Rebirth

It takes a staggering amount of magic to cast once the whole thing is put together, sixty-three percent of the seventy-ish the Trunk has built up over the years but once she has the sequence written out and all the details sorted out, Rowena helps her cast it. Namely, it casts a telepathic net worldwide. After contemplating the age cut off for a while, she'd eventually just gone with ratings for media and decided that children under the age of thirteen would get a more… watered-down version, how watered down depending on what age specifically they are which Rowena was handling entirely. Everyone else though… She handles them.

Firstly, part of the spell stretches out that difference between mind and reality much further, so that no one driving or doing something else that could potentially be dangerous hurts themselves or anyone else, and when the spell releases, it'll ease back so they'll have time for their minds to catch up with what they can see their bodies doing and get back on track. But once it grips everyone, the first thing that happens is that their memories of their current lives are suppressed so they'll be fully immersed and without their usual prejudices. It doesn't force them to feel a certain way or think a certain way as they live through what it's like to be an average non-magician and the fear of magic and what it can do to them. Then everyone experiences snippets of the life of an average magician and the prejudice they face, whether it be hatred, fear, or seeing them as a tool or weapon that they face from non-magicals just for the way they were born. Then a non-magician that's been particularly hurt by magicals, before finally the lack of control over their life a strategic class magician can face.

The goal of it is to try to get them all to see eye to eye on everything and stop arguing over stupid shit, but she doesn't leave it there. Once everyone has experienced all four, the average and extremes of both parties, she speaks a message to them, not on her own voice, Tōkōkuro Mihana's Calanthe voice, or Rowena's voice since she can't let it be tied to her, but in a blend of Misaki and Hei's voices after a lot of discussion, debate, and eventually their approval of of her using their voices blended and carefully made perfectly androgynous.

Her voice may be changed and her words translated by Rowena when necessary as it’s spread to everyone, but it is her speaking to them mentally directly, “A lot of people argue what was the most important or tragic death in the lead up to or in the Third World War. I argue it's none of the ones people usually list. It's one you all seem to have forgotten the name of: Morals. The most important and tragic death from the Third World War was the death of our morals. The Geneva Conventions were meant to protect people from inhumanity. Agreeing to discard them was the first nail in Morals’ coffin.”

“And since when is it okay to shoot children, regardless of if they have powers or not? That's undoubtedly the second nail. Or perhaps the third given we forgot why it wasn't okay to train and use child soldiers that undoubtedly led to the willingness to kill them in the first place. I can understand training them to protect themselves, but there's a fine line between that and child soldiers and the world seemed to just stomp on the accelerator as they approached it instead of slowing down and second guessing the line they were about to cross. It's far from the only line that's been crossed or is being crossed.”

“It's wrong for a non-magical man to rape women, and most men are capable of understanding why when they think about it happening to the women in their life they care about, but in far too many countries a magical man raping women is practically state sanctioned?(1) We used to condemn the slavery of individuals based on the way they were born, the color of their skin, but nowadays you see countries moving to implement policies to literally collar people for the way they're born nowadays, but it's okay just because the differential they're born with is magic instead of skin color?” That was the thing Rowena had found being geared up towards by a couple countries in Europe that triggered everything, “Which, spoiler, that's at best a misunderstanding if it isn't a total fabrication. Ask Tōkōkuro Mihana about her paper regarding her research on magicians and non-magicians she hasn't felt the world is ready for yet. The actual differences will surprise you. I should know, I broke into her servers and read it.”

“Anyway, maybe most of you will just ignore this message and get back to driving further and further away from Morals’ grave, not even paying respect to it, much less trying to breath life back into it since unlike a person, it's only as dead as people let it be, it's only dead when people ignore it. Even in that case though, there's always people who like to re-listen to things for one reason or another. To those of you interested, there's a website, it's just called The Grave of Morals, this message is recorded as an audio file there, as well as the full version since this is actually the summary. Maybe, just maybe this will actually get people to at least pause and consider the lines they're crossing like we used to, even if they chose to go past them eventually. I hope you all have the days you deserve. What it is exactly that you're deserving of, well… that depends entirely on your actions.”

She watches as the spell slowly releases her classmates, carefully watching for when it's okay for her to start moving like she's being released from the spell, thinking about the full version and the website Rowena was running for her as she waits. The full version includes her going over every single country and listing both the things they used to stand for, the moral hills they'd die on, as well as all the crimes they've committed nowadays that the very ancestors that fought against their crimes would be ashamed of them for. For countries that got absorbed into different ones, she went by region, covering both the countries that used to hold their area as well as things that are more akin to their regional cultural ancestors. Though she freely admits that for some of them who had already started to grow… lose morals, she had to go further back, but she did her homework and put ones together for them as well.

The whole thing was available, but she and Rowena had also set up the website so that beneath the gravestone up top reading ‘Morals’ on one line and what she'd placed as it's death day on the next, was a button for ‘navigation for other links’ then a line of text reading, “Click on your region to jump to that section of the recording.”

Once you did, there was a drop down of ‘All’ followed by a list of cultures to jump to a certain section of the audio recording, and beneath that was a globe with countries and regions outlined.

If one clicked the navigation, they'd be taken to a page listing links to all the things she'd gone over in her message, from statistics on hate crimes against magicians, statistics on crimes committed by magicians abusing their power -as well as statistics on how many of them were brought in by magicians which is damn near all of them-, statistics on magicians raping non-magicians and how many of them practically got away with it, to leaking documents on the build up some European countries were starting towards the end goal of collaring magicians. She had even included a tab for Tōkōkuro Mihana's paper ‘Magicals and non-magicals- the myth, the truth, and theories.’ but it was grayed out and if you hovered over it or tried to click, a drop down would appear reading, “Not made publicly available yet. Check back later.”

She isn't surprised at all when not long after her classmates start discussing the message indicating people were totally free of the spell that she gets a notification on her mobile terminal from a contact labeled specifically so as to neither tip people around her off to Maya's identity, nor her mother with a warmer contact name.

Auntie

I assume THAT was what you were warning me, your mother, and Ushiyama and his team about that wasn't quite the situation we'd be worried about after an event happening today?

Yeah. There wasn't a breach.

I see. Alright then. Tell your friend that it was a wonderfully done message if I do say so myself. I do believe I'll be going to check out the website now.

She's not surprised Maya, though she undoubtedly realized it was absolutely entirely her doing rather than her passing along information to a friend knows better then to outright say something like that, even over a line as secure as theirs is, given the Yotsuba's were all set up to be transmitted through the information dimension, which had the unintended side effect that Echelon III couldn't get to them.

I will. And there's a LOT there, so it'll probably take more than a day, so you may wanna spread it out.

Anyway, love you Auntie, and I'll talk to you later, but I gotta go.

Maya, thankfully, knows full well what she's saved in her mobile terminal as and her reasons for it, so she doesn't make a fuss on what she called her.

I love you too dear. Talk to you later.

Erika drops onto the corner of her desk right after she puts her mobile terminal away, but she's not full of her usual vigor and is quiet for a few beats. Then she seems to gather herself, “What a way to start the day huh?”

She huffs, “Tell me about it. What do you suppose they were referring to?”

Leo, who's thankfully gotten better and been released from the hospital twists around to sit sidelong in his chair, “Which part? The collars, or the paper?”

Mikihiko lets out an uncharacteristic snort, “The paper. Absolutely the paper. There's far too many governments out there that want to control magicians for it to honestly be a surprise that there may be a country or countries looking to practically enslave magicians which they see as little more than weapons, no different than a missile.”

That was painfully true. They didn't even try to hide it. As was obvious in the secondary classification of magic. Namely, whether something was merely Combat Class, able to take out small groups, Tactical Class, capable of handling large groups, or Strategic Class, which was magic capable of destroying either an entire city or a fleet. Erika scowls, but nods, “I hate how true that is.”

Hoshi, apparently deciding to be an absolutely angel for once, unlike her usual chaos gremlin self, leans forward to push the conversation along and take the focus away from that topic for at least a little while, “No but seriously, what did they mean by the ‘actual differences’ between magicians and non-magicians? Like, what did Tōkōkuro Mihana find that she thought the world wasn't ready to hear?”

Mikihiko hums, “That's the question of the hour, isn't it?”

She nods. Now it was just a waiting game to let people build themselves up to a frenzy as they start demanding her paper. Show a good bit of reluctance because she doesn't think they're ready for it, then and only then will she drop it on them.

She sips at her coffee as she watches the news, still tearing through the various revelations her message and website had brought to light. She'd already spoken with Rowena as well as Maya after she got home to make sure the question of what is in Tōkōkuro Mihana's paper on the differences between magicians and non-magicians remains on people's minds and doesn't get buried. Mostly through social media posts continuing to bring it up, but also through mainstream media.

It's been a few days now, and people had already hit the point that their demands had reached a suitable level to her for Tōkōkuro Mihana to release a written statement admitting to the existence of the paper but also reiterating that she hasn't released it because she doesn't feel like the world is ready for it.

The frenzy of the question was building rather nicely in her opinion, since the fact Tōkōkuro Mihana held back even in the face of it because she felt they seriously weren't ready for the truth would add credibility to her paper. Just a bit more in her opinion and it would be time to ‘give in’ and release it.

Actually, there'd been discussion between herself and Maya about potentially faking another security breach and then having Tōkōkuro Mihana release the official version ‘since it's already out there and she wants to be sure people don't get a twisted version’, but they'd eventually discarded it. It was absolutely believable that someone capable of broadcasting a world wide mental manipulation message could break into FLT's servers despite being a world leader in technology. It would be a stretch for two different people or groups to pull it off.

In the meantime, there's been a lot of trouble kicked up for the countries whose officials had even looser morals than has unfortunately become the norm for the things they've been doing or were preparing to do. Hilariously enough, the counties who'd been going in together on the collar idea were seeing two things, a mass exodus, usually not legally, from their magicians as they flee the possibility, or magicians pushing their governments more and more and very likely careening headlong towards uprisings. She doesn't find humor in the deaths something like that will cause of course, but she does find humor in the fact they'd absolutely shot themselves in the foot with that and were very likely to see forcefully executed changes in regime soon.

Or, in one of the two that had been taking part in the collaborative effort anyway, because their officials were stupidly doubling down. The other nation seemed to have a change of heart, dropped from the project, officially apologize to their magician citizens, and even went through a rotation of higher ups in the government that had their names listed in the documents as taking part in the collar plans taking their turn stepping down, being replaced, and the next in line waiting until the replacement for the other position was in office and things wouldn't affect the stability of their nation as much when they stepped down themselves.(2)

She feels like she kicked a hornets’ nest, but if that's what it takes to get the world back on track morally, then so be it. She's not going to back off and try to find a way to diffuse the push for her paper on the differences between magicians and non-magicians and make people stop pretending like they were two different species, even though she knows damn well it'll probably add more fuel to the fire.

Much as she'd suspected, the info drop on the actual differences between magicians and non-magicians -or magically active and inactive to be more accurate-, had blown up. More than a few people had practically had meltdowns, and the poor treatment magicians were often subjected to was being looked at in an even poorer light after people were forced to accept that there really weren't all that different from one another. Egotistical magicians had also been more than a little upset by the realization that they weren't nearly as different and special as they'd thought too mind, so the freak outs were occurring all across the board. She's also been getting quite a lot of volunteers due to the section mentioning some… differences on the development of magician fetuses she noticed but hasn't had a chance to do a full observation study that she'd edited in before she released it.

She was monitoring the situation in general so she could step in if she had to but Rowena and Maya were nudging things in the direction she was wanting them to go so she was just watching and not interfering right now. In general anyway, at that very moment, she was with the others, having found out when Lina was leaving and gotten them to join her in seeing her off while they waited for Shizuku to arrive at the airport now that the exchange student program is coming to a close.

They're standing around waiting when Erika spots Lina in the distance and calls out while waving her hands. Lina gives them a surprised look, but makes her way over, “What are you guys doing here?”

Miho smiles gently, “Shizuku is supposed to be coming back relatively soon, but Toshiko managed to find out you're also leaving today, so we wanted to see you off.”

Lina blinks rapidly a moment then looks down with a soft expression, “...Thanks. I genuinely wasn't expecting anyone to see me off.”

Hoshi leans forward with a grin, “Nah, these guys have pretty much decided you're one of ours, so you ain't getting rid of us that easy. Seriously, don't be surprised if you keep getting calls and texts keeping up with you even after you leave.”

Lina flushes slightly and her heart aches. She hadn't been kidding about Lina being more than welcome to reach out to her if she wanted to leave the military. Particularly given she was only fifteen yet she's been the USNA's recognized Strategic Class magician for three years already, and that meant she was only twelve when she became a Strategic Class magician, and presumably even younger when they started grooming her to become one. She was a child that they'd never allowed to be a child. She probably didn't have many friends. She hopes she at least has some, but even if she does, in a world more than willing to groom children to become weapons, they were likely few and Lina likely wasn't used to things like this.

While she'd been biting her tongue before she said something she really shouldn't, the others had been chatting and saying their goodbyes. She smiles as Lina turns her gaze to her, “It was nice meeting you Lina. Feel free to get in touch if you ever need help changing things.” It's a bit vague, but from the look in Lina's eyes, she knows full well she understands she's referring to her offer to help her get out of the military. Then her tone becomes lighter, “Or just more casually at any time.” She grins, “Though, time differences may mean it takes me a bit to get back to you.” Lina giggles lightly, and she shakes her head in amusement, “Anyway, have a safe trip.”

Lina smiles, “Mm! I will! It was nice meeting you as well Toshiko! I'll keep in touch!”

That about wraps their goodbyes up and Lina waves over her shoulder at them all as she leaves, steps a bit more bouncy and lighter. She's a good kid, and she can't help but genuinely wish she'll get out of the mess of a life her government dragged her into.

Maya gives her a look halfway between amused and exasperated, “So what is this Miya demanding I speak to you about because you wouldn't listen to her?”

She snorts, “Basically First High is so embarrassed about having a course two student who's not only capable of taking down course one students during their Disciplinary Committee duties, but also was better then any of said course one students at being a CAD technician during the Nine Schools Competition. Apparently they feel like it's detrimental to their image to have me in course two so they made an engineering course for teaching CAD technician things and magic sequence writing and all that and were trying to transfer me to. Except I'm refusing to do so. Which is drawing attention to myself. Especially since the teacher they hired used to work at the Magic University. And when they wouldn't accept me just saying it's a waste of my time, I challenged her in a sort of ‘my skill and knowledge vs yours’ competition and promptly schooled her. And considering they asked all of the students they were looking to transfer to come in on the same day to announce it and meet her, I did so right in front of three classes worth of students since while there's only one class per year, she's covering all three years. Mother is upset with how much attention I drew to myself with that.”

Maya's amusement rises, but so does her exasperation, “And you couldn't just go with things to keep your head down because..?”

She snorts, “I get the entire day's schoolwork done within the first two hours and spend the rest of the day on my own projects. If I was in a class that actually had a teacher, it would interfere, and my projects are important enough that I refuse to give up the extra time it gives me for said projects.”

Maya sighs, “Are these… projects of yours really so important that you revealed so much?”

She tilts her head and bluntly informs her, “I would sooner reveal and prove that she's trying to educate Tōkōkuro Mihana then let them cut into my project time.”

Maya gives her a surprised look, and is silent for a beat, “That important, huh?”

She nods without hesitation, “Yes.”

Maya gives her a thoughtful look, then sighs slightly, “Very well then. Not that there's much to be done about it given you've already done it, but if it's that important…” She shakes her head, “Miya will just have to come to terms with the attention you drew and accept it.”

She hums. Her mother had really only sent her to essentially get dragged over the coals, proverbially of course, and she was in for a disappointment, but just because that's why she was sent doesn't mean she has to leave now that they've settled the matter.

She happily settles in to catch up a bit since between Maya being so busy after the Halloween incident just shy of a half a year ago now, looking into what STARs was doing and her own final exams coming up, they haven't had much time just to talk lately.

She's walking around the campus on the day of the entrance ceremony, not on ‘shepherd duty’ as the student council calls it when a few members go around collecting lost first years, but just generally making sure there isn't trouble.

She's somewhat surprised to see Saegusa on campus, given she graduated, but the question is answered by the twin girls standing just behind her. They look enough like her that they're probably her younger siblings. If that was the case, she should probably call her Mayumi to avoid confusion? Regardless, Mayumi was just chatting with Hattori, so she's about to move on when one of the twins seems to snap and suddenly tries to attack him.

Without hesitation, she uses Gram Demolition on her acceleration magic and before anyone can really react, she has her on the ground, “You do realize that forget the schoolrules, it's illegal to assault someone, particularly with magic which is generally legally considered a deadly weapon much like a knife or gun?”

Mayumi looks mortified, catching her other sister's collar and shoving the sleeve she'd started to lift to access her CAD back down before she can do much more than take a step forward with an enraged expression, “I’ve told you over and over again, ‘The unauthorized use of magic is a crime!’ To do this on the very day you entered high school… What on earth were you thinking!?”

She doesn't interrupt as Mayumi starts absolutely chewing them out, only hauling up this ‘Kasumi’ as Mayumi identifies her up while confiscating her CAD, something first year students are allowed to carry on the day of the entrance ceremony only because the storage is linked to ID cards to make sure there's never any mix-ups and because the school generally expects that students won't be willing to rock the boat on their first day, and not even the first class day but just the entrance ceremony.

After a bit, the other twin inserts herself in the conversation, “Onee-sama, that is absurd. Aside from Kasumi’s mistake just now, we have not done anything to cause problems for other people.”

She doesn't even give Mayumi a chance to reply, “Someone who attacks others with so little hesitation isn't very believable when they try to say ‘this is the first time!’ given the ease of their actions say otherwise.”

Mayumi purses her lips, “Quite.” Then she sighs as she lifts a hand to her brow, “Really, what am I going to do with you two? To get in so much trouble on the first day…”

Hattori lifts his hands, flustered at how troubled Mayumi looks, “A-ah! I don't see any reason to pursue it! I'm sure Mayumi can straighten their behavior out, so we can just let this time go.”

He looks up at her at the last part and she sighs, “Given you're the one they tried to assault, if you'd prefer to let it slide that's your choice.” She gives the younger girls a stern look before turning her gaze to give the relieved looking Mayumi a serious look, “But make no mistake, this is a one time thing. If I ever catch them doing something like this again, I will bring them in regardless of whether or not the person they tried to attack wants to let it go. If nothing else, letting such behavior go unpunished over and over creates entitled ideas about being above the rules and laws.”

Mayumi bows shallowly but gratefully, “Of course Toshiko. I swear, I'll give them a more in depth talking to at home after school, and if they don't learn their lesson from that, you'll be fully within your right as a member of the Disciplinary Committee to bring them in.”

She hums idly and they basically go their separate ways at that point.

She ignores the way Yuki was staring with a dark expression and gaze at the new emblem, an eight petaled flower inside of a cog to denote the engineering course, on Mizuki's new uniform. Their group had already given her their congratulations on transferring at Café Einebrise after the entrance ceremony, and has shifted to asking her questions about it. She's not going to let Yuki pop the bubble just because he's upset about something as stupid as the fact she doesn't have an emblem on her uniform.

The existence of the course and Mizuki's transfer wasn't the only change. Mikihiko had transferred to course one, and since Tomitsuka had resigned from the Disciplinary Committee as he felt he wasn't a good fit, Mikihiko had even become a member of the Disciplinary Committee as his replacement for the second year students.

She leans forward, “Still, it's gonna be weird not sharing a class with you two.”

Mizuki lets out a quiet laugh, and Erika leans forward as well, “Tell me about it! Miki and Mizuki are leaving us at the same time!” Then she grins, mischievous tone becoming teasing, “Too bad you two aren't in the same class anymore, that's gotta suck for you since you can't spend as much time together.”

It's obvious what she's implying, even if she doesn't outright say it, and Mikihiko actually looks a bit frustrated at that. Mizuki gazes up at him for a few beats, brows furrowed before she suddenly squares her shoulders and declares with uncharacteristic strength, “I don't need to be in the same class as my boyfriend to spend time with him.”

Erika chokes on the drink she'd been taking in satisfaction after her most recent teasing. Casually she looks over at Mikihiko, “You two finally stopped dancing around each other then?”

Mikihiko flushes slightly as he looks over at Mizuki with a small smile, “I- Yeah. We have.”

She hums, “That's good.”

Erika all but slams a hand on the table, “Since when?! You two haven't said anything!”

Sora snorts, “It's probably a newer thing. They're entitled to settling a bit before they mention it.”

Mikihiko nods, “Yeah. To the newer thing that is. It's not even a month old to be honest.”

Erika grumbles, still unhappy about being left out of the loop, but she's drowned out by congratulations and well wishes for it working out from the rest of the group to Mizuki and Mikihiko.

She's glad he took her advice though, about how they may regret the time they lost dancing around things later if they work out.

Nakajou sighs as she and Isori settle on chairs in the Disciplinary Committee, and Chiyoda rounds her desk. She'd offered to leave to give them privacy, but had been waved off. Only after Chiyoda settles as well does she speak, “So what were you wanting to talk about?”

Isori smiles awkwardly, “You know about the tradition of inviting the freshman representative to the Student Council I assume Kanon?” She nods, “This year's representative, Shippou Takuma rejected the invitation in favor of joining the Club Management Group. So now we're trying to find someone else to bring in and teach with the intention of becoming the Student Council President eventually.”

Chiyoda hums, “Perhaps the second place in test results? That's the younger of the Saegusa twins isn't it? Izumi?”

Isori nods, “Actually, speaking of the Saegusa twins, we've actually been contemplating using the Student Council's nomination for the Disciplinary Committee on her older sister Kasumi.”

She doesn't even bother to look up, “I wouldn't recommend either of those.”

The other three look at her in surprise and Nakajou's brows furrow in concern, “I highly value your opinion of course Toshiko, but why?”

She glances over idly, “There wasn't an official report because Mayumi-senpai pleaded with me to let her handle it that time and only report them if they do it again,” She glances at Chiyoda as she speaks, who nods her understanding, “but the older one, Kasumi, is a hothead who thinks it's acceptable to attack people just because she's deemed that they're flirting with Mayumi-senpai. I mean, in fairness, it was Hattori so it's entirely possible he was, but Mayumi-senpai is perfectly capable of dealing with things if he's crossing lines, and if he isn't, even if he was flirting it's still not an acceptable reason to attack him.” Chiyoda groans in frustration, but from her expression it's just a split at having to find a replacement for the Disciplinary Committee's nomination and the Student Council as well as the headaches Kasumi may cause, “Furthermore, rather than agreeing with Mayumi-senpai that Kasumi's behavior was unacceptable, Izumi was trying to defend Kasumi attacking Hattori from Mayumi-senpai chewing her out which isn't Student Council behavior either.”

Nakajou flops on the table forlornly and Isori also looks rather tired. Not that she can blame them, given the fact all of the top three first year students were scratched off the lists of candidates for them. Isori looks over at her, “I don't suppose you do have any recommendations as to who to invite to the Student Council?”

She shakes her head, “I don't know the first years well enough for that. Honestly, given the tradition of inviting the First Year representative and training them to be a Student Council President has already fallen though, the best course of action would be to just focus on who's going to be Nakajou-sempai's replacement come October first. I'd recommend Shizuku out of the current Student Council second years, since she's got a good head on her shoulders. Start preparing her and let her start to get an idea of the first years since she'll be in charge of the appointments to the new Student Council after her election anyway.”

“Just take a bit of a gap of time and let her get a good idea of them and pick her successor herself. Honestly, that's how it should've been from the get go rather than automatically going for the first year representative if you ask me. There'd have been more time for Yuki's… issues to come to light instead of me having to practically introduce us with them to prevent him from being on the Student Council in the first place. It'll also be more likely to prevent similar problematic choices in the future. Actually, recruitment week is a problem of course, but if you ask me, if it wasn't for the rush to have the manpower for that, the Disciplinary Committee appointments should also be held off on a bit to make sure the nominations are actually suitable for it.”

Chiyoda leans her forearms on the table, “Yeah, that would be best, but with recruitment week…”

Shr glances over, “Could just do something similar to the Joint Defense Force for the Thesis Competition and draw in additional trusted second and third years to temporarily have authority and patrol. That would leave plenty of time for the Student Council, Club Management Group, and the faculty to actually get an idea of the new first years instead of just basing their suitability for it on something of a snap decision.

Chiyoda lifts an eyebrow, “Now there's an idea.”

Isori glances at Nakajou, “It isn't a bad idea for the Student Council either.”

Nakajou nods thoughtfully for a moment then a bit more firmly, “Okay then! The Student Council will focus on getting Shizuku ready to be my successor and the Disciplinary Committee will draw in temporary officers from the older students in the short term. In the meantime, Shizuku will familiarize herself with the temperaments of the first years to figure out who her successor will be as well as who the Student Council's nomination for the Disciplinary Committee will be.”

She hums, “You may want to talk to Hattori and the faculty so you're all on the same page and neither of them accidentally pick Shizuku's choice of successor for the Club Management Group and faculty's Disciplinary Committee nominations and so they know there's no rush for them to make their choice in general either.”

Isori nods as he looks over his mobile terminal, “I've already set up meetings with them for later today.”

She smiles fairly as they start buzzing with ideas on the best way to handle things moving forward. Lost one second, planning the moment they have the beginning of a solution. She may have had a brief hiccup of issues with Chiyoda in the past, but by and large, they're all pretty good kids too.

She idly finishes with her hair as she looks into the mirror, trying to see if she herself can spot any difference. She's never been a narcissist so maybe that's why, but she really can't see any. However, given it was now her seventeenth birthday, she knows full well she'll be different to her soulmates when she goes to meet up with them. Not in how she physically looks per-say, but in their ability to potentially register those looks as attractive. Though, quite bluntly, not so much as she was as Calanthe in her opinion. Not that she'd really thought she was particularly attractive as Calanthe, just that she felt like she was just… objectively more attractive as Calanthe. A sudden wave of concern washes over her. Would they be disappointed in her looks after getting used to Calanthe's level of attractiveness?

She chews on her lip as she anxiously runs her loosely curled hands down a segment of hair on the left side of her face as she scrutinizes her appearance in the mirror a bit more. She supposes there's not a whole lot of point in worrying about it. Unless she wanted to do something drastic like live her life under her Polyjuice bracelet transformed as Calanthe or get plastic surgery or something, there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Letting out a shaking breath, she gets up, straightening her school uniform compulsively since they weren't skipping the school day today, mostly since they've gotten closer to the kids rather than just having met them a few weeks prior and they were looking forward to seeing her on her birthday, and since her later afternoon was already dedicated to Sora and Miho… Well, the first part of the day was the only time she'd really have free for them, so even if it wasn't exactly a party or something, she was going to spend some time with them at school, mostly lunch.

With the anxiety of how Miho and Sora will take her new appearance now that their physical blocks are down and they can genuinely register her level attractiveness and how they'll take it, she's honestly incredibly distracted and the happy birthday wishes from her mom and Honami are hardly more than absently registered. Hell, she's so distracted, it practically feels like she's watching a movie, skipping from scene to scene as it jumps forward rather than living an actual life.

One moment she's in her room finishing getting ready, anxiety of how they'll feel about how she looks in this life starting to grip her, the next she's absently thanking Honami for one of her favorite breakfast dishes she'd made specifically to celebrate while she and her mom wish her a happy birthday. As while her mom seems to have a genuine friendship with Honami, that whole thing about the fact the Guardians basically being slaves since they aren't paid and all that means she doesn't have money to buy presents even if she genuinely cares for someone. As such, Honami tends to put her all into their favorite meals on birthdays and the shared favorite on holidays as her means of gift giving.

It makes her feel bad, as her anxiousness means she hardly tastes it as it feels like she just blinks and suddenly she's in the cabinet with Yuki with the taste just barely lingering in her mouth. Another blink later, and the taste is gone as they're climbing out at the cabinet station near First High and meeting up with everyone.

The world comes back into focus then given that Sora and Miho are there. Doing her best not to make it or her anxiety obvious, she searches their faces for their full reactions to her appearance in this life.

Miho has eyes wide and mesmerized looking above flushed cheeks from what she can see around the hands cupping her face. Sora's mouth is parted slightly as he stares, eyes equally wide and looking slightly enraptured, cheeks also red.

Captivated gazes and flushed cheeks were a good sign, right?

They only seem to get control of themselves and reign themselves in before their friends notice when Hoshi rolls her eyes and elbows them. She does her best to hide the way she's still slightly anxious, her brain nitpicking at the meaning of their reactions and what they mean. It should be a good sign, but… Well, maybe they find her pretty and they just had a stronger reaction since it's the first time they've been really allowed to take it in, but they'll actually be disappointed after they have some time to get used to it. Or hell, maybe the ‘mesmerized’ looks were actually mesmerized by the difference in attractiveness. Maybe the flushes were because they were thinking about when she was Calanthe while they were comparing.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Her brain keeps spitting them out one after the other. Worse, she won't even be able to get a solid impression from them until she gets a chance to speak to them alone after school. Which of course means she's once again not really taking a whole lot in. She's not seemingly skipping forward now, mostly since they're around to ground her even during class time when they can't exactly talk and all that. Actually, if anything, the day seems to drag by slowly. But while she's not ‘skipping scenes’, she can hardly concentrate on anything past the fears and doubts flitting through her mind. She's present for lunch with their friends and tries her hardest to focus, especially since they knew she had date plans so she wouldn't have time for a celebration at Café Einebrise or something, so they give her the presents they got at lunch. It's hard though, to focus, to not have everything be just her absently going through the motions.

She does her best since they are good kids and she has good relationships with them, and it seems to pay off since she's pretty sure the only ones who notice her being off are Sora, Miho, and also Hoshi. They don't say anything around the others though. The only other thing that's off about the lunch gift giving is Yuki being upset, presumably at not having thought to bring the present he either copied from Sora or bought without regard to what she'd actually like, but thankfully, he keeps his mouth shut for the most part. He really only says something about it when Mizuki asks about his present to her to which he tries to laugh off with a reply that it hadn't occurred to him that they'd have gifts for her, so he'd left his at home for their house's usual dinner gift giving.

Well, he tries to laugh it off anyway. It's a little too tense and strained, and he's poor at hiding it so practically the whole group picks up on it. Thankfully, they don't mention it and potentially set him off. Whether they realize it would set him off or just come to their own conclusions about why, she doesn't know, and she really doesn't care right now either.

Lunch is over quickly though, with how skewed her sense of time is. The distraction from her anxiety seeming to counter the way it seems to make time move at a snail's pace. Once it's over, with all her presents tucked away in a bag and she's back in her classroom, time goes back to seeming to crawl. That being said, she's rather lucky she understands everything in her lessons so well already, because her concentration is so shot she probably wouldn't make a shred of headway on the class work on her terminal otherwise. She does have to reach out to Rowena telepathically to have her go over things before she submits them out of concern of her destroyed concentration having her forget to limit how much she knows. It's a good thing she does, since Rowena had to edit things down to her usual level since she wasn't totally forgetful, but it was very much at a higher level then what she usually shows.

Knowing why her concentration is so shot, when it's all done, Rowena gives her some non-critical work for the rest of her day so she doesn't potentially screw up something important. She must be better at distracting her than she realized though, since the next thing she knows, Miho is laying a hand on her shoulder, and when she looks back, she not only notices her slightly concerned look but realizes school is over. Quickly saving… whatever work Rowena had given her since she honestly doesn't remember and closing down her terminal, she starts to get up. Sora had already collected her bag of presents at some point, and within moments they're heading down to the cabinet station to say their goodbyes to everyone and go their separate ways.

It's all a blur though, she just barely manages to hold onto her concentration and stay present enough to register what the kids are saying and actually respond instead of just doing so habitually, but even with that, she's in a cabinet with Miho and Sora before she knows it.

Practically the moment the doors are closed and they're hidden behind metal and tinted glass, Sora turns his seated position and drops his forehead on her shoulder with a groan, “This is absolutely not fair.”

Miho smiles a little, though it's mildly strained, “Tell me about it. We don't have to worry about hiding it or waiting three years, but I guess we're kinda getting the Calanthe experience on having an older soulmate.”

Sora groans again, “I know.” Then he shifts his head so it's laying on its side on her shoulder while he peers up at her, “It's still unfair how beautiful you are though I hope you know. Especially since it's physically impossible for you to return the physical attraction.”

She blinks rapidly in bemusement, “It's not that bad at least? I'm pretty sure I was more attractive as Calanthe anyway.”

Sora's head snaps up as he straightens sharply before pointing a finger at her, “You shut your mouth ma'am! No one is allowed to talk bad about my wives! Not even said wives! Besides! You may have different appearances, but you're just as unfairly beautiful and hot as Toshiko as you were as Calanthe!”

Miho nods, “What he said. Different doesn't mean inferior, and by the gods, your unfair beauty as Toshiko is just as bad as when you were Calanthe.”

Sora drops his head back on her shoulder, “And we can't even do anything about it for months. Hell I'm not even sure right at this moment that I trust myself not to get carried away with one of our chaste kisses… I've been trying to get a handle on myself all day so I can be more confident in not getting carried away, since well, for one thing it's your birthday, you shouldn't have to have problems with getting kisses from your soulmates today of all days, and for another, even without taking into account how unfair it would be to you,” His tone becomes more dramatic, “I may very well die if I have to go eight months without even chaste kisses from my wives.”

She's not sure she really agrees with the first part, but the latter two has her laughing, and neither Sora nor Miho would lie to her, they'd find a way to delicately word the fact they didn't think she was as attractive now so as not to hurt her if it was true. So while she can't see it herself, if they aren't disappointed with her attractiveness as Toshiko… She does her best to shake off the last of her anxiety and reaches up to pat at Sora's head, tone teasing, “Aww, is poor Sora struggling? Is poor Sora cursing the fact he's got eight months until the block drops?”

Sora presses against her a little more firmly, “Yes.” He turns his head again, “Seriously, how did you do this and for three years?! And without letting us notice at that.”

She laughs and Miho leans forward to plant her elbows on her legs and drop her face into her hands, “I only have two, almost three months and even I can't really wrap my head around how much patience it took from you.”

Sora gives Miho a miserable look, “And even then I'll still have another five and a half months to go.” Then his tone goes firm as he declares, “This is karma for Calanthe being the youngest and going through this last time.”

Miho nods seriously, “It's gotta be.”

She laughs, “You two are ridiculous I hope you know. It's only a few months.”

Miho sighs, “Yeah, and we also don't have to desperately hide it out of concern of making an older soulmate uncomfortable. Trust me, we know. That's kind of why we're thinking it's karma.”

Sora straightens and eyes her, “And have a much higher respect for the sheer restraint you had as Calanthe. As well as an all new understanding of what you went through. Because I only have eight months of this to suffer through, and I don't have to stress hiding it from you two since even if I slip up, I know you two won't hold it against me-”

Miho nods firmly, “Definitely not!”

He nods at her, “-so the very idea of having to do this for three years and go through the stress of hiding it so as to not make my older soulmates uncomfortable or question my intentions on things and all that at the same time…” He shudders, “It honestly sounds like a damned nightmare.”

Miho nods firmly, “Tell me about it. Which is why it absolutely feels like karma that while me and Sora are still in the same order age wise, and funnily enough since we had a five year age gap last time now have a five month age gap(3), but Toshiko has been shuffled up the proverbial que of age order.”

She shakes her head, “You two are seriously ridiculous.” Then she turns to look out the window, not for any particular reason, just more of a glance, and realizes they aren't heading towards either of their houses or anything like that. Her expression shifts to confusion as she turns back to them, “Where are we going?”

Sora laughs and boops her scrunched nose, “That's a surprise Xiǎolóng!”

She laughs as she leans back away from his hand, “Fine! Be like that!”

Miho giggles, “We will be!”

She shakes her head as the conversation turns away and starts sort of meandering from one thing to another. She honestly loses track of time and doesn't really notice much else since her Elemental Sight hasn't pinged any threats her subconscious warns her about, so she doesn't even notice the change until their cabinet is pulling over and stopping to let them out on a surprisingly busy street.

She tilts her head in curiosity even as she unbuckles before letting Sora help her out of the cabinet as she looks up and down the packed sidewalk. After climbing out with Sora's help, Miho smiles at her mischievously as she reaches into the bag she'd brought to school that day to carry her presents and starts digging into it, “We asked your mom to slip something inside since we knew you wouldn't pay any attention to the Eidos data of the inside of your own bag since you know what's supposed to be inside. We- Ah-ha! There it is!”

Then she triumphantly pulls out a physical copy of one of her favorite fiction books from this world. It was a lovely thing about an eldritch being that takes human form because he fell in love with a human and him learning to navigate love, which had been foreign to him before, and humanity in general. There's also some good plots from other powerful beings who do not like the break in the status quo and are trying to force him to return to their normal, even if it means killing his human lover to break his ties that he clings to in the normal world. He kills a god in the end for her. It's great. She absolutely adores The Veil of Love by Hisakawa Shinju(4) to absolute pieces. Sora and Miho don't really get it, not that she'd tried to cram it down their throats or anything, but she liked it so much they'd taken turns borrowing it because they wanted to know about something she liked so much. She wasn't offended in the slightest it wasn't to their tastes of course, since taste is a very personal thing. They'd just sort of shrugged off their confusion as to why she liked it so much, concluding that as long as she liked it that was all that mattered.

All that being as it is though, she has no clue why Miho and Sora would ask her mom to put it in her bag. Miho beams as she tilts it back and forth, “Phenomenally lucky timing, the author is doing a book signing today.”(5)

She looks quickly towards the crowds and realizes they're all holding physical copies of the book before turning back towards Sora and Miho, “You're kidding me! How did I miss this?!”

Sora laughs, “In all fairness! …We may have asked your mom and Rowena for some help in making sure you didn't learn about it happening and the fact that of all days, it was happening on your birthday for the surprise.”

She squirms in excitement, and they both laugh as they go to get in line while Miho hands over her copy of The Veil of Love. They chat idly while they move up the line, and in fairness, she's probably babbling about the book, but they don't seem to mind in the slightest.

By the time she's being waved up to the table Shinju is sitting at, she's practically bouncing on her toes in excitement. Shinju laughs good-naturedly, “You must've rushed straight here after school let out given the timing and the line! You must've been looking forward to the book signing if you were that eager!”

She nods, “Yeah, we did come straight here. Didn't have a chance to be excited on the lead-up though since a couple jerks,” She throws a playful angry look at her soulmates who just grin unrepentantly, “went out of their way to make sure I didn't hear the news about it and even know the book signing was happening because it happens to be my birthday and they wanted to bring me as a birthday surprise since they know it's my favorite book.”

Shinju laughs again, “That's fair! And happy birthday! Also, what's your name dear?” Then her amused gaze drops to her First High uniform's optional attached veil extension, “I suppose it's not much of a surprise that you like the book so much with a veil like that.”

Her assistant looks a bit confused, but she just grins at Shinju, “Shiba Toshiko, it's wonderful to meet you miss Hisakawa, and yeah, given your book makes it pretty clear you have a keen eye for details, I guess it's not a surprise you noticed.”

They share a few more words, but she's not about to hold up the line, so she says her goodbyes to Shinju fairly quickly to be polite. A glance inside as they leave reveals, much to her delighted surprise, that Shinju didn't just sign her own name, she also wrote a happy birthday dedicated to her. Sora grins at her, before teasingly saying, “Is it crass of me to point out that surprising you with this definitely isn't a present Yuki can try to steal? I mean, not that it was all me and I did get you an actual present, but…”

She laughs, “Oh he's gonna have a meltdown when he realizes! He's not going to care it wasn't all you and you got me something else, he's going to be focused and pissed that he can't top this.”

Miho laughs, “What an absolute shame that.”

Sora snickers as he drapes an arm around her shoulders while they head towards a cabinet station, “Anyway, now that the surprise is out of the way, part of why Miho and I asked you to eat a lighter lunch was because we wanted to have a picnic as well for the more… date part of our celebration. I made the food as well as the small box of cupcakes to go with it.”

She laughs, leaning up to brush a kiss to his cheek, feeling a surge of absolute delight at the way it reddens, “You're the best Sora!”

Miho peers at her with a playful pout, “Aww, better then even me? Even when I'm the one who saw the news of the book signing and came up with the idea?” Her face scrunches up at the question and Miho laughs, “I'm teasing Toshiko! You don't need to look like I just burned that book you just got signed!”

She pouts at Miho, “That's like asking someone to pick between only ever having dry food you'll get no hydration from or water for the rest of whatever is left of their life.”

Miho and Sora laugh and it quickly dissolves into lighthearted teasing. She feels light as air, and in all honesty, while she'll freely admit she still doesn't really get what they see in what seems like plainer looks to her, the anxieties from earlier in the day honestly feel like distant baffling memories. It almost feels like they happened to someone else.

How could she ever have doubted her husband and wife?