Summary: Keisuke takes on the mantle of Spirit Detective, recruiting his best buddies as support. he handles problems Yusuke never had to.
Notes: This story takes place in the 2020s.
Warning: Mention of forced prostitution. Themes of racism (humans vs demons)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
The day Koenma agreed to let Yusuke's son sign on as Spirit Detective was the day he bought a jumbo jar of headache pills. Yusuke had called in a favor, saying his son needed some structure aside from after-school rumbles and this was preferable to the remote boarding school like Keiko had been threatening to put him in. Koenma had refused at first, not wanting to deal with another teenage Urameshi, until Jorge the ogre slipped Yusuke some compromising photos of Koenma. Yusuke now had Koenma by the proverbial short hairs so he gave in.
Like his father before him, Keisuke had taken the piss out of Koenma the first time he saw the sovereign lord of all Spirit World as a toddler, which didn't endear him to Koenma. He had also made a pass at Botan, saying, "For a cougar, you look dynamite. How about we get to know each other better?" earning Keisuke a well-deserved oar upside the head. Koenma resisted the urge to have Keisuke thrown in the dungeon with his deposed father to teach him a lesson on respect, he figured Keisuke would have too much fun taunting Enma.
Keisuke didn't like having to answer to Koenma, but he also really didn't want to go to a boarding school. He agreed on the condition that he got to form a team with his friends. Yuuhi was on board, she loved fighting. Kazuki was in; he was a good boy, he would try to keep Yuuhi and Keisuke from going overboard and getting arrested or killed. As Yona was older and now in college, she would provide support only when needed. Rukia, the baby of the bunch, was eager to tag along if and when her mothers would let her.
"You're not cut out for it, you're just a kid," Keisuke said to Rukia. "Go hang around your kooky art kid friends." Rukia was an odd child, she loved both pastels and gothic aesthetic, despite being sweet as sugar. She was popular among the scene kids and spoiled rotten by her mothers, although Mama Shizuru was quite strict about grades.
"You can't talk, you should be hanging out with high schoolers. You got held back a year because you skipped too many tests to go rumble with Kasanegafuchi thugs," grumped Rukia.
Keisuke cringed. She had a point. Despite his otherwise stellar grades, he'd missed the final AND the makeup test to win turf from those Kasane thugs, so he hadn't graduated middle school. This had resulted in Keiko's threat to send him to a remote boarding school in Hokkaido and Yusuke getting him a job as a compromise. The job was far less risky than it had been in Yusuke's day owing to the fact most demons behaved themselves in the human world now, which is why Keiko had agreed.
"She has you there!" laughed Yuuhi. Yuuhi was the school ace, she was athletic and teachers mostly left her alone because she had won the school sports prestige. She enjoyed rumbling alongside Keisuke when not at practice.
"Nice skirt, Yuuhi," sneered Keisuke, pulling up her skirt to expose her capri length leggings. That was a sore point with Yuuhi. She hated anything feminine and had announced that she was non-binary in sixth grade. Yuuhi was not a girl, not a boy, she was simply Yuuhi. Her family and friends were supportive, but unfortunately the principal was old school. All biological girls were to wear skirts in his tenure, as well as the female staff. Yuuhi had rebelled by wearing a gakuran jacket instead of a sailor top and leggings under the skirt. Yuuhi responded to the skirt flipping by kicking Keisuke in the nads. Keisuke rolled around on the ground, regretting doing that.
Kazuki winced in sympathy. His twin's kicks were the worst. Kazuki was a model student, despite average grades. He didn't have his father's punk attributes, but due to growing up with a demon of a sister – both literally and figuratively - he could fight well. He had to be strong to survive scrapping with her. His spiritual powers were also strong for a human lad just like his father, enhanced with his mother's demon blood. He didn't inherit any demonic traits from her aside from stronger spirit powers than normal humans. Keisuke was the same, his father's demon blood gave him boosted spiritual power from birth, but he was still a human, which gave the two a bond the two ice demons didn't have.
Rukia sighed and used her healing powers on Keisuke. Yuuhi also had healing powers which she disdained, but she only used them on Kazuki since no one but her was allowed to pick on or injure him. Rukia was trained in healing by Mama Rui and was trained by Mama Shizuru in brawling, since in Shizuru's opinion, a girl needed to protect herself and not rely on men to do it. Since Rukia hated hitting people, she left the violence to Yuuhi whenever possible.
Keisuke got up after his poor balls were healed, and thanked Rukia by flipping her skirt.
"Hello Kitty!" remarked Keisuke.
Tears welled up in Rukia's eyes. "Pervert!" she smacked him.
"Ow!" Keisuke looked ashamed as he rubbed his cheek. The one thing that ever made him feel bad was seeing a girl cry. He would happily hit girls if they started a fight with him, but he hated seeing them cry.
"All you kids, knock it off!" cried a voice behind them. Yona had finished her classes and had come home early instead of hanging out with her friends.
"Big Sis Yona!" cried Rukia. All of them looked up to Yona, she was the only one who could break up their squabbling at times.
Keisuke grumbled apologies. His cellphone rang before he had to do more than half-ass an apology, it was the toddler king calling. Keisuke opened up the video chat on his phone.
"What do you want?" scowled Keisuke.
"You have a mission. I want you and your team to head up to the Wisteria Inn, intelligence says that there is a demon jewel thief who is hiding stolen goods up her room there." While demons generally obeyed the "don't cause mischief" rule, there were occasional criminals who delighted in petty crimes and the rare demon-on-human assault or murder to deal with; it was a much rarer occurrence than under Enma's rule, even with the open barrier, but there had been a few. For the latter, Koenma had sent Yusuke to deal with it, but a theft case would be perfect for Keisuke to cut his teeth on. The suspect wasn't a particularly strong demon, just a greedy one who thought humans easy targets.
Yona smiled. "It's your lucky day. My family still gets free accommodations there because we own the property, so I'll book you guys a room." She narrowed her eyes at Keisuke. That is, AFTER you apologize properly, Keisuke." Yona could be as fierce as her mother, so Keisuke grudgingly obeyed.
The new Team Urameshi plus Yona took the bus to the inn. Yotsuba and Taki were still managing the place well and turning profits, a portion of which went to the Fujimiya family. Humans brave enough to hang out all alone with demons occasionally stayed at the place, but it was usually only demons who stayed there. All the big shots in Demon World who wanted to visit the human realm stayed there, so the place usually boasted at least one high-profile or up-and-coming guest among all the average apparitions wanting a getaway.
Yotsuba showed them into their room, the one that was used for a large party, which was set up with a standard supper. The deal was that the Fujimiyas got their room free, but they paid for their meals, and Yona wasn't going to fork out for the deluxe on her allowance. Botan was there waiting for them, as she could get around by herself on her oar. "Hey there Keisuke," she chirped. "I brought out your first Spirit Detective tool. Ta-da!" she whipped out what appeared to be a monocle. "The psychic spyglass! With it, you can see through just about anything. Walls, clothes, you name it."
Like Yusuke before him, Keisuke's first instinct was to try to look through Botan's outfit with the spyglass, earning him another oar across the head.
"You're just as bad as Yusuke," said Botan, a vein popping on her forehead.
Keisuke grinned. "I can't help it. Boys will be boys and all."
"You disgust me, Keisuke," said Kazuki. He was raised to respect females and knew better than to openly do things like that and other things that would make his angelic mother shake her head, although he was sorely tempted and often peeked at gravure idols on his phone on the sly. Yukina was good at shaming wrongdoers in her gentle way. She could even shame his Uncle Hiei.
"'Boys will be boys' is when boys do stupid crap like snorting hot sauce and duct taping each other to the wall," said Yona. "Not perversion."
"Exactly," said Yuuhi, who sometimes joined Keisuke and Kazuki in such dumb-ass endeavors. "Boys will be dumb-asses, not perverts."
Rukia mock-coughed. "Hypocrite."
Botan cleared her throat. "Anyways, you should be able to find all the jewels easily with this. Keep in mind that using these drains your spirit energy and you have to master each tool at a time."
"Yeah, yeah," said Keisuke, pocketing the glass.
After their meal, the kids set out to deal with the thief. Yona hung back to study, only meaning to intervene if the rest couldn't handle it. She was a diligent student; While Hiei didn't really understand the appeal of higher education, he nonetheless respected her decision to attain a college education instead of fighting. Her hanabito blood was now fully manifesting and she was also interested in the romantic opportunities college would bring, much to Hiei's annoyance. Hiei threatened the ones she brought home to treat her well or else, since he couldn't forbid Yona from sleeping with them. Yona figured she'd return to fighting when she had her fill of other interests, it wasn't like she had a limited time to do so.
Keisuke found the room of the female demon who had robbed some hapless socialites of their jewels. The four of them, with Botan hanging back, burst into her room and striking poses worthy of the coolest teenagers in Japan. A beautiful demon woman with blue hair was laying on a futon with jewels spread out on it, so the spyglass wasn't necessary. Keisuke took a second to appreciate the woman's bare legs and cleavage.
"Who the hell are you?" cried the female demon, clutching her ill-gotten bounty.
"We are the new Team Urameshi!" cried Keisuke, wiping his drool.
"Wait, Urameshi?" Her eyes widened in recognition. Every demon had heard of Yusuke Urameshi, so this didn't surprise Keisuke. The woman was furious.
"Damn you and your wretched father!" she cried, taking a battle stance.
Keisuke attacked. The woman's skill at evading was quite good, especially when his hands got anywhere near her chest. They proceeded to destroy the room fighting, all the knickknacks broken into pieces. Keisuke kicked her through the paper screen into the hall, and she took off running, slipping on the ice Yuuhi had laid out, flying off the raised veranda into the garden pond.
The female demon rose from the pond and seized rocks lining the pond to hurl at the teenagers. Keisuke dodged them and Kazuki flew at her from the other side for a pincer attack, as Yuuhi encased her in the pond by freezing it over. The two boys' fists met on each side of her face and she slumped over, passed out cold.
"I got the jewels!" chirped Rukia, holding out a bulging pillowcase.
Yuuhi tied her up, making sure to shackle her in ice for good measure over the ropes, as Rukia healed the badly beaten woman's worst injuries. She didn't feel that theft was a crime worthy of death or a broken jaw.
The woman stirred. "You…!" she saw how she was trussed. She glared at Keisuke. "I am NOT that kind of woman! You and your father are horrible pigs!"
"Wait a minute… Dad said he fought a blue haired chick who was a pre-op trans woman. Miyuki, I think her name was. Was that YOU?" he whispered to her.
Miyuki glared at him. "I will never forgive him for how rude he was to me for it, and for groping me.'
Keisuke chuckled. "Yeah, that's classic Dad." He put on an apologetic face. "Ya know, that attitude could fly in the 90s, but society has moved on. Dad realizes what a dick he was about what he said, and he really shouldn't have groped you. That isn't okay, it's assault. I won't apologize for breaking your face, but I apologize on his behalf for disrespecting you, that wasn't cool."
Miyuki was stunned into silence. She had not expected an apology like that.
"Hypocrite," said Yuuhi, remembering the skirt flipping.
Keisuke gave her a look. "You know damn well I don't tease you about wearing a skirt because you're not a girl, I do it because it gets a rise out of you. Same for Rukia. You know I'm cool about you and the non-binary thing. Besides, you LOVE punching me, think of it as a free pass to rearrange my face. Rukia can try to freeze my nuts off if she wants when I do it to her."
"Keisuke is an equal-opportunity jerk," said Kazuki.
Miyuki quit resisting as Botan hauled her up onto her oar to take her in. "Tell Yusuke Miyuki is a real woman, and then punch him for me."
Keisuke saluted. "Can do!"
Taki and Yotsuba were surveying the damage with dismay when they went back inside.
"Sorry, ladies, known hazard of the job," said Keisuke cheekily.
Kazuki rummaged in his bag and took out a set of forms. "If you fill these out, Spirit World will compensate you for all repair expenses not covered by insurance." Kazuki was the responsible one, so he had the job of helping clean up Keisuke's messes.
Yona appeared behind them. "Since this is really Grandpa's house, I'll take those back home for Grandpa to look at after you've filled out what you can, Miss Taki and Miss Yotsuba. Really, you all could have been a bit less destructive."
Keisuke looked like a chastised pup. "Sorry, big sis Yona."
That didn't stop him from peeping on her, Rukia and Yuuhi in the bath later. Kazuki had declined as he didn't want to look at his own family naked, but would be tempted if it was not his own sibling and cousins. The perverted Spirit Detective got his comeuppance when the boys took their bath, with the two ice maidens freezing the surface of bathwater solid.
"C-cold!" cried Keisuke, trying to get out of the tub.
"What d-did I d-do?" chattered Kazuki.
"You didn't stop him," replied Yuuhi.
"And you said I could freeze your nuts off, Keisuke," said Rukia sweetly. She had a smidgen of Mama Shizuru in her when it came to taking people at their word.
Keisuke sneezed. "Totally worth it."
Koenma congratulated Keisuke for a job well done, minus the compensation to the inn for repairs. At least the boy followed through. Since Keisuke was back in her good graces, Keiko made her boy's favorite meal to celebrate his first case, while Yusuke held an ice pack to his jaw.
Yarika came calling at the Urameshi residence after supper with a case.
"I've been having some problems ever since I came out as mixed species," she explained. Yarika had revealed herself to be a demon-human hybrid at last to both worlds, feeling it was time to do so. Each world had largely assumed that she was purely of human or demon heritage. Her fans had been mostly supportive with the revelation, but there had been some snags.
"How so?" asked Keiko.
"I've been getting anonymous hate mail and threats, calling me an abomination and threatening me and my family. The cops have no leads. I'm not at all worried about Yona as she is so powerful, but Hiei has patrol duty and can be gone for weeks at a time, leaving me and Dad exposed."
"So what do you want us to do about it?" asked Keisuke. "Why not get your husband to deal with them?"
"Because I don't want to involve him unless I have to. Hiei might use overkill even if the perps are humans," said Yarika. "He's extremely protective of me and even though he'd deny it, also of Dad. I do not want him to be arrested for crimes against humans. I've told him many times that I refuse to do conjugal visits if he gets thrown in the slammer, but does he listen? I might as well be trying to restrain a lit rocket when he's that riled up."
Yusuke nodded, he knew Hiei and his temper very well. "That's a good point."
Keiko was thankful that Yusuke at least retained his human sense of reasoning after his atavism, and didn't envy Yarika her violence-prone husband. Hiei made Yusuke look like a choirboy at times. "He is really hot-headed and really enjoys the kill." She remembered the Dark Tournament and the inter-dimensionally televised Demon World tournaments well.
"You got it. He also has a tendency to act without thinking," said Yarika. "So if Yusuke or Keisuke could look into all of this for me between missions from Koenma, I'd be grateful."
"I'll have Keisuke look into it. I don't have as much time as I used to since I took over as head cook for Keiko's parents' diner," said Yusuke. He had enjoyed operating his ramen stand for many years, but as Keiko's parents were elderly and semi-retired, they had asked Yusuke to take over the family business. Keiko was a full-time teacher and had declined to help run the diner. Yusuke was now the responsible man Keiko had always wanted him to be – most of the time. He still did a fair bit of moonlighting behind her back. Yusuke was willing to let Keisuke take over some of his workload.
At school the next day team Urameshi met on the roof.
"You all got my texts, we're supposed to look into the threats against the Fujimiya family," said Keisuke. "Ms. Yarika said that she would take care of all costs incurred to do so, Dad said he'd help out by asking his regular clients what they know about it."
Kazuki nodded. "Kids of mixed human-demon relationships have worse problems than all-human halfs."
"I guess a lot of humans figured out their differences are really only skin-deep after finding out about us, so now we demons with human parents and humans with demon parents are the boogeymen more than the fully human halfs," spat Yuuhi bitterly. Under the new social pecking order, the offspring of human-demon parents were a rung below mixed race humans.
Rukia nodded vigorously. "The full-demon kids with two demon parents are seen as exchange students and mostly left alone, but some outright get attacked for being demons." The double whammy of having same sex parents of different species made her a target of bullies at times. Of course her pastel goth fashion sense didn't help matters. Thankfully her cousins were both fond of her and pounded any bullies that went after her.
"At least Aunt Yarika is doing her part to help our lot," said Yuuhi.
"Poor big sis Yona," said Kazuki. "She's been having some trouble at college since Aunt Yarika came out."
"She's tough," said Keisuke, who had a bit of a crush on Yona. "She won't give bullies the time of day. And not everyone hates it, she's got a lot of people who want to know what it's like to get with a demon chick bugging her for dates. It sounds kind of hot to get with one, actually."
Rukia blinked, not sure what to think of this. "Like, who?"
"Don't worry Rukia, you're like a little sister to me. I like older girls like Yona. That Botan is pretty fine, too. I wonder how old she is. Think I have a shot?"
Yuuhi answered by punching him.
Mindful of Keiko's threat of boarding school, Keisuke quit skipping school unless he absolutely had to ditch for cases, which she allowed as long as he kept his grades up and took all his exams. He didn't tell her that he punched out a few local thugs on the way to and from cases. Keisuke reviewed clues with the twins every day at lunchtime, with any new info gathered on the field relayed to Rukia, who was not often let out late at night by her parents. Shizuru didn't want Rukia's grades to slip and Rui was fearful of what might happen to her sweet little snowball. Rui would let Rukia out with them if Yona could chaperon the group.
Yona also gathered clues, careful to keep the case from Hiei, as she too knew the lengths her father would go to to protect the family. As she was the daughter of Yarika, she received some of the anti-demon hybrid hate by those who hadn't taken the news well. Yona took careful notes on and cellphone pictures of her own harassers. Sometimes it got so bad her dates got spooked and ran, but she got a few leads for Keisuke. Her most recent paramour helpfully assisted her in this endeavor. She couldn't wait until the fervor died down, as her love life had suffered as a result. It was hard enough to find dates who weren't just trying to meet her famous mother, but those who hadn't been scared off were sometimes merely seeking sexual novelty with a demon. She had dropped those dates like hot potatoes and told them to go seek out some red-light district tail. She didn't quite trust this new lover yet either.
Red-light districts now had some otherworldly offerings in host and hostess clubs and in soaplands, pink salons, image clubs and fashion health clubs, most of which offered various sexual services for sale. A naive young demon had to be careful not to be recruited by deceit, although there were some who willingly joined a club or brothel to rake in yen. Some of the demons Yusuke had been tasked in bringing in (and still did because Keisuke wasn't allowed in those neighborhoods) had been charged with vice crimes, mainly pimps and drug pushers. Yusuke also rescued unwilling workers and shut offending establishments down.
Keisuke sulked, he wanted to deal with the pretty older sisters in the hostess clubs. He was cheered up when Yarika brought him on set with her to gather clues. There were plenty of young women that were to his taste, so he had trouble focusing on his task. He met a barely-legal makeup artist's assistant and began to chat her up, following her out of Yarika's sight.
Yarika heard a loud, resounding slap and Keisuke trotted back, a handprint on his face. "I got her contact info!"
"Really?" asked Yarika, dubious. "Airi is Yona's age, you know. She's in college."
"I like a well-educated woman." He grinned as he rubbed his cheek. His face went serious. "She said she'd let me know what she heard about any stalkers."
"Riiight, that's why you wanted it…" Yarika sighed and shook her head. "Fine, but no more of your junior Don Juan act. Pay attention."
True to his word, Keisuke carefully watched Yarika's filming for the day, using his phone to stealthily capture footage of anything suspicious going on in the studio around her. That way if he missed anything, he could see it on the video later. He thoroughly searched Yarika's dressing room for anything suspicious like a good boy, also checking out any vacant rooms, only stooping to a little peeping.
"Find anything?" asked Yarika.
"I found these in your dressing room," said Keisuke, showing her some candid printouts of her, her father, and Yona that someone had left in her room, scrawled with the message "Soon."
"They're lucky. If they'd taken any pictures of Hiei, he'd have found out in New York minute and reacted in his typical way," scowled Yarika. "They have no idea they're playing with hellfire."
"I read somewhere that a lot of printers leave a code identifying the printer it came from, but I don't know how to use that data," said Keisuke. "You should ask a cop."
Yarika sighed. "The cops already checked that. Mostly it's laser printers that have that feature. It is a cheap ink jet printer that's doing it, so no code. Paper is cheap too. Whoever it is had their tracks covered well."
"Rats," groaned Keisuke. "At least we know it was someone here today."
"Yeah. Show me your pictures, I'll show you who I'm sure didn't do it. This is the entertainment industry, we have a lot of kooks, gays, lesbians, bis, and halfs here so I don't stick out that much. My co-workers were pretty much all supportive of me being bi and a half and most were cool with me coming out as an apparition half. The Cult Trio softened a lot of opinions about us, but some just can't accept that demons and humans being in a relationship and producing kids."
"I'm lucky in that regard. My dad was originally human, so most people think he's still just a baby-faced human. The Kuwabaras get it real bad sometimes and it pisses me off."
"I've been helping Yusuke with his image, giving him some movie makeup tricks so he looks a little older to match Keiko. I never used them much since people just assumed I was getting plastic surgery before I came out. I did it for Kurama too, so his mom wouldn't get suspicious. He's even got gray hair extensions."
Keisuke wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Grandma Atsuko got plastic surgery, you should hear her crow about her perky new bosoms and her mini face-lift and collagen injections. She's the hottest grandma in town, she says."
Yarika laughed. "Atsuko found the fountain of youth, a young attitude and a good surgeon."
Keisuke studied all his clues when he wasn't doing his homework. Keiko was pleased that Keisuke was taking things seriously for the first time in his life. Keisuke was so engrossed that he didn't even complain when his parents got all lovey-dovey with each other in front of him and in their bedroom. He just put his earbuds in and turned up the volume.
"That can't be right," he murmured.
He consulted his crew in their group chat.
TEAM URAMESHI 2.0
Keisuke: I got a lead.
Yuuhi: You took your eyes off the big sisters long enough to rack your brains?
Keisuke: Shut up.
Kazuki: What is the lead?
Keisuke: A college hottie named Airi that works around Ms. Yarika. (*￣ii￣) I think she might know something.
Yona: Airi? I know her, we went to school together.
Keisuke: That makes her more suspicious. (￢_￢)
Rukia: How do you know it was her?
Keisuke: I saw her around the dressing rooms when I investigated them.
Yuuhi: Got more panties for your collection?
Keisuke: Shut up you skirt, I don't steal! (＃`Д´)
Yuuhi: Fire your spirit gun up your ass. ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐
Rukia: stop it, guys! ｡･ﾟﾟ*(д)*ﾟﾟ･｡
Yona: CHILDREN! ；￣Д￣ Don't make me come over there!
Keisuke: Sorry, big sis. m(_ _)m
Yuuhi: Ditto that.
Kazuki: We need to talk to this Airi chick, see what she knows.
Keisuke: divide and conquer or all together?
Yona: I don't think she's the mastermind, so we should try not to scare her too badly. Maybe you and I could do it. The others can tail her because she doesn't know them.
Keisuke: Yeah, I got that vibe. She wasn't hostile to Ms. Yarika, just a little intimidated.
Yuuhi: Fear breeds hatred eventually, don't be fooled.
Kazuki: Yuuhi has a point.
Keisuke: Well we can't rule it out. So we better find out.
Keisuke exited the chat and took his earbuds out. He pounded on the wall. "Quiet down! I'm just a minor! You're corrupting me with your perversion!"
Yona and Keisuke went on Sunday to meet up with Airi, under the pretext of Yona wanting to catch up with her old schoolmate. Yona had to wheedle a bit, but Airi agreed.
"Fujimiya! Nice to see y-" Airi's eyebrows went up when she saw Keisuke.
"We need to talk, Nishimura," said Yona, her face solemn.
Airi's eyes went shifty. "What about?"
Keisuke spoke up. "You're the most likely one to have planted these," she said, holding up the pictures.
Airi swallowed, but she couldn't deny it.
"Why, Nishimura?" asked Yona in a quiet voice. Her face was a mask of disappointment.
Airi frowned. "My dad left my mom for a demon woman and they just had a baby. My mom hates them so much, especially the beautiful female ones. She calls them devil whores. She and her neighborhood association want them all evicted or dead."
Keisuke frowned. "So you went along with it."
Airi hung her head in shame. "I know demons aren't really that bad and that it was Dad's choice, but… Mom was just so depressed when he left."
"It was a very lucky thing that my dad didn't find out about you and them," scolded Yona. "My dad is a powerful demon. He's not known for being merciful. He could have gone too far and gotten in trouble for killing humans. He'd do anything to protect my mom and my aunt and my grandpa. I can take care of myself, he trained me. Don't make me and Keisuke hurt anyone to protect my mom and the other mixed families, because we will if we have to."
Keisuke nodded. "And we have backup!" he gestured over to the twins and Rukia who were lurking in the bushes.
"Grow a spine and tell your old lady to back off and quit being a bigot," said Yuuhi.
"We have the right to exist. We are not abominations," said Rukia.
"I'm sorry your dad is a jerk, but our families have really struggled with the prejudice in both worlds. Please try to understand how we feel," said Kazuki.
"Prejudice just makes people so hurt they give up and become evil as a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy," said Yona, thinking of what she knew of Hiei's past and criminal career.
Airi started to cry. "I'm really sorry. I'll tell Mom to stop this."
"I'll forgive you if you go on a date with me too," said Keisuke.
All of them turned to stare at him.
"What?" he asked.
"You're a bit too young for that," said Yona.
"Fine, date me when I turn eighteen," sulked Keisuke.
Airi laughed through her tears.
By the time Keisuke turned eighteen, he'd grown in strength and his detective skills. He'd found his own niche, helping negotiate human matters with the current demon king, amidst increased hostilities from humans like Airi's mom. The United States had become aware of the existence of Demon World and decided to butt in on human-demon affairs, believing Demon World to be Hell and wanting all demons to go back there; they had been pressuring Japan to close the barrier, not comprehending that Spirit World (which was not their idea of heaven and therefore must be a different neighborhood of Hell) had jurisdiction over that. Demon World had the option of reinstating the barrier too, but Living World had absolutely no ability to do so itself.
Koenma was growing worried. "I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before humans started something, instead of the demons," he said to the gathered both old and new Team Urameshi, plus Yarika, Yukina, Kenji, Shizuru and Rui, as the matter concerned them all.
Koenma had been glad that demons had been so well behaved, but he hadn't fully counted on the human element. He was prone to underestimating humanity, as he had done with the Black Black Club and Sensui. Since Spirit World mainly dealt with Asia, the land of Buddhism, he had absolutely not counted on the United States trying to interfere. Japan, China, Korea and to a lesser extent the other countries with significant Buddhist populations had accepted the presence of demons resignedly when they became known again, as legends about them had been in their cultures for many centuries and most demons tended to reside there. The rest of the world had their own demons and cryptids but they were more apt to claim they were imaginary or evil beings from Hell, which was the source of this current issue.
Yusuke scoffed. "It's those damn Americans," he said. "They think they're the world police and the authority on all moral matters, so they have to come bother us."
Hiei grunted, not knowing or caring much about human international politics. "Why do they feel they have to get involved?"
"Abrahamic faiths take the same view as the Sei-Sei Shinto," said Koenma. "They think demons are purely evil beings straight from Hell."
"Instead of a different species with different abilities and values," said Kurama.
"Americans have had religion intertwined with politics ever since they were merely a colony, despite claiming to be entirely about freedom," said Yarika, the only one of them who had spent time in the US. "They are still huge on Christianity, and they want to be the moral majority in the world, the hypocrites. It was weird to be in a church where they were preaching about fire and brimstone and demons, I was thinking 'Uh, hello? You're sitting in a church with a flesh and blood demon. Don't bother with the holy water, I'll just get wet.'"
Keisuke laughed, finding that hilarious.
"That's right," said Koenma. "Not that Christians and others of that ilk are bad, but when religion gets mixed with politics, it's a recipe for disaster, as we saw with the Sei-Sei Shinto."
"No shit," said Yusuke, who still had nightmares about pushing the button that had stopped the inter-dimensional cannon from destroying a good chunk of Japan and with it, Keiko, Atsuko, and all their human and demon friends living there.
Yona remembered her abduction orchestrated by the two from that cult that had not committed suicide or gotten jailed for life. "I wonder what the Americans are going to do if they can't force Japan to send us all to Demon World."
"Threaten us with nukes, maybe," said Yuuhi. The rest of the ice maidens present gasped with horror, they'd heard about the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They could kill most demons easily, as radiation was something they weren't immune to.
"That's stupid, Yuuhi," said Kazuki, but his face had gone pale. "But they might try to force Japan to put demons and those of demon ancestry into internment camps."
"How would they do such a terrible thing?" asked Yukina, shivering with the traumatic memories of being a captive.
"My guess is major trade sanctions," said Kuwabara.
"Maybe an all-out embargo," said Kenji. He was old and frail, but he still cared about the world the youngsters would inherit.
"I don't think they could launch any bombs, it would be an act of war," said Kurama in a matter-of-fact tone. "Then everyone who had nukes would launch them and then we'd all be dead. It goes against every international law."
"When humans blow the tits off the world, I hope to be long dead," said Shizuru, comforting Rui and Rukia.
"So how do we convince humans we mean them no harm?" asked Rui, under one of Shizuru's arms.
"And that we enjoy living with humans and can cooperate with them?" asked Rukia, under the other.
"And make westerners look like the fools they are for persecuting us unjustly?" asked Yusuke.
Keisuke thought hard. "Something big and televised and streamed all across the three worlds."
"How big?" asked Koenma.
"Real big. Like we get a lot of people on it, demon and human."
"Like we did when we were raising relief money for that quake with various talents?" asked Yarika, who had performed with the Cult Trio alongside human talent.
"Yeah!" said Keisuke. "You know people, you all could do a show with demons and humans on it."
"That's actually not a bad idea," said Koenma. "Showing the worlds at large that demons are individuals more or less just like them, same goes for humans.
"What about ogres?" asked Jorge.
"You get to fetch their coffee," said Koenma.
"I hate you so much," muttered Jorge. "I'll see that I spill that coffee on your royal lap."
Thus the idea of a live event to raise awareness and cooperation between the three worlds was born. The Cult Trio, the former tournament entertainment committee, and a few human artists who were demon friendly were assembled to put together a variety show that would stream worldwide and inter-dimensionally as well as air on Japanese and Demon World TV and any foreign networks that wished to pick it up.
They chose New Years' Eve as the day. Ordinarily it was the day NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen aired, but as this was a far more colorful offering, it looked like Kōhaku was going to have its lowest viewership ever. A small team of producers, one from each world, was chosen and was assembled, and a director was chosen out of a pool from the three worlds. As it turns out, it was an ogre from Spirit World. Much to Koenma's annoyance it was the very same ogre who had directed his videos of the cases he used to send to Yusuke, including Yukina's rescue mission. The ogre had pursued directing as a full time career after giving Koenma a sheet cake that had his resignation written on it. Koenma never forgave him for the rude cake, which had read "Screw you and this job, I'm outta here! - Armando, NOT Orange Ogre" Armando was now directing ogre-centric comedies and ferry girl idol videos. He was Jorge's idol.
The talent was also gathered from three worlds. The Cult Trio, Taki, Yotsuba and Kanade, Hachi and Kiku, Yarika, and Jorge (chosen by Armando to be the emcee, much to Jorge's delight and Koenma's fury) and various human celebrities who were supportive of demons. Team Urameshi, old and new, were to be security for the event. Hiei only agreed to do it because his family would be there, which was good because his jagan was incredibly useful for scanning crowds.
The returning members of the demon world tournament entertainment committee had a wonderful time reuniting and rehearsing. Taki in particular was delighted to finally have her chance to shine onstage after getting partially eaten enough times to squash her dance career aspirations. Yotsuba was also happy to be back in the saddle for a night, as she and Taki had been content managing the inn together and didn't much miss dancing for anyone but the patrons.
Kanade had become one of Demon World's most popular singers in the last two decades. Although her beauty was not of the type generally appreciated by humanoids, her voice was mesmerizing and won fans of all species. She was popular with reptilian demons, but had spurned all advances, preferring to focus on her career.
Hachi and Kiku had been running a popular chain of restaurants since they got married, and the twins who had played with them were managing the various chains, while Hachi and Kiku had the flagship. The couple had been raising their brood of squirrel demon babies together; since in Demon World, having babies with a same-sex partner was widely accepted and medical science was more advanced than in the human world, allowing more options for reproduction.
The hype built as the countdown to New Year's Eve approached. The US, as predicted, had started threatening trade sanctions against Japan, with other western countries expected to follow. None of them wanted literal demons roaming the earth. Those countries had recently started containment efforts against native cryptids and fae, not realizing that they wanted to be left alone and were mostly harmless. Thankfully most remained elusive, despite the high bounties on creatures such as mermaids, fairies, sasquatch and chupacabras. The humanoid cryptids in the west knew how to hide themselves well; with the advent of unnatural color hair dyes, most blended in easily. Only certain humans had any inkling that these people were inhuman. One old man directing a cryptid taskforce in particular remembered an unnaturally beautiful green-haired rent boy that had creeped him out in New York in the 70s. No one had believed him when he'd said that young man was something dangerous and inhuman. Now people believed him.
New Year's Eve dawned. The talent gathered in a famous theater, with sold-out crowds waiting. Yusuke, Keisuke, Yona, and Kuwabara roamed the main floor like overpowered ushers. The teenagers hung out in the balcony with the VIP guests to keep them safe. Hiei stood backstage, carefully scanning the crowds inside and out for threats. Kurama was beside him, with binoculars. Cameramen from all three realms had set up broadcast equipment, and were ready to roll.
The curtain went up and Jorge, in a dapper tuxedo, walked out to introduce himself. "Welcome to the Three Realms Extravaganza! I am your host, Jorge Saotome. Normally I work for a certain horrible whip-cracking, paper-pushing, pacifier-sucking boss, but tonight I get to live my dream and be your host!"
In the VIP seats Koenma mouthed all the horrible tortures he was going to inflict on Jorge when the show was over. Jorge had been drilled with the script by Armando until he had broken down in tears, but he recited it well, with only a few bad ad-libs.
Jorge continued. "For years, the worlds were separate, with the demon realm getting the short end of the stick. They've been scapegoated for terrible acts in the spirit and human worlds unfairly. Now the demons have moved on from that and wish to coexist with humans, with the free exchange of trade and talent between worlds."
The crowd, a mix of humans and demons and spirit world denizens such as ogres and ferry girls, applauded.
"There have even been children born between them. I have the privilege of knowing many such mixed families, who I and many others hope will be a symbol of a new era of peace and understanding between worlds. Our demon representatives with us today have a deep fondness for humans and their world. One in particular has made it her life's ambition to foster peace and understanding between realms. Please give a hand for Yarika Fujimiya!"
The crowd applauded. Yarika took up her mic.
"As all of you are aware by now, I was born of a relationship between a human and a demon. I was raised as a human, with my inhuman traits being a target for ridicule and prejudice. My body is that of a demon's, but something inside me is human. Demons faulted me for that and humans were cruel and frightened of me. I remember what my mother told me, to be proud of what I am and remember that humans and demons are no better or no worse than each other. We beings forget at times that we are all people, not mindless animals or evil spirits."
The crowd made sympathetic murmurs.
Yarika continued. "I wish to live openly as what I am, a child of two worlds. More than anything, I want to be a bridge between our worlds so that my own child and other children like me would find a place of acceptance. I am now not the only one in existence who has both demon and human heritage. I fear for them because of the recent efforts to oppress them. I hope that we can all come together as one today and wipe out misunderstandings between our kinds. With that in mind, please enjoy our show tonight."
The crowd cheered. When it died down, Jorge introduced the first act, a beautiful dance featuring Yotsuba, Taki, and a few select human dancers.
The dance troupe was well received. Hachi and Kiku played their hearts out, with the teenagers of their brood joining them onstage and playing the drums and keyboard in place of the twins. Further numbers by Kanade, Yarika, and the Cult Trio had the crowds screaming for encores. Billions tuned in. Millions of viewers from three realms sent in messages of support on social media, outnumbering the messages of hate.
All went well until the finale.
A riot started outside the theater with minor explosions. A group of demons had taken exception to humans picketing the theater and retaliated, leading to injuries on both sides. In total there were about a hundred participating in the fight. The talent as well as Kenji, Koenma and Botan were ushered into a back room while the riot was dealt with by both Team Urameshis.
Keisuke and Yusuke first tried diplomatically breaking them up. A demon pointed at a human with a sign printed with an extremely offensive slur in large type. There were also signs with "Go back to Hell where you came from!" emblazoned on them, all held by a group of people that looked suspiciously alike from the same church. "Like hell we'll calm down!"
"Whoa!" cried Keisuke, dodging sharp sign edges. The protesters had weaponized them by adding razor blades to the edges. The demons retaliated in kind with claws and teeth and fists. Blood from both flew, splattering anyone nearby. Each member of Team Urameshi sprang into action and knocked out or restrained the crowd much like they had done for the Sei-Sei Shinto. In less than half an hour, the entire crowd had been subdued, with security and police carting away the offenders.
Yusuke and Keisuke, their faces a bit dirty from the debris, finally went to the back room and told them all that the riot had been dealt with.
"About time," mumbled Koenma, who had been sucking his pacifier to calm his nerves and glaring at Jorge for half an hour.
The talent took stage to perform a group number, the grand finale, with all their voices and instruments lifting up as one for the final chorus.
We are people from worlds apart, one world in the light, one in the dark
We couldn't get along, so the veil came down like night
Now the world is unmasked, another chance to reunite
Now we stand together, singing from our hearts.
The crowd stood and applauded. Cheers and whoops punctuated the applause.
The performers took their bows and Koenma, Botan, and Team Urameshi, the old and the new, looked on with satisfied smiles. Word soon came that because of the international pressure and bad PR, the US was withdrawing their threat of trade sanctions. There were other matters to be dealt with, but this at least was a victory.
Yusuke grinned at his son and ruffled his hair. "You did great, son."
The rift between all their worlds seemed much smaller, and the future of their worlds was looking better than ever.
Notes: Uniform requirements for Japanese students are usually strict, with AFAB students usually required to wear the skirt. It's getting a bit better, but traditions die hard.
Miyuki's treatment in the series was mostly fair for its day, but it doesn't fly today. I felt compelled to give her the apology she deserved for what Yusuke did. As she was later seen in the manga, she survived the fight at Tarukane's mansion. The rest of the triad wasn't so lucky, so Miyuki turned to thievery to get by. She isn't a good person, but her gender identity needed to be respected.
Kaomoji (emoji with JSCII characters) are popular in Japan. They are not used as much here but certain kaomoji are well known.
As Spirit World seems to mainly deal with Asia, most demons settles in that region, with some exceptions. It is unclear what happens to the western world after death. There is an implication that in ancient times Spirit World imitated the Abrahamic God at times and smote undesirables, as per the Sei-Sei Shinto side story.
After criticizing Japan's xenophobia I explored America's a bit. This is a criticism of America's own brand of xenophobia and push in the late 2010s to return to theocracy, if you haven't guessed. It's true that since Americas were colonized, religion was an excuse (by assholes) for much of the xenophobia and persecution. I am not dissing religion itself, (I know plenty of tolerant, chill Christians) but it's true that when faith gets mixed up with politics, people get oppressed in the name of it. In this universe, demons are believed to be creatures from Hell. Americans are especially good at othering foreigners and indigenous people and being phobic of non-Christian (They even used to be anti-Catholic) religions. They still think homosexuality is evil, so they wouldn't accept demons.
The green-haired rent boy is Itsuki, before he met Sensui. It's another Biz headcanon I used. Itsuki has likely been hiding in plain sight for a long time, and most regular people would go out of their way to avoid prostitutes. He also needed income and doesn't have a legal identity in the human world. Canonically his sense of right and wrong is sincerely fucked up, so he probably enjoyed luring in family men and moral pillars to corrupt. He only gave it up because no one was as pure as Sensui and after that life was flavorless.
NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen is an hours long competition between two teams of singers televised on New Year's Eve on NHK. Only the best singers get invited. I hear it's quite popular.
The protesters are an expy of Westboro Baptist Church. Instead of God hates gays, God hates demons.
The last bit was inspired from a rewatching of Carole and Tuesday.
Keisuke eventually married Airi.