.

At the Stockton mansion, Kurumi and Maron were frowning towards the man of the house. The servants couldn't help but feel bad for the head of the household, Jonson, because he had the dissatisfaction of not only his niece but his little princess as well.

"Why aren't we still allowed to got to school, Dad? It's already been days!" Kurumi grumbled.

"Ku-chan's right uncle! I need to train more so that I can crush that guy at the game like I used to!"

It was after hearing these two that Jonson felt even worse. His daughter aside, no one ever thought that Maron of all people would so eager to go to school. Their attendance wouldn't affect them much at school because even though they went every day, they were still part of the elite S class.

Maron had been training hard in her club so that she could challenge Kouzuki Kazuya to a game and restore the things to the way they were before he revealed his true athleticism. She wasn't as arrogant as she was before because someone had already crushed her so thoroughly that she couldn't even brag about the advantages of that genetics had so graciously given her.

Kurumi on the other hand had taken a strange yet quiet path. While it may have seemed weird, she found her own way of competing with Kazuya. She wanted to be able to move around him without being detected. His continuous and impeccable sensitivity to the presences around him awoke a weird sort of competitiveness in her. She wanted to be able to follow him around without being discovered or detected.

He had to hand it to Kouzuki Kazuya. Even though his new self hasn't spent much of his time with these girls, he was still mainly responsible for the changes that occurred in them. They may not have been on the best of terms but it was clear to see that the influence he had with both Kurumi and surprisingly, Maron was clear for anyone to see.

"It really hasn't been that long since you joined the Sacred Forest Academy and both of you changed a lot" Jonson sighed. "Haven't you two seen the news lately?" he glanced towards one of the servants who slowly came to his side while holding a tablet that he used to show them the recent reports that were shown in the news.

"[Yet another child has been reported missing in the H prefecture yet again. The police are suspecting a specific criteria but has not yet made an announcement with regards to the missing individuals]" the servant stopped the video after that and stepped back.

"Is this why you've stopped us from going to school, Dad? Missing children?" Kurumi frowned. This wasn't what she had expected and thought that it had been something more serious.

"Uncle…" she looked at him with a little pity. She felt that his overprotectiveness had grown to an unhealthy state since it had begun affecting their education.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that" he felt a little embarrassed after being misunderstood. He might have been a little overprotective, but he believed that it was still within reason. "Did you know that the three missing children are all from your school?"

""Our school?"" this was news to them. They were usually paying attention to the recent events but ever since they had new goals in mind, they have paid less attention to their usual routines and have changed to focus on achieving what they both set out to do.

"Yes, the Sacred Forest Academy " he explained himself. "One of them is even from the elementary school department"

""Who!?"" the two girls turned to Jonson worriedly. They were stopped from going to school these past days and from the numerous people in their elementary department, there has only been one case where a single individual had stirred up a lot of commotion. This was Kazuya's attempted kidnapping or murder.

"A girl from your class named Muimina Ringo. She is the heiress of the Ringo corporation, they are the makers of those devices you both preferred to use" the two girls looked at each other and nodded after Jonson informed them.

"We don't want those things anymore"

"To hell with that company and their products"

Both of them shared the same opinion. With the run-in they had with Ringo, it was enough for them to boycott all the products the company had to offer. Jonson couldn't blame them. Even though he felt a bit of pity towards the missing heiress, from what he's heard, Ringo wasn't even close to how she was portrayed publicly.

"You girls…" they had totally missed the point. He knew that these girls didn't like Ringo but weren't they being a bit too indifferent?

"Why do we have to be affected by that girl's disappearance?" Maron complained.

"I think Maron-chan is right Dad. Whatever happened to her may have been because she is not a good girl" Kurumi added.

"That's not very nice…" Jonson wasn't really surprised with their reaction because of the bad impression the missing girl had left. He agreed with his own daughter even though her opinion didn't really involve any deep meanings. Two of the three missing people from the Sacred Forest Academy had a questionable background after all.

Rumors have been circulating around that the yakuza groups have been causing a stir around lately. There have been major changes in power. Every shift usually garnered a lot of violence and this time wasn't an exception.

The only thing that was strange about it this time was that it was triggered by one yakuza group's action against one of the companies that Jonson himself had his eye on. Rumors have been spreading around that a specific group that had attacked that company had failed and fallen on the same day.

If things weren't crazy enough as it was, several pieces of information have been going around that the Muimina family and their corporation had been secretly supporting the group that attacked the rising company. Several pieces of evidences were surfacing right after a grandson from one of the groups responsible for the downfall of the Dokuro group had gone missing.

"So can we go back to school now Dad?" Kurumi looked at her father with watery eyes.

"No can do. You'll have to remain here until things have calmed down a bit" Jonson's decision remained firm. "Not to worry. From what I've heard, it should not be too long now"

.

At the Ringo Corporation's main office, Muimina Budou and his wife had crestfallen faces as they looked at the contents of a small package that had been sent. It was a finger that had been frozen solid. Their scans indicated that the fingerprint on this finger belongs to none other than Ringo so they could only worry for their daughter's safety right now.

*SLAM*

"Those bastards actually dare!!!" Budou slammed both his fists on the table feeling both enraged and helpless. Things haven't been going well for him recently as the other group he had been slowly building up suddenly got attacked by the same group that attacked the Dokuro clan. With the continuous losses, all the money he had been hiding had fallen into the hands of the enemy along with the powers he had at his disposal.

To make things worse, the apple of his eye had suddenly disappeared without a trace. He hadn't noticed because he was preoccupied with the problems he was currently facing but no one could tell where Ringo and the people who he sent to guard her had gone to after a concert they went to on the previous night.

"Dear… we need to ask them for help. We don't have anything else to lose at this point" Ringo's mother whose tears already ruined her makeup told her husband.

This was not the first time she suggested this but Budou rejected it because he didn't want to owe the Kurogane clan something until Ringo and Suzaku had been bound by marriage. They were yet to be called a family and knowing the Kuroganes, he would have to pay a big price to elicit their help.

"I have no other choice… my daughter…" he took out his phone with a heavy heart and dialed the personal number given to him by Kurogane Shishio.

"Hello?" Shishio answered with an emotionless voice. "What can I do for you Budou-san?"

"I need your family's help. My daughter has been taken by those filthy yakuza!" he didn't bother beating around the bush and stated the matter as it was.

"Muimina Ringo-chan was taken?" Shishio was silent for a moment before muttering "I see…" as if understanding what had been going on.

"What do you mean by that? Did you know what was going on?" Budou was getting quite irritated. He knew Shishio was a heartless man but he didn't know that he wouldn't show much concern over the kidnapping of his would be niece.

"I did not know that Ringo-chan was taken" he paused. "I merely just understood the actions the Domyouji clan has made after you told me so I regret to inform you that we will not be able to help. Even if it means losing future merging of our companies" Shishio stated heartlessly.

"WHY!?" Budou was flabbergasted. He didn't expect to be rejected by the last shred of hope he had to turn the situation around. The Kuroganes had sacrificed a great deal to have good relations with their family and corporation so he didn't expect them to simply let it go.

"Because of a stupid move made by your would-be nephew to impress our would be niece, our hands are tied on this matter. We would have originally given you aid but the Domyouji clan has declared that their actions against you are solely their actions alone and it was in response to a blood feud that has formed between the two of your families" Shishio explained.

"Blood feud? Why would we have something like that against those dirty yakuza!? Those are obviously lies and excuses!" Budou was enraged. This is the first time he has heard of this.

"Lies? Truth or not, the allies of the Domyouji clan decided to honor those words and did not offer any assistance. If we help you right now, with the Kouzuki clan's suspicion towards us trying to break the ceasefire, even a bigger war might start to break out" Shishio gave his judgement. "Please understand that we cannot offer any help this time around. The threat the Kouzuki clan poses right now is too great for us especially with their upcoming guest"

"I've actually made the mistake of underestimating your family. You are even more heartless than the rumors have said!" Budo said exasperated.

"We have our own circumstances so I know you will understand after you calm down" Shishio spoke without being affected by Budo's anger. "Let me just offer you a piece of information because we really do hope that your family can get through this without our help, the Domyouji clan may be those what you call 'yakuza' but they are one of the most honorable ones. If they said that you have developed a blood feud, then they have everything to back up their claims"

"Evidence? Honorable you say!? How honorable do you have to be to kidnap a little girl!?"

"It sounds like you really don't know" Shishio was a little surprised at this realization. Budou was not capable of being able to fool him with such an elaborate act. "Let me humor you, the Domyouji clan had barged into a specific warehouse at the ports. One that's specifically owned by your family and when they all left, the only thing that was carried out of the warehouse was a body bag that the men handled with so much care that one could only think if it had anything to do with one of the young masters that your daughter has been known to be associated with"

"Where did you find this information out from?" this was a surprising twist that he hadn't expected. Budou couldn't help but swallow all his anger after hearing such a thing.

"My immature nephew has already confessed to the plan he and your daughter had hatched against Kouzuki Kazuya. That specific young master they paid to mess with him was none other than the second young master of the Domyouji clan. He failed his task and did not give back some of the payment he received so a motive for your daughter to make him 'disappear' is quite plausible, yes?"

"My Ringo would never do something like that!" he denied it. He knew his daughter and if she hatched such a plan, she would have at least asked for his opinion if she did not delegate the task for him to assign.

"I've given you all the help I can for now. What you need to focus on now is to quickly determine the truth before Ringo-chan's time runs out. If you are indeed not part of the disappearance of the Domyouji clan's second young master, you must find out who did because only then will the anger of the Domyouji clan be calmed"

.