Cheat

To say Aki's life had been troubled would be an understatement. Much of her formative years had been spent controlled by her own misdirected wrath. And, she understandably had few close friends. So, she found the fact that she often failed to keep Yusei's attention incredibly frustrating. Unlike Jack or Crow, she was not a childhood friend he could reminisce with. They were not in sync like Yusei and Bruno were in sync. She simply did not fit.

Again, like every other day, she came in, said hi, made a little small talk, and then, shyly went to work on her homework when Bruno interrupted their conversation so he could discuss some aspect of the engine's software with Yusei. She had long since given up competing with Bruno.

This time, however, the twins seemed to notice her gloomy demeanor as she opened her textbook and resigned herself to solving equations in the next hour or two before Crow and Jack would arrive and force Yusei to take a break. The two whispered to each other, and Aki smiled to let them know she was fine. The whispering developed into a full scale argument which led Rua to drag his sister to Aki's small study area in the kitchen. She sighed, worried that it might come to this. As much as she liked the twins, they could be pushy and oblivious to the kind of troubles Aki faced. Often, they made a situation worse instead of better.

"What's wrong?" Rua asked. His sister elbowed him and shot him a death glare.

"Isn't it obvious? Yusei has just spurned her affections like Kazuki did to Sakura in Jack's soap opera, Duels of our lives."

"No way, why would Yusei do that?" he said, immediately getting the reference.

"Because the engine is Suki and Bruno is Takuya."

"Of course, it makes perfect sense now. She needs to do something before the evil twin shows up."

"Uh, Rua, Bruno doesn't have an evil twin."

"You don't know that."

If she thought for a second Yusei would actually pay attention to their conversation, she would have told them to keep it down. Instead, she grew red. Was Yusei the only one who didn't notice she liked him? Or was Ruka savvy to it because of her over exposure to soap operas? Aki shook her head. Either way, she didn't want to encourage the twins to get involved. Unless she suddenly became mechanical, Yusei wouldn't devote much time to her. He liked to tinker too much.

"I appreciate your concern, but I don't really expect Yusei to pay much attention to me while he has the engine to think about. Besides, we don't really speak the same language," she said. Rua snapped his fingers and jumped excitedly.

"That's it. If you can understand what Yusei's saying when he's talking about the engine, you can defeat Bruno's evil twin just in time for the wedding. "

"Bruno doesn't have an evil twin, Rua, and I don't know if that would help. Learning how the engine worked would take a long time wouldn't it?"

"You can cheat and write some stuff down on your hand to get the conversation started. "

"Rua, don't tell her that. We don't want their relationship based on a lie like Daichi and Asami when he said that he enjoyed dancing. The guy ended up breaking his leg on the dance floor while they were dueling!"

"It's only a little lie."

Cheat? Aki wasn't sure. There were too many ways to make a fool of herself. Even if she studied up before hand, eventually, they would reach a topic she knew nothing about, and he would start talking to Bruno again. It was hopeless. She was better off being the bench warmer.

"I'm not doing that. It would never work anyway."

Ruka nodded and started doodling in her sketchbook. Rua, on the other hand, huffed and crossed his arms.

"What happened to you? You're so boring now. I miss the Aki that actually did things."

"Rua, that's mean."

"Well, it's true. The old Aki would have grabbed Yusei by the arm and dragged him on a date already. You're jealous of an engine."

"The old Aki would have crushed you under building debris," Ruka shouted.

Genuinely shocked, she stared at her incomplete math sheet and wondered if she was being too passive. Sure, Aki was better now, but she had slipped back into her old life silently without complaint. And if she were being honest, she found school life rather dull, and the quiet whispers left her numb as she did her best not to react. In an effort to reclaim her life, she had lost that decisive spark that gave her purpose and drive. All that had been tied to Divine, and without it, she had been eager to please and longed to be included even if she only played a small part.

"You're right."

"No he isn't. Don't listen to him. You're fine just he way you are. Yusei will notice you eventually."

So, she should wait and sit on the bench until it was her turn. Aki wasn't sure she liked the idea. Was it better to be kind and dull than fierce and forceful? Maybe, she didn't need to retrieve her leather whip from its concrete grave in Daimon area, but she could at least try to talk to Yusei for more than a few seconds a day.

"Okay, Rua, I'll try talking to him tomorrow. "

"Are you sure?" Ruka asked.

Aki nodded. She didn't see the harm in learning a little more about what Yusei did day after day. If nothing else, she could feel like she truly belonged in the group for reasons other than being a rescue if only for a few shining moments.

"Great, we can start now. Yusei should have a spare computer here somewhere. He's always fixing them for people," Ruka said.

Ruka and Rua huddled together, and Aki nervously joined them. This was silly. A few hours on the internet wouldn't make her an expert.

"So, what do you want to talk to him about?" Ruka asked.

"Something simple but engine related," Aki didn't want to go overboard on her first try.

The twins saluted her and went to work. They spent the next few hours looking up a myriad of facts and taking notes. Unfortunately, their time was cut short when Jack and Crow came to see Yusei and asked what they were doing. They hastily covered up their tracks and changed the subject. With Yusei more aware of his surrounding, she didn't have the nerve to try again. So after sometime with the group, she excused herself. The twins winked at her and she feigned a smile. Aki was having second thoughts. She hadn't been able to keep up with the conversation after the subject changed from dueling to the engine.

After she got home, she finished her homework and looked up more mechanical things anyway. Aki didn't want to back down if only to prove she could still be bold and follow through with her own plans now that she was Divine-less.

When she returned the next afternoon, Aki was a nervous wreck. She felt like a student who hadn't studied enough beforehand and crammed everything in at the last minute. After nearly falling down the stairs, she took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves and finally forced herself to look up. Yusei unsurprisingly was typing away at the computer screen with Bruno. The only difference in his overall appearance between yesterday and today was his frown.

"Is everything okay?"

"Hi Yusei,"she blurted out. Realizing her mistake, she winced. Maybe, she had stayed up too long. The twins must have thought so too as they slapped their foreheads in dismay.

"Yes, I-I- How's everything with the engine?" she asked.

For once, Yusei didn't look like he wanted to talk about the engine but indulged her anyway.

"It's coming along. We're working on coding the software now. There's a chance we'll be able to increase the speed by thirty percent if we can get the equation right," he said.

Not sure how to best proceed, she decided to sit down and casually mention a thing or two she'd learned yesterday. Yusei seemed surprised that she hadn't retreated to her usual place in the kitchen table, and Bruno closed the laptop and watched her with undisguised interest. Fidgeting, she collected her thoughts and ignored everyone's eyes on her.

"Did you want something Aki?" Yusei asked.

Shaking her head, she looked back at the twins for a second for support. Rua gave her a thumbs up, and Ruka wrote, You can do it on her notepad. Feeling a little better, she decided to broach the subject.

"I wanted to talk about the engine."

In a move she wasn't expecting, Yusei closed his laptop.

'What did you want to know?" he asked.

A little embarrassed that he assumed she wanted him to explain something, she bit her lip and simply started talking.

"Are you still having trouble getting the fuel to burn efficiently with the new program and extra cylinders?"

"Oh no, we solved that yesterday. It turns out it wasn't the software or the added cylinders that were leading to problems with the exhaust. Jack accidentally rammed into it getting a midnight snack and didn't tell anyone. A few parts weren't fully integrated yet and he put everything back incorrectly. It cost us a few hours we could have used fixing something else, but at least the worst is over."

"I see. Since you went to the trouble of reconstructing the bike's engine yesterday, it wouldn't hurt to do a few more test to make sure everything is working properly right? "

Yusei nodded, not looking too sure where the conversation was heading.

"I suppose so."

"Then, maybe, I could help you test the throttle since Jack keeps pushing the bike's durability in the speed department."

"But Aki, you're inexperienced. I'm not sure if you'd be a good test subject."

And, there was yet another barrier between them. She'd never touched a bike before. Apparently, he didn't even want her near a bike while it was held in place by cinder blocks.

"I guess not. Either I'd go too slow for the test to matter or I'd go too fast and lose control of the bike," she admitted.

Her sudden confession seemed to catch Yusei off guard, and his eyes darted from her and the bike. Aki shook her head.

"I'll leave you alone now. Maybe, the twins need help with their homework," she said, getting up. Yusei grabbed her hand.

"Maybe, we can go grab a bite to eat . . . if you don't mind?"

Aki stared at him in amazement.

"Really?"

"Yes, I can make some time."

"Okay, she'll do it." the twins said cutting in. She smiled, not minding the interruption so much this time.

"I'd like that. "

So, with that little affirmation, Yusei started walking out the front door, dragging her along for the ride. His d-wheel was still going through modifications so they were actually going to use their feet for once.

"I'll be back, Bruno. Remember to eat something, you're not a robot," he said.

Bruno jumped nervously and laughed heartedly.

"Of course not," he said.

"Bye Yusei. Bye Aki." the twins shouted unanimously as they waved.

There was a long stretch of silence while they walked. Yusei's mind seemed to be somewhere else as they passed the various small shops around them. The trip to the deli didn't take long. After they ordered their respective sandwiches, they sat down, but he didn't touch his sandwich. It finally occurred to her that he might have wanted to speak to her alone, and that the sandwich was of no real importance.

"We haven't been talking much lately."

"You've been busy," she said off handedly. Aki didn't blame him for being unable to connect with her lately. Technically, she didn't understand a good chunk of what he lived for. The more she tried to reach out, the more she realized that the disparity might be too great to overcome.

"That never stopped you before. You used to stay up with me."

As she thought back to those days, she accidentally crushed her sandwich so the contents almost spilled out. She eased her grip on her meal and shrugged.

"But, you have someone who actually understands what you're saying now. What do you need me there for? " she asked honestly.

"None of what I said sunk in did it?" he asked, sporting a small smile.

Aki blanched, realizing that she hadn't been careful enough with her words. Knowing it was too late to deny it, she decided to tell the truth.

"No but you had done so much for me already that I stayed and listened. I just really wanted you to like me," Aki said, breaking eye contact. She sounded so pathetic. Going to the garage every day was more of a crutch than anything else. She had yet to become emotionally attached to any of her classmates, and she knew that was partly because she spent so much of her time in the garage with Yusei and his friends. But she couldn't make herself regret the long hours she spent there with him. Yusei saved her, and other than Crow, and maybe even Jack, he was her best friend.

"I do."

Aki shook her head. She didn't fit.

"Only when I'm quiet."

He'd flipped when she'd used her powers to help him. In fact, he hadn't been all that collected during the party. She still didn't know what had put him in such a bad mood that day.

"If I cared how quiet a person was, I wouldn't be friends with Jack or Crow."

Her message wasn't getting through. As a person, she'd acted in one of two extremes most of her life, either calm and sedated or wild and cruel. Yusei had clearly rejected the former, and she hated simply existing day to day. Much to her chagrin, she found it impossible to merge the two extremes.

"I mean-"

"Is there a chance you'll stay today?"

"You won't be busy working with Bruno?"

The question sent him into a reflective state that she knew from experience was hard to snap him out of. Luckily, Yusei snapped out of it almost immediately and nodded.

"He'll still be there, but we can pick up were we left off in the morning. I'd rather talk to you tonight."

"Wait. Do you want me to spend the night?" she asked. He'd never directly asked for her to stay before. Aki had always considered herself a minor nuisance when she stayed well into the night.

"Only if you want to," Yusei said, looking a little unsure.

Liking the idea, she nodded.

"Then, we have a deal," she said, holding up her hand. Instead of shaking it, Yusei took her by the wrist and inspected the writing on her skin.

"Why is the formula for fuel consumption written on your arm?" he asked curiously. Forcing herself to smile, she hid her other hand that had significantly more written on it, and said,"It was the twins idea."