Rebirth

Amusement joins the delight and excitement, which she was struggling more and more to hide, “Certainly.”

She grins, “See, I don't actually give a damn about what people think of my ability with magic in general, but you know, it's always a dumb idea to throw away something so useful, right?” Maya nods, “So I've been looking into overcoming the little issue of so much of my magic calculation area being taken up by my specializations! And I figured out a work around to the limitation!” She nods her head to the side as her eyes flick up just as briefly, even as Maya's blow wide and she straightens sharply, “Without potential overclocking said magic calculation area I should say. Anyway! Look here!”

And without hesitation, she takes full advantage of the fact her Elemental Sight is always on and casts something she's only ever seen once, either the magic sequence or the actual spell and what she should be imagining.

Maya's own Meteor Stream.

It's not as extensive with how much light it gathers and how many ‘beams’ are made of it, but that's entirely voluntary since she just learned the magic sequence a few moments ago and has never had the opportunity to practice with it. It's also why she resists the impulsive urge to aim right next to the Yotsuba family members and miss them by scant voluntary centimeters, since there's way too much of a chance for her to miss where she's actually aiming and hit them. For that reason, she sends all of the beams harmlessly into the ground.

Maya is staring at her with wide eyes, face a picture of disbelief, but it fades in moments as utter delight takes back over. She grins at her, voice absolutely cheeky, “Not as extensive as yours, but I did just learn the magic sequence for it a few moments ago and have never had the chance to practice with it, so I thought it wiser to tone it down until I'm sure I can control it at the same level.”

Maya throws her head back as she laughs. Miya, the one sitting closest to her and still very much wide eyed, stutters out, “You- That- Was- Was that a flash cast?! And how did you even gain the ability to cast normal magic?!”

She flicks a look at her, “That second one is none of your business. I have zero obligation to the Yotsuba, and given all the nonsense you've pulled, I'm not inclined to share it anyway. As for the first, not exactly. I suppose in simplistic if not accurate terms that you'd get then, yeah, it is. It's not actually that clumsy barbaric thing you call flash casting though. It's more… sophisticated then such barbarity that I'm genuinely surprised hasn't lost any of you your ability to cast any magic yet, much less at flash cast speeds.”

Namely, she'd just drawn up the memory of the complete-minus-variables magic sequence she'd seen Maya use with her Occlumency before adding said variables. Regardless of how she did it, the last part snatches Maya's attention so quick that she stops laughing and snaps into seriousness so quickly it damn near gives her whiplash.

Maya is very, very tense as she stares at her intensely, “What, exactly, do you mean by ‘lost the ability to cast any magic’? How could the flash cast technique result in a permanent loss of magic capability?”

She gives her a dry look, “You guys were more on the nose then you think when you took to describing it as carving the magic sequence into the mind. I have pinpointed the magic calculation area and can see those carvings on it. Let me ask you this though, how many times can you carve a design into a bowl before you've weakened the walls of it to such a point that even attempting to use it breaks it from the stress?”

Maya goes very, very still, and she's far from the only one. You could easily hear a pin drop in the utter silence that descends onto the hall.

She lets it linger before she pushes even further, “And I wouldn't suggest using the person who has the highest number of flash cast carvings available as a guideline, given that the resiliency of someone's magic calculation area is also a variable that's different from person to person. You're lucky not to have unintentionally come across someone you attempted a flash cast carving on that has a more brittle magic calculation area and subsequently loses their ability to cast magic.”

That only makes the continued horrified silence even heavier, though given how selfish most of the Yotsuba were, the majority of them were likely only thinking about the members of the Yotsuba family, and not the Guardians or any other servants they've ‘gifted’ flash cast carvings to.

Maya's voice is a smidge shaky, which is very out of character for her from what she knows, as she announces to the entire hall as her gaze sweeps over it, “As of this moment, the flash cast carving technique usage is temporarily suspended as the Yotsuba look into negating the risks of it. If nothing can be found, it will be permanently banned from use.”

Then she turns to her specifically, the gravity falling away as her delight returns, “Furthermore, given Shiba Toshiko was stripped of her place within the family purely due to her inability to do magic as defined by the power to alter the state of things which her ability to destroy or restore things doesn't fit into, I hereby reinstate her to the Yotsuba family.”

She tilts her head, ignoring the way more than a few of the service staff that were watching everything with wide eyes turn white enough to rival ghosts, namely the ones who treated her particularly poorly, “That depends. Are you guys gonna start expecting me to obey orders and all that nonsense? Because if so, I decline.”

Maya laughs, “The only person who would have the right to order you is me, and given you've already demonstrated the fact that no one here is a match for you and the abysmal relationship previous decisions have created between yourself and the Yotsuba as a whole, I'm not inclined to potentially drive even more of a wedge between yourself and the rest of the Yotsuba by doing anything more than making requests. ”

She shrugs, “Alright then. I still stand by the fact that I will interfere with things the Yotsuba are doing if I don't agree with it on a moral level though.”

That seems to snap the other members of the Yotsuba out of their dazes, and Mitsugu bursts out, “Maya-sama! That was never anything nothing more than an excuse and you know it! It was entirely just because she's a monster! One that should not exist!”

Maya's delight once again disappears at the flick of a switch as she looks at him coldly, “Excuse it may have been, it was still the official reason given, which means I am fully entitled to reverse the previous Head's decision with a change in the situation.”

She smiles at him even as Maya continues to stare at him coldly, the two fronts making him shrink into himself, “But thank you for admitting the real reason, that it was entirely due to fear of my inborn specialization, in front of the entire younger generation.”

He flinches at that as he quickly turns to look around, realizing that every single person in her generation was giving him and the rest of the older Yotsuba looks. Yuki was a mask of horror, same as Fumiya and Ayako. Yuuka was eyeing them with more than a touch of disgust, and Katsushige was staring with nothing but judgment in his eyes. It wasn't that surprising. The children of the Yotsuba had it practically beat into them not to let such weak things as emotions rule them and to be reasonable, while simultaneously that they should have loyalty to the Yotsuba above all else. Even if they've lost whatever morals they may or may not have had already, the previous generation had shot themselves in the foot to drive those sorts of ideals into them not even a decade after what they'd done to her. That is, letting their emotions drive them to betray someone of Yotsuba blood.

Omasu snaps at his son, “We had no choice! If she had lost control of her powers in something like a childish temper tantrum, the amount of damage she could do, assuming she didn't end up wiping everything out-!”

Yuuka cuts across him, voice cold, “And your solution was to isolate her from any reason not to let her powers rage?”

Omasu flinches as he turns white as a sheet, and his son narrows his eyes at him, “Or ignore the fact that things like that tend to come with built in limiters? Maybe something like a decrease in volatile emotional ability before she matures or something to prevent that very thing?”

The older Yotsuba look more and more uncomfortable, each and every one of them struggling to meet the eyes of anyone in her generation. She shakes her head, “Nah, that would've required they gave things some thought instead of coming to snap second decisions that saw me stripped of my place in the Yotsuba the sameday I was born. And that was actually the more ‘merciful’ course in their eyes. More than one of them wanted to straight up kill me.”

That only increases the scorn from the kids in her generation towards the older Yotsuba. Maya shakes her head, a small smile playing on her lips, “Come now. You act so ashamed of actions you were so adamant were necessary. Can you not even meet your childrens’, nieces’, and nephews' eyes?” There's another heavy beat before Maya makes a scornful noise, “You know, they say people are only capable of feeling things like shame for taking actions they know are wrong.”

Then she turns pointedly away from the older Yotsuba, most of which have had their gazes fall to the floor, “Anywho! Given you're officially reinstated, I suppose that clears up the ‘problem’, as some of the branch heads were putting it, of you accessing the Yotsuba servers, even though you aren't wrong about Miya and by extension the Yotsuba's duty to provide for your education, and since you aren't enrolled in any school... Given that's the main reason we were calling you and it's no longer a ‘problem’ I suppose that closes the topic!”

She's actually surprised he has anything of the sort left in him, but Omasu manages to muster himself another to raise an issue at that proclamation, “Maya-sama! Even if she's allowed to access the Yotsuba server in general, even people who are in the Yotsuba have their access restricted! The topic is very much not closed!”

That seems to galvanize others in the older generation and Mitsugu pipes up, “Yes!” Then he glares at her, “How have you even been getting into the Yotsuba server anyway?!”

Knowing they'd never take it seriously, she doesn't hesitate to whip towards Mitsugu and grin, “Maybe I built a fully sentient AI and it just keeps breaking in with ease.”

He looks like his head is going to explode, “Be honest for god's sake!”

She laughs, then takes it a step further as she cheekily says back, “Who knows? Maybe I'm someone who reincarnated who brought a sentient AI I made in my previous life with me!”

He looks like he's seconds away from completely losing it, but Maya cuts him off, “Besides, as I said, I have no desire to drive in a further wedge then what the mess you people have already created, so I have zero intention to try to stop her. And I would like to remind you that I am the Yotsuba Head. My word is final.”

The older members of the Yotsuba have no choice but to swallow their protests at that, and she turns back to her with a smile, “Come see me tomorrow to work out details of your reinstatement. Since you have been reinstated though and it's now your right to be here, did you want to join the Yotsuba New Year's gathering?”

She hums, “I'll come see you in the morning then, and thank you Maya. Or Maya-sama I guess it should be, since you're clearly not all talk and actually stand by the things you say. That's worth respect at least.” She waves a hand near her head, “Anyway, got distracted there, but I wasn't kidding about being in the middle of research. Maybe next year.”

Maya seems torn between delight at gaining some respect in her eyes and disappointment that she won't be joining them, but she nods her acceptance easily, her smile widening slightly, “Well, while I'm sure there’s still some progress to be made before you'll feel comfort sharing your findings, I do hope I'll get to see this research of yours soon!”

She laughs as she turns towards the door lifting a hand over her shoulder as she goes, “Not all of it just yet, no, but maybe I'll show you thisone when I'm done.”

She rounds the edge of the door and starts off, then recalls something at the last moment and leans back as she grips the door frame, “Actually, before I forget! Ayako!”

The slightly younger girl jumps, pointing at herself with eyes, “Me?”

She gives her an amused look and teases her a little, “Is there another Ayako here?” Ayako blushes slightly at that, but she laughs it off, “Come find me tomorrow. Let's say around noon. I'm usually in my room looking over my research while I eat around that time, but I should've wrapped up my meeting with Maya-sama by then and can put my research aside to speak to you tomorrow.”

She blinks rapidly, “Um, okay. Can I ask why?”

She chuckles, “You can always ask. It's whether or not you'll get an answer that's in question, but it's not a secret. I've seen a couple of your attempts to get a handle on your power when you were visiting the main house with my Elemental Sight, and I'm about ninety percent sure that your inborn magic is similar enough in execution, if not ability obviously, to my Decomposition that I can help you get a handle on it.”

She brightens up immediately, face a picture of hope, “Really?!”

She nods, “Like I said, I'm like ninety percent sure I can. So, it's not a guarantee, but…” She shakes her head, “Anyway, noon tomorrow, my room.”

Ayako wiggles in place in excitement, which isn't surprising given the murmurs she's been hearing about stripping her place in the family as well, “I'll be there!”

She nods, then straightens back out of the doorframe and continues back to her room.

It didn't go at all like she'd expected to be honest, given no matter how much Maya said to Miya, she'd genuinely thought she'd stick by the previous Head's decision and had only shown Maya her new ability with general magic just to drive home how useless it was to try to control her to the Yotsuba, but… Well, if Maya wasn't going to start trying to order her around and had ensured she was the only one that can, she couldn't complain.

She feels a little bemused at the hesitant knock that has to be Ayako given the time, slightly confused as to why she's hesitant given they had something of an appointment, but it's easy to figure out why when she opens the door to an embarrassed looking Ayako. Who was accompanied by Fumiya, Katsushige, and Yuuka. Funnily enough, the main one missing from their generation was her own brother.

She's not even given the opportunity to ask why they're there before Ayako bursts out, “I'm sorry! Fumiya is my twin and he's been as nervous as me about my problems with my inborn magic, so he insisted on coming with, and on the way here we ran across Katsushige and Yuuka and they sort of just followed no matter how many times I told them to go away. Please don't be mad!”

She glares at them at the last part of the second to last sentence before she whips back towards her and hurries the last one out in a nearly panicked voice. She pats her in the head in comfort, “It's fine Ayako. It's more potentially your privacy they're breaching than mine.”

She steps back out from the door to let them in, closing it behind them and stepping over to ring the bell to call for Suzuki before turning back to the table, finding herself glad to have been immediately shifted out of the room she'd been staying in since her memories came back to a bigger suite more suitable to a recognized member of the Yotsuba family, which along with a vague size and quality increase, had also come with a sitting area before her room proper with couches and a bigger table and all that, which meant there's plenty of room for them all.

She smiles at the older two in vague amusement, “I'm not entirely sure why you guys tagged along, but I do want to cover some basics with Ayako first, so unless you just came out of curiosity about that, it'll have to wait a bit.”

Yuuka and Katsushige both nod, and a knock lets her know Suzuki was there. She turns back to the door as she calls for her to enter. She bows and starts to ask what she needs before she straightens from her bow and realizes she has way more company than she'd been expecting, “Ahh. Did you require more tea and food Shiba-sama?”

She nods, “Yes, I had more guests than I was expecting.”

Suzuki bows again, “Understood. I will be back with them shortly.”

Suzuki leaves after she nods, making it clear she can go, then she settles at the table with Ayako to start discussing her magic. It isn't very far into the talks before Suzuki is back with more supplies, which she quickly serves to the rest before leaving after checking they don't need anything else. It honestly doesn't take very long for her to explain things to Ayako, and she's so eager to try it to find out if it actually helps that she ends up using her magic to equalize things in a section of her room away from everyone else, all but squealing in delight when it works. She's so eager that she wasn't sure she could talk her out of it if she tried, but thankfully, that idea that children shouldn't use magic wasn't a blanket idea, but rather applied to boys aged nine to thirteen and girls aged eight to fourteen, and with her there to monitor her magic calculation area as well, there wasn't really even a chance of a problem. Ayako definitely still needs to practice of course, but at least now her magic is functioning, which it really hadn't been before.

Ayako practically throws herself out of her chair and around the table then at her in a hug, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

She returns the hug, patting at her back with one hand and ignoring the wet spot growing on her shirt's shoulder. It wasn't surprising that she'd be so glad she'd cry about it, given how close she had been to being stripped from the family, even though it was absolutely ridiculous, given the only issue she was having magically was with her inborn power. While she was young enough that the Yotsuba hadn't begun trying to teach her general magic yet, there was theoretically no issue with it. And yet, they had been so close to kicking her out of the family anyway.

Katsushige snorts somewhat derisively, drawing a just as happy Fumiya's ire, but the bristling boy doesn't get a chance to say anything before Katsushige speaks up, “And here my father always said you were this cruel, heartless monster.” The look he gives her is a bit tired, “They really did judge the proverbial book by its cover, didn't they?”

She hums, tightening her hold on Ayako who was trying to reluctantly pull away to silently let her know to take her time gathering herself, “Well, in fairness I suppose for people who cross lines, of both the moral and personal variety, that I don't find forgivable either that I probably am something of a monster.”

Yuuka snorts, “Aren't we all though? You push someone to the limit of what they're willing to take, and anyone will become a monster.”

She nods, letting Ayako pull back now that she seems more composed and gently swiping below her eyes to help clear up the remnants of her tears as she sniffles slightly, “There is that.”

Katsushige shakes his head as Ayako, somewhat embarrassed, starts back to her seat next to her twin on the other side of the table, “Honestly, the fear of what you're theoretically capable of being the driving force makes a whole lot of sense. I vaguely knew what was going on around when you were born, but I was just six myself, so I didn't have a whole lot of details and certain things just didn't make sense to me even back then. The way my father was ranting and raving last night about how you're a potential threat to the whole planet, about how you could theoretically look up at the moon and cause it to detonate, wiping out everything definitely explained a few things on its own though.”

She snorts at that, “It's hilarious that they have the audacity to complain about my power in that capacity when they're the ones who taught me the theory of how to do the mass to energy conversion magic.”

Yuuka stares at her in bafflement, “Hold up. You're telling me. That they stripped you of your rightful place in the family over the possibility of you using your ability in a very specific way. And then they went on to teach you how to use your ability in that exact way?”

She nods, “Yup!” Seeing the kids’ disbelieving looks, she shrugs, “No one ever accused them of making sense. Seriously though, their main argument from my understanding was ‘what if in the midst of a childish temper tantrum she looks up at the moon and sets it off?’ but I mean… even for my magic, I have to know what I'm doing to be able to do something like that. And what child at the age to throw temper tantrums, even ignoring the fact that the way the Yotsuba raise children makes them way more mature than they should be, would even have the very idea of ‘let me deconstruct this physical thing into the energy it's made of to cause an explosion’ in the first place?"

Katsushige runs a hand through his hair, “That-.... Yeah. They were making absolutely no sense, weren't they? I suppose as much as they like to pretend they're above such things, even the Yotsuba are prone to humans' tendency to be illogical when frightened, huh?”

Yuuka snorts, then deadpans, “And then they decided that clearly, the best way to deal with her was to teach her how to do the very thing they were so afraid of.”

She hums, “People rarely like to admit they were wrong, particularly prideful people like the Yotsuba. Even if it means making the very monster they fear to justify their hatred.”

The kids fall silent, and Fumiya speaks up for the first time since they all showed up, “I gotta admit, the older generation, including my own father, has lost a lot of respect in my eyes…”

The others nod, and she sips at her tea. On one hand, she was glad they were starting to see the faults in the Yotsuba family, since it leaves less room for them to potentially sink their poison in, but children are supposed to be able to trust and rely on the adults around them, and it aches a little that it's been ripped away from these kids.

Katsushige sighs, “I know what you mean. I could hardly bear to look at my own father last night, I was so ashamed of him, and to confirm the depths of their despicable behavior…” He glances at her, then looks away shamefully, “He even tried to finally tell me the truth of how my mother died to get me to understand his hatred, but honestly? All I could think of was how she tried to murder a baby the same day it was born. I don't understand how you could've used that blue fire I've heard of at that age, unless it's some sort of inborn ability they didn't detect and it was an instinct of some sort, but even then… you were just protecting yourself from someone trying to murder you in cold blood with no real reason.”

She stares at the forlorn Katsushige for a moment, then gets up and walks over to his seat on one of the couches and reaches up to pet his hair comfortingly in a manner of how an adult would pet a child. Katsushige's cheeks flush, “O-oi! I'm older than you!”

She nods, “Yep.”

But she doesn't stop petting him, and while he grumbles, it's notable that he doesn't try to shove her arm away or something. Yuuka can't seem to hold in her laughter at that point. She doesn't try to stop her even as her heart aches at the fact that blushing or not, Katsushige was slightly leaning into her petting, ‘Merlin. These children have never known anything but extremely conditional affection, have they?’

It hurts. It hurts like hell, but if the adults around them won't help or give them the affection and care they deserve, she will. It doesn't take long before Katsushige's embarrassment at Yuuka's laughter and teasing outweighs the fact he clearly likes it and he pushes her off, reluctantly it should be noted, and from there things dissolve into them getting to know her as the one cousin they aren't really familiar with.

It very quickly becomes a regular thing, since while each of the branches don't live at the main house, they're around every day until their families take them home one by one, and even then, they find excuses to come visit frequently. She can't decide if it's funny how quickly they all latch onto her and come to adore her unlike their predecessors, or sad that the main reason it happens is because she actually shows them what warm affection and acceptance feels like.

She knocks on Maya's door. It's been a solid month since she was reinstated to the Yotsuba, and there was very much some turbulence in whether she should remain at the main house as she had up until now or go to Miya's house, given she is her mother. Things haven't been settled on that front yet, but she'd wrapped up her research with the ‘Loop Cast’ system as she was calling it, and she had promised to show Maya at least that from her various research topics when she was done.

She hears Maya call out from inside, “Come in.” She enters and Maya immediately switches from business mode to barely concealed delight, “Toshiko! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She smiles as she closes the door, “I told you back on New Year's that you've at least earned the right to know what this research is when I was done. Or at least far enough along.”

Hayama clears his throat slightly as she settles in one of the chairs in front of Maya's desk, “Sorry to interrupt, but tea or coffee Toshiko-sama?”

She glances over, but before she can answer, Maya bursts out cheerfully, “It's always tea around me!”

She shakes her head in amusement, “I'm not craving either one particularly hard, so we may as well indulge her.”

Hayama bows with a faint smile and she turns her attention back to Maya, who despite the fact she genuinely hadn't thought it possible, becomes even more delighted as she gets back to the reason she'd come, “You did say I could see your research! I wasn't expecting it to be so soon though!”

She shrugs, “Well, it's not ‘change everything you know about magic’ revolutionary or something, so it wasn't super complicated.”

Maya smiles, “Even so, in light of your age, it's probably impressive regardless.”

She laughs, “You haven't even heard what it's about yet.”

Maya shakes her head, still smiling, “I don't need to in order to make that judgment. You've always been an impressive child despite your age, and that's only increased since you stopped ‘playing along’ with things as you put it.”

She shakes her head as she pulls her mobile terminal out, ‘That's because I went from legitimately a six year old to someone mentally around five centuries old. I mean, I did still have to learn this universe's magic and all that from scratch, but…’

She looks up at Maya with a smile, “So, do you want the technical report, or the mildly animated comic that simplifies it to the max I put together?”

Maya laughs, “I'll want a copy of the full report later, but I have got to see this comic now! Besides, simplistic or not, it'll get the point across I'm sure.”

Hayama places a cup of tea in front of both of them, then steps back. As he does, she connects to the display and pulls up the slightly animated comic to begin explaining, “As you know, how usage of a CAD works is that you access its memory, select the activation sequence of the magic you're casting, absorb it, process it and add the variables to make it a full magic sequence, and only once all that is done can you then invoke magic.”

As she speaks, the little comic shows Maya's figure starting a spell, a visible circle of an activation sequence wrapping around her hand, then disappearing with the caption talking about absorbing it, which progresses to her outline with matrix like strings of magic code, then her standing before a full magic circle. Maya still looks positively delighted as she nods, so she continues on, “This is true even if you're just using the same spell back to back. The research I've been doing, or at least this research since I have multiple avenues of research going, is in what I've dubbed a Loop Cast. In simplistic terms, it essentially makes a copy in the magic calculation area before being invoked, allowing quick and easy casting of the same spell back to back by cutting out the steps of needing to tell the CAD to pull up that spell's activation sequence, the CAD loads it, and the caster absorbing it again.”

The comic restarts from the beginning, but when it reaches the part with Maya's figure with coding inside, it gets a little dot of color in the brain area which splits like a cell before one leaves to be invoked. Maya sets her cup down quickly as she straightens in surprise, “This doesn't help with switching between spells of course, and one has to implement a slight change in the activation sequence itself before its usable, but from my experiments to check things, in the case of consecutive castings of the same spell, it increases activation speed by twenty percent, as well as the variability of wireless CAD models from three percent to less then one percent. The consecutive casting theory has existed for a little while, but was never achieved until now, so I can't take full credit for it, as I'm sure you know.”

Maya stares at the little animation of the magic sequence splitting before each cast and her invoking it over and over which is a gif endlessly looping, then shakes her head as she turns her smile onto her, “Just because the idea existed before does not mean full credit isn't yours. Congratulations Toshiko, it's as impressive an achievement as I thought it would be.”

She smiles back as she sips at her own tea, “Thank you Maya-sama. There is of course the issue of me being legally too young to patent any inventions or developments and the like, but I would rather bring it to the public now rather than have to wait over a decade, so I will likely have to craft a fake identity to do so.”

Maya nods, getting a thoughtful look, “That's very true… We Yotsuba can help with a false paper trail if you need it, but beyond that…”

She smiles, “Oh, I already have a plan for the rest of it. I'll need a Humanoid Home Helper to test part of it though.”

Maya smiles, “Is that all?”

She nods decisively, “Yup!” She pops the ‘p’ cheerfully then adds, “Well, actually I may need a couple to iron out a couple details, but otherwise, yeah, that's really all I need! I even already have a name picked out!”

Maya tilts her head as her smile widens, “That's no issue. I'll see to it that three are delivered to you by tomorrow so you have more than one in case it breaks in your testing. If you need more, just let me know. What name are you going to go by for it?”

She smiles, feeling a flicker of mischief, “It's not gonna mean anything to you, so don't be surprised if it sounds random, but I'm going with Tōkōkuro Mihana.”

Maya gives her a bemused look, but nods. She can totally understand why she looked at her like that as well. It absolutely holds all of zero meaning to this universe, so it sounds like some random name.

However, if you go for the meaning of Potter, as in someone who makes pottery, one translation to Japanese is Tōkō. Translate the word black to Japanese and you get kuro. Translate the meaning of Calanthe, ie ‘Beautiful Flower’, and one possible way to write it is Mihana. Tōkōkuro Mihana is the translation of the meaning of the name… Potter-Black Calanthe.

She smiles, rather pleased by the end result standing in front of her. She'd run some experiments on the Humanoid Home Helpers, called H3 for short, to make sure they were capable of what she was attempting, and only when she was sure they were had she committed to asking Rowena for her help with things, which she'd been more than happy to do.

The first part of her help was in altering the facial structure, and once that was done, she'd helped permanently alter the color of things like the skin, eyes, and hair.

And now, right in front of her, was a perfect copy of Calanthe Potter-Black.

After that, Rowena's second part in helping her out was in connecting to the H3 in her own old form to cover the micromanagement aspect. The major things were under Toshiko's own control, which she'd achieved by embedding some Picturam infused Patronus fire in it, letting her connect to it and see out of its eyes similarly to how she does with her Patronus fire corporeal Dragon. It also let her take control through that connection, which meant she could speak through it and everything.

She was well practiced in splitting her attention between her Dragon and what her own eyes were seeing, which was only made even easier by the fact that while she intended to always be connected to it, Rowena was going to handle smaller things like walking it around and the like and had already promised to get her attention if she needed to focus on what was happening with it, so it would be more background noise then yet another thing to focus on.

Her smile widens a bit. It was all working out beautifully. Especially since her ‘mother’ when she got wind of her Loop Casting had all but demanded she join FLT, and while she'd been a bit it put off by the request at first, after she had pointed out the bad blood between herself and the Yotsuba, she'd capitulated to the demand that Tōkōkuro Mihana be paid for her work like any other employee rather quickly. So she not only had an income now, but given in the negotiation she'd absolutely secured her money's worth, it was even a fairly sizable one. It did come with the trade off that if she was going to be paid like an employee she actually had to put in constant work exactly like an employee and not just only contribute when she has something like the Loop Cast system to offer, but she really didn't mind since it was perfectly reasonable.

Now, what was she going to do with the other two H3s, which had not in fact broken in testing. It'd be a waste not to make use of them, but what to do…

It's a rare time the kids can schedule when they come to see her so they're all simultaneously visiting and can see each other while they're at it, each of them having realized at some point that the rest were just as affection starved as them and wouldn't laugh at them. Or at least not genuinely. Yuuka and the Kuroba twins sometimes laugh and tease Katsushige, but it's entirely in good natured humor at him being just as clingy as them even as he was currently roughly twice the age of the person he was clinging to. Though she honestly doesn't think Yuuka has much room to talk, given she's only a year younger than Katsushige himself and just as clingy.

Speaking of Yuuka, she'd been running a little late, and Ayako had been excitedly rambling about her progress with her Perfect Diffusion, as her magic has been named, when she comes bursting in, paper clenched in her hand, “Toshiko! Look! I aced that test I was worried about because I felt shaky on some of it!”

Sha accepts the paper she's all but thrusting at her, smiling at the big 98% written near the top, before looking up with a warm smile, “You did wonderfully Yuuka.” She reaches over to where she'd tossed herself into on one of the couches to pat her leg, “I'll have to get you something to celebrate your achievement.”

Yuuka's cheeks flush slightly, “You don't have to.”

She shakes her head, “No, you deserve a reward of some sort for doing so well.”

Yuuka ducks her head as she smiles a little, “No really, honestly you being proud of me is eno-”

She suddenly cuts off as realization flashes across her face, her expression slowly falling as her eyes tear up. She turns to her more fully, “Yuuka? Are you okay?”

She looks up as her tears start to spill, “I just… I just realized I was more excited to tell you than my parents, and you…” Her lower lip starts wobbling, looking like she's close to bursting into sobs, “You're prouder of me then they were… They acted like it's just expected just because I'm from the Yotsuba, even though I tried talking to them like I talked to you about how I felt shaky on some of the things we'd covered.”

She's trying so hard not to sob at this point, she can tell and doesn't hesitate to get up to make up for the height difference so she can hug her and tuck her face into her neck as she runs her hands over her hair in comfort. Yuuka buries herself into her as she clutches at her shirt, “They… They just scolded me for not paying attention in class, even though I was and was just having issues taking some of it in! They didn't do anything like you patently tutoring me to make sure I actually understood! And-! And I know that if you hadn't helped me, they would've been mad at me for having a worse grade! Even though they were the ones who didn't help!”

She breaks down, losing the fight as she starts sobbing at that point, and her heart is breaking for a child that was never given the proper support she needed and knows that when she inevitably faltered, the very people who were supposed to help her would've blamedher for falling short.

She shushes her gently, swaying slightly as she pets her hair comfortingly, “It's okay Yuuka, it's okay. Just let it out.”

The other kids are watching with wide, alarmed, and conflicted eyes, unsure what to make of Yuuka breaking under the pressure and realization, the training they've been given telling them that Yotsuba aren't allowed to have a breakdown like this, but all too aware that the situation can absolutely be reversed in the future, as well as the fact she's been trying to teach them how to be more emotionally healthy.

Katsushige is the one to break the near silence that's only filled by Yuuka's crying and her comforting murmurs, “Y-Yotsuba aren't supposed to cry…”

She looks up at him, “And it isn't healthy to bottle things like that up. It's like draining pressure. Don't do it, and whenever the pressure building becomes too much, it is likely to explode. The same holds true for people and their emotions. Give any of them no outlet, and more often than not, you'll find them snapping at the little straw that broke the camel's back. Also, you'd be surprised how much a good cry alone can make people feel a bit better.”

Katsushige drops his gaze down to his teacup and he's quiet for another beat, before he sighs, “...They really aren't very reliable as parents, are they?”

He sounds exhausted at basically having to come to terms with how toxic and poisonous the Yotsuba can be, at how badly they screw up as parents.

While it's distant since she's more focused on helping Yuuka through her emotional outburst, she idly wonders if he, or the other kids for that matter, have picked up on the fact she's basically adopted them as her kids at this point. The older generation certainly hasn't, since if they had they'd inevitably be picking a fight with her. If they were just complaining, she wouldn't pay attention, but they would not win if they tried to take her kids from her though, that's for sure.

They were her kids and the Yotsuba could bloody well try to fight her on it.

She blinks in surprise at the subject line of the email. It's hard not to given that it says, “Li Hei to Calanthe Potter-Black?”

She opens it eagerly, but it's fairly short and to the point asking ‘Tōkōkuro Mihana’ if she knows a Li Hei or Calanthe Potter-Black and apologizing for wasting her time if she doesn't. The words don't line up with the ones on her ankle of course, just like the title didn't, but she already knew their bond wasn't just a ‘first phrase’ type of soulmate mark but needed to be verbal communication, given she'd used that very work around because she didn't know what to say when she'd found herself as an eight year old child who had her words spoken to her right before her dying soulmate passed out.

Without hesitation but very much with a huge face aching grin, she opens up a reply, “Of course I'm familiar with Calanthe Potter-Black, Li Hei, and even Kirihara Misaki even though you didn't mention her, you glutton. Better to call or text though.”

She adds her contact info to the end, and not even a minute later, her mobile terminal lights up with an incoming call, which she quickly heads to the bathroom and tosses a silencing spell around so she can eagerly answer.

She doesn't even get a chance to greet Hei though, before the chastisement she honestly should've been expecting, and even thought of before, comes through in a male voice she does not recognize but talks in an achingly familiar fashion, “I kinda figured that was on purpose to get our attention.” Then he makes an aggrieved noise, “More importantly! Calanthe, darling. You said you'd rest when you were dead. You had to have died to be here. Publishing a revolutionary casting system is not rest.”

She laughs, “That would've been one hell of a coincidence if not. Also I should've expected you to say that in retrospect. Especially since it crossed my mind that you and Misaki were undoubtedly going to complain about that exact thing within a day of my memories coming back. But I guess I'm a liar!” She laughs at the last part, then adds, “Also, it's Toshiko now. Shiba Toshiko to be specific. You?”

He grumbles, “We're going to have to reteach you to relax, aren't we? As for me…. You aren't gonna believe this… but mine is Sora. Amano Sora. Which is a little ironic for a sorta former contractor, and particularly one who gained those powers at the Heaven's Gate.”(1)

She laughs, “Yean, it kinda is. But by sorta former, should I take it that you still have your electrical powers at least, if not your magic, like I have my magic?”

He laughs, “Yeah. Yeah I do. Have you found Misaki yet?”

She sighs, “No, and from the question I take it you haven't either. Also, I don't suppose you have any idea why the hell we were reincarnated or whatever?”

He snorts, “Nope, and not in the slightest Xiǎolóng! Although, whatever it is, it wasn't just our soulmate bond dragging all three of us here, because Bai is here as well. As my sister again, though we're twins this time. Her name is Hoshi now, which is even more ironic.(1) I guess our parents had a theme when they named us. It also adds another irony given Sora and Hoshi are very much a linked pair and well, binary star BK-201 and all that.”

She blinks, then coughs, “Well… it's different from a soulmate bond obviously, but that may kinda be my fault?”

He makes a confused noise, “How could it possibly be your fault?”

She bites her lip briefly, “Because the fact we still have our powers implies it has something to do with our souls? And I made the power of BK-201 be shared between you? And as should be obvious since you two could pay each other's Obeisance for each other, I did not split it into two distinct powers, but gave you each half and made it stretch between you? And since powers clearly have a connection to the soul, while again it's not the same as a soulmate bond, I… would've unintentionally made a connection between your souls… So. Whatever happened, if it was targeting us, or maybe just one of us and the rest got pulled along because of our soulmate bonds, it… absolutely would've dragged Bai along as well… the only way it didn't drag her along is if whatever it was happened to her and you got dragged along which dragged Misaki and I with…”

He had started laughing partway through, “Maybe? I mean, under different circumstances I'd refute that, but Bai and Amber's relationship fell apart so completely their marks disappeared, which people have always interpreted as the connection between the souls dissolving, and if that's true… Anyway, Bai is gonna find that hilarious later, but I can't believe you, entirely unintentionally, bound our souls together Xiǎolóng!”

She chuckles, “Oops? I mean-”

She cuts off, as it hits her all at once that it's Hei as her brain actually registers the oh so familiar nickname rather than hardly noticing it because of how frequently it's used at this point. Her eyes water and she finds herself clutching at her shirt over her chest as she tries to blink the tears away, but she ends up tipping off Hei- or Sora now, she guesses, by a mostly involuntary sniffle.

His voice is serious and concerned, “Xiǎolóng? Is everything okay?”

She laughs as she lets go of her shirt to roughly shove the bottom of her palm along one eye up to her temple and then the other, “Yeah. Yeah, I just… I missed you. I missed you for a very long time.”

There's a beat of silence before Hei- Sora, she's really gotta get better at that, asks with a voice that sounds like he's dreading the answer, “How-... How long was it for you?”

She huffs out a broken laugh, “Over three hundred years without you.” He sucks in a sharp breath, “I died in my sleep as far as I can tell about a week from my four hundred and ninety-ninth birthday. So I ended up outliving you and Misaki by a lot. And our kids. And grandkids. And great grandkids. All the way down to our great five times over grandkids.” She lets out another broken laugh, “Merlin, I'd started pulling back by then, so I didn't know them that well nor were we particularly close, but I was still alive to see our great eight times over grandkids be born and grow into adults."

There's another heavy silence, “...I'm sorry.”

He sounds like he's in agony, hell his voice is more pained in that one moment then when he was actively dying when they first met back in that alley as Calanthe and Hei. She pushes out another laugh, “What on earth are you sorry for?”

His voice is still very strained, “For my selfish last wish. Neither of us had any way of knowing that we'd be reborn of course, but even if we also didn't know how long you'd live, to ask you to go that long without Misaki and I, and to even outlive our greatgrandkids, much less our kids and grandkids and further generations- I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

She shakes her head, “No, no, it's- like you said, neither of us had any way of knowing we'd be reborn or how long I'd live, so-”

His voice breaks, “But-”

Even though he can't see her, she gives a painful watery smile, “But nothing. Besides, what's done is done and there's no undoing it. I'd rather not focus on it anyway, especially since you're here now, so-”

He lets out a somewhat pained noise, “Okay, okay. I get it, I'll leave it alone.”

She sniffles, “Thank you.” There's a beat of heavy silence before she pushes onto other things, “So are you a magical in this life, or?”

He hums, “I am. You?”

She nods habitually even though he can't see her, “Yeah. Just to double check I'm not misremembering something, Amano isn't one of the major families right? Like the Ten Master Clans, Eighteen Assistant Houses, or Hundred Families or anything like that, right?”

He snorts, “Merlin, no. I'm not from one of those uppity, high society clans. Why?”

She presses her lips together momentarily before taking a breath and saying, “Because I'm not technically supposed to tell you this because it's a clan secret, but I'm… from one of those ‘uppity, high society clans’. The Yotsuba specifically, which may surprise you, but they have a general policy that only the Head and named Heir are allowed to actually possess the last name Yotsuba. The only reason both of the twins in Maya and Miya in the previous generation were allowed to carry the last name was because Maya was originally slated to marry into the Saegusa, and they didn't want to explain why a member of the Yotsuba clan didn't bear the name Yotsuba. Which complicates things a smidge since they'll probably try to interfere with me being with you and Misaki, but I'm already fighting them about a lot of things, so what's one more argument.”

There's a beat of silence, “I'm sorry, did you just say you're from the Yotsuba? As in… the ‘Untouchables’ Yotsuba?”

She laughs, “Yup!”

She cheerfully pops the ‘p’ and there's another beat of silence before he presses on, “And you're fighting with them?”

She snickers, “They're a bunch of immoral assholes, and if it wasn't for the kids and wanting to try to protect them from their poison, I would've left immediately, so we butt heads a lot.”

Yet more silence before Sora lets out an exasperated sigh, “Why am I not surprised your luck put you in that situation and your instinct was ‘Defend kids. Fight me.”

She bursts into laughter at that, and before she can even get a hold of herself, her mobile terminal makes a notification sound for another email and to her absolute delight, the subject reads, “CALANTHE POTTER-BLACK! TŌKŌKURO MIHANA?! REALLY? REALLY?!”

As she types out a quick reply with her contact info, she lets Hei- Sora, Sora know what's going on, “Misaki just got in touch! I'm sending her my info now!” Just as cheerfully, she adds, “She sounds super mad about the alias!”

Sora laughs at her, and there's hardly a beat before another call comes in, “She's calling! Let me merge them.”

She answers Misaki's call, which automatically puts him on hold, cutting off his laughter, and even as Misaki immediately starts in, “You didn't. You did not.” Hei's laughter joins the call as she merges them, and Misaki easily understands, “Hi Hei. Nice to have found you. But really Calanthe?! Tōkōkuro Mihana? Are you kidding me?”

She laughs, “How else was I supposed to get you twos’ attention?!”

Misaki makes a noise of frustration, “Even so-! Hei stop laughing!”

He manages to get it under control enough to huff out a cheerfully quipped, “Sorry honey, but not my fault this is how you decide to greet Calanthe and how hilarious it is!”

Then he starts laughing again. She bites her lower lip to try to hold back on joining him in losing it, “Hei's name is Sora now, though it's hard to remember to use the new name not the old, even mentally, and I can't be the only one with that problem so what are we doing about it? Also, my actual name is Toshiko.”

Misaki doesn't miss a beat, “Miho. And I don't know, if there wasn't the potential of slipping up in public I'd say I'm cool with them being interchangeable, but…”

Hei finally calms down enough to make an agreeing hum, so she shrugs even if they can't see it, “So we basically don't call each other by our old names until we're sure we won't slip up in public and even then only use them in private.”

Sora hums, “Works for me. But with that out of the way, can we backtrack to what we were talking about before Mis- Miho emailed you?”

Miho takes a deep breath, “What mess did I miss?”

Sora's voice becomes falsely cheerful at that, “Oh, you know! Just Toshiko being from the Yotsuba even though you totally wouldn't recognize her last name since apparently, barring that one time there was an exception with Maya and Miya having it, the only people allowed to use the name Yotsuba are the Head and recognized Heir of the family! And Toshiko finds them immoral, so she's fighting with them.”

Miho takes a deep breath, “There's just never a break with you, is there?”

She laughs, “Nope! Speaking of that, yes, Sora and I already covered that I'm a lying liar who lies because I did die and am, in fact, not resting. Also, I'm saying it now so I'm not accused of hiding it later, but I was actually only somewhat recently restored to the family after being stripped from it the day I was born and was then promptly shoved into and raised in a program that tries to indoctrinate the kids in it into slaves they call ‘Guardians’ that will consider serving the Yotsuba family as some weird mix between service staff and bodyguards as one of the highest honors that's only eclipsed by dying to protect a Yotsuba family member. Most of said indoctrination just kinda came undone by my memories coming back, but something that does linger is the fact this body will wake up on its own at six am on the dot regardless of how little sleep I got! So, yeah, it did undo all you two's hard work to teach me how to relax, but it is not my fault.”

There's a heavy beat of silence, before Miho breathes out a rough breath, “Okay. A lot to unpack there… But I am already starting to see why you consider them immoral and are fighting. Also, I personally hate them already for undoing all our effort.”

Sora's voice is dry, “Yeah, tell me about it.”

She laughs, “Yeah, but unfortunately there's not time for that, because the Yotsuba have cameras practically all over so I had to hide in the bathroom as one of the few places without them, and I don't think I can linger for too much longer without arousing suspicion if they check the footage, so I kinda gotta go.”

They both make noises of understanding and the verbal conversation is wrapped up quickly with promises to talk via messages, which are protected by Rowena and no, she's not explaining who Rowena is right now. Mostly because there wasn't time.

She does get a follow up text on a new group chat for them from Miho, “Don't think you've dodged the conversation.”

She shakes her head, sending back, “Wouldn't dream of it. I just genuinely needed to go.”

It was at one of their now regular biweekly meetups that Katsushige jolts and turns to Yuuka, “Oh yeah! I heard you made some progress with your mental interface magic and started to get somewhere on treatments for magic calculation area overclocking! Is it true?”

Yuuka puffs up with pride, “It's still in the early stages, but yeah!”

She flicks a look at her, undoubtedly hoping for praise, and given how much of an achievement it is, she's more than happy to give it, “That's incredible Yuuka.”

She beams, then her face falls a little, “Although…” She glances up, “It's not up to the point that I can do something like trying to help aunt Miya.”

She shakes her head, “That's not on you.”

Yuuka peers up at her, “You aren't upset?”

She tilts her head, “I'm not torn up about it, if that's what you're asking. Considering my feelings and thoughts on Miya are complicated, mostly because she's made choices I don't agree with morally, how I feel about the fact she's slowly dying is just as complicated.”

Fumiya tilts his head, looking a little weary, which she can't blame him for given the absolute mess that tends to be revealed when they find out the nonsense their elders pulled, “Do I even want to know what Aunt Miya did?”

She snorts, “Probably not. It's gross.” She sweeps her gaze across the kids and sighs, “But given you are the next generation of Yotsuba, you should probably know.” They all tense up, looking for all the world like they're bracing for impact and she smiles a little as she waves her hand, “Nothing like that, just…” She sighs again, and takes a bracing sip of coffee, “So, apparently, despite the way she acts, which she only does because she feels like that's all she's allowed to show rather than how she really feels, she actually does love me, and funnily enough, between myself and Yuki, I'm actually her favorite child.”

They give her looks of disbelief, but Katsushige still looks concerned, “As surprising as it is, I don't think that's the major revelation considering you described it as ‘gross’ is it?” Then his face scrunches up, “Well, I guess you can describe a mother giving into pressures and treating their child, their favorite child at that, terribly just because everyone else hates them as kind of gross, but I doubt that's what you were talking about.”

She feels a flicker of pleasure at the fact they're starting to realize just how fucked up the Yotsuba can be, “Yeah, arguably that's gross too, and one has to question how much she actually loves me to let something like that dictate her actions, but no it wasn't what I was talking about. What I was talking about was Yuki.” They look a little confused, so she nods her head to the side, “More specifically, the fact that despite the Yotsuba's take on things, for Miya, the one who actually had him… he was born just for me. Not as my limiter or leash or whatever like the Yotsuba think… but to be my companion and later husband purely because she wanted to guarantee that there would be someone that would accept the monster the Yotsuba think I am.”

The fork Ayako had been lifting with a bite of cake slips out of her hand as they all just stare at her, “What?” She nods, giving them a sympathetic look, and Ayako pushes on, “No seriously, what? Your own mother. Had your brother. Just to give you a companion, and more importantly since it's the gross factor, later husband? Out of your own brother?” She looks at Fumiya, at her own brother, and her expression turns even more grossed out as she clearly thinks about it in their context,” …Eww.”

She nods, “Unfortunately. Yes. Not that it's ever gonna happen, but yeah, that's the entire reason Yuki was born.”

There's a heavy silence for a little before Katsushige sucks in a breath then practically buries his nose in his teacup, “I can see why you'd have complicated thoughts and feelings about Miya…”

She nods and silence descends again. She gives them a couple moments to absorb that before breaking it and changing the subject back to Yuuka working on treating overclocked magic calculation areas before the revelation can start to truly drag them down or the silence can become awkward, “That's not important right now though. It's wonderful you're starting to get somewhere on potentially treating magic calculation area overclocking Yuuka. Especially since you don't actually know where the magic calculation area is.”

Yuuka forcefully shakes the newest revelation on the depravity of the Yotsuba off, plastering on a smile, “Thank you! Like I said, it's still in the early stages, but I'm unbelievably happy and proud about the progress I've made so far!”

She smiles indulgently, “You have every right to be proud. It's quite the achievement.” She pauses, taking a sip of her coffee as she thinks, but it doesn't take her very long at all to decide that even if the Yotsuba learn it as a side effect, while the older generation hasn't earned it, Yuuka certainly has. Once she does, she reaches for her mobile terminal with her unoccupied hand as she smiles at Yuuka, “I haven't come forward with this yet because I don't trust the Yotsuba in general and they haven't really earned it, and while I've trusted all of you for a while, I didn't think you could make much use of the papers I've written, but you definitely can and you've undoubtedly earned it Yuuka. It can probably help you figure out how to treat the magic calculation area better.”

Yuuka looks at her with wide, somewhat confused eyes, “Your papers? But… you're so protective of them!” Then her brain starts to catch up with the latter part, “Wait, how could one of your papers help with my treatments?”

She smiles as she sends a copy to Yuuka, then switches back to the kind of message board like section of the Yotsuba server, double checking the wording of the text she'd attached explaining why she was publishing it on the Yotsuba servers, which she explains to Yuuka after she submits it, “For the record, I just published the paper on the Yotsuba servers so you don't have to worry about the older generation harassing you about your digital copy, but the reason I think it can help is because I've found where the magic calculation area is.”

The kids all straighten up sharply at that and she glances away momentarily before looking back, “To be honest, your treatments are probably more lessening the burden on the rest of the mind and letting it turn more of its focus onto working on the magic calculation area, since you can't really target something you don't know the location of…” She shakes her head and smiles again, “Not the point. The reason the magic calculation area has never been found is because it only exists in the Eidos brain. It does not exist in the physical brain.”

Yuuka's mouth drops open, gaze flicking back and forth as she thinks before widening as they snap back to her, “That's why no one was ever able to find it on brain activity scans!”

She nods, still smiling as she sets her terminal back down, done with uploading it and also making it perfectly clear that she wasn't publishing her paper because she actually thought they deserve it but because she was proud of what Yuuka has already achieved and wanted to help her take it to new heights, like an actually supportive family does without opening her up to getting harassed for her copy of it. She's made sure to help Yuuka while cutting off the possibility of her being harassed as much as she can while throwing sufficient, for the moment, shade at the rest of the Yotsuba. Everything is right in her world in those regards.

Yuuka's hand is drifting towards her own mobile terminal, looking like she's fighting awfully hard not to snatch it up and start devouring her paper. She laughs lightly at the slightly physically older girl, “You'll have plenty of time to read it later, whereas we only have a limited amount of time before you guys need to head home.”

Her hand moves away, “That's true.”

Ayako puts her cup down a little sharply, “Okay, I know you were trying to move the conversation back to get away from the gross factor, but even ignoring the laws and the rest of the family, how in the hell was Miya expecting either you or Yuki to be down with marrying each other? Especially given the way the older generation was keeping you two apart and not letting any sort of bond form between you!”

She snorts, “Because. From the moment Yuki was successfully born, she started using mental interference magic on me, and even before he was she was using mental interference magic on his fetus to make us basically obsessed with each other.”

Katsushige's face scrunches up, “Even grosser if you ask me. Not just setting up two siblings to marry each other but literally manipulating their minds to, what, force them to be in love?”

She sighs, “Something like that, yeah.”

Fumiya looks troubled, “...How'd you get rid of the mental manipulation?” He blushes as they all turn to him, “I- I just mean that Miya is thought to be the best in those regards so-!”

The other's expressions turn to realization, giving her concerned looks and Ayako leans forward intently, “He's got a point though. You- You aren't still under the manipulation, are you?”

She shakes her head, “No, don't worry about that, it's gone. From both of us actually. And even if her mind magic had been too strong for me to overcome,” She lifts the hand just cupping her coffee rather than holding the handle and ignites some Patronus fire as she smiles at them, “I do have my ways of getting around such things.”

Fumiya tilts his head as he gazes at her fire, “That can work on something like that too?” She nods and he shakes his head in bemusement, “Is there anything that weird fire can't do?”

She doesn't hesitate, “Damage inanimate objects is the first thing that comes to mind.”

Katsushige lowers the cup he'd been about to take a sip from, “Wait, what? What sort of fire… can't damage objects?”

She laughs at the adorably confused looks they're giving her, tucking her smile into the rim of her own cup, “It actually makes perfect sense if you understand what it really is and how it works.”

Ayako chews her lower lip a little, “...At the New Year's gathering, you said it was always okay to ask a question and the only thing up to debate was whether there'd be an answer.” She nods, so Ayako tentatively pushes on, “So then, what is that fire really? And how does it work?”

Her eyes scrunch up with her smile as she chuckles lightly, “If you were one of the older Yotsuba, or at least the majority of them, the answer would be a firm ‘that's none of your business’ and you wouldn't get anything else.” That pulls some chuckles and giggles from the kids, “But you aren't one of them, and I have no qualms answering that. In terms you'd understand, it'd probably be more accurate to call it Pushion based magic, because emotions are important both for casting as well as in how it functions. See, it's not exactly fire per say. It's condensed magic that looks like fire and acts like fire under the right circumstances.”

Yuuka gives her a confused look, “Wait, acts like fire under the right circumstances? What on earth does that mean?”

She smiles, “It may be easier to show you. So just to double check, you aren't hostile to me, right?” She shakes her head quickly, “And you trust me?”

A nonverbal answer apparently doesn't suffice there as she bursts out, “Of course!”

She smiles and reaches over to lay a hand on her shoulder, igniting her Patronus fire and wrapping it around them both. Yuuka jolts at first, then lifts her empty hand to look at it in even more astonishment then the other kids are staring at her engulfed in the flames, “It… It's just warm?”

She chuckles, “Patronus fire, as it's called, acts in one of three ways in a generalized sense and it's entirely based on your intentions, your heart in other words, towards the caster or who its protection is targeted towards. If you're neutral, except maybe a blue tinge to your sight if you're in the middle of it, it does nothing. If you have affection or good intentions, it's warm. If you're generally hostile or harmful though… that's when it starts acting like fire.”

There's a beat of silence as they take that in.