It was the afternoon of Saturday, April 20th.
In the First High Student Council room, the Student Council President and Secretary—Miyuki and Tatsuya—were nowhere to be seen. They had left to fulfill a request for a discussion with Mayumi that had been made on Wednesday night.
Naturally, Honoka, Izumi, Riri, and Celia had not been told the underlying reason. Since the nature of the conversation was something that might need to be kept secret, even Izumi, who was the first to hear of it, seemed to have read into Mayumi's intentions—she did not pry into the reason. Instead, taking initiative to manage the room in their absence, she assured the overly serious Student Council President, "It will be fine even without you here, Senior."
Today, Honoka, Celia, and Riri had not arrived yet. Mizunami, needless to say, was accompanying Miyuki and Tatsuya. Thus, the only ones present in the Student Council room were Izumi, Shiina, and Kasumi from the Disciplinary Committee (in other words, an outsider). Because the room was occupied solely by the three of them—who had known each other since childhood—a relaxed atmosphere filled the space.
"Hey, Izumi."
"What is it, Kasumi-chan?"
Even though the two now belonged to different households, Izumi did not raise a fuss over the Saegusa name. The only person she truly could not forgive was her biological father; she bore no grudge against Kasumi, who had been kept in the Saegusa family as a gesture of minimum mercy. If anything, she had her own thoughts about the fact that their older sister had not stepped up to shoulder that responsibility.
"Do you think Tatsuya-senpai and President Shiba were summoned by my sister after all?"
"That probability is likely quite high. Pixie, tea please."
Meanwhile, Yugen, the head of the Club Management Group, was on campus and likely breaking a sweat in the light athletics clubroom. The three present here also trained with the light athletics club so their bodies wouldn't grow sluggish from paperwork, but their basic policy was to finish their Student Council and Disciplinary Committee duties before heading over.
"Shiina-chan, let's take a short break as well... Thank you."
"Ah, yes. Understood."
Izumi called out to Shiina as she accepted the teacup filled with green tea poured by Pixie. Kasumi, who had already been relaxing and taking a break beforehand, was sipping black coffee.
"Still, regarding my sister... I can't help but feel she's taking too much advantage of Yugen-兄's kindness."
Kasumi let that slip because even though Mayumi was positioned among Yugen's potential fiancées, her actions seemed to run counter to Yugen's wishes. To this, Izumi offered her perspective:
"Brother is already fully aware of that. If anything, it seems he instructed her to move around in that suspicious manner."
"Is that so? Wait, how do you know that?"
"Because I was informed in advance."
"Ah, I see..."
Hearing that Izumi had been briefed on Mayumi's situation, Kasumi accepted that even if she herself hadn't been told, the fact remained that her sister was relying on being forgiven. Satisfied with this realization, she stopped pursuing the matter further.
At that moment, holding a cup of tea she had brewed herself, Shiina sat down at a seat. Perhaps because her preferences resembled those of her immediate older brother, she was an extreme sweet tooth who favored milk tea with honey. Yet, the fact that the sweets she made were never overly sweet was likely due to the influence of the person she admired.
"There are just too many possibilities that come to mind when considering what my sister would go out of her way to bring up with Tatsuya-senpai and President Shiba."
"Indeed. A conflict between our father—who now belongs to a different house—and the Yotsuba family likely involves many aspects we aren't even aware of."
"Um... sounds tough."
There was much that even Kasumi and Izumi did not know, particularly the thought process of Koichi as he attempted to outmaneuver the Yotsuba family. From the perspective of Izumi, who was now the adopted daughter of the Mitsuka family, steadily building a track record would make rivaling the Yotsuba family no mere pipe dream. To her harsh remark—offered without any need for restraint—Shiina could only manage a wry smile.
"However, it is likely regarding the meeting from last weekend. At that time, I didn't have the leeway to pay attention to other matters."
"For saying that, you seemed to accept it quite easily, Izumi."
"I had already decided that as long as I could marry Brother Yugen, I wouldn't mind either way."
Putting Izumi's personal circumstances aside, Shiina initiated a change in topic back to the discussion Mayumi was having with Tatsuya and Miyuki.
"I haven't heard the details of the meeting, but did something happen during the conference last weekend?"
"I only heard it secondhand from my sister, but our brother tried to push President Shiba to the forefront like an idol. Tatsuya-senpai directly opposed it, and apparently, the mood of the meeting turned terrible after that."
"What a foolish brother. If he tries to push Miyuki-senpai to the front line, Brother Yugen will not remain silent."
"Hey, you don't need to emphasize it so intensely, Izumi..."
Taking everything into account, the Saegusa family's actions were tantamount to picking a fight not only with the Yotsuba family, but also with the Mitsuya and Kagurazaka families. No matter how much peer pressure was applied, it was hard to say they possessed bargaining chips capable of convincing the current Chairman of the Master Clans Conference—Yugen. Kasumi gently chided Izumi for her scathing words, which carried that underlying meaning. Having heard rumors about it as well, Shiina showed no sign of doubt regarding the statement.
"Though, it seems Yugen-兄 didn't attend that meeting. When I asked about it later out of curiosity, he said he couldn't make it because he was meeting with government VIPs."
"If that's the case, it makes complete sense."
"Is that so?"
"Currently, Brother Yugen is the head of a family, just like that father of ours. When weighing VIPs of the Japanese government against the youths of the Master Clans Conference, which one takes priority is self-evident."
While Izumi's harsh dismissals of Koichi were glossed over, it was Kasumi who raised a question regarding her statement.
"Well, I understand the circumstances. Dad often leaves the house for those kinds of errands too... Hey, Izumi. Do you think our brother might actually be jealous of Yugen-兄?"
"Jealousy, you say?"
It was Shiina who reacted to Kasumi's words. The eldest son of the Saegusa family, Tomokazu, was in his late twenties, while Yugen was in his late teens. If it were Genji, the eldest son of the Mitsuya family who was close in age to Tomokazu, it might make sense; but feeling jealousy toward someone roughly a decade younger was difficult to grasp. However, Izumi's reply to Kasumi's suggestion was nothing short of total agreement.
"It's certainly not impossible. After all, Brother Yugen defeated the 'Crimson Prince'—who possessed an established reputation despite being a high school student—even under the constraints of rules. It wouldn't be surprising if he harbored unpleasant feelings about Brother Yugen so easily leaving the Ten Master Clans, despite being fully qualified to hold the title of the strongest among the direct lineages."
In the case of the Saegusa family, the current head, Koichi, possessed a firm standing as a magician, and not only Mayumi—the child of his second wife—but also Kasumi and Izumi were highly evaluated as magicians. On the other hand, in the Mitsuya family, all of the head's children had grown to achieve outstanding records as magicians, with the second and third sons assuming the positions of heads of ancient magic families through family connections.
The Saegusa family had a stark gap between male and female offspring, whereas the Mitsuya family saw remarkable growth across all siblings except the eldest son. Normally, what Tomokazu ought to envy would be his father or his younger sisters, but the decisive event that directed that target toward Yugen or Mototsugu traces back to the Gu Jie incident.
"Still, normally, Dad, us, or Sister would be the targets of that jealousy, right?"
"Normally, yes. However, the catalyst for the Saegusa family's assigned territory being shifted toward the Amami and Okinawa regions after the Master Clans Conference was related to Brother Yugen's main family."
Stripped of a solid foundation, they were forced to build relationships from scratch. Looking at it positively, there was the advantage of building one's own base without the influence of a great magician father; however, given that it was originally an area under the influence of the National Defense Forces, Tomokazu—a person integrated into general society—could hardly expect things to proceed smoothly. It was foreseeable that his father's cooperation would be indispensable no matter how he struggled.
While it was their father's fault that they ended up going through such hardship, neither Izumi nor Kasumi believed the man they knew would speak honestly about all the circumstances to his own son. As a result of considering where that envy would be directed, it naturally pointed toward the Kagurazaka and Kamiizumi families, who had joined the Master Clans Conference in exchange for Retsu Kudou's retirement.
"It's not as if Yugen-兄 attained that status without any effort, either."
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