CHAPTER 2: I've Met You Somewhere Before
Yusei Fudo had no clue what was going on. All he could remember was that he was being chased by Security and then... nothing. However he felt that he had been placed on a soft, warm place. He wasn't aware that he had been rescued, even. But he nestled into whatever he was up against and enjoyed this brief luxury.
In the meanwhile, this lead to a huge discussion on what to do. "We're probably going to get into trouble for helping him." Rua said casually, which only brought more chaos.
"Then why were you so intent on bringing him here in the first place?" Mitsuki hissed, as she continued stroking through his hair. "Are you even aware that by doing this you could possibly bring Security in here too? He's a criminal, kids. He may be injured but if he done something wrong then somebody has to turn him in. It only makes sense!" However the siblings were giggling at how she was blushing. Wait... blushing? Taking her right hand and felt that indeed, she was. Did she feel embarrassed that she was sitting on a couch and waiting for him to wake up?
"And it sounds like you have ulterior motives too, Mii-chan. You're just as guilty."
"That's not the point you guys! A-All I'm saying is that... that we shouldn't keep him here. Somebody is going to find out. We're exposing him – as well as ourselves – to danger." The idol got up off of the couch and placed him back down at watched him for a moment or two. He was very... very handsome. Mitsuki didn't know how to deal with this. Besides seeing the King, this guy just made her have wet dreams. Any eighteen year old would have fantasized a guy like this!
"Hey, Mitsuki-chan... are you okay?" Rua tugged on her arm gently, his honey-colored eyes filled with worry.
Shaking out of her reverie, she sighed. "Yeah... I... I am. I just think... I've seen him somewhere before. ...Maybe."
"You know him? But that's a little weird, Mii-chan. I don't think he's one of your Wired buddies. ...Even though you really ought to say Internet because saying Wired all the time is confusing." Ruka folded her arms, pacing to and fro.
"For the last time, the anime series I'm watching proves that the Internet is the Wired!"
When he opened his eyes, he noticed what... or who he was actually resting on. A brief moment they shared eye contact; blue and red. Yusei's gaze soon strayed all the way down to her breasts. Wow. Her body seemed to be - "Excuse me. Look at my face and not at my breasts." "A... ah. I'm sorry. That was impolite of me." "Well, thank you for your apology."
Mitsuki raised an eyebrow as she watched him. He was very strange. No matter how she could look at him, he seemed robust. Actually, that was incorrect. The aura around him had such a presence of regalia and tenderness to it. "Wow… Amazing…"
Yusei had some hesitance to answer. He stared back and sat upright on the couch, his face set emotionlessly.
"I'm Mitsuki Shirohane, the lead vocalist of Full Moon," said Mitsuki as she brushed some of her bangs aside, hoping to crack his exterior barrier. "If you need anything, please let me know what you need, okay?"
"I'm Ruka," Ruka introduced herself as most casually as she possibly could. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"And I'm Rua, Ruka's twin brother. … Hey, who are you?"
He must have been eyeing the Deck that he was reaching for, so he must have been said this out of natural curiosity.
"Yusei Fudo," told Yusei with a small grin.
Well, now she was certain that she met him before. Mitsuki quelled the urge to outright ask him, but it controlling that didn't last for long. "You're probably going to think I've lost my mind or something... I think I know you somewhere, Fudo-san."
"That's impossible."
Mitsuki bit her lip. Goddamn what was her problem? "I'm sorry, Fudo-san, but-"
His hand extended before she Mitsuki even finished her question. Fudo kept his hand on her head and rubbed her scalp, quite like he was massaging it. Nevertheless, his soul-piercing glare made her start to sweat bullets. "Shirohane-san," he muttered. "there's no way I could know you."
In time with the silence, her heart pounded. Nobody said a word.
Mitsuki's skin grew pale and she tried to say something, but couldn't. "I... I didn't mean that-"
"There's no way," he repeated. "Please call me Yusei. You don't need an honorific for me."
Mitsuki had some sort of unexplainable desire for him. Why was she feeling such strong emotions around this one person?
Back at the building's security area, there was chaos. Namely, a certain Ushio Tetsu wasn't pleased about what had recently happened. Must have been humiliating to be denied access into the Tops residential area. He was pretty muscular and intimidating with his scar and all, but most guys like that didn't last long. Since he clearly must have been in Satellite, he had to get authorization. Every officer couldn't just go running around conducting their own investigations. Then there would be riots.
"-I can't believe that the Securities in the Tops area treat me like these Satellite scum."
"Those type of Securities flaunt about being native born, sir." Catching snippets of their remaining conversation, they had planned to stake out the area in hopes of capturing Yusei Fudo. Of course, the twins' guest as well as the idol didn't know that the ex-criminal was still being hunted down. He was the sort of person - criminal or ex-criminal - that was bringing discord to the fair Tops area.
While the tension in the air was thick, the subject switched gears almost seamlessly. Soon casual talk between the twins and their guest had taken place. The tension honestly could choke a person if they weren't careful enough. However it slowly dissipated and faded into something different. Right now this out-of-place person seemed unfamiliar. It's like he belonged but he didn't. Everything so far about him screamed that of a dangerous criminal. But yet the possibility that he did simply couldn't be denied.
Naturally, this led Rua to chatter like a parrot. "Can we duel, then? Please? Please? Please? I definitely want to duel you!"
Yusei seemed to have contemplated on this, but immediately he saw Jack Atlas on one of the merchandise that Rua always sported around. He was super proud of getting it and Mitsuki managed to make the connection that perhaps he wasn't on good terms with the King. That too seemed… far-fetched. "Oh, that's my King memorabilia! That's my most precious treasure besides my card collection. One day, I'm going to be King!" he exclaimed as he gave a look of admiration and pride in what he had. He was way thrilled about having a person who had the same interest of hers. "Are you a fan of him too? I mean, anyone who is a duelist has to be. It only makes sense!"
"I'm not of fan of him." Yusei muttered, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "If you knew the real Atlas… I doubt that you would even care for him as far as you could throw him, to be perfectly honest."
"It's almost a shame, since you Turbo Duel."
"Why do you say something like that, then?" Yusei countered, in which Rua pointed to what appeared to be Yusei's D-Wheel.
"Rua, that's rude." In reality, despite her face her sweet persona, Mitsuki couldn't stand injustice of any sort. He had a right to his own opinion. Yusei for some reason made her feel safe and she had no clue why. He was just a person who the twins happened rescue, for God's sake, and as the idol she was she had been used to meeting all sorts of people in real life and on the Wired… so what made Yusei the one who she happened to find the most intriguing person on the planet?
"You're a D-Wheeler, so you must be yearning to be the King!" Rua was insisting, which lead for Yusei to blatantly ignore him and go back to his Duel Runner and Mitsuki joined him in helping with his inspections. "Every duelist wants to!" Still ignoring him, Rua kept on ranting about how it was an honor.
"Yusei isn't listening," Ruka pointed out much to Rua's dismay.
"Then I'll show him how important this is! Then he'll realize that I'm right!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Rua had grabbed a strange envelope of which Mitsuki hadn't seen before. But then she remembered for a brief second or two that the same envelope he was holding was the same that she had found in her mailbox that very morning. He must be planning to show it off.
"I have the chance to enter the Fortune Cup! These invitations were sent out at random and this one was given to Ruka, but she doesn't want to enter. So I'm going to impersonate her!" said Rua confidently, as almost as he was going to rub it in Yusei's face. He was waiting for a reaction too, is what she guessed.
However, Ruka seemed to just sigh at his attempt. "You won't be able to do that."
"I'll be able to!" Rua argued, firm on his position. "I have a fool-proof plan in order to actually be able to succeed, you know!"
Ruka was sitting, almost something that Mitsuki didn't notice. "You're being way too optimistic about him." She pointed out icily. Surprisingly that was enough to bring a shiver to Mitsuki's spine. … Perhaps they were too trusting. Mitsuki had been suspicious before but… but he was different. It was a naïve hope that she desperately wanted to believe in for so long. That there was actually a decent man on this planet that she could respect. But she knew that Ruka was right. They knew nothing asides from his name and his obvious criminal mark on his left cheek. Oh, also the fact that he was a duelist.
"But, but, but, Ruka! He should be trusted!"
"Rua, you're shouting…"
"Thank you for your hospitality and I appreciate you bringing me here, all three of you. …But you shouldn't get involved with somebody like me." Yusei must have overheard the conversation while he was working on the D-Wheel. Rising from his seated position, it made Mitsuki want to stop him from doing so. God, she needed to get a hold of this attachment issue.
"I don't want to cause you guys any trouble." Yusei continued as he was beginning to leave.
"You aren't any trouble!" Rua rushed to grab his Duel Disk. "Yusei, you have to! Every duelist who is challenged must accept it! It's almost like a law."
Mitsuki still kept silent, staring at him with wide eyes. Was he still going to stay if Rua dueled him? She thought it was impossible. He must have been in a hurry to leave, surely. Yet here he was, staying in place and allowing him to get his Duel Disk. When she finally broke her silence, she gulped in some air and began to speak. "Well... I do want to get to know you better. I mean, it's not like we're going to tell anyone. You haven't hurt us nor have you gave us any reason to throw you to the Security dogs." she pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah! What Mitsuki said! I want to face all kind of opponents, so -" Due to his hyperactive shaking, his Duel Disk had slipped off of his arm. It landed with a loud thunk on the floor. Hastily he attempted to fix it for the duel.
"Let me help, okay, Rua?" Mitsuki helped to pick up the pieces and put them back together. Evidently something must have changed Yusei's mind. Maybe it was perhaps on how Rua was behaving like a friend he knew back in Satellite.
"I'll accept your challenge, Rua."
While they were working on setting up outside, it gave Mitsuki the chance to understand Yusei a little better. She saw constantly that he seemed to be the type of guy that would look out for others instead of themselves. An odd trait to find in a person like him. People would have normally be discriminatory towards criminals, even if they were ex-criminals. Treated like the garbage of the world. The idol considered that being near him would get them in trouble too. It was a forbidden thing to even have a romantic relationship with somebody from Satellite.
"Hey. Mitsuki... right? Can I ask you a question?" Yusei approached her, initial curiosity on both parties' faces.
"Go ahead. Shoot." Mitsuki raised an eyebrow towards him. What in the hell was going to happen? And since he called her by her first name without honorifics... did he respect her? Whatever came out of his mouth seemed alien to her.
His words were what got to her though, giving her a good reason to get the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. "Do you know Jack Atlas as much as I do?"
Huh. Way to cut to the quick. Taking a glance around she had noticed that he had approached her in the intent of knowing what she did. … Fuck. She didn't expect to be asked this question. Mostly it was because she felt like he hadn't known about him. Though clearly that wasn't the case. He – on some sort of degree – knew the King. The thing about it was that nobody from Satellite could possibly know him that personally.
"I don't get why you want to know something like that," Mitsuki's voice mixed in nicely with the somber breeze of the light-stained Neo Domino City. Now she was curious. Who was Yusei Fudo really? He knew too many rumors that he shouldn't have known. If Rua and Ruka had heard about this, there would be a whole bombardment of inquiring going on right now. However he had decided to confide to her. Before she could say anything, he turned to talk to the twins. His whisper, lilting and intoxicating, made her knees weak, although.
"I'll meet you at your place at midnight at your balcony. I'll find you."
"Are you sure that we're the only ones here?" Yusei must have been checking for assurance, it seemed. And Mitsuki couldn't blame him for being suspicious, since he wasn't exactly at his turf right now.
"Well, our parents are almost always at work. So, it shouldn't be a problem." Ruka said as she observed the buildings around them and even the gate-area around Tops.
"... alright! I'll be the first one to start the duel!" Rua's excitement filled the empty space was such energy. His first draw too seemed to be with something that some duelists lacked. "I place Morphtronic Celfon in attack mode! Then I'll activate my effect. Since it's in Attack Position, once per turn I can roll a six-sided die. This reveals my cards from the top of my Deck equal to the roll and Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Morphtronic monster out of the cards, ignoring the Summoning conditions. Then the rest get shuffled back into my Deck."
"That's a good start, given they both have 4000 life points... But relying on monsters alone-" Mitsuki's eyes shifted towards Yusei. No matter how much she looked at him, her gut feeling told her that she knew him. Somewhere, in some time, he was important to her. He desired to meet her at midnight. Probably about Jack. That could be the subject that he was inquiring about. Jack Atlas... now, this was getting confusing. Why would a resident from Neo Domino City be linked to this random guy who so happened to manage to get into Tops without much of a hassle and ask a question about Jack? Of course she knew plenty about him. …But the way that he said it, it implied that maybe Mitsuki had no real knowledge about him. Although he had been asking her out constantly, she always reciprocated with the fact that they could always be friends. This was never good enough for the King though. He sent her various gifts; such as flowers, chocolates, or stuffed animals and then it went into video games, cosplay, or even tickets to go to anime conventions. She didn't mind these presents at first. She thought it was just a symbol of friendship. On the other hand, he visited her even during practicing routines all the time. If Yusei had been a long-lost friend that even Jack didn't tell anyone about... then why would Jack hide such a secret?
Unless... he was really...!
"... I got a three, so I'll check the top three cards of my Deck!" The duel was proceeding smoothly past the dice roll. Apparently among the picked up cards was another monster. "I'll Special Summon Morphtronic Magnen in attack mode!"
The two monsters, Morphtronic Celfon and Morphtronic Magnen. Celfon had 100 in attack and defenses points while Magnen had 800 points in both attack and defense. However, Rua had set a card after the cards were reshuffled. His turn was over, but Mitsuki found herself staring at the face-down. It was a Trap card. That was what she bet on. Why else would he set two weak monsters in attack mode?
"My turn! I'll summon Speed Warrior in attack position." Yusei drew out his card. "Battle! Speed Warrior's Monster Effect! Which doubles its original attack power in the turn its summoned! Attack Morphtronic Magnen! Shred him! Sonic Edge!"
"Not going to happen! I'll block it with this! I'll activate Morphtransition to negate the attack." Luckily for him the effect had kicked in. If it hadn't, then he would lose quite a few life points. "This switches my Morphtronic Magnen to defense mode. And since it's in that position, your Speed Warrior can't select any other monster besides Magnen as an attack target!"
"I'll end my turn."
Figuring that he didn't see much of a chance to really change the course of battle right now, Mitsuki figured that he would have had to end his turn. Since a monster's effect only worked under certain conditions, then that meant that he wouldn't get much use out of it now.
"My turn, my turn!" Rua drew his next card, as the charged energy in the air just was enough to make anyone's heart race, more specifically, Rua's. "I'll summon another Morphtronic Magnen, but this time in defense mode! Then I'll activate Celfon's effect."
The dice rolled around in the air and landed on a two, which was a surprisingly good roll admittedly. Mitsuki knew that if he rolled anything higher, then more of his deck would be revealed. But then again, it could backfire, considering that it whatever number of cards he got were the ones he had to rely on to get the monsters from. It was a risky strategy all considering of what was gambled.
"Alright, I'll special summon Morphtronic Datatron in attack mode!" Rua proclaimed as he shuffled the rest back into the deck after it was summoned. "Then I'll activate my spell, Gadget Box! This will let me summon one Gadget Token each turn, but it can't attack. If I use this effect three times, Gadget Box will be destroyed. So now I'll special summon Gadget Token in attack mode!"
Despite having zero points in both attack and defense, Gadget Token would buy some time in the very least for Rua to come up with a solid strategy. Then again, Mitsuki reflected that this couldn't be so. Yusei looked like very structured, deck-wise. Why did she think like this? It wasn't like she didn't believe in her fellow Tops resident... But it suggested that the set up was… considerably unstable. Speaking of unstable, her cell phone constantly reminded her that Jack was calling. No matter how discreet she was about public relationships, the King thought of it otherwise. She hung up numerous times but of course knowing his nature – he would never really let up – and that was the most irritating part.
Rua gave a cocky smirk. "Then I'll tribute my Token to activate Morphtronic Datatron's effect, inflicting 600 damage to your life points!" As the life counter meter for Yusei went from 4000 to 3400 it didn't seem that he was phased in the slightest.
"My turn," Yusei proclaimed as he drew his next card. "I'll send Nitro Synchron from my hand to the Graveyard to activate Card Rotator. This switches the battle positions of your monsters: the two Morphtronic Magnen to attack position and your Celfon and Datatron switch to defense position." As the monsters positions were changed, he continued to relay his moves without fail. "Then I'll Normal Summon Junk Synchron in attack position. Then I'll use its effect to Special Summon my Nitro Synchron with its effect negated from the Graveyard in defenses mode."
As the monsters popped up, Mitsuki had a gut instinct that he was going for the impossible, perhaps the unthinkable. Yet it was amazing. He had this aura about him that made her... believe. And silently to herself, she asked, Who is he?
"Then I tune my Speed Warrior and Junk Synchron to Synchro Summon!"
Dazzling lights overtook the scenery, brighter than the city at night. An undefined feeling surged through her heart as she watched the magic unfold. What person could pull off a Synchro Summon like this? Only the city folk managed to collect them. But for somebody from Satellite to be able and show a type of love like this. She could feel the love radiate through his cards. The trust and bonds that he held onto so long. Despite life throwing him constant curve-balls, it was when he brought out his aces from his arsenal that he became a person with as much strength and courage higher than even the King's. At that moment, Mitsuki learned that a special quality was in everyone. And at that time, she wanted to feel what he was feeling at that moment.
"Gathering stars will call upon a new force! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Show yourself, Junk Warrior!" Appearing in a purple and white clad outfit, its red goggles that reflected the sunlight. The read-out for its attack and defense was 2300 and 1300. "But that isn't all. I'll tune my Junk Warrior and Nitro Synchron together as well!"
Rua's eyes widened. "N-No way...!"
Ruka, who had been chiding Rua for being overly excited through the duel, was even shocked. "That's some smarts." And it was true. For somebody to pull off a move like that and do two Synchro Summons in one turn had to have incredible talent.
Chuckling at this, Mitsuki had turned towards him. Surely, he was something to behold. A duelist like that seemed like one in a million. She had to admit, she admired him now. Mitsuki didn't have high hopes for him at the beginning, considering his background and other things. She never admit to it out loud though. Although he kept proving her wrong with each move he made. It was more genuine than the last and perhaps beyond whatever expectations that she had set before him, he passed them with flying colors. Judging a person before getting to know their true self was a naïve way of thinking. Of course she already had this sort of epiphany when Junk Warrior was Synchro Summoned but this was the one that sealed the deal.
"Gathering feelings will now become a new force! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Blaze on, Nitro Warrior!"
Mitsuki took a glance at the attack points and defenses points. "2800 attack points and 1800 defense points... Dang. That's a really good strategy..."
"Nitro Warrior! Attack and destroy one of his Morphtronic Magnens!" Yusei proclaimed, as Nitro Warrior landed a nasty blow against the Morphtronic.
Rua began to panic. "No, no, no! My life points!" They shot straight down into the 2000s without much of an effort. From 4000 life points to 2000 life points in one clean sweep... was an impressive feat.
"Then I'll use Nitro Warrior's effect! This switches Morphtronic Celfon into attack mode. Now finish his Celfon off!"
Slamming into Celfon with all its might, Nitro had effectively destroyed the last obstacle in order to obtain a victory, bringing Rua's life points all the way down to zero. In a way, Mitsuki couldn't explain such a duel. It was like a dance between two people, a battle of wits. But in the end Yusei had managed to claim his victory and a heart-broken Rua crumpled onto the ground, beginning to sniffle at the fact that he had lost.
When the duel was over, Ruka had walked over. "You sure do cry easily," she stated the obvious. Although perhaps it was her own way of comforting him.
"You really did enjoy dueling from the bottom of your heart, but the way you did it was self-centered." Yusei said as he had walked over to the crestfallen duelist.
Rua sniffled a little more. "I... I was satisfied with just getting my four Morphtronics together but... I hadn't really planned what to counter if the effects were reversed."
"If you were to duel all smug, then you'd be on a long path to becoming the King." Yusei finished, letting him know that while his effort was good, the way he acted would make all his hard work in vain. With that statement, Rua had lowered his head, probably too ashamed to even look his own opponent in the eye. This is when that he got his confidence back to ask him to another duel. But apparently this only earned him of Yusei just shaking his head.
"Look at this mark. If I stayed here, I'd only cause you trouble. I can't do that."
Despite the pleas and Ruka's insistence after saying that Rua has his I-want-to-help-you-out-itis thing, Mitsuki had gotten an immediate chill from when he agreed to stay for the day.
It was as if somebody had a choke hold on her. Her heart rate increased every single moment when words were exchanged. Burned into her memory... what did that little mark even signify? Nothing. Absolutely zero connection involved with her. Clearing her mind of worries, she had turned on her heel and headed to the door. There's no such thing.
A sane person wouldn't have thought too much on it. She wouldn't have either. Mitsuki stared back at Yusei. "Be careful who you ally with." She stepped back over to him, her eyes hollow with any emotion. The red head had nothing to really go on. "Why do you say something like that?" His voice seemed to fluctuate along with what she was saying. He must have been intrigued by her statement. So he rebutted back with a question. That was normal. Mitsuki reached over to him and gave his arm a solid vice-grip.
It didn't matter whether or not how he reacted. This only gave her a reason to cling on because she knew that she wouldn't have the chance to tell him. "Jack Atlas."
Then his answer became frigid like a blizzard that was tumbling through and his voice was laced with poison: "He has nothing to do with this."
Mitsuki gulped. Bullets of sweat formed around her forehead. "He does. I know it."
"Don't get the wrong idea. It's none of your business." he persisted, more urgently this time.
Her nerves were completely shot. What was going on? Did he notice the stare that she was giving the mark and decided to behave weird? No. That couldn't be it. Pouring every fiber of her courage into her voice, she began to speak. Even though she was afraid of what it might really be. "Why aren't you willing to tell me at all? Who are you really?"
He refused to answer her. To even acknowledge her questions. And she respected that. But at the same time she was infuriated.
Mitsuki stormed off. Honestly, she didn't have time for this person. She didn't have to waste it. Remembering his words about their little rendezvous at midnight stilled bothered her though. Usually it would be Sayaka who would do this. Not her. She may not be the most normal person around but she still had her limits. She didn't just leave anything hanging without questioning further into the matter. Hugging herself, she had to remind herself that there was no meaning in continuing this constant line of inquiry with this handsome yet reserved guest. Climbing down the stairs, she had flipped open her cell phone. Nothing interesting. Each message pertained something from Sayaka or from Yasue containing notes from classes. Then there was one text that did catch her interest. Jack. He had actually texted her. She wondered if he was living under a rock and only just figured out how to. Regardless, she had hesitated for a second. If she opened it, she might see something unpleasant. Then again, to erase that mark of his from her eyeballs, then she would gladly read it.
Look, I'm sorry about calling you so much. Mikage gets suspicious of a text, you know. And... I really haven't gotten out on my own as of late. You're the only person that I really actually talk to. Can we get a coffee tomorrow? Despite Jack's bluntness, she really didn't know how to respond. Should she agree to it? ...Now she was just getting silly. Why should she care about Jack? What good had he ever done for her? Even though they met a few times and she had shown interest, she didn't want to give him a reason to hate her yet she didn't want to reciprocate any of his feelings. If anything, their relationship was platonic.
Mitsuki typed back her message and send it. It was brief. Short. She didn't even want to remember it. All she said that was that Mikage should back off and give him space. And she agreed to the coffee. It wasn't as if she had many friends herself. All she had were the twins, that oddball Yusei, and Jack. Sure she spoke pretty badly of him... but she wasn't heartless enough to turn him away, like she ought to. No, thought Mitsuki while pocketing her cell phone. Despite what I feel... I can't let go. Tightening her already balled up fist to the point where the knuckles turned white. Each step felt like a ringing noise in her ear. Why do I hide myself? What am I afraid of? She didn't pretend that she didn't have problems. Her issues were a lot more complex than on the surface. But she didn't want anyone to worry over her little life. She was one of many. Replaceable. Anyone could take the place on the stage. Only that thought crossed her mind now. Is the truth that Yusei knows enough to break this current 'me'?
In the meanwhile, a man was enjoying a lovely cup of black tea. It was a pungent flavor; something that a witch would drink. That was what he would joke to himself time to time. It was to humor himself and keep himself from getting bored. He knew what was coming. The information, as usual. He was no longer surprised much by anything. As he heard the door open, he placed the cup tenderly on its saucer. His silver hair reflected his equally serpentine ice blue eyes. His tall frame much larger in comparison of that of the ward that he had for a time, Jack Atlas. In fact, he was his manager... of sorts. Well, more of that secretary that he had around. She was a kind girl but as in most of her duties of keeping things up to date, not so much.
"Sir, all the invitations have been sent out except Yusei's." Yeager, his right-hand man, informed him. What was abnormal about him was the usage of... clown makeup as the man would have thought of it. This was nothing to Rex Godwin however. He didn't care about the purple haired clown in the slightest. Of course, he would never really know that. Since they were strictly business partners and not friends, he could emotionally seal himself off towards his particular habits.
"He has recovered his deck and D-Wheel and he is currently hiding in the Tops area," added his co-worker.
Godwin stood up wordlessly at this. The time that he knew was coming was looming overhead but this astonished him. For a Satellite boy, he had gotten deep into the system without being detected for so long. Well, he could blame that on the idiotic Sector Security that he still bothered to keep around to prevent the two cities from merging together. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was perhaps out for Jack himself. And because of this, he had to take every precaution to prevent them from meeting in an unsavory place in which would reveal his background. Jack was a dicey character but he had did only what was best for him. Except preventing him from talking to a certain idol. No matter. Everything was going to be taken care of in due time. Whether it was approved or not, it didn't matter to a smartly dressed man like him.
Falling asleep on the couch, she had noticed and felt hands on her shoulders. Her reflex immediately kicked in and she nearly kicked the intruder in the face only to land hard on the ground and notice within her daze that it was Yusei and not some random burglar. Which in any case, she had grumbled as she rubbed her eyes. She had noted on her clock that it wasn't even remotely close to midnight, it was only eight-thirty pm. "When the fucking hell did you fucking get in here?" Her voice was acidic as she really wasn't in the mood to be interrupted in her sleep, even though she knew that they planned to meet on the balcony. "I don't care if you have an excuse! If somebody saw you breaking in they'd-" Then he shook the spare key to her balcony in front of her face. Next time she was hiding it somewhere that wasn't under the balcony's doormat.
"Mitsuki-chan, can you help me? I have a problem," said Yusei as he jabbed his thumb outside, which pointed to a large Security force surrounded around the building.
Mitsuki felt her cheeks grow hot. "Help you?" she shrieked. Twins or no twins, now Fudo was asking for a punch to the face, at minimum. She couldn't believe this. Helping an ex-criminal to escape only was asking for trouble until the sirens reminded her that they were still there...
It was a shamble of cars and D-Wheels that were labeled Sector Security on it. Simply there was no humane way to get through that mess without some carnage. At least she would help him. But she knew that there was no secret route through the Tops that she knew of and if she knew of it, they would be going through that right now. Escorting him down at least to comfort him, telling him that he was in a rock and a hard place, she couldn't really help him. Oddly enough, he had understood this and agreed to surrender himself. Mitsuki admitted that she really didn't want to send him out there. Like sending out a person to their own execution.
"Are you... really okay with doing this?" Hesitating to open the door, even though she knew that there was no choice.
Whether he scared or not, there was no way to tell. Yusei answered placidly, "It's alright. I'm only a magnet for trouble," he added as Mitsuki would have asked why he wanted to.
The answer didn't satisfy her in the slightest. Mitsuki's thoughts and actions were separate from each other. One part of her wanted to let the Securities have him because he had shattered her secluded private life apart. And another was yelling to save him... She stopped all thinking and swung it wide open, as he exited first and she followed. And before any trouble could start, as a D-Wheel appeared with that freaky officer on it, he was interrupted by somebody indefinitely more disturbing than him.
"I'm Yeager, the Head of Special Investigations," the clown remarked as he handed him an envelope. "I have a message from Director Godwin for you."
This only gave the Security some ammo and he began to protest quite violently, in fact. Apparently Yusei had stolen from the Security Warehouse. It was plaintively obvious to Mitsuki that he did had a point, although that the lackey of that director managed to shut him up with a subtle threat to not disobey this high and mighty director's orders. That's when noticed that he handed him a picture of what appeared to be of Yusei's friends and an invitation to the Fortune Cup.
"Should you refuse to enter, the four in this picture... are going to receive pain beyond your wildest imagination."
Mitsuki felt like it was a slap to the face, especially towards Yusei. Between her morals and her upbringing, she didn't know what to say. What could she do to prevent him Yusei from being oppressed like this? She had to do something. "Why in the hell would the Director decide all of a fucking sudden to do that?" she asked angrily, ready to tear him appear.
"Ah, Shirohane-san," remarked Yeager. "You have quite a mouth on you."
"Save it! I can't stand you tormenting somebody like that!"
The Head of Special Investigations had chuckled and only looked down on her menacingly. "Even when it's a Satellite? You're quite an odd bird. Then again... with what sort of latent power you had, it wouldn't surprise me at all."
"What? I dare you to say that again but this time it will be to my face!" Mitsuki erupted with frustration. "You'd better explain right now or else I'll-"
She paused as she received a well-placed punch in her gut, which reeled her backwards. His touch was brief but consistent. Mitsuki grunted as the fresh pain made her realize something. What she had seen for years had all been an elaborate lie. Like a farce comedy played out to the last note. The blood welled over from her mouth stained her lip... it was pleasantly delicious...
"Farewell then," Yeager teased. "Forget that this happened now. It's safer if you never know."
"Y... you..." The words were barely past Mitsuki's lips when she fell into bittersweet unconsciousness.
"Mitsuki... hey... please wake up! Are you alright...? Say something!" demanded an unknown voice.
Numbly, Mitsuki had felt somebody trying to rouse her from her unwanted sleep. "You shouldn't shake her so roughly. A lady's like a fine bottle of wine..."
The other voice seemed to be quite critical. "Saiga. Don't even suggest what I think you are going to, alright? I know what you mean." She couldn't see his annoying crab-shaped hair, but she felt it. "She's really pretty, though, when she's sleeping..."
"Sh-shut up," growled Mitsuki, struggling under the blankets that were apparently placed on her, swatting at Yusei's direction as she woke up. "It's not sleeping! I was knocked out, genius..."
Yusei rubbed her back soothingly. "C'mon, Mitsuki. There's some coffee milk with your name on it. It'll help with your stomach pain if you're alright with that."
"I got it, I got it," said Mitsuki, casually getting up from her sleep-induced trance and stretched her arms. It was painful though as she clutched her stomach, but it wasn't surprising to her because of Yeager's actions.
The stranger that was among the two had prepared some coffee milk, with Yusei introducing him as Saiga. So that was the man who told Yusei to treat me like a fine bottle of wine. She shook her head, thinking back on it. It was better not to ponder too much. Especially when she had other things to do. Drinking some of the prepared drink, it gave a sweet scent.
"Hey, aren't you that idol?" Saiga asked after a few gulps of her coffee milk. "We should probably take you home."
"Yes, I am. But I don't want to go just yet." replied Mitsuki with a frown. She knew that leaving Yusei high and dry wasn't her first priority. After learning what she did tonight, she wasn't even sure if she was in the mood to go see Jack or even talk about what had happened earlier. Her pride seemed dashed, being beaten by that stunted man. Even more so that the tiny scuffle drew blood out of her. When her ruby eyes found that Yusei had mostly been placed at her side, she blushed a little. Perhaps he wasn't such a bad guy after all. After having her doubts earlier, her affirmation of the events comforted the singer, if only it was for a single moment.
Grateful towards Saiga's kindness, she had been escorted home by him. She had to get in on her own, being allowed in by the guard. Too sour of a mood to even put up a decent conversation, Mitsuki had no way of knowing whether or not she would feel better. She wouldn't sleep tonight.
Unlocking the door and shutting it quietly behind her, she took off piece after piece of article of clothing and changing into her Sailor Moon pajamas after putting on her pink panties and a white tang top. Sliding on her slippers, she had heard a casual thunk. Glancing down, she noticed that her cell phone was there. And then she was thinking that maybe Jack had responded to her text. Mitsuki sighed and flipped it open.
Something had caught her eye as immediately as she opened the latest message. At first, she couldn't believe it. While she was reading it, she had curled under her bed covers and stared at the illuminated screen for a moment or two. She couldn't keep her eyes not glued on it. You know... I'm really glad your my friend. I just feel like I need to vent. A-And don't tell anyone! You better keep this a secret. With an melancholic sigh, she had begun to type out on the keys, looking outside as it was beginning to rain. Jack Atlas surely wasn't a type of guy to fess up to something so simply. Not like anybody would believe me. Go ahead and shoot. Oh, and we're still on for coffee tomorrow, right?
Exchanging messages between each other, Mitsuki figured that Jack was either really bored or actually a tsundere. She would bet on the latter. Everything indicated him of a closet tsundere. But it was just her observations alone. Of course she wouldn't abandon her friend when he needed her. Also she felt kind of like of a backstabber since she was a friend to Yusei. And he had some connection to Jack and well... this was getting awkward and she was starting to become the middle man – well, technically woman – of this friendship. And she didn't know why she was still typing messages back out to Jack. Maybe out of boredom? She wasn't sure anymore. All she knew was that she was typing and feeling particularly insomniac tonight for some reason. So was Jack, apparently. They talked various subjects from work to annoying people they knew in life. This was the subject they were on now as they he was complained about Mikage constantly babying him. Although she had looked out for him, he didn't like being touched so often by her. He said that he felt that he had to just hide for a whole day to have some peace and quiet to himself.
Mitsuki then had to tell Jack that she had to go to bed. Sorry Jack. I'm really sleepy. I'm going to turn in for the night. Have a good sleep, okay? She then plugged her phone in and then heard the buzz from her phone, which was surprising. She then looked at her phone again and then something made her drop her phone. Her shock nearly made her pass out. She had to be careful on how she answered him tomorrow at the coffee shop. I can't believe that Jack said that, she thought.
He knew something that even she wasn't aware of. But he asked her an impossible question: did she know the name of Yusei Fudo?
END OF CHAPTER 2
