The hidden Head - Chapter 4 - The nightmare begins...
The same day/Top secret USNA bunker/Balance POV
Colonel Virginia Balance took a deep breath while listening to the report.
She was currently sitting in a crisis meeting, the third of its kind happening in these last few days.
Looking around in the conference room, she could see the tired expressions on the faces around her.
These meetings were exhausting. Not because they had too much to organize and not enough time to do it, but instead the opposite. They had nearly nothing to do, yet most of them understood that they were in a crisis. This made it feel like they were watching a storm approaching and could do nothing about it.
As anyone with enough knowledge about the current military and political affairs could have guessed, these meetings were about the Yotsuba.
The death of their head had stirred up the international magic community. The "Demon Queen of the Far East" was known as one of the most powerful magicians in the world and feared by many. For normal magicians, this was the end of their thoughts.
But those magicians and non-magicians in high positions were more worried about the situation. They did not care about the deceased, but about the living. No one could have achieved a high position without having at least heard the name "Yotsuba" and associated it with the word "fear". While most of them did not personally fear the Yotsuba, they still knew that they should do.
This was the reason for the first meeting. The ministry of defense had called for a meeting. They wanted to be assured that the USNA was not the culprit of the attack and wanted to know what they should expect from the Yotsuba.
They spent the rest of the day reading old reports about the fall of Dahan.
Balance could not help but feel amused as she watched the faces of the younger members pale. Seems like they had not taken the Yotsuba seriously.
The second meeting was different. Just Yesterday, they had suddenly lost contact to all USNA agents in japan, with the exception of embassy personal. It was obvious that the Yotsuba had known about them beforehand and gotten rid of them in the course of a single night. An impressive feat, which the normal japanese counterintelligence was not capable of.
Balance could not help but think about the little girl she saw during the parasite incident. It was said that the Yotsuba were specialized in mind magic. Could that girl have read her mind for the identity of their agents. She quickly discarded the thought. Most of them were already swapped for other agents. They must have gotten this intelligence rather recently, maybe just the day before.
The third meeting made it worse. The USNA had received reports from their spies in other nations. According to these reports, the agents of those nations in japan had also disappeared in the same night.
Were the Yotsuba actually capable of such a feat? Finding and killing any foreign spies within a single night?
If so, why did they not do this earlier? Did they simply not care? Or had the japanese government not paid them enough to do so?
She led out a sigh.
Same day/Yotsuba main residence/Miyuki POV
In the Yotsuba residence, Miyuki was currently drinking a tea while Tatsuya was sitting beside her drinking a coffee.
They had already finished their new training for the day. While they were aware that they should work as hard as they could in order to take over Maya's duties, they had more important matters for the rest of the day.
Today was Maya's funeral.
Even though the organization of the funeral was done by a branch family out of consideration of Miyuki's tight schedule, she was still expected to prepare a speech and attend the funeral.
The funeral would probably only end in the early morning hours of the next day, so the siblings did their best to enjoy this short break.
Miyuki had already been dressed in her Kimono. It was custom tailored and featured a golden four leave clover, the unofficial symbol of the Yotsuba. Ironic, Miyuki thought. The family was not exactly blessed with good luck.
Tatsuya had yet to change, but Miyuki knew that Tatsuya was trained to quickly change his attire. He used to be a guardian, and a guardian must not delay his or her primary, especially when they're attending public events. More importantly, a Guardian should be capable of stripping off any troublesome clothes during combat.
She looked back at the sheets on the table. They contained the speeches Miyuki would recite during the rest of the day. She was not looking forward to this, even though she would not have any stage fright. Just like Tatsuya was trained in combat, Miyuki was trained for attending and hosting public events. Her mother was always adamant that Miyuki should become the next head.
Mother, Miyuki could not help but thought back at the deceased Miya, I have fulfilled your wishes. So please, -
Her thoughts were interrupted when Tatsuya suddenly rose up from his chair.
"Miyuki, the funeral will start soon. We have to finish our preparations." he said gently to Miyuki while moving towards the door.
"Yes, Onii-sama." Miyuki replied, but did not follow her brother. She and Tatsuya had different preparations to perform.
A hour later/Plaza at the nameless Village/Miyuki POV
When Miyuki arrived at the large plaza on the outskirts of the nameless village, a large group had already gathered.
Nearly all residents of the village were going to attend the funeral, the only notable exception being the security-related personal.
While the village was smaller than a town, it still had many residents. Aside from the Yotsuba, the servants also lived in this village. This included their families as well.
The village was designed to be mostly self sufficient, so it required a large amount of personal to run. The local school needed teachers, the 4th research institute required both skilled research personal and assistants. The 4th research institute also housed countless guardian candidates.
Along with the various other groups living in the village, the number of attendants was in the thousands. And the Yotsuba had not even invited any outsiders.
The funeral itself went rather smoothly. No one dared to make any disruptions. Everyone here had respected Maya. She may not have been liked by most of them, but she was still considered to have been a great leader.
Still, many tears were shed that day.
Miyuki sat exhausted in the large chair at the center of the large table. Tatsuya sat beside her. They were currently eating the food prepared for the funeral.
Or at least trying to do so.
They were constantly surrounded by a large group. Being Maya's closest relatives, many wanted to express their condolences to them. Being the new head, Miyuki also received many congratulations. Many of them wanted to leave a good impression on the new head. A futile task. No person would be capable of remembering every person the siblings met this day.
Miyuki casted a distressed gaze at her brother. Tatsuya noticed it and grabbed her hand. This was the best he could do right now. Situations like this one would soon become more frequent for Miyuki. It was the best for her if she could accustom herself to such situations. And right now, when no one around her wished her harm, would be the best time.
Early in the next morning/The siblings bedchamber/Miyuki POV
Miyuki jolted awake. Several strong knocks sounded from the door.
Tatsuya was already moving to the door. They had only slept for a few hours and he hoped Miyuki could have a fulfilling rest, but this was now very unlikely.
This room was located near the center of the main house. The only one who could knock on the door would be family members or servants. An none of them would wake them up unless it was very important.
Miyuki heard Tatsuya let out a sigh as he opened the door. Hayama was standing behind it, an aggravated look on his face.
"Tatsuya-sama, my lady, excuse me for the interruption this early. We have just received a message from the Kuroba. They have found the culprits."
Both of them were aware that they would not be able to sleep anytime soon.
Two nights later/Top secret USNA bunker/Balance POV
Balance hastily arrived in the situation center. She was suddenly woken up and called here. She saw several other Chiefs of Staff here, so she assumed that something very important must have happened.
"What is the situation?" A high ranking officer who had just arrived asked loudly.
"Strategic class magic was detected." The response came quickly. Balance had a very bad feeling.
"Against us?" someone asked.
"The situation is unclear. But it seems like the target was the Federative Republic of Brazil."
"Do we have a satellite image?" Balance asked.
"Negative. Our satellites are blind. This may be a result of the attack." Balance shivered. The last time this happened was during the event known as Scorched Halloween. But that event only blinded two satellites watching over that region. Brazil was way larger and multiple satellites were responsible for keeping Brazil under surveillance. What could have blinded them all?
She casted a nervous look at her colleagues. Some of them must be thinking the same as she was.
The strategic class magician responsible for Scorched Halloween was suspected to be a Japanese. And they have spent the last few days discussing a certain organization which was known to take on whole nations alone.
Before she could spend more time thinking about possible perpetrators, one of the soldiers manning the communication terminals spoke loud.
"We got an update. It seems like Brazil was hit by several strategic class magics at once."
"How many?" Balance asked. Everyone knew that she was asking about the number of simultaneous SCMs, not the number of victims.
"Hold on, they are currently checking... OK, they are saying that Brazil got hit by... What, could you repeat this? This can't be!"
"What is it, 2nd lieutenant. Speak clearly." One of the generals present was visible annoyed at the soldier.
"Sorry, Sir. According to our intel, Brazil got hit by 36 simultaneous strategic class magics of varying strength."
36? It cant be! Someone said. Yet no one accused the soldier of lying. They had seen how he had reacted early, apparently also unable to believe the message. It was also known that simultaneously casting multiple strategic class magics was not impossible. There is no really difference between strategic class magic and "normal" magic, other than the obvious difference in strength. They also knew that the New Soviet Union had a classified SCM capable of casting two strategic class spells at the same time.
"What else do we know?"
"The targets were Brazil's second and third largest cities as well as several large military bases. The magic used had a visual similarity to the magic used during Scorched Halloween."
They froze. According to their scientists, Scorched Halloween was most likely caused by matter to energy conversion magic. Finding the SCM responsible for it was a high priority task for them due to two important reasons.
Firstly, there was no japanese soldier near the destroyed base. This meant that the magic must have a very long range. This was worrying because the magic may be capable of hitting the USNA mainland territories from outside their own range. And if the attack on Brazil was caused by the same magic, then the chances are very high that japan could actually attack the USNA from within japan. This was extremely problematic.
Secondly, the size of the attack roughly matched the size of the attacked base. This meant that the japanese SCM likely only used as much power as required to destroy the base. This, in turn, meant that the SCM could probably also launch an even larger attack.
And now it seems like this mission just became even more important.
At the same time/Tsuchiura base/Kazama POV
"Your Excellency, we just received -" Kazama shouted breathlessly as he arrived at Major Generak Saeki's office, but was interrupted by her before he could finish.
"Sit". This was all she said.
"Your Excellency, it seems like you have already heard about this?" Kazama could not help but ask looking at the stern expression Saeki had.
"Yes. We have received orders from above. We are not to interfere with the Yotsuba. They spoke to the government in advance. At least it seems so, because quite a few politicians and our higher ups are afraid of losing their heads." Saeki's voice was bitter. She already disliked the ten master clans, and now the Yotsuba had used strategic class magic without permission.
A year ago, Saeki also gave the order to deploy strategic class magic. She did it twice. But in both cases the targets were enemy soldiers, not their cities.
"What should we do?" Kazama asked.
"Right now? Nothing. It is quite obvious that the Yotsuba will not tolerate anyone standing in he way of their revenge. Our higher ups will not dare to do anything about this issue. Chances are, that should we attempt to do something on our own, we would be dishonorable discharged. They are scared shitless."
"And later?"
"We must increase our surveillance on the Special Lieutenant. And..." Kazama noticed the hesitation in Saeki's voice, "Maybe we should ask the rest of the master clans for help. The Special Lieutenant is too dangerous and too important to be kept by the Yotsuba. I had hoped that after Yotsuba-dono's death a more responsible person would take control of the Yotsuba, but apparently this was not the case."
Kazama nodded. "Speaking of which, do we know the identity of their new head?"
Saeki lead out a small sight. "No. It is nearly impossible to get any intel on the Yotsuba. They only let others know what they want them to know. You should ask the Special Lieutenant about it. I believe his sister would have good chances of becoming the next head, but she is still too young."
Kazama knew that this was an order.
A few hours later/Digital conference room
Even tough this was only a digital conference, one could still feel the grim mood emitted by the participants.
The heads of the other master clans had expected that the Yotsuba may take drastic actions, but they never expected the use of strategic class magic.
"Is it now safe to assume that japan's unofficial strategic class magician is a Yotsuba?" someone asked.
"Most likely. Although the Yotsuba would probably also be capable of simply finding the SCM and brainwash him to follow their orders. Or simply extort him." Kouichi said, but he was actually very sure that the SCM was a Yotsuba. He thought about Shiba Tatsuya. He already suspected him to be a child of Miya and had received intel suggesting that Shiba Tatsuya was responsible for Scorched Halloween. It would fit.
"The last part is unlikely. Assuming that the SCM is not already a Yotsuba, they would try to make him marry into their family. No one would willingly discard the genetic potential of such a strong magician." This argument was brought by Itsuwa Isami with a dry smile. The Itsuwa had the only official SCM in japan, but her weak body prevented her from bearing any children. This was especially problematic for the Itsuwa, because their membership in the TMC currently depended solely on Itsuwa Mio. If they were able to gain another SCM, their position would be secured for the foreseeable future.
After Scorched Halloween, most of the 28 clans started looking for the SCM on their own. As of now, none of them was successful. Otherwise they would attempt to arrange a marriage between one of their children and the SCM.
"Still, using a SCM to attack another nation, are the Yotsuba insane?" Ichijou questioned angrily.
"Its a psychological game." Kouichi replied. "A large part of the Yotsuba's security depended on them being feared. As long as no one dared to attack them, they would be safe. Now it seems like the fear towards them subsided too much. By going overkill and instilling as much fear as possible, they hope to remind any possible thread of the reason they are called the *'Untouchables'."
Hearing this, Ichijou was taken aback. He had not thought about it this way, but even he could see that this was not a long term solution.
"But why only the second and third largest cities and not their capital? Would that not be more effective? A nation has many cities, but only one capital?"
"The perpetrators are likely in the capital. The Yotsuba would simply not be satisfied if they would find a quick death in a SCM spell." Kouichi replied calmly. Like most people in this conference, he still remembered Dahan.
After a few minutes of silence passed, one of them spoke up.
"His Excellency Kudou had sent a message. He requests to speak with us."
Kudou Retsu should not know about this meeting, but his many contacts in the magic association had probably informed him. Or maybe the Electron Sorceress wiretapped this whole conference.
"Then let us hear him." A few seconds later, Kudou Retsu joined the video conference.
"Greetings. I hope I am not interrupting anything important." Kudou said with a fake smile. "So he knew what happened in this conference, meaning it was the electron sorceress wiretapping us." Kouichi thought, but he did not dare to publicize his thoughts.
"No, of course not. May I ask for the reason of this unexpected call?" Futatsugi Mai responded politely.
"Ah yes, it is regarding the Yotsuba, I actually know about two other members of their family."
The implications of this statement were interesting.
First of, it proofed that Maya was indeed not the last Yotsuba. None of them really believed this, but it was still nice to have a validation.
Secondly, they now had a way of communicating the Yotsuba. Hopefully they could stop this Situation from escalating even further.
And for Kouichi, the interesting part laid in the details. He knows about two of them. It is already extremely hard to find a single Yotsuba, but two? Or maybe he found both at the same time... He thought back to a certain pair of siblings. He should ask his daughters to invite them to a dinner and speak with them.
"So can we invite them to speak with us?" Juumonji Katsuto asked.
"Unlikely. The Yotsuba are trying their best to hide their members and branch families. Even if these two would want to speak with us, they likely would not be allowed to do so. Also, these two I know of are still children. I will speak to them, but it is unlikely that they will say anything interesting."
"Yes, please do so." Kouchi let out a sigh. In the end, he did not really want to talk to us, but he only wanted to calm us.
Authors Note:
As you have probably already noticed, I like to incorporate canon-friendly changes from other fanfics. In this case, the village is inspired by the fanfic All That Can Be Given by Baryon Lancer. I really like his fanfics and highly recommend reading them. They greatly fill in holes in the novel and make the Yotsuba even more awesome while keeping them (mostly) canon compatible.
Regarding the use of Material Burst in this chapter: I believe that Tatsuya destroying 36 targets simultaneously using Material Burst is within his canon abilities. It was said that Tatsuya can aim at 36 targets simultaneously using Mist dispersion, but only at 24 during active combat. Since Material Burst is based on Mist dispersion, he should be capable of doing this feat.
Also, should I make this a harem fanfic? I am currently aiming towards MiyukiXTatsuya, but it feels like the other factions would attempt to secure Tatsuya for his genetics.
Or should I do a MiyukixTatsuya ending but make it a harem route for the time being? This could allow some interesting plot changes.
By the way, SCM may refer to either the strategic class magician or the strategic class magic, depending on the context.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
8