Takeda was glaring at the screen in front of him, showing him his daughter in her dorm room looking around and then gathering a bunch of clothes and leaving. She hadn’t stayed there long enough for him to send someone while she was there ever since that bastard of a son took her to the Valentini’s. He had no idea where she was staying, but it didn’t take much to guess.

His gaze fell to a stack of papers with a number highlighted all over the place. He’d had an investigator look into who owned the number, and a post-it note on the top page read Samantha Thomas. That gods be damned family, again!

Unable to hold it back any longer, he roared and grabbed the closest thing to his hands, his keyboard, and threw it hard. It didn’t go far, having been wired into his computer, and that just fueled his anger. He tore out the cable and threw the keyboard again, and then grabbed his monitor, slamming it to the ground and stomping on it.

“That fucking bitch, after all I did for her!” he howled as he stomped. “Raised her, trained her, and made her the best student in this gods damned school, and she chooses the enemy over her own blood?”

He roared again, throwing one of his chairs into the door and watching it shatter before it fell to the ground. His eyes were fixated on the pieces, and then he had a thought and smirked.

“She’ll regret this, I’ll make sure of it. And her damn whore… I’ll make sure she doesn’t survive this.”

Takeda began chuckling and grabbed his landline phone, punching in a number hard. He was grinning maniacally as he waited for the other side to pick up.

“I need you to set up a fight for me,” he told the other person with glee in his voice. “My daughter is one of the challengers, and the other…”

Once he had finished the phone call, he punched in another number and commanded, “Get my daughter. I don’t care how long you have to stalk her room, but she’ll come back eventually and you’ll force her to come back her however you can. She doesn’t have to arrive conscious, just alive.”

The driver hung up with his boss and sighed, not really wanting to make the young miss suffer again but knowing he couldn’t really fight the order. He owed the Kazegami family too much money still from his father’s failed business, the money to start having come from the Kazegami’s. Reluctantly, he left his loft above the garage and got into a car to head to the campus.

Today was an unlucky day apparently, because as he pulled into the parking lot by the dorm he saw Kaguya walking with a young woman, their hands clasped and faces beaming with affection. The driver hesitated to break it up, but wasn’t sure where his boss’s eyes were so he got out of his car and called out, “Miss Kaguya.”

Kaguya stopped and turned to look at the driver, hesitating before turning to the woman and handing her the duffel she’d been carrying. The only thing she took with her that she was carrying was the heirloom katana. Both girls exchanged words, and then Kaguya approached with a grim smile.

“My father is forcing something unreasonable on you again, Leon?” she asked as she approached.

“Unfortunately, young miss, he’s commanded I bring you back to the manor and has said it can be unconscious if necessary.” Leon had an ability of his own and graduated from this very academy six years ago. It wouldn’t be impossible for him to knock Kaguya out, especially if she hadn’t been expecting him to attack her.

She sighed but nodded and walked to the car’s back door. He rushed over to open it, not looking up to meet her eyes. “Don’t worry so much, Leon. I’ll be fine.”

“He’s extremely angry. I do not fear for you life, but I do fear for your health.”

“I’m armed this time,” she assured him, showing him the katana before sliding in. “Let’s go and get this over with. Samantha will tell Souma that I was taken to the manor, since they’re being super overprotective now.”

Leon shut the door and got into the driver’s seat. He didn’t blame Souma, or this Samantha, at all, having been the one that drove them to the campus infirmary after she’d been beaten nearly to death. It hurt him to have to take her back to the manor and force her to risk a similar fate, perhaps not even getting help when she needed it this time.

The drive was quiet, Kaguya on her phone and Leon pale as he realized what a cowardly person he was. The ride to the manor seemed to take half the time it usually did, and he was terrified to get out of the vehicle. Unfortunately, Kaguya didn’t wait for him to get out and open her door.

“Take care,” she told him as she got out, walking to the door where an elderly man was standing with it opened. His face seemed more pale than usually as well, which only made Leon fear more as he took the car back to the garage.

Kaguya was escorted to the sitting room for her bedroom, which was not normal for visits with her father. She didn’t question the butler who led her here, instead smiling at him as he left her and closed the door. She took a seat in one of the chairs, nostalgia hitting her as she remembered her mother reading to her in that very same chair when she was only four or five, just before she left and never came back. A few months later, Souma was living across the hall and she was told he was her half-brother. It wasn’t until years later that she realized what having an older half-brother meant, and she hated him for making her mother leave and ruining her father.

Not that she believed that anymore. Her father caused all his misfortunes himself, and Souma’s smiling face as she blamed him for years caused her chest to ache. He never once got angry with her when she yelled at him, and it wasn’t until she was in high school that she started to treat him better. If it weren’t for Samantha, she’d probably still not treat him fairly either, having blamed him still until just recently.

The door opened, and instead of standing as was custom when her father came in she stayed in her seat. He frowned, and she could see the anger in his aura flare hotter. His aura stayed the same, but she saw his body relax and a smile cross his face.

“Daughter,” he greeted her, never using her name anymore unless they were in public or he was angrily yelling at her. Apparently he was going to use his normal act despite being roaringly angry. “Why have you been avoiding me?”

Kaguya rose a brow at him, trying to figure out why he was playing dumb. Surely he knew it was because he nearly killed her the last time she was in his presence. Were they supposed to pretend that never happened? Well, she wouldn’t play that way. “Because you nearly beat me to death last time I was here.”

She saw his eyes narrow, which made his smile look creepy. But then he took a deep breath. “Fine. You’re getting old enough that making your own choices in life is acceptable. However, you are still not an adult and therefore you still must do as I tell you. I believe I have called you home several times these last few weeks since you were released from the hospital. Why have you been ignoring me?”

“Because,” she said slowly, “you are the one who put me in said hospital, because you almost beat me to death.”

Her father’s act crumbled, and his fist hit the wall. She stood and put her katana in a draw position, her hand on it. He glared down at her, and said, “You want to be free of me? Fine. You win a challenge of my choice, my way, and I’ll let you do whatever you want.”

Kaguya swallowed hard, wanting to take the offer but knowing that his way meant her opponent would have to die. She hesitated a long moment before she relaxed her stance and turned her face away a little. “Fine.”

“You will have to stay here, no classes or leaving your quarters, until the challenge.”

It was only Tuesday, so that was a longer time than she really wanted to have to stay in this horrible place, but she’d be free of him entirely if she just made it to the end of the day on Saturday.

“That’s fine, but I won’t take meals with you or anyone else. They’ll have to be delivered to me here,” she told him.

He narrowed his eyes, but after a moment agreed and left the room. As soon as she was sure he was gone, she collapsed to the ground onto her knees. Her room didn’t have a landline, and her cell phone had been confiscated when she came into the house.

“I wish Samantha were here,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself as she leaned forward. “I miss her already.”