Chapter 97

As in the past, Tatsuya and Miyuki welcomed New Years for 2096 AD together.

This year, their father also spent the evening at dwelling of his first love. This actually did not make the situation more awkward for Tatsuya and Miyuki, so there were no complaints.

Neither Tatsuya nor Miyuki were the type to laze about on the holidays. Tatsuya rose at the usual time for school and waited at the threshold for Miyuki, only raising his head when he heard her call out "Sorry for the wait".

Wearing a long-sleeved, crimson kimono with white flowers, Miyuki gracefully descended down the stairs.

The pearly skin, unadorned with any extraneous makeup, only served to heighten the brilliant red around her succulent lips.

Her silky tresses done up with a hairpin may give off a childish feeling, but that only served to bring out the unique allure of a young maiden in the midst of the mature wardrobe.

In addition, what drew the eyes was not just the products of nature.

Kimonos of the past were designed to confine the chest area, whereas modern designs incorporated a 3-D cut off method. However, the traditional kimono Miyuki wore miraculously tightened the bust and waist area while still keeping with tradition and maintaining a modest appearance.

The breathtaking sight of the world's cutest younger sister -- these were Tatsuya's true feelings -- appeared to be seeking her older brother's praise.

"Hm, simply beautiful."

Standing in front of his sister while she was putting on her shoes, Tatsuya held nothing back with his praise.

Miyuki's face immediately flushed crimson.

"Seriously, Onii-sama...

Don't tease me any more."

Despite her embarrassment, she did not shift her gaze and playfully pouted at her brother. A lesser man with a weaker immune system would have been annihilated instantly.

"I am not joking in the slightest...

Well, let's be off."

To be able to be the master of himself even under such conditions, no wonder Tatsuya was the Onii-sama who had lived together with Miyuki for the past 16 years (to be precise, it was the past 15 years and 9 months).

There was an automated car parked outside the door. Nonetheless, an automated vehicle did not imply that no one was on board. The four seater car had an adult male and adult female sitting in the back row.

"Happy New Year, master."

"Happy New Year, Kokonoe-sensei. Please take care of us in the coming year as well."

Seeing Tatsuya's simplistic greeting and Miyuki's decorous bow, Yakumo replied with a cheerful smile of his own.

"Aya, you're even more beautiful than usual. Almost as if the divine descended from heaven. If they saw Miyuki today, even the fairies of Sumeru would hide their faces in shame."

On some level, this was a response filled with Yakumo's unique flavor.

"Master...

I don't think that is what you're supposed to say."

The one who retorted so was the woman next to him.

Seeing that someone stole a march on him, Tatsuya slightly lowered his head to the woman before Yakumo could fire back a response.

"Ono-sensei, Happy New Year. Still, would it be alright if someone saw you with master?"

"Happy New Year, Shiba-kun. First day of the new year and this unpleasant already."

Originally, Tatsuya was truly getting a little worried, but it appeared that Haruka was already getting sick of him. Thinking back to his usual behavior and previous run-ins, Tatsuya shrugged as he came to the conclusion that "being misunderstood couldn't be helped".

"Meeting sensei here was purely coincidental. Today, I am serving as your guide."

"I see, so that's how it is. Still, if calling a high school student a guide is a little pushing it... Then that earlier honorific "sensei" may be a little problematic."

At Tatsuya's words, Haruka furrowed her brows from the back seat.

Indeed, for a modern high school student, a single day visit to the shrine did not necessitate an adult chaperon.

Simply put, a "guide" was just an excuse, as the actual purpose was for them to "accompany" them.

Furthermore, even for random bystanders, since he was not a faculty member, using the honorific "sensei" may easily lead to terrifying delusions that lay in perilous territory.

"Let's think about it as we go. Shouldn't we be leaving now?"

Miyuki made this suggestion after Tatsuya opened the car door. Without paying any heed to the ruminating Haruka, Tatsuya waited until Miyuki boarded the vehicle, closed the door, and took his seat in the driver's seat. After Tatsuya closed the door, the car automatically took off.

After switching onto the train at the station despite unprecedented attention, the four of them got off at the meeting place again under intense scrutiny and walked for five minutes.

"Hey, Miyuki, you look great!"

This was the first sentence that greeted Tatsuya and Miyuki at the meeting place. Wearing a leather jacket over her long dress, Mizuki was gazing at Miyuki mesmerized. To the side, even Tatsuya was under suspiciously warm scrutiny.

"Happy New Year, Shiba-kun. Your attire suits you, however unexpected."

Dressed in a kimono just like Miyuki, Honoka seemed to be slightly cowed by her classmate's loveliness, but upon catching sight of Tatsuya's plain but altogether different aura, her heartbeat spiked and she immediately took on a coy smile.

"Happy New Year. Honoka looks great too."

Tatsuya wasn't just offering empty flattery. He honestly believed that Honoka's kimono was exquisite.

Tatsuya smiled slightly at the ecstatic Honoka and lowered his gaze to his own clothes.

"Since you mentioned this was unexpected, do I really look that out of place?"

"What are you talking about, Tatsuya, it fits you quite well. You look like a boss."

"So I'm the mafia now."

The one who interjected with this comment that was unknown to be whether in earnest or jest happened to be the jacket-clad Leo.

The three who joined them at the shrine were Mizuki, Honoka, and Leo. Erika and Mikihiko were unable to spare themselves due to the high number of disciples at their respective families, and Shizuku was about to study abroad and was unable to attend due to her father's business.

"Although you don't look like the mafia, but it's definitely a rare sight to see a high school student wear a haori hakama so well."

"Rather than being from the mafia, you look more like a police chief."

Just as the slightly tardy Haruka and Yakumo said, today Tatsuya wore the traditional Japanese hakama and bamboo clogs. Much like what Honoka and Leo said afterward, he really did look the part. The only thing missing was a pair of swords and a police baton.

"Ho, Haruka-san. Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Ono-sensei.

...Tatsuya-kun, and this is?"

Immediately on the heels of Leo's well wishes, Honoka also followed up with her customary greeting towards a teacher as she kept one eye on Yakumo and the other eye carefully watching Tatsuya.

Upon hearing Tatsuya's introduction, both Honoka and Mizuki widened their eyes in shock. Honoka was aware of Yakumo's name, but even Tatsuya was amazed to learn that Mizuki had heard of Yakumo as well.

"I see, so that's why we're at the shrine."

Tatsuya was amazed by Leo's display of hitherto unknown depths, but this was in no way meant to be derogatory towards Leo.

"So?"

Given that Haruka was unaware of the link, this definitely wasn't common knowledge.

"Hm? When it comes to Buddhist monks, wouldn't they be monks from the Tiantai school of Buddhism? The Sanno faith and inner sect is practically inseparable."

Hearing Tatsuya's simplistic explanation that was phrased as a question for some reason, the number of question marks floating around Haruka's head only increased.

"I say, you're quite knowledgeable despite your youth. I believe you are Saijou Leonhardt-kun?"

Ignoring the completely confused Haruka, Yakumo happily struck up a conversation with Leo.

"Eh? Do you know me?"

Faced with someone he met for the first time, Leo responded in a rather serious tone.

"That's because I watched the recordings for the Nine Schools Competition."

Yet, Yakumo's response was also a perfectly serious, uninhibited response, but that only caused Leo to furrow his brows on reflex. This was probably because the image of him wearing a cloak and hood that belonged in a different age and location was likely a memory that would stay with him no matter how badly he wanted to forget it.

After the mutual introductions were finished, the five students and the bald man (in a normal male kimono and not the kasaya) and the young woman walked towards the shrine together. -- Fortunately, no one inquired the reason why Haruka came along.

The scenery lining the path remained unchanged over the past 100 years. However, this scenery was only possible after the world food crisis had passed. This was a scene that moved anyone of advanced age who lived through that time, but Tatsuya and company had nothing to be emotional about.

Without any curved paths, up on a long flight of stairs, past the threshold, they arrived at in the courtyard of the shrine. There, Tatsuya abruptly noticed a pair of eyes gazing this way.

This was not an impolite gaze stalking them, but a pair of peeping eyes that occasionally glanced this way.

"Shiba-kun, is something up?"

"No."

"I gather the foreigners are rather curious about Tatsuya's wardrobe."

Despite the disguise, there was no way to escape Yakumo's eyes. Even Tatsuya discovered the source without using Elemental Sight and, excluding Haruka for the moment, it was guaranteed that Yakumo would notice.

The "foreigner" Yakumo spoke of was a model young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Still, in this day and age, just this alone may be insufficient to determine foreign ancestry. Nevertheless, that young woman's features gave a hint of Japanese descent.

Her age was roughly the same as Tatsuya. After taking into account the differences between white and Asian peoples, the differential would be slight, Tatsuya thought.

"Onii-sama, what are you looking at?"

While Tatsuya only observed the young lady for less than a second, this was enough to rouse Miyuki's attention.

Following her brother's gaze, her eyes glinted as an "Oh" passed her lips

"...What a beautiful child."

Miyuki softly expressed her internal thoughts.

In Miyuki's eyes, that young woman was a gorgeous young lady who fully deserved the description "beautiful".

Her hair and eyes were both brilliant in color. On some level, she had the features that rivaled even Miyuki herself.

Regardless, Tatsuya was not observing her for these reasons.

He sent an inquiring look to Yakumom for help -- but seeing Yakumo's highly entertained smirk, he was forced to defuse the situation on his own.

Tatsuya held his sister's gaze while replying to her complaint in an even tone.

"There's no way she can hold a candle to you."

"...You say that every time. Don't think you can always coax me with that."

While the literal words may seem like a vibrant counterattack, but her embarrassed visage that was flushed beet red undercut any threat behind her words.

"I'm not coaxing you, I truly think that way. Also, that's not the reason why I'm watching her."

"Seriously, Onii-sama."

Miyuki turned her face to one side upon discovering the hidden warning tucked in Tatsuya's words that could not be ignored.

"...

Is there something suspicious about her?"

"In terms of suspicious...

I suppose her wardrobe is a little suspicious."

Tatsuya replied with a wry tone. Because of this, Miyuki took another look at the young blond woman and finally realized what he was talking about.

She wore a bright tan coat over her pleated skirt along with striped pants and a pair of long boots. In truth, if that's all there was then this was not worthy of note. However, the length of her coat was approximately the same as her skirt, which was about 10 cm below the hips, so you could only see the bright patterns on the tip of the pleat skirt. In addition, she wore tall boots with a thick cushion that was highly elastic as well as practically see through lace leggings. To top off the ensemble, she carried a bag covered in artificial fur along with a soft hat with animal figures embroidered on the side. All in all, this made her stick out like a sore thumb when it came to modern fashion. It was almost as if she wore a combination of fashion designs from the pre-war Spice Girls. With this in mind, it was hardly amazing for Tatsuya to think that she was highly irregular.

Still, Miyuki knew that her brother wasn't truly paying attention to external appearances.

"But, that's not all there is to it."

Miyuki directed an altogether different, and more intent, gaze toward the young girl.

Maybe it was because she noticed that she had been discovered, the young girl started walking as if nothing had happened.

She was headed straight towards Tatsuya's group.

She silently passed next to them before departing down the long flight of stairs.

Still, the profound gaze sent this way as they rubbed shoulders was most definitely not Tatsuya's misconception.

◊ ◊ ◊

The infiltration mission assigned to Major Angelina Sirius also included blatant misdirection. Among them, the initial contact with the target also included allowing the target to catch a glimpse of herself, so this was successful. Although she was initially worried that hiding her own presence would prevent her target from discovering her, but this apparently was a groundless concern, just as her subordinate had said. Still, being discovered so easily didn't sit very well with her. Ruminating on this, Major Sirius returned and opened the door to the high class condo that served as her quarters for the duration of this mission.

"Welcome back."

Originally, Major Sirius believed that her roommate shouldn't have returned yet. However, contrary to her expectations, a welcoming response came from within the house.

"Silver, you're back."

The Major used her pet name to greet her adult roommate who intentionally met her at the door.

Her roommate was called Silvia Mercury First. Besides from her first name Silvia, the rest were all code names, meaning that she ranked first among the Stars planet-class "Mercury". Rank Warrant Officer. Twenty five years of age. She was a highly regarded female CO who attained the title of "First" at an early age. In the beginning, Silvia didn't want to join the military and intended to become a journalist after graduating from college. This time, her outstanding ability in data analysis prompted her selection as Major Sirius's support personnel.

"Silver?"

This talented roommate paid no heed to Sirius's words and just stared blankly at her. Feeling that something was awry, the major called out to her again before Silvia replied back her eyes still glued to the major.

"Lina...

What can I say about that getup?"

Lina was the pet name for Major Sirius. Given the requirements of the infiltration mission, it was vital to hide her identity and avoid terms like "High Commander" or "Major", hence why she was ordered to use her pet name Lina. Furthermore, Silvia originally possessed an unrestrained personality, so she quickly forgot about the differences in military rank and warmed up to Lina.

Although her word usage did not contain any honorifics when addressing a superior officer, Lina paid no heed whatsoever.

"Ah, you mean my appearance? In order to avoid notice, I spent some time investigating Japanese fashion magazines from the last century. It was really tiring. So, how do I look?"

"...Before I answer the question, may I present another?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Although Silvia was currently rubbing her temple with the appearance of a grievous headache, Lina didn't notice anything off.

"Don't you have a lot of problems walking around in those boots?"

"Indeed, I almost fell over quite a few times. I'm amazed that Japanese girls can walk around in these boots without twisting their ankle."

"Have you seen any girls wearing those kind of boots?"

The original question had now turned into two questions, but again Lina didn't notice.

"Hm? Now that you mention it, I don't think I have." Silvia's expression shifted from pained to helpless.

"Lina, allow me to put it bluntly. Those boots of yours were out of date a long time ago!"

"Eh~!?"

Lina's eyes widened in shock at Silvia's words. Seeing this reaction, Silvia's frustration finally exploded.

"What do you mean, eh! Not just the boots. The leggings and hat are also out of date. That's the fashion statement from 100 years ago! Also, your wardrobe doesn't fit very well and is completely unlike something a young girl would wear. There's no way you can walk outside without drawing attention."

Lina's facial expression became stiff upon hearing this reprimand, probably because she was aware of this herself. In reality, she did notice that she drew a lot of attention when she left this morning. Still, at the time this occurred, she thought this was only because the populace didn't see foreigners very often.

"No matter how badly you wanted to get the attention of the target...

Why the heck are you drawing attention from unimportant people as well?"

As if unable to hold it back any longer, Silvia gave a huge sigh of defeat.

"High Commander!"

The tone was very calm and steady, but Lina felt a cold bead of sweat trickle down her back.

"Today, the rest of your itinerary is canceled. Allow I, Mercury, to personally give you a simple and easy to understand explanation on the most up to date Japanese fashion."

Silvia made this declaration with both hands on her hips. While Lina vastly outranked Silvia in combat prowess, but for some reason she couldn't muster a single counter argument.

◊ ◊ ◊

After the brief but densely packed winter vacation, the third semester began.

"Densely packed" included taking Shizuku to the airport, where an unexpected "tearful departure" (starring: Honoka and Shizuku, co- starring: Miyuki and Mizuki) forced them into a corner (this wasn't something that could be solved with brute force), which served as a valuable life experience, but Tatsuya firmly believed that all this would eventually become nothing more than a "wonderful memory". -- At least, it would be too depressing if he didn't tell himself that.

Supposedly, the new transfer student taking Shizuku's place in Class A would be arriving today, but Tatsuya felt this matter didn't relate to him. While this person was going to be Miyuki's new classmate, so it's not like it's wholly unrelated, but there was enough degrees of separation that he didn't need to voluntary greet them.

Speaking of classes, starting on the first day of the third semester, the course schedule would last the entire day. While rumors of the mysterious transfer student in Class A would leak out the moment first period ended, Tatsuya didn't proactively seek them out and paid little attention to the rumors that drifted in one ear and out the other.

Nevertheless, his aloof attitude was decisively among the minority. During the break time after second period, even he was dragged into the rumor mill thanks to his overly curious friends.

"I hear it's an incredibly beautiful young lady."

Seeing the highly excited, or perhaps anticipatory look on Erika as she struck up a conversation finally caused Tatsuya to capitulate.

"She's got a head of luminous blond hair, even the upperclassmen are going to look."

"Erika didn't go catch a glimpse?"

At any rate, the basis for such a lively conversation was nothing more than rumors, which was somewhat of a concern for Tatsuya, prompting his interjection.

"There's a crowd of people there, so there's no way to get in."

"I know exactly where you are most concerned about."

The moment Leo jumped into the conversation, he already preemptively covered his head with one hand.

A second later, Leo was warbling like a frog that was off tune as he keeled over to the floor while clutching his throat.

(If you knew that was going to happen, then keep any unnecessary thoughts to yourself.)

Tatsuya stared in amazement at Leo, who had been rendered unconscious by the sudden jab to the throat by a rolled up notebook, while the person responsible, Erika, continued on as if nothing had happened.

"I am a girl after all~. No matter how pretty that girl is, I sure don't want to squeeze through that crowd."

While Tatsuya supported the idea of not venturing forth specifically to get a look, but her perspective that lumped curiosity and lust into one category would draw outrage from any male present.

"That's because this is a magic high school with no precedent for transfer students. Everyone would naturally be curious about students from abroad. After all, this hasn't occurred in the past 10 years."

"I'm not very clear on what happened in the past, but we're not the only one who received transfer students."

The one who interrupted was Mikihiko, who came fresh from the Geometry Preparation Room.

"Second High, Third High, and Fourth High all received short term transfer students. The universities also received people who came in the name of research. I heard this from the family disciples."

"Ah, I also heard about the university. With the incredible edge Flying-Type Magic lent to the military in the Yokohama incident, there are rumors that they are frantically trying to get more information from us."

Ancient Magic and modern magic belonged in separate fields. The Yoshida and Chiba Families both boasted high numbers of disciples, so naturally their level of information was superior to the norm. Apparently, the USNA had invested a surprisingly high amount of personnel. When coupled with the information regarding independent Stars movement he received in November, the situation looked to be grave indeed, Tatsuya thought.

"So the transfer student in Class A is a spy?"

"You moron..."

At the completely uninhibited question from the newly revived Leo, not just Erika, but even Mizuki and Mikihiko looked overcome.

"Leo-kun, you can think about those things, but don't say that

aloud..."

"As students, we have to at least maintain a cordial relationship..."

Despite suffering a double whammy from both Mizuki and Mikihiko, Leo still soldiered onward.

"Why would we need to do that, she's in Class A, isn't she? There's no connection, right?"

"You idiot, Miyuki is in Class A. That's the transfer student you see once in a blue moon along with the Student Council Vice President. Until the transfer student has fully acclimated to the school, Miyuki will at least have to watch over her for appearance's sake. So long as this impacts Miyuki, there's no way we can remain unrelated."

Erika immediately overruled Leo's rebuttal.

Unwilling to draw more trouble, Tatsuya inwardly sighed "What she said".

That "relationship" materialized faster than expected.

Nay, more like among the myriad possibilities, the earliest opportunity mercilessly manifested itself.

In the student cafeteria, the late arrivals were Miyuki, Honoka, and the young girl with blond hair and blue eyes. Upon seeing young girl, although Tatsuya was overly amazed, he still felt a little surprised.

The hair and eye color he had already heard about along with the rumors of great beauty. And if her beauty was all there was to it, then Tatsuya's nerves had already been honed by Miyuki. The source of his surprise came not from this, but because this was the same girl he saw at the shrine -- or more appropriately, the young girl he noticed at the shrine.

"Excuse me, may I sit with you?"

The young girl spoke fluent Japanese. Her heavy accent couldn't be helped, as expected of a transfer student studying abroad in Japan -- or an infiltrator disguised as a transfer student.

"Of course, please go ahead."

Her gaze swept over Tatsuya. Still, there was no need to put on any airs, so Tatsuya quickly acquiesed.

"Lina, let's go get a tray first."

"Tray...

Ah, you mean edibles. Understood."

Tatsuya's group had already obtained their food.

Under Miyuki's urging, the three of them walked towards the cafeteria counter.

And because of this, the ruckus surrounding the counter was greater than usual.

Overawed by that formation, the other students seemed to scamper out of the way faster than usual as well.

"Those two together are certainly a force to reckoned with~"

As a beautiful girl in her own right, but certainly not commanding such presence, Erika couldn't help but sigh in appreciation.

"They look like they're getting along quite well..."

Didn't they meet for the first time today, that was probably what Mizuki really wanted to say.

"Hey, Tatsuya...

I think I've seen her somewhere."

"Wow, old school, much?"

As soon as Leo opened his mouth to speak, Erika immediately broke in. Although she knew Leo was saying this because of the young girl's features, Erika still interposed because Leo's phrasing was too direct.

"...Now that you mention it, indeed."

"Eh, Shibata-san as well? Unless she's an artist or model...

But that's rather unlikely, right?"

As apparent from Mizuki's supporting comment, Mikihiko's words were pure speculation.

Of course, Tatsuya knew exactly what the truth of the matter was. Rather, the inability to recall such a conspicuously dressed young lady was even more astonishing. Just as Tatsuya hesitated whether to dispel his friends' bewilderment, the topic of their conversation had already returned with Miyuki.

Tatsuya felt a massive amount of eyes turned this way. While pretending to go about their business yet unable to contain their curiosity, gazes were resting on them from all four directions. Though Miyuki still drew the usual amount of stares, the number of surreptitious looks had increased substantially compared to usual.

"Sorry for the wait, Onii-sama."

As if wholly ignorant of these details, Miyuki sat next to Tatsuya as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

"Tatsuya-kun, allow me to make a few introductions."

Naturally, Honoka sat directly across from Tatsuya and spoke towards the young girl by her side.

"Angelina Kudou Schultz. You might have heard about this already, but she is the transfer student that will be joining us in Class A starting today."

Hearing Honoka's introduction, not only Tatsuya -- but the other three also revealed bemused expressions.

"Honoka, don't just face me, shouldn't you introduce everyone else?"

As the person in question, the transfer student espoused everyone's sentiments.

"Eh, ah, s-sorry!"

"...Well, that's our Honoka."

"Indeed, that's quite like Honoka."

Faced with Erika and Mizuki's commentary, which were more like barbs landing right on target, Honoka flushed red and was unable to speak a single word.

"Then, allow me to make introductions. This is Angelina Kudou Schultz from America."

After Miyuki made the second round of introductions, the transfer student's hair swayed slightly as she bowed slightly in her seat.

"Please call me Lina."

As she said this, her eyes slightly squinted as she revealed a dazzling smile.

Her blue pupils, not the color of water or ice, but reminded people of the sapphire of the sky -- azure.

The two wavy tresses on the sides of her head were secured by ribbons and, if released, would likely trail to waist length. They may be even longer than Miyuki's hair.

For a high school freshman, such a mature gaze didn't go very well with that childish hair style, but this perfectly coincided with that perfect blend of shock and beauty, with a degree of familiarity to go along with it.

Looks like the majority of the stares were definitely because of her. Upon hearing Miyuki's second introduction, Tatsuya led the way with the introductions in place of his friends who were a little overcome by that dazzling smile (especially the 2 boys) and wore an "Oh?" expression of shock.

"Class E, Shiba Tatsuya. In order to differentiate from Miyuki, please call me "Tatsuya"."

"Thank you. And please call me Lina. Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you don't use honorifics."

"I understand, Lina."

"Nice to meet you, Tatsuya."

Likely out of habit, Lina extended her hand across the table, which Tatsuya lightly grasped from beneath.

This was just a handshake, and not something ridiculous like a lady extending her hand for a kiss.

"Is Tatsuya by any chance Miyuki's brother?"

Her azure eyes betrayed a hint of wavering, but Lina pretended nothing had happened and pressed on.

She doesn't seem to be able to hide her expressions, Tatsuya thought as he paid heed not to accidently laugh and just smiled and nodded his head. -- Just now, Miyuki clearly referred to Tatsuya as "Onii-sama", which clearly hinted at their relationship.

"I am Chiba Erika. Please call me Erika, Lina."

One of Erika's strong points was not cowering during these situations. "My name is Shibata Mizuki. Please call me Mizuki."

"Saijou Leonhardt, but Leo is fine. I'm a little rough and speak like this, so please don't take offense."

His tone was coarser than usual, but not enough to notice. "Yoshida Mikihiko, please refer to me as Mikihiko."

Buoyed by her courage, Mizuki, Leo, and Mikihiko all presented themselves.

"Erika, Mizuki, Leo, Mikihiko. Nice to meet you."

Without asking anyone to repeat themselves, Lina remembered all their names on the first try. Although this was only the beginning, but she succeeded in attaining a favorable impression at this first crucial step.

However, upon hearing Mikihiko pronounce his name as "Mikhiko", this purely Japanese name seemed to have stumped her as an American.

"It's a little hard to pronounce, so if you can't say Mikihiko, go ahead and use Miki."

If the person in question had given permission, then everything should be fine. Yet, coming from someone else, and especially out of Erika's mouth, there was no sense of cordiality. At least, that was how Mikihiko felt as he prepared to reject Erika's proposal.

"Ah, is that so? Then allow me to do so. Miki, is that OK?"

Nonetheless, when that charming smile stole his thunder with "is that OK", Mikihiko could only capitulate.

Lina, who intentionally selected buckwheat from the menu, was busy dueling her chopsticks while trying to contain her frustration and answer the occasional question. Of course, everyone was very courteous and didn't ask any impolite questions. Just as everyone was about to finish eating, Lina finally appeared to master her chopsticks. Seeing this, the questions bubbling up from the Class E members were finally voiced by their representative, Tatsuya.

"Speaking of which, is Lina a blood relative to Elder Kudou?"

The typical term among Japanese Magicians was "sensei", but Tatsuya personally did not prefer this title. Instead, he used the general catch- all term "elder", which was an honored title for retired officers when phrasing the question to Lina.

"I remember that the elder's younger brother went to America and started a family there."

That was an age when Magicians were encouraged to marry across international boundaries. At the time, the news that the younger brother of Kudou Retsu, the "wiliest" among the world's Magicians, had headed for America and started a family with an American Magician was a topic of heated debate.

"Ara, I'm amazed you heard about that, Tatsuya. That's definitely news from a long time ago."

Tatsuya's conjecture appeared to be right on the money.

Additionally, for an American Magician, saying that Kudou Retsu's younger brother went to America "a long time ago" made sense.

"My mother's grandfather is Shogun Kudou's younger brother."

She used the word "Shogun" for General. Tatsuya didn't hear her incorrectly.

That was the term the Magicians from Europe and America used when referring to Kudou Retsu, who spent many years in a leadership position among the Japanese Magicians. Even if she had a quarter of the ancestry, no matter how fluently she spoke Japanese, she was still an American Magician through and through.

"Thanks to that, I am able to come here to study abroad."

"So Lina didn't come here out of her own volition?"

Erika inadvertently asked.

The nervousness and anxiety that Lina revealed didn't appear to be Tatsuya's misconception either.