Rebirth

She gazes at Ichihara, trying hard to hide her amusement. Between the Flying Magic she'd released years ago and the follow up of a magic fusion reactor that had come out within a year of Kazama securing permission for her to study a Magatama relic, which in and of itself had taken all of a month to happen, the only one of the 'Three Great Puzzles of Weight Systematic Magic' that were theoretically achievable with weight magic but hadn't yet been figured out before her release of Flying Magic was perpetual motion.

There were theoretical benefits to it certainly, but she'd been more focused on aspects of her overall plan and had never bothered to look into it. That being said, Ichihara had invited her to participate in the Thesis Competition, of which First High's was set to be on that very thing. Humorously though, Ichihara had made more than one comment about wanting to make some sort of contribution to something as large as that before Tōkōkuro Mihana went and solved it as well. Ichihara in no way expects to fully realize it before someone else gets there or anything, but she has a burning desire to at least make her mark. She's fully aware Ichihara has no possible way of knowing she says that, yet invited Mihana herself to take part in the Thesis regarding it, but it was still ironic. That, and it's made her wonder about making some sort of excuse to back out of the Thesis Competition. Ichihara was a good kid, and she really didn't want to potentially hurt her feelings if it ever comes out who the Mihana of Tōkōkuro Mihana is.

She genuinely can't think of anything that would simultaneously be major enough to have her resign, yet not so much that she'd need to take a leave from school in general or would be suspicious if she didn't have visible proof, like a broken leg to point to if it was a physical competition for example. She's taken to just taking as much of a backseat as she can get away with as a compromise and not add anything of note as much as she can get away with. Mostly just serving as Ichihara's assistant without arousing suspicion as to why she's bringing no theoretical knowledge to the table in other words. Thankfully, given that she'd mostly been drawn into the Thesis Competition team to fine tune the spell they were coming up with as a sort of proof of concept rather than anything more, she manages to minimize her influence on the project.

If her identity does ever come out, she hopes that in retrospect, that's enough for Ichihara and she'll understand why she did it.

Especially since even asking other people who knew about Tōkōkuro Mihana hadn't gotten her any other ideas. Didn't matter if it was Maya, her emotionally adopted Yotsuba kids, or even her soulmates and sister in law. No one had really had ideas for a potential alternative.

She promises herself as well as Ichihara in her mind, that if her identity is ever revealed, that she'll get back in touch with Ichihara and explain the whole situation as well as ask for forgiveness for continuing to take part in things, despite how Ichihara felt about wanting to contribute to it before Mihana.

The Disciplinary Committee Chiefship had been passed along already, and she'd very nearly resigned within days of Chiyoda Kanon -who'd been brought on previously to replace a third year that resigned- becoming the new Chief. It was entirely due to the fact the headstrong girl thought it was acceptable to make decisions for her. And she doesn't mean the sort of trying out some new policies for the Disciplinary Committee or anything, she hadn't really done anything like that, and even if she did, as the Chief it would be within her rights. Didn't mean it wouldn't also be within her rights to resign because she disagreed with them, but technically unless she did, Chiyoda would have the authority to tell her what to do if it was in some way connected to the Disciplinary Committee, or even was more the Disciplinary Committee Chief using their authority over a student of First High in general.

It hadn't been anything like that though, it had been entirely personal. Namely, apparently her relationship with her fiancé, Isori funnily enough, was based on love and she was highly loyal to him, both of which is all well and good of course, but it skewed her perception of things like polygamy. Specifically, she seems to be utterly incapable of wrapping her head around the idea that it was very much a three way thing, and no one was cheating on anyone, which was how she viewed it.(1)

It had caused more than a bit of tension between them, particularly with Chiyoda making comments on her relationship. It had eventually hit a boiling point and Chiyoda had snapped something about her choosing instead of stringing them both along. She'd told her right then and there she was going to resign if she didn't mind her own business since it had nothing to do with the Disciplinary Committee specifically nor the things they covered for First High.

It hadn't even been Chiyoda's doing that had prevented it honestly, as while she'd looked a bit torn, she hadn't necessarily tried to stop her. She hadn't done anything else to push her to resigning either that day though, and apparently Chiyoda had complained about the situation to Isori, because the only reason she'd remained on the Disciplinary Committee was because he'd gotten through to Chiyoda and got her to apologize and promise to drop it the next day.

She'd accepted the apology, but she'd warned them that she would resign immediately if Chiyoda made any more disrespectful comments about her partners or relationship, which the somewhat glum girl had accepted with a wordless nod.

She suppresses the urge to glance back and to her left. To some degree, she actually regretted not resigning, not because of Chiyoda, not anymore, but because much as she'd predicted, Yuki has taken to following her around. She can't really regret making Saegusa and all them aware of the problem in a desperate attempt to keep the absolute disaster that was Yuki with a position of power from happening, particularly power over her in any form, but there are certainly personal drawbacks to helping the Student Council outright quietly kick Yuki off.

Currently, the drawback is being more irritating than usual, given he's all but fuming silently, given she'd been discussing plans for a date with Sora and Miho when Yuki found her, and they hadn't dropped the topic just because he showed up.

She bites back a sigh and the urge to pull her spray bottle out of her Calanthe magic space expanded pocket, since he wasn't technically doing anything except scowling. It's sort of his own fault that the urge to do it is rising so quickly, rather than her fuse being longer, given he's the one who pushed her so hard.

Honoka glances back at her, “Are you done getting ready for the Thesis Competition?”

She smiles, “We've finished the broad strokes, it's more down to details, the model for the presentation and more minute adjustments for instance. Which may sound like a lot, but compared to actually getting the spell worked out and the Thesis itself written up and all that…”

Erika blows out a breath, “Sounds like a lot of work… Come to think of it, are you helping out with the models, Mizuki?”

Mizuki's voice is as soft as it usually is, “Uh, yes, I'm helping out a second year. Even though I'm not really doing anything…”

She hums, “Don't sell yourself short Mizuki. If you're still helping and they haven't shut you out or anything, you're undoubtedly being helpful in a noticeable way.”

Honoka makes an agreeing noise but doesn't verbally add anything to that particular part, “Still though, it's a little surprising that the bulk of things like that seem to be getting handled by second years given Ichihara-senpai is a third year, and she's the lead on it, isn't she?”

She shakes her head, “She is, but it's actually not that surprising that it'd be mostly second years handling that, given Isori-senpai has been entrusted with handling that part and he's a second year.”

Leo nods then cheerfully looks back at her, “Then what are you doing Toshiko?”

She shrugs, “Mostly just fine-tuning on the spells being used for the proof of concept demonstration.”

Shizuku makes a bit of a confused noise, “...Isn't it usually the other way around?”

She glances at her in confusion, “Ah? What, do you mean because of you and Leo's CADs in the Nine Schools Competition or something? It's about the only place I can think of where you'd get that impression to be honest.”

Shizuku nods, “Mm. It's strange that you had two custom made CADs.”

She laughs, “Yeah, but I didn't really have a whole lot to do with the physical making of them. I designed what Leo used, but…” Then she shakes herself, “On top of that, when it comes to physical production, I'm pretty sure Isori-senpai is more advanced than me.”

With her Elemental Sight, she can see Erika wryly smiling from behind her, "Well, Kei-senpai does fit the 'alchemist' impression more than a 'magister'. I guess this is the right tool for the job."

Shizuku tilts her head idly, "Alchemist? RPG?”

Mizuki gains a thoughtful look, "Using that as an analogy, what class would Toshiko be?"

Erika doesn't hesitate, voice full of confidence, “A sage obviously! She just… knows things.”

Leo makes a noise of agreement, “With the way she handles Disciplinary Committee things, she's good in a fight as well though. So some sort of martial sage.”

Hoshi leans into the conversation, expression mischievous, “You guys underestimate Toshiko. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up one day to find out she got fed up with the world's nonsense and conquered it just to resolve her frustrations with things…”

She glances over her shoulder, expression offended, even as Sora and Miho laugh, “I would not!”

Sora snorts, “Under the right circumstances you so would.” She opens her mouth, and he raises an eyebrow, “Or are you telling me that if enough of the non-magicians started going all DE supremacists you wouldn't act?"

She gives him a dirty look, “That is so not fair. Under those kinds of circumstances-”

Miho hums as she looks up thoughtfully, “Yeah, but the misunderstood villain is also an archetype so…”

Mikihiko tilts his head, “So, just painted as the bad guy Demon Queen then?”

Honoka seems confused, “Why not the hero?”

Sora doesn't miss a beat, “Because heroes don't usually conquer the world.” Then he pauses ever so briefly before adding, “That, and we haven't been kidding about how she stacks up to me, and I took down Ichijou. You guys don't even know the start of it, but she's seriously got some final boss energy.”

Miho huffs, “Not to mention, you guys are used to the calmer side of Toshiko. You've never seen her ‘You're wrong. Fight me’ side, or even really any of the fight me she’s sort of full of.”

Erika leans forward, eyes shining, “Also! The way she predicted the finals of the Monolith Code! It totally gives off as ‘one pulling the strings’ vibes! So totally misunderstood Demon Queen!”

Yuki seems to be unable to help himself, voice containing an almost unnoticeable tense anger, "Strength alone is the true justice."

Erika laughs, "Oh snap, as expected of the Demon Queen's brother!"

She all but refuses to turn to look at him physically, but with her Elemental Sight, she sees it anyway when he looks off to the side sharply in annoyance.

Most of the group starts a rather lively discussion on the placement of the rest of them, but she notices Erika, on the other side of Leo of the group with Mikihiko and Mizuki in front of her, frown slightly downwards. Speaking lower so as not to derail the cheerful conversation, she leans towards her a bit, “Erika? Something the matter?”

She jolts slightly glancing back at her, “Mm?” Then she looks away, keeping her voice low as well, “Just thinking about the sage comment I made earlier, about how you know things? I was referencing the way you just kind of… picked up on the brainwashing for Saya and some of the others, like it was nothing. That led to Blanche, and recently there was that whole mess with No-Head Dragon…” She turns her face back to the front, but looks down thoughtfully, “Things just keep happening. I mean, it's just over six months and there's already been two different incidents of terrorists targeting First High…”

Her brows furrow, “Erika…”

The other girl looks over her shoulder at her, eyes sharp, “I feel like if we don't prepare, it'll catch up to us eventually.”

She presses her lips together. If she had her way, none of these kids would ever have to have concerns like that. But this world is even less fair than her previous one, demanding its children to grow up and fight far too quickly.

To that end, she reluctantly makes an agreeing hum, watching Erika in concern as she turns her gaze forward again, catching and lingering on Leo, cheerfully chatting with Mikihiko by his side at the moment. Her brows furrow. It wasn't a look of a girl with hidden feelings, and she can only begin to guess what's running through her head.

She sighs quietly. It really wasn't fair, what this world asked of its kids just because they happen to be born capable of magic.

She's drinking tea with her master and Mikihiko after another training session when he suddenly glances over at her, “You're friends with that Chiba girl right?”

She looks over, gaze sharpening. Yakumo often seems like he's talking about random things to an outsider's perspective, which really makes no sense and at best comes off as an odd coincidence later, but she knows better, “I am.”

He gives her a mysterious smile, tone conversational, “I feel bad for her brother, being so run into the ground with so many incidents of boats smuggling people in Yokohama.”

Her eyes narrow ever so slightly, “I've heard about that. Strange coincidence that it's happening in Yokohama in the same month as the Thesis Competition is set to be held there.”

Yakumo's smile widens ever so slightly, “Ahh. That it is.” Then he hums, “Right… let me give you some advice while we're on the topic. When you're facing the enemy, be careful not to lose your bearing. Do pass that along would you?”

Mikihiko's brows furrow, “Bearing, huh…”

Yakumo hums in agreement, then tilts his head at Mikihiko with a gentler smile as he climbs to his feet, “You two should be heading out before you run the risk of being late. But…” His gaze drifts to her, “You have more in your corner than you realize Mikihiko. Don't forget that and let things shake you.”

Mikihiko lowers his head in a small bow, but nothing else is said before Yakumo accepts the tray and cups she'd collected before she climbed to her feet and heads inside.

Mikihiko glances back then up at her, face a bit confused, “Um. What was that about? I mean, I already know you're in my corner, we're friends after all.”

She hums, mind drifting. If it was anyone else, she'd probably deem it meddling and be annoyed, but Yakumo didn't tend to do things like that for no reason, so… Finally, she glances over at him briefly, before looking forward as they head down the steps, voice casual, “That? He was probably referencing the fact that my extended family is actually kind of shit at raising kids and toxic, which is relevant because it resulted in me emotionally adopting two of my cousins five and six years older than me and two more of my cousins a year younger than me as my own kids.” Mikihiko's brows furrow and she looks up at the sky thoughtfully, “I suppose it left me with a tendency for emotionally adopting kids, regardless of how our ages relate to one another, given that same night you told me your family saw you as a failure and your father basically forced you to attend the Nine Schools Competition to shame you, without a conscious decision, paperwork reading ‘emotional adoption’ popped into my head and my name was signed.”

Mikihiko chokes as his cheeks turn red, “You-! I-!” He looks down with wide eyes, gaze flicking rapidly for a few moments before his cheeks redden further as his hands come up to cup his nose and mouth, “Oh my god. Your treatment of me shifted after that. You started treating me like your son.” He looks over at her, “I-! We're the same age-!”

She snorts, before casually replying, “He says, like I didn't just tell him I emotionally adopted cousins five and six years older than me.”

He whines in embarrassment, “You've been giving me motherly advice. I mean, not super obviously, but-!”

She turns, “That's because I didn't want you to realize at first since I was concerned you'd find it overwhelming. Speaking of though!” He looks at her, gaze reminiscent of a deer in headlights, “Mizuki's not the kind of girl to confess, and given you two are absolutely obvious to literally everyone, you really should muster up the courage to ask her out.” He starts to open his mouth, probably on a habitually rebuttal of how he feels, and she shakes her head, “You can deny it if you want, but I'm not kidding that everyone sees it, and regardless of if you're ready to admit it to others, you really should admit it to yourself and preferably Mizuki at the least. You'll regret the time you lost that you could've been together dancing around one another in embarrassment later.”

He looks down, his brow furrowing. Apparently not wanting to talk about that anymore right now, which is fine, she said what she needed to and he heard it, he glances up at her before his cheeks flush again as he looks away, “Seriously though, it's probably better if you drop this whole… emotional adoption thing. Ancient Magician families tend to be highly possessive and territorial, even of their so-called failures,” She feels the flicker of pleasure that still hasn't faded at the fact Mikihiko's language has shifted from referring to himself as a ‘failure’ to a ‘so-called failure’, even if it was probably unknowingly, “even if it's just to protect their secrets. It's better for you if you just abandon the notion before they potentially catch on.”

She stops and turns to meet his gaze fully, “Emotionally adopted or not, do I seem like the sort of woman who abandons my kids? For the record, if you wanna talk about territorial, I've had multiple people in the past compare me to a dragon. The Yoshida can fucking fight me if they want to even try to take you back. You're my kid now, whether they like it or not.”

Mikihiko's eyes widen, a raw vulnerability in them. She wonders, heart bitter, angry, hurting, if anyone has ever been willing to fight for Mikihiko. And she doesn't mean for the former prodigy of the Yoshida. For Mikihiko.

She snorts as she reaches up to playfully shove his head down and forward slightly, “You aren't getting rid of me that easily, and the Yoshida can suck it up.”

Mikihiko tilts his head slightly back up and to the side, peering up at her out of the corner of his eye. It makes her heart ache that words as simple as that have him looking at her like she's a Merlin damned miracle.

Forget the Yoshida having a problem with her, she's starting to have to shove down on the bubbling urge to pick a fight with them.

There's a heavy silence over the room for a few minutes after she tells them about what Yakumo said before Sora turns to his sister, “So, do you try to get an in with some… less scrupulous people to try to get some intel on the vague rumblings Yakumo was warning Toshiko about, or do I? Though, with only eight days left, the chances we find anything…”

Hoshi snorts, “Oh please Sora. After your showing at the Nine Schools Competition? It's better if I handle that stuff. Besides, much like those idiots that worked for the Saegusa Head, it'd probably be rather easy to convince people I'm bitter and angry at being overshadowed by you. You can play the public threat, I'll poke around in the shadows.”

Sora nods, “Fair enough.”

She hums, “When I contacted Kazama to ask if he knew anything more, all they had was that the sudden spike of illegal aliens seem to all be Chinese.”

Hoshi hums, “So, given the continued tensions since the GAU attack a few years ago to those ethnicities, Chinatown then?”

She nods, “Yokohama's is the best bet, yes. It would affect the ability to go with the story that Hoshi is bitter and angry, but if you use some magic from our last life for a glamor to look like Bai, you'll blend in.” Hoshi nods and she sighs, “It should be fine since it's an entirely different type of magic than this world's, but what I wouldn't give for some Polyjuice to make your disguise harder to potentially spot. Or hell, even just the ingredients for it to brew it myself. It's not like I don't have some sort of potential way to key it to your appearance as Bai, given the fact potion scan records we kept updating for all of us after that mess with Hei were stored in the Trunk to secure them more just in case anyone tried to sabotage them for one reason or another.”

Hoshi hums, “No point lamenting what we don't have.”

Miho nods, “That's true, but it's a shame alternatives like spells or runes to the physical change of the potion were never found.”

She snorts, “Well, technically there was always theoretically transfiguration, but those were always too complicated and required maintaining too many spells at the same time. The reason Polyjuice was the only form of something like that was because it was the only thing that was really viable since it was all wrapped up in one potion rather than trying to hold dozens of spells at once or have something that required so many runes it would easily be larger than the person it was supposed to change.”

Miho gains an understanding look, “Ohhh. So was it that all those various changes were somehow crammed into one potion, or did the potion make it so that instead of basically dozens of spells each handling various details it was one that handled all of them on its own?”

She tilts her head, “I'm not entirely sure to be honest. You know full well potions we're never a strong point for me nor a passion, but to my knowledge it was never researched. No one ever looked-”

She cuts off, her mind latching into that word. Looked. Looked. No one ever looked into it. They didn't peer into the inner workings of the magic of the potion.

She has Elemental Sight.

She can quite literally peer into it. She shoots to her feet as she summons the Trunk to herself, all bit ripping it open to hurry down the short staircase that's appeared, vaguely hearing Miho's exasperation behind her, “What's got her attention now?”

Then Sora's voice, equally as displeased, “Hell if I know.”

She snatches up the bottle the Trunk had produced, examining it with her Elemental Sight, almost the entirety of her focus on it. In and of itself, it's not as revealing as she was hoping so she swiftly grabs the small bottle of blood the Trunk has reproduced as well and pours some of it in.

Miho sounds confused, “Is that a Polyjuice? What are you doing with it, we already know it's effect will fade when whoever drinks it leaves-”

She quickly turns and shoves it at Hoshi, “Not the point. Drink it.”

Hoshi blinks rapidly, but does as asked, or told in all honesty, and it's only a matter of moments before Bai is standing before her. That wasn't the point though. The point was to watch the transformation happen with her Elemental Sight.

She slips her eyes closed to concentrate on the memory of it with her Occlumency, examining it over and over to pluck every last detail out. The magic of that life was still more akin to blueprint drawings rather than computer programming, but it wasn't like an outline of a blueprint. It was down to every exact detail, not just the lengths of each and every piece of wood, but even down to every single one of the nails. Metaphorically anyway.

It's somewhat jarring to hear Bai's voice again but with Toshiko’s ears, “So what was the point of that?”

She waves her hand impatiently near her head, not opening her eyes since she's still focused on the memory of Bai's transformation, “Observation.”

She's got a solid idea of it now though, so she opens her eyes and turns back to the table quickly to snatch up the Polyjuice and blood the Trunk had reproduced, quickly putting them together and turning to Sora. The proverbial blueprint absolutely would've been keyed to transforming into Baispecifically so she needs to see other Polyjuice transformations to get information on it in general, to know which parts of the blueprint are the framework for the potion and its power itself and which are the finishing touches that keys it to turning the drinker to Bai specifically.

Her husband looks bemused, but takes the small vial without protest to drink it and she watches his transformation just as intently. This time though, even as she examines the differences between the two to pinpoint which parts of the blueprint are dedicated to the person the drinker will become to know which are just the potion itself, she turns back to the table for the third time to grab up Polyjuice and Misaki's blood.

When she turns back, her wife already has her hand out waiting for it, accepting it and tossing it back without a word and just a grimace at the taste. One more examination to tease out any differences from the two being siblings and she turns back to the table one last time for her own Polyjuice and blood to mix and toss back to study her own transformation for one last data point.

Once she has it all firmly in her mind, she reaches up to start grabbing volumes from the bookshelf that had replaced the table with nary a sound.

And ohhh she missed that voice, and hearing it again damn near breaks her concentration when Hei dryly comments, “She's absolutely off in her own world.”

Misaki's voice is equally as devastating to her concentration and she finds herself having to fight to keep her mind on the task at hand instead of falling into the runes with the same ease as Calanthe used to fall into her soulmates’ beds, “Oh definitely. How long do you think this rabbit hole will have her ensnared?”

Hei sighs, “No clue. How distracted do you think she is? Just wondering if I should be expecting to have to coerce her into distracted eating and drinking.”

Misaki muses, “Hard to say.”

Hei hums. There's a few beats of quiet, half blessed for the good it does her concentration, half cursed for losing the chance to hear Hei and Misaki's long missed voices again before Hei sighs forlornly, “This isn't fair dammit. I should not have my beautiful wives in front of me in their physical adult forms from our previous lives and not even be able to properly appreciate it because that thrice damned block only cares about physical age, not apparent age.”

Misaki's oh so beautiful laugh almost snaps the last straw of her concentration, even as she drops the books on the table the room had made and starts writing out runes, “Poor, poor Hei.”

Bai snorts before she dryly adds, “If you're gonna be talking about stuff like that, I think I'll head out and go grab something to snack on from the kitchen. This is not something I wanna hear about my brother, thanks.”

There aren't any audible responses, but she's vaguely aware through her Elemental Sight of them raising hands in silent farewell.

She low-key doesn't like it, purely because whatever they may have been holding back in the quips and teasing regarding the situation flies out the window with Bai gone.

As she crumples the paper and tosses it when she realizes that runic layout won't work, she quietly regrets the situation even as she's thankful the block keeps her from getting distracted in those ways yet laments the fact she can't even properly appreciate her soulmates being in their old bodies. She may have felt like she'd gone back to before her seventeenth birthday in her previous life, but she didn't even have that same yearning desire for those forms she'd spent over three hundred years of her previous life longing to see again.

Her emotions regarding it were all over the place, but she had things to do.

She bursts into the kitchen and dining room area of the Amano household, tired as all hell but utterly satisfied. Sora, Miho, and Hoshi look up at her in surprise before Sora comments, “Well, I suppose that answers the question of whether I'm gonna have to coax you into eating. Come sit down for breakfast.”

As she shuffles over to the table and sets a box down tiredly, the smell of Sora's cooking oh so tempting all on its own, Miho gives her a disgruntled look, “Did you get any sleep last night?”

She smiles thankfully up at Sora when he sets her plate in front of her before answering, “No.”

Sora frowns as he straightens after dropping a kiss on top of her head, “What were you even working on?”

She pushes the box over to Hoshi, “You have to want it to activate as firmly as Hei had to want his knives to avoid accidentally summoning them.”

Hoshi blinks in confusion, but shoves a bite in before setting her chopsticks down and opening the box while she chews. Inside was a beautiful pure silver bracelet, chosen as the material due to silver being the best conduit for the magic of her old life, which she puts on without hesitation. Mere moments after she closes the clasp, Bai is sitting at the table, face scrunched in confusion as to what it did.

Miho drops her chopsticks onto her plate in surprise, “Did- Did you translate a Polyjuice potion into runes?”

Sora is staring at his sister in utter shock, and Bai's eyes widen at that, before she summons her wand out of her own invisible wand holster and conjures up a mirror. Her jaw drops open when she sees her own reflection.

As they all lock their surprised gazes on her, she shrugs before swallowing her mouthful, “It occurred to me that I could just watch what Polyjuice does with Elemental Sight. Observed the rest to figure out which parts were the framework and which were the variables for a Polyjuice drinker to specifically turn into Bai.”

Bai stares down at her bracelet in surprise, “Holy-! Polyjuice transformation in a runic bracelet?”

She makes a wordless noise of agreement, then tilts her head back to look up at Sora who hasn't moved off yet, “Haven't made you a Hei bracelet yet, since I was more focused on getting Hoshi her Bai bracelet before she went poking around Chinatown, but since no one would recognize Hei the same way they would Sora after the Nine Schools Competition, you'd have a much easier time with things like that when I do.”

He smiles down at her and drops another kiss, this time a brief one on her mouth, “That's fine. Hoshi's the one who needed it asap anyway.”

She hums in agreement and it's only then that Sora seems to shake himself out of the surprise the bracelet had made to move to get settled in his chair to eat his own breakfast.

She's tired as all hell and will likely crash after breakfast, but it'll be much safer for Hoshi to move as Bai and the Polyjuice bracelet will make her disguise much more secure, so it was absolute worth the eighteen-ish hours straight she put into translating the potion to runes.

She's fairly relaxed on the couch, “Given it's not like you to risk others recognizing you and linking us, I assume there's a reason you came directly Kyouko-nee?”

Kyouko laughs lightly, “Technically there's nothing suspicious about it in and of itself. As a technical officer, there's nothing strange about me visiting you, the student who unveiled such dazzling technician skills at the NSC.”

She lets out her own light laugh, “I suppose that's true enough.”

Kyouko smiles, “All right, enough with the pleasantries…” Then she becomes more serious, “The brewing trouble looks like it's set to bear down on the Thesis Competition.”

She frowns, “Is that so? Can I assume that the 101st is on standby then, given that while we don't know exactly what their goals are, we at least have a solid indicator that the students and other guests are in danger?”

Kyouko nods, “Of course.” Then she holds up a SD card, “I know there's not a lot of time to look over it, but the details of what we've gathered are on here.” She leans forward to set it on the coffee table between them, “I've taken some precautions myself, but… There's still a chance this has already been leaked. We may not have noticed it if we had other things to pull our attention as it was so subtle, but it looks like a battle is brewing. If we're lucky, we'll have more time to investigate and prepare, but…”

She nods, “It can't be helped. We'll just have to do our best with whatever time we have.”

Kyouko nods back grimly, then stands and she raises to her feet as well, “Given we're not sure how big whatever is going on will be, Major Kazama had ordered your mobile suit brought to be on standby as a precaution.” She nods, “Then, whatever may happen, good luck Toshiko.”

She smiles, “You as well Kyouko-nee.”

The older woman smiles, but she's gone soon after that.

She sighs as she gazes at the closed door Kyouko had left through in thought, before stirring as she notices him with her Elemental Sight, “Well?”

Sora rounds the couch to sit beside her, “Kokonoe doesn't seem to be wrong given there definitely seems to be a buildup for something, but… I'm sorry, we weren't able to dig anything up last minute.”

She sighs, “It can't be helped. In fairness, I was asking an awful lot of you and Hoshi.”

He hums, “Maybe, but it doesn't stop either of us from being unhappy we weren't able to find anything.”

She leans against him, “It's not your fault. Those kinds of things take time generally, what with having to pinpoint the who and gain trust and all that, and there wasn't a whole lot of time left.”

She's none too pleased, knowing something is coming, to see the stands of the Yokohama event center packed full and there are other people she's upset could be caught up in things, but most of the seats are taken up by kids from all of the highschools. She does her best to mask her dissatisfaction at the situation though. Both because she doesn't want anyone to realize anything is amiss, and also because once the opening is done with, she doesn't want to give anyone false impressions of what she thinks about the presentations.

Especially since she's so distracted staying on alert that she doesn't even really take them in.

It makes all of it, from what would be a fairly normal opening ceremony to the other schools’ theses on the lead up to First High's presentation rather irritating, but at least during it she can focus on her behind the scenes part of the presentation.

That being said, it doesn't take very long all told, and when they're done and she's distractedly switching over the side stage controls with Kichijouji, she's basically right back to having nothing to do but wait for the guillotine to drop.

She isn't left waiting very long though, since it's during the ten minute interval between presentations set aside for each school to clear theirs out and the next to set up that her Elemental Sight picks up people around and in the convention center pulling out hidden weapons almost at the same time they start hearing explosions and feeling vibrations.

She hops off the stage as she regroups with Sora, Miho, and Hoshi, not having had the chance to head over to the stairs before things started happening.

Sora gives her a questioning look, “One of those explosions sounded like a grenade. Near the front entrance unless I'm mistaken.”

She nods, “Mm, from the looks of things from Elemental Sight, it appears to be the case. The entrance is certainly under attack anyway.”

Miho frowns, “Are the Joint Security Forces alright?”

She hums, “They seem to be holding their own, but that's not surprising since it's not just comprised of students. There is professional security with actual combat experience. They-.”

She turns quickly towards the side doors, having been so focused on checking on the situation out front that she nearly missed it. Without hesitation, she casts a shield over them, then turns and casts more shields on the other doors. Kichijouji, still on the stage, starts walking towards the edge of the stage and her, “Shiba, what are you-?!”

He's cut off by a loud bang from the door suddenly impacting the shield hard before someone starts cursing, and while she can't hear the cursing, not regularly though she is aware of it, the same repeats at the other doors at the midway points of the lower seating, and the the top of the stands higher up.

Kichijouji gives the doors a grim look, “If those were security coming to check on us, they'd have called out identifiers by now.”

She hums in agreement even as the nervous murmurs in the hall bloom in fear, not quite a panic yet, but definitely louder and more prominent, “Even without that, I can guarantee you they aren't.”

Kichijouji's brows furrow, “Eh? How can you know? Actually, now that I think about it, how did you know they were coming to begin with?”

She tilts her head vaguely towards him as she watches one of them pull out a grenade and start arguing with another over using it and risking damaging any of the magic research they were ordered to collect, or killing hostages they intended to use, “Elemental Sight. I was so focused on what's happening near the entrance that I almost missed them though.”

Kichijouji blinks rapidly in surprise, “Oh. Considering you wouldn't have reason to turn on a supernatural power like that without reason though, the explosions are really the only warning we had that there was an attack, so you wouldn't have even known they were there if it wasn't for the attack at the entrance to begin with. I'm not sure it's accurate to say you were too focused on said attack in light of all that.”

She glances at him, “A born specialization I physically can't turn off actually.”

Kichijouji gives her a confused look, “Eh? That's not physically possible. All spells have a defined end point.” Then he shakes his head, “Forget that actually, how did you not know they were about to attack to begin with?!”

She stares him down blandly, “Kichijouji, let's just say for argument's sake that I only have a range of a mile, do you expect me to watch every single person within a mile radius around me closely enough to pick up on suspicious behavior? Furthermore, since I can't turn it off, I make a habit of not acknowledging whatever my Elemental Sight is telling me people have in their bags or under their clothes.” He flushes bright red at the last, embarrassment washing over him, “Considering they seem to have gotten people both close enough to as well as inside the event hall, they had to have been hiding their weapons.” Then she pauses and casts a small optical magic to form part of a magic sequence writen in light in midair, “And I'll tell you the same thing I tell others. Tell me what that line of magic sequence means and I'll tell you what its end parameter is. I never said it didn't have one, just that I can't turn it off. But you tell me what that means and I'll have the answer to give you. Because that's the defined end point of my Elemental Sight born specialization spell.”

He opens and closes his mouth as he gazes at the parameter, visibly drawing a blank. The conversation doesn't get any further before the men outside finally agree to blow the door, and she turns back as she narrows her eyes. She adjusts the shields to be more like boxes to let them step in a bit, mostly so she can close it behind them if they're dumb enough to actually step in.

Sora steps closer, “What?”

She tilts her head towards him, “They're going to blow up the door.” She flicks her gaze up, “And they've made sure they're all on the same page over radio so it's not just one doorway.”

Kichijouji sucks in a breath, then speaks quickly, “Given they're knowingly taking on a room full of magicians, they have high powered rifles used against magicians?” She nods, and he whitens, “They'll break through the shields in no time then!”

She doesn't get a chance to say anything before the grenades they toss after ducking behind cover go off, they're soon whipping into the doorframe, a beat ahead of the others, but it probably saves most of them. If only because it means that since they do step in a bit, they all get the opportunity to see the spells she cast on and in the barrels of their guns and what it plugging them up does, high powered rifle or not. Namely in what happens to the guy who tries to open fire on her from the door near the stage that she's physically looking at have that spell force the bullet to remain in the barrel. The explosion blows off both his arms instantly, though unfortunately for him, he survives.

Other than the pained screams of the man who was unfortunate enough to be conscious as well as alive, a dead silence falls. She looks up at the second guy in that doorway, and he takes a couple steps back before he starts to turn to run, and he's far from the only one from what her Elemental Sight is telling her.

Too bad for all of them they may not have fully stepped into her shield boxes but they all stepped close enough to make it easy to throw additional shields behind the groups to cut off their retreat.

With them unable to escape, she turns her attention to the mess of a man who's gun exploded. A bit of movement magic to rip part of his shirt off and stuff it in his mouth, and a bit of oscillation magic to cauterize the stumps of his arms. She doesn't really care if a man who came in with a gun he was fully willing to use on kids dies from his wounds, but there's always the possibility he has intel.

With that dealt with, she lifts the boxes of shields and brings them over and down to the open area in front of the stage. Some of the Joint Security Forces that had been stationed in the room itself come over with handcuffs, and she opens the shield boxes one by one until they're all cuffed on the ground, barring the guy who doesn't have arms left to cuff.

Once that's dealt with, the rest of her usual group hurries forward, and Erika asks with a surprisingly casual tone, “What are we going to do now?”

She hums, “The fight at the entrance hasn't finished yet, so we should probably give the security forces some backup.”

Erika tilts her head, “I hope you aren't expecting we'll just stand back and let you handle everything.”

She wishes they would. They're just kids at the end of the day. She snorts though, “No, I'm well aware you and Leo at least are too stubborn for something like that.”

Erika grins and looks behind her at Leo and Mikihiko, the latter of which was a bit surprising at looking so satisfied by her agreement.

She glances at the stands before turning towards where Saegusa and Nakajou are nearby in seats by the front, “You'll need to evacuate everyone as quickly as possible. For one thing, we don't know the situation outside of the event center in general, but given this attack, we do know the people here are in danger.”

Saegusa nods firmly, though Nakajou seems a bit overwhelmed and doesn't seem to hear her due to the frantic arguing from Joint Security Force members and the frantic murmuring of the crowd. She'll just have to leave her to Saegusa though so she doesn't hesitate to head out with her group. On the way, Sora pulls out the modified wire setup she gave him to use in the finals of Monolith Code, squeezing the boxes to hit the buttons that cause the leather ‘boxes’ containing the wires to unfold into his compressed harness and snake up his wrists to move into place, pulling out and clasping his main knives on as he does. Honestly, with his bracelet being able to swap his gear on and off him, it wasn't really necessary, she mostly made it to be quick and easy for when he had a smidge of time to silently explain where the harness and wires came from instead of potentially arousing suspicion. 

When they get to the entrance, she does have to stop Leo from being too hasty, given they're also using the same sort of high power guns designed to use against magicians. It isn't too hard to jam their guns as well though, and the moment it's safer to step out, her group explodes into action.

Sora rushes a cluster of four that he kills in mere moments with his knives, Erika takes on three more with a short sword she seemed to have gotten from no where, and by the time those seven are down, Mikihiko has finished readying a spell with his talismans, “Erika, Sora!”

They both immediately understand and get out of the way of a powerful blast of wind that cuts into everyone it comes across. It also blows out a good bit of the already damaged glass in the glass wall of the entrance, and what few attackers are still capable of it quickly try to flee out of the broken glass frames.

Not that she's about to let that happen, quickly snapping out a large circular shield around the entrance to cut them off. At that point though, there's only a handful left, so Sora, Erika, and Mikihiko seem content to leave them to the Joint Security Forces, mostly just the professionals since the students on it seem to be elsewhere.

Leo sighs as the other three regroup with them, “I never even got a chance.”

Erika pats his shoulder, though she's pretty sure it can't really be called with sympathy or anything. On the other hand, Mizuki and Honoka seem rather sick. She can't blame them, they're just kids, and they don't have one reason or another to be up to snapping into action and handling the aftermath of this sort of attack with the same ease as their various reasons give Erika, Leo, and Mikihiko.

She wishes they hadn't followed and had to see this, “Sorry, was that a little too much for you guys?”

Honoka shakes her head, but her voice isn't very firm, “No, I'm all right!”

Mizuki seems just as unsteady but determined, “Me too, I'm fine!”

Knowing that even if they do adapt quickly they undoubtedly still need some time, she purposely moves the conversation away a bit, “Anyway, where on earth did you get the sword Erika?”

Erika tilts her head, the look in her eye as she gazes at her implying that she knows exactly what she's trying to do, “This? I've always had it.” She hits a button on the hilt and the short thin sword shrinks into a thicker round baton. It's not a transfiguration or anything like that, which is considered impossible with this world's magic, but rather that the metal seems to reconfigure itself, "Cool, right? This is the memory blade that the police plan to put into the field starting next year.”

She hums, “The Chiba are known for making close combat weapons, aren't they?”

Erika grins, “Strictly speaking, that's the chief source of income.”

Leo glances over at them, then looks back to her, “So what's the plan now?”

She hums, “We can't really make a solid plan with limited information, so if possible, we try to get more intel first.”

Shizuku tilts her head, “In that case… Why don't you use the VIP conference room? That's where they hold meetings for politicians and economic groups, so you should be able to access all kinds of information.”

Erika gives her a surprised look, “I can't believe you know about a room like that.”

Shizuku turns her gaze to Erika, “My father once brought me here, so I know the security key and access code too.”

She nods firmly, “That's definitely our best bet then. Lead the way please, Shizuku.”

Shizuku nods seriously.

Once Shizuku puts the password into the terminal embedded in the table and pulls up police data, the large TV on the wall lights up with a map, which quickly zooms into their area. Red x's in black circles quickly start popping up and spreading transparent red circles to mark out ‘danger zones’, and Erika immediately speaks up in astonishment, probably able to guess but wanting someone to confirm, “Whoa! What's this?”

Leo's voice is equally stunned, “That's beyond messed up…”

Yuki's voice sounds concerned, likely hyperfocusing on her dark expression despite the fact it was far from unique in the situation, “Onee-sama…”

She glances over at him, then turns to the group as a whole, “Things are rather critical. We left evacuating everyone else to Saegusa-senpai, and Nakajou-senpai, so there's not much more we can do on that front, but we're likely to get pinned down if we remain here. That being said, given we don't exactly have transportation…”

Mikihiko hums, “Then should we evacuate to the shelter?”

She rubs at her lip, “That's probably the best bet to get out of the convention center, which is rather important given it was a target, so if the enemy realizes their initial attack failed, there's a good chance they'll try to hit it again.”

Erika removes her gaze from the TV to look at her, “So we're going with the underground passage then?”

She shakes her head though, “No, the best bet is to head to the shelter, yes, but it's better to go above ground. The tunnel doesn't go directly there and there are other locations linked into the network, so it's entirely possible enemies will make their way in. In such an enclosed space, it'll be harder to fight in general, but particularly without having to worry about accidentally collapsing it on ourselves.” Her brows furrow, “Also, we should probably destroy the demo devices and delete the data saved on the convention center's terminals regarding the theses before we leave. None of them are intended to lead to weapons, but neither was TNT when it was invented and look where that ended up.”

That gets grim looks, and there isn't any protest about heading back to the theater area and back behind stage. When they get back to the area where everything is stored though, they find older First High students already there, “I suppose we had the same idea.”

From behind the group, which is probably between her and the door for protection, Ichihara answers without looking back, “If you were thinking of deleting the data and destroying the demo devices, then yes.”

She glances at the others, “Are the rest of you here for security?”

Saegusa smiles, “Pretty much.”

She doesn't get to reply before a side door opens and Juumonji's voice reaches her, “Shiba? Saegusa?”

She's a bit surprised he's still here, since he was in charge of the nine schools portion of the Joint Security Forces at least, “Juumonji-senpai.”

He glances at her then turns to Saegusa, “I thought you'd gone on and evacuated?”

Saegusa shakes her head, “We're deleting the data.”

Juumonji's brows furrow, “Does it take that many to do that?”

Hattori, who was following behind him with Sawaki, pipes up, “Nakajou has taken the other students to the underground tunnel.” Then he turns his gaze to her group, “You should get going too…”

She frowns, “They went with the underground tunnel?”

That gets attention really quick, and Sawaki asks immediately, “Is something wrong?”

She frowns, “It's not guaranteed, but… The tunnel to the shelter is a network leading to it. Not only are there multiple access points the enemy could get into, but one of them is directly at the harbor the attacking boat is at. So…”

Hattori's brows furrow, “An encounter battle?”

She nods, “Quite possibly. And worse, not only is it enclosed quarters, but being underground, there's also every chance a fight could cause a cave in.”

Juumonji immediately turns a bit to look over his shoulder, “Hattori, Sawaki, go after Nakajou right now!” They quickly bark out their understanding, and Juumonji continues as he looks at her, then Saegusa, “I'm going to patrol the area one more time to make sure there are no more stragglers-”

She tilts her head, “There aren't really any left.” He turns to her in surprise, “I have Elemental Sight, a born specialization rather than a supernatural power. I can see the whole building and we're the only ones still here specifically.” She tilts her head, “Technically Third High seems to have gone with above ground evacuation and seem to be having vehicle troubles, while under attack, but Ichijou and Kichijouji are handling things fine from what I can see. They don't really need help except with maybe their bus, so unless you know mechanics…”

Juumonji turns back to them, “I don't, and Ichijou and Kichijouji are perfectly capable of handling things, so it would be better to remain here as extra security.”

Isori peers around Saegusa's skirt at that point, “Shiba, can I ask you to take care of the devices left in the other room?”

As soon as she nods, Watanabe declares, “When we're done, let's meet up in the green room. We'll decide on our next move there.“

Once everything is destroyed, they head to the meeting room, where the police map data is quickly pulled up again. After looking it over, Watanabe turns towards her group at the other end of the table, “Now then… About our next move…”

She trails off, and Saegusa ends the beat of silence, “Only one enemy ship has invaded the harbor. The area around the shore is more or less under enemy control. Ground transportation is completely paralyzed as well… I'm thinking that might be the work of the guerrillas.”

Isori looks away from the screen at Saegusa with pinched brows, “What could they be after?”

Saegusa doesn't hesitate to respond, “The fact that they've targeted Yokohama means… They must be after something that they'll only find here… Although strictly speaking, there's one in Kyoto as well…”

Kanon gasps, “The Magic Association Branch office!”

Saegusa nods, “To be precise, they're probably after the Magic Association's main database. Because all the crucial data is centrally managed in Kyoto and Yokohama.”

Mari frowns, “When will the rescue ship arrive?”

Saegusa doesn't hesitate, “It should be here in another ten minutes. But it doesn't look like it has the capacity for this number of people.”

Ichihara seems to get a notification on her mobile terminal given the beeping noise that draws everyone's attention, “Regarding Nakajou and the others who headed for the shelter, unfortunately it seems that Shiba's concerns were dead on. However, since the enemy force is small-” 

Ichihara doesn't cut herself or get cut off directly, but she turns swiftly as she notices a vehicle approaching rapidly. A truck specifically, and from the looks of it and its driver, it's more likely a foe.

Her sudden movement draws people's attention, and she's vaguely aware she probably looks a bit strange staring at the wall so intently, but she has bigger concerns as she pulls her CAD out.

Sora tenses, “An enemy?”

She tilts her head, “It seems so.”

She's vaguely aware of Watanabe quickly striding over to the controls to start pulling up camera footage behind her, but she's far more intently focused on figuring out if the truck is friend or foe with better certainty.

Breaths are sucked in as Watanabe manages to find the correct feed, and she gets her answer a moment later as the Truck is covered in fortification magic. The intent to ram the building is rather obvious, so uncaring of the audience brought by them having time to pull the footage up, she pulls her CAD -unholstered but resting at her side up until now- up and points it, firing a Decomposition at it and turning everything but the driver to dust in moments.