Act 30

This page is the outline for Act 30 of the Yu Yu Hakusho Reiko Novel series titled: '''Invitees to the Dark Tournament! Toguro Returns'''.

Outline
Kuwabara returns to normal life after closing the case. After school, his friends notice how down he is. They each make a bet on what happened to him, with Kirishima guessing correctly that it was over a girl.

The entire Spirit Detective Team escorted Yukina deeper into the mountains where it snowed. She claims that portals open to the Land of Glaciers and must return, regardless of the feelings she shares with Kuwabara. It's a broken heart that has Kuwabara down in the dumps.

Botan notes on how not every case closes with a happy ending. Hiei didn’t tell Yukina he was her brother either. Like he told Kurama, it’s better this way. Yusuke asks if this is why he got the Jagan, but Hiei claims that's nonsense. Yusuke and Botan finish recalling it when she drops off the young man to meet with Keiko.

Botan returns to Koenma’s office to close the case out and scolds him for pushing Yusuke too hard. They are interrupted by Spirit World Intelligence. Agents on cleanup duty of the compound recorded footage of faking their deaths and speaking to Sakyo long after everyone left. Sakyo admits he’s impressed by the Toguros’ performance and they’re grateful their true client is pleased. The boys will make perfect participants for the upcoming Dark Tournament. Toguro notices that Sakyo’s plan was to pit their abilities against Tarukane all along, leaking the information about Yukina to Spirit Realm in the first place. These implications worry Botan and Koenma.

Meanwhile Yusuke is still on his date, he wants to ditch but they continue around the city together. They notice some commotion around missing chunks of a building, Toguro confronts Yusuke on a bike soon after, shocking the young man. He intimidates Yusuke and easily cuts through his reiko with a glance. Toguro tells Yusuke to come talk if he doesn’t want everyone to get caught up in something dangerous, including Keiko.

Kuwabara arrives in time to see Yusuke walk off with Toguro. They go to an abandoned construction site where Toguro reveals that money decided their fight long before it ever started. However, they’ll have a chance at a rematch soon. Yusuke tells him to stop beating around the bush and Toguro realizes Yusuke is afraid. This is good because fear can drive him to get stronger and reach his potential. Toguro shows off his true strength, showcasing 50% of his possible muscle mass and destroying the entire building. Toguro asks if he was too scared to flee  and claims this will be the last time he spares Yusuke’s life and blitzes behind him. He invites Yusuke to the Dark Tournament, a brutal martial arts competition organized by evil humans with underworld connections to Yokai, like the Black Black Club.

They gather who they believe to be their most powerful Yokai in teams of five and fight to the death for a fortunate so large it can grant a wish. Yokai participate for this prize and hedonism while humans gamble and watch for entertainment.

Yusuke and Kuwabara are invited as guests, and they will be killed immediately if they decline. Up til now Yusuke and Kuwabara have done well to defeat the Yokai they’ve encountered. However, Toguro reveals the average level of Yokai in the tournament C-Class and above, equal to that of Suzaku’s power. Yusuke recalls Botan mentioning the classification system and he’s shocked since he barely defeated Suzaku at his current strength. As yokai like Toguro will be participating as well, Toguro warns Yusuke to get stronger no matter what, as winning the Dark Tournament fights is the only way to survive.

Kuwabara watched the entire exchange from afar, shaken by what happened. Hiei and Kurama are nearby as well after receiving their invitations as well. They will be on Team Urameshi and are threatened with no sympathy as they’ve sided with humans. As they are teams of five, Toguro tells them to choose their last member wisely.

Yusuke learned the basics of reiko and manipulating his spirit energy, but his training with Genkai was far from complete when he left. With no other choice, Yusuke returns with Kuwabara to train with Master Genkai. She is enjoying television and drinking tea when he arrives, and is unsurprised that Yusuke has returned. She promises to go even harder on him this time and without mercy, which goes for Kuwabara as well. Yusuke swears it's different this time and he wants to become as strong as possible and push as hard as he can.

Genkai sips her tea and says if that's true they can get started immediately while she finishes her game.She tells them to expand their reiko as much as possible for as long as they can while she finishes her game. In her mind, Genkai notes that Yusuke has higher spiritual strength while Kuwabara has superior spiritual awareness. In terms of spiritual capacity their about even so she starts there. She asks both of of them to meditate and focuse on expanding their reiko aura as much as possible. Kuwabara isn’t sure what she means and Yusuke demonstrates for him. Genkai explains that Kuwabara learned to wear his ki as armor instinctively thanks to his powerful intuition. Kuwabara thinks this is no problem and fires up his spirit energy.

Meanwhile, Kurama and Hiei train against each other in a sword fight. Hiei reveals that he got Koenma to approve a visit to their home so he can gain the power necessary to survive the dark tournament. It's only temporary and Kurama has to go as his escort. Kurama appears to have some inclination of what he’s talking about and claims he’s taking a big risk but Hiei believes the reward will be worth it.

In Spirit Realm, Koenma treats the news of the Dark Tournament beginning very seriously. Koenma explains to Jorg and Botan that he;s been investigating the Dark Tournament for decades but it has always eluded him. This is their best chance to take down the evil humans in charge, making this their most important case yet. Koenma points out that if she thought the other opponents were dangerous, each participant will have C-Class and above ki in the Dark Tournament. He has Botan make sure that everyone’s training goes smoothly and informs her of Hiei’s granted visit to Demon Realm as a reward for good behavior regarding his involvement with the Yukina mission.

Botan checks in on Yusuke and Kuwabara to find them both exhausted and on the floor in pools of their own sweat. Genkai tells Botan she’s familiar with the gravity of the situation and has worked with Koenma in the past to train Spirit Detectives. She claims she’ll have them ready for the Dark Tournament in two months, and she brought in help. Kibano and Musashi appear to help with training. Genkai explains that after exhausting themselves of spirit energy by expanding their reiko, each of them must push their bodies beyond their limits and battle the psychic martial artists.

Notable Changes

 * Toguro's explanation of the Dark Tournament is expanded. He tells Yusuke the average level of a participant in the Dark Tournament is C-Class. This is a tactic to intimidate him, claiming the average fighter is on par with Suzaku, who Yusuke was barely able to defeat. Botan briefly mentioned the spirit class system to Yusuke, who likely forgot. This helps reiterate it more seriously to Yusuke. The underworld humans use the class system to place monetary value when it comes to buying and selling yokai.
 * Yusuke brings Kuwabara to train with Genkai in preparation for the Dark Tournament. They're spiritual training is heavily expanded into the next chapter, which is entirely novel original content. She begins their training with expanding on the concept of the reiko aura. At the end of the chapter the story reintroduces Kibano and Musashi. This helps visualize how far Yusuke and Kuwabara have come. This also establishes they have a relationship with Genkai and Musashi is the perfect mentor to helping Kuwabara refine his skills.
 * Rather than focus on training Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama will prepare for the Dark Tournament together. They are both still recovering their abilities since coming to Human Realm. Koenma offers them to the chance to return home and prepare for a limited time. This foreshadows Hiei obtaining the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. Additionally it'll help introduce how portals work in this universe and how Spirit Realm monitors them.
 * Additional Koenma and Botan scene to add more context to the tournament, as well as the training and Hiei's trip to Makai.