Third chapter~.
Tatsuya, Miyuki and their friends found themselves at a café near to the station in the centre of town. Everyone bar Tatsuya sitting down in a corner area of the café for their own privacy, Tatsuya up at the counter ordering the drinks. Returning to their table with the tray of drinks Tatsuya placed the tray down on the table before placing himself down on the stool that sat at the end of the table with Miyuki on his left and Leo on his right.
"Tatsuya, about Morisaki-san's magic. How did you cancel it?"
"With the almost impossible Gram Demolition."
Wide eyes hit everyone bar Miyuki, who already knew, and Leo who was still a little perplexed.
"Gram Demolition?"
"I can see why you haven't heard of it. It's a highly effective type of Counter magic but the restrictions on it are pretty huge and so only very few people can wield it. The only thing you need to wield it though is an excessively high Psion count, something which I have. And for what it does, let's go with the short version. Basically it shoots a cannonball of psions into a magic sequence and forcefully breaks it apart. You could see the force behind it as the unsuspecting Morisaki earlier lurched forwards and completely let go of his CAD."
"Then how did it hit him? He was at the front of the group."
"I don't want to confuse you with the exact reason why so I'll put it like this, Gram Demolition only affects magic that is in it's starting sequence. If there is no magic there, it will pass through or if the magic is already doing it's thing then it will carry on till it dissipates. It won't carry on for too long though as it has a pretty short range."
At that everyone then took a sip of their own coffee, taking in the explanation that Tatsuya gave Leo while albeit an elementary style explanation it was still perfectly acceptable for learning about the whole of it.
"Though that's also a good thing about Gram Demolition."
"Eh?"
Tatsuya just smiled lightly at Leo's unrefined response.
"Gram Demolition. It's a top rank spell but you don't have to be great with magic to use it. All you need is the High psion count. High psion counts don't always correlate with great skill in magic."
"So even I could?"
"In theory yes. Looking at your build and your status as a Course 2 student, i'd say that you are a pure brawler who uses reinforcement magic. The two magics would go together pretty well, they do go together pretty well."
The girls watched the two boys of the group talk. Tatsuya nodding lightly as Leo 'Oooh'd lightly in response completely understanding how well they'd go together. A tank against both forms in essence. Able to take the physical hits and destroy the supporting bombardment.
"Onii-sama..."
Tatsuya then turned to Miyuki with raised eyebrows, he opened his mouth briefly to respond but then closed it again as he slowly understood what she meant. It was commonplace between the two siblings, probably most siblings in truth. The little sister just calling her older brother and fully expecting him to understand her and what she wanted, these two were just lucky that Tatsuya knew full well what she wanted though it was kinda given with the situation here.
"I guess I will explain some things to you all, though I'll have to have you promise you won't tell anyone out of this group. Erika-san and Mizuki-san already know of this."
With Tatsuya's voice came a seriousness that settled their corner of the room. Normally one would check their surroundings to look for onlookers or eavesdroppers but Tatsuya doesn't need to actually look round for confirmation of that. The two Course 1 girls and Leo nodded their heads in agreement to secrecy letting Tatsuya begin.
"First off is that I'm not actually Yotsuba Maya's son, I am her twin sister's son so I am her nephew. In turn, I am also Miyuki's older brother hence the 'Onii-sama'. The whole guardian thing is just to cover that aspect of us living together and doing things together. To answer why I was chosen as her heir from an early age, well most of it is something that can't be told to anyone outside of the family but the only point that's needed is that I was and still am the strongest candidate to become heir."
"Tatsuya-san, is it ok for you to tell us this?"
In response to the quiet until now Shizuku, Tatsuya gave a warm smile before responding.
"I believe that it's fine, if it turns out not to be then it falls upon me to deal with it. I'm placing my faith in you all, hopefully you won't make it misplaced."
Tatsuya's response held an eerie tone despite the warm smile on his face, fully befitting of a Yotsuba. The smile that was on show to show their elegance and exotic appeal as one of the strongest Ten Master Clans along with the eerie undertone that correlates with Yotsuba, the dealings that happen in the background of society. Things that pass by with barely any notice because of their impenetrable front. They were called 'The Untouchables' for good reason after all.
The eerie tone was not missed in his statement, it was fully noticed by the three now hearing this. Both Erika and Mizuki felt a slight shiver through their spine as it reminded them of the day before and that Tatsuya had used the same tone with them albeit they never asked whether it was okay for them to know.
"Moving on.." Tatsuya's sudden change to a cheerful tone stumped the group for a split second before they went back to concentrating on Tatsuya again. "Why we aren't so elitist like the other Course 1 students. Miyuki is mostly like that because of the way we Yotsuba are and the fact that I'm pretty adamant in not being overconfident. Yotsuba are a secretive clan like you know and because of that we enjoy our peace and quiet, we aren't like the other clans who have grandiose main houses and lifestyles. We are pretty content with being in the shadows in truth. Then there is my point, we need every kind of person to live on in the world. Plus because I'm a Yotsuba and prefer the shadows the less powerful or Course 2 students are better to befriend. You are more down to earth, friendlier and not overconfident."
For Tatsuya it was a person's value. These three didn't falter in anyway before him and Miyuki, they didn't treat themselves as inferior and nor did they act overly polite with him. They were just normal with him. They were just being themselves. They put the fact that he was a Yotsuba to the side, to Tatsuya that was paramount.
Tatsuya wasn't really a stickler when it came to people he would talk to, depending on how you take it at least. He's normally 'Speak once spoken to' kinda guy but it isn't through politeness with him, it's more of a social naivety and possibly even lack of knowledge in that area. He grew up a Yotsuba after all and has been trained to be the heir to Yotsuba Maya who is known as a ruthless leader. For communication skills, he has learnt how to get what knowledge he wants and with what tone or expression. Outside of that the only other thing would be how to act at a ball or a party, while it's good and polite it's not really an everyday kind of interaction. It can't be used as such either. This pushes Tatsuya into being more reserved, perhaps even lonely but it doesn't bother him. He enjoys the peace and quiet like a Yotsuba does, he can then do what he wants.
Amidst the calm but happy atmosphere that was created by Tatsuya, Leo spoke up again but in a way that made him seem like he was cutting into something.
"Then Tatsuya, what about those CAD designs? Does that mean as a Yotsuba you have ties with F.L.T?"
Leo's questions caused everyone's eyebrows to rise, Tatsuya's in a different manner to everyone else's even Miyuki's. Where the others thought about what that meant, the possibility of what it could mean. Tatsuya was a little intrigued that Leo thought of it to begin with. F.L.T was Four Leaves Technology, a big name of only a few years that made a breakthrough discovery in the form of the Loop Cast system made by Taurus Silver or for those in the know Tatsuya. Four Leaves Technology was also in English rather than the native Japanese language so while Yotsuba which meant Four Leaves had that obvious possible link, no one mentioned it. You couldn't fear a repercussion of guessing in this case so it led to a question why hadn't anyone? But Leo came straight out with it and made everyone turn to Tatsuya once again.
"You could say that we help fund it in parts yes."
Tatsuya skirted away from answering the first question to just answer the second one somewhat vaguely. Tatsuya wasn't so closed up about himself in cases such as this but you'd only get a straight answer when asking him straightly and they had a decent idea. It's his secret to tell. Taurus Silver is a genius and leading engineer in the whole world, and only one of which who publicizes his findings for the good of the world so holding his part as Silver wasn't so hush-hush. That being said though, if someone saw his engineering skills first hand and commented on it he would make a remark such as 'Well of course, I am Mr Silver after all.' That being a simple habit from being so absorbed in his work and that it only happens with people who are in the know.
"In parts?"
"That's correct Shizuku-san. We specifically fund the department that the famed Mr Silver works in, so any of his and his teams needs we fulfil."
At this point of the conversation, Miyuki had started looking to her beloved older brother with a calm smile that hid her potential worry and possibly even anticipation. She was as clueless as anyone else in Yotsuba whether Tatsuya would freely disclose the fact that he was the man behind the name 'Taurus Silver'.
"Mr Taurus Silver?! H-Have you met him? What does he look like?"
Tatsuya smiled wryly at Honoka's nervous excitement at the mention of Taurus Silver. A man who took the Magic world by storm, strangely under an alias.
"I have met him yes. I wouldn't know what call him myself but the ladies that work under him have called him very handsome on multiple occasions. You wouldn't have guessed but he is actually quite young too, he is about as tall as me as well."
Unbeknownst to the others who were all deadly focused on Tatsuya's words, Miyuki looked at her older brother with a small, wry smile.
"A little off-the-record here but according to some of the engineers that work with him, he is a siscon."
Giving a quick shrug, Tatsuya then completely took his interest away from giving both true and false details about Taurus Silver to take another sip of his coffee as he sends a quick glance over to a now blushing Miyuki. Hitting the mark he tried for, Tatsuya let a small smile that was obscured by the coffee cup to grace his features.
Once they came down from their high of learning about possibly the most influential engineer in magic, the conversations slowly became more tame between the girls as the two lone boys quipped here and there. Tatsuya doing so effectively while Saijou left holes which Erika happily played on and once again caused a somehow friendly argument to spur into motion once again, leaving Tatsuya, the only one who could diffuse it, to chuckle dryly as he watched them go at it.
…
At lunch the next day, the two Shiba siblings found themselves just outside the door to the Student Council room to attend the small meeting that they were called for from the day before.
Just as the lesson was ending before lunch though, a call came from the school-wide speaker system to remind not only Tatsuya and Miyuki but the whole school that they should remember to go to the StuCo room. Everyone's thought ran down the same line that it was completely for Tatsuya and so that he couldn't get away without being noticed, though it did go through Tatsuya's mind that the call through the speakers still wouldn't have helped them there and he would have gotten away unnoticed if he wanted to.
Tatsuya was actually prepared for the day, especially as he was joining the Student Council. He had decided to finally wear his 'Yotsuba CAD', a simple looking specialized CAD that was used so they could activate their strongest spells with utmost ease and for everything else they had their innate 'Flash Cast'. Tatsuya, however, didn't have a spell that really worked with a bracelet, most of his spells and how he worked in a fight worked best with his Pistol-shaped CADs and so he created a new spell although saying created wasn't really fully accurate. His whole thought process behind it was just that he needed one so he could continue on what he wanted to, thus leading him to create a spell that utilized the red aspect of himself.
His aliases already had their own titles. Taurus Silver the Genius Magic Engineer and Ooguro Ryuuya the unofficial Strategic-class magician, Mahesvara. He, himself, needed a title other than the 'Son of the Demon Lord of the West' and unlike the kid from Ichijou, he would not be referred to as a Prince but as a King. Once the extent of the spell came into play there was only one word that fitted it and could be put into a title, Tatsuya was the 'King of Conflagration'.
"~Please come in.~"
Saegusa Mayumi's voice came out through the terminal on the wall which Miyuki had just used to alert the Student Council that they had arrived. Tatsuya was just standing by, not really looking forward to being in the room today. He had a sort of premonition that if his face was anything to go by then came true once the Shiba siblings stepped into the room.
"Welcome to the Student Council room."
Saegusa Mayumi welcomed the two siblings into the room as Watanabe Mari stood just to her right, looking like they had just finished engaging each other in conversation, and two other girls who stood just off to her left with both hands in front performing a slight bow.
Tatsuya and Miyuki both silently stepped into the room. Tatsuya nodded plainly, wanting to forego the bothersome manners that was instilled into him. Miyuki, on the other hand, never forewent her manners even in private with him and so in turn, she took to a deep bow with the metaphorical flowers and dazzling gleam shimmering off of her.
"Thank you for the invitation."
"It's a shame that Tatsuya-kun can't be so polite."
Amidst the evident awe that came from a certain, squirrel-like member of the Student Council, Saegusa Mayumi expressed her opinion on the lack of a polite entrance from Tatsuya, who just looked at her like he had no idea what she meant. The only thing Tatsuya cared about at that moment was his lack of coffee to get through this meeting with the two female of the 'Big Three'.
Tatsuya just sat down on one of the spare chairs around the table that resided in the centre of the room without uttering a single word, even when they used the dining server. That though wasn't through ignorance but through not wanting to eat or more accurately not needing to eat, nevertheless Miyuki ordered for him.
Minutes later and with their meals placed uniformly in front of them on the table, the reason why they were both called for came into effect.
"First off, some introductions."
"You already know the Moral Committee Chairman, Watanabe Mari."
Saegusa Mayumi had spoken quickly after the trays of food were all placed down on the table leaving the girls around the table to halt their attempt to start eating and sit up straight in wait, Mari holding her chopsticks in hand ready to eat when the introductions had finished. Tatsuya however, was starting to eat his food while keeping a keen eye onto the girls, ready to move the line of his sight in accordance with who was being introduced.
"Over here, we have our treasurer Ichihara Suzune, but you can call her Rin-chan."
Despite not being fully invested, Tatsuya made a mental note to never call her 'Rin-chan'.
"Down there is our Secretary Nakajou Azusa or Aa-chan for short."
Again, Tatsuya made a mental note not to use that nickname, no matter how he thought it actually suited her. If he was going to call her by any nickname, then the expression she showed next would result in her given nickname from him.
"President, please stop calling me Aa-chan in front of the Underclassmen."
'Squirrel-senpai.' That was the name that ran through Tatsuya's mind, coincidentally even Nakajou's hair colour even made the name fitting.
"And there's one more Student Council member, Vice President Hattori-kun."
The name Hattori swam around in Tatsuya's mind briefly before remembering him as the scared, brown-haired male from the induction ceremony the other day. By this time though, Tatsuya had finished his food and was looking for something to stay interested in in this room before he lost himself thinking about CAD related.
The chatter that followed completely left Tatsuya out, not that he really would have joined in. It was random and not inspired but something solid, it left the stoic Tatsuya with nothing to say even if he wanted to say something. He just sat at the table waiting, waiting for the girls to get past their gossiping to finally talk about the reason why they were called there. The fact that Watanabe-senpai made her own food didn't bother Tatsuya in the slightest, sure he knew that with the prestige of her family someone else could have done it for her or she could have had food from the dinner service like everyone else but Tatsuya didn't see how it was a point significant enough to make conversation. To him though, that was perhaps why he was so challenged when it came to conversations. He didn't see anything fruitful from idle chatter so he wasn't so talkative.
Even though the girls noticed this they carried on with their chatter seemingly like it was on purpose, rounding down the time so they could start on it at the last second and force them into coming again after school was over. That at least, was the vibe that Tatsuya was currently getting. The way the girls spoke, Saegusa and Watanabe especially, it seemed like they were being mindful of the time and gauging the full depth of the conversation, changing at their will so they could easily transition into what they were meant to talk about at any given time. And as it all continued, Tatsuya's expression darkened and irritation set in but he did well to hide it.
The only reason why Tatsuya let it go on was because of Miyuki. Up until the start of school there was no one who she could really talk to so easily like this. With Tatsuya there was no real enjoyment in a conversation, it was all fact and purely set in stone kinda stuff. No matter how many times Miyuki tried to loosen him up and get him to conform to a social norm, it was practically impossible and little of her effort showed.
"Now then, shall we get down to business?"
Looking down to the CAD that was around his left wrist, Tatsuya tilted his arm slightly and the light hitting the CAD brought up a small LED screen that showed a digital clock telling Tatsuya that there was only a few minutes left. Refraining from sighing in displeasure, he gave Saegusa a short nod.
As Saegusa Mayumi gave her explanation on the Student Council, Tatsuya stared at her loosely, his eyes only barely showing interest on keeping up with her but in truth he was anticipating the next speaker who was Watanabe Mari who then went on to explain the Moral Committee which was an exception to the authority of the Student Council, although that seemed to be within reason as the Student Council would nominate someone to help out there.
Though the point they ended up on made Tatsuya second guess how true it was. 'Basically, both Mari and I have the same level of authority.' That was how Saegusa Mayumi said it but Tatsuya couldn't see it, no it just didn't make true sense. It was also easy to see why the point wasn't true. The Student Council deals with absolutely everything, the fact that there are certain groups to deal with certain things doesn't change their hold over it. The same goes for the Moral Committee but Tatsuya would have to guess that the exception points to how they can go around things, perhaps that they don't need certain confirmations or checks and they can be more reckless in apprehending or whatever.
"Tatsuya-kun, you agreed to join the Student Council yesterday, correct?" Tatsuya just nodded plainly in reply. "As you know from our explanation that you will be joining us as our second Secretary and Aa-chan will show you the ropes."
Tatsuya just nodded again and again as Saegusa spoke and gave off a weird vibe into the room. With Tatsuya being unable to conform to the social ways of life, when people speak he just nods his head as the conversation goes along and it makes him look submissive, his whole demeanour gives off that feeling but underneath it is the underlying presence of a demon from Yotsuba. The people talking to him get the feeling that they can control him but it would come at a very heavy price, some people were stupid enough to bite at that and were heavily reprimanded either by Tatsuya, who for once cared enough to deal with it, or Yotsuba Miya who retaliated at someone who thought they could dare try and sink their teeth into her heir.
As always though, Saegusa Mayumi soldiered on almost like she was completely oblivious to it.
"So Miyuki-san, as Tatsuya-kun's 'Guardian' we, the Student Council, would like to assign you to the Morals Committee."
"Hai, I would be honoured to join."
Miyuki gave her answer to the unasked but implied question swiftly, no hesitation or a need to dwell on it as after all, her beloved Onii-sama was taken into the Student Council, a place that to her and actually everyone else, he rightly deserved to be in. Of course, Tatsuya saw the almost ecstatic smile that Miyuki wore but as dense as he was, he couldn't fathom exactly why she was so happy.
"Then if it is alright with the both of you, we can start today after school."
"Yes, Saegusa-kaichou."
Tatsuya replied quickly at that point and verbally as well, his almost cold sounding tone visibly put a cold frost onto the Student Council room, that much was evident as Nakajou Azusa, the person who would be showing him the ropes shivered in her seat from his tone.
Moving his seat back quietly and invisibly to those looking right at him, he stood up surprising them at his actual distance from the table. Tatsuya turned his body towards the door and then looked over his shoulder towards both Saegusa and Watanabe with a look in his eyes that almost mirrored a look of contempt.
"Then Senpais, I will be taking my leave."
The cold tone to his voice stayed as he made his way to the door, the hurried sound of Miyuki getting up from her own chair echoed through the room and Tatsuya passed through the door as Miyuki bowed gracefully as she bid her own but more respectful farewell to their esteemed senpai.
Miyuki then hurried after Tatsuya, following him just off to his side wordlessly as he blew air through his nose in annoyance. The students and teachers that were in the corridors to his class all moved to the walls to let him pass by, his aura and psions on full view unrestricted and fully expressed their irritation and want to let off Tatsuya's steam by obscuring the vision of the surrounding people by their true light.
All the way back to their class, the hallways stopped abruptly, falling into silence at Tatsuya's mere presence. Of course no one knew why there was an oppressive aura to him as he had been quite neutral the day before but they all silently wished good luck and held hope for whoever it was that annoyed the 'Demon Lord's son'.
Aaaand done~.
Another chapter of details, setting the stage and interactions between the Mahouka cast.
Not really something that can be made more exciting, to a certain degree at least.
Next chapter will start to make things more fluid i hope in the addition of more dialogue and description.
It will also follow on from the end here.
Now for the update schedule, something which people have asked me/spoke to me about.
Originally, it was one chapter definitely each month with a potential for more in that month depending on which story i wanted to update.
But now I'm thinking of changing that up as a few people have expressed their interest in having more than one chapter a month.
Now, the point of having more than one a month isn't a definite at all even with what I will be doing because I still have other stories to update.
So what I will be doing from now on is this.
The first week of every month i will spend to write the new Mahouka chapter. That's something I'll set in stone.
Then for the remainding three weeks i will write for my other stories and using spare time outside of that for writing the next Mahouka chapter.
This means that there could any number of Mahouka chapters in a month depending on how i progress with my other stories.
So, if I finish a chapter early and look over it complete before the day I upload it then I have that time to write Mahouka.
Also, I usually use my Fridays to look over the chapter and upload it with the remainder of Friday, Saturday and Sunday to read or whatever.
All of that will be starting from November as today is Mid-October.
Hopefully this will sort out the update schedule so you guys have an exact idea of how I will be doing things from now on.
I'll see you all first week of November.
Ciao~.