Looking over at Astral and smirking, Shark couldn't help but exchange smiles with the other.
Yuma was yammering away a high speed, addressing both Shark and Astral at the same time. Gesturing wildly over at Astral when Shark would side him off, the two couldn't help but find it amusing seeing the young boy acting so frazzled.
And oh the looks.
The looks they got from Yuma arguing with thin air was great. Yuma had been pestering Shark all afternoon to do Zexal with him again so Astral could try this weird kind of rice ball Yuma tried to make.
Now on any other day Shark would have dived straight into a duel with the duo. But upon tasting the sticky, hard concoction Yuma produced, he refused to let him to do so.
"We're in public, Yuma," Shark tried to reason for the hundredth time that afternoon.
"Are you quite sure I will die from eating Yuma's cooking, Shark?"
"Absolutely. Got your back, man. Nearly croaked myself."
"That's not true, Shark! Come on! Stop being such a scardy cat!"
"Yuma, that's not true." Astral interjected, causing them both to pause.
"Astral really…" Shark mumbled, not wanting to hear some kind of, "Shark's a great duelist" speech…
"Cathy is the cat. Ryouga is the shark, you are incorrect in your observations," Astral put bluntly, nodding to the both of them.
"That's not what I meant at all!" Yuma blanched, grumbling over at Shark as he cackled slightly to himself.
Really, it wasn't too bad hanging out with these guys. Yuma was always some kind of form of entertainment. Be it dueling, chatting, or just poking fun at him for one thing or another.
It was nice that he could see and communicate with Astral now as well. He never expected to grow so close to the guy he blamed for his first defeat from Yuma.
So much had changed that day…and as wrong as it felt back then, he was glad he was where he was today.
They were…his friends. He could say that confidently enough. He could trust them in a tag duel and chat with them without any barriers around.
It wasn't…strange being around them. Everything felt natural.
He was glad.
