Camula continued to glare and growl even as her life points dropped to zero and she fell to her knees. A breath later, she bared her fangs in a twisted smile.
"At least I have a consolation prize," she laughed. "Your brother's soul!" Ryo shut his eyes as Shou slowly vanished from head to toe, leaving only a single tear that dropped to the ground. His screams rattled in Ryo's head. Camula squeezed her new doll possessively and stroked its blue hair.
"What an adorable doll," she purred. Ryo swallowed hard and kept his eyes on the ground. As Camula disappeared with her new toy, he proceeded down the stairs to rejoin the others, his heart heavy. Although he'd won a duel against what had so far been the toughest of the Seven Stars and had even gotten Chronos-sensei's soul back, he was not greeted warmly.
Juudai was baring his teeth and being held back by Asuka. "I hope you're happy, Kaiser. You managed to keep your perfect record."
"That's not why I did it, Juudai," he muttered. "If I had lost, she would have gotten another spirit key."
"And I suppose a key is more valuable than Shou's soul?" Juudai spat.
"Juudai—" Asuka started.
"Admit it!" Juudai yelled. "You only won to save yourself! Shou always said you never cared about him. I always told him he was wrong, but I guess he wasn't." Juudai's eyes burned with fury and Ryo couldn't meet them. "You're his big brother. You're supposed to protect him." He shook his head, fighting tears. "And to think that I looked up to you. That everyone at this school, including your little brother, looked up to you."
Ryo didn't hear anything that was said after that. He went home to his dorm and stayed there until the next night, when Juudai dueled Camula and won Shou's soul back. He checked in on Shou every now and then to make sure he was doing okay, but he never spoke to Juudai again.
He didn't want to admit that Juudai had been right.