"I still don't see why I have to come along. You could just buy less stuff," grumbled Oga. He and Hilda were walking to the store, with Baby Beel on his back, the way they did every thursday evening now. Beel loved going out, Hilda enjoyed the quiet walks, and between the two, Oga's objection never had a chance. But still, Oga was feeling uneasy.

"If you want to be the father of the great demon king, then you have to carry shopping bags," said Hilda. "Or find some slaves to do it for you. You have enough people you could force into your service."

"Meh," said Oga, putting as much lack of care into his voice as he could muster. Everyone knew he was the strongest. Why bother with more? But there was something else he wanted to talk about. "You know, every time we're alone together, like this, some demon comes out and tries to beat us up. I hate that."

"That happened once," said Hilda. "Well, maybe more than once, but the circumstances were different. But I don't think that there is any danger right n–"

She was cut off by a banging sound and a whirling purple light in front of them. For a second, everything was too loud and bright. Then the light and noise faded, and in the midst, a tall demon was standing. He was at least twenty centimeters taller than Oga, with brown hair and wearing a business suit that showed off quite a lot of muscles. His ears were square and covered in carefully trimmed green fur, but other than that, he looked perfectly human.

"Told you so!" screamed Oga. Baby Beel shouted an encouraging "Daah!", and the Zebul Spell began glowing. The demon opposite to them seemed perplexed at first, but then grinned and drew a giant crossbow from his back. An opponent with a projectile weapon? Oga had never tried that before. He would have to deflect the bolts to get close enough for a punch, but if he got the first one out of the way, the demon would have to reload. Enough time to cross the distance and get to close quarter fighting. Of course, the demon would know that; he didn't look as if this was his first time fighting a crossbow. He would have to–

The plan of attack was cut short when Hilda appeared between the two fighters, her umbrella-sword drawn and the veins on her forehead pulsating furiously. "Stop it!" she shouted.

Oga considered his options: He could fight on, or he could stop and wait for an explanation. So far, he had always managed fine without explanations, and there was no reason to break the pattern now.

"Out of the way, Hilda. This is my fight!"

"No, it's not. It's not a fight at all, you scum!" answered the maid, and this time she reinforced her point of view by pointing her sword directly at his throat. On second thought, the pattern of not getting stabbed was probably more important.

"And you," Hilda continued, looking at the demon, "what are you doing here? I told you not to visit me at work!"

"Wait, we're just work for you?" Oga said. It kind of made sense, all things considered, but somehow it didn't sound right. Hilda at least had the decency to blush.

"Maybe some explanation is in order," she said. "Gusion, this is Oga Tatsumi, the human contractor of my master, and a good friend."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I got the wrong impression." answered the giant demon. "How are you? Hilda talks a lot about you. And of course on your back, that must be Prince Beelzebub, isn't he?"

"And who are you?" asked Oga, unimpressed. The demon wanted to answer, but Hilda cut him off.

"This is Gusion, a great duke of hell and leader of the fourty-four legions. He is…" she swallowed, but then continued, "…my boyfriend."

"Alright," said Oga.

A second passed.

"Wait, what?"

Hilda with a…? But she…? How…? When…? Why…? His last thought was a distinct feeling of his mind saying, "Screw it, this is too hard". Then he fell unconscious.

Hilda already knew that having a boyfriend was not easy. It was worth it, but not something you could casually do on the side. She had also known that having a boyfriend and at the same time a friend who everyone assumed was married to you, including his family, would not be easy. But she had never guess how hard it could be to have a boyfriend and at the same time, for lack of a better term, an Oga.

She would have liked to say that she had a plan for their first meeting, but mostly, it had been to postpone it. How would the young master react? Would he see it as disloyalty? And what about Oga himself? She had seen enough soap operas to know that such things didn't always go smoothly.

Tatsumi was slowly waking up in his bedroom. Gusion had carried him there. He hadn't even raised an eyebrow at her concern for another man. He was always so understanding. Still, Hilda was determined not to push it.

"I had the weirdest dream," said Oga. He was clearly still groggy, but he was not easily distracted by a clouded mind. "We were walking to the store, and then you suddenly had a boyfriend, and he looked like that guy over there…" It took a second for him to get it. "Oh, that's the part where you tell me that this wasn't a dream, right?"

She nodded, and deliberately took Gusion's hand. Better get Oga used to the idea. He still shook his head and set up. Next to him, the young master was waking up. After he was convinced that there was no actual danger to his father, he had curled up next to him and slept. It was adorable to see the two act in unison, but that thought felt like a betrayal of Gusion, so she banished it to the back of her mind.

"Is this something that's over soon?" asked Oga. His tone was disinterested, but she thought that it included a bit of hope. "Or do I have to get used to it?"

Hilda contemplated her reply, but Gusion was first. "I really hope that it will last a while. Who knows? Maybe even forever."

She felt herself blush, and become a tiny bit scared. But she kept holding his hand. Oga, meanwhile, was thinking.

"Yeah… Hilda and a boyfriend? I still don't get it. You don't seem the type, really. How did this start?"

"Just a little over a month ago," said Hilda, deciding to not treat this as an attack on her qualities. "I was standing in the line at the demonic specialities market, with milk powder for the young master…"

"…and I was behind her, with elbow grease for Freddy; he's my pet Leviathan…" Gusion chimed in.

"Wait, isn't that an old joke? Like, you tell someone to buy elbow grease, but the shop doesn't have any?"

"Really? Then how do you stop your pet's elbows from creaking?" asked Gusion with genuine interest. "If there isn't enough lubricant, it can cause a serious infection." Suddenly, young master started growling. Gusion didn't notice it, but Oga certainly did. Hilda tried to divert everyone's attention

"Anyway, we were in line, and he asked me if I come there often, and from then, it just sort of developed…"

Thankfully, Gusion took over with the rest of the story. Hilda wasn't sure she was up to it all. Love had never been a big part of her life, unless you counted what she saw on TV. Of course, you couldn't rely on that. It was obvious to everyone that they exaggerated things, but how much?

Oga, meanwhile, seemed to have reached his maximum level of incredulity, and decided to accept the situation. Later, she would have to try and find out whether he was really okay with it, filed it as demonic weirdness, or saw it a practical joke in progress.

"Right, Gusion. Just don't do anything to make her cry or such," he said with an impassive voice.

"Oh, don't worry," said her boyfriend. "I know you act as her protector, and I do not want to…"

"No, I mean, if you do, she'll punch and kick you until you can't walk anymore, and then slice you in half. Just a warning."

"Oh yes, that does sound like the Hilda I know," replied Gusion. "You should have seen what she did to the waiter who messed up her order last week. He'll be limited to two eyes until next month."

And suddenly, both were laughing. "I can imagine," said Oga. Hilda froze. Through all her fears for this meeting, there was one thing she had never considered: The two gossiping about her. Was this an acceptable time for violence?

Before she had made a decision, Oga and Gusion had already agreed to hang out tomorrow, presumably to gossip more about her. This was getting out of hand. She needed someone to talk to.

Kaiser Emparana de Beelzebub IV did not consider himself spoiled, but he was a baby who knew what he wanted, and he wasn't shy about expressing it. And what he wanted was a family consistingof his mommy and daddy. Not the ones he supposedly had somewhere in really far away, but the ones who were there for him every day. He did not want just his mommy or just his daddy, and he certainly did not want his mommy or two daddies, or really any constellation that included Gusisi (Beelzebub wasn't really great with other people's names yet). It was a complicated concept, but here, on the school roof, his daddy got it without trouble.

"Daa-buh!"

"No, I can't do that!" said daddy, appalled at the baby's latest plan to get rid of the interloper. "He is not Baron von Poop!"

"Beeh."

Exasperated, daddy sat down. "Alright, one more time: Nobody is trying to take Hilda away, get it? You're just being selfish. A real man wants his mother to be happy."

"Dah."

"And Hilda doesn't really smile a lot. She's always angry and stuff, right?"

"Dah."

"So if this guy makes her happy, then you should be happy for her, get it?"

"Buuh! Dabba, ay!" Daddy didn't get it, did he? It was really simple: Beel had a family that he loved, and he didn't want it to change. If mommy needed someone grow-up to cuddle, then she could always take daddy. There was no need to make it all so complicated.

"Damn it, Furuichi, help me make him understand!" shouted Daddy at Uncle Fufu (another name that was too big for a small baby). The uncle didn't really seem to care, though.

"There is a simple reason why you fail: Your heart does not believe in what your mouth is saying. Search your feelings, you know it to be true: Hilda has been taken by that vile demon, and you are jealous that your feelings are unanswered. Just like me, we are united in…"

"How long is this going? I don't want to punch you until you got it all out of your system. And anyway, Gusion isn't vile. He's friendly, polite, considerate…" He added something mumbled. Beel could not hear it, but he was sure that it was "it's making me sick."

"And now Beel won't let Hilda carry him when her boyfriend is around, and then she gets all sad, and I'm sure she's going to blame me for it." continued Daddy.

"That isn't her style, though. If she is upset with you, she always gets violent straight away. I don't think you have anything to worry about there."

"Still, it isn't right. I mean, she's his mother, basically. And the look she gets when he says no…"

"Aha, I knew it! You do care about her feeli…" The punch was beautiful. It came unexpected, from below, and cut off Uncle Fufu in mid-sentence. He flew… oh, at least further than Beel could walk without getting tired. He shouted an enthusiastic "Dabbaah!", but daddy didn't even seem to notice.

"Damn, this is all confusing, Baby Beel. I need to find someone to talk to."

Aoi had been going to the small restaurant for years, sometimes with her grandfather, sometimes with the Red Tails. The food was good and the prices were reasonable. It was familiar; it was safe. Right now, that was very important, because everything else was trying to make her loose her head. Such as the fact who her date was.

"So how are things with you and Koma? Such small demons can often be tricky," said Hilda.

"Oh, just fine!" said Aoi. It was technically a lie. In reality, Aoi was very interested in finding out whether she could return the Tengu to the store, metaphorically speaking. But that was all just small talk. "I am wondering a bit why you called me here," she said carefully. "Is there a problem?"

Hilda sighed. "It's about Oga and Gusion. The two act like they get along fine, but I think Oga's lying. He's always so competitive, it's embarrassing! He tried to impress people by saying that they changed who the first man on the moon was, and now it is a Jan Ullrich. How does he get these ideas!?"

She took a sip from her coffee. "I've seen the soap operas. I know what such things might mean. But not with Oga, right? This sewer rat and girls…"

"I know what you mean," said Aoi, with maybe a bit too much feeling. The whole situation was extremely confusing. Not like that this was a new feeling… On the one hand, Hilda in the arms of someone else meant Oga was free for her. If Hilda broke his heart, it might make it even easier for her, the normal, human girl… but just because Hilda was a demon and evil did not mean she was a bad person. Aoi knew how cute the Oga family was together, and a large part of her revolted at the thought of it breaking apart.

"So how do I get him to stop it?" said Hilda. Aoi gulped.

"Errm… I don't really have a lot of… Why are you asking me? Why not someone else, who knows more about all this?"

Hilda smiled weakly. "Oga's family is mad at me for betraying Oga; and other than that, I don't have a lot friends around here. You are, in fact, my best friend."

Wait, what? Aoi saw herself more as Hilda's biggest rival. Sure, the two fought together against any enemies, and Hilda had done her best to save Aoi when the pillar squad had attacked her, and Aoi had fought to free Hilda, and… Oh god. They really were friends, weren't they? And friends did not steal someone each other's men. But it was not as if Oga was Hilda's man, correct?

Aoi was lost for words, but Hilda didn't seem to care. If anything, she enjoyed the opportunity to simply speak her mind.

"…who would want that gutter trash as a boyfriend anyway? I mean, he never listens. I told him not to save me from Behemoth's Pillar Squad. Gusion would've trusted me and just brought the young master to safety…"

"But Oga did save your life," Aoi said.

"And the way he cares for the young master… I mean, half the time, he tried to give him away. At least at the start."

"It would be a big shock on anyone, though? Just getting a child and having to raise it?"

"…and he's always so damn lazy. Most of the time he just sits in bed and reads Manga with the young master. Mind you, the young master is getting surprisingly good at reading, for someone at his age…"

"But when it's important, Oga is always there to fight, and he usually wins." It started to dawn on Aoi that it might not be the best idea to convince Hilda that Oga could be a good boyfriend, but her instinct was to defend him, and it wasn't easy to turn that off. Thankfully, Hilda didn't seem to notice.

"…and the way he smiles when he thinks he did something good…"

"Yeah…" said Aoi, dreamily. Then she caught herself and said "I mean, yeah, exactly," in a stern tone of voice.

"I'm not being disloyal to him, am I?" asked Hilda suddenly. "I'm the maid of his son, yes, but it's not like I'm betraying him. I still care about the young master, and I don't have any allegiance to Oga personally."

"What? Yes! No! I mean you're right!" said Aoi, almost all at once. "I mean, you're free to have a boyfriend. And if Oga finds himself a girlfriend, that's okay, too, right?"

"Hm…" said Hilda. "I guess… I mean yes. He's a good friend and a father to the young master, but that's all. If he finds a girlfriend, I'll be happy for him."

She said it like a statement, of fact but there was a question mark floating through the air.

"Yes, absolutely!" said Aoi, hoping that her actions could not be construed as sabotaging someone else's relationship.

"Thank you," said Hilda, her voice filled with genuine relief. "You're so understanding. I'm wondering: Could you please talk to Oga?"

"Eh?"

"Just tell him all that, what we talked about. I am not good with all these romance things."

Join the club, thought Aoi, as she finished her coffee.

For four days now, Gusion had been staying in the human world. Thankfully not with Oga; apparently the demon had booked a hotel room somewhere. For the first three days and nights, Oga had hoped that his family would simply not notice, but he knew that it was in vain. Hilda, to her credit, tried to stay quiet, but Gusion apparently considered himself very lucky to have caught Hilda (and why wouldn't he?), and did his best to let everyone know. It took all of Oga's eloquence to stop his family from throwing Hilda on the street.

It was on the afternoon of the fourth day that Oga's mom finally brought up the point she'd been thinking about for all this time, and like always, she didn't take long to completely miss the point.

"So what are you going to do about this Gusion? Just stealing your wife like that, it is disgraceful. Are you going to get her back, or will see reason and finally throw her out of the house?"

He sighed. "I just came home. Can I first drop these croquettes somewhere? Anyway, I told you before that Hilda and I aren't married or anything. We're not even a couple."

"I know, and I told you before that this was stupid of you. There's a beautiful girl living here, and you have a child together! Even if you weren't in love then, that is a great way to start a relationship. Ah, that brings back memories…"

"Huh?"

"Oh, never mind. But I saw how you acted when she had amnesia. You pretend that you don't care, but in reality, you do. Or how you annoyed you got when that nasty man hurt her some time ago…"

"Well, yeah, she's a friend, and…"

"There's no better way to start a marriage than having a child with a friend by accident. Now go out and get her back! Buy her some of her favorite flowers, or something in her favorite color."

"She has a favorite flower?" Oga had never before even considered the possibility. Hilda didn't like plants. Or did she…?

"You're supposed to know that," said his mother in exasperation. "If you care so little, then it's no wonder that she went looking elsewhere."

That hit hard. Oga wasn't interested like that in Hilda, he told himself, but he did pride himself on being the greatest at absolutely anything. Surely that would include being a boyfriend, too, right? Not that he cared, but it was the principle of the thing. If he wanted to, he should be able to blow Gusion completely away. But of course, obviously, he didn't want to.

"Now, Tatsumi, if you don't start doing something about this right this second…"

"Wait, what's this?" The cell phone on the counter in the hall looked odd. It was clearly not Hilda's, which was pink, nor was it that of any of his family. For one, it had fangs. And right now, it had made a demonic gong sound as a new text message arrived. Oga dodged his mother and took a look. Then he looked at the previous message. And then he put his coat back on.

"I gotta go. This is important!" he shouted as he left the house again.

Furuichi had an elaborate plan for the afternoon. First, he would go into the town to impress girls at the bakery. Then he would head to the super market, and finally to the park, all the while picking up more women, ideally, and after all the direction changes, he should be able to loose Alaindelon, too. But the plan was blown to pieces when Oga and Baby Beel suddenly appeared in front of his door, together with Queen Kunieda.

"I just wanted to tell you something, Oga," she protested as Furuichi led them to his room. "You don't have to drag me here with you!"

"Nah, this is too important. Right, is anybody listening in? Where's the old guy?"

"Not here. I think he's out buying food for Hilda's bird."

"Alright, whatever. I found Gusion's phone!"

"And you're going to give it back to him straight away, right?" asked Kunieda with a hopeful tone in her voice. She should have known better.

"Look at those text messages here. They're with a guy called Malaphar. Just read them:"

Malaphar:

lol cool stry bro! So whats the big plan for hilla?

Gusion:

Anniversarys coming up. I'll take her to the fields f Eligos.

Malaphar:

Oh, nice, Matt! So it'll be a bloodbank, right?"

Damn auto correct, meant bloodbath and mate

Gusion:

Lol exactly. Shell never see it coming

Malaphar:

Good luck man!

"Oh my God!" shouted Furuichi, his brain going into full-on panic mode. "You have to go kill him right away! I knew there was something not right with him, just coming and stealing Hilda away!"

"Calm down!" said Kunieda. "Maybe that doesn't mean what you think. Maybe it's some demonic slang. We should ask a demon."

"Good point! Baby Beel, what do you say about that?" said Oga enthusiastically.

"Wait, he's not who I…"

"Daah-buuh!"

"Right, that's one more vote in favor of killing that smug bastard! Sorry, Kunieda, but time is of the essence. We must decide now!"

"No we don't! Look, there's a date here, we still have two full days!" said Kunieda, but neither Furuichi nor Oga were listening to her anymore.

"…and then you rip out his heart, and give it to Hilda as a gift. She'll like that!" said Furuichi.

"Huh? Her favorite method of execution is beheading. And anyway, I don't want to go that far if I don't have to."

"Listen, Oga, you have to trust Hilda's knowledge of demons here," said Kunieda. "I mean, you have known her for… how long?"

"Five months on tuesday next week. And she never admits that she needs saving, I have to figure that out for myself."

"…favorite method of execution, and you know your anniversary so quickly; Oga, you really do pay a lot of attention to Hilda, don't you?" said Furuichi.

"Dabbah!"

Everyone calmed down for a moment. Upsetting Baby Beel never helped.

"Okay," said Oga. "Two votes for an attack, one against. And I never liked that smug bastard. I wasn't going to say anything, but if he's actually out to hurt Hilda…"

"Oga, please, listen. That's exactly what Hilda told me to tell you: Stop competing with Gusion. You're seeing dangers that aren't there!" said Kunieda.

"This isn't competing; I'm saving her life!" replied Oga. His voice was filled with righteousness. "Now I'm going to call that demon and set up a fight."

"How? You've got his phone," said Furuichi.

"I'm calling him at his hotel. He sent the number to Hilda, and it's still in the texts here."

"Wait, you're reading the texts between Hilda and her boyfriend?" said Kunieda. "That is so not okay!"

Oga had at least the decency to look ashamed. "Well, her life was in danger, so… Oh, wait, he's picking up!"

"Daah!"

"…hi, this is Oga. Listen, you stupid mud worm, let us fight it out! Down at the river! … You know why. Don't try to fool me. … No, your game is up! … eh, whatever. Let's fight. … No, I don't care that Hilda told you not to. She'll understand it. …" Oga put the phone down for a second. "Getting a fight over the phone is so annoying! I guess it's something I should have done man to man!" Then he spoke again into the receiver. "Look, I don't care about all that and your empty threats. I'm going to fight you either way; it's your choice whether it's here or there. … Hello? Answer me!"

"Put the phone on speaker!" suggested Furuichi. It took Oga a second of fumbling, but then they heard "…but just to talk about it, right? I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding."

"Hah! See you in one hour! Don't be late!" Oga hung up.

"Okay, Baby Beel, let's get ready to finish this Hilda-stealing piece of trash!"

"Daah-Buuh!"

"Furuichi, you can't tell anyone, got it?"

"Me, tell anyone, about the most awesome fight of the century ever? No way!"

In all the excitement, they completely missed Kunieda muttering, "I guess I better call Hilda…"

In the history of Ishiyama High, the event that brought the most students together the fastest was the "Skullbreakers vs. Iron Knuckles" fight in 1985, still the biggest battle of gangs named after pieces of anatomy on school grounds. It was followed closely by the very last school festival in 1993, when the combined physics and chemistry clubs had undoubtedly delivered on all their promises to put on a show. According to legend, the last screaming teacher was extracted only three months later; he had been embedded into the ceiling so artfully that people thoguht he was part of the decoration. Place three went to the never-repeated "Buy One Get One Free Friday" at the cafeteria. But "Oga and his wifey's new boyfriend are fighting it out!" beat all of them.

Just about everyone was lining the sides of the river. The Red Tails had secured several meters to themselves. Himekawa had brought a couch, airlifted by his butler. Kanzaki had been with his niece when he got the message, and since he couldn't get rid of her, she was now sitting on top of his head. The Rokkisei were leading a number of St Ishiyama students. But all of them kept a careful distance. There were many myths around Oga, but his disregard for collateral damage was something everyone agreed on.

Neither he nor Gusion cared about any of that.

"Do we really have to do that?" asked Gusion. "I swear on my eternal life that I do not want any harm to come to Hilda, Beelzebub, or you!" There was a pleading in his voice, but also resignation.

"Dabbba!" screamed Beelzebub, clinging on to Oga's shoulder. "Dyoo-buh!"

"He doesn't believe you," translated Oga. "And I agree with him. What's the matter? Are you afraid?"

"A fight between two men of our calibre is no laughing matter. Someone could seriously…"

"Chicken! Chicken! Gluckgluckgluck!" Oga and Beelzebub began to hop around, perfectly synchronized. "Gluck! I want a corn!"

Gusion shook his head, and slowly drew his crossbow. "I don't want to do this, but if you attack me, I will defend myself. But don't think Hilda is going to thank you for it. Why don't we just talk about it? I'm sure this is all just a big mis…"

He was cut off by Oga's fist hitting him square in the jaw. The fight was on.

Later, most people disagreed about what happened. Several people insisted that this was all just a light show. It must have been. How else could Oga have swatted the crossbow bolts aside with his bare fist? Others just thought that their eyes were playing tricks on them, or maybe weird gasses were coming from the river. There was no way that Oga could have really moved that fast, or that Gusion would really have managed to perfectly parry every single blow. Yakamoto-Kun, a St Ishiyama student who thought he was a computer genius because he knew how to defragment a hard drive, told everyone who'd listen that it had to be robots, built to look like the two men, and switched rapidly. In his mind, this explained the weird glow all over their bodies.

AFter what seemed like an eternity, but really only five minutes, something came from the sky. Some said it was a giant bird. Some said it looked more like a reptile. The people who thought themselves more reasonable settled on an ultra-light airplane, or possibly an autogyro. What everyone did agree on was that Oga's wife jumped out, implausibly used her umbrella as a parachute, and then went into the middle of the melee. The two fighters didn't seem to notice at first, but after a few swift strokes of her umbrella, they were easily separated.

There weren't a lot of things that could really scare Oga, but Hilda, seeping with anger, always did the trick.

"Oh, hi, Hilda, how are you?" he asked meekly, hoping for mercy that he knew wasn't going to come.

"What is the meaning of this, sewer rat? What gives you the right to attack my boyfriend!?"

"Errh… just some harmless fun, right, isn't it, Baby Beel?"

"Dabuuh…" said Beelzebub. The baby knew what Oga suspected: They were not going to get out of this one that easy.

"Oh no, don't you try that, disgusting worm," said Hilda. "I know how you fight for fun and I know how you fight for real. You were going to super milk time next, weren't you? This ends now! What were you thinking!?"

"He is dangerous!" screamed Oga, his concern winning over his embarrassment. "He is planning to kill you!"

"No I'm not!" shouted Gusion, but Oga just ignored him. He fiddled in his pockets for a while, with Hilda growing more and more impatient, until he finally produced Gusion's mobile phone.

"Oh, so that's where it was." said the demon. Was there a bit of fear in his voice?

"Read this," said Oga to Hilda once he had found the correct message. The maid hesitated for a moment. Was she scared of what she'd find? No, it was something else, Oga realized. She didn't want to break Gusion's trust.

"Please, read it. I'm really worried," he said, this time more gently. Gusion was hovering near the two, wondering what was going on.

Eventually, Hilda grabbed the telephone roughly and stared at it as if it had threatened to take Baby Beel away. Her brow furrowed, and Oga could see the tiny signs of genuine anger. That could be a good sign, if she was angry at Gusion…

"You damn fool!" she shouted, but sadly, turned at Oga. "The demonic bloodbaths at the fields of Eligos are a well-known tourist destination. Expensive, too! He was organizing a surprise date, and you ruined it!"

"But… I… I didn't know," stammered Oga. He was madly scrambling to get out of the reach of her umbrella.

"Of course you didn't, you stupid piece of dog shit! But Alaindelon does! Lamia does! Young master En does! But you didn't even think about asking, did you!? You just thought, oh, here's a reason to hurt my boyfriend, hurray! For once, I have something of my own, and you just want to destroy it!"

"Dabbah!" screamed Baby Beel, close to tears. Hilda managed to scare even him. Thankfully, the maid noticed, and let off a little.

"All right, I will not kill you in front of the young master. As a courtesy to him, and to him only, I will give you one chance to explain yourself, useless gutter rat sewer trash!"

Hilda messing up her insults? Oga had to think fast, and that was never a good idea. He wasn't entirely certain why he had done all that himself. He normally didn't attack first without asking questions; usually he asked the questions and the other guys attacked him for the trouble. So what was different here?

Slowly, an idea tried to make its way through his brain, one that seemed both incredibly new and very familiar at the same time. It was a surprise, but then again, he'd known for a while now; he had just ignored it. But how to put it into words…?

His body acted of its own accord. In a second, he had closed the space between them and, to their mutual surprise, found himself kissing her.

A second later, it was over. She had pushed him away, and was looking at him in shock and surprise. He was just as confused. For a moment, they just stood there, saying nothing, until Baby Beel broke the silence.

"Dah! Abbah!" he said happily. It broke both of them out of their shared trance.

Hilda took a short step back, straightened up, and then, with no warning, started kissing Oga. After a second, he kissed her back.

An hour later, the area at the river was empty. Nobody had the slightest idea where Oga and Hilda had gone, and Aoi suspected that this fit the two just fine. They looked happy. Her own feelings, on the other hand…

Suddenly, she saw something at the river. A tall man with brown hair, blue eyes and green, square ears was wandering around aimlessly. He looked at her, and she looked at him. In his eyes was a pain not unlike what she was feeling, a special kind of bond…

For a short moment, they looked at each other. She looked deep in his eyes and he looked deep into hers. They moved closer… Then, as if they had agreed it, they nodded at each other and continued on their separate ways.

Author's note: I haven't forgotten about my other story, but reading some things on here, I got an idea for a new one-shot. First one that was much darker, but that would have been just too sad. The concept for this is not the most original, but I had a lot of fun writing it. It ended up a bit longer than planned, too. So, what do you think?

On an unrelated note, I've written a little program for Mac OS X (10.7 and higher) that allows you to easily send messages from to your Kindle. If you're interested, the download link is on my profile page.