Predicament

Yotsuba Crisis Arc 6

Dusk came and soon it became dawn. It is yet another sleepless night for both Tatsuya and Miyuki. It has been a week since they last talked and it did not go well for either of them. Tatsuya skipped school since and tried to keep his mind occupied with developing magic, although it is not to much avail. Miyuki, on the other hand, was completely lifeless and it definitely caught the attention of many. Speculations are thrown around, rumours spread like wildfire, but none of them is remotely close to the truth.

Ever since Miyuki used her authority against Tatsuya's will, an abyss between them had opened up. They have not yet interacted since even confining themselves to their rooms while having their meals. Although reluctant, Tatsuya still carried out Miyuki's orders to his fullest, which meant destroying all ways of communication with Mayumi. Over the course of performing his orders, he also destroyed all ways for anybody to contact him. In doing so, he prevented Mayumi to communicate with him, directly or indirectly.

Miyuki felt the increasing guilt pressing down on her heart with each passing day Tatsuya refusing to open up to her. She is desperately in need of support too. After all, she just declared war against her very own clan and needed every bit of help she can possibly get without compromising her own identity. The only person capable of that is none other than her own brother, whom she had lost her grip on earlier, and now not even interacting with. It felt as if things between both of them keep getting worse as the days past. Now she questions herself every day if it was the right thing to come down hard on her brother.

"Miyuki." The voice she was longing for a week, the voice that she was all so familiar with, the voice that she took for granted just a week before, now she finally could hear it again although it was not filled with the warmth it used to contain. Miyuki jumped off her bed and opened the door, pleasant to see Tatsuya.

"Oba-ue had previously ordered me to take down Jiedo Heigu, what of it now?" The voice was cold and hard, so immediate that Miyuki did not even have a chance to greet her brother.

"Don't bother with it, we are no longer part of the Yotsuba."

"No no no, continue with your mission Tatsuya." Yotsuba Maya's voice filled the hallway.

"What was that?" Miyuki was on high alert, surely Maya did not trespass into their house.

"She is nowhere near our residence, do not worry. It is probably the Central Communication System." Tatsuya appeared unfazed but with heightened senses. He used Elemental Sight the moment Maya's voice registered in his mind and cleared a mile radius worth of land around him of Maya. "It appears that she may have successfully hacked into our residence."

"I do not do such cowardly acts, please do not disdain my reputation. To begin with, this residence is a property of the Yotsuba, it was never yours. Now proceed to the living room, I'm waiting for both of you." Maya's voice was as beautiful as ever, without any traces of anger whatsoever, yet it would make anyone's hair stand on ends. The hostility and fear that runs deep down the spine justify the fear that envelopes her.

Tatsuya looked at Miyuki for her set of orders, only to find her as clueless as he was. Without much of a debate, both of them went to the living room as they were told, as vigilant as ever.

"Now, I hope I gave both of you enough time to think about the complications of your decision to leave my clan. I assume that neither of you is radical enough to leave my clan for good."

"We are gone for good." It was Miyuki who gathered her courage to speak against Maya.

"I see that you have not come to your senses. Do you know what happens if you leave my clan? Both of you will lose everything. Without me, neither of you can hope to live with your identities concealed. Everything that the both of you do, be it the FLT or this very residence, will be taken away."