Murata was, annoyingly, right and the swooning started pretty much immediately they set foot in the school building. There was a collective girlish gasp and then they were quickly surrounded by an army of girls who didn't do much else than gaze adoringly at Wolfram and sigh a lot.
"Hey, Shibuya! Murata!" called a voice from somewhere beyond the girls and then Matsuri appeared to greet them. "Great, you all made it!"
"Matsuri!" Yuuri replied with a smile. "Thank's for the invitation. You remember Wolfram and Conrad?"
"Of course, welcome all! Come in, I'll show you around," Matsuri said beaming and lead them safely through the cluster of girls further into a large hall.
The hall was packed with people, most of whom were talking animatedly of baseball. Their little party caused quite a stir, especially when a large pack of girls followed them closely, swarming around Wolfram whenever they stopped.
Matsuri lead them to a corner where punch was being served and they all received a cup. Yuuri, Murata, Conrad and Matsuri then started discussing events in the final game and Wolfram drew himself near the wall and apparently tried to ignore the girls as best as he could.
After a while Yuuri moved a little way away to talk to some of his old school friends, and Conrad moved with him. Murata, Matsuri and Wolfram evidently stayed by the punch bowl. Yuuri felt a little bad for abandoning Wolfram, but told himself that this was probably the last time he ever saw any of his Earth friends. There would be plenty of time and opportunities to make it all up for Wolfram later.
Yuuri excused himself and went to the bathroom half an hour later. When he came out, he ran into Tanaka who greeted him excitedly.
"Your blond European friend seems to be quite popular with the ladies," Tanaka commented, after they'd exchanged pleasantries and chatted about the game for a bit. "What was his name again? Wolfgang?"
"Wolfram. Yes, I suppose so," Yuuri replied, feeling a little uncomfortable by the subject and by the fact that Tanaka obviously had had more than his fair share of the punch already. "He draws attention to himself wherever he goes. Unlike the rest of us."
"I take it, that you haven't found a person to settle down with yet, Shibuya?" Tanaka teased, smiling.
Yuuri's answering smile was a bit strained.
"Uh, no. No, I haven't. I guess I haven't met the right person yet," Yuuri told him, trying to sound light-hearted.
"Don't worry about it, you're still young," Tanaka comforted him. "And what about your charming blond friend?" Tanaka continued, "Does he already have a girlfriend waiting for him at home?"
"Uh, no, I don't think he has," Yuuri said quickly. Well, it wasn't a lie, was it?
Tanaka looked surprised.
"Really? A guy looking like that and no girlfriend?"
"Really," Yuuri replied, starting to get a little annoyed by the questioning.
"Huh. He didn't seem to be very interested in those girls. So... you're sure that he definitely isn't seeing anyone?" Tanaka asked, looking thoughtful.
"Definitely not," Yuuri confirmed, exasperated. "Look, I have to get back to the others, so..."
"Oh, sure, sure! Don't let me keep you. See you around, Shibuya!" Tanaka said cheerfully.
"You too," Yuuri said and made his way back to the hall.
Wolfram was feeling rather gloomy and a bit sick after downing his fourth glass of punch. He had not moved from the vicinity of the punch bowl since their arrival, despite the fact that the horde of girls had finally taken the hint from his cold behaviour and were no longer trapping him in place. Instead they just made googly-eyes at him from a distance.
Wolfram leaned heavily against the wall, clutching his empty glass and shot a glare at Yuuri's general direction. He couldn't believe that the stupid wimp had just gone and abandoned him for the whole evening!
Wolfram closed his eyes and fumed silently. This was not how he'd imagined this evening would go. Back in the Demon Kingdom if there was a party to attend to, Wolfram always knew what his duties were. Number one was, of course, to always keep Yuuri safe. Number two, was to watch that no one made any inappropriate advances towards his fiancé. And number three, was to converse politely with others, as was his duty as the fiancé of the Demon King.
But here he could do none of the above. Yuuri didn't need protecting on Earth, there were no threats at all. And besides Wolfram didn't have his sword and in any case Conrart was a much more capable protector for Yuuri here on Earth, even without his sword. Furthermore, Wolfram had to pretend he was not engaged to Yuuri and could do nothing but watch if someone made a move on him. He therefore decided it would be best that he didn't watch Yuuri at all.
Wolfram sighed heavily. He felt completely useless. He could do nothing but wait until Yuuri saw fit to leave this awful party and that could take hours. He didn't even have no one to talk to, since Conrart was glued to Yuuri's side (as he should be) and the Sage and Matsuri had wandered over to the group of girls still ogling him from a distance.
"Hi! Remember me?" said a voice on his left suddenly and Wolfram looked up and saw that a smiling black-haired boy who looked vaguely familiar had appeared next to him. "Daiki Tanaka. We met at the game the other day."
Wolfram then identified the boy as one of Yuuri's friends at the baseball match.
"Of course, how do you do..." Wolfram paused and tried to figure out if he should call the boy by his first or last name.
"Call me Daiki," the boy cut in cheerfully. "And you're Wolfram, right?"
"Yes, and you can call me... Wolfram," Wolfram replied lamely. His brain wasn't really at it's sharpest after all that punch.
"Are you enjoying your stay here?" Daiki asked politely.
"Yes, it's nice here," Wolfram answered, hoping that the other boy wouldn't ask anything too detailed. "I'm staying with Yuuri's family along with my brother."
Daiki nodded.
"So I heard. Are you staying for long?"
"I'm not sure, but I think we'll be leaving by the end of the week."
A look of disappointment flashed across Daiki's face.
"So soon? Pity, I would've liked to get to know you better," he said, sighing a little.
"I'm sure we'll come to visit again," Wolfram said politely.
Daiki seemed to cheer up a little at that.
"So, you and Shibuya are good friends, right?" he asked then.
"Yes," Wolfram replied warily.
"I've always liked him," Daiki said, looking at Yuuri's direction. "He's so kind and thoughtful and always putting other's before him."
Wolfram smiled a little, also looking at Yuuri.
"Yes, that sounds like the wi- I mean, him."
"It's just sad he has so little luck in love," Daiki continued and Wolfram's eyes snapped back to him immediately. "He still hasn't got a girlfriend, poor guy. He told me so himself, just now."
"He did?" Wolfram asked, his voice getting a little hoarse.
"Yes, he said that 'he just hadn't met the right person yet' and tried to sound cheerful, but it must be bothering him, not to have a girlfriend at his age."
Wolfram suddenly felt a little faint and slumped against the wall. Hadn't met the right person yet... Wolfram felt like his heart had just fallen through the floor.
"Hey, are you okay?" asked Daiki, sounding worried.
"I'm fine. The room just feels a little... stuffy," Wolfram told him, breathing heavily.
"Do you want to go outside for a bit? To get some fresh air?" Daiki suggested gesturing towards the doors.
Wolfram glanced briefly towards Yuuri who appeared to be deep in conversation with a cute-looking girl and quickly turned his eyes away.
"Sure, let's go," he said and let Daiki lead him away from the hall.
Yuuri was starting to feel like a broken record, constantly saying the same things over and over again. He had returned to the hall and very easily spotted his godfather, since he was at least a foot taller than everyone else. He had made is way to Conrad and was just about to suggest that they return to Wolfram, when an old school friend had demanded his attention. He had only just answered all the same trivial questions that he'd heard at least ten times in the course of the evening, when another friend or aquintance popped up from somewhere and he had to begin all over again. And it wasn't very enjoyable, because he had to be careful not to let anything slip about the Demon Kingdom or Wolfram. He didn't like to lie to people or omit things from his friends, but he knew that he had no choice.
Yuuri was also a bit anxious about Wolfram. He'd spotted the blonde near the punch bowl and worried that Wolfram might have been left by himself, since Murata and Matsuri were nowhere to be seen. Then he noticed, that Tanaka was attempting to talk to Wolfram and felt relieved. The boy would keep Wolfram company and distract him long enough, that Yuuri could get rid of his friends and take them all home.
When the girl from his chemistry class had finally left, Yuuri turned to Conrad and said that he might want to leave soon. Conrad nodded and pointed towards Matsuri, who was standing nearby. It would be rude to leave, without saying goodbye.
"Having a good-time, Shibuya and Conrad-san?" Matsuri asked, when they approached him.
"Yes, wonderful," Yuuri lied smoothly. "But I'm afraid we have to get going soon. I promised mother, we'd be home early."
"Really? So soon?" Matsuri said, sounding disappointed. "Well, if you must... Hey, did Tanaka get a chance to talk to your blond friend?" he asked suddenly.
"Uh, I think so," Yuuri replied, a little puzzled.
Matsuri looked excited.
"And? Did they get anywhere?"
Yuuri stared at him.
"I don't quite understand what you mean," he said carefully.
"Didn't Tanaka tell you? He was completely smitten with the boy, uh, I mean your brother," Matsuri explained nodding to Conrad. "He told me he would at least give it a shot, if the guy was available."
"Availab- Wait… You mean he-he fancies Wolfram?!" Yuuri exclaimed, aghast.
Matsuri raised an eyebrow and looked Yuuri levelly in the eye.
"Yes, so? Didn't you know Tanaka was gay? He's never hidden it, you know."
"What? I-I didn't know that, no," Yuuri replied, completely stunned. "But... he didn't think that Wolfram would be too, right?"
"Well, he couldn't be sure, but your friend seemed to act rather coldly towards all those girls. And didn't you tell him yourself, that Wolfram wasn't seeing anyone?" Matsuri pointed out.
A cold feeling landed on the pit of Yuuri's stomach. He whirled around and searched for the spot where he'd last seen Wolfram and Tanaka. His heart nearly skipped a beat, when he couldn't see a trace of either of them.
Without a word he strolled across the hall and desperately peered in every direction, but all he could see was a see of black hair and not a flash of gold-blond among them.
"Wolfram!" Yuuri called, not even bothering to hide the panic in his voice. There was no answer.
"Yuuri, calm down," Conrad said soothingly, appearing beside him. "We'll find him."
But Yuuri couldn't calm down.
"Does anyone know where Tanaka went?" he called into the hall.
After a moments silence one of the girls that had been swooning over Wolfram pointed towards the doors.
"I saw him leave with that blonde hottie, just a few moment ago," she said. "Lucky bastard."
Yuuri ran straight outside, but the streets were empty and dark. Conrad and a confused looking Murata followed him shortly.
"Shibuya, what's wrong?" Murata asked.
Yuuri grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
"Did you know Tanaka was gay?" he shouted shaking his friend.
"Well, yes, didn't you?" Murata replied, astonished.
"NO!" Yuuri yelled in his face. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I didn't think it was important."
Yuuri was about to retort, when Conrad put his arm on Yuuri's shoulder and stopped him.
"This isn't helping, Yuuri," Conrad reminded him firmly.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Murata asked, when Yuuri let go of his shirt.
"Tanaka has taken Wolfram somewhere," Yuuri told him bitterly.
Murata's eyes widened a little.
"I can't believe Tanaka would do anything... sinister," he said carefully. "He's a good guy."
"You don't know that! We have to find them! Now!"
Murata thought for a while.
"I think I know where to look," he said finally.