A/N: The last few chapters were pretty long, and they were a lot less comedic. So how about a simple fluff piece?
Fun Fact: Yuri is terrible at typing. He types on a keyboard with one finger at a time.
Chapter Summary: Yuto and Ruri's dates are continually interrupted by Shun.
Heartland City
Their time in the Xyz Dimension was almost up. In a few days, the Yu boys and bracelet girls would return home. Yuto and Ruri had no intention of wasting their time here.
The duo stood in line in front of an ice cream truck. While the rest of the line was in a single file, Yuto and Ruri held hands and stuck to each other's side. It was sweet enough that some of the people in line left, because they were already getting diabetes.
They soon reached the front of the line. Yuto payed for their cones: a chocolate-vanilla swirl for him, and strawberry-vanilla for Ruri. And with their ice cream, the two of them would leave to sit on a nearby bench.
The two sat together, Ruri leaning on Yuto's shoulder. They looked out at the truck across from them, watching as excited children swarmed on the ice cream woman like a pack of ravenous wolves. For them, it was a nostalgic vision of what Heartland was like in the past.
"I missed hanging out like this," Ruri said to her boyfriend.
"Now we can get back to our dates," Yuto said. "Even if we leave Heartland, we can still enjoy ice cream together..."
"Go to the movies..."
"Buy some books..."
"Make out behind a-"
"Please, Ruri."
Yuto turned to look down at Ruri. But to his surprise, she wasn't egao-ing. Ruri had stopped eating, and seemed to be sweating bullets.
"Yuto..." she whispered. "I feel like we're being watched."
Yuto frowned. "Where? Do you think it's Academia?"
"No, it's-"
It was Shun, and Yuto knew it. Because he just spotted the boy, standing on top of the ice cream truck and staring down at them.
Shun jumped off the roof, rising several feet before landing on his feet about a foot away. The second he landed on the ground, he ran straight towards the duo.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Shun asked. "I figured I wouldn't be, since I know you two aren't going out on a date, or anything."
"O-of course not!" Ruri said, chuckling nervously.
"We were wondering where you were," Yuto lied. "It's good so see you?"
"Then you won't mind me joining you two, would you?"
"Not at all, Shun..." Yuto lied again.
Shun egao'd. "Good. I have nothing planned; we can spend the entire day together!"
Shun muscled himself right between Yuto and Ruri. He put his hands on both of their shoulders and brought them closer to him.
-ddd
Heartland Academy, Diamond Branch
Yesterday was a wash, but that didn't mean they couldn't try to enjoy the next day together. The duo had met up at the steps leading to Heartland Academy's Diamond Branch. The school itself was rubble, but the steps were always geat for hanging out with your friends.
Yuto took a seat near the top steps. Ruri stood a few steps below him, choosing to lean on a railing instead.
"So, I met Takashi Todoroki today," Yuto said to her.
"Really?" Ruri said. "How's he doing?"
"Not so good. He lost his hair antenna in the war.
"Oh, no. Is he alright?"
"He's surviving, I think. But you just know how hard it's going to be to get over something like that."
"Yeah, it's almost as hard as being kidnapped," Ruri said sarcastically.
"Wait."
"What?"
Yuto turned around and slowly crawled up a few steps. His head peeked over the top of the staircase, and his eyes darted around the rubble. And for a few moments, he sat in silence as he investigated the area.
Ruri stayed quiet for a bit. She just watched Yuto's body and waited for him to say something. If she hadn't been enjoying the view, she would have been more tense with the sudden quietness.
Yuto finally spoke, "Shun's coming."
Ruri snapped back to attention. "Wait, what?"
"I heard his shoes walking. He's close."
"Are you sure?"
"Do you want to take the chance?"
"No," Ruri said immediately. "Oh God, we gotta run."
The Graveyard
It was a strange place to meet up; among the graves of their fallen townsfolk. But it was a place of peace and solitude. Where Yuto and Ruri could spend time together.
Yuto and Ruri stood before two familiar grave markers. Today, Yuto brought Ruri to visit two special people in his life.
"Hi, Mrs. and Mr. Tsukumo," Ruri said to the graves. "Do you remember me?"
"You know, my parents really liked you," Yuto told her.
"Really? And your sister?"
"She liked you, too."
"And your grandma?"
"... My parents really liked you."
Yuto took Ruri's hands into his. The two turned to face each other, taking in the other's comforting presence.
"My family liked you, for the most part," Yuto told her. "Why wouldn't they? You're sweet, thoughtful, kind, have a great sense of humor. They liked having you around."
"Yuto," Ruri said softly. "I... wait."
Ruri turned her head to look beyond Yuto. After a moment of watching something, her eyes started to bulge.
Curious, Yuto turned around to try and see what she had seen. And to his horror, he could see something on the horizon: flying through the sky on the back of a bird-like monster was Shun. He was heading right for them.
"How did he find us?!" Ruri gasped.
"I don't know," Yuto said. "Quick, we need to run! Before notices and talks to us!"
The Circus Tent
Plan C: If they wanted to be alone, they would be alone in a crowd of people.
The two decided to continue their date at Dennis Macfield's circus tent. Classes were cancelled for the day; instead, Dennis, Yusho and their students would be performing Entertainment Duels for people of Heartland.
Yuto and Ruri were able to get middle-row seats, giving them a good view of the field. They had just enjoyed a duel between two students, which ended in a re-enactment of the 1999 foreign film, Eyes of the Werewolf. Now, they had a minute of peace before the next duel.
"Sorry we couldn't find a good place to be alone," Ruri said.
"It's fine," Yuto replied. "We're still spending time together, and no one's getting in the way. I think that's good enough, right?"
Ruri nodded. "At the risk of jinxing ourselves, I think we're in the clear now."
After a moment, Yusho walked onto the field, using his cane to help him. He waved to the crowd to grab their attention.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the man announced. "Are you ready for the next act?"
The audience burst into applause. Ruri threw her hands in the air and let out an excited scream.
Yusho threw his walking stick into the air. A long blue cloth poured from the bottom of the staff, which fell on Yusho and covered him. The staff fell back down and landed on the cloth. Surprisingly, the entire cloth fell to the ground without resistance, like there was nothing underneath.
The cloth startd to rise up. It took the shape of a much shorter, smaller human's body. And once that person stood up, the cloth fell down to reveal a young boy.
"Are you ready?" the boy called out. "It's time to duel!"
The audience cheered wildly. The boy egao'd and bowed to the crowd. He activated his Duel Disk and pulled out five cards from his Deck.
"I summon Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius!"
The boy placed his card on the blade. Materializing on the field was a large, metallic bird, which let out a piercing cry upon being summoned.
"When this card is summoned, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or Lower Raidraptor from my hand! I summon another Vanishing Lanius!"
The boy threw another card down on his blade. This time, materializing on the field was a man in a bird-like costume. Standing there with arms crossed was Shun Kurosaki.
Yuto and Ruri made their own disappearing act.
Heartland Tower
They had only barely managed to run out of the circus without being seen. And they continued to run throughout the city, until they finally reached Heartland Tower.
They were left panting, pressing their backs against Sayaka's room door. Ruri's hair, having fallen over her face, had become sweaty and frayed. Yuto's hair, however, remained immaculate.
"How did he find us?!" Ruri whined.
"I... I don't know...!" Yuto panted. "Does... Does he have a tracker on us?"
"I don't think so," Ruri replied. "Wait. Unless he's using Reiji to track us?"
Yuto let out a long, annoyed groan.
The duo pulled themselves away from the door. Ruri pulled a key from her skirt pocket, then slid it into the lock above the doorknob.
"We can't escape him, can we?" Ruri said sadly.
"Look, he's probably still chasing us, or at the school," Yuto offered. "Even if he's tracked us, We have at least a few minutes before he could even reach us."
"We can enjoy a little bit of time, then."
"It's better than nothing."
Ruri turned the key in the lock. After hearing the soft click of the lock, she turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.
To their absolute horror, Shun was staring back at them. His face seemed neutral, but his eyes burned with a fire that threatened to consume the entire world.
"Hello, guys," he said to them. His was of speaking was disturbingly calm, despite the clear fury in his eyes.
"H-hey, Shun," Ruri said nervously. "How'd you get in?"
Yuto didn't say anything. He was too busy picking his jaw up from the floor.
"I've been looking for you," Shun told them. "Let's hang out, just the three of us."
"O... okay. That would be... nice..."
Shun egao'd. "Don't worry, guys. I'll always be there for both of you. I'll never leave you two alone again... Ruri, why are you crying?"
"Tears of joy," Ruri lied. "Tears of joy."
A/N: And so, Rank draws to a close. And I'll be taking another hiatus to relax and charge my batteries. But I'll be doing a few small bonus chapters during the hiatus. I already have one planned out, but I'm up for suggestions for the others. I'll pick any suggestions that I get inspiration for. If your ideas don't get picked, don't worry; it's probably because I couldn't think of the best ways to bring out the ideas. It doesn't mean that your ideas are bad or anything.