The rest of the week passed normally, Varsch pretended to know nothing about the video thing and acted all concern for his "friend." Yuya got over it with a few laughs and ignored all the people teasing him. Whilst the rest of Varsch's gang planned more ways they could make Yuya look bad. Making the entire school lose any respect they had for Yuya was the first stage of their plan and right now it was going pretty well. In order to help with this, Varsch had been reading his journal everyday. He'd discovered many secrets about Yuya that could be of use; also that he was hurt more by the other kids' teasing than he let on; that he was deeply upset about losing his father; and probably the most useful, that he had a crush on Zuzu. Varsch had already planned to make Zuzu fall for him so he could break her heart, and if Yuya saw them together it would crush him. This way he could kill two birds with one stone. So when he got to school on Monday he put into effect his plan to split the two apart. He waited at the school gates for Yuya after Zuzu had already gone inside so as to have some time alone with him.
"Oh morning Varsch." Yuya said, appearing beside him.
"Morning Yuya, I was actually waiting for you."
"Really why?"
"I wanted to talk."
"About what?"
"Zuzu."
"Zuzu? What about Zuzu?"
"Well…" Varsch pretended to sigh, he knew he had to act perfectly here. "I've never met anyone quite like her before."
"Zuzu's the best." Yuya agreed.
Varsch nodded and then continued. "I think I like her, you know as more than a friend."
Yuya's expression dropped immediately, and for a second he looked slightly worried but he quickly covered it up. "Yeah?" He replied, unable to stop his voice from shaking ever so slightly.
"Mm, I want to ask her out but I'm not sure how." Varsch said. "You know her really well, what do you think she'd like?"
"Oh um…" Yuya stuttered. He didn't know what to do, Varsch was his friend and he wanted to help him, but he really liked Zuzu himself and the thought of her with someone else really hurt. However, when he thought it through it was Zuzu's choice who she went out with and since he hadn't the courage to tell her how he felt, he shouldn't be upset with those that did. As long as Zuzu was happy. That was what he was all about after all, making people happy. "Zuzu likes music, duelling, ice-cream, dancing, all sort of things really."
"Interesting." Varsch said. "Thanks Yuya, you're a good friend." He gave Yuya a hug, pretending he was grateful. "Now that I think about it. You've been her friend for a long time, what do you think of her?"
"She's…" Yuya stopped suddenly, he wasn't really sure what to say. There was a lot he could think of, but nothing that wouldn't make himself sound stupid…
"She's amazing." He said finally. "Ever since I can remember Zuzu's been there, laughing with me, crying, shouting, playing, singing, dancing. She always stood by me and has been my friend even after my father disappeared, I think what I like most about Zuzu is that she likes the real me." Varsch just stared at Yuya as he unkowningly poured his heart out. He hadn't realised it but all of Varsch's questions had been a trap to get him to reveal his true feelings. A trap that he'd fallen into perfectly. Yuya kept telling him everything he loved about his long-time friend as they walked to their classroom. Of course he stopped when they got inside and it was only then that he realised what he'd been saying, however Varsch pretended to be oblivious, so Yuya figured he had nothing to worry about.
The rest of class went by normally and the three friends went to lunch like usual, except Varsch told the others he had to go do some extra work for a bit. Yuya and Zuzu just shrugged and said they see him later. So Varsch was free to go meet up with the rest of his little gang to discuss the next part of their plan.
"Oh hey Varsch." Devin said, when he got there.
"Hey." He replied.
"What brings you here?" Nathan asked.
"I need you to do something for me tonight." He said, as he began to smirk evilly.
Time skip…
It was the end of the day and Zuzu, Yuya and Varsch were all at the school gates.
"No duel school today I'm afraid." Zuzu told Yuya, meaning they'd all have to go home, so the three of them said their farewells and parted ways. Although Varsch didn't plan on going straight home.
Yuya walked along the riverbank on the way back to his house just as he always did, when he suddenly noticed a group of boys in his grade sitting on a bench at the side of the path. He was wondering why they were all looking at him. As he passed, he prayed he was just imagining things and they would just ignore him. Unfortunately they had other ideas.
"Hey clown boy!" One of them cried. Yuya stopped, he didn't pay any mind to the name they called him, he'd heard it before many times.
"Yes?" He asked. He turned around and realised the four of them were advancing on him. "What do you want?"
His reply was a swift kick to the back of his legs, knocking him to the ground. He cried out in pain and two of the boys grabbed him and dragged him into an alley between two shops across the street. Sadly, it was still fairly early and there weren't many people about so no one noticed them. Aside from one person, who wasn't going to be much help. In fact the young orange-haired Chinese boy was looking forward to seeing his friends hurt the stupid kid. While he watched from behind some bins at the other end of the alley where Yuya wouldn't see him. He smiled broadly as Nathan punched Yuya in the stomach causing him to double over.
"Hey!" Yuya yelled when he got his breath back. "What was that for."
"Oh it's quite simple really." Robin said. "We don't like you."
"Yeah." Said Carter, taking Yuya's chin in his hand and forcing their eyes to meet. "Plus you're a worthless, pathetic loser, and its time you learnt that."
"And we're going to teach you." Devin finished, cracking his knuckles and taking another swing. Yuya threw his hands up in front of his face in a weak attempt to defend himself as an onslaught of attacks hit all over his body. He tried his hardest to keep his mouth shut throughout the beating but every now and then a cry or pained whimper escaped his lips. The four bullies went into an uproar every time this happened making Yuya feel even angrier than he already did.
"Why are you doing this! I hate you! I didn't do anything to you!" He screamed.
"You didn't have to." Nathan said, punching him in the face again, sending him flying back into the wall. He clutched his nose, suddenly feeling ill as he felt something thick and wet trickle onto his fingers. "Being around you was enough." Nathan continued. "You're just so annoying, the way you always make such a fool of yourself and act like you don't care."
"Yeah." Said Robin. "Any normal person would be upset when people are always laughing at them but you seem to enjoy it. It's not natural and it's weird."
Yuya just stared at them, unsure of how to respond. Eventually they got bored of waiting and started to punch and kick him again. One kick to his legs caused his deck to fly out of his pocket and scatter on the floor.
"Well, well, what have we here?" Carter said with a smirk as he bent down to scoop up some of the cards.
"My cards!" Yuya cried. The four bullies began examining the contents of his deck while Yuya tried to get back onto his feet.
"You call these cards?" Nathan taunted. "They're pathetic." He tossed them onto the floor and stamped on them, rubbing them into the pavement with his foot. The others all proceeded to do the same, laughing cruelly as they did.
"No!" Yuya cried rushing at Nathan, effectively knocking him down. The others responded by grabbing him and holding him still whilst Nathan got up and brushed himself off. "I hate you." Yuya spat with a venom in his tone none of them realised he even had. "How dare you treat cards like that, you're sick and horrible and I hate you!"
Yuya panted heavily after his rant, already worn out from the beating. Nathan simply laughed at what he said and took hold of him by his collar. He pressed Yuya up against the wall and leaned in so close Yuya could feel his breath on his face. He grimaced at how awful it smelt.
"You're just as worthless as your cards and one day soon you're going to realise that."
With that said, Nathan gave Yuya one last punch to the gut and dropped him. He lay flattened against the cold concrete of the ground with his cards scattered around him. The group of bullies just laughed and took off, passing Varsch on the way. Said person getting up from his hiding place and running after them, leaving Yuya alone, beaten and angry.
