Today is day seven.
Ryoga is almost sure of this; it's hard to tell, when he's woken up to it being the same Tuesday seven times in a row. It had started out a perfectly ordinary Tuesday: wake up, go to school, endure classes that were boring and annoying, refuse to go hang out with Yuuma and his lame friends, and spend the afternoon working on his deck, then his homework. Make himself dinner. Sleep.
But he woke up and it was Tuesday again. And he woke up and it was Tuesday again. Ryoga tried varying his behavior, looking for something ,anything unusual or weird that could explain it. But there was nothing. He tried wandering around Heartland all night looking for suspicious duelists, tried skipping school, tried just making small changes, tried not changing anything.
Nothing worked, and he still doesn't know what he was doing wrong.
So day seven begins like day one, but angrier. Ryoga brushes his teeth hard, yanks on his clothes so hard he nearly pops off a button, brushes his hair in quick violent strokes. He drives too fast to school, skidding to a screeching stop in the parking lot where students are not supposed to park but where he always does. He has sat through these classes six times already, and he can almost recite the lecture in time with the teacher. He amuses himself by testing how much he remember: does he know who will raise their hands next, and when?
He can't wait to get out of school, but he goes out the front door before he remembers that Yuuma will be waiting to ambush him there, and by then it's too late.
"Shark!" Yuuma tugs on his arm excitedly. "Are you coming with us? We're going card-shopping!"
"No." Ryoga starts to pry his arm out of Yuuma's grip — he wouldn't mind going card-shopping with Yuuma alone, but he's pretty sure Yuuma's friends don't like him and the feeling is mutual — and then it occurs to him. Yuuma. Yuuma is one of the causes of weirdness in Ryoga's life, and also if this is a time loop that only he can remember…then maybe…he has some room, to make mistakes.
"Actually…" Ryoga hesitates, looking for the right words. "Do you want to go somewhere with me? Alone?"
He sounds like a serial killer, and he regrets the words immediately.
"Right now?"
"Yeah." Ryoga is dreading Yuuma's refusal, his insistence that they should all go, together, but instead Yuuma nods.
"Yeah! We've never hung out before! Hey, guys, Shark and I are hanging out, okay?"
He turns and waves at his friends. He yells at them to go on without him, and they do, and then Yuuma is following him to the parking lot.
"Where do you wanna go?" Yuuma asks as Ryoga hands him a helmet and uncovers the back seat. He hasn't used it since Rio went to the hospital, and it feels a little odd, watching Yuuma get in where she used to sit.
Ryoga doesn't know where they're going, so he just says, "It's a surprise," and ignores Yuuma's questions and cute pouting and begging. Yuuma hangs onto the back of his seat as he drives, and then grabs him by the shoulders when he speeds up. He hangs on tightly, and Ryoga is glad that Yuuma is behind him, and can't see him blush.
This isn't a date, he reminds himself. You're just hanging out.
It feels good to have Yuuma to himself, though. Yuuma always comes and talk to him, and invites him to join him at lunch, and follows him around demanding dueling practice after school until Ryoga caves, but he's always got someone with him. He's being included, and Ryoga knows that he's not very good socially and Yuuma is trying to be nice to him. But Ryoga isn't interested in having Yuuma and all his friends, in being part of their group.
Yuuma is very cute, and idealistic, and somehow he turns losing moves into winning ones, and what Ryoga would like to do is hold his hand and kiss him and not have to share him, except that that's dumb, because he and Yuuma have been friends for only a month or two and Yuuma's other friends have had him much longer. Really, aren't they the ones sharing?
"Hey, Shark?" Yuuma taps him on the shoulder as he parks. He's been driving on autopilot, lost in the feel of Yuuma's hands on his shoulders, in wants and wishes. "Why are we at the hospital?"
Ryoga swallows. "I…I want you to meet someone."
Yuuma looks confused, but he takes off the helmet and follows Ryoga into the lobby, where they sign in. There's no need to ask for directions; Ryoga could find Rio's room with his eyes closed. In her condition there's no reason to move her, and so she's had the same room the entire time she's been under.
This is stupid, Ryoga thinks. Why did I bring him here? We hardly even know each other even if I…
Yuuma catches his hand as they walk down the hallway, and Ryoga nearly trips over nothing in surprise. This is the seventh time he's lived this day, and at this moment Ryoga hopes it will be the last, just so this can be real. Yuuma's fingers lace with his.
He leads Yuuma into the room. The sunlight is bright through the window, and Rio is lying in the same position on the bed she always is in, hands almost as white as the sheets beneath her skin, bandages over her eyes, the heart monitor beeping gently.
"This is my twin sister, Rio." Ryoga says. He has not said these words out loud in so long. "There was a fire, and…"
Tears prick the corners of his eyes. Yuuma squeezes his hand, and asks him nothing, and after a few moments Ryoga can go on.
"She's in a coma," he finishes. "The doctors don't know when she'll wake up."
"You must miss her a lot," Yuuma says.
"Yeah." Ryoga wipes at his eyes. "Our parents are dead, so…she's my only family."
There is silence again.
"Hey." Yuuma is the one to break it. He nudges Ryoga with his shoulder. "Let's go to the card shop."
"Yeah." Ryoga turns towards the door. The sight of Rio always hurts his eyes, like his mind is rejecting the idea of her being so still, so close to not being there at all. "Sorry. I shouldn't have…you'd have had more fun with your friends."
They leave the room, and walk out of the hospital. Ryoga moves quickly.
"And then you can come eat dinner at my house!" Yuuma continues as though he hasn't heard. "My grandma makes the best duel rice in the world. You should come everyday."
"Everyday?"
"Just until Rio wakes up…" Yuuma ducks his head. "It must be lonely to eat by yourself, right?"
Ryoga can only nod. He can feel a lump in his throat, and he doesn't want to embarrass himself any further by crying.
"Shark…" Yuuma stops outside the hospital on the sidewalk, midway to the bike. "You bringing me here…it's like we're really getting closer, huh?"
"Y-yeah."
"Your sister looked pretty cool," Yuuma adds. "Like you. Um."
Ryoga doesn't know what to say to that, to Yuuma who is more subdued than usual — probably in deference to his feelings — so he just squeezes Yuuma's hand and takes him to the bike and drives him home.
He pulls up outside Yuuma's house. "Later," he says, as nonchalantly as he can manage.
"We should do more stuff together," Yuuma says. "Like duel! You should come over and duel with me. Astral only ever picks on me."
"That;s because you suck."
"Shaaaark," Yuuma whines, and then he grins.
Yuuma kisses him chastely before he has time to react, and then he is yelling goodbye and running into the house and slamming the door shut behind him. Ryoga's whole face is on fire, and he revs the bike loudly before he drives off to jerk himself back to his senses.
Halfway home he remembers today is day seven, and tomorrow might be day eight of the endless Tuesday, and Ryoga feels the dread low in his belly. Today has been too perfect. Maybe it'll be taken away from him, just like everything else.
It's still light out when he gets back, but he changes and does his homework in bed and reads until his eyelids are heavy. He watches the clock tick down, closer and closer to midnight, with bleary eyes. Will it keep going, or will it begin again? Just a few more minutes….just a few…just…
[When Ryoga wakes up, it is Wednesday. He finds Yuuma after school and kisses him hard on the mouth, and when Yuuma looks pleased and confused, he tells him nothing. He should have known that only Yuuma could break the loop; after all, Yuuma hasn't led him wrong so far.]