Harry Potter and the Freedom of Apathy

Chapter 1: Finding Love in all the Wrong Places

HP X Sekirei

Harry/Karasuba/Matsu/Yume

An abused child who has finally grown sick of the magical world as well. Harry begins this story as an apathetic nihilist. But don't worry, character development. Maybe. Eventually. At some point. If things work out.

0o0o0o0o0

Sitting in the Gothic interrogation chair before the governing body of magical Britain, Harry considered the world as the Minister rambled on about his crimes.

Having spent a little over five years in the magical world, he'd finally realized the truth. The wonderful happiness of the first year plus was ruined by his lack of memories and the death of his parents, followed by exile. His reintroduction had been unwanted fame, danger, expectations, pressure, danger, living under a spotlight, gossip, judgment, danger, Voldemort, and repeated exile back to the Dursley's. The good could be summed up as Ron, Hermione, and quidditch. On the other hand, with Ron and Hermione having abandoned him this summer and the fact quidditch was almost always interrupted by the many problems with the world, he'd finally realized the truth: The Wizarding World simply wasn't worth it.

Acknowledging the truth, even if only in his head, Harry felt his apathy build. Dumbledore wanted a symbol, Fudge wanted a scapegoat. Harry, well, he simply wanted out. Pondering on this, he was snapped from his thoughts at a new voice interrupting the proceedings, "Witness for the Defense: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

Looking at the eccentric old man, Harry released an internal sigh before turning to face the minister, who had developed a rather ugly look on his face. Seeing the man open his mouth, Harry was struck with inspiration and interrupted, "No thanks."

The room went silent and Harry allowed himself a small smile. Seeing Dumbledore blink in surprise and the minister develop a more questioning look, Harry seized on his momentum, "In fact, Minister, I was wondering if I could discuss a plea deal with you in private." At Fudge's considering look, Harry pushed on, "No Dumbledore or anyone else you don't want. If nothing gets worked out, we can just go back to this trial, I promise it won't take long."

Beside him, he felt Dumbledore tense up and place a hand on his shoulder, "Harry, I really don't think-"

"That sounds fine," Fudge interrupted. As Dumbledore frowned at him, Fudge just smiled wider, "For the sake of propriety, Madame Bones and the court scribe will join us."

0o0o0o0o0

Five minutes later, Harry was sitting across from Minister Fudge and Madame Bones, with Percy sitting to the side recording the meeting. While Madame Bones looked politely interested, Fudge gave Harry a questioning look, "So, what's this about?"

Harry shrugged, "I want out." Seeing the frowns on their faces, Harry continued, "I've stopped caring for the Wizarding World. More than that, I've no desire to be Dumbledore's little symbol or the ministries scapegoat. The fame, pressure, and expectations have completely sapped my desire to live in magical Britain."

Fudge nodded, "So you want out. Which is what this is about. I'd be fine with you leaving, but there's more involved in that process than just walking away."

"Precisely," Harry said. "For whatever reason, Dumbledore wants something from me, so simply leaving would leave me running from Dumbledore until he found me. On the other hand, if I could get official permission from the ministry to leave and anger as many of Dumbledore's supporters as possible, trying to find me would become far more of a challenge for him."

Spending a few minutes thinking about what Harry said, Fudge eventually gave Harry a considering look, "So, what do you want? And what do you have to offer?"

"I want legal non-magical identification. I want legal non-magical out of the UK, preferably to a first world country not bearing ties to magical Britain. I want access to some way of quickly learning the primary language of wherever I end up going. I want half of my magical wealth to be transferred to non-magical money and put into a non-magical bank that I have sole access to. I would also like an assurance than the British Magical Government will not try to contact me unless I make contact first for a period of no less than twenty years."

Fudge blinked at his list of demands, "That is quite a lot that you want. What do you have to offer that would make me want to provide all that?"

Harry shrugged, "Dumbledore has brought together a Para-military organization called the Order of the Phoenix. I can give you a list of names of people I'm aware of who've joined it. I can tell you what little I know of there operations. I'd also like to give a little speech to the press. A speech that you can write. Whatever you want me to say, I'll be the mouthpiece of the ministry for one speech."

For the first time, Madame Bones offered input to the conversation, "Dumbledore is no longer a member of the government, as such, if he really is running a Para-military organization he and all of its members are in violation of the law." Giving Harry a serious look she continued, "Are you sure it's a Para-military organization?"

"Well, I know there are a handful of aurors that are members and that currently they're obsessed with protecting some kind of weapon. They're also preparing for a war."

With narrowed eyes, Madame Bones had another question, "A war against whom?"

Blinking, Harry looked between the Fudge and Bones. Scratching the back of his head, he shrugged, "Supposedly against Voldemort."

Fudge spluttered. "What? You-Know-Who isn't back!" Turning to look at Madame Bones he continued, "Clearly Dumbledore is taking advantage of his fame to build an army and overthrow the ministry!"

Seeing Madame Bones about to respond, Harry cut in, "Frankly, I don't care." Seeing the attention had returned to him, he continued, "I don't care about the politics or the ministry or Dumbledore. I've told you what I want and made my offer. What do you say? Do we have a deal, or do I go back on trial?"

As the two leaders conferred with each other, Harry felt a sense of satisfaction as Madame Bones grimaced and Fudge grew an unpleasant smirk. Turning back to Harry, Fudge's smirk widened, "Deal."

0o0o0o0o0

A week later found Harry relaxing in first class on a flight to Japan. Madame Bones hadn't been happy with the deal, the legalities of allowing a 15-year-old without any actual qualifications effective emancipation and adulthood was legally dubious at best. On the other hand, she was even less pleased to learn that three of her top aurors were members of an illegal Para-military organization with a mandate that stood directly in contrast to the Ministry. The fact that a department head, even if it was simply the misuse of muggle artifacts department, was a member as well just made her angrier. Harry got the impression she was a good person who'd gladly stand against Voldemort if Dumbledore had any actual proof the guy was alive again. With the lack of evidence though, she'd stick to the truth as told by the ministry.

The flight to Japan was due to its status as not a member of the ICW and holding no international diplomatic ties with any ICW country. Apparently, when the non-magical world used technological superiority to force open Japan's borders, there was no such disparity in magical ability and Japan had remained fierce in its independence and isolationism. Losing 90% of their magical population to the nuclear weapons of World War Two had merely reinforced their isolation out of fear of being subjugated by a foreign power. Being on the opposite side of the world and speaking a completely different language just made Harry happier, figuring it would be that much harder to track him down. Not that anyone would actually be trying.

Before leaving, Harry had given a nice speech in which he'd thrown Dumbledore and all his supporters under the bus, accusing them of lying and trying to control magical Britain by using him as a figurehead to rally behind. Informing the world that Voldemort was, in fact, not back had been helpful as well. Alienating Dumbledore's allies and then minimizing their ability to recruit new ones while also getting a lot of them in trouble by revealing their identities to the ministry would go a long way towards minimizing Dumbledore's ability to try and follow him.

Of course, as smooth as things had been going for him since his trial, he really shouldn't have been so surprised when he ran into trouble going through customs. Giving the customs agent a bland look, Harry listened to his newest problem, "I'm sorry sir, but there's an issue with your passport. I'm going to have to ask you to follow me."

Harry gave him a blank look before shrugging, "Fine. Whatever." Following the man, Harry found himself escorted to a plain room with simple metal table with two chairs. Upon entering, he was left to his on devices as he considered what the problem was.

Not having much luck, he eventually settled in and took a nap. Sleep was a necessity at the moment, as magically learning a language wasn't an easy process for the mind. Still, the extra sleep for the next month was more than worth having an entire language shoved into his head.

0o0o0o0o0

Harry woke up as the door to the room was opened again. Lifting his head off the table, he watched as two people entered the room. The first was a stern woman of average height, wearing a crisp white suit with light grey hair. She had a clipboard in her hands and looked rather displeased as she glanced at him.

Following her in was a second woman. This one was quite tall for a woman and also had grey hair, although hers was closer in color to ash. She was dressed in a short black yukata with a brown leather belt, long black stockings, and a gray haori on her back. What stood out to Harry, though, was the sword sheathed at her hip and the feeling of impending death he'd become accustomed to over the years. Meeting her bloodthirsty grin with a tired glance, he returned his attention to the first person to enter. From the corner of his eye, he saw the grin begin showing teeth.

The first woman took the seat across from him, placing her clipboard on the table before frowning at him, "Who are you?"

Harry gave a lazy half-shrug, "Harry Potter. Who are you?"

"Sahashi Takami." Came the answer, "What are you doing here?"

He tilted his head, "Trying to take a nap?" From behind Takami he heard a muffled cough. Seeing Takami narrow her eyes, he continued, "Who's your companion?"

Slamming her hands on the table, Takami glared at him, "Do you think this is a game? What. Are. You. Doing. Here."

Yawning, Harry looked past her to the other person present, "What's your name?"

The feeling of death grew as her grin made a reappearance and she grabbed the hilt of her sword, "I'm Karasuba."

"Well it's wonderful to meet you." Turning back to Takami he half-heartedly tried to cover another yawn. "Anyways, if you aren't going to kill me, can I go? I'd like to take a nap."

Harry watched in curiosity as Takami closed her eyes and spent a few moments regaining control over herself before opening her eyes and glaring at him. "Don't tempt me. Tell me who you are and why you're trying to illegaly enter Shinto Teito." Seeing Harry wasn't really paying attention she continued, "Or I'll let Karasuba use your bones to sharpen her sword."

Raising an eyebrow at the threat, Harry considered it. Seeing a tic mark appear on Takami's forehead at his continued silence he finally declared, "8 out of 10. Good threat. Better than most I've heard. Still, bones aren't very good for sharpening blades, so it loses some of its impact." Before Takami could respond to that, Harry decided to answer her questions, "Anyways, as I said, I'm Harry Potter. Or Potter Harry I suppose. Whatever. Just call me Harry." Shaking his head he continued, "Anyways, I'm not really here for a specific reason, mostly it's just to get as far away from Britain and the idiots there as I can. This just happened to be where I ended up heading. Why is it illegal though? My papers should all be good."

Finally getting an answer, Takami calmed down a little before giving Harry a deadpan stare, "Your papers are absolutely perfect. Well, they would be, anyways, if you were travelling back in the 1920's."

Harry's whole body tensed for a second before he flopped back in his chair and laughed. Slowly regaining control of himself he looked across the table at Takami, "Oh god. Those fucking idiots." Shaking his head, he couldn't help letting out the occasional chuckle, "See? This is the kind of idiocy I was trying to leave behind. God damn it, even when they're trying to be helpful they still fuck it up."

"Yes, well," Takami began, drawing Harry's attention, "If that was all, there wouldn't be any reason to send myself and Karasuba, you'd just be meeting proper customs agents and being deported. The thing is, once your passport got flagged as a couple decades out of date but otherwise perfect, a scan of global systems showed this was in fact not an anomaly, merely a rare occurrence. On the other hand, looking at other forms of ID show this trend to be merely uncommon. Clearly some kind of conspiracy is going that fails rather miserably at hiding itself yet has managed to go undiscovered. Tell me about it."

He just stared at her blankly for a long moment before sighing, "Wow. That's a level of stupid I can scarcely comprehend, yet have no problem believing. Holy shit. Well then," taking a second to think about what he should say he shrugged, "Yes. Clearly that passport was so poor it counts as reneging on our deal, so I'll tell you everything. Just, try not to get too bogged down by the stupid."

Reaching into his bag, he grabbed his wand. Pulling it out he ignored the looks he was being given and pointed it at Karasuba, "Accio sword." Ignoring their shock, he grabbed the hilt of the sword as it flew towards him. Looking it over, he gave an approving hum, "Nice sword. I wonder how good it is at killing things?" Shrugging, he put it down on the table and sat back, "Any questions?"

Across from him, Takami was looking at him with a calculating gleam in her eyes. Karasuba, on the other hand, was alternating her look from her empty sheath, to her sword on the table, to Harry's face. Finally stepping forward, she picked up her sword and placed it against Harry's neck with a grin, "Hmm, this sword is amazing at killing whatever I desire. Would you like a demonstration?"

Harry tilted his head, feeling the blade dig into his neck a little harder, "Well, it has been nearly two weeks since the last time someone tried to kill me. I suppose it might be fun. Still," Harry pointed his wand to his side, "Protego." Karasuba blinked as her sword was forced away from his neck by a translucent barrier. "If you want to dance, we're going to need more room."

Across from him, he saw Takami pale. Following her eyes, he turned in time to see Karasuba with a euphoric expression on her face as she swung her sword as hard as she could. Blinking at the look, he quickly put as much energy as he could into his shield and still barely had time to duck as she carved through it like it was little more than paper. Twisting his body, he saw her come back for another swing. Aiming at her, he yelled out, "Expulso!" The curse hit its mark, throwing Karasuba back into the wall with as much force as Harry could muster.

Wondering if he might have killed her, Harry felt his eyes widen as she stood up as though she'd barely even felt the attack. Watching her regrip her sword, Harry began panicking internally, that had been his strongest offensive attack and she'd basically ignored it. Combined with her ability to carve through his strongest defense as if it wasn't there, he was beginning to feel as though he'd managed to wander into another lethal battle. Before she could charge him though, "Karasuba! Stop!" Takami snapped out.

Karasuba stopped and looked at Takami before returning her gaze to Harry. Giving him a long considering look, she slowly sheathed her blade, "Hmm, perhaps your species isn't just a bunch of pathetic animals."

Resettling himself in his chair, Harry let out a snort, "Don't get your hopes up. The only thing more pathetic than a human is a group of them." Returning her considering look with his own, he continued, "Still, that does raise the question: what are you? Without anything to block it, that attack should have pulped you, turning your insides into the world's bloodiest smoothie."

Giving him another grin she shrugged, "I'm just a little tougher than the trash this planet shat out and gave sentience. Still, you make it sound like that was a lethal attack you used against me. How naughty."

"What can I say? I like not being dead. After you carved through my shield like it wasn't even there, I figured holding back would only get me killed. Plus, I've long since learned that the best way to get people to leave you alone is to leave a trail of corpses behind."

With a spark of interest in her eyes, Karasuba's tone changed as she asked another question, "Oh? So you don't have any problems with killing people?"

"Not really," Harry answered. "I mean, I know there's some kind of social stigma against it, but after having lived the last four years trying to fit in with society, I've recently decided I simply don't give a fuck. I'll do what I want and if people have a problem with it they can go fuck themselves." As he answered, Harry couldn't help noticing as Karasuba's face began flushing. Disregarding that, he finished his answer, "If I end up killing someone, well, they shouldn't have annoyed me. Because fuck the pathetic trash that makes up humanity."

Across from him, Harry barely heard Takami speak up, "Oh no," before he found Karasuba's tongue invading his mouth. Caught completely off guard at the assault, Harry couldn't even react before Karasuba was pulling away, at which point he noticed the wings of grey light that had appeared behind her.

As Harry took in the wings, Karasuba straightened up and gave him an almost peaceful look, "Mmm. Sekirei number zero four: Karasuba. Together, we'll stain the earth with blood of worthless trash."

Harry gave her a blank look, " I don't know, that sounds like it'd take a lot of effort. Still, I suppose we all need hobbies." As the wings faded, Harry turned to face Takami, who had her face buried in her hands. "What's a Sekirei?"

Lifting her head, Takami gave him a thoroughly aggrieved look, "An alien species discovered by the founder of MBI." Taking a moment to regain her equilibrium, she eventually spoke up, "You said you weren't here for any reason in particular, right? As in, you don't really have any concrete plans for the future?" At Harry's nod, she nodded, "Wonderful. How would you like a job?"

Harry paused at the offer, "A job? Aren't there, like, laws against hiring 15-year-olds?"

She shrugged, "MBI is a wealthy company with more political power than you'd believe. The combination means that laws don't really have much hold over us."

"You'd be surprised. Back in wizarding Britain I was basically Jesus. Still, I suppose having something to do would be kind of nice. If whatever job you have for me keeps my interest I'll do it. I'd also appreciate some education, because the only thing I've studied the last four years is magic, so I'm fairly behind for a standard education. I also have no idea how to use technology, learning to use computers seems like it'd be useful."

Takami picked up her clipboard and stood up, "Very well. That can all be arranged. One of your coworkers should be able to teach about technology better than anyone else on the planet. If you get along I'll have her handle the rest of your education as well. For now, we're heading back to Teito Tower. Along the way, we're going to have a talk, because whatever that magic bullshit of yours is, I need to know about it. And, I suppose, you'd probably like to learn a little more about the Sekirei and MBI."

Harry nodded, "Yes I would. Like, why did Karasuba kiss me and then grow wings?"

As he followed Takami out, Karasube fell into step beside him, "I can answer that, it's because you're mine now. Sekirei react to a person and then bond with them via an exchange of genetic material, typically using saliva. The bonded human becomes the Sekirei's Ashikabi."

Harry glanced at her before returning his gaze to the hallway in front of him, "Well, I suppose I should warn you then that I don't follow orders. If you think you can own me, I'll simply kill you and move on."

From in front of them, Takami spoke up, "Don't worry about it. Truthfully, the Sekirei are almost disturbingly submissive to their Ashikabi, that's why I'm trying to hire you, in order to keep Karasuba working for us."

Feeling a smirk, Harry turned to Karasuba, "Submissive huh, should I get you a collar?"

She turned to him with a grin of her own, "Only if you want me to geld you."

0o0o0o0o0

Walking through Teito Tower, Harry thought about the conversation he'd had on the drive over, "So Minaka, yourself, and another researcher discovered the Sekirei in stasis in a spaceship on an island six years ago. Since then, Minaka has been building up MBI by reverse engineering the advanced technology of the alien race while also having the Sekirei adjusted so they can safely interact with humanity."

From in front of him, Takami nodded, "Yes."

"Since then, foreign governments have been trying to get the Sekirei and their technology for themselves."

"Yup."

"To stop this, you didn't adjust any of the first five Sekirei, keeping them at full power so they could wipe out invading armies on their own."

"Mmhmm."

"However, after the invasions were repelled, the leader of your Discipline Squad retired to be a simple Japanese housewife."

From beside him, Karasuba spat on the ground, "Pretty much."

"Then, about a year ago, your other co-founder got killed during an experiment, making this Miya's insistence on being a simple Japanese woman the only thing keeping her from killing everyone at MBI she blames for her husband's death."

"Feh, I wish she'd attack and give me an excuse to kill her."

Ignoring Karasuba's input he continued, "And at some point during all this, two more members of your discipline squad have left, leaving only Karasuba and, uh, Matsu? as remaining members, so you're trying to un-adjust one or two of the Sekirei to rebuild the Discipline Squad as a larger threat than one swordswoman and a hacker."

"Correct," Takami put forth. "While Karasube is tremendously dangerous, she's only one person and Matsu isn't remotely skilled at actual combat. She's good at hacking, but that's about it. With the kind of enemies MBI has, we need more than that to deal with them."

"And behind the scenes in all of this, Minaka is trying to organize some kind of battle royal in the middle if Shinto Teito between all 108 Sekirei for some reason."

Takami let out a put-upon sigh, "He's insane. Unfortunately, he's also incredibly charismatic and intelligent."

Harry shook his head, "I'd say this is the craziest thing I've ever heard, unfortunately, I can't."

Takami snorted, "Fair enough. Because really, everything you've told me about the magical world is insulting to my intelligence. Perhaps the biggest sin of all is that it's managed to survive as long as it has. Because holy shit, that kind of stupid should not be capable of surviving in even a remotely functioning society."

"Well," Karasuba put in, "at least these wizards sound like they might be fun to kill. At least some of their creatures will be."

Harry shook his head, the moment she'd heard about dragons, Karasuba'd been determined to find some to kill. Still, "Don't worry, I might have gotten away from their stupidity for the moment, but I have no doubt they'll hunt me down eventually. Once they show up, you can do whatever you want to discourage their idiocy."

Before Karasuba could respond, Takami stopped in front of a set of double doors. Turning around, she addressed Harry, "Okay, this is Minaka's office. Head on in and he'll tell you about what your new job entails. When you're done, I'll have Matsu meet you out here to discuss your education." Turning to Karasuba, she provided different orders, "Karasuba, clearly there is another threat to contend with out there, so head to training and work out ways to deal with what you know so far about the magical world and its threats. You can play with Harry again once he's done talking with Matsu."

Karasuba gave a careless shrug, "Sure, whatever. Sounds fun." With a lazy wave, she turned and began walking away, "See you later Harry. Be sure to come entertain me soon."

0o0o0o0o0

Entering the office, Harry quickly noticed the only person present. Sitting at a desk was a young looking man with shockingly white hair. Quickly taking note of the newcomer, he stood up and revealed himself to be wearing far too much white. From the crazy hair to the crisp white business suit to the completely unnecessary white cloak around his shoulders, the white was only highlighted by the black tie and glasses frame.

Harry's bland face went even duller as the man gave a rather disturbingly happy smile and spoke up, "Ah, Harry Potter! Welcome, to the Game of the Gods!" Throwing his arms out in a dramatic fashion, he continued, "Congratulations on being the first human chosen by the fates to participate in the Dawning of a New Age!"

Walking around his desk, he clearly took note of Harry's apathy. Rather than being offended, this only seemed to make him happier, shown when he threw back his head and laughed in delight. Once he finally calmed down, he gave Harry amore calculating look, "Still, this isn't quite how I intended to start things. Especially since we're still at least ten and probably fifteen years out from being able to really start the game. Luckily, you've chosen a position in the game that will provide you quite a bit to do before it can begin properly." Stopping in front of Harry, Minaka gave an almost sincere smile before introducing himself properly, "Still, a proper introduction is required. I am, as you have likely surmised, Minaka Hiroto. I discovered the Sekirei seven years ago and founded MBI a year later. Since then, I've amassed wealth and power at an almost unprecedented rate. My dream is to kick this world out of the rut it has fallen into, bringing about a new Age of the Gods."

Harry continued looking at him blankly for a few moments before speaking up, "Delightful. I'm Harry." Then, deliberately ignoring everything he'd just been told, "Anyways, I was told something about a job."

Giving a theatrical wail and waving his arms, Minaka's face developed a look of despair, "Wah! Come on! Show some excitement!" At Harry's continued apathy, Minaka rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Fine. The Disciplinary Squad is tasked with protecting the Sekirei, MBI, and eventually enforcing the rules of the game. Karasuba, as you might have realized, is fairly important to that. As such, we can't just let her leave. On the other hand, the plan had always been for the Disciplinary Squad to get winged around the start of the tournament by a suitable Ashikabi. The fact that you've happened to wing her now doesn't quite mesh with our plans, but it isn't some horrible thing either." Giving Harry a serious look, he continued in a deeper voice, "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to serve as the Ashikabi for the Disciplinary Squad. You'd go with them on various missions and MBI would do everything in its power to aid you in developing your magical abilities." Pausing for a moment, he changed gears, "Speaking of which, you would also be tasked with aiding MBI in learning about the magical communities of the world so we can prepare accordingly should they interfere with us at some point."

Seeing that Minaka was done speaking for the moment, Harry considered the job offer. Dealing with the magical world wasn't going to be fun, but he'd always known he'd be unable to actually avoid it. Interacting with it out of Japan was actually fairly ideal given the small size of the magical community present and its notoriously poor interactions with the rest of the world. Working with Karasuba would at least not be boring. Plus, he'd be getting an actual reward for it. Or, a paycheck at any rate. On the other hand, "When you say Ashikabi of the Disciplinary Squad, are you saying you want me to wing more Sekirei?"

Minaka blinked before responding, "Of course, the plan is to have the squad composed of three or four Sekirei. For the sake of optimal functioning we want them to all have the same Ashikabi. Why? Is that a problem?"

Harry considered Karasuba's behavior and what he'd learned about what it meant to wing a Sekirei, "Maybe. Karasuba seems fairly possessive, I don't think she'd be the kind to share. On top of that, she also doesn't seem the type to accept any disrespect from people, no matter the reason."

"Ah, I see," Minaka said. "Don't worry about that, it'll all be covered by Matsu during your education. For now, all you need to know is that Sekirei are aliens. As much as they might appear human - and can even act that way - they are not human and as such have different instincts, taboo's, beliefs, etc.. Do you have any other questions at the moment?"

"Well, as long as she doesn't kill me, I suppose I don't care," Harry said with a shrug. "As for questions, I figure I'll learn about my new job over the next couple weeks and I'll be learning about Sekirei from Matsu. I am curious about my pay though. And what kind of benefits do I get?"

At that, Minaka reached into his pocket and pulled out a solid black credit card. Holding it out to Harry, he answered, "This is an MBI card with unlimited credit. Basically, you can pay yourself whatever you want. If you start taking enough money to actually cause me problems, we'll have a discussion about your pay. Otherwise, do whatever you want. On top of that, you have unlimited access to MBI's resources, from medical to technological to anything else. If you need help managing money, get Matsu to help you."

Taking the card, Harry spent a few seconds looking at it before putting it in a pocket. "Thanks. Where am I going to be living?"

Minaka turned around and walked back around his desk. Sitting down, he gave Harry a dismissive look, "Matsu will answer the rest of your questions. Anyways, that covers everything, so head out and let Matsu do her job. Also, I'd like more information on the magical world within a week."

0o0o0o0o0

Walking out of Minaka's office, Harry was immediately pulled from his thoughts at the sight of the woman waiting for him. In fact, he was so surprised he almost lost his apathetic look. Because, well-

Boobs.

Having left the muggle world at eleven and then spending the majority of his time in the ultra-conservative magical world, he'd not had too many issues with puberty distracting him. This, though, was outrageous.

Standing before him was a woman the same height as him with long light auburn hair and rimless round glasses. She was also wearing the same tight outfit Karasuba had been wearing, which made it quite obvious she had curves beyond any he'd ever seen before. As his mind started rebooting, he noticed that her arms were now squeezing the breasts together while she bounced lightly.

Feeling absolute deadpan overtake him, he moved his gaze to meet her eyes, only to find her giving him an impish grin. Letting out a sigh, he spoke up, "I suppose you're Matsu."

With a nod, she responded, "Yup. Sekirei zero two: Matsu. You can call me sensei and I'll be your very own naughty teacher." To emphasize her point, she did another little bounce. At Harry's face, she let out another grin, "Ha, no matter how hard you try to be all emotionless, your blush is adorable." Turning around, she began making her way down the hallway, "Anyways, do you have any questions to start with?"

Taking a deep breath, Harry followed after her, "To start with, you can tell me how you expect not to be killed by Karasuba if I wing you. Minaka's answer was thoroughly unsatisfactory."

Nodding her head, Matsu explained, "To start with, I haven't decided to let you wing me yet." Hearing the short pause in Harry's steps, she continued, "Minaka wants that to happen, but frankly, he's doing quite a bit with and to the Sekirei that I don't really approve of. There's a reason that three fifths of the Disciplinary squad has left. I've been tempted to leave as well, the problem is that as it stands now, it would be more trouble than it's worth. Still, if Minaka becomes insistent in you winging me, I suppose I'll have to make a decision one way or another.

"Still, that's not the answer you asked for, so I suppose I should tell you a little more." Getting in the elevator, she waited for the doors to close before continuing, "He probably told you it's because we aren't human and left it at that." Seeing Harry nod, she shook her head, "While that is true, it doesn't actually explain anything. To understand, you'll need to learn about Sekirei culture from before we came to Earth." Pausing to gather her thoughts, she eventually put forth, "Unfortunately, that's a massively complicated answer that will also end up explaining a lot of the problems with the initial Disciplinary Squad and why it broke it down. It'll also help you understand better just what the deal with Miya is, and why Takehito is such a complicated figure.

"I could simply answer your question, but all these problems tie back to Sekirei and our identity as a species." As the elevator stopped and they got out Matsu turned to Harry again, "Hopefully, it'll also help you to understand the issues we all have with Minaka."

"What about Karasaba?" Harry asked as he followed Matsu down the hall. "She doesn't seem to have any problems with MBI or Minaka."

Matsu, reaching her destination, opened a door and led Harry into a room full of computers, "Karasuba is a complicated person. While I doubt she truly hates Minaka, she has plenty of problems with MBI, however she avoids confronting them by blaming them all on Takehito and relishing in his death. To be fair, she's not entirely wrong to do so, but the problems do extend far beyond Takehito and his sins. Which we'll be getting to in a moment. For now, this is my room. Karasuba's is directly across from mine. The other rooms on this floor are empty, you'll be free to pick whichever you want if you decide you don't want to live in Karasuba's room."

Looking around, Harry realized that sure enough, this was in fact a living space. There was a little half kitchen to one side as well as a small bed in a back corner. One of the walls also had a door he suspected led to a bathroom. Following Matsu into the room, he took a seat beside her at a desk facing a wall entirely covered in monitors. Looking at the keyboard in front of him, he decided to at least try and lighten the mood for a moment, "Yeah, I have no idea how to use any of this." At Matsu's horrified expression, he poked a key and startled back as the monitor in front of him lit up, "Holy shit! What was that?"

This time it was Matsu's turn to give an unimpressed stare, "You're terrible at acting. And the worst part is that even under the poor acting, I could tell you were being serious. You don't actually know how to use a computer. At all."

Harry shrugged, "Well, magic tends to interfere with technology, making it not work properly or at all, so we didn't have any at Hogwarts." The distress that put on Matsu's face almost made Harry smile, "And before magical schooling, while my cousin had a computer, I was always too busy doing chores or being locked in my cupboard to ever learn how it worked." Seeing Matsu's distressed expression grow more real, Harry cut her off, "Eh, it wasn't the best childhood, but it's also the past. Now that I never have to deal with it anymore, I figure I'll just move on." Not getting quite the desired result, he tried changing the topic, "Anyways, you were going to tell me about the Sekirei?"

Narrowing her eyes with a frown, she allowed the change of topic while promising to look into it later. Taking a few seconds to think about how to start this conversation, she eventually settled on, "Since most of this comes down to the winging of Sekirei, tell me what you've been told or figured out about winging so far."

"Well, a Sekirei reacts to an Ashikabi and gets winged by exchanging genetic information, typically via saliva in the form of a kiss."

Before he could continue, Matsu interrupted him, "If it requires an exchange, then why didn't you grow wings or feel the bond form?"

"I didn't grow wings because I'm not a Sekirei, but I think you're trying to point out the bond isn't a mutual thing." At Matsu's nod, he continued, "Which is also pointed out by the fact that if I die, the bond will shut down Karasuba and any other Sekirei I might have winged."

Matsu nodded, "Exactly. However, the bond was not always that way. That is a change that was made by Takehito. What do you know of the bond outside of the mechanics?"

"Well," Harry began, "it's supposed to be like marriage I think. An Ashikabi wings a Sekirei and for all intents and purposes they're married. However, this does not, apparently, prevent an Ashikabi from winging multiple Sekirei. And, I suppose, if the inequality of the bond is being maintained, a Sekirei can only bond to a single Ashikabi."

"While your education might be lacking, it's clear your intelligence isn't," Matsu complimented. "Pretty much. This also gets into Karasuba's hatred of Takehito. She despises weakness and views humans as disgustingly pathetic creatures she'd rather put to death then bind herself to. However, her instincts and the nature of being a Sekirei demand she bind herself to one anyways. They demand she put her life in the hands of a member of a pathetic species she can't stand. And Takehito created the current Sekirei/Ashikabi bond and inserted it into every Sekirei on the ship."

Harry narrowed his eyes, "But that doesn't make sense." At Matsu's inquiring look he explained himself, "If her instincts demand she create this bond, then it must be a trait of the Sekirei that's existed for millennia, but that can't be true if Takehito created it."

With a nod, Matsu explained, "Indeed. Except Takehito didn't create the ability to bond, he simply awoke the ability to do so and modified it to work with humans while preventing it from working on other Sekirei. To understand, I'll tell you about Sekirei culture before getting back to the situation created by MBI."

Seeing she had Harry's rapt attention, Matsu began her explanation, "The Sekirei were the only sentient species on their planet. As a species, we are naturally social and exist almost entirely in groups. The smallest and most close-knit of these groups would wing each other, typically in groups of four to six. Rather than a one-way bond, it would be as many branched as the relationship. Each member would be winged to each other member, and through them could activate their norito and utilize their greatest power."

As Matsu paused, Harry thought about that, "Wait, then you mean there wasn't an Ashikabi? It was simply a reciprocal bond to each member of the group?"

Matsu nodded, "Yup. And those groups were the equivalent of marriage. While humans are big on monogamy, the idea of such a small relationship is almost depressing to Sekirei. The nature of Sekirei, beyond being highly social, is also a powerful drive and need for love. Being loved, spreading the love, sharing the love, and providing love. More than anything else, love is the concept which embodies Sekirei the most. As a result, between the ages of fifteen and twenty, Sekirei would end up forming small groups with other Sekirei they reacted with the strongest, forming polyfidelitous relationships."

Harry tilted his head, "Polyfidelitous?"

Matsu nodded, "A multi-partnered relationship, but unlike polygamy or polyandry it is a status in which all are equal to each other, there is no single dominant voice with regards to the relationship."

"So then," Harry thought out, "If Sekirei could wing each other in the past, why can't they now? And why would Takehito bring back this bond of mutual love in such a broken manner?"

With a bitter smile, Matsu answered, "Genetic diversity. The Sekirei didn't leave their home planet for fun or exploration. They left because an asteroid showed up and destroyed the world. In the end, they were able to get eight ships with 108 Sekirei in stasis a piece to evacuate and that was all that remained of the species. However, to maintain genetic diversity and a healthy population, it would take a minimum population near to ten thousand. As you can no doubt tell, the 864 Sekirei that managed to survive isn't even close to reaching the number necessary. However, there was still a way to survive as a species. At least, in a certain manner of speaking."

Spending a few seconds thinking about it, Harry realized what Matsu was implying, "By interbreeding with another species. While the Sekirei might die out, your genetics would live on."

Matsu gave a wan chuckle, "Oh, it's better than that." At Harry's curious look, she continued, "This goes back to Sekirei culture for a bit, but as a species, Sekirei are incredibly peaceful." Seeing Harry's disbelief, she shook her head, "I know what you're thinking, but it's true. While Sekirei enjoy combat and testing their strength against each other, actually lethal combat was incredibly rare. With the natural durability of our bodies combined with an impressive rate of recovery even the harshest of battles rarely turned lethal. And, as a species, Sekirei were fine with that. Being all about love, the idea of killing each other intentionally was almost anathema to them. But of course you've met Karasuba and realize that exceptions do exist. Bloodthirsty and violent, some Sekirei didn't quite fit in with the rest of the species. And they needed to be stopped before they could truly cause problems."

Bringing Karasuba to mind, Harry could understand that. As a species, someone like her would be outcast even in humanity. Not that he cared. Between the muggle and magical worlds, Harry hadn't seen any reason to discourage the killing of idiots everywhere. Still, "How do you stop someone like Karasuba?"

"With a level of technology far beyond that which has been created by humanity," Came the answer. "Hundreds of years in the past, the Sekirei managed to create a kind of biological technology capable of directly controlling certain aspects of Sekirei genetics. Called 'Jinki', these items could be used to strengthen or reduce the power of a Sekirei. If someone was getting out of hand or using their power to kill others, a Jinki could be used to take away all their power, leaving them as basically the equivalent to a human. At the same time, those who wielded and protected the Jinki had them used on them to enhance their strength, becoming Pillars of the Sekirei. These Pillars would watch over and protect the rest of the species and be strong enough to stop even the most powerful of unenhanced Sekirei."

Harry grimaced, "As useful as that might have been, it sounds horribly unethical. I mean, a select few being granted absolute power to rule over the rest of the species with no one to check their power. That sounds quite similar to a lot of the problems with a multitude of governments across the world."

Matsu nodded, "Yes, but that gets into the differences between Sekirei and Humanity. It's not to say that we are any better, just that our differences allowed us to successfully govern ourselves in ways that your species would find distasteful. Still, that's getting off topic. What it means, is that even without a large enough population to maintain genetic diversity, if the Sekirei could find a species they could interbreed with, the Jinki would allow them to call forth some of the Sekirei genetics, no matter how many generations had passed."

And a light bulb went off in Harry's head, "Which is why Sekirei got rid of winging. If you didn't have winging and the instincts associated with it hanging over the Sekirei, they could pass their genetics into a new species and then bring them to the surface generations later through the utilization of these Jinki." Seeing Matsu nod, Harry continued his line of thought, "But then that would imply Sekirei can only be winged by Sekirei, meaning I shouldn't have been able to wing Karasuba."

Seeing Harry puzzle on that, Matsu opted to see if he could work it out for himself. After a couple minutes, she grinned as his face lit up, "Except, you said there were eight ships of 108, but MBI only found one of them. If the other seven showed up earlier in history and bred with humanity, there would be Sekirei DNA all over the world. I might not be an actual Sekirei, but I have enough Sekirei DNA to be able to wing Karasuba."

"Very good," Matsu responded, "That's exactly it. The last thing to understand before we get to the MBI problem is the final thing that was accomplished with the Jinki. Since they could be used to modify or control a Sekirei's power, to get rid of winging and the instincts for it, the Jinki were modified to be able to control that as well."

Harry nodded, "Which is how Takehito managed to do whatever it is he did."

Matsu grimaced, "Yeah. That little tragedy." Seeing Harry's look, she sighed, "It's, well, kind of like a soap opera. It'd almost be entertaining if it wasn't reality. To start with, the ship we arrived on would only respond to Sekirei DNA. With everyone including Miya in stasis, for the three scientists who would later form MBI to be able to open the ship implied that they had Sekirei DNA.

"Upon opening the ship, Miya was woken from stasis, the only Sekirei who was, well, capable of being woken. Basically." Seeing Harry frown, she explained, "Each of the ships held a 108 Sekirei. One was a Pillar, eight were embryos, and 99 were zygotes. Basically, besides Miya, the other 107 Sekirei hadn't been born yet."

Seeing Harry's understanding, Matsu moved on, "Upon awakening, Miya found three people had been granted access to her ship without her permission, meaning they were at least part Sekirei. Upon looking at the ships system logs, the four realized the other seven ships had landed a thousand years prior without issue. The Sekirei had left their ships and interbred with humanity as they were supposed to. However, Miya's ship had experienced a technical error upon reaching the planet and had been underwater for a thousand years until a bit of seismic activity was able to bring it to the surface. In fact, the ship had been in the process of running checks to see about waking Miya when Minaka found it. Now though, with Miya awake and intelligent life with Sekirei DNA walking around, Miya had to take stock of her assigned mission and decide what to do from there, which is where the trouble began."

Harry frowned, "How did that manage to start trouble? Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

With a bitter chuckle, Matsu answered, "No." After a few seconds, she elaborated, "Minaka was incredibly intelligent and charismatic, Takami was a dependable intelligent woman capable of getting things done and someone who just felt trustworthy, Takehito though, him and Miya suffered from love at first sight. This combination led to Miya allowing Minaka to gain far more information about the Sekirei and their capabilities than was probably a good idea. At the same time, her infatuation with Takehito distracted both of them from what Minaka was doing while Takami's infatuation with Minaka blinded her to Minaka's multitude of faults.

"In the end, the responsibilities were divvied up such that Takehito worked with Miya to help her with her responsibilities as the Pillar. Takami was put in charge of creating a defense plan to ward off the attacks of world militaries trying to infiltrate the island, discover just what Minaka was hiding, and then trying to take the Sekirei for themselves. Minaka, on the other hand, did whatever the fuck he wanted."

Letting the silence linger for a while, Harry eventually brought up a question, "Is that where the Disciplinary Squad came from? Repelling armies?"

With a grimace, Matsu nodded, "Yeah. An island suddenly appearing got on a lot of people's radar. Minaka managed to finagle his way to being the one to lead the expeditionary force to it, but when he discovered the Sekirei, he used his own talents to wipe all record of the island from maps around the world. He managed to gain ownership of it, and he told all the world's governments he wasn't going to be sharing his island with them. Naturally, they wanted to know what he'd managed to find. Luckily, by the time they started sending infiltration teams to the island, Takami and Takehito had managed to use the technology on the ship to age the Disciplinary Squad to the point of being young adults and gotten us the information we needed to do our job. And we did. For three years, we fought off nearly two dozen infiltration attempts, a half dozen progressively larger invasion forces, and one massive three wave full-scale invasion during which we killed nearly 25,000 people. Luckily, at that point, the various governments realized the constant military operations were more trouble than they were worth, which, combined with MBI's growing reputation and power, led to an end to the invasions. Which turned out to be incredibly fortuitous as Takehito was just getting ready to make his mistake."

Harry nodded at that, "He brought back winging in its current form."

"Yeah," Matsu let out. "The intention was good. He loved Miya and because the ship had let them to enter, they figured Sekirei DNA had spread through humanity and as such there was no reason not to bring back winging, so Sekirei could experience the full might of their bond."

Feeling like he had an idea of why that hadn't worked, but still not quite certain, Harry asked, "So what did go wrong? Theoretically it sounds good."

"Yes," Matsu winced, "sounds being the operative word. Unfortunately, there were two problems with what he tried to do. First, the ships were limited in size, as such, they couldn't contain every piece of Sekirei technology. Instead, they only held what was deemed necessary for their mission. Unfortunately, this meant that the technology required to use a Jinki to manipulate the winging wasn't present. Instead, Takehito used what he could find of the machine used to manipulate power and tried to twist it to fit his goal. As a result, while he found some success, it failed to return the bond as it had been. Instead, we got what it is now. Then, to make the situation worse, we learned that the three scientists had been operating under assumption, not fact.

"As close as Miya and Takehito were, there should have been a reaction with the return of winging, no matter how small. However, no matter how the two exchanged genetic material, Miya was never winged. On the other hand, Kazehana was clearly reacting to Minaka and begging to be winged by him. Further tests revealed the truth, Sekirei DNA wasn't omnipresent in humanity: of the three of them, it was only Minaka who possessed it and as such, he was the reason the ship opened, not all three of them. With Miya unable to be winged by Takehito and Minaka refusing to wing Kazehana because he could never love anyone other than himself, both of them left. Miya to play the role of perfect housewife as a replacement to her missing winging bond, and Kazehana to try and drink herself to death. Then, a month later, Mutsu just up and walked out the door. No reason or explanation given, he just left."

Harry grimaced, "That sounds like a disaster. And certainly explains why Karasuba would hate Takehito. If bringing back winging brought back the instincts, she would despise him for turning her own mind against her. The idea that no matter how much she despises the weakness of humanity her mind would insist on binding herself to one, I'm surprised she didn't kill right then and there."

Matsu shook her head with a wan chuckle, "No. No matter how much she hated him, she knew exactly what Miya was capable of. If she'd tried, Miya would have killed her. Still, Karasuba hates Miya. For protecting Takehito, for refusing to fight, for not just showing, but reveling in what she perceives as weakness. There is an enmity there that will never abate so long as they both live. And the enmity is reciprocated by Miya, because she blames Karasuba for Takehito's death."

"But wouldn't she simply kill Karasuba if she'd killed Takehito?" Harry asked.

"Ha!" Matsu let out, "She would, if she could prove it. The problem is that she can't. In fact, from a certain point of view, it could be viewed as Miya's fault."

"Oh? How so?"

Matsu spent a few seconds gathering her thoughts, "Miya wanted to be nothing more than a simple housewife, Takehito wanted Miya to be happy. Unfortunately, Miya is also the Pillar, the one responsible for protecting and watching over the rest of the Sekirei. To relieve Miya of her burden, Takehito tried experimenting with the Jinki to create a new Pillar, so Miya could live in peace. Unfortunately, what he didn't know, because Miya never told him, was that creating a new pillar requires all eight of the Jinki. At that point in time, MBI only had four of them."

Harry interrupted her, "Wait, MBI only has four of the Jinki?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. At the time we only had four," Matsu informed him, "Don't forget, there was one Jinki on each ship and the other seven ships landed over a thousand years ago. The other seven Jinki have been scattered all over the globe. One of the primary tasks of the Disciplinary Squad is retrieving them should Minaka be unable to do so using legal methods. Currently, MBI now has five of them and has been at wits end trying to find the other three. Learning about the magical world, I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of them managed to find their way there."

"Oh joy," Harry deadpanned. "Just what I wanted to hear, a reason for Minaka to order me to the magical world. At least I'll be able to introduce them to Karasuba."

Matsu grinned, "Having heard your conversation with Takami about it, I'm even more horrified than she is, technology is my soul. Introducing them to Karasuba is merely what they deserve for disrespecting it." Stopping to imagine whatever glorious scene her mind came up with, Matsu spent a few minutes in her happy place. Eventually returning to reality, she looked at Harry in silent confusion for a few seconds, "Where were we? Ah, right, the Jinki.

"Using the four Jinki, Takehito attempted to turn number zero seven into a new pillar, however, his attempt failed. As the experiment spiraled out of control, the Jinki began releasing some kind of wave that froze everyone possessing Sekirei DNA in place, unable to move or access their powers. On top of that, the pressure from the Jinki was becoming painful, leading us all to believe we were going to die. As Takehito failed to find a way to shut it down, Karasuba spoke up, taking advantage of the fact Takehito had spent years helping Miya with her duties as Pillar. She said, 'Hey, Takehito, you realize the rest of the Sekirei are all within thirty meters and will undoubtedly die if you don't stop this? It's too bad you can't just invert it, or something, to only effect those without Sekirei DNA.'" Matsu shook her head, "Takehito was the only person without Sekirei DNA on the island that day, so his choice was to live and tell Miya that he'd allowed her to fail her job as Pillar, or invert the experiment and die, leaving Miya a widow after less than two years of marriage."

Harry shook his head as well, "And Miya hates Karasuba for it, but if she blamed her for it, she'd have to blame herself as well, and she can't do that. She loves him and cannot accept that his death was her fault."

"For a Sekirei, as if killing wasn't bad enough, killing your partner is unconscionable. For her, it's not just a simple denial, but a genetically mandated instinctual denial." Leaning back in her seat, Matsu finished the lecture, "And, beyond all this drama and trouble, Minaka has been doing who the fuck even knows. A tournament between Sekirei. While Sekirei typically enjoy martial competition, the messed up winging changes that. Now, due to the uneven nature of the bond, if the Sekirei is defeated, the bond will be severed and the shock will effectively shut down the Sekirei. Costing the Sekirei their Ashikabi and returning them to the clutches of MBI."

Frowning, Harry considered that, "Right, the reason you're thinking about leaving MBI."

Matsu shook her head, "It's a bit more complicated than that. Minaka is doing whatever he wants to the Sekirei now, but I'm fairly untouchable. As an unadjusted Sekirei with absolute control over technology, I'm far too valuable to antagonize. Still, what he plans for the rest of my species doesn't sit well with me. On top of that, Sekirei are inherently opposed to killing, something the Disciplinary Squad does far too much of. I understand the need to protect my kind, but we're not just killing for that reason anymore, we slowly seem to be becoming Minaka's hatchet women. It's, I don't know, it's just becoming too much."

With a rueful chuckle, Harry shook his head, "That is something I can understand. Not the too much killing, but being forced under pressures you don't want but feel obligated to accept. I spent four years feeling that without end in the magical world before I had enough and left. I told them to go fuck themselves and left them at the tender mercies of a dark lord who wants to kill thousands of them and enslave their entire society, taking them even further into the dark ages."

Giving Matsu a considering glance, Harry thought about the situation they both found themselves in. Reaching over, he put his hand on her shoulder. Getting her attention, he looked her in the eye, "I'll tell you what, I'll have a talk with Minaka. He wants me to be the head of the Disciplinary Squad, to do so, I'm going to need to know a bit more than he's told me so far. On top of that, I'm done with blind obedience, no matter how much he pays me. If he thinks I'll serve as leader to his leashed hatchet squad, he's going to be in for a rather unpleasant surprise. If you stay in the Disciplinary Squad and get winged by me, I'll give you my oath that you won't have to kill or help kill anyone you don't want to. If, on the other hand, you wish to leave MBI, I'll help you escape."

With a watery smile, Matsu pulled Harry into an awkward hug, squeezing his head between her breasts. "You know Harry, when you aren't being an apathetic sociopath, you're actually a pretty good guy. Thanks."He Hhh

MiHaHHHhH

0o0o0o0o0

Minimum Viable Population is a debated scientific principle when it comes to maintaining the genetic diversity and health of humanity over the course of long-term space flight and the colonization of foreign star systems. An article in Popular Mechanics about a study done by Portland State University determined that the minimum number of humans necessary to ensure genetic health is 10,000. Optimally, taking into account potential disasters killing large numbers of people a more ideal number would be closer to 40,000.

Assuming a similar number is needed for Sekirei, eight ships of 108 is nowhere near enough.

The article is How many people does it take to colonize another star system? By Sarah Fecht

0o0

Rushed beginning and a forced exit from the magical world. Rushed ending and a load of exposition. Still, I got it done. Maybe some day I'll go back and make it actually good. For now, I'll simply focus on writing more.

Anyways, welcome to my AU. In cannon, Takehito is basically the perfect guy who does everything so the story can get away with a protagonist as pathetic as Minato. In my story, Takehito is merely human. Flaws and all. Also, Miya isn't going to be the Deus Ex Machina of the series that so many people like to make her out as. Also, I'm actually establishing a smidgeon of backstory, culture, and species identity for the Sekirei. Because alien harem bait is not conducive to an actual story. \

Perhaps my favorite addition to the fandom is the idea that Karasuba's distaste for Miya has nothing to do with Karasuba being in love with Takehito. Because that's stupid as fuck. Seriously. Karasuba's character hates humans for being weak trash, she's not going to go gaga over some scientist nerd.

Anyways, the story is started. Coming up, we have training/sparring/fighting with Karasuba. We have going to Kamikura Island and meeting a few other Sekirei, perhaps most importantly, Yume.

After that, we have exploration of Japan's magical world, we have training and growth, we have missions to retrieve the rest of the Jinki, we have the drama with Musubi and Yume, we have British wizards searching for Harry, maybe even finding him, we have the beginning of staggered releases of Sekirei to begin the plan, we have Britain catching up to Harry, we have Harry and his Sekirei traumatizing magical Britain, we have the Sekirei Plan proper.

Oh boy, there is a lot to look forward to. If I ever actually choose to write it.

Harry's Sekirei are deliberately chosen.

Karasuba represents his adrenaline junky behavior, his love of excitement and the thrill of battle. She also, for now, represents his more nihilistic beliefs and behaviors.

Matsu represents his inquisitiveness and desire to learn about the world around him. The passion of curiosity he possesses. She represents his first break from his newfound apathy.

Yume represents his dream. The one thing Harry wanted more than any other was to be accepted. To find love and have a family. To be happy. Yume represents everything he's given up on, that she hopes to return to him.

It won't be easy and it won't always be fun, but this is the start of Harry's new life. I suppose we'll see how it goes. Once again, if I ever actually choose to write it.

Also, just for shits and giggles, ask me random questions and I'll answer one at the start of every chapter I publish.

January 4, 2018