‘Why Hisato? Please tell me… Why would you do this?’

‘Why? It should – Ack! Ack! – should be obvious.’

It was a scene that was so out of place in an eroge it made me wonder what the developers were thinking when they put it in. The sight of one generic pretty boy crying as he tenderly consoled his pretty boy best friend wasn’t something that really hit the main demographic. Not that it wasn’t one I hadn’t seen time and again with everyone of my playthroughs. Honestly, it was just more convenient for Hisato to die.

His spot as a companion only encompassed the first game. With his role being that of a tanky healer with no attack power all but made him a meat shield for the first half of the first game. Once his usefulness for your party becomes nominal he then becomes the party’s main crafting character while the player traverses the academy dungeon with his little harem of girls. Not surprising, he only appeared as a support character in the second and only as a brief cameo in the third. Since I hadn’t played the last game I could only assume he would have vanished completely as an afterthought by the developers.

There was one caveat to this outcome I had failed to mention…

This was only if Hisato’s favorability wasn’t at a certain level.

‘You were the only one who truly saw me – Ack! Acckk! – as a friend.’

‘Please save your strength! You–You shouldn’t have sacrificed yourself to save me!’

‘It’s fine… I’m okay with this…”

‘We can get you a healer! Just hold on!’

Pfft! Ya right! Not likely! The game allows you to heal from some pretty amazing injuries and from now experiencing it first hand I can say it would have taken some sort of extraordinary Light Magic to pull that off. I doubt even I could heal someone with a massive blade shoved through the back of their chest. The fact that Hisato could even talk at that point was only because it was a game and its purpose was like every other plot point that mimicked the trope.

Simply put; A heart wrenching no win situation.

Near the end of the first game the main character's edgy hidden power is awakened for the first time from an unavoidable sacrifice. Ya it was one of those plot gimmicks. No matter how over leveled you were or whatever glitches you tried, there was no way to avoid losing a member of your party without it taking out one of the heroines. Since Hisato was the only other male character in the party… well… I think that was all the motivation one needed to keep him in the party just slightly longer to max out his favorability. I mean, it's a romance game. Why the hell wouldn’t you kill off a character that couldn’t be romanced?

‘I–I’m glad I was your… friend…’

‘Hisato! No!’

The final piece of dialogue for such a cliché character. A young man disliked by the heroines for his overfamiliarity and less than quaint comments. Relegated to second fiddle in this choir of beautiful angels and lead composer. Truly Hisato Osawa was someone meant to be used up for the sake of… well, the overall plot still eluded me. It would be hypocritical of me now to say I sympathized with the kid now that I walked a mile in his shoes.

Obscurity or death; Those were the paths that had been laid out before him.

Not that I planned to wind up on either one.

‘How could you! We trusted you!’

‘This isn’t personal. I like you all but I have my own priorities. I wish things could be different but…’

Yes, there was the kicker. One big slap in the face from where I didn’t want to wind up bleeding out on some musty stone slab. The pre-final boss fight with one of the more popular characters in the game. Betrayed by one of the heroines and a complete punch to the gut the first run through as most never raised Hisato’s favorability enough; The game opting to choose the Heroine with the highest score instead. With the player losing what was likely their main love interest.

After that fact came out… Hisato Osawa died even more.

The double kicker was the heroine who betrayed the party could eventually be redeemed in the third game. It's part of the reason beyond her character design that made her top three of the two dozen heroines. It also made them an incredibly difficult but rewarding romance if someone played the game right. There was only one problem; The first condition being that if she already killed one of the heroines then the chance to redeem her wasn’t available. That Hisato’s death wasn’t important enough to remember since he was so unimportant.

Once more… This fact only put the final nail in the coffin. Made even the blessing of obscurity a rarity.

[LH]

“Hisato!”

“Wha–!” I jolted awake when I felt a cold hand pat me on my shoulder. It was strange but everytime I had that stupid dream about Hisato dying my chest feels tight. Like phantom pains of something that my body was preparing itself for. Not that I’d ever let it get to that point. “Hmm? Uncle Takei? What time is it?”

Takei laughed, likely amused that I nodded off after getting up early to use the hotel pool. After doing a few laps and relaxing in the jacuzzi I opted to dry off by laying on one of the lounge chairs. I don’t know what sort of magic it used on them but they seemed to be self heating. Whether this was because it was made from some sort of fantastical creature or a long term spell was something I would need to look into. It felt like months of fatigue were finally slipping away from my body.

It didn’t appear that Takei had come down to swim as he was already dressed up in a nice looking three piece suit – striped tie and all. The usual go-to for the Yukihana seemed to be traditional Montsuki Kimono. They really tried to sell the whole traditional samurai clan vibe when it came to visitors but I guess the more modern Tokyo business executives were more responsive to more contemporary clothing.

Not that it mattered for Takei. He would literally look good in anything – formal or not. As far as I was concerned the man stood at the top of the pretty boy mountain. Sometimes I felt self conscious just standing next to him. Even looking at him up close made me feel weird.

May he fall off that mountain sooner than later… for my own sanity.

“I just wanted to see where you were. Toki-chan is getting ready.”

“Roger,” I mumbled, allowing myself a deep stretch. “I’ll run up and get ready as well.”

It didn’t take long to get dressed. Certainly faster than Toki who seemed to be dragging her feet while getting ready. How she could still feel tired after turning in early was beyond me. Maybe she was sick but leaving her alone at the hotel wasn’t an option. Neither was staying here to look after her, unfortunately. I could babysit her any other time but right now my freedom was limited.

So was my patience.

“Uncle Takei is waiting.”

“Shut up.” She scowled at me as she slowly put her shoes on. “I don’t want to be here and I don’t want to talk to you.” Sighing, I kneeled down to do up the laces for her. She clearly didn’t take kindly to the gesture as I found myself having to duck under her kick. “Don’t touch me either! I don’t want you getting anywhere near me!”

She was being a brat. Well, more than she usually was. Whether she was still miffed about yesterday or she really was uncomfortable being in a Metropolitan it only seemed to aggravate her. I really tried to tow the line between treating her like a normal girl and walking on eggshells when it came to her feelings. She was pissed – I understood that.

Well I was pissed too!

“But it’s okay during our ‘training sessions’ right? For you to hit me while I stand there unable to fight back without Grampy snapping one of my limbs in two… again.”

“That's…”

“Yes?”

“...You can just heal it anyway,” Toki spat, defiant in defending her Grandfather’s cruel and twisted actions. “Hasn’t it helped you become stronger?”

Sighing, I rolled up my sleeves, revealing one of the larger downsides of me being grounded. I was careful not to let Takei see, opting to wear a long sleeve shirt in the pool. Unfortunately Nobuo seemed to be able to hone in on my Light Magic like a damn bloodhound and I didn’t have an opportunity to use Healing Magic on myself since we left the compound.

So there they were though; The purplish and yellow patches of skin. Bruises from the girls bokeh from the last three months accumulated on my skin. At this point many of them have already healed. Not that I was shitting on my Healing ability but it kept my skin soft and smooth like a baby’s ass. The silver lining was that I was toughening up and building good pain resistance.

This was a matter of principle though, not tradeoffs.

“Grampy has forbidden me from Healing myself after our sessions since January. I can’t hide my use of it from Nobuo finding out. So no – I can’t just heal it all away.”

At this she looked a little more regretful. The subtle way she cast her eyes away from the proof of my claims. For all the crap Komuro has filled her head with its a double edge sword. She’s old enough to know this training holds no honor and the hostile intent it holds towards me.

“...Have you told father?”

“No, I haven’t.” Rolling down my sleeves, I shook my head. Damn I was soft. After everything that's happened she didn’t want her father to be upset with her over this, knowing full well the fury he would hold over her not telling him the truth. The fear of the shame it would bring her must have felt like it could consume her. She was just a kid. The one to blame for this was the person even Takei seemed reluctant to face. “I was toughing it out until now since my punishment has been lifted. At least it was. Since I pulled that stunt back in Horonobe to get here I’m likely going to face worse.”

“Then why did you! Why pull that dangerous and stupid stunt!”

“Like everything else I seem to be doing it for your sake.”

“Huh? My sake? How was any of what you did for my sake?”

“I guess you're too young to understand. What do you think would–”

“–Hey you two! Let’s get going.” Takei called from down the hallway.

“Another time then. Just think about it for a bit and maybe you’ll figure it out on your own.” Standing up I turned to the door. This really wasn’t a conversion I wanted to have. At the very least I made another push to curb Grampy’s influence on her. How much of an effect I was having… Well, it was getting harder to tell. At least I was still trying.

Leaving the hotel we were finally hitting the streets. Unlike in the real world it seemed like Tokyo had gone through a significant change with the influence of magic. Where there should have been 23 wards that divided the city there were now only ten. Ten signifying the different types of magic. Funnily enough, Tokyo general hospital – where we were heading to first – was still located in Shinjuku. Now aptly named Hikari district.

We were on the furthest edges North of the city, Kōri district. It would take us an hour to get to the hospital from where we were and was largely the reason why Takei wasn’t too thrilled about staying here. Still, it made for a nice scenic ride to the heart of the city. You really got a sense of the distinct differences that a magical world that paralleled the real one held.

The biggest one I noticed was anything that even remotely had some sort of engine. One might think it was a simple transition from traditional energy sources to magical ones… and they would be right. Since the majority of the population could use null magic it seemed like everyone took it upon themselves to power their own shit. It was commendable in a way… and painful in others. If the tanks? Containers? Vessels? Err, whatever they were using to store magical energy wasn’t hooked up right then other methods were required.

“Come on, you piece of junk! Start already!”

Even in a janky magical world there was still some asshole in a leather vest kicking the shit out of his ride.

I was feeling more at home by the hour.

Unfortunately we opted to take the train again. I was a bit miffed since the one thing that caught my eye was the shmorgishborg of flying apparti that dotted the skyline. Flying vehicles, riding animals and even the classic flying carpet seemed to be available to those more magically inclined… or simply could afford the more streamline form of travel. How tragic it was that the Yukihana’s poor financial state forced them to become more economical.

Between Light Magic and Null Magic I was struggling to form a solid idea on how I could fly. Unlike Yasue I didn’t have a broken teleportation power. If I did I’d have no problems sneaking off for training where Nobuo couldn’t find me. Hell, if not for the fact I knew that psycho Devon Sharpe wasn’t waiting to abduct me I would have just taken off from the Yukihana and never looked back.

Yes, I could effectively say now that I had my bearings again. While I had been here for less than a year I felt confident enough that I’d have no trouble cutting out my own little life on my own. With the crap I put up with everyday making that risk more and more tantalizing. I just wasn’t cut out for a life in a small rural town… or you know, being stuck in an elementary school class.

That place was still hell.

When we were nearing the heart of the city it was then I finally got a good vantage point of the biggest eye catcher in this new Tokyo. Stated as the tallest building in this world I could only agree as the top of it was well above the clouds. An engineering piece like this was only possible due to the use of magic. Without it I had no doubt it would have fallen due to the sheer absurdity of it and the natural earthquakes that frequently hit this archipelago nation.

The World Citadel.

That’s what it was referred to as. Not technically owned by the Japanese government due to it being a joint venture by the United Nations to be a hub for nations to gather and stand as equals in a world where Magic and anything related to Magic was regulated. Which came back to the number ten. The Citadel was actually made up of ten massive spires that were connected together in a circular shape. It’s said that the highest ranking bodies in the world meet on some sort of connecting platform at the top of the building. A location I only ever got to see in cutscenes and would have likely been the final stage for the final fight.

Sure as hell beat facing the final boss in the middle of night during a snowstorm without a jacket.

Thanks Sharpe.

On top of being the antithesis to a fantasy game, the Citadel also has the cliché purpose of laying right on top of a large vein of this world’s ley line. While Magic inhabits all living creatures there are places where the density of that energy is stronger than others. Very old forests, certain mountains, and even certain bodies of water have a higher concentration as well. Not to the extent of a ley line though. If I had to draw the lines on a map it would at best look like a janky strand of DNA that ran almost perpendicular to the parallel lines of the world. Like strands of DNA they eventually intersect at points making five spots in the world where the concentration of Magic was strongest.

Like Japan there were also similar towers meant to siphon and control the points of the ley lines. All of them are equally jointly controlled by the international community. The only reason why Japan was stated to be more popular – besides the meta reason of being a Japanese game – was that the amount of earthquakes in the region made access to the vein much more accessible without all the energy essentially blasting a moon-sized chunk out of the Earth.

The possibilities of that being a driving force for the main antagonists of the game.

Most prominent graduates from the academy eventually go on to work at the Citadel. Not surprising they would try to pick the cream of the crop before they graduated – both for good and bad reasons. In the game you can only learn the highest grade spells from there and craft items that far exceed anything you’ll find from hunting monsters or exploring dungeons.

As far as I was concerned the place was just one big powder keg. The entirety of the game centered around it in one way or another and that meant it would draw unnecessary attention to anyone with a lick of potential. Not to toot my own horn but it was only because of how poorly treated Hisato was in the game that made him fly under the radar. I already lost that luxury. No doubt Devon wouldn’t reveal my existence to anyone who wasn’t already wrapped around his finger. From the series I already knew the major players. That probably only made up a small fraction of his associates. In a city of nearly thirty million people it left a lot of room for healthy paranoia.

DING DONG!

“Attention passengers. We are now arriving at Hikari station. Please ensure all your belongings have been collected before your departure. Thank you and have a good day.”

“The Hospital isn’t far from here,” Takei said, making sure he had a firm grasp of Toki’s hand. “We’ll stay until around lunch time and then head out to see some sights in the afternoon. Sound good?”

“Yes,” Toki mumbled

“Ya, good with me.”

I was hoping that the hospital might reveal some insights into Light Magic. The [The Ten Aspects of Magic] only gave an overview of all types of magic with spells that only touched upon the mid-rank at best. My [Nightsbane] Spell being the highest ranking Light Magic spell in the book. Since it was so rare more advanced spells were needed from more dedicated sources. So on top of checking out Aunt Yukiko’s condition I would be sure to snag a spell book or two.

Like Takei claimed, the massive building located in the heart of the district was only two blocks away from the station. The amount of people moving about was staggering even for my standards as many were likely going to the Hospital for treatment. Good times and bad, the medical profession was hounded. Something I wouldn’t get sucked into just because I had an affinity for Light Magic.

Twenty stories tall and glass panels with a few lighting up in yellow flashes from the familiar sight of Light Magic. Following the gaggle of people ahead of us we stepped through the automatic doors and I finally found myself truly in awe of how grand the Hospital was. It looked state of the art and seemed more like a research centre rather than some place that practiced the mystical arts of healing.

“Come on, Hisato-kun. Try to stick with me so you don’t get lost.”

I licked my lips.

“Oh don’t worry, I won’t.”

[LH]

Seventy three.

That was the number of hands Cecelia had shaken in the last hour. More to come if the number of people shooting glances her way were evidence of that. It had become a habit of hers to determine how comfortable a person was with being in social gatherings. She didn’t know why she did it – only starting after a very scary looking man took her hand once and she could feel it trembling. A certain shyness that she had felt right up until the point where their hands met.

Between traveling, meeting dignitaries, looking cute for special events and trying to keep up with her private tutor she felt like these moments were her own little slices of freedom. Her physical actions and behaviors were restricted since birth. A weight that made the heaviest metals seem almost bubbly in comparison. Like their families name sake; Everything was expected to be done to its maximum limit. No matter how difficult things became.

“It is truly an honor to have you help host this event, Princess Cecelia.” A firm, yet telling grasp from the man in front of her told all she needed to know about him. Even when it was customary for a man of his culture to bow this show of deference to someone a fraction of his age was more to kowtow to her status than actual interest that a kid her age would be standing in the way of his life's work.

Well, she wasn’t some ordinary kid.

“To you as well, Gouki-san,” she replied back in fluent Japanese, pulling her hand away as she added to her count. “However I am only here in an observatory capacity. It’s my older brother that you must thank for all our donations to the Gala.”

“W-Wow. I’ve heard rumors that you’ve excelled in your studies. I have no doubt you’ll be considering Shinzōhoshi when you come of age, correct? ”

It was a loaded question. There had already been pressure from multiple parties – the Japanese government included – that insisted she attend the academy. As the Brighton Kingdom was situated on top of one of the five intersecting points of the ley line, certain arrangements had to be made for the sake of political alliances. Since no one nation could monopolize the ley lines for themselves these arrangements largely depended on how accessible the Intersection was.

Since the Brighton Intersection was the weakest of the five and difficult to access safely it gave them more autonomy in how it was used. It was how they were able to remain a Kingdom in an age where other forms of governments formed after ages of enlightenment. Making the Lockwood Family one of the singularly powerful families in the world.

Which in turn put a great deal of responsibility on them, youngest child or not.

“Yes. I’m looking forward to it, Gouki-san. Perhaps I’ll get a chance to see it while I’m here.”

The man’s smile widened, a gleam shining through his dark brown eyes. “I have a nephew who’s not much older than you who's already attending the academy. Perhaps you’d like a tour from someone who can tell you first hand what it's like? He’d be more than happy to do it?”

It took everything she had not to sneer at the brazenness of this man’s intentions. Simply excluding the fact that this nephew was at least five years older than her, she had no interest in any sort of arranged marriages or similar proposals. She was only attending Japan's premier academy because her relatives had been selected to attend schools where the other three intersections were located. Simply be the process of elimination and being the youngest that she didn’t get to pick. If she had the choice she’d much rather study abroad in America like her brother had. Much less structure and more freedom to do what you wanted.

Japan had an unspoken structure and social order to it that was not dissimilar to the Brighton Kingdom. A level of monotony and a sense of safety that made this small country seem like it would only try to restrict her even further. She had only grown more envious over the years as she saw her siblings act more and more independent. Even at a young age she knew that the trappings of the royal family were not for her. So until she came of age she just had to bear with it until her older brother took the throne.

Speaking of which…

“I was also hoping to speak to the Prince privately later on. Do you know when he has free time in his schedule? Perhaps I could broach the subject of the private tour so you can both go.”

Straining her face with her smile she made sure to tow the line between politeness and a stern message that she wanted nothing to do with this person she had just met. “I apologize, Gouki-san, I’m afraid our itinerary is planned weeks in advance and that we’d need special approval from the King to make any changes. My brother will be especially busy with the Gala. I’m sure as one of the program directors you’ll be busy as well.”

“Y-Yes but… I’m sure there is some room to–”

“–Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I thank you all for coming to this event and taking time out of your schedules to be here. I’d like to start off by asking everyone to find their seats before the guest of honor starts us off.”

Mercifully the MC saved her at just the right moment to finally put this meet and greet to an end. “Thankyou Gouki-san. Perhaps we’ll speak another time.” She didn’t wait for any further response knowing her older brother would scold her for leaving him alone on stage for too long.

Her ‘official’ role here was just to smile and wave during the Gala. It was her older brother, Farrow Lockwood, that was taking this event as a sort of political debut now that he had finished his schooling abroad. This event was immensely important to Farrow as it would reflect on his chances to someday take the throne and show what kind of leader he would become.

She couldn’t fathom the amount of pressure that was on him.

In lieu of that she shuffled past the guards blocking the backstage of the venue, tucking under the heavy red curtains to slip in behind her brother without any fanfare. She could see him pacing back and forth in the dimly lit prep area, going over his speech once more and even penciling something out. By now the neatly printed words were now littered with a jumble of amendments and changes. Farrow wanted to give his speech in Japanese rather than English – something that he wasn’t required to do as he hadn’t been required to learn it like she had to.

It would be an impressive attempt if he pulled it off. She had helped him with his grammar and the different dialects. His jumble of a speech was now something presentable to a crowd that was more interested in gaining his favor even if he butchered their language. Right now it seems to be more nerves than just the actual speech that will get in his way. Not that she doubted it would stop Farrow from doing a good job.

He had already given such speeches before in languages she could barely make heads or tales of.

“You should really relax, Farrow. You’re even making me nervous and I just have to stand there.”

“Lucky you.” Her brother let out a sigh, glancing at the speech one last time before crumpling it up and throwing it into a nearby rubbish bin. “Well, if you somehow messed that up I would certainly feel better. Ha!”

“Hardly! Lets not forget it’s you that has two left feet most of the time. Besides, I’m not the one who's been up for the last two days. You’re completely knackered over a speech when we have even gotten to the main event yet.”

Farrow laughed even more, straightening his tie in the adjustable mirror provided to them before going on stage. “Too true. Well, at least this trip will be a short one. After the gala it's straight home for some down time.”

“For you maybe. I still have school work that my tutors gave me. Marie said I’d need to get it done before I’m even allowed to turn on a T.V.” This trip was the only ‘break’ she was going to get for a while before the main school year started up.

With a gesture, Farrow stepped up just to the threshold of the stage. She took her place behind him. Like many times before she would try to keep her presence in the spotlight limited and obscure to keep interest focused more on her siblings. Common sense told her that the more everyone was focused on them the less they would notice her.

To her credit it had actually panned out so far.

“Ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce our benefactor for this event and special guest making this all possible, Brighton Kingdom’s own Prince Farrow Lockwood!” With this applause erupted in the room, queuing them to walk out. The stage lights blinded her for a moment, using Farrow’s back to guide her until she was half way towards the podium.

The MC, some middle aged plain looking woman, took a step back from the podium to give a customary bow to her brother. Farrow gave a similar gesture as was this nation’s custom before taking his place before the ballroom filled end to end with round tables packed with politicians, rich business executives and what she assumed to be someone from Japan’s own – albeit superfluous – royal family. To her they were no different from the old man that just tried to not so subtly proposition their relative to her.

When the applause died down Farrow began his speech. Like she expected he knocked the translation out of the park. Won’t he feel awkward when they go up and try to speak to him and find out how limited his Japanese actually is.

“I am most grateful for the warm welcome I have received. Truly Japan and her people have set a benchmark that the rest of the world will be looking to in how it conducts foreign relations. I wish I could say that I had more time to spend here – to truly experience the wonders and sights of this country but unfortunately my duties keep me on the move. So to get the most out of this as I can I will simply say I’m happy to keep this speech incredibly short…. You’re welcome.”

The audience laughed, not unimpressed by Farrow’s dry wit.

“To that end I would like to thank everyone who will be making this gala possible and to give a brief preview of what this gala shall entail.” With a subtle motion a large glass case was wheeled onto the stage from the other side. To guards standing on both sides as the cameraman who was televising the event panned onto the main showcase of the gala. “From the Kingdom of Brighton we present Japan and her people the Jewel of the Starry Sky; Asteria.”

The applause roared once more as the main showcase for the gala was on full display. As the name suggested a large crown shaped gemstone with three prongs glimmered under the stage lights. The gem was a shade darker than a typical black diamond but as specks of white light that would glow regardless of whether it was placed out in the sun or shoved into a pitch black container.

She was told when she was younger that Asteria was an ancient mana stone that the original Lockwood King crafted from the remnants of an demonic monster that used to swallow entire ships whole. Whether those legends were true or not really had no relevance as any story that came with it would have to be outrageous enough to match the gems' distinct features. Why Brighton was giving up such a precious gem still baffled her. Whatever they got in return for this must have been pretty amazing.

“Asteria, along with other precious mana stones donated and collected from the Brighton Kingdom, will be on display during the upcoming gala. Our hope is to give anyone who wishes to come see it a chance to get an up close look at Brighton’s pride and the gesture of cooperation between our nations. Until then… I wish you all a good evening and hope to see you all there.”

Farrow gave one last shallow bow as the audience applauded the end of his speech. Cameras flashed allowing a photo opportunity with the gala director and Farrow before he exited the stage. Once more this was only a preamble to the main event that would happen within a week’s time. The majority of the publicity for this donation would be at the event itself with what was calculated to be nearly a hundred billion Yen worth of mana stones on display.

She took a step behind her brother as he headed backstage – making sure to give a soft wave to the crowd as the last of the pictures were taken. The lights in the venue turned on as the MC turned over the event to the audience to enjoy and mingle. Which only meant more hands to shake and even more strained politics to dance around.

“So? Talk to anyone interesting here yet?” Farrow asked as he slumped down onto a chair. His nerves and focus now calmed to the point where he could focus more of his effort on teasing her. It amazed her how Brighton would continue with someone as eccentric as Farrow taking charge after their Father abdicated. “Anyone I should warn Mom and Dad about?”

“Ya right, speak for yourself.” She scoffed, not feeling the urge to rise to his playful jabs. All she wanted to do right now was return to the Embassy and have a long bath. Until then she would amuse herself the only way she knew how in situations like these. Already certain on one thing since coming to this tiny corner of the world. “There isn’t anyone in this country I feel the need to talk to.”

[LH]

“Just go up and talk to her man. All you're doing is giving every other guy a chance to sweep her off her feet.”

“You say that but how much time does he really have even if Yasue does go out with her… let alone be relegated to the empty abyss of the friend zone.”

“True, very true. It honestly amazes me he is still here for more than ten minutes. This must truly be a rare occasion that our dear friend has graced us with his presence long enough for our food to reach us. Perhaps… Perhaps he is in a dire situation.”

“Dire? You mean he’s dying! By God you’re right, Habiki-kun! It was only a matter of time before he started wasting away. Perhaps these are the last days of our dear friend and now we must honor him by remembering all the good times we’ve shared together.”

“Indeed, allow me to start then, Tachibana-kun! Let us not forget the time he bought us tickets to the newest Magic Rangers movie only to leave before the intro started. Great movie with great reviews… which Yasue read a week later.”

“Oh and let us not forget there was also that time last he bugged us for a whole week trying to get us to show up to karaoke, only to sing half a song, leave for three hours and come back to listen to the last half of the final one. Fortunately it was the same song so at least he can say he participated in the event.”

“How fortunate then that the time we planned a trip to the beach he showed up two hours early and still somehow had to leave right as the girls from class showed up.”

“How is that fortunate, Habiki-kun? It seemed like he missed the best parts.”

“Oh he did… I just meant there were more girls for us.”

“Ah! Too true. Not that Yasue-kun would have talked to them anyway.”

The cool laminate of the table was the only pleasant sensation Yasue could rightly say he was enjoying at the moment. Everything else… Eating junk food, listening to his ‘friends’ make fun of his frequent absences and stealing glances from his long-time crush sitting at a table with her friends on the other side of the restaurant… Well, those were hit or miss at the moment. He really wanted to refute those claims but he had no room to defend himself when they were jokingly stating facts.

The only reason he even had the time to mull about like this instead of courier something for his family was solely because he lied to them about going to a mandatory school function. It wasn’t something he did often so they wouldn’t be suspicious and only when he knew that the jobs he was being tasked with were of low priority.

After nearly four years of doing such jobs he could honestly say he knew which clients were the ones he’d rather not piss off.

“Tehehe! So what happened then?” He jolted when he heard his longtime crush, Kumi Harada, ask one of her friends. She had the sweetest voices he had ever heard and would have no problem picking it out from a large crowd. Not just that but the way the the end of her dark reddish hair would curl slightly at the ends making it bounce as she turned her head always caught his eye. Her small figure was just so adorable he had a hard time wondering how she managed to get through the dungeon at school.

Not that he has ever worked up the nerve to ask her. They had been in the same class since first year. Now they were going into their final year and each day that he could be spending his time with her at school seemed to be slipping away. After next year they would be going onto their careers or potentially getting a chance to further their education at the Citadel. While he wasn’t sure if Kumi had the grades or aptitude for the latter, he knew he did with his rare affinity for Space/Time Magic. He didn’t really have any interest in furthering his education or taking on any offers that the Citadel offered unless the money was good.

He would rather keep life simple and make use of powers by doing what he had already been doing for his family. There was good money in transporting goods and he knew many would be interested in his abilities. It was simply better for him to strike out on his own – making his own hours and charging his own rates. His Magic was based on the freedom to go anywhere. He felt that being an entrepreneur was the best to exemplify it.

‘When you’re able to set your own schedule then you know you’ve become a success.’

He smiled, almost laughing to himself. As funny as it sounded it was his little bro that spurred him down this path. Before Hisato showed up he felt like he would be working for his family until the day he died. As bleak as that sounded it seemed normal to him until he started coming to Tokyo for school. A lot of people in Honorobe just took over the roles that their parents held. Simple and very outdated.

‘Supporting your family doesn’t mean catering to their every whim.’

Too simple and outdated for him to consider anymore, no matter what his parents and relatives said. He loved them dearly but he had his own life to live.

“So that’s the girl Yasue pines for… she’s cuter than I thought.”

Speak of the devil…

“Huh? Who is this kid?” Habiki asked.

Almost doing a double take, Yasue had never expected to run into anyone from his family in Tokyo. Yet, poking his head over the end of their table was his little cousin, grinning wolfishly like he did when he found something amusing. Sitting up, he slid down the booth to let Hisato sit with them. “Hey Little Bro. what brings you to our neck of the woods?”

Hisato picked up a menu, eyeing it up and down before answering. “Me? I was visiting Aunt Yukiko with Uncle Takei and Toki. Got hungry – didn’t want to eat hospital food and found myself wandering around until I saw you getting raked over the coals by your friends.”

“Ah that’s right.” He had heard that Cousin Takei had planned to take Hisato and Toki to see Cousin Yukiko in the hospital at some point during the Spring Break. He just didn’t think it would be now of all time. Any other time he would love to show his little bro around but since he wasn’t supposed to be here himself it might raise questions should Takei spot him. “Does Cousin Takei know you wandered off?”

“Does Grampy know you're at a ‘school function’ right now.”

“Erm! I retract my previous statement.”

“Smart.”

He should have known better than to play games with Hisato.

“Oho! So this is the genius cousin you keep talking about.” Tachibana said, adjusting his square framed glasses in a vain attempt to hide his wicked smile. “I hear you have quite the affinity for Light Magic… Especially with its… visual applications.”

“Ah, you must be Tachibana-sempai,” Hisato held his hand out to his friend, prompting to shake it in some sort of twisted greeting/show of respect, “You have no idea how much my life opened up since Yasue relayed to me your hint for ‘adjusting’ my Magic Plate.”

“Always happy to inspire the younger generation to explore the more intricate aspects of magic.”

“That’s good to hear. Perhaps I’ll hit you up some time and I can get more inspiration.”

“Sure, only if you spill some juicy details about Yasue though.”

“...It’s a deal.”

Their business handshake then concluded.

Yasue palmed his face. He just knew that these two meeting here would spell all kinds of trouble in the future. Something Hisato had no problem doing on his own. Tachibana was a bit of a maverick in the academy already. He was pretty sure his friend was still on probation for practicing spells that had been deemed… hazardous to anyone within a ten kilometer radius.

So better to just nip this in the bud before his friends start probing for questions about his home life that he would rather not share with anyone. He knew Hisato had no qualms about sharing such details if it suited him. Stuff he would much rather not talk about when Kumi was sitting only a few feet away. Yet before he could try to convince them to leave, Hisato seemed to swerve the conversation away with something pretty heavy.

“While it’s fun to rile him up, there is something I need to say.” His little cousin’s tone became firm, hands folding together until they became white and the boy’s green eyes turned as fierce as Uncle Komuro’s. “Yasue… I’m not sure anyone has ever told you this and I’m glad your friends are here to hear this as well.”

“W-What is it?”

“After visiting Aunt Yukiko… The amount of resources that this endeavor has cost… Well, I can rightly say that she is only still alive because you’ve sacrificed so much of yourself to make that happen. If you hadn’t…”

Never been told something like this is right. Everyone who was affiliated with the Yukihana chipped in a significant portion of their earnings to keep Cousin Yukiko on life support. Not knowing if or when she’ll recover. It was just a natural thing to do that no one seemed to recognize the sacrifice of it since it was just that. Natural and not worthy of commenting. Perhaps since Hisato had an outside perspective that the boy could recognize it.

All the same, it was nice to see his friends gain a bit of perspective to why he was absent for so long.

“No. That’s… it’s no big deal, I just–”

“–However, this is no longer sustainable.”

“...What?” His breath hitched. The words took a few moments to process before he could respond. “No longer sustainable? What the hell are you talking about?”

“At best, Aunt Yukiko only has one, maybe two years left before all the Light Magic in the world won’t be able to stop her body from degrading past the point of recovery. I’m not certain why but I think the Doctors at the Hospital are stringing him along.” From inside his hoodie his little cousin placed a pile of papers on the table.

“These are medical files,” Tachibana analyzed, flipping through some of them. “You know stealing personal medical files is a crime right?”

“It’s a good thing these are just copies and that they’ll be nothing but ashes after we leave.”

Habiki held one up, glancing through the contents of one of the pages. His other friend was by no means a eccentric magic user like Tachibana but already had limited medical training due to taking the electives for it at the academy. “This says here that the illness is likely magical in nature.” He grabbed another sheet. “This one as well.”

“They all do,” Tachibana concurred. “Yasue-kun, I thought you said the doctor’s didn’t know what illness was keeping your Cousin in a coma? It seems like they know fully well that this isn’t an isolated case.”

“They don’t… at least they didn’t tell me.”

The better question was whether Cousin Takei knew. By his count there were forty pages on the table – all seemingly from the same symptoms. What did this mean then? They were supposedly paying a fortune to the Doctors in Tokyo to find out what was wrong with Yukiko and they always came back with ‘still uncertain’. Hisato was right, it seems. They were being lied to. But why?

No, before that, there was another question he wanted to probe his friends. “What does the cause of Cousin Yukiko’s coma being magical in nature mean?”

“It means there are two options,” Habiki stated, holding out two fingers. “It’s either internal or external.”

“If it was internal there would be something within their bodies that the Doctors would have found,” Tachibana continued, “but nothing here states there is anything physically wrong with the patients. So it’s likely this is external. Either way they likely didn’t reveal this information out of fear that it could cause a panic.”

“I still don’t understand. Is that good or bad?”

“Well…” Both his friends looked at each, neither didn’t seem to know the question to that either. This just seemed like a lot of heavy information dumped on them that only raised even more questions. Questions he would be bringing up to the rest of the family as soon as he got back. This demanded immediate action.

“It’s bad,” Hisato answered following the pregnant pause. “The answer is staring you in the face and you don’t see it. It’s not what's similar about each patient that holds the answer but rather what's different about them.”

“What’s different about them?” Tachibana echoed. “Well… a lot of things, actually; A wide range of ages, all living in different prefectures, with varying skills and affinities of magic. They’re quite diverse if I’m really being honest.”

“Too diverse,” Hisato corrected. “That’s the point though. They were chosen at random to throw off any sort of pattern. To make the doctors think it’s an environmental piece they’re missing. That’s the genius of it though, or rather, of whom.”

“Wait, Little bro, you don’t mean…”

“They aren’t patients… they’re victims.”

His eyes went wide. He covered his mouth as he tried to hide his utter shock as this was revealed. Of all the things they considered when Cousin Yukiko suddenly collapsed, not showing any prior symptoms… All it did was leave them speculating until this very day. The notion that this sudden tragedy wasn’t natural but actually manufactured alluding them until now.

His friends placed the sheets back down on the table, leaning in while keeping their eyes around to the other patrons who were sitting adjacent to them. While they didn’t have a major stake in this these two had fought beside him in the academy dungeons. They had fought with their lives on the line together. No doubt they would back him up in this no matter how far it was taken.

“You’re thinking it’s some sort of Forbidden Magic?” Tachibana probed. Broaching such topics in public was lesson one for academy students. Such things only brought chaos and panic to the public at large. The greatest terrorist in their world’s history used forbidden magic and demonic items to kill countless people.

Hisato nodded. “Exactly that. Which unfortunately ties our hands. It’s likely this isn’t a spell since the caster would have run out of magic at some point and at least some of the victims would have shown some signs of recovery.”

“Which only leaves an artifact of some kind,” Yasue finally concluded, knowing full well the scope and power they held as someone who was trained to fight and contain monsters as a member of the Yukihana. “They could be anywhere then? Anyone be responsible. In the whole damn world! It’s worse than trying to find a needle in a fucking haystack!”

Slumping back, Yasue ran his fingers violently through his wild hair. Everything was now starting to make sense. The problem now was how to unpack all this? How could he go about revealing this when it seemed like the government that was backing the hospital was trying to hide this? He knew his family would raise all kinds of hell trying to find the person responsible for this to justice and to try and undo the curse on Cousin Yukiko. That would only force the one responsible underground. Making it nearly impossible to find which was magnified simply by how intelligent Hisato had alluded them to be.

He turned to his younger Cousin, seeing the confidence still remaining in his eyes as he had flinched in this startling revelation. He couldn’t help but feel like Hisato already had some sense on how to fix this mess. Not truly understanding where that belief came from within him beyond once more bearing witness to the younger boy’s fierce intellect. If Hisato had a solution to put the greatest struggle the Yukihana was facing behind them once and for all then he wanted to help.

His eyes caught his friends, both relaying the same message.

“What do you need us to do, Little bro?”

Hisato’s wolfish grin returned in full force. “I won’t lie to you and say this will be easy. Nor will this be a quick task. We have time and I intend to use it. First though I need your friends to go and copy the important information from these files before disposing of them – In code would be best. I’m not certain whether the Hospital will know if they have been copied or not so it's better to be cautious.”

“Not a problem,” Habiki stated, taking roughly half the files. “We’ll start doing some research as well – discreetly of course.”

“Ya, let's head out and get started then,” Tachibana said, taking the rest. “Who knows, maybe if we help catch the one responsible and wake Yasue-kun’s Cousin up he’ll actually have some free time. Heh!”

When the two left, heading in opposite directions with the files stuffed in their bags it left him looking to his Little Bro for his role. “And what about me?”

“You? Well that depends on whether you’re truly on board or not.”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I–”

“–I mean, are you prepared to go against Grampy on this?” Hisato asked, glaring at him. This wasn’t the first time his Little Bro had asked him for favors that would have put him in hot water with his Uncle. Opting for the better safe than sorry outlook. So to some degree he could understand why Hisato was asking for some sort of commitment. “Are you willing to risk your thumbs as you always seem to put it?”

He raised both his thumbs. “For Cousin Yukiko, they’re yours.”

“Good then I have a task for you. I need you to wait outside the academy for me and act surprised to see me when I get there. Can you do that?”

Perplexed but not completely caught off guard by such a strange request he nodded affirmatively. That being the case he still bothered to ask. “Sure. Why though?”

“Why?” Hisato shot a glance to the other side of the restaurant to where Kumi sat with her friends, unaware of the heavy conversation that just occurred. The gleam in his little Cousin’s eyes only made him start to regret what he just gave up his thumbs for. A sweet yet devious smile stretching from ear to ear. “I’m going to help you get a girlfriend, of course.”