The hidden Head - Chapter 1 - Touching a dragons scales
February 5th/Hakone/Maya POV
Kaboom
The explosions sounded loudly.
Really? Puppet terrorists now? Maya let out a sigh. It was a pretty nice conference until now. She had managed to defame Kouichi for his collaboration with Zhou Gongjin and managed to replace the Kudou with the Saegusa-opposed Shippou family. But now they were attacked by puppet terrorists? These small bombs could not even harm her.
Maya, along with the heads of the Ten Master Clans, was currently warding of the puppet bombers. These bombs were not a danger to any of them, but this was not the case for the poor civilians around them. Screams rang out around them and she heard a few cries, probably by children.
Truth to be told, Maya enjoyed hearing those screams. While she was not so cold hearted that she would actively try to make others cry, she saw these miserable screams as a sign of fairness. It showed her that she was not the only one suffering, not the only one tortured by this cruel world.
Maya let out a small grin. Looking around, she could tell that she was the only one seeing something nice in this. Most of the other heads had a worried expression on their face. Some were angry. Maya switched back to her cold expression.
Mutsuzuka Atsuko, one of the few persons who had a friendly relationship to Maya, wore a slightly desperate expression. Maya could tell that she was fanatically searching for a way to save these children.
"We need to leave this hotel ASAP", one of the other heads said. Maya knew that everyone roughly agreed to this statement as the whole group hurried towards the hotel lobby.
Once they arrived at the ground floor, they headed straight to the exit.
Suddenly Maya noticed a fast movement from of the corner of her eye. Turning around, she saw Atsuko running to a group of small children, most of them crying. A puppet was right beside them.
Atsuko quickly got rid of the puppet. It did not take her more than a second to do so. Afterwards she attempted to comfort the kids.
"Watch out!" screamed Maya while running towards her. Another puppet had suddenly appeared right beside Atsuko. Maya quickly activated her Meteor Stream to kill the puppet, but suddenly felt a wave of nausea and a strong headache fell over her.
"Shit, Antinite!" screamed someone.
Antinite was annoying, but Maya could still deal with it. Even under this circumstances it was not problem for Maya to cast her magic. In fact, most Yotsuba could use their personal magic under the influence of antinite, but their ability to cast "normal" magic varied. For Maya, the only problem antinite posed was the strong distraction caused by the headache.
She quickly got rid of another bunch of puppets.
"Pay attention to your surroundings! This is a battlefield. Now, hurry up and -"
This was all Maya could say before she heard another explosion, this time directly beside her.
Same time/Highway towards Hakone/Tatsuya POV
Faster!
Tatsuya was currently riding his motorbike towards Hakone. 15 minutes ago he and Miyuki received an emergency transmission. Apparently there was a terrorist attack on the TMCC.
You can't die now, Maya! Miyuki is not yet ready to become the head of the Yotsuba!
After meeting up with Miyuki and Minami, Tatsuya had told them to stay in the school. Their relationship with the Yotsuba was still a secret, so they can't just rush towards the the site of the TMCC. Nevertheless, Tatsuya still had to go. While Maya would probably be fine, her security took top priority right now. Of course, Tatsuya still held Miyuki's security the highest, but he trusted Minami to keep her safe. And even if Minami would be unable to keep her safe, Tatsuya could still use his elemental sight to provide them with long-range support and defense.
He currently did the same for Maya. He was ready to heal here anytime and could kill all puppets in her surroundings within a split second, but keeping both Miyuki and Maya safe while riding a Motorbike on a highway was hard, even for Tatsuya.
Initially Miyuki wanted to tag along, but after Tatsuya explained the situation to her and told her that he was worried about her security, Miyuki finally decided to stay behind.
Suddenly a car besides Tatsuya switched lanes. It was clear as day that the driver did not look into the mirror before switching lanes.
Idiot!
Such outbursts were rare for Tatsuya, but he could not afford any mistakes right now.
Tatsuya had managed to evade, but this incident caused his concentration to waver for a bit.
Tatsuya refocused on his elemental sight. Watching over Miyuki was like his second nature, so he managed to keep his sight on her. His sight on Maya, on the other hand, was interrupted. After reestablishing his view, his heart nearly stopped.
He saw her lying heavily wounded on the hotel floor. Tatsuya immediately prepared to cast Regrowth on her, but instead his heard sunk only deeper.
Maya was dead.
Not on the "her heart is no longer beating"-level dead, but on the "her brain is goop and even Regrowth cant fix her"-level dead.
Tatsuya took out his phone and called Mitsugu.
Same time/Somewhere on the way towards Hakone/Mitsugu POV
Mitsugu was currently trying to get a better understanding of the situation. A few minutes ago he was still performing his "normal" work when he suddenly received an emergency message from the guardians tasked with the protection of Maya. While these guardians were not allowed to enter the site of the TMCC, they could still watch over Mayas surroundings.
Mitsugu was a bit furious. Who the hell dared to attack an event in which the head of the Yotsuba participated? Were they out of their mind?
Mitsugu knew that Hanabishi, one of the butlers, along with several family members were already headed towards Hakone. Soon the situation would be under their control again.
At least Mitsugu thought so.
After hearing the ringing of his phone, he looked at the display in disdain. Shiba Tatsuya, hmm? Mitsugu still could not like Tatsuya. Maya claimed him to be her son, but Mitsugu could not bring himself to believe it. If Tatsuya would really be Maya's son, Maya would probably have it proclaimed happily after birth. On the other hand, keeping something a secret from the family also fit her character.
Well, it did not really matter. Maya said that Tatsuya was her son, so he was it. The orders of the head are absolute. Well, most of the time at least. Mitsugu was one of the people who believed this and also preached this philosophy towards his kids.
He annoyingly answered the phone.
"What is it?"
"She is dead." came the reply.
She? Who did Shiba mean? But he quickly came to an realization. Tatsuya would only call if it is related to the Yotsuba. He said she, so it must be a female. Tatsuya would not bother to inform Mitsugu about the death of a guardian. If Miyuki died, Tatsuya would probably go berserk without calling him. If it was Ayako, even Tatsuya would say a few more words towards her father. If another Yotsuba of the youngest generation died, Mitsugu would not be informed by Tatsuya. And Tatsuya could not care less about most of the older family members. This leaves only one person.
"Please tell me you are joking" he asked for confirmation.
"Unfortunately not." His hopes were crushed.
"Can't you use Regrowth?"
"No. I still can't resurrect the dead."
This was bad. This was very bad. While Mitsugu feared his cousin, he also admired her. He knew that Maya was an integral part of the Yotsuba and an excellent leader.
"Where are you now?" He asked Tatsuya.
"I am currently heading there." Their conversation was deliberately short and vague. No names, no locations and no dates. This was standard Yotsuba training. Even when using encrypted communications, it was still better to take additional precautions. It was well known that some magician could easily overcome their encryption. Fujibayashi Kyouko was a perfect example for this.
"OK. I am also heading there. Lets meet outside".
"Understood." The call ended.
Mitsugu frowned. He could only look at the future in disdain and hope that Tatsuya was wrong or lying. But he already knew that Tatsuya tends to neither of those possibilities.
He quickly took his keys, gun and other equipment and hurried towards his car.
He just left the door when one of his family members stopped him.
"Bad news! Toushou-sama was hit by an explosion and does not show any sign of movement!" So it was true.
"You are late! I already received a call about this a few minutes ago. Immediately prepare a top-class hospital nearby!" Mitsugu gave a few more orders before he left.
Half a hour later/Hakone/Tatsuya POV
Tatsuya had just arrived in Hakone. He headed to a dark alley near the hotel. He was surprise to find Mitsugu already waiting for him.
How did he arrive here so fast? But a short glimpse on his face told him the truth. Mitsugu was completely out of breath. He must have hurried here as fast as possible, probably breaking quite a few traffic regulations. Not that this matters, the Yotsuba could deal with this like it was child's play.
"How is the situation?" Tatsuya asked.
"Not good. I just arrived here but I can already see the chaos." Mitsugu shook his head.
"What about Maya?"
"One of the other heads carried her out. The medics tried their best, but they already declared her dead." When Mitsugu said this, Tatsuya caught a glimpse of sadness in his eyes. Looking more closely, he could see that Mitsugu must have shed a few tears. Maya's death must have affected him. Maybe he would currently be crying in grief if it were not for the mission.
"We must recover her corpse. Maybe we can still fix her." Tatsuya said this, but he already knew that this was not possible. Still, sometimes even Tatsuya hoped.
"Ahem, yes. We also have to destroy any possible samples of her DNA." All japanese clans tried their utmost to protect their genetic informations. While cloning and genetic modifications were officially outlawed, other countries still attempted this in secret. The Yotsuba did this too, their guardians are a prime example for top-notch genetic engineering.
"We need to disguise. We can not allow our identities and our relationship to Maya to be found out. We also need a distraction."
"Hanabishi brought a few standard-issue Yotsuba uniforms. I will have a distraction prepared in a minute."
5 minutes later/Hakone/Tatsuya POV
The standard-issue Yotsuba uniform was black. A black full-body suit with a silver mask, a black hood and of course, a black, tattered cloak. The tattered cloak was a variation of a military poncho, which could be used for various tasks such as building a tent. The cloak did not have to be tattered, but most Yotsuba agreed that it looked stylish.
Tatsuya was currently standing in a building near the hotel. The building itself was evacuated due to the terrorist strike. Mitsugu was standing beside him.
In a few seconds, an explosion will distract the crowd. In this moment, Mitsugu and Tatsuya would run towards Maya. A Yotsuba member hiding inside the crowd would cast a mental interference magic to make them hard to notice. Mitsugu would take Maya and run with her into an ambulance. This ambulance arrived just a minute ago and was of course manned by Yotsuba members.
At the same time Tatsuya would cast Mist dispersion to get rid off any equipment which interacted with Maya. Afterward he will join Mitsugu. The doctors posed a slight risk, but the Yotsuba would check them later.
A plan B was already prepared. In case of their failure, Tatsuya and Mitsugu would probably have to fight the rest of the heads. Tatsuya could easily kill most of them with the exception of Juumonji. He would have to be attacked by one of the mental interference magicians in the crowd.
Unnecessary to say, both of them wanted to avoid this situation. Which is why they were going to give their best for this mission.
Kaboom! The sound of an explosion rang out and Mitsugu and Tatsuya ran forward.
5 Minutes later/Hakone/Kimiko POV
"Here is No Kimiko, live in Hakone. Roughly 45 minutes ago, several explosions occurred in a hotel in Hakone. At first thought to be caused by a gas leak, it now appears to be in fact caused by terrorists. Furthermore, we just found out that this hotel was the venue of the Ten master clans conference. The Ten master clans, as most of you probably know, are the most important families in the magic community. Their involvement in this matter is still unknown, but it appears that they are currently being interrogated by the police."
No Kimiko took a short moment to breathe. She was a young reporter who just started working for a TV broadcaster a few months ago. Kimiko held great knowledge about magic, so her employer often send her to report on magic related news.
Kimiko was in the region when the attack happened. One of her colleagues was supposed to make this report, but this changed once bystanders spotted the heads of the Ten Master Clans. Kimiko was immediately called here for work.
Kimiko was suprised by this and she told her employer that she could not say anything her colleague could not have reported. There were simply to many unknowns to speak about. Her employer, however, insisted that she made this anchor. He said that their viewers already associated her with magic-related news, so she would emanate a professional aura.
"Just a few minutes ago, another explosion happened nearby. It is suspected to be related to this terrorist attack, maybe caused by an unexploded bomb."
Kimiko trembled a bit when she recalled the event. She had just arrived and prepared for the broadcast when the heard the sound of an explosion. She immediately looked towards the source, which was unexpectedly not in the hotel but a few hundred meters aside. Looking around, she felt a short shiver. Something was off, but she could not find out what it was. This feeling did last less than a minute, so she discarded it.
"There are reports of several casualties and even more injuries. Apparently all of them are non-magicians who... Hold on a second, my coworker just told me that this is not true. It seems like a high-ranking magician died while protecting a few civilians."
The last part was not entirely true. Maya did not die protecting some civilians but due to antinite coupled with a surprise attack. But the remaining heads used this chance to spin the story for their advantage, hoping that they could counter the anti-magician movement with a bit of propaganda. Still, Kimiko did not know this.
"Lets see if we can find someone involved with the incident. Hey there!" Kimiko called out to a policemen. He hesitated for a bit before calling one of his colleagues. He pointed towards Kimiko and the other policemen nodded before walking towards her. It seemed like this person was one of the officers in charge of handling the media.
"Hi, my name is No Kimiko. I know you are probably busy, but could you spare a bit of your time for an interview?" Kimiko asked while trying to be as cute as possible. Her teacher always emphasized this. Well, she did not directly emphasize being cute when asking for an interview, but she told her that it was important to get the attention of the person she wants to interview and being cute is one of the possibilities.
"Of course. Also, do not worry about the time, it is my job to speak to the media. But please keep in mind that as of right now there are more questions than answers and many answers are pure speculations."
For the next few minutes, Kimiko asked a few basic questions about what happened, who the culprits are and so on. She now arrived at the question she burned to ask for.
"So Mr officer, I was told that there is a magician under the causalities, is this true?" Kimiko asked.
"Yes. We were as surprised as you were. Normally explosions would not be a really threat to magicians so we expected them to be fine. It appears that a high ranking magician attempted to help a few kids caught in the disaster. She was surprised by another attack but was saved by another high ranking magician. This magician was then attacked using antinite and another surprise attack, which killed her."
"Antinite? Is this not a military resource restricted to the public? How did the terrorists get these?" Kimiko asked dumbfounded.
"We do not know, but it appears that this feat was not done by ordinary terrorists. We believe that they might have aimed for the magicians."
"You said that it was a 'high-ranking magician'. What does this mean? Was it one of the family heads?"
Hearing this question, the officer hesitated. Normally officers would not be allowed to disclose the identities of the dead to the public. But the person in question was of public interest and rumors already started to spread. And who would mind a bit of fame? His superior already gave him the permission to reveal any informations as he saw fit, as long as this would not favor any anti-magic sentiments. It seemed like there was quite a bit of political pressure from above, probably politicians trying to gain a favor from the influential clans. Since this information may benefit the magicians, he decided to tell her.
"I am saddened to inform you that Yotsuba Maya died during the terrorist attack. As is said before, she died while saving someone."
Kimiko was shocked. Yotsuba Maya, one of the mightiest magicians of this age, was killed? His explanations made sense, anything less than a surprise attack using antinite would be unable to kill any of the stronger heads. But still, she could not believe this bit of information.
Kimiko turned back to the camera. She hesitated a bit before attempting to speak a few words towards the camera, but was interrupted by a sudden hectic within the emergency staff. Turning back to the officer who was currently on his radio, she asked what had happened.
The officer turned towards her. He was wearing a shocked expression before saying:
"It appears that the corpse of Yotsuba Maya went missing."
Authors note: There you have it. Maya died. I know many of you will be saddened about her death, but this story requires it. She is an awesome character, but there are already quite a number of fanfics expanding on her.
As for the way she died, I have to admit that this is full of holes. Maya would probably not sacrifice herself, with the exception of saving a few Yotsuba members. But she had to die this way. I require the other heads to be alive for this story. If only Maya had died in combat, the Yotsuba may appear weak in the eyes of the public. Thus, by making her a sacrifice, we can let her die without making her appear weak.
Of course, Tatsuya could have easily saved her using her power, but this is where the unlikely interruption comes into play. Like i said, Maya had to die.
Regarding the last part: No Kimiko is an original character. I am still not sure if I will really use her in the story of if she will only play a support role. I hope that the name was not yet used, but there was no entry for it in the wiki. The interview itself was largely unnecessary. I wanted to make a scene where it was discovered that the corpse went missing, but most ideas felt to unnatural. So I went for this interview instead.
As for the next few chapters, there will be the reactions towards this incident and a cleanup. There is also a Dragon with untouchable scales waking up from his slumber and leaving his cave.
And of course, the big question: Is Miyuki ready?
Thanks for reading. Please leave a review.
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