The aftermath of the incident was a bureaucratic nightmare, but Yugen had offloaded more than half of the cleanup onto the relevant authorities. Given that the mismanagement of those very organizations had contributed to the mess, he felt no obligation—even as the head of the Kagurazaka family—to fix everything himself. It was only right that those who had allowed the rust to form should be the ones to scrub it off.
Besides, Yugen had other matters that required his personal attention. To that end, he visited the apartment where Seria was currently staying.
"...You want to enroll Lina in First High?" Yugen asked, leaning back.
"Yeah. Is that a problem?" Seria replied, looking at him tentatively.
This was one of the topics Seria had brought to him for advice. Unlike Yugen, Seria knew how the "original story" was supposed to end, though Yugen pointedly chose not to ask for details. He suspected that when Minoru Kudou was eventually sealed away, Minami had likely been caught in the fallout.
Even Tatsuya would have perfected a way to kill Parasites by then, and he wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger on a stranger. But if it involved someone close to Minami, the situation changed. Furthermore, a being who could exist independently of Parasite influence while retaining their own power was a rare asset. However, after the death of Retsu Kudou, it would be nearly impossible for such an individual to walk the streets of Japan—or the world—openly.
Returning to the matter at hand, Yugen checked Lina's current status. Her residency had been transferred as the foster daughter of Maito Mitsuya, the father of the current Mitsuya head. This move was likely a legal necessity to grant her Japanese citizenship in preparation for her formal engagement to Tatsuya. Yugen had assumed she would rely on Retsu Kudou, but this choice was proof that the old frictions between the clans were still very much alive.
Since Lina would be naturalizing as "Rina Mitsuya," Seria proposed the idea of sending her to Magic High School to reclaim the time she had lost to her military service. It was also, no doubt, a quiet act of spite against the USNA Joint Chiefs of Staff, who refused to let go of "Angie Sirius."
"I don't personally mind," Yugen said, "but once Lina officially becomes a citizen of this country, the West is going to lose its mind."
"Mostly the States and the UK," Seria noted. "They might use even dirtier tricks than they did in the original timeline. Are you sure we're ready for that?"
"Do you really think I haven't considered that?"
"No," she smiled. "I suppose not."
Yugen knew that the concentration of Strategic-Class Magicians and those of equivalent power in Japan would heighten the sense of crisis in neighboring countries. He hadn't forgotten the interference by Igor Andreivitch Bezobrazov of the New Soviet Union during the "Scorching Halloween."
Since the gap in raw resources between nations couldn't be closed easily, Japan had to repel threats through sheer quality. The two aircraft carriers, Zuihou and Zuikaku, were the opening moves. Their complement of carrier-based fighters was entirely domestic; they were "magically modified" versions of the F-35 Lightning II, produced entirely within Japan. Yugen had left the licensing negotiations to Gozo, and since they had all passed, production had moved forward.
Externally, the fighters were designated as the F-15J/DEX "Sonic Eagle," the successors to the F-15J/DJ. Internally, however, they carried the development code name "Shinden" (Magnificent Lightning). Along with the jets, support craft and various equipment were being modernized. Most notably, they had deployed the world's first Psion-based Information Dimension Perception Radar—a leap in sensor technology that sat at the absolute top tier globally.
"It would be best if we didn't have to fight," Yugen mused, "but those 'pale-faced' Westerners often have black hearts. They might use Lina as a pretext to spark a conflict or try to sabotage what Tatsuya is building."
"That puts Big Brother and me in the crosshairs, too," Seria said. "Are they planning to issue a 21st-century version of the Hull Note?"
"If they can pay the price that goes with it, I might at least listen to what they have to say."
Dealing with the "Thirteen Apostles" and their government ties was a headache, but the New Soviet Union had already broken its promises. Currently, they were struggling with Humanist terrorist attacks, and the harsh winter had left Moscow in a frozen grip.
"I was wondering," Seria asked, "why did the Humanists target the New Soviet Union specifically? If they wanted to prove their point, wouldn't it have been more effective to cause chaos inside the USNA?"
"I looked into their funding," Yugen explained. "It turns out the New Soviet Union and the Great Asian Alliance are actually involved in the movement of their capital."
The Humanist movement was essentially a radical, heretical offshoot of Christianity. To those who practiced traditional faith, the Humanists' violent actions were a stain on religious dignity. By labeling magicians as "demons" or practitioners of a "forbidden cult," the Humanists were inadvertently denying the divinity of Jesus Christ, the 'Son of God' who performed miracles.
The day after Gu Jie was apprehended, the Pope had traveled from Vatican City to Japan to issue an emergency declaration.
"To those who preach Humanism: To brand the power of miracles as 'demonic' is an ideology that denies Jesus, our Savior. We do not recognize those who flaunt such beliefs as our brethren. We declare here that we shall continue to protect the true teachings and once again preach the heart of love."
This effective excommunication by the head of the Catholic Church swept across the globe in an instant. This shift had been brewing since the previous summer. Devout Catholics and Protestants alike had branded the Humanists as a common enemy. Even Islamic leaders, whose followers had also suffered at the hands of Humanist attacks, designated them as "enemies who deny the Prophets."
As a result, while the Humanist movement became more radicalized, it shifted its focus toward the Eastern Orthodox Church—an arm of Christianity they felt was more vulnerable—infiltrating Eastern Europe and the New Soviet Union. Certain factions within the Great Asian Alliance and the USNA saw this as an opportunity to secretly provide the terrorists with funds and weapons, while the New Soviet Union, in turn, funded Humanists within the USNA.
In short, the Humanists had been reduced to a collection of international mercenaries.
"...By the way, who was supporting the Humanists here in Japan?" Seria asked.
"The Great Asian Alliance, the New Soviet Union, the USNA, the UK, the Philippines, and Australia. We've legally seized their related bank accounts and funneled the money into the national treasury."
Seria could only think to herself, What on earth are these countries even doing?
Some of the accounts involved Swiss banks, but once Yugen provided legitimate evidence of terrorist ties, they cooperated immediately with the freezes. They clearly didn't want the stigma of being labeled a state sponsor of terrorism. Yugen trusted Switzerland's pragmatism enough that, as a gesture of thanks, he provided them with a modified Strategic-Class magic sequence. Since it was based on a spell already known in Europe, it was easy to disguise its origin.
"Also, this is a bit sudden," Yugen said, "but we're building a joint twin-tower mansion north of FLT. The lower floors will be employee dorms, and the upper floors will be for me, Tatsuya, and our fiancées. It should be finished by late March. We'll move in as soon as the employees are settled."
"Spring break... that overlaps with the Okinawa trip," Seria noted.
"Precisely."
It was originally meant to be a simple share-house, but it was decided that a small building wouldn't be appropriate for the heirs of the Yotsuba and Kagurazaka families. The Uwaizumi family was handling construction, claiming they could finish a twenty-story tower in a single month. It would feature the latest earthquake-resistant designs, intended to last for centuries.
The entrances for the upper and lower sections were separated for security, and a private commuter line would run directly into the basement to ensure privacy. While a private station for a public transit system seemed excessive, it was a necessary concession for the secrets they carried.
"Looking ahead, my father has already designated me to represent the Mitsuya family... And since Lina is a Mitsuya on paper now, she'll be coming too."
"That means she'd be attending as Tatsuya-onii-sama's fiancée... will that be okay?"
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