Reborn in Type-Moon: Starting by Adopting Sakura - Chapter 14

At the lobby, Yuu ran into Cornelius Alba.

He knew Alba through Touko, though that wasn't exactly a pleasant connection to have. The man was wearing his usual long red coat and that ridiculous tall cylindrical hat, walking around with a black Doberman at his side like he owned the place. Alba had one of those faces that looked deceptively young, but Yuu knew the guy had to be at least fifty by now.

The moment Alba spotted him, his face twisted into what was probably supposed to be a friendly smile, though it reminded Yuu more of a vulture sizing up roadkill. "Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Yuu. I heard you're doing authentication work for commissions these days. How industrious of you. If you're really that desperate for money, you know you can always come to me for work."

It was a pretty obvious insult wrapped up in fake politeness.

Yuu and Alba had never gotten along, and honestly, Yuu couldn't blame the guy. Alba had this deep-seated hatred for anyone who was younger and more talented than him, and Touko Aozaki was basically everything he couldn't stand about the world. The truth was simpler than Alba's complicated resentments though—he was just jealous.

Both Alba and Touko specialized in runes and puppetcraft, but she'd completely outclassed him in both fields. For someone as obsessed with his reputation as Alba was, having Touko constantly show him up while treating him like he didn't exist was probably worse than torture. So naturally, he hated everyone connected to her, including Yuu.

What surprised Yuu was seeing Alba still walking around at all. The man had never exactly been subtle about wanting Touko dead, and she definitely knew about it. Yuu couldn't help thinking that Touko must have gotten soft over the years. When he'd first met her, she'd been cold, sarcastic, and absolutely ruthless. Anyone stupid enough to provoke her would find themselves without their magic circuits, assuming they survived the experience at all.

But here was Alba, still breathing and still running his mouth. Interesting development.

Well, since he was here, Yuu figured he might as well have some fun with the situation.

"Alba, it's been way too long," Yuu said with a genuinely warm smile. Then he looked down at the Doberman. "Is this your familiar? He looks like he could take down a small army."

Alba actually blinked in surprise at the compliment. For someone as vain as he was, praise was like candy, and he immediately forgot about being insulting. "Well, naturally. The Cornelius family has always maintained the highest standards in all our endeavors."

Yuu nodded like he was genuinely impressed. "I can tell. Your skill with familiars is honestly way beyond anything Touko could manage."

The second he mentioned her name, Alba's whole demeanor changed. His face darkened and his voice took on this bitter edge. "Aozaki Touko? Don't make me laugh. It's not just familiars—everything she's supposedly good at, I mastered first. I was studying runes before she even knew what they were. I earned the title of puppeteer while she was still a student. But somehow her lies and manipulations fooled all those imbeciles in the Clock Tower. Mark my words, someday I'm going to expose her for the fraud she really is!"

Yuu nodded along sympathetically, occasionally throwing in just the right comment to keep Alba talking. He fed the man's ego while simultaneously stoking his resentment, carefully choosing words that would make Alba feel both validated in his superiority and outraged at the supposed injustice he'd suffered. It was almost too easy—Alba was so desperate for recognition that he soaked up every bit of encouragement, while his hatred for Touko made him incredibly susceptible to anything that painted her in a negative light.

By the time their conversation ended, Yuu had systematically dismantled what little restraint Alba might have had left.

Exactly what Yuu had been hoping for. He'd just pushed Alba from casual murderous thoughts about Touko into full-blown obsession. If before Alba had been thinking something like "I'll kill her if I ever get the chance," now he was probably planning to actively hunt her down no matter what it took.

This was actually perfect for Yuu's purposes. He'd been wanting to track down Touko for a while now—he owed her an apology for what had happened back in Misaki Town. The problem was that Touko had a talent for disappearing whenever she sensed him coming her way. If Yuu tried to approach her directly, she'd probably vanish before he could get within a mile of her.

But Alba? Alba was exactly the kind of useful idiot Yuu needed.

While Alba continued his rant about Touko's supposed fraudulence, Yuu discreetly placed a magical marker on him. It was completely harmless and invisible, designed to lay dormant until one very specific condition was met—Alba's death. When that happened, the spell would activate and send Yuu the exact location where it occurred.

It was a long-term strategy, sure, but it would serve multiple purposes. When Alba inevitably tracked down Touko and got himself killed for his trouble, Yuu would finally know where to find her.

As for the possibility that Alba might actually succeed in killing Touko? Yuu never even entertained the thought. After all, Touko's real body was safely stored in his workshop back home. Whatever Alba encountered out there would just be one of her puppet bodies, and those were essentially disposable.

…

Yuu's bookstore sat in a quiet corner of Akihabara, an old house that came with its own little backyard. White railings decorated with carved violet patterns lined a winding pebble path, and the early summer had turned everything gloriously green. In the bright afternoon sunlight, Manaka was out among the plants with a watering can, tending to the colorful flowers that seemed to bloom everywhere.

Her master had just gotten back from his work at the Mage's Association, and from the relaxed way he was walking, she could tell things had gone pretty well.

She put down the watering can and gave him one of her usual cheerful smiles as he approached.

Yuu asked her a few quick questions about how her magecraft practice had gone that day before heading upstairs to check on Sakura. Manaka didn't really need intensive instruction anymore—she'd progressed beyond that point. What she needed now was more thoughtful guidance, the kind of subtle adjustments that came from experience.

Sakura was a completely different story though. The girl seemed to know absolutely nothing about magecraft, which meant Yuu had to start from square one with her. His lessons weren't exactly thrilling—honestly, they were pretty dry and tedious, covering basic theory and fundamental concepts that most magus families taught their children before they could even walk properly. But Sakura paid attention to every word, memorizing everything he told her and working hard to understand concepts that must have seemed completely foreign.

The days settled into a comfortable routine after that. Nearly three weeks passed quietly since Sakura had arrived, and Yuu found himself becoming a bit more motivated about his work. He started accepting more appraisal jobs around Tokyo, which meant traveling to different parts of the city more frequently, but he still maintained his absolutely non-negotiable eight-hour workday. No overtime, no exceptions, no matter what.

He'd actually walked out on clients before when they tried to keep him past five o'clock. There was this one incident where he'd already stepped inside someone's house and was halfway through examining their artifact when his watch hit 5:00 PM. Yuu had simply turned around and left, leaving the bewildered client standing in their doorway wondering what the hell they'd done wrong.

The next day, they'd called him in a complete panic, convinced they'd somehow offended him.

"It was after working hours," Yuu had explained calmly, which only made the poor client even more confused about the whole situation.

Every weekend without fail, Misaya showed up at the bookstore. She'd decided it was absolutely essential to properly cultivate their relationship before they got married, and seeing Yuu only twice a week during school visits was completely unacceptable to her. She'd even suggested moving in permanently once, but Manaka had grabbed her by the collar and physically thrown her out of the house.

If anything, their relationship had gotten even worse since then, which was honestly pretty impressive considering how much they'd disliked each other to begin with.