Chapter 3: Blanche
A/N: Yo wys. So... I haven't watched MKR in a pretty long time right, so I kind of forgot the Hattori scene and just added the ice cream scene instead, therefore. Regardless, it should go smooth enough, let's just pretend Hattori had no issues with it or he was sick for a couple of days? Well, I will say this now, do not compare this to the canon, we literally have a person that's supposed to be dead, alive right now.
Tatsuya had just finished dealing with Mayumi's hissy fit and took her to get ice cream at a nearby ice cream parlour.
"Tatsuya kun, what flavour did you choose?" Mayumi asked as she cheerfully put a spoonful of her ice cream in her mouth.
" I chose coffee. What about you, Saegusa Senpai?" Tatsuya asked.
"c-coffee?" Mayumi repeated confused, "i-is it actually good? H-how can you eat that?" Mayumi asked confused.
"I have a compulsary dosage of coffee I must intake. According to the doctor excessive amounts of coffee is very good for your health." Tatsuya told her.
"T-Tatsuya kun, don't take this personally... but I think you should change doctors. Who is it?" She asked shivering.
"obviously, I am my own doctor." Tatsuya responded. "and I was only joking." He added.
"about you being your own doctor or the excessive coffee?" Mayumi asked doubtfully.
"... yes." he replied and they kept walking. They chatted and reluctantly Mayumi learnt more about Tatsuya than he wanted her to know. Like how he manages Miyuki's CAD, how he is student of Kokonoe Yakumo and how he likes to play football. By the time they had reached the gates of the school they finished their respective ice creams. "well, Saegusa senpai, that is the end of my deal and your family's car is here so I'll take my leave." Tatsuya bowed.
"Mayumi." she replied.
"sorry?"
"We learnt more about each other, you can at least call me Mayumi at this point." she insisted.
"senpai... we literally met each other for the first time a few days ago." Tatsuya pointed out. It was a bit too early to be on a first name basis.
"but I call you Tatsuya don't I?" Mayumi asked. Which in itself was a fair point. "Plus what's that girls name... ah yes, Chiba Erika. She doesn't even call you using kun, just calls you Tatsuya and you refer to her as Erika. So what's wrong with us saying that?" Mayumi asked. Tatsuya had quickly realised, that trying to beat Saegusa Mayumi in a battle of words was more than useless.
" I would still feel uncomfortable if all of a sudden you started calling me without directive and I started calling you on a first name basis." Tatsuya told her.
"what's this? Tatsuya kun, are you embarrassed?" Mayumi teased. Tatsuya didn't respond but only looked at her, "fine, I guess I'll settle for you calling me Mayumi only when we are alone." Mayumi sighed.
Tatsuya figured that he wouldn't be alone with her that much anyways, so just agreed so that he could go home.
Shiba House
"I'm back Haha-ue." Tatsuya said as he walked in.
"welcome back, you took quite the long while. Did something hold you up?." Miya said coming to the front.
"I... ran into an unfortunate situation." Tatsuya replied.
"oh my that is quite the issue if even you can't handle it Tatsuya, what Happened?" Miya asked curious, if there was something even Tatsuya could handle, it must've been quite serious.
"Haha-ue... how do you understand people?" Tatsuya asked deadpanned. Miya blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
"I'm sorry? D-did you just ask me how to understand people?" Miya repeated in disbelief. "ok, rewind and tell me the entire story." Miya told him. So that's what he did, Tatsuya explained everything, from Miyuki trying to throw him under the bus and make him a part of the student council, to him unluckily getting put into the DC and finally being dragged to an ice cream parlour by Mayumi.
Miya sat silently and listened to the entire story, by the end they both sat silently, and Miyuki who had joined mid way through.
"oh my..." Miyuki said quietly.
"... It must've been tough on you, Tatsuya." Miya sympathised. Tatsuya didn't respond. " I can't believe it though... you somehow made a girl, the eldest daughter of the Saegusa Clan no less, have a crush on you, or at least want to build a rather friendly relation with you." she said as she sipped on her tea. "what are your feelings about this?" Miya asked.
"... I don't believe I have fallen in love with her, I mean... I get this weird chill or tingle in my back whenever I am with her, it's frightening a bit." Tatsuya described. "well I say frightening assuming that's what a normal person would feel." he said. And once again, Miya was painfully so reminded that her only son, didn't have any emotions. Because of her, but rather than brooding of her failures and fuck ups, she thought carefully about what her son described.
To say that her son felt a tingle was something that her never happened before at all, it was no surprise that he couldn't understand, but this point in time was still too early to clearly say anything. "well, why don't you bear with it a bit longer and see how things pan out? As you said you have only known her for a few days, you'll just have to see how things go on." Miya advised her son. She didn't mean to play therapist, but this sort of interaction with her son was already more than she could hope for.
A typical parental relation, the child finds things new or strange and consults with their parents with greater experience to ask for advice. However typically in Tatsuya's case it used to be, human interaction, he doesn't really have any. If it was about fighting, he was an excellent solider at the JSDF so he could just ask his superiors even if his mother had experience with battles. His brains were good enough for him to handle most mentally challenging tasks by himself.
However, by going to First High, her son was forced into human interactions, he must've thought he could spend three years, sitting in the corner by himself and watching over Miyuki however, it seemed that fate was finally kicking him in the balls. And boy did it please Miya, not in a sadistic manner of course... ok maybe a bit sadistic fashion too but the point was that it pleased Miya to have some sort of interaction with her son.
"by the way, Tatsuya, has he or that woman contacted you yet?" Miya asked. Tatsuya shook his head.
"No I haven't gotten any sort of information yet." Tatsuya replied.
"How could he? They both called to congratulate me yet they said nothing to you? He doesn't even have the right to call himself your father." Miyuki spat, it angered her that her father would be this stuck up.
"sigh, your father has always been like this. I must say, I truly am ashamed that he didn't even send an email. on behalf of him, Tatsuya, congratulations of making it into First High. Please don't hold it against him." Miya congratulated and apologised.
"it's nothing, I don't hold it against him, after all, I did choose to attend First High against his wishes." Tatsuya replied.
"no, you made the right choice. He is the type of man, that would've held you down even if you had decided to work in FLT with him. Him or that woman wouldn't allow you to be truly Taurus Silver." Miya answered him. She knew, both his father and Sayuri were rather sore losers, who didn't like the fact that as an engineer and scientist, Tatsuya was far better than them and they didn't like that.
The next day, Tatsuya had to assume DC duties, he had already picked up two bracelet CADs and he attended the meeting about the club scout discussion where him and Morisaki Shun were introduced. The entire time he was glaring at him but Tatsuya ignored him.
"How? How did you convince them to let you in?" Morisaki asked angered.
"... I told them just how much I didn't want to do this and they forced me into it." Tatsuya responded.
"h-huh? What are you on about?" Morisaki asked confused.
" the president is the type of person that forces people into things against their will, listen to my advice... don't fall for her traps." he advised Morisaki, who was just baffled.
"oh my, Tatsuya kun, you are talking behind Mayumi's back, I need to tell her this." Mari interrupted.
"... Watanabe senpai, I have recently gotten Naotsugu san's number from Erika recently. I hope you know what I can do with this." Tatsuya told her.
"Oh? Are you trying to threaten me back?" Mari asked with a confident grin.
"I-I don't want to be involved in this anymore." Morisaki said trying to back away.
"Hahaha, I like that behaviour. Fine I won't tell Mayumi, never back down from someone even if you are course 2, it doesn't define you." Mari laughed.
Afterwards, Tatsuya put on his arm clip and had to save Erika as she was being pulled around by a lot of clubs trying to recruit. He ended up seeing Erika in a rather risque manner and as a punishment had to accompany her to the kendo demonstration.
"Is it boring for you?" Tatsuya asked.
"of course, they planned the hits, it's completely staged." Erika sighed.
"well, they can't show full on martial arts. After all, the real purpose of a battle is to kill." Tatsuya said calmly.
"you're so composed about it." Erika replied. As Tatsuya was about to respond they heard commotion from down the demonstration grounds. Mibu Sayaka and Kirihara Takeaki and he had to interrupt as Kirihara tried to use his sonic blade ability to almost hit Mibu so he canceled his spell and detained him.
"I am arresting Kirihara senpai on the basis of misuse of magic. Please send a stretcher as he is injured." Tatsuya spoke into his device.
"oi why only Kirihara, Mibu has the same fault." one of the kenjutsu members tried to argue.
"I did say misuse of magic." Tatsuya replied. And that induced the kenjutsu members to attack, he initially planned to only fend them off but then...
"you motherfucker." one of them swore.
"whose mother, yours?" Tatsuya quipped back which earnt a fair bit of laughter and sent the man into flying rage.
"I'll fucking kill you and your mother." the man once again swore. However, this time it hit something in Tatsuya. A very impatient feeling overtook him, something... just some unknown feeling began to swell inside him. he failed to control his power as the man approached, he dodged his punch and kicked the man's shin, so hard that the bone breaking noise was audible.
'Shit...' Tatsuya cursed in his mind. He had critically attacked the student, he didn't hold back enough. "Kill? People like you don't even know the meaning of killing" Tatsuya asked in a menacing voice.
'What's going on? My body isn't fully listening to me.' Tatsuya internally struggled to keep himself in check. For Tatsuya who could only minutely feel things, who could feel happiness not joy. Sadness not grief. Arouse not lust. For him this seething rage was something that was seizing control from him. He crouched down and the man looked up at him, sweating profusely as if staring into a predator's eyes. Tatsuya stood over, like a lion entrapping a mouse.
"behave." Tatsuya told the man, who out of sheer fear could not reply and only lied on the ground feeling bits of him shake. "I have another report, I'll be arresting majority of the kenjutsu club, on the basis they tried to attack a DC member. Send an additional stretcher since one of them has a broken leg now." Tatsuya reported. The people surrounding them looked in absolute shock and horror. Tatsuya, a 2nd course student, had completely and utterly humiliated the kenjutsu club, not to mention decimated them in battle. Mibu and her senpai looked with wide eyes. Erika felt impressed by had felt the blood lust that was just pouring out of Tatsuya, someone who wasn't seasoned in battle and hadn't honed their senses would never be able to see or feel the fear that level of blood thirst could induce.
As for Tatsuya, he was extremely confused. This was the first time he had an outburst of emotion, he had lost emotions, there was no way for them to come back. The only things he had was suppressed basic emotions, for even a genius like him, finding a logical solution was out of reach.
Soon the stretchers arrived, and Tatsuya had to make a report to the three leaders of Katsuto Juumonji, Saegusa Mayumi and Watanabe Mayumi.
"from the report in the following, you had quite the rough time. An entire club pounced on you, are you alright?" Mayumi asked concerned.
"yes Saegusa senpai, physically I'm unharmed." Tatsuya replied.
"you speak as if you were psychologically affected?" Mari assumed.
"... that is a rather personal thing, but at the moment I'm feeling great confusion, but that is not related to today's incident." Tatsuya revealed.
"besides Kirihara, who you had to forcefully stop, the others were rather peacefully fended off, except for one. What made you break his leg?" Juumonji asked.
"wait he broke someone's leg?" Mayumi asked surprised.
"sigh, did you not listen or even read his report?" Mari asked.
"I failed to control my power as he had quite suddenly went into flying rage. He cursed at me and I accidentally ended up aggravating him. So as a result of miscalculation, he ended up getting slightly injured." Tatsuya replied.
"you completely shattered his shin, it will take months for him to heal." Mari said aloud.
"... well allow me to fix that. as a result of miscalculation, he ended up getting moderately injured." Tatsuya corrected. Mayumi had found the interaction rather funny so she quietly giggled immateurishly.
"well whatever, you were authorised so fend him off one way or another, though I am surprised you didn't use any magic." Juumonji said impressed.
"oh but he is one of the best at martial arts, his teacher is that Kokonoe Yakumo." Mayumi praised.
"That ancient magic preacher who is famed for his ninjutsu? No wonder then," Juumonji shrugged.
"hold on, how do you know this, as far as my memory serves me he hasn't said this to us at any time." Mari asked. "hm... so you guys have been spending some quality time together eh?" Mari teased Mayumi who blushed and denied it.
"no that is not true, it's just that Watanabe senpai isn't the brightest of the bunch." Tatsuya quipped nonchalantly. Silence emerged for a couple seconds.
"pfft... " Mayumi failed as she burst out laughing, "I-I can totally see why that student went into rage after having an argument with you." She giggled.
"don't make me come down there Tatsuya." Mari warned. Eventually however, after all jokes and laughter, Tatsuya was finally allowed to leave. As he was leaving he tried to think of the recent events, but his train of thoughts were crashed, bombed and pissed on by Mayumi who ran up to him and pulled on his sleeve.
(sorry my use of triples may have gone a bit too far there.)
'not again...'Tatsuya sighed internally. "Can I help you, Saegusa senpai?" he asked turning to her.
"who?" Mayumi asked as she looked around. "when we are alone, my name is Mayumi right?" she asked.
"...sigh, can I help you, Mayumi senpai?" Tatsuya corrected and Mayumi had a knowing smile as if to say 'that's right, good boy'
"let's hang out for a bit." Mayumi said smiling.
"why? Watanabe senpai is literally still there." Tatsuya pointed out. Mayumi pouted.
"what? do you not want to spend some time with me?" Mayumi asked. Tatsuya looked at her for a second.
"you're going to give people the wrong impression if you speak like that." Tatsuya told her.
"oh and what if I am trying to give you that impression?" Mayumi asked.
"Well, that will just add to the levels of confusion I currently have." Tatsuya replied.
"see, we are finally starting a conversation, why don't we go to some park or something and just have a very relaxed chat?" Mayumi offered. Tatsuya reluctantly agreed, he didn't mind spending some time with her, since he always finished his work early anyways. They went to a nearby park. The park itself was pretty normal, trees covering it mainly, the lush greenery would bring a sort of nature wins atmosphere into the world. It felt very relaxing to be in.
"see... it's not that hard to forget about your issues." Mayumi said as she sat down onto the bench. She had evidently become rather comfortable onto the wooden bench. Tatsuya could not share the same sentiment. Sure, the trees seemed nice, or somewhere peaceful but that was it. Peaceful, it worked no further than a tiny bit of encouragement, for Tatsuya who had always found solutions to his problems, not being able to find one was more frustrating than sitting on a bench.
Relaxing was something he couldn't do at the moment. His body tried to take in the fresh air, but his mind filtered it out as normal oxygen and used it to turn the gears in his mind. What was causing that outburst of emotion? The only other time was when his mother or sister was physically attacked, like in Okinawa where he went complete haywire and literally eliminated every enemy. A high schooler's empty threats should not have had a similar reaction to Okinawa and this was more than dangerous. If someone only cussing his mother out would cause this sort of failure in control, he could even accidentally blow up the entire school.
"Tatsuya, are you listening?" Finally Mayumi's words went through his ears and he snapped his head towards her.
"sorry what were you saying?" He asked.
"see, you weren't listening at all." Mayumi huffed, "if you don't want to spend some down time that much then go ahead and leave I won't stop you." She told him.
"and you're saying that as your mouth becomes a balloon?" He asked poking Mayumi's cheek to deflate the ball she had formed. Mayumi looked at him completely pink.
"hey, what was th-" Mayumi tried to speak.
"ara, Tatsuya, what are you doing here?" a woman sudden interrupted. Tatsuya spun his head around to see his mother.
'damn, I forgot to keep an eye out. I knew it, she really has an effect on me. But why?' Tatsuya wondered internally.
Mayumi turned to see a beautiful woman, that looked like she was in her mid twenties. She could only try to figure out her identity but failed. She turned her head to see Tatsuya looking down to her hands, which held shopping bags.
"Haha-ue! Why are you carrying shopping?" Tatsuya suddenly asked with a raised voice which made Mayumi jump. He immediately got up and took the bags from her hands.
" You should've called me or Miyuki, you know you shouldn't be carrying it." Tatsuya lectured his mother, with something that sounded like genuine concern.
"Tatsuya, my body may be frail, but it isn't made of paper you know. Shopping of this much is nothing." Miya tried to tell her son. But Tatsuya was insisting about her not trying to do over do. although, his voice didn't match the words of concern. Mayumi failing to hold it in burst out laughing.
"Mayu- Saegusa senpai, what's funny?" Tatsuya asked confused.
"I-I'm sorry, I don't mean to make any fun but... your voice and words just don't match." she said laughing. "I have never heard someone so concerned and monotonous as that, pfft..." she held her laugh in. Miya giggled along.
"so you must be Saegusa Mayumi." she suddenly said, "thank you for looking after my children, my name is Shiba Miya." Miya bowed gracefully which made her seem of a higher standing than Mayumi.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms Shiba, I had mistaken you for Tatsuya's older sister there for a second." Mayumi said with a smile as she also bowed.
"oh my, you sure know your way with words, no wonder Tatsuya's been having issues recently." Miya replied.
"haha-ue, that isn't necessary for her to know." Tatsuya told her.
"oh, seems like I hit a string." Miya and Mayumi began laughing.
"Well, Saegusa senpai, I'll take my leave here. I can't allow haha-ue to carry these." Tatsuya told her.
"it's just shopping don't mind me and spend some time with her, it's the first time I have seen you so relaxed with someone." Miya told him. Mayumi had a few questions wavering in her mind.
"oh my, Tatsuya kun, what's this? all this time I thought you hated being alone with me, but it seems Ms Shiba is saying that you feel relaxed." Mayumi grinned.
"that's because I wasn't around many people to begin with." Tatsuya replied.
"Tatsuya, that makes you sound pitifully lonely." Miya added. "Ok enough bullying you, don't want you to go and blow up the school. Goodbye, Mayumi chan, let's go Tatsuya." Miya said smiling.
"yeah, goodbye Mayumi chan." Tatsuya playfully mocked. Mayumi blushed upon hearing him call her chan. Miya obviously did not fail to pick up on it, they continued to make their way back.
" my oh my... Tatsuya she has really fallen for you." Miya commented as they walked back.
"are you sure? I literally met her a fe-" Tatsuya tried to say but got cut off.
"yes, I am aware you barely know her. sigh, you don't understand a woman's heart do you?" Miya sighed.
"I don't even understand my own heart, how am I going to understand someone elses?" Tatsuya asked plainly. Which was fair enough, just with the few days of dealing with Mayumi he has been having problems coping with things, he would rather focus on adjusting CADs or killing evil organisations. Now that sounded moderately entertaining.
"listen here, Tatsuya. A girl can develop a crush in the first second of meeting a person, but they can develop it into love only after extended interaction. I doubt that she majorly realises this herself, but there will come at a a point where she will fall in love with you, now it's up to you, if you want you can stop interacting with her now from early on, that will stop her crush from developing into love. Or you can choose to go about as it i is but that is based on you." Miya advised him.
"assuming I do move away now, what will the effect on her be?" Tatsuya asked.
"she will be hurt. alot." Miya replied honestly. "the feeling of unrequited love is quite devastating to a woman, it can make or break an extended period of time, that depends on the level of interaction and feelings you had. and based on the fact she will have to see you around for another year, she will basically be hurting for an entire year." Miya explained to him.
"and if I choose to stay and keep things as they are for now?" Tatsuya asked.
"then without a doubt, her feelings will evolve into love. She will want your love too, and if you reject her then, she will be even more heartbroken. Furthermore, there will be even more obstacles should you choose to continue." Miya told him.
"the main family..." Tatsuya whispered. Miya nodded.
" Yotsuba family and Saegusas have a past. I won't go into details but the involvement was Saegusa Kouichi, Mayumi's father and your aunt." Miya cryptically told him. "frankly speaking, I support this. I feel like if you are with her, you will undoubtedly change. Whether that is for the good or bad, not even I can say." Miya told him with hope leaking out of her voice.
'change? I mean I can already feel some sort of changes, but am I supposed to expect some other type of change?' Tatsuya wondered.
"don't rush this Tatsuya." Miya warned. " if you do pick the latter, I will wholeheartedly support you, it's the least I can do after what I did to you..." Miya said with a solemn tone.
"haha-ue, from what I can say, no offense to you, but women are a real pain sometimes." Tatsuya told her. Miya softly laughed.
" well, that's just part of life, surely, you weren't planning on being single all your life." Miya told him.
"..."
"Tatsuya," Miya said but Tatsuya only looked away to the side, "that would've been a very lonely life you know." she told him. "sigh, just take a day off today, don't work on any CADs or anything and think very carefully about what you want. Not what's good for Miyuki or me, and certainly not for the Yotsubas." Miya ordered him.
Which would certainly be very difficult for Tatsuya who was literally programmed to live for Miya and Miyuki. But well, it was an order form Miya.
That night Tatsuya didn't do any work as promised, but that meant that he was thinking all the time, to not waste any of his time. He became unresponsive, wouldn't give full fledged answers when Miyuki spoke, he kept trying to pick up rice from his empty rice bowl. And he had been walking to the side of his bedroom door.
"what in the world is going on with nii-san right now?" Miyuki asked her mother as they both watched him trying to enter the bathroom for the 10th time but he kept opening and closing the door.
"He's gone into super efficiency mode it seems." Miya responded, "because I told him not to work today and think of his personal issues, as to not waste a second he is so constantly thinking about it that he doesn't realise all his other functions are failing." Miya explained, in a rather hillarious manner.
"the hell." Miyuki said in a hused voice.
"Miyuki." Tatsuya suddenly spoke up, "that's not how a young lady should speak." he said.
"oh so he picks that one up huh?" Miyuki questioned as her mother only smiled. They somehow managed to get through and Tatsuya lay in bed. He had worn his trousers the other way round but well, no one would point that one out.
Tatsuya POV
I don't get it. In every way possible, choosing to break it off right now is the most logical solution. It means she will only go through momentary pain, even mother said, she doesn't fully realise she has fallen for me. But what's this weird feeling?
Tatsuya couldn't fully comprehend his thoughts. Every so often he would get this burst of thoughts, sometimes it was the few memories they shared, going to the ice cream parlour. Talking with each other. All those moments would somehow deter him from moving away from her. But, he knew he wouldn't love her, couldn't love her. He wasn't made to love, he wasn't built to love someone. He was created as a weapon, he didn't have that right.
But was he truly happy to serve his life as a weapon? Spending his time serving the Yotsubas. The clan that took everything from him, his anger, his happiness, his sadness and his love. They took everything. He, once an organic human, filled with emotions and desires, his insides were emptied, the very things that defined him were turned into strings of numbers and simple data. They literally only left him his shell of a body, and called it 'for the better good'
Of course, he had once held it against his mother. He couldn't genuinely feel mad at her, but they didn't take his memories, he still knew what he had and the feeling that he had lost something immense had created a rift between him and his mother.
Until Okinawa that is. That place served as a game changer for him, he met Major Kazama, his sister tried to actually get closer to him. It was the place... where his mother once died. Yet, he used it, he used the same magic that he considered 'a curse' to his normal life, to bring back his mother back to life. Ever since, even he could see how desperately his mother had tried to fix herself. She started calling him Tatsuya without san, she increased physical contact, she even hugged him. She advised him on things, and within a few months it felt as if Tatsuya was actually a part of their family. Even though he couldn't hold her for what she did to him, the guilt he saw every day in her pained eyes was enough to make sure, he dedicated everything to keep her safe.
Tatsuya eventually fell asleep and had to be woken up by Miyuki as he got freshened up he went downstairs to see his mother preparing the table for breakfast. She looked up at him and gave a tiny smile.
"so? Have you decided what you will do?" Miya asked gently. Tatsuya slowly nodded.
"I... will keep things as they are." he told her. He looked back at Miya to see the same face. If she was shocked she wasn't showing it.
'Eeeeh? Tatsuya actually chose to keep interacting with her? This was totally outside expectations.' Miya internally freaked out. It was as Tatsuya thought, she was shocked, but didn't show it. "do you mind telling me what led to that decision?" Miya asked.
"... I don't.. know." Tatsuya said pausing, "it's just I feel like things need to change. Anything. While I was thinking about her, I came to the question.. if I am really happy living as a weapon?" Tatsuya revealed. Miya's eyes widened but turned solemn, she didn't dare mutter a word. "I couldn't understand what she wanted, I know for a fact that if she falls for me, I'll never be able to reciporcate it, but what you told me stuck. Perhaps, with her there, I could change. Something could change." Tatsuya explained.
"am I clinging onto flimsy hope? Probably. Will I regret it? I can't so I won't. The one thing I can see right now, is to keep going and deal with the issues one by one. Since I can't find an easier solution." Tatsuya told her, his normally empty eyes holding a glint of determination. Miya smiled.
"then that's what you'll do. I support it." Miya told him. Tatsuya let out a very rather indistinguishable smile and got down to breakfast. Afterwards, he and Miyuki went to school. He entered his classroom and sat down and attended normal classes. Midway through, he was attacked by someone with the wristband that signified they were from egalite, a sub group of the anti-magic terrorist group Blanche. So this just added to his own worries, not that he told anyone.
" So you finally done with DC stuff?" Leo asked. Tatsuya massaged his stiff shoulders.
"yeah, finally get some down time." Tatsuya said.
"hahaha, you became a legend around here. That mysterious year 1 2nd course student who easily sweeps the floors with 1st course senpais." Leo grinned.
"mysterious?" Tatsuya questioned. His head turned to see a small crowd near the door and he saw Miyuki looking through the door. He walked over to her.
"hey Miyuki, did you need something?" Tatsuya asked approaching her.
"um.. I just wanted to have a little talk with you, is that difficult right now?" she asked. Tatsuya only pat her head.
"nothing's impossible for you, let's go." Tatsuya said as he went out the class and they walked through the halls talking about recent issues.
"excuse me, Tatsuya kun." a voice called out from behind. The two of them turned to see, a black haired girl with a ponytail. her face was petite and cute but her sharp eyes signified that she practicies martial arts.
"ah Mibu senpai right?" Tatsuya asked.
"yeah, I was wondering if I could have a couple words with you, I would like to thank you for a weeks ago." Mibu told him.
"seriously nii-san, what's up with you and women?" Miyuki asked with an accusing glare.
"that's rude to her you know." Tatsuya told her.
"that's not the problem, there are too many girls around you. Are you sure you're not a gigolo of some sort?" Miyuki asked with a grin.
"g-gigolo?" Mibu repeated.
"see now you're just scaring her away, I'm not a gigolo, but sorry I can't talk with you now." Tatsuya told Mibu.
"e-eh?"
"but in 15 mins, yes." he added. They looked at each other for a second.
"all right I'll wait for you in the cafe alright?" Mibu said as Tatsuya nodded. Then they continued walking towards the Student Council Room.
"ah Tatsuya kun, Miyuki san. Come in." Mayumi said with a joyous voice from within. They entered to see the Student Council functioning as usual. Mayumi and Mari were clearly having a chat and the vice president, Hattori was looking outside. He turned.
"so you're the rumored demonic DC officer who has been thrashing upper class misbehavers." Hattori said turning around.
"Alright, these rumours are just getting out of hand, senpai who in the actual world is spreading these?" Tatsuya asked.
"I don't know, but it's good isn't it. Not many people dare to mess with you anymore." Mari smirked.
"By the way, I haven't seen Hattori san ever since the first day, did something happen?" Miyuki jumped in asking Hattori. He blushed and coughed a little.
"Hattori Gyoubushoujo Hanzo here, came down with severe Salmonella and couldn't get out of his house for the last couple weeks." Mayumi laughed.
(I'm changing things here)
"President please don't laugh, I was throwing up a bit of blood as well. I could barely come in today." Hattori told her. Indeed he did look a bit pale. Tatsuya narrowed his eyes and drew his silver horn and pointed it at Hattori.
They obviously became alarmed instantly.
"Tatsuya kun?!" Mayumi called out.
"What are you doing?" Mari asked. Hattori was ready to cast as well.
"don't worry, I'm not going to do something bad." Tatsuya told them. He fired his gun, and a couple psion waves went through Hattori's wave and came back almost as if getting absorbed once more. They all looked confused.
"Hattori senpai, have you consulted with a doctor yet?" Tatsuya asked.
"y-yes, but they said it was just Salmonella." Hattori replied.
" must've been a quack doctor then. Hattori senpai you have been having severe aches in the bottom right side of your abdomen correct?" Tatsuya asked. Hattori stood shocked.
"h-how did you know?" Hattori asked confused and surprised.
"You appendix is the size of a tennis ball right now, meaning you have appendicitis, you should get that surgically removed otherwise the pain will increase until your appendix bursts." Tatsuya advised him.
"H-how did you find out?" Mayumi asked shocked. Tatsuya smiled.
"I wasn't lying when I said I am my own doctor, I have this spell called, 'medicus undam' which essentially allows me to see the internal body structure of anything and determine if anything is wrong with it. Using that, I found the issue with him.
"alright let me ask this to everyone, does anyone remember him saying anything about him being a doctor to any of us?" Mari asked. Everyone shook their heads. "aha, since Mayumi knows, that means you two must've spent some time alone." Mari pointed out as Mayumi blushed.
"... Watanabe senpai, which is more important, the fact that I spent some time chatting to your best friend, or the fact that one of your fellow students has to get a surgery right now?" Tatsuya asked backing Mari into a corner.
"urk, feels like I am trying to argue against Mayumi here, there just isn't a situation to win is there?" Mari asked and Tatsuya shook his head. So, Hattori decided to get that good ol' surgery.
"So, Tatsuya kun, want to go for a stroll again? Since everyone knows anyways," Mayumi asked with a smile.
"sorry, I have an appointment with someone." Tatsuya told her.
"excuses." she retorted.
"he actually does you know, with Mibu Sayaka." Miyuki told them all.
"Oh? that girl that you saved from Kirihara Takeaki? Way to go." Mari smirked. Mayumi only pouted.
" she's probably just going to ask me to join or something, I did beat down the kenjutsu club with just martial arts." Tatsuya shurgged and left. Mari took the opportunity to tease Mayumi about her having her man stolen by another girl, and Mayumi kept trying to bite back saying he wasn't her man. But that was just a repetitive cycle.
Tatsuya arrived at the cafe and sat down in front of Mibu with a mug of coffee.
"sorry for the wait." Tatsuya apologised. "had some issues with the student council." he added.
"oh, don't worry about it." Mibu said. As Tatsuya took a sip of his coffee.
"So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked.
"oh um well... first I would like to thank you for saving me against Kirihara and his buddies." Mibu bowed.
"don't worry, I was just doing my job." he told her.
"and secondly... Tatsuya kun, would you like to join our kendo club?" she asked.
"no." he promptly rejected.
"w-why? I haven't even told you anything." Mibu asked.
"let me ask you in response, what makes you think I would've agreed?" Tatsuya asked. Mibu went quiet for a second.
"D-don't you feel unsatisfied Tatsuya kun. You are emblem-less like me, so you must know right? The discrepancy in the treatments of course 1 and course 2 students." Mibu told him. "the entire school looks down on us, they have skewed things to favour the course 1 students. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of people looking down on me just because of my magic, I'm tired of them looking down on my swordsplay, just because of magic. We at the Kendo club want to show people, that magic isn't the only thing that defines us. We are more than just magic. We wish to change the school." Mibu explained.
"... Ok, what needs to be changed?" Tatsuya asked.
"h-huh?"
"You say that there is a disparity between course 1 and 2 students, so what needs to be changed?" Tatsuya reiterated.
" the general treatment and opportunity differences are blatantly favourable to the course 1 students." Mibu told him.
"the treatment is behavioural is it not? that is not something the school can manage. And the difference in opportunities is that there are less course 2 teachers, will you ask them to hire more?" Tatsuya asked backing Mibu into a corner.
"then, are you telling me that you are satisfied with things how they are?" Mibu asked impatiently.
"Of course not, but what I believe needs to be changed, cannot be changed by the school. Others looking down on you, is not the school colluding with course 1 students. That's a conspiracy not a genuine issue." Tatsuya backhanded bitch slapped her with the facts, "however, let's assume I do join, we make an official request to change things, then what?" Tatsuya asked.
"what do you mean?"
"what will you do after we get our demands? What will be the purpose for me to stay there any longer?" Tatsuya asked. Mibu didn't respond, she could only look down at the table. Tatsuya thought it was time to finish her off, "Mibu senpai. I am by no means saying the treatment of course 2 students is fair, but I am also willing to say that the school can do nothing about it. The discriminatory terms, 'blooms' and 'weeds' have been banned by the school, people use it in almost every occasion to belittle us, but there just isn't a way to fight back behavioral spikes." Tatsuya explained. "Although I cannot condone this sort of behaviour, I do not support absolute egalite." He said as Mibu's eyes widened.
"equality, is not something that can sustain a civilization, it is a distant dream, a paradise made up from the desire to escape discrimination and judgement from others. If everyone was equal, then they would receive both the same amount of love and hatred. No-one will be unique. A hierarchy of any sort is required, because that's how humans are. For true equality to exist people must abandon emotions, so that they cannot hate someone, so that they cannot love someone. Do you understand what I'm saying, Mibu-senpai?" Tatsuya asked. He had utterly bashed Mibu's arguments. He stood up, Mibu was looking down, " We must cease to be humans, to be controlled by logic and not emotions, that's the price for equality. Listen to me senpai, I admire you." he said, as Mibu's head turned to him and her eyes had a new glow to them, "your beauty, your swordsmanship and your desire to be better than the you from the past. To not let people judge you based on magic alone. All of that is admirable."
"however, that is why I'm telling you this. Do not blindly chase a dream which is impossible, accept the humanity within you and subvert all expectations, that is how you can escape the binds called judgement. Don't let what other say cloud your choices, follow your heart, your swordmanship. Follow your justice, don't do the bidding of others." Tatsuya finished it off there and took his leave. Leaving Mibu to think for herself, her own choices and decisions that she made and will make.
Tatsuya almost never went off into tangents, but if his opinions are correct, then Mibu mostly likely had connections to Blanche, it seems that he had grown a bit soft, giving his opponents such chances.
'I guess I need to talk to Master about this, we need to sharpen my instincts a bit more.' Tatsuya thought with narrow eyes. His empty blue eyes looking indifferent as he walked off out of school and towards a certain monks temple.
The Next Day
Tatsuya had gone about his way, the entire not seeing Mibu either. During lunch, he and Miyuki went to the Student Council room to have lunch.
"oh by the way, Tatsuya is it true that your verbally thrashed Mibu yesterday in the cafe?" Mari asked all excited.
"thrashed, that is a very unlady like thing to say, Watanabe senpai." Tatsuya told her.
"Thanks, you're probably the only one that calls me a lady." Mari smiled.
"oh my, Naotsugu san must not be a good boyfriend then, let me call him up," Tatsuya said taking out his phone.
"no, Shu is..." Mari began but immediately stopped herself as she saw Miyuki and Mari grinning from ear to ear. She huffed and sat down, "anyways, is it true that you verbally beat Mibu down?" she asked changing topics.
"well..." Tatsuya considered everything he said, "that might not be completely untrue." he said.
"Oh my, some people even saw Mibu blushing as you walked away." Mari added, soon the temperature started dropping and Tatsuya turned his head to Miyuki, who was practicaly leaking magic and froze the things near her.
"nii-san... are you abusing women now? How many does that add to the count?" Miyuki asked menacingly. Mayumi and Mari toyed with their now frozen food and complimented her interference capacities.
"M-Miyuki calm down, I can explain. I didn't do it in a bad way." Tatsuya told her and that seemed to at least bring her reason back as she withdrew her magic. " She like I had predicted asked me to join her kendo club, apparently they were forming a group, to sort of call out to the school for the unfair treatment on course 2 students and she asked me to join." Tatsuya explained.
"and how did you respond?" Mayumi asked.
"of course I rejected it. Not only was their reasoning flimsy, but they didn't even have a clue on what they wanted. Not to mention, their idea of equality is deluded and absolute crap." Tatsuya told them. Mari and Mayumi laughed uncomfortably.
"I guess that Tatsuya kun, just doesn't hold back with his words." Mari laughed.
" However, I did become concerned about one thing." Tatsuya added.
"what was it?" Miyuki asked.
"her way of thinking... is circled off. Everything kept coming back to the harsh treatment she suffered, she kept thinking of one thing and practically all my arguments and questions went in from one ear and out the other. So I decided to give her a wake up call. Now her decision is the concerning bit." Tatsuya told them.
"and why is that?"
"Because her way of acting, is the same as someone whose mind had been tampered with. Basically, someone is manipulating her." Tatsuya revealed. They all gasped.
"are you saying someone is brainwashing her?" Mayumi asked with narrow eyes. Tatsuya shook his head.
"Not just her, but many others. Perhaps, an anti-magic organisation, which seeked to use underhanded grooming techniques to manipulate the less well-off students, an organisation such as: Blanche." Tatsuya told them.
"!"
"how do you know about them? That's classified information." Mayumi asked concerned. Tatsuya only looked at her as if she was asking a dumb question.
"do you really believe that all rumours can be stifled? Personally, I believe those with authority should rather release these things, it only serves to make their activities more suspicious." Tatsuya sipped on his coffee. Then he noticed that Mayumi was looking a bit down, "I wasn't specifically blaming you Saegusa senpai, this is a national institution, you can't just go and tell people this stuff." Tatsuya told her. Mayumi blushed.
"are you comforting me?" she asked.
"um, president... he was the one that made you feel bad though."
" dragging her down and rebuilding her up, what an amazing gigolo you are Tatsuya." Mari grinned.
"I try my best." Tatsuya replied monotonously. They all laughed at this.
They decided to talk a bit more until, it was time for them to go.
A couple days later
Tatsuya was packing up his things. When suddenly the mic cackled on.
"Attention fellow students, we are group of students aiming to remove the differences in treatment of course 1 and 2 students." the man from the mic said. Tatsuya could only sigh in response, and he immediately ran towards the broadcasting room reaching the outside door.
"you're late." Mari told him.
"sorry, what's the situation?" he asked.
"we cut off the power so they cannot exit anymore, but they took the master key and locked themselves in." Mari told him. "we would break in, but we're a bit hesitant to just burst in and break school property." Mari added. Tatsuya sighed.
"Do we just want to apprehend them?" Tatsuya asked. "what do you think, Juumonji senpai?" he asked.
"I think we should negotiate with them. I am open to do that." he told him with authority. Tatsuya sighed once more. He took out his control port, the others gave him a weird look and until he started speaking.
"hello, is this Mibu senpai? Yes, uh where are you?" Tatsuya asked. All of them looked surprised at him. "I see inside the control room, what a pity... huh? no, I'm not making fun, um but can you come out? Juumonji senpai is ready to negotiate, but the student council...oh the student council is also willing to negotiate." Tatsuya spoke into the terminal. "yes your freedom is guaranteed." he added. He put his terminal away and looked at Mari and the others.
"they are coming out in a bit." he told them.
"oh and why did you have her number?" Mari asked with a grin.
"she had given me her personal number had I changed my mind about her proposition. Now shouldn't we getting ready?" he asked.
"for what?"
"to apprehend them of course."
"didn't you just promise her freedom?" Mari asked.
"I promised Mibu senpai's freedom not the others and I said nothing that you guys agreed to me." Tatsuya told them.
"so you're gonna play that game. How scary," Mari responded.
"oh no worries, If anyone has a problem, I can say I at least gave her a chance." he narrowed his eyes in a frightening way, "this is what extremism leads to, sigh, I had hoped she would listen to me." he sighed. They felt a bit on edge from what he said, but didn't bother asking about it. As soon as the doors opened they rushed in to apprehend them.
"y-you tricked us?!" Mibu said as she tried to raise a hand at Tatsuya but he grabbed it. He looked down at her with cold eyes.
" and you ignored what I told you... besides, no one deceived you, we truly are willing to listen to your demands." Tatsuya told her.
"that, and this issue and the problem of course 2 students are separate issues." Juumoji added.
"that's right, but would you mind unhanding them? The school has decided to let the student council deal with this issue." Mayumi suddenly said coming in.
"of course they did, Ms Saegusa Mayumi." Tatsuya accused her. She only smiled and winked but said no more, so that she and the others could get into contact. Tatsuya after a few complications went home.
He sighed as he sat down onto the couch.
"you seem quite worn out Tatsuya.." Miya noticed her son's exhaustion.
"Nii-san is in a bind, now that Blanche has gotten involved into the school. Now he's confused as to where their main location is." Miyuki covered for Tatsuya.
"oh my, that anti- magician organisation wants to meddle with him? I almost feel bad. For them of course." Miya said with a smile.
"Anyways, haha-ue, you think you can help find their main location?" Tatsuya asked.
"of course. Give me tonight." Miya told her son.
"no, it's not that urgent you don't need to work the night." Tatsuya told her.
"Tatsuya, I am not a child, I can still live a few more years you know?" Miya told her son.
"that's if we don't put any more strain than needed on your body, since even minute actions will reduce that time." Tatsuya calmly responded. But seeing as to how his mother was adamant he sighed and only accepted her assistance.
The Next Morning, Tatsuya and Miyuki waited on the walking path to their school for Mayumi.
"President,"
"Saegusa senpai." they both called out to Mayumi.
"oh, Miyuki san, Tatsuya kun. Good morning." Mayumi said with a smile.
"good morning. How was it yesterday?" Tatsuya asked.
"we decided to hold a public debate tomorrow." Mayumi told them.
"I get the point of not letting the opponent prepare but we won't have much time to prepare either, who from our side is going to debate tomorrow?" Tatsuya asked. Mayumi pointed at herself and then at Tatsuya. "don't tell me..."
"yep, just the two of us." Mayumi replied with a grin.
"sigh, why only us? Is that gonna be enough?" Tatsuya asked.
"well, according to Mari and the others, us two are the most likely to go unbeaten within an argument. Furthermore, having less people on our side, gives us a lower chance of muddling our points up." Mayumi informed him.
"sigh, why do I keep getting roped into these things?" Tatsuya sighed. "High School sucks."
"Nii-san, how can you sound like an adult and a child at the same time?" Miyuki asked as Mayumi giggled.
"well, either way. We'll be rehearsing today after school, come to the Student Council room." Mayumi told him and walked off.
'great, more time alone with her... it doesn't seem all that bad actually.' Tatsuya shrugged and went into school.
A/N: And that's a wrap. I'll have another chapter out by sunday or before, BST so look out for that. Also, do tell me how you think I did in this chapter, your opinion is very important.
As you have read, I'm not following the Canon by heart, because well, I'm re-watching the anime as I write this progressively. The purpose of this is to give the basic flow a tinge of excitement, and so that the progress between Tatsuya and Mayumi is a bit faster. If you think the pace is too fast, then tell me I can slow it down a tad.
Also, if you think I shouldn't of made them on a first name basis already, I have my reasons. Currently living in the West, and having a predominantly western audience with a very small fraction of my readers being from Eastern parts of the world, I am used to calling everyone by their first names. So it does feel weird that the characters are sensitive about what to call each other, so I just made them be on a first name basis so it's easier for me.
Bless.