.

Kazuya had feigned losing consciousness after getting rid of Dokuro Domon. His mana was almost depleted because of the miscalculation of the mana required to store all the things in Domon's panic room so he pretended to lose consciousness to avoid any questions they had. He truly was tired and didn't want to involve himself in their useless banter.

Like a log, he was able to hear them talk and with his senses, he quickly discovered that Domyouji Kuuga left secretly. Kazuya was able to have some time to think about what happened and what he did to someone he had considered one of the few people who lent a helping hand after he had lost everything.

It may not have been worth much to anyone but to someone who had experienced his short lifetime countless number of times, it amplified Kazuya's anger, hate, gratitude, shame and various number of emotions because these memories were etched into his very being. This was the very first time that he had encountered an anomaly that affected him directly so who could blame him for being confused?

Despite everything, the place Kyouko and Mei had in Kazuya's heart trumped whoever he held important in his previous life on earth. It was Kuuga himself who asked for trouble the moment he tried to ask Kazuya to deliver Mei to him on a silver platter.

There were a few things that Kazuya found very strange about all of this. Now that everything had settled down, his thoughts began to think about the information he currently had on hand.

Yui once told him everything that she dug up about Lee after Akane asked her to look into him. What was interesting about this was that he was only an above average student in his grade yet he was one of the top of his class whenever there was an exam. Those who had regular backgrounds and were known to have ranked above him would suddenly have strange accidents or incidents involving violence just before major exams.

It was only until Lee had already been caught up in the incident that these students stepped forward saying that they have been warned after they returned to school. They claimed that Lee himself said that the same coincidence might happen again if they 'tried too hard' and disrupted the current balance of their rankings.

She informed her young master that there had been several instances where these two were observed to be secretly talking to each other but she only referred to Kuuga as someone who held a position that was capable of being hired to do all kinds of shady work. Kazuya didn't think that the other person was none other than the person he looked up to, Domyouji Kuuga himself.

Knowing this, it was more likely for both Kuuga and Lee to have had a relationship even before he woke up in this life. Before everything had been changed by his interventions, these already were in business and there was nothing he could have done to change it. Kazuya, for the very first time had encountered an anomaly in the truth he witnessed countless times.

"(Was Kuuga-nii someone Lee hired to specifically keep an eye on him?)" he thought. The possibility was indeed high because these scoundrels have been in cahoots ever since they were in middle school.

He thought about this quite a lot until he was finally placed inside Tomoyo's room. Kazuya couldn't just sit still and wanted to at least try and confirm it. Just how much were those two connected to each other? If his suspicions turned out to be right, he would have looked up to someone that would have harmed him the moment he did something that would have ruined Lee's plans with Mei in his previous life.

"Thanks" he thanked the robot girl after agreeing to let him go and help keep them from finding out that he had stepped out.

Kazuya had already recovered some of his mana and it didn't take too much effort to sneak out. The Shiroyuki household didn't have any detection arrays after all. Jirou was eating heartily after a long day and retelling the events that transpired to Kaori. This made it easier for Kazuya to move without being noticed.

From what he heard, Kuuga had sneaked away and would still probably be walking somewhere. Kazuya wandered around the areas where he would have entered the district from and found the injured Kuuga finally making it back. Kazuya lowered his presence and followed him by staying on Kuuga's blind spot.

"That rotten old man really didn't send someone after me!" he kicked one of the trash cans in the alleyway. "I can't stand this!" he knocked over a few more until he started getting dizzy. He still couldn't get rid of the taste of blood in his mouth and headed for the stall beside his base.

Kazuya followed closely behind and felt a little nostalgia after entering the street that had hardly changed. It looked a bit more lively which proved just how much better his grandfather's friends managed their territory. It was very much unlike the gloomy atmosphere he was familiar with.

"What happened to you young master?" the stall owner saw the bandaged and injured state of Kuuga and was concerned. This owner had no one messing with him because of his stall's good reputation. Kazuya often got leftovers from his place which let him skimp on a few expenses.

"Don't ask… I really don't want to remember. Please give me a large serving of kitsune udon" kuuga sat on one of the chairs. Kazuya did the same but positioned himself on the other side of the stall.

"Comin' right up!" the owner immediately prepared the food and served both of them not too long afterwards. "Let me guess… You had another fight with Gakuto-san and ran right?"

"Sigh… that old man can't understand that what I'm doing will help the clan in the future" Kuuga complained. "Not only did the kid I placed a few hopes on self-destructed, he even implicated me in the process" he couldn't help but sigh. Although his initial purpose was to make a name for himself, the connections he made in the process could help him and the Domyouji clan in the future.

Kazuya heard all of this and realized the truth. It looks like Lee had really been a person Kuuga counted on for the future. This would not have changed if his current self did not intervene. It was easy to figure out what would have happened next; With the disappearance of Gakuto, their district would have been taken over by the other groups and Kuuga would have ended up being a man that would be under Lee's payroll.

He had to hand it to Kuuga, he was able to pull it off without suspicion even with Kazuya's endless replays. This made Kazuya realize a valuable lesson; the information he had wasn't enough and what he experienced in his first life and his thoughts about them didn't exactly confirm everything. He needed to be wary of everyone especially the humans who even on earth have been successful in fooling the current him.

"Your grandfather is a good man. He's been trying hard to step out of the darkness and bring your clan to the light. This district and the way it has improved compared to a decade ago is proof. Everyone doesn't look down or fear the people of your clan and those allied to them" The old man added an extra piece of meat on Kuuga's plate. "Make sure you don't make him wait too long you hear?" the old man smiled and returned to serve the new arrivals.

"The old man will see that my way of thinking is better one of these days…" Kuuga finished his meal and told the owner that he would pay later since his grandfather took all his stuff. He was a regular so the old man trusted him.

Kazuya left some money and went on ahead and entered the building as Kuuga was talking about the payment. He knew where Kuuga habitually left a spare key and entered to have a look at the place before Kuuga went up. It was very different from what he remembered but it was still the same old building.

"That damn taste is finally out of my mouth!" Kuuga rubbed his face and immediately entered the shower. Kazuya stood in the dark corner of the room and erased his presence. This place wasn't lit very well but Kuuga never really stayed in this place at night even in the past.

He still had time to search the place so Kazuya took advantage and was able to uncover some interesting things. Lee had truly been a loyal customer of his and one of the phones were dedicated to contacting him. These were very old types of cell phones so there wasn't any real security other than the old pin code. Kazuya was glad that he was able to unlock them by using the old code that Kuuga told him about to enter the building in his previous life.

Using them these days would make it harder to track as well as they could be destroyed or discarded pretty easily. These phones didn't store any data that could be recovered so it was ideal for Kuuga to use these types of things to deal with his business.

*Rustle rustle*

Sounds that indicated that Kuuga was done were heard so Kazuya put everything back to the way they were. He had pretty much learned everything he needed to so he hid himself and thought about how to deal with Kuuga.

"Damnit!" Kuuga returned to his office. The wounds he suffered started to hurt more after he had a chance to relax. He cursed as he remembered the person who caused all of the pain as he took out one of the phones he used from his desk.

Kazuya kept an eye on everything since he seemed to have been conversing with Suzaku. It truly had been a collaboration between those two who stepped their game up a notch. There had also been something he learned from this, Kuuga and Lee's relations have been kept a secret and that included all of their transactions. Was it a coincidence for these two to have hired the same guy to take care of him?

Kazuya's eyebrows twitched. Was Lee still trying to mess with him from behind the scenes? Did he manipulate those two idiots into going against him? He wondered as he listened to the conversation. Kuuga seemed to have offered some information that was worth more than his failure to take care of him.

"I want that woman when you take over the company. Kazuno Mei is the secret owner of Kazuno Tech" Kuuga laughed. "The mysterious owner that none of the big companies have been able to figure out has been hiding in plain sight!" he said with a mocking tone. Though he had been lucky in stumbling upon a discovery that day, he made it sound like he had investigated it and found out what everyone else was unable to.

"The money will be sent as soon as we confirm the authent—"

*BZZT*

The atmosphere in the room suddenly felt quite heavy. Kuuga could barely hear the rest of Suzaku's statement as his phone started producing sounds and malfunctioned.

"Ouch!" an electric current flowed through his hand and numbed his arm. He dropped the phone right in between two feet who stepped in front of it.

"I see you're also one of the idiots who refuse to heed warnings" Kuuga recognized this voice immediately. "Didn't I tell you what would happen if you show the tiniest bit of ill will towards Kazuno Mei in my presence?" Kuuga trembled as he fell back to his chair. He recalled at what he had just said and remembered what happened earlier in the day when he said something similar.

"K-k-kozuki Kazuya! How are yo—" a hand was placed over half of his face before he could finish his sentence. The hand still wasn't wide enough to grasp half of his head but sure was strong enough to push Kuuga all the way to the wall and keep him from moving an inch.

"You don't need this filthy mouth of yours" Kuuga couldn't help but squirm at the sight of Kazuya's expressionless eyes. He didn't look like someone who was threatening someone, rather he seemed like he was doing some random activity for the day. This was unlike the enraged expression that reeked of bloodlust earlier today.

"MMPPHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" suddenly felt the steel-like grip of Kazuya's hand slowly closing. The boy's expression still hadn't shown any change. He tried to scream and pull the hand away as the grip started to make him feel immense pain.

*CRUNCH*

Kuuga's jaw was crushed without effort. Kazuya scoffed and cast a spell to keep the sounds from leaving the room before he let go of Kuuga who writhed in pain while holding on to the bleeding jaw that could no longer be controlled by his muscles.

"Shut the hell up and look at me" he kicked Kuuga and pinned him to the wall. Kazuya placed his foot in between Kuuga's pants which immediately made him struggle to keep quiet. "I need some answers and it will depend on those answers on how the night will continue. It will either end quietly or loudly so you better think carefully before using that head of yours to answer"

Kuuga would feel pain whenever he moved his head but he still tried to give a nod. He used both of his hands to try and stop his jaw from falling as both blood and saliva trickled down the corners of his mouth.

"Here is a simple one…" Kazuya smirked. "Lee has been working with you even before I lost my memories… right?" Kuuga immediately nodded as he tried to avoid the emotionless gaze that didn't even flinch at his plight.

"Was it him who told Kurogane Suzaku and his little b*tch about you?" Kazuya would push his foot forward every moment Kuuga would take to give an answer. This made Kuuga have no time to think as he responded honestly with another nod.

"I see…" Kazuya's lips curled upwards showing a smile that wasn't a smile despite his emotionless gaze. "Looks like I still underestimated humans greatly" he turned to look Kuuga directly in the eye before stomping down mercilessly.

"UUUAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kuuga howled out as inexplicable pain attacked his lower region. The only thing that was on his mind other than the pain was how Kazuya used the term 'humans' to describe them. The thoughts of 'demon' or 'monster' came to mind as he writhed in agony.

His lower regions were just crushed. This was different from just a simple kick. Kuuga's family jewels no longer had any form. his legs felt wet but it was not just from the urine that involuntarily released itself from the amount of pain and numbness the muscles the lower half of his body felt. Blood was mixed in as Kuuga wailed and struggled to relieve just a little amount of the pain he was feeling.

Regret. This was the only thing that Kuuga felt aside from the pain he was suffering. Why did he have to mess with this person? Why did he have to be infatuated with the woman that was accompanying him that day?

"Well… I did say that the night would end quietly so I guess this is as far as I can go or I wouldn't be a man of my word now wouldn't I?" Kuuga finally had some hope but he almost forgot about the pain he felt when he saw the mist forming around his body. "You're lucky that flames would attract attention in such a busy district"

Kuuga started to feel numb as extreme cold attacked him from the leg up. He tried to fight the pain and used his hands to pull himself away from the mist that started to make his legs turn into frost.

"uaaa auauua iaa uaa!!!" he tried talking but was clearly unable to. He slowly started feeling weak as the numbness reached half of his body.

"I can't understand what you're trying to say" Kazuya ignored the wails and looked at him indifferently. "You're going to die much more comfortably than Dokuro Domon did because you have my gratitude" he moved ahead of the crawling Kuuga and rested a foot on his forehead. "You taught me to make sure to never let anyone have a second chance at threatening me or anyone close to me"

"…" Kuuga felt like he was staring into the void as his gaze stopped to take one last look at Kazuya. He was slowly losing all energy as the hands that were weakly moving didn't even help him move.

"Go and accompany Domon in the afterlife" Kazuya moved his foot and let Kuuga's head fall to the floor. "I'll be sending a bunch of people to accompany you two soon enough" Kuuga's sight dimmed but he was still able to hear the last words Kazuya said.

"After I let them suffer a bit that is"

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