It was always quiet in the infirmary, but tonight, the silence seemed even more stifling. Recovering from heart surgery wasn't the most exciting of pastimes, but still, Ryou Marufuji had given up the opportunity to join his brother at the third years' graduation ceremony. Without his deck, and having exhausted the majority of the literature to his taste in the Academy's library, he was now distinctly bored. Lying propped up on the bed pillows, hands folded primly over the uncomfortably crinkly white sheets pulled up to his waist, he started running through card lists in his head, trying to find some small spark of interest around which to build a new style. It was an exercise in futility he had repeated for days on end and he was glad to abandon it at the sight of a windswept teal head smiling shyly around the edge of the door. He nodded to indicate Johan was welcome.
It was hard to interpret emotions on the Kaiser's face when he wasn't duelling, reflected Johan. That blankness unnerved him, reminded him of Judai's absent pauses, the kind that led to detachment and cruelty. "Hi," he said, pulling the chair out so it was slightly further away from the hospital bed before sitting down. "I thought you'd be at the ceremony, but Shou said you were here. I wanted to talk to you before I left."
"What about?" Ryou raised an eyebrow. "I gave my deck to Shou, if you were looking for a rematch."
"Not everything in life is about duelling, Kaiser." The corner of Johan's mouth quirked a little in amusement. "I guess I just wanted to say thanks for trying to save me from Yubel, and apologise. It's not every day a duel spirit takes over my body and uses it to kill people. Well, maybe around here it is. But we're not used to it up at North Academy." His smile came a little easier now that Ryou wasn't, so far, leaping out of his sickbed to attack Johan.
"Why apologise?" Ryou's expression remained unchanged, as though time and weather had eroded his features into that arrangement.
Johan crossed his arms, the wide pink cuffs flapping at his wrists. "I know it wasn't me doing that stuff, but…"
"That's not what I asked," Ryou interrupted. "Why do you need to apologise, and so demean the pinnacle of my achievements?"
Johan slumped a little in defeat. You couldn't apologise for accidentally killing a man without offending him these days. "I'm told it was an amazing duel. I wish I'd been conscious to see it. But then you wouldn't have been duelling Yubel, would you? You'd have been duelling me." Looking around the room, he spotted a fruit bowl, taking a satsuma and piercing the skin with a fingernail, watching it peel away easily.
The sharp scent spread through the infirmary, covering up the antiseptic smell to which Ryou had become so used. He closed his eyes to inhale deeply. "It's because Yubel wore your body, and your deck, that I forced the fight. I wanted to finish what we started. You were an exhilarating opponent, Johan Andersen." The barest hint of a smile flickered across Ryou's face as he recalled the interdimensional duel.
A weight settled itself near Ryou's knees. He opened his eyes to see Johan now perched on the edge of the bed, offering a segment of satsuma. He took it gratefully. The pain medication made his mouth dry, and he sucked on the juicy citrus flesh to encourage saliva.
"It was a fun duel," Johan acknowledged, taking a piece of fruit for himself and chewing it thoughtfully. "I'd like to take you up on that offer to finish it, when you feel up to it."
"I have no doubt I'll face you in the pro leagues." Once I've rebuilt myself, thought Ryou. There was no way he would duel Johan with a substandard deck and a ticket to the minor leagues. His calibre of duelist deserved more.
"It's a date." Johan's mouth set in a determined grin as he shared out more of the fruit. "But if you need help play-testing a new deck or anything, call me."
"No need. I have my brother to live up to before I'm worthy of facing you." Ryou would catch Shou up, somehow. He just had to relearn everything he thought he knew, and grow beyond it. Evolution couldn't be as tricky as it seemed.
"Okay," Johan looked disappointed. "I just thought since we seem to be getting along, maybe we could be friends."
"I have no need of friends." Ryou thought of Fubuki and Yusuke, presumably enjoying themselves at the party. It seemed like the two had been avoiding him. He had never thought that the three prodigies would be as close as they once were, but Fubuki giving Ryou this much space was quite unnatural. With Ed – who had understood that heroes didn't have to be good guys – trying to rescue his career from the wreckage Manjoume had made of it, no-one but Shou really talked to Ryou any more.
Johan took in the lack of get well cards and flowers in the infirmary, and picked up on Ryou's slight frown. "Oh, I think you need a friend more than anyone." The fact that he hadn't yet been dismissed from the Kaiser's presence was encouraging.
"Friends have never done me any good before. They abandoned me when I was going through hell." Fubuki could have called him, at least once. Even Judai might have offered some words of encouragement. He was brought out of this reverie by Johan rapping his knuckles lightly on the top of his head. Johan's fingers smelt of the satsuma peel.
"Don't give me that," Johan announced. "Did you ever think to call on them when you needed them?"
"No," Ryou admitted.
"Well then, you're just as much to blame. They probably thought you were too busy with your work to be disturbed."
Ryou's lips tightened. What could Johan know about his friends and his situation? "They didn't exactly welcome me back when I came for the Genex tournament."
"From what I've heard, you did turn into quite a prick."
"So why are you here trying to befriend me?" Ryou sneered, his hackles rising in defence.
Johan shrugged, his eye contact steady. "I like pricks." The way his eyebrows arched, the smile was almost a challenge, the opening gambit in a duel of words.
Ryou wasn't sure what game they were playing, let alone understanding the rules, so he backed down. "Shouldn't you be getting back to the ceremony?"
"It's not my graduation." Johan studied his fingernails, checking they were clean of peel traces. "I've said goodbye to everyone I wanted to, and Judai's disappeared. I'm just killing time."
"But you must have more important things to do."
"Than pester you? Nah." Johan's impish high spirits were starting to impact on Ryou now. He had never considered smiling to be contagious before. "I figured I'll see everyone else again. I've got their emails, we'll keep in touch. But you, I wasn't sure if I'd get another chance." Johan added, curiously, "Why aren't you at the party?"
"I had mine two years ago. It's Shou's turn now."
"I'm sure he'd have liked to see you there." Johan patted the bedcovers idly.
"No. I'd just get in his way." Ryou could be just as proud of his brother from a distance, he believed. "He's got plenty of farewells to make. He'll be stuck with me for a while longer yet."
"Stuck with you? I'm sure that's not how he sees it." A pause, and then a further thought. "Are you allowed to move?"
Ryou nodded. "I've been told I should do a bit more each day." It was a hard balance to get right, being so used to pushing himself to his limits that he could hardly recognise exhaustion any more.
"It can't be any fun being cooped up in here. Why don't we take a walk, maybe drop in on the party? Say goodbye to the Tenjoins? Asuka was saying she'd like to see you."
Why was this kid trying to single-handedly fix Ryou's personal life? Still, it was getting harder to be anything other than completely open around this boy with the honest face. "I think those friendships are fractured beyond repair with a few minutes' chat."
"Well then, let's start a new one, and see how that goes." Johan held his hand out with a wide, cheerful grin. "Johan Andersen, at your service."
The muscles in Ryou's cheeks seemed to remember the correct movements more quickly each time. This time the smile reached his eyes. "Ryou Marufuji." He took Johan's hand, shaking it once, firmly.
"Ryou." Johan kept hold of his hand for a short while longer. "So the great Hell Kaiser is human, after all." A peal of laughter escaped him, delighted rather than malicious. He hopped off the bed, finding the clothes neatly piled on a dresser, and tossing them to the invalid. "Get dressed, Ryou. I'll show you how pretty the lake is tonight."
For a full ten seconds Ryou stared at the back of Johan's head, considering whether to evict this colourful whirlwind that had swept its impertinent way into his life. He found his fingers reaching for the first button on his black pyjamas. If there was more to life than duelling, he would be sure to find the exciting parts with Johan around.