.

In the Kouzuki house, Mei had just finished saying thanks to the instructor that accompanied her while carrying Kazuya back. Though the instructor saw this as a rare chance to talk to a person such as Mei, he was utterly devastated when she ignored most of what he said while maintaining a cold demeanor.

"Should we inform the mistress?" Akane asked after taking out a new set of clothes for Kazuya. She was a little worried that he had overworked himself again since this young master of hers always had a habit of pushing himself.

"No need. We'll just tell her once she comes back home. Kazu's just tired and resting for a day won't affect his results on the exam anyway" Mei smiled and pacified Akane. She told them the excuse she came up with Jirou which put the blame on the old man because he wanted to see if Kazuya wasn't slacking off after joining the tennis club.

"I will contact the school and make preparations for a hearty meal then" Akane placed the change of clothes on the bed and left the room. Mei stared at Kazuya's sleeping face and fixed his hair to the side. She was a little unconvinced that this cute face had actually ended a life in the previous night mostly because of her.

There was nothing she could do because she wasn't there and the deed had already been done. She appreciated how protective Kazuya was of them but she still felt conflicted since people being slain weren't that common in this day and age.

The sleeping Kazuya turned towards the hand that was fixing his hair and rubbed his cheek on it. This was one of the actions that Kyouko was envious of. Her son would rub his face around Mei's direction whenever she would join them in bed late at night. They didn't know if this was born from him recognizing Mei's scent or presence but even Kazuya was not aware of this peculiar action.

"hehe… what am I going to do with you" seeing that he was still the Kazuya she knew, Mei decided to put these matters off for now. What mattered the most was that he returned safely and the threats to their company has lightened up.

She started removing his clothes gently. Kazuya had already taught them some of the basic uses and advantages of mana so no matter how much Kazuya would sweat, it will all be dispersed into the air. For women, this was a very useful skill so they aspired to make it so that they would be like Kazuya who could keep this up even while he was sleeping.

Mei hesitated a little when she took off everything except his underwear. Her face started heating up as she saw that Akane had included a change of underwear in the clothes she placed on the bed.

"(W-what am I hesitating for!? K-kazu is still a kid and…)" she stopped her current thought as the confirmed theory of him having a mentality older than it was supposed to be popped into her mind. This caused an inner conflict as she held onto Kazuya's underwear trying to decide if she should change it or not.

"W-w-w-what are you doing b-big sis?" Kazuya who just regained consciousness woke up to Mei holding tightly onto his underwear while wearing a serious look.

"K-kazu" Mei was startled and jumped back. She saw Kazuya back up nervously on the bed while trying to cover himself up. "Y-you're up?" she found his reaction quite interesting and alarmingly cute so she recovered from her shock rather quickly. "Granny Fuji brought you a change of clothes. She had to inform your school that you would be taking the day off to recover so I tried to change you myself"

"Thanks but I'll change by myself" he almost disappeared along with his clothes and bolted into the bathroom to change. Mei giggled at this action since he was so embarrassed that his speed caused the light objects in the room to move or fly around. It was only after a little while did he come back with his hand visibly drying off the water on his hair.

"Are you showing off?" Mei asked. This convenient magic required a lot of control that she still lacked to pull it off involuntarily.

What Mei didn't know was the only reason that this had been second nature to Kazuya was because he lived in a society which didn't have the luxury to have people that regularly take baths. Though Edea was a world that was rich with mana, not everyone actually had the ability to utilize and study it well.

"What am I doing in my room?" He was totally out cold and since Mei's presence was with him after he left the Shiroyuki house, he subconsciously didn't feel the need to wake up.

"Shiroyuki Jirou-sama already told me everything. Did you really… kill the leader of the people that attacked the company" Mei tried to confirm. "He also said that you need to give up if you want to find trouble with Domyouji Gakuto's grandson because he was—"

"Both of them were eliminated by the same person" Kazuya stated nonchalantly. "They won't be bothering us anymore" Kazuya tied his hair and looked at himself in the mirror before sitting down to face Mei.

"Why? Why did you have to go that far?"

"Because the Dokuro group is useless without their head and they are the arm that does the Muimina family's dirty work. Their actions would be severely limited now that one of their hidden cards have been disbanded. Dokuro Domon controls all the power and wealth of the group so without both, his people would disband" Kazuya explained.

"What about Domyouji Kuuga? Isn't he one of the grandsons of your grandfather's friends?"

"The Domyouji Clan?" Kazuya sneered. "They are my grandfather, Kouzuki Kou's friends and not mine. Domyouji Gakuto discovered the fact that his grandson was connected to the incident two years ago and has cooperated with Lee's attempts to take care of me so why did Domyouji Kuuga have the audacity to try again?

They tried to hide the fact that one of them was involved and it was only recently that this was known. Had Domyouji Gakuto really valued his relationship with the Kouzuki Clan, they would have apologized for his grandson's transgression. I doubt that my grandfather is aware of this fact or else their previous gathering wouldn't have ended in Domyouji Gakuto still being arrogant as he still is" Kazuya really didn't have a good opinion about the Domyouji group. He had his plans about them and it would be up to them if he was going to overlook their past offence.

"Besides, that Kuuga guy decided to strike back one more time even after I warned him" Kazuya sighed. "He somehow knew that big sis was connected to the Kazuno corporation and reported to Kurogane Suzaku that the company is yours behind the scenes" he retold the conversation he wasn't able to stop that day which made Mei's brows furrow.

"This is going to be troublesome…" Mei sighed. "He decided to spill the information after you warned him about it?"

"No… He asked for big sis as an additional condition for the information. This was what sealed his fate" Kazuya revealed a hint of killing intent. "With the trail I've left behind, the Domyouji Clan and the Muimina family will be the least of our problems"

"He wanted me?" Mei was a little surprised. For someone to say that in front of Kazuya was indeed like holding a piece of fresh meat in front of a tiger. There had been a couple of incidents where she saw him flicking small pieces of whatever small object he had towards the eyes of those who stared at her and Kyouko with lascivious eyes. Both of them felt really happy about this and let him do it.. "What do you mean by the 'trail you left behind'?"

"That story might actually take a while…"

.

Two weeks passed by peacefully. At least on the surface as the sudden disappearance of Dokuro Domon had taken their affiliates by surprise which both the Domyouji and the Akabane clans took advantage of. The balance in the underground groups shifted as various people changed allegiances which caused the power to shift heavily towards the two clans and their allies.

Domyouji Gakuto concentrated on gathering information but the tracks seemed to have come to a standstill when he chased after those who held grudges against him. This only left the option of someone his grandson had been involved with. He had chosen to give up part of his territory to the Akabane clan in exchange for their help in finding out more about the investigation.

Kuuga was reported missing rather than murdered by Jirou and gained the help of authorities to find any clues that could help. Unfortunately, other than the confirmation that the blood found in Kuuga's office truly belonged to him, there had been no progress in locating his remains.

The attack on the Kazuno Corporation wasn't made public so they continued with their works as usual. The main conspirators on the attack however, couldn't make another move as the Dokuro group they invested in had disappeared and disbanded on the same day as their failure. There was no sign of Dokuro Domon or his riches so many groups have already started to settle in and made changes to their territory.

The Muimina group was in a bind. They couldn't make any moves because although the attack wasn't made public, the officials were silently investigating who the main perpetrators were because the fact that an underground group would target a rising technological company that was outside their territory was indeed very suspicious.

Their current predicament was of course taken advantage of by Mei and the Kazuno Corporation. They made an announcement that they would be releasing products that have been developed to optimize the use of the highly anticipated [Rucy-chan]. This was an unexpected move that no one guessed because this was not at a scale that anyone expected of a seemingly small company.

This was a move that took advantage of Kazuno Tech's current circumstances. No other company would dare approach them with ill intentions because although the attack on their headquarters wasn't made public, news about it circulated amongst every company that had their sights on them. Those who dared risk it would implicate themselves as the ones responsible for ordering the attack.

Though it may have been good news for the business, the employees themselves had mixed feelings about this. They were already under a tight schedule already so the recent attention and anticipation from the public made them feel quite the amount of pressure. It wasn't until Mei had Matsuri announce that they would be hiring additional personnel that passed their strict requirements did the pioneer employees felt relieved.

"Interesting!" Kurogane Shishio laughed out loud after reading the report in his hand. "What an interesting turn of events indeed!"

It had taken him quite the effort to dig deeply into the mysterious Kazuno Corporation. He had to rekindle a few of his old connections until he was able to find someone to bribe for information about Kazuno Tech's registration. To his surprise, it was not Kazuno Mei who was the person holding majority of the shares but rather his son, Kouzuki Kazuya.

"Immediately call over the best lawyers we have and tell them that I need something to discuss" he ordered his secretary. Shishio couldn't help but grin happily. He was initially worried that he had been overestimating his son but after what he just learned, he learned that he had been foolishly underestimating Kazuya instead.

He took a phone from his pocket and called Ringo Corporation's office. "This is Kurogane Shishio. Let me talk to Budou-san" Using his name, he immediately asked to speak to the head of the company.

Muimina Budou had been under a lot of pressure lately. His 'investments' in taking over such a small company were for naught. He wondered why he was suddenly called up by Kurogane Shishio who was in current control of most of the Kurogane Conglomerate ever since his return.

"What can I do for you Kurogane-san?" he breathed in and hid all his nervousness. He really couldn't handle more pressure right now.

"I've heard about what happened to the Dokuro group" Shishio cut to the chase since both of them were already aware that he was the one behind Dokuro Domon's rise to power. "I called to in hopes to relieve some of your burdens"

"Relieve some of my burdens?" Budou questioned as his nervousness lessened.

"I know that it has been quite an effort for you to have been able to hold back the Kouzuki Corporation's advance towards the technological scene. I want to relieve you of that burden. You may no longer stop them from stepping into the arena rather, I would prefer it they were given a push and advance without any hitches"

"This…" Budou was taken aback quite a bit. His efforts in holding back the Kouzukis after the damage they caused to the Kurogane Conglomerate was greatly appreciated so why would Shishio ask for this?

"There is no need to think about this too much. I'll be completely honest with you and tell you that making things easier on your company is only one of the reasons I asked of this. I've heard a rumor that the Kouzuki Corporation may have a hand in Kazuno Tech. From the involvement of the Shiroyuki and Kurunume clans, it's not a farfetched theory now isn't it?"

Budou knew that Kazuno Tech may have not been a simple company from what happened yesterday. Though Shishio didn't provide the real reason for this theory, Budou started to suspect it as well. If this really was so then he would definitely hate that darned clan even more.

"How do we confirm?"

"That's pretty easy. If they are indeed responsible for such a company secretly, they wouldn't hesitate to immediately jump at the opportunity. They did invest on a secret company after all" Shishio explained. While this was true, looking from an observer's point of view, he was more or less convinced that Kyouko was unaware of their son and her assistant's actions.

"Would that be alright? If they aren't involved then didn't we just waste holding them back in the first place?" Budou was a little hesitant. To waste his efforts just to clarify a few of Shishio's suspicions was a little over the top.

"No need to worry about that. What could they produce in such a short amount of time? They haven't even started most of their research because of the hopelessness in their efforts. They wouldn't even be close to being your corporation's popularity in a short time. Besides, we can always intervene with whatever they come up with and it would completely waste their efforts" Shishio laughed.

"That's not a bad plan" Budou laughed as well. It was quite easy for them to do that since he was familiar with the people who were capable of such things. "I'll get to work immediately" he ended the call and started calling a few of his contacts.

Though what Shishio said was mostly accurate, he didn't state his main reason for doing it; He wanted to see how Kazuya and Mei would react once Kyouko concentrated on making their opportunity a success. It would be like a mother and son showdown when it came down to it.

The Muiminas and Kuroganes may not have it in them to mess with Kazuno Tech right now but messing with the Kouzuki Corporation was another thing. Shishio looked forward to seeing the two compete with each other while he stirs things up in the process.

"I'm looking forward to meeting you soon… my son"

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