Moon Cell Irregular

By psychored1911

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/EXTRA or Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei.

Chapter 11

[{PERSON_OF_INTEREST}_SURVEILLANCE_IN_PROGRESS]

[PERSON_OF_INTEREST:_{Tatsuya_Shiba}_IS_CURRENTLY_UNDER_SURVEILLANCE]

July 27, 2095.

A bit more than two weeks passed after First High reopened, and now it was only a couple of days before the Nine Schools Competition.

Tatsuya and Miyuki were walking back home, casually strolling back arm in arm as they usually do after a long day of hard work.

"Well, that was… something…" Miyuki sighed, leaning into her brother's arms. "I don't think we're prepared for the Nine Schools Competition."

"We are fine; it's the rest of the team that isn't prepared." Tatsuya corrected, slightly shifting his weight as he walked. "Morale isn't exactly high these days."

The Nine Schools Competition was (surprisingly enough, considering all the controversy surrounding the National Magic High Schools) slated to go on as originally scheduled. The show must go on, he supposed, even though it left First High woefully, almost laughably underprepared compared to the other eight Magic High Schools.

To put things into perspective, most of the competing teams had forty students participating (not counting the engineer and support teams); First High's team has twenty, with half of them being veterans from the previous years and the other half composed of newcomers whom, under normal circumstances, wouldn't even be considered for call-backs, but by this point were the only people who even wanted to compete, so beggars can't be choosers.

It didn't help that their egos inflated to the size of balloons the moment they made the team; about half of them used their newfound status as an excuse to hit on Miyuki, not that their newly earned arrogance endeared them to her in any way. They would have better luck convincing a priest to punch them in the face than scoring a date with his sister.

And that's not even going into how little actual practice their teams had with the new events; while the other schools had at least a month to adapt and practice with the new rulesets, so far First High had less than a week because the new administration thought it would be better for them to have a brief reorientation period after being out for so long. Forget first place, it'd be a miracle if First High's ragtag team could actually put some points on the board at all.

"Onii-sama," Miyuki tugged at Tatsuya's sleeve, gracing him with a smile. "Don't worry. I'm sure things will turn out all right."

Tatsuya returned his sister's smile with his own. "Thank you, Miyuki. I feel a little better now."

These past few months had been tough for both of them, but Tatsuya knew the two of them could overcome anything thrown at them. Besides, it's not like things are going to get any worse, right?

"Err… Onii-sama…"

"I see it."

The moment they reached their house, they noticed two things:

One, there was a massive gift basket sitting on Kishinami's front door.

Two, in front of their house, was a parked limousine, and standing before them was none other than Leonardo Bistario Harwey, with his presumed butler holding a slightly smaller gift basket beside him.

"Ah, if it isn't Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba. If I recall correctly, you're friends with Hakuno, correct?" Leonardo mused with a nearly inaudible chuckle. "Would you kindly invite me into your house? I would like to have a private talk, if it's of no inconvenience."

Normally, Tatsuya wouldn't even entertain the idea of humoring someone like Leonardo Harwey if he could help it, but for some reason, he felt this eerie, noble charisma exerted from the Harwey heir. It was almost as if he was in the presence of royalty, royalty that expected to be obeyed, whether subconsciously or not. Instead, he began thinking of how he could turn this into his advantage, perhaps get insight into their actions. He hadn't the time to contact Yakumo or Fujibayashi for various reasons during all the chaos, so now would be the best chance he could to get some valuable information directly from the source.

"Very well, we accept."

"Huh?" Miyuki quizzically turned her head towards her brother. "Onii-sama, are we actually inviting them into our house?"

"Just follow my lead." Tatsuya whispered into her ears. "We do this right, we might get something Oba-san might want."

Once inside, the Shiba siblings seated themselves at the kitchen table, while Leonardo sat across from them with his fingers tented and his legs crossed. He gave off the impression of a criminal mastermind, but he couldn't sense any form of intent from him, he detected even less from the butler standing beside him, staring pointedly in his direction. They were smiling politely, if quietly, at them, but the fact he couldn't determine their intent served to unnerve him rather than bring him any comfort.

On a related note, there was also that gift basket the butler left on the counter. It was nowhere near as large or nice as the one left on Kishinami's doorstep, but from the corner of his, Tatsuya could tell it was packed to the brim with stuff. He'd have to check it all for listening devices later.

"I'll be brief." Leonardo started. "I want to know how my friend has been doing recently."

"You should just ask him yourself." Tatsuya argued. "I would assume that you two talk a lot."

"True, but I also wanted to know about his friends as well, if I'm not too intrusive," Leonardo smiled and leaned into the table with his hands. "You can learn a lot from someone by knowing who they keep around them."

Tatsuya immediately tensed up. Was Leonardo trying to profile them? No matter, he's not going to find anything from him or Miyuki. "...Kishinami seems to be doing fine, and I highly doubt he needs anyone watching over him."

Leonardo shrugged, leaning slightly back into his seat. "Perhaps. He's definitely grown since I first met him. Still, there is comfort to be found in knowing someone you trust is looking after your wellbeing, wouldn't you agree?"

And there was that mystery. Tatsuya couldn't fathom how Kishinami managed to be friends with this guy, and now would be a good time to ask.

Miyuki beat him to it, though, and asked. "How do you and Kishinami know each other?"

Leonardo folded his arms and crossed his arms, amused. "A question for a question. Very well, I'm willing to play this game. I first met Hakuno during a... social experiment of sorts. I'll admit, I was quite fond of him when we first met, though he didn't grow on my brother until much later."

Tatsuya raised a brow. "Social experiment? What kind of-"

"Tsk, tsk." Leonardo wagged his pointer finger. "It's a question for a question. That was the agreement."

"I didn't agree to anything, and certainly neither did Miyuki." Tatsuya argued, frowning, with Miyuki uneasily shifting in her seat. He didn't just bring him into their house to be interrogated in kind.

Leonardo paused, almost as if he was giving them the chance to reconsider. When neither budged, he let out a humored sigh and uncrossed his legs. "Fine then. How about this? Each of you gets to ask me a question, and then I get to ask you one question. And we continue this until one of us doesn't want to answer. Does that sound fair?"

The Shiba siblings exchanged glances, with Miyuki hesitantly nodding in agreement. He would have to apologize to her about this later.

"Deal." Tatsuya reluctantly agreed, staring Leonardo dead in the eye. "What are the Harweys doing in Japan?"

Leonardo cupped his chin, giving himself a deep breath before answering. "On a personal level, I genuinely did want to meet my friend again." he then gave a brief smile "On a professional level, you could say I hope to fill a hole in Japanese society, one that nobody seems to have a solution to yet."

That… sounds alarming. "A hole in Japanese society? What do you mean by that?"

Leonardo's smile turned into a smirk. "If I went around telling everyone, then the Conglomerate would lose its advantage. You understand, don't you?"

Leonardo wasn't trying to sound patronizing. In fact, he made a lot of sense from a business perspective. But still, it wasn't the amount of information he was hoping for.

Leonardo looked at Miyuki, who stared at him with mild discomfort "I believe it's your turn."

Tatsuya could tell Miyuki was not too happy with all these questions, but she cleared her throat and asked "That mark on your hand, it's similar to the one Kishinami has." she pointed out, drawing attention to the intricate, crownlike mark gracing Leonardo's right hand "What is it?"

Leonardo glanced upon the mark almost flippantly. "Oh, this?" he chuckled quietly. "This is just a... humble reminder of a time once past."

That… gave Tatsuya more questions than answers. What in the world did he mean by 'humble reminder of a time once past'? The mark on Kishinami's hand only manifested a few months ago. And what was so significant about it anyway?

"My turn again." Leonardo continued with a humorous tone. "What can you tell me about that blonde woman with Hakuno?"

Miyuki furrowed her brows. "Laeticia? What about her?"

Leonardo shrugged. "I want to know more about her, but something tells me she'd be even less inclined to talk with me than the rest of Hakuno's social circle."

Miyuki pursed her lips, glancing back at Tatsuya before answering. "Well, she's a foreign exchange student living with Kishinami's family and is really close with him, but other than that, I know little about her personally." She paused for a moment, slightly perturbed. "Come to think of it, I don't think I even know her last name."

"We don't really know much about her, other than her going to St. Francis Xavier's and basically attached to Kishinami's hip." Tatsuya noted.

"Does she seem-"

*ring*

Unfortunately, the time for questions was over.

Leonardo checked his phone, and quickly stood up. "I'm afraid I have to cut this short. Gawain, would you kindly start the car?"

"Of course, my liege."

The butler, Gawain, bowed respectfully towards him before leaving without even giving them a second glance. While he only stood beside Leonardo this whole time, Tatsuya couldn't help but find his presence… off-putting, almost abnormal in a way, and his departure seemed to lift this oppressive feeling off him.

"Very well then. Thank you for your time, however brief it was. I apologize for any inconvenience." he fixed his suit jacket and offered his hand.

Tatsuya hesitantly lifted his own hand and shook it stiffly. He was far too uncomfortable to put any ease into the gesture. If Leonardo noticed, he didn't mention it, and reciprocated the gesture as politely as possible before repeating the gesture with Miyuki before showing himself out.

A couple of minutes after they left, the house's temperature dropped dramatically.

"Onii-sama…" Miyuki stated, her tone almost as icy as the frost she was generating. "Why in the world did we agree to that?"

Tatsuya sighed and took off his blazer, tossing it on the nearby chair. "I don't know. That was something we wouldn't have normally done. I don't know what came over me."

"Me too. I almost felt like I was talking to some kind of prince, almost compelled to do as he asked." she shuddered at the thought. "Onii-sama, was he using some sort of mental interference magic on us?"

Tatsuya shook his head. "If he did, I would've noticed it. There's something I really, really didn't like about that encounter."

He pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and made a beeline for his room upstairs, before coming back down with his laptop.

"Onii-sama, what are you doing?"

"I'm leveling the playing field." Tatsuya answered, sitting down by the kitchen table just as the call connected. "Kyouko, it's me. I need a favor."

"Thanks for letting me in. I wanna preface this by saying this is one of the freakiest requests you've ever asked from me…"

Tatsuya and Miyuki assumed Kyouko would just call them back after she found something. Instead, they found her knocking on their house several hours later, somewhat rattled, holding onto a dusty, outdated laptop and a messenger bag full of files slung under her arms.

"Kyouko! What a surprise… we didn't think you were going to come over." Miyuki said, perplexed as Kyouko took off her shoes.

"Yeah, well I couldn't exactly call you guys back." Kyouko replied, clearly a bit shaken, before putting her dusty laptop on the living room coffee table.

"What's with all the papers and that old laptop?" Miyuki asked.

"I'll get to that, but first, here." Kyouko showed them the stacks of files and handed some of them to the elder Shiba sibling. "This was all I managed to pull from public records. These are mostly financials and stuff related to the Watchful Samaritan Hospital and this resort he's planning on building. It's all legit."

Tatsuya skimmed through the files before handing them to Miyuki for her to read. "All public records, though I'm surprised he managed to cut through the red tape so quickly."

"I know. And I thought the Hundred Families could get to work when they wanted to." Kyouko passed him the rest of the files. "Check this out. This is basically all I could pull on the Harweys."

Tatsuya took this file and went through it a bit more slowly. "Let's see here…the Harwey Family, otherwise known as the Harwey Conglomerate, is an ancient magician line that dates back at least centuries, and has since modernized with the advent of modern magic. The Harwey Conglomerate holds significant wealth, with several business ventures including computer, surveillance and magic technology. They also hold a lot of political power, especially in the USNA and both the Western and Eastern EU. Last but not least is the named heir… Leonardo Bistario Harwey. Born in 2081, Leonardo was named the heir to the Harwey Conglomerate, passing over his elder brother, Julius Berkisk Harwey. However, at the age of 12, he… pulled a successful coup d'etat, usurping his father as head of the Harwey Conglomerate, while reducing the Branch Family Heads and Conglomerate Board of Directors to figureheads, all in one fell swoop. His father committed suicide almost immediately after the coup, and Leonardo reinstated his brother's inheritance. Since then, the Harwey Conglomerate has been at the forefront of philanthropic and humanitarian action that continues to this day…"

[INITIALIZING_CONCURRENT_SURVEILLANCE]

[{PERSON_OF_INTEREST}_SURVEILLANCE_IN_PROGRESS]

[PERSON_OF_INTEREST:_{Leonardo_Bistario_Harwey}_IS_CURRENTLY_UNDER_SURVEILLANCE]

Leonardo took a sip from his cup of coffee before rubbing his eyes, his gaze glued to his desktop screen with interest.

"My liege." Gawain materialized before his desk kneeling before Leonardo. "Master Julius has arrived. He's waiting outside, sir."

"Send him in." Leonardo told him.

Gawain nodded, and opened the door before stepping to the side. Julius walked in, giving a Saber-class Servant a brief nod before approaching the desk "It's done. I doubt our new 'friends' will appreciate the gesture."

Leonardo hummed in amusement, his eyes still focused on his screen. "They began it, brother. It's only fair of us to react in kind."

A few seconds passed, and no response from Julius. For a moment, Leonardo assumed he just left and looked up from his screen in confusion-

*smack*

Only to be thwacked in the head with a file from his desk.

"Ow." Leonardo groaned in a faux-pained tone.

Gawain frowned, almost exasperatedly, clearly resisting the urge to facepalm. "Master Julius…"

Julius, now positioned behind Leonardo, tossed the file, a file on one Mizuki Shibata, back onto the desk with an annoyed scowl. "You do realize Hakuno won't appreciate you stalking his circle of friends, right?"

"Even with the-"

"Especially with the gift baskets." Julius' scowl deepened.

Leonardo rubbed the back of his head, offended. "Well, excuse me for wanting to know more about them. It's actually quite interesting who he managed to befriend." He picked up one in particular "This one's on his Servant's civilian-"

"The Grail War is over." Julius interrupted. "So long as I never have to hear her lousy singing ever again, I won't pry into his Servant's circumstances, and neither should you." he winced, rubbing his ears before continuing. "And if he ever finds out-"

"Fine, fine." Leonardo nonchalantly tossed the one file into the shredder by his leg, listening to the file tear into confetti for a few seconds before it stopped. "There, it never happened." He then picked up two other files and handed them to Julius. "At least look at these two."

"Tatsuya Shiba, age sixteen, exceptional grades but poor casting speed, no extracurricular activities aside from the Public Morals Committee… dunno why they can't just call it disciplinary committee; Public Morals sounds a bit pretentious." he flipped to the next one "Miyuki Shiba, age fifteen, talented in both magic and academics, Student Council Freshman Representative, whatever that means. Etcetera, etcetera... they seem boring. They're high schoolers, nothing to write home about."

Leonardo smirked before turning the monitor for his brother to see. "That's what I thought too until I found a connection between him and our most recent hacker."

Julius looked up from the file "Hacker? What kind of idiot would try to hack us?"

"My other devices bricked." Kyouko told them as she booted up the dusty PC.

"That's impossible. They don't make devices that 'brick' anymore." Tatsuya doubted.

Kyouko shook her head. "I have a brand new smartphone and a custom, handbuilt desktop that says otherwise." she snorted "You owe me 300,000 yen by the way."

"Forward your request to payroll and claim they were damaged on the job." Tatsuya deadpanned. "What did you find on their private servers?"

"I couldn't. Here's what happened when I tried." She quickly traced the Harwey's local server before pulling out her CAD and using it on the device.

::Hacker detected. Blocking.

The screen lit up with a warning, one from a special security program Leonardo created to alert him whenever a hacker tries breaching his system: whether that hacker is conventional, spiritronic, or in this case, psionic. Of course, he could've let the program run its course, but by this point, this hacker wore his patience thin.

"Speaking of the devil, there she goes again. You'd think she'd learn her lesson the first two times." Leonardo sighed with a slight tinge of exasperation before igniting his magic circuits and using a simple code cast on his desktop.

::Hacker device disabled.

"Handled." Leonardo pouted childishly. "Hopefully she gets the message this time."

The laptop immediately shut down, unresponsive.

Kyouko gave Tatsuya a disturbed look. "See? Whatever they have is somehow beyond my capabilities."

Miyuki cautiously tapped on the power button several times, confirming the laptop's now ruined nature. "That's… off-putting."

Tatsuya stared at it, his curiosity piqued and his CAD drawn. "Do you… want me to fix it?"

Kyouko wearily shook her head. "Don't bother; I was meaning to toss this old fossil anyway."

Miyuki shuddered as she passed her friend a cup of tea. "The Harweys… there's something very, very wrong with them. How were they able to block you of all people?"

"I really don't know. Their tech and magic has to be leagues ahead of us." Kyouko frowned, taking a sip of the tea to calm her nerves. "Part of me doesn't even want to know why you're just as interested in him as the others."

"Others?" Miyuki asked.

"Competitors, governments, hell, even some of the Hundred Families; a lot of people want dirt on the Harweys. And fortunately for me, their security isn't as tight. Where do you think I got most of this?" She pulled out one last file from her bag and handed it to Tatsuya. "This is the last one I hadn't checked; apparently it was something a competitor managed to dig up from them."

"And how did they get this one if the Harwey's security is so ironclad?" Tatsuya asked.

Kyouko snorted. "The old fashioned way. Some techniques are timeless even with the advent of magic."

Tatsuya narrowed his eyes. "Meaning?"

"They honeypotted an aide to one of their branch family heads, and he dug up this." she giggled before motioning for him to read it.

"Here's our hacker, one Lieutenant Kyouko Fujibayashi of Japan's 101st Independent Magic Equipped Battalion." Leonardo turned on the holoscreen, showing the profile of a beautiful military woman.

Julius cupped his chin, reading the profile's contents intently. "Okay, so what's her issue with us?"

Tatsuya glanced at the file and opened it. There was barely anything save for a transcript of a diary, with a translated copy just underneath it. He read it aloud:

"Lord Leonardo and Julius have been having fainting spells recently. It's troubling our physicians since they can't find any discernible cause, either magical or physiological. Fortunately, there isn't any noticeable damage either. Thank goodness, Lord Leonardo has been groomed since birth to become our one true heir; it would be a tragedy should we lose him. His rotten brother would be more of a waste of resources than anything else."

Miyuki clenched her fists around the edge of her skirt "That sounds a bit too familiar…"

"So, I ran a trace on Lieutenant Fujibayashi's phone, and briefly before her initial hacking attempt, she was called by none other than our new friend, Tatsuya Shiba." Leonardo explained.

"Some high school kid can phone in a hacking attempt from a JSDF Lieutenant?" Julius shook his head. "You don't just call up an officer and ask for a favor that big; you must have some serious connections to have that happen."

"Indeed." Leonardo agreed with a nod. "I was initially going to write off the Shibas as some mundane, albeit brilliant, magic high schoolers, but this little stunt just piqued my curiosity…"

"Marks appeared on the backs of their right hands now, right after a distressingly long fainting spell. We suspect foul play; it had to be some sort of branding or curse from an unknown third party causing these spells. But worryingly, nobody has detected any fluctuations in either psions or pushions; it's as if some sort of anomaly is causing our heir harm."

"That sounds just like what happened to Kishinami." Miyuki faltered.

Kyouko turned her head towards her. "Who?"

"Our friend. He lives next door. Something similar happened to him during the entrance exams." Tatsuya explained offhandedly, his eyes locked on the file as he flipped to the next page.

"So how's this Lieutenant connected to these two?" Julius asked, peering over his brother's shoulder.

Leonardo cupped his chin. "I didn't see any intersection in their social media accounts, but the fact he can make the request at all leaves me with two possibilities, neither of which are necessarily mutually exclusive from the other. Either they're connected through the military, or through Japan's Hundred Families."

"A strange man, Gawain, appeared almost as if out of nowhere, bowing and swearing fealty to Lord Leonardo. Normally we would've had him thrown out, but his presence seemed to bring a sense of comfort to our heir, so we welcomed him into the ranks of our butler corps. There is something very off about Gawain, however, almost inhuman in a way. I've sent one of my aides to perform a background check on this stranger, and this man has no identity to speak of? I've discussed this matter with Lord Harwey, and he decided to let the stranger stay. For now. If Gawain is loyal, then all the better. If he is a collaborator to a third party, it's best to wait for the rat to return to its nest."

Miyuki pursed her lip. "Gawain… that was the butler accompanying him earlier, wasn't he?"

Tatsuya nodded. "Nobody would trust a stranger out of nowhere like that. Especially one without any history..."

He kept reading into the last passage:

"It was a wondrous day.

Lord Leonardo had taken control of the whole conglomerate right from under our noses and demanded we swear absolute fealty to him. He was taking control years before we thought he would be ready.

And Lord Harwey couldn't have been prouder. He congratulated his son for his rapid ascension, swearing fealty to him and having the rest of the Conglomerate did the same.

Lord Leonardo thanked them all.

And then ordered Julius to kill Lord Harwey and all of his father's potential Loyalists.

Julius shouldn't have been able to; we've programmed his mind and soul to forever be our loyal attack dog. Yet the dog bit back. Someone, or something, stitched his soul back together. Those empty eyes of his now shone with a raging fury, and it was aimed at all except Lord Leonardo.

Perhaps it's for the best. A change in the guard would most benefit the future Sovereign of Humanity. So long as he stays under Lord Leonardo's control, then Lord Leonardo should guide us all to a new future."

"Sovereign of humanity…?" Kyouko repeated, finding distaste in the words. "Jesus Christ, did these people think they were the next rulers of the world or something?"

Miyuki said something in response, but Tatsuya didn't hear it. Instead, his eyes darted over those choice few lines over and over again:

"Julius shouldn't have been able to; we've programmed his mind and soul to forever be our loyal attack dog. Yet the dog bit back. Someone, or something, stitched his soul back together. Those empty eyes of his now shone with a raging fury, and it was aimed at all except Lord Leonardo."

These Harweys, they sounded disturbingly, eerily like the Yotsuba's Western European counterparts… the secrets, the megalomania, right down to the prodigy heir apparent younger sibling and their weaponized and disregarded elder sibling. He was being a bit hyperbolic, his Aunt Maya hasn't named Miyuki the next head, but the parallels could still be drawn.

Still, there were far too many unanswered questions. The Harwey Conglomerate had too many mysteries to them for him to simply ignore. The scope of their power and influence had yet to be known in Japan, but considering how easily they countered Fujibayashi, of all people, then they should not be trifled with. No doubt Aunt Maya and the rest of the Yotsuba would want them gone should they outstay their welcome, let alone the other Hundred Families, but they somehow have even less known about them than the Hundred Families.

These people might be his most formidable adversaries yet.

"Tatsurou and Sayuri Shiba, one's the VP of FLT and the other's in upper management." Leonardo stated, noting the similarities between Tatsuya and his presumed father.

"Their parents are in the magic tech industry." Julius mused. "Well, it's not unheard of for such companies to have contracts with military forces. Perhaps that's how they're in contact."

"Now hold on. Sayuri Shiba is only the stepmother of these two; there's apparently no record of their biological mother. Want to keep digging?" Leonardo asked mischievously.

"...I think we're getting a bit carried away with this."

"They called up the military to hack us. Thrice."

"...Fair enough. Let's go."

Kyouko stood up, having gulped down her tea and returning the ruined laptop to her bag. "Welp, I dunno about you guys, but I gotta replace all of my devices, hope to God the Harweys don't retaliate and make some not-computer-related security system for my house. Bye."

Tatsuya snorted. "Do you honestly think they'll go after a scion of the Fujibayashi Family, in their own country?"

"After they effortlessly beat my hacking ability without even trying, I don't know what to think anymore." Kyouko slung her bag over her shoulder. "See ya later, guys."

Kyouko left, leaving the Shiba siblings to deal with the scattered mess of files and intel they had on the Harweys.

Miyuki picked up some of the loose files along with her brother. "What do we do now, Onii-sama?"

Tatsuya didn't respond as he helped his sister clean up. Leonardo Harwey was a threat, no doubt about that. He didn't know how or why, but there's something really, really off about him. They needed something solid, something, anything. And none of this information has any real use in the slightest. If anything, their aunt would just order them to investigate the Harweys on her behalf, and after knowing what they're capable of, that might just end in disaster.

He couldn't just spy on them like he normally did. He needed a plan. He needed a way to get significant, reliable information from them if they do pose a threat.

And the only real anchor to the Harwey inheritor is…

"...I have an idea."

"Onii-sama?"

Tatsuya sat his sister down and eased her onto the couch, gently holding her hand. "Miyuki, I have an idea that might get us some real information on the Harweys, but you might not like it."

Miyuki paused, hesitantly looking at her brother, before nodding. "Go ahead, Onii-sama. I'm willing to hear you out."

"Oh my. Now, that's interesting." Leo smirked as he looked away from his computer. "How are we on the resort?"

"A bit behind schedule. The foundation is set in stone, but the contractors are having some trouble acquiring materials." Julius told him, glancing at the screen with a curious gleam.

"You think our new 'friends' are behind it?"

"Maybe. If they're petty enough to go through all this trouble just to deny us resources-" Julius paused, then nodded. "On second thought, they probably are that petty."

"Eh, just go around them and import whatever we need. I'm sure they'll hate it even more." Leonardo said with a wave of his hand "Or would you rather we switch places for a while and oversee the hospital while I handle the resort for now?"

"I've got it under control. And if they try pulling anything else, then they'll be answering to me." Julius stated, clenching his fists tightly.

"Good, good. Tell me how it goes."

Julius nodded before quietly excusing himself out, with Gawain politely escorting him out. All the while, Leonardo continued reading the document, one among seven at most, he opened. It would've been nigh impossible to access any of this information to the average layperson, but to a Hacker, a Wizard of his caliber, obtaining them was child's play.

As it turns out, Four Leaves Technologies was owned by the Yotsuba Family, of Japan's Ten Master Clans. That would've been quite the revelation on its own, but there was one notable file he uncovered that caught his attention.

An image file. One that contained an image of two of the clan's members: Maya Yotsuba, the current head of the clan, and her sister, the late Miya Yotsuba.

Both of whom share a striking resemblance to one Miyuki Shiba.

Leonardo leaned back in his seat, making the connection almost instantly. "Hmm, you've made some interesting friends, Hakuno."

[AUXILARY_SURVEILLANCE_CONCLUDED]

[RESUMING_{REGALIA}_SURVEILLANCE]

"So, which one of your friends gave you this?"

"*sigh* I have a good idea who, and I have a better idea why…"

"Is it one of those friends from the hospital?"

"No, we met before the move."

After Hakuno and his family came back from lunch at this Chinese restaurant, they found this massive gift basket addressed to him sitting by their front door. And now, they're just picking at it.

Or, more accurately, wondering where the hell they're supposed to put it all. Leonardo packed this thing to the brim with all kinds of stuff. They were already at it for the past ten minutes and only finished a third of it so far.

His dad picked up a jar of Hakuno's favorite sweets from the basket and set it on the counter for Laeticia to bring to the pantry. "Well, this friend of yours knows you pretty well. Have we met 'em before?"

Hakuno shook his head as he plucked another item, this time a sack of potatoes, from the basket and set it on the ground. "It's a long story, and I promise I'll tell you about him later."

His dad nodded with a half-smirk. "Uh-huh. You mean like the time that mark appeared on your hand."

Hakuno winced, unconsciously covering up his Command Spells "And if I knew anything about that, you'd be the first to know." a pang of guilt coursed through him; he didn't want to lie to his parents, but he hadn't figured out how to properly tell them yet. He will, though, he will do for sure when the time comes.

He looked to his side and watched as his mom fished a bottle of expensive-looking wine out of the basket, raising a brow before passing it over to Laeticia. "Kid, mind giving this to the neighbor?"

"Which one?" Laeticia asked.

"The friendly gyaru chick that moved in a while ago." His mom told her. "You two seem to be friendly with her anyway."

"For a given measure of 'friendly'," Laeticia muttered under her breath, puffing her cheeks while Caster giggled mischievously, gleefully hidden in spirit form.

"Excuse me?"

"Gladly, Mrs. Kishinami!" Laeticia forced a smile and took the bottle from her hands and headed towards the front door, swinging it open-

"Ah."

"Oh!"

-And finding someone on the other side.

"Oh, Laeticia. What a surprise. Sorry to bother, but is Kishinami home?"

"Yeah, he's right over here." Laeticia waved Hakuno over. "Is something the matter?"

"We'd like to talk with him privately, if it's of no convenience."

Hakuno noticed the Shiba siblings by the doorway, with Miyuki looking particularly uneasy between the two of them.

"What's up, guys?" Hakuno asked as Laeticia excused herself from the conversation. "Is this about the field trip to the NSC in a few days?"

Tatsuya shook his head. "No, it's not that. It's…"

Miyuki suddenly bowed. "We're really sorry!"

Hakuno was taken aback. "Um… sorry for what, exactly?"

Tatsuya cleared his throat. "What Miyuki means to say, is that we're sorry for being lousy friends. Miyuki and I were talking about it earlier, and thought that we haven't been good friends, not just to you, but to the rest of our social circle over the past few months. We were hoping to reconcile that a bit."

"So you're saying… you guys want to hang out more because you haven't done so in a while?" Hakuno summarized.

Miyuki coughed, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. "Well, that's one way of putting it. Yes. If you'll have us, I mean."

There was something… a bit off. Tatsuya was as stoic as always, but Miyuki seemed particularly guilty, for some reason, looking away uneasily and fidgeting slightly. Perhaps she's taking it harder than her brother, or perhaps that time they spent with their family over the 'break' left a sour taste in her mouth. Whatever the case, they were reaching out to him, and he had no reason to shut them down.

Hakuno shrugged. "Sure. Do you want to hang out now? I mean, we're in the middle of unpacking this giant gift basket, but-"

"We saw it when we were heading home." Tatsuya deadpanned. "That friend of yours is… eccentric. He even gave us one."

Hakuno sighed. "He's eccentric, but his heart's in the right place. He would never do me wrong."

"You're certain of that?" Tatsuya inquired with a raised brow.

"Yeah. I trust him. And I trust you guys. That's what friends are for."

A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen that's the end of the chapter. How have you guys been? I hope you guys are alright in these difficult times. I'm sorry that I haven't gotten this out earlier, but I got swamped by a lot of things, and this pandemic certainly didn't help things either. I can only wonder how this year can get worse; my brother says zombie apocalypse but I swear it's gonna be an alien invasion. What do you guys think? Hopefully it's not the start of a terrible decade. Knock on wood.

On another note, how do you like this chapter? Normally, I would keep it from Hakuno's limited perspective, but this time I mixed things up and put it in Tatsuya's and Leonardo's limited perspectives for a bit. It was kinda fun seeing things from different points of view, especially in events that Hakuno wouldn't be able to observe. For a unique sense of worldbuilding, if you will. If this chapter goes well, I think I might do it more often, and with different characters.

Thanks for reading, and please review!