Yuuhime stepped out onto the brisk cold air of the afternoon and breathed in. Li Guang was picking her up, since Yamato was going to drag Xuan to the Golden Theater after she left.

She walked down the long dirt road, her duffel and grocery bags bumping her sides. She couldn't help but worry about Xuan, but she quickly reassured herself by reminding herself Yamato wouldn't hurt him now that he was under the music box's spell. Whether that was a good thing or not was something that she wouldn't be thinking about tonight.

Eventually, she saw Li Guang waiting for her.

"There you are!" She said, "Come on, let's go!"

Yuuhime stepped into Li Guang's car. It was very dirty, with backpacks, maps, and exploring equipment scattered around the back.

"Sorry about the mess, I tried to make it manageable for you." Li Guang said.

"It's fine," Yuuhime said, "and thanks."

"So, what treats did you bring?"

"Cookies, ice cream, wafers."

"Yum! I can't wait to try them."

"Yes."

"I've got everything planned out. First, we'll eat dinner and our snacks, then we'll play board games, then we'll do our hair and nails, then we'll watch a movie!"

"Sounds super fun. I can't wait."

"Yeah. I had no idea your house was so close to mine! But, why couldn't I just come pick you up?"

"My brother has a divinely powered fence up, it's to keep miramon out but it might also hurt you."

"Oh! Well, I guess that makes sense. Don't wanna get shocked!"

"Yeah, it's not fun. I got shocked by it once, my finger was red for days." That was only half true. Yamato was the one who shocked her, when he got mad at her for something she couldn't exactly remember. Of course, he didn't mean to, and it didn't last.

"It must of stood out! Since your hand is, you know."

"Well, it's gone now."

"Yep! Burns heal over time, every time!"

Yuuhime thought of Xuan and his burns. Even if he claimed he was ok, those burns still refused to heal. Would they even heal?

"Here we are!" Li Guang announced as she pulled into her driveway. Yuuhime smiled at the modest house. It was small, but perfect for Li Guang.

"Do you need any help carrying anything?" Li Guang asked.

"No, I'm ok." She replied.

"Then at least let me be a gentlewoman and hold the door for you." The red head swooped the door open for Yuuhime, who responded with a bright smile.

Yuuhime put her treats on the table, along with the treats Li Guang had already gotten.

"You can choose where to sleep!" Li Guang said excitedly. "You can even sleep in my room, just not my bed."

She chose a spot in the living room, on Li Guang's couch.

"Would you like to see my pajamas?" Yuuhime asked.

"Sure!"

So she pulled out her marigold pajamas. Li Guang gasped and ran to her room, returning with the same pair but in her size.

"Omg!" Yuuhime squealed.

"I know!" Li Guang squealed back. "Let's put them on! We'll match!"

And they did. Staring at each other in a mirror, they couldn't help but giggle.

"It matches your hair!"

"It makes yours stand out!"

They giggled more. They giggled so much that they didn't hear the excessive knocking coming from Intisar, yelling about it being too cold.

***

"I'm so so so so sorry!" Li Guang cried as she let Intisar and Norah, who called Li Guang, in.

"What were you even doing?" Intisar hissed, going straight to the heater.

"Ah! Uhm, want hot chocolate?"

"Do I!" Intisar sat down on a barstool. Norah followed, smiling.

"I didn't know we were matching PJ's." Norah remarked.

"It was just a coincidence!" Li Guang replied, making four hot chocolates.

"What's your pajamas?" Yuuhime asked the two other girls.

"I brought my cute sea shell night gown, I'll show you in a minute." Norah said.

"Eh, I just wear an old shirt and some shorts," Intisar retorted, "but I don't really sleep much thanks to Tevor."

"Don't act like you don't stay up for hours on Summoner Battles." Li Guang laughed.

"Oh yeah? How do you know I play it after hours?"

"Uhm!-here, the hot chocolate is done!" She quickly placed three cups in front of her friends and kept one for herself, placing marshmallows, whipped cream, and extra milk onto the counter.

"Thank you so much!" Norah sipped her hot chocolate, giving herself a chocolate mustache. Intisar covered hers in marshmallows and whipped cream, along with some gummy bears from her pocket.

Yuuhime stared at hers. She hadn't had hot chocolate in a very long time, the last time she believed was far before the fire that killed her parents. She quickly shook that thought away and tried her hot chocolate.

"Mmmm..." Yuuhime sighed as she sipped the chocolate drink.

"Try it with whipped cream!" Li Guang said, holding out the can of it.

"Anything sweet, really." Norah said, glancing at Intisar's drink.

Yuuhime smiled and sipped her drink.

"I have a pizza coming, too," Li Guang said, "it should be coming reaaaally soon."

"Do ya track it?" Intisar asked.

"Nope, how do ya do that?"

So, the two started talking wacky technology things that neither Norah or Yuuhime understood.

"So, you've mentioned you have a brother." Norah said.

"Yeah," Yuuhime responded, "he's going to a play with Tang Xuan, he wants to get to know him better or something."

"That's thoughtful of him!"

"Yeah, well, he actually bought the tickets for himself and me, but he insisted I come here instead."

"He sounds like a sweet guy, putting you before himself."

'Yeah, right.' Yuuhime gave a strained smile, but said, "I guess you could say that. But he's pretty busy during the day, going out for work all day."

"Don't you miss him?"

"Ah...no, not really. He...can be a lot sometimes. He's the type of person someone could only really stand for a few hours."

"Hey." Norah put her hands on Yuuhime's shoulders. "Don't take him for granted. He may seem annoying, overbearing, or something else entirely, but it sounds like he's all you got. Treasure that."

She knew that Norah was only trying to help, but she couldn't help but to cringe internally. Sure, Yamato was her only biological family left, technically speaking. But he wasn't her true family. He told her himself he didn't care about her feelings at all, he hurt people because they might of even glanced at something they "shouldn't" have, and even hurt and kidnapped Xuan.

"I guess." Yuuhime said quietly.

Norah gave a soft smile. She smiled back, mindlessly tucking her hands in the folds of her pants.

The doorbell rang and Li Guang ran to it.

"Yep, thanks!" She whirled around, holding two boxes of pizza. "Time to dig in!"

Peering in, Yuuhime saw one was pineapple  and the other meat lovers.

She realized she'd never even tried pizza. Picking up a pineapple one, she took a bite. The juicy, sweet and salty mix was perfect in every way—even the greasy mess on her fingers afterwards felt so adventurous.

"Hey, thanks Li Guang!" Intisar said between bites.

"Mhm!" Li Guang responded with a mouthful of meat lovers.

After they all had their share of pizza, they turned to the treats they all brought. Yuuhime knew what she brought, but she was more interested what her friends brought.

Norah brought a "seaside classic" of saltwater taffy and brownies. Intisar brought some candy, mostly gummy candies. Finally, Li Guang had made some cupcakes.

"Did you buy these cookies, Yuuhime?" Li Guang asked.

"No, I made them myself." She responded.

"Damn, they're tasty!" Intisar said. "Your brother must love them."

"A-actually, he quite dislikes it when I cook."

"What? Why! I'll give him a piece of him mind if you'd like."

"No! No, ahem. He prefers to cook himself or go out. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be getting any better..."

Li Guang raised an eyebrow at this.

"But, it's fine, I've gotten used to it." Yuuhime quickly said, biting into a brownie with ice cream on it.

"Do you like my brownies?" Norah asked everyone.

"Mhm! They're tasty." Yuuhime said. The other two agreed eagerly.

"Your cupcakes are also delicious." Norah told Li Guang.

"Awww, thanks! Took me forever to make them."

"Of course!"

Soon, they were done with their snacks. Li Guang quickly sprinted to a closet and poured out many games as her friends found a place to sit in her living room.

"I've got four games," Li Guang said, "One Card, Pattern, Headbands, and The Game of Living. We'll vote on which one we wanna play first! Who says One Card?"

Everyone's hands came up. Li Guang blinked but smiled.

"Alright, let's do this!"

***

"HOW DO I OWE YOU MONEY AGAIN?!" Intisar yelled as she handed Yuuhime 100 dollars of fake money. They had gone through all the games, leaving them with only The Game of Living.

"I guess you're just so into my work." Yuuhime said as she spun the wheel. "Yes! 10!"

She moved her car piece, which had two pieces in it, pink and blue. Herself and Xuan, since Li Guang insisted they named their pieces.

"My turn!" Norah said, spinning the wheel. Her piece had three pink pieces. She said one was for her, one was for Anna, and one was for her mom.

"Aww, only two moves."

"Welp, my turn!" Li Guang announced. So far, she had gotten the most people. One for herself, three for her friends, and one for a man named Fabrice, whose piece was chipped at the top.

"I've finally overtaken you, Yuuhime!" Li Guang said as she moved two squares past her.

"We'll see!" Intisar said as she spilled the wheel. So far, Intisar only had one person, which she called Parmi as her best friend.

"Ah. One move. This game is stupid."

Yuuhime giggled as she spun the wheel and landed on a spot to add another family member.

"So close!" She sighed unhappily.

"You have to name this guy now!" Li Guang said, handing her a blue peg. She stared at it for a long time. Even if it was a game, she didn't want to name it Yamato, like she assumed the others were waiting for her to do.

Instead, she said, "I'll name him Yun."

"Yun? Who's that?" Li Guang asked.

"Doesn't matter." Yuuhime stuck the blue peg into her car.

Soon, the game ended with Yuuhime victorious.

"WHAT!" Intisar roared and stood up. "THIS GAME IS RIGGED!"

"You're just mad I got all your money."

"Yes! I am!"

"Heh heh." Yuuhime smirked.

"Alright! Time for hair and nails!" Li Guang said excitedly. They all gathered onto the couch, watching Li Guang hand them nail polish of all colors.

"What should the colors be?" She asked.

"Hm...rainbow!" Norah said.

"Perfect!" Li Guang said.

She took Norah's hand and started to work. Intisar did her own, and Yuuhime watched closely.

It was quite loud for a long time after that. Intisar hissing at Yuuhime still, but in good nature, while Li Guang chatted away with them all.

Yuuhime smiled and nodded, happy to be here but also thinking about her relationship with Yamato.

Was he really the only person she had left? She had her friends, especially Xuan. Why did she need someone who didn't care about her feelings? Who told her all the ways she messed up? Who forced her to wear clothes she want to? Who was so obsessed with her romantic interests that he turned to kidnapping?

"Hey, Yuuhime, can I do your hair?" Li Guang asked.

"Of course." Yuuhime turned her hair towards her. She felt Li Guang's fingers carefully intertwine themselves into her hair. She smiled, the massage distracting her from her thoughts.

"Which curlers should I use?" Norah asked, holding up two types.

"Is there a difference?" Li Guang asked.

"No...I just like to play with the colors!"

This got a good laugh out of them. Norah put curlers in all their hair, they all excited to see how the curlers curled their hair.

Perhaps it was sleep catching up to them, but soon, they were all snuggled together, nails peeking out and hair in curlers, watching a romance drama.

"They clearly love each other, but their dumb families are ruining everything!" Norah yelped.

"It's like Romeo and Juliet," Yuuhime said, "but it's not infighting, it's just fighting."

"I wish her friends would just beat some sense into the parents and siblings." Intisar said.

They watched in eager anticipation, wanting to see the love interests finally being able to peruse each other. Unfortunately, two of them were unable to stay awake. Norah and Intisar had fallen asleep, snuggled next to their friends.

"Let's pause it," Li Guang said, yawning, "Maybe we can watch the rest tomorrow."

Yuuhime agreed and helped put the two sleepy heads in their sleeping bags. They all agreed to sleep in Li Guang's living room.

After fixing Intisar's blanket, Yuuhime snuggled into her sleeping bag.

"Hey, Yuuhime?" Li Guang asked as she slid into hers.

"Yes?"

"Whenever you talk about your brother, you have this strained voice and kinda hesitate when you say something about him. Is everything ok with you and him?"

Yuuhime was silent. She knew exactly how she wanted to answer. "No, he's a horrible beast of a human! Let me tell you all the things he's done to me and Xuan and lots of other people!"

But she couldn't say that; physically unable to thanks to Yamato's commands to avoid talking about his true gig as an assassin and the music box.

"We have...a lot of disagreements." Was what she finally could muster out.

"Disagreements about what?"

"About me cooking, about my clothes, about..." she bit her lip. "...about Xuan."

"Does he not accept him as a potential boyfriend?"

"Quite the opposite. He's planned out our wedding already and has...invited Xuan to stay with us."

"That's worrying. That all is. Is that why you wanted to keep your clothes for your date at Norah's house?"

"...yeah."

Li Guang fell silent, staring at the ceiling. Yuuhime did, too, wondering if she said too much.

"Hey." Li Guang looked back at Yuuhime. "If you ever have an argument with him and need to leave for a little bit, my place is always open for you."

"Huh? But wait, I-"

"No buts or waits! You're my friend, I care about you. I'll even give you a house key."

"T-thank you."

"No, thank you for letting me know about this." Li Guang squeezed Yuuhime's hand with a smile. She smiled back, her eyes slowly closing. And so, she was asleep.

Li Guang slowly let go of her hand and stared back up at the ceiling. Lots of thoughts ran through her head, making it impossible to sleep. Xuan had gone missing, and Yuuhime had started allowing her problems with her brother to be heard. What if-

She heard her phone ringing from her counter. She sat up and quickly answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Miss Li Guang I'm speaking to?" A woman's voice came through. 

"Yes, why?"

"A Mr. Fabrice has been injured and would like to contact you."

"...what?"

"Here he is now."

"Li Guang?" She heard Fabrice's voice choke through the phone.

"That lady told me you're hurt, are you ok?!"

"Heh, I-I'm doing ok. But I got hit in the face by some...thing."

"What happened doesn't matter, what matters is if you're really ok or not. Where are you?"

"Getting transported to the hospital. This fair maiden has been making me feel much better, her beauty might as well be the remedy for all diseases!"

"Fabrice! D-don't joke!" Li Guang hiccuped. Fabrice paused for a moment.

"I'm going to be ok, ok?"

"Tell me what hospital you're in asap!"

"He'll be in the Utgard hospital." The woman said, taking the communicator back. "My apologies, ma'am, but you'll have to call him later."

"Come see me, Li Guang!" Fabrice called before the call ended. She was stuck standing there, dumbfounded. She turned back to her bed, having more of an insensitive to sleep.

She stepped on something sharp, causing her to jump up and hiss cursed. When she looked down, it was a blue piece from The Game of Living, now broken in half from her stepping on it. She threw it away as she went back to bed, snuggling into her sleeping bag and silently crying.

***

"Mr. Tang Xuan, look at this." Yamato said, gesturing to the tv. Xuan looked up and saw the Golden Theater in flames.

"Good thing we left when we did, eh?" Yamato picked up his suitcase and stuffed some clothes into it. Xuan didn't find Yamato's joke funny at all.

They were in Yamato's room, a simple room but nonetheless nice for what it was.

"What are you doing?" Xuan asked.

"We're moving." He said simply. "Those Shadow Decree people know more than they should, but luckily for me I have other houses I can easily slip into."

'What did he say while I was out?' Xuan questioned to himself. He looked down at his still dirty gloves, biting his lip.

"Go pack up some necessities." Yamato commanded. He obeyed, going into the kitchen and stuffing things like medicine and water bottles into a box and plastic bags.

Yamato hummed, thinking about Dr. Fu Shy, or Fu Shi as he so obviously was. Seriously, his "fake name" wasn't fooling anybody.

He recalled the thing Fu Shi said after Xuan had beat the ever living shit out of them.

"All I ask is for that power of the music box!" Fu Shi had growled. Yamato had scoffed at his ridiculous wish, knowing full well that if he handed that music box over, he'd lose a major part in his plan.

Yes, Xuan was much more important to Yamato than just being his sister's crush. Having an ops chief under his thumb was a powerhouse of a play. Not only that, he knew where all the Miracles were located now, or at least the ones he wanted.

He blasted Fu Shi with a powerful spark, causing a very large fire. Oh well, not his problem.

Now, they were home until Yuuhime returned, which they would then move to Greywater.

It wasn't a perfect solution to the Shadow Decree problem, but it would have to do for the time being.

***

Fu Shi limped out of the burning building, along with his bodyguard, who was brutally beaten by Tang Xuan. Their ride was waiting for them to make their escape.

'That music box...' he barred his teeth. That was the one thing that he was interested in now. Its power not only gave Yamato power over the young ops chief, but also appeared to enhance divine power. Perhaps, he could use it to bring his Embla back.

If not, Hyde would find use for it.

"Did you have to burn down the whole place?" Leon asked as he quickly started the car.

"It wasn't us, it was that Yamato." Fu Shi hissed.

"I'd like to see this guy in action!" Freddy said, a smirk on his face.

"...no you don't." Yun said quietly from the very back.

"It wasn't Yamato himself," Fu Shi said more angrily, "it was his own little puppet, an ops chief, Tang Xuan."

Yun felt his blood run cold.

"That's not a good look for the Esper Union." Freddy laughed.

"How would they even let something like that happen?" Leon agreed.

"He's a powerful adversary, but he could be an even greater ally." Fu Shi mumbled to himself. This first encounter was a horrible first impression, but perhaps if he could gain Yamato's trust, he could possibly use the strange music box without the hassle of stealing it.

A plan brewed in his mind. Yun knew what Fu Shi was thinking and he didn't like it. First, Yamato had apparently captured his brother, and now he had to eventually hear Fu Shi's plan to get Yamato on their side. What a pain!

***

Ling growled as the news played.

"Golden Theater in Utgard has been lit on fire! Local authorities are unsure of the person or persons who did this, but eyewitnesses say they saw wanted Shadow Decree convicts on the scene."

He gritted his teeth and folded his arms. Of course it was those rats who were behind it. He was sure the call for them would come in soon, and if it didn't, he would go there himself.

"Hey, bud," Chaun sat next to him, "what's with the look?"

"I'm going there, to investigate." Ling said.

"I knew you were going to say that. Is it because of the Shadow Degree spotting?"

"Of course. They have something to do with Xuan's disappearance, I know it."

"We can go tomorrow. They'll probably be stingy, though."

Ling narrowed his eyes at the tv screen.

"This is footage from the security cameras just before the fire started."

The footage was glitchy, but he could make out the major parts. He saw a heavily injured man get thrown into a wall by a braided person. Then, the braided person turned his sights to a lion Esper and attack him, crashing him into the ground and pulling out the Esper's hair. A tall and well-dressed man watched this all, a music box clutched in his hands. He clearly knew this was all being filmed, as he smirked at the camera as if he was the one obstructing the footage.

A conversation started between the well-dressed man and the lion Esper, only to end in a spark shooting out from the lights and falling down onto some plants and the carpet, creating the giant fire. That was where the footage ended.

"Please call ********** if you have any information that may help our investigation."

'That has to be a lead.' Ling thought to himself, getting up.

"Night, master." He said.

"Goodnight, Li Ling."

Ling hurried to his room, where he quickly turned on an alarm for 5 am. He wasn't going to waist a second, not if it meant losing something promising.