"So what'd'ya think this party's gonna be like?" wondered Yuma, folding his arms behind his head.
"I think we will be in danger."
"Astral, we're almost there and we'll be in a lot more danger from Akari if I demand we turn back now."
"It could be fun," said Kotori "I mean, so many people are going to be there, so no one can do anything to us...plus, you'll be able to check out the other finalists, so..."
Yuma drummed his fingers against the car window. "I know that no one's going to hurt us – probably – I mean it's not like we're allowed to duel or anything, and I want to see Shark again, but I mean, what if…"
"What if what?"
"Well, what if it turns out to be really awkward? Like, majorly awkward? So awkward that-"
"Yuma, in case you hadn't noticed, everything you do is awkward."
"But it's a party, Tori. I mean sure, there'll be food and that's always good. But what if everyone decides to go skinny-dipping or something like at Tetsuo's last birthday party and-"
Kotori hit him.
Kaito curled into his mattress, trying to focus his mind on unclenching the fist wrapped around his heart.
The metaphorical fist, of course. Something that was all in his mind - just like his fear. Because it was ridiculous to be scared of going to Heartland's stupid party. Absolutely fucking ridiculous.
"I can do this," Kaito muttered to himself. "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…"
But the more he thought about it, the tighter his chest seemed to get. He couldn't. He just couldn't. He'd practically been raised in the wilderness, for fucks sake, with barely anyone except Haruto and Orbital and V and occasionally Heartland or Droite for company. That many people cramped into one space… people he'd have to fight later on and basically kill and just… so many people…
He could duel. He knew how to duel. His whole life was duelling now, putting on a threatening act that had over time had warped into a twisted second face to his own personality. He could do that, yes. But only if he let that side consume him entirely. Only if he abandoned his conscious and his emotions, and focused solely on the one person that mattered- Haruto. Because Haruto must survive. Haruto…
Kaito struggled to find the quiet place inside himself, the place of serenity, the vision of himself and Haruto in the shade of a tree – what type of tree had it been again? He couldn't remember anymore – their feet dipped in the still, dark waters of the lake, Haruto's quiet breathing the only sound…
But Haruto was hurt. Badly hurt. Haruto might die.
And Haruto was everything to Kaito. His entire life. Haruto was the sick one, the frail one, the one who had to be fought for every single day. But without him, Kaito was nothing.
So how could he do anything with his little brother in that situation? How could he go on?
Kaito felt the tears well up behind his eyes again, but he forced them back, as he was so accustomed to doing. Back into the safe, black place inside his heart. And then he rolled over, reaching for his bedside cabinet.
He didn't want to drink the bottle of liqueur he'd stolen from the kitchens earlier. He really didn't. But it might calm him down.
The building Mr. Heartland had chosen to host the finalists' gathering was, like most places in the city, an enormous tower complex with an improbable amount of balconies. Its nauseating pink and turquoise colour scheme hurt Yuma's eyes, and the music blaring from it wasn't doing his ears any good either. Even the arrival of Tetsuo, Takashi, Tokunosuke, and Cathy didn't make the idea of actually going into that place seem any more appealing.
"Maybe Astral's right, this does look dangerous. Let's just catch the bus back-"
"Yuma, you're acting like you did in that duel with III. We. Are. Going. In." Tetsuo began to drag him towards the door. There was no escape.
"So, Droite, seeing as the party's in full swing, I'll buy you a drink."
"Gauche, this is, as you have just stated, a party. Everything here is "on the house", as they say."
"Oh. Right. I'll go over and get you a drink then?"
"Last time you got me a drink, it was sake. You know that I don't like sake, Gauche."
"… Beer, then?"
Droite sighed. "My favourite drink, as I have told you countless times, is a grasshopper cocktail. And I will get in myself, thank you."
"…. Can I come with you?"
"Fine."
"The Robin's here, Yuma! He made it to the finals! Esper Robin!"
"Huh? Really?"
"Yeah!" Kotori grabbed his arm. "Let's go over and say hi!"
Fuya stood in the corner, dressed not in his Esper Robin costume but a nearly-pressed powder blue suit, and looking rather uncomfortable.
His face brightened as they approached "Hello, Yuma, hello… ummm… Kotori."
"Fuya! You made it to the finals? That's great!"
"Thank you, Yuma. It's great to see you here. I mean, I'm no grand duellist like you are, but I'm having a lot of fun and I really hope to face you again sometime soon."
Tired of the small talk, Kotori decided to interject. "Would you like to dance with me?" she asked, trying to supress her rabid enthusiasm.
"I…" Fuya's face fell. He looked to Kotori, then to Yuma, then back to Kotori" "I… ummm… I'm really sorry, but I...uhh, I have something I need to take care of!" He dashed off.
"Oh, well that sucks. Maybe you two can dance later," said Yuma, not noticing the tears in Kotori's eyes.
Fuya wound his way through the crowd, head bowed. He'd already managed to hurt the feelings of one girl, and if any of other his fans saw him here…
He couldn't bear to think about it.
Slipping through a side exit, Fuya found himself in a deserted corridor. Right. Good. He could find a quiet room and stay there until Mr Heartland's speech began.
He wondered past several doors, keeping careful track of exactly where he was going, until eventually he came to one made of clear glass. Through it, he could see the full moon, shining in the clear night sky - this room must be some sort of conservatory. Perfect. Sliding open the door, he stepped inside.
But someone was already there.
A boy – or at least Fuya thought it was a boy – sat on a bench at the far side of the room, bent over a book. His skin, reflecting the dim light, was paler than the moon, and his gently curling hair was the exact opposite colour of Fuya's own.
At the sound of the door opening, he raised his head, eyes widening when he saw Fuya.
His eyes. They were so... green. Fuya wished he had words to describe them. They were just so innocent, so gentle, and above all, so…sad.
"W-What's wrong?" he blurted out, not even thinking to introduce himself.
The boy blinked, tilting his head slightly. "Nothing in particular. I'm just a little lonely. Would you like to sit down?"
"I – sure -" Fuya sounded like one of his fangirls at the moment, but he didn't particularly care. The mysterious boy – he was sure it was a boy now, what with that voice – wanted his company. And he wasn't even dressed as Esper Robin.
"So are you in the finals?" he asked as shifted awkwardly onto the bench, feeling slightly more confident now that he could focus on the night sky instead of those eyes.
The boy sighed. "I… I was. But I've chosen not to participate. I came here tonight to support my brothers, at their request."
"Right… They're the ones dressed like you, I'm guessing?"
He almost smiled. "Yes."
"Asian Champion IV and – ummm-"
"The one in blue is named V."
Fuya suddenly realised that he'd missed out the all-important question "And you are?"
"III."
Go figure. But hey, Fuya was in the entertainment industry - he'd met people who'd called their kids much worse. "I'm Fuya. I only duel in my spare time because of my acting career, so I'm amazed that I made it to the finals."
"Acting career? What have you been in?"
What? He really doesn't recognise me? Well, III's parents were the sort to name their children after Roman numerals, so maybe they didn't let them watch TV. Or kept them under a rock. Because Esper Robin was sort of a cultural phenomenon. But what did any of that matter? Someone - this boy of all people - didn't recognise him. He didn't have to try and impress; he could just be himself.
"Just… In a superhero series, you know? It's nothing great. I… ummm… what are you doing back here?"
"Avoiding the crowds and lights. I've been a bit ill, so it's… well, everything is a little overwhelming. Besides, there are a few duellists I'd rather not see."
"Ah." Fuya hesitated. "I… well, I'm just avoiding having to dance. I've got two left feet. And girls keep asking me and ummm…"
To his amazement, III chucked. Actually chuckled. "Well then, how would you like to learn?"
"Learn? To dance? But… how?"
"I'm no expert, but brother IV loves to dance. I picked a few things up from him." III got to his feet, extending a hand. "Would you like to try?"
"I…Sure!"
Fuya's heart fluttered as he positioned his left arm around III's tiny waist, twining the fingers of their right hands together. He felt so delicate, Fuya half-feared he might break him. And he had really pretty hands. His mother would love them. Fuya giggled at that thought – he felt so strange and giddy and just well...what was he even doing?
III raised an eyebrow "Shall we begin?"
"Oh – umm –yes, of course!"
"Alright then, you want to position your feet like this and…"
"That… noise… is what you call "music", yes?"
"Uh-huh."
"It's very-" at that moment, the blaring pop track switched to a gentle classic piece. Disappointment flashed across Astral's face; this one had no… bass, as the MTV channel called it.
Yuma wasn't really paying attention, though. He was too focused on his outfit. This suit – God, what was grandma thinking? It was both hideous to look at, and hideously uncomfortable. Good thing he thought to bring along a t-shirt in his bag.
"Tori, I'm just gonna go sort my shirt out, OK?"
"Fine." It was evident she was still moping over Robin. Yuma didn't really know what to do– all these fangirly feelings confused him. Perhaps she'd feel better if he got this eyesore of a suit out of her immediate vision. Yeah, that might help.
After pushing his way through hordes of people, Yuma eventually came to a purple door labelled "Changing". He'd seen a couple of guys who'd shown up in casual wear getting forced in here earlier by Gauche – hopefully he wasn't still around – so it was probably his safest bet.
Inside it was empty and dark. Several cubicles lined the walls and, without a second thought, Yuma pulled back the curtain on the first one.
Inside was Shark.
Shark.
Naked.
Crap.
Shark.
Naked.
Struggling with a pair of boxers that had little pink dolphins on them. Jesus Christ.
Yuma dropped the curtain and fled the room, completely forgetting about the little issue he was having with his stupid suit.
Kotori pressed her head against the cool glass of one of Heartland's enormous windows, staring out across one of his immaculate rose garden.
He was just embarrassed, OK? It's nothing to get worked up about. Nothing personal. He would have said the same to anyone...
But no matter how many times she repeated this mantra to herself, she couldn't get rid of the lump in her throat.
"Kotori, are you alright?"
She gripped the window frame. Tetsuo no please go away. I'm going to cry. Don't talk to me please, I'm going to cry I'mgoingtocryI'mgoingtocry.
"Look, umm, Kotori- do you think could you take Cathy outside for a bit? She's freakin out and, uh, I think it's a girl thing so... yeah."
Oh Lord. Not now.
But Kotori braced herself, took Cathy's shaking arm, and led her into the garden.
Outside, it was quiet and dark, and empty, a world away from the noise, light, and crowds of the party. Kotori realised that she should have come out here earlier; she felt better already.
"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"
Cathy sniffled, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "I.. I.. Just, oh can you tell everyone I'm sorry? I can't – I've never been anywhere like this before, there's so many people, it's…" She buried her face in Kotori's shoulder.
"It's alright. Pretty overwhelming, I know." Kotori patted her on the bag, wondering if she would accept a hug. "We can stay out here until you've calmed down."
"Th-thank you Kotori...I.. I'm always so horrible to you. You must hate me- especially now that I'm freaking out like this and; oh God you must think I'm an idiot."
Yuma's freaked out too, so you're not an idiot, Kotori wanted to say. But there were a number of problems saying that could cause, so she just pulled her into a hug. "You're not an idiot, lots of people don't like being in situations like this, especially when they're not used to them. And I don't hate you, I just think you're a little... confused, that's all."
"Thank you," said Cathy again "… I, I could stay out here by myself and you can go back to the party, if you'd like."
"To tell you the truth, I really don't want to go back in there either." Kotori said with a friendly smile as she pulled Cathy over to the edge of one of the flowerbeds. "Look, I brought this." She pulled a DS out of her bag. "Sometimes, like if Yuma's duelled Tetsuo twenty times in a row, I start playing Pokemon." She raised a finger to her lips. "Our secret, OK?"
Cathy gave her a watery smile. "Right. And I love Pokemon! Do you have any cat types?"
"Nope."
"Oh, I can change that."
Eight riceballs and counting, and Yuma still hadn't removed the image of Shark's naked torso that had burnt itself behind his retinas.
"Yuma, shouldn't we be keeping watch for Kaito, and III's family?" asked Astral, who seemed completely undisturbed by the whole encounter.
It occurred to Yuma that Astral was always naked, and, well, crap. But he pushed that thought out of his mind. He just couldn't deal with it right now.
"Astral, no. Look, if anyone comes over I need you to become an invisibility cloak, OK?"
"You turning invisible would be an excellent aid to our present situation, and I would gladly oblige, but I'm afraid that it is physically impossible for me."
"Astral, I was being- Oh God, it's Shark! Help!"
Yuma dived beneath the table. Or at least attempted to. Because his leg got caught on the tablecloth and several plates of riceballs and a few dozen sushi arrangements ended up on his head.
"What the hell are you doing, idiot? Shark stormed over, now dressed (thankfully) in a suit that looked suspiciously similar to what he always wore.
"I was just… y'know… eating… and… ummm… Hey!"
Shark rolled his eyes. "Look, Yuma, forget about what happened earlier, OK?"
"Urrrh… I would ummm… really like to, but I'm kinda scarred for life and those were some ummm really nice dolphin boxers by the way they were cool yeah my grandma bought mine so they have flowers on them and she also got me this other pair that have little pieces of tofu with faces and they're kinda weird because tofu aren't supposed to have faces so-"
As Shark was now giving him the look that people generally did when he told them about the naked blue alien living inside his necklace, Yuma decided to shut up.
"I'll – just – duel you later, right?" he called, darting off into the crowd to find Kotori.
Music… Lights… Pulsing against his eyes in a steady throb, throb, throb…
Kaito staggered down the stairwell, clutching blindly at the banister. Why was he even coming down here again?
"You're the star of the show, Kaito! I expect you be there!"
Fucking Mr Heartland…
Somehow, he managed to reach the floor, almost toppling over as the world lurched around him and he aimed his foot for a step that wasn't there. Fuckshit.
Where to go now? What to do? The bar. He was by the bar. Oh hell no. Kaito was never going to drink again.
Somewhere quiet. Somewhere out of the way. That was what he needed. He was going to be this year's duel champion, dammit; he couldn't be seen like this.
Kaito dragged himself towards the back of the room. Not many people around. Right, good. God, his head hurt…
And then he saw him.
That person, standing in the far corner surveying, the crowds in front of him with a look of bored indifference.
In the blink of an eye, Kaito was upon him, clenching the bastard's shirt in his fists.
"You! What the hell are you doing here? You fucking bastard! You weren't even in the tournament because I would have known about it and...how the hell did you even get here?"
"Kaito." V removed his fists from his shirt. "It seems you are drunk."
"Don't talk to me like I'm still your student¸ bastard. Last time I saw you –look, last time I saw you I – I was surprised. But now, now, I'm going to-I'm going to fucking-"
"You're going to what?"
Overcome by another wave of dizziness, Kaito stumbled backwards "I – I'm going to defeat you. I'm going to get rid of you and then I'm going to fix whatever the hell you did to Haruto and then – then-"
"And you plan to do this in your current condition?"
"Of course not in my current fucking condition. I don't – what am I doing? I was supposed – supposed to forget – just for a little while but I can't.. and… and… why did you have to come and remind me?" Kaito felt his legs give way, and with a strangled cry, he toppled to the side, desperately scrabbling to use V's coat as an anchor.
"I can't – I can't -"
V's hands gripped his shoulders. "Calm down."
"No."
Kaito realised that he was crying. Crying. In front of this person. And this time, he couldn't make himself stop.
"I'm taking you to get a glass of water."
Kaito didn't have the energy to protest.
Yuma had now managed to trip up three couples on the dance floor and he still hadn't found Kotori. At this point, Astral had gotten so fed up that they'd gone back into the key. Yuma was starting to panic when someone tapped him on the arm.
"Would you like to dance?"
That voice. Yuma spun round.
IV.
Forget beginning to panic- he was about to have a full-scale meltdown.
"You! I can't dance with you!"
"Of course you can." IV gripped his arms. Painfully. Yuma was pretty sure that he was digging his nails in intentionally.
"I need to talk to you, you little bastard. About the matter of our last "duel", and now also my younger brother-"
"IV!"
Out of nowhere Takashi appeared, flinging his arms around IV's waist.
"What the hell? Didn't I already crush you?" IV temporarily lost grip on his "nice guy" persona.
"You allowed me to see your true duelling talents, IV, and for that I am eternally grateful!" Takashi squeezed him tighter; Yuma could swear that IV was starting to go blue. "To summarise, it shows that you consider me a great duellist!"
IV buried his face in the palm of his hand, mumbling something about his fanservice going to waste.
"Class Rep." Tetsuo appeared behind them. "I hope you realize that that's the bastard that kind of broke your arm. He wanted to fucking break us. I think you should get the fuck away from him so that I can kick his ass ."
The sudden smile that spread across IV's face was more sickening than Mr Heartland's decorating skills "Oh, no, no, your friend here is completely right. I care so deeply about all of my dear fans, and I just want to motivate you to do better. Here." He pulled a piece of paper and a pen from the pocket of his coat, scribbling something down. "There you go... fan. This is my number. Call me whenever you want to, all right. I'll freely discuss whatever bothered you about our last encounter, and then we can be friends."
Takashi looked like he might explode.
"IV!" Everyone turned at the sound of another voice. Everyone except Yuma, who started to slowly edge out of the little circle that they'd created.
"Ryouga! What a pleasure it is to see you here." IV bowed, flashing Shark a smile that looked scarily like his namesake.
"Cut the crap, IV. I'm here to tell you that I'm duelling you, tomorrow, first match of the finals, whether you want to or not!"
"That's nice, Ryouga. But I haven't got time to chat about that now; I was just about to start dancing with your friend Yuma here."
"No you weren't-"
Shark gripped Yuma's arm, and he found himself wondering, not for the first time that night, if it was possible, as he had once told Astral, for humans to die from embarrassment.
"You are not dancing with Yuma. I am dancing with Yuma."
IV grinned. "Is that so?" He grabbed Yuma's shoulder.
… Yep, it was defiantly possible. Also, Takashi seemed to have recovered from his almost-fainting spell and was now looking at Yuma the way Cathy usually looked at Kotori.
"I," said Yuma "Am not dancing with either of you. Got that?" Easier said than done of course, considering he was completely trapped between the two of them. " Dammit man, I'm a duellist, not a dancer!"
"Wannabe duellist," said IV. Shark's eyes widened, possibly in shock over the fact that they agreed about something.
"Nope." Yuma tugged his arm free. "Duellist. And-"
"YUMA!"
The three of them were bowled to the floor by a blaze of pink and orange.
Anna yanked Yuma to his feet so violently that he wondered if his arm had been dislocated. "If you don't wanna dance with those losers, you'd better dance with me!"
"Ummm… Hi? You're in the finals? But you weren't even entered in the Carnival-"
"Yeah, yeah, hi. Seriously, Yuma, this party's boring as hell. Let's shake up the dance floor with that kattobingu of yours!"
"I don't think-"
But she'd already began spinning him around.
Ah well, thought Yuma, as he felt those eight or so riceballs beginning to churn in his stomach. Beats Shark or IV, I guess.
"Droite, what's going on over there?"
"Looks like a girl using that Yuma boy as some sort of bowling ball to me."
"Think we should check it out?"
"No."
"We're supposed to be providing the security for this event."
Droite sipped her cocktail. "Hey, Gauche. Remember that butterfly tramp stamp I told you I got last time we were drunk?"
"…"
"Want to see it?"
"…"
"Come right this way, tiger."
"Wow! You're a really quick learner!"
"I – thanks!" Fuya wasn't sure if he was feeling this dizzy because of all the spinning, or because III was smiling at him again; all he knew was that he hadn't felt this happy in a long time.
"Would you like to go back and show off what you've learnt?"
"But I don't want to dance with anyone but you!" said Fuya without thinking. Not that I want to offend any of my fans … It's just... Because I feel so comfortable with III, not because he's really pretty…uh... I mean he is… but he's really nice too!
Fuya could sense the still-lingering Robin part of his brain telling him to shut up.
III pulled away.
"I…to be honest, I don't really want to go in. Perhaps we could just stay here?"
Fuya's first instinct was to agree immediately, but there was something about III's reluctance to leave this room that really bothered him. What was he afraid so of?
"It's alright - I'll protect you! ... I mean, that is if you want me to. Besides, I'm sure no one's out to hurt you." He tried to look braver than he felt, which turned out to be surprisingly difficult considering it was supposed to be his job.
III chuckled again. "There's no one who wants to hurt me… however, there is someone I hurt and seeing him..."
"I hurt someone once. I don't really remember it too well, though. I wasn't really myself at the time- I completely changed. We duelled, and I went crazy and... he was OK. He even beat me. But more importantly, he helped me. He forgave me and… Oh, III, I'm sorry, none of this is relevant."
Fuya looked up and, to his surprise, III started laughing. "Was this boy called Yuma Tsukumo, by any chance?"
"Wha-Yeah, How did you-"
"I've been an idiot. Thank you, Fuya. Thank you, truly. No doubt you are stronger than me, but I still have to face the music." And then III took Fuya's hand in his own lovely fingers, gave it the gentlest squeeze, and walked with him back to the ballroom.
V somehow managed to manoeuvre Kaito onto a bathroom stool and, kneeling down beside him, press a glass of cool water to his lips.
"Do you feel better now?"
Kaito laughed hysterically. "This water! It's like… it's like the lake… if I plunged into it I could… I could go back! If I sunk to the bottom of the water, I could go back, back to when me and Haruto were happy and we could lie in the water fore-"
"You can't turn back time," cut in V, not liking the path that the boy's thoughts were taking. "All you have is what's here and now, and you must make the most of it and survive, no matter what."
"Survive… Survive…" Kaito shuddered violently. "Haruto – he has to survive…"
"Haruto will survive. I promise."
"Promise." Kaito's eyes narrowed. "You promise? You're a liar! You promised – you promised me that you would stay and be my teacher forever. You promised!"
"I taught you a lesson just now, didn't I?"
"You – I hate you!"
"And when we next duel, I will teach you another: that your hatred of me is meaningless. It will not aid you in any way, Kaito Tenjo. You must fight for your brother with a clear heart and a clear head – and that means clear of alcohol too, for that matter."
"You are just – you! I'll always hate you. I hate you for hurting Haruto. I hate you for leaving me. I trusted you – I liked you – I – I-"
"Hush," V reached forward to smooth his hair "Calm down. You will regret being so forward tomorrow."
Kaito gave another spluttering laugh. "Fuck tomorrow!" And then he leant forward, and kissed V hard.
"You were the first person I ever like-liked, you know?"
Fortunately for V, he didn't need to think of an answer for that, because Kaito promptly slumped, unconscious, against his chest.
"What on earth happened in here?"
"I honestly have no idea."
Fuya and III stood at the entrance to the ballroom, hands still clasped, staring at the carnage in front of them.
"Well, Anna and Yuma started dancing, if you can call it that, ura," said a boy who seemed to appear out of nowhere. "And then IV and Shark started fighting, but since security was nowhere in sight, Tetsuo decided to join in and then Anna just beat everyone up and smashed most of the hall up in the process. Oh, and the bar is completely empty now, ura."
"Oh," said Fuya, for lack of a better reply. "There was a girl I needed to find and apologise to…"
"Good luck with that, ura," said the boy, strolling over to what remained of the refreshments table.
Yuma has some odd friends, thought III as he scanned the room for his brothers. It didn't take him long to spot IV, passed out in the centre of the room in a very compromising position with what looked like an antique armchair. V however, was nowhere in sight - but that wasn't particularly unusual either.
III turned to Fuya. "I'm afraid I have to go and search for my eldest brother so that we can get IV home."
Fuya felt his stomach sink in disappointed. "Well, I...I guess I had better go and find this girl that I need to speak to."
"I see...well, it was lovely meeting you, Fuya," III said with a weak smile. IV is going to be uncontrollable when he wakes up.
Quickly, before he lost his nerve, Fuya leant forward and pecked III on the lips.
"I'll...uh, see you in the finals, right? I mean, you'll be there watching?"
"...Of course." III, looking rather stunned, turned to leave, giving Fuya another small smile as he headed towards the exit.
Fuya stood frozen, eyes tight shut so that he didn't have to see him go.
V stroked Kaito's hair, trying to sort out his conflicting jumble of thoughts. V wasn't used to conflicting jumbles of thoughts; he liked to think of his mind as an extension of his library, always kept in perfect order.
"Kaito Tenjo…"
It hadn't been hard to use the boy's keycard to find his room - in fact, it much more difficult to simply tuck him beneath the covers of his bed. There was a finality to it – he was ending their little encounter, putting back the barrier between himself and the boy that had been there at the start of the evening.
He moved his thumb from Kaito's hair to run it absently across his own lips. Or maybe not.
Kaito's remaining bottles of alcohol had been emptied and stacked neatly in the waste disposal unit. A glass of water had been placed beside his bed. His suit had been removed, leaving him in just a shirt and underwear. Something V thought he'd deleted entirely from his mind. Suddenly a thing called nostalgia was washing over him, only the homemade moonberry soup that Kaito had eaten, wanting so desperately to please his little brother, had been replaced with a beverage quite a bit stronger.
And V himself, of course, was a lot less amused and a lot more bewildered.
But the feelings were too good for him as he was now, and besides, they could not last forever.
"Goodbye, Kaito," he whispered, bending down to kiss his former student softly on the cheek.
The automatic doors clicked shut, and V was gone, leaving Kaito to sleep in peace.
"So how was the party?" asked Akari, steering the car away from the site of Mr Heartland's doomed gathering.
"It was…" Yuma rubbed the bruise blossoming on his wrist. "Weird."
In the back of the car, Takashi sobbed quietly "The phone number IV gave me called the speaking clock in Hong Kong… My bill… To summarise, how will I pay it? How could he have made such a terrible mistake in writing down his own number?"
Tetsuo rolled his eyes.
Behind Yuma sat Kotori and Cathy, nattering about the benefits of land Pokémon vs. air type or something ridiculous like that. Yuma would never understand why someone would want to play a game like that instead of Duel Monsters.
Then there was Tokunosuke who was sulking over the fact that Akari hadn't let him stuff the boot with everything he'd stolen from Heartland's place. A true criminal mastermind in the making.
Even Akari, always desperate for a story, seemed to know better than to question Yuma further, even though she'd borrowed this car especially so that she could take all his friends back and check on all his friends afterwards. He looked exhausted.
Yeah, imma sleep forever so I never have to go to another party again…
"Yuma." Astral appeared beside him. "Are you aware of the piece of paper that Shark slipped onto your person as you left?"
"Whaa.. No…" Yuma had had enough of mysterious notes to last him a life time, but he needed to know if Shark was going to get a restraining order on him. Pulling a crumpled note from his pocket, he struggled to focus his bleary eyes on Shark's scrawl.
Yuma – we need to talk about today so you don't act like a complete idiot when we next duel. Also, about IV. And buying you some new underwear. I'll drop by yours tomorrow. – Shark
Yuma was too tired to wonder about why Shark knew where he lived, or why he even cared about his underwear,. Come to think of it, he drove by quite often… Meh, he could worry about that later.
He snuggled back against the car seat, falling asleep in three seconds flat.
"Where is everyone?" wailed Mr Heartland "I'm only twenty minutes late for my announcement! The party doesn't finish until midnight – oh – oh - what happened to my beautiful ballroom? Gauche! Droite! Kaito! Where are you?"
"Everyone left. I suppose they just couldn't handle the entertainment."
Mr Heartland spun around, his eyes widening as they focused on a small boy sitting cross-legged on his favourite armchair.
"Who are you? You weren't on the guest list!"
"Well, I had to announce myself at some point. So I arrived fashionably late. Too late, though, it seems. Rather like yourself." The visible half of his mouth twisted up into a smile.
"I – get off my armchair!"
"But I like this chair. In fact, I think I might keep it." The boy snapped his fingers and the chair rose from it's position on the stage, floating back towards the giant, half-open window.
"What?"
"Goodbye, Heartland. Worst party ever. Tell your boss that he doesn't have to worry about the quality of his tournament, though, because his favourite subject will be in it."
"Come back with my chair!"
Heartland collapsed, smashing his knees against the wooden floor. As long as he lived, he would never throw another party. Ever. All those hearts and sparkles wasted. And his favourite armchair...unforgivable.
"The Duel Carnival is cancelled!"
And that was that.