Although he was proud for being able to resist the interrogation so far, the agent knew his opponents would soon attempt other methods of extracting information. It seemed they were first going to try appealing to his sensibilities with a nostalgic reference to his childhood: the infamous "older sister" method.

"Uryu, the policemen are trying to help you, but you're not really answering their questions. I know you're a smart kid, so I'm sure you realize what they want you to tell them. Is there some reason you can't answer?"

It appeared they were trying to see if he had been blackmailed. No matter, he was totally loyal to the organization and its fight against monsters. They would never be able to seduce him away from his noble mission.

"I don't need their help!" he whined and pouted, then quickly stopped and resumed a proper expression for an agent of his caliber.

"...Mmhm."

"I don't see what their problem is! I'm doing fine!"

"Mmhm."

"It's not my fault they're too stupid to see the truth!"

"Mmhm."

"Why should I? I don't want to tell them anything about Tatsuya, and you can't make me! What, if you fail, are they going to move onto the next phase of the interrogation and beat me until they get their answers?"

Mion's eyes widened in shock, and Uryu smirked in victory at his correct deduction. At least, until his sister relaxed and propped her head up with her arm as her elbow kept her upright. She began rubbing her temples and sighing in frustrated exhaustion.

"No, Uryu. This is a police station, not a Mafia family. They won't torture you for information — especially when you're the victim. But, if they don't catch the criminal, a lot of kids like Tatsuya might get hurt. Do you really want to learn that happened because you didn't answer them?"

"If the kids are like Tatsuya, then they deserve everything coming to them!"

"Uryu!"

"What, you still think I've been tricked? I know exactly what I'm doing, and I know what our goals are. I'm going to destroy the evil magicians and become a hero! Just watch, once we succeed-"

"Uryu, stop!"

"No! Mr. Chitoge saw what I was capable of and respects me as an equal partner!" Uryu growled, feeling his fists clench under the table in rage. "It's not my fault we're the only ones who've realized that magicians are the greatest monsters the world has ever seen. I'm just more capable than everyone else!"

"Uryu, you're just a kid!"

Uryu stood up, slamming his hands on the table and causing his sister to jump in her seat. "Mr. Chitoge wouldn't say I'm a kid!"

In the back of his mind, he realized that did not really count as a refute, but Uryu was too overwhelmed by anger to think of anything else to say to her. So, instead, he dramatically spun on his heel and stomped towards the door.

He needed to talk to Mr. Chitoge.

"Chitoge!" his — for lack of a better term — secretary called out to him, interrupting the meeting. "The Hattori kid is calling you, do you want me to put him through?"

Hiding his annoyance, Chitoge turned to the woman and nodded, reaching out his hand to take the phone he had used to connect to the kids with. With everything that had happened involving the police, Uryu was probably not in a position to help him work against the Yotsuba. Unfortunately, with the investigations going on, it was imperative that the kid stayed loyal to him.

"Hello, Uryu. Is everything alright?"

'And please, if this was just another one of your "theories," don't take too long.' he mentally added.

"My sister is the worst!" Uryu screamed at him. If he were not a thousand miles away, Chitoge would probably have been tried for attempted murder of a minor. Really? Even theories were at least related to their mission. Now he was supposed to be the kid's therapist?

Breathe; calm down; deal with it.

"Did something happen?" he finally asked.

"Yeah! She keeps interrogating me and saying I was tricked by you, and how I'm just a kid so there's no way you would have picked me for anything!"

"Well you don't have to worry about that.. If kids were harmless, then we wouldn't have to worry about Tatsuya Shiba. I think we both know that's not true."

And, at very least, he could swear that was the truth. Uryu might be just like any other "normal" kid — if a little more gullible than most — but Chitoge would never again let Tatsuya's age color his assessment. Not after what he had seen the night Tatsuya obliterated the wealthiest family in the city.

"Right, so I've decided!" Uryu declared resolutely. "I'm going to run away and move in with you!"
"...I beg your pardon?"

"Well may 'family' obviously doesn't appreciate me the way you do. I think I could do much more for the cause if I was at your base full-time. Besides, anything would be better than spending all day at a police station! Just send someone to smuggle me out and take me to your home!"

And lead the Yotsuba right to his doorstep? He had no idea how many there were, but Chitoge had no doubt the Yotsuba left some agents there to get information from Uryu. If he brought in the kid, it would be a horrifying repeat of his previous colleagues' massacre. Hundreds enter, and only one person leaves; everyone else turned to dust in his wake.

"Mr. Chitoge?"

"Oh, yes Uryu, of course. I'm afraid I'm a bit too far away right now to bring you to where I am, but I can send someone to free you from there. Would that be okay?"

"That'd be great! It's been sooooo boring recently. I want to do more to help!"
"Boring," Chitoge repeated in a mumbled whisper. He would be entertaining a kid. It was lovely to know his years of training and combat experience culminated in being a babysitter.

"Yeah! It'll be so much fun. And we'll fight against the magicians!" That sounded…

"Great!" Chitoge announced with enthusiasm faker than lab-baby-Miyuki's angelic face. He would honestly rather cut out his own heart, but he was running out of options; if the boy revealed the message Chitoge sent to the Yotsuba, the magicians would probably be able to track it back to him.

A stupid mistake he continued to pay for.

"Is there anything I should do?"

"No, no. I'll send someone to pick you up and bring you to a safehouse I've been keeping. From there, we can video-call each other until I'm sure you weren't followed and can bring you to the main base. Sound good?"

"Okay then!" Uryu beamed. "See you soon!"

"No," Suzaku gowled.

"What? Please! It's just for a little while."

"No."

"Eh? But-"

"No."

When he played his role as a police officer, he had thought the baby-sitting part of it would be over once he brought the kids to the Yotsuba compound. But, instead of being sent away or killed, Miyuki's influence had caused Yotsuba Maya to allow the kids to stay in the area.

But that was fine. People were sent to watch them, but they were not Suzaku's responsibility anymore. His "scary-cop" days had come to a close; they were someone else's problem now.

So why, exactly, were they still bothering him?

"Please! We just want to talk to Miyuki," Yuusuke explained, growing impatient. "It'll only take a few minutes! We can't find the guy who's supposed to watch us, and last time we put ourselves in danger to talk to him he threatened us. You helped us before, so you can help us now, right? Please!"

"No."

Suzaku was half-tempted to simply use bloodlust to silence the kids, but Miyuki had specifically ordered them not to do that, and Maya left her in charge. He would not trade the family for the world, but sometimes he wished their head would stop making decisions based on minor whims.

"But we can help!" Yuusuke explained desperately, causing Chandra to nod in the background. "We can participate and help the Yotsuba family deal with Mr. Chitoge!"

Somehow, someway, Suzaku doubted that. Miyuki's friends or not, they were children. A fact that had not changed in the last forty-two times they had asked Suzaku if they could help.

He really needed a vacation.

"You're here because Miyuki requested for us to not simply wipe your memories and send you home." Or kill them, but they did not need to know that. "We aren't asking you to do anything to help us, nor do you have the power to do so. It's fine, just treat this like an enforced vacation."

Yuusuke shook his head, looking more desperate by the second. "Please, we can help!"
What was he trying to do? Surely, by this point, he would have realized his contribution or lack-thereof would make no difference in the end result. Was he really so deluded that he thought he had something unique or special to offer the Yotsuba?

"We don't need you."

Suzaku glanced down, his attention caught by the boy's trembling hands.

Oh. Oh. He was terrified of not having something special, and then being killed when Miyuki's back was turned. It was a valid concern, though Suzaku was not sure why Yuusuke thought making a nuisance of himself was a good solution. If he had to guess, Yuusuke probably wanted to make himself a vital part of the plan to make the Yotsuba hold off on killing them prematurely.

"Just let us talk to Uryu!" Chandra interjected. "I'm sure we'll be able to make him change his mind!"

And the girl wanted to join so that she could keep the Yotsuba from killing her friend. As cute as that was, it was not improving their chances of conceiving Suzaku to let them see Miyuki.

Suzaku sighed as a breeze brushed passed them, causing the bushes in the zen garden to sway. The kids had put a lot of work into approaching him with their arguments, and obviously were dead-set on accomplishing what they wanted. It was his job to watch them anyway, so the least he could do was answer their question with complete honesty. He took a deep breath in, preparing himself for what he was going to say.

"No."

The kids gaped in silence behind him as he turned around and walked to the shade of a tree.

Nimble as an elephant, Yuusuke collapsed onto the zen garden's wooden bench and growled — he was not pouting — and waited for Chandra to sit next to him. He leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand, furiously glaring at the supposed-police-officer-but-actually-assassin who had completely ignored their valid arguments and refused to let them see their friend. They needed a new plan.

Slowly, Yuusuke began to swing his legs back and forth, kicking the sand beneath his feet and messing up its intricate pattern. It was petty, but nonetheless satisfying to mess with Yotsuba property; their voices might fall on deaf ears, but they had enough power to change the land. To his left, he noticed Chandra absentmindedly tracing the grooves of the bench with her hand, equally lost in thought.

This was really out of their comfort zone. Normally Uryu was the one who inspired others among the three of them. Yuusuke would just figure out how to make his crazy plans work and Chandra would gather information for both of them. It disrupted their holy trinity to lose their leader.

Which was why they had to get him back (hopefully without being killed for trying). If they could just make themselves valuable to the Yotsuba, they would not have to fear being killed over nothing — which, despite Miyuki's assurances, could still happen at any moment — and might be able to work out a plan to get Uryu back. Alive.

Yuusuke and Chandra were pretty sure that, if left alone, the Yotsuba would bring back a dead or highly traumatized boy, rather than the Uryu they had gotten to know during their committee days.

But none of that could start unless Yuusuke talked to Miyuki and got them invaluable positions in the operation. Time was running out; they needed to move fast. But of course scary-cop — comparatively-minor boss, though he may be — would not be swayed by sympathy.

All they needed to do was talk to her. Her room was right in front of them. If she opened her window, they would be able to shout at each other, and have the conversation from the garden. But shouting "Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair!" would probably just result in Suzaku taking them farther away. Unless they could….

Oh, there was an idea.

"Chandra," Yuusuke hissed, keeping one eye on Suzaku at all times despite Chandra sitting on his opposite side.

"Hm?" she mumbled back, depressed at their lack of progress.

Yuuske looked back and forth once, checking to see if there were any Yotsuba members (other than scary-cop, resting on a tree branch) in sight. Not sure what was going on, Chandra looked around as well, suddenly wary.

There was no one else around.

Perfect.

"Do you see those vines over there?"

Chandra nodded.

"They lead up to Miyuki's room, don't they? I bet we could knock on her window and climb in once she opens it up. This could be our only chance to talk to her."

Chandra's eyes lit up (though Yuusuke did not know if it was because she could help Uryu or talk to Miyuki), and she nodded enthusiastically. Then, realizing something, deflated.

"Er-but… I can't really… I don't like heights."
"Oh," Yuusuke muttered eloquently, once again wishing Uryu was there. He always knew what to say to rally people for the sake of a vague, metaphysical cause.

Then again, everyone he had was now gone, so maybe that was not as strong of a strategy as Yuusuke remembered.

"Oh, but," Chandra glanced over at scary-cop Suzaku. "I could watch and warn you if Suzaku looks like he's going to wake up. Or if our… 'watcher' seems to be coming."

"Why don't you just distract scary-cop?" Yuusuke suggested, growing excited in a way he had not felt since leaving Uryu. "Just talk to him or something, and he won't even notice me!"

"Perfect!" Chandra agreed. "Or I could put myself in danger! I bet the other watcher-guy would also forget you."

Although he was slightly concerned about her eagerness to jump into mortal peril, Yuusuke nodded. No important plan was without its risks.

Both of them looked around once again to see if anyone else was watching, but found no one in sight. The Yotsuba were underestimating them.

Yuusuke took a deep breath and walked toward the vines. Unlike Uryu, he was not one of the most physically capable kids of the decade, but he was athletic enough to do this. Maybe. Hopefully?

Wrapping his hand around one of the vines, he gave the emerald net an experimental tug, testing its sturdiness. It did not snap, but Yuusuke still had no idea if it would be able to support his weight.

"Only one way to find out!" his inner-Uryu shouted encouragingly at him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yuusuke saw Chandra babbling to scary-zop Suzaku and felt his determination solidify. It was now or never.

Feeling vaguely like a child on a playground (rather than the mature-almost-adult he obviously was) Yuusuke began shimmying up the wall, climbing toward the person who would ensure their safety. Grab a vine; hook a leg; balance weight; stay away from thin ones; pull up!

He was only two feet from the window now, and preemptive exhilaration cascaded over his body. They were almost safe; he just had to get through there and-

SNAP

Suddenly, he was mid-air, a feeling of weightlessness pulling his stomach in two separate directions. The vine had ripped, and sent him on an unplanned skydive towards the ground.

It took a second for him to register the terrified scream as his own.

"Aaaah!"

He reached out — frantically searching — trying to grab a vine or twig or brick or anything. His hands could only snatch thin air as his body sped toward the ground-

"There we go," Suzaku mumbled. Yuusuke blinked his eyes open, astounded he was still alive, and soon realized he had been caught by the scary cop.

Who apparently had not been as distracted by Chandra as they had expected him to be.

"Um… thanks?" Yuusuke gave a too-wide smile and hoped Suzaku would just write it off as a stupid challenge a child had given himself. After all, the man already had a low opinion of him, and adults did not usually think children had brains capable of planning something as detailed as this.

Their unknown watcher set an apologetic Chandra down next to him, and — with one last glare — disappeared again.

"Just so you know," Suzaku smirked as he set Yuusuke down, "Miyuki's not in her room. She's out on a shopping trip with her brother; you wouldn't have been able to talk to her anyways."

Yuusuke's body heated up in embarrassment and Chandra suddenly found the floor absolutely fascinating. Yuusuke had forgotten; Suzaku was not a random adult, he was trained and taught by the most dangerous family on earth. They should have realized it would not be so easy.

"But… but if you just let us talk to her-"

Suzaku glared, cutting off Chandra's argument. Both children took a step back, suddenly unsure if the situation was about to turn violent. They had both seen what Tatsuya did to the highschool martial artists Uryu had sent after him; Suzaku could kill them in an instant.

But the man just sighed and relaxed, seeing no point in getting violent with the ones he was supposed to be protecting. If they got hurt (and doubly if Suzaku was the one to hurt them), then Miyuki would be mad at him, so then Tatsuya would be mad at him, so he would inevitably experience the terrifying event all Yotsuba soldiers recently learned to fear: staring down a furious demon known as Tatsuya Shiba.

Maya would probably just ask for refreshments while she enjoyed the show.

After the incident which involved Miyuki encouraging Tatsuya to fight seriously against the other Yotsuba children, she received some disapproving looks from adults who were annoyed she had chosen her theoretically "useless" brother over their children. The few who did more than gaze, however, witnessed a monster not even they were willing to go up against.

So, yeah. Suzaku would rather avoid that.

"Look, this might be shocking to you, but those two really don't have time to waste having tea parties with you. Maya-sama wants them to try taking this challenge on, and mostly independently at that. Miya-sama agreed, so they're running the entire operation."

"But you… you said they were shopping!"

"Yes. For CADs. Tatsuya is comparing the CADs he's developed to military and civilian models before making some last minute adjustments. I'm sure you're bored, but this isn't-"

"It's not because we're bored," Yuusuke growled, offended by the very suggestion. "It's just… like you said, our problems aren't important to you. We just want to become more important and help out."

"And make sure nothing happens to Uryu!" Chandra tacked on, causing Yuusuke to glower with an expression clearly conveying shut-up- you're-going-to-ruin-this at her.

Suzaku looked back and forth between the two children, mentally reviewing their explanations and underlying motivations. He could not deny that they had spirit; climbing up a wall with thin vines might not have been the best plan, but they were doing enough to be minor annoyances. And Chandra nearly bashing her head against a wall to get his attention would not be tolerated by Miyuki.

Maybe he should just lock them in a room?

No, that would also make Miyuki mad, running the risk of creating a noticeably-annoyed Tatsuya Shiba. Best to avoid that at all costs.

"So, please? I promise, we'll prove ourselves useful," Yuusuke begged. "Just let us talk to Miyuki!"

Really, what choice did he have? The kids were staring up at him with wide, hopeful, koala-like eyes, and he could not stall for much longer. He could either maintain the current status quo, or he could do what was probably the right thing and help out the kids who had been caught up in Yotsuba business by complete and utter chance. The right answer was obvious.

"No."

Suzaku had never been so glad to be given a job. He was trained in murder and assassination, babysitting was a little bit outside of his comfort zone.

(Though maybe that was not fair. Considering what strategies the kids had attempted, it might be more accurate to call it "animal herding" than "babysitting.")

And, worst of all, Suzaku was too terrified of Tatsuya to give up and simply knock the kids unconscious. He did not know why their Ojou-sama liked them, but Tatusya, her… bodyguard — because after the miracle he performed by helping Miya, "monster" and "guard dog" just did not seem appropriate — was too dangerous to risk upsetting.

But now he had work! They were no longer his problem.

Suzaku felt a little sorry for the poor soul who he left as their watcher, but not badly enough to do something about it. In the end, he was only a little itsy bitsy teeny tiny bit more involved with the kids than the other servants of the Yotsuba family; they were not his problem.

"Ready Chandra?" he heard Yuusuke yell from behind the building.

"Are-are you sure this is safe?" she yelled back from slightly farther away.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"I… guess not."

Really, it was not any of his business. If the kids got hurt on someone else's watch, Tatsuya would have no reason to be angry at him. Besides, knowing the guy left in charge, the kids had probably been ignored except when they put themselves in danger.. The only downside was that Miyuki (and therefore Tatsuya) would probably be upset.

"Okay, jump off on my count, got it?"

"Got it!"

It truly, honestly was not his problem.

"Okay, three… two… ONE!"

Chandra's scream was heard throughout the house, but then stopped abruptly. It took Suzaku a moment to realize she stopped because she had been caught.

By him.

Without thinking, Suzaku had moved to catch the mid-air girl, using both speed magic and cushioning magic to avoid her would-be fate as a pancake on the side of the building. He looked around observing the intricate mix between a zipline and a rope swing set up to allow Chandra to jump off a nearby roof and crash into Miyuki's window.

He glared at the guard holding Yuusuke. The guard who was supposed to be stopping things like this. Said guard just averted his eyes and shrugged, indirectly confessing to having allowed the plan to continue.

"Fine!" Suzaku shouted, surprising even himself. "Fine. If you really want to see her, I'll arrange a meeting. Tatsuya might get angry, but that won't even come close to how angry he'll be if you keep doing things like this. Just… give me a solid minute of silence. Please."

Feeling like scolded children — which they were not, by the way — Yuusuke and Chandra nodded and went to sit down by the bench, mentally preparing for the coming talk with their classmates.

Suzaku almost could not believe he had let it happen. Sure, any choice which avoided Tatsuya's genuine anger was a good one, but wasting the boy's time grated on him.

Tatsuya was simultaneously working on tracking down Chitoge, making a new Silver Taurus invention, and being Miyuki's guardian; even if the kids were trying to help, all they would succeed at was bothering Tatsuya.

And yes, it was normal for the Yotsuba to send their powerful monster to deal with things they did not want to, but that "normal" had been before Tatsuya helped Miya-sama; before Tatsuya had been put in charge of a project; before Suzaku had really gotten to know him.

(In a back corner of his subconscious, Suaku noticed the reason he was angry was not, in fact, because of their Ojou-sama, but because of monster guarding her. Every time that thought reached the surface of his mind, Suzaku shoved it back down easily; he did not want to consider the implications of that feeling.)

"If you really had this under control, Uryu would be back by now!" Chandra screamed.

"And we know all sorts of things. If you let us help you, we might be willing to tell you them, but I won't until we're irreplaceable members of the operation!"

Miyuki was fruitlessly trying to placate her classmates, while Tatsuya was watching from the side with his usual unreadable expression.

"What, specifically, is your offer?" Tatsuya eventually asked, though it was pretty obvious Yuusuke and Chandra had different goals. They flinched slightly at the sudden attention — months of viewing someone as an irredeemable monster tended to leave you jumpy around them — but answered with conviction.

"Our connections to both Mr. Chitoge and Uryu make us vital to your success. We think we can help-"

"Exactly!" Chandra interrupted, overexcited in a way Tatsuya had never seen from her before. "We only want to help save Uryu, so-"

She cut off and squeaked when Yuusuke stomped on her foot, his expression never changing.

"We're vital to your success. We want to help the Yotsuba family."

"And help Uryu!" Chandra tacked on, either not understanding what Yuusuke was trying to do or caring more about ensuring her (Boyfriend's? Leader's? Friend's?) classmate's safety than her own.

Yuusuke started glaring at Chandra with the fiery fury of an active volcano, but she continued to look directly at Miyuki and try appealing with her friendship to the unnamed heir.

Suzaku wondered if he should take Miyuki out of the conversation for being biased, but knew she was far more emotionally removed from the situation than she let on. Unlike Tatsuya, however, no one ever noticed her true feelings; they would never guess the girl in front of them was more than capable of single-handedly eliminating a squad of trained attackers if she felt like it.

In some ways, she could be considered even scarier than Tatsuya. After all, he might be a weapon, but she had his activation switch and targeting device.

"Would we have positions for them?" Miyuki asked, glancing at Suzaku. He probably only knew half as much about that as Tatsuya did, but supposed Miyuki might want to avoid bringing up the mission's main strategist to the kids.

"Attack-wise, nothing that Yotsuba soldiers wouldn't be better at, but maybe in the information department. It depends on whether you think they're able to keep secrets as well."

Although he kept his voice at almost Tatsuya levels of emotionless, he knew his probably-future clan head would be able to pick up on his objection regarding the children's involvement.

Miyuki hummed in consideration, for the first time observing her friends with nothing but the cold logic she had been trained to wield from birth.

"Sorry, but could you wait outside?" Miyuki asked her friends with an irresistible smile. "I see your points, so I think I should go talk to my aunt about your proposal."

The two looked at each other, ecstatic at their victory, and Suzaku very carefully kept an unchanging expression. He had never been great at infiltration missions, but he knew how to hold in a laugh.

As soon as the children left the room, he turned to the Yotsuba heiress with a raised eyebrow, reminding her, "Maya-dono said you could have free rein in the Chitoge situation."

Miyuki giggled and nodded, but her eyes were arctic cold.

"Yes, but they have a favorable impression of me. For now it's better to keep them like that, so I'll use someone they dislike as an excuse for whatever decision I come up with."

And this? Right here? This was what gave Suzaku hope for the future. The Queen of Night would be a nearly impossible person to follow, but if anyone could, it would be Miyuki Shiba.

"Does that mean you need more time to come up with an answer?" Tatsuya asked his sister. If she wanted him to, he could find something to distract the children (never mind that they were technically the same age) with and give her enough time to decide.

Miyuki shook her head. "We can't leave them waiting too long. It would be better to just decide. Out of curiosity, what do the two of you think?"

Suzaku blinked at Miyuki and then looked around, checking for anyone else. As a Yotsuba officer, he was pretty confident in his ability to detect the presence of people, but he knew better than to be overconfident.

There was no one else there.

"Um…" Suzaku awkwardly coughed, getting Miyuki's attention. "Ojou-sama… whose opinions are you looking for?"

"Yours and Tatsuya's, of course," she responded as if they were something other than just her bodyguards. Even Tatsuya looked uncharacteristically stunned by the question. Suzaku supposed it was probably rare for anyone to ask for a child's — or, as he was usually referred to, "that fucking monster"'s — opinion.

"Er… but-"

Seeing their continued hesitation, Miyuki sighed and elaborated "I know this is unorthodox, but I'm still getting used to leading. Suzaku, you've been with the kids the longest of any of the Yotsuba adults, and my brother trusts your reports. And Tatsuya, of course I want to hear what you think about it. There's no one I trust more than you."

Tatsuya blushed under the praise, and Suzaku continued blinking, flabbergasted. Factual mission reports were one thing, but asking for an opinion?

Perhaps the Shiba siblings would bring more changes to the Yotsuba than anyone could predict.

"Understood. Then, personally, I don't think it's worth it," Suzaku confessed. "They have no training, and the only reason they were involved at all is their personal connection to you. The final decision is yours, of course, but it just seems illogical to trust kids for things they shouldn't have been involved in to begin with."

"I see. And Tatsuya?"

"Hm…. I think the biggest problem we have with Mr. Chitoge is that — unlike with most operations — he has more information on us than we have on him. It's not especially concerning, but I also worry we might be playing into his hand reacting the way we are. Suzaku is right: it is illogical to trust them. But using them is also the last thing he would expect from us. The only question is whether they're easier to manipulate when they trust us, or when they hate us."

A short silence passed as Miyuki considered all the points that were made, taking into account her own feelings towards her classmates. She opened her eyes.

"We'll let them help."

"...Do you have any objections, Ma… oba-yue?" Tatsuya asked, faltering and remembering to change the term when his aunt raised an eyebrow, promising uncontested embarrassment if he forgot.

Just to be on the safe side, Miyuki wanted to check in with their aunt before making any big decisions, but Tatsuya prefered minimizing contact between the two as much as possible.

To Maya's left, her recently-recovered sister (not Tatsuya's mother, not really) Miya stood, watching in consideration. With Tatsuya's stabilizing technique, Miya no longer had to worry about the side-effects of using magic. The disease would take her life in a few months regardless, but using magic would not speed it up, allowing her to rejoin events as an active participant. Tatsuya could only hope the offer he made would not be shot down by Miyuki's mother on account of her complicated emotions towards Tatsuya.

"Tatsuya, do you know why I haven't interfered as much as usual this time?" Maya asked, instead of answering.

Long-used to her ways of doing things, Tatsuya immediately responded "I assume it was because you wanted to use it as a learning experience for me and Miyuki. We were involved in the beginning, so it was a good micro-ecosystem to show us the life-cycle conflicts like these have."

"Quite right. And, with that being the case, I don't feel like telling you what I think about your plan. This whole thing will be up to you two to figure out. Instead, I'll just hold you two accountable for any… mishaps that may happen as a result of this. Does that seem fair?"
"Of course," Tatsuya immediately responded, knowing no other answer would be accepted. "Thank you for your generosity."

"And what if something happens to Miyuki?" Miya asked accusingly. Her frown was then directed towards Tatsuya, blasting him with a smothering layer of suspicion.

Maya giggled, responding, "You've always trusted Tatsuya to take care of his sister. Is now really any different? There's no one in the world strong enough to kill Miyuki if Tatsuya is with her."

Miya hesitated, torn between her logical side and the utter disgust she had for her son. It was true that she would probably be fine — even by herself, Miyuki could probably take on such enemies with ease — but, like any proper mother, Miya was concerned about whether her son would be a good enough shield to keep her daughter safe. Judging by Maya's slight smirk, she knew exactly what her sister was thinking.

Miya glared and turned to Tatsuya to reject his plan, but hesitated when she saw his expression. True, he was a soulless monster created by (their) human experimentation, but he was not weak. Regardless of what Yotsuba rumors said, Miya knew he could probably destroy the Earth, if he really wanted to. And… after the numerous failures of the best-trained doctors in the world, he had been the one to find a temporary solution to her disease.

And, most importantly, the genuine worry on his face was striking. Miyuki wanted this, so he was able to show a certain degree of emotion. Seeing that reminded her of Tatsuya's one defining feature: he did not care about anything more than Miyuki.

If not him, who could she trust to watch over Miyuki?

"...If anything happens to her," she said at last, "it will be on your head."

It was an empty threat; everyone present knew no one would hate an injured Miyuki more than Tatsuya. Judging from Maya's expression, she was fighting an inner battle to keep herself from pointing that out to her sister.

Miya glared, and Maya backed off, still chuckling to herself.

Two knocks resounded on the door.

Quickly glancing at Maya for permission, Tatsuya saw her nod and wordlessly began walking towards the door. Even if they were assassins, they were unlikely to be able to genuinely hurt Tatsuya, and getting by him would be nearly impossible.

The door swung upon to show Suzaku standing at attention, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Report."

"Sir. An announcement just got back from Namaiwa. Uryu willingly left the police station with someone after talking on the phone to Chitoge. She followed the pair to a warehouse, and is currently keeping tabs on them there. They seem to be preparing to move to another location. Motives unknown."

"Is Chitoge still present?"

"No. he never showed up, only sending someone else to guide Uryu to the warehouse in his steed. Apparently they haven't seen each other in person since the police investigation started. Should Namaiwa take action?"

Tatsuya hesitated for a moment, assessing Maya and Miya out of the corner of his eye. Maya simply smirked and waved a hand in his direction, reminding him of his free-rein in the mission.

He took a deep breath.

"No. Uryu is irrelevant, the only important person is Chitoge. Have her continue observing, but pose as a tourist in the area if it looks like they're doing sweeps to check for us. Avoid detection, and direct all future reports to me."

"Understood!"

"Yuusuke… what now?" Chandra asked, swinging her legs from her now-usual spot on the bench. With absolutely nothing to do, even the beautiful garden became boring.

Yuusuke just hummed in response, his eyes dazed and unfocused as he laid on the ground and stared at the sky. Their babysitter was watching them from the other side of the garden, and (while he had not told them to stay still) the kids had both gotten the feeling that their rooftop-zipline adventure would not end as well with him as it had with the other two.

"Then maybe we… we could look around the other parts of the house?"

Truth be told, that was actually a pretty good idea. The only reason Yuusuke might refuse would be the boredom having shut off his brain and made him unwilling to do anything. Unfortunately for Chandra, that was exactly what had happened to him.

"Yuusuke?"

"Yeah. That'd be a good idea," he acknowledged. Chandra stood up and stared down, seemingly waiting for him to get up as well. He would, but there were two clouds he had been watching in the past hour that he really wanted to see finish their journey.

Side effects of literally having nothing to do for days: you get lazy.

Chandra looked around, nearly backing down, but then hardened her resolve into a glare.

"Yuusuke, please! Just sitting there isn't going to help!"

"I know, I know," Yuusuke surrendered, rubbing his eyes and sitting up so he was leaning on his elbows. "But is there even any point? Miyuki's going to make sure we aren't killed for being worthless, and I don't want to risk that by snooping around and finding something we're not supposed to."

"I'm sure he'll keep us away from things like that!" Chandra assured, motioning towards their babysitter.

Personally, Yuusuke was pretty sure the guy was just waiting for an excuse to get rid of them, but saying that outloud might cause him to react negatively.

Yuusuke missed home.

"I wouldn't bet on that, but… walking around should be okay so long as we stay away from anything obviously suspicious," he acknowledged and sat himself up.

Seeing their movement, their guard (Executioner? Leash?) pushed off the wall he was leaning on and began to follow them, staying fifteen feet away at all times. He seemed to be trying to give them some privacy, but Yuusuke had no doubt the man could hear everything they said.

"What would he do if we split up?" Chandra asked, watching the man out of the corner of her eye with a nervous expression. Yuusuke shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Either there's another guy watching out of sight and they would split up, or he would just catch one of us and force us to continue walking together. Personally, I'd rather not find out through experimentation, especially if it turns out to be the second option."

Chandra nodded in agreement, and looked down at her feet, continuing to discreetly watch their appointed babysitter while Yuusuke watched the road in front of them. Together they could look over 360° and Yuusuke could warn her whenever she was about to hit something.

("Pole," Yuusuke muttered and tugged her away; Chandra's "EEP" was the only warning he had before she tripped and fell on top of him. From their spot collapsed on the ground, Yuusuke closed his eyes and sighed, realizing they might need a better plan).

"Oh, Yuusuke, look!" Chandra explained, pointing to the area behind Yuusuke's left side. Following her eyes, Yuusuke noticed that a path they had walked by led to a small library where several kids were studying. It was the first sign of kids other than Tatsuya and Miyuki at the compound!

Yuusuke had a vague feeling the others might be trying to avoid them, but he was not sure why; it was not like trained magicians had any reason to be scared of them. Chandra had admitted to not knowing the first thing about using fighting magic, and surely fellow magicians would be able to feel that.

Maybe this was the time to find out.

Yuusuke took a step closer, then hesitated. For all his curiosity, this sounded like something that could get them killed if they annoyed the wrong person. It seemed unlikely that every kid here was as strong as Tatsuya, but if they were-

"Yuusuke?" Chandra asked, noticing his hesitation.

"On second thought, maybe we should… stay away from them."

"Oh, but… no. No, I… I don't think we should," she turned to him. "We might have gotten tricked at the end, but it was Uryu who got us this far. If he were here, he wouldn't hesitate to go over to them."

"And look where that got him."

"Farther than we would've gotten by ourselves! If we want to learn anything true about Tatsuya, we'll have to at least talk to someone!"

Yuusuke raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed by the passion and confidence Uryu had molded into the formerly polite and unwaveringly shy girl.

"...If we get brutally murdered because of this I'm blaming you."

"Okay!" she cheerily responded.

Kuroba Ayako glared at her twin brother as they trained, her determination manifesting in the spell she was conjuring. It was significantly easier to use specialized magic, but their families still wanted them to keep perfecting systematic magic. She did not mind the practice—any chance to one-up Miyuki was time well spent — and her brother was a satisfactory partner. The adults' motivations, however….

"Keep working," went unspoken but broadcasted all the same in their teacher's body language. "You don't want to turn out like the Shiba brat." There was never a day when Ayako and Fumiya did not want to make them fight against Tatsuya and see who truly deserved the criticism. The only good thing about being called to the main compound was getting to see their cousins.

Unfortunately, the Yotsuba head and her sister had decided to give Tatsuya and Miyuki an assignment which was taking up all of their available time. Ayako only knew about it because she heard her father muttering "the family head shouldn't show favoritism like that" and "does this mean she's already decided?" shortly before they had arrived at the main compound. A bit of perfect diffusion later—and yes, she did feel a little guilty about spying on her dad, but not enough to stop — and she had a thrilling story to tell her brother about.

Fumiya had been thrilled to learn some of Miyuki's friends from school would be at the compound, and then been subsequently crushed to realize they would not be able to spend as much time with Tatsuya because of his work. They wanted to volunteer to help, but that would mean admitting to spying on a private phone call and Ayako would rather avoid that.

Seeing their growing frustration, their father recommended they transfer some of that energy into training, causing Ayako to go around and pick fights with every kid she could find.

It, unfortunately, did not help.

Soon, Fumiya and Ayako left the crowd of collapsed bodies and went to go train with each other, knowing only Tatsuya or Miyuki would really give them a challenge there. Ayako began casting consecutive fire spells at her brother, who responded with condensed blades of wind. Cracking earth was heard as the siblings gouged the ground—spell after spell thrown—fighting for dominance.

Ayako blasted a fireball the size of a cow at her brother, who dodged. Behind Fumiya, a young girl Ayako had never seen before peeked her head out from behind a wall.

"AAAHH!"

Ayako was not sure if the scream had been made by her or the girl, but knew she was helpless to change what would happen. The girl, idiotically standing like a deer in the headlights, watched the approaching ball move closer and closer to her.

Ayako shut her eyes and turned away.

BOOM

Loud crackling echoed, but no scream or smell of burning flesh followed. Slowly, tentatively, Ayako allowed her eyes to crack open. The black circle of burnt wood was present at the expected spot, but the girl had been pulled behind the wall at the last second by a boy whom Ayako also did not recognize.

"Are you okay?!" Fumiya demanded running over to them.

The boy's eyes were wide and terrified as he stood protectively in front of the girl, but the girl (despite being the target of the attack) calmed down quickly.

"Y-yeah, sorry," she stuttered. "I should've known better than to jump into a training area unexpectedly like that. Sorry. I-I won't do it again."

"Don't apologize, they could have killed you!" the boy hissed back in what he probably thought was a volume too quiet for the siblings to hear. But he did not have Ayako's Perfect Diffusion, and it was nearly impossible to keep something secret from a Yotsuba anyway.

"No, no… I'm not… not great at magic, but my parents have taken me to training camps before, and there are rules you're supposed to follow. I just got… overexcited."

The boy seemed to relax at that, but remained cautious all the same. He looked back and forth between the siblings, bowed, and started backing off.

"Um, sorry to interrupt you. We'll just… be… goingnowbye!"

In a not-very-subtle speed walk, he turned away from them and fled, carefully watching them out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, Ayako realized why she had not recognized them.

"Wait, are you Miyuki and Tatsuya's classmates?"

The boy, who had been looking at them already, was shocked enough by the question to promptly crash into the wall in front of them.

Fumiya flinched when the sound of flesh hitting wood resounded like a clap of thunder across the training grounds. The girl eeped and knelt down to help the boy, but seemed distracted by what Ayako had said.

"You… you know about us?" she asked, staring at them like a rabbit would a fox. Despite knowing the kids had been bothering Tatsuya, Ayako almost felt a little bad.

Almost.

"We were informed about the guests who were at the compound," Ayako explained calmly, pretending she had not eavesdropped to learn everything she knew.

"Right, um…" Fumiya stared at the bruise guiltily despite not having been the one to make it. "Do you want an ice pack or something?"

After the two introduced themselves as Chandra and Yuusuke, the siblings began interrogating them for everything they knew about Miyuki and Tatsuya's school life. Ayako felt a bit like a doting grandparent, but how else was she supposed to learn about her Tatsuya-niisama? It was not like the adults would tell her anything.

"Oh, someone else is here?" Ayako asked two preteens who had also been visiting the compound's main healer. The suspecting nature of the question was covered up by her polite tone and graceful smile—just like her edicate teachers had trained her to.

"Kuroba-sama," the girl dipped her head in greeting. "My name is Fushin, I am a child of one of the Kuroba compound's bodyguards, it's an honor to see you."

The boy followed shortly after, quietly introducing himself as "Juryou," the son of a bodyguard for the Shiba manor. Apparently they had been sparring with one another and Fushin had sprained her wrist, prompting their visit to the healer.

"Oh, if your parents are… bodyguards of the Shiba family," Yuusuke began, not quite knowing how to react to his classmates having family bodyguards, "then you must know Tatsuya pretty well. Does he act super stoic even when he's at home?"

The girl working for the Kuroba family immediately tensed, unable to suppress a violent flinch at the name "Tatsuya."

"Fu-chan?" The boy asked, slightly concerned about the girl's obvious fear.

"I, sorry, I just-"

Ayako glared, standing up with a thin layer of class holding in a title wave of fury. She knew what that look meant.

'Why would you want to know about the Yotsuba's pet monster?'

They may have felt comfortable insulting him, but that was only because they knew he lacked the anger — the humanity, some said — to care. Some children of the Yotsuba had parents who, rather than feeling disdain towards the Shiba boy, felt nothing but unparalleled fear.

So, logically, they raised their children to fear the boy who could end the planet on a whim if it were not for the magic chains binding him to Miyuki.

"He's just…" Fushin continued, "someone you should probably stay away from. If he gets angry, that monster could-"

"Enough!" Ayako shouted. "I don't care what your parents have taught you, but I will not stand back and hear my Tatsuya-niisama insulted like this."

"I-my apologies, Kuroba-sama," she rushed to explain. "I was careless; it will not happen again."

"Let's hope not," Fumiya responded, shocking Chandra with the vengeance in his previously innocent voice. Yuusuke was suddenly extremely glad he had not mentioned his inner thoughts regarding Tatsuya.

"Um…" Chandra briefly glanced back at Yuusuke for reassurance, then turned toward Ayako. "Sorry but… aren't you all Yotsuba? We get that Tatsuya is going to be… dangerous to someone like me, but wouldn't you have all had the same training. Is it because being older means he's gotten more experience or something?"

"No, no," Fumiya refuted. "That's just Tatsuya-oniisama! He's super cool! He was able to create a temporary reliever for Miya-sama, and he's super, super powerful. He became a guardian when he was still a kid, while all the other guardians had to be at least teenagers before they could start working!"

"Mmhm! He's the best! You've probably never seen him fight, but he's the strongest with or without magic! He's not very good at systematic magic, but in a real fight he's unbeatable!"

Fushin and Juryou looked away, refraining from commenting on the situation. Yuusuke made a mental note to talk to them in private later, especially since the Kuroba siblings' answers only opened up more questions.

"Well, we go to the same school as him, so we actually got to see him use martial arts before," Chandra admitted, hearing Ayako's silent question. "It was really-" scary "-cool to watch him defeat a group of students older than him!"

"Did he?" Fumiya asked. "Well, of course he did, it's Tatsuya-oniisama, after all!"

Yuusuke leaned back in his chair in thought. It really said a lot about Tatsuya if two kids throwing giant fireballs at each other — showing more power than a tank — respected him so much. A human probably had no chance standing up against a tank (one of the siblings), and, from the way they were talking, a tank had no hope of standing up against Tatsuya. What would that make him? Dynomite? A bomb? A nuke?

Sadly, as time went on, the last answer was becoming more and more promising. Yuusuke almost missed the days before the basketball game, when he had considered Tatsuya a competent classmate and nothing more. It was certainly better than the terror that came with knowing the kid sitting next to you was a nuclear weapon and should probably be treated as such.

"If he's so much more powerful than the adults, why is he still serving the family?" Yuusuke could not help but ask.

Unable to resist, Fushin muttered "because we've got an unbreakable leash chaining him to the family." Ayako again looked enraged, but this time did not deny it.

"That's… not completely wrong. He won't — he can't — leave Miyuki-neesama."

Fumiya nodded, "As unfair as Tatsuya's situation is for enemies of the Yotsuba, it's even more unfair for him."

With the abrupt shift in tone the conversation took, Yuusuke had a feeling further questions on the subject would not be well-received. Sharing a look with Chandra, Yuusuke decided to prioritize their safety over answers from the siblings, promising to ask the preteens more questions soon.

"S-so," Yuusuke began. "Have any of you seen the most recent Car Wars movie?"

"Hey, wait up!" Yuusuke called out to Fushin and Juryou, the two children of Yotsuba guardians. After the healer had used magic to fix everyone up, Ayako and Fumiya had left to complete more training, extending an offer to Yuusuke and Chandra to visit any time.

It was the perfect chance to strike.

"W-we were hoping, if you're not too busy, that you could answer some questions for us. Please?" Chandra asked, tilting her head in a way that made her too adorable to refuse. Uryu had trained her well.

"Sure, what do you want to know?" Fushin asked, much more open and friendly now that Ayako and Fumiya were not silently planning how to stage her murder as an accident.

"It's about Tatsuya-"

"Absolutely not," Juryou said like an order, interrupting Fushin's response and shutting the conversation down. "Look, he's… the whole Yotsuba Miya event is making people look at him differently than before, and even Miyuki-sama has started to look upon him fondly. Who knows how influential he'll be in the future, and… he might not be as bad as we initially thought, Fushin."

"'Not be as bad,'" Fushin repeated in disbelief. "What did you see that changed the fact that he could destroy the planet in, like, an hour? That monster might be chained to the Yotsuba for now, but if anything happens to Miyuki-sama-" she cut off, unable to even finish the thought, and Chandra and Yuusuke were instantly reminded of the all-encompassing fear they had felt toward the very same boy.

It seemed impossible, but if she was so sure that Tatsuya could destroy the planet, they were inclined to believe her. The lack of response from Juryou did not help either. Chandra loathed to draw attention to herself, but it was becoming clear they would not explain unless she asked.

"Um… what do you mean, he's been "chained" to the Yotsuba?"

"We mean just that. Yotsuba-sama realized she needed to chain the beast, so she created Miyuk-sama to give Tatsuya at least one person he genuinely cared about. Not many people know about it, but since Juryou's parents work for Miya-sama, they made sure he was fully informed on the beast. After all, he's useless for actual magic; the only thing he's good for is being a weapon."

Once again, Juryou remained disturbingly silent on the matter.

"But-but why would Miyuki be the only person who he cares about?"

"Magic," Fushin explained.

"It's classified," Juryou added.

Yuusuke scowled, realizing they would not speak in more detail on the matter. But really, he did not need to know more than that to understand why everything started going wrong.

If what they said was true, Miyuki was more than a sister to Tatsuya — she was his only reason to live. And, like the ignorant idiots they were, they had nearly hurt her by throwing a basketball at the unaware girl.

Suddenly, Yuusuke was very, very glad Tatsuya had stopped the ball. He did not want to know what would have happened if Tatsuya "the Yotsuba's strongest weapon" Shiba had seen Miyuki actually get hurt.

Chandra snaked her hand into his, both giving support and trying to still her own trembling hands. If Tatsuya was really as monstrous as the two were saying, they could be considered lucky to just be alive.

Chandra sniffled.

"Why did we think going after him was a good idea?" she whisper-squeaked.

Yuusuke just squeezed her hand tighter.

"Yuusuke? Chandra?" a voice asked, and they turned around to see Miyuki walking up to them.

Immediately, Juryou and Fushin bowed, backing off and fleeing as if it was rude of them to even be in the same room as a young miss of the Yotsuba house.

From their expressions, Yuusuke could tell they were mostly hoping Miyuki had not heard what they said.

On the other hand, both Chandra and Yuusuke relaxed at the sight of her (and the fact that Tatsuya was nowhere to be found), aware that Miyuki, at least, was trying to help them.

"Hi Miyuki!" Chandra squeaked in her excitement. "We're taking a walk around the manor… town… house… thing," she explained, not quite sure what to call the enormous property which was solely owned by the Yotsuba. Miyuki giggled, understanding her confusion. It was technically a house and a backyard, but the presence of multiple buildings certainly made it seem like a town.

"I was on my way to the training grounds. If you're not busy, would you like to walk with me? I feel like we haven't had much time to talk recently."

"Of course!" Chandra beamed, immediately agreeing to the offer.

As excited as he was, Yuusuke tried to be a bit more cautious, asking "Is Tatsuya not with you right now? I don't see him anywhere."

He really, really hoped he sounded natural.

"Unfortunately not, my aunt told us some new details regarding Uryu, and my brother has decided to use them to track him down. So long as I'm at the Yotsuba compound, it's unlikely anything will happen to me, and Onii-sama can get to me almost instantly if anything happens."

Yuusuke nodded and caught up to the two girls. Chandra looked like she wanted to ask why he had lagged behind them, but a quick glare shut her up. They could talk about it later, but it was a bad idea to ask in front of Miyuki.

"So, you've made some friends during your stay?" Miyuki inquired, thinking about the two preteens she had seen with her friends. "That's good, I was worried you would be lonely."

"Your cousins too!" Chandra added. "Ayako and Fumiya wanted to hear about your life at school. We kept trading stories about you and… and Tatsuya. Fushin and Juryou — the preteens — had stories too. They're the children of bodyguards for your family."
"They're like Tatsuya, right?" Yuusuke asked, trying to figure out the connection. The duo's parents obviously detested Tatsuya, but Yuusuke had no idea if they had even met before.

"No… not really. If they're bodyguards, they're plenty strong, but my family has personal guards we call guardians, who are always a cut above the rest. Their parents might defend the property or something, but I doubt they interact with Tatsuya very much."

"Ah," Chandra exclaimed, not really sure how to continue the conversation. She knew she should probably let it die there, but curiosity quickly took root in her mind.

Miyuki was actually answering their questions; if they did not ask now, how were they ever going to get an idea of the truth behind the being who had haunted their nightmares for months. Chandra needed to understand how much of what happened was just the delusions of middle schoolers, and how much was real.

"Um… it was a little weird actually," Chandra began, looking down to avoid making eye contact with either of her friends (one to whom she was asking an intrusive question, and one who looked like he was trying to eviscerate her on the spot for continuing the conversation). "They both seemed to have really strong opinions about Tatsuya. And it makes sense with your cousins, of course, but I didn't get how Fushin and Juryou's parents would… well-"

"Have such a bad impression of him?" Miyuki suggested.

Both Chandra and Yuusuke flinched at the straightforward answer, not having expected her to admit to anyone being against her Onii-sama.

Miyuki gave a small, bitter chuckle at their reaction. "Actually, it used to be much worse. A little while ago, I talked to Uryu about a problem, and — ironically — his suggestion led to Tatsuya improving his reputation in the family. Many still see him as a… monster, I guess, but it's much better than before."

Chandra had a hard time believing it could have been worse before. This was Tatsuya's home, surely at least someone was on his side? From what she heard, the Kuroba siblings were only visiting, but that would mean….

'Oh. He really was always alone. That's why Miyuki means so much to him,' Chandra realized. A painful shot of guilt made her clench her fists in embarrassment; no wonder Tatsuya had treated their attacks like minor inconveniences, he probably dealt with far worse on a daily basis.

After a long training session (which Chandra and Yuusuke had left half-way through after the novelty of her magic wore off and boredom sunk in), Miyuki returned to her room to find her brother still working on the search. Tatsuya nodded to welcome her in, then turned back to the screen.

The person who kidnapped Uryu was most likely working for Chitoge, so Tatsuya had looked through all the records of Chitoge's colleges on past bodyguard jobs for a person matching the description. It was a perfect assignment for a boy nearly incapable of boredom, so long as he was right about the connection between Chitoge and the man.

Luckily, two hours into his search he found two men who matched the description. Ten minutes after he sent the two pictures over to the Yotsuba witness to review, he received confirmation.

Harrison Okiya was the man who matched the kidnapper's appearance.

Tall, trained in combat, magician; experienced, but otherwise unremarkable. Supposedly, Chitoge had worked with him previously and the two had kept in contact. No reason to hate the Yotsuba, but (given that he was trained by the military) no reason to like them either.

"What next, Onii-sama?" Miyuki asked as she leaned in to get a better look at the screen. It was a map of various districts in Japan, mainly focusing on areas with desolate warehouses and abandoned buildings. The kinds of places rats like Chitoge loved to hide in.

"Tracking Uryu down. A black car came to pick him up, but the person watching them lost track of it, so I'm calculating likely locations for him to be. Oba-yue has left it to us for now, but if we take too long I doubt she'll hesitate to massacre everyone until she finds Chitoge. You want to help Uryu, right?"

"I do," Miyuki confirmed, putting her hand on top of her brother's. "Sorry for being so selfish, Onii-sama."

"No, it's fine. I might not be able to understand those sorts of emotions, but I want at least one of us to be able to feel like that. Besides, it's a good training exercise for hostage incidents."

A few clicks and the screen zoomed in on one specific location.

"Based on the shipments and security this place has had over the past few months, I'm 83% sure this is their main base of operations. I doubt they would let Uryu into that place, but it is true that Uryu would be easiest to monitor while there, so I sent a few people ahead to find out."

And that continued to surprise him even days into the operation. It had started after he helped with Yotsuba Miya's disease, but Maya's added authority erased almost all objections to following his orders. She really was letting them treat this like training for becoming head of the family.

Miyuki gently squeezed his hand, instinctively knowing what he was thinking. Neither of them wanted to become head of the Yotsuba, but Tatsuya's unique position made the circumstances complicated. She did not want to continue living like that, but….

But so long as she and her brother were together, they would be fine.

Chandra and Yuusuke jumped as Suzaku slammed a giant stack of papers on the table in front of them.

"You said you wanted to help?" he asked rhetorically. "Great, cause Tatsuya's got something you can help with. Write down everything you know about Uryu, and he'll tell you what to do next."

Judging by the growl in his voice, their previous ziplining-through-Miyuki's-window attempt had not been forgiven nor forgotten. Nodding up and down with the frantic speed of hummingbird wings, Yuusuke rushed to pick up a piece of paper and begin writing.

Yuusuke was pretty worried about upsetting the scary magicians, but—more than that—he was desperate. He needed something to do, something to help with. He needed to know that there was something he could do to make sure Uryu did not get gutted like a fish when the Yotsuba attacked.

To his right, he heard the scratch of ripping paper as Chandra's pencil was pressed down hard enough to cut through. She ducked an embarrassed head down at Suzaku's raised eyebrow, but Yuusuke squeezed her hand in understanding. It seemed he was not the only one who was worried about how the Yotsuba would use the information they had on their friend.

But that was why they had to be involved, to be valued as something marginally more important than a fly on the wall. It was wrong for Uryu to be the only one to suffer for the mistakes all of them had made. Yuusuke would have gone to Tatsuya for support too, given that he was the one to start it all.

'But I can't,' he reminded himself. 'Those two we talked to earlier, especially that Fushin girl, seemed pretty confident that Miyuki was the only thing keeping him from "destroying the planet." I can't do anything that risky.'

Miyuki and his cousins may think Tatsuya was worthy of respect, but there was a fine line between incomparable competence and unavoidable danger; he had to stay alert.

First step: getting more information.
"Um… Suzaku? Did Miyuki and Tatsuya tell you what they wanted us to do? I just want to get an idea for what's going to happen later. I mean, I know they're super strong, so I don't see what sort of invasion plan for capturing Uryu could involve us. Are we just going to be there to make Uryu comfortable and… keeping him from wanting to resist after he is found?"

"Well… that's what I thought at first too, but, from the way they described it, it seems like Tatsuya wants to try to get the kid to come willingly in the first place. There are, quote, 'more ways to solve something than with violence,' end quote. I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

"So you… think we should just trust them, Mr. Scar-Suzaku?" Chandra asked, nearly too frustrated to remember to switch "scary cop" to "Suzaku."

"A piece of advice: don't worry so much. There's a reason the Yotsuba has such loyal workers despite our general exclusion from the world. Our leaders know exactly what they're doing."

The two frantically nodded in agreement, not wanting to risk upsetting the dangerous man over something he (apparently) felt so strongly about. The two then made eye contact, communicating to each other their true feelings of apprehension and uncertainty were the same.

Suzaku sighed, knowing they thought they were being much more subtle than they really were. Instead of pointing it out however, he collected the papers they had written on and moved on to the next phase of the plan: their parents.

"Miyuki-sama said she would like you to try and call your parents for us. As far as they know, the government brought them to another building and is taking care of them, but Uryu's kidnapping most likely shook them. Please inform them that you are still in protective custody as witnesses of possible terrorists."

"O-okay," Chandra agreed, feeling like she should be more surprised that "in protective custody as witnesses of possible terrorists" applied to her. Ever since she started getting involved with the Shiba siblings, her sense of what was normal had been completely thrown out of whack.

Still, it would be nice to talk to her parents again. She should probably let her dad know she had not been kidnapped by criminals with a high chance of being murdered in her sleep every night (even though that was exactly what happened). Besides, he might know something about how Uryu's sister was taking the situation. Chandra hoped she was doing okay and knew it was not her fault.

Even though he was not supposed to be able to experience such emotions, the stress of that week had been piling up on Tatsuya. Apparently the Yotsuba agent had tracked down the area Tatsuya specified, but found far more mercenaries present than he had predicted. It would be a little harder than he had hoped, and would probably require a full operation against them.

And there was Miyuki's mom to think about. Every time he went to check up on his "creator" (her words, not his) she would make the fact that she was going to die soon increasingly clear. As though she conveniently forgot that she would be bed ridden and possibly dead already if he had not gotten involved. He was not searching for gratitude, but her obvious noncompliance wasted his time.

He missed the days when he was just Miyuki's guardian. All of the side-jobs he was forced to take on increased the risk that she would be attacked while he was away. He was still watching her at all times, but it still weighed on his mind throughout the day.

Having to speak to his "creator" certainly did not help.

"Is my sister really trusting you to lead the expedition?" she asked, because without someone else to talk or complain about Tatsuya to, she was willing to acknowledge his presence. Regardless of what Miyuki said he should do, he greatly preferred being a fly on the wall to this.

"Yes, Miya-sama. She is."

"And so? Are you going to try to save the people working under you, only to have them end up like me? A bit more movement, and another few months to live. Oh, yes, I'm practically normal! As though I won't inevitably die any day now!" she bitterly mocked, her sarcasm shocking the nurses waiting in the back of the room. All of them had grown up in the Yotsuba, but they had never heard their mistress be anything but elegant.

Tatsuya supposed the knowledge of her impending death was stressing her out, and he was the only one she felt comfortable taking it out on.

Oh, well. Better him than Miyuki.

"I will try to make sure there are no lasting consequences for our family."

"Will you? Like you 'tried' to cure me?"

How exactly was he supposed to respond to that? As far as anyone knew, present technology was not advanced enough to develop a cure, especially in the few-month time frame Miya had. Unfortunately, reminding her of that was unlikely to go over well.

"...Yes, Miya-sama."

"Miyuki will be there too, won't she? If something happens to her-"

"Nothing will happen," Tatsuya growled, interrupting before completely processing the situation. He flinched back and looked up, suddenly aware of what he had done.

They made eye contact, and he could see the mild surprise in her eyes at his back-talk. No anger (yet), just surprise.

"I-I apologize. I swear, nothing will happen to her," he promised, bowing down to 90° and clenching his fists in determination. What was wrong with him? He knew better than to speak out.

But then she brought up Miyuki and he-

"...Normally, I would demand that the person in charge remove Miyuki from the operation, regardless of her personal feelings on the matter," Miya began, remembering the times she had done just that when a leader asked if Miya wanted to give her daughter hands-on experience. "And now you're the one in charge."

"...Yes, Miya-sama."

She scowled at him, then looked around at the room, covered with machines Tatsuya had created to monitor her condition and ensure she could still live without being confined to bed rest. He might be a monster, but she had to admit he was, at the very least, capable.

And it was Miyuki.

"...I will leave protecting my daughter to you. Do not fail me."

Tatsuya's eyes widened in shock at the implied approval, then answered, "Of course, Miya-sama."

Chandra eeped as Yuusuke swatted her hands, not having noticed she was picking at her nails in worry. He shot her a concerned look, but she gave him a reassuring (at least, she hoped it looked reassuring) smile and shook her head. She was fine; they could do this.

'This' meaning infiltrate a terrorist organization and convince a member to join their side. Granted, Uryu was not a real terrorist, but Chandra could not help feeling like her shy, civilian, barely-a-magician self was an eon ago.

They both took a deep breath, causing Tatsuya to glance back at them from the corner of his eye. It was still stressful to be in the same room as him, but Chandra felt like she was starting to get a hang of it. She had to be; this plan would not work if she could not trust the boy.

Even if she really, really wished someone else could be their guide. Unfortunately, Miyuki was confident that "no one is more capable than Onii-sama, and he can simultaneously take you through the building while giving me strategic advice to turn into orders. I'm also not in danger, because he'll be keeping an eye on my surroundings with magic!"

And, while it was great Miyuki was not in danger, it did not really help Chandra feel better.

"Stay close to me," Tatsuya ordered, before turning away from them and dropping into a hole in the ground. Apparently they would be going through the generator rooms to avoid being detected. Chandra was just grateful they got to avoid the sewers ('and if that doesn't say a lot about how my life has changed…').

Chandra squeezed Yuusuke's hand again, then followed. While she was glad they were being led by the super-powerful "monster of the Yotsuba" (Fushin's words, not hers), she hoped it would not make convincing Uryu even harder. The boy had developed something of an obsession with hating Tatsuya in the past year.

"Duck down."

"What?"

Chandra could not even finish her question before she was abruptly yanked down alongside Yuusuke.

BANG BANG

Bullets broke through the wall next to where their heads used to be and hit the wall on the other side of them. Chandra's scream went unheard under the clash of bullets, but she froze in fear all the same. The Yotsuba had begun their attack, and Chandra was kneeling on the floor—her head on her knees—right in the center.

What was she doing here?

A few seconds later, the sound of gunfire stopped and footsteps indicated the victors leaving the room next to them. Two more seconds, and Tatsuya stood up.

"We should keep going."

"Wha-now?" Yuusuke asked, speaking the thoughts Chandra would have said if she was not still bent over in fear. Tatsuya looked between the two of them, still emotionless but somehow clearly expressing how annoyed he was to have to work with two civilians. The "committee" might have pretended to understand the world Tatsuya was part of, but she could see now that they would not even register as ants to someone with Tatsuya's abilities.

Chandra wondered if Uryu felt the same way.

...Probably not. If there was one thing that stood out while Uryu was leader, it was his overwhelming optimism that they could make a difference.

A hand was suddenly on Chandra's shoulder, and a flinch zapped through her body, tensing her muscles in preparation to flee. Tatsuya's eyes stared back at her with the same apathy they always contained.

"We need to go," he repeated, letting go of her shoulder now that he had her attention.

"Ah… right."

Tatsuya moved back to the front to lead them, and Yuusuke moved closer to her, unintentionally creating an invisible divide between the "kids" group and the monster leading them. She was starting to understand what that preteen girl, Fushin, had meant.

Just like with the gunshots from earlier, Tatsuya continued to perfectly predict where attacks would occur and position them away from the danger. "Duck down." "Step back." "Turn sideways." Soon, Chandra stopped thinking about the commands and started following without considering the orders; she and Yuusuke were in the air before they asked "how high?"

And suddenly, Chandra understood. This was what her classmate — no, calling him "her classmate" did not even scratch the surface of the paradox known as Tatsuya Shiba — went through every day. Despite all the death and danger coming at them from all sides, Tatsuya never showed the slightest bit of concern; he was used to this.

Was it any wonder, then, that he seemed so terrifying and emotionless to the civilians he went to school with? Chandra still did not know what he had to go through growing up, but she was starting to think every interpretation of the boy was somewhat right. Miyuki, the Kuroba siblings, Fushin, Chitoge, and Uryu were all right, despite how contradictory their ideas seemed to be.

One person's demon was another person's hero; it just depended on who said monster was trying to protect.

Tatsuya knew the other two were scared. It made sense for them to be terrified in their first battle, and (although it was inconvenient) it also made sense for them to fear him. Everyone did, after all.

He had gotten them to listen to his commands and kept them alive, but he would need to be as willfully ignorant as Uryu to not notice how they had flinched when he used decomposition to turn a wall to dust. He did not really have a choice though, the normal way to Uryu was filled with guards and fighting.

The good news was that his abilities allowed them to reach Uryu without much trouble; the bad news was that his abilities might have scared Chandra and Yuusuke enough to cause them to return to Uryu's side.

He hoped it would not come to that; he did not want to tell Miyuki on why her classmates were all dead, especially if it was his fault.

"He's behind this wall," Tatsuya announced quietly, turning around to face the other two. "Do you know what you're going to say, or do you need a moment to decide?"

"Uh-no, we're ready," Chandra answered after sharing a glance with Yuusuke.

Tatsuya nodded, and then snapped his fingers, sending a wave of powerful magic through the room before them. In an instant. Without a CAD. Again.

Tatsuya watched Chandra's expression shift through 100 different levels of disbelief, and, in hindsight, considered that he might be destroying her understanding of the laws of magic by using flash cast and his innate magic so often. He really should have just used his CAD.

Too late now.

"I used a simple spell to stop vibrations, so no one will be able to hear you," he explained. "This will be broken if you make too much noise, so I suggest you be careful."

The two frantically nodded, and Tatsuya belatedly realized his warning might have come across as more of a threat. It seemed he still had a long way to go before he could trust himself in a normal environment.

He briefly considered telling them something that would improve their opinion of him, but he was not Miyuki. She could give them a reassuring smile and have them fall at her feet within seconds; Tatsuya only knew how to support the people closest to him, and poorly at that.

So much to work on, so little time.

With that last depressing thought, Tatsuya stepped forward and placed his hand on the wall, turning the last barrier between them and Uryu into dust.

Immediately, a terrified scream began echoing through the sound-proofed rooms.

Things always went smoother when Uryu was the one in control. Yuusuke used to think that was because of his charismatic leadership, and, while that was not entirely wrong (he was certainly good at riling people up), it was becoming increasingly obvious that he also detracted from progress when he was not in charge. Case in point: the hysterical shouting which had wasted the past two minutes of his life. Luckily, when the sound began Tatsuya had simultaneously snapped his fingers and silenced Uryu specifically, keeping the room's sound barrier intact.

Now Yuusuke would never claim to be an expert on lip reading, but he had a pretty good idea of what Uryu was trying to say.

"How DARE YOU STEP IN HERE AND-"

"You TRAITORS! Allying yourselves with monsters like-"

"-But I suppose that was all that could be expected useless footstools who only exist-"

"-this ISN'T what I taught you!"

"JUST TRY TO TAKE ME!"

And on and on he went.

Time passed, and the yelling continued until Chandra looked like she was about to start crying.

Yuusuke grabbed her hand and gave her a little squeeze, but his reassuring smile hid the annoyance beginning to bubble and overflow within him. Uryu took it upon himself to guide and mentor Chandra, helping her come out of her shell. It had worked really well, and Yuusuke had gotten to know her through that. Then Uryu left them and trusted someone he should not have. Uryu, who (despite all his confidence) was just a child, sometimes less aware than Yuusuke was. Someone who had no idea what sorts of damage his worlds cause. And now, because of the power of those words, Uryu was reversing the good he had done for Chandra (their only connection might have been Uryu, but the girl did not deserve this) and had put himself in a situation where he could very realistically die soon.

Needless to say, Yuusuke was very, very annoyed.

"Uryu STOP IT!" he shouted, opposing the other boy for the first time since just after the basketball incident. Tatsuya sent him a slight glare for raising his voice, but snapped his fingers again and replaced the sound barrier.

"I… what?" Apparently Tatsuya had given him his voice back. Goodie. At least he was listening now.

"Can't you just listen to us for one second? I know you love hearing yourself talk, but we can't do anything if you don't give us a chance to speak and if you don't give us a chance to speak then you might end up dead before we can do anything to help!"

Uryu paused as he registered what had been said, and then jumped back to face Tatsuya (who had been completely silent throughout the conversation), preparing for an attack.

"Not from him, Uryu," Chandra explained, wiping the tears which had been forming in her eyes. "You heard the alarm, right? There's an attack, and Mr. Chitoge isn't going to make it through this! Miyuki was worried and sent us with Tatsuya to try to get you out of it before you get hurt."

Yuusuke noticed she very pointedly neglected to mention that, if he were not taking them to see Uryu, Tatsuya would probably have been a leading figure in the attack.

"Well… don't tell me you think Tatsuya is human, then!" Uryu demanded, pretending the dangerous magician was not in the room with them. "He's just a monster!"

"I-I mean you're not wrong," Chandra accepted. "You're just not right either."

"...What?"

Both boys had turned to stare at Chandra with looks of utter bafflement. Even Tatsuya gave her a confused glance, making her blush down to her toes.

"I mean… well, he's both? Sorta? It's hard to explain right now. Anyways, please come with us! I promise, we're only trying to protect you from what's been going on. Besides, your sister's really worrying about you!"

"Mmhm," Uryu imitated with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sure she is. What, did she text her friends to start planning a party to celebrate my death, but worried about not having enough cake at home?"

Getting Mion's "Mmhm" thrown at her by Uryu of all people shut them down for a moment, and neither Yuusuke nor Chandra knew how to respond to the question. Sure, they had fought, but Uryu had never given any indication that his relationship with his sister was that bad.

"Don't give me that look," Uryu snapped. "Mr. Chitoge told me all about what's been happening while I've been gone. And about how you two have already been brainwashed by Tatsuya and the Yotsuba!"

Feeling slightly embarrassed about laying out his genuine feelings, Uryu looked away from his friends and caused his eyes to land on Tatsuya.

"And what about you?" Uryu demanded. "Why would you care about me?! Why are you involved in any of this, I would have thought the 'petty struggles of humans' would be below you."

Tatsuya looked confused at the part that was said as if it was a direct quote (it sounded much more like something his aunt would say than Uryu), but got over it quickly and smiled.

"You're still my classmate Uryu. Is it really that surprising that I was worried when you decided to join a group of literal terrorists?"

"No. No, no, no, no, no," Uryu said as he shook his head, but his dazed gaze made it clear he was not responding to Tatsuya's question. "No, I've watched you for years! I don't know if you somehow forgot that, but I know what you look like when you're pretending to be human. This won't work on me!"

Tatsuya tilted his head, considering Uryu's argument for a moment, then acknowledged it; all traces of emotion vanished from his expression.

"Miyuki cares about you," he explained. "She knew the family would do something like this, so she wanted to give you a way to escape."

Despite blushing for a moment at what Tatsuya said, Uryu quickly looked away and calmed himself, explaining "That's far from enough to make me abandon our noble cause! Besides, I know better than to just take your word for something like this?"

"Uryu, you can't continue fighting for the rights of non-magicians if you're dead!" Yuusuke hissed, the stress of the situation finally cracking through his calm facade.

"And submitting to the Yotsuba is better?"

"You're just going to Miyuki!" Chandra refuted. "The Yotsuba have almost nothing to do with this! It's just the four of us and Miyuki. Magicians are coming, and Miyuki wants to help you!"

"You've been tricked by Tatsuya!" Uryu declared, backing away. "I can't trust anything you have to say!"

Abruptly, Tatsuya stiffened and turned toward the hallway they had just come through. Yuusuke also turned, terrified of whatever could make Tatsuya react in such a way.

"What's wrong?" Chandra asked, noticing as well.

"...Miyuki's coming."

Miyuki knew Tatsuya (and her Mom… and her aunt… and Hayama… and maybe even Sakurai Honami from beyond the grave) would be extremely disappointed in her for sneaking out of the safety of the carefully guarded control-room, but Miyuki did not care; there was no way she could just sit back and wait as the conversation between her classmates turned more into insulting her brother than getting anything done.

So, with a whispered explanation she knew Tatsuya would hear even a mile away, she snuck out of the room to follow after them. Tatsuya called her, begging her to turn back, but eventually relented and kept her updated about when to hide or wait for the outside battle to pass.. And besides, even if she was confronted with a battle, she was confident she would be able to deal with it easily.

She doubted her brother would feel the same way, but he needed to trust her more anyways, so she pushed through regardless.

"Stop. Wait two seconds, then continue with your head lowered," Tatsuya instructed through the phone. Miyuki did just that, and then found herself in front of the door she knew her friends had entered just a few minutes earlier. She reached to open it, but was forced to jump back as the door swung open from the inside.

"""Miyuki!""" the committee shouted simultaneously. Miyuki immediately covered Chandra's mouth as Tatsuya covered Uryu's—it was like no one realized they were still in the middle of a battlefield— and Yuusuke covered his own mouth when he realized what happened.

Looking behind her shoulder for witnesses, Miyuki slipped into the room and added additional magic sealing the area from the war outside.

"Hi, everyone," she greeted, but focused her eyes on Uryu's reaction. Like she expected, he blushed furiously for a moment, but then surprisingly shook himself out of it and focused on Tatsuya.

Sometimes, in the back of her mind, Miyuki wondered if this was all her fault. After all, when Uryu started hating Tatsuya, he was just copying what he had seen Miyuki do when reacting to her brother's protection against the ball. Maybe, if she had realized the truth about her brother sooner, none of this would have happened.

Miyuki mentally shook her head, wiping the miscellaneous thoughts from her mind. It would do her no good to be distracted now.

"Uryu," she began, sucking in the room's collective attention as the leader she had been taught to be. "From what I understand, you refuse to go with them because you think Tatsuya is going to lead you into a trap, correct?"

As painful as it was to refer to her Onii-sama as "Tatsuya," she could not risk making Uryu associate her with the negative emotions he had towards her brother. After a moment's hesitation, Uryu nodded to her question and turned her eyes back on her brother.

Part of making a point was maintaining the focus of the group; she needed to grab his attention again.

"And yet, you really think you can trust Mr. Chitoge more than us?"

"I…" Uryu paused, obviously never having considered her point. "Well… I can't trust you three! You've obviously been lied to by Tatsuya!"

"Then why are you so sure you haven't been lied to by Chitoge? He's a magician too, and an adult who's been trained in combat, at that."

"He-he wouldn't do that to me, we're on the same side!" Uryu floundered uncertainly.

"Except he's brought this huge battle to the place he's taken you without sending anyone to come and get you. You can take care of yourself, but anyone would need assistance to get through a war between magicians unscathed."

Well, not her brother, but it was almost true.

Uryu looked down at his feet, finally confused enough to look away from her brother (who was still glaring at her with the rage of an inferno for coming despite his protests). No refute came, and Miyuki decided to give Uryu a moment to think over what she said.

"...But-but how do I know Tatsuya isn't going to manipulate me too!"

Miyuki stepped closer, startling Uryu into looking into her eyes.

"Tatsuya isn't here for you, Uryu, he's here because I want him to be. And it's not just me, Chandra and Yuusuke are here too. I promise, he won't do anything I don't want him to do. Even if you can't trust him, can't you at least trust me?"

Pretending her brother was nothing but the weapon her family had made him as hurt more than she could describe, but she did not know how else to convince Uryu. Honestly, she was half-tempted to back out and abandon Uryu by this point, but going back on her word because it was too difficult would damage her reputation in the Yotsuba.

She mentally reminded herself to be more careful before making a request like this.

A hand brushed hers, and Miyuki realized Tatsuya knew how she truly felt about saying those words. The reassurance was groundbreaking, and Miyuki had to fight to not collapse in relief.

"I… I guess I can trust you," Uryu allowed, buying into her words. A weapon was only dangerous if it was pointed at you; he probably felt he was safe so long as Miyuki was by his side.

It was far from a long-term solution, but she would take what she could get.

"Shall we go?" she asked, holding out a hand for Uryu to take.

"...Okay."

The tunnels were much easier to get through when Tatsuya was actually by her side, giving directions in person. It seemed both Chandra and Yuusuke had already gotten used to the slow, methodical process of following Tatsuya's orders, and Miyuki helped Uryu along whenever he hesitated.

Through the walls, Miyuki could hear a constant stream of gunfire (apparently Chitoge had non-magician friends as well), and explosions too precise to have been caused by anything but magic. And screams. Lots of screams.

The Yotsuba soldiers were far too well-trained to react to pain in a way that would broadcast their position like that, but the mercenaries—although trained—would not have received that kind of training. Miyuki would have tried pointing that out to the others, but she had a feeling the fact that "those are enemy screams, our side knows how to take pain silently" would not be as helpful as she hoped.

Tatsuya abruptly stopped, turning to the wall to their left and concentrating.

"Get back!" he hissed as loud as he dared, shoving the kids behind as Miyuki put up a protective barrier around the group. The wall collapsed in on itself shortly after as a large truck ran into it, the fleeing driver apparently having been hit with magic that caused perplexity.

Chandra screamed into Miyuki's hands as they covered the girl's mouth, and Tatsuya silently forced them all to duck down so the vehicle's trunk was between them and the driver; Tatsuya could see him, but he could not see them.

The battle outside continued, and it quickly became apparent that whoever cast the spell on the man was not following to finish up the job. Moving around risked awakening the man, but most magic attacks would reveal their position to anyone looking too closely. There was the only way for them to kill the man without letting anyone outside see: decomposition.

Reaching a hand out, Tatsuya set to work, reaching through the man's body and disintegrating the brain without affecting the man's outside appearance. A second passed, and the man was dead.

From the outside he looked fine, but his skull had become a desolate cavern.

Tilting his head to the side, Tatsuya wordlessly ordered the others to sneak under the truck as far from the hole as possible. He went first to show them the way, and then worked with Miyuki to bring the others around.

The screams outside were unnerving to the students, and Chandra knew she would have nightmares for months after it was over. The only saving grace for her and Yuusuke was that they did not actually know any of the people (both with and without magic) fighting.

Uryu was a different story.

"Duck, Mr. Matsumoto!" he screamed at a guy who gave him dinner one time. Thanks to the warning, the man was able to dodge a spell being targeted at his back. Uryu relaxed, full of relief and pride at his accomplishment.

Tatsuya cursed, full of shock and rage at Uryu's stupid, stupid decision.

Yotsuba magicians immediately began firing at Uryu, the only one they could see. He flinched and looked away, but Tatsuya protected him by deleting every spell that came their way. He was tempted to stand up and reveal himself to stop the magic, but knew that would only cause the magicians or normals working under Chitoge to attack.

Chandra hurriedly shimmied out to join Tatsuya and Yuusuke on the other side of the truck, but Uryu just. Kept. Standing. There. As still as a deer in the headlights, but also closing his eyes as if that would make the people shooting at him disappear.

Just as Miyuki was about to tug Uryu down, the information dimension alerted Tatsuya to the presence of Yotsuba magicians circling around the side.

"Get down," he hissed, causing Chandra, Miyuki, and Yuusuke to flatten themselves on the ground.

Uryu, of course, did not listen.

"Uryu!"

There was no time to continue, however, as the magicians soon had a clear firing range towards them and Tatsuya was forced to divide his attention in two directions.

Spells were flying everywhere, and in the heat of battle there was no chance the Yotsuba would recognize Miyuki, who was supposed to be as the base, or Tatsuya, a weapon who was constantly disregarded, hated, or ignored by the family heads.

He had never really cared about the reaction of the Yotsuba before, but he felt like he was starting to understand what Miyuki was talking about.

"Look out!" Miyuki shouted, and Tatsuya belatedly realized he had missed a non-magician who had climbed on top of the truck, gun in hand.

Time seemed to slow down.

A shot was fired at Uryu, who continued to stare wide-eyed at the attacker. Tatsuya started to turn to help, but had to turn back to first remove the few dozen spells being fired at them.

When he turned back again, it was not to stop the shot, but to catch Uryu, who had somehow finally worked up the nerve to get out of the way and jumped over the trunk to Tatsuya's side.

No, that was not quite right; he had not jumped. Miyuki had pushed him.

And taken the shot herself.

Tatsuya saw red.

"Miyu-"

Chandra's scream was cut off by a blinding light — the purest pulse of magic she had ever seen — and the screams of the soldiers who had been attacking her as she felt herself falling into a hole which had not been there a second ago.

When Chandra opened her eyes, the battle was gone. No, it would be more accurate to say there was no trace of the fight left.

Instead, a gaping crater had appeared right in the middle of the building, the truck, broken walls, and people attacking them were no more than dust in the wind.

Chandra looked around the house-sized crater she had apparently fallen into, and saw something strange at the edges. It looked to be leaking a viscous red liquid, but it was too long and thin to be any animal she knew.

Actually, it looked more like a body part, as if every attacker within Tatsuya's range had not been blown away, but instead disintegrated and left behind the parts of themselves too far out to be affected. The literal dust in the wind circled around her, and realization of what happened finally set it.

Chandra screamed.

He vaguely registered Chandra screaming in the background, but Tatsuya could not bring himself to care. Instead, he was leaning down next to his sister, trying to figure out where the damage was.

A graze from the bullet wound had blood seeping out of her thigh like juice from a squeezed orange. Tatsuya lifted his hands to perform regrowth, but they were immediately slapped down by Miyuki.

"Onii-sama, no. We should just go," Miyuki declared, filling her CAD with magic and using it to support herself. This whole operation was her idea, after all. Last time Tatsuya used regrowth on her, she had not known he could feel everything that happened; she would not let him experience that again.

Then, stupidly, she stumbled, instantly destroying all credibility she might have had with Tatsuya.

"Miyuki, we can flee faster if you let me heal you," Tatsuya reminded, glancing nervously at the people halting their battle to see what had happened. The dust surrounding the crater he had made using decomposition would buy them a little time, but not too much more.

With a push of her own innate magic, Miyuki broke his concentration on his magic. He was still a comparative novice at this kind of magic, so she knew he would not use it on her until he was sure he could make it work perfectly. She stood yet again, this time going slowly enough to avoid stumbling.

"Onii-sama, this is my burden for starting all of this. Let me carry it alone."

She turned away from him, but Tatsuya grabbed her hand and forced her to face him.

"Please. I'll do anything," he whispered, being overloaded with emotions for the first time since Okinawa. "What do I need to do to make you let me heal you."

"Onii-sama-"

"Miyuki, please. Please let me help you, I-"

"This is my fault to begin with. I'm fine."

Uryu stared, wide-eyed, and watched one of the most dangerous magicians of all time literally beg Uryu's school crush to let him heal her.

He had been frozen in fear today, but not because of Tatsuya. The gun which had nearly ended his life had been wielded by a non-magician of all things. A non-magician who was supposed to be on his side, but had apparently not cared enough to make that distinction.

But Tatsuya, who was saving him, looked like Miyuki's rejection of his help was equivalent to a natural disaster. And, as Uryu looked over at them, all he could see was an overprotective older brother trying to help his sister.

"Are we even sure what we saw really happened?" Yuusuke had asked that first day. Uryu was sure he did not mis-see, but he was becoming less and less confident about how he understood the things that were happening. After all, Mr. Chitoge had told him that a "monster like Tatsuya doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'emotion.'"

But there, as a simple child worrying over his younger sister, was the most human he had ever seen Tatsuya look.

"Miyuki," he whispered just loud enough to be heard. "You're wrong."

Even Chandra was looking at him like he had grown a second head.

Blushing slightly, Uryu furrowed his brows in determination and looked straight into her eyes.

"It's not your fault, it's mine. I know, I'm-I'm finally seeing that it is. Just let him heal you so we can go, or we'll all die!"

Regardless of whether she agreed with Uryu's assessment or not, his words distracted her long enough for Tatsuya to work his magic on her. The bullet wound in her leg disappeared as if it had never been there at all.

There was no loud cheer as they made it back to camp, but Miyuki could feel the relief from the officers she left in charge radiating off them in waves. The screen on the wall of their base showed static for a moment, before condensing into a clear image.

""Hello, Oba-yue,"" Miyuki and Tatsuya both said with a bow.

"Was it successful?" Maya asked, completely ignoring their greeting.

"It was."

"Wonderful, then we no longer have any use for them. Miyuki?"

"I agree with your assessment, Oba-yue. We will take care of them."

"Lovely. Although, my darling nephew seems to be a little unhappy," she noticed, relishing in Miyuki's slight twitch at her correct inference of the situation. "I take it you would like to do the honors?"

Not that anyone else had the firepower necessary to, but she still enjoyed asking.

"Thank you, Oba-yue."

Maya knew the Uryu boy had only been brought there because Chitoge had gambled and given him too much information. The Yotsuba were Japan's ultimate defense and anti-terrorism organization; he was not a concern of theirs.

Unfortunately, that left her feeling a little unsatisfied. What she wanted was not a strategic, seemingly-luck-driven victory, but an unquestionable one. Her heirs would wipe away every trace of that organization, and the boy's role in it would soon become obsolete.

"Alright then, get to work."

Chitoge cursed the world as he moved toward his escape pod. By some stroke of luck, his men had managed to drive the Yotsuba soldiers into retreating, but Chitoge was not foolish enough to believe that would last for much longer. He had to get out of the way before the next wave came in.

A beep—a sound signalling a connected call—rang out across the room despite no one pressing a button to accept it.

Hackers, then.

"The reports said your name was Chitoge, wasn't it?"

Although it had never been addressed to him before, Chitoge would recognize that patronizing, sadistically threatening voice in his sleep.

Yotsuba Maya was speaking to him.

"What?" he growled. "Are the Yotsuba trying to negotiate?"

His men had been good enough to make them retreat, so maybe their reputation was more heavily based on propaganda than Chitoge had realized.

"Hardly. I just had a question: what exactly made you think the meager forces you scraped together would be enough to put a dent in us?"

Chitoge glared at her, pulling himself up and growling, "And yet, you were the ones who retreated. Maybe the Ten Master Clans aren't all they're cut out to be, if the few 'meager forces' I 'scraped together' were enough to defeat the most infamous family."

Maya chuckled.

"Defeat? Hardly. Unlike you, who was going to abandon his soldiers, the Yotsuba know better than to kill valuable pieces for no reason."

"I-what?"

"Oh, did you think you had won? I'm afraid you're mistaken. It's over."

"Over? From what I saw, you sat back and allowed middle schoolers to direct this operation! You really think you can win? From what I saw, it wasn't that hard to push you back."
"Push us back?" Maya giggled, relishing in how that made Chitoge lose his cool even more. "I suppose that answers my question. You didn't have a wild card, you simply never realized."

"Realized what?"

"It only makes sense, doesn't it? That the Demon of Okinawa is the son of the Demon King of the Far East?"

(Well, not really her son, she acknowledged internally. 'Not yet, anyway.')

That minor distinction would not matter to Chitoge though, as he stepped back on shaking legs, his eyes wide with understanding. Abruptly, he collapsed in on himself, a minor panic attack forming as he realized just what she was suggesting to him.

There would be no escape. Nothing could move fast enough to get him out of the God of Destruction's range. It was over; he had lost.

Maya smiled cheerfully at her success, then glanced to the side at people standing off-screen.

"I've had my fun. Do it," she commanded.

A crazed laugh escaped Chitoge, and he looked up to the screen with insanity trickling through his expression.

"You monsters."

A bright light engulfed the world around him, and a blaze as hot as the interior of the sun erased every trace of resistance from the world.

"Are you okay, Miyuki?" Tatsuya asked, still fretting over her injury.

Miyuki chuckled; she should expect it by now, but she was always surprised at how Tatsuya could put himself through hell, and still have her be his top priority.

"Yes, Onii-sama, you healed me perfectly. And it's my fault, really. I know how to freeze guns, but I had only been focusing on the ones aimed at me, especially since you were doing most of the work."

"I know, I apologize for-"

"Onii-sama, don't blame yourself. This whole operation was my idea, anyways. I'm happy with how it turned out, so leave it at that, okay?"

Tatsuya obviously disagreed, but he nodded and looked out in the direction of the enormous crater he had made. Luckily, the area was in the middle of nowhere, so the light was unlikely to be recognized by any of the people from the next town over. It was certainly nothing the Yotsuba could not cover up.

Which did not explain why Tatsuya stared at the rubble with something that looked like… fear.

'Uryu,' Miyuki realized. 'He's worried I won't be happy because seeing this will just make those three more scared, even if they don't know he did it.'

"It won't be a problem," Miyuki explained. "They were never supposed to be involved in this to begin with — even Chitoge just had Uryu as a result of his own mistakes. The person responsible last time was careless because they did not understand the importance of it. I'll personally make sure they don't fail this time."

Tatsuya turned to her, his eyes glowing an unnatural, piercing light blue even as they met hers and relaxed. He was confident in his power and their victory, but he never fully allowed himself to be calm when it could be her life on the line as a result. His magic was always ready.

People stereotyped light as being 'good,' but when they saw her brother's powerful magic glow they treated it like a bomb, signifying danger rather than comfort. They saw it as the light of an angler fish—a sign of danger, rather than comfort. Some saw her brother's as mechanical, an emotionless glow that could only be produced by unfeeling technology or a computer screen—efficient, practical, but nonetheless lifeless. To others, he was the Demon of Okinawa, and that light represented a divine power which no mortal could oppose.

But to Miyuki, those eyes that softened every time they looked at her only showed the steady, light blue of a protective older brother. The pale color was unusual, but also mystical. A shine on the surface of water; the radiance of northern lights; the sparkle of diamonds in the sun; the promise to protect her against everything in her way.

"Thank you for protecting me," Miyuki whispered. "I'll take care of the rest."

"Uryu!" Mion yelled, overflowing with relief as her stupid, stupid little brother ran into her arms. Similar reactions happened around her with Chandra's father and Yuusuke's parents, but Mion's attention was entirely centered around Uryu.

The policemen who had brought the kids over smiled at the scene, proud their work had paid off. Mion clutched her brother tightly, and turned her head to make eye contact with the officers.

"Thank you," she whispered through her tears. "Thank you so much."

Over the past few days, Mion had been fearing the worst. Would she have to tell their parents Uryu was gone? Would they even care? They had not answered any of her calls, but their lawyer picked up at one point to tell her that her parents were alive, just busy.

Yeah, thanks. Super helpful.

The police had even begun running a case on their supposed neglectance. Mion had never really thought of them as neglectant — taking care of Uryu had always been her job, not theirs — but apparently the police thought differently.

Whatever.

Mion continued to clutch Uryu tightly, but flinched a little when she noticed a wetness gathering on her shoulder. Uryu was crying.

She frowned, then pulled her brother in even tighter. The police had been annoyingly vague about what had actually happened to the kids (she was starting to doubt the "protective custody" told to Chandra and Yuusuke's parents as well), so the most she knew was that Uryu had been taken by an organization opposing the master clans. Why they would take Uryu was pretty thoroughly brushed aside.

"Please excuse the interruption," one policewoman began, jumping back slightly when three guardians sent her a glare with the fury of the sun.

The kids, quickly wiping their tears, turned to face her.

"You three can all head home now, but we would like to have further meetings to discuss what happened there. We apprehended all the members involved, but it can't hurt to be careful. On your way out please arrange an appointment with the man up front."

'Wait, they're really just letting these recently-kidnapped kids go?' Mion wondered. 'And how can they be so sure they caught every member? Shouldn't they at least give us a full explanation? They're acting so nervous, it's almost like they're trying to get us away from the station.'

Given that Mion knew literally nothing about police procedures, she knew she might just be paranoid. She had considered blaming Uryu for poisoning her perception of reality with police dramas, but a glance at the other guardians in the room showed they all had lost some of their faith in the justice system that night.

Feeling increasingly uncomfortable around the officers, Mion knelt down next to her brother and looked him in his hazy, tired eyes.

"Do you feel ready to go home?"

"Yeah, lets go."

Mion frowned at the lacking response, but nodded and rushed to get out of the station along with the other two families present. As they left, Mion noticed a man and woman in pitch-black suits enter the room through another entrance and begin speaking to the now frightened-looking officers.

Questions surged through her mind, but she shook them off; the most important thing was making sure Uryu was okay.

The ride home was long and awkward, with the only conversation being Uryu's quick question of "did mom and dad call you when they heard what happened?"

Needless to say, her response shut down any further discussion.

The silence remained as Mion pulled up to the house and parked the car, and Uryu's dazed stare remained even as Mion pulled on his arm and dragged him inside. It remained as she sat him down in the kitchen; it persisted when she left to close the door; it lasted when she sat down next to him; it even withstood her turning too quickly and wacking her bag into his head.

Uryu simply continued to stare forward, unseeing and unresponsive to the world.

"...Uryu?"

"Hm?"

"You know I love you, right? And I'll accept anything?"

"Mmhm."

"...So, what are you thinking about?"

"Hm."

"...I see."

At this rate, she could spend twenty minutes trying to talk to him and still not learn anything. It was time for a change in strategy.

"...What's this?" Uryu asked.

Success! She had gotten to two-word responses! That was even better than she had hoped.

"A brownie left over from the bake sale last month; chocolate is the solution to all problems!"

"Hm."

Mion scowled at the regression, but resolutely pushed forward.

"It's too bad you weren't able to help out with that one since you had too much homework. I'll try to get my kendo team to run one in the summer. You can even invite your friends to help out! So long as that "evil witch" teacher of yours doesn't give you homework over the summer. Miss… Tsuka?"

"Tsoku," Uryu corrected.

"Right, her," Mion agreed. She's one of the teachers you share with Miyuki, right?" she teased. "And that Tatsuya kid too! It must be hard to have your crush's brother in the same class as the two of you!"

Instead of getting embarrassed, however, Uryu just turned to her with a vaguely confused expression.

"...Who?"

"Miyuki-sama, it was a success," the Yotsuba spy reported from her spot on a tree branch next to the kitchen's window. Her innate magic gave her the ability to hear through walls, so it was child's play for her to confirm Uryu's state.

The mistake last time was only removing the most dangerous parts of his Tatsuya-related memory. This time, the Yotsuba erased everything.

"Good work," Miyuki praised, pleased despite the loss of her once-friend. "Watch for a week, then send your reports to my brother on the results."

"Understood."

Several years later, a new situation arose. It seemed there would be no end to the people who tried to separate Tatsuya and Miyuki.

"This is a matter that concerns 1A! Don't go meddling around with us blooms, you lowly weeds!" the boy shouted, his eyes showing he meant every word.

By Tatsuya's side, Miyuki frowned, then turned to meet her brother's eyes.

'Are we going to get involved?'

Several years ago, a Tatsuya Shiba hearing mere students try to separate him from Miyuki would have reacted without a doubt. These kids, for the same stupid reasons that had caused Tatsuya to be divided from his sister at home, were trying to control his sister's actions despite obviously making her unhappy.

Were trying to keep Tatsuya from being able to protect her.

Three years ago, Tatsuya would have used them to send a mesSagE to everyone present about what would happen if they hurt Miyuki. It would be a threat he was both capable of and prepared to carry out.

After all, he might belong to the Yotsuba family, but Miyuki would always be his highest priority.

But now? Now, Tatsuya just watched the children before him, allowing the situation to play out. He tensed when Mori's quick draw was used and prepared to dissolve the situation (but nothing more, like he should have with Uryu), but allowed Erika and the student council to resolve the situation.

"Sorry about that," Tatsuya intervened. "It was just horseplay that got out of hand."

Miyuki turned to stare at him in shock, but Tatsuya continued speaking to the student council members with a friendly, unassuming smile he had taken care to master during his middle school days.

Diffuse the situation. Calm everyone down. Make allies, not enemies. If they were going to spend the next few years together, it was better to have them on his side, even if it cost him some of the anonymity he had been hoping to maintain for at least a week.

His birth mother, Shiba Miya, may have finally succumbed to her illness last year despite his best efforts, but even through their limited interactions, she had made one thing clear: Miyuki was his priority. He would not — could not — go around picking fights and making needless enemies when his job was protecting.

When he did that with Uryu, the finale involved Miyuki sustaining a physical injury during battle. He refused to allow that to happen again.

He would not make enemies whose identity as civilians protected them from assassination.

"Deceit?" he asked rhetorically. "Far from it."

Defuse; explain; hide.

"After all, I'm nothing but… a course two student."

The End!