"Astral!"
The lights are blinding him, but he still reaches out, even though the spirit would go right through him.
There's a sad smile on Astral's face, his eyes are shining. Is he crying? Do Astral beings even cry? Yuma doesn't know, and he doesn't want to ask because that would be the last thing he could say and oh god now he's crying everything sucks everything stinks.
Of course Yuma knew this day would come, and he knew that he was doing Astral the biggest favor by helping him regain his memories, but now…? He just wanted to tear up every single card and make Astral stay.
But that's selfish, and Yuma knew that was selfish. So he just cried, and when Astral tried to hug him goodbye but just phased through, his sobbing got louder.
"Yuma… I hope that one day we meet again. You thought me so much, and I'm glad I met you. Goodbye."
Whispering 'don't go's under his breath, Yuma looked up at Astral's fading body, and nodded. "I… I'm glad I met you too. Goodbye Astral…"
"Yo, Kotori!"
A 17 year old Yuma smiles, waving at his friend as they meet up to walk to school. Kotori waves back, grinning. They walk together now, talking about their mornings and other normal things.
"Hey, did you hear? Appearantly we're getting a new student today." Kotori says, excitement in her voice. Yuma practically glows, and he does a little cheer. "Awesome! More people to duel!"
Tetsuo is already at the entrance of the school, along with some other of Yuma's friends. They all exchange greetings and walk to their classes.
When Yuma steps into his classroom, his heart stops.
There's a pale boy standing in the front of the classroom, gold eyes serious and aware. His windswept blue hair doesn't do anything to cover his small earrings. Yuma knows he's seen him before, he looks so familiar he swears it —-
Soon, more of the students file in, making Yuma snap out of his trance and sit down. When all the ruckus calms down, the teacher greets everyone, and gets to business.
"Today we have the pleasure of getting a new student! Please introduce yourself."
Clutching at his school bag, the boy clears his throat, and his voice is deep but not too much - it fits him.
"My name is Ikite Iru, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Ikite Iru… that doesn't sound familiar. Yuma shrugs - maybe he just thought he'd met him before. Either way, Ikite seems like an okay guy. What kind of deck does he run? Yuma hopes he likes duel lunches.
There's a popular fandom theory that there's a sort of connection between Astral beings, humans, and Barians.
Astral Beings - Before Being Alive
Humans - Alive
Barians - After Being Alive
So, someone said what if when Astral leaves, he comes back as a human? Of course, different - but a reincarnation. So, yeah.