"Click!"
"I'm home!"
Chiba Yeyou opened the door and blurted it out instinctively.
Then he paused, surprised that he had grown accustomed to Tiffany's presence again so quickly.
"Once a lonely person's prison of solitude has been breached, it can never be made whole again... is that it?"
Chiba Yeyou murmured to himself.
"Welcome home!"
As expected, Tiffany's pleasant voice rang through the room and swiftly reached Chiba Yeyou's ears.
Tiffany was dressed in a standard maid uniform with an apron in front. Though she looked quite alluring, the spoon still in her hand seemed somewhat out of place. Combined with the way she raised it in greeting, it made her look rather cute.
"Pfft!"
"What kind of getup is that?"
Chiba Yeyou simply could not hold back. The whole scene was just too funny.
"Aren't I cooking for you?"
"And you have the nerve to laugh at me!"
Tiffany marched up to Chiba Yeyou in a huff and brought her free hand down in a chop on his head to vent her annoyance at his teasing, though it was really more like affectionate horseplay.
"All right, I was wrong."
Chiba Yeyou immediately clutched his head, acting as though it hurt terribly and he had been injured, making Tiffany giggle nonstop.
"Here, let me rub it for you!"
Tiffany raised the spoon in her hand and winked at Chiba Yeyou, threatening him playfully.
"No, this little lady knows she was wrong!"
Chiba Yeyou's impression of an apologetic little woman successfully broke Tiffany's composure.
"Act normal!"
"You're making me sick!"
Tiffany waved her hand in disgust.
While the sister and brother were joking around and making all sorts of silly gestures, a burnt smell drifted out of the kitchen, drawing their attention.
"What's that smell?"
Chiba Yeyou sniffed, carefully confirming what he had smelled.
"Ah!"
"My food!"
Tiffany froze for a moment, then cried out and immediately rushed into the kitchen with her spoon. A clatter of stir-frying promptly came from inside.
After washing his hands, Chiba Yeyou obediently sat down at the dining table, ready to eat.
Before long, a variety of exquisite dishes were brought to the table. Chiba Yeyou wanted to help too, but Tiffany soon pushed him out of the kitchen.
Among the colorful dishes on the table, one was clearly somewhat burnt. Evidently, it was the source of that earlier smell.
"How was your day at the academy?"
"Did anything interesting happen?"
Tiffany questioned Chiba Yeyou as she ate.
"It's just a school. What could possibly be interesting?"
Chiba Yeyou shook his head, showing no interest in talking about it at all.
"Oh, right. You know about the organization called Blanche, don't you?"
Suddenly remembering something, Chiba Yeyou stopped what he was doing and looked at Tiffany.
"Yes, a political association engaged in anti-magic activities. Why?"
Hearing Chiba Yeyou's question, Tiffany looked at him with some surprise as well.
"They've shown up at my school. I want to know their background. Have your little maid look into it for me."
Chiba Yeyou spoke calmly.
To be honest, he did not know much about the organization either. At first, he had merely been curious, but since they had come looking for him today, he needed to understand them, even if he did not yet share Tatsuya Shiba's urgent need to eliminate everything that interfered with his life. Know yourself and your enemy, and you would never be defeated in a hundred battles!
"There's no need for that. I know this organization."
"Oh?"
"If you actually remember them, they must have quite a bit of influence!"
Chiba Yeyou sounded somewhat surprised.
"Yes, they do have considerable influence internationally. That's because the ideals of equality they promote have won over quite a few people with little magical talent who have suffered discriminatory treatment."
Tiffany spoke slowly as she recalled the details.
"Oh?"
"Then they have quite a sense of justice!"
Chiba Yeyou chuckled.
"A sense of justice?"
"That was a very unfunny joke."
Tiffany's expression grew somewhat serious.
"Under righteous banners like pursuing equality and demanding respect, these people repeatedly engage in sabotage and theft, stealing magical talent and magical data. They brainwash those talented people, alter their memories, and then put them to work."
"Does this organization operate in France too?"
"No, it used to operate there!"
Tiffany corrected Chiba Yeyou's wording.
"This organization once operated in France and caused us considerable losses, so I personally took part in the crackdown on them."
Chiba Yeyou knew that with Tiffany taking action, the Blanche organization operating in France could essentially be considered wiped out.
At the very least, they had suffered devastating losses.
Chiba Yeyou did not interrupt and continued listening.
"They first began operating in magic factories, then moved on to major magical technology companies, using recruitment, brainwashing, memory alteration, coercion, and other methods to steal resources. These included, but were not limited to, advanced magical resources belonging to the infiltrated technology companies, such as outstanding magical research papers and the development progress of new CADs."
"How ridiculous!"
"An anti-magic organization publicly shouting about peace, resources, fairness, and treatment."
"While waving the banner of anti-magic ideology, they secretly steal magical resources and research results."
"They call themselves a legitimate international organization, but in reality, they're nothing more than a bunch of terrorists!"
Tiffany's face was full of disdain.
"That is rather ridiculous!"
"An anti-magic organization pursuing magic so eagerly."
Chiba Yeyou found these self-deceiving people quite laughable.
Still, they had indeed achieved some results. Though he looked down on them, he could not underestimate them too much. He still had to give them their due respect, but that was all.
"What we can be certain of is that terrorists really are operating secretly inside your school."
"But they probably aren't direct members of Blanche. The National Magic Academy isn't that easy to infiltrate. They're probably students who joined its subsidiary organization, Égalité."
"After that crackdown in France, I thought this organization would lie low for a long time. I didn't expect them to start up again already."
Tiffany sighed softly.
"Although they wave the banner of anti-magic ideology, on the surface they don't reject magic itself. Advocating the 'abolition of social discrimination caused by magic' really can sway some immature students."
Chiba Yeyou offered his analysis.
"Yes. After all, for adults, discriminatory treatment mostly involves disputes over financial interests, whereas students care more about having their efforts receive the recognition they deserve from those around them. So students really are excellent targets."
Tiffany nodded in agreement.
"Even if they know that those few highly privileged magicians with rare talent also need to work hard, they can turn a blind eye to it. Perhaps, waving the banner of equality, they've come to believe in their own righteousness."
Tiffany smiled mockingly.
"It really is a fool's rhetoric!"