Moon Cell Irregular

By psychored1911

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

Chapter 16

[{PERSON_OF_INTEREST}_SURVEILLANCE_IN_PROGRESS]

[PERSON_OF_INTEREST:_{Tatsuya_Shiba}_IS_CURRENTLY_UNDER_SURVEILLANCE]

Tatsuya left the tent with a sigh.

Things were not looking good for First High this year.

Miyuki was going to be fine. He made sure of that. Shizuku would also place decently in her events if she paced herself better than the other day.

Everyone else… they were screwed.

First High had less than a week to accustom themselves to the new NSC rulesets, while the other schools had months at least to prepare themselves, and the results showed. While Shizuku pushed herself to her limits to get to third place, the boys tanked, getting dead last in their placement, even with the interim rounds.

He didn't even want to know how Mayumi was going to place in her event, so he just left just before the official match started.

Instead, he went to the vending machine and got himself and Miyuki something to drink. Once he got himself two cans of coffee, he whipped out his phone and dialed Kyouko.

"Lemme guess, acting like your pushy self didn't work on your friend?" Kyouko teased as soon as his call was answered.

"No, it didn't." Tatsuya sighed. "And because of that, Miyuki is upset with me because she thinks I humiliated him in front of the Isshiki heiress."

"Don't try to blame this on me; I didn't exactly tell you to have an audience when you were interrogating your friend." Kyouko noted, "How about, instead, maybe consider… easing off a bit in your approach next time?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if your usual approach didn't work, try something else. Or maybe just drop it altogether." Kyouko suggested. "It's just a tattoo. It's not like they mean anything. And even if they did, you shouldn't ruin your relationships just to learn their secrets. So what if the Harweys had some sort of magic tattoo? A single tattoo isn't going to bring them to their knees or anything. They're the Harweys! They could literally reunify the EU or level the GAA in a week, and the media would be singing their praises! What does it have to do with you anyway?"

"It…" Tatsuya hesitated. Should he tell her? Should he tell her why he was going after the Harweys?

…There was no harm to it. She already knows about his ties to the Yotsuba. Even if he told her, there wouldn't be any change to their relationship.

What did he have to lose?

"I'm… I'm in trouble." Tatsuya uneasily admitted. "I asked my aunt if she could get me some information so I could dismantle the operations of Atrum Galliasta, the mastermind behind the First High Incident. Since you and the rest of the unit were busy dealing with the fallout of Sanada's supposed massacre, I had no choice but to ask her, and it turns out I was too hasty. She told me if I had just waited, she would've given me the information anyway and told me to take Galliasta's organization down herself. But since I asked first-"

"You're now under her thumb." Kyouko concluded.

Tatsuya gravely nodded. "And to get out from under her, either I have to keep working for her until she's satisfied, or I have to offer her something substantial."

"And you think offering her information on the Harweys will alleviate that debt."

"If I get her leverage on the most powerful organization on Earth, then she's sure to let me and Miyuki go." Tatsuya finished, "But the Harweys are ironclad. And the only known weakness I could exploit was my friend, Kishinami. And their only real connection that I could think of is through those tattoos on their hands."

"...Do you want my input on your plan?" Kyouko inquired.

"Let's hear it."

"Instead of going after, in your words, 'the most powerful organization on Earth' by backstabbing your friend, how about you go after those that actually earned the ire of the Yotsubas, like those FLT execs that are probably gonna bolt as soon as the new wave of scandals dropped."

A pit formed in Tatsuya's stomach. "...Please tell me you're referring to the warranty fraud schemes that dropped this morning."

"Oh. You hadn't heard yet." Kyouko audibly winced, "Yeah, so, this is going through the rounds in the JSDF's rumor mill, so I don't think they're going to make any headlines just yet, but from what I hear is that FLT really cheaped out on some of the mass-produced products they made as a cost-cutting measure. Not just their retail stock, mind you, but also their military-grade products, and tried to cover it up with a lot of surgically inserted bribes to our quality control officers."

Oh.

…Oh.

"That's… bad," Tatsuya concluded. Screwing with the military's equipment was one of the fastest ways to light a fire under them.

"Yeah, it is." Kyouko sighed, "And as it so happens, we weren't the only consumers of their products. Several branches of the military have contracts with them; us, the 4th Magic Division, a few units in the navy, did you know they're currently contracted with the USNA's-"

"How badly do you think this is going?" Despite asking, Tatsuya did not want to know the answer.

"...Rumor has it that FLT may be looking at potential treason charges if Internal Affairs finds any more contractual violations," Kyouko admitted awkwardly.

Well, that settles it. The FLT executives were a bunch of dead men walking. The Yotsuba may be a clan of sociopaths, but they were patriotic sociopaths. They definitely wouldn't have signed off on any of this, especially anything approaching treason. He could already imagine his aunt Maya was in the middle of covering the Yotsuba's tracks and cutting off whatever ties the Yotsuba had to FLT… while she and the rest of the clan heads were drawing lots on who they will find and kill first.

…His father. Odds are they were going to kill his father first. They will be betting money on it, and he wanted to put money on it before all hell broke loose.

"...I might look into that alternative, thank you-"

"Excuse me, but are you using the vending machine?"

"Oh, sorry." Tatsuya stepped aside as the soldier behind him-

"Wait, Tatsuya?"

-before he recognized the soldier behind him, "Corporal Otowa?"

[{PERSON_OF_INTEREST}_SURVEILLANCE_IN_PROGRESS]

[PERSON_OF_INTEREST:_{Airi_Isshiki}_IS_CURRENTLY_UNDER_SURVEILLANCE]

"Do you ever feel… weirded out by how this life turned out compared to our last ones?" Airi asked as she glanced down at her empty coffee cup. She looked up at the two other Masters giving her their full attention, which she took as her cue to continue. "The Hundred Families certainly didn't exist during the Grail War, nor was my dad some bigshot in underwater thermal energy production."

Hakuno raised a brow. "Underwater thermal energy?"

Airi shrugged, "It's good money, and it pairs well with my uncle's seabed mining- it's not important."

"You're wondering how our previous lives were different compared to our current ones?" Sir Blackmore inquired, "Well, I've told this story to Hakuno earlier, but when I regained my memories, it was back in my youth, all the way back before the start of the Third World War. It was a strange experience being so young again when I perished in my elder years, but I was quick enough to adjust."

"Did you ever have an identity crisis?" Airi asked. "I don't know why, but part of me just feels like this life is… alien compared to what I used to know. It's just so hard for me to explain."

"An identity crisis?" Sir Blackmore inquired, cupping his chin. "Now, that is a difficult question to answer."

Hakuno drummed his pointer finger on the table as he looked upward, only to seemingly reach a revelation a few moments later when he straightened up in his seat and offered, "Ask yourself this: Who are you?"

Airi furrowed her brow. "What do you mean by that?"

"My friend is trying to say: are you Airi Isshiki, the Master who died back in the Holy Grail War, or Airi Isshiki, heiress to the Isshiki family?" Sir Blackmore clarified. "If the answer to both of those questions is yes, then that's your answer. You do not need to burden yourself with undue stress if both sides of you are two halves of a whole."

"I see…" Airi said as she clasped her hands together, deep in thought. She couldn't help but think about her past life, and how different her circumstances were back then. She certainly wasn't as privileged as she currently was, nor were her relationships with her friends. Touko, Shiori, and Shinkurou were definitely not in the picture, and Masaki didn't live close enough for them to be considered friends. She was just a girl, with one real friend.

One friend that she ended up killing…

No, she shouldn't think like that.

Whoever she was in the past existed, and that individual has just as much of a right to exist as the person she is today.

There is no argument that should be made.

She is Airi Isshiki.

With a deep breath, Airi cleared her mind of all doubts and steeled her resolve, at least for the moment.

And then she noticed something. "Where did our Servants go?"

"I think they got bored and went to the stalls to win some prizes or something." Hakuno gestured to them in the distance… where Zoe was all but throttling the poor wage slave running the balloon-popping game while the other two were either goading her on or making insults at her expense.

"Oh, for- not again…" Airi groaned, massaging her temples. "Does this kind of thing happen a lot for you guys too?"

Sir Blackmore frowned, shaking his head. "More often than I'd like to admit, mostly involving women of looser morals or alcohol, or both." He then glanced over at Hakuno, "And you?"

Hakuno just buried his head into his palms, "...Where do I begin…?"

"...So, how's school? I heard First High went through the wringer in recent weeks."

"You're not wrong. Lots of staffing changes, the campus is crawling with JSDF, and most of the student body's practically in a cold civil war with one another."

"...That's rough, buddy."

Tatsuya and Corporal Otowa sat awkwardly at the bench, next to one another, with Otowa sipping from the can of coffee every few seconds, if only to break the silence. Tatsuya kept the phone line on with Kyouko and put it on speaker so that she could join in on the conversation.

"...So, how's Miyuki?" Otowa asked awkwardly, "I heard she's partaking in the NSC."

Tatsuya was about to answer, but instead shook his head and asked his question first, "Corporal, what are you doing here? You should be with the rest of the unit."

"What unit?" Otowa said sadly "The 101st is all but done. Most of the rank and file are jumping ship if they hadn't already."

"But what about Captain Sanada?" Tatsuya interjected accusingly.

"Yeah, well, what about the rest of us?" Otowa shot back, audibly offended by Tatsuya's remark. "When the unit got put under investigation, everyone's careers and payroll were put on hold. And unfortunately, not all of us have one of the Hundred Families or any other big nest egg to fall back on. Some of us live in a world where we're two to three paychecks away from homelessness, or worse. And I still have a family to provide for."

"So did Sanada," Tatsuya stated, not backing down. "I'm sorry for whatever hardship you're going through, but I know that Captain Sanada's family has it even worse."

Otowa's face faltered for even a minute, before turning away, "Well, there's nothing I can really do about that, not in my condition."

"Why are you working security anyway?" Tatsuya asked, "And how did you 'jump ship' in the first place?"

Otowa paused, before slumping back in his seat, "Major Kazama signed a deal with the MPs, asking them to let us rank and file off the hook so that we could keep some semblance of our careers intact. Unfortunately, he ended up tossing all of us back into the bottom of the food chain in the process. I had to work my hands to the bone just to 'prove my loyalty to the JSDF': toilet duty, cleaning the K-9 unit, and whatever other fucked up thing my commander could think of. But it's either that or my wife and I don't get to put food on the table for the month."

"Corporal," Kyouko cut in, "I'm sorry that you and the others got the short end of the stick, but Major Kazama really has been trying to look after you all while the 101st is getting investigated. But we're getting screwed too. We have enough evidence to exonerate Sanada, but they're not even looking at it."

Otowa glanced at Tatsuya's phone in disbelief, "Bullshit."

"It's true. There's video proof of Captain Sanada getting tortured and brainwashed by the terrorist known as Atrum Galliasta shortly before he died." Tatsuya added. "We have proof he's innocent, but the 4th Magic Division is ignoring it in order to screw Major Kazama over."

"Why would they do that?" Otowa asked hesitantly.

"Their commanding officer, Major Magatsu, has had it in for Major Kazama for a long time." Kyouko grumbled, "I'm betting he's doing it on purpose just to ensure our CO's name gets dragged through the mud."

Otowa paused, looking at his hands in contemplation, before shaking his head. "I dunno what you two expect from me. I don't even work for the 4th directly; I signed on for the 97th unit. They're working with the other units to lock down the NSC, but the 4th is calling the shots, and they're keeping everything on a need-to-know basis."

"But you know something, right?" Tatsuya pressed.

"Just that they have everything under tight lock and key; only someone stupid or desperate would try to ruin the NSC with all the security swarming around," Otowa said, looking up at the sky. "Though I have been hearing some rumors that they don't seem to like the NSC's primary sponsors, the Harweys, all that much."

Tatsuya paused in alarm, "The Harweys?"

"Yeah, they're this gigantic conglomerate that seems to run practically everything west of the Second Soviet-"

"I know what they are." Tatsuya interrupted, "What about the Harweys that have the 4th so riled up?"

Otowa shrugged, "Hell if I know. Apparently, the thought of the most powerful entity in the world bossing them around doesn't sit well with them or something."

This was insane. The Harweys shouldn't have that kind of power in Japan. How badly did he underestimate them? What are they capable of that they so spook the supposed 'golden boys' of the JSDF?

"...Is that all?" Tatsuya asked hesitantly.

"That's more or less all I got." Otowa said.

"Thank you, Corporal." Kyouko told him, "Tatsuya, say it too."

"What?"

"Say thank you." Kyouko urged with a slightly forceful tone.

Tatsuya glanced at the corporal with an unreadable expression. "...thanks. I mean it."

"Corporal, promise to keep in touch.' Kyouko requested, "I'll see what I can do to help with your financial situation."

"...Thanks." Corporal Otowa said, a hint of a smile gracing his lips.

"Don't mention it." He could almost hear the confidence in Kyouko's voice. "The 101st may be down now, but we're not out. We're a family, through and through."

"Hngh-! J-Just one more floor!"

"Y-You said that three floors ago!"

After Airi had solidified her alliance with the other two Masters, their respective Servants went out of their way to get prizes from the nearby stalls for their Masters.

Sir Blackmore's Servant got him a CAD. A pistol CAD, some licensed copy of the Combat Magic CQ-04 from a company she doesn't recognize. It's actually on the cheap side as far as CADs go due to how ubiquitous that model is, but it's valuable enough that his Servant must've won one of the 'rigged' carnival games to get it.

Hakuno's Servant got him a game console. It was a Nintendo console, the Nintendo Switch Classic Edition, based on the console that was released nearly 80 years ago. It was capable of home and portable use, was preloaded with over 300 games from the era, and was even bundled with extra controllers.

As for Zoe, she got her a bicycle. Not a pre-built bicycle, but one of those build-your-own-bikes fresh from the factories, and most notably, still in the freaking BOX. A big, heavy, unwieldy BOX.

Weren't those things supposed to be fully assembled when sold or something?

Bringing this back to her hotel room would be a two-man job at the very least. Thankfully, Hakuno volunteered to help since they were going back to the same hotel anyway. Saying their goodbyes to Sir Blackmore and his Servant, who was staying behind to meet up with relatives later, the four took the shuttle back to the hotel with the giant box in tow.

Unfortunately, the bike-in-a-box wouldn't fit in the elevator (because of course it didn't), leading to the two Masters going up the many, many flights of stairs to her room.

"Lift with your knees."

"C'mon! I wanna see your clothes cling to your sweaty bodies!"

And then there were Statler and Waldorf standing behind them, making commentary on their Herculean struggle while munching on whatever snacks they managed to get their hands on.

Airi grunted as she glared at the two Servants. "Y'know, we could use some help."

Zoe took a bite out of her candied apple while staring her Master dead in the eye, "You could also use the exercise, milady. Your avoidance of physical activity is why you're getting fat."

"Fat?!" Airi balked in outrage, "I'm not getting-"

"W-Whoa?!"

In her haste to defend herself, Airi ended up dropping the box, leading to Hakuno rapidly losing his grip on it, and the bike-in-a-box sliding out of his hands and back down the stairs, right past their two Servants before it slammed against the wall with a loud thud.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The three just stopped and stared at Airi: Hakuno with exhausted exasperation, his Servant with a humored smirk, and Zoe with the bluntest 'I-told-you-so' look she has ever seen.

Airi could only groan as she sauntered back down after the box, ignoring the looks of the two Servants, "My bad. That was on me."

Once the day's events ended, Tatsuya and Miyuki returned to the hotel, waiting in line with all the others.

"Hey, guys! Haven't seen you in a while!" Erika called out to the two as she and the others approached.

"Oh, hey there." Miyuki waved politely, "How are things going-"

"Where's Kishinami?" Tatsuya asked, noticing the one missing person from their group.

"Ah, right." Erika put her hands on her hips with a pout. "The Isshiki heiress called us, and asked for him, specifically."

"Miss Isshiki asked for Kishinami?" Miyuki questioned, "Why?"

Erika shrugged, "Heck if I know. But if someone's granted an audience with a member of the Assistant Houses, they have to show up."

"Isn't anyone just a bit concerned about him, though?" Mizuki asked worriedly, "I mean, we haven't seen him in a while."

"Eh, he'll be fine." Leonhart waved him off, "Kishinami can handle himself. What's the worst that could happen?"

[RESUMING_{REGALIA}_SURVEILLANCE]

After they dropped off the bicycle, an exhausted Hakuno and a not-so-exhausted Caster stepped into the elevator and headed down.

"...Did you give them the Mystic Code?" Hakuno asked with a stifled yawn, once they were already several floors down.

Caster paused before digging into her pockets and cursing, "Ah, shit. I still have it."

Hakuno side-eyed her incredulously, "Really? The Mystic Codes were your idea."

"I gave one to Old Man Blackmore, didn't I?" Caster snorted as she latched onto his arm. "Besides, there's nothing stopping us from giving it to them sometime tomorrow or whatever."

"I guess." Hakuno said, turning to his Servant in concern, "I haven't asked recently, but how are you? Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Me, enjoying myself?" Caster raised a brow with a playful smirk, "What kind of wife would I be if I didn't enjoy spending time alone with my husband? True, the whole sports tournament arc thing isn't really my cup of tea, but I know it's not yours either."

Hakuno smiled gently, "So then it'll take the two of us to make the most of it."

Caster all but squealed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "Aww, you're making me blush, Goshujin-sama~!"

The elevator door then stopped at their floor. The two exited and headed towards the Chiba hotel room. Once there, instead of dematerializing like she usually did, Caster just swiped Hakuno's keycard, unlocked the door, and barged right in, slamming the door wide open.

Naotsugu, who had been inside the room the whole day watching TV, jumped from the couch, startled, as the gorgeous newcomer more or less kicked off her shoes and made herself at home. "Umm, hello? Who are you?"

"Hiya! I'm Hakuno's chaperone, Chiwa Utsumi! (Hehe, nice!)" Caster- Chiwa introduced herself with a chuckle and a friendly wave. "Sorry, I'm late! I got caught up with some other stuff!"

::Servant Matrix Updated.

::Known Alias: Chiwa Utsumi.

::Age 24, Female.

::Occupation: Servant, stock investor (independent), chaperone (NSC 2095, volunteer)

Hakuno could almost see the gears turn in Naotsugu's head before he closed his open mouth and was able to answer. "Ah, right, Mrs. Kishinami did say you were coming. Did you check in with the staff? I don't think they're gonna like it if you just-"

"Eh, it'll be fine. Nothing I can't do tomorrow morning." Chiwa waved him off, "Anyways, I'll be rooming with Hakuno. That okay?"

"Uhh-"

"Great! Catch me up in a bit. I'm just gonna freshen up for a hot minute."

Chiwa more or less tossed the game console into Hakuno's hands and skipped over to the bathroom, leaving the two guys standing alone in the living room.

Naotsugu rubbed his eyes as his gaze went from the bathroom door to Kishinami. "She's your chaperone?"

Hakuno shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah. What about it?"

"..." Naotsugu's gaze shifted towards the bathroom door again and then back to the student-turned-retainer, "...Please don't tell my girlfriend I was checking her out. Or my sister, for that matter."

Hakuno could only chuckle. "Dude, I never even met your girlfriend. Your secret's safe with me."

Airi:: [Hakuno, I almost forgot. You're friends with Miyuki Shiba from First High, right?]

Hakuno:: [Yeah, why are you asking?]

Airi:: [This is gonna sound weird, but my cousin Masaki has a crush on her.]

Hakuno::: [So does half of my school's student body. What about it? Do you want me to introduce her to him or something?]

Airi:: [GOOD GOD, NO. I dunno what's gotten into him recently, but he's been obsessing over her recently even though he's spoken to her, like, once a few days ago. It's getting really creepy and my friends and I wanna snap him out of it before it becomes a problem. You want in on this?]

Hakuno:: [Sure. Count me in.]

Airi:: [Awesome, I'll add you to our group chat in a bit.]

…

Airi:: [Guys, this is Hakuno. He's a butler for the Chiba Family.]

Hakuno:: [Hi.]

Touko:: [Heyas! Name's Touko.]

Shinkurou:: [Hello there. My name is Shinkurou.]

Shiori:: [...Airi, wtf? Why'd you add some random butler to our group chat?]

Hakuno:: [You know I can read this, right? -_-]

Airi:: [He's here to help us with Operation: Masaki the Future 40-year-old Virgin]

Shiori:: [Okay, but what's some butler from the Chiba family gonna do?]

Airi:: [He's friends with Miyuki Shiba, so he'll work on that angle while we work on Masaki.]

Touko:: [You're friends with the incognito trust fund chick? O_o]

Hakuno:: [...Incognito trust fund chick?]

Shiori:: [The 250,000 yen hairpin made of sapphire, diamond, and platinum was kind of a dead giveaway to her affluence.]

Shinkurou:: [You noticed the hairpin first? I thought the custom Taurus Silver hanging on her hip was more obvious.]

Hakuno:: [Honestly, I figured she was rich right after I noticed her house was three times bigger than every other house in the neighborhood. Dunno if she actually has a trust fund or not.]

Airi:: [We get it. She's loaded and bad at hiding it. Moving on. Long story short, he's part of the team. Any complaints?]

Touko:: [None from me!]

Shinkurou:: [I have no complaints.]

Shiori:: [Depends. Are we going to involve the Chiba family in this too?]

Hakuno:: [Do you want me to? I can talk to them right now if you want.]

Airi:: [Let's just put a pin on that for now. Hakuno, do you have any ideas that can ruin a relationship before it starts?]

Hakuno:: [Aside from putting them on a blind date and letting any poor chemistry between them speak for itself?]

Airi:: [Yeah.]

Hakuno:: [I may have some ideas…]

Night came faster than Airi had expected.

The Isshiki heiress stepped out of the shower room, fully dressed in a green nightgown and ready for bed, but she wasn't ready to head to sleep yet. Instead, she pulled up her laptop and started typing away. Had this been a few days or even yesterday, she probably wouldn't be doing this, but now…

"Where is she… where is she…?"

Now that she could breathe easier, now that she could walk around knowing that the nearby Masters wouldn't try anything, she felt just a bit more emboldened.

"Oh, so you've finally found the nerve to seek her out," Zoe commented as she materialized over her shoulder.

Airi let out a sigh, "Yeah, I am."

It's not like it hadn't crossed her mind before, but every time she went to do it, the thought of how they… fell out… haunted her, and she aborted her attempt before it began.

"It'll be fine…" Airi said, mostly to herself rather than to her Servant, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"They could kill us." Zoe presumed rather flatly.

And with that one statement, Airi's newfound resolve was shaken. Internally wincing, Airi pushed the laptop away and sighed, "...Was it really that bad? Do you really think she would hold a grudge?"

Zoe shook her head, "You should be more afraid of our latter opponents than your friend. Unlike her, I doubt we would survive a rematch."

Airi shuddered. The second Master she dealt with was a kindly young man; he did not deserve to die. His Servant, however… was far more menacing despite her pretty face. Zoe barely survived the second week by the skin of her teeth.

And the less she thought about her third and final opponents, the better.

"Though, I must admit," Zoe continued, folding her arms as she leaned against the wall, "if you two were as close as you claimed to be, she would most likely forgive you."

"...Do you really believe that?"

"...She may be a bit aggravated with your hesitance, but your camaraderie would pull through." Zoe assured.

Airi hesitantly looked at her laptop again, and with clenched fists, she pulled it back in closer.

"...Kaname Asama…" She said her friend's name aloud as she typed it in-

…And, there was nothing.

Well, not necessarily, there were deleted social media pages that supposedly belong to her, but nothing from her precisely. It was as if her presence was completely scrubbed from the internet. All except for the missing person's report with her name on it.

"What the…?" A pit of fear grew in Airi's chest, "...Where did you go…?"

Concerned, Airi then looked up Kaname's father, and ended up with a service record, and a family record, one that listed Kaname as his only daughter. Not much, but at least she definitely exists. Airi then hacked into the network to check for his whereabouts.

"Bingo!" Fortunately for Airi, Kaname's father, Jun Asama, Petty Officer Third Class is currently on vacation here at the NSC. All she had to do was reach out to him and maybe she'll get some answers.

"Zoe, I need you to track someone down for me." Airi declared, showing her the serviceman's profile. "Don't approach him, just track him down and report back to me. Do not be seen."

Zoe nodded, "As you wish, milady."

Her Servant then dematerialized, and Airi laid back down on her bed, wracked with worry.

Where did her best friend go?

"Come on! You guys haven't hung out with us in forever!" Erika said as she dragged the two Shiba siblings along to their hotel room.

Tatsuya forced a smile as he politely tried to pull his arm free. "Erika, actually we're-"

"We'd love to. It's been a while since we had time to just relax with friends," Miyuki said as she turned to Tatsuya with a smile, "Isn't that right, Onii-sama?"

…Actually, come to think of it, they really haven't been hanging out with them in quite a while. And Miyuki seemed very eager to talk with them again. Perhaps this will be good for her.

"Very well." Tatsuya relented. "What's the plan?"

"Kishinami is already back in the room, setting up Mario Kart for us." Leonhart explained, "Said something getting his hands on a game console earlier."

"Dibs on King Boo." Mikihiko joked as he raised his hand.

"Oh! I call Daisy!" Mizuki giggled.

Erika cackled as she turned to Leonhart, "I bet you'd make a great Donkey Kong!"

Leonhart harrumphed, "I'll have you know I make an amazing Donkey Kong! At least it beats out you and your Birdo beak!"

Erika balked at the insult, "Birdo beak?! She doesn't even have a beak, you moron!"

Miyuki couldn't help but giggle, "You know what, I actually haven't played Mario Kart before. I hope this will be a fun experience for us."

Erika patted her on the shoulder, "Okay, you're going first, then!"

Tatsuya did not miss the sadistic glints in all of their eyes.

But before he could question it, they arrived at Erika's room, where Kishinami opened the door with a grin, "Hey, guys! Come on in!"

One by one, Erika and the others were ushered in, laughing, chatting, and acquainting themselves with Erika's brother and- wait, wasn't that their new neighbor, Utsumi?

"Kishinami, we need to talk." Miyuki urged, pushing him toward the kitchen while pulling Tatsuya along with her.

Kishinami seemed startled at first, but shrugged and went along with it. Taking a glance at the others to ensure they were occupied, Miyuki took a deep breath and bowed, "Kishinami, we would like to apologize for our actions yesterday. It was out of turn and we may have embarrassed you in front of an heiress of one of the Assistant Houses."

Kishinami just stared at her, "...Why are you apologizing when Tatsuya was the one acting out?"

"She's apologizing on my behalf because I am poor at apologizing." Tatsuya interjected, "My curiosity got the better of me and I stepped out of line to get answers."

Kishinami paused, his eyes flickering between the two for any signs of lying. Eventually, though, Kishinami just shook his head, "You know what? Water under the bridge. Doesn't even matter at this point."

Miyuki sighed in relief. "Thanks, Kishinami."

Kishinami chuckled and pulled the Shiba siblings into a hug. "Don't mention it. Now, let's just join the rest of the group and enjoy ourselves."

As Kishinami pulled the two siblings towards the couch with the others, Tatsuya couldn't help but contemplate the events of the past few days, as well as his friend beside him. Miyuki was right; Kishinami didn't deserve to be treated like this. At best he's a footnote in whatever grand master plan the Harweys have in store, if he's even a part of them at all. He had to focus on what helped him protect Miyuki, and he will not destroy those she cares about to reach that goal.

A/N: Wow, it has been so long since I updated any of my fics! I am so sorry about that. I was too busy getting my degree. But now that I finally graduated, I actually have some time to spare. But enough about me, let's focus on the fic at hand.

So, when it came to the Shiba siblings, I noticed that they were trying to be an incognito middle-class family… despite them living way beyond middle-class means. Now, in real life, there are many upper-class families who go to public schools and whatnot, but Tatsuya and Miyuki were clearly supposed to be trying to keep a low profile in the earlier light novels. One thing of note is that both Tatsuya and Miyuki have custom CADs from a high-end developer (FLT), despite CADs supposedly being sold as an expensive commodity and families can only afford one per magician, if at all. Another example is that Tatsuya owns a motorcycle, even though the cheapest ones on the market would be ~$2,500 USD retail (and let's be honest, the one he had in the anime was more likely a higher-end performance cycle rather than some cheap workhorse), and he probably had whatever model he had further customized for his personal needs. I could go on, but overall I thought it was weird how nobody really noticed how rich they were; Azusa clearly fawned over Tatsuya's CADs, but she's the only one who really brought any attention to them. So, I thought it would be funnier if more characters noticed that the Shiba siblings were wealthy and were doing a poor job at hiding it.

Another thing I wanted to bring up was the ridiculous bike in the stairwell scene. This scene was actually based on an experience I had when I was a teenager. So, when I was younger, I went to this arcade at a boardwalk, and one of the bigger prizes was these brand-new bicycles. Since I didn't have a bicycle at the time, I wanted to win one, and after several weeks of going back to that one bike, I got enough tickets (Well, my brother did, his luck is infinitely better than mine; just compare our F/GO rolls) and once we redeemed it, the clerk congratulated us… and ten minutes later brought back a giant box from the back. I was clearly confused and asked why they couldn't just get me one of the bikes that were just hanging on the walls, to which the clerk replied that I don't want one of those, since they were hanging there for years and that they'll probably fall apart if I tried using one of them. This posed a problem because my original plan was to ride it back to my dad's car to put it away in the trunk. Now, I had to carry it all the way back with my brother. The major issue with this was that my dad parked on the other side of the boardwalk, several blocks away. And, of course, my dad didn't help us at all and just laughed at us the whole time as we had to carry the damn thing back at a mile an hour in the middle of the summer heat. But at least the bike was one of those high-quality Schwinn bikes. He also won a Nintendo Switch and an Xbox One at that arcade, but that's another story.

That's all for now. See you next chapter, and please review!