I was looking through my cards, swapping one with a card from my Extra Deck here or there, when I heard a knock at my door. That meant it was time. Time to go investigate this death threat to Kaze's classmate, Rei Saotome. I quickly gathered my cards up from my bed, placing them back in their respective spots in my duel disk, before standing up and heading for the door.
Outside, Kaze was standing, somewhat bouncing on his heels as he started down at his phone. So, he clearly was still anxious about the whole thing… Upon seeing that I emerged from my assigned room, Kaze stashed his phone before taking the lead towards the stairs.
"What's our plan? Are we just going to walk on in?" I asked in a whisper. Technically, we weren't supposed to be going out. Keisuke never directly said we couldn't leave, but it was sort of an implied rule. If we left, he had no way of knowing if we were contacting someone else or leaving permanently. At least at the arena, they had a sort of cell signal jammer, which make all phones and electronic devices useless except for the basic features like DP and time.
Simply put, if someone heard or saw us leave, we probably would face some form of punishment. That seemed lost on Kaze, though. He was the kind of person who would rather have a friend hate his guts than see them dead. Or I could say he would rather have them know about his dark past than have them face it personally.
"They only want to deal with me, so I'll head through the front. If I beat them before in a duel, I can probably beat them again. In the mean time, you try to find a back door or something and get to Rei. I'm hoping they don't have someone guarding her, but if she's a hostage, that's probably the case. Do you think you could deal with-" Kaze started to question when he meet my gaze and the expression I wore screaming 'Are you serious?'. As much as I hated them, I did still have psychic powers. Even if I lost a duel, I could still summon a monster. While I couldn't control them, they never ended up hurting me, so it would all work out in the end. The brunette ahead of me let out a soft chuckle, a smile making its way onto his face. So we continued on our way.
When we left the bar seconds later, the hard part was over. Now, we just had to deal with a few thugs. The darkness would pose a bit of a problem, though. Sure, there was a street light every few meters, but not enough to illuminate the whole walk to our destination. The darkness was like a thick sheet separating us from everything around us. If it weren't for the fact that a few lamps were on inside the bar, I doubt I would have been able to see the brunette who was only a foot or two ahead of me.
Suddenly, a hand brushed against mine, causing me to instinctively pull it back a bit. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just… I don't want to lose you out here," Kaze said before reaching out once more. Knowing it was him, I saw no problem holding the hand until several minutes of walking later, when I became conscious of what I was doing. I remembered Keisuke's assumption earlier. Dating… As quickly as the thought came on, I berated myself for even thinking about it. There were far more important things to be thinking about than that stupid bartender's teasing. "Hey, Aki," Kaze began softly, "can I ask you to promise me something?"
"So long as it isn't to stay behind while you risk your neck in there," I quickly responded, causing Kaze to go quiet.
"I… Promise me that if something happens… if something goes wrong that we didn't expect, that you'll take Rei and get out of there," Kaze said.
"I just told you-" I started.
"I know what you said, Aki! But… I'm not planning on dying or getting hurt, but I…" Kaze's words seemed to fail him as his grip on my hand tightened. "I don't want Rei knowing about Brionac," he finished in a whisper. This took me by surprise. As close as the two seemed to be, he didn't want her knowing, even in a situation like the one he was proposing. So then she didn't know about his past after all…
"Alright… I'll take Rei out of there if something goes wrong, but I'll be coming back once she's safe," I asserted, my tone telling Kaze that there was no chance to tell me otherwise. The duelist leading me slowly came to a stop and I followed suit. The four-story stone building before us was clearly in bad shape and hadn't been used in years. Pieces of the upper floors were missing and debris was scattered around the front. Even the first floor seemed fairly trashed with wear and tear evident by the small holes in the stones. Inside, it was apparently a hideout for criminals and lowlifes.
When Kaze let go of my hand, I took it that that was his sign that I should find the back door entrance. I decided to look around the sides and back of the building simply due to its poor condition and easy access. During my search, I heard muffled voices thanks to the wall, which prompted me to walk a little faster. That meant they must have been staying on the first floor, which was perfect. Eventually, amongst the gray, stone wall, I found what I was looking for. A small hole that, if I crawled, would give me access to the back side of the first floor. That's how I ended up squirming on the dirt to gain access to the building and give Kaze his back-up if needed.
"I'm telling you, Demon, you must be stupid. You still work alone after all of these years and you think I'm willing to duel you after I've seen your freaky little serpent. No, you play by my rules today," a voice declared. I paused in my crawl to look to my left, just in time to see two men charge at Kaze from behind. I was about to call out some kind of warning in case they had weapons, but the duo simply blindsided Kaze and caught his arms, keeping him from his duel disk. I had to finish getting inside. If not, I couldn't offer Kaze any help and, more than likely, I'd be caught as well, as I probably couldn't reach my duel disk in this position. I could attack once they lowered their guard in a few seconds. The room was barren enough, given an overturned table or pillar here or there. Luckily one of said tables was fairly close to the hole I was crawling through.
"Ha! If ya keep struggling, I'm gonna have to take it out on yer little friend!" one of Kaze's captors sneered, instantly ending what meager resistance Kaze put up. It didn't, however, lessen the glare on his face.
"Do whatever you want with me, but let Rei go!" Kaze shouted.
"Rei…? Is that what this girl is called? She was yapping something about a hero and whatnot and how she was a hero too. Way too annoying," the leader of the crew complained as he crossed his arms across his chest and took a few steps towards Kaze. "In fact… why don't we show her just what happens to heroes?"
Finally out of the small hole, I positioned myself behind the nearby table, waiting for my chance to strike. Once they brought Rei out, I'd summon Black Rose Dragon. With her rose petals, she should be able to disorient all of them long enough to help Kaze and Rei escape. Two scruffy men with shaved heads came out of the dark back room, carrying with them…
"Argh, let me go! Let me go, you creeps! You freaks! Stop! You villains! Just let me go and I'll show you how a hero-" Ida Misaki cried out as she thrashed against the two men holding her arms still. Ida…? Ida, of all people? What was she even doing here? It made no sense. Kaze's theory held more ground than this. The captured brunette seemed to know it too, as the surprise was evident on his face.
"I-Ida?" Kaze let out softly. I couldn't tell if he was crestfallen because it wasn't his old friend or because we were being quickly outnumbered. How many more goons awaited in the shadows…?
"K-Kaze! You're here too! That means you really are a hero! You came to rescue me! Hurry up and beat these guys to Kingdom Come with Brionac!" Ida insisted eagerly, moving forward with the tiny bit of leeway she had.
"Sheesh, you have one loud mouth on you. It's annoying," the lead man complained as he lightly shook his head. "Besides, Demon isn't a hero. Least, he won't be once we're done with him," the man said as he began advancing towards Kaze once more. I quickly reached for my deck, pulling out Black Rose Dragon.
What happened next was all in a blur. Suddenly, the men holding Ida back had their heads rammed together by a newcomer, knocking them out. "Come on, Demon!" the brown haired assailment called out. Kaze nodded as soon as his stupor disappeared, quickly putting all his strength into yanking his arms away from the men and running forward to meet the man halfway. I quickly worked my way out of my surprise as well, putting the card back into my deck before running over to Ida, preparing to fight off any other hidden goons.
"Ida! Ida, are you alright?" Kaze called out as he ran over to our side. If he wasn't fighting the men, then… When I turned, I saw the man who charged in clutching his left arm, but the criminals around him were all knocked unconscious, it seemed. And that's when he turned around, taking me by surprise.
"K-Keisuke!" I shouted. The bartender simply shrugged off my exclamation, sauntering over before extending his uninjured arm to Ida, who was still on the ground.
"Are you alright there, little lady?" he asked courteously. Ida ignored his hand, however, instead choosing to push herself off the ground and positioning herself next to Kaze. What a surprise…
"Um, sorry, but I already have someone," the gray-haired teen declared. Keisuke just remained with his hand out, blinking a few times, clearly not understanding where her remark came from. That wasn't exactly what he was insinuating, even I knew that.
"Wait, Ida, when did you get a boyfriend?" Kaze asked innocently.
"You dork, it's you! You're my boyfriend!" Ida exclaimed while latching onto the now reddening teen's arm. Boyfriend…? Who did she think she was…!?
"Ah, so that's why you said you two weren't dating earlier! You're already dating, Red!" Keisuke laughed jovially as he patted Kaze on the back.
"W-what…?! No, no, we're not dating! I'm not dating anyone! Why does everyone say that I am?" Kaze cried out as he tried to pull his arm out of Ida's death grip.
"We just met her at Duel Academy. She's no one significant," I added.
"Cold as ever, Aki. Come on, I came all this way for you two and you just brush me off!" Ida complained.
"Why you came here can wait. We need to call you a cab. You need to go back to Duel Academy, Ida. You don't belong here. Tonight is enough proof of that," Kaze said, finally pulling his arm away as Ida's grip slackened in surprise.
"No way! I'm not going back! We're heroes, after all, and I can't go back to where heroes are being are tormented!" Ida declared, as if that were an actual excuse. It was clear she didn't know half of the situation, though.
"Look, Ida," I began slowly, unsure of how I should breach the topic without crushing her spirits. Sure, her act annoyed me, but that didn't warrant a heartless smack down.
"Everyone is saying you and Kaze put Yumi and Hidaka in the hospital!" Ida cut me off, suddenly getting enraged. I took it her anger was directed at our old Duel Academy, not us in particular. "I know that's not true! It's not true at all because… after what you said and did that night for me, Kaze, I know that it can't be you guys. They're lying because they're jealous! You guys are heroes!" Ida shouted as she waved her hands at the three of us. If only she knew the half of it… "Speaking of heroes! Mr. Keisuke! You were so awesome! You were like pwsh and then pow!"
"Hold on, Ida, you don't get it. Keisuke isn't… he's not," Kaze tried to find the right words, especially with the bartender's eyes meeting his.
"Of course he's a hero! He even showed up at the last minute with a heroic entrance!" Ida insisted before continuing to fawn over the bewildered Keisuke. Kaze and I simply exchanged confused glances.
"Why would Keisuke help us…? Doesn't he just want us for money? There was no reason for him to butt in, I mean, you were there. He even got hurt too, so it couldn't be a set-up, right?" Kaze muttered, seeing how Ida had captured the man in question's attention.
"It's strange, there's no doubt about that. We were quiet, too, so how did he know we were here?" I pointed out. That put us at a bit of a standstill. Eventually, Kaze seemed to gather his nerves and took a step towards the bartender.
"Keisuke," Kaze said loud enough to stop Ida's compliments. "Why did you help us? What do you gain out of it?"
"Red, I'm offended. I helped you and this is the thanks I get?" Keisuke asked, a hand raised to his chest in mock pain.
"Yeah, Kaze! He saved us! He's a hero!" Ida spouted out for what seemed to be the millionth time. Her and her heroism spiel were borderline annoying now…
"Heroes don't have criminal markers, Ida," Kaze deadpanned, figuring that would be enough of an argument.
"That's where you're wrong! You taught me to not judge things by what they appear to be! Even if the marks make it seem like he's a criminal, I still think he's a hero!" Ida came to Keisuke's defense, taking both Kaze and I by surprise. Keisuke was anything but a hero. Why couldn't Ida see that…?
"You two have all the right to be suspicious of me after all that happened. As to why I helped, let's just say I can't stand the scum of society," Keisuke spoke gravely, apparently having some personal conviction about the issue.
"Kaze, has he ever done anything like this before?" I whispered. Unfortunately, Keisuke seemed to overhear, as his eyes narrowed at me. Kaze noticed this too and didn't risk a response.
"I understand your skepticism, Rose, though I don't appreciate it. Can't you just be happy that I helped you? You know if I hadn't, Demon and Ida probably wouldn't be standing here right now," Keisuke tried to argue.
"No, we would have been fine without you. I was here, I was about to use Black Rose Dragon to-"
"Keisuke's right, you two! I mean, look at his arm!" Ida said as she held her arms out towards Keisuke's injured arm. Part of his sleeve was missing and a line of blood was visible.
"Oh, this? Their leader had a knife on them. Tell me, Rose, could you control your monster to save these two before he would have drawn his weapon?" Keisuke asked even though we both already knew the answer. Probably not… Unless I was in a duel, my monsters rarely listened to my direct commands, and even when they did, it was usually only barely. Attack a group of crooks? Sure, they would do it, but they would do it their own way. For all I knew, they could have chosen to destroy the building instead of directly attacking…
"Hey, hey, Mr. Keisuke! You keep calling Aki and Kaze weird names. Why is that?" Ida asked.
"Hm? It's kind of like performer names, you know? They use them when they-" Keisuke started to explain himself when Ida suddenly went rigid.
"Performer names? So then, those are actually their superhero names?" Ida exclaimed, grinning widely as she did.
"I-I suppose one could say so," Keisuke reluctantly agreed with the hero-obsessed teen. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.
"Kaze, Aki, you guys never told me you were fighting crime! You guys are so cool! I want to join the justice brigade! I want to get a cool name too!" Ida gushed, hands clenching in excitement as she spoke.
"We aren't a justice brigade. We aren't a justice anything. You really should go home, Ida. It's not safe for you here. Look at today," Kaze tried to push Ida away from the idea, but he should have known better.
"Of course, by myself, I'm not safe, since I don't have powers like you guys, but I'm sure I can be of some use! I mean, I can cook for you, or I can do laundry! I think I can, anyway… No, no, I'm certain I can! Or I can be look out! I can do anything! Please!" Ida begged us with her hands clasped together and knees on the ground.
"Ida, I've already told you, you can't-" Kaze started once more.
"Why don't we let her stay, Kaze?" I asked, taking everyone by surprise. "If she stays and nothing heroic happens, she'll get bored and leave on her own," I added softly, explaining my thought process to him. Ida wasn't a very orthodox person. Danger wouldn't scare her away. We had to take another approach.
"But if she stays and gets hurt, then it will be all our fault!" Kaze said, clearly already fearing the worst.
"Why would she get hurt with us, Demon? Trust me, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but we both know you wouldn't have agreed to stay otherwise. You know how I operate. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. You win a few duels for me and you punish the evil-doers of society. You don't even use the shockers. No harm ever comes to you or your friends unless you wander outside, like you did today," Keisuke appealed to us. Was he… trying to excuse the black mail as just a way to get us inside? Trying to make himself seem like the good guy? Certainly he could convince Ida with his little spiel, but he had to know better for Kaze and I.
"Come on, Kaze, Aki…! We could revamp the world! Wouldn't that be awesome?" Ida asked. Well, the wool was certainly over her eyes on this one… Revamping the world? She was taking this hero thing to the extreme. I turned my attention to Kaze to try and gauge his reaction on the whole situation. He seemed far away, his mind at a distance. Just as I was about to try and get his attention, the brunette sighed, scratching the back of his neck as he did.
"Alright," he said, apparently seeing my point. "If you aren't going back to DA, then you might as well stay with us. But I expect you to stick close to us so we can protect you."
"Haha, of course! I'd never leave you alone," Ida smiled jovially at the acceptance. The teen then quickly took one of our hands each, a grin still plastered on her face as she threw them into the air. "Let's go! Justice Brigade, roll out!"
"If we really are a team, Justice Brigade won't be our name."
"W-what? Why not? It's awesome!"
"Keep telling yourself that."
"Aki, you're too mean!"
When we finally reached the bar once more, I quickly excused myself from our little "'brigade's'" presence. Between Ida's constant comments about heroism and the fact that it was quite some time after midnight, I needed a bit of time to myself. As such, I spent the next half an hour simply sitting in my room, trying to organize my thoughts. Ida was now off with Keisuke, apparently discussing rooming and the like, and I could only guess what Kaze was doing. The Osiris had probably built his spirits up hoping it was Rei, so it was unknown how Ida's appearance affected him. This thought is the same one that propelled me to search around the bar for Kaze some time later.
The brunette was simply seated on one of the bar stools, hands together in front of his face and clearly in thought. "You've been through a lot today. You should get some sleep," I pointed out. Kaze jumped slightly before returning his arms to his sides.
"I could say the same thing to you. I thought you were already sleeping," Kaze said.
"I was considering it, but you never came back down. What's on your mind?" I asked, placing myself on the stool to his left.
"Nothing is wrong. I'm just waiting for Ida to get done with Keisuke," Kaze forced a smile for me, probably hoping the lack of sleep would make me believe it.
"I know you well enough by now, Kaze, so you can't hide it. You were thinking far too deeply for nothing to be wrong," I said. If only for a second, his smile seemed to be genuine, but then it shifted into a frown.
"I was just thinking about what Keisuke said… What I've done and the people I hurt… Were they really all just scum like Keisuke said?" Kaze asked. "I… I want to believe that. Then I wouldn't feel so bad and a weight would be off my shoulders… but at the same time, I shouldn't be happy hurting someone, right?"
"You're just overthinking things. The past is the past. We just need to worry about the now and believe that everything will be alright in the end," I tried to lift Kaze's spirits. To be honest, seeing him down in the dumps like this felt horrible for me. After all that he did to try and make others happy and make amends for his past, it seemed far too cruel for him to have to go through any more anguish then he already had. "Just a few more days of dueling people to keep Keisuke satisfied and then we'll have the video. We can leave," I continued. At the mention of the video, however, Kaze's expression quickly dropped. Realizing my mistake, I quickly searched for something else to say, but comforting others really wasn't my forte. The video was the problem. It was the proof of what Kaze did and how he took joy in it, not caring if they were good or bad. I probably shouldn't have mentioned it just then.
Out of options and lacking the words, I reached over and grabbed his shaking hand, trying to steady it. The action seemed to surprise Kaze, as he quickly looked over at me. "It'll be all right. Trust me," I said, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze as I did. Slowly, Kaze began to smile.
"Gah! The nerves on that guy! He just glared at me and wouldn't say anything! He's not a super hero, that's for sure!" a familiar voice vented. We both turned our attentions to the arena door as Ida threw said door open, clearly angry at whoever this guy was. "I mean, really, he-" Ida suddenly came to a stop when she saw us. "Kaze, how could you have been so nice to me when you were dating Aki the whole time? Way to string a girl along," Ida pouted. My face quickly heated up and we both retracted our hands. Why was it that every time this happened, someone had to make stupid comments…!?
"Why does everyone think that? Aki and I are just friends!" Kaze shouted, clearly just as exasperated as I was with a blush lining his face. Kaze and I simply had a mutual understanding about the other and their emotions. Since when did that translate to a relationship?
"Ida, are you just here to poke fun at us or do you actually have something to do?" I decided to change the topic.
"Oh, yeah! Keisuke said that maybe I should share a room with you! And I said that was totally cool with me! I mean, we'll be teammates anyway, so I'm okay with it!" Ida exclaimed, clearly forgetting that I may not be. Of course Keisuke wouldn't ask for my opinion on the matter… He probably wanted Ida as far away from him as possible, which would be my room, the one at the end of the hall.
"Well, I suppose now is a good time as any to go to bed. I'll see you two tomorrow," Kaze said as he stood up. I watched him depart, hoping that he was at least in a bit of better spirits about his past. He did the same thing for me earlier, so it was about time that I returned the favor.
"Come on, Aki! Let's go!" Ida insisted. I briefly wondered where she got her boundless energy from, but eventually decided that it was a lost cause and followed her back to our room. When Ida opened the door, I found a bed had been added to the mediocre sized room. It was still fairly plain with stone walls and floor and only the two white beds and a wall lamp to accent it.
My new roommate seemed to be at home right away, as she promptly jumped onto her bed, the one that had crisp sheets and no signs of use. I let out an exasperated sigh before walking over to my bed and laying down. "Hey, Aki, I never really got to ask, but what exactly happened at DA? I mean, I know what the lies say, but how did it really go down?" Ida asked, forgetting our plans to go to sleep. I tried to hold back my irritation as I turned around to face her.
"Probably exactly what they said. I did hurt them. Not maliciously, though, mind you. They just… they didn't keep their tongue and I couldn't control myself. Kaze and I ended up visiting my house after that. Nothing important happened, so when it began to storm, we came here, and we haven't left yet," I explained briefly. Ida seemed surprised by the information. She must have been expecting something else, like Yumi and Hidaka faked their injuries to place the blame on us. Those kinds of things only happened in fairy tales, she should have known that. Seeing how Ida wasn't saying anything else, I prepared to turn around once more to sleep.
"That's okay," she whispered so softly that I almost didn't hear her at first. "That's okay, because that just means that you're an anti-hero…! So what if you hurt the others? You're still a hero! And Kaze and I will be pure heroes for you!" I couldn't hold back the sharp laugh that had built up. Ida just narrowed her eyes into a glare, but what did she know. Kaze would be a pure hero? Her ignorance was certainly annoying. Maybe Kaze could be a hero in the end, but there was no way I could be a hero. I wasn't a hero.
Reviews:
Lion Heart Leon: Hopefully you aren't too disappointed by this turn of events. If it's any consolation, while Rei is not appearing in this chapter, she will be showing up in the upcoming ones. I'm not sure quite when, but needless to say it'll be quite interesting to write.
Tyler Nator: Thanks for your continuous support. I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
Guest: I can certainly see what I can do. I'm still trying to work out the spots for the characters, but considering the upcoming duels are already written, it may be even later on for a Red Eyes duelist to show up.
