Chapter 25: Gamer Solidarity
Yoshimitsu, Ryuuji, Zappa and Hiniku were back in class. There hadn't been much time to discuss Hiniku's reason for being there. However, it wasn't difficult for anyone of them to understand that she wanted to overhear their conversation, hoping to find out something useful. Hiniku couldn't help but let out a sigh. Of course, she didn't plan to get caught eavesdropping.
"Darn..." she thought. Despite her outer appearance being calm and collected, she felt embarrassed. It wasn't like her to put herself in plain sight like that.
"Of course she's still trying to get to them..." Ryuuji was thinking, annoyed by the short girl's action. "When will she understand that her pride will only bring her into trouble? We've gotta do something about that, and fast..."
Eventually, the remaining classes for the day passed. Yoshimitsu headed to the exit with Zappa and Ryuuji. He had a look of worry on his face.
"What's on your mind, Yoshi?" Zappa asked.
"You're worried about what Hiniku could do, don't you?" Ryuuji said. The fair-haired youth nodded to that, and he patted his shoulder, trying to reassure him.
"I think we should talk with her, before she does something stupid again..." he said, looking in front of him.
"Yes, I agree..." the fair-haired boy replied. The three youths sped up their walking pace and, when they were at the school entrance gate, they had managed to catch up to their short classmate.
"Hiniku-san!" Yoshimitsu called, making the elf-eared girl turn. For a moment, Yoshimitsu could swear he had seen signs of surprise and even slight fear on her face. However, her face was composed as usual when facing them, leaving him to wonder if it was just a feeling.
"Yes? What is it?" she asked, a hint of annoyance was present in her voice. Ryuuji was the first to talk.
"You're still trying to get to the Omicron Crucis, aren't you?" he said, not hiding his concern and his irritation. Hiniku's eyes narrowed at that question. She sighed and tartly replied:
"Yes. What of it?"
"Well..." Zappa replied "It should be pretty clear that people like us shouldn't meddle with such stuff. I, Zappa Kurosawa, was there when we've seen them the first time, remember?" Ryuuji nodded to that.
"If you managed to get out of there, it was just out of luck!" he continued "We don't know what those guys are capable of. You can't take them lightly. You should stay safe."
"And do nothing while they're still roaming around?" the elf-eared girl retorted "I'm sorry, but that's just not like me." The red-haired duelist narrowed his eyes at that reply.
"Are you sure you're not on their track just because of some pride issue?" he said. He didn't know what had happened in the warehouse, but it must have certainly affected her, to the point of possibly being the reason of her pursuit. Knowing this, Yoshimitsu inwardly cringed at the low blow his friend had pulled off, while Hiniku reacted as expected.
"And what if it was?" she replied, her tone slightly more upset than usual. Yoshimitsu spoke.
"Is your pride really worth risking your life?" he said, in a concerned, upset and earnest tone. He then cast his gaze downwards "I'm seriously worried about you, and if I were to not see you again, I would be..." He did not see that Hiniku had made a step backwards. She was still baffled by the friendship the fair-haired youth was showing her, despite her odd behaviour, and it was beginning to unsettle her, especially because of how persistent he was about it. Not wanting to hear further from him, she abruptly turned her head to the side, as if something was calling her.
"What?" she said. "Oh, sorry! I'm coming right away!" The three youths talking to her were confused by her action.
"Sorry, I can't talk with you now." the elf-eared girl then said, turning back to them "I have to go back home now. See you tomorrow! And don't you forget about the History test in two days!" she then hurried away.
"Wait!" Yoshimitsu and Ryuuji called her in unison, but she had already ran off. Ryuuji grunted in annoyance while Yoshimitsu had a forlorn look on his features. Zappa's look, on the other hand, was more confused than anything else.
After putting up some distance between herself and the school, Hiniku looked behind her to ensure the youths hadn't been following her. She then looked around to see if anyone suspicious was close by. Much to her relief, there wasn't anyone else. Many thoughts crossed her mind as she walked back home.
"Why does Yoshimitsu insist and worry so much for my safety?" she kept thinking "What reason could he possibly have to be friends with me, someone so different from him?" For a moment, her train of thought was interrupted by something in the corner of her eye that looked ominous. She instantly turned her head in the direction of the suspicious shadow, but there was no one there. She then adjusted a wonky ear of hers and resumed her walk.
"I don't think I could stop investigating on them anyway…" she thought "From the looks of it, they have their eyes set on me. It's already too late for me to drop out safely..."
"What do we do..." Yoshimitsu asked, his voice was slightly trembling and filled with concern.
"I don't know..." Ryuuji said, sharing his friend's worries "The first thing that comes to mind would be to try contacting those who are closest with her..." The statement snapped Zappa out of his confused state, and he had an answer to that.
"You want her friends?" he replied, in a tone that became increasingly solemn "I, Zappa Kurosawa, can give you what you seek!"
"You can contact her friends?" the fair-haired youth exclaimed, immediately turning to him.
"Drop the high and mighty act, spiky-head, and get to the point." the red-haired duelist replied as well "How do you plan to do that?"
"Well..." the spiky-haired boy smirked confidently "I'm quite proud to say I'm among the most hardcore FPS players in Chiba, alongside one of Kashikoi-san's friends, Aichaku Renbo-kun!"
"So, you're planning to talk to him during a game and think of something with him?" Yoshimitsu asked, quickly understanding what he was up to.
"Bingo, my friend!" Zappa nodded.
"How often do you play with him?" Rayearth asked, not too sure about the actual chances of success of such a plan.
"Eh, I play with him a couple hours at least once a day." Zappa replied. The two youths needed no further confirmation of the applicability of the idea.
"All right, give me your phone number." Ryuuji said "I'll add you to the Sephiroth Tetragram chatroom. This way, you'll be better able to swiftly give us any information you find." The spiky-haired boy nodded and his phone number was quickly registered in the redhead's mobile.
"All right, see you tomorrow, guys!" Zappa said, heading home "I'll let you know as soon as I find anything out!" Ryuuji scowled at how loud he was about a topic that should have been treated more reservedly.
"See you tomorrow, Zappa!" Yoshimitsu happily saw him off. Ryuuji patted Taka's shoulder, catching his attention.
"That takes care of that, now let's talk about lighter stuff." he said "Say, Yoshimitsu, would you like to come to the Yellow Submarine for a test spin of our decks?" Both the youths knew that the shop had reopened, after repairs of the hole and adequate structure checking.
"Sure thing!" Taka replied eagerly.
"Great!" the red-haired boy exclaimed "Since the test is the day after tomorrow, it shouldn't affect your revision schedule too much. Besides, there's still some time to use for revision." Yoshimitsu nodded to his friend's statement. Ryuuji then patted the fair-haired youth's shoulder "See you later, Taka!" Yoshimitsu smiled at that.
"See you later, Rayearth-senpai!" he replied in kind, using his duel name. They then went their separate ways, heading home. Yoshimitsu eventually arrived home.
"I'm back!" he said as he entered. His mother hurried to the door and greeted him.
"Welcome back!" she cheerfully said, giving him a hug "Say, how's it going with your classmate?"
"Working on that." the fair-haired youth swiftly replied. "Thankfully I have the help of my friends with this."
"That's great to hear!" his mother smiled warmly.
"Also, I'm meeting up with my friends this afternoon!" he announced.
"Fantastic!" she smiled, but her expression turned serious a second later "Don't forget to revise first!"
"Don't worry, mom!" he assured "I was planning to do it!"
"Good boy!" she smiled as her son headed upstairs, with the intent of adequately revising his schoolwork. Meanwhile, Ryuuji arrived at the Yamazaki household as well. As he opened the door, he was quickly greeted by his mother and his little brother.
"Big bro!" Reiya ran at him as soon as he entered.
"Reiya!" he said, crouching a bit and giving him a high five, with a wide grin on his face. "How's it going?"
"Great!" he replied cheerily, as his mother arrived at the house entrance as well.
"Well, it's gonna go even better!" the red-haired duelist replied, patting his brother's head "Because this afternoon, I'll be taking you to see some duels!"
"R-Really?!" Reiya immediately piped up, his excitement rising. "Yaaay!" Their mother smiled, watching them.
"You boys haven't forgotten anything, have you?" she said. Her tone was cheery, but the topic she hinted was serious.
"Oh, hello mom!" Ryuuji smiled back at her "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten." The woman's smile became wider and warmer at that reply.
"Ok, Reiya." he then turned to his brother, patting his shoulders. "I've got some work to do now, then we're heading to the Yellow Submarine, ok?" Reiya nodded enthusiastically.
"The Yellow Submarine?" their mother asked "Wasn't that shop closed because of the attack from that cyborg?"
"Oh, it's open again!" her eldest son quickly explained "The hole is patched up now."
"I see..." the woman said, her expression showing concern "But please, stay safe!" The red-haired duelist nodded at her with a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry." he said "I'll take care." With that, he headed to his room, to do his homework.
Eventually, the first half of the afternoon passed. Yoshimitsu, Ryuuji and Reiya had finished their assignments for the day and had revised their schoolwork accordingly, and were about to head to the Yellow Submarine. Of course, Ryuuji had told his teammates about it beforehand through the chatroom. In the meantime, Zappa had been busy with his homework as well. He had almost finished when his father entered into his room.
"Heya! How's it going?" he merrily exclaimed, making his son turn around rapidly.
"Whew, you startled me for a second there." Zappa said. It was his father who had greeted him when he had come back home from school.
"How's the revision going?" he asked, in the same upbeat tone.
"So far so good." his son replied in kind "I'm almost done."
"That's good to hear." the man said. "What are you going to do next?"
"Oh, the usual thing." Zappa replied "I'll be playing. Hopefully I'll catch Ren again."
"You sure you're done, Zappa?" his father asked again, patting his shoulder. The spiky-haired boy gave him a thumbs up.
"Don't worry, dad!" he proudly proclaimed "I, Zappa Kurosawa, don't take things lightly." His father couldn't help but laugh lightly, since he knew his son very well, and he knew that statement wasn't always true.
"I hope you did with this, too." He tugged on his son's hair a bit.
"I-I did!" Zappa replied, feeling the strength of his father's grip. His father chuckled and patted his head, ruffling up his hair a bit, before walking away. As he walked away, Zappa couldn't help but chuckle back. A couple of minutes later, the spiky-haired boy had finished his homework and was ready to play one of his many FPS titles. He turned on his console, put the CD in it and started the video game session. After another couple minutes, Zappa could see that his gaming companion had turned his console on as well and immediately messaged him.
"Hey man, co-op shooting?" he typed.
"Right on!" he read after mere seconds, and so they began playing together as always, having loads of fun. Thanks to their microphone-equipped headphones, they were able to talk during the session. About half an hour later, the spiky-haired boy decided to move his talk with Ren to a more important topic.
"Say, Ren, let me ask you… What does Kashikoi-san like to do?" he asked.
"Huh?" the fit youth was confused by the sudden question "Why do you ask?"
"We're trying to reason with Kashikoi-san..." Zappa explained "But we'll need to talk to her first, and we both know how hard it is to hang out with her..." Ren couldn't help but sigh at the statement's undeniable truth.
"You're telling me..." he said "I was only able to hang out with her just recently, and I had to make up excuses!"
"Yeah..." the spiky-haired boy said "So… Do you know how we can possibly meet her?"
"Well..." Ren began thinking. "Tonma-san had told me something about that once..."
"Yeah, Fujiyu Tonma-san is the closest to her among us, after all..." Zappa couldn't help but add. Finally, the buzz-haired boy had an idea.
"That's it!" he exclaimed "She likes to go to the arcade!"
"Is that so?" Zappa replied "Well, she does like gaming… A lot..."
"And that's why I like her!" Ren added, the statement made his spiky-haired friend chuckle.
"I know, man, I know." he replied.
"Tonma-san had once told me..." the fit youth continued "She goes there during weekday afternoons, because less people are around by that time. You could drop by at that time and be able to find her easily."
"I should've known..." Zappa couldn't help but blurt out, before thanking his friend. "Thanks, buddy! Make sure to thank Fujiyu-san for me, too!"
"Will do!" Ren cheerily replied "Now cut the talking and let's get it on with the shooting!"
"You got it!" The spiky-haired gamer quickly got pumped up as the game session restarted. Meanwhile, Yoshimitsu and Ryuuji took their decks and got ready to head to the Yellow Submarine. As he went downstairs, Taka was greeted by his mother.
"Are you going to see your friends?" she asks, in a warm tone, with a sweet smile. Her son nodded at the question. She then wrapped him in a warm hug.
"Take your time with your them and get better in the game with them." she encouraged, patting his head.
"I will, mom, I will!" he replied, in a cheerful tone. He then headed to the door, but, just before he could get out.
"Yoshimitsu!" his mother called. As he turned, the fair-haired youth could see a concerned expression on her face.
"Please take care." His son quickly understood and smiled, with a reassuring nod.
"I'm off!" he said, as he went out the door. Meanwhile Ryuuji was ready to meet his friends as well.
"Let's go, Reiya!" he called, and his little brother quickly came up.
"I'm pumped up!" he said, as his big brother patted his head "I can't wait to see you duel again big bro!"
"Yoshimitsu is coming as well!" Rayearth added "You'll see him duel, too!"
"Really?!" the little red-haired boy excitedly exclaimed "That's awesome!" Their mother couldn't help but chuckle at how the brothers were close to each other.
"Yoshimitsu-kun is a nice boy, I'm sure he'll make for a great friend." she said, smiling "Don't let him go."
"Not a chance, mom!" Ryuuji assured her, in a confident tone. He and Reiya then headed to the door and got out of the Yamazaki house "We're off!"
"Take care!" their mother called out in a warm tone with hints of concern, as they went to their hideout and to their friends. Ryuuji chuckled, ruffling up his little brother's hair and making him chuckle as well as they walked on.