Doctor Rodriguez appears
Shockingly fast, the entire Shibuya Family adapted to having Yuki back with them. It was as if she'd never disappeared in that lethal river. In fact, all of the newcomers were welcomed into the family though, honestly, most already belonged. Conrad was Yuri and Yuki's godfather, Wolfram was Yuri's fiancé (Yuki leaked it out in an attempt to get her family to stop fussing over her), and Ken was pretty much constantly over anyway. Gwendal was the elder brother of the godfather and the fiancé, so he was welcome as well.
Information on the Forbidden Box that they were searching for came slow… that is to say, any slower and they'd be going backwards. The Maou of Earth was apparently a busy man who had no time for them no matter how much they claimed it was important. They had no idea where he was so they couldn't go to him themselves. Eventually, they all somehow ended up all going out like a bunch of tourists.
Yuki came around the corner and sat back down with the group, now looking like a content cat. Yuri had just nearly been attacked by three thugs just before she disappeared. Gwendal raised an eyebrow at her and Yuri shuddered.
"I can take care of myself, Yuki." Yuri stated. "What does it look like when your little sister fights your battles for you?"
"What did you do to them?" Wolfram asked, knowing full well just what the girl was capable. Once, during the interrogation of an assassin that never even got close enough for Yuri to notice, Yuki came in. In less than a half an hour, he was spilling so much information that you'd think he'd switched sides.
"Nothing permanent." Yuki grinned. She sat down, taking a sip of her soda. "So, where to next?"
"Hmm… hay, didn't you have somewhere you liked around here?" Ken asked, looking at her. "You remember the area, right?"
Shori just happened to get a phone call and seemed a little too happy to be leaving the group. Yuri glared at him, hissing that they should switch places.
"What?" Wolfram asked. "Where is this place?"
"There are two." Yuri muttered. He groaned, putting his head on the table and covering it with his arms. "And of course Shori just happened to get the perfect opportunity to run away…"
"Each place will take at least a couple hours, so we'll only be able to do one." Yuki shrugged.
Conrad chuckled, thinking of two things. She was a lot like Julia in more ways than should be legal, so he offered two. "Swimming or Ice Skating?"
"Ice what?" Wolfram squeaked.
"Both are the two options, though I'm leaning more towards Ice Skating considering Yuri has probably swam enough for a lifetime by now with all of his traveling between the two worlds." Yuki chuckled. "Besides, on this world it isn't exactly common for a teen girl to have as many scars as I do."
"What is this?" Gwendal asked. "Why does Yuri look like he wants to run away?" Though he was rather amused by the sight of the all-powerful Demon King groaning at the prospect of some activity that his sister seemed to enjoy.
"Well, I guess we'll see." Ken chuckled as he stood. "Conrad, no spoiling it. It'll be a surprise."
"Very well." Conrad chuckled, giving his elder and younger brother a slightly apologetic look. He put a hand on Yuri's shoulder. "I was no good at it with Julia, either. I doubt I've improved at all sense then."
"Something Julia did?" Wolfram questioned. "Is it called something else on our world? What? Tell me!" Eventually they got to the rink and were given skates.
Yuki giggled and took off like a rocket as soon as hers were on. Because it was an hour until closing time, the place was nearly empty. "Come onnnn… Yuri." She held onto his hands, leading him out onto the ice. Eventually, he remembered how to skate and helped Wolfram while Conrad helped Gwendal, Yuki teasing all four of them for being 'cute'.
Eventually, they got a cab home and Wolfram didn't even wait for the couch. He sat down against the wall and fell asleep the second someone turned around. Gwendal picked him up and set him on the couch, putting his head in Yuri's lap. Eventually, Yuri stopped blushing and started to pet the blonde's hair as if he was some sort of cat.
Jenifer snapped a picture when they weren't looking, grinning happily to herself and then pouting when she couldn't sneak a picture of Yuki. But then she got over it and gushed over how her daughter was an observant warrior just like herself, quick to hug her daughter and tell her that she wanted to hear all of the stories from both Yuri's and Yuki's adventures.
Yuki knew that Shori didn't like Conrad and the others. She could sense it. Understanding his urge to protect Yuri, she assumed that her elder brother would be trying to talk Conrad into going back to Shin Makoku and leaving Yuri alone. She hid up in a tree, shielded by the darkness.
"Wait, then. Please. Wait until I'm the Maou here." Shori requested. "Until I'm strong enough to protect him. Conrad, he's my little brother."
"Something is leaking from the boxes, Shori." Yuki stated, jumping down from her hiding spot and walking forward. "Something bad. We need to find that box and seal whatever it is away."
"It can wait until he's older!" Shori argued. "He just barely turned 15! He's young. He should be worried about passing classes and baseball. Wait. Let him live his life. Whatever this is, it can wait."
"Are you willing to bet lives on that?" Yuki questioned. "Innocent lives? This isn't some game, Shori. This is real. Just because they're from some distant world doesn't mean they have to die just because you don't want your brother to be in danger."
"Before, when he first came, it would have been possible." Conrad stated. "But the country follows Yuri, as do several other countries that agree with his ideals. The people love him. The country bends to his will now. And until he states himself that he does not wish to be the Maou, that is how it will stay."
"Then leave Yuki out of this!" Shori attempted. "She doesn't have anything to do with it, right? She's just an extra. Yuri and I are supposed to be kings but not her. Let her have a normal life."
"I think both she and Yuri have the right to make their own decisions." Conrad stated. "I'm sorry, Shori. I know you want to protect them. If I could, I'd never let either of them out of the castle. But surely you know better than that." He sighed, shaking his head. "Shori, please have faith in us. We'll do everything in our power to keep them both safe."
"I see you can't be persuaded." A black man stated as he walked up, a glowing stone in his hand.
"I'm not done." Shori stated acidly.
"Rodriguez." Conrad stated upon getting a closer look. He sighed, eyes narrowing. "Why does it seem you're not here to talk?"
"I'm sorry." Rodriguez sighed, the water in the fountain becoming a large creature. "But I must insist."
"If you were sorry you wouldn't be doing this." Yuki muttered, getting in front of Conrad and Shori. She grabbed a shell from her pocket, holding it in the palm of her hand. "Water was a bad choice, by the way."
"Oh, and why is that?" Rodriguez asked, slightly distracted.
"I'm a bit of a pyromaniac." She purred, pressing the button one the dial. She dug her heels and skidded a few inches back, flames blasting from the shell like it had a dozen flamethrowers in the 2-inch diameter shell. It turned off, the fountain a steaming bowl with very little water. "It's not a good idea to mess with my friends. I've been told I'm a bit territorial."
"I see. Interesting device you have there." Rodriguez stated. "However, fire merely turns water into steam. Vapor, to be precise." Quickly, the creature formed again.
"Alright, that's cool." Yuki stated.
"Don't compliment your enemy!" Wolfram scolded as he ran up, throwing Conrad a sword.
"You're late." Yuki stated. "Don't be a nag."
"How the hell were we supposed to know you'd get into trouble?" Wolfram snapped back.
"Enough. Both of you." Gwendal stated.
The three brothers got to work on cutting down the monster, though Yuki and Conrad both already knew that it'd just regenerate. It was water, after all.
"Take the brain out and water is just water." Ken stated. "Right Yuki?"
"Mind-reader now?" Yuki muttered. "That's kinda disturbing."
Ken chuckled, holding his hands up.
"Yuri, remember that time when we ended up playing tackle-football?" Yuki asked, looking at him. "How about you switch sports for a few minutes?" She grinned when recognition came to his eyes. "He's too distracted to pay attention. I'll be your fake-out. When I attack the creature, go for the guy. Get that stone out of his hand. It seems to be what's giving him so much power."
Yuri nodded and made sure to stay slightly behind Yuki until she side-stepped and charged the creature. He didn't dare turn away when the others yelled for Yuki. He continued to run and tackled Rodriguez to the ground, knocking the stone out of his hand. Almost instantly, the creature went back to being just a pool of water in the fountain, eventually starting to flow upwards in its original decorative fashion.
Jenifer continued to praise them all from afar, being held back from the fight by a rightfully worried husband. Yuri helped his sister up, not missing the pain that went across her face for a second. If only so the others wouldn't kill him on sight, he pretended to forgive the man and trusted him just as Ken said… though he'd much rather let his anger lose and severely hurt the man that dared harm his little sister.
"How'd you use magic, anyway?" Yuki called from the couch, everyone scolding her when she so much as lifted her arms to stretch. "I did a bit but I'm already exhausted. Yuri and I are supposed to be the strong ones." She pouted slightly, not liking that someone was stronger than her.
"Ah, not just you." Rodrigeuz told her. "There's Bob, too. He's the Maou of Earth. He may even be stronger cuz, ya know, he's older and all. He's been at this for a while. Bob gave me the stone, said it'd give me more power. And it did." He shuddered slightly, rubbing his hand. "But my hand is completely dead at the moment." He admitted. "I'll go to my apartment and get some sleep. I'll pick you up in the morning to take you to Bob. He's in Switzerland at the moment."
"See you then." Jenifer waved happily as if he hadn't just been their enemy an hour before.
"Eventful first day, huh?" Ken chuckled as he put a damp cloth on Yuki's forehead. "How ya feeling, Miss Flame Fist?"
"Actually, that was Ace's nickname." Yuki yawned. She sat up and leaned against her brother, too out of it to act differently. "Fire-Fist Ace."
"Oh?" Ken chuckled, taking off his jacket and putting it over her as she continued to fall asleep. "And what was yours?"
"Kinda obvious, don't you think? The nicknames were usually pretty literal." She mumbled. "Ninja Queen Yuki. The bandits started it up first, the Marines too stupid to come up with their own." She curled into her brother, asleep by that point.
"Considering I didn't even notice her up in that tree until she spoke, I'll believe it." Conrad chuckled. He bent over and picked her up. She fit into his arms just like she did when she was a baby, as if he was made just to hold her up when she needed it most. "And she stayed hidden at first yesterday."
"For nearly two hours." Gwendal added. But looking at her now, he found it hard to believe that she could fend for herself at all. She looked so defenseless and fragile. He grimaced inwardly, not liking the sight. Though he was a man that preferred women to be quiet and polite, he'd prefer the girl's outspoken attitude to this appearance. It was as if she'd break if you looked at her wrong.