Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Tamura Ryuuhei.

Chapter 3: Upcoming Festivities

"Seriously, how can that idiot cause us trouble when he's only absent for… not even half an hour?!" Furuichi walked fast in anger.

"Calm down, Furuichi." Kunieda tried to quieten him although she was thinking the same. "I just hope that he didn't do anything to a native here and…" she stopped midsentence and walked next to Furuichi absentmindedly.

Leave their frustration aside; there was something else that bothered the two humans even more.

When they arrived at a guest room of the palace, they found Oga lying quietly on the bed, covered with a plain blanket. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be sleeping. Baby Beel freed himself from Furuichi's grip and jumped towards the bed, landing next to Oga's face.

The escorting Muu had already left, leaving the humans and the prince under the care of another Muu, who was standing on the other side of the bed. "Be assured." he explained. "Master Forkas said that your friend needs to rest for a while. His wound is healed, so if you excuse me now…" he bowed as a sign of farewell and disappeared.

"Wait…! Where is the doctor himself? And what really happened to Oga?!" Furuichi's voice rang through the hall but the Muu was already gone.

"His wound…?" Kunieda repeated thoughtfully.

They joined Baby Beel and stared at the sleeping person with worried expressions.

"You two look like someone's died!"

Furuichi and Kunieda were startled while Beelze protested and pulled at Oga's hair.

"Yeah, yeah!" The person on bed opened his eyes. "You three look like there's no tomorrow!"

"Oga!" Kunieda gleamed. "I'm glad that you're safe."

He petted Beel's head and rested his other hand under his head. "Bad weeds grow ta-…"

"Stop fooling around!"

The room became silent after Furuichi's outburst. Oga stared nonchalantly at his best friend whereas the latter returned an intense glare.

"Stop fooling around, Oga!" Furuichi repeated. "Don't act as if nothing's happened!"

Kunieda, too, became serious all of a sudden. "Furuichi-kun is right, Oga."

"Since when do you both get along so well?" Oga asked almost sarcastically and tore his gaze from the duo.

She shook off his question and let the unspoken out. "Who the hell did this to you? I mean…" she didn't state her thoughts but everyone was too aware of them.

Who would be strong enough to overwhelm Oga in such a brief time?

"Who, you ask…" Oga murmured rather to himself and faced the ceiling. He seemed to be as clueless as the others were.

"Just tell us what happened after you left." Furuichi insisted impatiently.

The man on bed closed his eyes for a second as if he was trying to regain his memories. He lazily moved his eyelids again, leaving his eyes half-open. "I left the palace… the next thing I remember is, I was stabbed from behind… everything is… just blurry…" He shut his eyes again and became silent.

"I guess we should let him rest for a while…" Kunieda suggested and took Baby Beel in her arms. "Let's wait in Beel-chan's room."

"Kunieda-san…" Furuichi faced her with a reassuring smile. "You can go ahead and take care of Baby Beel. I'm going to stay here with this sleeping baby here…" He pointed his thumb back to the bed.

She assumed that Oga was already asleep and obeyed. "Alright. Just call me when he wakes up, please."

After Kunieda left, the silver-haired turned to his best friend with a stoic expression. "Stop pretending, you idiot! I know that a scratch like that won't kill you."

"Then, why didn't you go back with her and leave me alone?!" Oga opened his eyes and put his hands under his head comfortably.

"There are a couple of things that don't fit together here…" Furuichi cupped his chin thoughtfully. "You have an idea who your attacker might be?"

"…no."

His answer came too delayed for Furuichi's taste. He knew that something was odd about his story. And he also knew that Oga wouldn't tell him for now.

"Let's go back."

"What?" Oga met Furuichi's solemn gaze.

"You heard me right. Let's return to our world immediately!"

"You can go ahead!" Oga turned away. "I must take care of things here first."

"You can't force her to come with us!"

The door opened without a warning, which stopped the conflict between them. It was the great Demon Lord in person.

"Get well soon, Oga Tatsumi. You have my apologies for what happened although I've warned you…" the King spoke earnestly. "I can assure you of punishing the responsible-…"

"No need." Oga cut him off, which earned him agitated looks from the royal servers. "My bad for not listening to you, so let's drop the subject."

The Demon Lord paused for a while. "Hmm… I can't leave it be like that. In the end, someone assaulted my guests…" he pondered very hard. "How about I offer you a weeklong vacation here?"

Furuichi smiled nervously and intended to decline instantly. "Well, that sounds very alluring but…"

"Fine."

He was as sure as death that Oga would accept and shot him a warning gaze.

"Great." The King beamed happily. "Now, the two brothers can enjoy the festivities together after all." He left the room, rather talking to himself.

"F-festivities?" Furuichi asked inadvertently and became curious.

One of the servants explained. "We're going to celebrate the engagement of Prince Enou-sama. He'll be crowned king within a short time, now that Prince Beelzebub goes perennially to the human world."

"So, En is getting married…?" Furuichi wondered.

"That's right. You may know his wife, too…" With that said, the servant left them alone.

Oga noticed that his friend was breathing unevenly and was probably thinking the same. "What's your problem? Didn't you say you came to see Angelica?"

Furuichi didn't answer to that. He settled himself down quietly on the nearest chair, with only one thought in mind. "En is getting married to Lamia…?"

"How is he, doctor?" a familiar voice resounded in the laboratory.

Forkas turned around and spotted the materializing figure in the dark corner. "Well, I don't know whether that person has planned it out this way. Oga Tatsumi is still alive. Otherwise, everything goes according to plan."

The other person stood there for a while, surprised by the news. "So he survived?"

"Indeed." Forkas nodded.

"I'll pass the news on. My job ends here." The figure started fading away. "Anyway, we can kill him whenever we want now."

A/N: One mystery after the other! And I promise to surprise you even more, dear Readers…

After updating this one, I can fully concentrate writing the next chapter of "A Father, A Lover". For the time being, you can enjoy "Together" – a little sequel to the end of the series.

Thanks a lot for your patience. Hopefully, you've had fun reading this chapter. Hopefully, I'll have fun reading your precious reviews…? :)