Tatsuya opens the door to his hotel room, surprised to see that Leo is already inside. The buses carrying all of the First High competitors in the Nine Schools Competition had just a little earlier arrived at the new hotel built specifically for this competition. The buses were behind schedule, so instead of getting most of the day to get ready for the evening opening ball, First High students now only had two hours.

Tatsuya could see Leo frantically unpacking and taking out his nice dress clothes. In contrast, Tatsuya simply sets his suitcase next to his bed without even opening it and walks away.

Dumbfounded, Leo asks, "You're not going to get ready for the ball? There's barely any time left, you know."

"I'll be fine. I wasn't planning on dressing. . . that fancy," Tatsuya stares at Leo's formal suit which looks very new and even has sections that sparkle a bit.

Leo puts on a big grin, "There's going to be a lot of lovely young girls out there at the ball all dressed up and in need of a dance partner. This is a huge opportunity for us guys! How could you not take this so seriously?!"

Tatsuya turns and walks towards the door, calmly replying, "Sorry, I don't dance."

As soon as he closes his hotel door behind him, Tatsuya scans down each side of the hallway very carefully. New locations are always potentially dangerous and need to be checked before Tatsuya can feel safe for his sister and for himself.

Tatsuya walks down each hallway quickly, memorizing a very precise mental map of the entire hotel in case of emergency. At this time, all of the students here are busy locked in their hotel rooms preparing for the opening ball that evening, which means that almost no one is wandering the halls and getting suspicious of Tatsuya's actions.

He tracks down Miyuki's door, which is obviously priority number one. Tatsuya locates the nearby exits and possible routes of escape.

Then he walks into the common area, making a mental note of where all of the security cameras and guards are. There's no time right now to track the guards' pathing, but by the end of the Nine Schools Competition, Tatsuya is confident he will have all of the guards' pathing and habits memorized as well.

Tatsuya walks directly into the massive ballroom where all of the Nine Schools Competition contestants from all nine Magic University Affiliated High Schools will soon gather. But right now, about an hour and a half away from the start of the big event, the ballroom is still mostly empty other than the service staff finalizing the setup. For Tatsuya, such a large gathering is always an easy target for an attack. He scans the walls and ceiling, finding every possible spot an assassin could hide.

Even though Tatsuya is far from the military's lab rat, as rumors would claim, he was nevertheless extensively trained by them in the field of special ops. The military themselves did not have plans to rigorously train Tatsuya. Instead, it was Tatsuya himself who repeatedly insisted on getting as much military training as he possibly could. Why? To protect his dear sister of course.

Now that the public spaces on the inside of the hotel had been checked and analyzed by Tatsuya, he calmly walks outside. The isolated location of the Nine Schools Competition poses its own problems. The hotel and entire event grounds are surrounded by endless trees that anyone could easily hide within. There's no way Tatsuya could check every tree, but at least a look around the building was necessary.

As Tatsuya walks to the side of the building, he sees a woman wearing a yellow formal top with a brown dress skirt followed closely by two soldiers in full military uniforms, armed with rifles. The woman had light brown hair with a very long ponytail.

As they approach each other, the woman speaks first, "Oh? What do we have here? Are you lost, little child?"

Tatsuya frowns, "I'm not a child anymore, Ms. Fujibayashi."

"Well, you certainly aren't an adult yet," Fujibayashi Kyouko retorts. "Also, it's been less than a year since the last time I saw you, and you've already stopped calling me by my first name? That hurts, Tatsuya."

Tatsuya sighs, "On second thought, I should have stuck to my original plan of pretending not to know you."

"Don't worry, I am well aware of the situation and the rumors from the Ten Master Clans. Anyone who sees us right now will merely see a random student running into a security personnel. Now, we're going to keep up this facade," Fujibayashi extends her arm, as if pointing Tatsuya back towards the hotel entrance.

Tatsuya understands and bows before turning around and slowly walking back. Fujibayashi walks behind, pretending to escort him.

"See? Now we can talk," Fujibayashi says happily. "You must tell me about how starting high school was. Everyone at the base is curious, but unfortunately you are not an easy person to spy on."

"My sister is definitely enjoying high school. That's the most important part. We've met nice people and found a group of friends."

Fujibayashi interjects, "Just friends? What about. . . you know, a crush?"

"To be honest, I haven't asked her about that yet."

"Whaaat?! Seriously? She already missed out on middle school dating because she had to hang around smelly old military men that entire period of her life. You don't think she desperately wants to know how it feels to love and be loved?"

Tatsuya glares at Fujibayashi, who is acting out too much to the point she no longer looked like she was escorting Tatsuya. "Regardless, that's her business. Maybe she just hasn't found a boy that makes her feel that way yet."

Fujibayashi scratches her chin playfully, "Ah, true! A girl as perfect as her must have the highest of standards when it comes to dating! Maybe there's no one cut out for her in First High. Maybe this Nine Schools Competition will reveal someone worthy enough for her!"

"Perhaps," is all that Tatsuya replies, not wanting to get caught up in Fujibayashi's daydreaming.

Fujibayashi finally calms down and gently asks, "So what about you? How do you feel about high school?"

"I don't feel anything, remember?"

"You know that's not what I meant. I guess I should ask what do you think of your high school life? Are you fitting in? Are you doing okay in your classes without using you know," Fujibayashi points at her eye.

Tatsuya turns his head to stare directly into Fujibayashi's eyes, "You sound like how a mother should be."

Upon hearing that, Fujibayashi immediately blushes and turns away, "Oh. . . ah. . . I didn't mean to remind you of your. . ."

But Tatsuya continues without hesitation, "When I think about it, think back to our time at the barracks, you've always been this way towards us. It's about time I say thank you."

"Well. . . ah. . ."

Tatsuya stops walking abruptly and interrupts Fujibayashi's loss for words. They had arrived at the front of the hotel now. There were now students walking through the front lobby that could easily see Tatsuya and Fujibayashi.

Tatsuya shouts loudly so that everyone nearby can hear, while also bowing towards Fujibayashi, "Thank you for helping me find my way back, ma'am!"

Fujibayashi wants to act along, but she can't help be quietly whisper to Tatsuya, "Hey, come visit the barracks some time, okay? Everyone there misses you two."

"Will do," Tatsuya whispers back.

* * * * * [SCENE CHANGE] * * * * *

Tatsuya frowned, disappointed he could not finish walking around the perimeter of the hotel, but at the same time, he is a bit surprised that Fujibayashi, a high ranking military officer, would personally be on site to help security. That fact balances out Tatsuya's disappointment.

He makes his way back to his room while other students have started trickling out of their own rooms fully dressed in ball gowns and proper suits. Tatsuya walks into his room to find Leo still standing in front of the bathroom mirror, combing his hair.

"I didn't know you knew how to do that," Tatsuya sarcastically remarks.

"Woah, too early for such mean words! But at least my mood is too high to be offended right now," Leo says back.

Tatsuya opens his suitcase and gets out his own suit and tie. It's not overly fancy, but it does fit in. Tatsuya cares zero about this event, but even he knows proper manners and that if he dresses poorly, it'll make his sister look bad as well.

Tatsuya quickly changes and puts on his shoes just as Leo finally walks out of the bathroom, surrounded by the scent of a little too much cologne.

Leo glares at Tatsuya mockingly, "Really, you actually just took five minutes to get ready? What are you going to impress anyone with?"

"Natural beauty," Tatsuya swiftly responds.

"Natur. . . man! I hate that you actually are naturally good looking! You're probably going to get more attention than me despite putting in no effort! Life is so unfair."

Tatsuya simply pats Leo on the shoulders while walking out, "With that low of self confidence, you are most certainly going to attract no attention, my friend."

Tatsuya walks straight for Miyuki's room, with Leo close behind him. He knocks, only to be greeted by a girl who is not his sister. This girl was very short and had ruby red hair.

"Er. . . I'm looking for Miyuki," Tatsuya says hesitantly to this girl he has never met or even seen before.

"Ohhh, I see," the ruby haired girl smirks before turn back towards the room. She shouts, "Miyuki, you have a suitor already!"

Miyuki's voice can be heard from the back of their hotel room, "Suitor? What do you mean?" Miyuki rushes to the door, hiding all but her face behind the door. She relaxes when she sees that it's Tatsuya.

Even Tatsuya's eyebrows were raised in shock. Miyuki turns to the girl, giving her a playfully angry look, "This, Eimi, is my brother. Not a suitor."

Eimi simply shrugs while putting on the most troll face she can, "Oops."

Miyuki opens the door fully to reveal her blindingly beautiful dress. It is a calming sky blue color made purely out of silk, draped over a slender figure and long enough to touch the floor, decorated with elegant, white snowflakes that sparkle in the light.

Leo took one look and had to immediately force himself to look away to avoid permanently staring at Miyuki's body. But Tatsuya kept his eyes on his little sister.

Shyly, Miyuki asks, "Well, brother, what do you think?"

"About what?" Tatsuya asks dead seriously.

Miyuki pouts, "About my dress. . ."

"Oh," Tatsuya thinks a bit too long to find a compliment, "You look more beautiful than I've ever seen you."

Miyuki immediately blushes, but Tatsuya was not done yet, "but admittedly we have not had any opportunity in our entire lives basically to dress up. . ." At this point Miyuki steps forwards and puts a finger over Tatsuya's mouth, all while giggling.

Even Leo leans over, "Yeah. . . the first half of that was good. You should have just stopped there."

Miyuki's roommate steps out of the room as well, also wearing a colorful dress, although more cutesy style rather than elegant.

Miyuki steps to the side and introduces her roommate, "This is Akechi Eimi. She's in my class and we're both participating in the Freshman 1v1 tournament."

"Doesn't that mean there is the possibility you two will face off against each other?" Tatsuya asks.

Eimi chimes in, "Don't you worry about that! Miyuki and I have already thought of it. We agreed if that does happen, neither of us will hold back and we'll both go all out without regrets!"

Tatsuya eyes Miyuki, "All out without holding back, you say? I thought one of you promised you wouldn't go all out and draw attention?"

Miyuki rolls her eyes, "I didn't forget that, brother. . ."

Suddenly, Tatsuya, Miyuki, Leo, and Eimi hear from down the hallway, "Hey! Yo!" It was unsurprisingly, Erika shouting. "What are you idiots standing around for? You do know for events like these if you're on time then you're late!"

Standing next to Erika was Mizuki, wearing a very modest, dull colored dress. But Erika, she was wearing no dress at all. Instead, she wore somewhat formal pants with a bright blouse, with dress shoes instead of heels.

Leo couldn't help but point at her, "You're one to talk! Are you seriously going to the ball wearing that? I didn't realize you were lesbian!"

"Hey!" Erika shouts back, still standing pretty far away, "It's 2095! I can be whatever I want to be. I'm sorry not every girl wants to be your sweet little princess!"

Miyuki decides to break up the fight, "Erika is right about the time. We really should get going now. Tonight is supposed to be fun! Let's not ruin it quite this early."

Leo and Erika back off of each others' nerves and the group heads towards the ballroom along with hundreds of other students. By the time the group enters the room, most of the other students have gathered already, excitedly chatting away.

Tatsuya, Miyuki, Leo, Erika, Mizuki, and Eimi stand at the doorway into the ballroom. Right in front of them is a massive set of stairs that leads to the floor section. Round tables have been set up around the edges of the ballroom and on the opposite end of the room is a stage.

Tatsuya quickly scans the room, "I see most of the First High students gathered there", he says, pointing towards the far corner near the stage. "I'm assuming most other people have gathered with their respective schools."

Leo takes the first step forward, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Erika follows behind him, her arms raised and hands resting behind her head, "I think you're too optimistic about your odds of getting a date by the end of this night. What a fool."

Mizuki sticks close to Erika, "Ah. . . wait for me!"

Eimi on the other hand, had been scanning the ballroom floor the entire time, as if looking for someone. When she finally finds what she was looking for, she happily skips down the stairs as well.

That leaves Tatsuya and Miyuki standing at the top. Tatsuya takes one step forward then turns back towards Miyuki. He says, "You didn't account for stairs when you picked that dress and those heels, did you?" Tatsuya offers his hand for Miyuki to hold.

Miyuki smirks, taking Tatsuya's hand, "Of course I accounted for it. But I also accounted for the fact that you'd be here, waiting for me."

Miyuki takes her free hand and holds the front of her dress off the ground slightly, her other hand holding Tatsuya's for balance. The two siblings gracefully walk down the steps, with the end of Miyuki's dress trailing slightly on the floor behind.

On the opposite end of the ballroom, in the corner opposite of First High, a short boy with hair neatly combed to each side looks over to see his friend standing there frozen. "Hey. . . Masaki? Are you okay?"

The short boy's friend, in contrast, was tall and filled out his suit, with light brown hair and firm green eyes. He could not take her eyes off of Miyuki walking down the stairs of the ballroom for even a second. After a few seconds, he finally manages to say,

"That's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."