160 A Lead

.

One month quickly passed. Many changes have occurred in the last few days that made people unsure on where to focus their attention.

The Aoki group together with their idol Kuronuma Ayame, released a statement where they found that the songs that she used were credited to the wrong person. They apologized to the original composer and promised to take legal actions towards the people that lied to them.

Hamasaki Hikaru was given full credit for her work and was granted the rights and compensation she deserved. The Kurogane clan already had enough bad publicity that they didn't choose to fight the case. They gave a generous settlement in exchange for the secrecy of Kurogane Sousuke's deeds and his relation to the victim.

Another shocking event was the official announcement of the continued collaboration between the Kouzuki Corporation and Kazuno Technologies. The demonstration they had given during their technological expo had gathered interest from across the shores and in which they announced that the versions for international release were already under development.

It seemed that the Kurogane Corporation didn't want to sit around waiting to be outshined so they too made their move. They released a statement in which they announced the end of partnerships between the companies that wanted their cooperation to end and gave a statement welcoming their competitors while offering a generous price in exchange for a nonexclusive clause in their contract.

The opponents of the said companies saw this as an opportunity and so did many small businesses so they immediately signed up for the chance that was given by the Kuroganes. Many other businesses saw this as a shameless and desperate move and called them out for it. The Kurogane Conglomerate merely responded with; "You've always called us black hearted businessmen and all negative names, so we'll act in the way you label us. We are a business in the end so call us what you will, we will do business with anyone who would prefer affordable prices that guarantee quality over what you all have."

Due to Jonson's theory, Maron had taken up the responsibility of confirming if he was indeed engaged to the high school actress, Kazuno Kaguya. Her efforts immediately gave Kazuya a headache after he just started attending Hikaru's class again. The commotion Maron's causing and Kazuya's silence over the matter resulted in the rumor that the person he was engaged to was the ever so mysterious Kazuno Kaguya.

Kanade, Mei and Kyouko couldn't help but laugh after hearing about this rumor. They rarely got a chance to tease Kazuya so they immediately made a plan that he couldn't reject. Kanade suggested an advertisement before Kazuno Kaguya disappeared from the public eye. She already knew that Kazuya would have to stop coming to the Aoki group as Kaguya because Ayame was bound to hear the rumor so she was determined to get him to make him appear as Kaguya one last time.

Kazuya tried to reject the idea but was inevitably convinced by the three women. He was powerless against his mother and Mei. Kanade added reason and stated that since Kazuno Kaguya never existed in the first place, even if the Kurogane clan dared to make a move whilst they were under investigation, they wouldn't be able to find someone who did not exist in the first place.

The Kurogane clan didn't need to investigate as Kazuya casually confirmed the rumor when Tenma asked. He would never put Mei in any kind of danger so he decided to bear with the embarrassing situation for the time being. Though Tenma also wanted to ask about the collaboration between the Kouzuki Corporation and Kazuno Tech, Shishio already informed him that Kazuya already made it clear that he would not spill any secrets that would give each side any advantage. He even swore upon his name just to make his point.

Tenma and Shishio were of course irritated after confirming the news about Kazuya's betrothal. They had spent numerous amount of resources in their plans to get rid of Shiroyuki Tomoyo only to find out that they set their sights upon the wrong person. It would have a consolation if the plan had succeeded but not only did Shiroyuki Tomoyo survive, an investigation was opened that had their clan at the top of the list of suspects.

Though they immediately wanted to make a move against this Kazuno Kaguya, Yuriko and her team of detectives opened cases against specific members of the Kurogane Clan for various different crimes. Since they had already removed all pretenses and openly did business without a care for reputation, many individuals have stepped up to support these cases which made the Kurogane clan be on the defensive.

-

Kazuya sat in front of his computer while repeatedly tapping at his desk. He had been exchanging messages with an unknown person who had appeared out of nowhere and had been poking around the numerous old posts that Kazuya had scattered around various message boards ever since he was given a second chance.

Checking the old posts he scattered around had become a habit for him because of the people who tried to decipher the scripts he had written. He had been quite busy recently so he intended to indulge the people who always wanted to talk about them but, very recently this same person had been making different attempts in trying to see if Kazuya really understood what he had been posting.

"(This person definitely knows elven scripts…)" he couldn't help but wonder who this person was or how they were able to read what he had written. "(Let's give it a shot then…)" he quickly took a fountain pen and began to write a message in elven script before posting it on the thread that had been the most active recently.

"[Who are you?]"

Kazuya waited anxiously while ignoring the continuous calls that were causing his cell phone to distract him on the side of the desk. The calls were switching from Kanade and Ayame so he decided to ignore it. He already predicted how the girl would have reacted once the rumors between him and his alter ego were left unanswered by the sudden disappearance of Kazuno Kaguya.

"[Someone who is wondering the same thing as you]"

The person replied with a script of his of his own. Kazuya immediately went into action and went non-stop on his keyboard.

*clak clak clak clak clak*

"What's with that racket? What's gotten you all worked up all of a sudden?" Tsuna who had taken over the basement and turned it to his own personal room wondered what the commotion was about. He felt a flicker of mana coming from above and saw Kazuya ignoring his presence while typing away at the computer.

"I think I found that person Tsuna-san." Kazuya turned a screen over to face Tsuna which indicated a place that was on one of the mountains in the prefecture.

"Which person?" Tsuna's was curious. He and Kazuya had temperaments that were similar to each other. They were quite solitary and reclusive towards people. They would rather stay with the people they already know rather than meeting new ones so seeing Kazuya excited over a person meant that it was someone unique.

"There is a high chance that it is the person who broke in here and disrupted the formation." Kazuya showed the conversation and explained why he thought so. Though he didn't leave that much protection over the heart of the formation, one couldn't simply find it or even disrupt it to the point of almost breaking the formation itself. It required not only knowledge on ancient runes and spells, any person who could do anything must first have an adequate amount of mana.

"You have a point. What do you think we should do?" Though Tsuna believed that no normal person could have done what Kazuya described, he knew firsthand just how wide the world was. There were people that were capable of making use of mana despite how thin it is on Earth compared to Edea.

"Do you mind taking a stroll with me to the mountains?" Kazuya grinned. He couldn't wait to get his hands on the person who entered his home and almost caused his formation to go haywire.

Though Kazuya said that he was taking a stroll with Tsuna, these strolls they had were usually to find places where they could battle to their heart's content. Though it didn't occur that often, the people that accompanied them over the years always came back with extreme admiration towards the two.

Mame had stepped up to accompany his young master and Tsuna for their stroll. It had been a while since these two faced each other and seeing the weapon that was hanging on Tsuna's back, he knew that there was definitely going to be a battle.

Amongst the people Kazuya has gathered to work for him over the years, Mame had been the one who had been most dedicated to improving himself to meet Kazuya's standards. This was why Kazuya allowed him to serve directly in the Kouzuki household. This way, he would be exposed to more things to broaden his horizons and make him double his efforts.

"Isn't this place quite farther than usual, Young master?" Mame decided to ask after they arrived at a mountain village that was at the north of the prefecture.

"We're not here to train Mame. Tsuna-san and I will be meeting someone who has once visited the Kouzuki household in the past." A sinister grin appeared on Kazuya's face.

"Sigh… (This kid sure likes to hold grudges…)" Tsuna shook his head and got off the vehicle after they arrived in front of a small general store.

Mame went inside to ask for information, the shopkeeper said that there is a cabin high up in the mountain that should match the location they were looking for.

"Do you feel it?" Tsuna turned towards Kazuya as they made their way up the trail into the forest.

"The mana is growing denser as we continue to move up. It seems like we've come to the right place." He gave a nod and looked forward to seeing who it was that was responsible for this.

Mame quietly walked behind them and watched out for anything that might suddenly come out. All he knew about the conversation was that the mana here was comparable to the Kouzuki clan's main house. Though Kazuya had introduced the subordinates he trusted about mana, their understanding of it weren't in the same level as Mei, Kyouko or even Tomoyo and Nanami.

Even though his knowledge was limited, Mame still felt the difference between the atmosphere outside the Kouzuki residence compared to other places. It was like comparing a polluted area to a remote suburb when one could immediately tell the difference. He could tell why his young master wanted to go here, someone had replicated whatever he had done in the Kouzuki house and it was likely to be the intruder that Kazuya had been trying to get a grasp of all this time.

"Hmm"

"This is…"

Both Kazuya and Tsuna stopped without warning. Mame who had been nervous, looked around cautiously. He didn't believe that it was a coincidence that these two suddenly halted. Before he knew it, Kazuya was already holding a Katana on his waist. This was the weapon he used against the heavy staff that hung on Tsuna's back.

"Mame" Kazuya's voice made him snap out of his thoughts. "Go back and wait for us in the village." Kazuya didn't turn to look at him but focused on his surroundings.

"But young master… what about capturing the intruder?" Mame wanted to help. Though he was nowhere near what the two before him, he was willing to become a distraction if needed be.

"Go back. Whoever is staying here should already be aware that Tsuna-san and I are here. This is not a situation where I would need you to step up for me." Kazuya and Tsuna sped up their ascent and disappeared from where they stood almost instantly.

What they felt was a detection field that was very similar to the one in the Kouzuki estate. There was no need for further confirmation, they had come to the right place and this person was indeed knowledgeable in not only mana but also formations. Whoever is staying at this place deliberately set-up a similar system that Kazuya did.

"Why do you think this person trespassed to ruin your formation?" Tsuna asked as they moved through the forest.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.

"My formation was designed to gather mana that was outside the range of intended place for mana to converge. Whoever is staying here must have ruined the formation on purpose because they couldn't gather enough mana to maintain the current density in the area." Kazuya surmised. He summoned a black cloak from his ring and covered his head with a hood before putting on a mask.

They were in the northern prefecture and the village was even farther north. While the mana is thicker in the mountains compared to the city, whoever the culprit was, weren't satisfied with what they had. The already existing formation monopolized and gathered the mana around the prefecture. The culprit decided to track the source which led them to the Kouzuki residence which was the heart of the formation around their neighborhood.

Now that Kazuya figured this out, he was itching to find out who this person was. It could be said that two tigers cannot live in the same mountain. Instead of this tiger finding another mountain to live in, it had decided to intrude upon Kazuya's territory and even trespassed on his home.

"Calm down…" Tsuna felt the rising killing intent coming from Kazuya. He understood this boy's overprotectiveness towards his family more than anyone. "We need to get information from this person. Whoever this is, we need to know where they got the ability to understand elven scriptures."

"I know... I want to know why and how this—" both of them turned in different directions and immediately drew their weapons.

*SHINK!*Kazuya drew his sword and slashed at the vines that suddenly attacked.

*KLANG!* Tsuna deflected a projectile which he saw had been an arrow after it landed on the ground.

"Looks like there isn't only one culprit." Kazuya looked towards the two figures that hid above a tall tree a distance away from them.

"Should we take one each?"

.