Ruri pressed another rag over her brother's forehead and leveled Yuto with a single glare, "Just how did you two manage to turn recycling into a contact sport?"
"It wasn't our fault." Yuto tried to reason with her. He was nervous; he knew blind overprotectiveness sort of ran in the family. "It was that guy I mentioned yesterday - he did it when we weren't looking."
Shun squirmed below another harsh press. "You know we can't let people step on one of us like that -" He swore. Ruri eased up with the wet compress. Shun continued, "you're the one always talking about adjusting to society's-"
Ruri huffed, "Adjusting to our new home doesn't mean you can go and pick fights when you feel like it."
"It wasn't cause I felt like it - this is gang territory you can't just let something like that go!" Shun growled meekly in protest. Ruri continued her medicinal onslaught. She pulled out the remains of their spare first aid kit. They didn't have enough gauze.
"Ruri, Shun made the right call." Yuto kept his voice level, "You know if you let someone take advantage of you on the junk line everyone knows about it. Shun was doing that guy a favor."
Ruri tore the gauze between her teeth and began wrapping Shun's forearm, "So you think playing heroes-" She paused losing one end between her shaking fingers. "-gives you two an excuse to get into a knife fight?"
Shun rolled his eyes, "It wasn't a knife fight. It was a duel!" Ruri tore off another strip of cloth from her skirt, both Yuto and Shun winced at the sound.
She wrapped a layer of the faded purple cloth over the gauze, tying it secure. "Shun, you need to get a little better at lying." Ruri frowned, "I make rules for a reason. Do you think I'm stupid or something?"
"No ma'am!" Yuto fell in line next to Shun. Ruri watched her brother stand in attention next to his best friend.
"No sir!" Shun smiled. Ruri punched him lightly in the gut. She was smiling too.
In the two years since the academia invasion, she'd quickly settled into a leadership position and begun making some changes. He was glad. Having her in charge meant he could rest easy. She had a good head for dealing with tough situations.
Leave it to the marketing student to lead a resistance group.
Shun couldn't be more proud.
"Good to know you two didn't hit your heads too hard." Ruri smiled and gave each of them a pat on the shoulder. She turned away from them to clean up the first aid kit and the two young men sighed into a more relaxed stance. They both knew with a response like that they were getting off easy.
Shun with his height was out the door in two paces while his friend stood behind and waited. Ruri turned immediately noticing his pause. Yuto knew this was something he couldn't let slide.
"This is the third duel now."
Ruri lowered her stare to the floor and pulled a seat out from the official meeting table. "I know, second one this week too."
"They're targeting Shun." Yuto growled. His hands balled into fists at his sides. Ruri stared up at him, of course she saw. She sees everything. Yuto took a deep breath and forced himself into another chair. She nodded closing her eyes.
"I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed." She hissed. She had clearly already reached the same conclusion. If the overprotective Kurosaki sibling hadn't done anything yet there just wasn't anything that could be done. She changed the topic instead. "This has been a pretty shit birthday so far, huh?" She smiled kindly, her face settling quickly into a practiced calm.
Yuto felt the tension in his shoulders slip away. "I forgot about it until Emma reminded me."
Ruri looked away, "You're… how old now?"
"Sixteen" He answered.
Yuto asked Shun to remind him about a week ago.
Simple dates and other numbers didn't really stick in his mind they way they used to. (It wasn't exactly like he could count the inches.) Yuto knew Ruri would ask, she asked everyone on their birthday. She was probably trying to instill some sense of normalcy or time back into their lives.
She was trying to save them all, in her own way.
"You might just catch up to Shun one day." She laughed. Her chair was quickly brushed clean and stowed back in its original spot at the table. Yuto did the same.
He smiled, "Birthdays don't work like that."
"I was talking about your height." Ruri grinned.
"I don't think my height works like that either." Yuto sighed. "I'm going to go finish my shift." He headed for the door. He had one hand on the frame before turning back, "Don't be too hard on Shun, he really was helping someone out."
Ruri laughed and waved. Yuto ducked out of the small meeting room. Ruri and Emma were the only ones holding down the base on weekdays. Shun would ordinarily be there too but he was always out on some errand or other.
Emma greeted him with an excited wave from her spot on the couch. She was trying to get the TV some reception. Another pet project Ruri probably encouraged. "Did she take it well?"
Yuto knew Emma was too conscious of some old code of manners to ask him directly for help. He also couldn't risk missing more of his shift. "Yeah, I'm headed back now."
She turned back to the TV. "Oh have fun sorting trash then!" And Yuto was out the main door with a wave.
They'd decided it was a good idea to hole up in some old restaurant on the far northeast corner of the island. It took about ten minutes of jogging to get to into town proper and back to the recycle center.
When he got back to his station he found the belt still running as normal, two rows double lined with sorters in stark yellow uniform coats.
Someone had taken his place in line. Yuto frowned; he should have guessed this would happen, people were desperate for work here.
"What a day to get fired." Yuto sighed. Some times it didn't really feel like they had traveled to another dimension. Some days, like this one, Yuto was reminded there were other worries in this world, like job security and the overeager police force.
"Hey." His neighbor snapped him out of his reverie. "What are you doing?" He turned and slid a grease-coated hand under his blue bandana. He looked about as young as Shun.
"My spot is taken." Yuto said.
The young man smiled, "Taka, he's back." The taller of the two glanced up and down the belt than quickly removed the yellow covering from his back. He tossed it Yuto's way and gave him a light shove on the way out. "Don't take it personal, he's just mad I called him out here. Call me Nerve."
Yuto pocketed his studded wristbands and took his place back in line. He remembered the cause of the incident this morning and smiled. "How's your shoulder?"
"Still good enough to work." Nerve laughed. "Thanks for the save, it was lucky you and your friend were here to handle that guy. I don't bring my deck to work - don't want it stolen."
Yuto nodded as he picked up an old cord, looked like the back end of an AC adaptor. He dropped it into the trash box at his feet and moved onto the next object. The blender stand would be too noticeable to snatch. He let it shift down the line.
Nerve picked it up, took a glance at it and let it go. The woman next to him picked it up and put it in the trash box at her feet. Yuto had moved through three more items by then. He'd been waiting for another coil but the team manning the front of the belt was being too watchful to let anything majorly useful slip past.
Yuto tried to imagine Shun going in for a seven-hour shift and getting tired of all the "trash" wading by. He'd probably get in a fight on his first day. (Well, he'd gotten in a fight just trying to give Yuto a break on his birthday - the sorting career didn't seem too promising a path for him.)
Nerve cleared his throat, "You and your friends don't seem like such bad guys, yeah?" The way he kept stealing glances at Yuto, he had to be nervous about something.
Ruri told him once that the way he treated conversations made people feel weird. Talking out loud reassures people. "We're not such bad guys… yeah." Yuto replied.
Nerve laughed, "Distracted there, kid? You remind me of someone I know!" Yuto handed off another part and Nerve dropped it into his personal trash box. He hadn't been called 'kid' in a long time. "You know, if you ever need anything just ask."
Now, that's new. Yuto watched Nerve carefully from the corner of his eye. "What?"
"Us, not so bad guys, we should stick together, yeah?" Nerve nudged their shoulders together with a smile and handed a soldered monkey wrench slider back down the line. "I saw the way you friend duels, if you ever want a match, just let me know ok? You guys are good."
Ah, Yuto steeled his expression. This man probably wanted him to join one of those dueling gangs. The island was full of them. He nodded. Nerve bumped their shoulders again before settling back into his work. They didn't talk for the rest of the day until clock out time for their shift.
Yuto passed off his yellow smock to a shorter person with thick curly red hair who walked in with Taka. Nerve picked up his stacked boxes and followed Yuto to the exit tunnel. They went their separate ways as the sun started to set.
Nerve met up with Blitz a block down at the traders and they split the carrying load on the way home. Nerve couldn't help himself he just had to tell the whole story to his friend.
Nerve was practically giggling with excitement, "So that shady guy with the white hood came back, you know the one that was harassing Rally a week or so back? That guy - he came back in the middle of the morning and was totally hangover. I don't know where he even got enough alcohol to get drunk on!"
"He's probably one of those recent city folks - they're always bringing in trouble. Who would trade for that much anyway?" Blitz sighed and adjusted his glasses.
"Doesn't matter - either way he was totally nuts and he must have seen me helping Rally out the other day - cause he came straight to me to try and take my spot on the line." Nerve said.
Blitz grinned, "Oh shut up, you're not that tough, he probably just thought you were the weakest guy there."
"No way," Nerve denied, "the kid next to me is so scrawny I could probably lift him with one hand. He's all skin and bones." They laughed passing the corner of 5th and Poplin and turned at the corner. They gradually moved more and more west out of Satellite central. Their hideout was on the fringe of the ruined city area. The earthquakes chased everyone else way apparently.
"What is up with calling everyone kid now? Spending too much time with Crow? The shorty might be older than you maybe - seemed like the kind of guy with one of those faces. They always look young but they're like 30 years old." Blitz reasoned.
"What? Why'd you think that, you know the guy?" Nerve asked.
"You left right behind him, right? You waved to him. He didn't see it. You tried to play it off like you were rubbing the back of your head-"
"OK, yeah I get it, Blitz." Nerve blanched, "That's not important - anyway that kid's friend came in or something all mad, saying his sister wanted him or something. I was minding my own business trying to talk this crazy guy down and he was just getting madder and madder and eventually the kid just grabbed his arm and tried to cut in or something."
"So the little guy next to you saved your ass? Get to the point, dude. So you've got a crush on your work friend - what'd you do, ask him to come over for dinner?" Blitz wiggled his eyebrows as he said it.
Nerve gawked at his friend, "No I do not have a crush on this pipsqueak he's like 3 years old! He's so tiny I could probably throw him across the sound right into the city."
"Again, he didn't look any younger than you did."
"He's like 5!"
"You're like 3."
"Shut up - will you let me finish my story here?" Nerve shuffled past the cracks in the street taking a peek down inside. The lights weren't on yet so Yusei was probably still topside taking care of something - no sign of Crow either. "So anyway this fight breaks out, this kid's friend steps in and wipes the floor with the guy - but there was some funny business going on - this guy had a knife and he musta been something fast cause somehow he got to the kid's friend before I could see it."
Blitz choked, "You got that guy mixed up in a knife fight?"
"His friend. His friend's gotta be like 25 or something he's huge, dude. Fast too. Also, he's like super good at dueling - seriously I didn't even understand half the stuff he was doing." Nerve stopped knocking on the door two times, pausing, and knocking once more. "Honestly I think he's so good he might be better than Jack!"
The door opened quickly at that. Nerve and Blitz looked up to greet the body blocking the door. Nerve grinned while Blitz swore under his breath. He just hoped they were being quieter than he thought-
The tall blonde smirked from the door, "And just who do you think you're comparing to the great Jack Atlas?"
Of course he heard Nerve's babbling. Of course.
"No one." Blitz tried.
"I think I found you a pretty good rival, that's all." Nerve laughed. Jack let them both in but didn't leave their side for long. It wasn't everyday someone claims to find a challenge for the great Jack. Clearly, he had some duelists left to beat down.
Yusei was in the back by the window tearing through a wet potato sandwich while Crow was leaning backwards over a chair with his feet propped up on the table. He was gesturing excitedly with his hands while explaining something. His plate was empty.
Jack cleared his throat once the boxes were all settled. Yusei watched the boxes rattle then nodded at Blitz and Nerve before returning his attention to Crow's lightning paced story.
Nerve's smile was challenging, "All I'm saying is I found someone who can beat the great Jack Atlas is all." And like magic the room fell silent. Everyone turned to stare at Nerve, then to watch the great king react.
Jack was excited. It had been a long time since someone gave him and interesting duel, other than Yusei of course. They all gathered in as Nerve began retelling the story - this time with another layer of imagined excitement that had everyone shocked. Blitz felt a thin sheen of sweat form over his temples watching Jack's expression. He adjusted his glasses.
Jack was always impressive, but there wasn't a single thing the man wouldn't do for a good duel.
Yuto finished retelling the day's events at the base from under the old cable box he was tearing open for his computer project. Shun perched on the far seat of the couch while Owen and Tim practically bounced up and down on closer seating.
"Kurosaki did you really do that?" Owen asked.
"That's so cool!" Tim laughed.
"When I grow up I wanna be Kurosaki!" Owen bravely declared throwing one fist in the air. He jumped off the couch and sprinted around the living space laughing and shouting out "Raidraptor!"
"I wanna be Kurosaki too! I wanna be miss Kurosaki!" Tim jumped up raising his other fist. The two ran around chasing each other and fighting off pretend "bad guys".
Yuto glanced up at his friend from under the holes he was sawing through the worn plastic box. Shun was smiling watching the kids trying to re-enact Ruri's declaration of the Heartland survivors as a nomadic group. Tim was trying to do her speech as much justice as his half-literate 7-year-old vocabulary could.
Miss Pooja caught them and dragged them into the barracks around and hour after dinner for bedtime. Ruri left shortly after eating talking about mapping out more of the city. They were always looking to relocate. Sitting still in one space just didn't feel safe after a year and a half on the move.
Before twelve, twenty more refugees would return to the base and settle into their booth sleeping spaces in the "barracks". Shun always slept in the morning through lunch and operated mostly at night - along with Emma and Ruri. Yuto took one of the seven working day shifts. The rest were either too young too old or too unlucky to work the jobs open on the island. Those people took care of each other and managing the base.
Ruri led the group out of their home across dimensions to find a better future. If they could settle into this strange trash island after another month or so, they could call back to the main camp - let them know the situation and maybe they'd move the rest in.
Yuto felt his eyelids drooping - hunger and exhaustion weren't new to him - but outside Heartland they had started scavenging, harvesting - they weren't necessarily healthy eaters - but they ate at least once a day typically.
On this tiny island those that could afford to skip meals let the food pass like junk on the recycling line. It moved down to those who were behind them on a shifting priority list.
He was used to hunger, but working on an empty stomach two days in a row was starting to reach his head. The wires blurred together and he let the jerry-rigged pliers settle on the ground.
He was supposed to eat today, but Tim was crying again - homesick. He didn't know how to cheer him up other than giving him the small meal instead. Yuto smiled as his fingers fumbled in the dark for the correct input for an ancient AV cable.
He could deal with it for another day or so.
Yuto passed out on the dusty floor.
