One more week later, Kisuke's preparation was already almost done, 'It's time to face Aunt Cleria's scolding for even attempting to bring Claire with me.'
Kisuke stood up and secured all the backup data he had in his storage before sending a text message to his mom and Cleria that he'd be coming over now.
After cleaning up a bit, he left his shop and used the proper transit to reach the Underworld. Since the annoying eyes on him have increased after it was released that he was the pioneer for the newly discovered world, he had to do everything properly so that they wouldn't have any reasons to confront him any further and jeopardize his plans, 'It's very tiring with all these eyes on me despite them not doing anything else. I really wonder how celebrities deal with this issue, or maybe they just like the attention?'
While enjoying the fresh air, the rapidly changing scenery, and emptying his head from intrusive thoughts, two hours went by before he reached the Belial state that had become rowdy these past few years, 'Eyes and noise once again... Although it was just two hours, I'm already missing it. I should really set aside some quiet time with others... Yosh! Let's do it before I leave!'
Due to this rowdiness, his grandparents couldn't move into the main residence and actually had to find somewhere quieter to avoid the unsavory people who didn't have any decorum.
Upon his arrival, the servants who were expecting him hurriedly greeted him and led him directly to the main office.
"Madam, young master Kisuke has arrived." The servant knocked on the door. Kisuke slightly reeled back at the mention of [Young Master] before his name, 'I really can't get used to this. Thank God that Yoruichi already stopped laughing at me because of this when they called her [Young Lady].'
"Let him in." Beyond the door, Cleria's voice was heard.
The servant opened the door for Kisuke and he thanked her. The moment he entered, all the gazes in the room landed on him. There were some people in the room that he was already expecting but he didn't think he'd meet them with Cleria.
"A bit nervous?" Cleria suddenly asked with a small smile.
Kisuke sighed and wore a wry smile, "Certainly... I'm basically asking you something very unreasonable and that pertains to your most precious daughter."
There were a total of seven people inside the room aside from Kisuke and all of them were sitting around the rectangular table. With some of the tea cups empty, Kisuke guessed that they'd been here for some time.
Kisuke found a space between Sakura and Serafall and sat in it with the latter picking up the tea kettle and pouring a cup for him. After thanking Serafall and taking a sip from his cup, Kisuke first turned his attention to the fox youkai with golden hair, "I intended to meet you at a later time since I didn't think you'd be able to leave Kyoto, Yasaka-san."
Yasaka covered her mouth and chuckled, "Since you're the one who made it, you should have already guessed what made it possible."
"You're giving me too much credit. Even though I made the blueprint for it, it's still only an amalgamation of existing technologies that I know. The true geniuses are the people who created them." Kisuke looked at her more and thought, 'As I thought, she's something similar to a clone.'
"Alter Ego." Yasaka replied and explained, "It's the name I gave my Soul Gear. It looks like it manifested my deep desire to get out of my 'cage'. Thanks to this, I was able to split my consciousness into another body created by Alter Ego and even use half of my strength without affecting my real body."
'So that's it!' Kisuke's eyes widened in surprise. Although he expected that the Soul Gears will evolve depending on their owners, he didn't think a mass-produced one could be evolved to this degree, 'As expected, there are still many interactions between Spiritual Power, Magic Power, and Ki that I haven't discovered yet.'
"Let me stop you for a second there, Kisuke." Masaomi suddenly voiced out, "That curious face of yours is really scary and I feel that we'll go off on a tangent for a few days. Let's all talk about the main reason why we're all here."
Kisuke noticed the face he was making and feigned a cough, "Ehem... I apologize."
In the room were Sakura, Serafall, Yoruichi, Cleria, Masaomi, Diehauser and Yasaka. And with the atmosphere finally turning serious, Kisuke started, "I'm going to another world, and it could be a potentially very dangerous place. As some trump cards, I'd like to bring Claire's group along with me." Kisuke didn't hide the fact that he intended to use them as soldiers.
An understandable silence descended into the room and the already heavy atmosphere became even heavier. Kisuke, who normally would just laugh in the face of the most terrifying monsters or calmly count his remaining time in front of death, was now actually feeling nervous and it's showing with his body language, 'What a weird feeling... Never thought I'd experience something like this.' But strangely enough, Kisuke doesn't feel like he's become a coward and he surprisingly wants to treasure this feeling and experience.
After a minute or two, there was finally a response and it was a sigh from Masaomi who crossed his arms, "I'm against it."
'We're done here, I guess? Should I bring Aika or maybe Medusa? Koneko is a good option too and also Le Fay if I sign a strict contract with her that would technically strip her of her freedom.' Kisuke didn't really like it because they'd be leaving large holes that their opponents would totally take advantage of, however, he had to make this sacrifice. That's how important this trip was to him, 'Oh right, Sera-chan is a choice too, but she has too much political power that it'd be a shame if she were to leave her position now and she probably won't be able to take it back once she lets go of it.'
"Well, until he entered the room." Masaomi suddenly continued, catching Kisuke off guard, "Huh?"
To the confused Kisuke, Masaomi explained, "My wife and Yasaka actually have already agreed to let it happen after Yoruichi told us about it more than two weeks ago. In fact, Claire, Tanis, and Kunou are actually already packing as of this moment so they could go at any time."
Kisuke turned his head to Yasaka and Cleria and the two of them nodded with smiles at the astonished Kisuke.
"I'm the only one who didn't agree with it even after hearing their convincing reasons." Masaomi continued while staring at Kisuke, "Solely because no matter how many good things Sakura says about you, I know for sure that you're someone merciless and wouldn't hesitate to use other people to achieve your goal."
Sakura and the others became a bit worried but none of them interrupted the conversation between the two.
"I won't deny that. If it's to achieve something, I won't hesitate to use people. And even now, I intended to use your daughter and her friends for my own gain... But that begs the question, why? It doesn't sound like you are disagreeing anymore. Or am I misunderstanding something?"
Kisuke genuinely doesn't understand where he's coming from.
'Just for that reason, any normal person would instantly disagree and some might even hurl insults and attack me.'