The invitation has arrived. It is time for the New Year’s Reception at the Yotsuba family residence. This year, Miyuki and other candidates will gather there to decide who will be the next leader of their powerful clan. If chosen as the successor, she would never have to see her brother live as a pariah ever again. At the same time, such a position surely entails a political marriage, plunging her mind into complete turmoil. Complicating matters, the current head of their family sows doubt with the shocking claim that Miyuki is not Tatsuya’s sister. When the new year comes, their relationship may be changed forever...

The nationwide All-High Magic Thesis Competition is lauded as a more cerebral and refined contest than the action-packed Nine School Competition. After seeing more than enough gunfights and magical duels in between classes, this change of pace suits Tatsuya just fine. Unfortunately, not every spectator is content with simply enjoying the event. With rival students, intelligence operatives, and a foreign assassin all in attendance, Tatsuya might need more than just his wits to keep everyone safe!

Gu Jie, a magician who orchestrated a sinister suicide bombing by manipulating corpses to do his bidding, has gone into hiding somewhere in Japan. As public outcry against magicians builds and humanist forces gain momentum, the Ten Master Clans task Tatsuya, Katsuto, Mayumi, and Masaki with determining the whereabouts of the mastermind behind the bombings. But when Major Benjamin Canopus, the second-in-command of the most powerful magic unit in the United States, starts gunning for Gu Jie as well, Tatsuya becomes inexplicably enraged!

Looking at Miyuki and Tatsuya now, it might be hard to imagine them as anything other than loving siblings. But it wasn't always this way... Three years ago, Miyuki was always uncomfortable around her older brother. The rest of their family treated him no better than a lowly servant, even though he was the perfect Guardian, watching over Miyuki while she lived a normal middle school life. But what really bothered her was that he never showed any emotions or thoughts of his own. However, when danger comes calling during a fateful trip to Okinawa, their relationship as brother and sister will change forever...

April 2096 has arrived. Despite the commotion they were involved in, Tatsuya and Miyuki safely passed all of their classes and are now returning as juniors for another semester. In light of Tatsuya’s accomplishments, a magic engineering curriculum has been established, granting him a new lease on proper student life. With his new classes and his position as acting student council vice president, Tatsuya is certain that this year for sure, he’ll be able to enjoy a peaceful time at school with his sister...until three freshmen form the elite Numbered families start raising hell in their First High debut!

Only a scant few weeks remain before the Thesis Competition, which becomes the perfect excuse for Tatsuya and Miyuki to scour Kyoto for the fugitive Gongjin Zhou. Together with Minoru Kudou, a Kyoto local, they comb the ancient city’s streets in what appears to be a fruitless search. Even though the clock is ticking, all their leads seem to go nowhere—until Tatsuya gets word that Mayumi’s bodyguard has turned up dead by the Katsura River. With new clues and new allies kicking the manhunt into high gear, the party quickly closes in on their quarry’s hideout, unaware of what lies in wait for them once they finally catch up...