Chapter 2: Offline: Friendship Forged

Well, this was not how he'd have hoped the public reaction would be.

After the short portrayal of Playmaker and Blue Angel holding hands in a loving way, social media just exploded with articles writing about the two as rivals, lovers, and possible theories. Yusaku did not like people being nosy when it comes to private issues. But that was before, they were seen having dinner together at the Multi-Eyes Restaurant (a Galaxy-Eyes Meal set for two, an Odd-Eyes Dissolved Soda for him, and Blue-Eyes Mountain for her). Once that happened... the media just went into a blitz.

"Argh, they just had to show up now, don't they?"
"Day in the life of a celebrity."
"At least you're used to this."
"Only to the paparazzi showing up wherever. Not to them crashing my date!" Blue turned around quickly as Yusaku drank up his soda and tossed it into the trash bin.

"I think we lost them Blue. Let's quickly log out before they find us again."
"Yeah, let's."
"See you soon Blue. I love you." Playmaker took Blue Angel's hand and gently kissed it, melting the idol's heart
"I love you too Playmaker!"

They both logged out before the paparazzi could get any more "juicy news". However, one sneaky little frog and an equally sneaky pigeon caught a nice view.

"Hehe, this one's going on the front page tomorrow. Hehe."

Once the date was over, he logged off, preparing to face his parents. He walked on into the living room, hoping and praying not to see an angry father and mother.

"How nice, it seems you already had your first date." His father said, without a hint of anger in his words.

"Mom? Dad? Y-You're not... mad at me?"

"Oh sweetie, why would we be? You seem so happy with that girl. And she seems to like you too." His mother gave a warm smile, that instantly made him feel a sense of reassurance. "Just... do be careful, until you get to meet her outside of Vrains. I'm not saying you should be skeptical. Just don't do something stupid, like your father once did."

"Hey!" Yusaku and his mother both laughed.

"Anyway, would you like to rest up? It's getting late, and tomorrow's a school day."

"Alright mom, I'll go. See ya, love you."

"Love you." "Love you."

As he walked into his room, he really did have the question: 'What was Blue Angel like in real life?' He thought for a moment before deciding to just leave it to fate to figure it out, lest his expectations betray him. And with that thought, he slumped onto his bed and the feeling of sleepiness engulfed him.

As usual, the next day, Yusaku was on the way to school. By pure chance (or by fate), a girl from the same school as him passed by him, running, as though she was late (in reality, both of them had plenty of time). However, in her rush, she tripped and fell.

"Are you okay?!" Yusaku rushed over to the fallen girl.

"Y-Yeah, I'm... okay." The girl was clearly shy, but as Yusaku helped her up, he got a good look at her face. Something about it reminded him of Blue Angel, however, he thought there was no way the two are one in the same person, since she's so shy. She had a nice shade of brown in her hair, and it looked fluffy (as soon as Yusaku noted that, he mentally slapped himself).

"Oww!" Suddenly, the girl was clutching her knee. It seems she scraped it when she fell.
"What's wrong?" Yusaku took a look at her knee and saw a large gash there (for benefit of the readers, I will leave out the gory details). "You're hurt!"
"I-It's fine... Ow!"
"No it's not. Here, let me help you." Yusaku put his hand over her shoulder for support, and they walked together to school.

"How is it?"
"It... hurts a lot!"
"We got to get you to the nurse's office."
"Nonono, it's fine, I..."
"Trust me." Yusaku's smile was all it took to calm her, and the walk to school was met with little other problems, and little conversation until Yusaku decided to break the silence.

"So, what's your name?"
"You... don't know me?"
"Frankly, no. This is the first time I ever saw you."
"T-That's surprising. Everyone at school knows me."
"Then don't let me be the only one not to." The girl smiled at him before answering.
"Aoi. Aoi Zaizen."
"Pleasure to meet you Aoi. I'm Yusaku. Yusaku Fujiki."
"Glad to meet you too Yusaku. Say, you remind me of someone..."

Before Aoi could question further, the nearby screen turned on and showcased the news of the day. And right there, where everyone can see it, is the scene from yesterday: Playmaker kissing Blue Angel's hand. Instantly, Aoi hid her face and Yusaku turned away, but not before noticing Aoi's reaction.

"Do you know Blue Angel?" The shy Aoi suddenly looked up at Yusaku with a shock.
"Uh, y-yeah, everyone knows her. She's the most popular Duelist in Vrains. And now, it looks like she's dating Playmaker..." A blush formed on Aoi's cheek, and from that, Yusaku guessed she idolizes Playmaker (which, considering they're the same person, makes for a much more awkward situation to be in for Yusaku).
"Yeah, they look cute together, don't they?" The blush on Aoi's cheeks brightened.
"Yeah, they really do."

A few minutes more of chatting and the pair reached the school grounds.

"Alright, we're here Aoi." Yusaku led her to a bench to sit down. "Well, I'm sure you're other friends can help you better than I can from here."
"Uh, no... they can't."
"Huh? Why not?"

"I... don't have any friends..."

"What!? But you're so pret– I mean, you're so popular? Everyone knows you, right?"
"Do you know why they know me?"
"Do tell."
"My... step-brother... Akira Zaizen. He's the Security Manager at SOL Technologies."
"That's great, then why do you say you..."
"Because he's the only reason anyone ever approaches me!" Yusaku was taken aback. He didn't expect her to react so angrily. "Everyone either wants the newest Duel Disk, or a job at SOL Technologies."
"Oh, r-right..." Yusaku sighed. "So, I guess... you think I'm here for the same reason?" Aoi stayed silent. "Well, I guess if you really think that way, then there's no helping it."

Yusaku started to get up, but Aoi tugged his sleeve, motioning for him to stay.

"No, I... I don't think that way about you."

Out of all the things Yusaku could say in response...

"Really? Are you sure?"
"Yes, really. Do you doubt me?"

Yusaku mentally bonked his head with mallet made of steel.

"N-No, it's just that..." Aoi just giggled.
"I'm just kidding with you." Yusaku felt like a heavy burden has been lifted from his shoulders.
"Phew. That's a relief."
"I feel like I can trust you. And judging by your reactions, you really didn't know who my step-brother was, or who I was."
"Yeah, I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Aoi smiled at him. Yusaku smiled back, and for a while, he could see Blue Angel's face for a moment.

"Blue."
"Hmm? What did you say?"
"Oh, uh, nothing, really, just..." Yusaku breathed in for a moment before talking again. "You remind me of Blue Angel."

"W-What?!"
"You only remind me of her, it's not like you actually are Blue Angel. Haha." Aoi started poking Yusaku's arm.
"Well, don't scare me like that again."
"Hey, haha."

Some time passed in cheerful happiness before Aoi's knee started hurting again.

"Ow ow ow ow."
"Your knee! I forgot. We gotta get you to the nurse's office."
"Yeah, let's go."

At the nurse's office, Aoi's knee got bandaged up, and on the instruction of the nurse, Yusaku will have to accompany Aoi for most of the day.

"Well, looks like I'll be sticking around for quite a while."
"That's fine, you're my friend, right?" Yusaku was surprised to hear her consider him as one of her friends.
"Me? Your friend?"
"Yes. My first friend. Who knows? You might even be my best friend." The two friends smiled at each other. Aoi held her fist up to Yusaku. "Friends?" Yusaku held up his fist and they both fist bumped.

"Friends."

With that, Yusaku gained a friend. And a pretty one at that. But Yusaku couldn't think about how pretty she was. Not when he has a darling "angel" to love. But he must not bring online things into the real world, especially since it's Blue Angel. Noone would believe him if he said he's Playmaker and that he's dating Blue Angel. But his eyes went back to Aoi's smiling face, and it just reminded him of Blue Angel. Then he remembered his mother's words.

"...until you get to meet her outside of Vrains."

'But there's no way she could be Blue Angel, is there?' Yusaku thought. 'That is quite a long shot. Probably isn't what I think it is.'

He just shook his head and banished the thought like Blue Angel banished his cards. Aoi wondered what had gotten into him, before asking.

"Hey, let's get to class. It's almost time."

After school, Yusaku walked home with Aoi (as requested by the nurse and Aoi herself).

"You know, Yusaku, I never really got to walk home with anyone. It was always so lonely."
"At least you have me now, my house is this way too."
"Ooh, cool. Then we can walk back home together more often!"
"Well, here's my house. I'll go tell my mom and dad I have to walk with you home." He called for his mother and father, and soon after, his mother opened the door.

"Hello sweetie, who's this?"
"This is Aoi Zaizen. She scraped her leg, and by request of the nurse, I have to help walk her back home." Aoi waved to his mother and she waved back.
"D'aww, how gentlemanly of you, Yusaku. Well, go on. I'll prepare the usual for dinner?"
"Yes please. I'll be back soon, don't worry. Bye!"
"Bye!" Aoi bowed again before walking with Yusaku back to her place.

"You're quite close to your mother aren't you?"
"Yes I am."
"Cool."

A few more minutes of idle chatter and directions led them straight to Aoi's house.

"Alright, we're here. Thanks Yusaku."
"It was nice meeting you."
"I'm glad for the time we spent..." Aoi smiled. "...together." Yusaku smiled back. They stood in silence before Aoi spoke out.

"Remember how I said you might be my best friend?" Yusaku nodded. "Keep this up, and you will be my best friend." Aoi smiled cheerfully.
"Of course I will. You're my friend after all."
"Hehe, thanks Yusaku. See ya later. Bye."
"Bye."

Yusaku and Aoi said their goodbyes and parted. But what they both don't see... overlooking from the window of the apartment on the top floor, Akira Zaizen himself watched Yusaku walk away.

"Aoi..."

A/N: Ta-da, second chapter. And my goodness, judging from the reviews, you seem to love this. Also, I got noticed by phantomwolfblue! I just loved her Vrains stories so much. And XBrain130 too, from the YuGiOh wiki. I remember him helping in editing out details of the Vrains episodes while I did the "Featured Duels" section. Good to see ya both :D

Here's just some bits and pieces of the first day of their friendship. I know it's heavy on dialogue, but yeah, stuff like that happens

I know a lot of the things are really different from the anime, like Revolver, and Yusaku's personality. Well, how about for purposes of this story, we'll leave it at that for the moment. Okay? :)

Anyway, I'll try my best with this story. Not sure how often I should release chapters, maybe weekly every Saturday? I don't know, I'd like to keep the suspense there, but not too long. Also, word count on my chapters is a thing too.

Anyways, things I'll improve on, and things you guys can help me with. Feedback is greatly appreciated, and I'll try to respond to any questions you have for me. Peace!