Other Fan Fiction ❯ A Push in the Right Direction ❯ Chapter 11

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A Push in the Right Direction: Case XI

Mystery 59: Kindness

Yako had been very busy lately, though it had been rewarding. She had just solved a mystery involving an accusation of murder against a thief who secretly turned out to be Yukari, hunting for blame to be forgiven, since Angelus, who is actually her husband, feeds on forgiveness. What followed was a twenty-four hour long banquet at Yukari and Angelus' house, which miraculously Neuro allowed Yako to enjoy, though she had to constantly shield her food from his sneezes. Neuro claimed he was curious about how much food was needed to give her indigestion, but Yako, who had never suffered from indigestion in her life, was certain she couldn't get it from an angel's cooking no matter how much she ate.

After the banquet, Yako fell asleep, having skipped out on sleep that night due to staying up to eat and the previous night with the investigation. It was Neuro who took her home and a good amount of hours later, Yako woke up in her disaster zone of a room. The house was still looking like a hurricane went through it.

Yako got up, took a shower, and spent the better part of the morning scrubbing off all the scribbles, mostly insults, that Neuro had written all over her body. She wondered how in the world he did so without waking her, but she had such a wonderful meal, that her satisfied stomach must have inspired her to remain in blissful slumber while Neuro did his mischief.

After Yako was clean, she grimaced realizing she had missed breakfast and it was already time for lunch, but the banquet from the day before had kept her strong through the ordeal of erasing a novel of insults with herself as the paper. She went to the kitchen for some lunch, glancing at the damaged furniture as she walked. When she got to the kitchen, she saw a pile of fruit and candy shaped magnets and nothing more.

"Neuro!" Yako wailed, knowing he had to be somewhere in earshot, waiting for her to discover the basically empty kitchen. She knelt down where the refrigerator should have been, the space now occupied only by the magnets that once decorated it.

"Are you so desperate to be honored by my presence that you must yell?" Neuro's face was blank, with a big fanged smile and wide expressionless eyes.

"Where's the refrigerator, and the stove and the pantry and the cabinets and everything?" Yako stressed.

"Over there," Neuro's face changed to a look of pure innocence, as if he had nothing to do with the disaster.

Yako noticed the clear glass bottle she had ignored thus far. She approached the corner where it sat and examined the bottle's contents, "these are ashes."

"I burned them," Neuro smiled, as if delivering wonderful news.

Yako let out a scream of distress, "my kitchen!"

Neuro suddenly sneezed as Yukari and Angelus entered the relatively empty kitchen. "Hi!" Yukari cheerfully greeted, "I let myself in, hope you don't mind. I did promise furniture so Angie is bringing it; he makes such a cute delivery boy. By the way Yako, why are you crying and hugging that bottle of ashes?"

"Neuro burned my kitchen," Yako's eyes were filled with tears of agony.

"How mean!" Yukari glanced in Neuro's direction; he had gone to sneeze on Angelus while the angel carried the new furniture in, ignoring his polite requests to stop. "I bet he just wants attention, if you give him lots of love he should behave. Just keep him busy until he's exhausted." Yukari winked. "I'll give you a new kitchen," Yako was going to speak but Yukari stopped her, "don't worry about it, it'll be fun to pick out the appliances."

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It was a long day of choosing kitchen appliances and watching Angelus carry them in, with Neuro pestering him and sneezing on him constantly, instead of helping carry things, not that anyone expected him to help. Now Yako sat at the new table, stuffing her face again and Neuro sat across from her, making funny faces, effectively causing her to choke on several occasions. He had become creative with his ways to torture her lately.

Having finished dinner, Yako made a pause before dessert, "I just thought of something, what about Akane?"

Neuro was puzzled by how the human mind worked, bringing up topics unrelated to the current situation, memories that surfaced at random. "What about Akane?"

"I was thinking about how things have changed. Thinking about how far we've come and it reminded me that Akane has stayed the same," Yako explained.

"The human mind truly is random, what's your point?" Neuro inquired.

"We should solve her mystery, find out how she ended up as a corpse on a wall, I think it would make her feel better if her mystery was solved," Yako elaborated.

"She's a wandering soul, holding on to this world, my energy makes her interaction with this world easier by reanimating a part of her dead body, but she must have been a wandering soul before I arrived, since the day she died. If anyone can solve her mystery, I can, but you'll have to do her work," Neuro voiced.

Yako tilted her head in confusion, "how come?"

"She might pass on if she doesn't have a mystery to cling to, an unfinished business in this world," Neuro revealed.

Yako's expression turned to alarm, "out of the question, forget I mentioned it."

"I did say I would solve her mystery, I delayed it long enough," Neuro mused.

"No, don't, you can't! Akane is my dear friend!"

"Humans are strange, wishing for their dear friends to never rest, although she would be a good resource to give up, she works hard collecting data for me off the internet." Neuro paused suddenly, and studied Yako's expression. "What? I'm not making faces at you now? Why are you looking at me like I'm your favorite food?"

Yako walked around the table, stood next to Neuro and wrapped her arms around him. "I was reminded that you're very kind deep down. I shouldn't think so much of what I want; I should think about Akane. If she wishes for her mystery to be solved, I'll try my best."

Neuro let out a confused, "huh?" He had no idea where Yako was coming from with her conclusion, but allowed her to hug and cuddle him, deciding that he might as well return the affection, it was rather pleasant.

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It was morning at the detective office and things were getting out of hand. Neuro had been nicer than usual, allowing Yako to stay close to him without tripping her, pushing her, choking her, squeezing her head, twisting her neck, or any other such torture. However, this had to stop; the entire 'Neuro is kind deep down' thing was confusing at first, now it was plain embarrassing.

Neuro suddenly pushed Yako against a wall; then proceeded to push Godai against the wall too. Akane was saved from the rampage only because she was already in the wall.

"Ow! What did I do?" Yako demanded to know.

"You were giving me odd looks," Neuro replied, as if it were a crime.

"What about me?" Godai inquired in frustration.

"I just wanted to show I'm not overly kind," with that said, as if it were nothing unusual, Neuro merrily walked over to Akane, determined to start the business he had come to take care of. "I'm going to solve your mystery," he announced with certainty.

Akane then wrote on the screen, "thank you, these people may have useful information." She proceeded to type out a list of names, contact information and addresses that she warned were old and might have changed in time.

Neuro took the paper from the printer and pulled Yako along, "there's no time to waste," she was dragged out of the office, while still rubbing her pained nose.

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The first house on the list was empty and judging by the overgrown front yard, no one had lived in it for a long time. None the less there could be a clue there, this would be a tough mystery to crack; Neuro could feel it. He got off Yako's car and walked to the front door.

"I don't think anyone will answer," Yako spoke for the first time since they left the office.

Neuro's wordless reply was to break the lock on the door and let himself in.

"Neuro!" Yako scolded him as she followed. "We can't break into someone's house, even if there's no one here right now. She was angry over the incident in which she was sent crashing into a wall with nothing but a silly excuse to justify Neuro's strange, yet usual, behavior. Feeling her blood boil and her courage raise to dangerous levels, Yako walked up to Neuro from behind, reached up and grabbed a handful of his blond hair. She pulled as hard as she could, only to have the hair slip out of her grip, causing her to painfully fall back into a sitting position with a small triangular golden clip in her hand. "Stupid soft hair on stupid Neuro's stupid head," Yako scrambled to her feet to see that Neuro was watching her with his glowing green eyes filled with amusement, more so than the anger she expected.

"Stupid clumsy Yako and her stupid rush of stupid suicidal stupidity," Neuro mocked, then extended his hand to receive the golden clip Yako had taken.

She assumed a pitcher's pose, ready to throw the little golden triangle as far away as she could. Then the thought occurred to her that Neuro could throw away her beloved hair clips in revenge much further than she could ever hope to recover them, or he could just crush them into dust. Sighing in defeat, Yako deposited the small golden triangle into Neuro's hand, and watched him put it back on his hair. "Why did you really throw me against a wall in the office and poor Godai too."

"Because you looked like you thought I've gone soft," Neuro walked away before Yako could reply, venturing further into the empty house, devoid of furniture.

"You don't have to throw such a temper tantrum," Yako followed, "I've always thought you have your kind side and that you're more good than bad. You're just a bit of a sadistic mischief maker, that's all." The various rooms of the house were empty of any possessions left behind, except an old broken table in what must have been the dinning room and the kitchen counter and vacant cabinets, which were built into the structure. Yako was in the middle of imagining how grand the kitchen must have been when it was still in use, it was spacious yet cozy; she could still appreciate it, despite its current abandoned state.

Yako was suddenly thrown out of her daydream when she was pushed to the floor. "A bit?" Neuro questioned, "just a bit?" He would have to convince her otherwise.

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Yako could complain about Neuro's behavior, but she hadn't done much to stop him save for saying, "we shouldn't," yet the statement wasn't too convincing with her arms tightly wrapped around him.

The remainder of the investigation was postponed and the pair headed home. Once there, Yako went to take a shower, noticing Neuro was following her. "Why are you following me?"

"Your master can go wherever he pleases," Neuro replied.

"I guess that means you're getting in the shower with me?" She blushed, "just a minute," Yako went over to the phone and picked up a small black address book from the table, filled with mostly food delivery service numbers. She turned to the list of numbers on a page adorned with an M on the top right corner and dialed. "Hello, this is Yako Katsuragi, could you come over for a full bathroom job this afternoon," there was a pause as she listened, "yes, that's the right address. It's pretty much a disaster zone, I think that's the best way to describe it," another pause, "two thirty is fine, thank you."

"Who were you calling?" Neuro curiously inquired.

"The plumber, you've seen him before, the guy in overalls with the mustache that fixed the sink that time..." Yako led the way to the bathroom, which she knew would end up looking like a disaster zone if Neuro was taking a shower with her, but maybe it would be worth it.

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Mystery 60: Akane

The next day was spent going from one place to another, interviewing people, after another retelling of Akane's testimony, which was still not very informative. Yako and Neuro had identified themselves as friends of Akane, trying to reestablish contact with her. They couldn't very well say they were working for her if she was dead.

The people on the list didn't know of Akane's whereabouts, reporting that she distanced out from them then stopped contacting them altogether. They ascertained that it was an odd thing for her to do, since she wasn't the kind to leave her friends behind. She must have had some kind of problem she was hiding.

Finally, they came to the house of an old woman, who seemed to have the most informative answers out of all the people they had met so far. "Akane, my niece, Akane..." Yako felt guilty at the woman's sad expression, having reminded her of Akane. "Come in, we'll talk."

The couch was old but comfortable, in the palest shade of pink, almost white. Shades of pink and red dominated the living room with some white here and there. The walls were adorned with various portraits of flowers and there was a collection of glass angels decorating the room. Neuro didn't like the surroundings at all.

"Sweet little Akane, trying to carry the weight of the world all by herself," the woman seemed to space out, not really hearing what Yako was saying. "It was terminal, but she was determined, so determined I don't even want to know what she would do. My younger brother was going to die, but she thought, she was certain, that a heart transplant could save him. We didn't have the resources and she... I suspected she was dealing with the mafia, buying a heart in the black market and paying with an illegal loan, all to save her father; such a sweet girl, but so self sacrificing. Poor sweet Akane, I never heard from her again and I can only assume she has long since passed away."

There was a long silent pause until the woman continued, "It didn't work, the surgery was a failure, Akane denied my suspicions, but she was working extra, saying she was saving up to go back to the university, she had stopped going to be able to work two jobs to help her father and pay for his treatment, it was hard on all of us, I told her I would take care of my brother, but she knew I couldn't do it alone, I couldn't convince her to leave him to me. After the failed surgery, there's shouldn't have been a need for Akane to work so much, the hospital expenses were paid for, but there was that heart, the mysterious and suspicious donated heart, she still had to pay for the loan that obtained it, I tried to get a confession from her and tried to help her even if she denied it, but she said she could handle things on her own. I guess I didn't know what kind of trouble she was really in..."

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When Neuro and Yako returned to the detective office, Akane was full of questions, wanting to know who they had managed to find and how those people were doing. "These clues were not useful to solve the mystery after all," Neuro replied, "these were things you could have told us yourself."

Yako came to a realization, "I think I understand now, this wasn't for the sake of solving the mystery, you wanted to know how everyone was." Yako told Akane about the people they had visited, trying to focus on the lighter side of the story, how they had lived on.

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While Yako and Akane talked, Neuro and Godai had gone up to the roof, where Godai, out of Akane's hearing distance, revealed the results of his investigation. "Akane was killed by someone from the loan office where I worked in the past. There are no records about that in the office, you already knew that, so I contacted the old gang and gathered clues."

Neuro remained silent so Godai went on, "one said it was either a mistake or she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, a witness to be eliminated. Another claimed the corpse on the wall was fake, put there as a joke when we celebrated the boss birthday. The rest believe the boss killed her, but they couldn't think of an explanation, they must be lying about that, I'm sure it wasn't the boss, if it was him, I would have known, or at least, I would have been informed she was being targeted, he wouldn't kill her without a reason."

After a short pause, Godai continued, "I dug deeper and found she did have a loan, there's still no record, it was all erased, someone just reminded me of who she was and I remembered. I had forgotten the girl's name, but she did have long black hair and now that I think about it, they're very similar, I think that was Akane. That girl was always on time with her payments. She came the first day of every month at nine in the morning exactly and delivered an envelope with the cash."

Neuro's eyes glowed, "we're finally moving forward."

Godai blinked in confusion, did he miss something? Or maybe what he said matched up to another piece of information Neuro had. "What is it?"

"Akane didn't provide too many clues, but what she said fits with what you're saying, even if she kept her story short, almost as if she didn't want the truth to come out. She narrated that she went to the office to make a monthly payment and she was shot while at the office without explanation. She didn't mention witnessing anything unusual, save for the office being empty," Neuro recalled the vague clues.

"What are you getting at?" Godai was just as lost as when the investigation started.

"The clues are here," Neuro poked Godai hard on the forehead. "It's very bad having to rely on such a tiny brain, but it seems to be the only available record of what took place on the other side of the door."

"The other side of the door?" Godai questioned.

"Humans have poor memories, that much has been proven to me many times. They tend to forget details that could be important clues, so the older the mystery, the harder it is to solve. With the physical evidence altered by time, the clues must be found in the records of the past in the unreliable human mind," Neuro explained. "Even so, there are certain events that stand out, it was the first of each month that Akane came, she came at nine in the morning. What was your old boss' birthday?"

"April first..." Godai replied. "I see; it's about the corpse being put on the wall on the same day as the boss' birthday. That's why the office was empty when she came; it was his birthday so we came to work late and left early. We only took care of some basic business on his birthday, things that needed to be done right away, but anything that could wait was left for later. I don't understand; what does that prove?"

"The office was left unguarded, but Akane went in, someone must have been there before to unlock the door, or was it left unlocked?" Neuro inquired.

"I'm pretty sure the door was always locked at night, so the person that was late to breakfast on that day is the killer?" Godai asked.

"And that person is?" Neuro replied with another question.

"Let's see... That is... um... it was a long time ago," Godai tried to remember the details clearly, but he had so many meals with his coworkers in the past, it was hard to recall one specific breakfast, even if it was on the day of a celebration.

"Who had the keys to the office?" Neuro searched from another angle.

"I know the answer to that one, the boss and the second in command, but he was always the first to arrive whenever we went out to eat. I'm pretty sure that if he was late even once, I would remember." Godai felt like he was going in circles. "That leaves the boss as a suspect, but that can't be right, he wouldn't kill a paying customer. Is there something Akane isn't telling us?"

"Aside from the corpse on the wall, is there anything else that stands out from the day of the birthday?" Neuro inquired.

"Not really, everyone brought gifts and there was cake," Godai recalled.

"Think harder, even if it makes the only cell in your brain melt, was there anything at all that was unusual, even something that seems unrelated. Anything," Neuro insisted.

"Well, there was the door; someone changed the office door... I remember! There was someone who left early from breakfast, just as the boss arrived. Maybe the boss went to the office and left it unlocked for some reason so it was unlocked when he went there. He went to change the door and found Akane." Godai strained his memory, "no, that was later, Akane was always on time, but she could have been late that one day."

"I did notice the door knob being different from the hinges on the door frame and the door is only slightly different from the color of the frame, it's something a human wouldn't notice unless they search for it. Did someone tell you about the door? Why did you notice it?" Neuro asked.

Godai felt they were getting off topic, but tried to answer anyway, he opened his mouth and closed it again wordlessly, like a fish. Then finally, he remembered, "I think I broke it, not really broke it, more like made a hole in it. I was polishing the boss' gun, trying to be extra helpful since it was his birthday and all. I don't know why I was there at the office early, I think I might have volunteered to help with something before we met the others at breakfast, I forgot about this part. Anyway, the gun was loaded and I accidentally shot it, but I didn't hit anyone, missed the boss by a hair. I was angry at myself; I think that's why I forgot about it, blocked it out. The boss said it was okay; he must have seen how frustrated I was and sent me to join the others at breakfast. He said he would take care of things on his own, because there wasn't much to be done anyway, just a few calls."

"The culprit is... you!" Neuro pointed.

Godai shook his head, "That's impossible, the boss looked inside the office, I remember now. I remember he said something like, 'you didn't break anything' and mentioned no one would notice, but I was frustrated because he sent me away, he didn't give me a chance to help out with the business that morning to try to make up for messing up. He didn't even give me the duty of replacing the door, and instead had someone else do it." Godai came to a realization, "because he didn't want me to know... The boss must have hidden Akane in the wall, that's why he was late to breakfast. Then he sent someone to replace the door. The boss hid this from me, I made a mess of a good business deal, but he decided to let it go, he decided no one should know the truth."

The door that led to the stairs was suddenly thrown open and Yako rushed up to the roof. "Neuro, I need to talk to you for a minute, it's important." She gave Godai a nervously forced smiled, "excuse us," then pulled Neuro away, surprised that he went along with ease.

At the stairs, away from Godai, who was just standing there in shock, Neuro finally asked, "what is it, slave? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I doubt something like that would surprise me at this point." Yako lowered her voice and whispered, "Akane knows the answer to her mystery. She made her own investigation and put clues together. She has also been talking to Godai when we're gone; she says that without realizing it he told her a lot of things that helped her figure it out. Akane wanted to know how her friends and family were doing since her disappearance so she let us investigate, but she doesn't want us to figure it out. She thinks it was all Godai's accident and was worried that you took him to the roof to interrogate him instead of just discussing the case while Akane and I talked."

"Too late," Neuro informed, "I already pointed out the culprit."

While Yako was still in open mouthed shock, Godai went down stairs, passing by after Yako had been in silence for a few seconds. He didn't catch her conversation with Neuro, but it didn't matter anyway.

Back the office Godai stared at the braid of hair on the wall. "It's all clear now, it really was me. The boss decided to forgive my mistake and forget about it. He must have hidden the truth from the others to prevent them getting angry at me because I left them short of a paying customer. A paying customer... If the boss had told me the truth back then, I might have thought that was all. It's different now; Akane, I'm sorry! You've been a good friend to me. All those times when we talked when Neuro and Yako were out, you listened to me say bad things about Neuro behind his back for hours without complaint, then you teased me about secretly admiring him, which I still say is not true, it was nice having someone who never got tired of listening to me, even if it's just because you couldn't talk. What I mean is, I want to make this up to you; I know it's impossible, but I want to do something!"

"A very touching declaration slave number two," Neuro and Yako stood at the door. "What was that about saying bad things about your wonderful master?" Neuro pulled Godai's ear.

"Let me go! Why do you have to eavesdrop, it's none of your business!" Godai struggled to free his pained ear from Neuro's grip, though he didn't let Godai go until he started sneezing.

Angelus entered the office, "that scent, that wonderful delicious scent!" The angel looked at the words written on Akane's computer screen expressing forgiveness, "itadakimasu," he took the braid in his hand and kissed it like a gentleman from a sappy cliche romance movie would kiss a lady's hand.

"What was that?" Godai asked in confusion, there he was trying to apologize to Akane, whom he finally realize had already written her forgiveness and suddenly, Angelus arrives and it all goes seemingly off topic from there.

"Food," Angelus smiled happily, "I eat forgiveness; it was very delicious, that means it was sincere and absolute, the scent brought me here."

Godai looked at the braid on the wall, "Akane, you're too nice sometimes."

Neuro's sneezing didn't cease, "I didn't say you could feed off my slaves!"

"My apologies," Angelus then turned towards Akane and bowed, "I sincerely appreciate the wonderful meal, thank you very much," then he swiftly left.

"This mystery is too old and so much forgiveness has made it rot, I can't eat it like this," Neuro's announcement was a great relief to Godai, who wasn't looking forward to having his head chewed on by a giant bird.

"Akane, I'll still try to make it up to you," Godai assured. "I'll try to give you all the things you missed out on in life."

Akane looked happy, the braid moving around cheerfully. The crew of the unusual detective office had learned to interpret Akane's emotions, they didn't know how they could perceive her mood, but somehow they could.

"Does this means you're going to marry Akane since she didn't get the chance to find a mate while she was still alive?" Neuro voiced, with Godai babbling incoherently, Neuro left the office, dragging Yako along.

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Mystery 61: A Very Special Detective Crew

Yako drove at an unnerving speed, though she didn't really notice since her car had a few spells on it that made it very special. She and Neuro, who had actually agreed to come pretty easily, arrived at the hot spring resort in good time and were shown to their room, where they would spend the weekend. "I hope everything goes smoothly this time."

Neuro took a deep breath, "I was hoping for a mystery like last time we went to a hot spring resort, but there's no scent at all, how boring. Let's go back."

"We just got here," Yako complained. "Let's stay, it'll be fun. Please!"

"Beg."

"Excuse me?"

"I said you have to beg."

"I already said please."

"Not good enough."

Yako pouted, "that's all you're getting."

Neuro picked up Yako, throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her away, "then I'll just have to make the hot springs hot enough for you to be burned alive until you give in and behave like a good little slave."

"Wait, you can't cook me alive in there. I'm not food, I eat food; it would be too ironic if I die being boiled!"

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If Yako had known that the part about making the hot springs hotter was a metaphor and the meaning behind it, she wouldn't have struggled at all. She just hoped no one would ask too many questions about the state of the private spring that was arranged for them and the state of the room. Yako feared she would become tongue tied and red faced if anyone brought it up.

Overall the weekend at the hot springs went very well, though Neuro still complained about the lack of mystery at the resort. It felt too soon when they left the resort and returned to the office, for Yako at least, but Neuro was looking forward to being fed, despite having enjoyed the trip too, though he would never admit it.

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Yako arrived early at the office that day. When she woke up, Neuro had already left. At least she had no marker scribbles to clean, though that also meant Neuro expected her at work soon. She had breakfast quickly in her new kitchen and sighed in grateful awe looking adoringly at the large shiny new refrigerator, adorned by her old, precious fruit and candy magnets.

As she entered the detective office, Yako was greeted by a worried Godai, "what are you doing walking around so soon? Come here, sit down." He gently guided her to the couch as if she were in a terribly fragile condition.

"Godai, is something wrong?" Yako didn't understand what this was about.

"You're asking me, after going through that," Godai pointed towards Neuro, who sat behind Troy holding a relatively large egg about a foot tall.

Yako gasped, catching on to Godai's strange theory, "I didn't lay an egg! Where did that egg come from? What kind of egg is it?"

"Neuro said it was yours and his," Godai then looked at Neuro, his jaw nearly reaching the floor, voice unable to form words.

"You didn't!" Yako rushed over to Neuro. "It can't be; it just can't be. I thought I was supposed to, I mean later in the future. Is it that in your species the man lays the egg? Is Kaiyo in there? He's coming so soon?"

Looking somewhat amused, Neuro stated, "you're both idiots," with absolute certainty. "I did not, will not, and cannot lay an egg. I never said this was our child." Yako, Godai and the silent Akane waited expectantly for Neuro to finish the explanation about the egg. "This egg is mine and Yako's, it is our pet." Time stood still at Neuro's revelation. The egg he held containing an unknown creature was to become his and Yako's pet. Neuro seemed to emphasize that it belonged to both of them, as if making it clear he expected Yako to help take care of the creature.

"We can't," was Yako's first reaction. "I don't know what's in that egg but I don't think it's anything like the pets from Earth. Why can't we have a normal pet if you want one so badly?" Despite making the suggestion, Yako still felt guilty for the unfortunate earth animal that ended up as Neuro's pet.

Neuro made a sad face; his green eyes looked bigger and shinier, though not eerie at all. He pouted sadly and asked, "are you refusing my gift?"

Yako felt the guilt she knew made no sense, her brain was screaming at her not to fall for Neuro's trick, but she walked right into his trap anyway. "Alright, I'll agreed to help you take care of your pet, but we have to keep it out of trouble, you don't want it to blow your cover, right?"

"Don't worry, all the chaos will remain behind closed doors," Neuro smiled reassuringly, which was ironic given his words. "Don't forget, it's our pet, not just mine, yours too."

Yako nodded, finding Neuro's insistence to be oddly suspicious. "Alright, it's ours. What kind of creature is it?"

"You'll see when it hatches," the suspense was left to hang in the air.

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It was several days later when the egg hatched. Neuro had carried it around everywhere, claiming it was a stone that sensei said he had to carry. Neuro was already considered an oddball, albeit a human one and Yako was thought to often indulge in acts of cruelty towards her assistant, so no one insisted on learning more about the egg shaped rock or questioned it being anything other than that.

The purpose of this was to help the egg hatch, a task that Yako should have contributed to, since it was, as Neuro made sure to often remind her, their pet, not just his pet. However, being human she lacked the needed body heat, thus Neuro was left to carry the egg around and keep it warm.

Finally, one fateful day a week later, the egg hatched at the office. Neuro had been reading the newspaper at Troy, with the egg sitting on his lap, when it began to glow, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the office. Thus Yako rushed over and stood next to Neuro watching the egg, while Godai and Akane, who sported a variety of jeweled hair clips, gifts from Godai, observed the scene from a distance.

The glowing egg dimmed and cracked. A little red claw reached out, inspiring an adoring "aw" from Yako, which could have been a scream of terror coming from anyone else.

The creature in the egg continued breaking out of its confinement until it could stick its lizard-like red head out. It looked at Yako, who stood directly in front of it, and made a sound similar to a purr, then looked at Neuro and repeated the noise. The red lizard being stretched its relatively long body as if wanting to be picked out of the eggshell.

Yako understood and picked it up. "It's just like Quemar," she remembered the creature that Quemar had turned into when Phoenix of the future removed his disguise.

"It's a newt," Neuro explained, "a kind of salamander, a lesser fire creature."

"Does that mean it will be easy to take care of?" Yako thought of her own question, finding the answer by herself, "of course not, there's no way taking care of a pet creature from another world could be easy, not for a human on earth at least."

"This one is a girl; she needs a name," Neuro thought of a possible name, "Secret."

Yako looked at the creature; her red scales were surprisingly smooth and cold, like rubies. Her large silvery metallic colored eyes reflected her surroundings like perfect mirrors. Her long tail moved gently from side to side, a bit of white hair at the end, in the fashion of a lion and more atop her head, spiked up as if a white flame was lit on a red candle. "Strawberry!" Yako exclaimed, "you want to be called Strawberry, don't you?" She tickled the creature's long stomach, making her produce an odd purring giggle, which might have sounded like a growl to a human other than Yako. "That's a good girl, Strawberry!"

"Strawberry?" Neuro shook his head in disapproval, "why must you name everything after food? I bet Kaiyo's middle name in the future really is Mystery, it's a miracle you didn't name him completely after food."

"I think Mystery is a very nice middle name and I bet you picked it, besides you were trying to name Strawberry after food too, Secret is just another word for mystery, you even nicknamed me Puzzle and that's another mystery too. I'm pretty sure you were the one who named Kaiyo and I did my research on that," Yako revealed, "ka, question mark, a representation of mystery, i, stomach, yo, world, you named him after your goal, to eat all the mysteries in the world!"

"I didn't think you were smart enough to figure that out," Neuro didn't deny it.

"Only those two would name their kid after food," Godai commented to Akane. Then he attempted to give his two cents on the name situation. "How about calling her Scarlet?"

As Yako and Neuro looked at Godai, Akane, who was next to him in her usual corner, wrote "Ruby" on the computer screen.

Neuro immediately rejected the suggestions, "Scarlet and Ruby are boring names; she should be called Secret."

"Those are nice names, but I still think Strawberry is the best," Yako insisted.

Akane solved the argument by typing "Secret Strawberry" on the screen, a name which was accepted by both Neuro and Yako; though each of them would call her by their preferred name, instead of saying both.

"Then it's decided," Neuro agreed.

"Right," Yako cuddled their new pet, caught in the excitement of taking care of her with Neuro and momentarily forgetting her worries. "Your name is Secret Strawberry Nogami Katsuragi."

xoxox xox xoxox

Secret Strawberry had been easy to take care of so far. Yako rejoiced when she attempted to feed her strawberries and she ate them happily. "Look, she likes strawberries!" Yako took one and ate it herself. "I knew this was the right name for her." She was going to take another strawberry, but found the bowl was empty.

"Is that something to be proud of? That's your food she's eating, I'm glad she's not eating secrets," Neuro replied.

"Strawberry won't grow too big, right?" Yako began to worry, the bigger the creature was, the bigger her stomach would be.

"She'll be huge!" Neuro exclaimed, "too big to fit through the door!"

"You're lying," Yako pouted.

"Fine, the truth is Secret won't grow much, maybe she'll get a few inches longer," Neuro admitted.

Yako breathed in relief, then panicked when she saw Strawberry scratching the couch. "No Strawberry! That's bad!" She picked up the red creature and placed her down on the opposite side of the office, only to watch her walk back towards the couch. "Strawberry!" Yako picked her up again, if she gave her to Neuro he would let her mess up the couch, so instead she walked over to Godai who was looking over some information on the computer screen at his desk.

Noticing Yako's approach, Godai's eyes went wide and he made a mad dash for the door, only to have Yako sprint after and catch him, holding him by the arm in an iron grip, as if she was preventing someone from stealing a grocery bag out of her hand. "I'm not babysitting!" Godai half-said and half-begged.

"Calm down, I just wanted to ask you if you could go to the pet shop down the street and buy a scratching post for Strawberry and a few chew toys just in case," Yako wasn't sure how amused Strawberry would be by toys made for cats and dogs, but she would have to make due with what was available.

Godai relaxed and Yako released him, "sure, I can do that," rubbing his pained arm, he escaped the office swiftly, deciding it was best not to give his current task too much thought.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was during a quiet moment that afternoon, while Secret Strawberry played with her toys when Godai, having finished watching another episode of his favorite drama series, decided to go up to the roof and maybe smoke. Though he said he wasn't going to baby-sit, he ended up doing so anyway, watching Secret Strawberry at the office while Yako and Neuro ran off to solve a mystery.

"Let's get some fresh air," no one else in the building went to the roof anyway, so Godai didn't think anyone would see her. If anyone did, he could say she was an exotic lizard brought from some remote area in the other side of the planet.

Secret Strawberry followed Godai, wagging her tail and they sat at the roof. She curled up on his lap, looking up at him curiously.

"Uncle Godai is not food," he warned, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette and finding he had misplaced his lighter. "I need fire..."

Secret Strawberry threw a little fireball into the air; the flame flew over Godai and fell down to the street.

Godai looked down, hearing the panicked screams of the random unfortunate person whose car had been set aflame. "Crap!" He grabbed the fire breathing red lizard, rushed back to the office and pretended he didn't know what this was about. He curiously watched from the window, in the role of an innocent spectator, as people tried to put the spreading fire out.

Secret Strawberry purred, she stood on her hind legs, then balanced herself on her tail, appearing much taller with her long body upright. She hopped on Godai's back, startling him, and peeked out over his shoulder.

Godai quickly retreated, closing the window. "Why can't you just fetch the newspaper like a normal pet?"

Secret Strawberry hopped off Godai, climbed on Troy and picked up the newspaper Neuro had been examining earlier, taking it in her mouth, then returned to Godai.

Godai watched the newspaper disintegrate to ashes, which Secret Strawberry indignantly spat out. She looked at the ashes on the floor in confusion, then retraced her steps searching for the newspaper she thought she dropped, but it wasn't there. Puzzled, she looked at Godai and said, "pah-purr," as if she was trying to turn her growls into words.

"Paper?" Godai repeated in disbelief, he wasn't so surprised that she was talking, sort of. Stranger things have happened and that Quemar guy talked, though he was disguised in a different form when he did. However, he certainly didn't expect her to talk being so young. It gave Godai a sense of relief, because if it spoke, maybe it could be reasoned with, though that wasn't always the case with Neuro.

"Shu-purr-err," now Secret Strawberry seemed to be producing random syllables, which made Godai doubt if she really could speak.

"Can you understand me? If you can, nod your head," Godai instructed.

Secret Strawberry obediently nodded her head.

"So you do understand; you just haven't gotten the hang of talking yet. Okay, let's see if you understand this, sit."

Secret Strawberry coiled her body into a wheel with only the last part upright.

"Close enough, now speak, say my name."

"Goh-darr-shi, Goh-dah-ish" the sounds were a combination of growls and hisses, but somewhat understandable for someone who knew what word should be interpreted from it.

"Good girl, now roll over."

Secret Strawberry only stared in confusion.

"Roll over," Godai received nothing but more confused silence. "Like this," he demonstrated by rolling on the floor, just as Neuro and Yako returned.

"Oh no, did Strawberry set you on fire?" Yako gasped. "Strawberry, I told you not to breathe fire on people!"

Strawberry shook her head, then produced another sound, "rrrr-oh, rrrrr-oh-loh, ror-oll."

"Roll?" Yako interpreted and looked at Godai, who had jumped to his feet and was trying to act nonchalant.

"I see, Secret is teaching slave number two some pet tricks," Neuro concluded, "I knew she was smarter than him."

A series of incomplete complaints came from Godai, though he soon stopped, knowing no excuse would be good enough. He decided it was best to quietly let it go, with a few grumbles here and there.

xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox

Mystery 62: Full Circle

Secret Strawberry curiously looked at the closed door leading to her masters' bedroom.

"Neuro, stop that!"

There was pause...

"Why did you stop?"

"I'm trying to better understand the chaotic randomness of the human mind. It's odd that you say 'stop' for 'stop' and also say 'stop' for 'please master, I beg you to continue'."

"You usually don't listen to me anyway, but what counts is how it's said, the context, the tone, the expression... Oh never mind, you're right, I should just be clear, don't stop."

It sounded like her masters were busy and it was already night time, so maybe they would play with her tomorrow. Secret Strawberry returned to the living room and ate some more of the strawberries Neuro left out in her dish for her, immediately carrying Yako away afterwards, saying he would give her, "something more enjoyable than food," though Secret Strawberry couldn't imagine what it was. She guessed it was a new pillow to sleep on, there was nothing more pleasurable to the little fire creature than food and sleep.

Secret Strawberry curled up on the couch to sleep, it was soft and comfortable so she liked it, but she wasn't completely at ease, there was an odd feeling in her throat and a strange involuntary sound came from it, accompanied by a little flame. It happened again, much to the dismay of the confused Secret Strawberry, she had the hiccups.

xoxox xox xoxox

The ill-timed incessant beeping of the smoke detector echoed through the small apartment. "Fire!" Yako was immediately alarmed.

"You want me to set you on fire?" Neuro mischievously asked, "I would be happy to."

"No, the apartment is on fire!" Yako fought with the chains she was tangled up in. The links were entwined together like a puzzle rather than having a lock and Yako had become faster at figuring out how to get free with practice, she was becoming quite the escape artist.

"I'll have to get new chains if you have these figured out." Neuro pushed Yako down on the bed again, "where do you think you're going?"

"The alarm..." Yako tried to reason with him.

"Ignore it."

"I can't!"

"Yes you can," he bit her neck and trailed kisses up to her lips.

'Maybe I can ignore it for a little while...' Yako thought, then her rational side took over again when the smell of smoke became stronger and it started filtering into the room under the door. Yako pushed Neuro off, "I have to go," she squirmed until she was free.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see what's up," she threw on her robe and headed out of the room.

Neuro pouted, "you're looking in the wrong place," but Yako was already gone.

xoxox xox xoxox

The living room was a disaster with Secret Strawberry wailing and hiccupping in the middle of the flames. She didn't mean to set the furniture on fire, she couldn't control herself. "Strawberry!" Yako called out to her. "Neuro come quick!" She coughed in the smoke.

"I wish you would make up your mind," Neuro looked at the fiery mess with disinterest.

"Get Strawberry to safety, she's scared and help me put out the fire before-" it was too late, someone was already knocking on the door and Yako knew they would knock it down if it didn't open.

In a split second, Neuro ran through the flames, picked up Secret, gave her to Yako, then turned to his true form and created a massive gust of wind with his wings, which put out the flames as fast as Yako would put out the candles of a birthday cake so she could eat it. Then he went to open the door and smiled innocently at the security team, "you're here because the alarm went off? It was nothing, there's no danger here."

The security team peeked at the mess inside the apartment curiously, but they couldn't see it too well with Neuro blocking their view. He wore only a pair of pants, with a few burns in his upper body from when he got Secret out of the way before putting out the fire with the wind that sent the furniture to crash against the opposite wall. "If there are any problems, please report them. Don't forget there are people who can help," with a shake of their heads and pitiful looks, the security team left.

Neuro closed the door and looked at Yako, who held Secret, her head resting on Yako's shoulder as she patted her back. "It's okay Strawberry; I know it was only an accident. Be careful from now on and if you have any more accidents, come get me right away." Yako looked at Neuro, "you're hurt!"

"Why would fire hurt me?" The burn marks disappeared.

Yako sighed, "one of these days you're going to land me in jail. Look at the living room, what a mess and the furniture was new!" Strawberry whimpered, "it's okay, sweetie, I'm not blaming you, it's daddy's fault."

"I put out the fire!" Neuro defended.

"Thank you," Yako kissed him then went off to the kitchen, "I'm going to give Strawberry some juice and put her to bed in the guest room, I'll be right back."

"I don't trust you to be right back if you're going to the kitchen without supervision."

xoxox xox xoxox

Neuro often ran into Sai, the two getting into a fight more often than not, though he seemed to have a growing soft spot for Yako, whom he on occasion, perhaps without realizing it, had began to call 'Yako-neesan'. Things were progressing well towards the future that was expected, slowly but surely.

Beyond the future that Neuro had the chance to glimpse at, he pictured his mother, Phoenix, eventually popping up when he least expected her, willing to accept all his choices as long as she found amusement in the situations of his life.

Neuro knew his father, Yougan, would be grumpy about his choice of mate for some time, until his exaggerated yet justified fear for Kaiyo and his appetite either faded or grew to such proportions that it pushed him into denial and drove him to pretend he knew nothing of the boy's abilities.

Then, when Yougan finally calmed down and began to settle into the role of the grandfather of a half-human boy with an appetite more dangerous than his mother's, it would be the perfect time for Neuro to introduce him to Angelus. If anything, Phoenix would be amused at how her family became so varied, but Yougan would surely throw a fit about being the distant relative of an angel, the two families linked together because of Yako and Yukari being cousins.

Neuro would enjoy giving his father the news at just the right moment, if the feather duster was good for anything other than inspiring sneezes, it would be as the cause of Yougan's nervous breakdown, much to Neuro's amusement, since mother and son both enjoyed picking on him, though Nera was totally a daddy's girl. To make matters more interesting, while Phoenix could handle being around angels, it was Yougan who was cursed with both a fit of sneezes and rainbow chickenpox as a reaction.

Focusing on the present once more, Neuro went to the kitchen of the apartment, where Secret Strawberry was enjoying a bowl of red juice. Newts were primary vegetarians, a fact which had surprised Yako when she learned of it. Yako was currently preparing a delicious snack for herself, a tall mountain of multicolored ice-cream with a variety of toppings. Neuro knew she wouldn't resist the temptation of having a snack.

Yako placed the ice-cream on the kitchen table and gave it the finishing touches, noticing Neuro's curious stare, his eyes glowing with mischief. Filled with hope that felt futile, Yako offered Neuro the ice-cream, attempting to make him forget about his obvious plans of dumping the bowl on her head. If she shocked him by sharing her food, maybe she could use the distraction to her favor.

"A cold treat, for me?" Neuro was amused as if quietly laughing at a joke only he understood. "Cold things are hard to find in my world," he began to eat the ice-cream. "They're rare, nice gifts, traditional for some things. I can't taste this but the cold feels good," he continued devouring the dessert to Yako's shock and misery. "It took you long enough to correspond. I'll have to punish you for keeping me waiting."

"Correspond to what?" Yako frowned at the empty bowl.

"The newt," Neuro explained. "When choosing a life long mate, it is customary to give a pet as a gift, it doesn't matter who gives it, the male or female, the point is the couple is supposed to take care of it to see how well they can handle taking care of a living creature together. I guess the tradition originates as a sort of practice in case they have a child. The one who gives the pet took the first step so the one who receives the pet must correspond by finding a rare cold treat and giving it as a gift. I don't know what took you so long; cold things are not so hard to obtain in the human world."

Yako was speechless, her mouth hanging open in awe, she was in pure shock and it amused Neuro to no end. He knew very well that there was no way Yako would know about the traditions of his world, he didn't say much about it despite her inquiries. "Does this mean we're engaged?" She finally found her voice.

"Engaged? That is a human thing, there's no big celebration where I come from, you're my mate and that's it. That tradition with the pet and the cold treat is the only thing that's done, and not many do it anymore, it's an old tradition, from the time when my parents were young. But I might as well properly claim what's mine in the human world." Neuro took Yako's hand, retrieved a small item from his pocket and placed it in her palm, closing her fingers over it.

Yako's heart was racing so fast she could hardly look at the little object in her hand, "it's a..." she stared, "it's a mint candy."

"Your breath stinks, worm," Neuro was once again being Neuro.

Yako pouted, "it does not!" She knew he was wrong about that, but she ate the mint anyway, Yako wasn't one to refuse food and the candy looked harmless enough, though she had to ask, "you didn't put anything strange in that candy, did you?"

"It was too small to put anything really good in it, but I heard sometimes people hide things in food for others to find. Since you always end up eating the papers in fortune cookies, I thought it would be best not to put this in your food or you would eat it too," Neuro tossed a small shiny thing at Yako.

Yako caught it, confirming it was in fact a golden ring with a large diamond in the center and a pair of emeralds on either side. She put the ring on her finger, finding that it fit perfectly and jumped on Neuro showering him with affection. "I love you-ow!"

Neuro pinched Yako's cheeks, pulling her face left and right. "You were looking at me like a delicious dish you're about to devour."

Yako's smile returned when Neuro released her, he wouldn't be Neuro without his usual teasing. Though she had known about the future for some time, it wasn't until that moment when it completely sank in for Yako and it made her even happier. She would look forward to every day of her life while enjoying every second of her present and she knew the feeling was mutual.

xoxox xox xoxox

When Godai arrived at the office, he saw Yako talking to a woman with long black hair and quietly assumed she was a client, except Neuro was at Troy instead of playing assistant, which was odd. Secret Strawberry was playing with a ball of yarn and getting tangled up in it in plain sight, despite the presence of who he thought was a guest at the office. Godai didn't make his arrival known to the two females, who seemed to be absorbed in their conversation, and he didn't normally greet Neuro, instead being greeted by an order from him. Godai glanced towards Akane's corner and saw the wall had been damaged where Akane's body used to be and she was nowhere to be found, "Akane!" His arrival was finally noticed.

"Godai!" Seeing the face of the black haired woman, Godai recognized her. She wore her long hair down for easy movement, still being able to control it despite her current status as a living human, thanks to the two pink triangular batteries she wore as earrings. She hugged him, she was warm as a human should be, her lungs taking in oxygen at a steady rhythm and her heart beating strongly. "I'm human again, so don't feel guilty anymore, okay?"

After all the supernatural things Godai had witnessed, he thought nothing could surprise him, but he was wrong. "A-a-a-ka-ne!"

"It sounds like slave number three has forgotten how to speak," Neuro observed with amusement. "I promoted Akane so you're number three now."

Godai ignored his demotion and instead asked, "how did you?"

"Akane's soul clung to her body; she never truly passed on so she wasn't fully dead. All I had to do was accumulate the needed energy to restore her body and jump start her vital functions," Neuro explained. "Don't think I did this out of kindness or anything stupid like that. I just needed someone to take care of our pet while Yako and I go to the moon after that useless and bizarre earthling mating ritual is done."

The surprises kept coming for Godai, "you're going to the moon?!"

Akane giggled and Yako clarified, "we're not going to the moon, we're getting married!"

"You meant to say he," Godai pointed at Neuro, "is actually going through with an Earth style wedding? That's even more shocking than going to the moon!"

"About that, I was thinking we could let loose a few serial killers among the guests," Neuro suggested. "Then I can figure out which one killed who and have some mysteries to eat. After all, it's not fair that everyone gets to eat something delicious during my wedding except me."

"How about having puzzle themed party games and a riddle contest?" Yako offered.

"That's not good enough, you're going to be stuffing your face during the entire event, so I want some good food too," Neuro argued.

"This wedding is going to be anything but normal," Godai concluded.

"I agree; but it will be interesting," Akane voiced.

"Akane... Since it's been a long time since you last went out of this office, do you want me to show you around the city, so you can see how it's changed and stuff?"

"I would like that very much," Akane smiled.

"I told you they were lovers," Neuro spoke to Yako, but did so loud enough for everyone in the office to hear.

"Shut up!" Godai yelled, "don't let him bother you Akane," albeit she looked more so amused than annoyed, "let's get out of here," he took her hand, leading her out of the office."

"See you later," Akane went along, amused by how Neuro always made Godai lose his temper so easily, his expression was especially priceless, blushing deeply.

"Make lots of little slaves for your master!" Neuro called after the pair, with Godai yelling back some angry and embarrassed remarks, while Akane's laughter echoed.

"You're never going to stop teasing them, are you?" Yako playfully hugged Neuro.

"Your brain has truly disappeared if I have to answer that," Neuro replied.

"Here's a different question, is it okay if Angelus is at the wedding? Yukari will want to bring him, we can think of something to keep the allergies in check."

"No."

"Please!"

"No."

"Pretty please!"

"No."

"Pretty please, I beg you master?"

"You don't sound very convincing and I know you're inviting your cousin and her feather duster anyway like the ungrateful rebellious slave you are," Neuro concluded.

Yako smiled hopefully, "does that mean it's okay?"

Neuro pulled Yako closer, with a look of mischief in his glowing green eyes, "you better make it up to me when we go to the moon."

xoxox xox xoxox

Pixies are small, fun loving creatures, who live uncomplicated lives most of the time and are simple minded in many ways, making their special abilities remain unnoticed. Though lacking in physical strength due to their diminutive size, they have plenty of speed and magical potential, albeit they are too easily distracted to think about developing it past their natural instinctual abilities.

They have the potential for so much, maybe too much given their ability to time travel and cross the borders of different worlds with such ease. Yet they remain unaware of their own possibilities and perhaps it is best that way. Another interesting thing about pixies is that they are easy to persuade with the promise of amusement.

A certain pixie sensed something unusual and wandered into a certain office, where she met a certain someone while the others were away. Akane was convinced Neuro and Yako were in love, so with the help of her new little friend, she decided to give them a push in the right direction...

xoxox xox xoxox

Years later, Yako was looking at a photo album with her wedding pictures. Neuro and Yako dressed in the classic wedding attire. Neuro and Yako kissing at the altar, it reminded her of how the vows had been "for all of eternity" instead of "till death do us part".

Nera and Yukari having a food fight, while Angelus, who was wearing the neutral cloak, tried to convince them to have a truce and Yako grimaced in the background of the picture about the waste of good food. Yako's mother, aunt and uncle, Neuro had put up quite the nice act and they adored him.

Pictures of family and friends; including Sasazuka, Ishigaki and several people from the police department. Neuro and Yako dancing. Secret Strawberry disguised as a very odd long cat, eating cake. Neuro and Yako smashing cake into each other's faces, he claimed to have been worried she would bite his hand off at the time.

Neuro dancing with Yako's mom, she had to have one dance with her son-in-law, whom she insisted called her mom. Higushi dancing with Yako, he got away with it while Neuro danced with her mom. Higushi and Kanae dancing, they looked cute together. Godai dancing with Akane. Akane catching Yako's bouquet of flowers.

Then the door was opened and a rush of footsteps was heard. Yako put away the album and listened to Kaiyo telling her about his day. As Kaiyo grew, so did his special abilities; he could grow wings with violet feathers and hide them at will. "I did it, I flew all by myself!"

"Only because you inherited my genius," Neuro ruffled the boy's hair.

Yako smiled, she was proud of her son and she knew Neuro was too, "that's wonderful, let's have a feast to celebrate!"

Kaiyo's green eyes glowed brightly, "awesome!"

End

Disclaimer, I don't own Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro. In Mystery 59 the plumber is Mario.