Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V.


Day 4: Aftermath + Day 20: Beach

It had been a long time since they all went to the beach together, and the air was filled with excitement.

The boys may have chosen simple swim tracks for today, but Ruri and Sayaka put a lot more thought in their swimsuits. Eventually Sayaka chose a frilly two piece in soft pinks and greens that honestly looked really cute on her.

Ruri had a hard time deciding what she wanted. She thought that she should probably go for a one-piece but… Nah. She had nothing to be ashamed of. Instead she decided to forgo her pastels and go for a deep purple bikini in the shade of her hair and a black skirt wrap.

She could not wait to show this to Ute.

The day was perfect. The air was hot, the sun was blinding, and the sky was a clear blue as far as the eye could see. It was like the world decided to do them a favour.

Ute's reaction was very satisfying.


He heard the terrified gasp of his wife and immediately his blood froze.

"Did something happen to Shouji?" Of course his first thought was his kid.

"N-no, but… those children over there!"

"Huh?"

The man followed his wife's gaze. A few feet away was a group of teens, most of them middle-school age with a few older ones. At first, he could not see anything wrong with them – the tallest one looked vaguely familiar but the rest…

Then he saw it. And he really felt his blood go cold.

Now he recognized the tallest teen. Kurosaki Syun. Whose signature red scarf apparently served to hide that his throat had been slit at one point, and the ugly pink jagged scar that miraculously did not kill him.

In what could only be morbid fascination, he observed each and every one of them. Kurosaki's ribs were showing, his left side was completely messed up, and he could make out several deep cuts and stabs all over his body, and burns over his arms.

The other teens were the same. The girl with the long hair had a horrific burn all over her legs and stomach, small cuts all over her arms, her back a total mess, and what looked like long slashes at her sides. He could even make out a long scar half-hidden by her top.

The boy that has playing with her – one who looked eerily like Sakaki Yuya – had deep gashes over his chest, cuts all over his arms, and what he was certain were electroshock marks, more burns all over the place and bite marks at random places.

The other teen who was with them – one with blond and green hair – was not quite as bad, but he too had burns all over his body and his hands and feet were covered with deep gashes that must have caused him unimaginable pain, and quite a few still healing scratches across his chest and face.

The "kids", though they were probably thirteen or so, were in better condition, but that didn't stop them from having thin pink lines all over the places. At least there was nothing worse than that. The boy with the brown-red hair was a bit worse though – his and hands spoke of many, many falls. The girl with the glasses also had a few burns in her hands, but those looked like they came from a cooking accident.

The only one who looked normal was the elementary school kid with the light blue hair, though he too was very skinny and pale, with deep black circles under his eyes.

He and his wife just stared at each other in pure disbelief.

"Do you… do you think they were in the war…?"

This young?


"Your best friend and your sister are having a lot of fun there, Syun."

Syun glared half-heartedly at Allen. He had already heard every joke about "the most epic bro code breach ever" that could possibly be told.

Ruri and Ute looked happier than they had been in a very long time. They were running up and down in the shallow waters, throwing water at each other, roughhousing, playing tickling wars and exchanging the chaste kiss here and there, red in the face and not just from the physical activity.

Honestly, why couldn't anyone understand that the two were perfect for each other? Syun had spotted Ute's crush on Ruri since they first met. Besides, Syun trusted him.

"Why don't you go have fun with Sayaka? She'll probably need the help with that thing." Sayaka was currently trying to build the base of what would surely be a sand castle of epic proportions. The base alone was big enough for her to lay one if she curled up, and she was clearly considering making it bigger.

Allen looked at it in mild surprise. "Geez. We'll be here all day with that."

"That's the plan" said Kaito with a soft smile. "How about you join them, Haruto?"

Kaito's little brother looked at him in confusion.

"Sayaka is building a really big sand castle there. You like sand castles, right?"

"Yeah! Let's go, Allen-san!" Allen could not argue with that, so he got up, took Haruto by the hand and went over to help Sayaka.

Kaito chuckled softly. "Well Syun, what's the plan?"

The taller teen shrugged. "Soak up the sun, maybe."

"Yeah, you look like death warmed over" said Kaito, poking fun at his pale complexion.

Now Syun glared at him too. "It's natural. And you're not much better yourself."

Kaito smiled, and reached at his bag.

Syun peeked at him curiously. "What do you have there?"

Kaito proudly revealed a brand new volley ball. "What about we have a go at it?"

Appealing to Syun's competitive nature was the best way to appease him. "You're on."


It was surreal, watching those kids. They looked – terrifying, really – but they just acted like… perfectly normal teens. The black-haired boy acted like he hadn't even noticed the horrific burn his girlfriend had even as he blew a raspberry in her stomach, making her laugh and push him off.

Kurosaki Syun probably should not even be moving with those ribs but he was still taking part in a heated volley match against the other boy – who in turn probably should not be straining his hands like this. And the kids somehow did not look bothered in the slightest by the gory sight, nor by their own bad condition.

It was such a powerful contrast that the man felt humbled.

"They're kids."

Akaba Himika had told them about the war, but seeing proof of it…

"Mom, dad?"

They both snapped out of their trance. "What's up, Shouji?"

"Can I go play with the sandcastle?" And he pointed to the enormous sandcastle that those other kids were building.

He and his wife, once more, just stared at each other. He could tell that they were both thinking the same thing.

"Sure. Just don't wander too far, okay?"

"Okay!"

Maybe the scars were not all that important after all.


Omake

"Hey, Haruto-kun?"

"Yeah, Shouji-kun?"

"What are those purple things around your eyes?"

Haruto looked at his new friend straight in the eyes. When he spoke, his voice was dead serious. "It's war paint."

"Huh?"

"Because I'm a pirate!"

"Huh!?"

"And now YOU'RE a pirate!"

"Yeah!"

"And this castle will be our fortress!"

"YEAAAH!"

"AND WE'LL TAKE OVER THIS BEACH!"

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"


Author notes: I was always wondering what kind of scars the members of the Resistance could have gathered over the course of the war. Believe me, none of these scars was random - I put a lot of thought in it, some from cannon events and some from my headcanons.

The idea here is that despite the war having marked their bodies, they're still able to move on, and just have an ordinary day at the beach.

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