Home

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Kazuya was quietly discharged from the hospital. In his first life, he lived in Mei's messy apartment but had no recollection of how or where he lived before his accident. This was the very first time he had seen the Kouzuki household.

Looking at the Japanese style mansion, he was surprised. He inwardly cursed that bastard Lee from his previous life. He must have had a blissful life after stealing what should have been his.

"Welcome home Kazuya" Kyouko felt a bit disappointed since she could tell from her son's expression that he had not remembered a thing.

"I'm… home" he curiously glanced around and memorized every part of his home.

"Welcome home Mistress, young master and Kazuno-sama" an elderly lady woman walked up to welcome them at the entrance. "Kazuno-sama has already informed me of the young master's circumstances" The aged lady wearing an aproned kimono smiled at him.

"Hello! You must be Fujiyama Akane-san. Thank you for taking care of me and I apologize for not remembering who you are" he bowed politely.

"Heavens you don't have to apologize for such a thing, It is that ungrateful animal Lee's fault. It is fine to call me granny like you used to. Do not worry young master, I will not let that beast set foot in this house again"

"Do you take care of the whole house by yourself granny?"

"I mainly do basic chores like cooking and basic maintenance. My children or grandchildren come over twice a week to help me clean the estate. This house may look old, but it has undergone improvements, so it only needs a little maintenance" she was happy after being referred to familiarly.

"I'll leave Kazuya to you Fujiyama-san. Mei and I still need to go to the office. He will probably lock himself up in his room to study for his new school so you don't have to do anything special"

"Please be assured and leave the young master to me" she bowed politely to Kyouko.

Mei was a reluctant to leave but was pulled away. Kazuya saw them off before finally being showed around his own home. He quickly memorized everything and found that even though it was still just a little, mana was circulating better at his house compared to the hospital.

"(Mana truly is more abundant where nature is)"

"Do you have any requests for food young master?"

"Food I used to enjoy. It may help jog my memory"

"Alright. This is your room and is the last stop of the tour. Please do call for me using the intercom if there is anything you need"

"I will, thank you" He opened the door. The moment he entered he immediately realized why Mei had been reluctant to leave. She certainly did 'arrange' his room so that he could 'focus' on things that have nothing to do with his old memories.

"I hate to admit it but the old me would have killed for this room" He sighed.

Kazuya didn't mean the size of the room at all which was twice the size of his old one. Mei had filled his room with various pictures of herself and even made posters of herself to hang on the wall. He was ashamed to admit it to himself but it wasn't just his old self that liked what Mei had done. Not that anyone will know what he truly felt.

"Now then, I guess I should get started" he breathed in deeply and concentrated his senses.

Kazuya already had total control of his body, so he had already begun enhancing its capabilities. He had gone through almost the same process when he first got summoned over to the world of Edea. Being a summoned person, he had an unfair advantage for progressing faster than any of Edea's inhabitants. It was only recently did he begin to ponder about the reason why.

Although his body's improvement was quick, it was only at a pace a little faster if the scale was the progress in this world. His current pace was still leagues below his prowess when he trained in the academy in Edea. He surmised that this was because of the difference of the abundance of mana.

After he was finally worn out, he sat down on his chair and called out his ring.

"I'm glad that I didn't lose you. You're the only companion that's been supporting me all the way and even followed me back to this point" he smiled and ridiculed himself a little bit for talking to his own ring.

He concentrated and infused mana to the ring to take out the thick book that was entrusted to him by the demon king. Kazuya almost passed out. Although he only needed a little mana to operate the functions of the ring, in his world, that was already plenty and over his current capacity.

"Sorry and thank you for your help" he rubbed the ring that had a noticeable change in luster and felt that it somehow helped him do what he intended. Since it was said to be bound to his soul, he could somewhat feel that it needed mana to be maintained so he could only feel apologetic towards it.

Kazuya didn't immediately go to study the book but waited until he was in a better condition to do so. He ate the food that was prepared for him and used his computer to check if there was any new information for him but alas, things were not that easy. The only lead he had to go on was the name Natsu and that he was from the same region so it was going to take time.

Fortunately, it was the age of modern technology and he wouldn't be treated as just a child as long as it was not known in the internet. It wasn't until Kyouko came back with Mei at night that he finally stopped. He kept that ancient looking book in his desk since he didn't have the capacity to use his ring again. He locked it just in case and went out to greet them. He didn't want Kyouko to start arguing with Mei after when she sees the 'changes' made to his room nor did he want it to be remodeled again.

"Welcome back mom and big sis" Kyouko smiled warmly immediately after she saw and heard her son. She looked forward to this whenever she went home and couldn't get tired of hearing Kazuya welcome her everytime.

"Kazu! Do you like your room?" Mei cut in on her boss and moved towards Kazuya.

"Yes. The only thing that's missing is a pillow that I can hug in my sleep" he was being sarcastic about the last part but it seemed to have backfired as he saw Mei contemplating with a red face.

"Did you already have dinner mistress? The young master has been patiently waiting to dine with you" Fujiyama stealthily winked at him.

"We were too busy with meetings to get a proper meal. I brought Mei to eat here because she'll end up lazily eating convenience store food again if I let her be" Kazuya held his laughter because he agreed. Most of the trash that would pile up when he lived with her would be the containers from food she bought there.

"That is not a good habit Kazuno-sama. How can you live up to be the young master's future bride if you can't even cook for yourself" Fujiyama scolded lightly.

Mei couldn't retort so she kept silent and could only accept it. This was not her first time eating in this household. Considering that Kazuya ate Fujiyama's cooking every day, she had a rough estimate of how his standards would develop.

"This is delicious!" Kazuya exclaimed as they ate the dinner that Fujiyama made.

"I'm doomed…" her hope of skipping the cooking process was shattered when she looked at how happy Kazuya was as he ate.

"I'd be happy to teach you how to cook Kazuno-sama"

"I won't allow my son to consider women who can't even prepare a home cooked meal for him"

"Kazu they're bullying me! Help me…" she turned to her last hope.

"You should just move in and live here with us big sis" he dropped a bomb all of a sudden.

""Move in!?""

It was a suggestion that he had already thought about. He genuinely cared for Mei's wellbeing and always wanted to improve her lifestyle when she was his guardian. He even learned to cook to give her homemade meals back then. This suggestion was also a countermeasure to protect her from the incident that separated them in his first life.

Kazuya swore that he wouldn't waste his second chance. He may be acting greedy, but he swore to live his life with no regrets. He took advantage of being a child voiced out his wish without hesitation.

"Kazuya are you sure about that?" Kyouko asked.

"Yes. Big sis will live a better lifestyle and mom will have an easier time with work"

Mei was hesitant. Kyouko had once offered that she moved in with her when she graduated so she could learn to do the job faster but she refused. She was used to living alone. Although she could have moved to a better apartment than the one she currently rented because of her salary, she really didn't find the need to. The offer as too sudden and caused her to consider a lot of things which caused her a great deal of confusion.

"My, my, the young master sure does act fast. Already wanting to live with the first bride candidate. I feel sorry for the future candidates since this advantage is certainly a big one" Fujiyama lent her young master some help.

"Oh! Granny has a point. Shouldn't married couples live together?" Kazuya immediately caught on and added.

"I heard from the mistress that the second bridal candidate was a kind young girl from the Stockton household. I've heard good things about her from people of the same industry"

"Maybe I should reconsider getting along with that girl. It looks like big sis doesn't want to live with me. She did get many doctors to look at me without letting us know that it was her doing"

"Don't! I'll do it! I'll move in!" finally giving in, Mei stopped him from having further thoughts about Kurumi. She didn't want to admit it but that little girl's background intimidated her. Mei didn't want her new-found place in Kazuya's new life to be challenged by someone so formidable.

Kyouko just smiled and observed at the interesting development. She had no complaints if Mei decided to move in since it was more convenient for her to have her assistant live with them.

"Congratulations young master. Shouldn't you give Kazuno-sama some sort of reward?" Fujiyama gave one last push since there was still a bit of hesitation in Mei.

"I look forward in living together big sis" Kazuya moved closer and kissed her on the cheek.

"Kazu~!" She instantly lost all hesitation and hugged him before turning to Kyouko. "I've taken Kazu's first kiss and I didn't even need to initiate it" She smiled triumphantly at her boss.

"Hey! That doesn't count! If that counts then I've already taken it long ago!"

"Too bad he doesn't remember it! Isn't that right Kazu?"

"Sorry mom" He apologized and gave Kyouko a peck on the cheek which pacified her instantly. She was convinced that as his mother, she still held a greater place in his heart. After preventing another argument from these two, they happily ate the delicious food that Fujiyama made.

Because Mei was set on moving as soon as possible, she reluctantly left after dinner. The mother and son duo finally had time to themselves again as Fujiyama excused herself to do the dishes.

"How are your studies coming along? Are there any problems? Will you be able to make it?" Kyouko decided to take advantage of the time they had alone at home before Mei moved in and disrupted it.

"Don't worry mom. I don't see any problems"

"That's good. We would usually go out during my day off every Sunday. Would you like to go anyplace in particular?" Her intentions were simple, establish a better relationship with him now that Mei had an advantage of being remembered.

"We can spend more time together at home. Mom should be tired since this week must have been very hard for you. You should rest at home, that way I can study too"

Kyouko was happy. She really felt her son's care and agreed. This truly has been a week she would never forget. The only thing she hoped for was that her son won't mature as fast as he was because she still wasn't ready to accept her son to be all grown up yet.

"Let's go with that. Do you want to take a bath together with me like we used to?"

"No. I want to keep studying so that I can spend more time with mom on Sunday. I'll be going back to my room now" he immediately declined and retreated before Kyouko could say anything.

"How cute" She smiled since he was obviously being shy from her perspective.

Kazuya returned to his room and took out the book he locked on his desk. He felt energized after eating his fill of the delicious food prepared by Fujiyama. He had been overly sensitive of mana ever since he came back due to it's shortage. He could immediately tell that there was a big difference when food was made from fresh ingredients. This made his attachment to his home grow more.

"Now then, time to see the fruits of centuries worth of research"

He opened the book and smiled. He was worried that anyone who saw the book would think he was crazy since he couldn't put it back in the ring without suffering a little. Now his worries were alleviated since he was confident that people who saw this book would only show interest because of its antiquity.

"So, they decided to write it in Elven language, interesting"