They met in a side room with open windows, soft cushions, and a faint scent of incense clinging to the air. Hina sat first, poised with her chin high, the image of her mother's elegance tempered by her father's stillness. Riku sat across from her.
"I'll be honest," he said first. "I didn't expect you to accept."
"I didn't accept to please you."
That made him smile. "I see the Kazama sharpness lives on."
"What do you want?" she asked calmly.
"I want to understand you," Riku said. "It's not every day I meet someone raised in this world who still carries the softness of someone untouched by it."
"I'm not untouched by it," she said. "I've seen enough to know what matters."
"And what does?"
"Loyalty. Balance. Knowing when to act and when to wait."
He tilted his head, studying her. "You're not just reciting your father's teachings. That's interesting."
Hina said nothing.
Riku leaned forward slightly. "You're walking a line, Hina. Between power and purity. Between light and shadow. That's dangerous. The world won't let you stay in the middle forever."
"I'm not in the middle," she said, her voice steady. "I'm walking forward. And I know who's walking with me."
For the first time, Rikui's smile slipped.
"You're different than I expected."
"Good."
He sat back again. "You're going to be important. I can feel it. Sooner or later, others will see it too. And they'll try to use you."
"They'll fail."
His gaze lingered on her, unreadable now.
Then he stood.
"I won't take more of your time," he said. "Thank you for the courtesy, Kazama-san."
She stood as well, offering a slight nod, though her eyes never left his.
"Goodbye, Hoshino-san."
Riku left the room in silence, but Hina remained standing for a moment longer, her heart steady, her senses sharp. Beneath all his grace and charm, she saw it clearly now. It wasn't interest. It was calculation.
And as she stepped out into the hallway, she found Yuto waiting just outside, shoulders tense, eyes immediately scanning hers.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
"I'm fine," she said.
"But he's not here to rebuild."
Yuto nodded once. "Then we'll watch. And when he shows his hand—"
"We'll already be ready."
Hina returned to the main parlor with Yuto at her side, her expression calm but her silence carried weight.
Ren was already standing by the window again, arms crossed, face unreadable. Emi watched her daughter closely, setting aside the tray of tea the staff had refreshed.
"Well?" Emi asked gently.
Hina didn't hesitate. "He was polite. But he wasn't curious. He was studying me."
Ren's eyes narrowed slightly. "He's testing the waters."
Ren's gaze darkened. "Twenty years ago when he crossed that line, I erased his foothold. with silence and cut off every alliance and every favor they depended on. No one would house him. No one would trade. Within a year, Hoshino's name stopped being spoken."
Emi nodded. "We assumed he was trying to salvage what was left. Or waiting for the right time to crawl back."
Yuto's brow furrowed. "He didn't just survive. He probably studied and waited."
Ren's voice cut in, colder now. "No one disappears for twenty years and comes back with that level of poise by accident. Someone shaped him."
"He's not here to rebuild," Hina said. "He's here to take back what his father lost. Quietly. Piece by piece."
Ren didn't correct her.
*****
Later that night, while the estate settled into silence, Yuto sat in his apartment with two screens open, connecting live feeds from three secure surveillance nodes, set up through Daiki's dormant network. One window showed the Hoshino compound in Kyoto, still mostly quiet. Another fed from a discreet lens aimed at a bar known to host small syndicate meetings. The third was loading.
A soft ping came through.
Hayate: Confirmed meeting between Riku and two ex-members of the Narumi group three months ago in Fukuoka. One of them disappeared after. The other went silent.
Yuto's fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Yuto: Any record of what was offered in exchange?
Hayate: Rumors only. Something about "access to inheritance" or "a leverage piece."
Yuto's jaw clenched.
A leverage piece.
Someone, or something, Riku was planning to use.
He typed quickly:
Yuto: Pull all mentions of "inheritance" or "legacy" tied to Kazama. Cross with Hoshino chatter. Focus on the past two years.
Hayate:On it.
Yuto leaned back in his chair, the reflection of the screen flickering in his eyes.
Riku hadn't just come to rebuild. He came with purpose and a quiet weapon tucked behind his smile.
And if Hina was part of it, he wanted to make sure Riku would never get close again. Not while he was watching.
The screen glowed softly in Yuto's darkened room. It was nearly 2:00 AM, but sleep had long since left him.
The latest report from Hayate had just come through. And what it contained wasn't just suspicious.
It was dangerous.
A financial transfer. Discreet. Buried beneath layers of shell accounts.
One of the beneficiaries?
A defunct Kyoto-based fund—once tied to the Hoshino patriarch.
The source came from a foreign holding linked to a Panama-based registry. Clean on the surface but when cross-referenced with a set of old Kazama intel archive, it became clear.
Riku hadn't come to realign, he'd come to reclaim.
Specifically a disputed clause in a confidential inheritance agreement, filed and forgotten decades ago.
If validated, it could give Riku a legal claim to part of Kazama's eastern territory through a marriage that linked their families generations ago.
But paired with the right alliances and the right heir he could use it as leverage.
Hina wasn't just the future of the Kazama group. She was the key Riku needed to validate that claim and legitimize a resurrection of the Hoshino name.
Yuto closed his laptop with a soft click and stood.
He didn't hesitate.
*****
Ren's office was dimly lit, but not empty.
As Yuto knocked once and entered, Ren looked up from his seat by the side table, where a half-full glass of whiskey sat untouched.
"You couldn't sleep either," Ren noted.
Yuto stepped forward, file in hand.
"No," he said quietly. "Because this can't wait."
He placed the document on the table and opened it without invitation. Ren scanned it once and then again.
Then sat back slowly, fingers interlocked.
"This document," Yuto said, "was registered by Riku's legal rep four months ago in Fukuoka under an alias. It's a dormant claim tied to a historical Kazama-Hoshino alliance. Most wouldn't even know it exists."
Ren's silence said everything.
"He's not here for peace," Yuto continued. "He's here to position himself. And he's using Hina's presence in leadership circles to test how far he can push before pulling the thread."
Ren closed the file gently.
"I should've burned that record when I had the chance."
Yuto frowned. "You knew?"
"I suspected he'd search for something. But I didn't expect him to move this fast. Or to get this close."
"What do we do?"
Ren didn't answer for a long moment.
"Then we make sure he never finds a way to legitimize the claim."
"And if he tries to?"
Ren met Yuto's eyes.
"We would need to stop him."
Ren closed the file slowly and set his glass aside, unreadable in the dim light. Yuto remained standing and waiting.
Ren finally spoke, voice low and measured. "He's not interested in Hina as a person. Only as a symbol. That makes him more dangerous than if he hated us outright."
Yuto's eyes darkened. "Because he'll try to charm her. Position himself as an ally. Use words instead of force."
"He's already begun," Ren said. "That request for a private conversation was more than just testing her. He was trying to measure her and see if she can be swayed."
Yuto's voice was steady. "She can't."
"I know," Ren replied, his gaze flicking up. "But the world watching her doesn't."
He stood and walked to the shelf behind him, retrieving a sealed folder from a hidden drawer. He tossed it onto the table in front of Yuto.
"What's this?"
"Everything I have on Riku's last known network. Contacts. Buried partners. Old rivals. Some of them will resurface now that he's back in Tokyo."
Yuto opened it slowly, eyes scanning the documents inside. Names, faces and dates.
"He's positioning himself for legitimacy," Ren continued. "But the moment he steps out of line, we need proof. Something that burns him before he gains sympathy from the fence-sitters in the alliance."
"I'll start tracing his financial activity further," Yuto said. "Anything he's offered to buy people's silence… I'll find it."
Ren studied him for a moment, then said quietly, "I trusted Daiki with my life. And I trust you with hers."
The words struck deeper than Yuto expected.
He didn't nod.
He simply said, "I'll never let anything happen to her."
Ren turned away again, pouring a second glass of whiskey, this time drinking it.
"We won't act yet," he said after a long pause. "But we'll let him think we're watching one hand while we move the other."
"What about Hina?"
Ren's fingers paused on the rim of the glass. "She's strong. But not ready for this kind of game yet."
"I'll shield her," Yuto said.
Ren looked over. "Shield her… or stand beside her?"
Yuto held his gaze. "Both."
Ren's expression softened just slightly.
Then he turned back to the window.
"Good," he said. "Because the moment Riku makes a move… I want the Kazama name to be three steps ahead."