Mahouka SI: The Yotsuba Prince (The Irregular at Magical Highschool SI

Chapter 26

KATSUTO JUMONJI

"I will convey the message," Katsuto answered as he ended the call from his father's butler, who told him of the latest directive from the Ten Master Clan.

The Nine School Competition was coming to a close, with only two events remaining. The Female Mirage Bat and the male-specific Monolith Code were the only two events left, and they were essentially the highlight of the event. This year, they were considerably more special, especially in the first-year division, where Masaki Ichijou was set to face Inei Totsub in the final. Of course, this was not set yet, but the matches were set this way.

However, if the directive he had just received was anything to go by, then they would not let that happen. The Ten Master Clans had issued him a directive, which he was to convey to Inei Yotsuba to make the boy pull out of the competition, and he could easily reason out why.

The Yotsuba heir had humiliated and mocked the rest of the clans, and having the boy drop out of the competition would allow them to save face—or at least they thought that way.

Well, he was not sure the boy would see it that way. Masaki will not be happy either way, but he was just the messenger, and yet that was not the most interesting piece of news he had heard.

No, he and everyone in Tokyo right now had their eyes glued to the television as they watched news reporting on the strangest occurrence from the city.

'Three Floors of the Tokyo Tower had simply vanished over night.'

Three floors were removed from existence, cut off, and erased like they were never there. The act was so clean and precise that it even took the people twelve hours to realize that they were gone. The floors were all private, owned by a foreign entity, with separate wirings, and everything so forth.

Even the building management realized later that such a thing had happened. And right now, it was frank speculation about just what had happened.

Though the top magicians of the country already knew of just what had happened and exactly who resided on those floors.

No-head-Dragon, an anti-mage organization tracking its roots to GAA, the very organization behind Blanche and the recent attack on the students at school. An organization that supposedly had a vendetta against the Yotsuba, and it was now clear that the Yotsuba were not afraid of retaliating.

There was a gag order on the whole affair by the Master Clans, and yet to those who were close to the menace that was Inei Yotsuba it was evident that this was his work, that this was the Yotsuba—or him making a statement, reminding the world of their status as the infamous 'boogeymen of the world'

After all, they weren't called the Nation Destroyer Yotsuba for no reason.

And for some reason, his childhood friend was deeply involved with this Yotsuba, someone who was hailed as the most wanted by USNA, and had just eradicated a criminal syndicate in a single night.

"Just what trouble have you landed yourself into, Mayumi?"

0000

MAYUMI SAEGUSA

Mayumi watched the news cycle repeat the story from earlier in the day about several floors from one of Tokyo's high risers simply vanishing overnight as the second last day of the Nine School Competition was set to begin. Katsuto had asked her to come for a meeting, and she was rather surprised when she found Inei-kun already there waiting for her.

Her feelings about the white-haired Yotsuba were complicated; in a way, until today, no boy had ever made her feel something like this. She wanted to protect him, to stand by him, and heal all the little broken things about him, of which there were many.

In the short time she had spent with the boy, she had realized that his past hung over him as a shadow, and though she knew and understood some of it from the sheer display of power last night she had also understood that what she had learned was put a prelude to the tragedy that was Inei Yotsuba's life.

And this also explained his sheer ruthlessness, for he had spent half his childhood in an unforgiving world where a second of hesitation could end up in his death.

"Inei kun, Katusto-kun," she greeted them both, surprised at the former's presence as she raised a brow at her third-year classmate.

"You called for me, Katusto-kun?" she asked, and he nodded.

"I did because I have a directive from the Ten Master Clans," and immediately, she perked up at those words. Why was he receiving a directive from the Clans, and what did it have to do with her, and Inei-kun.

"Inei-kun," Katusto walked towards the white haired junior, who stood on the side leaning against the wall. He stopped in front of him, cutting an imposing figure and trying to intimidate the young Yotsuba heir as he began.

"You need to pull your name from the Monolith Code," and she couldn't believe her ears.

"What?" she asked, taken aback by the command.

"The Committee has yet to announce our school's team for the competition, and without victory already in hand, there is no need for you to participate in the competition," Katsuto added, and she could hardly believe those words.

"Are you joking, Katsuto?" she raged, and he did not turn away from Inei-kun, who was listening to all this without any single emotion.

"I am not. I have the proposal ready, and the committee will accept new names without raising an issue. And though we might lose the competition, it will not have any effect on the standings, for our victory is certain," he added.

"This is not about victory. This is a clear violation of the rules of the Ten Master..."

"Saegusa," Katusto-kun suddenly cut in sharply, making her gasp, as he raised his phone.

"Do understand that six of the Ten Master Clans supported this proposal, and the Saegusa clan was amongst the six as well," and she stilled at that as she saw her father's signature on the document.

Her fists balled up, the hostility against Inei-kun was now open, and apparent. And she still did not understand the reason for it.

"This is preposterous," she raged, and yet Katsuto was not bothered by it.

"I am afraid I cannot recall any law that gives the Ten Master Clan Council to interfere in the Nine School Competition," Inei-kun added, straightening up as he stared Jumonji-kun in the face.

"This a gentle reminder, Inei-kun. Your actions in the past month have been questionable and have damaged the standing of the Ten Master Clans. And let us not even forget about what you did last night," Katusto threatened, and Inei-kun raised a brow.

"What did I do last night?" he asked, Katsuto-kun's lips thinning.

"That building, those floors. It is rather evident that you were involved in all this. Stand down today, and we can temper the hostilities and the misunderstandings that have erupted between you and the Clans," and there were many now. She doubted that Inei-kun would back out, even though maybe he should.

"I do not know what you are talking about, and as far as stepping down is concerned, I reject the Ten Master Clans advise. I will participate in Monolith Code, no mater what you say," Inei-kun rejected the idea as she had thought.

"Saegusa, make him understand that there will be consequences for this," and she bit her lip, and as she refused to say a word, Katsuto-kun turned towards her.

"The Ten Master Clans have maintained balance in Japan's magical world for centuries. He cannot be allowed to mock them. As a Saegusa it is your duty to protect the sanctity of the Ten Master Clans," he admonished her.

"In my eyes, this whole thing is a mockery in and of itself," she replied angrily and walked out of the room, refusing to listen to any more of this farce.

And as soon as she stepped out, she took out her phone and dialled her father's phone number, and yet, unlike before, she did not receive any answer.

0000

Back in the USNA, a red-haired magician sat inside a briefing room as a video played on the screen infront.

"This is footage of Tokyo from last night, where three floors of a building vanished into thin air overnight leaving behind no trace that they were ever even there," and the magician, codenamed Sirius, USNA's strongest magician watched as a figure literally flew to the building and descended inside it, and then minute late, the whole building's top floors vanished into nothingness, leaving behind only two people levitating in the air.

"Such power," the magician gasped.

"We believe the magic employed was similar to the one used during the STARS massacre nearly half a decade ago," and with that, another video began to play out, this on from a magician's visor or body cam. As she saw the masked magician saw the figures on the screen, their fists balled up as they saw their past colleagues and seniors surrounding a building.

"We have the building surrounded. Come out peacefully," the commander, Joe Goldberg of STARS Golden Until spoke, addressing the person inside.

"I repeat, kid. We can make this easy, or we can make it hard. It's your choice, but we need you to come with us," the commander added, and even then, there was no response from the inside.

"Leave me alone, and we shall have no reason to fight one another," the response came from inside.

"And if you enter this building, I promise you none of you shall walk out of it alive," the person inside threatened and the commander clicked his tongue.

"Wrong choice kid. Wrong choice," and with that he took out his CAD and activated his magic.

"BOX IN!" and with that a white magical hue began to envelop the whole building.

"Everyone move in!" and with that, the unit headed in, with around a dozen or so men entering the building, as the commander stayed outside, basically turning the whole building into a prison, for that was what BOX IN was. A containment magic, that allowed the user to control who could enter and leave designated structure.

And then she heard it. A whisper.

"I warned you..." and with that suddenly mikes became muffled, and yet she could make out a single word.

"....shrine!"

BOOOOM!

And the feed became grey until blurrings came back on as she saw a shadowy figure walking towards Captain Goldberg.

"This is a warning. Continue to come after me, and you will not find even corpses to bury," and with that the feed was cut off.

There was silence until her commanding officer began.

"Your mission Sirius is to capture or eliminate the calamity class mage known as Inei Yotsuba, code name 'World Cleaver'"

00000

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