NOTE: Welcome back! Sorry it took so long, but I've been interested in some of my other fics and some other stuff happened in real life. Anyway, we're back with more Priestess 10!

Enjoy and Review!

Chapter 3: Read the Room

Ben held his queasy stomach as his face turned a dark green color. The moving train wasn't helping his sickness at all. His cousins were staring at him with a mixture of disappointment and concern as they expected him to do something stupid like this.

"Didn't Aunt Sandra warn you about eating too many snacks?" Gwen sighed. Before they had boarded the train after arriving in Tokyo, the Tennysons took the time to get some food, thanks to the help of a tour guide. Ben had gone against his better judgment and ate too many Japanese candies that he had never seen before. None of which seemed to be agreeing with his stomach at the moment.

"N-not my fault…!" Ben groaned.

"It's a good thing these trains have bathrooms. Otherwise, I might've been scared of the potential outcome." Kenny said.

"If he starts throwing up, I'm pulling you in as a shield." Gwen told her brother.

"Can't you just make a shield?!" Kenny squeaked. He's fully aware that his little sister wasn't joking about using him as a meat shield.

"I could, but can't exactly risk our parents seeing, can I?" Gwen motions towards the adults, who were sitting a little further ahead. It was really just their family on the train, so they didn't need to be grouped together.

"A little shield wouldn't hurt…"

"Neither would a little vomit on that ugly shirt of yours." Gwen gagged at one of his many Christmas themed shirts.

"Hey! I got this on sale! I think it looks pretty cool!" Kenny defended himself.

"N-no… it makes you look like a dweeb." Ben weakly added.

Kenny stared at him. "Nobody asked you, barf-boy."

Ben glared at his brother-figure. "Barf-boy? I-I'll show you barf-boy…!" He leaned forward and started making gag noises.

Both siblings started rushing out of their seats. "BEN!"

Sandra and the rest of the adults tried to ignore whatever nonsense was happening with the kids for the moment. But the sounds of Ben pained groans was more than enough to warrant at least someone's attention. She got up from her seat with a tired groan. "I'll go check on them." She said and retreated towards the back of the train.

Carl silently wished his wife good luck before turning back to his father. "So, dad, are you going to be fine without the Rustbucket?"

"Yeah, you've never really separated from that old RV for long." Frank added.

"He could stand to get a new one…" Natalie muttered.

Max waved off the concerns of his sons. "I'll be fine, boys. This isn't my first overseas trip without the Rustbucket."

Frank nodded his head, remembering something. "Right…you did take a trip to Japan a few years ago, right?"

"Yup. To see an old friend of mine." Max responded.

"Did you send that friend an invite? I wouldn't mind meeting him." Carl said.

Max looked out the window, watching the scenery go by before answering. "He was sent an invite, but some work came up that would be conflicting with the holidays. His granddaughter will be here for the celebrations, she's also one of Yukiko's closest friends."

Natalie, now interested in the conversation, raised a brow. "Really? What's her name?"

"Naoto Shirogane. A smart kid with a good head on her shoulders." Max smiled as he thought back to the blueberry detective's involvement during the summer.

"I see…" Natalie murmured. "We really don't know much about Yukiko's life here, do we?"

Frank frowned at his wife's reminder. "Well, it's not like we've asked for constant updates on her life. Marcus and Yuki tend to keep to themselves more often than not."

"He's always been like that." Carl reminded him. "Ever since we were kids, Marcus would keep his head down and try not to stand out."

"Yuki's almost his polar opposite. She's much more outspoken with her feelings and pushes people out of their comfort zones." Max added on.

"Yeah…a little too much." Natalie grumbled. Her interactions with Yuki always ended up with her and Sandra getting dragged into embarrassing shenanigans more often than not.

"And from what we've learned of Yukiko so far, she seems to take entirely after Yuki. Must've been a pretty hard blow to our little bro, huh?" Frank smirked. His brother agreed, the two sharing a little laugh.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Marcus had the tendency to surprise you when you least expect it. I would say Yukiko took after him a lot in that regard." Max kept this thought to himself. He didn't know what to expect from Yukiko when they finally met back at the beginning of the summer. But she managed to keep surprising them all every step of the way, changing the three of them for the better. "She's one heck of a light."

"Hm? You say something, dad?" Frank turned to his father.

"Nope. Nothing at all." Max smirked.

Narukami Yu watched with a peaceful smile as his little sis enjoyed her breakfast with the biggest smile she could muster. The Fool had arrived in Inaba just last night and made a bee-line for his uncle's home after alerting his friends that he's back in town. The group agreed to meet up in the morning at Junes to catch up before heading towards the train station to greet the Tennysons. "Having fun, Nanako?"

"Yup, big bro! Your food has gotten even better!" She exclaimed.

"Slow down, Nanako. You don't wanna choke, do you?" A gruff voice called out. Coming out of the bathroom was Nanako's father and his uncle, Dojima Ryotaro. The man was dressed in his work uniform, thankfully he wasn't rushing late for work.

Nanako pouted at her dad. "But, dad, I haven't had a good breakfast all year!"

"Are you saying that I don't cook well?"

"Yes."

"When did you get so brutally honest?" Dojima sweat-dropped.

"Big sis says that being honest with the people you love is the best way to show that you care about them. Especially if they're family." Nanako explains.

"Of course it was Yukiko. I'm glad the two of them seem to be growing closer together, but I'm not sure if that's really a good thing for me." Yu sweat-dropped. Shaking those thoughts away, he checked his phone for the time. His brows raised a bit and he stood up from the table. "Alright, I better head on out. I have to meet the rest of the gang at Junes."

"Can I come too, big bro?" Nanako asked.

Before the Fool could answer, the gruff detective's voice took over. "Nanako, didn't you say that you were going to visit your sick friend this morning?"

"Yes, but-"

"Let Yu spend some time with his friends. You guys spent all night watching game shows together, so you can spend some time away from him for now." Dojima said. He watched his daughter pout, her eyes growing cartoonishly huge as she stared at him. Recently, Nanako seemed to have adopted a new strategy to try and get her way whenever he put his foot down, and the tough detective was ashamed to admit that it worked more often than not.

"Pretty please, dad?!" Nanako batted her eyes to increase her cuteness.

"G-guh…!" Dojima flinched.

A hand softly pats Nanako's hair, grabbing her attention. She looks up to see her big bro smiling down at her. "Nanako, I want to hang out with you too, but you gotta make sure your friend is okay."

She frowned a bit. "I know that, but still, I haven't seen you in so long!"

"We'll have plenty of time to hang out for the holidays, but your friends are important! They're your greatest strength; so when one of them isn't feeling well, you should go make sure that they get better, okay?" He advised.

Nanako nodded her head, understanding what he was getting at. "Alright, big bro! I'll go check on Mai-chan today! Then later we can go build snowmen by the river!"

"Totally, we'll build the best snowmen that Inaba's ever seen!" Yu exclaimed. "Now finish your breakfast and go get ready to leave."

"Okay!" She saluted him, then turned back down to her breakfast.

Yu walked over towards the front door with his uncle right behind him. Dojima gave his nephew a tired look. "I don't know how you're so good at getting her to back down."

"Just takes a bit of practice, uncle." Yu smirked.

"Sure." Dojima rolled his eyes. "Just be careful out there and don't get into any trouble with your friends, alright? I don't think we need any repeats from last year."

"Don't worry, uncle. We're just going to meet up with Yukiko's family from America. I doubt anything too crazy is going to happen around here anytime soon." Yu waved his uncle farewell as he stepped out into the cold.

Dojima gave him one last look before closing the door. "Yeah…you said that plenty of times last year too."

The first thing Charmcaster saw when she woke up was a poster of a curvaceous woman dressed in a scantily-clad bikini. The witch had to blink more than once just to make sure that she was seeing things correctly. "What the hell…?" Charmcaster tried to sit up, but then her head started hurting, causing her to let out a small yelp. That pain allowed her to realize that it wasn't just her head, but her whole body was in pain. "Why am I-Ugh?!"

Suddenly bits and pieces of prior events flashes through her mind, assaulting her like bullets. The witch gripped her head as images of her uncle, who had regained his appropriate body, exploring something…or somewhere appeared. "Uncle…that's right. I was with Uncle, but I'm not anymore. Where…?" Charmcaster looked around the room.

She regretted it instantly, observing all of the posters of scantily clad bikini models that littered the walls and ceiling. Hell, even the room wasn't as clean as she would've preferred. Some clothes, magazines, video games, and music discs were all over the place. "Great… I'm in the room of a teenage boy." The witch groaned. Looking down at herself, Charmcaster noticed that she wasn't wearing her usual clothes either. She was dressed in a big T-shirt and shorts, all of which were sizes for men.

It seems whoever this person was helped her out and had even bandaged some of her apparent wounds. Regardless of the state of their room they had to be at least a halfway decent-

CLICK!

Her head snapped to the sound as the door opened. Charmcaster braced herself for the reveal of her 'savior'. She didn't know what to expect, but knowing her luck, there was a good chance that it'll end up being something-

"Yeow! Jeez! I should've brought a towel to carry this!" A weirdly familiar voice exclaimed as a dumbass looking face entered the bedroom. Whatever he was about to say to himself was halted when the two teens ended up staring at each other in shock. Neither moved for a few moments until Yosuke's face broke into a nervous grin. "Yo-"

That's as far as he got before a purple bolt almost burned his face off. The Magician yelped, stepping on one of the magazines on the floor, which caused him to slip and fall with the bowl of hot water. The magazine got kicked into the air towards Charmcaster, smacking into her face and knocking the witch back down onto the bed. Both teenagers groaned; one a little more pained from the hot water that spilled on him, and the other from sheer embarrassment.

Yosuke, who was used to falling flat on his ass, was the one to recover first. He pushed the bowl off his lap and looked at Charmcaster. "I-I guess you're finally awake, huh?"

The witch rose, tossing the dirty magazine off of her face and across the room. Yosuke gaped at the way she carelessly treated his possession. "Hey! That one cost a good chunk of my paycheck-"

"Shut it, pervert." Charmcaster sneered. She had seen the contents of that damn magazine which had caused her face to turn as red as a tomato. "What did you do to me?"

"W-what?" Yosuke gulped slightly.

"Look around, dumbass! Someone like you definitely had to have touched me somewhere!" She made a wide motion to all of his posters and the magazines.

Though Yosuke had a bit of a reputation within his friend group for his eccentric behaviors from time-to-time, there were lines he'd never cross. "I didn't touch you anywhere! I swear!"

She pointed at the bandages and clothing on her body.

"My mom bandaged you after I brought you home, and she's the one who dressed you in my clothes." Yosuke explained quickly. He noticed the way she seemed to somewhat believe his story, relieving him a bit. "I swear, I wouldn't do something like that."

His roommate was a different story, but he wasn't a concern at the moment.

"Where are my clothes?" Charmcaster asked.

"In the laundry room. They were pretty torn and dirty, so my mom had to wash and stitch them up." Yosuke responded.

Charmcaster stared at him, allowing herself to calm down a bit. Whatever the case it seems like he was telling her the truth. The witch didn't fully trust him enough to let her guard down, considering that he was one of the princess's little friends that had beaten her back during that Negative 10 fiasco (Never trusting knights ever again). However, she neve really learned this guy's name. "What's your name anyway?"

"Hanamura Yosuke, at your service." He winked. All he received was a dead stare, which made him shrink back down. She hummed over his name before remembering something that was important.

"Wait…we're in Japan, right? Since it's last names before first ones?" Charmcaster asked.

"Yup. You don't have to tell me your name-"

"I wasn't going to."

"-O-oh…well, I already know it anyway!" Yosuke recovered quickly. "Yukiko and Gwen had already told us." He saw the way the witch's face scrunched up in disgust at the mention of the Tennysons. "Okay, that's a poor spot to touch." The Magician didn't really know how to navigate his way through this conversation. He was aware that she was pretty much an evil witch that's tried to kill his friend and her family multiple times. But with how badly she was hurt, he couldn't exactly leave her out in the cold to freeze.

Ugh…he was really getting himself into one hell of a mess, wasn't he? He was only thankful that Teddie had agreed to keep his mouth shut to avoid freaking out Yukiko.

Charmcaster attempted to get herself off the bed, prompting her wounds to start acting up again. Yosuke scrambled up to his feet to stop her from getting off of the bed. "Hey, wait! You're not fully healed just yet!" He exclaimed, gently putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Get off of me!" Charmcaster hissed dangerously. She tried to conjure up her magic, but that blast from earlier had taken more out of her than she had expected. Her weakened body could barely muster up a spark of power. She cursed as Yosuke softly pushed her back down onto his bed.

"Sorry, but it's not safe to move around like that when you're hurt. Trust me, I've suffered enough life-threatening wounds to last a lifetime." Yosuke said.

"Tch…! If I wasn't so hurt right now…!" She sneered.

Yosuke sighed, waving her off. "Yeah, yeah, you'd turn me into a frog or something, right?"

"As if I'd do something as cliche as that!"

"Well, whatever it is you want to do to me is gonna have to wait. I have to get going soon, so I'll bring some food up here for you just in case you get hungry. I should be back in the evening." Yosuke informed her.

Charmcaster scoffed at him mockingly. "And what makes you think I'll still be here when you get back."

"You're right, you might not be. But I doubt you have anywhere else you could go."

The witch wanted to disagree with that, to say she could go with her uncle, but memories of him were still fuzzy.

"There's also the fact that you risk getting found by my friends, especially Yukiko, if you were to head out on your own. And with how weak you are right now, that probably wouldn't end well for you."

When did this boy suddenly get a spine?! Moments earlier, he was pretty nervous to interact with a devious witch such as herself! She definitely wanted to teach him a lesson now!

Yosuke smiled warmly, which irritated Charmcaster even more. "The best and safest place for you right now is here in my room. So, get some rest, okay?" He turned to leave the room.

Charmcaster glared at him and opened her mouth. "Why?"

"Huh?" He turned to her.

"Why did you bother helping me? I tried to kill your friends, and me being here is likely to cause you issues. So why did you help me?" Charmcaster asked.

Yosuke blinked at her before scratching his cheek with a finger. He smiled at the witch just as the morning's light came through the window, giving Yosuke a warm glow. "Well… I couldn't just leave a pretty girl to freeze to death, could I?"

Under normal circumstances, Charmcaster wouldn't let such sweet words bother her. She didn't need compliments from other people. But right then and there, she couldn't stop her cheeks from warming up, as if her emotions were just as out of whack as her magic. The witch quickly turned her head away to avoid letting Yosuke see. "J-just get out of here!"

"But it's my room…" Yosuke sighed internally before closing the door.

Charmcaster, once she was certain that Yosuke actually left, turned her attention back to the ceiling. She stared at the poster that greeted her a few minutes ago, raised her finger, and released a tiny spark that burned it to ash. "Stupid perv."

"What time is it?"

"They're still not here, Yukiko-chan." Chie sighed for the 20th time today. Their entire group had gathered together at Junes to spend some time together before the Tennysons arrive. The heiress has been restless the entire time, barely drinking her iced tea and constantly asking for the time every few minutes.

A small twinge of red colored Yukiko's cheeks. "I-I know that…! I'm just making sure that you know, Chie-chan! You always wake up late for school, after all!"

"There was no reason to mention that!" Chie exclaimed.

"You act as if none of us know that." Yosuke's comment earned him a kick from under the table.

"Shut up, Hanamura!"

"Regardless of Chie's tardiness record." Yu's comment earned an embarrassed cry from Chie that he chose to ignore. "We should be glad that nothing's happened on their way here. Right, Yukiko?" He addressed his girlfriend.

"Yes, Gwen did say that everything went smoothly on their way here, minus a surprise attack from Animo." Yukiko rolled her eyes at the doctor's name. "That guy never gives up."

Teddie agreed with the heiress. "That crazy doctor tried to tear off my bear-utiful fur! Wishing to see my bear body~!"

"Do not give us that image…" Yosuke sighed.

"What did he even want this time?" Kanji asked.

"To kill Ben. The usual." Yukiko replied as if it were normal.

"You have to stop acting as if that's a normal everyday occurrence." Naoto said.

Rise slammed her hands on the table, getting everyone's attention. The idol crossed her arms to make an 'X'. "Okay, no more talk about evil scientists! It's the holidays, which means we need to spend this time thinking of good things! Like gifts!" She turned to Yu. "Senpai, have you-"

"I'm not giving you ideas for a gift, Rise." Yu shut her down before the idol could even begin.

"I-I-I-I-I wasn't even going to ask that!" Rise sputtered, blushing brightly.

"Then what were you going to ask?" Yosuke smirked, egging her on.

"This is why you're single, Yosuke-senpai."

"What does my relationship status have to do with this?!"

"Look, Rise, it's better to come up with your own ideas for a gift than having someone tell you." Yu offered his advice.

"But I can still ask for suggestions! I-I want to get the Tennysons something nice!" Rise argued.

"Yes, a certain Tennyson, especially." Naoto smirked behind her hot chocolate. The blueberry detective's comment caused Rise's head to slowly turn in her direction.

"What was that, Naoto-kun?" The idol inquired, voice void of emotion.

"Nothing." Naoto replied.

"No, I'm certain you said something."

"I think all of that music has damaged your hearing."

"My hearing is perfectly fine."

"What are you guys arguing about?" Kanji asked.

"Nothing!" The girls yelled at him.

Their seniors watched the exchange with exasperated looks. "Poor Kanji. Stuck in the middle of something he doesn't understand." Yosuke shook his head.

"Eh, he's usually their tiebreaker." Yu chuckled.

"Kanji is lucky to be surrounded by two bear-utiful babes…" Teddie whined.

"If that's how you want to view that mess over there, then I'm not gonna stop you." Chie said.

"You're the only mess I want to view, Chie-chan~!"

The bear got kicked into a wall. Yosuke got up from his seat to help Teddie as the others continued on as if nothing happened.

Chie looked back down at her watch. "Should we start heading to the station now-uhhh…Yukiko-chan?" She, along with the others, watched as the heiress started sniffing the air like a dog. Yukiko jumped up from her chair, still sniffing with her eyes closed. She slowly opened them with the most crazed smile they've ever seen cracking across her face.

"They're here…"

"Y-Yukiko-"

Yukiko took off like a bullet train towards the station, kicking up a massive cloud of snow and dust as she ran. Every single person in the vicinity stared at her direction with slack jaws, blown away by the teenager's inhumane speed.

Yu recovered first. In fact, he was laughing at the sight itself. "Welp, I guess that means the Tennysons have finally arrived."

"We better catch up with her before something happens!" Kanji leaped from his seat.

"Trust me, something has already happened." Naoto sighed.

The rest of the Investigation Team hurried after their runaway heiress before things could get out of hand.

The Tennysons exited the train with all of their belongings. Ben was full of energy after unloading his guts all over the train's floor, much to the annoyance of the crew. "Ah, nothing like some good fresh air!" Ben exclaimed.

"Compared to the smell you left in the train, I have to agree." Gwen crossed her arms.

"I can finally stretch my legs…!" Kenny exclaimed, happy to be out of the train. He looked towards the adults. "What's next?"

Natalie readjusted her bag, observing their new surroundings. Small town or not, she wanted to be careful in case they ran into shifty strangers wanting to take advantage of foreigners. "Right now, we have to wait for our escort."

"Escort?" Gwen asked.

"Yukiko said she'll come to guide us to the bus stop that'll take us to the Inn." Max answered. "I figured she'd be here by now."

"Well, it's not like she would be waiting here for hours, right?" Carl jokes. That was until he saw the haunted looks on the kids. "Uh…kids?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised she wasn't already here waiting for us." Kenny muttered.

"It feels like I can feel her presence even though she isn't here…" Gwen shivered.

Phantom pains from Yukiko's famous hugs caused Ben's bones to tingle. "Oh man… I can already feel her hugs."

Sandra rolled her eyes. "Quit talking like that! You say it like she's some kind of monster."

RUMBLE!

"Oh no…" Ben and Gwen gulped, their sixth sense tingling. The Tennysons turned around to see a massive wave of snow being kicked up, whatever was doing it was heading straight for them.

"W-what the heck is that?!" Frank exclaimed.

"S-some kind of machine?!" Sandra questioned.

"No…" The kids got their attention. "It's not a machine." Kenny had already moved back behind Max to avoid what was about to happen. Ben and Gwen didn't bother moving, already knowing that it would be a fruitless endeavor.

Max just laughed, crossing his arms. "Here she is!" Before any of the other adults could ask for clarification, the oncoming speed demon had finally reached them.

Time slowed down, and if anyone could've seen what happened, they would've seen Yukiko happily engulfing a terrified Ben and Gwen in a bear hug that would make a grizzly jealous. The three smashed into a snowbank, causing an explosion of snow to fall all over the train station.

The parents stood there, gaping like idiots, while Max and Kenny just stared at the usual craziness that surrounded them.

"Oh, I missed you! I missed you both so much~!"

"GAH! One day! I swear that one day I'll learn to avoid these initial hugs!"

"Let me go! It hasn't even been that long!"

Yukiko snuggled the two into her chest, unbothered by the way they thrashed around to escape her hold. Ben and Gwen, while happy to see her, were not enthusiastic about getting crushed like grapes again.

"Yukiko!"

The heiress looked up to see Max and Kenny. "Grandpa!" She released Ben and Gwen, and latched onto the ex-Plumber with just as much gusto. The old man returned the hug happily. Kenny was then yanked into the hug as well, he released a girlish squeal from the action. "Kenny!"

"I-It's good to see you too, Yukiko!" Kenny grunted.

"How have you been, sweetheart?" Max asked.

"Just perfect!" Yukiko giggled as she released them.

Natalie regained her senses, and coughed to get Yukiko's attention. The heiress turned around and blinked at them, before blushing a bit. "Oops, sorry about that! I forgot my manners for a second!" Yukiko gave a respectful bow. "Welcome to Inaba, aunties and uncles! It's nice to finally meet you properly!"

"I-I'm sorry, are we just going to ignore everything she just did?!" Natalie exclaimed. "I'm pretty sure she almost broke the sound barrier!"

"Yup."

"That's the usual."

"Not out of the norm for Yukiko."

"She tends to do that."

The mother of two gave the four a dead stare, still shocked by their lack of reaction. She turned to her husband to hopefully have his support, but he just shrugged. "W-well, it's not the most abnormal thing."

"Ugh…" Natalie sighed.

"Don't worry, Aunt Natalie, I was just really excited to see you all!" Yukiko smiled.

"I'm pretty sure the laws of physics would like to have a word with you." Natalie frowned.

"But laws can't talk…" Yukiko tilted her head.

Natalie just stared at her as if Yukiko had grown a second head. Behind her, the kids were having a blast seeing this interaction. Gwen leaned over to Ben. "I wondered how my mom properly meeting Yukiko would go and this is way better than I expected."

Ben blinked at her. "But isn't this just how you two interact-"

"Don't ruin this for me."

Sandra waltzes up to Yukiko. "In any case, it's a pleasure to meet you, Yukiko. Ben wouldn't stop talking about you since the summer ended."

"MOM!" Ben yelled, clearly embarrassed.

Outwardly Yukiko looked composed, but on the inside she was exploding like fireworks. "That's nice, Aunt Sandra! BEN TALKS ABOUT ME! BEN TALKS ABOUT ME! BEN TALKS ABOUT ME!" She could just die from happiness right now.

Carl interrupted her happy thoughts. "I guess your parents must be too busy to come and greet us as well?"

Yukiko turned to him. "Yes! Sorry about that, but the Inn is very busy this time of year. And with you all coming to visit, mother wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Father also had more of a pep in his step than usual."

Frank smirked. "Marcus with a pep in his step? I really want to see this."

"Same." Carl agreed with his brother.

Max didn't say anything, but he was also intrigued by the information. But there was still a bubble of nervousness building inside of him. It had been more than a decade since he's last seen his youngest. Their falling out hadn't been the best, but two out of three managed to forgive him. Surely he could patch things up with Marcus as well…?

After joining up with Yukiko's friends on the way to the bus stop, the Tennysons and teenagers arrived at the Amagi Inn. Ben, Gwen, and Max found their attention turning to the large covered bulb sitting a bit away from the Inn. "Is that…?" Gwen whispered to Max.

"The Megawatts? Very likely." Max answered.

Gwen glared at Ben. "Try not to set them loose this time, doofus."

"Hey! I don't plan to get anywhere near those little twerps again!" Ben hissed back.

"What are you two whispering about?" Carl asked.

"Nothing!" They smiled, looking innocent.

The group entered the Inn, the Tennysons admiring the decor of the interior. Ben, Gwen, and Kenny were mesmerized by the heavy old-fashioned Japanese atmosphere the place gave off. Yukiko had spoken a lot about the Amagi Inn during the summer, and now they were finally seeing the place with their own eyes.

Yu chuckled at their expressions. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Ben controlled his emotions, crossing his arms. "Tch, could use more TVs."

"Tsundere." Rise giggled.

"What does that even mean?!" Ben glared at her.

"It means you need to be more honest." Kenny answered for her.

"I'm plenty honest."

"Do we really need to have this conversation again?" Gwen smirked, knowing full well she was getting under Ben's skin.

"Do we really need to discuss how much of a dweeb you are? I think we do." Ben fired back.

SMACK!

"Ow! What was that for?!" Ben glared at Yukiko.

"Don't disturb the guests." Yukiko ordered.

"I am a guest."

"And that doesn't mean you're incapable of disrupting the other guests. If you cause any issues, there will be punishment. Understood?" Yukiko's icy cold stare forced him to submit.

Sandra observed the interaction with a smile. "Huh. I've never managed to get him to behave as quickly as that before."

"It takes persuasion, auntie." Yukiko smacked her fan into her palm to emphasize her point.

"Welcome to the Amagi Inn, Tennysons!" The entire group stopped and looked ahead to see Yuki standing by the front desk. Standing next to her was Marcus, who was looking away from the group, but a swift elbow from his wife had him looking straight at them.

"Yuki!" Sandra wrapped the woman in a hug. "It's so nice to see you again!"

"It's been far too long since we last saw each other." Yuki giggled, then turned to Natalie. "Right, Natalie-chan?" She batted her eyelashes at her fellow housewife.

"Don't call me that." Natalie folded her arms.

"Natalie-chan!"

"Ugh…"

Naoto actually shivered. "It's like looking in a mirror." She looked at Natalie and Yuki, then at Yukiko and Gwen.

"It's freaking me out a bit." Yosuke agreed.

Carl and Frank approached their little brother. "Marcus! How have you been?" Carl brought his brother in for a hug.

"Um…good, I guess?" Marcus awkwardly returned the hug.

"You have to start staying in contact more. If we didn't reach out to you, then you'd never speak with us." Frank complained.

"My bad? I just don't have anything to talk about." Marcus shrugged.

"You always say that, but then you get excited whenever we talk about wrestling."

"Wrestling is cool."

"Then we can talk about that!" Carl said.

Marcus shook his head at his brothers, but a smile did appear as he talked with them again. However, it didn't last long when he spotted Max keeping his distance. The youngest son and father just stared at one another. Everyone else noticed their silent interaction and watched with nervous anticipation.

"Dad."

"Son."

That's all they really said as the awkward staring continued going on. It seemed like the two were building themselves up to say more. However, a yawn broke through the silence, and everyone looked at Ben. "Are we just gonna stand here all day or are we going to find our rooms? I'm ready to eat some fancy rich Japanese food!"

…

…

…

"You just can't read a room, can you?" Naoto sighed.

"He might be worse than Teddie." Chie added.

"Dude…" Yosuke crossed his arms.

"Should've expected that." Yu shook his head.

"Little bro…" Kenny pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Absolute doofus." Gwen groaned.

"Benjamin." Yukiko's unforgiving tone caused him to flinch.

"WHAT DID I DO?!" Ben yelled.

Chapter End

NOTE: Ben just got to Inaba, and he's already pissed off Yukiko. That boy is setting records, even if it's unintentional.

The Tennysons arrive and things are only going to get hotter for the most part. Family drama during the holidays is what everyone loves to deal with. Some other stuff might happen, so...who knows.

Yosuke and Charmcaster's scene was incredibly fun to write. They have a dynamic that I really want to keep exploring. How will it end though? You'll have to keep reading to find out.

Rise still can't think of presents to get the Tennysons: her secret crush, Ben, and Gwen.

Natalie is funnily enough also pretty fun to write.

This chapter marks the first time that Dojima actually appears in Priestess 10 in general. He's only ever been mentioned before.

Have a great day!