Edea: Hero Summoning Conspiracy

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"Please come this way Kouzuki-san." Several police officers met with Kazuya as soon as he was able to get off the plane.

Kazuya was already informed that he was going to be picked up by the authorities to ensure that he would be able to get home as soon as possible so after confirming he got shown their badges, he followed their lead.

None of these officers knew why they had to accommodate Kazuya. Though they didn't know why they had to, orders were absolute. It was Shiroyuki Jirou's request. They led the boy to board one of the police helicopters that was on standby.

"Apologies but our instructions were to bring only Kouzuki Kazuya." The officer blocked off the two guards that Kurogane Tenma sent along with Kazuya for both protection and observation. "Both of you will have to find means of transportation on your own." The officer said before boarding the helicopter along with Kazuya.

The two guards looked at each other before backing down. They had no way to force their way through because of the amount of police officers that had escorted them to the helicopter. With no other options, the two swiftly left and immediately went to report to Kurogane Tenma.

"Shiroyuki Jirou certainly knows how to flaunt." Temna scoffed after he heard the report. "I already expected that you two would not be allowed to stay with Kazuya when he meets with the Kouzuki side so you can just start on making preparations for the other plan." He ordered.

"Sir… do we include private means as well?" the guard that was reporting to Tenma couldn't help but ask. He considered this option as he watched the helicopter that took their young master away take off.

"Yes. Reserve them as well. Any means of transportation that would take the boy back here in time for the exhibition match should be reserved." Tenma didn't hesitate.

This was what he had intended when he forced Kazuya into making his promise. Tenma was sure that either the boy would have gone back to their hometown on his own after hearing about what happened to Shiroyuki Tomoyo. Even if he had decided to focus on the match, the Kouzuki clan and the Shiroyuki clan would make sure to call him back. This was the funeral of his official fiancé after all.

Tenma had his loyal guards take every single means of transportation to take Kazuya back to participate in the exhibition match on time. Tenma would take advantage of Kazuya's absence to be the judge of who gets to give the national representative position to his grandson. This would give him the chance to have some influence over which side he would favor.

Though there were other means of returning on time to participate, they were in no means convenient because of the distance that had to be traveled. With Kazuya forfeiting, his promise would have been broken while not suffering any blame because of the circumstances that Tenma divulged to the witnesses.

"Understood. We will immediately make preparations."

-

Though Kazuya's traveling time was shortened, he still couldn't feel anxious. He had sworn to never let his comrades suffer the same fate in this new life. He didn't think that he would make new ones in the process so he was afraid of losing the loyal robot girl after he had just realized what place this girl had gained through her efforts.

He tried busying his mind as he travelled and tried to unravel the things that have been on his mind ever since he heard of this incident. Kazuya had come to a conclusion that this was not a feat that could have been done by a mere killer who had been sent to rot in prison for as long as he had.

"(What changed? Who could it have been? How was it achieved?)" those were some of the questions that Kazuya kept asking himself as soon as he started his journey back home.

Though the Shiroyuki clan wasn't without enemies, none of them went as far as attacking members of their family. They remained as business rivals because they feared the wrath of the clan's influence over various officials that have gained power over the years.

"(Those who the Shiroyukis went up against throughout the years feared retaliating towards them because of grandpa Jirou. Who would have the guts to…)" Kazuya stopped thinking as he seemed to have thought of something. He quickly turned to the officer who was with him to clarify a few things.

"What is it?" the officer asked.

"Which prison was Shirihara Kira kept in?" Kazuya didn't have much knowledge of the person as he only knew as much as what Yuriko had informed him at the time.

"This…" the officer was hesitant. He didn't know why the kid know about it but since it was an ongoing investigation, he didn't know how to answer.

"I already heard everything from grandpa Jirou. This has something to do with solving a big part of the case so I hope that you can answer my question." He didn't forget to mention Jirou's name to make the officer believe that he could just ask the old man if he wanted to.

"The… Numa Correctional facility…" the officer answered. He was afraid of what Shiroyuki Jirou might do if Kazuya told him that the officer didn't cooperate.

"Numa Correctional facility…?" he repeated the name. This was something that sounded very familiar.

"It's a facility that was established by the philanthropist, Numa Hisashi. It is a prison that is also set-up to study the prisoners' psychology to help solve and prevent crimes." Seeing Kazuya deep in thought, the officer offered additional information.

"!!" Kazuya immediately had a revelation as soon as he heard the name. One of the recent ventures of the Kuroganes been investing in lately had been towards this philanthropist and his research.

If there was one thing that he learned from his previous life, it was that there were no such thing as such convenient coincidences. Though the Kuroganes have their charity and philanthropy projects themselves, they were never really without any benefits. By this reasoning alone, Kazuya was convinced that there had to be something that the Kuroganes did.

But why would they target the robot girl of all people? Wasn't their target his mother? What benefit would they gain from Tomoyo's death? If they went through the trouble and spent a lot of money, what was their goal? Kazuya thought long and hard.

"sigh… I need more information…" he muttered after being escorted towards a vehicle after the helicopter had landed not too far away from the Kouzuki residence.

*bzzz bzzz* Kazuya had received a message from Ika.

[Boss! The Kurogane are acting strange. They are reserving every private plane and buying tickets towards K prefecture. Something must have happened because Kurogane Tenma is there right now!]

"(That old man…)" Kazuya was immediately irritated. He thought of the possibility of Tomoyo's current predicament was because they needed to lure him towards this plot. The thought of this made him want to slowly dissect that old bastard to pieces.

He calmed himself down after his body felt that they had entered the neighborhood that had an increased amount of mana. Dealing with Kurogane Tenma's plot would have to come after he solved the current problem.

"Halt!" the person who stood in front of the vehicle was none other than Mame. They had already locked down the area surrounding the Kouzuki residence. Nagato Tsuna said that he needed to concentrate after all.

"I'll get off here. Thank you, officer." Kazuya excused himself and got off the vehicle.

"Y-young master!" Mame immediately greeted him along with the rest who almost panicked.

"You've been working hard." Kazuya nodded at Mame. "I'll definitely provide you guys with a rewarding vacation once the troubles start dying down." Kazuya directed this to the team under Mame who have been assigned to protect Kyouko.

"T-thank you young master!" Mame bowed sincerely. In his opinion, there would be no need for such a thing. The lives they've led after meeting Kouzuki Kazuya was like a dream for them. They were no longer the dregs of society that people looked down on.

Kazuya entered the residence and was immediately greeted with the face of his worried mother. She checked if anything had happened to him since she didn't think that Kurogane Tenma would let him go without a fight. That competition was his pride after all.

"I know what you want to ask, mom. We can talk about it after I check on Tsuna-san." Kazuya greeted her with an apologetic smile before heading to his laboratory. Though he couldn't tell what her current condition was, Kazuya knew that Tomoyo was still breathing.

"Kid… you have to save Jirou's granddaughter." Kou looked at Kazuya with a rare but serious expression. "Saving her would mean preventing the chaos that Jirou will wreak."

"Don't put too much pressure on him!" Kyouko glared at her father. Though they already talked about the consequences of Kazuya's failure, she believed it needn't be said.

"I could care less about what action grandpa Jirou might take just to find the scum that did this and the people behind them. I will be doing the same regardless of the outcome." Kazuya turned his back. "If I'm right… no matter how useful they currently are, they just added another reason for not needing stay amongst the living anymore…"

Kyouko and Kou looked at each other after Kazuya entered the building. They wondered if the hint that Kazuya gave was true. What did the Kurogane clan truly want? Why are they targeting people around Kazuya?

"Do you think… they know about the arrangements you made about Tomoyo-chan being Kazuya's fiancé, dad?" Kou immediately froze after hearing the question.

"I… would probably assume so… it was no big secret at the time after all." Kou sighed as he felt guilty. He was partly responsible about bringing his friend's precious granddaughter to harm if that were the case.

"You shouldn't have hidden it from us, or even me…" Kyouko sighed. Though she was glad that Kazuya had cared for his friends, she didn't like her son doing those kinds of things.

"You're not going to stop him? Surely you know that he's been the one disposing of those traitors in the company." Kou frowned. His daughter truly doted on Kazuya too much.

"I won't. He will work harder to hide things from me if I let him know that I am aware of what he's up to." Kyouko shook her head. "The company is Kazuya's as much as it is mine. Though I don't like these methods, as long as Kazuya wishes it, I will be fine with it." Kyouko smiled as she went back to the house.

"Maybe… she already knew everything?" Kou couldn't help but wonder. Though none of them knew how Kazuya disposed of the traitors of the Kouzuki company, Kou was sure that they will not be coming back. The fate of the Dokuro family was something he was aware of after all.

-

Kazuya breathed in deeply before stepping down the basement of his laboratory. This place had been the center of the gathering formation so the mana was denser that it usually was. The light that emanated from the formations dimly lit the room as he approached the center.

"You came faster than I thought." Tsuna opened his eyes and the serious expression he wore eased up.

"Thank you for making it in time Tsuna-san." Kazuya didn't forget to give his gratitude as he saw the girl who was unconscious yet breathing in the middle of the healing formation. "Can you tell me about the situation?" he approached Tomoyo and held her hand before he used his mana to check on her condition.

"This girl is impressive for her age." Tsuna couldn't help but praise. "From what I can see, I assume that this girl already knew that she had to take a hit before being able to land a decisive blow to the attacker. She focused all her mana to deflect the blade that targeted her heart as she attacked." He explained his findings.

"I see…" Kazuya couldn't help but look at her strangely. This was what he taught this robot girl many times. 'Protect your vitals whenever you think you can't avoid an attack' were the words he thought never got through to her since she would hardly do it whenever they sparred with each other.

"(Stupid girl…)" Kazuya couldn't help but scold her. "(So you trusted that I wouldn't hurt you that much?)" he sighed. This robot girl had been cute in a weird sort of way.

"Her will to protect herself was strong enough that her mana formed a small barrier around her heart. I can't cast a healing spell precise enough to repair the damaged areas around her heart so I concentrated on letting her body function as if it suffered no damage." Tsuna continued as he watched Kazuya closely. While he was slightly glad that the boy finally acknowledged a companion in this world, he was still worried about whether he can do something about the situation.

"It's been hard on you Tsuna-san." He was truly grateful towards Tsuna. Not only had he saved Tomoyo, he had chosen a tedious and tiring method. Even to a person who was as strong as him, not having much mana to gather would exhaust him severely. This had been why Tomoyo was rushed to the Kouzuki residence in a hurry.

"How about it? Can you do something?" he looked expectantly at Kazuya who had never stopped infusing his mana to the girl. The strange part about it was that the mana that surrounded the heart of Tomoyo to form a barrier had eased up compared to when he first did the same thing. This made him convinced that these two definitely shared an unconscious connection towards each other.

"I do have one method but…you probably won't like it." Kazuya looked at Tsuna. "My current self can't cast grand healing spells nor does this robot girl have the capability to maintain the effect until she is fully healed." Both of them were aware of how healing magic functioned so Tsuna didn't deny that fact. He didn't know the spells himself but even if he did, Tomoyo's current level would make the effects of those spells useless unless either one of them kept infusing her with their own mana for a while.

"What method do you have in mind?" Tsuna already thought of those methods which was why he asked for Kazuya's help. He hoped that Kazuya's intelligence would be able to come up with something that could prevent this girl from being close to a cripple.

"Basic healing magic requires little to no requirements for the one being healed. The simplerhealing magic is used, the less it asks for both the caster and the person the spell is casted on." Kazuya shared his idea.

"By basic healing magic… you mean…" Tsuna frowned. Though Kazuya's idea sounded simple, Tsuna understood what he meant immediately.

"That's right. Manually healing the damaged areas through sight and touch." Kazuya didn't mince with words. "Surgery with magic is a simpler way of putting it."

"Are you confident?" It may have sounded absurd but it didn't change the fact that there was no other option that would make Tomoyo walk out without any lingering effects. Tsuna understood enough that in theory, this was quite an ingenious method. The only reason that this wasn't an option in Edea was because there had been no need for it. It was a method that Kazuya had developed with Earth in mind.

"I am." He replied without hesitation. "I came up with this method because it was something that might be able to help with in solving the problem of a person that has been infected with dangerous poisons like the Frost poison or the Blackhart poison." Kazuya took out a set of blades from his ring and placed them beside the unconscious girl

"Blackhart poison…" Tsuna muttered. He knew these poisons well. Detoxification magic was useless against these aggressive poisons that assimilated themselves within the victim's body.

"A friend of mine suffered from it." Kazuya spoke. "She kept it from us so that she could continue traveling with the party." He gave a bitter smile. "I was too focused on the mission that I failed to see the signs so in the end, it was already too late when the poison was discovered."

Tsuna kept quiet and listened. Kazuya hardly said anything about what he had experienced in Edea. From what Tsuna observed from him, he studied and trained as much as he could because of the regrets he had experienced. No one could blame him because even Tsuna had felt the same way after experiencing the feeling of losing his comrades.

"I understand. Just tell me if you need my help." Tsuna moved to the side and sat down.

"Thank you." He didn't think that it would be this easy to convince Tsuna so Kazuya was thankful for the trust. "You would need to maintain her current status so I can concentrate more on the procedure."

"Have you done this before?" seeing the confident look on Kazuya's face, he couldn't help but ask.

"I've experimented on a few specimens, but this would be my first time doing it on a person that isn't fully grown." Tsuna's eyebrow raised as soon as heard it. "I've consulted various medical books so I think that my knowledge on simple anatomy is good enough." Since Tsuna gave him his trust, Kazuya didn't feel like hiding this from him.

"You…" though he already assumed it was like that, he didn't expect Kazuya to simply come clean with it. Tsuna wanted to say more but had to hold his tongue as he watched Kazuya open up Tomoyo's gown.

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Tsuna was afraid that Kazuya would have been numbed to the feeling of taking lives. Heroes may have been a term that is nice to hear but it did not change the fact that the title was gained through an innumerable number of corpses. As chaotic the era and civilization was in Edea, it was unavoidable that summoned people such as them would have taken away lives just to be able to come back.

"Tsuna-san." Kazuya stopped the hand that held the small knife that was infused with mana. "If you were given one chance to go back to the time before you were summoned, would you choose to remain here on Earth, or would you use the knowledge you have to fix the mistakes you've made in that world?" he looked into Tsuna's eyes waiting for an answer.

"I would change things." Tsuna replied without hesitation. He wasn't perfect so that was an easy question to answer.

Kazuya smiled before turning back to the robot girl that was in need of repairing. He breathed in deeply before lowering the knife and focused on nothing else but the procedure.

"You still owe me an explanation for not telling me about our grandfathers' arrangements so don't you dare try to escape punishment by using this injury as an excuse."

-

At the dead of night, there was hardly any noise at the Kouzuki residence. Two old men were sitting outside the large doors in front of the former storage building that was now taken over by the youngest member of the household.

"The two of you should wait inside the house." Kyouko came to check up on the two after they hadn't returned to the house.

Jirou couldn't sit still in his house. Kazuya had long arrived and they still hadn't heard any news so he snuck out to wait for the news himself. He sat outside Kazuya's laboratory which he was informed was the place where Tomoyo was being treated.

"Thank you for the concern Kyouko-chan but I'll be fine where I am. Kaori's very anxious as well so I can only wait here to see if my granddaughter is alright." Jirou replied with his usual proud demeanor being almost nonexistent.

"How goes the search for the culprit?" Kou decided to change the topic. He wanted to distract the lifeless Jirou who immediately emitted a hint of killing intent after hearing the question.

"The investigation currently has no leads. He clearly had gone through a lot of effort to make sure that he wouldn't be caught by any cameras. The people who were in contact with that bastard before he faked his death is under investigation as well." Jirou spoke with frustration.

"You should steer clear from this investigation old friend. This case has too many unanswered questions about it that it feels ominous." Kou didn't look at his friend when he said this but instead gulped down on the sake on his hand.

"You really think I should play with my thumbs while the person who did this to my granddaughter is out there? Do you want me to live in continuous fear for Tomoyo's safety for as long as that bastard is not caught?!" Jirou responded angrily.

Kou could only sigh. He already knew that Jirou wouldn't take his advice. He understood how his friend felt for he once started a war with the Kurogane clan because of what they did to his daughter.

"As much as it pains me to say it, my grandfather is correct." The voice that interrupted them made the two old men freeze. They were afraid that their argument had disturbed the process that had been going on inside the building.

"Kazuya!"

"Kid!"

"you brat!"

The three of them reacted immediately when Kazuya walked out of the doors looking haggard. His hair was a mess and he looked pale. Jirou immediately worried that something bad had happened and braced himself to hear what the boy had to say.

"I want you to stay away from this matter at least until I am able to clear my suspicions." Kazuya turned to Jirou without giving much regard to how he appeared at the moment. "You owe me at least that much."

"Would you d—" Jirou immediately stopped speaking as soon as the last part of what he said had sunk in. "Owe?" he was baffled. If anyone owed someone, it would be Kazuya. He had helped and cooperated with him throughout the years after all.

"I've full—" Kazuya suddenly stopped as his body started to tremble.

*cough cough* he coughed up mouthfuls of blood that forced him to hit on the ground.

"W-what happened!? Are you okay!?" Kyouko immediately rushed to her son's side looking extremely worried.

"I'll be fine soon.

"This is why I told you to stabilize your condition before going out." Tsuna's voice came as he came out of the storage building with Tomoyo in his arms. "He'll be fine after he recovers his exhausted mana. The conversation you were having was worrying him so he put a stop to it." He explained.

"T-tsuna-san…" Jirou grew even more worried after seeing Kazuya's current state. He had no idea what happened but seeing the boy who was supposed to be helping with his granddaughter suddenly cough up blood.

"You should thank him. Not even a scar can be found on your granddaughter." Tsuna smiled and turned to show Jirou the girl who was no longer as pale as she was earlier. "Though she will be perfectly fine, she still needs to stay here for a few days. I suggest you let your wife know as soon as you can."

"R-right!" Jirou remembered the anxious Kaori and immediately moved to the house to make a call. He was afraid that the police might have been tracking him to see if he would make a move so he left his devices at home.

Tomoyo was put inside one of the guest rooms and while akane watched over her, the rest gathered at the living room after Kazuya had recovered enough to be able to move around.

"Thank you, kid. I definitely won't forget this." Jirou gave a bow towards Kazuya.

"Raise your head grandpa Jirou. I would have saved her regardless if it was a request from you or not. The robot girl is a friend so of course I would have saved her if I could." Kazuya replied as if it was a matter of fact. "I hope that you stay away from this case like I mentioned earlier. I promise you that the result would be more than just satisfactory."

"Do you know who is behind all of this?" Jirou found Kazuya's confidence to be quite peculiar. He already knew that the boy may already have some lead just from the look on Kazuya's face. "What do you mean by satisfactory?"

"Regardless of my theory on whether the people I'm thinking of are behind this or not, Shirihara Kira will not be able to hide from me." Kazuya confidently declared. "I need grandpa Jirou to collaborate with Tsuna-san in forging some things for me. The materials I asked Tsuna-san to bring have arrived after all"

"Just who do you think is behind this and why?" Jirou couldn't help but ask. Even though he joined hands with this boy, the enemies the Shiroyuki clan have are different from theirs. How could Kazuya know? Was it somehow related to him? Jirou started theorizing.

"I still need to prevent the current scheme against me from succeeding so I'll start with that matter after I get back." Kazuya changed the topic immediately because he didn't think that Jirou wouldn't make a move if he revealed his suspicions. He still had to go back for the exhibition match tomorrow so this old man had a lot of time to initiate an attack.

""Scheme?"" Kou and Kyouko were the first ones to react this time. They were already suspecting that something happened for Kazuya to be able to come back so fast. They indeed were not wrong.

"I was allowed to come here because of two promises…" Kazuya began to explain what Tenma had forced him to do. This immediately made Kyouko tremble. She remembered seeing in the television that Kazuya had forfeited the rest of his matches so she immediately tried thinking of ways if what she could do for her son.

"Relax mom. The first promise has already been fulfilled." Kazuya comforted Kyouko by giving her a hug. He was already convinced that she would have abandoned the clan's reputation for him so he immediately reassured her. "Look at this…" Kazuya pulled up his cellphone and showed them the results of the competitions he participated in.

[Champion: Kurogane Kazuya]

"""HUH!!??""" Kou, Jirou and Kyouko's reactions were priceless as they grabbed the phone from Kazuya's hand to make sure that it wasn't a lie.

"Unlike kendo tournaments, gun competitions are based on accumulated points and completion times. Though it might not be possible to win if this were an all-ages competition, I left after setting up points which the other competitors couldn't beat." He explained the rules of the competition so that they wouldn't be confused.

"So you just need to win tomorrow? Are you going to be alright in your condition?" Kou looked at this troublesome grandson of his from head to toe. He was the only candidate to be the next head so he was worried that Kazuya was being overconfident. He was relatively new to the sport and it was unlike the regular ones that he participated in.

"Kurogane Tenma already made his move." Kazuya explained the report he received about the Kuroganes blocking the routes to get back to the western prefecture on time.

"Absolute scum!" Kou clenched his fists hard. "I will not stand for our promises to be exploited like this!"

"Do you want me to arrange a transport for you?" Jirou was feeling guilty because this was all for his granddaughter.

"You shouldn't do that Jirou." Tsuna interrupted. "It wouldn't be a problem if the transport was for you, but if the transfer was for Kazuya, Kurogane Tenma can use that to make your relationship with the authorities take a big hit."

"It doesn't matter to me. The kid saved my granddaughter. That is enough for me to even have a fallout with them!" Jirou was determined. He almost lost his granddaughter so he wasn't going to allow the Kouzukis to lose Kazuya because of it.

"Please don't worry everyone. I've thought of a way that will make Kurogane Tenma accept his failure silently." Kazuya pulled out his cellphone. "I still haven't asked so I'm going to do so now…" he went through his contacts to find a person he hadn't expected to contact so soon.

*click* the person on the other line picked up.

"Sorry for calling you at this time but, can I ask for a favor?"

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