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Another month quickly passed by. Though Kazuya had gotten Natsuhiko Akira's approval to train him, the distance between their hos prevented Kazuya from taking advantage of what his predecessor had to offer. He still had a lot of things he had to take care of and Natsu increased the things he needed to do.
Now that he knew Natsuhiko Akira's other identity, Kazuya imdiately prioritized into making this person start in the company's projects right away. He wasted no ti and asked for Kurumi's help into setting up an identity for Lailah. When Kurumi heard that it was for a girl, she frowned but imdiately was relieved when Kazuya told her that Lailah was soone who needed a new identity because of her family's actions against her marriage.
Natsu and Lailah lived in a cabin in the northern part of their prefecture, so it was hard for him to go to work. Kazuya suggested for them to live in the Kouzuki residence temporarily after Lailah had gotten her credentials in order. This way, she would get to experience life in the city and learn about how to live properly on Earth without worrying about her condition.
Though Natsu had been reluctant, he agreed to it after Kazuya had promised that it was only temporary. He promised to prepare a place for the couple to be on their own but needed given so ti to prepare it. With Natsu's financial state, he was thankful for Kazuya's help but didn't forget to make it clear that he would pay everything back in the future.
Since they were leaving their mountain, Natsu dispelled his own mana gathering formation. This enabled the formation that Kazuya thought had been permanently damaged to recover to its pri state. With the amount of mana gathering near the Kouzuki residence, a high elf like Lailah wouldn't have any problems living in the city. Kazuya even taught her different kinds of thods to hide or disguise her long ears.
Natsu was introduced into the Kouzuki household as Tsuna's distant relatives that also lived in the mountains with the wife he found when traveling abroad. Natsu would be working for Kazuno Tech while Lailah would be staying at the residence to be tutored by Akane in doing household chores and how to adapt into living in the city.
The couple were surprised when they t Kyouko. Not only did they imdiately sense the mana in her body, they also saw how much protection Kazuya had given her by amount of seemingly normal items in her possession that would be capable of blocking even master ranked spells. They both felt that Tsuna's word's over Kazuya being 'overprotective' was an understatent.
Kyouko and Lailah imdiately hit it off after Kazuya told his mother she could ask the high elf for tips regarding her magic. Without having to worry about hiding secrets, they appeared to have been friends for a long ti after only spending a few days with each other.
With Natsu's arrival, Kazuya had given the second storey of his laboratory over to him. It was where the forr hero spent his ti when he was not at work. Kazuya knew that Natsu needed ti to read through and digest the results that had been written on the book. He was busy with a couple of things himself so the two had left each other to do their own things for the ti being.
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With the addition of Natsu who joined the team of pioneers imdiately, there were a lot of people who were startled. He was a young man that was in his twenties yet he was directly scouted by the mysterious leader of the whole company.
Many people tried to ask him if he had t the mysterious founder who was also the known fiancé of their CEO but much to their disappointnt, Natsu said that he had only t with Kazuno Kaguya.
True to his reputation in Kazuya's previous life, it didn't take a long ti for Natsu to get used to the projects that were originally his idea in Kazuya's past. This made Natsu's impression towards Kazuya even better as he thought that they were very alike in terms of curiosity and ideas.
"I'm really glad that you're able to work with us!" Matsumoto Kippei was very satisfied with Natsu's addition to the team as he was able to have another like minded individual who had a passion for their work. "Though Winter rarely involves himself with our work, whenever he does, we barely have any ti to even go ho and rest. With you here, we aren't afraid of shortening our lifespans anymore!" he laughed out loud.
"Does Winter-san usually give you guys extra work?" Natsu asked. He was a little worried that he wouldn't be able to see Lailah and check on her progress in the Kouzuki house.
"Hey, hey! The boss does give us work now and then but any extra work is because of the mischief or mistakes you and Ika usually make Kippei." One of the researchers comnted. "And don't forget! He also looks out for each one of us! You rember what happened recently right?"
"Oh! That reminds , Akira-san, you have to co with us after work today!" Kippei grinned. "Winter organized an event just for us who are part of the guild!"
"A guild gathering huh…" Natsu pondered. After he had returned from Edea, he hadn't spent much ti with anyone other than Lailah because he was too worried about her. "Will he be showing up?" Natsu curiously asked.
"Unfortunately, no. The boss said that he would be too busy with matters that he may not even be able to log on for a while. The way I see it, he probably ca up with another project that will be passed on to us after he succeeds in testing out if it is worth researching or not." Kippei said as if it was the usual pattern.
"I see…" it was expected. He wasn't surprised by this as Kazuya was most likely waiting to progress a little more age-wise so that these people wouldn't be too shocked to et him. "I'll go. I'm sure my wife wouldn't mind.
""You're married!?"" Kippei and the rest couldn't believe their ears. The youngest mber of their circle was not only impressive, he was already ahead of all of them in life. Though so of them initially had doubts in Kippei's decision to invite Natsu to the gathering, these doubts were imdiately dispelled after he ntioned that he had been married.
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When they arrived at the usual restaurant the employees said had been where they regularly did gatherings, Natsu was a little surprised. It was a humble establishnt that he didn't expect highly paid researchers would hang out.
Kippei and the others didn't hold back and proudly told Natsu about how Kazuno Tech was established. Natsu wasn't a naïve person who would blindly trust, he had already looked up both Kazuya and the Kouzuki clan's history. He knew that Kazuya had used his advantage of knowing about the past beforehand and was amazed at how he utilized it.
"(If it was …)" he shuddered. Natsu knew how valuable the information Kazuya had. He could have changed the course of history to his liking, but he opted to remain low key and establish a company secretly so that the Kouzuki corporation could stand up to the giant that was supposed to be the Kurogane Conglorate.
Kazuya was not aware of Natsu's thoughts so he never would have expected Natsu to co up with a convincing argunt himself that Kazuya was indeed only focused on protecting his family and going back to Edea. Not only that, he had assud that the researchers in their departnts were helped by Kazuya especially when they told them the story of how the establishnt of Kazuno Tech had given them the chance to prove that the efforts and ideas other companies laughed at would have been very useful and popular.
To be honest, it wasn't that their ideas had been completely on mark. It was due to the combination of everyone's efforts were they able to make products that were now part of people's lives. Although Natsu was forced to agree to cooperate with Kazuya when they t, he purposely delayed things so that he could find out more about Kazuya. This was so that he could make sure that the boy was indeed worthy of the trust that Tsuna and Lailah apparently give him.
With what he's observed so far, Natsu couldn't help but be impressed at how Kazuya had decided to use his advantages. It was even entertaining to see how the domineering boy who pointed a gun at them had been a docile and affectionate boy who pampered his mother like a princess.
"I apologize for being late!" a female voice made everyone's heads turn around.
There weren't many female employees that played the ga so in this guild gathering so there were a lot more n that attended than won. Though most of them were mbers of the sa guild and gathered here as employees, only recently did they start gathering in the na of the guild they had in New Gods Online.
The woman who arrived didn't look like a researcher at all. Natsu imdiately took note of her attire which differed greatly from the colleagues he had spent a few days with. Not only that, this newcor was rather attractive. She was more like a model or a celebrity, so he wondered if this person was soone from the CEO's office.
"Oh you're here! co see who ca!" Kippei didn't waste ti to call her over as the eyes of his colleagues started burning. "Can you guess who this young man is?" he grinned.
The attractive lady observed Natsu and looked at him carefully. She knew the guild was mostly made up of n who worked for Kazuno Tech so there were hardly any young people in the guild. If they talked about young people then there were only a few people who she knew would fit the criteria.
"Could you be… SumrBreeze?" she imdiately asked after coming to a conclusion.
"Huh!? How!?" Ika was the first to react. He had expected her to guess that he was Winter instead of coming up with the correct answer. They wanted to see how this girl act if she thought that Natsu was their boss.
"Yes. You are… Autumn Mist?" They ignored Ika's outburst. Seeing the young lady's smile, he knew that he had guessed correctly.
"That's right! I'm pleased to et you! My na is Hamasaki Hikaru." She introduced herself and was glad that she t another person who she usually played with in the ga. "I see you joined the company as well" she giggled before turning to Ika who had been depressed for being ignored. "Winter is your boss and you already said that he doesn't show himself so why would he wear a researcher's outfit?"
"Ah pleased to et you as well. I'm called Natsuhiko Akira but you can just called Natsu. It is synonymous to my na in the ga after all." he was glad to et the person who made the connection between him and Kazuya. Natsu was thankful towards this girl because it was due to her that he didn't need to search for long before he got a job that fulfilled all his requirents.
"Don't let this guy's young appearance fool you little sister, it appears that he's already married!" Kippei raised his voice so that the won who were eying the younger Natsu could hear. The males on the other hand couldn't help but feel envy as nurous questions about the newcor were imdiately raised.
He already thought of a story to explain how him and Lailah had t. Natsu answered their queries as he was proud of having a wife like Lailah. Talking to friends and colleagues gave Natsu a sense of satisfaction. He had previously been working hard so that Lailah could live a normal life in this world that he had forgotten how he missed the company of others.
It was at this mont that Natsu had realized that he was back in his ho world. The modern and peaceful society that he had bragged about and missed while he was in Edea was being experienced by him once more. It was a normal life he didn't expect to have soon after coming back but he was thankful for Kazuya's help for making it happen.
"We have only just finished making it official after we got Winter's help. We have yet to have the ceremony, so I have to work harder to make that happen soon." Natsu didn't use his magic to dispel the effects of the alcohol as he enjoyed the company of his peers. "I'll introduce her to everyone when there is a chance."
"It's a promise!" Hikaru smiled. She didn't think that she would be able to lead a happy life once again it was thanks to two people that she was able to smile again and hang out with people. What Hikaru wasn't aware of was that the two people she was thankful towards were the sa person. "Looks like Winter help you too huh…"
"He helped you with sothing as well?" Natsu asked. After chatting with her, he learned that unlike everyone else, she was a new teacher of his alma matter.
After Kazuya's confird her identity a few months ago, he wasted no ti and gathered Kippei and the other guild mbers. He even appeared in front of them in his avatar which made them think that sothing big was happening.
"I called everyone here to inform everyone what I just found out today." Winter Fog's avatar that everyone couldn't mistake for soone else stood up and walked towards Kippei. "One of our mbers is in trouble and has been suffering in the hands of our enemies for years."
Everyone was startled as they looked at each other. The ordeal against the Ringo Corporation was the first thing that ca to everyone's minds but they had long triumphed over that company that was barely surviving at this point. Not only did their bonds improve but also their loyalty towards the company that gave them security against the bullies who wanted the secrets that various companies ignored in the first place.
"Who's in trouble?" Ika imdiately opened up his computer and was ready to retaliate. "Who dares makes one of our mbers suffer?"
"Autumn Mist" Winter Fog's words imdiately shook them. There wasn't anyone in the guild who didn't know who Autumn was. She was the only person that had been part of the guild's foundation that wasn't an employee of their company. She was close with their boss and was like everyone's little sister in ga.
"Who dares bully her? Is it those loathso sneks again!?" one of the researchers that was bullied along with Autumn Mist in the past was imdiately enraged.
"No…" Winter Fog shook his head as he stopped right behind Kippei's seat who turned around nervously. "I coincidentally saw her in real life. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the promised item I had Kippei-san here and the others develop suddenly referring to as 'father'" his holographic arm rested on the culprit's shoulder.
*gulp* Kippei was nervous. He couldn't believe that his small revenge was suddenly discovered. He was willing to change it if Autumn had complained about his little addition but she never said anything about it.
"B-boss…" Everyone looked at Kippei with pity. He never would have expected his little mischief to be found out by the boss himself. Since none of them knew what Kazuya looked like, the devices that Kazuya had requested for were given a security feature that would only recognize a special input that only he was capable of unlocking. The plushie that had been sent over to them were set to recognize two people, one was the owner and one was their boss.
"I will not pursue that matter now but I advise you to fix it." Winter turned around and walked back to his seat. "That matter aside, the Autumn Mist that we know is being harassed by the eldest son of the head of the Kurogane Conglorate."
Kazuya briefly told them about Hikaru's living conditions as well as how her compositions have been stolen. He told them that he coincidentally found out about this and so Hikaru had no idea who he was or that he found out.
"How can we help?" Kippei knew that Kazuya wouldn't have brought this up if he didn't have a plan already in mind.
"I've already set so things in motion to help. What I need from everyone here is to set up a guild eting. Though she is not part of the company like everyone here, Autumn Mist has been with us since the start and has encouraged and supported us in realizing our farfetched dream. It is ti to return the favor." This was the start of a regular gathering of the guild mbers that included Hikaru.
Of course, the secret that it was Winter Fog's idea was not kept a secret for long. Hikaru was able to tell that the mbers were aware of how her current living conditions were because of all the help they offered her. Not only was she able to find a decent place to move into, it was a cheap but big place that was near the dormitories for Kazuno Tech employees. She was also helped by the researchers in moving as well as other miscellaneous stuff. She would have been beyond insensitive if she didn't suspect anything from their actions.
"Aren't they such bad actors?" Hikaru giggled as she finished her story on how the guild helped her after their first guild eting.
"Please don't tell the boss that you were able to figure everything out." Kippei begged. "It was only because of Akira-san's trendous help that I've been able to have so ti for myself."
"When is winter coming back anyway? I still need to thank him. Though he was able to find out who I was, I think it's unfair that I haven't seen or noticed him." Hikaru complained.
"You're not alone there little sister." Ika finished chugging his beer and agreed. "All of us here owe a lot to Winter but we still haven't been able to et with him in person."
Natsu listened to them and smiled. These people probably wouldn't have minded if Kazuya appeared in front of them as he is now. They all respected and held gratitude towards everything that he has done for them. With Kazuya's intelligence, he should have been able to tell that it wouldn't have mattered if he was young or not so Natsu wondered if Kazuya had any intentions of revealing himself and accepting their gratitude.
The way he saw it, his successor was soone who preferred to not take direct credit for anything he did not need to speak of. Just by asking Kyouko about the accessories she wore, one can tell that Kazuya didn't tell her about how she could most likely survive a barrage of missiles unscathed. She was only aware of the protection effects of the jewelries she wore. Little did she know that every single piece of clothing that the couple has seen her wear were filled with protective charms and formations. Lailah even said that even the inner layers of clothing that earthlings wore were not an exception.
"By the way, have you guys heard the latest news about the Kuroganes?" Kippei took the opportunity to change the topic. He was nervous whenever their boss was ntioned because he was afraid of what Kazuya might do to him after he found out that Hikaru was able to figure out that he had been behind helping her. "I heard so of the people from the security departnt talking about it a lot. They said that it was most likely them who was behind the attack on Shiroyuki Jirou-sama's granddaughter. They say that their motive was because of a rumor that Kouzuki Kazuya and Jirou-sama's granddaughter being in an engagent since birth."
"Huh? Is that rumor true?" Natsu was interested in this topic. He had been introduced to Shiroyuki Tomoyo before because she visited the Kouzuki residence to receive so serious training from Tsuna.
A girl who could easily be mistaken for mute and a girl who seed calm yet was very fierce when fighting received training from Tsuna at the Kouzuki Residence. The couple imdiately sensed the girls' affinity towards mana so asked if they were Tsuna's students. Tsuna laughed and said that they weren't and pointed towards Kazuya instead. 'These two are probably the only real friends that the boy wasn't able to push away.' were Tsuna's words.
He told them about what had happened to the two of them so that Lailah and Natsu would understand why they were undergoing real battle training. They had no idea what the cause was but they decided to train these two so they could protect themselves if a similar situation occurred.
"Huh? Why do you seem so interested in this rumor Natsuhiko-san?" Hikaru asked as she noticed Natsu being unusually proactive when he heard the topic.
"Well… My wife and I are currently staying at the Kouzuki residence for the ti being. They were gracious enough to accept us because my wife and I used to live in a cabin in a northern mountain village." He explained. "I heard about the incident, but I didn't expect that sothing like that would be the cause."
"Oh! You're staying at Kazuya-kun's house? I'm Shiroyuki-san's horoom teacher and Kazuya-kun usually attends my class with her."
"The Kuroganes are a bunch of fools!" one of the employees spoke. "They dug their own graves by ssing with Jiro-sama's granddaughter. The most laughable thing about it is, the Kouzuki clan's son is engaged to our company's little miss." He laughed.
"Hey, that's an unconfird rumor." Kippei warned. "Neither Kaguya-sama or i-sama have confird it."
"But they didn't deny it right?" Ika interrupted. "That's the sa as admitting it!" he thumped his chest proudly declared his deduction. "We all know the big miss and the little miss's temperants. They would have quickly denied it and even scolded us if it weren't true!"
None of them knew that this conversation would cause them an insane amount of workload in the future. There was only one person who had remained calm on the surface but wanted to laugh out loud after hearing such a ridiculous situation. He knew that this was sothing that the prideful Kazuya didn't plan for but bore with instead because of what happened to his friend.
"(It hasn't been long since I've started looking into Kouzuki Kazuya but aside from his extre enmity towards those who betrayed him, there is nothing I find strange. I haven't seen or heard anything that would contradict that he had truly been straight with .)" Natsu felt a little defeated. He felt that his initial rejection towards Kazuya had been futile. As much as he didn't want to admit it, his wife truly did have a better eye when it ca to humans.
It wasn't that Natsu had been hotblooded. What he, Kazuya and Tsuna had in common after their experiences in the other world was that they learned to be very cautious. Kazuya who he had never heard of nor t before had shown abilities that would pose a threat to them so Natsu was extrely wary of him.
Even when Lailah seed convinced of Kazuya, as much as he didn't want to admit it, Natsu knew just how filthy humans can be. He wanted to protect Lailah who was very vulnerable on earth from any danger since he had been the one who brought her here.
Tsuna was already aware of what Natsu was up to when both n had a talk about Kazuya in private. The senior hero gave Natsu his support and told him to do it until he was satisfied. The old man's questions about the boy had mostly been answered after the revelation of Kazuya's unusual situation. Tsuna understood Natsu's concerns and as a person who had similar experiences he knew that it had to be done.
"I haven't heard anything from Kazuya-kun so I won't be of much help." Hikaru shook her head after she was asked. "Oh, Matsumoto-san, there sothing I've been wondering about Snow-chan's update…" she tried to change the topic because she wanted to protect her student's privacy. "Did you change anything major?" everyone that had been present in the eting with Kazuya had turned to Kippei while hiding their grins.
"D-did you find any bugs in the update?" Kippei nervously asked.
"Well… I don't know if it's a bug or not but the way she addresses now has changed. She wont change it back to the way she used to no matter how much I ask. I've gotten used to the way she called a long ti ago, so it feels weird to be referred in another manner." Unaware of Kippei's internal struggle and the others' mischievous glances, Hikaru asked with a concerned expression.
"Well…" Kippei panicked and tried to co up with an excuse.
"What did your plushie used to call you?" Ika decided to jump in and asked. He pretended not to know anything about it which Hikaru didn't suspect at all.
"Umm…" Hikaru felt a little embarrassed and blushed. "I was surprised at first but I got used to being called 'mother' by it. I thought it made sense since I was the first person she saw when I turned on the program. I thought of how a baby chick would imdiately assu the first person they saw after hatching were its parents so I got used to it." Tried to hide her embarrassnt. "She started calling Onee-chan after her latest update. She still calls my mom 'grandma' so I wondered if there was so way to change it back to the previous version or have it fixed."
"Oooh!" Ika and the other mbers gave her a teasing look. "Didn't you say that your plushie watched and advised you as you played? How does he call the boss and everyone else then?"
Her plushie's program was because of the promise between her and Kazuya before Kazuno Tech had been built up. What Hikaru was not aware of was that she had been given a different and unique version of the program that had been used to make the company's vastly popular virtual assistant; 'Rucy-chan'."
"Everyone is called by their nas in the ga but as for Winter…" she glanced at Kippei who was supposed to be the one who had made the program. "S-she used to call her… father." She covered her face with her hands after realizing how embarrassing it was to say it out loud. "I didn't know about it until she called Winter that by herself when she started assisting while playing with him."
"I'm quite interested on how you decided to make the default settings as well… head researcher Matsumoto." Apart from Natsu and Hikaru, the employees froze after hearing the voice that ca from the thin wall that separated the group areas.
*clak clak clak*
The temperature instantly went colder as the sound of high heels ca closer. There was only one person that called Matsumoto that way. Three beautiful won approached the group of researchers who instantly avoided eye contact while praying that the person heading the group of ladies didn't hear the whole conversation.
"K-kazuno-san…" Kippei trembled as she saw the cold smile that was directed at him. It wasn't only her, one of the won behind i glared at him as if she wanted to go at him while the other shook her head and looked at him pitifully.
"It's nice to et you two. I ca to et a recruit that 'he' scouted himself. Who would have thought that I would stumble upon an interesting topic." The beautiful and elegant young woman glanced at Natsu before taking a good look at the woman who still looked a bit confused at the whole situation.
"My na is Kazuno i."
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