"What do you mean?" Lina asked.
"The soldiers who defected were already sympathetic to anti-magic ideologies. They likely intended to suppress the riot peacefully and had already established communication with the leaders. Then Wiz-Guard barged in, and everything went south."
"So they were the trigger," Lina muttered. "Are they idiots?"
She complained that the name "Wiz-Guard"—a shortening of Wizard Guard—was an insult to the "Wise Men" the term originally implied. Yugen offered a wry smile before turning serious.
"Lina, do you think STARS will be mobilized?"
"Well... they wouldn't use them for riot control. But they might be sent to rescue the Wiz-Guard units currently surrounded. Major Benjamin Canopus would be the likely leader for that."
"If it's Ben, he'll handle it appropriately," Yugen agreed. "But Lina... look at the timing. I suspect the person who ordered Wiz-Guard into Monterrey and the people fueling the anti-magic movement are one and the same—or at least in the same military faction."
"What?! Why?"
In the original timeline, these events were a chain reaction starting from Brazil. But here, the time lag was a mere seventeen hours. For two such massive events to synchronize so perfectly suggested a script.
"If this riot was a spontaneous reaction to the NSU's magic, the timing is too tight. If the NSU wanted to destabilize the USNA, they would have hit Washington or New York, not Monterrey. Making the USNA look toward the West Coast only hurts the NSU's interests."
"I guess that makes sense..."
"Exactly. Spontaneous riots would be handled by local Guard units. If they needed more men, they'd pull from other Mexican states. You only send in Wiz-Guard or STARS if the rioters themselves are using magic. By doing it this way, they practically invited the rioters to seize the government buildings."
"It's a setup," Lina whispered.
Everything pointed toward someone pushing Brazil to use their Strategic-Class Magic—someone with enough influence that Brazil couldn't say no. Someone who could then pull the rug out from under them, hide the casualties, and whip the anti-magic movement into a frenzy.
When you look at who benefits... it's always the ones whose ultimate plan involves stripping Japan of its Strategic-Class deterrent.
"Fine. Let's say you're right, Yugen. What's the goal? Why wound your own country by stoking a riot?"
"The elimination of Japan's Strategic-Class Magic used during 'Scorched Halloween.' It seems the soldiers across the ocean haven't given up on that."
"They want to play the victims so they can play the saviors who 'save' the world from magicians," Lina realized. "And that means I'm going to be dragged into it."
Yugen knew the plan they were likely concocting had a fatal flaw. Unless they fixed it, he wasn't worried, but he had no intention of accepting the "honor" they were trying to force on him. It was embarrassing, really—grown adults playing such petty games with high school students.
If they wanted to persuade him, they'd need to offer something of actual substance. You can't eat pride, and Yugen was no "hermit" who could live on air.
"You'll likely be caught in the crossfire, Lina. Even if your STARS commission is technically over, your rank as 'Angie Sirius' still exists in the system."
"How did you... never mind, it's you. Of course you know. So you think they'll try to force me back to the USNA?"
"You and Celia are the only USNA citizens with ties to the Yotsuba. As long as Dallas isn't dismantled, the risk of a Parasite recurrence isn't zero. Assume the worst: that the entirety of STARS could be compromised by Parasites."
"If the future turns out like that," Lina said, her voice cold, "I will truly wash my hands of the USNA."
Yugen knew that in the original history, 'Stardust' and parts of 'STARS' were compromised. In this world, the "Correction Force" might try to push things toward a total takeover. However, he had intelligence from 'Alice' suggesting that the 'cost' of Parasite possession was high. They couldn't just possess anyone; they needed a specific Eidos structure.
Furthermore, the limitless energy they enjoyed during the micro-blackhole incident was gone. Now, their Psion capacity was capped by their host's limits, making it expensive to multiply. That was the only reason they hadn't spread like a virus yet.
"Regardless," Yugen continued, "the USNA military and their 'patriots' aren't stopping. They were the ones who pushed Gu Jie to act in the first place. Anti-magic sentiment is weak here in Japan, but protests are already breaking out in Europe."
"Wait, back up. You're saying USNA government officials pushed Jied Heigh?"
"Yes. A faction led by Kane Lowes—a relative of Major Canopus. We recovered the wreckage of the stolen weapons through the Kagurazaka family and got confirmation from the people who disposed of them."
Lina leaned back, her head in her hands. She felt for Canopus, having to deal with such treasonous relatives, but the fact that her own country had engaged in a 'match-pump' scheme—starting a fire just to provide the solution—to undermine an ally like Japan was sickening.
"I really just want to stay in Japan," she sighed. "At this rate, I might as well naturalize."
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