98 Speak of the Devil

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Kazuya was accompanied by Jirou near one of the busiest part in town. The old man oddly found the boy familiar with this part in town in which he had no connections to. This was where Kazuya found various part-time jobs to survive after he was separated from Mei in his previous life. One of the liveliest and shadiest part of town. This was a part of town where even the Kurumi in his previous life showed up in accompanied by several guards.

"This way Jirou-sama, Kouzuki-sama" A man wearing a suit led them into one of the basements of buildings that blended perfectly with the surroundings. They entered a place that was quite classy considering how normal the building looked from the outside.

"Welcome to the [Forbidden Apple]" the man in the suit led them further in as Kazuya was surprised after finding out the name of the place.

In his time as a freeter who worked from place to place, there was a certain urban legend that a mysterious store known as the Forbidden Apple was somewhere in the district. This was where important meetings were held from both the underground and powerful people like politicians or businessmen. This place was very discreet and was owned by several influential groups from the underground.

It was later found out that this place was eventually taken over by a new group of individuals that took advantage of the sudden disappearance of the most influential people that used to manage the place. This shook Kazuya because he never imagined that Jirou and his grandfather knew these kind of people. It seemed like his grandfather's contacts are more than what it seemed on the surface.

"Wait for me a bit" Jirou stopped Kazuya before they went through another door that led deeper into the basement. Kazuya's eyebrows furrowed but since he was new to all of this, he nodded and took a seat in one of the booths.

Kazuya already changed out of his school uniform and into a black tracksuit that they picked up on the way for him. Jirou also called up the Kouzuki household and informed Akane that Kazuya was going to stay at the Shiroyuki residence because Tomoyo needed some tutoring before the exams. There wasn't really any problem with this because this was not the first time that Kazuya has stayed with the Shiroyukis.

The Forbidden Apple had a classy interior but that couldn't be said for the people that Kazuya observed. There were various men wearing tacky suits and waitresses who wore uniforms that were very revealing. They could bend over a little and their underwear would be clearly visible. This was certainly not a place for a kid such as him so Kazuya stuck out like a sore thumb.

"(I guess that it can't be helped since this is the place used as a gathering before the attack?)" he shrugged. Kazuya felt like his image of what the Forbidden Apple should have been was slowly getting shattered. In his mind, the place was more akin to a gentleman's club in the movies where spies gathered and exchanged information.

The men who looked at him strangely eventually got tired of it as they went on with their business or as soon as they were occupied with something else. It wasn't until a boy who appeared to be in his teens, entered the establishment nonchalantly that their gazes changed to a complex one.

The boy didn't spare a glance at those who noticed his arrival. He looked like he was used to the attention and was enjoying it. Kazuya lost interest as soon as the boy tried to fool around with the female staff members but the boy noticed the child sitting quietly on the booth because he was being ignored.

"What's a kid doing here?" he approached Kazuya and sat across of him without asking for his permission. He was acting like he owned the place when he wasn't even supposed to be allowed in such an establishment like Kazuya to begin with.

"We don't know" one of the waitresses he pulled over answered. "he was brought here by the manager"

"Did you try to steal something in the territory and get caught kid? Don't be afraid, I can talk to the manager and he should at least give me some face" despite his demeanor and misunderstanding, Kazuya's initial opinion of this person changed. He didn't seem so bad.

"I didn't do anything. I'm waiting for my grandpa to come back since the manager brought him inside that place" Kazuya acted like a kid and pointed towards the direction both Jirou and the man wearing the suit entered.

"Oh I see. He must have missed a payment or something" he nodded as if understanding. "You have to tell him to not take loans from here. It may be convenient at first but paying it all back is very hard and will get very dangerous if not settled on time. You look like a good kid and I hate seeing kids like you being forced into doing something that isn't good" Kazuya found this guy quite talkative.

"You know what types you've got to avoid. There's this one guy from a prestigious school that likes to be pretentious. He hires kids to do dirty work for him secretly and takes in rich kids as clients to beat up other kids. Isn't that messed up? They get marked off as disputes of youth or bullying in the end and those who were behind the incidents never even get suspected" he ranted.

"There is such a person?" Kazuya was immediately interested. "Is that business common here?" this unexpected encounter may just end up being a lucky one as he thought about the untapped information resource which was the underground.

"The business is that guy's way of taking advantage of rich kids that have money to burn for their ambitions. Did you know that the old guys here flipped out the moment they found out that he had taken money from that kid who shot the Kouzuki Clan's only son?" Kazuya tried hard to hold back the urge to grab him. He didn't think that it would be so easy to find out who the person acting against him was.

"By prestigious school, do you mean Sacred Forest Academy?" seeing that this boy was not the least bit guarded around him, Kazuya continued to act like a curious child. "Who is he? How come no one is suspecting him if you know how he operates his business?"

"Yeah that guy's from Sacred Forest. It won't do you any good in knowing who he is since you look like you won't be able to beat up anyone" he looked at Kazuya from head to toe and nodded at himself for making an accurate judgement. "Don't tell anyone I told you though, his business had been a secret until it was discovered two years ago and he was almost thrown out because of it"

"I'm not really interested in making money by doing bad things onii-san. I just wanted to know because I always thought that the people who went to sacred forest were nice people and model citizens. Some of the students there are said to be leaders of the future after all"

"You're still too young and naïve kid. It only takes one rotten fruit to ruin the whole basket" he felt wise after saying as he rubbed his nose with a finger feeling a bit embarrassed. "But you have a point. It's better to know who to avoid. Since you're from the area, you should know the run down building in Kuugan street?"

"I do…" Kazuya tried to remain calm but he was startled. There was only one run-down building in that area from his memories and that was a place that he was very familiar with. It was the place where he stayed after he was discovered to be sleeping in cold parks. "It's the place right beside the best udon stand in the district right?" both of them were trying to make sure that they knew what each other was talking about.

"Heh! You have good taste. That's right, it's that place. There's one office in that building being run by a high school student from Sacred Forest Academy. His name is Doumyouji Kuuga" Kazuya's mouth gaped after hearing the name. He was not unfamiliar with this person so after finding out that it was Kuuga that had struck against him twice now, Kazuya couldn't figure out what he should feel.

"(Fate sure has a wicked sense of humor)" Kazuya couldn't help but sigh. In this life, most of the people he saw as bad or enemies like Tomoyo turned out to be not as bad as he thought. Though he knew that he only met the people that were good to him in his previous life because of his circumstances, the gratitude he had for them was still fresh in his mind.

From what Kazuya had experienced in the void of darkness, he had categorized people he met to be good or bad. This was why any people who he categorized as bad would have to go through a lot before they could prove that they were indeed not like people that was engraved in his memories. This was the case with both Tomoyo who had proven her change, and Kurumi who seemed to have been following the same path.

"You caught on quickly" the boy assumed Kazuya understood the position Doumyouji Kuuga held from his reaction. "That's right, he's one of the sons of the Doumyouji Clan. They are one of the groups that manage this territory. The groups here have already been trying hard to leave behind and clean up all the shady businesses that's why people like him have been taking advantage of it. Make sure you don't give in to any requests from the people that come from there or you might regret it"

"Is his business well known by the locals?" This was the first time he heard of this and it didn't seem like Ousame and his men did either.

"I'm a bit special so I know about it but most people in the know are already aware of it now that the secret has been revealed. Most people don't really care since they weren't privy to the information that he got involved with such a person and that guy mostly dealt with rich kids and their problems so everyone took it with a grain of salt" he explained.

Kazuya wanted to deny it but he couldn't. He already knew much about Doumyouji Kuuga's past in his previous life to confirm with the current information he had that the person he was indebted to turned out to be an enemy of his in this life. With the limited number of people that have been nice to him in his previous life, it now turned out that one of them schemed against him because of the change of events in his return, how could Kazuya not feel bad?

He was utterly devastated when he lost both his home and his purpose in life. He was alone and couldn't really find a place to stay so he opted to sleep outside since that would save more money than staying at a internet or manga café. This was when he met and helped a young man who he stumbled upon in the park he slept in.

He helped the young man and after a few days, he recovered and came looking for him. Doumyouji Kuuga then offered him a place to stay which coincidentally was in this life known as the office he used for his operations. That old building was now the place where the orders to hurt him came from. The person before him didn't know who he was and thought that he was just a common victim of the difficulties in the district so there wasn't any reason to lie to him.

"(Is this a repercussion of me changing history's course?)" he thought. "(Kuuga nii-san should still be in high school right?)" he was caught totally off guard as he regretted feeling excited over the discovery of the person that was able to hide himself for two years. Kazuya didn't really know what to think or feel at the moment.

*SLAM* the doors burst open as another young man barged in.

"Speak of the devil" the boy sitting across Kazuya commented as he too turned towards the source of the noise.

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"(It's him)" Kazuya noticed the younger version of the Doumyouji Kuuga he got along with in his previous life.

"huff… huff… that crazy bitch!" Kuuga cursed as he tried to catch his breath. "One of these days I'll make her kiss the tip of my shoes!" he hit the wall and did not care about the attention he was attracting.

"Yo! This isn't the place for you to be acting so cocky" the boy who sat across Kazuya raised his voice so that Kuuga can hear it.

"You…" Kuuga looked at who dared speak to him like that. "Akabane Hachi! You better tell your sister to stay the hell away from me or I'll—" he stopped as he noticed the boy who was frowning across from the brother of that accursed girl who was just chasing him.

"Or you'll what?" he was a little intimidated as Kuuga took large strides and stopped right in front of Kazuya.

"Looks like it was true. Someone really did do their job well and brought you here" Kuuga wiped the sweat on his forehead and sinisterly looked at Kazuya.

There was no longer any reason to deny it at this point. Kuuga had just presented himself which was like confessing to his crime right in front of Kazuya who was still trying to deny his involvement in all of this.

"You know this kid?" Hachi looked at both of them with a complex look. He was just warning Kazuya over avoiding Kuuga after all.

"Let's just say that there's a client that wants him to be handled" he glanced at Hachi before looking triumphantly over Kazuya once more. "I'll make it easy on you kid. I'm a pretty simple guy. Since you're already here then there would be no more escape for you. All I want is from you to call that pretty sister of yours and have her come to my office alone. Both of you will be set free after that"

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