After a quick nap the day he returned from his flight to Sri Lanka, Tatsuya went straight back to work there at Miyakishima and returned to his apartment in Chofu shortly after 6:00 p.m.
"Thanks for your hard work," Miyuki welcomes Tatsuya, who exhales a sigh of relief as they reach the living room.
Almost as if waiting for him to step in the room, the videophone rings. Tatsuya presses the button to answer before Miyuki has a chance. It also turned out that the call was for Tatsuya.
Yakumo's mug appeared on the screen, though this time without the usual aloofness. He announced in a clerical tone that Toudou would like to see him in an hour at the temple.
Tatsuya hastily cleaned himself, shaved, and groomed his overall appearance, then changed into a suit.
In the meantime, Miyuki arranged for a car to take Tatsuya to the Kyuuchouji temple.
There was no change of schedule tonight, Toudou arrived five minutes late to the time he had specified.
Tatsuya greeted him with a respectful prostration.
"Yotsuba Tatsuya. I wished to speak to you in person. You may raise your head." Toudou addressed Tatsuya, whose body perfectly aligned in straight parallel with the tatami mats lining the floor.
"Yes, it is an honor, Your Excellency. Then, if you allow me." Tatsuya raised his head naturally, not too fast, not too slow; not obsequious, not arrogant.
Toudou fixed an inspecting gaze on Tatsuya and his words came out sharp, "I have heard of your visit to Sri Lanka."
"I sincerely apologize, Your Excellency. I'm afraid that in the emergency of the circumstances I was unable to spare the time to ask for permission." But Tatsuya did not show any sense of shame or regret. His demeanor, at least on the outside, was that he believed he had done what he needed to do.
This came as quite a surprise to Toudou, who said, "...I won't chastise you for this matter," after a noticeable time delay.
"It would be a tragedy to lose loyal warriors, servants of the nation, to such a despicable act of treachery. While I would otherwise find this arbitrary disregard for our agreement unforgivable, your actions were ultimately in the best interests of the nation. Therefore, this time your merits will offset the penalty of your infraction."
"I am truly grateful." With both hands on the tatami mat, Tatsuya bowed lightly.
Toudou's eyes narrowed as if disapproving of this gesture, which could be interpreted as insolence. Yet, in this opportunity as well, there were no words of reproach from Toudou.
"We too, are outraged by the barbarity displayed by the Greater Asia Union."
"Does Your Excellency mean that gentlemen of the Senate are on the same page with this outrage?"
Yakumo inserted himself in the conversation with the question. If anything, his attitude appeared to be even more disrespectful of the authority of the Senate than Tatsuya's, and yet Toudou showed no sign of being bothered by it. Perhaps Toudou allowed Yakumo to speak his mind so freely as to keep himself from becoming consumed by his own power and losing sight.
"There are many who stand up clamoring with quite extreme words that they don't have the time to justify. Truly a troublesome state of affairs."
"Hahaha..." Yakumo let out an exasperated laugh, "It seems that the Senate is leaning toward quite a hard-line stance."
"Indeed. And that is troubling," a sigh escapes Toudou when he says so. Toudou let out a small sigh as he said this. Seems like even for a man with tremendous power on the behind-the-scenes in this country, there are times when he doesn't get his way with those standing in the same league of power.
Regaining his bearings, his eyes turned back to Tatsuya, whom Toudou addressed as "Yotsuba Tatsuya," as he always did. "The Senate is in agreement of the opinion that you should intervene in the war in Tibet to rectify this national humiliation, however you will not be coerced into doing so."
"Should we thank Your Excellency for acting as a stopper?" The monk interjected once again.
This time Toudou didn't respond, which could be interpreted as a silent affirmation.
"Yotsuba Tatsuya. Herefore your ban has been lifted, you are free to leave the country at your discretion. This freedom is now guaranteed by the Senate."
Clearly this guaranteed freedom was a compromise on his part. Toudou probably wished to keep Tatsuya as a leverage in his own pocket. By having Toudou agree with this guarantee, the other members of the Senate squashed any possibility of a scenario of Tatsuya being under his, or anyone's command
"Thank you very much." Tatsuya understood Toudou's intention, he displayed a correspondingly auspicious gesture of appreciation.
◇◇◇
Once back at his home in Chofu, Tatsuya was greeted with the usual polite "Welcome home" from Miyuki at the front door.
"Would you like to have dinner? Or perhaps do you want to take a bath first?" She followed in her very Miyuki-like fashion. Though there is kind of the same innocence behind these gestures, there isn't much of the same shyness that made her lose composure.
"Actually," Tatsuya replied as he took off his shoes, "I like to first report to the Main House that I have received His Excellency Toudou's permission, if you don't mind."
"Oh!" Miyuki exclaimed joyfully, "Then I'll get the call ready in the communications room while you settle down."
"Alright, let's go with that."
Miyuki spun on her heels and headed to the room she mentioned, leaving Tatsuya to go to the washroom.
[Apologies, Tatsuya-sama, but I'm afraid Madam has just left.]
In a repeat of yesterday, it was Hayama who appeared on the monitor instead of the Lady of the House, with the only difference being that today she was truly unavailable, on account that she left the house. Tatsuya had a feeling, though he had no basis for it, that he could take his word on this today.
"In that case, could you please pass on to the Head of the Family that His Excellency
Toudou has granted his permission for me to leave the country?"
[If that is your message, Madam is already aware of it.]
That came as a surprise to Tatsuya. He went from the Kyuuchouji temple straight back to his home with no detours after his meeting with Toudou. Tatsuya effectively wasted no time in between receiving the information and making this call, nevertheless Maya seemed to have been privy to the news well before he did.
Do Toudou and the Yotsuba have such close communication with each other? The best Tatsuya could imagine is that the Yotsuba has a liaison close to Toudou, or vice versa, for that to happen.
Or perhaps it is the other way around: Toudou has an agent lurking within the Yotsuba family to keep an eye on them from the inside…
"Is that so? In any case, would you mind informing the Family Head that I made the report?" Stifling his suspicions, Tatsuya sought to create an alibi of Hayama for Maya.
[Of course, sir.] Hayama nodded reverently at Tatsuya, maintaining his usual impeccable steward's face.
He did not seem to have any qualms about Tatsuya not asking about why they knew of Toudou intentions ahead of him.
Tatsuya could imagine Hayama answering, "Naturally I'd have prior notice of His Excellency Toudou's wishes."
◇◇◇
His main obstacle has finally been removed. But he still hasn't moved from the starting line. Circumstances grow dire as time goes on. One of which he holds himself accountable for.
At times like this, if he had any human emotions left in him, he would be at such a point that he would be unable to make a rational decision.
But he wasn't then and isn't panicking right now. Though he would seem to have reclaimed some semblance of human emotion, having deepened his bond with Miyuki to something beyond that of brother and sister, in truth, besides his only genuine emotion, he still hasn't recovered what his late mother, Miya, had taken away. That was now working out for the best, fortuitously.
Following his report of the concession obtained from Toudou to the Main House through Hayama, Tatsuya enjoyed dinner with Miyuki, refreshed himself with a bath, and moved on to work on his next step.
First, Tatsuya discussed the division of roles with Minoru.
[I agree, we need to prevent Lhasa falling into urban warfare if we want to safeguard the basement of the Potala Palace. The quickest and most sure way to get the ruling government of Tibet to step down peacefully would be for you to intervene directly, Tatsuya-san] Minoru gave a faint half-smile mixed with sympathy to Tatsuya. They revised their options in this laser-transmitted video communication with Takachiho. [But that would mean adding a new chapter to the legend of the Demon King of the East, are you alright with that, Tatsuya-san...?]
"I don't remember being called that, but I can't deny that may have happened given the kind of reputation I've been building. But, I have sown the seeds of what is happening, I ought to clean up this mess myself." The look of resignation on Tatsuya's face said as much, "I don't want to, but I have to."
[I agree, however unfortunate it may sound, you are the most suitable to deal with that situation. Leave the Mt.Shasta matter with me, that's what I intended to volunteer for in the first place.]
Minoru accessed that even without the ban from exiting the country from the Yotsuba family, Tatsuya would still be heavily constricted on going to the USNA to seal the artifacts in the Shambhala ruins on Mt. Shasta. In the eyes of the local authorities, it would just come off as illegal digging or theft. And Tatsuya's name has become too big to have a criminal act directly pinned on him.
"Alright, thank you, I'll leave that in your hands. Come down to Miyakishima tomorrow night for me to give you the wand."
[Understood. Do eight o'clock work for you?]
"Sure, why don't you bring Minami with you. We would be happy to have her join us, at least for one revolution." By "revolution", he meant the 4-hour period it takes for Takachiho to complete a full orbit around the Earth.
[Thank you, we would be glad if you could have us.]
The two hang up the call after agreeing to meet again tomorrow's evening.
◇◇◇
Tensions on the international scene have been mounting, but so far, daily life in Japan has continued uninterrupted. Today is another ordinary day at the National Magic University, Tatsuya is taking a voluntary leave of absence as he does more often than not, whereas Miyuki is diligently attending her morning lectures.
At lunch, Miyuki was sharing a table with Lina in the campus cafeteria. The pair attracted the usual crowd of eyes, but no courageous soul attempted to approach and try to act friendly with them. In part because, at this point, the students knew better to show discretion, but more than that, Miyuki's beauty, talent, and the family she comes from made her average peers see her as someone from a higher class entirely.
The only ones who approach them are either those from within the Yotsuba family or another one of the Ten Master Clans, as well as those from a family of comparable prestige, and students who are not intimidated by Miyuki's magic power and have some business with her.
"Miyuki-senpai, do you mind if I join you as well?" The owner of this naturally energetic voice comes from one that meets both the criteria of family prestige and talent of the aforementioned, as well as being an acquaintance from First High, the freshman, Saegusa Izumi.
"Of course." Miyuki turns to the person sitting across from her, "Do you mind, Lina?"
"Sure, no problem. By the way, Izumi, who is your friend?" Lina asked, looking up at Izumi from her chair. To be precise, her gaze went past Izumi, to the person standing next to her.
"I believe you are a friend of Ichijou-san, Tsuruga-san, am I correct?" Before Izumi had a chance to answer, Miyuki addressed the new face.
"Y-Yes. That's right. Nice to meet you, I'm Tsuruga Kirie. I am a distant relative of
Masaki-san's and his junior at Third High. It is an honor to make your acquaintance." "Oh, I didn't know. Please, I don't want to keep you standing, have a seat."
The moment Miyuki said this, Lina moved seats to the one right beside Miyuki along with her tray.
"You must have something you want to talk about with Miyuki, right? Sit down, we don't mind."
She then followed Miyuki by offering the seats across them.
Izumi took the seat across from Miyuki with a full smile, while Kirie hesitantly took the one in front of Lina.
"Did I miss something? Isn't Tsuruga who has something to talk about with Miyuki?" Lina turned an exasperated look at Izumi.
Miyuki looked at the Saegusa with a smile, "By the way, Izumi-chan, are you having anything to eat?"
"Thank you very much for your consideration. But our last class was canceled and we ate early." This response was a good example of how much Izumi has matured over the years. Shown concern by Miyuki, she did not fluster about, found and delivered her answer with a calm demeanor fitting of her looks.
"I see. Then, you wouldn't mind if we had our meal while we all chat, would you?"
"Y-Yes, of course. Actually..."
Kirie spoke out, face stiff with nervousness. The topic they brought was that "something was wrong with Masaki." As of late, he has been very absentminded even when speaking with Kirie or his best friend Kichijoji, and even when he does it is often noncommittal responses.
"Maybe he is just lovesick," Lina muttered to herself while listening in the conversation between Kirie and Miyuki from her corner.
"Lovesick? You mean people get absentminded when they fall in love?" reacted Miyuki.
She probably meant it to be just for herself.
"Eh, Miyuki-senpai...?" Izumi stared blankly at Miyuki with a "no way!" expression on her face.
"Ah, I mean, it's not like it's the same thing for everybody." Lina comes with the saving throw. She scratched her head looking apologetic.
"Besides, I guess in your case, Miyuki, it was more like you already had the feelings figured out from the start, right?"
"Now you all got me wondering if I ever had something like a first love."
"Who knows, maybe." Lina gave an over-the-top shrug of the shoulders at Miyuki, "That aside," then turned to Kirie, "What's wrong Tsuruga-san? You look like you got zapped by lightning."
The comment drew Miyuki and Izumi's attention to Kirie as well.
"......I always suspected. But, could the person stuck in Masaki-san's mind be you, Shiba-senpai...?" Kirie cast her head down as if to fight back tears.
"Hmm... Not this time, I think."
This straight out denial made Kirie's head shot back up.
"Now that I think of it, Masaki was acting weird just now." Lina elaborates saying it was when she and Miyuki ran into him and Masaki with Kichijoji while moving between classrooms.
"You think so?"
"You didn't notice? Miyuki, he was giving you a hard look."
Lina pointed out, which was received by a tilt of the head from Miyuki, "I thought that was normal..."
"Normal? It's unusual for him to even look straight at you."
"Unusual...?" Before Miyuki opened her mouth to speak, Kirie came forward first, singling out that particular word.
"Yeah, pretty unusual." On nodding to her own words, her expression changed, something seemed to spark in her mind, "Then again, that may not be a love thing. 'That didn't feel like just a love affair. I think you should take a look at how things are going around him to see if there is anything strange going on."
"─All right, I'll make sure to check." Kirie declares, overflowing resolve.
◇◇◇
Wednesday night, September 15. According to the old lunar calendar, it is the 13th day of the 8th lunar month, just two days before the harvest moon. The full moon hung in the clear sky. Not a good day to keep things hidden, but fortunately, the location, Miyakishima, is an island in the Pacific Ocean. It is not so far to the main archipelago that it could be called an isolated island, but is secluded enough that they don't have to worry about attracting unwanted attention.
At 8:00 p.m., Minoru and Minami landed from satellite orbit right in front of Tatsuya, Miyuki, and Lina.
The now group of five moved from the launch site of the virtual satellite elevator to Tatsuya and Miyuki's Miyakishima apartment. Following dinner, the group split up, the women stayed behind in the dining room to enjoy a tea break, whereas Tatsuya brought Minoru to his private lab in the administration building, i.e. the Yotsuba Family Miyakishima branch, built adjacent to the apartment.
"Then, I'll leave it in your hands."
"I'll take good care of it."
There is where Tatsuya kept the jeweled wand of Shamballa.
"Tatsuya-san, if we can't extract the stone tablet that has the Mass Destruction magic, which we call [Last Flame]..."
At this point, they were considering their main course of action to seal the dangerous magic left in the ruins was: remove and recover the stone tablet grimoire that has the magic in question recorded from the ruins.
"Are you sure it'll be okay to destroy the ruin?"
And, as stated by Minoru, their policy was that if the grimoire could not be safely extracted from the wall of the ruins, they would destroy the ruins themselves, thereby eliminating the dangerous magic and the risk associated with it.
"I know how you feel. I would also much prefer not to destroy a cultural property that is, honestly, in my opinion, a common heritage for all mankind," Tatsuya sympathized with Minoru's hesitation. "But our current priority should be with the dangerous artifact. I won't be able to apologize to future mankind enough if it comes to that, I'll at least try to make amends by ensuring the continuation of our current civilization into the near future."
"To prevent what Shambala couldn't, you mean?"
"I don't expect any appreciation from the mankind of the future for that, though."
"Yeah, me too. It's not like we ourselves know what will be the best for the people in the future. All we can do is what we think is best for us now."
"That's right."
"...Thank you very much, Tatsuya-san. I don't have any doubts now," Minoru said, relieved with an embarrassed smile.
Whereas Tatsuya's expression was dead serious as he nodded his head, "I'm glad to hear
that."
The mood is lighter on the ladies side, as one would expect at a tea party. The same was true for the topics: they conversed about fashion trends, sweets, mutual acquaintances, as well as investigating "recent developments".
"...Hey, Minami, I've been dying to ask you about this for a while." Lina's eyes flashed with a hint of mischief when she asked.
"Yes, what is it?," but Minami unsuspectingly responded.
"How are things going with you and Minoru?"
"How are 'things'?", Minami asked back, unsure what Lina was hinting at.
"I mean, you two have been cooped up together in the same place up there for how long now, right?"
"We do have separate bedrooms, though, but yes?"
Lina's description slightly mischaracterizes the size of the artificial satellite. Takachiho is quite large for a space station. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is massive. It has ample space for two people to live comfortably together.
"But it's not like you two need sleep, don't you?"
"I wouldn't say we can live without any sleep, but yes, we don't need to sleep as much as we used to."
"Then, doesn't that mean you two spend a lot more time together in the same room?"
"That's... Yes, that is true..."
"And, like, everything there is automated like a normal house here, if not more. And you also have a Parasite Doll to manage the equipment. Two must have a lot of time to do other things, right?"
"You are asking how we spend our free time? Minoru-sama is often devoted to researching magic."
"And you?"
"Mostly studying the materials I've received from you. I would, in fact, love to try some new dishes, but I'm afraid that would be difficult to arrange living in space..." "What else? I'm sure you don't spend every day reading and studying, do you?"
The hint in Lina's eyes grew stronger with this back and forth as she pressed further.
At this point, Miyuki intervenes, with an exasperated voice,"Lina. What exactly are you trying to ask?"
"If they have done the deed. I mean, they pretty much confessed already and it must have happened at some point, don't you think?" Lina bared her curiosity unashamedly. Well... perhaps, for her, this was a normal topic for a university student.
"T-That is..." But Minami was not so bold. Her face, however, turned to a quite telling shade of red.
That reaction motivates Lina to push further, "I'm sure, you two must have done it already, am I right? How was it? Was Minoru nice with you?"
"I- um..."
"Don't tell me, you haven't? After all this time, you guys must have the mood right for it at some point, no?"
Lina couldn't wait long enough for an answer, "Wait, don't tell me parasites don't feel desires, like sexual desires?"
"About that..."Minami started with her voice low, and it became even lower to the point of almost fading away by the end, "Yes, we do."
"Lina, would you please stop it already. Don't you feel sorry for Minami?" Miyuki couldn't stand watching anymore and intervened, more firmly this time. One could see the faint blush on her cheeks.
"What? Now you'll tell me you're not interested in it too, huh, Miyuki?”
"N-Not really, no."
"Huh huh, so that means you haven't climbed that step either, have you?" Lina's sights shifted from Minami to Miyuki.
"I can't believe it. Look at what we have here, the pure-hearted lady and her lady-in-waiting. Want to borrow my handkerchief to flaunt at your knight in shining armor?"
Unfortunately for Lina, Miyuki wasn't much of a pushover like Minami.
"And what about you, Lina? What stories do you have to tell?"
"O-Oh, m-me? I'm not in a steady relationship right now, so..."
"'Now', you say. Then that means you were in one before."
"Oh, yeah, that..."
"Or, pardon me, did I misunderstand you? You haven't had a boyfriend before? Oh my, are you afraid of men?"
"A-Afraid!? Like hell I am! I just haven't found a good guy for me yet, that's all!"
"You say that... But, oh my, could it be that you're, let's say, more comfortable with another woman, are you?" Miyuki feigned surprise, hugging herself with both arms and leaning back.
"Hell no!" Lina exclaimed, her face turning beet red. Before she knew it, her teasing was turned back on her.
◇◇◇
During this time, Minoru listened to Tatsuya's thoughts on the situation in Tibet, and Minami was having a peaceful conversation with Miyuki and Lina.
At the northwestern foot of Mt. Shasta, Laura Simons discovered the entrance to an underground cave. It led to an underground passage connecting to the entrance of a ruin site that did not originate from Shambala.
While Minoru was away from Takachiho, he left the order for his servant Parasite Doll to maintain surveillance of Mt. Shasta on his behalf. However, due to a combination of factors, such as the focus on the eastern hillside, where are the coordinates of the ruins of Shambhala, as well as the inopportune timing of Takachiho being just on the other side of the globe, Laura's movements went unnoticed.
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