Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than plots and OCs.

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World Divergence: Alpha - Nanohaverse

Transition 2

A/N : cross posted on my blog and FFN.

"Hasta la vista, baby" - normal speech

=I got lost in the road of life= - telepathic speech

[Dimensional Transfer] - device speech / spells

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...

The mood did not improve much... Until Nanoha asked a semi-important question.

"Umm... Will-kun. What about my sister?"

Everyone blinked.

I blinked twice.

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0065 - December 25th

Uminari Residential Area

MC POV

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I escorted Hayate-chan back to her home. One part because of my claim as her fiancee, one part because my argument of combat awareness. Basically, since I had my device(s), I was the best option to escort her home. I pushed her wheelchair through the snow-less part of the road.

We spent our journey in silence, until Hayate-chan started to speak.

"Umm.. Will-kun?" she called.

"Yes?" I responded back.

"About what happened this morning..." she trailed off.

"What about it?"

"A- are you serious? Did you really mean what you said?"

*sigh* "Little Queen, I believe I have never outright lied to anyone here (but partial infos and half-truth half-bullshit are fair game), and I hope that I never would. My words and my actions are often seem contradictory, but actually they are not (just frustrating for anyone else)."

Great, I rambled.

"W- well... So, us two are engaged, huh?"

"Yep!" I nodded.

A pause before she gathered enough courage to speak again.

"One important question, then. Do you love me?"

"Hmm... I don't know..."

"Eh?"

*chuckle* "Little Queen, yesterday was the first time met. And as much as we want to believe, love at the first sight is a rare phenomena. It is so rare that... numbered... perhaps less than our combined fingers (as if I have the damned statistics). Next, you are currently nine, and so we can agree that you have never known what romantic love feels like. And lastly, we have more than eleven years to know each other better."

She blushed even harder and nodded, "Yes, you're right."

A moment of silence before I spoke again.

"Neh.. Hayate-chan," I called her by her name instead of the 'Little Queen' moniker. "I won't lie to you that I have secrets, lots of secrets, and I definitely have ulterior motive behind this engagement."

"Um...'

"Ulterior motive, in other words: hidden purpose."

"So... You're just using me?"

"Hmm... Nope, not really," I said as I shook my head. "There are things I need to do, there are things you need to do, there are things we need to do, there are things someone needs to do, there are things they need to do. And people interact with each other with their own motives."

"That's confusing."

"Agreed."

She tilted her head, "Ne, Will-kun... Can you tell me your motive?"

I ruffled her hair, "Not yet, dear Hayate-chan.-"

She blushed again.

'-But I can give you a clue."

"Yes. Yes. Gimme."

I hummed and put my right hand on my chin as I pushed her wheelchair with my left hand. Purposely buying some time.

For no reason.

"Alright here's the clue: TSAB members are not dimension travelers, they are just magical aliens with spaceship."

She did a double-take.

"W- what does that supposed to mean?"

I shrugged, "That's your clue. You have ten years to figure it out."

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0065 - December 25th

Yagami Residence

MC POV

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A small confrontation happened at the front door.

Well, actually I baited for it.

Just after Hayate-chan voiced the usual 'I'm home', one of her knights came from living room to greet us, uh.. I meant to greet her. The one who appeared was Knight of the Iron Hammer, Vita.

Or like I called her in our first meeting-slash-dance, Chibi-chan.

What happened was she showing a little hostility on me. Her tsundere nature aside, what I did this morning was also influenced her current behavior. The fact that Hayate-chan showed up with me did not help. She had expected Nanoha and Fate, but not me.

And so, it happened just like this.

"Oh.. Hayate-chan," came Vita's voice as she approached. "Welcome ho...me...-"

Her eyes registered my presence.

"-You!" she hissed.

"Yo!" I raised my right hand in casual greeting.

The hiss turned into growl.

By this point, I clearly understood that this kind of friction is inevitable for some time. I'd be on the receiving end of their slight hostility, or at least wariness. And thus, I decide to play with the fire. I channeled the ever-irritating character, EMIYA. A little smirk here and there and some 'prick-rated' facial expressions.

Naturally, after a moment, the other residents would take a look on what was happening. I stopped channeling EMIYA and watched as Signum and Shamal approached us.

They saw Hayate-chan still on her wheelchair, me who stood behind Hayate-chan, and a fuming Knight of Iron Hammer.

One fuming knight, and two more who still a little bit afraid of me. What to do? What to do?

Several moments passed and I decided to end this.

"Oi, Chibi-chan-"

A tick mark appeared on her forehead.

"-We were standing on opposite sides back then. Naturally, under that kind of situation, I was obliged to either stall you or stop you by any means necessary. However, the case's now solved and I no longer need to continue to treat you like I did back then."

She grumbled.

"He's right, Vita," came Signum's voice. "Should the role reversed, you would, undoubtedly, do the same."

The red-hair begrudgingly accepted her leader's words and kept glaring at me.

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Well, I stayed for a little longer for dinner. And like the usual, Hayate-chan was the only one in Yagami household who could cook well. Signum was learning the simple stuffs and succeeded, Vita was still stumbling here and there, while Shamal flat-out failed. I didn't know about Zafira.

Well, I got those by reading between the lines of their conversation. No need to dig further.

I helped Hayate-chan in the kitchen. And while I could not cook as well as her, I made, with her permission, two different dishes. One was a stir-fry of various vegetables with some seafood, the other was fried tempeh, Javanese soy product similar yet different from Japanese natto. It's solid block of soybean held together by certain white fungi, Rhizopus something, instead of sticky and slimy texture like natto.

In my old world's timeline, right before I died, tempeh was known across the world. It wasn't hard to get some, since it was a popular food for vegetarians. It made good meat substitute. However, it was next to impossible to get tempeh back in Potterverse, simply because the timeline was over twenty years behind my old world's.

While this Nanohaverse Earth was quite advanced compared to Potterverse Earth, it's also still behind my world's timeline. So, it's still hard to get some tempeh around this area.

I... kinda... teleported to its country of origin, used jedi mind-trick, bought some and stored them in stasis. Yeah, some... About several... tens of kilograms worth of tempeh.

I got enough funds and space... So why not. It's not like they sold something similar in Mid-Childa.

Fried tempeh was delicious, either for side dish or random snacking. And the best thing: tempeh was as healthy as natto, but tempeh didn't smell like natto.

And there was this saying that Kansai people hate natto.

They nodded in affirmative at my first dish and raised eyebrows at my second. Their expression of 'what the hell is this' in non-rejecting manner made me smirk. Hayate-chan had never known such thing either.

And they couldn't explain where the hell did I get the ingredients from. Hayate-chan and Shamal were the ones responsible for buying groceries and neither of them remembered buying these things.

Aah... The wonder of pocket dimension and stasis spell.

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0065 - December 26th

Takamachi Residence

MC POV

A brunette woman that bore strong resemblance to Nanoha, without pigtails hairstyle, greeted us at the front door that early afternoon.

"Ah, Lindy-san, Fate-chan, good afternoon. Please come in," she invited us inside. "Nanoha said you'll be dropping by. She also mentioned that she has something very important to tell us all."

Why we're here? Simple, Nanoha, the White Devil of TSAB, wanted to come clean with her family. Both about her being a mage and about her participating in the events that happened in Uminari.

Naturally, Fate tagged along. The yuri vibes were strong on this one. Or at least that what I felt. Too many Nano-Fate doujins in my old world, both hentai and not.

Aah... Reckless and misguided behavior of youths... Why didn't I ask the Room of Requirements for some of those doujins?

[Because you did not remember it back then, Boss. Not to mention Lady Hayate and Lady Luna would be disappointed on you.]

Gee.. It was rhetorical, Eyaruu...

[But it's a valid answer, Boss.]

Lindy-san also came along, both as Fate's mother-to-be and our commander. Err.. Captain... Yes. Captain Lindy Harlaown. Let's stick to that.

And she also dragged me along. No, it wasn't a request, it was an order. Pure and simple. Not that I was going to refuse.

Hayate-chan and Reinforce also asked to come along. Both came as Nanoha's friend and people involved in recent case. Or perhaps in Reinforce's case, she felt responsible for what she and her knights had done, and therefore tried to make amends.

Lindy-san let them to tag along after some consideration, whatever was that.

And so after some pleasantries, we retired to the living room. It was a quite spacious lounge, and we're seated on the mats around a low table. Three other members of Takamachi household were already waiting and sat on the opposite side.

No, we could not sat cross-legged. This was Japanese household, thus we had to sat in seiza.

"I guess some introduction in order," Lindy-san started. "This is Shirou and Momoko Takamachi," she gestured toward the other two adults. "Their son and daughter, Kyouya and Miyuki, And finally, there's Nanoha-chan whom you've met and known..."

Our group nodded in sync before she continued.

"Now then, shall we introduce ourselves properly?" she said her rhetorical question.

Nanoha took the initiative.

"I am Nanoha Takamachi, third party consultant / civilian collaborator of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau and a triple-A-ranked Mage."

A pause for her family to digest the information. In the meantime, a yuri-bonding moment of Nano-Fate discreetly holding hand.

"So that's it? A magical girl?" came her father's questioning response.

Shocked faces on our groups.

"Don't forget the frilly dresses and fight for love and justice," Miyuki chirped in.

More shocked faces... And some snickers.

"Nanoha," this time her mother who spoke. "Remember that we are your family. You may try to keep everything secrets, but some things will eventually leaked out. We have some suspicions, but no concrete proof. And as much as it pains me to let you rush into danger, I am glad that you finally tell us."

Some nods here and there... And don't forget the mother-daughter bonding moment.

"Actually, over the last seven months your daughter has greatly assisted us in resolving two quite major cases that involved powerful and dangerous magical artifacts," Lindy-san said after finally collected herself. "I am Lindy Harlaown of TSAB Sailing Force, captain of L-class warship Arthra. I am a double-A-rank mage from Administered World #1, Mid-Childa."

Now that's some heavy stuffs she dropped on the Takamachis. I believed they did not expected Lindy-san's rank to be that high. She's close to Nanoha? Check. She's acting like Nanoha's superior? Check. Perhaps they expected her to be a spokesperson, adviser (like Zordon), or team leader (like Nick Fury), not a honest-to-kami warship!

Fate took the next turn.

"I am Fate Testarossa. And just like Nanoha-chan, I am a civilian collaborator of TSAB and a triple-A-ranked mage. Technically, I'm also from Mid-Childa."

She could not exactly say Precia's Floating Fortress, could she? Precia and Alicia were from Mid-Childa, since she was Alicia's clone and had her memories, she's from Mid-Childa. Technically.

Some nods here and there.

Come to think about it... Just at which point of timeline did these three decide to enlist at TSAB?

Eyes suddenly directed at me, indicating that it's my turn to introduce myself.

*cough* "My name is William Thunderion, but call me Will. One thing led to another, and I got lost on the road of life."

Nanoha's parents sweat-dropped, her siblings looked amused, Lindy-san face-palmed, Nanoha, and Fate groaned, Hayate-chan giggled, and Reinforce kept her poker face.

"Well, if it isn't the self-proclaimed shinobi boy..." Kyouya spoke in amusement.

"No, dear Kyou-chan. It's the mahou-shounen. Our baby sister is a mahou-shoujo, therefore he must be a mahou-shounen!" this time Miyuki responded.

Some snickers and giggles. Even Lindy-san did it too.

Damnit!

"Actually," I gritted my teeth as I spoke. "I am a shinobi by technicality, by my skill-set, not unlike how you become a bushi. Therefore it's not self-proclaimed. And it's madou-shinobi, not mahou-shounen."

Giggles increased.

I needed something to defuse the situation. I needed it quickly. Let's see, I had enough physical rest in the last 24 hours. Therefore I had recovered a significant amount of my ki. So... Why not a spar?

"Takamachi-san," I said while smiling sweetly, "would you like to have a spar with me?"

Right when I finished speaking, I realized that I just made a mistake.

I said that to none specific. And there are practically five Takamachis in this room. One ex-bodyguard, one housewife, two bushi, and one mahou-shoujo.

Well, shit!

The frightening thing was four, a honest-to-kami four, grins of 'challenge accepted'.

Had those four also included Nanoha, I would not be so surprised. But no... Instead of Nanoha, it was Momoko-san, the supposedly frail housewife. She's one among the four who accepted my challenge of spar.

Just what the hell was this family?

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After some smooth-talking, which was mainly by Nanoha and Lindy-san, to postpone the spar until the end of discussion, came Hayate-chan's turn for introduction.

"My name is Hayate Yagami, the current master of Book of the Night Sky. Its corrupted form, the Book of Darkness, was the threat that, thankfully, was recently neutralized on Christmas eve. My current condition was also caused by the Book's corrupted form."

Some raised eyebrows on her introduction but pressed no further.

Next came Rein's turn.

"I am the avatar of the Book of the Night Sky. My master has bestowed the name 'Reinforce' upon me," she said with her still-stoic face.

A long silence followed afterward. Either they were waiting for more lines from rein or did not know how to respond to that statement.

It seemed that Hayate-chan still need to 'break her out of her shell'. Not that it's surprising, She and the entire Wolkenritter were loyal only to the master of the Book. To the extent that they'd ignore anyone else, unless the master ordered them to.

Before Hayate-chan became their master, of course. This time they had begun to change for better.

Eventually, Shirou-san broke the silence,

"So... All of you are magic users, right?"

Collective nods from our group.

"And all of you work or will be working for this 'Bureau'?"

More nods from our group, including me.

Well, I currently was a TSAB contract mage. While I hadn't yet enlisted, I was, technically, working for/with TSAB.

"Then... Can you please explain this in more details?"

"Of course," Lindy-san nodded. "After all, that's what we'd like to discuss with you. Now then, where shall I begin?"

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I sprawled on the dojo's floor after sparring matches. Dead tired.

In the end I only sparred against Miyuki and Kyouya again. The others were watching our spar, though both adult Takamachi twitched every now end then during the spar. Shirou-san kept his eyes on our bokken vs tonfa battle, while Momoko-san's gaze trailed off to the naginata that was hung on the wall.

It was not a good sign, I told myself.

One important point in Japanese anime culture was the more weak / frail a female character appear, the stronger she actually was. Just because I currently experienced the anime storyline in real did not make that statement less true. Just take a look at Hayate-chan. She might looked weak, but she got that insane amount of mana on her disposal, more than combined amount of Fate's and Nanoha's reserves. It only looked not quite big because her mana pool was shared with her knights.

Scary right? And I claimed such girl as my fiancee...

Anyway, the result of the duel was... enlightening for the audiences. We fought with no magic, except one that I was allowed to. I deployed Lee, my ornate pair of metal tonfas, because both Miyuki and Kyouya had destroyed my wooden tonfas. I only had two pairs and they had destroyed both in our previous duel.

There were some objection at first, since metal vs wood were not equal in match. Shirou-san put his foot down and decided to allow it since tonfa was leaned more toward defense and mine had no sharp nor pointy edges.

Of course I used ki, it was no mana. Technically, it was not magic. Not that anyone else knew... Perhaps Shirou-san knew, but he kept silent even after the spar ended.

I won against Miyuki in not-so-flawless victory. I knocked her behind her right knee, after ki-powered leap, with one tonfa, and held her neck down with the other. Of course I had some bumps from her previous strikes when I failed to parry.

My next match was against Kyouya. I had to say it was more fun than the one we had on riverside. On a single glance, we're equally matched. However, both of us knew that we're still holding back... Quite a bit.

Therefore we decided to take it a little further.

He raised both bokken in that strange stance he previously used against me. Naturally, I responded with channeling more ki to my limbs and releasing my killing intent. On an unknown signal that we both agreed on, we leaped forward and our weapons clashed.

And my vision went blank.

I did not really remember what happened, but it seemed that our final attack knocked us both. Because when I woke up, Hayate-chan was nursing me. On the other side of the dojo, Miyuki was nursing the battered Kyouya.

Taking a glance at my surrounding, I noticed Lindy-san half-glancing half-glaring at me.

Oh, damn!

It was her first time for her to directly witness or observe my battle. Thus, it was her first time experiencing my brand of killing intent. While I did not unleash it on full power, it was quite enough to drew some reaction from her.

The tongue lashing I got from Lindy-san afterward was worth it.

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A/N: If you didn't notice, I used the Book and Tome interchangeably... It does not mean anything other than what my muse decided when I wrote this story.

And yeah, my muse is a top-grade annoyance. Sometimes I got slapped in the face with the idea of several tens of chapter in the future when I still in the middle of writing. No warning whatsoever, not even a little clue on how I should go from here to there. I can only roll on my bed not knowing what to do.