Huh, so this is technically my first official GX fic. I'm kinda shocked it's for tomorrowshipping of all things, considering I only just started shipping it after, like, episode 139, I think. And that's also after I thought really hard about it. I guess it took my brain a long while to process it.
Anyway, bolded stuff is what's said in English, 'cause you know how Jim be with that English. And per the usual, please let me know if you find any errors I missed!
"Attention students of Duel Academy. I am happy to announce that the school will be holding its first annual school dance next week on Sunday. It will be held in the gym and start at seven o'clock. I wish you all the best of luck in finding someone to attend the dance with."
Headmaster Samejima's voice suddenly booming throughout the classroom caught everyone's attention. The moment it cut off the whole class caused an uproar in talking about it. Excitement, nervousness, date offers, acceptances and refusals were shouted across the room. It was quite the mixed bag of opinions, especially since no one saw it coming. The only ones that were still quiet were Judai and friends.
"Dance? What's that mean?" Judai wondered aloud.
"A-aniki… don't tell me you don't know what a school dance is." Sho said, sounding rather disappointed.
"Nope." Judai replied as he looked at Sho and shook his head.
"Ugh… It's a thing in American schools. A dance is held at a time when school is out and all the students go with a date or as a group of friends. You just go and, kinda, hang out. And dance of course." Sho explained.
"Will there be dueling?" Judai inquired, that clearly being the only question that mattered to him.
"Probably not, but I can't imagine anyone would stop you if you tried. This is a duel academy after all." Sho replied.
"Hmm. Yeah, don't think I wanna go." Judai said.
Sho realized Judai must have turned off his hearing after saying 'probably not' and decided it wasn't worth bothering. Sho sighed, yet internally commended the lengths Judai went to to do nothing but duel.
"Well, do you think you'll go, Kenzan-kun?" Sho asked Kenzan, who was sitting on the other side of Judai.
"Eh, I can see us goin' as a group… but if Aniki doesn't wanna go then I don't really either, don." The younger male responded.
Sho let out a quiet groan. He was a bit interested in going since he'd never been to a dance before, but the thought of asking someone out sent his nerves into shock. He thought Kenzan's idea of going as a group was nice, but if neither of the other two wanted to go then that just wouldn't happen. Going alone felt too embarrassing so that was also out of the question.
"While you losers be lonely in your dorms, I'll be enjoying a dance or two with Tenjoin-kun." Manjoume bragged.
Judai, Sho, and Kenzan turned around to look at Manjoume, who was sitting behind them. They all shared a glance at each other then looked across the classroom to where Asuka was sitting. Junko and Momoe were clearly talking to her, but she didn't seem too engaged in the conversation.
"You asked her out that quickly, don?" Kenzan asked.
"And she said yes?" Judai added.
"W-well… n-no. But there's no way she could refuse the amazing, handsome, and talented Manjoume Thunder!" Manjoume declared and proudly pointed his thumb at himself.
His three classmates stared at him with blank expressions for a few moments.
"...You look like you haven't slept in four years." Sho quipped.
"You look like you haven't washed your clothes in four years, saurus." Kenzan pointed out.
"Haven't you been getting rejected by her since last year anyway?" Judai added insult to injury.
Manjoume flinched and slammed his hands on the table, startling the two students on either side of him.
"None of that's true! And that doesn't matter anyway 'cause I already came up with a sure fire plan to get her to say 'yes'!" Manjoume shouted.
"Which is?" Sho questioned, not too optimistic that said plan would actually work.
"Like I'd tell any of you! I don't need you all stealing my perfect plan from me." Manjoume aggressively refused.
"I don't think any of us wanna ask out Asuka-senpai, saurus." Kenzan stated.
"Good! Keep it that way." Manjoume replied.
"Uh-huh…" Sho muttered, mainly to himself.
Across the classroom, Asuka blanked out everything Momoe and Junko were saying to her and each other. She was too interested in the sudden announcement. A dance being held at Duel Academy was certainly something new, but she wasn't sure whether she'd attend or not. It seemed like a nice chance to have a fun time with her friends, but the way they were talking about it, Asuka got the feeling Momoe and Junko would be too busy trying to find dates.
Asuka was pulled from her thoughts by Momoe tapping her on the shoulder. She looked over at Momoe to see a concerned expression on the raven-haired girl's face. She pointed to the other side of herself and Asuka finally noticed the nervous looking Ra yellow boy standing next to their table. Behind him were two other yellow students, seemingly there to back up their friend.
"U-uh… Um… A-Asuka-san… would you- er… do you wanna… m-maybe… go to the- the dance with me…?" The boy barely managed to get out.
Asuka sighed. And then there was that issue. Asuka knew she'd be getting a lot of date offers thanks to the dance, but she didn't think the first one would happen so quickly.
"I'm so sorry, but I'm not interested." Asuka rejected.
The boy flinched and dropped his head low. One of his friends patted him on the shoulder and the other gently pushed him back up the steps to their seats. Asuka almost felt a bit bad for making him upset. Almost.
Momoe and Junko looked back to Asuka.
"Aah, Asuka-sama! I'm so jealous! You get asked to the dance not even minutes after it's announced and you reject him!" Momoe complained.
"Oh trust me, there'll be plenty more where that came from." Asuka stated.
"Saaay, Asuka-sama~ could you maybe, oh, I dunno, a-"
"I will not ask out my brother for you." Asuka refused before Junko could finish her request.
"Aaaawww…" Junko whined.
'This is going to be a long week.' Asuka thought.
Classes ended for the day and the student body piled out of their classrooms. Everyone scattered all over the island to go do whatever after-school activities they had planned, although it didn't take long to realize that most students appeared to be caught up in the dance drama. Students were attempting to ask out the person they had a crush on, or were simply work up the courage to do it later in the week. Some groups were organizing their plans for Sunday, while others didn't seem the least bit concerned about it.
As Jim walked down to the path from the school building to the Obelisk blue dorms he chose to people watch everyone he passed by. There was a girl nervously holding out a flower to an Osiris red boy. A Ra yellow boy writing, what could only be a love letter, as he sat in the grass. Even an Obelisk blue boy running away from two Osiris reds, although Jim couldn't quite figure out what that was about. As he got closer to the blue dorms he spotted two girls taking up the pathway, duel disks active and glares that could probably kill a man.
"I'm going to ask Aya-senpai to the dance!" The left one shouted.
"I told you I wanted to ask her!" The right one yelled back.
"Duel!" They both announced.
Jim took a step back and chose to go around the two girls instead. That was not a duel he wanted to get in the middle of.
Jim walked closer to the bushes nearby, feeling safer that way for some reason. He got a bit closer to his dorm, but stopped where he was when he felt Karen wiggling in her harness.
"Rrgh, rgh!" The crocodile growled.
"Calm down, Karen." Jim told her as he reached a hand behind his head to pat Karen.
Right next to him the bushes started rustling and Jim flinched. He stepped away from the bush, unsure what was in it. To Jim's surprise, O'Brien of all people stumbled out of the bush. His foot got stuck for a moment and he almost stumbled to ground. Jim opened his mouth to say something, but O'Brien quickly shoved a hand over Jim's mouth.
"Shh!" O'Brien shushed Jim before looking over his shoulder at the bush.
A few moments passed until O'Brien finally lowered his guard and removed his hand from Jim's mouth.
"What was that about?" Jim questioned in a whisper, unsure if he should be on high alert.
"I think I'm being stalked." O'Brien stated rather nonchalantly.
"Stalked? By who?" Jim asked, definitely growing more worried.
"I-... Um, I have no idea…" O'Brien hesitated to answer.
Jim felt any and all concern he had for the situation disappear at O'Brien's response.
"Just- Ugh, look, trust me. I know what it feels like to be stalked." O'Brien continued. "Ever since I left class I've had this feeling that someone was constantly right behind me, but I haven't been able to notice anyone."
Something clicked in Jim's mind. He smiled and placed a hand on O'Brien's shoulder, confusing the shorter male.
"I get it! It's because of the dance. Someone's just too afraid to ask you to be their date." Jim suggested.
O'Brien glanced down to look at Jim's hand before gently removing it from his shoulder. "I hope not. I have no interest in going to that dance and I'd rather not have to deal with letting someone down like that."
"But that's no fun! What if you find out you like them upon meeting them?" Jim wondered.
"I don't… like people like that." O'Brien replied and diverted his gaze, finding it hard to discuss such a topic with Jim.
The boys were disturbed by a sudden feedback sound echoing throughout the campus. They groaned and covered their ears from the grating noise. Karen growled and shook around in her harness since she couldn't do anything to block out the sound. Plenty of other students nearby shouted in surprise and covered their ears as well.
"Testing, testing!"
The feedback stopped and was followed by a voice booming across the island. O'Brien shook his head in a vain attempt to get the ringing in his ears to stop. Jim reached back to pat Karen.
"Are you okay, Karen?" He asked.
"Rrrgh…" Karen growled in response, sounding upset.
"What in the world was that?" O'Brien questioned.
"No idea." Jim responded.
O'Brien looked up in time to see a giant shadow eclipse everything in front of him. Looking further up into the sky, his eyes widened when he noticed the giant blimp looming over the island. Jim, realizing something caught O'Brien's attention, turned around to also notice the blimp hanging in the sky.
"Is that a blimp!?" Jim asked, completely shocked by its sudden appearance.
"Tenjoin-kun! I know you can hear me! Look! Look upon the sky and realize my feelings for you! Please! Go to the dance with meeee!"
Everyone covered their ears again at the loud shouting. The blimp continued to pass by and O'Brien and Jim were able to get a good look at the side of it. It was a gigantic screen showing an image of Asuka and Manjoume with a flashing heart in the middle.
"He's lost it, he's really finally lost it."
O'Brien and Jim ungracefully jumped at hearing a third voice and looked over to see Asuka standing there, her arms crossed and a look of disappointment on her face.
"T-Tomorrow Girl!? How did-"
"I came from the bushes." Asuka cut off Jim and pointed over her shoulder.
"Wait," O'Brien looked from Asuka, to the bush, and back to Asuka. "are you the one stalking me?"
"Stalking you? Why would I stalk you? I snuck my way over here to avoid everyone wanting to ask me to the dance." She explained.
O'Brien felt embarrassed for assuming Asuka was the one stalking him. Of course it wasn't her, she was too confrontational to resort to that and there's no reason she'd feel the need to do it in the first place.
Behind them, the bushes rustled again and the three students flinched. O'Brien pulled out his duel disk to defend them from whatever was about to strike.
"A-aniki! Stop pushing me!"
"I'm gonna fall, saurus!"
"I can't see! I can't see!"
With a triple layered scream, Judai, Sho, and Kenzan all tumbled out of the bush and fell to the ground. Kenzan on top of Judai and Judai on top of Sho. Sho flailed his arms around underneath Judai in an attempt to free himself of the massive weight on top of his small body. Kenzan was first to stand up. Judai held a hand out and Kenzan helped him up. Sho was still in shock from almost being crushed and barely managed to get on his feet, his whole body somehow wobbling.
"Are you guys alright?" O'Brien asked, putting his duel disk away. He didn't bother to ask if any of them were the one stalking him since he knew it couldn't have been them.
"Yeah, I think. Sorry, Sho." Judai replied and apologized.
"Ugh, it's fine. I don't think anything's broken." Sho said and patted himself down a bit just to be sure.
Kenzan rubbed the back of his head and pulled out a twig from underneath his bandanna, flicking it back into the bushes.
"Were you three following me!?" Asuka interrogated them in an accusatory tone.
The three boys flinched and backed up against the bush.
"Uh… technically, don." Kenzan nervously responded.
"B-but we weren't doing it in a creepy way!" Sho defended.
"Yeah! We just wanted to make sure you got back to your dorm without being harassed about the dance." Judai explained.
"Oh," Asuka let out a sigh and calmed down. "well thanks, I guess, but next time don't be so weird about it. And I can handle that myself anyway."
"Eheh… sorry." Sho embarrassingly apologized.
Jim chuckled to himself. He found the antics of Judai and his little bro's to be the perfect source of comedy for him.
"So, what's the big blimp thing about?" Judai wondered, casually pointing into the sky.
They all looked up at the blimp that continued to float across the island.
"It's Manjoume-kun. He's asking me to the dance, like he doesn't expect me to say 'no' for the umpteenth time." Asuka grumbled.
"That's what he was planning!?" Sho exclaimed in disbelief.
"How'd he do it that fast!?" Kenzan questioned.
They all watched for a few moments as the blimp still went on it's way. The shadow it created over them had long since passed.
"Is he always doing stupid things like that?" O'Brien inquired as he looked back to the blonde.
"He's done stupider things, but I'd say this is the most outrageous." Asuka replied with an exasperated sigh and put a hand over her forehead in disappointment.
"Are you going to go with him?" Jim asked.
"Of course not. Are you going?" Asuka replied, intending to sound more sarcastic than she actually did.
"I'd like to." Jim stated.
Everyone looked at Jim with curious expressions. While no one thought Jim would be completely against the idea of attending the dance, they also didn't think he'd go out of his way to want to.
"Are ya gonna go with Karen or something?" Judai glanced at O'Brien. "Or is it gonna be you two?"
O'Brien and Jim turned to look at each other. It took them a moment to understand the meaning of Judai's words. Once getting it, O'Brien tensed up and took a step away from Jim. The other male simply burst out laughing at Judai's insinuation.
"Haha, funny Judai, funny! But we're just friends!" Jim happily said and clasped a hand on O'Brien's shoulder.
"Please… stop touching me." O'Brien stressed and once again removed Jim's hand from his shoulder.
"Judai, you have got to learn to be more careful with your words." Asuka scolded.
"What? I was just askin'!" Judai responded and shrugged his shoulders.
Sho sighed at him while Kenzan chuckled at Judai's cluelessness.
"So, will you three be there?" Jim wondered.
"I dunno about them, but I don't wanna go." Judai answered, referring to his bro's.
"If Aniki's not going then I'm not either, don. Besides, I'd rather not do anything that requires me dressing up like a monkey." Kenzan said.
"You mean wearing a suit?" Sho assumed.
"Yeah, that." The younger confirmed.
Another screech of feedback startled everyone and they quickly covered their ears. The noise irritated Karen again as well.
"Tenjoin-kun! I know you can hear me! Give me your answer!"
Manjoume fell silent again and everyone waited for the painful ringing in their ears to stop.
"That's it, I'm boarding myself up in my room for the rest of the week." Asuka grumbled as she turned around to walk away.
"B-but what about class?" Sho asked in a vain attempt to stop Asuka.
"I can have Momoe and Junko makes notes for me." She answered.
"Hey! Don't worry, Asuka! I'll just duel Manjoume and any other guy that wants to ask you to the dance!" Judai declared.
Jim glanced at Judai with a somber expression on his face.
"While I'd prefer to do that myself, that's far too many people for one person to duel over a single week." Asuka stated.
"Um, did you forget who I am? No amount of duelists is too many for me!" Judai proudly exclaimed.
"Give it a rest, Judai. It's not that big of a deal." Asuka said before finally leaving the boys to go to her dorm.
The group was quiet as they watched her walk away. Jim seemed extra focused on keeping an on her until she was out of sight.
"Does Asuka-san seem more serious than usual to you guys, or is it just me?" Sho inquired.
"No, I'm seeing it too." O'Brien reassured Sho.
"I'd probably be acting the same way too if I was her, saurus. Isn't Asuka-senpai really popular anyway?" Kenzan added.
"Mhm, I guess. I know I've seen plenty of guys trying to get her attention before. At least, like… uuuhh…" Judai paused to start counting on his fingers, but Sho made him put his hands down.
"You're gonna take too long doing that, Aniki." Sho stated.
Judai let out an embarrassed chuckle and rubbed the back of his head.
Without warning, Jim immediately began to walk away as well. The four left behind were surprised, since Jim wasn't the type to just leave so abruptly, and without saying anything either. O'Brien stared him as he got further away.
"Oh great, now Jim's acting weird too." Sho complained.
"Maybe this dance thing is way more serious than we thought, don." Kenzan assumed.
"It's just a dance, how big of a deal could it really be?" Judai questioned, doubting it was actually anything to worry about.
"We saw a guy get punched by another guy over a girl on the way here, Aniki." Sho reminded him.
"Well, yeah, but other than that…" Judai trailed off, not sure where he was going with that.
"Uh, I'm gonna go. See you guys later." O'Brien said before quickly running after Jim.
"Eh!? Not you too, O'Brien!" Judai loudly complained.
"We're being abandoned, saurus! Look what this dance is doing to everyone! It's tearing us apaaart!" Kenzan yelled.
"Don't be so melodramatic about it!" Sho scolded the underclassmen, making him snap out of it.
"Mmmn… Let's go find something else to do, I don't wanna think about this dance thing any longer." Judai decided.
His bro's nodded and followed after him as he walked away from the blue dorms.
O'Brien caught up to Jim and walked alongside him to their dorm. He looked at Jim, noticing an unusual level of determination on the other male's face. Well, it was either that or concern, but O'Brien hoped it was the more positive of the two. He wanted to ask Jim if something was wrong, but he wasn't sure if Jim would give him any truthful answers. O'Brien instead opted to stay silent for the time being.
The two boys made their way to their dorm without a sound uttered between them. O'Brien slowed down a bit to see where Jim would go, noticing he just kept going - most likely headed to his room. O'Brien continued to follow after Jim, since their rooms were in the same hall. Jim being so quiet just felt plain odd to O'Brien. Sure, he could have his moments of silence, but Jim usually had something to say about everything. Considering the out of place events in the day so far, O'Brien decided it was safe to assume that Jim's silence had to do with the dance. Jim did say he would like to attend it after all. Maybe he got too hung up on thinking about who to ask out. If that was the case then O'Brien definitely didn't feel like it was in his place to pry. Still, he did want to make sure everything was okay.
O'Brien reached his room door first and waited until Jim got to his own door a few rooms down.
"Hey," O'Brien called out. "you good?"
Jim stopped in front of his door and looked over to O'Brien, flashing one of his usual smiles. "Yes, I'm good."
And with that, Jim disappeared into his room and shut the door. Settling with his answer, O'Brien stared at Jim's door for a few moments before entering his own room.
Inside Jim's room, he laid down on his bed and stared up at his ceiling. He was deep in thought when Karen crawled up and rested her head on his torso. He glanced down and smiled at her, patting her on the head.
"How do I ask her if she'll say no? Maybe I just shouldn't ask at all…" Jim muttered.
"Rgrgh. Rgh." Karen growled, telling Jim something only he could understand.
"Yeah, I suppose I could do that." Jim responded, sounding a little more optimistic.
Halfway across campus, Manjoume sat on the roof of the school building with a megaphone in his hand. He watched his blimp slowly go by over the island with a somber look on his face. Ojama Yellow, Ojama Green, and Ojama Black floated up to him.
"Don't worry Aniki, she'll come around eventually." Yellow encouraged him.
"Yeah, you just gotta give her time!" Green added.
"There's still plenty of time until Sunday after all." Black backed them up.
Manjoume groaned before violently swatting a hand at the three Ojama brothers.
"I don't need pity from trash like you!" He shouted.
"Aniki!" Yellow cried out in fear as he and the other two distanced themselves from Manjoume.
"I gotta figure something better out. Something even more impressive." Manjoume stood up and held the megaphone up to his mouth. "I won't give up, Tenjoin-kun! You hear me?! I won't stop until you agree to go to the dance with me!"
"Shut up, Manjoume!" Someone down on the ground shouted at him.
Manjoume was about to yell back at them, but an empty soda can they threw suddenly flew up at him and smacked him in the face. He lost his balance and fell on his back. With a yelp of pain, Manjoume put a hand over his sore face and continued to lay there. The Ojama's floated in front of him and exchanged concerned looks with each other.
"It's Manjoume-san…" He grumbled.
I have no idea how long this fic will be(although I wouldn't expect it to exceed ten chapters), so I don't have a set word minimum yet. Meaning following chapters are probably going to be much longer. Depends on how much I decide to do with this I guess. Tbh I'm really just cobbling this together as I go and seeing what I get. Also, I have absolutely no idea what I'm trying to imply with O'Brien, so don't read too far into anything he says.