Normally, she would just act sweet and spoiled, but when the two of them were alone, Miyuki would act like a servant. Ultimately, unable to put a brake on things, they ended up spending passionate nights together—a dynamic Yugen forced himself to accept as part of keeping his fiancée happy and relieving her stress.
"Well, hang in there, Jiro." "Wait, why me all of a sudden?! I mean, sure, I have a few ideas why, but..."
As a side note, while Jiro's fiancée was officially decided as Shina, Hina's younger sister and the younger sister of Junichiro from the Yaguruma head family were candidates for his mistresses and exclusive servants. Since that candidate pool might grow even further once at Magic High School, the frequency of Shina's jealousy would only increase.
Furthermore, Shina had recently come to Yugen for advice, asking: "Even if Jiro-kun gets interested in other girls, please teach me a way to ensure I stay number one." Yugen had provided her with a spell formulation to prevent him from crossing the line.
While it was now safe for them to have a relationship while in school, Jiro being kept on a short leash was only a matter of time—and Yugen sent him that encouragement with that very future in mind.
◇ ◇ ◇
FLT Twin Towers Apartment. The upper floors of the North and South Towers housed the fiancées, mistresses, and servants of Tatsuya and Yugen, respectively. That said, not every fiancée had moved in yet; currently, it was home to most of them, with plans for Miyuki and Minami to live there in the future as well.
Living so close to the company premises had its uncomfortable aspects, but leveraging the remote work system Yugen had established over time, Tatsuya would also be able to work under that model. "Taurus Silver" would inevitably be made public anyway, but this setup was designed with security in mind.
In the North Tower of that very apartment building, Yugen's fiancées were talking.
"Shina-san was taken?" "Yeah. I only heard the situation from Honoka, but not just Big Brother—Erika, as well as Big Brother's older brother and sister, are all lending a hand. He said they're going to settle things tonight." "Well now, that's a lineup that won't show mercy even if the enemy cries for it."
The ones who heard the truth from Celia were Airi and Toko, who happened to be in the living room. Since Celia had only heard a brief summary of the situation from Honoka regarding Student Council matters, she made it sound as though the full details wouldn't be clear until they heard them directly from Yugen—leading Toko to let out a sigh, feeling a slight pang of pity for the enemy.
"If I remember correctly, my father mentioned that two years ago around New Year's, Yugen-san was almost kidnapped. Is it the same organization?" "By all appearances, the mastermind seems to be the same. The police are moving, so Yugen sent word for us to quietly stay behind and guard the house."
Meddling recklessly would only cause more trouble when explaining the situation to the relevant parties. Understanding this, Celia took the initiative to stay behind. This decision held another meaning as well.
"Big Brother's fiancées are relatively capable in terms of strength, but Tatsuya's fiancées aren't all in the same position. Staying here to protect them is important." "I'd like to say that's an exaggeration... but these are people who went out of their way to try to kidnap Yugen. We have to consider the possibility of them targeting us for hostages."
Among Yugen's fiancées living in the apartment, setting aside Marika and Alisa, who had yet to build up their strength, Hina, Yuka, Celia, Airi, and Toko were all top-tier in terms of combat capability. However, among Tatsuya's fiancées, there were quite a few with weak magic capabilities. Reaching out to touch them would make the enemy utter fools, but at this stage, Toko agreed with Celia's sentiment that nothing would be surprising anymore.
"In the first place, if someone pisses off FLT—one of the top corporations in the country—it won't just be the National Defense Army that suffers; the Air Force and Navy will take a blow, too." "That's true..."
There are quite a few magic engineering manufacturers in Japan alone, but FLT, possessing "Taurus Silver," contributed enormously to the National Defense Forces. The prime example was the flight device with built-in gravity control formulas, which had been adopted by magic units not only domestically but internationally.
Since this apartment legally existed within FLT premises, if the Defense Army trespassed into a restricted area without proper cause, the residents wouldn't be blamed for using magic in "self-defense." In a worst-case scenario, there was also the advantage that a single word from the Yotsuba family could hush everything up.
Just then, another woman—Hina Ise—appeared in the living room.
"Oh, Hina. Is everything alright around the perimeter?" "Yes. I've set up a powerful barrier, so it should hold through the night. However, it seems Yumu already made a capture earlier..." "An intruder of some sort?" "No, it seems it was purely coincidental."
According to Hina's explanation, after school, while Yumu and Shuji were out shopping in town, they rescued Chiaki and Shiori, who were nearly kidnapped. They lured the attackers into a back alley and ruthlessly beat them down. During the scuffle, Shuji remembered the face of one of the attackers and inquired with his family, the Miyamoto family, for an identity check. Word of this incident had already been passed to the main Kagurazaka family as well.
"Coincidence or not, to go that far... Who was the opponent?" "It seems he was a veteran of the National Defense Army. Apparently, the Intelligence Department had dirt on him, forcing his hand. His custody was handed over to Master Kokonoe Yakumo." "...I can't help but feel for Yugen's hardships." "Tell me about it."
They hadn't just struck out; they were well past the point of immediate disqualification, and the state of affairs had already reached Gozo, Hina stated. With things looking as though the Intelligence Department—and even the Toyama family—might be wiped out before seeing tomorrow's sunrise, all four of them let out a unified sigh.
"I can totally understand why Big Brother hated the idea of a promotion so much... Even for a part-time special duty role, concurrently holding a position equivalent to an officer in the three military branches is completely abnormal. Even Big Sister is kept at the rank of Major." "Coming from Celia, who was a former Lieutenant Colonel in STARS, that's saying something." "It's not like I trained my magic because I wanted that rank. Honor and power are the easiest things to draw envy from others. I almost want to tell the adults who don't get that to try enduring three minutes in a boiling hot bath."
Celia's background was shared with Yugen's other fiancées, and Yugen's standing within the National Defense Force was also disclosed to them. Understanding the gravity of the situation from his rank alone, they kept it strictly secret.
No matter how superior one's magic might be, given that many fear unseen power, nobody wanted to stand out unnecessarily. However, to avoid being improperly restrained, holding a high rank was a necessity. Celia—who had felt the dilemma of honor and power most acutely at Lina's side—spoke with conviction, prompting dry chuckles from the other three.
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