.

After the duo left, Fujiyama entered Kazuya's room to serve him some nutritious porridge. She also changed the nearly depleted IV bag.

"Thank you granny" he wanted to get back to his usual routine so any help in his recovery was welcomed.

"Not at all young master. I am curious though, why where the mistress and Kazuno-sama so happy when they left your room?" she inquired, she didn't expect the two to be in high spirits soon because they had been worried sick about Kazuya and felt guilty for causing it

"Oh, I gave them the charms I made thinking about their safety"

"Made from the kitchen's silverware?" she inquired with a smile. As the Kouzuki housekeeper from even before he was born, how could she not notice such expensive silverware gone?

"Hehe, I was found out really quickly" he scratched his head weakly.

"I could tell from the scattered remnants of them and surmise that this was the reason why young master's condition has yet to improve significantly" she didn't really mind especially after looking at Kyouko and Mei's reactions after they left his room.

"There is no need to worry about that anymore. I will be sleeping from today until the end of the weekend. Granny only needs to replace this nutrient bag instead of giving me meals" without the help from magical potions and the like, this was one of the fastest ways he had for recovery.

"(Sleeping for two days? Well.. as long as the young master finally recovers)" Fujiyama thought deeply. She still had some concerns but seemingly trusted Kazuya's words and didn't speak out.

"I'll just be sleeping granny so don't worry. I'll be back to my old self when I wake up. Please don't tell big sis and mom though, they will be anxious in their trip if they know about it" he tried assuring the worried housekeeper.

"Very well young master. Can I also clean your room while you sleep?"

Kazuya agreed. Fujiyama helped him to his bed afterwards and he wasted no time to begin his recovery. The two ladies that left however were having a heated discussion on the way to the airport. They avoided showing each other what they received to avoid arguing in front of Kazuya. Both of them felt a sense of superiority over the other after seeing their gift.

"We should wear them just like Kazuya said" Kyouko was especially confident this time because the second box in her hands were bigger than the one Mei received.

"I agree" Mei didn't back down as both of them turned to put on their gifts before showing them off.

They counted down after putting on what they received. To their surprise, what they both received indeed was as Kazuya had claimed. He said that he crafted the items 'especially' for them and no one else. It was indeed so when they saw that the ones they got indeed differed from each other.

""Those earrings..""

Both of them received a pair of earrings. Kyouko's was shaped like a radiant sun while Mei's was like a beautiful crescent moon. Both had engravings on them as well as a distinct red gem that was hard to miss.

"Sun.."

"Moon.."

They put each of their thoughts aside as their eyes tried to focus if the second box they received contained the same piece of jewelry. Kyouko saw that there was nothing on Mei's neck compared to the elegant silver necklace that she was wearing. It also had the similar red gem as a pendent that matched perfectly with the ones on her ears.

"Hah! I knew from the different sizes of the second box that you didn't get one as good as mine" she smugly declared as she continued to show off her necklace.

"Are you sure about that 'mother-in-law'?" Mei gave more emphasis on the last part of her words.

"What are you talking about? Why are you speaking weirder than usual?" Kyouko had a bad feeling.

"A necklace to show off is indeed good. You are indeed Kazu's 'mother' and as a son, I admit he truly treats his 'mother' well" Mei continued smiling. Kyouko continued to look at her assistant but found nothing on her.

"Stop trying to hide it. You must be embarrassed since it's not as beautiful as mine" she tried to provoke Mei.

"Indeed. It may be a lot simpler but it's meaning and purpose speaks for itself"

"A bluff. You're just trying to mystify things again"

"I believe you know what it means when a man gives this to a woman right?" Mei retrieved the hand from her back and raised it in front of Kyouko. It was a ring. A ring that had the same distinct red gem. "My Kazu actually made me an engagement ring! He was right, this will protect me! Especially from all those stinky men that can't be compared to him" she laughed.

Kyouko was speechless. She didn't expect her son to actually give Mei a ring. She thought that it was a brooch or a bracelet from the size of the box but it turned out to be a ring instead. What made it worse was her assistant was shamelessly claiming it was an engagement ring.

"Wrong! My son said so himself, these are gifts serving as charms!" Kyouko denied her claims.

"You're leaving out the part where he said they contained his wish and strong feelings! Give it up 'mother-in-law'. I will not continue arguing with you about who Kazu likes more since it is clear that his affection towards us differs" Mei smiled. "Familial love and romantic love are like two separate worlds, like the 'sun' and the 'moon'"

This was the beginning of another heated debate between the two that would last through their whole trip. Neither side wanted to back down and there wasn't anyone to confirm any of their claims. What Kazuya didn't know was that their continuous debates ended up being a sort of protection which he caused.

With their heated arguments, many men were intimidated. All those who heard assumed that they were two women fighting over a man. Those same men couldn't help but silently curse at whoever those two were fighting over.

.

Time flew by quickly. Kazuya woke up briefly on the night Mei and Kyouko were scheduled to return. He was informed that they needed to extend their trip for a little bit. He immediately went back to sleep after a short meal. Fujiyama also informed him that she let the stubborn robot girl in his room to prove that he was indeed still recovering.

Since Monday had been a holiday, he was able to recover for an extra day. He felt refreshed as he stretched his body preparing to resume his daily routine. He left the house and ran his usual route while assessing the state of his body. There were indeed some residual effects but he was confident that he could make up for it with the help of the increased mana now gathering in his home.

To increase his training speed, he also thought of slowly increasing the range of the formation. He was currently unable to activate a large scale gathering formation that would cover his entire neighborhood but slowly extending the reach of the one he completed was an option. With it acting as the core, much like the detection formation attached to it, he didn't need to connect them all at once and could just extend the range slowly.

If this was successful, as the core, his house would be able to maintain an even better amount of mana. The neighborhood itself would too so he thought that this wasn't a bad plan. Thus, he took note of certain points where he could add mini formations. His current goal was to extend it as far as the Shiroyuki dojo because that was the other place where he would train his body.

"Hmm?" He noticed it a while ago but thought he was being paranoid. As he continued to stop at certain parts of the neighborhood to look for spots to place formations, he noticed two presences. He thought that they may just be going the same way but there was no way they would be heading through his weird route.

There wasn't any ill intent so he continued to ignore them. He didn't know who they were or what they were up to but since he could not feel any hostility from them, he decided to ignore them go about his business. What surprised him was when he entered a narrow road. He stopped because he knew this would be a great place for a formation.

"I don't know whether you're brave or stupid, but you still dare bring people tailing you to a secluded place like this?" The two people showed themselves. They were none other than the Shiroyuki grandfather-granddaughter pair. Them showing up actually surprised him.

"Then should I also commend you two for showing yourselves when you were only interested in tailing me?" he scoffed as he retorted.

"Touché kid. Kyouko-chan called me and told me to keep an eye on you. Looks like you finally recovered. Will you be going to school today?" the old man laughed but changed the topic right away.

"Yes I will. I've grown a lot weaker so I need to train harder" he didn't hide it. He knew this old geezer had sharp eyes.

"Oh? Did you hear that Tomoyo? Do you want to spar with him now?" Jirou laughed and turned to his granddaughter.

"Do you want to? You have a 50% chance in beating me in my current condition. Are you interested?" Kayuza turned to the silent girl and grinned. It was true that she had a 50% chance of winning but that was an estimate if he didn't utilize any mana.

*shake shake* She declined. She was more interested in his wellbeing and tried to check his condition by continuously looking at him from head to toe. Now that he was awake, she was afraid of touching him unlike when he was sleeping. Fujiyama didn't tell him that she held his forehead for a long time while he was sleeping.

"I heard you went to visit me at home. I know why but you don't need to worry, you can try twice a day to count for the days I was gone" he misunderstood her intentions.

*n..od* she hesitated but still ended up nodding. Kazuya's attention turned back to the alley. Jirou felt a little sorry for his granddaughter but didn't bother to explain. It was her that needed to express herself more or this would continue to happen.

The two joined Kazuya's run. This made Kazuya unable to thoroughly check out the areas so he just focused on himself. Jirou found his exercise strange but interesting. He wondered what kind of training Kazuya did at home because from his point of view, the types of trainings the boy did seemed random from a bystander's perspective. Even to the discerning eye, these were hard to understand. They would only understand it if they tried.

Kazuya had a smirk on his face. This was not the first time the robot girl tried to imitate his training. The first time she did, even her emotionless face showed signs that she was in pain. It was especially apparent because of the pain she suffered the day after. Thus, he felt that it was weird. If this girl continued to follow his instructions, wouldn't she grow more into a monster worse than she was in his previous life?

"(The poor sap she chooses to beat up in the future will surely die in that case)" he glanced at the girl trying to catch her breath. Kazuya was now confident in being the one doing the beating if she tried doing the same thing towards him again.

"?" *tilt* she noticed the grin on Kazuya's face as she looked at her and wondered what was up.

"Just jog normally. Copying me will only make you unable to properly attend school (You have no recovery skills after all)" He warned.

*shake shake* she shook her head and pointed towards him.

"Me? I'm different from you though. I'm used to this training and my recovery speed is faster too"

*stare* She looked at him from head to toe. She placed her hand on his forehead confidently. She forgot her reservation because of what he said. After realizing what she was doing, she panicked and shyly stepped back with her head lowered.

"You think I'm lying? The only reason I had to skip a few days to recover was for special reasons. I won't stop you if you want to continue but don't say I didn't warn you" he decided to continue after saying what he needed to.

Jirou found it amusing whenever he watched those two. Kazuya could understand most of what his granddaughter means and he didn't even realize it. He would have been mad if he found out that he was only able to do so because of Kazuya's experience with beasts and animals he encountered in Edea. He basically treated the robot girl like one of them since he wasn't really interested in having conversations with her.

When they finally made it back to the Kouzuki household, Jirou told him that he would be picking him up for school. He took a bath, rested and ate his breakfast before preparing for his second week in the academy. He brought both his bamboo and wooden sword and waited for his ride.

It came to no surprise when Kazuya saw the stubborn robot girl limping when they arrived at school. He and Jirou were gazed upon with sharp eyes when he spoke the words 'I told you so' in a teasing way. The trio were in a good mood as they drove peacefully towards the academy. Kazuya and Tomoyo bid him goodbye after arriving.

"?" Tomoyo gave a questioning gaze towards him after seeing the smile that suddenly appeared on Kazuya's face after Jirou had left.

"Looks like things are going to get interesting soon" Kazuya's gaze identified several people observing him as he entered the school. These people were clearly observing him since they didn't bother looking at anyone else once they spotted him.

"??" She tried giving him the same look but was ignored this time. He was preoccupied in remembering each of the people that were observing him. No one especially stood out but they were from different levels of the academy. He felt no hostility yet so it was hard to distinguish friend from foe.

"Looks like I'll be going fishing. Hopefully I get to catch big fish"

.