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Crossing Stars

Chapter Thirteen: Bad Situation

Delusional.

That was the only word Touya could describe the distraught man in front of him.

"Please," The sandy-blond male sank to his knees in front of him. "You have to find her! She's alone out there and upset. My fiancée could be in danger!"

Touya took a step back when the man tried to cling onto his legs.

He'd received a call that morning about a woman who'd gone missing. She'd gotten into a fight with her family, packed up her things and left in the middle of the night. She hadn't contacted her friends or family since she'd left and under normal circumstances this would be a high priority case. However there was just one issue.

"Please, Kagome is my world!" Houjo sobbed into his hands.

The missing woman was the very one he was harboring at his agency.

Touya shot the man an irritated look,.

Kagome had sent him the screenshots of her conversation with Houjo. She'd sent him an extremely simple, two-word break up text before blocking him. It was effective and was supposed to have gotten her point across. Yet Houjo was now blubbering in front of him, calling her his 'fiancée' despite the fact that she'd both rejected and dumped him. If delusional didn't describe this man, then he had no idea what else would.

"Have you considered that she might not want to be contacted?" Touya growled.

Seeing Houjo next to Kagome on the street was one thing. It'd been dark and it'd been painfully obvious that Houjo o was out of his league with her. Yet now knowing more details about their relationship and the man's inability to respect her wishes just made him feel all the more irritated. What's more the notion that Houjo could've possibly taken her into his bed got under his skin.

"She can be moody at times," Houjo sniffed as he dabbed at his eyes. "But she's never done anything like this."

His fingers flexed at his side.

He was used to bad PR, but punching a man who was worried about his ex's whereabouts was a line he couldn't cross. Yet.

He was sorely tempted though.

Looking at Houjo up close, he started to feel all the more irritated. His plain appearance was coupled with a suit that was more expensive than his entire closet combined. Not even his specially designed hero costume cost him as much as the clothing Houjo currently decked himself out in. It was obvious that he was trying to make up for whatever he thought he lacked physically with extensive clothing and jewelry. The time piece watch adorning his wrist likely cost as much as a house.

Touya felt his brow twitch.

It was like staring at someone wearing a mask. He had the perfect image, the perfect behavior and even the perfect job. Yet there was something about him that felt off. Like everything he adorned himself with was just a thin veneer to hide his true personality.

Telling Houjo that Kagome was safe and now an employee of his company would lead to more questions than answers. Not to mention that it'd give the bastard her current location. She was clearly trying to cut ties with him, so he would do everything in his power to keep Houjo away from her. Still, he couldn't ignore this request in his capacity as a hero. He would have to give it some time and then inform him that she didn't want to come back. That was his best bet at the moment.

"I'll do a sweep," Touya gave a low sigh of frustration. "Just don't do anything stupid in the mean time."

Having Houjo running around organizing his own search campaign would be a massive pain in the ass. Kagome would have a hell of a time leaving the agency's building for any reason if Houjo launched a full search party for her.

The man's eyes lit up, "Oh thank you! Thank you!

He reached for him but Touya quickly slapped his hands away.

"I don't like being touched." He turned on the ball of his heel, "I'll start the search. Just give me a picture of her."

Houjo fidgeted as he reached into his wallet. He plucked a small photo and passed it into his awaiting hands.

He knew that it was common for couples to carry photos of each other in their wallets. It was a sweet gesture and Touya had anticipated something fairly normal when Houjo had pulled it out. Yet the image he gave him was anything but innocent.

Kagome was curled up in bed, with covers that had slid down to her waist. She was clearly asleep and tiny marks dotted the line of her neck. Her back was towards the camera but even from this angle, he could see that she was unhappy.

Touya lifted the image, "What is this?"

A fiery rage flooded his veins.

Six years together, it was expected that the two of them would have been together intimately. Yet the photo shown did not give him the idea that whatever sex they'd had, had been pleasant. On top of that, Kagome appeared completely unaware of the fact that he'd even snapped a photo of her. The invasion of her privacy in such an intimate moment angered him. What else had Houjo done without her permission?

He was tempted to burn it, yet he also felt the need to know if he had any more like this. Knowing what little he did about Kagome, he was sure she'd want them destroyed.

"Oh," Houjo flushed as he rubbed the back of his head. "My apologies, she doesn't like pictures much so that's the only one I have of her recently." The man then fished into his wallet again to pull out a normal photo of her that time. This one she was staring off into the distance, her expression contemplative as she was partially turned away from the camera.

Touya glowered at him.

Had he shown him the first one on purpose? Like some sort of bragging right?

Now he really was sorely tempted to punch him.

Touya snatched the second photo from his hands, "I'll be taking both of these." He shot the man a sharp glare, "I'll need pictures from all angles of her."

He tucked the pictures into his pocket, "I'll update you if I find anything."

Houjo sputtered, clearly surprised that he'd taken the shock photo with him.

It'd pissed him off to no end.

First the bastard had the gall to pretend like she hadn't rejected his proposal and dumped his ass. Now he was using compromising photos of her in order to shock the people tasked with searching for her. He supposed that it was Houjo's way of 'marking territory'.

He was like a small dog that pissed on everything in order to claim it.

He didn't like to think about it, but clearly this was a far more precarious situation than Kagome had originally thought it was. She'd made it sound like Houjo was an oblivious idiot. Yet that wasn't what he saw. He saw a man who knew that he'd hooked a woman that was far out of his league and was desperate to cling onto her. Kagome likely had no idea that these photos even existed. Thankfully the one he had in his possession now didn't show much but that didn't mean that there wasn't more compromising pictures elsewhere. He would have to find a way to open a case against Houjo in order to find out if there was more.

His brows furrowed at the thought.

As much as he hated to admit it, this was one time he'd need that feathered bastard's help.

Touya groaned beneath his breath.

He was not looking forward to this.