Chapter 2: First Meeting
A/N: Yo wys. So from this chapter onwards, I will follow canon uptill the thesis tournament, maybe the USNA part as well. But if any one is curious, I have not read the novel. Reason being, I first watched MKR in 2015 and waited patiently until last year for season 2 to come out, but I will probably start reading it soon, since it doesn't seem like it'll be done anytime soon.
The Shiba household seemed like strange one from the outside. Although a normal home, the father of the family was almost never seen, apparently always stuck in work. The mother, although had a weak constitution, her magical abilities and exceeding beauty did her justice. The elder child, a boy who seemed as cold as ice possessed surprising maturity to the point once could not chalk his silence to simple introverted behaviour. The younger child, a girl who inherited the beauty from her mother, a literal magnet for social interaction, the polar opposite of her brother. It seemed as if they were literally at either ends of the spectrum and none in the middle. No-one from that family could truly be called 'average'
And when on an average, a not so average family's children decide to leave what could they be doing? Going on their first day of High School of course. Under the shine of the sun, the doors to the Shiba house opened, Miyuki, the ever so cheerful girl walked out followed by her not so cheerful brother. Both wearing the first high uniform, in the early morning they were about to head out to school.
"It makes no sense Nii-san, how are you a course 2 student?" Miyuki asked as she walked out.
"true, I cannot believe they gave Tatsuya a non-emblem, do they not know his true potential?" Miya asked as she watched the two walk out.
"If they learnt of the truth, we wouldn't be hiding our identities very well." Tatsuya replied with a fair point.
"well, we'll see what happens once we get there. Goodbye, Okaa-sama." Miyuki said cheerfully.
"See you later, Haha-ue, if you need me, call at anytime." Tatsuya said monotonously, it should've sounded sincere but well he tried.
"Sure, if I need you, for now, give your best in school. Goodbye." Miya replied with a tiny smile, and so the two siblings walked off. After they got near the entrance, since Miyuki was the honour student she had gone ahead to socialise and prepare for her speech. Tatsuya was left by himself. He decided to make the best of the time he had left and walked around the school building, exploring the exterior.
"hey.. look at that guy.."
"he's a weed only, excited to come early much?" a couple of girls snorted as they went past Tatsuya. He paid them no mind and continued about his way. he was already used to belittling comments from his life at the Yotsuba family, not that they managed to effect him anyways. As he walked around, he walked across a bench, none else in the area, only that one bench. He had found it a weird decision in the school's exterior design, but ultimately shrugged at it and turned to see a woman with blood red eyes and flowing black hair walking closer to him.
She was what no doubt a person would call a beautiful girl, she was much shorter than Tatsuya, but from the CAD on her wrists, Tatsuya could easily understand her identity.
'allowed to carry a CAD around, black hair and red eyes, the ojou-sama of the Saegusa family, Saegusa Mayumi. The rumours of her beauty was true it seems.' Tatsuya thought.
"Ara, I haven't seen you around, are you a new student?" Mayumi asked.
"Yes, My Name is Shiba Tatsuya, Class 1-E. It is an honor to meet the chairwoman." Tatsuya said bowing.
She waved her hand, "no need to be so formal, we are all students here, It is a pleasure to meet you Tatsuya kun. Oh you don't mind me calling you Tatsuya kun do you? You can call me Mayumi if you want." Mayumi told him.
"that's alright, I'm fine with you calling me that, Saegusa senpai." Tatsuya informed her. Although, she had clearly told him to call her Mayumi, he had still preferred to keep his distance and call her Saegusa, this point did not miss Mayumi.
"well it was nice talking to you, you should move along to the auditorium now." Mayumi told him. Tatsuya bowed once more and excused himself as he left, Mayumi watched his back as he left.
'hmm... so this is Shiba Tatsuya, the student who scored the highest on the written test. I can't believe he is only a course 2 student, he seems... cold.' Mayumi thought. Although Tatsuya had scored the highest in the written exams in first high's history ever, his practical skills were a bit lacking. The practical exams had 3 stages to them, of which they are each scored from 0-100. This is a reason why Mayumi had gotten a bit interested in Tatsuya, who somehow, managed got 50 in all 3 tests. Placing him right in the middle of the pack, he wasn't a course 1 student, but he was certainly one of the highest in course 2.
(I forgot to mention, but because Tatsuya had more emotions ripped away unlike canon, he gained a larger magic calculation area as a result, is stronger than he should've been.)
In the Auditorium
Tatsuya had entered and saw the division in the seats of the course 2 and 1 students. The course 1 students mingled amongst themselves whilst, the course 2 kept to themselves. Tatsuya walked around thinking of where to sit, until he saw a girl, with short red hair calling him with her hands. He turned around to see no-one behind him and pointed to himself, the girl nodded so he walked over.
"is this seat taken?" Tatsuya asked.
"no go right ahead." the red haired girl told him, "the name's Erika. Chiba Erika, you can call me Erika. This is Shibata Mizuki." Erika introduced herself and the girl beside her.
"n-nice to meet you." Mizuki greeted as she fixed her glasses position.
"Pleasure, my name is Shiba Tatsuya, just call me Tatsuya." Tatusya followed suit.
"Hold on, Shiba? Are you related to the honor student, Shiba Miyuki?" Erika asked surprised.
" yes she is my younger sister," Tatsuya responded. As Erika was about to speak the Student Council President, or Mayumi, started to give the opening speech. The opening went on until, Miyuki gave her speech.
Miyuki finished giving her speech and was soon cornered by a lot of course 1 students.
"wow, Shiba san your speech was magnificient..."
" It's a pleasure to meet you.." Miyuki was rather used to these sort of situations, she had been trained on what to do, keep a small smile, respond respectfully and be polite. Even if she was feeling a bit claustrophobic, she bared through it. She remembered that she planned on meeting with her brother soon but was still held up by the students. Thankfully her saving grace arrived just in time.
"That truly was a marvelous speech, Ms Shiba." Mayumi said entering, followed by Vice-President Hattori.
"Thank you Chairwoman," Miyuki said bowing. Miyuki and Mayumi chatted for a bit until, Miyuki decided to leave, since Mayumi had to go the same direction she followed along. As they were walking, Miyuki stopped in her tracks.
'n-nii-san, i-is talking to girls? 2 in fact!' Miyuki thought surprised, but she remembered his usual behaviour and chalked it up to something different, still she could not pass up the opportunity to tease her brother, not that he would give her much of a reaction.
"Ara, nii-san are you already picking up girls?" Miyuki teased.
"Miyuki that's rude you know." Tatsuya responded just about as expected, in the most boring and plain fashion possible, "these are my new classmates, Chiba Erika and Shibata Mizuki." Tatsuya introduced.
"hello, I'm Shiba Miyuki, my brother can seem a bit distant but please take care of him." Miyuki bowed.
"Miyuki, are you not going to introduce the people behind you?" Tatsuya asked. Miyuki had completely forgotten that Mayumi and Hattori had been following along.
"It's good to see you again, Tatsuya-kun." Mayumi said jumping in now that the topic was on her.
"you knew her from before, nii-san?" Miyuki asked surprised, adding another girl to the list.
"I met her this morning, it's a pleasure once more, Saegusa senpai." Tatsuya replied.
"yes, well Miyuki san, it is about to be time for classes soon, how about we take this chat to the student council room tomorrow, you are invited too Tatsuya kun." Mayumi extended the invitation.
"but president, the schedule.." Hattori began but due to Mayumi's glare, he dropped the issue and followed along, not before he clicked his tongue at Tatusya before leaving.
In classes, Miyuki met Honoka and Shizuku and Tatsuya met Leo. Although, Tatsuya tried to refrain from getting too close to people, due to Leo sitting quite literally in front of him, it became rather impossible. Furthermore, due to Erika and Leo's assertive natures, they kept trying to pry him of information about himself. He couldn't lash back or threaten them since they seemed like the people that would increase their efforts to discover things even more. After Class, they were going home, somehow all of their houses ended up in the same direction so they were about to leave. Tatsuya met with Miyuki a bit later.
"Oh nii-san, the group has gotten larger.." Miyuki asked surprised. Her brother, was socialising. TATSUYA WAS!
"yeah... this is my classmate Leo." Tatsuya sighed.
"oi, why do you sound so depressed when you introduce me?" Leo asked.
"cuz he doesn't like you, no one does." Erika quipped back, the two ended up bickering.
"Miyuki san, come on let's go." a brown haired boy said aloud.
"ah, nii-san, I'll be taking my leave if you don't mind, me and my new classmates are going to a nearby cafe, is that possible?" Miyuki asked. Tatsuya gave a small smile, which was rather new to all of them.
"sure, if that's what you want to do." he replied. Miyuki smiled brightly and was about to return to the group when...
"why are you talking to a bunch of weeds Miyuki san?" a guy from the group asked.
"what did you say?" Erika asked provoked.
'oh no...'
"What was wrong, you are a bunch of weeds, we are of different type, blooms and weeds shouldn't be mixing up. She should be with us." the brown haired person adamantly stated.
"i-if Miyuki san wants to talk with h-her brother who are you to stop her?" Mizuki asked interfering.
"what did you say you damn weed?" the brown haired boy asked. Tatsuya had been watching from the sidelines, he didn't want to add hostility for his sister however, the course 1 students were getting arrogant and were about to use magic.
"what is your name?" Tatsuya asked jumping in.
"huh? Why do I need to say my name to a weed?" the brown haired man responded. Tatsuya internally sighed, to think idiots like him still existed. It all seemed completely immature to him.
"Answer the damn question, or are you too scared to?" Erika provoked him.
"what did you say?!" the brown haired man replied shouting and started casting magic but was promptly stopped by Erika, in response Honoka had started using magic herself but clearly had difficulty to control it. Tatsuya had read the sequence to only a bit light flash spell. Immediately, a psion bullet came and destroyed the sequence.
'took them long enough.' Tatsuya thought as he had sensed the presence of the two girls.
"Stop right there, what is going on?" a short black haired woman asked as she was accompanied, by Mayumi.
" urk, Watanabe Mari, of the public Morals Committee." one of the students said aloud.
"I didn't come here to hear your 'urk' I came to get an explanation. Usage of magic is strictly forbidden within school grounds, unless under surveillance by an instructor." Mari explained. Both groups were stumped for responses so Tatsuya decided to jump in.
"I apologise, Watanabe senpai." he said while bowing.
"oh?"
"I had heard that the Morisaki's quick draw was infamous, so I had asked for a demonstration. It was just a small prank that got out of hand." Tatsuya explained, shocking all of them.
"then how do you explain that girl's use of magic?" Mayumi asked.
"she was using a simple flash spell, non lethal of course." Tatsuya replied.
"y-you read the sequence?" Mayumi asked surprised. Tatsuya nodded.
"once again I apologise for the disturbance." Tatsuya apologised. They stood in silence for a bit.
"ne, Mari let's just drop the issue, it's their first day after all." Mayumi said as she shook Mari's sleeve.
"sigh, fine but I better not see you guys do it again, and you." She said pointing at Tatsuya, "what's your name?" she asked.
"His name is Shiba Tatsuya, the one who broke the school record for the Theory test." Mayumi replied smiling. She had felt a strange compulsion to back him up, he had been strictly professional the entire time, it made her curious as she wanted to find out just what was causing him to distance himself purposely. Mari of course noticed her willingness and just walked off.
As Mari and Mayumi were walking off..
"so, he's your type of man huh?" Mari asked grinning. Mayumi stumbled.
"what? I-I only met him today, what are you saying?" Mayumi asked blushing. 'Gods Mari is an idiot too, I only met him today, sure he looks a bit cool but it's not like I like him already. I am not an easy woman.' She internally thought.
"well gotta he is a bit interesting though." Mari admitted.
"you are going to cheat on Naotsugu?" Mayumi gasped playfully. Mari became bright red.
"wha- no, not in that sense baka." She told her.
back with Tatsuya
The two groups stood in silence for a bit until Morisaki decided to break it.
"don't expect me to thank you." he said bitterly, "besides if you knew who I was, then why ask?" he asked.
"it's only normal mannerism. I just wanted to know the name of the person my dear younger sister is friends with." Tatsuya replied. "however, I did have one more thing to add." he said. He turned to the groups who were a slight distance away. "remember this, and take it however you want, but my sister is not an object. She does not belong somewhere, she chooses that. I always watch over my sister, if you were to do something to her.." Tatsuya threatened with immense blood lust leaking out.
True, he had lost his emotions, he didn't feel anything special for his sister either. However, being a human goes beyon just magic and emotions, one key defining feature is... instinct. And for Tatsuya, although no-one has ever managed to figure it out, his instinct as a human being is to protect his sister and mother. Even if he doesn't really seem to care for them, he would still do everything to help them, because that is who he is.
"i-is that a threat?" Morisaki asked obviously taken aback, "i-if I do hurt her what will you do?" He asked challenging Tatsuya. Even if the pressure was too much for him, his pride wouldn't allow him to be overwhelmed by a weed.
"then let's say, not even the Morisaki's quick draw will be able to save you from your fate." Tatsuya said to him, their eyes meeting, it felt as if his deep blue eyes pierced into Morisaki's very existence. He felt hesitant to talk back. Tatsuya only walked back.
"Miyuki, don't worry, I'll tell haha-ue about your story, don't worry and have fun." He said smiling gently.
"Nii-san... thank you." Miyuki bowed.
"e-excuse me." A voice called out. Tatsuya turned to see a girl with small brown pig-tails and a girl with long black hair.
"t-thank you for covering for me there." the girl said to Tatsuya.
"ah, these two are my friends from my class. This is Honoka and this is Shizuku." Miyuki introduced.
"glad to meet you." Shizuku replied stoically.
"It's not a problem. I hope you can continue to look after my sister." Tatsuya told them. He imagined his jaws would've started hurting from the excessive amount of interaction he was having but, it seemed he was more compatible with it than he thought. After a bit of chit chat, Tatsuya and his group walked to the station and he arrived back home.
"I'm back, Haha-ue." he said as he entered the house.
"oh, welcome back Tatsuya. Where is Miyuki?" Miya asked him.
"she is with her classmates at a nearby cafe. She is currently drinking coffee." Tatsuya told her. Thanks, to his elemental sight, he always watched over her.
"alright then, how was your day?" Miya asked curious to know her son's first day.
"It was... eventful."
"oh?"
"After dropping off Miyuki at the announcement hall, I walked around, ran into Saegusa Mayumi first thing in the morning." Tatsuya started.
"and how was that interaction?" She asked.
"normal, it seemed like the rumours about her were true. Her beauty is unique." He compliment.
'oh my... Tatsuya just complimented a girl. Well he probably doesn't see it as anything strange but still.'
"Then the speech went off and I was talking to a few of my classmates, and now apparently I have to go have a talk with the student council alongside Miyuki tomorrow." Tatsuya summed up his day.
"Did anything happen because of your course 2 uniform?" Miya asked sensing the truth.
"Someone of the Morisaki clan tried to pick a fight, with my classmates. They were arguing that Miyuki shouldn't talk to me since I am course 2." he explained.
"and how did you respond?" Miya asked getting worried.
"... I gave him a light warning that if he were to treat Miyuki like an object again, not even the Morisaki's quick draw will be able to save him." Tatsuya casually said.
"honey, that is called a death threat. Honestly, why don't you try to show some more emoti-" Miya was about to begin but stopped herself. She had momentarily forgotten that fact.
"I do not possess emotions, I cannot show which I do not have." Tatsuya robotically replied. Miya's heart felt like it was being squeezed once more. Honestly, she was too much of a human to be a Yotsuba.
"I'm sorry, can you help me prepare dinner?" Miya asked, Tatsuya nodded and they got to cooking.
The Next Morning
Tatsuya and Miyuki arrived to school and went on with their day, during the lunch break they went to the Student Council room.
"Excuse me, Its Shiba Tatsuya and Miyuki, may we enter." Tatsuya asked knocking.
"go ahead." They entered to see a large conference table in the middle, at the head of it, Mayumi sat, next to her sat 3 more girls. "please sit down both of you." Mayumi offered the empty side. They both sit down. "let's get to introductions, this here is Watanabe Mari whom you met yesterday already. This is our treasurer, Ichihara Suzune and finally our secretary A-chan." Mayumi introduced them all enthusiastically.
"President, my name is not A-chan." Azusa insisted.
"got it, A-senpai." Tatsuya joined in.
"Not you too." Azusa pouted, to see a stranger start calling her weird names too, "by the way... you two are called Shiba are you related?" Azusa asked.
"yes, we are married." Tatsuya replied. Immediately, Mayumi choked on her tea.
"you are?" Mayumi asked surprised.
"We are?!" Miyuki repeated. Tatsuya calmly drank his tea.
"...of course I was just messing with you guys." he replied, "we're only siblings." he added.
"y-you had me for a second there." Azusa smiled. Mari only grinned knowingly at Mayumi who didn't add anything but only looked away from Mari.
"cough, moving on from the jokes, Miyuki san, we from the Student Council would like to extend an invitation to join us as our secretary." Mayumi offered Miyuki. Miyuki looked a bit hesitant, and looked at her brother for advice, she knew she could probably count of him.
"I think it would be a wonderful experience for you Miyuki, although whether you do accept or not is up to you." Tatsuya supported her.
"..Mayumi senpai, what type of work would I have to do?" Miyuki asked now that she has the support of her brother.
" oh normal administrative work, sorting budgets, managing documents etc." Mayumi gave a couple of examples. Miyuki didn't say anything for a bit.
"um... I think my brother would be more suited for this position." Miyuki finally spoke.
"Miyuki..." Tatsuya sighed. This wasn't the only time, she had tried to raise his standing or position.
"umm..." Mayumi looked to the others. " I would've loved to do so, however, tradition-wise we the student council have never selected a course 2 student as a member, don't get me wrong we don't have anything against them, however, if we were to suddenly allow him to join, the student wouldn't just take it sitting down." Mayumi explained.
"I see..." Miyuki sighed dejected, "well it was a fair shot at getting people to finally recognise him." she said aloud without realising.
"what do you mean?" Mayumi asked confused. Miyuki covered her mouth as she realised her blunder.
"it's nothing don't worry." Tatsuya cut in, "well then Miyuki good luck with being a secretary. I'll let her know." Tatsuya told his sister.
"her?" Mayumi asked, the cryptic messages really were not helping them find out more about the Shiba siblings.
"our mother." Miyuki informed her. "well then, nii-san-"
"hold on." Mari interrupted, they all turned to her, "Shiba, I mean Tatsuya kun, how would you feel to join the disciplinary committee?" Mari asked. Mayumi's face brightened.
"nice Mari, I forgot about the empty position." Mayumi snapped her fingers.
"rejected." Tatsuya sternly responded, and as he was about to leave, Miyuki held onto his coat. "Miyuki?"
"I think that's a very good proposal." Miyuki said excited. "nii-san, you need more human interaction." She said in a lecturing way.
"I already interact too much, my jaw is in pain." Tatsuya told her.
"nonsense, you can't feel pa-" Miyuki paused, they all wondered why she didn't finish the sentence, "I mean, that's just excuses." she corrected herself.
"Sigh, fine. I'll join since you insist so much." Tatsuya sighed defeated. Afterwards, Tatsuya went about his day but was called back at the end of the day, turns out the vice-president, Hattori Hanzo didn't accept him, hence, they had an official mock battle. Tatsuya sweeped the floor with him. Afterwards, Mari took him to the DC office where he cleaned things up because he found it very suffocating.
As if to add to his misery, he was called back to the Student Council Office, even though Miyuki had finished her work, he told her to leave and went to see only Mayumi sitting at her desk.
"ah, I've been expecting you Tatsuya kun," Mayumi said with a smile.
"I'm sorry for being late, the DC office was... less than clean." he said looking away. Mayumi giggled.
"it would be great if you could knock some sense into Mari, she's sloppy like that." Mayumi told him. "now can you take a seat in front of me," Mayumi asked him, Tatsuya found it weird but complied nonetheless.
"may I ask why I was called?" Tatsuya asked.
"I wanted to talk a bit. It gets quite lonely when I'm the only one having excessive work." Mayumi told him.
"... with all due respect, shouldn't you be focusing on the work, so that you can go quicker?" Tatsuya asked.
"go home and do what? There is nothing to do at home anyways." Mayumi shrugged. "I thought talking to you would be much more entertaining." she grinned wryly. Tatsuya would've shivered had he been capable of feeling the fear. He felt a weird bubbly feeling in his chest, but decided that it was some subconcious result.
'does she think of me as some entertainment source? Well not that I really mind being here, Miyuki has got Haha-ue covered.' Tatsuya internally thought.
"very well, I can entertain you for a bit." Tatsuya responded.
"perfect let's go get some ice cream." Mayumi cheered as she stood up.
"... what about your work?" Tatsuya asked.
"ah don't worry the details Tatsuya kun, are you that against spending some time with your cute innocent senpai?" Mayumi teased.
"more like devilish." Tatsuya murmured. "fine, we can go quickly," he felt like a man babysitting someone.
"yes, let's get going straight away." Mayumi said as she grabbed onto Tatsuya's arm and dragged him away.
'Why is she suddenly so obsessed with me?' Tatsuya wondered confused.
'Why am I being so clingy to him? Oh well, I love me some Ice Cream.' Mayumi shrugged internally and kept that beaming smile on the outside.
A/N: and that's a wrap, the end bit might feel a bit rushed, true, cuz it is. But the main cause of it is because I felt like, if I kept going into so much detail, I would end up in the chapter 40 while I just began the nine school competitions. So I decided to cut corners where it doesn't really matter. Obviously, the story won't be completely following the canon, because he has a mother ridden with guilt right now. Either way, hope u liked it, it was a bit different to change my writing style from danmachi to this, so do tell me if the writing style and paragraph lengthing is fine or not.
Bless.