Chương 84: Alert

Kazuya looked at Jirou and then glanced at Tomoyo who seemed to have noticed his gaze and tilted her head. He decided to stop his supposed grandfather from involving the robot girl's grandfather to prevent him from getting separated from his family.

"If my grandfather ever asks you to go with him somewhere, please remember that there wouldn't be anyone I can trust to handle the security firm grandpa Jirou" Kazuya reminded.

"(Huh? Did he figure out something?)" Jirou was a bit surprised at the seemingly random reminder but he quickly recovered and gave the boy a nod.

"Speaking of which, there were various people seen wandering around outside the main office building lately and some of them have been caught trying to sneak in at night. They claimed that they were wanting to see the prototype but there isn't anyone stupid enough to believe that" Jirou complained.

"Did you find out anything after? Were they sent from the Kurogane side?" Kazuya's eyes narrowed and waited for a response.

"No… With the help of your head of network security, he was able to find out that they weren't from the Kurogane family but connected to the Muimina family instead"

"I see…" Kazuya looked at the window and saw the Kouzuki house. "Looks like they're really trying to test my patience" he crossed his arms as the vehicle rolled closer to the familiar wooden door.

Though the Kurogane family had a bad reputation, the Muiminas and their Ringo Corporation had a neutral one. They had popular products because they focused on how their products looked more than the capabilities so a lot of people who weren't that technologically savvy preferred their products.

The addition of Rucy-chan program to their products would attract a whole new market of users if they could acquire it exclusive to their products so they have been trying all sorts of means to get some leverage on Kazuno Technology before it officially launches.

"We're here kid" Jirou reminded him that they arrived at the Kouzuki residence.

"Come with me grandpa Jirou. There is going to be a change of plans that I need to discuss with big sis. The security team might have to increase their wariness if I do decide to go through with what I'm thinking about" Kazuya got off the van and Jirou followed along. He was a little worried after hearing that they needed to be more careful because this was something that the kid wouldn't say if there really wasn't a need to.

"!!??" Kazuya's face froze as soon as he entered the property. There had been a presence that he was not familiar with. What was worrying about it that it was moving slowly towards the mark that was indicated as Mei.

Kazuya's countenance changed as he immediately rushed towards his research center. It wouldn't have been an issue if it were just a normal presence but the slow approaching intruder possessed mana that was even superior to Mei's.

"Kid!?" Jirou tried calling out to Kazuya who almost instantly disappeared as soon as he felt the presence. It was very unlike the boy to look this bothered so he immediately tried to catch up to him while making sure that he kept an eye on his granddaughter that seemed to have disregarded him and followed as well.

"What the hell!?" Mei's voice could be heard as soon as Kazuya made it near his research center. Someone had caught her off guard and held her arm against her back.

"What are you up to girl?" a deep and intimidating voice that Kazuya heard as well made him lose whatever calm that remained in him.

"LET HER GO!" a commanding tone that was filled with heavy pressure caught the man off guard. The sudden interruption made him loosen his grip on Mei's arm as she quickly went to the side after escaping the man's grip.

Kazuya wasted no time and rushed towards the intruder without holding back. He could feel that this intruder was a threat so he had no time to waste trying to probe. Mei was still very close to them so he couldn't risk getting her in danger.

"KID!!" Jirou felt the danger pouring out from Kazuya as his killing intent soared.

"!!" The man turned around and crossed his arms to block the punch that Kazuya threw. This intruder was wearing a strange mask that hid his facial features.

*BAM* though the punch got blocked, the man got thrown back and crashed on the ground.

"I don't know who you are but you dared to come here and touch someone important to me" he didn't want to give the intruder any time to recover so he immediately rushed to follow up. Seeing this person overpowering Mei from behind in his own home made him not care whether who sent this person or not.

The intruder felt impending doom so he wasted no time and rolled to the side. Kazuya's punch to the ground produced several cracks on the ground which startled everyone who had witnessed this. Mei in particular was shocked at the rage Kazuya was showing. This was the first time he had seen him mad and it was to a murderous degree.

"Kazu stop!" Mei didn't want to let him become a murderer for her. She activated her own mana and concentrated it on her legs before dashing towards Kazuya who immediately felt the surge of mana from his side.

"Tsk!" Kazuya clicked his tongue before forcing himself to stop. He really didn't want to use magic in front of witnesses but he had no choice.

Two round objects were taken from his pocket and he threw it towards the intruder. He activated his magic and cast a wall of fire after igniting what seemed to be fireworks. He then cast an earth spell after focusing his mana on his body so that both him and Mei would crash on soft soil.

*CRASH*

Kazuya wanted to recover quickly so that he could finish what he started but Mei's grasp on him was so tight that he felt that his bones would break if he didn't focus on enhancing his body. He was worried that the intruder wouldn't be held for long so he made sure that his fire spell didn't get dispelled because of the crash.

"Why are you stopping me!?" he scolded Mei who refused to let go.

"NO! I can't let you kill anyone for my sake!"

"Idiot!" he couldn't hold back his anger. "Stopping me not only puts yourself in danger but everyone else here at the moment!" Kazuya was able to shake off the grip of Mei who just heard his words.

Kazuya tried to once again walk towards the man who was enclosed in a wall of fire.

"Stop" to his surprise, Jirou stepped in to stop him this time. "Calm down, there has been a big misunderstanding kid"

"…" Kazuya's eyes moved to meet Jirou's.

"This is…" This made the old man shiver because he now had to explain quickly before the boy came to another troublesome conclusion. "That man right there is your grandfather Kouzuki Kou" he scratched his head looking a little embarrassed. This old friend of his almost died in the hands of his grandson because of one of his troublesome sense of humor.

Meanwhile, in one of the offices near the troubled part of town. Ringo and Suzaku entered the shabby looking office and sat across one of their school's high schools students.

"Well, well, may I ask what are two distinguished people such as yourselves doing in an establishment such as this?" Kuuga smiled and looked at the two guests he never thought he would see in his hideaway of all places.

"Cut the pleasantries. I already know from Hashiyama Lee that you're the only conspirator that survived against Kouzuki Kazuya" Suzaku didn't feel the need to be polite so he went straight to the point.

"Oh, is that what you heard?" Kuuga tried to maintain his poker face. The incident with Hashiyama Lee was like a taboo topic for him since he did not even Imagine that such a thing would happen.

Kuuga looked down on others because he prided himself in being able to read people. He was able to see their desires as well as their fears so he was confident in controlling them. Not only did he lose some of his most capable associates, he felt that he had lost not only once but twice against Kouzuki Kazuya.

"You don't need to worry about us informing anyone else. We would have already told our families if that was our intention" Ringo stepped up

"Then what do you want?" Kuuga also stopped with the pretenses and asked her.

"Let's say we also had our run-in with him and it was not a pleasant one. Therefore, we're asking someone who has dealt with him before and didn't end up getting discovered" Suzaku spoke.

"What we want to ask is are you afraid with dealing with that kid again?" Ringo followed up.

"I see… so you're here for official business then. I usually don't take repeat orders but I will make an exception because I've been looking for a reason to settle that one black spot in my record" he smiled. "But it won't be cheap" he added.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Ringo confidently smiled. "Just tell us the price and what we need to do"

"All you have to do is tell me what you want. I'll tell you if I can do it and the price once I've calculated the expenses" Kuuga explained. "Do you want the same thing as what Hashiyama Lee asked for or something more?" Kuuga grinned. This was a chance for him to deal with the boy who let him settle for something for less than what he wanted as well as stolen quite the number of people that had once been used to make him some money.

"The same deal? You have to be more specific since Hashiyama Lee only told us that he got you to deal with him and succeeded" Ringo frowned after turning towards Suzaku who seemed to have no idea.

Kuuga felt a little relieved. These two didn't seem to be aware of both of the deals he had with Lee. He had to hand it to that guy. He had been expecting to get a little heat after the failure two years ago but Lee didn't let him take any blame. Not that it would have mattered much but he would still have to deal with trouble at home.

"This was the deal we made" he looked for a specific file on his computer and turned the screen towards the two after finding what he was looking for.

""!!"" the two were surprised at what they saw. They never heard anything about it but the screen showed a younger version of Kouzuki Kazuya from two years ago and he looked quite beaten up to the point that he was bleeding.

"This…" Suzaku gawked. "Is this real?" he couldn't help but look at the picture in disbelief.

"How were you able to do something like this?" Ringo couldn't help but ask as well.

"Sorry but I can't tell you that. Even if Lee himself asked for me to tell you, it's against my own policy to share secrets that may implicate myself" he crossed his arms and declined their request.

The two looked even more convinced now. This was an incident that was never reported to both their families and Lee as able to confirm it as well. What the two didn't know that like Lee, Kuuga had also suspected the authenticity of their first deal. He didn't think much of it at first but what made him suspect it even more was when he tried contacting the same students to deal with another matter only to be told that they wouldn't take any more jobs from him.

"Then we'll settle for this" Suzaku didn't even hide the excited expression on his face. He couldn't wait to see that arrogant brat beaten this badly.

"Then please decide which person I need to contact and write the number and mail address here" he handed them a small pad.

"Since I will be paying, you can contact me" Ringo wrote some numbers down the details she prepared on the note.

"Then do note that although I may have taken the request, the methods on how I do it is up to me. All you will know is if I failed or succeeded" Kuuga stated. "Of course I'll provide all the necessary evidence after everything is completed"

"What if you fail?" Ringo asked. Though she had confidence in Kuuga's abilities now, there was still a chance for failure.

"Then I will return all the money that has not been used for expenses" he stated.

This was a deal that only they should know about. Any other party that knew of this will hold them in danger of being exposed as the ones responsible so this risk was a factor for both parties. They understood this and had no complaints.

"That's fine. Money is of little importance. What's more important is to teach that brat a lesson"