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Judai's POV

They dragged me into the resort, specifically into a bar on the first floor. The bar was attached to a diner, so I wasn't sure it was really the best place for it to be, seeing as there were kids in the diner. But, hey, I hadn't built the place. As far as I could tell from watching Fubuki and Natsuko, though, they were in a race to see who could get wasted faster.

"Here's to bros being bros!" Fubuki said, raising his third glass for a toast. "Friends forever, right, guys!?"

Friends forever, huh? That'd be nice. Too bad it wasn't exactly a reality for me. After what happened in the other dimension, I knew most of my friends weren't "friends forever." At least, not with me.

"Aw, yeah, man!" Natsuko said, clinking his glass against Fubuki's.

I have to say, even though Fubuki and I were obviously not "friends forever," he and Natsuko might be. After all, Johan was one of the few friends I still had, so maybe twin-type friends were always closer.

Either way, while they toasted and gulped down their third tequilas, I just sat there swirling my first one around the glass. I wasn't big on alcohol to begin with, and I was even less of a fan with Ai being so close by.

"What's wrong, party-pooper?" Fubuki asked. "Go on! Drink up!" He took my glass from me and shoved it in my face, sloshing it all over the place.

I pushed it away, saying, "I don't drink."

"Then I'll do it for you!" Natsuko said, swiping the glass and downing it in one gulp.

Well, that was number 4 for him.

Yubel, my spirit partner—you could say my familiar, since I'd heard that one in recent years—appeared behind me, sweating. "Judai? How'd we end up here in the first place? Your so-called 'friends' here are total weirdos."

A samba song started up right then, and Natsuko said, "Dude, I love this song!"

So he regularly listened to samba music? Okay, interesting… Anyway, he dragged Fubuki out on the dance floor, leaving me just staring after them.

Well, Yubel had a point about those guys being weird. "…I have no idea…"

"Yeah!" Fubuki cheered. "Let's go, man! Time to part-ay!"

They started dancing. And…they were defying the laws of gravity. In fact, they had Yubel staring at them, speechless.

"…Wow. Judai? Can people usually move like that…?"

As I watched, I had to agree. With Fubuki dancing more on the wall than on the floor, they really were defying gravity.

I stared for a moment before I said, "I dunno. But I'm thinking it's time to get out of here…"

After all, they weren't likely to miss me, especially if they kept drinking like they'd been doing.

About that moment, Natsuko's out of control dancing made him bump into a huge guy with a "Born to kill" tattoo and a skull and crossbones tattooed on his arm. He didn't look too happy to get bumped, either.

"Hey! Watch it, punk!"

Everyone in there stopped and turned. Can't say that I blame them, seeing as that guy looked ready to pick a fight. Even I stopped.

"Whoa, sorry, dude!" Natsuko said. "Didn't mean it!"

"Oh, yeah!? Then what'cha gonna do to make me forget about it?" the guy asked, a deadly glare in his eyes as he started backing Natsuko against the wall.

I sighed. "I can't leave them alone like this…" Natsuko might end up in the hospital, after all. "Hey, break it up!" I snapped, taking a step toward the issue. "This is a resort! Not a fighting ring!"

The guy whirled on me, demanding, "What'd you say, shrimp!?"

This guy was, like, twice as wide as me and at least two feet taller. Like that mattered any to me.

"You heard me," I said.

He started toward me slowly, knocking over a table as he did. "Oh, you're in for it now, dude," he said. "You should learn to mind your own business. Allow me to teach you some manners."

Yeah, like I was gonna learn anything about manners from a guy ready to pulverize somebody for bumping him by accident.

It seemed I'd earned Fubuki's attention. He turned our way, looking worried. Whether for me or the other guy, I wasn't sure. "Judai!?"

The big guy with the tattoos—who, by the way, reeked of alcohol—cracked his knuckles. "Shoulda stayed out of it. But, now, you're gonna pay."

He raised a fist to hit me, but he was too big and slow, especially given that I'd gotten a lot faster after fusing with Yubel. I slid under the drunk, dodging his attack easily. He then turned around and brought both of his fists down on me. I sidestepped out of the way, then kicked him in the chest, knocking him off his feet and into the bar stools.

Meanwhile, Natsuko and Fubuki were cheering me on. Guess they were enjoying the show.

"Go, Judai!" Fubuki cheered.

"Yeah! You got this, bro!"

As my drunken opponent was getting to his feet, I grabbed a bottle of alcohol that had been left sitting on the counter and whacked him over the head with it. Dirty, I know, but the guy was twice my size, and nobody seemed about ready to step in. Even the security in this place wasn't stopping this, so I had to take care of it myself.

The bottle broke over his head, spilling alcohol all over him—vodka, I realized after a second—and dazing him.

From the bar's entrance, a loud woman yelled, "Alright! That's enough of that!"

I, along with everyone else in the place, turned to see a woman even bigger than the man I was fighting. She was standing there in a flower-print dress, carrying a red purse that looked ridiculously tiny, compared to her. Her orange hair was curly—you know, that kind that just screams "perm gone wrong?"—and she was wearing red lipstick and heals. What was worse was that she was glaring, her hands on her hips.

I sweat. Great. Was this the guy's wife? I had a feeling I was about to get attacked by a really big woman. As if having one crazed red-head on my tail wasn't bad enough!

The woman stormed over and shoved me aside as she kept going for the drunk. "Honestly. What kind of an animal are you? Hitting someone over the head with a vodka bottle. Kids these days."

She got down and helped the drunk up, asking, "You alright, Ernie?"

Ernie? This guy's name was Ernie!? He didn't look anything like an Ernie!

Fubuki must have agreed because he stifled a laugh. "Ernie?" He snickered some.

Even though I was relieved that this woman wasn't planning on fighting me, too, I still didn't like having it sound like I'd just attacked him for no reason. After all, I was just standing up for a…friend, I guess, for lack of a better word.

"H-hey, he started it," I said.

One arm still around Ernie, the woman turned and glared at me as her other hand landed on her hip. Ernie rubbed his head where I'd hit him.

No. I would not feel guilty for defending myself! I hadn't done anything wrong!

"That's enough out of you, young man! Now run along," the woman said, waving me off as though I was a misbehaving kid. Then she turned back to Ernie and asked, "Well, sweetie?"

"Y-yeah. I'm okay, Ma," he answered.

…So that woman was his mother!? Well guess that explained the resemblance.

"Now what did I tell you about playing nice with others?" she asked, making me wonder if her son wasn't just a massively oversized ten-year-old or something. "You're in a lot of trouble, young man. Just wait til your father hears about this." She started walking off with him, tossing back at the rest of us the order to "Carry on. We're done here."

So, yeah. That's how my first—and, hopefully, last—bar fight went.

Fubuki and Natsuko came over to me once Ernie and his mom were gone.

"Dude, thanks!" Natsuko said.

"Yeah! We thought we were goners back there," Fubuki agreed. "I mean, the way he was looking at me, too…"

Okay, so I'd saved Fubuki again. Briefly I wondered if I'd saved him enough times to make up for the time that I'd gotten him hurt, but I brushed that idea off pretty quick. After all, no amount of good deeds would make up for what I'd done that day.

"Don't mention it," I said. "Just stop drinking."

I didn't think they were drunk yet, and I didn't really want to see them drunk.

Somebody pounced me from behind, red hair flying over my shoulder and into my line of vision. "Judai! Does this mean you've changed your mind, darling?"

There she was, my flirting stalker.

"Hey, who's…?" Fubuki asked.

"Dude, cute chick!"

"No, Ai, I haven't changed my mind! Let go!" I turned, pushing at her to get her off me. She was as stubborn as usual, making me wonder once again how often she worked out.

"Aw, come on!"

"Uh, 'scuse me, pal, but who's she?" Fubuki asked.

"She's—"

"I'm his future, if he'd only admit it already!"

"AI! I don't want you!" I snapped.

"Oh, but you will."

Fubuki's POV

As I stared at the scene before me, I didn't have a clue what was going on. Who was this Ai woman, and why did Judai seem to have such animosity for her?

"Okay. I'm lost," I said after a moment. "How 'bout you, bro? You get what's going on?" I asked Natsuko.

He shook his head and said, "I got no idea. He's your friend, man."

"Well, Mr. Stubborn, who are your friends?" Ai asked, wrapping her arms around one of Judai's as she turned to us.

"Since we aren't even friends, I don't see how that's any of your business!" Judai answered her.

Oh, yeah, he didn't like this woman. At all. Even after coming back from Dark World, he hadn't treated anyone like that...unless they were his enemies.

"Judai, don't make things difficult," Ai said, sliding a hand under Judai's shirt.

Whoa! What!? What was she doing?

Judai grabbed her hand as she slid it up his shirt. "Stop it!"

Was I seriously watching a woman sexually assault my friend before my very eyes? Was this a common thing for her? If so, I could understand why Judai didn't want her around. I also had a feeling he wouldn't want to admit it. After all, he'd just knocked out a drunk man twice his size, but he couldn't stop a delicate young woman with freckles from…

It was time to step in.

"I'm sorry," I said. "But are you supposed to be doing that? I…don't think he likes it."

"Oh, don't worry. We're on the way to—"

"To nothing, now leave me alone already!"

"Judai…" Ai said, her tone stern.

Okay, there was definitely something wrong here. But, to find out, I'd have to talk to Judai alone. Which meant getting rid of Ai.

"Natsuko?" I asked. "Weren't we gonna go hang out as men together tonight? I don't think that meant any girls could join us, did it?"

"Right!" Natsuko said, showing me he was thinking along the same lines as me. "So no…whoever she is."

"You heard them, Ai," Judai said, seemingly relieved. As if I needed more proof that this woman was trouble.

"Oh, Judai! You're so stubborn! Well, I guess I'll see you on the beach tomorrow," Ai said, and her tone seemed to say more than her words.

Suddenly I realized hers was the voice I'd heard talking to Judai earlier. Was that supposed to be a reference to their earlier conversation? What was going on here!?

Ai walked off after saying that, though, so I was about to find out the answers to my questions. Hopefully Judai would be in the mood to actually talk about what was going on for once.

Judai's POV

Man, was I ever glad those two had been there! They'd gotten rid of Ai easily enough. Even if she was threatening to trap me on the beach. That just meant I had to avoid the resort's beach as much as possible. No big deal, really, since I usually tried to anyway.

Yubel appeared beside me, glaring after Ai. "Should I?" she asked.

No, Yubel, I told her silently. Let her go.

"Alright. First things first," Fubuki said to me. "Who was that, Judai? She seemed kinda…creepy. What's going on here?"

"That's Ai. She called me here a couple weeks ago, saying she needed help, but it was just a trick she used to lure me here. She tried to get me in bed with her, and, when I refused, she trapped me here. She says she won't let me leave until I marry her!"

Fubuki looked around, and I wondered if he was thinking what I thought he was thinking.

Fubuki's POV

As Judai mentioned that he was trapped on an island, yet stood before me without any visible restraints, I realized that this was probably going somewhere that we couldn't really talking about in public. At least, not if we didn't want Judai to get dragged off to a science lab or something.

Natsuko stared at him for a moment, then asked, "So what's she doing to keep you here?"

"That's…complicated," Judai said cryptically.

Oh, yes. Yes, this was definitely something we couldn't talk about in public. We needed to take this somewhere else. It would be bad enough that we'd be talking about it around Natsuko, after all. No need to freak out the entire island.

"Uh, guys," I said as I looked around. "Why not take this some place a little more…private? Like, say, my place across town?"

"Yeah, okay," Judai said.

"Alright," Natsuko answered.

So our guy's night was interrupted by Judai's problems. No big deal, really. After all, we were friends.

Natsuko's POV

So a creepy woman showed up and went after Judai, who claimed to be trapped here by her, and Fubuki decided to take this conversation elsewhere. I wondered if it might not be because that woman was here, but then I realized it was probably something worse than that. Something weird. Something supernatural.

Ah, well, I could handle supernatural. After all, my cat was a yokai.*

As we were leaving the bar, a woman called, "Excuse me, sir. But you haven't paid yet."

I turned to see a cute little waitress. She had the cutest dimples I'd ever seen, wide blue eyes, and strawberry-blond hair hanging down to a tiny waist. Her uniform—a tight red skirt and a white collared shirt with a red tie—fit her figure perfectly.

"Oh! Uh, sorry about that," I said. I pulled out my wallet and handed her enough to cover the drinks and then some. After all, a waitress that cute deserves a big tip. "And, hey, keep the change," I said.

Her eyes widened. No surprise, seeing as I'd just given her a $20 tip. "Oh! Uh, thank you, mister…?"

"Friends call me Natsu," I said, winking at her.

She blushed and said, "I'm Lisa. Very pleased to meet you."

"Hey, Natsuko!" Fubuki called. "Ya coming or what!?"

"Yeah, bro! I'll be there in a sec!" I called back. Turning back to the waitress, I said, "See ya around, Lisa." Then I ran after my pals, leaving a blushing waitress behind.

*See Midna Azusa's story Halloween Madness for more information.