Yumi's life continues to be stressful. Maybe there's hope for some progress, though.
Over the next few weeks, the paparazzi slowly began to die down. Thanks to Rio's chauffeuring, they had far less opportunities to stalk her around town, meaning no chance to ambush Yumi with more questions. They seemed to have almost given up trying to get their scoop on what this particular middle school child was up to, only a few here and there still trying to bother her or the school for information.
That was one problem taken care of. Unfortunately, she still had many more problems to contend with at this point. It was now the start of February and Sakuya still hadn't spoken to her. Despite her best efforts to keep this hidden from the others, it was quickly becoming an issue for everyone. After all, breaking contact with Yumi inevitably meant breaking contact with all her friends.
Yumi never knew what to say to people when they asked about it. She didn't want to lie and try to make up a reason just to cover for Sakuya. Even if she did, she had no idea what she could say and still hadn't come up with a good idea for why this was happening after thinking about it for so long.
Regardless of the reason, she just wanted this to be over with. Whatever it was that she'd done to make Sakuya so upset, she'd apologize for it in a heartbeat if she just knew how. How was she supposed to do that if she never told her what to apologize for, though? It wasn't fair. She just wanted to fix this and let things go back to normal.
"Hey!" Kaguya screamed, pounding her fist on the table across from Yumi. "I said I attacked!"
"Oh, sorry," Yumi said, forcing herself back to reality. When lunch started, Kaguya had randomly decided she wanted a duel. Maybe she was feeling confident today after (according to her) playing a Duel Monsters video game for two days straight in order to 100% it before school today.
For what it was worth, her skills did seem to have improved some. Five monsters on the field was a pretty good accomplishment. Unfortunately for her, however, she was still an amateur at heart. "Trap activate," Yumi said, turning over the set card in front of her. "Mirror Force destroys your monsters."
Letting out a shrill screech that drew several sets of eyes in the group's direction, Kaguya fell out of her chair into a pile on the floor. "It's over," she mumbled, surrendering.
"You did good," Yumi told her. "You're getting stronger."
"Don't patronize me," Kaguya whined. "You weren't even paying attention."
"It was that obvious?" Yumi asked, scratching the back of her head and feeling kind of rude.
"You're pretty distracted lately," Ami said beside her. "We're all getting worried. Are you sure you don't want to talk about anything?"
Yumi shook her head. "I don't want to bother anyone. Everything will be okay eventually, so it's fine."
"It's not bothering anyone," Ami argued. "We can listen. Just like how you'd let us talk if we were having problems."
"That's different," Yumi said, collecting her cards.
"What, you're better than everyone now?" Kaguya interjected to everyone's surprise, including her own to a degree. "You think you can handle it all by yourself because you're a big shot pro duelist? Everyone's got problems." They all fell silent for a moment before she added a sheepish, "Or something," to the end.
"Yeah, she's right," Ami said, stifling a small laugh. "You don't have to endure it alone, Yumi. We want to help."
She sighed, nodding. "I know. Thanks. I'm just not...able to talk about stuff right now. I don't even know how. So I know I'm causing everyone problems, but please don't worry about me. I'll figure things out soon."
"We're here when you're ready," Ami said, rubbing Yumi's shoulder.
Yumi nodded again, then looked around. "Did Suzy go somewhere?"
"You didn't even notice?" Kaguya scoffed, face nearly pressed against the screen of her handheld console.
"Some people from the journalism club wanted to do a story on her," Ami said. "They came during your duel."
"Oh," Yumi replied, now feeling guilty she hadn't so much as glanced in that direction while it happened as she contemplated her own sorrows for the tenth time that day. "What kind of story are they doing?"
"They said it was something about her being Jewish," Ami explained.
"Oh, I guess it's like the one they did on me." During their first semester, the journalism club had also approached Yumi with a similar proposition. With her, it had been about her being half Mexican. She didn't completely understand why that was going to be a good story (it's not like she was the only mixed kid in school) but had decided to go along with it regardless. In truth, she still somewhat regretted it, their questions being kind of stereotypical and probing in a way she didn't enjoy.
Hopefully they weren't bothering Suzy in that way. Now she was kicking herself for not noticing all over again, thinking she might have spared Suzy a boatload of microaggressions if she had just said something when they first showed up.
Suzy did have at least one advantage over her, however, in that she was actually familiar with her culture. Though she rarely let herself think about it and even more rarely mentioned it to someone else, the fact she was so distant from her mother's heritage and her side of the family always made her sad. Her grandmother tried her best to show her the things her mother had left behind before the trip, but it only amounted to so much. It was the same with her abuela and abuelo, too, their shaky Japanese and her two to three sentences worth of Spanish making it difficult to communicate in depth most of the time.
"Are you okay?" Ami asked her once again.
"Yeah, why?" Yumi asked, realizing moments later that she'd started to sway back and forth in her chair at some point during all her considering. Forcing herself to a stop by holding the sides of her desk. "Yeah, I guess I just had some energy I needed to work out. I think I'm kind of excited about starting training again."
"That's right, that is today," Ami nodded. "I'm happy for you. It's definitely been paying off."
As soon as she said this, Rio appeared from elsewhere in the classroom. She seemed to be about to leave with a couple other girls, turning back at the last second to approach Yumi's group. "Oh, Yumi," she called to her, tossing a flash drive towards her. "Your trainer gave me this before school. It's duel data you're going to need today."
"Thanks," Yumi replied, catching the drive and stashing it in her shirt pocket. They gave each other a small wave as Rio left the room.
"So you're friends with the rich girl now?" Kaguya muttered, eyes still glued to her screen.
"I guess so," Yumi replied.
"Things must have really changed since Tokyo," Ami observed.
She just shrugged. "You could say that." It was still kind of a lot to think about even for her, though she couldn't deny they'd gotten a bit more familiar than before. Going to and from school together must have counted for more than she expected.
Still, it wasn't like they just sat in silence the whole time, so it shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise. Though their interests and experiences didn't overlap in many areas, they were more than able to hold conversations about Duel Monsters without issue. Talking strategy and thinking about new limitations and upcoming cards had actually become one of the better aspects of Yumi's days lately.
School continued to trudge along after that, class finally dismissing for the day after what felt like a year and a half of waiting. Yumi had considered ditching training that day to watch Ami and Suzy at their club practice, though they both quickly put a stop to that line of thinking. It was important, they said. She couldn't just stop going after all the hard work she'd put into preparing for the last tournament. Besides, she just said she was excited, right?
Ironically, it was Ami who'd be ditching not long after that. The pendant around her neck had started to glow and whenever that happened, it meant there was some kind of cosplay emergency to attend to. They all still wondered how she'd gotten something like that.
Leaving school, Yumi decided to take her chances and walk to the building on her own rather than bum yet another ride. As convenient as a car was, she had to admit she'd missed moving around Chiba on foot. It was almost therapeutic in a strange way, the noise of the city and the purpose with which she walked putting all the thoughts that bothered her into some back compartment of her brain. At least for now, she could just focus on going from one place to another and nothing else.
It was a fleeting joy, though. It didn't take her long to make it to where she was going, training starting up without delay just as always. "Battle!" Yumi shouted, pointing towards the dueling machine. "Telos, destroy Wynn the Wind Spirit Channeler! And after that, I detach an Overlay Unit to activate her effect and win!"
Just as she said, the combination of battle and effect damage made swift work of the AI opponent, a fact that came as no surprise to anyone in the room. At this point, none of the programmed decks the dueling machines had on hand could match up with Yumi's skill level. Outside of facing multiple opponents at once, they were stuck beating on what was available until the technicians could research something more useful.
"Excellent, just as expected!" Miss Fukukado praised. "The adjustments to your deck have been working quite well!"
If nothing else, she could still duel properly. Punching below her weight class wasn't all that fulfilling, but it was still good to practice up on a variety of opponents. Helped in finding flaws in her new strategy before she really had to stress test it, too.
"I think I might want to use that other card," Yumi said, taking her deck out of the duel disk and sorting it for more adjustments. "It would probably make gathering materials easier, but I don't know what to take out for it."
"That may be true!" her trainer replied. "Still, you may want to be cautious about focusing so much around that new monster! There's only one of it, so once it's gone, that's the end of that strategy!"
Obviously, they were talking about Telos now. Ever since the tournament, Yumi's opinion on the card had shifted once again. Her duels with Rio and Ren had given her a glimpse at the kind of power this card held while also forcing her to realize she'd been holding herself back from it all this time.
It was true she didn't fully understand what this card really was or what its true potential would be, but she was finally coming to accept it as her own. For whatever reason, she had it and all evidence indicated it wanted to be used. Instead of avoiding it, embracing it and learning more about it would likely provide much better results.
If only someone else could take that attitude these days. Hell, if only she could take that attitude and apply it to other areas of her life. Thoughts for another time, though. At the moment, something else was starting to bother her, forcing her to ask a question she strangely hadn't up to this point.
"Do you think it's okay for me to use this card?" Yumi said bluntly. "I've always sort of wondered about that."
"Is there a problem with your card?" Miss Fukukado asked, not understanding her meaning.
"No, it's fine," Yumi replied. "But...I don't think anyone else has it. I'm not even sure where it's from. Can I really use something like that? It seems unfair."
Miss Fukukado nodded, mostly to acknowledge what she'd said. "As of this point in time," she explained, "a card is recognized as legal for official play so long as the duel disk system can recognize it! Your Telos appears when you summon it, so it must be legal!"
Yumi already knew this, though. "But that doesn't make it fair, does it? If I'm the only one who can play this card, doesn't that give me an advantage over everyone else?"
She took a bit longer to respond to this, apparently needing to think it over. "Well, there are several unique cards currently in play within Duel Monsters! But I do see what you mean when you say it could be unfair!"
"Right," Yumi said. "I don't really know what to do from there, though." In truth, she didn't want to stop using Telos. As she'd just got done thinking about, holding herself back from this card that seemingly would force its way into her deck wasn't something she could stop even if she wanted to. That still didn't make her feel better about its exclusivity.
"Could we maybe find a way to make more of Telos?" Yumi asked. "Release it in a new pack or something?"
"I suppose that may be possible!" Miss Fukukado told her. "If you're certain you want this, I can set things in motion to recreate both Telos and the Conatus card using your previous duel data! However, as your trainer, I should warn you that you would be giving up a tactical advantage over your opponents by doing this!"
"That's okay," Yumi said. "If the only reason I can win is because I'm the only one who has a certain card, I don't think I deserve to win at all."
"I see!" she replied. Her persona dropped for a moment as she added, "Then, outside of being your trainer, I think that's a very noble sentiment, Yumi." A second later, she was back to normal. "I'll take care of that after our session! Until then, we should continue training and improving your deck!"
Addressing that issue actually did lift a significant burden off Yumi's mind she hadn't even realized she was carrying. While she couldn't be sure anyone besides her would even use her monsters (their effects were pretty heavily geared towards her play style and nothing else, after all), knowing that they were available to others helped her feel much better about using them. Maybe that was one of the barriers that kept her from playing the cards before, too.
On another level, she couldn't deny that it was exciting to know she'd left a permanent mark on Duel Monsters history. Because of her, there were now two new cards about to be put into circulation. Her cards were about to be put into circulation. Everyone dreamed of doing something like this at least once during childhood, but to actually have it happen was something else entirely. How would people react? Would they think they're interesting? Overpowered? Useless? Only people in the Kanto region of Japan had any awareness of them right now, so how would they go down internationally?
She was actually getting excited again, a feeling that pushed her forward through the rest of that day's training with much greater enthusiasm than she thought she could muster. Before she knew it, she'd lost herself in the game all over again like she used to do. For the first time in a while, she wasn't concerned about her relationships or school or the media or the logistics of the metagame; right now, she could just play over and over again.
Hours had passed without her even noticing. Even after Miss Fukukado had sent her on her way for the day, Yumi was still hungry for another duel. It was getting late, though, so she'd likely have to wait until tomorrow to indulge in that since her friends were all on their ways home at this point.
So preoccupied was she that it took her several steps outside the building before she realized she didn't have her bike with her. It wasn't a big inconvenience given she could just walk back inside and ask for a ride home as usual, but it was still a bit funny to consider. Her brain was so filled with card games now that she couldn't even worry about how to get home before dark.
"Hey," she heard from off to the side, recognizing the voice in an instant. "You're finally out." Whipping around, Yumi threw herself at Kyoko, hugging her as hard as she could. "Didn't think you'd miss me that much after just a couple weeks," she said.
"Everyone's just so busy now," Yumi said, refusing to let go for long enough to get people to stare. "It's like I never actually get to see anyone anymore."
"Yeah, I get what you mean," she agreed, patting Yumi's head. "That's why I came out here. Figured I'd at least give you a ride home if you didn't have anything else to do." What a convenient day for her to do this.
Obviously, Yumi accepted the invitation, the two walking to Kyoko's motorcycle parked a short ways away from the front of the building as they caught up. It wasn't like they'd been out of contact for any length of time given they still texted every day, but enjoying each other's company again inspired them to find anything and everything they possibly could to talk about.
After getting out of the main streets, Kyoko took her time driving down the quiet road leading out of the city. Yumi definitely wasn't complaining about the extra minutes getting to hug a nice lady or the opportunity to continue talking as they made their way towards her house.
They passed the time discussing school, Yumi's training, and Kyoko's new part time job she got the school to agree to (she was delivering newspapers on the weekends, a service and product combination that still existed for some reason). Most of these were things they'd already said over text, but actually holding a conversation with her friend was obviously a different experience. It was a reminder of simpler times that felt so much further away than they actually were.
"And now they're saying they should just have me sit in the classroom and duel everyone who comes in as our thing," Yumi explained.
"Wait, why are they even planning this right now?" Kyoko asked. "Culture festival stuff isn't until November."
"It's weird, right? But someone mentioned it a couple days ago and I just thought about it again now."
"You going to do it?"
Yumi sighed, leaning into Kyoko's back a bit more. "Maybe. I don't really know. It seems kind of cheap to waste our class' whole thing on just me like that."
"Oh, definitely," she agreed. "Someone's for sure trying to get out of doing work on this." She heard Yumi laugh behind her, smiling inside her helmet. "But you're still the best in the whole region, so it would probably be easy enough. Might even be good practice."
"Second best," Yumi corrected. "I lost the last round."
"That was some cheap garbage," Kyoko grunted. "Just got lucky. I bet if you get a rematch, you'll beat him next time."
"Maybe," she said. "It's just...I mean, I lost. It's okay."
"But he tricked you," Kyoko argued. "You told us about all that. That's not a fair duel."
"Not every duel's going to be fair," Yumi said, having learned that lesson several times over the last half a year. That was one of the reasons she couldn't really make herself get angry at the loss even if others did. Underhanded or not, she should have known better by now.
Despite everything, Yumi still believed that Duel Monsters was something that was meant to make people happy and to let them have fun together. Because of that belief, though, she'd been tricked, manipulated, and threatened more times than the average 12 year old. This and experiencing the true rigor of what making it in the professional world entailed had begun to shake these beliefs, but she did her best to still hold on. She didn't want to lose faith in others or the game.
"Whatever," Kyoko relented, the Takano household coming into view a short ways down the road. "Just saying that if you ever meet him again, he might have to duel you with some broken legs."
"That wouldn't be a fair duel, either!" Yumi argued, laughing at her (hopefully not real) threat. "It's not like we'll even see him again for a while. Not until the next Regional Championship, at least."
"Unless he loses the qualifier," she noted. "Cheating won't win him every game." Pulling up the dirt driveway, Kyoko let her bike roll to a stop right in front of the wooden steps leading up to the door. "Looks like we're here."
Yumi hopped off, removing the helmet she'd been given and placing it on the back of the motorcycle. "Thanks for driving me home," she said, hugging Kyoko again as she stood up. "Do you have to go home? You could come in for a little bit if you want."
"Nah, it's probably best if I head back," she said, patting her tiny friend on her head. "Homework's a real pain right now." She grunted, scowling off into the distance. "Middle school was way easier. No one cared what you did back then."
"That sounds nice," Yumi said, the two taking a seat on the steps. "I've got lots of stuff going on now, though. I kind of miss when everything was more easy."
"They work you pretty hard at that place, don't they?" Kyoko observed. "You've got to de-stress if you want to keep up all this training."
She sighed. "Yeah, everyone keeps saying that," Yumi grumbled. "I still can't think of anything I want to do, though. Duel Monsters was always what I liked to do for fun, but now it's like my job, so I don't know what to do if I can't play it like normal."
Kyoko nodded. "Yeah, that's kind of rough. If you were a little older, I might teach you to ride my bike. That always helps me relax."
"How much older?" Yumi asked quickly. "A few minutes? You can wait that long, right?"
She laughed, pulling Yumi's goggles down over her face. "A couple years at least. Don't get ahead of yourself."
Yumi kicked her feet in the air, readjusting her goggles and laying back on the stairs. "That's not fair. I'm mature for my age. That's what those old guys say, at least."
"Which old guys?" Kyoko asked, the air growing colder as murderous intent spilled off of her in nearly-tangible waves. "Show me who they are. I want to talk."
"It was a joke!" Yumi shouted. "No one said that to me! I don't even really know what it means! I just heard it on a TV show, okay?"
"Better be," Kyoko snarled, cracking her knuckles. "No old guys better be bothering you."
"They aren't," Yumi reassured her. "Just my math teacher who likes to send me to the hall."
"Want me to talk to him?" she asked.
"No, it's fine," Yumi replied. "He's just kind of mean."
She grunted, crossing her arms. "Never get to talk to people these days," she lamented. "Better not try that comedy routine on Sakuya, you know. Bet she'd, like, teleport here and go on the attack."
Yumi hesitated to laugh, forcing one out a second too late. This all but confirmed Kyoko's suspicion that something had been going on between the two that no one else was being told about. Nudging Yumi, she finally asked, "Hey, what's going on?"
"What?" Yumi asked, pretending not to understand.
"No one's really said anything before, but we all kind of know something happened with you two. You and Sakuya. So tell me what's up already."
"There's really nothing happening," she said. Technically that wasn't a lie. Nothing was happening between the two of them since Sakuya wasn't speaking to her.
"Seriously, tell me," Kyoko insisted. "Did you have a fight? What?"
Yumi tried to make an excuse. Her lips moved to speak but no sound came out. Eyes darting to the side, her whole body slouched over as the stress she'd managed to push down starting to eat away at her again.
Hands gripping each other on reflex, she swallowed hard. Trying a few times to say something, she finally forced out a shaky, "I don't know."
Rubbing her back, Kyoko leaned in closer. "Yeah?" she asked softly.
"Please don't say anything to the others," Yumi said quickly. "I...I don't want...people to worry."
"Hey, it's okay," Kyoko said. "It's all okay. I won't tell them if you don't want me to. I keep secrets."
Yumi took a deep breath, collecting herself and wiping at the sides of her eyes after noticing a few tears had managed their way out. "Okay," she said quietly. "I really, really don't know," she repeated. "I don't know what happened. I don't know what I did, but now Sakuya won't talk to me."
"At all?" Kyoko asked. "Not just the group chat? She hasn't talked to you at all?"
"Not since she left to go back to school," Yumi said, taking another breath and ringing her hands. "I don't know what I did wrong."
"How do you know you did anything wrong?" she asked. "Maybe it's not your fault."
"It has to be," Yumi said. "I must have done something wrong. She wouldn't do this if I didn't do something wrong."
"I don't buy it," Kyoko told her. "Whatever's going on, I don't think you could have done something so bad she just ghosts you out of nowhere."
"Then why?" Yumi asked, desperate for any kind of answer. "I want to understand. I want it to be okay again."
"I wish I could tell you," Kyoko sighed, pulling Yumi in for a side hug. "But I think the only one who can say is Sakuya, but she's not feeling helpful right now." Patting her on the head, she sighed again. "I really wish I knew."
"So do I," Yumi agreed, wiping her eyes again. "We used to call each other every night last semester. I liked when we did that. It was like...no matter how hard every day got, I could at least look forward to talking to her when I got home."
"And I'm guessing all the training and stuff is hitting a lot worse now without that." She felt Yumi nod against her body. Standing up, Kyoko moved in front of Yumi and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, this really sucks. I'm sorry. I wish I had something more I could say, Yumi. But I want you to know that I really don't think this is your fault." She blotted Yumi's eyes with her jacket sleeve. "This is going to work out somehow. I promise it will."
"Okay," Yumi said. She could only hope that was true. "Sorry, you're probably late now because of all of this."
Kyoko waved her hand in front of her face. "It's fine. I don't mind being kept if it's something important like this. Just kind of wish I went inside with you before since it's cold as hell out here." That managed to get a smile out of Yumi, giving her the confidence to leave her for the time being.
Yumi hugged her once again, letting go to sit back on the steps. "Thanks for letting me talk," she said. Though no solution had been reached, it was nice just being able to vocalize some of her worries. She had to stop holding these things back.
"No problem at all," Kyoko assured her. "And I know we're no substitute, but if you need someone to call at night until Sakuya gets herself sorted, I'm sure any of us would be super happy to talk to you." She paused. "I mean, maybe not Hideo, but everyone else who talks."
Yumi nodded, pulling her hair ties out. "I know," she said, "Thanks."
Kyoko hopped back on her bike, starting the engine and placing her helmet over her head. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright?" Yumi agreed, the two waving to each other. "See you then. Oh, and you look cute with your hair down." Leave on a high note.
While Yumi might have gone home feeling better after their talk, Kyoko only grew more and more angry the longer she drove. Maybe it was just her disposition for being as direct as possible, but this avoidant act Sakuya was putting on pissed her off like nothing else. She couldn't fathom what could have gone so wrong here between those two girls, but she was far too upset and curious to let it drop here.
Once she got home, she took a brief moment to get some juice and talk with her mother before retreating to her bedroom. Whipping out her phone, she moved to Sakuya's icon in her messenger and hit the call button. It was nearly unthinkable for someone in their generation, but these weren't normal circumstances.
It took several rings, but she actually picked up. Several seconds of silence passed before Sakuya finally let out a confused, "What?"
"What's happening with Yumi?" Kyoko asked her, trying to keep the anger out of her voice for the time being.
She grew quiet again. "Stay out of it," she mumbled after another pause.
"I'm not going to," she said defiantly. "You're going to tell me what you think you're doing to her."
Another pause, then the sound of a hard swallow. "It's none of your business what's happening."
"When I'm holding a crying Yumi in my arms, I think it's my business. You're not running away from me." Sakuya grew quiet yet again. From the thud that followed, she clearly dropped her phone. Then there was a dull bang, likely the sound of her hitting her desk as she scrambled to pick it back up. "You better hurry up," Kyoko goaded her. "I'll hop on my bike and ride over to Gunma right now if I have to."
"Just…" She was breathing heavier now. "I...I just don't…"
"Don't what?" she demanded, raising her voice?
"I don't…" She clasped a hand over her mouth on the other end, mumbling something through it. Taking a breath, she managed to get out, "I don't want to hurt her."
"That so? Doing a bad job of that." Flopping onto her bed, Kyoko elbowed a pillow beside her. "So how's that plan going?"
This finally broke what little composure Sakuya managed to have up to this point. Sobbing, she whimpered, "I don't know what to do."
It was at that moment that Kyoko realized she might have gone too far in her approach to getting the truth. All she'd managed to do was bully a kid until she started crying, no closer to actually solving the dispute between her and Yumi. She might have even broken her promise to Yumi about not telling people without even thinking about it depending on whether Sakuya was included in that original wording. "Okay, okay," she said, her tone softening. "Let's just calm down for a minute. Sorry."
She waited for Sakuya to compose herself, considering a different approach after this massive failure. "Are you feeling any better now?" she asked as the sniffling gradually grew quieter on the other end.
"I guess," Sakuya replied, clear disdain in her voice.
"Okay, that's good. Then...let's talk."
"I don't have anything to talk about with you," she said.
Fair enough. "Then...pretend I'm Yumi, or something," she told her. "Say whatever it is you're wanting to say. Tell her what she's done to make you so mad."
"She didn't do anything," Sakuya stammered, shocked at even the suggestion to the contrary. "Yumi hasn't done anything."
Kyoko nodded to herself. "Figured. Then what have you done?" Silence yet again. "Look, you don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, but you do need to talk to someone. This can't go on like this."
She broke her silence with a simple, quiet, "I know."
"I'll listen if you'll talk, okay? I want to help you. I really do." She paused for a moment. "You've got to tell me what happened first, though."
She could hear Sakuya take several deep breaths to collect her thoughts. Another second of silence, then a panicked, "I kissed her," that just about knocked Kyoko out where she sat.
"Wow, uh…" What could you say to that? "I...didn't expect that one." Honestly, she was kind of proud of them, though still confused about what the problem was here. "So what happened? Why did you run away after that?"
"I didn't," she said, shrinking away from the phone. "Not at first."
"Something changed?"
"At first it was fine. It was good, it was…" Sakuya stopped, letting out some sort of squeak as she remembered back to that Christmas night.
"That good, huh?" Kyoko said while cracking a smile on the other end.
"Shut up," she said. "I kept thinking about it," she continued. "I couldn't stop. And then...I just realized that...I can't."
"Can't what?" she asked.
"I can't do it." Sakuya swallowed again, mouth feeling terribly dry. "I can't...be with her. I can't do it."
"I don't see the problem, though," Kyoko said. "What happened?"
"I can't do it. I'll hurt her." Every word she choked out now felt like a shard of broken glass passing over her lips.
"Okay, but you understand that what you're doing now is hurting her already, right?"
"I know," she whimpered, holding back her tears this time. "I just don't know what else to do."
Kyoko grunted, gears turning in her head as she tried to figure out what to say next. "Okay...can you explain why you think you're going to hurt her?"
"I'm not right," she said, seeming to have practiced these words to herself enough times to make them a reflex. "I'm not good enough. I don't deserve her. I can't make her happy."
That was certainly a lot. "I mean, could have fooled me. She absolutely adores you. You've got to know that by now."
"It's not right," Sakuya argued a few decibels below a shout. "I'm not enough. I'll do something wrong again and I'll hurt her. I can't do that to her. I can't. I can't!"
"Just breathe," Kyoko told her, sensing a wave of sobbing panic building in Sakuya's voice. Giving her a moment to calm down again, she finally asked, "So, why haven't you talked to Yumi about any of this?"
"I can't," she repeated. "I don't want to hurt her."
Running a hand through her hair, Kyoko tried to keep herself from getting fed up again. "But you see how that's some circular logic, right? If you avoid the problem, you just make it worse even if you're trying not to. So if you don't talk about this, it's just going to be harder to ever do it the longer you wait."
"Then what do I do?" she finally asked. "I don't know how to say any of this. I don't know how to fix myself. I don't know anything about any of this. Tell me what to do."
She let out a heavy sigh. "I mean...I really don't know where to start with that. All I can really tell you is that you should say something to her. Anything at this point. You don't have to unload on her right now, just say something to her."
After a short pause, she added, "And I think you should try to talk to someone for yourself, too. Like a professional. And I'm not trying to insult you or anything. But this is...the things you're saying here are...I'm worrying about you, okay? I don't know what kind of stuff you've been through, but I think there's some stuff you could work out with someone who knows more about all of this than me. Maybe that's a place to start with 'fixing' yourself, or whatever."
There was a long silence after that, neither sure of what to say next. Eventually, Sakuya took the lead on that with a simple, "Okay."
"I can be here if you need me to be," Kyoko said after that. "You don't have to keep isolating yourself. You've got people in your corner."
"Okay," she said again.
"Are you just saying that so I'll stop talking?" she asked.
"No, I...I know." Sakuya fell back onto her bed, the resulting thump picked up on the call. "I know."
"Okay, then. You can still work this out, I'm telling you that now. But don't...wait too long. If you do, you're really going to lose her."
"I know," she replied. "I just...I need time."
"Then good luck," she said. "I'll help you however much you'll let me."
A short goodbye later and the two hung up, Sakuya left to come down from that emotionally draining conversation and ponder over everything Kyoko had told her. The logical part of her brain knew that she was completely right; she couldn't keep running, couldn't keep avoiding Yumi, couldn't keep making excuses if she didn't want to lose her for good. But she wasn't really working on logic at the moment. So many new feelings and experiences and so many old wounds all forcing their way onto her at the same time was more than she could handle.
But she had to try.
Back in Chiba, Yumi was nearly about to fall asleep when she heard her phone buzz a short ways away. With a groan, she slapped around on the ground until finally catching the strap and pulling it over to her. Flipping it open, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust in the darkness enough to see who was sending her messages.
The instant she could make out Sakuya's name, she bolted upright. Steadying her shaking hands, she quickly opened the message to see what she'd finally sent her.
"I'm so sorry," it began. "A lot is happening right now. I can't talk to you yet. I'm sorry. I need time. When I can, I'll call you. I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong."
Yumi had no idea how long she spent staring at the screen, reading and rereading the message over and over again. So many new questions materialized because of it, but now she could at least know that Sakuya was still out there and still thinking of her. What could she mean by needing time or that things were happening, though? And was she really in the clear in terms of blame?
Whatever those answers may be, it didn't seem like she'd get them any time soon. For now, all she could do was trust Sakuya. Typing quickly, she left her own reply:
"I understand. I don't know what's going on, but I'll wait for you as long as it takes."
Cards in Order of Appearance
Holy Barrier – Mirror Force (Mirror Force)
Normal Trap
When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Destroy all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls.
Chasm Queen – Telos
DARK
Rank 4
Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect
2800 ATK/2200 DEF
3 Level 4 monsters
You can Xyz Summon this card by using Equip Spell Cards equipped to monsters used as Xyz Material for this card's Summon. When this card is Xyz Summoned: Negate the effect of all face-up monsters on the field besides this card until the End Phase. If this card attacks a Defense Position monster while it has an Equip Spell Card as Xyz Material, inflict piercing battle damage. When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; inflict 400 damage to your opponent x the number of Equip Spell Cards in both players' Graveyards.
Wynn the Wind Spirit Channeler (Wynn the Wind Channeler)
WIND
Level 5
Spellcaster/Effect
1850 ATK/1500 DEF
(This card is always treated as a "Charmer" card.)
You can discard this card and 1 other WIND monster; add 1 WIND monster with 1500 or less DEF from your Deck to your hand, except "Wynn the Wind Channeler", also you cannot activate monster effects for the rest of this turn, except WIND monsters. When a WIND monster you control is destroyed by battle while this card is in your hand: You can Special Summon this card. You can only use each effect of "Wynn the Wind Channeler" once per turn.
It's been a good bit since the last update, though probably not as long as it could have been. The dark energies of Halloween reincarnated me and now I can write again.
At least Yumi's making a little progress towards recovery. Talking to people about problems is always helpful even if you don't reach a conclusion just yet. Even Sakuya's starting to realize that.
The Telos situation in here is 100% me just finding it interesting that, after all these years, we really haven't seen anyone address this kind of thing in the franchise. ARC-V came close before sort of forgetting about it. Figured it might be fun to mention this at some point, so here it is.
That's all I've really got for now. Thanks for reading. Share if you enjoyed. Always remember to keep it spooky.