Lucy was staring down Bando yet again. "You never seem to learn, do you?" She sent out her vector to crush his mechanical arm. "Now I have a date, so nyuu better play nice…" She stopped a moment and clasped her mouth. "Did I just say nyuu?" Her prey screamed something incoherent and definitely not suitable for a T rating. "You're no good…" She gave him a final blow to the chest and walked off.

"I'm worried, Kouta." Lucy mentioned over dinner. "I'm not supposed to nyuu when I'm dealing with that militant."

"Maybe it's because you're not really enjoying it." He offered.

"Impossible." Lucy laughed. "He's too much fun to torture, and he's the only one to actually give me any challenge." She thought for a minute and decided to ask a dangerous question. "Kouta?"

"Yes?"

"Who do you like more? My Nyuu or Lucy side."

Kouta was sure he was on the verge of a heart attack. The most wanted mass-murderer in the prefecture if not the whole of Japan just asked him if he liked her over her. There was no safe way to ask this, but he trusted his instincts as a male protagonist. "I fell in love with both of you, I already told you that."

Lucy laughed darkly. "That's a weak answer. What are you so afraid of? What in our history ever said that I would hurt you?"

Kouta dropped his friendly appearance. "I can think of two off the top of my head, then the threat on Yuka…"

"…" Lusy had honestly forgotten about that since she told Kouta everything before facing her final battle. "I'm sorry."

Kouta smiled again. "Your sorry will bring them back as quickly as me being mad at you."

Lucy smiled in return. "You're getting a darker sense of humor…"

"Maybe it's because I'm dating Jason's sister." The two shared a laugh as Lucy gave a playful 'Say that again and I'll rip your guts out' look.

At home, Nana and Mayu were engaged in a devastating situation. "No, what I say goes." Yuka commanded. "And I say no ice cream until your work is done."

"Urr…" Nana moaned. "Getting attacked by Mariko wasn't as painful as this…"

"Shh… If we sit down and work hard, it'll be done before we know it." Mayu whispered. And so they worked hard into the evening, mostly struggling over their algebra assignment. The girls closed their books with a feeling of accomplishment and turned to the college student. "We're done."

"Great!" She clasped her hands. "Too bad we're out of ice cream."

Both of them hung their heads. "That's terrible…"

Saving Yuka from what could be a situation hazardous to her life, there was a knock on the door. "Coming!" She opened the door to see a man dressed in a suit with a young girl clinging to his hand. "Can I help you?"

The man smiled. "Is this the Maple Inn? We would be interested in renting a room."

Yuka paused for a moment. "Well… we're not really an inn anymore, but I believe we have plenty of empty rooms… What's your name again?"

The man fixed his glasses with his free hand. "Forgive me, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Kurama, and this is my daughter Mariko."

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Kurama." Yuka bowed. "I'll fix a room for you, please come in."

Now, to anyone who has watched the series through knows that Kurama and Mariko are very much dead. This raises the question of how they could escape Mariko exploding in his arms without a scratch. To this the immediate answer is to say "that's a good question" and immediately change the subject to the weather or the latest baseball game. Yuka, having never met our friend, was not disturbed by the fact that he presently existed. Nana, on the other hand, was freaked out of her little horned head. "Ahh! Ghost!"

"It's nice to see you again, Nana." Kurama smiled.

"Aahh! Papa's a ghost!"

"Hopeless…" Mariko stuck her tongue out.

"Nana," Kurama knelt down. "You have to trust that I'm very real."

"But… I saw you die!"

"That's true, but we are here by some weird twist."

"Nana! Mayu! Yuka! We're home!" Lucy called out as she turned the corner with Kouta.

As the two entered the den Lucy saw the strangest sight. She looked at Kurama, Kurama looked at Nana, Nana Looked at Mariko. Nana and Lucy looked at each other, as Mariko and Kurama did the same. Nana looked up to Kurama, Lucy looked down to Mariko. Kouta and Mayu looked at each other and shrugged.

"WHAT THE NYUU IS HAPPENNING HERE!"