(MUST READ)Tatsuya had always lived an interesting life. From the moment he could stand and run, he worked hard to overcome his lack of talent in normal magic. However, working around his BS magic Decomposition and Regrowth, he was regarded as the strongest magician in the Yotsuba family even as a teenager. He never lost his emotions in this timeline(will be explained later). When he was 6 years old, his future marriage partner had been decided by his mother. He was engaged to a girl named Shiba Miyuki, who in her own right, was only a few steps behind Tatsuya as a magician. In fact, if we're looking at generic magic capability, then Miyuki would win outright. However...Tatsuya's mother Yotsuba Maya, the current head of the Yotsuba family and Miyuki's mother Shiba Miya had worked together to prevent the engaged couple from meeting each other. And now, facing his first day of High School, Tatsuya was forced to confront this problem.
Tatsuya let lout a long sigh.
He was clad in the uniform of First High, the most prestigious magic high school in the country of Japan. He was sitting on a comfy chair, sipping his morning coffee. Facing him sat his mother, Yotsuba Maya in all her glory.
"I'm telling you again, you will fall for Miyuki-san at first sight." She spoke as if reinforcing an already proven fact.
"And I'm telling you again Okaa-san(mother), that I won't." Tatsuya had heard this statement from her several times a week since he was accepted into First High.
The Miyuki-san in question was his fiance, decided long ago by his mother and family. He, of course, had no problems with this. He understood what kind of family they were more than anyone.
"In fact, I think you seem to have forgotten that I'm your son. And being exposed to such a beauty for so long should make it obvious that I'm past fawning over a girl's looks." Tatsuya stated blatantly, but a slight blush could be found not on his face, but his heart.
"Ara Ara~ Tatsuya-san always praises me without restraints~ If you keep this up, I might have to steal you from Miyuki-san." They shared a chuckle as Tatsuya put his cup down.
As if communicating mentally, a certain person entered to room and bowed reverently before them.
"Tatsuya-sama, it is time to depart." Hayama Tadanori, Maya's guardian as well as Yotsuba family's head Butler addressed Tatsuya as he would address a prince.
"Well then, I'll be off Okaa-san." Tatsuya stood up and bowed to his mother, and before she could place a forehead kiss, he was already outside the room. Maya chuckled at this and continued to sip her coffee.
Tatsuya's drive to the school was quick and uneventful. He spent almost all of its time thinking about how he should act in front of her.
When they arrived, the driver of the car suddenly addressed Tatsuya before he could depart.
"Best of luck to you, Tatsuya-sama."
"For what, Hanabishi-san?" Hanabishi was another butler under the Yotsuba family, and while he wasn't Tatsuya's guardian, he was strangely responsible for most things related to him.
"Forgive me for this insolence, but even the Prince of the Yotsuba will have trouble dealing with...high school students." He carefully held back the term 'mere' and bowed slightly without turning back.
"*sigh* I appreciate your wishes." Tatsuya sighed both inwardly and outwardly. He knew exactly what his driver meant.
Yotsuba Maya had spared no effort in glorifying her son to the world. This particular fact was supposed to be kept secret from Tatsuya, however he, being the person he is, had found out about it a few years ago. Not that it had provided any hindrance to Maya's plan anyway...
In this day and age, everyone was without any school bags. Only accessory on the students, besides their uniform, was their CADs, whether they chose to carry them publicly.
As soon as Tatsuya stepped out of the car, voices of 'AAAHH!' and 'OOHHH!' could be heard everywhere. Every student had stopped what they were doing to stare at the Prince, the pinnacle of the Yotsuba, the most feared group in the whole world.
Among girls, giggles and sighs of admiration could be heard. Among the boys, curiosity, and even a bit of animosity could be sensed.
Tatsuya cringed at this inwardly, and started walking towards the meeting hall. He had purposefully arrived late so he could rush to the first years' orientation and avoid any public confrontation early in the morning. However, his plans were about to be foiled by a person he would come find very annoying...
"Hey there! You're Tatsuya-kun right?" A certain woman approached him from his right, with an overly casual greeting. Before he could cringe again, he felt like her had seen her before...
"Ah! I am Saegua Mayumi, the President of student council." Disregarding her casual, flirty manner of speaking, Tatsuya immediately went on guard.
The Yotsuba clan was a part of the Ten Master Clans of Japan. While there was no king among them, as the ten clans were supposedly equal in standing...there was only one clan that had continuously challenged the Yotsuba for the unofficial position of the most influential among them, and that was the Saegusa clan.
While trying to deduce what a member of that clan hoped to gain from this conversation, Tatsuya gave her the appropriate greeting, "Greetings, President Saegusa. As you said, I am Yotsuba Tatsuya, it's an honor to meet you."
"The honor is all mine" He could swear he heard giggling sounds from her, just what did she find so amusing...
Fortunately, a bell rang across the campus, rescuing Tatsuya from his predicament. Exchanging goodbyes, that Mayumi insisted were temporary, they went their respective ways.
Entering the auditorium, I was grateful that everyone was too busy chattering to notice my presence. Unconsciously, the hall had been divided into first and second course students, with the former taking the front half almost entirely.
Sighing again, he looked for an empty seat. He soon found one a bit above the middle of the hall. He walked over, and greeted the two girls talking on the seats next to the empty one.
"Excuse me, may I sit here?"
The woman next to his could-be seat sent him a curious look, while the other let out a yelp indicating she was clearly surprised.
"Of course! Its a free seat after all. I am Chiba Erika. Nice to meet you." The redhaired cheerful girl exclaimed, not being bothered with a guy sitting next to her.
Great...first a Saegusa and now someone from the Numbers...Tatsuya's day had been to a great start.
As he sat down, the other girl collected her wits and introduced herself, "Um, nice to meet you. I am Shibata Mizuki." Her glasses seemed to be her most distinct feature. It was so rare in this day, that she might as well have been the only person in this school wearing them. The cure for bad eyesight was less than free after all. Tatsuya mentally prepared for the evident shock that was about to accompany his own introduction.
"Nice to meet you two, I am Yotsuba Tatsuya." The Mizuki girl visibly showed fear at the name Yotsuba, and had barely managed to cover her mouth to prevent her scream. In fact, she was about to stand up when Erika stopped her.
"What's wrong, Mizuki?" Apparently, other than the very short look of curiosity and surprise, Erika was unfazed.
"Erika-chan! Did you not hear? He is a Y..Y..Yotsu-" Mizuki was very uncomfortable at the current situation.
"So what? Calm down for god's sake. Its not like he's gonna bite you, are you Tatsuya-kun?" Erika turned to him with a teasing smile, "Ah, is it okay with me calling you that right? You can call me Erika!"
"Certainly, I won't bite unless you give me a reason to, Erika." He gave a slight nod to her using his first name. Tatsuya was feeling very amused at these events, and Erika's cheerful nature eventually helped Mizuki settle down as well. In the end, all 3 of them were on a first name basis as fellow first years when Mayumi appeared on the stage and started the presentation.
Although he never showed it on his face, Tatsuya was uninterested at what the President and other student council members had to say. The appearance of Juumonji Katsuto did require his gaze, but only for a moment.
Tatsuya was waiting for a very specific moment, and that moment only. And that was...
"And now, I will introduce the first years' representative for this year."
Tatsuya knew very well who this representative was going to be. You could say it was the only reason he even attended this event.
Shiba Miyuki walked on the stage and instantly grasped the attention of the whole hall.
Girls could be heard shouting in appreciation, while the boys were practically roaring with excitement to the point that a few of them had fainted. Meanwhile, the not-so-little prince had deafened out everything except her.
While she is quite beautiful, I'm glad atleast that I didn't feel like mother predicted.
What had captivated Tatsuya's interest instead was the mature way she carried herself. Her elegant way to speak, her graceful moments, the subtle eye movements, everything about her just seemed too perfect to him.
Realizing he had been staring inappropriately, he silently coughed and corrected his gaze, unaware of the blush on his own face.
For a moment, he thought their eyes had interlocked, but soon he dismissed that thought as ridiculous. There's no way that in this hall of hundreds of students, she could spot a single person, forget lock eyes with me.
After the event had ended, there was a short break before the first years' classes would start. In that span, much to Tatsuya's dismay, he was surrounded by countless girls constantly asking 'Yotsuba-kun' questions. He honestly surprised at their ability to speak that name so often without stuttering.
"Hey Yotsuba-kun, is it true that you scored a perfect 100% on the written exam?"
"Its unprecedented right? The highest score on that exam before this year was only 91%..."
"As expected of Yotsuba-kun!"
Finally deciding to voice his concerns, Tatsuya relented, "Please, everyone, call me Tatsuya."
This was followed by a very huge 'AAHHHH!' by every girl present in the bundle. Their fawning over him increased even more.
Tatsuya's looks were certainly above average, however they couldn't be called dashing. However, combine his family name and his maturity that even when he was hiding it, was more than other boys, gave these girls plenty of incentive to make moves on him.
Something walked out from the hall, that while eluding the attention of the 'fawners', caught Tatsuya's undivided interest.
Miyuki was walking accompanied by Mayumi, with the vice president following behind them. Apparently, the President's presence had kept both boys and girls from surrounding Miyuki like they had done to Tatsuya. Looks like he quickly found a reason to be grateful to the Saegusa woman...but he quickly took this statement back in the next instant.
Mayumi spotted Tatsuya in the huddle, and...waving her hand like she had found her best friend...called out to him, "Tatsuya-kun!".
He diligently walked over to her, while ignoring the pleas and displeasure of his surroundings. When in their vicinity, Tatsuya asked a question which he seriously had doubts about...
"President, today is our first time meeting, right?" Even though it clearly was, Mayumi's actions dictated otherwise.
"Ara~ How could you forget me? We are clearly separated lovers that have been reunited by fate." Mayumi put a hand on her chest and acted like she was hurt, "What a blessing, isn't it?"
The vice president sent Tatsuya an angry glare. Also, although Tatsuya wasn't certain, a glint of frustration and anger was also spotted on Miyuki's face, only a glint.
"I would say its a doom rather than a blessing." Tatsuya voiced his honest thoughts on the matter. Once again, he could swear he saw an instant of happiness on his fiance's face.
"Geez! You're no fun!" Mayumi visibly pouted and shook her head from left to right. "Anyway, it was a pleasure meeting you. Miyuki-san, please could you come to student council room during lunch break? Ah, and Tatsuya-kun as well?"
"Of course, Saegusa-senpai." Miyuki respectfully bowed.
"Understood, President." Tatsuya gave a slight nod.
Then Mayumi, with her vice president departed and the engaged couple were left alone. Before it could turn into an awkward atmosphere, Tatsuya decided to take the jump.
He put his right hand on his chest, and bowed like a prince greeting his princess. Once again, screams could be heard around them but were skillfully ignored.
"Its truly a pleasure to finally meet you, Miyuki-san" He had to prevent his mouth from smiling stupidly when he said her name. Somehow, it felt satisfying to say it aloud.
Miyuki had a slight blush on her face as she returned the greeting, "The pleasure is all mine, Tatsuya-san." She was also surprised that he had used her first name so suddenly, so she did the same.
Now the scene had turned into a boy and girl who were simply gazing into each other's eyes.
Both of them knew they were engaged, but they weren't allowed to announce it to public, yet. So naturally...
It was time for some secret high school romance.