The situation certainly got more and more interesting. Mephisto reflected with clear amusement how only some days before he had nothing to do. But now there was his younger brother with his totally insane revolutionary ideas. Moreover the King of Time felt there would be something more, either good or bad, but definitely not boring.

It never ceased to amuse Mephisto, how Rin had managed to avoid exorcists' attention for all the time he already had spent in Gehenna. It was really poor luck that the teen had ended in the police station and not in the Grigory Headquarters after all that ruckus he had caused. Otherwise, it would turn quite ugly. While it was pretty easy to explain a demon roaming the city and more difficult, but still possible to explain a half-demon, it was surely impossible to provide any reasonable explanation why the half-demon son of Satan, presumably dead for fifteen years, suddenly reappeared in Assiah and caused some disturbance. In that case both Mephisto and Fujimoto Shiro would be in deep shit. Well, at least, Shiro would be. The demon was pretty sure he could get away even in that situation, while he couldn't say that about the priest, whose actions irritated Vatican for many years.

Well, after all, those remained only theories. It was more important to think about next steps now. Mephisto could simply tell Rin the truth, but then it would be extremely dull. The King of Time nearly immediately thought out another plan. Wasn't that amusing to send the teen to Shiro and let the priest explain everything himself? Mephisto could actually imagine Paladin's priceless expression when he saw Rin. Well, maybe the teen's expression if he learned about his younger teen might rival it. Moreover, there would be Yukio as well…

Mephisto took out his mobile phone deciding to call Shiro and suddenly chuckled. Definitely, the day became more and more interesting. It seemed the priest had actually phoned him and even more than once. It was something new. Shiro would never call Mephisto for fun or because of petty problems. That meant only…

"SAMAEL!" a sudden yell interrupted Mephisto's train of thought. Next moment Rin broke into his study. He looked stunned and agitated.

"That… those…" the teen seemingly struggled, searching for the words.

"What's happened?" asked the man.

"Blue flames!" exclaimed Rin, still shocked. "They were there for a moment, I swear! And they were really powerful! They vanished soon, but… Look!" the teen raised his hand. Next moment a tiny blue flame appeared on his palm. "Before I couldn't summon even something like this, no matter how hard I tried… Even if it isn't as great as some moments ago…"

Rin actually looked confused. For many years blue flame appeared against his will and only when he was enraged. Even then it wasn't anything more than some tiny sparkles. However only few moments ago the teen felt something that actually could rival Satan's power.

"Oho," murmured Mephisto, more to himself than to his brother. "The seal… So that's it…"

"The seal?" asked the teen, quite puzzled. He didn't get an answer as Samael seemed to be lost in thought.

Somebody had unsheathed Kurikara for sure. But who? Shiro? Even idea of it seemed ridiculous. It was much easier to imagine Satan dancing in pink tutu than something like that. Then, some demon or even the god of Gehenna himself? Even less likely. They more probably would break the seal for good.

No, there was only one person to unsheathed Kurikara and then sheathed it back. Mephisto remembered a serious bespectacled teen. Okumura Yukio, the younger of two twins, who most likely inherited blue flames as well. Because of Shiro's overprotectiveness, Samael had never actually had a chance to approach his youngest brother, yet he always observed the teen from the distance. It never ceased to amaze the King of Time how different Yukio was from Rin. Sometimes they seemed total opposites to him. Yet Mephisto couldn't help thinking that the twins could actually form a perfect duo.

However, it was too early to judge the situation without any facts. Mephisto decided to wait for any news…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The news of Fujimoto Shiro's sudden death caused uproar in True Cross Order. The death of Paladin wasn't a joke. Vatican ordered throughout investigation of the case and they would definitely find the truth if Mephisto hadn't interfered.

The demon knew that it would do no good, if the risky scheme involving Satan's twin sons would even come out into the light. The teens would most likely be executed. Shiro's reputation would be crashed (well, he was already dead, so he would suffer the least). As for Mephisto himself he probably would lose even that tiny trust from Vatican he already had. Not that it was an important matter, yet it still would be quite troublesome.

So Mephisto tried his best to cover the situation. First, he volunteered to conduct investigation himself, then appointed some of the young and quite obedient exorcist to assist him.

Mephisto suspected Satan's involvement. He knew Fujimoto for too long to believe in idea that some random demon would be able to kill him. Moreover, the demon was pretty sure that Shiro might actually be in par with some of his brothers. But if Satan was really involved it would be extremely difficult to explain for what reason he attacked Paladin and why now. So, even if Mephisto had already thought out a couple of back-up stories, he actually preferred to cover Satan's involvement, so that he deliberately excluded anybody who witnessed Blue Night.

And it seemed to be a really wise decision. It was simply impossible to confuse the scorch marks left by blue flames with ones left by any other flame. Shiro's wounds as well were really suspicious. Fortunately, the young investigators were afraid to fail the mission, so they agreed with every Mephisto's statement, no matter how doubtful it was.

Moreover, the testimonies suddenly turned out to play onto Mephisto's hand. The priests from Shiro's monastery claimed to be only eyewitnesses. Their story about some demons' sudden attack seemed not only plausible, but actually flawless, without any contradictions. Mephisto knew it was certain lie, made-up to cover real situation, but still couldn't help admire the priests' actions. They seemed to discuss every tiny detail and predict every question, so that it would be impossible to catch any of them on the lie.

Those priests really amused Mephisto. He actually knew before, that all of them were kind of outcasts in True Cross Order, some because of their rebellious actions, some because they actually doubted Grigory's decisions. They all most probably would be kicked out from the Order long time ago if Shiro hadn't intervened and given them positions in the monastery. All of the priests surely were extremely loyal to Father Fujimoto. Otherwise, why would all of them help him to hide the existence of Satan's son, no matter how risky and reckless it was?

Furthermore, that loyalty remained even after Shiro's death, so great was the men's respect and admiration for their deceased leader. No one of them had mentioned Yukio, as if he actually wasn't present there.

One moment was really dangerous. One of investigators actually remembered that there was a child raised in the monastery and suggested questioning him.

"You'd better not do it," stated one of the priests, Nagatomo, firmly. "Yukio didn't see a thing. Besides, he's not aware of anything related to demons or exorcist. Father Fujimoto forbade us to tell the boy a thing".

"Why not?" insisted the investigator, suddenly showing dangerous curiousity. "As I've heard, the boy is a son of couple murdered by demons. I actually thought it would be reasonable to give him an exorcist training so that he would be able to avenge his family."

"Father Fujimoto wanted Yukio to live a peaceful and happy life," interfered Maruta, another one of priests. "Not the one clouded by hatred or revenge… Maybe, one day we will tell him the truth, but for now, he thinks that Father Fujimoto was killed by some crazy psycho."

"Besides, I really think, it would be better to leave poor boy alone for a while," continued Nagatomo seriously. "Father Fujimoto was like a real parent to him. This death hit him more than any of us. Are you really so cruel to remind him of his great loss?"

The investigator looked away, quite ashamed and murmured:

"No, of course not… Actually, my father died when I was in my teens, so I kind of understand the boy…"

Mephisto smirked discreetly. The dangerous topic was avoided and investigators actually forgot about Yukio. But those priests were really something. Were they even aware that they were willingly committing a great crime? Before they at least were able to deny their fault, to claim that Shiro had deceived or even threat them. But no, no one of them turned out to be a scoundrel or traitor. The priests continued Shiro's mission, protecting Yukio, no matter how risky it was.

Sometimes human beings were really amazing…