After spending the night in a rain forest waiting for the challenger that name came, Neuro retreated to his hotel room with a sleepy Mystery and an ill Yako, who caught a cold.

A Push in the Right Direction

Mystery 25: Another Victim

The next morning, while Neuro sat frozen awake, Mystery still slept soundly and Yako had only recently fallen asleep, a local newspaper was slipped under the door of the hotel room, the cover depicting the blurred figure of a man with glowing green eyes, carrying away two smaller figures, while a strange light shone above, disrupting the camera and turning Neuro into an unrecognizable shadow in the picture.

The article on the first page was written the previous night and added to the newspaper in a hurry, just before they started printing, because the news was too interesting to leave it for later. There were aliens in Yunque. However, aliens and other strange beings residing in the forest were a common urban legend, so no one was alarmed and no one particularly cared to consider the possibility of there being some truth behind that article.

"Wakey, wakey, chicken slave!" Neuro was already awake and he was not amused.

"I see you got over your pathetic human illness, I'll definitely make you pay for this when you're older. Go clean yourself up and get ready, we're going to the beach."

"Yay! Breakfast and beach!" Though Neuro said nothing about breakfast, Yako cheered and rushed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Sometimes, while her parents were searching for a babysitter, when the previous had been scared away, Yako tried to be a big girl and show her parents she could take care of herself. Her true motivation was thinking that if she was a big girl, she would get bigger meals, but that aside, she could take care of all the basics, which Neuro wouldn't do for her anyway.

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"Ready!" The tree year old Yako was wearing a silly pink toddler bathing suit with a ridiculous amount of fuchsia bows. Neuro had no idea where she got it, but upon noticing the open closet, he found a lot of clothes that would fit the three of them, which he was sure were not there before. They must have been brought in while he was in the forest, but he doubted that the hotel's service was that elaborate and detailed. This was very suspicious indeed, but Neuro decided to accept the challenge. He got Mystery and himself ready, then headed down to the beach.

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At the beach, Neuro had the hotel staff bring Yako food to keep her quiet. She ate and played in the sand, making castles with Mystery while she waited for the next dish to come.

Neuro looked around the beach, searching for the challenger and feeling somewhat silly in the blue swimming trunks he was wearing, being used to his ever present suit. A woman suspiciously approached, but she appeared to be a regular human in every way. "Hi handsome!"

Neuro was about to tell her to go away, but little Yako acted first. "Mine!" She kicked the woman on the leg with all her strength and given the large amount of food she ate, she had enough force to knock the surprised woman down. Yako then relentlessly attacked, until the woman had to crawl away beaten. Yako pouted and gave Neuro a serious look, pointing at him with her tiny index finger. "My slave!"

Neuro wasn't bothered by anyone again; in fact, all those who witnessed the scene or heard about it, avoided him at all costs. Sure he was a handsome man, but that little girl with him was too dangerous.

xoxox xox xoxox

After spending some time at the beach without finding anything suspicious, Neuro headed back to his hotel room with Mystery and Yako. He was trying to think of what to do to speed up the process of solving the ever complicated mystery, when there was a knock on the door. Upon opening the door, Neuro did not find anyone from room service, instead he found Higushi.

"I'm here to see Yako," it was obvious that Higushi must have tracked their location by hacking the airline and hotel's databases. His reason for wanting to see Yako was also rather obvious, he liked her, a lot, and he wasn't ready to lose her to Neuro. Higushi had tried to give up after he heard about the child whom no one knew for certain if he was Yako and Neuro's biological son or a baby abandoned at their door, as they claimed. He tried to move on and understand that Yako had someone else, but he couldn't take this anymore.

"Why do you want to see Sensei?" Neuro pretended to ignore the raging look in Higushi's eyes, he could glare far more fiercely, but he kept up his innocent human act. Higushi was furious. He didn't think Neuro was properly handling the situation, allowing Yako's reputation to be tarnished and all sorts of crazy rumors to float around. The hacker had decided that Yako was the damsel in distress of his little fantasy and he was the hero who was destined to rescue her from the evil demon, the part which was represented by Neuro, all ironies aside. "I want to see her, now."

Neuro's eyes glowed mischievously and Higushi blinked, then went back to glaring, he knew Neuro was not an ordinary being. "She's busy, but if you want, you can see the smaller Yako, she was named after her mother, they're so much alike."

Higushi stared at the toddler who was curiously looking back at him. "Yako..." the resemblance was amazing, this girl had to be part of Yako's biological family, though she looked about three years old and Higushi certainly didn't remember Yako being pregnant. The girl had to be a baby sister or cousin, maybe even a clone. Either way, if it came to that, he would take her in along with the mysterious baby boy. "I can take care of the children." He refused to believe the kids were Yako and Neuro's children, if Yako had been pregnant he would have noticed, but if she decided she wanted to keep them to care for as her own, he would have to be prepared.

Neuro's mood improved slightly with this new development. "I'll take care of the baby and you can take care of the little girl." Taking care of both of them would surely signify the death of Higushi and Neuro might want to torture him some more later so he couldn't die just yet.

"Fine," Higushi picked up the little girl who began to play with his glasses. "I'll be back this evening to speak to Yako." Surely it would benefit him to prove he could take care of the little girl by himself for the day, that should help Yako realize he was more reliable than Neuro and a better father figure to the children she adopted.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Neuro. As requested by Yorushihe, here's Higushi, another victim to torture! :D Admittedly, I'm not too familiar with the manga version of Higushi and he wasn't as developed in the anime, but I gather he has a crush on Yako, right?