In Yajima House's meeting hall, Yajima Haruko was arguing with her father and mother, Yajima Matsuta and Yajima Honoka. Her father had short brown hair and wore glasses that enhanced his fierce eyes even further. He looked like a strict father. Beside him was a beautiful woman with green hair. She was a nature-endowed beauty. Her calm expression made her appear to be a gentle and caring wife.
"Father, why?"
"I don't need to explain it to you. No means no!" Her father roared.
"I am your successor, am I not? Then you need to tell me the reason for this too!" Haruko demanded.
"Haruko, this is for your own good. You are my successor, and because you are my successor, it's best that you don't know," her father said with a stern tone.
Of course, how could he say that he pulled back from the investigation because of Ikeda Kenzo? Not long after he started the investigation, Ikeda Kenzo suddenly came to this house and warned him to stop.
Even though their family was the ruler of Gunma, they still couldn't hold a candle to the Ikeda family and the Katsuragi family together.
"For me? You're just thinking about the family, not me!" Haruko shouted at him in anger.
"Shut up. You don't know anything!"
"If Father doesn't want to do this, then I'll do this alone!" Haruko shouted at him as she got up from the floor, wanting to leave the room.
Seeing this, her father also got up from his position and appeared behind her. He raised his hand and made a magic circle.
He pressed Haruko down to the floor and activated the magic circle.
"Fat...her…" Because of her disappointment, she just wanted to leave the house and continue the investigation. To think that her father, who had never raised his hand to her, finally attacked her, the feeling of disappointment crept into her heart as she fell unconscious.
"Guards!"
A few people in black suits came inside and looked at him. "What do you need us to do, Family Head?"
"Lock her in her room and make sure she can't go outside. Also, retrieve her device," he commanded.
"Yes, Sir." They immediately proceeded with his order and brought Yajima Haruko out.
Yajima Matsuta sighed, feeling both sad and depressed.
"Haruko really loves Kai Carter, you know."
"I know… This is why I don't want to tell her the reason. She will surely go to him no matter the cost," he answered and sighed again.
"Well, he saved her in the past. We thought she would forget about him after a few years, but after getting the information that Tasha Carter will go to Genesis Magical Academy, she immediately went there because she really hoped to meet that young kid there." She smiled and asked, "Or do you have any dissatisfaction with him?"
"No. Background-wise and character-wise, I don't have any problems with him. After all, he is that Tasha Carter's younger brother, and there is no problem with his character as well." He shook his head before looking up, "It just… if I tell her the reason, she might die in the process, and I can't bear to see it."
"Yeah. You were raging back then when Haruko was missing. Luckily, he managed to save her despite being two years younger," she said and nodded.
"Enough of this. It will only be for a few days to weeks, and everything should become normal again. I don't care if she hates me, I will be content as long as she is alive."
She smiled as she hugged him from behind. "I know. You never looked at any other woman because I was pregnant back then.
"This is only because of her, your precious little angel. Maybe, if I don't have a weak constitution, I can give you a few more children.
"Still, I know you're the one most hurt by this. Even now, I'm sure your hand and heart feel torn," she said while stroking his head.
"Don't say that. Both you and Haruko are my most precious treasures. Whoever dares to say that, I will shut them up with my iron fist. It's just that… if we challenge the Katsuragi family and the Ikeda family at the same time, even my iron fist won't be able to protect both of you, so I'm taking the safest way to protect both of you." Yajima Matsuta clenched his fists.
"I know, and I'm sure she will understand too. Still, I truly pity him, as he has become one of the epicenters of this 'earthquake' that will shake the entire United Asia without him knowing," she said. "Injuries on the body will heal fast, but wounds in the heart are hard to heal. Even so, I'm sure the day her heart heals from this will come in the future. We can only support her for the time being."
"Yeah." Yajima Matsuta nodded his head as he closed his eyes.
...
After several days in the hospital, Kai finally recovered from his injuries. The hole in his hand and the bullet wound in his stomach finally disappeared without leaving any marks.
Because of this, Kai took two days of leave from the school before coming back. Ayaka came to visit him a few times, and her grandfather also tagged along. It was just when Kai saw his face, it looked like he was troubled by something.
Still, Kai didn't ask as he knew he wasn't in a position to ask about it. He just thanked him for visiting. As for Ayaka, she just took care of him for a while before going back.
Shirotsuka Sanae didn't have any injuries except on her fist. So, with just a bit of tweaking by the doctor, she recovered from it after three days. In fact, she didn't actually need to be admitted to the hospital.
After the situation calmed down, she finally left the hospital since Ayaka volunteered to leave a few people to protect Kai. Tasha also started doing business again while their parents handled the migration process.
In the past few days, the situation had been very calm. Shirotsuka Sanae managed to deal with the government when they wanted to ask Kai about the assassins. And because of that, the situation became calm. The calm before the storm.
Kai then left the hospital and went to school the next day. When Ayaka saw him come, she smiled. "Welcome back."
Kai nodded. "Yep."
The class went like usual, except that they were short of six people. The four people that died on the practical test, as well as Katsuragi Takaki and Wada Miyako. So, the class felt a bit empty from Kai's perspective. Ayaka said it had been like this for a few days already, so he accepted it as though nothing happened.
He had yet to get any information from Shirotsuka Sanae, so he chose to remain passive and became his parents' bodyguard for the time being.
It was at this time that he suddenly got a message from his sister, asking him to meet her on the roof. Seeing that message, he immediately went to the roof.
He was surprised to see Shirotsuka Sanae with his sister together.
"Sister? Teacher?" Kai frowned.
"We have a problem." Tasha immediately went to the point. "Yajima Haruko hasn't come to school these past few days."
Kai opened his eyes wide when he heard that. Even though he had expected this, it was still surprising for him to hear this news. "The Katsuragi family?"
Shirotsuka Sanae nodded. "The teacher in charge of her class said she's been absent these past few days with a weird excuse, so I went to their family to check it. Of course, no one knew about it. Then, just as I was about to inform you, I met her."
"Well, the student council is a bit out of hand without her." Tasha sighed.
"So, has something happened to her?" Kai asked.
"According to my investigation, she's imprisoned in her house. The Yajima family has stopped investigating the Katsuragi family, but I still don't understand the reason," Sanae explained.
"Have you tried to check on her?" Kai asked Tasha.
"No! I just found out about this matter not long ago." Tasha looked at him with a complicated expression.
"I mean, have you tried contacting her or something?"
"Oh. I've tried to contact her, but to no avail. It seems like they're really imprisoning her." Tasha shook her head.
"So what should we do about this?" Kai asked.
"I'm going to investigate the Yajima family for the time being, since I might be able to get some clues from them," Shirotsuka Sanae said.
"Well, I just need to do a bit of negotiation before I can strike the deal and have enough money to send our parents to the US base," Tasha said.
"I see. Should I help either of you?" Kai asked.
Tasha and Sanae looked at each other before Tasha first answered, "No, you don't need to. I just need to do a bit of negotiation in the term since the deal has been made. We just need to wait for a few days and we can send them out of this place, so I don't think I'll need your help at the moment."
"Same with me. Your ability is useful for espionage, but I don't clearly know how you operate and such, so bringing you with me will only increase the chance of being found out. No need to worry about me. I am a former elite, after all." Sanae shrugged.
"Then, I'll protect them for the time being," Kai said. After they finished discussing their plan, they disbanded.
Unbeknownst to them, the dawn of chaos that would shake the entire United Asia was already knocking on their door.