37 Deal

In the night outside an abandoned factory, the door opened and walking out of it was Arai holding the suitcase. He inserted it inside his ear making it shrink and enter it.

"This should be good enough." Arai muttered before walking away from the building.

Looking down at his arm, he lifted his sleeve to find a watch. It was currently midnight and he was mentally exhausted from everything he was experiencing. His headaches have been really bad but it's been a bit more bearable lately.

Arai left the factory and went to a motel where he could stay the night. Taking his clothes off, he saw his body full of scars. All from past mistakes he made, in 2 years he had reach this state and he was now 19 years old.

Searching for power, he saw the potential of Heavenly Restrictions and took them from those who have it. Taking in this power came at a cost though, first was the fact that the individual had to willingly give that power away.

Arai no matter how strong he had become could not change that fact.

Second was the consequences to that, like Nao Nakayama, Arai had to suffer from blindness, mute, and the lack of taste and smell.

The good thing was that even though they are pacts that needed to be inputted there. Arai could temporarily take off the consequences.

For example, he could with the heavenly restriction of Nao make it so that he doesn't suffer from blindness and now he could see.

But now came the third problem, it was just for a moment. This change could not be made for long as Arai needed to use his cursed technique for that change to remain.

It was named a Heavenly Restriction for a reason.

One cannot change a blessing from the heavens so easily.

Though Arai still took in that power, it was a small price to pay for that power.

Now Arai held 3 Heavenly Restrictions within him, he had tried to get more but found he could not. His body would naturally reject his decision even though he had tried and also because it warned him.

With this newfound power, Arai had become equivalent to a first grade sorcerer.

Taking the shower he needed desperately as the smell he had was awful, Arai laid down on the couch and closed his eyes. 'Now what do I need to do. My growth has stagnated for a while, I'm stuck at this stage and can't find a way to become special grade even with all the Heavenly Restrictions I have. I'm sure I can face a special grade cursed spirit but a sorcerer would be something else.'

He sighed as his consciousness was slowly fading away. 'Well... hopefully the meeting tomorrow will change things.'

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At a certain household, two men were walking down a hallway. The hallway was made of shojis and to their left was a garden that was well maintained with a fountain. Their surroundings had a very traditional japanese style to it.

"So it's today, I really wonder why the patriarch wants to meet 'him'."

"Did you not listen in the last clan meeting? The clan head wants to sell 'them' and get rid of all connection that 'they' have with our clan."

One is a middle-aged man. He has dark-colored hair that is styled into a pompadour with sideburns. His outfit is a formal light-colored uniform.

The other is a young man with a slim build and a short stature. He has wide, light-colored eyes with long eyebrows and dark disheveled hair tied into a low ponytail. The young man wears a light-colored kimono and dark-colored hakama bottoms.

The former was Nobuaki and Ranta. Both were part of the same family as they came from one of the three great sorcerer family.

The Zen'in clan.

Nobuaki looked down to check the time on his watch. "Right, right. Oh well would you look at the time, the guest is probably going to be here at any minute. I'll have to escort him to the clan head."

"Good luck on your escort."

The two parted ways as Nobuaki made his way to the entrance of the household. There he could see servants in two lines bowing their heads at him. This made him inwardly smile with his sense of superiority.

Opening the doors to the entrance, Nobuaki could now see the guest he is supposed to bring coming out of a black car. Seeing him, a tense feeling was brought to him. A feeling that he should be careful with the man.

It was not because of how much power he was exuding but because he wasn't releasing anything. Like an invisible man that reminded him of someone. Someone that had instilled a deep fear deep inside every Zen'in member.

But that thought quickly came to past, Nobuaki walked forward to meet the guest.

After all in the end, this man wasn't Toji.

"Welcome to the Zen'in Household, Mr. Isao. My name is Zen'in Nobuaki, Captain of the Kukuru Unit." A hint of pride could be heard when he said 'captain'.

Stepping off the car, Arai came face to face with Nobuaki.

'Kukuru Unit, a lower branch of the Hei comprised of Zenin male members who don't possess innate techniques. All members of the clan who fit the criteria are required to enlist and undergo training. It's pretty much a bunch of a group of nobodies lead by an even bigger nobody.'

"Pleasure."

They both shook hands but inwardly Nobuaki was assessing Arai. Even with contact, he could feel nothing from him. It was like he wasn't there and the only reason as to why he knew that he was there was because of he could see him.

'So this is the Zen'in compound... it feels suffocating.' Arai thought.

The stares he kept receiving was unpleasant. The servants and members of the Zen'in clan kept looking at him with looks of fear, contempt which annoyed him greatly. 'Whatever, not like I'm going to stay here for long. I'm only going to get 'that' here.'

Nobuaki brought Arai to the room meeting but while going there he got to see the place a bit. It was well kept as everything was clean. There was not even a speck of dust anywhere he went and the garden they had was well made.

Honestly to Arai, this place was indeed beautiful but it was his surroundings that was not. It felt too restricted, the servants felt like they couldn't even move muscle without being told they were allowed to.

To someone like Arai who left the school for his own freedom, this place was the worst for him. Still, he held it in and arrived to the clan room meeting.

In front of him, there was a large table with the length of 12 meters and 4 meters in width. Sitting at the table were many figures but one oddity was that no woman could be seen. All of the women that Arai had seen were servants.

And sitting at the end of the table was the man Arai had arrived to meet. He was sitting laxly as if this meeting was not of any importance and had a gourd filled with alcohol in his hand.

The man was Naobito, the head of the Zen'in family.

Naobito has mid-length, gray hair that is usually slicked back to reach just behind his neck. He has small black eyes with long eyebrows with thick edges. Naobito also sports a long, thin, English-style mustache that extends beyond both sides of his cheeks.

His clothes consisted of a casual brown yukata with a black sash and zori sandals.

"Took some time, people are going to think you're the old man." Naobito said with a mocking tone. His figure was so undignified that one would doubt whether he really was a leader of such a big clan.

Arai who had just arrived scowled and sat down.

"Well I'm not the fastest sorcerer in the world." Arai shrugged just as he sat down. The table in front of him was lower than the western ones. He sat on a cushion and placed his legs under the table.

"And unlike you, I don't enjoy being second fiddle."

The room turned cold in an instant. Nobody dared to speak but their eyes and expressions could reveal their thoughts.

His eyes darted around as he saw different emotions on each. Some had smirks while other had angry faces like they were trying to kill him with their glares.

The act of insulting their leader meant that he had no respect for them nor their clan.

"BUAAHHHAAA!! Did you wake up at the wrong side of the bed?! Never thought you were the type to insult like that."

"Like you said, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. So let's make this quick or I'll get cranky like an old man."

The glares subsided but were not entirely gone. Members of the Three Big Clans were arrogant and preferred to think themselves as superior than others. Even to their own members, their pride was truly something to behold.

Though whether they could back it up, to Arai only a couple were worthy of that pride.

Scanning the room, he only took notice of 4 individuals. One was the man who escorted him, the other was the one who accompanied the latter before parting ways. The third was the leader of the Zen'in clan.

The last one was someone sitting next to the patriarch signifying his powerful status. The man had a big build and was a muscular man. His spikey hair was a bit wild with his thick eyebrows. A scar rooted on his forehead while he wore a dark-colored kimono and is barefoot contrasting the others who wore more appropriate clothes.

Jinichi Zen'in. A Special Grade 1 sorcerer.

These are the four that caught Arai's attention.

The rest were too weak to do anything to him. All ranging from second grade to fourth.

He had long grown past their realm.

"Shall I recite the deal?" A short old man said as he brought out a piece of paper from his pocket.

The man wears glasses and whose eyes appear to be barely open. He has a mustache and his hair is twisted up into a point.

"According to the agreement, Master Naobito, 26th Head of the Zen'in clan, will relinquish all authority and connections to the 'individuals'. In exchange, a trade of 5.6 million ¥ will be offered by Isao Arai as compensation of losing a member and getting the foundations to the secret technique of the Three Big Clans 'Falling Blossom Emotion'. This agreement will make it so that the individual 'Isao Arai' will not be able to partake in the Zen'in clan affairs but will be able to only when given authority by the head of the clan."

"Do both Master Naobito and Isao Arai accept this."

""Yes."" They both agreed.

"Then with this, the deal has been made." The short old man folded the paper.

Right now, all of this was just formalities. The Zen'in wanted to do this the traditional style but everything has already been agreed upon by both Arai and Naobito. Both shook their hands as a form as agreement.

"Do you want us to bring them here?" Ranta, the smaller sorcerer asked.

"No, I'll go myself." Arai replied plainly.

Arai had waited far too long for this, he wasn't going to wait a minute longer. With all the rules that he had to comply just to get this deal going, his patience was running thinner.

"Then we will show you the way."

Arai was escorted by both Ranta and Nobuaki, he didn't have to walk for long as they arrived. They opened the door and there he saw a woman on her knees as she watched two children playing in a field of flower.

The woman was smiling gently at the heartwarming scene.

But soon that smile faded, she heard the sound of the door opening behind her and saw them enter the room. Immediately, she stood up and bowed her head not daring to look at them directly.

The two men escorting Arai ignored her presence and walked to the garden. Arai who was there looked at her, her clothes were dirty and so was her hair. Her face was full of wrinkles, just like the servants that he had seen.

Though his attention soon turned somewhere else, the children.

This was the reason he had come here.

"Isao Arai, these are the children." Ranta said and stopped.

These children both looked similar to one another. They both had dark green hair and golden eyes. Their clothes were yukatas and hakamas.

But his sight was focused on one specifically, the one with the noticeable bangs.

His eyes glowed green as he narrowed down his vision. He smiled after seeing what he wanted and walked to the children. The two child who were playing stopped after seeing a stranger walk in their garden.

Their guard was already up as the one with the bangs immediately walked in front of the other covering her.

"Who are you?" She asked still wary.

A child acting like that meant that they were in danger. Most children would never have the face she was making now, it was honestly remarkable but it was attributed to the fact that they were raised in a harsh environment like the Zen'in's household.

While the other acted more scarred but Arai could still see that protective gaze. They were both sisters and it seemed that they were both very protective of one another.

Arai sat down on the field of flowers to look at them face to face.

"Your names."

His tone was cold as he stared at them. His eyes still shining green which made them nervous. It took a while but the one with the bangs walked up to him while trying to put up a face of confidence.

"My name is Maki!"

The other sister followed up after her.

"My name is Mai."

Her voice was meeker than her sister's.

The twins of the Zen'in clan. Disgraces and failures to the clan.

But to Arai, they would help him gain more power.

"Mine is Isao Arai. From now on, I will be your father."

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{AN: DADA}