Chapter Five
July 9, 2097.
The New Soviet Union fleet remained at Noto Peninsula. The threat had not yet passed.
All 12 warships sunk yesterday were relatively small ships. The main fleet was still a significant threat. Despite this, the result inspired the Japanese people. While the main enemy forces remained – including enemy air craft carriers – and the people were still tense, the overall feeling around the country was that they didn’t need to fear the NSU
even though the mood was far from optimistic.
The people wanted to know what happened, and the media, seeing an opportunity to make profits, obliged.
The military and government didn’t try to hide the information, either. If the citizens knew that this wasn’t a fluke or an accident, the anxiety of the citizens would lessen and people would be able to go about their daily lives, livening the country again.
Coming to this conclusion, the government officially recognized reports about the fact that the enemy fleet was sunk by Strategic Class magic, giving credibility to people’s assumptions.
As a result, the government decided to approve Ichijou Masaki as an officially recognized Strategic Class magician.
***
July 9, 2097, 10:00 AM.
The Ministry of Defense used a hall to hold a press conference. There, they officially announced the existence of Ocean Blast – of which one attack sunk a group of small NSU ships – in addition to the name of the magician who used the magic.
“Speaking of Ichijou Masaki-san, do you mean Ichijou-san from the Third High School of the National University of Magic?”
A female reporter with a fanatical look asked the minister this. Masaki’s visual appearance was not as pronounced as Minoru’s, but he was still well known prior to this as a handsome magician. He was more popular than Tatsuya, and in narrow circles, he was known as the “young, handsome magician.”
“Ichijou Masaki-kun is currently in his third year at the Third High School of the National University of Magic. He is the second officially recognized Strategic Class magician of our country.”
The Minister of Defense affirmed the reporter’s guess with a positive expression.
July 9, 2097, 10:15 AM.
Media employees already found Ichijou Masaki’s location and crowded around Komatsu base.
“Why should I have to, too…”
“Don’t say that! Aren’t you my friend? George, you’re already used to press conferences, aren’t you?”
Masaki pleaded to his friend Kichijouji behind the scenes of the conference room. He didn’t want to face the sea of reporters alone.
“The reporters came to interview you, Masaki. I don’t think they’ll call me.”
“That’s not true. You developed Ocean Blast. They’ll definitely want to hear the developer talk.”
“Ah…”
Kichijouji sighed, but he accepted Masaki arguments. Masaki put his arm around Kichijouji’s shoulder, and when a female employee told them it was time, Kichijouji erased his previous expression and followed Masaki out.
Masaki stepped into the center of the stage and stood in front of the microphone, towering over the rest of the stage.
The two came out in their Third High uniforms and bowed. As they did this, the hall was filled with flashes.
Modern cameras were sensitive enough to not need additional lighting equipment, but the flashing was considered an integral part of press conferences so flash shots were used anyway.
Masaki face distorted at the abundant light, but Kichijouji remained stoic. Masaki wasn’t mistaken when he said that Kichijouji was used to press conferences, but that was probably why Kichijouji was so reluctant to go out.
After the pair sat on the chairs provided to them, the press conference began.
“This is a great feat, Ichijou-san. Take your time. People are inspired by your achievement.”
A staff member advised Masaki to take it slowly and keep his head before Masaki spoke to start the questions.
“I am honored to serve all of you.”
As soon as Masaki said this, the press started their questioning.
“Did you volunteer yourself to fight the New Soviet Union?” one reporter asked.
“Yes. I volunteered for the Self-Defense force after gaining the consent of my father.”
“Was it because you were sure that the new magic would destroy the enemy fleet?”
“Yes. It was precisely because of the power of Ocean Blast, created by Kichijouji, who is setting next to me now.”
Masaki shifted the focus of the conference to Kichijouji with this comment – the press wanted to know more about the magic, and who better to ask than the developer?
“Kichijouji-san. Is it true that you developed the new Strategic Class magic, Ocean Blast?” a new reporter asked.
“Yes.”
“Kichijouji-san, since you also work at the Kanazawa Institute of Natural and Magical Sciences in addition to your studying at Third High School, did you develop this magic as an initiative of the institute?”
“No. The Kanazawa Institute of Natural and Magical Sciences does not conduct military research.”
“That is, you developed Ocean Blast independent of the institute?”
“Yes.”
“Was this due to your expectation of the New Soviet Union invasion?”
At this question, Kichijouji paused for a moment, slightly confused, but answered as best he could.
“As you said, Ocean Blast was prepared to counter the invasion of the NSU.”
Kichijouji affirmed that the magic was prepared to fight against the NSU, but he didn’t answer that he knew that invasion was coming in advance.
“To develop a new Strategic Class magic alone – as expected from Cardinal George, a genius that brings our country pride.”
After this comment, Kichijouji’s face visibly dropped and he understood their misunderstanding.
In response, he honestly stated the situation, but his words only meant trouble and inconveniences for the person mentioned.
“No, I didn’t develop Ocean Blast alone. The basis of this magic was provided to me by Shiba Tatsuya-kun from First High School.”
“That wasn’t necessary…”
Tatsuya sighed and scrunched up his face after hearing Kichijouji’s comment at the press conference. He was watching the event on television and saw an event he had hoped wouldn’t occur.
Miyuki, sitting next to him, didn’t object to his words. Usually, she would have said something like “I am glad that Onii-sama’s achievements are being assessed properly,”
but this time she understood that Kichijouji’s confession had directly gone against Tatsuya’s plans in sending him the information in the first place.
Tatsuya could have finished the magic himself without issue. However, he instead gave the necessary data to Kichijouji to finish for two reasons.
The first was that he felt Masaki would receive the magic more kindly from Kichijouji than from himself. Masaki would almost definitely have accepted the magic anyway, but giving the magic to Kichijouji to finish and pass on would make the event smoother.
The second, more important reason, was that Tatsuya wanted to pass on the glory.
This wasn’t out of any kindness towards Kichijouji.
He just didn’t want the attention.
“Being honest and open isn’t always the best in life…”
Tatsuya continued to complain, making a comment going against the English proverb,
“honesty is the best policy.” He wasn’t thinking about an overused statement like “the ends justify the means,” however. The idea “words are silver, silence is gold” more accurately describes his thinking.
“Kichijouji-kun probably didn’t want to remain in Onii-sama’s debt.”
Miyuki calmly restrained him and offered him an iced coffee.
“…yeah, you’re right. I mistook his character when coming up with my plan.”
Realizing it was useless to describe his grievances to a television, Tatsuya ended his complaints with this comment.
Miyuki carefully turned off the TV, and Tatsuya averted his eyes from the terminal on the wall on which the news was coming.
“Onii-sama, do you want a bun?”
Tatsuya put his glass down after taking only a single sip, and Miyuki offered a bun from those that were prepared for their afternoon tea. They had actually been planned to be served along with a more suitable summer dessert – ice cream – but there wasn’t any currently.
“Sure. We can have a little snack,” Tatsuya answered.
“Absolutely.”
It was still too early to have lunch, but the battle with Minoru had exhausted Tatsuya and he accepted Miyuki’s thoughtfulness with gratitude.
Masaki and Kichijouji’s press conference was being broadcast on Japanese domestic television, but these were public channels, so it could be watched from essentially anywhere.
The country with which the war was being waged would obviously have an interest in the Strategic Class magic used.
While the highest officials in the government and military weren’t watching the news with subtitles in real time, an information gathering department carried out data collection for later use.
However, while most of the top officials didn’t bother watching, Bezobrazoff, who could be considered to be at the top of the NSU, watched the conference from the beginning on a monitor in a posh hotel in Khabarovsk in real time.
“It can’t be…
He, again ?
He stole my magic ?”
It took his entire strength to restrain his anger and not shout out loud.
Minami arbitrarily decided to watch the news during a break between housework chores, but she shut it off immediately after Kichijouji mentioned Tatsuya.
The small TV screen in the dining room turned off.
Minami didn’t hate Tatsuya, of course, but at least for now, it was painful for Minami to even hear his or Miyuki’s name. She was reminded of her guilt every time she thought of them, so she didn’t even want to hear them mentioned.
Minami had stopped trying to resist or deny her guilt meaninglessly. She had skipped to the end of the five stages of grief from denial straight to acceptance. She told herself she had to accept her heartache and deal with it.
Despite this, she still didn’t turn on the TV again. While she was willing to accept her guilt, she didn’t want to needlessly be reminded of it when she was thinking about other things.
Minami decided to leave the house.
Minoru hadn’t forbid her from doing so. She felt that he would even let her leave the barrier without doing anything to stop her. She intuitively trusted his words claiming that he wasn’t forcing her.
Besides, she didn’t plan to run away from Minoru. While she hadn’t yet decided that she wanted to stay with Minoru, her thoughts went along the lines of: “Even if I run, I have nowhere to go.”
She felt that she, who betrayed Miyuki, can’t just nonchalantly come back. She had no way to know how Tatsuya and Miyuki felt about her now, and she was currently too scared to find out.
If she’d had a problem earlier, she would have gone out. She wasn’t afraid to stumble upon Minoru. They were at least temporarily living in the same house and sleeping under the same roof, so they couldn’t really avoid each other, and Minami didn’t particularly want to do that, either.
However, at the moment, she didn’t want to face Minoru.
More accurately, she didn’t want Minoru to face her.
While she spent the night sleeping in the same house as Minoru, all her thoughts had been about Tatsuya and Miyuki, or more precisely, Miyuki and the person accompanying her.
Some of her First High Classmates had misunderstood her, thinking she was interested in Tatsuya as a man, but she had long since learned to ignore that. Minami only saw Tatsuya formerly as an elder brother and now as the bridegroom of her Mistress.
In other words, Minami was currently most interested in Tatsuya because of his relationship with Miyuki. To Minami, Miyuki was everything, and that was why she couldn’t get rid of her guilt for her treachery at a cost less than her life.
Minami didn’t know it, but her mind had been designed to be completely devoted to her mistress. While there was no gene manipulation or medication involved in doing this – probably no such thing currently existed – one didn’t need to resort to such exceptional methods to change a persons value system.
All they needed was an isolated environment and a carefully organized upbringing and training.
Minami, who had been raised in the main Yotsuba household since birth, didn’t consider her sense of devotion unusual – people naturally assumed they were normal, and Minami’s assumption hadn’t yet been proven wrong to her.
Minami’s mentality was that betraying a person appointed as her master was impossible, so Tatsuya’s speculation about Minami’s choice to interfere with Miyuki’s magic was probably somewhat correct. However, Minami still hadn’t figured out exactly why she had acted as she did, and even if she did figure it out, her guilt was for her action.
Not for her reason.
She probably would have felt guilt anyway – it was her personality. So, despite the fact that she had no way out of her situation, she insisted on torturing and reproaching herself repeatedly.
Her current reluctance for Minoru to face her resulted from her self-reproving, She didn’t want to face a man from such a family in her current ugly appearance which had arisen because of the fact that she, a treacherous traitor, couldn’t be punished. Her girlish but guilty heart built a wall between herself and Minoru.
“But… I should go check on him now. Almost 2 hours have passed since he said he was going outside to check the barrier.”
Minoru should have returned to his room by now – at least, she desired this. She really had no idea how long it would take to check the barrier, but she felt that she should at least check on him. However, as soon as she opened the front door, this desire fell apart.
As she had wanted, Minoru didn’t see her.
Because he was lying on the ground.
Minami hurriedly rushed to him.
“Minoru-sama?”
She got no answer, and he looked faint. She only froze for a moment before she realized what she had to do.
Minami took a CAD from her apron pocket and activated weight loss magic before lifting him and carrying him to his room.
She assumed the weak pain arising from the depths of her consciousness was only her imagination, dismissing the true cause of her despair.
The second developer of the new Strategic Class magic which had stopped the New Soviet Union’s invasion – Ocean Blast – was Shiba Tatsuya, who had only recently begun to disappear from the news after his identity was revealed as half of Taurus Silver.
There was no way the media would ignore this information. This material would grab viewers attention and could boost their ratings, so the media jumped right into trying to talk to Tatsuya.
“They want you to comment on this, Tatsuya-san. The media is crowding FLT headquarters and the former house in Fuchu,” Maya commented.
“…I apologize for the inconvenience.”
Making a humble face, Tatsuya bowed to Maya, who was smiling into the videophone screen.
Maya was clearly amused at the situation. She wouldn’t have called personally about something so insignificant if she weren’t.
“I’m truly impressed by your maneuvering around this. I guess I have to commend the persistence of the gentlemen from the media. Still, intrusive interviews are annoying.
They are always trouble.”
Tatsuya felt the same, but he was afraid to agree with that, as in a sense, he was guilty of the problems sweeping the FLT office and the neighborhood around his former home.
“Regardless, it seems that His Excellency is pleased with the current situation. I received compliments from him.”
“Please thank him for me.”
When Maya said “His Excellency,” she was referring to Toudou Aoba – the largest sponsor of the Yotsuba family.
He was most likely pleased with Tatsuya’s fame in developing a Strategic Class magic.
This would only help his role as a military deterrent, and while Tatsuya didn’t want to deal with it, Toudou probably wanted him to anyway. In exchange for his support of project ESCAPES, Tatsuya agreed to become a military deterrent, and this could be considered part of Tatsuya’s agreement.
If Tatsuya had followed the agreement exactly, he would have personally dealt with the invasion of the New Soviet Union rather than through a third party. However, Toudou didn’t seem to object to Tatsuya’s indirect participation by providing another magician with Strategic Class magic.
“The only thing to worry about is Miyuki-san’s safety… everything will be fine as long as First High is closed, but… it might not be a good thing for her to return back to school until this situation calms down.”
“…you’re right.”
Tatsuya didn’t argue with Maya on this point.
The media currently restrained themselves somewhat compared to the pre-war days – possibly because they are afraid of the authorities, nowadays, nobody pokes a microphone into strangers’ faces.
However, the media would be able to find out that Miyuki was both Tatsuya’s cousin and fiancée by studying the publicly available data, and they definitely would scour the information available to them for clues. This would put her under the onslaught of those looking for interviews. She would cease to be a random person and would become involved in unfortunate and annoying scenarios.
While Tatsuya already considered the media bothering Miyuki to be unforgiveable, what was worse was the possibility of murderers or kidnappers appearing under the guise of journalists willing to interview.
In the current situation, there were probably numerous people trying to capture Miyuki in order to neutralize Tatsuya. Tatsuya found it completely unacceptable that Miyuki would be put at risk through faults of his own.
“Tatsuya-san, Miyuki-san, I have a suggestion.”
Maya was primarily speaking to Tatsuya, but Miyuki appeared standing in front of the camera next to Tatsuya, so Maya mentioned her as she was the main party in this matter.
“How about having a new girl act as Miyuki-san’s bodyguard and accompany her at school?”
“Bodyguard…?” Miyuki asked. Her tone indicated her desire to refuse.
Minami had only been abducted by Minoru yesterday. She felt it was wrong to simply appoint a new guard the next day. Miyuki felt that was ignoring Minami’s humanity and simply treating her as a tool to be thrown away after use.
“This would only be a temporary measure until the situation calmed down,” Maya clarified.
Her additional words were enough to reassure Miyuki, and her heart calmed down.
“Thank you,” she responded.
Thus, Tatsuya also didn’t object to Maya’s proposal. Miyuki gave a surprised reaction to his silent affirmation, causing Tatsuya to quickly glance at her before asking about the specifics of the plan.
“However, can you prepare a competent person quickly enough?” Tatsuya asked.
“I was planning on transferring Ayako-chan to First High.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Tatsuya thought, “but…”
Ayako’s magic would be able to fool the media and enemies mixed in with them, allowing Miyuki to slip past unnoticed, but Tatsuya was more worried about the plan from Ayako’s side.
“I don’t think you should do that for Ayako’s sake.”
Tatsuya couldn’t quite agree with Maya’s plan for his stated reason. Miyuki was the most important person to him, but Ayako was also an important ally. He didn’t have any desire to force allies to become victims when Miyuki could almost definitely handle herself. In addition, he had his own ideas. Maya realized this in her next question.
“Ara…so you have your own thoughts on this?”
Tatsuya was ready for Maya’s question and answered without hesitation.
“I do. What about putting Miyuki under the protection of Angelina Kudou Shields, who is currently under the protection of our family?”
“Angelina-san, you say…”
Maya’s lips curled upwards slightly, and she took on a thoughtful look, pondering his suggestion.
“She does have Parade. While she is no Kudou Minoru, her skills should at least be enough to fool the eyes of assassins.”
Tatsuya had been considering using Lina as a bodyguard for Miyuki even before Maya brought up the topic of protecting her.
He had thought about it right after Kichijouji finished his interview.
He felt that Lina’s potential usefulness was being wasted without work. While she might have to return to the USNA in the future, he at least wanted to use her effectively while she was in Japan.
Lina’s combat potential was comparable to Miyuki’s, and her ability to use Parade could fool even high-level magicians. He would be able to entrust Miyuki to such a talented person with a calm heart. While on the surface, her personality didn’t suit that of a guard, since Miyuki was the escort party, it was fine.
“I wonder if it’s save for Angelina-san in Tokyo.”
Maya phrased her question as a statement – the opposite of subordinate’s tendency to phrase statements as questions. One could say this only made sense, however, as Maya was superior to Miyuki and Tatsuya in this situation.
“It should be just as safe as leaving her on Miyako-jima. The USNA should have noticed her presence after she helped repel the attack. On the contrary, I think it’s riskier to leave her on the island.”
Tatsuya didn’t mean that Lina’s safety would be in danger. He had concluded that Miyako-jima’s safety was the one in jeopardy if Lina remained there.
“Fufu, really.”
Maya’s short laugh seemed to indicate that she understood the point that Tatsuya had left slightly ambiguous.
“Alright. I authorize Angelina-san’s appointment as Miyuki-san’s bodyguard.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Regarding her enrollment at First High, I will talk with the right people. However, it would make things easier if you, Tatsuya-san, personally go lower your head to Momoyama-sensei.”
The Momoyama-sensei mentioned by Maya was the director of First High, Momoyama Azuma. He wasn’t the kind of man to bow to power, even if the speaker had the whole power of the Yotsuba family.
“I understand. I’ll take Lina and go to him with a request.”
“We will transport Angelina-san to you tomorrow. Are you satisfied if we put her on the same floor as you?”
The top floor of the building in which Tatsuya and Miyuki lived had three residential premises for servants separate from the apartment they lived in. One was Minami’s room, but the other two were still empty.
“Of course.”
“Then I will arrange for house cleaning.”
Tatsuya and Maya discussed the exact schedule of affairs.
Miyuki, however, just stood next to Tatsuya, surprised.
Things were settled peacefully between the aunt, niece, and nephew from the Yotsuba family, but Kichijouji’s confession hadn’t only caused tension in Tatsuya’s life and the New Soviet Union.
At the base of Stars - the highest and most elite branch of USNA military magicians – located in Roswell, New Mexico, the top brass faced a dilemma.
In addition to being the headquarters of Stars, this base was also the headquarters of the regular army, and the commander of the base was neither a magician nor even an officer in Stars.
According to the original system of subordination, the base commander didn’t have the authority to give orders to Stars, but since the post of commander-in-chief was held by the inexperienced Lina, the base commander Colonel Paul Walker went beyond simple assistance and was able to begin to manage Stars outside of command directly in battle.
And now, with Major Canopus’ absence – the acting commander-in-chief – Walker took the post of commander of Stars.
The cause of this situation was the appearance of many Parasites on the base, but Colonel Walker was not infected himself, and the spread of Parasites had stopped for the moment. The White House and the Pentagon also didn’t observe any signs of continued spread.
Walker was now sitting at his desk, staring at the ceiling. Before that, he had been clutching his head in his hands, refusing to think further, since no matter how much he worried, he couldn’t solve the current problem.
He was at a loss. He was in a sorry state after receiving an order from General Staff.
Since he was a military man, when he was assigned to carry out operations, he always acted on the order, and he usually just sent subordinates to complete the task.
However, this time the order he received didn’t include any strategic planning – just an objective. He had to throw something together himself.
The command of the US Army was currently conflicted. The faction in the military and government advocating for reconciliation with Japan and the faction aiming for a hard line were seriously conflicted. Specifically, the former advocated the use of the Strategic Class magician Shiba Tatsuya in America’s global strategy, while the held the position that he should be considered a threat, and therefore should be eliminated.
Walker wasn’t neutral in this dispute. Since he fell under the influence of the Parasites, he believed that Tatsuya needed to be eliminated, putting him in the latter group. In addition, more significantly than the influence from the Parasites was his opinion as a non-magician warrior supervising Stars. He felt threated by the existence of a Strategic Class magician who’s strength was equal to an entire army.
He felt that Tatsuya was too dangerous, so while Walker didn’t have any feelings of dislike towards Tatsuya, he thought that Tatsuya was too dangerous of an existence to be left alone.
His view was the same towards Lina, who had distanced herself from the American Army, and Bezobrazoff, who they were currently cooperating with. In general, he saw Strategic Class magicians as too big of threats.
Therefore, Walker was able to sympathize with the faction antagonizing Tatsuya.
Now, with the new threat of Ichijou Masaki and Kichijouji Shinkuro, as well as the increased threat of Shiba Tatsuya, the faction antagonizing Tatsuya grew impatient at all of the new problems. Walker felt this same impatience, but despite that, he couldn’t agree with the order he was given.
“Within a month, develop and execute a plan to eliminate Shiba Tatsuya.”
Walker felt that this order was an excessive reaction to Shiba Tatsuya’s part in stopping the NSU fleet’s invasion. He didn’t just have to develop a plan with a month – the order said to execute a plan within a month.
Though, Walker didn’t complain about having a deadline.
Unfortunately, the sabotage of the Stellar Furnace had ended in failure, but the next operation was already planned. Even if he hadn’t received an order from the hardliners in General Staff, Walker would still be making progress towards eliminating Shiba Tatsuya.
Walker steeled his confidence in his plan to get rid of his anxiety from the order.
“A whole month isn’t necessary.
Shiba Tatsuya must be eliminated as soon as possible.”
Colonel Walker had already intended to eliminate Tatsuya in the shortest time he could, even before receiving today’s order.
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