The chimes rang, ending the day’s classes.

Despite school now being conducted online, which removed the teachers and their watchful gazes from classrooms, the feeling of release that came with the end of the school day went unchanged.

And today, campus was especially abuzz.

It was no surprise: Today was Tuesday, December 25, 2096—the last day of the second term of the 2096 academic year.

The only thing that set it apart from a normal day was that classes ended midmorning. There were no formalities that could be considered a commencement ceremony. There was also no public presentation of academic results. Grades were a wholly personal matter and guardians were only contacted if they threatened a student’s academic progression or graduation.

Nevertheless, once the students had access to their grades, which included pass-fail general education subjects, two distinct categories of students appeared in the halls of First High: those in high spirits and those with slumping shoulders.

Although the newly established magic engineering class of 2-E was special in some regards, it was no exception when it came to grades. While being in the engineering course meant that the cohort was excepted from a certain degree of worry over their practical-skill grades, Tatsuya and many of his classmates were still concerned about accruing sufficient credits to graduate.

Once Tatsuya Shiba had confirmed that his grades were satisfactory, he downloaded them to his portable terminal and stood—whereupon he felt a piercing gaze coming from beside him.

“Yes, Mizuki?”

“Um, er…nothing!” she hedged nervously.

Mizuki had wanted to ask Tatsuya the entirely reasonable question of how his grades had turned out but then realized that doing so would raise the question of what her own had been, and she had thought better of it at the last moment. Mizuki herself was among the top half of the students in the class, but she still didn’t have the courage to disclose her own grades right after hearing Tatsuya’s.

“Oh? All right. Well, see you later.”

“Yes! Later, then!”

After exchanging pleasantries, Tatsuya made for the student council room while Mizuki headed to the art room.

By 5:00 PM, it was quite dark. After finishing their student council and club activities, Tatsuya and his friends gathered at Einebrise. The café was just off the main road that led to the school, and it had become firmly established as their hangout spot. That said, this typically amounted to only a short while spent there before continuing home from school, and as the group wasn’t rowdy and didn’t leave messes behind, the staff had come to regard them as regulars.

“Now then,” prompted Erika, “it’s a day late, but nevertheless, all together now: Merry Christmas!”

““Merry Christmas!”” the group chorused.

Tatsuya and his friends had reserved Einebrise as the venue for their belated Christmas party.

“Glad everyone’s in good spirits! Although if I’m honest, I wanted to say it while the sun was still up.”

“Well, we didn’t have much choice. Everybody had club activities—even you, Erika,” Miyuki reassured.

Erika grinned sheepishly. “I don’t get in trouble if I bow out of club stuff before it really wraps up, but I guess that wouldn’t fly for you, Miss Student Council President.”

“It isn’t just me,” Miyuki went on. “Yoshida’s the chief of the disciplinary committee, and Shizuku’s doing her rotation on it, too.”

Mikihiko laughed abashedly at being mentioned, and Shizuku gave a quick nod: “Mm-hmm.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Though Leo’s got no excuse,” Erika noted.

“Whaddaya mean by that?!” the boy squawked.

Ignoring him, Erika looked from Honoka to Tatsuya. “Honoka’s on the student council, too, and Tatsuya’s the secretary.”

“It’s all right, though. We all managed to get together, even if it was a day later than we wanted,” Tatsuya replied, subtly trying to sidestep any contention.

“I guess.” Erika nodded, blithely unaware of this. “There were a lot of people who had plans yesterday.”

Shizuku had had to make an appearance at an event held by the company her father ran, and Honoka had been dragged along.

Mikihiko had been pulled into the party thrown by the younger generation of his clan. The female attendees outnumbered the male, and though Mikihiko had strongly resisted going, his older brother had stubbornly insisted that he needed “directorial assistance.”

And indeed, Erika herself was among those whose family circumstances had interfered. In her case, though, she had been sent along with her oldest brother, Toshikazu, not to the Chiba family Christmas party but rather a party for the Kanto regional police. The two of them were showing up in place of their father, who had to attend a party being thrown by a prominent politician. Erika was unhappy at being assigned this duty despite still being treated as something of an embarrassment, but she knew that there was no percentage in lodging a complaint about it with her father, so she stoically accompanied her brother. If Toshikazu had had a wife or fiancée, this role surely wouldn’t have been given to her at all, and Erika expressed her resentment with a constant drizzle of nasty remarks directed at her eldest brother.

Owing to all those circumstances, the friends were holding their own Christmas party today, a day late.

Incidentally, the attendees were: Tatsuya, Miyuki, Erika, Leo, Mizuki, Mikihiko, Honoka—all juniors. Minami had been invited to a different party by a classmate in class 1-C. Their circumstances seemed to be similar in that they hadn’t been able to throw a proper party on Christmas Eve and were making up for it the day after. It was being held at a certain famous restaurant, and the food being served was several notches fancier than what Tatsuya and his friends were enjoying. Kasumi from class 1-C was also attending the soirée, and she’d brought Izumi along with her.

Kasumi and Izumi had no choice but to spend the previous night glad-handing at a party they’d been invited to by an employee from a subsidiary company of the Saegusa family, so Kasumi was undoubtedly determined to properly enjoy herself tonight. There was some fear that she’d enjoy herself too much, but her classmates would probably overlook a bit of mischief. It was likely that this calculation was part of why Izumi hadn’t insisted on being at the same party as Miyuki.

Thus, Tatsuya and his friends had ended up in a small get-together consisting of only classmates.

Unlike the party Minami was attending, there were no plans for a full dinner. Each attendee received a slice of cake, with the café’s chef focusing more on taste and quality than volume. It was easier to hold a conversation when not preoccupied by eating and drinking. Of course, an objection to this was expected from somewhere in Leo’s vicinity, but it was undeniable that conversation flowed smoothly for a solid hour and a half, right up until just before 7:00 PM.

“Another year’s almost over,” Mizuki murmured poignantly as the end of the party’s reserved time approached, her voice low so as not to disturb the cheerful chatter around her.

“Another peaceful year, huh?” cheerfully replied Erika, almost as if she was allergic to sentimentality.

“Was it, though? Honestly, it seemed pretty rough,” Mikihiko said with obvious sincerity, which primed the pump.

“Yeah, there was the whole vampire uprising,” Honoka noted innocently.

“And the incident with Pixie’s confession,” Shizuku quipped immediately after, which drew a round of laughter from the table.

“Shizuku! Stop it, geez!” Honoka protested—but poor Honoka notwithstanding, it was a pretty good joke.

“Not to take Erika’s side or anything, but we had an easier time this year than the last. Nothing as bad as the Yokohama incident or anything hit us,” Leo added.

“If that kind of thing is gonna happen every year, I’m out,” Tatsuya shot back with a grin.

“Y’know, that’s totally fair,” Leo agreed, and everyone else laughed in agreement.

“Tatsuya?”

The party displayed impeccable manners—mostly meaning they vacated their table and left the café promptly at 7:00 PM. As they were exiting, Tatsuya heard Honoka’s voice at his back.

“Would you like to visit a temple on New Year’s Day with me again this year?” she finished.

He’d looked over his shoulder at the sound of his name, and before getting a chance to respond, he’d already received an invitation. “Ah, New Year’s?”

“Oh, I—I mean!” Honoka immediately started waving her hands around in a panic. “With everyone, I mean! Not just the two of us! Shizuku’s here now, and Erika said she’d come along.”

Evidently, Honoka had already done a fair amount of organizing this outing. She was really enthusiastic about it. Tatsuya could tell she wasn’t asking on impulse.

Which made Tatsuya feel even worse about his answer: “…Sorry, but I can’t. Miyuki and I have a thing this New Year’s Day that we absolutely can’t miss.”

Honoka looked deeply shocked. It hadn’t occurred to her that he’d refuse.

“I really appreciate the invita—”

“It’s fine,” Honoka said with a strained smile before Tatsuya could finish. “It’s something really important, isn’t it? Don’t worry about it.”

Her composure was obviously forced, but she’d gotten those words out without her voice wavering.

Tatsuya couldn’t ignore the obvious concern she’d shown for him thus far, though. “Invite me along another time, though, okay?” he said, rather than apologizing.

This was enough to dispel any ill feelings between Tatsuya and Honoka. But as Miyuki stood next to Tatsuya, her eyes remained downcast.

“What’s wrong, Miyuki?” Shizuku asked, noticing immediately. The Shiba sister’s already pale skin had lost all of its color, and she almost looked ill. Shizuku noticed as much. “Do you feel unwell?”

“…No, I’m fine. Thank you,” Miyuki whispered.

Despite what she said, her face was still sickly and her smile weak. While the elegant and delicate look did match Miyuki’s aesthetic, her friend couldn’t just bring that up, especially in light of the sudden change.

On the other hand, Erika didn’t seem particularly concerned by Miyuki’s appearance. “Aw, c’mon, you don’t have to be that sad about missing out on the trip to the temple. I didn’t have much going on this year, but I still totally flaked. Plus, you’ve got something really important going on, right? Honoka said it herself. Just get in touch when it’s over. We’ll all go out somewhere.”

Erika didn’t care any less about her friends than Shizuku—she just knew that if Miyuki was suffering from a physical affliction serious enough to need treatment, Tatsuya would take care of it. And since he wasn’t, Erika reckoned that Miyuki’s problem had to be something psychological, and that’s why she decided to try lightening the mood.

“That’s true. Once we’re free, we’ll contact you,” said Miyuki with a somewhat more genuine smile. Nevertheless, the pallor that had stolen her skin’s vitality remained.

Miyuki’s affliction was temporary, and by the time they returned home, her face had regained its color.

Erika’s deduction had been correct: Miyuki’s discomfort had not been caused by any physical condition. This was immediately clear to Tatsuya.

The real cause was psychological shock. Over the past few days, Miyuki had been so anxious over the impending plans for New Year’s Day that the very mention of it had caused an automatic reaction—essentially, the fact that it had been called to mind unbidden was enough to inspire alarm. Tatsuya knew this as well.

Which was why he made her a suggestion despite the party’s light appetizer and dessert being far from enough for dinner. “Miyuki, why not rest in your room for a little while? We can eat later.”

“How could I, when you’re—!” she shot back, but she soon caught herself, realizing that her current condition wasn’t helping anyone. But instead of simply accepting his offer, she wanted to make sure he didn’t mind waiting for dinner until later. “…No, you’re right. Could I rest for an hour or so?”

“Of course. I’m the one who said you should, right?” answered Tatsuya with a smile. “And no—Miyuki, you should rest until you’re feeling better,” he added quickly.

“All right, Brother. I’ll do as you say.” Miyuki gave a small bow, her guilt considerably reduced now that she had been ordered to rest.

Her second-floor bedroom was chilly with midwinter’s cold. Even well-insulated modern construction struggled to preserve interior warmth for more than twelve hours through the late December nights.

Of course, thanks to automation, the residence could be set to turn up the heat in advance before the homeowners returned. Such technology was, by now, ubiquitous.

But Miyuki had never used this function. She had no need to.

She opened the door to her room and glanced inside. That was all it took to raise the temperature to an acceptable level. She didn’t even need a CAD’s help for magic that simple. Still, once Miyuki entered her room and closed the door, she turned the heater on—at the end of the day, indefinitely maintaining the room’s temperature at a constant level was a task better suited to HVAC than magic.

That taken care of, she shrugged off her coat and school uniform.

No matter how tired she was at the end of the day, she never left her clothes lying on her bed or a chair. Coats, blazers, nightgowns, and dresses alike were all neatly hung in her closet, ready to be sifted through whenever the next day’s outfit needed to be found. As she was slipping her arm through the sleeve of a long-hemmed, loose-fitting one-piece dress she rarely wore inside the house, her gaze fell upon the letter rack on her desk.

Once she finished changing in front of the room’s mirror, Miyuki sat down at her desk, then reached into her letter rack and pulled a single envelope from it.

She didn’t have to check to know what was contained within. She had read every character and every word so many times she had them memorized, and yet she pulled the letter from the envelope as if compelled.

The contents came in the form of an invitation to a New Year’s celebration held by the Yotsuba family—at which her participation was demanded.

Both the previous year and the year before it, Miyuki had visited the family headquarters for the New Year. However, she hadn’t shown her face at the New Year’s celebration where the heads of the various branch families gathered. The primary reason for this was that she simply hadn’t been invited, but she had been happy to avoid both the celebration and the branch family heads. She couldn’t stand the disrespect they showed her brother.

But this year, Maya had invited—no, compelled—her attendance. Indeed, Maya’s own signature was on the invitation. No matter how disinclined Miyuki was to go, it was unavoidable. Regardless of how the branch house heads treated Tatsuya, she wouldn’t be allowed to stop them. Miyuki was starting to worry just how much she would be able to endure.

But that was a minor detail compared with a greater anxiety, from which she saw no escape:

Miyuki felt a deepening certainty about why she had been summoned to appear before the family heads.

Her aunt finally intended to name her successor.

Her aunt intended to name her as successor.

Miyuki no longer had any desire to take the role.

Once, yes, she had hoped to be worthy to lead the clan. But after a certain summer’s day four years ago, even that ambition had left her.

She had never particularly wanted the role itself—she had simply wanted the adults around her to continue telling her that she was worthy of it. And in a way, perhaps she still wanted that.

The head of the Yotsuba family would become the most prominent magician—although not necessarily the most powerful—of the generation. There were four candidates for the position still in the running: Miyuki Shiba, Fumiya Kuroba, Yuuka Tsukuba, and Katsushige Shibata. Of them, Miyuki was the best magician. The family’s servants had always said so.

The head butler, Hayama, the second butler, a fixer named Hanabishi, and the third butler, Kurebayashi, who was in charge of coordination and facilities for magicians and functioned almost like the Yotsuba clan’s nerve center—these were people who didn’t drop such pronouncements lightly. But the servants under them often complimented Miyuki on her ability quite innocently, not even trying to ingratiate themselves to her.

Miyuki herself was aware that of the four remaining candidates, her magical ability was the strongest. She was confident that this was not vanity or folly but an objective evaluation. But her desire to be considered worthy of it was simply proof that the Yotsuba family’s logic had rubbed off on her. She had been convinced that because she was the strongest magician of her generation, it was only natural that she would be named successor.

But if anyone asked whether she actually wanted to be the successor, Miyuki would say she had no interest. Given the option to turn down the role, there was little doubt that’s what she would choose, as the work of leading the family would keep her too busy to spend any time with her brother.

At the same time, Miyuki entertained no thoughts of refusing. The position held no attraction for her personally, but if holding it meant she could secure better treatment for Tatsuya, perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Becoming the Guardian of the family head would at least force the servants to stop disparaging him. She’d be able to demand a certain amount of respect on his behalf from the branch families. More for her brother rather than herself, Miyuki felt that she could bear the burden of leading the Yotsuba.

It wasn’t even the prospect of being named successor itself that depressed her. The problem was the marriage she would be expected to accept as a part of that role.

It was bad enough that magicians were encouraged to marry young. Unlike people to whom special circumstances applied, like her aunt Maya or Mio Itsuwa, she would not be permitted to remain single. Magicians publicly acknowledged the importance of fundamental human rights, so there wouldn’t be any legal consequences for remaining unmarried. But if she insisted on it, she was certain to be shunned by her community of magicians. The Yotsuba family was regarded by outsiders as lofty and high-handed, but as a member of one of the ten families who led Japan’s magical society, she didn’t have the luxury of ignoring her social reputation.

Given those circumstances and the fact that Maya had not married, the nation’s ten leading families would seek a quick match for the next Yotsuba family head. Even if she weren’t forced into marriage immediately upon being named the successor, an engagement would certainly be foisted upon her.

She would have to marry someone—who was not Tatsuya.

She would have to be the wife of someone—who was not Tatsuya.

On that count, Miyuki had no illusions. Given that a marriage to her biological brother would never be allowed, and given that as a magician, she would not be permitted to remain single, Miyuki had resigned herself to the reality that she would marry a man who was not him.

Miyuki refolded the letter and slipped it back inside its envelope, then replaced it in the letter rack and stood.

She sat in front of her vanity and silently addressed her reflection… That’s right. This is unavoidable. There’s nothing I can do about it.

The Miyuki in the mirror silently responded, Is it really unavoidable? Or are you just resigned to it? Somehow, her mirror-self’s voice sounded younger.

That’s right. The simple fact is that Tatsuya and I are siblings. There’s nothing I can do but accept it, so I have. I’m resigned, replied Miyuki to her mirror-self.

Liar! I haven’t accepted a thing! Just as Mirror-Miyuki was a bit younger, she was a bit more honest about her real feelings.

No matter how much we don’t want to accept this, we must. Brother and I are genuine, biological siblings.

We’re going to give up just because he’s our brother?!

It’s not a question of whether we give up or not. Siblings cannot marry. We’ve always known that, and we’ve never hoped that our brother would love us as a woman. You can’t give up on something you never hoped for in the first place.

That’s not true! If it is, how come we hate the idea of our fiancé, even though we’ve never seen him and don’t even know if he exists?

Because if we marry and have children, we’ll have to fulfill our duties as a mother before anything else. We won’t be able to support and serve our brother. That’s why we hate the idea.

We can just leave child-rearing to the servants. The head of the Yotsuba family doesn’t have to attend to such menial labor themselves. And it’s not like you’d be able to constantly be with your children anyway.

Miyuki stared evenly into the eyes of her mirror-self. She hadn’t realized her own excuses would be so easy to dismantle.

The girl in the mirror continued, critical of Miyuki’s refusal to face her own feelings in favor of maintaining appearances. If you marry another man, there are still all sorts of ways you could be useful to Brother. You don’t have to love a husband you took only to satisfy your obligations to magical society. So long as you fulfill your duty to have children, who could complain? No, Miyuki, what we hate is not the idea of marriage itself.

Stop. Miyuki wanted to plug her ears.

Here’s what we really think. What you really think.

Stop! She wanted to turn her back on the girl.

What you really hate…

But no matter how vehemently she shook her head, she couldn’t stand and walk away from the mirror. Stop…!

…is the idea of being married to anyone other than Tatsuya.

She no longer had the heart to speak out against herself.

The idea of being taken by anyone other than Brother.

In the mirror, she saw her own terrified eyes. She saw her frightened self, a girl who’d tried so long not to think about this.

Never being his bride. Never making love to him. Never being able to love him as a woman! That’s what you can’t stand!

“Aah…!” A cry of distress slipped from her lips, and she collapsed from the chair in front of her vanity onto the floor. The mirror slipped from her field of vision, and the spell was broken.

“So what am I supposed to do?” As her thoughts came tumbling out, her divided feelings came back together. “We are brother and sister. We’re biological siblings.” One after another, the emotions she’d kept hidden within herself for so long flowed freely from her lips. “I’ll never be allowed to love my brother that way. The world won’t allow it. I’m sure he would think it a perversion, too. He’d be disgusted by me.”

All alone in her room, the girl revealed the whole of her heart. There was no one to listen—which was why she was able to say anything at all.

What she said was not a confession to a priest.

What she said was not something that could be confided in another.

“I don’t care what the world thinks of me. I don’t care if they point at me behind my back or cast me out of society. But if my brother ever considers me repulsive…that would be unbearable!”

She didn’t believe there was anything sinful about her feelings.

But there was only one person who could grant her forgiveness, and it was not God.

“…So there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Miyuki ended her confession with a decision. The words that emerged from deep inside her instead became tears that welled up and spilled from her eyes.