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At the Kurogane Estate later that evening, a meeting was called due to a recent change in the situation. Men from their security detail had been detained and reported to the police to have been stalking and lurking near the residence of the Kouzuki clan. The people who gathered were some of the leaders of the family and they immediately denied having to do with any of it.

"Enough!" Kurogane Tenma was fed up by these people who worried only about themselves. "I know who the culprit is and so does everyone else who heard about the situation. You can all stop trying to avoid any blame so we can focus on the main topic. That brat stirred the hive successfully and they have been preparing for our response"

How could they not notice the moves Shiroyuki Jirou had no intentions of hiding? Not only has most of the people in their world been informed about the recent incident but so were the authorities. Jirou made sure that anything untoward that happened to the Kouzuki clan or their close associates would put the Kurogane Conglomerate under the hot seat.

Unlike before, the Kouzuki clan had been prepared. With Kouzuki Kou returning to the country, his allies were more than happy to assist his family more than ever. Even though he may have left their prefecture, they could tell from his destination that Kou would once again be involving the Kouzuki clan's biggest ally and the Kurogane clan's biggest threat.

Nagato Tsuna, the freak who single-handedly took down the strongest generation of the Kurogane security force. Kou and him had been seen together near the foot of the mountain. There were no signs that these two took normal means to return to town but anyone who knew anything about the two could tell that they were coming.

"I believe that I can put the situation back in order" everyone turned towards Shishio after announcing such a bold claim.

"How do you propose to do so? Their alliance has been itching to fight with us ever since Kouzuki Kou had returned" Tenma asked with great interest.

"I initially have been forming a plan to meet with Kouzuki Kazuya. Afterall, I am still his biological father so to speak. The boy is clearly a Kurogane if one assesses his abilities. I have been consulting a bunch of our lawyers and I believe that I can turn the situation back to the way it was if not in our favor" Shishio boldly stated.

He might have been confident on the surface but he was angered on the inside. He hadn't expected his nephew Suzaku to actually have been stupid enough to go after Kazuno Mei. Even if Mei wasn't a Kouzuki, with both Kazuya and Kyouko's attachment to her, it was already as if she was one of them.

"Hoooh? You actually had such plans?" Tenma immediately caught onto his son's implication. If he was not mistaken, Shishio had been planning to eat the Kouzuki clan from the inside.

It was indeed like they had forgotten that though Kouzuki Kazuya was from the Kouzuki clan, he still had the blood of the Kurogane flowing through his veins. None of them denied that the prowess he has shown were due to their own lineage but the problem was that he was raised by a mother who had hatred not only for the boy's father but also for the clan that he represented.

"Are you sure you have the ability to do that?" who else but Shishio's brother Sousuke would try to instill doubt to his little brother. "Remember, the boy uncovered the plot your wife set upon their clan" Sousuke watched as some of the people agreed with him.

Nagisa who has been quietly sitting on the sidelines did not have a face that was unaffected. She was not privy to Shishio's plans though she knew his interest in the boy. Sousuke pushing the blame towards her made her almost burst out in anger. If it were not for the heavy gaze Tenma had on her, she would have already lashed out.

"Who else aside from me has the ability to do that?" he scoffed at his brother's attempts. "Who has made the company recover in such a short time after even you failed to do so? I do not meddle in your own family affairs big brother so I would appreciate it if you would stay out of mine. While I have yet to have an official heir, it is still much better than someone who thought he had one and turned out to be a lie right?" Shishio grinned as he watched his elder brother's expression turn to shameful one that couldn't retort.

"That would be enough from the both of you" Tenma had enough and cut in before it got any worse. No matter how mature they seemed, these children of his always would act like children whenever they argued against each other. "Does anyone have any other plan?" he looked around the room. "I will leave this in Shishio's hands if there is none"

The meeting had adjourned and everything was put in Shishio's hands. He had his own supporters and they all believed that putting it in his capable hands was the right choice. They initially hated everything about the Kouzuki clan but after Shishio had made known that he recognized Kazuya as his son, they were not against the idea and decided to look into it more.

There were two people that were largely against leaving this to Shishio, they were of course the elder brother Sousuke and Nagisa. While both of them had very different motives for being against this, it was clear as to why.

Nagisa urging on her nephew had failed miserably. It even caused Shishio to initiate contact with Kazuya sooner rather than later. She couldn't help but curse the kid for the move that implicated all of them. Now that she knew that her husband had set his sights on Kouzuki Kyouko's son, doing something now would only garner the enmity of her husband.

"(I'm not going to let that bitch get ahead of me!)" after thinking about it, Nagisa couldn't bear thinking about how Kyouko's position would be greatly elevated if she used her son to her advantage.

Following this line of thought, an idea popped up in her head. Nagisa may not be allowed to touch Kazuya but what about Kyouko? Wouldn't getting rid of her lessen the burdens on not only herself but her husband? Won't taking over the Kouzuki clan be easier if custody over the minor child was given to the father instead?

A smile slowly formed on Nagisa's seductive lips. Getting rid of Kyouko would be like killing two birds with one stone. Not only would she be free from any future threats, she would be able to discipline and train the kid well.

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In the Kouzuki household that same night, Kyouko went home early because Kazuya had requested her to do so. She was still in the dark about the recent changes in the situation so Jirou helped explain the situation together with Mei and Kazuya. They informed her about the men that were captured and their identities,

"But why would they want someone like Mei?" Kyouko wondered. "It wasn't the old fogeys from the Kurogane side right?"

*sigh* "I intended to keep this to myself until the right time came but…" Kazuya moved towards a wooden chest on the corner of the room and unlocked the spell that bound it. He took out a briefcase and put it in front of his mother. "This is a very early present from me, Mom, though your birthday this year is still a few months away…"

Kazuya was still reluctant to do this. He was still unsatisfied with the current state of Kazuno Tech to surprise Kyouko with it. She was the head of a large corporation so what would be a small company in her eyes?

"This…!!" Kyouko's eyes widened and her mouth was agape as she went through the contents of the briefcase. It seems Kazuya didn't quite understand the magnitude of what he had done. He was too hung up on presenting Kyouko with a complete company that could stand in the same line as the Kouzuki Corporation that he neglected to consider the fact that what he had done has already been miraculous.

"Sorry, Mom. I wanted to be able to let you know once everything was completed but because of the situation…" Kazuya felt ashamed. There were a few ways where they could avoid informing Kyouko of what they had in their hands and it wouldn't work in their favor especially now that their enemies were aware of the truth.

"Silly boy" Kyouko pulled him into her arms. She was still in shock but no matter what her son had done, she would have been proud of him. She glared at the two conspirators in the room while she comforted her silly son who thought that she would be disappointed over being handed something that she knew that nobody in the industry would have been able to do in such a short time. "You know that I would be happy with whatever you give me. You don't seem to understand how much your Kazuno Tech has been making waves recently. Now I understand why no one has been able to figure anything out about it for such a long time"

"Now that you know, Boss, I'd like to inform you of my resignation, effective after my vacation time ends" Mei had always been troubled with finding the right time to do it or how she was going to be able to leave her post. Now that the secret was out in the open, she no longer needed to worry since Yumi already had a good grasp of how to do her job.

"This explains a lot of things… So many things…" Kyouko was able to figure out Mei's strange behavior. She already tried investigating how Kazuno Tech was founded and it more or less coincided with the time when she first noticed the strange behavior of this assistant of hers.

"And you thought I was cheating on my Kazu" Mei grinned. "You should understand best that no one is better than my Kazu" she smiled mischievously.

"You mean MY Kazuya!" she held her son in her arms to keep him away from Mei. Now that it was confirmed that she was not in a secret relationship with anyone like Kyouko thought, her son was still in danger from this weird woman. "So was this what forced you all to tell me in the end?"

"Well you see…" Jirou took over. This part was best left to him being the elder of the group. Mei helped with the details regarding the company and they told Kyouko about the events that transpired when the Dokuro group sieged the headquarters.

"I heard about this but no one knows that it had been the Muimina group behind the attack on Kazuno Technologies" she let Kazuya sit beside her and looked at him. Jirou told them that he had been present and even played a big part on keeping the company safe. What they didn't tell her was that what he did with the head of the Dokuro clan.

"Sorry for keeping you in the dark about this, Mom" he apologized again. He could tell from his mother's look that she was worried about him even after Jirou explained that their identities were hidden pretty well.

"Don't apologize Kazuya" she looked at him warmly. "You did this with helping me in mind, right?" Kazuya gave a shy nod which she found adorable. This son of hers was quite brave when it came to enemies but was truly easy to get embarrassed. She felt that this was something that she had the edge over Mei with. While her mischievous assistant couldn't gauge her son's supposedly advanced mental age, she have quite the confidence about her guess being accurate.

"But the real problem is that the Kurogane clan may already be aware of Big Sis' affiliation to the company because of Domyouji Gakuto's grandson" this time it was Kazuya's turn to explain. He couldn't reveal that he found out about this from Kuuga himself and decided to say that Suzaku informed him of it while declaring Mei being a target.

"So this is the main reason I needed to know" Kyouko crossed her arms. This was indeed a troublesome matter because once the Kurogane clan was aware, they could only link her or Kazuya to be behind the source of Kazuno Tech's surprising source of income. "So that explains the reason I was suddenly able to break through the technological industry recently…"

"WHAT!?" Mei was the first who reacted. She had been too busy to get updated on the Kouzuki Corporation's issues lately. Both Kyouko and Yumi had been going home late and she assumed that Yumi would approach her if she needed help or couldn't handle the situation.

""They know"" Kyouko and Kazuya said in unison.

"Are you sure?" Mei was still shocked and was a little confused. The information has yet to sink in because she knew just how much the Kouzuki Corporation had been trying to break into the scene only to be thwarted by one of its' leading figures.

"This sounds like something 'he' would do" Kyouko frowned. "It's a relief that you informed me of it now because we would have ended up going against each other as rising tech companies where the Kouzuki Corporation would end up taking losses from what I've seen from these files"

"That…" Kazuya might not have been aware of what it implied because Kyouko put it simply but Mei definitely knew what it meant. It was like a bloody battle where one was going to be forced to a retreat suffering heavy losses.

To the Kouzuki Corporation, they might have suddenly gotten what they asked for but they didn't realize just how much Kazuno Tech had prepared. They seemed like they were in a rush but they were actually already preparing a direct assault towards the top.

Kyouko was not in her position for nothing. She had already been formulating a plan on how to best handle this situation as soon as she was made aware that the Kuroganes were aware of the situation. Secrets had indeed a way of being revealed in some of the most uncommon and unexpected ways. Even she was surprised that a person from their own supposed faction revealed such sensitive information after realizing the value.

Kyouko's lips formed a mischievous and seductive smile as an idea appeared in her mind. It may not have been all that bad for Kurogane Shishio to have been on the current helm of the Kurogane Conglomerate because she would at least know what to expect. Knowing the enemy and having battled with them was indeed an advantage over dealing with those she doesn't know.

"Well then, shall we start taking countermeasures?"

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