Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

With the arrival of a few unexpected guests, Tatsuya could feel that the air around his house was quite awkward. Since they were a middle-class family, the house did not have enough space to accommodate ten guests at once and as such, the entirety of the Yotsuba Main family was currently cramped inside his living room. A quick look at his guests allowed Tatsuya to identify them. Genzou and Yasuyou were accompanied by the Twins. The other people included Eisaku and his pregnant wife, Motosuke and his wife as well as Kuroba Juuzou and his wife, and his former Great-aunt, Yotsuba Yume.

Out of all these people, the one that Tatsuya was the most familiar with was Eisaku, for better or for worse. After all, the middle son of the Yotsuba brothers was one of the only survivors of the Nightmare of Dahan. He also happened to be the same person that made Tatsuya's first life as difficult as it was but he had already moved on from it.

Motosuke was someone that Tatsuya only knew by the stories about him. The strongest fighter of the Yotsuba had been one of the most destructive forces in Dahan in his previous life and had taken down hundreds of enemies before finally going down. With his rather muscular build, he was clearly different from his two brothers who were much leaner.

Kuroba Juuzou was one of the few people in the group that he had met in his previous life. Although the old man had retired from his position as the clan head by the time Tatsuya was able to walk, he still held a considerable say in the Yotsuba's actions as long as it did not clash with Maya's ideas. He had met the man multiple times during clan events when he was guarding Miyuki and nothing about his actions suggested that he was scared of Tatsuya as many of his uncles had been.

As for the women, Tatsuya wasn't awfully familiar with any of them. Yotsuba Yume had already retired from active duty by the time he had become Miyuki's guardian but he was once told that his great-aunt had been one of the very few people that had been against treating him like a weapon. She also happened to look like a younger version of Ayame, which showed just how good the Yotsuba genes were.

One of the few people in the room that Tatsuya had no idea about was Shiiba Saeko, Eisaku's wife. She had died a few years before he had been born in his first life and there weren't any mentions of her in the clan records, at least the ones that Tatsuya had access to. She was rather young-looking especially when compared to Eisaku, who looked the oldest in the group despite being younger than some of the others. Unlike most of the other members present, she had chestnut-brown hair which stood out among the raven-black hair of the other Yotsuba members. She also had a rather noticeable baby bump which showed that she was entering into the latter stages of her pregnancy.

The next one, Shizuka Emi, was yet another person that Tatsuya wasn't familiar with at all. After all, she had never entered the clan politics of the Yotsuba even after Motosuke had died and instead, had raised her son for the position of the Shizuka Family's head. Considering the fact that she had been alive when he had joined First High in his previous life, her tactics did work out in the long run.

Just as he had been studying his guests, the Yotsuba had been studying him as well. Given the fact that his father was present in the house, Tatsuya let Tatsumi deal with the guests as he was the head of the household.

"It's good to meet you again, Yotsuba-dono. Although, I must say that I did not expect to meet you again so soon." Tatsumi had already gotten used to meeting the Yotsuba patriarch by now and that was evident in his tone.

"Given the circumstances, I believe that none of us have the luxury of time to delay this visit." Genzou stated.

"I see. Might I ask the reason for this visit?" Tatsumi had already met the rest of the group during the finals of the Combat Tournament. As such, he felt that it was better to get to the business.

"I would like to formally talk to you about a potential engagement between my daughters and your son."

"I see." For the most part, Tatsumi was really calm given the circumstances. "Tatsuya, I might be your father but I believe that since this matter concerns you the most, it would be better for you to deal with it. " Tatsumi said. After this, Tatsuya sat down opposite Genzou.

"I will not be making this long, Shiba-san. I want to announce an engagement between you and my daughters." Genzou said.

"I suppose I expected this. Have you decided on which one would be engaged to me?" Tatsuya was curious.

"Due to the recent developments, I have come to the decision that it would be better for you to be engaged to both of them." Tatsuya heard his father gasp in the corner but chose to ignore him for the moment.

"I can't say that I expected that answer. A legal polygamy is certainly going to gather a lot of attention." Tatsuya was calm. The current engagement talks were something that he had not expected to happen for a long time. Then again, his beating Maya might have accelerated the process a lot.

"You are already attracting a lot of attention, kiddo. Not all of that is going to be good." Motosuke was the one who said this.

Tatsuya could only sigh as he knew that Motosuke was telling the truth. Ayame had already informed him about the various clans that were interested in bringing him into their fold after the entire fiasco with Maya.

"I understand. However, if your purpose was to talk about a possible engagement, wouldn't it be better to come with a minimum number of people? I don't understand the reason why all of you had to make this trip." Tatsuya asked the question that had been bothering him.

"It was originally supposed to be just me and my wife. They just wanted to meet you in person to see what kind of a person you are. After all, if this engagement ends up happening, you will be family." Genzou was relaxed.

"I see. Did I make a good impression?" Tatsuya tried his hand at humor. For his effort, he got a thumbs-up from Motosuke. The others only gave a slight nod of approval.

"If that is all, I accept the proposal. Do we decide on the details now or later?" Tatsuya knew that his fate was sealed the moment Ayame had discovered his true identity. If he was being honest, this wasn't a bad deal for him in the least. Hell, some might even say that he was the biggest winner in this deal.

"That is good to hear. We will talk about the details on another day once the engagement is made public." Genzou's statement marked the end of their talks and as such, the room's atmosphere rapidly changed into a much more festive one. After a while, the women managed to make small talk with Mayuri who was a bit overwhelmed at first but adjusted quickly. Tatsumi was much more reserved at first but Motosuke's outspoken nature managed to get him to open up. Tatsuya slowly made his way out of the room to the balcony where he stood alone for a while before Genzou joined him.

"What brings you out here, Genzou-dono?" It was already night and he could see the lights from the various buildings across town.

"You can drop the honorifics, Tatsuya. Given the nature of our future relationship, it would be best for us to try and reduce the gap between us."

"I see. I agree, Genzou-san." That was the best Tatsuya could do without sounding disrespectful towards his future father-in-law. "If you don't mind me asking, I can see that you are not a great fan of your own proposal. Why did you decide to go through with it?"

"Well, I don't dislike this proposal per se. It's just that no father in the world likes the idea of letting his daughter go." Genzou sighed. "You are a bit too young to understand this, Tatsuya. Maybe, if you have daughters of your own in the future, you will understand."

Tatsuya could only nod in understanding at this.

"By the way, I wanted to thank you for saving Maya." Genzou gave a ninety-degree bow as he said this.

"I take it that Ayame-dono has told you the truth." Tatsuya was the one who gave the green light to Ayame for informing Genzou about the truth of the matter. After all, he is the leader of the Yotsuba, and keeping such a big secret from him would be counter-productive to building an amicable relationship between them, especially since Tatsuya had to join the Yotsuba one way or another.

"She has. And I can say that I understand the reason why you decided to keep it a secret." Whether he liked it or not, Tatsuya or Maheshwara was a wanted criminal in over twenty different countries that were close to the GAA. If Tatsuya were to announce his position as a Japanese citizen, the power structure between the nations would be skewed a bit too much in their favor and that meant trouble for everyone involved. Maheshwara's current stance as a rogue existence who showed up whenever and wherever he wanted to, was a blessing in disguise as no country could claim him. If Genzou could make a choice, he would always choose to keep Tatsuya's identity a secret to the grave.

"That is good to hear. " Tatsuya said. "By the way, I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I want to start a new CAD Manufacturing Firm. I have a few devices around that can make a great impact on the current magical world. Of course, we can decide on a shareholding structure that isn't too skewed towards any one side but my request will be for the Yotsuba to fund the entire thing." Tatsuya wasn't tactless enough to ask for an entire business for free. That said, even Loop Casting was something that could help to make a firm profitable so it wasn't like he wasn't contributing anything from his end. For the time being, he decided to keep the Controlled Gravity-Type Thermonuclear Reactor under wraps as it was too early for such a technology to appear.

"I can understand your apprehension but if you want, I am more than willing to let you have full ownership of any such company. Given the nature of your relationship with us, any profit you make will benefit my daughters and the clan to an extent. As for the procedures, we can talk about it in a more controlled setting." Genzou was impressed by Tatsuya's self-control. After all, people that are in such an advantageous position during a negotiation tend to try and take advantage of it. The fact that Tatsuya managed to remain grounded showed that he would make a good negotiator.

"I see. We will talk about it at a later date then."

After a while, the Yotsuba family left which made the house seem empty.

"Tatsuya, are you fine with this?" Currently, the Shiba family is sitting together in the living room. To be honest, the meeting was more of an interrogation session between him and his parents.

"Well, given the circumstances, it was the best possible choice." Tatsuya sighed. "What Motosuke-san said was indeed correct. A few of the Master Clans have been making some moves in the background and I am not sure of their intent. This engagement will help to remove any unwanted influence." The Yotsuba's influence in this era's Japan was only second to the Senate which meant that his joining them would act as a deterrent against any possible adversaries.

"Even still, to be in a polygamy seems a bit too much. At least both of them are good girls." Mayuri was a bit hesitant but decided to leave the decision to Tatsuya.

"They have their reasons to make that decision." Tatsuya was completely sure that his identity as Maheshwara was what convinced Genzou but he decided to keep that to himself.

Monday arrived and Tatsuya made his way back to First High. Although, unlike the first term, the atmosphere of the entire school was a lot different. The ranking system had a lot to do with that and Tatsuya was sure of that. Since the ranks would be locked for a month, Tatsuya knew he had a month at most of peace before everything got chaotic.

"Good morning, Prez." As he entered the building, he was greeted by Suzume who looked quite jolly.

"Did something good happen, Ichihana-san?" Tatsuya enquired.

"Yuuzou-sama's engagement was announced yesterday. Our alliance with the Yotsuya is now official." She replied.

"Did something happen? I thought that the engagement was still being considered." Tatsuya was curious.

"Yuuzou-sama's good showing in the tournament helped a lot in the decision." This made sense to Tatsuya. After all, Yuuzou did reach the quarter-finals before he was knocked out of the competition by Maya.

"That's good. Congratulations, Ichihana-san." While he said this, Tatsuya was silently praying for the soul of Ichihara Suzune, who will probably never be born due to his actions.

Since it was only the beginning of the semester, there wasn't any work that required his immediate attention. As such, he made his way to the classroom which was slowly starting to fill up. As he entered the class, Tatsuya noticed that he was getting weird looks from the rest of the class. He couldn't decipher the meaning behind the looks and chose to ignore it as there wasn't anything negative in it.

"Tatsuya!" His peaceful time was cut short by an expected interruption as Maya nearly launched herself onto him with Miya following behind.

"Good morning." He greeted the twins.

"Good morning, Tatsuya." The twins greeted back.

"How are things at home?" Tatsuya asked, curious to know about the state of the engagement.

"Tou-san has sent the message to the other clans as well as the Numbered Families. I believe that the Engagement will be official by the end of today." Miya explained. By now, Maya had taken a seat on his lap, drawing attention from the rest of the class.

The fact that this announcement was going to cause a commotion was undeniable and Tatsuya couldn't say that he was looking forward to it. However, he had long made up his mind regarding the matter and was ready to deal with any consequences.

Hello there.

It's been a week since the last update which was thankfully due to me having to attend a wedding than anything serious. This chapter is a bit short cause I was having trouble deciding whether I should include some more plot into it but decided against it.

By the way, I guess that some of you have trouble understanding why I introduced the ELO system. (Gureba, a guest has given a great explanation of the system in the review section, check it out if you have the time but it is a real-world system so you can google it as well.) The main benefit of the ELO system is that those who are at the top of the totem pole will have a reduced chance of challenging those lower than them as the risk-reward ratio is massively skewed in such cases. This protects the lower-ranking ones from being treated as fodder and rewards any potential upsets. Also, it puts a check on higher-ranked student's behavior.

Anyways, I will be going back to the regularly scheduled once every two days update cycle so I will see you soon.