The next round went fast and team The Ren went through after Horohoro showed his true power. As much as she wanted to stay and watch, she was ordered by Goldva to meet with the Patch for official matters. During which time Yoh and his friends went to Hell and trained until they were revived.

Hao and Anna were mid battle, although Anna looked almost defeated, Hao knew she still had a secret power yet to be unleashed.

"Please hurry Yoh..." Anna said to herself.

"So I leave for a few days and you're already getting close to another girl?"

"It's not like that, no need to be jealous." Hao looked up to see Nova with quite a stern expression for once. "I'm serious."

"Then why are you holding onto her and asking why she wants to be alone 'just the two' of you?"

"Because I'm trying to get her to unleash her true powers, the ones she won't show anyone."

"I'm well aware of her powers. You and I both know that she won't unless you really push her. You may not be able to read her mind, but I can. That's how I found you in the first place, Anna." Nova prepared herself for battle by summing her oversoul and White Claw. "Goldva and the Patch elders said I needed to be more disciplined, like Nichrom, and follow my duties to the letter, and our top duty is to protect the Shaman King. I've been waiting for an opportunity to fight you for so long, Anna. Won't you indulge me?" She left towards her and Hao jumped out of the way. Nova's attack was blocked by Yoh. "Could've given me a couple of minutes, Lord Yoh. We didn't even get started."

"You want to take your Patch duties seriously, then you know you can't attack a participant."

"Why do you think I stopped." Her oversoul dissipated. "We'll have our fight one day Anna, and when we do, you'd better not hold back, old friend."

Hao took Nova by the arm and they flew up into the air.

"Now you're the first to get a glimpse of my new armoured oversoul, Spirit of Fire, Raven." With it, the whole forest set on fire.

"I really missed a lot didn't I? Why are Team Flower ghosts now?"

"I'll fill you in later." He smiled at her.

"I assume you plan on making it up to me then."

"Of course, I can't have you mad at me." After a little back and fourth between the two couples, they decided to call a truce and the Asakura twins went out for coffee. Nova and Anna would have joined them, however as soon as Nova set foot in there, Radim asked her to cover his shift, she owed him so she couldn't refuse.

"That's fine, you and I will just have to have our own time later. I'm not much of a coffee drinker anyway." Anna just left and Nova put on her uniform. She looked over to see Hao and Yoh sat together and went to take their order.

"So what can I get for you two?"

"Hmmm, I want something a little sweet."

"He'll have a cappuccino, I'll just have a regular coffee. Thanks, Nova. Shame you have to work now."

"I know but I made a promise so I'll stick to it. Besides, I don't want to upset Goldva, she was hard on my mother as it was, I know she'll be tougher on me if I mess up."

"Goldva knew your mother?" Yoh asked.

"She should do, she was her daughter."

"Wait so Goldva is your...?"

"Grandmother, yeah. I just hope I don't look like her when I'm old. Pretend you never heard me say that. They're coming in, I gotta get working." She said in a hushed voice. "I'll meet you as soon as I finish." Then she went back to her normal voice, knowing Goldva was watching her. "One regular black and one cappuccino coming right up. Do you want a slice of cake with that, it was made fresh today?"

"Yeah sounds good." Yoh smiled.

"Make that two then, since it was made fresh today." Hao added.

"Thank you." She whispered. "Cake is my treat, okay?" She left to go make their coffee.

"I hope you're not spending too much time chatting with the customers, friends or not this is still a place of work and you're on shift."

"Of course not Goldva, nothing more than quick friendly hellos etc."

"Good. I'll have a mocha while I'm here."

"You got it! Hazelnut syrup shot?"

"Well remembered." Goldva sat down and seemed to relax for a moment. Nova quickly made the boys their coffees and took them over, as well as the cake. It was all well balanced.

"I just want to say, it is nice to see you two just sitting like this, having a coffee, just being brothers, you know?" She smiled.

"It was you that told me that sometimes we just need to take a step back and stop fighting." Hao sipped his coffee. She smiled and left them to it.

By the time they finished their coffee and conversation, Nova had already gone.

"My treat, okay? After all it is a big brothers job to spoil his little brother. Hey, how much do I owe you for the drinks, Patch?" Hao looked around but couldn't see her anywhere and couldn't sense her mana. "I've never seen you around before, who are you and where is Nova?"

"M-m-my name is Thalim, sir, and uhhh I had to take over from Nova as she was needed elsewhere. She left with Goldva about ten minutes ago, but I don't know anything more than that, I'm sorry."

"So how much for the drinks, Thalim?" His eyes narrowed and he was giving a menacing look, which scared Thalim even more.

"You're Hao, aren't you?"

"I am, why?"

"Nova said your bill was already taken care of."

"Is that so? Well I best go thank her then. I had fun, Yoh. Now I think it's time to take a bath." He flew away on Spirit of Fire. Yoh felt bad for Thalim and paid the bill anyway.

"But, Lord Yoh, Nova said she'll cover it."

"Cover it how? Just like Hao she doesn't deal with money. She's against it."

"She usually picks up extra shifts and works it off, that's how she pays for anything ever."

"Well tell her she can take a break and go spend time with Hao, you saw how he was looking around for her. It's strange to see a side of him that actually cares for someone other than himself."

"Well I can tell you one thing, Nova is head over heels for him, I haven't known her long, but she doesn't seem like the naive type, I think it's sweet that she feels that way about him, despite all he's done. Love can be confusing. Don't tell her I said any of this!"

"Yeah. You're right." Yohken appeared and he knew Hao had sensed him.

"He can read my mind so of course he knew you were here." He stepped outside. "Well bro, it looks like you are the bad guy."

Back at the hot springs, Nova was already relaxing.

"So this is the important business Thalim mentioned." He stood behind her.

"Oh that boring stuff, it's all sorted. I'd turn my head but I don't want to get neck ache. Why don't you come in, the water is lovely."

"Don't mind if I do. It's nice when it's just the two of us."

"Yeah it is..." her voice trailed off.

"So are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"The reason I left was because I had a vision. It's one of those other gifts I mentioned that are passed down through my family. It's rare for someone to have one of these gifts, never mind two."

"Don't you have three?"

"Yeah, all three, but even Goldva doesn't know that. I don't know how she'd react if she did. She kinda freaked when I had that vision before, so she dragged me away and made me tell her what it was."

"And, what was it?"

"It wasn't as clear as usual. It was like all jumbled up, there was fire, water, screaming, and then there was a different part where I saw a small human in a giant metal thing in the water, there were other humans with him. He actually reminded me of Manta."

"Interesting, anything else?" She swallowed.

"No... nothing else." She knew he knew.

"I'm sure there's a good reason you lied to me just now. I know you too well, it must be something really bad, or something you wish you never saw."

"I'm sorry. I know I said I'd never lie to you, but this is one thing I can't tell anyone. It's something I've known for a while and it's set in stone. If I tell people, they may try to change it, and I can't let that happen."

"Say no more. Let's just enjoy this moment now."

"Why just this moment?

"What do you mean?"

"Well... would it be okay, if I ..."

"You what? Just tell me."

"Please could I stay with you tonight?" She closed her eyes and looked down as she said this and his expression was that of somewhat surprised.

"Of course. I'd be happy to have you over again. We could go for a moonlit walk or watch a movie, I'm sure I can procure plenty of snacks for us."

"Yeah, that would be lovely. Thank you." She smiled and looked up at him. She seemed a bit brighter but he could tell that whatever she saw in her vision was weighing heavily on her mind and heart. "I don't want to stay up too late though, after all, it's team Funbari Hot Springs vs team The Ren tomorrow. You want to see Yoh fight, don't you?"

"Perhaps. I've already seen him fight but I'll see where my mood takes me tomorrow."

"I get that." They finished off their bath and went straight to Hao's room.

"It's only seven now, so what do you want to do? Walk or a movie?"

"We've already been on a walk together, so how's about a movie, it'll be a nice night in, just the two of us."

"Quality couple time, so that's what you've been after."

"Don't make it sound like a bad thing." She giggled. They watched a trilogy of horror movies set in Japan about a curse left behind when someone is killed in a powerful rage. Hao stood up to set the bed up for her, he was going to take the floor. She stood up behind him.

"Hao..."

"Yeah?" He turned his head halfway and then calmly embraced her in a hug. "Why are you crying?"

"Because honestly, for the first time in my whole life, I feel... safe. When you hold me like this it feels like nothing in the world will ever hurt me again. I don't need to keep any walls up when I'm with you, I'm free to be myself without having to worry and I can speak my mind. Thank you, Hao. Thank you for giving me that."

"I just want you to be happy. I don't need to read your mind to know how you feel about me. I know I had my doubts before but I know now. You've made it obvious. I want you to know your feelings are reciprocated, even if I don't show it the same way you do."

"It's okay. All you do is enough. While we're being honest, there's other reasons I wanted to spend the night with you."

"Oh, do tell." As he said that she looked up and kissed him lovingly on the lips.

"You're a smart man, Hao, I'm sure you can figure it out."