"Who suggested the guard, anyway?" Yugen asked.
"Lord Tomokazu," Katsuto answered. "He felt we couldn't just ignore the threat."
"It's unnecessary. If she needs a guard, I will do it myself," Yugen stated firmly.
While it might seem strange for the head of the Kamigazaka family to act as a personal bodyguard for his fiancé, Yugen had his reasons. As a long-term guest in the Shiba household, protecting Tatsuya and Miyuki was part of the "rent" he paid. Furthermore, in the eyes of the Master Clans, Tatsuya and Miyuki were the primary heirs to their house, whereas Yugen was already established. He believed it was only "proper" for the strong to protect those in vulnerable positions.
Yugen suspected the suggestion might have been influenced by the Saegusa family as well. Mayumi was currently staying with the Mitsui family, living in the very room Yugen had once occupied. He didn't mind; there was no reason to leave a room empty for him.
"Any member of the Master Clans who isn't experienced with Antinite is a potential target," Yugen warned. "Fortunately, First High is closed until the 23rd for safety, but they won't stop hunting."
"True," Katsuto agreed. "Since Riri was caught up in this too, it's no longer just someone else's problem."
The meeting transitioned into a meal, though Masaki looked increasingly uncomfortable. Tatsuya offered him a silent prayer of sympathy. Masaki's hurdle for winning Miyuki's heart was significantly higher than the boy realized.
(Even if he did win her over, I doubt he could handle her,) Tatsuya thought.
His sister (or rather, cousin) possessed a fierce sense of possessiveness. Only two people could truly suppress her rapidly growing magical power: himself and Yugen. Furthermore, while Yugen and Miyuki were officially "fiancés," they already functioned with the synchronization of a long-married couple. Trying to take Miyuki by force would mean inviting Yugen's absolute wrath.
Tatsuya wondered if Masaki even sensed that Yugen was being "gentle" only to prevent Masaki from spiraling into an obsession. There was no sign that Masaki understood the danger he was in.
Tatsuya knew what it was like to be the target of unrequited love—Honoka came to mind. But her feelings were manageable within his circumstances. Masaki was pursuing someone who was already committed to another head of a Great Clan.
It would be so much easier if he just realized the odds are entirely against him, Tatsuya mused.
Zhou Gongjin—known now as Gu Jie—was panicking.
He had never underestimated this country. He knew the "Hero" Gouzo Usumaki had lost some of his edge after the Yotsuba's revenge, and the other hero, Senhime Kamigazaka, had long remained in the shadows.
But a new shadow had emerged to claim the Kamigazaka name: Yugen. He had made his presence felt at the Nine Schools Competition, suppressing even the Ten Master Clans.
Gu Jie had assumed that a mere teenager, no matter how talented, wouldn't possess a master's grasp of Ancient Magic or the political weight to move like a True Head of a House.
He was wrong. The terror attack in Hakone had failed. Gu Jie had searched for the cause, finding only that the Shinkai—the Special Task Force of the Imperial Guard—had been involved. Even searching the Imperial Guard's servers via Hlidskjalf yielded nothing.
Every time he tried to stir up the media or the Humanists, the Sagami Group—and by extension, the Kamigazaka family—crushed the narrative. If Yugen was truly operating as a leader and not just a figurehead, Gu Jie had no path to victory.
Information suggested Yugen was the reason Zhou Gongjin had met his end. Staying in Japan now risked his entire vendetta against the Yotsuba. The limit for his escape was approaching, second by second.
"...!? What... my consciousness... at a time like...!"
Before he could even register the sensation of being watched, Gu Jie felt a sudden, crushing breathlessness. His mind plunged into blackness. He knew from his own magical knowledge that this wasn't death, but he had no time to resist before he collapsed.
After the meal, Yugen asked Tatsuya, Miyuki, and Minami to accompany him. Under a perfect veil of concealment, they moved into the woods where Tatsuya had placed his Psion marker.
The moment the target was sighted, Yugen used Ozone Bullet to generate a precise amount of ozone in Gu Jie's lungs, knocking him unconscious. He had perfected the dosage back in Yokohama; even if he accidentally killed the target, he could revive them once within 24 hours using Tenyou Shoran.
Using the coordinates from Tatsuya's marker, Yugen activated Mirror Gate, warping the unconscious Gu Jie away.
"...Only you could bag a criminal like this," Tatsuya remarked.
"Desperate times. Now, I just need to set some safeguards to make sure he doesn't cast any surprise spells..."
Yugen had explained the plan to the three of them. This was a ruse to deceive their enemies, and he swore them to secrecy to keep the existence of these spells hidden. In return, Miyuki had made her usual request: "Please sleep in the same room as me for a while." Tatsuya had simply placed a sympathetic hand on Yugen's shoulder.
Yugen ignored the pity and slapped a paper talisman onto Gu Jie's forehead. It looked like something out of a Jiangshi movie, but it was a legitimate "Mana Seal," designed to lock down any magical activation.
"With that done, I'll need you to keep him hidden for a bit, Master Yakumo."
The monk appeared from the shadows. "Well, I can hardly refuse the Head of Kamigazaka. If we're deporting him through 'legally legitimate' channels, even Lord Todo will have to be satisfied."
Yakumo hoisted Gu Jie onto his shoulder and vanished as if he had never been there.
"The stage is set over there. Now... it's Tatsuya's turn."
"So it seems," Tatsuya replied.
He didn't show much on his face, but for once, Tatsuya was grateful for his own stoicism.
Major Benjamin Canopus was suspicious.
There was too much circumstantial evidence suggesting the Japanese side had intercepted USNA intelligence before they had even left their home soil. Colonel Virginia Balance had been right.
(But to stop a terrorist attack without a single death... is that even possible?)
No matter how elite a military magician Canopus was, the STARS specialized in Modern Magic or Native American Ancient Magic. Gu Jie—Jiede Heigu—was a master of a different caliber, and Canopus had been chosen specifically because he was one of the few who could match him.
And yet, someone had read every move the man made, faking a mass-casualty event to trick the observer. While there were injuries, the fact that a zero-fatality outcome had been achieved in a literal suicide-bombing attempt was staggering. The media campaign had failed. Jiede Heigu was being forced to run.
This mission was highly illegal, requiring even more secrecy than the previous year's deserter incident. Since Japan's enhanced soldiers had been pulled back and were no longer available, they had been forced to deploy the Stardust units.
Failure was not an option. But Canopus couldn't stop the cold sweat from trickling down his neck. It wasn't the fear that the assassination would fail. It was the Psion pattern being emitted by the "Gu Jie" on his monitor... a sensation that they weren't hunting a man, but were about to swing their blades at something infinitely more powerful.
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