Human World, Hanging Neck Island.
Returning to the hotel room, James, Irene, and Koenma found the others chatting happily. Everyone except Hiei, that is. And from the way he was glaring at Erza, it is clear that like James, she had refused to tell Hiei what he wanted to know.
"You guys are back." Yusuke said, noticing the door open before anyone else. "What did you guys talk about?"
"Nothing important." James replied with a shrug. "Koenma was just trying to dig into my motives."
"Oh, just the nosy micro managing toddlers usual actions." Yusuke said. "I heard he has something that allows him to view any part of the Human World he wants to from his office."
"How did you hear about that?" Koenma asked in a flustered tone.
"So, the toddler is a pervert like most gods, huh?" James asked, walking into the room and picking up a can of beer from the table Erza, Shizuru, and Ogre were sitting at.
After asking his question, and twitching at James' statement, Koenma turned his attention to Botan and began to glare.
"Don't look at me, Koenma sir." Botan replied while waving her hands frantically. "I didn't tell anyone."
Because Botan was Yusuke's assistant, she was naturally Koenma's first suspect. But seeing how she denied the accusation, Koenma let his eyes wander the room. First, he looked at Kurama, who was sitting calmly while sipping a cup of tea.
'No, not him.' Koenma thought to himself before turning his attention to his next suspect, Hiei. 'No, it's not him either, he's too anti-social.'
At that moment, Hiei turned toward Koenma and glared daggers at him.
'Oh, that's right, he's a telepath.' Koenma said to himself as he noticed Hiei's glare. Not paying any more attention to Hiei, Koenma scanned the room.
Excluding Genkai from his list of suspects, his eyes finally fell on Ogre. Sitting with Erza and Shizuru, the muscular blue Ogre had his head tilted back while chugging down a can of beer as Shizuru cheered him on in an unenthusiastic tone.
"It was you, Ogre." Koenma said in a menacing tone.
Hearing Koenma's tone, Ogre coughed and spilled his beer all over himself. Then, with slightly flushed cheeks, he looked at his boss.
"Whatcha mean, Koenma *Hiccup* sir?" Ogre said with an alcohol induce slur.
"I'll deal with you later." Koenma said after glaring at Ogre with the flames of anger in his eyes. Then, he looked at Yusuke. "I actually came here for another reason. I came to give you something, Yusuke."
"Give me something?" Yusuke asked in a confused tone.
Instead of answering, Koenma reached into his pocket, pulling out a small golden egg, a moment later.
"And what is that/" Yusuke asked skeptically.
"This is the egg of your spirit beast." Koenma replied.
"Wait, I thought I sacrificed it to save Keiko." Yusuke said incredulously. "How do you have it?"
Before Yusuke became a Spirit Detective, he was killed in a car accident, saving a young boy's life in the process. However, because no one expected him to die so early in life, mostly due to his many selfish actions in the first fourteen years of his life, there was no place for him in the afterlife. So, Koenma put him through a trial that would result in him returning to the world of the living. This trial, which he would have failed spectacularly, was to hatch a spirit beast egg that would feed on his emotional energy, eventually facilitating his resurrection.
However, in order to save Keiko from a fire, Yusuke threw the egg into the fire so that Keiko would have a way out. In the end, the egg was not necessary for Yusuke's resurrection and Yusuke forgot about it completely.
"The thing about that..." Koenma said with a wry smile. "The egg actually only released the stored energy into the fire. Which was a good thing."
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked curiously.
"Well, during that whole time, all you did was exude negative energy." Koenma said. "So, if you had hatched the egg, it probably would have bitten off your head, immediately after birth."
Hearing that, Yusuke shuddered.
"Anyway, after refilling its energy with all your positive deeds, the egg is now ready to hatch again." Koenma said, holding the egg out for Yusuke to take hold of.
Receiving the egg, Yusuke looked at it intently.
"I wonder what will come out of such a small egg..." Yusuke murmured to himself.
*Crack!*
As if it wanted to answer his question, the egg in Yusuke's hand began to crack at that moment. At the same time, the egg began to glow. As the cracks expanded along the egg's shell, the glow grew in intensity. Eventually, everyone in the room was forced to close their eyes due to the bright lights coming from the egg.
"Huh?" Yusuke exclaimed before the light dimmed.
When everyone regained their sight, they all noticed that Yusuke was frantically searching around his immediate surroundings.
"What's wrong, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked curiously. "What are you looking for?"
"The egg." Yusuke said with equal parts confusion and concern in his tone. "It's gone."
Most of the people in the room were caught off guard by this statement. However, James, Irene, and Genkai were not. While James was trying to hold back his chuckle, Irene was gob smacked and Genkai showed an "as expected" expression.
A moment later, Yusuke felt something land on his head. However, before he could check to see what it was, Kuwabara looked at him.
"Pfft..." Kuwabara's breath hitched before he pointed at the top of Yusuke's head and started laughing uproariously.
Kuwabara's laughter caught everyone who was still trying to help Yusuke find the egg's attention. Then, after they looked at Kuwabara and followed where he was pointing, they also began to laugh. However, even while laughing, Keiko was the first to grab the thing that landed on top of Yusuke's head.
Finally getting a good look at what he figured was his spirit beast, Yusuke frowned at what he saw. The beast was a small bird-like creature with a blue body and a light blue underbelly. It also had a yellow beak and claws. It had a pair of arms that were too small to be functional, long floppy ears, and black hair that resembled Yusuke's when he did not slick it back.
"It's so cute." Keiko cooed while cradling the small creature in her arms.
"Pu~." The small blue creature cried happily at the cuddling.
"Is that your name?" Keiko asked in a sugary sweet tone. "Then from now on, You're Pu."
"Why does it feel like I don't' have any say in my own spirit beasts name?" Yusuke muttered in a somewhat annoyed tone.
"Pick your battles, my dude." James said, appearing behind Yusuke and patting him on the shoulder.
"*Sigh* I know." Yusuke replied with a huff.
"Yusuke, I think he kinda looks like you." Keiko said with a smile.
Hearing that, everyone in the room began to laugh while shifting their gazes between Yusuke and the spirit beast, Pu.
"Now that I look more closely, he really does." Kuwabara said through his laughter while holding his stomach.
*Bang!*
Not even half a second after his statement fell, Kuwabara was knocked to the floor by a punch from Yusuke.
"Like hell he does!" Yusuke shouted in irritation.
Seeing that his master was agitated, Pu struggled out of Keiko's arms. Then, flapping his floppy ears, he flew over to Yusuke and landed on top of his head again.
"I really think he does." Keiko said with a happy smile on her face. "He's got your hair."
"Yeah, he's got my hair right between his retarded toes." Yusuke said in annoyance before grabbing the spirit beast and holding it in front of himself.
Staring into Pu's eyes, Yusuke and Pu held eye contact for a few moments before Pu cried happily. Sighing in response, Yusuke sat Pu on a table.
"*Sigh* I feel more tire now than I did after the fight." Yusuke grumbled.
Just like that, those who could drink, drank. And those who weren't old enough, chatted excitedly. Eventually, Koenma dragged a completely smashed Ogre out of the suite while everyone else continued to celebrate. However, the celebration was brought to a sudden halt when Botan asked James a question.
"Wait, how old are you, J?" Botan asked with a slightly flushed face.
"Nineteen, why?" James asked with a curious smile. Then, his expression turned mischievous. "Are you trying to see if I'm in your strike zone? Although I'm flattered and would be happy to accept your feelings, you should know that I have a rather large harem, and you won't be the only one."
After that, the room fell silent. While Irene, Erza, Genkai, and Yusuke did not show much in the way of a reaction, Hiei snorted for the enth time while Kurama looked at James, unsure of what would be considered a large harem. Meanwhile, Kuwabara, Keiko, and Shizuru looked at him as if he had grown a second head.
"How can you have more than one girlfriend?" Keiko asked.
"He seems like a womanizer." Shizuru added. "I wonder how many girls you've deceived."
"Oh yes, with my unimaginable charm, I deceive women by telling them that I have a harem." James said sarcastically while rolling his eyes. "And as for how I can have more than one woman, I'm a devil... Our laws are different."
Flushing slightly, Shizuru's usual face of indifference was broken. She felt a certain level of embarrassment after James made his point. Keiko on the other hand started glaring at Yusuke. It was clear from her eyes what she was thinking.
Rolling his eyes in response to Keiko's glare, Yusuke decided to ignore her for the time being. Meanwhile, Botan, finally getting over James' reply, finally spoke again.
"That's not what I meant!" Botan shouted with a flushed face. "You're only nineteen. Why are you drinking alcohol?"
"Oh, is that all?" James asked with awry smile. "Keep your head in the game, Botan. I already answered that question."
"Huh?" Botan exclaimed in confusion.
Not only Botan, but Keiko, Shizuru, and Kuwabara were also confused.
"I'm a devil, our laws are different, remember?" James said, answering the un asked questions.
"Oh... Ha ha... Yeah..." Botan said with a hollow laugh, realizing that James had already said that.
After forty five minutes or so, the celebration came to an end. Then, everyone went to their rooms to get a good night's rest. To James' surprise, however, when he woke up in the morning, both Irene and Erza were in his bed, clinging to him in night gowns. Very sexy night gowns.
Slipping out of the mother and daughter's grasp, James wondered what was going on while he prepared to wash his face.
'I can understand Irene coming into my room in the middle of the night.' James thought to himself. 'Ever since I noticed that she had feelings for me, I was waiting for her to make a move. But Erza is a total surprise.'
Washing his face while he continued to think about why Erza was in his bed, James moved onto to changing his clothes. Then, he left his room to head out for some morning training.
On his way out of the suite, he ran into Yusuke, wearing a tank top and a pair of jeans, leaving the room as well.
"Morning." James said with a smile as he caught up to Yusuke. "Going out for morning training?"
"Yeah." Yusuke replied with a yawn. "If the old hag knows I'm skipping training without a good reason, she'll kick my ass."
"Yeah, she probably would." James replied with a nod. "Anyway, I'm going out too. Care for a light spar?"
"Nope." Yusuke said, shaking his head violently. "I still remember the last time we sparred while your strength was sealed. I want to be conscious for the rest of the tournament."
About a month and a half ago, Scathach slapped a seal on James that lowered his strength to lower than Yusuke's. Then, without any explanation, she threw him in a ring with Yusuke and ordered them to fight until one of them was unconscious or worse. Naturally, due to his superior fighting experience, James won that fight, knocking Yusuke out for the next week.
Expecting that response, James simply shrugged he shoulders with a smile on his face.
"Then, what do you plan to work on?' James asked.
"Energy control." Yusuke replied without hesitation. "I didn't realize how important control was until I was able to use the [Spirit Wave] so easily yesterday. Too bad I didn't bring one of those spikes, though."
"Who said you needed a spike?" James asked with a smile. "Follow me, I'll show you what you can do with enough training."
With that, James and Yusuke made their way to the hotel's backyard. Then, after taking some distance from the back door, James stopped and looked around.
"This is perfect." James said with a nod.
"And what are we supposed to do out here?" Yusuke asked, slightly confused.
"I'll show you what can be done when your energy control is good enough." James said as he coated the tip of his left index finger in his demonic energy.
A moment later, James bent over at the waist and placed his left index finger atop a single blade of grass. Then, with minimal disturbance to the blade of grass, James lifted himself into a single finger handstand on top of that single blade of grass.
Seeing this, Yusuke was in awe. Crouching down, he tried his best to make sure that what he was seeing was real.
"Good enough energy control will make it so that you don't have to use as much energy to achieve similar feats." James explained. "And when it's good enough, your energy usage will become instinctive."
Before Yusuke could respond, however, a projectile was thrown at Yusuke from behind. However, before Yusuke could react, James pushed off the blade of grass, propelling himself into the air while simultaneously turning it into a small cherry blossom-shaped blade.
In the next instant, the petal-blade flew past Yusuke and destroyed the incoming projectile. Not stopping there, it flew toward the attacker without pausing. It then flew through the middle of the attackers forehead and exited from the back of his skull.
Then, the blade returned to the blade of grass from where it originated and reattached itself to the rest of the blade of grass. A moment later, James landed on the blade of grass, still in the position of doing a single finger hand stand.