119 The Once, Insignificant Key 2 in 1 (1/2)
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”It's nice to meet you, my hero successor” Tsuna smiled warmly at the boy who just finished sheathing the katana that had come out of nowhere.
Tsuna initially wanted to test Kazuya since he wasn't completely convinced that he really was the one who sent the letter given to him by Kou. Kazuya had proven himself three out of two times by his standards.
The first was his actual battle prowess. As a hero of Edea, even if one was sent back to the earth after being stripped of the blessing of the summoning like he experienced, the amount of growth that the hero received would still have been retained.
Though the boy wasn't as strong as he initially expected, both his knowledge and use of his mana was more than enough to prove that he had learned everything he knew from the sages of Edea.
The second one was the language. Someone else could have written it and given to Kazuya to lure him out of the mountain. With the conversation they were having right now, Kazuya had proved that he indeed spoke the magical language of the elves.
Tsuna was actually surprised the moment he entered the Kouzuki estate. He felt the detection formation the moment he stepped into the property.This was immediately followed by the quick actions of the boy who showed up to investigate as soon as he detected Tsuna's intrusion. Kazuya's clear ownership of the formation was the reason Tsuna didn't immediately launch an attack against the boy as he waited to confirm if there had been anyone else that would show up that had access to it.
”I see you're very knowledgeable in formations” Tsuna walked towards the gate and grabbed a bag that he had left outside. ”The amount of mana circulating in this place is quite impressive” he couldn't help but praise.
Though Tsuna had already been convinced that Kazuya was the real deal when Kou talked about him, he couldn't help but feel a little pity because the boy had been too young to have been summoned to Edea. From what he could tell, the boy had already lost the innocence that a child like him was supposed to have and had already experienced things that no one from Earth would ever understand.
”I'm impressed you were immediately able to escape its detection” Kazuya continued to speak in elven tongue. ”I thought I would never be able to find someone else that came back from that world” Kazuya breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that his expectations did not fail him this time.
”Are you sure?” Tsuna grinned as he took out his trusty pipe and put it on his mouth. ”You should be feeling the same as me after returning here from that chaotic place, right?” Tsuna once again grabbed the weapon on his back.
How could Kazuya not understand how he felt? As summoned heroes, they were both used to the peace on Earth when they were suddenly thrown into such a chaotic one. Everything didn't work out as smoothly in real life as it did in novels or manga because wars not only took time, they have a way of changing people that no one who hasn't experienced it would completely understand.
Both of them had an insatiable thirst for the battles that they had experienced. How could they not? Heroes experienced being thrown into wars that didn't merely involve regular soldiers. They were sent up against the strongest threats that humanity had at their own respective eras.
”On second thought, maybe you are an impostor after all” Kazuya grinned as he agreed that their earlier exchange hadn't been enough. He grabbed the hilt of his sword before breathing in deeply to prepare for another battle with someone who he already knew he did not have a chance against.
That didn't stop Kazuya from wanting to battle with this predecessor of his. Though he had already experienced losses from his battles with Jirou, Kazuya had never really given it everything he had. A battle with each other was something that both of them never thought that they would experience again. This battle was going to be involving everything they had at their disposal.
*puff* Tsuna blew out some smoke before placing his trusty pipe aside.
The moment he got into a stance, the atmosphere completely changed between them. It had been a bright and sunny summer afternoon yet the wind felt like it had been from autumn. Kazuya focused on nothing else but the person in front of him. Both of them had experienced going through countless battles so both of them held high expectations for each other.
”Oh hey! You're finally here!” Kou excitedly jumped in between the two. Kou was completely oblivious to the atmosphere as he had just come out of the house after getting impatient at how long everyone took to come back.
””(This guy…)”” Kazuya and Tsuna's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. This person really had a talent for getting on people's nerves with his inability to read the atmosphere.
”Hey, hey! Why are you two looking at me like that?” after feeling slight killing intent from both sides who were gripping their weapons, Kou wondered if he did something wrong.
**sigh** The two admitted defeat and let go of their weapons. They knew they would have to wait for another opportunity because the mood had already been ruined by this insensitive guy.
”Hey, hey, hey! Why the long faces, you two? This should be a celebration!” Kou continued. ”Did this boy try to kill you, old friend?” he curiously asked after noticing both of them let go of their weapons.
””Enough already!!”” Tsuna and Kazuya shouted at Kou.
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A few days passed by rather quickly. Unfortunately for Kazuya, due to Kou's interruption on the day of Tsuna's arrival, they focused on getting him updated on the current situation after learning what he had done after he arrived at the Kuroganes' main estate.
With Kazuya's current busy schedule, he still hadn't found an opportunity to have a good talk with this predecessor of his. The only consolation for him was that Tsuna had already agreed to stay in town for a while so there really wasn't any hurry to discuss the matters that would still take a few years to happen.
Tsuna wasn't lounging around either. Word of his visit to the Kuroganes spread like wildfire amongst Kou's circle of friends. No one actually expected Kou to be successful in pulling down Tsuna from his residence in the mountains. Everyone wanted to meet with him and catch up, so this other hero had a pretty busy schedule as well.
Despite the festive mood the Kouzukis and their associates were in at the moment, a huge wave started to move on the modern-day battlefield.
Kazuno Tech held a surprising press conference in which their mysterious CEO had introduced herself. Everyone who saw Mei walking out to take the stand was speechless at the secret boss behind the tech company that was supposed to have been the competition of the Kouzuki Corporation that she was supposed to be working for.
Of course, the Kurogane clan didn't miss the chance to sling some mud into her direction. Mei had been labeled as a traitor who betrayed the person who was responsible for where she was today. They even went as far as trying to instigate fights that thankfully didn't escalate much.
”I am very grateful towards the Kouzuki Corporation for teaching me everything and being responsible for where I am today” This line of Mei's was shown repeatedly by the news across the nation. ”Like everybody else, I also look to aim for greater heights and decided that it was time for me to build something that my mentor, Kyouko, would be proud of” was what she followed up with but some of the major news reports omitted this part of her speech for reasons that were obvious to those who were present or kept an eye on the actual press conference.
No matter what the Kurogane Clan's intentions were, the fact still remained that the legendary female duo that had taken the business world by storm looked like they had gone their separate ways.
Some people rejoiced, some people lamented, and some people thought that it was inevitable. This was common in their world and no matter who they were or how famous they were, it did not make them exempt form the cruel reality that meeting is a prelude to the inevitable farewell.
”Everything is going as planned” Shishio sat in his office and read the progress reports that his secretary had placed on his desk.
He had gotten quite the scare when he met with Nagato Tsuna again after he saw this ageless old man in his family's estate. Shishio was afraid that Tsuna would have killed his father as punishment for the events that befell Kazuya and the Kouzuki clan quite recently. Shishio was concerned for his father's life but not for the reasons that a normal person would expect him to have.
He could still recall the sense of relief he felt when Tsuna left peacefully after saying and doing what he wanted to. In Shishio's mind, Kurogane Tenma should not die until he had appointed Shishio as the next head of the Kurogane family.
A civil war within their family would erupt if Tenma had died without naming a successor. It had been ingrained in their upbringing that no matter which position a member of their family had, the clan head's word was ironclad. Once a successor was named, his or her words would be followed by everyone in the clan. Those who failed to obey were to be taken care of by the people who were directly under command of the one sitting in the Kurogane Family's seat of power.
”Excuse me sir…” A man entered the room wearing a suit and sunglasses. He was one of the people that Shishio asked to perform specific 'tasks' and it looked like he had come here with something to report.
”Didn't I tell you not to leave your post unless it's something that needed my immediate attention?” Shishio tried to make sure that this man knew that he would not be let off lightly if he had something that didn't require Shishio to personally look after or know.
”It's about the mistress” the man replied. ”She started to make a move” he continued after handing his boss a file that was of utmost secrecy.
”This woman….” Shishio read over the files and found a few disturbing things.
The files were messages that his wife was exchanging with a few people. Shishio really didn't care for most of them since they were nothing more than his wife's usual ramblings. He immediately focused himself on the ones that were marked by this man.
”[I want both of them dead]”
”[I'll give you extra if you can show me how you made the kid suffer]”
”[Money is not an issue, I just want those two to be erased from the face of the Earth]”
”[Just make it look like an accident]”
It was more of the same thing as it went on, with each idea getting more absurd. Shishio's brows furrowed until he finally let out an exasperated sigh. Turning towards the man who gave him the report, he shook his head. Nagisa had been growing more rampant as the days went by. He didn't really mind since it had nothing to do with him but now that their interests conflicted, he had to do something.
”Do you remember the matter I spoke to you about?” Shishio's eyes turned serious as he looked in the man's eyes.
”Yes sir” he nodded.
”Book a reservation at the restaurant. I will be taking Nagisa there for dinner” Shishio immediately conjured up a message to invite his wife for dinner outside.
”I understand. I will make swift preparations” the man bowed and excused himself.
Shishio glanced at the portraits on the wall of him and his wife. They appeared to be a perfect couple in the eyes of others but, like most political marriages, it was merely a hollow relationship that was for show. He harbored no feelings for Nagisa and if he had the choice, Kyouko would have been the ideal wife because of her talent and superior looks.
In his eyes, women were nothing more than objects or tools that served two purposes: one would be to enhance a man's influence and lifestyle and two would be to bear the next generation for him. He only preferred Kyouko over Nagisa because she had produced someone like Kazuya who he never expected would have that much potential.
On the side of his desk was a picture of Kazuya and the reports about him that Shishio had read numerous times. Who could have predicted that something like a clone of him would ever exist in this world? He grinned as he continued to think of ways of making the boy see his side of things.
Kazuya may have been a boy that reminded him of himself a lot but he was still a mere boy in his eyes. A boy that had been raised by someone as naïve as Kyouko, so he still had some of his mother's influence in him.
Shishio saw this as a chance, a chance to exploit the boy and slowly paint Kazuya in his own colors. The boy was smart and had every right to suspect him for being after something. He was happy about it, Kazuya wouldn't have been worth his time if he had been easy enough to sway. He wanted to take his time and enjoy it but unfortunately, there were only a few years left before the Kurogane Banquet.