Having lost his beloved scooter, Tatsuya rode with Yakumo until he
reached his house. The automated public transit system ran 24 hours a
day, but he had various items with him that could get him into trouble if
he were to be discovered with them.
Sitting on the right side of the back seat, Tatsuya hardly said a word
during the entire ride. Yakumo sat beside him, also keeping his mouth
shut.
Tatsuya spoke to Yakumo when they were about over halfway to their
destination.
"Master, are you awake?"
"Yeah, I'm awake."
Yakumo, who was sitting still with his eyes closed, opened his eyes and
faced Tatsuya.
Tatsuya continued looking forward, not meeting Yakumo's gaze.
"About before, why did you get in my way?"
"When you were about to nullify the American Army's magic?"
"That's right."
Tatsuya did not raise his voice. His voice was grave, like unfathomable
darkness.
"I think a better question is: Why were you acting so carelessly in the
first place?"
Yakumo had answered Tatsuya's question in the form of a question.
What he really meant was, 'I stopped you because you were being
careless'.
"Even if it did kill Gu Jie, if we can't demonstrate that he was the
terrorist mastermind, they wouldn't cooperate with our efforts to
eradicate the terrorists. It would have been ideal if we had the same
jurisdiction as they did. Stopping that Molecular Divider was the best
possible way for that incident to be resolved."
Tatsuya drew a breath in response, gritting his teeth in regret.
"However, if we can't actually recover Gu Jie's corpse, then the truth of
the terrorist incident will be left in the dark."
"Is settling this incident really that important to you?"
Yakumo's sharp counterargument gave Tatsuya cause for surprise.
At first Tatsuya couldn't even find the words to respond with, which
Yakumo seized as an opportunity for a follow-up.
"You were attempting to nullify Molecular Divider used by the
American Army's No. 2 Magician, Benjamin Canopus."
Tatsuya suddenly looked to Yakumo, his eyes wide open.
He was surprised for two reasons.
The fact that Benjamin Canopus, the No. 2 of STARS, had appeared in
response to a local incident was the first.
This was a very important incident for the Ten Master Clans, but he
didn't think it was something that would catch the national interest of
the USNA. Additionally, the USNA would absolutely have to keep their
