Yuki ran as fast as he could while making sure that none of the other kids were left behind.
Unfortunately, because a lot of the kids were younger than he and Shino were, they were forced to carry two kids each after their smaller bodies couldn't keep up anymore.
Luckily for the two of them, the dogs helped them carry the others after they couldn't keep up either.
He gasped for air as they pass the bushes that he and Shino used to hide in that day and made sure to stay away from the area where most of the wild animals live, finally they managed to arrive at the palace again.
Yuki could feel his stomach grow as the smell of grilled meat and fish filled the air.
He turns and looks at Shino but she isn't happy to look at the building anymore and s she leads him and everyone else to the palace as they all rush towards the food.
As they near the front of the palace, they find that Kazuma is the one that's cooking, and judging from the amount of grilled meat he has been cooking for a while.
He watches as the man lifts his head and points at a pile of empty plates.
"Grabe a plate and go sit inside." Kazuma says to them, none of the kids stop to ask any questions before they do as he says.
"Kazuma." Yuki begins to ask Kazuma something but his teacher just pats him on the head.
"What's wrong?" Kazuma asks him.
"I ran into a noble and she was I don't know maybe he was her guard, but I gave her one of the invitations so." Yuki says to Kazuma but the man just pats him on the head.
"We will deal with it when it happens and if things go bad that's why the girls and I are here," Kazuma says to him before pointing at the door of the palace.
Yuki can't help but feel worried about the noble he encountered, but his worries are pushed aside when he sees just how much the palace has changed.
Different colored orbs make the ceiling look as if it had a blue sky with its own sun that was lighting the entire palace.
The floor was now made of black and white tiles, while the walls are pure white but now have green- blue- red and gray banners hanging on them.
"So are you going to stand there all day or are you going to go in?" Aqua asks him and Yuki can't help but jump when he hears her voice.
The blue-haired woman laughs as she sees his reaction.
"Here," Aqua says to him as she has him a glass filled with juice.
Yuki quickly ran to one of the many tables that had been put in the center of the room and sat down to eat he looked around for Shino but found that she was already eating.
The center of the table was filled with all sorts of grilled meat and fish.
He soon began to hear the loud voices of the people as they gathered outside and he turned to see everyone walk in.
"Welcome!" the three spirits say to everyone before they cheerfully tell them to help themselves.
Everyone is soon eating and talking with each other, and Yuki can't help but look around, he never expected to see something like this there are more people than he ever imagined eating together.
As he looks around he sees that some men and women are sitting near the walls drinking while Aqua cheerfully fills their cups before moving on to another group.
Lady Eris is leading a group of women out of one of the massive rooms, and Yuki can see that the women are all wearing new kimonos, but none of them is the same gray that the kids are wearing.
He looks for Miss Wolbach and he finds her showing a group of men to a room that's filled with water, Yuki can see the steam that's coming from the room.
He can't help but let himself be taken by the atmosphere and so he grabs another piece of meat, and as he put it to his lips he hears the room fall silent as the same woman he had run into earlier walks in.
As the woman approaches one of the tables, everyone else is quick to get up and move away from it.
Yuki watches silently as the woman's guard begins to throw the plats that the people had emptied towards the walls before serving her something to eat.
"What's all this?' Kazuma says as he walks inside while walking towards the noble.
"You know I didn't spend all of that time cooking just for one person." he says to the guard, who quickly stands in front of him.
'Silence." the guard orders Kazuma.
'No." Kazuma says to the guard.
The two men glare at each other and the tension in the room begins to grow before it's instantly shattered.
'Do you want some wine?" Aqua asks Yukino.
'Please." Yukino says to Aqua before she turns her attention toward her escort.
'We're the guests, not the other way around." she turns to look at the broken plates that her guard threw.
"We will talk about the way that you behaved when we get home." she says to the man who silently walks back to her side.
Whatever remained of the tension was soon pushed away as the sound of Lady Eris and Miss Wolbach's voices began to fill the room.
"Everyone, we thank you for coming now we will confess that we have another reason for bringing you here other than showing you our new home." Wolbach says to everyone before stopping to allow Eris to finish what she started.
'And that's to ask you, to ask us for help when you need it." Eris finishes what Wolbach started saying.
"Here you go." Yuki hears Aqua say to someone and he can't help but widen his eyes when he sees her giving someone a plate that's filled with food.
"Yeah, that's Aqua." Yuki says to himself as he realizes just who or what this spirit is,
Aqua can care less about anyone or anything, unlike Lady Eris who feels and acts like a noble lady, she's someone that everyone that meets her feels at ease with, to the point that they feel like they can talk to her without worries.
Or Miss Wolbach who feels comfortable to speak to but at the same time, they feel a sense of danger whenever they near her.
She's the oldest of the three spirits, but Yuki can't help but feel the darkness coming from her, that feeling contradicts the warmth that she shows towards him and everyone else.
Aqua on the other hand is like a sister, what else is there for him to say, she's someone whom he can be himself with because she's Aqua.
Yuki closes his eyes and decides to follow Auqa's example and so he starts to eat again.
Elsewhere
Byakuya closed the letter he just received his aunt had gone to see the temple that Kazuma had uncovered, he didn't enjoy what he had to do next as he knew that his next actions would cause problems for him and many others.
"Let's go Renji." he says to his lieutenant as they walk out of his house towards the gate that leads to the world of the living.