174 v3 SS2: Priorities 2 in 1

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A few weeks have passed ever since the controversial press conference that revealed the devious propaganda that Kurogane Sousuke had started. What the people affected did not expect however, was the public's eye being attracted to Kazuno Kaguya's revelation that she was none other than Kouzuki Kazuya himself.

The person in question already expected a backlash of negativity thrown towards him but, despite his expectations, the majority of the people supporting him had overwhelmed the people that thought badly of him.

"Their support is mostly due to Kurogane Sousuke trying to push it too far with trying to pressure us using the public's opinion." Kyouko commented. "People do not like being played like fools."

Due to this unexpected turn of events, Kazuya could only shake his head and sigh as he had no way of rejecting both Mei and his mother's opinion of letting him continue on becoming the face of both companies. The story he told during the press conference had touched a lot of people's hearts after all.

The fact that he decided to not take a single cent from what he gained from the Kurogane corporation was also a big factor in gaining the public's support. The support he had given to the companies that have once been the victim of the devious movements of the Kurogane conglomerate were a big help in solidifying the Kouzuki clan's reputation.

"Is there any update from Sacred Forest Academy's board members?" Kazuya turned to Mei.

The flatlands that was once known as the Kurogane property had been offered to the executives of Sacred Forest Academy in exchange for the current campus and its surrounding land. The Kouzuki clan had declared that they had no interest in the land and said that it would be a better location for the educational institution to be built.

"Even though we offered them an exchange with no strings attached, they offered us quite a generous number of shares and a seat in the board of directors." Mei smiled. "With everyone's eyes on everything we do with what used to belong to the Kurogane clan, they would be criticized if they didn't offer that much."

With the rapid expansion of both the Kouzuki corporation and Kazuno Tech, there was a need for them to build new facilities. Though the land that the Kurogane clan was indeed the most suitable place for them to build, Kazuya had long chosen to try and acquire the land that belonged to his school.

His first reason was that the place that he was summoned from had been in the forest close to the school. The second reason was that the location near the mountains behind sacred forest academy was perfectly secluded and more suitable to build the home that he had promised Natsu and his high elven wife. Of course, another reason was that exchanging the land that he saw as tainted with an educational institution that was struggling with expansion was good camouflage.

"Won't the current people still against us protest that we used what you inherited from the Kuroganes for your own benefit?" Kou raised a concern that had been bugging him.

"That is why we offered the exchanged with no strings attached at first." Kazuya replied with a smile. "Besides, I never said that I would not use everything I got, I only said that I would never use money I inherited for myself. As we have technically donated the land to a school, we can just say that whoever keeps complaining is needlessly nitpicking."

Kazuya was confident in this decision as the Kouzuki clan did not hide their activities with how they used the money that had been obtained from the Kurogane clan. 50% of everything that had been used to compensate the clan's past victims, 25% had been donated to research, and the remaining 25% had been given to a former member of the main branch whose identity had been kept a secret.

This of course was Hamasaki Hikaru whose life had been changed because of his interventions in this life. Though the person herself was not aware of his true intentions, Kazuya did not take no for an answer and simply transferred the money without a second thought.

"Will it really be fine?" Kou still wasn't convinced. The current Kouzuki corporation had reached such heights in just a short amount of time and he was still not used to it.

"It will be fine." Mei grinned. "The directors of the school have even begun to announce the deal to the public and have been contacting multiple companies capable of swiftly building their new facilities. It will most likely take less than a year for the new Sacred Forest Academy to be built at this rate."

"Well if you two girls are confident, I guess I'm just worrying for nothing." Kou decided to leave it to his daughter and the capable Mei who had gained his trust through her own efforts.

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"Just focus on keeping everyone safe grandpa." Kazuya gave Kou a meaningful glance as if saying not to let his guard down. Though the biggest danger had been taken care of, there might be desperate remnants intending to hinder them. Kazuya himself knew that he still needs to take care of a few loose ends before he completely relaxes.

"Ou! Leave it to me!" Kou thumped his chest and turned to his grandson after a sudden thought. "You should also talk of the old bat's granddaughter. He's been contacting me nonstop cause that girl has been feeling devastated ever since you revealed your identity."

Kazuya's eyebrow twitched as he gave a sigh. He had completely forgotten about Ayame and though he didn't want to admit it, he didn't even think about what she would think when he decided to reveal himself as Kazuno Kaguya.

"I'll get to that eventually…" he had no idea what he would say or how he would even face her.

-

Two weeks later, an important meeting with several important members of Kazuno Technologies was about to take place. The members weren't briefed about what would take place but the members were already somewhat used to it because these were the times where the mysterious boss would show himself in the avatar they were already used to.

"Hey Natsuhiko-san, don't you think this sudden meeting feels weird?" Kippei turned towards Natsu who was mysteriously included in meetings that only used to include members consisting of pioneer employees.

"Why do you say that?" Natsu who was more or less aware of the purpose of the meeting tried to dodge the question.

"Well… don't we have a guild gathering later today as well? The boss himself announced the gathering so it wouldn't make sense if we got ourselves involved in a main project so suddenly." Kippei crossed his arms. He had just set himself free from the mountain of work that he had been assigned with so he was afraid to get in trouble with Mei or Winter.

"You should just watch what you say and you wouldn't get yourself in trouble Kippei-san." Natsu grinned.

"Urk… can you blame me? It's Winter's own fault that he is such an interesting topic for both rumors and discussions. His identity aside, the relationships he has with our boss or even the shockingly beautiful Autumn-chan are interesting topics!"

"Well I can't deny that…" Natsu nodded as he too shared the same opinion.

Ever since Mei moved back to the Kouzuki residence, he was surprised at the relationship that Mei shared with Kazuya. What seemed to have been a strange relationship that was should have been similar to a child and an adult made sense if one knew about Kazuya's experiences.

It was obvious in Natsu's or even Lailah's eyes that Kazuya had been holding himself back with Mei's advances because of his determination to head back to Edea. What was even more interesting was that after Natsu learned about the relationship between Autumn Mist and Winter Fog in Kazuya's first life. Kazuya had no idea that the Hikaru had formed ambiguous feelings after Hikaru discovered that the sudden support had been because of their guild master's actions..

Though Hikaru had tried her best to hide it during their conversations online or in guild gatherings, a part of her couldn't control herself whenever the conversation ended up mentioning the mysterious Winter Fog. Even though Natsu had been gone for some time himself, he was already aware of the friendship the two had formed when they played the game.

Unfortunately for any girl that was interested in Kazuya, the boy in question had already steeled himself to not even consider such relations. This was something that Natsu gave Kazuya admiration for and why he was confident that Kazuya was someone that was worth giving his trust to.

"You live at Kouzuki Kazuya's place right?" Kippei decided to shift the conversation before he got himself in trouble again. "Do you think the rumors about him circulating recently are true?"

"Which rumors?" Natsu tried to hold back a laugh because his colleague had been unaware that his attempt to get himself out of trouble had been for naught.

"Well the rumors were about him being engaged to the boss younger sister who turned out to be him in disguise so…" Kippei pulled up a discussion on the laptop in front of him and showed it to Natsu.

[Anonymouse: Those two are definitely secret lovers! Under the pretense of being both girls, they were quite affectionate in public weren't they?]

[GenericName: Nooo! My Ayame-sama must have been a victim to a crossdresser pretending to be a girl!]

[BlackMirror: kukuku~ Those two might be doing it in their dressing rooms for all we know~]

[MuscleFan: Above poster is a perv… Though, being in such close proximity, Ayame-sama should have been aware right?]

[ImRox: Definitely secret lovers!]

"These…" Natsu had been aware of Kazuya's struggles with thinking about how to deal with Kuronuma Ayame so he was taken aback at the rumors that would probably made things harder for the two of them.

"Do you know anything? As much as I would like to defend the young mi… master, I have no idea since I wasn't told anything about it."

"it's definitely just a rumor." A voice coming from behind the two suddenly interrupted.

Kippei turned around and found the boy that he was just inquiring about.

"K-kouzuki Kazuya!" Kippei's outburst made everyone aware of Kazuya's stealthy appearance as they stood in attention to the person who they recognized last time as Mei's little sister.

Ever since they saw the press conference, the staff were confused on how they should treat Kazuya. Kazuno Mei's sister was someone that never existed so they had no idea on how to see Kazuya from then on. Though he was the person who will inherit the Kouzuki company, Kazuno Technologies was a separate company in itself and their CEO had did not give any instructions about it so they were lost in how to proceed.

"There's no need to be confused everyone." Kazuya smiled and walked towards the seats reserved for the directors. "You can treat me the same as always. Of course, not as Kazuno Kaguya." He turned to welcome Mei who entered with Anri.

Everyone was confused about what Kazuya meant. If they couldn't treat him the way they treated him when he appeared as Kazuno Kaguya, what did he mean by treat him as usual?

""!!?"" Kippei and the rest were surprised when Kazuya had taken the center seat where Winter Fog's hologram always appeared. It was a seat that Mei had been adamant about not taking yet she had ignored the young boy who stood in front of it.

"Good morning everyone. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Kouzuki Kazuya. I've appeared in front of everyone as Kazuno Kazuya a few times, everyone her should have met me as 'Winter Fog' before the company was established."

"""Huuuuuuuuuuuhhh!??!?!"""

-

Kazuya left Kazuno Tech after the long meeting. They announced that they had finalized the deal with Sacred Forest Academy and had obtained the mountain where the school stood as property of the Kouzuki clan. They would give the school time to build their new facilities before taking over the place where the school stood so Kazuno Tech would be building their new facilities in the undeveloped areas of the mountain in the meantime.

He arrived at his next destination and stared at the long flight of stairs that led to the main property that belonged to the Kuronuma clan.

"HAAAAH!!" Ayame shouted as she attacked the opponents that surrounded her in the dojo.

"Uwaahh!"

"ack!"

"Owww!"

"ooof!"

"Gah!"

*huff huff* Ayame maintained a cold expression as the next group of opponents to go up against her hesitated to come forward.

After she found out the truth, Ayame had taken a break from her activities as a celebrity and once again picked up the sword. It was also the day that the nightmares of the members as well as the instructors of the Kuronuma dojo began.

Though they were initially glad that Ayame had once again rejoined their practice, the idol's intensity and ferocity had left several members unable to keep a happy face when paired up against her. Even Ayame's own grandfather had started pestering his friend in order to resolve the source of Ayame's current rampage.

After Kazuno Kaguya's true identity had been revealed, Ayame felt a myriad of emotions. Rage, shame, embarrassment were those that made her the most frustrated. More than being mad at Kazuya who had been fooling her all this time, Ayame was mad at herself and felt stupid to have never realized such a fact even though he had already been so close to her all this time. The fact that she even confessed her feelings towards him without even realizing it made it worse.

What bothered her the most was that Kaguya's reaction and attitude towards her when they first met had made sense. The girl who originally didn't want to have anything to do with her was forced to become her friend because of Ayame's own insistence. She wondered whether she unconsciously felt Kazuya that made her do such a stupid thing but in the end, it was her own fault that she was in such a predicament.

"Ayame" Komori called out to her after just arriving.

"Are you finally going to spar against me again grandfather?" Ayame turned to Komori wearing an expectant gaze. He was the only one who did not hesitate to fight her in their dojo but had refrained from facing her ever since she started practicing again.

"No." Komori shook his head. "You have a visitor." He stepped aside and revealed the boy who she never expected to see in her own home.

"!!" unaware of the glares the members of the dojo shot towards Kazuya, Ayame froze at the sight of Kazuya.

"Quite the unexpected reaction." Kazuya looked at the hostile members who held the emotions he expected Ayame to show towards him and understood the situation.

They had suffered because of him so Kazuya really couldn't blame them for being hostile towards him.

"What are you doing here?" Ayame finally got over her shock and shot Kazuya a glare.

As much as she wanted to celebrate the very first time that Kazuya sought after her, Ayame's pride didn't allow her to simply forgive him for what he had done.

"Though it was due to various reasons, the fact still remains that I have deceived you." Kazuya slowly bowed towards Ayame. "I don't expect you to forgive me but I wanted to give you my sincerest apologies."

When Ayame saw the conference where Kaguya revealed himself as Kazuya, Ayame was enraged enough to want to rush to the scene and give him a beating. The only reason why she didn't even try to come close to him was because she understood the reasons why he had done such a thing. She felt as if when Kazuya was explaining himself in the press conference, he had been talking to her.

"Did Shoroyuki Tomoyo know?" Ayame couldn't help but ask the one thing about the situation that she was most curious about.

"She knew about it." Kazuya was confused at the sudden question but answered it anyway. He saw the regretful expression Ayame held after his reply and remembered how she saw Tomoyo as a rival after their duel.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" forgetting that they were still surrounded with people, Ayame continued.

"It was a matter that concerned the safety of many people I care about." Kazuya explained. "I hope you don't take it the wrong way but our relationship only involved meeting a few times so I hope you understand why I couldn't reveal such an important secret to someone I hardly know."

He knew that his words would hurt her but it was the truth. Though Kazuya saw Ayame as an interesting person, that was all that she was. She was not a comrade nor a friend that he could risk Mei's safety for.

"You couldn't have told me after hearing how I felt about you?"

"I don't understand that logic." Kazuya shook his head sideways. "Just because you claim to have feelings for me does not automatically make me trust you, nor should I. The mere fact that you only took an interest in me in the first place is because you sensed my affinity with controlling mana is enough reason for me to doubt whether you are attracted to me as a person."

"Wha—" Ayame was immediately irritated after hearing his words.

The only advantage that Ayame could think about after everything that happened was that he should have understood how she felt about him because some of the discussions Ayame had with Kaguya was something that normally would have never reached Kazuya's ears. Yet she couldn't believe that Kazuya was doubting her feelings for him.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I wasn't listening to any of the conversations we had as Kazuno Kaguya. It is just that unlike lets say, the robot girl or Nanami-san, you moved with the assumption that I would like you and never really got to know anything about me."

"…" Ayame trembled after hearing his words.

"I don't know if it had anything to do with your confidence or pride but what you did and planned to do would have only made me want to avoid you more."

Ayame felt like she had been splashed with cold water. She was looking directly at him and she could tell that he wasn't telling a lie. It was one thing being compared to Tomoyo who was not only always beside him but was someone she considered a rival but, a person who she hardly even put her eyes on was included as an example.

"So I am no match for even Akabane Nanami…" Ayame felt like her confidence was shattering like a broke mirror. "In the end, you chose Shiroyuki Tomoyo…"

"No." Kazuya shook his head. "I told her almost the same thing when it came to the unsure feelings she had for me. I have no interest in such relationships until I accomplish something I had been preparing for even before we ever met."

"Then does that mean that you don't recognize the engagement that was set by your grandfather?" Ayame finally heard a piece of good news and tried to grab onto it.

"Yes. I already told her that was the case."

"Then—" Ayame was immediately cut off.

"This conversation is going off track. I believe I have done what I came here to do so I will excuse myself." Kazuya bowed politely and swiftly walked away before Ayame could add anything more.

"This…" she clenched her fists as this was a clear indication of his rejection.

"Ayame-sama…" the other students gave her concerned looks as there was hardly anyone in the dojo who didn't know that she had set her sights on Kouzuki Kazuya ever since they met.

Kazuya's rejection had come right after his apology so no one could say that they expected it. To the members of the dojo, Ayame who was both talented with the sword and a real-life idol was a dream like girl who they were lucky to just be in the presence of. They all shared silent admiration for the boy who could have done what they would never have been able to.

"Ayame" Komori put a hand on his granddaughter's shoulder.

"Granpa…" Ayame turned to him with teary eyes.

"Make him regret everything he said." Komori really didn't know how to comfort her so he could only think of his own way of dealing with frustration. "Become someone who is leagues better than anyone who he is even considering."

Komori didn't want to see his granddaughter being more depressed than she already is. The only good thing that happened after everything that happened is that Ayame had picked up the sword again. With Akabane Nanami joining the Shiroyuki dojo, Komori's own dojo was slowly getting overshadowed in terms of popularity amongst the young people.

"Make him regret…" Ayame repeated those words. Her gaze grew sharper as she looked at where Kazuya walked away from.

"I'll do it. I'll become better than anyone who chooses to buzz around him and prove that he is making the biggest mistake if he doesn't choose me."

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