about her romantic relationships.

It's why she'd barged in that first year, being in a rush to drop them off and determined to do it on Mother's Day itself rather than the day before, even if it meant she'd have to leave just as swiftly to avoid anyone realizing she wasn't at the Shiba house. Then turned around when she understood from the tempo of the house after she got back that she had more time then she'd thought and knocked the second year, leading to that phone call where she explained what the difference was. Maya had all but demanded she not bother for these visits though, since while she appreciated the respect in general, she was absolutely set on the fact that if she was coming to visit her as more like a daughter then she had no business knocking. Not for Mother's Day, nor the other two things along those lines that she slips away to visit for.

Those other visits being Maya's shared birthday with her mother and Christmas, since her previously Western life means it's more of a family holiday for her then a romantic holiday that it's seen more as in Japan. Maya had thankfully understood that when she'd explained, given she was fully aware of her reincarnation, and she'd respected it as well.

Maya smiles at the brushed kiss, “Thank you dear.” Then she sighs dramatically, “I suppose you'll have to leave to mitigate my sister noticing your disappearance as swiftly as usual?”

She smiles apologetically, “Sorry.”

Maya shakes her head and gives her a mischievous grin, “One of these years, I'll get to keep you for Mother's Day!”

She laughs back, “After I move out, certainly. Not sure if I could manage all day without drawing a tantrum, but Miya generally prefers later celebrations anyway. The only real problem now is household breakfast, lunch, and the fact I can't predict when anyone will come looking for me, since while we don't really do celebrations until later, they don't tend to like me ‘holing up in my room’ on Mother's Day. Once I'm not living with them, that won't be a problem though, so I'll easily be able to spend the majority of Mother's Day with you.” Then she frowns slightly, “Besides, you aren't the only one who's not happy with the current situation, given it feels like I'm hiding it away like a shameful secret when that's not-”

She blows out a sharp breath in frustration, and Maya smiles at her, “I know. I'm aware it's more a matter of trying to avoid sticky situations with my sister inevitably throwing a fit. Which is why as much as I hate it, you should get going.”

She drops another kiss to Maya's forehead, “Yeah.” Then she starts for the door as she waves over her shoulder, “Talk to you later!”

Maya calls back similarly as she hurries out. She hasn't heard anything through the spell, not any knocking or the like, nor has she had to basically hit the on switch on her voice projection spell to call out something to stall anyone, but it's better to be safe and get there before any problems come up.

Hopefully Maya likes her card and present.

She narrows her eyes at the principal, “What I'm hearing, Principal Momoyama, is that you feel like your pride is being attacked.” He bristles, “Why else would you care about the hypothetical of if I did tank my practical exams if not because you hate the idea of course two students that are capable of going head to head with course one students? It's not like I somehow cheated my way into course one and am taking up the limited teaching resources that they're given.”

He opens his mouth, but he can't seem to find a genuine complaint as to the situation. She shakes her head, “Perhaps, Principal Momoyama, rather than focusing on things like that you should look into working with relevant parties so less magicians are practically pressured into almost always going into things like the Defense Forces and Police and encourage more to go into education to better things overall.”

He frowns heavily at her, once again looking rather unhappy, but she hadn't actually said anything inherently rude or disrespectful. The only thing that could remotely be taken that way was when she mentioned his pride, and that had been speculation based on his own actions. Actions he couldn't even really defend.

He doesn't seem to find anything to say back and huffs, “Well, regardless of that, given it's more geared towards magic research, you may want to think of transferring to Fourth High as we discussed earlier. Other than that, you're dismissed Shiba.”

She nods politely and heads out, a bit surprised to find Miho, Sora, and Hoshi waiting with the rest of what's become their friend group. She closes the faculty door behind her before tilting her head at Sora, who's closest, “What are you all doing here?”

He shakes his head, and jerks his thumb at the others, “Mostly them being concerned about why you were called into the office.”

She snorts, “That? Nothing major. They were just confused how I took first place in the theoretical tests when there's that idea that if you lack practical skills you'll struggle with the theory, so they couldn't wrap their heads around the idea of a course two student scoring higher than course one students. As though the only real factor they pay attention to for figuring out who's in course one and who's in course two isn't just casting speed which is irrelevant to the theoreticals. Or, given that they didn't say anything when we were enrolled and only brought it up after the first semester(5) test results, it may be better to say that they were confused as to how I wasn't overtaken in scoring placement by any course one students.”

Erika gives her a surprised look, “You're kidding me!”

She shakes her head, “Nope. Accused me of purposely tanking my practicals and everything.”

They all give her astonished looks, and well, technically it wasn't her best, but she hadn't purposely scored low enough to end up in course two, even if she'll shamelessly admit to any that know the full truth in the first place that it absolutely worked in her favor given she ended up in Sora, Miho, and Hoshi's class.

Regardless, she hadn't purposely aimed for either course specifically. It was true she'd slowed her casting speed down, but that was just to control what most people would deem an inhuman casting speed, given the advantages she had. Primarily from Occlumency and the flash cast based on it, though she has noticed after being surrounded by kids still in the process of honing their magic skills -more normal kids then her emotionally adopted Yotsuba kids she'd taught Occlumency and stuff to and the genetically modified to try to be able to take her out if necessary Yuki- that her mastery of wandless and wordless magic from her previous life, while obviously not directly applicable in an entirely different magic system, had given her more… finesse and skill with magic manipulation in general.

Could she cast a spell from this universe without any medium or using Occlumency? Certainly not. But it did give her a noticeable edge.

As they start to chatter amongst themselves about it, she wonders how long it will be before First High does something about her overshadowing the course one students.

Chapter Text

She sighs as she rolls her neck. Despite finishing her first semester at First High, things still haven't fully settled. The course one students that had been up in arms at her appointment to the Disciplinary Committee, while they'd stopped trying to lay traps and jump her since it only ever ended in them being arrested by the Disciplinary Committee, still by and large went out of their way to try to make trouble for her.

There have been a stupid amount of reports filed against her for some false accusation or another. They'd all been proven false, but there have been enough that she'd actually managed to accumulate more personally then have been levied against the entirety of the Disciplinary Committee minus her in five years. Watanabe had been pissed about it of course, but she'd also had a sort of grim satisfaction, as in her eyes the fact they were trying so hard to get rid of her proved that they were shattering that idea of course one students being superior to course two students. Watanabe had made it clear that she personally felt they were lashing out because their world view was being challenged.

Particularly since she quickly gained a reputation of her own, and while she didn't have the authority of the Disciplinary Committee Chief of course, she'd sort of started to scare them just as much as Watanabe. Which the girl found immensely amusing, since she never abused her power, yet had shattered their false impression of superiority.

There was also the fact that Yuki seemed to grow more and more miserable with each passing day, not because she'd done anything to him, but just because people were tolerating his nonsense less then before. Their mother at home for one thing, but also it had very much become the norm for each of her soulmates to take one of her sides and Hoshi to walk directly behind her when they were on the go, or next to her and directly across from her respectively if they were sitting to take away Yuki's ability to encroaching on her personal space physically and push that boundary. She was starting to think she'd have to call it out and be blunt about it whenever it does happen.

On a better note, her, Sora, Miho, and Hoshi had started to get rather close to the kids that were kind of their friends, though they often joked about Sora and Hoshi being practically tied at the hip even though they hate each other. They've been strangely persistent about that, but if they find it amusing and as long as Sora and Hoshi aren't offended, which they aren't, there's no harm in it.

Also, there was just… the general pleasure of getting to experience school life with her soulmates and sister in law. Even better on a personal level, students are expected to acquire regular education outside of First High so it can focus on magic, so they aren't even having to go through lessons on things they already know and instead can focus on the more unknown magic of this universe. Well. Unknown to her soulmates. She'd progressed almost unnaturally fast, but since it was about the only thing this universe could teach her, it wasn't surprising. Even if it's useless for her, it doesn't really affect the general idea of attending school with them or how she feels about it. Maybe it was a strange thing to focus on, but it brought her a strange sense of genuine happiness.

Miho tilts her head, “Why did they even call you to this after school meeting regarding the Nine Schools Competition though? I mean, unlike the Thesis Competition in autumn, the Nine Schools Competition is based entirely on practical skills. Given you're in course two and the inferiority they're generally deemed to have to course one, I can't see them asking for your presence being about wanting to get you to participate.”

She hums, “Your guess is as good as mine.”

Hoshi leans into the gap between her and Sora, “Are you sure it's okay if we tag along?”

She waves her hand by the side of her head, opposite where Hoshi is leaning forward, “They just sent me an email asking for my presence out of the blue. They didn't say it was a private meeting, quite the contrary since they asked me to attend the meeting specifically for preparing for the Nine Schools Competition being held after school, and besides they're the ones technically cutting into my time.”

Hoshi leans back with a laugh, “Fair enough!”

It isn't long before they get there, and she finds Saegusa, Watanabe, and Yuki waiting outside for her. Watanabe tosses a curious look at her companions. She shrugs before they can ask, and repeats basically what she'd said to Hoshi a bit prior, “You guys asked me to come out of the blue, which also cuts into my time and plans I had with them. They tagged along so we can get back to it as quickly as possible when whatever I'm here for is done with.”

Saegusa laughs, “That's not unfair, and it's not a secret meeting or anything, so there's no harm in them being here. Before the official meeting, I wanted to speak to you so what you were asked here for isn't dropped on you like a bombshell.”

She nods, “Alright then. What was I called here for?”

Saegusa smiles, “First High actually has a critical lack of CAD engineers. It's not a particularly big deal in general, but when it comes to the Nine Schools Competition where each school is expected to do their own CAD maintenance, it becomes more of a problem. While we were discussing it at lunch today, Yuki mentioned that you were actually rather skilled at those sorts of things! We were wanting to ask you to become one of the technicians for the CAD maintenance.”

She blinks a little rapidly at her, then tilts her head with a confused smile, “Saegusa-senpai, with all due respect, I'm not the sort of person to have a lot of school pride, so given whether First High wins or loses doesn't really matter to me, I have to ask. Why on earth would I want to spend the first half of my summer break helping dig First High out of the hole they dug themselves into?”

Yuki flinches at that, undoubtedly upset that she was turning down his work of trying to get her what he deems is her ‘due recognition’ and what he insists she deserves, regardless of whether she wants it or not. Saegusa winces slightly, then gives her an almost pleading look, “This situation has already shown First High the consequences of its prior actions, of what happens when you neglect things like teaching CAD engineering. If anything, wouldn't this be a good opportunity to force the faculty to see the monumental difference having good CAD technicians can make? If anything, showing such an example of the differences it makes can very easily serve as a good argument when I go to talk to them about it more after the Nine Schools Competition is over. I was already thinking that maybe I should talk to them, but if you agree I swear to you on the Saegusa name I will.”

She hums as she looks away thoughtfully for a few moments before looking back towards her without bothering to turn her head back again, “You can be quite dogged about getting your way, huh? Alright then I suppose.”

Saegusa's pleading look switches to an beaming smile, and her hands shoot out to grab her own and give them a grateful squeeze, “Thank you, thank you!”

She she turns to meet her gaze more fully, “Just don't forget your promise.”

Saegusa lets go to clasps her hands in front of her, “I won't!”

She hums, “You'll have to be careful about what competitors you assign to me though. While it isn't technically necessary, it can create quite a few problems if there isn't a certain amount of trust between caster and technician.”

Saegusa grows more serious, “I know.” Then she smiles brightly again, “Rin, ever the pragmatic, brought that and the… heated relations between you and a lot of course one up already, but given the roster we're looking at for the Nine Schools Competition, it should be fairly easy to just assign the magicians to technicians in such a way that you'll end up with people there should be no problems with.”

She smiles back, “If you're certain.”

Watanabe smiles, “There won't be any problems on that front.” Then she glances at her group, “You guys can come into the meeting as well, but please stay out of the way near the back.” They all nod and she turns her smile on her, “We should head in then, since it'll be starting soon.”

They head inside, and until she has reason to go up, if she even has to for the announcement of her official inclusion as a technician, she waits by Miho, Sora, and Hoshi back by the back wall from the perspective of the table Saegusa, Watanabe, and Juumonji were at.

A lot of students were incredibly nervous, and she can't really blame them. For one thing, the competition puts the pride of each school on the line, and perhaps because of the ‘first’ or maybe for some completely unrelated reason, First High is often seen as the best overall of the magic highschools out of the nine magic university affiliated highschools. There are specializations for certain schools, and it wasn't uncommon for that specific school to win out in things regarding those specific specializations. Even that isn't always a guarantee though and First High is still often viewed as the best across the board.

It puts an undeniable pressure on the kids to defend their school's pride, that's for certain.

Inevitably, given how much attention was thrust upon her from her appointment to the Disciplinary Committee, and probably in retrospect, hurt pride that she took first place in the rankings for the theoretical tests, someone towards the back who's aware of her presence asks what she's doing there.

Saegusa hums, “The Student Council has nominated Shiba Toshiko of class 1E as a member of the technician staff.”

Immediately someone all but blurts, “A course two student on the technician staff?!”

Someone else pipes up more calmly, “Yeah, but she's on the Disciplinary Committee, right?”

Another voice asks somewhat dubiously, “Is she up to fine-tuning CADs?”

She bursts into laughter, drawing more than a few dirty looks from these kids who still haven't unlearned the prejudice that's practically been drilled into them. Then she turns her amused gaze to Nakajou, "Mmm, Nakajou-sempai, can I ask you a question?" The shy girl jolts at being singled out, then nervously nods, "Did the Faculty ever recommend you transfer to Fourth High because of your engineering skills which is more in their area of expertise?"

Nakajou blinks rapidly, "Ahh, no?"

She makes a mock puzzled look and taps her chin, "But you're acknowledged as one of the best technicians in school, aren't you?" She nods hesitantly, "That makes no sense then! How come the Faculty recommended I transfer to Fourth High because they didn't have the facilities for a student of my skill level but didn't do the same with you?"

Nakajou blinks quickly for a moment, then shakes her head firmly, but she doesn't look upset. If anything she looks like she's trying awfully hard not to smile and laugh, as the other students in the meeting that had been protesting stare down at the ground, open and close their mouths, or look very awkward, unable to counter that.

She gazes at them in mild amusement, then shakes her head, “Honestly, considering Saegusa-senpai had to convince me to accept this position since I'm not particularly interested in it, if anything, you're sabotaging her work.”

That causes more than one student to flinch, and she hums as she turns back to Saegusa, who claps once in delight before turning a smile to her, “Well then! It looks like it's official! Shiba Toshiko will be on the technician team to support First High's Nine Schools Competition competitors!”

That very night, they've barely finished dinner when ringing from the living room indicates an incoming call. Honami, who had just started to gather up the dishes, quickly sets them back down and excuses herself to go answer it. Given that while you can make or answer a call without a camera on but the standard is that calls are technically video calls, she's not surprised that Honami identifies the person before they speak, “Oh! Good evening Major Kazama. I assume you're calling for Toshiko?” There's a beat, likely for a nod, before she adds, “I'll get her, please wait a moment.” She comes back into the kitchen quickly, and turns to where she's already getting up, “You may have heard, but Major Kazama is on a call connected to the TV in the living room.”

She nods, “I heard. Thanks Honami.”

She strides past her into the living room to stand in front of the TV, currently showing the call with Major Kazama. She smiles as she comes to a stop in front of it, “It's been a while Major.”

The man nods with a small smile of his own, “Yes, it has, hasn't it, Special Officer.”

She hums, “If you're using rank, I assume the line is secure on your end?”

He makes a small chuckle, “Of course. And your end is of course secure, given how hard core the security around your house is. Sometimes I think it's excessively so.”

She snorts in amusement, “Hackers these days are relentless… is the official line. But it's not surprising in the slightest given the ties to the Yotsuba.” Then she shakes her head, “That being said, given how busy you are, I assume you didn't call for just a pleasant chat, though I wouldn't say no to that.”

He chuckles, “Neither would I, but unfortunately no.” Then his expression turns more serious, “First, some work related news.”

She nods, “Alright.”

He reaches over and starts manipulating his terminal to send over schematics as he speaks, “Today, we finished overhauling the Third Eye. At this juncture, we'd like you to update the software and run some functionality tests.”

She tugs her terminal out just to confirm her schedule is what she thinks it is, “Unless it's more critical and needs to be done sooner, I have Sunday free.(1)”

He nods, “We aren't so pressed for time we need you to miss school, so that works just fine. So, on Sunday morning, please report to the usual place.”

As casual as the talk had been, given it was work related and he'd referred to her as ‘Special Officer’, she shifts from her more casual posture to a salute, “Understood sir.”

He salutes back briefly, then relaxes again, “Moving on Special Officer, rumor has it that you'll be taking part in the Nine Schools Competition too?”

She blinks quickly a moment, then huffs a small laugh, “I suppose I shouldn't be surprised how quickly you learn things with Kyouko-nee around. Yes I am. Only as a technician though. Is that a problem?”

Kazama shakes his head, “No, that in and of itself isn't a problem, that being said… The competition site is in the Southeast Fuji Training Area. Well, of course, it's the same every year, but…” His expression becomes serious again, “Watch your back, Toshiko. In the same area, we've repeatedly spotted what are most likely members of an international crime syndicate.”

She has to stamp down on her knee jerk snarl. Then bite back the laugh that wants to bubble up. Over four hundred years later, and what the Syndicate had done to Hei still left her more… sensitive to ‘international crime’ particularly a ‘syndicate’ rather than any other name, even though they were all basically the same.

She forces it away so she won't miss Kazama continuing, “Considering the timing, we think they're targeting the Nine Schools Competition.”

She frowns, the only bit of the displeasure she lets through since it's understandable, “An international crime syndicate huh?”

She lifts her gaze at the end and he nods, “I had Mibu look into it.”

She blinks quickly, “As in a parent of Mibu Sakuya's? Small world, given she's a second year at First High…”

He chuckles lowly, “That it is. Specifically her father, Mibu Yuuzou.” He reaches out to pull up his credentials on the call, “After retiring from the army, Mibu transferred to the Cabinet Information Management Agency, and he's currently in charge of international crime units.” She nods her understanding, so he continues, as he pulls up some more, “According to Mibu, they might very well be members of a Hong Kong based crime syndicate, the No-Head Dragons.”

She hums, “Obviously it's not something to go blabbing around, but is that information entirely confidential? Mostly just asking because I'm classmates and friends with a Chiba, and while I'm sure you're setting up your own things, it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to her about potentially having the police amp up security.”

Kazama shakes his head, “It's not so confidential you can't bring it up with her, though given what your connection to the military is, there may be questions you can't answer regarding where you got the information.”

She nods, “I can deal with that though, so I'll talk to her about it.”

Kazama nods, “Alright. I'll be in touch further as soon as I receive any additional information.”

She nods, “Thank you very much.”

He nods, and they quickly wrap up the call. She sighs as she ducks into the kitchen and dining room briefly to speak to her mother, “I'm off the phone, so you're free to go into the living room now rather than avoiding it for privacy. I'm heading up to my room, since I need to call Miho and Sora.”

Her mother's brow furrows, undoubtedly picking up on the displeasure she's not attempting to hide, “If it's not a particularly private call, why don't you make it in the living room?”

She tilts her head, “That…” Before she can say anything, Yuki shoots up from his seat as he mumbles something about going to his room, likely not wanting to be around her soulmates -not that Yuki knows that of course- or talk of them anymore then necessarily. She blinks after him as she watches him hurry up the stairs with her Elemental Sight, “Well, my biggest reason not to want to was because reincarnation stuff is going to come up, but if Yuki isn't around…” She shrugs, “Then it doesn't really matter.”

She heads out to the living room, and isn't particularly surprised that her mother and Honami drift after her, likely wanting to find out what has her so upset. She glances at the time on her terminal before slipping it away, having figured as much since she just had dinner, but wanting to confirm it wasn't too late to call Sora and Miho before she does.

She quickly manipulates the terminal that has a larger TV screen, which is what it's usually used for, to pull up a multi-call for them. Both so she can warn them and Hoshi who will undoubtedly learn through Sora, and because she hadn't even realized that the whole… syndicate thing was still a sore spot. But she knows herself well enough to know it's going to get to her more than usual to have another syndicate interfering with her life in any way. She also knows full well her soulmates would much rather she calls them to vent and get it out of her system now rather than let it build while she waits until she sees them tomorrow and potentially hits a boiling point quicker than that.

She's mildly surprised when Miho answers first, since with her non-neglectful parents, Sora tends to have more freedom, but the question is answered when Sora picks up only a couple seconds after her, looking a bit ruffled, with an equally disheveled Hoshi just barely in frame. Which indicates he and Hoshi had been rough housing again and had subsequently slowed him from answering a smidge.

Miho gives him a bemused look, “What were you and Hoshi fighting about this time?”

Sora waves it off, “She was just being particularly annoying.”

Her mother gives the screen a bemused look from her spot behind her on the couch, “I still don't understand how she got her emotions back if she was one of these… contractors.”

She waves a hand dismissively, “Her brother, Sora in this life since they were siblings even in their previous one, was there from day one and-”

Sora pipes up before she can finish, "I won is what happened."

Hoshi turns to him in confusion, "What?"

Sora gives her a triumphant look, "My little sister lost her emotions to magic taking them away in a subconscious or whatever deal and I arguably challenged the universe itself to keep my sister from me and I won."

Hoshi breathes in as she raises a finger to argue, and after a beat of silence breathes out as she lowers her finger, "...I can't even argue with that. Fine, you won." Hoshi gives him an annoyed look, “But don't get used to it! You hardly ever win!”

Sora snorts, “No you're just a brat and hardly ever wanna admit I won.” He waves off Hoshi's outrage, “Anyway, what's wrong Toshiko? Because it may not be unusual for you to call, but you don't usually look so upset.”

Hoshi leans more into frame with a concerned look as she scrutinizes her, and with false cheer, she chirps back, “Oh, nothing much! Just learned all of half an hour ago at most that apparently after everything the Syndicate did to us, it's still very much a sore spot when people start putting together words like ‘international crime’ and ‘syndicate’, particularly when they're giving me heads up they're going to be interfering with my life!”

Miho sits up from the slouch she'd been in, clearly holding her mobile terminal in front of her, “Wait what? Why on earth would there be warnings of international crime syndicates?!”

Sora waves it off, “We can get to that in a minute. It still bothers you? After over four and a half centuries?”

She shrugs, “Considering I had to shove down a knee jerk reaction to snarl angrily, I guess so, but it's as much news to me as it is to you, so I'm not sure what else you want me to say.”

He searches her face a little before sighing, “We'll talk more about it later, when you've had more time to think about it, I guess. So what's this about another interfering with your life?”

She shrugs, “It's not personal and nowhere near as big from what I know so far, but certain people I'm not allowed to disclose having a connection to-”

Hoshi snorts, “Major Kazama then.”

She continues without acknowledging it, since she's kinda not allowed to, even if in an entirely unsurprising turn of events, Sora, Hoshi, and Miho had very quickly dug out who she was referring to the first time she mentioned it, “-called both for some official business, as well as to warn me that he's had reports of people that are most likely tied to an international crime syndicate based in Hong Kong known as No-Head Dragon, and the timing indicates that they're probably gunning for the Nine Schools Competition for some reason. Which is bad news in general obviously, given the kids that'll be there, but as just a cherry on top, I was made part of the technician team today, so it also means that an international syndicate is once again interfering with my life.” She glances away, “I am… more than a little upset! Honestly, given I would've been more inclined to give the heads up in person tomorrow, I wouldn't have bothered calling, but you guys are always getting on my case about not calling you sooner when I'm upset, so.”

She shrugs at the end. Miho looks concerned afterwards. Sora looks pissed, and he huffs, “Well. I didn't live as long as you last time, but apparently you aren't the only one with a sore spot, but mostly in it being more sensitive than usual when it comes to things upsetting you.”

Hoshi grumbles something she doesn't catch more clearly than the tone, which indicates some sort of agreement as she disappears out of frame. Miho chews her lip, “What's being done about it? And is there anything we can do to help?”

She shrugs again, “That source of mine is undoubtedly setting things up on their end, but they weren't against me talking to Erika and seeing about using her police connections to ramp up security. Or, not in general anyway, I can't mention where I got the information from obviously. So that'll be one question I won't be able to answer while trying to get her to understand how serious I am and that she needs to impress upon her family that same seriousness.”

Miho relaxes slightly at the news that the 101st were already working on it and were fine with her talking to Erika, “Probably easier than you think, given how highly they all think of you. And the Chiba would likely be even more inclined than usual to act considering…”

She tilts her head, “Considering?”

Sora hums, “Erika's father and Mikihiko's family are both being a bit of an ass regarding making them go, or rather why from my understanding though they haven't explained, so she decided to try to put a more positive spin on it and invited the rest of us that aren't competitors or on some sort of support team like you to come stay at the hotel as well since her connections make it possible. She wanted it to be a surprise, which is why she didn't tell you or Yuki, but I'm sure she'll understand why we told you. Anyway, Miho was referring to that, since despite the asshole reason her father is making her go, she is a Chiba, and undoubtedly her family will take it more seriously then they otherwise might at the idea that a member of their own family is in the potential line of fire.”

She hums, “I see… That probably does make things easier, yes.”

From there, the discussion turns to exactly how to bring it up with her and how to deal with the fact she can't say where she got the information from. Eventually though, it does circle back around to her being upset about it and soothing her.

They have to get off the call not long after that though, since they'd spent so much time discussing how to talk to Erika and their own personal measures before that it was getting rather late.

They say their goodnights before ending the call and she gives her mother and Honami one as well before heading for the stairs. She does, admittedly, feel better after talking to them about the whole mess. Not that she'd expected otherwise but she won't have to basically seal off the upset feelings from the rest of her mind to be able to have an easier time getting to sleep.

The next morning, she's not even surprised when upon meeting up with her and despite soothing her last night, Sora and Miho immediately move to comfort her in person. She's not paying a whole lot of attention since she's more focused on her soulmates, but she does notice Sora shoot Hoshi a Look.

Without hesitation, she hums as she turns, “Ooookay! That's the cue to leave!”

There's more than a few confused protests, but she is fully aware of why she was heading off without them. Namely, after their last life, they don't even have to share a look much less a word for Bai's sixth sense to go off and tell her it's fine to peace out. Assuming she doesn't want to be the proverbial if non-numerically accurate third wheel and subject to watching their affections. Hei used to have to verbally tell her, then he could just give her a look, and now they don't even need that for Hoshi's sixth sense tuned to their ‘gratuitously sweet’ PDA, as she puts it.

Leo speaks up a little louder in their confusion, “Why?”

Through her Elemental Sight, she sees Hoshi glance back at them, “Just trust me. I know my brother, and now is the time to leave."

Mikihiko seems frustrated, “But you don't even get along with your brother? How could you possibly know… that whatever you think is happening is happening.”

She snorts, “Experience. If you don't want to come with though…” She shrugs, Your loss. I can guarantee Hei at least clocked you ignoring my advice so they won't bother to hold back."

Hoshi practically vanishes into thin air at that point she leaves so quickly, and Miho and Sora start comforting her in earnest. Even more of her focus shifts to them, but given they're in public and the way she grew up -in both lives actually, given her life before her Calanthe memories came back was pretty bad too- her brain just can't ignore their surroundings. It's always too busy looking for potential threats to let her. It's for that reason that she's vaguely aware of their group growing more and more awkward, with the only exception being Yuki, whose face is darkening further and further. They try to say something a few times, but she honestly only knows of that vaguely beyond burying herself in her soulmates, who don't even bother to pay them any mind.

It doesn't take too long before they give up and flee. Since they weren't in her immediate vicinity, she'd usually have lost them at that point, but some part of her, probably the part who'd been a mother, grandmother, and great many times over grandmother, can't bring itself to ignore them. That little part of her brain idly pays attention to them, even as some of her upset turns inwards for letting something that happened so long ago continue to affect her.

It's why she sees them catch up with Hoshi, who casually comments, “Survived the war zone huh?”

Erika all but explodes, demanding almost hysterically, “Why didn't you warn us about how they get with PDA?!”

Hoshi shrugs, “I did. You ignored me. So they ignored that you were still there."

Mikihiko gives her a tired look, “How did you even know that was coming? You and your brother's relationship- How could you even realize what was about to happen?”

Hoshi gives him a tired look, “A loooooot of experience.”

Erika groans, “Ugh. They were practically radiating sugar, like they were trying to drown us or something. I feel like I'm gonna hurl after that.”

Hoshi laughs, “Yeah, they have that effect. It's more one of those ‘count your blessing because that's about all you can do’ situations. Mostly, just the fact that while they're excessive, at least they don't cross the line into impropriety?”

Mikihiko gives her a wary look, “I suppose there's that.”

They go silent as they just settle around waiting for them to finish up and catch up, and with little going on, while her mind still keeps an eye on them, it lets it drift more into the background, and frees up more of her mind to focus on her soulmates.

Erika stares down at her cup at their usual cafè, “I sincerely doubt it, but I'm kind of obligated to ask. Is the reason you can't tell me your source because they or you have some sort of ties to this ‘No-Head Dragon?” Erika looks up as she finishes, snorting a second later, “Given I don't think I've ever seen you so offended, the answer is a resounding no.”

She nods, “No, I don't have any connection to No-Head Dragon. The reason I can't tell you… I'm sorry, I know it just makes it more complicated, but I can't even tell you that either.”

Erika shrugs, “I'm a member of the Hundred Families. I know a thing or two about not being able to explain things. I'll talk to my brothers, since me and my father hardly even interact.”

She relaxes slightly, “Mm, you'd be surprised how many don't get it though, even though they of all people should. Do you think your family will do anything though? Even as… vague as the tip off is?”

Erika hums, “I think so? I'll be talking to my brothers instead of my father, and they at least generally trust my judgment even if my father doesn't. It will probably be enough for them that someone I trust is the one who tipped us off.” She takes a sip of her drink thoughtfully before continuing, “If nothing else, they'll probably arrange a couple of extra police since Father is making me go as well.”

She hums, “It's serious enough that I'd prefer more, but I'll take what we can get.”

Erika gives her a huge grin, “Don't worry! You can count on me to get them to do something, even if it's small!”

She nods with a smile of her own.

Everyone is rather busy with last minute preparation, making the school a sort of madhouse akin to recruitment week. The competitors were cramming in last minute training and working out tactics of what they can do with their skill, either by themselves, with their teams in team competitions like Monolith Code, and sometimes with their CAD technicians since part of it does come down to if they can successfully get the CADs to use the magic the competitors want.

Yuki, having been selected for both the Newcomers Division Monolith Code as well as Newcomers Division Ice Pillar Break(2), was busy practicing magic with Honoka and Shizuku, who were respectively picked for Newcomers Division Battle Board and Newcomers Division Speed Shooting.

Erika and Leo were both in athletic clubs, so they'd been drafted into helping out with various tasks in preparation for the upcoming competition, even if they themselves weren't officially part of any teams, competitors or the support staff like technicians.

She herself has been busy with CAD maintenance and helping the competitors assigned to her figure out the various tactics they may use depending on the situation and training to get better at pulling them off.

It makes her glad Sora, Miho, and Hoshi were attending school at the same time as her in this life, since while they may have been fine with just the two of them and treated it like one on one bonding time, it means Mikihiko and Mizuki have them around as well instead of kind of falling to the wayside on their own because everyone else is busy.

That being said, Mizuki is missing from the place they'd agreed to meet-up at the end of the school day to go and relax at Café Einebrise to catch up a bit since the preparations mean they don't see each other as much.

She glances around the group, “Did Mizuki go to the bathroom or something?”

Hoshi shakes her head, “Nah, we've been here for like, fifteen minutes already and haven't seen her yet.”

She hums and starts scanning around with her Elemental Sight, seeing her on her way to one of the side buildings. She actually feels a bit confused as to why she'd be heading there of all places, given it's not really in use while everyone is preparing for the Nine Schools Competition.

She tilts her head, and given she had promised Maya not to disclose things like her Elemental Sight without good reason, she just gives Sora, the one angled to be the least likely for anyone to catch it, a Look as she vaguely says, “I'll go look for her. I was doing CAD maintenance and wanted to stretch my legs a bit anyway.”

Clearly having caught the look, Sora speaks up before anyone can suggest they go with, and potentially have to explain how she's a little too accurate even if she goes out of her way not to head straight for Mizuki, “Alright, we'll wait for you two here, since the others haven't shown up so someone's gotta be here anyway.”

Miho and Hoshi, though they didn't catch the look, know them well enough that they pipe in with their own agreements to the plan. With the three of them agreeing, Erika and Leo, the only other ones who were there so far, don't even question it and let her slip away on her own without protest.

She breaks into a run though, when she realizes that Mizuki is heading straight for the area she's basically mentally blacked out because Mikihiko was practicing magic. Modern Magicians are fully aware they're basically announcing the magic sequence of their spells given the activation sequence is visible before it's absorbed. In her opinion, they willingly let their magic be public information available to any who pay attention. Ancient Magicians on the other hand, not only do not have visible activation sequences, but they actively try to hide how their magic works.

A side effect of training her Elemental Sight and learning to see Pushions with it though, is that she can absolutely see their magic and how its supposed to work. As such, she always does her best to respect his privacy and essentially does the equivalent of mentally redacting him, unlike the bathrooms that she just censors so she knows vaguely what's going on in case there's trouble but can't make out enough to see anything inappropriate. With the mental redaction with Mikihiko, she leaves just enough vision clear around him to catch wisps of the Pushions at the edges, since she can't learn how the spell works from just that, but it will tell her when he's done.

It does mean she's kind of hyper aware of where Mikihiko is when he's casting though, since it's the only missing spot in her Elemental Sight's vision. As she's running towards the door, she sees Mizuki peering in the door down the hall.

Before she can get there, she hears Mikihiko's voice snap, seemingly reflexively, “Who's there?!”

Then clusters of Pushions leave the redacted zone, hurling towards Mizuki. Thankfully, she has a target now that they're out of the redacted zone, which she would have dropped for Mizuki's safety if she hadn't gotten there fast enough, since that takes precedence over Mikihiko's privacy in her opinion.

As such, while Mizuki cries out in alarm and drops to her knees, probably trying to avoid them, it's easy to launch a Pushion variant of Gram Demolition at them, since Gram Demolition is in and of itself just a ball of raw Psions that disrupts a spells structure. Different spell casting types they may be, but Ancient Magic isn't immune to having its magics’ forms disrupted similarly, though not exactly the same given the fundamental differences.

She sighs as she comes level to the doorway and after a glance at Mizuki to make sure she's alright, turns to Mikihiko, who seems to be tense on reflex, “Relax Mikihiko. I know it's a reflex to your magic being canceled, but neither of us is here to pick a fight.”

Mikihiko jolts then suddenly looks embarrassed as he drops his gaze, “My bad Toshiko. Fighting with you was never my intention.”

She hums, “I know. Like I said, I'm aware it was just a reflex.” She glances at Mizuki, “Much as I hate to say it, it's sort of Mizuki's fault for disrupting a magician while they're casting and think they're alone.”

Mizuki gasps, “I'm to blame?”

Mikihiko lifts his gaze back to her, “No, it's not her fault. It was because of my inexperience. Thanks Toshiko. Thanks to you… I avoided injuring Mizuki.”

She shakes her head, “I doubt it. I interfered just to be safe, but given your reflexes, you'd have probably recognized Mizuki and pulled back on your spirits before they could make contact.”

Mikihiko flinches slightly with a small noise and looks down briefly before meeting her gaze again as he musters himself, “I guess it's too late to try and hide it now. Just like you said Toshiko, I was using Water Spirits to practice my Summoning magic.”

She hums, “Water Spirits, huh?” She glances over at Mizuki, “Is that why you were coming up here Mizuki? You saw the magic?”

She gets a little shy, “Ah, you know about… Yes, I was waiting at the rendezvous point when some sort of magic caught my attention because it managed to get through my Aura Cut Coating Lenses. I came to investigate because… well, honestly I couldn't exactly say why, it was like something was drawing me in… then I got here and there were those orbs of light in all sorts of shades of blue.”

Mikihiko suddenly gets an intense look on his face, one that at first glance looks afraid, “You could see the different shades of color?”

Mizuki gasps and stamers a little and he moves forward, expression still intense, as he gets closer and closer. When their faces are just inches from each other, she coughs into her fist pointedly, “Unless Mizuki isn't interested and Mikihiko is being pushy, that's my que to leave. If not though then I'm not sorry Mikihiko, but if you're that kind of man, your friendship is not worth getting Mizuki away from this situation.”

They both seem to realize just how close their faces are at that and spring apart at the same time, cheeks reddening. Mikihiko looks between them quickly, “No, no that's not-!” He ducks his head and pushes out a breath, seeming to center himself as he locks his gaze on Mizuki, “Sorry.”

Mizuki ducks her head, but from the way she's toying with a bit of her hair between her first two fingers and thumb, she doesn't think she'd have minded if that had been Mikihiko's intention, “No, I'm sorry.”

She gives her a baffled look, “Why are you apologizing Mizuki?”

She looks down as she makes an embarrassed noise and Mikihiko gives her an apologetic bow, “Really, I'm sorry.” He straightens up, “When I thought that you might actually possess the Crystal Eyes, I just couldn't help myself…”

She bites back the understanding noise that wants to bubble up, realizing he'd just been trying to get a closer look at Mizuki's eyes. She seems to realize it as well, given her blush finally fades as she gives him a gentle smile while slipping her glasses back on, “Let's forget about this Mikihiko. You just startled me, that's all.” Her cheeks regain a little bit of the flush, “But it did embarrass me, so please don't ever do that again, okay?”

Mikihiko's own cheeks redden again as he ducks his head in another bow, more shallow than the previous, “I'm really sorry.”

Realizing they'd probably go in circles, which while adorable and a bit amusing, isn't very productive, she cuts in, “Mikihiko, what are Crystal Eyes anyway? I've heard of oversensitivity to magic in general, but that sounds like something else.”

Mizuki also nods with an interested look, which is entirely understandable since it's related to her eyes. Mikihiko slips his eyes closed in thought for a brief moment before reopening them and glancing at her with a small smile, “It's not that big of a secret, so it should be fine to explain.” He grows more serious as he turns his gaze back to Mizuki, which again is totally fair since it's absolutely more relevant for her, “Those of us who manipulate Spirits identify each Spirit by color. But it's not as if we can really see them in a true sense.”

Mizuki makes a slightly confused look, so she asks mostly to clarify, “By which you mean you don't see them visually, but just by reading their individual vibration signatures through magic right?”

Getting into things he's more familiar with seems to have settled Mikihiko, if how calm his expression and voice is, “Yes. So it varies by school, how the colors are perceived. For example, my school sees water as blue. Fire is red. So each color is applied uniformly in our minds with no discrepancy in hue.”

She tilts her head, “Mizuki saw them as blue of different shades though?”

He nods as he turns back to Mizuki, “I'm guessing that you're perceiving the differences in each Water Spirit's power and nature as different shades of color. Such eyes as yours are known as ‘eyes that can see God’, the ‘Crystal Eyes” in my school.”

She frowns, “Does that mean Mizuki is in danger? Because honestly? It sounds like something Spirit Magic using Ancient Magicians would sell their souls to acquire.”

Mizuki tenses, and Mikihiko gives a bit of a self-deprecating smile, “Right. A year ago, I would've been mesmerized, and I might have claimed her for myself by force.” Mizuki gasps and takes a step back, and Mikihiko quickly holds up a hand, “Hold up! Right now I don't have those kinds of desires or tendencies, okay?” He gets serious again as he drops his hand, “Still, that doesn't mean that I'm inclined to tell the other spell casters that the ‘key’ to a ‘divine’ kind of magic exists.”

She hums, “It's probably best for Mizuki's safety to keep it under wraps as well.”

Mikihiko nods. Then his brows furrow, “Actually, hold on, I thought everyone else was meeting up after school. What are you even doing here?”

She hums as she glances away, “I suppose it's only fair given the secrets revealed. I suppose I should start by saying that I wasn't actively trying to hide it myself exactly, I just promised my aunt I wouldn't reveal it without good reason.” They both nod in understanding, and she leans a hip against one of the desks as she crosses her arms, “I have an Elemental Sight born specialization. In and of itself, Elemental Sight isn't entirely unique of course… but having it as a legitimate born specialization and not a supernatural power is, which is true for mine. Which also means like most natural versions of born specializations, mine is actually stronger, though it seems to be focused more on precision than distance. I'm actually always aware of where you are Mikihiko, because whenever you start to cast I kind of… well, in my own head I call it ‘mentally redacting’ the area around your body. Because the biggest difference between my Elemental Sight born specialization and the supernatural power is that I can see Pushions.”

Mikihiko sucks in a sharp breath, looking genuinely scared for a moment, but she waves like she's telling him to sit, “Relax Mikihiko. That's why I mentally redact you when I see you start to set up to cast, because Modern Magicians know on some level that their activation sequence is out in the open and could theoretically be copied and willingly take that risk. Ancient Magicians do not take that risk though, so I've always been careful to respect your privacy when casting.” She shrugs, “That's also why I'm kind of hyper aware where you are when you're casting though. Because it's not dissimilar to holding your thumb on something on a screen. Even if you're focusing on other parts of it, you're still all too aware of the part you can't see because your own thumb is in the way. I'm always careful to make sure you and your immediate surroundings are hidden from what I'm consciously aware of when you're casting though.”

Mikihiko relaxes and gives her a grateful smile, “Thank you.”

Mizuki looks a bit confused, “But… why don't you just turn it off? If you want to avoid seeing things like that.”

She snorts, then holds out a finger as she pulls out her mobile terminal and quickly types something into it before flipping it around for them to see, “Tell me what that line of magic sequence means and I'll answer your question.”

Mizuki tilts her head, “A puzzle?”

She shakes her head, “No, because you tell me what that means and I'll have the answer to give you. Because that's the defined end point of my Elemental Sight born specialization spell. Which runs twenty-four seven and I literally can't turn off even when I want to. Trust me. I've tried.”

Mikihiko leans closer to examine the code, “Maybe something linked to death then?”

She shakes her head, “No, I've seen spells with things like that, usually in that a spell cast is only supposed to continue until the victim is dead, but there would still be similarities in the code since the only thing you'd be swapping is whose death ends it, and there are not. Similarly, it's not something linked to consciousness either. Not only have I seen spells with things like that too, but also, I've undergone a lot of testing over the years. All of which concluded that my Elemental Sight remains on even when I'm asleep.”

Mikihiko gives her an alarmed look, “Wait, what? Isn't- Isn't sleep suppose to be when the brain takes some time to relax essentially?”

She shakes her head, “What you're thinking of is more that it's when the brain starts to process the things it's experienced throughout the day. The brain is actually more active than most people realize when you're asleep, so it doesn't harm me or anything. As far as that goes, it's not dissimilar to people who train themselves to snap into full wakefulness to potentially defend themselves under certain circumstances.”

Mikihiko looks relieved, and she shakes herself, “Anyway, when I got to the meet up spot, Mizuki wasn't there and everyone else was saying she probably hadn't gone to the bathroom since they'd been there fifteen minutes already so I started looking for her in the data I'm always taking in to find her. I honestly thought she'd just lost track of time or something, but when I realized she was going straight for where you were using magic…” She shrugs, “Hurried to catch up since while you most likely would've realized what was going on in time, it's still always better to be safe rather than sorry.”

Mikihiko gains an understanding look and Mizuki's expression gets a smidge embarrassed, but mostly grateful.

Mikihiko tilts his head, face gaining a concerned anxiety, “Speaking of, how did you cancel my spell anyway?”

She tilts her head back to gaze at the ceiling thoughtfully, “Mm. Honestly, my aunt would probably consider that a separate secret, but you'd probably work out the first part yourself, and you have every right to know the second part, since it's entirely understandable you'd be concerned about people messing with your magic.” She looks back down and shrugs, “I wasn't kidding when I said my Elemental Sight is more geared towards precision. While Psion count is also important, I do have that as well, so Gram Demolition is laughably easy to aim for me. I developed a Pushion version is all. Gram Demolition is usually used on activation sequences which aren't in the physical dimension for Ancient Magic the same way for Modern Magic-”

Mikihiko gives her a confused look, “What? Ancient Magic doesn't have any activation sequences.”

She snorts, “It does. I may not observe yours out of respect for your privacy, but that doesn't mean I've never met an Ancient Magician who's aware of my Elemental Sight and was okay with me observing. What do you think those chants and hand signs and all that do? They’re you building the activation sequence to feed to your magic calculation area.”

Mikihiko sucks in a sharp breath, lurching forward to grip her shoulders, “What? That- Do you realize how revolutionary that is for designing new Ancient Magic spells?! I mean, we sort of know the effects of everything, we wouldn't be able to make new spells otherwise, but to know exactly with pinpoint precision-!”

She gives him a bemused look, “Yeah. Like I said though, my aunt made me promise not to spread my Elemental Sight, amongst other things, so I can't exactly come forward with it and work out what all of those things do exactly to help build the spell.”

Mikihiko breathes out slowly as he lets go of her shoulders as he looks down, “That's… true.” Then he laughs in disbelief as he looks back up, “I'm already starting to get why your aunt is so insistent on hiding it though! Because it just occurred to me, that as impossible as I thought it was, your ability is even more valuable to Ancient Magicians than even Mizuki's Crystal Eyes!”

She hums, “In some ways I guess? I can't see the colors though. I mean, I can tell what the Spirit is from its magic, but… Anyway, perfect honestly? That's not really why she insists on hiding it.”

Mikihiko shakes his head in amusement, “Maybe, but that in and of itself makes it all too easy to see why even if I don't know her exact reason.”

She hums before glancing around, “Anyway, everyone else will probably get worried if I take too much longer to come back with Mizuki. Did you want to get back to what you were doing, or did you want to join us Mikihiko?”

Mikihiko shakes his head as he moves over to the incense burner, “No, I'll come with. Honestly, that scare of almost hurting Mizuki and the shock of your revelations has my mind too shot to be able to concentrate.”

She nods, “Alright then.”

She steps forward to help him with putting everything away at that point, and Mizuki scrambles to assist as well when she realizes what they're doing. Between the three of them, it doesn't take too long at all to get everything put away, and they're off towards the meet-up spot in short order.

They walk in a comfortable quiet for most of it, but as they get closer, Mikihiko seems to reach a decision, “Hey, Toshiko?” She hums in acknowledgment, and he continues, “If… If I allowed you to watch me cast, would you be willing to tell me what precisely all of the various tools and motions and words do as far as building activation sequences goes? I know you said you can't come forward with it, but maybe if you just tell me and I come forward with it- I mean, if you're okay with that?”

She looks over at him, “I wouldn't mind as long as you kept my name out of it, but Mikihiko… you do realize I'd learn all the spells you let me see, right?”

He sets his shoulders, “Yeah. Yeah I do. But given you went out of your way to not see my spells before out of respect, you aren't the sort of person who'd go and make them common knowledge since you'd respect the secrecy Ancient Magicians have.” He falters slightly and turns to her, “Right?”

She nods, “Of course I would Mikihiko. As long as you're okay with me learning your spells, I'd be more than happy to tell you what I'm seeing with Elemental Sight. You may have to get a better grasp of Modern Magic Sequences though, since the different magics aren't actually different in those regards, just in how they're called up, so the information would be in a magic sequence format.”

He nods, “Yeah, I kinda figured when you said we were manually building the activation sequence.” He smiles hesitantly at her, “So, you probably won't have time with all this Nine Schools Competition madness, but we'll set up a time to meet up after it's over with?”

She smiles back, “I actually wouldn't mind meeting up earlier. Sora and Miho call me a workaholic, but honestly, I find things like that relaxing sometimes, so if anything, it'd probably serve as a good way to wind down from this daily madness if you're up for it.”

He beams at her, happy and excited, “Absolutely!”

She chuckles, but seeing their group in the distance, she nods towards them, “We’ll set up something later.”

He glances over at where she'd indicated and nods in understanding and agreement.

Chapter Text

She looks over as Watanabe sighs after checking her terminal notification, “What is it?”

Watanabe slides her mobile terminal away again, “Mayumi is going to be running late. More than just a few minutes at that, since she's got a family emergency of some sort. She wants us to just head out without her and she'll meet us there. Excuse me while I go talk to everyone else.”

She hums in understanding as Watanabe temporarily closes the umbrella she's been using to give herself shade and enters the vehicle, and she can hear her voice drifting out as she explains the situation to them as well. She's a bit surprised though, at the protest that kicks up at the idea of leaving without Saegusa and just meeting her there.

It does mean, however, that she's not surprised when Watanabe comes back out looking a bit worn out as she reopens her umbrella, “The third years have unanimously agreed that they want to wait for Mayumi, and even a good chunk of the younger years do too.” She glances at the officers the Chiba had arranged to escort their group of vehicles, “Will that be a problem?”

One of Erika's own brothers, Toshikazu, had joined their protection, and he shakes his head, “No, it's no problem. It actually may be better overall, if only to keep all the First High students together to lessen potential angles of attack.”

She sighs. She and Watanabe have been waiting by the door of the competitor's bus to take roll and make sure everyone is there, but it also means they kind of can't leave their positions really, and it is August first, so they were left waiting outside in the currently twenty-eight degree heat(1). She tugs her CAD out, ignoring Watanabe's confusion. It doesn't take very long to make a bubble of cooler air around them, including the police officers waiting nearby to their surprise, and from there she just needs to hold the spell.

She shrugs at Watanabe's surprised look, “If we're going to be waiting, we may as well do something to make the wait a little more comfortable.”

Watanabe hums in understanding, “Don't know if you'll be able to hold that spell long enough though, Mayumi suggested she'd be at least an hour behind schedule.”

She hums but doesn't say anything back as she sets the tablet terminal in the shade on the steps into the bus and tugs her own personal mobile terminal out to text the group chat that has Hoshi in it to kill some time as she casually leans against the bus.

They're more than happy to keep her entertained while she waits. She actually ends up losing track of time, they do such a great job distracting her. It's only when she hears heels running towards them and glances up at the hurrying Saegusa and reaches over to grab the tablet terminal and turns its screen back on that she realizes it's been over an hour and a half.

Unlocking it and straightening up, she turns her gaze to Saegusa as she calls out, “I'm so sorry!”

Watanabe sounds a bit exasperated, “You're late Mayumi! You're an hour and a half late.”

She clicks off Saegusa as in attendance on the terminal, finally bringing them up to full attendance.

Saegusa starts to get close as she continues to apologize, “Sorry, sorr- Oh!” She blinks rapidly, “Why is it so much cooler over here?”

Watanabe blinks in surprise then glances over at her with an assessing gaze, “Shiba made the area around us cooler when I told her after you messaged me about running late. I must admit, I'm surprised you managed to maintain the spell that long. I hadn't even noticed to be honest.” Her lips twitch, “I guess I got used to the cooler pocket you made.”

She hums as she tucks the official terminal under an arm, “I have an unusually high Psion count is all.”

Saegusa gives her a surprised look, “Ehh? But I don't sense anything?”

Her lips twitch and she lets her Psions out a little more, causing a noticeable spike, and Saegusa and Watanabe to suck in sharp breaths as the police give her surprised looks, “That's more due of a matter of my control of my Psions is all.”

Then she pulls back on it, getting her magic to simmer back down. Watanabe shakes the surprise off but only gives her a thoughtful look as she passes by to get on the competitor’s bus. Saegusa pauses next to her as she starts to follow, giving her an apologetic smile, “I'm so sorry Toshiko. For keeping you waiting out in the sun so long on my account.”

She waves it off, “It's fine. Watanabe-senpai didn't have a timeline, but she told me you were held up. You had a family emergency, right? You can't control things like that.”

Saegusa nods and flashes her another smile, “Thank you for being so understanding.”

She nods, “Of course.” Then she holds a hand to the bus entrance, “But I'm sure everyone wants to head out already, so we should get going.”

Saegusa nods, “Right! I'll see you at the venue Toshiko!”

Then she cheerfully climbs the stairs, her block heels clicking on the steps, particularly distinct by pure virtue of her being the only one who'd entered the bus wearing something like that and making the difference in sound from her shoes a detail her brain insists on noticing.

She shakes her head as she glances at the police, but Erika's brother, who'd told her to just call him Detective Toshikazu, waves her off with a smile, “We'll be in position around the vehicles as planned.”

She nods and goes to one of the three support staff vehicles and climbs into the one she'd been assigned to. It isn't too much longer before they're off, two police cars both in front of and behind their little group of four vehicles.

They don't have any trouble on the way to the freeway, but she still remains vigilant with her Elemental Sight rather than just taking in whatever its telling her habitually. To that extent, when their convoy is driving down a rather abandoned stretch of freeway on both sides of the divider, she of course instantly takes notice of the one car on the other side going the opposite direction.

She's certainly glad for the warning that has her more alert than usual when through her Elemental Sight she sees the man driving it, manually at that, with a rather… strange brain who's Psions suddenly spike into activity. His subconscious in the information dimension in general is weirdly… lifeless, even as it suddenly starts going through magic sequences alarmingly fast, at least compared to most of this world's magicals. She has a sinking feeling that this is what someone who's had one too many things similar to the Yotsuba's old flash cast done to them looks like.

She doesn't have time to contemplate it though, not when he's used magic to pop his own tire and send his vehicle swerving wildly for a moment, another spell to send the car into a spin, and a final one as it hits the divider of the freeway to launch it up and over at the competitors bus. They're particularly sneaky spells too, seeing as they're already small spells, and on top of that, they use the absolute minimum magic. The combination means the Psion residue will dissipate quickly, leaving a fraction of time to investigate.

On one hand, she sees more than one competitor on the bus snap into motion, and it isn't a bad instinct to have inherently. The problem is that this universe has problems when too many spells are attempted to be cast on the same object, resulting in what's known as a Psion storm. It's somewhat related to why interference strength is so important actually. Interference strength just refers to how strong their ability to rewrite the Eidos of an object is, and it's usually only really important if they're working against strong forces, like for instance if a magician is trying to get a river to flow up a waterfall. It's particularly important when two or more people are trying to cast on the same target though, since when two different spells start trying to rewrite the same target's Eidos, the one that wins out is almost always the one with the higher interference strength since it allows them to overcome other casters’ own attempts to rewrite the Eidos.

There is a limit to what a magician can reasonably overcome though, and the term Psion storm is used almost exclusively for when there's too many spells trying to exert themselves on the same object. It makes it practically impossible for any spell to rewrite the Eidos of the target, since a single magician trying to overcome multiple casters is not a matter of essentially one on one interference strength clashes going on simultaneously and you only have to be able to overcome each caster individually, but that the magician has to have an interference strength capably of overpowering all the other magicians’ combined.

It's for that reason that she doesn't care if her aunt gets upset at her for potentially letting another secret slip as she ramps up from using simple Gram Demolitions on each of the magic sequences one by one, which there probably isn't enough time for and instead uses Gram Dispersion. It's actually just a theoretical concept to everyone else as far as she knows, since unlike Gram Demolition, which while it requires precision, just needs what's essentially a bullet of Psions launched into a sequence, activation or magic it doesn't matter, since it essentially detonates inside and blows the sequence apart. Gram Dispersion on the other hand, is more of a wave, but it requires acting in the miniscule interval between when the magic sequence is revealed but before it can be invoked, and on top of that, there's a certain amount of fine tuning to deal with specific spells required to interfere with their structures.(2)

Because of all that, it's always been a hypothetical to her knowledge. But while she herself didn't do anything special, her Elemental Sight born specialization, geared towards precision, sort of unintentionally gave her one of the two primary tools required for it. The other being the Psion count the Yotsuba had oh so carefully cultivated in her genetics before she was born and they decided she was a monster.

All of that to say, it wasn't anything genius about her or anything that made it possible, but it's very much not a theoretical for her, but a genuine skill.

One she uses without hesitation to blow away the multiple spells on the vehicle screeching towards the bus on its roof. Since he was just making a wall in front of it rather than casting directly on the vehicle, it doesn't have anything to do with Juumonji creating one of his family's signature Phalanx shield spells. It does however, create the opening needed for Yuki to put the fire on the car out to keep it from potentially reaching something that will make it blow up.

All of the vehicles, both the ones from their school as well as the police vehicles pull to a stop. With her Elemental Sight, she's vaguely aware of Saegusa soothing the students as she thanks Juumonji and Yuki for stopping the car, before gently scolding the others who had tried to cast without communicating and creating the Psion storm, but she's honestly more interested in quickly getting out of her car and hurrying towards where Detective Toshikazu was already approaching the wreck.

As she gets to him, she starts speaking without hesitation, “You need to use magic to gather magic residue now.” At seeing his confused look, she shakes her head impatiently before he can question her, “That was not an accident, it was a purposeful suicide attack. The magic they used is the sort that its residue dissipates within ten minutes though.”

His eyes go wide and he quickly calls back to one of the other officers still at the cars, “Scan that vehicle with the magic residue reader now!” Then he turns back to her, “How do you even know that though?”

She huffs, “I warned my aunt that it probably wouldn't stay under wraps very long when she made me promise not to reveal it without reason.” It's more a mutter to herself, but she shakes her head and focuses on him, “I have an Elemental Sight born specialization. Saw the whole thing go down. A spell to pop one of the front tires, another to send the car into a spin, then one last one on the divider to flip it over so it could potentially impact the bus. The speed with which they were cast and the fact his brain was strange…”

His mouth thins, “Those Generators that started turning up in crime a couple decades back.”

She nods, “Most likely. You'd need to have an autopsy done on his brain to know for sure.” She glances back at the bus, “Preventing which, I imagine, is one of the reasons so much effort was put into making it look like a genuine accident.”

One of the officers over by the car calls out, “I've finished scanning the car sir! It-” He suddenly flicks his gaze past them, presumably at the bus and seems to adjust what he was going to say, “It was the right call to make!”

Detective Toshikazu pushes out a rough breath and waves his men over to him, once they're there, he starts laying out things without hesitation, “Obviously it wasn't an accident, which means we need to investigate it thoroughly, but this also implies the tip off regarding No-Head Dragon gunning for the Nine Schools Competition are specifically targeting First High, so we need to get them to a more easily defensible position and off the road. To that end, we'll split up to cover both the crime scene as well as escorting the First High kids, alright?” He gets agreements all around, and flashes her a smile, “Thank you for letting me know, but we've got it from here and First High will be on its way basically as soon as I sort out who's staying and who's going, so get back to your vehicle so we can leave as soon as possible please.”

She nods and turns back towards the technician vehicles, having really only gotten out to warn Detective Toshikazu that they needed to scan the car before their window to find evidence closed.

She sighs as she gets back to it. She really wasn't looking forward to telling her soulmates about the whole incident, given it had been hard enough to soothe them on not being able to travel with her when they knew trouble was brewing. They were going to be mad as all hell that something had happened on the road and they weren't there to potentially help her. Hoshi tended to leave things like that to them, but even she was undoubtedly going to be displeased.

She sighs again as she starts mentally putting together what she's going to say to them.

Miho rubs at her temples tiredly, “I'm serious, are you incapable of having uneventful school years?”

Sora hums in agreement, but counters, “At least we're actually here to possibly help this time?”

Miho sighs, “I suppose there's that…” Then she gets serious, “But really, when your… source mentioned international crime in the area, I was really hoping it was something more minor, like maybe an illegal gambling ring, and even my realistic expectations weren't this bad. I mean, that was basically an attempted slaughter.”

Sora nods, “Thankfully everything worked out, but what could have happened with the bus…” His hands tighten into fists at his sides, “When these people are caught, I'm not even sure if they deserve to live to go to jail.”

She hums in agreement, but doesn't get the chance to add anything before a voice from beyond the doorway into that banquet hall she's been lingering by catches her attention. She was lingering by the doorway as while Erika managed to get them into accommodations at the hotel, she couldn't exactly swing invites for the non-competitors to the banquet held the night of the schools’ arrival for the competition. Or not proper invites anyway, she'd apparently gotten them sort of into the banquet hall to see it. Though it was as staff.

A waitress and waiter for her and Mikihiko, a dishwasher for Mizuki, and manual labor help for Leo. The latter two don't get to walk around the banquet hall themselves, but Mikihiko had reassured her that as long as they don't slack, the kitchen staff doesn't mind them peeking through the door to see it. Mikihiko, as he'd commented one of the times he had a brief bit of downtime to talk, found the whole thing strange, but Sora had adamantly insisted slipping onto the staff of someplace you aren't supposed to be is perfectly valid. Not that it was surprising coming from him, given how many times she's heard of the Black Reaper keeping a low profile in the kitchen and the like while waiting for his time to strike.

She shakes her wandering thoughts back into focus after the person speaking into a microphone, who seemed to just be giving something of a standard greeting at first, mentions Kudou Retsu. It perks her interest in the man, given how highly regarded he is in the Japanese magical community, known collectively as Elder Kudou. She knows better than to trust it blindly of course, if nothing else, Dumbledore certainly drove that point home in her last life 

She watches the stage as the lights go off, and after a moment, a spotlight over a microphone turns on. She feels a brief moment of confusion given it's a young woman, but that draws her attention a little more firmly and she spots Elder Kudou standing in the shadows behind her. A split second later, her Elemental Sight confirms things, namely that he'd used an illusion, or rather as Modern Magicians calls it in this universe, sensory interference magic. Whatever you call it, it's actually surprisingly weak.

For a few moments there's confused murmuring as Elder Kudou's gaze drifts around, meeting her gaze as he does and pauses on her to smile ever so slightly before he leans forward minisculely and murmurs something to the young woman and she starts to walk off the stage as the lights come back on, revealing him to everyone. 

He had been standing with his hands casually hanging at his sides, but he brings them up to tuck behind him as he steps forward and starts speaking into the mic, “First, let me apologize for making you a party to my little prank. What you just saw was more sleight of hand than true magic. But as far as I could see, only five of you saw through it as a magic trick.” Understanding as to the weakness of the spell washes over her. It was purposely weak to see how many of them would look past the obvious and their confusion to seek answers. She only has a brief moment to contemplate that before he continues, “In other words… If I were a terrorist, and unleashed either poison or bombs on you, only five of you would have been able to do anything to stop me.”

The students make noises of surprise at the turn of his speech, but he's not wrong, and he continues after the brief upswing in noise dies back down, “My young students of magic… magic is a means. Magic is not in and of itself an end. The magic I used just now, while large in scale, was extremely low in potency. Yet you were deceived by this weak magic, and therefore failed to perceive my presence. You should never be remiss in your efforts to improve your magic skills. That said, I'd like you to keep in mind that your efforts alone won't be enough. Large scale magic used erroneously is inferior to small scale magic used creatively. My young students of magic… I am looking forward to seeing how creative you can be.”

It seems to take them a moment to realize his speech is over and start clapping. She hums as she stops leaning into the banquet hall. It was a pretty efficient speech, she'll certainly give him that. Driving home the dangers of taking things at face value, but in a somewhat lighter way -as compared to doing things like staging an attack or something that is-, giving a rather valuable life lesson on magic, and finishing off with some encouragement all in about a minute and a half. He certainly knows what he's doing at least.

She shakes it off as she refocuses on her soulmates and sister in law, “Anyway, it's going to be tricky to cover them, since some of the competitions are scheduled to take place at the same time, but given First High has been attacked directly whereas the others haven't been at all to my knowledge, so prioritizing keeping an eye on as many of First High's events as possible is probably the best course of action, which should make things easier.”

Sora hums in agreement, “Yeah, but there is the possibility of someone using the period when everyone is focused on events to attack someone who isn't even competing.”

Miho winces, “No kidding. The vast majority of people will be focused on the Official Divisions for Speed Shooting first, then the Official Divisions for Battle Board later tomorrow, but with so much focus on the active competition and the competitors for the other event, whether the Battle Board competitors are ready in the morning and how the Speed Shooting competitors are doing in the afternoon…”

Hoshi gets a bit grim, “It'd be almost laughably easy to strike at some of the other competitors. Well, given they aren't focused on the events, hopefully the security, police, and all that cover that gap in the safety measures.”

Sora gives her a dry look, “Do you wanna rely on that?”

Hoshi snorts, “Good god no. I've-” She glances at the open doorway and adjusts what she's going to say, “heard about too many instances of people slipping in during times like these to trust that they've got everything in hand.”

Sora nods, “Yeah, you and me both. So, wander around the hotel to keep an eye on things for me and Hoshi and Miho sticks with Toshiko as potential backup if she needs it?”

She shrugs, “That works for me. You Miho?”

Her wife shrugs, “Sure. We all know I'm not great at combative magic, but I'm not useless so I should be able to serve as backup.”

She nods, “Alright then. So we have our plan?”

She gets return nods, and Sora smiles as he makes a shooing motion, “Yeah we do. So you should go enjoy the banquet all right?”

She pouts, “Not much to enjoy without you guys there.”

Miho laughs and grabs her shoulders to turn her around, “Oh, don't be like that, Erika and Mikihiko snuck in and are around, and Shizuku and Honoka are there too. Don't be a spoilsport.”

She sighs, “Alright, alright. I'm going.”

She's with Mikihiko after the banquet is over, watching some of his practice to learn more about the activation sequences of Ancient magic and what exactly everything they do to cast does for activation sequence building. They do have vague ideas of what the things they do accomplish, they'd never have made as many spells as they have otherwise, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't change things drastically if they knew the exact details.

She straightens suddenly as Mikihiko opens his eyes and turns his head vaguely towards a Spirit that's been pulsing around his ear, “Someone's there?” He lifts a hand and she can see multiple of the orbs of Pushions that he calls Spirits drift to be above it, following the motion as he draws it across his body before sweeping his arm out and sending them off. They seem to run into something though, and scatter, and Mikihiko's eyes widen, “Is this… evil intent?” He quickly regains his composure, “Those are no ordinary thieves.”

Then he takes off, and she hurries to catch up, “Did the Spirits tell you anything?”

He shakes his head, “Not exactly. They couldn't tell me anything about how many of them or what they're after or anything like that anyway, just that they're there and they have a deeply malicious intent.”

He starts to slow for some reason, and she slows as well, “Mikihiko? What are you doing? We need to go!”

He jolts, “Ah!” Then he picks up speed again, “Sorry, I just…” His brows furrow as he gets a self-deprecating smile, “I just realized I'm not sure how much help I'll be.”

She frowns, “Why on earth would you think that? You're pretty reliable and good at magic from what I've seen.”

He laughs bitterly, “I'm really not.”

Her frown deepens. She decides right then and there what they're going to do, “You're going to take them down.”

Mikihiko looks over at her in surprise, “Ehh?”

She shakes her head firmly, “You're going to take them down, and I'm not stepping in unless you get in trouble in some way or someone is actively in danger.”

Mikihiko sputters a bit, “B-but-!”

She snorts, “No buts Mikihiko. You are going to be the one to take them down.”

Mikihiko makes a choking noise, “I-!” He squeezes his eyes shut, “Alright! Alright! I'll try!”

They catch up to where the intruders are running on a different walkway between the manicured bushes not too long after, and Mikihiko whips out some of his paper talismans, which start glowing almost immediately, and throws them. Almost as soon as they leave his hand, they seem to practically gain a life of their own, and move to be directly above the three.

It seems to be one of his electricity spells, and she's not very surprised, given they've been working on that one when Mikihiko isn't just showing her spells for her to learn more about their activation sequences in general and focus a bit on improving them. Not updating them to Modern Magic, but just streamlining the traditional casting methods used for the spells.

Selecting such a spell definitely pays off for Mikihiko, given that she sees them clock Mikihiko and her and start to aim guns at them, but they don't even get into position before Mikihiko's electric spell strikes them.(3)

Mikihiko uses some magic to boost himself to jump to clear the bushes almost habitually, and she follows. He looks genuinely surprised to see them unconscious, “I… won?”

She hums as she steps over to them to try to identify the attackers, “You did. And rather beautifully at that, to take them out nonlethally and without clear line of sight as well.”

Mikihiko blinks rapidly at her, “But- But I'm basically a failure as a magician nowadays.”

She gives him a sharp look, “Who told you such lies?”

He flinches slightly and ducks his head, “That-... My family. I- I had an accident with magic about a year ago. It- It cost me a lot of my ability.” He looks vaguely towards the hotel, “That's… why my father made me come actually…. He said- He told me to ‘Go take a good look at the place where you should be standing yourself.’ because I haven't recovered from the loss of my powers a year ago… even though I was a prodigy before…”

It would probably not be inaccurate to liken the way her mind stutters to a record scratch, and after it gets back on track, entirely unbidden, an image of papers reading ‘EMOTIONAL ADOPTION’ at the top pops into her mind. As she turns to Mikihiko, equally independent of her conscious input, she sees her hand enter the mental image and put her signature on the final line.

Her mind flits back to her mental questions about Mikihiko's shyness, and wondering if it was trauma or natural, ‘Trauma it is. At least in part.’

She stares at him for a moment and he looks away, “...Does your family suffer from mental deficiencies?”

He chokes in surprise as he turns to her with wide eyes, “I- What? Where do you get-?”

She shakes her head in aggravation, “No, seriously. Personally I'm firmly against this whole ideology that a magician's worth is entirely dictated by their magic ability, or what they can bring to the gene pool, and all that nonsense, but let's play that game for a minute. You said you were a prodigy? Assumably powerful given how much weight people place on that sort of thing?” He nods hesitantly, “Then you still have valuable genes to contribute. Furthermore, that means you also have an incredible grasp of the theoreticals of Ancient Magic, which means even if you have problems casting you're still perfectly capable of teaching Ancient Magic to any disciples or children you need to.”

He starts to open his mouth, but she pushes on, “Also, you haven't completely lost your ability to cast, even if it took a hit, which honestly says an awful lot about just how much of a prodigy you were, given how competent you are now from what I've seen. And I'll remind you that back when I told you about my Elemental Sight, I mentioned I've met other Ancient Magicians who let me watch their casting, so I absolutely have people to compare it to.” She pauses, weighing the choice on the last thing sitting on the tip of her tongue before deciding that, yeah, she is going to say it, “Just between you and me, one of which is my Master, Kokonoe Yakumo. Well, kinda my Master. I'm not an official disciple, which means he can't directly give me instruction, but he does teach me things in a roundabout way.” He chokes in surprise, which is to be expected, given how famous that name is amongst Ancient Magicians, “I'll have to take you to Kyuuchouji Temple and introduce you sometime after we get back.”

Mikihiko opens and closes his mouth for a minute and she turns back to the intruders, “Let me ask you something Mikihiko. Erika has said you hold my magic ability in high regard. Is that true?”

Mikihiko takes a jerking step forward, seemingly involuntarily, “Of course! You're amazing! I-” He flushes and drops his gaze, as he rubs awkwardly at his other arm, “I actually admire your ability if I'm being honest.”

She hums, “It was for an entirely different reason, but my family considered me a failure as a magician until I was six you know. To the extent that they actually officially stripped me from the family and I had to be reinstated.”

He whips his gaze up to her, eyes wide, “You?! A failure?! How could you of all people-?!”

She shakes her head, “That doesn't actually matter.” She looks back over to meet his gaze, “The reason I was bringing it up is more because magician families are unbelievably quick to label someone a failed magician, and they tend to have ridiculous standards as well. There's no more point to giving weight to their opinions then there is trying to argue with a conspiracy theorist, nor in paying any more heed to their judgments than you would a child playing pretend at being an actual court judge. Especially not for the people who will inevitably come crawling back acting like nothing happened or at least that they did nothing wrong if the situation changes.”

His wide eyes drop to the ground. She wonders if it's the first time someone has told him he isn't obligated to pay heed to others opinions and judgments, or if people like Erika have, but they haven't quite successfully gotten the point across.

She doesn't know if she's succeeded either, but that's fine. Given she's not going to argue with her brain on the emotional adoption, regardless of them physically being the same age and him already being about a month away from being sixteen already. She'll have plenty of time to get through to him and untangle the doubts and criticisms they've planted into his head.

There's a few beats of silence as she uses her mobile terminal to get in touch with security and lets them know about the intruders, as well as the fact they had guns on them.

After she's done and they're just waiting, Mikihiko seems to focus on something else, probably because he's still processing what she'd said regarding families and failure magicians and all that, “...Is it actually okay for you to introduce me to Kokonoe Yakumo?”

She smiles, “Mm. I don't spread it around all that much, because Master does generally prefer privacy, but he has said it would be okay if I brought people I trusted in the past.” Her smile turns more to a grin as she turns to him, “Though, in fairness, that may partly be because he's one of the people aware of my Elemental Sight and what it's capable of, so he trusts my judgment on people's skill levels. As such, it may be in part due to wanting to possibly snatch people who catch my interest up as disciples.”

Mikihiko flushes, assumably at the mere idea of getting the attention of such a famous Ancient Magician, and she shrugs, “Don't know if your interested of if it's even allowed by the rules Ancient Magicians live by for you to be a disciple of his while still being a member of your family, but he's a little more loose about Ancient Magic then most Ancient Magicians, not exactly telling everyone who asks or anything, but… Not the point, point was, he may be willing to give you a few pointers.”

Mikihiko's flush deepens as his gaze drops again, and she barely catches him whispering to himself, “Not only meet him, but… maybe even learn a thing or two?”

She turns her head away a little bit to hide her grin. She couldn't say if it's just because Mikihiko is acting a bit differently than usual or it's entirely her mental adoption skewing her perception, but he's being utterly adorable right now.

Behind her noticing that though, her mind is already putting together a to-do list regarding her new emotional child, and weighing things like if she'll need to fight the Yoshida and if and when she should fill Mikihiko in on the emotional adoption.

There's chit chat from her friends as they wait for Watanabe's match to start, and practically the moment it does, she can't help but comment on Watanabe's strategy, “Fortification magic combined with simultaneously casting Movement magic, huh?”

It isn't really planned, but given he specializes in it, she shouldn't be surprised when Leo takes notice, “Fortifying magic? What is she fortifying?”

She watches in interest, “Her position on the board. She's anchoring herself to prevent from slipping or anything.”

Miho looks over at her, “You can do that?”

She hums, “It's usually what it's used for, but fortifying magic isn't exactly for strengthening an object per say, when you get down to the details of exactly how it functions. What it actually does is fortify relative positions, which is usually applied to the atoms of course, fortifying their positions relative to each other to keep from things like denting and the like.” She glances back at Leo, “You're well familiar with it.”

Leo nods, “Well, yeah, since I actually use it myself.”

She turns back to the course, “Watanabe-senpai has basically told the magic that she and the board are one object to fortify their positions relative to one another. It's admittedly a rather interesting application. It's also actually rather impressive, given with the movement magic and vibration magic, she has to be casting at least three, possibly four spells at the same time.”

She's not surprised in the slightest to see Watanabe pulling further and further ahead as the race continues.

She waits while the officer knocks on the door before calling through it, “Major Kazama, you have a guest.”

Kazama's voice responds immediately, “Come in.”

The officer opens the door for her and she moves inside, as the door closes behind her, she blinks rapidly at the casual wear. When it comes to these particular people, she's far more used to seeing the likes of Kazama Harunobu, Yanagi Muraji, and Doctor Yamanaka Kousuke in military uniform after all. At least when it comes to Fujibayashi Kyouko and Sanada Shigeru she's more used to seeing them in civilian clothes, “Are you all out of uniform because this is an informal meeting?”

Kazama smiles, “Ah, I probably should have clarified that when I asked you to come. It's technically partially regarding business, but yes.” He holds an open hand towards the empty chair, “Have a seat.”

She nods as she moves forward to settle into the chair. As she does, Kyouko smiles lightly, “My, how time flies. It feels like just yesterday you became a Special Officer for the 101st, and now you're at the Nine Schools Competition.”

She gives her an exasperated look, but doesn't bother with formalities given the casual atmosphere, “Teasing already Kyouko-nee?”

Kyouko grins, “You just looked so tense! You need to relax a little sometimes!”

She rolls her eyes, “You're as bad as Miho, Sora, and Hoshi.”

She gives her a bemused smile, “And it doesn't tell you something that multiple people have told you the same thing independently?”

She snorts as she accepts the cup of coffee Kyouko brought her even as they spoke and flashes her a thankful smile briefly, “Technically, if we're going by ‘independently’ then they only count as one. They have a whole conspiracy against me. They've said it themselves. Repeatedly.”

Kyouko bursts into laughter, and while she's certainly the most energetic and has the highest volume, she's not the only one. Kazama chuckles, before he begins, “About last night's incident, there's no question that those intruders were with the No-Head Dragon, which I mentioned to you the other day.”

She sighs, “I'd ask if they were targeting the Nine Schools Competition like you suspected or if the timing was just a coincidence and they're after something else, but with that suicide attack on First High enroute here as well…”

Kazama hums, “Well, that's still being investigated, but with the bus attack… Anyway, I'll let you know when we find out conclusively.”

She nods, “Thank you.”

Kyouko pipes up then, “Still, I'm amazed that you happened to be right there on the spot. Were you on the lookout for something?”

She shakes her head, “No. I was actually working with an Ancient Magician classmate of mine. The Spirits they'd summoned alerted them to suspicious people around, and when he tried to get more information, he detected ‘malicious intent’ as he put it. Actually, while I was there if he needed backup, given he's actually pretty competent but his family filled his head with utter nonsense about him being a failure as a magician, I made him take them out on his own. Mostly to force him to realize that his family is full of garbage and he actually is competent.”

Kyouko's brows furrow even as her lips quirk up a little, “Bit of a harsh lesson, but if he really was capable of it, I suppose he needed it.”

She snorts, “You only think it was a harsh lesson because you're imagining a protracted struggle for him. He took them out in a single spell before they could even fully turn their guns towards him.”

Muraji gives her a surprised look, and he's far from the only one, “And they call him a failure?”

She sighs, “I don't know the details and it wouldn't be my place to say even if I did, but apparently they used to consider him a prodigy until some sort of magical accident caused him to lose part of his skill. As far as I could pick up, they're just pissy that he's not back to prodigy levels.”

Kousuke shakes his head as he picks up his teacup, “Putting such pressure on a child after something capable of impacting his magic ability happened…” He shakes his head, “When will people learn that rarely if ever helps, even if you look at it from a purely logical perspective and ignore the emotional aspect or what's right. If anything it does more harm.”

She snorts, “I know. Which is why I may end up getting into a fight with the Yoshida family.”

Muraji snickers, “Did you acquire another child then?”

She doesn't miss a beat, “I mean. My brain practically did a record scratch when he told me, before, entirely without my conscious input mind you, a mental image of some papers labeled emotional adoption popped into my head and gained my signature.”

He laughs at her, and he's not the only one, “You can't just adopt every child in a toxic house you know.”

As she lifts her teacup, she slips her eyes closed as she answers perfectly calm and placid despite what the words would imply, “Fuck you Muraji. I'll emotionally adopt whatever kids I wanna. Someone has to be a good parent to them, and if their gene donors are going to prove to be utter failures at that…”

Then she takes a sip of her coffee as the others chuckle and laugh.

She hums as she looks over the designs she's been absently messing with to try to unwind from being on edge and watching like a hawk during events all day, and also to distract her from the more serious work thoughts her brain has been trying to turn to since she saw Watanabe's match about other applications for what she'd seen, “I was wondering why you came to my room so late at night.”

She mentally files away the minor changes to the schedule Yuki had come to tell her after a little… meeting/celebration with the Student Council about Saegusa winning first place in speed shooting and minor changes regarding upcoming events. It was honestly a relief that was what he was here for, since she was… admittedly concerned that despite their numerous discussions, and the fact that their mother has started actually interfering and starting to push him to behave that Yuki was trying to proposition her or something when she'd seen him at her door so late at night. It was just about her covering being the technician at Saegusa's Crowd Ball events tomorrow though, since they'd decided to let Kinoshita help Hattori adjust his CAD a bit more to smooth over some problems he was having at the preliminaries male Battle Board while he had a day off before the finals.

She's pulled back out of her thoughts when, with her Elemental Sight, she sees Yuki droop a bit, “Am I inconveniencing you Onee-sama?”

She shakes her head without turning to him, “No, it's just not wise in general to be wandering around late at night with the trouble that's been happening.” She weighs mentioning it, the possibility of Yuki taking it the wrong way like some sort of encouragement, verses subtly chiding him given his siscon nature he's never bothered to hide giving people ideas. After a beat though, she settles on the latter, “That and I suppose it's a good thing everyone is fully aware we're siblings. Because no-one may have batted an eye at you meeting with the rest of the Student Council, but people likely would've gotten the wrong idea from a boy visiting a girl's room so late at night otherwise.”

With her Elemental Sight, she sees the happiness that seemed to wash away his gloom, presumably at her showing concern for him, fade just a little. He shakes it off and smiles at her, “Yes, I'm sorry Onee-sama. I wasn't really thinking of all the trouble there's been lately. I'll head back to my room now, so it's not put off until it's even later when it could be more dangerous.”

She nods, “I'll keep an eye on you with Elemental Sight until you're safe.”

He beams at that, “Okay! I'll see you tomorrow Onee-sama! Goodnight!”

She hums, “Goodnight Yuki.”

He heads out without hesitation after that. As she watches him hurry away, happy as a clam at high tide, she contemplates how things have been going with their mother trying to get his behavior under control. She's been making some headway, and she can't help but feel a bit hopeful about it, but at the same time… she can't quite bring herself to trust that he'll be able to continue to control himself, given his obsession.

She sighs and turns her attention away and back to her screen as she sees him close his room door behind him. There's not really anything else she can do about the situation in all honesty. She'll just have to wait and see and possibly adjust if Yuki backslides.

There's chatter from her group as they wait for everything to be in place and the race to start when she suddenly stiffens as she spots a ball of Pushions slip into the water of the race course. She's not incredibly familiar with Spirits, but from the magic signature coming off of it and the fact someone is using it underwater, she's fairly certain it's a water spirit. She pulls her mobile terminal out and slips a spell to blur the screen around it as she tracks the line of magic connecting it to its caster in the information dimension. Once she's got a lock on their position, she sends a message to Kazama on their location.

It isn't long before Kazama gets back in touch and lets her know that he's sent people to apprehend the caster and Kyouko is already tracking them back through cameras to try to find out where their employers are hiding. After that, given she can't bring herself to leave when she may need to do something at a moment's notice, all she can do is wait nervously.

Her anxiety climbs higher when the race starts, even as she watches the people Kazama sent close in on the caster. Even as her group cheers with the crowd, minus Erika who seems to have something against Watanabe, she doesn't take her Elemental Sight's gaze off of the Spirit, splitting its attention between watching that and as the people Kazama dispatched grow closer and closer to the caster. From how fast they're moving and how quickly the competitors are closing in on the Spirit's location, it'll be tight for them to get there and disrupt the caster before whatever the Spirit is there for can happen.

She's just starting to think of launching her Pushion version of Gram Demolition and saying fuck the consequences because of how close the competitor in the lead is getting when the caster is apprehended and his spell broken.

She breathes out a sigh of relief as she scans the competitors with her Elemental Sight to make sure everything is in order, but it's incredibly short lived when she sees what she's long identified by her mother showing it to her so she's capable of recognizing it as a Golden Electron Silkworm, essentially a magic virus that interferes with CADs without outright rewriting them or triggering the anti-virus programs, screwing with the CAD of the girl in second place, the competitor from Seventh High.

Specifically, it flips the signal for the adjustment from acceleration magic to deceleration magic. Technically, a magician can make adjustments like that on their own, but CADs often act as support to speed up the process. What it means though, is that rather than slowing down as they reach the first turn, the girl in second place speeds up more, almost immediately losing control of her surfboard. In and of itself, it would see her crashing into the guardrail around the water course, but Watanabe is directly in her path.

Watanabe notices quickly, and credit to her character, rather than trying to dodge or anything like that, she quickly adjusts to catch the girl, dual casting magic to fling the board away so it doesn't hit either, as well as a spell to soften the impact and make sure it doesn't just throw her off the course.

It's around that time that she notices that they've reached the exact area of the course the Spirit had been and she feels a chill go down her spine. She hears Honoka's remark that she'd hardly noticed as background noise while she was focused on keeping an eye on the Spirit and its caster echoing in her head, “This is the same matchup as last year's finals, right? It's practically a repeat.”

Golden Electron Silkworms are not in any way some sort of natural occurrence. It had to have been planted there. And given last year's finals, it wasn't unreasonable to predict that this year's match would play out similarly. If, just as an example, just for instance, just by chance, the water was to be disturbed under Watanabe right now, while she's in the process of trying to catch the Seventh High girl… It would be an absolute disaster. It likely wouldn't result in fatal injuries, but…

Shaking the thought off, she shoots to her feet even as the speakers blare a race pause announcement.

Yuki looks over quickly, “Onee-sama!”

She doesn't even pause to fill him in before tearing off to head down to where the competitors are getting off the course and event staff are starting to come out. She has to get there before anyone potentially messes with the Seventh High girl's CAD and wipes it of at least the Golden Electron Silkworm.

She actually even uses a smidge of Shukujihou to speed up, though not too much since she doesn't want to alarm people or give anyone the wrong idea of her having anything to do with the incident. As she does, she keeps her Elemental Sight all almost single mindedly focused on the Seventh High girl's CAD to see if anyone even tries to get it from her.

As she gets close, she starts to make out Watanabe speaking briskly, “I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little sore, you should be more focused on Kuroki.”

The staff start to try to wave her off with those damn near standard platitudes, but Watanabe notices her before they get more than two words out, “Shiba?” Then her eyes harden, “Did you see something?”

She nods, tone blunt, “Considering I have a precision focused Elemental Sight and saw the Golden Electron Silkworm in her CAD go off? Yeah, you can say I saw something.”

Even as Watanabe sucks in a sharp breath, the shaky girl turns her almost blank gaze to her almost desperately, “It wasn't my fault? I wasn't the reason Watanabe could've gotten seriously hurt?”

She shakes her head, even as she idly notes that the girl likely needed to hear that, given the way some magicians just… become utterly incapable of magic if it fails them in some important way, “No, you did nothing wrong. The Golden Electron Silkworm swapped that signal to your CAD meant to speed up alterations to spells with its support from deceleration to acceleration.” Then she glances at the staff before focusing on Watanabe since she doesn't know which of the staff, if it was any of them present, she needs to talk to, “For safety's sake, the race will have to be paused until the competitors CADs can be checked to see if anyone else's have been sabotaged and swap out any that have been with backup CADs which also need to be checked.”(4)

Watanabe nods in agreement as she glances at one of the staff members, “A lock down also needs to be implemented to make sure the culprit doesn't get away.”

The man she'd been talking to nods in agreement and starts directing the staff to get everything in motion, pausing briefly after his initial orders to make a call to security.

As the staff starts scurrying around, she scrutinizes Watanabe and the girl she'd called Kuroki before glancing at the staff, “They really don't have anything more serious than Watanabe-senpai's mild rib fractures, and that's pretty easy to deal with by applying some healing magic while the staff is doing everything else.”

And ohhh does she hate that she can't do anything about that with so many people watching. Watanabe gives her a surprised look, “You can see that too?”

She shrugs, then simply repeats, “Elemental Sight geared towards precision.”

Watanabe gives her a thoughtful look, “More precise than I was expecting. Then again, I probably shouldn't be surprised, if you're capable of seeing a Golden Electron Silkworm going off.”

She hums in agreement. Whoever was behind these attacks, regardless of whether they were this No-Head Dragon syndicate or not, they were steadily getting more and more on her bad side.

She's focused on her terminal screen, trying hard to push away the thoughts of Watanabe's injuries, of the close call it was that afternoon. Both by distracting herself and also by reminding her damn brain over and over that after a bit of healing magic while the staff rushed around making sure no one else had any Golden Electron Silkworms and all that, she'd been cleared to get back to where she was with the rest of the competitor's before the Golden Electron Silkworm had forced the Seventh High girl to accelerate rather than decelerate and finish the race.

She's so focused in fact, that she hadn't even really registered what her Elemental Sight was telling her until Miho spoke up, sounding more a bit irritated after they barge into her room that night, ahead of the rest of their group, “Are you working? Don't you have enough on your plate with your Nine Schools Competition work?”

Her voice is tense, “Would you rather I work on this distraction, or struggle to fight off the guilt of not being able to stop that incident with the bus or use Regrowth on Watanabe-senpai?”

There's a heavy beat of silence before Sora's arms slip around her shoulders, hands each gripping the opposite shoulder as he leans his cheek against her head, “Sweetheart, you can't save everyone, but even then, you were there and did make what could've all too easily become a lethal incident only result in a few bone fractures.”

Her voice is bitter, “I should've done more. We knew something was happening, someone tried to crash a car into the bus on the way here. I should've-” She blows out a frustrated breath, only just realizing her hands had reached up and started clenching at Sora's arms at some point. She forces her grip to loosen, “It doesn't matter. You guys are always complaining about me lingering on things like that, so I was focusing on a distraction instead.”

Sora sighs, and Miho pipes up, “I don't like it either Sora, but I'll take the work over the guilt.” She doesn't even need Elemental Sight to know he nods at that after another sigh, given that he doesn't pull away and the way his cheek rubs against her head is telling enough. Miho lets out a sigh of her own, “So what are you working on?”

She shrugs, “Right now? Just poking at some ideas for uses of an idea, especially since the prototype proves that it actually is viable.”

Sora makes a confused noise, “Prototype? What prototype?”

She gently removes his arms from around her as she reaches over to grab it then turns around as she holds the blunt and thick almost-sword out, “This. Watanabe-senpai was using Fortification magic in a rather… unique way. I've never seen it used like that, but she was fortifying her position relative to her surfboard. Relative to something doesn't mean on something though, so I started wondering… and it's not exactly complicated, so Ushiyama and the others at the third division managed to make and get it to me even though I just sent the email last night. It proves that it really is a valid concept though, since it works.”

Apparently unable to keep quiet, essentially since they seemed to be past the particularly sensitive part, Hoshi leans forward on her seat on one of the beds, “What works? What does it even do?”

Without a word, she activates the device and the top half lifts up, floating in the air above the bottom half. It stays relative to the handle she's still holding, even when she gives it a bit of a swing off to the side where it won't hit anyone.

She shrugs at their flabbergasted look, “That you can absolutely input data into the magic sequence to fortify one object's position relative to another without any physical attachment or touch between the two.”

She turns it off and tosses it to Sora, who gazes at it in fascination. Miho elbows him in the ribs, “Quit living up to that murder hobo nickname our wife sometimes uses. Because I can hear that.”

Sora makes a noise of protest, “How many times do I have to say it! I have a home! I'm not a hobo. And hear what?”

Miho gives him an unimpressive look, “Those thoughts running through your head about sharpening the edge and what other weapons you can use the magic on.”

He grumbles, and Hoshi tilts her head half protesting half defending Sora, “It's a perfectly valid use!”

Miho gives her the stink eye, “Are you two incapable of not having murder on mind for an extended period of time?”

She laughs, “With those two? Probably not.”

A knock lets the others know that the rest of their little group that had been making their way to her room is there, and Miho quickly opens the door for them.

She shoves away thoughts of what could have happened to Watanabe and that other girl, and the injury Watanabe did get. Her soulmates would be pissed at her if she let it eat her up if nothing else. And besides, she does have that prototype that needs to be tested, and who better than someone who specializes in that magic like Leo?

Chapter Text

She's somewhat of a mess of emotions the next day. She'd woken up to an email from Kazama letting her know that while he hadn't directly interacted with the higher ups of the local branch of No-Head Dragon, through tracking him backwards through security footage and others he interacted with that were clearly part of that group, they'd managed to pinpoint their headquarters. Since it was more of a civilian matter, they'd handed the intelligence off to Detective Toshikazu, and they'd successfully raised them during the night. Well, for the most part, apparently one of the assholes had managed to escape out the window with a flight device and was currently on the run. He was the only one of those bastards to get away though, the rest had been taken into custody.

Which is where the mix of emotions comes from. On one hand, she felt a vicious satisfaction that they'd gone down, and they'd gone down hard, enough so that when they understood how solid the evidence against them was, more than one of them had broken and made plea deals. She also felt relief that they weren't in any position to target the kids anymore. And those fuckers would. Because from what they'd learned from the ones who talked, the whole thing was over a fucking betting ring. They were set to lose a lot of money if First High won the competition overall. So they'd tried to make sure they were in no position to do so. They'd only been doing everything, actively targeting children, risking serious injuries or death befalling them for some fucking money.

And that's where the emotions on the other end of the spectrum tearing through her come in. She was utterly disgusted by them, and also had more than a smidge of regret. Because she's not sure they deserve to live, and she could have tried just tracking them down herself and killing the fuckers. Just make them disappear, it's not like anyone was likely to miss them, and even if they had fooled people around them into thinking they were remotely decent, the police would have just undoubtedly put it down to crime rivalries when the investigation turned up what sort of people they actually were. There was little she could do about it though, since it would be significantly more suspicious if they died in police custody, and she isn't much one for executing anyone she finds reprehensible anyway. She'll certainly kill enemies that don't surrender, and there are some people that just can't be allowed to live even if they did, like Voldemort in her previous life. There was a huge difference between that and killing them while they were almost guaranteed to be unarmed and defenseless in police custody though.

At the current moment, she was trying hard not to think about all of it as she made her way to the Newcomers Division Speed Shooting, just rounding a corner on the last stretch, when a male voice calls out behind her, “Ah! Miss Shiba!”

Turning, she's surprised to see Ichijou and Kichijouji, the so-called Crimson Prince and the prodigy who discovered the Acceleration Cardinal Code(1) at thirteen which earned him the nickname Cardinal George.

She tilts her head, “Did you need something?”

Ichijou smiles, more awkward than she'd expect from an heir to one of the Master Clans, “Ah, not exactly? In all honesty I just wanted to express my admiration.”

She tilts her head as the two boys reach her and they resume her walk to the Speed Shooting event, “For what?”

Ichijou scratches at his slightly flushed cheek, “I wasn't there in person, but I heard about, and even saw video replays, of how quick to respond and sort things out you were at the Official Division Battle Board finale. As much as magicians are taught to respond as quickly and decisively as you did, most magicians our age are honestly still rather likely to freeze up.” He laughs a little nervously as he drops his hand, “Honestly, it wasn't what I was expecting of you after the welcome banquet at all.”

She gives him a surprised look, “The welcome banquet?”

Ichijou nods, “Mm. I actually noticed you that night after you stopped hovering out the door.” His flush deepens a little as her surprise increases, “Don't look at me like that, you carry yourself with such confidence, dignity, and grace, exude such command, that a lot of people couldn't help but have their eyes drawn to you, like metal to a magnet.” He turns a little sheepish, “Actually, I owe you an apology if I'm being honest. I must admit I thought that commanding aura of yours was more a bluff, since I kind of assumed that you'd have to have spent way too much time developing your movements to be so graceful and refined that I just kind of assumed you wouldn't actually know what to do in a crisis.” He laughs awkwardly as he looks away, “Sorry for making such a poor assumption about you.” He glances back at her out of the corner of his eye, “You certainly proved me wrong with how quickly and professionally you responded to the Battle Board incident. It's rather admirable in my opinion.”

She hums, “Thank you,”

Kichijouji grins at her a little teasingly, “Mm. I hope you don't think me presumptuous, but whatever guy ends up marrying you in the future will be quite fortunate, and I sincerely hope they realize that and don't take you for granted.”

She laughs lightly, “Thank you, though there's really no worry about that outcome.”

Ichijou grins at her as well, “Oh?”

She hums in agreement, “Yeah, because if anything, my boyfriend praises me almost excessively.” Her lips twitch, “Much to our friends’ chagrin from having to see it play out throughout the day at school.”

Kichijouji's expression flickers in surprise, before he smiles, “That's wonderful! Though… Please don't take this the wrong way since I only wish you the best, but just because your current partner appreciates you properly, that doesn't necessarily mean your future husband will, since, again no offense, but you never know what the future holds. There's no guarantee your current boyfriend and future husband are the same man, you know?”

She laughs lightly, “Yeah, that is true in general, but Sora is only my boyfriend because those same laws that say you have to be sixteen to get married put the same age limit on official engagements as well. Otherwise, he'd already be my fiancé. Everything is already in place so that the papers just need to be filed the day of his sixteenth birthday.”

The ages for them being the same may seem counterproductive, but it was more set up that way so that in case of pressing need parties could skip the engagement and go straight to marriage while still being an acceptable age, as well as cutting off people getting engaged at fourteen then immediately marrying at sixteen. Regardless, she still found it incredibly odd, and a bit concerning about the possibilities of the government pushing more laws to do something like having the right to deny magicians’ engagements it leaves wide open. They can't require people to file their engagements if all they're doing is wearing a ring, but on the grounds of insisting magicians had to maintain a relationship for a certain period of time to ensure they're a good match and won't end up going off on each other explosively enough to cast magic at each other and potentially drag others into it or cause property damage, they'd pushed that law to force couples to file their engagements and another that meant they couldn't legally marry without pressing reasons until they'd been engaged at least two years.

Ichijou's smile twitches slightly, but it's Kichijouji who responds, “Oh really? You two must be pretty serious then. But Sora, Sora… the name doesn't ring any bells from the competitors, nor can I think of any ‘Sora’ names in the various notable families that are attending First High right now either, am I misremembering?”

She smiles, “Oh, he's not competing. He's around, yeah, but technically he's just a guest since he's not even on the support staff. And that's because he isn't from any of the hundred families, assistant house, Ten Master Clans, or anything else like that.”

Kichijouji gives her a surprised look, “Really? That's surprising. Honestly, a woman of your quality, I thought it was nearly inevitable you'd catch the interest of a guy from one of those families and end up marrying into it.”

She shakes her head, “Oh no, I'm perfectly happy with Sora, and the head of my family is satisfied with him as well.” She laughs lightly again, then mischievously grins, “I suppose it'd sound silly to you, but I swear he's always brought to mind the idea of soulmates with me.”

Ichijou glances away, “Isn't it a bit early to decide it so conclusively?” She furrows her brows a little and he gazes at her, “I mean, it seems that way now, but what if a better prospect comes along or something? Someone you connect with even deeper or something.”

Her brows relax, “Oh, I'm not concerned about that. I genuinely can't imagine loving anyone as much. Both in the sense that I struggle to imagine life without him and also that I can't really wrap my head around increasing how much I love him, much less applying it to someone else.” She turns her gaze forward, “Speak of the devil.” She lifts the hand not holding her tablet terminal as she calls out casually, “Sora.”

He smiles at her, “Toshiko,” He flicks a glance at the other two, “I was starting to get a bit worried after all of the trouble lately, but I guess you were just walking slower.”

She hums in agreement, “It would've been rude if I outpaced them like I was trying to leave them behind.”

He nods, but he doesn't get the chance to say anything before Ichijou pipes up, “So this is your soon to be fiancé, huh?” She nods and he looks over to eye Sora, “You're a lucky man. But a word of advice. A woman as incredible as Shiba is bound to draw attention. You'd best be careful, lest someone sweep her off her feet.”

Sora smiles, just the tiniest bit sharp, “Oh, I'm fully aware of how fortunate I am. And I treat her like she's a queen like she deserves, so I'm not worried about someone stealing her away.”

Ichijou hums, but Kichijouji speaks up before he can, “We need to get going Masaki.”

Ichijou glances at him and nods before smiling at her, cheeks staining slightly, “I suppose I'll see you later Shiba.”

She nods, “Perhaps.”

She and Sora watch them walk off before she glances at her husband, “So was that in my head?”

He snorts, “No, he was totally trying to make a move and that friend of his was playing wingman.”(2)

She hums, “I thought as much, especially given the way they brought up pedigree multiple times and how they expected ‘someone like me’ would marry into such a family. Ichijou really doesn't respect ‘I'm already in a relationship’ though, given he didn't drop it after he realized I am not, in fact, single.” Sora hums in agreement as his face goes dark, and she shakes herself out, before she turns to smile up at him, “Sorry for bothering you while you were patrolling, but he was honestly irritating me with his not so subtle digs at you and it seemed the fastest way to get them to leave.”

He smiles at her as he reaches out to tuck some of her hair behind her ear, “It's no trouble darling. If anything, I'm glad you got in touch with Rowena mentally to have her contact me through my golem backup bracelet rather than just putting up with it on your own.” He leans forward to give her a brief kiss, “But as happy as I am to help and as much as I'd love to stay, I really should get back to patrolling just to be safe. Love you.”

She smiles, “Love you too.”

She watches him go fondly, then shakes her head a bit as she tries to push her mind to focus not on the mess with No-Head Dragon, Ichijou's little crush, or just how much she loves her husband but rather on being Shizuku's support staff.

She'd developed that new spell Active Air Mine after what competitors and events she was going to cover was decided on during the lead up to the actual competition after all. And while she's done plenty of testing and Shizuku has gotten used to it, if nothing else, she owes it to the girl to pay close attention to how well it works for her in the preliminaries to try to make any necessary final adjustments before the head to head matches.

Especially with such a new spell, even if Shizuku has already gotten some practice with it.

Which reminds her, as a newer spell, the Magic University will probably ask about adding it to the Index. Given Maya's request for her to do her best not to draw the sort of attention that may expose her identity as Mihana, a Yotsuba, or worse, Obara Ryumi, she couldn't let it be listed under her name.

Well, it was easy enough to deal with. The first person that's known to cast a spell is usually listed as its creator, so it should be easy to have it listed under Shizuku's name. If anyone asks, she can just say she's not one for fame. It's not even a lie, even if it's not her main motivation.

She honestly feels somewhat exasperated as she watches the Newcomers Division Ice Pillars Break match currently playing out, slower than any of Yuki’s others at that. Either that or like she wants to crawl in a hole and hide for once out of sheer embarrassment, something that's rather out of character for her.

Miho gives her a concerned look, “Toshiko? Is something wrong?”

She groans lowly as she buries her face in her hands, “I have never in my life been more glad for people being unable to hear Yuki in public.” They were in the private room higher up so the technicians and the like have a better view of exactly how Ice Pillar Break plays out. When Miho tilts her head in bewilderment, to avoid any confusion from a silencing spell, she just uses a muffliato to make their conversation an indistinguishable murmur as she turns her gaze away from the match to Miho, “He found out about Ichijou making a move on me yesterday somehow if the things I can tell he's saying with Elemental Sight are any indication. He's tearing Ichijou a new one verbally about daring to even look at me like that. He's even taking his time with the event just to have more time to tear into him privately.”

Miho winces, “So… he's going total territorial siscon? Out loud?”

She hisses back in mortification, “Yes.” She turns her head back to being buried in her hands, “Someone knock me out now.”

Miho rubs her back in comfort, “Well… at least Ichijou is the only one hearing him be like that?”

She groans, “Just shoot me. Why did I agree to be his technician?”

Miho bites her lip, “Partly because your mom begged you to accept the proposal of which competitors you'd cover since it perfectly reasonably falls within sibling boundaries?”

She drops one hand as she turns the other and drags it down over her eyes before it's pressed lightly against her mouth, “Never again. I am never being his technician at an event like this again. And I am so telling our mother what he did.”

She watches them dully, and the only thing that makes the situation more embarrassing is that Ichijou is starting to get heated himself, and it's starting to turn into a fight like they're fucking medieval nobles dueling for her hand in marriage or something.

It's mortifying.

It's absolutely mortifying.

She's so damned glad the competition is not set up to be able to hear what competitors are saying to one another. It's mostly just a protection for people from things like the Hundred Families and Ten Master Clans to avoid them running into each other and unintentionally airing things that are more private in the heat of the matches, but it's certainly saving her a boatload of embarrassment right at the moment.

Anyone who hears the things he's saying, not the carefully measured words he tends to say to their group but heated and thoughtless, would know basically instantly that he's in love with her, obsessed with her to a mind boggling degree in fact. Which is undoubtedly why along with all his own passion, Ichijou is also giving Yuki a somewhat disturbed look.

Ichijou may be rather arrogant to think he can just roll up and steal her from Sora, but she can't blame him for being disturbed, and if anything, along with the personal embarrassment, she feels bad for him for having to deal with Yuki's unhinged obsession.

In a desperate attempt to save herself, she tries to distract her brain enough that the conversation her Elemental Sight was watching play out past the sound barriers won't really register, she whips her terminal out and opens the four person group chat with Hoshi.

Mass text

I swear, sometimes that boy just makes me wanna...... 🧴💦 or 🗞 him…

Sora

What did he do this time?

He's getting all obsessive possessive with Ichijou in their match because he's OFFENDED that Ichijou made a pass at me.

Not because I'm in a relationship with you of course.

Just in general.

Sora

…Why am I somehow not surprised?

She holds back the hysterical laugh that wants to bubble up as she studiously ignores Yuki.

Because he always seems like he's a hair's breath from going full Yandere?

Sora

…That's WAY too accurate a description. So probably.

And you just KNOW he's going to be proud about it and expect praise for it.

Despite the fact he's not mad like MOST siblings would be because his sibling that's being hit on ISN'T single but just because of his OWN obsession.

Someone just knock me out. Or stab me. Or shoot me. Really I DO NOT care if it gets me away from THIS.

Sora

I am NOT stabbing you. Not letting anyone else stab or shoot you either. Pick something else. And no, it can't be getting knocked out either.

Then keep freaking distracting me so I can pretend I'm distracted enough that I don't know what he's saying.

Her husband doesn't waste a second on doing everything in his power to do just that.

It doesn't help as much as she was hoping, but it's better than being forced to focus on Yuki's obsessive circus.

She groans, “I already got in touch with our mother. That boy just does not understand what's wrong with what he did. Or rather, is probably more accurate to say he refuses to understand.”

Miho gives her a somewhat awkward smile, “Honestly, in fairness given just how much he's obsessed, he probably genuinely can't understand why there's a problem? Most people with obsession tend to have their perception rather… skewed to say the least.”

She shakes her head tiredly. There's a few moments of silence, and during that Hoshi shows up, grinning at her when she spots her after entering, “Oh good! You're still here!” She tilts her head, and Hoshi just turns a little mischievous, “I got you something as a present to make you feel better after the Ice Pillar Break match today!”

She gives her sister in law a baffled look, “What?”

Hoshi's response is to whip the hand she'd been hiding behind her out, holding out a spray bottle with a handwritten label on it reading ‘siscon-icide’, “Tada! siscon-icide, like pesticide? I thought you could use a bit of cheering up with a gag gift!”

Sora ducks his head as though that will do anything to hide his amused smile. At least Miho actually hides her mouth behind her loosely curled fist. She herself just stares at it a moment before slowly lifting her head to meet Hoshi's gaze, “Do not put that temptation in front of me right now. With what he pulled today, I may actually spray him in the face with it.”

Hoshi snickers and Sora barks a laugh at that, “He'd probably deserve it!”

Miho gives her a bemused look, “Honestly, I know you've been trying to figure out how to handle everything about him without resorting to bullying a child, but at this point, a little public humiliation may be necessary to drive the point home. Nothing else seems to be getting through to him.”

She hums, “Maybe? Who the hell knows at this point.”

Sora lifts his head to grin at her, “If nothing else, maybe the threat of it will do something.”

She sighs, “Maybe? Honestly though, I'm starting to think nothing will get through to him.”

Sora shrugs, “He's obsessed enough that it genuinely wouldn't surprise me at this point.”

She sighs tiredly.

She's not even surprised when she registers some of the data her Elemental Sight has been feeding her -namely that Yuki is waiting in her room- as she gets closer with Sora, who had insisted on walking her back.

She rubs at the spot between her eyebrows and Sora glances over, “Is he here?”

She sighs, “Waiting in my room.”

He hums, “Wanting to ask why you called your mother and ditched him, trying to apologize, or what? What do you think he's here to harass you for?”

She rolls her eyes, “Hell if I know. Fuck, could be trying to proposition me for all I know.”

He twitches, “He better not be. I may actually have to throw hands with a child otherwise.”

She laughs weakly. It's around then that they reach her door. Swiping her keycard to unlock it before tucking it to her palm with her last two fingers and pushing down on the handle, she only opens it a crack before turning to Sora, “Thanks for walking me back.”

He reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, “Of course dear.” Then he leans forward to kiss her briefly, smiling at her warmly as he pulls back, “Goodnight.”

She smiles back, “Goodnight.”

She watches him turn to leave, not looking away until he's rounded the corner out of her physical sight line before she takes a quiet breath in and finally turns to actually enter her room.

She glances at Yuki, unsurprisingly looking extremely unhappy, possibly partially because of whatever their mother said to him, but likely mostly due to hearing her with Sora. Yuki looks at her with furrowed brows, “Onee-sama… Why would you have been upset about what happened with Ichijou?”

She gives him a bland look, “One, it isn't really your place. It would be mine, Sora's, and Miho's. Two, you weren't angry at him for making a pass at me because I'm already in a relationship like a normal sibling may be, which is the only time your outburst may have been acceptable. You were being possessive. Despite how many talks both I and mother have had with you.”

Yuki only grows more upset, “But Onee-sama-!”

She slams the spray bottle she'd been carrying in her other hand down on the table the room's terminal was resting on, “But nothing Yuki! I have tried to be gentle about it, I have tried to be firmer but still kind, but it's just not sinking into that thick skull that I do not return your feelings, I will never return your feelings, and your feelings make me uncomfortable, much less the fact that all you're actually doing is making me want to distance myself from you more and more!”

Yuki looks like he may just cry, and some part of her feels bad, since he's only fifteen but she's at the absolute end of her rope with him. He looks away from where he was staring miserably at her face, then stiffens, “What's that?”

She glances at where his gaze was locked, realizing that he's looking at the spray bottle, and her voice turns blunt, “A gag gift from Hoshi to try to make me feel better after the stunt you pulled today.” She tightens her hand on the neck, “But you know what? I'm fed up with your nonsense. I'll cover the label, but I'm going to start carrying this around, and I will start spraying you like a misbehaving dog when you pull stunts like today or just generally cross the line, do you understand me?”

Yuki flushes deeply, “Onee-sama! You can't-!”

She cuts the hand holding her room keycard through the air, “Yes I can. And you? Have two -and only two- options right now. You apologize to Ichijou and claim you misunderstood when I was describing the interaction and thought he was harassing me and back off of me. Do that, and the label will not only be covered, but while I'll keep it with me as a threat to remind you not to cross a line again, you don't actually get sprayed. Two, you don't do that, and while the label is still covered, you get sprayed right in the face. Around others. I will not make it a private affair, much like you failed to keep your obsession with me private. Pick, wisely. And don't even think about trying to get right up to the line and hover there, because I will stop making my chastisements practically wordless and only understandable to a handful of people.”

Yuki's eyes tear up again, and without a word, he rushes out of her room.

She shakes her head angrily as she lets go of the neck of the spray bottle and tosses her keycard on the desk. Their mother was likely going to be livid at the threat but she doesn't care. Yuki keeps pushing and pushing, and she's done playing nice.

The next day, she's feeling rather grim as she walks behind Saegusa towards the meeting she was asked to attend. That No-Head Dragon member that got away… They had ordered an agent of theirs that hadn't been caught to sabotage the Monolith Code event in a big way, as a desperate attempt to try to shift the closing attention away from him.

Given they'd given up on subtlety since they weren't trying to hide their involvement so as to not create problems with their betting ring for rigging things, they'd gone all out. As angry as she was with him lately, she does feel like Yuki absolutely deserves the praise he's getting right now, since realistically, it was only his snap second thinking and quick action that had prevented a death from occurring, but one of the boys was in critical condition, and none of them were in any state to compete.

The room has more people than she expected seeing as not just Watanabe, Juumonji, and Nakajou in her capacity as technician team leader were there, but so was Kirihara, fellow technician Isori Kei, Hattori, and Ichihara are there as well. After they enter, Saegusa walks over to stand beside Juumonji, who she shares a look with and receives a nod from before she begins, “Toshiko, good work today. The results you produced exceeded our expectations, and we thank you for that.”

She blinks, and though she sincerely feels like this isn't the reason she was called, she answers it anyway, “It's thanks to the competitors and their efforts.”

Saegusa nods once, “Of course it's their achievement for working so hard. But every one of us here recognizes how significant your contribution was.” She nods in understanding, giving a thanks that's honestly more reflexive than anything, and Saegusa continues, “According to the current standings, First High is top in points scored. Third High is in second place, and in terms of just the Newcomers events, they're fifty points behind us. Even if we were to withdraw from Monolith Code now, we'd be assured second place finish in the Newcomers Division. Before the Newcomers events started, I would've been satisfied with that, but… Now that we've come this far, I'd like to shoot for first place in the Newcomers events as well.”

She tilts her head, “I can understand that, but what's this got to do with me? It's not like I can help.”

Saegusa hums, “This meeting is actually to discuss who we can call in to substitute for Yuki and the others since they can't compete. I asked you to come as well because with everything that's happened including your strategies for the competitors you've helped which have yet to see a loss, I value your input.”

She glances away as her mind immediately starts mulling over the topic. An idea comes to her surprisingly quickly, and her mind starts assembling a strategy reflexively, even as she smiles in bemusant and shakes her head, “If you were looking for suggestions, I regret to inform you that the only one I can think of would likely not meet your expectations, and would quite possibly result in more than a little outrage from the First High students that traveled here independently to watch the Nine Schools Competition in person. That's without even touching on the fact that they aren't even in the Nine Schools Competition team in any role.”

Saegusa tilts her head, “With the exceptional circumstances, the Nine Schools Competition committee is making an exemption regarding replacing our players, so it doesn't really matter where you pull from, just that they're First High students. Anyway, do you think whoever you have in mind could win? Even with the fact that Ichijou and Kichijouji are in the Monolith Code event?”

Her bemusement only increases, “Probably. Honestly it mostly comes down to proper motivation for two of them. But…

Saegusa smiles, “We're in a rather desperate position Toshiko, and quite frankly, we've already looked over the possible replacements we could try to pull from, and we have not been able to come up with a team that could even ‘maybe’ win, much less ‘probably’. Not with who they're likely to be against in the finale. As such, it sounds like your plan is the better one, regardless of it potentially riling First High students.”

Watanabe gives her a curious look, “Why do you think anyone from First High would have a problem with it anyway?”

She smiles a little warily, “Because they're all from course two.”

Saegusa gives her a surprised look, “I- …And you think they can win?”

She hums, “Probably. Though… One of them is fine, another has confidence issues but is actually a good magician so would do fine if handled correctly. The last one is actually the most important person for making the team work right, and he's fine… if given the proper motivation, since he absolutely does not care about things like school pride.”

Watanabe gives her a bemused look, “I'm surprised you haven't mentioned the latter to have filled in the open spot the Disciplinary Committee had at the beginning of the year if you have such a solid opinion of him. Or any of them for that matter.”

She gives her an amused look back, “We actually did talk about him. I explicitly told you that while he's generally a match for me in a fight, Sora isn't a good fit for the Disciplinary Committee. If it weren't for the aforementioned confidence problems, Mikihiko -Yoshida Mikihiko that is- might be a good fit, but… anyway, Leo -Saijou Leonhard- doesn't necessarily have a temper exactly, but he's probably too hot-headed for the Disciplinary Committee. As should be evident from the way he butted heads so hard with Morisaki back on the first day of school.”

Watanabe's expression shifts to understanding, and Saegusa's gaze drifts down as she brings her hand up, resting the side of her loosely curled pointer finger to her bottom lip thoughtfully for a moment before looking back up, “Do you have ideas on how to handle those problems?” She nods, and Saegusa presses a bit more, “And you're sure they have good chances of winning if they're handled correctly?”

She tilts her head, “With the right tactics to make best use of their abilities, solid fifty percent base chance I'd say. Sixty five if Mikihiko's confidence problem is handled correctly. Eight-five if it is and Sora is properly motivated.“

Saegusa drops her hand to clap with the other once as she smiles, “Then, we may need to shuffle duties around, but if you're so confident that with the right planning and handling they have such good odds, then we'll go with your team with you as their strategist and technician!”

She blinks rapidly, “Are you sure? I don't really care personally, but selecting the replacements from course two…”

Juumonji speaks up at this point, “Whatever issues may arise from that we can deal with later. From what I've seen and heard, you have a good enough head on your shoulders to make a reliable judgment despite your personal ties, and if you're giving them an eight-five percent chance at victory… well, considering the best we could come up with from what we have available was projected to only have about a forty percent chance of winning, it'd be foolish to go with anything but your plan.”

She hums, “Fair enough. Wouldn't be hard to get in touch either, given Erika used her connections as a Chiba to get them rooms at the competition hotel instead of one of the nearby ones.”

Saegusa claps again as she turns her head, “Then A-chan! Please go and retrieve Yoshida Mikihiko, Saijou Leonhard, and Amano?” She glances at Watanabe, probably having heard of him from her before, and gets a confining nod before turning back to Nakajou, “Amano Sora and bring them here.”

Nakajou straightens, “Yes president!”

She quickly grabs her arm before she can hurry off, drawing a confused look from the girl, “Ah, I was in my room talking to Sora and a few others when Saegusa-senpai came and got me, and given they said they'd wait for me to get back, Sora is undoubtedly still there rather than at his own room. And please ask Sora to grab that proof of concept thing I had made, he'll know what I'm talking about.”

Nakajou had gained a look of understanding when she explained about Sora's whereabouts, but grew confused again when she mentioned the fortification weapon integrated CAD, which she hasn't named yet, but nods hesitantly when she tells her Sora will know.

She lets go of her once she's sure she's got everything she needs to know and she hurries off. As Nakajou leaves, she glances at Ichihara, “I already know it's fine, but I'm sure Saegusa-senpai and Juumonji-senpai will want confirmation, so please reread rule three and it's subsections for Monolith Code.”

Ichihara blinks, but nods as she lifts her tablet terminal. As she does, she pulls out her own mobile terminal to get to work on nailing down plans, vague overall ones for each of the randomly selected event environments first, as well as slightly more specific ones based on what she's seen of each team in the events so far. Both Monolith Code, and any who competed in more than one event which gives a bit of insight into their casting at least.

It's silent for a bit while they wait. From what her Elemental Sight is telling her, Saegusa in particular, though everyone to some extent, looks like they want to ask her questions, but thankfully none of them bother her. She's absorbed enough in her planning that she's not even sure how much time has passed before Nakajou is returning with the three, who are understandably confused.

She looks up and without aplomb, “Given the circumstances, the Nine Schools Competition committee is allowing First High to replace our Newcomers Monolith Code team. I was brought in to consult, and apparently the chances I gave a team of you three far exceed the possible teams they had discussed. So you're First High's Newcomers Monolith Code replacement team.”

Mikihiko looks surprised and flushes, “Ehh? But- I- I can't-”

Saegusa claps her hands, “Now now, I'm sure you can! Even if you don't win, doing your best is all I can ask for. But Toshiko speaks so highly of you all!”

Without hesitation, Sora immediately responds with a fake smile before Mikihiko, “Thanks. I currently hate it!”

Mikihiko shakes his head, “No, you don't understand, I can't, my family-”

She shakes her head, as she glances at Saegusa, who seems surprised, “Wrong way.” Then she looks at Mikihiko and tilts her head, “You mean like you said you couldn't take down those three intruders with guns we found but dealt with them nonlethally easily in a single spell?” Mikihiko's mouth snaps shut as he looks down uncertainly, “Or do you mean someone deemed by their mentally deficient family to be a failure of a magician -much like how my family said that about me until I was seven- can't possibly succeed.”

Mikihiko's hands clench into fists as he looks down, uncertainty flickering over his face before he looks up at her, gaze searching before he takes a deep breath, “...Okay. Okay I'll try, just-” He rubs at one arm awkwardly as he looks away, “Just don't be surprised or hold it against me if it doesn't work out the way you're hoping.”

She hums in agreement, then looks over at Saegusa, “Do you want Sora reluctantly going along with it because I asked, or motivated? Because I can get him motivated, but while he wouldn't go beyond the rules, First High may very well be accused of needless brutality.”

Saegusa looks a little confused, “If he stays within the rules, of course I want him motivated.”

She leans towards Sora, who's looking at her suspiciously, undoubtedly wondering how she thinks she can motivate him, and she grins at him, “You remember that interaction with Ichijou? How you weren't bothered in general but were rather unhappy that he kept pushing rather than respecting ‘I'm in a relationship’? While you can't make physical contact with your body per-say, this is basically you being given an excuse to have Ichijou catch those hands, proverbially anyway, given Ichijou is in Monolith Code, and it's expected you'll injure each other to a certain extent. But First High is only going up against Third High if we make it to the finals.”

Behind her from where she's turned in the seat she'd taken at the table while she was planning, Kirihara barks out a laugh, “Yeah! That'll do it! Even if it's not jealousy motivating it, having an excuse to get back at someone for disrespecting your partner is pretty solid motivation for most people!”

Mikihiko gestures with his hand, “You kidding me? This is the first I've heard of it, and I may not be Toshiko’s boyfriend, but I am her friend, and I'm feeling more motivated to make him pay for that disrespect.”

Leo laughs as he jerks a thumb at Mikihiko, “Yeah, I'm with Mikihiko on this. Don't need to be your boyfriend to be mad at you being disrespected like that.”

She snaps as she points at Leo briefly, “Oh, that reminds me!” She turns to Sora, who wordlessly sets the case on the table and opens it to toss the weapon integrated CAD at Leo, “You technically specialize in more physical combat and making direct contact isn't allowed, but given the rules have to be worded to allow things like using Acceleration magic to toss pebbles at someone for example, that absolutely works as an alternative. And you already have some familiarity with it from when you tested how well the proof of concept actually works. We'll have to submit it to the Nine Schools Competition committee to be examined, but it's in no capacity against the rules, so that's more of a formality.”

Saegusa furrows her eyebrows, “Are you sure… whatever this is, is within the rules?”

She nods, “Yeah. I made it after I saw Watanabe-senpai's more out of the box use of fortification magic during Battle Board,” Watanabe looks surprised and points at herself silently in question, “and came up with that as a proof of concept thing while trying to distract myself and simultaneously not overwork myself, and well…” She glances at Leo, and getting the hint, he activates it, “Since it's not physically connected to what he's holding, with the way the rules work, it's perfectly valid.”

Ichihara makes a noise of understanding, “That's why you asked me to go over the rules again.” She turns to Saegusa and Juumonji, “Shiba is correct. As long as it passes the committee's inspection, and I see no reason it wouldn't, it's perfectly valid.”

Leo had deactivated it while Ichihara was talking, and he turns to the other two, “So, we just gotta get to the finals to make Ichijou pay for disrespecting Toshiko?”

The other two grin, but she's the one who responds, “Yeah. I'll be your technician and strategist for the events. And when you do get to the finals, you will have to stay within the rules even in that match regarding how much force is allowed though, otherwise it'll end immediately, and also I'll be upset with you all if you get that far just to throw it because you push too hard on Ichijou. Furthermore, Ichijou seems prideful enough that beating him at Monolith Code will in and of itself hurt like hell.”

Leo laughs, “Yeah, of course, but staying within the rules doesn't stop us from getting back at Ichijou!”

The other two nod, and Saegusa gives an awkward smile, “I may have made a mistake regarding motivation…”

Watanabe, looking at the three in bemusement, tilts her head, “...Little bit.”

Juumonji, equally bemused, nods in agreement and she gives them an amused look, “I warned you.” Then she climbs to her feet, “So unless you'd prefer to go with the team you were thinking of before instead…” Saegusa hesitates, then shakes her head, “Then, we'll be heading out. There's a few things of strategy I'd like to go over before they get started on their matches tomorrow so they'll have a bit longer to think it over and get back to me on any questions, suggestions, or problems.” She holds out her hand to get the CAD back from Leo and puts it back in the case to slide towards them on the table, “You may wanna submit that today if possible though, to give as much time as we can if they take a bit longer to decide to approve of it or not.”

Saegusa nods even as Juumonji steps forward to collect the case. Without another word, she corrals her group out the door to head back to her room for a quick strategy meeting.

Because of the incident with Forth High's sabotaged CAD, the schedule for Monolith Code had been messed up. Thankfully, given that the only event the last of the five days dedicated to the Newcomers Division events was the Monolith Code semi-finals and finals, it hadn't been too hard to let the rest of the matches that didn't involve First and Fourth High play out. However, the Monolith Code tournament did use a competition format of having each school compete in four matches, with the schools with the most points advancing to the semifinals.

Since it was publicly acknowledged to be from outside interference so they hadn't been disqualified in general, Fourth High was still in the tournament, but they had been disqualified from the previous match against First High. Even with that, she can't help but feel terrible for the Fourth High kids, who have to be drowning in guilt over what they almost had a hand in. She can only hope they're given the counseling they undoubtedly need.

It did mean that technically, First High was considered to have already completed and won two of their matches, so while they did have to complete in the the two they'd been originally scheduled to have after the match with Fourth High, it was just those, and then if they had enough victories, the boys would they have their semi-final and possibly finals match.

It means it absolutely has the potential to be magically tiring for their team, since when they undoubtedly get to the finals, they'll have slogged their way through three matches already. She'd done her best during strategizing to make plans that had as little magical drain as possible while still optimizing their chances of winning.

The biggest factor she'd gone for was doing her best to create strategies that wouldn't require magical shootouts. It was why, in the first of their matches in the wooded zone against Eighth High, Sora had made a beeline for where the opponents Monolith was, using speed boosting magic to get there faster, only slowing enough to use his long honed stealth, moving mostly through the trees and taking full advantage of his experience in the jungles of the South America Heaven's Gate war from their previous life, slipping behind the defender and opening the Monolith within the 10 meter(3) requirement for the sequence to open it on his way through the clearing without stopping.

The Monolith defender, surprised by the Monolith suddenly opening, since it requires a signal from a CAD, starts to look around frantically, which is when Sora lets him spot him before heading off into the woods. Throwing a frustrated glance at the Monolith, but knowing full well there's nothing stopping him getting an angle to view the randomized five hundred and twelve characters carved into the Monolith, the input of which into an issued terminal was one of the two means of victory, he has no choice but to chase after him.

It's a poor move really. One should never engage with the former ‘Black Reaper’ in terrain like that.

It's all too short a time before he's trussed up using the new wires she'd made for Sora that used magic to move at the command of the user, but without being attached to his harness physically like his old gear. Rather, they're attached to small boxes they shoot and retract from, and those boxes have a magical fortification connection with his harness, so he can still use them for maneuverability if he wants to, since the fact their positions are fortified relative to his harness is practically set in stone, if the wires try to pull them, they'll absolutely pull him if he lets them. Really, they weren't different from his old wires in the slightest, the only changes being the lack of physical connection, and that he had to launch and control them entirely with magic.

The second of the three man team wasn't doing much better. Using a low magic cost spell which draws up a thick mist, and bombarding him with the equally magically cheap spell ‘Echo Maze’ which induces confusion, Mikihiko has him utterly trapped. It doesn't in and of itself count as being taken out of the competition, but it completely ties up one of the two assigned to offense. And Mikihiko really only had to hold him until the Monolith's code was input by Sora.

The third person on the team actually reaches First High's Monolith before Sora can circle back around and input it into the wrist strapped mini terminal the competitors were issued, but they don't really do any better, given that he didn't even successfully fire a single spell before Leo swings the handle to smash the extended end of the weapon integrated CAD into his side. He retracts it and holds it up to shoot it back out to adjust how far away from the handle it was 'fortified' to and swings it down to on him just as swiftly.

The match is called by the loud ending buzzer mere moments later as Sora finishes entering the code.(4)

All in all, the magic cost had been low enough that their bodies would recuperate it in under twenty minutes. Given their next match was in thirty, they'd be back to full by the time it came.

The second match is against Second High and surprisingly given the incident the day before, in an urban zone and even had the Monoliths both inside buildings.

That one goes even quicker though, since Sora once more rushes the general location of the Monolith, used the magic she'd placed in his CAD that reactivated the inactive Spirit Mikihiko had stuck to him, and once Mikihiko found the Monolith, went to where it was on the floor above it to send the signal to open it through the floor, since clear line of sight doesn't matter, just distance. The defender throws a surprised glance at the opening Monolith, but even on the floor above, Sora is already long gone. And their assumptions that he was unlikely to have any experience with Ancient Magic is proven by the fact he's utterly oblivious to Mikihiko's Spirit observing the Monolith's carving. If he did have experience, he may sense it, and he may know that Mikihiko can see through the Spirit's eyes as he currently is to input the code on his own terminal.

Both the defender and the two on offense against First High's Monolith are taken by utter surprise by the match end buzzer.

Once again, the match takes very little magic from them in general, though given the Second High offense had found the Monolith before the end, Leo and Mikihiko had to use some then as well. Not a whole lot, since before the end buzzed, Leo had simply needed to knock one of the attacking players down then called for Mikihiko to finish him, since the building's restrictions meant he couldn't go up for a downwards swing to knock him out. Mikihiko had been in his almost meditating state so he could connect to the Spirit Sora activated, so he wasn't able to hear him physically, but he was splitting his attention and watching through Spirits surrounding himself and Leo. As such, he'd already been at the ready to knock the competitor out with a controlled lightning strike.

Though the second competitor had managed to slip close enough to open the Monolith, Leo had used a fortification variant that kept it from opening properly. The player's shouted accusation of it being a dirty play wasn't wrong, but the tactic also wasn't against the rules. Though they hadn't taken him out before the match ended.

After the buzzer signals it, Saegusa turns to her with a bemused smile, “This definitely isn't the sort of thing most are expecting from Monolith Code.”

She shrugs, “That's because people tend to fall back on shootouts and going for the alternative win condition of knocking the other team out. You wanted victory, I said they'd get victory. I never said they'd destroy the other teams in a fight or something.”

Saegusa laughs and Juumonji gives her a serious look, “While they aren't inherently bad, these tactics will fail if you draw the Open Plains map.”

She hums, “It is the worst one for them, I'll give you that, but I've already made a plan for that as well.”

He gives her a grave look, “Even if it's in the finals against Third High? Where the Open Plains would give Ichijou and Kichijouji the biggest advantage?”

She smiles, “Yes.” His expression flickers with surprise and she climbs to her feet to go meet with her team, “I did have to get something approved by the Nine Schools Competition committee for it, but as it's perfectly within the rules of equipment, they've already given the green light to use it.”

Due to the weird timing of everything, since they'd also gone to the semifinals, First High was supposed to be against Eighth High, but given they'd already beaten them once today, after a bit of debate, the competition committee had swapped their opponent with Third High's, so that they were against Ninth High in the semifinals and Third High were the ones taking on Eighth High.

That's for after lunch though, and she's not about to waste the break she has from the busy morning schedule she and Sora have had when they have an opening to spend some time with Miho.

Hoshi hadn't even been there when they got back to the hotel, which Miho had explained in amusement was because while Hoshi had expressed a desire to congratulate them, in her own words, she wasn't stupid enough not to know that they will get ‘mushy’, which she has zero desire to be around. As much as she loves her sister in law, she's not going to complain about getting some privacy with her soulmates, even if they were too young for the particularly fun stuff.

Miho sighs as she leans back on the bed while popping her bottle of water open, “Gotta admit, even with everything happening, I didn't actually expect to see the Black Reaper in action again.”

She hums in agreement, “Tell me about it. Shame we're still minors?”

Miho gives Sora a contemplating look, “Well. You aren't wrong there. Without lives on the line or thinking I was potentially a target, I could definitely appreciate it more.”

Sora gives them a funny look as he pauses with his own bottle just about to tip far enough to drink from, turning his face away slightly, “What's that supposed to mean?”

Then he turns back to his bottle and starts to drink now that he's not occupied with talking. He probably should've waited a moment more, considering the way he chokes slightly at her words, “Because you used to be kind hot as Hei when you were going full Black Reaper.” He doesn't seem to have it go down the wrong pipe thankfully, given there isn't a coughing fit or anything as he quickly tilts his bottle back down enough that it's not spilling liquid. She shares an amused look with Miho before turning back to him, and sighs dramatically, “And now I can't even see how it compares in this life because of the block…”

Miho's eyes are practically sparkling in mischief, “Shame that.”

Sora points with his free hand at them, “You two are being mean. I can't even properly be teased right now, which is cruel.” They both laugh a bit and he shakes his head, “Cruel. And you're doing it just to be mean, and I know you are, because in over a hundred years together in our previous life I never heard anything about this!”

He sticks his nose up slightly, and she shakes her head in amusement as she reaches for one of the slices of apple Sora had put in one of the bentos, she doesn't even know who's, “Sweetheart, that's just because you're always so good at picking up on things that we both assumed you knew already.” He gives her a look of a mixture of confusion, mild horror, and slight dread, like the very idea that it was true, which it was, and he'd somehow never noticed was somewhat terrifying, “I mean, really though, why do you think you tended to get a little more action than usual after things like that?”

Miho tilts the head of her bottle towards her in agreement, “Like that final fight with no-nose since that wasn't all just a celebratory mood afterwards.”

She nods, “As an example but certainly not the only time.”

He stares at them, “...That isn't fair. That is absolutely not fair. It's totally unfair to only learn of it in an entirely different life!”

She giggles, then leans over to pat at his face teasingly, “Aww. Did poor Hei suffer from not knowing?”

He whines, “In poor Sora's opinion? Yes!”

She snickers and Miho laughs, leaning forward to add, “In fairness, like Toshiko said, we thought you already knew.” Her wife gives her a contemplative look, “Though in retrospect, given how much of a horndog he is sometimes, the fact he didn't take advantage of it more often, or at all as it turns out since those times we thought he was weren't actually on purpose, makes a lot more sense.”

Sora makes a noise like he's dying, “Of course I didn't know! What man wouldn't take advantage of knowing something like that?!”

She laughs with Miho. She has a feeling she knows exactly what their lunch break is going to be spent on.

Chapter Text

She laughs at Saegusa's concern for the match, “Oh, you don't need to worry. I don't know how long it will take, but it will be over in a snap.”

Mikihiko gives her a puzzled look, “Isn't that self contradictory?”

She smiles, “You'll understand at the end.” Then she turns to Sora to lean up and press a kiss to his lips, “I'd wish you good luck, but well. We both know you'll win.”

Then she nods at Leo and ruffles Mikihiko's hair, much to his protests, “What are you, my mother?!”

She laughs again out loud, even as her mind replies automatically without hesitation, ‘Emotionally, yes. Just tell me you don't have safe living conditions or even just can't bear to be with your blood relatives anymore, just say the word to make them pay for what they've done to you. I'll make sure you have somewhere to go to get away from them and make clear the Consequences of their actions to your family.’

Sora eyes her, since with everything going on, she hasn't mentioned the emotional adoption to him and Miho. She gives him a ‘later’ look, then gently straightens Mikihiko's cloak, “Don't lose this.”

Mikihiko whines, “I know, I know.” He looks down as his cheeks flush, “These are so embarrassing though…”

She shakes her head, “I added them to you guys gear for a reason. They have magic circles inscribed that you'll need. Things like that outweigh any embarrassment.” Her lips twitch, “If it helps, think of it as taking a page from Ancient Magicians from your European counterparts.”

He grimaces slightly, “Not really, but I'll try…”

She laughs, and hearing the lower buzzer telling the teams it's time to go, backs off with a wave, then still smiling, she turns and walks away.

As she does, she gets that insistent feeling she's being watched, and a quick glance with Elemental Sight quickly pinpoints Ichijou, watching her with longing eyes under furrowed brows. She brushes the observation off. She isn't responsible for nor obligated to do anything regarding Ichijou's feelings for her.

Ichijou Masaki can't get rid of his confident smile as they wait for the match to officially start. By pure luck, the randomly selected event stage was the Open Plains. It was quite unfortunate for their adversaries, but he wasn't about to turn away from Lady Luck smiling on him.

He's still a bit bemused by the First High team's… attire. For reasons he couldn't wrap his head around, Amano wasn't but the other two were wearing what could only be described as cloaks over their combat gear. He honestly can't blame the one guy, Yoshida if he's not misremembering from the name listings, being so embarrassed over it.

He's admittedly focusing on him and his embarrassment more than is necessary, and he admits it, if only to himself. Mostly because he knows his emotions will boil over far too quickly if he even looks at Amano right now.

It wasn't fair.

Why was he the one with Toshiko’s attention? Who held her affection? He was so- so bland and unimpressive. What does Toshiko see in him? Because yeah, he'll admit that while she's pretty she's nowhere near model level, but she- she's so graceful, and carries herself with such confidence, and command, and dignity.

She wasn't the most beautiful woman in the room during the welcoming banquet, he'll admit that, but she'd snagged his attention and held it all night. Even after the banquet ended, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her. He'd ended up tossing and turning in bed for hours as she ensnared his mind. After, he had wondered if she'd just made a strong first impression and his sudden infatuation would end just as swiftly as it arrived.

But then there had been that Battle Board incident. He genuinely regrets not being able to see how swiftly she acted -taking charge until she got everyone on task and only stepping back once she was sure everyone knew what their jobs were- in person. He'd tried to brush that sheer competence she showed to back up everything else off as a one off, even as he'd sort of obsessed over the footage, but then the Newcomers Division events had started. And it was breathtakingly clear just what events she was covering as well as just how incredible a technician she was on top of everything else.

She was absolutely the sort of person who deserved no less than to marry into the prestige of the Ten Master Clans.

So why, why, why did that blend into the background, disappointment to magicians, nobody have her attention so thoroughly? He didn't have the magic, he didn't have the looks, he didn't have the pedigree, he had nothing of value to offer someone like her. So why him? Was it just because he was lucky and met her first? If he'd been the one to meet Toshiko first, then… there was no way she'd settle for Amano of all people.

Hearing the start siren, he immediately locks his gaze on Amano, somehow unsurprised to see him staring back with his own intensity. He wants to feel pleased, satisfied, to interpret it as Amano acknowledging him as a threat to his relationship. Instead, he feels a sudden chill down his spine like he's staring death itself in the face, having encroached on his territory.

It doesn't stop him from reacting instinctively, if anything, it triggers his instincts all on its own to some extent. Thankfully not enough to be over the rules allowed use of force, but Amano doesn't even glance up at his Air Bullet spell, and when it launches, those strange wires of his rip through the air, intercepting it and shredding the bullet of air the spell had made with magic on the end of the wire.

Then he starts forward almost leisurely. Even as he doesn't let his expression show anything, he grits his teeth behind his small confident smile as he fires again and again and again while advancing as well, ‘Take me seriously damn you! Take me as a threat! Both as a superior magician and to your relationship with Toshiko!’

Amano hardly even reacts himself as his wires whip around him, tearing the spells launched at him to pieces without even lifting his actual CAD towards them or using it for defense. That isn't to say he doesn't cast, he does, but he mostly seems to just be poking experimentally at Masaki's defense. His defense wasn't even a proper spell, not really. It was a subconscious use of magic similar to data fortification on their Eidos that magicians used on themselves, making it harder to cast magic on them.

Amano doesn't even look upset at whatever he's learning from it. He should be feeling the difference in their power, why…

He barely hears George say something to their teammate behind him, but he's not very surprised when he starts hearing his footsteps, and running at that, at an angle rather than a direct line between the two Monolith's like he was currently moving in. What is surprising is that it seems to serve as a signal of its own to Amano, who also breaks into a run.

He grits his teeth harder even as he fights to keep his vague smile in place, ‘What, you're more confident now or something? Do you think George not being directly behind me ready to back me up increases your chances of winning? Don't make me laugh!’

Nevertheless, Amano starts closing more rapidly, yet even as he continues to ramp up the speed of his casting as he continues to get a feel for Amano, who still hasn't shown any tricks up his sleeves, Amano keeps up just fine. It makes no sense. It makes no sense! How could this mediocre nobody, and one who hadn't even been able to make it into course one in the one of the three schools that use that system manage to keep up with not only a course one student, but a descendant of the Ten Master Clans at that!

His attention is yanked away by the fact George, who had started to reach the point he could see him out of the corner of his eye, is suddenly intercepted by one of Amano's teammates. Saijou, if his memory of the team listings is correct. George starts to cast one of his Acceleration Shots, but the boy suddenly reaches for his cloak to whip it off. At first, he has a wild idea that it's hiding some trump card of some sort, but the thought barely has a chance to form before the thing snaps out into a solid square and is planted into the ground.

He wants to curse. The thing was, Third High had been making fun of them prior, asking if they thought those counted as ‘cover’ from George's line of sight requiring Acceleration Shot. The joke was on them. They were mobile cover. George is immediately forced to jump back with a movement type spell by the boy launching out and swinging that strange weapon integrated CAD at him. He's basically immediately beset by a wind spell though, and has to hurriedly counter it with his own magic.

When he goes for Yoshida, but suddenly falters in the face of the fact there suddenly seems to be multiple of him, presumably from an illusion. He's distracted enough by that, that he almost misses Saijou starting to swing down on George, too fast for his friend to react. As quickly as he can, he launches his own spell at Saijou, to at least knock his aim off course if it doesn't take him out of the fight. It's enough of an opening for George to pin Yoshida to the ground with magic, tying him up from acting as well.

Nodding in satisfaction at George being fine, he turns back to Amano, only to find he'd closed far more than he'd expected in the fast scuffle. His next wave of Air Bullets is entirely on instinct, and immediately after he pulls the trigger, horror washes over him, ‘Oh crap! I didn't adjust it! At this rate, I'll end up killing him!’

For a brief moment that feels like eternity scene after scene of the sheer damage an unweakened Air Bullet can do fills his head. And he'd launched a bunch of them simultaneously.

Amano doesn't even bat an eyelash.

He starts physically moving with his wires to some extent after that, and he's not sure exactly the technique of it, but it only seems to help Amano's ability as his wires lash out at breathtaking speeds, so quick they almost seem to multiply.

The whole thing -from Amano's movements to the whirlwind of movement from the wires shredding the Air Bullets with the magic on the ends that unfailingly strike the magic shots with precision- almost looks like a graceful dance.

The next thing he knows, the last Air Bullets are being demolished as Amano twists to a stop less than a foot in front of him, the wire on his right side whipping past his face with a hair's breadth of space as it retracts while Amano reaches out with his left hand.

He's stunned into such a numb state that he doesn't even have control of the way his eyes track Amano's approaching hand as a distant part of his brain murmurs in stunned flatness about the rules against physical contact for combat. But then he notices his thumb and middle finger starting to press together like-

“Oh, you don't need to worry. I don't know how long it will take, but it will be over in a snap.”

He blinks as his gaze snaps to Amano's even as Toshiko’s voice continues to echo in his head on repeat.

Amano's gaze is amused.

His mind is immediately yanked to how he'd looked at him after the way he dealt with Eighth High, absolutely a nonverbal call out for the sneaky bastard. It hadn't been the calculating gaze of someone accepting and deciding how to handle a challenge, it hadn't been fear at biting off more than he could chew, it hadn't even been a lack of understanding or confusion. No, it'd been amusement, like he was watching the antics of a child.

And that gaze is back on him, amused once more as Amano releases a deafening sound amplified snap, in the brief moment before he loses consciousness, he almost wants to cry, feeling gutted.

He'd known Toshiko was their technician, and he knew intellectually that with a technician as good as her, she was absolutely part of crafting the strategy for the competitors she was in charge of.

Yet somehow, it never crossed his mind that she may craft a strategy specifically for Amano on taking him down. But the fact she'd been able to drop that line before the match makes it abundantly clear that it was her strategy.

Sora looks down at the disrespectful brat that thinks it's okay to keep pushing after a woman has indicated she's not interested for one reason or another, then shifts his gaze to Kichijouji. Unfortunately, amplifying the sound of that snap enough to knock Ichijou out cold had also delt enough damage to him that he wasn't in the best state himself, kneeling on the ground a bit winded from the sheer amount of magic he's had to use, blood dripping down from the eardrum he ruptured. It was uncomfortable, but he wasn't going to complain, since he'd specifically wanted a strategy to low-key humiliate the little shit, and with the rules of physical combat being what they were and his own specialty with physical combat, done in by a snap of all things was the best Toshiko could come up with.

He could push through if he had to, he's been in worst situations, but…

Kichijouji flinches when their eyes meet, and between the shock of Ichijou, who he'd been so confident being defeated and the idea Sora was still capable of more, he loses his hold on the spell he'd been pinning Mikihiko with.

Mikihiko quickly sweeps his gaze around, lingering on him and Ichijou for a moment before locking on Kichijouji, his expression starts burning with determination. He slips his eyes closed as a small smile plays at his lips at seeing that look.

That was exactly why he wasn't dealing with Kichijouji. Toshiko had asked him that if possible to leave Kichijouji to Leo and Mikihiko as a means of helping Mikihiko with his confidence. Given Leo seems to be down for the count by Ichijou's attack earlier, Mikihiko would have to be the primary target instead of support, but given the faith Toshiko had in him, he'd likely be fine.

Especially given that Mikihiko had recently let her translate some Ancient Magic activation sequences into a CAD, not altering the spells in any way, shape, or form, just how their activation sequences are drawn up.

Mikihiko uses another illusion to stop Kichijouji from being able to fire at him, then yanks the generalized CAD Toshiko had set up specifically with his translated Ancient Magic. He hits noticeably more buttons to pull up the activation sequences he wants, before slamming his hand on the ground.

Sora wasn't sure how exactly Toshiko’s Ancient Magic to CAD translation works, and he'd respected Mikihiko's privacy about his magic not to ask, but it's incredibly obvious that she'd done just as good a job on that as she does with any other CAD work.

The ground shakes, far more than it would warrant, but seemingly as a side effect of Mikihiko's hand striking the ground. Then a tear starts to rip itself into the earth, heading straight for Kichijouji. The boy tries to use more weight and movement magic to evade up and back, but he's suddenly halted. It isn't until Kichijouji glances down that he himself notices the tall grass wrapped around his legs, but unless it was strengthened by the spell as well, that couldn't possibly be what's holding him. Nevertheless, Kichijouji suddenly seems to get more frantic to yank free, and actually succeeds.

But he's so focused on that he completely misses the electrical spell before it strikes him.

His hearing is completely shot at the moment, so it's only his instincts of the shaking in the ground that has him looking over in time to see the last member of Third High right in the beginnings of launching a tidal wave of earth and rock at Mikihiko. He forces himself to his feet as his gaze snaps back to Mikihiko and he realizes from the lack of an attempt to dodge and his tense expression that Mikihiko is in no condition to really respond.

He doesn't get a chance to try to get Mikihiko out of the way before a shadow hurtling across the ground has him snapping his gaze up instinctively to see a black square careening through the air.

He relaxes since it can really only be one thing.

He's proven right when it slams down right in front of Mikihiko before the rushing wave of ground can hit him, blocking him from getting hit. Mikihiko looks rather surprised, and so does the last Third High boy.

Which also means they're both taken further by surprise when they look over just in time to see Leo swinging the handle of the weapon integrated CAD, swiftly knocking the last of the Third High competitors out cold.

He smiles as he drops his head. Given the way the other two light up, he has to assume the end of the match was announced, since he certainly couldn't hear anything at the moment.

It hadn't quite gone according to plan, but Toshiko still achieved everything she was aiming for, and he got to put that disrespectful brat in his place. He's perfectly happy with the results.

She smiling at the excited students, utterly euphoric at the victory. Saegusa seems more stunned than anything, “...We won, right?”

Ichihara smiles, “Yes, we won.”

That seems to unleash the tides of other students in the headquarters tent, “Yes! We won!”

“We've won the Newcomers Division!”

Saegusa starts smiling as another female calls out, “We did it!”

Then she turns to her only for her smile to fall, “Toshiko? You… don't look very surprised.”

That draws attention to her, but she just tilts her head before her smile slowly widens, “Saegusa-senpai, you recall that I sent you an email with a link to something password locked the morning after I suggested the replacement team?”

She blinks, “Ah? Yes. What of it?”

She huffs a small laugh, “Do me a favor? Pull it up on the main TV. The password is Monolith Code Completion, no spaces, English letters, first of each word capitalized.”

Saegusa blinks in surprise but accepts a tablet terminal from Ichihara and quickly gets it displaying on the TV before typing in the password.

A surprised hush falls over the crowd in the tent at what it reads, and as it does she pushes herself to her feet and starts for the entrance to go meet up with the team. She doesn't need to read it to know what it says. No more and no less than, “I lied. Freak occurrences known as miracles do happen, so it wasn't 100%, but given Third High would've needed a miracle, I actually estimated Sora, Leo, and Mikihiko's chances of winning at 99%. I figured you'd think I wasn't properly judging things if I gave that high a number though, so I lowered it to be more believable.

Relevant facts: 

Sora is the biggest threat out of the First High Newcomers Division Monolith Code.

Leo is combative, highly durable, as well as capable of serving as cover for Mikihiko.

Mikihiko is an Ancient Magician.

Ichijou has a personal grudge against Sora and is prideful.

Kichijouji has zero experience with Ancient Magic.

Due to how much of heavy hitters Ichijou and Kichijouji are, Matsubara is more likely to be primarily on the defense and possibly serve as backup.

Ichijou and Kichijouji are close and highly protective of each other.

Subsequent prediction of events with this knowledge and the general strategy:

As the biggest threat and with his personal grudge, majority of Ichijou's attention locks on Sora immediately.(1)

Kichijouji realizes they underestimated him and makes a move.(1)

Leo gets in Kichijouji's way and prevents usage of Acceleration Shot.(1)

Mikihiko uses Ancient Magic to throw off Kichijouji to leave him vulnerable to Leo.(1)

Kichijouji has no counter to Ancient Magic, drawing Ichijou's attention to get him out of trouble and subsequently attacks Leo.(1)

Leo is not eliminated due to his durability, but is stunned.(1)

Sora eliminates Ichijou.(1)

Mikihiko eliminates Kichijouji.(1)

Leo recovers and eliminates Matsubara.”(1)

A stunned silence hangs over the tent, and she glances back as she rounds the pinned back flaps, meeting Saegusa's stunned gaze, “I was never worried about them losing to begin with.”

She feels a little bad at the closing ceremony. Having been drafted to the competitors, Leo, Mikihiko, and Sora had been allowed to attend if they wanted, but even without mentioning the rest of their friends, on a more selfish note, she was more caught up in the fact Miho couldn't come.

She knew this kind of thing wasn't to her liking anyway, so it wasn't a loss on that front, it was in having to attend a party like this without her wife. While it would undoubtedly scandalize the kids if she did, she wishes she could spend the night with both her husband and wife if she's going to be forced to attend such a party to begin with. And Saegusa had practically made her attendance mandatory for her CAD and strategy support that had won every match she was covering the players for.

In fairness, Sora doesn't like these types of events anymore than Miho, but given it was his replacement team that pulled First High out of the proverbial fire, his attendance had also basically been made mandatory. 

Saegusa had also pretty much banned them from hanging out just outside the door like she had during the welcoming banquet, so they couldn't even just linger there with Miho and Hoshi again.

Sora, ever the sweetheart when it comes to his girls, both in the romantic sense as well as familial with Hoshi, has been doing his utmost to distract her from it all, dancing with her repeatedly and practically glued to her side when they weren't.

The mood is a bit of a mixed bag because of it all. So it's really not much of an interpretation when Juumonji approaches, “Amano.”

Sora looks over at him, “Juumonji-senpai.”

He glances at her, before looking back to Sora, “Come with me a second. Alone please.”

Sora's brows furrow, “I'd rather not leave Toshiko alone if it's all the same. There's nothing you could tell me that I wouldn't pass along later anyway.”

Juumonji stares for a moment then sighs, “If you insist.”

He leads them out to the gardens, and glancing at some of the students lingering around for fresh air and the like, leads them deeper in before turning to them, “Amano, are you from the Ten Master Clans? A more unknown branch perhaps?”

Sora tilts his head, “...Given the uncharacteristic display in your final match, I think you already know the answer to that. But I suppose if it's necessary to get verbal confirmation… No, I'm not.”

Juumonji slips his eyes closed, “I see.” He reopens them to pin Sora with a look, “Then as per the clan meeting, I'm going to advise you as the magician who's serving as assistant head of the Juumonji family. Amano, you should join the Ten Master Clans.” He tilts his head, “Let's see… For example, how about Saegusa?”

Sora's brows furrow, “How about’? You mean an arranged marriage?”

Juumonji doesn't hesitate, “That's right.”

Sora's brows unfurrow, “Rejected.” Juumonji looks surprised at how quickly he turned it down, “I appreciate you giving me advice Juumonji-senpai, but I actually already have paperwork for an engagement that's been filled out for over a year now that's merely waiting for my sixteenth birthday in a few months to be filed. To Toshiko here actually.”

Juumonji's brows furrow and he opens his mouth, but before he can speak, Saegusa's voice cuts in from behind them, “About that, given Toshiko has repeatedly said things that puts her in the same league, if not above, you herself, it would be best if she married into the Ten Master Clans as well.”

Sora tilts his head in amusement, “Did you two plan this or something?”

Saegusa shakes her head, “No, but I saw you two leaving with Juumonji, and could guess what it's about. Given that I assumed he'd have problems convincing you two, I thought I should assist.” Her brows furrow as she looks down, “That, and…” She sighs before looking back up at them, “My father has already mentioned to me suggesting a proposition that you marry me or one of my younger twin sisters.”

Sora shakes his head, “With all due respect Saegusa-senpai, that's still rejected, official proposition or not.”

Saegusa's brows furrow further, “Sora… I don't think you understand, some of the Ten Master Clans may very well decide that if you won't join us, they'd rather get rid of you.” She looks at her, “Both of you given the things Toshiko has said and what it says about her given what you achieved.”

She shakes her head, “Again, we appreciate the concern Saegusa-senpai, Juumonji-senpai, but we have zero intention of not filing our engagement paperwork to each other in a few months.”

Juumonji and Saegusa both look concerned, but share a look and a sigh and let it go, though it's Saegusa that speaks, “Then, I suppose we shouldn't take any more of your evening up.”

They both nod then head off, leaving the two physically older teenagers behind.

It's been about two weeks with little more of note then Saegusa starting to look into her successor for Student Council President, as apparently it's decided internally beforehand and only their name goes on the ballot, when Hoshi comes bursting into the Amano living room, face in full on chaos gremlin mode. She closes the door swiftly behind herself, “You won't believe what nonsense I just heard!”

Sora looks at her in confusion, “Didn't you have some sort of meeting about a potential job offer or something? Did it really go that poorly?”

Hoshi snorts, “More like they're fuckin morons. Or well. I guess I should give them credit. They didn't take it at face value, they absolutely analyzed all sorts of shit, they just came to the wrong conclusion.”

Sora's expression becomes bemused, “About?”

Hoshi shakes her head, and almost alarmingly casual, ”The fact they could hire me to assassinate you.”

She chokes, and Sora gives his sister an incredulous look, “I'm sorry, what?”

Hoshi rolls her eyes, “Yeah, apparently a behavioral expert or something saw a recording of when I said I'd kill you for a walnut and you countered saying I had an awfully steep price, cause you'd kill me for a sunflower seed, and I'm gonna assume that our history as assassins is influencing our body language and all that nonsense, because they came to the conclusion we were both absolutely serious about it. Which, side note, today I learn our friends are not, in fact, fucking with us or joking when they make comments on us hating each other. They genuinely believe it.”

Sora blinks rapidly, as his gaze drifts away, “Huh. No kidding?” Then he shakes his head and turns back to his sister, “Please tell me you were smart enough to accept the job if you get half the payment up front so we can really screw them over.”

Hoshi gives her brother an offended look, “What sort of person do you take me for? Of course I accepted the job if they give me half up front. The question is, do we fake your death to screw them out of the other half before we off them or something, or?”

Sora hums as he looks down thoughtfully, “You bring up a good point…” There's a couple beats of silence before he shakes his head as he turns back to Hoshi, “but as tempting as it is, I'm gonna have to say no. If nothing else, it could get stupidly complicated depending on how they want confirmation, potentially close the trap we unknowingly built into our relationship to basically lure most people who want one of us dead into practically confessing, and I've gotta be available if Toshiko or Miho need me.”

Hoshi nods, “Oooh that's true. Alright then. Just wait until we confirm the payment then deal with them?”

Sora grins at her, “Yup.”

Hoshi sighs, “It's not helpful now, but one of us should probably learn hacking. Betcha them transferring the money and therefore making a link of sorts between the accounts opens a line to get into theirs to clean them out before we deal with them permanently. Which, probably too late this time, but in the future if this comes up again…”

Sora's grin shifts to a smile, “That's a good idea!”

That is of course, when Miho pipes up, in that tired voice that seems specifically reserved for when her ex-cop habits see her trying to reign in their husband and sister in law's illegal tendencies, “No. No it is not. That's illegal.”

She hums as she joins the conversation, “It may be against the law, but so is assassination. I'd argue they're just getting compensation from the criminals who tried it.”

Miho squints at her, “If it's not Sora encouraging your crushingly destructive tendencies then it's you encouraging his criminal tendencies. I love you two to pieces, but I seriously sometimes question what other reason I could've been made soulmates with you two rather than reigning you in.”

She snorts, “You know full well soulmates don't always make sense at a glance.” Miho sighs and she shakes her head as she turns back to Hoshi, “Do we even know who's behind this assassination attempt?”

Hoshi rolls her eyes, “So, there I was, trying to piece together clues and all that and had even gotten an idea right?” They nod, “Then they go and make it all a waste if time when they try to ‘sweeten the pot’ by mentioning that if I pull it off and get away with it, the head of the Saegusa family may ‘appreciate my skills more then others seem to’ and hire me to work for the Saegusa more permanently.”

Sora gives her a confused look, “I'm sorry, what was that about appreciating your skills?”

Hoshi rolls her eyes again, “Apparently, they're under the impression that at least part of the ‘hostilities’ between us is because you're constantly overshadowing me and blinding those around us to what I'm capable of. And they know I am capable since they tapped into security cameras and have observed us sparring in the backyard. I guess they think I'm jealous or something?”

Sora snorts, “What a load of nonsense.”

Hoshi nods, “You're telling me. Idiots even outright said why they were doing it.” She nods her head to the side briefly, like she's gesturing at something, “Not that it's news after Katsuto and Mayumi's warnings. It's entirely because he can't stand the idea of someone capable of absolutely demolishing a member of the Ten Master Clans existing outside of the Clans, and since you've turned down all the marriage offers from them…”

Now it's Sora that rolls his eyes, “What a bunch of morons.” Then he shakes his head, “So, wait until the money transfer is confirmed, then get rid of the group that was sent to look into me and hired you? Then look into hacking so we can take advantage of any idiocy like this in the future even more?”

Hoshi nods, “That's the plan.”

Sora nods back, “Works for me.”

She shakes her head fondly at her husband and sister-in-law.

After the last of the drinks, she puts up a soundproofing and lip blurring barrier around her group, currently at Café Einebrise. The owner doesn't even bat an eyelash, long used to the fact they sometimes put them up when they're discussing more sensitive topics, “So. It has come to mine, Miho, Sora, and Hoshi's attention that there has been… quite the misunderstanding.”

Shizuku lowers her cup to give her a bemused look, “So why aren't the twins here then?”

She huffs a laugh, “Hoshi and Sora honestly felt embarrassed by the idea of discussing it.” A blatant lie. They were busy dealing with the Saegusa employees before they could realize Hoshi wasn't making moves to assassinate Sora, but that was the cover they had agreed on, “And you guys really can't talk to anyone else about this, not because it's a some super secret, but because it's private, personal, and the idea of other people they don't know and trust personally knowing feels like dragging up the past for them, okay?” She gets understanding nods, so presses on, “It has come to our attention that you are not, in fact, joking around like we honestly thought you all were when you expressed confusion regarding Sora and Hoshi always being together or me and Miho having such a good relationship with Hoshi as you seem to be under the impression they hate each other. That is wildly inaccurate.”

Everyone is surprised, but it's Erika who speaks, “So it's not one of those weird situations of a family pretending that something is the truth when everyone can see it's not and just trying to get other people not to mention it by insisting over and over?”

She shakes her head, “No, it isn't. It's-” She sighs, then goes with the tweaked version of the story they'd put together and Maya had arranged records of to back her up, just in case anyone looked into it, “Hoshi had a close brush with mental magic when she was a kid. There was this whole thing of a minor attack, culprit was taken down, but his magic went off and she got caught up in it a bit. It affected her emotions. Like, she lost her capacity for them entirely for a while, and for a bit, no one was sure if she'd recover or if it was permanent.”

Honoka gasps, unable to hold back, “That's horrible!”

She nods, “Yeah, it really was. Honestly, personally I sometimes think the worst part was that their parents are so negligent since they only had them out of obligation that they didn't even really know about it. They were vaguely aware of doctor visits and stuff, but the only thing we've ever been able to figure was that they assumed it was standard check up stuff, since they were legitimately confused as to what Hoshi and Sora were talking about when they caught them talking about it since the situation with you guys kinda brought it up.”

That part was true, Sora and Hoshi had purposely staged their parents walking in on them discussing it just in case anyone asked. She sighs at their horrified expressions, “Sora utterly refused to give up on his baby sister though, and it's gonna sound corny but I'm dead serious when I say that's probably the only thing that saved her. When her emotions started coming back, the general conclusion of the professionals was that it was very likely only because she had Sora to essentially latch onto.”

There's more than a few misty eyes at it. It's touching, especially since it's technically true, the only things she's lying about are details like how it happened, not what actually happened in general. She sighs, “Anyway, after she'd recovered a good bit, at some point she decided that annoying Sora was the singular most delightful thing in the world. Because of what happened, while it was obviously annoying since that was the point, it was also kind of amazing for Sora. Since his sister who almost lost her emotions and didn't legitimately care about him was capable of feeling so gleeful, and about annoying him given she physically wasn't able to care about him for a while. The problem comes in here. In that it started as them enjoying being able to bicker like normal siblings, but it escalated over and over and over again, and now their sibling love language is… those casual death threats and all that.”

Miho pipes up at this point, “In fairness it was just because we were there for it all, but that was why none of us four actually realized it was legitimately giving people the impression they hated each other. When actually, you would be putting Sora in a hard position if you asked him to choose between us,” Miho gestures between herself and her, “and Hoshi. Because he's absolutely an adoring overprotective elder brother, and Hoshi loves him and is just as protective of him right back.”

She nods, then laughs, “If anything, you know that phrase ‘kill for each other, die for each other’ that people sometimes use when it comes to loyalty? It's not quite accurate for Sora and Hoshi, but only because with them it’s, to directly quote something Hoshi once said, ‘Die for Sora? You think I'd do that to my brother? Are you crazy?’ so it's very much not due to a lack of loyalty.”

There's a few beats of silence as they all process that before Leo snorts, “That changes a lot of the interactions I've seen.”

That gets more than a few murmurs of agreement before Miho smiles, “We just wanted to clear up the unintentional misunderstanding. Normally Sora and Hoshi wouldn't care, if anything, they'd prefer the misunderstanding over having to explain the situation to strangers, but with you guys being our friends… And that's also why Toshiko asked you to keep it to everyone here right now, because it's not like, some clan secret or anything,” She gestures towards Erika and Mikihiko to highlight the example, “but they don't like talking about it, and they generally hate the idea of people they don't personally know and trust knowing and talking about it.”

Mikihiko nods as he drops his gaze to his drink, “That's fair. I myself- the thought about people discussing my accident even if I don't technically know about it if they don't bring it up-” He pushes out a heavy breath, brows furrowed before he looks up with a tense smile, “I can absolutely understand on a personal level.”

There are serious nods all around the table, and she smiles. It was true they haven't known them super long, but the decision had been made to trust them with it anyway. Even with the fact that now that they're aware of it, Sora and Hoshi had every intention to keep the accidental trap they'd built in place.

She used to deal with Nobles, Sora and Hoshi used to be assassins, and Miho was a cop. They were fairly confident in their collective judge of character, and they all seem like good kids.

She's not even very surprised when Saegusa and Ichihara ask to speak with her before the official lunch break, pulling her out of class early to do so. Once they get to the Student Council room, she doesn't even give them a chance to speak, “This is about the fact that between Hattori being recruited by Juumonji as the next Head of the Club Management Group and Nakajou initially refusing to be the next Student Council President the idea of Yuki taking that spot was proposed, isn't it?”

Saegusa looks surprised, then laughs lightly, “I suppose it can be somewhat obvious in retrospect…” Then she shakes her head, “But yes, I wanted to consult you on that.”

She doesn't miss a beat, “It's a horrendous idea.”

Saegusa and Ichihara become incredibly surprised at that, though it's Saegusa who responds, “Ehh? How so?”

She shakes her head, “Because the Student Council President has a considerable amount of power in the school and my brother will abuse it.”

Ichihara's eyebrows are furrowed, “Surely is not that poor of an idea-”

She tosses her hand up and to the side in aggravation, “Let me put it into perspective for you then. If Yuki becomes Student Council President, I will remove myself from being enrolled in First High right then and there.”

Saegusa chokes and a heavy silence falls for a few beats, “That… Is it really that terrible of an idea that you'd go so far?”

She sighs in aggravation, “Listen. My brother is good at making himself seem well put together and all that, projecting a Kikōshi air, but my brother is mentally unstable and would abuse that power.”

Ichihara frowns, “Mentally unstable? Surely that's-”

She blows out a sharp breath, “That-” Then she scrubs a hand over her face, “Fine, there's really no way around it, even though it's usually a private matter.” She looks Saegusa dead in the eye, “My brother is in love with me and constantly has absolute meltdowns at me being in a relationship. Does that sound at all mentally stable to you? Or how about the fact that even with me, he doesn't actually care about what people want, just what he wants, like that stunt in trying to get me into the Student Council back when the school year began for instance. He knows full well I have zero desire for things like that, yet he went and did it anyway because the only thing his obsession makes more important to him than what I want is some weird desire to shove me into the limelight and ‘show people how great I am’ or whatever, which is ironic considering he also gets insanely jealous of other people when it comes to me. Does that sound in any way, shape, or form like someone who should be the Student Council President? Especially given how much power that position holds?”

Saegusa looks rather disturbed, and Ichihara isn't much better, her voice shaking, “That… Do- Do you have any sort of proof? I mean, not that I think you're a liar Shiba, but accusations like that-”

She barks a laughs as she pulls her mobile terminal out and shakes it back and forth in front of them, “We have a private security system at home and I make sure at least some of the videos of his behavior when we aren't in the public eye is saved separately for ease of access if you want proof.”

Saegusa's mouth thins, “I know it's an awkward and private topic, but Rin isn't wrong that we can't just take your word for it, so if you would…”

She doesn't hesitate to connect to the TV, pulling up video of them having one of many more recent discussions regarding how he feels about her and her firmly telling him she'll never reciprocate, so he needs to back off if he outright refuses to move on. It even has him repeating what he's said before about how he'll marry and have children through artificial insemination if he has to, but he'd prefer to die with his love for her then let it go.

That in and of itself ramps up Saegusa and Ichihara's disturbed feelings if their faces are any indication, but she mercilessly continues to cram just how bad an idea it is down their throats with a clip of them arguing later about how he'd tried to force her onto the Student Council even though he was fully aware she didn't like attention which it would inevitably bring and his insistence that she's too great to hide in obscurity.

After that, it's clip after clip of various tantrums and meltdowns over her relationship, including one from their first day of his meltdown after there was discussion of the fact her and Sora's wedding was basically already entirely planned out. It does bring up their closed polygamy with Miho, but they've never made any effort to hide that, so she doesn't even know if they were unaware to begin with.

About eight meltdown clips later, Saegusa holds up a shaky hand, “That- That's enough. You've made your point.”

She disconnects from the TV and shoves her mobile terminal back in her pocket, “For the record, while I'll be the first to admit that him having such power impacts me the most, since he would absolutely abuse it to try to force me away from Sora and Miho and to be around him more frequently, he would not respect anyone else's choices once he decided what he wanted as well. So I ask again, do you really want him as Student Council President?”

Saegusa rubs at her temples, “No. Not in a million years. If anything, if I'd known any of this, I wouldn't have invited him to the Student Council to begin with.”

She shrugs, “What, do you expect me to warn people upfront about his issues in the first meeting? To tattoo ‘mentally unstable’ on his forehead?”

Saegusa shakes her head, “No, of course not. I wasn't saying it was your fault at all, just-”

She cuts off and pushes out a hard breath, and Ichihara purses her lips, “That still leaves the problem of who will be the next Student Council President.”

She shrugs again, “I'd say to just explain the situation to Nakajou and point out that if it goes to an actual vote that with the way he's all too good and putting on a public face, it's far too likely that he'll win by popular vote.”

They both blanch, seeming not to have thought about that yet, then share almost panicked looks. Saegusa's voice is shaking and weak, “Th-that- A-chan would do it just to keep the position from Yuki, wouldn't she?”

Ichihara purses her lips, “Azusa has more than a couple confidence issues, but I can't see her standing by and allowing such a disaster to happen, no.”

As the period officially ends and lunchtime starts, she hums, “Sounds to me like you have a game plan, so unless there's something else?”

Saegusa gives her a somewhat strained smile, “No, that's everything. Thank you for your rather valuable… information. It's rather critical, I feel.”

She nods and the goodbyes are quickly exchanged before she heads out to catch up with her soulmates and their usual group for lunch.

A snippet of the conversations picking up now that school was officially over reaches her, and she frowns, “Why, exactly, is the fact Sora, Mikihiko, and Leo won the Newcomers Monolith Code reflecting on me?”

Sora laughs from next to her as they start out of the classroom, “Because while people do praise me somewhat for executing your plan, the very fact you'd planned it well enough that you were able to make that quip about how it would ‘end in a snap’ means people tend to give you more of the credit.”

She starts to protest, but before she can get very far, she's surprised by Watanabe's voice laughing behind her. She turns to her quickly and swiftly slips past the kids to be at the back of the group in front of her, “Watanabe-senpai? Is there something urgent?”

Watanabe shakes her head though, “No, not urgent exactly, just that Mayumi informed me of a decision she made regarding the upcoming Student Council President election at lunch, and I feel like we should make some adjustments to the Disciplinary Committee's security plans in light of it. It was last minute enough that I was concerned an email about the meeting may be missed, so I left class early after finishing my work and was going around to tell everyone in person before they dispersed after the final period.” She nods in understanding, and Watanabe smiles, “But I couldn't help but hear your conversation, and I'd just like to say that if anything, I think you take too little credit. Yes, absolutely most of it goes to the Monolith Code team, but in light of what you revealed after the match was over…” She shrugs, “You had more of a hand in it then you like to claim.”

Leo gives her a surprised look, “Ehh? What's that supposed to mean? Things seemed to go pretty off track and come down to the wire at the end there.”

Watanabe smiles, “Ah, are you aware that there are cameras on posts in each of the high schools hq tents?” Leo shakes his head, and she tugs her mobile terminal out, “There are. For a multitude of reasons but that's not really important right now. It's relevant because after the Nine Schools Competition, the committee for it will forward all the footage of that and the events they participated in to each of the respective Highschools so if they want or need it for anything, they have it on hand. As long as you have authorization of some sort, all of the footage is easy to access.”

She doesn't even get a chance to protest before Watanabe is flipping her mobile terminal around, currently paused on a video showing the image of the ‘Winner First High’ screen after the Monolith Code finale and hitting play. Letting them see for themselves Saegusa questioning her lack of surprise, the mention of the email timestamped to the day after the replacement team had been put together with the link, the password to access to where the link leads, of what it says after it's put in. She doesn't even stop it there, letting them see her toss out that line about never being concerned about it before she leaves.

It's only at that point that she stops it as she turns her mobile terminal back around. Leo is staring at her in surprise, and after a beat of following Watanabe's mobile terminal as she slips it away, Mikihiko whips towards her with wide eyes, “You-... You knew I'd beat Cardinal George?”

She shrugs uncomfortably, “I've been telling you since you took down those intruders that you're more competent than you give yourself credit for. Why do you think even Master has such a good opinion of your abilities?”

Mikihiko is still rather stunned if how numb his voice sounds is any indication, “Yeah… but… I…”

She sighs and throws Sora and Miho a glance over her shoulder, and they nod to indicate they've got him. Then she takes a step towards Watanabe as she scans her usual group, or at least the part that's in the same class as her, “We can talk about it later, but I should get going.”

Sora, Miho, and Hoshi respond pretty normally, but the rest of them are absent and stunned.

She has to give it to Saegusa for managing to get the votes as her last act as Student Council President to achieve removing the rule that course two students can't join the Student Council, and apparently the reality of the situation was enough to convince Nakajou to take the Student Council Presidency, since they never spoke to the issue about her again and she was there giving a speech about her candidacy before the vote.

Well, realistically, it was less of a vote and more just a matter of approval, since there would be problems with the Student Council President if they were so disliked that practically no one voted for them and there were mostly write-ins.

Speaking of which, she'd been brought to the Student Council room by Watanabe the next day, apparently at Nakajou's request.

Once the count of the paper ballots -which she's been told was used entirely so the vote couldn't be digitally manipulated- is officially announced, congratulations start being offered to Nakajou as she stares down the somewhat shaken Saegusa. When she notices, she visibly swallows and gives her a somewhat jerky nod, acknowledging just how right she was about the vote.

Because of the way the rules at the school work, because there was a candidate, the write-ins were considered invalid unlike they'd be in an official government election. But by the actual count irregardless of validity? 

Out of the five hundred and fifty-four votes, Shiba Yuki got two hundred and twenty and Nakajou Azusa only got one hundred and seventy-three. If there hadn't been a candidate, even if Nakajou had still gotten the votes she did, Yuki would have won.

As for the remaining one hundred and sixty-one votes? Some weird rumor had started back when people were still waiting to find out the candidates that she was in the running. How it got so popular when before the day of the vote when Saegusa convinced the students to accept her proposed amendment to the Student Council rules as her final act as Student Council President, it was still against the rules, she had no idea. But it had, and there had been more approval to the idea then she was comfortable with due to the minor infamy she's gained from her placement on the Disciplinary Committee as well as how quickly she'd acted during the Battle Board incident, the sheer skill as a technician she'd shown that had helped a good bit in every one of the competitors she was in charge of win their events, and the team she'd put together and guide to victory, even against the ‘Crimson Prince’ and ‘Cardinal George’ duo in the Third High team.

You'd think that last one would have the votes go to Sora or Mikihiko as the ones who took those two out, but apparently their group had been overheard discussing the video proving she'd predicted the outcome with such accuracy, maybe not down to the blow by blow, but the general beats of the match. That in turn, had only seemed to fuel her growing fame within the school even more, much to her chagrin.

Now though, she was in a meeting with Nakajou and Watanabe, who hadn't yet passed off the Disciplinary Committee Chief position to whoever would be her successor. Namely, they'd called her in because they wanted to talk to her about Yuki and his Student Council placement. They'd both prefer if he wasn't on the new Council to begin with, but they were concerned about it both looking suspicious, potentially creating an uproar, as well as potentially setting Yuki off and how to handle it in either case. Be it any advice from her on continuing to handle Yuki's presence on the Student Council, or how to handle not inviting him to avoid an incident, and also consulting her on her opinion for the other issues if Yuki isn't invited back since she's there anyway.

She hums after hearing the gist of things from them, “Technically speaking, you could probably avoid Yuki throwing a fit if you framed it as you just filling him in as Nakajou-senpai had already made the decision out of consideration of the things I'm sure he's been saying indicating to her that he regrets accepting it and how it cuts down on the amount of time he potentially has with me.”

Watanabe tilts her head, “But?”

She rests her forearms on the table and leans forward, “But you'll have to be careful about the wording. Yuki doesn't care about things like being on the Student Council in general, but he does care about having as many achievements as he can to show off to me. I'd recommend that you don't make it obvious that it's because of me nor any problem you see with him. If you mask it like your calling the previous members of the Student Council to make it clear who you're asking to be on the new Council, toss out a line about the fact the rest are graduating this year, then something like ‘it's a good thing it'll boost Yuki's resume that he was already actively on the Student Council, as I'm sorry Shiba but I've decided not to invite you back, as I personally got the impression from the number of comments about losing lunch with your sister that you regret accepting and were just too polite to resign’ or something similar in your own words. Then knowing Yuki, he'll interpret it as a best of both worlds situation of him already having acquired the achievement to show off to me, but now no longer having to dedicate time like his lunch to something other than me.”

Nakajou frowns up at her, “Um. And you're okay with that? Since the president- I mean, Mayumi, told me about the situation, and… I mean, won't that free him up to harass you more?”

She smiles at Nakajou, “I appreciate the concern Nakajou-senpai, but I've been dealing with my brother as well as my brother's temper tantrums and his meltdowns for years.” She sighs, “Dealing with the general student body is even easier. I don't know how good you are at subtly nudging conversations, but I'm sure Saegusa-senpai and Watanabe-senpai are capable of it, so just have one of them help you. Either get someone to ask if Yuki will still be on the Council or have one of them make a semi-public surprised comment on him not being on it if you can make it believable that your talking openly about things that are normally behind closed doors between when you decide and talk to Yuki, and when it's officially announced and laughing it off for the same reason I told you to give Yuki.”

“That he hates the way it pulls him away from me, but he was too polite to resign from Saegusa-senpai's Student Council so you chose not to invite him back and he was actually happy about it because you weren't wrong. You'll really only have one of two reactions, people who just accept it, and people who shift their ire about it to me as the reason, which I really couldn't care less about. Honestly, the biggest problem will be Yuki inevitably trying to follow me around on my after school Disciplinary Committee patrols given he won't have the Student Council eating up that time.”

Watanabe crosses her arms as she gazes at the table thoughtfully before looking over at Nakajou, “She's… not wrong as far as I can see. Better yet, if you staged a semi-public discussion, the fact you hadn't invited back the last of Mayumi's Student Council that isn't graduating this year as well as the fact you did so explicitly to free up his time to see his sister more, which wordlessly makes it clear you haven't invited her to the Student Council either, would even counter those rumors that Mayumi would be something of a shadow Student Council President and you just her puppet.”

Nakajou tilts her head, “You think?”

Watanabe nods firmly, “Yes. Which is also why it'd be better if Mayumi is the one you staged that conversation with, so she can show how not upset she is.”

Nakajou nods slowly, “Okay…” Then she clenches her hands, “Okay! Then that's what we'll do!” She turns to her with a smile, “Thank you so much Shiba!” Then she looks down, “Though, I'm a bit sad that it'll circumvent the excuse and to hear that you have no interest in being on the Student Council anyway. As while Mayumi recommended I let the accusation simmer down so they wouldn't think it was her doing, I was actually thinking about inviting you to the Student Council later. Since while I have to fill all the normal positions quickly, Mayumi isn't wrong about the fact how many students and what positions they have isn't set in stone and is entirely up to the Student Council President.”

She smiles, “Happy to help Nakajou-senpai, but no, it wouldn't work with the excuse and I'm sorry, but I'm truly not interested.” She pauses a split second before making another decision, “And if I may Nakajou-senpai? I would recommend you make the issues with Yuki a secret that the whole Student Council knows, so that it gets passed along and none of the Student Council Presidents that hold the position while my brother is attending try to invite him back. Given the excuse you're using, I doubt he'd agree, but…”

Nakajou nods seriously and Watanabe sighs, “That sorts… multiple problems actually, but it does present another in Yuki trying to follow you around. Unfortunately, it's not technically against the rules for Disciplinary Committee officers to patrol with others accompanying them, but I can already imagine the potential headaches he'll cause even if he's no longer allowed to carry his CAD with the authority as a member of the Student Council. And that's before mentioning the fact that while it is important to get someone so unstable off the Student Council, as the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee, I can't really rightly condone harassment.”

She hums, “Like I told Nakajou-senpai, I've been dealing with Yuki for years. I mean, given he's been getting worse lately, there's a good chance my partners and Hoshi will start following me around on patrols to do what they've been doing lately of each of them occupying one of my sides and Hoshi walking directly behind me to prevent Yuki getting pushy about my physical space, but…”

Watanabe nods, “As I said, it's not against Disciplinary Committee rules for an officer to be accompanied on patrol as long as it doesn't interfere with their job, so if that's what you have to do, that's fine.”

She hums, mind drifting to bringing it up with them privately. If they start accompanying her soon, then since he rightly shouldn't know anything about her helping Nakajou plan how to quietly push him off the Student Council, then at best he should just deem them starting to accompany her right before that time frees up for him as cursed timing.

She gazes at the official announcement for the new Student Council members. Given they'd followed her advice and staged a discussion between Nakajou and Saegusa, no one was really surprised by the fact Yuki wasn't listed, but it had increased the number of dirty looks she was getting. Not that she cared, but it sure irritated Yuki. She wonders idly, if Yuki even realizes that the harsh looks he gives people he catches looking at her like that is lowering their opinion of him in general.

That doesn't really matter one way or another either. The new Student Council didn't have any problematic people that she could tell. She knew Nakajou obviously; She'd met Isori as a fellow technician in the Nine Schools Competition and while she hadn't gotten to know him particularly well he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders and would likely make a good Treasurer; Honoka was a somewhat surprising pick for the new Secretary but she doesn't foresee any issues with her either; And Shizuku was absolutely a solid pick for a replacement to the Vice-President position in her opinion.

If anything, she found it vaguely amusing that half of the new Student Council was in her friend group, and the others she was at least personally friendly with, even if they weren't outright friends.

She shakes her head to dislodge her wandering thoughts as she looks away from the official announcement, looking over at Shizuku and Honoka with a smile, “Congratulations you two.”

They both nod, but Honoka, always the more expressive one, is flicking a look below furrowed brows between her and Yuki. Presumably, Nakajou had taken her up on both her advice and essentially okay to reveal the situation between herself and Yuki to the Student Council. She hadn't really thought about the possibility of anyone she had a personal connection to being invited to the Student Council, certainly not two of their friend group, but she still can't bring herself to regret it, given it was too important not to potentially allow Yuki to gain the sort of power the Student Council President had.

She ignores Honoka's flickering gaze and Shizuku's knowing look as she smiles and glances at the group, “Do you guys wanna celebrate at Café Einebrise after school and your Student Council duties and everyone else's clubs are done?”

Honoka gives her a determined smile, apparently deciding to just push through and ignore it, “Yes! That sounds great!”

The rest of the group let out their own cacophony of agreements, so that settles that.

Chapter Text

She gazes at Ichihara, trying hard to hide her amusement. Between the Flying Magic she'd released years ago and the follow up of a magic fusion reactor that had come out within a year of Kazama securing permission for her to study a Magatama relic, which in and of itself had taken all of a month to happen, the only one of the 'Three Great Puzzles of Weight Systematic Magic' that were theoretically achievable with weight magic but hadn't yet been figured out before her release of Flying Magic was perpetual motion.

There were theoretical benefits to it certainly, but she'd been more focused on aspects of her overall plan and had never bothered to look into it. That being said, Ichihara had invited her to participate in the Thesis Competition, of which First High's was set to be on that very thing. Humorously though, Ichihara had made more than one comment about wanting to make some sort of contribution to something as large as that before Tōkōkuro Mihana went and solved it as well. Ichihara in no way expects to fully realize it before someone else gets there or anything, but she has a burning desire to at least make her mark. She's fully aware Ichihara has no possible way of knowing she says that, yet invited Mihana herself to take part in the Thesis regarding it, but it was still ironic. That, and it's made her wonder about making some sort of excuse to back out of the Thesis Competition. Ichihara was a good kid, and she really didn't want to potentially hurt her feelings if it ever comes out who the Mihana of Tōkōkuro Mihana is.

She genuinely can't think of anything that would simultaneously be major enough to have her resign, yet not so much that she'd need to take a leave from school in general or would be suspicious if she didn't have visible proof, like a broken leg to point to if it was a physical competition for example. She's taken to just taking as much of a backseat as she can get away with as a compromise and not add anything of note as much as she can get away with. Mostly just serving as Ichihara's assistant without arousing suspicion as to why she's bringing no theoretical knowledge to the table in other words. Thankfully, given that she'd mostly been drawn into the Thesis Competition team to fine tune the spell they were coming up with as a sort of proof of concept rather than anything more, she manages to minimize her influence on the project.

If her identity does ever come out, she hopes that in retrospect, that's enough for Ichihara and she'll understand why she did it.

Especially since even asking other people who knew about Tōkōkuro Mihana hadn't gotten her any other ideas. Didn't matter if it was Maya, her emotionally adopted Yotsuba kids, or even her soulmates and sister in law. No one had really had ideas for a potential alternative.

She promises herself as well as Ichihara in her mind, that if her identity is ever revealed, that she'll get back in touch with Ichihara and explain the whole situation as well as ask for forgiveness for continuing to take part in things, despite how Ichihara felt about wanting to contribute to it before Mihana.

The Disciplinary Committee Chiefship had been passed along already, and she'd very nearly resigned within days of Chiyoda Kanon -who'd been brought on previously to replace a third year that resigned- becoming the new Chief. It was entirely due to the fact the headstrong girl thought it was acceptable to make decisions for her. And she doesn't mean the sort of trying out some new policies for the Disciplinary Committee or anything, she hadn't really done anything like that, and even if she did, as the Chief it would be within her rights. Didn't mean it wouldn't also be within her rights to resign because she disagreed with them, but technically unless she did, Chiyoda would have the authority to tell her what to do if it was in some way connected to the Disciplinary Committee, or even was more the Disciplinary Committee Chief using their authority over a student of First High in general.

It hadn't been anything like that though, it had been entirely personal. Namely, apparently her relationship with her fiancé, Isori funnily enough, was based on love and she was highly loyal to him, both of which is all well and good of course, but it skewed her perception of things like polygamy. Specifically, she seems to be utterly incapable of wrapping her head around the idea that it was very much a three way thing, and no one was cheating on anyone, which was how she viewed it.(1)

It had caused more than a bit of tension between them, particularly with Chiyoda making comments on her relationship. It had eventually hit a boiling point and Chiyoda had snapped something about her choosing instead of stringing them both along. She'd told her right then and there she was going to resign if she didn't mind her own business since it had nothing to do with the Disciplinary Committee specifically nor the things they covered for First High.

It hadn't even been Chiyoda's doing that had prevented it honestly, as while she'd looked a bit torn, she hadn't necessarily tried to stop her. She hadn't done anything else to push her to resigning either that day though, and apparently Chiyoda had complained about the situation to Isori, because the only reason she'd remained on the Disciplinary Committee was because he'd gotten through to Chiyoda and got her to apologize and promise to drop it the next day.

She'd accepted the apology, but she'd warned them that she would resign immediately if Chiyoda made any more disrespectful comments about her partners or relationship, which the somewhat glum girl had accepted with a wordless nod.

She suppresses the urge to glance back and to her left. To some degree, she actually regretted not resigning, not because of Chiyoda, not anymore, but because much as she'd predicted, Yuki has taken to following her around. She can't really regret making Saegusa and all them aware of the problem in a desperate attempt to keep the absolute disaster that was Yuki with a position of power from happening, particularly power over her in any form, but there are certainly personal drawbacks to helping the Student Council outright quietly kick Yuki off.

Currently, the drawback is being more irritating than usual, given he's all but fuming silently, given she'd been discussing plans for a date with Sora and Miho when Yuki found her, and they hadn't dropped the topic just because he showed up.

She bites back a sigh and the urge to pull her spray bottle out of her Calanthe magic space expanded pocket, since he wasn't technically doing anything except scowling. It's sort of his own fault that the urge to do it is rising so quickly, rather than her fuse being longer, given he's the one who pushed her so hard.

Honoka glances back at her, “Are you done getting ready for the Thesis Competition?”

She smiles, “We've finished the broad strokes, it's more down to details, the model for the presentation and more minute adjustments for instance. Which may sound like a lot, but compared to actually getting the spell worked out and the Thesis itself written up and all that…”

Erika blows out a breath, “Sounds like a lot of work… Come to think of it, are you helping out with the models, Mizuki?”

Mizuki's voice is as soft as it usually is, “Uh, yes, I'm helping out a second year. Even though I'm not really doing anything…”

She hums, “Don't sell yourself short Mizuki. If you're still helping and they haven't shut you out or anything, you're undoubtedly being helpful in a noticeable way.”

Honoka makes an agreeing noise but doesn't verbally add anything to that particular part, “Still though, it's a little surprising that the bulk of things like that seem to be getting handled by second years given Ichihara-senpai is a third year, and she's the lead on it, isn't she?”

She shakes her head, “She is, but it's actually not that surprising that it'd be mostly second years handling that, given Isori-senpai has been entrusted with handling that part and he's a second year.”

Leo nods then cheerfully looks back at her, “Then what are you doing Toshiko?”

She shrugs, “Mostly just fine-tuning on the spells being used for the proof of concept demonstration.”

Shizuku makes a bit of a confused noise, “...Isn't it usually the other way around?”

She glances at her in confusion, “Ah? What, do you mean because of you and Leo's CADs in the Nine Schools Competition or something? It's about the only place I can think of where you'd get that impression to be honest.”

Shizuku nods, “Mm. It's strange that you had two custom made CADs.”

She laughs, “Yeah, but I didn't really have a whole lot to do with the physical making of them. I designed what Leo used, but…” Then she shakes herself, “On top of that, when it comes to physical production, I'm pretty sure Isori-senpai is more advanced than me.”

With her Elemental Sight, she can see Erika wryly smiling from behind her, "Well, Kei-senpai does fit the 'alchemist' impression more than a 'magister'. I guess this is the right tool for the job."

Shizuku tilts her head idly, "Alchemist? RPG?”

Mizuki gains a thoughtful look, "Using that as an analogy, what class would Toshiko be?"

Erika doesn't hesitate, voice full of confidence, “A sage obviously! She just… knows things.”

Leo makes a noise of agreement, “With the way she handles Disciplinary Committee things, she's good in a fight as well though. So some sort of martial sage.”

Hoshi leans into the conversation, expression mischievous, “You guys underestimate Toshiko. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up one day to find out she got fed up with the world's nonsense and conquered it just to resolve her frustrations with things…”

She glances over her shoulder, expression offended, even as Sora and Miho laugh, “I would not!”

Sora snorts, “Under the right circumstances you so would.” She opens her mouth, and he raises an eyebrow, “Or are you telling me that if enough of the non-magicians started going all DE supremacists you wouldn't act?"

She gives him a dirty look, “That is so not fair. Under those kinds of circumstances-”

Miho hums as she looks up thoughtfully, “Yeah, but the misunderstood villain is also an archetype so…”

Mikihiko tilts his head, “So, just painted as the bad guy Demon Queen then?”

Honoka seems confused, “Why not the hero?”

Sora doesn't miss a beat, “Because heroes don't usually conquer the world.” Then he pauses ever so briefly before adding, “That, and we haven't been kidding about how she stacks up to me, and I took down Ichijou. You guys don't even know the start of it, but she's seriously got some final boss energy.”

Miho huffs, “Not to mention, you guys are used to the calmer side of Toshiko. You've never seen her ‘You're wrong. Fight me’ side, or even really any of the fight me she’s sort of full of.”

Erika leans forward, eyes shining, “Also! The way she predicted the finals of the Monolith Code! It totally gives off as ‘one pulling the strings’ vibes! So totally misunderstood Demon Queen!”

Yuki seems to be unable to help himself, voice containing an almost unnoticeable tense anger, "Strength alone is the true justice."

Erika laughs, "Oh snap, as expected of the Demon Queen's brother!"

She all but refuses to turn to look at him physically, but with her Elemental Sight, she sees it anyway when he looks off to the side sharply in annoyance.

Most of the group starts a rather lively discussion on the placement of the rest of them, but she notices Erika, on the other side of Leo of the group with Mikihiko and Mizuki in front of her, frown slightly downwards. Speaking lower so as not to derail the cheerful conversation, she leans towards her a bit, “Erika? Something the matter?”

She jolts slightly glancing back at her, “Mm?” Then she looks away, keeping her voice low as well, “Just thinking about the sage comment I made earlier, about how you know things? I was referencing the way you just kind of… picked up on the brainwashing for Saya and some of the others, like it was nothing. That led to Blanche, and recently there was that whole mess with No-Head Dragon…” She turns her face back to the front, but looks down thoughtfully, “Things just keep happening. I mean, it's just over six months and there's already been two different incidents of terrorists targeting First High…”

Her brows furrow, “Erika…”

The other girl looks over her shoulder at her, eyes sharp, “I feel like if we don't prepare, it'll catch up to us eventually.”

She presses her lips together. If she had her way, none of these kids would ever have to have concerns like that. But this world is even less fair than her previous one, demanding its children to grow up and fight far too quickly.

To that end, she reluctantly makes an agreeing hum, watching Erika in concern as she turns her gaze forward again, catching and lingering on Leo, cheerfully chatting with Mikihiko by his side at the moment. Her brows furrow. It wasn't a look of a girl with hidden feelings, and she can only begin to guess what's running through her head.

She sighs quietly. It really wasn't fair, what this world asked of its kids just because they happen to be born capable of magic.

She's drinking tea with her master and Mikihiko after another training session when he suddenly glances over at her, “You're friends with that Chiba girl right?”

She looks over, gaze sharpening. Yakumo often seems like he's talking about random things to an outsider's perspective, which really makes no sense and at best comes off as an odd coincidence later, but she knows better, “I am.”

He gives her a mysterious smile, tone conversational, “I feel bad for her brother, being so run into the ground with so many incidents of boats smuggling people in Yokohama.”

Her eyes narrow ever so slightly, “I've heard about that. Strange coincidence that it's happening in Yokohama in the same month as the Thesis Competition is set to be held there.”

Yakumo's smile widens ever so slightly, “Ahh. That it is.” Then he hums, “Right… let me give you some advice while we're on the topic. When you're facing the enemy, be careful not to lose your bearing. Do pass that along would you?”

Mikihiko's brows furrow, “Bearing, huh…”

Yakumo hums in agreement, then tilts his head at Mikihiko with a gentler smile as he climbs to his feet, “You two should be heading out before you run the risk of being late. But…” His gaze drifts to her, “You have more in your corner than you realize Mikihiko. Don't forget that and let things shake you.”

Mikihiko lowers his head in a small bow, but nothing else is said before Yakumo accepts the tray and cups she'd collected before she climbed to her feet and heads inside.

Mikihiko glances back then up at her, face a bit confused, “Um. What was that about? I mean, I already know you're in my corner, we're friends after all.”

She hums, mind drifting. If it was anyone else, she'd probably deem it meddling and be annoyed, but Yakumo didn't tend to do things like that for no reason, so… Finally, she glances over at him briefly, before looking forward as they head down the steps, voice casual, “That? He was probably referencing the fact that my extended family is actually kind of shit at raising kids and toxic, which is relevant because it resulted in me emotionally adopting two of my cousins five and six years older than me and two more of my cousins a year younger than me as my own kids.” Mikihiko's brows furrow and she looks up at the sky thoughtfully, “I suppose it left me with a tendency for emotionally adopting kids, regardless of how our ages relate to one another, given that same night you told me your family saw you as a failure and your father basically forced you to attend the Nine Schools Competition to shame you, without a conscious decision, paperwork reading ‘emotional adoption’ popped into my head and my name was signed.”

Mikihiko chokes as his cheeks turn red, “You-! I-!” He looks down with wide eyes, gaze flicking rapidly for a few moments before his cheeks redden further as his hands come up to cup his nose and mouth, “Oh my god. Your treatment of me shifted after that. You started treating me like your son.” He looks over at her, “I-! We're the same age-!”

She snorts, before casually replying, “He says, like I didn't just tell him I emotionally adopted cousins five and six years older than me.”

He whines in embarrassment, “You've been giving me motherly advice. I mean, not super obviously, but-!”

She turns, “That's because I didn't want you to realize at first since I was concerned you'd find it overwhelming. Speaking of though!” He looks at her, gaze reminiscent of a deer in headlights, “Mizuki's not the kind of girl to confess, and given you two are absolutely obvious to literally everyone, you really should muster up the courage to ask her out.” He starts to open his mouth, probably on a habitually rebuttal of how he feels, and she shakes her head, “You can deny it if you want, but I'm not kidding that everyone sees it, and regardless of if you're ready to admit it to others, you really should admit it to yourself and preferably Mizuki at the least. You'll regret the time you lost that you could've been together dancing around one another in embarrassment later.”

He looks down, his brow furrowing. Apparently not wanting to talk about that anymore right now, which is fine, she said what she needed to and he heard it, he glances up at her before his cheeks flush again as he looks away, “Seriously though, it's probably better if you drop this whole… emotional adoption thing. Ancient Magician families tend to be highly possessive and territorial, even of their so-called failures,” She feels the flicker of pleasure that still hasn't faded at the fact Mikihiko's language has shifted from referring to himself as a ‘failure’ to a ‘so-called failure’, even if it was probably unknowingly, “even if it's just to protect their secrets. It's better for you if you just abandon the notion before they potentially catch on.”

She stops and turns to meet his gaze fully, “Emotionally adopted or not, do I seem like the sort of woman who abandons my kids? For the record, if you wanna talk about territorial, I've had multiple people in the past compare me to a dragon. The Yoshida can fucking fight me if they want to even try to take you back. You're my kid now, whether they like it or not.”

Mikihiko's eyes widen, a raw vulnerability in them. She wonders, heart bitter, angry, hurting, if anyone has ever been willing to fight for Mikihiko. And she doesn't mean for the former prodigy of the Yoshida. For Mikihiko.

She snorts as she reaches up to playfully shove his head down and forward slightly, “You aren't getting rid of me that easily, and the Yoshida can suck it up.”

Mikihiko tilts his head slightly back up and to the side, peering up at her out of the corner of his eye. It makes her heart ache that words as simple as that have him looking at her like she's a Merlin damned miracle.

Forget the Yoshida having a problem with her, she's starting to have to shove down on the bubbling urge to pick a fight with them.

There's a heavy silence over the room for a few minutes after she tells them about what Yakumo said before Sora turns to his sister, “So, do you try to get an in with some… less scrupulous people to try to get some intel on the vague rumblings Yakumo was warning Toshiko about, or do I? Though, with only eight days left, the chances we find anything…”

Hoshi snorts, “Oh please Sora. After your showing at the Nine Schools Competition? It's better if I handle that stuff. Besides, much like those idiots that worked for the Saegusa Head, it'd probably be rather easy to convince people I'm bitter and angry at being overshadowed by you. You can play the public threat, I'll poke around in the shadows.”

Sora nods, “Fair enough.”

She hums, “When I contacted Kazama to ask if he knew anything more, all they had was that the sudden spike of illegal aliens seem to all be Chinese.”

Hoshi hums, “So, given the continued tensions since the GAU attack a few years ago to those ethnicities, Chinatown then?”

She nods, “Yokohama's is the best bet, yes. It would affect the ability to go with the story that Hoshi is bitter and angry, but if you use some magic from our last life for a glamor to look like Bai, you'll blend in.” Hoshi nods and she sighs, “It should be fine since it's an entirely different type of magic than this world's, but what I wouldn't give for some Polyjuice to make your disguise harder to potentially spot. Or hell, even just the ingredients for it to brew it myself. It's not like I don't have some sort of potential way to key it to your appearance as Bai, given the fact potion scan records we kept updating for all of us after that mess with Hei were stored in the Trunk to secure them more just in case anyone tried to sabotage them for one reason or another.”

Hoshi hums, “No point lamenting what we don't have.”

Miho nods, “That's true, but it's a shame alternatives like spells or runes to the physical change of the potion were never found.”

She snorts, “Well, technically there was always theoretically transfiguration, but those were always too complicated and required maintaining too many spells at the same time. The reason Polyjuice was the only form of something like that was because it was the only thing that was really viable since it was all wrapped up in one potion rather than trying to hold dozens of spells at once or have something that required so many runes it would easily be larger than the person it was supposed to change.”

Miho gains an understanding look, “Ohhh. So was it that all those various changes were somehow crammed into one potion, or did the potion make it so that instead of basically dozens of spells each handling various details it was one that handled all of them on its own?”

She tilts her head, “I'm not entirely sure to be honest. You know full well potions we're never a strong point for me nor a passion, but to my knowledge it was never researched. No one ever looked-”

She cuts off, her mind latching into that word. Looked. Looked. No one ever looked into it. They didn't peer into the inner workings of the magic of the potion.

She has Elemental Sight.

She can quite literally peer into it. She shoots to her feet as she summons the Trunk to herself, all bit ripping it open to hurry down the short staircase that's appeared, vaguely hearing Miho's exasperation behind her, “What's got her attention now?”

Then Sora's voice, equally as displeased, “Hell if I know.”

She snatches up the bottle the Trunk had produced, examining it with her Elemental Sight, almost the entirety of her focus on it. In and of itself, it's not as revealing as she was hoping so she swiftly grabs the small bottle of blood the Trunk has reproduced as well and pours some of it in.

Miho sounds confused, “Is that a Polyjuice? What are you doing with it, we already know it's effect will fade when whoever drinks it leaves-”

She quickly turns and shoves it at Hoshi, “Not the point. Drink it.”

Hoshi blinks rapidly, but does as asked, or told in all honesty, and it's only a matter of moments before Bai is standing before her. That wasn't the point though. The point was to watch the transformation happen with her Elemental Sight.

She slips her eyes closed to concentrate on the memory of it with her Occlumency, examining it over and over to pluck every last detail out. The magic of that life was still more akin to blueprint drawings rather than computer programming, but it wasn't like an outline of a blueprint. It was down to every exact detail, not just the lengths of each and every piece of wood, but even down to every single one of the nails. Metaphorically anyway.

It's somewhat jarring to hear Bai's voice again but with Toshiko’s ears, “So what was the point of that?”

She waves her hand impatiently near her head, not opening her eyes since she's still focused on the memory of Bai's transformation, “Observation.”

She's got a solid idea of it now though, so she opens her eyes and turns back to the table quickly to snatch up the Polyjuice and blood the Trunk had reproduced, quickly putting them together and turning to Sora. The proverbial blueprint absolutely would've been keyed to transforming into Bai specifically so she needs to see other Polyjuice transformations to get information on it in general, to know which parts of the blueprint are the framework for the potion and its power itself and which are the finishing touches that keys it to turning the drinker to Bai specifically.

Her husband looks bemused, but takes the small vial without protest to drink it and she watches his transformation just as intently. This time though, even as she examines the differences between the two to pinpoint which parts of the blueprint are dedicated to the person the drinker will become to know which are just the potion itself, she turns back to the table for the third time to grab up Polyjuice and Misaki's blood.

When she turns back, her wife already has her hand out waiting for it, accepting it and tossing it back without a word and just a grimace at the taste. One more examination to tease out any differences from the two being siblings and she turns back to the table one last time for her own Polyjuice and blood to mix and toss back to study her own transformation for one last data point.

Once she has it all firmly in her mind, she reaches up to start grabbing volumes from the bookshelf that had replaced the table with nary a sound.

And ohhh she missed that voice, and hearing it again damn near breaks her concentration when Hei dryly comments, “She's absolutely off in her own world.”

Misaki's voice is equally as devastating to her concentration and she finds herself having to fight to keep her mind on the task at hand instead of falling into the runes with the same ease as Calanthe used to fall into her soulmates’ beds, “Oh definitely. How long do you think this rabbit hole will have her ensnared?”

Hei sighs, “No clue. How distracted do you think she is? Just wondering if I should be expecting to have to coerce her into distracted eating and drinking.”

Misaki muses, “Hard to say.”

Hei hums. There's a few beats of quiet, half blessed for the good it does her concentration, half cursed for losing the chance to hear Hei and Misaki's long missed voices again before Hei sighs forlornly, “This isn't fair dammit. I should not have my beautiful wives in front of me in their physical adult forms from our previous lives and not even be able to properly appreciate it because that thrice damned block only cares about physical age, not apparent age.”

Misaki's oh so beautiful laugh almost snaps the last straw of her concentration, even as she drops the books on the table the room had made and starts writing out runes, “Poor, poor Hei.”

Bai snorts before she dryly adds, “If you're gonna be talking about stuff like that, I think I'll head out and go grab something to snack on from the kitchen. This is not something I wanna hear about my brother, thanks.”

There aren't any audible responses, but she's vaguely aware through her Elemental Sight of them raising hands in silent farewell.

She low-key doesn't like it, purely because whatever they may have been holding back in the quips and teasing regarding the situation flies out the window with Bai gone.

As she crumples the paper and tosses it when she realizes that runic layout won't work, she quietly regrets the situation even as she's thankful the block keeps her from getting distracted in those ways yet laments the fact she can't even properly appreciate her soulmates being in their old bodies. She may have felt like she'd gone back to before her seventeenth birthday in her previous life, but she didn't even have that same yearning desire for those forms she'd spent over three hundred years of her previous life longing to see again.

Her emotions regarding it were all over the place, but she had things to do.

She bursts into the kitchen and dining room area of the Amano household, tired as all hell but utterly satisfied. Sora, Miho, and Hoshi look up at her in surprise before Sora comments, “Well, I suppose that answers the question of whether I'm gonna have to coax you into eating. Come sit down for breakfast.”

As she shuffles over to the table and sets a box down tiredly, the smell of Sora's cooking oh so tempting all on its own, Miho gives her a disgruntled look, “Did you get any sleep last night?”

She smiles thankfully up at Sora when he sets her plate in front of her before answering, “No.”

Sora frowns as he straightens after dropping a kiss on top of her head, “What were you even working on?”

She pushes the box over to Hoshi, “You have to want it to activate as firmly as Hei had to want his knives to avoid accidentally summoning them.”

Hoshi blinks in confusion, but shoves a bite in before setting her chopsticks down and opening the box while she chews. Inside was a beautiful pure silver bracelet, chosen as the material due to silver being the best conduit for the magic of her old life, which she puts on without hesitation. Mere moments after she closes the clasp, Bai is sitting at the table, face scrunched in confusion as to what it did.

Miho drops her chopsticks onto her plate in surprise, “Did- Did you translate a Polyjuice potion into runes?”

Sora is staring at his sister in utter shock, and Bai's eyes widen at that, before she summons her wand out of her own invisible wand holster and conjures up a mirror. Her jaw drops open when she sees her own reflection.

As they all lock their surprised gazes on her, she shrugs before swallowing her mouthful, “It occurred to me that I could just watch what Polyjuice does with Elemental Sight. Observed the rest to figure out which parts were the framework and which were the variables for a Polyjuice drinker to specifically turn into Bai.”

Bai stares down at her bracelet in surprise, “Holy-! Polyjuice transformation in a runic bracelet?”

She makes a wordless noise of agreement, then tilts her head back to look up at Sora who hasn't moved off yet, “Haven't made you a Hei bracelet yet, since I was more focused on getting Hoshi her Bai bracelet before she went poking around Chinatown, but since no one would recognize Hei the same way they would Sora after the Nine Schools Competition, you'd have a much easier time with things like that when I do.”

He smiles down at her and drops another kiss, this time a brief one on her mouth, “That's fine. Hoshi's the one who needed it asap anyway.”

She hums in agreement and it's only then that Sora seems to shake himself out of the surprise the bracelet had made to move to get settled in his chair to eat his own breakfast.

She's tired as all hell and will likely crash after breakfast, but it'll be much safer for Hoshi to move as Bai and the Polyjuice bracelet will make her disguise much more secure, so it was absolute worth the eighteen-ish hours straight she put into translating the potion to runes.

She's fairly relaxed on the couch, “Given it's not like you to risk others recognizing you and linking us, I assume there's a reason you came directly Kyouko-nee?”

Kyouko laughs lightly, “Technically there's nothing suspicious about it in and of itself. As a technical officer, there's nothing strange about me visiting you, the student who unveiled such dazzling technician skills at the NSC.”

She lets out her own light laugh, “I suppose that's true enough.”

Kyouko smiles, “All right, enough with the pleasantries…” Then she becomes more serious, “The brewing trouble looks like it's set to bear down on the Thesis Competition.”

She frowns, “Is that so? Can I assume that the 101st is on standby then, given that while we don't know exactly what their goals are, we at least have a solid indicator that the students and other guests are in danger?”

Kyouko nods, “Of course.” Then she holds up a SD card, “I know there's not a lot of time to look over it, but the details of what we've gathered are on here.” She leans forward to set it on the coffee table between them, “I've taken some precautions myself, but… There's still a chance this has already been leaked. We may not have noticed it if we had other things to pull our attention as it was so subtle, but it looks like a battle is brewing. If we're lucky, we'll have more time to investigate and prepare, but…”

She nods, “It can't be helped. We'll just have to do our best with whatever time we have.”

Kyouko nods back grimly, then stands and she raises to her feet as well, “Given we're not sure how big whatever is going on will be, Major Kazama had ordered your mobile suit brought to be on standby as a precaution.” She nods, “Then, whatever may happen, good luck Toshiko.”

She smiles, “You as well Kyouko-nee.”

The older woman smiles, but she's gone soon after that.

She sighs as she gazes at the closed door Kyouko had left through in thought, before stirring as she notices him with her Elemental Sight, “Well?”

Sora rounds the couch to sit beside her, “Kokonoe doesn't seem to be wrong given there definitely seems to be a buildup for something, but… I'm sorry, we weren't able to dig anything up last minute.”

She sighs, “It can't be helped. In fairness, I was asking an awful lot of you and Hoshi.”

He hums, “Maybe, but it doesn't stop either of us from being unhappy we weren't able to find anything.”

She leans against him, “It's not your fault. Those kinds of things take time generally, what with having to pinpoint the who and gain trust and all that, and there wasn't a whole lot of time left.”

She's none too pleased, knowing something is coming, to see the stands of the Yokohama event center packed full and there are other people she's upset could be caught up in things, but most of the seats are taken up by kids from all of the highschools. She does her best to mask her dissatisfaction at the situation though. Both because she doesn't want anyone to realize anything is amiss, and also because once the opening is done with, she doesn't want to give anyone false impressions of what she thinks about the presentations.

Especially since she's so distracted staying on alert that she doesn't even really take them in.

It makes all of it, from what would be a fairly normal opening ceremony to the other schools’ theses on the lead up to First High's presentation rather irritating, but at least during it she can focus on her behind the scenes part of the presentation.

That being said, it doesn't take very long all told, and when they're done and she's distractedly switching over the side stage controls with Kichijouji, she's basically right back to having nothing to do but wait for the guillotine to drop.

She isn't left waiting very long though, since it's during the ten minute interval between presentations set aside for each school to clear theirs out and the next to set up that her Elemental Sight picks up people around and in the convention center pulling out hidden weapons almost at the same time they start hearing explosions and feeling vibrations.

She hops off the stage as she regroups with Sora, Miho, and Hoshi, not having had the chance to head over to the stairs before things started happening.

Sora gives her a questioning look, “One of those explosions sounded like a grenade. Near the front entrance unless I'm mistaken.”

She nods, “Mm, from the looks of things from Elemental Sight, it appears to be the case. The entrance is certainly under attack anyway.”

Miho frowns, “Are the Joint Security Forces alright?”

She hums, “They seem to be holding their own, but that's not surprising since it's not just comprised of students. There is professional security with actual combat experience. They-.”

She turns quickly towards the side doors, having been so focused on checking on the situation out front that she nearly missed it. Without hesitation, she casts a shield over them, then turns and casts more shields on the other doors. Kichijouji, still on the stage, starts walking towards the edge of the stage and her, “Shiba, what are you-?!”

He's cut off by a loud bang from the door suddenly impacting the shield hard before someone starts cursing, and while she can't hear the cursing, not regularly though she is aware of it, the same repeats at the other doors at the midway points of the lower seating, and the the top of the stands higher up.

Kichijouji gives the doors a grim look, “If those were security coming to check on us, they'd have called out identifiers by now.”

She hums in agreement even as the nervous murmurs in the hall bloom in fear, not quite a panic yet, but definitely louder and more prominent, “Even without that, I can guarantee you they aren't.”

Kichijouji's brows furrow, “Eh? How can you know? Actually, now that I think about it, how did you know they were coming to begin with?”

She tilts her head vaguely towards him as she watches one of them pull out a grenade and start arguing with another over using it and risking damaging any of the magic research they were ordered to collect, or killing hostages they intended to use, “Elemental Sight. I was so focused on what's happening near the entrance that I almost missed them though.”

Kichijouji blinks rapidly in surprise, “Oh. Considering you wouldn't have reason to turn on a supernatural power like that without reason though, the explosions are really the only warning we had that there was an attack, so you wouldn't have even known they were there if it wasn't for the attack at the entrance to begin with. I'm not sure it's accurate to say you were too focused on said attack in light of all that.”

She glances at him, “A born specialization I physically can't turn off actually.”

Kichijouji gives her a confused look, “Eh? That's not physically possible. All spells have a defined end point.” Then he shakes his head, “Forget that actually, how did you not know they were about to attack to begin with?!”

She stares him down blandly, “Kichijouji, let's just say for argument's sake that I only have a range of a mile, do you expect me to watch every single person within a mile radius around me closely enough to pick up on suspicious behavior? Furthermore, since I can't turn it off, I make a habit of not acknowledging whatever my Elemental Sight is telling me people have in their bags or under their clothes.” He flushes bright red at the last, embarrassment washing over him, “Considering they seem to have gotten people both close enough to as well as inside the event hall, they had to have been hiding their weapons.” Then she pauses and casts a small optical magic to form part of a magic sequence writen in light in midair, “And I'll tell you the same thing I tell others. Tell me what that line of magic sequence means and I'll tell you what its end parameter is. I never said it didn't have one, just that I can't turn it off. But you tell me what that means and I'll have the answer to give you. Because that's the defined end point of my Elemental Sight born specialization spell.”

He opens and closes his mouth as he gazes at the parameter, visibly drawing a blank. The conversation doesn't get any further before the men outside finally agree to blow the door, and she turns back as she narrows her eyes. She adjusts the shields to be more like boxes to let them step in a bit, mostly so she can close it behind them if they're dumb enough to actually step in.

Sora steps closer, “What?”

She tilts her head towards him, “They're going to blow up the door.” She flicks her gaze up, “And they've made sure they're all on the same page over radio so it's not just one doorway.”

Kichijouji sucks in a breath, then speaks quickly, “Given they're knowingly taking on a room full of magicians, they have high powered rifles used against magicians?” She nods, and he whitens, “They'll break through the shields in no time then!”

She doesn't get a chance to say anything before the grenades they toss after ducking behind cover go off, they're soon whipping into the doorframe, a beat ahead of the others, but it probably saves most of them. If only because it means that since they do step in a bit, they all get the opportunity to see the spells she cast on and in the barrels of their guns and what it plugging them up does, high powered rifle or not. Namely in what happens to the guy who tries to open fire on her from the door near the stage that she's physically looking at have that spell force the bullet to remain in the barrel. The explosion blows off both his arms instantly, though unfortunately for him, he survives.

Other than the pained screams of the man who was unfortunate enough to be conscious as well as alive, a dead silence falls. She looks up at the second guy in that doorway, and he takes a couple steps back before he starts to turn to run, and he's far from the only one from what her Elemental Sight is telling her.

Too bad for all of them they may not have fully stepped into her shield boxes but they all stepped close enough to make it easy to throw additional shields behind the groups to cut off their retreat.

With them unable to escape, she turns her attention to the mess of a man who's gun exploded. A bit of movement magic to rip part of his shirt off and stuff it in his mouth, and a bit of oscillation magic to cauterize the stumps of his arms. She doesn't really care if a man who came in with a gun he was fully willing to use on kids dies from his wounds, but there's always the possibility he has intel.

With that dealt with, she lifts the boxes of shields and brings them over and down to the open area in front of the stage. Some of the Joint Security Forces that had been stationed in the room itself come over with handcuffs, and she opens the shield boxes one by one until they're all cuffed on the ground, barring the guy who doesn't have arms left to cuff.

Once that's dealt with, the rest of her usual group hurries forward, and Erika asks with a surprisingly casual tone, “What are we going to do now?”

She hums, “The fight at the entrance hasn't finished yet, so we should probably give the security forces some backup.”

Erika tilts her head, “I hope you aren't expecting we'll just stand back and let you handle everything.”

She wishes they would. They're just kids at the end of the day. She snorts though, “No, I'm well aware you and Leo at least are too stubborn for something like that.”

Erika grins and looks behind her at Leo and Mikihiko, the latter of which was a bit surprising at looking so satisfied by her agreement.

She glances at the stands before turning towards where Saegusa and Nakajou are nearby in seats by the front, “You'll need to evacuate everyone as quickly as possible. For one thing, we don't know the situation outside of the event center in general, but given this attack, we do know the people here are in danger.”

Saegusa nods firmly, though Nakajou seems a bit overwhelmed and doesn't seem to hear her due to the frantic arguing from Joint Security Force members and the frantic murmuring of the crowd. She'll just have to leave her to Saegusa though so she doesn't hesitate to head out with her group. On the way, Sora pulls out the modified wire setup she gave him to use in the finals of Monolith Code, squeezing the boxes to hit the buttons that cause the leather ‘boxes’ containing the wires to unfold into his compressed harness and snake up his wrists to move into place, pulling out and clasping his main knives on as he does. Honestly, with his bracelet being able to swap his gear on and off him, it wasn't really necessary, she mostly made it to be quick and easy for when he had a smidge of time to silently explain where the harness and wires came from instead of potentially arousing suspicion. 

When they get to the entrance, she does have to stop Leo from being too hasty, given they're also using the same sort of high power guns designed to use against magicians. It isn't too hard to jam their guns as well though, and the moment it's safer to step out, her group explodes into action.

Sora rushes a cluster of four that he kills in mere moments with his knives, Erika takes on three more with a short sword she seemed to have gotten from no where, and by the time those seven are down, Mikihiko has finished readying a spell with his talismans, “Erika, Sora!”

They both immediately understand and get out of the way of a powerful blast of wind that cuts into everyone it comes across. It also blows out a good bit of the already damaged glass in the glass wall of the entrance, and what few attackers are still capable of it quickly try to flee out of the broken glass frames.

Not that she's about to let that happen, quickly snapping out a large circular shield around the entrance to cut them off. At that point though, there's only a handful left, so Sora, Erika, and Mikihiko seem content to leave them to the Joint Security Forces, mostly just the professionals since the students on it seem to be elsewhere.

Leo sighs as the other three regroup with them, “I never even got a chance.”

Erika pats his shoulder, though she's pretty sure it can't really be called with sympathy or anything. On the other hand, Mizuki and Honoka seem rather sick. She can't blame them, they're just kids, and they don't have one reason or another to be up to snapping into action and handling the aftermath of this sort of attack with the same ease as their various reasons give Erika, Leo, and Mikihiko.

She wishes they hadn't followed and had to see this, “Sorry, was that a little too much for you guys?”

Honoka shakes her head, but her voice isn't very firm, “No, I'm all right!”

Mizuki seems just as unsteady but determined, “Me too, I'm fine!”

Knowing that even if they do adapt quickly they undoubtedly still need some time, she purposely moves the conversation away a bit, “Anyway, where on earth did you get the sword Erika?”

Erika tilts her head, the look in her eye as she gazes at her implying that she knows exactly what she's trying to do, “This? I've always had it.” She hits a button on the hilt and the short thin sword shrinks into a thicker round baton. It's not a transfiguration or anything like that, which is considered impossible with this world's magic, but rather that the metal seems to reconfigure itself, "Cool, right? This is the memory blade that the police plan to put into the field starting next year.”

She hums, “The Chiba are known for making close combat weapons, aren't they?”

Erika grins, “Strictly speaking, that's the chief source of income.”

Leo glances over at them, then looks back to her, “So what's the plan now?”

She hums, “We can't really make a solid plan with limited information, so if possible, we try to get more intel first.”

Shizuku tilts her head, “In that case… Why don't you use the VIP conference room? That's where they hold meetings for politicians and economic groups, so you should be able to access all kinds of information.”

Erika gives her a surprised look, “I can't believe you know about a room like that.”

Shizuku turns her gaze to Erika, “My father once brought me here, so I know the security key and access code too.”

She nods firmly, “That's definitely our best bet then. Lead the way please, Shizuku.”

Shizuku nods seriously.

Once Shizuku puts the password into the terminal embedded in the table and pulls up police data, the large TV on the wall lights up with a map, which quickly zooms into their area. Red x's in black circles quickly start popping up and spreading transparent red circles to mark out ‘danger zones’, and Erika immediately speaks up in astonishment, probably able to guess but wanting someone to confirm, “Whoa! What's this?”

Leo's voice is equally stunned, “That's beyond messed up…”

Yuki's voice sounds concerned, likely hyperfocusing on her dark expression despite the fact it was far from unique in the situation, “Onee-sama…”

She glances over at him, then turns to the group as a whole, “Things are rather critical. We left evacuating everyone else to Saegusa-senpai, and Nakajou-senpai, so there's not much more we can do on that front, but we're likely to get pinned down if we remain here. That being said, given we don't exactly have transportation…”

Mikihiko hums, “Then should we evacuate to the shelter?”

She rubs at her lip, “That's probably the best bet to get out of the convention center, which is rather important given it was a target, so if the enemy realizes their initial attack failed, there's a good chance they'll try to hit it again.”

Erika removes her gaze from the TV to look at her, “So we're going with the underground passage then?”

She shakes her head though, “No, the best bet is to head to the shelter, yes, but it's better to go above ground. The tunnel doesn't go directly there and there are other locations linked into the network, so it's entirely possible enemies will make their way in. In such an enclosed space, it'll be harder to fight in general, but particularly without having to worry about accidentally collapsing it on ourselves.” Her brows furrow, “Also, we should probably destroy the demo devices and delete the data saved on the convention center's terminals regarding the theses before we leave. None of them are intended to lead to weapons, but neither was TNT when it was invented and look where that ended up.”

That gets grim looks, and there isn't any protest about heading back to the theater area and back behind stage. When they get back to the area where everything is stored though, they find older First High students already there, “I suppose we had the same idea.”

From behind the group, which is probably between her and the door for protection, Ichihara answers without looking back, “If you were thinking of deleting the data and destroying the demo devices, then yes.”

She glances at the others, “Are the rest of you here for security?”

Saegusa smiles, “Pretty much.”

She doesn't get to reply before a side door opens and Juumonji's voice reaches her, “Shiba? Saegusa?”

She's a bit surprised he's still here, since he was in charge of the nine schools portion of the Joint Security Forces at least, “Juumonji-senpai.”

He glances at her then turns to Saegusa, “I thought you'd gone on and evacuated?”

Saegusa shakes her head, “We're deleting the data.”

Juumonji's brows furrow, “Does it take that many to do that?”

Hattori, who was following behind him with Sawaki, pipes up, “Nakajou has taken the other students to the underground tunnel.” Then he turns his gaze to her group, “You should get going too…”

She frowns, “They went with the underground tunnel?”

That gets attention really quick, and Sawaki asks immediately, “Is something wrong?”

She frowns, “It's not guaranteed, but… The tunnel to the shelter is a network leading to it. Not only are there multiple access points the enemy could get into, but one of them is directly at the harbor the attacking boat is at. So…”

Hattori's brows furrow, “An encounter battle?”

She nods, “Quite possibly. And worse, not only is it enclosed quarters, but being underground, there's also every chance a fight could cause a cave in.”

Juumonji immediately turns a bit to look over his shoulder, “Hattori, Sawaki, go after Nakajou right now!” They quickly bark out their understanding, and Juumonji continues as he looks at her, then Saegusa, “I'm going to patrol the area one more time to make sure there are no more stragglers-”

She tilts her head, “There aren't really any left.” He turns to her in surprise, “I have Elemental Sight, a born specialization rather than a supernatural power. I can see the whole building and we're the only ones still here specifically.” She tilts her head, “Technically Third High seems to have gone with above ground evacuation and seem to be having vehicle troubles, while under attack, but Ichijou and Kichijouji are handling things fine from what I can see. They don't really need help except with maybe their bus, so unless you know mechanics…”

Juumonji turns back to them, “I don't, and Ichijou and Kichijouji are perfectly capable of handling things, so it would be better to remain here as extra security.”

Isori peers around Saegusa's skirt at that point, “Shiba, can I ask you to take care of the devices left in the other room?”

As soon as she nods, Watanabe declares, “When we're done, let's meet up in the green room. We'll decide on our next move there.“

Once everything is destroyed, they head to the meeting room, where the police map data is quickly pulled up again. After looking it over, Watanabe turns towards her group at the other end of the table, “Now then… About our next move…”

She trails off, and Saegusa ends the beat of silence, “Only one enemy ship has invaded the harbor. The area around the shore is more or less under enemy control. Ground transportation is completely paralyzed as well… I'm thinking that might be the work of the guerrillas.”

Isori looks away from the screen at Saegusa with pinched brows, “What could they be after?”

Saegusa doesn't hesitate to respond, “The fact that they've targeted Yokohama means… They must be after something that they'll only find here… Although strictly speaking, there's one in Kyoto as well…”

Kanon gasps, “The Magic Association Branch office!”

Saegusa nods, “To be precise, they're probably after the Magic Association's main database. Because all the crucial data is centrally managed in Kyoto and Yokohama.”

Mari frowns, “When will the rescue ship arrive?”

Saegusa doesn't hesitate, “It should be here in another ten minutes. But it doesn't look like it has the capacity for this number of people.”

Ichihara seems to get a notification on her mobile terminal given the beeping noise that draws everyone's attention, “Regarding Nakajou and the others who headed for the shelter, unfortunately it seems that Shiba's concerns were dead on. However, since the enemy force is small-” 

Ichihara doesn't cut herself or get cut off directly, but she turns swiftly as she notices a vehicle approaching rapidly. A truck specifically, and from the looks of it and its driver, it's more likely a foe.

Her sudden movement draws people's attention, and she's vaguely aware she probably looks a bit strange staring at the wall so intently, but she has bigger concerns as she pulls her CAD out.

Sora tenses, “An enemy?”

She tilts her head, “It seems so.”

She's vaguely aware of Watanabe quickly striding over to the controls to start pulling up camera footage behind her, but she's far more intently focused on figuring out if the truck is friend or foe with better certainty.

Breaths are sucked in as Watanabe manages to find the correct feed, and she gets her answer a moment later as the Truck is covered in fortification magic. The intent to ram the building is rather obvious, so uncaring of the audience brought by them having time to pull the footage up, she pulls her CAD -unholstered but resting at her side up until now- up and points it, firing a Decomposition at it and turning everything but the driver to dust in moments.

Chapter Text

Juumonji makes a choked noise behind her, “Shiba! How-?!”

She turns to him and tilts her head, tone mild, “There's a reason Elemental Sight is a born specialization for me. I'm not a genetically modified magician, so it's not by human design but rather by the design of nature as it's a necessary component in two other born specializations I have.”

Saegusa opens her mouth, “What-?!”

She's cut off by the door opening as Major Kazama smoothly interrupts, picking up where he cut Saegusa off, not here for the incident, but all too intelligent enough to piece things together from what he would've overhead at minimum, “-it is touches on classified information.”

Kyouko speaks up at that point, “Special Officer Obara Ryumi, some of the information control on you has temporarily been disabled.”

Since she's not being treated as a civilian and it isn't being hidden at the moment, she steps forward to salute in greeting to Kazama and Kyouko, who salute back to release her from the obligation to hold the position until saluted back or verbally told otherwise without having to waste time and she immediately falls into parade rest.

As she does, Juumonji glances between them, “Shiba..?”

Kazama drops into his own parade rest as he greets the crowd, “I'm Major Kazama Harunobu of the JSDF.”

Juumonji seems to recognize the name, “So you're that Major Kazama then? I'm the acting Master Clan Conference representative for the Juumonji clan, Juumonji Katsuto.”

Kazama nods at him, then turns his gaze back to her, “Fujibayashi, give the rundown on the current situation.”

Kyouko nods, “Yes sir.” Kyouko quickly uses her magic to connect to the terminal the large TV she and Kazama were standing somewhat in front of but off to the side, putting in a password then pulling up a vague tactical map, “At this time, our forces stationed at Hodogaya ward are battling the invaders.” The map zooms out a little for more tactical data, “We also have one battalion each from Tsurumi ward and the city of Fujisawa rushing to this site. The Kanto Branch of the Magic Association has taken a defensive position on its own.”

Kazama nods shallowly, “Good job. All right, Special Officer. In light of these circumstances, our battalion has just been ordered to add our support to the defense. In accordance with the JSDF special assignment regulations, I'm hereby ordering you to mobilize as well!” There's surprised gasps from most of the kids, probably at her being called for actual military action, and Kazama adds to them, “The JSDF requests that this Special Officer's rank remains confidential. Please be aware that this is based on the JSDF's security protection law. I hope you understand.”

She glances at Sora, Miho, and Hoshi, and it's her sister-in-law who speaks, “Don't worry. We'll take care of things here.”

She nods, but doesn't get a chance to say anything before Shigeru's voice pipes up from behind her at the door towards the back of the room, “Special Officer?” She turns, “We have your mobile suit ready for you in our trailer. Let's hurry.”

As she nods, and starts towards the door as Kyouko adds, “Don't worry Special Officer, my squad and I will be providing protection for everyone here.”

She glances back with a grateful smile as she heads out with Shigeru.

There wasn't exactly a private changing room in the truck since it's just meant to serve as transport, not where they change into gear, but it's not hard to maintain privacy by just tossing up an optical spell to create a cylindrical wall of pitch black.

Once she's done changing, she drops it and turns to Kazama and Shigeru, who'd also turned their backs just in case of any spell hiccups, “I'm done.”

Turning back towards her, Kazama nods, “Then effective immediately you are to rendezvous with Yanagi's unit Special Officer.”

She salutes, “Understood.”

She heads towards the door of the trailer, activating the flying magic on the mobile suit in the doorway and taking off towards the map indicator pinging Yanagi and his squad's location. She doesn't get very far though, before by pure dumb luck she happens across a drone. Tracking the signal going back and forth between it and the enemy ship, mostly just to locate where the camera and control broadcasts were going to specifically, she destroys it with Decomposition.

Following the other threads of signals, she starts ripping them to nothing but loose atoms one by one as she continues on her way to Yanagi. There aren't a whole lot of them, which isn't surprising given its a fairly small area they're attacking, so she's done well before she's touching down on the road near Yanagi and saluting rather than greeting him more casually since she's mobilized.

Yanagi gives a brief salute of his own, “Hey Special Officer.” He immediately moves to business after the greeting, “We know who the enemy is now.”

He holds up the highly recognizable -at least in certain circles like the military- and hated green metal box, her voice coming out at a livid hiss at the sight of it, “A sorcery booster?” She feels entirely valid for being so angry, given while there are electronic aspects, the main component in a sorcery booster is a magician brain. He's not wrong about it confirming the enemy, given the fact that there's only one place that makes the accursed things, “So it's the Great Asian Union again after all.”

Yanagi nods, then moves along, “Sorry to spring this on you, but there are civilians in the station plaza who've summoned helicopters to get the evacuees out. We're going to head for the station now, and help with the escape.”

She nods, since he hadn't used words like ‘orders’ and the like making it awkward in her opinion to salute, “Understood.”

The unit heads out almost immediately after. As they approach, she feels a flicker of worry about the black cloud moving towards the first helicopter. A beam of magic cuts through it, but it only cuts away part of it, then reforms. Another beam is just as ineffective, but she can't blame the caster, since the only other choice is to watch from the sidelines as whatever that black cloud is brings the helicopter down.

The black cloud is made up of what looks like locusts, but she can tell they're chemicals gathered up and given form. Magical constructs in layman's terms. Given they're technically all individual spells and it'd be a bit more complicated to go after them specifically but they're only being so cohesive because of one, it's easier to go after the control for them with more targeted Gram Dispersion.

She follows the line of magic in the information dimension back to the caster, reporting to Yanagi, “Sir, cohesion control disabled, however if the caster is left unchecked…”

Yanagi hums as the helicopter in the lead touches down, “I was just about to order you to leave the evacuation protection to other personnel and hunt the caster down myself.”

She nods, “Understood sir.”

She could obviously do it entirely though the information dimension, but it was generally easier to use Decomposition with visual sight on the target. Something with the 101st in general, and that certainly included Yanagi, absolutely knew. Given they had no idea how long this battle would take and therefore how long they'd have before risking a slower magic calculation area overclock, she can only assume that's why Yanagi told her to ‘hunt down’ the caster. Explicitly to save her as much strain building up as possible so she wasn't knocked out of the fight too early out of slow overclocking risk. She's always personally likened overclocking to a mountain lion that's aware humans can be dangerous. Push it to desperation, and it'll hit hard and fast, maybe killing in an instant, maybe taking longer but still lethal- that's usually what people think of when they think of overclocking. But those humans are just as capable of persistence hunting the mountain lion if the circumstances are right- and that's slow overclocking. Being run into the ground by a marathon you just could not handle.

Yanagi makes no attempt to stop her as she flies off, so that definitely backs up her thought process. She still feels a bit bad to be leaving them to watch over the innocents without her there if they get into serious trouble. It's an important job obviously, given they're using chemical attacks, and against civilians, innocent people no less, but that doesn't mean she likes it. She has the consolation that the 101st in general and Yanagi's squad in particular are highly capable, but that doesn't shake off all of the guilt, given ‘highly capable’ doesn't mean they can't be overrun and beaten. At least if something like that happens Sora and Hoshi are around, and if push comes to shove, they will use their previous life's magic.

It was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow, but it will have to be enough.

Having finished chasing down the magician behind the chemical locust thing, she returns to the area of the evacuation and Yanagi's unit, landing on a building just in time to view a conversation between Saegusa and the subordinate in charge of her helicopter have a quick exchange regarding picking up the outer defense teams Saegusa's evacuee groups had made.

As the helicopter rises, perhaps recognizing her specifically from her Black Flower CADs, which were the only noticeable difference between herself and the rest of the unit, through a window in one, Saegusa spots her and sticks her tongue out playfully before smiling. She feels a flicker of amusement before reporting in through her radio, “Saegusa Mayumi has made it safely onto one of the helicopters. She'll be going to pick up some other students she knows the locations of before they remove themselves from the danger zone.”

She swiftly gets a response from Yanagi who wasn't in the direct area but higher up keeping an eye on things, "Understood. After verifying that the VIP has departed from the combat zone, return to the main unit.”

She nods habitually even as she points her CAD down towards a corner of one of the buildings in the plaza the evacuees had just left, “Yes sir.”

Then she pulls the trigger, Decomposing the physical structure of the attacker's body with a rocket launcher that had started to aim at Saegusa's helicopter into atoms with Mist Dispersion. She does it a few times actually, destroying attackers aiming at the leaving helicopter before turning to the unexpected guest that had shown up just as she was finishing up.

She recognizes Detective Toshikazu, and not wanting to potentially alarm him since the flight suit isn't well enough known to be recognized at a glance, she answers him semi-truthfully, “Special Officer Obara Ryumi of the JSDF 101st magic equipped battalion. I can't stay to answer questions though, as my current mission is still in progress.”

Without another word, she reactivates the flight device and takes off. Yanagi had told her to only regroup after Saegusa had successfully withdrawn after all, which at minimum means she needs to stay with them until they've picked up the other groups and start off.

Honoka was with Saegusa, and was using her optical magic specialty to cover the helicopter with images of the surroundings instead, making it essentially invisible in simple terms. The pickup for the group made up of Erika, Leo, Mikihiko, Mizuki, and Yuki goes perfectly fine, and she'd been waylaid enough by the attempted attackers and Detective Toshikazu that they're already moving on to pick up the group made up of Watanabe, Chiyoda, Isori, Kirihara, and Sakuya when she herself moves to catch up.

Their luck seems to run out at that point though, given that it's right when they're starting to group up to get picked up by the helicopter that things go to hell in a handbasket. Namely, she sees all too well with her Elemental Sight that while Saegusa takes out the enemies that had been pinning the group down before they group up, after they do is right when another group that had taken cover from Saegusa's rain of ice needles pops up. They don't hesitate to start attacking now that Watanabe's group is no longer behind cover, and while Kirihara notices before they open fire and shouts a warning to the rest while pushing Saya, Mibu that is, out of the way and behind him. Even as he does, Isori turns to Chiyoda and quickly throws himself on top of her while Watanabe quickly rushes over to a small piece of cover.

Clearly using some sort of self acceleration magic, Kirihara tries his hardest to deflect the high powered rifle shots with his Sonic Blade reinforced sword, but all too soon, one gets through and rips his leg off. Saya shouts his name in horror, and Isori lifts himself enough to stare at him going down in dismay. It's a mistake of its own, given it lifts his back enough for a larger piece of grenade shrapnel to lodge itself in his back. It's probably a good thing the flight suit has a full helmet, given the situation makes her want to yank on her hair in frustration. She was too far away to get a good lock on the bullets or the shrapnel to use Decomposition on them, but if she'd only been there-!

She pushes herself faster, trying to get there as quickly as possible. Even as she does, she supposes as many personal issues as she has with him that Yuki deserves credit for how quickly he hopped out of the helicopter, using deceleration magic on himself before he reaches the ground and unleashes his not quite a born specialization inborn magic, Cocytus, on all of them in one go. She lands silently behind him at about the same time he lands, immediately turning her CAD on Isori. He was still alive, though even if he survived he would absolutely be paralyzed if the circumstances didn't basically give her the go ahead to use Regrowth on him. Not that it really mattered. Unlike with Watanabe's cracked ribs at the Nine Schools Competition, she wouldn't have cared about maintaining secrecy if a situation like this had come up without her practically being given the green light.

Chiyoda gives her a frantic look, face a mess of tears, as she points her CAD at Isori, “What do you think you're doing?!”

She doesn't have time for her though, so she ignores her frantic questions as she pulls the trigger to initiate her Regrowth to restore Isori to his physical state before he got hit. The shrapnel piece is pushed out of his back on its own by the rapid but not instantaneous action of his injured body knitting itself back together. As soon as it's over, Isori straightens a bit from the way he'd been slumped limply on top of Chiyoda, looking dazed and confused. Without hesitation, she turns her CAD to Kirihara, but regardless of whether they're just stunned into silence or if they understand why she's pointing her CAD at them now, no one makes a peep. Kirihara's leg is restored just as swiftly.

He's not as out of it as Isori had been, but then again, he didn't get the same sort of injury and get knocked out cold just from the shock. Yuki looks up at her with pinched eyebrows, “Onee-sama…. Are you alright?”

Watanabe gives Yuki an alarmed glance before turning to her swiftly, “Does doing... whatever that was hurt you?!”

She shakes her head, “No.”

Yuki gives her a frustrated look, “Not physically, but the way Onee-sama's magic works she experiences the pain they experienced. All of it. Isori-senpai and Kirihara-senpai were injured for about a minute each. Which means all of the pain they experienced in that minute was compressed into less then a second for Onee-sama.”

Watanabe looks slightly horrified, “...You didn't even flinch.”

She glances at her, “I have a high pain tolerance.” She shakes her head before looking off in the direction her HUD said her unit was in, “You need to get going though. I'm supposed to stick with you before you start to withdraw, and only meet up with my unit after. So I have to stay until you get loaded onto the helicopter at least.”

Watanabe jolts, but her Hundred Families training seems to kick in at that point as she turns her serious gaze to the others still on the ground, “There's no time to waste then! Grab the ropes Mayumi let down and get on board! We can't be holding up-” She flicks a glance at her, “Special Officer Obara from assisting her unit!”

That seems to shake everyone out of their stupor enough that they start moving quickly to get loaded up.

Once they are and the helicopter is heading off, she turns and starts towards the unit, quickly finding them on the tops of buildings -undoubtedly having landed to save themselves what they can here and there to stave off slow overclocking- in an engagement with multiple armored personnel carriers and the strange bipedal single person tank… things that have been all over since this mess started down on the road. Unfortunately for the 101st, it doesn't take them long to take Yanagi's unit down with their multitude of turrets designed similarly to the high powered rifles to be good against magicians.

Unfortunately for the enemy, she gets there before any of them die, and swiftly uses Regrowth on all of them, one by one, getting the members of the unit back on their feet swiftly.

They don't seem to really know what's happening at first, but after one of the armored personnel carriers focuses their turret on a group of the unit right in front of her and guns them while she's busy focusing her Decomposition on the lethal shots aiming at members of the unit and she swiftly uses Regrowth on them. Once she's done with that, she gets a brief moment to strike back herself and turn one of the bipedal attack vehicles to atoms, which is around when she starts hearing horrified gasps of the nickname the GAU had given her ripple out, “Mahesvara!”

She suppresses a twitch of irritation. Mahesvara was an alternate name of Shiva, and for one thing, it just seems… incredibly disrespectful of the GAU towards people who practice Hinduism that they gave her a nickname from one of their Deities. For another, it feels incredibly pompous to her to use a Deity’s name, to place one on a remotely similar level, regardless of whether you follow that religion or not. Finally, she knows the last time she tangled with the GAU and was given that nickname by survivors who saw her and later had their freedom traded for that she was just barely a teenager and hidden under the combat suit that was dredged up for her at that, but Shiva was male.(1)

There's not much she can do about it though. Even if she tried to make it clear she disapproved of the nickname to those who surrender and survive to try and get it back to them, they'd just either twist her words as her being insulted as propaganda against Hindu practitioners, or they'd misunderstand and use it to try to insult her themselves.

As they finish up there, something made particularly swift by the fact no one surrenders, she bites back a frustrated sigh.

Mikihiko is still trying to process what he'd seen through the Spirits he was watching things on the ground with to keep an eye out for more attacks, the revelations he'd overheard that had been relayed at the overwhelming confusion to those who'd stayed in the helicopter. After all, they could see for themselves just fine what happened from where they'd been waiting by the doors, either to potentially fire more magic if more attackers showed up, jump down themselves if necessary, or to help those climbing up the ropes get the last bit up into the helicopter.

His attention is grabbed when Kirihara huffs out a breath that sounds tinged ever so slightly with hysteria, “What the hell just happened? I think it would be an easier to swallow if you told me it was all a hallucination.”

Isori, unsurprisingly, sounds like he's also in more than a bit of disbelief, “But it wasn't a hallucination. Both the fact that I almost died and that your leg was severed are incontrovertible facts.”

Sora hums, “Yeah, that magic of Toshiko’s does that to people the first time you see it in action.”

Watanabe turns to him, “What kind of magic was that?”

Sora shrugs, “It's a born specialization. Regrowth. Toshiko theorizes that it and her other born specialization are why her Elemental Sight is a specialization rather than a supernatural power, and why its geared towards precision rather than what's essentially vague summaries, since it's arguably the backbone to the other two.”

Watanabe holds up her hands and starts waving them back and forth, “Hold up. You're telling me she has three born specializations?”

Miho sighs, “Mm. Elemental Sight, geared not to get the vague summary as Sora put it, but towards such precision that if she wanted to, she could track a single atom, and is even capable of reading what's known as the Eidos changelog, a record of the Eidos up to twenty-four hours prior.” He chokes on air, and he's far from the only one, though some people gasp or suck in sharp breaths, “Regrowth, which allows her to restore a previous Eidos state, not dissimilar to restoring a previous version of a document and overwriting the current one in the process. You didn't technically see the third, but there's not a whole lot of point trying to hide it when it's all too likely some of the magician families will pull footage before it can be wiped, so… Decomposition which lets her destroy any Eidos data. If Regrowth is the ability to restore a previous file version, Decomposing is the delete option.”

Saegusa's face scrunches up, “Delete what?”

Sora snorts, “Whatever she wants. Your activation sequence, the energy making up a fire, the structure to your body that makes it more than dust on the wind and gasses…”

There's a stunned silence for a few beats before Honoka speaks up, “How… How is Toshiko even capable of casting anything else?” She shrinks back as all gazes turn to her swiftly, “T-That is- My inborn talent isn't even a born specialization but- I- I mean, it definitely impacts how much I can cast just with that, so…”

Yuki stirs from where he'd been staring Sora and Miho down sullenly, “She found her own work around. Don't ask me what it is. She hasn't told me, or basically anyone else for that matter. She refuses to release whatever technique she used, as she feels there's way too much possibility to abuse it.” Yuki tosses the three at the other end of the helicopter a dirty look, “Or rather, she refuses to tell most people. She's told Sora, Miho, and Hoshi for some reason.” He wonders, as he registers those words, if Yuki even realizes he basically just told them all that Toshiko didn't trust him with it, yet had trusted the other three rather than having it be a secret she took to her grave, “What I do know is that Onee-sama was born with ninety-five percent of her magic calculation area taken up by her born specializations. Then suddenly one day she's casting other things and saying they only take up about half of her magic calculation area now.”

He tosses Miho and Sora a strangely victorious look at that point, and even more confusingly, Saegusa and Watanabe suddenly share a loaded look. Watanabe mouths at Saegusa, ‘One upmanship?’

Saegusa nods. No one else seems to catch it, since they're all staring at Yuki, but then again, he's started to realize recently that his… emotional adoption has somewhat unintentionally put him in a position to see more of what's going on behind the scenes with Toshiko and Yuki. He knows he's been learning more than the rest of his friends, as he'd made the mistake of asking Erika and the others if they had any clue why Yuki seemed to have problems with Sora, Miho, and Hoshi, only to get extremely weird and confused looks. He's pretty sure he's the only one who picked up on Yuki being sullen as he stared at the other three in the first place, and he'd only caught it as he'd been turning to them to see if he could get anymore information from the way they were taking it and his gaze slid by them at just the right time.

Sora hums, “Yeah, but by her reckoning, you shouldn't think very highly of the fact she can cast, so it's probably best not to mention it to her. She'd feel like she was giving you a false impression of her ability if you did. Yuki isn't wrong that she's told us, and I won't betray her trust by telling you details, but it'd be false to think she's working with half a magic calculation area. Without details? She figured out a way to essentially double her magic calculation area, though it does require constant upkeep.” He glances at Leo, “For the record since you asked once, that's why she eats so much, because while there's a certain point where dumping more into making it larger isn't worth it. It's about double, and it increases her required caloric intake a lot. Regardless, it wouldn't be unfair to essentially consider her as having two magic calculation areas. One that's no different than anyone else's, and one that's taken up entirely by her born specializations.”

Chiyoda shakes her head, “That's still amazing. Even if she isn't working at half power constantly, the fact she was able to double her magic calculation area to begin with and constantly maintains it…

Hoshi snorts, “Oh we know. Toshiko seems under the impression that it's less amazing just because she's not working with only half of a normal magician's magic calculation area like people assume when they hear that her born specializations take up half of what she currently has though. In my personal opinion though? It's more amazing she figured out how to double it and constantly keeps it running than just operating at half a normal magic calculation area. Then again, Toshiko may have both a keen eye and be confident in general, but she's always been a bit blind to her own capabilities and accomplishments.”

Sora snorts, “That's because she's a damn perfectionist. Tell her to protect one hundred people and even if she successfully does so for ninety-nine, she'll consider it a complete and total loss because she failed one. Regardless of the fact she succeeded with the other ninety-nine and didn't let it slow her down until they didn't need her protection anymore. And then she'll promptly spend six weeks overhauling the security, the plans, the procedures, basically anything relevant to try to prevent it from happening next time.”

Watanabe gives Sora a surprised look, “Really?” He nods, and he's not the only one of the trio, and Watanabe drops her gaze, “Huh… I saw the workaholic thing you accused her of back when she first joined the Disciplinary Committee, but I never saw…”

Miho gives her a flat look, “That's because, again, simultaneously confident in general, and also she tends not to let things like that show.” She looks away mulishly, “You should've seen her in private after your Battle Board incident or the attempted suicide attack on the bus before that, even though there was really no conceivable way for…”

Hoshi plants her elbows on her knees and leans her head on her hands, “Honestly, if you ask me, Toshiko is as good as she is because of that perfectionism. Not in trying to perfect herself in the more normal way, but in constantly fighting to do better next time pushing her forward unrelentingly.”

Erika chews on her bottom lip, “How is she a course two student? I mean, if that's the case, then…”

Miho barks a laugh, before giving them a tired look, “When you go to cast, there are certain things that are going to slow you down, pushing the buttons for CAD and all that. But when it comes to raw casting speed without those things? Toshiko’s raw casting time actually exceeds how fast First High's testing devices are capable of measuring. Toshiko was distracted enough that it only occurred to her about a month before the school testing, so she only had about one distracted month to practice manually slowing herself down to speeds it could register. She overdid slamming on the proverbial breaks, and she didn't really care since the teachers weren't much use to her anyway. She actually prefers being in course two where she can get everything out of the way then shift to other things. Like… do you even realize she usually has all of the day's work, from every period, done within the first two hours? The rest of the time she's working on other things entirely.”

A stunned silence descends on the helicopter at that, no one seeming to have any clue what to say to that.

It's broken into by Mizuki, who had taken her glasses off to try to help keep an eye out for threats, suddenly gasping and turning towards a window. She wouldn't have been able to see anything before turning of course, but just having them off increases her general sensing awareness.

He asks almost immediately, “Mizuki? What's wrong?”

Mizuki remains gazing out the window a moment before turning as she starts, “Um… Near the Bay Hills Tower where the Magic Association is located, I thought I saw a beast-like aura…”

His brows dip a little in concern, “Beast-like?” Then he grabs his talismans and holds them in front of his face as his eyes close, activating a spell that will let him peer through the world. It doesn't take him long to get to the Tower, and within moments he's watching a large man wearing armor step out of a vehicle, his aura washing over him like a tiger lunging for him, “Enemy attack!”

Kanon seems confused, “I thought the enemy retreated before the volunteers' attack?”

He shakes his head, "A small number of enemies launched a surprise assault from the rear with a terrifying amount of spell power. We have to turn around quickly, the Magic Association is in danger!”

He directs the last part at Saegusa. A bit of indecision passes over her face and she looks over at Watanabe, but before either of them can say anything, the Saegusa employee that was up front calls back, "Lady Mayumi.”(2) She turns towards him, and he continues, "There's an emergency call on the line reserved for the Ten Master Clans from the Magic Association.”

Saegusa nods as she accepts an ear piece, “Patch it through.” He's not privy to what's said, but it seems to kill any indecision in her, "Nakura, turn towards the Magic Association.”

As she hands the earpiece off, she pulls out her own mobile terminal and quickly gets in touch with what turns out to be Juumonji, given his somewhat strained voice, a bit anxious, but also frustrated, and confused, speaks before Saegusa can, "Saegusa, what's going on?”

Saegusa didn't bother with pleasantries anymore than he had, "Juumonji, we will head towards the Magic Association. The helicopter will immediately turn around, so we won't take very long. Juumonji, you focus on the enemy you already drove away rather than worry about turning back to the Magic Association.”

Juumonji accepts it surprisingly easily, "I'm relying on you!"

Saegusa ends the call with a final, "Leave it to me!”

Even as they'd been speaking, the helicopter had been turning to the Magic Association building rather than towards leaving the combat zone.

It isn't too long before they're hovering over the defensive forces still covering the building while Juumonji and the rest push the invaders back being absolutely demolished by an enemy wearing armor.

Yuki starts to pull out his CAD, but Saegusa quickly intervenes, “Yuki, stop! Do you want the Magic Association members' magic to fail as well!?”(3)

He can't blame Saegusa for interfering, given Yuki, from what he's seen, seems to favor wide area magic, which could very easily be an absolute disaster. Not only in the potential of catching the Magic Association defense forces in it, bit even if it didn't, it would be all too likely to make it so they couldn't cast themselves from not being able to overcome Yuki's interference strength blanketing things to assert their own spells.(3)

Yuki just pushes past the concerns though, “Don't worry, I will end this in one strike!”(3)

Saegusa shakes her head, "No, if something goes sideways, is Yuki the only one who will pay the price?” Yuki doesn't look happy, but puts his CAD away, “Yuki, please protect the branch headquarters itself. I know this seems like I'm leaving all the responsibility to you, but the only one who can hold the fort is probably Yuki.”(3)

It genuinely surprises him that Yuki doesn't seem to pick up on Saegusa's ‘strategy’ being more to keep Yuki out of the way and agrees readily, but no one points it out, despite the fact he's pretty sure Yuki is the only one who doesn't notice.(3)

Saegusa pushes on, “Kirihara and Mibu will accompany Yuki, and can the two of you protect Shibata as well?” They both nod firmly, so she turns her gaze, "Isori, Kanon, and Yoshida, you three take care of the enemies besides the warrior in white." Once she gets firm nods, Saegusa glances at Watanabe, "Mari." 

Watanabe nods firmly, "Ah, we'll handle that guy. Erika, Saijou, you two are with me." 

Leo grins widely, "I was going to do that even without you saying so!”

After that, it's a quick rush to get changed into combat gear for Watanabe while the rest of them do their own last minute checks and quick strategizing before they disembark the helicopter. Part of him feels like they're wasting precious time, but the other part knows full well that if they hadn't taken the time to make the initial general plan, they were creating an opening for confusion for who was meant to handle what. Furthermore, taking a few moments to get better prepared and have firmer plans with their smaller groups could very well be the difference between victory and defeat.

There weren't a whole lot of enemies thankfully, and it doesn't take very long for him, Isori, and Chiyoda to deal with the others while Watanabe, Erika, and Leo tag team the main threat. Honestly, Isori and Chiyoda were a fantastic enough team on their own, that he feels like he was more there to speed things along and serve as emergency backup. That being said, it certainly suited his abilities better than what he caught of the others’ fast paced fight, given he saw Leo get punched in the chest and tossed into a car hard enough that he spat out a bit of blood. If even Saijou ‘I got hit by a motorcycle and didn't even have time to use protective magic but was fine’ Leonhardt was spitting blood, it doesn't really matter if it was the punch to the chest/abdomen area or how hard he was thrown into the car that caused him to spit blood. Either one would very likely kill Mikihiko himself.

He was very much not built for the kind of fight they were having. Not how heavy hitting it was, and not how physically fast paced it was, given even against a beast of an opponent capable of doing that to Leo, they still wrapped up with him around the same time it took for Isori, Chiyoda, and himself to wrap up with the handful of others.

It's as he's spreading his senses out to double check they got everyone that he catches the faintest whisp of it, and immediately takes off as his mouth blurts out some excuse or another.

As he runs, his mind can't help but drift a bit, turning over the fact that a few months ago, after everything that's happened in the past year, he would've hesitated. Would've questioned if he was imagining it, given how faint the whisp of magic was. Would've questioned what he was even supposed to do if he was correct, but- but-!

‘You're pretty reliable and good at magic from what I've seen.’

‘You mean like you said you couldn't take down those three intruders with guns we found but dealt with them nonlethally easily in a single spell?’

'Prediction... Mikihiko eliminates Kichijouji.'

…Toshiko was one of the strongest people he knows, something only made even more apparent by the recent revelations, and she believes in him. She thinks he's capable, and reliable, and good at magic. And she'd not only introduced him to Kokonoe Yakumo, but he seemed to agree with her assessment about him.

…..He wonders when he started valuing her opinion and assessment more than someone as famous for his Ancient Magic capabilities as Kokonoe Yakumo.

Regardless, he bursts around the corner and finds exactly what he thought he sensed. His own damn cousin, Kazuhiko(4), slinking away after having used some sort of concealment magic.

Kazuhiko seems surprised to see him, but before he can even try to say anything, he bursts out in anger, “I knew I sensed your magic on a concealment spell! And don't even try to claim you were attempting to get away from the fighting or anything! I may have only caught the tail end of it, but I know you were casting it on something- someone that was slipping inside the Magic Association! You-! Why would you betray Japan!”

Kazuhiko's expression darkens before he spits out angrily, “I haven't betrayed Japan. You and I both know they'll be caught, be driven out, by the JSDF.”

He shakes his head, “That doesn't excuse helping them!”

Kazuhiko snorts, “I traded them a little bit of assistance for a plethora of magic knowledge from the continent. It was far too good of an opportunity to pass up, and you know it. Besides, it's not like they'll really learn anything there. Ancient Magicians have done a phenomenal job keeping our knowledge out of the Magic Association and other such places hands, and there's really no secrets with Modern Magic.”

He clenches his teeth, “There are plenty of secrets! If nothing else, how could you risk that there's something valuable in there!”

Kazuhiko snarls, “There isn't, any Ancient Magician worth their damn salt knows that.” Then he gives him a condescending look, “Then again, you aren't worth your salt, are you? You're nothing but a failure, one who turned to a Modern Magic school to try to make up for your shortcomings. A failure who went full in, or did you think any of us missed that you were casting with a CAD in that stupid competition?! If anyone is a traitor here, it's you. You're a traitor to Ancient Magicians! I can not understand why Uncle hasn't thrown you out of the family yet! It can't even be just to protect family secrets, given you'd have had to reveal those to that Modern Magic technician!”

He shakes his head in fury, “None of that has anything to do with betraying our country to an enemy! If you thought you'd get away with this, that I'd let you get away with this, you're sorely mistaken!”

His cousin bares his teeth, “Already a failure, and a traitor to Ancient Magicians in general, but now willing to fully betray your family, huh?! You really have no place in the Yoshida family! Do you think they'll forgive you for something like this?! You were already on thin ice before, but now this as well!”

If he'd shouted those words at the Mikihiko from even just a month ago, it would've devastated him. He absolutely would've faltered and let him get away, either unintentionally because of him faltering or quietly stepping aside, unwilling to rock the boat when he's already such a failure, terrified to lose what little he has left, but- but-!

‘You have more in your corner than you realize Mikihiko. Don't forget that and let things shake you.’

‘Emotionally adopted or not, do I seem like the sort of woman who abandons my kids?’

‘The Yoshida can fucking fight me if they want to even try to take you back.’

He clenches his teeth, “I don't care!” Kazuhiko jolts back in surprise, clearly caught off guard by the fact he's not the same Mikihiko he was even a few months ago, terrified of being abandoned and desperate for approval, “I couldn't care less if the Yoshida decide to throw me out of the family! I actually have people in my corner for once, who's presence isn't conditional on whether I'm a prodigy or not, and that's worth far more than the majority of the Yoshida who have always been nitpicking and whose support has always been highly conditional!”

“Damn right Miki has others in his corner who don't care a lick if he's the Yoshida prodigy or not.” He turns swiftly as Erika steps up beside him, and she flashes him a grin, “Though, given how close you two seem to be since the Nine Schools Competition, I have a feeling you were talking primarily about Toshiko.”

And some part of him wants to die of embarrassment. Because there's a knowing gleam in Erika's eyes, and she's far too sharp for him to even begin to hope she hadn't picked up on Toshiko emotionally adopting him and treating him like her son, even if she was actively trying not to be obvious about it. His only real consolation is that between being sharp in general, particularly sharp when it comes to relationships specifically, and that she knows him all too well and is one of the few in First High that Toshiko has a personal relationship with, she's probably the only one.

If nothing else, Leo, stepping up to his other side as he pounds his gauntlet shaped CAD into his free hand with a huge grin likely doesn't, “Couldn't have said it better myself!” Leo glances at him as well, but thankfully it's just with amusement rather than anything knowing, “Though really Mikihiko, you couldn't come up with something better than ‘I'll be right back!’ while trying to slip away to see if it really was a family member's magic?”

He flushes slightly, but it's actually a relief to get a distraction like that from Erika knowing, “In fairness, I was so focused on it possibly being my own damn cousin helping the invaders that I wasn't actually paying attention to whatever excuse my mouth was coming up with. I was probably hoping you guys would think I had a bathroom emergency.”

Watanabe damn near gives Kazuhiko a heart attack when she pipes up from behind him, “We thought about it. Tossed the possibility aside two seconds later since Isori pointed out that under the circumstances, anyone reasonable would've said ‘bathroom’ even if they wanted to keep it vague for privacies sake.” She points her sword at Kazuhiko, “So what's it going to be? You gonna do the first smart thing you've done today and surrender, or are you going to continue being foolish and try to squirm out of this?”

Kazuhiko gives them all a hateful look, but raises his hands, “I wasn't expecting to fight anyone today, so I'm not exactly prepared for it.” His acidic gaze lands on him, “And I'm not like some traitors who let a Modern Magic technician know enough about our magic to program a CAD with our spells.”

He snorts, “For the record, and since she hasn't really tried to hide it, the reason I wasn't ejected from the Yoshida family is because that technician you hate so much has an Elemental Sight born specialization that let's her see Pushions as well as Psions. Which means Ancient Magicians can't honestly hide their magic from her anyway, not without the fact she respects our secrecy and doesn't allow herself to take in our magic. Father let it go in light of that. And with the fact that she's too much of a benefit to Ancient Magicians, since she can actually fully pinpoint what everything we do does exactly for building activation sequences, since we have those too.” Without any real input from him, his face twists like he just saw something disgusting, “Unlike your actions, that is too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

Kazuhiko's expression goes utterly blank at the very idea, and he hardly even seems to register as Watanabe moves forward to cuff him.

He shakes his head as Kazuhiko is collected and led off by the Magic Association security guards. He's not entirely sure how his family will take this, if they'll think he crossed the line. It doesn't really matter though. He wasn't entirely truthful when he said Toshiko being in his corner wasn't unconditional, but given those conditions were based on moral lines, he's absolutely confident that she'll continue to back him up even after this mess.

His cheeks flush slightly as he realizes the very next thought that crossed his mind in the wake of that confidence was a question of whether she'll be proud of him. He buries his face in his hands in the wake of that realization, uncaring of what everyone else will assume it's about.

He really has been emotionally adopted. And Spirits help him, his own brain has even accepted that emotional adoption.

The almost crushing advantage of the personal flight the suits were equipped with made it almost laughably easy to start pushing the main forces back. There were certainly wings, given how spread out the invasion is, but from her understanding, Juumonji and Ichijou had gathered volunteer magician forces and were dealing with them.

Her unit was already getting close to the ship they'd snuck into port camouflaged as a cargo ship, raining hell down on anything that doesn't surrender fast enough to save itself.

Be it from just rifles whose penetrating power was increased by magic, Yanagi casting magic that leaves a line that when crossed, easily flips one armored personnel carrier back onto another, or even her own Mist Dispersion, they honestly have little to no fighting chance. Especially since when they do score a hit, -when she lets something through because there's only so many things she can split her attention between and unless it's going to be a kill shot, she's actually under orders not to try to deal with every bullet aimed at an ally- whoever got hit is perfectly fine in mere moments.

The last of them finally seem to break and try to quickly turn their vehicles around to head back to the ship, but apparently their command has also given up the battle, given that she's hardly turned her attention away from the retreating vehicles and onto the ship before she's watching it leave the port.

Someone else in the unit lowers down to be in polite speaking distance, which is actually more to let them know who's doing the talking since the flight suits are all identical and as a protection against sound based magic, they're soundproof and simply project the sounds the microphones on them pick up from their surroundings after a split second for potential adjustments such as lowering the volume. It's part of why they communicate through coms built in constantly, since communication options are limited to that or opening up their face plates and potentially exposing themselves to harm.

She barely hears the unit member over her meticulous scan to locate who all they abandoned to make sure no one slips through their fingers, “Captain Yanagi, should we pursue them?”

Perfectly capable of being a professional despite how lighthearted he often comes across as, Yanagi doesn't even need to think, “Leave the stragglers to the backup unit. We're launching a direct assault on the enemy ship.”

She doesn't know if Kyouko had been monitoring the communication channels, or if it was just stupidly lucky timing, but Kyouko's voice comes over the com right after that, “Captain Yanagi, please refrain from any direct attacks on the enemy ship.”

She can practically hear the frown in Yanagi's voice, “Fujibayashi, what's the deal?”

Not bothering with his frustration, Kyouko answers the actual question, “The enemy ship is equipped with hydrazine fuel batteries. If we were to damage the vessel in Tokyo Bay, the adverse effects on marine life would be too severe.”

The frustration seems to have fallen out of his voice at that at least when Yanagi replies, “Then what do you want me to do?”

Rather than Kyouko, it's Kazama who replies, “Fall back, Yanagi.”

She can't blame Yanagi for his surprise, given she hadn't expected it anymore than him, since even if the unit under Yanagi's command was more suited to fast and hard strikes rather then slow meticulous cleanup, she would've thought they'd be ordered to serve as backup to minimum, “Commander?”

Kazama's voice is placating, “Don't get the wrong idea. This doesn't mean the end of the operation. Let the Tsurumi and Fujisawa units handle the sweep of the enemy remnants, and return to base for now.”

Yanagi quickly spreads the order, and they're soon on they're way.

Not a whole lot happens as they move, there's a bit of grumbling at being ordered to fall back, but given they're undoubtedly tired and sore from phantom pains of the hits she's Regrowthed away, even that's fairly limited. All too soon, they're landing and Kazama is handing over overall command of the 101st to Yanagi before ordering her to follow, he leads her, Kyouko, and Shigeru up to the top of the Bay Hills Tower.

After they reach the top, Kazama glances at Kyouko, “How did the sweep operation go?”

Kyouko glances down at her mobile terminal, “It's more or less done, and no, there weren't any problems. Though there's still some sporadic fighting going on, that should die down some tonight.”

Shigeru steps forward, “About the evacuation shelter that got buried beneath Sakuragisho station, a temporary tunnel is scheduled to open up by tomorrow.”

Kazama nods then turns his gaze back to Kyouko, “What about the enemy vessel?”

Kyouko doesn't miss a beat, likely anticipating the question and having already drawn the info up on her terminal, “It's heading south down Sagaminada at thirty knots. It's approximately halfway between the Boso Peninsula and Oshima.” She looks back up, “There should be no issues if we sink it there.”

Kazama nods firmly at her, then turns to Shigeru as he holds out a keycard, “Unlock the Third Eye seal.”

Shigeru accepts the card, “Roger.” Then he turns back to where the case for it had been set down, slotting it in before giving the verbal password it still requires, “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.”

The case projects a synthesized voice, confirming the password before unlocking and opening to show the long ranged sniper integrated CAD, Third Eye, a specialized weapon made specifically for her Decomposition. Shigeru lifts it and turns to her to hold it out somewhat gravely. She's barely accepted it, looking it over for flaws as she thinks about what she's going to be asked to do when Kazama speaks up, “Special Officer Obara. Sink the enemy vessel using Material Burst.”

She nods, “Yes sir.”

Then she makes her way over to the edge of the tower rooftop. Much like the weapon integrated CAD she'd used back when she first met Kazama and Shigeru, it technically had the ability to fire rounds to be used as a target, but that's more of a backup.

Kyouko pipes up from behind her, “Establishing a link with the surveillance camera in the stratosphere.”

On the HUD inside her helmet, the camera feed pops up and quickly starts zooming in to what her turn of the twenty-first century Calanthe part of her mind insists is an unrealistic degree. Distance doesn't really matter the same way in the information dimension as it does in the physical world, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have a range. It's more that the further away something is, the more information it has to go through to potentially reach her, and after a certain point, the rest of the world beyond becomes little more than static, the signal lost in transmission to her location. After that point, she wouldn't be able to tell a pindrop on the very edge from a nuclear explosion far enough away that the blastwave doesn't enter her range.

That being said, there were ways around that. Specifically, a live feed camera works basically the same way following signals for the drones she'd destroyed earlier does. Similarly to Decomposing and Regrowthing something to make it practically a flare. It's not actually through the camera that she uses it specifically, but rather the camera, the image it's showing, lets her focus her attention to what the camera itself is focused on in the information dimension.

Given it's a single ship this time, it's better to minimize the explosion so as to not cause a tsunami. It's for that exact reason that the target she picks is a single drop of water. It's far enough away not to potentially damage peoples eyes from looking towards it habitually, so she doesn't need to worry about that, and all too soon, she's using that magic for the second time in this life.

She lowers Third Eye as the camera feed starts to go all staticy, and while it's not really necessary since they can see it with the explosion in the distance with their own eyes, professionalism has Kyouko piping up behind her, “Confirming an explosion on the same coordinates as the enemy vessel. Due to the explosion, unable to confirm the situation at this time, but we can infer that the vessel has been sunk.”

Turning away from the sea, she focuses on them, “Any risk of tsunami?”

Kyouko answers without hesitation, “We're good.”

Shigeru nods and turns to Kazama, “Third Eye has lived up to its design.”

Kazama looks at him briefly and nods before turning back to her, “Good work.”

Before anything else can be said, Kyouko's mobile terminal starts ringing, and she quickly pulls it out and looks it over, “We've received word from GHQ.” She narrows her eyes briefly before turning to Kazama, “The Great Asian Union is now gathering on Zhenhai Navel Port. We're being ordered to deal with them at the Geojedo Base.”

She's not even surprised that it kicks off a scramble to load up in a military plane and take off. Hopefully though, this will be the last piece of this nonsense to deal with.

Kazama is standing in front of the large screen in the control room she's been brought to after a quick pitstop, and doesn't hesitate to start, “As anticipated, the enemy fleet is preparing to go into battle. Take a look at this image.” The screen behind him shifts to a satellite feed of the port, the image zoomed out enough to see a plethora of ships in the area, “This was taken five minutes ago.” Not a live feed but an image then, “If all goes as estimated, the enemy will leave the port two hours from now at the latest. Whereas the enemy fleet has already finished mobilizing, our own navy unfortunately only started mobilizing yesterday. At this point, our only option is to engage the enemy's navel forces with land or air based firepower. We're in for a bitter fight. Therefore, in order to overcome our current situation, the Independent Magic Equipped Battalion will be deploying Strategic class magicians and annihilate the enemy fleet.”

The image on screen turns to a black and white of outlines before a red circle starts to radiate out over the port area, and she bites her tongue to hear it all before she says anything, letting Kazama continue, “This operation has already been approved by the Joint Staff Council.”

He doesn't add anything else though, and she slips her eyes closed, “Was it you that came up with this strategy, or someone higher up?” Even with her eyes closed, Elemental Sight means she's aware Kazama gives her a confused look, “It's an important question to me.”

He blinks, “Ah. It was made by my superior, Major General Saeki Hiromi. Why?”

She opens her gaze to pin him, “Because it tells me who's orders I should always question from here on out.” Kazama gives her a surprised look, “Don't look at me like that. I will sink the fleet, but I will not do so in the harbor where countless innocent civilians will get caught up in the detonation. Wanting to sink it while it's still in port is an emotional decision born of rage. You're free to pass that along to this Saeki Hiromi.”

He flinches at the accusation, brows furrowing, but from the look in his eyes, he's questioning Major General Saeki more than anything. She turns towards the door, “Call me when they start to leave port, I'll deal with them when they're far enough away that it won't affect the civilians at or around the port. In the meantime, since it sounds like it's going to be a bit, I'm going to take the opportunity to get changed out of the flight suit.”

Kazama doesn't protest her leaving, if anything, he calls out a vague understanding as he stares up at the image of the radius her magic was expected to make. He's far from the only one who's been forced to take a moment to slow down and consider what they're being told to do and experiencing what seems to be a rising discomfort.

It takes long enough for her to be called back that she has plenty of time to change and even grab something to eat in the base cafeteria while she dug into this Saeki Hiromi. When she gets back, Kazama looks more frustrated than she's ever seen him before, “Everything alright sir?”

He jolts, “Ah? It's fine, I just had a… disagreement with Major General Saeki is all.” He waves his hand, “She was trying to insist her strategy was not driven by emotion but rather a desire to send a message.”

She snorts, “Seeing your ships all disappear in a single explosion visible even from where you are is a message in and of itself, but if she wants a message, fine. I'll give her a damn message.” She glances at him, “If possible, you may want a live feed camera image facing the sea far enough away inland it won't have issues from the detonation.”

He furrows his brows in confusion, but quickly starts ordering them to move one close by into position. It only takes a few minutes before they're told it's in position and watching. Only then does she use the Third Eye, target the antenna of the ship in the middle, and set off a blast big enough to take them all out in one stroke. Once she does, she shifts her focus to the smaller image showing the port and reaches through it to the local information dimension to target a spell a bit off shore. Specifically, one that ignites a message in the sky, large enough for everyone at the port city to see.

Kyouko quickly piggybacks on the satellite and hacks into a local camera feed to see it properly before pulling it up on the massive screen, for them all to see her written message, “Stop trying. I could've just as easily hit those ships in port as I did on the open sea. What do you think that death count would've looked like? -The magician your forces have called ‘Mahesvara’ since Okinawa.”

Muraji snorts behind her, “Yeah. That's a message alright.”

She lowers the Third Eye and hands it off to be sealed away again, then shakes her head before turning to Kazama, “Did you need anything else sir?”

He shakes his head, a small smile playing on his lips, given she knows Kazama isn't bloodthirsty, she assumes it's more relief that it's over and the threat to the Japanese people has passed without them having to become immoral monsters in the process, “No, that's everything. Your released Special Officer Obara. Go home and get some rest.”

She salutes one more time before leaving, all too eager to head back home and call her soulmates before getting some sleep after the busy day.

Chapter Text

She stretches after climbing out of the car, uncaring of one of the more uppity butlers, Aoki who was coming out to greet her mother, giving her a look like he wants to say something about her not being lady-like or something, but he holds his tongue at her mothers own hard look at him. It's not surprising though, given Aoki is one of those ones who used to look down on and hate her, and even without the ability to really look down on her anymore, he definitely still hates her and looks for any reason to snap at her.

She's not even sure why he's here since she highly doubts they were called for business, and given he's a financial manager… Well, it doesn't really matter a whole lot to her, but given how much he likes to suck up to people, he's probably not here for anything important.