Saturday night, April 14, 2096. The Shiba residence played host to a pair of visitors who were, for all intents and purposes, a rarity in this house.
"Is this really where Brother Tatsuya lives? Isn't it a bit… domestic?"
"I can't blame you for wondering, but this is definitely the place," Ayako replied.
The map data Ayako held had come directly from Hayama himself. There was no possibility of it being a fake.
"Yes, who is it, please?"
A voice neither of the siblings recognized answered the chime.
"My name is Fumiya Kuroba. Is Tatsuya Shiba-san at home?"
"...Please, come in."
The slight pause before the reply suggested the speaker had been confirming Tatsuya's wishes. Fumiya felt a wave of relief; they had arrived unannounced, and he was glad they hadn't made the trip for nothing. Before Fumiya could even step onto the porch, the front door swung open. A young girl in a black one-piece dress and a crisp white apron bowed deeply to them.
Minami led them to the living room, where Tatsuya was waiting alone.
"Fumiya, Ayako-chan. It's been a while."
Tatsuya greeted them without standing, but Ayako didn't seem the least bit offended. She took a seat directly across from him with practiced grace.
"Sister!" Fumiya hissed, hovering awkwardly.
"Tatsuya-san, it has been far too long," Ayako said, ignoring her brother's protest. "Please forgive our discourtesy for visiting at such an hour without a prior appointment."
"There's no need to worry about that. We may be second cousins, but we're family. Besides, we're all just high school students. You don't need a formal appointment to visit a relative your own age."
"Your generosity is appreciated... Fumiya? What are you doing? Give Tatsuya-san a proper greeting."
It was a somewhat mocking way to put it, but Fumiya was earnest to a fault. If he felt he was in the wrong, he couldn't simply ignore it.
"Sit down, Fumiya," Tatsuya added. "I can't talk to you if you're standing there like a statue."
"Brother Tatsuya... it's good to see you again," Fumiya said, giving a quick, stiff bow.
It wasn't that he was being distant or looking down on Tatsuya—quite the opposite. Fumiya was simply overwhelmed with nerves, standing before the cousin he had admired from afar for the last three months.
"Ayako-san, Fumiya-kun. Welcome."
"Sister Miyuki! Thank you for having us."
Miyuki and Minami entered the room together. Miyuki took her place beside Tatsuya as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Not to be outdone, Ayako stood up again to offer Miyuki an exceptionally formal bow. Fumiya watched his sister's display of competitive etiquette and shook his head, looking like he had a mounting headache. Tatsuya, meanwhile, watched the two girls with an amused, almost fatherly glint in his eyes.
As Ayako sat back down, Minami began to set tea on the table.
"I apologize for the late hour," Ayako continued. "But we have to return to Hamamatsu tomorrow morning, so we had little choice."
"It's not so late that I'd call it 'the dead of night,'" Tatsuya said. "I haven't had the chance to say it yet, but congratulations on getting into Fourth High."
"With their talents, it was a foregone conclusion," Miyuki added. "But congratulations to you both, Ayako-san, Fumiya-kun."
After the pleasantries were finished, Tatsuya's expression sharpened.
"So, what brings you to Tokyo today? I thought the Kanto region wasn't part of Fumiya's current assignment."
"Actually, we have something important to relay to you and Miyuki-san."
Fumiya glanced briefly at Minami, who was standing at a respectful distance behind Miyuki.
"You don't need to mind Minami," Tatsuya assured him. "This is Minami Sakurai. She is Miyuki's guardian."
"Wait... but Miyuki-san already has..." Fumiya started.
"Tatsuya-san? Are you saying you're stepping down as Sister Miyuki's guardian?" Ayako asked, her eyes widening.
Tatsuya let out a small chuckle and shook his head. "No, it's nothing like that. My Aunt likely has her own reasons for the arrangement."
"I see..." Ayako looked at Minami with a meaningful gaze, but Minami kept her eyes downcast, offering no reaction.
"Very well," Fumiya said, returning to the matter at hand. "We've confirmed that an international anti-magician faction is currently launching a coordinated media manipulation campaign within Japan."
"The source?" Tatsuya asked.
"The 'Humanists' from the USNA."
Miyuki's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but Tatsuya showed no outward reaction. If he was startled, he didn't let a single flicker of it reach the surface.
Fumiya proceeded to give a detailed report, laying out the intelligence they had gathered. When he finally finished, he took a sip of tea to soothe his dry throat. When he looked up, he found Tatsuya watching him with a look of genuine pride.
"Fumiya... you gathered all of this yourself? That's impressive. You've done excellent work."
"Ah... no... I mean... thank you, Brother," Fumiya stammered.
"Honestly, Fumiya," Ayako teased, "you really do adore Tatsuya-san, don't you?"
Fumiya, who hadn't stumbled over a single word of his long technical report, was suddenly at a total loss for words. It wasn't that he had any "unusual" tendencies; he was simply so happy to be praised by Tatsuya that he was dying of embarrassment. Still, he gave off an aura that made it impossible for Ayako not to poke fun at him.
"Sister! Don't say things that people could misunderstand!"
"Oh? Is it a misunderstanding? Are you saying you don't like Tatsuya-san?"
"The way you say 'like' makes it sound completely different!"
"My, my. I wonder what you think I could possibly mean by that?"
"I... you...!"
The three onlookers—Tatsuya, Miyuki, and Minami—watched the siblings bicker. While they all agreed that the twins were close, their reactions varied: Tatsuya wore a wry smile, Miyuki looked on with a gentle warmth, and Minami simply watched with a flat, unimpressed stare.
After the twins had returned to their hotel, Tatsuya retreated to his room to process the information Fumiya had brought.
"So, Koichi Saegusa is reaching out to Retsu Kudo for a conspiracy..."
Tatsuya knew that even with Fumiya and Ayako's high-level intelligence capabilities, they wouldn't be able to pin anything directly on Koichi Saegusa yet. The man was too careful, his schemes layered too deeply in shadows.
"I get the feeling my Aunt is playing me like a fiddle," Tatsuya muttered to himself. "But this is a problem that affects all magicians. I suppose I don't have much of a choice..."
Though he was fully aware that he was being moved around on Maya Yotsuba's chessboard, Tatsuya forced himself to accept it. After all, this time, the stakes involved his own survival.
(Ayako and Fumiya really do think the world of Tatsuya, don't they?)
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