Chapter 3
INEI YOTSUBA
Magic was a dream of his once, a long time ago. But then it became his chains, keeping him bound, stealing his very self and freedom as those scientists tried to shape him into a weapon of mass devastation.
For more than half his life, the only thing he had for himself were his thoughts. Blessed with the Yotsuba's special Mind Altering Magic, he was able to isolate himself from the controlling device used by those people, and he watched detached from his own skin, alone sitting there in the corner of his own mind as the years turned and his body was probed and prodded upon.
And he waited. Waited. And waited, never giving up, taking in what he could, away from prying eyes, understanding the powers he had been blessed with, until that fateful day.
As the ultimate test, they had tried to push his body beyond his limits, trying to expand his already massive psion reserves using soul generators, abominations created using magician's brains.
Yet the psions had overpowered the control circuits, destroying them, and in that moment, he had struck, taking advantage of the chaos to gain back control over his flesh, as he brought devastation upon his captors.
And then his search would begin, trying to make sense of this world and realize who he was. And figure it all he would.
And now, as he sat opposite the woman whose very genetics had been used to create him, he could see their resemblance.
Yotsuba Maya was Japan's strongest magician, the clan head of the Yotsuba, and one of the Seven Sages. She was approaching her forties yet looked not a day older than a twenty-year-old; her life was a tragic one, though he could say the same for his own.
"Maa Maa! Is that how one greets their mother?" she asked with a chuckle, and he raised a brow.
"I doubt you are capable of feeling such a thing," he asked and saw the butler stiffen at his words, yet his words did not rattle Maya Yotsuba herself, with the woman simply leaning forward.
"Hayama did say that you were awfully well informed for someone your age," she remarked, and he shrugged.
"My circumstances growing up made it so that I was acutely aware of whose blood ran through my veins. So, I was naturally curious when I got free, plus I have a habit of knowing things," he said as he sipped his own tea.
"So, you know of our connection," and he nodded. There was no need to lie to her; in a way, she was his mother. As for her father, he did not really know whose genetic components formed the other half of his genes.
"Yet you never sought us out despite being so close. Why?" she asked, curiosity lacing her tone, and he sighed.
"The truth is the more I found out about you and your family, the troublesome it all seemed, so I kinda just gave up," he replied honestly and that was true. The Yotsuba were complex. Magicians generally were complex, and Japna's infamous Ten Master clans even more so.
But the Yotsuba was a cesspool of ginormous problems and entities. They were Japan's most dangerous family, shrouded in mystery and famous worldwide as the Untouchables.
"You gave up because you thought it all too complex," she asked, with a smirk, and he shrugged.
"It all seemed such a drag," he replied honestly, and she chuckled.
"You gave up all the power and perks that would come with being a Yotsuba just because you thought it all a hassle. You are very interesting, Inei-kun," she smiled.
"Well, that was the biggest factor. I had other reasons as well," he added as he put down his tea cup.
"And what were they?" she asked.
"If you have found me, then you must be aware of my past and how I grew up," he asked, and she nodded.
"I am," she said sharply, and this time, her smile was icy and menacing. Her memories and experiences may have been converted into data, separating the trauma and emotion from them, but the tragedy she had gone through had left its marks on her.
"I also did not know of what the Yotsuba and yourself would think of me. Despite my ancestry, I am a product of the tragedy that happened to you, an abomination born as a result of your suffering. I did not wish to reopen such wounds for you and the Yotsuba as well," he said, and she did not reply for a second as the butler looked on with a troubled expression, and he did not miss the tightening of his shoulders at the mention of that damned tragedy.
"That was considerate of you," she spoke up finally, and it was as if he had seen a hint of a proud smile on her face.
"And did you not fear that we would seek to control you as the Dahan had tried?" she asked, his gaze narrowed at those words.
"I doubt you will find me as easy to control as you think. I am not that child anymore," he said as he felt the psions push into his eyes as his vision sharpened up, and he saw Maya's eyes widen as she looked him in the eye.
"Mental-Interference Magic," she uttered, but he did not answer.
"You are like her," she added with a frown. In teh Yotsuba one could have two types of magics, their family characteristic Mental-Interference Magic, or otherwise a rather broken ability that would occupy major portion of their eidos, or put their magical capacity, hence making them a one trick pony. But that one trick would often be enough to make a person the strongest magician in the world.
Lady Maya belonged to the latter category, her twin sister the mother of Shiba Miyuki and Shiba Tatsuya, Lady Miya had been of the former category.
"You are wrong," he cut in and saw her raise a brow.
"Whatever those bastards at Dahan did, they were able to do the impossible and bring out the maximum potential of the Yotsuba genetics inside of me," he said and, for the first time, saw a hint of surprise on her face.
"In a way, I am the most blessed of Yotsuba," he added and saw her raise a brow.
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MAYA YOTSUBA
She had believed that the birth of Tatsuya and Miyuki had been the salvation they had desired, yet circumstances had devastated them. Those powers had been too dangerous in the hands of a child, and so they were forced to do many unthinkable things to keep control over them.
Yet here, infront of her, sat another prospect, one that rivaled both Miyuki and Tatsuya yet lacked all of their deficiencies. However, he came with baggage of his own. He bore her blood, her face, and yet neither felt like mother and child as they sat opposite to him.
She had thought that she would hate him for his origins, yet she found herself pitying him, finding him similar to herself in what he had gone through. Yet he was stronger, for while she had nearly lost herself to her grief, he sat there carrying all that burden on his own.
"So, I believe it is time we got to the crux of the matter," he began as he put down his empty teacup.
"Indeed," she replied as she put down her own cup, secretly reaching for her CAD with the other hand.
"What did you want from me?" he asked.
And she thought about it.
"Why don't you answer me first? What do you want, Inei-kun?" she asked, and he furrowed his brows.
"I want to live in peace, read, and sleep. That makes me sound no different than an animal, but I do not have any grand plans," he said with a shrug, and she smirked.
"I am afraid that will not be possible for you," she replied and saw him perk up at that.
"Why?"
"Because with the power that you possess, you will never be left alone. The world will always wish to gain a semblance of control over you. You may have been able to hide yourself for this long, but it will not last long. One day, you will be found, and they will use any means necessary to turn you into a weapon for their own use," she remarked.
He seemed to think about her words, and sighed.
"And you are not trying to do the same thing right now?" he asked with a smirk.
"In a way, I am, but in another way, I am not," she began as she looked him in the eye.
"Being a Yotsuba carried with it certain burdens, but it also makes you one of the most influential persons in the world, influential enough that. you would never really have to care about being controlled, and that would be especially true for the next clan head of the Yotsuba," she began.
"Ahh, because of the prowess of your niece and nephew," again, she was surprised by his penchant for knowing things.
"Indeed, so I will make you an offer, Inei-kun," she said as she leaned forward.
"Bear my name as you bear my blood, become a Yotsuba, succeed after me, and no power in this world shall ever be able to threaten you ever again," she offered, saw his mind racing, his fingers thrummed before he opened his mouth.
"Before that, let me ask you about one thing?" he began, and she beckoned him to move on
"Did you use that to find me?" she was taken aback by that question, and for the first time, she felt threatened by the boy sitting opposite her.
"How do you even know about that?" she asked and he did not answer.
That referred to the Hliðskjálf, the backdoor to all of the information. She was one of the Seven people in the world that had access to it, to all the information in the world, and indeed, she had used it to find out info about him.
"As I thought, it is real after all," he uttered as his shoulders slumped.
"Well then, I will take you up on that offer, Mother," he replied with a chuckle, and she nodded.
"Then I welcome you to the family, Inei Yotsuba," she replied.
"From what I recall, you are about to start high school this year," she asked, and he nodded.
"I believe I have the perfect school in mind for you to attend," she began, and he realized immediately what she was referring to.
"You cannot mean. But they closed their admissions months ago," he replied, and she smiled.
"There are many perks to being a Yotsuba, Inei-kun," she said as she gave Hayama a nod.
"Have quarters prepared for the young master and have classes arranged for him for all the necessary subjects," she ordered.
"Of course, my lady," her ever-loyal butler replied as Inei sighed with an early look.
"But before that," she began as she clicked the button on her CAD. And immediately the room shifted and was replaced by the look of night as she activated her strategic class magic.
Meteor Stream.
"I must see what you are worth," she spoke as she saw his eyes widen as she had all the light in the room descend upon him, and though this was far from her maximum power, it was still enough to decimate ninety-nine percent of magicians.
BOOM!
The chair exploded as an explosion rocked the room, and she frowned at that.
"Were you simply all talk?" she questioned when suddenly she felt a chilly sensation around her neck. She looked down and found a spoon at her throat. Inei-kun stood behind her, looking down at her, with eyes that had turned an eerie red and three-pronged shuriken spinning inside them.
"How?" she asked, and he shrugged and put the spoon back on the plate.
"And why would I tell you that."
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