Academy Blues

By: Daishi Prime

- Chapter 10 – Recriminations -

Hayate sat on the edge of the porch in the gathering twilight, leaning against a support column, watching her students from a distance. Signum and Zafira were conducting an impromptu self-defense class, both as a reaction to the day's events, and to try and burn off the nervous energy all the children had displayed after hearing Laura's embellished account of the day's signature event. It was a rather unstructured class, begun when Signum dragged Laura outside to review her spear-work, but it had grown to include the others rather quickly. They had gone out to watch, and Signum had never liked having an idle audience, so she had dragooned the others into learning alongside Laura, and Zafira into helping her.

All in all, Hayate had to cautiously approve. She had dearly wished to avoid showing her kids the violent side of magic, teaching them combat, beyond the basics needed for control. She had spent too much of her own youth in battle, and was well aware what she had given up in the process. But the attack today had demonstrated that, whoever they were, her enemies would not leave her kids alone, and she could not hover over all of them at once. The fact that they had managed to sneak a spell in past Signum was further proof that the students had to be able to look after themselves, even if just long enough for help to arrive.

Reviewing the incident yet again, she was still struck by what a complete and utter surprise it had been. She had, she realized, become so used to the probes against the schools wards, so used to finding nothing but faint traces behind them, that she had ceased to think of her enemies as people – as thinking, reacting, planning people. They had become a faceless routine annoyance, instead of the dangerous enemy they manifestly were. The idea that they would make such a blatant attempt to seize one of her students, right out from under one of her knights, in the heart of Kyoto itself... it was so audacious as to be unbelievable.

Then, if they had succeeded, she reminded herself, we probably never would have known anything other than that Laura-chan disappeared. Shamal had already gone over the entire museum in excruciating detail, taking advantage of the Kyoto PD closing it for their investigation to study it without interference. The faint traces of magic were fading rapidly, as they had come to expect from their intruders, rapidly enough that, had Laura not been returned, they likely would have been so caught up in looking for her they never would have noticed the spell that took her. Yet another thing I owe Takashi for, she thought, which brought up another wave of guilt.

She had spent so much time warding the school, building layer upon layer of protection into it, that she had forgotten that the school itself was secondary, even tertiary. She had not warded her students, and thus left them vulnerable the instant they left the Academy grounds. Only Takashi's preemptive interference had saved her from tragedy.

What really got to her, however, was how quickly her temper had overcome her good sense. She and her group had been touring one of the city's Tokugawa-era castles, as part of a large group. When Signum's telepathic warning reached her, she had not thought, had not found a quiet place or inquired further, she had simply wrapped her students up in a group teleport and gone to the museum. Even there, she had been so enraged, so eager for battle, she had almost challenged Takashi then and there. She could still feel it, the red burning need to hurt that was so unlike her. If Signum had not calmed her, if Takashi had yielded even a millimeter... looking back on it, she was fairly certain she would have torn that man limb from limb, and that thought scared her.

She knew she had a violent streak. Nanoha, Fate, Chrono, all of them had such capacity, it was a necessary component in any combat mage, especially ones with their track record of victory over difficult foes. But it had always been secondary, a part of her she used but was careful never to let loose. Today she had come so very close to doing just that, and she knew she would again, if someone else threatened her kids. The thought of what she would do if someone actually hurt one of them... She couldn't contemplate that.

She felt a shiver of presence, and looked up to find Noriko's father standing over her, looking out at the students. "May I join you, Yagami-san?"

She actually hesitated a second, from simple surprise. "Ah, of course, Your Highness. I'm sorry, I was distracted."

"Understandably so," he said, settling down beside her, "but please, we are not in public here, there is no need to be so formal. 'Hito' will suffice, in private. Might even give Noriko a welcome shock."

Hayate could only nod in surprise. The idea of addressing an Imperial Prince by a nickname, even at his invitation, was simply inconceivable. Conversely, the idea of addressing one of her student's parents thus was only odd. "Hai, Hito-sama," she replied, and caught his slight grin acknowledging the point.

Gesturing at the students now performing katas, he commented, "I must say, they look rather impressive for what I gather is a first-time class."

Hayate nodded, looking them over herself. "Zafira has incorporated some martial arts training as part of his physical education classes, and a surprising number of them had prior instruction. Yussef, for instance, was learning European fencing. Not true martial arts, as they are learning now, but it taught him how to move. And Noriko, of course."

"Hiro-sensei has been complaining recently," Hito commented, "he misses one of his most prestigious students."

Hayate blinked, considering that statement for a moment, then offered, "We could teleport her back for lessons…."

"No, that would be unnecessary," Hito replied, "she is at your academy for a reason, and I think Signum will teach her well enough. My daughter is not a warrior, in any case. Unlike Laura." She could only nod, and he continued, "To be honest, I was surprised when I heard how she reacted. Most her age, girls and boys, would have been rather more frightened. She should have panicked."

Hayate had to smile at that, trying to picture Laura 'panicking' in anything like a traditional manner. "That is one of the few things about this travesty that does not surprise me," Hayate confessed. "Laura is a fairly typical American. She is energetic, creative, loyal to a fault, and she hides her fear behind aggression. I am only surprised she did not try to attack the kidnapper before Takashi arrived."

Hito glanced at her for a second, then focused on Laura. The girl in question was practicing a rather complicated spear-kata, in very slow time, under Signum's guidance, with Noriko, Cidela and Allison as an audience. They were using staves provided by Hito in place of actual spears, but it was apparent that Laura was quite a bit more comfortable with it than the others. "How long has Signum been teaching her?"

"She learned a lot from her older brother," Hayate explained. "He is significantly older, and apparently a master of American Karate. Signum has been building on that almost since classes began, personal lessons after regular classes every other day. Mostly, Signum has focused on weapons work, and Laura is rather fond of the spear for some reason, so that is what she has learned. Months of personal instruction from someone as skilled as Signum..." she trailed off, and shrugged, leaving the remaining explanation unvoiced.

Hito nodded slowly, agreeing silently. "Have you contacted her parents yet?"

"I will in an hour or so," she said. "It is before dawn there, at the moment, so I do not want to risk waking them. Laura told me they will be up sometime around six in the morning, their time, so I will call then."

"Have you decided what to tell them yet?"

"Only that the incident occurred, and that our protections functioned as intended. I will tell them how well Laura handled the incident, but..."

He finished for her, "But not that there have been other, subtler incidents?" She turned to look at him in surprise, and he smiled slightly before explaining, "Noriko. She asked if any associates of our family were testing the Academy's security. It was not hard to figure out from there what has been happening."

Hayate hung her head, uncertain if she should be ashamed because one of her students had noticed, or because she had not told any of her students' parents what was happening. "They are at risk at the school," she confessed, "I am certain that whoever these people are, they cannot penetrate our defenses, but there is, nonetheless, risk."

"I am inclined to agree that your students are safer at your academy than they would be at home," Hito agreed, "mostly due to today's incident. This was too smoothly executed to have been a spur of the moment attack. This feels like something that has been planned for some time, so they must have been waiting for the proper moment, some time when your students were vulnerable."

"That is our interpretation," Hayate said, "which does not absolve me of responsibility for taking precautions beforehand to prevent it."

"No one is perfect."

"But I need to be as close to it as possible, since they," she gestured at her students, "will pay the price for my errors. I understand that hindsight is perfect, but... I need to rethink what I know of this enemy, and rethink the steps I have taken to protect my students."

"Allow me to make a suggestion?" She gestured for him to continue, and he offered, "I suggest taking them to the shrines tomorrow, as planned," Hito told her. "Taking them as a single group will simplify security, and the priests there are very careful to keep foreign magical influences from the shrines. Not even members of my family are permitted to use magic at the first, and anyone who does will regret it, without any action on your part or mine."

Hayate nodded, "I was still planning to go, if only to offer the students a distraction."

"Would you object if my family joined you? It has been some time since we offered our respects at the temple, and I would like to see your students' reactions first hand."

"Certainly, Hito-sama, we would welcome your presence."

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The phone call Hayate dreaded arrived sooner than she would have wished. Taking Laura away from the cluster of girls in her room, the two of them settled into a small back room, not part of the usual tour, that was comfortably appointed as an office, complete with conference phone. Dialing the eastern United States was complicated, but the phone picked up on the second ring.

"Mister Sims? This is Hayate Yagami," she replied to the initial greeting, "Headmistress at Laura's school. She's here with me. I'm calling to let you know about an incident that occurred earlier today."

She was so busy anticipating an angry response that his first question threw her completely off guard. After a heavy sigh, he asked, "Mind you, it's earlier than usual, but we've gotten used to getting calls from her teachers. What's she done this time?"
"Daaad! I didn't do anything this time!"

"You'll forgive me if I doubt that, Laura," he replied.

"Actually, she is correct, Mister Sims," Hayate interrupted, holding up a hand to still Laura's continued protest. "She did nothing wrong today, and several things right."

"My form was off, and I forgot my shields," Laura muttered.

Hayate waved that off, "The class arrived in Kyoto last night for one of the trips we told you would happen."

"I remember something about that," he acknowledged, "sounded like a good idea."

"We divided the class into groups of four, each going to different sights for the first day. While Laura's group was at a museum, someone used magic to attempt to kidnap her." A shocked grunt came over the phone, but she hastily reassured him, "Laura is fine, she came to no harm, and we captured one of the kidnappers in the process. I am calling now to inform you of the situation, to reassure you that she is unharmed, and to offer my apologies for this happening when I promised to protect her."

There was a brief pause, and then Laura's father said, "I think you had best let me hear the details, Miss Yagami."

Explaining was easier than she had expected. Given the bare details, it actually did not sound so bad. The attempt was made, subtle enough to be almost unnoticed. While Laura kept herself from being truly captured, the alarms placed on her functioned as intended, Takashi entered the extra-temporal space, the prisoner was captured and Laura released. From those basic details, it sounded like an almost routine success of her security arrangements. Jonathan was quiet throughout, though she thought she detected a change in the sound indicating they were on speaker phone shortly after she began.

Despite how it sounded, integrity forced her to admit at the end, "there was a good deal of luck involved in preventing this. Had Takashi not been there, I highly doubt I would have been able to retrieve her before the would-be abductors had escaped with her. I would have found her shortly, I assure you, but... rescue is far more difficult than prevention."

"Luck is always a factor," Jonathan replied slowly, "but you're right, this could have gone very badly."

"I'm fine, dad," Laura said, "nothing really happened to me, it's not like that crazy pervert could've actually hurt me, especially with Ta-chan on guard. Dude's like a bulldog, never lets go..."

"We're talking to your teacher, now Laura," her father replied, "I know you're all right, since you're talking, now please give your mother and I a chance to talk to Miss Yagami and decide what we're going to do."

"Daaaad! What's to decide? Someone tried something stupid, they learned not to try it again, it's cool! I'm as safe here as..."

"Laura, be quite," there was no threat, but substantial force, behind the order, and Laura's mouth snapped shut with an audible click, causing Hayate to give her an amused look. The girl was looking at the phone like she wanted to glare, but was too afraid to.

Well, that explains why Signum finds her so easy to handle, Hayate thought to herself.

"Excuse me?"

Hayate had to think for a second, before realizing, "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I said that out loud, I was just realizing something. We've wondered why Laura responds as well as she does to Signum, as their personalities are rather at odds. But you have the same... voice of command... that Signum does, Mister Sims, and apparently she has learned to respond to that."

"Be that as it may," Marie, Laura's mother, interrupted, "I'm concerned that this happened. Why would someone try to kidnap Laura?"

"I am not certain Laura was their specific target," Hayate told them slowly. "The details of the attempt, the speed with which it occurred, and certain other things I have been hearing, point to something targeted not at my students as individuals, but at the Academy as a whole. There could be any number of reasons. Someone may want access to the knowledge stored in the academy, someone may object to the existence of my school and be unwilling to resort to legal means to oppose it, or they may simply want to test me and my security before sending their own children. At the moment, I am sorry to say, we have very little information. That is, in part, why I delayed calling you until so late after the incident. I had hoped that our prisoner would have provided information by now. Unfortunately, I have yet to hear back from his interrogator."

"Are you certain he has information?" Jonathan, as every time she had met him, seemed far too calm. "If, as you seem to be saying, this was a planned out operation, he may simply be a soldier, a grunt told just enough to do his job."

"I didn't realize you were in the military, Mister Sims?"

"Only a few years, but there's a family tradition. My son's a Marine. One thing you learn fast, whoever's on the sharp end of the stick usually knows less about what's going on than the people he's fighting. There's a good chance that's what you'll find here, as well."

"It is possible," Hayate conceded, "But I think it is unlikely. The spells used to attempt to trap Laura were complicated, and the continued ability to function within that space would have required a strong magical ability. That is not so common that a Terran organization can afford to... dispose of... someone with such strength. I doubt he knows everything, and he will be very difficult to question, but he knows something. And all I need is one thing, one lead, and we can trace it back to whoever did this."

"Is Laura still in danger?"

Hayate hesitated to answer that question, and knew she was making a mistake even as she did. But she was unsure how to answer it without terrifying everyone involved. Finally, she forced herself to honestly admit, "Yes, but I am afraid that is a permanent condition, now. She is one of the strongest mages in the class, strong enough that, even away from the Academy, she will remain a target for anyone interested in collecting mages, or with a grudge against them. From what we do know of the organization that tried to kidnap her today, they are willing to operate in America. Though I would reiterate, Laura was not targeted as herself, she was simply the student who they tried for first, so there is just as much reason to believe they will leave her alone if you bring her home."

Laura gave her a horrified look, and it was apparent this was the first she realized that was a possibility. "I'm not going! I'm staying here! I've got too much to learn, I haven't finished... Signum's still showing me so much stuff, and I need to keep rich-boy in line, and Noriko's going to get hurt if someone doesn't..."

"Laura, calm down. You'll do what your mother and I tell you." She sulked, but fell silent before that same irresistible authority, though now she was glaring at the phone. "Nothing happened on the way back to the school?"

"We have not returned, yet," Hayate told him, "the place we are staying is almost as well protected, magically, and better protected, in political and diplomatic terms. Also, I have Vita scouting the route between here and the Academy. We will leave the day after tomorrow, after Shamal and I have each made our own sweeps. We also are not separating the children again while we are in Kyoto."

"Reasonable," Jonathan agreed.

"Reasonable would be to have her home now," Marie muttered, just barely audible.

"Mom!"

"No it wouldn't," Jonathan said, still in that same easy voice. "Easier to defend her in a prepared position. Cops around here wouldn't believe in a... what did you call it again? Inner second? … let alone in magic. Japan, it may be a different matter."

"Inverse second," Laura explained with exaggerated patience, "it's basic quantum physics, Dad, the flip side of any second. Don't you ever pay attention to what I tell you?"

"I listen to everything you say, Laura," he answered her, "and I don't care for your tone. But that's neither here nor there. Miss Yagami, I appreciate your call, and the information. Wife and I'll need a while to think this over, though, before we give you any decisions."

"I understand," she replied. They said their goodbyes, and the connection was cut.

For a few moments, she and Laura sat there in silence. Then the girl spoke, "Mom will want me to come home. She always does freak when I get into trouble. Dad, though... I don't know if he'll want me to come home or not."

"I take it he isn't as worry-prone as your mother?"

"I broke my arm when I was six, fell out of a tree in our yard he'd told me not to climb. Know what he said? 'Bet you'll listen to me next time, won't you?'" Her sulk turned into her normal urchin grin, "Got him to get me my first banana split after my arm was set, too."

Hayate smiled back reaching out to ruffle her hair. "Do not worry, Laura-chan," she said. "Even if they summon you home, we will protect you. And you know enough, now, that you can protect yourself, and learn more on your own, so long as you are careful. Who knows, you could help us to develop a remote learning curriculum. But, I think they will keep you here. You were not harmed, and you really are safer here than at home, at least for now."

"I hope so."

"So do I. Now, I think you should get to bed. We're going to be up early tomorrow, to visit the shrine when the crowds are small.

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Kiyomizu-dera was massively beautiful, even in early morning light. The heavy front archway, free standing with its sweeping peaked roof, brilliant red pillars, and flanked by stone lions, was fair warning of the subtle grandeur of the entire place. Further in was simply beautiful, ancient woodwork, even older stonework, and the careful arrangement of growing things that responded to the growing light of morning with gentle quiet.

Yussef walked out onto the terrace, looking out over the waterfall and lower trees to the city beyond, and for the first time since coming to Japan, found a sight more beautiful than he could find at home. With the sun just over the horizon, in the soft but crystal clear light of morning, the temple had such a sense of serene isolation that he could not help but relax into it. Even the pagan beliefs that had created it could not bother him, despite the discomfort they woke in him normally. The details were, here, in this moment, immaterial. Only the powerful faith required to build and maintain this place mattered.

Mariachi stepped up beside him, then Marcel on his other side. The two of them, with Ichigo, had been his 'group' the day before, exploring one of the palace-castles on the edge of the old city, and they were probably the two boys he knew best at the school. For a few minutes, the three of them simply stood there, enjoying the quiet and view. For Yussef, he could almost feel himself slipping into a meditative trance.

"So," Mariachi said, speaking softly but still breaking the stillness. "Yesterday. Think it was related to what you told us the night before?"

"It must have been," Marcel answered, just as softly, French accent giving his Japanese a weirdly sibilant accent. "Who else would have reason to attack one of us? Yussef, Noriko, yes. But Laura? One of the other girls in her group? None of them come from powerful or wealthy families. Whoever they were, they wanted Laura because she is one of us, a student mage."

"They think we are learning something dangerous," Mariachi commented, "remember what she said? The guy was talking about some 'way'. Sounds like a fanatic to me."

Yussef almost grunted in amusement. I could tell them a thing or two about fanatics, he thought, then said aloud, "that's beside the point, except that it's indicative that they'll try again."

"Like today?" Marcel almost sounded like the idea was exciting.

"No," Yussef shook his head, leaning forward to plant his elbows on the rail. "Yesterday was a first attempt. They'll need time to think, to figure out what went wrong. I'm almost sorry they failed."

Mariachi shot him a quick glare, "No matter how much you dislike her..."

"Not like that," Yussef said, holding up an interrupting hand, "I said 'almost'. If they had succeeded, Yagami-sensei would have a much better idea of who they are, where to find them, and how to destroy them."

Marcel nodded, but Mariachi continued to ask, "How so?"

"Come on, Mariachi," Marcel replied, "do you really think they haven't tagged us, magically, some how? Americans do it with microchips in their dogs, there must be some way to do it magically."

"Exactly," Yussef, said. "Which is why I almost wish they'd succeeded. A known enemy is much easier to defeat than an unknown."

The other two nodded, though Mariachi still seemed uncomfortable conceding the point. "The question is what we do about it," the Mexican commented eventually.

"We keep an eye out," Yussef said, "watch over each other."

"They won't try for one of us," Marcel said, "one of the boys. Nor for Laura, I think. They'll go for someone else, someone vulnerable. Someone less likely to fight them."

"One of the girls again," Yussef agreed.

"Cidela," Mariachi said, turning and looking towards the rest of the class.

Yussef turned as well, leaning backwards to continue resting his elbows on the rail, adding, "or Allina, maybe Megan."

"So what do we do about it? The two attack spells we know aren't that powerful, not compared to what we've seen Vita-sensei and Signum-sensei demonstrate. Hell, Lotte-sensei can overpower us, and she doesn't even have a device."

The three of them fell silent for a moment, thinking it over separately. Then Yussef smiled, before saying in a drawn out rumble, "World War Two." The other two looked at him curiously, and he explained, "Since I'm not the eldest son, I'm on a military path, however young I am. I've studied it, sort of, a lot of history. At the end of World War Two, one of the German generals commented that, of all the weapons the Allies used against him, he only feared one. He did not fear Allied tanks, or their planes, or their ships. He feared their radios..." His smile grew at the disbelieving look on Mariachi's face, but could tell Marcel got where he was going, "... because every bloody eighteen year old second lieutenant fresh off the farm could call down artillery and air strikes and reinforcements at will, and tell them exactly where to strike."

"Communications," Marcel said, "we use the communication spell Lotte-sensei taught us."

"And if we run into trouble, reputations aside, we scream our heads off," Yussef agreed, nodding, "and call down our artillery," he pointed at Signum, "our air strikes," his finger moved to Hayate, "our reinforcements," finally, he pointed at Shamal.

"Madre de Dios," Mariachi whispered, contemplating that, and Yussef just nodded.

"We'll have to practice it," Yussef said, "work on using it fast, making it subtle so any attackers won't notice."

"How?"

It was Mariachi's turn to grin, "Haven't you ever played 'telephone', Marcel? I pass a message to you. You pass it to Yussef, he passes it to Noriko, she passes it to someone else, until it gets back to me. Then I pick someone else to start the next message."

"We'll have to tell each other who's already heard it," Yussef elaborated. "And we'll have to use it for other things. How about this, whenever we can use it instead of talking, we use the spell. Today, tomorrow, once we're back at the campus. We use that communication spell as much as we can." The other two nodded, but he continued, "I know it's my idea, but I'm not willing to just yell for help. It sticks in my craw, and help may not be able to reach us immediately. Once we're back at the campus, I've got a new project. A new attack spell."

Again, nods, and Marcel said, "Something new, different from what they've taught us before."

"The more unique it is, the harder it will be to defend against," Yussef said. "I'd suggest you two do the same."

"Sounds like a plan," Mariachi agreed, "think we should suggest it to anyone else?"

"We'll explain the communications thing," Yussef decided, "when we start passing messages to everyone else. But the attack spell... I know Noriko and Laura are already working on their own. Noriko's doing something with what Takamichi-sensei showed us, and Laura's working with Signum-sensei so much she must be learning something along those lines."

"Toushiro," Marcel suggested, "He is still one of the best at that first attack spell in the class. Even if he just refines that, he'll be quite dangerous."

"What about defense?" Mariachi held up a hand, rocking it slightly, "being able to protect ourselves from whatever the enemies throw at us would be useful."

"The best defense is a good offense," Yussef told him, "work on your shield, but an enemy that's busy defending himself can't attack you."

"Yussef! Mariachi! Marcel!" Shamal was standing at the far end of the balcony now, waving them over, "Come, please. We're moving down to the base of the waterfall."

"Let's get started on the communications thing," Yussef said.

"Once we're away from the shrine," Mariachi countered. "There are dampeners around here, I can feel them limiting the magic. I don't think we want to get caught casting spells here."

"Agreed," Marcel added, "I think one of the miko's scanned me when we arrived. Very strange."

Yussef nodded, though he disagreed. Better to practice now, to take steps immediately, and worry about hurt feelings later. But, he would need them to practice with, so he kept his peace, and resolved to keep his eyes open. The conversation with Noriko the first night in Kyoto had taken on a much more sinister air after the attack on Laura. He was used to thinking in terms of personal protection, though it was often someone else's responsibility, but now he had to worry about fifteen other people, only some of whom could really be relied on to protect themselves. How the hell am I going to keep track of everyone?

He was so busy thinking about that, as he followed the class through the rest of the complex, that he was not really paying attention to where he was walking. Still, he had very good reflexes, and when someone walked into him, he managed to both not fall over himself, and catch her, spinning partly around as whoever it was latched onto his arms, both of them struggling to stabilize themselves. After a second, they got their balance back, and he finally got a good look at whoever he had hit. Then he sighed heavily, "Watch where you're going, ditz."

"Shut it, rich boy," she replied, screwing her eyes shut more tightly. "I'm doing an experiment for Riko-chan, and you just had to walk into the middle of it and screw it up, didn't you?"

"What kind of experiment?"

"Sense of direction. She doesn't think I can walk between a couple boulders with my eyes closed."

Looking up, Yussef noticed the entire class smiling at him, all the girls working very hard not to laugh. He could see Noriko and several of the other girls clustered around one stone. The princess gestured at him, and turning the other way, he found a second boulder. Frowning, he thought for a second, then sighed, and took Laura by the shoulders. He pushed her back slightly, then turned her around. "Walk straight ahead, you'll hit the boulder in ten, twelve steps. Unless all the air in your head takes you over it."

He turned away, and glared at where Toushiro and Noah were looking like they wanted to burst into laughter. The girls giving him looks ranging from calf-eyed to suspicious he could deal with, but having any of the boys doing that was... disturbing, in far too many ways to count. A minute later, Laura reached the boulder, then turned back shouting, "Hah! So there, Riko-chan! My sense of direction's perfect! It even survived rich-boy's interference!"

Noriko just smiled, then asked in a sugar-sweet voice, "So, Yussef-kun, who are you going to give Laura-chan away to in marriage? Since you helped her walk between the love stones, legend says you'll help her find her true love. Any ideas?"

"The Hell?!?! Riko-chan, you tricked me!"

Yussef could feel himself flushing, and very nearly snapped back, but then sighed, and shook his head in defeat. He could not very well yell at Laura for this one, judging from her continuing vituperative response she had been just as tricked as him. Taking it out on Noriko would just be vindictive, as well as dangerous with her mother smiling behind her, and only serve to confirm the smiling whispers the girls were now sharing. So he just turned and walked away, hoping this would die down quickly. Laura's frivolousness is spreading, he thought to himself. Why the hell can't girls ever stay serious?

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The return to the Academy was accomplished that evening, which proved rather simpler than Hayate had expected. With Signum flying ahead of them, Zafira and Vita flying overhead, a hired driver handling the rented bus while Shamal watched the children, and herself covering the rear, it was probably the best defended vehicle in all of Japan. After a full day at two shrines and the promised baseball game, most of the kids were asleep, which at least made Shamal's job easier.

They were almost to the turn-off for the Academy, and Hayate was looking forward to finally being able to relax, when Shamal contacted her. I finally figured out what the children were doing all day, Mistress.

Tired or not, that piqued Hayate's interest. They had all noticed the children casting minor spells almost all day. The spells were small and subtle, whatever they were, and at first Hayate had thought it was her Knights checking up on them. The fact that, as the day wore on, the spells became more subtle, harder to detect against the background population, proved it was not. That very change proved it was her students, but they had not been able to spare the attention to determine what the children were doing. What were they doing?

Conspiring against their jailors, Shamal replied in an amused tone. They were communicating, passing messages back and forth, playing a game Cidela calls 'telephone'.

Hayate considered that for a moment, thinking at first that her students were impressively precocious, to be practicing magic even when they were supposed to be on a semi-holiday. Then she thought further, about their personalities and skills, and what they knew of the past few days' events, and asked, Who started it, and why?

Yussef, I believe. According to Cidela, they are working on speeding up and hiding their communications with each other. Apparently, they are worried about not being able to reach us in the event of an emergency.

Hayate had to shake her head at that, like we'll even let them out of our sight, after this. Well, I'm proud of them for taking the initiative, at least. Can you get them all settled?

Certainly, Mistress.

Thank you, Shamal. She really was extremely tired. She would make it up to them by making sure to have tea ready when her knights came up to the house.

She touched down on the deck, dissolving the flight spell before she was fully down, and stepped through the door with a sigh of relaxation. Here, if anywhere, she was safe, behind the layers of wards and shields wrapped around the Academy. She stepped into the kitchen, starting the water to boil, and setting out cups for everyone. Then she walked out to the living room to wait, only to find that the message-waiting light was blinking on the computer. A quick check showed that a private video message was waiting for her, so she queued it up, and stood back.

Seeing Chrono's face appear on the screen was a bit of a surprise, she had figured it would be Nanoha or Fate. The serious look was nothing to worry about, as he always looked that way, but his tone, when he spoke, was heavier than usual. "Hayate, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I felt the need to warn you as soon as possible. Someone on Terra has contacted the Bureau and written out a complaint against you. I haven't seen the formal complaint, since Investigation keeps those secret until they issue charges, but I've got a friend over there who passed me a synopsis. Whoever it is, they're claiming you are experimenting with unstable dimensional magics, and that you're risking your students in those experiments."

For a moment, Hayate could only stare at the screen. A mixture of horror at the thought of doing such things, and anger at being accused of such callous foolishness, warred through her mind, but Chrono kept speaking. "Terra is still outside the Bureau's jurisdiction, but there are enough people who were unhappy at letting you go that this is going to be investigated. I know you too well to think they'll actually be able to charge you with anything, but this is still going to be a monumental pain, and for that I am sorry. The Bureau was created to protect people, but every so often politics still gets the better of us.

"I don't officially know what's going to be done to investigate the complaint. I don't even officially know that it's been made, which is the only reason I can get away with warning you about it. But you're probably going to be getting a visit from a Bureau mage in the near future, and it won't be one of mine. Since Terra's in my sector, and I have personal history with you, Investigations is going to pull from someplace else, and I'm afraid it's going to be Hykon sector. Admiral Stelletz who runs Ops in Hykon has history with Investigations, and a rep for being impartial, so they'll probably pull one of his people. And you know what the Hykon crews are like."

She did indeed, though Asura had only worked with a Hykon crew once while she served aboard. Hykon mages recognized no area as outside Bureau authority, and no mage as not subject to Bureau law. That worked fine in Hykon, where there were no worlds not signatory to the Bureau's charter, but Hykon mages extended the attitude wherever they went.

"Again, I'm sorry to be dropping this on you," Chrono repeated, "but you deserve warning. I'll do what I can to head it off here, see if I can get one of my people assigned to the investigation, or at least route the Asura nearby for a friendly face, but..." he shrugged, almost helplessly, "it isn't going to be pleasant, no matter what I do. Hopefully you can figure out who issued the complaint and why, but I won't be able to find out any time soon. Best of luck, and if you need anything, please call me. With this, and what Fate's told me, I'm getting a little worried, especially since you've talked to my girlfriend more than me these last months. Best of luck. Chrono out."

At first, when the message finished, she just wanted to call it quits, to just fly away and leave everything behind, vanish, as Takashi had after she released him, and let the world worry about itself for a change. It felt like the universe would not let her have a moment's peace, not one good thing. She kept trying and trying to earn it, to deserve it, but there was always another problem, another threat, another disaster, and she was so very tired of all of it.

She shook the feeling off quickly, though, as she always did. The tiredness, fear and pain ebbed away, leaving anger and determination in their wake. She had never walked away from anything in her life, and she would not start now. But she would have to change how she was going about this. She had tried to be quiet and polite, to live her life in private without intruding into anyone else's life if she could help it. But someone had chosen to intrude on her life, to judge and endanger her and hers, and she would not sit back and meekly accept that. She was no longer merely Yagami Hayate, and it was time she reminded whoever had chosen to threaten her children of that fact.

When her knights arrived, they found her staring out the glass doors to the deck, face set in stone as she stared out over the night-dark valley. "Signum," she said, not turning. "I am going to re-work the ward and shield structure around the Academy."

Signum nodded, "I was thinking of that as well, Mistress. I have some ideas to extend detection..."

"No," Hayate interrupted, voice soft but irresistible, "not more detection. I am tired of this situation. We have been attacked, and I intend to attack back. I will not permit a threat to my children to remain unanswered. Whoever is out there believes that they can probe and scan and attack us at will. I will show them what folly it is to provoke the Mistress of the Night Sky, to set themselves against one who wields the Sword of Light.

"I will find them, and break them, and any who shelter them."

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Author's Note: Just 'cause I know someone's going to mention this – yes, I'm aware that a twelve or thirteen year old shouldn't know much about quantum physics. But you'll note that she was wrong (at least as far as I know, not having a PhD in physics myself). She's got the same sort of pop-sci knowledge that I had at twelve of aerodynamics – a couple basic ideas that are commonly known, and a lot of wildly fanciful extrapolations of what might be true.

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Jellyfish Marine: No problems, I figured there was more to your last reply, just wasn't sure what. Isn't technology grand?:) Takashi's becoming more important than I'd originally intended, though apparently he's not as unfathomable as I'd planned. Definitely going to be fun, though, and yes, Laura and he get along well, for a lot of reasons. The magic styles the kids use will be revealed in time (there's already been hints for each of the trio, I swear!), but I'm not going to create another new type. One per author's plenty, and I'm not sure if Noriko's going to get Deva magic or not (or when, if she does get it). I'm glad I can help with your English (kind of amusing, actually – it's the first time I've gotten any use out of one of my college majors!), but I'd recommend relying on several sources – no one's perfect, and I have a tendency to use some odd structures (comes from being a book worm for decades). Especially, be careful of any actual 'speech' in my stories – I write that the way I hear my characters talking, and no one speaks a language the same way it's written, so 'speech' in my stories tends to be full of grammatical errors. Your reviews are great as they are, I'm having no trouble following them.

Eni Li'Nave: First off, thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate it. Second off, your last review's the second time you've asked a question I intended to answer in the next chapter! Stop reading my mind!:) The trio's powers and devices are each different, mostly 'cause I've always thought devices were custom made to fit the wielder. I finally found the Wikipedia page on the devices after one of your previous posts, and the mangas, but I'm basing this off entirely the two series, where you never really see any devices other than the custom-made ones, and aren't provided much direct info on how their differentiated. Signum's rapid about-face was a problem for me, too, I just couldn't figure out a way to do it better – call it a case of an experienced warrior's snap judgment being overridden by logic and concern for Hayate, which is how it happened in my head. Both Hayate's and Takashi's actions were based on their overprotective natures. As furtherance of her thoughts in the first section above, Hayate showed late in A's that, as nice and gentle as she is, she's capable of berserker rage if her family is harmed, I figure a threat will bring out her temper in a less immediately-explosive but still dangerous manner, all the worse for how calm and collected she normally is. To quote my parents of my temper, "it's the quiet ones you've got to watch out for." Takashi's just unwilling to harm the only thing he has left to care about. As for Akira, having an amoral computer with a reputation for horrific violence can be useful, and he's got a role of his own coming up eventually. Don't worry about 'non-constructive reviews', yours are always good. Not to belittle anyone else, but you've got to be one of the two best reviewers on any of my stories. P.S. - Your comment on Laura's answered by Hayate. Stop reading my mind!:)

Sheo Darren: If you think Laura in the story is bad, you should meet the girl her verbal attitude is based on. She scares me, and my family's sarcastic enough to give the unsuspecting heart-attacks.

CrimsonDX: Thanks for going back and reviewing Path of Vengeance. I'm actually rather proud of that story, for a lot of reasons, including how complicated Wilhelm was. I'm still not sure if Academy Blues will live up to PoV in the end, but I'm working on it.