- さえぐさ -

Mayumi cautiously made her way through the empty hallways of the hotel.

The unnatural silence unnerved her, putting her on edge. What would normally have been a bustling tourist destination had largely been abandoned with most of its guests probably having fled back closer to the main island after the day's events. She still wasn't informed of the details of the previous day's occurrence, but she did know that the aggressors had been able to sway a portion of the locally stationed military, facilitating the chaos and easing their landing. They had overran several local beaches but almost as soon as it had started, the invasion force retreated due to an unknown circumstance.

Somehow she had managed to convince her father to assist with the civilian evacuation in the midst of the chaos; it was their duty as one of the Clans to assist society should the need arise.

She had also wanted to know if her newfound friend and his family were safe. She had kept her eyes open, searching the shifting faces of the crowd for a pair of piercing pacific-blye eyes.

She was in the middle of directing the Saegusa forces expediting the evacuation towards the nearest military shelter when she caught sight of it: a burst of light, as if the sun itself had descended onto the earth. It mesmerized her. Time seemed to freeze as the crowds watched the scene in fear and wonder, uncertain if it was a herald of salvation or doom. As soon it had appeared, it was gone, disappearing into the hazy afternoon rays. The military retracted the evacuation order not long after. She later learned that the day had been saved by an unknown Strategic-Class magic. She didn't know why that light had felt so familiar.

She stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. She glanced at the room number, then back down at the terminal in her hand. This was the location. Earlier that afternoon, she had received a message from an unknown number, telling her to come here if she wanted more information.

Information about what, the message didn't say.

She raised a delicate fist to the door, hesitating slightly, before steeling herself, resolution shining in her eyes. She had come this far already. She had told Nakura-san where she would be if she didn't return within the hour. In any case, this felt like a risk she needed to take. She rapped the door sharply.

"Come in," a smooth, yet mature voice invited her inside.

She twisted the handle, and pushed her way into the room.

-しば -しば -

October, 2095, First National Magic University Affiliated High School, Tokyo

Tatsuya frowned in concentration at the bogie sitting on the rail in front of him in the Practical Skills classroom. All around him students from Class 1-E stood, some in front of the other CAD stations while others who had completed their task loitered and chatted while waiting for their friends to finish. Tuning out the background noise, he placed his right hand on the device in front of him and channelled psions into the classroom provided standing-type CAD; the telltale glow of psion light accompanied by the construction of an Activation Sequence illuminating a pair of focused pacific-blue eyes hidden beneath a pair of furrowed eyebrows.

Extending his arm, a corresponding Magic Sequence flared to life beneath the bogie, the Movement-type magic causing the test device to roll away from him, traversing the length of the room. Before the bogie could reach its destination on the opposite side of the room, a short, but sharp sound indicated that he had failed the exercise, exceeding the designated time limit for the deployment of the magic and completion of the phenomena re-writing. He exhaled sharply through his nose, lowering his outstretched arm to his side.

"Rough day, huh? How many times is that, five?"

The sturdy figure of Leo crossed his arms, concerned frown reaching his forest-green eyes.

"Well, this number of attempts isn't out of the ordinary for most of the Course 2 students," added Mizuki quietly, in a consoling tone.

"That was attempt number six," Tatsuya sighed, answering Leo's question and Mizuki's comment. He knew his classmates were simply trying to be supportive, but he couldn't help feeling a twinge of annoyance. At himself or the other comments, he wasn't sure.

"Why don't you all go ahead to lunch first," he continued, turning to his four friends who were watching from the side. By his expression, Mikihiko must have been putting up with some comment or another from Erika while Leo and Mizuki just looked concerned. It had been a while since he had struggled with a practical exercise. "I need to clear this assignment before the end of the day, and I don't want to be the one to prevent you guys from missing the lunch break. I think I might also go over to the research building to get some materials after this. I've been meaning to check up on something. I'll meet you all back in the classroom."

"Are you sure?" the soft voice of Mizuki asked. "We have no problems waiting for you to finish."

"Yes. I'll be alright, I'll see you all later." He turned back to the CAD in front of him, not bothering to wait for their answer. He sensed that they were hesitant to go, until Erika made up her mind and led Mizuki away, which caused the other two men to follow behind.

Tatsuya stared at the CAD and bogie on the floor, brows once again wrinkled. Around the room, he noticed that he was one of the last ones attempting to wrap up the exercise; he tightened the fist resting on the console in a momentary expression of irritation.

Exhaling heavily, he closed his eyes and focused on steadying his breathing and clearing his mind. Opening his eyes, he placed his hand back on the CAD, once again pouring psions into the device, causing the Activation Sequence to spring to life. Stretching out his arm once more, its parallel Magic Sequence appeared beneath the bogie.

By the time Tatsuya could leave the classroom, it took a total of three additional tries to complete the assignment; after clearing up his workstation, he found that he was the last one to leave. The sensation of annoyance was mixed with that of relief that at least he had finished it.

Tatsuya stepped out of the shadow of the main building into the bright autumn sun, bathing the picturesque campus in soft light. The air was fresh and crisp, a marked contrast to the stifling heat of summer that had just passed, and an indication that winter, too, would not long tarry. The cherry trees had taken on new colors, no longer the soft hues of pinks in varying shades of spring, when he had enrolled, nor the vibrant greens of summer; instead, leaves of vermillion and amber danced in the gentle fall breeze.

The first-year made his way through the garden on his way to the library. The incident in the Practical Skills class bothered him. He tried to think on when he had first noticed the strange patterns in his use of Systematic magic, an apparently recent development. He observed that most of the trouble occurred when he was using the school's equipment, but lately he had been detecting tiny lags in his spells even when using his own Silver Trident Horns, so much so that an untrained eye wouldn't be able to tell the difference. When was the last time he had performed a calibration on them?

A sudden gust swept through the garden, ruffling his dark bangs and causing the tail of his uniform jacket to flutter. Unconsciously his feet slowed and stopped before a three-person bench sitting beneath the shade of a Japanese Maple in the midst of a small copse. The area was deserted due to ongoing classes and lunch break, giving the atmosphere in the garden a feeling of tranquil silence. He took a few moments to think about the last time he had sat under these leaves. Absently he noted the foliage swaying in the wind was a dark red shade - crimson-rose. An inexplicable heaviness settled in his chest at the memory. He checked his terminal; if he didn't move, the lunch break would soon be over. Putting thoughts of a certain pair of crimson-rose eyes belonging to a particular senior out of his head, he continued towards his destination, steps resolute and unwavering.

The soft tapping of footsteps were the only indication that another person had entered the public reading room in the library. Miyuki saw that her brother had already looked up from his reading material before she had the chance to call out to him.

"So this is where you've been hiding out, onii-sama."

Tatsuya's eyes softened at the greeting.

"Is it okay for you to be here? What about the Student Council? The new Student Council only just started up, so as Vice-President you must be busy, right?"

Miyuki tensed slightly at the question. All in all, the transition was smoother than she had expected. The beginning of the fall semester hailed a changing of the leadership within First High's various organizations, both clubs and official school committees. The Student Council, with its wide-reaching prerogative, was at the forefront of most of the student body's discussion, especially since the President, the only elected position, often laid the groundwork for the direction of the new school year. To say that this year's election was quite chaotic would have been an understatement.

Usually, the Vice-President would have been the primary candidate for the position, as they were familiar with the inner workings of the Student Council itself, as well experience working with the other student organizations as well as the First High faculty and board. However, then-Vice-President Hattori had been recommended to succeed Juumonji-senpai's role as Group Leader of the Club Management Group. All eyes then fell to Nakajou-senpai to take up the role, but she didn't feel confident in her ability to fill the role. As if things couldn't get even more complicated, rumors started spreading that both her and her brother were planning on running for the position, serving to confuse even the faculty. In the end, they had managed to convince the diminutive Secretary to run and win the position, albeit with more than a fair portion of the student body voting for either her or her brother; needless to say, those votes were considered invalid.

Despite the drama, for her and her brother, a different situation had overshadowed the Presidential election, that is to say, the sudden change in their relationship with the former Student Council President.

Since the close of the Nine Schools Competition, they had been keeping their distance from Mayumi in order to maintain the secret of their association with the Yotsuba, per their orders. It had been much more difficult for her, as she was serving on the Student Council. She was careful to ensure that there was at least the presence of two other officers at the same time; if anyone had noticed the sudden increased formality with which she had addressed and interacted with the older girl, no one had mentioned anything. Mayumi, to her credit, also didn't react outwardly, keeping their interactions professional, and neither did she probe her for additional information.

If anything, the changes seemed to affect Tatsuya more than it did herself. It wasn't anything obvious to their classmates or friends. He went about his duties as a member of the Disciplinary Committee, ate lunch with their usual group, and walked with them to the station, as they did before the summer break. But there seemed to be an air of sobreness about him, not acutely so, but only something that she had noticed after years of living with him.

It reminded her of his demeanor before Okinawa.

She knew he actively went out of his way to avoid a chance encounter with Mayumi. He no longer visited the Student Council room, preferring to allow her to find him herself, either in the Disciplinary Committee room or in a reading room in the library. He would stay up late at night, studying or researching various theories, tinkering in the lab. He still smiled at her, and took her out when they had free time during the week, but sometimes when she knew he wasn't quite looking at her, she would catch a glimpse of wistfulness in his eyes.

Miyuki tried for something she thought was a reassuring smile.

"Oh no, Chairwoman Nakajou seems to have her hands full, but as I'm just her assistant, I'm actually not very busy at all. Honoka and Isori-senpai are helping out as well, which really takes care of most of the transition work."

She walked up besides where her brother was seated at a workstation, taking a look at the screen. He was doing more research again.

"By the way, onii-sama, what are you looking at now?"

Tatsuya turned back to the article on the screen.

"It's a document on the Emerald Tablet."

She knitted her eyes in thought.

"You've been perusing a lot of alchemy-related documents recently…"

She allowed her brother to explain the basis of his research and the logical leaps he made to come to the conclusion he was after. It brought her a measure of comfort to see Tatsuya relax discussing something that he found enjoyable.

"...If substance conversion magic can be accomplished without the use of any other magical processes, then it's possible that the Philosopher's Stone is capable of storing Magic Sequences. With Flying-type Magic now a reality, sustainable nuclear fusion through Gravity-controlled Magic is within sight."

Tatsuya turned back to look at Miyuki. She took the opportunity to study his expression. The idea of using magic to provide continuous clean energy had always been one of his broader goals, and it seemed he was getting close to solving it.

"But there's no point if the magician has to keep casting spells throughout it all. In that scenario the magician is no more than competent in the nuclear fusion reactor."

His pacific-blue eyes turned pensive.

"He would only be changing roles from weapon to component. To activate it the magician would be indispensable, but at the same time, the system cannot be one that binds the magician."

It was an ironic statement coming from her brother's mouth; she knew that better than anyone, except the man himself.

"Come to think of it, wasn't there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Miyuki laughed inwardly, glad that she had been able to get his mind off of other matters, if only for a few minutes. It was not often that he got lost on a tangent, a scene that as far as she knew, only she had been privy to see.

"That's right. Onii-sama, Ichihara-senpai has been looking for you. She said that she wants to talk to you about next month's Thesis Competition."

A small frown appeared on his face. She knew what he was thinking. Ichihara-senpai was good friends with Mayumi; Miyuki could almost see the gears turning, as if he were weighing the consequences between going to that meeting and declining it. He closed his eyes, as if steeling himself.

"Where should I meet her?"

Knowing her brother, Ichihara-senpai almost certainly was going to draft him into the writing team for the competition, but by his expression she wasn't certain whether he would acquiesce. In either case, she would find out later when they headed home. Her brother closed the reading windows and stood up.

"I'll head over there now. I'll see you after school?"

The slim girl nodded in agreement.

"Onii-sama, are you resentful?"

Miyuki's voice was hesitant, the sudden question interrupting her brother's steps mid-stride, just as he was about to leave the room.

Tatsuya turned to look at her; his brows were furrowed in confusion, lips ever so slightly curved downward.

"Resentful? Why should I be resentful?"

She remained silent for a few seconds. She should have realized that he didn't understand her meaning. All of his life he had been raised as a tool, living for other people's sake.

For her sake.

She should have known that this would have been his response. Her heart ached for him, his circumstance, and for her role in it.

She shook her head, trying to plaster a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, that was a strange question to ask. I'll see you after school by the 1-E classroom to meet up with the others."

Head down, she hurried past her brother out of the room, leaving him standing for a few seconds, pacific-blue eyes downcast, turning yet another question over in his head.

- さえぐさ - しば -

It had been almost two months since that fateful night.

This was the last time she would be able to enjoy a summer break as a high school student. Thankfully, it had been mostly quiet, so her few Saegusa duties were subtle affairs, mostly running surveillance and intel operations within Kanto and Izu. With her father and brothers busy, she and her mother had taken her younger twin sisters for a short trip to Kyoto, a destination they visited every two years or so for some bonding time.

Before everyone had realized, September was over and summer had faded into autumn, and with it, the third year student officers took their final bows and stepped away, allowing a new batch of first and second years to take the reins of school leadership. If looking at the school calendar, September would ordinarily not be considered a "busy" month, but in reality, it was a whirlwind of transition, with former leaders passing on knowledge, suggestions, and, in Mari's case, mountains of unfinished paperwork.

Two months had served to dull a greater portion of the hurt, but a remnant still refused to leave, the dull throbbing in her chest now a familiar sensation.

In the quiet moments to herself, she found her thoughts drifting to the owner of a pair of pacific-blue eyes, so Mayumi had used the flurry of activities over that time period to distract her and fill her time with other, more productive thoughts. She had enjoyed the time spent with her family shopping and laughing at the comic determination of A-chan to fill the large shoes she had left behind as Student Council President.

She should have expected that it couldn't last. The month of October had left her schedule almost empty, with no more responsibilities to the school, and a dearth of assignments from the Clan. In the end, she decided to fill her timetable herself, by getting a head start on studying for entrance examinations, which by the rate at which things were moving, would be here in no time.

Her only mistake was picking the wrong study partner; really, she should have known better, so she only had herself to blame.

"Hey Mayumi, are you sure that all this stuff from first year is going to be on the entrance exam for the Defense Academy?"

The petite woman glared over the top of her terminal at the other person sharing the study room.

"Mari, even if it's not a majority of the exam, the fundamentals will still be tested."

Her friend sighed and continued scrolling through the study material she had compiled. Currently, the two of them were planning on different paths for their higher education, with Mayumi expected to enroll in the National Magic University while Mari had chosen to try for the National Defense Academy. Despite their diverging routes, both institutions used the same entrance examination.

"...Even Enochian?"

Mayumi had to close her eyes and pinch the bridge of her nose in exasperation. She took a minute to compose herself before answering.

"Even Enochian. Despite Linguistics consistently being one of your poorer subjects, it has been featured on past years exams."

Mari collapsed onto the desk, groaning. While intelligent and intuitive, studying had never been one of her strong points, especially when it came to rote memorization, which was almost the entirety of Magic Linguistics.

"If all you're going to do is complain, I might have been better off studying by myself. Rin-chan would have been a better partner," Mayumi lamented.

Mari huffed and cracked an eye open.

"Well excuse me. Suzune is busy with the Thesis Competition, so you're stuck with me. Besides, exams don't start till late January. We're in October. Isn't this a little too much?"

The other girl at least had the decency to wither under her scowl.

"Ok, ok, I get it," she aceded, picking her face off the table. "Though with your credentials, I bet you could get in without even having to take the exam," Mari grumbled. She returned to scrolling through the terminal. "Can we at least start with something more familiar?"

Mayumi sighed and looked back up at her friend.

"Well, what do you have in mind?"

"Mmm..."

Mari changed windows and started scrolling again pausing on a certain line.

"Well, how about…'Theories of Counter Magic'? That was just last semester."

Mayumi's chest tightened up at the mention, momentarily tuning out the world while Mari continued talking. It seemed like everything brought back reminders of him.

"...hey, speaking of Counter Magic, I've just realized I haven't heard anything about Tatsuya from you since the beginning of the semester. How are things?"

Mari had a teasing smile about her features; it was to be expected since she wasn't aware of what had happened during the closing banquet of the Nine Schools Competition and Mayumi hadn't told anyone either. It was necessary if her guess about their heritage was correct.

It took all her willpower to not let her facade drop.

"Things are...complicated."

Mari frowned at the admission.

"I don't understand. There seemed to be at least the beginnings of an attraction between the two of you from what I observed during the spring semester and the summer. Was I mistaken?" She seemed to get agitated. "Was I wrong? What did that man do? Do I need to set him straight?"

"Mari," she pleaded. The line of questioning was leading uncomfortably close to freshly closed wounds. Or maybe they hadn't really closed after all. "It's nothing like that. I don't think you were wrong about the attraction, but...it's just hard to say. It's complicated."

The other woman leaned back in her chair.

"It's a little disconcerting to see the effects a guy has on you. What's so great about him anyways? He's not that good looking, and sometimes I think he can't read the mood. There are plenty of other fish in the sea."

Mayumi sighed. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't know the answer to Mari's question herself. Ever since that day, she had been drawn to him. She turned off her terminal.

"You know what, I think I'm going to head home. I can't get much studying done right now."

Mari hesitated.

"Look, I'm sorry for probing. If there's anything you want to talk about, you can tell me," Mari finally concluded, contrite.

Mayumi could only give her a melancholy smile.

"I know you didn't mean anything by it, and I appreciate it. Just promise me you won't go asking around and especially don't ask him about it."

The other woman crossed her arms, but nodded grudgingly.

"If that's what you want..."

They gave each other their farewells and Mayumi left the study room. Despite what she had told Mari, she didn't feel like going home quite yet, so she chose to wander the First High hallways. She didn't have a particular destination in mind, so her meandering feet took her all around the building. Thankfully, most students were accustomed to the sight of her making her way throughout the school from her time as President, so no one tried to interrupt her despite her lack of objective this time. She tried to drown out Mari's sudden reminder of the Shiba siblings with the low murmur of conversation in the hallways, to little success.

The ache in her chest pulsed steadily. After that incident the two siblings had kept their distance, especially the elder. Whenever they encountered each other in the hallways, they addressed her as Chairwoman, and when she stepped down, they addressed as senpai. It was a little ridiculous, she knew. Two individuals out of the entire student body causing her so much grief. She turned Mari's questions over in her head again. What was it that drew her to him? Was it just fate? She laughed mirthlessly to herself at the asinine thought. Ill-fated more likely.

Just as she was turning the corner of the Magic Geometry classrooms, she wondered when was the last time she had seen Tatsuya face-to-face.

...

"So it's decided then. Please have a copy of your portion of the thesis ready by next Wednesday. While I'm sure the task will not be unduly difficult for you, feel free to reach out to Isori-kun or myself. I'm planning on having a quick check-in on Saturday just to make sure that all our parts align and then I'll compile all the parts Wednesday morning to submit to Tsuzura-sensei for the pre-submission check. Any questions?"

Tatsuya stood up from the cushioned seat, shaking his head.

"No questions. I'll have my part of the paper ready, just let me know what time on Saturday you want for the check."

Tatsuya gave a slight bow, excusing himself from the Geometry prep room, leaving Suzune and Kei to go over some of the logistics regarding the construction of the demonstration models, which would be handled by the second-years under Kei's oversight. Given that he was in charge of the Magic and Activation Sequences, the details didn't quite involve him, allowing him to leave earlier.

Tatsuya navigated through the hallways on muscle memory alone, making his way to the 1-E homeroom to meet up with his sister and their friends. His day, not to mention the following weeks, had become unexpectedly busy with the new responsibilities being added on top of his schoolwork, committee duties, as well as his obligations to Four Leaves Technologies on his days off. The fact that he had been offered a position on the Thesis Competition team was something he did not expect, given the presence of other, older students, with a greater interest in joining the team; he had thought that the extent of the conversation would be being asked to run some small errands as a part of the support group.

The thesis topic itself was surprisingly up his alley, almost a little too suspiciously that his chosen area of research just so happened to align. Between that and the pressure of the school's reputation on the line, he found himself once again drafted onto the team. In actuality, he had been planning on turning Suzune down. The fact of the matter was that he had already stood out too much. As a member of the Disciplinary Committee, at least he could have said that it was limited to the school itself, and that the novelty of a second-course student performing in the role had mostly faded. However, between Blanche and the Nine Schools Competition, the stage at which he had drawn attention was an order of magnitude larger. He rarely received communications from the main house, but his Aunt's silence was not a sign of approval either; no doubt she or her agents were watching closely.

Which brought his musings to the heart of another matter.

"Onii-sama, are you resentful?"

He wasn't exactly certain what had brought on that question from Miyuki. What was there to be resentful about? His treatment from the family? He had learned quickly that there weren't really many to trust, and he had gotten along fine regardless. His role? As Miyuki's Guardian, he was fulfilled as long as no hard came to her, and any other pursuits, while worthwhile and satisfying, were secondary. His abilities? As long as he had the tools to do his job, what more could he ask for? There was no reason for him to be resentful of anyone or anything.

So what was the reason for the tightness in his chest?

Streams of students passed by as he made his way through the hallways. Absently he watched the afternoon sun begin its slow descent, sliding into the horizon, painting the sky shades of orange, like a dim light, and for a moment he was reminded of another time, under dim lights, surrounded by the fickle crowd, a woman with crimson-rose eyes in his arms.

He was shaken out of his reverie at a sudden collision with another person coming around the corner. He had been walking down the straight, not aware that a smaller girl had been coming around the T-intersection of the hallway, nearly knocking the unfortunate girl over with his larger frame, causing her to stumble. Though surprised, he managed to catch the smaller student's shoulders.

The girl, too, didn't seem to be paying attention. A pair of familiar startled crimson-rose eyes rose up to lock gazes with him, looking out from under dark, wavy fringes. Her mouth was agape, working itself as if trying to find words.

"I'm sorry, are you alright, Ma-"

The words had slipped out of his mouth before he had realized, but he was unable to finish the question. It took a few moments for both parties to catch themselves and allow their brains to finally finish processing who they had run into. Tatsuya hastily released the shoulders of the petite former Student Council President and backed off. Mayumi seemed to be hesitating, unsure of how to act given the situation. Tatsuya himself had to take several seconds to collect himself.

"Saegusa-senpai. I apologize for my inattention. Please excuse me."

He bowed hastily, quickly stepping around Mayumi trying to leave the scene as fast as he could, not allowing her an opportunity to respond. He didn't turn around, but could feel the heat of her eyes on his retreating back.

Mayumi sighed as she could only watch helplessly as Tatsuya briskly disappeared down the hallway. An ironic thought indeed, that no matter what happened, they still seemed to run into each other.

Fate.

But despite all their struggles and distance, there was a moment, even if it was only for a second, when she had collided into his solid chest and he had caught her. His pacific-blue eyes had searched her own; she recognized the concern in them, a hint of authenticity.

And then it was gone, his expression becoming aloof once more, and he had left her standing alone, the ache in her chest returning tenfold.

Oh, Tatsuya...

- しば -

"Welcome home."

Tatsuya felt Miyuki stiffen at his side at the greeting called out from the living room, while he himself sighed, already weary from the long day at school. It wasn't that they didn't welcome the greeting, rather the voice that presented it belonged to a person they were familiar with, yet not on the best of speaking terms. It didn't help that they didn't often cross paths, or perhaps it was more accurate to say that she went out of her way to avoid the siblings.

The two of them set down their bags in the hallway, before making their way into the living room, a lone woman in a suit standing by the sofas. She looked out of place, her attire very much a stark dichotomy to the simple furnishings of their home, the expression on her face suggesting that she would have much rather been anywhere else. The three of them stood in silence for several long seconds. He was quite proud to see that Miyuki didn't react outwardly, given the circumstance; since they had started living on their own, she had shown much growth in her maturity as a young woman, befitting her candidacy for the future head of the family.

"I see you're as cozy as ever," the other woman commented awkwardly while shifting on her feet, breaking the tense atmosphere.

Miyuki sniffed at the statement.

"It's been a while since you've come back here, Sayuri-san," Tatsuya replied coolly. Most of their few exchanges had gone something along those lines, always short and clipped.

Shiba Sayuri seemed to lose the words in her mouth, struggling to come up with an appropriate response.

In the end, Miyuki saved her from needing to do so. Apparently her tolerance for being in her presence was still around two minutes. She reached up and squeezed Tatsuya's forearm.

"I'll get dinner started!" she said, trying for an enthusiastic tone, but Tatsuya could read the strain in her voice. Her eyes darted to their step-mother, before turning back to him.

"What would you like tonight?"

He allowed a small smile to tug at his lips. He could at least try to put her at ease.

"Whatever you make will be fine by me. Take your time." I'll let you know when she's gone.

Miyuki nodded, understanding his meaning; she retreated back down the hallway to her room. Dinner could wait. She would stay there until their step-mother left. Hopefully this would be a quick visit.

Tatsuya turned back to their step-mother, and nodded at the sofas in the seating area.

"Alright then, shall I hear what you have to say?"

While Sayuri was getting seated, he shrugged out of his school jacket and swung by the kitchen to grab two glasses of water. Settling himself across the coffee table, he set down both glasses and pushed one across, out of courtesy. After a moment of hesitation his step-mother lifted the offered glass and took a sip. Her eyes were averted off to the side, clearly uncomfortable. He figured that their father had asked her to come. He was the only one that might be even less comfortable in this house.

Tatsuya sat on the edge of the couch, still silent, content to allow her to have the first words. Sayuri settled the hands holding the glass into her lap. Finally she raised her eyes to meet his own.

"Do you two still resent me?"

There was that word again.

"Onii-sama, are you resentful?"

He frowned, taking a moment to lean back into the sofa. He studied the woman sitting in front of him. Their father's second wife always seemed to tread lightly around them, which made interacting with each other difficult, so it was not inaccurate to say that they were practically strangers, linked by circumstances beyond control. In truth, it could be said that the two of them were both victims of the Yotsuba's ploys, Tatsuya because of the mental alteration, and Sayuri because the Yotsuba had seduced her lover away with promises of money and suggestions of power. In this aspect, he could arrive at some sort of understanding with this woman, if only in their shared perpetrators of their misfortune. However, his father was a different story, one that wasn't relevant to the question at hand, and a person he did not often think about.

"I do not," Tatsuya answered slowly, each word deliberate, punctuating the air. The statement was not untrue. Yes, he could understand her uncertainty, and did not particularly dislike her, but neither did she draw out any other reaction from his as well.

"The same cannot be said about Miyuki," he added. His sister had a much closer relationship than he did with their mother, a proper parent-child bond, so it made sense that she would view any other who even came close to the role Shiba Miya had occupied with cynicism, one of the few opinions and experiences his sister had that he could not relate to. Not that he would share those comments with anyone else, of course. Sayuri seemed to wait for several more uncomfortable seconds to see if he would explain his words, but she soon realized that that was the extent he would answer on the subject.

"I see. I won't impose more than I have to. We want you to help out again in the lab at the head office," she said briskly, before pausing for a moment. "...and drop out of high school, if possible."

Tatsuya crossed his arms, mildly annoyed.

"Our father asked you to come, didn't he?"

Their step-mother looked away, then nodded reluctantly.

"He should know that it's not possible. As long as Miyuki is attending First High School, I will attend as well, or I won't be able to fulfill my duties as her Guardian. That is all that will be said on the matter." Tatsuya made sure that the last statement would broker no comment or negotiation. Sayuri's expression indicated that she, or rather his father, would be less than pleased, but she knew better than to press the matter. It was, after all, a decision of the Yotsuba, and knew that no amount of protest would make a difference.

"So the other matter about the lab at the head office."

His step-mother set the glass of water onto the coffee table off to the side, then reached into the bag sitting beside her and pulled out a medium sized metal case. She placed it in front of her, carefully flipping the lid and spun it around to face him. He leaned forward to get a better view. A marbled red comma-shaped object sat on a foam cushion inside.

"We would like you to come to the head office to analyze this sample."

Tatsuya did a cursory scan of the foreign object with Elemental Sight. He immediately recognized the shape, but had to verify its authenticity. He frowned slightly, looking back up at the older woman.

"This is a Relic of the Nino Magatama. Where was this excavated?"

His question was met with silence and another averted gaze. Her lack of answer gave him the information he needed.

"I see. So the military is involved? You said analyze, but don't tell me that you've taken on the task of replicating this Magatama, have you?"

Sayuri closed her eyes, and then gave another timid nod.

Honestly, that father of ours…

Tatsuya sighed.

"Why would he be so reckless? 'Out of Place Artifacts' have thus far been impossible to synthesize with modern technology. There's a reason they're called Relics."

"We received this job at the strong behest of the military. We can't possibly refuse."

Tatsuya knitted his eyebrows slightly.

"But even the military should know that it's virtually impossible to do this. Why would they make such a ridiculous request?"

Sayuri shifted in her seat.

"Initial data has suggested that this Relic has the ability to store Magic Sequences."

Tatsuya raised a brow.

"Are you sure?"

Sayuri leaned back in her seat and shrugged her left arm, flipping her wrist to the ceiling.

"It is still hypothetical but the data and the results are reliable."

He turned back to examine the Magatama. How bizarre it was that something he had been researching for so long might somehow land in his lap, literally. But the fact of the matter was, if the military was looking into it, then they were looking to weaponize it. Despite his role, he found the prospect distasteful. An even greater irony given his abilities, but he had never taken joy in this particular job.

"If that is true, then I can see why the military can hardly ignore it. Although with FLT's current fiscal state, I fail to see the reasoning behind this decision. Surely there is no need to risk taking a bullet for someone else."

His step-mother sighed.

"We've already rolled the dice."

"With no hope of winning?"

"Tatsurou thinks that with your magic, we'll be able to analyze it."

Tatsuya scoffed.

"My father doesn't know me half as well as he thinks he does. Even if we use my magic, there's no guarantee that it can be replicated. But if he insists, please send the sample to R&D Division Three."

Sayuri looked uncomfortable. He knew that his father, and by extension she, was not particularly happy that the bulk of Four Leaves Technologies developments and breakthroughs were led by his department.

"That...we can't do that."

Tatsuya crossed his arms.

"Would he rather leave the Relic with me?"

His step-mother shook her head, closing the lid on the Relic and stowing it away. So his father was this afraid.

"That won't be necessary. We'll figure something out."

She stood up and turned in the direction of the front door.

"Thank you for at least hearing me out."

Miyuki found her way into the kitchen several minutes after the front door had closed. Tatsuya was busy draining and cleaning the water glasses.

"She's left?"

Tatsuya nodded to the affirmative as he stowed the dried glassware. He walked over and patted his sister's head. Miyuki brightened at the simple act.

"She's left, but something feels off. Can you start dinner without me?"

- さえぐさ -

Evening found a mentally drained Mayumi stepping through the gates of the Saegusa residence that parted as soon as she came within a stone's throw of the front door. Never had the heavy metal grates, or the imposing facade of the building's face had never caused her to feel more imprisoned than she did in this moment, a testament to the weight of her family name and expectation. All she wanted to do was to retreat to the sanctuary of her room and sleep, a blissful respite.

However, it seemed like her wish was not to be. The head butler of the family was waiting for her as soon as she stepped through the solid wooden doors. The older man sank in a deep bow in greeting.

"Mayumi-sama, welcome home. Your father is waiting for you in his study. He asks that you visit him immediately; it appears the matter is quite urgent."

Mayumi molded her face into the mask, suppressing a sigh. She had no choice but to obey the head of the family. It wasn't that she disliked meeting with her father. On the contrary, she had been able to appreciate quite a close relationship with him, garnered over the years that her two elder step-brothers had left the main residence. He trusted her abilities, and she had not let him down yet.

Rather, it was the increasing awareness that her father had begun reaching out to other influential families to matchmake her; she would soon be of marriageable age, following the trend of magicians marrying at increasingly younger ages. Over the past few months, events had brought such realizations to the forefront; she suspected that this meeting might be where everything came to light. She hoped she was wrong.

She inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement of the information. The elderly butler took this as a dismissal and left to attend to his other duties. Adopting the formal hauteur of her training, she glided down the main hallway of the mansion. Along every few meters she would pass housekeepers bustling along who would stop in the middle of their duties to favor her with a greeting or a bow. She answered each with a small smile and a nod. The Saegusa household certainly relied on the manpower to run, as unlike many of the other families, such as Juumonji, whose motto was 'Each a Match for a Thousand', or the Yotsuba, who with their limited numbers had taken on an entire nation and won, it could be argued that a large portion of their influence came from their ability able to mobilize a large number of people.

Too soon the entrance to her father's study loomed before her. She took a moment to compose herself, putting the day's events momentarily out of her mind and masking her turbulent emotions. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door as a notice of her arrival before pushing in.

Saegusa Koichi's office was warmly lit. For such a figure of leadership in Japan's magical community, most might have found the size and furnishings of his office modest. A greater portion of the walls were lined with shelving for books, and the desk itself was lined neatly with stacks of papers, the terminal on the left hand side dim, a curious sight given the prevalence of technology elsewhere in the house.

The man himself sat behind a stout wooden desk, studying a sheaf of papers in hand. Her father could have been described as relatively skinny, with a mild countenance. His overall appearance was more of a sharp businessman, rather than a leader. His eyes were obscured by dark tinted lenses, but the crease in his brow was still evident as he read over the report.

"Otou-san, you asked to see me?"

A small smile appeared on his lips as her father set down the papers while Mayumi carefully closed the door behind her.

"Mayumi, how was your day?"

Exhausting and all together rather unpleasant.

Mayumi shoved down her thoughts, instead presenting a detached front.

"School was good as usual; nothing of note to really pick out."

Her father's upturned lips turned ever so slightly downward in a frown. Drat. She should have known that he would see through her tense charade. He knew her too well.

"Are you sure?"

Mayumi surely could not and did not want to air her current broodings before her father; that in itself would open up a whole host of additional problems she did not have the strength to face at the moment, so she had to think quickly to come up with a plausible scapegoat for her tells. She opened with a sigh for good measure.

"Just tired. Mari and I have started to prepare for the entrance examination for university and there is a lot of material to cover."

The older man had propped his elbows on the desk and folder his hands in front of his face.

"I see. Although I am surprised, since entrance examinations are not for a while yet."

He contemplated the idea for a few seconds before nodding.

"But I suppose it is never too early to begin preparing. It is admirable that you are thinking about your future so far in advance. And speaking about your future..."

Her father sat up a little straighter and leaned forward in his high-backed chair.

"...I believe it is time to begin considering potential marriage candidates for you. In less than half a year you will be a legal adult. Several families have put forth proposals, however I believe only two of them merit serious consideration, Itsuwa Hirofumi and your classmate, Juumonji Katsuto…"

Mayumi felt her chest tighten and the blood pulse through her veins; the day she had been so dreading had finally come, and during one of the worst possible times. Her focus drifted out and the voice of her father became background noise. He seemed to pick up on her sudden change in demeanor. A frown reappeared on his face.

"Mayumi?"

She shook herself out of her trance, attempting to regain her composure.

"I'm sorry, otou-san. It's just that this discussion was so sudden, and I wasn't quite expecting to have this conversation at this moment."

The older man studied her for a moment, causing Mayumi to feel exposed under his scrutinizing gaze. She struggled to not let anything show. Finally he dropped his eyes to the papers on the desk.

"I understand. Indeed, this is quite the news for one of the biggest steps in your life. Take some time over the next few weeks to think about it. The other families will be expecting some sort of response, and possibly some dinners and meetings to be scheduled."

He picked up a lone stack of papers lying off to his right. He held it out towards her

"In truth, that was not the topic I had intended to discuss this evening."

Mayumi allowed herself to relax; she had managed to avoid this new pressing worry for the time being. She slowly approached his desk and took the offered report.

"Are you aware of the recent going-ons in the Yokohama district?"

She took a few moments to rifle through the papers before answering.

"Just that there had been a sinking of a cargo ship in the harbor. The media hasn't received many details on the incident, just that there was an accident, and the boat ran aground."

Her father gained a pensive look on his face.

"Indeed that is the official story. However our contacts within the department have reason to believe that the cargo ship was harboring illegal aliens, their nationalities as of yet unknown, although there is a strong case that they are from the Great Asian Alliance. The sinking of the ship was the doing of the detectives responding to the dispatch. As you might expect, they turned up empty handed."

The Great Asian Alliance? The tension between the two nations was at an all time high, the result of their failed attempted invasion of the Okinawa islands, an event that she had had the opportunity to experience first-hand. Despite the contentious relationship, there had been no escalation of hostilities; a cold war with the occasional political job on the international stage and the cessation of international travel between the two countries. She tried to put thoughts of Okinawa out of her head, for other, more personal, reasons.

His eyes refocused on his daughter.

"The police are still looking into the matter, but cannot spare more than the two detectives already on the case."

Mayumi nodded in understanding.

"You want me to look into the matter?"

Her father inclined his head.

"Indeed. You no longer have duties to the school, and I think you are bright enough that a week or two of investigation will not impact your study schedule unduly."

"Do you think this is a coincidence? It is quite uncommon for people to attempt infiltration, especially through the Port of Yokohama. Security is quite tight around there."

Saegus Koichi leaned back into the chair.

"What does your intuition tell you?"

Mayumi paused for a moment. There weren't any big events scheduled to happen except…

"The Thesis Competition, held at the Yokohama Branch of the Japanese Magic Association. You believe they are targeting that?"

Her father's lips upturned slightly in a knowing smile, and he spread his hands.

"I do not know what they might be after, I have given control of this operation to you. If you think that is what they are after, then by all means, I trust your judgement."

He wanted her to use her position in the school and as a student to gain more information. As the former Student Council President, she would still have access to some of the details regarding the event. That coupled with the fact that it wasn't uncommon for the event to be targeted by third-parties, although she had never heard of a foreign nation attempting to do so. It did not bode well if that was the case.

The sly fox.

She dipped a bow to him.

"Very well, otou-san, I will send you any information I get."

He responded with a smile, dismissing her, eyes hidden by his dark tinted lenses.

- しば -

Isori Kei's eyebrows furrowed and his frown deepened as he listened to Tatsuya relay the dubious occurrence the night before. The two teens sat across from each other in the Student Council room, where they had been asked to report to for a quick meeting. The subject of the meeting had not yet been revealed to them, though with the two of them in attendance, the likely subject was something to do with the Thesis Competition.

The older boy folded his slim arms into a thinking posture at Tatsuya's troubling news.

"So did you sustain any loss of data?"

Tatsuya shook his head.

"Everything is fine; I managed to alter the firewall protections and inject a reverse detection program. If they try again, they'll end up tipping their hand, so I doubt whoever it is will attempt another crack in the near future."

"I knew you were good with CADs, but your ability with technology in general continues to surprise me," Kei replied, looking and sounding impressed.

Tatsuya shook his head.

"It's not much. After all, CADs are just more specialized computers, so the same fundamental principles apply." He paused for a moment. "That aside, I was able to identify some of the commands that the crackers were using. They seemed to be looking for files relating to magic theory, although from the syntax, it didn't seem like they had a specific target in mind. It appeared to be more like a catch-all trawling to obtain as much information as possible."

"Hmm, that is quite concerning. Although I've never heard of people doing so, it's a possibility that the cracking attack had something to do with the Thesis Competition."

Tatsuya didn't voice the other thought he had been turning over in his head. What if the true objective of the cyber attack wasn't the Competition? Sure, cutting edge magic theories were considered closely guarded secrets for all nations, but that may have just been a side objective.

Tatsuya also hadn't mentioned that he had a pretty good idea of, if not the identity of, at least the nationalities of the perpetrators, based on the later events the night their step-mother had visited. He was cognizant of the small lump sitting in the left breast pocket of his school jacket. While he wasn't particularly concerned with their home's security, he felt a sense of unease leaving such a valuable artifact without someone watching over it, so he ended up bringing the Magatama to school, at least until he could find a time to drop it off with the Third Division. If he was right, this was just the beginning of the Great Asian Alliance's resuming interference, troubling, since the lack of overt aggression since the event many called the 'Defense Battle of Okinawa' of 2092, an event he was intimately familiar with. Could this be the signs of a new global conflict? The current geopolitical climate was a delicate balance, with any shift in power threatening to tip the balance. Very troubling.

"So, does that mean everything is alright at your house, Isori-senpai?"

Kei snapped out of his ruminations.

"That's right; for such a breach of security, Ichihara-senpai should definitely be notified-"

"Thanks for the wait!"

The second year was interrupted by the sudden and boisterous arrival of one Chiyoda Kanon, the new Chief of the Disciplinary Committee. The excitable girl hurried over to her fiance, acting quite counter-character to the position she held. Accompanying her was the former Chief of the Disciplinary Committee.

"Long time no see, Shiba."

Tatsuya wasn't certain, but the casual words of the greeting were not matched by the tone, which seemed to be distant, and slightly frosty. He supposed he should have expected that, given Mari's close relationship with Mayumi. He decided to offer a shallow, yet polite bow.

"Watanabe-senpai."

The third-year girl frowned, silent for a moment, as if considering the best words to say. In the end she settled on a familiar topic for the both of them.

"So...as the former Chief of the Disciplinary Committee, I'm concerned about the work of my successor. How is she doing?"

At the mention of her Kanon sprung up from where she was seated.

"Mari! It's only been a short while! Like I said, I'm still getting settled!"

Tatsuya covered his surprise at his former superior's attempt at brevity, despite the complicated status of their relationship by proxy of Mayumi. He determined that if she was willing to put that aside for the moment, he wouldn't bring it up.

"Unlike before, we have a neat and orderly arrangement," he said with a shrug. "She's especially good at throwing things away."

Mari gave a snort at his underhanded quip, a clear comment on the state of the Committee room under her time as leader.

Kei seemed to feel the need to step in and turn the conversation away from Mari.

"Anyway, Kanon, you need to do more of the paperwork yourself, ok? You can rely on me but you shouldn't also push it onto Shiba-kun."

Kei's comment touched on an ironic, or in Tatsuya's case, unironic observation on how the Disciplinary Committee ran. While Mari was in office, she had gotten Kanon to do the lion's share of the paperwork, and now that Kanon was in charge, Tatsuya seemed to find more and more of said paperwork finding its way onto his desk.

"I'm not very good at that sort of thing, and it's important to have the right person in the right job," Kanon huffed, completely ignoring that she had, in fact, done most of 'that sort of thing' under Mari.

Mari's voice broke in, a color of exasperation tinging it, sounding more like her usual self.

"Anyway. I was joking about the part of me checking in on Kanon. I have full confidence in the work of the new Chief. In actuality I'm here to talk about security during the Competition."

"Security? I would think that the Magic Association could do better than relying on high schoolers for their security detail."

Mari shook her head.

"Not security for the venue itself; you are right, the Association will be hiring professionals for that. What I wanted to discuss is personal bodyguards for each team member, as well as a couple sets of eyes on the presentation materials and equipment. Although it's just a high school competition, the school will be responsible for important materials that we have access to since we are affiliated with the University."

Tatsuya thought that was ironic given his and Isori's previous conversation topic, not to mention the military-grade artifact that was tucked away in his uniform.

"Who would target such a high-profile event?"

"Mostly industrial spies. The usual crimes are robberies and snatch-and-grabs. Anything at a larger scale carries a large amount of risk for their beneficiaries."

It wasn't the confirmation Tatsuya was looking for, but it was good enough for him. If the thesis materials weren't the aim, then it was almost certainly the magatama they were after. It was a good call having it on his person and not leaving it unattended at the house.

"Because of this, our school provides security each year, consisting of members from the Disciplinary Committee and the Club Management Group. Hattori and Kirihara are being assigned to Suzune, and as you can see, Kanon is nigh inseparable from poor Isori."

Mari leaned against a row of low shelves, crossing her arms and cracking open a single eye in his direction.

"The question is what to do about you…"

"No escort necessary," he replied flatly.

Mari let out an amused scoff.

"I suppose so. In your case an escort is likely to be more of a hindrance than a boon. All right then," she concluded, standing up from her leaning position. "That's what I came for, I'll let the security team know."

She cast a quick glance in the direction of Kei and Kanon, who were too wrapped up in their own world to pay attention to their exchange.

"And Tatsuya, she told me not to ask you about what happened between the two of you. But," Mari frowned, "don't think I like this situation one bit."

- ちば -

The entirety of the school's student population seemed to be gathered in the central school yard, some huddled around pieces of equipment while others were running between groups, ferrying documents and materials. Shouts of directions and questions could be heard all across the area.

"That equipment goes over there!"

"Who took the transformer that was here?"

"It sure is lively," Leo commented, side stepping to avoid getting run over by two students hauling a long piece of wood.

"Certainly," Mikihiko added, narrowly ducking a blow from a stray hose swung from a nearby workstation, "we should avoid getting in the way of the work."

"Erika-chan! Slow down!" Mizuki called out, voice tinged with distress, bravely attempting to follow her through the throng, dropping apologies and excuses along the way.

Erika in question, was forging unheedingly ahead, weaving through and around the workers, towards the center of the complex, where she expected to find her quarry; she grinned to herself when she spotted her target. Turning around she waved towards her three classmates struggling to keep up with her.

"Heeey, over here! I found Tatsuya!"

Several upperclassmen working nearby jumped at the sudden and spirited call. Tatsuya, from where he was seated in front of the laptop didn't react noticeably except for a slight stiffening of his shoulders, which she wouldn't have caught if she wasn't looking for it. It took about an extra half minute for Leo, Mikihiko, and Mizuki to catch up to her, all three looking quite ruffled.

"Erika-chan, Tatsuya-san is busy, we shouldn't be bothering him," Mizuki finally said when she had caught her breath.

The stoic first-year looked up from what he was doing to give the four of them a nod.

"No worries, Mizuki. I see you all came out to see how the work is progressing."

From the center of the field, the group could see more clearly the number and the scope of the work that was being carried out.

"Do you really need this many people to prepare for the Thesis Competition?" she commented amazedly at the sight.

Tatsuya turned back to the screen, picking up typing from where he left off.

"Well, to be honest, I hadn't thought about it much either. For the past week and a half we had only been focusing on the written portion of the event, but for the presentation, we have to create several demonstration devices to highlight the major points of the thesis. And given that we have less than two weeks till the event, it's going to take almost the entire school for us to make that deadline."

Leo and Mikihiko were still taking in the bustle of the work, while Mizuki had gotten roped into helping the Art Club sometime during their conversation.

Tatsuya paused his typing again to glance in her direction.

"Although it's good to see you all, I take it the reason you are here isn't really to observe?"

Erika understood his veiled question. He was referring to the incident in the alleyway outside of the cafe with the USNA operative.

She frowned and crossed her arms.

"I'm not worried that he got away. It was what he said that we couldn't afford to relax even within the school grounds. What he said, coupled with Mizuki and Miki's comments on the atmosphere around the school that bothers me. Something's not right."

She noticed that Tatsuya hadn't resumed his typing while she talked, as he was prone to do sometimes. It wasn't that he was rude, she knew he would still be listening, so his break in his typical behavior caught her attention. He had maintained a neutral expression on his face.

Erika still didn't know what to make of the man. Of course, she considered him a friend, but the air of mystery surrounding him hadn't abated one bit since their first meeting. If anything, the cloud had gotten even darker. Officially, the Blanche incident from April had been resolved by the police, with cooperation from the Saegusa, but it appeared to have been tied up too neatly; she suspected that Tatsuya had been involved with more than just the events that occurred on the school grounds. That coupled with his occasional disappearances during the Nine Schools Competition suggested he was concealing a lot from their friend group. She suspected that his lack of reaction meant that he had some insight on the tense situation.

Before she could probe him, Tatsuya stood up from the workstation. The action caught her unawares, but somehow the motion was fluid and efficient, not sharp or wasting of unnecessary body movement.

"Apologies, I need to check on something with Ichihara-senpai. Do you mind watching the workstation for a few minutes?"

"Sure thing, Tatsuya."

Leo's keen baritone cut her off before she had a chance to answer. Tatsuya nodded gratefully in his direction before moving off to finding the third-year in charge of the event. Erika frowned in Leo's direction at the interruption. The bigger man returned her frown at her.

"What?"

"I wanted to ask him something before you barged in. I thought you and Miki were too busy gawking at all the girls."

"Gawking-!" Leo's face burned. "We were doing none of the sort!"

He took a moment to compose himself.

"Was what you wanted to ask about what happened yesterday?" he asked in a more serious tone.

Erika folded her arms.

"Something weird is going on around here. I don't like it."

Leo mirrored her action, looking to be in thought.

"The way the rest of you guys are, it's starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable too, even though I can't really sense anything off."

"Even though the rest of the school population doesn't seem to be feeling anything either," Mikihiko added, finally joining in on the conversation.

"So? What were you guys looking at?" Erika asked. "Took long enough to pull you two away from whatever you were staring at."

Leo waved her question away.

"It was nothing really. I was just pointing out a bird to Mikihiko that I noticed hanging out over on the Practical Skills Building."

She cocked her head to the side.

"A bird? But you can see plenty of birds flying around all the time, especially since it's autumn."

"Apparently the bird is a little strange," Mikihiko added in.

"Huh. I never would have guessed you to be a birdwatcher."

Leo shrugged.

"Even before joining the Mountaineering Club, I've done my fair share of climbing and hiking around the country. It wasn't hard to pick up a few interesting pieces of information on the wildlife I came across along the way."

Erika's curiosity got the better of her. Sometimes she was thrown off when Leo, of all people surprised her. Underneath his rough-and-tumble exterior, he had a surprisingly level head on his shoulders.

"So? What's so weird about it."

"It's actually still over there, if you want to see."

He pointed towards a section of the roof on the Practical Skills Building. Sure enough, a black, almost midnight, feathered avian sat perched on the ledge closest to the inner courtyard. It's piercing gaze swept over the entirety of the area.

She turned back towards her classmates.

"Really? Looks just like any other blackbird I've seen around here."

"That's just it. It isn't a blackbird; it's too big. From this distance, I guess that it's about 80 centimeters tall. And then I got a look at its wings when it was flapping earlier. It was longer than the height of one of those windows, which are probably around 2 meters. That's no blackbird. If I had to guess, it's some sort of eagle."

"So it's just a big bird?" she asked, frowning

Leo shook his head.

"That's not it. I know what Japan's native eagles look like. The problem is I've never seen or heard of a jet-black eagle in Japan before."

Erika froze.

"So you're saying that bird…isn't native to Japan?"

"I'm not certain," Leo replied slowly," but that's my guess. Is there something-"

"You three! What do you think you're doing loitering around here!"

An raspy, unfamiliar shout broke Leo's line of questioning, causing all three of them to turn to the owner of the offending voice. Said owner appeared to be an upperclassmen, one that they weren't acquainted with. The unpleasant pitch of the newcomer was a striking contrast to his otherwise sleazy appearance, accentuated most clearly by his unique hairstyle choice. She wondered how much hair product he went through in a week. Altogether, Erika between his appearance and rudeness, she was in an antagonistic mood.

"None of your business," she sniffed at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Leo and Miki's eyebrows shoot up at the cheek. They turned to each other and shrugged; looks like they were ok with coming along for the ride.

"What!?" the upperclassman exclaimed.

Apparently that wasn't the response he was expecting. The poor sod that accompanied the impudent student tried to calm him down, to little avail.

"Sekimoto-san…"

Internally Erika smirked. Time to add fuel to the fire. She placed a hand on her hip.

"We're just observing, that's all. Besides, we're not doing anything wrong. I don't even know why you're yelling at us."

That seemed to rile the man up, exactly the response she was gunning for.

"Whatever! You three are in the way!"

She made a show of looking around. Thankfully Tatsuya had positioned the workstation he had been at away from the greater portion of the bustle, so contrary to the other man's - Sekimoto was it? - assertion, they weren't actually in the way of anything at all."

"In the way? Of what, pray tell?" Leo jumped in. She shot an appreciative, yet furtive wink in his direction in thanks.

The aforementioned 'Poor Sod' attempted to break in again.

"Sekimoto-san, I think that's enough…"

"Shut up! You get back to work!" Sekimoto paused his tirade with them to berate his companion. She figured that after this incident, 'Poor Sod' was in dire need of finding new friends.

"Anyway, what's with that attitude of yours!?" Sekimoto said, turning back to the trio, notably avoiding Leo's observation that they were quite out of the work. "You're outsiders, so keep out!"

Erika stuck out her chin.

"Why? Everyone else is looking around, too!"

"What's going on here?"

A fifth voice, calm, collected, and tinged with unamused irritation, broke into the heated argument. The group and the additional bystanders, who had diverted their attention to them due to their arguing, turned to the new party. Erika recognized the owner of the new voice as Ichihara Suzune from her former role on the Student Council, accompanied by Isori Kei and Tatsuya. She made to open her mouth to speak before catching sight of Tatsuya subtly shaking his head out of the corner of her eye, backing down appropriately.

The third-year woman swept her eyes over the four belligerents, before landing on Sekimoto, frowning, lips set tight.

"Sekimoto. I thought you weren't interested in this kind of practical theme."

The other student turned to face Suzune, Erika and company forgotten.

"My opinion that we should be working on improving the foundational theories won't change, but it's not like I have no interest in practical engineering applications. Therefore I came to observe.

"But what's this?" he sneered, gesturing at the device hooked up to Tatsuya's laptop. "How 'clever'! How 'useless' more like it! Wouldn't it have been better to use my paper that took second place in the thesis selection after all?"

"I have no intention of neglecting the foundational theories, I simply think that theory that does not have a practical application is meaningless," Suzune rebutted. "You are studying theory for the sake of theory, but don't make any use if it. Research requires results."

"Bah. Verification and research are different. Research is creation, it opens the way for the future!"

"But only if it is put to practical use."

"That's not-"

"Sekimoto."

Suzune's voice dropped to a deadly low, ice in her voice. If Erika were to describe, Miyuki's 'Snow Princess' personna could be compared to a sudden and unexpected snowstorm that came, did its damage, and then abated just as quickly. Ichihara Suzune on the other hand, had a reputation for being just as frosty, First High's original 'Ice Queen', before Miyuki enrolled. Her anger was more like a dark snowfall that started out with warning flurries but slowly and surely built up in force, eventually overwhelming and burying everything in her path.

"The selection committee selected my paper for the competition. I will not accept any more of your whining. If you are not here to help, leave."

Sekimoto seemed to wilt under the deliberate voice. Erika just noticed that the surrounding area had been silenced. The other man looked around, before opening his mouth again, but was cut off before he could utter a word.

"I. Said. Leave."

Taking a step back, Sekimoto tried to straighten his back, before twirling on his feet and walking off. The irregular cadence of his walk suggested he was attempting to maintain the last vestiges of his broken dignity before the entire school.

Once the offending party had left the courtyard, the frosty third-year turned to Erika, Leo, and Mikihiko.

"Now, for you three," Suzune continued, voice still cold. "Care to explain what was going on?"

Erika stifled a nervous gulp. She could be cheek, but all her senses were warning her that this was not someone she wanted to cross. Both Leo and Mikihiko shuffled anxiously behind her. Unexpectedly, but thankfully, Tatsuya came to their rescue.

"Ichihara-senpai, apologies. I had asked the three of them to watch over the workstation while I was gone. Please don't be too hard on them."

Suzune watched Tatsuya for a few seconds before giving the tiniest of nods.

"Very well, I will let them off this time, but I would ask you to caution your friends to not cause such a scene in the future."

While she strode off, the gathered crowd dispersed back to their workstations, the background noise slowly growing and eventually reaching their pre-incident clamor. Tatsuya turned back to them.

"I appreciate the three of you being here, but maybe it's a good idea if you all took the rest of the day off."

For some reason, the brunt of Tatsuya's gaze lingered on her, causing her to flush red in embarrassment. She supposed she could have prevented the escalation by not pushing that annoying Sekimoto quite so hard. She felt the need to apologize.

"Sorry Tatsuya."

Her classmate let out a sharp exhale through his nose, the tiniest of smiles on his face.

"You know you can't help it, Erika. Just...try to think a bit more before speaking in the future."

His face turned serious.

"That being said, I would like the three of you to continue keeping an eye out for anything unusual. It wouldn't do to let down our guard given the situation."

All three of them nodded in understanding, before giving their farewells and turning to leave. Just then, a thought occurred to her.

"Oh Tatsuya, there was one thing."

"Hm?"

"Leo mentioned that he saw a strange bird earlier. One that apparently isn't from around here."

Tatsuya wrinkled his brow.

"I don't know much about birds. When you say from 'around here', do you mean Tokyo?"

Erika poked Leo in the side, gesturing for him to answer despite his glare from the action. He rubbed his side while replying.

"Well, more like not from around Japan."

Tatsuya's eyebrows raised.

"Not from Japan? Can you point it out to me?"

"Sure," Leo answered, turning to the Practical Skills building. "It's right over- Huh. It's gone."

Tatsuya had a troubled expression painted on his face.

"I see. If you can, send me a description of it later, and like I said, keep an eye out for anything unusual like you just mentioned.

Oh yeah, one last thing," Tatsuya fished two bracelets out of his pockets and handed one each to Leo and Mikihiko. "Leo, Mikihiko, wear these at all times. And Erika, I'm going to need to borrow your hairband, and can you ask Mizuki for one of her hair ornaments?"

The three of them looked at each other, mystified, before Leo shrugged and took one of the chain bracelets, followed by Mikihiko. Erika undid her ponytail, letting her flaming red hair down and passed the hair tie to Tatsuya. He received it gratefully, stowing it in his pocket before turning and moving off to another workstation.

Erika eyed Leo and Mikihiko as they studied the bracelets that Tatsuya had given them. It certainly was a strange sight, and she wasn't one to pass up such a teasing opportunity.

"So, did you three go off and make friendship bracelets or something?"

She laughed as the two boys sputtered and protested the thought.

- さえぐさ -

Mayumi frowned in concentration as she reviewed the footage that had been sent over. In this day and age, murders were an uncommon occurrence, and when one did happen, it would usually cause quite the media stir. So this case was quite odd in that the local police department had decided to handle this one discreetly, a fact that prompted their contact to deem it interesting enough to pass on to her. That wasn't even to mention that the crime scene was less than 3 kilometers away from the First High campus.

Thus far, her investigation had turned up very little. Other than the insurgent's conspicuous arrival in Yokohama Harbor warranting the sinking of a ship, the group seemed to be lying low. Ironically, she was even more troubled by the apparent lack of activity than if there was obvious movement. That either meant that they were still too busy planning and preparing, or they were so good that they were slipping through the Saegusa intelligence network. The latter was something she didn't want to contemplate; among the Ten Master Clans, her family was noted for their surveillance and information gathering prowess.

So she settled for watching and re-watching the only potential lead she had so far, if it could even be called that. The local police had been alerted by residents reporting a putrid, sickly sweet smell in the area, which the department then passed off as a garbage disposal failure nearby. The body that had been found by the first officers on the scene was incinerated beyond recognition, most of the skin charred black and flaking, with indications the fire ate straight all the way down to the bone. The autopsy had only been able to identify that the victim was an adult male and, based on DNA analysis of some of the larger bone fragments, likely not of East Asian heritage. That itself had been a raised flag, having a foreign national die on Japanese soil.

The footage she was looking over was retrieved from surveillance cameras in the area just before the incident occurred, but did not provide any useful information either; six cameras in the vicinity were discovered to be destroyed, which meant that there was no record of the murder. However, in four out of the six videos, the back of a tall, broad shouldered man with cropped hair walking past the camera could be seen before the recording abruptly cut off. But without any view of his facial features, they couldn't make an identification, and they were back where they started, with basically no information.

Other than the mysterious murder so close to campus, the only other noteworthy piece of information she had was acquired accidentally. It was after class about a week and a half ago, Mari was discussing some of the details on the First High security team in preparation for the Thesis Competition when Mari had dropped an offhanded comment that Tatsuya's home server had been the target of an attempt cracking. Her friend had made a conscious effort to avoid topics relating to Tatsuya in her presence, so she had immediately stiffened when she caught her slip up, eyes darting quickly to her to gauge her reaction. Mayumi had plastered on a small smile and just shook her head, indicating she was fine. Even if her friends didn't bring him up, it would have been difficult to ignore word of the incredible first year, Course 2 student blazing his way through the school. So she tried her best to file away her emotions and added Mari's tidbit onto her small pile of information. Given the timing, it wasn't possible to rule it out as a coincidence.

Mayumi pushed herself away from her desk and the terminal screen, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples. She had spent the greater part of the evening sitting in front of the workstation in her bedroom, a pattern that had established itself over the past week or so.

Come home. Greet mother. Update father. Receive updates from contacts. Dinner. Review data. Sleep.

For doing mostly nothing but reading, she was exhausted. She had conducted her fair share of late night surveillance work, but for some reason this job seemed to be much more draining. She supposed that possibly it was the continuous string of days working late, or maybe it was the frustrating lack of results.

Or maybe some combination of the two, Mayumi didn't have the brain power to work it out in the moment.

Shaking her head and rubbing bleary eyes, she turned to read the time displayed at the corner of the screen. 12:13 a.m.

She turned her head so that she could face the mirror on the vanity in the other corner of her bedroom. The person staring back at her watched her with tired, hooded eyes. Her charcoal black hair, typically falling over her shoulders in cascading waves was untidy, with clumps and bumps in unusual spots, disheveled from raking her hand through the dark curls at regular intervals that evening.

Good lord she looked like a mess.

Mayumi sat in the chair for a few minutes more, face turned upward and staring blankly at the beige-painted ceiling, not thinking about anything in particular and not making any attempt to, just sitting and basking in the silence. Over a week and a half and all she had was a dead body and an unsuccessful cracking job, the only tenable connection being that they happened near the First High campus or targeted First High students. One student in particular. She let out a frustrated growl.

The only source of illumination in the room was the glare emanating from her terminal, casting long shadows around her furniture. Eventually she decided that she wasn't going to get anywhere further tonight, especially in her diminished mental capacity. Mayumi turned off the terminal, and then made her way to the bedside. Feeling her hip bump against the edge, she flopped onto the top of the large and comfortable bed, giving little care to deportment, and found her way under the covers, allowing the familiar warmth to soothe her slightly. Putting away thoughts of burnt corpses and hack jobs, the dim moonlight peeking through the edges of her window coaxed her heavy eyelids closed and memories of fine white sand, summer salt sprays, and ocean-blue filled her dreams.

- ちよだ - しば -

Kanon's frown persisted even after Tatsuya had dipped into a short bow and had left the Disciplinary Committee Headquarters office. Today's circumstances could certainly be called strange. Starting the previous evening, and well into the afternoon, a light, but steady drizzle had blanketed the western portion of the city, painting the sky a dreary grey, casting an insipid shadow over the normally smooth, ivory walls of the campus and causing the grounds to appear lifeless with entirety of its student and faculty population either choosing to leave early or cluster inside in an attempt to get away from the chilly and drab weather.

Luckily for the school, the majority of the large mechanisms for the practical demonstration portion of the presentation had already been fabricated, leaving only the smaller, finer, and more delicate components needed for the large assemblies to be completed The support team would not be set back by the inopportune weather preventing them from working outdoors, as all of the last pieces could be put together in any classroom or club room. The apparent emptiness of the campus was certainly felt where she was situated in the Committee room, where she had chosen to camp out to complete the pile of work that she had been putting off for the last two weeks, work that was currently sitting ignored on the screen of the terminal before her. Despite the drudgery of the work, there was a sense of peace and quiet in the atmosphere.

Of course the feeling didn't last, interrupted by an isolated, but unexpected commotion. She had just been getting into the rhythm of her task when she had received a strange alert, which apparently had originated from the Robotics Club warehouse. Kanon wasn't friends with, or even had any acquaintances within the club which was the first abnormality. The message itself, which she discovered was sent by Tatsuya only after the fact, was the second, which only said: "Discreet backup requested". The choice between continuing on with her backlog of work and passing the information on to another committee member or investigating the cryptic communication for herself was a simple one.

Which brought her to the strange, and frankly baffling, event that unfolded in front of her. The Robotics Club warehouse wasn't too far away so it took her little time to make her way to the ground floor and out the closest exit leading to the warehouse. It was at this junction that she spotted a single student, who was hard to miss given that no one else wished to get soaked by the rainfall. Even more suspicious was the way that he carried himself, hunched over while hurrying underneath the dark umbrella; every few meters he would cast a glance over his shoulder, eyes shifting this way and that, which definitely raised some alarms in her head.

She had waited beneath the eaves of the school building, unfurling her own umbrella. The suspicious student tested the door handle and then with one last furtive survey around the area, slipped into the building. As soon as the door closed, she hurried across the open field, to both get herself out of the elements and to not lose sight of her quarry, heedless of the water splashing up from the various puddles accumulated from the rain onto her shoes and skirt.

Upon arriving at the door, she tried to peek through the thin windows of the warehouse, but couldn't make out much of anything in the darkness except for a tall figure ambling about. Her impulsiveness got the better of her and she ended up bursting into the room, spell at hand and slamming on the lights.

As it turned out, she needn't had bothered to come in guns blazing. The sight she stumbled in on was that of a grimacing Sekimoto Isao, face into the ground with a knee in his back, with the hacking device still in the hand being restrained by Tatsuya.

Kanon tapped absently on the table.

Who would have thought that the school would have to keep a lookout for industrial spies from within their own ranks? It was a disconcerting idea.

She had contacted the relevant authorities, and the subversive third year had been taken away to the Hachijouji Detention Center while they figured out what to do with him. If that series of events wasn't strange enough, Tatsuya had formally requested to visit the senior, to interrogate him. She didn't know him that well, but to her, he had displayed an unusual amount of assertiveness in making the petition, which made her tense. His eyes had appeared hard and there was a tautness in his slim frame that didn't sit right in her gut and made her turn down his request. Of course, he pressed her on the rejection, saying that as part of the team and the apparent target of the espionage, he was in the best position to determine what exactly he was after. Despite his sound arguments and her lack of effective retorts, she had to put in a little force of her own to forbid him from this course of action, ending the conversation then and there.

Tatsuya had frowned at that, a furrow appearing momentarily between his brows before his expression dampened into his usual deadpan as he gave his bow and left. For some reason, she felt that despite the insistence in his voice, he had given up far too easily.

Kanon sighed and turned back to her work, now another incident on the list of things she had to handle. She could only hope that the incident with Sekimoto would be resolved without too much additional trouble.

Tatsuya made his way down the hallway back to Class 1-E to pick up his things for the day. If he was honest, the Disciplinary Chief declining his application to visit Sekimoto on the basis that trouble gravitated towards him irked him slightly, not that he could deny that. Indeed, in a single trimester he had resolved two incidents involving both domestic and international criminal organizations. He had hoped this one would be much less eventful, but apparently fate would not have that.

Right before the Sekimoto incident, he had deposited the magatama with Ushiyama and the Third Division for safekeeping, and not a day too soon, as he and Miyuki were tailed the entire bike ride to the office. Their shadow was the eagle that Leo had spotted the other day, tracking them from nearly three kilometers away. With his current allotment of resources for Elemental Sight, he had barely been able to tell that it was there, and at that distance it would have been impossible to both drive, scan the nearby area, and snipe the bird out of the air.

He had had to settle for speeding down the highway and then snaking through the city, hoping that the skyline would, if not mask their presence, at least slow down their shadow. He would have liked to be able to assign a rudimentary tag to their tail to at least alert him if it came within range of his Sight in the future; it was less accurate than if he were to completely break down the atomic structure of the object of interest, which was how he normally tracked things through the Eidos, but it would have sufficed. In the end he hadn't even been able to do that, a minor annoyance. The event was confirmation that someone out there really was targeting the relic, making him more wary of the current circumstance, hence the need to talk to the third year.

In any case, he did not necessarily need to go through the school to get a chance to interrogate what might be his only lead to find out who the perpetrators were and what exactly they were after; after all, with his connections there were other options available to him.

- しば - さえぐさ -

"That was...surprisingly simple. I had expected a little more resistance, given the rank and file."

"Is that so?" Fujibayashi Kyouko glanced in Tatsuya's direction as the two of them walked down the hallway. Kyouko was attired in the simple version of the white dress uniform to lend credence to their permit, while Tatsuya dressed in nondescript black cargo pants and matching jacket, in order to conceal his student identity.

The walls of the detention center were white washed, heavy metal doors set periodically between terminals and security cameras, giving the entire place an uncomfortably sterile feel. The too-still air was only interrupted by the sharp clicks of their two sets of footsteps.

"The 101st may be a secret in the Special Forces, but the Major's writ still can get us access if the threat to national security is tangible. Even if you weren't to request it, he probably would have sent Sanada in your place. You being here just helps us out a bit."

"I'm more surprised that they didn't prevent me from entering, given that they're supposed to log every entry and exit from this facility."

The young woman's expression turned serious.

"Well, even within the 101st, you are a secret that we can't afford to leak out. We've kept your other identity under wraps for a reason. As much as I don't like to say it, you are a national asset that might make the difference in the event of another global confrontation. It's bad enough that they have my credentials recorded, but that is insignificant compared to what it would mean for you. The Major even received authorization to clear any record of your visit."

Tatsuya didn't add any additional comments. He flicked his gaze to the nearest security camera that they passed by. Normally, the hallways wouldn't be so deserted, but for their visit, all personnel had been asked to clear the area and even the security cameras had been turned off.

"Room 707. We're here."

The Major wasn't fazed when Tatsuya told him he was in possession of the relic. He had known about the army's higher ups decision to request Four Leaves Technology to study the magatama, but he didn't approve of it. He had figured that once FLT had been contracted, it would have just been a matter of time till it ended up in Tatsuya's care.

However he was surprised about the request for a visitor permit to the detention facility to interrogate a potential lead on the targeting of the relic, especially that it came from within the First High student body. Indeed it was troubling; Japan's magicians were closely guarded by the government, so potential collusion between its younger magician population and foreign nations boded ill. He had Kyouko do a quick scan of the army's database and found an information leak through the accounting records.

The Major approved the visitor permit and also assigned Kyouko to accompany Tatsuya. Some amount of pressure from a military representative to get Sekimoto talking should he attempt to refuse to cooperate.

Tatsuya pressed the button by the steel door, creating a short, but loud buzz, alerting the control room to unlock the door as well as alert the detainee of their arrival. He pressed the cool steel open after the telltale click of the deadbolts retracting, and made his way into the cell, Kyouko right behind him.

The third-year looked up at the two new occupants of the room, his eyes widening as Tatsuya pulled up a chair and set it next to the bedside.

"Shi-?"

Tatsuya held up a hand, interrupting Sekimoto, who cut off abruptly, wincing. His eyes darted between the stoic first year and the stunning woman lounging against the wall in military dress. Tatsuya leaned forward imposingly.

"Sekimoto Isao. I am assisting Second Lieutenant Fujibayashi with your investigation on behalf of the First High Disciplinary Committee. I am going to ask you a series of questions; if you don't cooperate with me, the military will be taking over the case fully. Are we clear?"

Sekimoto shrank back, but nodded hesitantly.

"Good. Let's begin."

...

"What about the Thesis Competition?"

"Why are you asking me about the Thesis Competition? You probably know more about what's going on than I do since you helped organize the security detail."

Mari eyed Mayumi as they walked through the visitor gate to the Hachiouji Detention Center.

"I know you enjoy theory much more than I do. You're saying that you haven't once talked to Suzune about what's going on?"

Mayumi shook her head.

"I haven't. And now is probably the worst time to start since it's this weekend. Rin-chan is swamped with the final preparations and making sure everything goes off without a hitch, so she's much too busy to chat with. No, I'll just see the fruits of their labor firsthand during the presentation itself. Besides, I've been busy myself helping Chichi-ue with another operation."

Mayumi left the other reason for staying away from the Thesis Competition unspoken, which Mari was well aware of. Mari eyed her from the side but didn't say anything else.

The two women made their way through the visitor entrance. The visitor lobby was a sparse room, with few hardback chairs and small indoor shrubs in the seating area, with the reception desk taking up the largest portion of the room in front of the heavy-set door which served as entrance proper to the rest of the facility. The station was manned by a single middle-aged peacekeeper, disinterest evident in his pallid features. Mayumi supposed that anyone would eventually look that way in such a depressingly bleak space, illuminated only from the glaringly bright overhead lights due to the room's lack of windows and natural lighting.

The two students were the only other occupants in the room, seating area vacant, so Mayumi led the two of them to the bored receptionist, since the application was made under her name. The man flicked an indifferent glance in her direction.

"Visits by appointment only," the receptionist said, cutting Mayumi off before she could give any information. She stifled the desire to sniff at the rude welcome, and instead forced what could pass as a genial smile.

"We have an appointment, scheduled for 4:15."

Typing noises came from behind the desk.

"Name?"

Mayumi momentarily debated whether this man meant whose name was on the visit application or who they were trying to visit, before just guessing on the former. Maybe that would get him moving.

"Saegusa Mayumi."

Unfortunately, the name drop didn't seem to fuel any additional motivation. More tapping noises were the only sound to break the awkward silence. She could feel Mari's tension behind her at the infuriatingly slow pace the man was working at, even though they were the only two visitors.

After what felt like an eternity the man turned back to the two of them.

"Unfortunately, I can't let you in to see Sekimoto Isao at this time."

Mayumi stood there for several more unpleasant seconds, expecting him to explain more. Her brows creased when she realized that that was all he intended to say.

"...Well, why? We had an appointment."

The other man sighed in irritation.

"Sekimoto is currently entertaining other visitors. You'll have to come back another day."

Mayumi frowned. They couldn't wait another day. The Competition was this weekend, and the information Sekimoto had might be crucial to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. And who else would want to interview Sekimoto anyway?

Apparently the answer aggravated Mari as well. The other woman crossed her arms.

"We had an appointment! Who could override that!?"

The receptionist leveled a flat stare at Mari.

"Well, the military apparently."

The military?

That was an answer neither of them were expecting. Apparently this case ran deeper than she had thought. Now she definitely needed to talk to Sekimoto. Mayumi wracked her brain as to how to get her inside. Maybe a name drop wasn't enough. As much as she hated doing so, she would need to use her status to bully her way in.

"I'm going to need you to let me in," Mayumi said steadily.

The receptionist turned back to her, unimpressed.

"Didn't you hear what I said? Come back another day."

She shook her head.

"This is business of the Ten Master Clans. I'm here as a representative on behalf of my father, Saegusa Koichi, clan leader of the Saegusa. You must let me in."

The man across from her frowned. So he did recognize the Saegusa name, but apparently he still wasn't convinced. She pushed a little more.

"If you must, I can call my father to corroborate. However, be aware that he will not be pleased to know I was held up here. This is an emergency."

At the subtle threat, the man's face finally broke into an expression other than apathy, showing a hint of fear. He looked to be debating with himself for several seconds before conceding.

"All right. I'll send you through. But."

The man glanced at Mari.

"Only you get to go in. Based on your application she isn't a Saegusa, so therefore I can't let her in."

"Wha-" Mari sputtered.

"Mari." Mayumi shook her head at her friend. "You go on ahead. I'll handle this. After all, it's my responsibility."

The taller woman looked unhappy, but acquiesced.

"Fine. But you update me tomorrow on what's going on here."

Mari shot one last glare at the man behind the desk before stalking off. The receptionist got up, motioning her towards the door. He pointed towards several lockers hidden behind the desk next to where he had been seated.

"Also, no CADs inside."

Mayumi moved to protest, but he shook his head.

"Can't do anything about this. Security protocol."

Mayumi wavered before nodding and slipping her CAD off of her wrist and making her way into the facility.

"707 is on the seventh hallway down, to your left."

...

"...so after copying over the data from the demonstration machine, I was to search through your belongings."

Tatsuya crossed his arms in front of him.

"What were you told to look for?"

Sekimoto put a hand to his head.

"I...I'm not sure. I think I was supposed to grab anything that a typical high school student normally wouldn't have on their person."

He frowned. These weren't the answers that he was hoping to get, as it couldn't explicitly confirm any of his hypotheses. He hadn't been able to say anything about who had sent him, nor affirm what exactly he was after. The relic certainly fit into the category of 'anything that a typical high school student wouldn't have on their person', but it was also strange that he had been asked to copy over the data from the Thesis Competition device, almost like an afterthought. He shot a glance at Kyouko, whose lips were also downturned, also dissatisfied with the lack of information; despite finding the leak, she had been unable to ascertain when it had occurred or who had perpetrated it. She seemed to be greatly irked that she had been bested when it came to her specialty in hacking.

He leaned back in the cold steel chair. There was also the matter of the third years inability to completely answer some of the questions that they had asked. There seemed to be several holes in some of his responses, inconsistencies, and even outright contradictions. The symptoms were suspiciously similar to what happened with Sayaka during the Blanche incident, and the more he talked, the more certain he became that Sekimoto was the subject of Mental Interference Magic. Although in this case, it appeared that the alteration had been more far reaching, as most of it seemed to have occurred in the past month or so, and that the magic had been applied with far less finesse, as if the technician didn't really care about being found out. It wasn't promising that their only lead might be leading them even more astray than they had thought. From the corner of his eye, the Second Lieutenant motioned towards the door with her head.

"Wait here," Tatsuya commanded the older teen, who simply nodded dumbly, head lowered and gaze directed firmly at the ground between his feet. He cut a pathetic figure as he sat slumped in the detainee uniform provided to him.

Kyouko led Tatsuya out of the holding cell into the room next door, which had a large one-way glass as an additional space for observers who might have watched the proceeding interrogation. As it was, no other spectators were allowed for this interrogation, so the room was still empty. He stood besides the older woman, and they studied the hunched student.

"Mental-interference magic?"

He nodded. "I'm afraid so."

Kyouko sighed.

"And here I was hoping for some straightforward answers. As it is, it's going to be even more work, having to sort through what's fact from fiction. And then there's the question of when the application of the magic occurred...or his involvement was willingly or not."

Tatsuya shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I don't have much to offer on the subject, even though we attend the same school. The most I can say is that we served on the Disciplinary Committee together, and even then, most of the time he just ignored me."

"Think you can use your position to get me his student records?"

Tatsuya raised an eyebrow.

"Even if the military couldn't get those records, I should think the 'Electron Sorceress' would have no problems getting what she wanted."

"The military requesting information from a civilian institution would set a bad precedent. And while I appreciate the flattery, getting those records would be troublesome, and not to mention illegal. Moreso troublesome," she huffed.

"In that case, I can return the favor."

Kyouko turned back to the viewing glass.

"I don't think we'll be getting more information out of this one. I'll review his statements and then-"

A sharp alarm interrupted her train of thought.

"The emergency alarm?"

The two hurried out of the viewing room and into the hallway, which was still empty. The hairs on the back of Tatsuya's neck prickled with the sensation that he was being watched, nearly the exact same one two days ago.

That eagle again?

But there was no way something could be watching them from inside the building, which could only mean that it could somehow track him through walls with some sort of Sensory-type enhancements. How irritating.

"Where are the intruders coming from?" Kyouko spun back to face the first-year, asking for something that few knew that he was capable of.

He closed his eyes to reach out with his Sight, sweeping through the hallways. Five guards rushing out of the central guardroom, another six locking down all other entrances, hallways, and stairwells.

There.

"Five intruders. Four armed with high-speed, armor piercing rifles, on the second floor eastern stairwell, advancing towards the central guardroom. As for the last intruder, it looks like we have some unexpected company."

He turned to see an enormous, broad-shouldered figure stalking down the hallway in the direction from where they entered, cutting off the retreat route and face set in a feral sneer.

Tatsuya moved to walk towards the hulking man, but sensed a familiar tag making their way to their location, causing him to frown.

What was she doing here?

Mayumi had only passed the fifth hallway when the emergency alarms in the facility went off; the unexpected siren caused her to give a little jump. The heavy sounds of running feet thrummed softly from where she had come from but grew louder as the owners of the footsteps approached. Thinking quickly she ran to the next hallway and, after checking that it was still empty, ducked around the corner. Instinctively she reached for her left wrist before remembering that she had left her CAD with the reception office.

Damn.

Of all the times to lose her device, this had to be one of the worst. Mayumi cautiously peeked her head around the edge just in time to see four men armed with rifles and body armor stream out of the fourth hallway and run in the direction that she had come from. Shouting came from farther down the long hallway, followed by the rattle of gunfire. The detention center personnel had engaged the intruders.

She pulled her head back and leaned her back against the wall to think. She couldn't tell what the current situation was without Multi-Scope, and without a CAD she also couldn't assist the fight. She was essentially useless and would just be another target. Mayumi slammed her fist against the wall. Of all times to lose her CAD!

She did a quick check around the corner again to see that the two groups had reached a stalemate, the intruders firing but meeting only the solid riot shields of the facility personnel. Her only known way out of this mess was blocked off by the fighting. Another option was to just sit here and wait it out. She eyed the end of the hallway. A deadend. If she just stayed put there was a high chance she would get pinned down in the sixth hallway and either get shot or be used as leverage, neither an attractive option.

The last choice would be to push forward to get to the seventh hallway. She would be banking on the chance that, one, the military representatives would still be there, two, that they would still be armed, and three, that she wouldn't encounter any more perpetrators. She figured that the likelihood of the first two items to be pretty good, given that it was the military and that she hadn't encountered anyone else on her way to the assigned room. The risk of the last item was much higher. The sounds of gunfire continued to ring in her ear, prompting her to make up her mind.

Tatsuya watched warily as the larger man approached from the end of the hallway. The steel in his eyes betrayed no doubt of who his target was, the unfortunate student confined to room 707. The height of the newcomer, the width of his chest, and the square-set to his jaw reminded Tatsuya of the Juumonji scion, but his close cropped beard and wild, beast-like appearance and aura could not be more different. The distant sound of the gunfire suggested that they would receive no backup.

"Ideally we could have left this situation to the authorities in the building, but I guess that's not a choice anymore," Tatsuya said deliberately. "I don't suppose you have any of your Thunder Needles up your sleeve?"

The Second Lieutenant shook her head from her position behind him.

"Even if I did...I'm not sure they would be sufficient for this one."

Tatsuya stepped forward into a ready stance.

"No, I suppose not. Even at this distance I can feel the pressure he is exerting. From the way the psions cling around him, he's cloaked in some sort of armor."

"No CAD either, so probably a close combat specialist," Kyouko added.

Kyouko wouldn't be of any help here, since she was a ranged fighter, and even then, she didn't have her weapons on hand. Not that it mattered that much either, since he had been trainer for a scenario just like this.

"In that case I'll handle this one," Tatsuya commented absently.

"Try not to injure him too badly. He's sure to prove more useful than Sekimoto."

...

Mayumi took several deep breaths.

It wasn't often that she felt so powerless. It was a humbling experience to remember that even though she may have had some ability to alter reality to her beck and call, she was still just a girl in a sea of humanity. Frail. Mortal.

She took one last glimpse of the situation in the main hallway. The two groups were still preoccupied with handling the other, if the shouting and ongoing gunfire was any indication. It was now or never. Pushing herself off of the wall, she continued running down the main hallway. Those few seconds felt like an eternity, as her shorter legs propelled her. Thankfully the movement didn't draw attention from the insurgents, but she cursed the long hem of her school dress and the heels of her shoes for hindering her movement. She only let out a breath once she rounded the corner of the seventh hallway.

Her initial feeling was that of relief, that she had arrived safely at her destination, and that this hallway seemed a lot less crowded and noisy than the one that she had just left. The relief was quickly replaced with disbelief soon after she could take in and fully process what was going on in front of her.

The first person she saw was the woman in the military uniform, who, to her astonishment, she recognized as Fujibayashi Kyouko, a member of a side branch of the Kudou family of the Ten Master Clans.

The second was a tall, broad-shouldered man a few meters away, a wild look in his eyes. She could see the ripple of his cruel muscles beneath his clothes, hard features studying the last man, who circled opposite of him, meeting that fiery stare with one of cool, pacific-blue steel.

It was the identity of the last man that left her shocked.

"Tatsuya?"

...

The single timidly spoken name captured the attention of everyone else in the hallway. Tatsuya fought the urge to flick his eyes towards Mayumi; he felt a twinge in his chest. It wasn't enough that she had all but deduced his heritage, but now she would be exposed to another facet of his hidden identities.

The other two occupants had different reactions. The Second Lieutenant's eyes were wide.

"Mayumi!? What are you doing here!?"

Tatsuya and the Chinese man had been eyeing each other for a few seconds, probing for an opening and attempting to flank the other. Tatsuya had made sure to place himself between the intruder and the Second Lieutenant and Sekimoto's cell, but the former Student Council President's appearance marred his defensive strategy. With her appearance, she had given him a third objective to target. He cursed inwardly as the larger man glanced towards Mayumi who was the closest to him. Tatsuya dashed forward at the exact same moment the intruder whirled around to attack the petite girl.

He only had been able to make it in time with the help of Flash Cast.

With the Movement and Acceleration spell he had managed to squeeze in front of Mayumi, pushing her out of the way and causing her to stumble back a few steps. However, the action had forced him into the path of a full force blow from the other man; he twisted his body slightly, allowing him to avoid the entire impact but he still grunted in pain when the thrust glanced off of his back.

With a sneer, the Chinese man pressed his advantage while Tatsuya was still off balance, pressuring him on the defensive. He dodged a flurry of punches and grapples, finally managing to deflect an attack and force his opponents left arm into a lock, giving him precious milliseconds of rest.

"Fujibayashi! Get her out of here!" Tatsuya yelled over his shoulder. "There's another stairway at the end of the ninth hall!"

Tatsuya was forced to release his grip on the other man to duck a swipe from his right fist but managed to land a few jabs to his joints, face, and side, making the other man growl and back off, giving Kyouko time to slip past the two combatants.

...

Mayumi felt a hand grab her shoulder and looked up to see Kyouko tugging her away from the scene of the fight.

"Kyouko-nee?"

"Mayumi, let's go."

"But-"

The older woman shook her head.

"There's nothing we can do right now. We would only be a hindrance."

"Tatsuya-"

"-Is better equipped to handle this than you can imagine; leave this to him. Now let's go, Mayumi."

Mayumi allowed herself to be led away from the seventh hallway towards the other stairwell exit Tatsuya had mentioned, but she cast one last backwards look to see Tatsuya with a grim set in his pacific-blue eyes.

Tatsuya let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in as he sensed the Second Lieutenant finally leading Mayumi away. He re-focused his eyes on his opponent in front of him who was also studying him with a fiery glare. Now he could commit himself fully to this fight; deciding to take the offensive, he pushed off the floor with a burst of acceleration to close the distance.

- いちじょう - さえぐさ -

"Are you sure you don't need help moving the equipment?"

"Masaki," George's tone took on a hint of irritation. "This is the fourth time since we arrived. I've told you, we can handle it. The hard part was transporting everything here, but we made it here without any problems. We have enough hands to make sure everything gets inside. Besides," he continued, crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow at Masaki pointedly. "Don't you have other responsibilities? The rest of the Third High students in the joint security detail have already gone inside to get their assignments."

"Alright, alright, you made your point," Masaki replied holding up his hands in front of him in surrender. "I'm going to head on in now. I'm not sure where I'll be stationed, so good luck, not that you'll need it. And if you need help, just send me a message, ok?"

George shook his head in exasperation, already turning back to supervise the students assisting in hauling the demonstration devices while waving him away towards the conference hall. Masaki made his way through the bus lot towards the front entrance of the venue. He took the time to appreciate the salty breeze flowing in from Tokyo Bay. It wasn't often that he came to this part of the country. The bustle among the rolling hills of the Tokyo metropolitan area created a completely different atmosphere than that of the mountains surrounding Kanazawa.

He stopped a moment to take in the sights. White-plumed gulls swept over the water while ducks sporting a more tawny-hued plumage drifted serenely through the harbor itself. The early morning sun cast its light off of the metal and concrete jungle sitting higher in the hills away from the water's edge, enough to send light scattering across the surface of the water. All around him the multiple colors of Magic High school uniforms flowed steadily.

He joined the steady stream of colored uniforms entering the hall. He ignored the hushed whispers and awed stares he received, jaded as he was from years of being gawked at. Instead he looked out for any indication of where the rest of the Third High security team had gone. The tunnel vision created by deliberately ignoring a portion of his surroundings in favor of scouring the rest of the hallway for a hint of where he needed to be caused him to nearly bowl over another group of girls who just happened to wander into his path. The two other girls managed to avoid him, but he ended up running into the last girl, requiring him to lunge to catch her.

"I'm so sorry-Shiba-san?"

His eyebrows shot up in recognition of the beautiful First High girl in his arms. Shiba Miyuki looked just as surprised as he was, before turning a shade pink. It took him a moment to realize the compromising position he had put her in. He hastily set her back on her feet, and backed away. His face, too, had colored from the incident. He was conscious of the talking that could not really be called hushed any longer. Masaki cleared his voice.

"Shiba-san."

He turned to the two other girls accompanying her, who after a few seconds also recognized as two of the leading scorers on the First High rookie team from the Nine Schools Competition.

"Kitayama-san, Mitsui-san. I apologize for my inattentiveness."

Miyuki laughed brightly, tinkling like bells.

"No apologies necessary, Ichijou-san. We are all fine, just a little unexpected, that's all."

Masaki settled into an easy smile with Miyuki's relaxed acceptance of his apology.

"However you do look a little lost."

He let out a sheepish laugh, scratching the back of his head.

"That's right, I'm a part of the security team, but I was held up with something else and the rest of the Third High students left without me."

Miyuki inclined her head, and flashed a smile.

"Is that so? Well knowing you're out here puts my mind at ease."

She pointed towards the left side of the lobby.

"We saw a group of Third High students head in that direction. I think that's where they have the temporary headquarters set up over there."

He nodded gratefully towards the three girls.

"Thank you, I'll see you all around?"

He made to turn, but stopped to ask one last question.

"By the way, I haven't seen Tatsuya around. Is he also on the security team?"

Miyuki shook her head.

"No, onii-sama is a part of the First High presentation team."

Masaki chuckled and nodded.

"I should have expected that. George will be thrilled to be able to compete against him again, although it would have been nice to catch up. Alright then, I'll see you all later!"

He jogged off in the direction that Miyuki had indicated. Several students wearing armbands were making their way away from that hall, so he followed the trail, eventually finding the room. The temporary security headquarters was sequestered inside one of the many meeting rooms dotted throughout the facility. Several students were stationed throughout the room on the terminals loaned for the purpose of the event. As he walked by, he noted several screens monitoring a few security feeds around the edge of the building itself, while others were communicating with student units in the area. His feet took him to the head of the room, where an imposing man sat, arms folded across his barrel chest, listening to two students give a report. He waited politely as the larger man nodded and issued another set of terse orders, then turned back to his own terminal. The two men in First High uniforms turned to leave. He stepped into the vacant spot; alerted to the movement, the older man looked up at him.

"Ichijou."

"Juumonji."

The lack of an honorific didn't phase the older man. Masaki knew he wouldn't get a reaction out of him. The other man was the epitome of the poise befitting of the Ten Master Clans. He was Clan head except in name only, taking over for his ailing father. As much as he hated to admit, this stone of a man was the perfect fit for the role. He may not have had the experience, but he made up for it with a healthy dose of dedication and resolution.

"You're late," Katsuto commented flatly.

Masaki fought the urge to frown. Despite knowing each other for years as a result of their close age, they could not really be considered friends. Loose acquaintances was probably a better term. Masaki would not be taking over for his clan for the foreseeable future; maybe in five years or so his father would start to bring him in on Clan meetings. Even so, the other man's statement of the obvious annoyed him.

"I was helping the Third High equipment van unload."

"Did Third High not bring enough people to relieve you of that duty?"

The prickle of irritation grew at Katsuto's echoing of George's comment. He didn't need to take this man's strict interpretation of duty right now.

"I'm here now."

The Juumonji heir frowned.

"It's not a good showing when a member of the Ten Master Clans fails to attend to their duties-."

"Just tell me where I need to go," Masaki cut him off. He knew how seriously the other man took the duties and perception of the Clans and didn't need a lecture. He didn't agree with the other man's stringent ideology, but if he could use his role to defend his country, he would accept it. His standing was not something that he held too close to his chest; if there ever was a day that he would have to choose between the Ten Master Clans and Japan, he would give the Clans up in a heartbeat.

Katsuto pursed his lips at the interruption but did not continue. He handed him a small communicator terminal.

"You've been assigned to the area behind the backstage of the main auditorium. Your partner should already be stationed there, a First High freshman, Tomitsuka. Oh, and grab a bullet-proof vest when you swing by the equipment storage area."

The last sentence stopped him mid-turn.

"Bullet-proof vests? Are you expecting something to happen?"

The older man shrugged.

"I'm not sure about other schools, but at least for First High, we've had an especially troubling incident occur to several of our students. It's just a precaution."

Masaki looked skeptical, but nodded in acknowledgement. Well, if he was backstage, there was the chance to ask Tatsuya what he knew about what was going on.

...

"Our school's Gravity Control-type nuclear reactor takes advantage of this…"

Mayumi had a hard time paying attention as her good friend began to explain the main treatise of their Thesis. To be certain, the demonstrations and models themselves were very well put together. It was clear that despite the bumps in the process, the final result could only have been achieved as a result of the hard work of the entire student body. The topic itself ordinarily would also have piqued her curiosity; a step in solving the second of the Three Great Puzzles of Weight Systematic Magic was a feat to marvel at. Well, maybe it was more accurate to reduce the number down to Two Great Puzzles now.

No, the reason it was so difficult to fully immerse herself in the presentation was because of more pressing, and present events. Despite being surrounded by peers, she felt as if she were sitting alone; Suzune was presenting, Azusa was a part of the judging panel, and Mari was helping out with the security detail.

It had been nearly a week since the incident at the Special Detention Center. She and Kyouko had been able to slip out of the building from a fire exit on the roof, from where the older lady had been able to contact the local law enforcement. A SAT team had arrived shortly, making their way into the building posthaste, and the incident was resolved soon after that. As much as she wanted to stick around to get more answers, she had been handed her things, and told to leave the area and the investigation to the authorities. Her family's connections within the department only were able to get the name of the man, Lu Gonghu, and no other information. At least that solidified the guess that the GAA was involved somehow, but it was unlikely they would have any other information on him; it wasn't like it was advertised for all the world to know.

She reluctantly had returned home with even more questions that she had started with, and no closer to having a resolution for the mysterious circumstances surrounding this year's Competition. And on top of that matter, there was the biggest question standing in front of her.

The center of the presentation stage commanded the bulk of the audience's attention, where Suzune continued to explain something about the differences between sustained and intermittent processes, along with Kei and the demonstration equipment. However, nearly tucked into the wings of the stage, an unassuming, solemn looking young man watched from a workstation, typing commands into the terminal every so often. Despite the circumstance, Tatsuya looked relaxed in his role for the presentation. He had always been somewhat uncomfortable every time he had been thrust into the limelight. Dark bangs swept over his eyes, yet even from this distance, his pacific-blue orbs shone out.

She didn't know what to think. Every time she thought she had found a new puzzle piece, something else happened to shatter all expectations. A brilliant mind, an absurd dichotomy to his practical skills. And despite that, wielding a rare form of counter magic. An identity shrouded in mystery, and now, it was all but confirmed he had ties to the military. She didn't see Tatsuya leave the detention center that day, but she knew what she saw and heard. It was unmistakably him.

She furrowed her brows in thought as Suzune wrapped up her lecture and a polite, but spirited applause rose all around her. She absently joined in the light cheer, participating, but not present, too caught up in turning everything over in her, trying to see if she had missed an angle.

"We will now take a ten-minute break," the announcer's light voice rang over the PA system in the hall. All around her, students got up, chatting amiably, stretching and working the blood back into their legs after the lengthy series of presentations.

Maybe it will be good to get some fresh air.

Mayumi deftly pushed off of the adjacent armrests, rising out of her seat. She took a small step; so distracted with her own thoughts, she didn't realize that her legs had fallen asleep on her.

Just as enough feeling had returned to her feet to make her way to the nearest exit, the building shook violently accompanied by the sound of a nearby explosion.

- しば - さえぐさ - いちじょう - しば - じゅうもんじ - しば -

Masaki had finally gotten Hagane to loosen up when everything came crashing down around him. At the time, it was a figure of speech, but looking back, what an understatement that was.

They were chatting over a range of topics, from the Japanese Magical Association, to the 'Wonderland' theme park, but several explosions in short sequence but growing intensity rocked the ground before abruptly coming to an end. The detonations caught them off guard for a moment, before Masaki shook himself into action; he honestly hadn't expected anything to happen today, but fate had chosen to prove him wrong.

"I'm going to head through the back to check inside, can you make sure this area is secure? Then get more information from the headquarters, let me know what you find out."

Hagane nodded and hastily made his way towards the back lot to survey the situation. Several other nearby pairs were rushing in the same direction. Masaki himself ran towards the door leading to the backstage of the main hall. Reaching the service door next to the large overhead warehouse doors that were closed, he slipped his pistol-type CAD out of its holster. He set it to the defensive Interference Armor as a precaution.

Quickly pulling open the door he dashed inside with CAD pointed, and came face to face with two other open hands ready to cast at his intrusion as well. The three magicians recognized each other and lowered their hands.

"Well, Tatsuya, I hadn't imagined we would be meeting again under these circumstances, but I have to say, it's good to see you."

He turned to face his best friend.

"Well, George, what's going on? We just heard several explosions from outside, what's the situation inside?"

The smaller student gestured towards the closed curtains.

"As far as we can tell, nothing has-"

"Quiet," Tatsuya interrupted. Despite the low tone, the urgency was evident in his voice.

George frowned at the elder Shiba but did as he was told. The other man had closed his eyes, but Masaki could see that his brows were furrowed in concentration.

"Tatsuya-"

Tatsuya held up his hand and then brought his finger to his lips.

"No matter what happens, don't make any sudden moves until I say so."

This time Masaki frowned in confusion as the other man silently stepped towards the edge of the curtain, raising the edge ever so slightly to peek out between the curtain and the edge of the wall. Perturbed, he followed behind to see what he was doing.

A few seconds later all five entrances to the auditorium burst open with a loud noise giving entrance to several men, each holding high-powered assault rifles. Masaki hissed and pulled out his CAD again and made to open the curtains, but Tatsuya grabbed his arm and shook his head in warning.

All around Mayumi the conversations that had been interrupted by the blast and the shuddering of the building returned twenty-fold as confusion and fear reigned in the hall. Audience members looked around with uncertainty clearly painted on their faces while the few members of the security force stationed inside huddled together trying to figure out what to do.

Before anyone could take control of the situation, the nervous atmosphere was suddenly shattered as men burst through each of the auditorium doors, each armed with a high-powered assault rifle. Shouts of alarm rose from those seated nearest the exits, as the heavy weaponry was leveled at the students. Mayumi saw that several of the security team attempted to raise their CADs at the intruders but several of the insurgents fired warning shots into the air, quickly quashing any notion of attempted resistance. Wails of fear echoed around the hall as the students ducked as low as they could.

"HANDS UP! DROP CADS!"

The invaders shouted in broken Japanese over the din of the room with hints of an accent that were accentuated by the volume at which the commands were issued. That, coupled with the armaments that they wielded, specifically designed to counter magic, suggested an entity with deep pockets. The perpetrators were almost certainly from the mainland.

With varying levels of reluctance and alacrity, CADs were dropped on the ground and all around her students raised timid hands into the air, which was occasionally punctuated with gunfire when a group of students weren't moving with the haste that was needed, and as a reminder of the very real and very dangerous hostage situation that they now found themselves in.

...

"Shiba, what are we waiting for?" Shinkurou hissed from somewhere behind him.

Masaki, while he had followed Tatsuya's command to wait, was visibly angry and frustrated.

"Tatsuya." Masaki spoke his name brusquely, waiting for an answer.

Tatsuya took a moment to think.

The twenty or so perpetrators had taken control of the auditorium in less than three minutes, effectively making everyone in the room a hostage. Right now, only the three of them hadn't been found, hiding in the wings of the stage; they would have to act very carefully to ensure that everyone made it out of this in one piece.

With Elemental Sight, Tatsuya surveyed the situation outside of the hall. The professionally hired security detail along with the few student members stationed throughout the conference center itself were pinned down by external fire, unable to move or counter. It seemed that they were on their own inside.

He tried to think how to proceed. It would be an easy matter to disintegrate all of the invaders, or even dismantle their weapons, but that would instantly give himself away for what he was. Even sniping all of them wouldn't do, since his practical control over magic was known to be poor. He could disable the weapons however, and buy them a few seconds…

"Tatsuya," Masaki snapped again.

He turned away from the curtain from where he was surveying the hall.

"How's your aim?"

Masaki frowned.

"It's not bad. I would say that you've experienced it first-hand, but that would be in poor taste."

"Is sixteen your upper limit?"

"What, is that not good enough for you?"

Tatsuya shook his head. He didn't have the time to be amused that in reality he could out-snipe the Ichijou Prince.

"No it's fine. But the question is can you reduce the potency and area of effect of your 'Air Bullet' to single targets?"

Masaki nodded.

"I can, but it won't be enough to knock them out completely."

"As long as it's enough to buy the students out there time to fight back. Kichijouji. Can you take down the last four?"

"Yes," the smaller student replied, arms folded and brows creased "But we can't do anything while the hostages are still in immediate danger."

"I'll handle that. Just be ready on my signal."

Tatsuya pulled his Silver Horn from where it was stowed in his chest holster beneath his school jacket. Kichijouji seemed to eye it with some interest before he and Masaki both readied their own CADs. He nodded two his two companions before turning and focusing. Unlike Blanche, he couldn't wantonly disassemble the rifles; for this a more delicate touch was needed. He closed his eyes and sought out the rifle nearest to the stage. He traced through the entire structure of the gun, and finally found what he was looking for, a long, slender dowel sitting in the heart of the machine. Knowing what he was searching for, he found the corresponding piece in each of the guns in the room.

He nodded and held up a fist, an indication he was ready. Masaki and Kichijouji got into a position to rush out from behind the curtains. From his vantage point on stage and looking out from the crack between the curtains, he aimed out and pulled the trigger, disintegrating all twenty firing pins. As soon as he did so, he used two fingers to point towards the hall.

Go.

The sudden appearance of the two men on stage took the entire room by surprise. She recognized the two of them, Masaki and his friend, Shinkurou. From where she was near the center of the room, Miyuki saw twenty rifle muzzles swing towards the front of the room. Audible gasps were heard as the sharp note of pulled triggers clicked throughout the room, but no gunfire rained out. Several of the perpetrators looked at their malfunctioning weapons in confusion. In that momentary lapse of attention, a force in the air swept overhead, compressed air bullets knocking the bewildered foreigners over. On the other side of the room, four gunners were forcibly crushed into the ground.

For a moment, the air was once again stilled in uncertainty. Eventually, one of the members of the security force sprang into action, kicking a rifle away and moving to pin a nearby insurgent. He was quickly followed by other members, with even some student audience joining in to help. Before long, all twenty hostage-takers were handcuffed and bound.

Mayumi watched as the entire hostage situation started and resolved in less than ten minutes, from the time the explosions had started, to the moment the last man had been tied up. However, that did not mean that everything was resolved just yet. Due to the distressing distraction, the audience had been unaware that the sound of explosions had not stopped. Every few minutes, another tremor would shake the walls of the building, causing dust and paint chips to flake off of the walls and the ceiling. The crowd's anxiety shifted from being held captive to the unknown situation that was occurring outside. No one knew what was happening, and no one was there to provide guidance.

Mayumi looked around as she hurried to the front of the stage. She pushed through the crowd and broke through to the empty area around the first row of seats. The two men that had been on stage dropped down, startling her slightly. She turned to the taller of the two.

"Ichijou-san."

The eldest Ichijou son recognized her.

"Saegusa-san."

"What's going on here? How did you disable the guns?"

"Well the guns were actually Tat-" The Crimson Prince started talking but cut off abruptly, a frown on his face as he swiveled around looking for someone.

"Huh, where's he gone to?" he muttered to himself.

"Where's who gone to?"

"Shiba Tatsuya. He's one of your students."

Mayumi momentarily clammed up at the name, a multitude of emotions flickering through her before she forcefully shoved them down. Now wasn't the time. In fact, he might be the one person who knew what was going on. And he had just disappeared.

"Never mind that," Masaki continued, inclining his head at the agitated mass of people. "These people are panicking, and if we don't do something about it, they're going to do something foolish. How can we calm them down?" he asked. She recognized his resolve. It was the resolve of that of one of the leaders of the Japanese Magical Community. It was a resolve she had as well.

"I'll handle it in here. Can you evaluate the situation outside? Juumonji-kun should be on-site somewhere."

The auburn-haired man nodded.

"I'll leave this to you then. George, stay here with the Third High students."

Without waiting for the other man's confirmation, he dashed through the nearest door.

Mayumi pulled out her terminal to contact the main house and to request any and all information available at the moment. She hastily scrolled through the transmitted information, filtering out the most important details. She then hurried over to the judge's table, looking for a particularly small, squirrel-like junior.

"A-chan? A-chan?"

The timid First High Student Council President was still caught up in the confusion and chaos herself. Mayumi slammed her hands on the desk in front over her and yelled over the cacophony of the crowd.

"Student Council President Nakajou Azusa!"

"Y-yes!"

Mayumi straightened up.

"At this rate, the panic will only get worse. People might even get hurt. We need your magic to calm everyone down."

"What?" Azusa's face would have been adorable if not for the extenuating circumstances. "But...That's…"

Illegal.

Mayumi knew what she was thinking. Outer-Systematic Mental Interference Magic usually was; a dangerous and unknown type of magic, closely monitored and guarded. But in this circumstance, it could mean the difference between life and death. She forced herself to press a little harder.

"Isn't your power tailor-made for situations like this?" she continued, "It's not my power, or Mari, or Suzune, that we need right now, but yours."

The smaller girl still looked torn at the prospect.

"Don't worry, I'll take responsibility for this. I'm not a Saegusa for nothing!" She forced herself to project a show of confidence that she herself did not truly feel, and winked at her.

That seemed to do the trick, as Azusa's face morphed into an expression of determination. Pulling out her specialized CAD, the smaller woman activated it, calming the crowd in an instant.

Now it was her turn to assume her position as a member of Japan's Ten master Clans. Large shoes that had been created for her since the moment of her birth; for several seconds, she once again pictured a young girl in a white dress, windswept charcoal-black hair standing on a shoreline overlooking the endless ocean, a speck of dust in the sands of humanity.

Mayumi took a deep breath, then quickly climbed up to the stage. She searched out the terminal that was controlling the projector, and then connected her terminal, quickly downloading all of the information she had on hand to give. Finding the nearest microphone, she spoke into it, drawing every eye in the room.

"Everyone, I'm the former Student Council President of First High School, Saegusa Mayumi. As a member of the Ten Master Clans, I will now relay to you what information I have at the moment…"

Masaki caught up with Tatsuya shortly after hurrying out of the auditorium, where he found him peeking around the corner leading to the main lobby of the building, accompanied by several other First High students. He recognized Saijou Leonhard and Yoshida Mikihiko from the Monolith Code matches over the summer, as well as Miyuki, Honoka, and Shizuku again. He wasn't acquainted with the last two girls. The staccato of gunfire was much louder here, with the professional security detail adding to the total noise. The group of students turned around at the sound of the new arrival.

"Here you are. Why'd you just run off like that?" he asked.

He frowned at the other man.

"Don't tell me you're trying to secure the front entrance by yourself? Even the hired detail is having trouble from the way it sounds."

Tatsuya shook his head.

"No, I was just evaluating the situation; it's very strange. I was just wondering with all the security inside the building itself, how that group of twenty managed to slip to get into the auditorium."

Masaki paused for a moment. That...was a good question. With the security team inside and around the building, how had that happened?

"There's no way they could have come through any of the entrances."

Tatsuya nodded.

"Which means they probably came through the roof, slipped through some of the ventilation ducts with vibration-dampening spells-"

"Then there still might be other unaccounted for inside the building. The siege at the front is a distraction?"

Tatsuya shrugged.

"Could be. Hard to say. There are too many potential objectives that this group is targeting in the city."

Realization dawned on his face.

"The Competition demonstration devices. They're all stored downstairs for the presentations."

"I can take care of those," Tatsuya replied, "Can you handle this area? I can jam the guns like I did earlier."

He nodded.

"Sure thing."

His terminal beeped, an indication that a message had come through. He slipped the device out of the inside of the left breast pocket of his uniform.

"Wait. Here, I have some information from Saegusa-san. You'll need it, in case we can't meet up again."

He tapped the screen a few times, sending the packet of information to Tatsuya's terminal. The other man pulled out his own device, and nodded to confirm that he had received it.

"Thanks. Good luck, Masaki."

"You too."

The dark-haired man pulled out his CAD and activated the strange sequence from earlier, immediately silencing half of the gunfire in the lobby, before turning and leading the First High group to the storage basement at a fast clip. Masaki mentally noted to ask about that the next time they met; it didn't seem like something that he should have been able to do with his practical abilities. He shook his head. There were other things he had to do at the moment and couldn't be distracted.

Checking his Interference Armor one more time, he broke the cover of the hallway and started firing. This time, due to the smaller number of onlookers, he had chosen not to use his Air Bullets.

He had quickly read through the information he was sent. Yokohama city had turned into a warzone, under attack by guerrillas that had somehow snuck onto the island from moored boats in strategic locations. Civilians were feeling the area while the police attempted to secure the area.

It was shoot to kill, and there was nothing in his arsenal better for single-target elimination than Rupture.

...

Her brother led their friend group at a brisk pace through the building. None of them thought to ask how Tatsuya knew where he was going; it was fascinating to see them trust his leadership in such dire situations. He hadn't let them down yet. He may not have realized it just yet, but many students looked to him and his direction, despite his course designation.

Miyuki kept up nearly as easily as Tatsuya as they made their way into the heart of the building. Their training with Yakumo-sensei was paying off for circumstances such as these. Erika, Leo, and Mikihiko, by virtue of their physical abilities and training, were also able to maintain the pace without much effort. Honoka, Shizuku, and Mizuki were struggling slightly. In the case of the two Course 1 girls, while their strength in magic was significant, it seemed like their physical ability wasn't quite as vigorous.

Tatsuya slid to a stop just before the tee intersection of the hallway where all of the storage rooms were located on offshooting corridors. He motioned for them to quiet down and stay behind him. He carefully looked around the corner to check that the area was clear.

"The storage units should be-What are you all doing here!?" a familiar voice called out.

The sudden breaking of the silence startled everyone except her brother. Mizuki and Honoka let out little squeaks of alarm.

On the other side of the tee, a group of upperclassmen appeared from the hallway, including the owner of the voice. Mayumi's face had shown a little bit of shock too, but she masked it quickly. Mari folded her arms.

"We thought that you all had evacuated with the rest of the students? Why are you still here?"

"The same reason you're still here, I suspect," Tatsuya replied blandly. "Deleting the data from each school's demonstration devices."

"Then why do you look like you're sneaking around?"

"Just keeping an eye out for baddies," Erika cut in cheekily, causing Mari to roll her eyes in exasperation at her boyfriend's younger sister.

"Well, no matter. The other group has already taken off for the shelter via the underground route, so you all might as well stick with us. We'll destroy the data, and then regroup in the First High green room.

Several things happened at once. Kirihara made to lead the upperclassmen group into the main storage hallway at the exact same time another group of insurgents appeared at the other end of the hallway. The second-year kenjutsu club member let out a shout of surprise at the encounter, which was echoed similarly by the insurgent group, except in rapid-fire Chinese.

A blur sped past her, Tatsuya's sturdy arm shoving the older student back behind cover, but not before the other group had gotten a few shots off. Her brother had no choice but to level his CAD and destroy the bullets mid-flight or risk getting shot. He fired again, and the high-powered rifles disintegrated into dust, leaving the enemy dumbfounded and suddenly unarmed.

A hail of dry ice pellets fired from behind her, incapacitating the group. Miyuki turned to see a pale-faced Mayumi lowering her hand. Kirihara looked like he was still getting his bearings, but the rest of the group was staring dumbly at Tatsuya.

"Did you just…" Mari started.

"...Disintegrate those guns?" Erika finished.

Oh. Right. Mayumi was the only one who knew what he could do from when they stormed the Blanche base, and that was a toned down version of it.

"Let's just do what we came to do," Tatsuya said, ignoring the questions. He looked troubled. "Miyuki, let's go. We'll meet you back in the green room."

She trailed behind him as he strode briskly down the hall.

"Onii-sama…"

"There was no other choice," he answered simply, the resignation evident in his voice. There would be no turning back now.

His statement that there was no other choice wasn't exactly true. He could have let a student die.

But he didn't.

"You're a good man, onii-sama."

Katsuto closed the laptop with a sharp click and exhaled.

The situation was worse than they had thought. For now, the building was secured. The joint security team had done its job, managing to push the invading forces out of the area surrounding the building without sustaining any losses. It was touch-and-go several times, with near misses, but in the end, the students he was in charge of had taken care of each other.

For almost all of them, it was the first time they had actually employed live magic against another human being. As magic had mostly been developed as a weapon, the result most of the time wound up being a dead body, in varying states of form, ranging from intact, to riddled with holes, to amputations and charred skin.

It was not a pretty sight.

More than a few students had retched on the spot, and most of the remainder had hurled afterwards. Despite the morbidity of the circumstance, it was a good learning experience. Men and women who experienced the effects of magic when wielded against another first hand tended to be more cautious on the future.

He was sure that every student and civilian would come out of this conflict with some sort of wound, more likely emotional and mental than physical, as if that were any comfort.

The temporary student security headquarters was eerily silent. All of the members had disbanded to check on their own group of students. He had received a notification from Mayumi earlier that most groups would be organizing evacuations. That was good. The faster everyone was far and away from here, the better. He figured that he would check in on the First High group, and then do one final sweep of the area, just in case.

Before he could leave the room, a familiar auburn-colored mop of hair poked his head into the room.

"Juumonji."

"Ichijou. What are you still doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Third High."

The younger man shook his head.

"Was helping secure the front of the building. They were putting up a lot of resistance, but they've been taken care of for now."

Katsuto recalled hearing about the situation at the entrance of the conference center, but hadn't been able to spare any help.

"That was you? Good work. I was wondering how they went from asking for urgent help to sending an 'All Clear'."

Masaki opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, then seemed to think better of it and closed it momentarily.

"So now what's your plan?"

Katsuto was aware that the Ichijou scion was asking what he planned to do, not as head of the security force, but as a leader in the Master Clans.

"I plan to head to the Kanto branch. Make sure everything is secured over there. Then I'll join up and help sweep through the city."

"Alright then. I'll check on the Large Vehicle Lot, and then I'm going to head towards Chinatown. There's something strange going on, and given the identity of the invaders, there's surely something going on in that area. Keep me updated if you get any more information."

"Very well. I'll see you around Ichijou," Katsuto rumbled.

The other man disappeared back into the hallway. Now then. One last sweep through the building, then he could be on his way.

...

The green room was largely silent as the group awaited the Shiba siblings' return from the other storage rooms. Suzune and Kei had taken care of the First High equipment, wiping all the drives clean and making sure all magic sequences were swabbed from the demonstration devices. Mayumi tried to keep herself occupied by studying the satellite footage projected onto the room's screen from her terminal. She was also still recovering from the encounter battle on the basement floor, no matter how short it was. Mayumi had never employed magic with intent to kill, always to disable and handicap. Her role with the family was mainly relegated to information gathering and coordination. She had never taken a life before.

"Those guns were disintegrated, Mayumi," Mari said again, disbelief still coloring her words. "Not blown up, or cut up. Disintegrated."

"Mari. Not now," Mayumi snapped. If she was to be honest, she was in a similar state. Yes, she had seen him dismantle rifles before, but crumbling something into dust? That was unheard of.

The freshmen and second years also looked dazed and a little lost without the leadership of the stoic freshman, but to their credit they tried to keep brave faces. Suzune was frowning in thought, no doubt trying to piece together what everyone in the room was thinking.

Several minutes later, the two siblings stepped into the room, much too soon if they had to go from machine to machine to wipe the drives clean. She suspected that he had employed the disintegration ability that he had been hiding up until those few minutes ago. She was keenly aware that everyone was stealing furtive looks at the astounding first year, while the man in question tried to ignore those same looks. It was uncomfortably tense and hot.

Mayumi cleared her breath. She would think about it later. Right now they had to figure out how they were getting out.

"So, about our next move," she started, breaking the awkward silence. "It looks like only one enemy ship has invaded the harbor, but the area around the shore is more or less under enemy control. Ground transport is completely paralyzed as well."

Isori Kei frowned.

"What could they be after?"

She internally sighed in relief at managing to get everyone back on the same page.

"The fact that they've targeted Yokohama means that they must be after something that they'll only find here. Although strictly speaking, there's one in Kyoto as well."

"The Magic Association branch office!" Kanon's voice broke in.

"They're probably after the main database."

"When will the rescue ship arrive?" Mari asked.

"Maybe in about 10 minutes or so. But it doesn't look like it has the capacity for this number of people…" Mayumi answered grimly.

"It looks like our only option is to make our way to the shelter, despite how risky it is," Mari concluded, folding her arms.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tatsuya look toward the door to the green room and frown. She turned to ask what he was looking at but the door slid open before she could do so.

"We," Fujibayashi Kyouko said, stepping through the door, "might be able to assist with that."

"Kyouko-nee?"

The Second Lieutenants appearance surprised her. It was the second time in the past week that they had run into each other. This time, instead of the white military dress, the beautiful older lady was attired in a dark green field uniform.

"Long time no see...or at least that's what I normally would have said."

Another man, older, with a square jaw stepped into the room. He had slight wrinkles in his weather-beaten face, but was sturdily built, giving off the impression that his fighting days were not over yet. He was accompanied by Katsuto; the big third-year frowned as he looked around the room, probably not expecting to see this many people still hanging around the site.

"I'm Major Kazama Harunobu," the older man began, "with the JSDF 101st Independent Magic Equipped Battalion."

Katsuto shifted on his feet, eyes examining the man. The Major looked around the room studying those gathered. His gaze paused on Mayumi.

"Saegusa-san. I've heard of what you did at Okinawa. It's nice to finally meet you."

The steely gaze continued its sweep before finally alighting on the eldest Shiba.

"Special Officer, your information classification is temporarily disabled."

All eyes in the room turned to Tatsuya as the confusion disappeared from his features and he offered a smart salute. The faces of the First High students reflected different levels of bewilderment and incredulity at the revelation. However looking back, many strange details surrounding the mysterious first year suddenly clicked into place.

"Fujibayashi, give him the rundown of the current situation."

The entire room seemed to be in a daze as they listened to Kyouko-nee summarily explain the current distribution of enemies and engagements throughout the city. It was much more detailed than what she had had access to. It was also much worse than they had thought originally.

"Thank you Second Lieutenant. Now then Special Officer," the Major spoke directly to Tatsuya, "In light of current circumstances, our battalion has just been ordered to add our support to the defense. In accordance with JSDF special assignment regulations, I'm hereby ordering you to mobilize as well."

Audible gasps were heard from around the room. Hearing him being addressed as a Special Officer was one thing, but learning that he would be heading off to engage the enemy was another.

The Major's voice was drowned out as her gaze finally met Tatsuya's own directly after the past few months of avoidance. It was almost bittersweet to see him openly looking at her after so long. Another part of his secret was confirmed; he was indeed part of the military. Her heart clenched in her chest.

"I'll watch over Miyuki-chan," she promised him, lowering her gaze slightly. Due to the revelation, she couldn't help but drop the facade that she had kept up for so long.

He gave a single solemn nod.

"My squad and I will be escorting the rest of you to the underground shelter," Kyouko added in as an assurance.

Tatsuya nodded, and cast one open lingering glance in her direction. Warmth filled her at his open acknowledgement, overwhelming the fear of seeing him off to battle.

"Special Officer? We need to hurry."

Before he could follow the Major out, Miyuki stopped him. Her hands were clasped as if in prayer, and there was a troubled but determined glint in her eye. She walked over to him, the anxiety in her features receding with each step.

The Major walked out first, noticing that it was a private affair between the siblings.

With the way she was feeling at the moment, she couldn't even begin to comprehend how Miyuki could send her brother off when there was a possibility that he would not return.

Wordlessly, the younger Shiba cupped Tatsuya's face with both of her hands.

"I'll take responsibility for this."

Tatsuya nodded grimly, dropping to kneel before her, as if paying homage to his queen. The entire room watched mesmerized as Miyuki pressed her lips to his forehead.

A few seconds later a violent array of psions erupted and swirled around Tatsuya's body, blinding everyone and causing several in attendance to cry out in surprise. The sheer volume of psions in the air was overwhelming, as was the surge of power accompanied by it. As the room was bathed in psionic light, a warmth settled around her, like a blanket. It soothed her; she had felt this warmth and light before, she realized. Once during Blanche. Another, when he had healed her on the beach at Onna.

And lastly, in that brilliant burst of light that had saved the citizens of Okinawa. He was the Strategic-class magician that had saved everyone. How did she not realize it sooner?

Mayumi felt more assured in him. He had support. He was trained.

He wouldn't lose anyone in this war.

The younger Shiba dropped in a curtsey, smiling brilliantly.

"May you conquer all before you. Return victorious."

Tatsuya returned his own version of that smile, lips barely upturned wryly. His eyes darted once more to Mayumi. His gaze was hesitant, like that of an uncertain child, but he waited for her to speak patiently.

Emboldened by his look, she took her own tentative step towards him. She recalled the emotional distance that he had intentionally placed between them; the weight was too much too soon. Mayumi faltered. In the end she settled for a small smile, timid but gentle.

His own pacific-blue eyes softened. Wordlessly, Tatsuya turned and left to once again defend them.

Tatsuya tried his best to concentrate on the task at hand. He finished destroying one of the surveillance drones in the area, cutting off yet another source of information for the enemy. He scanned the air again, checking for any other signs of the enemy. The HUD in his helmet alerted him to the location of Yanagi's troops, but he couldn't help but look back in the direction of the Yokohama Conference Center, standing amidst smoking buildings.

The strange heavy feeling in his chest had returned. He told himself that it was his concern over Miyuki's wellbeing, but the truth was that was not the entire story. He knew that the moment he had looked into those crimson-rose eyes that it had caused a shift in his being. He still didn't understand what it meant, but he knew that the strange tightness had returned when they had locked gazes for those few seconds. He had never really contemplated disobeying orders before, but he found himself wanting to be back with the First High group.

He pushed those thoughts towards the back of his mind; he had a duty to fulfill. And the sooner he completed them, the sooner he could return to his other responsibilities.

The rattle of gunfire grew louder as he sprinted towards the Large Vehicle Lot. He pushed himself harder to get himself there even a second faster, which could tip the scales for or against them.

The stationary forms of the two buses that the Third High contingent had arrived hadn't moved. A group of students had set up a makeshift barrier of cars behind which they loosed off the occasional spell, but it was clear that the greater numbers of the enemy with their heavy rifles were pinning them down. Bullets glanced off of the tops of the barrier, shattering glass and ripping through steel. The hide of the buses themselves were protected by multiple layers of barrier magic, the speed and size of the bullets clearly too much for many of the students to hold individually. It was good to see them cooperating, even if the situation was dire despite the fact. He saw that the enemy had not noticed his approach yet.

Taking advantage of their turned backs, he loosed off a series of spells. By the time he had been noticed, it was too late. One by one, the enemy forces were subject to his Rupture, each one swelling grotesquely as all the blood in their bodies vaporized, causing them to burst, bright red blood staining the ground. Carefully he picked his way across the bloodied concrete. Out of the corner of his eye he saw several of the students helping with the defense effort take a look at the massacre and gag. He tried to ignore as one boy began retching.

"Masaki!"

George ran over to him.

"Thank goodness you're fine!"

"Of course," he replied, voice flat. He frowned. "Why haven't you all left yet? All the other schools have evacuated."

"A splinter group showed up out of nowhere, pinning us down. Several of the bus tires had to be replaced, but they should be finishing up soon, and we can get on the bus soon."

The eldest Ichijou son shook his head.

"I won't be joining. I'm planning on heading into the city."

"That would be insane! And besides, why would you do that?!"

Masaki looked towards the smoke rising in the distance.

"Because I'm an Ichijou, after all."

Shinkurou grew quiet.

"Is it bothering you, by any chance?"

Masaki knew that he was referring to his entrance, single handedly turning the skirmish into a slaughter, plainly visible to the entirety of the student body.

"It's not like anyone meant any harm, it's just…"

"Not everyone has stepped onto a battlefield before," Masaki interrupted. "That kind of thing doesn't bother me at all. I nearly threw up my first time as well…"

He turned back to his best friend and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Fate has chosen some of us to stain our hands with the blood of others so that they don't have to. It's the Ten Master Clan's responsibility to protect this country. My responsibility. I can't ignore that."

He turned and started walking away.

"Take care of the others. I'm leaving them in your hands."

Without waiting for a response, he started sprinting off to where the smoke was the heaviest. He would figure it out on his way there.

Masaki steeled his features and hardened his gaze.

It was time to live up to the name of the Crimson Prince.

"The helicopters for the air evacuation should arrive by 4:30," Mayumi said after hanging up her terminal.

"So, another twenty minutes then," Suzune mused. "It's too much to hope that the invaders sweeping through the area will pass up a group this large."

Mari nodded. "We're going to have to defend the civilians as well as the landing space."

Miyuki looked around at the band of people around them. After her brother had left, she and the few First High students that had not evacuated with the rest of the student body had been accompanying several personnel of the 101st JSDF Battalion, who were escorting them to the nearest shelter. Along the way, their ranks had slowly but surely grown, as they picked up civilians who had been hiding or running aimlessly, lost and confused. There were a variety of emotions among them. She could see fear and worry in several eyes, while others wore haggard and tired expressions. Still others stared blankly ahead, or at nothing in particular, as if they couldn't quite believe - or understand - that this was actually happening. And she couldn't blame them either. No one could have predicted or imagined that forces from another country would dare launch such an attack.

She turned back to see the group of upperclassmen discussing what to do. At first, the former Student Council President had asked everyone else to continue on to the nearest shelter after they had discovered that the one they had been navigating to had been blockaded in. Their accompanying military personnel could not escort such a large crowd, and they had to prioritize the students. Mayumi had decided that she would stay with the other civilians and evacuate them, and had especially wanted Miyuki out of the warzone to keep her promise to her brother. Needless to say, the rest of the First High students objected to Mayumi managing the situation by herself, and had elected to stay and help with the evacuation.

"We can use this plaza as the evacuation zone. As far as I can see, there are only three roads leading outwards," Mayumi said, pointing in three of the cardinal directions.

"There should be enough wreckage to use as cover and to help choke those areas to hold any enemies off. " Suzune continued. "We'll split into three groups, mixing long range, support, and close combat specialists."

The six other freshmen were assigned to the western corridor, while the second-years and Erika's inspector brother headed east. Herself, Mayumi, and Mari handled the road leading southward, leaving Suzune to coordinate among the defenders and the approaching helicopters.

It wasn't long before their predictions came to pass. Miyuki couldn't see the other groups, but she could hear them. The damage to the city itself was mostly constrained to the roads and highways that the insurgents had been using to get around the area; the taller buildings still were mostly intact, if only missing most of their windows. The clash of metal on metal rang clearly from the west, the double team of Leo and Erika seemed to have engaged the enemy first. Closer by, the rumble of the earth could be felt. That would probably be Kanon's Mine Genesis breaking up the roadway to slow the enemy approach. On their roadway, she and Mayumi alternated their long range magics to slow and stop the approaching bipedal tanks, trading off Mari to dart in to deal close range to the machines' cockpits.

Miyuki took a deep breath after taking down their seventh tank. The slowly growing heap of scrap metal helped impede latter waves of enemies approaching the area. They were holding up well so far, but the combination of the hurrying around the city throughout the day, the tension of the situation, and the continuous use of magic was beginning to strain her. All of them jumped at the sudden ringing breaking the tranquil air in between enemy engagements. Mayumi sheepishly pulled out her terminal, shooting an apologetic look towards Mari and herself, before reading through the message, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Good news. The evacuation helicopters will be arriving in a few minutes. Rin-chan says we can start pulling back, since there don't seem to be any more enemies approaching our location."

"Thank goodness," Mari sighed, stowing her knife beneath the hem of her dress. Miyuki couldn't agree more.

The three of them were the last ones to arrive at the plaza. The civilians were stirring, several looking up into the air to try to spot their arriving salvation. The steady beat of blades thumping against the air grew louder and her hair began to whip about her face as the three vehicles touched down in the center of the plaza. Eager and thankful civilians were directed towards two of the helicopters, with the last one meant for the group of First High students.

After the quick loading of the civilians, those two helicopters began its ascent into the air. Miyuki's nose picked up a strange sickly-sweet smell growing stronger, indicating that something was not quite right. Before all of their astonished eyes, a dark, pulsating mass, too fast and organized to be a regular cloud, streamed from behind several buildings making its way towards the helicopters carrying the civilians.

"What is that?" Leo asked.

"Nothing good," Mayumi answered, tapping a few buttons on her CAD and unleashing a hailstorm into the dark cloud, which shifted, as if trying to avoid the attack. She swore beneath her breath. "Miyuki, can you freeze them?"

She tried to gauge the distance, hesitating. She certainly had the power, but she wasn't sure if she had the finesse to be able to subdue them without damaging the helicopters nearby. She pulled out her CAD; she didn't have time to debate, risking the lives of those onboard.

Before she could unleash her magic, a pulse of magic spread like a shockwave through the air, the psion signature familiar. She recognized that magic.

She looked towards Mayumi. The corners of her lips also had lifted in a small smile and she lifted her hand to wave at him. She knew that he was here too.

A floating figure materialized out from behind the disintegrated cloud, clad head-to-toe in obsidian armor, a familiar silver pistol-type CAD in hand. Additional figures in similar jet-black suits joined him in the air.

Miyuki walked over to Mayumi and took her right hand in her left, squeezing it. Mayumi turned to look at her; her smile widened. It was good to be able to see her like this after their months of avoidance.

"You'll have to thank him for me later."

"You can do that yourself," Miyuki replied, smiling back. "In person, of course. You need to talk to him, after this is all over."

The older woman looked thoughtful, and then nodded in agreement.

"After this is all over."

...

Katsuto watched over the battlefield around him.

The area just north of the Yokohama Bays Tower was nearly under control, but they had paid a heavy price to secure their position. He had made it just in time to bolster the defenses and provide the fighters with a much needed morale boost. It did help that he had significantly cut down on the number of phantom beasts that had been summoned and damaged most of the bipedal tanks that made up the bulk of the enemies firepower. The Kanto Magic Association Office would be safe, so why did he have the nagging feeling that he was missing something?

He sent an invocation of Phalanx towards two of the magicians near the frontline who had become targets of the now-retreating invaders, before sending it crashing into the nearest tank. He frowned, and looked towards the Tower. Why was the enemy putting up such a tough fight this far from a potential objective? Unless the enemy was trying to distract them here with the large number of troops…

Damn.

While the enemy was practically routed, he couldn't leave just as he had arrived. He could only hope that someone else would be there in case another force had slipped behind them.

...

"Honoka-san, if it's too much for you, you can go ahead and disable the spell."

The younger girl shook her head, while her eyes were still screwed tight in concentration.

"I'll be alright."

Mayumi could only marvel at the first year's resilience. No, she was impressed with all of the First High students around her on the helicopter. Between reacting to the crisis, to staying and helping civilians evacuate and defending against the enemies, they had more than lived up to their duty as magicians.

She looked around the cabin. Everyone looked tired, but uninjured, mostly bruises and scrapes. The second year girls fussed over their partners, while Mari was busy cleaning her blades, trying to get the blood and grime off of them. The first years were mostly silent, but the sight of Erika and Leo dozing on each other's shoulder and head, respectively was both amusing and heartwarming.

Mayumi contented herself with looking out the aircraft window over the city. On the ground she could see rubble and wreckage were strewn about, cables hanging dangerously from where they had been dislodged and water jetting from damaged pipelines. It was a discouraging thing to witness. She forced herself to tear her eyes away from the ground and searched into the airspace. She noticed that besides her, Miyuki was doing the same. She gave the younger girl's hand a reassuring squeeze, like Miyuki had done for her earlier.

"He'll be alright."

After they had been safely seen into the air, Tatsuya had disappeared along with the rest of the flying squadron to search out other enemies. Mayumi became somber. Magic had originally meant to be used primarily in combat applications. This event would only cement their reputation further. Yes, they had defended their country, but what did that mean for them in the future? There was no way the Japanese government could standby and let this atrocity stand. War loomed on the horizon again. Would they be forced into a role that many students weren't prepared to face?

She glanced back around the hull. It wouldn't do to dwell on such matters yet. They had to live in the moment. They still weren't quite safe yet.

"We should be out of the city limits soon."

Sighs of relief were heard all around her. It only made sense; the tension in all of them had stretched them thin.

She looked out the window again. The imposing building of the Yokohama Bay Hills Tower were drawing closer.

A small gasp of surprise caught everyone's attention. The timid first year Mizuki had been keeping her glasses off to help monitor the situation around their helicopter.

"Mizuki? What's wrong?" Miyuki asked.

"Um...near the Bay Hills Tower where the Magic Association is located, I thought I saw a beast-like aura…"

Beast-like?

Mayumi recalled feeling something like that. Where had that been? She thought back to the detention center, where that large Chinese man had fought with a feral ferocity. A pit grew in the pit of her stomach. But wasn't he captured?

Mikihiko pulled out a talisman, and activating it, causing the runes to glow.

"Enemy attack!" he called out.

She craned her neck to see the small force that had arrived in front of the building, searching the ground before finding the person she was expecting. There.

"Lu Gonghu, so he managed to escape…"

Mari looked over at her, frowning.

"You know him?"

Mayumi nodded.

"He was at the detention center that day."

Mari looked peeved that she had missed such an event.

"In any case, we'll have to take him down. Miyuki, Chiba-san, and Saijou-san will help Mari and I. Everyone else, please stand by."

...

Another enemy tank crumbled into dust. Tatsuya lowered the pistol in his right hand as the remaining vehicles stopped their advance to beat a hasty retreat. The unit around him continued to harry the enemy as they made their way back to the landing vessel, but it was clear that the day was almost won.

He turned back to look at the city. In the air he spotted two of the helicopters carrying civilians away from the fighting. He noticed a third closer to the Tower itself, the one that was supposed to be carrying the rest of the students. What was it doing in that direction? He reached out with his Sight to check his tags.

He easily found the tags he had applied to Mizuki's hair ornament, as well as the bracelets he had given to Mikihiko, Honoka, and Shizuku. He frowned when he didn't see his other tags on board with them. He searched out again, picking up Miyuki's information signature along with the tag on her hair clip. He found Leo and Erika's tag on the ground with them, and also the tag for Mayumi. Why were they...

He picked out the reason. It was that Chinese man he had helped capture that day. They had probably gone down to stop him. A single magician wouldn't stand a chance, even if it had just been Miyuki, but with the rest of them there, it was sure to be a win. He noticed another irregularity at the edge of his Sight. Another freight truck had circled around behind them, out of their sight. If they were caught unawares, they would be cut down immediately.

"Captain! I'm heading for the Magic Associations Office!"

He didn't check to see if Yanagi had registered his hastily yelled words before flying off at maximum speed.

When they landed on the ground, Leo, Erika, and Mari immediately took off to engage Lu Gonghu, who was making short work of the few defenders stationed on this side of the tower. Miyuki provided long range support, taking out the gun-wielders that were accompanying the ferocious man. Quickly, Mayumi ran between the figures that were strewn around from the force of the enemies blows. Thankfully all of them were still alive, but several were in critical condition. She tried her best with her basic field first aid, binding wounds, stabilizing broken bones, and the occasional gash that needed to be cauterized. Then she headed over to the fray.

As she arrived, she saw that the fight was not going well. The three close-combatants were all wielding bladed weapons, ranging from Mari's strange collection of knives connected by wire to Erika's absurdly large katana. The three traded off, trying to get in a few hits before being forced to back off. Given the limited space, it was impossible for all three to attack without risking friendly-fire. Miyuki for her part fired off an assortment of different acceleration and movement-type magic in an attempt to interrupt their opponents movements. While the display was impressive, she could not use any of her more powerful, larger ranged spells for the same reason Erika, Leo, and Mari were avoiding engaging at the same time. While they were keeping him occupied, the fight was a stalemate, with Lu Gonghu's new armor capable of deflecting what might have been fatal blows otherwise.

She saw Erika swing a large overhand blow with her sword, forcing the Chinese man to block the strike with both forearms. Despite the size contrast, it was clear that the force behind the sword was immense, evident by the man's grunts and shaking arms. While he was occupied, Leo swept in from behind with a cross-slash from below. Lu Gonghu seemed to sense the danger, and with a burst of strength, threw Erika's sword away, and with a great show of athleticism, spun into the air dodging Leo's sneak attack. Mayumi quickly tapped a command into her CAD, sending a rain of icicles towards Lu Gonghu, interrupting his kick to Leo's head.

It wasn't enough to stop the moment of the kick, but Leo managed to avoid the brunt of the strike. Leo's physical durability certainly was admirable, as it probably would still have knocked anyone else out cold. The Chinese man turned to see who had interrupted his attack; Mayumi saw his eyes widen in recognition as he saw her. He snarled at her in broken Japanese.

"You! 'Mayumi'".

He couldn't quite engage her yet, as Leo once again pressed an attack, this time with a magically-enhanced punch. Lu Gonghu spun back towards the approaching first year, ducking beneath the punch and sending his own straight into his gut, knocking Leo three meters back, collapsing onto his face. Erika swooped in again with a curse, bringing her sword straight down again. The big man had to dodge backwards in order to avoid decapitation, throwing him off balance, but Erika bounced her blade off of the concrete chasing his retreating form. Mari, too continued her own attack, swinging her sword-whip in his direction. Lu Gonghu grunted as he resorted to using his chest plate to glance the hit, using his momentum to spin and send a palm strike towards Erika, taking her out of the fight as well, and then chaining another kick sending Mari flying in the opposite direction. The fight was now left with Miyuki and Mayumi; she caught the eye of the younger Shiba and nodded.

The large man howled again and began sprinting straight towards her. Mayumi pressed a few more buttons on her bracelet in preparation. Just as the distance between the two of them was less than ten meters, Lu Gonghu found himself slowing down. Mayumi watched impressively as Miyuki conjured a miniature blizzard, slowing down all the molecules in the area surrounding them. Ice built up on the man's armor and his movements became sluggish. Mayumi unleashed her own magic, conjuring a block of dry ice before shooting it straight at the man's face. Despite his lagging movements, the man still managed to bring up a single arm to block it, but Mayumi's Dry Meteor could not be dodged that easily. The block evaporated into a dense cloud of carbon dioxide and rushed straight into Lu Gonghu's windpipe, flooding his system with the gas, and causing him to keel over, unconscious.

Miyuki coated him in a thick layer of ice, immobilizing him. Mayumi and Miyuki quickly jogged over to their three compatriots.

"We'll need to get them to lower stretchers," Miyuki noted grimly. They were alive, but in poor condition. Mayumi nodded and called Suzune through her terminal.

She watched as the helicopter circled around to their location. An alarm went off in her head and she caught sight of another group of soldiers materializing from behind some of the burning cars.

Instinctively she leapt and shielded Miyuki with her small form.

Like lightning, pain ripped through her body as it lurched forward, taking the impact from several bullets. She collapsed over Miyuki, feeling tired.

Tatsuya felt rather than saw that he had been too late. The sharp rattle of gunfire rang out, and then went silent again. He saw with his Sight the too-small form of Mayumi crumpled on the ground.

Fire coursed through his veins, as a feeling he had only felt once before flooding him, and he saw red. Like a missile he dropped out of the sky straight into the huddle of enemies peeking out from where they had been concealing themselves.

Cowards.

He landed too fast, causing his ankles and tibia to snap from the impact. He ignored the pain as Regrowth repaired them just as soon as they broke, only focusing on the men who had hurt Mayumi. He had to get there as soon as he could.

He didn't dare contemplate the alternative.

In an instant they were nothing but dust. He sprinted over to where Miyuki and Mayumi were on the cold, hard ground.

Pleasepleaseplease

Mayumi's senses were hazy.

She didn't know what was going on. She absently noted that the sky was turning orange. Why did she feel so cold?

Someone picked her up, turning her over.

Long, black strands, matted and dirtied, obstructed her vision. A pungent metallic scent filled her senses.

Then, flickers of a small hotel room.

There was a large window, and a lush red armchair next to it. Light streamed into the room through the open window.

It smelled of the sea.

She liked the sea.

The woman's hair was long, its sheen reflecting the dying sunlight, framing her petite face. Dark eyes stared out from under that curtain of hair. She had seen those dark eyes before; they were more pacific-blue actually. Pacific-blue orbs stared at her coldly, observing and analyzing her. She recognized that face.

It was the older version of Miyuki, however those familiar eyes reflected more pain and anguish than she was used to seeing.

Someone was weeping loudly.

Words echoed in her mind.

"I have information on him, why are you looking for him?"

"I need to know."

The words slowly faded on the wind. She knew he was here.

Her vision blurred as she tried to focus on the light fading in the background.

She felt as if she had unraveled the greatest mystery in the world. She couldn't explain the relief at that closure.

Another image swam into her mind.

The orange sunlight blended into a blinding light, a herald of the end of chaos from that day in Okinawa. The start of the end.

Shiba Miya watched impassively as the young teen tentatively made her way into the small hotel room. Her composure was commendable; Koichi had trained her well, at least for one of her age. She still had a long way to go if she were to be able to fend for herself among the rest of the Clans.

Saegusa Mayumi projected a passable air of confidence, especially for someone who did not know what she was exactly walking into. Miya was cognizant of the way she quickly scanned the room, CAD hidden in the hand slightly behind the hem of her skirt, ready to cast. A brave girl, to come to an unknown location, not know who she was meeting, or for what reason. If she was not careful in the future, she might experience something similar to her father and her own twin sister.

But Miya was not planning anything so nefarious. No, knowing what they had gone through, she would not wish that on anyone not an enemy.

She simply wanted to see who it was that could influence Tatsuya so.

That day that Tatsuya had escorted Miyuki to the beach, she had noticed something about her son when they returned. Normally, his interactions with her were terse, clipped, a glaring effect of the results of their experiment and the deterioration of their relationship. The tension in his shoulders and voice had been significantly lessened for that few minutes after he had given his report, and it wasn't because of Miyuki.

He thought he could keep what had happened from her. Didn't she know that for the future head of the Yotsuba, she would not have sent them out without additional surveillance. The extra guardian she had sent to shadow them reported on what had occurred that day. The interesting part wasn't that he had fought off five men, no it was what had happened afterwards. He had reported that the Saegusa girl had ran into them by chance, but then stayed and talked with Tatsuya for nearly an hour. Small talk wasn't something that Tatsuya tolerated without reason.

Which brought them to where they were today. Tatsuya was changing, that was for certain. Ever since that fateful night, watching him on that operating table, she had known, deep down, that it wouldn't last. His will was too strong.

Saegusa Mayumi tentatively sat down on the sofa arranged opposite from the red armchair she was seated in. Miya continued to remain silent, curious as to how she would respond to the circumstance. Three minutes passed before the younger girl opened her mouth.

"You're Yotsuba Miya."

Miya shifted in her seat.

"You are quite informed, Saegusa Mayumi."

She studied her, watching her eyes gleam in determination.

"Well, I followed your instructions. I can't be away for long, otherwise my father might get suspicious."

She folded her hands in her lap.

"I have information on him. Why are you looking for him?"

Mayumi shrank back a little, before regaining her confidence.

"I need to know."

Miya contemplated her statement. She didn't know. She was just here, looking for information on a friend that she was concerned about. That was good.

"I'm aware of that, otherwise your father would have put a stop to your foolish desire," Miya continued. "Though I don't see why I shouldn't help you, Saegusa Mayumi. Some things need a closure."

The other girl frowned in confusion.

"Closure?"

Miya couldn't help thinking about her life leading up to this moment. Studying with Maya and Koichi under the same teacher. Their time in school. The terrible experience that irrevocably changed all of them. The destruction of Dahan. And the burden they had inflicted on a small boy.

"This senseless rivalry between the Saegusa and the Yotsuba. We used to be good friends, learning under the same teacher. Then, war happened. Your feelings for Shiba Tatsuya may very well resolve this bitter feud, and restore him as well."

"Wait. I don't understand," Mayumi said leaning forward.

Miya took a deep breath. This would forever change their families. For good or for ill, she would cast the die into the wind.

"Saegusa Mayumi, the boy you are asking information about is my son, Shiba Tatsuya."

Mayumi looked stunned for a moment, dazed.

"He needs someone to care for him too. I hope that you can bring a closure to this feud, and to his misery."

The young girl leaned back into the sofa, as if processing it. Miya continued.

"I am sorry to inflict this burden on you. We have made many mistakes. I have made many mistakes. I am in no position to be asking this of you, but please, be there for him where I have not. I realize that this is sudden, and you have only just met. But you can change him. Have changed him. Perhaps it is fate."

Mayumi focused her eyes back on her. Her Crimson-rose orbs took on a bright sheen.

"You'll not remember our conversation. It's for the best. You'll only remember that he is safe. You'll meet him again."

Mayumi felt someone adjusting their grip over her. Absently, she noticed that her arm was covered with bright red blood.

She looked up to see who it was holding her. The wind ruffled messy bangs, partially obscuring pacific-blue orbs. He had a grim smile on his face.

She tried for a smile, but it was too much.

He took her left hand in his right, squeezing it tight.

She liked the weight of that hand. It anchored her.

"You'll meet him again."

"It'll be over soon, I promise you," he whispered gruffly. His tone was gentle despite the grimness on his face.

"H-how?" Her own voice was soft and unfamiliar, sounding far away and distant. It took all her effort to keep her eyes open.

His eyes shimmered, like the ocean. A single drop fell on her face. She worked her hand out of his grip and tried to reach up for his face with her but only succeeded in brushing his cheek. She felt so weary. Her hand smeared blood over his cheek.

Before her arm could drop back to the ground he caught it again. He pressed her palm and limp fingers against his face. She focused in on his eyes, those mesmerizing pools of blue.

"Magic."

Masaki frowned in front of the large gates. He didn't understand why the Yokohama Chinatown needed a wall surrounding their section of the city. Maybe it was because the Chinese were still viewed negatively, even if this group of immigrants were several generations removed from the country China had been during World War Three. In any case, it was more than a little suspicious that they had closed their gates, especially at this time. He stepped forward.

"Open the gates! Or we'll view you as being in league with the invaders!"

For a few tense seconds, there was no movement. He grunted, stepping forward again. Before he could raise his CAD to blast down the door, the gates rumbled open. He was greeting with the strangest sight.

A large group of men in suits stood at attention, blockading the way into the city itself. Before them, gagged and bound, were the invaders that had fled in that direction. At the head of the group was a pretty, thin looking man in a smart suit, long hair swept neatly behind him. Nothing of his appearance could be called out of the ordinary, except for the large black bird perched on his shoulder. Masaki eyed it warily. The bird stared back at him, with too intelligent eyes. He turned back to the man, who was clearly the spokesperson for this group.

"Who are you?"

The man inclined his head.

"My name is Zhou Gongjin."

He flourished a hand towards the bound men on the ground.

"We are not affiliated with the invaders. As a matter of fact, we, too, are victims. We are cooperating with you in hopes that you'll recognize that fact."

Masaki looked over the sorry lot. He nodded to the other man.

"We're grateful for your assistance. We can take them off of your hands."

Masaki motioned towards the other magicians standing behind him to start taking them away so that the JSDF could pick them up.

The big black bird caught his eye once more, unnerving him with that stare.

...

She awoke from her slumber to several pairs of eyes looking down on her. She sat up suddenly. Her body didn't feel like lead. In fact, she felt pretty good.

"Welcome back, Saegusa-senpai." Erika's voice was bright and chirpy as usual.

They looked tired and dirty, just as if they had fought a war. She noticed that the rest of the group from the helicopter had arrived, with the vehicle parked a distance away. They weren't in front of the Magic Association Building. She put a hand to her head.

"I-I...What happened?"

She was trying to process what had just happened, as well as the new memories that were now flooding back. Well, old memories. Abruptly she turned to Miyuki.

"Are you hurt, Miyuki-chan?"

The younger Shiba's eyes widened. She lowered her head after shaking it vigorously.

"We don't know either. Erika, Saijou, and I just came to not long before you did. Miyuki was the only one who saw what happened apparently."

"Magic."

Mayumi's eyes widened before giving Miyuki a look.

"A platoon from the 101st came to secure the building. Someone with them had healing magic, and they took care of the four of you."

Miyuki looked abashed at the lie. Mayumi knew who it was. She knew who had saved her. She didn't call her out on that. Somehow she knew that Tatsuya would tell her everything after this.

"Apparently the invaders have been pretty much routed. The landing vessel is being chased out of the harbor as we speak."

Mayumi noticed that they were near the water. She stood up and walked over to the railing overlooking the harbor. Slowly the rest of the students joined her.

"It's approximately halfway between the Boso Peninsula and Oshima. There should be no issues if we sink it there."

Tatsuya watched from the side as the Major contemplated what to do, before nodding to him.

"Unlock the Third Eye seal."

Tatsuya closed his eyes as Sanada opened up the case holding the weapon. He was still sorting through the maelstrom of feelings within himself. He was torn at having to leave Mayumi in Miyuki's care, but he had been called to perform a duty only he could do.

"Special Officer Ooguro."

He opened his eyes to see Sanada present the large rifle-shaped CAD to him. A CAD build for only one purpose.

"Sink the enemy vessel using Material Burst."

He waited a moment before accepting the weapon.

"Roger that."

Tatsuya stepped to the edge of the roof of the Yokohama Bay Hills Tower. For a moment he appreciated the view over the ocean. Mayumi would like this view. His focus snapped to the horizon, where the enemy ship was sailing away. He hefted the weapon to his shoulder.

"Establishing a link with the surveillance camera in the stratosphere."

An image of the retreating vessel appeared on his HUD. He activated Elemental Sight, zooming in on the view. He picked out a single drop of water on the top of the ship.

They had awoken the Dragon, and so they would face his wrath.

"Material Burst...Activate."

- さえぐさ -

It was quite late when she left the Shiba residence. She had caught up with Miyuki, learning about the motivation behind their change of behavior and catching up with her life. She missed the adorable junior who saw her like an older sister.

After dinner she wandered towards the Tama River, which was nearby. She didn't quite feel like going straight home. She knew that her father would be waiting to hear her report. She strolled along the trail. It was therapeutic to hear the sounds of the water gurgling on its journey towards the open sea. It wasn't quite the ocean, but it was enough. There was so much destruction and pain today. It was good for her to enjoy nature for a moment.

The fresh wind billowed her wavy hair and the wide-brimmed beach hat in her hand. It had been missing for nearly three years. She didn't know that Tatsuya had kept it, waiting to return it to her on the off chance that their paths would cross again. She recalled what Miya and the Elder's words. Maybe it was inevitable that they would meet each other again.

Fate.

A large smile appeared on her face: Shiba Tatsuya had thought of her briefly after Okinawa.

Mayumi recalled Miyuki's words about her changing Tatsuya slowly with her presence, with her genuine care, something that she had thought was impossible. There was panic in his eyes when he saw her dying.

She looked up towards the skyline, illuminated by the moonlight and starlight. She closed her eyes, her mind focusing on the calmness of his pacific-blue eyes, the way he smiled using it, and flashed with protective anger. The tiny warmth that she tried to suppress had expanded exponentially, like the stars in the night.

She froze immediately when she felt a presence near her.

Tatsuya, dressed in his school uniform, slowly trudged towards her from the opposite direction. His messy bangs were swept by the wind and he looked tired. He stopped in his tracks when he saw her in the soft lights.

"Miyuki returned you the hat," he greeted.

He stood before her, uncertain. With his nerves, he appeared more like the teenager he ought to be.

She turned away and walked towards the railing, looking over the river.

"She made dinner for you. You ought to return home for it," she chided.

"That sounds like something she would have done."

Without her invitation, he walked over to her. He leaned his forearms on the railing. She was cognizant of the distance that he had left between the two of them.

Mayumi turned to face him.

"Are you here on the Yotsuba's orders?" Defiantly she met his steady gaze. "We're alone here."

"That could be taken as an invitation for something else, Kitten."

"I don't mind. I died once today."

"I know," was his soft response.

She turned away from him. There was something in his voice that seemed to break her. She had never heard him sound so lost before.

"Perhaps it would have been easier if we had never met."

"No."

She was surprised by the firmness of his tone.

"Don't say that, Mayumi."

The silence stretched before them for several minutes, the sound of the water the only noise.

"I met your mother, you know. She met me and altered my memories to bring closure."

She turned to look at Tatsuya. There was interest gleaming in his eyes.

"A closure? For what?"

"She said that she wanted to end the feud between our families. The feud that began with experiences with Dahan." She hesitated for a moment. "And she wanted to bring closure for you as well."

Tatsuya scoffed from besides her.

"What a joke. She made me this way, yet she wanted me to have closure? She's gone."

Mayumi was again astonished, this time from the venom in his words. She thought of Yotsuba Miya's anguish.

"She wanted you to be happy," she said quietly.

Tatsuya stared at her in disbelief.

"My mother wanted me to be happy?"

The waters seemed to still.

Mayumi remembered the account of his family. He was never accepted because he was a misfit. He was a Born Specialist, unlike sensed that he couldn't comprehend that his mother cared about him. She sighed deeply.

"Yes, I didn't remember it. I think dying releases the mechanisms that alter the mind. I remember the entire conversation now. Miyuki-chan looks like your mother."

Tatsuya's gaze was distant.

She debated leaving him. She needed more time to herself to re-establish their cordial relationship."

"I came to you after the evening ball, while you were in your room crying," Tatsuya began again. His voice was low, and soft. "I was supposed to remove you, as per my orders from the Yotsuba to keep our identities a secret. I couldn't. All I could see was you lying in that hot sand, reaching for your CAD."

"Y-You tried to kill me?"

Tatsuya shook his head.

"I negotiated with the head of the clan to let you live. I agreed on the condition that we would only have professional contact. I didn't think I needed to be concerned about this again. But I didn't understand why my chest kept hurting whenever I thought about you. And then you offered to protect Miyuki, and you did."

"It's natural. You were fighting for us-"

"No, Mayumi. You don't understand. I panicked as I did today only once, when Miyuki was on the verge of death in Okinawa. I nearly failed you. I couldn't stand that idea."

She turned to face him.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't quite understand it myself, but I do know this: you're important to me," murmured Tatsuya easily. "I'll do anything to protect you."

His eyes were gentle gleaming in the dark.

Warmth suffused her heart at his earnest declaration, yet at the same time it broke for him, for the trials that he had suffered through, things that no person should ever experience. Because of that, his capacity for understanding his own emotions was limited.

But maybe in time he could come to understand what she felt for him, and perhaps even come to realize his own fledgling emotions.

In any case, she mattered to him.

Tears began to form at the corner of her eyes, but the edges of her lips lifted into a smile.

"That's enough for me, Tatsuya."

She gasped as a small, timid smile appeared on his face. It was the first true smile that she had seen on his features ever. It gave her hope.

He closed the distance between the two of them. He gently took her left hand into his.

"My magic is known as 'Regrowth'. I read your data in the Eidos and restored your body to the previous state prior to the injury. It's the same as Onna," Tatsuya explained factually, rubbing the pad of his thumb in soothing circles on her hand.

Mayumi laughed brightly.

"I really preferred your original answer. If you tell me everything, there's no mystery to be solved."

A sudden thought came to her mind. She looked up at him, crimson-rose irises meeting Tatsuya's own.

"How did you know where to find me? We could have been anywhere in the city."

He released her hand, before reaching behind her head. She stopped breathing momentarily as she felt him carefully unclip her hair, letting her dark curls loose and dangle about her shoulders. He brought the large striped bow between the two of them.

"I found you with this."

Mayumi frowned, first down at the floppy bow in his firm hands, and then back up at his face.

"I don't understand."

The corners of his lips tugged up farther in a wry smile.

"I'm sure you'll unravel this mystery as well soon enough."

He once again took her hand, and pressed the bow into her palm, then wrapped both of his hands around hers, enclosing her own small digits with his warmth.

For a moment, she could imagine it was just the two of them, standing on an infinite beach, waves crashing rhythmically before retreating in a whisper.