"Touko, your seat is right here, okay?"
With ill intent, Aoko fetched the specially prepared high chair from a corner of the dining room. Then, with a Blur Step, she appeared behind Touko and scooped her up by the armpits at a speed too fast to follow.
"W-What are you doing?!" Touko's voice was slightly panicked, and her little feet began kicking wildly.
Aoko naturally ignored Touko's question. She steadily placed her in the high chair, then fastened the safety straps.
Touko was stunned. Just how twisted did this woman's mind have to be to do something so utterly devastating to her?
Even the knives and forks on the table were child-sized versions with their sharp points removed!
At that thought, a chill ran down Touko's back, and the hand holding her fork trembled slightly.
"Don't be nervous," Aoko said as she ate breakfast. "I'm not like you, Touko. I'm not that cruel."
Hearing that, Touko's knife and fork stopped shaking. Instead, she raised her head and glared at Aoko with dead fish eyes.
"Obtaining Magic and defeating you were always part of my plan," Aoko said to herself. "Or rather, that was the starting point of my life plan."
"...Are you saying I'm insignificant in your life?" Touko asked flatly, though Aoko could still hear a trace of grievance in her voice.
"How could that be?" Aoko replied. "It's just that there are a lot of things I couldn't start doing unless I defeated you first."
"The first thing we need to do is lift your Sealing Designation, Touko," Aoko said after taking a bite of her waffle. "The Mage's Association really doesn't take the Aozaki family seriously. We're still a family with a Magic inheritance, you know?"
"Hmph. Lord Barthomeloi isn't the sort to abandon a Sealing Designation just because I'm related to a Magician," Touko said coldly. "She's a magus among magi."
"I don't care whether she's a magus or a Lord," Aoko said, shaking her head indifferently. "She can't bully me and my family. I'll make that old hag understand that some things come with a price."
"Of course, once Touko's matter is handled, I'll help you too, Alice," Aoko added to Alice Kuonji beside her. "If you want, I'll pay a visit to those Kuonji relatives who hate you, one by one."
"...There's no need for that." Alice continued eating breakfast expressionlessly, giving no hint of what she was thinking.
After hearing what her sister said, Touko's feelings became complicated.
The things she had once been so fixated on seemed insignificant in Aoko's eyes. Compared to a magus, Aoko's values seemed closer to those of an ordinary person. Was this the composure of a Magician?
"I've already bought the plane tickets. We leave next Monday," Aoko said. "A direct flight from Tokyo to London. We'll make this quick."
Touko thought it over carefully. Given her current condition, there didn't seem to be anything bad about Aoko doing this. Other than it being a little embarrassing if her old classmates and teachers saw that she had reverted to childhood, plenty of people would be envious...
Touko nodded silently, then focused on dealing with the French toast on her plate. Mmm, mmm, it was delicious.
"After all, I still have to apply to the University of Tokyo in December. How can I afford not to wrap this up quickly?" Aoko said nonchalantly as she crunched through a delicious fruit and vegetable salad.
"You're still going to attend the University of Tokyo?" Touko asked in surprise. "Then what about managing the Aozaki family's leyline? You can't hand all of it over to Alice, can you?"
"Once your current body grows a little more, I'll transplant the part of the Crest that controls the leyline into you," Aoko said easily. "That warped-core leyline isn't much use to me anyway. Now that I've obtained complete Magic, I don't need something like that."
"Are you serious?" Touko had already gone numb from everything that morning, but Aoko's words still made her ask.
"Look." Aoko activated part of her Crest. Blue-green light shone across her entire palm, and the Crest's patterns grew increasingly complex.
"For some reason, the Crest I received from 'there' keeps growing like a plant. The leyline-control Crest made by the old man has instead become an obstacle."
"I see." Touko narrowed her eyes, studying the alien Crest on Aoko's hand, which resembled a parasitic organism. "Indeed, if you don't transplant the parts other than the Crest of Magic soon, they may hinder your growth instead."
"Let Alice perform the transplant when the time comes," Aoko said. "Of all the tuners we can find, Alice is the one I trust most."
Alice merely nodded silently beside them.
Although they had decided to transplant the leyline-management Crest into Touko in the future, the other authority Crests of the Aozaki family remained in Aoko's hands.
That included the authority over the imaginary-number prison holding Touko's dog. Aoko would never give Touko the chance to release that thing.
Now that they had set next Monday as the date for their trip to London, Aoko could make use of the time before then. First, she had to show her face at Misaki High School. As student council president, if she stayed away too long, even someone like Aoko would be heavily marked down in the school records.
Second, after a long search, Aoko finally found the nearly bankrupt Wujing family in an outlying suburb of Tokyo. She learned that the two most talented children of their generation were named Wujing Hisui and Wujing Kohaku.
Upon learning this, Aoko did not hesitate. After making a round at school, she personally headed to the Wujing family's old residence in Tokyo.
Although the Wujing family, once one of Japan's four great demon-exorcising families, had completely declined, their understanding of the hidden world still far surpassed that of ordinary people. At the very least, the name of the Aozaki family, Japan's foremost magecraft family, still thundered in their ears.
When they learned that the current head of the Aozaki family had come to visit, the Wujing family hurriedly received Aoko with their best manners.
"I want to adopt the sisters Kohaku and Hisui," Aoko said bluntly as she drank her tea.
"Th-This..." The current head of the Wujing family found himself in a difficult position, weighing the pros and cons. In his eyes, the two sisters were vital assets for the family's revival, so they had to be sold for a good price.
"I'll offer a price you cannot refuse," Aoko said firmly. "And when necessary, I'll protect the Wujing family."
Before you continue