Rebirth

She stretches after climbing out of the car, uncaring of one of the more uppity butlers, Aoki who was coming out to greet her mother, giving her a look like he wants to say something about her not being lady-like or something, but he holds his tongue at her mothers own hard look at him. It's not surprising though, given Aoki is one of those ones who used to look down on and hate her, and even without the ability to really look down on her anymore, he definitely still hates her and looks for any reason to snap at her.

She's not even sure why he's here since she highly doubts they were called for business, and given he's a financial manager… Well, it doesn't really matter a whole lot to her, but given how much he likes to suck up to people, he's probably not here for anything important.

They're led to wait in a reception room until Maya can get to them. It's not one of the smaller, more private ones, making it clear Maya is calling them not as their sister and aunt, but as the Head of the Yotsuba. Honestly, she's always felt calling it a ‘reception room’ was down playing it a bit. It'd probably be more accurate to call it an ‘audience chamber’ than anything else.

As she settles in and gets comfortable, she notices that Yuki seems rather uncomfortable. It's not surprising given he's genuinely terrified of Maya. If this had been a few months ago, she'd have probably tried to soothe him, since he was her little brother, but ever since he pushed her to the point of snapping at the Nine Schools Competition, she's been distancing herself more from him. To that extent, she's taken more recently to pushing helping him with things like this to their mother. She's not great at it, but she's absolutely done with him using her trying to treat him like her brother or even just a child in general during things like this as either an opening to press his romantic and sexual interest in her, or even misconstrue her reasons in his head and take them as encouragement.

Maybe that makes her harsh and callous, but at this point if she has to be a bitch to Yuki to create some space between them, then a bitch she will be.

All that means is that she glances at their mother, making it clear with her gaze that she can either do something about it or ignore it, and that is the only deciding factor to whether Yuki will be helped. Her mother looks a bit tired, but after that… incident with Ichijou as well as the follow up with the now ever present threat to spray Yuki in the face, she's starting to actually understand both just how out of line Yuki is and how little patience she has left for him. She'd tried to give them having a sibling relationship a shot. Yuki was the one who's been steadily sabotaging it.

She turns her attention away, washing her hands of the entire situation. She can only speculate as to why Maya called them, but she can only assume it's about the incident a week ago during the Thesis Competition, an incident that she doesn't yet know but people will come to name ‘Scorched Halloween’ later.

After a bit, her thinking is broken into by Yuki suddenly chuckling, but after reassuring their mother at her question that he was just remembering something funny, she goes back to ignoring him. She refuses to acknowledge the glances he was sneaking at her that makes it clear he'd very much like it if she asked.

She's just relaxing while they wait when she notices Kazama with her Elemental Sight. It's kind of funny actually, normally people weren't really brought to the Yotsuba Main House, not those that weren't utterly loyal to the Yotsuba anyway, but he's the singular exception that's ever occurred as far as she knows.

She turns towards the door he's about to come in, unintentionally tipping off her mother and Yuki, so neither are surprised when he's led in by a maid. She just bows at them and leaves without a word, closing the door behind herself. Kazama looks at her as he settles into his own seat, "It’s been awhile, Toshiko. Well, actually I guess it’s only been a week.”

She nods, “Mm. I assume Maya called you here?”

Kazama gives his own nod, "That is correct. However, I had not heard that you’d be attending as well.”

She shrugs, “She didn't mention you would be here to us either. I can only assume it's relevant to us both, and given things still haven't really settled down since the incident, it's likely important. Maya is many things, but perfect is not one of them. She's probably just been so busy it slipped her mind.”

Kazama nods again in agreement, “Very likely. I certainly know I myself have been insanely busy, and I can only imagine it's the same for the Heads of the Ten Master Clans. It's inevitable smaller details will slip by.”

She hums in agreement, “Undoubtedly. How have you been doing since the incident though? Swamped undoubtedly, but…”

He huffs a tired laugh, “Honestly? Lately it feels like I have no time for anything but work and sleep, and I can't even add ‘eating’ to that since they've all been working meals lately, so there's not much more to add. How about you though? You were the one who I had to ask to release that magic once more, and honestly... at the time I didn't think much of it, but we really only have you and your principals to thank for the fact we didn't cross an unforgivable line.”

She sighs, “I'm not exactly happy to have done it, but in the choice between dealing with a military or letting that same military that has long proven they can and will attack innocent people move to attack… I'll always pick the first option. Other than that though, most of the students in my school seem to be making a determined effort to go back to normal, so it's a bit strange how unchanged things are beyond normal interactions having a certain forced air to them.”

Kazama lets out a sigh of his own, “Hopefully that's just fighting for normalcy in at least one aspect of their lives while they process everything. It's unhealthy to try to pretend something like that didn't happen.”

She nods, “I know. There's not much to be done about it though. Some mandatory counseling just to make sure they're adjusting well would be best, but with the division between magicians and non-magicians it wouldn't be wise to try to bring non-magician counselors in, and there's far too few magician counselors to make something like that feasible. Especially since it's more than First High that was affected, which means things are likely just as bad for the other highschools.” She glances out the window, “Honestly, I don't even know if there's time for it with everyone busy, but I've actually been contemplating if it would help to ask if the 101st was up for maybe giving a one day assembly talk. They aren't councilors obviously, but they are surprisingly well adjusted soldiers so I've been thinking about maybe them coming in and talking about coming to terms with things like that, since soldiers they may be now but all of them know what it's like to be on a battlefield for the first time. It's a bit different since most of them signed up to be there, but…”

Kazama tilts his head, a thoughtful look on his face, “You're right that it's not exactly the best solution, but theoretically if we were careful to select emotionally healthy members of the 101st… You aren't wrong, we've all been busy, but given the majority of them joined up to protect our people, if anything, the more emotionally healthy ones would likely be more than happy to help give them some guidance on working through it.”

She leans forward thoughtfully, “Ask Kyouko-nee and Kousuke. Kyouko-nee has her own issues with grief from her fiancé, but she'd probably have good suggestions from people well equipped to handle that sort of talk, and it may not exactly be the sort of doctor Kousuke is, but he'd probably have valuable insights of his own.”

Kazama nods, “Very fine points. I'll speak to them after today's meeting.”

She smiles lightly and attempts a small joke, “Mind, Kyouko-nee may only know who would be good for those sorts of talks based on who she avoids because she's not ready.”

Kazama chuckles lightly, “Well… you aren't exactly wrong.”

From there, they start talking about the best possible way to handle it, spitballing ideas back and forth. They're so wrapped up in the conversation that she almost doesn't notice what her Elemental Sight is telling her and is nearly taken by surprise by the knock on the door. It's not anything hugely important in her opinion, just a butler informing them that Maya's previous meeting was overrunning, so they'd be waiting longer, waiting for acknowledgements of the message, then bowing and leaving.

They turn back to hashing out the potential idea, and her mother seems to decide to join in at that point, shifting the topic slightly to weighing pros and cons of the overall idea as well as different ways of potentially approaching it. They get wrapped up in the talks once more, and it's only due to how her subconscious has practically been trained to pay attention to Maya even when Toshiko herself is busy that she notices when Maya's meeting ends and she starts down towards them.

Knowing that she's… basically one of the only people genuinely comfortable with Maya, she straightens up and gives the others a bit of heads up, “Maya's on her way down.”

The others all tense, and Kazama straightens his more relaxed posture as well, “I'll bring the idea to Lieutenant Fujibayashi and Doctor Yamanaka.”

She nods, but doesn't protest as he lapses into silence, undoubtedly collecting himself before Maya shows up. They don't have to wait too long before there's another knock on the door, more out of politeness than anything, before it's swinging open and a butler is holding the door for Maya.

She focuses on Kazama first, giving a slight bow, "Thank you for waiting. I truly am very sorry. Our previous guest simply would not leave… while he had gone far past our appointed time, we couldn’t simply throw him out or such…" 

Kazama, who had risen with the rest of them when Maya walked in, bows back, "Please do not be concerned. We know that you are very busy." 

As she and Kazama take their seats after their bows, she glances at them, “Toshiko, Miya, Yuki, my apologies to you as well." 

Their mother waves her off as the house staff arranges a tea set before them, “Nevermind that. What was so important that you called us as well as Major Kazama?”

Maya swirls her teacup as she starts, for once not teasing, "The reason I have called you here today is because there are some matters stemming from the recent military incident in Yokohama which I would like to tell you." 

It's not very surprising, given Kazama is the one in the military and Maya a civilian, but he's a bit surprised at that, “To me?”

Maya nods giving a meaningful smile, making it clear they were rather pressing matters, "Yes, and to Toshiko, Miya, and Yuki as well." 

Maya sips at her tea before pressing forward, "A week ago, the International Magic Association concluded that the blast which obliterated the GAU fleet was not in violation of the charter forbidding the use of 'radiation emitting weapons’. As a result, the punishment motion submitted to the Association was rejected."

Kazama's tone is rather bland at that, "I was not aware a punishment motion had been forwarded."

There's no way the possibility hadn't occurred to him, but given it didn't use radioactive materials to achieve the detonation, she's not surprised he's so relaxed about it. 

If anything surprises her, it's the way Maya tosses out her own question without hesitation, "You do seem rather relaxed. You had no concern about the possibility of a penal detachment?" 

She can understand the theoretical possibility of the International Magic Association, which has no force of its own but works through cooperation of each member nation, putting together a force to penalize Japan by force if necessary, but again, given her magic doesn't require radioactive materials to achieve detonation, the only possible way that could happen was if they lied about it. The only real motivation they'd have for that would be a general agreement from the various representatives to try to get rid of or gain control of the magician that cast it, but they wouldn't dare. It sets up far too much of a precedence that could come back to bite them later.

Kazama doesn't bother pointing all that out though, "I was fully aware and confident that there would be no residual radiation." 

Whether that's good enough for Maya or she has her own reasons, she drops the topic, "Then were you aware that the 'Heavenly General' was present with and perished alongside the fleet?"

That breaks Kazama's carefully controlled expression, his eyes going wide, "Liú Yúndé?"

Maya nods, "Yes, one of the thirteen internationally acknowledged Strategic Class magicians. Nevertheless, the Great Asian Union is trying to keep a rather tight lid on information control." Then she laughs, slightly bitter, “Although there was no such thing as privacy when it comes to Strategic Class magicians.”

It's not really surprising, given that other than tricks like Antinite, the only real way to deal with a magician is with another magician. Unsurprisingly, it made enemy Strategic class magicians a major objective to various worldwide militaries. Usually, the way a nation handled protecting their own Strategic Class magicians was by just… not revealing them unless necessary. However, as a means of deterring attacks against them, thirteen Strategic Class magicians had been declassified in the world. They'd been given the nickname ‘Thirteen Apostles’, and out of them, only the USNA's Angie Sirius has managed to maintain a shred of meaningful privacy. It was practically par for the course for various governments and militaries to almost religiously spy on them, tracking their every moment for whatever forewarning they can get about one going on the attack.

She isn't quite sure if she should praise Angie Sirius or not, given the whole world knows that's not even her real name and have zero clue what she looks like. On one hand, if she's a psychopath, it'd be better for everyone if she knew full well she couldn't pull anything without potentially having the world turn against her. If she's not though, then good for her for being able to potentially have something resembling a normal life.

Without any gravitas for what's arguably an upheaval to the current worldwide balance, Maya wraps it up neatly with a single idle statement, "Well with that, I guess the 'Thirteen Apostles' is now the 'Twelve Apostles." She waves it off and continues with information that even Kazama clearly doesn't know if his expression is any indication, "It seems the government is looking to capitalize on this and wring as many major concessions from the Great Asian Union as possible. The Chief of Staff had requested the Itsuwa family be sent out, and the Itsuwa complied. Mio is accompanying them to the fleet in Sasebo."

She jolts, “Itsuwa Mio?! That-!”

She knows him well enough to know he's not actually concerned about Mio. It's either selfishness due to his obsession on how he feels it reflects on what the government is willing to ask of a Strategic Class magician and concern for what it may subsequently mean they may ask of her driving him to ask, or it's more habitually trying to maintain his Kikōshi air. Regardless of which it is, it still drives Yuki to add to the conversion for the first time, "Did she board a warship?"

Maya nods, "Yes."

She feels a flicker of concern. Mio from the Itsuwa family was Japan's only recognized Strategic Class magician. As strong as her magic is though, her body is rather frail. Something which, to her knowledge, wasn't realized initially, but by the time she was twenty, she was bound to a motorized wheelchair, purely because even if her legs were technically fine, even just walking exhausted her that badly. From her understanding, the seriousness of the situation didn't truly become apparent until some crack doctor that didn't listen to her and was convinced she just needed more exercise or something caused her to pass out from forcing her to walk laps around a track. Thankfully, from what she knows, she only got a broken nose from the fall, but considering even a short fall like that, if luck is against you, can result in far more broken bones like limbs or ribs…

She's dragged back to the present by Yuki adding, "...Still, that would be a considerable strain on her body wouldn't it?"

Maya hums, "Just as we had news of Liú Yúndé's movements, it seems our mobilization of Mio has not gone unnoticed. Again this is as of yet unconfirmed, but we have received a report that Doctor Bezobrazov arrived in Vladivostok today." 

Kazama's expression grows shocked again, "The 'Igniter' Igor Andreevich Bezobrazov?" 

Maya nods, "Yes, that very Doctor Bezobrazov. Having witnessed the recent events off the Southern Korean Peninsula, their military leadership appears to have reconsidered the effectiveness of large scale magic."

She can't say she's exactly surprised to be honest. Given what could be nothing but a classified Strategic Class magician destroying a fleet as well as an un classified Strategic Class magician, even if that was actually unintentional since she didn't know Liú Yúndé was with the fleet, and another unclassified Strategic Class magician moving, and potentially being a threat… While Itsuwa's magic ‘Abyss’ was mostly useful in the ocean, given it created a depression in water, which could easily sink an entire fleet if they found themselves at the bottom of that depression before it floods, but was somewhat usable in that if it wasn't a dryer area and she used it on subterranean water, she could potentially collapse buildings. And given the GAU, sort of in between the NSU and Japan had just lost their recognized Strategic Class magician, and to something as devastating as Material Burst, and the NSU has no guarantee the GAU had another Strategic Class magician to deter a potential counter invasion which could very well lead to them having neighbors capable of her Material Burst magic… In a way, it makes sense that they're already going on the defensive.

She feels another flicker of uneasy concern. Theoretically the conflict should be over, but the fact it saw, in total, four different Strategic Class magicians mobilized… It's uncomfortably close to sounding like the opening to World War Four to her.

That being said, while they've been allies in the past, it's just as much of a potential problem for the GAU as it is for them. Because it could be defensive, but it could just as easily be the NSU deciding to snatch up some land at minimum while the GAU is weakened.

She furrows her brow, murmuring more reflexively than anything, “Defensive purposes or offense purposes?”

To that end, she's not surprised that the next thing Maya starts to say is, "Unknown. However, it's likely the Great Asian Union has received similar intel—" 

Undoubtedly coming to the same conclusion, Kazama cuts in, "Peace should be established in the near future then?" 

Not seeming to take any offense, Maya nods, "I believe that would be the case." A flicker of frustration passes over her face, there and gone fast enough that she's confident that the only other person who may have noticed was her mother, "...Our history from three years ago will be settled with this."

She wonders what's bothering Maya, since she knows full well Maya isn't the bloodthirsty monster people think she is, so it's not the end of hostilities she's frustrated by. She doesn't get long to think about it before Maya pushes past her own comment and continues, "The disappearance of the fleet has attracted the attention of numerous countries. The cause of that was unmistakably due to Strategic class magic, and a not inconsiderable number of them are beginning to probe around as to just who the operator was. It is most likely some of them will link this with the annihilation of the fleet the Great Asian Union dispatched three years ago. It would be a very undesirable outcome for us to have Toshiko’s identity come out."

Kazama nods firmly, "I fully agree."

Maya smiles, for once, a more genuine one despite it being around people she's not close to, "I'm glad you understand. Then to be on the safe side, I'd like you to refrain from being in contact with Toshiko for a while as well."

Kazama nods, and from there, they start negotiating about it. She's fairly certain at this point she was mostly called here to make sure she would be on the same page and to get heads up about the potential trouble stirring and that her mother and Yuki were called because Maya didn't have time to waste on either whatever protests they may make on her being called alone or having to personally fill them in or make someone who may be busy in the wake of the news do it.

She's actually a bit sad to have to distance herself from the 101st because while she may not be a full soldier, she has some pretty solid relationships with some of them.

She does make sure to pay attention just to be certain she's aware of what's going on, but there's genuinely not a whole lot to it. When it's done, and Kazama raises to leave she raises as well to exchange temporary goodbyes, but also to ask him a minor favor, “Major Kazama, I know you're busy and since she's sort of your assistant it's easiest to pass it to Kyouko-nee and have her pass it along, but please express my apologies for not being able to make it to any meetups in the near future.”

Kazama smiles warmly and nods, “I will. I'm sure it'll sadden everyone a bit, but needs must. Until next time, Toshiko.”

She smiles back, “I'd give you one last salute until the arrangement is over since I genuinely respect you, but we both know you hate that stuff when it isn't necessary.”

His smile cracks into an amused grin, “That I do!”

Instead he offers a hand to shake, which she takes without hesitation, “Take care of yourself Major Kazama. Until next time.”

He nods back, and that's the end of that.

Once a maid has escorted him out, Maya orders her mother and Yuki as we as Hayama to leave as she wants to talk to her one on one. Despite that, she doesn't jump right into whatever she was wanting to talk to her about, simply sipping at her tea, looking lost in thought and dissatisfied. She keeps her silence at first, wanting to give her time to work through whatever thoughts were bothering her, though she fully intends to break the silence after a few to make sure Maya isn't spiraling down a mental hole or something.

She doesn't get a chance to though, before Maya sets her nearly empty cup down in her saucer with a sigh. She has long since left the Guardian slavery behind obviously, but it has nothing to do with that and is entirely a matter of fondness and respect when she pulls Maya's cup closer and lifts the teapot to refill it.

Maya smiles at her warmly, as she picks her now full cup back up, “Thank you dear.”

She smiles back, “Of course Maya.”

After taking a lengthy sip, which seems to brighten her mood a bit, Maya smiles at her again, "Thank you for your efforts in this event, Toshiko. As well as making sure things weren't taken too far. I heard what Major General Saeki initially tried to order. I'll admit I can't quite say I'm exactly happy at that public message, but considering the military was practically demanding one and what the alternative was… It's certainly a far better outcome.”

She nods, “Of course Maya.”

Maya sighs, "However, it’s something troubling for the Yotsuba in the problems from here." 

She hums, “It's inevitable after such a public use of Material Burst. Is there anything particularly troubling right now?”

Maya sighs, then locks gazes with her, "The stars are moving."

She presses her lips together as she drops her gaze to her own teacup, “USNA's STARs huh? Purely investigative or looking to get rid of the magician behind Material Burst?”

Maya sighs, "For now, the STARs have simply begun their own investigation. But they have already grasped that the explosion was caused by a magic which converts mass into energy. That narrows down the identity of the operator considerably. Specifically, enough to pinpoint you and Yuki as one of the suspects." 

She hums, “It's not surprising. They have to know it takes a good bit of Psions to cast that sort of magic, and as the two children of the previous world record holder for such things back when people cared… before the Yotsuba went out of their way to make it seem less important…” Maya nods, and she tilts her head, “Still, while it's possible it comes from Hliðskjálf, given the other six operators can see whatever someone searches for, one must be careful of when and how it's used. Which means most of that likely didn't come from Hliðskjálf, and is rather impressive information gathering, Maya.”

Maya's lips twitch and her tone turns teasing, “Been reading my mind lately dear? You aren't supposed to know about Hliðskjálf.”

She laughs, “Heavens no Maya. You know I don't do that to people in general. I'm as free with it as I am with the hostile members of the Yotsuba because they don't deserve that basic decency. I afford it to Hayama or even the lowest of trash collectors. Just not them. No, just a side effect of keeping an eye on you whenever I'm at the main house and sort of unintentionally spying on some conversations you've had with Hayama.”

Not that it's any surprise that she's not expected to know of it. Hliðskjálf was a backdoor to the Echelon III program, a worldwide information gathering network that intercepts basically all transmissions it can -which to her knowledge is currently everything but the magical tech with signals sent through the information dimension she'd developed but hadn't yet released publicly and the Yotsuba has unsurprisingly adopted quickly after Maya realized that- as well as hacking into any servers it can access through the internet. From what she's picked up from conversations of Maya's she's overheard, the creator, Edward Clark, had for reasons unknown, allowed six other people to utilize that backdoor he'd created for himself. They collectively had the nickname ‘Seven Sages’ but the only reasoning she's been able to come up with was that by giving access to select individuals and monitoring what they were risking searching since all the sages can see the others’ search history was a way to keep tabs on more secretive people he had issue getting Intel on and what they're planning.

The fact that while she doesn't know all of them, she does know that two of the sages are the Maya of the Yotsuba, and from conversations she's overheard Jiedo Heigu from Dahan before it collapsed and is now highly secretive certainly points to that in her opinion anyway. She's contemplated frequently since she found out about it on seeing if Rowena can break in, but she hasn't yet decided if it's worth the risk of being discovered.

She's pulled back to the present by Maya laughing, “How remiss of me! It never even occurred to me that having your attention may make you privy to such things.” She sighs as she leans back, “You aren't wrong that some of it comes from Hliðskjálf. Specifically, the fact Liú Yúndé was with the fleet. The rest is from Yotsuba information gathering.” She gets serious, “It doesn't change the fact STARs is on the move and have already narrowed in on you and Yuki though.”

She nods, “It's certainly troubling. Even before they were the US N A and were just the USA they were strong and had incredible information gathering capabilities, but still… Is it just Echelon III's doing, or do we have a spy?”

Maya sighs, “Unknown as of now. However, given one of the so-called ‘Sages’ and the one who made the backdoor for Hliðskjálf is Edward Clark who made Echelon III to begin with… Doubtful. Especially as I've always suspected that the whole ‘Sages can see each other's searches’ doesn't apply to him."

She nods, “Likely not. Especially if my own theory that the only reason he gave access to the other ‘Sages’ was to keep a better eye on and get hints of what plans the people Echelon III has a harder time gathering intel on have in the works is correct.”

Maya's brows furrow a little, “So you came to that conclusion as well?” She nods and Maya swirls her tea thoughtfully, gazing into her cup, “I thought so myself to be honest, but the sheer amount of information available through Hliðskjálf… It's too big a resource to ignore.”

She nods, “I figured as much. I've actually been contemplating whether Rowena could break in without being noticed because of how valuable it is. I haven't had her do so yet since the possibility of her being discovered has always outweighed so far, but…”

Maya hums, “It's not a bad idea actually.” She takes a sip of her tea, “And honestly, as long as you ensured it couldn't follow her back and sabotage her, maybe have her try from a node sealed off from her main intelligence at first, as well as do it someplace that wouldn't reveal anything if she is discovered and tracked back…”

She nods, “That was my thought as well lately.”

Maya shakes herself, "...In any case, you must be careful of your surroundings. The STARs are not soft opponents. If they determine that you are a threat to the hegemony of the United States, it is possible that they have the capability to take you down despite your previous life and all the advantages that it gives you.”

She hums, “Don't worry, it's not like it makes me think I'm invincible or anything. I'm not stupid enough to take it lightly.”

Maya nods, “Good.” Then she sighs, “Honestly, it may be best if you drop out of school.”

She shakes her head, “Pulling back now, right after the incident, even with excuses would only look more suspicious.”

Maya sighs again, “I can't say that's incorrect…” She waves it off, “Nevertheless, be careful, especially as this course of action leaves you out in the open and more vulnerable.”

She nods, “Of course Maya.”

After that, the conversation doesn't end, but it does turn to lighter topics.

They'd been quite surprised when Shizuku had dropped the information that she was going to be partaking in a student exchange program when they'd been doing a sort of cram study session before the end of semester exams prior to the winter break, but all too quickly the kids had shifted to absolutely determination to throw her a farewell party. They'd possibly have met up for a holiday party anyway, given it'd been set for December 24th, but with the way in Japan it tends to be more of a romantic holiday on a personal level yet it's not uncommon to see galas and the like, that was a tossup.

Regardless of whether they'd have done it anyway or if it just came about due to Shizuku leaving for a while, they'd reserved the entirety of Café Einebrise so it was just them there. Well, and the owner who was serving of course. He was even fond enough of their little group that he'd given them a cake on the house for the party.

Erika asks in curiosity, "Hey, where are you going for your study abroad program?”

Ever deadpan, Shizuku's voice is as flat as usual, “Berkley.”

Yuki hums, "So it's not Boston.”

Shizuku nods slightly, "That's because the east coast isn't very stable right now." 

Mikihiko makes an agreeing noise, "The ‘Human Ideologists’ are rampaging over there. We see them on the news quite often these days.”

Leo's voice is uncharacteristically cold, "So the witch hunts have now turned into ‘Magician hunts’. Even if you say history repeats itself, this is simply ridiculous.”

She sighs, “It is. It's absolutely deplorable. Given they're actively fighting people just for how they're born, they aren't different enough from racists if you ask me. It's ludicrous, especially since-”

She's gotten a bit lost in thought and almost said too much, but remembers herself and bites back the fact her tongue had almost spilled that nugget of information about the fact there was literally no difference between magicians and non-magicians barring how developed their magic calculation area's were. But non-magicians still had them. So, maybe it was better to start referring to them as active and inactive magicals.

Honoka gives her a confused look, “Especially since?”

She shakes her head, “Nothing.”

Knowing full well she almost misstepped because it was a particularly touchy subject for her, Miho smoothly redirects the conversation, “You should definitely be careful when you go. Anti-magician movements are on the rise everywhere of course, but over there you won't have us or even other people you know. You should avoid the east coast if nothing else.”

Shizuku nods, expression slipping from deadpan to serious, “I know.”

Hoshi leans forward, “Still, advice is all well and good, but this is supposed to be a party!”

Sora backs up his sister's words without hesitation, “Inferior as my sister may be,” After the talk they'd given them about their relationship that draws snickers instead of concerned looks, “she is correct.”

Never one to not try to one up Sora, Yuki jumps in, "Do you know any details about the exchange student?”

Shizuku hums, "I believe it's a girl of the same age.”

She hums, “I suppose it's not that surprising that they wouldn't have given you details on the student you're exchanging with. It's not like you'll be meeting them yourself after all.”

Shizuku nods even as Yuki flushes. Probably thinking she was humiliating him or something, but that's entirely on him for being so sensitive to her words since it was just a thought. The party gets back to a more cheerful mood after that, and they get so distracted she has to gently direct them to pack up and leave before they overstay their welcome.

All and all though, it's a fairly good party. Given they don't part until the cabinet station, it does require a bit of Studious Ignoring of Yuki’s expression going all dark and cheerfully ignoring Erika and Leo jokingly giving wolf whistles when she gives Sora and Miho chaste goodnight kisses.

Even if she can and will ignore it, she's not looking forward to the ride back to their house with Yuki, but she's also not going to let him ruin a good day for her.

When she wakes up on December 31st, the very first thing she does is open the groupchat with her soulmates.

Mass text

Happy birthday Sora! Only a year left! 😘

Sora

Agdidbsuenkche

Sora

Thanks.

Miho

🤣🤣

Miho

Mm, she's not wrong though. Only a year until you at minimum are capable of being teased properly. And can potentially deal with the inevitable ‘penting up’ I'm sure you've been experiencing as a boy in puberty.

Sora

You two are EVIL. I can't even properly be teased yet! This isn't fair!

😈😘

I don't know, try thinking about our previous selves while you handle it yourself?

Sora

I've TRIED THAT! I don't know if it's because your current selves have turned the block back on completely or not, but it DOESN'T WORK!

Miho

Awww. Poor, poor Sora.

Sora

Evil. Absolutely evil.

She snickers, as she types a reply.

365 days left!

Wait no, next year is a leap year, so it'd be 366.

Miho

If you count either today OR the thirty-first of next year. Count both and its 367 days.

Today just started so it feels a bit early to subtract it. But since the block will fall at midnight exactly between the thirtieth and thirty-first, it makes no sense to count THAT.

Miho

That's true. 366 days of Sora's torment left then! Especially since in 115 days his block towards Toshiko will fall and 81 days after THAT (196 days from now(1)) his block towards ME will fall. Which means he'll be able to be teased, intentionally or not. And then he'll have 170 in that limbo state before OUR blocks towards HIM fall and he can potentially get relief.

Sora

I don't need it put into those terms! I'd prefer to just Ignore It, thanks!

Aww, you don't want to impatiently count down the days?

Sora

Evil.

Always feels WEIRD wishing you a happy birthday and not Hoshi since you're TWINS.

Miho

Tell me about it. Side effect of each of them being born on either side of midnight though.

Mmm. ANYWAY! Back to teasing Sora?

Miho

Of course.

Sora

EVIL!! Go back to talking about the oddity of Hoshi and me technically having different birthDAYS and YEARS as TWINS.

She laughs and she and Miho tease him a bit more before she has to leave for breakfast.

The school has been buzzing with gossip all day, not only about the new transfer, but even about the fact that it isn't just First High that received transfers. Second High, Third High, Fourth High, and even universities received students in the program. One that's been suspended for over a decade, since issues made it clear it was still too soon in the wake of World War three and the heightened levels of suspicion and distrust in its wake.

Maya hasn't explicitly said anything, but given she inevitably would've had to go along with it as well, she probably allowed it out of a combination of not wanting to potentially arouse suspicion towards the Yotsuba and potential connections to ‘Mahesvara’ as had been adopted as her worldwide nickname after the signing of her message, and possibly also wanting to use her and Yuki as bait.

The sheer number of transfers indicates quite a lot of personnel has been dedicated since she can't see them mixing in regular students nor giving up any slots for personnel, given they are going after a magician capable of turning anything into a nuclear explosion.

They're in the middle of discussing that very thing when a blond haired blue eyed girl with western features approaches with Honoka, who smiles with the tiniest smidge of awkwardness, “Um. Did you guys mind if the exchange student joined us? She was given a temporary spot on the Student Council, or maybe it's better to say she's temporarily filling in for Shizuku? I was honestly a bit surprised, but apparently Shizuku sorted everything out with Nakajou-senpai before she left, so…” Honoka shakes her head, “Anyway! Unless it's important or time sensitive, Nakajou-senpai generally prefers to do Student Council things after school and leave lunch free, so her and Isori-senpai asked if it was alright if she came with me for lunch.”

Agreements come out up and down the table, and she smiles, “It sounds like no one minds Honoka, but,” She turns a bit amused, “while I can get wanting to check if it's okay first things first, you two may wanna go get trays of food before you sit down.”

Honoka looks sheepish, “Ah! Like you said, I wanted to check if you guys were okay with it first so I could try to figure something out while I was.” She turns to the exchange student a bit, “Come on Lina, the lunch line is over here.”

Lina, as her name or more likely nickname apparently is, smiles at Honoka, “Okay!” Then she glances back at them as they head off, “Me and your friend will be back soon!”

Her Japanese is pretty good, if fairly heavily accented. Not that she's judging, it'd be pretty hypocritical of her given how accented her own Japanese was earlier in her life as Calanthe.

Leo squints after them, “Hey, doesn't she look familiar though? I think I've seen her somewhere.”

Erika immediately starts teasing him, "Wow, old school, much?”

Mizuki stares after her thoughtfully, "...Now that you mention it, yeah.”

Erika gives her a surprised look, apparently only just realizing it's not some pickup line or something from Leo, "Eh, Shibata as well? Unless she's an artist or model... But rather unlikely, right?”

Miho hums, “She's that girl we saw when we met up for New Year's.” She glances at Erika, “You don't recognize her since you and Mikihiko had family stuff you had to do, but she was at the temple we visited.”

Erika months a silent ‘oh’, and Hoshi hums, “Strange coincidence, huh?”

There's a bit of silence after that, all of them thinking about how Leo speculated that the exchange students were spies out loud that morning and Erika had told him he couldn’t be saying things like that out loud. But they all know it's a little too coincidental. There isn't time to discuss it even if they wanted, given that Honoka and this ‘Lina’ get their trays quickly and are already on their way back.

As they settle at the table, Honoka smiles as she gestures to the exchange student, “I should make proper introductions. This is Angelina Kudou Shields. You might have heard about this already, but she is the transfer student that will be joining us in Class A starting today.”

Angelina has a decent cultural grasp as well, given she gives a shallow but proper and not awkward bow from her seated position with a smile directed at the table as a whole.

She smiles back, “Shiba Toshiko. Both to easily differentiate between my brother and because I'm sure it's more awkward as a westerner for you otherwise, feel free to call me Toshiko.”

Lina extends her hand for a shake habitually, and she takes it with ease, "Thank you. And please call me Lina. Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you don't use honorifics.”

Yuki, always quick to follow her lead, immediately jumps in, “I'm the brother in question, Shiba Yuki, like Onee-sama said, feel free to use my first name as well Lina.”

Sora smiles and gestures to his sister, currently in the middle of chewing, “Me and my sister here are Amano Sora and Amano Hoshi respectively. You're welcome to use our first names as well.”

Miho smiles, “Yasuda Miho. I don't have siblings, but please feel free to use my first name as well. I'm sure it's more comfortable for you Lina.”

Ever playful, cheerful, and cheeky, Erika's voice is as full of mischief and promises teasing if you slip up as it ever is, "I'm Chiba Erika. Please call me Erika, Lina."

Seemingly galvanized a bit by their ease despite her usual shyness, Mizuki pipes up at that, "My name is Shibata Mizuki. Please call me Mizuki."

Leo's tone is coarser than usual presumably due to the suspicions he's trying not to show, but other than her soulmates and sister in law, no one else seems to notice, "Saijou Leonhardt, but Leo is fine. I'm a little rough and speak like this, so please don't take offense."

Whether he notices or not, Mikihiko tossing of his own introduction easily shifts attention from Leo, "Yoshida Mikihiko, please refer to me as Mikihiko." 

Lina smiles, “Sora, Hoshi, Miho, Erika, Mizuki, Leo, Mikihiko.” It seems to be half repeating their names to herself and half sounding them out, and she stumbles a bit unexpectedly on Mikihiko's name, "Nice to meet you."

Erika, as brazen as usual, tosses out, "It's a little hard to pronounce, so if you can't say Mikihiko, go ahead and use Miki."

If Mikihiko himself had given permission it'd be perfectly normal, but coming from someone else's mouth it's a bit rude. To that extent, it's clear Mikihiko is about to reject Erika's suggestion, but before he can, Lina turns her smile on Mikihiko, "Ah, is that so? Then allow me to do so. Miki, is that okay?"

Apparently unable to tell her no with such an innocent charming smile, Mikihiko murmurs out his acceptance. Turning the conversation away since the poor boy has to be feeling so awkward given he doesn't even really like Erika calling him that, she adds, “Ah, this may be a bit strange given we just met and all, but it's more to prevent any awkward misunderstandings in the future so…” She gestures between herself, Sora, and Miho, “For the record, Sora, Miho, and myself are in a closed polygamous relationship. Just so there's no confusion or thoughts of cheating or whatever if you happen to see one of us kiss one and then the other later.”

Lina flushes slightly, but nods, “Mm. I can understand why you'd wanna clarify that.” She laughs lightly, “It'd be awkward if I did see that then tried to tell one of you there was cheating happening.”

She nods, “Which is why I wanted to get it out of the way, even if it seems weird since we did just meet and all.” Then she moves the topic since Lina still seems a bit awkward, “But Kudou though huh? Do you have a relation with Elder Kudou Retsu? I vaguely recall that he had a younger brother, back before the Third World War when magicians were still encouraged to marry internationally between allied nations.”

Lina's awkwardness fades as she smiles, “Ah, I'm amazed you heard about that, Toshiko. That's definitely news from a long time ago. My mother's grandfather is Shogun Kudou's younger brother." Though it's not the ‘Elder’ she's used to those in Japan calling him out of respect, given she knows vaguely that magicians in western nations tend to call Elder Kudou ‘General’, while it's not exactly accurate, it's not entirely surprising she'd use ‘Shogun’ since it does mean ‘army commander’, "Thanks to that, I am able to come here to study abroad.”

Erika sort of blurts it out in surprise at that, "So Lina didn't come here out of her own volition?”

Lina seems to get a bit nervous and anxious at that, but if anyone other than her soulmates and sister in law -who give her meaningful looks just to make sure they're all on the same page- notices, they say nothing about it.

After a week of flitting around other groups, Lina rejoins theirs for lunch. Erika grins lightly at her, “You're quite popular Lina.”

Lina answers with a somewhat bland tone, "Thank you. I'm glad that everyone is so nice.”

Mikihiko pipes up after that, "Still, Lina is surprisingly capable. Though I knew that anyone selected to study abroad definitely has the skills to back it up, I seriously can't believe you can match Yuki to that degree.”

Lina shakes her head, "No, I think I should be the one who is surprised. I used to be undefeated in high level competitions like this, but I can never seem to beat Yuki, and when against Honoka, I may win in overall skill but I still lose in complexity of design. As expected of Japan, one of the strongest magical countries.”

She genuinely seems a bit irritated at that, and Yuki is looking at her with sparkling eyes, all but wordlessly begging for praise for winning against someone both of them, their mother, and her soulmates and sister in law heavily suspect is actually the secretive ‘Angie Sirius’, one of the twelve recognized Strategic Class magicians in the world.

He's gonna get his bubble popped though, since for one thing there's every possibility that Lina's been holding back to avoid tipping her hand, for another, “From my understanding of your matches, you had the initiative, but Yuki just has stronger interference strength is all. It's not really that surprising, given everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.”

Lina hums as she looks up, “That's true…”

A bit sullen at her brushing it off, Yuki pipes up somewhat dully, "Lina, practical exercises are just that and not a competition. I believe there's no point in dwelling on victory or defeat." 

Lina doesn't seem the slightest bit bothered by it though, "Magic competitions are very important. While these are only practical exercises, I believe specifically choosing highly competitive subjects where victory matters is the only way to improve.”

She smiles, “You aren't wrong there. The best way to push forward and hone oneself is to find someone who's capable of challenging you. That being said Lina, don't let it bother you after. It'd be perfectly understandable for something like a life and death situation, but otherwise, rather than getting worked up by the results, it's better to reflect and analyze where and how you can improve.”

Lina jolts in surprise, then smiles, “That's true!” She laughs after, “Honestly given how much of a siscon Yuki seems to be, I was honestly expecting you to be a brocon yourself, so it's a bit surprising that you aren't heaping praises on Yuki.”

Erika laughs, “Right?! There's such a disconnect! It's hard to believe they're related sometimes!”

Apparently wanting to move the conversation along as well as feeling petty about Lina pointing out the differences in how they act regarding one another, always a sore point for him since it highlights that she does not return his feelings, Yuki gives Lina a fake smile, “On another topic, is nothing major, but there's something that's been bugging me a while Lina.” She waves her hand in an indication to continue, not impolite enough to respond verbally with her mouth full, “If I recall correctly, isn't ‘Angie’ the usual nickname for ‘Angelina?”

It's probably a good thing Lina was in the middle of swallowing already, given from the noise she makes, she'd likely have choked otherwise, "No, you remembered correctly, but the nickname ‘Angie’ isn't as rare as you think. For comparison, I had a classmate in elementary school called ‘Angela’ who was referred to as ‘Angie.”

She hums, not letting Yuki screw around more, staring him down, only silently chastising him this time because of how sensitive the topic is, “It really is. I mean, just off the top of my head of other things ‘Angie’ could be a nickname for: Angelica, Andrea, Andromeda, though those last two is usually Andy when it comes to nicknames from my understanding, Evangeline, though that one is usually ‘Lina’, but really the list goes on and on, so it's not that strange that Lina would've met an ‘Angie’ before and because of that, got comfortable with a different nickname.”

Lina nods quickly, “M-mm! It's a pretty easy nickname, like Annie, or Ann, or Andy, so it's not uncommon when two people who that nickname would normally apply to and are in the same group for either an alternative to be used, like my ‘Lina.”

Miho hums, “Or, if my understanding is correct and there aren't really good alternatives to use a different indicator, right? Like, ‘Blonde Lina’ or ‘Lina S.’ right?”

Lina latches on like a lifeline, “Yeah! Like that! You know an awful lot about western nicknames, don't you?”

Miho shrugs, “I used to know someone low-key obsessed with American media, tv shows and movies and the like.”

Hoshi, very clearly on board with not potentially letting the kids get dragged into whatever mess may come if Lina realizes she's been made and a bit sensitive to child soldiers after her own history, derails the conversation even further from the quiet accusation, “That actually reminds me of something else! We went to the same middle school as her, so we all knew her, and it's always low-key bugged me on whether it's true or not!” She leans forward intensely, much to Lina's nervousness, “I'm sure with cabinets, it's not the case anymore, but it apparently used to be synonymous with America. Did you guys really use those freaking yellow buses?(2) That didn't even have seatbelts?” Lina starts laughing, and she's far from the only one, but Hoshi goes all in, “I'm serious! Because even back then it was purely an American thing from my understanding and apparently, the moment you saw one in a movie it was an instant ‘setting is America’ indicator!”

Lina takes a moment to calm down enough to answer, “You're right we don't use them anymore, but yeah, that used to be a thing. Actually, from my understanding there's still a few floating around, either because they weren't bought up or because there were murmurs wondering if we should keep one and preserve it for historical reasons.”

That sparks a whole debate on things that should be preserved for historical value and things not quite worth it. It's a sometimes serious, sometimes silly discussion, but regardless it's always lively. And it certainly does its purpose of sidelining from Yuki’s stupid comment.

When she'd been collecting the bracelet like CADs for her mock cast jamming, Chiyoda had requested she take Lina with her on patrol since Lina wanted to observe the Disciplinary Committee operates and how a Japanese highschool governs itself for the most part, which is why she now found herself going around on her patrol with Lina. For once, her soulmates, sister in law, and brother weren't with her, since Chiyoda had requested they leave it to just herself and Lina so she can get a better idea of things. Yuki had been unsurprisingly upset, but he was really the only one, since the others had been more than fine with catching up with her later.

For a while, Lina just keeps sending her thoughtful glances like she's trying to work something out. Given she never fully turns towards her, she probably thinks she's being sneaky, but Lina really isn't cut out for espionage work. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just not her forte, but… she's seen first year Slytherins with more subtlety and surreptitiousness. She's not going to call her out on it though. There's always the possibility they're all wrong about who she is, and even if they aren't, she's not willing to risk whatever Lina and the USNA will do if she's outed at a school of all places.

After a while, Lina suddenly comes to a stop and she turns back to her, “Is everything alright Lina?”

Lina chews her lip, “Toshiko is a course two student, correct?” She nods, and Lina looks at her with furrowed brows, "When I asked Yuki as to why you wore a different uniform than everyone else in Class A, he told me in a rather annoyed voice. But, when I asked Kanon earlier, she said that Toshiko stands in the top tier among Magicians in First High.”

She's utterly thrown for a moment, wondering where on earth she got that impression before remembering she was there when she was revealed as Special Officer Obara and used Regrowth on Isori and Kirihara. She hardly has the time to mentally place where Chiyoda would've formed that opinion from before Lina is pressing on, “Toshiko, why are you pretending to be a poor student? And why aren't you more secretive about your capabilities? Because you're on the Disciplinary Committee; I've seen recordings of the boys in Newcomers Monolith Code, and I've heard Sora insist you're stronger than him, as well as heard about how you predicted it playing out with scary accuracy; I've also heard about your actions when the GAU tried to attack the theater the Thesis Competition was being held at. But it makes no sense for you to simultaneously pretend to be a bad student, yet be so free with what you're actually capable of.”

She hums, “It's not really a matter of hiding my capabilities.” Beyond pulling back manually on her casting speed so as to not tip people off to things like her Occlumency Casting, “It's more a matter of the faults in the current system of measurement.” She shrugs, “Technically they measure speed, scale, and interference strength, but they place more weight on casting speed than anything. It matters obviously, but in actual combat, it doesn't matter nearly as much as people like to pretend it does.”

Lina is quiet a beat, “...I do agree that practical skill scores and combat capability are two different things." It's not surprising she'd know that, if she really is ‘Angie Sirius’, "I too was someone who wasn't amazing at school but was a Magician who was useful on the battlefield." Lina suddenly starts subtly emitting Psions, "Isn't that wonderful?” Then she gives her a dazzling smile, "I can tell, you're good." 

That's about the only warning she gets before Lina suddenly strikes out, her palm aiming for her chin. She grabs her wrist fairly easily, but whether that was expected or improvised, Lina suddenly points her first two fingers at her face as she makes a gun shape with her hand, her fingers glowing.

It isn't hard to just blanket the area in Psions that she purposely fluctuates differently depending on what part of the body it's emanating from to create some weak Psion noise. It wouldn't be strong enough to break most spells, to act as its own pseudo cast jamming, but Lina isn't even casting a proper spell or using a supernatural power. It's a raw Psion strike that would temporarily tangle up the Psions in the local area of the body of the person who gets hit with it. At worse, it'd feel like getting pistol whipped.

She smiles in vague amusement, “Are you done with whatever test that was supposed to be?”

Lina tugs her hand away, “Yeah, I'm done.”

They get back to her patrol fairly quietly after that.