Ruka opened her eyes. The familiar ceiling she'd seen for the past six years was still the same. When they received the compensation for getting caught in Mana Surged individuals, they spent most of it into moving into this house, which was much closer towards the center—no longer living in the highly isolated town on the East sector of Triage.
She stood up from her bed. She was still processing the events that happened yesterday. Ruka was now a student of Triage's Magic Academy, not to mention being enrolled in the special class and apprenticed to the 2nd Magnus, Alisa Foster, the Thunder Princess.
Her thoughts were soon ended by the sound of conversations outside of the room.
'They're here again?' She thought to herself
She opened the door and found that she was correct. A middle-aged man in an expensive-looking suit sat in front of Mizuki.
"You say he requested for Ruka to become the Hiroshi clan's new heir?" Mizuki said calmly while calmly sipping on a cup filled with coffee.
"He demanded that one of his sisters be the heir. The old master has not much time left, so he decided to pour everything into Miss Ruka." The man named Kano let out a sigh.
Three years prior, the patriarch of the clan contracted a decease unique to those who manage to utilize multiple Mana Symbiosis. It was an affliction that only affected one out of one thousand multi-symbiote users. It slowly drains the body of its life as if aging far quicker than it should. They expected him to live for less than two years.
Makise, who was lying down on the couch, snorted.
"Well, it definitely ain't gonna be me." She stopped paying attention to the conversation and glued her eyes to the screen she was watching.
"One thing I can't understand is... How was he able to 'demand' anything from THE Hiroshi Ebizou? He has just woken up from a coma couple of months ago." Mizuki asked Kano with curiosity.
Kano turned his head. He gave the one who accompanied him here, an asking look. It was Ren who leaned at the door. He nodded in response to give his approval.
"We're not certain if he is part of it, but its not really a much of a secret at this point, so I think I'll just tell you all of it." He took a drink from his cup before he said to Ruka, " Miss Ruka, you should take a seat too."
Ruka greeted them before she sat down to listen to his explanation.
"About 6-7 years ago, a fourth portal was opened revealed itself in the northern part of Australia. At first, we thought a fourth alien race was to arrive on Earth..."
But it wasn't the case. Nothing came out of the portal. The 1st Bastion, Cascade, witnessed it open and has been watching it using remote drones ever since.
"While nothing came out of the portal, 72 non-mage individuals experienced Mana Surged. That was what it is publicly classified as. In truth, Mana Surge has no way of even generating mana. The governments also hid the fact that multiple teams of elite mages were injured trying to subdue these individuals. Three even perished." Kano took another sip before saying, "One of those died from Isei's hands."
Ruka found it hard to believe that her big brother was not the only one who experienced that... She knew it was impossible to channel mana, so how could he have done so back then? Even she had to use school-owned tools just to practice her Mana Control.
"How were they even able to channel mana?" Mizuki asked the question that was in Ruka's mind.
"That was a mystery that baffled mana researchers for five whole years. Finally, roughly a year ago, someone able to enter the tiny portal with a drone. What they witnessed was a brand new world. Throughout the past few months, the leaders of bastions have been sending more and more survey missions. Next year, they will likely send people to the other side."
"Wait, what does this have to do with him?"Makise, whose interest was piqued questioned.
"It's because people who stayed near the portal was able to use magic with the help of Symbiotes."
"Just like him." Ruka muttered.
"That's right. We suspect that during his coma, he has been, in some shape or form, connected to that portal." Kano nodded.
***
Inside a black vehicle...
"Why did you tell them we weren't sure that he came from the other world? He already confirmed it himself." Ren sat on the passenger seat. He talked as he looked outside of the window.
"There's no benefit in them knowing all of it. That's why I gave them the open secrets." Kano responded.
"If you're also wondering why we still haven't let those girls into the clan or paid off their debts, it's because they won't appreciate it. Our main job is to fix the relationships between them and young master Isei. Too much haste with result in the opposite effect."
Ren agreed with those words. From what they know, the siblings used to almost worship Isei in a hazardous way. When he lost himself six years ago, that perfect image they had was flipped on its head. Ren knew that it would take a considerable amount of effort for them to even begin to mend those broken bonds.
"Besides, Miss Makise has been doing well with her new squad. Her teammates are supporting her enthusiastically." Kano grinned.
"What were the results of the background investigation on that?"
"It's usual—typical ulterior motives. We'll make our move after she gets hurt. Afterward, we let our young master Isei know so he can become her knight. Ha! Good plan, right." Kano joked, but Ren didn't seem to appreciate it. He slowly unsheathed a short blade and pointed it at Kano's head.
"He won't like that." He said with menacing eyes.
"Dude, chill! I was just kidding. I already sent a couple of my men to watch her." Kano didn't seem afraid of the threat to his life. "It's actually true, huh. I really wonder how he turned you into his dog."
Ren backed down. Ever since his fight with Isei, every time someone discussed Isei in his presence, he starts to become really sensitive. He knew it had something with the Contract that Isei was talking about.
Even now, he could still remember clearly the words Isei said as he watched him leave through the gates of the clan manor.
"You are pretty good. It's too bad that you think of the world as only black and white. You believe that if it's not one thing, then it's the other. This made you very predictable."
"You probably thought you were fighting talent with effort, but in my perspective, you are the one with the talent."
"I gave up mine in exchange for something, and I had to hone my skills with ten times the effort all the while risking my life every time I fought."
Ren touched where his arm once was. He thought of Isei's last words.
"We are not monsters. You cannot defeat monsters by fighting like them if you aren't one yourself. You either become a monster and sharpen your claws or stay human and sharpen your wits."
He wondered what path he was going to take as he stared at the buildings that the car passed by.
***
"AAAHH! Why did you have to make me say that back then, Bea!? I wanna forget it, but I can't..." Clutched his face as his ears glowed red.
It has already been a week since he came back from the Hiroshi Manor.
'What do you mean? I made you look cool!' A voice rang inside Isei's head.
It was one of the voices that resided inside Isei's head that he called Bea.
'Invi, don't you think so too?'
Bea looked for someone to support her.
'...'
'Fine! I don't need your acknowledgement.'
But when all she got was silence, she decided to just herself with more confidence. Although, tinged with a a bit of pouting.
'You've changed.' Invi spoke softly.
"Yeah. I remember you causing troubles at every moment, unintentional or not." Isei nodded his head in agreement.
'I'm just not used to having just the two of us here...'
'No, you've changed before we even arrived here. I think... it was way back when Isei gave you your name. I know how you feel, though.' Invi said vaguely.
'You miss them, too?' Bea asked her.
'Yeah, that too.'
'What do you mean 'that too' ?'
Bea started to get irritated by Invi's unclear words. Her very nature disliked being the one on who didn't understand.
"You guys really think we shouldn't wake Ace up?" Isei interjected.
'Your body can't handle more than 3 of us im it's current state and his power doesn't provide much here on Earth.' Bea responded.
'Indeeed. We should wait for either Rhia or Gul to be ready.' Invi followed her up.
"Ugh. I really have to be stuck with Bea... "
'Wha- You'd rather be partnered with that lazy Ace rather than me!?'
"I mean, he wouldn't get me into these embarrassing situations..."
Isei and Bea argued back and forth for a while until he heard a knock on the door.
"Masteeeeeeer! I've been looking for you~~."
It was a recently familiar voice. Isei wondered how she found his place. He went to open it.
"Halo! Master."
It was Alisa dressed in casual clothes.