Chapter 53：Wait, What?

"Ahem… You can't. My parents said Kai is mine, so no one else can have him," Michelle said.

"Eh? Since when? I didn't hear anything about it." Kai looked at her with a shocked face.

"My parents already said that... Both my father and mother said you can marry anyone, but I should be the first one," she said, trying to recall what happened back in the house.

"Then… Can I join too? I don't mind being second," Haruko said.

"Can we even talk about this?" Kai twitched his eyebrows. He remembered at one time when a kid like him said something like this, his parents said he shouldn't talk about this because he was too small.

Sadly, he was ignored by both of them. Michelle said righteously, "All right, you can. Even if you're the older one, I'm still the first, so you need to call me big sister…"

"Un." Haruko nodded cheerfully.

"But… Your dream is also a good one. Just imagining living leisurely like that makes me drool a bit." Kai suddenly said.

"Ah!" Haruko opened her mouth in surprise.

"What did you say? You promised me to fight together…" Michelle glared at him.

"I mean, it's just a wish of mine. I don't mind sealing or giving my 'power' to someone else. I'm a bit tortured by it after all. I thought since I have this 'power', I should use it to protect everyone… but now that I think about it, as long as my family is fine, I don't think I really care about anything else.

"If someone else can use this power and fight magical beasts, then I'll gladly give it to them. You know about my power, right?" Kai said with a sour expression.

"I know… I know your power and the things you've experienced, but… I still think you should go to the front lines and fight magical beasts…" Michelle said with a downcast tone. Kai had told her about his power and such, and she even cried when she heard all of that back then. But when she thought about Kai leaving the front lines while she fought all of those magical beasts… she felt very empty, as though she had lost her motivation.

Kai scratched his head, thinking the words to cheer her up. "Then, how about we combine both of them?"

"?!" Michelle and Haruko looked at him, perplexed by what he meant by combining both of them.

"I'll go to the front lines and rack up achievements. After I've done enough, I'll retire and enjoy the rest of my life," he declared.

"That's good enough." Michelle and Haruko said at the same time. Michelle just thought it was good since he was burdened by his ability, so retiring and enjoying his life was what he deserved. As for Haruko, she was just happy since Kai had the same dream.

"Is that so? Hehe…" Kai grinned.

"Then…"

The talk continued until the sun set, and Haruko had to go back. When Haruko remembered it again, she finally felt something off. "Now that I think about it… I was the one who made him like this… wasn't I?"

She twitched her eyebrows, having no words in her mind. Ultimately, she sighed, "I reap what I sow. If I can persuade him more and more, maybe he'll remember me…"

She took out her device and saw the treasured photo. It was a photo of her with Kai and Michelle in the park. Kai was in the middle, giving them two big peace signs. Michelle was circling her arms on his neck while making a big smile. She was on his right, a bit embarrassed as she tried to grab Kai's hand.

'After that day, I never saw them again since they had gone back. Oh right, Michelle wasn't a citizen of United Asia and just came to visit Kai. After a bit more time, I heard she went back to the US base.

'People say it's foolish to cling to childhood memories, especially about marrying and such since I was just a kid. But I never once thought it was a burden, nor was it just an empty dream. Ever since that day, I still love him.

'Just looking at his back when he saved me, I felt that everything would be fine. And recalling the warmth of his hand, I feel energized again. Still, I wonder, if Michelle were to know that Kai already has Tasha and the one who came a bit later, Ayaka, around him, what will she say? No… I'm sure she'll say something like "I'll always be the first one"...' She chuckled, recalling the memory she had with them.

…

The next morning.

The commander called for a morning meeting to brief the student council members as well as teachers, to protect the students on their way home.

It was at this time that Tasha suddenly came to the front and explained what she found about George's case.

She explained how the 1H was actually KT and the reason behind it. After several debates with the teachers and commanders, they finally bought it. Only Sanae knew it was Kai who discovered it because of last night.

She never thought it was like that. To think Katsuragi Takaki was the one behind the two incidents, she felt that the matter was far deeper than she imagined.

Kai was the S-rank magician Tasha Carter's younger brother. As for George, he was the south prince, and his grandfather was an S-rank magician.

Of course, she didn't know that Katsuragi Takaki targeted Kai out of jealousy. All she knew at the moment was the fact the Katsuragi family was planning something big. She remembered the first message she received from Kai last night.

'The Katsuragi family managed to manipulate Ikeda Kenzo to do their bidding. I met him in Hokkaido, and it seemed he wouldn't leave anytime soon.'

She felt a chill down her spine when she read that. After all, the name of Ikeda Kenzo as an S-rank magician was undoubtedly famous. If this were a war between the north and the south, then they wouldn't need to kill Kai or maybe Tasha. But the fact that they targeted them was hard to swallow.

She was wondering how she could investigate them. If Ikeda Kenzo were there, then it would be hard to infiltrate their ranks.

She decided not to do anything for the time being. Like Tasha had expected, the army would help George's family with the investigation. As one who was responsible for the students in the academy, Haruko would lead her family to help with the investigation. So, after getting pressured by those three influences, she should have more space to operate.

She thought about backing down from this problem. Aside from getting the contact of her best friend, she had another reason to participate.

If war really came, then the fight would most likely take place around here. After all, both George and Katsuragi Takaki were students of Genesis Magical Academy. So, to protect her peace, she needed to be prepared, and by giving Kai some information, she would get her best friend's contact details. It would be killing two birds with one stone.

After the meeting, the student council started investigating George's incident with Tasha's clue. Of course, they tried to ask the assassin that Shirotsuka Sanae caught about it. Sadly, the assassin didn't say anything, leaving no other clue besides KT.

They tried to probe Katsuragi Takaki, but he remained silent. The army couldn't do anything other than probing since the government was too useless. They just left it to George's family, so they could have George's family as the front.

Yajima Haruko also had this responsibility as the student council president. She agreed to have her influence help them in the investigation. Luckily, the principal seemed to be assisting them too.

After finishing their investigation, they finally went back right after lunch. The student council and the teachers were guarding the students with full alert. The students were also scared, as they might be the next one to die.

Luckily, nothing happened on their way back. Of course, Tasha kept glancing at Ayaka, who had been sitting beside Kai the whole time. She wanted to make sure that she didn't do anything to Kai. She felt relieved when she saw that Ayaka was too occupied with her research.

In the military base, they were asked a few questions according to the incidents for the record. Kai only said what he thought the other students would say, so he didn't attract trouble. As for the details, he would leave them to Tasha.

Kai finally went back to his home. He was tired after dealing with so many problems. They went to the stadium on Friday before starting their activities on Saturday. The incidents happened on Sunday, and they finally arrived home on Tuesday.

Because of the incident, the principal gave the students special treatment by making the rest of the week a holiday for them. Of course, the students were thrilled. Most of them were enjoying their life because they got scared after hearing the incidents from the teachers.

Even though they weren't involved in those incidents, it still made them shudder. After all, four students died in those two incidents.

Kai and Tasha didn't rest this entire time. After they arrived home, they immediately started their own investigation. They knew that something big was about to happen soon, so they couldn't let their guard down.