Rebirth

In the morning, after they've had breakfast, Honami turns to Miya, “Do you have any plans for today Madam?”

Her mother hums, “Well, after yesterday, going out on another boat is out of the question, and with this storm brewing, going shopping is inadvisable….” She sighs, “What do you think Honami?”

She hums, “What about a Ryuukyuu dance? I saw one scheduled for today, and apparently you can even try on the costumes yourselves. Ah, but…” She glances over at Yuki, her brows furrowing, then drops her gaze, “The performance is for women only…”

Yuki blinks rapidly then shrugs, “I don't mind if mom and Toshiko go without me if that's what you're asking.”

Miya smiles, “That sounds lovely.”

She hums, “I'm glad it sounds enjoyable to you, since I actually already have plans to go see Captain Kazama at the Onna base that we made last night. It sounds like you'll have something to occupy your time with though.”

Miya looks a bit disappointed, likely having hopped for some mother-daughter time, it wouldn't even surprise her if that interaction with Honami had been staged just so Yuki wouldn't feel purposely singled out for being left behind, “I see. I assume it's about what happened yesterday?”

She nods, “I gave him the basics last night, but we made something of an appointment for me to come by with more details today, in the hopes there's something they can use.”

Miya nods, “I suppose I can't rightly complain, given the threat.”

She nods, “Mm. So you could go to the Ryuukyuu dance, or try to find something else to do with Yuki.”

Her mother hums quietly, “It would be silly at this point to leave one of my children behind to go to the Ryuukyuu dance. It wasn't that odd when I was taking one of my children to an event that's women's only, but…”

She hums as she gets up, “Hopefully you two think of something. I need to get going though since my ride is here.”

The three of them bid her goodbye and she heads out without hesitation and out to the car she'd ordered. Technically, self driving cars existed, and it was honestly more common to order those, but in case of emergency, you need to know how to manually drive and have a driver's license proving it, so she has to order one with a driver since for all that she knows how given she was born before the invention of the self driving car in her last life, she obviously does not have a license.

It's not like it's right across the street or anything, but it doesn't take particularly long to get to the Onna base. She gives her information to the gate guard, and it isn't long before a man is coming out, not exactly at a run or anything, but certainly at a brisk clip. He slows to a stop in front of her and smiles, “It's a pleasure to meet you Shiba Toshiko. I'm Lieutenant Sanada Shigeru of the Defense Army Department of Weapons Development. We were told to expect you.” He turns a bit and holds his hand out, “I'll lead you to Captain Kazama.”

She nods, “I realize you're probably not allowed to let me go around the base by myself, but thank you for guiding me anyway Lieutenant Sanada.”

He smiles back, “Oh you can just call me Sanada, and of course. I must admit though, we weren't entirely sure when you'd be by since Captain Kazama only realized after he got back that he forgot to set an actual time with you.”

She smiles, “It's understandable. Given everything going on, he was undoubtedly in a rush.”

Sanada gives a bit of a strained laugh, “No kidding. I suppose it wouldn't be a surprise to you, given you're the one who gave him the intel, but the base in general has been rather busy since he came back with your report.”

She smiles a little tensely, “I can imagine. Captain Kazama mentioned last night that he was acting as an instructor. Out of curiosity, has the related training been paused, or?”

Sanada shakes his head, “No. He's actually overseeing training right now. Given we haven't yet been able to get to the bottom of what exactly the GAU is planning, nor the timescale, it was decided it would be foolish to put it off. For all we know, that mention of a couple days was just in reference to the set up and nothing will actually happen for six months or more, and halting training and being on high alert for that long would only be detrimental in the long run.”

They had reached where Captain Kazama was as Sanada was about three quarters of the way through saying that, and Captain Kazama nods in agreement, “Precisely. The base has ramped up its alert level and is looking around to try to dig up any more intel, but for the time being, other than things like that, it was decided it would be business as usual for the time being.”

She unfolds her arms that had been sort of hugging one of her terminals, one that's basically a cross between what she'd call a tablet and a laptop, the latter of which is probably why they just call it ‘terminal’ like regular computers, “In that case, I sincerely hope there's some sort of clues you can glean from this.”

She holds it out to him and he starts scrolling through, his eyes going wide before he looks up in confusion, “Where did you even find the time…?”

She shrugs as she glances off to the side, “Everyone was so focused on the Loop Casting that Tōkōkuro Mihana published, that the nearly simultaneous spell she published went by practically unnoticed. It allows the caster to essentially project an image from a memory they're focusing on into a terminal, which when used in conjunction with a specific software will then create the image, allow one to edit it, then save it when they're done. Getting a terminal to make a digital drawing entirely from memory in other words.”

That was a lie. She'd developed the spell only last night, given that it was simple enough that with Rowena taking care of the program that was needed, it was easy to bust through it quickly, then get in touch with Maya to tweak some records, “I just used it and concentrated on my memories of the sub as best I could.” She leans up into her toes to swipe away from the scrollable compilation of images of the sub, both exterior and interior, over to a document, “I also wrote out transcripts of any conversions I witnessed. As you can see, I translated them myself, but I also included the original Chinese just in case you have your own translator you'd like to comb over it for anything I may have missed.”

She drops down off of her toes, then gives the stunned Kazama and Sanada, who had edged over and leaned over to get a look himself at some point, an apologetic look, “I don't know how helpful it all is. Sorry if it really isn't.”

Kazama laughs as he hands the terminal off to Sanada with a quick, “Forward that out to where it needs to be.” Then smiles at her, “Don't be ridiculous. This is incredibly helpful. Just confirming that it's the GAU is unbelievably good. It's in no way your fault that you can't materialize answers out of thin air.”

Sanada nods happily as he hands her terminal back, apparently done sending it off. She glances away, “Yeah, I know, but…. that….”

She finds herself staring at one of the fifty or so training soldiers with furrowed brows. They were doing some sort of exercise where they were climbing up ropes that went about five stories up, then jumping off and using Deceleration magic on themselves.

She's suddenly snapped back to focus by Kazama calling in confusion, “Miss Shiba?”

She jolts, “Sorry.” She flushes, “I, um, I literally can't turn my born specialization Elemental Sight off. I got a bit distracted by how odd his spellwork is.”

Kazama glances over in curiosity, “You mean Kawaguchi? He has been struggling with it a little, but his deployment time for the Deceleration spell is within the acceptable range, and to be perfectly honest, since we can't even figure out why he's being slowed since it's not just his normal casting time or something…”

She blinks at him a little rapidly, “It's because he's breaking the spell up, isn't it?”

Kazama gives her an odd look, “What?”

She tilts her head as her eyes widen, “Did you not notice?” She glances down, “I mean, I'm not trying to be rude, it's a genuine question. With the fact I literally can't turn off my Elemental Sight, I sometimes misjudge how much other magicians can perceive since some things seem so obvious to me…”

Kazama smiles, “It's fine, and no, I can't say we've noticed him… ‘breaking up the spell’, as you put it, anymore than is to be expected.”

She shrugs and tucks her hair behind her ears, “He's adding unnecessary parameters to the spell. You're using the spell Fixed Deceleration, right?” Kazama nods, and she shrugs, “I doubt I need to explain how the spell works to you in general. He's breaking up the target parameter. That is, instead of treating his body as one object, he's breaking it up into pieces to target, head, torso, arms, and legs.”

Kazama gives her a surprised look, then turns back to the training, which he'd seemed to have left to a subordinate up until then, “Kawaguchi! Come here a moment!”

The man turns in surprise, but lets go of the rope he'd just been about to climb and starts over, “Yes sir?”

She watches idly as Kazama asks him about the target parameters of the spell, and chuckles lightly in disbelief at the fact she was correct, then shakes his head and explains the problem to Kawaguchi before shooing him off to try again with the new instructions. Kazama watches a bit intently then shakes his head again when the casting speed noticeably improves immediately, “No wonder he was a bit slower. And sometimes a bit wobbly when he dropped.”

He doesn't get a chance to get any further before the other soldiers start getting a bit rowdy, hollering questions as to what on earth he told Kawaguchi that made him approve so much immediately.

Kazama glances at her, holding up a finger to the men and murmurs to her, “Up to you, the truth or a bluff. This isn't a need-to-know situation and born specializations are personal information.”

She smiles and shrugs, “I don't mind.”

Nodding in understanding he drops his hand, then he grins at them as he shakes his head in amusement and calls back, “I didn't really do much of anything. Little lady here has an Elemental Sight born specialization and spotted his problem immediately. All I did was call him over to confirm and correct it.”

That just gets some laughter and some good natured teasing questions about how they can improve tossed at her. She glances up at Kazama, wordlessly asking if it's okay, getting an amused nod as he gestures in front of him and murmurs, “By all means.”

Without hesitation, she lifts her hands to cup her mouth, “Don't know your names, so I'm going by descriptions!”

Then without hesitation she starts cycling through them, calling out problems and giving pointers to fix them or just improve in general. They seem a little unsure at taking the advice of someone her age at first, but after Kawaguchi they were at least game enough to try, and that was the only real opening she needed to prove that she did, in fact, know what she was talking about.

After a bit, she hits the point that the only real differences that can be made are if the spell itself was tweaked and just through practice on their part and drops her hands before glancing up at Kazama, who's watching her with amusement. Almost as soon as he's firmly got her attention, he teases her, asking in a joking tone, “You interested in joining the military?”

She laughs, “Honestly, I wouldn't mind working with the military in the future, either through support like this kind of stuff or generally being on call, but I can guarantee you I'm not suitable for it.”

He gets a bit of a surprised look, “I have to admit, I was expecting an unsure answer. What makes you so certain you're unsuited for it though? A lot of people think that and end up finding themselves surprised at how well of a match it actually is.”

She smiles in amusement, “Last time I checked, military personnel are usually expected to follow orders, often without knowing the why of the order. I am absolutely terrible at that. I'm not good at taking orders, particularly if it's not explained why I'm being given that order.”

Kazama laughs, “Yup! That'd do it!”

She lets out a small laugh of her own, “Like I said, in the future, I wouldn't mind working with the military as some sort of support personnel whether it be with things like this or CADs and the like or a consultant or whatever and perhaps being called in if they deemed it necessary, and even then I fully admit I'd probably be deemed difficult to work with by the military, since there would probably be even more issues unless they put me under the command of someone I respected, but I've always been bad at orders in general if I don’t see the reason or respect the person giving them. The latter of which I absolutely admit I never hesitate to inform said person that I'm only doing it, if I'm willing to do it, because there is good reason to do so. So more than happy to assist yes, but,” She shrugs, “very much unsuited to fully being in the military.”

He chuckles, “Fair enough. It's not the life for everyone, and I can certainly respect knowing that it just wouldn't work with you yet still being willing to help in other ways when you're older. You'd be surprised at how many people treat it like it's all or nothing.”

She hums, “People treat a lot of things like they're all or nothing, or yes or no questions, so I'm not really surprised.” She glances at the training, “That being said, even ignoring the information I was bringing you, this was definitely informative for me.”

Kazama gives her a questioning look, “How so?”

She smiles back, “Because if I do end up working with the military, it gives me a glimpse into things that might be expected of me. Also, even when it comes to not being called, it also gives me a rough idea of what sort of assistance the military might ask of me if I did become a consultant or something.”

Kazama hums, “That's true enough.” Then he gives her an amused look, “Though you keep talking about it like it's something that may happen later like you didn't just spend, what, half an hour? Calling out improvement advice.”

She shrugs, “By that I was more talking about in the framework of having some sort of official paperwork or understanding or what have you with the military. I'm not greedy though. I don't need a contract and pay or whatever to help out here and there. I mean, in fairness it'd be different if the military wanted help frequently by pure virtue of taking up sizable portions of my time, but… Well, I guess some people would call me greedy for that though.”

Kazama laughs again, “It's not unfair to ask for reimbursement for your time if someone is taking up a lot of it in an official capacity.”

The training switches from the rope climb and drop to combat training, and she watches for a bit, proverbially biting her tongue on the advice and critics that want to bubble up out of her given just how much she knows about that kind of thing from her centuries as Calanthe. It may not have been her main focus like people who dedicated their entire lives to things like that, but physical combat had been a tradition in House Potter, and even after the war was over and she wasn't as intently focused on getting whatever advantage she could, she’d still kept on top of her skills and continued to hone them, even if it was more idly. Also, given she'd lived to almost five hundred, even honing them more idly then with the intent she'd had before Tommy-boy died still built up considerably over time.

Eventually though, she loses the battle on holding her tongue, unintentionally murmuring out, “I suppose it's a good thing he knows he's weaker on his left side, but he overcompensates and over extends.”

Kazama gives her a surprised look, “Are you good at combat as well? I figured with the help you gave earlier you were more technical support, but now that I think about it, those comments about being ‘ok with being called on’ implies you meant for combat?”

She gives him an amused look, “My combat skills are just as good, if not better than the technical skills I showed earlier when I was helping.”

Kazama laughs, “Good at support and combat? It must be awfully boring just watching then. Did you want to join? It'd also fall in line with you getting an idea of what might be expected if you ever had any sort of agreement with the military later that had you on call.” Then his tone gets teasing, “If nothing else, I have to admit I'd like to see if they're really on par with the support you gave earlier. And who knows, if you're even better at combat, maybe you can teach them a thing or two here as well.”

She laughs, “I'd be happy to join in if it's alright with you!”

Kazama shakes his head in amusement, quickly getting the men up to speed on her joining. She's quickly matched up against someone, and Kazama glances at her before the beginning of the match, “Miss Shiba, just to let you know, you don't need to worry about going easy or something. Sergeant Toguchi's boxing skills were on a national level back when he was a student.”

She nods, but all that actually tells her it's how much she needs to hold back. Toguchi slowly starts edging closer, but while caution is a good thing, even that needs to be measured. Even if he meant it as a joke, if she was going to spar with them, she was going to make sure they learned things. For Toguchi, from what she observed of his fighting earlier, there weren't many major issues and it was just a matter of practice, she goes for the biggest of his problems to drive a lesson home.

She doesn't just leave him to figure it out either, calmly telling him just that, “Even caution needs to be in moderation. It can work in your favor to make an opponent overestimate themselves or even just get impatient, but it can also make you let opportunities slip by you.”

Toguchi suddenly hesitates a little, her calling out tips earlier probably making him a bit more inclined to listen to her despite the age gap.

Given that she'd noted while she was watching that magic to enhance physical capabilities wasn't off the table, she increases her speed and closes quicker than a blink, dropping him to his knees with one well aimed punch to the abdomen. It doesn’t knock him out like some media likes to portray, but given it makes the body basically shut down, only really capable of gasping for a little bit, unable to really defend yourself, it may as well.

“Toguchi!”

Whoever shouted hurries over to start checking him over, even as the surrounding soldiers murmur in surprise. She turns and bows to Toguchi to show respect to a downed opponent. She may still be mostly British in mentality, even if she's not going to turn traitor to her current country just because she happened to be born in a different country in another life, but that doesn't mean she's not familiar with the customs, given she'd had formerly Chinese and Japanese soulmates. She was very familiar with the fact it would be incredibly disrespectful not to.

Kazama seems to get a little flustered at that, “Corporal Haebaru!”

Another man steps forward instantly, “Sir!”

The man who had been seeing to Toguchi and one other quickly get him out of the way, and Kazama eyes her thoughtfully even as he barks at Haebaru, “Do not even think of holding back. Go with your full power!”

The Corporal pounces at the same time as he answers, “Yes sir!”

Haebaru is fast, she'll give him that, but if anything, he's the exact opposite of Toguchi. Even as she blocks the torrent of punches and kicks with the minimum effort required to conserve her energy, just as calm as when she spoke to Toguchi, she gently chides him as well, “Being too aggressive is equally as bad you know. It may even be worse, given it burns through your energy so quickly. It's fine if you can overwhelm your opponent, but if they hold out, you just end up tiring yourself and inevitably slipping up and leaving an opening.”

Haebaru seems to get more and more nervous the more she talks, probably a little freaked out she has the energy to do so without being even the slightest bit breathless despite the onslaught, but there's admittedly also an unintended psychology aspect, given when she was done talking was when Toguchi went down.

She doesn't bother trying to throw him off, changing up from what he's expecting, just slipping through one of the more and more frequent gaps to his side to drive an elbow into it. Haebaru groans a bit in pain at the blow, staggering a little, and Kazama calls out sharply again, “That's enough!”

Haebaru practically flops onto his butt, and immediately someone scampers to his side to start treating him. Blinking up at her he holds his hand out. Not blaming him for not going for the customary bow given the pain his side has to be in given she'd pulled the blow just enough not to do any damage that won't fade to nothing but a bruise within a day, she accepts his hand for a respectful shake instead.

Almost as soon as they've shaken, other members of the Onna Airborne men that had been training practically swarm them, admiration clear as they nearly gush at her.(1) Kazama cuts through the crowd towards her with Sanada. The latter looks at her with his own admiration, “You weren't kidding about being even better at combat then at technical skills. Corporal Haebaru is one of the strongest in the unit, you know?”

Before she can even answer, Kazama shakes his head, “You said it Lieutenant Sanada… I really didn't expect this degree of skill. Did you receive some form of special training, Miss Shiba?”

She shakes her head, “No, nothing like that. I was just taught to fight by some of my family that were more inclined for it. I suppose you could say it's something of a tradition, though it's far more lax than with most families with ones like that, given that in light of the fact some people are just better at things like long range magic and prefer to focus on that, my family isn't very pushy about it.”

In a manner of speaking. Most of her skill came from training with the Potter Physical Combat Trainer or sometimes Hei for specific things. Given the first had copies of her family's memories of their skill, in a way she had been trained by them, and Hei was her husband later in life, and spouses were family, so that part was just straight up the truth, no ‘if you look at it a certain way’ or anything like it needed.

Kazama hums, looking a little dubious, but he doesn’t push the subject, “But at this rate, the honour of the Onna Airborne Corps will be crushed… will you consent to one more match?”

She smiles lightly, “Certainly.”

There's some murmuring from the soldiers around them, a bit nervous to fight her after she took down Haebaru so effortlessly. She can't blame them given what Sanada said about Haebaru being one of the best in the unit. It's not really a problem though, since while he doesn't say anything until he pushes to the front, once he is, the man in question doesn't hesitate to volunteer, “I'll do it, if that's agreeable to you Sir?”

Kazama smiles, “Lance Corporal Higaki, I should've guessed. You're about on par with Corporal Haebaru. I have no qualms with you being Miss Shiba's opponent.”

If he's compared to Haebaru, he's probably usually more of an aggressive opponent, but he seems rather cautious when they get some space to spar. Not to the same degree as Toguchi, but he definitely seems to be studying her intently as he edges forward a little.

He seems to make up his mind how to attack though, given that a second later his magic becomes active before he suddenly launches himself at her like a cannonball. She does manage to dodge it, but having to jump to the side quickly upsets her form enough that he seems to see an opening and pounces.

There are benefits of having so much experience though, and one of them is that she manages to respond, though she is on the backfoot.

She makes some distance between them, and holds her hand out. Kazama seems to sort of pick up on things, “Higaki! Be more careful!”

She smiles, “You're a bit too on the aggressive side like Haebaru, but you've certainly got a better balance between caution and aggression in general. You are, however, a bit too single minded once you have a target.”

Higaki seems to falter a little at her comment, undoubtedly that psychological effect again given what had happened the last two times she spoke to her opponent. Nevertheless, he activates his magic to launch himself at her. But she hadn't been holding her hand out for no reason. Right as he kicks off, she launches a Gram Demolition at him as well as a wave of pure Psions. Unfortunately for him, given how much of his momentum was driven by magic and not that he'd just used it to increase the power of said kickoff, he immediately slows. Additionally, since he was supplementing his reaction speeds and the like by controlling his body more through magic than the regular electrical impulses and the like, the wave of pure Psions creates what's known as ‘Psion noise’, interfering with it and and halting him in his tracks right as he reaches her.

It made it all too easy to sidestep him and knock him out of the fight with a single blow, strong enough to throw him away where he falls into a sprawl.

She bows, then approaches where he was staring up at the ceiling like he was trying to figure out what happened and offers him a hand. He blinks at it rapidly for a moment before accepting it and letting her help him back to his feet.

She smiles, “It's also dangerous to rely too much on magic, but I'm sure you've realized that yourself just now.”

He tosses his head back and laughs, “Yeah. Yeah you definitely drove the lesson home. I don't think we properly introduced ourselves. I'm Lance Corporal Joseph Higaki, Onna Airborne, Sakishima Air Defense Corps, of the National Air Force in Okinawa.”

She tilts her head as her smile widens a little more, “Shiba Toshiko. It's a pleasure to meet you.”

He nods, “Yeah it is. You can just call me Joe, Toshiko.”

She laughs lightly, “Joe it is then.”

He beams, but before he can say anything else, Kazama approaches with a laugh of his own, “I must admit, I was mostly joking when I said maybe you could teach them a thing or two, but that's mostly on me underestimating you.”

She turns her smile to him, “I sort of figured, but if I was gonna be sparing with them anyway…”

Kazama chuckles as he shakes his head, “I'm starting to realize if you're already this good despite your age that the military would be utterly foolish not to take you up on what you were talking about before.”

She laughs slightly at that, “Well, in fairness, I'm definitely what most people would call an old soul.”

Kazama laughs lightly.

Things had sort of snowballed from there, Kazama leaving overseeing the training to a subordinate and inviting her for some coffee to discuss the training and spars with her. She'd given him some pointers to pass along, both in general and individually from the training she saw before she ended up sparring with some of them, and that had somehow led to her being shown Sanada’s lab and discussing CADs with him. He was more focused on hardware, but he did know a good bit about software, and they'd ended up talking for longer than she'd realized while he showed her some of the non-classified things he was working on.

Even she honestly doesn't know how exactly it happened, since she remembers Kazama asking why she didn't carry one and her explaining that she didn't want to potentially cause issues since she wasn't sure if they'd have to keep it on hold while she was on base or something. That had turned at her vague mention that regardless of the quality, CADs have always seemed slow to her, which in turn had caused more discussion between her and Sanada on CAD hardware and software.

That had somehow ended up with Sanada handing over a couple he was working on with the vague plan she would look over some sort of issue of getting the software to mesh with it that he was having. She'd been a bit concerned since he worked for the military, but Kazama had laughed and told her that until his work was at a point that the military approved of it and they started going into production, they technically belonged to Sanada, and if it wasn’t classified, he was perfectly free to consult others on any issue he was having.

She still isn't totally sure how her swinging by with more information not only saw her giving some advice magically as well as sparring but even ended up with her walking away with a couple CADs, but she absolutely lost track of time discussing both training with Kazama and CADs in general with Sanada and hadn't even realized it was approaching dinner until Kazama himself noticed and mentioned it. They'd exchanged contact information and said their farewells at that point, and she’d headed off.

She's still a bit puzzled and bemused over it all as she looks into the software side of the CADs Sanada had given her to try to see what the problem was.

She lifts her head and turns her gaze towards the door when she sees Yuki approaching her room. Given she was still rather… unsure what to do with him, she can't help but feel a little conflicted emotionally when he hesitates outside of it, hand raised to knock. She feels a little bad for it since he's a child, but given she still doesn't know how to deal with him, particularly now that his priming is starting to creep in, she can't help but feel a little relieved when he seems to lose his nerve and hurries away.

She turns away as she lets out a bit of a sigh. After a moment, she reaches for her terminal.

Mass Text

Am I a terrible person for feeling relieved that Yuki seemed to lose his nerve after hovering outside of my door for a little?

Miho

Not really. Yeah, he's just a kid, but with that priming you told us about and the way you don't know how to deal with him…

Sora

I don't think I have much room to judge there, given my own reaction in that scenario would've been to push him away just to make SURE his priming couldn't snare him and make things awkward between us.

I guess… I seriously don't know what to do about him though.

Sora

Well, since his priming hasn't surfaced yet, I'd say just keep the status quo.

She hesitates a little, not having talked with them about it yet, purely because she didn't really want to face it, then sighs lightly.

About that. I'm… pretty sure his priming is starting to creep in…

Miho

Oh…

Sora

That… are you sure?

I haven't read his mind or anything, but he was giving me weird looks after that incident with our sperm donor, and he keeps… staring at me. And mostly with attempted discretion at that...

Sora

Ah.

Sora

Well fuck.

Miho

You haven't mentioned it before though?

To be honest, I guess I was hoping that I was reading too much into it and if I just… didn't acknowledge it, it'd go away…

Miho

That's… fair…

Miho

What a mess.

Sora

No kidding.

I… think I'm gonna go back to working on these CADs I was given and firmly ignoring it for now…

Miho

You aren't supposed to be working.

It's not work if it's stress relief.

Sora

…I can't even argue with that. Fair enough, have fun I guess. Love you.

Miho

Don't totally agree with it, but Sora isn't wrong. Anyway, love you.

Love you two as well.

She sighs and scrubs at her face, then puts actions to words and goes back to the CADs.

It's been two days of awkwardly ignoring the way Yuki seems to be getting more and more of a gleam in his eyes when he looks at her. Two days of giving her mother looks while she steadily refuses to meet her gaze. The awkward atmosphere at breakfast is broken when the alarms start blaring.

Practically every electronic capable of it screaming warnings to everyone that Japan is being invaded by submarines from the West Sea and that the Kerama Islands are under attack with no formal declaration of war.

She sighs tiredly. It wasn't Kazama's fault that the military hadn't managed to make full use of her warning, but she hopes at minimum that it meant that they were quicker to respond. Yuki looks on the verge of panicking, even as Honami immediately requests permission to call Maya, to which a somewhat nervous Miya grants.

She honestly can't personally see why they're so on edge, but then again, she did spend her teenage years as Calanthe growing up in a war. She supposes it's a side effect of it, but while she isn't calm between her concern for the people and quiet rage for starting a fight towards the invaders, she certainly wasn't anxious like the other two in the slightest as she reads the information on the terminal.

Her terminal starts ringing suddenly. When she lifts it she sees its Kazama calling and she answers quickly, “Toshiko speaking.”

Kazama seems a bit relieved, but also a smidge confused, “Toshiko, I suppose firstly I should thank you for the information the other day. We may not have been able to prevent the attack, but I honestly don't even want to imagine how unprepared we would've been without it.”

She smiles tensely, “Given how close together they were, it's not surprising the military didn't manage to circumvent it, given they didn't have enough time really. I imagine that's not exactly what you're calling about though.”

Kazama hums in agreement, “No, not exactly. I was calling to offer you and your family shelter at the base.”

She flicks a look at her mother, “I'm personally inclined to take you up on that, but I need to speak to my mother about it first. Would you prefer me to call back? I'm sure you're busy.”

He doesn't hesitate, “Yes please, even if you're turning it down I'd prefer to hear back so I don't have to worry that the enemies have slipped through and your family had some sort of confrontation with them.”

She nods habitually, “Alright then, I'll call back soon.”

He hums in understanding and the call ends. She turns to her mother, “That was Captain Kazama from the Onna Airborne base. He was offering for us to take shelter there.”

Miya hums in thought, but before she can even say anything, Honami comes back, “Madam, I have Lady Maya on the call for you.”

She holds the mobile terminal out, and Miya accepts it, “Maya?” There's a pause, presumably from Maya responding and she contemplates observing the data of the soundwaves through Elemental Sight, but before she can make some sort of decision, Miya responds, “I see. I guess you've been using your influence. But won't that be dangerous?” There's another pause, before Miya responds again, “I suppose… Alright. Thank you.”

Without a word of goodbye to Maya, which isn't very surprising given the tense relationship between them, she hands the mobile terminal back to Honami, who glances at it then tucks it away when she confirms Maya isn't still connected as she speaks, “Madam, what did Lady Maya have to say?”

Miya doesn't hesitate, “She has arranged for us to take shelter with the Defense Forces.”

She hums, “I suppose that's why Captain Kazama called so suddenly since I didn't think I'd left such a strong impression to be considered a military asset or something. And presumably why he sounded a bit confused.”

Miya nods, and Honami’s brows furrow, “What'd she say about the danger to convince you if I may ask?”

Miya sighs, “She pointed out that we can't trust someone who doesn't declare war and just launches a surprise attack will comply with the rules of war.”

Honami flinches slightly at the implications and turns grim, “No, we really can't, can we…”

She looks back at her mother, “So I should call Captain Kazama back and accept taking shelter at the base then?”

Miya nods, “Yes, and request a pickup if possible.”

She nods and steps away to call Kazama back.

She's somehow not surprised when it's Joe that comes to pick them up, “Sorry to keep you waiting Toshiko!”

She can't help but smile a bit at the enthusiasm as her group starts to make their way to the jeep that he'd pulled up in, “Don't worry about it Joe, if anything, I feel somewhat apologetic at pulling you away from whatever job you were doing before this.”

He flashes her a smile as she climbs into the passenger seat since Honami was focused on trying to keep the nervous Miya calm who was in turn doing her best to keep Yuki from freaking out, so it makes sense for them to share the backseat where they can be close to one another, “Nah, don't worry about it, I don't have a particularly unique job and there are plenty of other soldiers capable of it, but there's only one of you and of your family.” As he starts to pull away, he rephrases it a little, “To put it another way, there are plenty of Japanese families obviously, but people are unique and you can't just swap any of them out for you and yours, whereas it's not like I'm the only one or one of a tiny handful that can do my job.”

She hums even as her brows furrow a little, “Even so, it must be frustrating to be pulled away from defending against an enemy attack just to escort a few civilians.”

Joe gives her a glance, his smile not wavering, “After what you showed when you came by, somehow I'm not surprised that you get how it can be sometimes. At our core though, a soldier's job is to protect the people. Usually the source of the frustration comes from having to focus on certain ones in particular instead of being able to defend more in a more general sense, but I don't mind being ordered to escort you and your family first.”

She glances at him, “I'm glad then.” Then she sweeps the empty roads, “It looks like the evacuation happened rather quickly.”

Joe nods and flashes her another smile, “Given we were poised to respond more swiftly than usual and help smooth things along because of your warning, arguably that's thanks to you.”

She hums, “If it minimizes casualties then I'm glad it was still useful, even if it wasn't early enough to prevent the attack in the first place.”

He nods in agreement, and they actually end up talking the entire ride. She's not sure if he notices as well or not and it's part of why, but the ease they speak to each other with seems to help Miya and Yuki center themselves.

It honestly doesn't feel particularly long to her, but given how on edge Honami seems to be, she can only assume they were ‘out in the open’ and twinging Honami’s Guardian training a good bit which probably makes it feel like forever to her and even the other two. In fairness though, she was used to much higher stress situations from her previous life. She was concerned about the soldiers and anyone who may have been too close to the initial attack point that evacuation would've been more complicated for, but other than that, this is practically a walk in the park for her in comparison.

When they reach the base, Joe turns off the jeep and hops out to lead them to where they're supposed to be waiting. After getting a few hallways in, she glances up at him, “I don't know how close we are to our destination, and I wouldn't want to hold you up from heading out when we get there, so I'll just say this now. Thanks again for escorting us Joe, and good luck.” She flashes him a smile, “Don't die. I'll be very upset if you do before you get the chance to make full use of the advice I gave you.”

He laughs and playfully salutes, “Yes ma'am!”

It isn't too much longer before he drops them in a room with a few other civilians taking shelter, five in total, and hurries off.

She plants herself nearer to the door, the CADs Sanada had handed over to her to look over in each of her hands. She'd only had them on her because she'd worked out the problem and was carrying them so she could swing by to drop them back off, but she'd left her personal CAD in her room when she went down to breakfast because she was trying to integrate some things she learned from the ones from Sanada and it wasn't really functional at the moment. She doubts Sanada will mind given the circumstances, but she does still feel a little bad about using them when that was never the intention of her having them. Worst case scenario, she valued keeping people alive over keeping secrets and she would use her Calanthe magic if necessity.

Well, that wasn't the only reason she was standing by the door. She didn't want to make the nervous people even more anxious by pacing, but old instincts from when Calanthe was a teenager, partly reawakened by the training the Yotsuba had been giving her, both as a ‘Guardian’ and later as a member of the family, had snapped the rest of the way awake by the attack so she was too wired and wound up to sit.

She snaps her head up and Honami shoots to her feet as gunshots ring out. She flicks a look at her, “Toshiko, that was…”

She nods, “You heard it as well.”

It's not a question from her, and Honami’s lips thin at the confirmation she wasn't hearing things or something, “There really were gunshots.”

She nods, “It wasn't a pistol from the sound. Something fully automatic. Maybe a rifle?”

She's not very confident about that, given she's not exactly a weapons expert or something, but if nothing else, it certainly sounded more like that time she did hear a rifle in full automatic mode when she had the British non-magical government agree to help her with that demonstration oh so long ago.

Yuki seems to be trying hard not to stutter, but he can't quite keep his voice from wobbling a little, “Can't your Sight tell you more about the situation?”

She shakes her head, “No, the walls seem to block magic, and it is technically a magical skill, so my Sight can't go beyond this room's walls.” She pauses as she probes at it with her magic, “Yes… it seems a traditional barrier has been erected. Not just this room, but the entire building seems to have been covered to prevent magical reconnaissance.”

Honami sighs, “We can still use magic just fine within the room though. That's good. It would be bad if we couldn't defend ourselves properly if necessary.”

She opens her mouth to say something back, but before she can, a nervous male voice from the other group speaks up, “Hey, y-you guys are magicians?”

They turn to him but it's Honami, voice dubious, that answers, “Yes?”

His face twists into a look of pompous superiority, though she's pretty sure it's mostly just bravado, “Then go have a look at what's going on.”

Honami seems to get offended at that, and it seeps into her tone, “We are unaffiliated with the base.”

The man shakes his head, “That's irrelevant. You said you're magicians didn't you?”

Honami's eyebrow twitches, “Yes.”

He sneers at them, “Then isn’t it your natural obligation to serve humans?”

Honami looks like she's seconds from exploding, “Excuse me?!”

His expression twitches a little, "I-In the first place, magicians are ‘things’ created to serve ‘people’. So it shouldn’t matter whether you’re military or not.”

Honami is clearly about to explode at the man, so she reaches out to place a hand on her shoulder even as she tilts her head at the man, “Hey Mister.” He turns to her with that superior expression, “I'd suggest you rid yourself of that mindset as quickly as you can.”

He gives her a look like he's wondering why she would dare talk back like that, “Excuse me?”

She shakes her head, “There's really no excuse for people like you.” She calls up all of her experience as Lady Potter-Black to level him with the coldest look she's capable of. Just because she wasn't about to blow up like a bomb like Honami doesn't mean she wasn't furious at his words, “It's more a matter of advice, because I can tell you right now,” She starts to turn away, “unless they join something like the defense forces, no magician has any obligation to you or your safety. And unless you clean up your attitude, it would make most magicians inclined to abandon you first if they were volunteers of some sort or otherwise not under anyone's orders and had to cut down on what they were covering because they're stretched too thin.”

He flinches hard at that and looks away as he tries to make himself smaller, his hands shaking, but just to twist the knife in further, she tacks on, “Besides, eighty percent of magicians are natural, not engineered.”

She finishes her turn to her mother, “I'm going to head out and see if the Defense Force is in trouble and if it would be prudent for you, Honami, and Yuki to relocate.”

Miya looks a little troubled, “Not you?”

She smiles as she starts to turn towards the door, “There's very little that would make it prudent for me to relocate.”

Then she starts off for the door.

The barrier can't stop her Element Sight from creeping around corners and the like, but having it laid over the entire building prevents it from going very far. More as a precaution than necessity, she creeps through the corridors carefully. She's just observing two groups of the Defense Forces fighting each other around a corner, one clearly a traitor and trying to figure out which one and therefore which to help the other group against when she hears gunshots from behind her.

Cursing in English under her breath, she whirls away as she applies acceleration magic to herself and heads back to the room, not entirely certain that's where it's coming from, but unwilling to chance it.

Running right past Joe and a group with him just around the corner from the room, she bursts into it without hesitation, clocking all four of the traitorous soldiers, one utterly frozen from Yuki's magic from what she can see with Elemental Sight and very clearly dead, her mother, Honami, and Yuki on the ground bleeding out from gunshots, and the remaining three already pointing their weapons at the asshole and his family.

While she may still be unsure of Yuki on a personal level, he's still a child and she feels immense burning rage that they shot him, regardless of whether he's a magician or not. Without hesitation, she uses Decomposition on them, reducing their bodies to dust and killing them almost absently even as she quickly moves towards her group, scanning their bodies with her Elemental Sight as she does. Honami was without a doubt in the worst state of the three, which makes sense given her positioning implies she got in front of them and tried to protect the other two, and Miya was the second worst off since her own placement tells a story of trying to protect Yuki bodily.

Her instinct is to go for Honami first since she's worse off, but she knows she'd be upset if she prioritized her over the other two, even if there's plenty of time for all three. Regardless, it makes her reach for Miya with her Regrowth first, then Yuki.

She starts to turn towards Honami, but as Yuki snaps back into full awareness, his gaze lands on her, practically worshipful, “Onee-sama!(2) You-!”

She almost wants to sob at the mine of his priming detonating just because she saved his life, but she ignores it as she turns her attention back to Honami now that they're both okay.

When Honami regains her clarity after she applies Regrowth, Toshiko sighs, “You know, I really hate what that Guardian nonsense has done to you guys mentally. Technically there was time for all three of you, but going by who had the most time left, I would've preferred to go for you first, then Miya, then Yuki, but you'd have been upset if I prioritized you even though there was still plenty of time. Only a few minutes technically, but that's practically a world of time given how quick Regrowth is.”

Honami looks away with a small smile, “Even so, you aren't wrong that it would've upset me, so thank you for using Regrowth on them first.”

She nods even as she turns to her mother, “Are you alright? Your magic calculation area and the strain on your body was healed, but Yuuka did say they were still a little weak after so many years in that state and you were at risk and likely would be for a while. I don't see anything wrong, but…”

Miya pauses, seeming to evaluate herself, then after a beat she replies, “I think I'm fine. I'll just have Yuuka give me a checkup later just to be sure.”

She nods, but doesn’t get a chance to say anything else before she hears Kazama's voice call out, “Miss Toshiko, Lance Corporal Higaki says you ran by him! Are you alright, or…”

She shouts back, “The situation is under control! You guys don't have to worry about being shot at!”

They enter, a bit cautious at first, but they quickly relax when they see there really is no danger. Kazama frowns at her, “I do apologize. We offered you sanctuary, and yet…”

She shakes her head, “Poor leadership is the most common reason for traitors, but it's not necessarily the inherent reason whenever traitors appear, and from what I saw the other day, I sincerely doubt it's actually your fault.”

Kazama still looks upset, “Even so… If there's anything I can do, just let me know.”

Miya pipes up before she can, “For one thing, you can tell us what the situation is.”

Kazama sighs as he rubs at the back of his neck, “The attack is from the GAU. The defense is… well, we're technically making progress, but it's not going great to be frank. We're pushing back, but the cost of it isn't very sustainable… Though just telling you that doesn't seem like enough of an apology to me.”

She doesn't hesitate, “If you can take the rest of my family to somewhere more secure and give me permission to help out the Defence Forces, that would be more than enough.”

He tilts his head a bit confused at the second one, “Of course I can take them someplace more secure, but… no offense Miss Toshiko, but what could you do?”

She smiles tensely, as she gestures at the frozen body, “It may be easier to just show you, but first you should check for yourself that I'm not lying that he's dead.”

Kazama nods one of his men over to the frozen corpse and her mother stirs, “Toshiko-”

She doesn't even glance back, “I already used both Decomposition and Regrowth in front of that other family, and they'll undoubtedly report what they saw to the military, so there's no point continuing to try to hide it.”

Miya sighs, “I suppose…”

The man Kazama had check the frozen soldier quickly reports the fact he is, in fact, dead and Kazama glances at her. As she brings her right hand up facing the frozen body, he turns his gaze back to it. His jaw drops when it vanishes into little more than dust in an instant with that small flame from some of the gasses in the body meeting the air. Then, just to let him see that one too, she locates it in the Eidos log and Regrowths it back together.

He turns back to her in surprise and she shrugs, “Along with my Elemental Sight, I was born with specializations known as Decomposition and Regrowth, though it'd probably be more accurate to call them Deconstruction and Restoration. As long as I have enough Psions, I can destroy anything I can see. And with the additional caveats that a living thing can't be dead, and it has to have been in the state I'm trying to restore it to within the last twenty-four hours, I can also restore anything I can view with Elemental Sight. Quite frankly, if the defense is going poorly, I don't think you're in a position to turn down the offer of help.”

Kazama had looked like he was trying to wrap his head around the astonishing information she'd just dropped on him, but at the last he looks distinctly unhappy, “As much as I'd like to say otherwise, we really can't…” His brows furrow, “But Toshiko, you… You're a child, why do you even want…”

She glances over at the frozen body in disgust, “They crossed lines that are unforgivable to me.”

He tilts his head, “Because they attacked you family? If this is some quest for vengeance…”

She shakes her head, “It happened to be my family, but it's more in that they shot civilians and children. I don't care that the ones in question are magicians, they are not in the military, nor were they participating in military action. The civilians and child in question just happen to be my family is all.”

Kazama looks down, “I suppose I can't blame you there… Such actions are despicable…” He takes a deep breath as he straightens up, looking at her seriously, “Very well. But I have to make one thing clear, even if you aren't in the military, if you're joining the operation, you have to abide by the rules of war. Accepting surrenders and the like.”

She snorts, “On a professional level, I can understand the necessity, but on a personal level, that's a little insulting. I fully admit I have little mercy for the sort of people who cross the lines they have, but that doesn't mean I'll kill someone who's surrendered or in the process of doing so. But I would like to remind you that this may not be a full blown war, it's still a battlefield. If they don't surrender, I will not show mercy.”

Kazama nods, “I'm glad you understand since it wasn't intended as an insult. Lance Corporal Higaki, escort these people to the command center. Lieutenant Sanada, get her equipped! Airborne, we move in ten!”

She steps off with Sanada to get equipped, not glancing back at Miya and the others even once, trusting Joe to see to their safety.