121 116. Childhood friend

As the saying goes, girls mature faster than boys.

After a few years, when she was transferred to Katagiri High School and saw him for the first time, but the person she was familiar with had undergone a complete transformation.

Distancing himself from everybody like an introvert, he was also struggling to keep up with his studies which made her more sad.

Before she could muster her courage, an accident happened.

He dropped out of High school and disappeared.

Surprisingly in just two years, he had already become a big public figure while she had been struggling in her family.

She saw his photos everywhere in the streets, newspapers, etc.

Hearing he opened up a completely new Era.

A feeling of inferiority made it difficult to think about him anymore.

She felt that she was too unworthy of him.

On the other hand, her father encountered a huge debt making him addicted to drugs and alcohol.

He would always beat her mother making her scared, and she became judgmental towards men and biased.

She thought of them as dirty, unreliable and inconsiderate.

Never did she ever think that her bastard of a father would one day want to sell her to cover up the debt.

Before he could lay his hands on his daughter, he was shot to death in broad daylight by a group of men wearing black suits, who appeared and rescued them.

They said that they were sent by someone named "Devil".

After being rescued, everything was fine, the debt was also cleared up by the person named Devil.

She felt grateful for this unknown person though the name sounds domineering.

Suddenly, Misaki's mother fell ill, after checking, it turned out that she had been suffering from heart tumor and would immediately need an operation.

Which requires a huge sum of money.

Money!

Misaki after receiving the news cried bitterly as they don't have much money.

The next day when she arrived at the hospital ward, she was surprised by a familiar face sitting near her mother.

And his words made her stunned and all those accumulated emotions burst out in the form of tears.

"It's been a long time, Misaki. And don't worry, the operation is a success."

And from then, everything was history.

____

Seeing Misaki was absent minded, Izumi tightened his hold making her snapped to reality.

"...Thank You." It came from the bottom of her heart.

After getting along with him, she found out that "Devil" who saved them, was none other than her childhood crush.

When she asked him why he took that path, he truthfully told her everything and she volunteered to help him manage this Cake Shop.

"It's just some Money. Life is more important."

The second line, he himself didn't believe it.

"Sooner or later, you'll be my woman. So what's mine is yours too."

Money?

Sorry, what is that?

(A/N: Guys, remember to have this kind of capital attitude and thinking in real life, lol.)

"How's aunty?" Izumi questioned worriedly.

"She is busy managing the orphanage you gifted her." When it comes to her mother, Misaki smiles brightened.

"It's good that she is smiling a little now." He replied in relief.

He blamed himself for not noticing it sooner.

The mental trauma her bastard husband inflicted on her made her difficult to recover even after Izumi used Divine Water to heal her tumor.

In this world, there were not many people who could make him care.

His mother had only two trusted friends who lived up to her trust.

One of them was Utaha's mother and another one was Misaki's mother.

"Ugh! I forgot to mention it." Misaki grumpily told him, "Izumi, you've been elected as the best student of the year in our batch."

She finished her high school and the graduation ceremony was expected to occur this month(Mid-March).

B.S.O.T.Y. (Best student of the year 2015-18 batch)

However, Misaki didn't feel happy at all. She knew how much bullying her boyfriend suffered and no one supported him that time.

Now, he was elected out of nowhere, obviously the management were taking advantage of his popularity to soak their school's reputation.

"Hehehe..." Izumi's eyes glittered as he spoke in his heart, "Finally, the fish has taken the bait."

How could he not understand their simplicity thinking level?

And he had never been a soft person.

You know it's already been two years since dropped out from the school and the management selected him as the best student.

What does it show?

"They're really shameless." She snorted angrily.

"Dear Misaki-chan, don't be short sighted. Focus on the solution not on the problem."

Izumi advised calmly, but she didn't notice his small grin.

Since you involve me then be ready for unexpected surprises.

But, Misaki wasn't reconciled at all. She thought Izumi was too soft and forgave them.

She pursued her lips and snorted softly.

(A/N: In anime, she was a vengeful character, if you haven't seen it.)

Oh Devil, soft!

If anyone familiar with Izumi heard her thought, they'd die laughing at her naivety.

The title "Devil" wasn't just for decoration, after all.

"Izumi-sama!"

This sudden voice startled Misaki.

"Teacher Grayfia." Misaki immediately took her hands back and abruptly stood up.

Her face was dripping red.

She's exactly like a mistress who was caught red handed by head wife.

"I didn't expect you to move faster, Misaki." Grayfia then raised her eyebrows at Izumi who had been up to no good again.

She overheard their conversation on the way.

"Teacher..I..I." Misaki had a dumbfounded expression.

"Your feelings are too obvious when you're near him, Misaki. If you want to become like me, then you have to learn how to conceal your emotions. Only show it when you're alone with Izumi."

"And your excuses were too bad. You said that you want to work here to repay the money but in truth, you just want to get close to Izumi to confirm your feelings."

The more Misaki listens, the more embarrassed she gets.

With her usual stoic face, Grayfia educated Misaki on her path to become a legendary personal maid for Izumi like Grayfia.

(A/N: Only two personal maids.)

She wore a maid dress after seeing Grayfia and had been accepted by Grayfia after showing her inner talent.

Lol.

Izumi who had returned to his senses after crafting a sinister plan had a silly smile on his handsome face.

Just imagining a naked Grayfia teaching Misaki further mysteries about maidly duties made his saliva flow out.

Told you that only in front of his family, he'd ever reveal his true thoughts.

Unfortunately, he was too engrossed to notice that there were two pairs of hands not far away from their target.

(╥﹏╥)

"....."

____

"I'm sorry sir. We can't find any information about the killer. Our department is working hard for this. We're very sorry."

An apologetic tone came from the speaker.

"I see. Thank You."

An elderly man with long spiky gray hair with a moustache, a beard and a scar on his right eye running diagonally from the middle of his forehead down to just above his right cheekbone.

He was wearing an olive colored Yukata tied by a white obi.

After cutting off the call, he closed his eyes as he slightly leaned back on his desk chair.

"So, you've started..." The old man muttered with two lines of tears rolled down sideways.

"In pursuit of my own greed, I've lost the feeling called happiness." A self mockery escaped from his mouth as he glanced at the photo frame.

A touch of sadness flashed in his eyes.

It contained all his children and their wife/husband and three little children, along with him and his wife.

All had smiles on their faces except a certain emotionless bastard.

Completely different from current situation.

Various emotions invaded his wounded heart as he spoke up looking at the ceiling.

"You were right, my wife.. I'll be meeting you on the other side...very soon if fate allows."

Her words still echoed in his minds.

Just now, he received a call from Superintendent.

He stated that they couldn't find any clues regarding the high profile murder.

But, who was he?

He was the head of Nakiri Clan.

Senzaemon Nakiri.

Under his leadership, the clan flourished for many decades.

An old fritter like him is basically understood from the tone of the other party, they don't want to investigate any further.

He could feel their resistance and fear.

There was no one in Japan that could make even the police retreat in fear except that one guy.

His name itself had become a BRAND.

From that moment, Senzaemon knew who was behind it.

If it was before his wife's death, he would never compromise.

The development of Nakiri Clan was his own painstaking efforts. When his eldest son found out some dark secrets and approached him to confirm, he wasn't even moved by his own son's persuasion.

He didn't hesitate to expel him out of the clan, but what he had never expected was that his own son and daughter-in-law were played to death by reptiles, he called friends and his eldest son-in-law.

He felt like a part of his soul was leaving him.

For Clan's reputation, he hid the news from his wife and sneakily sent some of his trusted subordinates to protect his grandchild.

However, it seemed God's punishment for him was far from over.

After a year and half, his wife fell ill and that illness took her away from him.

It turned out that she was suppressing the news about her health from him for 6 months.

She never thought of resisting from the beginning at all, her mind was filled with thoughts of death, death and death.

She wanted to die.

On her deathbed, she looked at him and muttered.

"Senzaemon, do you know? I had a dream. A beautiful dream."

Holding a photo frame, her last words were like a curse.

"Last night, I saw my Grandson destroying everything you've ever built. Now I can rest easy."

Her exact words hit the deepest part of his heart, especially that relief expression in the end, made his heart break into pieces.

This indicated that she was aware of everything from the beginning.

She hated her husband very much for destroying her family and she didn't fall in love with this kind of person.

Nowadays, none of the children had much contact with each other, only her eldest daughter talk with her from time to time.

This made her very hurt.

Her husband wasn't the same as once he was.

____

He had never seen her like this.

How much pain did she endured?

What glory! What wealth! ...All shit!

These things took almost everything away from him.

In pursuit of greed, he had lost an important thing.

His connection with one another.

And, learned this lesson the hard way.

That day he felt that life had no meaning and his remaining soul had completely disappeared.

Barely hanging by a thread.

Since then.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the final punishment until then he'll continue to wait and witness this cursed clan perish.

====================================

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It'll boost up my motivation.

Thanks for reading my story. Have a great day ahead!

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