“Huh? From Oba-sama?”
After sweeping a glance over her older brother, who had hurriedly left
the house after glancing at the information terminal from his pocket
and just returned while explaining the situation, Miyuki couldn’t help
but ask this question.
Immediately after the question, she flushed in embarrassment after
realizing her improper behavior.
Still, Tatsuya felt that her question was only a natural course of events,
so he wasn’t going to chide his sister over such a minor detail.
“There’s something I wish to discuss with Oba-ue.”
In other words, could you please call her for me, was Tatsuya’s request
to Miyuki.
The majority of those working for the Yotsuba Family were aware that
Tatsuya was Maya’s nephew. At the same time, they also knew that
Tatsuya served as nothing more than a tool. –Except, only a select
minority had access to the information that he was being utilized as a
weapon. In light of this, even if Tatsuya reached out to his aunt via
phone, the call would inevitably be curtailed.
In other words, forget Tatsuya, not even Miyuki knew the number for
the direct line. The information control surrounding the Yotsuba
Family was several times more intense than the government, and that
was no idle exaggeration by those in the know.
“So long as Onii-sama says so...... Can you give me a minute?”
“Ah…… I’ll go change as well.”
Even though they were related by blood, the occasional phone call or
video call failed to materialize. That was the type of existence that
their aunt (and other family members) was.
“I apologize for calling you so late.”
“That’s fine. Compared to that, it’s quite rare for Miyuki to call me by
phone.”
As usual, Maya appeared on the screen of the video call with her
customary, age-defying beauty and mysterious smile. Hayama stood
by her side, dressed neatly in a three piece suit. While Tatsuya
pondered the oddity of having Hayama attend a family call, Tatsuya
was also standing next to Miyuki in a black suit, so they were
probably about the same.
After the usual customary words of welcome that carefully masked the
mounting agitation, Miyuki used an objective tone – a definite chore
for her in this case – to convey the highlights of Tatsuya’s message.
“Tatsuya too? This is also something rare.”
Choosing to forgo any attempt to hide her interest, Maya allowed
Tatsuya to speak.
“Oba-ue, there’s actually one thing I would like to ask you and another
I would like to request.”
“Go ahead.”
Maya nodded in an excellent mood. Well, at least from her
appearance, at least.
“In that case, allow me to go right ahead…… Oba-ue, can you please
tell me how the Kudou Family’s Counter Magic “Parade” works?”
Next to Tatsuya, Miyuki emitted a small sound while shock suffused
her face.
On the screen, Hayama raised one eyebrow significantly.
Unable to mask her expression, Maya burst into laughter.
“Come now…… Tatsuya, “Parade” is one of the Kudou Family’s
closest guarded secrets. Did you think I would know this secret?”
Amid her laughter, Maya deflected the question.
“Oba-ue once learned from Elder Kudou directly. Even if you do not
know the Magic Sequence, I’m sure you at least know the ins and
outs, correct?”
After establishing that “she couldn’t teach him”, Tatsuya continued
pushing with his own question.
“Counter Magic “Parade” applies Data Fortification on your own
Eidos and rewrites or alters your appearance. To be precise, it is a
Magic Sequence that applies a different appearance or a fake mask on
the Eidos and creates a false appearance, using the new appearance to
mask the original in order to protect the real form from hostile magical
effects, correct?”
Not only was he pushing on, he also supplied his own hypothesis.
“……”Alteration” Magic is something that cannot be achieved in the
real world, but I think you are already aware of that, no?”
Maya responded directly to Tatsuya’s hypothesis. Just this alone was
sufficient to inform Tatsuya regarding the truth of his words, but this
wasn’t enough to satisfy Tatsuya.
“Rather than using “Alteration”, a simple adjust at the visual level
using Light Refraction Magic would be enough. The problem lies in
that Light Refraction Magic cannot escape my “eye”, hence where the
issue lies.”
“Onii-sama, that……”
The one who responded verbally while looking completely astounded
was Miyuki.
“I can’t believe that there’s an opponent who cannot be identified by
Onii-sama……”
“Not only that, they also avoided Mist Dispersal.”
Pale faced, Miyuki was struck dumb.
As if she also received a blow, Maya wrinkled her brows in an instant
on the other side of the screen.
Though she swiftly recovered her smiling visage, the tangent in the
conversation had been dispelled.
“If Mist Dispersal is useless, then Trident should have no problem.”
“Can Parade be cast on top of itself?”
At Maya’s suggestion, Tatsuya once more ventured another question.
Yet, Maya’s response referred to a wholly unrelated topic.