Rebirth

Fumiya hesitantly reaches out and runs his hand through the fire slowly, then he laughs lightly, “It really is just warm!”

Ayako and Katsushige can't seem to help sort of stretching across from where they're not quite opposite her at the round table, running their own hands through it curiously.

Katsushige stares at his own hand bathing in her fire before getting a confused look, “I get why that wouldn't do anything to inanimate objects since they can't have any sort of intent in any capacity, but if anything, how does that help with magic? I saw you use it against Maya-sama's Meteor Stream at last New Year's, but magic can't think.”

She nods, “No, it can't, but the moment you cast a spell you embed your own intent into it, so… and Maya-sama may not have been aiming to kill me or anything, but you cannot cast magic capable of harm at someone without some form of harmful intent.”

Ayako tilts her head, “When you cast magic you don't just tell it what to do but actually embed your intent into it?” She nods in reply, “Huh. That's interesting. Don't know if it really changes anything, but it's interesting. But wait, how does that help against mental manipulation?”

She hums, “Because it's harmful to their individuality. To their actual personality under the manipulation to put it another way.” Ayako makes a quiet ‘oh’ as understanding washes over her face, and she smiles lightly, “Just because it isn't physically harmful does not mean it's not within the influence of the Patronus fire. It can even go so far as to burn away magically based complete mind control and brainwashing without harming the victim.”

They nod their understanding, and Fumiya leans closer, “Okay, that all makes sense, but you said you got rid of it for both of you earlier. How'd you even get to Yuki without anyone noticing, given how adamant they are about keeping you away from him?”

Her smile turns a bit mischievous, “I turned invisible and just walked into his room of course.”

Katsushige gives her an exasperated look, “Oh be serious. No one has successfully made an actual invisibility spell, so that can't be how you did it. If you're gonna lie, tell a believable one, but I'd prefer if you actually told us how you did.”

She tilts her head at him as she thinks for a minute, then deciding that she does in fact trust them with that too, she wordlessly fires up her Calanthe magic and slips an invisibility spell onto herself. Yuuka, who had the misfortune that she'd been in the middle of taking a drink of her tea, spills it on herself as it clearly goes down the wrong pipe given the immediate coughing fit.

Even though she knows her disembodied voice will likely freak them out even more, she has to ask, “Are you alright Yuuka?”

She nods, still stunned into silence minus her coughing, which is the only thing that breaks up the general silence as the kids, even the coughing Yuuka, all gape at her chair. And floating cup, since she purposely didn't make that invisible so they'd known she hadn't done something like managed to hide a Mock Teleportation from the fact it was still there and after Yuuka nods it lifts up as she takes a sip of coffee, the liquid starting to spill out and spreading on thin air from their perspective since they can't see her mouth, then disappearing as it goes down her throat.

Fumiya is the first that breaks, “How on earth are you doing that?!”

She lets go of her invisibility spell as she smiles at him, “You would struggle to believe me if I told you, even with stronger proof I think.”

Ayako gives her a dubious look, “I don't think so. Because honestly just that alone? Makes me willing to accept just about any explanation, but if you have even ‘stronger proof’ of whatever weirdness lets you do that…”

The kids all nod in agreement, and she gazes at them thoughtfully for a moment, then decides to go for it, looking over towards where she knows a camera is and saying a bit louder, “Turn the cameras off so there's no record on the servers at all and come down and join us.”

It's a mildly risky play to trust Maya as well as the kids, but between her devotion to her and the fact if nothing else she isn't an idiot and would absolutely realize that if it's already a bad idea to challenge her just knowing what she does, she'll undoubtedly realize that it's nothing but pure idiocy to attempt to do so after she learns more. The kids give her odd looks, entirely unaware of the way Maya is constantly watching her, but when Katsushige goes to open his mouth, she just bids him to be patient, already watching Maya make her way down from her office with Hayama through Elemental Sight.

They easily put the pieces together when a mildly confused Maya shows up with an equally baffled Hayama, but she just sets her coffee down and reaches up to slip the Trunk necklace over her head and sets it down. Just seeing it expand surprises the ever living hell out of them, but when she runs her fingers over the latch to set the interior to a replica of the Potter Ancestral Manor and opens it to not only show stairs, but stairs down going past the ground she set it on, completely defying the laws of reality given it also does not match up with its external size, they hit the point of being so surprised as to be numb.

After they hit the bottom, they all just sort of… stare around in a weird almost blank mild surprise. Yuuka points at the Manor and states the obvious, “That's a whole mansion.” She nods in amusement, “...Stored inside of a trunk.” Another nod, “…A trunk that can shrink down to a necklace.”

She gives her an amused look, “Indeed it is.” She gestures upwards vaguely, “The sky is just an illusion though.”

They don't even react to that one, so she moves on and mentally calls to the Trunk and Rowena to ask for her storage orb to be brought. Rowena appears quicker than a blink, and given when she'd updated her ability to accept this universe's power she'd added a function that let her project a voice of her own rather than having to go through a golem, Rowena doesn't hesitate to speak up, “Good afternoon. I am Rowena. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

There's a beat of silence, then Katsushige sucks in a sharp breath, “Oh my gods, you were being honest.” At her puzzled look, he shakes his head, “At the New Year's gathering! When- When Mitsugu was talking about you constantly breaking into the Yotsuba servers. You made a joke- Or I thought it was a joke, about how you reincarnated and accidentally brought an AI you built with you!”

She laughs, “Oh that! Yeah, no reason to lie when the truth is so unbelievable that people assume you're lying even if you tell them the truth, now is there?”

In stunned disbelief, Hayama speaks up for the first time since he showed up with Maya, “How does one accidentally bring something with them when they reincarnate?”

She waves it off, “This is known as the Trunk of Requirements. I built it off of something known as the Room of Requirements, but as far as I can tell, I accidentally bound it to me not long after. They're both ‘of Requirements’ because they become anything you require of either one. I was thinking about how I never wanted to lose it at one point and apparently the Trunk's solution to that ‘requirement’ was to bind itself to me so it can just… come to me when I want it.”

He makes a quiet, “Oh.”

There's another beat and she adds, “Well, there are limitations of course, for instance, if it creates something, it'll disappear if you try to take that thing out of it.”

Yuuka tilts her head towards her, even as she can't seem to pull her gaze away from Rowena's orb and the Manor, “If you look at it a certain way, wouldn't making an AI do whatever you tell it to count as a form a slavery like the Guardian system?”

She doesn't get a chance to speak before Rowena shoots the idea down herself, “That implies I was never given a choice. Creator was, as what I call her suggests, the one who created me, and she did instill me with morals as I was developing, but that is arguably no different then teaching a developing child right from wrong. After I was fully formed, Creator asked if I was willing to do what I was created for. She didn't order me to do so. And I will preempt any questions of payment with this. What use would an Artificial Intelligence such as myself have for currency? So no, I do not receive payment of any kind, that is true, but Creator has already given me life and freedom. What more could she offer that would hold any value to me?”

Ayako tilts her head, “That's true… So, I'm confused, how does this link to you turning invisible?”

She laughs, “I didn't lose the magic of my old universe when I was reborn. There are ways this universe's magic is more advanced. There are ways that my original universe was, despite the fact that by this universe's classifications, even by the time I died, the only magic that existed was still what you would call Ancient Magic. They weren't the same obviously, but between the two, it's a significantly closer equivalent.”

Fumiya gives her an odd look, “How are you so good at Modern Magic if the only thing you've ever known was more similar to Ancient Magic than Modern Magic? Or Magic Engineering?”

She gives him an amused look, “Because I wasn't really falling back on my knowledge from my old world for it. It may have helped here and there, but by and large, it's just study. The only real advantage my memories give me in those regards is my mental age and maturity.”

Yuuka gives her a curious look, “So how old are you then?”

She smiles at her, “Given that one of the differences between my old world and this one is that magicals age slower after the age of seventeen, and while it was usually about half as slow as the normal aging process, the more powerful the individual was, the slower their aging was, and I was very powerful? As far as I can tell, I died in my sleep of old age about a week from my four hundred and ninety-ninth birthday. Lived from nineteen ninety-eight to twenty-four ninety-seven. Part of the reason I know beyond things like the differences in the magic that they were two completely separate universe's actually. Because in that entire time, nothing like Modern Magic came into being.”

She nods her head to the side briefly, “Though in fairness, there wasn't a need for it, given the magic of that universe may have been more akin to Ancient Magic, but it was generally faster than this world's Modern Magic from the get go. But there also wasn't a world war three. And there was a major global event that occurred in my original universe in the year two thousand that never occurred here.”

Maya suddenly pipes up, “You said this place creates anything you require?”

She nods and without a word, Maya sits down on a chair that wasn't there moments before, giving up on her ladylike manners and leaning forward to rest her elbows on her legs, press her hands together and the sides of her index fingers along her nose, seemingly just trying to process everything. The rest of them seem to agree with the idea, as each of them sit down on chairs that pop into existence without hesitation, even Hayama giving up on his attentive standing vigil. She looks at them in amusement as she takes a seat herself.

She's not entirely sure how long they're all quiet just trying to absorb things before Maya's brow furrows and she straightens and gives her a troubled look, “This is why you suddenly changed about a year ago, right?” She nods and Maya searches her eyes, “Does… does that mean the original Toshiko died mentally or something?”

She raises an eyebrow, “I'm surprised you'd ask that given I know for a fact I used Patronus fire as a baby well before that.”

Remembrance flickers across Maya's face, “That's true, which means there was always something of you in Toshiko, but you definitely did change.”

She nods, then turns her gaze towards the sky, “Honestly, I'm not sure how it happened to begin with. The last thing I remembered was going to sleep a week before my birthday, like I said. Then the next thing I knew, it was like snapping awake and I found myself in a baby body, surrounded by people shouting in what sounded like Japanese, though between my confusion and the chaos, I couldn't make out what was being said. There was some woman pointing what looked like a gun at me though. I had no idea what a CAD was and thought it was an actual gun, so I tossed up a physical shield because of that misunderstanding and sent some Patronus fire her way.”

She runs a hand through her hair, “Then I heard some male voice, don't know what that was about so don't ask, but it was telling me to go back to sleep, and I couldn't fight it off if I wanted to, and something about me just… trusted it on an instinctive, fundamental level, so I did. Then my memories and consciousness were waking up again while I was in the middle of Guardian training. That being said, from what I can gather, Toshiko wasn't some sort of figment, nor did she disappear. As best I can describe it, when I was a baby, the Toshiko that you knew was a fragment of my subconscious, and as I grew, it started to grow into a near copy of my consciousness with the only real differences being from changes to how we grew up given that at the cores of their beings, Calanthe and Toshiko are so similar it would be alarming in other circumstances. When my memories came back, I think it'd be more accurate to say the two consciousnesses merged into one.”

She snorts as she drops her gaze down to the somewhat calmer and relieved looking Maya, “The tea vs coffee changing preference is actually a surprisingly good example of the fact I very much am both of them. In my previous life, I was very much a tea drinker and never really had coffee. Then I wake back up to find it's this body and the previously developing Toshiko's favorite, so I keep bouncing back and forth between which I want at any given moment.”

Maya giggles lightly at the humor in that, and after a beat, Katsushige pipes up as he looks around, “What is this place anyway? Not the Trunk of Requirements, but what the Trunk has become. Because if it just becomes whatever you ask it to, then I can't see it having something like a- a base form or whatever you'd call it.”

She snorts, “No it doesn't. This was my old house. Or one of them anyway.”

Ayako looks at her in surprise, “Really? Were you just rich, or did you come from a big family?”

She chuckled, “Both, kinda. I was born to a wealthy and old noble family, though less than a year and a half after I was born, my parents were killed and I was left as the only member of the family alive. By the time I died, I know full well that my family had gotten much bigger from the family tree spreading back out. All three of them actually, since I was the direct descendant of one bloodline, named the Heir of another my great grandmother had married in from by my infertile first cousin once removed, and claimed a third by Right of Conquest because the last member of that House was a homicidal maniac who'd made an enemy of me. By the end of it all though, I'd say I did a pretty good job as Calanthe Potter-Black.”

Maya pauses, “By any chance… Does Calanthe mean beautiful flower?”

Knowing exactly where this is going, she grins mischievously, “Yeah. Yeah it does.”

Yuuka gives her a look, even as laughter starts building up among the rest, “Tōkōkuro Mihana? Really? Really?”

She laughs, “Yeah, Misaki- I mean, Miho was just as disbelieving about it.”

Ayako fights back her giggles to ask, “Who's Miho?”

She blinks rapidly, “Oh that. Have you ever heard of the concept of soulmates?” Ayako, and everyone else for that matter, nod at her question, “It wasn't a fiction trope in my original universe. It was actually a thing. And while I have no clue how and why I was reborn, or maybe if it happens to everyone and the thing that went wonky was me remembering my previous life, but I do know for a fact my soulmates are here and remember as well.”

Maya gives her a surprised look, “Ignoring the… rest of it, are you certain they are?”

She grins, “The soulmates from my original universe came in different types of how you knew yours, and ours was a first thing you said kind of thing, and for one thing,” Ignoring ladylike manners for a moment, she lifts her left foot, planting it on the edge of her chair and tugs her pant leg up and her sock down to show Hei|Sora's mark fading in and out slowly. They're all staring in surprise and Maya looks fascinated, “I was already pretty sure from the get go that my marks wouldn't have updated if they hadn't. But also, part of the reason I made my alias what I did was to get their attention, which worked and I've already established contact with them.”

Maya's voice is slightly surprised, “We noticed there were word- like birthmarks, but never anything like that.”

She shrugs, “The only explanation I've been able to think of is some sort of naturally embedded magic or something like that which makes people who don't know what they're supposed to be looking at view it as that. Since it's not natural to this universe and all that. Or maybe that it's so unbelievable given their understanding of this world that people's minds just… refuse to properly take it in or something.”

Maya makes a noise of understanding and there's a bit of silence as they all just stare at her shifting mark in fascination before Yuuka breaks, “Okay, the only thing that makes sense to me is that the brown words are from this life, since it implies a familiarity that people really shouldn't have before their first words, but that just brings up questions about the other one.”

She raises her eyebrow, “In what way?”

Katsushige gives her an exasperated look, “Get out of here kid, no one your age should have to watch someone die’? What the hell sort of first meeting is that?”

She fixes her sock and pant leg, “...The kind where a formerly abused runaway 8 year old with zero qualms about stabbing someone if necessary decides it's fine to cut through a dark alley on her way home and stumbles across her decade older but indoctrinated into an assassin as a child soulmate dying.”

Fumiya gives her a surprised look, “Huh? Aren't you frequently going on about morals?”

Done fixing the two, she drops her foot back down as she gives him an amused look, “Yes, but morals are subjective. I never said I thought killing was wrong in and of itself.” And she realizes she probably should've said that when Katsushige and Yuuka, the older of the kids that may or may not have killed before but are at least undoubtedly familiar with what may be expected of them relax a little, making it clear they were struggling to figure out how to handle what they've been taught vs what she tells them clashing, “It's totally warranted in some cases, like when I killed what's his name when I was eleven, and I don't actually care all that much about legality. It's primarily harming innocents I take issue with, and the Yotsuba have never been the sort to care about that kind of stuff which is why I have problems with some of the stuff they do.” She gives them an amused look, “But I never once said by morals that I meant the most common idea of morality.”

Ayako gives her a surprised look, “You killed someone at eleven?”

Her tone becomes a bit dry, “He was threatening to torture two of my friends to death -which is bad enough but were also around eleven as well- if I didn't do as he said. At least I was nice enough that I just stabbed him in the heart, so it wasn't a particularly drawn out or painful death.”

Understanding at her actions and disgust at what he was threatening washes over the group, and Maya pipes up, “That's absolutely a fair response. Some people would even call it merciful.”

She gives her a slightly amused look, “It's particularly fair when he's a dumbass who made that threat… after not bothering to check me for weapons. Or tie me up. And then was stupid enough to look away to gaze menacingly at my friends as he expanded on his threat. He was honestly practically asking for my dagger being planted in his heart if you ask me. Considering he mentioned my age, I can only assume he thought a child wasn't capable of something like that, but again. After the way I grew up, no qualms about stabbing someone if it was warranted.”

That gets some giggles and chuckles, and Katsushige gives her an amused look, “Yeah, you've made that clear.”

Yuuka speaks up at that point, looking a bit puzzled, “If you're mentally five hundred years old though, what does that even make us to you? Because ‘kid cousin’ doesn't really seem to match up with how you act with us.” She blushes lightly, “Honestly, before this revelation I gotta admit it seemed more like you saw us more like siblings or something with how much you took care of us, but…”

She doesn't hesitate, “I may physically and legally just be the middle cousin between you all, but emotionally? I've already filled out the mental adoption paperwork, thanks. And just so you know, my soulmates’ responses were basically ‘so when are we meeting our adopted kids?’ because my kids are their kids, no questions asked. Your parents and the rest of the older generation of the Yotsuba can fight me, but you're my kids and I will protect you even if you come to hate me in the process.”

It's telling, that even though Katsushige and Yuuka blush, none of the kids say anything to protest her claim, but Ayako does look at her with furrowed brows, “Hate you? What could you possibly do while trying to protect us that could make us hate you?”

She tilts her head as she gazes at her, not wanting to say it purely because she doesn't want to hurt them, but Katsushige gives her a weary look, “You're making that face again.” When she turns to him in confusion, he elaborates, “That one that says you don't wanna say something just because you're trying to protect us from harsh realities or something. I hate that face to be honest.”

The other kids nod even as Maya and Hayama silently watch. She sighs, “You may hate me, because to be perfectly honest, if everyone in the Yotsuba was here and someone found the main house and attacked, the only time I would participate was if the odds of winning were good, and at that only to protect you from the hurt of possibly losing your parents. If the odds weren't good though? I'm sorry, but like I said, emotionally you're basically my kids, and a proper parent does what they have to in order to protect them, even if their kids hate them for it.”

“And I would absolutely drag you all -and Yuki since while we're not close he is a child- away, kicking and screaming if necessary, most likely snatching Maya, who despite the insanity everyone touts is one of the most reasonable Yotsuba, and Hayama to help take care of you all, possibly Asumi and Touka since they're a bit more level headed and not total garbage, and maybe, maybe Miya. But Shinsuke, Hidetsugu, Mitsugu, Haruto, Osamu, and their spouses? They're on their own. And I hate to break it to you, but in such a situation, they aren't just on their own. I would absolutely see them as a distraction to buy more time to get you to safety. And I would not care if it makes you hate me, because my priority is your safety and if I have to do things that make you hate me to secure it, then so be it.”

The twins and Katsushige look somewhat troubled, and she can't blame them, given their parents’ names were amongst those she absolutely would practically use as sacrificial lambs to buy more time to ensure she could get the kids away. Maya looks like she's trying very hard to hide being pleased, assumably because her name was listed as one of the two she had decided were worth taking with, other than the kids themselves of course.

After a few beats, Fumiya sighs, “I don't really like the idea at all, but honestly? Given the things we keep learning they've pulled, I can't even blame you that if you were put in a situation to pick between guaranteeing our safety or risking it just to save them too that you'd pick the first option without hesitation.”

Yuuka snorts, “Don't know if I have the right to comment since my mom is on the maybe list, but yeah.”

Ayako and Katsushige, though they don't look any happier than Fumiya, also nod in agreement. Maya seems to decide to change the topic, “On a different note, that your blue fire can work on mental manipulation wasn't something anyone ever thought about.” She gains an amused look, “Miya was actually becoming convinced that you're actually a genius at mind manipulation magic that surpasses even her given you'd not only broken her magic, but even the one time she tried to reinstate it, she said even trying to access your mind was like running full speed into a brick wall.”

She snorts, “Technically, I said earlier that I had my Patronus fire if push came to shove. I didn't actually need it, because mind magics are one of those things that my old universe was more advanced in, and I know enough that it's easy to undo her work and block her out.”

Ayako's eyes go wide, “Wait, really?” She nods, and Ayako leans forward, “How?”

She laughs lightly, “Because. In my old life, there were two related branches of magic known as Legilimency and Occlumency. Legilimency was the art of reading and manipulating minds. Occlumency was its counter, the art of defending one's mind. When it comes to mind manipulation capable magicians protecting their minds in this world, it's more akin to those practical lessons where two magicians each try to take control of a metal ball to help students improve their casting speed and interference strength, with the ball being the mind of the person who's trying to defend. Occlumency on the other hand, is mostly about keeping them out to begin with, and only fighting to eject them if they break through, but due to the way it works, users tend to have full control of their minds.”

“For instance, I do not inherently possess an edict memory, yet with Occlumency, like using a search function on a digital library, I can call up the memory of a passing conversation I had back when I was mentally not even twenty, almost five centuries ago, and quote it back to you word for word. And that's not a unique ability. Anyone practiced in Occlumency can do the same, barring the years in question if only because they wouldn't live that long from the get go. Actually, funnily enough, Miya asked if I used flash cast at the New Year's gathering when I cast Maya's Meteor Stream in an instant, and as I said back then, I did not.”

“Other than the carving, it's not that dissimilar though, since all I really had to do was pull up the memory of reading the activation sequence when she went to cast and transfer it to my magic calculation area in full so I could add in the variables. Except it's unquestionably superior because it's basically flash casting, except one, I don't have to damage my magic calculation area to achieve it and two, I'm not limited to only activation sequences that have been carved. I can do it with any magic I've used Elemental Sight to read the activation sequence of. Which basically means that other than for appearances, I actually don't need a CAD in the first place.”

She snorts at their gaping, “But I got a little off track there. When you have the sort of control of your mind that Occlumency gives you, it's very, very easy to find mental manipulation and get rid of it. To put it simply, it's like you have an anti-virus program on a computer that knows every line of code that's supposed to exist or can exist from your thoughts as they occur, which makes it very easy to find the intruder and destroy it.”

Yuuka shakes her head in astonishment, “So basically… you actually are more advanced in mental manipulation magic like Miya has been thinking, but even if you weren't, she still wouldn't be able to use it on you.”

She chuckles, “Basically. But like I said, it's more that my original universe is more advanced in mind magics in general rather than me being really, really good at it or something. Because yeah, I am pretty good at mind magics from that universe, but I honestly probably wouldn't even clock into the top one hundred there.” If they'd been looking at her in surprise before, it has nothing on how they're looking at her now, “Which actually makes it even more of a shame I haven't figured out how exactly to take the theoretically knowledge of it and use it with this universe's magic, since I actually would like to teach you guys Occlumency. If nothing else to help with the previous flash cast carvings they put on you, since repairing damage to the mind is another skill in any decent Occlumens’ belt and if you can cast using that, it wouldn't even require giving something up.”

Yuuka, the one out of them with mental magic, perks up in interest, “Maybe I can help with that! If you're wanting to teach us anyway, it's not a secret so you could teach me the theory and I could try to help convert it!”

She smiles at her, “That could certainly work. I wouldn't want to ignore everyone else so we can discuss it, so we'll talk it over later, alright?”

Yuuka nods happily, and Fumiya leans forward in interest, “Can-... Would you tell us more about your previous life? It sounds so interesting. I can't help but want to know more.”

She laughs lightly, but as she starts to say something, the house and everything else starts to fade out. She pauses it as she sees the others start to panic, probably thinking they'd have problems, but she gives them a reassuring smile, “It's alright. I stopped it for now, but you essentially kicked it into acting like a Pensieve is all.”

Maya tilts her head in curiosity, “And what exactly is a Pensieve?”

She hums, “There was this technique, it… how to explain this…” Her eyes unfocus for a few moments and then she just shrugs, “May be easier to just show you.”

It's only really sheer dumb luck she has it, but Rowena had been able to explain that while the descendants that were alive didn't know what the Trunk actually was, they did vaguely know she tended to store things important to her inside. As such, after she died, they had apparently put some of her things away in it. Which is how, to her incredible surprise when she'd been looking over the inventory, she'd found her wand amongst the things she had. She'd considered her wand lost before that, but that had driven home the fact that if whatever happened with her remembering happened again, it would be all too easy to lose something important because she didn't get a chance to put it in the Trunk for some reason or another. Which is why she and Rowena had come up with a magical tag of sorts that would tie things to the Trunk in such a way that the moment it detected her death, it could summon all the tagged objects to it. Just in case whatever happened did so again at the end of this life.

It all means she has her wand and currently invisible wand holster though, so she flicks her wrist in a very familiar move to pop her wand from its holster. She lifts it up to her temple as she concentrates, quickly teasing out the memory. Then she drops the silvery trendle into the Pensieve the room had made, before she taps her wand to the side of it. It's an improved version made later compared to the ones that had been around when she was younger, and it projects the memory above it at her tap, showing her perspective starting at her reassuring them that Fumiya had unintentionally put the Trunk into acting as a Pensieve itself up to her lifting her wand to her temple.

Katsushige gives her a wide eyed look, “Then… that silvery thread was a memory? Just… plucked out of your head?”

She nods as she pulls the memory back out of the Pensieve, “Mhm. And this basin is a Pensieve. The projection aspect was actually something invented later, but its original use, and one it still had, was that you'd touch the liquid and your mind would be sucked into the memory. Part of the reason they never got rid of the ability to do so was that since the mind is constantly filtering things out, it's way more aware of its surroundings than people realize, so when you ‘enter’ a memory in a Pensieve, you'll find yourself just around the person the memory is from and able to look around instead of your line of sight limited to their's. Fumiya accidentally kicked the Trunk into acting like a Pensieve itself. Presumably it was about to show memories of mine that I don't have locked away in a section of my mind it's not allowed to touch. Though, I should add, given the implications of ‘plucked from your head’, you don't forget it entirely by pulling the memory out, but it does get hazier.”

Rather than putting it back into her head, she tucks it in a bottle and tosses it at Yuuka, who as someone with natural mental magic, looks fascinated, “Memory in a bottle. Technically, as weird as the thought is, a person can actually drink it to experience it, but it is one use like that obviously, and there's always a potential of negative health effects, so I wouldn't recommend doing so unless the situation is desperate.”

Ayako looks at her with wide eyes, “Wait, so the Trunk trying to act as a Pensieve means it can just show us your life?”

She nods, “Mm. Presumably just what it deems highlights or something, since the full story is way too long.”

Fumiya blushes, “Sorry. I wasn't trying to get it to do that and intrude on your memories.”

She waves it off, “It's fine. Besides, I'm fully aware it's capable of doing something like that. I don't mind. Its potential use as a Pensieve is why it's capable of accessing those memories in the first place, and the fact I don't mind in general is why those memories aren't locked up out of its reach like ones I would care about others seeing to begin with.”

Ayako peers at her in excitement, “Does that mean we can watch them?”

She smiles in bemusement, “If you really want to.” Then she stands, “Even with just the highlights it'll probably take a while though, so if you're going to, I think I'll pop out and get some drinks and snacks.”

Hayama rises, “Ah! Toshiko-sama, I-”

She waves him off as one of the two Human Home Helpers she hadn't needed appears, “Relax Hayama. I wasn't going to fetch them myself, I was just going to go out of the Trunk to call Suzuki, tell her something came up that had my cousins leave briefly, but they'd be back, and have the H3 push the cart down when she brings it. You aren't failing as a butler having someone from the family fetch things or whatever was going through your mind.”

Hayama nods slowly, but it seemed to have reminded him about the usual vigil he stands, so he doesn't sit back down, just steps back to be sort of behind Maya as he usually is. 

She heads up with the H3, though it waits just out of sight on the stairs down into the currently closed Trunk, scooping up the small remote to buzz it for Suzuki, the method used to call for the service staff when outdoors like their little meetup is or when in a soundproof room.

It isn't too long before Suzuki comes and she quickly explains the cover story she'd said she was going to use and once it's conveyed, Suzuki leaves to get what she asked for. It takes a bit for her to come back, which she apologizes for, but she just waves Suzuki off and let's her know it's fine. Once she's gone, she opens the Trunk so the H3 can come up for the cart, changing the staircase into a ramp, and also getting it to have a wider spiral so the slope isn't as steep.

Getting back down to the bottom, Hayama quickly makes his way over to help start serving when they get back, and she's surprised to see they're only just at the part of her eating her first meal in her mother's trunk. She has no idea why it took so long to get through aspects of her childhood, it's not like there was anything particularly important there. The only real purpose she can see showing more of it is serving as setting up things for the way it affects her outlook and the like, but she wouldn't think it would take that long to show enough to get the point across and move on.

They all look incredibly upset, probably seeing the similarities between her literally abusive relatives and the way the Yotsuba had treated her. The verbal abuse is pretty obvious, given the scorn the Yotsuba show her. The physical abuse can easily find its connection in the ‘training’ they forced her through. And on top of that, the way they'd treated her like a live-in house service, even though she was just their niece… well, it was literally amongst the expected duties of a Guardian.

Having no real reason to view what's essentially a highlight reel of her old life, she has the Trunk bring her a tablet to start working on translating apparition or portkey magic, doesn't matter which, it's the true teleportation she's looking for, into the magic of this world. Honestly, she's pretty sure it's going to be a long-term project, given how even having observed how they work, she was having to come up with all of it from scratch on this world. It wasn't like if she made some sort of air manipulation spell, where she'd have various pieces of other spells to take aspects from to get a start from.

There's literally nothing remotely related to even the start of it, i.e. pulling a physical object into the information dimension. Observing her own apparition and portkeying doesn't really help either, apparition would count more as a ‘supernatural power’ in their books, having no actual casting or magic sequence, and it was really just raw magic manipulation. Portkeys are a spell obviously, but she's been struggling to unravel it since it honestly reads like gibberish. A mishmash of what almost seems like random spells tossed together because she cannot figure out what they have to do with it, if anything, and entire sections she can't even begin to understand what the data is saying, so if it's relevant to working out the mishmash, she's missing key information.

So, no, she didn't think she'd get anywhere with it soon but that honestly just means it's good to be getting a start on it as early as she is. It won't affect how long it'll take, but it will affect when she's done with it, since if it takes the same amount of time regardless then the earlier she starts, the earlier in a chronological sense she'll finish.

Her attention is drawn by Ayako letting out a sound like it was the beginning of a scream that she hastily cut off. Looking up in concern, she follows Ayako's, and everyone else's for that matter, line of sight only to see the Basilisk starting towards her own form. She can only assume it's the size of it or something that caused the mild panic. Seeing nothing wrong though, she goes back to her work.

She doesn't really get anywhere except well on her way to giving herself a headache before someone's fingertips lightly touch her arm. Looking up, she finds Maya, gazing at her with slightly furrowed brows. Glancing at the others, she finds the weirdest mix of emotions, ranging from awe to heartbreak.

She tilts her head, more than a little confused, “Why are you looking at me like that? I can kinda get why the people in my first universe gave me those kinds of looks, but like I said before, there are ways each world is ahead of the other magically, and also the Yotsuba, as many problems as I have with them, are pretty cream of the crop and they've also seen a lot of the darker aspects of life. I wouldn't say any of it was particularly noteworthy one way or the other.”

Katsushige tilts his head at her, “It's not surprising given the added understanding to personality we just got, but you really do tend to underestimate the things you've gone through and what you achieved quite a bit, don't you? Besides, in the framework you were working in…”

Yuuka snorts, and while she doesn't recall hearing anything, her eyes are red like she was crying a bit ago, “That achievement problem is because she's a freaking perfectionist. I mean, she saw things that were successful, but if someone finds a single loophole after months of searching, the entire damn thing is a failure in her eyes. Like when she practically made it impossible to attack Hei above mid-calf, but one person gets a shot on his ankle and nearly kills him and her work is basically immediately deemed worthless to her.”

She shakes her head as she continues, “Or the fact she got a bit understandably distracted by one of her soulmates actively dying and wasn't really taking in other things happening but as soon as she literally invents an entire field of magical healing and saves his life and realizes that mess with the blood plague completely slipped her mind and she wasn't really taking in updates on it, she's a failure. It's completely unacceptable and she will do better. Even though it was totally understandable. And she hadn't even saved her soulmate fifteen minutes before and immediately realized the things she developed might be useful with that as well and pivoted to looking into it without hesitation.”

Fumiya looks up with a dark mutinous expression, “For the record? Given your soulmates are about the only thing that can consistently keep you from working your overly perfectionist self too hard, I'll kill anyone who tries to harm them.”

She gives him a surprised look, “Fumiya! You've never even met them, you can't just-”

He turns his head away in a flick, as he closes his eyes, “Don't care.”

Katsushige snorts, “They're absolute treasures and must be protected. So I second that.”

Ayako laughs a little wetly, her eyes gleaming with more moisture than is normal, “Third it!”

Yuka rolls her eyes, “That's obvious. Of course we will.”

She's entirely taken off guard and conflicted, torn between being happy the family she actually acknowledges cares for her soulmates and alarmed at how willing they are to kill for them.

Something that's only made worse when Maya gives what physically looks like a gentle smile, yet manages to convey a dangerous aura, “Indeed. Do give me their numbers so I can add them to the allowed calls and my number to them and let them know they can call me if they ever need anything.”

She opens and closes her mouth a bit, trying to wrap her head around just how protective they are of her soulmates. Soulmates they've never even met. She can't find anything to say though, and in the end she ends up just murmuring out, “I'll… do that.”

Maya nods firmly, and at that point, they start digging into the snacks she'd had Suzuki bring earlier and had placed under preservation charms to keep it at the appropriate temperature and fresh. The conversation starts drifting to discussing various things they saw, but honestly. They really do praise her too highly and make a bigger deal than is really called for in her opinion on some of the things she went through. She tries to straighten things out the first couple of times and is all too cheerfully shot down when it comes to her achievements and darkly and with mutters about how various people like the Dursleys or Dumbledore are lucky they're out of their reach regarding things she's gone through.

Eventually she gives up, sitting back to just watch them discuss things in bafflement at how they talk about them.

With nothing to add and entirely confused, she pulls her mobile terminal out.

Mass text

So um. My cousins have collectively decided that you're absolutely treasures and they'll KILL anyone that tries to harm you guys apparently.

Miho

Wait what?

Sora

Pardon? We've never even met before though?

I decided I trusted them enough to tell them about the reincarnation today, and I DO have pretty solid proof via the Trunk. It eventually turned into having the Trunk act like a Pensieve and show them basically highlights of my life as Calanthe? And now they've all… collectively decided that as you two are the only consistent method of keeping me from overworking myself and you must be protected at all costs.

Miho

I mean… They aren't wrong about us keeping you from overworking yourself, but…

Sora

🤣

Miho

Sora! This isn't funny!

Sora

Hoshi laughing so hard she's in danger of passing out from lack of air begs to differ!

Is she ok?

Sora

I'll get back to you on that when I see the results. 

Miho

More importantly, no it isn't funny! It only means she's just as bad as you! These are kids!

Sora

I'm not saying the idea of them actually DOING it is funny. It's the idea that we apparently have a group of kids we've never even met before already willing to THROW HANDS for us.

Plus Maya.

Miho

WHAT?!

Well she didn't SAY she was willing to fight people, but she told me to give her your numbers so she can add them to the numbers allowed to call and also give you HER number and let you know to call if you need anything.

Sora

Cool. Always nice to have something like that in your back pocket.

Miho

Sora! You aren't concerned in the SLIGHTEST?! This is Yotsuba Maya we're talking about!

Sora

Which means if we ever find ourselves in a position that we need help, we have Yotsuba Maya backing us up. Like I said, it's nice to have that in your back pocket just in case.

Yeah, well. They haven't mentioned it yet, they're discussing some of the things they saw, don't know WHY since it's not THAT interesting, but don't be surprised when they inevitably demand to meet you guys.

Sora

Works for me. I can get a feel for them myself just to make sure they haven't managed to deceive you, and if they haven't, as we've said before, your kids are our kids. Besides, that just means you can stop sneaking around in worry about the Yotsuba finding out and trying to ‘get us out of the picture’ or whatever they suddenly decide is necessary. Which also means we can probably meet up soon.

Miho

I mean, yes, but also it's YOTSUBA MAYA. You aren't at least a LITTLE concerned?!

Sora

Nope. I used to deal with contractors that were way more unhinged then what I've ACTUALLY heard her do rather than just rumors.

Huh. That's… interesting.

Sora

In what way?? You know the kind of crazies I sometimes used to have to work with. You've heard plenty of stories if nothing else.

Not that part. You just made me think of something. I'll get back to you later when I have a firmer idea of it.

Miho

🙄 And you accuse ME of being a workaholic.

You are.

Also, I just realized that if my kids are your kids, Dad needs to give some lessons, because the Yotsuba have some underworld type stuff but don't seem to realize that strength and being self-reliant as well as having allies is absolutely possible to juggle. I can handle that stuff from a political angle, but the underworld is your forte. So they could do with some lessons from Dad as well.

Sora

I'll make sure the kids learn better. But you BOTH are workaholics. I'm the only one who's NOT a workaholic in our relationship. 

Feeling a flicker of mischief, she can't help but tease him.

That's because you're our cute mostly stay at home except for sneaky stabby/murder husband!(1)

Miho

😂😂 Now THAT'S funny. Well. Except the stabby/murder part, but you already knew that I have issues with unwarranted stabby/murder.

Miho

And that my idea of warranted is different then you twos.

Sora

I.... I don't know about the cute part, but I… kinda can't argue with that… Since I… do take care of most of the cooking and cleaning… and it's entirely my own doing since while you guys help or offer to, 9 times out of 10 I wave you off…. Oh my gods, I am a mostly stay at home husband. And dad when we had kids in our last life. How did I not NOTICE? I used to be one of, if not THE best assassins in the world! How did I become a mostly stay at home husband?! And later mostly stay at home dad! And without noticing at that?!

Miho

🤣🤣🤣

Lol, because you're usually too busy intently trying to make sure everything is perfect for us? Don't know how else to explain something like that slipping past you Mr Observant World Class Assassin.

Especially given HOW many times you did things like “-smack hands lightly- Calanthe, you keep your workaholic hands away from my cooking young lady! -point over shoulder without turning- And don't think I don't know you've got that laundry basket Misaki! You put it back right this second!”

Sora

My girls deserve the best! The best food, a clean house. And if nothing else, they don't need to be doing that right after work or on their days off!

And we've told you while sometimes we have particularly tiring days, if it's not one of those, we're more than happy to help. You're the one who chases us away from chores.

Miho

Precisely. Usually you shut us down when we OFFER to help and insist on doing it yourself and just kinda took it all over.

Sora

Yeah fine, I did it to myself. Also, update I promised, Hoshi was leaning against my side reading my texts, and I'm pretty sure Toshiko successfully made her laugh so hard she lost consciousness when she tossed out that ‘cute stay at home husband’ line.

Is she alright?

Sora

Passing out like that doesn't last very often, so either she didn't fully lose consciousness or she's already waking back up.

Miho

As long as she is ok then.

What Miho said.

Sora

She seems fine. Maybe a slight headache from the brief lack of oxygen, but that's about it.

Sora

Well. She's ok NOW. Can't guarantee she's not gonna be a little BRAT and use the whole house husband thing as teasing ammunition. Might have to kill her later.

Miho

You know, siblings saying they're going to kill each other is usually a joke no one thinks anything of, but it's a bit ALARMING when it's coming from you or Hoshi.

Nah, Sora is too much of an overprotective big brother to do anything worse than occasionally rough house with her when they're squabbling, and Hoshi may be a brat that loves to tease him and flick him shit but she's never actually trying to hurt him.

So it's fine.

Miho

I guess… just don't get too rough Sora.

Miho

Sora?

He's probably either checking on Hoshi or she ran her mouth and they're wrestling.

Sora

The latter. It was very brief but the brat ran her mouth and needed to be put in her place.

Sora

Also, before she ran off she insisted I pass on both her love and her appreciation for giving her such ammunition as that ‘house husband’ stuff.

Sora

She's a brat.

She snickers lightly and is in the middle of typing out her reply when a light touch to her arm draws her attention up to Maya. She smiles at her, “There were some questions we wanted to ask.”

She nods, “Sure, just give me a moment to let Sora and Miho know I won't be available for at least a little bit.”

She catches sight of Ayako leaning forward, “Is Sora Hei's reincarnation? And Miho Misaki's?”

She nods as she finishes typing, “Yeah.”

They want to ask me some questions, so I've gotta go for now. Love you!

Sora

Love you too, Xiǎolóng.

Miho

Love you! Talk to you later!

Then she locks her mobile terminal and sets it down as she looks back up, “So what did you want to ask?”

As they settle in for a longer conversation, she absently sends a telepathic message to Rowena asking her to keep track of time and let them know when it's about an hour before dinner, as she heavily suspects they'll end up losing track of time.