4.

Nene sipped her drink from her stool. "Even so, are you sure this is a good place to have your ceremony?"

Kiriha shrugged. "It's the quietest, and that's what I need."

"For you and your temper tantrums." Nene spooned the soup into a bowl and passed it over. He took it and swallowed, grunting appreciation. Yuu had learned from somebody.

"Pretty much."

Nene rolled her eyes. "Do the fellows here go through this?"

Kiriha shook his head. "Not as dramatically. Their wands tamper down the whole thing. Also, Muggles." He made air quotes. Honestly, if he didn't know better, it sounded like an excuse. Okay it still sounded like an excuse.

"Japan is surrounded by non-magic users," Nene pointed out, wrinkling her nose at the slang. What was she angry at it for? She was a pureblood, same as most of their friends. Then again, Japan had differing ideas of pureblood. "Not even surrounded, smothered by them. So is England, and America. You could find a needle ina haystack before you found a mage in America."

Kiriha snorted. "I know, but hear me out." It was frightening sometimes. Nene made logic into an art form when she didn't have her brother to think about, or everyone else. "They use wands, which dilutes their magic. Don't tell them that, last time I tried, I had an angry uncle inform me my blood was as twisted and rotten as a squib's wand. Our Catalysts,"He touched the obsidian knife in his pocket. "draw directly from the body, because most of our magic is based around our martial arts. Speaking in Eastern countries anyway."

"Wands make my skin crawl," Nene mused, beginning to set up a mirror. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. "So easy to snap."

"It's a European thing," Kiriha said with a shrug. "The Americans could give a damn to be honest. So long as they can use it, they'll apply their magic anywhere. But see, the Europeans are used to wands, so their bodies are born not really expecting the magic to go anywhere but their wand hands, while we-"

"Have it go through all of us, yes." Nene sighed. "And because of that, their magic and electronics tend to clash worse than ours because direct power goes against alternating current and direct current."

"I'd say it was science if science really worked in this case." Kiriha swallowed another spoonful and put his head on the table. "Also means they couldn't smell magic without perfume in it. I can't wait to get the hell out of here." His head was still throbbing.

"Sleeping helps," Nene said with a withering smile. "I'm going to contact Taiki-kun." She ran her fingers over the mirror and it flickered with light.

"Don't." Kiriha glared at her. "You know he'll drop everything, including his boyfriend and his inheritance prep, and come running over here. I'll be fine."

Nene snorted. "You do realize my magic is unsuited to healing spells, correct? Have you seen an inheritance in action? I am not going to try dragging you out of here. I'd kill myself. You'll thank me if and when he shows, trust me."

Kiriha glared at her, then let it go. It'd be hard as hell for Taiki to even get here. He would be fine. It was just some settling of old grudges and declaring his superiority to the dead. It wasn't even a big deal.

"I'm taking a shower."

"Do that, you drama queen."

Kiriha balked at the unimpressed smile on her face, then turned away, face burning red. He hated them both sometimes.