Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.
After Miyuki gave his closing speech, everyone, students, teachers, and Tatsuo's group began leaving the venue. And as Tatsuo, Yakumo, and Tio left, Miyuki, Kaguya, and Chika followed them out the backdoor to the spot where Mai was waiting for them in the driver's seat of the BMW 745.
"Soramoto-Kun, on behalf of Shuchi'in Academy, I'd like to thank you for your wonderful performance tonight." Miyuki said while holding out a hand for a handshake.
"I was just doing what I was paid for." Tatsuo replied with a smile while accepting Miyuki's handshake. "Though, it makes it a lot easier when I get paid to do the things I like."
"Ah, that old saying, huh?" Miyuki replied with a chuckle. "If you find a job you enjoy, you'll never work a day in your life, right?"
"Something like that." Tatsuo said with a shrug as he released Miyuki's hand. "Anyway, I had a good time tonight. So, if you ever need a pianist for another event, make sure to contact Kurashikku Ensō. I'd be happy to work with Shuchi'in again."
"Of course." Miyuki replied with a nod. He then shot a glance at Chika, who smiled brightly when she noticed, and continued. "We'll make sure to give you more notice next time, too."
"Yeah, that would be nice." Tatsuo replied while smiling awkwardly.
"Don't worry." Kaguya said as she stepped next to Miyuki. "We'll make sure that our resident airhead doesn't do things on a whim again."
"Huh? Did the President do something?" Chika asked, completely oblivious that Kaguya was referring to her.
"She actually has the nerve to call me an airhead." Miyuki muttered under his breath.
"And to make sure that something like this does not happen again, I will make sure to contact you directly." Kaguya said as she pulled an old-fashioned flip phone from her purse. "we did exchange numbers a couple weeks ag, after all."
When Tatsuo, Yakumo, Tio, Miyuki, and Chika saw Kaguya's phone, they all froze in disbelief.
"Um... Kaguya-San, is that really your phone?" Chika asked, disbelief heavy in her tone.
"Yes...?" Kaguya replied, her tone filled with confusion as she blinked several times. "Is there something wrong with it?"
'Damn... That look is a whole lot cuter than it has any right to be.' Tatsuo thought to himself while taking in Kaguya's confused expression.
"Well, it's kinda old, isn't it?" Tatsuo asked while fishing his smartphone out of his pocket. "I mean, no one uses a phone like that anymore. Smartphones are the thing now-a-days."
"A... smartphone?" Kaguya asked while closely examining the phone in Tatsuo's hand.
"*Sigh* Unfortunately, I don't have time to explain the difference between the two right now." Tatsuo said while shaking his head. "I have an important engagement early tomorrow morning. But I have no problem with you calling me later."
"Oh... Okay." Kaguya, her confusion still not dispelled, replied.
Tatsuo and Kaguya then put their phones away. And because she could not stand to be left out, Chika pulled out her phone,as well, to show offthat she had Tatsuo's contact information, too. And becaueChika's phone was out, Tatsuo told her to share his information with Miyuki.
Kaguya also exchanged contact information with Tio, as she was Tatsuo's manager and any negotiations should go through her. In fact, there was no reason for Kaguya to contact Tatsuo at all. Especially since her reason for doing so was for any future performance requests. But no one said anything about that.
Chika also managed to get Yakumo to agree to exchange contact information, as well. Though, everyone could tell there were no ulterior motives behind it. Rather, Chika was just that kind of friendly person and was happy to make a new friend.
Although Miyuki also egot Tatsuo's contact information, he had no intension of calling him. Instead, since Kaguya was better at this kind of thing, he decided to leave it to her. Though, he would be surprised when he received a part-time job offer from Kurashku Ensō in the not so distant future.
After that round of exchange, Tatsuo, Yakumo, and Tio bid their farewells before climbing into the BMW. Then, Mai drove away, leaving the Shuchi'in Student Council to finish what they needed to do at the auditorium.
"I can't believe you did that right in front of me, Tatsu-Kun." Mai said in an aggrieved tone while driving through the streets of the Minato Ward. "You actually chatted up two girls while I watched. How could you do this to me?"
"Shinomiya-San was up to something." Tatsuo said, completely ignoring Mai's complaints. "If I had to guess, she was probably ordered to get close to me by her family."
"If that's the case, why did you allow her to call you?" Yakumo asked curiously.
"Because it could be fun." Tatsuo replied with a smile. "They know absolutely nothing about what the Soramoto Family is capable of. So, I wanna see what they'll try to do with their limited information."
"You intend to make them pay if they overstep, do you not?" Tio asked with a smile.
"Something like that." Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "And if it's convenient, I'll help Shinomiya-San gain freedom, too. I mean, I know a little about her situation. And she could definitely use the help."
"Is she in some kind of trouble?" Yakumo asked in a concerned tone.
"Not really." Tatsuo replied. "I mean, she's not in any danger. Rather, she doesn't have any control over her own life and choices."
"I see..." Yakumo said while trying to imagine what kind of situation Kaguya could be in.
"Then what about the pink-haired one?" Mai asked, her aggrieved toen nowhere to be heard.
"Oh, Fujiwara-San?" Tatsuo asked with a wide smile. "She's practically an embodiment of chaos. So, I thought having her around would make life more interesting."
"*Phew* At least, you're not interested in making either of them your girlfriend." Mai said in a relieved tone. "So, I don't have to accidentally assassinate them later."
"Did you say something, Mai-Nee?" Tatsuo asked with his tone deepening and his eyes narrowed.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Mai asked, her expression the picture of innocence. "You must be hearing things. But that makes sense, you went to school all day. Then, you had to get changed really fast before playing the piano for hours. I bet you're exhausted."
No one, not even Yakumo, missed what Mai said. So, the fact that she could be so audacious left Tatsuo, Yakumo, and Tio looking at her with dumbfounded expressions. A moment later, however, Tio reached into her bag, pulled out her little notebook, and started taking notes.
"I see..." Tio said as she wrote quickly. "I should start trying that kind of thing, too. Telling such an idiotic lie with that kind of tone is bound to earn some kind of punishment from Tatsuo-Sama."
"Hey! What do you mean, idiotic?" Mai questioned indignantly.
Like that, the rest of the ride passed peacefully. Before long, they arrived outside of Yakumo's house, where Tatsuo walked her to her front door. However, things did not progress any further after that. Though, Tatsuo did notice that Yakumo was considering taking things further with a kiss, perhaps.
Tatsuo even leaned in, letting Yakumo be the one who chose to close the distance. But in the end, Yakumo only bid Tatsuo good night before entering the house. Though, her gaze did linger for quite a while as she slowly closed the door.
After that, Tatsuo got back into the car and Mai drove back to the apartment building. Then, after parking the car, Tatsuo, Mai, and Tio boarded the elevator to the penthouse. And while Mai and Tio went to report about the night to Sumire, Tatsuo headed to his bedroom, got undressed, took a shower, and went to bed.
*Thud!*
"Ugh!"
The next morning, just after dawn, Tatsuo's sleep was interrupted when he received a strong impact to his abdomen. When he opened his eyes, annoyance clear in his gaze, he saw him mother, Sumire, sitting on top of his with an excited smile on her face.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Tatsuo asked in a groggy tone.
"I couldn't wait anymore!" Sumire said excitedly while bouncing up and down on Tatsuo's stomach. "I heard from Tio-Chan that you danced at the party last night. But I never expected you to be so good. Why didn't you tell Mommy that you knew how to dance?"
"I told you that I was trained to fit into any situation, didn't I?" Tatsuo asked in an annoyed tone. "And dancing at a ball or something kinda falls into any situation, doesn't it?"
"That's not the same." Sumire replied with her cheeks puffed out.
Tatsuo's response was to just roll his eyes. He then wrapped his hands around his mother's waist, lifted her off his abdomen, and sat her next to him before he sat up and stretched.
"Anyway, what time are we going to the house site?" Tatsuo asked, deciding that he did not want to deal with the whole dancing issue right now. "Will I have time to get some training in before we go?"
"We were gonnna leave right after breakfast." Sumire replied, her cheeks still puffed out. "I wanted to have the house finished before people started moving around for the day. Although I set up a barrier to make it look like the house has been under construction for a while, there's always a chance that they would notice the fluctuations if they happened to walk past while you were using [Alchemy]."
"I see." Tatsuo replied. "Then, why don't we just go now and have breakfast after we're done? After that, we can go shopping for anything we need that we're not bringing with us from the apart... ment. Wait... What the hell did I just say?"
"Aww! My Tatsu-Chan just volunteered to go shopping with Mommy!" Sumire exclaimed, her displeasure at not hearing more about Tatsuo's dancing skill completely blown away. "Oh! We're gonna make sure you get everything you need. It's gonna be so much fun!"
While Sumire cheered excitedly, Tatsuo looked as if his soul just left his body. However, before his depression could sink in too deeply, he consoled himself with the thought that they would definitely pass by some jewelry stores while on their shopping excursion.
After managing to calm Sumire down, Sumire almost immediately ran out of Tatsuo's room to wake up the other residents of the penthouse. Her excitement made so that no one was able to go back to sleep. So, they all got up and started getting ready for the day.
After everyone was cleaned up and got dressed, they made their way to the house site at the foot of the mountain. When they arrived, all the building materials, consisting of various metals, wood, concrete, etc. Were gathered about three hundred feet away from the mountain. There was also a detailed list of materials packed in with everything.
"Looks like everything is here." Sumire said while looking over the packing list. "That means everything is ready when you are, Tatsu-Chan."
"I must admit, I'm a bit excited to see this." Ayane said, though you'd never be able to tell she was excited by her expression. "I've seen houses built before, but never with magic."
"Technically, it's not magic." Tatsuo replied as he pulled a small case from his pocket. He then opened the case to reveal a few pieces of special chalk. "[Alchemy] is actually a kind of science."
"Yeah, whatever." Ayane replied while rolling her eyes. "There is no science that automatically combines materials to make something different out of them."
"Ayane, you can't say that for sure." Kasumi said gently. "The world is much bigger than any of us know."
"You should listen to Kasumi-Neesan." Tatsuo said in a cheeky tone as he started to draw a [Transmutation Circle] around the materials. "Acting like you know everything is the easiest way to look like a fool."
"Don't make me kick your ass, Tatsuo." Ayane hissed.
"You're welcome to try." Tatsuo replied. "In fact, it would be a perfect chance to try out the training room when the house is up."
Speaking of the training room, like the rest of the house, it was designed by Alfonzo while they were on the My Hero Academia [Mission]. In fact, it was built to the specifications of Alfonzo's house back in his world, complete with defensive barriers and gravity control in the training room.
It took about half an hour for Tatsuo to draw the [Transmutation Circle] and make sure there were no errors. Then, after he was done, Tatsuo returned to the rest of the group.
"Alright, are you guys ready?" Tatsuo asked as he knelt down and placed a hand on the [Transmutation Circle].
Receiving excited nods from everyone, Tatsuo smiled. Then, he put all his focus on the task at hand. He then spread his [Energy] to perform one last check on the [Transmutation Circle] before pushing his [Energy] into it.
*Zap!*
When Tatsuo's [Energy] interacted with the [Transmutation Circle], arcs of purple electricity began to jump from it to the pile of building materials at its center. And before long, the entire circle was covered in blinding, purple light.
When the light finally faded, instead of a pile a building materials, the group of six was now looking upon a massive three-story house built with a mixture of Japanese and western architecture.
"And... We're done." Tatsuo said casually while dusting off his hands. He then stood up and turned to look at the others. "So, what do you think?"
"Amazing..." Kasumi said breathlessly, having never seen anything like Tatsuo's use of [Alchemy] before.
"Yeah, there's no way you're ever gonna convince me that's not magic." Ayane muttered while glaring at Tatsuo.
"As expected of Mast--- *Cough* I mean, Tatsuo-Sama." Tio said with slightly flushed cheeks.
"Our love nest!" Mai squealed. "It's everything I ever wanted."
"Tatsu-Chan~~~~~!" Sumire shrieked as she threw herself at Tatsuo. "Tatsu-Chan! It's amazing. I can feel the defensive enchantments and just how sturdy the house is. I bet it might even take me three hits to knock it down!"
'Only three?' Tatsuo, Mai, Kasumi, Tio, and Ayane thought simultaneously while looking at Sumire with odd expressions. 'Just how freakishly strong is she?'
Tatsuo had also considered how hard it would be to destroy the house. And with a conservative estimate, he figured, even while using his [Spatial Manipulation], it would take more than a dozen full-strength attacks. And he doubted that when Sumire said it would take three hits, she was talking about her full-strength.
Whether she was completely unaware, or just did not care, Sumire ignored the strange looks she received. Instead, while still hanging off Tatsuo, she turned to address the others with one hand raised high into the air.
"Listen up, everyone!" Sumire shouted energetically. "Next, we'll have breakfast. After that, we'll move everything we want to keep into the new house. Then, once that's done... WE'RE GOING SHOPPING FOR EVERYTHING ELSE!"
Hearing the word shopping made Mai's, Kasumi's, and Tio's eyes light up while Ayane did not really seem to care all that much. Tatsuo, on the other hand, put on an expression that made it look like he was about to step onto the most vicious battlefield he had ever seen in his life. Even so, he knew there was no way to stop what was to come. So, he tried his best to make the best of it as the Soramoto Family got busy for the day.