Hello everyone! Thank you for the reviews! Please keep them coming! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!
Remember to stay healthy and be safe during these trying times.
A Closed Fist to an Open Palm
Chapter 19: Crazed into Obsession
Ah, the sweet and sour memories of a love confession, it can bring either hope and despair to someone depending on the receiver's reply.
There is a phrase that no one in love wants to hear. It's a false promise that'll only dive a person's despair into an abyss of sorrow. These words have been used time and time again as the cruelest declination for the most heartfelt of confessions.
"Let's just be friends, okay?" A silence occurred between a pair of students, a boy wearing lowly red, the other a girl wearing exemplary blue.
The boy's face, once hopeful, soon soured into stunned shock as the words sank in. Ever since the beginning of the school year, this hopeless romantic showered his crush in bountiful affection. He would give her passing flirts, help her with work, and relish her in gifts.
All of this effort, only to elicit a calm decline from his crush, brought the boy to his knees in utter devastation.
"Ugh, I knew you're going to make a scene out of this!" The girl exclaimed with a huff, annoyed by the boy's overreacting.
Once the revelation dawned in the boy's mind, he began to sob uncontrollably, wailing in a verse of loud whimpers and coughs in a thinly-veiled attempt to make his crush reconsider. His rejecting crush began to look around cautiously, not wanting to be associated with the embarrassing Slifer.
"As I said, we can still be friends, so can you please stop?" The girl pleaded as she placed a consoling hand on the boy's shoulder. He refused to budge, only sobbing louder as he heard that offensive phrase a second time.
"You know what?! Fine! You're a loser anyway!" Fed up with the boy's desperate attempt for pity, the girl left the boy to his pathetic sobbing.
Time passed, the Slifer's sobs echoing throughout the halls like a banshee's wail. He hoped that his petulant crying could perhaps attract someone else, someone that wouldn't reject him like a sick stray dog.
"Awww, it looks like someone needs some love..." A gentle voice purred into the boy's ear.
He instinctively looked up, only to see a floating black wisp made of dust and ash. The boy wordlessly stared at the sprite, unsure of what to make of it.
Without warning, the wisp then entered into the boy's body, forcing itself into the boy's throat through his agape jaw like running water.
For a moment, the student felt nothing. But then, he coughed, then again, and again until he erupted into a haze of coughs and gags, spilling out droplets of blackened spittle around him, staining the floors and walls with his now-tainted phlegm.
The Slifer watched in horror as the black droplets suddenly came to life, crawling up to the boy's body and then seeping themselves into his skin. Fearing for his life, the boy tried to cry out for help, yet could only utter the same pitying sobs he wailed out before.
Zenn's hand trembled as he stared at a piece of baked pastry and blueberry mesh skewered on top of his fork. Initially, Zenn was excited at first to try out something he'd never eaten before, but now, he was having some second thoughts.
He looked around to see his friends, all around the same table as him in the card shop, all chomping down on a personal slice of a beautifully-made pie courtesy of surprise baker Jasmine. They talked about their mornings between bites of crispy pie crust and sweetened jam without caution or restraint.
"We should name ourselves something, We're like the heroes of this school after all," Mindy suggested before taking a bite of her dessert.
"Oh! Yeah! You're right, if Chancellor Sheppard can brag about his fancy 'Spirit Key Holders' then we need to do the same!" Jasmine agreed, wanting to get back at the Headmaster for his lack of acknowledgment of them.
"Any suggestions then?" Mindy asked. A moment of contemplation occurred in the group of friends, unsure of what they should call themselves, that is until the usually meek and subservient Brier came up with something.
"How about...The Makai Busters?" He suggested nervously, hoping that his idea won't get shot down immediately.
"I like the sound of that! The Makai Busters! While those Fancy 'Spirit Key Holders' hang out without a care in the world...We're saving it day-by-day!" Jasmine envisioned as she let out a snicker.
"Really?! You mean it?" Brier exclaimed, surprised to gain the feisty Jasmine's approval.
"It's a lot more inventive than Spirit Key Holders, so it gets my vote!" Mindy added, smiling politely to Brier.
To hear that his input was not only included but also accepted made Brier's eyes lit up with joy.
"Then it's settled then! From now on, we're the Makai Busters!" The boy declared happily.
As this was all happening, Zenn remained at his corner of the table, still afraid to take the first bite.
The Martial Artist cursed himself. Jasmine, his first-ever friend, made this for him! And to chicken out like a coward would bring great sadness to Jasmine, something that is unforgivable! Zenn took a deep breath to psyche himself up.
He will do it! For Jasmine!
His resolve replenished, Zenn took his first bite.
Zenn's eyes widened in shock. It was delicious. The crispy crust complemented with the fluffy filling beautifully. He expected nothing less from Jasmine.
Zenn, now free of doubt, began to chew down upon the sweet like a starving animal. Crumbs flew everywhere like a mortar's blast shrapnel, quickly garnering his friend's attention.
"Beats bland rice and unseasoned fish, huh?" Jasmine remarked as she rested her chin on her hand, clearly proud of herself.
"This...It is extraordinary..." Zenn complimented breathlessly before going back to his dessert.
"What did you expect? I made it after all!" Jasmine responded with a smug grin on her face, impressed by her skill at baking.
"I mean, it's decent. It's like a six out of ten?" Mindy remarked, shrugging coyly. Like clockwork, Jasmine's eyes narrowed into an annoyed glare
"You're a six out of ten!" Jasmine barked back.
"You two are both tens..." Brier admitted in an earnest mumble, trying to
"Let's end this argument right here and now! I'm a ten! You two are both sixes!" Blair chimed in with a cocky scoff.
"Yeah...In age! Not so much in height!" Jasmine retorted as she pushed herself out of her seat.
"You got something to say!?" Blair replied. Not backing down, Blair folded her arms and stared up to Jasmine's steely gaze, ready to take her on in a war of harsh words.
"Yeah, I do!" Jasmine then took a deep breath, Blair flinched as she realized that might not be as prepared as she thought she was.
"What I'm trying to say is that we're all equally great...That's I made this pie for you all," Jasmine said in a calm if restraint tone. Blair blinked several times, taken aback by Jasmine's surprisingly calm words.
"So let's just enjoy it, okay?" Jasmine asked. And, with a small sheepish smile, Jasmine would then pat Blair on the head, unintentionally ruffling several strands of her navy blue hair.
Mindy and Blair looked on in complete astonishment. They expected a usual temper tantrum from their hot-headed Red-headed friend, so seeing her react to Blair's cattiness in this way was shocking for the two, both tuned to Jasmine's almost stereotypical overreaction to the slightest of slights.
Zenn, however, smiled as he silently watched the interaction unfold, secretly proud to see Jasmine putting up the effort to not to let her hair-trigger temper take over her.
"Who are you, and what did you do to the real Jazz?" Mindy asked as she cupped her hand underneath her chin, clearly suspicious in Jasmine's newfound attitude.
"Look, I'm trying to better myself and not let my anger problems get the better of me..." Jasmine explained earnestly.
"But can you stop being so damn snarky!? Whenever I talk to you, I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall. A brick wall who talks back to anything I say!" Jasmine pleaded for fairer treatment from her best friend.
"You're right, sorry..." Mindy realized, darting her eyes away from Jasmine's gaze, remorseful of her constant quips and teasing snark.
"Thanks..." Jasmine responded graciously. All of a sudden, Jasmine winced in irritation.
"Jazz? What's up?" Mindy asked, concerned. The redhead didn't respond as she rubbed the side of her neck, pressing a pair of fingers against a small cut that wept with blood. Zenn eyed the wound suspiciously, already feeling something was up.
"I don't know...But, But..." Before she could finish, Jasmine's almond brown eyes brightened into a shade of enamored pink, and her pupils shifted into a pair of blooming hearts. Jasmine then clamped her hands together before she began to swing her hips in an entranced sway.
"I love you!" Jasmine declared at the top of her lungs. Before Mindy could react to this big confession, she was brought to the ground in a tackling hug by an infatuated Jasmine. Jasmine wrapped her arms around the fallen Mindy, locking her to the ground in a loving glomp.
"H-Hey! I don't roll that way, Jazz!" Mindy refrained, as she tried to pry Jasmine off of her. Jasmine caressed her head against Mindy's nape as continued to hug harder, completely unaware that she was suffocating her with her firm grip.
"H-Help m-me!" Mindy began to plead, her face now dampening in a shade of crushing purple.
"On it-Ah!" As soon as Zenn got his hands on Jasmine's shoulders, he felt a stinging pain on his neck. Zenn would then enter the same trance as Jasmine did, his eyes, once a sheen of emerald warped into a shade of obsessive pink as his sharp irises shifted into the shape of throbbing hearts.
"I...I love you, Jasmine!" Zenn declared before joining in the forceful hugging, embracing the redhead from behind and joining her in the miniature dogpile. Mindy kicked and flailed around, desperately trying to escape.
As this was happening, Blair and Brier stared at the three in bewilderment, unsure of what was going on. They looked around to see other students now stuck in the same trance as Zenn and Jasmine were stricken with, all decorated with the same small cut across their necks.
"I love you so much!" One declared.
"I want to be with you forever!" Another confessed.
"Please step on me!" One screamed at the top of their lungs.
One-by-one, random teens, no matter gender or age began professing their undying love to one another, before forcing themselves onto them in a squeezing hug. Most tried to fight back, only to fall to the ground by their confessors, forced to hear a constant stream of honeyed words and have whatever air in their lungs be squeezed out by their sweetened tacklers.
"Hey, Brier...I think this is the work of the Makai-" Blair turned her head to see Brier, his eyes now shaded pink, and his pupils curve into hearts.
"Oh, no...Not you too!" Blair exclaimed, her eyes widening as Brier gave her a love-crazed smile.
"I Love you, Blair!" Brier declared before he lunged at Blair in an attempt at a crushing hug.
"We talked about this yesterday, Brier! Jaden and I have a special bond!" Blair retorted as she quickly hopped out of the way, making Brier fall flat on his face. The boy wasn't perturbed, quickly getting back up and lunging himself at Blair again, wanting nothing more than to embrace his love. Blair quickly dodged again, sides-stepping to make Brier drop on top of the pile of friends. Brier gave up on pursuing Blair, his heart-shaped gaze and glomping arms now fixated on the downed Mindy.
"Sorry, Mindy! but I need to find the Makai and stop all of this weird stuff before it affects the whole school!" Blair apologized before she headed off, leaving the brunette to the mercy of her three overly touchy friends.
"Wha!? You're just going to leave me like this-Mmph!" Mindy tried to shout, only for her mouth to be covered by Jasmine's black, fingerless gloves.
"Shhh!" Jasmine hushed with a wide grin. "No tears. Only dreams now..." Jasmine whispered into Mindy's ear, her sultry-toned words making Mindy's skin crawl.
"Nnnnrrrr! Hmmmph! Hmmph!" Mindy muffled.
Blair sprinted through the hallways, her mind racing in a million questions on where to find the source of this love-sick madness. For each corridor she passed, she saw more and more teens, confessing their untold love to someone, even if they were strangers before closing into a tender embrace.
All of this confessing made Blair turn her head down to the floor as she ran, not wanting to watch others obtaining confessions as she anxiously waited for her's from Jaden.
She let out a sigh, part-exhaust from running, part-disappointment. Was it the right choice to reject Brier and continue pursuing Jaden?
'At least Brier pays attention to me...' A dark thought grumbled in Blair's mind.
But, it was her duel with Jaden that made her realize that she shouldn't give up on her pursuit of him, that duel was the best duel of her life, and to disregard it for someone else's affection would be disgusting.
Blair's train-of-thought came to a crashing halt as she bumped into someone, bouncing off of the more significant person and forcing her to the ground in an unceremonious thud.
"Hey! Watch where you're going-" Blair's eye's lit up as she realized who it was. The unbuttoned Slifer Red Jacket, the blend of caramel hair, instantly gave away who it was; it was Jaden Yuki!
"Jaden! Oh, I knew you would confess to me!" Blair exclaimed, getting back up with an energetic hop. She closed her eyes as she waited for those lovely words to creep out of his kissable lips. Perhaps this Makai-induced love craze has its benefits, Blair can finally get her confession from the prince of her dreams!
"Uh...Why would I do that? Is it valentines day?" Jaden asked obliviously. Like shattered glass, Blair's eyes shot open as she froze. Once again, Jaden was playing hard-to-get. With a heavy heart, Blair would swallow up whatever frustration she had before focusing on the task at hand.
"At least you're not lovesick...That'll just make your eventual confession even sweeter than before!" Blair said to herself, rationalizing Jaden's dense behavior. Jaden scratched his head as he looked at Blair, kind of confused.
"Hey, you don't have the weird little mark that Syrus and Chumley have!" Jaden realized, snapping his fingers.
"As soon as they got it, they tried hugging me! Until they started hugging each other that is," Jaden snickered, taking this situation lightly.
"Yeah, my friends are doing the same thing, we need to find it before it infects the whole school!" Blair declared, trying to sound heroic during this time of need, she's the only Makai Buster that didn't turn into a love-sick dope! (barring the probably now-unconscious Mindy) She must step up and save the day! Without a confession from Jaden or not.
"Got any ideas then Blair? I don't know anything about what you guys duel for a living!" The boy then laughed at his remark, impressed by his wordplay. Blair, tired of Jaden's lack of tact of the situation.
"Please Jaden focus! We need to save our friends before they start doing even more weird stuff okay?" Blair insisted.
As the two Slifers bickered amongst each other, couples around them continue their coddling, unaware of what was coming for them.
"My my, look what we have here..." A voice purred, garnering Jaden and Blair's attention.
"I sense. Two children, with two torn hearts, What a combination!" The voice declared joyously, excited for something new.
Unlike the first Makai that Blair had seen, this one didn't bother to put up a human guise. The demon carried itself in a proud strut, wearing layers of folded paper resembling a suit of armor. The Makai lowered itself to Jaden's and Blair's level before gazing at the two duelists with a face of a maw of exposed teeth underneath a horned crown.
"Girikami..." The Makai announced themself. Their voice was delicate and soft, a sharp contrast to the Makai's freakish bulk and menacing armor.
"Ugh! And I thought Crowler was ugly!" Jaden remarked, taking a step back.
"Such a rude Spirit Key Holder! If only you knew how much this little girl yearns for you!" Girikami then pointed a long needle-like finger at Blair.
"How sad...You gave up on one, for what? someone who harbors nothing in return!" The Makai then placed its dagger of a finger underneath Blair's chin, drawing a drop of blood. Blair flinched, the Makai's words stinging true to her.
"Hey! Hands off!" Jaden came into the rescue, quickly smacking Girikami's hand away. The Makai let out a humming murmur in reply, content to incite the boy to action.
"I don't know anything about Blair, but you don't touch people like that!" Jaden said defiantly.
'He doesn't know anything about me?' A voice whimpered in her mind. The more Blair interacted with her crush, the more painful truths crawled into her mind.
"When I'm done you two torn children...I'll do whatever I want!" Girikami declared. Suddenly strips of paper began to stretch out of its wrist, forming a colorless duel disk.
"Jaden..." Blair began in a somber tone. Jaden turned to the girl, his head tilted in confusion, waiting for her to finish.
"If you don't anything about me..." Blair then ran up to a pair of love-sickened students. With a quick swipe of her hands, she slung off of the two distracted student's duel disks off their wrists.
"Then how about we get to know each other by beating this freak, together!" Blair proposed with a confident smile before tossing the duel disk to Jaden's way.
"I like the sound of that!" Jaden agreed before he effortlessly caught the device within his wrist.
"Such arrogance, You two will be lost like the rest of your lustful ilk!" Girikami declared with a growl.
"Heh, this is going to be easy! Since there's two of us, we'll have twice the lifepoints the Makai has!" Blair pointed out, confident enough to beat the demon with the life advantage.
"Not for long!" Girikami retorted. Without warning, Girikami brought their claws into their chest, digging into their flesh as they formed a torrent of black ink under their feet.
Through an agonized scream the makai ripped itself in two in an explosion of shredded paper and ink. Then, like a broken flood gate, his bleeding halves began to gush out bouts of ink, flooding the hallways from where they stand. Jaden and Blair winced as the knee-deep oily water
Satisfied by their ink-letting, Kirigami stitched themself back together, their two halves coming back together in rivets of folded paper.
"Not for LONG!" Kirigami repeated, madder than before. Out from the pitch-black pools came a blackened reflection of Kirigami, their duel disk grown out of the opposite wrist of the originals.
"Now!" The white Girikami announced.
"You will be broken!" The Darkened Girikami half declared. The two contrasting Makai laughed in unison, ready to destroy the two duelists that were unaffected by their curse.
"DUEL!"