The Gathering

36 Years Later [AD2096]…

After losing half of their combat force, including their clan head Yotsuba Genzou, the Yotsuba became a secretive clan for the need of protecting the rest of the members of the clan, and due to the extreme secrecy surrounding the Yotsuba Clan, the general public didn't know about the magicians connected to the Yotsuba Clan. Currently, the only publicly known magician from the Yotsuba Clan is the current head of the Yotsuba Clan; Yotsuba Maya.

Even though the Yotsuba family lost half of its combat force, the Yotsuba family is still one of the two most powerful families in the Ten Master Clans alongside the Saegusa family. Yotsuba Maya, the current head of the Yotsuba family, is considered one of, if not the most powerful magician in the world who possess a Magic which couldn't be defended against called 'Meteor Stream', earning her the names 'Demon Lady of the Far East' and 'Queen of Night'. She is so fearsome that even other members of the Yotsuba are terrified of her.

In the Yotsuba, each individual possessed an unique inherited ability which varied between two types. Some would have calculation area that was warped by a strong power. For example, Yotsuba Maya possessed a specialized/unique magic called Meteor Stream. For others, they would have some form of Mental Interference Magic ability unique for them that couldn't be classified within Systematic Magic. For example, Yotsuba Miya possessed a forbidden Outer-Systematic magic called Mental Design Interference.

The branch houses of the Yotsuba family are:

Shiiba Family : Shiiba Hidetsugu (Branch House Head).

Kuroba Family : Kuroba Juuzou (Former Branch House Head), Kuroba Mitsugu (Branch House Head), Kuroba Fumiya (Candidate), Kuroba Ayako (Fumiya's twin-sister).

Shizuka Family: Shizuka Haruto (Branch House Head).

Shibata Family: Shibata Osamu (Branch House Head), Shibata Katsushige (Candidate).

Mugura Family : Mugura Asumi (Branch House Head).

Tsukuba Family: Tsukuba Touka (Branch House Head), Tsukuba Yuuka (Candidate).

Mashiba Fsmily: Mashiba Shinsuke (Branch House Head).

Shiba Family* : Shiba Miya (Yotsuba Miya), Shiba Miyuki (Candidate).

In reality, Shiba family was not officially a part of the Yotsuba clan since it consists of only 2 people, however, they considered as branch family for the sake of Yotsuba Miya (Shiba Miya).*

Shiba Tatsuya was the oldest son of Yotsuba Miya (Shiba Miya). He was eleven months older than his younger and only sibling Miyuki. Before his birth, the whole Yotsuba clan was praying for him since he was a fetus to have a superpower and be a powerful leader who could protect their future generations from this unjust world. The day he was born, the whole Yotsuba Clan was waiting for the report about the newborn Tatsuya from the head of the Yotsuba family, Yotsuba Eisaku. Eisaku possessed an innate magic which allowed him to check the potential of the newborn by looking at the Magic Calculation Area (MCA) of the newborn and thus would know with what kind of magic Tatsuya was born with. Usually Yotsuba Eisaku needed only a half an hour to finish looking at the MCA of the newborn, to report the potential of the newborn to the Branch House Heads of the Yotsuba Clan after only an hour after childbirth. But this time the main house didn't report to the branch houses about any information about Tatsuya's potential, only that Tatsuya was born. The next day, the main house of the Yotsuba family reported to the branch houses that 'Shiba Tatsuya is Born-Specialized Magician, his Magic Calculation Area is dominated by a magic, rendering him unable to wield other types of Systematic Magic. His magic power is called 'Restoration' by reading the structural information of any object up to specific time in the past with his Restoration magic he can restore anything to its original state, for this reason Tatsuya has been ousted of his position as the next clan head of the Yotsuba Clan and asking the branch houses to find a candidate from each family and the one with greatest potential will be the next clan head'. With that report the hopes of the Yotsuba Clan members were completely crushed.

When Tatsuya was 6 years old, he had finished his training with the guardians of the main house under the supervision of his mentor Kuroba Juuzou, who was one of two survivors of the war against Dahan alongside Yotsuba Eisaku (Died when tatsuya is 2), the clan head at that time, Yotsuba Maya, appointed him as Miyuki's Guardian. The branch house's heads were not satisfied with the decision, some for the reason that Tatsuya couldn't possess magic to protect Miyuki and some other still can't understand why he is a guardian. However, Maya said that it was Miya who requested Tatsuya to be a Miyuki's Guardian and after Tatsuya agreement, she approved the decision and she will not accept any objection. None of the branch head houses tried to resist in fear incurred the wrath of Yotsuba Maya.

In December of 2096, branch families of the Yotsuba Clan received an envelope from the main house. Within the envelope there was an invitation for a new year's Yotsuba Clan gathering, however, unlike previous year they specially added "Everybody must attend" on the invitation. Everybody from the Yotsuba Clan understands that "the time has come" to decide the next head for Yotsuba Clan.

The candidates were:

Shiba Miyuki:

Miyuki was the younger sister of Tatsuya, unlike her brother, who was technically demoted from being a heir, she is now the number one potential successor. Miyuki's innate ability is Outer-Systematic Mental interference called Cocytus.

Kuroba Fumiya:

Fumiya is the Kuroba family candidate to be Maya's Successor. As one of the candidates for the Yotsuba heir, Fumiya was both skillful and powerful. Like Miyuki he was born with an innate ability which has the trait of unique Outer-Systematic Magic called "Direct Pain".

Shibata Katsushige:

Katsushige was born with an innate ability which was Specialized/Unique magic known as 'Density Control' – His signature magic allowed him to freely manipulate the density of gas, liquid and bodies.

Tsukuba Yuuka:

Yuuka is a rare magician who specializes in Outer-Systematic Type and unlike Shiba Miyuki who specialized in high class spell, she is more of a generalist.

On December 30th, 2096, a day before the new year gathering at the mansion of the main house, Yotsuba Maya was lost in deep thought for a while, after sipping tea from her cup she picked up the buzzer on the table.

The faint chime of a handbell rang out, not a minute later a soft knock rang from the door.

"Did you call for me ?"

Hayama had formerly served the previous Yotsuba Head and was now continuing his service under Maya. While he only appeared slightly past middle age, he was actually over 70 years old.

"Hayama-san, please inform the Tatsuya-san, the candidates and Ayako-san and that they have been invited for dinner with me"

"Certainly"

Hayama bowed, then left the room as he carried out Maya's instructions.

On the night of December 30th,2096, Shiba Miyuki, Shiba Tatsuya, Kuroba Fumiya, Kuroba Ayako, Shibata Katsushige and Tsukuba Yuuka were sitting at table that had been prepared in the traditional Japanese way with Yotsuba Maya at the head of the table with Katsushige, Fumiya and Ayako on the right side of the table, and on the left side of table were Miyuki, Tatsuya and Yuuka.

"I am glad that every one of you is here."

Maya said those words in a tone indiscernible from her true feelings or a simple façade.

"Thank you very much for the invitation, Oba-sama."

Miyuki responsed to her aunt's words with a respectful bow of her head, the rest did the same by bowing their head in thanks for the invitation.

"It's fine, since this meeting is very important for the future of the Yotsuba Clan, because I will decide who will be the elected successor for the next clan head by the end of our meeting. The official announcement will be done tomorrow during the family gathering, but I will tell all of you beforehand about my decision."

"We can continue our conversation while we are eating"

As Maya gives the permission for the rest to start eating, they start eating while waiting for Maya to start the conversation. Even though four of the six were candidates to be Maya's successor but they still couldn't hold themselves in front someone as fearsome like her. Not only them but even the rest of the Yotsuba Clan members were terrified of her to degree that it was impossible to hold a casual conversation with her.

"Yuuka-san I really feel relief that you were able to flee from the organization that has been trying to captured you for some time now."

"My apologies for making you worry."

Yuuka answered Maya with bowing her head.

Maya nodded leisurely at Yuuka's posture.

"Though the first time you were able to flee without facing them in a direct fight but it seems that this time it was very difficult for you, you incurred harm and your guardian was killed in the confrontation"

A few days ago, on December 24th, Yuuka and her guardian were on their way to the main house of the Yotsuba Clan, when an International Criminal organization attacked Yuuka and her guardian to capture Yuuka alive for her genes, which had a high affinity for Mental Interference Magic. This forced Yuuka retreat to Tokyo, after suffering injuries and getting her guardian killed in the confrontation.

Glancing at Yuuka's anxious face, Maya said, "Don't bother yourself by thinking about them because they have been taken care of."

"Thank you very much."

Again Yuuka bowed her head deeply in thankfulness.

"You don't have to thank me since I am not the one who did that."

Maya said that with a charming smile, the candidates and Ayako were not only surprised by Maya's response but also the way she smiled.

Until now, Miyuki had respectfully maintained her position as a listener, but at this time …

A soft knock rang from the door, interrupting Miyuki's intention ro ask a question.

It was the head butler Hayama, after bowing deeply, he muttered in Maya's ear, Maya smiled.

Nobody present over there understood why she smiled, or the intention behind her smile.

"Yuuka-san"

"Yes."

Being spoken to suddenly, she involuntarily answered in reflex while still being puzzled.

"Would you like to know who took your revenge for you?"

"I would like to know that to be able to properly thank him Obaa-sama."

A frustrated groan came from besides Miyuki. Everyone turned to look at Tatsuya.

"Show us the video Hayama-san"

Maya ordered Hayama

"There is no need to do that oba-ue"

Maya suddenly turned to Tatsuya and gave him a big smile full of pride and motherly love. Hayama and Tatsuya let out a deep sigh at this. Maya reserved this smile for only one person in the world. And that person was...

"Of course there is. You are my cute little son after all, everyone should know how great you are"

...Her Cute Little Son.

--

The whole series before this point follows the light novels(except for the battle of Okinawa, which will be explained in the upcoming chapters) that is the reason for skipping directly to 2096 december and not the spring of 2095.