Chapter 7
[A Distinction]
By the time Tatsuya and company returned to their apartment in Chofu, it was 6 P.M. on the 22nd.
Miyuki was the next head of the Yotsuba Family, and Tatsuya was the president of the Stellar Reactor Plant management company. Besides the demonstration for the Ministry of Defense, there was a lot of work to be done on Miyakishima. As a result, by the time they reached a stopping point, it was almost sunset.
Tatsuya not so much, but Miyuki wanted to stay on Miyakishima for one more day for emotional reasons, but they had already skipped university two days in a row. And they couldn't very well use work as a justification. Tatsuya could argue that he was there for Magian Company business, but Miyuki was there to accompany Tatsuya and Lina as Miyuki's friend. It wasn’t that he couldn't tolerate any more absences from her studies ── Tatsuya just wouldn't let her.
At the Yotsuba Family's Tokyo headquarters building in Chofu. As soon as they arrived at their apartment on the top floor of the building, it was five minutes later, to be specific. It was then that Tatsuya received a call from Fumiya and Ayako asking for permission to pay them a visit.
Tatsuya decided to meet them at the restaurant on the third floor. Tatsuya made reservations for five people out of consideration for Miyuki, as he felt it would be too demanding on her to prepare the meals for them at that moment in time.
As a result of renovations made to the restaurant, six private rooms had been created where they could have secret conversations over a meal. These were for the exclusive use of customers affiliated with the Yotsuba Family.
Within the most luxurious, or in other words most secured, of the private rooms, Tatsuya, Miyuki, Lina, Fumiya and Ayako sat around a single table. As for the seating layout, Miyuki was seated next to Tatsuya, Fumiya across from her, Lina beside Miyuki, and Ayako across from her.
"Tatsuya-san, congratulations on your success."
With his rouge tinged nails dyed in black nail polish, Fumiya ── whose manicure was typically unisex and not uncommon for even men to get ── mentioned the first words in a congratulatory tone to Tatsuya.
"Thank you. It seems that both Fumiya and Ayako have also been working hard."
Tatsuya had requested for Fumiya and his team to monitor a member of the Izayoi Family, a prestigious family of Ancient Magicians and arguably the most powerful of the Hundred Families, namely the younger brother of the family head, Izayoi Shirabe. Considering the task was to determine whether or not he was practicing sorcery, a 24-hour monitoring regime was probably more taxing than merely monitoring his outings.
Of course, it was unlikely that they were alone in this task, but it was likely that the Kuroba Family's subordinates were the ones who did the bulk of the work. However, this job wasn’t an order from the head of the Yotsuba Family to the head of the Kuroba Family, but rather a direct request from Tatsuya to the two of them. No doubt the responsibility of commanding and managing the subordinates was left to Fumiya and Ayako, as they were the ones who accepted the request. The mental burden would have been far greater if they were on their own for the entire mission.
"That's part of the job. Tatsuya-san trusted us with the job, after all."
Ayako, fully armed in make-up and a dress, replied while giving Tatsuya a lustrous smile. No matter how much of a beautiful woman Fumiya may look like, he doesn’t have the same appealing allure as Ayako, to which he just can't quite evoke.
To bring this upon a married man might lead to the collapse of a family. Even for those still unmarried, unless the man is single, she might very well introduce a crack in his relationship with his girlfriend or fiancée. But since the recipient was Tatsuya, Ayako felt she could get away with it.
"Just don't take it too far."
Tatsuya casually brushed off Ayako's impassioned glance.
Fumiya's face tightened up for a moment, likely trying to suppress a laugh. He must have thought that if he laughed here, it would spoil his sister's mood.
"So far, there has been no sign of Izayoi Shirabe making any particular move of that nature."
Fumiya put on a particularly serious expression and brought the subject up to Tatsuya, preventing a further digression.
"I see. According to Master, in this case, the Hieizan, or rather a Tendai Esoteric Buddhist monk, was contracted to perform the hex. It’s unlikely that Izayoi Shirabe would be involved. Now that I’ve settled my affairs, if there are no indications that he received any requests until today, then I have no problem in lifting the surveillance."
Izayoi Shirabe's surveillance was originally given to Fumiya and his team as Tatsuya had his hands full until now with the demonstration to the government and military. Now that the comet has been successfully blown up, all that was left to do was wait and see what the National Defense Force would do. Which means Tatsuya was now able to keep an eye on Izayoi Shirabe himself.
"There is no need, its only been three days. We'll continue for a bit longer." Fumiya, however, insisted on continuing.
"I would like to take this opportunity to investigate Izayoi Shirabe in more detail."
Fumiya seemed to regard him as a person to watch out for, judging from the memory of how Izayoi Shirabe's magic gave him a hard time the other day when he was chasing down the leader of the New Humanity Front.
That being the case, Tatsuya saw no need to withdraw the request.
"In that case, I’ll continue to leave things in your hands."
Afterwards, they moved on to a friendly dinner with alcohol, discussing their daily lives at the Magic University as a table topic.
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