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The night passed and it was extremely tense at the Domyouji clan's house. Though the competition against their own was tough, like every clan, they knew when they should put aside their differences. They lost one of their own and, like any other family, they were extremely protective of their own.

The search had been intense but bore no fruit. It was like Kuuga had disappeared without a trace. They were at the end of their wits because how can they just sit and accept it without even finding out who was behind his death?

It was on the night before that an individual randomly appeared and threw them some hope. This had been the very first time someone had approached them who actually knew something. It was like Kuuga either disappeared into thin air or this was some kind of power preventing people from telling them anything even with their reputation as a guarantee.

But there was a catch, it involved a sizable sum that would affect their clan greatly. It was then that the rest of the family members began to have second thoughts about this.

"Transfer the money" Gakuto ordered with annoyance after observing the reactions of his own clan members. He felt ashamed that their resolve was shaken just by the intimidating amount of money. Even his most favored grandson had not reacted differently which made the old man greatly disappointed.

It had been almost a sleepless night for him because the one claiming to be an informant said that they would send the information over the next morning. All his people who were responsible for dealing with technology were scared because the head of their clan never visited their place but he was the first one there early the next morning.

"We did" one of them nervously answered. "We're just waiting for everyone to—"

"Open it and let me see" because of last night, Gakuto was the only one who thought that it hadn't been too much of a loss. He would have done the same if it happened to any of his other descendants, which apparently they did not understand. They were supposed to protect their own despite everything else.

A photo of a custom handgun was put on the screen. There were intricate designs carved on it that made it obvious who the owner is or used to own it. How could Gakuto not recognize the Dokuro clan's seal engraved on the gun's handle.

"Was this the gun that killed my grandson?" he questioned. This would be a little impossible because while the Dokuro clan was falling, Kuuga had been with him. He questioned the authenticity of the information because the operation they performed was a secret and even the informant who sent this couldn't know about it, right?

It was just when Gakuto was convincing himself that it had been a false alarm did a video start playing on the screen. The personnel were unaware of his thoughts and opened another file that was sent. It was a video that started at a place that looked like a port. There was nothing too suspicious about it at first but when some vehicles arrived, Gakuto's eyes locked onto two things.

One was a girl who he recognized. The prized daughter of the Muimina corporation who his grandson had made a deal with. The other was the black body bag that the people who were accompanying her were carrying towards one of the warehouses.

Due to some of the information in the bunch of files that were found on his grandson's hidden compartment, Gakuto was already aware of the secret connection between the Dokuro group and the Muimina family. He doubted that they would have the capability to touch his grandson especially after what had happened to one of the groups they were secretly supporting.

Now everything seemed to have been out of his expectations. What would the heiress of the Ringo corporation be doing with a dead body? More importantly, whose body was that? These were the questions he was wondering about because as far as he knew, Muimina Ringo, unlike her real self, was introduced to the public as a warm girl who got along with everybody.

"This…" he continued to watch the seemingly dull video. It wasn't until Ringo and the men that accompanied her exited the building did Gakuto notice that not only did they not leave with the body bag, Ringo who had a clear smile on her face was holding onto what was clearly a handgun in her hand.

It was like whoever was taking the video read his mind as the video zoomed in on the gun that was in the girl's hand. What Gakuto saw made him shiver. It was the gun that was introduced to him previously. After he saw this, there was just one thing on his mind now.

"Call the men! We're going to the ports to check out something!" He ordered.

"Sir…" one of the personnel behind the computers called out to Gakuto nervously.

"What is it?"

"There is something else you should see…" he made another file appear on the big screen. It was about another group that was relatively smaller in the underground society but was slowly gaining ground. "If the Dokuro clan had been the Muimina family's right hand, this small group was providing support as the left" he explained to Gakuto.

"Good work!" Gakuto praised. Now there was something that he had to go on. If this information really lead him to something that had anything to do with his grandson, all the money they lost had all been worth it.

The Domyouji group didn't waste any time and moved out towards the port. Gakuto recognized the place in the video because they had their own warehouse in the ports so it was not really suspicious for them to be going there. What caught people's attention however, was the fashion in which they were heading there. Those who knew the Domyouji group from back in the day knew that they were acting like the time they were heading out for a bloody battle.

Of course, their closest allies, the Akabane family immediately got wind of Gakuto's movements. They have been keeping an eye on the situation and helping out but with no wind of any news, Isshin found Gakuto's unexpected gathering and departure quite suspicious.

"Let's move" Isshin didn't hesitate because of a bad feeling he had. He trusted his guts because it saved him countless number of times before. He couldn't quite put a finger on it but he believed that something ominous was about to happen.

The day started out clear and sunny but thick clouds started to gather around the port as Isshin arrived. Gakuto and his men weren't at the western area of the port which their warehouse was located at. The port security pointed him towards the eastern part where most of the warehouses were private storages for some of the known personalities in the prefecture.

"KUUUUGA!" Gakuto's voice echoed throughout the east port. Isshin immediately rushed towards where it came from and found the members of the Domyouji clan stunned. No one expected it but they just found the young master that had been missing since their last victory.

They had yet to celebrate the victory but gains their clan had achieved for dismantling the Dokuro clan had been spent to pay the mysterious informant. It wasn't only that, the proud Domyouji clan had also lost one of their young masters.

Isshin entered the warehouse that had its entrance smashed. He followed the gazes of the clan's lieutenants and entered what looked to be a freezer used to store large amounts of food. There he found his friend kneeling on the ground, his sorrowful back facing him.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

In front of Gakuto was clearly the body of the missing boy, Domyouji Kuuga. Not only was a clear bullet hole visible on his head, Gakuto couldn't even hug the body of his dead grandson because of how frozen the boy's body was.

"Gakuto…" Isshin didn't know how to console his friend. Thinking about his own granddaughter, he knew what was going to happen after his friend got up. "Who did it?" those were the only words he could say. Both of them were like brothers in arms and their clans were allied so Isshin would definitely help.

"Thank you old friend but there will be no need. This is my clan's problem and it should be solved by my clan alone. I wouldn't be able to face old Kou if I didn't at least do this much to pay back what I owe" Gakuto stood up and approached Kuuga's frozen body carefully.

"What do you mean by that?" Isshin's gut feeling acted up and his senses were telling him that this wasn't as simple as it seemed.

"I've heard about what happened near the Kouzuki Clan's house yesterday" Gakuto gestured his men to take away Kuuga's body. "You should focus on protecting them from the sidelines while I deal with this" Gakuto turned towards his friend and although his face looked neutral, Isshin clearly felt an intensity he had not seen in Gakuto for a long time. "The balance between the two will be broken even if the Kuroganes don't make a move"

"Was the Kurogane family behind this?" Isshin asked in surprise.

"No. It was the Muimina Ringo who seemed to have murdered my grandson" Gakuto couldn't help but clench his fists as he mentioned the name of Kuuga's most likely murderer. "It was my foolish grandson who decided to align himself with snakes. In order to pay back the trouble my foolish grandson caused them and my mistake for trying to cover for him, I will take responsibility for this"

"The Muimina clan…" Isshin's brows furrowed. Now he understood why Gakuto had insisted on doing this with his clan alone.

Jirou had already told them about yesterday's incident so the Kouzuki clan would already have a motive to strike against the Kurogane clan. If any of the Kouzuki clan's allies launched an attack against the Muimina clan, it would be seen as their retaliation towards them and would immediately incite the continuation of the feud that had come to a ceasefire.

Gakuto didn't want that to happen because of his intention to get revenge for Kuuga. It would strictly be between their two families, so if the Kurogane clan wasn't ready to go in an all out war once again, they would have to let the two families settle this. Their intentions were already in question because of Suzaku's recent actions so lending a hand to Muiminas would give the Kouzuki clan and their allies enough reason to go to war.

"How did you know to come here?" the thought suddenly crossed Isshin's mind. There had been no clear movements so how exactly was his friend able to locate Kuuga?

"I paid a heavy price for it" Gakuto explained what happened in the previous night as he watched Kuuga slowly being taken away. There had been an incinerator on one part of the warehouse so he could imagine what awaited the body of his grandson if Ringo or her men came back.

"I believe that you should wait a little bit old friend. This is very suspicious… especially that mysterious informant that suddenly appeared"

"You don't need to tell me that" Gakuto scoffed. "Though I don't want my grandson's body to be ruined any further, I find this quite suspicious as well. Kuuga's remains will be examined while we prepare things on our end" he declared.

"I see…" Isshin admired this friend of his. He would have already been at the Muimina family's front gates and destroying everything on his path if he were in Gakuto's shoes. Needless to say, once everything had been clear, the only thing that had been stopping Gakuto would be gone and the Domyouji Clan would once again be out for blood.

News of this development didn't take long to circulate amongst the people in Kou's inner circle. They all agreed that Gakuto's decision was correct and they were all ready to give a hand once the Kuroganes showed any intention of helping their murderous allies.

Attacks and obstructions in one's business were understandable and were all part of the game. What made the blood of these old men boil was the fact that an actual family member was hurt or killed. This was why they spared no expense when Kou had rallied them against the Kuroganes for the first time and the second time.

When Jirou received the news, he wasted no time and called for professionals to help Gakuto's people confirm what they needed to know. This was also his way of getting ahold of any information since Gakuto already started moving towards the Muimina clan's left hand. This was his way of preparing for the battle that will start as soon as he found out what he needed to.

Oblivious to everything, Ringo had been basking in the praises of her parents for her recent achievements. She felt that she had pulled a fast one over Kuuga because not only did she not pay the full amount he had been asking for, she had already gotten most of the evidence she needed to prove to her parents that she found out critical information that they were not able to obtain.

She really didn't feel bad for tricking the so-called Kuuga she had a deal with last night because he had already failed his end of the bargain last time. Though he offered to add more evidence once he had confirmed the payment, she felt that Kuuga was already lucky to have been paid more than half of what he initially asked for.

"How's the progress going, Dad?" She asked her father after finding him drinking coffee at the dining table. "We're able to get the money back right?"

"We can but we still need to find the right timing. The Dokuro clan was our muscle so we need to find ourselves a new hand" he put the newspaper down and sipped his coffee. "The Domyouji clan is a very influential clan so we need to have a plan before dealing with them. What is good about them is that the money they stole from the Dokuro Clan should be in one of their hideouts" he confidently stated.

Kazuya used Kuuga's identity to make it easier for the Muiminas to believe that the Domyouji clan was in possession of the money that he had stored inside his ring. He provided the handgun that was especially crafted for Dokuro Domon and claimed that he had taken it from his family as he escaped captivity. He claimed to have been under punishment because they uncovered his affiliation with Ringo and intended to run away but not before he got the funds he needed to disappear with.

Kazuya provided Ringo with the handgun she held when she happily walked out of the warehouse with the information that the money they gained had been split up into the various hideouts of the Domyouji family. He even added photos of the said money which he claimed was taken before it had been split.

"These lowly yakuza think they can steal from me, Muimina Budou? They have another thing coming!"

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