Tatsuya had actually hugged her and that caused her some consternation. To use a modern term, he was not a touchy-feely person at the best of times, so that was unexpected and strangely comforting. To her side, Mizuki started crying the moment she recognized Mikihiko, and now they seemed to be lost in each other. Well, that's not a surprise.
"Erika, how do you feel?" Tatsuya asked and she briefly studied him. He looked older, but that wasn't the only change since she last saw him a year ago in another world. He seemed more mature now, almost an adult. A lot must have happened to him in that time. With a sinking feeling Erika realized that, by comparison, she managed to skate through their collective separation hardly noticing anything at all. "Can you stand up?"
"I think I'm okay," she replied, mindful of any behaviour that might trip Mizuki into another scolding. "It's not like I was physically injured, so—"
She allowed Tatsuya to help her to her feet, but then the room spun around her and her knees buckled. Despite his assistance, she sank to the floor.
"Okay, just stay there for a bit and rest."
"Ahh, damn. Not exactly doing the Chiba family proud here."
"Wait, Tatsuya," the brown-haired, muscular boy said. "Chiba-san shouldn't move yet. She was in direct contact with Lilith, and I know firsthand how taxing a dragon god can be."
To Erika's eyes, and allowing for this being their very first meeting, he seemed distracted, always patting his hip as though reassuring himself that his cell phone was there. He was putting on a brave act, but his eyes looked worried, and she really didn't think it was about her.
"But is she going to be okay?" Mrs. Hyoudou asked with tears in her eyes. "I remember, that time, and you… just for us… and now this again…"
"Mom, she'll be alright," he replied, embracing her. Mom? So unless there's a brother I haven't heard about, that's Issei Hyoudou. Funny, he didn't look like an emperor. Despite the reputation engendered by the few stories his mother had told, not to mention those strange memories of Orphis, he seemed so… normal, if surprisingly muscular. "That time I was overwhelmed by Dragon Deification—" Huh? A strange term, but one she was on the verge of understanding. Was that Lilith's influence? Her momentary contact with that girl's mind gave her vast insight into the differences between this world and her old one, but she wasn't sure she could fully grasp it all only with her own understanding. "—but even before Azazel did that thing, I was already on the mend, just very slowly. In Chiba-san's case, she was simply exposed to some of Lilith's memories. She'll be just fine with a bit of rest."
Erika wondered how he knew all that as it had been merely seconds since Lilith broke contact with her and Mizuki.
"So, Erika, the world has made its decision and is now looking to see how you will react," Tatsuya deadpanned with a straight face and she stared at him, uncomprehending. "Where will you take your rest, here or downstairs in the living room? Choose wisely, for much is riding on your decision."
"Did you just make an unnecessary joke?" she asked him. "Who are you?"
Even Hyoudou was frowning in confusion.
"Yeah, Tatsuya, what she said. I may have some understanding of how dragons operate, but aren't you being a little blasé and nonchalant about what just happened with Chiba-san?"
"Hmm, you may be right, Issei-senpai, but I guess I'm just not used to it."
"Used to what?"
"Lately, my sister's been after me to 'show a bit of humour,' as she put it. I've been trying, but my sense of timing and appropriateness is still quite a ways off. That's a small part of it, but in a larger sense, I guess I'm just not that worried about her."
"Don't you think that's a tad too callous, Tatsuya-san?" Mrs. Hyoudou asked, looking at him with angry eyes and wiping away her own tears. "Your friend just had this kind of mishap and you're treating it like a joke. Not to mention that you're being extremely rude to her."
He looked genuinely puzzled and Erika realized with a sinking feeling where this was heading. "Is that how I seem? That certainly wasn't my intention. Ma'am, you met Erika and Mizuki what, five or six hours ago, but before we were separated, I knew them for two years. More importantly, I've been through a war and three armed conflicts with them, so I know exactly what they, and especially Erika, are capable of."
Her eyes widened in surprise and she stared at the four of them. "A war? You mean all four of you were actually fighting on the front lines? But—"
"Mizuki is not a fighter," Mikihiko said, helping her to her feet. "Unlike the rest of us, she wasn't born into a mage family, but even so, she was active during the Yokohama invasion and later in the defence against the Parasites. She always does what she thinks is right." The girl in question blushed and turned her face away for a moment, but he didn't seem to notice. "With the exception of Minami-chan and the Saegusa twins, the rest of us, yeah, pretty much what Tatsuya said. I saw Erika cut clean through an armoured, magically enhanced urban suppression tank. And not just once, but many times over."
"Ah, damn it, Miki," she muttered as all eyes turned on her in sudden realization that, yes, she was, in fact, quite capable of massive carnage.
Why the hell was he telling them that? It really wasn't a time she wanted to remember. Still a first year high school student at the time, she and her friends were defending a landing site for an evacuation helicopter, but they just kept coming and coming. It was entirely possible that, in all of the confusion, the tank drivers didn't even realize they were there and merely tried converging on a rally position.
At that moment, in a time of war, her options were quite clear: kill or be killed. This she was entirely clear on, so it wasn't the lives she had taken that bothered her. It was only since coming to this world that the eagerness with which she attacked every tank started to make her think too much. With that two-handed sword in her grasp, its blade almost as long as she was tall, she felt damn near omnipotent, like she could take on an army all by herself and win.
And she very nearly did.
It couldn't have been the sword's doing as it didn't really have any innate intelligence. Unlike all the fairy tale swords possessed by this evil spirit or that, it was just a sword, a masterpiece of magic engineering produced by the Chiba family that only Erika could wield to its fullest potential. Even in this crazy world of devils and dragons, swords couldn't be possessed by living beings. Could they?
Or was she simply an inbred mutant, as all magicians in her world were, suffering from all the problems attendant to lack of genetic diversity?
Gods, how she missed that sword!
"The only thing currently wrong with her," Mikihiko continued, "is the weakness due to her spirit body taking a hit. Rest is the prescribed treatment. The reason we sound nonchalant is that we've been through all this before."
Tatsuya cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention and she wanted to kiss him for taking that pressure off her.
"Okay, we're straying off-topic here," he said, "and it was my choice of words that started all this. With that in mind, I sincerely apologize if I gave anyone the impression that I'm callous toward Erika's health, but as Mikihiko said, we have already verified hers and Mizuki's condition. Please don't worry; there is absolutely no cause for alarm."
"Yeah, but that's exactly what a mad scientist would say," Erika muttered.
Of course, hearing that caused Mizuki to frown and she tore her eyes away from Mikihiko's face. "You're not helping, Erika. Don't you think we should at least greet the people here and then go downstairs where you can rest?"
It didn't sound exactly like a question, though. But, best to avoid another scolding, especially one so soon on the heels of the last one.
"Tatsuya, help me up," she murmured and he did so effortlessly like always.
Though the room still spun a little, it wasn't nearly as bad as before, and she managed to execute an acceptable bow. Her father might have found room for complaint, but nobody in the room reacted in a negative way. Mizuki followed suit.
"I apologize for the poor showing," she said. "My intention had been to do things in a proper, respectful order, but… Well, in all honesty, I didn't expect to be sidetracked by a—and I can't believe I'm about to say it—a dragon god in search of snacks." Lilith buried her face even deeper into Orphis' dress folds and shook a little, but Erika got the distinct impression that she was giggling. "Please allow us to introduce ourselves properly. I am Erika Chiba. Thank you very much for reuniting us with our friends."
"And I'm Mizuki Shibata. Thank you for helping us move and for taking such good care of us."
The boy she assumed was Issei stepped forward and confirmed it with his first words.
"And I'm Issei Hyoudou," he said with an open, genuine though somewhat strained smile. Erika could only wonder in silence what was wrong. "Welcome to our home. Hmm, let's see, introductions. Well, you've already met my mom. Dad, too, but I think he's up on the roof working on his vegetable garden. That's Kiba, as you know, but Rossweisse said she had some business at the school and will be returning shortly." He laid his hand on the blonde girl's head and she looked so much like a puppy being petted that Erika couldn't help but think of how similar that behaviour was to someone else she knew from her old world. One glance at Mizuki told her that her friend was seeing the same similarity.
The girl stepped forward and bowed. "My name is Asia Argento and I'm pleased to meet you both."
She was just a bundle of energy, and had the kindest eyes Erika had ever seen, on anyone. The look she directed at Issei was filled with adoration, but… No, it was more than that, a deep and abiding love with no expectation of perfection. Unlike someone else she could mention.
It was the other girl's turn, her white hair almost glowing. "I'm Koneko Toujou," she said with a deadpan serious expression on her face and ran strangely measuring eyes over the two newcomers. "I wonder, is it new contenders?"
Well, Erika supposed, a pair of girls appearing out of nowhere would disturb the residents of the house. From her personal point of view, she was used to such things because she had lived in an orphanage for the last year with kids coming and going almost every other week. For someone else, used to a certain degree of stability, the sudden arrival of newcomers could be cause for alarm. If she and Mizuki wanted to live here without causing undue tension with the others, Erika would need to learn how to interact with them without always rubbing people the wrong way. In other words, she would have to grow the hell up.
But, and this is what took her completely by surprise, was she wrong, or was that girl Koneko staring with hard, distrustful eyes at her chest, as well as Mizuki's? Even Issei Hyoudou noticed it and chuckled, patting the girl on the shoulder. The tension went away like it had never been.
Erika decided that it was time to put to rest another problem that she had created and turned to his mother.
"Mrs. Hyoudou," she said, "I am very sorry. You've been so kind to us, but all I do is cause people problems."
She suddenly found herself encased in a deep embrace and not for the first time Erika wondered at how safe and secure the hug made her feel.
"No, please don't think that," the older woman replied. "It's really nobody's fault, but we just need to be more vigilant to make sure newcomers don't hurt themselves. But are you really feeling okay?"
"No harm done. Like Tatsuya and Mikihiko have said, I'm just a little weak. Rest will take care of that."
"Why don't you rest here for a few hours, then?" she suggested.
With a shake of her head, Erika replied, "If you don't mind, I'd rather not delay our reunion any longer. It's been a year in the making, and I never intended to do it piecemeal like this." She glanced at Tatsuya and Mikihiko standing nearby.
"Well, everyone's waiting downstairs," Tatsuya said with a nod. "Let's see how this goes, but you can just rest on the couch."
And that's how, despite a bizarre incident that nobody could've predicted, Erika and Mizuki ended up having their belated reunion in the crowded small living room on the ground floor of the house. Due to Erika's still wobbly legs, Tatsuya picked her up and carried her, despite her vociferous protests.
"Not everyone gets this sort of 'princess treatment,'" was all he would say.
With an evil smirk Mizuki carried a blanket Mrs. Hyoudou gave her and so her fate was sealed.
ZZZ
Lying on the couch and covered by the blanket, Erika had the idea that she shouldn't have complained so bitterly to Tatsuya as he carried her to the elevator and then into the room where all of their other friends were waiting. Leo, Honoka, Shizuku, Miyuki, Minami, and Kei Isori as well as the Saegusa twins, Kasumi and Izumi. The last three Erika didn't know all that well, but when the tears started, Mrs. Hyoudou pushed the other residents of the house out of the room and locked the door behind her.
"They need some time in private," was all she would say.
After fifteen minutes of lying on that couch, looking like an invalid at a long-term care facility—or so it seemed to her—Erika threw off the blanket and sat up instead. It wasn't just embarrassment. Honoka and Shizuki were trying to make themselves comfortable around her, and that just wasn't possible when she was horizontal. Instead, she made room for them to sit down and hold her hands.
She wasn't sure who was getting more reassurance from that, them or her, and she didn't want to ask.
In the year they hadn't seen each other, what was most evident to Erika was how much they had all matured. It was especially visible on Tatsuya's and Miyuki's cousin Minami and on the twins. They were the youngest, after all. Aside from them, the biggest change seemed to have occurred to Tatsuya's younger sister, Miyuki.
She didn't crowd him. She didn't sit demurely in a chair by his side. She didn't look up at him with empty, adoring eyes whenever he said something halfway intelligent. Hell, not once did she call him 'onii-sama,' but referred to him by name. In the past, Erika often wondered if she even knew what her own brother's name was. Stranger still, the atmosphere between them didn't turn pink and flowery whenever he patted her head, though she still seemed to enjoy it.
That really drove home the point that they had definitely grown up in the past year.
Honoka seemed free of her infatuation with Tatsuya, though Erika couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing, while Shizuku was as outwardly emotionless as ever. She wondered how the girl was handling her now-unrequited addiction to high school magic competitions.
Leo didn't say anything to her, not at first. Instead, he grasped her by the back of her neck and drew her in close where he touched his forehead to hers without saying anything for a good minute. Finally, he said just two words.
"Welcome back."
It was at that moment that Erika realized she belonged again. This particular circle of friends were the most important people to her outside of her own family, and in some ways, even more so. In the past, whenever she managed to make any friends, she inevitably let them drift away, but these got under her guard even before their first class started, over two years ago now and in a different world. Got under her guard, and stayed there.
The three youngest girls—Minami, Kasumi, and Izumi—she didn't know enough to judge their change, but Kei Isori, an almost androgynous boy seemed to have achieved some masculinity as he matured. As far as Erika was concerned, the three were nothing more than an appendage to Tatsuya's and Miyuki's work on the Student Council, but now they had become the last links to their old world. There was no choice now but to include them in her 'friends list'.
After all the inevitable questions that teenagers had for each after a year of separation were asked and answered, Erika had a question of her own.
"About the dandelion, did you guys send it?" And just like that, the good vibe following their reunion vanished. After taking note of the situation, she asked, "What, did I say something bad?"
It was Kei Isory who broke the silence first.
"No, no, you couldn't have known since we did everything in our power to keep it from you two, but the reason your move was so hastily arranged was mainly due to us running out of time."
Erika felt a twinge in her stomach, a premonition.
"What do you mean by that?"
"To understand that, you have to understand the current situation in this world. But first, a bit of history. When we first arrived in this world, it was smack in the middle of a war. I don't mean in the human world, though those were certainly common enough. No, I'm talking about the spiritual realms. Basically, they were all in an uproar due to some idiots running around flashing their powers, trying to cause an apocalypse for some incomprehensible reason, being a general nuisance.
"I don't know, maybe because of that they started looking for new troublemakers, because almost as soon as went to the welfare office for help, we were identified as 'special power users' and became subject to the authority of the Japanese branch of the Grigori organization." He smiled, a far more manly look than anything she had ever seen on his face before. "When I say 'authority,' I mean that nobody in Japan's government knows anything about them. It's the complete opposite of our world where magicians are owned and controlled by the government via the Hundred Families."
"Who the hell are the Grigori?" Erika demanded. The Vice-Principal never said anything about that, though in all likelihood, he probably had no idea at all.
"Fallen Angels," Mikihiko told her and she started in surprise. Were these the same as what she saw in the mind of Lilith? "They're part of the world's power balance. I don't know why they Fell, though I was told it was due to giving in to their lustful natures, or what their organization was like in the past. These days, they're just a bunch of perverts who spend their time immersed in really weird research."
Shizuku laughed out loud at that, then blushed and covered her mouth with her free hand. When her eyes met Erika's, she just giggled and acted as though it didn't happen.
"Anyway," Kei Isori continued, "once they started researching us, we had no choice but to cooperate. We were sequestered for months while they conducted their research and we ended up having to explain about our world, our classification, and even about the Course 1/Course 2 dichotomy. They were very interested in everything we said and seemed almost childishly delighted every time we demonstrated a skill.
"In the end, they decided we weren't terrorists, but they couldn't allow us to just roam free, not with all those terrorist groups running around. They gave us the choice of joining them, joining the magician guild Grauzauberer, or going to school at Kuoh Academy where we would be under the supervision of the Gremory and Sitri families. Of course they didn't explain their true nature to us; we had to find that out for ourselves later.
"It wasn't really that difficult of a choice to make. We were so new to this world, without any resources of our own, and it is almost the complete opposite of what we had known. Going to school was the only choice we were familiar with. What did we know about Fallen Angels or the guild Grauzauberer? We were under close observation until preparations were completed at the school and accommodation provided."
"Okay, I get that you had a rough time getting accepted by the local powers that be, but that still doesn't explain about the flower."
"Right, that. About a month and a half into our initial examination by these Fallen Angels, news came that you two had been found, living and attending school in another part of Tokyo as official orphans. We made a deal with them so they would monitor you, but otherwise leave you alone in exchange for our complete cooperation. However, the magician guild Grauzauberer said they would only allow that to go on for so long without making contact.
"When we heard that they were sending agents out to talk to you both, we knew that our time was up and so preparations for your transfer were made. Rather hastily, I would say, which might explain some of your earlier concerns about that. So long as you're here with us, you won't have to make these decisions on your own. It was just good fortune that you were moved on the same day those agents went to visit your orphanage. Since they knew that Course 1 students were called Blooms and Course 2 Weeds, they must've decided to send you a message, of sorts."
"All these things were going on behind our backs," Mizuki said, "and we had no idea. We didn't even know that any of you were here, either. Why didn't you at least contact us to let us know you were safe?"
Mikihiko squeezed her hand and Erika realized that he hadn't actually let go of it through this entire discussion. "Yeah, sorry about that. That part about 'leaving you alone' included us staying away and not communicating. They wanted to see how you would act when you weren't restrained by any club, organization, or social circle."
Well, that made sense to Erika, but one thing was quite clear.
"So, these Fallen Angels and the Gremory family, they've been lying to the Board of Education. Fujioka-sensei, our last Vice Principal, said you guys spent a week at a hotel before being brought here."
Tatsuya smirked. "Some truths—or even half-truths—some lies, stir it together, and serve piping hot. People will swallow it whole without question. In that regard, at least, it's no different from own world."
"When you say it with that grin on your face," Erika muttered, "it makes me question your moral rectitude."
"I never claimed to be all that invested in such things," he replied and everyone laughed.
"But wait a minute," she said. "It sounds like we all arrived roughly at the same time, and from what you've said, you were investigated for months before making it to this school. How have you managed your classes after coming in so late?"
"They created a Course 2 in both Year 1 and Year 2 curriculums," Isori replied. "It shares non-academic classes like phys-ed with the rest of the school, but otherwise it's an accelerated program where they cram a year's worth of education into either half a year or three-quarters of a year, depending on when you arrived. They were thinking that staggering the years was a good idea, but just couldn't find a way to make it work for graduation.
"We tried to explain that that's not how Course 1 and Course 2 worked, but they wouldn't listen. Said if we didn't like it, we could wait at that hotel for the rest of the year. So we shut up and let them do what they wanted.
"Anyway, as for the magicians, it's not like the guild was going to kidnap you or anything," Isori continued. "At worst, they would pressure you into joining. Even with us, they send agents every couple of weeks. We've been holding them off by telling them that we're still high school students, some of us in First Year, but given that they've got members who are in primary school, it's getting harder and harder to justify that excuse. For now, we're lucky that we have a third year of school to look forward to since until we graduate, we're under the authority of the Gremory family. They'll probably become more insistent afterward."
"But, Isori-senpai, what is it that they want, exactly?" Mizuki asked.
"No, please, just call me Kei. But to answer your question, they want our membership, in Grauzauberer or any other registered guild."
"That sounds familiar," Erika said. "What, are they afraid of stray magicians?"
Though she phrased it as a joke, stray magicians even in her own world were no laughing matter. How many problems had they caused? It was even said that they were responsible for the Yokohama invasion of 2095, not necessarily leading the troops but providing technical support and information. Even she had become embroiled in the minor magician civil war that erupted a year later.
"That's exactly what they're afraid of," Mikihiko said, catching her off-guard. "They even call them that. There've been a few incidents, and Kuoh Academy itself was attacked, but we managed to prevent anyone in our vicinity from being hurt without revealing our abilities. Those who attacked the school weren't interested in us, anyway. But, before we got enrolled here, we all sat down and discussed it. The agreement we made was that, as much as possible, we would keep our abilities a secret from the others. In the end, it didn't work out that way."
"Did something happen?"
He shook his head. "Not at first. The bus they hired dropped us off at this house, which was the first surprise. The second was that the Gremory family makes its base here for their operations not related to school affairs, and the third is the Occult Research Club at school which is their base there. Anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou didn't really know anything about what was going on, or even who all the kids living here were, but they offered our youngest pair—" He smiled at Kasumi and Izumi. "—a room of their own here because they didn't want girls that young living without supervision. Minami, too, got an offer, but she decided to stay with Miyuki and Tatsuya, and since she so naturally sounded like their relative, they let her. The rest of us moved into the residences provided. After some time, we found out what this world really like.
"When we first came to Kuoh Academy, we were all like, 'Ha ha, Fallen Angels. Very funny.' Then that insane attack happened and we found out that not only do Fallen Angels exist, but Angels and Devils do, too. They're nothing like all the stories make them out to be, but we were told later that they had changed over the last thousand years or so. And it's not just them, either. Pretty much any fantastic being you can think of from Japanese and Continental folklore, they exist, either now or in the past. Some have gone extinct, others into hiding, and most try to coexist with an unaware humanity as peaceably as possible."
"Kuroka-san said that even the European legends tend to be true," Shizuku said in her trademark deadpan tone, "but the monster population of the Americas is much thinner than on other continents. They are more reliant on demonic energies to maintain their human form and intelligence, and so they tend to stay in isolated realms for longer without interacting with humanity. As far as the nonhuman population of the Americas is concerned, it's mostly Devils, Fallen Angels, and the monsters that moved there from other areas of the world."
"Kuroka-san, you say?" Erika said, tapping a finger against her chin and remembering that swishing tail. "Well, she would know, I guess. But you say any I can think of? Then, how about, oh I don't know, a nine-tailed fox."
"There's one living at this house, and whole families in Kuoh Town," Kasumi piped up suddenly. Up until then, the twins didn't show any inclination toward doing much talking, but quietly sat close to Mizuki. "She's usually in her human form, but sometimes her tail and ears show up. All in all, I'd say she's probably the most polite of the whole lot of them, probably because she's the youngest and a princess. But even she will say outrageous things out of the blue."
Erika stared at her.
"Tail, you say? You mean like Kuroka?"
Izumi giggled. "Oh, right, Kuroka-san's tail, but that's not who Kasumi means. Kuroka-san is a nekomata, a cat spirit, like her sister Koneko, but Kunou is a nine-tailed fox. She's only twelve or thirteen."
With a nervous laugh, Mizuki said, "We heard these names from Mrs. Hyoudou, but to be honest, I thought she was either crazy or pulling our leg."
"Well, I'm not entirely sure you're wrong," Tatsuya said after getting a cup of tea from his sister. "She and her husband, sometimes I think their acceptance of the supernatural is highly abnormal. Maybe it's because their son is smack in the middle of it, but even before they got kidnapped, they rationalized every weird thing that happened around them in a way that simply wasn't normal for regular humans."
Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou had basically admitted to all this during their limo ride from Tokyo, and it was interesting to see it confirmed through another conversation. There was another topic that needed to be finished, however.
Mikihiko then said, "Even in our own world, when people said they accepted magic as reality, they were only talking about Modern Magic, with its clean, almost sterile appearance. Of course, that's not a surprise, given its development history. But do you remember your reactions to the downright monstrous organic forms Ancient Magic can generate?" She and Leo both nodded. They were there together, after all, when magically produced animals started eating a person. "What's going on in this house is more akin to that than the relatively harmless magic they teach at school."
"I see, but you started telling us why you couldn't keep your abilities a secret from the school?"
"Oh, it wasn't that the school found out," Kei Isori replied, "but rather the Occult Research Club and the Student Council, who weren't even here during that time. When that attack started, Kuoh was the only inland city in Japan to be targeted. We had no choice but to help defend it. There were some others at the school that had various abilities, so you can say we found out about each other."
"At first, we tried to just provide support for the various groups already defending Kuoh," Tatsuya picked up the story, "but there were just too many enemies and they were too fast. I think Kasumi and Izumi were first. When their position was in danger of being overrun, they abandoned their personal magics and started casting Nitrogen Storm together." He gave them an indecipherable look and the two girls squirmed in their seats. "I mean, really, you two, collecting that much liquid nitrogen from the atmosphere but not being able to control it all so it would fall back on your own allies and position. Even half a year later, I still can't get over it."
"We explained all that, Tatsuya-senpai," Izumi replied before the hotheaded Kasumi could explode. "None of our other magics were strong enough against that horde of dragons. Our only choice at that time was to switch to carpet bombing from precision attacks. Even with that, we couldn't destroy the enemies, but our attacks slowed them down enough for others to pick off."
"Even then, we were only able to go all out because Leo-senpai shielded us the whole time so we could concentrate on attacking," Kasumi added and for the first time Erika noticed the strange, meaning-filled looks she was throwing toward her friend who turned bright red and looked away.
Tatsuya shook his head in disbelief. "Yes, I understand that. Remind me to give you extra lessons in battlefield awareness."
"Did you learn a new defensive magic?" she asked Leo who was still blushing.
So it was like that? Well, good for them. Maybe they learned their lesson from Mikihiko and Mizuki and won't mope around for two years. But, if Kazumi had any interest in Leo, she would have to learn how to cook since he had far more interest in food than romance.
Oh, well, it would give them something to do.
"Well," he said, running a hand through his hair, "I suck at ranged attacks, as I always have, but if it's defence or bashing someone's face in, leave it to me. We found a small structure still standing and camped in there while I cast Fortification Magic on it. It Izumi and Kasumi had a secure platform from which to fight back, but after a while, I started getting worried about the sheer numbers of attackers. Also, we never never trained in surface-to-air warfare against whole swarms of attackers. It turns out area-of-effect magic was the best at that, but carpet bombing air was not how pictured that day starting."
"But wait a minute," Erika said, breaking into his narration. "What were the police, military, and government doing through all this? With the city under attack like that, I can't imagine they would sit it out. In our own world, the Yokohama invasion caught everyone off-guard and allowed them to penetrate deeply into the city, but the subsequent response by military and police was quite swift and effective, even if pockets of civilians were left to fend for themselves."
"It's different here," Tatsuya replied. "In this world, Japan isn't as heavily militarized as it was back home, and while there is an army base in Kuoh Town, it wasn't all that big and is basically just a supply dump. As for the police, what can they do against flying things that can eviscerate a man in the blink of an eye? They're barely armed with .38 revolvers which are all but useless against what attacked the city. This also isn't a world where giant lizards routinely attack Tokyo, so the military doesn't make it a habit to keep vast inventories of tank-mounted laser guns."
"Wait, you made a joke again. Tatsuya! Stop it, you're ruining my cherished image of you."
Everyone stopped to chuckle, even his sister who reached over to hug him.
"I'm so proud of you," she whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear.
He coughed to clear his throat. "Anyway, the attack came so far out of left field that literally nobody expected it, it was too swift for the regular authorities to do anything about it. It was left to all the supernatural presences in this city to come to its defence, We found out later that quite an army was gathered to fight, but no one expected that swarm to head for Kuoh." Shaking his head, he stared up at the ceiling. "Even now, half a year later, very little about that incident makes sense, but that's also true of this entire world, so I guess it doesn't matter. We must live here, so I think it would be best if we got used to the idea. Despite everyone fighting, we couldn't really make much headway against the attackers, but somewhere else the fight was going much better and the remaining swarm was recalled.
"We still thought we could hide our powers. Everyone around us was going all out, and we can get lost in the crowd. What's one more magic attack when you're surrounded by impossible beings all doing the same thing? Or so we thought. We had no idea someone noticed us and then told the Occult Research Club. Apparently, the Gremory Family had only been told that we're in special circumstances and they didn't pry into our affairs so long as we respected everyone's boundaries. After that, it became impossible to keep secrets."
During the silence that ensued, Tatsuya paused to take a close look at Erika's and Mizuki's faces, then smiled around the group. Erika felt almost betrayed by the whole thing. His trademark deadpan expression and emotionless face were so well-known at school that most kids thought he was incapable of anything else. Unlike them, she who had been one of his closest friends at school, knew that he was also capable of absolutely terrifying expressions. Only, now his range had apparently been expanded and she felt absolutely crushed that she hadn't been around to see it happen in real time.
"Okay, I don't think we should be imitating Lilith too much and dumping so much info on Erika and Mizuki all at once. Let's cut this short for now and formally introduce them to this household. Starting tomorrow, we have a long weekend and we can finish our discussions then, though in all honesty it'll be a lot easier on you if you learned this stuff as it happens around you. There's simply too much going on to just explain everything."
"I agree," Kei Isori said, "but before we do that, let me just say one last thing. Erika, Mizuki, you both should make an effort to learn local magic. We're all Modern Magic users, and therein lies the problem. This world simply doesn't have the infrastructure to maintain our CADs, and as we age and mature, we won't be able to use them anymore, limiting both our spell repertoire and casting speed. For the only Ancient Magic user among us—" He cast a meaningful glance at Mikihiko. "—it won't be an issue going forward since he can always revert back to his original skillset."
That was true, Erika thought. Mikihiko only started learning Modern Magic to cover perceived deficiencies in his original skills, but in terms of Ancient Magic, he wasn't called a prodigy for nothing.
"But, then, I don't understand why Tatsuya went to the trouble to make that charging block," she said.
"Because an unadjusted CAD is still better than none at all," he replied, "and I actually managed to build an adjustment machine." Her eyes widened in surprise at that. "When we came over to this world, I happened to have a pair of CADs on me belonging to the Disciplinary Committee and I sacrificed them. The end result is far from satisfactory, but it does the job, mostly. It can't alter your Activation Sequence lineup nor add new ones, so we're all pretty much limited to what we carried over with us.
"Having said that, our CADs are precision magic instruments that cannot be replaced if damaged or destroyed. It's better to learn not to rely on them. Of course, your other choice is to abandon magic entirely and live your life as an ordinary citizen of Japan. That's why we're saying, learn local magic if you want to continue with that."
"There's another possibility," Mikihiko said and everyone looked at him. He pulled a charm from a pocket and activated it until it glowed green. "I can teach you Ancient Magic techniques if you feel it would be beneficial. It works pretty much the same way that Modern Magic does, except in our case, we use various accoutrements to generate the initial Activation Sequence rather than a CAD. That's what accounts for the slower speeds, but it's no worse than what they experience here."
"Just like this," Leo said and stood up to walk to the coffee table in front of the couch. There he turned his hand over an empty decorative bowl and closed his eyes in concentration.
A spinning magic circle appeared over his hand and a few seconds later, water poured out of it to fill the bowl. Releasing an explosive breath, he closed his fist and the magic circle vanished, but the water stayed. Erika glanced at him and saw that his face was covered with beads of sweat. It must have been exhausting.
"The funny thing," Tatsuya said, staring at the filled bowl, "is that the Magic Calculation Area of our brains handles local magic just fine, but the local magicians don't have any such thing. Just now, Leo didn't use a CAD to generate an Activation Sequence, just fed psions directly into the magic circle he was assembling. They call it spell calculation here and that makes me think that the way Ancient Magic in our old world is performed is basically a mental block, a self-induced limitation. Attacking the Eidos to affect the target is not strictly necessary even there, and I think some practitioners have reached that conclusion. That might explain the monstrous forms capable of directly injuring people that Mikihiko mentioned.
"In our world, if Leo wanted to cast that spell using Modern Magic, he would collect moisture from the surrounding area, pool it, and then release it into a bowl. Here he is creating water directly by feeding his psion reserves into a magic circle designed for water creation. I've tasted it before and it's basically distilled water. You can drink it, but I wouldn't use it in the long term. It's quite impressive, but just like in our own world, training and practice are paramount."
"You know, Leo, that's actually pretty amazing," Erika said without the usual sarcasm which had been a major part of her daily interactions with him.
She really did mean it. While he specialized in fortification magic, her personal skill was speed and acceleration magic. They were both so well-versed in it that it wasn't too much of a stretch to say that in many cases, they didn't even need their CADs to cast it. In class, though, none of those skills were useful and they struggled as a result. For him to be able to cast a completely foreign magic was nothing less than spectacular, even if he struggled with it. His smile seemed to light up the whole room.
"Well, I was taught by Sona Sitri, the previous Student Council President," he said. "She was really good with water magic. As for it not being drinkable in the long term, it's true, so far as that goes. There are additional spell components that need to be added, but I'm not there yet to build a spell with that many complexities."
"Still, don't sell yourself short," she told him.
"I don't think… I can do… that…" Mizuki really started to panic, despite Mikihiko's reassuring presence beside her. "I mean… It's just my eyes… I… can't…"
"You shouldn't be worried, Mizuki," Tatsuya said, his voice calm and reassuring. "If you remember our practice sessions back at First High, it was always you who finished first and with the least amount of help. I don't mean just among this group here, but all the Course 2 students in our grade. When you were teamed up with me, I was the one to hold you back, not the other way around."
Even Erika remembered that. He'd always been much stronger in the theory of magic and of magic engineering than in the practice of it, an unusual combination of skills that often puzzled even faculty. Of course that was common school wisdom across the full spectrum of magic education: you can't understand theory without being able to put it into practice. But, Tatsuya's performance in their first Nine School Competition and his unexpected ability to lead a group of Course 2 students to triumph over many Course 1 teams from other schools blew all those assumptions out of the water.
The Course 3 that he and Mizuki transferred to in their second year was created specifically to address the embarrassment the school suffered. If the educational authorities in their world had two brain cells to rub together, they would have pressured him to study toward a teacher's license so he could help alleviate the quagmire of failed dreams Course 2 had become. Instead, they tried to get him to transfer to Fourth High which emphasized magic engineering over practical skills. Wait, that would mean…
She burst out laughing, prompting all eyes to turn to her.
"Erika, what so funny?" Honoka asked. She and Shizuku had remained largely silent throughout this whole discussion, preferring to sit and listen while holding her hands.
"Oh, no, sorry, it's just that I realized something. Back then, you got pressured to transfer because you were embarrassing the school, and Mizuki and me were expelled from our first school because I ran roughshod over the administration's wish to not do anything about the bullying problem. This world is actually pretty similar to our own. Somehow that makes me feel better."
Tatsuya made an inelegant grunt. "Hold on to that feeling because from now on, you'll see firsthand how different this world actually is. Now, Miyuki, if you don't mind…"
"Of course not, Tatsuya." She rose from her chair and went over to the door.
Watching his sister slip out of the room, he said without turning his head, "Now listen, you two. I know what happened earlier was an accident, but you must be careful if you're going to live here. Not only do these people go to school and walk around town armed with cosmic-level, apocalypse-causing powers that are entirely unrestrained, but they also have no understanding of self-control. The only rule they seem to follow is something in the nature of 'Don't cause problems in the human world.'"
Kei, who was sitting beside him, gave a disbelieving shake of his head, then reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Really, Tatsuya, of all people, you shouldn't be saying that. Remind me again, who here among us is walking around with barely restrained apocalyptic powers?"
Tatsuya actually flushed and looked away in mild embarrassment, but before she or Mizuki could ask what they were talking about, the door opened and a group of young people walked in. Everyone rose to welcome them and the time for further questions seemed to be over.
ZZZ
Two hours later, after another round of introductions, it turned out that most of the other residents were absent, having not yet returned from some mysterious mission they had undertaken. Erika and Mizuki met only a few new people. One of these was Xenovia Quarta, a 3rd Year student at Kuoh Academy and the current Student Council President, a girl with blue hair and green stripes, and dressed in comfortable slacks and a shirt. On shaking hands with her, Erika noted the strength of her grip, and squeezed harder. The girl silently grinned in response and returned the gesture.
Erika's hand throbbed for the next thirty minutes.
Tatsuya, who had witnessed the exchange, covered his face with his hand. It looked almost like he had given up on her, while Miyuki stood behind him and massaged his shoulders before glancing up.
"Erika, you really need to learn who is safe to play with and who isn't," she said with a strained laugh. "For now, please excuse us; there's something we need to discuss with our host."
Then they, together with Kei Isori, went off to speak with Issei who, again, looked surprisingly fidgety and nervous. His cell phone was out and he kept glancing at it. He wasn't the only one, either. Even Xenovia looked gloomy, despite eagerly participating in and winning the hand grip contest.
What the hell was going on?
She wanted to go along with them to at least get to know this boy whose house she and Mizuki would be sharing, but got waylaid by the other new person they were introduced to. The small blonde girl wearing a shrine maiden outfit with giant red pentagrams on the sleeves was named Kunou and she gave off a strange vibe that Erika couldn't quite explain. One glance at Mizuki told her that her friend was thinking the same thing. Then the glasses came off and she stood there, transfixed, staring with an open mouth at the space above the girl's head.
"Oh, wow! She really is a Nine-Tailed Fox."
"That's enough," Mikihiko said and put them back on her face.
"Mizuki, remind me again who was it who lectured someone on foolishly opening yourself to danger," Erika muttered.
"Well, yes, but reading someone's spirit body and aura is completely different." She even managed to say it in a lofty tone. "Even if I'm overloaded, it just causes pain and doesn't do any real damage. And it seems to me that since we came to this world, it hurts less. Besides, I'm not sure I want to spend the rest of my life being afraid of losing my glasses."
Even if she was loathe to admit it, there was some justification for what Mizuki just said, and Erika grunted in agreement. In fact, learning to control those eyes is the sole reason Mizuki enrolled in Magic First High in the first place.
"I can't believe it's actually true." Kunuo was positively dancing in place, giving the two girls a speculative look. "I heard stories about your so-called Eyes That Can See God, but I didn't believe it."
"Why is that, Kunou-sama?" Mizuki asked, sounding a bit flustered at the girl's appearance and behaviour. Even for Erika, raised in a household that prided itself on proper public etiquette, her Noble Lady act was a bit grating. "Is it something so unusual?"
"Well, of course it's unusual, on a human." The girl was trying hard to contain her excitement, but underneath she almost burbled. "Even most yokai and devils can only sense aura, while human magicians must cast spells to do that and then read and analyze the feedback. Getting an accurate reading of a person's astral form with just a glance like that is possible only for certain yokai races." She closed her eyes and struck a pose that Erika commonly associated with boasting. "My mother Yasaka who is the leader of the Kyoto yokai can accurately judge a person's whole character by studying the astral form, and as her daughter, naturally I inherited that ability."
Erika stared. That's an impressive skill she's got there, to boast about her parentage, her parent's skill, as well as her own, in one sentence. Of course, she was also young enough not to realize that the sort of ability she was talking about she be kept quiet. Or that boasting really wasn't all that cool.
"Would you like me to teach you?" Kunou asked, looking up with childish hope for acknowledgement at Mizuki's puzzled face. "I can help you learn how to read a person without getting hurt or exposing yourself to harmful information."
"Yes, please," Mizuki replied before Erika or Mikihiko could say anything and bowed. "I will be under your care."
"Leave it to me!" the girl exclaimed and pumped her fist in the air. She positively trembled with excitement. Then her expression darkened and she looked toward Issei Hyoudou who sat on a chair with his cell phone out and nervously tapped the table in front of him. It was then that Erika noticed how subdued everyone from the house was. "But for now, I must go do my duty as the Junior Wife-in-Training."
"Did something happen?" Erika asked, then did a double-take while Mizuki choked on nothing but air. There's no way she really heard what she thought she heard, but Kasumi's words floated through her mind. Even she says some outrageous things. "No, before that, what did you just say?"
But Kunou just looked away in silence, her eyes locked in place on Issei Hyoudou's form. She said nothing for some time before reminding Erika and Mizuki that this world wasn't as safe or placid as its outward appearance suggested.
"Rossweisse-sama has gone missing."
A/N: Hello and thanks for reading. Sorry about the delays, but unfortunately they're inevitable now. Work has been kicking my ass lately and I simply haven't had the strength to write as much as I did before. It's been an interesting adventure and I hope you'll stay with me.
