Rebirth

After a fairly standard meet up for sparing and update purposes on getting accepted to First High with the Ancient magic user Kazama introduced her to, Kokonoe Yakumo, she's in the self driving car, the cabinet as they call them, heading to their first actual day of school with Yuki when he suddenly breaks the silence, “Onee-sama?” She looks up from her mobile terminal, “I received a call from those people congratulating me for getting accepted into First High.” She nods, “Did… Did they get in touch with you?”

She sighs, “No, but I don't really care. Why?”

Yuki shakes a little as his magic starts to leak out and lower the temperature in the vehicle, “That- I suppose it was a rather fleeting hope, but that they didn't even acknowledge Onee-sama-”

Her tone becomes lightly chastising, “Yuki.” He jolts, picking up on the rebuke even though it's mild and not snapped, ever sensitive to her disapproval, looking up at her with wide eyes like a deer in the headlights, “I know you have some strange hope we'll actually bond as parent and child, but as I've told you before. Tatsurou is not my father as far as I'm concerned, just my sperm donor. Neither of us have any desire for a relationship, which I've also told you before. I really don't care.” She glances away, “Actually, if anything, I'd be more upset about him suddenly trying to get friendly with me out of the blue, given he's made his opinions clear on me before, it would be incredibly obvious he was faking it for some reason. Trying to use me or something. Something like that action itself and the audacity to pull that after everything is practically the only thing he could do to actually upset me.”

Yuki's brows furrow, unhappy at the firm refusal regarding his hopes of her and Tatsurou bonding, then he lowers his head, “I… understand Onee-sama.”

She tilts her head as his magic starts to dissipate, silent for a few moments as she just gazes at him, “...No. I don't think you do. Honestly, we only communicate when absolutely necessary, and if anything, the acknowledgement that we are nothing to each other gives us a rather smooth businesslike relationship when we do have to interact, as rare as it is. It's not the familial relationship you seem to desire for us that neither of us wants, but quite frankly? The emotionless, purely businesslike relationship we have is actually much more amicable than the hostility from before. Hostility Tatsurou would likely devolve back into if he was forced into a parental role for me. I don't care regardless, I'm not one for paying heed to the opinions of people I don't care for, but it's the most warmth our relationship really will ever have, and if anything, your attempts are more likely to sabotage what relationship we do have.”

Yuki flinches, and for a moment, he looks like he may cry, but arguably, he did it to himself, holding out some strange hope that she and Tatsurou would develop a familial relationship. Regardless, he nods a little miserably, “I- I understand Onee-sama.”

She looks back down at her mobile terminal, holding back a sigh. She's had some snide remarks from people like Mitsugu and Osamu about how heartless she was to Yuki, which was ironic given how little the Yotsuba actually cared about emotions and she knows full well they're just jumping on anything they can potentially use against her, but he did it to himself. He sets himself up for it with his constant unreasonable expectations. Does she feel a little bad to be constantly breaking his heart? Yes, because he was her younger brother and they had something of a sibling relationship nowadays, even if it's a bit strained on her end given his constant pushing at her boundaries, desperate for more than what she's willing to give him and unwilling to even try to move on. It is not her fault though. He constantly does it to himself by trying to impose things she does not want and being dejected when she shuts it down. Repeatedly in some cases.

She wasn't going to concede to his constant unreasonable pushes, both on a personal level for him or on other topics like Tatsurou just to spare his feelings. Particularly given she does try to break those kinds of things to him gently the first time and only gets blunt when he continues to push.

If she didn't know his obsession made him practically unable to try to make her out to be the bad guy, she'd actually be inclined to think he was a master manipulator who's favorite tactic was the heartbroken victim card.

She honestly doesn't know what's worse. That she knows full well that Yuki's obsession means there's no way in hell he'd let events play out in such a way for her to be put in a negative light knowingly or that it keeps happening because even after she's told him time and time again, there still seems to be some part of him that tries to basically control her life in the way he constantly pushes for her relationships to be as he desires and all that other nonsense.

She settles at her desk, greeting Mizuki and Erika. It wasn't a big deal obviously, but unfortunately neither of her soulmates nor her sister-in-law were desk mates to her. They were still in the room obviously, but on some level she almost wants to pout at the entirely new experience of attending school with them but not being able to chat with them casually in class due to the assigned seating. She can before and after class starts obviously, and there will be plenty of time in between during lunch breaks and the like, but even without an actual teacher to have to try to keep her voice down so as not to catch the attention of, she's not going to shout over at them. If nothing else, it would be rude to people trying to concentrate and disruptive.

Deciding to distract herself, she inserts her ID into her assigned terminal and starts brushing up on information that wasn't on the website or in their emails while she waits for the start of class.

Her attention is grabbed by the fact the student in front of her is turned in his seat staring at her. She'd noticed from the get go of course, but she'd ignored it initially, unsure if he was looking past her at someone he knew or just looking around. It's fairly obvious at this point neither is the case though, so she casually asks in a polite tone, “Is there a reason you're staring at me?”

He jolts, “Sorry! My bad, it's just kinda rare to see so I ended up staring.”

She flicks a bemused look at him, “Rare?”

He shrugs, “I’m pretty sure it’s rare now, right? This is the first time I have seen someone only using keyboard input.”

She huffs in amusement as she realizes what he's referring to, “Probably, but it's what I'm most comfortable with.” Which was absolutely due to the fact she grew up in the early 2000’s in her previous life, well before anything remotely similar to this world's tech came about, “Actually, if you're familiar enough with it, it's the fastest method, although it's also the one most prone to errors and therefore least accurate.” She shrugs, “No method is inherently correct, they all have their advantages and drawbacks, so it's really just best to go what you're most comfortable with. Well. As long as you can. The rules mean you can't use virtual terminals here obviously, which gets in the way of things if that's related to the one you're most comfortable with.”

The boy tilts his head, “That's true enough…” Then he shakes himself out and grins, “I haven't introduced myself yet. Sorry about that. I'm Saijou Leonhart. My dad's only half and my mom's a quarter, so while I look Japanese, my names Western, and my specialty is Convergent Systematic Reinforcement magic. My desired course is to hone my body and become either riot police or a mountain corpsman. You can just call me Leo.”

A flicker of amusement goes through her at his name. There was a certain bit of humor in a reincarnated descendant of Godric Gryffindor, who's House uses thestrals and lions in their family crest, becoming acquaintances with someone named Leo. She smiles at him, “Shiba Toshiko, you can just call me Toshiko. It's nice to meet you Leo. I'm more of a jack of all trades type than anything,” Well, that wasn't entirely true, if it had been her previous life, she would've said she was specialized in combat oriented magic and Runes, but she's honestly never given her abilities in this life a whole load of thought. She just picks up whatever she needs to for her goals, “I'd say I'm more of a magic engineer than anything.” Which was technically true, given she does spend a lot of time developing magic, “As far as what I'd like to do with it…” She hesitates a bit, trying to figure out how to word it given it's still a secret before settling on an answer as she smiles a little at her terminal, “I suppose the best way to put it would be to say I prefer to look at the bigger picture.”

Erika, apparently having heard the conversation as she entered the room, bounds up to them cheerfully, “You wanna be a magic engineer Toshiko?”

Leo gives her a weird look, “Who's this random guy?”

That irritates Erika, and she almost immediately starts bickering with Leo. She huffs a small laugh quietly, turning to look over at Sora since they're being loud enough that there's no way the entire room isn't hearing it. When she glances over, he looks equally amused, then mouths to her, ‘Two peas in a pod, aren't they?’

She does her best to bite back a smile as she mouths back, ‘Loud, brash, energetic, and proud? Yes.’

Sora shakes his head as Hoshi giggles a bit from where she's sitting on his desk, towards the edge with her legs dangling off given the terminal but still very much on top of it.

Given the alphabetical order to the seat assignments, Miho is at the back of the class, so she turns around to share an amused look with her too. As she is though, it draws her attention to a boy sitting next to her. He's gazing at Erika with an embarrassed look on his face, so she can only assume they know one another.

Feeling a bit bad for the boy, if only because between the decades she spent in Japan with Misaki in their previous life and the handful of years here to adjust to any differences in this universe, she's very familiar with the aversion to drawing attention most Japanese seem to have and how easily they suffer second hand embarrassment, she nods to the left, Miho's right from her perspective, at the boy.

Miho looks a little confused at first, before she glances over and clocks him. She leans over to try to sooth out his embarrassment even as she gives her a thumbs up with the hand on the side opposite him.

She has no idea if Miho will be able to help him out with his embarrassment, but it's worth a shot.

She's still with Erika, Mizuki, and Leo as they start to head to lunch, and within moments, Hoshi bounds up, almost as energetic as Erika had been this morning, Sora trailing behind her, a bit more laid back. They don't even get a chance for Leo to make more than a confused expression, the only one of the three who hadn't been there yesterday to know she was familiar with the twins, before Miho is somehow politely dragging her seatmate up to them.

Introductions are quickly exchanged, in which she learns that yes, Miho's seat mate, Yoshida Mikihiko, who insists they just call him Mikihiko, does in fact know Erika, who much to his chagrin calls him ‘Miki’, and an explanation is given to Leo as to why the seemingly random students are coming up in the form of the fact she's close to the other three. An explanation for Mikihiko wasn't really needed, given he'd seen Miho basically dragging him up, but Miho had brushed it off anyway with a quick explanation of the fact she and Mikihiko had gotten along fairly well and at her question, he'd revealed he had no plans for lunch.

They hadn't stopped moving while they spoke, so by the time they're done, they're already settling down with their food in the cafeteria. They've hardly been there for very long though, before Yuki comes over, a group practically glued to him, which is probably the source of the slight strain in his smile, “Onee-sama, I'm glad that if nothing else lunch is shared between courses. I must admit, I missed you.”

She's not surprised in the slightest, but some of her followers seem to be, though it's one of the boys around her that voices it, “Ehh? Shiba? You're joining Weeds for lunch?”

He barely hides his scowl as he turns, “I don't know why you're acting surprised. I told you all that I already had plans to meet with my older sister for lunch.”

He shoots them a dirty look, like they're animal waste on the bottom of his shoe that he was unfortunate enough to step in, “You didn't say she was a Weed.”

Yuki lets some of his displeasure show on her face, “Why should it matter that my Onee-sama is a course two?”

She sort of wants to sigh at Yuki trying to make a point against that whole ‘Bloom’ and ‘Weed’ slang by stressing the actual distinctions between them rather than using the derogatory nickname course one students gave course two. Yes, it really shouldn't exist, but it's not like the false superiority of most course one students will be shaken off by something as simple as that.

She's pulled from her thoughts as Yuki continues, “She is my Onee-sama. What course either of us are in doesn't matter.”

Unsurprisingly, the prideful boy and some of Yuki’s other fans aren't willing to accept that, and Erika and Leo are brash enough that they unsurprisingly refuse to accept their meddling refusal. It starts a bit of an argument, and she gives it a little to see if Yuki's followers will see reason.

After that though, she steps in, not raising her voice, but drawing on her experience as Lady Potter-Black to make her voice ensnare people's attention, “You must look down on Yuki quite a lot.” They all flush bright red, but she doesn't let any of them speak, “I mean, you must to think you have any right to dictate what Yuki does with his free time. To think you have the right to demand his attention.”

There's an uncomfortable silence as more than one of the more verbal students on the course one side flinch or look away or open and close their mouths looking for something to say.

Finally, the boy who'd spoken first musters himself and throws her a dirty glare, “You're awfully rude, but then again, I guess I shouldn't have expected a Weed to know manners.”

She tilts her head boredly, drawing on the Black family's practically patented Look of eying someone up and down and making a very particular expression that all but screams at even the most socially inept that their value is being weighed and they are found lacking, “It is not an inadequacy of manners to disclose to someone else their own arrogance and social ineptitude.” She cranks up the ‘you are lacking’ part of her expression, “Then again, I suppose I shouldn't expect someone who seems to have failed to develop past the single digits’ habit of thinking they can just lay a claim of ownership to whatever and whoever they want and can subsequently monopolize it to know better.”

She hadn't thought it was possible for his blush to get any redder, but he proves her wrong as he sputters even as Erika starts howling with laughter. Apparently having at least enough intelligence to realize the longer he stays, the more he'll be humiliated or maybe not that much but just a tactical retreat from the humiliation he's already been subjected to, after flicking a look at Yuki and realizing he will not be backing him up in any way, he whirls away and storms off. She doesn't know if he was their leader or if they just don't want to risk being humiliated as well, but the rest of Yuki’s unwanted entourage quickly follows him.

She does notice a girl with short brown hair in low twin tails and a girl with short black hair with longer bangs looking back with conflicted expressions, but given she doesn't know them, she couldn't even really begin to guess at what they're conflicted about with any accuracy.

Yuki breathes out a sigh of relief when they're gone, then gives her a grateful smile, “Thank you Onee-sama.” She turns to Erika and Leo and gives a very shallow bow that's more of a nod than anything, “I owe you gratitude as well for attempting to get them to see how unreasonable they were being. I apologize to you all for bringing trouble.”

Leo grins widely, “Nah, don't worry about it. It's normal you'd wanna sit with your sister for lunch since you're in separate classes! Any trouble was entirely from them meddling!”

Erika nods, “Mhm. You can't control how they act.”

It'd been a bit of a hassle to get one, but there were tables with more room than average, and they'd picked one that could seat them all that wouldn't be a squeeze, so there's plenty of room for Yuki to join them which he doesn't hesitate to do.

After another round of introductions, for those who haven't met Yuki at least once before and who he doesn't know, they settle in fairly quickly. In fairness, between Leo and Erika's exuberance, Hoshi's enthusiasm, and her and her husband and wife's calmer ease, Mizuki and Mikihiko's shyness don't really stand a chance.

She feels that same flicker of concern for Mikihiko as she had for Mizuki. It was obviously perfectly fine if they were just naturally shy, but she can't help but feel immediately worried at the possibility of there being some sort of underlying problem. Maybe it's just her being overprotective of innocents, particularly minors and she's sticking her nose into other people's business, but she can't help it. She would never push and practically demand they give her their life stories or anything of the sort, but it's practically instinctive for her to want to reach out to them, to try to find out if there are concealed roots to their behavior and to offer them safety and support if they need it.

If nothing else, she knows full well they'll need to get to know her better so she isn't practically a stranger before she tries to find some way to get to the bottom of whether it's just their natural dispositions or if there are some sort of problems. She also needs to figure out how to enquire into it gently if signs do point to there being a cause. If it's some sort of trauma, she doesn't want to unintentionally trigger some sort of relapse if they're already on the road to recovery for the hypothetical trauma.

She holds back a sigh, not wanting to give any of the kids the wrong impression of her opinion on their conversation. She may very well just be reading into it too much. In fairness, other than Neville, who absolutely had some trauma from the way his family behaved regarding his latent magic when he was younger, practically all of her friends back when she was mentally as young as she was physically weren't anything like their almost painful shyness.

She'd keep an eye on them, see if they exhibited any more signs then what could just be perfectly natural shyness and obviously she'd back off if it was just that, but they're just kids. If they need help, then Merlin damn it all but she'll find a way to help them.

She's somehow not even surprised that apparently the students from lunch did not, in fact, seem to learn their lesson, given they were now arguing with Erika and Leo, the most confrontational of the group, about Yuki spending time with them now that school was over. Miho, always police at heart, was trying to deescalate the situation, particularly after lunch earlier, but it wasn't going very well. She didn't know and frankly didn't care if they were just that desperate for Yuki's attention or if their bruised pride after being so thoroughly dismissed at lunch was riling them, but they were being even more insistent now then they were then.

Miho is hiding it very well, but she can tell she's growing more exasperated, both at their unreasonable and arrogant behavior, and undoubtedly at the fact they still don't seem to understand that she's arguably trying to save them from Toshiko herself finally deciding to step in and inevitably doing even more damage to their egos. They really have let their egos blind them though, given from the glances they keep shooting her with mounting victorious superiority, they don't seem to have realized that much like at lunch, she wasn't being quiet because she had nothing to say. It was more because she was giving them a chance to be persuaded to see reason before she steps in.

She pulls on her experience as a Lady for the second time today to cut into the bickering, “You do realize that this is harassment?” The guy in the lead sputters, but she doesn't give him a chance to recover, “You're acting obsessive and demanding when Yuki isn't obligated to give you his time.” She eyes him, “As I was telling you this afternoon, you really ought to work on your wisdom better reflecting your years.”

Erika barks out a sharp laugh, and Morisaki turns bright red again, before spitting out, “Shut up! Weeds have no right to interfere in matters concerning Blooms!”

Mizuki, who'd been showing more boldness than she expected of the rather quiet and shy girl before this argument, calmly rebukes that, “We are all just freshman. You guys are Blooms, but right now just how are you any better than us?”

That gets more than a bit of anger from the course one students, and the ringleader gives gives a disdainful look, “If you want to know just how much better, I can show you.”

He was going to regret that, given with her Elemental Sight, she can see Saegusa and a woman who had been introduced as Watanabe Mari during the entrance ceremony approaching, probably drawn by the loud argument. Leo, unsurprisingly for the brash boy who said he maybe wants to become riot police as one of his two options, grins at him, “Ha! Interesting! By all means, show us!”

The other boy switches his aggressive look to Leo, “Then I will!”

She wants to sigh. The only ones allowed to carry CADs on campus were senior members of the Student Council and certain committees, but it was after school hours and everyone had already collected their CADs on their way out. That being said, using harmful magic without a genuine need to is not only against the school rules, but even the law.

She's weighing up whether she should stop it now or let Leo and the like make their attempt to show them how little they're actually better than them and only intervene if they can't. It's not like she can't easily toss out magic of some sort to stop the attack with ease if it looks like they won't be able to handle it. She can use her Patronus fire if push comes to shove. It's for that reason that she doesn't interfere as the boy draws his CAD and aims it at Leo who looks rather unruffled. Right as Leo is reaching for the CAD, it's suddenly sent flying from the swing of Erika's police baton shaped specialized CAD.

The ease with which she moved and her confident demeanor makes it clear that it wasn't chance or luck, the other student's CAD was going to get knocked from his hand and go flying, something which is backed up by her equally confident words, “At this distance, the body is faster.”

Leo, who had been just shy of grabbing the CAD himself, gives her an irritated look, “I agree, but you were planning to whack my hand as well, weren't you?”

Erika, currently in more of a relaxed ready state for any other trouble and with a bit of triumph in her expression, turns her face to Leo with faux innocence, “Ara, I wouldn't do something like that!”

Leo's irritation ramps up as she laughs, “Don't laugh it off so unnaturally like that!”

She almost wants to laugh herself to be honest. Even though she doesn't know them particularly well, she can still tell they weren't lost in their bickering and still very much on guard against anything else. But there's a certain humor in the fact that they were bickering even in the middle of this tense standoff, and honestly, that alone probably takes the course one students’ perceived superiority down a peg.

As they continue to bicker, other course one students look like they're about to attack, and one of the girls off to the side quickly starts up an activation sequence from her bracelet CAD. It's a harmless spell, just a flash of light like from a flashbang, likely just her trying to stop the situation from getting any further out of hand, but poor timing means that the older girls she'd seen steadily approaching reach them a couple seconds after the activation sequence becomes visible and its broken by a precise bullet of Psions. It isn't Gram Demolition, it only injects a very precise interference of Psions into the sequence to disrupt it and cause it to destabilize, which a magician could theoretically overcome, unlike Gram Demolition which blows the entire sequence to pieces.

The girl stumbles back into her friend as a sharp female voice rings out with authority, “Stop right there! Using attack magic on others for any reason other than self-defense is not just a violation of school rules, it's a criminal offense!”

The one who spoke was the Student Council President Saegusa herself. Watanabe, who was the Disciplinary Committee Chief, speaks in a hard cold voice, "You are students from 1A and 1E aren't you? I will hear you out. Please come along.”

She steps forward at that, “If I may, the only one who attempted to use actual attack magic here wasn't her.” She gestures towards the girl who stares up at her with wide eyes, “She was only attempting to active a spell that would flash a bright light not dissimilar to a flashbang just without the noise part as it wasn't set to be bright enough to cause permanent damage, likely in an attempt to deescalate the situation.”

Watanabe gives her a surprised look, “Are you saying you can read an activation sequence before it's deployed?”

She nods, “I am.” Watanabe's eyes flick over her face for a moment before she suddenly activates her magic. She smiles at the physically older girl, “Watanabe-senpai, that smoke bomb will likely only add to the confusion of the situation.”

The spell fizzles out and she tosses her head back with a laugh, “You really can read activation sequences!”

There's more than one sharply sucked in breath, but she ignores them and nods, “I can.”

Watanabe flicks a more relaxed look at the girl, “I suppose it's admirable to make a snap second decision to try to deescalate a tense situation.” She turns her gaze back on her, “How did it get to that point to begin with though?”

She shrugs, “As you could easily see from the footage on that camera over there,” She points at it, causing the course one students to blanch, “this group of course one students were refusing to accept my younger brother’s insistence that he was leaving with me, rather than going with them for whatever they were trying to pressure him into. He,” Another gesture, this time at the boy who'd drawn his CAD, “was getting snappy about ‘Weeds’ staying out of the business of ‘Blooms’,” Watanabe and Saegusa both give him sharp looks which he cringes away from, “and I suppose one could argue that technically Leo provoked him, but all he said was something about if they're so much better than he should show us and there are dozens of ways he could've done that. He's the one who chose to respond to that by pulling his CAD. As they pointed out, the body tends to be faster at the range he was at, so Leo was about to grab his CAD when Erika knocked it out of his hand with her specialized baton CAD,” She points and Erika jolts a little, “and she and Leo started bickering. The course one students looked like they were about to attack, and that's when she went to set off that bright flash with her spell.”

Saegusa sweeps her gaze over them all, “I see…”

Then she turns to Watanabe, who nods then locks her gaze onto the boy who'd drawn his CAD and holds out her hand, “Let me see your ID.” He looks a little nervous as he hands it over, “Morisaki Shun of class 1A, huh?” She looks back up at him then sweeps her gaze over the rest of them. Her gaze stops on Toshiko’s group first, “While Miss…” 

She nods at her flick of a look, “Shiba Toshiko.”

Watanabe continues, “While Miss Shiba isn't wrong that some of what was said could arguably be taken as verbal provocation, she also isn't wrong that there are plenty of ways he could've responded to the challenge, so you technically didn't do anything wrong. You're free to go.” Then her gaze changes to the girl who had tried to use that flash spell, “Technically, you could be in trouble for trying to use magic, but as you were only trying to deescalate the situation, you're in the clear.” Her gaze sweeps to the rest of the course one students, “Since you didn't technically attack, if only because we showed up before you potentially could, you all get off with just a stern warning, do I make myself clear?” There's some frantic nodding and her gaze lingers a moment to let them shift nervously under it to drive the point home before her gaze finally settles on Morisaki, “You however, are in trouble Morisaki. Grab your CAD and come with me.”

Morisaki sputters, “But- I- They-!”

Watanabe gives him a cold look, “If you're trying to bring up what could be taken as verbal provocation, I would like to remind you that magicians are expected to have better control of themselves than to let something as miniscule as that get a rise out of them. Considering you just started and this is your first offense, I doubt you'll be expelled, but honestly, considering if you just got into a verbal disagreement with someone on the street and acted like this you'd likely be arrested? I'd say they did you a favor by forcing you to acknowledge you have a short fuse before you get yourself arrested.”

Morisaki blanches, then shoots them a dirty look and she raises an eyebrow, “We are not responsible for the way you reacted to what was nothing but a verbal disagreement and arguably provocation.” He tenses, but she just eyes him, “Those who test boundaries find cliffs. We are not responsible for you choosing to push forward.” Watanabe snorts in amusement and flicks a glance at her and she returns the look, “Unless I am mistaken, Morisaki is one of the Hundred Families. Given that Watanabe is also one of the Hundred Families, and that as well as their ties to the Ten Master Clans,” She flicks a look at Saegusa, “regardless of what the school chooses to do, you may want to have a discussion with the way he conducts himself, given the way it reflects back on you.”

Watanabe sighs and nods in agreement before turning back to Morisaki as she accepts his CAD from Miho who had collected it since no one else seemed to be, “And as I said, I doubt it'll be immediate expulsion since it's the first day and all that, you very much tested boundaries, and now it's time to face the cliff. Get moving.”

She shakes her head as they head off with Saegusa and the majority of Morisaki's group nervously and hurriedly disburses after they're gone. The only ones who don't are the girl who had been about to set off the flash of magic, who she belatedly recognizes as the girl with twin tails that had been given them an odd look at lunch, and her friend who she realizes is the same black haired girl who had also been giving them the conflicted expressions with the other.

They approach almost hesitantly, and it's the brown haired girl who takes the lead, “Um.” Then she gives a shallow bow of greeting, “I'm Mitsui Honoka. I wanted to apologize for the way things got out of hand earlier and the things they were saying.”

She smiles, “Don't worry about it, you aren't responsible for other people's words.”

Honoka smiles hesitantly, “I also wanted to thank you for explaining things to Watanabe-senpai. I was just trying to get everyone to stop, but I could've gotten in so much trouble…”

She waves her hand, “Don't worry about it. It would've been wildly unfair for you to be the one to get in trouble when you were just trying to get everyone to calm down.”

Honoka's smile becomes a little more certain and her friend choses that moment to pipe up, “I didn't want to interrupt Honoka, but if you're done, I'm Kitayama Shizuku. It's nice to meet you.”

She smiles at the somewhat flat deadpan that seems to be the girl's default, at least from what she saw of her during the confrontation and the way neither Yuki nor Honoka bat an eyelash, “I said it earlier, but I'm Shiba Toshiko. You can just call me Toshiko.”

She and Honoka both nod, and they end up joining them on the way to the cabinet station. The air is still a little delicate at first, but given they seemed like good kids that just got caught up in things, neither she, nor Miho, Sora, and Hoshi really let it linger. They'd really only been trying to smooth things out between everyone, and while it works, it's kind of surprising how quickly the two click with the rest afterwards.

She supposes it's a good thing that there are some pretty decently sized tables in the cafeteria for larger groups, as she's pretty sure the two were going to be joining them. They seemed genuinely remorseful for their part in things, so it should be fine. She'll keep a bit of an eye on the girls to make sure they're not faking, but it's doubtful they'd be able to deceive her given her literal hundreds of years dealing with nobles in some capacity or another in her previous life.

As they're walking from the cabinet station to the school with the others, who they met up with at said station, a cheerful voice calls out behind them, “Toshiko, Yuki!” They had stopped and turned to find that just as she'd suspected, it was a cheerful Saegusa calling out to them, “Good morning!” She glances at the rest of their group, and nods with a smile, “Good morning to you all as well.” Then she turns her attention back to her and her brother, though it's mostly on her brother, “I was wondering if you'd thought about the topic we spoke of on the day of the entrance ceremony?”

Yuki chews his lip, “A bit yes…”

Saegusa smiles, “But it still seems like you may be uncertain? How about you come to the Student Council room for lunch today? Though, unless you don't mind pre-made meal dispenser bentos, you may want to swing by the cafeteria and grab something really quickly.” Yuki's brow furrows and he glances up at her, but he doesn't even have to say anything before Saegusa seems to catch on to his thought process, at least a little, though hopefully not too much, “Toshiko can come too of course! It's not a huge secret, and I'm not so heartless I'd ask siblings in different courses to give up what time they have together during the school day!”

Yuki relaxes a little, and it makes her bite back a sigh. She's set down boundaries for him repeatedly but rather than learning to respect them, he only seems to be getting clingier and clingier by the day. Maybe she needs to be firmer about it, something like rather than just rebuking him with her tone and waiting to potentially actually say anything until people who aren't aware of the situation aren't around and start letting him know he's crossing the line in that exact moment? Perhaps having it at least somewhat private was emboldening him.

As she contemplates it, Saegusa quickly says her goodbyes and heads past them at a quicker clip then their leisure stroll. She frowns after her then turns to Yuki, deciding she may as well give calling him out on his behavior immediately as it happens a try, “Yuki.” He tenses at her rebuking tone and looks up at her with wide eyes to the newcomers of their group's confusion, “If it's just for today, I suppose it isn't a huge deal, but I do not appreciate you just making plans for both of us. You're fully aware I'm in a relationship, and it's rude to drag me away from spending some of the non-class time we'll have together.”

Yuki flinches slightly, then flicks a displeased look at Sora and Miho, who honestly don't look surprised in the slightest at her changing tactics, probably due to the number of times they've spoken before about Yuki's increasingly poor behavior, “You're already in the same class as them-”

She cuts him off, “And I share a home with you. Furthermore, while we are in the same class, it's not like we have time to just talk to each other during class.”

He looks away sharply, and after a small beat of somewhat awkward silence, Erika leans forward with interest, “Well, if you're gonna talk about that stuff right in front of us, you can't exactly complain if we're curious. Hoshi mentioned you were dating Sora yesterday, but what do you mean by them? Are you in a relationship with more than one person?”

She glances over at her casually, “Yeah, Sora and Miho actually. It's a closed polygamy thing. I'm dating both of them and they're also dating each other.”

Erika gets a look of understanding, “That explains an awful lot about why you seem so close to them but a bit more distant from Hoshi. I was beginning to wonder if you didn't really like each other and just kinda tolerated one another because Hoshi is Sora's twin so you both have ties to him as his friend and sister.”

She grins over her shoulder at her, “Not at all. Hoshi is practically a sister to me as well. Or, while it may not be legally accurate, given I am in a relationship with her brother, it may be easier to say she's practically my sister in law? The only reason we aren't as close is because I'm not dating her, unlike I am her brother.”

Erika nods in understanding, and Honoka pipes up, sounding a bit amused, “I can get the analogy for ease of understanding, but isn't it a bit much to call Hoshi your sister in law?”

The woman in question leans forward, “Oh no, their relationship is serious serious. It's not legally accurate,” For this life anyway, “but she's not wrong that I may as well be.”

Shizuku tilts that somewhat deadpan expression that seems to be her default towards her, “How so?”

Hoshi snorts, “For one, they've been dating for literally years already.” More than Hoshi can vaguely reference, “For another, they've already spoken about marriage. For family expectation reasons,” Since if it ever comes out she's a Yotsuba, there would be a stupid amount of uproar if she didn't get married, and while she would've done it if her soulmates weren't here, they were. So it had been decided to avoid it by having her be the one to marry Sora in this life, even if she wasn't exactly happy with the fact that people would undoubtedly deem Miho Sora's mistress or something, not to mention it didn't feel fair to their soulmate in general, “and just to prevent accusations of cheating later, since polygamous marriages aren't legal, on paper it'll be Sora and Toshiko who are married, but they've already settled on the fact that even if she can't have a marriage license to either of them, Miho will be part of a tweaked ceremony with them.”

Hoshi shrugs before she continues, “They've already got the whole thing planned out and budgeted and all that. The date it's gonna be, the venue they're gonna use and even backups if it's booked when it gets closer to things if they find its already taken when they try to make their own booking, the decorations, the details of the clothes, but just the details, they haven't purchased them yet since they don't want some last minute growth spurt making it so they won't fit. Basically the whole thing is already figured out. The only thing they haven't totally nailed down yet is the bridal party, the groomsmen, and the guest list, since relationships come and go and change, so they don't want to even attempt to nail that part down until it's closer to the event.”

The kids give them all surprised looks but Yuki looks devastated, which isn't surprising given she knows full well it's the first he's heard of it. Luckily for him, given he's too emotional to even attempt to hide his expression, everyone else is so surprised and focused on them that none of them notice.

Leo whistles, “Okay, yeah, that's pretty serious. So I guess it isn't entirely unfair to describe Hoshi as practically your sister in law already.”

She hums in agreement and looks over her shoulder at said sister in law, then flicks her eyes towards Yuki. Getting the hint, Hoshi glances over and subtly elbows him. Once Hoshi has, she turns back around so she doesn't potentially draw attention to them, but she's still aware of what's happening given her Elemental Sight.

She keeps an eye on it even as the conversation turns to them asking questions about their wedding plans in curiosity, but having caught the glance back and knowing the situation more then well enough as well as the fact she'd undoubtedly want to keep an eye on it, Miho and Sora take over answering their questions. Next to Hoshi behind her, Yuki is slow to respond given his heart break, but when he does, Hoshi purposely waits a beat then wipes her expression to silently remind him that he may wanna fix himself if he doesn't want everyone else wondering why he's so hurt by the news.

She has long since hit the point that she genuinely stopped caring if others found out about him being in love with her, having only done so to begin with because she wanted to try to spare him the mortification from looking back on others knowing if he ever manages to get over her. She sincerely doubts he will though, considering he actively resisted her prior attempts to get him to move on. He even outright told her he'd rather die alone emotionally with his feelings, though likely forced by the Yotsuba to legally marry and at least have a child through artificial means if nothing else, rather than move on when she had a blunter discussion with him.

She wonders sometimes, if he even realizes that the tighter he tries to cling to her, the more he tries to monopolize her attention, the more he jealously tries to separate her from others, the more she wants distance from him. She's meant it every time she's told him she doesn't mind a sibling relationship, but she's also meant it every time she's had to put her foot down and remind him that she will never have a romantic relationship with him. She's even started wondering recently, if he'll ever push her to the point that she cuts him out of her life completely.

She hopes he doesn't, but given it would be a consequence of his own actions, it's entirely up to him whether it will be necessary at some point or not.

It's with not insignificant reluctance that she says her farewells to her soulmates when lunch arrives, still none too pleased about essentially being volunteered to give up her free time with them, and heads off to meet up with Yuki. Given that the first years, regardless of whether they were in course one or two were all on the same floor, before they had separated this morning, Yuki had insistently made plans for them to meet up at the staircase before they went up.

She's entirely unsurprised that he's already there, practically bouncing on his toes cheerfully.

Either he doesn't pick up on her mood, or he's just bulldozing past it, but it's not just his expression and body language that's cheerful when Yuki asks, “How has your day been so far Onee-sama?”

She shrugs, “Class was just class. Not much to say there. The only thing really notable about my day is I've basically spent all morning mulling over lunch with my partners being taken away.”

He slumps, “I-I see…”

Things fall silent after that and Yuki looks a bit torn. If she had to guess, it's likely between upsetting her and some weird sense of victory at pulling her away from Sora and Miho. Which will absolutely not do and the very thought that it may be going through his head drives her to speak again, “Honestly? I contemplated sending a message to Saegusa-senpai explaining that while her consideration is admirable in general, it doesn't work in the way she was wanting it to for me and that I wouldn't be attending this little meeting. Particularly since it doesn't seem to have anything to do with me anyway. The major reason I decided not to was because I didn't want to insult what was meant to be kindness, nor give the Student Council President a bad impression of me.”

His head and voice both lower and the torn expression, or at least the half that may or may not have been victory, disappears quickly, “I see…”

The rest of the walk is quiet, and it isn't too long before they're stopping in front of the Student Council room door. It didn't stand out from any of the other doors in the hallway, all plain wood. The only indicator of it being what it was is the speaker on the wall next to it to talk to people inside before you are let in, and the sign simply reading ‘Student Council room’ on the door itself.

Given he was the one originally asked to come and she was basically just dragged along, Yuki is the one to walk up to the speaker and press the button to say who was here and request entry, fixing his despondent expression as he does.

With a softer clicking noise, the lock on the door releases, and Yuki doesn't hesitate to enter with her trailing behind. Saegusa isn't the only one in the room, which makes total sense given that the Student Council probably meets up for lunch daily.

Saegusa beams at them, “Welcome! Please come and sit.” Yuki bows in greeting even as she closes the door behind them, but Saegusa waves it off, “No need to be formal. Please, make yourselves comfortable. We can talk while we eat.” After they get settled in their seats, Saegusa asks, “Do you prefer meat, fish, or vegetarian for the bentos?”

She gives her an amused look, “While they aren't as bad as HARs, given the thing the pre-made bentos tend to be the worst at are meats? I'll stick to the vegetarian, thanks.”

Saegusa giggles slightly, “I can't exactly blame you there. Yuki?”

He shrugs, “The same please.”

A girl that had been introduced during the entrance ceremony as the Student Council Secretary Nakajou Azusa, who had been standing off to the side, turns to the almost vending machine like device and starts getting people's food before moving over to sit while they wait. As they do, Saegusa smiles at where they're sitting to her right, from her perspective, again from the head of the table, “Some brief introductions happened at the entrance ceremony, but let me go over them again really quick just in case.” She gestures to her left, “This is our Accountant, Ichihara Suzune, also known as Rin."

With the air of someone who's had this discussion more than once, Suzune sighs a little, "...The only one who calls me that is the President.”

Ignoring her, Saegusa continues, “After that bit of trouble with Morisaki, I do believe you two know the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee, Watanabe Mari, just fine.” Watanabe doesn't say anything, just gives them a nod, and Saegusa moves on, “Lastly is our Secretary, Nakajou Azusa, also known as A-chan(1)." 

Azusa gave her an unhappy look, "Student Council President... Please don't call me 'A-chan' in front of the underclassmen. I have my position to think of too.”

Cheerfully ignoring her, Saegusa finishes off, "The last one would be Vice President Hanzou, though he isn't here at the moment as I'm sure you noticed. And that makes up all the members of the Student Council Committee.”

Watanabe gives her an amused look, "Which I am not part of.”

Saegusa takes it in stride, "Oh yes, Mari is not a member of the Student Council. Ah, the preparations are complete.”

As she'd said the last, the pre-made meal machine, more commonly known as a dinner service model since unlike a HAR its job is basically just to fill bentos with already made food rather than making said food, opens the door on the front in indication that its finished and Azusa gets up to retrieve the bentos, and Yuki gets up to help her grabbing his own and Toshiko’s to free up Azusa a little bit and getting a brief thankful smile.

She's briefly confused about the fact there are only five, but before she can say anything, Watanabe leans down and pulls out her own bento from her bag on the floor. She'd seen it sitting there with her Elemental Sight of course, but unless she has reason to be suspicious of them, she's long made it a habit to studiously ignore any data her Elemental Sight reads as inside people's bags and briefcases and everything in between.

After they settle down, Yuki asks in curiosity, “Did you make that bento yourself, Watanabe-senpai?”

Watanabe smiles slightly, “Yes, are you surprised?”

She doesn't seem to be malicious in the slightest, more just teasing Yuki who tends to present an ever polite Kikōshi air. He seems to panic a little, which seems ridiculous to her, but she'd prefer if the conversation moves along. If it wraps up quickly enough, she may be able to go down and squeeze in some non-class time with her soulmates. So she speaks up even though she has nothing to do with the conversation, “I'm fairly sure my brother is just a little surprised given how many people chose to use HARs and dinner service models rather than make their own food if they aren't going out is all.”

Watanabe laughs a little, “Don't I know it! The number of surprised and odd looks I get like I'm strange…” She shakes her head, “It's a bit absurd how many there are.”

She hums, “I can imagine, given there are more than a few people in my life who prefer to cook themselves then use HARs and the like.”

Watanabe smiles, “In that case, you probably are familiar with it to some extent. I'm surprised you don't bring bentos yourself though in that case.”

Yuki stirs, but she doesn't even want to know where his obsessive brain is going, and she knows full well it's kicked into turning the conversation to have something to do with her given the gleam in his eyes, so she preemptively nips whatever it is in the bud, “Saegusa-senpai only asked Yuki to come this morning and I was sort of pulled into it, so I was honestly expecting to eat in the cafeteria until we were almost at school.”

Saegusa re-enters the conversation at that point, “Ah! It was kinda my bad not giving more heads up, wasn't it?”

She laughs a little sheepishly, and given that she wants to wrap this up quickly to get back to her soulmates, she takes the opening, “So what did you want to talk to Yuki about?”