August 6, AD 2092

Okinawa

Beach House—Onna Air Base

On the morning of the third day of our vacation, there were signs of a coming storm. The sky was leaden and cloudy, and a strong wind was blowing. The tropical cyclone from the sea to the east had drawn close. They said that it wouldn’t develop into a typhoon at this point, but the depression was apparently only a step away from being one. Every channel said to avoid water sports for the day, but nobody would think about going all the way to the beach in this weather. And going out to sea was out of the question.

We planned on staying here for two weeks, so we could afford not to act unreasonably for one or two days.

“What plans do you have today?” asked Miss Sakurai as she handed Mother a piece of bread fresh out of the oven.

“Well, I don’t know if I want to go shopping today, after all…” said Mother as though to herself, cocking her head. Whenever she did something like that, it made her seem neat and cute, much younger than her age. She really had aged well. “What should we do?” she asked.

Miss Sakurai stopped eating as well and tilted her own head.

She looked youthful for the most part, too, but compared to Mother, she seemed like the older sister… Though Mother’s actually a lot older than she is.

“Well…what do you think about watching Ryukyu dancing?” suggested Miss Sakurai, turning on the screen hanging on the wall. She swiftly used a nearby remote control to call up a guide to a Ryukyu dancing performance. “It looks like you can even put on the clothing they wear to experience it.”

“That sounds fun. Miyuki, what do you think?”

“I think it sounds fun, too.”

“Then, I’ll prepare a car. There is one problem, however…” said Miss Sakurai, her face clouding slightly. “This performance is women only.”

Oh, she was right. It said it on the bottom of the screen in the guide. Then, my brother…

“I see…” said Mother, bringing a thinly sliced piece of bread to her mouth and eating it. “…Tatsuya, you may use the day as you see fit.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“The captain invited you to the base yesterday, didn’t he? This is a good opportunity, so I want you to go and learn from them. They may even let you take part in their training.”

“I understand.”

She said he could spend it freely, but she still ordered him to go along with her idea. Showing no sign of displeasure or grievance, my brother accepted this with an impassive face.

Like always.

“Umm, Mother!”

I didn’t know why I said that.

“May I, umm, go with…Brother…as well?”

My lips and tongue and vocal cords were moving of their own accord. I stumbled over calling him “Brother” out loud, since I usually referred to him as just “him.”

It wasn’t because I was nervous… At least, that’s what I told myself.

“Miyuki?” inquired my mother.

I knew my suggestion was sudden. I predicted this would happen. She gave me a dubious look.

Ugh, this is so uncomfortable! “Ah, umm, I’m interested in what kind of training the army’s magicians do, and, well, as his mistress, I feel that I must understand my own Guardian’s abilities, so…”

“I see… I’m impressed.”

I felt a lot of resistance to calling myself mistress. In any case, it was clearly a distressed excuse, but Mother seemed to have believed me.

Now I felt sort of guilty… But I wasn’t trying to lie to her—how could I tell a fib when I didn’t understand what I wanted anyway?

“Tatsuya,” said Mother, “as you heard, Miyuki will go with you for your tour of the base.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Such being the case, I have one warning. When in front of others, don’t speak formally to Miyuki. Call her Miyuki, not ‘my lady.’ I forbid any words or actions that could possibly let them realize Miyuki is the next leader of the Yotsuba.”

“…I understand, ma’am.” This time, there was a slight pause before my brother agreed.

He wasn’t the only one bewildered. I was perfectly puzzled myself. Not at my candidacy being removed from consideration for the time being but at imagining my brother calling me by my name.

“Please do not misunderstand me. This is merely a convenience to deceive any unrelated parties. There is no change in your relationship with Miyuki.”

Mother’s words felt a bit unnatural to me. My brother simply answered, “I won’t forget it, ma’am.”

We may have been on vacation, but they were on the job at a national facility. So as not to be rude, for our visit to Captain Kazama’s base, I chose a short-sleeved and modestly patterned dress that didn’t expose much skin and a UV-protected see-through cardigan while my brother’s attire consisted of a plain, short-sleeved polo shirt and a summer jacket, plus ankle-length cotton pants.

“I’m Sanada, from the Ground Defense Force’s weaponry R & D division,” said the soldier who came to meet us, introducing himself.

When my brother heard that he was a first lieutenant, he looked surprised.

But why…? I felt like he was much more expressive around other people.

“Is something the matter?” the lieutenant asked.

“No, sir…” said my brother. “I just didn’t think we would have an officer showing us around. Especially because I heard this is an air base.”

Mr. Sanada’s lips turned up at that. It seemed like his attitude had just gotten a little friendlier. “You know quite a bit about the army, don’t you?”

“My martial arts instructor used to be in the Ground Defense Force.”

“I see, I see… The reason a technical officer from the Ground Defense Force like me is at an air base is because my profession is rather unique, and the air force doesn’t have enough people for it. As for why they didn’t leave you with a noncommissioned officer… Well, that’s because they’re hopeful about you,” said Lieutenant Sanada, giving an amicable smile. He wasn’t particularly handsome, but his features had an attractiveness about them that dampened others’ caution.

But for some reason, it looked like my brother was poised to defend himself upon seeing the smile.

Mr. Sanada showed us to a high-ceilinged gymnasium. I call it a gymnasium only because that was the closest concept in my mind, so maybe it had a different name.

Several ropes hung from the ceiling, which was about as high as a five-story building, and a large group of soldiers were repeatedly climbing the ropes, then jumping down from near the ceiling. They didn’t have any parachutes. I doubted a parachute would be much help from that height anyway, but they were clearly high enough up to break bones upon landing.

Acceleration-type magic, deceleration spells…

There were about fifty, give or take.

All the soldiers ascending and descending the ropes were magicians. They didn’t look like experts, but this wouldn’t be all the magicians at this base. Getting so many magicians to a place in the countryside… I supposed that was because this was the front line on the border. I could see the delinquent soldier from before, too—umm, Private Higaki. So he’s a magician, too…

Captain Kazama had been waiting for us. He probably knew we were here as soon as Mr. Sanada came out to greet us, but I didn’t think he’d leave training supervision to a subordinate to wait for our arrival. No—to wait for my brother’s arrival, not ours.

“I see you came right away. Should I interpret this as you having an interest in the military?” began Captain Kazama, making an awkward smile on his stern face.

“I do,” said my brother. “But I haven’t decided whether I want to be a soldier yet.”

“Well, I shouldn’t think so. You’re still a middle schooler, right?”

The captain was speaking differently than yesterday. It felt like he had some kind of ulterior motive—though calling it such may have been harsh.

“I just started middle school.”

“Twelve—no, thirteen? You sure seem composed for someone so young.”

“Thirteen, sir.”

My brother gave innocuous answers to the captain’s questions. To be honest, I couldn’t help feeling surprised, but I quickly realized it was no more than a misunderstanding on my part due to my assumptions.

At school, he was an honors student. He was during elementary school, too, and even having just entered middle school, he excelled in areas that had nothing to do with magic. It would be a stretch to call him sociably inclined, but his classmates and younger students relied on him for several things, and even the teachers had accepted that he had them beat.

What if he’d been born into a family with no connection to magic?

What if he hadn’t been the nephew of the Yotsuba family head?

What if he hadn’t been Mother’s son?

What if he hadn’t been…my brother?

…There was no point thinking about it. It was the same as supposing I didn’t have the blood of Miya Yotsuba in me.

When I pried my thoughts from the topic, my brother and Captain Kazama had gotten to talking about whether he wanted to join their rope-climbing training. Not me, of course—just my brother.

“I’d rather not. I’m, well, not very successful with magic.”

Hearing him stumble over his words gave me the creeps. Was he doing it because Mother warned him to appear normal? It doesn’t suit him very well… Oh, but what I think looks good on him isn’t important!

“Umm, my brother—” I started, once again feeling a strong sense of wrongness at calling him that. But why? He was, in fact, my older brother, so calling him as much should have been normal. “How did you know he was a magician?”

But it would have been incredibly unnatural to get stuck in something like that. This was the more important thing.

My brother never carried a CAD, nor, of course, any traditional support tools like paper talismans or vajras. Mother and I made regular use of portable device–shaped CADs, and Miss Sakurai should have been the only one you could tell was a magician by the way she looked.

Had he investigated our identities…?

“…Just a hunch, I suppose?” Captain Kazama didn’t seem to think I’d ask him a question. He looked a little surprised, but then he answered in a way that didn’t seem serious, even though his expression was.

A hunch? What is that supposed to mean? Is he trying to evade my question?!

“And I’m not trying to hide anything, either.”

What?!

It was as though he’d read my mind. I couldn’t stop my face from hardening.

“When you see hundreds of magicians, you start to be able to tell from how they feel,” said the man. “Whether or not they’re a magician. And whether they’re a strong magician or a weak one.”

I couldn’t resist making a perplexed expression, even though I knew I shouldn’t have.

“Any particular reason it was bothering you?” asked the captain.

This isn’t good…! My overreaction had made him suspicious. Mother had just gotten done telling us not to let anyone know we had a relation to the Yotsuba, too!

“I’m sorry, sir,” broke in my brother. “My sister is kind enough to worry about my lack of magical talent, so…she’s normally a little nervous about it.”

…And as I was up a creek, at a loss and doing nothing but panicking, it was my brother who shielded me.

“I see. She’s a good sister, huh?”

“Thank you, sir. I’m proud to be her brother.”

“Ha-ha. I’m jealous you two are close.”

To me, my brother’s words sounded like stinging sarcasm. But he probably didn’t mean it like that.

I was in trouble, so he had helped me. That was all. I was pretty sure I wasn’t so cynical that I couldn’t accept something like that.

But why did he show me the consideration at all? My bewilderment had nothing to do with his role as my Guardian. He gained nothing from protecting the Yotsuba’s secrets. They wouldn’t scold him—only me.

So why did he defend me like normal siblings, like a brother would a sister?