Yusei Buys a Drink
By: SilvorMoon
Jack was having a good afternoon. Most of the time, he would not have been particularly pleased at having to stay indoors all day, but he had slept through most of the morning anyway. Even after his skirmish with Ushio, he'd managed to put in a hard night's dueling, and had carried off a nice bit of prize money for his efforts - and more importantly, Carly had brought home plenty of video to make a new posting out of. Jack had given some of the money he'd earned to Yuji to help cover the cost of the new D-Wheel's parts, and Yuji had returned from a trip to the hardware store with several packs of new cards. Now Jack was settled at the kitchen table with his collection spread out in front of him, contemplating options for deck construction. It was enough to make him almost cheerful.
The kitchen door was flung open, and Carly waltzed in.
"Whee!" she exclaimed. She twirled around, arms flung wide as though embracing the whole world. She finished the spin by embracing Jack in particular.
"Stop that," he said absently.
She tightened her grip on him for a moment before letting go, and flung herself into an empty chair.
"We're a hit!" she said. "You should see how many hits we've got, and the video hasn't been up twenty-four hours yet. I knew all those fake accounts would be worth the effort."
"You and Saiga are doing a good job, then," said Jack.
Carly glared at him. "I've been doing a good job. All Saiga does is hide in the garage working on your bike."
"Like I said, you two are doing a good job."
"Jaaaaack..."
He looked up from his cards to face her. "Do you really need me to tell you you're doing a good job? You know you're the only one of us who knows how to do what you're doing."
"Well, it would be nice," said Carly. She gave him the smile that meant she knew she was annoying him and was probably not going to stop anyway. Jack rolled his eyes.
"Fine. If it will keep you quiet... you are doing a very good job, and we are all very proud of you. There. Happy?"
"Yup!" she chirped. She laughed and got up to fling her arms around him again. "You act like an old grouch, but you can't fool me."
"I told you to stop that."
Carly released him, grinning smugly. "You just said I'm indispensable. I'm allowed a few perks."
"Humph," said Jack. "You have some strange ideas."
Before she could come up with a retort, there came the sound of a door being flung open and allowed to slam shut again, and the steady click of a cane that meant Yuji was on his way. A moment later, he scampered into the room and made a beeline for the fridge. He was dressed in overalls, smudged with oil and grease.
"Man, it's hot out today," he said. "You guys want something to drink? I'm about to turn into a pile of dust. Did you get any good cards, Jack? I saw them while I was out getting things and thought maybe you'd want them. But the bike is coming along great! I can't wait to show it to you. It's going to be my best work ever! We stayed up all night working on it. I can't believe how fast it's coming together... Did you say you wanted something to drink or not?"
Jack fixed him with a look. "What did you want me to answer first?"
"Drinks?" Yuji suggested.
"Vanilla Coke?" Carly suggested.
"Whatever you have is fine," said Jack. He'd already turned his attention back to the cards.
Yuji took a few cans from the fridge and plunked them down on the table before pulling up a chair to join the others.
"I got really lucky with this bike project," he said. "I had to get some special parts for it, but my supplier actually had everything I needed, for once. We should have nearly everything ready by tomorrow."
"You do fast work," said Jack.
Carly nodded. "Have you even slept since we got here?"
"Saiga and I are taking it in shifts," said Yuji. "I already had a frame set up, anyway. The rest is details. We'll be ready to paint it soon. Hey, what color did you want it, anyway? Red, like your dragon?"
"Not red," said Jack decided. "The D-Wheel Yusei was building was red."
"Well, what color do you want, then?"
"I don't really care," said Jack. "Carly, what color do I look good in?"
"White," she answered promptly.
"White it is," said Yuji. He gave Jack a teasing grin. "As long as you don't mind working extra hard to keep it clean."
"Hmph. By the time I'm done, I'll have people to wash it for me,"
Yuji laughed. "That's the spirit! Hey, remember me when you're famous, won't you? I wouldn't mind a little extra business thrown my way."
"Show me this bike of yours first, and we'll see."
"Not until it's done! It's a surprise!"
Jack raised an eyebrow. "What if you get it done and I don't like it?"
"Oh, you'll love it. It's perfect for you," said Yuji. "Anyway, I'd better get back to work, before Saiga starts to wonder where I am. Have fun, you two!"
He bounded to his feet again and breezed out of the room.
"Whew!" said Carly. "Where does he get his energy?"
"I don't know," said Jack, "but if it gets this D-Wheel done fast, I won't complain."
"Me either. I'm curious too," Carly admitted.
Jack smiled a little at that. Curiosity wasn't a major part of his nature - he preferred to deal with what he already knew existed, and what he knew he could do to change it - but he was certain that Carly's natural inquisitiveness must be driving her out of her mind. If this project took very much longer, he wouldn't have been surprised to find her trying to slip into the garage dressed as a ninja.
"None of Yuji's students are around, are they?" he asked.
Carly shook her head. "They were here this morning while you were asleep. They're all gone now."
"Were you asleep too?"
"Couldn't," she said. "Too much work to do. I'm fine. You did all the real work... Are you sure you're okay? Even after...?"
"I'm fine," Jack assured her. "But I want to look at that video again later. I need to be prepared."
"You don't think it will happen again, do you?"
Jack considered. It would be so much easier to say that he was sure it was a fluke, and that he'd never have to worry about it again. He shook his head.
"It will," he said. "And when it does, I have to be ready. I let him break my concentration that time, and it was nearly a disaster. I will not let that happen again."
"You can do it! You totally nailed that guy last night - even with only nine cards left! I couldn't have done it."
"I didn't know you dueled," said Jack.
She blushed. "I mostly just play for fun. I'm really not very good... I want to get better. Seeing you... it's inspiring. I can't help but want to try my best."
Jack took a long look at her, considering.
"Let's go for a walk," he said.
By Carly's reaction, he might have asked her to dinner at the most exclusive place in town. Someday, he thought, that might be an option, but for now, the best they could do was take a stroll around Yuji's backyard. The front yard was declared too close to the road, and therefore off-limits, but there was enough privacy in the back that they could wander around on the driving course without being noticed. Jack liked it there. It was a good place to imagine what it would be like when he had a D-Wheel of his own. Carly ambled along beside him, and without thinking about it, he shortened his strides so that she could keep up with him more easily. He could almost hear her deciding whether or not to try to hold his hand, but she apparently decided it was best to keep her hands to herself.
Women are strange, Jack decided. He had never thought of himself as being a particularly sexual being. He primarily thought of himself as a being who dueled, and it was faintly baffling to him that someone should see him as anything else.
"Jack, can I ask something?" she asked.
Jack felt a pang of misgiving, wondering if she'd somehow guessed what he was thinking. "You're always asking questions."
"Do you miss Satellite?"
He turned to look at her. That was so far from what he'd been expecting that he couldn't begin to think how to answer it.
"Why would I miss Satellite?" he replied.
"I don't know... I miss it a little," she said. "Maybe not the place, but... well, kind of that, too. But I had friends there. I've been so busy the last couple of days, I've barely had time to think of them... it's hard to believe we've only been here a few days. It feels like weeks."
"It does," he agreed. He walked in silence for a while. "I never thought I'd miss anything about it. I thought once I got out, I wouldn't want to think about it again. I definitely don't want to go back."
"But do you miss it?" she persisted.
"Not the island. Not the broken-down buildings and moldy beds and never having enough to eat," he said. "I don't miss that. But I keep thinking about things."
"Like what?"
"Nothing important. Things people did. The time Martha made me a crown out of cardboard and kitchen foil so I could be a king. The time Crow stole a case of beer from God-knows-where and we all made ourselves sick pretending to be grown up. And that old D-Wheel of Yusei's that broke down every other week. Such little things... they shouldn't matter."
"Those sound like important things to me," said Carly quietly.
He gave her a considering look. "You say you miss it. You were barely there long enough to get used to it."
"It doesn't take long. I'm adaptable," she said. "And it's not that I want to go back, but... I don't know. It doesn't seem fair that we're out here and they're still stuck back there. I wish there was something I could do for them."
"Hm," he said. "We've got enough trouble of our own to deal with."
"I guess you're right," said Carly, though she didn't sound convinced.
They walked in silence for a while. The only sounds were the fall of their footsteps, the chattering of birds, a distant noise of construction from Yuji's garage, and the metallic clink of Jack's jewelry. The sound seemed to catch Carly's attention, and she moved in closer to him for a better look.
"Where did you get that, anyway?" she asked, indicating his necklace. "I didn't see a lot of jewelry on the island..."
"These were my parents'," he said. "Their wedding bands. I kept them, after they died."
"Oh... Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't..."
"Don't bother. I'm used to it," said Jack. "I was too young to remember much. We were all living on the island - the place that became the island. When the disaster hit, they didn't die right away. Satellite was a bad place to live, then - worse than it is now, in some ways. Things weren't organized yet. There wasn't enough food or clean water. There was a lot of sickness. That's what took my parents. They did everything they could to get by - they sold most of what they had that didn't get destroyed in the quake, trying to scrape together enough money to survive. But they didn't sell these. I was too young to understand why, but when they finally died, I couldn't stand the idea that someone else would take these rings, so I kept them for myself."
Carly nodded slowly. "Rings are symbols of commitment because they never end. The circle just goes around and around forever."
"You know a lot of strange things," said Jack. "Anyway, now you know this, too. Happy?"
"Almost," said Carly. "Who's Martha?"
"She runs an orphanage," Jack explained. "She raised me - and Yusei and Crow, too. Her home was a safe place. There aren't a lot of doctors on Satellite, and not a lot of medicines, but she knows all the folk remedies. You could go to her if you had a fever or needed a wound stitched up. No one would dare hurt her or anyone in her care."
"Because if you did, she might not help you if you needed it," Carly guessed.
Jack nodded, gazing off into the distance. "I wonder if she knows I made it out... She's probably worrying about me."
"I guess there are a lot of good people on Satellite," said Carly. She frowned, her eyebrows knitting as she thought.
"You're plotting something," said Jack.
"I was just thinking," she said, "if I were a real reporter, on a newspaper, I'd write a big expose. I mean, everyone over here thinks that Satellite is full of people who'd knife them as soon as look at them, and that's not true at all. Some of the nicest people I've ever met live there, and they don't deserve it!"
"If you worked for a paper, you couldn't write a story like that," Jack pointed out. "The Director would shut it down, if your editor even let it run."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Carly. "Although... seeing as how I don't work for a paper... I can say whatever I want, can't I?"
Jack looked doubtful. "Maybe..."
"Listen - we could really do something!" said Carly, warming to the subject. "You could tell people. We can't get into any more trouble with Security than we're already in. Let people know that the greatest duelist in the city was born and raised in Satellite, and you'll take on anyone who says otherwise."
"Do you think that would work?" Jack asked. "The idea here is to become popular..."
"The idea is to become famous," Carly corrected. "Nothing gets people's attention like a controversy. A talented new duelist is nice, but a talented duelist who stands for something is better. It'll get people talking. Half the city will want you banned from ever touching a card, and the other half will be rooting for you to win big and show everyone. Everyone will be talking about you. You could pull it off. You're good at working a crowd. I saw you in the underground - you've got a knack for it."
"If you're sure it would work..."
"Hey, I'm your media expert, right?" she said. "Trust me on this one."
Jack smiled slightly. "You got me this far..."
"We did it together," she said. "I couldn't have done all this alone... I really couldn't," she added thoughtfully. "Before I met you, I was just spinning my wheels and going nowhere. I couldn't get a job. I didn't have any plan. When I got this marker, I thought it was the worst thing that ever happened to me... but I was wrong. It's the best thing that ever happened."
"Because you're going to be famous?"
"Well, there's that," she said, "but mostly because I got to meet you... and Saiga and Yuji, and all the people on Satellite. Just think, if I hadn't gotten myself arrested, we never would have met."
"And I still would have been at the theater, dreaming about things that would never happen," he said. "It was good that I met you."
Carly smiled and blushed as if that was the best compliment anyone anybody had ever given her. Perhaps it was, he mused. She didn't seem like the kind of girl who had gotten a lot of good breaks in life. If she had never spoken to him, he could have passed her in a crowd every day of his life without noticing her. Even now he kept getting lulled into thinking that she was just a foolish girl he could order around. Then something like last night would happen. She must have been terrified - he'd seen her shaking from twenty feet away - and yet...
"You say you want to improve your dueling?" he asked.
She nodded vigorously. "Do you think you could give me some pointers?"
"I wouldn't mind playing a few rounds. You can help me test my new deck construction. I had better give myself a handicap, though, or it will be too easy."
"I'm not that bad!"
"Prove it."
Carly seized his hand. "Come on, then!"
She began dragging him towards the house. Jack consented to be dragged. In an odd way, he was almost looking forward to playing against her. It had been a long time since he'd dueled someone just because they both thought it might be fun. He smiled a little at that - one minute she was helping him find his purpose in life, and the next she was putting everything on hold to play games.
Carly... How will you surprise me next?
Evening was falling, and so was Yusei's energy level. He had been patrolling the streets all day, learning his way around the city. He had lived on Satellite all his life, and knew every nook and cranny of it. He was not prepared for how much larger this city was, or how complex its layout turned out to be. Even with the help of a map, he frequently found himself uncertain as to exactly where he was. How was he ever supposed to find four specific people in all this? Finding a needle in a haystack would be easier - at least he knew what a needle looked like, and needles didn't move around.
I need another strategy, he decided. Searching randomly isn't going to do it. If there was some way to draw them out...
His mind went back to the experience he'd had when he'd touched the dragon carving. He'd certainly had a strong sense of Jack's presence then, but it hadn't been very useful. Still, if he could find a way to tap into that power in a more organized fashion... He wondered if it was worth the risk of experimenting with it some more. He wasn't sure what Goodwin would do to him if he caught Yusei snooping around in a place that was probably meant to be off-limits. On the other hand, he might have expected Yusei to find it eventually, since the security system had let him through...
In the midst of Yusei's ruminations, he realized that he was thirsty. He thought about this problem for several minutes before it dawned on him that all he needed to do was to stop somewhere and buy something to drink. The idea that he had limitless money to spend was still entirely new to him. He pulled his D-Wheel into the parking lot of a department store. The store was closed now, and the lot empty, but there was still a row of vending machines glowing enticingly along the front wall. Yusei dismounted and wandered over to contemplate his options, wondering if there was really that much difference between all those brands of soda, that there needed to be so many varieties to choose from. How did people get through the day when they had to make so many trivial decisions?
Before he could make up his mind, he heard the purr of an engine, and he felt a prickle of warning run down his spine. He turned to see a Security D-Wheel pull up behind him. The rider removed his helmet and grinned at him in a way Yusei did not like.
"So," said Ushio. "Fudo Yusei. Imagine meeting you here."
Yusei's eyes narrowed. "Have you been following me?"
"Now, why would you think that?" asked Ushio.
His expression was all the answer Yusei needed, and he tensed, automatically checking for escape routes. Unfortunately, the front of the store was perpendicular to the wall of another building without a parking lot, so that Yusei was now effectively cornered. His only way out would have to be around Ushio, who was now cracking his knuckles and grinning at Yusei as though calculating which bone he wanted to break first.
Pay attention, his sixth sense warned him. This is important.
Pay attention to what? Yusei asked himself, but he couldn't come up with an answer.
"Looks like it's just you and me, boy," said Ushio. He slid off his bike and began closing in on Yusei, one purposeful step at a time.
"What do you want with me?" asked Yusei coolly. "Is it illegal to buy a soft drink in this part of town?"
"Oh, no, this isn't Security business," said Ushio. "This is personal."
Moving faster than seemed possible for a man his size, he made a lunge at Yusei, who managed to dodge just soon enough to avoid being struck by a fist. Yusei retaliated by aiming a quick jab at Ushio's midsection, striking hard and fast before darting away again. Ushio grunted, but did not seem particularly bothered. Yusei, however, had to shake out his suddenly aching fingers. He would have had only slightly worse results if he'd decided to punch the wall. He looked up at Ushio advancing on him and resigned himself to the fact that this was probably going to hurt.
The two of them went into a scuffle - not really trying to hurt each other now, but probing for weaknesses, testing each other's ability. On a level playing field, they would have been evenly matched - Yusei was faster and more agile than Ushio, but Ushio was stronger, heavier and more experienced. Unfortunately for Yusei, his back was against the wall, and Ushio was doing his best to drive him into the corner.
Yusei ducked under a punch and drove an uppercut at Ushio's chin, making the other man stagger backwards a few paces. Yusei attempted to dodge around him, but Ushio kicked at him, making him stumble. Yusei scrambled to keep his balance. If he were to fall, he knew Ushio would use his superior size and strength to keep him pinned down for as long as he cared to. He staggered backwards and managed to brace himself against the wall. Ushio lumbered towards him, blood trickling from a split lip.
"Dammit, hold still and take what's coming to you!" he snarled.
He took another swing at Yusei, who attempted to dodge but wasn't quite successful. Ushio's fist clipped him across the cheekbone. Yusei managed to drive his knee into Ushio's chest, forcing him backwards a little, and followed up with a flurry of punches. Ushio struck back, and Yusei became completely occupied with defending himself.
This is personal. Why does he say that? What did I ever do to him? Yusei wondered. I've barely even spoken to him... and I told him I'm not interested in Mikage. It must be something else...
The only logical conclusion, he decided, was that it was personal - but not to him. Something else had to be eating at Ushio, and Yusei was just a convenient punching bag. Unfortunately, Yusei didn't have time to think about what the problem might be, because he was too busy trying not to get pounded to a pulp. Already he could feel what he suspected was the beginning of a black eye, and a variety of other aches where he hadn't gotten out of the way quite fast enough. Ushio didn't look much better. Blood had dried around his mouth, and his jacket had come askew, its buttons torn. He glared at Yusei with wild eyes and suddenly dove for him, swinging his fist like a wrecking ball.
Yusei prepared to meet him - but the attack was a feint. Yusei dodged and aimed a blow in Ushio's direction, realizing too late that he'd miscalculated, and that he was now moving directly toward Ushio's other fist. Yusei's fist struck Ushio's chin a split-second before he felt a solid punch hit him in the stomach, and Yusei staggered backwards, unable to breathe. Stars spun before his eyes, and he could feel his knees going weak. He collapsed on the ground, struggling for air. Dimly, he registered the thud of another body hitting the pavement. For a moment, it was all Yusei could do to simply lie there and attempt to remember how to make his lungs work. At last, he managed to draw a shaky breath, and then another. At any moment, he expected to find that Ushio had regained his feet and was coming to flatten him, but everything remained quiet. Yusei turned a little to see that the officer was still laid out on the ground.
"Ow," he said. Ushio twitched a little, trying to get up, then changed his mind and laid back down. "Call it a draw?"
"Fine with me," Yusei replied.
"You're pretty good," Ushio admitted.
"So are you."
There was a pause. The night was quiet save for the sound of both of them catching their collective breath. Then: "You want to get a drink somewhere?"
"Sounds good," said Yusei.
He managed to roll over and push himself back onto his feet, and went to offer Ushio a hand up. Ushio looked at him suspiciously for a moment before accepting his hand and pulling himself to a kneeling position. Yusei watched him tensely, half-expecting a trick, but Ushio seemed to have settled down. He grimaced as he got to his feet, and ran his tongue over his teeth to make sure they were all there.
"I coulda beaten you," he said. "I had you on the ropes, didn't I?"
"You did," Yusei assured him. "A minute longer and you definitely would have had me."
Ushio straightened his jacket and wiped at his bloody lip.
"C'mon," he said. "Let's get a beer."
Yusei followed agreeably. He didn't wonder at Ushio's sudden change of mood. If anything, he was beginning to feel that he was back on familiar territory. The nature of the conflict was beginning to take shape in his mind.
You aren't really angry at me, are you? You only needed to soothe your pride. Yusei had fought plenty of scuffles like these, growing up with his two best friends. Jack had his regal pride, and Crow had a hair-trigger temper at times, so it was inevitable that they'd all end up fighting each other at some point. For a few minutes, they would batter at each other as if they truly meant to kill each other, and then by some unspoken agreement, they would drop everything and go back to being friends. That was a clue, too, and Yusei frowned a little as he followed Ushio down the street. It would be nice to know what this was really all about...
They reached a restaurant, an affably seedy little place filled with working-class people enjoying drinks and bar food. Ushio sauntered in with the confidence of one who had been there often and knew his way around. The bartender looked up as he entered.
"Hiya, Ushio," he said. "Rough night?"
"Something like that," Ushio agreed. "Can I get some drinks for me and my friend here?"
The bartender looked speculatively at Yusei. "He looks a little young. I'm going to have to see some ID..."
"Aw, it's all right. He's with me. I'll vouch for him," said Ushio.
"Well, if Security says he's legal, that's good enough for me," said the bartender. "What do you want?"
"The usual for me," said Ushio. "Yusei, what are you getting?"
Yusei ordered a beer and a sandwich. He ordinarily didn't care for beer, neither the taste nor the way it slowed his thoughts, but he knew the rules of a situation like this. You didn't christen a ship with chocolate milk, you didn't purify a temple with diet cola, and if you were trying to patch things up after a fight, you didn't say, "Oh, I'll just have water, thank you." There were certain rules of decorum you had to follow.
Decorum... that's what Yusei was finding so unsettling. Ushio wasn't following the right set of rules. Yusei had always believed that he was a reasonably well-mannered young man. He didn't interrupt when people were talking or chew with his mouth open, he said "please" and "thank you", he held doors open for people whose hands were full. Since coming to Neo Domino City, though, he'd come to realize that there were manners and there were manners. Goodwin had them. So did Mikage. They were never mystified as to which fork to use. They knew how to correctly address a servant. They had a thousand little mannerisms that were a mystery to Yusei, but which came as easily to them as breathing. On the other hand, they would have been lost on Satellite, where there was another set of rules in play. There, you had to know how to negotiate for safe passage through hostile territory, how to buy and sell contraband on the black market, who it was permissible to pick a fight with... and how to conduct yourself after a fistfight.
Ushio led Yusei outside, to where there was a patio with some tables and chairs. They were empty at that time of night, with most people preferring to eat indoors where it was warmer and brighter, but Ushio seemed to want some privacy. Yusei took a seat and sipped disinterestedly at his drink, watching Ushio. The other man didn't seem to be paying much attention; he was gazing off at the city lights, his expression distant.
"How old are you, anyway?" he asked at length.
Yusei wondered if Ushio was going to take his beer away from him, after all. "Eighteen."
"Huh," said Ushio. "Just a kid, then. This is all you've ever known, isn't it? The island and the city. I remember when it was different."
Yusei had the sense to stay quiet and listen.
"I was here before Yugi was a superstar, before Kaiba invented Duel Disks. You wouldn't believe it, but I went to school with 'em. Things sure have changed... sometimes I get the feeling I'm the only one who remembers how it was before. It's enough to make a guy feel old."
"What was different?" asked Yusei.
"Well, there wasn't any damned island, for one thing," said Ushio. "None of this putting some people there and leaving the rest here. Everybody was mixed together, like it or not."
"Don't you think it's better this way, though?" asked Yusei slyly.
Ushio's expression darkened. "Of course it's better this way! Anybody could see that. You wouldn't catch me saying the old way was better."
You protest too much, thought Yusei, hiding a smile. He thought he had solved the riddle that was Ushio. The man might wear a Security uniform, but he moved like a seasoned street brawler, and thought and spoke like a man who wasn't too concerned with the letter of the law - in short, he acted like a Satelliter. Yusei suspected that Ushio had come from a bad part of town. Perhaps if he'd been born a bit later, he would have been shipped to the island himself - and Ushio probably harbored that same suspicion. But everyone knew that people on Satellite were naturally inferior. Ushio's job involved dealing with the worst people Satellite had to offer, so he wouldn't have any proof to the contrary. So if Ushio simultaneously identified himself with the people of Satellite and yet wanted nothing to do with them...
You weren't angry at me at all. It's yourself you wanted to attack. You wanted to prove you're better than us, even if the only way you know how to do it is to do the very thing you want to prove you're better than.
"Satellite is all right," said Yusei. "I want to go back, if I can."
Ushio looked at him suspiciously. "What would you want to do that for?"
"Because it's my home," said Yusei simply. "I never asked to come here. I just want to help my friends, and then go back where I came from."
"You really want to live on that dump?"
"It's home," Yusei repeated. "There are good people there. Learning to survive on that island gives them strength and courage. I'm proud to have grown up there." He met Ushio's gaze. "You would do well there, I think."
Ushio frowned a little as he worked through that, before apparently deciding that it was a compliment.
"You bet I would," he said.
"Probably better than I'm doing here," Yusei admitted.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Ushio asked him. "Something about the Director taking you as his ward? What's that all about?"
"I thought Mikage explained it to you," said Yusei. "I was born here, you know - in the Tops district. My father was the inventor who created the Momentum."
"You mean you're not a Satelliter?"
Yusei shook his head. "I am. That's where I grew up, and that's where I belong. But I have roots here too. I have a claim on both sides."
"Wow," said Ushio. "That just makes my head hurt."
"The Director made me a promise, you know," said Yusei. "If I do this job for him, he says he's going to finish building the Daedalus Bridge, and make Satellite and Neo Domino one city again."
Ushio looked surprised. "And you believe him?"
"I don't know if I can trust him or not," said Yusei. "But I'm going to try anyway."
"Sounds like a lot of trouble to me," said Ushio.
"You have no idea how right you are," Yusei replied. "It would be better if it happened, though. For people like us, who fit in on both sides."
Ushio thought about that for a while.
"No more Satellite, huh? Well, it would probably mean a lot less trouble for me," he said. "Sure, I'll drink to that!"
Yusei smiled and raised his bottle in a silent toast, and they both drank.
"So," said Ushio, "that red D-Wheel is yours, huh?"
"I built it," said Yusei, nodding.
"Nice work. I wouldn't mind having one like it."
Yusei shook his head. "I designed that one to be light and fast. For you, I think I'd make something more powerful."
"You don't say," said Ushio. "What exactly have you got in mind?"
Yusei produced a pen from his pocket and began drawing rapidly on the back of a napkin. Ushio leaned closer for a better look.
"I'm thinking something a bit like this..."
"Crow... What time is it?"
Crow turned away from the window to look at Kiryu.
"It's late," he said. "You should sleep."
Kiryu shook his head stubbornly. "It can't be late. It's not seven yet. They always serve dinner at seven."
"We're not in jail anymore," said Crow, striving to keep his voice level. "They're not going to serve dinner. And it's late. Look, the moon is out."
"But they always serve dinner at seven."
Crow stifled the urge to scream, reminding himself for the umpteenth time that it wouldn't do either of them any good. Over the last few hours, Crow had been forced to conclude that Kiryu was somewhere beyond the reach of common sense. Even if he managed at this moment to persuade him that it wasn't dinnertime and no one was going to feed them, odds were that in five minutes, Kiryu would have forgotten the whole conversation and start asking again. It was maddening. One minute, he would be totally in the moment, seemingly as clear and rational as he'd ever been, and Crow would start hoping that maybe the trauma of his imprisonment was starting to fade, and that soon his old friend would be back for good. The next minute, Kiryu would slide away again, and believe he was back on Satellite, or in prison once again, or off in a fantasy world of his own devising. Sometimes he started talking to people who weren't there, or would run to hide from an invisible enemy. He laughed wildly for no reason, or else wanted to cling to Crow and reassure him over and over that Crow was his only friend. It didn't make Crow feel any better.
This sucks. This really, really sucks.
He had not eaten any real food since the day of the escape, nor had he slept - he couldn't, not with worrying about what would happen if Kiryu wandered off or if Security got too close. He had been worrying constantly about everything that could go wrong, and his nerves were worn to a frazzle. He was also starting to realize just what he'd let himself in for. If he ever got caught by Security, he wouldn't be facing just another few days in a cell. He would be lucky if they just gave him a life sentence. If that guard Kiryu shot had died, then a death penalty would be unavoidable. No one would care if it wasn't Crow who had pulled the trigger; he would be guilty by association, and that was enough in Neo Domino, especially for a Satellite native with a long string of convictions behind him.
Even if he wasn't caught, he would be on the run for the rest of his life. He'd probably never get to go home again. He'd never see his kids again. Those poor kids... what would they do without him? Would they even know what happened to him? And then there was his friend the prison guard, the one who had let him out of his cell. The man had been genuinely kind to him. He had been a real friend to Crow in a place where he had no other friends, and Crow had betrayed him. Maybe he would lose his job now. He'd probably get in big trouble when it leaked out that he had been letting prisoners out of their cells without authorization. Hadn't he mentioned to Crow at some point that he had a wife and kids of his own? What was he going to do with this kind of black mark on his record? His life was probably pretty well screwed up, too, all because he'd felt sorry for Crow and Crow had taken advantage of that kindness.
And why? Because Kiryu wanted to die on this side of the wall instead of in there? Is that a good enough reason for all this? But... I couldn't just leave him to die...
Crow felt his throat tighten. He was tired and hungry and frustrated. He wanted more than anything to just turn around and walk away. He wanted to turn Kiryu over to Yusei or Security or somebody and let them deal with it. He wished that they had just executed Kiryu without telling him about it so he wouldn't be in this mess now. He felt like a terrible person for thinking that way, but he couldn't help himself.
"This is all your fault!" he shouted at Kiryu. "Everything would have been fine if you hadn't gotten the stupid idea of blowing up Security in the first place! You're the one who told me to do this! You're the one who made our team break up! You're the one who shot that guard! This is all your fucking fault and I hate it! And I'm really starting to hate you!"
Kiryu continued to stare blandly off into space, his lips moving as he carried on some internal conversation. Then his eyes seemed to focus, and he turned to face Crow inquisitively.
"What time is it?" he asked.
"Argh! You...! You know what, forget it. Just forget it. You aren't listening anyway," said Crow. "I'm gonna go find some food. Maybe if I eat something I'll be able to think what to do. You stay here, okay?"
Kiryu nodded. Crow wasn't sure if he was actually listening, or if he had already slipped off into his dream world. Crow was in no mood to worry about it anyway. He shuffled out of the warehouse and into the street. The night air was cool and helped calm his nerves some, and he took deep breaths of it as he walked along.
Now, where can I get something to eat?
Technically, he was a thief, but he liked to think that he was a thief with some morals. The idea of waltzing into a convenience store and filching a few things, or worse yet, picking a few pockets, didn't sit well with him. It was different when he was stealing from Security, who as far as he was concerned had taken more from him and Satellite in general than they were entitled to. He never felt guilty about taking from them, but taking from an average hard-working person rubbed him the wrong way.
A restaurant, he thought. There would be leftovers there. As strange as it seemed to him, he knew there were people who ordered more than they could possibly eat and just threw the rest away to rot. If he watched and waited, he could probably pick up enough to make a meal. At this point, he was almost ready to start scouring dumpsters.
He walked a while before catching sight of a building with a patio and tables in back, and he smiled, thinking that he was in luck. There were a couple of people eating out there. With any luck, he could pick up some food from them and save himself the trouble of figuring out how to go inside without the marks on his face being noticed. He crept a bit closer, using the shadows and the ornamental shrubbery around the patio for cover. As he did so, he realized that one of the diners looked awfully familiar.
Actually, he realized, they both did. One of them, he recognized as a Security officer who hung around on Satellite. Crow didn't know his name, but he knew him as a man with a reputation for having a short temper and a willingness to use force. The other, though...
Yusei? How'd he get here?
He didn't look like he was under arrest, that was for sure. He seemed perfectly at ease. Crow couldn't catch every word of the conversation, but he could get that it had to do with motors and axles and various other things related to the construction of D-Wheels. The officer was listening intently, nodding and smiling and putting in the occasional enthusiastic comment. The two of them looked like they were having fun.
Since when is Yusei on good terms with Security officers? Crow wondered. Forget that - since when is he allowed off the island?
Even as he was thinking this, Yusei and his companion appeared to wrap up whatever they were talking about. They began to stand.
"Where are you heading now? Back to the Director's place?" the officer asked.
Yusei nodded. "I've done enough looking around for one day."
"Wish I could decide my own hours."
Yusei laughed a little. "It's more like I'm working for Goodwin all the time."
"That's got to be rough. One of these days, I'm gonna show that guy a thing or two. He needs to be taken down a peg."
"Well, he's the Director."
"He's a pain in the ass. And he doesn't treat Mikage right. If I ever get a chance, I'm going to break his face in, you just watch."
"I'll look forward to it," said Yusei, still smiling, "but I think I'd better finish this job for him first."
The two of them wandered away, out of earshot. Crow stayed frozen where he was, mind whirling.
Either I'm as crazy as Kiryu is, or Yusei just said he's working for the Director, and staying at the Director's house. What the hell?
He had to share this news with someone. He began to sprint back to his hiding place, anxious to tell Kiryu what he'd just seen and heard. Then he stopped and doubled back. He climbed over the patio fence, helped himself to a half-eaten sandwich and some leftover fries, scooping them all into some clean napkins and stuffing the packet under his vest. This news was momentous, but not so much that he was going to forget about getting something to eat.
A few minutes later, he returned to find that Kiryu hadn't moved from where he'd left him. He was sitting in a corner, staring off into space with a faraway smile, as though dreaming about something wonderful. His eyes focused on Crow when he entered, and for a moment he seemed to be his old self again.
"Where have you been?" he asked. "You were gone a long time."
"I went to get food," said Crow. He pulled out the packet of food and began dividing it between the two of them. Kiryu's face lit up when he saw the food.
"You think of everything," he said, as he tore into his share.
"Yeah, but this isn't the only thing I found," said Crow. "You won't believe this, but Yusei was out there."
Kiryu went rigid. "Yusei? You saw Yusei? He's here? But that's impossible - he's supposed to be on Satellite..."
"That's what I thought, too, but it was definitely him. I couldn't mistake him for someone else!" said Crow. He was discovering that after a couple of days with no food, even cold french fries were delicious. "He was just kicking back at some restaurant, talking about D-Wheels. With a Security officer, if you believe that! They were chatting like they were old friends."
"He would," said Kiryu darkly.
Crow shrugged; he was getting used to Kiryu saying things that didn't make a lot of sense.
"Yeah," he went on. "And that's not all. I found out where Yusei's staying, so we can finally go find him!"
Kiryu lit up as if all his dreams had come true. "Really? Where is he? Can we go now?"
"Well, it might take a little bit of planning," Crow admitted. "See, I heard him say that he's staying in the Director's mansion..."
"I knew it!" Kiryu exclaimed. "That traitor! I just knew it would come to this..."
Crow gave him a puzzled look. "You wanna run that by me again?"
"Don't you get it?" asked Kiryu. "He's on their side."
"Whose?"
"Security's!" Kiryu insisted. "He's betrayed us. He's betrayed Satellite. He betrayed me."
"I don't believe that," said Crow. "Whatever Yusei's doing, it's gotta be for a good reason. Yusei would never betray anybody."
Kiryu laughed. It was a dry, raspy sound that went on much too long.
"You really believe that?" he asked. "Crow, didn't you know?"
Crow blinked. "Know what?"
"What Yusei did to me."
"How could he do anything to you? He was your best friend," said Crow. "Nobody cared more about you than he did..."
"That's what I thought, too," said Kiryu, glaring at the ground. "I trusted him. I thought he was the one person I could trust. But that night, when Security came for me... I swear it, Crow, I didn't kill anyone! I was trying to escape, and the man on the D-Wheel was chasing me, and he lost control and fell. I never touched him. Yusei saw it all, but he still held me back until Security got there. He let them think I'd done it. No - he turned me in! I saw them thanking him! It's his fault. If he hadn't stopped me, I wouldn't have had to go to jail. All of this is his fault. And now he's here, rubbing elbows with Security, living in the Director's mansion! Do you think that's a coincidence?"
"I don't know..."
"Yusei's not like us, Crow. He's not a real Satelliter. He was born here. His father was some famous scientist. He's probably got connections here."
"Then why did he live on Satellite all that time?" Crow protested.
Kiryu shrugged. "Who knows? But you can't deny, there's something funny going on here. They wouldn't let some ordinary person go live in the Director's home for no reason."
Crow frowned and said nothing. It did seem strange. The Director had always been strongly opposed to Satellite and everyone on it. He'd done nothing but mistreat them for years. And Yusei had seemed on good terms with that Security officer, and Crow knew the officer was a Satellite regular. Had he and Yusei known each other long? Why hadn't Crow ever heard of it before? And how was it possible that Yusei, who had been closer to Kiryu than any of the others, could have turned on him so cruelly? It didn't match up with the Yusei Crow knew, but he couldn't deny the evidence of his eyes. He shook his head, trying to clear it.
"You're jumping to conclusions," he said. "Look, let's just find Yusei and talk to him. He'll explain everything."
"Oh, I'll talk to him, all right," said Kiryu. He grinned, showing too many teeth. "I want to tell him, in detail, just what he put me through. I want him to know what I suffered - what he made me suffer. I want him to feel that pain and helplessness..."
"Hey, let's not get carried away!" Crow protested. "We don't even know if he's..."
"He sent me to die!" Kiryu shouted. "I'll never forgive him. I'm going to find him and pay him back. I'm going to do just what he tried to do to me..."
Crow stared. "You don't mean..."
"I don't care what happens to me afterwards," said Kiryu. "If they kill me for it, fine. But I'm taking Yusei down first. He deserves it." Suddenly his expression softened. "I'm glad I at least have someone I can trust. If it weren't for you, I don't know what I would do."
"Right," said Crow, his voice sounding strangled. He pushed the remains of his sandwich away, finding himself suddenly without appetite.
Kiryu wanted to kill Yusei. That had been his plan all along - he had said from the beginning that his one desire was to see Yusei again before he died, and now Crow realized that what he'd meant. And Crow had been the one to make it possible. Crow had thrown away everything to help Kiryu, and this was what it had come to.
What the hell did I do?
To Be Continued...