Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

The first month of summer vacation had gone by rather quickly as far as Tatsuya was concerned. After his unplanned tour of China, he had remained largely inactive, focusing on polishing the relics that he had come into possession of. It had taken him a lot of analysis but he had arrived at the conclusion that for his purpose, which was to store a fully-functional Gravity-control spell, a jade sphere of roughly 500 grams was required. This meant that, with the total amount of jade in his hand, Tatsuya could theoretically create as many as 107 Fully Automatic Gravity-control Type Thermonuclear Fusion Reactors if he wanted to.

This was not only overkill but also impossible to achieve with Tatsuya's current financial situation. After all, even if he had the most important part in his hand, the other parts cost a fortune. Therefore, the idea of actualizing a Reactor was shelved by him for the future. It wasn't like he was in a hurry and a few years didn't matter in the long run.

With that done, Tatsuya had turned his focus towards experimenting with his new toys. Half of the available jade was securely stored away for future use while the remaining half was used for whatever he could think up. The Jade had an upper limit of seven processes when it came to the quality of spells it could store, which, while a bit restrictive, gave him a wide enough room to play. It could store enough psions to utilize such spells continuously for a maximum of ten days. Tatsuya had engraved Charade onto one such sphere of jade which permanently obscured his workplace from outside view without him having to actively keep the spell up.

Now we reach the current time. Tatsuya was standing outside the Yotsuba mansion, a place he had visited only twice in this timeline, that too, in his Maheshwara guise. Therefore, as far as anyone was concerned, this was the first time that Tatsuya had visited the Yotsubas in their home.

The mansion was imposing, but nowhere near as big as the Yotsuba Mansion that Tatsuya was familiar with in his previous life. Because Tokyo was an area that was not under the direct control of the Yotsuba, their sphere of influence was focused in the Tokai region as well as the Gifu and Nagano prefectures, even the Yotsuba had to lay a bit low in Tokyo. Tatsuya was not aware of the reason why they were staying so far away from their home ground and he wasn't familiar enough with any of them to speculate the reason. The only thing that he knew was that the entirety of the Yotsuba Main Family was currently living here.

After stating his name at the front gate, Tatsuya was invited to the visitor's room of the mansion where he sat down and waited for the reason he was here. After a while, the person in question arrived, having dressed up to be as provocative as possible within the established dress code.

"Shall we go then, Maya-san?" Believe it or not, Tatsuya was going on a date with the Yotsuba princess. When she had asked him out a week ago, Tatsuya had wanted to refuse at first. However, after judging that it would be a rude gesture on his part, he had consented which led to the current situation. "You look great in that dress." Maya was wearing a black dress that hugged her impressive figure for her age. Tatsuya thought that she was a bit too young for wearing such dresses but a long history of dealing with Miyuki had granted him enough knowledge about women to not say that out loud.

"Thank you, Tatsuya-kun. I thought you wouldn't notice." Maya was smiling from ear to ear, a smile that, for some reason, reminded Tatsuya of his timeline's version of Maya. He had seen his deranged aunt smile in such a manner twice in his lifetime, both occasions involving a lot of people being killed by him, so seeing it on this Maya was a bit unnerving.

Due to the fact that Maya had increased security after the kidnapping incident, the two of them weren't alone for the date. They moved to the intended location using the Yotsuba's car. Speaking of security, the biggest and most obvious change that Tatsuya had observed in this timeline's Yotsuba aside from his grandparent's generation being alive was the fact that the Guardian system was still not implemented. If Tatsuya was not mistaken, the guardian system was implemented after The Nightmare of 2062. Therefore, the fact that said event had ended without any casualties on the Yotsuba's end meant that the guardian system was probably never considered up until now. There was no guarantee that it wouldn't be considered in the future but for now, Tatsuya was glad that it wasn't there.

As for the date, it went by smoothly with them spending a lot of time shopping. (Technically speaking, Maya did all the shopping while Tatsuya did all the carrying but who cares.) Maya, being as beautiful as she was, attracted a lot of attention from the surroundings. If Tatsuya hadn't been accustomed to such attention, having been Miyuki's chaperone all his life (Miyuki was arguably better looking than Maya), he would probably have been nervous. Still, as it stood, he had no such problems.

After they had fun for a while, both of them made their way into a family restaurant before booking a private booth. The bodyguards assigned to them weren't tactless enough to intrude upon such a private setting and chose to stay in the public lobby, analyzing any potential risks.

"So, Tatsuya-kun, how do you feel about today's date?" Maya asked.

"It was wonderful." Tatsuya replied tactfully. "I could ask you the same question, Maya-san. Did you have fun today?"

"Of course." Maya smiled. "However, I would like to ask you a question, Tatsuya-kun. Are you gay?" That was undoubtedly a weird question and even Maya knew it but she managed to keep a straight face asking it.

"I do not have any homosexual orientation." Tatsuya answered seriously. "What made you question that, Maya-san?" He asked.

"I mean, here I am, dolled up to look as sexy as possible and you have yet to react to me even once throughout this entire date." Maya wiggled around, inviting attention to her figure. "I mean, not to brag but I am one of, if not the sexiest girls in this country and you haven't looked at me with lecherous eyes even once." She whined.

"I believe it would be a bigger problem if I did look at you that way, though." Tatsuya answered exasperated with her antics. For some reason, he felt that this situation was something he was destined to face in some manner but that was just his feelings. "And to answer your question, it isn't as if I am unaware of your charm, Maya-san. I just happen to have different priorities at the moment."

"Like?" Maya was a bit curious.

"Like not getting into trouble by behaving inappropriately around the Yotsuba's princess and risking my life in the process. Speaking of risks, I was under the impression that you were engaged to the heir of the Saegusa, Maya-san? What happened to that?"

"You mean my engagement with Saegusa-san? That was called off a long time ago." There was a hint of dislike in Maya's voice. "I mean, after what happened, I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with him. Now don't get me wrong, I understand that Saegusa-san did what was sensible under the circumstances but trust lost cannot be regained no matter how much we pretend otherwise." This was a rare occasion when Tatsuya saw that Maya was serious. Since he couldn't see himself in her position, he decided to remain quiet and let her vent her frustrations.

"That said, you just said that you do not want to get into trouble because I am the princess of the Yotsuba. Then what if I wasn't? What would you do then?" Maya was back to normal.

"Obviously, given the fact that I have no interest in exhibition, I would not touch a woman in such a public place, especially one under such surveillance." Tatsuya said, pointing to the surveillance camera in the booth.

"Ho? Then what if there was no such surveillance and we were in a private location?" Maya wasn't giving up.

"Isn't that a simple question? As a completely normal young man, if a girl was offering herself to me under such circumstances, I wouldn't hesitate to partake in her." Tatsuya said simply while bringing himself as close to Maya's face as possible without touching her.

"Bold words." The girl opposite him didn't shrink away from the challenge but rather stood her ground fearlessly. "Are you sure that you can back up your words, Tatsuya-san?" Their faces were only a few millimeters apart by this point and there was a weird tension in the air. Realizing that the first person to back away loses, Tatsuya remained as he was. Logically speaking, he should have backed away and de-escalated the situation but something in his head was preventing him from acting logically.

The intense stare-down between them lasted for a few minutes before Maya finally made a move. It was a tiny movement, something that could be missed easily if looked at from a distance but the effect was impossible to miss. By simply leaning her head a few millimeters forward, Maya's lips were connected to his. Since he had no strong emotions in his previous life, Tatsuya was completely a greenhorn when it came to seduction training. After all, honey traps failed when the party in question couldn't feel any lust. Therefore, this little kiss was Tatsuya's first across both timelines.

Shocked, Tatsuya pulled his head backward and backed away. He wasn't even sure how to react to the situation, his entire life's training failing him at the moment.

"I win." Acting like she didn't just kiss him, Maya said cheekily. For some unknown reason, Tatsuya felt the urge to go back and finish what she started but reined in his urges at the last second. This girl was dangerous and Tatsuya was sure of that now.

"What was that?!" Having accepted the defeat, Tatsuya asked.

"Oh? Even Tatsuya-kun can get nervous huh."

"Do I look like I am a robot? Of course, I can get nervous." Tatsuya replied. He managed to cool his head by now.

"Well, you are aware of the fact that my family is trying to bring you into our fold by making you marry one of us, right?"

"I have guessed as much." Tatsuya replied honestly.

"That makes things easier. As it stands, I have a higher chance of being engaged to you than Nee-chan does, with her being the heiress and all. So, I thought, if we are to marry each other in the future, why not try and fall in love in the process? I can't say that I love you, yet, but that kiss means that I like you, Tatsuya-kun." Maya was serious as she said this.

Given the fact that he had not expected to hear this, Tatsuya was speechless. He quickly evaluated his own opinion of Maya. Setting aside the fact that the girl had been his aunt in one timeline, Tatsuya could say that he liked the girl.

"There isn't any rush for you to answer, Tatsuya." Maya dropped the honorifics as she said this. "As things stand, we are almost guaranteed to be engaged. You can take your time." Maya knew that Tatsuya's genes were the Yotsuba's main target and the fact that he was an exceptional talent was a bonus. Unless Tatsuya falls off from the magical world, he is guaranteed to be engaged to either her or her sister.

With the unexpected situation over, the date was considered to be over. However, considering common etiquette, Tatsuya still accompanied Maya to the Yotsuba house before leaving.

"Welcome back, Maya. How did the date go?" Yasuyou had arrived at her daughter's room as soon as she had returned.

"It was great." Maya was back to her usual self. "Tatsuya was a gentleman through and through." She giggled like a schoolgirl.

"Is that so? I'm glad." Yasuyou sighed in relief. After all, she liked the boy in question and it was great that her daughter shared her opinion. "By the way, your grandmother was looking for you. Go visit her as soon as possible." Yasuyou said before leaving.

After changing her dress and freshening herself up, Maya went to her grandmother's quarters which was situated in a far corner of the house. Maya's relationship with her grandmother was the best in the entirety of the Yotsuba.

"Did you call, Baa-san?" Maya wasn't very formal with her grandmother due to their closeness and Ayame didn't seem to care.

"I heard that you went on a date today. How did it go?"

"It was great Baa-san. We had a lot of fun today." Maya said excitedly.

"That's great. Does that mean that you are completely abandoning your engagement to the Saegusa?" Ayame asked.

"Yes."

"That's fine. My original intention with that engagement was to push you to become a stronger magician due to how good your potential was. You have already come a long way with your training so I don't think there is any need for that engagement any longer." Ayame loved her granddaughters, both of them, even if Miya was a bit colder to her. But that was mainly due to Miya being a bit colder as a whole than her disliking Ayame. Therefore, she didn't want to force her granddaughter to do something that she was so vehemently opposed to.

"Thank you, Baa-san. So, why did you call me? I know you Baa-san and you will never call for me unless you have something important to tell me." After all, Ayame preferred to spend quality time with her granddaughters outside her room.

"Yes indeed. I have something to tell you about that boy, Shiba Tatsuya." Ayame started which caught Maya's attention.

"Is there anything wrong with Tatsuya-kun?"

"As of now, I can't tell. But that boy isn't a simple character. Miya had told me that that boy had reworked a CAD of one of his classmates, a kid from the Ichihana family. Since Miya was so interested in the work, I managed to get a hold of the CAD in question and what we found out was nothing short of astonishing. That entire CAD was reworked to be as efficient as possible including the hardware. We compared it with a CAD of the same series and the performance difference is like night and day. Even the spells of the Ichihana Family were rewritten to be more efficient. If Miya is correct and the boy pulled that off in under two hours, then he isn't a high school level engineer but a monster that stands at the peak of all Magic Engineers." Ayame said. She was aware of how important engineers were for magicians and meeting one with such levels of skills at such a young age was like running into a gold mine.

"So, I was curious about how the boy worked in his off days and focused my 'eyes' on his house for a week. Do you know what I found?" Ayame asked to which Maya shook her head. "Nothing. I found nothing. The boy hasn't touched a CAD in that entire week which is impossible given his skills. So, I knew that there was something wrong so I tried prying into the information dimension and still found nothing. That boy is hiding something and you should keep an eye out. Since Genzou already has plans to bring him into our fold, I will not interfere with him, for now. But you should be aware of the situation, Maya." Ayame finished.

"I will, Baa-san." Maya said before bidding farewell to Ayame, a lot on her mind already.

A week passed and the results of the First Semester of all the high schools in Japan were announced and this included the results for the National Magic University-affiliated Magic High Schools, something that the magical world was looking forward to. However, there weren't any huge upsets as far as Tatsuya could see. He had maintained his perfect record in both the theoretical as well as practical portion of the exams, Miya had managed to bring her theory exams average to ninety-five, bridging the gap between them while Maya had remained as she was. Some of the students who had gotten a perfect score in the practical exams in the Entrance exams had fallen off due to the new system of examination which utilized much more efficient CADs for testing.

With the exam results announced, the National Magic University officially announced the Magic High School Combat Tournament, and the official format was announced. Out of the 200 students enrolled in First High, 192 of them had applied for the tournament which meant that the students were put into 16 groups of 12 students based on the score of the students in the practical exam. The grouping was made so that the average ranking of the students in every group was the same and every member of one group would face every other member of the same group. The top two ranking members of a group would move on to the next round which included a knockout-style tournament with the winner of the entire thing becoming Rank 1 in the school.

Since the number of matches to be played out was high, the tournament would start two weeks before Summer Vacation ended which meant that he had at most two weeks before everything began. The tournament format was suggested by Tatsuya so he wasn't surprised at all. That said, he had a lot of work to do.

Hello everyone.

There isn't much to say about this chapter except that I suck ass at writing romance that is believable and so you are stuck with what you got. I hope that it wasn't as bad as I think it is but we'll see. Anyways, Happy New Year and I'll see you next year.

Peace.