In the original story, the revelation that Tatsuya and Miyuki were members of the Yotsuba family, coupled with their engagement, caused those around them to treat them like fragile glass—or a ticking bomb. Putting Leo and Erika aside, it was understandable that Mizuki would shrink back and Mikihiko would want to avoid them.
However, in this timeline, several people who didn't exist in the original story—including Yugen—were part of the group. Furthermore, the news that Yugen and Miyuki, who were already rumored to be lovers at First High, had gotten engaged spread among the students. The atmosphere shifted from "touching a sore subject" to something more like "two school idols finally got engaged."
One example of this change occurred when Hirakawa Chiaki approached Tatsuya after he entered the Year 2 Class E classroom.
"Good morning, Shiba-kun."
"Good morning, Chiaki." (He used to call her by her surname, but since they were now in the same Magic Engineering Course and considering her sister Koharu, he had switched to her first name.)
"Yeah. By the way, is it true that your family is that Yotsuba? Ah, sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I was prepared for people to speak of it that way."
Tatsuya himself viewed his family, the Yotsuba, with a rather dry detachment. There had always been people who treated him sincerely even while knowing his background, and he had received high praise from his peers.
"Um, my sister was worried too, and she was concerned about the fiancé recruitment."
"Is that so? Nothing is going to change immediately, so could you tell Koharu-senpai that?"
"Okay... I won't forgive you if you don't take responsibility properly, including for my sister."
He was, of course, aware of the hostility directed at him by the branch family heads, but he judged that it wasn't directed at Miyuki and cleanly dismissed it. Regarding the facts of his birth that Minargu had told him at the end of the year, he had coldly dismissed them as "sentimental emotions."
Given those circumstances, he suspected that his birth mother, Midnight, hadn't returned to the main Yotsuba house because she didn't have many fond memories there. Though currently, that mother was in a position Tatsuya couldn't even comprehend: the exclusive servant and mistress of his best friend, who had become the family head.
Chiaki left after delivering a line straight out of a tsundere template, but Tatsuya was soon surrounded by girls from the Magic Engineering Course firing questions at him. Watching this, Toya approached and called out.
"Good morning, Tatsuya. Or should I call you 'Yotsuba' Tatsuya-san?"
"I'm not using that surname yet, Toya. Besides, in terms of position, you and I are both future heads of the Ten Master Clans."
"You hit where it hurts. Well, it's a fact, so it can't be helped."
By a strange twist of fate, the Magic Engineering Course now housed two future heads of the Ten Master Clans. Thanks to Toya's presence, Tatsuya and Miyuki were spared from having all the attention focused solely on them. In that sense, Tatsuya was grateful to Toya.
"It's the same for you, Tatsuya, but since my family is also recruiting fiancées, my sister keeps sending me massive amounts of data... I heard it's already over 100 people."
"Given the circumstances, I can't think of it as someone else's problem."
Even among the Ten Master Clans, the Yotsuba family had a particularly high number of applications due to their past notoriety, as Maya had informed him via email. However, even Tatsuya hadn't been told the final number of candidates. If the Mutsuzuka family was dealing with such numbers, then the Kagurazaka family—a grand house of Ancient Magic and former Ten Master Clans member, now led by Yugen—would likely have even more. Of course, it went without saying that Tatsuya couldn't treat this as irrelevant to himself.
"In Yugen's case, considering his relatives, he's probably getting inquiries from all over the world."
"The fact that there's no material to deny that is nothing short of surprising."
Indeed, Yugen's sixth-ranked fiancée, Selia, was a relative of the Kudo family, the granddaughter of the current USNA President, and a former military officer who held the position of Assistant Commander of Stars—"Selia Polaris" herself.
Additionally, Arisa's mother, whom they met at New Year's, was Russian. They also knew Airi was half-French. Erica, a quarter-German, was a childhood friend close enough to be a partner-in-crime, and regarding the UK, he was close with Eimi.
Honestly, building such an internationally diverse circle of relationships was hardly an easy feat.
In the original story, Tatsuya and Miyuki were isolated, but thanks to their friends' understanding, they were able to eat lunch in the cafeteria normally. However, while everyone else was eating cafeteria food, only Yugen had a homemade bento. And the one who made it for the first day of the new term was... Selia.
"What's wrong, Onii-chan? You're making a difficult face."
"No, having seen how Lina usually is, I honestly feel nothing but anxiety."
"Why!?"
At the very least, she had never made a bento like this in her previous life, and since she reincarnated before him, he had nothing but anxiety. After all, even if there was progress in romantic feelings, progress in domestic chores was a completely different matter.
He hadn't opened the bento box lid yet, but so far, he didn't have a bad feeling. There was no strange smell. Resigning himself to whatever might happen, he opened the lid to reveal a bento beautifully colored with Japanese dishes—something that seemed uncharacteristic for her in this life.
This sight couldn't help but surprise the people around them, with Tatsuya showing the most surprise of all.
"...Did Selia really make this?"
"Why would you say that, Tatsuya!?"
"It doesn't look like frozen food either."
"Even Miyuki!?"
Given that her twin sister Lina had displayed a considerable level of clumsiness at school, the Shiba siblings' expectations were honestly low. Also, since Yugen often teased her and she got "punished" for it, the fact that she made such a bento seemed like a "miracle" to them.
Regardless, he tried the simmered vegetables that caught his eye.
"...It's delicious. It makes me want to wonder if you're really blood-related to Lina."
"Big Sister will be devastated in the shadow of the grass (grave), so let's stop there."
"Selia, that implies Lina is dead."
"She's a loser in the romantic sense, so... Ouch!!"
Ignoring Shizuku's straightforward retort, Selia mercilessly turned her own sister into a joke, earning a merciless chop from Yugen as he ate silently. The portion was substantial, and the seasoning was exquisite. Even setting aside bias, he thought he could give it a relatively high score.
"So, how was the taste?"
"It was delicious, no flattery. However, a suspicion has arisen."
"A suspicion?"
"I suspect that when you were born, Selia, you stole all of Lina's learning ability regarding daily life."
"Why the 'What'!?"
Meanwhile, in a distant place... tears spilled from the eyelids of Lina, who was sleeping in her room. Only she knew why. There are some things in life it's better not to know.
In the end, it was decided that from this day on, Yugen's four fiancées—Miyuki, Shizuku, Himeri, and Selia—would take turns making Yugen's lunch. Note that Minami was also ordered by Miyuki to participate.
As for Izumi, she stated, "I am not yet in the realm where I can serve Yugen-niisama, so I will devote myself to further training," and decided not to participate for a while. Following that example, it was a natural flow of events that Honoka offered to make Tatsuya's bento.
Since Minami was on duty for dinner tonight, normally Tatsuya and Miyuki would be spending their own time. However, given today's summons, they were likely currently on a direct line with the Yotsuba family head, Maya.
It hadn't even been a week since the announcement, but Yugen was in the middle of checking the list of engagement applications attached to an email from Senhime. A considerable number had arrived. Not only from Modern Magic families, but also from Ancient Magic families he thought would hesitate, and even inquiries from famous magician families overseas.
"Jeez, there are so many things to retort to, I don't even know how to react."
The reason Yugen said this was simple: despite having no intention of being friendly, the applications came through formal procedures. Moreover, the list included names like "Liu Leilei" from the Great Asian Alliance, "Effia Mensah" via France, and even the names of princesses from small nations.
Having his fiancées enter double digits was already enough trouble; he had no intention of increasing them indiscriminately. Furthermore, the people he just named were individuals Yugen had actually met during his world travels with Gozo.
Regarding Liu Leilei, her grandfather, one of the [Thirteen Apostles], Liu Yunde, had strongly recommended her. They had spoken on friendly terms, but this engagement proposal had the groundwork laid by the Great Asian Alliance government.
Honestly, sending someone who could become a future [Thirteen Apostle] was madness, but it might be a proposal resulting from Chen Xiangshan or Lu Ganghu arguing to avoid conflict with Japan.
Effia Mensah was a girl from the west coast of Guinea. In the original story, she was a magician belonging to an armed group famous for using the Active Air Mine against the Great Asian Alliance. However, in the Niger Delta region, Gozo had scattered the Great Asian Alliance army out of spite (caused by missing dinner due to an attack by their soldiers). When the French government awarded him prize money for that, Yugen had forced all the money onto her (at the time, she wasn't in an armed group but was working as a server in a shop they visited).
After that, they continued to exchange airmail, but after a letter stating she was studying abroad in France, he lost track of her (he could have investigated if he wanted to, but thought it would be a hassle so he left it alone). But now, this proposal came from the French government... He felt a headache coming on.
Honestly, it wouldn't be strange if the current Emperor or the Imperial Household Agency pressed for an Imperial Princess to marry him. But to tell the truth, this problem was already resolved... or rather, it "resolved itself naturally."
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