Chapter 284 - To Be Hated

"Wear your uniforms! Make sure you have seals with you! We're hunting that one down and eliminate it. Gather everyone you could in Tokyo and deal with it now!"

Kazehaya Gin ended the call. There was no need for him to tell Fuji to stop the car as he had already instructed the driver to do so. It was a good thing they were still in the countryside part, and the road was mostly clear.

"Young Master…"

There was an obvious worry in Fuji's voice and Gin nodded. The butler was asking his master to take him with him.

"Come," Gin said as he held out his hand, and Fuji immediately took it in in case he changed his mind.

In no time, they were up in the air, speeding towards his house. He needed to change too. Usually, people from the Kazehaya and Homura Houses wore their special clothing that was resistant to elements. It's the same clothing the Koutaishidenka wore when they hunted down the arachnids almost a week ago. This time, since they were dealing with shadow lurkers, they needed to don their special masks as well as those had seals to prevent infestation – not that they had tried it before to prove it worked.

Why? Because they had never known that shadow lurkers had crossed the portal until now. Knowing that his mother was a host was a shock to him. He wondered now if there were more out there that they didn't know about. Oh, but the seals his father placed worked on his mother so it should be okay. The last thing he needed was for his people who were part deities to become hosts.

Soon, he and Fuji were both geared up but without their masks. They kept them in a bag that Fuji would be carrying. They wouldn't be joining Shiro and the others yet. He had a more important matter to deal with first. He was about to head out when his phone rang, and his face darkened upon seeing who it was.

"Did you find them?" he barked on the phone and stopped to listen. "What? What do you mean she's missing?"

"But sir, we can't find her anywhere. Her bloody school uniform's all that's left in the place. The other two were unconscious and the kidnappers were mostly injured and a couple is dead. The only two remaining men here are not making sense when they speak. I didn't call the police as instructed."

Hearing this, Gin felt a bit nervous. "Tell me your location!" he ordered and didn't waste time going there. He grabbed Fuji and flew, although he had to land somewhere discreet so the others wouldn't see them. They were not Homura House's men after all.

"Where are they?" Gin demanded as soon as he walked into the warehouse in Kabukicho.

He and Fuji were surprised to see blood everywhere – the broken bodies on the floor, the one hanging on the ceiling and the two which dangled awkwardly through the wall.

"Young Master this…"

"It's Ara. She did this," Gin said with certainty.  

The moment he was told they were kidnapped, he was not really scared for her. He was scared for the people for he knew she was a demigod. Even if Alencica didn't have an elemental divine inheritance since she's a broken soul, she was blessed with strength.  

"President Kazehaya," the security he hired called his attention.

All five of them stood on the side with guilty expressions. But they had to face him and own up to their mistakes.

"We really apologize for this. We were not careful enough," he said as he reported about the garbage truck which blocked their path, the very quick kidnapping of the kids, and how the two girls, Miharu and Midori ran to them and showed them the video as soon as the van left.

"And the other kids?" Gin was asking about Sonoda and Rin of course.

"They were sent to the hospital. The girl is fine with just a few scratches. But the boy has broken ribs and some facial injuries."

Kazehaya's face looked grim by this time. He turned around and found Okada Koharu's stepdad and another man sitting on the ground with horrified expressions. It was as if they had seen something so terrifying that until now they were shocked.

"We tried taking information out from them but those two wouldn't talk about anything else except monsters."

Ha? Monsters?

Gin walked up towards the two and gave the stepdad a kick.

"Where did that Koharu take Ara?" he demanded, and the man looked at Gin as if he'd gone insane.

"Koharu! She turned into an ugly insect," he said loudly. "Then that other monster made her follow!"

Ha?

Gin knew that Okada Koharu had transformed. But he didn't know there was another one. "What other monster are you talking about?"

"The fox monster! The one with the dark energy coming out of her…" the stepdad said as he bent down and pulled at his hair.

Gin hadn't realized he'd held his breath as he listened.

Fox Monster with dark energy. He only ever saw one fox monster with dark energy oozing from her.

Czernobog.

But how was she here when she's in Hakone, fighting with Ryuu at the moment? How?

"Where did they go?" he demanded multiple times before the stepdad raised his hand to point at a nearby electric pole.

But then again, Gin didn't really have to ask him anymore where Koharu was. All he had to do was join his men in the hunt and they would find her. But the problem was Ara.

Where did she go?

Kazehaya Gin scowled as he saw Ara's bloodied uniform on the floor. He knew these hooligans couldn't take her on. Even with guns, she could play with them. But where was she?

A cold sensation covered his heart as a thought crossed his mind. Did the Black God take her? There was no other explanation for her absence. She's in danger!

He tried to call Ryuu again, but of course, he couldn't answer. He must still be in a fight. But who was he fighting with if Czernobog was here?

DAMN.  

He walked back to the security. "There are people coming here to clear the area. Make sure those two won't go anywhere."

Koharu's stepdad and his minion would be disposed of by the Homura House as was the plan. Too bad for Okada Koharu's adoptive parents though. Ryuu was kind enough to let her live until graduation, but the nutjob was too evil that she had incubated the elemental pest faster than normal.

But he didn't care about all of them now. He only cared about finding Ara and eliminating the evolved Koharu before she exploded and the shadow lurkers would transfer.

"Fuji, let's go!"

He and the butler went immediately to join Shiro and the others, hoping against hope that Ara was not really taken or that if she was, she'd be safe.