notes: i'm apprehensive to post this story after getting some hate for shipping judai/asuka, but i hope it will be somewhat satisfactory to enjoy for others. i have the whole story typed out beforehand, and i will upload each chapter every tuesday and friday so i can maintain some time management. there will be 10 chapters total in this fic, and the total word count of the whole story is 65k words so sit back and enjoy the ride!
as always, my sincerest apologies if anything such as characterization or lore/plot references are not consistent, especially anything concerning yubel. i like yubel, so it's never my intention to purposely depict them in a negative bashing manner. i know i can't satisfy everyone, and i once considered dropping and scrapping this story completely, but i didn't want my three months of hard work to be for nothing. i will have a proper author's note in the last chapter.
anyway, in advance, thank you for reading and happy new years! :)
disclaimer: i do not own yugioh gx.
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the home that we claimed
judai & asuka
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i. one;
It starts something like this.
It starts with like how it always is with them: he drops by unexpectedly and she would be exasperated because he never freaking texts her when he's coming by and she's always either in the middle of something, or she is out of her apartment and she'd come back later to find him in front of her door. That's how it normally begins with Judai and Asuka.
However, today, Asuka is at home and enjoying her quiet time by herself—then Judai comes ringing her doorbell at the ungodly hour of twelve, before she goes to bed, so this time she sacrifices her much-needed sleep to stay up and play hostess. She had offered tea because she ran out of coffee, using it all up for her current cup that she made after he came over so that she has the strength to sit through tonight. He had accepted the tea, if only to be polite.
Asuka is currently blinking, stopping mid-sip of her coffee.
"What did you just say?" she numbly asks, asking for repetition so she knows she isn't just mishearing things.
Judai's always saying strange things, but that's just how he is. He had come over with a grin and gave her the usual greeting of something like Yo, or Hi, or I've come! when he's feeling chipper than usual, and Asuka had a feeling he's going to say that he's going to crash at her place again for a) a week, b) two weeks, or c) five days. This time, he chooses the middle one.
He proceeded to get started on these next two weeks with her by telling her about things he heard on the road, this time from somewhere in Australia where Jim is and also France, where he passed on the way over from the other many places he also passed by. He chats on with enthusiasm; lets her know that Jim said he misses 'Tomorrow Girl' when Judai mentioned stopping by at her place. Currently, he is telling her about his passing visit by France.
Judai says from across the table, "I said I finally heard that word again when I was in France. Fiancé." He shrugs off his blazer to hang on the back of his chair. "Overheard some people saying it."
Now, the normal reaction she would've done is to do an obligatory spit-take or the usual choking of whatever liquid she just so happened to be drinking. Really. She has done so before whenever he said strange things to her. But no. Not this time.
Asuka thinks, as she sips more coffee, that maybe she is getting too accustomed with his randomness. Or maybe the coffee is finally working on her. Either way, this calmness is strange even for her. A new record, it could even be.
Serenely, she inquires, "And what about it?"
She stops sipping by this time, hoping that whatever he'll say next will not make her choke. Judai always knows how to get reactions from her, even if he doesn't mean it or is even aware of it. He's dangerous like that, she muses. Not even coffee can combat him.
"You didn't tell me we were engaged this whole time!" he splutters, looking highly scandalized and squinting at her from his end of the table. "Why didn't you tell me?"
This time she does look wide-eyed, but Asuka mostly commends herself for not dropping her cup the moment he said engaged. She had not thought he knew words that were synonymous or associated with fiancé. Not because he's dumb. No. (Okay. Partially, she did think this for a brief 0.5 second.) She just never pegged him as that sort of person, one who'd even talk about that type of stuff. He never really showed an interest either. She wonders how much growing up he did on his travels because he wouldn't have said this back when they were still fifteen.
As if he needs to provide real proof that he actually did his research, he mentions, "And before you ask how I know French, I don't. I asked Jim to clarify for me when I got to Australia—I asked around."
"Oh," she says flatly, not knowing how else to react. It makes more sense now, that Jim defined it for him. He better not have supplied any further explanation beyond spouses. It would be unnecessary and irrelevant, but it would give Judai ideas and she seriously doesn't want to fly all the way to Australia just to slap Jim on the head. Taking five seconds to mentally prepare herself, Asuka begins, "I thought that wasn't supposed to be taken seriously."
Really, what was Ayanokouji thinking? That moron. Thinking about it, she still seethes over it, about being offered as a prize. Is all of her worth in society really just based on her primly-kept hair, eyes that share the same color as half the world's population, legs like every other human being alive, and chest that every female in the world has? Do her skills not matter anymore? Men. Ugh. (Not Judai, though. He's like a slightly more grown up teenager. Not quite a man yet. She can't quite picture it.)
"You're right," he tells her, oddly placating. "But geez, no one ever told me what that offer even was! I didn't even know what I agreed to!"
She goes back to her coffee, trying to find something soothing to calm herself. "You didn't seem to mind back then either, since you still agreed to it."
"Because it was a challenge!" Judai whines. "You know me, about challenges."
She knows him, he said.
"You always put your foot where your mouth is," reminisces Asuka, not minding the indignant look he gives her. That being said, she can't really be incredibly mad at him for taking on Ayanokouji's challenge. Judai had been clueless about the definition of fiancé; he had not intentionally been sexist to her. She also wanted to see if the rumors were true that Tennis Freak had skills that could rival Ryo—but needless to say, disappointment rang clearly that day in her.
She is feeling nostalgic all of a sudden, but she also thinks it's too much work trying to recall all the other times Judai has put his foot where his mouth is; 'royally screwing things up,' as other people would say.
But she doesn't mind. Unexplainable actions, unfathomable logic, and unpredictability is what makes him Judai, after all.
He grumbles under his breath and takes a sip of the likely-lukewarm tea that sat there for the past ten minutes. "You still didn't answer my question, by the way."
"Which was?"
He looks blankly at her. "Why you never told me, through all these years, what fiancé meant."
She remembers calling him an idiot. And well, it never came up again. She hadn't thought of that day as anything serious, truthfully. She was just a fifteen year old who wanted to pass her classes and duel and secure her future, not a girl who wanted someone to whisk her off her feet or whatever sexist thing it was that Ayanokouji wanted to do with her. If anything, the idiot drained at least five years off her lifespan that day.
In her twenties and as a teacher who is used to receiving inquiries varying from Asuka-sensei, is glue safe to swallow? to Asuka-sensei, what was Pot of Greed good for again?, Asuka thinks she knows how to answer the question Judai posed for her.
Well, I didn't think it mattered, she rehearses the answer in her head. She also thinks, Why do you care?, and also, Why do you still remember this?
And then she just loses motivation to answer him, something inside of her wilting.
She's not interested in marriage or girly weddings because the girls from her elementary school often driveled about them in extremely dreamy voices that made her awkward just hearing about them, however she is piqued at love. Maybe have someone special by her side and live a quiet, peaceful, supportive life. A simple love. But she knows that, from one look at Judai, it means that she would never have that.
Briefly, Asuka wonders if this is her fate for the rest of her life: to be in the uncertain, teetering middle of a maybe-love with him.
"It just didn't occur to me," she finally says, a little dully while eyeing her mug. She ran out of coffee.
He raises an eyebrow at her lack of motivation. "Are you tired?"
"You come here at twelve in the morning and ask me if I'm tired?" she deadpans, fingering the handle of her empty mug.
With innocence, he grins and raises two hands in the air with a placating motion. "But I like coming here, Asuka! It's not my fault that you're always on the other side of the world when I make trips back!"
She ignores that feeling of happiness when he mentions that he likes coming here. She does try her best to make her home as comfortable as she can, after all. "So it's my fault for not being able to control when it's night and day?" She stands up and treks to her sink to rinse her mug.
He laughs lightheartedly behind her, still seated. "No. It's your fault for always opening your door to me if you just wanted to sleep," he teases.
Feigning seriousness, she looks thoughtful and says, "Okay, maybe I won't open the door for you next time. Thank you for the idea, Judai." She casually turns off the sink and grabs a towel to dry the mug. "I heard that raccoons sometimes linger around at night anyway—"
"No wait, I was kidding! I came here first thing after I got off the ship! You know that, right?" he asks, nervously smiling as he watches her place her mug on the drying rack and she starts walking down the hallway to her room. She can't go to sleep because of the coffee, but at least it'll let her do some late-night reading.
Lazily, Asuka responds with unwavering trust but casual teasing, "I know. Goodnight. Don't forget to put your cup away when you go to sleep."
He's whining indignantly as she closes her bedroom door, and she smiles. It's always like this when Judai visits her and she wouldn't trade it for anything.
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"You should come with me," he offers her during the next day, holding a fishing rod over his shoulder. She looks up from the newspaper she is reading on the couch. "You've never been fishing before, right? Broaden your horizons a bit!"
He looks really eager, so carefree and whimsical, just at the thought of fishing. She is a bit envious at how passionate he is about it; envious of this fire in his eyes while there is slow-melting calming ice in hers now that she found her path in life.
"I don't think I'd be a good fishing partner," she says decidedly, eyeing the fishing rod. If his rod is the only fishing rod she's ever seen before, then no. She would definitely not know how to use one.
Judai laughs, a little sheepish. "Well, I only have one rod." Looking at her, he brightens optimistically. She thinks it's a glowing grin he has: not quite as bright as the sun this time, but rather mildly like a gentle sunrise. "But it doesn't mean you can't come along." Pausing, he resumes and says, "I don't mind company," as if to reassure her.
Asuka doesn't know why she blurts, "We could share the rod." Then she thinks that maybe she crossed a line somewhere and rectifies, "Or I could just watch. I don't think it's my calling anyway. You're right: I've never been fishing before."
Contemplatively, he nods. "Y'know, yeah. Yeah, we could share. You need to know how it feels to catch, at least, one fish in your life." Judai also adds offhandedly, "Saves money too. Rods cost so much these days."
Newspaper neatly discarded, she momentarily approaches her shelf to grab a book she'd been wanting to finish. Slipping on her shoes, Asuka joins him by the door of her apartment with the book tucked under her arm. She hums a response absently.
He sees her book and complains, "Asuka! Reading while we go fishing? Do you think fishing is boring?" After presenting the loaded question, Judai opens her door while he is looking personally offended at her book.
Stifling laughter, she says with a poorly-concealed smile as she steps out after him and locks her door, "No. I just didn't know how long we'd be there, so I brought a book in case it takes you a while to reel in fish." Asuka is never too far away from a book. He should know.
He grunts. She smiles.
They walk together.
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When they finally reach his fishing spot, they are both in the park at a lake. The spot is deep inside past a few trees, reminding her a bit about the times she found him fishing back at Duel Academia, though she noticed he had preferred the cliffsides more. There's no one else here at the lake, so it seems like a private setting. Befitting for him since she noticed he often fished by himself.
"I've been to this park before, but never this area," comments Asuka, sitting herself under the shadows of a tree and resting her back against the trunk and relishing the coolness of the wind against her face. "It's pretty."
Judai seats himself at the edge of the lake a couple feet away, rod brandished. "That so?" He checks and fixes the hook before he swings the rod and flings the line into the water, and he sits there waiting. "Well, it makes sense. You said fishing wasn't your calling." He rolls his eyes, as if highly insulted.
"Is fishing really that fun?" she dryly asks, talking to him and opening her book to a dog-eared page. She begins to read because college made her capable of reading and talking simultaneously, turning her into something of a multitasker. "You cast a line and then you just sit."
"Ah, ah," he wags a finger at her, not even looking away from his hook. "That's what most people say, but clearly they haven't gone fishing before. It's pretty fun." Judai sits, legs criss-crossed, and she thinks he's acting like an insulted fish fanatic. (Which, he is.)
Psh, she laughs inwardly at his ad hominem. "Okay, please enlighten me then." Turning a page, Asuka listens with attentive ears.
"I don't know how to describe it," muses Judai, sounding conflicted. "It's really satisfying, to see yourself waiting and letting your efforts pay off by catching a fish. I don't really care how big the fish is, as long as I caught one. Sometimes I catch a pretty big one and it gives me a challenge to reel in, but it makes it even more worthwhile!"
Thinking that it's really nice to hear him disclose something personal to her because he never does, Asuka asks, "Did you always like fishing?"
He answers lightly, "Well, not always. I got impatient at first and I mainly fished so that we could have some food for the Osiris dorms." Asuka thinks that's rather admirable of him, so selfless and entirely in Judai's character to do so. That, or maybe he just likes eating fish. She can never know with him. "Then I guess I started doing it as a hobby during our last year because I found it relaxing. Gave me time to think about stuff while waiting for a bite," he says while offering a one-shoulder shrug.
She remembers how hectic third year was and she doesn't blame him. Though, Asuka did notice that he always looked rather sad whenever she found him fishing by himself. Many things plagued his mind then; it made her feel sad too, for him. Life seems to be unfair to him all the time, she pitifully thinks for a moment. But the past is in the past, and the present is now—and she's glad to see that he currently considers fishing more than just a coping mechanism. He's having fun and that's good.
"I see…" she sympathetically tells him. "No wonder you're so overprotective now, about fishing."
"It's my child," jokes Judai, laughingly. The sentence makes her laugh. His child? She can hardly envision him as a father with the way he is right now. She is almost breathless from stifling her laughter. What sort of father would he even be? "Don't make fun of my child, Asuka. I'll never catch anything if you mock it and make the fish sad."
Then she breaks down, some lighthearted giggles erupting from her lips. Giggles! Not even Fubuki gets giggles from her anymore. No-Nonsense-Asuka giggling! Her students would have a field day, all because of one Yuki Judai.
A little startled from the abrupt noise, Judai cautiously spares her a glance over his shoulder with an odd expression. "Are you okay...?" he asks slowly, more amused than actually concerned. He looks like he is going to laugh too, but he doesn't. Her laughter must be infectious right now. He must be so confused because, like everyone else, he has not really seen her giggle either. He lived long enough to be the only one to see the tale; a tale of Tenjoin Asuka giggling. It's like seeing a new side of her, probably.
She doesn't know why she laughs, but maybe she just wanted to because his jokes are just that bad and funny (and yes, she is aware of the oxymoron)—that she should laugh because she thinks he's funny. That she should laugh because she really can't imagine him as a father, looking so grown up and offering parental wisdom to a child.
She covers her face with her book, shoulders quaking from her ineloquent giggling fit and Asuka is certain that her face is glowing pink. Her stomach is burning from the adrenaline. Somehow, it's refreshing. She has never laughed so freely before. People keep saying she's too 'stiff.' What is she? A robot?
"Oh geez, I think I broke you," mourns Judai, shaking his head with mock tragic-shame. "What am I supposed to tell Fubuki-san?"
Breathless, Asuka smiles with a hurting jaw. Yeah, he's definitely not father material. "I-I'm fine!" Hugging her book to her chest, she tries to soothe her breaths and feels her heartbeat calming. If her brother saw her giggling over something Judai said, she thinks Fubuki would have a field day too. "Not a word to Nii-san," she warns, trying to be serious again despite still being a little breathless.
"Yes, ma'am," he indulgently snickers.
He suddenly starts reeling when his hook bops up and down. There is a tiny fish at the end, and Judai lets it go when he brings the line over to himself. Asuka watches him cast his line again.
There is silence once more.
She absently goes back to her book, knowing that she hasn't been reading due to her laughing fit. She still can't quite see what's the point of it if he lets the fish go after catching them, but she also thinks maybe there is a reason for it.
"I think there may be another lake in a forest nearby. It's not owned by the park, so you could take some fish back with you if you catch them," she speaks up after reading one more page.
Casually, he says, "It's alright. I don't mind releasing them." He catches another fish, and she watches him let it go again. He casts the line again, sitting up and straightening his back and letting the wind blow at his hair.
Asuka hums, somewhat questioningly.
"Sometimes, it's not about how much fish I can catch," Judai tells her, hearing her unspoken question. He idly looks at the lake. "It's more about if I can catch a fish at all. I think it's cool to see what kinds of fish I can catch. I don't have to keep them if I can remember them." Belatedly, he inserts, "Besides, if I kept all of the fish I caught, I'd have to turn your apartment into an aquarium."
"All right, I see your point," concedes Asuka with a soft smile, not wanting so much live fish in her home. She doesn't even own one fish tank anyway. Maybe she can at least cook some fish for him instead.
She wants to ask, Is this fun for you? To fish and talk with her. To fish and joke around with her. To fish and tell her things he probably doesn't tell others. Is it fun with her? Is she too boring?
"I can feel your stare," he lazily points out, still looking at his line. She bristles, a bit surprised. He hums, "You sure you don't want to try out fishing?" It's an oddly tantalizing offer.
Pressing her book to a close, Asuka disappointedly notes how she only read four pages throughout their time here. She half-heartedly blames him while blaming the other half on herself. "Fine," agrees Asuka, because she knows she won't get any reading done anymore. "What should I do first?"
Judai reclaims his hook before gesturing her to come, and he extends his rod out to her with a reassuring grin. "Well first, you take this and sit down," he explains, taking on some sort of sage-like tone. To humor him, she smiles and quietly does as he says, sitting down next to him and folding her legs in a refined manner than his criss-crossing. "Now take this—" He gently places the rod on her palms. "—and hold it firmly."
The rod feels weird in her hands; it's her first time holding one. Asuka warily eyes it as she hesitantly positions her hands on the handle.
"Put a hand over the reel," he whispers to her, even though it's just the two of them here. Asuka raises an eyebrow and looks at him blankly. "What? You seem really concentrated." His voice is back to a regular pitch, and he looks like he did nothing wrong. Still, she complies and sets a hand on the reel. "That grip doesn't look confident at all."
"Are you mocking me or trying to help me?" Asuka dryly quips, scrunching her face at his teasing nitpicking.
Judai smiles broadly, lifting up his hands defensively. "Both."
She lightly hits his palms with the back of her hand, and he laughs. Huffing, she properly reclaims position on the rod and studies the line and hook that currently hangs in the air. "Am I supposed to throw it out now?" Then she thinks to herself, No duh, because she had watched him do so a bit earlier.
He nods, amusedly expectant and attentive.
Asuka takes a breath and swings. The hook lands a decent distance away with a plop and there are ripples in the water. Her shoulders relax and her face is looser, relieved. So far so good.
Next to her, Judai claps approvingly in a supportive manner.
"Quit it," she hisses, embarrassed. He smiles, cheeky.
All right, this should be the part where she sits and waits. She isn't sure what to feel about it, so she simply grips onto the rod as he had earlier instructed her and sits there, legs and bottom pressed against grass and she idly looks at the blueness of the water.
Peaceful silence.
Vaguely, she wonders if he does this often: just go fishing whenever he visits everyone.
Does he fish with the others too? What sorts of fish did he catch? What sort of places did he go to for fishing? How much did he usually catch?
These are all trivial things that really should not matter at all, but she thinks of them anyway because she'd like to get to know him more. All she really knows is that Judai loves to duel. That and well, he can talk with duel spirits and he's busy being a vagabond these days and he likes fried shrimp and he crashes a lot at her place. Oh, and he likes fishing. He smiles a lot too. She thinks it's inspiring when he smiles, because he always tries to motivate everyone—give them some sort of small courage in little ways and she likes that.
"Asuka?"
She wonders what it would be like to wander the world without much care. Asuka could never do that because she worries too much about things: important things like jobs, money, food, having a roof over her head. It's an anomaly how Judai gets by.
"Asuka!"
Maybe she had blossomed in a way: she had finally discovered what she wanted to pursue for the future and she loves it. She loves all of her kids that she's in charge of guiding. But in another way, she feels chained. She can never be as free as Judai—
Suddenly, Asuka feels her arms being jerked back and her thoughts are now jaggedy and rather jumbled, skewed and receding. There is warmness on her hands, clinging tightly. She blinks her thoughts away and starts looking again.
"Asuka, reel it in!" she hears Judai shout near her ears, his hands on top of hers so he can help her pull the rod in midst of her self-murmurings. Almost dizzily, she tightens her grip on the rod and begins to rotate the reel, appreciating that he's still helping her hold down the rod. "Pull really hard when I count to three!"
"O-Okay!" she shakily replies, still confused that a fish actually got caught on the hook. Had she really been that distracted?
"One!" he counts behind her. (Behind? she belatedly notices.) "Two!" His grip atop her hands tighten. She reels harder. "Three!"
They pull together, and Asuka closes her eyes in some sort of self-defensive reflex. Something large and wet slams against her stomach, covering her pants and blouse with water, and she falls backward and lands and grunts simultaneously with Judai.
Wait. Simultaneously?
With valor, she opens one eye and then opens her other eye once she is wondering why she is looking up at the sky and she is on her back. Breathing heavily from the tussle with the unknown fish, she blinks at the blueness of the sky to catch her breath before looking at the rod in her hands and noticing the other pair of hands still encircled around hers. Tan. They're tan. Her hands are not tan and there isn't anybody else here with them, so—
Asuka immediately sits up, and the fish wriggling on her stomach falls to her lap and stains her pants even more with water and whatever else fish is normally covered in. Instead of thinking about all the laundry she has to do now, she turns around by the waist. Concerned, she asks, "Are you okay, Judai?" The fish is wriggling more.
He is flat on his back, and she belatedly realizes that she fell on him. A little pained, he reassuringly beams up at her. Releasing her hands, he gives a thumbs up. "I think so. You're light but the fish isn't, Asuka."
His comment about how light she is makes her look down, back at the fish on her lap—and then her face is guilty as she tumbles off him. "I'm sorry…" she awkwardly says to him, opting to look at the many stains of water on her pants.
The fish rolls off and lands inelegantly on the grass next to her. Asuka gently places his fishing rod on the ground, unable to hold onto it any longer.
Judai sits up, rolling his shoulders to probably ease the pain he felt when she slammed into him. Maybe he had lied about her being light so she won't feel guilty. (She still does.) "It's okay." Smiling openly, he eyes the fish instead. "I'd say it was worth it. Your first catch and you already caught a big one! That's the biggest trout I've ever seen in a local park." Impressed, he scoots next to her and pokes the trout's tail.
"Yeah…" Still admittedly dazed from everything that just happened, Asuka quietly grimaces at the stains on her clothes. "I need to clean up."
"I don't know who got it worse. You with all those stains or me with my back pain," jests Judai to lighten the mood, proceeding to look at the stains on her.
Grimacing more, she sighs and sinks her shoulders. "Both of us. Now let's put this trout back and go home so I can clean up." It's particularly damp on her stomach because the fish landed there first. Gross.
"Home?" he utters under his breath very softly. His expression slackens for a moment, looking a little thoughtful and serious and then soft in the eyes. For him to look like that, she wonders if she said something wrong.
"Are you okay?" she asks, not really meaning his back pain but something else unidentifiable.
He shakes his head and grins. "Yeah!" he answers, a little distractedly. He looks at the trout again before he comments, "Just thinking about how unfair it is that your first catch is way bigger than all the other fish I caught."
Harmlessly, she teases, "I thought it didn't matter what size you caught?"
"It's the principle of the matter!" Judai proclaims to her, finger in the air.
"Which is?" Asuka raises an eyebrow, hands dusting at the stains on her blouse absently.
He pauses. She thinks she may have stumped him. "I'll get back to you on that whenever I think of an answer!" he boldly declares, as if it was a smart answer he just gave her. She lightly scoffs, harmlessly. Knowing he'll end up forgetting to remind her about it, she nods for the sake of his indulgence.
They sit in silence again as she attempts to roll the trout back into the water, grimacing at the feel of fish scales against her hands. It leaps into the lake immediately once she gets it to the edge and it splashes Asuka in the face by hitting the water with its tail, dampening her hair and pants and the rest of her blouse. Now she's one-hundred percent drenched.
Next to her, Judai is trying to stifle his laughter into a fist, but she is not blind and she can totally see his shoulders shaking. She calmly looks at him, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. What's the point of trying to stifle his laughter if he's directly next to her anyway? Honestly…
"Are you done?" she asks flatly, enduring a minute of watching him fight back his amusement.
He chortles happily, "Nope!"
Serenely, Asuka puts her hands into the lake to rinse off the feel of fish against her palms before she cups her hands and throws some water into his face. He splutters and shakes his hair dry like a dog. Already drenched herself, she merely shields her eyes from the droplets flying at her.
"Now you are." Deeming it's time to head back, she begins to stand up and walk back to the tree she had previously sat at to retrieve her book and is eternally grateful that no water splashed on it. Books aren't cheap. "I'm heading back," she calls over her shoulder, giving another grimace at her stains.
"Wait up!"
He probably surrendered because she can hear footsteps catching up, and he is there next to her with his rod over his shoulder and one hand tucked in his pockets. She can make out water stains on his shirt and blazer from when she splashed him and an occasional water droplet dripping from his bangs. Still, he looks absolutely chipper like he had just gotten out of a relaxing swim.
"So how was it? Your first fishing experience?" he asks her with twinkling eyes that screams of mischief to her.
Making sure her book is dry, Asuka inhales a long breath. "I—" she declares strongly, still very drenched and trying to squeeze her hair dry with one hand. "—will never fish again."
"You're just mad that it splashed you," Judai rolls his eyes, thumping a finger against the handle of his rod. "If you had paid attention when it attached to the hook, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad." His eyes curiously look at her. "What were you thinking about back there anyway? I called you so many times."
Her heart stops a bit. "Just… things," she weakly says. Yeah, she's never fishing again.
"Things?" he echoes with heavy enunciation, slightly amused. He raises an eyebrow at her sophisticated wording.
Clearing her throat, she bravely wanted to say something about how she had been thinking about him and about how he spends his time but what she actually says is, "I was thinking about how fishing is definitely not my calling, after all."
He blinks. "Says the one who caught a giant trout for her first time?"
"I was just lucky. Beginner's luck, you know."
"Give me your luck then," he pleads, rolling his eyes. "I think your laughing earlier scared all of my fish away!"
She simpers. "Sorry," she says, really meaning it despite the lazy smile. If she could transfer him that catch, she would. She had been fully expectant of a tiny fish, maybe a tiny goldfish-sized critter, on that hook.
He grumbles incoherently, sulky.
A little exasperated but more fondly, it's her turn to roll her eyes at him. "You can fish again another time, and you'll keep catching more fish. Next time, it'll be a big one," says Asuka patiently with a matter-of-factly tone.
"Hm," hums Judai, playing along. "I better."
"You will," she says with certainty.
Because it's true.