Chapter 105: Why Don't You Stay?
"I'm back~"
"Welcome home, Young Master Mahiro!"
Minami had waited anxiously all night. At dawn, Mahiro finally returned—dusty and weary.
In a single night, without anyone noticing, the remaining parasites in the Tokyo area were completely eradicated.
Although he had been busy all night, he had only cleared two of them.
The last one was snatched by Lina, and he handled the aftermath.
However, when he took off his shoes and entered the living room, he noticed two teacups left on the coffee table that hadn't been put away yet.
Not only that, but a faint floral fragrance lingered in the air.
The scent felt somewhat familiar...
"Minami, did someone come over?"
"Yes, Mahiro-sama. Last night, Madam and Miyuki-sama visited. They waited for you all night but left just this morning since you never returned."
"Oh, is that so?"
He wasn't quite sure what Maya was here for—perhaps to check in and ask about the mission's progress?
It couldn't have been anything too important, or she would have contacted him directly.
By the way, the people sent by the Yotsuba family were quite efficient.
In just one day, the damaged parts of the house had been repaired, looking exactly as they did before.
At that moment, Minami brought over a paper document folder and handed it to him.
"What's this?"
"Madam said this contains some intelligence regarding the 'Vampire Incident.' She thought you might be interested, so she left it here."
After setting down the folder, Minami brought him a cup of black coffee and continued, "Madam also said to remember to destroy the information after reading it, or it could attract unnecessary trouble."
"Oh?"
That piqued Mahiro's interest, and he slowly untied the seal on the folder.
He was also curious about what the Americans had done to create such monsters.
If it weren't for his "Spirit Eyes" and "Multiple Observation," combined with "Ghost Gate Evasion" for positional tracking, plus his "Copy Eyes" to peer into their essence and materialize things from "nothing" to "something," he would have completely failed from the start.
He really had to thank his innate, monstrous talent and the Yotsuba family's inherited expertise in the mental domain.
On the same day, Lina was still absent from school.
At that moment, she was sitting in the USNA embassy, feeling what could be described as the first restlessness of her life.
When it came to humiliating experiences, she had encountered several since arriving in Japan.
Most of them came from Mahiro. Even though her body had grown accustomed, the frustration in her heart never faded with familiarity.
However, the interrogation session now taking place at the USNA embassy was entirely different from what she had endured with Mahiro.
"...So, you, the esteemed Sirius of STARS, were unable to handle a high school student who was one of your targets, and you even exposed your identity, is that correct?"
"That wasn't my fault! Your intelligence was flawed. That guy is a monster beyond what any magician can measure! And Japanese high school students are downright bizarre—besides him, there are plenty of magicians with skills no less impressive than mine!"
Just like Miyuki and Mayumi, their magical power has completely reached the standards of a Strategic Class Magician!
These words of rebuttal surged up in Lina's throat.
After witnessing everything yesterday, she finally understood what kind of monster she was up against.
Remaining unfazed even when parasitized by blood-sucking creatures, effortlessly capturing and killing parasites from other dimensions that are nearly undetectable to humans.
Remaining completely unscathed no matter how severe the magical attacks.
Each of these abilities alone could be considered beyond extraordinary.
But she swallowed these words, because she knew very well that the people interrogating her didn't care about the process—they only cared about the results.
And there was no doubt about the mission failure, which had completely exposed Stars to the scrutiny of the Ten Master Clans.
So she could only obediently keep her head down.
"And furthermore, it's said that one of the escaped suspects is the controller who lived in the room next to yours. Even though you spent a whole month together, you failed to discover their true identity, is that correct?"
"You're the ones who hired this 'suspect' as a controller in the first place?!"
Lina really wanted to retort loudly this time, but she knew she couldn't possibly say such things, which only increased her stress.
These people continued their nagging and sarcastic remarks.
Even though magicians are valued for their talent above all, Lina had achieved the rank of major before turning twenty, and many within the USNA military envied her for being too young.
The further removed from actual combat these military bureaucrats were, the stronger this tendency became.
After all, the military rank she held represented a position of authority, and for someone her age to attain it was something those people simply couldn't comprehend.
The people standing before her now were typical high-ranking officials who "had no idea what real combat was like."
Getting genuinely angry over such meaningless sarcasm would naturally be infuriating, and even more foolish.
So Lina emptied her mind, treating their words as nothing more than background noise.
First High School, Student Council Headquarters.
Same time, same place, the same three people gathered here.
Except today, there was one more person.
A tall, attractive long-haired woman dressed in teacher's attire—Fujibayashi Kyouko.
According to her, she was merely representing the Kudou family to observe the proceedings.
"Mahiro-kun, I want to ask you—last night, it was you hunting vampires in the Tokyo area, wasn't it? And together with members of Stars," Mayumi inquired very seriously.
"Oh, you found out?"
Actually, it was inevitable that they would discover it.
After all, last night, while the Stars members concealed their identities from ordinary people, they made no effort to hide from other magicians.
It was as obvious as fleas on a bald head.
What surprised him was that even though he had used a disguise, they still managed to trace it back to him.
"Of course, since the Tokyo area is under my family's jurisdiction, after all."
Mayumi puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms, her expression seeming to complain, "Why wasn't I notified? Why didn't you cooperate with the Saegusa family for the arrest instead of working with Stars?"
"So, you've taken a liking to Angelina, haven't you?"
A single glance conveyed so much information, along with some emotions Mahiro hadn't deciphered.
For instance—
[You playboy, just you wait! I'll force you to eat bitter chocolate on Valentine's Day!]
Mayumi, still retaining her girlish innocence, was scheming this in her heart.
"Yotsuba, so you know the specific personnel the USNA sent to Japan this time, correct?"
The one who asked this was Juumonji Katsuto.
His gaze was as stern as ever. Though he didn't intend to interrogate, it always felt as serious as questioning a criminal.
However, Mahiro didn't mind.
"I know, but I can't tell you. It's a promise I made with someone."
"Yotsuba, as a member of the Ten Master Clans, you should understand our interests are intertwined. Though there may be occasional internal friction, we rise and fall together."
"Perhaps so, but I don't care about that. In my view, the promise with her is more important."
Mahiro said indifferently, then shifted his gaze to Kyouko, who had been silent all along.
"But I can give you another direction. Rather than asking me, why not ask Fujibayashi-sensei over there? She probably knows more than I do."
His words carried a deeper meaning.
Kyouko naturally caught the implication, yet she smiled gracefully and said:
"Yotsuba-kun, you're still as relentless as ever when you have the upper hand. But today, my grandfather already instructed me before I came. Although I'm here as a representative of the Kudou family, I'm merely an observer. Whatever you do, the Kudou family will not participate."
The speaker may have no intention, but the listener catches the drift.
Clearly, Kudou Retsu meant that Angelina had nothing to do with him or the Kudou family.
Even though this Angelina could be considered his granddaughter.
It was a clean break from the branch family in the USNA.
"Heh, that old man is really slick," Mahiro couldn't help but scoff.
"Mahiro-kun! That's impolite. No matter what, Kudou Retsu is our senior," Mayumi gently admonished.
Mayumi naturally knew the inside story, or rather, among the four present, only Katsuto was kept in the dark.
This made Katsuto feel very uncomfortable.
But there was no helping it.
If Mahiro hadn't told Mayumi, even she wouldn't have known Sirius's true identity.
Even if she suspected Lina, it would only be a bold guess.
A Strategic Class Magician under twenty years old—how utterly shocking.
Thus, Katsuto exchanged a glance with Mayumi and placed a terminal on the table.
"Yotsuba, you probably haven't seen this news yet, right? It was anonymously sent from the USNA early this morning."
"Oh? Let me see..."
He was slightly taken aback upon reading the content.
The reason was simple: this news closely resembled the intelligence Maya had left behind.
The content was as follows:
[Last October 31st, the United States government ordered military mages to conduct research and development to counter the large-scale strategic magic being used at the southern tip of the peninsula.
Ignoring scientists' warnings, the mages forcibly conducted micro black hole creation experiments at the Dallas National Accelerator Laboratory, causing a rupture in the dimensional wall that summoned demons from another dimension.
The mages attempted to command these demons to counter 'Scorched Halloween.'
However, their plan to control the demons failed, resulting in the mages becoming possessed.
The vampires causing disturbances in neighborhoods since late last year were actually military mages possessed by demons.
The military bears triple responsibility for the casualties.
First, failing to prevent the mages from conducting reckless experiments.
Second, proceeding with high-risk experiments despite knowing the dangers.
Third, allowing military mages who could potentially lose their sanity to endanger citizens.
The root cause of these scandals lies in the military's failure to fully control its mages.
Magic is a powerful supernatural force that could go out of control at any time. Is harnessing such power truly beneficial to the nation?
Perhaps we should reconsider this point]
"This really fits my stereotype of the US."
"After all, most of their magic research focuses on military applications while largely ignoring civilian uses."
"Of course, it's a different story when it can be used to make big money."
Mahiro pretended to know nothing about the matter as he pushed the terminal back, freely mocking and criticizing.
However, this news report slightly differed from the intelligence he possessed.
Because in November, Dallas had continued conducting micro black hole creation and evaporation experiments based on multidimensional theories.
After these experiments, observations of 'vampires' began.
And while the report stated facts, it was also quite subtle, appearing to criticize the US while actually being more about opposing magic itself.
This was a perennial topic in this world.
After all, only a minority possessed magical talent, not everyone, so it was normal for people to feel unbalanced about this.
Just like the conflict between First Course and Second Course students.
"So, what do you plan to do with this news?"
He looked up at Katsuto.
Katsuto crossed his arms, his stern square face furrowed in thought for a moment before speaking:
"I plan to propose at the Ten Master Clans meeting to use this as grounds to protest against USNA."
"Is that so? Then I'm afraid I can't be of much help. After all, matters in the main family are entirely decided by Yotsuba Maya, I have no say at all."
Once again, he pushed the matter onto Maya.
After all, he had no interest in such things, or rather, he didn't care about what happened to the world at all.
Thus, under the gaze of the three, he was the first to leave.
And this "Vampire Incident" could be considered temporarily concluded.
Though he still ended up being criticized by the small group again.
"Ahh, how boring. We finally encountered such an interesting event, but you went and resolved it yourself again."—by Erika
"Why didn't Mahiro-kun rely on us? We're friends, aren't we? Even if we're not that strong, we can still help with things within our capabilities."—by Mizuki
"This time it really was Mahiro-nii's fault, you know. Miyuki was worried too."—by Miyuki
"I-I feel the same way!"—by Honoka
"Mahiro-kun, if you keep doing this, I'll really get angry."—by Sayaka
They all looked at him with resentful expressions, and even Kitayama Shizuku, all the way across the ocean, nodded in agreement.
But what could he do?
To this day, he still didn't understand how those ghostly things managed to [suck blood] and [possess people]—how could he possibly let you all casually put yourselves in danger? (shrugs helplessly)
Speaking of which.
As the saying goes, one drop of ○ equals ten drops of blood. If it's a [vampire], wouldn't squeezing ○ be faster?
The next day.
He saw that familiar figure at school who hadn't attended for a long time.
"Hey, Lina-san, morning."
Mahiro went up to greet her.
But even though it was just a simple greeting, the distracted girl turned around upon hearing him and, upon realizing it was him, immediately turned to flee as if she'd seen the plague.
"Hey, why are you running when you see me?"
"Let go of me, you bastard! I'm not running! I just don't want to see you!"
Mahiro used an acceleration spell to quickly grab her arm, and Lina, surprised by the CAD-less spellcasting, froze for a moment before starting to struggle.
The intensity of her struggle made her harder to hold onto than a pig during New Year's.
"Hey hey hey, what do you mean you don't want to see me? Weren't we comrades fighting side by side before?"
"Who was fighting side by side with you, you bastard! If it weren't for you, how could I have almost gotten disciplined? Damn it!"
Perhaps the pressure that had built up over the past couple of days finally exploded toward him, as she looked up at him with clear displeasure.
"Anyway, you're only looking for me for that one thing, right? Since you want to do it so badly, just do whatever you want!"
Hmm, it seems the accumulated stress was indeed overwhelming, leading to complete self-abandonment.
Thus, Mahiro also released her, letting out a slight sigh as he said, "What exactly do you take me for? A walking human-shaped artillery piece?"
"Isn't that what you are?!"
Seeing that he had let go but having no intention of fleeing, Lina instead put her hands on her hips and pressed him aggressively.
How long had it been since she enrolled, had her identity exposed, until now? Even she herself had lost count of how many times they had done it.
Her whole body was practically molded into this bastard's shape!
Regarding this point, Mahiro truly had no way to refute it, as he had indeed been excessively indulgent.
"Alright, alright, even if you're right, this time I really had no intention of doing anything to you."
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I'm just a bit curious. Your mission is already completed, right? Why are you still staying at First High School? Aren't you planning to return to your country?"
"...Do you want me to leave that much?"
Lina asked, her expression turning subtly strange as she looked at him.
But seeing that he maintained an inscrutable smile, she let out a faint sigh and said, "The mission is over, that's true, but the exchange period hasn't ended yet. My superiors have ordered me to 'act as usual.'"
Lina no longer hid anything from him, or rather, there was no point in hiding anything anymore.
And this matter had to start with yesterday's interrogation meeting.
Yesterday, she had been thoroughly criticized by those high-ranking officials, who even demanded she remove her clothes on the spot to check for vampire bite marks to determine if she was infected.
What did they take her for?
A stripper?!
In the end, it was Colonel Virginia Balance, who had suddenly arrived, who stepped in to rescue her.
And the order to continue attending school was also given by Colonel Balance.
"They really went too far, those guys," Mahiro said without any particular emotion.
"There's no helping it. To them, I, who failed the mission, am a criminal. Who would give a mere criminal a friendly face? It's only natural they'd kick someone when they're down."
Lina opened the corridor window, leaning against the windowsill and letting the breeze tousle her long hair.
Her delicate profile, now visible, seemed tinged with a bit of melancholy.
"...Sorry."
Lina suddenly spoke up, "Just now, I shouldn't have lost my temper at you. From your perspective, you and I are enemies to begin with, and moreover, the target I was originally supposed to deal with was you..."
Although there was a trace of unwillingness on her face as she said this, it was genuinely how she felt.
"Heh, I don't care about any of that."
Mahiro squeezed in next to her, and Lina first shot him a slight glare before shifting to make a little room for him.
"Speaking of which, I do have a question I want to ask you."
"What is it? Let me make this clear beforehand—I absolutely cannot answer any questions about USNA's internal affairs."
"Who wants to know about that nonsense? I'm not interested."
Mahiro retorted, then his expression turned serious as he looked at her with a hint of earnestness.
"Hey, Miss Angelina, why don't you leave USNA and stay? If you're willing, our Yotsuba family will take care of all the issues that follow."
Lina heard the most shocking and unforgettable words of her life.
Don't joke around!
She really wanted to say that.
But when she met those clear, black pearl-like eyes, she discovered that Mahiro was actually serious!