.

After the night passed by, Munie Ika had a much better understanding about how the underground powers around their own prefecture worked. The operation with his boss Winter has been an enlightening one. It wasn't only that, he had a much better understanding about their own mysterious boss and how his mind worked.

He was quite the curious cat so he looked up Kazuno Mei the moment he found out that she was the company's CEO. What he learned choked him because she was not the type of person to switch affiliations just like that. She had a reputation for not giving a damn about men and their status so it just shows to mention how their boss was for having such a woman as his fiancé.

The incident that happened at their company was also an eye opener as the most recent additions of their security company and their respective heads were testament to how powerful their apparent student owner was. Who would have thought that he would meet such a person in a game he just wanted to try out?

He had his own suspicions, such as he was scouted intentionally by Winter Fog but since every pioneer employee was from the same game, this thought got buried. It may just have been fate that brought them together. He had been a person who made money mostly through dubious means so having an official role that actually helped both society and people he got along with wasn't bad in the least.

The Domyouji Group had been known associates to the three heads of their security agency. They were also involved with the purging of the group that was behind the attack on their headquarters. This was why Ika wondered why they were being punished. It was only after he learned that the person the Domyouji group was looking for actually tried to reveal information about their company while asking for their CEO herself once their company had fallen.

This was punishment. Even an ally had to pay a hefty price for trying to mess with the sanctuary they built for themselves. Ika didn't object to Kazuya's way of doing things. In fact, he was strangely in favor of it. His original occupation required utmost secrecy so any leaks would lead to his immediate demise.

He felt a little closer to Winter Fog than ever before because he initially thought that he was a young student who was still inexperienced in the real world no matter how much of a freak he was. It was then that a scary thought entered his mind. It was precisely because it had entered his mind did he feel that the possibility was more than likely.

"[Boss, I have a question I want to ask.]"

"[What is it?]"

"[Did you… have anything to do with the guy from this yakuza clan's disappearance?]" He intended the question to be vague because if it were him, such a sensitive question wouldn't be answered in messages. He gave his boss the ability to deny answering the question if it was discovered even though it was highly unlikely.

"[What do you think? You guys always call Autumn Mist the queen of the guild so how do I react if there are other guilds trying to mess with her?]"

Ika felt a cold chill after reading what his boss had to say. It was true that they basically treated their only non-employed guild member, Autumn Mist, like the queen because there had been many exceptions made for her since she was one of the first friends both Void Android and Winter Fog made in the game.

Various guilds tried to mess with them by targeting the innocent Autumn Mist only to be later destroyed by Winter Fog's assault. His Squid God was part of these operations so how could he not be familiar with his boss' ruthless methods? It only involved player killings but if they had been successful in hurting Autumn Mist, even the market would be affected just to make their targets miserable.

Their thought process may have been similar but the biggest difference between them was that Winter Fog would dare make his move in the real world if need be. Tonight even proved that it was not the only exception. Winter Fog was on the scene himself and was risking a lot for this operation. Following this thought, Ika had a lot more respect and fear towards this mysterious boss of his and anticipated the day they would finally meet face to face.

"[You've already passed the information I sent you right?]"

"[I did boss. I've confirmed the payment after all. Do you want me to set up a secret offshore account for you as well?]"

"[You don't need to be clever with me, we will meet soon enough. Just move my share carefully back to the country and give it to your CEO. It will be used to get you guys better facilities and equipment]"

What Ika didn't know was that, at this moment, Kazuya was looking through the money that Ringo brought with her. It was as he expected though. It was not a whole hundred million. Several smaller bills have been put into the stacks. Ringo wanted to take advantage of the apparent rush of Kuuga and tried to pay less.

Ringo already left with a bright a smile on her face a while ago. She already had the information along with the evidence to prove it so she didn't feel the least bit guilty by not fully fulfilling her end of the bargain. Money wasn't the issue for tonight's activities anyway so he would take what he could.

"[Well it's your fault for being purposely mysterious you know. A hundred million would go long way in our small company. How about hiring some new and promising girls?]"

"[There are already a fair amount of women employed in the company compared to when we first started right? You can't fool me because I've seen a fair share of them]"

"[YOU WERE HERE!?]"

Kazuya didn't bother to reply and stored the money along with the bag that came along with it, inside his ring before stealthily leaving the warehouse. Ringo had a couple of her own people stay behind to most likely stop Kuuga from getting the money but how could they stop Kazuya? He made sure to knock them out quietly before departing from the port.

Tonight had been quite fruitful. Not only had Kazuya completed the task he set out to do, he gained about 160 million that would soon be used for company's good. His collaboration with Ika was all that they needed to complete. The second act will depend on them and though Kazuya and Ika would keep an eye on what will happen, they couldn't care less about what was going to happen.

He arrived at the Kouzuki house feeling relieved that he was able to make it before Kyouko did. He didn't want to be questioned about his current role because he still felt like he had been tricked into agreeing, based on what he heard about the agreement between Kanade and Mei.

Though he didn't mind doing something for the company, Mei's mischief made it so that he would appear in the company's CM as his character. That part he didn't like because although he was going to be playing a guy, the character himself would be appearing more in the show as his girl self which limited the options of his CM feature.

"Kazu?" Mei approached him as soon as he entered their home. Kazuya knew she was aware of his arrival because part of her attention was on the detection formation. "Where have you been? Kanade-san informed me that you went out on your own after your rehearsal"

"I needed to take care of a few things while I was in the area" Kazuya got pulled into his laboratory. Mei knew that they would eventually have to talk about what happened today so she sat on the couch and waited for what he had to say. "More importantly…" Kazuya suddenly released an intimidating pressure and cornered her as she sat down. Both his arms prevented her from escaping as she fell on the cushion.

*Dokun dokun dokun* Mei's heart was beating wildly because she didn't expect him to do something like this. She looked at his clear eyes and her mind was going crazy thinking about what was going to happen.

"You've been very naughty recently, Big Sis." Kazuya grinned. Both Miyamoto and Takaya taught him that this was an effective way to corner a woman who you needed to confront. They also told him that this had been a move that would exert a man's dominance.

Kazuya could see how nervous Mei was. Seeing her reaction made his grin grow wider. He had to admit that this big sis of his vastly differed from the cold one he once knew but he knew that they were still the same person. This version of Mei hadn't lost her cheerfulness and could show it towards him. Both of them were still the same kind and caring person but he still needed to do something about her mischief because although he didn't mind helping the company out, other involvement concerning the entertainment industry was something he was not interested in.

"W-what are you going to do…?" she whimpered. Her head was in a mess. It wasn't that she couldn't break free from the clutches of a nine year old but rather it was her hesitation and curiosity that made her not think clearly.

In her mind, she was already convinced that Kazuya had a mentality that is very much older than his actual age. Though Kyouko could pretty much determine it because of her experience, Mei could not. Her imagination was running wild as she looked deep into his eyes.

"The deal you made with Aoki Kanade would help prevent Mom from going crazy after I tell her about this and all but…" Kazuya slowly placed his thumb on her chin and gently pulled up her face. He slowly caressed her cheek which made all the senses in Mei's body feel numb. Kazuya found the Mei in front of him extremely beautiful right now so he moved his face closer. He most likely wouldn't be able to resist the urge to kiss her if he continued to look.

"Please don't make any decisions about my appearances without discussing it with me first" Kazuya moved his face to the side and gently whispered into Mei's ear. She felt extremely relieved that she was laying down on the couch or her legs would have prevented her from standing if they had done this as she had imagined.

"O-okay, Kazu…" Mei felt like she was intoxicated as she could feel his body heat and smell his scent. His breath on her ear tickled her senses as her face flushed even further.

This was one of the methods that both Miyamoto and Takaya collaborated with to teach the clueless boy. Takaya did not believe that he would be trusted if he was the one who taught him so he got Miyamoto to help him. Kazuya valued Miyamoto's opinion since from his point of view, this sensei of his had not been proven wrong with his lectures about women.

The two even suggested that he try out the method they taught on Tomoyo. Kazuya may not have been able to pin her against the wall but he was able to caress her cheek to make her speak a few words every now and then.

It wasn't until now that he was convinced of the method they taught him. The robot girl always did what he said so Kazuya didn't really think that it was because of the method they taught him. Mei was a very different matter because this big sis of his had always been getting away with everything and he could barely do anything about it. He thought that it would have been hard to use against any of the girls at home because aside from Yui, everyone was much taller than his current self.

"That's good to hear big sis" he whispered as he slowly moved away from her. He glanced at her expression and quickly looked away because no matter what, he had to keep himself from doing those kinds of acts so that he could make it back to Edea. "I have something big to give to the company"

Kazuya quickly changed the topic and extracted the spoils he got from Muimina Ringo today. The black thing that appeared on the floor immediately made her snap out of her thoughts.

"A body bag?!" She looked at Kazuya who was smiling at her. "Did you…"

"It's not what you think big sis. This is just a camouflage" he quickly unzipped the bag to reveal several bills of money inside. "The Muimina family was gracious enough to give our company a donation. Though they didn't know that it would be us that will be making good use of it"

"There is more or less about 60 million here. Munie Ika will also be bringing in another hundred secretly. They will be additional investments that can be used for the company. Please tell me if there is need for more so we can push things faster"

"There is a way to make things go faster but…" Mei looked a little hesitant. "I would have to resign as Kyouko's assistant and take up my post publicly if I want that to happen though" she confessed. She wasn't just an assistant for the Kouzuki corporation, Mei also held a reputation of her own as well as the connections she gained with the job. Unlike Mahiru, things would go much smoother if she was the one negotiating with others since they would have less to prove about their company with her at the helm.

"I'll leave it for big sis to decide" Kazuya had utmost confidence in her judgement.

"That would mean I would have less time to spend here and I would start working at Kazuno Tech's headquarters"

"Hold off on that for a bit big sis. The situation is getting quite sensitive so I would rather have you here since we still don't know how the Kuroganes will act after today" he remembered today's incident and was reminded that Mei was still in some sort of danger because of Kuuga's earlier demands. "We'll stay quiet for now and wait until the second act is over"

"Second act?"

"Karma and punishment is what I like to call it"

.